Post exposure prophylaxis among Ugandan nurses accidents do happen

Purpose: In 2009 we conducted a study to explore Ugandan nurses’ practice of universal precautions while caring for persons living with HIV. During our interviews about universal precautions, nurses’ also shared their experience with post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) following needle-stick injuries. We present findings related to nurses’ understanding of PEP and their experience with, and reporting of, needle stick injuries. Background: Nurses have high rates of exposure to blood-borne pathogens. Although there is minimal risk of the transmission of blood-borne pathogens from health care workers (HCWs) to patients and vice versa, post-exposure prophylaxis, has become routine following the occupational exposure of HCWs to HIV. Methods: Focused ethnography was used to guide the data collection and in-depth interviews were used to collect the data between October and November 2009. Results: Sixteen nurses from a variety of units in a large teaching hospital participated. Needle-stick injuries were a fairly common occurrence, but written policies were frequently inaccessible to nurses and they did not have adequate knowledge of PEP. Some nurses were reluctant to report injuries and avoided following PEP procedures due to lack of knowledge about PEP, concerns about anti-retroviral side effects and the stigma associated with PEP. Participants were aware of PEP however there was a wide variation in their understanding of the procedure to follow after a needle-stick injury. Conclusion: Employers have a responsibility to update PEP guidelines and to orientate HCWs to these. Educators must ensure that undergraduate nurses have a comprehensive understanding of universal precautions and current practice for PEP

Epidemiological and socio-legal overview

No Abstract

Interprofessional curriculum on environmental and social determinants of health in rural Kenya: Aga Khan University East Africa University of California San Francisco integrated primary health care program

The Aga Khan University East Africa (AKU)-University of California San Francisco (UCSF) Integrated Primary Health Care Program (IPHC) is a public–private partnership with community and government to strengthen the primary health care (PHC) system in Kenya. IPHC provides opportunities for health professions students to work and learn together in the rural and underserved district of Kaloleni

Prostate-specific antigen testing in inner London general practices: are those at higher risk most likely to get tested?

This study was funded by the Guy’s and St Thomas’ Hospital Charity (Fund 201)

Standalone vertex finding in the ATLAS muon spectrometer

A dedicated reconstruction algorithm to find decay vertices in the ATLAS muon spectrometer is presented. The algorithm searches the region just upstream of or inside the muon spectrometer volume for multi-particle vertices that originate from the decay of particles with long decay paths. The performance of the algorithm is evaluated using both a sample of simulated Higgs boson events, in which the Higgs boson decays to long-lived neutral particles that in turn decay to bbar b final states, and pp collision data at √s = 7 TeV collected with the ATLAS detector at the LHC during 2011

Measurements of Higgs boson production and couplings in diboson final states with the ATLAS detector at the LHC

Measurements are presented of production properties and couplings of the recently discovered Higgs boson using the decays into boson pairs, H →γ γ, H → Z Z∗ →4l and H →W W∗ →lνlν. The results are based on the complete pp collision data sample recorded by the ATLAS experiment at the CERN Large Hadron Collider at centre-of-mass energies of √s = 7 TeV and √s = 8 TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of about 25 fb−1. Evidence for Higgs boson production through vector-boson fusion is reported. Results of combined fits probing Higgs boson couplings to fermions and bosons, as well as anomalous contributions to loop-induced production and decay modes, are presented. All measurements are consistent with expectations for the Standard Model Higgs boson

Measurement of the top quark pair cross section with ATLAS in pp collisions at √s=7 TeV using final states with an electron or a muon and a hadronically decaying τ lepton

A measurement of the cross section of top quark pair production in proton-proton collisions recorded with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV is reported. The data sample used corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 2.05 fb -1. Events with an isolated electron or muon and a τ lepton decaying hadronically are used. In addition, a large missing transverse momentum and two or more energetic jets are required. At least one of the jets must be identified as originating from a b quark. The measured cross section, σtt-=186±13(stat.)±20(syst.)±7(lumi.) pb, is in good agreement with the Standard Model prediction

Measurement of the top quark-pair production cross section with ATLAS in pp collisions at \sqrt{s}=7\TeV

A measurement of the production cross-section for top quark pairs(\ttbar) in $pp$ collisions at \sqrt{s}=7 \TeV is presented using data recorded with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. Events are selected in two different topologies: single lepton (electron $e$ or muon $\mu$) with large missing transverse energy and at least four jets, and dilepton ($ee$, $\mu\mu$ or $e\mu$) with large missing transverse energy and at least two jets. In a data sample of 2.9 pb-1, 37 candidate events are observed in the single-lepton topology and 9 events in the dilepton topology. The corresponding expected backgrounds from non-\ttbar Standard Model processes are estimated using data-driven methods and determined to be $12.2 \pm 3.9$ events and $2.5 \pm 0.6$ events, respectively. The kinematic properties of the selected events are consistent with SM \ttbar production. The inclusive top quark pair production cross-section is measured to be \sigmattbar=145 \pm 31 ^{+42}_{-27} pb where the first uncertainty is statistical and the second systematic. The measurement agrees with perturbative QCD calculations.Comment: 30 pages plus author list (50 pages total), 9 figures, 11 tables, CERN-PH number and final journal adde