Viral load and antibody boosting following herpes zoster diagnosis

BACKGROUND: Acute varicella zoster virus (VZV) replication in shingles is accompanied by VZV antibody boosting. It is unclear whether persisting virus shedding affects antibody levels. OBJECTIVES: To investigate the relationship between VZV viral load and antibody titres in shingles patients during six months following diagnosis and assess whether VZV antibody titre could discriminate patients with recent shingles from healthy population controls. STUDY DESIGN: A prospective study of 63 patients with active zoster. Blood samples were collected at baseline, one, three and six months to measure VZV DNA and IgG antibody titre. We compared VZV antibody titres of zoster patients and 441 controls. RESULTS: In acute zoster, viral load was highest at baseline and declined gradually over the following six months. Mean antibody titres rose fourfold, peaking at one month and remaining above baseline levels throughout the study. Antibody levels at one, three and six months after zoster were moderately correlated with baseline but not subsequent viral load. Regarding use of antibody titres to identify recent shingles, to achieve 80% sensitivity, specificity would be 23.4%, 67.7%, 64.8% and 52.6%, at baseline, visit 2, 3 and 4 respectively, whilst to achieve 80% specificity, sensitivity would be 28.3%, 66.1%, 52.6%, 38.6%, at baseline, visit 2, 3 and 4 respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Clinical VZV reactivation boosted VZV antibody levels and the level of boosting was dependent upon baseline viral replication. While antibody titres could discriminate patients with shingles 1-6 months earlier from blood donor controls, there was a large trade-off between sensitivity and specificity

Intraocular retinal transplants

Embryonic rat retinae transplanted into the anterior chamber of adult rat eyes of the same or different strain survive and grow. Light and electron microscopic studies show that the transplants undergo histogenetic differentiation, resulting in the development of mature inner and outer layer neurons and Muller glial cells. Vascular connections develop between the host iris and the retinal transplant. These initial observations indicate that retinal transplantation to a recipient eye is a procedure which offers ample opportunities for the study of problems related to neural development, retinal plasticity and repair

Ethnic differences in the incidence of clinically diagnosed influenza: an England population-based cohort study 2008-2018 [version 2; peer review: 2 approved]

Background: People of non-White ethnicity have a higher risk of severe outcomes following influenza infection. It is unclear whether this is driven by an increased risk of infection or complications. We therefore aimed to investigate the incidence of clinically diagnosed influenza/influenza-like illness (ILI) by ethnicity in England from 2008-2018. Methods: We used linked primary and secondary healthcare data (from the Clinical Practice Research Datalink [CPRD] GOLD and Aurum databases and Hospital Episodes Statistics Admitted Patient Care [HES APC]). We included patients with recorded ethnicity who were aged 40-64 years and did not have a chronic health condition that would render them eligible for influenza vaccination. ILI infection was identified from diagnostic codes in CPRD and HES APC. We calculated crude annual infection incidence rates by ethnic group. Multivariable Poisson regression models with random effects were used to estimate any ethnic disparities in infection risk. Our main analysis adjusted for age, sex, and influenza year. Results: A total of 3,735,308 adults aged 40-64 years were included in the study; 87.6% White, 5.2% South Asian, 4.2% Black, 1.9% Other, and 1.1% Mixed. We identified 102,316 ILI episodes recorded among 94,623 patients. The rate of ILI was highest in the South Asian (9.6 per 1,000 person-years), Black (8.4 per 1,000 person-years) and Mixed (6.9 per 1,000 person-years) ethnic groups. The ILI rate in the White ethnic group was 5.7 per 1,000 person-years. After adjustment for age sex and influenza year, higher incidence rate ratios (IRR) for ILI were seen for South Asian (1.70, 95% CI 1.66-1.75), Black (1.48, 1.44-1.53) and Mixed (1.22, 1.15-1.30) groups compared to White ethnicity. Conclusions: Our results suggest that influenza infection risk differs between White and non-White groups who are not eligible for routine influenza vaccination

Preliminary measurements of net radiation and evaporation over bare soil and fallow bushland in the Sahel

Net radiation and evaporation are compared over two contrasting land surfaces, fallow bushland and bare soil, in Niger, West Africa. Data are presented for 6 days, before and after a large rainstorm (39 mm), which illustrate how evaporation from the bush vegetation changed little in comparison with the larger change in evaporation observed over the bare soil. Net radiation over the bush vegetation was 20 per cent greater than that over the dry bare soil, but only 12 per cent greater than that over wet bare soil. These differences are consistent with the expected difference in albedo and surface temperature of the two surface

Derivation of the aerodynamic roughness parameters for a Sahelian savannah site using the eddy correlation technique

Vertical exchange of heat, moisture and momentum above the earth's surface depends strongly on the turbulence generated by surface roughness. This roughness is best specified through the roughness length and the zero plane displacement. The ratio of windspeed to friction velocity was measured at four heights using the eddy correlation technique at a fallow savannah site in the Sahel. The change in this ratio with height was used to derive the zero plane displacement and the roughness length of the surface, together with an estimate of the error in each parameter. These were estimated as 0.93 ± 0.35 m and 0.17 ± 0.01 m, respectively. The method appears to be a more robust alternative to wind profile derivation

Measurements of albedo variation over natural vegetation in the sahel

This paper reports ground-based measurements of albedo at two different sites in south-western Niger: agricultural fallow at the ICRISAT Sahelian Center (ISC), Sadoré, and a type of open natural forest (tiger-bush), 6 km south-west of ISC. The vegetative cover at each site consisted of two clearly defined components, for which separate measurements were made. The four different component surfaces spanned the entire range of plant cover density normally occurring in the southern Sahel, ranging from zero (bare soil) to a dense, closed canopy of woody shrubs. Continuous automated observations of albedo were made over a period of 15 months, from July 1989 to September 1990, including both wet and dry seasons. The data are analysed on hourly, monthly, and annual time-scales in order to demonstrate how albedo varies in response to the density of plant cover, soil-surface moisture content, solar zenith angle, and the proportion of diffuse light in the incoming solar radiation. Large annual variation in monthly mean albedo was observed at both sites (increases from the wet to dry season of 0.065 and 0.057 for the fallow and tiger-bush, respectively). At the fallow site the annual variation in albedo resulted mainly from the wet to dry season cycle of leaf growth and loss. At the tiger-bush site the primary cause of annual variation in albedo was the frequent wetting of the extensive bare soil component that occurred during the rainy season. The significance of these results for global climate modelling is assessed briefly

Public service markets: their economics, institutional oversight and regulation

Public services in the UK have been transformed over the past 25 years with the introduction of market oriented solutions into their provision. This has been characterised by a shift away from state provision to independent providers, and by the introduction of competition and choice. This shift was partly ideologically motivated and partly driven by budget cutting considerations following the financial crisis. As such it has been lacking a comprehensive economic justification or method of analysis. It is now commonly accepted that the language of economic markets is essential to frame arguments about how effectively public services are achieving their intended outcomes. Using market language and concepts may not always be comfortable for those from a traditional policy-making background. It can nevertheless be very useful when designing investigations into the effectiveness and value for money in the mechanisms of delivery of such services, whenever these services entail a degree of user choice as is currently the case in large parts of health, social care and education (referred to as competition in the market). Our paper wants to provide a conceptual basis on the way of thinking in these terms. We provide a description of the current state and then comment on the desirability of this quasi market approach. Uniquely in the literature, we analyse the expected and desired developments by distinguishing between choice and compulsory merit goods. In choice merit goods markets many users are unable to choose effectively because of the existence of a number of demand side or supply side market failures. Moreover, conflicts may exist between how service users actually make choices, and policy objectives such as universality or equity which may not be achieved simply by ‘leaving it to the market’. The users of compulsory merit goods are typically a minority and unable to internalise the full social benefits of their actions; hence it may be welfare-enhancing for society to coerce them ‘consume’ these services. As choice cannot be an objective, the commissioning (competition for the market) or direct provision by the state of such goods may meet public policy objectives more effectively than the market mechanism alone. Building on these foundations the paper discusses when public service markets are likely to be an effective method of achieving public policy objectives, and when they may not be. Our paper analyses the implications for the institutional and legal framework, funding oversight and regulation of public service markets as a result of their transformation into quasi-markets. The paper concludes with some suggestions for those charged with overseeing public service markets in practice based on this analysis

Youth Savings Groups in Africa: They’re a Family Affair

Based on fieldwork in Tanzania, Zambia, Uganda, and Ghana, in the paper we provide new evidence that young people’s engagement with savings groups in Africa is deeply embedded in networks of family and social relations. Savings group members rely on money that is given to them by partners and family members to make savings contributions to the groups, while they also transfer some of their share-outs and loans to family members and friends. This is particularly true for younger members. As such we argue that the socially embedded nature of young people's engagement with savings group needs to be taken into account. The tension between the primary focus on the individual within youth saving programming, and the socially embedded nature of their engagement, has important implications for programme design, implementation and evaluation

Measurements of evaporation from fallow Sahelian savannah at the start of the dry season

Micrometeorological measurements of evaporation were made for the first six weeks of the dry season at a fallow savannah site in the Sahel. The evaporation fell from typically 4.5 mm per day at the start of the dry season to 1.5 mm per day six weeks later. The surface conductance was modelled in terms of empirical functions of time of day, and the number of days since the final rain of the season. It was found that there was little variation in surface conductance within each day, with no significant correlation with solar radiation and only a weak correlation with humidity deficit. Daily values of the surface conductance necessary to estimate the actual evaporation, from the data provided by a standard climate station, were also derived

Three-dimensionally Ordered Macroporous Structure Enabled Nanothermite Membrane of Mn2O3/Al

Mn2O3 has been selected to realize nanothermite membrane for the first time in the literature. Mn2O3/Al nanothermite has been synthesized by magnetron sputtering a layer of Al film onto three-dimensionally ordered macroporous (3DOM) Mn2O3 skeleton. The energy release is significantly enhanced owing to the unusual 3DOM structure, which ensures Al and Mn2O3 to integrate compactly in nanoscale and greatly increase effective contact area. The morphology and DSC curve of the nanothermite membrane have been investigated at various aluminizing times. At the optimized aluminizing time of 30 min, energy release reaches a maximum of 2.09 kJ∙g−1, where the Al layer thickness plays a decisive role in the total energy release. This method possesses advantages of high compatibility with MEMS and can be applied to other nanothermite systems easily, which will make great contribution to little-known nanothermite research