Insecticide treated bednets: A review

The functioning and efficacy of Insecticide Treated Nets (ITNs) in controlling malaria are discussed in the present review. ITNs Insecticide Treated Nets (ITNs) have been shown to have a beneficial impact in reducing malaria mortality and morbidity in children. However, a few issues are still unresolved: for instance the short and long term effects of an artificially induced reduction in the intensity of malaria transmission on the immune system and the mortality of children is not entirely understood; further studies are needed on whether the spread of resistance to pyrethroids, which is the only class of insecticide currently recommended on nets, affects the effectiveness of ITNs so that resistance to these insecticides would constitutes a serious threat for the success of the malaria vector control programs. Lastly, the economic aspects are presented. The main problem is to find a way for a sustainable implementation of this methodology, that includes purchasing new bednets, delivery and the regular re-impregnation of the existing nets. Free delivery and retreatment in poor countries is not only more equitable but also more efficient than marketing methods

The Use and Abuse of Special-Purpose Entities in Public Finance

States increasingly are raising financing indirectly through special-purpose entities (SPEs), variously referred to as authorities, special authorities, or public authorities. Notwithstanding their long history and increasingly widespread use, relatively little is known or has been written about these entities. This article examines state SPEs and their functions, comparing them to SPEs used in corporate finance. States, even more than corporations, use these entities to reduce financial transparency and avoid public scrutiny, seriously threatening the integrity of public finance. The article analyzes how regulation could be designed in order to control that threat while maintaining the legitimate financing benefits provided by these state entities

Social (pragmatic) communication disorders and autism spectrum disorder

Changes have been made to the diagnostic criteria for autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in the recent revision of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5), and similar changes are likely in the WHO International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11) due in 2017. In light of these changes, a new clinical disorder, social (pragmatic) communication disorder (SPCD), was added to the neurodevelopmental disorders section of DSM-5. This article describes the key features of ASD, SPCD and the draft ICD-11 approach to pragmatic language impairment, highlighting points of overlap between the disorders and criteria for differential diagnosis

Diversity not quantity in caregiver speech: using computational modeling to isolate the effects of the quantity and the diversity of the input on vocabulary growth

Children who hear large amounts of diverse speech learn language more quickly than children who do not. However, high correlations between the amount and the diversity of the input in speech samples makes it difficult to isolate the influence of each. We overcame this problem by controlling the input to a computational model so that amount of exposure to linguistic input (quantity) and the quality of that input (lexical diversity) were independently manipulated. Sublexical, lexical, and multi-word knowledge were charted across development (Study 1), showing that while input quantity may be important early in learning, lexical diversity is ultimately more crucial, a prediction confirmed against children’s data (Study 2). The model trained on a lexically diverse input also performed better on nonword repetition and sentence recall tests (Study 3) and was quicker to learn new words over time (Study 4). A language input that is rich in lexical diversity outperforms equivalent richness in quantity for learned sublexical and lexical knowledge, for well-established language tests, and for acquiring words that have never been encountered before

Gladstone and Scott: Family, identity, and nation

In the 175 years since his death, Walter Scott has regularly been hailed as an influence by politicians. Amongst the poet-novelist's nineteenth-century political admirers, William Ewart Gladstone was possibly the most ardent, genuine, and significant. Scott's poems and novels were amongst the earliest texts Gladstone read; he read no works (in English), except the Bible, so consistently or completely over such a length of time. They offered him a plethora of inspirations, ideas, and language, which he imbibed and appropriated into his public and private lives. His concept of self, his understanding of family, and his sense of home, were all forged and conducted within a Scottian frame of reference. Scott's life and works also crucially influenced Gladstone's political understanding of the Scottish nation and its people, and his conception of how he could best serve their political interests. This article casts new light on an important and influential relationship in Gladstone's life, establishing that it was neither the superficial and recreational association some have described, nor simply a ploy of an astute politician. The article falls into three parts. The first elucidates how Gladstone's consumption of Scott's writings was seminal in the formation of his private identity, both individual and familial. The second explains how Gladstone's readings of Scott fitted into the specific and serious character of his other reading and knowledge-gathering, and the third shows how the details of Gladstone's response to Scott related to the broader intellectual and cultural context of his public life. By placing Gladstone within his Scottish context, this article shows how frequently and significantly his private and public worlds intersected

Recognizing the Valentinians--now and then

Peer reviewe

A Trial of a 7-Valent Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccine in HIV-Infected Adults.

BACKGROUND: Streptococcus pneumoniae is a leading and serious coinfection in adults with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection, particularly in Africa. Prevention of this disease by vaccination with the current 23-valent polysaccharide vaccine is suboptimal. Protein conjugate vaccines offer a further option for protection, but data on their clinical efficacy in adults are needed. METHODS: In this double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled clinical efficacy trial, we studied the efficacy of a 7-valent conjugate pneumococcal vaccine in predominantly HIV-infected Malawian adolescents and adults who had recovered from documented invasive pneumococcal disease. Two doses of vaccine were given 4 weeks apart. The primary end point was a further episode of pneumococcal infection caused by vaccine serotypes or serotype 6A. RESULTS: From February 2003 through October 2007, we followed 496 patients (of whom 44% were male and 88% were HIV-seropositive) for 798 person-years of observation. There were 67 episodes of pneumococcal disease in 52 patients, all in the HIV-infected subgroup. In 24 patients, there were 19 episodes that were caused by vaccine serotypes and 5 episodes that were caused by the 6A serotype. Of these episodes, 5 occurred in the vaccine group and 19 in the placebo group, for a vaccine efficacy of 74% (95% confidence interval [CI], 30 to 90). There were 73 deaths from any cause in the vaccine group and 63 in the placebo group (hazard ratio in the vaccine group, 1.18; 95% CI, 0.84 to 1.66). The number of serious adverse events within 14 days after vaccination was significantly lower in the vaccine group than in the placebo group (3 vs. 17, P=0.002), and the number of minor adverse events was significantly higher in the vaccine group (41 vs. 13, P=0.003). CONCLUSIONS: The 7-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine protected HIV-infected adults from recurrent pneumococcal infection caused by vaccine serotypes or serotype 6A. (Current Controlled Trials number, ISRCTN54494731.) Copyright 2010 Massachusetts Medical Society

Competing for Refugees: A Market-Based Solution to a Humanitarian Crisis

The current refugee crisis demands novel legal solutions, and new ways of summoning the political will to implement them. As a matter of national incentives, the goal must be to design mechanisms that discourage countries of origin from creating refugees, and encourage host countries to welcome them. One way to achieve this would be to recognize that persecuted refugee groups have a financial claim against their countries of origin, and that this claim can be traded to host nations in exchange for acceptance. Modifications to the international apparatus would be necessary, but the basic legal elements of this proposal already exist. In short, international law can and should give refugees a legal asset, give host nations incentives to accept them, and give oppressive countries of origin the bill

Pain outside the body: defensive peripersonal space deformation in trigeminal neuralgia

Perception of space has been guiding effective therapeutic interventions in a number of unilateral chronic pain conditions. However little is known about how trigeminal neuralgia (TN), a condition in which trigeminal stimulation triggers paroxysmal facial pain, affects defensive peripersonal space (DPPS), the portion of space surrounding the body within which defensive responses are enhanced. Given that TN is unilateral, in TN patients the DPPS of the face might not be horizontally symmetric as in pain-free individuals, but instead larger around the affected side. We tested this a priori hypothesis by measuring the proximity-dependent modulation of the hand-blink reflex. Stimuli delivered to the hand ipsilateral to TN elicited a stronger blink, particularly when it was measured from the eye ipsilateral to TN and the hand was closer to the face. Geometric modelling revealed (1) that DPPS was larger on the side of space ipsilateral to TN, and (2) this asymmetry was consequent to an increased estimated potential of sensory events to cause harm when they occur ipsilaterally to TN. These observations demonstrate that neural mechanisms underlying body protection in TN are adjusted to reduce the likelihood that external events evoke the painful paroxysm typical of this condition

Pancreatic cancer-associated diabetes mellitus: an open field for proteomic applications.

Background: Diabetes mellitus is associated with pancreatic cancer in more than 80% of the cases. Clinical, epidemiological, and experimental data indicate that pancreatic cancer causes diabetes mellitus by releasing soluble mediators which interfere with both beta-cell function and liver and muscle glucose metabolism. Methods: We analysed, by matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization time of flight (MALDI-TOF), a series of pancreatic cancer cell lines conditioned media, pancreatic cancer patients' peripheral and portal sera, comparing them with controls and chronic pancreatitis patients' sera. Results: MALDI-TOF analysis of pancreatic cancer cells conditioned media and patients' sera indicated a low molecular weight peptide to be the putative pancreatic cancer-associated diabetogenic factor. The sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) analysis of tumor samples from diabetic and non-diabetic patients revealed the presence of a 1500 Da peptide only in diabetic patients. The amino acid sequence of this peptide corresponded to the N-terminal of an S-100 calcium binding protein, which was therefore suggested to be the pancreatic cancer-associated diabetogenic factor. Conclusions: We identified a tumor-derived peptide of 14 amino acids sharing a 100% homology with an S-100 calcium binding protein, which is probably the pancreatic cancer-associated diabetogenic facto