Living and health conditions of Palestinian refugees in an unofficial camp in the Lebanon: a cross-sectional survey

<b>Objective</b> To determine the living conditions and self-reported health of Palestinian refugees living in an unofficial camp in Lebanon.<p></p> <b>Design</b> Cross-sectional survey.<p></p> <b>Setting</b> Gaza displacement centre, Beirut, Lebanon.<p></p> <b>Participants</b> 97 Households and 437 residents.<p></p> <b>Main outcome measures</b> Household characteristics, including the number of rooms per household; access to outside air; the presence of mould and dampness. Resident characteristics, including age; educational attainment; and chronic conditions.<p></p> <b>Results</b> Half of the households surveyed had only one room; 44% had three or more people per room; 11% had no external ventilation; 49% had no heating; 54% had mould and dampness. The use of wood or charcoal for heating was associated with an increase in mould and dampness (p = 0.015). 135 Members of the population (31%) were aged under 15 years; 130 (30%) had a chronic condition. Logistic regression results showed that overcrowding (odds ratio (OR) 3.26) and a member of the household living in Gaza buildings for more than 15 years (OR 0.48) were significantly associated with children under 15 years. Age over 45 years (OR 5.32), a member of the household in full-time employment (OR 0.58) and a member of the household living in Gaza buildings for more than 15 years (OR 1.71) were significantly associated with chronic disease.<p></p> <b>Conclusion</b> This study demonstrates the poor conditions under which Palestinian refugees in unofficial camps live, resembling the slum housing of the United Kingdom in the last century. In the absence of routine data collection, research may be the only way to obtain such data for future public and environmental health planning

Economic Impacts of International Trade Agreements on the World Frozen Concentrate Orange Juice Market

The international FCOJ market is an important source of income for many countries around the world. The international trading environment is continuously changing as the forces of free trade grow and are embraced both regionally and globally. The specific economic effects due to present and proposed international trade agreements on prices, quantities, trade flows and welfare in the international FCOJ market are analyzed in this study. Four trading scenarios are considered. These include removing all tariffs for imports into the European Community, the Free Trade Area of the Americas, the lifting of the U.S. embargo on Cuba, and world free trade, respectively. The results from these scenarios are compared to a Baseline Model that incorporates present and scheduled tariffs changes. A spatial-equilibrium, quadratic-programming model is used to assess the impact of the four trade scenarios on the international FCOJ market. The model includes four demand regions, accounting for 91 % of world FCOJ imports in 1994, and six supply regions, accounting for 97.5% of world exports in 1994. The four demand regions include the United States, the European Community, Canada and Japan. The six supply regions include Brazil, the United States, Central America, Mexico, the Mediterranean and Cuba. Brazil, the United States and Central America are included endogenously in the model, while Mexico, the Mediterranean and Cuba are included exogenously. This study is the first that models Central America endogenously and the Mediterranean and Cuba exogenously in a world FCOJ model. The significant reduction in the number of trees and FCOJ output caused by major diseases in Brazil in 1998 is also explicitly incorporated in the model. The results of Scenario 1 indicate the United States, Brazilian, Mexican and Cuban producers gain revenues. Central American and Mediterranean producers, who already had free access, lose. Consumers in the European Community gain, while consumers in the United States, Canada and Japan lose. World welfare increases by US$l 6.40 million under Scenario 1. Scenario 2 benefits all producing regions, but consumer surplus falls in the United States, the European Community and Japan, and rises in Canada. World welfare falls by a small US$ I. IO million under Scenario 2. Scenario 3 leads to very small changes in prices and quantities, resulting in a minute fall in world welfare ofUS$0.08 million. Finally, Scenario 4 results in increased revenues to all producing regions, except Central America and the Mediterranean who already had free access to their export markets under the Baseline Model. Consumer surplus increases in the European Community and Japanese markets and falls in the United States and Canadian markets, under Scenario 4. World welfare increases by US$46.86 million under Scenario 4. These results show that regional trade arrangements do not unambiguously lead to increases in world welfare

Effect of dialysate temperature on central hemodynamics and urea kinetics

Effect of dialysate temperature on central hemodynamics and urea kinetics. Use of cool dialysate is associated with increased intradialytic blood pressure, but the hemodynamic mechanism is unknown. Whether changes in dialysate temperature affect muscle blood flow, which may the alter the degree of urea compartmentalization, also is unknown. We measured hemodynamics and blood and dialysate-side urea kinetic indices in nine hemodialysis patients during two cool (35.0°C) versus two warm (37.5°C) dialysate treatments. The % change in mean arterial pressure was different when using the cool (+6.5 ± 9.7 mm Hg) versus the warm (-13.4 ± 3.6) dialysate (P < 0.01), despite comparable amounts of fluid removal. Percent changes in cardiac output were similar with the two dialysates, and thus the blood pressure effect was due primarily to changes in total peripheral resistance (%ΔTPR, cool +26 ± 13.6, warm +8.6 ± 14.5; P < 0.02). During cool dialysate use tympanic membrane temperature changed by -0.51 ± 0.23°C, whereas body temperature increased by 0.52 ± 0.14°C during use of warm dialysate. Measured urea recovery normalized to the predialysis urea nitrogen concentration was similar with the two treatments: cool 31.3 ± 0.039 liter-1; warm 29.7 ± 0.021; P = NS. In a second study, post-dialysis urea rebound values from 15 seconds to 30 minutes, expressed as the percent of the post-dialysis SUN, were similar after the two treatments: cool 11.79 ± 1.4; warm 12.21 ± 2.27, P = NS. The results suggest that increased blood pressure associated with use of cool dialysate is due to an increased TPR, and that this alteration in hemodynamics has no clinically important effects on either the amount of urea removal or the extent of post-dialysis urea rebound

A Genome-Wide Association Study of the Metabolic Syndrome in Indian Asian Men

We conducted a two-stage genome-wide association study to identify common genetic variation altering risk of the metabolic syndrome and related phenotypes in Indian Asian men, who have a high prevalence of these conditions. In Stage 1, approximately 317,000 single nucleotide polymorphisms were genotyped in 2700 individuals, from which 1500 SNPs were selected to be genotyped in a further 2300 individuals. Selection for inclusion in Stage 1 was based on four metabolic syndrome component traits: HDL-cholesterol, plasma glucose and Type 2 diabetes, abdominal obesity measured by waist to hip ratio, and diastolic blood pressure. Association was tested with these four traits and a composite metabolic syndrome phenotype. Four SNPs reaching significance level p0.8 were found in genes CETP and LPL, associated with HDL-cholesterol. These associations have already been reported in Indian Asians and in Europeans. Five additional loci harboured SNPs significant at p0.5 for HDL-cholesterol, type 2 diabetes or diastolic blood pressure. Our results suggest that the primary genetic determinants of metabolic syndrome are the same in Indian Asians as in other populations, despite the higher prevalence. Further, we found little evidence of a common genetic basis for metabolic syndrome traits in our sample of Indian Asian men

Caracterización del nivel de bioseguridad en 80 granjas avícolas de postura en El Salvador.

Esta investigación caracterizó el nivel de bioseguridad que poseen actualmente las granjas avícolas de postura en El Salvador. La caracterización se llevó a cabo desde julio 2017 a enero del 2018, en 80 granjas avícolas de postura (unidad productiva) a nivel nacional, muestra representativa obtenida con la ecuación de muestreo por afijación proporcional de una población total de 386 unidades productivas de diferentes puntos del país, recolectando información sobre las medidas de bioseguridad implementadas a través del instrumento de evaluación titulado Formato para evaluación de las medidas de bioseguridad para inspecciones de origen a empresas avícolas (reproductoras, ponedoras, y pollo de engorde) en Centroamérica y República Dominicana con el formato utilizado por los Servicios Veterinarios del Ministerio de Agricultura y Ganadería (MAG). La investigación evaluó aspectos importantes de la bioseguridad como lo son, el ingreso a la unidad productiva, manejo en general, personal, agua y alimento, gallinaza/pollinaza/disposición de cadáveres, instalaciones, control de fauna nociva, alistado/vaciado/repoblación/desinfección, supervisión médica veterinaria y medicación. El estudio fué descriptivo de forma que los resultados revelaron la condición actual de la Bioseguridad en las granjas de postura en El Salvador. La información obtenida se utilizó para categorizar a las unidades productivas según su nivel de bioseguridad, y de esta manera se contribuyó a dirigir la Vigilancia Epidemiológica, con énfasis en los sectores de mayor riesgo identificados. Además, se brindó información útil para desarrollar actividades de prevención, control e incluso una posible erradicación de las enfermedades que más afectan las granjas avícolas de postura de El Salvador

Genome-wide linkage scan on estimated breeding values for a quantitative trait

Background: A genome-wide linkage scan was performed on Replicate 1 of the simulated data for fasting triglyceride levels. The aim of this study was to implement mixed-model methodology to estimate breeding values for each individual for this trait and to assess the merit of these breeding values in linkage analysis. These breeding values utilize all the pedigree information, and the genetic and phenotypic correlations with other measured traits across the two cohorts. A genome-wide linkage scan was run on both the new breeding value traits and the original traits.Results: Using breeding values, a maximum LOD of 7.78 was found on chromosome 5 at a position very close to a gene underlying the triglyceride levels. This effect was not detected using the original trait.Conclusion: The results imply that estimating breeding values may be a suitable method of deriving traits for use in genome-wide scans

Applications of Near-Term Photonic Quantum Computers: Software and Algorithms

Gaussian Boson Sampling (GBS) is a near-term platform for photonic quantum computing. Recent efforts have led to the discovery of GBS algorithms with applications to graph-based problems, point processes, and molecular vibronic spectra in chemistry. The development of dedicated quantum software is a key enabler in permitting users to program devices and implement algorithms. In this work, we introduce a new applications layer for the Strawberry Fields photonic quantum computing library. The applications layer provides users with the necessary tools to design and implement algorithms using GBS with only a few lines of code. This paper serves a dual role as an introduction to the software, supported with example code, and also a review of the current state of the art in GBS algorithms.Comment: Code available at https://github.com/XanaduAI/strawberryfields/ and documentation available at https://strawberryfields.readthedocs.io