Epidemiological risk factors for adult dengue in Singapore: an 8-year nested test negative case control study

10.1186/s12879-016-1662-4BMC Infectious Diseases16132

Economic Impact of Dengue Illness and the Cost-Effectiveness of Future Vaccination Programs in Singapore

Dengue illness is a tropical disease transmitted by mosquitoes that threatens more than one third of the worldwide population. Dengue has important economic consequences because of the burden to hospitals, work absenteeism and risk of death of symptomatic cases. Governments attempt to reduce the disease burden using costly mosquito control strategies such as habitat reduction and spraying insecticide. Despite such efforts, the number of cases remains high. Dengue vaccines are expected to be available in the near future and there is an urgent need to evaluate their cost-effectiveness, i.e. whether their cost will be justified by the reduction in disease burden they bring. For such an evaluation, we estimated the economic impacts of dengue in Singapore and the expected vaccine costs for different prices. In this way we estimated price thresholds for which vaccination is not cost-effective. This research provides useful estimates that will contribute to informed decisions regarding the adoption of dengue vaccination programs

Cyclic Nucleotide Phosphodiesterases and Compartmentation in Normal and Diseased Heart

International audienceCyclic nucleotide phosphodiesterases (PDEs) degrade the second messengers cAMP and cGMP, thereby regulating multiple aspects of cardiac function. This highly diverse class of enzymes encoded by 21 genes encompasses 11 families which are not only responsible for the termination of cyclic nucleotide signalling, but are also involved in the generation of dynamic microdomains of cAMP and cGMP controlling specific cell functions in response to various neurohormonal stimuli. In myocardium, the PDE3 and PDE4 families are predominant to degrade cAMP and thereby regulate cardiac excitation-contraction coupling. PDE3 inhibitors are positive inotropes and vasodilators in human, but their use is limited to acute heart failure and intermittent claudication. PDE5 is particularly important to degrade cGMP in vascular smooth muscle, and PDE5 inhibitors are used to treat erectile dysfunction and pulmonary hypertension. However, these drugs do not seem efficient in heart failure with preserved ejection fraction. There is experimental evidence that these PDEs as well as other PDE families including PDE1, PDE2 and PDE9 may play important roles in cardiac diseases such as hypertrophy and heart failure. After a brief presentation of the cyclic nucleotide pathways in cardiac cells and the major characteristics of the PDE superfamily, this chapter will present their role in cyclic nucleotide compartmentation and the current use of PDE inhibitors in cardiac diseases together with the recent research progresses that could lead to a better exploitation of the therapeutic potential of these enzymes in the future

Whose rule of law? Rethinking (post-)colonial legal culture in Hong Kong

In postcolonial Hong Kong, the Rule of Law inherited from the colonizers has acquired the status of a grand narrative capable of masking its own injustices. This is made possible by the Occidentalization strategies employed by those in power, namely the government and the legal profession. The major injustice of the Rule of Law is in its construction of the standard of reasonableness. It is argued that for linguistic, ethnic and structural reasons, reasonableness as construed in the legal discourse is culture-biased and marginalizes qing, which is a very important element of the cultural roots of the Hong Kong Chinese. The influence of this marginalization of qing is not limited to the legal discourse itself, but is further extended to the public sphere. In turn, in relation to the Rule of Law, the public sphere is rendered unable to perform the task of a 'warning system with sensors' as desired by Habermas.link_to_subscribed_fulltex

Isolation and characterization of highly polymorphic microsatellites in the mitre squid, Uroteuthis (Photololigo) chinensis

Complete list of authors, please see DOI the publisher's recordThis article documents the addition of 512 microsatellite marker loci and nine pairs of Single Nucleotide Polymorphism (SNP) sequencing primers to the Molecular Ecology Resources Database. Loci were developed for the following species: Alcippe morrisonia morrisonia, Bashania fangiana, Bashania fargesii, Chaetodon vagabundus, Colletes floralis, Coluber constrictor flaviventris, Coptotermes gestroi, Crotophaga major, Cyprinella lutrensis, Danaus plexippus, Fagus grandifolia, Falco tinnunculus, Fletcherimyia fletcheri, Hydrilla verticillata, Laterallus jamaicensis coturniculus, Leavenworthia alabamica, Marmosops incanus, Miichthys miiuy, Nasua nasua, Noturus exilis, Odontesthes bonariensis, Quadrula fragosa, Pinctada maxima, Pseudaletia separata, Pseudoperonospora cubensis, Podocarpus elatus, Portunus trituberculatus, Rhagoletis cerasi, Rhinella schneideri, Sarracenia alata, Skeletonema marinoi, Sminthurus viridis, Syngnathus abaster, Uroteuthis (Photololigo) chinensis, Verticillium dahliae, Wasmannia auropunctata, and Zygochlamys patagonica. These loci were cross-tested on the following species: Chaetodon baronessa, Falco columbarius, Falco eleonorae, Falco naumanni, Falco peregrinus, Falco subbuteo, Didelphis aurita, Gracilinanus microtarsus, Marmosops paulensis, Monodelphis Americana, Odontesthes hatcheri, Podocarpus grayi, Podocarpus lawrencei, Podocarpus smithii, Portunus pelagicus, Syngnathus acus, Syngnathus typhle,Uroteuthis (Photololigo) edulis, Uroteuthis (Photololigo) duvauceli and Verticillium albo-atrum. This article also documents the addition of nine sequencing primer pairs and sixteen allele specific primers or probes for Oncorhynchus mykiss and Oncorhynchus tshawytscha; these primers and assays were cross-tested in both species. © 2009 Blackwell Publishing Ltd

Morphological and genetic differentiation of two loliginid squids, Uroteuthis (Photololigo) chinensis and Uroteuthis (Photololigo) edulis (Cephalopoda: Loliginidae), in Asia

The squids Uroteuthis (Photololigo) edulis and Uroteuthis (Photololigo) chinensis (family Loliginidae) are commercially important fishery species in many coastal regions of Asia. The morphologies of these two squids are very similar, and identification based on morphology has been inadequate. The occurrence of cryptic species in the family Loliginidae has been reported. The widely distributed U. (P.) chinensis and U. (P.) edulis are believed to comprise several cryptic species. In this study, the taxonomic status of the two species in East Asia was elucidated by morphological and genetic analyses. Analysis of U. (P.) chinensis from Hong Kong and Xiamen (China) and U. (P.) edulis from Yamaguchi (Japan) and Shanghai (China) was performed in order to determine the effectiveness of different morphometric variables in discriminating between the two species. Multivariate analysis of 27 morphometric indices revealed no new morphological characters for the taxonomic identification of the two taxa, which can be distinguished by the teeth shape and number on arm sucker rings, and the percentage of hectocotylized part of left arm IV of males. The morphometric differences between U. (P.) edulis individuals from the two localities is most probably due to differences in the maturity stages of the sampled individuals between the two localities. Genetic analysis based on the mitochondrial COI and 16S rRNA genes revealed a high divergence of 15.5% and 7.5% respectively, indicating that U. (P.) edulis and U. (P.) chinensis are distinct species. © 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.link_to_subscribed_fulltex

Nälkänen MC : Henkilökuvadokumentin ohjaus

Tämä opinnäytetyö käsittelee sitä, minkälaista dokumenttiohjaajan työ on ja millaisia piirteitä hyvältä dokumenttiohjaajalta vaaditaan. Tutkimuksessani päädyin siihen, että dokumenttiohjaajan työ on haasteellista, koska dokumentit ovat totta. Ohjaaja on vastuussa dokumentin antamasta totuuden kuvasta. Selvitän mitä kaikkea ohjaajan työ pitää sisällään, taiteellisen osuuteni Nälkänen MC – henkilökuvadokumentin ohjauksen kautta, ennakkotutkimuksesta jälkituotantoon asti. Henkilökuvadokumentti kertoo freestyle-räppäri Kristeristä, joka haluaa voittaa rapin suomenmestaruuden. Hän näkee unelmansa eteen paljon vaivaa ja harjoittelee freestyleä päivittäin. Dokumentti kuvailee palavaa halua saavuttaa päämäärä elämässä. Dokumentin ohjaaminen oli opettavainen prosessi. Varsinkin jälkeenpäin huomasin mitä asioita olisi kannattanut tehdä toisin. Mielestäni onnistuin hyvin päähenkilön valinnassa, mikä on tärkein osa henkilökuvadokumenttia. Liitteenä on opinnäytetyöni mediaosa, Nälkänen MC -henkilökuvadokumentin DVD-kopio (LIITE 1).This thesis deals with the work of a documentary director and the requirements of a good documentary director. Documentary film is a demanding genre because it is true and about real things. The director is responsible for the impression of realism given in a documentary film. The written report of my thesis focuses on the work of a documentary director. I study the sectors of a director’s work through the phases of directing my portrait documentary film called Nälkänen MC. My documentary film is about a freestyle rapper Krister who is eager to win Rap SM (Best Finnish freestyle rapper). He puts a lot of effort on reaching his goal and practices at least four hours a day. The documentary is about a burning desire to reach a personal goal in life. A DVD copy of the media part of my thesis is included as an appendix (LIITE 1)