167 research outputs found
Sri Lankan tsunami refugees: a cross sectional study of the relationships between housing conditions and self-reported health
BACKGROUND: On the 26th December 2004 the Asian tsunami devastated the Sri Lankan coastline. More than two years later, over 14,500 families were still living in transitional shelters. This study compares the health of the internally displaced people (IDP), living in transitional camps with those in permanent housing projects provided by government and non-government organisations in Sri Lanka. METHODS: This study was conducted in seven transitional camps and five permanent housing projects in the south west of Sri Lanka. Using an interviewer-led questionnaire, data on the IDPs' self-reported health and housing conditions were collected from 154 participants from transitional camps and 147 participants from permanent housing projects. Simple tabulation with non-parametric tests and logistic regression were used to identify and analyse relationships between housing conditions and the reported prevalence of specific symptoms. RESULTS: Analysis showed that living conditions were significantly worse in transitional camps than in permanent housing projects for all factors investigated, except 'having a leaking roof'. Transitional camp participants scored significantly lower on self-perceived overall health scores than those living in housing projects. After controlling for gender, age and marital status, living in a transitional camp compared to a housing project was found to be a significant risk factor for the following symptoms; coughs OR: 3.53 (CI: 2.11-5.89), stomach ache 4.82 (2.19-10.82), headache 5.20 (3.09-8.76), general aches and pains 6.44 (3.67-11.33) and feeling generally unwell 2.28 (2.51-7.29). Within transitional camp data, the only condition shown to be a significant risk factor for any symptom was household population density, which increased the risk of stomach aches 1.40 (1.09-1.79) and headaches 1.33 (1.01-1.77). CONCLUSION: Internally displaced people living in transitional camps are a vulnerable population and specific interventions need to be targeted at this population to address the health inequalities that they report to be experiencing. Further studies need to be conducted to establish which aspects of their housing environment predispose them to poorer health
Probing the angular and polarization reconstruction of the ARIANNA detector at the South Pole
The sources of ultra-high energy (UHE) cosmic rays, which can have energies
up to 10^20 eV, remain a mystery. UHE neutrinos may provide important clues to
understanding the nature of cosmic-ray sources. ARIANNA aims to detect UHE
neutrinos via radio (Askaryan) emission from particle showers when a neutrino
interacts with ice, which is an efficient method for neutrinos with energies
between 10^16 eV and 10^20 eV. The ARIANNA radio detectors are located in
Antarctic ice just beneath the surface. Neutrino observation requires that
radio pulses propagate to the antennas at the surface with minimum distortion
by the ice and firn medium. Using the residual hole from the South Pole Ice
Core Project, radio pulses were emitted from a transmitter located up to 1.7 km
below the snow surface. By measuring these signals with an ARIANNA surface
station, the angular and polarization reconstruction abilities are quantified,
which are required to measure the direction of the neutrino. After deconvolving
the raw signals for the detector response and attenuation from propagation
through the ice, the signal pulses show no significant distortion and agree
with a reference measurement of the emitter made in an anechoic chamber.
Furthermore, the signal pulses reveal no significant birefringence for our
tested geometry of mostly vertical ice propagation. The origin of the
transmitted radio pulse was measured with an angular resolution of 0.37 degrees
indicating that the neutrino direction can be determined with good precision if
the polarization of the radio-pulse can be well determined. In the present
study we obtained a resolution of the polarization vector of 2.7 degrees.
Neither measurement show a significant offset relative to expectation
General practitioners' conceptions about treatment of depression and factors that may influence their practice in this area. A postal survey
BACKGROUND: The way GPs work does not appear to be adapted to the needs of depressive patients. Therefore we wanted to examine Swedish GPs' conceptions of depressive disorders and their treatment and GPs' ideas of factors that may influence their manner of work with depressive patients. METHODS: A postal questionnaire to a stratified sample of 617 Swedish GPs. RESULTS: Most respondents assumed antidepressive drugs effective and did not assume that psychotherapy can replace drugs in depression treatment though many of them looked at psychotherapy as an essential complement. Nearly all respondents thought that clinical experiences had great importance in decision situations, but patients' own preferences and official clinical guidelines were also regarded as essential. As influences on their work, almost all surveyed GPs regarded experiences from general practice very important, and a majority also emphasised experiences from private life. Courses arranged by pharmaceutical companies were seen as essential sources of knowledge. A majority thought that psychiatrists did not provide sufficient help, while most respondents perceived they were well backed up by colleagues. CONCLUSION: GPs tend to emphasize experiences, both from clinical work and private life, and overlook influences of collegial dealings and ongoing CME as well as the effects of the pharmaceutical companies' marketing activities. Many GPs appear to need more evidence based knowledge about depressive disorders. Interventions to improve depression management have to be supporting and interactive, and should be combined with organisational reforms to improve co-operation with psychiatrists
The Sertindole Safety Survey: A retrospective analysis under a named patient use programme in Europe
<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>After sertindole's suspension, health authorities established a specific named-patient use (NPU) programme in order to supply sertindole to patients who did not respond to or did not tolerate alternative treatments. This programme provided the possibility of prospectively following an exhaustive cohort of patients treated with sertindole after its suspension. A survey was performed to assess sertindole's modalities of prescription, assess and document any serious adverse events (SAEs), and assess the mortality rate within the NPU cohort.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The study comprised a survey of sertindole-treated patients in eleven European countries. All patients treated with sertindole within the NPU programme were eligible for the study.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>1,432 patients were included in the study. The reason for sertindole prescription was lack of efficacy (approximately 50%) or adverse events (approximately 20%) of other antipsychotic treatments. The mean sertindole dose was 13.4 mg daily. Lack of efficacy and adverse events were reported as reasons for sertindole discontinuation.</p> <p>A total of 97 SAEs were recorded, including ten fatal outcomes, which occurred during the study period or within thirty days after sertindole discontinuation. The all-cause mortality rate was 0.51 per 100 Person-Years of Exposure (95% Poisson confidence interval: 0.23–0.97). QTc prolongation was reported in 15 patients (1.05% of total patients), being a rate of 0.85 per 100 Person-Years of Exposure [95% CI: 0.48–1.41].</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Although prescribing and supplying sertindole were subject to administrative constraints, a significant number of patients were treated with sertindole, thus supporting the need for sertindole in specific cases.</p> <p>Trial registration number</p> <p>Not applicable.</p
A facility to Search for Hidden Particles (SHiP) at the CERN SPS
A new general purpose fixed target facility is proposed at the CERN SPS
accelerator which is aimed at exploring the domain of hidden particles and make
measurements with tau neutrinos. Hidden particles are predicted by a large
number of models beyond the Standard Model. The high intensity of the SPS
400~GeV beam allows probing a wide variety of models containing light
long-lived exotic particles with masses below (10)~GeV/c,
including very weakly interacting low-energy SUSY states. The experimental
programme of the proposed facility is capable of being extended in the future,
e.g. to include direct searches for Dark Matter and Lepton Flavour Violation.Comment: Technical Proposa
White Paper: ARIANNA-200 high energy neutrino telescope
The proposed ARIANNA-200 neutrino detector, located at sea-level on the Ross
Ice Shelf, Antarctica, consists of 200 autonomous and independent detector
stations separated by 1 kilometer in a uniform triangular mesh, and serves as a
pathfinder mission for the future IceCube-Gen2 project. The primary science
mission of ARIANNA-200 is to search for sources of neutrinos with energies
greater than 10^17 eV, complementing the reach of IceCube. An ARIANNA
observation of a neutrino source would provide strong insight into the
enigmatic sources of cosmic rays. ARIANNA observes the radio emission from high
energy neutrino interactions in the Antarctic ice. Among radio based concepts
under current investigation, ARIANNA-200 would uniquely survey the vast
majority of the southern sky at any instant in time, and an important region of
the northern sky, by virtue of its location on the surface of the Ross Ice
Shelf in Antarctica. The broad sky coverage is specific to the Moore's Bay
site, and makes ARIANNA-200 ideally suited to contribute to the multi-messenger
thrust by the US National Science Foundation, Windows on the Universe -
Multi-Messenger Astrophysics, providing capabilities to observe explosive
sources from unknown directions. The ARIANNA architecture is designed to
measure the angular direction to within 3 degrees for every neutrino candidate,
which too plays an important role in the pursuit of multi-messenger
observations of astrophysical sources
Sex differences in rheumatoid arthritis: more than meets the eye...
Sex differences in the prevalence of autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis (RA) are well described, but the literature is not as clear about sex differences in RA disease course and prognosis. A recent study from a very large cross-sectional international cohort demonstrated slightly worse levels of disease activity and function in female patients with RA, compared with men. These findings are discussed in the context of our evolving knowledge of sex differences in the expression of this prototypic autoimmune disease, both in terms of the actual disease activity level, the effects that the disease has on physical function, and our ability accurately to measure these aspects
Studying the association between musculoskeletal disorders, quality of life and mental health. A primary care pilot study in rural Crete, Greece
<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The burden of musculoskeletal disorders (MSD) on the general health and well-being of the population has been documented in various studies. The objective of this study was to explore the association between MSD and the quality of life and mental health of patients and to discuss issues concerning care seeking patterns in rural Greece.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Patients registered at one rural Primary Care Centre (PCC) in Crete were invited to complete the Nordic Musculoskeletal Questionnaire (NMQ) for the analysis of musculoskeletal symptoms, together with validated instruments for measuring health related quality of life (SF-36) and mental distress (GHQ-28).</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The prevalence rate of MSD was found to be 71.2%, with low back and knee pain being the most common symptoms. Most conditions significantly impaired the quality of life, especially the physical dimensions of SF-36. Depression was strongly correlated to most MSD (<it>p </it>< 0.001). Multiple logistic analyses revealed that patients who consulted the PCC due to MSD were likely to have more mental distress or impaired physical functioning compared to those who did not.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Musculoskeletal disorders were common in patients attending the rural PCC of this study and were associated with a poor quality of life and mental distress that affected their consultation behaviour.</p
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