127 research outputs found
Cellulolytic Bacteria in the foregut of the dromedary camel (Camelus dromedarius)
Foregut digesta from five feral dromedary camels were inoculated into three different enrichment media: cotton thread, filter paper, and neutral detergent fiber. A total of 283 16S rRNA gene sequences were assigned to 33 operational taxonomic units by using 99% species-level identity. LIBSHUFF revealed significant differences in the community composition across all three libraries
Cost-effectiveness of HBV and HCV screening strategies:a systematic review of existing modelling techniques
Introduction:
Studies evaluating the cost-effectiveness of screening for Hepatitis B Virus (HBV) and Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) are generally heterogeneous in terms of risk groups, settings, screening intervention, outcomes and the economic modelling framework. It is therefore difficult to compare cost-effectiveness results between studies. This systematic review aims to summarise and critically assess existing economic models for HBV and HCV in order to identify the main methodological differences in modelling approaches.
Methods:
A structured search strategy was developed and a systematic review carried out. A critical assessment of the decision-analytic models was carried out according to the guidelines and framework developed for assessment of decision-analytic models in Health Technology Assessment of health care interventions.
Results:
The overall approach to analysing the cost-effectiveness of screening strategies was found to be broadly consistent for HBV and HCV. However, modelling parameters and related structure differed between models, producing different results. More recent publications performed better against a performance matrix, evaluating model components and methodology.
Conclusion:
When assessing screening strategies for HBV and HCV infection, the focus should be on more recent studies, which applied the latest treatment regimes, test methods and had better and more complete data on which to base their models. In addition to parameter selection and associated assumptions, careful consideration of dynamic versus static modelling is recommended. Future research may want to focus on these methodological issues. In addition, the ability to evaluate screening strategies for multiple infectious diseases, (HCV and HIV at the same time) might prove important for decision makers
Acute kidney disease and renal recovery : consensus report of the Acute Disease Quality Initiative (ADQI) 16 Workgroup
Consensus definitions have been reached for both acute kidney injury (AKI) and chronic kidney disease (CKD) and these definitions are now routinely used in research and clinical practice. The KDIGO guideline defines AKI as an abrupt decrease in kidney function occurring over 7 days or less, whereas CKD is defined by the persistence of kidney disease for a period of > 90 days. AKI and CKD are increasingly recognized as related entities and in some instances probably represent a continuum of the disease process. For patients in whom pathophysiologic processes are ongoing, the term acute kidney disease (AKD) has been proposed to define the course of disease after AKI; however, definitions of AKD and strategies for the management of patients with AKD are not currently available. In this consensus statement, the Acute Disease Quality Initiative (ADQI) proposes definitions, staging criteria for AKD, and strategies for the management of affected patients. We also make recommendations for areas of future research, which aim to improve understanding of the underlying processes and improve outcomes for patients with AKD
Photodisintegration of He into p+t
The two-body photodisintegration of He into a proton and a triton has
been studied using the CEBAF Large-Acceptance Spectrometer (CLAS) at Jefferson
Laboratory. Real photons produced with the Hall-B bremsstrahlung-tagging system
in the energy range from 0.35 to 1.55 GeV were incident on a liquid He
target. This is the first measurement of the photodisintegration of He
above 0.4 GeV. The differential cross sections for the He
reaction have been measured as a function of photon-beam energy and
proton-scattering angle, and are compared with the latest model calculations by
J.-M. Laget. At 0.6-1.2 GeV, our data are in good agreement only with the
calculations that include three-body mechanisms, thus confirming their
importance. These results reinforce the conclusion of our previous study of the
three-body breakup of He that demonstrated the great importance of
three-body mechanisms in the energy region 0.5-0.8 GeV .Comment: 13 pages submitted in one tgz file containing 2 tex file and 22
postscrip figure
photoproduction on the proton for photon energies from 0.675 to 2.875 GeV
Differential cross sections for the reaction have been
measured with the CEBAF Large Acceptance Spectrometer (CLAS) and a tagged
photon beam with energies from 0.675 to 2.875 GeV. The results reported here
possess greater accuracy in the absolute normalization than previous
measurements. They disagree with recent CB-ELSA measurements for the process at
forward scattering angles. Agreement with the SAID and MAID fits is found below
1 GeV. The present set of cross sections has been incorporated into the SAID
database, and exploratory fits have been extended to 3 GeV. Resonance couplings
have been extracted and compared to previous determinations.Comment: 18 pages, 48 figure
Exclusive electroproduction on the proton at CLAS
The reaction has been measured, using the 5.754
GeV electron beam of Jefferson Lab and the CLAS detector. This represents the
largest ever set of data for this reaction in the valence region. Integrated
and differential cross sections are presented. The , and
dependences of the cross section are compared to theoretical calculations based
on -channel meson-exchange Regge theory on the one hand and on quark handbag
diagrams related to Generalized Parton Distributions (GPDs) on the other hand.
The Regge approach can describe at the 30% level most of the features
of the present data while the two GPD calculations that are presented in this
article which succesfully reproduce the high energy data strongly underestimate
the present data. The question is then raised whether this discrepancy
originates from an incomplete or inexact way of modelling the GPDs or the
associated hard scattering amplitude or whether the GPD formalism is simply
inapplicable in this region due to higher-twists contributions, incalculable at
present.Comment: 29 pages, 29 figure
First Measurement of Beam-Recoil Observables Cx and Cz in Hyperon Photoproduction
Spin transfer from circularly polarized real photons to recoiling hyperons
has been measured for the reactions and
. The data were obtained using the CLAS
detector at Jefferson Lab for center-of-mass energies between 1.6 and 2.53
GeV, and for . For the , the
polarization transfer coefficient along the photon momentum axis, , was
found to be near unity for a wide range of energy and kaon production angles.
The associated transverse polarization coefficient, , is smaller than
by a roughly constant difference of unity. Most significantly, the {\it
total} polarization vector, including the induced polarization ,
has magnitude consistent with unity at all measured energies and production
angles when the beam is fully polarized. For the this simple
phenomenology does not hold. All existing hadrodynamic models are in poor
agreement with these results.Comment: 28 pages, 18 figures, Submitted to Physical Review
Fulvestrant: an oestrogen receptor antagonist with a novel mechanism of action
Due to their favourable tolerability profiles, endocrine therapies have long been considered the treatment of choice for hormone-sensitive metastatic breast cancer. However, the oestrogen agonist effects of the available selective oestrogen receptor modulators, such as tamoxifen, and the development of cross-resistance between endocrine therapies with similar modes of action have led to the need for new treatments that act through different mechanisms. Fulvestrant (‘Faslodex’) is the first of a new type of endocrine treatment – an oestrogen receptor (ER) antagonist that downregulates the ER and has no agonist effects. This article provides an overview of the current understanding of ER signalling and illustrates the unique mode of action of fulvestrant. Preclinical and clinical study data are presented in support of the novel mechanism of action of this new type of ER antagonist
Overlapping political budget cycle
We advance the literature on political budget cycles by testing for cycles in expenditures for elections to the legislative and the executive branches. Using municipal data, we identify cycles independently for the two branches, evaluate the effects of overlaps, and account for general year effects. We find sizable effects on expenditures before legislative elections and even larger effects before joint elections to the legislature and the office of mayor. In the case of coincident elections, we show that it is important whether the incumbent chief executive seeks reelection. To account for the potential endogeneity of that decision, we apply an IV approach using age and pension eligibility rules
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