10,709 research outputs found

    Estimating the burden of malaria in Senegal : Bayesian zero-inflated binomial geostatistical modeling of the MIS 2008 data

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    The Research Center for Human Development in Dakar (CRDH) with the technical assistance of ICF Macro and the National Malaria Control Programme (NMCP) conducted in 2008/2009 the Senegal Malaria Indicator Survey (SMIS), the first nationally representative household survey collecting parasitological data and malaria-related indicators. In this paper, we present spatially explicit parasitaemia risk estimates and number of infected children below 5 years. Geostatistical Zero-Inflated Binomial models (ZIB) were developed to take into account the large number of zero-prevalence survey locations (70%) in the data. Bayesian variable selection methods were incorporated within a geostatistical framework in order to choose the best set of environmental and climatic covariates associated with the parasitaemia risk. Model validation confirmed that the ZIB model had a better predictive ability than the standard Binomial analogue. Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) methods were used for inference. Several insecticide treated nets (ITN) coverage indicators were calculated to assess the effectiveness of interventions. After adjusting for climatic and socio-economic factors, the presence of at least one ITN per every two household members and living in urban areas reduced the odds of parasitaemia by 86% and 81% respectively. Posterior estimates of the ORs related to the wealth index show a decreasing trend with the quintiles. Infection odds appear to be increasing with age. The population-adjusted prevalence ranges from 0.12% in Thille-Boubacar to 13.1% in Dabo. Tambacounda has the highest population-adjusted predicted prevalence (8.08%) whereas the region with the highest estimated number of infected children under the age of 5 years is Kolda (13940). The contemporary map and estimates of malaria burden identify the priority areas for future control interventions and provide baseline information for monitoring and evaluation. Zero-Inflated formulations are more appropriate in modeling sparse geostatistical survey data, expected to arise more frequently as malaria research is focused on eliminatio

    Direct Evidence for the Source of Reported Magnetic Behavior in "CoTe"

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    In order to unambiguously identify the source of magnetism reported in recent studies of the Co-Te system, two sets of high-quality, epitaxial CoTex_x films (thickness ā‰ƒ\simeq 300 nm) were prepared by pulse laser deposition (PLD). X-ray diffraction (XRD) shows that all of the films are epitaxial along the [001] direction and have the hexagonal NiAs structure. There is no indication of any second phase metallic Co peaks (either fccfcc or hcphcp) in the XRD patterns. The two sets of CoTex_x films were grown on various substrates with PLD targets having Co:Te in the atomic ratio of 50:50 and 35:65. From the measured lattice parameters c=5.396AĖšc = 5.396 \AA for the former and c=5.402AĖšc = 5.402\AA for the latter, the compositions CoTe1.71_{1.71} (63.1% Te) and CoTe1.76_{1.76} (63.8% Te), respectively, are assigned to the principal phase. Although XRD shows no trace of metallic Co second phase, the magnetic measurements do show a ferromagnetic contribution for both sets of films with the saturation magnetization values for the CoTe1.71_{1.71} films being approximately four times the values for the CoTe1.76_{1.76} films. 59^{59}Co spin-echo nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) clearly shows the existence of metallic Co inclusions in the films. The source of weak ferromagnetism reported in several recent studies is due to the presence of metallic Co, since the stoichiometric composition "CoTe" does not exist.Comment: 19 pages, 7 figure

    Failure of conventional retrograde cystography to detect bladder ruptures in pelvic trauma

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    Conventional retrograde cystography is often used to investigate patients with suspected bladder ruptures in pelvic trauma. Clinical indicators suggestive of a rupture include haematuria and suprapubic tenderness and should increase the suspicion of bladder and urinary tract injury and prompt the clinician to undertake further investigations. Two patients with high-energy pelvic fractures had bladder ruptures detected intraoperatively despite normal preoperative retrograde cystogram. Both patients had significant clinical indicators suggestive of underlying bladder and urinary tract injury. In both cases, a routine conventional retrograde cystogram was performed but failed to identify the full extent of the bladder injury. A possible reason for misdiagnosis in these cases is the delay between injury and investigation due to tertiary referral of care

    Partition Functions, the Bekenstein Bound and Temperature Inversion in Anti-de Sitter Space and its Conformal Boundary

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    We reformulate the Bekenstein bound as the requirement of positivity of the Helmholtz free energy at the minimum value of the function L=E- S/(2\pi R), where R is some measure of the size of the system. The minimum of L occurs at the temperature T=1/(2\pi R). In the case of n-dimensional anti-de Sitter spacetime, the rather poorly defined size R acquires a precise definition in terms of the AdS radius l, with R=l/(n-2). We previously found that the Bekenstein bound holds for all known black holes in AdS. However, in this paper we show that the Bekenstein bound is not generally valid for free quantum fields in AdS, even if one includes the Casimir energy. Some other aspects of thermodynamics in anti-de Sitter spacetime are briefly touched upon.Comment: Latex, 32 page

    Conductivity, weak ferromagnetism and charge instability in Ī±āˆ’MnS\alpha-MnS single crystal

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    The temperature dependence of resistivity, magnetization and electron-spin resonance of the Ī±āˆ’MnS\alpha- MnS single crystal were measured in temperature range of 5K<T<550K5 K < T < 550 K. Magnetization hysteresis in applied magnetic field up to 0.7 T at T=5K,77K,300KT=5 K, 77 K, 300 K, irreversible temperature behavior of magnetization and resistivity were found . The obtained data were explained in terms of degenerate tight binding model using random phase approximation. The contribution of holes in t2gt_{2g} and ege_g bands of manganese ions to the conductivity, optical absorbtion spectra and charge instability in Ī±āˆ’MnS\alpha -MnS were studied. Charge susceptibility maxima resulted from the competition of the on-site Coulomb interaction between the holes in different orbitals and small hybridization of sub-bands were calculated at T=160K,250K,475KT=160 K, 250 K, 475 K.Comment: 6 pages, 12 figure
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