Are We Missing an Opportunity? Prediabetes in the U.S. Military

INTRODUCTION: The prevalence of prediabetes is estimated to be one-third of Americans with approximately 80% of these individuals unaware of the diagnosis. In the active duty military population, the prevalence of prediabetes is largely unexplored. The purpose of this study was to investigate the prevalence of prediabetes in military service members by quantifying those meeting prediabetes screening criteria, those actually being screened, and those being appropriately diagnosed. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Data were analyzed from calendar years 2014 to 2018 for active duty service members 18 years of age or older. Vitals records were collected to obtain body mass index values. Composite Health Care System laboratory data were queried for hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) results as well as fasting plasma glucose (FPG) and oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) results. The percentage of active duty service members meeting criteria for prediabetes screening was determined by totaling members age 45 and older with members age 18- to 44-year old with a body mass index ≥25.0 kg/m2, then dividing by the total number of members for each respective military branch. The percentage of active duty service members actually screened for prediabetes was determined based on members meeting prediabetes screening criteria who in fact had FPG, OGTT, or HbA1c labs. The total number of labs meeting prediabetes criteria was determined based on those aforementioned labs with results in the prediabetes range (FPG between 100 and 125 mg/dL, OGTT between 140 and 199 mg/dL, or HbA1c range of 5.7%-6.4%). The total number of service members with appropriate prediabetes International Classification of Disease (ICD) code was determined by identifying members with ICD-9 and ICD-10 codes 790.21, 790.22, and R73.01-R73.03 in their medical record. RESULTS: From 2014 to 2018, 53.9% of 332,502, 56% of 543,081, and 47.3% of 531,313 active duty service members in the Air Force, Army and Navy, respectively, met criteria for prediabetes screening. The rates of actually screening for prediabetes were similar across the Air Force (4.8%), Army (6.7%), and Navy (5.5%). The percentage with labs meeting prediabetes criteria ranged from 17.9% to 28.4% in the Air Force, 24.2% to 30.3% in the Army, and 24.2% to 30.9% in the Navy. The rate of ICD coding for prediabetes increased from 2014 to 2018 across all branches (29.8%-65.3% for the Air Force, 24.6%-46.8% for the Army, and 40.0%-45.5% for the Navy). CONCLUSION: Screening for prediabetes in the active duty military population is grossly inadequate, and even of those screened, diagnosing those meeting prediabetes criteria is similarly inadequate. Although this scenario is not unique to the Military Health System, but reflective of a larger national problem, efforts should be made within the Military Health System to increase the screening for this common disorder. Identifying service members with prediabetes enables opportunities for targeted interventions to delay or prevent the progression to diabetes mellitus

Geothermal Information Dissemination and Outreach

Project Purpose To enhance technological and topical information transfer in support of industry and government efforts to increase geothermal energy use in the United States (power production, direct use, and geothermal groundsource heat pumps). Project Work GRC 2003 Annual Meeting. The GRC convened the meeting on Oct. 12-15, 2003, at Morelia's Centro de Convenciones y ExpoCentro in Mexico under the theme, International Collaboration for Geothermal Energy in the Americas. The event was also sponsored by the Comision Federal de Electricidad. ~600 participants from more than 20 countries attended the event. The GRC convened a Development of Geothermal Projects Workshop and Geothermal Exploration Techniques Workshop. GRC Field Trips included Los Azufres and Paricutin Volcano on Oct. 11. The Geothermal Energy Association (Washington, DC) staged its Geothermal Energy Trade Show. The Annual Meeting Opening Session was convened on Oct. 13, and included the governor of Michoacan, the Mexico Assistant Secretary of Energy, CFE Geothermal Division Director, DOE Geothermal Program Manager, and private sector representatives. The 2003 Annual Meeting attracted 160 papers for oral and poster presentations. GRC 2004. Under the theme, Geothermal - The Reliable Renewable, the GRC 2004 Annual Meeting convened on Aug. 29-Sept. 1, 2004, at the Hyatt Grand Champions Resort at Indian Wells, CA. Estimated total attendance (including Trade Show personnel, guests and accompanying persons) was ~700. The event included a workshop, Geothermal Production Well Pump Installation, Operation and Maintenance. Field trips went to Coso/Mammoth and Imperial Valley/Salton Sea geothermal fields. The event Opening Session featured speakers from the U.S. Department of Energy, U.S. Department of the Interior, and the private sector. The Geothermal Energy Association staged its Geothermal Energy Trade Show. The Geothermal Education Office staged its Geothermal Energy Workshop. Several local radio and TV station interviews were conducted during the event. Technical Program included 136 technical papers. All were published in Volume 28 of the GRC Transactions. Volume 28, GRC Transactions Pblished as a high-quality, durable casebound volume, Volume 28 of the Transactions published 119 out of 136 technical papers (692 pp) presented at the GRC 2004 Annual Meeting. The papers were submitted by geothermal experts and professionals from around the world. The papers were reviewed over a 2-day period by 25 volunteer (in-kind) geothermal experts from the private sector and DOE National Laboratories. GRC staff received and cataloged the papers, and maintained interaction with authors for revisions and corrections. DOE Geothermal Technologies Newsletter The Office of Geothermal Technologies quarterly newsletter, Geothermal Technologies, is produced at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). This 2-color, 4- to 16-page newsletter summarizes federal geothermal research and development projects and other DOE geothermal news. The GRC receives newsletter disk copy and color-key proof from NREL for each newsletter, then follows through with print production and distribution. Circulation is 1,000 per issue (plus 300 copies of the newsletter shipped to NREL for internal and public distribution). During the project period, the GRC printed, stitched and bound the Geothermal Technologies newsletter into the Sept/Oct 2003, Jan/Feb 2004, and May/June 2004 editions of the GRC Bulletin. Multiple copies (300) of the newsletter sans magazine were provided to NREL for internal DOE distribution. GRC Geothermal Research Library The GRC has built the largest and most comprehensive library in the world devoted to geothermal energy. The GRC Geothermal Library provides rapid accessibility to the majority of technical literature crafted over the past 30 years, and preserves hard copy and on-line databases for future use by geothermal researchers and developers. A bibliography for over half of the physical library's citations is available through keyword search on the GRC web site (www.geothermal.org). The GRC maintains one employee to catalog donated libraries, thus increasing the number of available citations. Document collection is ongoing, with regular database additions. Continuing development of the GRC On-Line Library includes: 1) data entry and development of keywords for additional citations; 2) filing library publications; 3) maintaining and enhancing the website; 4) purchase of publications and geothermal articles; and 5) maintenance of computer and other equipment. Page hits were 243,000 per month in November 2003

Physical function and associations with diet and exercise: Results of a cross-sectional survey among elders with breast or prostate cancer

BACKGROUND: Functional decline threatens independent living and is common among individuals diagnosed with cancer, especially those who are elderly. The purpose of this study was to explore whether dietary and exercise practices are associated with physical function status among older cancer survivors. METHODS: Mailed surveys were used to ascertain data on physical function, dietary fat, fruit and vegetable (F&V) consumption, and exercise among elderly diagnosed with early stage (I-II) breast (N = 286) or prostate cancer (N = 402) within the past 18 months. RESULTS: Sixty-one percent of respondents reported diets with <30% of energy from fat, 20.4% reported F&V intakes of 5+ daily servings, and 44.6% reported regular vigorous exercise. Significant, independent associations were found between physical functioning and reported dietary fat intake, F&V consumption, and exercise. A simultaneous multiple regression model controlled for age, race, gender, time since diagnosis and concurrent health behaviors yielded the following estimates: (1) 0.2 increase in the SF-36 physical function subscale (PFS) score with each reported 1% decrease in percent energy from fat (p < .0001); (2) 0.9 increase in the SF-36 PFS score for each reported serving of F&V/day (p = .0049); and (3) 15.4 increase in the SF-36 PFS score with a positive response for regular vigorous exercise (p < .0001). CONCLUSIONS: Results of this cross-sectional survey suggest that regular vigorous exercise and consumption of diets low in fat and rich in F&Vs are associated with higher levels of physical functioning among older cancer survivors. Interventions that promote healthful lifestyle change may deliver considerable benefit within this ever increasing and vulnerable population

Higgs boson studies at the Tevatron

This is the publisher's version, also available electronically from http://journals.aps.org/prd/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevD.88.052014.We combine searches by the CDF and D0 Collaborations for the standard model Higgs boson with mass in the range 90–200  GeV/c(2) produced in the gluon-gluon fusion, WH, ZH, tt-barH, and vector boson fusion processes, and decaying in the H→bb-bar, H→W(+)W(−), H→ZZ, H→τ(+)τ(−), and H→γγ modes. The data correspond to integrated luminosities of up to 10  fb(−1) and were collected at the Fermilab Tevatron in pp-bar collisions at s√=1.96  TeV. The searches are also interpreted in the context of fermiophobic and fourth generation models. We observe a significant excess of events in the mass range between 115 and 140  GeV/c(2). The local significance corresponds to 3.0 standard deviations at mH=125  GeV/c(2), consistent with the mass of the Higgs boson observed at the LHC, and we expect a local significance of 1.9 standard deviations. We separately combine searches for H→bb-bar, H→W(+)W(−), H→τ(+)τ(−), and H→γγ. The observed signal strengths in all channels are consistent with the presence of a standard model Higgs boson with a mass of 125  GeV/c(2)

Search for Charged Massive Long-Lived Particles

This is the publisher's version, also available electronically from http://journals.aps.org/prl/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevLett.108.121802.We report on a search for charged massive long-lived particles (CMLLPs), based on 5.2  fb^(−1) of integrated luminosity collected with the D0 detector at the Fermilab Tevatron ppbar collider. We search for events in which one or more particles are reconstructed as muons but have speed and ionization energy loss (dE/dx) inconsistent with muons produced in beam collisions. CMLLPs are predicted in several theories of physics beyond the standard model. We exclude pair-produced long-lived gauginolike charginos below 267 GeV and Higgsino-like charginos below 217 GeV at 95% C.L., as well as long-lived scalar top quarks with mass below 285 GeV

Combination of measurements of the top-quark pair production cross section from the Tevatron Collider

This is the publisher's version, also available electronically from http://journals.aps.org/prd/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevD.89.072001

Measurement of direct CP violation parameters in B(±)→J/ψK(±) and B(±)→J/ψπ(±) decays with 10.4 fb(−1) of Tevatron data

This is the publisher's version, also available electronically from http://journals.aps.org/prl/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevLett.110.241801.We present a measurement of the direct CP-violating charge asymmetry in B(±) mesons decaying to J/ψK(±) and J/ψπ(±) where J/ψ decays to μ(+)μ(−), using the full run II data set of 10.4  fb(−1) of proton-antiproton collisions collected using the D0 detector at the Fermilab Tevatron Collider. A difference in the yield of B(−) and B(+) mesons in these decays is found by fitting to the difference between their reconstructed invariant mass distributions resulting in asymmetries of A(J/ψK)=[0.59±0.37]%, which is the most precise measurement to date, and A(J/ψπ)=[−4.2±4.5]%. Both measurements are consistent with standard model predictions

Measurement of the ZZ production cross section and search for the standard model Higgs boson in the four lepton final state in pp-bar collisions

This is the publisher's version, also available electronically from http://journals.aps.org/prd/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevD.88.032008

Combination of CDF and D0 W-Boson mass measurements

This is the publisher's version, also available electronically from http://journals.aps.org/prd/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevD.88.052018