BACKGROUND In Solomon Islands many people with Tuberculosis (TB) have challenges in accessing services because of socio-cultural, geographic and health service reasons, resulting in delays in TB treatment and low detection rates. The purpose of this project was to (i) develop a local language audio-visual resource (DVD) about TB (ii) share this resource with people in remote villages and (iii) ...

A workshop/symposium on “Mucociliary and Cough Clearance (MCC/CC) as a Biomarker for Therapeutic Development” was held on October 21–22, 2008, in Research Triangle Park, NC, to discuss the methods for measurement of MCC/CC and how they may be optimized for assessing new therapies designed to improve clearance of airway secretions from the lungs. The utility of MCC/CC as a biomarker for disease ...

BACKGROUND Person-to-person transmission of respiratory pathogens, including Pseudomonas aeruginosa, is a challenge facing many cystic fibrosis (CF) centres. Viable P aeruginosa are contained in aerosols produced during coughing, raising the possibility of airborne transmission. METHODS Using purpose-built equipment, we measured viable P aeruginosa in cough aerosols at 1, 2 and 4 m from the s...

Respiratory tract infections are an important health problem because of high incidence and economic costs. The World Health Organization identifies honey as a potential demulcent treatment for cough. The aim of this study is to determine: i) patient public perceptions towards a proposed randomized controlled trial (RCT) comparing the effects of honey to placebo for treatment of cough in childre...

OBJECTIVE Cough or difficult breathing and an increased respiratory rate for their age are the commonest indications for outpatient antibiotic treatment in African children. We aimed to determine whether respiratory rate was likely to be transiently raised by a number of contextual factors in a busy clinic leading to inaccurate diagnosis. METHODS Respiratory rates were recorded in children ag...

We present a variant of the Theory of Lorentzian (i. e. with a hyperbolic generalized Cartan matrix) Kac–Moody algebras recently developed by V. A. Gritsenko and the author. It is closely related with and strongly uses results of R. Borcherds. This theory should generalize well-known Theories of finite Kac–Moody algebras (i. e. classical semi-simple Lie algebras corresponding to positive genera...

Pertussis (whooping cough) is aptly called “The Hundred Day Cough” (bai re ke) in Chinese medicine. Vaccinations against pertussis contained in the DPT (diphtheriapertussis-tetanus) shot have reduced the incidence in the United States significantly, but parental rejection of the vaccination has resulted in a reemergence of the illness throughout the country. Both my city and state, Boulder, Col...

We document insider opportunism in an insolvency regime that is characterized by weak creditor rights and uses an accounting rule to determine bankruptcy eligibility. Using a unique dataset of bankrupt firms from India, we show insiders manage earnings downward before filing for bankruptcy via inventory and trade receivable accruals. A battery of robustness tests confirm accrual behavior is not...

Using a general formalism of a q-deformation of an arbitrary Lie algebra, new kinds of qdeformed centerless Virasoro and U(1) Kac-Moody algebras are found. This q-deformation is associated to an R-matrix of unit square satisfying the quantum Yang-Baxter equation and allows a nontrivial Hopf structure. The central extension is also incorporated in this formalism. MIRAMARE { TRIESTE August 1998 J...

BACKGROUND Cardiovascular disease is a growing public health problem in sub-Saharan Africa. Cough and dyspnea are symptoms of both lung diseases and heart failure. This study aimed at determining the contribution of cardiac diseases versus pulmonary diseases in the etiological profile of patients presenting with cough and dyspnea in a Center for the Diagnosis and Treatment of Tuberculosis (CDT)...