The origins of a new Trypanosoma brucei rhodesiense sleeping sickness outbreak in eastern Uganda.

BACKGROUND: Sleeping sickness, caused by two trypanosome subspecies, Trypanosoma brucei gambiense and Trypanosoma brucei rhodesiense, is a parasitic disease transmitted by the tsetse fly in sub-Saharan Africa. We report on a recent outbreak of T b rhodesiense sleeping sickness outside the established south-east Ugandan focus, in Soroti District where the disease had previously been absent. Soroti District has been the subject of large-scale livestock restocking activities and, because domestic cattle are important reservoirs of T b rhodesiense, we investigated the role of cattle in the origins of the outbreak. METHODS: We identified the origins of cattle entering the outbreak area in the 4 years preceding the outbreak. A matched case-control study was conducted to assess whether the distance of villages from the main market involved with restocking was a risk factor for sleeping sickness. We investigated the spatial clustering of sleeping sickness cases at the start of the outbreak. FINDINGS: Over 50% (1510 of 2796) of cattle traded at the market were reported to have originated from endemic sleeping sickness areas. The case-control study revealed that distance to the cattle market was a highly significant risk factor for sleeping sickness (p<0.001) and that there was a significant clustering of cases (27 of 28) close to the market at the start of the outbreak (p<0.001). As the outbreak progressed, the average distance of cases moved away from the cattle market (0.014 km per day, 95% CI 0.008-0.020 km per day, p<0.001). INTERPRETATIONS: The results are consistent with the disease being introduced by cattle infected with T b rhodesiense imported to the market from the endemic sleeping sickness focus. The subsequent spread of the disease away from the market suggests that sleeping sickness is becoming established in this new focus. Public health measures directed at controlling the infection in the animal reservoir should be considered to prevent the spread of sleeping sickness

The quantum mechanics of perfect fluids

We consider the canonical quantization of an ordinary fluid. The resulting long-distance effective field theory is derivatively coupled, and therefore strongly coupled in the UV. The system however exhibits a number of peculiarities, associated with the vortex degrees of freedom. On the one hand, these have formally a vanishing strong-coupling energy scale, thus suggesting that the effective theory's regime of validity is vanishingly narrow. On the other hand, we prove an analog of Coleman's theorem, whereby the semiclassical vacuum has no quantum counterpart, thus suggesting that the vortex premature strong-coupling phenomenon stems from a bad identification of the ground state and of the perturbative degrees of freedom. Finally, vortices break the usual connection between short distances and high energies, thus potentially impairing the unitarity of the effective theory.Comment: 35 page

Lorentz-Violating Supergravity

The standard forms of supersymmetry and supergravity are inextricably wedded to Lorentz invariance. Here a Lorentz-violating form of supergravity is proposed. The superpartners have exotic properties that are not possible in a theory with exact Lorentz symmetry and microcausality. For example, the bosonic sfermions have spin 1/2 and the fermionic gauginos have spin 1. The theory is based on a phenomenological action that is shown to follow from a simple microscopic and statistical picture.Comment: 15 pages; to be published in Proceedings of Beyond the Desert 2003 (Castle Ringberg, Tegernsee, Germany, 9-14 June 2003), edited by H. V. Klapdor-Kleingrothau

Two-Point Functions and S-Parameter in QCD-like Theories

We calculated the vector, axial-vector, scalar and pseudo-scalar two-point functions up to two-loop level in the low-energy effective field theory for three different QCD-like theories. In addition we also calculated the pseudo-scalar decay constant $G_M$. The QCD-like theories we used are those with fermions in a complex, real or pseudo-real representation with in general n flavours. These case correspond to global symmetry breaking pattern of $SU(n)_L\times SU(n)_R\to SU(n)_V$, $SU(2n)\to SO(2n)$ or $SU(2n)\to Sp(2n)$. We also estimated the S parameter for those different theories.Comment: 29 page

A network-based dynamical ranking system for competitive sports

From the viewpoint of networks, a ranking system for players or teams in sports is equivalent to a centrality measure for sports networks, whereby a directed link represents the result of a single game. Previously proposed network-based ranking systems are derived from static networks, i.e., aggregation of the results of games over time. However, the score of a player (or team) fluctuates over time. Defeating a renowned player in the peak performance is intuitively more rewarding than defeating the same player in other periods. To account for this factor, we propose a dynamic variant of such a network-based ranking system and apply it to professional men's tennis data. We derive a set of linear online update equations for the score of each player. The proposed ranking system predicts the outcome of the future games with a higher accuracy than the static counterparts.Comment: 6 figure

Increasing incidence of childhood leukaemia: a controversy re-examined

We provide evidence of a gradual increase in the incidence of childhood leukaemia over the twentieth century from examination of trends in both incidence and mortality in England and Wales. We conclude that much of the recorded increase is likely to be real

Theorems for asymptotic safety of gauge theories

We classify the weakly interacting fixed points of general gauge theories coupled to matter and explain how the competition between gauge and matter fluctuations gives rise to a rich spectrum of high- and low-energy fixed points. The pivotal role played by Yukawa couplings is emphasised. Necessary and sufficient conditions for asymptotic safety of gauge theories are also derived, in conjunction with strict no go theorems. Implications for phase diagrams of gauge theories and physics beyond the Standard Model are indicated

Protocol for the Smoking, Nicotine and Pregnancy (SNAP) trial: double-blind, placebo-randomised, controlled trial of nicotine replacement therapy in pregnancy

Background: Smoking in pregnancy remains a public health challenge. Nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) is effective for smoking cessation in non-pregnant people, but because women metabolise nicotine and cotinine much faster in pregnancy, it is unclear whether this will be effective for smoking cessation in pregnancy. The NHS Health Technology Assessment Programme (HTA)-funded smoking, nicotine and pregnancy ( SNAP) trial will investigate whether or not nicotine replacement therapy ( NRT) is effective, cost-effective and safe when used for smoking cessation by pregnant women. Methods/Design: Over two years, in 5 trial centres, 1050 pregnant women who are between 12 and 24 weeks pregnant will be randomised as they attend hospital for ante-natal ultrasound scans. Women will receive either nicotine or placebo transdermal patches with behavioural support. The primary outcome measure is biochemically-validated, self-reported, prolonged and total abstinence from smoking between a quit date ( defined before randomisation and set within two weeks of this) and delivery. At six months after childbirth self-reported maternal smoking status will be ascertained and two years after childbirth, self-reported maternal smoking status and the behaviour, cognitive development and respiratory symptoms of children born in the trial will be compared in both groups. Discussion: This trial is designed to ascertain whether or not standard doses of NRT ( as transdermal patches) are effective and safe when used for smoking cessation during pregnancy

Immunoblot analysis of the seroreactivity to recombinant Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato antigens, including VlsE, in the long-term course of treated patients with Erythema migrans

Objective: We evaluated whether immunoblotting is capable of substantiating the posttreatment clinical assessment of patients with erythema migrans ( EM), the hallmark of early Lyme borreliosis. Methods: In 50 patients, seroreactivity to different antigens of Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato was analyzed by a recombinant immunoblot test (IB) in consecutive serum samples from a minimum follow-up period of 1 year. Antigens in the IgG test were decorin- binding protein A, internal fragment of p41 (p41i), outer surface protein C (OspC), p39, variable major protein-like sequence expressed (VlsE), p58 and p100; those in the IgM test were p41i, OspC and p39. Immune responses were correlated with clinical and treatment-related parameters. Results: Positive IB results were found in 50% before, in 57% directly after therapy and in 44% by the end of the follow-up for the IgG class, and in 36, 43 and 12% for the IgM class. In acute and convalescence phase sera, VlsE was most immunogenic on IgG testing 60 and 70%), and p41i (46 and 57%) and OspC (40 and 57%) for the IgM class. By the end of the follow-up, only the anti-p41i lgM response was significantly decreased to 24%. Conclusions: No correlation was found between IB results and treatment-related parameters. Thus, immunoblotting does not add to the clinical assessment of EM patients after treatment. Copyright (c) 2008 S. Karger AG, Basel