Do Aid Agencies Have an Ethical Duty to Comply with Researchers? A Response to Rennie.

Medical AID organisations such as Médecins Sans Frontières receive several requests from individuals and international academic institutions to conduct research at their implementation sites in Africa. Do AID agencies have an ethical duty to comply with research requests? In this paper we respond to the views and constructed theories (albeit unfounded) of one such researcher, whose request to conduct research at one of our sites in the Democratic Republic of Congo was turned down

Impaired Postural Control Reduces Sit-to-Stand-to-Sit Performance in Individuals with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

Abstract Background: Functional activities, such as the sit-to-stand-to-sit (STSTS) task, are often impaired in individuals with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). The STSTS task places a high demand on the postural control system, which has been shown to be impaired in individuals with COPD. It remains unknown whether postural control deficits contribute to the decreased STSTS performance in individuals with COPD. Methods: Center of pressure displacement was determined in 18 individuals with COPD and 18 age/gender-matched controls during five consecutive STSTS movements with vision occluded. The total duration, as well as the duration of each sit, sit-to-stand, stand and stand-to-sit phase was recorded. Results: Individuals with COPD needed significantly more time to perform five consecutive STSTS movements compared to healthy controls (1966 vs. 1364 seconds, respectively; p = 0.001). The COPD group exhibited a significantly longer stand phase (p = 0.028) and stand-to-sit phase (p = 0.001) compared to the control group. In contrast, the duration of the sit phase (p = 0.766) and sit-to-stand phase (p = 0.999) was not different between groups. Conclusions: Compared to healthy individuals, individuals with COPD needed significantly more time to complete those phases of the STSTS task that require the greatest postural control. These findings support the proposition that suboptimal postural control is an important contributor to the decreased STSTS performance in individuals with COPD

Measuring perceived black economic empowerment in the South African wine industry

The aim of this study is to develop a scale to measure perceived black economic empowerment (BEE) as reported by beneficiaries themselves. Two scale development procedures were carried out on randomly selected samples of 213 and 322 previously disadvantaged individual respondents within 14 and 11wine business that cover the larger part of the wine industry chain. The results led to a 'feeling' self-report scale (5-dimensions) and an ‘evolution’ self-report scale (6-dimensions). The emerged dimensions are: Business ownership and control (BOC), Access to finance (ATF), Employment and Human Resources Management (EMP) [internal and external], Social capital/enabling environment (SOC) and Lobbying power and collective action (LOB). First measurement results indicate that respondents feel less empowered with respect to BOC and ATF as compared to EMP, SOC and LOB. There appears to be no gender or age differences, but there are geographical differences. The latter is mostly per farm, that is, a lot of variation in BEE is observed at the firm level. The scale can be used at the firm and industry level as a diagnostic tool to monitor BEE progress as a complementary and not a substitutive framework to the wine industry scorecard as an objective measure of BEE. Future research should focus on the gap between the two definitions and assessment tools in order to comprehensively capture BEE in its entirety. The scale can also be adapted to fit the context, for example, its use in the agricultural sector at large.Agribusiness,

Disinfection by hydrogen peroxide nebulization increases susceptibility to avian pathogenic Escherichia coli

Background: Avian pathogenic Escherichia coli (APEC) are the major cause of economic losses in the poultry industry worldwide. Traditionally, antibiotics are used to treat and prevent colibacillosis in broilers. Due to resistance development other ways of preventing/treating the disease have to be found. Therefore during this study the nebulization of low concentrations of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) was tested in the presence of chickens to lower pathogenicity of APEC. Results: Significantly higher total lesion scores and higher E. coli concentrations were found in the spleen of chickens exposed to 2 % H2O2 compared to those exposed to 1 % H2O2 and control chickens which had been exposed to nebulization with distilled water. Higher total lesions scores and E. coli concentrations in the spleen were found in chickens exposed to 1 % H2O2 in comparison to control chickens (not significant). Conclusion: H2O2 is rendering animals more prone to APEC infection contraindicating H2O2 nebulization in the presence of chickens

Effectiveness of highly active antiretroviral therapy in HIV-positive children: evaluation at 12 months in a routine program in Cambodia.

OBJECTIVE: Increasing access to highly active antiretroviral therapy to reach all those in need in developing countries (scale up) is slowly expanding to HIV-positive children, but documented experience remains limited. We aimed to describe the clinical, immunologic, and virologic outcomes of pediatric patients with >12 months of highly active antiretroviral therapy in 2 routine programs in Cambodia. METHODS: Between June 2003 and March 2005, 212 children who were younger than 13 years started highly active antiretroviral therapy. Most patients started a standard first-line regimen of lamivudine, stavudine, and nevirapine, using split adult fixed-dosage combinations. CD4 percentage and body weight were monitored routinely. A cross-sectional virologic analysis was conducted in January 2006; genotype resistance testing was performed for patients with a detectable viral load. RESULTS: Mean age of the subjects was 6 years. Median CD4 percentage at baseline was 6. Survival was 92% at 12 months and 91% at 24 months; 13 patients died, and 4 were lost to follow-up. A total of 81% of all patients had an undetectable viral load. Among the patients with a detectable viral load, most mutations were associated with resistance to lamivudine and non-nucleoside reverse-transcriptase inhibitor drugs. Five patients had developed extensive antiretroviral resistance. Being an orphan was found to be a predictor of virologic failure. CONCLUSIONS: This study provides additional evidence of the effectiveness of integrating HIV/AIDS care with highly active antiretroviral therapy for children in a routine setting, with good virologic suppression and immunologic recovery achieved by using split adult fixed-dosage combinations. Viral load monitoring and HIV genotyping are valuable tools for the clinical follow-up of the patients. Orphans should receive careful follow-up and extra support

Lifetime measurements of Triaxial Strongly Deformed bands in 163^{163}Tm

With the Doppler Shift Attenuation Method, quadrupole transition moments, $Q_t$, were determined for the two recently proposed Triaxial Strongly Deformed (TSD) bands in $^{163}$Tm. The measured $Q_t$ moments indicate that the deformation of these bands is larger than that of the yrast, signature partners. However, the measured values are smaller than those predicted by theory. This observation appears to be valid for TSD bands in several nuclei of the regionComment: 8 pages, 5 figures. Submitted to Physical Review

A Dose-response Approach for Predicting Frost Damage with Hygrothermal Simulations

Freeze-thaw degradation is one of the most prominent degradation risks of brick facades. Considering the difficulties of repairing freeze-thaw damage without replacing the materials, which may not always be an option due to heritage values, it is highly important to quantify the risk of frost damage in advance. Hygrothermal simulations have proven to be a valuable tool to assess the risk of deterioration of building facades. The performance criterion method generally applied today quantifies the number of critical freeze-thaw cycles (FTCcrit) as described by Mensinga et al (2010). This method is based on frost resistance tests that adopt high moisture contents and extremely low frost temperatures. However, building facades often experience milder frost temperatures and lower moisture contents rather than these extreme conditions. A journal article published by Feng et al. (2019) investigated the relationship of frost damage with temperature and moisture content, which enables a dose-response approach that goes beyond the existing threshold level criteria. The experimental study tested freezing temperatures from -2°C to -20°C and moisture saturation degrees from 0.1 to 1.0. This paper studies freeze-thaw risk using this advanced approach, and investigates whether the dose-response approach can lead to a clarification at what number of FTCcrit actual deterioration occurs and how this can be predicted by the use of hygrothermal simulations. Thereby, an attempt is made to derive a more representative performance criterion for frost damage