583 research outputs found
Measles resurges in Italy: preliminary data from September 2007 to May 2008.
Following an incidence rate of 1/100,000 inhabitants in 2006 [1], Italy has been facing an upsurge of measles cases since September 2007, with outbreaks being reported in various regions. In Italy, measles vaccination is currently offered free of charge as combined measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine. The current national vaccination schedule recommends two doses of MMR vaccine, given respectively at 11-12 months and 5-6 years of age. Although childhood vaccination coverage has increased in recent years, reaching the national average of 88% in 2006 (source: Ministry of Health), with some regional variability (Figure 1), it is still below the target of 95% set by the National Measles Elimination Plan (MEP) launched in 2003 [2], and outbreaks continue to occur
Control of Dephasing and Phonon Emission in Coupled Quantum Dots
We predict that phonon subband quantization can be detected in the non-linear
electron current through double quantum dot qubits embedded into nano-size
semiconductor slabs, acting as phonon cavities. For particular values of the
dot level splitting , piezo-electric or deformation potential
scattering is either drastically reduced as compared to the bulk case, or
strongly enhanced due to phonon van Hove singularities. By tuning via
gate voltages, one can either control dephasing, or strongly increase emission
into phonon modes with characteristic angular distributions.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, accepted for publication as Rapid Comm. in Phys.
Rev.
Analyzing power in nucleon-deuteron scattering and three-nucleon forces
Three-nucleon forces have been considered to be one possibility to resolve
the well known discrepancy between experimental values and theoretical
calculations of the nucleon analyzing power in low energy nucleon-deuteron
scattering. In this paper, we investigate possible effects of two-pion exchange
three-nucleon forces on the analyzing power and the differential cross section.
We found that the reason for different effects on the analyzing power by
different three-nucleon forces found in previous calculations is related to the
existence of the contact term. Effects of some variations of two-pion exchange
three-nucleon forces are investigated. Also, an expression for the measure of
the nucleon analyzing power with quartet P-wave phase shifts is presented.Comment: 11 pages including 2 eps figures, use epsfig.sty, to appear in Phys.
Rev.
An outbreak of viral gastroenteritis linked to municipal water supply, Lombardy, Italy, June 2009
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Interventions to prevent HIV and Hepatitis C among people who inject drugs:Latest evidence of effectiveness from a systematic review (2011 to 2020)
Are component positioning and prosthesis size associated with hip resurfacing failure?
BACKGROUND: Recent studies suggest that there is a learning curve for metal-on-metal hip resurfacing. The purpose of this study was to assess whether implant positioning changed with surgeon experience and whether positioning and component sizing were associated with implant longevity. METHODS: We evaluated the first 361 consecutive hip resurfacings performed by a single surgeon, which had a mean follow-up of 59 months (range, 28 to 87 months). Pre and post-operative radiographs were assessed to determine the inclination of the acetabular component, as well as the sagittal and coronal femoral stem-neck angles. Changes in the precision of component placement were determined by assessing changes in the standard deviation of each measurement using variance ratio and linear regression analysis. Additionally, the cup and stem-shaft angles as well as component sizes were compared between the 31 hips that failed over the follow-up period and the surviving components to assess for any differences that might have been associated with an increased risk for failure. RESULTS: Surgeon experience was correlated with improved precision of the antero-posterior and lateral positioning of the femoral component. However, femoral and acetabular radiographic implant positioning angles were not different between the surviving hips and failures. The failures had smaller mean femoral component diameters as compared to the non-failure group (44 versus 47 millimeters). CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that there may be differences in implant positioning in early versus late learning curve procedures, but that in the absence of recognized risk factors such as intra-operative notching of the femoral neck and cup inclination in excess of 50 degrees, component positioning does not appear to be associated with failure. Nevertheless, surgeons should exercise caution in operating patients with small femoral necks, especially when they are early in the learning curve
Pervasive melt percolation reactions in ultra-depleted refractory harzburgites at the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, 15° 20′N : ODP Hole 1274A
Author Posting. © The Authors, 2006. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here by permission of Springer for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Contributions to Mineralogy and Petrology 153 (2007): 303-319, doi:10.1007/s00410-006-0148-6.ODP Leg 209 Site 1274 mantle peridotites are highly refractory in terms of lack of residual
clinopyroxene, olivine Mg# (up to 0.92) and spinel Cr# (~0.5), suggesting high degree of partial
melting (>20%). Detailed studies of their microstructures show that they have extensively
reacted with a pervading intergranular melt prior to cooling in the lithosphere, leading to
crystallization of olivine, clinopyroxene and spinel at the expense of orthopyroxene. The least
reacted harzburgites are too rich in orthopyroxene to be simple residues of low-pressure (spinel
field) partial melting. Cu-rich sulfides that precipitated with the clinopyroxenes indicate that
the intergranular melt was generated by no more than 12% melting of a MORB mantle or by
more extensive melting of a clinopyroxene-rich lithology. Rare olivine-rich lherzolitic domains,
characterized by relics of coarse clinopyroxenes intergrown with magmatic sulfides, support
the second interpretation. Further, coarse and intergranular clinopyroxenes are highly depleted
in REE, Zr and Ti. A two-stage partial melting/melt-rock reaction history is proposed, in which
initial mantle underwent depletion and refertilization after an earlier high pressure (garnet field)
melting event before upwelling and remelting beneath the present-day ridge. The ultra-depleted
compositions were acquired through melt re-equilibration with residual harzburgites.Funding for this
research was provided by Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique-Institut National des
Sciences de l’Univers (Programme Dynamique et Evolution de la Terre Interne)
Polarization observables in p-d scattering below 30 MeV
Differential and total breakup cross sections as well as vector and tensor
analyzing powers for p-d scattering are studied for energies above the deuteron
breakup threshold up to E(lab)=28 MeV. The p-d scattering wave function is
expanded in terms of the correlated hyperspherical harmonic basis and the
elastic S-matrix is obtained using the Kohn variational principle in its
complex form. The effects of the Coulomb interaction, which are expected to be
important in this energy range, have been rigorously taken into account. The
Argonne AV18 interaction and the Urbana URIX three-nucleon potential have been
used to perform a comparison to the available experimental data.Comment: 31 pages, 8 figure
High-intensity mechanical therapy for loss of knee extension for worker's compensation and non-compensation patients
<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Knee flexion contractures have been associated with increased pain and a reduced ability to perform activities of daily living. Contractures can be treated either surgically or conservatively, but these treatment options may not be as successful with worker's compensation patients. The purposes of retrospective review were to 1) determine the efficacy of using adjunctive high-intensity stretch (HIS) mechanical therapy to treat flexion contractures, and 2) compare the results between groups of worker's compensation and non-compensation patients.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Fifty-six patients (19 women, 37 men, age = 51.5 ± 17.0 years) with flexion contractures were treated with HIS mechanical therapy as an adjunct to outpatient physical therapy. Mechanical therapy was only prescribed for those patients whose motion had reached a plateau when treated with physical therapy alone. Patients were asked to perform six, 10-minute bouts of end-range stretching per day with the ERMI Knee Extensionater<sup>(r) </sup>(ERMI, Inc., Atlanta, GA). Passive knee extension was recorded during the postoperative visit that mechanical therapy was prescribed, 3 months after beginning mechanical therapy, and at the most recent follow-up. We used a mixed-model 2 × 3 ANOVA (group × time) to evaluate the change in passive knee extension between groups over time.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Regardless of group, the use of adjunctive HIS mechanical therapy resulted in passive knee extension deficits that significantly improved from 10.5° ± 5.2° at the initial visit to 2.6° ± 3.5° at the 3 month visit (p < 0.001). The degree of extension was maintained at the most recent follow-up (2.0° ± 2.9°), which was significantly greater than the initial visit (p < 0.001), but did not differ from the 3 month visit (p = 0.23). The gains in knee extension did not differ between worker's compensation and non-compensation patients (p = 0.56).</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>We conclude that the adjunctive use of HIS mechanical therapy is an effective treatment option for patients with knee flexion contractures, regardless of whether the patient is being treated as part of a worker's compensation claim or not.</p
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