Rhythmic Growth of Target and Spiral Spherulites of Crystalline Polymer Blends

Numerical calculations reveal that the target and spiral growth patterns in spherulites can be generated from the time-dependent Ginzburg-Landau equations (model C) by coupling a conserved compositional order parameter and a nonconserved crystal ordering parameter. Of particular interest is that the periodic concentric rings (target) or the spirals at the spherulitic core remain stationary in both the crystal (orientational) ordering field and the concentration field. Another intriguing observation is that the growth of target and spiral spherulites occurs in a stepwise fashion in synchronism with the rhythmic energy dissipation during crystallization

Everybody wants it done but nobody wants to do it. An exploration of the barrier and enablers of critical components towards creating a clinical pathway for anxiety and depression in cancer

Background: This study aimed to explore barriers to and enablers for future implementation of a draft clinical pathway for anxiety and depression in cancer patients in the Australian context. Methods: Health professionals reviewed a draft clinical pathway and participated in qualitative interviews about the delivery of psychosocial care in their setting, individual components of the draft pathway, and barriers and enablers for its future implementation. Results: Five interrelated themes were identified: ownership; resources and responsibility; education and training; patient reluctance; and integration with health services beyond oncology. Conclusions: The five themes were perceived as both barriers and enablers and provide a basis for an implementation plan that includes strategies to overcome barriers. The next steps are to design and deliver the clinical pathway with specific implementation strategies that address team ownership, endorsement by leaders, education and training modules designed for health professionals and patients and identify ways to integrate the pathway into existing cancer services

The Political Economy of Myanmar's Transition

This is an Author's Original Manuscript of an article whose final and definitive form, the Version of Record, has been published in the JOURNAL OF CONTEMPORARY ASIA, 07 Feb 2013, copyright Taylor & Francis, available online at: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/00472336.2013.764143.Since holding elections in 2010, Myanmar has transitioned from a direct military dictatorship to a formally democratic system and has embarked on a period of rapid economic reform. After two decades of military rule, the pace of change has startled almost everyone and led to a great deal of cautious optimism. To make sense of the transition and assess the case for optimism, this article explores the political economy of Myanmar's dual transition from state socialism to capitalism and from dictatorship to democracy. It analyses changes within Myanmar society from a critical political economy perspective in order to both situate these developments within broader regional trends and to evaluate the country's current trajectory. In particular, the emergence of state-mediated capitalism and politico-business complexes in Myanmar's borderlands are emphasised. These dynamics, which have empowered a narrow oligarchy, are less likely to be undone by the reform process than to fundamentally shape the contours of reform. Consequently, Myanmar's future may not be unlike those of other Southeast Asian states that have experienced similar developmental trajectories

Tuberculosis screening at a diabetes clinic in the Republic of the Marshall Islands

AbstractSettingTuberculosis (TB) and diabetes mellitus (DM) are prominent public health problems in the Republic of the Marshall Islands, a small island nation with high rates of tuberculosis and diabetes.ObjectiveEvaluate the rate of active and latent TB in a Pacific Island DM clinic.DesignIn one DM clinic on the island of Ebeye, 213 adult patients aged 27–86 years completed tuberculin skin testing and TB work-up between April 2010 and March 2012.ResultsScreening for TB led to the diagnosis of 77 patients with TB infection and 11 patients with TB disease. From these data, the prevalence of TB disease among DM patients in the clinic exceeded 5% (95% CI 2.2%–8.1%). All patients who completed TB screening were at high risk of TB disease, and those with DM aged ≤50 years had a higher risk of TB disease than those with DM over age 50 (RR 3.1, C.I. 1.0–9.7, p= 0.05).ConclusionThe experience at the Ebeye Diabetes Clinic demonstrates that screening DM patients for TB can identify significant rates of TB infection and TB disease, and should be considered for other settings with a high background TB incidence. Further assessment of TB risks should explore age, gender, and level of diabetes control

Health-state utilities in a prisoner population : a cross-sectional survey

Background: Health-state utilities for prisoners have not been described. Methods: We used data from a 1996 cross-sectional survey of Australian prisoners (n = 734). Respondent-level SF-36 data was transformed into utility scores by both the SF-6D and Nichol's method. Socio-demographic and clinical predictors of SF-6D utility were assessed in univariate analyses and a multivariate general linear model. Results: The overall mean SF-6D utility was 0.725 (SD 0.119). When subdivided by various medical conditions, prisoner SF-6D utilities ranged from 0.620 for angina to 0.764 for those with none/mild depressive symptoms. Utilities derived by the Nichol's method were higher than SF-6D scores, often by more than 0.1. In multivariate analysis, significant independent predictors of worse utility included female gender, increasing age, increasing number of comorbidities and more severe depressive symptoms. Conclusion: The utilities presented may prove useful for future economic and decision models evaluating prison-based health programs

Detection of somatic changes in human cancer DNA by DNA fingerprint analysis.

Minisatellite DNA probes which can detect a large number of autosomal loci dispersed throughout the human genome were used to examine the constitutional and tumour DNA of 35 patients with a variety of cancers of which eight were of gastrointestinal origin. Somatic changes were seen in the tumour DNA in ten of the 35 cases. The changes included alterations in the relative intensities of hybridising DNA fragments, and, in three cases of cancers of gastrointestinal origin, the appearance of novel minisatellite fragments not seen in the corresponding constitutional DNA. The results of this preliminary study suggests that DNA fingerprint analysis provides a useful technique for identifying somatic changes in cancers

Differential adherence and expression of virulence traits by Candida albicans and Candida parapsilosis in mono- and dual-species cultures in artificial saliva

AIMS: To evaluate specific virulence factors of Candida albicans and Candida parapsilosis clinical oral isolates in mono- and dual-species culture in the presence of artificial saliva. METHODS AND RESULTS: Two of the strains used in this study were isolated from co-infection (C. albicans AM and C. parapsilosis AM2), and the other two were isolated from single infection (C. albicans AC and C. parapsilosis AD). The number of adhered yeast cells was measured and their enzymatic activity was determined simultaneously. In mono-species culture, C. parapsilosis strains adhered to a higher extent to the surface in comparison with the C. albicans strains. In dual-species culture, the C. parapsilosis strains adhered more in the presence of C. albicans AM. Interestingly, C. albicans AM and C. parapsilosis AD adhered to a higher extent when compared with all other co-cultures. In dual-species culture, the enzymatic activity of C. parapsilosis strains in the presence of C. albicans AC was higher than in the presence of C. albicans AM. CONCLUSIONS: The virulence factors of C. albicans and C. parapsilosis differ from strain to strain and are influenced by the presence of other species in culture. SIGNIFICANCE AND IMPACT OF THE STUDY: To understand the expression of virulence factors in Candida dual-species systems.This work was supported by Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) through the grant SFRH/BPD/20987/2004 attributed to Claudia Botelho