Somatisation in primary care: A comparative study of Australians, Latin Americans, Vietnamese, and Polish living in Australia

This study identified differences in somatisation symptoms, psychiatric status, and the relationship between acculturation and somatisation. It also investigated GP’s (general practitioners) ability to detect somatisation in primary healthcare setting. A survey was carried out on 207 patients from Australia, Latin America, Vietnam, and Poland. A demographic questionnaire, an acculturation questionnaire, the Somatization Scale of the Symptom Checklist-90-Revised (SCL-90-R), the Self-Reporting Questionnaire (SRQ), and the Illness Behaviour Questionnaire (IBQ) were administered in the participants’ respective languages. In addition, GPs completed a brief rating scale with findings from medical consultation. These results demonstrated that psychosocial status was highly correlated to somatisation for Australians, Latin Americans, Vietnamese, and Polish. Overall, however, these groups did not present significant differences in symptoms of somatisation. GPs were generally inaccurate in detecting psychosocial difficulties and acculturation did not predict levels of somatisation in the three ethnic groups

Building and Managing Endowments: Lessons from Southeast Asia

This paper provides an analysis of the experiences of four organizations in Southeast Asia (three in the Philippines, one in Indonesia) in creating, building, and managing endowments as mechanisms for their financial sustainability. However, it does not intend to compare and assess the performance of the four foundations' endowments. It describes the concept of endowments and draws conclusion about managed endowments, by comparing the four organizations and the differences between funding by grants and funding by managed endowments

Information access survey: Western Visayas, Philippines

The aim of this report is to provide brief profiles of the main stakeholders within the aquatic resources and fisheries sectors in Western Visayas, to describe their access to information, and the communication between and within stakeholder groups, organizations and institutions within the sector. The report goes on to identify current needs and key action points which might maximize efficient communication. (PDF contains 68 pages

Scalar-mediated double beta decay and LHC

The decay rate of neutrinoless double beta decay could be dominated by short-range diagrams involving heavy scalar particles ("topology-II" diagrams). Examples are diagrams with diquarks, leptoquarks or charged scalars. Here, we compare the discovery potential for lepton number violating signals at the LHC with constraints from dijet and leptoquark searches and the sensitivity of double beta decay experiments, using three example models. We note that already with 20/fb the LHC will test interesting parts of the parameter space of these models, not excluded by current limits on double beta decay.Comment: 14 pages, 5 figure

Visual TASK: A Collaborative Cognitive Aid for Acute Care Resuscitation

Preventable medical errors are a severe problem in healthcare, causing over 400,000 deaths per year in the US in hospitals alone. In acute care, the branch of medicine encompassing the emergency department (ED) and intensive care units (ICU), error rates may be higher to due low situational awareness among clinicians performing resuscitation on patients. To support cognition, novice team leaders may rely on reference guides to direct and anticipate future steps. However, guides often act as a fixation point, diverting the leader's attention away from the team. To address this issue, we conducted a qualitative study that evaluates a collaborative cognitive aid co-designed with clinicians called Visual TASK. Our study explored the use of Visual TASK in three simulations employing a projected shared display with two different interaction modalities: the Microsoft Kinect and a touchscreen. Our results suggest that tools like the Kinect, while useful in other areas of acute care like the OR, are unsuitable for use in high-stress situations like resuscitation. We also observed that fixation may not be constrained to reference guides alone, and may extend to other objects in the room. We present our findings, and a discussion regarding future avenues in which collaborative cognitive aids may help in improving situational awareness in resuscitation.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figure

Characterization of New TPS Resins

Ablative thermal protection systems are commonly used as protection from the intense heat during re-entry of a space vehicle and have been used successfully on many missions including Stardust and Mars Science Laboratory both of which used PICA a phenolic based ablator. Historically, phenolic resin has served as the ablative polymer for many TPS systems. However, it has limitations in both processing and properties such as char yield, glass transition temperature and char stability. Therefore alternative high performance polymers are being considered such as: cyanate ester resin, polyimide, polybenzoxazine (PBZ), and polyimidazole (PBI).Thermal and mechanical properties of these four resin systems were characterized and compared with phenolic resin

First Case of Systemic Coronavirus Infection in a Domestic Ferret (Mustela putorius furo) in Peru.

A domestic ferret from Lima, Peru, died after ten days of non-specific clinical signs. Based on pathology, immunohistochemistry and molecular analysis, ferret systemic coronavirus (FRSCV)-associated disease was diagnosed for the first time in South America. This report highlights the potential spread of pathogens by the international pet trade

A Mutagenetic Tree Hidden Markov Model for Longitudinal Clonal HIV Sequence Data

RNA viruses provide prominent examples of measurably evolving populations. In HIV infection, the development of drug resistance is of particular interest, because precise predictions of the outcome of this evolutionary process are a prerequisite for the rational design of antiretroviral treatment protocols. We present a mutagenetic tree hidden Markov model for the analysis of longitudinal clonal sequence data. Using HIV mutation data from clinical trials, we estimate the order and rate of occurrence of seven amino acid changes that are associated with resistance to the reverse transcriptase inhibitor efavirenz.Comment: 20 pages, 6 figure

Left-right symmetric model with μ↔τ\mu\leftrightarrow\tau symmetry

We analyze the leptonic sector in the left-right symmetric model dressed with a $(Z_{2})^{3}$ discrete symmetry which realizes, after weak spontaneous breaking, a small broken \mu\lra\tau symmetry that is suggested to explain observable neutrino oscillation data. \mu\lra\tau symmetry is broken at tree level in the effective neutrino mass matrix due to the mass difference $\widetilde{m}_{\tau}\neq \widetilde{m}_{\mu}$ in the diagonal Dirac mass terms, whereas all lepton mixings arise from a Majorana mass matrix. In the limit of a small breaking we determined $\theta_{13}$, and the deviation from the maximal value of $\theta_{ATM}$, in terms of the light neutrino hierarchy scale, $m_{3}$, and a single free parameter $h_{s}$ of the model.Comment: 9 pages, 4 figures. Title changed and we have added one new section: CP phase contribution. Minor corrections and references updated. Published versio

State Density and Capabilities Approach: Conceptual, Methodological and Empirical Issues

The core of the paper analyses the State functionings in the process of providing basic social services (education, health, identity documents, etc.) in the provinces of Peru. The concept “Density of the State” is designed to elaborate an index (SDI) to quantify State´s territorial presence. Since such activity is not a one-sided affair, the paper analyses the elements involved in the complex interaction between State and society. A summary of the main statistical results at the provincial level is provided and also a contrast between the SDI and the HDI. The paper is a summary and conceptual extension of the UNDP-Peru Human Development Report 2010 where the authors participated as part of the consulting team that elaborated it.Human Development / State / Peru / State Density Index / Human Development Report / Capabilities / Functionings.