Identification of Human Sperm Antigens to Antisperm Antibodies *

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/98396/1/j.1600-0897.1983.tb00243.x.pd

Absence of Antisperm Antibodies in Anejaculatory Men

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/96435/1/j.1939-4640.1990.tb00162.x.pd

An Enhanced Perturbational Study on Spectral Properties of the Anderson Model

The infinite-$U$ single impurity Anderson model for rare earth alloys is examined with a new set of self-consistent coupled integral equations, which can be embedded in the large $N$ expansion scheme ($N$ is the local spin degeneracy). The finite temperature impurity density of states (DOS) and the spin-fluctuation spectra are calculated exactly up to the order $O(1/N^2)$. The presented conserving approximation goes well beyond the $1/N$-approximation ({\em NCA}) and maintains local Fermi-liquid properties down to very low temperatures. The position of the low lying Abrikosov-Suhl resonance (ASR) in the impurity DOS is in accordance with Friedel's sum rule. For $N=2$ its shift toward the chemical potential, compared to the {\em NCA}, can be traced back to the influence of the vertex corrections. The width and height of the ASR is governed by the universal low temperature energy scale $T_K$. Temperature and degeneracy $N$-dependence of the static magnetic susceptibility is found in excellent agreement with the Bethe-Ansatz results. Threshold exponents of the local propagators are discussed. Resonant level regime ($N=1$) and intermediate valence regime ($|\epsilon_f| <\Delta$) of the model are thoroughly investigated as a critical test of the quality of the approximation. Some applications to the Anderson lattice model are pointed out.Comment: 19 pages, ReVTeX, no figures. 17 Postscript figures available on the WWW at http://spy.fkp.physik.th-darmstadt.de/~frithjof

Patient Associated Factors that Affect Adherence to Warfarin Therapy in a Tertiary Referral Hospital in Kenya

Warfarin is the most widely used oral anticoagulant but non-adherence to its therapy contributes significantly to sub-optimal anticoagulation control. A crosssectional study was carried out among 147 adult outpatients at Kenyatta National Hospital to determine the level of adherence and explore the associated factors. Adherence was associated with age, gender heart valve surgery, alcohol consumption, and cost of treatment. On multivariate analysis, the independent variables associated with adequate adherence were age (OR = 0.429, 95% CI = 0.228-0.808; p = 0.009), gender (OR = 0.299, 95% CI = 0.123-0.728; p = 0.008) and the type of thromboembolic disease (OR = 0.385, 95% CI = 0.214-0.690; p = 0.001). Adherence was better among females, older age groups and patients who had undergone heart valve surgery. Adherence was poorer among males, younger participants and patients with venous thromboembolism. We suggest that medication adherence counseling to warfarin therapy should be emphasized in poor-adherent patient populations.Key words: Warfarin, adherence, patient factors, Keny

Fitness consequences of Anopheles gambiae population hybridization

BACKGROUND: The use of transgenic mosquitoes with parasite inhibiting genes has been proposed as an integral strategy to control malaria transmission. However, release of exotic transgenic mosquitoes will bring in novel alleles along with parasite-inhibiting genes that may have unknown effects on native populations. Thus it is necessary to study the effects and dynamics of fitness traits in native mosquito populations in response to the introduction of novel genes. This study was designed to evaluate the dynamics of fitness traits in a simulation of introduction of novel alleles under laboratory conditions using two strains of Anopheles gambiae: Mbita strain from western Kenya and Ifakara strain from Tanzania. METHODS: The dynamics of fitness traits were evaluated under laboratory conditions using the two An. gambiae strains. These two geographically different strains were cross-bred and monitored for 20 generations to score fecundity, body size, blood-meal size, larval survival, and adult longevity, all of which are important determinants of the vector's potential in malaria transmission. Traits were analysed using pair-wise analysis of variance (ANOVA) for fecundity, body size, and blood-meal size while survival analysis was performed for larval survival and adult longevity. RESULTS: Fecundity and body size were significantly higher in the progeny up to the 20(th )generation compared to founder strains. Adult longevity had a significantly higher mean up to the 10(th )generation and average blood-meal size was significantly larger up to the 5(th )generation, indicating that hybrids fitness is enhanced over that of the founder strains. CONCLUSION: Hybridization of the two mosquito populations used in this study led to increased performance in the fitness traits studied. Given that the studied traits are important determinants of the vector's potential to transmit malaria, these results suggest the need to release genetically modified mosquitoes that have the same or very similar backgrounds to the native populations

Linked Cluster Expansion Around Mean-Field Theories of Interacting Electrons

A general expansion scheme based on the concept of linked cluster expansion from the theory of classical spin systems is constructed for models of interacting electrons. It is shown that with a suitable variational formulation of mean-field theories at weak (Hartree-Fock) and strong (Hubbard-III) coupling the expansion represents a universal and comprehensive tool for systematic improvements of static mean-field theories. As an example of the general formalism we investigate in detail an analytically tractable series of ring diagrams that correctly capture dynamical fluctuations at weak coupling. We introduce renormalizations of the diagrammatic expansion at various levels and show how the resultant theories are related to other approximations of similar origin. We demonstrate that only fully self-consistent approximations produce global and thermodynamically consistent extensions of static mean field theories. A fully self-consistent theory for the ring diagrams is reached by summing the so-called noncrossing diagrams.Comment: 17 pages, REVTEX, 13 uuencoded postscript figures in 2 separate file