Search

Introduction Implementation of community-based healthcare services offering effective contraception, antenatal care (ANC), and treatment for symptomatic children under five has reduced maternal and child mortality in Togo. However, understanding if women are utilizing these services differentially based on social or demographic factors is important. This study identifies whether sexual relationship and socio-demographic factors are associated with healthcare utilization in four health facility catchment areas. Methods We conducted a cross-sectional household survey of women aged 15-49 in four health facility catchment areas in 2016 (three rural sites, one urban site). We used multivariable Poisson regression to test whether socio-demographic factors and a validated sexual relationship power scale were associated with contraceptive use, ANC visits, and seeking treatment for symptomatic children under five. Results Among women not pregnant or desiring pregnancy, older age, lower education, and single relationship status were associated with lower use of effective contraception. Among women who gave birth in two years preceding survey, low relationship power and low wealth quintile were associated with being less likely to attend at least four ANC visits. Women in rural sites were slightly more likely than women in the urban site to report seeking treatment for child under five with malaria, pneumonia, and/or diarrhea symptoms in last 2 weeks. Discussion Interventions in low-resource settings should explore ways to reach women with low health-service utilization to improve contraceptive use, ANC visits, and treatment for sick children. Furthermore, age, education, marital status, wealth status and sexual relationship power must be considered when targeting maternal health behaviors. Trial Registration ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT03773913; Date of registration: 12 Dec. 2018, Author(s): Elianna T. Kaplowitz [sup.1] , Kevin P. Fiori [sup.2] [sup.3] [sup.4] [sup.5] , Molly E. Lauria [sup.4] [sup.5] , Sesso Gbeleou [sup.6] , Agnés Miziou [sup.6] , Etonam Sowu [...]

BACKGROUND. Immunization against SARS-CoV-2, the causative agent of COVID-19, occurs via natural infection or vaccination. However, it is currently unknown how long infection- or vaccination-induced immunological memory will last. METHODS. We performed a longitudinal evaluation of immunological memory to SARS-CoV-2 up to 1 year after infection and following mRNA vaccination in naive individuals and individuals recovered from COVID-19 infection. RESULTS. We found that memory cells are still detectable 8 months after vaccination, while antibody levels decline significantly, especially in naive individuals. We also found that a booster injection is efficacious in reactivating immunological memory to spike protein in naive individuals, whereas it was ineffective in previously SARS-CoV-2-infected individuals. Finally, we observed a similar kinetics of decay of humoral and cellular immunity to SARS-CoV-2 up to 1 year following natural infection in a cohort of unvaccinated individuals. CONCLUSION. Short-term persistence of humoral immunity, together with the reduced neutralization capacity versus the currently prevailing SARS-CoV-2 variants, may account for reinfections and breakthrough infections. Long-lived memory B and CD4* T cells may protect from severe disease development. In naive individuals, a booster dose restored optimal antispike immunity, whereas the needs for vaccinated individuals who have recovered from COVID-19 have yet to be defined. FUNDING. This study was supported by funds to the Department of Experimental and Clinical Medicine, University of Florence (Project Excellence Departments 2018-2022), the University of Florence (project RICTD2122), the Italian Ministry of Health (COVID-2020-12371849), and the region of Tuscany (TagSARS CoV 2)., Introduction Immunization against SARS-CoV-2, the causative agent of COVID-19 occurs via natural infection or vaccination. As of December 20, 2021, more than 273 million people have been infected worldwide, with [...]

The characterization of the adaptive immune response to COVID-19 vaccination in individuals who recovered from SARS-CoV- 2 infection may define current and future clinical practice. To determine the effect of the 2-dose BNT162b2 mRNA COVID-19 vaccination schedule in individuals who recovered from COVID-19 (COVID- 19-recovered subjects) compared with naive subjects, we evaluated SARS-CoV-2 Spike-specific T and B cell responses, as well as specific IgA, IgG, IgM, and neutralizing antibodies titers in 22 individuals who received the BNT162b2 mRNA COVID-19 vaccine, 11 of whom had a previous history of SARS-CoV-2 infection. Evaluations were performed before vaccination and then weekly until 7 days after second injection. Data obtained clearly showed that one vaccine dose is sufficient to increase both cellular and humoral immune response in COVID-19-recovered subjects without any additional improvement after the second dose. On the contrary, the second dose proved mandatory in naive subjects to further enhance the immune response. These findings were further confirmed at the serological level in a larger cohort of naive (n = 68) and COVID-19-recovered (n = 29) subjects, tested up to 50 days after vaccination. These results question whether a second vaccine injection in COVID-19-recovered subjects is required, and indicate that millions of vaccine doses may be redirected to naive individuals, thus shortening the time to reach herd immunity., Introduction As of April 4, 2021, more than 130.4 million people have been diagnosed with COVID-19 worldwide, with more than 2.8 million confirmed deaths (1). COVID-19 is associated with high [...]

1. Introduction Ferritic steels are known to exhibit a loss of tensile ductility in the presence of hydrogen [1-5]. However, when evaluating ferritic steels for transporting hydrogen gas, the response [...]

1. Introduction Lubricants are needed in many industries for numerous tribological applications [1] and viscosity is their property of paramount importance [2]. A considerable chemical variety of lubricants exists [3], [...]

Objectives: To describe energy intake and its macronutrient and food sources among 27 regions in 10 countries participating in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) study. Methods: Between 1995 and 2000, 36034 subjects aged 35-74 years were administered a standardized 24-h dietary recall. Intakes of macronutrients (g/day) and energy (kcal/day) were estimated using standardized national nutrient databases. Mean intakes were weighted by season and day of the week and were adjusted for age, height and weight, after stratification by gender. Extreme low- and high-energy reporters were identified using Goldberg's cutoff points (ratio of energy intake and estimated basal metabolic rate 2.72), and their effects on macronutrient and energy intakes were studied. Results: Low-energy reporting was more prevalent in women than in men. The exclusion of extreme-energy reporters substantially lowered the EPIC-wide range in mean energy intake from 2196-2877 to 2309-2866 kcal among men. For women, these ranges were 1659-2070 and 1873-2108 kcal. There was no north-south gradient in energy intake or in the prevalence of low-energy reporting. In most centres, cereals and cereal products were the largest contributors to energy intake. The food groups meat, dairy products and fats and oils were also important energy sources. In many centres, the highest mean energy intakes were observed on Saturdays. Conclusions: These data highlight and quantify the variations and similarities in energy intake and sources of energy intake among 10 European countries. The prevalence of low-energy reporting indicates that the study of energy intake is hampered by the problem of underreporting. Keywords: energy intake; underreporting; dietary fat; 24-h dietary recall; Europe; EPIC-soft doi: 10.1038/ejcn.2009.72, Introduction Nowadays, in Europe, an enormously rich variety of foods is available on the market, and this very abundance, especially of energy-dense foods and drinks, is considered to be one [...]

Flexible ac transmission systems (FACTS) devices are attracting an increasing interest both in power system academic research and in electric utilities for their capabilities to improve steady-state performance as well as system stability. Several converter topologies for FACTS applications have been proposed in the recent literature, even if those based upon voltage source inverters (VSI) seem to be more attractive due to their intrinsic capability to rapidly respond to network changes such as perturbations subsequent to a fault and their property of being immune to resonance problem. In this paper, a new topology for inverter-based FACTS is proposed. This configuration, employing a two-leg three phase inverter is employed for both series and parallel-connected reactive power compensators. The converter utilizes a modular topology for allowing a satisfaction of electronic components rating. A control strategy based on variable structure control technique with sliding mode is employed to track appropriate reference quantities. Design and control, as well as good tracking performances, are also verified through numerical simulations. Index Tetras--Flexible ac transmission systems, static synchronous compensator (STATCOM), static synchronous series compensator (SSSC), variable structure control.

The fabrication of a compact Nb-based 180-degree hybrid for 4-12 GHz which could be applied for balanced superconductor-insulator-superconductor (SIS) mixers is discussed.

To link to full-text access for this article, visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ejor.2006.01.016 Byline: Eitel J.M. Lauria (a), Peter J. Duchessi (b) Keywords: Decision support systems; Bayesian networks; IT implementation; Artificial intelligence Abstract: Bayesian Networks (BNs) are probabilistic inference engines that support reasoning under uncertainty. This article presents a methodology for building an information technology (IT) implementation BN from client-server survey data. The article also demonstrates how to use the BN to predict the attainment of IT benefits, given specific implementation characteristics (e.g., application complexity) and activities (e.g., reengineering). The BN is an outcome of a machine learning process that finds the network's structure and its associated parameters, which best fit the data. The article will be of interest to academicians who want to learn more about building BNs from real data and practitioners who are interested in IT implementation models that make probabilistic statements about certain implementation decisions. Author Affiliation: (a) School of Computer Science and Mathematics, Marist College, 3399 North Road, Poughkeepsie, NY 12601, USA (b) School of Business, University at Albany, State University of New York, 1400 Washington Avenue, Albany, NY 12222, USA Article History: Received 13 July 2005; Accepted 17 January 2006

A artificial intelligence-based methodology for building an information technology implementation Bayesian networks, which are used to support reasoning under uncertainty, is presented. The benefits of using Bayesian networks are also discussed.

The mammography is the most effective procedure for an early diagnosis of the breast cancer. In this paper, an algorithm for detecting masses in mammographic images will be presented. The database consists of 3762 digital images acquired in several hospitals belonging to the MAGIC-5 collaboration (Medical Applications on a Grid Infrastructure Connection). A reduction of the whole image's area under investigation is achieved through a segmentation process, by means of a ROI Hunter algorithm, without loss of meaningful information. In the following classification step, feature extraction plays a fundamental role: some features give geometrical information, other ones provide shape parameters. Once the features are computed for each ROI, they are used as inputs to a supervised neural network with momentum. The output neuron provides the probability that the ROI is pathological or not. Results are provided in terms of ROC and FROC curves: the area under the ROC curve was found to be Az = 0.862 [+ or -] 0.007, and we get a 2.8 FP/Image at a sensitivity of 82%. This software is included in the CAD station actually working in the hospitals belonging to the MAGIC-5 Collaboration. Index Terms--Breast cancer, image processing, mammography, neural network.

Erectile dysfunction is caused by a variety of pathogenic factors, particularly impaired formation and action of nitric oxide (NO). NO released from nerve endings and corpus cavernosum endothelial cells plays a crucial role in initiating and maintaining increased intracavernous pressure, penile vasodilatation, and penile erection. Classically, these effects are dependent on cGMP synthesized during activation of soluble guanylyl cyclase (sGC) by NO in smooth muscle cells. The enzyme NO synthase in endothelial cells has been localized to caveolae, small invaginations of the plasma membrane rich in cholesterol. Membrane cholesterol depletion impairs acetylcholine-induced relaxation in arteries attributed to an alteration in caveolar structure. It has been shown that sGC may be activated in endothelial caveolae contributing to vasodilation. We hypothesized that caveolae are the platform for sGC/cGMP signaling in cavernosum smooth muscle eliciting erection. Methyl-[beta]-cyclodextrin, a pharmacological tool to deplete membrane cholesterol and disassemble caveolae, impaired rat erectile responses in vivo and cavernosum smooth muscle relaxation induced by the NO donor sodium nitroprusside and the sGC activator 3-(5'-hydroxymethyl-2'-furyl)-1-benzyl indazole in vitro. Methyl-[beta]-cyclodextrin had no effect on cavernosum smooth muscle relaxation induced by NO released upon nerve stimulation or by exogenous cGMP. Furthermore, sGC and caveolin-1, the major coat protein of caveolae, were colocalized in rat corpus cavernosum sinusoidal endothelium. Electron microscopy indicated caveolae disruption in corpus cavernosum treated with methyl-[beta]-cyclodextrin. In summary, our results provide evidence of compartmentalization of sGC in the caveolae of cavernosal endothelial cells contributing to NO signaling mediating smooth muscle relaxation and erection. relaxation; nitric oxide; caveolae

Abstract The Organic Grid is a biologically inspired and fully decentralized approach to the organization of computation that is based on the autonomous scheduling of strongly mobile agents on a […]

Several adult patients suffering from cancer were given oral levofloxacin or placebo from the beginning of chemotherapy till the resolution of neutropenia. The findings proved that levofloxacin successfully prevented infection-related outcomes in such patients, although the long-term impact of this treatment on bacterial immunity remains unknown.

Desktop grids have been used to perform some of the largest computations in the world and have the potential to grow by several more orders of magnitude. However, current approaches to utilizing desktop resources require either centralized servers or extensive knowledge of the underlying system, limiting their scalability. We propose a new design for desktop grids that relies on a self-organizing, fully decentralized approach to the organization of the computation. Our approach, called the organic grid, is a radical departure from current approaches and is modeled after the way complex biological systems organize themselves. Similar to current desktop grids, a large computational task is broken down into sufficiently small subtasks. Each subtask is encapsulated into a mobile agent, which is then released on the grid and discovers computational resources using autonomous behavior. In the process of "colonization" of available resources, the judicious design of the agent behavior produces the emergence of crucial properties of the computation that can be tailored to specific classes of applications. We demonstrate this concept with a reduced-scale proof-of-concept implementation that executes a data-intensive independent-task application on a set of heterogeneous, geographically distributed machines. We present a detailed exploration of the design space of our system and a performance evaluation of our implementation using metrics appropriate for assessing self-organizing desktop grids. Index Terms--Grid scheduling, mobile agents, self-organizing computation.

To link to full-text access for this article, visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.robot.2004.08.011 Byline: Theocharis Kyriacou, Guido Bugmann, Stanislao Lauria Keywords: Urban navigation; Road layout recognition; Robot primitives; Route instructions; Template matching Abstract: When humans explain a task to be executed by a robot they decompose it into chunks of actions. These form a chain of search-and-act sensory-motor loops that exit when a condition is met. In this paper we investigate the nature of these chunks in an urban visual navigation context, and propose a method for implementing the corresponding robot primitives such as 'take the nth turn right/left'. These primitives make use of a 'short-lived' internal map updated as the robot moves along. The recognition and localisation of intersections is done in the map using task-guided template matching. This approach takes advantage of the content of human instructions to save computation time and improve robustness. Author Affiliation: Centre for Interactive Intelligent Systems, School of Computing, Communications and Electronics, University of Plymouth, Drake Circus, Plymouth PL48AA, UK Article History: Received 27 July 2004; Accepted 12 August 2004

Objective: We identified Potentially Avoidable Maternity Complications (PAMCs). Used with hospital discharge data, PAMCs may indicate lack of prenatal care access. Methods: A research team of two obstetrician/gynecologists and three health services researchers developed the PAMC indicator, which was verified by external review. AIM 1 used the National Maternal and Infant Health Survey, with prenatal care information and 8,661 pregnancy hospitalizations, to examine associations between prenatal care, risk factors, and PAMCs. AIM 2 used the 1997 Nationwide Inpatient Sample (NIS), with 895,259 pregnancy-related hospitalizations, to examine PAMC risks for groups likely to have prenatal care access problems. Results: In AIM 1, adequate prenatal care reduced PAMC risks by 57% (p Conclusions: Findings suggest adequate prenatal care may reduce PAMC risks. Results for groups with less prenatal care access were consistent with previous research using less relined indicators, such as low birth weight. PAMCs improve on earlier measures, and readily permit adjustments for mothers' ages and comorbidities. KEYWORDS. Prenatal care access, primary care access, pregnancy-related hospitalization, pregnancy-related morbidity, pregnancy, maternity complications

Byline: Dale Whittington (1), Donald T. Lauria (1), Vimalanand Prabhu (2), Joe Cook (1) Keywords: Cost benefit analysis; Municipal water supply; Hyperbolic discounting; Monte Carlo simulations; Melamchi; Kathmandu; Nepal Abstract: This paper examines whether the benefits of the Melamchi water supply project in Nepal are likely to exceed its costs, assuming that high-quality municipal water services can be delivered to households and firms in the urbanized part of the Kathmandu Valley. Monte Carlo simulations are used to explore the sensitivity of the net present value and economic internal rate of return calculations to a wide range of assumptions and input parameters. We find that extreme assumptions are not required to generate large differences in economic feasibility quite plausible differences in the values of some key parameters can lead to large differences in the economic attractiveness of the project. The results reveal that the three most important influences on net present value and economic internal rate of return are: (i) the discount rate and discounting procedure (ii) the magnitude of monthly benefits for households connected to the new water system and (iii) the annual growth rate in monthly benefits of connected households after the project comes on line. Our contribution lies in illustrating, with an actual case study in a developing country, the degree to which cost-benefit calculations of large infrastructure projects are influenced by key economic modeling assumptions and input parameters. Author Affiliation: (1) Department of Environmental Sciences and Engineering, School of Public Health, University of NC at Chapel Hill, 102 Rosenau, CB 7400, NC 27599-7400, Chapel Hill, USA (2) Department of Public Policy, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, NC 27514, Chapel Hill, USA Article History: Registration Date: 01/01/2004 Article note: JEL Classification: Correspondence to: Dale Whittington We would especially like to thank Keiichi Tamaki (ADB) and Ian Hill (Acres International) for their guidance and assistance with this project. We would also like to thank the following individuals for their help during our mission to Kathmandu in May, 2003: Richard W. A. Vokes, Kathie M. Julian, Raj Kumar Malla, Madan Shankar Shrestha, Suman Prasad Sharma and Noor Kumar Tamrakar.

Erythropoietin (EPO) possesses generalized neuroprotective and neurotrophic actions. We tested the efficacy of recombinant human EPO (rhEPO) in preventing and reversing nerve dysfunction in streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetes in rats. Two days after STZ [60 mg/kg of body weight (b.w.), i.p.], diabetic animals were administered rhEPO (40 [micro]g/kg of b.w.) three times weekly for 5 weeks either immediately (preventive) before or after a 5-week delay (therapeutic) after induction of hyperglycemia or at a lower dose (8 [micro]g/kg of b.w. once per week) for 8 weeks (prolonged). Tail-nerve conduction velocities (NCV) was assessed at 5 and 11 weeks for the preventive and therapeutic schedule, respectively. Compared to nondiabetic rats, NCV was 20% lower after 5 weeks in the STZ group, and this decrease was attenuated 50% by rhEPO. Furthermore, the reduction of [Na.sup.+],[K.sup.+]-ATPase activity of diabetic nerves (by 55%) was limited to 24% in the rhEPO-treated group. In the therapeutic schedule, NCV was reduced by 50% after 11 weeks but by only 23% in the rhEPO-treated group, rhEPO treatment attenuated the decrease in compound muscle action potential in diabetic rats. In addition, rhEPO treatment was associated with a preservation of footpad cutaneous innervation, as assessed by protein gene product 9.5 immunostaining. Diabetic rats developed alterations in mechanical and thermal nociception, which were partially reversed by rhEPO given either in a preventative or therapeutic manner. These observations suggest that administration of rhEPO or its analogues may be useful in the treatment of diabetic neuropathy.

In the past decade, international donors and governments have generally required water supply systems to be financially self-sufficient, with stakeholder participation in their planning and operation to ensure sustainability. Efforts are being made to shift planning from a process that tends to be dominated by governments to one with more involvement of water users. This paper integrates two tools for strengthening demand-based planning. On one hand, contingent valuation (CV) surveys can be used to determine the preferences of households for improved water facilities and the amounts they are willing to pay for them, and on the other, mathematical models built around CV survey results can be used to identify and screen alternatives to meet the objectives of improved water supply. This paper reports a CV study conducted in Rwanda in 2000 and shows how the findings can be embedded in optimization models that can be used by stakeholders for addressing the key planning questions. The models are applied to a test case in Rwanda; the approach, however, is general and is expected to have wide application. CE Database subject headings: Water supply; Rural areas; Developing countries; Optimization.

This study investigates the prevalence of CG and CNG suppression in single- vs. multicopy DNA regions of the maize genome. The analysis includes the single- and multicopy seed storage proteins (zeins), the miniature inverted-repeat transposable elements (MITEs), and long terminal repeat (LTR) retrotransposons. Zein genes are clustered on specific chromosomal regions, whereas MITEs and LTRs are dispersed in the genome. The multicopy zein genes are CG suppressed and exhibit large variations in CG suppression. The variation observed correlates with the extent of duplication each zein gene has undergone, indicating that gene duplication results in an increased turnover of cytosine residues. Alignment of individual zein genes confirms this observation and demonstrates that CG depletion results primarily from polarized C:T and G:A transition mutations from a less to a more extensively duplicated gene. In addition, transition mutations occur primarily in a CG or CNG context suggesting that CG suppression may result from deamination of methylated cytosine residues. Duplication-dependent CG depletion is likely to occur at other loci as duplicated MITEs and LTR elements, or elements inserted into duplicated gene regions, also exhibit CG depletion.

Research has been conducted on the facile synthesis of furans based on Pd(II)-catalyzed cycloisomerization of (Z)-2-en-4-yn-1-ols. A new approach to the regioselective synthesis has been developed.

Anthropologists must analyze what local people do with the institutions, projects, and cultural forms proposed by intellectuals, politicians and administrators who build the nation-state. Another vital element of anthropological research is the dynamic between local action and nationalist construction. Cultural mixing and multiplicity are important to modern anthropology. Scholars have many ways of addressing relationships between culture and power.

Connie Sutton, a teacher at New York University, was honored at a meeting of the American Anthropology Association in Nov, 1996. Twenty-one papers were presented, analyzing issues Sutton has addressed in 40 years of anthropological study. She did field work in Barbados in the late 1950s, and in Nigeria in the early 1970s.

Issues are presented concerning the sale of the famous Imperial Porcelain Factory in St. Petersburg, Russia to investers from the west. The cultural treasures stored in its museum are discussed.

The articles written by the three anthropologists are part of the complex whole of anthropology. The analyses of the role of American intelligence in anthropological research simplify the situation. The intelligence community and the anthropologists involved came to different conclusions about their subject matter at different times in history. To criticize government involvement in scholarship is to trivialize the enriching effect political movements have had on anthropology.

Meredith Ramsey, Community, Culture, and Economic Development: The Social Roots of Local Action (Albany, NY: State University of New York Press), 163 pp., $16.95 (paper). Ramsey has written an excellent [...]