Signatures of Bayesian inference emerge from energy-efficient synapses.

Biological synaptic transmission is unreliable, and this unreliability likely degrades neural circuit performance. While there are biophysical mechanisms that can increase reliability, for instance by increasing vesicle release probability, these mechanisms cost energy. We examined four such mechanisms along with the associated scaling of the energetic costs.

Individual and Geospatial Determinants of Health Associated With School-Based Human Papillomavirus Immunization in Alberta: Population-Based Cohort Study.

Background: Human papillomavirus (HPV) infection causes nearly all cervical cancer cases and is a cause of anogenital and oropharyngeal cancers. The incidence of HPV-associated cancers is inequitable, with an increased burden on marginalized groups in high-income countries. Understanding how immunization status varies by material and social deprivation, health system, and geospatial factors is valuable for prioritizing and planning HPV immunization interventions.

Effectiveness of Interventions Promoting Physical Activity and Reducing Sedentary Behavior in Community-Dwelling Older Adults: An Umbrella Review With Application to Saudi Arabia.

Background: As Saudi Arabia is expected to face population aging in the future, the burden of diseases arising from inadequate physical activity (PA) and excess sedentary behavior (SB) may subsequently increase without successful interventions. The present study critically reviews the global literature on the effectiveness of PA interventions targeting community-dwelling older adults to draw on lessons and applications for future interventions in Saudi Arabia.

Methods: This umbrella review of systematic reviews included interventions designed to increase PA and/or reduce SB in community-dwelling older adults.

Public policies to increase physical activity and reduce sedentary behavior: a narrative synthesis of "reviews of reviews".

Background: Physical inactivity among the general population is of great concern in public health.

Objective: This narrative review aims to identify promising physical activity (PA) public policies based on the best available evidence from the literature.

Methods: The study is a narrative synthesis of 'reviews of reviews' of public policies designed to increase physical activity among either (a) youths or (b) the community at large.

Impact of noncommunicable diseases on direct medical costs and worker productivity, Saudi Arabia.

Background: The prevalence of noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) has been increasing in Saudi Arabia.

Aims: Our objective was to estimate the effect of NCDs on direct medical costs and workforce productivity in Saudi Arabia.

Methods: To estimate direct medical costs, we estimated the unit cost of treating 10 NCDs, then multiplied the unit cost by disease prevalence and summed across diseases.

The economic burden of overweight and obesity in Saudi Arabia.

Context: The prevalence of overweight and obesity in Saudi Arabia has been rising. Although the health burden of excess weight is well established, little is known about the economic burden.

Aims: To assess the economic burden-both direct medical costs and the value of absenteeism and presenteeism-resulting from overweight and obesity in Saudi Arabia.

The impact of seven major noncommunicable diseases on direct medical costs, absenteeism, and presenteeism in Gulf Cooperation Council countries.

Aims: To estimate the current burden of seven major noncommunicable diseases on direct medical costs, absenteeism, and presenteeism in the six countries in the Gulf Cooperation Council: Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates.

Materials And Methods: We used data from pre-existing datasets and the literature. We identified seven major noncommunicable diseases for which data were available: coronary heart disease, stroke, type-2 diabetes mellitus, breast cancer, colon cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and asthma.

Long-Haul Truck Driver Training Does Not Meet Driver Needs in Canada.

Introduction: Training standards for long-haul truck drivers (LHTD) are rapidly evolving in Canada, yet the opinions of the drivers themselves have not been adequately considered. The purpose was to survey LHTD on their work training history and to examine LHTD perceptions of driver training and licensing protocols.

Methods: LHTD were recruited across two Western Canadian provinces from seven different truck stops.

Impact of limited rest areas on truck driver crashes in Saskatchewan: a mixed-methods approach.

Background: Long-haul truck drivers (LHTDs) suffer from long work hours often resulting in fatigue. Although several studies have reported that fatigue can contribute to crashes, no study has identified the location and patterns of fatigue-related crashes and solicited truck driver feedback on potential mitigation strategies. The purpose of this study is 1) to map the location of fatigue-related crashes and 2) examine the perceptions of truck drivers concerning fatigue-related crashes.

Risk Factors for Depressive Symptoms in Long-Haul Truck Drivers.

Work-related stress is a salient risk factor for depression. While long-haul truck drivers (LHTDs) face a myriad of occupational pressures and demands, little research has examined predictors of depressive symptoms in this occupational group. The purpose of this study was to identify predictors of depressive symptoms in LHTDs.

Intervention Packages to Reduce the Impact of HIV and HCV Infections Among People Who Inject Drugs in Eastern Europe and Central Asia: A Modeling and Cost-effectiveness Study.

Background: We evaluated the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of interventions targeting hepatitis C virus (HCV) and HIV infections among people who inject drugs (PWID) in Eastern Europe/Central Asia. We specifically considered the needle-syringe program (NSP), opioid substitution therapy (OST), HCV and HIV diagnosis, antiretroviral therapy (ART), and/or new HCV treatment (direct acting antiviral [DAA]) in Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Republic of Moldova, and Tajikistan.

Methods: We developed a deterministic dynamic compartmental model and evaluated the number of infections averted, costs, and incremental cost-effectiveness ratios (ICERs) of interventions.

Face mask sampling for the detection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in expelled aerosols.

Background: Although tuberculosis is transmitted by the airborne route, direct information on the natural output of bacilli into air by source cases is very limited. We sought to address this through sampling of expelled aerosols in face masks that were subsequently analyzed for mycobacterial contamination.

Methods: In series 1, 17 smear microscopy positive patients wore standard surgical face masks once or twice for periods between 10 minutes and 5 hours; mycobacterial contamination was detected using a bacteriophage assay.

Understanding recurrent herpes labialis management and impact on patients' quality of life: the HERPESCOPE study.

Herpes labialis (HL) is a common and benign disease. However, frequent episodes can impair quality of life (QoL) and impact healthcare consumption. The aim of this survey was to understand patients' profiles, behavior, treatment and quality of life, using web-based questionnaires administered in the USA and in France.

The benefits from giving makers of conventional 'small molecule' drugs longer exclusivity over clinical trial data.

Pharmaceutical companies and generic drug manufacturers have long been at odds over "data exclusivity" regulations. These rules require a waiting period of at least five years before generic drug companies can access valuable clinical trial data necessary to bring less expensive forms of innovative drugs to market. Pharmaceutical companies want the data exclusivity period lengthened to protect their investment.

Coverage and preventive screening.

Context: Preventive care has been shown as a high-value health care service. Many employers now offer expanded coverage of preventive care to encourage utilization.

Objective: To determine whether expanding coverage is an effective means to encourage utilization.

Immunogenicity and safety of human papillomavirus-16/18 AS04-adjuvanted cervical cancer vaccine coadministered with combined diphtheria-tetanus-acellular pertussis-inactivated poliovirus vaccine to girls and young women.

Purpose: Many countries recommend human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination in female adolescents at an age when other vaccines are routinely administered. This open, randomized, multicenter study (108464/NCT00426361) evaluated coadministration of HPV-16/18 AS04-adjuvanted vaccine with diphtheria-tetanus-acellular pertussis-inactivated poliovirus vaccine (dTpa-IPV).

Methods: Healthy females aged 10-18 years were randomized to receive HPV vaccine at months 0, 1, and 6 (n = 248), HPV vaccine coadministered with dTpa-IPV at month 0 and HPV vaccine at months 1 and 6 (n = 255), or dTpa-IPV at month 0 followed by HPV vaccine at months 1, 2, and 7 (n = 248).

Type-specific herpes simplex virus-1 and herpes simplex virus-2 seroprevalence in Romania: comparison of prevalence and risk factors in women and men.

Objective: To determine herpes simplex virus (HSV)-2 and HSV-1 seroprevalence in women and men in Romania.

Methods: A cross-sectional seroprevalence survey was conducted between 2004 and 2005 on a total of 1058 women and men representative of the population of Bucharest. All participants were aged 15-44 years and completed a structured questionnaire.

A two-tube combined TaqMan/SYBR Green assay to identify mycobacteria and detect single global lineage-defining polymorphisms in Mycobacterium tuberculosis.

We have developed a novel real-time PCR assay to identify and perform preliminary genotyping of mycobacteria in a manner tailored to our local service. Within a single thermocycler run, mycobacterial 16S rDNA and the Mycobacterium tuberculosis global lineage-defining RD750 polymorphism are targeted in separate reaction tubes, each of which includes both TaqMan and SYBR Green chemistries. The results of this 16S-RD assay differentiate M.

The value of specialty oncology drugs.

Objective: To estimate patients' elasticity of demand, willingness to pay, and consumer surplus for five high-cost specialty medications treating metastatic disease or hematologic malignancies.

Data Source/study Setting: Claims data from 71 private health plans from 1997 to 2005.

Study Design: This is a revealed preference analysis of the demand for specialty drugs among cancer patients.

Resuscitation-promoting factors reveal an occult population of tubercle Bacilli in Sputum.

Rationale: Resuscitation-promoting factors (Rpfs) are a family of secreted proteins produced by Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) that stimulate mycobacterial growth. Although mouse infection studies show that they support bacterial survival and disease reactivation, it is currently unknown whether Rpfs influence human infection. We hypothesized that tuberculous sputum might include a population of Rpf-dependent Mtb cells.

Impact of acyclovir on genital and plasma HIV-1 RNA, genital herpes simplex virus type 2 DNA, and ulcer healing among HIV-1-infected African women with herpes ulcers: a randomized placebo-controlled trial.

Background: Little is known about the impact of episodic treatment of herpes on human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1).

Methods: Women from Ghana and the Central African Republic who had genital ulcers were enrolled in a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of acyclovir plus antibacterials and were monitored for 28 days. Ulcer etiologies and detection of lesional HIV-1 RNA were determined by polymerase chain reaction (PCR).