An importance sampling algorithm for generating exact eigenstates of the nuclear Hamiltonian

We endow a recently devised algorithm for generating exact eigensolutions of large matrices with an importance sampling, which is in control of the extent and accuracy of the truncation of their dimensions. We made several tests on typical nuclei using a correlated basis obtained from partitioning the shell model space. The sampling so implemented allows not only for a substantial reduction of the shell model space but also for an extrapolation to exact eigenvalues and E2 strengths.Comment: A compressed file composed of a text in latex of 19 pages and 9 figures in p

Reciprocal Association of Plasma IGF-1 and Interleukin-6 Levels With Cardiometabolic Risk Factors in Nondiabetic Subjects

OBJECTIVE—To examine the relationship between plasma IGF-1 and interleukin-6 (IL-6) levels in Caucasian nondiabetic subjects and evaluate the association of IGF-1 and IL-6 with the cardiometabolic risk factors characterizing metabolic syndrome (MetS)

Substance use during pregnancy: time for policy to catch up with research

The phenomenon of substance abuse during pregnancy has fostered much controversy, specifically regarding treatment vs. punishment. Should the pregnant mother who engages in substance abuse be viewed as a criminal or as someone suffering from an illness requiring appropriate treatment? As it happens, there is a noticeably wide range of responses to this matter in the various states of the United States, ranging from a strictly criminal perspective to one that does emphasize the importance of the mother's treatment. This diversity of dramatically different responses illustrates the failure to establish a uniform policy for the management of this phenomenon. Just as there is lack of consensus among those who favor punishment, the same lack of consensus characterizes those states espousing treatment. Several general policy recommendations are offered here addressing the critical issues. It is hoped that by focusing on these fundamental issues and ultimately detailing statistics, policymakers throughout the United States will consider the course of action that views both pregnant mother and fetus/child as humanely as possible

Proton-Neutron Interaction near Closed Shells

Odd-odd nuclei around double shell closures are a direct source of information on the proton-neutron interaction between valence nucleons. We have performed shell-model calculations for doubly odd nuclei close to $^{208}$Pb, $^{132}$Sn and $^{100}$Sn using realistic effective interactions derived from the CD-Bonn nucleon-nucleon potential. The calculated results are compared with the available experimental data, attention being focused on particle-hole and particle-particle multiplets. While a good agreement is obtained for all the nuclei considered, a detailed analysis of the matrix elements of the effective interaction shows that a stronger core-polarization contribution seems to be needed in the particle-particle case.Comment: 8 pages, 6 figures, Proccedings of the International Conference "Nuclear Structure and Related Topics", Dubna, Russia, September 2-6, 2003, to be published in Yadernaia Fizika (Physics of Atomic Nuclei

Topic modeling and user network analysis on twitter during world lupus awareness day

Twitter is increasingly used by individuals and organizations to broadcast their feelings and practices, providing access to samples of spontaneously expressed opinions on all sorts of themes. Social media offers an additional source of data to unlock information supporting new insights disclosures, particularly for public health purposes. Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a complex, systemic autoimmune disease that remains a major challenge in therapeutic diagnostic and treatment management. When supporting patients with such a complex disease, sharing information through social media can play an important role in creating better healthcare services. This study explores the nature of topics posted by users and organizations on Twitter during world Lupus day to extract latent topics that occur in tweet texts and to identify what information is most commonly discussed among users. We identified online influencers and opinion leaders who discussed different topics. During this analysis, we found two different types of influencers that employed different narratives about the communities they belong to. Therefore, this study identifies hidden information for healthcare decision-makers and provides a detailed model of the implications for healthcare organizations to detect, understand, and define hidden content behind large collections of text

Association between serum Mg2+ concentrations and cardiovascular organ damage in a cohort of adult subjects

Magnesium (Mg2+) levels are associated with insulin resistance, hypertension, atherosclerosis, and type 2 diabetes (T2DM). We evaluated the clinical utility of physiological Mg2+ in assessing subclinical cardiovascular organ damage including increased carotid artery intima-media thickness (c-IMT) and left ventricular mass index (LVMI) in a cohort of well-characterized adult non-diabetic individuals. Age-and gender-adjusted correlations between Mg2+ and metabolic parameters showed that Mg2+ circulating levels were correlated negatively with body mass index (BMI), fasting glucose, and 2h-oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) glucose. Similarly, Mg2+ levels were significantly and negatively related to c-IMT and LVMI. A multivariate regression analysis revealed that age (β = 0.440; p < 0.0001), BMI (β = 0.225; p < 0.0001), and Mg2+ concentration (β = −0.122; p < 0.01) were independently associated with c-IMT. Age (β = 0.244; p = 0.012), Mg2+ (β = −0.177; p = 0.019), and diastolic blood pressure (β = 0.184; p = 0.038) were significantly associated with LVMI in women, while age (β = 0.211; p = 0.019), Mg2+ (β = −0.171; p = 0.038) and the homeostasis model assessment index of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) (β = −0.211; p = 0.041) were the sole variables associated with LVMI in men. In conclusion, our data support the hypothesis that the assessment of Mg2+ as part of the initial work-up might help unravel the presence of subclinical organ damage in subjects at increased risk of cardiovascular complications

Produced water treatment by advanced oxidation processes

Abstract Different Advanced Oxidation Processes (AOPs) such as photocatalysis, Fenton-based processes and ozonation were studied to include one of these technologies within an integrated solution for produced water (PW) polishing. Synthetic PW was prepared adding toluene, xylene, naphthalene, phenol, acetic and malonic acids to a seawater matrix. Despite that in all AOPs studied in this work BTEX and naphthalene were removed, the efficiency (in terms of TOC removal) of each treatment varied largely. Among these techniques, photocatalysis was found to be the less effective for the treatment of PW, as TOC removals lower than 20% were obtained for the best scenario after 4 h treatment. In the contrary, best results were obtained by ozonation combined with H2O2, where all the organic components were removed, including a high percentage of acetic acid, which was not abated by the rest of the AOPs studied. The optimum conditions for ozonation were 4 g h−1 O3 and 1500 mg L−1 H2O2 at pH 10, where after 2 h a 74% of TOC removal was achieved and the acetic acid elimination was 78%. This condition enabled that ozonation process accounted for the lowest electric energy consumption per order of target compound destruction regarding total organic carbon (TOC)