Tariffs

Northern Indiana Public Service Co. (NIPSCO) is collaborating with a group of municipalities to initiate a program to replace all fixtures in its service territory with LED fixtures. In this presentation we discuss this program and its timing, results, and tariff impacts

Male Circumcision at Different Ages in Rwanda: A Cost-Effectiveness Study

Agnes Binagwaho and colleagues predict that circumcision of newborn boys would be effective and cost-saving as a long-term strategy to prevent HIV in Rwanda

Adipocyte-specific protein tyrosine phosphatase 1B deletion increases lipogenesis, adipocyte cell size and is a minor regulator of glucose homeostasis

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Comparative effectiveness of dipeptidyl peptidase-4 (DPP-4) inhibitors and human glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) analogue as add-on therapies to sulphonylurea among diabetes patients in the Asia-Pacific region: a systematic review

The prevalence of diabetes mellitus is rising globally, and it induces a substantial public health burden to the healthcare systems. Its optimal control is one of the most significant challenges faced by physicians and policy-makers. Whereas some of the established oral hypoglycaemic drug classes like biguanide, sulphonylureas, thiazolidinediones have been extensively used, the newer agents like dipeptidyl peptidase-4 (DPP-4) inhibitors and the human glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) analogues have recently emerged as suitable options due to their similar efficacy and favorable side effect profiles. These agents are widely recognized alternatives to the traditional oral hypoglycaemic agents or insulin, especially in conditions where they are contraindicated or unacceptable to patients. Many studies which evaluated their clinical effects, either alone or as add-on agents, were conducted in Western countries. There exist few reviews on their effectiveness in the Asia-Pacific region. The purpose of this systematic review is to address the comparative effectiveness of these new classes of medications as add-on therapies to sulphonylurea drugs among diabetic patients in the Asia-Pacific countries. We conducted a thorough literature search of the MEDLINE and EMBASE from the inception of these databases to August 2013, supplemented by an additional manual search using reference lists from research studies, meta-analyses and review articles as retrieved by the electronic databases. A total of nine randomized controlled trials were identified and described in this article. It was found that DPP-4 inhibitors and GLP-1 analogues were in general effective as add-on therapies to existing sulphonylurea therapies, achieving HbA1c reductions by a magnitude of 0.59–0.90% and 0.77–1.62%, respectively. Few adverse events including hypoglycaemic attacks were reported. Therefore, these two new drug classes represent novel therapies with great potential to be major therapeutic options. Future larger-scale research should be conducted among other Asia-Pacific region to evaluate their efficacy in other ethnic groups

Non-thermal emission processes in massive binaries

In this paper, I present a general discussion of several astrophysical processes likely to play a role in the production of non-thermal emission in massive stars, with emphasis on massive binaries. Even though the discussion will start in the radio domain where the non-thermal emission was first detected, the census of physical processes involved in the non-thermal emission from massive stars shows that many spectral domains are concerned, from the radio to the very high energies. First, the theoretical aspects of the non-thermal emission from early-type stars will be addressed. The main topics that will be discussed are respectively the physics of individual stellar winds and their interaction in binary systems, the acceleration of relativistic electrons, the magnetic field of massive stars, and finally the non-thermal emission processes relevant to the case of massive stars. Second, this general qualitative discussion will be followed by a more quantitative one, devoted to the most probable scenario where non-thermal radio emitters are massive binaries. I will show how several stellar, wind and orbital parameters can be combined in order to make some semi-quantitative predictions on the high-energy counterpart to the non-thermal emission detected in the radio domain. These theoretical considerations will be followed by a census of results obtained so far, and related to this topic... (see paper for full abstract)Comment: 47 pages, 5 postscript figures, accepted for publication in Astronomy and Astrophysics Review. Astronomy and Astrophysics Review, in pres

Access and utilisation of primary health care services comparing urban and rural areas of Riyadh Providence, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) has seen an increase in chronic diseases. International evidence suggests that early intervention is the best approach to reduce the burden of chronic disease. However, the limited research available suggests that health care access remains unequal, with rural populations having the poorest access to and utilisation of primary health care centres and, consequently, the poorest health outcomes. This study aimed to examine the factors influencing the access to and utilisation of primary health care centres in urban and rural areas of Riyadh province of the KSA

Brazilian obstetrician-gynecologists and abortion: a survey of knowledge, opinions and practices

BACKGROUND: Abortion laws are extremely restrictive in Brazil. The knowledge, opinions of abortion laws, and abortion practices of obstetrician-gynecologists can have a significant impact on women's access to safe abortion. METHODS: We conducted a mail-in survey with a 10% random sample of obstetrician-gynecologists affiliated with the Brazilian Federation of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. We documented participants' experiences performing abortion under a range of legal and illegal circumstances, and asked about which abortion techniques they had experience with. We used chi-square tests and crude logistic regression models to determine which sociodemographic, knowledge-related, or practice-related variables were associated with physician opinion. RESULTS: Of the 1,500 questionnaires that we mailed out, we received responses from 572 (38%). Less than half (48%) of the respondents reported accurate knowledge about abortion law and 77% thought that the law should be more liberal. One-third of respondents reported having previous experience performing an abortion, and very few of these physicians reported having experience with manual vacuum aspiration (MVA) or with misoprostol with either mifepristone or methotrexate. Physicians that favored liberalization of the law were more likely to have correct knowledge about abortion law, and to be in favor of public funding for abortion services. CONCLUSION: Brazilian obstetrician-gynecologists need more information on abortion laws and on safe, effective abortion procedures

Controlling spins in adsorbed molecules by a chemical switch

The development of chemical systems with switchable molecular spins could lead to the architecture of materials with controllable magnetic or spintronic properties. Here, we present conclusive evidence that the spin of an organometallic molecule coupled to a ferromagnetic substrate can be switched between magnetic off and on states by a chemical stimulus. This is achieved by nitric oxide (NO) functioning as an axial ligand of cobalt(II)tetraphenylporphyrin (CoTPP) ferromagnetically coupled to nickel thin-film (Ni(001)). On NO addition, the coordination sphere of Co2+ is modified and a NO–CoTPP nitrosyl complex is formed, which corresponds to an off state of the Co spin. Thermal dissociation of NO from the nitrosyl complex restores the on state of the Co spin. The NO-induced reversible off–on switching of surface-adsorbed molecular spins observed here is attributed to a spin trans effect

Interleukin-12p40 Modulates Human Metapneumovirus-Induced Pulmonary Disease in an Acute Mouse Model of Infection

The mechanisms that regulate the host immune response induced by human metapneumovirus (hMPV), a newly-recognized member of the Paramyxoviridae family, are largely unknown. Cytokines play an important role in modulating inflammatory responses during viral infections. IL-12p40, a known important mediator in limiting lung inflammation, is induced by hMPV and its production is sustained after the resolution phase of infection suggesting that this cytokine plays a role in the immune response against hMPV. In this work, we demonstrated that in mice deficient in IL-12p40, hMPV infection induced an exacerbated pulmonary inflammatory response and mucus production, altered cytokine response, and decreased lung function. However, hMPV infection in these mice does not have an effect on viral replication. These results identify an important regulatory role of IL-12p40 in hMPV infection