986 research outputs found
Endomyocardial fibrosis at autopsy in Cape Town
The pathology of 3 cases of endomyocardial fibrosis (EMF) encountered at autopsy in Cape Town is described. The first case of EMF in a non-White permanent resident of South Africa is documented. The macroscopic features allow distinction between EMF and the usual form of idiopathic cardiomyopathy seen in Cape Town. There is a small potential reservoir of patients in Cape Town with typical EMF, but the presence of a coexistent (valvular) lesion may lead to such hearts being ignored in studies of idiopathic cardiomyopathy.S. Afr. Med. J. 48, 1363 (1974)
Malaria prevention knowledge, attitudes, and practices in Zambezia Province, Mozambique
Funding Information: This study was funded by the Principal Investigator as part of her Ph.D. thesis. The findings and conclusions in this report are those of the authors. Publisher Copyright: © 2021, The Author(s). Copyright: Copyright 2021 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.Background: In Mozambique, socio-economic and cultural factors influence the wide adoption of disease preventive measures that are relevant for malaria control strategies to promote early recognition of disease, prompt seeking of medical care, sleeping under insecticide-treated nets (ITNs), and taking intermittent preventive treatment for pregnant women. However, there is a critical information gap regarding previous and ongoing malaria social and behavioural change (SBC) interventions. The aim of this study is to assess the knowledge, attitudes, practices of beneficiaries of SBC interventions. Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional survey was undertaken in 2018 in two rural districts of Zambezia Province, Mozambique. A structured questionnaire was administered to 773 randomly selected households. Respondents were the adult heads of the households. Descriptive statistics were done. Results: The main results show that 96.4% of respondents recalled hearing about malaria in the previous 6 months, 90.0% had knowledge of malaria prevention, and 70.0% of preventive measures. Of the 97.7% respondents that had received ITNs through a mass ITN distribution campaign, 81.7% had slept under an ITN the night before the survey. In terms of source of health information, 70.5% mentioned the role of community volunteers in dissemination of malaria prevention messages, 76.1% of respondents considered worship places (churches and mosques) to be the main places where they heard key malaria prevention messages, and 79.1% asserted that community dialogue sessions helped them better understand how to prevent malaria. Conclusions: Results show that volunteers/activists/teachers played an important role in dissemination of key malaria prevention messages, which brought the following successes: community actors are recognized and people have knowledge of malaria transmission, signs and symptoms, preventive measures, and where to get treatment. There is, however, room for improvement on SBC messaging regarding some malaria symptoms (anaemia and convulsions) and operational research is needed to ascertain the drivers of malaria prevalence and inform the SBC approach.publishersversionpublishe
Dissemination Strategy for Three Spotted Tilapia in Zambia
Background & Report Objectives
The Zambia Aquaculture Enterprise Development Project (ZAEDP) was launched by the Government of Zambia in 2017 with funding from the African Development Bank. As part of ZAEDP, The Zambian government, with support from WorldFish as technical advisors have established a genetic improvement program for Three Spotted Tilapia, a key indigenous Tilapia species perceived to possess good potential for aquaculture production within Zambian production systems. The genetic improvement program seeks to establish the foundation for future supply of genetically improved Three Spotted Tilapia fingerlings (seed) to the Zambian aquaculture industry.This report comprises the two primary areas of scope described below.
1. Assess the status and potential of the Zambian aquaculture industry, identifying the market opportunity for genetically improved Three Spotted Tilapia seed and subsequent requirements for development of a commercially sustainable breeding program.
2. Identify appropriate industry monitoring systems, data requirements and applicable standards/protocols to support the operations and management of the hatchery sector, particularly the genetic improvement nucleus
A real-world evaluation of radium-223 in combination with abiraterone or enzalutamide for the treatment of metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer
Introduction Radium-223, abiraterone, and enzalutamide have each been shown to significantly improve survival as monotherapy in patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer. However, effects of combination radium-223 plus abiraterone or enzalutamide on survival and safety remain unclear. Patients and methods This single-center retrospective cohort study used electronic health record data of patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer and bone metastases who were treated with radium-223 between April 1, 2014 and February 19, 2019. Patients who received radium-223 monotherapy were compared to patients who received a combination of radium-223 plus either abiraterone or enzalutamide. The primary endpoint was overall survival. Secondary endpoints included progression-free survival, time to symptomatic skeletal event, symptomatic skeletal event-free survival, and incidence of drug-related adverse events. Time-to-event analyses were estimated by log rank tests using Kaplan-Meier curves. Hazard ratios and 95% confidence intervals were derived from Cox proportional hazards models. Chi-square tests evaluated difference in serious adverse events between the two arms. Results A total of 60 patients met inclusion criteria (n = 41 in the monotherapy arm, n = 19 in the combination arm). Differences in median overall survival were not observed (12.7 vs. 12.8 months; HR 1.15, 95% CI 0.59-2.23; P = 0.68), but median progression-free survival was significantly longer in the combination arm (7.6 vs. 4.9 months; HR 1.94, 95% CI 1.11-3.40; P = 0.02). Significant differences were not observed in time to first SSE (P = 0.97), SSE-free survival (P = 0.16), or in the overall incidence of serious adverse events (P = 0.45). Conclusion Combination radium-223 plus abiraterone or enzalutamide did not improve overall survival, but prolonged progression-free survival without increasing the incidence of serious adverse events in metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer patients with bone metastases. However, these results are limited by small numbers and patient selection inherent in retrospective analysis
Experiences of children’s self-wetting (including urinary incontinence) in Cox’s Bazar’s Rohingya refugee camps, Bangladesh
Self-wetting is the leakage of urine, either due to the medical condition of urinary incontinence (UI), or because a person does not want to, or cannot, access a toileting facility in time. This study explored the attitudes towards self-wetting and experiences of children (aged five to 11), their caregivers, community leaders and humanitarian practitioners in the Rohingya refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh. We particularly focused on how water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) and protection interventions might assist in improving these experiences. We purposively selected participants from two camps where our partner organisation works. We conducted Key Informant Interviews (KIIs) with community leaders and camp officials, Story Book (SB) sessions with Rohingya children and in-depth Interviews (IDIs) with caregivers of children who participated in the SB sessions, as well as surveying communal toilets. Self-wetting by children was common and resulted in them feeling embarrassed, upset and uncomfortable, and frightened to use the toilet at night; many children also indicated that they would be punished by their caregivers for self-wetting. Key informants indicated that caregivers have difficulty handling children’s self-wetting due to a limited amount of clothing, pillows, and blankets, and difficulty cleaning these items. It was evident that the available toilets are often not appropriate and/or accessible for children. Children in the Rohingya camps appear to self-wet due to both the medical condition of UI and because the sanitation facilities are inappropriate. They are teased by their peers and punished by their caregivers. Although WASH and protection practitioners are unable to drastically alter camp conditions or treat UI, the lives of children who self-wet in these camps could likely be improved by increasing awareness on self-wetting to decrease stigma and ease the concerns of caregivers, increasing the number of child-friendly toilets and increasing the provision of continence management materials
Laughing at lunacy: othering and comic ambiguity in popular humour about mental distress
Jokes and humour about mental distress are said by anti-stigma campaigners to be no laughing matter. The article takes issue with this viewpoint arguing that this is clearly not the case since popular culture past and present has laughed at the antics of those perceived as ‘mad’. Drawing on past and present examples of the othering of insanity in jokes and humour the article incorporates a historical perspective on continuity and change in humour about madness/mental distress, which enables us to recognise that psychiatry is a funny-peculiar enterprise and its therapeutic practices in past times are deserving of funny ha-ha mockery and mirth in the present. By doing so, the article also argues that humour and mental distress illuminate how psychiatric definitions and popular representations conflict and that some psychiatric service users employ comic ambiguity to reflexively puncture their public image as ‘nuts’
Effects of coastal urbanization on salt-marsh faunal assemblages in the northern Gulf of Mexico
Author Posting. © American Fisheries Society, 2014. This article is posted here by permission of American Fisheries Society for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Marine and Coastal Fisheries: Dynamics, Management, and Ecosystem Science 6 (2014): 89-107, doi:10.1080/19425120.2014.893467.Coastal landscapes in the northern Gulf of Mexico, specifically the Mississippi coast, have undergone rapid urbanization that may impact the suitability of salt-marsh ecosystems for maintaining and regulating estuarine faunal communities. We used a landscape ecology approach to quantify the composition and configuration of salt-marsh habitats and developed surfaces at multiple spatial scales surrounding three small, first-order salt-marsh tidal creeks arrayed along a gradient of urbanization in two river-dominated estuaries. From May 3 to June 4, 2010, nekton and macroinfauna were collected weekly at all six sites. Due to the greater abundance of grass shrimp Palaemonetes spp., brown shrimp Farfantepenaeus aztecus, blue crab Callinectes sapidus, Gulf Menhaden Brevoortia patronus, and Spot Leiostomus xanthurus, tidal creeks in intact natural (IN) salt-marsh landscapes supported a nekton assemblage that was significantly different from those in partially urbanized (PU) or completely urbanized (CU) salt-marsh landscapes. However, PU landscapes still supported an abundant nekton assemblage. In addition, the results illustrated a linkage between life history traits and landscape characteristics. Resident and transient nekton species that have specific habitat requirements are more likely to be impacted in urbanized landscapes than more mobile species that are able to exploit multiple habitats. Patterns were less clear for macroinfaunal assemblages, although they were comparatively less abundant in CU salt-marsh landscapes than in either IN or PU landscapes. The low abundance or absence of several macroinfaunal taxa in CU landscapes may be viewed as an additional indicator of poor habitat quality for nekton. The observed patterns also suggested that benthic sediments in the CU salt-marsh landscapes were altered in comparison with IN or PU landscapes. The amount of developed shoreline and various metrics related to salt marsh fragmentation were important drivers of observed patterns in nekton and macroinfaunal assemblages
Pion, kaon, proton and anti-proton transverse momentum distributions from p+p and d+Au collisions at GeV
Identified mid-rapidity particle spectra of , , and
from 200 GeV p+p and d+Au collisions are reported. A
time-of-flight detector based on multi-gap resistive plate chamber technology
is used for particle identification. The particle-species dependence of the
Cronin effect is observed to be significantly smaller than that at lower
energies. The ratio of the nuclear modification factor () between
protons and charged hadrons () in the transverse momentum
range GeV/c is measured to be
(stat)(syst) in minimum-bias collisions and shows little
centrality dependence. The yield ratio of in minimum-bias d+Au
collisions is found to be a factor of 2 lower than that in Au+Au collisions,
indicating that the Cronin effect alone is not enough to account for the
relative baryon enhancement observed in heavy ion collisions at RHIC.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures, 1 table. We extended the pion spectra from
transverse momentum 1.8 GeV/c to 3. GeV/
Demonstration of the temporal matter-wave Talbot effect for trapped matter waves
We demonstrate the temporal Talbot effect for trapped matter waves using
ultracold atoms in an optical lattice. We investigate the phase evolution of an
array of essentially non-interacting matter waves and observe matter-wave
collapse and revival in the form of a Talbot interference pattern. By using
long expansion times, we image momentum space with sub-recoil resolution,
allowing us to observe fractional Talbot fringes up to 10th order.Comment: 17 pages, 7 figure
Longitudinal double-spin asymmetry and cross section for inclusive neutral pion production at midrapidity in polarized proton collisions at sqrt(s) = 200 GeV
We report a measurement of the longitudinal double-spin asymmetry A_LL and
the differential cross section for inclusive Pi0 production at midrapidity in
polarized proton collisions at sqrt(s) = 200 GeV. The cross section was
measured over a transverse momentum range of 1 < p_T < 17 GeV/c and found to be
in good agreement with a next-to-leading order perturbative QCD calculation.
The longitudinal double-spin asymmetry was measured in the range of 3.7 < p_T <
11 GeV/c and excludes a maximal positive gluon polarization in the proton. The
mean transverse momentum fraction of Pi0's in their parent jets was found to be
around 0.7 for electromagnetically triggered events.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev. D (RC
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