Positive and Negative Emotions Predict Weight Loss Intentions and Behaviors beyond Theory of Planned Behavior Constructs

Acknowledgements: This study was funded by the ScienceCampus Tuebingen (TP7.1) awarded to Devin G. Ray and Kai Sassenberg.Peer reviewedPostprin

Laboratory study on "intracranial hypotension" created by pumping the chamber of a hydrocephalus shunt.

BACKGROUND: It has been reported that pumping a shunt in situ may precipitate a proximal occlusion, and/or lead to ventricular over-drainage, particularly in the context of small ventricles. In the laboratory we measured the effect of pumping the pre-chamber of hydrocephalus shunts on intracranial hypotension. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A simple physical model of the CSF space in a hydrocephalic patient was constructed with appropriate compliance, CSF production and circulation. This was used to test eleven different hydrocephalus shunts. The lowest pressure obtained, the number of pumps needed to reach this pressure, and the maximum pressure change with a single pump, were recorded. RESULTS: All models were able to produce negative pressures ranging from -11.5 mmHg (Orbis-Sigma valve) to -233.1 mmHg (Sinu-Shunt). The number of pumps required reaching these levels ranged from 21 (PS Medical LP Reservoir) to 315 (Codman Hakim-Programmable). The maximum pressure change per pump ranged from 0.39 mmHg (Orbis-Sigma valve) to 23.1 (PS Medical LP Reservoir). CONCLUSION: Patients, carers and professionals should be warned that 'pumping' a shunt's pre-chamber may cause a large change in intracranial pressure and predispose the patient to ventricular catheter obstruction or other complications.RIGHTS : This article is licensed under the BioMed Central licence at http://www.biomedcentral.com/about/license which is similar to the 'Creative Commons Attribution Licence'. In brief you may : copy, distribute, and display the work; make derivative works; or make commercial use of the work - under the following conditions: the original author must be given credit; for any reuse or distribution, it must be made clear to others what the license terms of this work are

Hadronic Resonances from Lattice QCD

The determination of the pattern of hadronic resonances as predicted by Quantum Chromodynamics requires the use of non-perturbative techniques. Lattice QCD has emerged as the dominant tool for such calculations, and has produced many QCD predictions which can be directly compared to experiment. The concepts underlying lattice QCD are outlined, methods for calculating excited states are discussed, and results from an exploratory Nucleon and Delta baryon spectrum study are presented.Comment: 8 pages, VII Latin American Symposium on Nuclear Physics and Application

Results and Frontiers in Lattice Baryon Spectroscopy

The Lattice Hadron Physics Collaboration (LHPC) baryon spectroscopy effort is reviewed. To date the LHPC has performed exploratory Lattice QCD calculations of the low-lying spectrum of Nucleon and Delta baryons. These calculations demonstrate the effectiveness of our method by obtaining the masses of an unprecedented number of excited states with definite quantum numbers. Future work of the project is outlined.Comment: To appear in the proceedings for the VII Latin American Symposium of Nuclear Physics and Application

Eight-Dimensional Mid-Infrared/Optical Bayesian Quasar Selection

We explore the multidimensional, multiwavelength selection of quasars from mid-IR (MIR) plus optical data, specifically from Spitzer-IRAC and the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). We apply modern statistical techniques to combined Spitzer MIR and SDSS optical data, allowing up to 8-D color selection of quasars. Using a Bayesian selection method, we catalog 5546 quasar candidates to an 8.0 um depth of 56 uJy over an area of ~24 sq. deg; ~70% of these candidates are not identified by applying the same Bayesian algorithm to 4-color SDSS optical data alone. Our selection recovers 97.7% of known type 1 quasars in this area and greatly improves the effectiveness of identifying 3.5<z<5 quasars. Even using only the two shortest wavelength IRAC bandpasses, it is possible to use our Bayesian techniques to select quasars with 97% completeness and as little as 10% contamination. This sample has a photometric redshift accuracy of 93.6% (Delta Z +/-0.3), remaining roughly constant when the two reddest MIR bands are excluded. While our methods are designed to find type 1 (unobscured) quasars, as many as 1200 of the objects are type 2 (obscured) quasar candidates. Coupling deep optical imaging data with deep mid-IR data could enable selection of quasars in significant numbers past the peak of the quasar luminosity function (QLF) to at least z~4. Such a sample would constrain the shape of the QLF and enable quasar clustering studies over the largest range of redshift and luminosity to date, yielding significant gains in our understanding of quasars and the evolution of galaxies.Comment: 49 pages, 14 figures, 7 tables. AJ, accepte

The SAMI Galaxy Survey: Revising the Fraction of Slow Rotators in IFS Galaxy Surveys

The fraction of galaxies supported by internal rotation compared to galaxies stabilized by internal pressure provides a strong constraint on galaxy formation models. In integral field spectroscopy surveys, this fraction is biased because survey instruments typically only trace the inner parts of the most massive galaxies. We present aperture corrections for the two most widely used stellar kinematic quantities $V/\sigma$ and $\lambda_{R}$. Our demonstration involves integral field data from the SAMI Galaxy Survey and the ATLAS$^{\rm{3D}}$ Survey. We find a tight relation for both $V/\sigma$ and $\lambda_{R}$ when measured in different apertures that can be used as a linear transformation as a function of radius, i.e., a first-order aperture correction. We find that $V/\sigma$ and $\lambda_{R}$ radial growth curves are well approximated by second order polynomials. By only fitting the inner profile (0.5$R_{\rm{e}}$), we successfully recover the profile out to one $R_{\rm{e}}$ if a constraint between the linear and quadratic parameter in the fit is applied. However, the aperture corrections for $V/\sigma$ and $\lambda_{R}$ derived by extrapolating the profiles perform as well as applying a first-order correction. With our aperture-corrected $\lambda_{R}$ measurements, we find that the fraction of slow rotating galaxies increases with stellar mass. For galaxies with $\log M_{*}/M_{\odot}>$ 11, the fraction of slow rotators is $35.9\pm4.3$ percent, but is underestimated if galaxies without coverage beyond one $R_{\rm{e}}$ are not included in the sample ($24.2\pm5.3$ percent). With measurements out to the largest aperture radius the slow rotator fraction is similar as compared to using aperture corrected values ($38.3\pm4.4$ percent). Thus, aperture effects can significantly bias stellar kinematic IFS studies, but this bias can now be removed with the method outlined here.Comment: Accepted for Publication in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 16 pages and 11 figures. The key figures of the paper are: 1, 4, 9, and 1

An ultrasensitive reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction assay to detect asymptomatic low-density Plasmodium falciparum and Plasmodium vivax infections in small volume blood samples.

BackgroundHighly sensitive, scalable diagnostic methods are needed to guide malaria elimination interventions. While traditional microscopy and rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs) are suitable for the diagnosis of symptomatic malaria infection, more sensitive tests are needed to screen for low-density, asymptomatic infections that are targeted by interventions aiming to eliminate the entire reservoir of malaria infection in humans.MethodsA reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT- PCR) was developed for multiplexed detection of the 18S ribosomal RNA gene and ribosomal RNA of Plasmodium falciparum and Plasmodium vivax. Simulated field samples stored for 14 days with sample preservation buffer were used to assess the analytical sensitivity and specificity. Additionally, 1750 field samples from Southeastern Myanmar were tested both by RDT and ultrasensitive RT-PCR.ResultsLimits of detection (LoD) were determined under simulated field conditions. When 0.3 mL blood samples were stored for 14 days at 28 °C and 80% humidity, the LoD was less than 16 parasites/mL for P. falciparum and 19.7 copies/µL for P. vivax (using a plasmid surrogate), about 10,000-fold lower than RDTs. Of the 1739 samples successfully evaluated by both ultrasensitive RT-PCR and RDT, only two were RDT positive while 24 were positive for P. falciparum, 108 were positive for P. vivax, and 127 were positive for either P. vivax and/or P. falciparum using ultrasensitive RT-PCR.ConclusionsThis ultrasensitive RT-PCR method is a robust, field-tested screening method that is vastly more sensitive than RDTs. Further optimization may result in a truly scalable tool suitable for widespread surveillance of low-level asymptomatic P. falciparum and P. vivax parasitaemia

Health and human rights in eastern Myanmar prior to political transition: a population-based assessment using multistaged household cluster sampling

Background: Myanmar/Burma has received increased development and humanitarian assistance since the election in November 2010. Monitoring the impact of foreign assistance and economic development on health and human rights requires knowledge of pre-election conditions. Methods: From October 2008-January 2009, community-based organizations conducted household surveys using three-stage cluster sampling in Shan, Kayin, Bago, Kayah, Mon and Tanintharyi areas of Myanmar. Data was collected from 5,592 heads of household on household demographics, reproductive health, diarrhea, births, deaths, malaria, and acute malnutrition of children 6–59 months and women aged 15–49 years. A human rights focused survey module evaluated human rights violations (HRVs) experienced by household members during the previous year. Results: Estimated infant and under-five rates were 77 (95% CI 56 to 98) and 139 (95% CI 107 to 171) deaths per 1,000 live births; and the crude mortality rate was 13 (95% CI 11 to 15) deaths per thousand persons. The leading respondent-reported cause of death was malaria, followed by acute respiratory infection and diarrhea, causing 21.2% (95% CI 16.5 to 25.8), 16.6% (95% CI 11.8 to 21.4), and 12.3% (95% CI 8.7 to 15.8), respectively. Over a third of households suffered at least one human rights violation in the preceding year (36.2%; 30.7 to 41.7). Household exposure to forced labor increased risk of death among infants (rate ratio (RR) = 2.2; 95% CI 1.1 to 4.4) and children under five (RR = 2.1; 95% CI 1.3 to 3.6). The proportion of children suffering from moderate to severe acute malnutrition was higher among households that were displaced (prevalence ratio (PR) = 3.3; 95% CI 1.9 to 5.6). Conclusions: Prior to the 2010 election, populations of eastern Myanmar experienced high rates of disease and death and high rates of HRVs. These population-based data provide a baseline that can be used to monitor national and international efforts to improve the health and human rights situation in the region

Field-deployable, quantitative, rapid identification of active Ebola virus infection in unprocessed blood

The West African Ebola virus outbreak underlined the importance of delivering mass diagnostic capability outside the clinical or primary care setting in effectively containing public health emergencies caused by infectious disease. Yet, to date, there is no solution for reliably deploying at the point of need the gold standard diagnostic method, real time quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT- qPCR), in a laboratory infrastructure-free manner. In this proof of principle work, we demonstrate direct performance of RT-qPCR on fresh blood using far-red fluorophores to resolve fluorogenic signal inhibition and controlled, rapid freeze/thawing to achieve viral genome extraction in a single reaction chamber assay. The resulting process is entirely free of manual or automated sample pre-processing, requires no microfluidics or magnetic/mechanical sample handling and thus utilizes low cost consumables. This enables a fast, laboratory infrastructure-free, minimal risk and simple standard operating procedure suited to frontline, field use. Developing this novel approach on recombinant bacteriophage and recombinant human immunodeficiency virus (HIV; Lentivirus), we demonstrate clinical utility in symptomatic EBOV patient screening using live, infectious Filoviruses and surrogate patient samples. Moreover, we evidence assay co-linearity independent of viral particle structure that may enable viral load quantification through pre-calibration, with no loss of specificity across an 8 log- linear maximum dynamic range. The resulting quantitative rapid identification (QuRapID) molecular diagnostic platform, openly accessible for assay development, meets the requirements of resource- limited countries and provides a fast response solution for mass public health screening against emerging biosecurity threats