1,242 research outputs found
Socio-cultural, environmental and behavioural determinants of obesity in black South African women
South Africa (SA) is undergoing a rapid epidemiological
transition and has the highest prevalence of obesity in sub-
Saharan Africa (SSA), with black women being the most
affected (obesity prevalence 31.8%). Although genetic factors
are important, socio-cultural, environmental and behavioural
factors, as well as the influence of socio-economic status,
more likely explain the high prevalence of obesity in black
SA women. This review examines these determinants in black
SA women, and compares them to their white counterparts,
black SA men, and where appropriate, to women from SSA.
Specifically this review focuses on environmental factors
influencing obesity, the influence of urbanisation, as well
as the interaction with socio-cultural and socio-economic
factors. In addition, the role of maternal and early life factors
and cultural aspects relating to body image are discussed.
This information can be used to guide public health interventions
aimed at reducing obesity in black SA women.Department of HE and Training approved lis
Effect of chromophore-chromophore electrostatic interactions in the NLO response of functionalized organic-inorganic sol-gel materials
In the last years, important non-linear optical results on sol-gel and
polymeric materials have been reported, with values comparable to those found
in crystals. These new materials contain push-pull chromophores either
incorporated as guest in a high Tg polymeric matrix (doped polymers) or grafted
onto the polymeric matrix. These systems present several advantages; however
they require significant improvement at the molecular level - by designing
optimized chromophores with very large molecular figure of merit, specific to
each application targeted. Besides, it was recently stated in polymers that the
chromophore-chromophore electrostatic interactions, which are dependent of
chromophore concentration, have a strong effect into their non-linear optical
properties. This has not been explored at all in sol-gel systems. In this work,
the sol-gel route was used to prepare hybrid organic-inorganic thin films with
different NLO chromophores grafted into the skeleton matrix. Combining a
molecular engineering strategy for getting a larger molecular figure of merit
and by controlling the intermolecular dipole-dipole interactions through both:
the tuning of the push-pull chromophore concentration and the control of TEOS
(Tetraethoxysilane) concentration, we have obtained a r33 coefficient around 15
pm/V at 633 nm for the classical DR1 azo-chromophore and a r33 around 50 pm/V
at 831 nm for a new optimized chromophore structure.Comment: 10 pages, 11 figures, 1 tabl
Signatures of exciton coupling in paired nanoemitters
An exciton formed by the delocalized electronic excitation of paired nanoemitters is interpreted in terms of the electromagnetic emission of the pair and their mutual coupling with a photodetector. A formulation directly tailored for fluorescence detection is identified, giving results which are strongly dependent on geometry and selection rules. Signature symmetric and antisymmetric combinations are analyzed and their distinctive features identified
Ab-Initio Calculation of Molecular Aggregation Effects: a Coumarin-343 Case Study
We present time-dependent density functional theory (TDDFT) calculations for
single and dimerized Coumarin-343 molecules in order to investigate the quantum
mechanical effects of chromophore aggregation in extended systems designed to
function as a new generation of sensors and light-harvesting devices. Using the
single-chromophore results, we describe the construction of effective
Hamiltonians to predict the excitonic properties of aggregate systems. We
compare the electronic coupling properties predicted by such effective
Hamiltonians to those obtained from TDDFT calculations of dimers, and to the
coupling predicted by the transition density cube (TDC) method. We determine
the accuracy of the dipole-dipole approximation and TDC with respect to the
separation distance and orientation of the dimers. In particular, we
investigate the effects of including Coulomb coupling terms ignored in the
typical tight-binding effective Hamiltonian. We also examine effects of orbital
relaxation which cannot be captured by either of these models
Spot sputum samples are at least as good as early morning samples for identifying Mycobacterium tuberculosis
Supported by the Global Alliance for TB Drug Development with support from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the European and Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership (Grant IP.2007.32011.011), US Agency for International Development, UK Department for International Development, Directorate General for International Cooperation of the Netherlands, Irish Aid, Australia Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, National Institutes of Health, AIDS Clinical Trials Group. The study was also supported by grants from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) (UM1AI068634, UM1 AI068636, and UM1AI106701) and by NIAID grants to the University of KwaZulu Natal, South Africa, AIDS Clinical Trials Group (ACTG) site 31422 (1U01AI069469); to the Perinatal HIV Research Unit, Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital, South Africa, ACTG site 12301 (1U01AI069453); and to the Durban International Clinical Trials Unit, South Africa, ACTG site 11201 (1U01AI069426). Bayer Healthcare for donated moxifloxacin and Sanofi donated rifampin.Background: The use of early morning sputum samples (EMS) to diagnose tuberculosis (TB) can result in treatment delay given the need for the patient to return to the clinic with the EMS, increasing the chance of patients being lost during their diagnostic workup. However, there is little evidence to support the superiority of EMS over spot sputum samples. In this new analysis of the REMoxTB study, we compare the diagnostic accuracy of EMS with spot samples for identifying Mycobacterium tuberculosis pre- and post-treatment. Methods: Patients who were smear positive at screening were enrolled into the study. Paired sputum samples (one EMS and one spot) were collected at each trial visit pre- and post-treatment. Microscopy and culture on solid LJ and liquid MGIT media were performed on all samples; those missing corresponding paired results were excluded from the analyses. Results: Data from 1115 pre- and 2995 post-treatment paired samples from 1931 patients enrolled in the REMoxTB study were analysed. Patients were recruited from South Africa (47%), East Africa (21%), India (20%), Asia (11%), and North America (1%); 70% were male, median age 31 years (IQR 24–41), 139 (7%) co-infected with HIV with a median CD4 cell count of 399 cells/μL (IQR 318–535). Pre-treatment spot samples had a higher yield of positive Ziehl–Neelsen smears (98% vs. 97%, P = 0.02) and LJ cultures (87% vs. 82%, P = 0.006) than EMS, but there was no difference for positivity by MGIT (93% vs. 95%, P = 0.18). Contaminated and false-positive MGIT were found more often with EMS rather than spot samples. Surprisingly, pre-treatment EMS had a higher smear grading and shorter time-to-positivity, by 1 day, than spot samples in MGIT culture (4.5 vs. 5.5 days, P < 0.001). There were no differences in time to positivity in pre-treatment LJ culture, or in post-treatment MGIT or LJ cultures. Comparing EMS and spot samples in those with unfavourable outcomes, there were no differences in smear or culture results, and positive results were not detected earlier in Kaplan–Meier analyses in either EMS or spot samples. Conclusions: Our data do not support the hypothesis that EMS samples are superior to spot sputum samples in a clinical trial of patients with smear positive pulmonary TB. Observed small differences in mycobacterial burden are of uncertain significance and EMS samples do not detect post-treatment positives any sooner than spot samples.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe
Search for charged Higgs decays of the top quark using hadronic tau decays
We present the result of a search for charged Higgs decays of the top quark,
produced in collisions at 1.8 TeV. When the charged
Higgs is heavy and decays to a tau lepton, which subsequently decays
hadronically, the resulting events have a unique signature: large missing
transverse energy and the low-charged-multiplicity tau. Data collected in the
period 1992-1993 at the Collider Detector at Fermilab, corresponding to
18.70.7~pb, exclude new regions of combined top quark and charged
Higgs mass, in extensions to the standard model with two Higgs doublets.Comment: uuencoded, gzipped tar file of LaTeX and 6 Postscript figures; 11 pp;
submitted to Phys. Rev.
Inclusive jet cross section in collisions at TeV
The inclusive jet differential cross section has been measured for jet
transverse energies, , from 15 to 440 GeV, in the pseudorapidity region
0.10.7. The results are based on 19.5 pb of data
collected by the CDF collaboration at the Fermilab Tevatron collider. The data
are compared with QCD predictions for various sets of parton distribution
functions. The cross section for jets with GeV is significantly
higher than current predictions based on O() perturbative QCD
calculations. Various possible explanations for the high- excess are
discussed.Comment: 8 pages with 2 eps uu-encoded figures Submitted to Physical Review
Letter
Search for the Supersymmetric Partner of the Top-Quark in Collisions at
We report on a search for the supersymmetric partner of the top quark (stop)
produced in events using of
collisions at recorded with the Collider Detector at
Fermilab. In the case of a light stop squark, the decay of the top quark into
stop plus the lightest supersymmetric particle (LSP) could have a significant
branching ratio. The observed events are consistent with Standard Model production and decay. Hence, we set limits on the branching ratio of
the top quark decaying into stop plus LSP, excluding branching ratios above 45%
for a LSP mass up to 40 {\rm GeV/c}.Comment: 11 pages, 4 figure
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