Healthcare professionals’ perceptions of alcoholintoxicated trauma patients: Implications for healthcare delivery at South Rand Hospital Emergency Department

Objectives: The objectives of this study were to explore healthcare professionals’ (HCPs) perceptions about patients who had been assaulted, who consult under the influence of alcohol, and to make them aware of their attitudes towards these patients, with a view to improving their care.Design: An explorative, descriptive study with 15 HCPs purposively  selected across professional categories, qualifications, work experience, gender and age. These HCPs participated in four focus group interviews on intoxicated patients who had been assaulted. The interviews were audio-taped and supplemented with field and observational notes. Themes were identified using the cut-and-paste method and grouped into categories. Findings were subjected to mental triangulation, peer review and member check, and were compared with those in the literature.Settings and subjects: HCPs who treat assault patients within the emergency department (ED) of South Rand Hospital, Rosettenville, comprised the study population. They expressed their perceptions and inner feeling about patients under the influence of alcohol who had been assaulted. Interviews were carried out in the boardroom of the hospital.Outcome measures: HCPs’ awareness of their attitudes towards assaulted patients under the influence of alcohol Results: Frustration, anger, a desire to punish intoxicated patients and concern about wastage of hospital resources were some of the stressors experienced by HCPs. Exposure to health hazards and a poor security system were concerns that arose following intimidation, aggression and verbal abuse from alcohol-intoxicated patients who had been assaulted.Conclusion: HCPs experience negative emotions and develop negative attitudes in response to alcohol-intoxicated patients who have been assaulted

Uncertainty Principle Enhanced Pairing Correlations in Projected Fermi Systems Near Half Filling

We point out the curious phenomenon of order by projection in a class of lattice Fermi systems near half filling. Enhanced pairing correlations of extended s-wave Cooper pairs result from the process of projecting out s-wave Cooper pairs, with negligible effect on the ground state energy. The Hubbard model is a particularly nice example of the above phenomenon, which is revealed with the use of rigorous inequalities including the Uncertainty Principle Inequality. In addition, we present numerical evidence that at half filling, a related but simplified model shows ODLRO of extended s-wave Cooper pairs.Comment: RevTex 11 pages + 1 ps figure. Date 19 September 1996, Ver.

Green Function on the q-Symmetric Space SU_q(2)/U(1)

Following the introduction of the invariant distance on the non-commutative C-algebra of the quantum group SU_q(2), the Green function and the Kernel on the q-homogeneous space M=SU(2)_q/U(1) are derived. A path integration is formulated. Green function for the free massive scalar field on the non-commutative Einstein space R^1xM is presented.Comment: Plain Latex, 19

Universal Quantum Computation with the Exchange Interaction

Experimental implementations of quantum computer architectures are now being investigated in many different physical settings. The full set of requirements that must be met to make quantum computing a reality in the laboratory [1] is daunting, involving capabilities well beyond the present state of the art. In this report we develop a significant simplification of these requirements that can be applied in many recent solid-state approaches, using quantum dots [2], and using donor-atom nuclear spins [3] or electron spins [4]. In these approaches, the basic two-qubit quantum gate is generated by a tunable Heisenberg interaction (the Hamiltonian is $H_{ij}=J(t){\vec S}_i\cdot{\vec S}_j$ between spins $i$ and $j$), while the one-qubit gates require the control of a local Zeeman field. Compared to the Heisenberg operation, the one-qubit operations are significantly slower and require substantially greater materials and device complexity, which may also contribute to increasing the decoherence rate. Here we introduce an explicit scheme in which the Heisenberg interaction alone suffices to exactly implement any quantum computer circuit, at a price of a factor of three in additional qubits and about a factor of ten in additional two-qubit operations. Even at this cost, the ability to eliminate the complexity of one-qubit operations should accelerate progress towards these solid-state implementations of quantum computation.Comment: revtex, 2 figures, this version appeared in Natur

The chemopreventive polyphenol Curcumin prevents hematogenous breast cancer metastases in immunodeficient mice

Dissemination of metastatic cells probably occurs long before diagnosis of the primary tumor. Metastasis during early phases of carcinogenesis in high risk patients is therefore a potential prevention target. The plant polyphenol Curcumin has been proposed for dietary prevention of cancer. We therefore examined its effects on the human breast cancer cell line MDA-MB-231 in vitro and in a mouse metastasis model. Curcumin strongly induces apoptosis in MDA- MB- 231 cells in correlation with reduced activation of the survival pathway NF kappa B, as a consequence of diminished I kappa B and p65 phosphorylation. Curcumin also reduces the expression of major matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) due to reduced NF kappa B activity and transcriptional downregulation of AP-1. NF kappa B/p65 silencing is sufficient to downregulate c-jun and MMP expression. Reduced NF kappa B/AP-1 activity and MMP expression lead to diminished invasion through a reconstituted basement membrane and to a significantly lower number of lung metastases in immunodeficient mice after intercardiac injection of 231 cells (p=0.0035). 68% of Curcumin treated but only 17% of untreated animals showed no or very few lung metastases, most likely as a consequence of down-regulation of NF kappa B/AP-1 dependent MMP expression and direct apoptotic effects on circulating tumor cells but not on established metastases. Dietary chemoprevention of metastases appears therefore feasible. Copyright (c) 2007 S. Karger AG, Basel

The determinants of vulnerability to currency crises: country-specific factors versus regional factors

We investigate the determinants of exchange market pressures (EMP) for some new EU member states at both the national and regional levels, where macroeconomic and financial variables are considered as potential sources. The regional common factors are extracted from these variables by using dynamic factor analysis. The linear empirical analysis, in general, highlights the importance of country-specific factors to defend themselves against vulnerability in their external sectors. Yet, given a significant impact of the common component in credit on EMP, a contagion effect is apparent through the conduit of credit market integration across these countries under investigation

Understanding the edge effect in TASEP with mean-field theoretic approaches

We study a totally asymmetric simple exclusion process (TASEP) with one defect site, hopping rate $q<1$, near the system boundary. Regarding our system as a pair of uniform TASEP's coupled through the defect, we study various methods to match a \emph{finite} TASEP and an \emph{infinite} one across a common boundary. Several approximation schemes are investigated. Utilizing the finite segment mean-field (FSMF) method, we set up a framework for computing the steady state current $J$ as a function of the entry rate $$ and $q$. For the case where the defect is located at the entry site, we obtain an analytical expression for $J(\alpha, q)$ which is in good agreement with Monte Carlo simulation results. When the defect is located deeper in the bulk, we refined the scheme of MacDonald, et.al. [Biopolymers, \textbf{6}, 1 (1968)] and find reasonably good fits to the density profiles before the defect site. We discuss the strengths and limitations of each method, as well as possible avenues for further studies.Comment: 16 pages, 4 figure

Deconstructing the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender victim of sex trafficking: Harm, exceptionality and religion–sexuality tensions

Contrary to widespread belief, sex trafficking also targets lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) communities. Contemporary social and political constructions of victimhood lie at the heart of regulatory policies on sex trafficking. Led by the US Department of State, knowledge about LGBT victims of trafficking constitutes the newest frontier in the expansion of criminalization measures. These measures represent a crucial shift. From a burgeoning range of preemptive measures enacted to protect an amorphous class of ‘all potential victims’, now policies are heavily premised on the risk posed by traffickers to ‘victims of special interest’. These constructed identities, however, are at odds with established structures. Drawing on a range of literatures, the core task of this article is to confront some of the complexities and tensions surrounding constructions of LGBT trafficking victims. Specifically, the article argues that discourses of ‘exceptional vulnerability’ and the polarized notions of ‘innocence’ and ‘guilt’ inform hierarchies of victimhood. Based on these insights, the article argues for the need to move beyond monolithic understandings of victims, by reframing the politics of harm accordingly

Reconciling the optimal and empirical approaches to modelling stomatal conductance

Models of vegetation function are widely used to predict the effects of climate change on carbon, water and nutrient cycles of terrestrial ecosystems, and their feedbacks to climate. Stomatal conductance, the process that governs plant water use and carbon uptake, is fundamental to such models. In this paper, we reconcile two long-standing theories of stomatal conductance. The empirical approach, which is most commonly used in vegetation models, is phenomenological, based on experimental observations of stomatal behaviour in response to environmental conditions. The optimal approach is based on the theoretical argument that stomata should act to minimize the amount of water used per unit carbon gained. We reconcile these two approaches by showing that the theory of optimal stomatal conductance can be used to derive a model of stomatal conductance that is closely analogous to the empirical models. Consequently, we obtain a unified stomatal model which has a similar form to existing empirical models, but which now provides a theoretical interpretation for model parameter values. The key model parameter, g1, is predicted to increase with growth temperature and with the marginal water cost of carbon gain. The new model is fitted to a range of datasets ranging from tropical to boreal trees. The parameter g1 is shown to vary with growth temperature, as predicted, and also with plant functional type. The model is shown to correctly capture responses of stomatal conductance to changing atmospheric CO2, and thus can be used to test for stomatal acclimation to elevated CO2. The reconciliation of the optimal and empirical approaches to modelling stomatal conductance is important for global change biology because it provides a simple theoretical framework for analyzing, and simulating, the coupling between carbon and water cycles under environmental change. © 2011 Blackwell Publishing Ltd