Pricing Ourselves Out of the Market: The Attack Submarine Program

The 1979 winner here analyzes the consequences of the present high costs of nuclear attack submarines and suggests some steps to lessen the severity of those consequences

PROPERTIES OF ESCHERICHIA COLI IN RECURRENT URINARY TRACT INFECTION.

PhDProperties of Escherichia coli considered to be of importance in overcoming host defence mechanisms against urinary tract infection (OTI) were investigated. These were: 1) 0 and H serotype 2) K antigen content 3) Sensitivity to the bactericidal activity of human serum 4) Haemolysin production 5) Fimbriae production 6) Fermentation of sucrose, salicin and dulcitol 7) Sensitivity to serine, spermine and urea 8) Growth requirements 9) Mucinase production Ecoli strains isolated from normal subjects and patients attending the Nephrourological Clinic at St. Bartholomew's Hospital because of known or suspected UTI, were studied. Strains isolated from urines more frequently belonged to 0 serogroups 2,4,6,8,18ab and 75, had high K antigen titres, were haemolytic and fimbriate, and fermented salicin than periurethral strains from normal subjects. These findings support the concept of "special pathogenicity", that certain strains are more invasive for the urinary tract than others. Strains rich in these "pathogenic properties" were rarely isolated from normal subjects but were significantly more frequently isolated from periurethral swabs of patients. Periurethral strains from symptomatic, abacteriuric (urethral syndrome) patients were similar to those from bacteriuric patients when they were between infections. Previous work has not implicated bacteria in the aetiology of most cases of this disease and this finding remains unexplained. Strains isolated from the upper tracts of patients undergoing localisation tests more frequently exhibited pathogenic properties than those isolated from only the lower tract, and this was considered to reflect the superior ability of these strains to reach the upper tract or better combat host defence mechanisms

Trinquer avec son ennemi

Publié originalement (en anglais) dans le Globe and Mail, le 19 juil., 2000Version anglais dans la bibliothèque: Drinking (water) with your enem

Modeling Evolving Coronal Loops with Observations from STEREO, Hinode, and TRACE

The high densities, long lifetimes, and narrow emission measure distributions observed in coronal loops with apex temperatures near 1 MK are difficult to reconcile with physical models of the solar atmosphere. It has been proposed that the observed loops are actually composed of sub-resolution ``threads'' that have been heated impulsively and are cooling. We apply this heating scenario to nearly simultaneous observations of an evolving post-flare loop arcade observed with the EUVI/\textit{STEREO}, XRT/\textit{Hinode}, and \textit{TRACE} imagers and the EIS spectrometer on \textit{HINODE}. We find that it is possible to reproduce the extended loop lifetime, high electron density, and the narrow differential emission measure with a multi-thread hydrodynamic model provided that the time scale for the energy release is sufficiently short. The model, however, does not reproduce the evolution of the very high temperature emission observed with XRT. In XRT the emission appears diffuse and it may be that this discrepancy is simply due to the difficulty of isolating individual loops at these temperatures. This discrepancy may also reflect fundamental problems with our understanding of post-reconnection dynamics during the conductive cooling phase of loop evolution.Comment: Revised version submitted to ApJ in response to referee's comment

The X10 Flare on 2003 October 29: Triggered by Magnetic Reconnection between Counter-Helical Fluxes?

Vector magnetograms taken at Huairou Solar Observing Station (HSOS) and Mees Solar Observatory (MSO) reveal that the super active region (AR) NOAA 10486 was a complex region containing current helicity flux of opposite signs. The main positive sunspots were dominated by negative helicity fields, while positive helicity patches persisted both inside and around the main positive sunspots. Based on a comparison of two days of deduced current helicity density, pronounced changes were noticed which were associated with the occurrence of an X10 flare that peaked at 20:49 UT, 2003 October 29. The average current helicity density (negative) of the main sunspots decreased significantly by about 50. Accordingly, the helicity densities of counter-helical patches (positive) were also found to decay by the same proportion or more. In addition, two hard X-ray (HXR) `footpoints' were observed by the Reuven Ramaty High Energy Solar Spectroscopic Imager (RHESSI} during the flare in the 50-100 keV energy range. The cores of these two HXR footpoints were adjacent to the positions of two patches with positive current helicity which disappeared after the flare. This strongly suggested that the X10 flare on 2003 Oct. 29 resulted from reconnection between magnetic flux tubes having opposite current helicity. Finally, the global decrease of current helicity in AR 10486 by ~50% can be understood as the helicity launched away by the halo coronal mass ejection (CME) associated with the X10 flare.Comment: Solar Physics, 2007, in pres

Prospectus, February 2, 1983

SEVERNS RECALLS TERM AS MAYOR; News Digest; Nine run for StuGo offices; Candidates present views; Family offers thanks; \u27Nonsense\u27 was nonsense; Club news; MSLC held; Education award offered; Illinois colleges get grants; PC radio plays provide a trip down memory land; C-U happenings; PCU prepares for concerts; \u27Seer of Seers\u27 ready for annual appearance; Oops; Student responsible for campus posters; Kabuki performance brings ancient art form to PC; Children urged to write; Classified; \u27Gandhi\u27 is brilliant, an event to experience; Bad script overrides excellent cast, acting; Missing Persons: don\u27t miss this; Skylines; Sport shorts; IM basketball results; IM basketball schedule; Five qualify for NJCAAhttps://spark.parkland.edu/prospectus_1983/1028/thumbnail.jp

Study protocol of cost-effectiveness and cost-utility of a biopsychosocial multidisciplinary intervention in the evolution of non-specific sub-acute low back pain in the working population: cluster randomised trial.

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.Background: Low back pain (LBP), with high incidence and prevalence rate, is one of the most common reasons to consult the health system and is responsible for a significant amount of sick leave, leading to high health and social costs. The objective of the study is to assess the cost-effectiveness and cost-utility analysis of a multidisciplinary biopsychosocial educational group intervention (MBEGI) of non-specific sub-acute LBP in comparison with the usual care in the working population recruited in primary healthcare centres. Methods/design: The study design is a cost-effectiveness and cost-utility analysis of a MBEGI in comparison with the usual care of non-specific sub-acute LBP.Measures on effectiveness and costs of both interventions will be obtained from a cluster randomised controlled clinical trial carried out in 38 Catalan primary health care centres, enrolling 932 patients between 18 and 65 years old with a diagnosis of non-specific sub-acute LBP. Effectiveness measures are: pharmaceutical treatments, work sick leave (% and duration in days), Roland Morris disability, McGill pain intensity, Fear Avoidance Beliefs (FAB) and Golberg Questionnaires. Utility measures will be calculated from the SF-12. The analysis will be performed from a social perspective. The temporal horizon is at 3 months (change to chronic LBP) and 12 months (evaluate the outcomes at long term. Assessment of outcomes will be blinded and will follow the intention-to-treat principle. Discussion: We hope to demonstrate the cost-effectiveness and cost-utility of MBEGI, see an improvement in the patients' quality of life, achieve a reduction in the duration of episodes and the chronicity of non-specific low back pain, and be able to report a decrease in the social costs. If the intervention is cost-effectiveness and cost-utility, it could be applied to Primary Health Care Centres. Trial registration: ISRCTN: ISRCTN5871969

Effectiveness of early part-time sick leave in musculoskeletal disorders

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The importance of staying active instead of bed rest has been acknowledged in the management of musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs). This emphasizes the potential benefits of adjusting work to fit the employee's remaining work ability. Despite part-time sick leave being an official option in many countries, its effectiveness has not been studied yet. We have designed a randomized controlled study to assess the health effects of early part-time sick leave compared to conventional full-day sick leave. Our hypothesis is that if work time is temporarily reduced and work load adjusted at the early stages of disability, employees with MSDs will have less disability days and faster return to regular work duties than employees on a conventional sick leave.</p> <p>Methods/Design</p> <p>The study population will consist of 600 employees, who seek medical advice from an occupational physician due to musculoskeletal pain. The inclusion requires that they have not been on a sick leave for longer than 14 days prior to the visit. Based on the physician's judgement, the severity of the symptoms must indicate a need for conventional sick leave, but the employee is considered to be able to work part-time without any additional risk. Half of the employees are randomly allocated to part-time sick leave group and their work time is reduced by 40–60%, whereas in the control group work load is totally eliminated with conventional sick leave. The main outcomes are the number of days from the initial visit to return to regular work activities, and the total number of sick leave days during 12 and 24 months of follow-up. The costs and benefits as well as the feasibility of early part-time sick leave will also be evaluated.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>This is the first randomised trial to our knowledge on the effectiveness of early part-time sick leave compared to conventional full-time sick leave in the management of MSDs. The data collection continues until 2011, but preliminary results on the feasibility of part-time sick leave will be available already in 2008. The increased knowledge will assist in better decision making process regarding the management of disability related to MSDs.</p> <p>Trial Registration</p> <p>International Standard Randomised Controlled Trial Number Register, register number ISRCTN30911719</p