[Mapping and analysis of health financing in South Kivu province (DRC)].

Introduction: In South-Kivu, the health system is underfunded due to numerous constraints. Several initiatives have been tested but are insufficient for increasing and sustaining health financing.

Purpose Of Research: Analyze the health financing system in South-Kivu, through a mapping as well as quantitative and qualitative analysis of health financing mechanisms.

Measuring equity of access to eye health outreach camps in rural Malawi.

Introduction: Equity in the access and use of health services is critical if countries are to make progress towards universal health coverage and address the systematic exclusion of the most vulnerable groups. The purpose of this study was to assess if the Co-ordinated Approach To Community Health programme implemented by Sightsavers was successful in reaching the poorest population, women, and people living with disabilities in Kasungu district, Malawi.

Methods: Between April and September 2017, data on socio-economic status, household characteristics and functional disability were collected from patients attending at eye camps in Kasungu district, Malawi.

Novel flight style and light wings boost flight performance of tiny beetles.

Flight speed is positively correlated with body size in animals. However, miniature featherwing beetles can fly at speeds and accelerations of insects three times their size. Here we show that this performance results from a reduced wing mass and a previously unknown type of wing-motion cycle.

Flight activity and age cause wing damage in house flies.

Wing damage attenuates aerial performance in many flying animals such as birds, bats and insects. Insect wings are especially light in order to reduce inertial power requirements for flight at elevated wing flapping frequencies. There is a continuing debate on the factors causing wing damage in insects, including collisions with objects, mechanical stress during flight activity, and aging.

Flight efficiency is a key to diverse wing morphologies in small insects.

Insect wings are hybrid structures that are typically composed of veins and solid membranes. In some of the smallest flying insects, however, the wing membrane is replaced by hair-like bristles attached to a solid root. Bristles and membranous wing surfaces coexist in small but not in large insect species.

An experimental data-driven mass-spring model of flexiblewings.

Insect wings can undergo significant deformation during flapping motion owing to inertial, elastic and aerodynamic forces. Changes in shape then alter aerodynamic forces, resulting in a fully coupled fluid-structure interaction (FSI) problem. Here, we present detailed three-dimensional FSI simulations of deformable blowfly () wings in flapping flight.

Cost and budget impact analysis of a school-based vision screening programme in Cambodia and Ghana: Implications for policy and programme scale-up.

Poor vision due to unaddressed refractive error in children is considered to be a public health problem in many low- and middle-income countries. Research shows that correcting refractive error with spectacles could have a positive impact on school attendance and academic performance for children. The aim of this study was to estimate the cost of integrating vision screening and provision of spectacles in existing school health programmes in Cambodia and Ghana.

Vortex trapping recaptures energy in flying fruit flies.

Flapping flight is one of the most costly forms of locomotion in animals. To limit energetic expenditures, flying insects thus developed multiple strategies. An effective mechanism to reduce flight power expenditures is the harvesting of kinetic energy from motion of the surrounding air.

Wing Design in Flies: Properties and Aerodynamic Function.

The shape and function of insect wings tremendously vary between insect species. This review is engaged in how wing design determines the aerodynamic mechanisms with which wings produce an air momentum for body weight support and flight control. We work out the tradeoffs associated with aerodynamic key parameters such as vortex development and lift production, and link the various components of wing structure to flight power requirements and propulsion efficiency.

Prevalence of Visual Impairment and Coverage of Cataract Surgical Services: Associations with Sex, Disability, and Economic Status in Five Diverse Sites.

Purpose: Prevalence of visual impairment (VI) and access to services can vary significantly across and between different population groups. With renewed focus on universal health coverage and leaving no one behind, it is important to understand factors driving inequitable eye health. This paper presents results from five population-based surveys where prevalence of VI and cataract surgical coverage (CSC) were measured and examined for differences by sex, economic-status, and disability.

Three-dimensional wing structure attenuates aerodynamic efficiency in flapping fly wings.

The aerial performance of flying insects ultimately depends on how flapping wings interact with the surrounding air. It has previously been suggested that the wing's three-dimensional camber and corrugation help to stiffen the wing against aerodynamic and inertial loading during flapping motion. Their contribution to aerodynamic force production, however, is under debate.

Willingness to Pay for Cataract Surgeries Among Patients Visiting Eye Care Facilities in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Background: Cataract is the leading cause of avoidable blindness globally. It is estimated that 89% of people with visual impairment live in low- and middle-income countries where the cost of cataract surgery represents a major barrier for accessing these services. Developing self-sustaining healthcare programs to cater the unmet demands warrants a better understanding of patients' willingness to pay (WTP) for their services.

Local deformation and stiffness distribution in fly wings.

Mechanical properties of insect wings are essential for insect flight aerodynamics. During wing flapping, wings may undergo tremendous deformations, depending on the wings' spatial stiffness distribution. We here show an experimental evaluation of wing stiffness in three species of flies using a micro-force probe and an imaging method for wing surface reconstruction.

The cost of mapping trachoma: Data from the Global Trachoma Mapping Project.

Background: The Global Trachoma Mapping Project (GTMP) was implemented with the aim of completing the baseline map of trachoma globally. Over 2.6 million people were examined in 1,546 districts across 29 countries between December 2012 and January 2016.

Bumblebees minimize control challenges by combining active and passive modes in unsteady winds.

The natural wind environment that volant insects encounter is unsteady and highly complex, posing significant flight-control and stability challenges. It is critical to understand the strategies insects employ to safely navigate in natural environments. We combined experiments on free flying bumblebees with high-fidelity numerical simulations and lower-order modeling to identify the mechanics that mediate insect flight in unsteady winds.

Aerodynamic Ground Effect in Fruitfly Sized Insect Takeoff.

Aerodynamic ground effect in flapping-wing insect flight is of importance to comparative morphologies and of interest to the micro-air-vehicle (MAV) community. Recent studies, however, show apparently contradictory results of either some significant extra lift or power savings, or zero ground effect. Here we present a numerical study of fruitfly sized insect takeoff with a specific focus on the significance of leg thrust and wing kinematics.

Diagnostic meaning of urodynamic studies in pouch incontinence: results of a small series.

Introduction: To evaluate the meaning of urodynamic parameters in patients with pouch incontinence.

Materials And Methods: Thirteen urodynamic studies in patients with an ileal nipple as the efferent segment of an ileocecal pouch or ileum/ileocecal-augmented bladder were performed. The recorded parameters included pouch capacity, leak point pressure/volume, maximum pouch pressure, compliance, static and dynamic closure pressure, and functional length.

Multimolecular analysis of stable immunological synapses reveals sustained recruitment and sequential assembly of signaling clusters.

The formation of the immunological synapse between T cells and antigen-presenting cells (APC) begins within minutes of contact and can take hours for full T-cell activation. Although early phases of the synapse have been extensively studied for a select number of proteins, later phases have not yet been examined in detail. We studied the signaling network in stable synapses by measuring the simultaneous localization of 25 signaling and structural molecules over 2 h at the level of individual synapses using multi-epitope ligand cartography (MELC).

The PARACHUTE IV trial design and rationale: percutaneous ventricular restoration using the parachute device in patients with ischemic heart failure and dilated left ventricles.

Background: Left ventricle (LV) remodeling after anterior wall myocardial infarction leads to increased LV volumes, myocardial stress, and, ultimately, heart failure (HF). Patients have high morbidity and mortality risk, and treatment remains limited. Percutaneous ventricular restoration (PVR) therapy using the Parachute device, a fluoropolymer membrane stretched over a nitinol conical frame, is a novel approach to partition off the damaged myocardium.

Socioeconomic aspects of neglected tropical diseases.

Although many examples of highly cost-effective interventions to control neglected tropical diseases exist, our understanding of the full economic effect that these diseases have on individuals, households, and nations needs to be improved to target interventions more effectively and equitably. We review data for the effect of neglected tropical diseases on a population's health and economy. We also present evidence on the costs, cost-effectiveness, and financing of strategies to monitor, control, or reduce morbidity and mortality associated with these diseases.

Detection of cardiac small vessel disease by adenosine-stress magnetic resonance.

Background: Patients testing positive for myocardial ischemia but without significant coronary artery (CA) stenosis in coronary angiography (CXA) are characterized as having "small vessel disease" (SVD). The aim of our study was to identify these patients by stress perfusion cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR).

Methods: 317 patients with suspected myocardial ischemia and clinical indication for CXA were scanned < 72 h before CXA in a whole-body 1.

Prediction of necessity for coronary artery revascularization by adenosine contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging.

Background: Assessing myocardial first-pass wash-in during pharmacological induced stress allows detection of perfusion deficits and indicates stenotic coronary arteries (CA). The aim of our study was to demonstrate clinical relevance of contrast-enhanced stress magnetic resonance imaging (CMR) by predicting necessity of CA intervention.

Methods: 738 patients with scheduled coronary angiography (CXA) were scanned in a 1.

Cardiac magnetic resonance in outpatients in Germany--indications, complications and protocol suggestions from a high-volume center.

Background: Cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) has developed into a routine examination in many centers in cardiology. However, there is little knowledge about its applicability in outpatients as a diagnostic tool for cardiovascular diseases. We report about the experiences in a high-volume cardiac imaging center and in a "mobile setting" in Germany and provide routinely used examination protocols.