Attitudes towards mental illness in Malawi: a cross-sectional survey

<p><b>Background:</b> Stigma and discrimination associated with mental illness are strongly linked to suffering, disability and poverty. In order to protect the rights of those with mental disorders and to sensitively develop services, it is vital to gain a more accurate understanding of the frequency and nature of stigma against people with mental illness. Little research about this issue has been conducted in sub Saharan Africa. Our study aimed to describe levels of stigma in Malawi.</p> <p><b>Method:</b> A cross-sectional survey of patients and relatives attending mental health and non-mental health related clinics in a general hospital in Blantyre, Malawi. Subjects were interviewed using an adapted version of the questionnaire developed for the World Psychiatric Association Program to Reduce Stigma and Discrimination Because of Schizophrenia.</p> <p><b>Results:</b> 210 subjects participated in our study. Most attributed mental disorder to alcohol and illicit drug abuse (95%). This was closely followed by brain disease (92.8%), spirit possession (82.8%) and then psychological trauma (76.1%). There were some associations found between demographic variables and single question responses, however no consistent trends were observed in stigmatising beliefs. These results should be interpreted with caution and in the context of existing research. Contrary to the international literature, having direct personal experience of mental illness seemed to have no positive effect on stigmatising beliefs in our sample.</p> <p><b>Conclusions:</b> Our study contributes to an emerging picture that individuals in sub Saharan Africa most commonly attribute mental illness to alcohol/ illicit drug use and spiritual causes. Our work adds weight to the argument that stigma towards mental illness is an important global health and human rights issue.</p&gt

Orientation and distribution of recent gullies in the southern hemisphere of Mars: observations from HRSC/MEX and MOC/MGS data

Abstract not available

Synchronous Behavior of Two Coupled Electronic Neurons

We report on experimental studies of synchronization phenomena in a pair of analog electronic neurons (ENs). The ENs were designed to reproduce the observed membrane voltage oscillations of isolated biological neurons from the stomatogastric ganglion of the California spiny lobster Panulirus interruptus. The ENs are simple analog circuits which integrate four dimensional differential equations representing fast and slow subcellular mechanisms that produce the characteristic regular/chaotic spiking-bursting behavior of these cells. In this paper we study their dynamical behavior as we couple them in the same configurations as we have done for their counterpart biological neurons. The interconnections we use for these neural oscillators are both direct electrical connections and excitatory and inhibitory chemical connections: each realized by analog circuitry and suggested by biological examples. We provide here quantitative evidence that the ENs and the biological neurons behave similarly when coupled in the same manner. They each display well defined bifurcations in their mutual synchronization and regularization. We report briefly on an experiment on coupled biological neurons and four dimensional ENs which provides further ground for testing the validity of our numerical and electronic models of individual neural behavior. Our experiments as a whole present interesting new examples of regularization and synchronization in coupled nonlinear oscillators.Comment: 26 pages, 10 figure

Experimental study of super-rotation in a magnetostrophic spherical Couette flow

We report measurements of electric potentials at the surface of a spherical container of liquid sodium in which a magnetized inner core is differentially rotating. The azimuthal angular velocities inferred from these potentials reveal a strong super-rotation of the liquid sodium in the equatorial region, for small differential rotation. Super-rotation was observed in numerical simulations by Dormy et al. [1]. We find that the latitudinal variation of the electric potentials in our experiments differs markedly from the predictions of a similar numerical model, suggesting that some of the assumptions used in the model - steadiness, equatorial symmetry, and linear treatment for the evolution of both the magnetic and velocity fields - are violated in the experiments. In addition, radial velocity measurements, using ultrasonic Doppler velocimetry, provide evidence of oscillatory motion near the outer sphere at low latitude: it is viewed as the signature of an instability of the super-rotating region

Zonal shear and super-rotation in a magnetized spherical Couette flow experiment

We present measurements performed in a spherical shell filled with liquid sodium, where a 74 mm-radius inner sphere is rotated while a 210 mm-radius outer sphere is at rest. The inner sphere holds a dipolar magnetic field and acts as a magnetic propeller when rotated. In this experimental set-up called DTS, direct measurements of the velocity are performed by ultrasonic Doppler velocimetry. Differences in electric potential and the induced magnetic field are also measured to characterize the magnetohydrodynamic flow. Rotation frequencies of the inner sphere are varied between -30 Hz and +30 Hz, the magnetic Reynolds number based on measured sodium velocities and on the shell radius reaching to about 33. We have investigated the mean axisymmetric part of the flow, which consists of differential rotation. Strong super-rotation of the fluid with respect to the rotating inner sphere is directly measured. It is found that the organization of the mean flow does not change much throughout the entire range of parameters covered by our experiment. The direct measurements of zonal velocity give a nice illustration of Ferraro's law of isorotation in the vicinity of the inner sphere where magnetic forces dominate inertial ones. The transition from a Ferraro regime in the interior to a geostrophic regime, where inertial forces predominate, in the outer regions has been well documented. It takes place where the local Elsasser number is about 1. A quantitative agreement with non-linear numerical simulations is obtained when keeping the same Elsasser number. The experiments also reveal a region that violates Ferraro's law just above the inner sphere.Comment: Phys Rev E, in pres

Computed Microtomography of Bone Specimens for Rapid Analysis of Bone Changes Associated With Malignancy

Breast and prostate cancers are specially metastasizing to bone. Metastases from breast cancer usually exhibit a mixed osteolytic/osteosclerotic aspect, with osteolysis predominating. Osteosclerosis is a common finding in prostatic cancer although osteolysis occurs within the sclerotic lesions. B-cell malignancies (lymphoma, myeloma) are also associated with marked osteolysis. Histopathological examination of bone biopsies was used for the diagnosis of malignancies and, prior to embedding, microcomputed tomography (microCT) was done on the bone specimens. Patients (247) who presented either a bone metastasis, an overt myeloma, a lymphoma or a monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance were studied. All patients had a bone biopsy studied by 2D histomorphometry for the histopathology. During the fixation time, the bone cores were analyzed by microCT. On the 3D reconstructed models provided by microCT, signs of osteolysis/osteosclerosis were searched: excess of bone resorption, focal disorganization of microarchitecture, bone metaplasia, osteosclerosis. A strong agreement was obtained between histomorphometry and microCT results using Cohen\u27s kappa test (κ = 0.713). MicroCT identified excess bone resorption on trabecular surfaces when eroded surfaces were >10.5% by histomorphometry. MicroCT failed to identify some patients with smoldering myeloma or some lymphomas with microresorption. MicroCT data are obtained within 4 hr and suggest the malignant invasion of bone marrow when excess of bone resorption/formation is obtained. MicroCT can be used in the immediate postbiopsy period making possible a fast identification of malignancy. However these signs are not specific and must be confirmed by histopathological analysis

Visibility diagrams and experimental stripe structure in the quantum Hall effect

We analyze various properties of the visibility diagrams that can be used in the context of modular symmetries and confront them to some recent experimental developments in the Quantum Hall Effect. We show that a suitable physical interpretation of the visibility diagrams which permits one to describe successfully the observed architecture of the Quantum Hall states gives rise naturally to a stripe structure reproducing some of the experimental features that have been observed in the study of the quantum fluctuations of the Hall conductance. Furthermore, we exhibit new properties of the visibility diagrams stemming from the structure of subgroups of the full modular group.Comment: 8 pages in plain TeX, 7 figures in a single postscript fil

Motor learning in unilateral cerebral palsy and the influence of corticospinal tract reorganization

Cerebral Palsy (CP) is a complex neurological disorder, characterized by congenital motor disability associated with behaviour, perception and cognition disorders. The sensorimotor impairments represent the main hallmark of the disease, significantly impacting the quality of life. So far, few studies have investigated motor learning abilities in CP and their association with the plastic reorganization of the motor system remains largely unknown. The present proof-of-principle study explored explicit motor sequence learning in children with unilateral CP and different patterns of motor system reorganization (bilateral, ipsilateral, contralateral). Children with unilateral CP, and a group of age-matched typically developing (TD) children, underwent a sequential finger tapping task, performed with the affected hand by children with CP and with the non-dominant hand by TD children. The pattern of corticospinal tract projections in hemiparetic patients was assessed by single-pulse Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS). Results showed the presence of finger dexterity impairments in children with unilateral CP presenting with a bilateral or an ipsilateral control of the affected (trained) hand, as compared to TD children. Conversely, motor sequence learning was impaired in unilateral CP with ipsilateral or contralateral corticospinal reorganization, but not in the case of a bilateral control of the paretic hand. These preliminary findings, although referred to small clinical samples, suggest that unilateral control of the paretic upper-limb, from the ipsilateral or the contralateral motor cortex, may not be sufficient to develop typical motor learning with the affected hand, which seems to require a bilateral representation in the motor cortex. This evidence has potential implications for fine motor skills rehabilitation in CP