6,812 research outputs found
Fighting the Ebola Virus – an exercise in risk analysis & decision making
Ebola is a deadly epidemic and has already cost the lives of at least 10,000 people in West Africa. A vaccine has yet to be discovered and the focus remains on containing the spread of the virus. Although its spread has come under control in recent months, the actions of international agencies has been criticized. In this study, we present a choice-problem, associated with the handling of Ebola by Health Policymakers. We combine actual demographic data with realistic cost data for a limited range of interventions intended to slow transmission of the disease, into a quantitative model. The model facilitates trials of many combinations of interventions, in an effort to minimise the further spread of Ebola. The model can be used both as a teaching tool, as well as a prototype decision-making tool for the agencies involved in fighting such outbreaks, with limited budgets
Language skills of profoundly deaf children who received cochlear implants under 12 months of age: a preliminary study
Conclusion. This study demonstrated that children who receive a cochlear implant below the age of 2 years obtain higher mean receptive and expressive language scores than children implanted over the age of 2 years. Objective. The purpose of this study was to compare the receptive and expressive language skills of children who received a cochlear implant before 1 year of age to the language skills of children who received an implant between 1 and 3 years of age. Subjects and methods. Standardized language measures, the Reynell Developmental Language Scale (RDLS) and the Preschool Language Scale (PLS), were used to assess the receptive and expressive language skills of 91 children who received an implant before their third birthday. Results. The mean receptive and expressive language scores for the RDLS and the PLS were slightly higher for the children who were implanted below the age of 2 years compared with the children who were implanted over 2 years old. For the PLS, both the receptive and expressive mean standard scores decreased with increasing age at implantation
Experimental demonstration of painting arbitrary and dynamic potentials for Bose-Einstein condensates
There is a pressing need for robust and straightforward methods to create
potentials for trapping Bose-Einstein condensates which are simultaneously
dynamic, fully arbitrary, and sufficiently stable to not heat the ultracold
gas. We show here how to accomplish these goals, using a rapidly-moving laser
beam that "paints" a time-averaged optical dipole potential in which we create
BECs in a variety of geometries, including toroids, ring lattices, and square
lattices. Matter wave interference patterns confirm that the trapped gas is a
condensate. As a simple illustration of dynamics, we show that the technique
can transform a toroidal condensate into a ring lattice and back into a toroid.
The technique is general and should work with any sufficiently polarizable
low-energy particles.Comment: Minor text changes and three references added. This is the final
version published in New Journal of Physic
The compositional and metabolic responses of gilthead seabream (Sparus aurata) to a gradient of dietary fish oil and associated n-3 long-chain PUFA content
The authors express their gratitude to the technical team at the BioMar Feed Trial Unit, Hirtshals, in particular, Svend Jørgen Steenfeldt for expert care of the experimental subjects, for training and supervision provided by laboratory staff at Nutrition Analytical Services and Molecular Biology at the Institute of Aquaculture, University of Stirling, UK. S. J. S. H’s. PhD was co-funded by BioMar and the Marine Alliance for Science and Technology Scotland. BioMar provided the experimental feeds, trial facilities and fish, and covered travel expenses. V. K. and J. T. designed and executed the nutritional trial and all authors contributed to planning the analyses. V. K., J. T. and S. J. S. H. carried out the sampling. O. M., D. R. T and S. A. M. M. supervised the lead author. M. B. B. provided training in molecular biology to S. J. S. H. who carried out all analytical procedures. S. J. S. H. analysed all of the data and prepared the manuscript. Subsequently the manuscript was shared between all authors who made amendments, contributions and recommendations. The authors declare that there are no conflicts of interestPeer reviewedPublisher PD
Measuring atomic NOON-states and using them to make precision measurements
A scheme for creating NOON-states of the quasi-momentum of ultra-cold atoms
has recently been proposed [New J. Phys. 8, 180 (2006)]. This was achieved by
trapping the atoms in an optical lattice in a ring configuration and rotating
the potential at a rate equal to half a quantum of angular momentum . In this
paper we present a scheme for confirming that a NOON-state has indeed been
created. This is achieved by spectroscopically mapping out the anti-crossing
between the ground and first excited levels by modulating the rate at which the
potential is rotated. Finally we show how the NOON-state can be used to make
precision measurements of rotation.Comment: 14 preprint pages, 7 figure
Perceived Barriers to Including Students with Visual Impairments in General Physical Education
The purpose of this study was to examine barriers perceived by teachers when including students with visual impairments in general physical education. Teachers (52 males, 96 females) who had children with visual impairments in their physical education classes were surveyed prior to in-service workshop participation. The most prevalent barriers were professional preparation, equipment, programming, and time. A logistic regression analysis, regressing gender, in-service training, number of students with visual impairments taught, masters degree attained, masters hours spent on visual impairments (yes or no), undergraduate hours spent on visual impairments (yes or no), and years of experience failed to indicate significant predictors of professional preparation as a barrier, Model x2 (6, n = 148) = 4.48, p \u3e .05
Potentiated virucidal activity of pomegranate rind extract (PRE) and punicalagin against Herpes simplex virus (HSV) when co-administered with zinc (II) ions, and antiviral activity of PRE against HSV and aciclovir-resistant HSV
Background There is a clinical need for new therapeutic products against Herpes simplex virus (HSV). The pomegranate, fruit of the tree Punica granatum L, has since ancient times been linked to activity against infection. This work probed the activity of pomegranate rind extract (PRE) and co-administered zinc (II) ions. Materials and methods PRE was used in conjunction with zinc (II) salts to challenge HSV-1 and aciclovir-resistant HSV in terms of virucidal plaque assay reduction and antiviral activities in epithelial Vero host cells. Cytotoxicity was determined by the MTS assay using a commercial kit. Results Zinc sulphate, zinc citrate, zinc stearate and zinc gluconate demonstrated similar potentiated virucidal activity with PRE against HSV-1 by up to 4-fold. A generally parabolic relationship was observed when HSV-1 was challenged with PRE and varying concentrations of ZnSO4, with a maximum potentiation factor of 5.5. Punicalagin had 8-fold greater virucidal activity than an equivalent mass of PRE. However, antiviral data showed that punicalagin had significantly lower antiviral activity compared to the activity of PRE (EC50 = 0.56 μg mL-1) a value comparable to aciclovir (EC50 = 0.18 μg mL-1); however, PRE also demonstrated potency against aciclovir-resistant HSV (EC50 = 0.02 μg mL-1), whereas aciclovir showed no activity. Antiviral action of PRE was not influenced by ZnSO4. No cytotoxicity was detected with any test solution. Conclusions The potentiated virucidal activity of PRE by coadministered zinc (II) has potential as a multi-action novel topical therapeutic agent against HSV infections, such as coldsores
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