Medical inpatients at risk of extended hospital stay and poor discharge health status:Detection with COMPRI and INTERMED

Objective: To detect the patients in medical wards at risk of extended LOS and poor discharge health status with the use of complexity prediction instrument (COMPRI) and interdisciplinary medicine (INTERMED) instruments. Methods: Study 1: In a sample of 275 consecutively admitted medical inpatients, a hierarchical cluster analysis on INTERMED variables was performed. The clusters were compared on length of hospital stay (LOS) and Short Form 36 (SF-36) at discharge. Study 2: Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis was used to optimal cut-off points for the COMPRI and INTERMED. Patients detected with COMPRI and INTERMED were then compared with undetected patients on LOS and SF-36. Results: Study 1: In concordance with previous findings, a cluster of patients with high biopsychosocial vulnerability was identified with significantly higher scores on LOS (

WISE Albedos for Tens of Thousands of Main Belt Asteroids

Using thermal IR data from the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) mission we have calculated diameters for tens of thousands of previously known Main Belt asteroids. Using archival optical observations we have also determined albedos for each object. We present our results from this investigation including: diameter and albedo population statistics for the Main Belt as a whole; preliminary size-frequency and albedo distributions for dynamical families; and new populations of very high albedo asteroids. These results provide new insight into the surface chemistry and formation history of the Main Belt asteroids. Funding for this work was provided by the NASA Postdoctoral Program, administered through Oak Ridge Associated Universities. WISE is a joint project between UCLA and JPL funded by the NASA MIDEX program. The NEOWISE enhancement is funded through NASA Planetary Science

A slope variation in the Period-Luminosity relation for short period SMC Cepheids

We present the Period-Luminosity relations from 290 Cepheids towards the LMC and 590 Cepheids towards the SMC. The two data sets were obtained using the two wide field CCD cameras of the EROS 2 microlensing survey. We observe a significant slope change of the period-luminosity relation for the SMC fundamental mode Cepheids with periods shorter than 2 days. Many possible experimental biases have been investigated, but none can account for this effect. We also observe different spatial distributions for SMC Cepheids with different ages i.e. periods. Different possible explanations of the slope change are discussed

Inhaled nitric oxide in full-term and nearly full-term infants with hypoxic respiratory failure

Background Neonates with pulmonary hypertension have been treated with inhaled nitric oxide because of studies suggesting that it is a selective pulmonary vasodilator. We conducted a randomized, multicenter, controlled trial to determine whether inhaled nitric oxide would reduce mortality or the initiation of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation in infants with hypoxic respiratory failure, Methods Infants born after a gestation of greater than or equal to 34 weeks who were 14 days old or less, had no structural heart disease, and required assisted ventilation and whose oxygenation index was 25 or higher on two measurements were eligible for the study. The infants were randomly assigned to receive nitric oxide at a concentration of 20 ppm or 100 percent oxygen (as a control). Infants whose partial pressure of arterial oxygen (PaO2) increased by 20 mm Hg or less after 30 minutes were studied for a response to 80-ppm nitric oxide or control gas, Results The 121 infants in the control group and the 114 in the nitric oxide group had similar base-line clinical characteristics. Sixty-four percent of the control group and 46 percent of the nitric oxide group died within 120 days or were treated with extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (P=0.006). Seventeen percent of the control group and 14 percent of the nitric oxide group died (P not significant), but significantly fewer in the nitric oxide group received extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (39 percent vs. 54 percent, P=0.014). The nitric oxide group had significantly greater improvement in PaO2 (mean [+/-SD] increase, 58.2+/-85.2 mm Hg, vs. 9.7+/-51.7 mm Hg in the controls; P Conclusions Nitric oxide therapy reduced the use of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, but had no apparent effect on mortality, in critically ill infants with hypoxic respiratory failure. (C) 1997, Massachusetts Medical Society