1,013 research outputs found
Contact behaviour of children and parental employment behaviour during school closures against the pandemic influenza A (H1N1-2009) in Japan
published_or_final_versio
Vaccination and clinical severity: Is the effectiveness of contact tracing and case isolation hampered by past vaccination?
published_or_final_versio
Estimating the Risk of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) Death During the Course of the Outbreak in the Republic of Korea
Objectives: A large cluster of the Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) linked to healthcare setting occurred from May to July 2015 in the Republic of Korea. The present study aimed to estimate the case fatality ratio (CFR) by appropriately taking into account the time delay from illness onset to death. We then compare our estimate against previously published values of the CFR for MERS, i.e., 20% and 40%. Methods: Dates of illness onset and death of the MERS outbreak in the Republic of Korea were extracted from secondary data sources. Using the known distribution of time from illness onset to death and an integral equation model, we estimated the delay-adjusted risk of MERS death for the South Korean cluster. Results: Our most up-to-date estimate of CFR for the MERS outbreak in South Korea was estimated at 20.0% (95% confidence intervals (CI): 14.6, 26.2). During the course of the outbreak, estimate of the CFR in real time appeared to have decreased and become significantly lower than 40%. Conclusions: The risk of MERS death in Korea was consistent with published CFR. The estimate decreased with time perhaps due to time-dependent increase in case ascertainment. Crude ratio of cumulative deaths t
Arrival directions of cosmic rays of E .4 EeV
The anisotropy of cosmic rays observed by the Utah Fly's Eye detector has been studied. Emphasis has been placed on examining distributions of events in galactic coordinates. No statistically significant departure from isotropy has been observed for energies greater than 0.4 EeV (1 EeV = 10 to the 18th power eV). Results of the standard harmonic analysis in right ascension are also presented
Surgical Results of Patients with Peritoneal Carcinomatosis Treated with Cytoreductive Surgery Using a New Technique Named Aqua Dissection
During 2004 to 2011, 81, 420, and 166 patients with colorectal cancer (CRC), epithelial appendiceal neoplasm (APN), and gastric cancer (GC) with PC were treated with cytoreductive surgery (CRS) plus perioperative chemotherapy. CRS was performed by peritonectomy techniques using an aqua dissection. Results. Complete cytoreduction was done in 62/81 (76.5%), 228/420 (54.3%), and 101/166 (60.8%) of patients with CRC, APN, and GC. The main reasons of incomplete resections were involvement of all peritoneal regions and diffuse involvement of small bowel. The incidence (64%, 302/470) of CC-0 resection after introduction of an aqua dissection was significantly higher than before (42%, 82/197). A total of 41 (6.1%) patients died postoperatively. Major complication (grade 3-4 complications) occurred in 126 patients (18.9%). A reoperation was necessary in 36 patients (5.4%). By the multivariate analysis, PCI scores capable of serving as thresholds for favorable versus poor prognosis in each group and CC scores demonstrated as the independent prognostic factors. Conclusions. Peritonectomy using an aqua dissection improves the incidence of complete cytoreduction, and improves the survival of patients with PC. Patients with PCI larger than the threshold values should be treated with chemotherapy to improve the incidences of complete cytoreduction
An Electron-Tracking Compton Telescope for a Survey of the Deep Universe by MeV gamma-rays
Photon imaging for MeV gammas has serious difficulties due to huge
backgrounds and unclearness in images, which are originated from incompleteness
in determining the physical parameters of Compton scattering in detection,
e.g., lack of the directional information of the recoil electrons. The recent
major mission/instrument in the MeV band, Compton Gamma Ray
Observatory/COMPTEL, which was Compton Camera (CC), detected mere
persistent sources. It is in stark contrast with 2000 sources in the GeV
band. Here we report the performance of an Electron-Tracking Compton Camera
(ETCC), and prove that it has a good potential to break through this stagnation
in MeV gamma-ray astronomy. The ETCC provides all the parameters of
Compton-scattering by measuring 3-D recoil electron tracks; then the Scatter
Plane Deviation (SPD) lost in CCs is recovered. The energy loss rate (dE/dx),
which CCs cannot measure, is also obtained, and is found to be indeed helpful
to reduce the background under conditions similar to space. Accordingly the
significance in gamma detection is improved severalfold. On the other hand, SPD
is essential to determine the point-spread function (PSF) quantitatively. The
SPD resolution is improved close to the theoretical limit for multiple
scattering of recoil electrons. With such a well-determined PSF, we demonstrate
for the first time that it is possible to provide reliable sensitivity in
Compton imaging without utilizing an optimization algorithm. As such, this
study highlights the fundamental weak-points of CCs. In contrast we demonstrate
the possibility of ETCC reaching the sensitivity below erg
cm s at 1 MeV.Comment: 19 pages, 12 figures, Accepted to the Astrophysical Journa
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