1,769 research outputs found
Care coordination among pediatricians and dentists: a cross-sectional study of opinions of North Carolina dentists
Abstract: Background: Care coordination between physicians and dentists remains a challenge. This study of dentists providing pediatric dental care examined their opinions about physicians’ role in oral health and identified factors associated with these opinions. Methods: North Carolina general and pediatric dentists were surveyed on their opinions of how physicians should proceed after caries risk assessment and evaluation of an 18-month-old, low risk child. We estimated two multinomial logistic regression models to examine dentists’ responses to the scenario under the circumstances of an adequate and a limited dental workforce. Results: Among 376 dentists, 52% of dentists indicated physicians should immediately refer this child to a dental home with an adequate dental workforce. With a limited workforce, 34% recommended immediate referral. Regression analysis indicated that with an adequate workforce guideline awareness was associated with a significantly lower relative risk of dentists’ recommending the child remain in the medical home than immediate referral. Conclusions: Dentists’ opinions and professional guidelines on how physicians should promote early childhood oral health differ and warrant strategies to address such inconsistencies. Without consistent guidelines and their application, there is a missed opportunity to influence provider opinions to improve access to dental care
Photometric Variability in the CSTAR Field: Results From the 2008 Data Set
The Chinese Small Telescope ARray (CSTAR) is the first telescope facility
built at Dome A, Antarctica. During the 2008 observing season, the installation
provided long-baseline and high-cadence photometric observations in the i-band
for 18,145 targets within 20 deg2 CSTAR field around the South Celestial Pole
for the purpose of monitoring the astronomical observing quality of Dome A and
detecting various types of photometric variability. Using sensitive and robust
detection methods, we discover 274 potential variables from this data set, 83
of which are new discoveries. We characterize most of them, providing the
periods, amplitudes and classes of variability. The catalog of all these
variables is presented along with the discussion of their statistical
properties.Comment: 38 pages, 11 figures, 4 tables; Accepted for publication in ApJ
Photometry of Variable Stars from Dome A, Antarctica
Dome A on the Antarctic plateau is likely one of the best observing sites on
Earth thanks to the excellent atmospheric conditions present at the site during
the long polar winter night. We present high-cadence time-series aperture
photometry of 10,000 stars with i<14.5 mag located in a 23 square-degree region
centered on the south celestial pole. The photometry was obtained with one of
the CSTAR telescopes during 128 days of the 2008 Antarctic winter.
We used this photometric data set to derive site statistics for Dome A and to
search for variable stars. Thanks to the nearly-uninterrupted synoptic
coverage, we find 6 times as many variables as previous surveys with similar
magnitude limits. We detected 157 variable stars, of which 55% are
unclassified, 27% are likely binaries and 17% are likely pulsating stars. The
latter category includes delta Scuti, gamma Doradus and RR Lyrae variables. One
variable may be a transiting exoplanet.Comment: Accepted for publication in the Astronomical Journal. PDF version
with high-resolution figures available at
http://faculty.physics.tamu.edu/lmacri/papers/wang11.pd
Barriers to Pediatricians’ Adherence to American Academy of Pediatrics Oral Health Referral Guidelines: North Carolina General Dentists’ Opinions
Purpose—The purposes of this study were to: (1) assess knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors of
North Carolina general dentists (GDs) regarding American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) dental
referral guidelines; and (2) determine factors that influence pediatricians’ ability to comply with
AAP guidelines.
Methods—One thousand GDs were surveyed to determine barriers toward acceptance of
physician referrals of infants and toddlers. The primary outcome using ordered logistic regression
was GDs’ acceptance of children described in five case scenarios, with different levels of risk and
oral health status.
Results—GDs believed pediatricians should refer patients at risk for caries to a dentist. While 61
to 75 percent of GDs were willing to accept low caries risk referrals of infants and toddlers, only
35 percent would accept referrals when caries was present. Predictors of referral acceptance were
correct knowledge about AAP guidelines (OR=2.0, 95%CI=1.2-3.3), confidence in pro- viding
preventive care to infants and toddlers (OR=2.6, 95%CI=1.3-4.9), and agreement that parents see
importance in dental referrals (OR=2.1, 95% CI=1.2-3.6).
Conclusions—This study identified factors influencing acceptance of pediatrician referrals for
the age one dental visit among North Carolina GDs and highlighted challenges pediatricians face
in referring young children for dental care
Eclipsing Binaries From the CSTAR Project at Dome A, Antarctica
The Chinese Small Telescope ARray (CSTAR) has observed an area around the
Celestial South Pole at Dome A since 2008. About light curves in the i
band were obtained lasting from March to July, 2008. The photometric precision
achieves about 4 mmag at i = 7.5 and 20 mmag at i = 12 within a 30 s exposure
time. These light curves are analyzed using Lomb--Scargle, Phase Dispersion
Minimization, and Box Least Squares methods to search for periodic signals.
False positives may appear as a variable signature caused by contaminating
stars and the observation mode of CSTAR. Therefore the period and position of
each variable candidate are checked to eliminate false positives. Eclipsing
binaries are removed by visual inspection, frequency spectrum analysis and
locally linear embedding technique. We identify 53 eclipsing binaries in the
field of view of CSTAR, containing 24 detached binaries, 8 semi-detached
binaries, 18 contact binaries, and 3 ellipsoidal variables. To derive the
parameters of these binaries, we use the Eclipsing Binaries via Artificial
Intelligence (EBAI) method. The primary and the secondary eclipse timing
variations (ETVs) for semi-detached and contact systems are analyzed.
Correlated primary and secondary ETVs confirmed by false alarm tests may
indicate an unseen perturbing companion. Through ETV analysis, we identify two
triple systems (CSTAR J084612.64-883342.9 and CSTAR J220502.55-895206.7). The
orbital parameters of the third body in CSTAR J220502.55-895206.7 are derived
using a simple dynamical model.Comment: 41 pages, 12 figures; published online in ApJ
Long-term spironolactone treatment reduces coronary TRPC expression, vasoconstriction, and atherosclerosis in metabolic syndrome pigs
Coronary transient receptor potential canonical (TRPC) channel expression is elevated in metabolic syndrome (MetS). However, differential contribution of TRPCs to coronary pathology in MetS is not fully elucidated. We investigated the roles of TRPC1 and TRPC6 isoforms in coronary arteries of MetS pigs and determined whether long-term treatment with a mineralocorticoid receptor inhibitor, spironolactone, attenuates coronary TRPC expression and associated dysfunctions. MetS coronary arteries exhibited significant atherosclerosis, endothelial dysfunction, and increased histamine-induced contractions. Immunohistochemical studies revealed that TRPC6 immunostaining was significantly greater in the medial layer of MetS pig coronary arteries compared to that in Lean pigs, whereas little TRPC6 immunostaining was found in atheromas. Conversely, TRPC1 immunostaining was weak in the medial layer but strong in MetS atheromas, where it was predominantly localized to macrophages. Spironolactone treatment significantly decreased coronary TRPC expression and dysfunctions in MetS pigs. In vivo targeted delivery of the dominant-negative (DN)-TRPC6 cDNA to the coronary wall reduced histamine-induced calcium transients in the MetS coronary artery medial layer, implying a role for TRPC6 in mediating calcium influx in MetS coronary smooth muscles. Monocyte adhesion was increased in Lean pig coronary arteries cultured in the presence of aldosterone; and spironolactone antagonized this effect, suggesting that coronary mineralocorticoid receptor activation may regulate macrophage infiltration. TRPC1 expression in atheroma macrophages was associated with advanced atherosclerosis, whereas medial TRPC6 upregulation correlated with increased histamine-induced calcium transients and coronary contractility. We propose that long-term spironolactone treatment may be a therapeutic strategy to decrease TRPC expression and coronary pathology associated with MetS
PHOTOMETRY OF VARIABLE STARS FROM DOME A, ANTARCTICA: RESULTS FROM THE 2010 OBSERVING SEASON
We present results from a season of observations with the Chinese Small
Telescope ARray (CSTAR), obtained over 183 days of the 2010 Antarctic winter.
We carried out high-cadence time-series aperture photometry of 20,000 stars
with i<15.3 mag located in a 23 square-degree region centered on the south
celestial pole.
We identified 188 variable stars, including 67 new objects relative to our
2008 observations, thanks to broader synoptic coverage, a deeper magnitude
limit and a larger field of view.
We used the photometric data set to derive site statistics from Dome A. Based
on two years of observations, we find that extinction due to clouds at this
site is less than 0.1 and 0.4 mag during 45% and 75% of the dark time,
respectively.Comment: Accepted for publication in the Astronomical Journal. Light curves
and finding charts of all variable stars will be made available at
http://casdc.china-vo.org/data/csta
STELLAR VARIABILITY AND FLARE RATES FROM DOME A, ANTARCTICA, USING 2009 AND 2010 CSTAR OBSERVATIONS
The Chinese Small Telescope ARray (CSTAR) carried out high-cadence
time-series observations of 20.1 square degrees centered on the South Celestial
Pole during the 2008, 2009 & 2010 winter seasons from Dome A in Antarctica. The
nearly-continuous 6 months of dark conditions during each observing season
allowed for >10^6 images to be collected through gri and clear filters,
resulting in the detection of >10^4 sources over the course of 3 years of
operation. The nearly space-like conditions in the Antarctic plateau are an
ideal testbed for the suitability of very small-aperture (<20 cm) telescopes to
detect transient events, variable stars and stellar flares. We present the
results of a robust search for such objects using difference image analysis of
the data obtained during the 2009 & 2010 winter seasons. While no transients
were found, we detected 29 flaring events and find a normalized flaring rate of
5+\-4x10^-7 flare/hour for late-K dwarfs, 1+\-1x10^-6 flare/hour for M dwarfs
and 7+\-1x10^-7 flare/hour for all other stars in our sample. We suggest future
small-aperture telescopes planned for deployment at Dome A would benefit from a
tracking mechanism, to help alleviate effects from ghosting, and a finer pixel
scale, to increase the telescope's sensitivity to faint objects. We find that
the light curves of non-transient sources have excellent photometric qualities
once corrected for systematics, and are limited only by photon noise and
atmospheric scintillation.Comment: Accepted for Publication in the Astronomical Journal, 14 pages, 12
figures and 2 table
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