We present a model of radiative neutrino masses which also resolves anomalies reported in B-meson... more We present a model of radiative neutrino masses which also resolves anomalies reported in B-meson decays, $$ {R}_{D^{\left(\ast \right)}} $$ R D ∗ and $$ {R}_{K^{\left(\ast \right)}} $$ R K ∗ , as well as in muon g − 2 measurement, ∆aμ. Neutrino masses arise in the model through loop diagrams involving TeV-scale leptoquark (LQ) scalars R2 and S3. Fits to neutrino oscillation parameters are obtained satisfying all flavor constraints which also explain the anomalies in $$ {R}_{D^{\left(\ast \right)}} $$ R D ∗ , $$ {R}_{K^{\left(\ast \right)}} $$ R K ∗ and ∆aμ within 1 σ. An isospin-3/2 Higgs quadruplet plays a crucial role in generating neutrino masses; we point out that the doubly-charged scalar contained therein can be produced in the decays of the S3 LQ, which enhances its reach to 1.1 (6.2) TeV at $$ \sqrt{s} $$ s = 14 TeV high-luminosity LHC ($$ \sqrt{s} $$ s = 100 TeV FCC-hh). We also present flavor-dependent upper limits on the Yukawa couplings of the LQs to the first two famil...
The aim of this study was to compare costs and socio-economic impact of tuberculosis (TB) for pat... more The aim of this study was to compare costs and socio-economic impact of tuberculosis (TB) for patients diagnosed through active (ACF) and passive case finding (PCF) in Nepal. A longitudinal costing survey was conducted in four districts of Nepal from April 2018 to October 2019. Costs were collected using the WHO TB Patient Costs Survey at three time points: intensive phase of treatment, continuation phase of treatment and at treatment completion. Direct and indirect costs and socio-economic impact (poverty headcount, employment status and coping strategies) were evaluated throughout the treatment. Prevalence of catastrophic costs was estimated using the WHO threshold. Logistic regression and generalized estimating equation were used to evaluate risk of incurring high costs, catastrophic costs and socio-economic impact of TB over time. A total of 111 ACF and 110 PCF patients were included. ACF patients were more likely to have no education (75% vs 57%, P = 0.006) and informal employm...
Models of radiative Majorana neutrino masses require new scalars and/or fermions to induce lepton... more Models of radiative Majorana neutrino masses require new scalars and/or fermions to induce lepton-number-violating interactions. We show that these new particles also generate observable neutrino non-standard interactions (NSI) with matter. We classify radiative models as type-I or II, with type-I models containing at least one Standard Model (SM) particle inside the loop diagram generating neutrino mass, and type- II models having no SM particle inside the loop. While type-II radiative models do not generate NSI at tree-level, popular models which fall under the type-I category are shown, somewhat surprisingly, to generate observable NSI at tree-level, while being consistent with direct and indirect constraints from colliders, electroweak precision data and charged-lepton flavor violation (cLFV). We survey such models where neutrino masses arise at one, two and three loops. In the prototypical Zee model which generates neutrino masses via one-loop diagrams involving charged scalars...
This report summarizes the present status of neutrino non-standard interactions (NSI). After a br... more This report summarizes the present status of neutrino non-standard interactions (NSI). After a brief overview, several aspects of NSIs are discussed, including connection to neutrino mass models, model-building and phenomenology of large NSI with both light and heavy mediators, NSI phenomenology in both short- and long-baseline neutrino oscillation experiments, neutrino cross-sections, complementarity of NSI with other low- and high-energy experiments, fits with neutrino oscillation and scattering data, DUNE sensitivity to NSI, effective field theory of NSI, as well as the relevance of NSI to dark matter and cosmology. We also discuss the open questions and interesting future directions that can be pursued by the community at large. This report is based on talks and discussions during the Neutrino Theory Network NSI workshop held at Washington University in St.~Louis from May 29-31, 2019
Background The World Health Organization (WHO) End TB Strategy has established a milestone to red... more Background The World Health Organization (WHO) End TB Strategy has established a milestone to reduce the number of tuberculosis (TB)- affected households facing catastrophic costs to zero by 2020. The role of active case finding (ACF) in reducing patient costs has not been determined globally. This study therefore aimed to compare costs incurred by TB patients diagnosed through ACF and passive case finding (PCF), and to determine the prevalence and intensity of patient-incurred catastrophic costs in Nepal. Methods The study was conducted in two districts of Nepal: Bardiya and Pyuthan (Province No. 5) between June and August 2018. One hundred patients were included in this study in a 1:1 ratio (PCF: ACF, 25 consecutive ACF and 25 consecutive PCF patients in each district). The WHO TB patient costing tool was applied to collect information from patients or a member of their family regarding indirect and direct medical and non-medical costs. Catastrophic costs were calculated based on ...
Background Healthcare centers are important sites for tuberculosis transmission, particularly in ... more Background Healthcare centers are important sites for tuberculosis transmission, particularly in low-income settings where the burden of tuberculosis is high and infection control practices are often inadequate. This study aims to assess the knowledge, attitude, and practices of drug-resistant tuberculosis infection control among the healthcare workers under the National Tuberculosis Control Program in Nepal. Methods In this descriptive cross-sectional survey, we studied the healthcare workers from all the functioning drug-resistant tuberculosis treatment centers across Nepal between March 1, 2018 and March 15, 2018. Nepal Health Research Council provided ethical clearance. Trained enumerators obtained informed consent and conducted face-to-face interviews with a pretested questionnaire to collect data on the basic characteristics of healthcare workers, their self-reported knowledge, attitude, and practice on tuberculosis infection control. We assigned a score of one to the correct ...
The objective of the present in vitro study was to determine vascular endothelial and smooth musc... more The objective of the present in vitro study was to determine vascular endothelial and smooth muscle cell responses to poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) films that were exposed apriori to various degrees of alkaline degradation. To model the alkaline environment of blood in arteries, PLGA films were separately soaked in select concentrations (from 0.1 – 10 N) of NaOH for various periods of time (from 10 minutes to 1 hour). Vascular endothelial and smooth muscle cells were then separately allowed to adhere and/or proliferate on the different PLGA degraded surfaces. Results provided the first evidence that smooth muscle adhesion and proliferation increased with larger amounts of alkaline PLGA degradation. In contrast, endothelial cell adhesion and proliferation decreased with increasing amounts of alkaline PLGA degradation. In this manner, the present in vitro study suggests a possible mechanism for insufficient endothelialization on PLGA vascular implants in vivo.
People receiving treatment for multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) have high rates of depre... more People receiving treatment for multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) have high rates of depression. Psychosocial support in general, and treatments for depression in particular, form an important but neglected area of patient-centred care, and a key pillar in the global End TB strategy. We assessed the feasibility and acceptability of a psychosocial support package for people receiving treatment for MDR-TB in Nepal. This feasibility study used a mixed quantitative and qualitative approach. We implemented the intervention package in two National Tuberculosis Programme (NTP) MDR-TB treatment centres and 8 sub-centres. We screened patients monthly for depression and anxiety (cut-off ≥24 and ≥17 respectively on the Hopkins Symptom Checklist) and also for low social support (cut-off ≤3 on the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support). Those who screened positive on either screening tool received the Healthy Activity Program (HAP), which uses brief counselling based on behav...
Journal of Manmohan Memorial Institute of Health Sciences, 2016
Tuberculosis (TB) is a major public health concern for Nepal like many other developing countries... more Tuberculosis (TB) is a major public health concern for Nepal like many other developing countries around the world. Economic barrier is one of the major problems in poor and marginalized population. Poor people mostly remain unaware of the treatment facilities and some find it difficult in seeking T.B treatment as they don’t trust the program and most of them don’t possess enough knowledge about the disease itself. Population residing in the remote areas of the countries can’t access the treatment facilities due to far distance of health facilities from there residence due to lack of roads and lack of transport. Thus difficult geography primarily in rural areas in the country acts as a barrier to access the health facility. TB infection faces add-on challenge with the advent of co-infection and possibility of increase in drug resistant TB. This is why detecting TB in its early stage would pose a number of advantages to the patient that would in turn help for early treatment. However...
Proceedings of the Second Joint 24th Annual Conference and the Annual Fall Meeting of the Biomedical Engineering Society] [Engineering in Medicine and Biology, 2000
... ENHANCED FUNCTIONS OF CELLS ON POLYMERS WITH NANOSTRUCTURED SURFACES D. C. Miller, A. Thapa, ... more ... ENHANCED FUNCTIONS OF CELLS ON POLYMERS WITH NANOSTRUCTURED SURFACES D. C. Miller, A. Thapa, KM Haberstroh, and TJ Webster Department of ... Results f?om the present study also provided the first evidence of enhanced proliferation of aortic smooth ...
We present a model of radiative neutrino masses which also resolves anomalies reported in B-meson... more We present a model of radiative neutrino masses which also resolves anomalies reported in B-meson decays, $$ {R}_{D^{\left(\ast \right)}} $$ R D ∗ and $$ {R}_{K^{\left(\ast \right)}} $$ R K ∗ , as well as in muon g − 2 measurement, ∆aμ. Neutrino masses arise in the model through loop diagrams involving TeV-scale leptoquark (LQ) scalars R2 and S3. Fits to neutrino oscillation parameters are obtained satisfying all flavor constraints which also explain the anomalies in $$ {R}_{D^{\left(\ast \right)}} $$ R D ∗ , $$ {R}_{K^{\left(\ast \right)}} $$ R K ∗ and ∆aμ within 1 σ. An isospin-3/2 Higgs quadruplet plays a crucial role in generating neutrino masses; we point out that the doubly-charged scalar contained therein can be produced in the decays of the S3 LQ, which enhances its reach to 1.1 (6.2) TeV at $$ \sqrt{s} $$ s = 14 TeV high-luminosity LHC ($$ \sqrt{s} $$ s = 100 TeV FCC-hh). We also present flavor-dependent upper limits on the Yukawa couplings of the LQs to the first two famil...
The aim of this study was to compare costs and socio-economic impact of tuberculosis (TB) for pat... more The aim of this study was to compare costs and socio-economic impact of tuberculosis (TB) for patients diagnosed through active (ACF) and passive case finding (PCF) in Nepal. A longitudinal costing survey was conducted in four districts of Nepal from April 2018 to October 2019. Costs were collected using the WHO TB Patient Costs Survey at three time points: intensive phase of treatment, continuation phase of treatment and at treatment completion. Direct and indirect costs and socio-economic impact (poverty headcount, employment status and coping strategies) were evaluated throughout the treatment. Prevalence of catastrophic costs was estimated using the WHO threshold. Logistic regression and generalized estimating equation were used to evaluate risk of incurring high costs, catastrophic costs and socio-economic impact of TB over time. A total of 111 ACF and 110 PCF patients were included. ACF patients were more likely to have no education (75% vs 57%, P = 0.006) and informal employm...
Models of radiative Majorana neutrino masses require new scalars and/or fermions to induce lepton... more Models of radiative Majorana neutrino masses require new scalars and/or fermions to induce lepton-number-violating interactions. We show that these new particles also generate observable neutrino non-standard interactions (NSI) with matter. We classify radiative models as type-I or II, with type-I models containing at least one Standard Model (SM) particle inside the loop diagram generating neutrino mass, and type- II models having no SM particle inside the loop. While type-II radiative models do not generate NSI at tree-level, popular models which fall under the type-I category are shown, somewhat surprisingly, to generate observable NSI at tree-level, while being consistent with direct and indirect constraints from colliders, electroweak precision data and charged-lepton flavor violation (cLFV). We survey such models where neutrino masses arise at one, two and three loops. In the prototypical Zee model which generates neutrino masses via one-loop diagrams involving charged scalars...
This report summarizes the present status of neutrino non-standard interactions (NSI). After a br... more This report summarizes the present status of neutrino non-standard interactions (NSI). After a brief overview, several aspects of NSIs are discussed, including connection to neutrino mass models, model-building and phenomenology of large NSI with both light and heavy mediators, NSI phenomenology in both short- and long-baseline neutrino oscillation experiments, neutrino cross-sections, complementarity of NSI with other low- and high-energy experiments, fits with neutrino oscillation and scattering data, DUNE sensitivity to NSI, effective field theory of NSI, as well as the relevance of NSI to dark matter and cosmology. We also discuss the open questions and interesting future directions that can be pursued by the community at large. This report is based on talks and discussions during the Neutrino Theory Network NSI workshop held at Washington University in St.~Louis from May 29-31, 2019
Background The World Health Organization (WHO) End TB Strategy has established a milestone to red... more Background The World Health Organization (WHO) End TB Strategy has established a milestone to reduce the number of tuberculosis (TB)- affected households facing catastrophic costs to zero by 2020. The role of active case finding (ACF) in reducing patient costs has not been determined globally. This study therefore aimed to compare costs incurred by TB patients diagnosed through ACF and passive case finding (PCF), and to determine the prevalence and intensity of patient-incurred catastrophic costs in Nepal. Methods The study was conducted in two districts of Nepal: Bardiya and Pyuthan (Province No. 5) between June and August 2018. One hundred patients were included in this study in a 1:1 ratio (PCF: ACF, 25 consecutive ACF and 25 consecutive PCF patients in each district). The WHO TB patient costing tool was applied to collect information from patients or a member of their family regarding indirect and direct medical and non-medical costs. Catastrophic costs were calculated based on ...
Background Healthcare centers are important sites for tuberculosis transmission, particularly in ... more Background Healthcare centers are important sites for tuberculosis transmission, particularly in low-income settings where the burden of tuberculosis is high and infection control practices are often inadequate. This study aims to assess the knowledge, attitude, and practices of drug-resistant tuberculosis infection control among the healthcare workers under the National Tuberculosis Control Program in Nepal. Methods In this descriptive cross-sectional survey, we studied the healthcare workers from all the functioning drug-resistant tuberculosis treatment centers across Nepal between March 1, 2018 and March 15, 2018. Nepal Health Research Council provided ethical clearance. Trained enumerators obtained informed consent and conducted face-to-face interviews with a pretested questionnaire to collect data on the basic characteristics of healthcare workers, their self-reported knowledge, attitude, and practice on tuberculosis infection control. We assigned a score of one to the correct ...
The objective of the present in vitro study was to determine vascular endothelial and smooth musc... more The objective of the present in vitro study was to determine vascular endothelial and smooth muscle cell responses to poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) films that were exposed apriori to various degrees of alkaline degradation. To model the alkaline environment of blood in arteries, PLGA films were separately soaked in select concentrations (from 0.1 – 10 N) of NaOH for various periods of time (from 10 minutes to 1 hour). Vascular endothelial and smooth muscle cells were then separately allowed to adhere and/or proliferate on the different PLGA degraded surfaces. Results provided the first evidence that smooth muscle adhesion and proliferation increased with larger amounts of alkaline PLGA degradation. In contrast, endothelial cell adhesion and proliferation decreased with increasing amounts of alkaline PLGA degradation. In this manner, the present in vitro study suggests a possible mechanism for insufficient endothelialization on PLGA vascular implants in vivo.
People receiving treatment for multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) have high rates of depre... more People receiving treatment for multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) have high rates of depression. Psychosocial support in general, and treatments for depression in particular, form an important but neglected area of patient-centred care, and a key pillar in the global End TB strategy. We assessed the feasibility and acceptability of a psychosocial support package for people receiving treatment for MDR-TB in Nepal. This feasibility study used a mixed quantitative and qualitative approach. We implemented the intervention package in two National Tuberculosis Programme (NTP) MDR-TB treatment centres and 8 sub-centres. We screened patients monthly for depression and anxiety (cut-off ≥24 and ≥17 respectively on the Hopkins Symptom Checklist) and also for low social support (cut-off ≤3 on the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support). Those who screened positive on either screening tool received the Healthy Activity Program (HAP), which uses brief counselling based on behav...
Journal of Manmohan Memorial Institute of Health Sciences, 2016
Tuberculosis (TB) is a major public health concern for Nepal like many other developing countries... more Tuberculosis (TB) is a major public health concern for Nepal like many other developing countries around the world. Economic barrier is one of the major problems in poor and marginalized population. Poor people mostly remain unaware of the treatment facilities and some find it difficult in seeking T.B treatment as they don’t trust the program and most of them don’t possess enough knowledge about the disease itself. Population residing in the remote areas of the countries can’t access the treatment facilities due to far distance of health facilities from there residence due to lack of roads and lack of transport. Thus difficult geography primarily in rural areas in the country acts as a barrier to access the health facility. TB infection faces add-on challenge with the advent of co-infection and possibility of increase in drug resistant TB. This is why detecting TB in its early stage would pose a number of advantages to the patient that would in turn help for early treatment. However...
Proceedings of the Second Joint 24th Annual Conference and the Annual Fall Meeting of the Biomedical Engineering Society] [Engineering in Medicine and Biology, 2000
... ENHANCED FUNCTIONS OF CELLS ON POLYMERS WITH NANOSTRUCTURED SURFACES D. C. Miller, A. Thapa, ... more ... ENHANCED FUNCTIONS OF CELLS ON POLYMERS WITH NANOSTRUCTURED SURFACES D. C. Miller, A. Thapa, KM Haberstroh, and TJ Webster Department of ... Results f?om the present study also provided the first evidence of enhanced proliferation of aortic smooth ...
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