Acceptability of impregnated school uniforms for dengue control in Thailand: a mixed methods approach

Background: As current dengue control strategies have been shown to be largely ineffective in reducing dengue in school-aged children, novel approaches towards dengue control need to be studied. Insecticide-impregnated school uniforms represent an innovative approach with the theoretical potential to reduce dengue infections in school children. Objectives: This study took place in the context of a randomised control trial (RCT) to test the effectiveness of permethrin-impregnated school uniforms (ISUs) for dengue prevention in Chachoengsao Province, Thailand. The objective was to assess the acceptability of ISUs among parents, teachers, and principals of school children involved in the trial. Methodology: Quantitative and qualitative tools were used in a mixed methods approach. Class-clustered randomised samples of school children enrolled in the RCT were selected and their parents completed 321 self-administered questionnaires. Descriptive statistics and logistic regression were used to analyse the quantitative data. Focus group discussions and individual semi-structured interviews were conducted with parents, teachers, and principals. Qualitative data analysis involved content analysis with coding and thematic development. Results: The knowledge and experience of dengue was substantial. The acceptability of ISUs was high. Parents (87.3%; 95% CI 82.9–90.8) would allow their child to wear an ISU and 59.9% (95% CI 53.7–65.9) of parents would incur additional costs for an ISU over a normal uniform. This was significantly associated with the total monthly income of a household and the educational level of the respondent. Parents (62.5%; 95% CI 56.6–68.1) indicated they would be willing to recommend ISUs to other parents. Conclusions: Acceptability of the novel tool of ISUs was high as defined by the lack of concern along with the willingness to pay and recommend. Considering issues of effectiveness and scalability, assessing acceptability of ISUs over time is recommended

The hidden horizon and black hole unitarity

We motivate through a detailed analysis of the Hawking radiation in a Schwarzschild background a scheme in accordance with quantum unitarity. In this scheme the semi-classical approximation of the unitary quantum - horizonless - black hole S-matrix leads to the conventional description of the Hawking radiation from a classical black hole endowed with an event horizon. Unitarity is borne out by the detailed exclusive S-matrix amplitudes. There, the fixing of generic out-states, in addition to the in-state, yields in asymptotic Minkowski space-time saddle-point contributions which are dominated by Planckian metric fluctuations when approaching the Schwarzschild radius. We argue that these prevent the corresponding macroscopic "exclusive backgrounds" to develop an event horizon. However, if no out-state is selected, a distinct saddle-point geometry can be defined, in which Planckian fluctuations are tamed. Such "inclusive background" presents an event horizon and constitutes a coarse-grained average over the aforementioned exclusive ones. The classical event horizon appears as a coarse-grained structure, sustaining the thermodynamic significance of the Bekenstein-Hawking entropy. This is reminiscent of the tentative fuzzball description of extremal black holes: the role of microstates is played here by a complete set of out-states. Although the computations of unitary amplitudes would require a detailed theory of quantum gravity, the proposed scheme itself, which appeals to the metric description of gravity only in the vicinity of stationary points, does not.Comment: 29 pages, 4 figures. Typos corrected. Two footnotes added (footnotes 3 and 5

Conformal Quivers and Melting Molecules

Quiver quantum mechanics describes the low energy dynamics of a system of wrapped D-branes. It captures several aspects of single and multicentered BPS black hole geometries in four-dimensional $\mathcal{N} = 2$ supergravity such as the presence of bound states and an exponential growth of microstates. The Coulomb branch of an Abelian three node quiver is obtained by integrating out the massive strings connecting the D-particles. It allows for a scaling regime corresponding to a deep AdS$_2$ throat on the gravity side. In this scaling regime, the Coulomb branch is shown to be an $SL(2,\mathbb{R})$ invariant multi-particle superconformal quantum mechanics. Finally, we integrate out the strings at finite temperature---rather than in their ground state---and show how the Coulomb branch `melts' into the Higgs branch at high enough temperatures. For scaling solutions the melting occurs for arbitrarily small temperatures, whereas bound states can be metastable and thus long lived. Throughout the paper, we discuss how far the analogy between the quiver model and the gravity picture, particularly within the AdS$_2$ throat, can be taken.Comment: 49 pages, 16 figure

Singular values of the Dirac operator in dense QCD-like theories

We study the singular values of the Dirac operator in dense QCD-like theories at zero temperature. The Dirac singular values are real and nonnegative at any nonzero quark density. The scale of their spectrum is set by the diquark condensate, in contrast to the complex Dirac eigenvalues whose scale is set by the chiral condensate at low density and by the BCS gap at high density. We identify three different low-energy effective theories with diquark sources applicable at low, intermediate, and high density, together with their overlapping domains of validity. We derive a number of exact formulas for the Dirac singular values, including Banks-Casher-type relations for the diquark condensate, Smilga-Stern-type relations for the slope of the singular value density, and Leutwyler-Smilga-type sum rules for the inverse singular values. We construct random matrix theories and determine the form of the microscopic spectral correlation functions of the singular values for all nonzero quark densities. We also derive a rigorous index theorem for non-Hermitian Dirac operators. Our results can in principle be tested in lattice simulations.Comment: 3 references added, version published in JHE

Testing A (Stringy) Model of Quantum Gravity

I discuss a specific model of space-time foam, inspired by the modern non-perturbative approach to string theory (D-branes). The model views our world as a three brane, intersecting with D-particles that represent stringy quantum gravity effects, which can be real or virtual. In this picture, matter is represented generically by (closed or open) strings on the D3 brane propagating in such a background. Scattering of the (matter) strings off the D-particles causes recoil of the latter, which in turn results in a distortion of the surrounding space-time fluid and the formation of (microscopic, i.e. Planckian size) horizons around the defects. As a mean-field result, the dispersion relation of the various particle excitations is modified, leading to non-trivial optical properties of the space time, for instance a non-trivial refractive index for the case of photons or other massless probes. Such models make falsifiable predictions, that may be tested experimentally in the foreseeable future. I describe a few such tests, ranging from observations of light from distant gamma-ray-bursters and ultra high energy cosmic rays, to tests using gravity-wave interferometric devices and terrestrial particle physics experients involving, for instance, neutral kaons.Comment: 25 pages LATEX, four figures incorporated, uses special proceedings style. Invited talk at the third international conference on Dark Matter in Astro and Particle Physics, DARK2000, Heidelberg, Germany, July 10-15 200

Electroweak Baryogenesis and Dark Matter with an approximate R-symmetry

It is well known that R-symmetric models dramatically alleviate the SUSY flavor and CP problems. We study particular modifications of existing R-symmetric models which share the solution to the above problems, and have interesting consequences for electroweak baryogenesis and the Dark Matter (DM) content of the universe. In particular, we find that it is naturally possible to have a strongly first-order electroweak phase transition while simultaneously relaxing the tension with EDM experiments. The R-symmetry (and its small breaking) implies that the gauginos (and the neutralino LSP) are pseudo-Dirac fermions, which is relevant for both baryogenesis and DM. The singlet superpartner of the U(1)_Y pseudo-Dirac gaugino plays a prominent role in making the electroweak phase transition strongly first-order. The pseudo-Dirac nature of the LSP allows it to behave similarly to a Dirac particle during freeze-out, but like a Majorana particle for annihilation today and in scattering against nuclei, thus being consistent with current constraints. Assuming a standard cosmology, it is possible to simultaneously have a strongly first-order phase transition conducive to baryogenesis and have the LSP provide the full DM relic abundance, in part of the allowed parameter space. However, other possibilities for DM also exist, which are discussed. It is expected that upcoming direct DM searches as well as neutrino signals from DM annihilation in the Sun will be sensitive to this class of models. Interesting collider and Gravity-wave signals are also briefly discussed.Comment: 50 pages, 10 figure

Srv Mediated Dispersal of Streptococcal Biofilms Through SpeB Is Observed in CovRS+ Strains

Group A Streptococcus (GAS) is a human specific pathogen capable of causing both mild infections and severe invasive disease. We and others have shown that GAS is able to form biofilms during infection. That is to say, they form a three-dimensional, surface attached structure consisting of bacteria and a multi-component extracellular matrix. The mechanisms involved in regulation and dispersal of these GAS structures are still unclear. Recently we have reported that in the absence of the transcriptional regulator Srv in the MGAS5005 background, the cysteine protease SpeB is constitutively produced, leading to increased tissue damage and decreased biofilm formation during a subcutaneous infection in a mouse model. This was interesting because MGAS5005 has a naturally occurring mutation that inactivates the sensor kinase domain of the two component regulatory system CovRS. Others have previously shown that strains lacking covS are associated with decreased SpeB production due to CovR repression of speB expression. Thus, our results suggest the inactivation of srv can bypass CovR repression and lead to constitutive SpeB production. We hypothesized that Srv control of SpeB production may be a mechanism to regulate biofilm dispersal and provide a mechanism by which mild infection can transition to severe disease through biofilm dispersal. The question remained however, is this mechanism conserved among GAS strains or restricted to the unique genetic makeup of MGAS5005. Here we show that Srv mediated control of SpeB and biofilm dispersal is conserved in the invasive clinical isolates RGAS053 (serotype M1) and MGAS315 (serotype M3), both of which have covS intact. This work provides additional evidence that Srv regulated control of SpeB may mediate biofilm formation and dispersal in diverse strain backgrounds

Age-Dependent Ocular Dominance Plasticity in Adult Mice

Background: Short monocular deprivation (4 days) induces a shift in the ocular dominance of binocular neurons in the juvenile mouse visual cortex but is ineffective in adults. Recently, it has been shown that an ocular dominance shift can still be elicited in young adults (around 90 days of age) by longer periods of deprivation (7 days). Whether the same is true also for fully mature animals is not yet known. Methodology/Principal Findings: We therefore studied the effects of different periods of monocular deprivation (4, 7, 14 days) on ocular dominance in C57Bl/6 mice of different ages (25 days, 90–100 days, 109–158 days, 208–230 days) using optical imaging of intrinsic signals. In addition, we used a virtual optomotor system to monitor visual acuity of the open eye in the same animals during deprivation. We observed that ocular dominance plasticity after 7 days of monocular deprivation was pronounced in young adult mice (90–100 days) but significantly weaker already in the next age group (109–158 days). In animals older than 208 days, ocular dominance plasticity was absent even after 14 days of monocular deprivation. Visual acuity of the open eye increased in all age groups, but this interocular plasticity also declined with age, although to a much lesser degree than the optically detected ocular dominance shift. Conclusions/Significance: These data indicate that there is an age-dependence of both ocular dominance plasticity and the enhancement of vision after monocular deprivation in mice: ocular dominance plasticity in binocular visual cortex is mos

Validation of the SF-36 in patients with endometriosis.

OBJECTIVES: Endometriosis presents with significant pain as the most common symptom. Generic health measures can allow comparisons across diseases or populations. However, the Medical Outcomes Study Short Form 36 (SF-36) has not been validated for this disease. The goal of this study was to validate the SF-36 (version 2) for endometriosis. METHODS: Using data from two clinical trials (N = 252 and 198) of treatment for endometriosis, a full complement of psychometric analyses was performed. Additional instruments included a pain visual analog scale (VAS); a physician-completed questionnaire based on patient interview (modified Biberoglu and Behrman--B&B); clinical global impression of change (CGI-C); and patient satisfaction with treatment. RESULTS: Bodily pain (BP) and the Physical Component Summary Score (PCS) were correlated with the pain VAS at baseline and over time and the B&B at baseline and end of study. In addition, those who had the greatest change in BP and PCS also reported the greatest change on CGI-C and patient satisfaction with treatment. Other subscales showed smaller, but significant, correlations with change in the pain VAS, CGI-C, and patient satisfaction with treatment. CONCLUSIONS: The SF-36--particularly BP and the PCS--appears to be a valid and responsive measure for endometriosis and its treatment