Solar system constraints on the Dvali-Gabadadze-Porrati braneworld theory of gravity

A number of proposals have been put forward to account for the observed accelerating expansion of the Universe through modifications of gravity. One specific scenario, Dvali-Gabadadze-Porrati (DGP) gravity, gives rise to a potentially observable anomaly in the solar system: all planets would exhibit a common anomalous precession, dw/dt, in excess of the prediction of General Relativity. We have used the Planetary Ephemeris Program (PEP) along with planetary radar and radio tracking data to set a constraint of |dw/dt| < 0.02 arcseconds per century on the presence of any such common precession. This sensitivity falls short of that needed to detect the estimated universal precession of |dw/dt| = 5e-4 arcseconds per century expected in the DGP scenario. We discuss the fact that ranging data between objects that orbit in a common plane cannot constrain the DGP scenario. It is only through the relative inclinations of the planetary orbital planes that solar system ranging data have sensitivity to the DGP-like effect of universal precession. In addition, we illustrate the importance of performing a numerical evaluation of the sensitivity of the data set and model to any perturbative precession.Comment: 9 pages, 2 figures, accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.

Inference of Soil Hydrologic Parameters from Electronic Soil Moisture Records

Soil moisture is an important control on hydrologic function, as it governs vertical fluxes from and to the atmosphere, groundwater recharge, and lateral fluxes through the soil. Historically, the traditional model parameters of saturation, field capacity, and permanent wilting point have been determined by laboratory methods. This approach is challenged by issues of scale, boundary conditions, and soil disturbance. We develop and compare four methods to determine values of field saturation, field capacity, plant extraction limit (PEL), and initiation of plant water stress from long term in-situ monitoring records of TDR-measured volumetric water content (Θ). The monitoring sites represent a range of soil textures, soil depths, effective precipitation and plant cover types in a semi-arid climate. The Θ records exhibit attractors (high frequency values) that correspond to field capacity and the PEL at both annual and longer time scales, but the field saturation values vary by year depending on seasonal wetness in the semi-arid setting. The analysis for five sites in two watersheds is supported by comparison to values determined by a common pedotransfer function and measured soil characteristic curves. Frozen soil is identified as a complicating factor for the analysis and users are cautioned to filter data by temperature, especially for near surface soils

Correction of Electronic Record for Weighing Bucket Precipitation Gauge Measurements

Electronic sensors generate valuable streams of forcing and validation data for hydrologic models but are often subject to noise which must be removed as part of model input and testing database development. We developed an automated precipitation correction program (APCP) for weighing bucket precipitation gauge records, which are subject to several types of mechanical and electronic noise and discontinuities, including gauge maintenance, missing data, wind vibration, and sensor drift. Corrected cumulative water year precipitation from APCP did not exhibit an error bias and matched measured water year total precipitation within 2.1% for 58 station years tested. Removal of low-amplitude periodic noise was especially important for developing accurate instantaneous precipitation records at subdaily time steps. Model flexibility for use with other data types is demonstrated through application to time domain reflectometry soil moisture content data, which are also frequently subject to substantial noise

Quantifying reversibility in a phase-separating lattice gas: an analogy with self-assembly

We present dynamic measurements of a lattice gas during phase separation, which we use as an analogy for self-assembly of equilibrium ordered structures. We use two approaches to quantify the degree of 'reversibility' of this process: firstly, we count events in which bonds are made and broken; secondly, we use correlation-response measurements and fluctuation-dissipation ratios to probe reversibility during different time intervals. We show how correlation and response functions can be related directly to microscopic (ir)reversibility and we discuss time-dependence and observable- dependence of these measurements, including the role of fast and slow degrees of freedom during assembly.Comment: 10 pages, 8 figure

The PROCESS study: a protocol to evaluate the implementation, mechanisms of effect and context of an intervention to enhance public health centres in Tororo, Uganda.

BACKGROUND: Despite significant investments into health improvement programmes in Uganda, health indicators and access to healthcare remain poor across the country. The PRIME trial aims to evaluate the impact of a complex intervention delivered in public health centres on health outcomes of children and management of malaria in rural Uganda. The intervention consists of four components: Health Centre Management; Fever Case Management; Patient- Centered Services; and support for supplies of malaria diagnostics and antimalarial drugs. METHODS: The PROCESS study will use mixed methods to evaluate the processes, mechanisms of change, and context of the PRIME intervention by addressing five objectives. First, to develop a comprehensive logic model of the intervention, articulating the project's hypothesised pathways to trial outcomes. Second, to evaluate the implementation of the intervention, including health worker training, health centre management tools, and the supply of artemether-lumefantrine (AL) and rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs) for malaria. Third, to understand mechanisms of change of the intervention components, including testing hypotheses and interpreting realities of the intervention, including resistance, in context. Fourth, to develop a contextual record over time of factors that may have affected implementation of the intervention, mechanisms of change, and trial outcomes, including factors at population, health centre and district levels. Fifth, to capture broader expected and unexpected impacts of the intervention and trial activities among community members, health centre workers, and private providers. Methods will include intervention logic mapping, questionnaires, recorded consultations, in-depth interviews, focus group discussions, and contextual data documentation. DISCUSSION: The findings of this PROCESS study will be interpreted alongside the PRIME trial results. This will enable a greater ability to generalise the findings of the main trial. The investigators will attempt to assess which methods are most informative in such evaluations of complex interventions in low-resource settings. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Clinicaltrials.gov, NCT01024426

Defining the role of extended saphenofemoral junction ligation: A prospective comparative study

AbstractObjective: This study explores the added effect of extended saphenofemoral junction (SFJ) ligation when the greater saphenous vein (GSV) has been eliminated from participating in thigh reflux by means of endovenous obliteration. GSV obliteration, unlike surgical stripping, can be done with or without SFJ ligation to isolate and study SFJ ligation’s specific contribution to treatment results. Methods: Sixty limbs treated with SFJ ligation and 120 limbs treated without high ligation were selected from an ongoing, multicenter, endovenous obliteration trial on the basis of their having primary varicose veins, GSV reflux, and early treatment dates. Results: Five (8%) high-ligation limbs and seven (6%) limbs without high ligation with patent veins at 6 weeks or less were excluded as unsuccessful obliterations. Treatment significantly reduced symptoms and CEAP clinical class in both groups (P =.0001). Recurrent reflux developed in one (2%) of 49 high-ligation limbs and eight (8%) of 97 limbs without high ligation by 6 months (P =.273). New instances of reflux did not appear thereafter in 57 limbs followed to 12 months. Recurrent varicose veins occurred in three high-ligation limbs and four limbs without high ligation by 6 months and in one additional high-ligation limb and two additional limbs without high ligation by 12 months. Actuarial recurrence curves were not statistically different with or without SFJ ligation (P >.156), predicting greater than 90% freedom from recurrent reflux and varicosities at 1 year for both groups. Conclusion: These early results suggest that extended SFJ ligation may add little to effective GSV obliteration, but our findings are not sufficiently robust to warrant abandonment of SFJ ligation as currently practiced in the management of primary varicose veins associated with GSV vein reflux. (J Vasc Surg 2000;32:941-53.

Soil, Snow, Weather, and Sub-Surface Storage Data from a Mountain Catchment in the Rain–Snow Transition Zone

A comprehensive hydroclimatic data set is presented for the 2011 water year to improve understanding of hydrologic processes in the rain-snow transition zone. This type of dataset is extremely rare in scientific literature because of the quality and quantity of soil depth, soil texture, soil moisture, and soil temperature data. Standard meteorological and snow cover data for the entire 2011 water year are included, which include several rain-on-snow events. Surface soil textures and soil depths from 57 points are presented as well as soil texture profiles from 14 points. Meteorological data include continuous hourly shielded, unshielded, and wind corrected precipitation, wind speed, air temperature, relative humidity, dew point temperature, and incoming solar and thermal radiation data. Sub-surface data included are hourly soil moisture data from multiple depths from 7 soil profiles within the catchment, and soil temperatures from multiple depths from 2 soil profiles. Hydrologic response data include hourly stream discharge from the catchment outlet weir, continuous snow depths from one location, intermittent snow depths from 5 locations, and snow depth and density data from ten weekly snow surveys. Though it represents only a single water year, the presentation of both above and below ground hydrologic condition makes it one of the most detailed and complete hydro-climatic datasets from the climatically sensitive rainsnow transition zone for a wide range of modeling and descriptive studies. Data are available at doi:10.1594/PANGAEA.819837

Feasibility of Omitting Outer Renorrhaphy During Robotic Partial Nephrectomy

Introduction: Reconstruction technique after robotic partial nephrectomy (RPN) is a modifiable factor with possible impact on ischemia time, bleeding, renal function, and incidence of pseudoaneurysms. We sought to evaluate the feasibility of omitting cortical (outer) renorrhaphy (CR) in a multi-institutional setting.Methods: We analyzed 1453 patients undergoing RPN, from 2006-2018, within the Vattikuti Collective Quality Initiative database, which captures that data from 14 centers in 9 countries. Patients having surgery for bilateral tumors(n=73) were excluded. The CR and no-CR groups were compared in terms of operative and ischemia time, blood loss, major (Clavien≥3) complications, surgical margins, hospital stay, change in estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR), and need of angioembolization. Inverse probability of treatment weighting (IPTW) with a Firth correction for center code was done to account for selection bias.Results: CR was omitted in 120 patients; 1260 patients underwent both inner (base) layer renorrhaphy and CR. There was no difference in intraoperative complications (7.4% in CR; 8.9% in no-CR group;p=0.6) or postoperative major complications (1% and 2.8% in the CR and no-CR groups, respectively;p=0.2). Estimated blood loss was 100 mL (IQR 50-200) in both treatment groups(p=0.6). Angioembolization was needed in 0.7% patients in CR group vs 1.4% in no-CR group(p=0.4). Additionally, there was no difference in median operative time (168 minutes and 162 minutes, respectively;p=0.2), or ischemia time (18 minutes and 17 minutes, respectively;p=0.7). Conclusions: Omission of CR did not significantly improve operative or ischemia time; however, it also had no adverse effect on perioperative outcomes after RPN in a multi-institutional setting.https://scholarlycommons.henryford.com/merf2019clinres/1003/thumbnail.jp

Impact of treatment modality on overall survival in localized ductal prostate adenocarcinoma: A National Cancer Database analysis

INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVE: Ductal adenocarcinoma is considered a rare histological variant of prostate adenocarcinoma (PCa). Given the rarity of this subtype, optimal treatment strategies for men with nonmetastatic ductal PCa is largely unknown. We aimed to describe the impact of surgery, radiotherapy, and systemic therapy on overall survival (OS) in men with nonmetastatic ductal PCa. METHODS: We retrospectively selected 2209 cases of ductal PCa, diagnosed between 2004 and 2015, within the National Cancer Database (NCDB). Exclusion of metastatic patients yielded a total sample of 1993 individuals. Cox regression analysis tested the impact of treatment (surgery, radiotherapy, systemic therapy and no treatment) on OS. Covariates included age, race, Charlson comorbidity score (CCI), clinical T stage, biopsy Gleason score, serum prostate specific antigen (PSA), and income. Adjusted Kaplan-Meier estimates were used to visualize the impact of treatment modality on OS. RESULTS: In men with nonmetastatic ductal PCa, median (IQR) age and PSA were 67 (61-74) years and 6.3 (4.3-10.8) ng/mL, respectively. Further, 9.8% (n=195) of patients presented with cT3 disease or higher, 3.4% (n=68) presented a CCI score ≥ 4, and 40.6% (808) presented with a Gleason biopsy score ≥ 4. Further, 1212 (60.8%) patients were treated surgically, 406 (20.4%) with radiotherapy, 102 (5.1%) with systemic therapies, and 273 (13.7%) received no treatment. Multivariable analysis showed that in comparison to men treated surgically, OS was significantly lower for patients receiving radiotherapy (HR 2.6; 95% CI 1.7-4.0) and systemic therapies (HR 9.1; 95% CI 5.0-16.5). Adjusted Kaplan-Meier curves are shown in the associated figure. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings show that in the rare ductal PCa variant, starting treatment with surgery offers more favorable long-term OS outcomes than radiotherapy and systemic therapies. While residual selection bias might persist after adjustment, the rarity of this disease precludes the possibility of a future trial, and the presented data represents the best available level of evidence on this topic