The World Bank's health projects in Timor-Leste: The political economy of effective aid

The World Bank's health sector projects in Timor-Leste - the Health Sector Rehabilitation and Development Project and the Second Health Sector Rehabilitation and Development Project - have been among the few successful operations it has funded in that country. This paper examines the factors underpinning their relative success and considers the wider lessons of the Bank's experience for our understanding of the conditions that lead to effective aid in fragile contexts. Much commentary on these projects has suggested, either implicitly or explicitly, that good design and management were key factors in their success. We argue that political economy factors also played an important role, extending and revising an earlier analysis. In particular, we suggest that these rehabilitation and development projects benefitted from (i) a political economy context that was relatively conducive to aid effectiveness in general and (ii) the fact that there was relatively little elite resistance to the World Bank's health policy agenda compared to its policy agenda in other sectors. In terms of wider lessons, we argue for a more political understanding of the determinants of aid effectiveness. Specifically we suggest that aid effectiveness needs to be seen as a function not just of the technical quality of project design and the administrative competence of project managers but also the extent to which there is congruence between donor and local elites' agendas

INFO2009 Coursework 2 - TeamTT

Resources produced for INFO2009 coursework 2 for TeamTT

Non-toxigenic penicillin-resistant cutaneous C. diphtheriae infection: A case report and review of the literature

SummaryHere, we report a case of non-toxigenic Corynebacterium diphtheriae in a previously healthy 14-year-old girl that was acquired in Ethiopia and presented locally. This is the first clinical case of penicillin-resistant C. diphtheriae in the UK. This is significant finding because penicillin is the recommended first-line agent for the prophylaxis against and treatment of C. diphtheriae in patients who are not allergic to penicillin

Hydrogen Bonding in Alcohols

It is usually assumed in optical absorption work that the natural stretching frequency of the hydroxyl group in an alcohol is appreciably changed by hydrogen bonding. A survey of work relating to hydrogen bonding in alcohols favors this assumption. Moreover, it appears that the deviation of alcohols in solvents such as carbon tetrachloride from Henry's law is primarily due to hydrogen bonding polymerization, the extent of such deviation being the same for the lower aliphatic alcohols and phenol. Optical transmission measurements on dilute solutions of methyl alcohol and of ethyl alcohol in carbon tetrachloride were used to determine for these alcohols the dimerization constants associated with the reaction. 2 ROH → (ROH)2 These constants in turn were used in support of the contention that the polymerization constants associated with the reactions (ROH)g-1 + ROH → (ROH)g are not independent of g as has been assumed on occasion. The viscosity of solutions of alcohols in carbon tetrachloride is briefly discussed in a semi-quantitative manner.</p

Perfect Transfer of Arbitrary States in Quantum Spin Networks

We propose a class of qubit networks that admit perfect state transfer of any two-dimensional quantum state in a fixed period of time. We further show that such networks can distribute arbitrary entangled states between two distant parties, and can, by using such systems in parallel, transmit the higher dimensional systems states across the network. Unlike many other schemes for quantum computation and communication, these networks do not require qubit couplings to be switched on and off. When restricted to $N$-qubit spin networks of identical qubit couplings, we show that $2\log_3 N$ is the maximal perfect communication distance for hypercube geometries. Moreover, if one allows fixed but different couplings between the qubits then perfect state transfer can be achieved over arbitrarily long distances in a linear chain. This paper expands and extends the work done in PRL 92, 187902.Comment: 12 pages, 3 figures with updated reference

Macrophages inhibit and enhance endometriosis depending on their origin

Macrophages are intimately involved in the pathophysiology of endometriosis, a chronic inflammatory disorder characterized by the growth of endometrial-like tissue (lesions) outside the uterus. By combining genetic and pharmacological monocyte and macrophage depletion strategies we determined the ontogeny and function of macrophages in a mouse model of induced endometriosis. We demonstrate that lesion-resident macrophages are derived from eutopic endometrial tissue, infiltrating large peritoneal macrophages (LpM) and monocytes. Furthermore, we found endometriosis to trigger continuous recruitment of monocytes and expansion of CCR2+ LpM. Depletion of eutopic endometrial macrophages results in smaller endometriosis lesions, whereas constitutive inhibition of monocyte recruitment significantly reduces peritoneal macrophage populations and increases the number of lesions. Reprogramming the ontogeny of peritoneal macrophages such that embryo-derived LpM are replaced by monocyte-derived LpM decreases the number of lesions that develop. We propose a putative model whereby endometrial macrophages are “proendometriosis” while newly recruited monocyte-derived macrophages, possibly in LpM form, are “antiendometriosis.” These observations highlight the importance of monocyte-derived macrophages in limiting disease progression

Priorities for Californias Water: Thriving with Less

In the last decade, California—along with the rest of the world—has entered a new phase of climate change. The changes that scientists predicted have started to arrive. California's already variable climate is growing increasingly volatile and unpredictable: The dry periods are hotter and drier, and the wet periods—lately too few and far between—are warmer and often more intense.Across the state, water and land managers are being forced to respond in real time to changes that were once hard to imagine. The snowpack—that once-reliable annual source of water—is diminishing as temperatures rise. Water withdrawals during multiyear droughts are depleting the state's reservoirs and groundwater basins. Hundreds of thousands of acres of farmland come out of production during droughts; further reductions will be needed to restore our groundwater basins to balance. And mammoth floods could eventually devastate our currently parched state. Warming is also intensifying water quality problems, such as harmful algal blooms. These changes are posing widespread challenges for our businesses, communities, and ecosystems—and often hitting low-income residents the hardest.This report considers the state of water in California: What changes are we seeing now, and what should we expect in the near future? Then it examines how these climate shifts will impact urban and rural communities, agriculture, and the environment. Finally, it explores wet-year strategies that will help Californians get through the dry years

Metastatic appendiceal adenocarcinoma presenting late as epididymo-orchitis: a case report and review of literature

BACKGROUND: Whereas testicular metastases are in themselves a rare entity, testicular secondaries from an appendiceal carcinoma have not yet been described. The case also illustrates the diagnostic dilemma of a tumour presenting as epididymo-orchitis. CASE PRESENTATION: The authors present a case of an appendiceal carcinoma that, two years after radical therapy, manifested as a secondary in the testis. It was misdiagnosed as an epididymo-orchitis and was only revealed through histology. CONCLUSIONS: Practitioners need to remember that long-standing testicular inflammation may result form secondary tumours. Even "exotic" primary tumours in the medical history of the patient must give rise to an increased suspicion threshold

Detection of Babesia spp. in Free-Ranging Pukus, Kobus vardonii, on a Game Ranch in Zambia

Babesia spp. were detected from 4 asymptomatic pukus captured on a game ranch in central Zambia in October 2008. Blood smears were examined in 4 species of aymptomatic free-ranging antelopes, namely the puku (Kobus vordanii), reedbuck (Redunca arundinum), bushbuck (Tragelaphus sylvaticus), and kudu (Tragelaphus strepsiceros), and showed the presence of Babesia parasites only in the puku. In the puku, the prevalence of babesiosis was estimated at 33.3% (n=12), while the overall prevalence in all examined animals was 8.5% (n=47). The parasites showed morphological characteristics of paired ring-like stages with the length varying between 1.61 µm and 3.02 µm (mean=2.12 µm, n=27; SD=0.76 µm). Both the infected and non-infected pukus showed good body condition scores (BCS), while the dominant tick species detected from all animals were Rhipicephalus appendiculatus, Rhipicephalus spp., and Boophilus spp. To our knowledge this is the first report of Babesia spp. infection in pukus in Zambia. These findings suggest that wildlife could play an important role in the epidemiology of babesiosis in Zambia