Elevated hypertension risk for African-origin populations in biracial societies : Modeling the Epidemiologic Transition Study.

OBJECTIVES: Blood pressures in persons of African descent exceed those of other racial/ethnic groups in the United States. Whether this trait is attributable to the genetic factors in African-origin populations, or a result of inadequately measured environmental exposures, such as racial discrimination, is not known. To study this question, we conducted a multisite comparative study of communities in the African diaspora, drawn from metropolitan Chicago, Kingston, Jamaica, rural Ghana, Cape Town, South Africa, and the Seychelles. METHODS: At each site, 500 participants between the age of 25 and 49 years, with approximately equal sex balance, were enrolled for a longitudinal study of energy expenditure and weight gain. In this study, we describe the patterns of blood pressure and hypertension observed at baseline among the sites. RESULTS: Mean SBP and DBP were very similar in the United States and South Africa in both men and women, although among women, the prevalence of hypertension was higher in the United States (24 vs. 17%, respectively). After adjustment for multiple covariates, relative to participants in the United States, SBP was significantly higher among the South Africans by 9.7 mmHg (P < 0.05) and significantly lower for each of the other sites: for example, Jamaica: -7.9 mmHg (P = 0.06), Ghana: -12.8 mmHg (P < 0.01) and Seychelles: -11.1 mmHg (P = 0.01). CONCLUSION: These data are consistent with prior findings of a blood pressure gradient in societies of the African diaspora and confirm that African-origin populations with lower social status in multiracial societies, such as the United States and South Africa, experience more hypertension than anticipated based on anthropometric and measurable socioeconomic risk factors

Acquiring and Modeling of Si Solar-Cell Transient Response to Pulsed X-Ray

We report on the acquisition and modeling of the transient response of a commercial silicon (Si) solar cell using a benchtop pulsed X-ray source. The solar-cell transient output to the X-ray pulses was acquired under the dark and steady-state light illumination to mimic the practical operation of a solar cell under different light illumination levels. A solar-cell circuit model was created to develop a fundamental understanding of the transient current/voltage response of solar cell at read-out circuit level. The model was validated by a good agreement between the simulation and experimental results. It was found that the solar-cell resistance ( $R$ ) and capacitance ( $C$ ) depend on the light illumination, and the resulting variation in $RC$ time constant significantly affects the solar-cell transient response. Thus, the solar cell produced different transient signals under different illumination intensities in response to the same X-ray pulse. The experimental data acquired in this work proves the feasibility of using solar panels for prompt detection of nuclear detonations, which also builds a practical mode of X-ray detection using a low-cost self-powered detector

A Measurement of Time-Averaged Aerosol Optical Depth using Air-Showers Observed in Stereo by HiRes

Air fluorescence measurements of cosmic ray energy must be corrected for attenuation of the atmosphere. In this paper we show that the air-showers themselves can yield a measurement of the aerosol attenuation in terms of optical depth, time-averaged over extended periods. Although the technique lacks statistical power to make the critical hourly measurements that only specialized active instruments can achieve, we note the technique does not depend on absolute calibration of the detector hardware, and requires no additional equipment beyond the fluorescence detectors that observe the air showers. This paper describes the technique, and presents results based on analysis of 1258 air-showers observed in stereo by the High Resolution Fly's Eye over a four year span.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures, accepted for publication by Astroparticle Physics Journa

Search for Global Dipole Enhancements in the HiRes-I Monocular Data above 10^{18.5} eV

Several proposed source models for Ultra-High Energy Cosmic Rays (UHECRs) consist of dipole distributions oriented towards major astrophysical landmarks such as the galactic center, M87, or Centaurus A. We use a comparison between real data and simulated data to show that the HiRes-I monocular data for energies above 10^{18.5} eV is, in fact, consistent with an isotropic source model. We then explore methods to quantify our sensitivity to dipole source models oriented towards the Galactic Center, M87, and Centaurus A.Comment: 17 pages, 31 figure

Observation of the Ankle and Evidence for a High-Energy Break in the Cosmic Ray Spectrum

We have measured the cosmic ray spectrum at energies above $10^{17}$ eV using the two air fluorescence detectors of the High Resolution Fly's Eye experiment operating in monocular mode. We describe the detector, PMT and atmospheric calibrations, and the analysis techniques for the two detectors. We fit the spectrum to models describing galactic and extragalactic sources. Our measured spectrum gives an observation of a feature known as the ``ankle'' near $3\times 10^{18}$ eV, and strong evidence for a suppression near $6\times 10^{19}$ eV.Comment: 14 pages, 9 figures. To appear in Physics Letters B. Accepted versio

Health-related quality of life in Indonesian type 2 diabetes mellitus outpatients measured with the Bahasa version of EQ-5D

Objectives To present EuroQol-5D (EQ-5D) index scores in Indonesian type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) outpatients and to investigate the associations between EQ-5D and socio-demographic characteristics and clinical condition. Methods Socio-demographic data were collected by interviewing participants, clinical data were obtained from treating physicians and self-reporting. Participants originated from primary and secondary care facilities in the Java and Sulawesi regions. Ordinal regression analysis was conducted with the quintiles of the EQ-5D index scores as the dependent variable to investigate the multivariate association with the participants’ socio-demographic characteristics and clinical condition. Results 907 participants completed the five-level Indonesian version of the EQ-5D. The mean age of the participants was 59.3 (SD 9.7), and 57% were female. The overall EQ-5D index score was 0.77 (0.75–0.79). Male participants had a higher EQ-5D index score compared to females, and the highest percentage of self-reported health problems was in the pain/ discomfort dimension (61%). Factors identified as being significantly associated with lower EQ-5D index scores were: (i) treatment in secondary care, (ii) lower educational level, (iii) dependency on caregivers, (iv) not undergoing T2DM therapy, and (v) being a housewife. Conclusion This study provides estimates of EQ-5D index scores that can be used in health economic evaluations. As housewives were found to experience more T2DM-related pain/discomfort and anxiety/depression, targeted approaches to reduce these problems should be aimed specifically at this group of patients. Potential approaches could involve diseasespecific-counselors (health literacy partners) who provide routine monitoring of T2DM therapy as well as improved health promotion among T2DM communities

A probabilistic method for the operation of three-phase unbalanced active distribution networks

YesThis paper proposes a probabilistic multi-objective optimization method for the operation of three-phase distribution networks incorporating active network management (ANM) schemes including coordinated voltage control and adaptive power factor control. The proposed probabilistic method incorporates detailed modelling of three-phase distribution network components and considers different operational objectives. The method simultaneously minimizes the total energy losses of the lines from the point of view of distribution network operators (DNOs) and maximizes the energy generated by photovoltaic (PV) cells considering ANM schemes and network constraints. Uncertainties related to intermittent generation of PVs and load demands are modelled by probability density functions (PDFs). Monte Carlo simulation method is employed to use the generated PDFs. The problem is solved using ɛ-constraint approach and fuzzy satisfying method is used to select the best solution from the Pareto optimal set. The effectiveness of the proposed probabilistic method is demonstrated with IEEE 13- and 34- bus test feeders

A Likelihood Method for Measuring the Ultrahigh Energy Cosmic Ray Composition

Air fluorescence detectors traditionally determine the dominant chemical composit ion of the ultrahigh energy cosmic ray flux by comparing the averaged slant depth of the shower maximum, $X_{max}$, as a function of energy to the slant depths expect ed for various hypothesized primaries. In this paper, we present a method to make a direct measurement of the expected mean number of protons and iron by comparing the shap es of the expected $X_{max}$ distributions to the distribution for data. The advantages of this method includes the use of information of the full distribution and its ability to calculate a flux for various cosmic ray compositi ons. The same method can be expanded to marginalize uncertainties due to choice of spectra, hadronic models and atmospheric parameters. We demonstrate the technique with independent simulated data samples from a parent sample of protons and iron. We accurately predict the number of protons and iron in the parent sample and show that the uncertainties are meaningful.Comment: 11 figures, 22 pages, accepted by Astroparticle Physic

Alternative Methods to Finding Patterns in HiRes Stereo Data

In this paper Ultra High Energy Cosmic Rays UHECRs data observed by the HiRes fluorescence detector in stereo mode is analyzed to search for events in the sky with an arrival direction lying on a great circle. Such structure is known as the arc structure. The arc structure is expected when the charged cosmic rays pass through the galactic magnetic field. The arcs searched for could represent a broad or a small scale anisotropy depending on the proposed source model for the UHECRs. The Arcs in this paper are looked for using Hough transform were Hough transform is a technique used to looking for patterns in images. No statistically significant arcs were found in this study