scholarly journals Developing consensus of evidence to target case finding surveys for podoconiosis: a potentially forgotten disease in India

2020 ◽  
Vol 114 (12) ◽  
pp. 908-915
Author(s):  
Hope Simpson ◽  
K N Panicker ◽  
Leyanna Susan George ◽  
Jorge Cano ◽  
Melanie J Newport ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Scaling Up ◽  
Case Finding ◽  
Rational Approach ◽  
National Strategy ◽  
State Health ◽  
National Programme ◽  
Environmental Suitability ◽  
Health Authorities ◽  
Significant Burden ◽  
Selection Of

Abstract Background Podoconiosis is a non-infectious geochemical lymphoedema of the lower legs associated with a significant burden of morbidity. There are historical reports of podoconiosis in India, but its current endemicity status is uncertain. In this investigation we aimed to prioritise the selection of districts for pilot mapping of podoconiosis in India. Methods Through a consultative workshop bringing together expert opinion on podoconiosis with public health and NTDs in India, we developed a framework for the prioritisation of pilot areas. The four criteria for prioritisation were predicted environmental suitability for podoconiosis, higher relative poverty, occurrence of lymphoedema cases detected by the state health authorities and absence of morbidity management and disability prevention (MMDP) services provided by the National Programme for Elimination of Lymphatic Filariasis. Results Environmental suitability for podoconiosis in India was predicted to be widespread, particularly in the mountainous east and hilly southwest of the country. Most of the districts with higher levels of poverty were in the central east and central west. Of 286 districts delineated by state representatives, lymphoedema was known to the health system in 189 districts and not recorded in 80. Information on MMDP services was unavailable for many districts, but 169 were known not to provide such services. We identified 35 districts across the country as high priority for mapping based on these criteria. Conclusions Our results indicate widespread presence of conditions associated with podoconiosis in India, including areas with known lymphoedema cases and without MMDP services. This work is intended to support a rational approach to surveying for an unrecognised, geographically focal, chronic disease in India, with a view to scaling up to inform a national strategy if required.

scholarly journals Two-Way Contact Network Modeling for Identifying the Route of COVID-19 Community Transmission

Informatics ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 22
Author(s):  
Sung Jin Lee ◽  
Sang Eun Lee ◽  
Ji-On Kim ◽  
Gi Bum Kim
Keyword(s):  
Simulated Data ◽  
Contact Network ◽  
Transmission Route ◽  
Time Step ◽  
Source Of Infection ◽  
Health Authorities ◽  
Control And Prevention ◽  
Community Transmission ◽  
Centrality Analysis ◽  
Selection Of

In this study, we address the problem originated from the fact that “The Corona 19 Epidemiological Research Support System,” developed by the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, is limited to analyzing the Global Positioning System (GPS) information of the confirmed COVID-19 cases alone. Consequently, we study a method that the authority predicts the transmission route of COVID-19 between visitors in the community from a spatiotemporal perspective. This method models a contact network around the first confirmed case, allowing the health authorities to conduct tests on visitors after an outbreak of COVID-19 in the community. After securing the GPS data of community visitors, it traces back to the past from the time the first confirmed case occurred and creates contact clusters at each time step. This is different from other researches that focus on identifying the movement paths of confirmed patients by forward tracing. The proposed method creates the contact network by assigning weights to each contact cluster based on the degree of proximity between contacts. Identifying the source of infection in the contact network can make us predict the transmission route between the first confirmed case and the source of infection and classify the contacts on the transmission route. In this experiment, we used 64,073 simulated data for 100 people and extracted the transmission route and a top 10 list for centrality analysis. The contacts on the route path can be quickly designated as a priority for COVID-19 testing. In addition, it is possible for the authority to extract the subjects with high influence from the centrality theory and use them for additional COVID-19 epidemic investigation that requires urgency. This model is expected to be used in the epidemic investigation requiring the quick selection of close contacts.

Greedy Algorithms

1995 ◽  
Author(s):  
Raymond Greenlaw ◽  
H. James Hoover ◽  
Walter L. Ruzzo
Keyword(s):  
Greedy Algorithms ◽  
Independent Set ◽  
Independent Sets ◽  
Case Finding ◽  
Sequential Algorithm ◽  
Maximal Independent Set ◽  
Maximum Independent Set ◽  
Greedy Method ◽  
Numerical Order ◽  
Selection Of

We consider the selection of two basketball teams at a neighborhood playground to illustrate the greedy method. Usually the top two players are designated captains. All other players line up while the captains alternate choosing one player at a time. Usually, the players are picked using a greedy strategy. That is, the captains choose the best unclaimed player. The system of selection of choosing the best, most obvious, or most convenient remaining candidate is called the greedy method. Greedy algorithms often lead to easily implemented efficient sequential solutions to problems. Unfortunately, it also seems to be that sequential greedy algorithms frequently lead to solutions that are inherently sequential — the solutions produced by these algorithms cannot be duplicated rapidly in parallel, unless NC equals P. In the following subsections we will examine this phenomenon. We illustrate some of the important aspects of greedy algorithms using one that constructs a maximal independent set in a graph. An independent set is a set of vertices of a graph that are pairwise nonadjacent. A maximum independent set is such a set of largest cardinality. It is well known that finding maximum independent sets is NP-hard. An independent set is maximal if no other vertex can be added while maintaining the independent set property. In contrast to the maximum case, finding maxima? independent sets is very easy. Figure 7.1.1 depicts a simple polynomial time sequential algorithm computing a maximal independent set. The algorithm is a greedy algorithm: it processes the vertices in numerical order, always attempting to add the lowest numbered vertex that has not yet been tried. The sequential algorithm in Figure 7.1.1, having processed vertices 1,... , j -1, can easily decide whether to include vertex j. However, notice that its decision about j potentially depends on its decisions about all earlier vertices — j will be included in the maximal independent set if and only if all j' less than j and adjacent to it were excluded.

STRATEGIC ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT IN THE MEXICAN ELECTRICITY SECTOR

2014 ◽  
Vol 16 (02) ◽  
pp. 1450012 ◽  
Author(s):  
LUIS E. MONTAÑEZ-CARTAXO
Keyword(s):  
Planning Process ◽  
System Development ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Electricity Sector ◽  
National Programme ◽  
The Public ◽  
Electricity System ◽  
Decision Making Processes ◽  
Public Entity ◽  
Selection Of

In Mexico, the Federal Commission of Electricity (CFE) is the public entity that is responsible for the annual preparation of the national programme of the electricity system development with a 15 year horizon (POISE in Spanish). Besides this national planning process, there are regional plans as well as others regarding the development of hydroelectric and geothermoelectric projects; these plans are essential inputs to prepare the POISE. Another key decision window is the site selection of the projects listed in the Program. For a few years the Environmental Protection Division of CFE has been promoting the incorporation of SEA into the decision-making processes of the company. Two regional SEAs have been made so far. This paper presents the actions carried out to incorporate SEA into CFE since 2002, as well as the methodologies followed in each of the two cases, and primarily the lessons learned from these experiences.

The Ratio of Plant Numbers to the Total Mass of Contaminant as One Factor in Scaling-up Phytoremediation Process

2015 ◽  
Vol 74 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Israa Abdul Wahab Al-Baldawi ◽  
Siti Rozaimah Sheikh Abdullah ◽  
Fatihah Suja ◽  
Nurina Anuar ◽  
Mushrifah Idris
Keyword(s):  
Total Mass ◽  
Preliminary Test ◽  
Scaling Up ◽  
Surface Flow ◽  
Contaminated Water ◽  
Contaminant Concentration ◽  
Phytotoxicity Test ◽  
Reed Bed ◽  
Phytotoxicity Tests ◽  
Selection Of

A toxicity test is carried out to select the contaminant concentration that a plant can tolerate in phytoremediation. We focused on the ratio of plant numbers to the total mass of contaminant as the factor for selection of contaminant concentration, nature of soil type and plant species in a diesel phytoremediation project. Based on the results of a preliminary test, Scirpus grossus could survive when the ratio of plant numbers to the total mass of diesel was more than 0.15 for 3% (Vdiesel/Vwater) after 14 days of exposure in a sub–surface flow system (SSF) containing 780 mL of diesel contaminated water with 33% percentage of withered plants. In a phytotoxicity test containing 7 L of diesel contaminated water, S. grossus could also survive with the ratio more than 0.07 for 2% (Vdiesel/Vwater) for 72 days of exposure with 36% percentage of withered plants. Based on the results of the preliminary and phytotoxicity tests, selection of diesel concentration in pilot scale containing 500 L of diesel contaminated water with 50 plants was fixed. Based on a minimum ratio of 0.05 from the preliminary and phytotoxicity tests, three diesel concentrations were selected to be 0.1, 0.175 and 0.25% to evaluate the performance of pilot reed bed to remediate diesel. Through the pilot study, the concentrations have resulted 10, 20 and 30% withered plants in the respective diesel concentration. The ratio of plant numbers to the total mass of contaminant must be considered as one factor to determine the phytotoxicity effects of the contaminant concentration in scaling-up a reed bed system for phytoremediation process.

scholarly journals Community-based psychiatry services in Sri Lanka: A new model in the making

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mahesh Rajasuriya
Keyword(s):  
Sri Lanka ◽  
Care Delivery ◽  
Rapid Development ◽  
Community Services ◽  
The State ◽  
Small Island ◽  
Service Development ◽  
State Health ◽  
Community Based ◽  
Health Authorities

Sri Lanka is a lower middle-income small island nation in the Indian Ocean with a multi-ethnic population of 22 million. The healthcare system of the country is well-established and fairly advanced, the delivery of which is free to the consumer. The health indicators of the country are impressive compared to regional figures. Psychiatric care in Sri Lanka saw a rapid development over the last four decades as the care model transformed from an asylum-based one, established during the British colonial times, to a district-wise hospital-based care delivery model. Gradually, the teams that provided inpatient and outpatient services at the hospitals started to also provide community-based care. The newly added community based services include outreach clinics, residential intermediate rehabilitation centres, home based care, community resource/support centres and telephone help lines. There is no or little separate funding for community-based care services. The teams that deliver community services are funded, mostly indirectly, by the state health authorities. This is so as these community teams are essentially the same psychiatry teams that are based at the hospitals, which are funded and run by the state health authorities. This lack of separation of the community and hospital teams without separate and dedicated funding is an impediment to service development, which needs to be addressed. Paradoxically, it conforms an advantage by making care delivery from the hospital to the community continuous, as it is the same team that provides both hospital- and community-based care. In addition to the essential mental health care provision in the community with this basic infrastructure, each community service has improvised and adapted utilization of other resources available to them, formally as well as informally, to compensate their financial and human resource limitations. These other resources are the community officials and the community services of the non-health sectors of the government, mainly of the civil administration. Though sustainability maybe questionable when services involve informal resources from the non-health sectors, it has so far proven useful and effective, in a resource-poor environment, as it brings the community and various sectors together to facilitate services to support their own community.

Pharmacological Management of Insomnia

2020 ◽  
pp. 103-117
Author(s):  
Karl Doghramji
Keyword(s):  
Side Effects ◽  
Mechanism Of Action ◽  
Pharmacokinetic Profile ◽  
Rational Approach ◽  
Pharmacological Management ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Future ◽  
Management Challenge ◽  
Selection Of

Insomnia has posed a management challenge for patients and clinicians for centuries. Historically, a variety of compounds have been utilized for the treatment of this common malady, with many of them associated with unwanted side effects. Over the past few decades, however, a variety of agents have emerged for treatment of insomnia with improved safety profiles. This chapter reviews these agents, with attention to their pharmacokinetic profile, mechanism of action, and other, clinically relevant characteristics. It also discusses a rational approach in the selection of each agent to optimize the treatment of insomnia. The chapter closes with a look toward the future of the pharmacological management of insomnia.

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