1,361 research outputs found
Research strategies for controlling neglected diseases: collaborative network projects in nursing
The effect of daylight on the elderly population
A study was completed among 9 participants, 3 housebound and 6 non-housebound, to identify whether the
relationship between daily activities including light exposure, and sleep disorders in the elderly population, reveal any
patterns worth further investigation. Participants were invited to take part in a semi-structured interview. Questions
regarding their daily activities, ability to go out, or not, and sleep patterns were asked. Building orientation, room
dimensions, window positions, room wall-reflectance and illuminance levels were recorded. This study supports evidence
that suggests that people over the age of 60 spend most of their âindoorâ time under low illuminance levels. Also, a notable
difference in the health and sleep condition between housebound and people able to go out was observed. This means
daylight availability is particularly important for housebound elderly with limited access to outdoors
Controllable Photonic Time-Bin Qubits from a Quantum Dot
Photonic time bin qubits are well suited to transmission via optical fibres
and waveguide circuits. The states take the form , with and referring to
the early and late time bin respectively. By controlling the phase of a laser
driving a spin-flip Raman transition in a single-hole-charged InAs quantum dot
we demonstrate complete control over the phase, . We show that this
photon generation process can be performed deterministically, with only a
moderate loss in coherence. Finally, we encode different qubits in different
energies of the Raman scattered light, demonstrating wavelength division
multiplexing at the single photon level
Multilevel Deconstruction of the In Vivo Behavior of Looped DNA-Protein Complexes
Protein-DNA complexes with loops play a fundamental role in a wide variety of
cellular processes, ranging from the regulation of DNA transcription to
telomere maintenance. As ubiquitous as they are, their precise in vivo
properties and their integration into the cellular function still remain
largely unexplored. Here, we present a multilevel approach that efficiently
connects in both directions molecular properties with cell physiology and use
it to characterize the molecular properties of the looped DNA-lac repressor
complex while functioning in vivo. The properties we uncover include the
presence of two representative conformations of the complex, the stabilization
of one conformation by DNA architectural proteins, and precise values of the
underlying twisting elastic constants and bending free energies. Incorporation
of all this molecular information into gene-regulation models reveals an
unprecedented versatility of looped DNA-protein complexes at shaping the
properties of gene expression.Comment: Open Access article available at
http://www.plosone.org/article/fetchArticle.action?articleURI=info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.000035
Area under the curve of methotrexate and creatinine clearance are outcome-determining factors in primary CNS lymphomas
Although high-dose methotrexate (HD-MTX) is the most effective drug against primary CNS lymphomas (PCNSL), outcome-determining variables related to its administration schedule have not been defined. The impact on toxicity and outcome of the area under the curve (AUC(MTX)), dose intensity (DI(MTX)) and infusion rate (IR(MTX)) of MTX and plasmatic creatinine clearance (CL(crea)) was investigated in a retrospective series of 45 PCNSL patients treated with three different HD-MTX-based combinations. Anticonvulsants were administered in 31 pts (69%). Age >60 years, anticonvulsant therapy, slow IR(MTX) (1100 micromol hl(-1) were independently associated with a better survival. Slow CL(crea) and high AUC(MTX) are favourable outcome-determining factors in PCNSL, while slow CL(crea) is significantly related to higher toxicity. AUC(MTX) significantly correlates with age, anticonvulsant therapy, IR(MTX), and DI(MTX). These findings, which seem to support the choice of an MTX dose >/=3 gm(-2) in a 4-6-h infusion, every 3-4 weeks, deserve to be assessed prospectively in future trials. MTX dose adjustments in patients with fast CL(crea) should be investigated
Factors associated with nonadherence of tuberculosis treatment in the state of ParanĂĄ
Search for CP violation in the decay B0->D*+-D-+
We report a search for CP-violating asymmetry in B0 -> D*+- D-+ decays. The
analysis employs two methods of B0 reconstruction: full and partial. In the
full reconstruction method all daughter particles of the B0 are required to be
detected; the partial reconstruction technique requires a fully reconstructed
D- and only a slow pion from the D*+ -> D0 pi_slow+ decay. From a fit to the
distribution of the time interval corresponding to the distance between two B
meson decay points we calculate the CP-violating parameters and find the
significance of nonzero CP asymmetry to be 2.7 standard deviations.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure
Health services performance for TB treatment in Brazil: a cross-sectional study
<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Researches to evaluate Primary Health Care performance in TB control in Brazil show that different cities aggregate local specificities in the dynamics of coping with the disease. This study aims to evaluate health services' performance in TB treatment in cities across different Brazilian regions.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>This cross-sectional study was conducted in five cities that are considered priorities for TB control in Brazil: Itaboraà (ITA), Ribeirão Preto (RP) and São José do Rio Preto (SJRP) in the Southeast; Campina Grande (CG) and Feira de Santana (FS) in the Northeast. Data were collected through interviews with 514 TB patients under treatment in 2007, using the <it>Primary Care Assessment Tool </it>adapted for TB care in Brazil. Indicators were constructed based on the mean response scores (Likert scale) and compared among the study sites.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>"Access to treatment" was evaluated as satisfactory in the Southeast and regular in the Northeast, which displayed poor results on 'home visits' and 'distance between treatment site and patient's house'. "Bond" was assessed as satisfactory in all cities, with a slightly better performance in RP and SJRP. "Range of services" was rated as regular, with better performance of southeastern cities. 'Health education', 'DOT' and 'food vouchers' were less offered in the Northeast. "Coordination" was evaluated as satisfactory in all cities. "Family focus" was evaluated as satisfactory in RP and SJRP, and regular in the others. 'Professional asking patient's family about other health problems' was evaluated as unsatisfactory, except in RP.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Two types of obstacles are faced for health service performance in TB treatment in the cities under analysis, mainly in the Northeast. The first is structural and derives from difficulties to access health services and actions. The second is organizational and derives from the way health technologies and services are distributed and integrated. Incentives to improve care organization and management practices, aimed at the integration of primary, secondary and tertiary services, can contribute towards a better performance of health services in TB treatment.</p
Evidence of fatal skeletal injuries on Malapa Hominins 1 and 2
Malapa is one of the richest early hominin sites in Africa and the discovery site of the hominin species, Australopithecus sediba. The holotype and paratype (Malapa Hominin 1 and 2, or MH1 and MH2, respectively) skeletons are among the most complete in the early hominin record. Dating to approximately two million years BP, MH1 and MH2 are hypothesized to have fallen into a natural pit trap. All fractures evident on MH1 and MH2 skeletons were evaluated and separated based on wet and dry bone fracture morphology/characteristics. Most observed fractures are post-depositional, but those in the right upper limb of the adult hominin strongly indicate active resistance to an impact, while those in the juvenile hominin mandible are consistent with a blow to the face. The presence of skeletal trauma independently supports the falling hypothesis and supplies the first evidence for the manner of death of an australopith in the fossil record that is not attributed to predation or natural death
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