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HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria are 3 major global public health threats and cause substantial morbidity, mortality, negative socioeconomic impact, and human suffering. Despite the significant increase in financial support and recent progress in addressing these 3 diseases, important obstacles and unmet priorities remain. Disease-specific interventions have had a considerable impact on improving health systems. However, despite considerable investment, weak health systems, inadequate human resources, and poor laboratory infrastructure continue to be major obstacles to expanding health services. Health system strengthening should be addressed in an integrated approach that includes HIV-, tuberculosis-, and malaria-specific interventions. Investment in strategic information and public health laboratory network capacity strengthening are key actions to expand services to successfully address those diseases in heavily impacted countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Though the effect of fringing field in electrostatic parallel-plate actuators is a well-understood phenomenon, the existing formulations often result in complicated mathematical models from which it is difficult to determine the deflection of the moving plate for given voltages and hence, they are not suitable for accurate actuation control. This work presents a new formulation for tackling the fringing field, in which the effect of fringing field is modeled as a variable serial capacitor. Based on this model, a robust control scheme is constructed using the theory of input-to-state stabilization (ISS) and backstepping state feedback design. This method allows loosening the stringent requirements on modeling accuracy without compromising the performance. The stability and the performance of the system using this control scheme are demonstrated through both stability analysis and numerical simulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Objective: Insulin resistance (IR) is common in hypothyroidism. IR is one of risk factors for cardiovascular disease. Insulin clamp is the gold standard method for evaluation of IR but it is not routine in clinical usage. The triglyceride-glucose (TyG) and homeostasis model assessment (HOMA) indices are non-invasive surrogate of IR. This study was done to determine the IR using the TyG and HOMA indices in hypothyroid patients. Methods: This descriptive-analytic study was done on 23 hypothyroid patients including 15 overt and 8 subclinical hypothyroid patients. All patients were new cases and were matched for age, sex, and high. TSH, FT4, TG, LDL, FBS and fasting plasma insulin level were measured twice at time of diagnosis and after treatment and the changes of TyG and HOMA indices were recorded. Results: In two groups IR based on HOMA was more than TyG index. IR in overt hypothyroidism based on HOMA index was more than two times in comparison with TyG index at the first time and more than three times (10:3) at the second time. IR in subclinical hypothyroidism based on HOMA index was more than four times in comparison with TyG index at the first time and more than three times (7:2) at the second time. A significant difference was found in IR based on HOMA before and after treatment (P<0.05). There were not any significant differences in IR indices of overt hypothyroidism group. Conclusion: The eight weeks treatment of hypothyroidism and reducing TSH level is probably having no effect on HOMA and TyG in overt and subclinical hypothyroidism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]