4,101 research outputs found
The cost effectiveness of integrated care for people living with HIV including antiretroviral treatment in a primary health care centre in Bujumbura, Burundi
The incremental cost effectiveness of an integrated care package (i.e., medical care including antiretroviral therapy (ART) and other services such as psychological and social support) for people living with HIV/AIDS was calculated in a not-for-profit primary health care centre in Bujumbura run by Society of Women against AIDS-Burundi (SWAA-Burundi), an African non-governmental organisation (NGO). Results are expressed as cost-effectiveness ratio 2007, constant US per DALY averted. The package of care provided by SWAA-Burundi is therefore a very cost-effective intervention in comparison with other interventions against HIV/AIDS that include ART. It is however, less cost effective than other types of interventions against HIV/AIDS, such as preventive activities
Платежная система Pay Pal
The article is devoted to the payment system Pay Pal. The problem of this article is to describe the history of the payment system and the status of the Bank. The article talks about creating Pay Pal and the services of the system. many people use this system and remain davolno
Data acquisition system for the MuLan muon lifetime experiment
We describe the data acquisition system for the MuLan muon lifetime
experiment at Paul Scherrer Institute. The system was designed to record muon
decays at rates up to 1 MHz and acquire data at rates up to 60 MB/sec. The
system employed a parallel network of dual-processor machines and repeating
acquisition cycles of deadtime-free time segments in order to reach the design
goals. The system incorporated a versatile scheme for control and diagnostics
and a custom web interface for monitoring experimental conditions.Comment: 19 pages, 8 figures, submitted to Nuclear Instruments and Methods
New limit for the half-life of double beta decay of Zr to the first excited state of Mo
Neutrinoless Double Beta Decay is a phenomenon of fundamental interest in
particle physics. The decay rates of double beta decay transitions to the
excited states can provide input for Nuclear Transition Matrix Element
calculations for the relevant two neutrino double beta decay process. It can be
useful as supplementary information for the calculation of Nuclear Transition
Matrix Element for the neutrinoless double beta decay process. In the present
work, double beta decay of Zr to the excited state of
Mo at 871.1 keV is studied using a low background 230 cm HPGe
detector. No evidence of this decay was found with a 232 g.y exposure of
natural Zirconium. The lower half-life limit obtained for the double beta decay
of to the excited state of is y at 90% C.L., an improvement by a factor of
4 over the existing experimental limit at 90\% C.L. The sensitivity is
estimated to be y at 90% C.L. using
the Feldman-Cousins method.Comment: 11 pages, 7 figures, Accepted in Eur. Phys. J.
Regulation of pancreatic cancer aggressiveness by stromal stiffening
No abstract available
Diagnosing Xpert MTB/RIF-negative TB: Impact and cost of alternative algorithms for South Africa
Background. Use of Xpert MTB/RIF is being scaled up throughout South Africa for improved diagnosis of tuberculosis (TB). A large proportion of HIV-infected patients with possible TB are Xpert-negative on their initial test, and the existing diagnostic algorithm calls for these patients to have sputum culture (Xpert followed by culture (X/C)). We modelled the costs and impact of an alternative diagnostic algorithm in which these cultures are replaced with a second Xpert test (Xpert followed by Xpert (X/X)).Methods. An existing population-level decision model was used. Costs were estimated from Xpert implementation studies and public sectorprice and salary data. The number of patients requiring diagnosis was estimated from the literature, as were rates of TB treatment uptakeand loss to follow-up. TB and HIV positivity rates were estimated from the national TB register and laboratory databases.Results. At national programme scale in 2014, X/X (R969 million/year) is less expensive than X/C R1 095 million/year), potentially saving R126million/year (US$17.4 million). However, because Xpert is less sensitive than culture, X/X diagnoses 2% fewer TB cases. This is partly offset byhigher expected treatment uptake with X/X due to the faster availability of results, resulting in 1% more patients initiating treatment under X/Xthan X/C. The cost per TB patient initiated on treatment under X/X is R2 682, which is 12% less than under X/C (R3 046).Conclusions. Modifying the diagnostic algorithm from X/C to X/X could provide rapid results, simplify diagnostic processes, improve HIV/TB treatment outcomes, and generate cost savings
ROCK signaling promotes collagen remodeling to facilitate invasive pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma tumor cell growth
Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is a major cause of cancer death; identifying PDAC enablers may reveal potential therapeutic targets. Expression of the actomyosin regulatory ROCK1 and ROCK2 kinases increased with tumor progression in human and mouse pancreatic tumors, while elevated ROCK1/ROCK2 expression in human patients, or conditional ROCK2 activation in a KrasG12D/p53R172H mouse PDAC model, was associated with reduced survival. Conditional ROCK1 or ROCK2 activation promoted invasive growth of mouse PDAC cells into three‐dimensional collagen matrices by increasing matrix remodeling activities. RNA sequencing revealed a coordinated program of ROCK‐induced genes that facilitate extracellular matrix remodeling, with greatest fold‐changes for matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) Mmp10 and Mmp13. MMP inhibition not only decreased collagen degradation and invasion, but also reduced proliferation in three‐dimensional contexts. Treatment of KrasG12D/p53R172H PDAC mice with a ROCK inhibitor prolonged survival, which was associated with increased tumor‐associated collagen. These findings reveal an ancillary role for increased ROCK signaling in pancreatic cancer progression to promote extracellular matrix remodeling that facilitates proliferation and invasive tumor growth
Can environmental DNA be used to detect first arrivals of the cane toad, Rhinella marina, into novel locations?
Eradicating invasive species is difficult, but success is more likely when populations are small after arrival. The cane toad, Rhinella marina, is an invasive pest species that threatens native fauna worldwide. Increasingly, environmental DNA (eDNA) is used as a technique to monitor the presence of invasive species given its power to detect low numbers of individuals. We aimed to investigate eDNA persistence in freshwater at three different temperatures (25, 30 and 35°C) and eDNA detection thresholds for R. marina using controlled experiments in aquaria. For the latter, two water volumes and two cane toad exposure times were used (800 or 200 L volume with 5 or 30 min exposure). A 15‐ml water sample was collected from each replicated aquaria and preserved with 5 ml Longmire's buffer. Environmental DNA was extracted and four technical quantitative PCR replicates were analyzed targeting the cane toad 16S rDNA mitochondrial gene. Environmental DNA decayed rapidly in water and was reliably detected for up to 3 days after cane toad removal, regardless of the temperature treatment. Also, cane toad eDNA was detected in the water after a 5‐min initial exposure of a single individual in 800 L of water. Under the physical parameters tested here, a positive detection means that a cane toad has been in contact with the water body between 1 and 3 days prior to the sampling event. The results of the present study show the importance of eDNA for determining the presence of a species that occurs at low abundance in a small water body, such as at the onset of a cane toad invasion
The effect of parallel static and microwave electric fields on excited hydrogen atoms
Motivated by recent experiments we analyse the classical dynamics of a
hydrogen atom in parallel static and microwave electric fields. Using an
appropriate representation and averaging approximations we show that resonant
ionisation is controlled by a separatrix, and provide necessary conditions for
a dynamical resonance to affect the ionisation probability.
The position of the dynamical resonance is computed using a high-order
perturbation series, and estimate its radius of convergence. We show that the
position of the dynamical resonance does not coincide precisely with the
ionisation maxima, and that the field switch-on time can dramatically affect
the ionisation signal which, for long switch times, reflects the shape of an
incipient homoclinic. Similarly, the resonance ionisation time can reflect the
time-scale of the separatrix motion, which is therefore longer than
conventional static field Stark ionisation. We explain why these effects should
be observed in the quantum dynamics.
PACs: 32.80.Rm, 33.40.+f, 34.10.+x, 05.45.Ac, 05.45.MtComment: 47 pages, 20 figure
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