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Problem In Cambodia, care for people with HIM/AIDS (prevalence 1.9%) is expanding, but care for people with type II diabetes (prevalence 5-10%), arterial hypertension and other treatable chronic diseases remains very limited. Approach We describe the experience and outcomes of offering integrated care for HIM/AIDS, diabetes and hypertension within the setting of chronic disease clinics. Local setting Chronic disease clinics were set up in the provincial referral hospitals of Siem Reap and Takeo, 2 provincial capitals in Cambodia. Relevant changes At 24 months of care, 87.7% of all HIM/AIDS patients were alive and in active follow-up. For diabetes patients, this proportion was 71%. Of the HIM/AIDS patients, 9.3% had died and 3% were lost to follow-up, while for diabetes this included 3 (0.1%) deaths and 28.9% lost to follow-up. Of all diabetes patients who stayed more than 3 months in the cohort, 90% were still in follow-up at 24 months. Lessons learned Over the first three years, the chronic disease clinics have demonstrated the feasibility of integrating care for HIM/AIDS with non-communicable chronic diseases in Cambodia. Adherence support strategies proved to be complementary, resulting in good outcomes. Services were well accepted by patients, and this has had a positive effect on HIM/AIDS- related stigma. This experience shows how care for HIM/AIDS patients can act as an impetus to tackle other common chronic diseases. Resume Problematique Au Cambodge, l'offre de soins a l'intention des personnes vivant avec le VIH/sida (prevalence : 1,9 %) est en developpement, mais pour les personnes atteintes de diabetes de type II (prevalence 5 a 10 %), d'une hypertension arterielle ou d'une autre maladie chronique pouvant etre traitee, elle reste tres limitee. Demarche Nous decrivons l'experience et les resultats obtenus avec une offre de soins integree a l'intention des personnes vivant avec le VIH/sida, un diabete ou une hypertension, dans le cadre de dispensaires specialises dans les maladies chroniques. Contexte local Des dispensaires specialises dans les maladies chroniques ont ete mis en place dans les hopitaux specialises de Siem Reap et Takeo, deux capitales provinciales du Cambodge. Modifications pertinentes Au bout de 24 mois de soins, sur l'ensemble des patients vivant avec le VIH/sida, 87,7 % etaient encore vivants et faisaient l'objet d'un suivi actif. S'agissant des patients diabetiques, cette proportion etait de 71%. Parmi les patients contamines par le VIH, 9,3 % etaient morts et 3 % etaient perdus de vue, tandis que parmi les diabetiques, on enregistrait 3 deces (0,1%) et une proportion de 28,9 % de perdus de vue. Parmi l'ensemble des patients diabetiques restes plus de 3 mois dans la cohorte, 90 % etaient encore suivis au bout de 24 mois. Enseignements tires Sur les trois premieres annees, les dispensaires specialises dans les maladies chroniques ont prouve la faisabilite d'une offre de soins integree pour les personnes vivant avec le VIH/sida et atteintes d'une maladie chronique non transmissible au Cambodge. La complementarite des strategies d'aide a l'observance a egalement ete demontree, d'ou l'obtention de bons resultats. Ces services sont bien acceptes par ces patients, ce qui a un effet positif sur la stigmatisation dont ils souffrent. Cette experience montre a quel point la prise en charge des personnes vivant avec le VIH/sida peuvent donner une impulsion a celle d'autres maladies chroniques courantes. Une traduction en francais de ce resume figure a la fin de l'article. Resumen Problema En Camboya se esta extendiendo masivamente la atencion a las personas con infeccion por VIH/SIDA (prevalencia del 1,9%), pero la atencion a las personas con diabetes de tipo 2 (prevalencia: 5%-10%), hipertension arterial y otras enfermedades cronicas tratables sigue siendo muy limitada. Enfoque Describimos la experiencia y los resultados de la oferta de atencion integrada para la infeccion por VIH/SIDA, la diabetes y la hipertension en el entorno de los dispensarios de enfermedades cronicas. Contexto local Se establecieron dispensarios de enfermedades cronicas en los hospitales de referencia provinciales de Siem Reap y Takeo, dos capitales de provincia de Camboya. Cambios destacables Tras 24 meses de aplicacion de ese regimen de atencion, el 87,7% de todos los pacientes con VIH/ SIDA permanecian con vida y sometidos a seguimiento activo. Entre los pacientes con diabetes esa proporcion era del 71%. De los pacientes con VIH/SIDA, el 9,3% habian muerto y un 3% se habian perdido en el seguimiento, mientras que las cifras para la diabetes fueron de 3 (0,1%) defunciones y un 28,9% perdidos en el seguimiento. De todos los pacientes con diabetes que permanecieron mas de 3 meses en la cohorte, el 90% se encontraban aun sometidos a seguimiento a los 24 meses. Ensenianzas extraidas Durante los tres primeros anos, los dispensarios de enfermedades cronicas han demostrado la viabilidad de la integracion de la atencion contra el VIH/SIDA y la proporcionada contra las enfermedades cronicas no transmisibles en Camboya. Las estrategias de apoyo a la observancia tuvieron un efecto complementario, lo que se tradujo en buenos resultados. Los servicios fueron bien aceptados por los pacientes, y eso tuvo un efecto positivo en la estigmatizacion relacionada con el VIH/ SIDA. Esta experiencia demuestra que la atencion a los pacientes con VIH/SIDA puede ser un estimulo para hacer frente a otras enfermedades cronicas comunes. Al final del articulo se facilita una traduccion al espanol. [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII.], Introduction At the end of 2004, there were an estimated 100 000 people living with HIV/ AIDS in Cambodia, of whom approximately 25 000 were estimated to urgently require care [...]

To determine the link between hygroscopicity and the constituent chemical composition of real biomass-burning atmospheric particles, we collected and analyzed aerosols during wheat-straw (April–May), rice-straw (October–November), and no-burning periods (August–September) in 2008 and 2009 in Patiala, Punjab. A hygroscopicity tandem differential mobility analyzer (HTDMA) system was used to measure hygroscopicity at ~5 to ~95% relative humidity (RH) of aerosolized 100 nm particles generated from the water extracts of PM0.4 burning and no-burning aerosol samples. The chemical analyses of the extracts show that organic carbon and water-soluble inorganic-ion concentrations are 2 to 3 times higher in crop-residue burning aerosol samples compared to no-burning aerosols, suggesting the substantial contribution of biomass burning to the carbonaceous aerosols at the sampling site. We observed that aerosolized 100 nm particles collected during the crop-residue burning period show higher and more variable hygroscopic growth factor (g(RH)) ranging from 1.21 to 1.68 at 85% RH, compared to no-burning samples (1.27 to 1.33). Interestingly, crop-residue burning particles also show considerable shrinkage in their size (i.e., g(RH) < 1) at lower RH (

The mode of inheritance of fifteen induced morphological mutants in diploid wheat Triticum monococcum L. was determined. The results showed that earliness, reduced height, uniculm, liguleless branched spike, compact ear, and free-threshing habit of each of these mutants is the result of a single recessive mutation. Red awns and xantha traits are controlled by two recessive genes with duplicate and inhibitory gene interactions, respectively. Some of the early and dwarf mutants were non-allelic. One dwarf GA[SUB3]-insensitive mutant with recessive gene action may be a new source. Mutants such as early maturing, dwarf and free threshing habit may be of significance in breeding diploid wheat. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Plant Breeding is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The Mekong River is the most important river in Southeast Asia. It has increasingly suffered from water-related problems due to economic development, population growth and climate change in the surrounding areas. In this study, we built a distributed Geomorphology-Based Hydrological Model (GBHM) of the Mekong River using remote sensing data and other publicly available data. Two numerical experiments were conducted using different rainfall data sets as model inputs. The data sets included rain gauge data from the Mekong River Commission (MRC) and remote sensing rainfall data from the Tropic Rainfall Measurement Mission (TRMM 3B42V7). Model calibration and validation were conducted for the two rainfall data sets. Compared to the observed discharge, both the gauge simulation and TRMM simulation performed well during the calibration period (1998-2001). However, the performance of the gauge simulation was worse than that of the TRMM simulation during the validation period (2002-2012). The TRMM simulation is more stable and reliable at different scales. Moreover, the calibration period was changed to 2, 4, and 8 years to test the impact of the calibration period length on the two simulations. The results suggest that longer calibration periods improved the GBHM performance during validation periods. In addition, the TRMM simulation is more stable and less sensitive to the calibration period length than is the gauge simulation. Further analysis reveals that the uneven distribution of rain gauges makes the input rainfall data less representative and more heterogeneous, worsening the simulation performance. Our results indicate that remotely sensed rainfall data may be more suitable for driving distributed hydrologic models, especially in basins with poor data quality or limited gauge availability.

Copyright of Plant Breeding is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The mammalian cortex is comprised of cells classified into types according to shared properties. Defining the contribution of each cell type to the processes guided by the cortex is essential for understanding its function in health and disease. We used transcriptomic and epigenomic cortical cell type taxonomies from mouse and human to define marker genes and putative enhancers and created a large toolkit of transgenic lines and enhancer AAVs for selective targeting of cortical cell populations. We report evaluation of fifteen new transgenic driver lines, two new reporter lines, and >800 different enhancer AAVs covering most subclasses of cortical cells. The tools reported here as well as the scaled process of tool creation and modification enable diverse experimental strategies towards understanding mammalian cortex and brain function.

The present study deals with the sound absorption performance of natural fibres from the oil palm frond (OPF), mainly considered agricultural waste. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the sound absorption performance of OPF fibre-reinforced composite under normal incidence sound. The materials used were OPF particles and urea-formaldehyde was used as an adhesive. The particleboards were produced with three particle sizes and four target densities. The absorption coefficient of normal incidence sound (α n ) was tested using an impedance tube. The effects of particle size and bulk density were also evaluated. The findings reveal thatα n exceeded 0.45 at 1000 Hz and could reach 0.95 above 3.3 kHz. This occurred when the bulk density of the OPF composite particleboards ranged between 0.3-0.4 g/cm 3 , and the particle size varied between medium to coarse. The results also indicated that the absorption frequency and the degree of α n significantly increased as the bulk density decreased. Therefore, OPF fibres can be used to create sound-absorbing composite particleboards.

Introduction: Prolonged inpatient multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) treatment for all patients is not sustainable for high-burden settings, but there is limited information on community-based treatment programme outcomes for MDR-TB., Methods: The Cambodian Health Committee, a non-governmental organisation (NGO), launched the Cambodian MDR-TB programme in 2006 in cooperation with the National Tuberculosis Program (NTP) including a community-based treatment option as a key programme component. The programme was transferred to NTP oversight in 2011 with NGO clinical management continuing. Patients electing to receive home-based treatment were followed by a dedicated adherence supporter and a multidisciplinary outpatient team of nurses, physicians and community health workers. Patients hospitalised for >1 month of treatment (hospital based) received similar management after discharge. All patients received a standardised second-line MDR-TB regimen and were provided nutritional and adherence support. Outcomes were reviewed for patients completing 24 months of treatment and predictors of treatment success were evaluated using logistic regression., Results: Of 582 patients with MDR-TB who initiated treatment between September 2006 and June 2016, 20% were HIV coinfected, 288 (49%) initiated community-based treatment and 294 (51%) received hospital-based treatment. Of 486 patients with outcomes available, 364 (75%) were cured, 10 (2%) completed, 28 (6%) were lost to follow-up, 3 (0.6%) failed and 77 (16%) died. There was no difference between treatment success in community versus hospital-based groups (adjusted OR (aOR) 1.0, p=0.99). HIV infection, older age and body mass index <16 were strongly associated with decreased treatment success (aOR 0.33, p<0.001; aOR 0.40, p<0.001; aOR 0.40; p<0.001)., Conclusions: Cambodia's NGO-NTP partnership successfully developed and scaled up a model MDR-TB treatment programme. The first large-scale MDR-TB programme in Asia with a significant community-based component, the programme achieved equally high treatment success in patients with community-based compared with hospital-based initiation of MDR treatment., Competing Interests: Competing interests: None declared.

Background: We hypothesize that in patients with suspected coronary artery disease (CAD), lower values of the ratio of total epicardial coronary arterial lumen volume to left ventricular myocardial mass (V/M) result in lower fractional flow reserve (FFR)., Methods: V/M was computed in 238 patients from the NXT trial who underwent coronary computed tomography angiography (CTA), quantitative coronary angiography (QCA) and FFR measurement in 438 vessels. Nitroglycerin was administered prior to CT, QCA and FFR acquisition. The V/M ratio was quantified on a patient-level from CT image data by segmenting the epicardial coronary arterial lumen volume (V) and the left ventricular myocardial mass (M). Calcified and noncalcified plaque volumes were quantified using semi-automated software., Results: The median value of V/M (18.57 mm 3 /g) was used to define equal groups of low and high V/M patients. Patients with low V/M had greater diameter stenosis by QCA, more plaque and lower FFR (0.80 ± 0.12 vs. 0.87 ± 0.08; P < 0.0001) than those with high V/M. A total of 365 vessels in 202 patients had QCA stenosis ≤50% and measured FFR. In these patients, those with low V/M had higher percent diameter stenosis by QCA, greater total plaque volume and lower FFR (0.81 ± 0.12 vs. 0.88 ± 0.07; P < 0.0001) than those with high V/M. In multivariate logistic regression analysis, V/M was an independent predictor of FFR ≤0.80 (all p-values < 0.001)., Conclusions: Patients with a low V/M ratio have lower FFR overall and in non-obstructive CAD, independent of plaque measures., (Copyright © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Objectives: This study sought to determine the diagnostic performance of noninvasive fractional flow reserve (FFR) derived from coronary computed tomography angiography (CTA) (FFR CT ) for the diagnosis of lesion-specific ischemia in nonculprit vessels of patients with recent in ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI)., Background: In patients with stable angina, FFR CT has high diagnostic performance in identification of ischemia-causing lesions. The potential value of FFR CT for assessment of multivessel disease in patients with recent STEMI has not been evaluated., Methods: Coronary CTA with calculation of FFR CT and invasive coronary angiography with FFR were performed 1 month after STEMI in patients with multivessel disease. Coronary CTA and invasive coronary angiography stenosis >50% were considered obstructive. Lesion-specific ischemia was assumed if FFR CT was ≤0.80. FFR ≤0.80 was the reference standard. To evaluate the influence of vessel size, the total coronary vessel lumen volume relative to left ventricular mass (volume-to-mass ratio) was calculated and compared with that of patients with stable angina., Results: The study evaluated 124 nonculprit vessels from 60 patients. Accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity of FFR CT were 72%, 83%, and 66% versus 64% (p = 0.033), 93% (p = 0.15), and 49% (p < 0.001) for CTA and 72% (p = 1.00), 76% (p = 0.46), and 70% (p = 0.54) for invasive coronary angiography. Following STEMI, median volume-to-mass ratio was lower than in patients with stable angina, 53 versus 65 mm 3 /g (p = 0.009). In patients with volume-to-mass ratio ≥65 mm 3 /g (upper tertile) accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity of FFR CT were all 83% versus 56% (p = 0.009), 75% (p = 0.61), and 44% (p = 0.003) in patients with <49 mm 3 /g (lower tertile)., Conclusions: The diagnostic performance of FFR CT for staged detection of ischemia in STEMI patients with multivessel disease is moderate. STEMI patients have a smaller vessel volume than do patients with stable angina. The diagnostic performance of FFR CT is influenced by the volume-to-mass ratio. This study does not support routine use of FFR CT in the post-STEMI setting. (Assessment of Coronary Stenoses Using Coronary CT-Angiography and Noninvasive Fractional Flow Reserve; NCT01739075)., (Copyright © 2017 American College of Cardiology Foundation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

There is increasing evidence that whey protein isolates (WPI), can be utilised to encapsulate and protect bioactive substances, including lactic acid bacteria, due to their physicochemical properties. However, little is known about what happens in the immediate vicinity of the cells. This study examined the protective behaviour of WPI for two strains of Lactobacillus plantarum, A17 and B21, during spray drying. B21 was found to be more hydrophobic than A17 and required 50% of the amount of WPI to provide comparably high survival (∼ 90%). We hypothesise that WPI protects the hydrophobic bacteria by initial attachment to the unfolded whey protein due to hydrophobic interactions followed by adhesion to the proteins, resulting in cells being embedded within the walls of the capsules. The encapsulated strains had a moisture content of approximately 5.5% and during storage trials at 20 °C retained viability for at least eight weeks., (Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

The protective mechanisms of whey protein isolate (WPI), trehalose, lactose, and skim milk on Lactobacillus plantarum A17 during convective droplet drying has been explored. A single droplet drying technique was used to monitor cell survival, droplet temperature and corresponding changes in mass. WPI and skim milk provided the highest protection amongst the materials tested. In situ analysis of the intermediate stage of drying revealed that for WPI and skim milk, crust formation reduces the rate of sudden temperature increase thereby imparting less stress on the cells. Irreversible denaturation of the WPI components might have also contributed to the protection of the cells. Skim milk, however, 'loses' the protective behaviour towards the latter stages of drying. This indicates that the concentration of the WPI components could be another possible factor determining the sustained protective behaviour during the later stages of drying when the moisture content is low., (Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Objective: To evaluate a treatment strategy of substituting zidovudine (ZDV) for stavudine (d4T)-based highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART), aimed at preventing d4T-associated toxicity, in a programmatic setting in rural Cambodia., Methods: Survival probability, CD4 gain, anemia incidence, and factors associated with severe anemia were analyzed in a cohort of adult patients switched from d4T- to ZDV-containing regimens from March 2006 to March 2007., Results: Among 527 patients systematically switched to ZDV after d4T-based HAART for a median of 18 months, 4 (0.8%) patients died, 2 (0.4%) were lost to follow-up, 18 (3.4%) were transferred out, and 503 (95.4%) remained on HAART. Median CD4 gain was +263.5 cells/microL (interquartile range: 89.25-369.5) at 24 months. Within 1 year after the switch, 21.9% and 7.1% of patients developed anemia (grades 1-4) and severe anemia (grades 3-4), respectively. Low body mass index (< or =18) and low CD4 count (<200 cells/microL) at the time of switch were factors associated with severe anemia. Additional follow-up visits for laboratory monitoring and adherence counseling, increased absenteeism from work, and transportation costs for the patients were noted., Conclusions: The switch strategy of substituting ZDV for d4T-based HAART led to satisfactory overall clinical outcomes. However, it resulted in a relatively high incidence of mild to severe anemia and increased burden for the program and the patients.