One of the main purposes in computational anatomy is the measurement and statistical study of anatomical variations in organs, notably in the brain or the heart. Over the last decade, our group has progressively developed several approaches for this problem, all related to the Riemannian geometry of groups of diffeomorphisms and the shape spaces on which these groups act. Several important shap...

We study the nonstationary solutions of Fokker–Planck equations associated to either stationary or non stationary quantum states. In particular, we discuss the stationary states of quantum systems with singular velocity fields. We introduce a technique that allows arbitrary evolutions ruled by these equations to account for controlled quantum transitions. As a first signficant application we pr...

In this note, we solve the Loewner equation in the upper halfplane with forcing function ξ(t), for the cases in which ξ(t) has a power-law dependence on time with powers 0, 1/2 and 1. In the first case the trace of singularities is a line perpendicular to the real axis. In the second case the trace of singularities can do three things. If ξ(t) = 2 √ κt, the trace is a straight line set at an an...

The asymptotic behavior of birth and death processes of particles in a compact space is analyzed. Births: Particles are created at rate λ+ and their location is independent of the current configuration. Deaths are due to negative particles arriving at rate λ − . The death of a particle occurs when a negative particle arrives in its neighborhood and kills it. Several killing schemes are consider...

The incidence of post-operative wound infections in Belize in 1986 and 1987 was studied. Both military practice in the military hospital and civilian practice in the rural hospitals of the local towns were included. Despite previous misgivings and sub-optimal conditions in the rural hospitals an acceptably low incidence was found in both areas of work.

People living in rural and remote communities often have among the greatest health needs but the most limited access to healthcare services, including specialist care. One solution for increasing access to specialist services is visiting-specialist services or specialist outreach clinics - that is, planned, regular visits by specialist physicians from their usual practice location to see patien...

This article summarizes the perspectives gained in the course of evaluating a 4-year demonstration program that supported rural hospital networks as mechanisms for improving rural health care delivery. Findings include: (1) joining a network is a popular, low-cost strategic response for rural hospitals in an uncertain environment; (2) rural hospital network survival is enhanced by the mutual re...

INTRODUCTION Improved HIV outcomes as a result of expanded antiretroviral therapy (ART) access is threatened by increasing rates of loss to follow up (LTFU) among those on ART, largely reported in urban populations. Some reports suggest that LTFU rates are overestimated due to patient movement to other facilities and inadequate medical records. STUDY OBJECTIVE To define the proportion disenga...

BACKGROUND In Thailand, the inequitable distribution of doctors between rural and urban areas has a major impact on access to care for those living in rural communities. The rural medical education programme 'Collaborative Project to Increase Rural Doctors (CPIRD)' was implemented in 1994 with the aim of attracting and retaining rural doctors. This study examined the impact of CPIRD in relation...

This article is a comparison of the characteristics of hospitals serving the general population and Medicaid recipients in California and Michigan, using data from Medicaid uniform claims files and the American Hospital Association Annual Survey for 1984. A greater concentration of discharges in a small number of "high Medicaid volume" urban and rural hospitals in each State was observed for Me...