Prevalence of school related violence in seven countries: A cross-sectional survey.

Violence against children in schools harms the affected children, limits their learning and educational attainment, and extends its harms to families and the broader communities. However, to date, comparable cross-country data on violence against children in schools has not been available. We utilize the Violence Against Children and Youth Surveys (VACS) to estimate school-related violence against children in seven countries (Honduras, Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia).

Irrigation strengthens climate resilience: Long-term evidence from Mali using satellites and surveys.

Agriculture in the Sahel and much of sub-Saharan Africa remains to a large extent rainfed. At the same time, climate change is already causing less predictable rainfall patterns in the region, even as rising temperatures increase the amount of water needed for agricultural production. We assess to what extent irrigation can strengthen the climate resilience of farming communities.

The economic efficiency of aid targeting.

How efficient is the targeting of foreign aid to populations in need? A long literature has focused on the impacts of foreign aid, but much rarer are studies that examine how such aid is allocated within countries. We examine the extent to which donors efficiently respond to exogenous budget shocks by shifting resources toward needier districts within a given country, as predicted by theory. We use recently geocoded data on the World Bank's aid in 23 countries that crossed the lower-middle income threshold between 1995 and 2010 and thus experienced sharp aid reductions.

Childhood health and the changing distribution of foreign aid: Evidence from Nigeria's transition to lower-middle-income status.

With sustained economic growth in many parts of the developing world, an increasing number of countries are transitioning away from the most subsidized development finance as they exceed income and other qualification requirements. Cross-country evidence suggests that Development Assistance Committee (DAC) donors view the crossing over of the World Bank's International Development Association (IDA) eligibility threshold to signal that a country needs less aid, with subsequent reductions in both IDA and other donors' concessional funding. Within the health sector, it is particularly important to understand the implications of these status changes for children under five years of age since improving early childhood health is critical to fostering health and social and economic development.

Microcredit and willingness to pay for environmental quality: Evidence from a randomized-controlled trial of finance for sanitation in rural Cambodia.

Low willingness to pay (WTP) for environmental quality in developing countries is a key research question in environmental economics. One explanation is that missing credit markets may suppress WTP for environmental improvements that require large up-front investments. We test the impact of microloans on WTP for hygienic latrines via a randomized controlled trial in 30 villages in rural Cambodia.

Video-assisted thoracoscopic excision of herniated thoracic disc: description of technique and preliminary experience in the first 29 cases.

This study evaluates the technique and results of video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) for the treatment of symptomatic thoracic disc herniation. Results were compared with a literature review of open surgical techniques of thoracic disc excision with regard to efficacy, safety, and surgical outcomes. VATS has recently been described for thoracic surgery as having the advantage of decreased postoperative pain and morbidity, faster patient recovery, and shortened intensive care unit (ICU) hospitalization.

Repair of articular cartilage defects with collagen-chondrocyte allografts.

This study was designed to evaluate the potential use of a prototype collagen-chondrocyte allograft in the repair of full-thickness articular cartilage defects. Articular cartilage was harvested from young donor New Zealand White rabbits, enzymatically digested, cultured in monolayer, and passed into a three-dimensional porous type I collagen sponge (American Biomaterials). The composite grafts were incubated for 1 week.

Video-assisted thoracic surgery for the anterior approach to the thoracic spine.

Standard anterior approach to the thoracic spine is by a posterolateral thoracotomy. Because of the morbidity associated with this incision, video-assisted thoracic surgery (VATS) has been used as a less invasive approach for many intrathoracic disease processes. We have applied VATS for anterior access to the thoracic spine.

Pain inhibition of shoulder strength in patients with impingement syndrome.

Fourteen patients with Stage II or III impingement syndrome (average age 58 years) were studied. Nine patients had full-thickness rotator cuff tears documented by arthrograms. Patients initially underwent a thorough shoulder examination followed by baseline isokinetic strength testing.

The evaluation of compartmental syndromes using somatosensory evoked potentials in monkeys.

Somatosensory evoked potentials (SEPs) of the median, deep peroneal, and tibial nerves were recorded in experimentally induced compartmental syndromes in nine Macaca mulatta monkeys. A total of 17 trials were performed at the following mean pressure levels: 17, 30, 36, and 40 mm Hg. Evoked potentials were recorded using a four-channel evoked response system.

The effect of low-level Nd:YAG laser energy on adult articular cartilage in vitro.

Reports of laser energy applied to soft tissues in vitro and in vivo suggest both stimulation and inhibition of specific metabolic processes, depending on the type of laser, the energy density (ED) used, the mode of delivery, and type of tissue studied. An earlier in vitro study of Nd:YAG laser irradiation of articular cartilage indicated stimulation of both matrix and DNA synthesis for 6 days following laser exposure. In vivo reports on the ability of Nd:YAG laser energy to stimulate the healing of partial-thickness cartilage defects are conflicting.

The use of adhesives in chondrocyte transplantation surgery: in-vivo studies.

Two commercial adhesive preparations--fibrin glue and mussel adhesive protein (MAP)--were tested in-vivo for their ability to fix a chondrocyte allograft internally. While results for the fibrin, including additional testing for chondro inductive/conductive properties, were at best inconclusive, the results for MAP are highly promising.