2,588 research outputs found
A systematic review of tuberculosis detection and prevention studies in prisons
Many studies have demonstrated that prisons are hotspots of tuberculosis disease and transmission. Despite this, it remains unclear which interventions are most effective at controlling tuberculosis in prisons. The objective was to determine the study designs used to investigate tuberculosis control in prisons, and the efficacy of interventions undertaken. This systematic review included published studies which had the aim of reducing TB incidence or prevalence, or increasing the number of people screened for active pulmonary tuberculosis in incarcerated populations. 2,429 records were identified, 178 full-text articles were screened, and 17 studies included. The majority of reports were before/after or prospective non-comparative studies. The median study duration was 23 months (range 5-144). The most common intervention was the introduction of active case finding (10/17 studies) but the timing and methods varied. Comparable pre- and post intervention outcome values were infrequently reported; therefore, it was not possible to quantify the efficacy of interventions. Data from studies of tuberculosis control in prisons is limited by a lack of: controlled interventions, reporting of pre-intervention methods, and comparable pre- and post-intervention outcomes. Prospective comparative trials of adequate duration to determine trends in incidence are necessary to understand which interventions are effective in prisons
WZ Cygni: a Marginal Contact Binary in a Triple System?
We present new multiband CCD photometry for WZ Cyg made on 22 nights in two
observing seasons of 2007 and 2008. Our light-curve synthesis indicates that
the system is in poor thermal contact with a fill-out factor of 4.8% and a
temperature difference of 1447 K. Including our 40 timing measurements, a total
of 371 times of minimum light spanning more than 112 yr were used for a period
study. Detailed analysis of the -- diagram showed that the orbital period
has varied by a combination with an upward parabola and a sinusoid. The upward
parabola means the continuous period increase and indicates that some stellar
masses are thermally transferred from the less to the more massive primary star
at a rate of about 5.80 M yr. The sinusoidal
variation with a period of 47.9 yr and a semi-amplitude of 0.008 d can be
interpreted most likely as the light-travel-time effect due to the existence of
a low-mass M-type tertiary companion with a projected mass of =0.26 M. We examined the evolutionary status of WZ Cyg from the
absolute dimensions of the eclipsing pair. It belongs to the marginal contact
binary systems before broken-contact phase, consisting of a massive primary
star with spectral type of F4 and a secondary with the type K1.Comment: 20 pages, including 3 figures and 6 tables, accepted for publication
in A
A pulse of meteoric subsurface fluid discharging into the Chukchi Sea during the Early Holocene Thermal Maximum (EHTM)
This work was supported bythe Korea Ministry of Science and ICT (GP2020-038), by the Korea Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries (NP2011-040 and 1525011795), and by the Korea Polar Research Institute (Grants No. PE20350). W.-L.H. acknowledges the supports from the ArcticSGD, a project supported by the Norway Grants and the EEA Grants (2019/34/H/ST10/00645). Additional funds were contributed by the AWI Research Program PACES-II Workpackage 3.1 and 3.2.The response of Arctic Ocean biogeochemistry to subsurface flow driven by permafrost thaw is poorly understood. We present dissolved chloride and water isotopic data from the Chukchi Sea Shelf sediments that reveal the presence of a meteoric subsurface flow enriched in cations with a radiogenic Sr fingerprint. This subsurface fluid is also enriched in dissolved inorganic carbon and methane that bear isotopic compositions indicative of a carbon reservoir modified by reactions in a closed system. Such fluid characteristics are in stark contrast with those from other sites in the Chukchi Sea where the pore water composition shows no sign of meteoric input, but reflect typical biogeochemical reactions associated with early diagenetic sequences in marine sediment. The most likely source of the observed subsurface flow at the Chukchi Sea Shelf is from the degradation of permafrost that had extended to the shelf region during the Last Glacial Maximum. Our data suggest that the permafrost-driven subsurface flow most likely took place during the 2-3 oC warming in the Early Holocene Thermal Maximum (EHTM). This time scale is supported by numerical simulation of pore fluid profiles, which indicate that a minimum of several thousand years must have passed since the cessation of the subsurface methane-bearing fluid flow.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe
Coinfection of Viral Agents in Korean Children with Acute Watery Diarrhea
Currently, there are a few reports on viral coinfection that causes an acute watery diarrhea in Korean children. So, to evaluate the features of coinfectious viral agents in children with acute watery diarrhea, we enrolled 155 children with acute watery diarrhea from July 2005 to June 2006. Fecal samples were collected and evaluated for various viral infections such as rotavirus, norovirus, adenovirus and astrovirus. The mean (±standard deviation) age of the children was 2.71±2.37 yr. The detection rate of viral agents was most common in children between the ages of 1 and 3 yr. Rotavirus was detected in 63 children (41.3%), norovirus in 56 (36.2%), adenovirus in 11 (7.1%), and astrovirus in 1 (0.6%). Regarding rotavirus, there were 38 (60.3%) cases with monoinfection and 25 (39.7%) with coinfection. For norovirus, there were 33 (58.9%) cases with monoinfection and 23 (41.1%) with coinfection. Coinfection with rotavirus and norovirus was most common, and occurred in 20/155 cases (12.9%) including coinfection with adenovirus. So, rotavirus and norovirus were the most common coinfectious viral agents in our study population with acute watery diarrhea
The Algol System SZ Herculis: Physical Nature and Orbital Behavior
Multiband CCD photometric observations of SZ Her were obtained between 2008
February and May. The light curve was completely covered and indicated a
significant temperature difference between both components. The light-curve
synthesis presented in this paper indicates that the eclipsing binary is a
classical Algol-type system with parameters of =0.472, =87.57,
and (--)=2,381 K; the primary component fills
approximately 77% of its limiting lobe and is slightly larger than the
lobe-filling secondary. More than 1,100 times of minimum light spanning more
than one century were used to study an orbital behavior of the binary system.
It was found that the orbital period of SZ Her has varied due to a combination
of two periodic variations with cycle lengths of =85.8 yr and =42.5
yr and semi-amplitudes of =0.013 d and =0.007 d, respectively. The
most reasonable explanation for them is a pair of light-time effects (LITEs)
driven by the possible existence of two M-type companions with minimum masses
of =0.22 M and =0.19 M, that are located close to the
2:1 mean motion resonance. If two additional bodies exist, then the overall
dynamics of the multiple system may provide a significant clue to the formation
and evolution of the eclipsing pair.Comment: 23 pages, including 5 figures and 7 tables, accepted for publication
in A
The HLA-DRB1 Polymorphism is Associated With Atopic Dermatitis, but not Egg Allergy in Korean Children
Dentoalveolar comparative study between removable and fixed cribs, associated to chincup, in anterior open bite treatment
Comparative Microsatellite Typing of New World Leishmania infantum Reveals Low Heterogeneity among Populations and Its Recent Old World Origin
Leishmania infantum (syn. L. chagasi) is the causative agent of visceral leishmaniasis (VL) in the New World (NW) with endemic regions extending from southern USA to northern Argentina. The two hypotheses about the origin of VL in the NW suggest (1) recent importation of L. infantum from the Old World (OW), or (2) an indigenous origin and a distinct taxonomic rank for the NW parasite. Multilocus microsatellite typing was applied in a survey of 98 L. infantum isolates from different NW foci. The microsatellite profiles obtained were compared to those of 308 L. infantum and 20 L. donovani strains from OW countries previously assigned to well-defined populations. Two main populations were identified for both NW and OW L. infantum. Most of the NW strains belonged to population 1, which corresponded to the OW MON-1 population. However, the NW population was much more homogeneous. A second, more heterogeneous, population comprised most Caribbean strains and corresponded to the OW non-MON-1 population. All Brazilian L. infantum strains belonged to population 1, although they represented 61% of the sample and originated from 9 states. Population analysis including the OW L. infantum populations indicated that the NW strains were more similar to MON-1 and non-MON-1 sub-populations of L. infantum from southwest Europe, than to any other OW sub-population. Moreover, similarity between NW and Southwest European L. infantum was higher than between OW L. infantum from distinct parts of the Mediterranean region, Middle East and Central Asia. No correlation was found between NW L. infantum genotypes and clinical picture or host background. This study represents the first continent-wide analysis of NW L. infantum population structure. It confirmed that the agent of VL in the NW is L. infantum and that the parasite has been recently imported multiple times to the NW from southwest Europe
Dynamical Boson Stars
The idea of stable, localized bundles of energy has strong appeal as a model
for particles. In the 1950s John Wheeler envisioned such bundles as smooth
configurations of electromagnetic energy that he called {\em geons}, but none
were found. Instead, particle-like solutions were found in the late 1960s with
the addition of a scalar field, and these were given the name {\em boson
stars}. Since then, boson stars find use in a wide variety of models as sources
of dark matter, as black hole mimickers, in simple models of binary systems,
and as a tool in finding black holes in higher dimensions with only a single
killing vector. We discuss important varieties of boson stars, their dynamic
properties, and some of their uses, concentrating on recent efforts.Comment: 79 pages, 25 figures, invited review for Living Reviews in
Relativity; major revision in 201
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