Performance-based financing is generating a heated debate. Some suggest that it may be a donor fad with limited potential to improve service delivery. Most of its critics view it solely as a provider payment mechanism. Our experience is that performance-based financing can catalyse comprehensive reforms and help address structural problems of public health services, such as low responsiveness, ...

Abnormalities of the lymphatic circulation are well recognized in patients with congenital heart defects. However, it is not known how the associated abnormal blood flow patterns, such as increased pulmonary blood flow (PBF), might affect pulmonary lymphatic function and structure. Using well-established ovine models of acute and chronic increases in PBF, we cannulated the efferent lymphatic du...

Purpose: This study aimed to evaluate the effect of bioelectrical obesity indices (percentage body fat, PBF; visceral fat index, VFI) on cardiovascular disease (CVD) and evaluate the optimal cut-off values for myocardial infarction (MI) and stroke. Method: A community-based cross-sectional study including 6027 males and 8874 females aged ≥ 35 years was conducted in 66 sample sites by multistage...

Body composition monitor (BCM) based on the bioelectric impedance analysis is very convenient to use. However, whether percentage body fat (PBF) and visceral fat index (VFI) that acquired by BCM are superior to anthropometric measures is unknown. The study explored whether PBF and VFI are better than anthropometric indexes [body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC) and waist circumference...

BACKGROUND Although the estimation of body fatness by Slaughter skinfold thickness equations (PBF(Slaughter)) has been widely used, the accuracy of this method is uncertain. We have previously examined the interrelationships among the body mass index (BMI), PBF(Slaughter), percent body fat from dual energy X-ray absorptiometry (PBF(DXA)) and CVD risk factor levels among children who were examin...

Pituitary tumor transforming gene (PTTG)-binding factor (PBF or PTTG1IP) is a little characterized proto-oncogene that has been implicated in the etiology of breast and thyroid tumors. In this study, we created a murine transgenic model to target PBF expression to the thyroid gland (PBF-Tg mice) and found that these mice exhibited normal thyroid function, but a striking enlargement of the thyro...

Pituitary tumor transforming gene (PTTG)-binding factor (PBF or PTTG1IP) is a little characterized protooncogene that has been implicated in the etiology of breast and thyroid tumors. In this study, we created a murine transgenic model to target PBF expression to the thyroid gland (PBF-Tg mice) and found that these mice exhibited normal thyroid function, but a striking enlargement of the thyroi...

Editorials 559 Performance-based financing is promoted as a promising strategy for improving health service delivery and helping to reach the Millennium Development Goals. But what is the evidence supporting its use? Performance-based financing may be defined as " the transfer of money or material goods conditional on taking a measurable action or achieving a predetermined performance target "....

This paper investigates the effect of modal interference on the performance of hollow-core photonic bandgap fiber (HC-PBF) gas sensors. By optimizing mode launch, using proper length of sensing HC-PBF, and applying proper wavelength modulation in combination with lock-in detection, as well as appropriate digital signal processing, an estimated lower detection limit of less than 1 part-per-milli...

The PTTG1-binding factor (PBF/PTTG1IP) has an emerging repertoire of roles, especially in thyroid biology, and functions as a protooncogene. High PBF expression is independently associated with poor prognosis and lower disease-specific survival in human thyroid cancer. However, the precise role of PBF in thyroid tumorigenesis is unclear. Here, we present extensive evidence demonstrating that PB...