Asthma Prevalence, Knowledge, and Perceptions among Secondary School Pupils in Rural and Urban Costal Districts in Tanzania.

Asthma is a common chronic disease of childhood that is associated with significant morbidity and mortality. We aimed to estimate the prevalence of asthma among secondary school pupils in urban and rural areas of coast districts of Tanzania. The study also aimed to describe pupils' perception towards asthma, and to assess their knowledge on symptoms, triggers, and treatment of asthma. A total of 610 pupils from Ilala district and 619 pupils from Bagamoyo district formed the urban and rural groups, respectively. Using a modified International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood (ISAAC) questionnaire, a history of "diagnosed" asthma or the presence of a wheeze in the previous 12 months was obtained from all the studied pupils, along with documentation of their perceptions regarding asthma. Pupils without asthma or wheeze in the prior 12 months were subsequently selected and underwent a free running exercise testing. A >= 20% decrease in the post-exercise Peak Expiratory Flow Rate (PEFR) values was the criterion for diagnosing exercise-induced asthma. The mean age of participants was 16.8 (+/-1.8) years. The prevalence of wheeze in the past 12 months was 12.1% in Bagamoyo district and 23.1% in Ilala district (p < 0.001). Self-reported asthma was found in 17.6% and 6.4% of pupils in Ilala and Bagamoyo districts, respectively (p < 0.001). The prevalence of exercise-induced asthma was 2.4% in Bagamoyo, and 26.3% in Ilala (P < 0.002). In both districts, most information on asthma came from parents, and there was variation in symptoms and triggers of asthma reported by the pupils. Non-asthmatic pupils feared sleeping, playing, and eating with their asthmatic peers. The prevalence rates of self-reported asthma, wheezing in the past 12 months, and exercise-induced asthma were significantly higher among urban than rural pupils. Although bronchial asthma is a common disease, pupils' perceptions about asthma were associated with fear of contact with their asthmatic peers in both rural and urban schools

Twelve massless flavors and three colors below the conformal window

We report new results for a frequently discussed gauge theory with twelve fermion flavors in the fundamental representation of the SU(3) color gauge group. The model, controversial with respect to its conformality, is important in non-perturbative studies searching for a viable composite Higgs mechanism Beyond the Standard Model (BSM). To resolve the controversy, we subject the model to opposite hypotheses inside and outside of the conformal window. In the first hypothesis we test chiral symmetry breaking ($\chi{\rm SB}$) with its Goldstone spectrum, $F_\pi$, the $\chi{\rm SB}$ condensate, and several composite hadron states as the fermion mass is varied in a limited range with our best effort to control finite volume effects and extrapolation to the massless chiral limit. Supporting results for $\chi{\rm SB}$ from the running coupling based on the force between static sources and some preliminary evidence for the finite temperature transition are also presented. In the second test for the alternate hypothesis we probe conformal behavior driven by a single anomalous mass dimension under the assumption of unbroken chiral symmetry. Our results show a very low level of confidence in the conformal scenario. Staggered lattice fermions with stout-suppressed taste breaking are used throughout the simulations.Comment: 9 pages, 9 figure

Nearly conformal gauge theories in finite volume

We report new results on nearly conformal gauge theories with fermions in the fundamental representation of the SU(3) color gauge group as the number of fermion flavors is varied in the Nf = 4-16 range. To unambiguously identify the chirally broken phase below the conformal window we apply a comprehensive lattice tool set in finite volumes which includes the test of Goldstone pion dynamics, the spectrum of the fermion Dirac operator, and eigenvalue distributions of random matrix theory. We also discuss the theory inside the conformal window and present our first results on the running of the renormalized gauge coupling and the renormalization group beta function. The importance of understanding finite volume zero momentum gauge field dynamics inside the conformal window is illustrated. Staggered lattice fermions are used throughout the calculations.Comment: 9 pages and 7 figure

Can the nearly conformal sextet gauge model hide the Higgs impostor?

New results are reported from large scale lattice simulations of a frequently discussed strongly interacting gauge theory with a fermion flavor doublet in the two-index symmetric (sextet) representation of the SU(3) color gauge group. We find that the chiral condensate and the mass spectrum of the sextet model are consistent with chiral symmetry breaking in the limit of vanishing fermion mass. In contrast, sextet fermion mass deformations of spectral properties are not consistent with leading conformal scaling behavior near the critical surface of a conformal theory. A recent paper could not resolve the conformal fixed point of the gauge coupling from the slowly walking scenario of a very small nearly vanishing \beta-function (DeGrand:2012yq). It is argued that overall consistency with our new results is resolved if the sextet model is close to the conformal window, staying outside with a very small non-vanishing \beta-function. The model would exhibit then the simplest composite Higgs mechanism leaving open the possibility of a light scalar state with quantum numbers of the Higgs impostor. It would emerge as the pseudo-Goldstone dilaton state from spontaneous symmetry breaking of scale invariance. We will argue that even without association with the dilaton, the scalar Higgs-like state can be light very close to the conformal window. A new Higgs project of sextet lattice simulations is outlined to resolve these important questions.Comment: 10 pages, 8 figure

Lattice QCD and Particle Physics

Contribution from the USQCD Collaboration to the Proceedings of the US Community Study on the Future of Particle Physics (Snowmass 2021)

Edward Alsworth Ross: An Intellectual Biography.

PhDBiographiesHistoryUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/179526/2/6408223.pd

Public health, epidemiology and war

The delivery of humanitarian aid in wartime is difficult. However it is essential that aid is provided in the most effective manner possible, targeted on those most in need whilst minimizing waste. Furthermore the delivery of aid should be sensitive to the future needs of the communities in conflict. This requires information on the needs of the vulnerable population. There is little experience of collecting data on the impact of war on a civilian population. The war in Bosnia disrupted surveillance of communicable disease. The local authorities were assisted by the World Health Organization in re-establishing surveillance. The data generated was valuable in planning interventions to minimise the possibility of major outbreaks of infection, reduce the impact of infectious disease and in guiding the humanitarian aid effort. The experience described suggests that public health surveillance of the civilian population in wartime is possible and useful. Besides the need for planning, the public health doctor in wartime has a role as an advocate for those suffering; this function can be carried out much more effectively if it is based on objective data collection rather than hearsay.public health epidemiology war surveillance

Responding to the challenge of communicable disease in Europe.

In the 1960s and 1970s, communicable disease seemed a minor threat, but since then the emergence of new infections and the reemergence of old diseases has provoked a renewed focus on European communicable disease surveillance and control. A "network approach" among European countries has been successful in detecting some international outbreaks, but management and funding aspects remain unresolved. Surveillance outside the European Union has faced new challenges as a result of economic and political change following the collapse of communism. Subsequently, innovative international surveillance schemes are currently being implemented in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. The challenge for surveillance in Europe is to ensure that it has the capacity to meet both the needs of today and the diseases of the future