A Qualitative Assessment of Participation in a Rapid Scale-Up, Diagonally-Integrated MDG-Related Disease Prevention Campaign in Rural Kenya

Background: Many countries face severe scale-up barriers toward achievement of MDGs. We ascertained motivational and experiential dimensions of participation in a novel, rapid, ‘‘diagonal’ ’ Integrated Prevention Campaign (IPC) in rural Kenya that provided prevention goods and services to 47,000 people within one week, aimed at rapidly moving the region toward MDG achievement. Specifically, the IPC provided interventions and commodities targeting disease burden reduction in HIV/ AIDS, malaria, and water-borne illness. Methods: Qualitative in-depth interviews (IDI) were conducted with 34 people (18 living with HIV/AIDS and 16 not HIVinfected) randomly selected from IPC attendees consenting to participate. Interviews were examined for themes and patterns to elucidate participant experience and motivation with IPC. Findings: Participants report being primarily motivated to attend IPC to learn of their HIV status (through voluntary counseling and testing), and with receipt of prevention commodities (bednets, water filters, and condoms) providing further incentive. Participants reported that they were satisfied with the IPC experience and offered suggestions to improve future campaigns. Interpretation: Learning their HIV status motivated participants along with the incentive of a wider set of commodities that were rapidly deployed through IPC in this challenging region. The critical role of wanting to know their HIV status combine

Directionally accelerated detection of an unknown second reactor with antineutrinos for mid-field nonproliferation monitoring

When monitoring a reactor site for nuclear nonproliferation purposes, the presence of an unknown or hidden nuclear reactor could be obscured by the activities of a known reactor of much greater power nearby. Thus when monitoring reactor activities by the observation of antineutrino emissions, one must discriminate known background reactor fluxes from possible unknown reactor signals under investigation. To quantify this discrimination, we find the confidence to reject the (null) hypothesis of a single proximal reactor, by exploiting directional antineutrino signals in the presence of a second, unknown reactor. In particular, we simulate the inverse beta decay (IBD) response of a detector filled with a 1 kT fiducial mass of Gadolinium-doped liquid scintillator in mineral oil. We base the detector geometry on that of WATCHMAN, an upcoming antineutrino monitoring experiment soon to be deployed at the Boulby mine in the United Kingdom whose design and deployment will be detailed in a forthcoming white paper. From this simulation, we construct an analytical model of the IBD event distribution for the case of one 4 GWt±2% reactor 25 km away from the detector site, and for an additional, unknown, 35 MWt reactor 3 to 5 km away. The effects of natural-background rejection cuts are approximated. Applying the model, we predict 3σ confidence to detect the presence of an unknown reactor within five weeks, at standoffs of 3 km or nearer. For more distant unknown reactors, the 3σ detection time increases significantly. However, the relative significance of directional sensitivity also increases, providing up to an eight week speedup to detect an unknown reactor at 5 km away. Therefore, directionally sensitive antineutrino monitoring can accelerate the mid-field detection of unknown reactors whose operation might otherwise be masked by more powerful reactors in the vicinity

Suplementação com ácido linoléico conjugado: estabilidade oxidativa dos suplementos e correlações com conteúdo dos lípides totais hepáticos e indicadores da oxidação dos lípides biológicos de ratos Wistar Conjugated linoleic acid supplementation: oxidative stability of supplements and correlations with total hepatic lipid contents and biological lipid oxidation indicators in Wistar rats

OBJETIVO:O objetivo do trabalho foi avaliar a estabilidade oxidativa de misturas comerciais de ácido linoléico conjugado e buscar possível correlação entre a suplementação e o conteúdo total de lípides hepáticos, e também de alguns indicadores da oxidação lipídica em ratos. MÉTODOS:Um ensaio biológico com 30 ratos divididos em três grupos (n=10) caracterizando os grupos controle e suplementados com as misturas comerciais AdvantEdge® e One® foi realizado. A concentração administrada foi de 2% em relação ao consumo de dieta e os animais foram suplementados durante 42 dias. O conteúdo total de lípides do fígado foi determinado e a morfologia do órgão foi examinada por meio de microscopia ótica. Índice de peróxido e malondialdeído foram determinados para avaliar a estabilidade oxidativa dos suplementos in vitro. Índice de peróxido, malondialdeído, 8-iso-PGF2&#945; isoprostana e catalase foram determinados como indicadores da oxidação dos lípides biológicos. RESULTADOS: Os resultados demonstraram baixa estabilidade das misturas comerciais à oxidação in vitro. As associações entre o consumo de ácido linoléico conjugado e malondialdeído (r=-0,7914, p<0,0001) e catalase (r=-0,5991, p=0,008) foram moderadas, negativas e significantes, demonstrando que o ácido linoléico conjugado reduziu a oxidação lipídica in vivo. O conteúdo dos lípides totais hepáticos não aumentou (22,42%, DP=1,40%) e a morfologia do órgão permaneceu íntegra. CONCLUSÃO:Embora esse protocolo de suplementação com ácido linoléico conjugado tenha reduzido a oxidação lipídica, há que considerar a tendência para o aumento de 8-iso-PGF2&#945; isoprostana e de peróxidos como perspectiva de continuidade das pesquisas sobre a reinvestigação do efeito antioxidante do ácido linoléico conjugado.<br>OBJECTIVE:The claimed action of conjugated linoleic acid as an antioxidant is unexpected and unclear, in view of its chemical structure - a conjugated diene, i.e., a fatty acid in its initial stage of autoxidation. Indeed, it can be speculated that it could act as a pro-oxidant, increasing oxidative stress in biological systems, nevertheless it has carbon-carbon bonds in the trans configuration. The objective of the present work was to evaluate the oxidative stability of commercial mixtures, and to investigate a possible correlation between conjugated linoleic acid supplementation and total hepatic lipid content, as well as some lipid oxidation indicators in rats. METHODS:A biological assay was done with thirty rats divided into three groups (n=10) characterized as control and supplemented with the commercial mixtures AdvantEdge® and One®. The mixtures were administered in the concentration of 2% of the total diet consumption, and animals were supplemented for 42 days. The total liver lipid content was determined, and the morphology of the organ was examined by optical microscopy. Peroxide and malondialdehyde indexes were determined in vitro in order to evaluate the oxidative stability of the supplements. Peroxide, malondialdehyde and 8-iso-PGF2&#945; isoprostane and catalase were determined as biological lipid oxidation indicators. RESULTS:Results indicated a low in vitro oxidation stability of commercial mixtures. Associations between conjugated linoleic acid consumption and malondialdehyde (r=-0.7914, p<0.0001), and catalase (r=-0.5991, p=0.008) were moderate, negative and significant, demonstrating that conjugated linoleic acid reduced in vivo lipid oxidation. Total hepatic lipid content did not increase (22.42%, (SD=1.40%), and the organ remained morphologically undamaged. CONCLUSION:However, even though this CLA supplementation protocol did reduce lipid oxidation, a tendency was observed to an increase of 8-iso-PGF2 alpha isoprostane and peroxides induced by conjugated linoleic acid. Further research may be needed to verify its antioxidant effect

Are doctors and nurses associated with coverage of essential health services in developing countries? A cross-sectional study

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/62076/1/kruk_doctors and nurses_2009.pd