Conceptualizing pathways linking women's empowerment and prematurity in developing countries.

BackgroundGlobally, prematurity is the leading cause of death in children under the age of 5. Many efforts have focused on clinical approaches to improve the survival of premature babies. There is a need, however, to explore psychosocial, sociocultural, economic, and other factors as potential mechanisms to reduce the burden of prematurity. Women's empowerment may be a catalyst for moving the needle in this direction. The goal of this paper is to examine links between women's empowerment and prematurity in developing settings. We propose a conceptual model that shows pathways by which women's empowerment can affect prematurity and review and summarize the literature supporting the relationships we posit. We also suggest future directions for research on women's empowerment and prematurity.MethodsThe key words we used for empowerment in the search were "empowerment," "women's status," "autonomy," and "decision-making," and for prematurity we used "preterm," "premature," and "prematurity." We did not use date, language, and regional restrictions. The search was done in PubMed, Population Information Online (POPLINE), and Web of Science. We selected intervening factors-factors that could potentially mediate the relationship between empowerment and prematurity-based on reviews of the risk factors and interventions to address prematurity and the determinants of those factors.ResultsThere is limited evidence supporting a direct link between women's empowerment and prematurity. However, there is evidence linking several dimensions of empowerment to factors known to be associated with prematurity and outcomes for premature babies. Our review of the literature shows that women's empowerment may reduce prematurity by (1) preventing early marriage and promoting family planning, which will delay age at first pregnancy and increase interpregnancy intervals; (2) improving women's nutritional status; (3) reducing domestic violence and other stressors to improve psychological health; and (4) improving access to and receipt of recommended health services during pregnancy and delivery to help prevent prematurity and improve survival of premature babies.ConclusionsWomen's empowerment is an important distal factor that affects prematurity through several intervening factors. Improving women's empowerment will help prevent prematurity and improve survival of preterm babies. Research to empirically show the links between women's empowerment and prematurity is however needed

MeV-scale sterile neutrino decays at the Fermilab Short-Baseline Neutrino program

Nearly-sterile neutrinos with masses in the MeV range and below would be produced in the beam of the Short-Baseline Neutrino (SBN) program at Fermilab. In this article, we study the potential for SBN to discover these particles through their subsequent decays in its detectors. We discuss the decays which will be visible at SBN in a minimal and non-minimal extension of the Standard Model, and perform simulations to compute the parameter space constraints which could be placed in the absence of a signal. We demonstrate that the SBN programme can extend existing bounds on well constrained channels such as N → νl+l− and N → l±π∓ while, thanks to the strong particle identification capabilities of liquid-Argon technology, also place bounds on often neglected channels such as N → νγ and N → νπ0. Furthermore, we consider the phenomenological impact of improved event timing information at the three detectors. As well as considering its role in background reduction, we note that if the light-detection systems in SBND and ICARUS can achieve nanosecond timing resolution, the effect of finite sterile neutrino mass could be directly observable, providing a smoking-gun signature for this class of models. We stress throughout that the search for heavy nearly-sterile neutrinos is a complementary new physics analysis to the search for eV-scale oscillations, and would extend the BSM programme of SBN while requiring no beam or detector modifications

Azimuthal anisotropy and correlations at large transverse momenta in p+pp+p and Au+Au collisions at sNN\sqrt{s_{_{NN}}}= 200 GeV

Results on high transverse momentum charged particle emission with respect to the reaction plane are presented for Au+Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{_{NN}}}$= 200 GeV. Two- and four-particle correlations results are presented as well as a comparison of azimuthal correlations in Au+Au collisions to those in $p+p$ at the same energy. Elliptic anisotropy, $v_2$, is found to reach its maximum at $p_t \sim 3$ GeV/c, then decrease slowly and remain significant up to $p_t\approx 7$ -- 10 GeV/c. Stronger suppression is found in the back-to-back high-$p_t$ particle correlations for particles emitted out-of-plane compared to those emitted in-plane. The centrality dependence of $v_2$ at intermediate $p_t$ is compared to simple models based on jet quenching.Comment: 4 figures. Published version as PRL 93, 252301 (2004

Azimuthal anisotropy in Au+Au collisions at sqrtsNN = 200 GeV

The results from the STAR Collaboration on directed flow (v_1), elliptic flow (v_2), and the fourth harmonic (v_4) in the anisotropic azimuthal distribution of particles from Au+Au collisions at sqrtsNN = 200 GeV are summarized and compared with results from other experiments and theoretical models. Results for identified particles are presented and fit with a Blast Wave model. Different anisotropic flow analysis methods are compared and nonflow effects are extracted from the data. For v_2, scaling with the number of constituent quarks and parton coalescence is discussed. For v_4, scaling with v_2^2 and quark coalescence is discussed.Comment: 26 pages. As accepted by Phys. Rev. C. Text rearranged, figures modified, but data the same. However, in Fig. 35 the hydro calculations are corrected in this version. The data tables are available at http://www.star.bnl.gov/central/publications/ by searching for "flow" and then this pape

Rapidity and Centrality Dependence of Proton and Anti-proton Production from Au+Au Collisions at sqrt(sNN) = 130GeV

We report on the rapidity and centrality dependence of proton and anti-proton transverse mass distributions from Au+Au collisions at sqrt(sNN) = 130GeV as measured by the STAR experiment at RHIC. Our results are from the rapidity and transverse momentum range of |y|<0.5 and 0.35 <p_t<1.00GeV/c. For both protons and anti-protons, transverse mass distributions become more convex from peripheral to central collisions demonstrating characteristics of collective expansion. The measured rapidity distributions and the mean transverse momenta versus rapidity are flat within |y|<0.5. Comparisons of our data with results from model calculations indicate that in order to obtain a consistent picture of the proton(anti-proton) yields and transverse mass distributions the possibility of pre-hadronic collective expansion may have to be taken into account.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, 1 table, submitted to PR

Hepatobiliary and pancreatic tuberculosis: A two decade experience

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Isolated hepatobiliary or pancreatic tuberculosis (TB) is rare and preoperative diagnosis is difficult. We reviewed our experience over a period two decades with this rare site of abdominal tuberculosis.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The records of 18 patients with proven histological diagnosis of hepatobiliary and pancreatic tuberculosis were reviewed retrospectively. The demographic features, sign and symptoms, imaging, cytology/histopathology, procedures performed, outcome and follow up data were obtained from the departmental records. The diagnosis of tuberculosis was based on granuloma with caseation necrosis on histopathology or presence of acid fast bacilli.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Of 18 patients (11 men), 11 had hepatobiliary TB while 7 had pancreatic TB. Two-thirds of the patients were < 40 years (mean: 42 yrs; range 19–70 yrs). The duration of the symptoms varied between 2 weeks to 104 weeks (mean: 20 weeks). The most common symptom was pain in the abdomen (n = 13), followed by jaundice (n = 10), fever, anorexia and weight loss (n = 9). Five patients (28%) had associated extra-abdominal TB which helped in preoperative diagnosis in 3 patients. Imaging demonstrated extrahepatic bile duct obstruction in the patients with jaundice and in addition picked up liver, gallbladder and pancreatic masses with or without lymphadenopathy (peripancreatic/periportal). Preoperative diagnosis was made in 4 patients and the other 14 were diagnosed after surgery. Two patients developed significant postoperative complications (pancreaticojejunostomy leak <abbrgrp><abbr bid="B1">1</abbr></abbrgrp> intraabdominal abscess <abbrgrp><abbr bid="B1">1</abbr></abbrgrp>) and 3 developed ATT induced hepatotoxicity. No patient died. The median follow up period was 12 months (9 – 96 months).</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Tuberculosis should be considered as a differential diagnosis, particularly in young patients, with atypical signs and symptoms coming from areas where tuberculosis is endemic and preoperative tissue and/or cytological diagnosis should be attempted before labeling them as hepatobiliary and pancreatic malignancy.</p

Microarray Analyses of Inflammation Response of Human Dermal Fibroblasts to Different Strains of Borrelia burgdorferi Sensu Stricto

In Lyme borreliosis, the skin is the key site of bacterial inoculation by the infected tick, and of cutaneous manifestations, erythema migrans and acrodermatitis chronica atrophicans. We explored the role of fibroblasts, the resident cells of the dermis, in the development of the disease. Using microarray experiments, we compared the inflammation of fibroblasts induced by three strains of Borrelia burgdorferi sensu stricto isolated from different environments and stages of Lyme disease: N40 (tick), Pbre (erythema migrans) and 1408 (acrodermatitis chronica atrophicans). The three strains exhibited a similar profile of inflammation with strong induction of chemokines (CXCL1 and IL-8) and IL-6 cytokine mainly involved in the chemoattraction of immune cells. Molecules such as TNF-alpha and NF-κB factors, metalloproteinases (MMP-1, -3 and -12) and superoxide dismutase (SOD2), also described in inflammatory and cellular events, were up-regulated. In addition, we showed that tick salivary gland extracts induce a cytotoxic effect on fibroblasts and that OspC, essential in the transmission of Borrelia to the vertebrate host, was not responsible for the secretion of inflammatory molecules by fibroblasts. Tick saliva components could facilitate the early transmission of the disease to the site of injury creating a feeding pit. Later in the development of the disease, Borrelia would intensively multiply in the skin and further disseminate to distant organs

Nonlinearity and Topology

The interplay of nonlinearity and topology results in many novel and emergent properties across a number of physical systems such as chiral magnets, nematic liquid crystals, Bose-Einstein condensates, photonics, high energy physics, etc. It also results in a wide variety of topological defects such as solitons, vortices, skyrmions, merons, hopfions, monopoles to name just a few. Interaction among and collision of these nontrivial defects itself is a topic of great interest. Curvature and underlying geometry also affect the shape, interaction and behavior of these defects. Such properties can be studied using techniques such as, e.g. the Bogomolnyi decomposition. Some applications of this interplay, e.g. in nonreciprocal photonics as well as topological materials such as Dirac and Weyl semimetals, are also elucidated

The Rts1 Regulatory Subunit of Protein Phosphatase 2A Is Required for Control of G1 Cyclin Transcription and Nutrient Modulation of Cell Size

The key molecular event that marks entry into the cell cycle is transcription of G1 cyclins, which bind and activate cyclin-dependent kinases. In yeast cells, initiation of G1 cyclin transcription is linked to achievement of a critical cell size, which contributes to cell-size homeostasis. The critical cell size is modulated by nutrients, such that cells growing in poor nutrients are smaller than cells growing in rich nutrients. Nutrient modulation of cell size does not work through known critical regulators of G1 cyclin transcription and is therefore thought to work through a distinct pathway. Here, we report that Rts1, a highly conserved regulatory subunit of protein phosphatase 2A (PP2A), is required for normal control of G1 cyclin transcription. Loss of Rts1 caused delayed initiation of bud growth and delayed and reduced accumulation of G1 cyclins. Expression of the G1 cyclin CLN2 from an inducible promoter rescued the delayed bud growth in rts1Δ cells, indicating that Rts1 acts at the level of transcription. Moreover, loss of Rts1 caused altered regulation of Swi6, a key component of the SBF transcription factor that controls G1 cyclin transcription. Epistasis analysis revealed that Rts1 does not work solely through several known critical upstream regulators of G1 cyclin transcription. Cells lacking Rts1 failed to undergo nutrient modulation of cell size. Together, these observations demonstrate that Rts1 is a key player in pathways that link nutrient availability, cell size, and G1 cyclin transcription. Since Rts1 is highly conserved, it may function in similar pathways in vertebrates