The poor children of the poor: Coping with diabetes control in a resource-poor setting

Background. Coping with diabetes control is difficult for newly diagnosed and experienced patients alike. Children with diabetes face severe challenges, as they may not yet have attained the necessary cognitive, fine motor or psychosocial skills required for performance of the tasks required from the diabetic patient. Most therefore require some adult assistance.Objectives. To establish whether paediatric diabetic patients are adequately supported by their families in terms of giving insulin injections and doing home blood glucose monitoring (HBGM), and whether insulin and the necessary equipment are appropriately stored in their homes.Methods. Patients attending a paediatric diabetes clinic were interviewed. The data collected included demographic variables, type of insulin, measurement of insulin doses, administration of insulin, and blood glucose monitoring tests.Results. Twenty-five subjects were interviewed: 18 measured the insulin themselves, five mothers and one aunt did so, and in one case the mother and patient did so together. The four children aged ≤10 years had their insulin measured by their mothers, but one had to administer the injection himself. Eight of the nine children aged 11 - 15 years measured and administered the insulin themselves; in four cases the doses were checked by an adult. The mothers of four children did the fingerpricks, and eight children were helped with measuring the results. Only two children aged 11 - 15 years had their doses checked by an adult.Conclusion. Adult assistance with regard to both insulin injections and HBGM is rarely forthcoming. The children seem not to besufficiently supported by their families

Increase in childhood asthma admissions in an urbanising population

Objective. In South Africa, rapid urbanisation has increased the risk of childhood asthma. This report reviews the pattern of asthma admissions to the Paediatric Department of Ga-Rankuwa Hospital, South Africa, from 1986 to 1996. Design. Inpatient admission data were reviewed for 1986- 1996. A detailed analysis of the records of asthma patients admitted between 1992 and 1996 was done. Outpatient data were reviewed from 1992.Setting. Ga-Rankuwa Hospital, situated on the border of the Gauteng and orth West provinces of South Africa and serving a large black population in various stages of urbanisation.Main outcome measures. Trends in admission numbers and demographic characteristics.Results. Asthma admissions were 2.5 times higher in 1996 than 1986. The greatest increase in admissions was in the 1 - 47-month age group. The male to female ratio was 1.5:1. More patients came from urban than from rural areas. Admissions peaked during the summer. Re-admissions occurred most frequently within 3 months of the first admission.Conclusion. Paediatric asthma admissions have shown an increase in the past decade. This may be associated with changes in the environment of the community. There is a need for preventive programmes for asthma at community and national level

Thick domain walls around a black hole

We discuss the gravitationally interacting system of a thick domain wall and a black hole. We numerically solve the scalar field equation in the Schwarzschild spacetime and obtain a sequence of static axi-symmetric solutions representing thick domain walls. We find that, for the walls near the horizon, the Nambu--Goto approximation is no longer valid.Comment: 18 pages, 11 figures, one reference adde

Reissner-Nordstrom Black Holes and Thick Domain Walls

We solve numerically equations of motion for real self-interacting scalar fields in the background of Reissner-Nordstrom black hole and obtained a sequence of static axisymmetric solutions representing thick domain walls charged black hole systems. In the case of extremal Reissner-Nordstrom black hole solution we find that there is a parameter depending on the black hole mass and the width of the domain wall which constitutes the upper limit for the expulsion to occur.Comment: 18 pages, 10 figures, accepted for Phys. Rev.

Thick Domain Walls and Charged Dilaton Black Holes

We study a black hole domain wall system in dilaton gravity which is the low-energy limit of the superstring theory. We solve numerically equations of motion for real self-interacting scalar field and justify the existence of static axisymmetric field configuration representing the thick domain wall in the background of a charged dilaton black hole. It was also confirmed that the extreme dilaton black hole always expelled the domain wall.Comment: 10 pages, 8 figures; to be published in Phys. Rev. D1

Strings in gravity with torsion

A theory of gravitation in 4D is presented with strings used in the material action in $U_4$ spacetime. It is shown that the string naturally gives rise to torsion. It is also shown that the equation of motion a string follows from the Bianchi identity, gives the identical result as the Noether conservation laws, and follows a geodesic only in the lowest order approximation. In addition, the conservation laws show that strings naturally have spin, which arises not from their motion but from their one dimensional structure.Comment: 16 page

Magnetically Driven Accretion Flows in the Kerr Metric II: Structure of the Magnetic Field

We present a detailed analysis of the magnetic field structure found in general relativistic 3D MHD simulations of accreting tori in the Kerr metric with different black hole spins. Among the properties analyzed are the field strength as a function of position and black hole spin, the shapes of field lines, the degree to which they connect different regions, and their degree of tangling. We investigate prior speculations about the structure of the magnetic fields and discuss how frequently certain configurations are seen in the simulations. We also analyze the distribution of current density, with a view toward identifying possible locations for magnetic energy dissipation.Comment: Submitted to ApJ. PDF and PostScript files with high-resolution figures are available at http://www.pha.jhu.edu/~shirose/GRMHD/PaperII

Self-similar solutions of viscous and resistive ADAFs with thermal conduction

We have studied the effects of thermal conduction on the structure of viscous and resistive advection-dominated accretion flows (ADAFs). The importance of thermal conduction on hot accretion flow is confirmed by observations of hot gas that surrounds Sgr A$^*$ and a few other nearby galactic nuclei. In this research, thermal conduction is studied by a saturated form of it, as is appropriated for weakly-collisional systems. It is assumed the viscosity and the magnetic diffusivity are due to turbulence and dissipation in the flow. The viscosity also is due to angular momentum transport. Here, the magnetic diffusivity and the kinematic viscosity are not constant and vary by position and $\alpha$-prescription is used for them. The govern equations on system have been solved by the steady self-similar method. The solutions show the radial velocity is highly subsonic and the rotational velocity behaves sub-Keplerian. The rotational velocity for a specific value of the thermal conduction coefficient becomes zero. This amount of conductivity strongly depends on magnetic pressure fraction, magnetic Prandtl number, and viscosity parameter. Comparison of energy transport by thermal conduction with the other energy mechanisms implies that thermal conduction can be a significant energy mechanism in resistive and magnetized ADAFs. This property is confirmed by non-ideal magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) simulations.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figures, accepted by Ap&S

Revival of the magnetar PSR J1622-4950: observations with MeerKAT, Parkes, XMM-Newton, Swift, Chandra, and NuSTAR

New radio (MeerKAT and Parkes) and X-ray (XMM-Newton, Swift, Chandra, and NuSTAR) observations of PSR J1622-4950 indicate that the magnetar, in a quiescent state since at least early 2015, reactivated between 2017 March 19 and April 5. The radio flux density, while variable, is approximately 100x larger than during its dormant state. The X-ray flux one month after reactivation was at least 800x larger than during quiescence, and has been decaying exponentially on a 111+/-19 day timescale. This high-flux state, together with a radio-derived rotational ephemeris, enabled for the first time the detection of X-ray pulsations for this magnetar. At 5%, the 0.3-6 keV pulsed fraction is comparable to the smallest observed for magnetars. The overall pulsar geometry inferred from polarized radio emission appears to be broadly consistent with that determined 6-8 years earlier. However, rotating vector model fits suggest that we are now seeing radio emission from a different location in the magnetosphere than previously. This indicates a novel way in which radio emission from magnetars can differ from that of ordinary pulsars. The torque on the neutron star is varying rapidly and unsteadily, as is common for magnetars following outburst, having changed by a factor of 7 within six months of reactivation.Comment: Published in ApJ (2018 April 5); 13 pages, 4 figure