630 research outputs found
Strengthening surgical and anaesthetic services at district level in the African region: issues, challenges and proposed actions
Health care delivery systems are organized at several levels with the district hospital serving as the first referral for comprehensive care in the majority of countries worldwide. The provision of comprehensive surgical services requires several inputs and tools to be in place, among which are an adequately trained surgical, anaesthesia and obstetric healthcare workforce, infrastructure and functioning equipment, and essential medicines and supplies. These, however, are not in place in the majority of commonly received surgical cases, such as trauma, obstetric, abdominal and orthopedic emergencies, thus limiting the capacity of district hospitals to address them. Global and regional public health initiatives have traditionally neglected the necessity of the provision of surgical services despite the fact that these constitute an essential component of comprehensive primary healthcare (PHC)1. In fact, because surgery so frequently cannot be safely postponed, this deficiency prevents the transfer of patients to a secondary or tertiarylevel hospital where further care can be provided.
Effect of aerosolized uridine-5'-triphosphate on airway clearance with cough in patients with primary ciliary dyskinesia
Primary ciliary dyskinesia (PCD) is a genetic disease characterized by abnormal ciliary structure and function and impaired mucociliary clearance. Because patients with PCD use cough clearance as an airway defense mechanism, we tested the hypothesis that aerosolized uridine-5'-triphosphate (UTP) would improve clearance during cough by its actions to stimulate CI secretion and mucin release by goblet cells. We measured clearance during cough in 12 patients with PCD (ages 14 to 71 yr, FEV1 43% to 89% predicted) in a double blind, randomized, crossover study after aerosolization of a single dose of UTP (5 mg/ml, 3.5 ml) or vehicle (0.12% saline, 3.5 ml). Clearance during cough (whole lung) was quantified during and after a series of controlled coughs by measuring the clearance of [99mTc]Fe2O3 particles via gamma camera scanning over 120 min. Safety parameters were recorded during and after drug delivery. Aerosolized UTP improved whole-lung clearance during cough as compared with vehicle (from 0 to 60 min: 0.40 ± 0.07%/min [UTP] versus 0.26 ± 0.04%/min [vehicle] [mean ± SEMI, p = 0.01), and from 0 to 120 min: 0.38 ± 0.05%/min [UTP] versus 0.25 ± 0.04%/min [vehicle], p = 0.02), Aerosolized UTP is safe, with no serious adverse effects. Whole-lung clearance during cough in patients with defective ciliary function is enhanced after inhalation of UTP
Red Queen Coevolution on Fitness Landscapes
Species do not merely evolve, they also coevolve with other organisms.
Coevolution is a major force driving interacting species to continuously evolve
ex- ploring their fitness landscapes. Coevolution involves the coupling of
species fit- ness landscapes, linking species genetic changes with their
inter-specific ecological interactions. Here we first introduce the Red Queen
hypothesis of evolution com- menting on some theoretical aspects and empirical
evidences. As an introduction to the fitness landscape concept, we review key
issues on evolution on simple and rugged fitness landscapes. Then we present
key modeling examples of coevolution on different fitness landscapes at
different scales, from RNA viruses to complex ecosystems and macroevolution.Comment: 40 pages, 12 figures. To appear in "Recent Advances in the Theory and
Application of Fitness Landscapes" (H. Richter and A. Engelbrecht, eds.).
Springer Series in Emergence, Complexity, and Computation, 201
Search for Exotic Mesons in pi- P Interactions at 18 GeV/c
The recent search for non mesons in interactions at
Brookhaven National Laboratory is summarized. Many final states such as , , , , , ,
which are favored decay modes of exotics, are under investigation.Comment: 9 pages, PostScript, Presented at the International School of Nuclear
Physics, Erice, Sicily, Italy, September 199
Confirmation of a pi_1^0 Exotic Meson in the \eta \pi^0 System
The exclusive reaction , at 18 GeV has been studied with a partial wave analysis on a sample
of 23~492 events from BNL experiment E852. A mass-dependent fit
is consistent with a resonant hypothesis for the wave, thus providing
evidence for a neutral exotic meson with , a mass of MeV, and a width of MeV. New
interpretations of the meson exotics in neutral system observed in
E852 and Crystal Barrel experiments are discussed.Comment: p3, rewording the paragraph (at the bottom) about the phase
variations. p4, rewording paragrath "The second method ..." . p4, at the
bottom of paragrath "The third method ..." added consistent with the results
of methods 1 and 2
Exotic Meson Production in the System observed in the Reaction at 18 GeV/c
This letter reports results from the partial wave analysis of the
final state in collisions at 18GeV/c.
Strong evidence is observed for production of two mesons with exotic quantum
numbers of spin, parity and charge conjugation, in the decay
channel . The mass MeV/c^2 and
width MeV/c^2 of the first state are consistent
with the parameters of the previously observed . The second
resonance with mass MeV/c^2 and width MeV/c^2 agrees very well with predictions from theoretical
models. In addition, the presence of is confirmed with mass MeV/c^2 and width MeV/c^2
and a new state, , is observed with mass
MeV/c^2 and width MeV/c^2. The decay properties of
these last two states are consistent with flux tube model predictions for
hybrid mesons with non-exotic quantum numbers
Observation of a New J(PC)=1(+-) Isoscalar State in the Reaction Pi- Proton -> Omega Eta Neutron at 18 GeV/c
Results are presented on a partial wave analysis of the Omega Eta final state
produced in Pi- Proton interactions at 18 GeVc where Omega -> Pi+ Pi- Pi0, Pi0
-> 2 Gammas, and Eta -> 2 Gammas. We observe the previously unreported decay
mode Omega(1650) -> Omega Eta and a new 1(+-) meson state h1(1595) with a mass
M=1594(15)(+10)(-60) MeV/c^2 and a width Gamma=384(60)(+70)(-100) MeV/c^2. The
h1(1595) state exhibits resonant-like phase motion relative to the Omega(1650).Comment: Submitted to Physics Letters B Eight total pages including 11 figures
and 1 tabl
Observation of Pseudoscalar and Axial Vector Resonances in pi- p -> K+ K- pi0 n at 18 GeV
A new measurement of the reaction pi- p -> K+ K- pi0 n has been made at a
beam energy of 18 GeV. A partial wave analysis of the K+ K- pi0 system shows
evidence for three pseudoscalar resonances, eta(1295), eta(1416), and
eta(1485), as well as two axial vectors, f1(1285), and f1(1420). Their observed
masses, widths and decay properties are reported. No signal was observed for
C(1480), an IG J{PC} = 1+ 1{--} state previously reported in phi pi0 decay.Comment: 7 pages, 6 figs, to be submitted to Phys. Let
A partial wave analysis of the system produced in charge exchange collisions
A partial wave analysis of the of the system produced in the
charge exchange reaction: at an incident momentum of
is presented as a function of invariant mass,
, and momentum transfer squared, , from the incident
to the outgoing system.Comment: 24 pages total,8 pages text, 14 figures, 1 table. Submitted to Phys
Rev
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