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In this paper, we present an Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV)/Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) drug-resistant model using an ordinary differential equation (ODE) model on scale-free networks. We derive the threshold for the epidemic to be zero in infinite scale-free network. We also prove the stability of disease-free equilibrium (DFE) and persistence of HIV/AIDS infection. The effects of two immunization schemes, including proportional scheme and targeted vaccination, are studied and compared. We find that targeted strategy compare favorably to a proportional condom using has prominent effect to control HIV/AIDS spread on scale-free networks.

In this paper, we study the epidemic spreading in node-activity networks, where an individual participates in social networks with a certain rate h. There are two cases for h: the state-independent case and the state-dependent case. We investigate the epidemic threshold as a function of h compared to the static network. Our results suggest the epidemic threshold cannot be exactly predicted by using the analysis approach in the static network. In addition, we further propose a local information-based immunization protocol on node-activity networks. Simulation analysis shows that the immunization can not only eliminate the infectious disease, but also change the epidemic threshold via increasing the immunization parameter.

In this paper, we research the impact of the heterogeneous infection rate on the epidemic spread in the activity-driven networks. By using the mean field approximation, the epidemic threshold is theoretically obtained. Several immunization strategies that could curb the epidemic spread are presented. Based on the theoretical analysis and simulation results, we obtain that the epidemic would be prevented effectively if the infection rate strongly correlates with the individual activity. However, if infection rate has a little correlation with the individual activity, most of the individuals may be infected. In addition, the epidemic can be suppressed soon if the individuals with high activity are immunized preferentially.

In this paper, we propose a new algorithm that minimizes the worst expected growth of an epidemic by reducing the size of the largest connected component (LCC) of the underlying contact network. The proposed algorithm is applicable to any level of available resources and, despite the greedy approaches of most immunization strategies, selects nodes simultaneously. In each iteration, the proposed method partitions the LCC into two groups. These are the best candidates for communities in that component, and the available resources are sufficient to separate them. Using Laplacian spectral partitioning, the proposed method performs community detection inference with a time complexity that rivals that of the best previous methods. Experiments show that our method outperforms targeted immunization approaches in both real and synthetic networks.

The heterogeneous distribution of immunization probability has been proven to suppress the recurrent epidemic outbreaks effectively, but the reason for this interesting phenomenon is still unclear. To solve this problem, the effects of immunization probability on the maximal infected density and the average infected density are investigated, and it’s found that large immunization probability will depress the maximal infected density sharply. Moreover, it’s proved that small immunization probability is of great importance, which could not only reduce the cost of immunization at low risk but also decrease the outbreak risk of the next year by making the average infected density larger in the current year. Besides, a generalized immunization strategy is presented, which makes the immunization strategy easy to carry out and meanwhile keeps the maximal and the average infected density almost as good as those in the original dynamic immunization strategy. Moreover, the control effects in eight real networks are also investigated, which proves the usefulness of the modified dynamic immunization strategy. Our work proves the usefulness of the heterogeneous distribution of immunization probability and may present theoretical guidance for the government and the public to control the recurrent epidemic outbreaks.

The basic idea of many effective immunization strategies is to first rank the importance of vertices according to the degrees of vertices and then remove the vertices from highest importance to lowest until the network becomes disconnected. Here we define the effective degrees of vertex, i.e., the number of its connections linking to un-immunized nodes in current network during the immunization procedure, to rank the importance of vertex, and modify these strategies by using the effective degrees of vertices. Simulations on both the scale-free network models with various degree correlations and two real networks have revealed that the immunization strategies based on the effective degrees are often more effective than those based on the degrees in the initial network.

In this paper, a new spreading network was constructed and the corresponding immunizations were proposed. The social ability of individuals in the real human social networks was reflected by the node strength. The negativity and positivity degrees were also introduced. And the edge weights were calculated by the negativity and positivity degrees, respectively. Based on these concepts, a new asymmetric edge weights scale-free network which was more close to the real world was established. The comparing experiments indicate that the proposed immunization is priority to the acquaintance immunization, and close to the target immunization.

In this work we apply Independent Component Analysis (ICA) to the identification of the factors driving spot rates curve movements. A comparison between the standard Principal Components Analysis (PCA) approach and ICA is carried out both from a theoretical point of view, critically analyzing the negentropy based approach to ICA, and from an empirical point of view, where the performance of immunization strategies based on PCA and ICA are tested.

AUSTRALIA – Australian Scientists Make Breakthrough on HIV's Infectious Grip.

AUSTRALIA – Australian Researchers Developing New Dengue Vaccine.

AUSTRALIA – Heart Attack Genes Discovered.

AUSTRALIA – Australian Researchers Find Blindness Genes.

AUSTRALIA – Innovative Spinal Surgery Performed at Austin Health.

AUSTRALIA – Future Risks for Child Cancer Survivors Seven Times Higher.

AUSTRALIA – Triggers Found on Asthma Risk.

AUSTRALIA – One-dose Malaria Killer Drug.

BANGLADESH – 589 People Confirmed to be infected by Anthrax in Bangladesh.

CHINA – Banned Chemical Found in China Cosmetics.

CHINA – China PharmaHub Corp. Introduces A 'Magic Bullet' Liver Cancer Therapy.

INDIA – BARC Develops Radionuclides for Inoperable Cancers, Arthritis.

INDIA – Vaccine Makers to Lobby for Higher Immunization Coverage.

SINGAPORE – Singapore and Seattle Eye Banks Collaborate to Increase World Supply of Tissue for Sight-Restoring Corneal Transplants.

SINGAPORE – Doctors Discover Tamiflu-Resistant H1N1 Superbug.

SINGAPORE – P&G Partners A*STAR to Strengthen R&D Presence in Singapore.

SINGAPORE – NCCS-led Study Helps Doctors to Better Identify Treatment for Colorectal Cancer Patients.

OTHER REGIONS — EUROPE – Gene Therapy Success for Anemia Patient.

OTHER REGIONS — NORTH AMERICA – Researchers Find Genes Linked to Ovarian Cancer.

Cervical Cancer is Highly Preventable. Don’t Succumb to It.

Do Your Part to Stop Infectious Disease from Spreading: Insights from Infectious Diseases Expert — Dr. Leong Hoe Nam.

Infectious Diseases in Asia Pacific: Top Five Targets for Prophylaxis Vaccines.

How to make value-based care a reality?

Impactful interventions to maximise healthspan.

Viral hepatitis in Arkhangai: How Asia’s first micro-treatment program’s successes can be leveraged to treat a “silent killer”.

The long-suffering challenge of vaccination.

Though maturity matching is a common practice in real finance, no academic study has been conducted yet on cross-sectional variations in the degree of maturity matching. This study derives hypotheses on the maturity matching and empirically tests them. We show that firms with a higher degree of maturity matching are more likely to stabilize equity values: they have lower stock return volatilities. We also show evidence supporting the existence of an optimal level of maturity matching. Though financially strong firms generally employ a higher degree of maturity matching, the relationship between financial strength and maturity matching is not monotonic.

In this paper, we study the spreading of infections on complex heterogeneous networks based on an SEIRS epidemic model with nonlinear infectivity. By mathematical analysis, the basic reproduction number R₀ is obtained. When R₀ is less than one, the disease-free equilibrium is globally asymptotically stable and the disease dies out, while R₀ is greater than one, the disease-free equilibrium becomes unstable and the disease is permanent, and in the meantime there exists a unique endemic equilibrium which is globally attractive under certain conditions. Finally, the effects of various immunization schemes are studied. To verify our theoretical results, the corresponding numerical simulations are also included.

A variety of approaches have been proposed to extend classical fixed income portfolio immunization theory to cases where shifts in the term structure are not parallel. Following Reitano (1991a, 1991b, 1992, 1996) and Poitras (2007), this paper uses partial durations and convexities to specify benchmark partial immunization bounds for non-parallel term structure shifts. Theoretical results are obtained by exploiting properties of the multivariate Taylor series expansion of the spot interest rate pricing function. It is demonstrated that the partial immunization bounds can be effectively manipulated by adequate selection of the securities being used to immunize the portfolio. The inclusion of time values permits the results obtained to be related to previous studies by Christensen and Sorensen (1994), Chance and Jordan (1996), Barber and Copper (1997) and Poitras (2005, Ch. 5) on the time value-convexity tradeoff.

Patients with rheumatological or immunological conditions, such as systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), are particularly vulnerable to infections either due to the underlying immunological aberrations of the disease itself or treatment-related/iatrogenic immunosuppression. Infections remain the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in SLE patients and appropriate vaccination is of paramount importance. Despite clear guidance for the most common vaccinations, the greatest barrier to appropriate vaccinations likely remains with physician awareness or willingness for recommendation. To address this, we review the current evidence regarding the impact of the most commonly recommended vaccinations on SLE.

While the contributions of immunization to fighting infectious diseases have been widely recognized, economists have paid little attention to the determinants of immunization uptake. In this paper, we first develop an intuitive theoretical model of the demand for immunization services. A novel prediction of our model is that the presence of an easily accessible health facility does not necessarily raise the immunization rate of the community as it reduces both the cost and benefits of immunization. In the empirical work we try to control for the potential bias introduced by the endogeneity of “child quantity”. Our analysis shows that the number of siblings depends heavily on the degree of enforcement of the one-child policy. Therefore, the enforcement measures of this policy can be used as instruments for child quantity. However, our results show that the number of siblings does not affect a child's immunization uptake. The most important factor to a child immunization uptake is health insurance coverage. Given the lower health coverage rate in rural China, our findings thus suggest that the immunization rate can benefit from health policies aiming to broaden health insurance coverage. The other two factors that affect immunization uptake are parental education and family income, suggesting that a country's immunization rate increases as its citizens become richer and better educated.