The costs of scaling up HIV prevention for high risk groups: lessons learned from the Avahan Programme in India.

OBJECTIVE: The study objective is to measure, analyse costs of scaling up HIV prevention for high-risk groups in India, in order to assist the design of future HIV prevention programmes in South Asia and beyond. DESIGN: Prospective costing study. METHODS: This study is one of the most comprehensive studies of the costs of HIV prevention for high-risk groups to date in both its scope and size. HIV prevention included outreach, sexually transmitted infections (STI) services, condom provision, expertise enhancement, community mobilisation and enabling environment activities. Economic costs were collected from 138 non-government organisations (NGOs) in 64 districts, four state level lead implementing partners (SLPs), and the national programme level (Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF)) office over four years using a top down costing approach, presented in US$2011. RESULTS: Mean total unit costs (2004-08) per person reached at least once a year and per monthly contact were US$ 235(56-1864) and US$82(12-969) respectively. 35$ 477 per person reached in 2004 to US$145 per person reached in 2008). At the service level also unit costs decreased slightly over time from US$ 68 to US$ 64 per person reached. CONCLUSIONS: Scaling up HIV prevention for high risk groups requires significant investment in expertise enhancement and programme administration. However, unit costs decreased with programme expansion in spite of an increase in the scope of activities

Decoherence on a two-dimensional quantum walk using four- and two-state particle

We study the decoherence effects originating from state flipping and depolarization for two-dimensional discrete-time quantum walks using four-state and two-state particles. By quantifying the quantum correlations between the particle and position degree of freedom and between the two spatial ($x-y$) degrees of freedom using measurement induced disturbance (MID), we show that the two schemes using a two-state particle are more robust against decoherence than the Grover walk, which uses a four-state particle. We also show that the symmetries which hold for two-state quantum walks breakdown for the Grover walk, adding to the various other advantages of using two-state particles over four-state particles.Comment: 12 pages, 16 figures, In Press, J. Phys. A: Math. Theor. (2013

Venous infarction mimicking a neoplasm in spontaneous intracranial hypotension: an unusual cause of Parinaud's syndrome

We present a case of longstanding, undiagnosed spontaneous intracranial hypotension (SIH) with an acute presentation of Parinaud's syndrome, in whom serial imaging demonstrated development of a midbrain mass. The patient was ultimately diagnosed with tumefactive venous infarction secondary to SIH. However, this patient underwent a brainstem biopsy, which in retrospect may have been avoidable. This case demonstrates the imaging features of tumefactive venous infarction in SIH and highlights the risk of misinterpretation as a neoplasm with potentially catastrophic consequences

Inverted porphyrins and expanded porphyrins: an overview

Porphyrins and metallopophyrins have attracted the attention of chemists for the past 100 years or more owing to their widespread involvement in biology. More recently, synthetic porphyrins and porphyrin-like macrocycles have attracted the attention of researchers due to their diverse applications as sensitizers for photodynamic therapy, MRI contrasting agents, and complexing agents for larger metal ions and also for their anion binding abilities. The number of π-electrons in the porphyrin ring can be increased either by increasing the numberof conjugated double bonds between the pyrrole rings or by increasing the number of heterocyclic rings. Thus, 22π sapphyrins, 26π rubyrins, 30π heptaphyrins, 34π octaphyrins and higher cyclic polypyrrole analogues containing 40π, 48π, 64π, 80π and 96π systems have recently been reported in the literature. These macrocycles show rich structural diversity where normal and different kinds of inverted structures have been identified. In this review, an attempt has been made to collect the literature of the inverted porphyrins and expanded porphyrins reported until December 2001. Since themeso aryl expanded porphyrins have tendency to form both inverted and non-inverted structures more emphasis has been given to meso aryl expanded porphyrins

Fractional recurrence in discrete-time quantum walk

Quantum recurrence theorem holds for quantum systems with discrete energy eigenvalues and fails to hold in general for systems with continuous energy. We show that during quantum walk process dominated by interference of amplitude corresponding to different paths fail to satisfy the complete quantum recurrence theorem. Due to the revival of the fractional wave packet, a fractional recurrence characterized using quantum P\'olya number can be seen.Comment: 10 pages, 11 figure : Accepted to appear in Central European Journal of Physic

Asymptotic entanglement in a two-dimensional quantum walk

The evolution operator of a discrete-time quantum walk involves a conditional shift in position space which entangles the coin and position degrees of freedom of the walker. After several steps, the coin-position entanglement (CPE) converges to a well defined value which depends on the initial state. In this work we provide an analytical method which allows for the exact calculation of the asymptotic reduced density operator and the corresponding CPE for a discrete-time quantum walk on a two-dimensional lattice. We use the von Neumann entropy of the reduced density operator as an entanglement measure. The method is applied to the case of a Hadamard walk for which the dependence of the resulting CPE on initial conditions is obtained. Initial states leading to maximum or minimum CPE are identified and the relation between the coin or position entanglement present in the initial state of the walker and the final level of CPE is discussed. The CPE obtained from separable initial states satisfies an additivity property in terms of CPE of the corresponding one-dimensional cases. Non-local initial conditions are also considered and we find that the extreme case of an initial uniform position distribution leads to the largest CPE variation.Comment: Major revision. Improved structure. Theoretical results are now separated from specific examples. Most figures have been replaced by new versions. The paper is now significantly reduced in size: 11 pages, 7 figure

A class of energy based ensembles in Tsallis statistics

A comprehensive investigation is carried out on the class of energy based ensembles. The eight ensembles are divided into two main classes. In the isothermal class of ensembles the individual members are at the same temperature. A unified framework is evolved to describe the four isothermal ensembles. Such a description is provided both in the second and the third constraint formalisms. The isothermal- isobaric, grandcanonical and the generalized ensembles are illustrated through a study of the classical nonrelativistic and the extreme relativistic ideal gas models. In the adiabatic class of ensembles the individual members of the ensemble have the same value of the heat function and a unified formulation to described all the four ensembles is given. The nonrelativistic and the extreme relativistic ideal gases are studied in the isoenthalpic-isobaric ensemble, the adiabatic ensemble with number fluctuations, and, the adiabatic ensemble with number and particle fluctuations

Community mobilisation and empowerment of female sex workers is significantly associated with reduced HIV/STI risk in Karnataka state, south India

What is the impact of community mobilisation as a central component of targeted HIV prevention programmes in India? Research implemented by KHPT and presented in a poster by Tara Beattie, demonstrates how community mobilisation activities built the capacity of female sex workers to manage their vulnerability to HIV. Results showed: Increased levels of collective and individual power, Increased knowledge and uptake of HIV and STI services, Increased condom use with clients and regular partners. This presentation was part of research presented at AIDS 2012 by STRIVE's host group, Social and Mathematical Epidemiology (SaME), LSHTM