Asian Gypsy Moth Revisited

Asian gypsy moths are closely related to the “normal” European gypsy moth but with a broader host range and much more mobile females. The two “strains” look so much alike that the only way to conclusively distinguish them is to analyze DNA. Thus far molecular analysis of gypsy moths in upstate New York feeding on spruce (especially blue spruce) but causing little or no damage to their usual deciduous host trees growing nearby, has indicated that moths on spruce are not the Asian strain

A practical approach for implementation of a basal-prandial insulin therapy regimen in patients with type 2 diabetes

Basal-prandial insulin therapy is a physiologic approach to insulin delivery that utilizes multiple daily injections to cover both basal (ie, overnight fasting and between-meal) and prandial (ie, glucose excursions above basal at mealtime) insulin needs. While basal-prandial therapy with multiple daily injections is an important therapeutic option for patients with type 2 diabetes, there is a common perception that this therapy is difficult to initiate in the primary care setting. To address this issue, a panel of clinical experts convened to develop practical recommendations on how to initiate basal-prandial therapy in patients with type 2 diabetes, focusing on patient selection, simple dosing and titration, and monitoring. Patients with type 2 diabetes who are appropriate candidates for basal-prandial insulin therapy include those who: 1) are unable to achieve glycemic control on oral antidiabetic drugs, 2) are unable to achieve glycemic control on split-mixed/premixed insulin regimens, 3) are newly diagnosed but unlikely to respond to oral antidiabetic drugs alone (ie, the patient has severe hyperglycemia or a markedly elevated glycosylated hemoglobin A1C level for which oral antidiabetic drug therapy alone is unlikely to achieve goals), and 4) prefer this therapy due to socioeconomic or other individual considerations. Basal-prandial insulin can be initiated in a simple stepwise manner, starting first with the addition of basal insulin to the existing oral antidiabetic drug regimen, followed by the introduction of 1 prandial insulin injection to the basal insulin plus oral antidiabetic drug regimen (after basal insulin has been optimized). Subsequently, other injections of prandial insulin may be added when needed. Based on home glucose monitoring data, patients may be converted from split-mixed or premixed insulin regimens to basal-prandial regimens with similar ease. Basal-prandial therapy using newer insulin formulations, such as long- and rapid-acting insulin analogs, can be relatively simple to use in patients with type 2 diabetes and is an appropriate methodology for application by primary care clinicians

A report to The Ozarks Regional Commission

"Changes in demographic processes are occurring in the Ozarks Region. Some metropolitan areas are experiencing a decrease in growth and, in a few, population decline. In conjunction with this, the reversal of non-metropolitan population loss and out-migration is becoming visible in major portions of the region. The level of natural increase, births minus deaths, is dropping in response to lower birth rates in some areas and to a heavy concentration of older persons in others. In order to comprehend these changes in the Ozarks Region it must be understood that the region is made up of five diverse states. (For regional boundary definitions, see Figures 1 and 2.) Within each are a variety of physiographic sub-regions with their individual economic distinctions. In constructing any social profile of the states it would become quite obvious that an array of such profiles would be produced. So also is the case in describing demographic change in the region. While an overview of the region provides a total picture, it tends to obscure variations on a state or sub-regional basis. Thus, an overview for all five states is first provided, followed by a description for each state, which incorporates sub-regional information. In exploring these demographic components of change an examination is made of the emergence of new patterns and the continuation of old ones. In addition, an effort is made to point out some of the factors associated with these processes and to place these factors in a national perspective." --Introduction.Rex R. Campbell, George H. Dailey, Jr., Robert L. McNamara (Deportment of Rural Sociology University of Missouri-Columbia

WISE/NEOWISE Preliminary Analysis and Highlights of the 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko Near Nucleus Environs

On January 18-19 and June 28-29 of 2010, the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) spacecraft imaged the Rosetta mission target, comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. We present a preliminary analysis of the images, which provide a characterization of the dust environment at heliocentric distances similar to those planned for the initial spacecraft encounter, but on the outbound leg of its orbit rather than the inbound. Broad-band photometry yields low levels of CO2 production at a comet heliocentric distance of 3.32 AU and no detectable production at 4.18 AU. We find that at these heliocentric distances, large dust grains with mean grain diameters on the order of a millimeter or greater dominate the coma and evolve to populate the tail. This is further supported by broad-band photometry centered on the nucleus, which yield an estimated differential dust particle size distribution with a power law relation that is considerably shallower than average. We set a 3-sigma upper limit constraint on the albedo of the large-grain dust at <= 0.12. Our best estimate of the nucleus radius (1.82 +/- 0.20 km) and albedo (0.04 +/- 0.01) are in agreement with measurements previously reported in the literature

Comparison of Visual Datasets for Machine Learning

One of the greatest technological improvements in recent years is the rapid progress using machine learning for processing visual data. Among all factors that contribute to this development, datasets with labels play crucial roles. Several datasets are widely reused for investigating and analyzing different solutions in machine learning. Many systems, such as autonomous vehicles, rely on components using machine learning for recognizing objects. This paper compares different visual datasets and frameworks for machine learning. The comparison is both qualitative and quantitative and investigates object detection labels with respect to size, location, and contextual information. This paper also presents a new approach creating datasets using real-time, geo-tagged visual data, greatly improving the contextual information of the data. The data could be automatically labeled by cross-referencing information from other sources (such as weather)

WISE/NEOWISE observations of Active Bodies in the Main Belt

We report results based on mid-infrared photometry of 5 active main belt objects (AMBOs) detected by the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) spacecraft. Four of these bodies, P/2010 R2 (La Sagra), 133P/Elst-Pizarro, (596) Scheila, and 176P/LINEAR, showed no signs of activity at the time of the observations, allowing the WISE detections to place firm constraints on their diameters and albedos. Geometric albedos were in the range of a few percent, and on the order of other measured comet nuclei. P/2010 A2 was observed on April 2-3, 2010, three months after its peak activity. Photometry of the coma at 12 and 22 {\mu}m combined with ground-based visible-wavelength measurements provides constraints on the dust particle mass distribution (PMD), dlogn/dlogm, yielding power-law slope values of {\alpha} = -0.5 +/- 0.1. This PMD is considerably more shallow than that found for other comets, in particular inbound particle fluence during the Stardust encounter of comet 81P/Wild 2. It is similar to the PMD seen for 9P/Tempel 1 in the immediate aftermath of the Deep Impact experiment. Upper limits for CO2 & CO production are also provided for each AMBO and compared with revised production numbers for WISE observations of 103P/Hartley 2.Comment: 32 Pages, including 5 Figure

Teprotumumab for Thyroid-Associated Ophthalmopathy

BACKGROUND: Thyroid-associated ophthalmopathy, a condition commonly associated with Graves' disease, remains inadequately treated. Current medical therapies, which primarily consist of glucocorticoids, have limited efficacy and present safety concerns. Inhibition of the insulin-like growth factor I receptor (IGF-IR) is a new therapeutic strategy to attenuate the underlying autoimmune pathogenesis of ophthalmopathy. METHODS: We conducted a multicenter, double-masked, randomized, placebo-controlled trial to determine the efficacy and safety of teprotumumab, a human monoclonal antibody inhibitor of IGF-IR, in patients with active, moderate-to-severe ophthalmopathy. A total of 88 patients were randomly assigned to receive placebo or active drug administered intravenously once every 3 weeks for a total of eight infusions. The primary end point was the response in the study eye. This response was defined as a reduction of 2 points or more in the Clinical Activity Score (scores range from 0 to 7, with a score of ≥3 indicating active thyroid-associated ophthalmopathy) and a reduction of 2 mm or more in proptosis at week 24. Secondary end points, measured as continuous variables, included proptosis, the Clinical Activity Score, and results on the Graves' ophthalmopathy-specific quality-of-life questionnaire. Adverse events were assessed. RESULTS: In the intention-to-treat population, 29 of 42 patients who received teprotumumab (69%), as compared with 9 of 45 patients who received placebo (20%), had a response at week 24 (P&lt;0.001). Therapeutic effects were rapid; at week 6, a total of 18 of 42 patients in the teprotumumab group (43%) and 2 of 45 patients in the placebo group (4%) had a response (P&lt;0.001). Differences between the groups increased at subsequent time points. The only drug-related adverse event was hyperglycemia in patients with diabetes; this event was controlled by adjusting medication for diabetes. CONCLUSIONS: In patients with active ophthalmopathy, teprotumumab was more effective than placebo in reducing proptosis and the Clinical Activity Score. (Funded by River Vision Development and others; ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT01868997 .)

The effects of baseline characteristics, glycaemia treatment approach, and glycated haemoglobin concentration on the risk of severe hypoglycaemia: post hoc epidemiological analysis of the ACCORD study

Objectives To investigate potential determinants of severe hypoglycaemia, including baseline characteristics, in the Action to Control Cardiovascular Risk in Diabetes (ACCORD) trial and the association of severe hypoglycaemia with levels of glycated haemoglobin (haemoglobin A1C) achieved during therapy

Centaurs and Scattered Disk Objects in the Thermal Infrared: Analysis of WISE/NEOWISE Observations

The Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) observed 52 Centaurs and scattered disk objects (SDOs) in the thermal infrared, including 15 new discoveries. We present analyses of these observations to estimate sizes and mean optical albedos. We find mean albedos of 0.08 ± 0.04 for the entire data set. Thermal fits yield average beaming parameters of 0.9 ± 0.2 that are similar for both SDO and Centaur sub-classes. Biased cumulative size distributions yield size-frequency distribution power law indices of ~–1.7 ± 0.3. The data also reveal a relation between albedo and color at the 3σ level. No significant relation between diameter and albedos is found