2,435 research outputs found
Learning about the Enforcement of Conditional Welfare Programs: Evidence from Brazil
We study the implementation of Bolsa Familia, a program that conditions cash transfers to poor families on children's school attendance. Using unique administrative data, we analyze how beneficiaries respond to the enforcement of conditionality. Making use of random variation in the day on which punishments are received, we find that school attendance increases after families are punished for past noncompliance. Families also respond to penalties experienced by peers: a child's attendance increases if her own classmates, but also her siblings' classmates (in other grades or schools), experience enforcement. As the severity of penalties increases with repeated noncompliance, households' response is larger when peers receive a penalty that the family has not (yet) received. We thus find evidence of spillover effects and learning about enforcement
Internalised weight stigma mediates relationships between perceived weight stigma and psychosocial correlates in individuals seeking bariatric surgery : A cross-sectional study
Purpose
Research suggests that internalised weight stigma may explain the relationship between perceived weight stigma and adverse psychological correlates (e.g. depression, disordered eating, body image disturbances). However, few studies have assessed this mechanism in individuals seeking bariatric surgery, even though depression and disordered eating are more common in this group than the general population.
Materials and Methods
We used data from a cross-sectional study with individuals seeking bariatric surgery (n = 217; 73.6% female) from Melbourne, Australia. Participants (Mage = 44.1 years, SD = 11.9; MBMI = 43.1, SD = 7.9) completed a battery of self-report measures on weight stigma and biopsychosocial variables, prior to their procedures. Bias-corrected bootstrapped mediations were used to test the mediating role of internalised weight stigma. Significance thresholds were statistically corrected to reduce the risk of Type I error due to the large number of mediation tests conducted.
Results
Controlling for BMI, internalised weight stigma mediated the relationship between perceived weight stigma and psychological quality of life, symptoms of depression and anxiety, stress, adverse coping behaviours, self-esteem, exercise avoidance, some disordered eating measures and body image subscales, but not physical quality of life or pain.
Conclusion
Although the findings are cross-sectional, they are mostly consistent with previous research in other cohorts and provide partial support for theoretical models of weight stigma. Interventions addressing internalised weight stigma may be a useful tool for clinicians to reduce the negative correlates associated with weight stigma
Multiple Basins Of Attraction In A Tropical Forest: Evidence For Nonequilibrium Community Structure
Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/116998/1/ecy2004852575.pd
How reliable are left ventricular ejection fraction cut offs assessed by echocardiography for clinical decision making in patients with heart failure?
We aimed to study the potential influence of the variability in the assessment of echocardiographically measured left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) on indications for the implantation of internal cardioverter defibrillator and/or cardiac resynchronization devices in heart failure patients. TIME-CHF was a multicenter trial comparing NT-BNP versus symptom-guided therapy in patients aged ≥60years. Patients had their LVEF assessed at the recruiting centre using visual assessment, the area-length or biplane Simpson's method. Echocardiographic data were transferred to the study core-lab for re-assessment. Re-assessment in the core-lab was done with biplane Simpson's method, and included an appraisal of image quality. 413 patients had the LVEF analyzed at the recruiting centre and at the core lab. Image quality was optimal in 191 and suboptimal in 222. Overall, the correlation between LVEF at the recruiting centres and at the core-lab was good, independent of image quality (R²=0.62). However, when a LVEF≤30% or ≥30% was used as a cut-off, about 20% of all patients would have been re-assigned to having either a LVEF above or below the cut-off, this proportion was not significantly influenced by image quality. We conclude that correlation between LVEF assessed by different centres based on the same ultrasound data is good, regardless of image quality. However, one fifth of patients would have been re-assigned to a different category when using the clinically important cut-off of 30
Enhancement of Jc by Hf -Doping in the Superconductor MgB2: A Hyperfine Interaction Study
Measurements of the critical current density (Jc) by magnetization and the
upper critical field (Hc2) by magnetoresistance have been performed for
hafnium-doped MgB2. There has been a remarkable enhancement of Jc as compared
to that by ion irradiation without any appreciable decrease in Tc, which is
beneficial from the point of view of applications. The irreversibility line
extracted from Jc shows an upward shift. In addition, there has been an
increase in the upper critical field which indicates that Hf partially
substitutes for Mg. Hyperfine interaction parameters obtained from time
differential perturbed angular correlation (TDPAC) measurements revealed the
formation of HfB and HfB2 phases along with the substitution of Hf. A possible
explanation is given for the role of these species in the enhancement of Jc in
MgB2 superconductor
Reproductive Modes in Onion Thrips (Thysanoptera: Thripidae) Populations from New York Onion Fields
Thrips exhibit different reproductive modes including thelytoky (females produced from unfertilized eggs), arrhenotoky (males produced from unfertilized eggs and females produced from fertilized eggs) and deuterotoky (females and males produced from unfertilized eggs). We investigated patterns of reproductive modes in onion thrips, Thrips tabaci Lindeman, populations and potential effects of the bacterium Wolbachia and temperature on these modes. We also examined the possibility that male-producing T. tabaci populations were resistant to the frequently used insecticides, lambda-cyhalothrin and methomyl. In New York during 2002-2004, T. tabaci populations were sampled from 20 onion fields and reproductive mode was determined by identifying sex of progeny from virgins. Half of the populations were thelytokous and half were a mix of thelytokous, arrhenotokous and deuterotokous individuals, which we refer to as a male-producing population. In two of four cases, the reproductive mode of a population from the same onion field changed across years, suggesting that populations either mix or an external factor caused the change. To address the latter, we speculated that Wolbachia or high temperature mediated reproductive modes. Samples of T. tabaci representing each reproductive mode were examined for Wolbachia using diagnostic polymerase chain reaction (PCR), but it was not detected. Cytological examination of ovaries from two additional thelytokous lines also showed no evidence of Wolbachia. Similarly, high temperature did not affect sex allocation ratios in either thelytokous or male-producing populations. Male-producing T. tabaci populations were not positively correlated with resistance to lambda-cyhalothrin, or tolerance to methomyl. The role of the different reproductive modes in T. tabaci populations in onion fields remains unclea
Broad-band properties of flat-spectrum radio-loud narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxies
We report about recent updates of broad-band properties of radio-loud
narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxies.Comment: 5 pages, no figures. Proceedings 28th Texas Symposium on Relativistic
Astrophysics, Geneva (Switzerland), 13-18 December 201
Boosting BCG with recombinant modified vaccinia ankara expressing antigen 85A: Different boosting intervals and implications for efficacy trials
Objectives. To investigate the safety and immunogenicity of boosting BCG with modified vaccinia Ankara expressing antigen
85A (MVA85A), shortly after BCG vaccination, and to compare this first with the immunogenicity of BCG vaccination alone and
second with a previous clinical trial where MVA85A was administered more than 10 years after BCG vaccination. Design. There
are two clinical trials reported here: a Phase I observational trial with MVA85A; and a Phase IV observational trial with BCG.
These clinical trials were all conducted in the UK in healthy, HIV negative, BCG naı¨ve adults. Subjects were vaccinated with BCG
alone; or BCG and then subsequently boosted with MVA85A four weeks later (short interval). The outcome measures, safety
and immunogenicity, were monitored for six months. The immunogenicity results from this short interval BCG prime–MVA85A
boost trial were compared first with the BCG alone trial and second with a previous clinical trial where MVA85A vaccination
was administered many years after vaccination with BCG. Results. MVA85A was safe and highly immunogenic when
administered to subjects who had recently received BCG vaccination. When the short interval trial data presented here were
compared with the previous long interval trial data, there were no significant differences in the magnitude of immune
responses generated when MVA85A was administered shortly after, or many years after BCG vaccination. Conclusions. The
clinical trial data presented here provides further evidence of the ability of MVA85A to boost BCG primed immune responses.
This boosting potential is not influenced by the time interval between prior BCG vaccination and boosting with MVA85A. These
findings have important implications for the design of efficacy trials with MVA85A. Boosting BCG induced anti-mycobacterial
immunity in either infancy or adolescence are both potential applications for this vaccine, given the immunological data
presented here. Trial Registration. ClinicalTrials.Oxford University was the sponsor for all the clinical trials reported here
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