PIP: What proved to be a lively yet highly technical conference on the assessment of the acceptance and use-effctiveness of family planning methods was held in Bangkok last June by ECAFE on the initiative of Dr. C. Chandrasekaran, the regional demographic adviser. The meeting was attended by a strong contingent of demographers, sociologists and statisticans from the USA and by workers from Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Korea, Malaysia, Pakistan, the Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan and Thailand. There were representatives of FAO, WHO and the Population Division of the UN. The conference considered and debated a wide range of issues involved in evaluation, from the definition of terms to detailed procedures in the calculation of indices and the detection of fertility trends. A certain amount of new ground was broken with the introduction of the concept of "extended use-effectiveness" (the study of pregnancy rates among acceptors of a method beyond the point of discontinuance) and the presentation of new methods of calculating births prevented by contraceptive use. Some progress was made towards laying down standards for the frequency of performance of surveys, both of K.A.P. in populations at large, and of contraceptive continuance and event-rates among acceptors. Attention was given to the special problems of evaluation presented by oral contraceptives, and by data on abortions and sterilizations. The proven usefulness of the life-table method of studying use-effectiveness was reaffirmed, and work on refining this now basic tool of evaluation was reported. A number of quite different schemes of data collection and processing for study of the characteristics of acceptors was described, and it was accepted by the participants that, although as much standardization as possible was desirable, each programme must make its own selection from the range of possibilities in the light of specific conditions. In addition to the main lines of analysis of use-effectiveness and programme effectiveness, the conference spent some time on discussion of such subjects as cost analysis, sensitive indices of fertility change, and the use of models in connection with programme study and evaluation. The specific evaluation needs and procedures of a number of countries in the ECAFE region were described. Although the conference fell far short of providing a comprehensive and agreed set of rules for the evaluation of family planning programmes. Indeed this was not its objective it admirably performed the function of acquainting theoretical and practical workers with each other's problems, and ensuring that all concerned were brought up-to-date on the progress being made in the region in the development and use of evaluation tools.
Several studies have presented technological ensembles of active knee systems for transfemoral prosthesis. Other studies have examined the amputees' gait performance while wearing a specific active prosthesis. This paper combined both insights, that is, a technical examination of the components used, with an evaluation of how these improved the gait of respective users. This study aims to offer a quantitative understanding of the potential enhancement derived from strategic integration of core elements in developing an effective device. The study systematically discussed the current technology in active transfemoral prosthesis with respect to its functional walking performance amongst above-knee amputee users, to evaluate the system's efficacy in producing close-to-normal user performance. The performances of its actuator, sensory system, and control technique that are incorporated in each reported system were evaluated separately and numerical comparisons were conducted based on the percentage of amputees' gait deviation from normal gait profile points. The results identified particular components that contributed closest to normal gait parameters. However, the conclusion is limitedly extendable due to the small number of studies. Thus, more clinical validation of the active prosthetic knee technology is needed to better understand the extent of contribution of each component to the most functional development.
1. Seven types of water-insoluble adhesives were evaluated in sticky traps for collecting adults of Musca domestica L. and Chrysomya megacephala (Fabricius) or mosquito larvae (Aedes aegypti (L.) and Culex quinquefasciatus Say). 2. Adhesive viscosity affected the tackiness of the glues and this determined their trapping efficiency in air or water. 3. From the 'Hyvis' range of adhesives tested, 'Hyvis 200' was most effective for trapping adult flies. 4. With 24 h exposure to fourth instar Ae.aegypti larvae in tapwater, submerged plates coated with 'Hyvis 10', 'Hyvis 30' or 'Hyvis 200' formulations trapped the majority of larvae. In polluted water the highest rates of trapping were 17.3% of Ae.aegypti and 18.7% of Cx quinquefasciatus with 'Hyvis 200'. Floating traps were consistently less productive than submerged traps under laboratory conditions. 5. In a heavily polluted natural breeding-site of Cx quinquefasciatus, floating traps were more productive than submerged sticky traps with four of seven adhesives tested, the most efficient being 'Hyvis 200' (4.2 mosquitoes per hour) and Hyvis:polyethylene 90:10 (4.5/h). Despite the relative inefficiency of aquatic traps, emergent adults, pupae and second to fourth instars of larvae were collected quickly from the habitat.
Poor information quality (IQ) must be understood as a business problem rather than systems problem. In health care organization, what is required is an effective quality management that continuously manages and reviews the factors influencing IQ in health information systems (HIS) so as to achieve the desired outcomes. Hence, in order to understand the issues of information quality management (IQM) practices in health care organizations, a more holistic evaluation study should be undertaken to investigate the IQM practices in health care organizations. It is the aim of this paper to identify the significant evaluation criteria that influence the production of good IQ in HIS.
A study is made of the accuracy and repeatability of the Humphrey autorefractor (HAR) objective refraction for different refractive groups as measured against subjective refraction. The value of the autofogging mechanism in objective refraction for different refractive groupings is assessed.
The Contraves Autolyzer 801 is a 20 parameter cell counter that operates on the principle of impedance. This evaluation study found that the within-batch precision for 5 of its parameters--WBC, RBC, Hb, Hct and Plt--had coefficients of variation below 5%, while the counts for red cell parameters were reproducible for up to 3 days. The analyser exhibited good linearity for all the parameters. When compared with 2 other counters--the Coulter S-Plus and the Coulter M350, some degree of proportional and constant bias due to unsuitable calibration were detected in the WBC, Hct and Plt parameters. Otherwise it showed generally good correlation in all the parameters and also with the manual PCV method. Carry over was negligible in the red cell parameters. The Contraves Autolyzer 801 is easy to operate and readily accepted by operators.
The applications of antibodies, be it monoclonal or polyclonal, in the diagnostic and research fields are well established. The disadvantage is the high cost of commercially available antibodies. In a diagnostic establishment like ours which also functions as a training ground for laboratory related personnel, it is beneficial to be able to produce in-house reagents. Therefore, we have undertaken this project to produce a rabbit polyclonal antibody against B lymphocytes. We found that the rabbit was a good choice because the titre of antibody produced was high and positive reactions were still detected at a dilution of 1:38400. The antibody showed significant positive reaction only with the lymphocyte subpopulation. A positive reaction was observed between the immunized rabbit serum and B lymphocytes but not T lymphocytes. This shows that the antibody was B lymphocyte specific. There was a positive correlation between the percentage of B lymphocytes labelled using the commercial anti-CD19 monoclonal antibody and the in-house polyclonal antibody (n = 13, r = 0.7, p = 0.02). However, the percentage of cells labelled by the in-house polyclonal anti-B was lower than that by the commercial monoclonal anti-CD19. The fluorescence intensity of the polyclonal antibody was lower than that of the monoclonal. In general, the performance of the in-house polyclonal antibody can be considered as satisfactory. The rabbit serum was stored at -20 degrees C and no significant loss of activity was detected for over a period of 19 months.
Variable parameters in chemiluminescence assay, one of the methods used to assess the functional capacity of neutrophils, were evaluated for suitable adaptation locally. The use of pooled normal human serum as compared to single normal human serum in opsonizing particles for phagocytosis was found to exhibit lower chemiluminescence activity (reduction range of 30%-50%). A similar degree of depression was observed when the particles were opsonized using normal human serum in comparison to that using autologous serum. Different intensity of chemiluminescence was also noted when the opsonized particle used was the Oxford strain of Staphylococcus aureus (NCTC 6571) in contrast to a strain of Staphylococcus aureus isolated from a patient. The results obtained warrant clinicians to deliver appropriate samples as best they can when the chemiluminescence assay is requested.
Genital discharge from patients unth. smear positive gonorrhoea was transported from the clinic to the laboratory in. Stuart's transport medium (Oxoid CM 111). Within. six hours of transit time the recovery rate of gonococci was 94%. When compared with "bedside" inoculation onto Modified Thayer Martin medium, there was no significant difference in recovery rates up to 6 hours of transportation in Stuart's transport medium, However, the rate of isolation of gonococci was significantly reduced after 20 to 30 hours of transportation. It is concluded that Stuart's transport medium is an acceptable transport medium for specimens containing gonococci when specimens reach the laboratory within 6 hours of collection.
Students' perception of the role and characteristics of a good problem-based learning (PBL) facilitator were assessed in the same study in which students were exposed to the 'Flying a Kite Approach' to PBL. A pre-tested anonymous questionnaire addressed the good qualities of a facilitator as well as the negative aspects. Although faculty and students' perceptions of 'good 'and 'bad' attributes generally agreed, it is clear that students still prefer facilitators who talk more, i.e. explain unclear facts or correct them when their facts are wrong. Content experts are also preferred over non-content experts.
From country to country and even regionally, the roles of women in agriculture vary, but most of their labor is in unpaid subsistence production and their contributions tend to be underestimated, according to the results of the [UN] Secretary-General's report. Depending on circumstances, they have complementary roles with men, sharing or dividing tasks in the production of crops, care of animals, and forestry management. In sub-Saharan Africa, for example, women contribute 60-80% of labor in food production for both household consumption and sale, while in Malaysia the women account for only 35% of the agricultural labor force, and in Ireland the participation rate is only 10.4%. Although women make this important amount of labor contributions to agricultural production, "development policies tend to favor export crops to earn foreign exchange and the agricultural research tends to address the improvement of production and technologies for commercial production". This results in limited access for women to technical knowledge and innovations, including irrigation, machinery, farming techniques and extension services. This is strengthened by the fact that most of the extension services target farmers who own land and can obtain credit to invest in input and technology.