1,479 research outputs found
Treating latent TB in primary care: a survey of enablers and barriers among UK General Practitioners.
BACKGROUND: Treating latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI) is an important public health intervention. In the UK, LTBI treatment is delivered in secondary care. Treating LTBI in the community would move care closer to home and could increase uptake and treatment completion rates. However, healthcare providers' views about the feasibility of this in the UK are unknown. This is the first study to investigate perceived barriers and enablers to primary care-based LTBI treatment among UK general practitioners (GPs). METHODS: A national survey amongst 140 randomly sampled UK GPs practising in areas of high TB incidence was performed. GPs' experience and perceived confidence, barriers and enablers of primary care-based LTBI treatment were explored and multivariable logistic regression was used to determine whether these were associated with a GP's willingness to deliver LTBI treatment. RESULTS: One hundred and twelve (80 %) GPs responded. Ninety-three (83 %; 95 % CI 75 %-89 %) GPs said they would be willing to deliver LTBI treatment in primary care, if key perceived barriers were addressed during service development. The major perceived barriers to delivering primary care-based LTBI treatment were insufficient experience among GPs of screening and treating LTBI, lack of timely specialist support and lack of allied healthcare staff. In addition, GPs felt that appropriate resourcing was key to the successful and sustainable delivery of the service. GPs who reported previous experience of screening or treatment of patients with active or latent TB were almost ten times more likely to be willing to deliver LTBI treatment in primary care compared to GPs with no experience (OR: 9.98; 95 % CI 1.22-81.51). CONCLUSIONS: UK GPs support primary care-based LTBI treatment, provided they are given appropriate training, specialist support, staffing and financing
Applying dissipative dynamical systems to pseudorandom number generation: Equidistribution property and statistical independence of bits at distances up to logarithm of mesh size
The behavior of a family of dissipative dynamical systems representing
transformations of two-dimensional torus is studied on a discrete lattice and
compared with that of conservative hyperbolic automorphisms of the torus.
Applying dissipative dynamical systems to generation of pseudorandom numbers is
shown to be advantageous and equidistribution of probabilities for the
sequences of bits can be achieved. A new algorithm for generating uniform
pseudorandom numbers is proposed. The theory of the generator, which includes
proofs of periodic properties and of statistical independence of bits at
distances up to logarithm of mesh size, is presented. Extensive statistical
testing using available test packages demonstrates excellent results, while the
speed of the generator is comparable to other modern generators.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures, 3 table
Aharonov-Bohm oscillations and spin transport in a mesoscopic ring with a magnetic impurity
We present a detailed analysis of the Aharonov-Bohm (AB) interference
oscillations manifested through transmission of an electron in a mesoscopic
ring with a magnetic impurity atom inserted in one of its arms. The spin
polarization transport is also studied. The electron interacts with the
impurity through the exchange interaction leading to exchange spin-flip
scattering. Transmission in the spin-flipped and spin-unflipped channels are
explicitly calculated. We show that the entanglement between electron and
spin-flipper states lead to a reduction of AB oscillations in spite of absence
of any inelastic scattering. The spin-conductance (related to spin-polarized
transmission coefficient) is asymmetric in the flux reversal as opposed to the
two probe conductance which is symmetric under flux reversal. We point out
certain limitations of this model in regard to the general notion of dephasing
in quantum mechanics.Comment: 6 pages RevTeX, 9 eps figures included, enlarged version of
cond-mat/000741
Important synoptic features during INDOEX IFP-99
INDOEX IFP-99 was undertaken as part of the international experiment in the Indian Ocean to take observations pertaining to aerosols, radiation, cloud physics and other related meteorological parameters. The important-aim of the INDOEX was to quantify radiative forcing due to natural and anthropogenic aerosols and their feedback on regional and global climate systems. Since prevailing circulation features transports aerosols, it is essential that important synoptic patterns during the expedition phase, i.e. 20 January to 10 March 1999 be examined. Based on the synoptic features it was noticed that crossequatorial flow in lower levels from western Arabian Sea to southern Indian Ocean was significantly higher than the eastern Arabian Sea. Two cyclonic storms, one in the south Bay of Bengal during 1-3 February and another in the south Indian Ocean during 4-13 March were observed. Significant changes in the cross-equatorial flow in the lower/upper tropospheric levels and ITCZ locations were noticed
Genetic enhancement for flowering period heat tolerance in peart millet (Pennisetum glaucum L.(R.) Br.)
Pearl millet, basically a rainfed crop worldwide, is increasingly being cultivated in summer
season in north western parts of India where air temperatures during flowering time often
exceed 42 degree Celsius..
The United Kingdom Research study into Ethnicity And COVID-19 outcomes in Healthcare workers (UK-REACH): Protocol for a prospective longitudinal cohort study of healthcare and ancillary workers in UK healthcare settings
Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in significant morbidity and mortality, and has devastated economies in many countries. Amongst the groups identified as being at increased risk from COVID-19 are healthcare workers (HCWs) and ethnic minority groups. Emerging evidence suggests HCWs from ethnic minority groups are at increased risk of adverse COVID-19-related physical and mental health outcomes. To date there has been no large-scale analysis of these risks in UK healthcare workers or ancillary workers in healthcare settings, stratified by ethnicity or occupation type, and adjusted for potential confounders. This paper reports the protocol for a prospective longitudinal questionnaire study of UK HCWs, as part of the UK-REACH programme (The United Kingdom Research study into Ethnicity And COVID-19 outcomes in Healthcare workers).
Methods and analysis: A baseline questionnaire with follow-up questionnaires at 4 and 8 months will be administered to a national cohort of UK healthcare workers and ancillary workers in healthcare settings, and those registered with UK healthcare regulators. With consent, data will be linked to health records, and participants followed up for 25 years.
Univariate associations between ethnicity and primary outcome measures (clinical COVID-19 outcomes, and physical and mental health) and key confounders/explanatory variables will be tested, followed by multivariable analyses to test for associations between ethnicity and key outcomes adjusted for the confounder/explanatory variables, with interactions included as appropriate. Using follow-up data, multilevel models will be used to model changes over time by ethnic group, facilitating understanding of absolute and relative risks in different ethnic groups, and generalisability of findings.
Ethics and dissemination: The study is approved by Health Research Authority (reference 20/HRA/4718), and carries minimal risk to participants. We aim to manage the small risk of participant distress due to being asked questions on sensitive topics by clearly indicating on the participant information sheet that the questionnaire covers sensitive topics and that participants are under no obligation to answer these, or indeed any other, questions, and by providing links to support organisations. Results will be disseminated with reports to Government and papers uploaded to pre-print servers and submitted to peer reviewed journals.
Registration details Trial ID: ISRCTN11811602
STRENGTHS AND LIMITATIONS OF THIS STUDY
National, UK-wide, study, aiming to capture variety of healthcare worker job roles including ancillary workers in healthcare settings.
Longitudinal study including three waves of questionnaire data collection, and linkage to administrative data over 25 years, with consent.
Unique support from all major UK healthcare worker regulators, relevant healthcare worker organisations, and a Professional Expert Panel to increase participant uptake and the validity of findings.
Potential for self-selection bias and low response rates, and the use of electronic invitations and online data collection makes it harder to reach ancillary workers without regular access to work email addresses
Spin injection into a ballistic semiconductor microstructure
A theory of spin injection across a ballistic
ferromagnet-semiconductor-ferromagnet junction is developed for the Boltzmann
regime. Spin injection coefficient is suppressed by the Sharvin
resistance of the semiconductor , where is the
Fermi-surface cross-section. It competes with the diffusion resistances of the
ferromagnets , and in the absence of contact
barriers. Efficient spin injection can be ensured by contact barriers. Explicit
formulae for the junction resistance and the spin-valve effect are presented.Comment: 5 pages, 2 column REVTeX. Explicit prescription relating the results
of the ballistic and diffusive theories of spin injection is added. To this
end, some notations are changed. Three references added, typos correcte
Magneto-transport in a quantum network: Evidence of a mesoscopic switch
We investigate magneto-transport properties of a shaped three-arm
mesoscopic ring where the upper and lower sub-rings are threaded by
Aharonov-Bohm fluxes and , respectively, within a
non-interacting electron picture. A discrete lattice model is used to describe
the quantum network in which two outer arms are subjected to binary alloy
lattices while the middle arm contains identical atomic sites. It is observed
that the presence of the middle arm provides localized states within the band
of extended regions and lead to the possibility of switching action from a high
conducting state to a low conducting one and vice versa. This behavior is
justified by studying persistent current in the network. Both the total current
and individual currents in three separate branches are computed by using
second-quantized formalism and our idea can be utilized to study magnetic
response in any complicated quantum network. The nature of localized
eigenstates are also investigated from probability amplitudes at different
sites of the quantum device.Comment: 7 pages, 9 figure
Spin Dynamics and Spin Transport
Spin-orbit (SO) interaction critically influences electron spin dynamics and
spin transport in bulk semiconductors and semiconductor microstructures. This
interaction couples electron spin to dc and ac electric fields. Spin coupling
to ac electric fields allows efficient spin manipulating by the electric
component of electromagnetic field through the electric dipole spin resonance
(EDSR) mechanism. Usually, it is much more efficient than the magnetic
manipulation due to a larger coupling constant and the easier access to spins
at a nanometer scale. The dependence of the EDSR intensity on the magnetic
field direction allows measuring the relative strengths of the competing SO
coupling mechanisms in quantum wells. Spin coupling to an in-plane electric
field is much stronger than to a perpendicular field. Because electron bands in
microstructures are spin split by SO interaction, electron spin is not
conserved and spin transport in them is controlled by a number of competing
parameters, hence, it is rather nontrivial. The relation between spin
transport, spin currents, and spin populations is critically discussed.
Importance of transients and sharp gradients for generating spin magnetization
by electric fields and for ballistic spin transport is clarified.Comment: Invited talk at the 3rd Intern. Conf. on Physics and Applications of
Spin-Related Phenomena in Semiconductors, Santa Barbara (CA), July 21 - 23.
To be published in the Journal of Superconductivity. 7 pages, 2 figure
Persistent Currents in Small, Imperfect Hubbard Rings
We have done a study with small, imperfect Hubbard rings with exact
diagonalization. The results for few-electron rings show, that the
imperfection, whether localized or not, nearly always decrease, but can also
\emph{increase} the persistent current, depending on the character of the
imperfection and the on-site interaction. The calculations are generally in
agreement with more specialized studies. In most cases the electron spin plays
an important role.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figure
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