137,496 research outputs found
(alpha-L-rhamnopyranosyl)methylphosphonic acids : experimental evidence of the analogy with alpha-L-rhamnopyranosyl phosphate
No full text(α-L-Rhamnopyranosyl)methylphosphonic acid and methyl (2-O-methyl-α-L-rhamnopyranosyl)methylphosphonate have been synthesized starting from allyl 3,4-di-O-benzyl-2-O-pmethoxybenzyl-α-L-rhamnopyranoside. The complete NMR spectroscopic characterization of these two compounds and the comparison of the theoretical and experimental vicinal coupling constants indicates a marked preference for the 1C4 conformation for both compounds, in analogy with the natural phosphate
Lay-offs in the Blended Economy
No full textRecent reports suggest that the Government of India is favourably inclined to change policy and enable establishments employing less than 1,000 workers to lay-off employees and undertake retrenchments or closures without prior permission. Corporate lay-offs in the U.S. indicate an ever-increasing trend and do not make a comforting reading. The year 2001 for example, saw the highest number of job cuts in the Fortune 500 companies than in any year ever since the survey of lay-offs were launched. Japan, despite its tradition of high employee concern, seems also to be overwhelmed with this new trend at least in the I.T. industry. In India, it appears that pressure is building up to similarly allow this enabling facility to all corporations. Prima facie, it appears as if the business is moving towards a state where manpower in an organisation is kept eternally in the transient state. In the process not only ensuring short-term profits but also as a way out of the long-term social security and welfare benefits obligations towards the employees. The paper examines the impact of lay-off and suggests that while individual impact is important in its own right, the research suggests that the effects of lay-offs go well-beyond the physical, material and psychological state of the individual to the organisation, community and the nation. Literature review suggests that several alternatives to lay-offs are available and examples of implementing these alternative solutions are available around the world. The literature also negates the general view that the unions will not cooperate in finding solutions. Example in industry clearly show that unions and workers are not only willing to cooperate but even show new ways of coping with the business problems to avoid lay-offs. The paper examines various reasons proffered in favour of lay-offs and argues that they are not necessarily a good option for an enterprise faced with business fluctuations. The crux of the issue is as to what is more important: the short-term gains in the stock market or the longer term financial health and stability of an enterprise. The paper suggests that a clear, agreed, rational policy that addresses concerns of management, labour and the general society be developed to address the issue.
Nurse led versus lay educators support for those with asthma in primary care: a costing study
No full text<p>Background - Regular review and support for asthma self-management is promoted in guidelines. A randomised controlled trial suggested that unscheduled health care usage was similar when patients were offered self management support by a lay-trainer or practice nurses.</p>
<p>Methods - Following the RCT, a costing study was undertaken using the trial data to account for the cost of delivery of the service under both strategies and the resulting impact on unscheduled healthcare (measure of effectiveness) in this trial.</p>
<p>Results - One year data (n = 418) showed that 29% (61/205) of the nurse group required unscheduled healthcare (177 events) compared with 30.5% (65/213) for lay-trainers (178 events).</p>
<p>The training costs for the lay-trainers were greater than nurses (£36 versus £18 respectively per patient, p<0.001), however, the consultation cost for lay-trainers were lower than nurses (£6 per patient versus £24, p<0.001). If the cost of unscheduled healthcare are accounted for then the costs of nurses is £161, and £135 for lay-trainers (mean difference £25, [95% CI = −£97, £149, p = 0.681]). The total costs (delivery and unscheduled healthcare) were £202 per patient for nurses versus £178 for lay-trainers, (mean difference £24, [95%CI = −£100, £147, p = 0.707]).</p>
<p>Conclusions - There were no significant differences in the cost of training and healthcare delivery between nurse and lay trainers, and no significant difference in the cost of unscheduled health care use.</p>
User characteristics: Professional vs. lay users
No full text(User characteristics: professional use vs lay use by Cifter A and Dong H)
The market success of a product largely depends on whether it correctly addresses the user needs. Understanding the user is increasingly becoming important in the design process. Different user models may determine different approaches to design. This paper identifies the characteristics of different types of users, with a specific focus on professional users and lay users. It gives a definition of professional users and lay users in the context of adapting products originally designed for professional use to the use of lay people (for example, home use medical devices). It summarises, and compares, the characteristics of professional users and lay users, suggesting that designers pay attention to user characteristics and the context of use so as to better address user perceptions and meet user needs
Antibacterial Carbohydrate Vaccines
No full textCarbohydrates represent the most structurally diverse class of biopolymers and are crucially involved in a plethora of biochemical and biological processes essential for every form of life. In particular, bacterial surface polysaccharides ( PSs ) can trigger bacterial adhesion and host cells infection; hence, they are key virulence factors. The seminal finding that carbohydrate-specific antibodies are predominantly responsible for protection against bacteria is the basis for carbohydrate-based vaccines development. Among them, glycoconjugate vaccines, based on pathogen-related poly- or oligosaccharides chemically conjugated to an immunogenic protein carrier, are a formidable weapon to protect public health. Despite their great success, currently, licensed glycoconjugate vaccines suffer from several drawbacks, which still pose strong limitations to their wider use in massive vaccination campaigns. There is, therefore, an urgent call for the development of improved vaccine constructs with well-defined compositions and based on more cost-effective production processes. The design of innovative carbohydrate vaccines takes advantage of diverse cutting-edge technologies developed over the last decade, and it is steered by the recent advances of modern immunology. In this chapter, the mechanism of action and the characteristics of each major component of carbohydrate-based vaccines are illustrated. In addition, we report an account of the most innovative technologies currently investigated to improve existing vaccines as well as to design novel constructs able to timely combat emerging infectious diseases and/or address unmet medical needs
What Discourages Participation in the Lay Judge System (Saiban’in Seido) of Japan? Interaction between the Secrecy Requirement and Social Networks.
No full textThe lay judge system, a quasi-jury system, was introduced in Japan from May 2009. This paper attempts to analyze Japanese people’s attitude towards this system by examining whether they show a willingness to serve as a lay judge. The major findings from regression analysis are: (1) In general, people with a spouse inclined to adopt a negative attitude about serving as a lay judge. This tendency is, however, not observed in large cities. (2) Long-time residents and homeowners are more likely to have a negative attitude about serving as a lay judge. These results show that a tightly knitted interpersonal social network discourages people from serving as a lay judge. Because of the life time secrecy obligation and the penalty provisions for those who break this obligation, people with closer interpersonal ties are under greater pressure and strains, leading to larger psychological cost. The obligation and its penalty should be eased to improve people’s attitudes about serving as a lay judge.Lay judge system; Social network; Secrecy requirement
Lay-user characteristics reflected by their interaction with a digital camera and a blood pressure monitor
No full textThe material is posted here with the permission of the publishers. Internal or personal use of this material is permitted. However, permission to reprint/republish this material must be obtained from the publisher.There is an increasing and evolving demand from the end-user market for the adaptation of products originally designed for professional-use to the use of lay people, for example, home use medical devices. However, there is a lack of understanding of lay user characteristics by product designers. This paper reports a study investigating lay user characteristics reflected by their interaction with digital products. A digital camera and a digital blood pressure monitor were tested with different user groups: 10 able-bodied young people; 10 healthy older people (65+) and 10 disabled people; and lay user characteristics were summarised
Fully synthetic carbohydrate-based antibacterial vaccines
No full textAlthough the enormous progresses achieved by modern medicine, numerous diseases have still a profound impact on public health. Infectious diseases caused by a variety of microorganisms (viruses, fungi and parasites) and bacteria are a global major concern, not only in developing countries, due for instance to the emergence of multidrug resistance. The development of preventative therapies, such as the rational design of novel and more efficient vaccines, may offer a solution to this and other drawbacks. Vaccination is considered by the World Health Organization to be the most cost-effective strategy for controlling infectious disease, since it should confer long-term protective immunity in the population.Carbohydrates play a key role in many molecular recognition phenomena and they can affect any kind of interaction with the immune system. Therefore, saccharide-based antigens (for instance, bacterial capsular polysaccharides or tumor associated carbohydrate antigens) have been studied and employed in the formulation of vaccines. During last years, there has been a growing use of synthetic saccharide antigens for the formulation of vaccine candidates. These structures are indeed chemically well defined, devoid of biologic contaminants and, in principle, available in large amount, compared to material extracted from natural sources. In addition, synthetic saccharide antigens can also serve as haptens in protein conjugates, eliciting highly specific antibodies in animal models and humans
Boranophosphate diesters as stable synthetic analogues of 1-O-glycosylphosphates
No full textDifferent 1-O-glycosylboranophosphate diesters were synthesised as stable analogues of 1-O-glycosylphosphates, using a one-pot procedure based on the anomeric H-phosphonate of 2,3,4-tri-O-benzyl-alpha-L-rhamnopyranose as a common precursor. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved
Synthesis of neisseria meningitidis x capsular polysaccharide fragments
No full textN. meningitidis type X (Men X), first described in the 1960s1, has been found to cause a few cases of invasive disease and in 2006 WHO started to consider Men X as a substantial threat, when an unprecedented incidence of meningitis caused by Men X was observed in Niger and in Western Kenya. The development of carbohydrate-based vaccines has recently emerged as a possible approach with enormous potential benefits for human health. Since capsular polysaccharides (CPSs) are the key virulence factors for encapsulated bacteria, the development of more comprehensive conjugate vaccines including Men X CPS fragments become an urgent issue in the near future.
The CPS of N. meningiditis X is a linear homopolymer of (14)-linked 2-acetamido-2-deoxy-alpha-D-glucopyranosyl phosphate residues, with an average chain length of 50 units.
The present research project is focused on the synthesis of phosphodiester-linked oligomers of the native Men X CPS. In order to improve the immune response of the synthesized oligomers they will be employed in the synthesis of neo-glycoconjugates by exploiting the amino group of the spacer arm at the reducing end of each fragment
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