The recently measured B→τν branching ratio allows to test the Standard Model by probing virtual effects of new heavy particles, such as a charged Higgs boson. The accuracy of the test is currently ...limited by the experimental error on BR(B→τν) and by the uncertainty on the parameters fB and |Vub|. The redundancy of the Unitarity Triangle fit allows to reduce the error on these parameters and thus to perform a more precise test of the Standard Model. Using the current experimental inputs, we obtain BR(B→τν)SM=(0.84±0.11)×10−4, to be compared with BR(B→τν)exp=(1.73±0.34)×10−4. The Standard Model prediction can be modified by New Physics effects in the decay amplitude as well as in the Unitarity Triangle fit. We discuss how to disentangle the two possible contributions in the case of minimal flavour violation at large tanβ and generic loop-mediated New Physics. We also consider two specific models with minimal flavour violation: the Type-II Two Higgs Doublet Model and the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model.
Poor access to health care is one of the greatest impediments to improved health in Africa. In Zambia, user fees are considered to be partly responsible for substantial disparities in access to ...health care. When the Government introduced user fees in 1993, considerable concern was expressed about the adverse effects on utilisation and access. A national exemption policy was designed to protect the poorest sections of the population. However, this was largely ineffective in reaching the majority of the eligible population.
On January 13th, 2006, the President of Zambia announced a policy to abolish user fees at primary health care facilities in designated rural districts. This was a major policy shift from targeted exemptions to free primary health care across the board.
This study reviewed the performance of free health care in Zambia, following 15 months of implementation. Using a comprehensive national facility-based dataset, we found that utilisation increased among the rural population aged at least five years by 55%. Importantly, utilisation increases were greatest in the districts with the highest levels of poverty and material deprivation. Further, our patient exit interview survey at facilities in two rural districts reveals that although there is some evidence of a strain on drug supplies, perceptions of quality of health care remain fairly positive. This is in contrast to the experience in other countries that have removed user fees. Our findings strongly suggest that fee removal is more effective than fragmented efforts to target exemptions to certain groups in providing protection against the financial consequences of using health services.
Argentina y Brasil vivieron dictaduras cívico-militares durante las décadas de 1960 y 1980. En Argentina, la experiencia se dividió en dos etapas: en la primera (1966-1973) se persiguió una ...estrategia industrializadora; mientras que en la segunda (1976-1983), se alineó al proceso neoliberal. En Brasil, la dictadura (1964-1985) se inició en pleno auge de la etapa desarrollista y no abandonó ese patrón económico. En este artículo se analiza la evolución de ambas experiencias desde la economía política; se indaga en las formas que asumen los procesos de acumulación de capital en cada caso, al analizar cómo las dictaduras incidieron en los mismos, así como los objetivos ideológicos y de política económica que persiguieron. La comparación pone en debate aspectos como las condicionantes del mercado mundial en las dinámicas internas de cada país y las alianzas de clases sociales para entender las similitudes y diferencias entre los dos países.
Introduction. Costing evidence is essential for policy makers for priority setting and resource allocation. It is in this context that the clinical trials of ARVs and cotrimoxazole provided a costing ...component to provide evidence for budgeting and resource needs alongside the clinical efficacy studies. Methods. A micro based costing approach was adopted, using case record forms for maintaining patient records. Costs for fixed assets were allocated based on the paediatric space. Medication and other resource costs were costed using the WHO/MSH Drug Price Indicators as well as procurement data where these were available. Results. The costs for cotrimoxazole and ARVs are significantly different. The average costs for human resources were US$22 and US$71 for physician costs and $1.3 and $16 for nursing costs while in-patient costs were $257 and $15 for the cotrimoxazole and ARV cohorts, respectively. Mean or average costs were $870 for the cotrimoxazole cohort and $218 for the ARV. The causal factors for the significant cost differences are attributable to the higher human resource time, higher infections of opportunistic conditions, and longer and higher frequency of hospitalisations, among others.
Abstract Background Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) patients are characterized by increased levels of aggressivity and reduction of impulse control, which are behavioural dimensions mainly ...sustained by hippocampus and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC). In this study we aimed at investigating whether hippocampus and DLPFC anatomy may sustain impulsive and aggressive behaviours in BPD. Methods Fifteen DSM-IV BPD patients (11 females, 4 males) and fifteen 1:1 matched healthy controls (11 females, 4 males) were studied with a 1.5T magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and underwent a psychopathological assessment in order to measure the severity of aggressive and impulsive traits. Results Right hippocampal volumes were significantly reduced in BPD patients compared to healthy subjects (p = 0.027), particularly in those with a history of childhood abuse (p = 0.01). Moreover, in patients but not in controls, right hippocampal volumes significantly inversely correlated with aggressiveness and DLPFC grey matter volumes significantly inversely associated with impulsiveness (p < 0.05). Conclusions Our results provide evidence that hippocampus and DLPFC play a separate and unique role in sustaining the control of impulse and aggressive behaviours in BPD patients.
The use of transparent plastic aerosol boxes as protective barriers during endotracheal intubation has been advocated during the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 pandemic. There is ...evidence of worldwide distribution of such devices, but some experts have warned of possible negative impacts of their use. The objective of this study was to measure the effect of an aerosol box on intubation performance across a variety of simulated difficult airway scenarios in the emergency department.
This was a randomized, crossover design study. Participants were randomized to intubate one of five airway scenarios with and without an aerosol box in place, with randomization of intubation sequence. The primary outcome was time to intubation. Secondary outcomes included number of intubation attempts, Cormack-Lehane view, percent of glottic opening, and resident physician perception of intubation difficulty.
Forty-eight residents performed 96 intubations. Time to intubation was significantly longer with box use than without (mean 17 seconds range 6-68 seconds vs mean 10 seconds range 5-40 seconds, p <0.001). Participants perceived intubation as being significantly more difficult with the aerosol box. There were no significant differences in the number of attempts or quality of view obtained.
Use of an aerosol box during difficult endotracheal intubation increases the time to intubation and perceived difficulty across a range of simulated ED patients.
•Low protein diets had little influence on heavy pig carcass quality.•A reduction in dietary protein increased fat cover and marbling of dry cured hams.•Large influence on carcass and ham quality was ...mainly due to pig genetic group.
This study investigated growth performance, and carcass and raw ham quality of pigs from 4 genetic groups (GG), ANAS (A), DanBred (D), Goland (G) and Topig (T), fed conventional (CONV) or low-protein (LP) diets. In each of 3 trials, 96 pigs were housed in 8 pens in groups of 12 on the basis of their GG, sex (gilts and barrows), and BW. Each pen was assigned a CONV or LP diet. The CONV diets in early (89–120kg BW) and late (121–165kg BW) finishing contained 13.1 and 13.2MJ/kg of ME, 147 and 132gCP/kg, and 6.0 and 4.4g/kg of standardized ileal digestible (SID) lysine, respectively. The LP diets in early and late finishing contained only 119 and 103g/kg of CP, and 4.8 and 3.5g/kg of SID lysine, respectively. Restricted feed allowance was increased on a weekly basis from 2.3 to 3.2kg/d during the experiment. Automated feeding stations measured individual feed intake, and pigs were weighed at 3-weeks intervals until slaughter. Hot carcass was weighed and dissected into lean and fat primal cuts. After 24h of chilling, hams were dressed, weighed, and scored for roundness (0=low to 4=high), fat cover thickness (−4=thin to 4=thick), marbling (0=absent to 4=evident), lean color (−4=pale to 4=dark), bicolor and veining (0=absent to 4=evident). In addition, ham backfat thickness was measured with a ruler. Dietary CP reduction did not influence final BW (166kg), daily gain (0.67kg/d), carcass weight (136kg) or yield (0.82), but reduced feed efficiency by 5.2% (P<0.001). Irrespective of GG, the reduction in protein supply increased fat cover depth (P<0.001) and marbling (P=0.009) of hams, but did not influence other traits. Compared to A, hams from D were heavier (+6.4%; P<0.001), and had a thinner cover fat (19.4 vs 24.8mm, P=0.001), a greater marbling score (2.05 vs 1.44 points; P<0.001) and a paler lean color (−0.61 vs 0.34 points; P<0.001). Ham quality of A, G and T was comparable, but the marbling score of T was higher and similar to that of D. The use of low-protein diets would reduce the environmental impact of heavy pig production with some improvement in ham quality (> subcutaneous fat depth), although increased marbling is expected. They should preferably be used with GGs that have low marbling scores under conventional conditions.
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•OsHV-1 presence in wild oyster beds in Italy was revealed (main prevalence 10.66%).•OsHV-1 genetic study on 3 markers: C region, ORFs 42/43, ORFs 35–38.•Relevant OsHV-1 genotype ...diversity in natural environment: 9 genotypes described.•Phylogenetic analysis allocated the genotypes in different well-separated clusters.•All sampled specimens belonged to the species Crassostrea gigas.
Ostreid herpesvirus 1 (OsHV-1) is a significant pathogen affecting the young Pacific oyster Crassostrea gigas, worldwide. A new variant, OsHV-1 μVar, has been associated with recurrent mortality events in Europe since 2008. Epidemiological data collection is key for global risk assessment; however little is known about health status and genotypes present in European wild oyster beds. Most studies to date have involved only cultivated individuals during mortality events, and reported low genotype diversity. With this study, conducted along the Italian coasts, we investigated for the first time the presence of OsHV-1 in European natural oyster beds. Analysis of three genomic regions revealed the presence of at least nine different genotypes, including two variants close to the OsHV-1 reference, known since the early 1990s but with no European record reported since 2010, and highlights relevant genotype diversity in natural environment. Phylogenetic analysis distinguished two distinct clusters and geographical distribution of genotypes, with the exception of a variant very closely related to the μVar, which appeared the single genotype present in all the Adriatic sites. Interestingly, these wild symptom free populations could represent, in Europe, an accessible alternative to the import of OsHV-1-resistant oyster strains from the East Pacific, the native area of C. gigas, avoiding the high-risk of non-native marine species and new pathogen introductions.
Carbon-enriched fractions have been obtained from two coal fly ash (FA) samples. The FA came from two pulverized-coal fired power stations (Lada and Escucha, Spain) and were collected from baghouse ...filters. Sieving was used to obtain carbon-enriched fractions, which were further subjected to two beneficiation processes: acid demineralization using HCl and HF, and oil agglomeration using soya oil–water. Yield in weight after sieving, unburned carbon content, and several physicochemical characteristics of the obtained fractions were used to compare the performance of the beneficiation methods. Low carbon concentration was obtained by sieving, particularly in the case of Escucha FA. However, after acid demineralization or oil agglomeration, fractions containing unburned carbon in a range of 63% to 68% were obtained. These fractions showed differences in mineral phase composition and distribution depending on the FA and on the beneficiation method used. The textural properties of the obtained fractions varied as a function of their carbon content and the beneficiation method used. However, no significant differences in morphology of the carbonaceous particles were found.
Diffuse reflectance infrared fourier transform spectroscopy (DRIFTS) in the near-infrared (NIR) range is a technique able to determine moisture, ash, volatile matter, fixed carbon, heating value and ...percentage of carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen and sulfur in coal samples. In this paper, spectra from 142 coal samples of different origins were acquired in absorbance, reflectance and Kubelka–Munk units. Physical effects due to particle size were minimized after applying different pre-treatments to each spectra. The resultant spectra were correlated to the above mentioned coal properties using partial least squares regression (PLS). Moreover, a principal component analysis (PCA) of the full set of samples suggested the use of more homogeneous sample sets. The results obtained for a homogeneous set improved the prediction ability of the procedure.
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