Colorectal Cancer Brochure Development for African Americans

Introduction: African Americans are more likely to die from colorectal cancer (CRC) than any other racial/ethnic group in the United States. Unfortunately, African Americans are also less likely to undergo screening for CRC than their White counterparts. Focus groups methodology was used to refine educational brochures designed to increase CRC screening among African Americans. Methods: Two series of focus groups were completed, with a total of seven groups and 39 participants. Six different brochures (stage-matched and culturally sensitive) designed to promote CRC screening among African Americans were evaluated. Results: All participants thought that the brochures motivated them to talk with their health care providers about screening. Cost, pain, medical mistrust and fear were identified as major barriers and the brochures were modified to address these concerns. Conclusions: Focus groups methodology with African Americans can be used to inform brochures designed to increase African Americans CRC screening that addresses their major concerns

A blind decision feedback equalizer incorporating fixed lag smoothing

Copyright © 2000 IEEEA new type of blind decision feedback equalizer (DFE) incorporating fixed lag smoothing is developed in this paper. The structure is motivated by the fact that if we make full use of the dependence of the observed data on a given transmitted symbol, delayed decisions may produce better estimates of that symbol. To this end, we use a hidden Markov model (HMM) suboptimal formulation that offers a good tradeoff between computational complexity and bit error rate (BER) performance. The proposed equalizer also provides estimates of the channel coefficients and operates adaptively (so that it can adapt to a fading channel for instance) by means of an online version of the expectation-maximization (EM) algorithm. The resulting equalizer structure takes the form of a linear feedback system including a quantizer, and hence, it is easily implemented. In fact, because of its feedback structure, the proposed equalizer shows some similarities with the well-known DFE. A full theoretical analysis of the initial version of the algorithm is not available, but a characterization of a simplified version is provided. We demonstrate that compared to the zero-forcing DFE (ZF-DFE), the algorithm yields many improvements. A large range of simulations on finite impulse response (FIR) channels and on typical fading GSM channel models illustrate the potential of the proposed equalizer.Sylvie Perreau, Langford B. White and Pierre Duhame

Pathology in Practice

A 1.5-year-old second-parity Large Black X Tamworth cross sow from a well-managed 20-sow, unvaccinated, pasture-raised herd of pigs in upstate New York aborted a litter of 7 variably mummified near-term fetuses and stillborn piglets. This sow had no signs of ill health other than abortion; it was housed in a group with 4 other sows and a 2-year-old Gloucestershire Old Spot boar. One of the stillborn piglets from this litter was submitted to the New York State Animal Health Diagnostic Center for necropsy; no placental tissue was submitted with the piglet. A second sow from this group had aborted a litter at the same late stage of gestation within the preceding 2 weeks; however, none of the fetuses were submitted for diagnostic investigation. No signs of ill health were reported for the rest of the herd. The referring veterinarian indicated that these pigs had access to corn standing in the field and that, because of recent wet weather, there was concern that mycotoxin contamination might be the cause of the abortions

Computational elastoacoustics of uncertain complex systems and experimental validation

Semi-Plenary LectureInternational audienceThe paper deals with the robustness of uncertain computational elastoacoustic models in low- and medium-frequency ranges. The elastoacoustic system is made up of a heterogeneous viscoelastic structure coupled with an internal acoustic cavity filled with a dissipative acoustic fluid. A reduced mean elastoacoustic model is deduced from the mean finite element model by using the modal approach with the structural modes of the structure and the acoustic modes of the acoustic cavity. Data uncertainties and model uncertainties are taken into account by using a nonparametric probabilistic approach for the structure, for the acoustic cavity and for the vibroacoustic coupling interface. The main objectives of this paper are (1) to present experimental validation of the nonparametric probabilistic approach of model uncertainties and to propose methods to perform the experimental identification of the probabilistic model parameters, (2) to analyze the robustness of computational elastoacoustic models with respect to model and data uncertainties, (3) to study uncertainty propagation through complex elastoacoustic systems. Two experimental configurations are analyzed with the stochastic computational elastoacoustic model. The first experimental configuration is made up of a composite sandwich panel coupled with an acoustic cavity constituted of a simple rigid box. Experimental measurements have been performed for 8 manufactured composite panels. The second experimental configuration is a car made up of a complex heterogeneous structure coupled with a complex acoustic cavity. Experimental measurements have been performed for 22 manufactured cars of the same type with optional extra

Al based alloys containing amorphous and nanostructured phases

Nanostructured or partially amorphous Al-based alloys are attractive candidates for advanced high-strength lightweight materials. The strength of such materials is often 2 - 3 times higher than the strength of commercial crystalline alloys. Further property improvements are achievable by designing multi-phase composite materials with optimized length scale and intrinsic properties of the constituent phases. Such alloys can be prepared by quenching from the melt or by powder metallurgy using mechanical attrition techniques. This paper focuses on mechanically attrited Al-based powders containing amorphous or nano-crystalline phases, Al-based MMCs containing metallic glass reinforcement and on their consolidation into bulk specimens. Selected examples of mechanical deformation behavior are presented, revealing that the properties can be tuned within a wide range of strength and ductility as a function of size and volume fraction of the different phases

Mechanically induced helix-coil transition in biopolymer networks

The quasi-equilibrium evolution of the helical fraction occurring in a biopolymer network (gelatin gel) under an applied stress has been investigated by observing modulation in its optical activity. Its variation with the imposed chain extension is distinctly non-monotonic and corresponds to the transition of initially coiled strands to induced left-handed helices. The experimental results are in qualitative agreement with theoretical predictions of helices induced on chain extension. This new effect of mechanically stimulated helix-coil transition has been studied further as a function of the elastic properties of the polymer network: crosslink density and network aging

Certain Canine Weakly β-Hemolytic Intestinal Spirochetes Are Phenotypically and Genotypically Related to Spirochetes Associated with Human and Porcine Intestinal Spirochetosis

Four canine weakly β-hemolytic intestinal spirochetes associated with intestinal spirochetosis (IS-associated WBHIS) were compared with IS-associated human and porcine WBHIS and the type species for Serpulina hyodysenteriae and S. innocens by using phenotypic and genotypic parameters. The IS-associated canine, human, and porcine WBHIS belonged to a phyletic group distinct from but related to previously described Serpulina type species