TIME VARYING PARAMETERS IN THE DEMAND FOR HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP

Rapid adoption of high fructose corn syrup and the changing demand for HFCS is measured in a time-varying framework. Demand changes are separated into structural and price competitiveness. Tests for parameter stability are made and simulations based on the estimates are used to show the industry dynamics.Demand and Price Analysis,

Structure of the Draco Dwarf Spheroidal Galaxy

This article studies the structure of the Draco dwarf spheroidal galaxy with an emphasis on the question of whether the spatial distribution of its stars has been affected by the tidal interaction with the Milky Way, using R- and V-band CCD photometry for eleven fields. The article reports coordinates for the center, a position angle of the major axis, and the ellipticity. It also reports the results of searches for asymmetries in the structure of Draco. These results, and searches for a ``break'' in the radial profile and for the presence of principal sequences of Draco in a color-magnitude diagram for regions more than 50 arcmin from the center, yield no evidence that tidal forces from the Milky Way have affected the structure of Draco.Comment: 25 pages, 11 figures, 3 tables. Accepted for publication in A

"Chest Pain Typicality" in Suspected Acute Coronary Syndromes and the Impact of Clinical Experience

BACKGROUND: Physicians rely upon chest pain history to make management decisions in patients with suspected acute coronary syndromes, particularly where the diagnosis is not immediately apparent through ECG and troponin testing. OBJECTIVE: To establish the discriminatory value of 'typicality of chest pain' and the effect of clinician experience, for the prediction of acute myocardial infarction and presence of significant coronary artery disease. METHODS: Prospective single-center observational study undertaken in a U.K. General Hospital emergency department. We recruited consecutive adults with chest pain and a non-diagnostic ECG, for whom the treating physician determined delayed troponin testing was necessary. Using their own clinical judgment, physicians recorded whether the chest pain described was typical or atypical for acute coronary syndrome. Physicians were defined as "experienced" or "novice" according to postgraduate experience. Acute myocardial infarction was adjudicated using a high-sensitivity troponin (hs-cTn) assay, while coronary artery disease was adjudicated angiographically. RESULTS: Overall, 912 patients had typicality of chest pain assessed, of whom 114/912 (12.5%) had an acute myocardial infarction and 157/912 (17.2%) underwent angiography. In patients undergoing angiography, 90/157 (57.3%) had hs-cTn elevation, of whom 60 (66.7%) had significant coronary artery disease. 67/157 (42.7%) patients had angiography without hs-cTn elevation, of these 31 (46.2%) had significant coronary artery disease. For the diagnosis of acute myocardial infarction, chest pain typicality had an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.54 (95%CI 0.49-0.60). For the prediction of significant coronary artery disease with hs-cTn elevation AUC: 0.54 (0.40-0.67), and without hs-cTn elevation AUC: 0.45 (0.31-0.59). When assessed by experienced physicians, specificity for the diagnosis of acute myocardial infarction was higher at 65.8% (63.1%-68.7%) vs. 55.4% (53.9%-56.8%) for novices. CONCLUSIONS: Subjective interpretation of 'typicality of chest pain' is of limited discriminatory value in the assessment of suspected acute coronary syndromes, in the context of a non-diagnostic ECG. Greater clinical experience improves accuracy as a rule-in tool but does not improve overall discriminatory ability

Stars of the Draco Dwarf Spheroidal Galaxy Beyond its Measured Tidal Boundary

We report R- and V-band photometry derived from CCD imaging for objects in nine fields in and around the Draco dwarf spheroidal galaxy. The most distant fields are about 1.3 degrees from the center. We use these data to search for Draco stars outside of its measured tidal boundary. The search involves three methods: 1) Plotting color-magnitude diagrams for individual fields, for sections of fields, and for combined fields and sections. A color-magnitude diagram can reveal a population of Draco stars by the presence of the expected principal sequences. 2) Measuring field-to-field fluctuations and 3) measuring intra-field fluctuations in the surface density of objects located near the Draco principal sequences in the color-magnitude diagram. We find evidence for the presence of Draco stars immediately beyond the measured tidal boundary of Draco and place an upper limit on the number of such stars in more distant fields that lie close to the extension of its major axis. The best evidence is the presence of the Draco principal sequences in the color-magnitude diagram for some combined fields and sections of fields. The measurements of the field-to-field fluctuations in the stellar surface density confirm this result.Comment: To appear in the Feb 2001 Astronomical Journal, 30 pages, 16 figures, and 7 tables, higher resolution postscript figures available at http://www.physics.rutgers.edu/~pryor/halo.htm

Proper Motions of Dwarf Spheroidal Galaxies from Hubble Space Telescope Imaging. III: Measurement for Ursa Minor

This article presents a measurement of the proper motion of the Ursa Minor dwarf spheroidal galaxy determined from images taken with the Hubble Space Telescope in two distinct fields.Comment: AJ, accepted; 23 pages, 17 figures (Fig. 1 abridged), 5 table

The Randomised Evaluation of early topical Lidocaine patches In Elderly patients admitted to hospital with rib Fractures (RELIEF): feasibility trial protocol

Background: Topical lidocaine patches, applied over rib fractures, have been suggested as a non-invasive method of local anaesthetic delivery to improve respiratory function, reduce opioid consumption and consequently reduce pulmonary complications. Older patients may gain most benefit from improved analgesic regimens yet lidocaine patches are untested as an early intervention in the Emergency Department (ED). The aim of this trial is to investigate uncertainties around trial design and conduct, to establish whether a definitive randomised trial of topical lidocaine patches in older patients with rib fractures is feasible. Methods: RELIEF is an open label, multicentre, parallel group, individually randomised, feasibility randomised controlled trial with economic scoping and nested qualitative study. Patients aged ≥ 65 years presenting to the ED with traumatic rib fracture(s) requiring admission will be randomised 1:1 to lidocaine patches (intervention), in addition to standard clinical management, or standard clinical management alone. Lidocaine patches will be applied immediately after diagnosis in ED and continued daily for 72 hours or until discharge. Feasibility outcomes will focus on recruitment, adherence and follow-up data with a total sample size of 100. Clinical outcomes, such as 30-day pulmonary complications, and resource use will be collected to understand feasibility of data collection. Qualitative interviews will explore details of the trial design, trial acceptability and recruitment processes. An evaluation of the feasibility of measuring health economics outcomes data will be completed. Discussion: Interventions to improve outcomes in elderly patients with rib fractures are urgently required. This feasibility trial will test a novel early intervention which has the potential of fulfilling this unmet need. The Randomised Evaluation of early topical Lidocaine patches In Elderly patients admitted to hospital with rib Fractures (RELIEF) feasibility trial will determine whether a definitive trial is feasible. ISRCTN Registration: ISRCTN14813929 (22/04/2021)

Viral CpG Deficiency Provides No Evidence That Dogs Were Intermediate Hosts for SARS-CoV-2.

Due to the scope and impact of the COVID-19 pandemic there exists a strong desire to understand where the SARS-CoV-2 virus came from and how it jumped species boundaries to humans. Molecular evolutionary analyses can trace viral origins by establishing relatedness and divergence times of viruses and identifying past selective pressures. However, we must uphold rigorous standards of inference and interpretation on this topic because of the ramifications of being wrong. Here, we dispute the conclusions of Xia (2020. Extreme genomic CpG deficiency in SARS-CoV-2 and evasion of host antiviral defense. Mol Biol Evol. doi:10.1093/molbev/masa095) that dogs are a likely intermediate host of a SARS-CoV-2 ancestor. We highlight major flaws in Xia's inference process and his analysis of CpG deficiencies, and conclude that there is no direct evidence for the role of dogs as intermediate hosts. Bats and pangolins currently have the greatest support as ancestral hosts of SARS-CoV-2, with the strong caveat that sampling of wildlife species for coronaviruses has been limited

Structure of the first representative of Pfam family PF04016 (DUF364) reveals enolase and Rossmann-like folds that combine to form a unique active site with a possible role in heavy-metal chelation.

The crystal structure of Dhaf4260 from Desulfitobacterium hafniense DCB-2 was determined by single-wavelength anomalous diffraction (SAD) to a resolution of 2.01 Å using the semi-automated high-throughput pipeline of the Joint Center for Structural Genomics (JCSG) as part of the NIGMS Protein Structure Initiative (PSI). This protein structure is the first representative of the PF04016 (DUF364) Pfam family and reveals a novel combination of two well known domains (an enolase N-terminal-like fold followed by a Rossmann-like domain). Structural and bioinformatic analyses reveal partial similarities to Rossmann-like methyltransferases, with residues from the enolase-like fold combining to form a unique active site that is likely to be involved in the condensation or hydrolysis of molecules implicated in the synthesis of flavins, pterins or other siderophores. The genome context of Dhaf4260 and homologs additionally supports a role in heavy-metal chelation

Proper Motions of Dwarf Spheroidal Galaxies from Hubble Space Telescope Imaging. I: Method and a Preliminary Measurement for Fornax

This article presents and discusses a method for measuring the proper motions of the Galactic dwarf spheroidal galaxies using images taken with the Hubble Space Telescope. The method involves fitting an effective point spread function to the image of a star or quasi-stellar object to determine its centroid with an accuracy of about 0.005 pixel (0.25 milliarcseconds) -- an accuracy sufficient to measure the proper motion of a dwarf spheroidal galaxy using images separated by just a few years. The data consist of images, dithered to reduce the effects of undersampling, taken at multiple epochs with the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph or the Wide Field Planetary Camera. The science fields are in the directions of the Carina, Fornax, Sculptor, and Ursa Minor dwarf spheroidal galaxies and each has at least one quasi-stellar object whose identity has been established by other studies. The rate of change with time of the centroids of the stars of the dwarf spheroidal with respect to the centroid of the quasi-stellar object is the proper motion. Four independent preliminary measurements of the proper motion of Fornax for three fields agree within their uncertainties. The weighted average of these measurements is mu_alpha = 49 +- 13 milliarcseconds/century and mu_delta = -59 +- 13 milliarcseconds/century. The Galactocentric velocity derived from the proper motion implies that Fornax is near perigalacticon, may not be bound to the Milky Way, and is not a member of any of the proposed streams of galaxies and globular clusters in the Galactic halo. If Fornax is bound, the Milky Way must have a mass of at least (1.6 +- 0.8) x 10^{12} solar masses.Comment: 4 tables, 16 figures (22 postscript files), 30+ pages. Accepted for publication in AJ. v2: Revised to remove a typo in the abstract and improve the formattin