Workers\u27 Compensation and Injury Duration: Evidence from a Natural Experiment

This paper examines the effect of workers\u27 compensation on time out of work. It introduces a natural experiment approach of comparing individuals injured before and after increases in the maximum weekly benefit amount. The increases examined in Kentucky and Michigan raised the benefit amount for high-earnings individuals by approximately 50 percent, while low-earnings individuals, who were unaffected by the benefit maximum, did not experience a change in their incentives. Time out of work increased for those eligible for the higher benefits and remained unchanged for those whose benefits were constant. The estimated duration elasticities are clustered around 0.3-0.4

Non-perturbative dynamics of hot non-Abelian gauge fields: beyond leading log approximation

Many aspects of high-temperature gauge theories, such as the electroweak baryon number violation rate, color conductivity, and the hard gluon damping rate, have previously been understood only at leading logarithmic order (that is, neglecting effects suppressed only by an inverse logarithm of the gauge coupling). We discuss how to systematically go beyond leading logarithmic order in the analysis of physical quantities. Specifically, we extend to next-to-leading-log order (NLLO) the simple leading-log effective theory due to Bodeker that describes non-perturbative color physics in hot non-Abelian plasmas. A suitable scaling analysis is used to show that no new operators enter the effective theory at next-to-leading-log order. However, a NLLO calculation of the color conductivity is required, and we report the resulting value. Our NLLO result for the color conductivity can be trivially combined with previous numerical work by G. Moore to yield a NLLO result for the hot electroweak baryon number violation rate.Comment: 20 pages, 1 figur

Phase 1 Trial of the Plasmodium falciparum Blood Stage Vaccine MSP142-C1/Alhydrogel with and without CPG 7909 in Malaria Naïve Adults

-C1 was formulated with Alhydrogel plus the novel adjuvant CPG 7909.-C1/Alhydrogel +/− CPG 7909. Sixty volunteers were enrolled in dose escalating cohorts and randomized to receive three vaccinations of either 40 or 160 µg protein adsorbed to Alhydrogel +/− 560 µg CPG 7909 at 0, 1 and 2 months.-C1/Alhydrogel alone (p<0.0001). After the third immunization, functionality of the antibody was tested by an in vitro growth inhibition assay. Inhibition was a function of antibody titer, with an average of 3% (range −2 to 10%) in the non CPG groups versus 14% (3 to 32%) in the CPG groups.-C1/Alhydrogel is being combined with other blood stage antigens and will be taken forward in a formulation adjuvanted with CPG 7909

Evaluation of a Novel MALDI Biotyper Algorithm to Distinguish Mycobacterium intracellulare From Mycobacterium chimaera

Accurate and timely mycobacterial species identification is imperative for successful diagnosis, treatment, and management of disease caused by nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM). The current most widely utilized method for NTM species identification is Sanger sequencing of one or more genomic loci, followed by BLAST sequence analysis. MALDI-TOF MS offers a less expensive and increasingly accurate alternative to sequencing, but the commercially available assays used in clinical mycobacteriology cannot differentiate between Mycobacterium intracellulare and Mycobacterium chimaera, two closely related potentially pathogenic species of NTM that are members of the Mycobacterium avium complex (MAC). Because this differentiation of MAC species is challenging in a diagnostic setting, Bruker has developed an improved spectral interpretation algorithm to differentiate M. chimaera and M. intracellulare based on differential spectral peak signatures. Here, we utilize a set of 185 MAC isolates that have been characterized using rpoB locus sequencing followed by whole genome sequencing in some cases, to test the accuracy of the Bruker subtyper software to identify M. chimaera (n = 49) and M. intracellulare (n = 55). 100% of the M. intracellulare and 82% of the M. chimaera isolates were accurately identified using the MALDI Biotyper algorithm. This subtyper module is available with the MALDI Biotyper Compass software and offers a promising mechanism for rapid and inexpensive species determination for M. chimaera and M. intracellulare

The Astropy Problem

The Astropy Project (http://astropy.org) is, in its own words, "a community effort to develop a single core package for Astronomy in Python and foster interoperability between Python astronomy packages." For five years this project has been managed, written, and operated as a grassroots, self-organized, almost entirely volunteer effort while the software is used by the majority of the astronomical community. Despite this, the project has always been and remains to this day effectively unfunded. Further, contributors receive little or no formal recognition for creating and supporting what is now critical software. This paper explores the problem in detail, outlines possible solutions to correct this, and presents a few suggestions on how to address the sustainability of general purpose astronomical software

Using hospital discharge data for determining neonatal morbidity and mortality: a validation study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Despite widespread use of neonatal hospital discharge data, there are few published reports on the accuracy of population health data with neonatal diagnostic or procedure codes. The aim of this study was to assess the accuracy of using routinely collected hospital discharge data in identifying neonatal morbidity during the birth admission compared with data from a statewide audit of selected neonatal intensive care (NICU) admissions.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Validation study of population-based linked hospital discharge/birth data against neonatal intensive care audit data from New South Wales, Australia for 2,432 babies admitted to NICUs, 1994–1996. Sensitivity, specificity and positive predictive values (PPV) with exact binomial confidence intervals were calculated for 12 diagnoses and 6 procedures.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Sensitivities ranged from 37.0% for drainage of an air leak to 97.7% for very low birthweight, specificities all exceeded 85% and PPVs ranged from 70.9% to 100%. In-hospital mortality, low birthweight (≤1500 g), retinopathy of prematurity, respiratory distress syndrome, meconium aspiration, pneumonia, pulmonary hypertension, selected major anomalies, any mechanical ventilation (including CPAP), major surgery and surgery for patent ductus arteriosus or necrotizing enterocolitis were accurately identified with PPVs over 92%. Transient tachypnea of the newborn and drainage of an air leak had the lowest PPVs, 70.9% and 83.6% respectively.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Although under-ascertained, routinely collected hospital discharge data had high PPVs for most validated items and would be suitable for risk factor analyses of neonatal morbidity. Procedures tended to be more accurately recorded than diagnoses.</p

The Consensus Coding Sequence (Ccds) Project: Identifying a Common Protein-Coding Gene Set for the Human and Mouse Genomes

Effective use of the human and mouse genomes requires reliable identification of genes and their products. Although multiple public resources provide annotation, different methods are used that can result in similar but not identical representation of genes, transcripts, and proteins. The collaborative consensus coding sequence (CCDS) project tracks identical protein annotations on the reference mouse and human genomes with a stable identifier (CCDS ID), and ensures that they are consistently represented on the NCBI, Ensembl, and UCSC Genome Browsers. Importantly, the project coordinates on manually reviewing inconsistent protein annotations between sites, as well as annotations for which new evidence suggests a revision is needed, to progressively converge on a complete protein-coding set for the human and mouse reference genomes, while maintaining a high standard of reliability and biological accuracy. To date, the project has identified 20,159 human and 17,707 mouse consensus coding regions from 17,052 human and 16,893 mouse genes. Three evaluation methods indicate that the entries in the CCDS set are highly likely to represent real proteins, more so than annotations from contributing groups not included in CCDS. The CCDS database thus centralizes the function of identifying well-supported, identically-annotated, protein-coding regions.National Human Genome Research Institute (U.S.) (Grant number 1U54HG004555-01)Wellcome Trust (London, England) (Grant number WT062023)Wellcome Trust (London, England) (Grant number WT077198

Economic Burden of Dengue Virus Infection at the Household Level Among Residents of Puerto Maldonado, Peru.

Dengue virus (DENV) was reintroduced to Peru in the 1990s and has been reported in Puerto Maldonado (population ~65,000) in the Peruvian southern Amazon basin since 2000. This region also has the highest human migration rate in the country, mainly from areas not endemic for DENV. The objective of this study was to assess the proportion of household income that is diverted to costs incurred because of dengue illness and to compare these expenses between recent migrants (RMs) and long-term residents (LTRs). We administered a standardized questionnaire to persons diagnosed with dengue illness at Hospital Santa Rosa in Puerto Maldonado from December 2012 to March 2013. We compared direct and indirect medical costs between RMs and LTRs. A total of 80 participants completed the survey, of whom 28 (35%) were RMs and 52 (65%) were LTRs. Each dengue illness episode cost the household an average of US$105 (standard deviation [SD] = 107), representing 24$56, SD = 87), especially lost wages. The proportion of household income diverted to dengue illness did not differ significantly between RM and LTR households. The study highlights the significant financial burden incurred by households when a family member suffers dengue illness