Optical Sensors for Planetary Radiant Energy (OSPREy): Calibration and Validation of Current and Next-Generation NASA Missions

A principal objective of the Optical Sensors for Planetary Radiance Energy (OSPREy) activity is to establish an above-water radiometer system as a lower-cost alternative to existing in-water systems for the collection of ground-truth observations. The goal is to be able to make high-quality measurements satisfying the accuracy requirements for the vicarious calibration and algorithm validation of next-generation satellites that make ocean color and atmospheric measurements. This means the measurements will have a documented uncertainty satisfying the established performance metrics for producing climate-quality data records. The OSPREy approach is based on enhancing commercial-off-the-shelf fixed-wavelength and hyperspectral sensors to create hybridspectral instruments with an improved accuracy and spectral resolution, as well as a dynamic range permitting sea, Sun, sky, and Moon observations. Greater spectral diversity in the ultraviolet (UV) will be exploited to separate the living and nonliving components of marine ecosystems; UV bands will also be used to flag and improve atmospheric correction algorithms in the presence of absorbing aerosols. The short-wave infrared (SWIR) is expected to improve atmospheric correction, because the ocean is radiometrically blacker at these wavelengths. This report describes the development of the sensors, including unique capabilities like three-axis polarimetry; the documented uncertainty will be presented in a subsequent report

Rapid nano-gram scale screening method of micro-arrays to evaluate drug-polymer blends using high-throughput printing technology

A miniaturized, high-throughput assay was optimized to screen polymer-drug solid dispersions using a 2-D Ink-jet printer. By simply printing nanoliter amounts of polymer and drug solutions onto an inert surface, drug:polymer micro-dots of tunable composition were produced in an easily-addressable micro-array format. The amount of material printed for each dried spot ranged from 25 ng to 650 ng. These arrays were used to assess the stability of drug:polymer dispersions with respect to recrystallization, using polarized light microscopy. One array with a panel of 6 drugs formulated at different ratios with Poly (vinylpyrrolidone-vinyl acetate) copolymer (PVPVA) was developed to estimate a possible bulk (gram-scale) approximation threshold from the final printed nano amount of formulation. Another array was printed at a fixed final amount of material to establish a literature comparison of one drug formulated with different commercial polymers for validation. This new approach may offer significant efficiency in pharmaceutical formulation screening, with each experiment in the nano-micro-array format requiring from 3 up to 6 orders of magnitude lower amounts of sample than conventional screening methods

Intervention Now to Eliminate Repeat Unintended Pregnancy in Teenagers (INTERUPT): a systematic review of intervention effectiveness and cost-effectiveness, and qualitative and realist synthesis of implementation factors and user engagement.

BACKGROUND: Unintended repeat conceptions can result in emotional, psychological and educational harm to young women, often with enduring implications for their life chances. This study aimed to identify which young women are at the greatest risk of repeat unintended pregnancies; which interventions are effective and cost-effective; and what are the barriers to and facilitators for the uptake of these interventions. METHODS: We conducted a mixed-methods systematic review which included meta-analysis, framework synthesis and application of realist principles, with stakeholder input and service user feedback to address this. We searched 20 electronic databases, including MEDLINE, Excerpta Medica database, Applied Social Sciences Index and Abstracts and Research Papers in Economics, to cover a broad range of health, social science, health economics and grey literature sources. Searches were conducted between May 2013 and June 2014 and updated in August 2015. RESULTS: Twelve randomised controlled trials (RCTs), two quasi-RCTs, 10 qualitative studies and 53 other quantitative studies were identified. The RCTs evaluated psychosocial interventions and an emergency contraception programme. The primary outcome was repeat conception rate: the event rate was 132 of 308 (43%) in the intervention group versus 140 of 289 (48%) for the control group, with a non-significant risk ratio (RR) of 0.92 [95% confidence interval (CI) 0.78-1.08]. Four studies reported subsequent birth rates: 29 of 237 (12%) events for the intervention arm versus 46 out of 224 (21%) for the control arm, with an RR of 0.60 (95% CI 0.39-0.93). Many repeat conceptions occurred in the context of poverty, low expectations and aspirations and negligible opportunities. Qualitative and realist evidence highlighted the importance of context, motivation, future planning and giving young women a central and active role in the development of new interventions. CONCLUSIONS: Little or no evidence for the effectiveness or cost-effectiveness of any of the interventions to reduce repeat pregnancy in young women was found. Qualitative and realist evidence helped to explain gaps in intervention design that should be addressed. More theory-based, rigorously evaluated programmes need to be developed to reduce unintended repeat pregnancy in young women. TRIAL REGISTRATION: PROSPERO, CRD42012003168 . Cochrane registration number: i = fertility/0068

Venom complexity in a pitviper produced by facultative parthenogenesis

Facultative parthenogenesis (FP) is asexual reproduction in plant and animal species that would otherwise reproduce sexually. This process in vertebrates typically results from automictic development (likely terminal fusion) and is phylogenetically widespread. In squamate reptiles and chondrichthyan fishes, FP has been reported to occur in nature and can result in the production of reproductively viable offspring; suggesting that it is of ecological and evolutionary significance. However, terminal fusion automixis is believed to result in near genome-wide reductions in heterozygosity; thus, FP seems likely to affect key phenotypic characters, yet this remains almost completely unstudied. Snake venom is a complex phenotypic character primarily used to subjugate prey and is thus tightly linked to individual fitness. Surprisingly, the composition and function of venom produced by a parthenogenetic pitviper exhibits a high degree of similarity to that of its mother and conspecifics from the same population. Therefore, the apparent loss of allelic diversity caused by FP appears unlikely to have a significant impact on the prey-capturing ability of this snake. Accordingly, the pitviper offspring produced by FP retained complex phenotypic characteristics associated with fitness. This result reinforces the potential ecological and evolutionary importance of FP and questions our understanding of the inheritance of venom-associated genes

SARS Clinical Features, United States, 2003

We compared the clinical features of 8 U.S. case-patients with laboratory-confirmed severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) to 65 controls who tested negative for SARS coronavirus (SARS-CoV) infection. Shortness of breath, vomiting, diarrhea, progressive bilateral infiltrates on chest radiograph, and need for supplemental oxygen were significantly associated with confirmed SARS-CoV infection

Multi-parallel qPCR provides increased sensitivity and diagnostic breadth for gastrointestinal parasites of humans: field-based inferences on the impact of mass deworming

BACKGROUND: Although chronic morbidity in humans from soil transmitted helminth (STH) infections can be reduced by anthelmintic treatment, inconsistent diagnostic tools make it difficult to reliably measure the impact of deworming programs and often miss light helminth infections. METHODS: Cryopreserved stool samples from 796 people (aged 2-81 years) in four villages in Bungoma County, western Kenya, were assessed using multi-parallel qPCR for 8 parasites and compared to point-of-contact assessments of the same stools by the 2-stool 2-slide Kato-Katz (KK) method. All subjects were treated with albendazole and all Ascaris lumbricoides expelled post-treatment were collected. Three months later, samples from 633 of these people were re-assessed by both qPCR and KK, re-treated with albendazole and the expelled worms collected. RESULTS: Baseline prevalence by qPCR (n = 796) was 17 % for A. lumbricoides, 18 % for Necator americanus, 41 % for Giardia lamblia and 15% for Entamoeba histolytica. The prevalence was <1% for Trichuris trichiura, Ancylostoma duodenale, Strongyloides stercoralis and Cryptosporidium parvum. The sensitivity of qPCR was 98% for A. lumbricoides and N. americanus, whereas KK sensitivity was 70% and 32%, respectively. Furthermore, qPCR detected infections with T. trichiura and S. stercoralis that were missed by KK, and infections with G. lamblia and E. histolytica that cannot be detected by KK. Infection intensities measured by qPCR and by KK were correlated for A. lumbricoides (r = 0.83, p < 0.0001) and N. americanus (r = 0.55, p < 0.0001). The number of A. lumbricoides worms expelled was correlated (p < 0.0001) with both the KK (r = 0.63) and qPCR intensity measurements (r = 0.60). CONCLUSIONS: KK may be an inadequate tool for stool-based surveillance in areas where hookworm or Strongyloides are common or where intensity of helminth infection is low after repeated rounds of chemotherapy. Because deworming programs need to distinguish between populations where parasitic infection is controlled and those where further treatment is required, multi-parallel qPCR (or similar high throughput molecular diagnostics) may provide new and important diagnostic information

B-->pi and B-->K transitions in standard and quenched chiral perturbation theory

We study the effects of chiral logs on the heavy-->light pseudoscalar meson transition form factors by using standard and quenched chiral perturbation theory combined with the static heavy quark limit. The resulting expressions are used to indicate the size of uncertainties due to the use of the quenched approximation in the current lattice studies. They may also be used to assess the size of systematic uncertainties induced by missing chiral log terms in extrapolating toward the physical pion mass. We also provide the coefficient multiplying the quenched chiral log, which may be useful if the quenched lattice studies are performed with very light mesons.Comment: 33 pages, 8 PostScript figures, version to appear in PR

Dose-Levels and First Signs of Efficacy in Contemporary Oncology Phase 1 Clinical Trials

PURPOSE: Phase 1 trials play a crucial role in oncology by translating laboratory science into efficient therapies. Molecular targeted agents (MTA) differ from traditional cytotoxics in terms of both efficacy and toxicity profiles. Recent reports suggest that higher doses are not essential to produce the optimal anti-tumor effect. This study aimed to assess if MTA could achieve clinical benefit at much lower dose than traditional cytotoxics in dose seeking phase 1 trials. PATIENTS AND METHODS: We reviewed 317 recent phase 1 oncology trials reported in the literature between January 1997 and January 2009. First sign of efficacy, maximum tolerated dose (MTD) and their associated dose level were recorded in each trial. RESULTS: Trials investigating conventional cytotoxics alone, MTA alone and combination of both represented respectively 63.0% (201/317), 23.3% (74/317) and 13.7% (42/317) of all trials. The MTD was reached in 65.9% (209/317) of all trials and was mostly observed at the fifth dose level. First sign of efficacy was less frequently observed at the first three dose-levels for MTA as compared to conventional cytotoxics or combinations regimens (48.3% versus 63.2% and 61.3%). Sign of efficacy was observed in the same proportion whatever the treatment type (73-82%). MTD was less frequently established in trials investigating MTA alone (51.3%) or combinations (42.8%) as compared to conventional cytotoxic agents (75.6%). CONCLUSION: First sign of efficacy was less frequently reported at the early dose-levels and MTD was less frequently reached in trials investigating molecular targeted therapy alone. Similar proportion of trials reported clinical benefit