Time-bin to Polarization Conversion of Ultrafast Photonic Qubits

The encoding of quantum information in photonic time-bin qubits is apt for long distance quantum communication schemes. In practice, due to technical constraints such as detector response time, or the speed with which co-polarized time-bins can be switched, other encodings, e.g. polarization, are often preferred for operations like state detection. Here, we present the conversion of qubits between polarization and time-bin encodings using a method that is based on an ultrafast optical Kerr shutter and attain efficiencies of 97% and an average fidelity of 0.827+/-0.003 with shutter speeds near 1 ps. Our demonstration delineates an essential requirement for the development of hybrid and high-rate optical quantum networks

A Hybrid Implementation-Effectiveness Study of a Community Health Worker-Delivered Intervention to Reduce Cardiovascular Disease Risk in a Rural, Underserved Non-Hispanic Black Population: The CHANGE Study

Purpose To evaluate the implementation and effectiveness of the Carolina Heart Alliance Networking for Greater Equity (CHANGE) Program, an adapted evidence-based cardiovascular disease risk reduction intervention delivered by Community Health Workers (CHW) to rural adults. Design Hybrid implementation-effectiveness study with a pre–post design. Setting North Carolina Federally Qualified Health Center and local health department in a rural, medically underserved area. Sample Participants (n = 255) included 87% Non-Hispanic Black with a mean age of 57 years; 84% had diagnosed hypertension, 55% had diabetes, and 65% had hypercholesterolemia. Intervention A CHW-delivered, low-intensity, 4-month behavioral lifestyle intervention promoting a southern-style Mediterranean dietary pattern and physical activity. Measures We measured number and representativeness of participants reached and retained, intervention delivery fidelity, weight, blood pressure, and self-reported dietary and physical activity behaviors. Analysis Pre–post changes at 4 months were analyzed using paired t-tests. Results Study participants completed 90% of planned intervention contacts; 87% were retained. Intervention delivery fidelity measures showed participants receiving a mean of 3.5 counseling visits, 2.7 booster calls, and on average completing 1.7 modules, setting 1.8 goals, and receiving 1.3 referrals per visit. There were significant mean reductions in systolic (−2.5 mmHg, P < .05) and diastolic blood pressure (−2.1 mmHg, P < .01); the proportion of participants with systolic blood pressure <130 increased by 7 % points (P = .05), and diastolic pressure <80 by 9 percentage points (P < .01). Dietary behaviors improved significantly with average weekly servings of nuts increased by .5 serving (P < .0001), and fruits and vegetables by .8 daily serving (P < .0001). Physical activity also increased on average by 45 min./week (P < .001). Weight did not change significantly. Conclusions The CHANGE program showed both implementation and program effectiveness and adds to the evidence supporting CHW-delivered lifestyle interventions to reduce CVD risk among rural, Non-Hispanic Black, and medically underserved populations

Collagen Gene Polymorphisms Previously Associated with Resistance to Soft-Tissue Injury Are More Common in Competitive Runners Than Nonathletes

Dines, HR, Nixon, J, Lockey, SJ, Herbert, AJ, Kipps, C, Pedlar, CR, Day, SH, Heffernan, SM, Antrobus, MR, Brazier, J, Erskine, RM, Stebbings, GK, Hall, ECR, and Williams, AG. Collagen gene polymorphisms previously associated with resistance to soft-tissue injury are more common in competitive runners than nonathletes. J Strength Cond Res XX(X): 000-000, 2022-Single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of collagen genes have been associated with soft-tissue injury and running performance. However, their combined contribution to running performance is unknown. We investigated the association of 2 collagen gene SNPs with athlete status and performance in 1,429 Caucasian subjects, including 597 competitive runners (354 men and 243 women) and 832 nonathletes (490 men and 342 women). Genotyping for COL1A1 rs1800012 (C > A) and COL5A1 rs12722 (C > T) SNPs was performed by a real-time polymerase chain reaction. The numbers of "injury-resistant" alleles from each SNP, based on previous literature (rs1800012 A allele and rs12722 C allele), were combined as an injury-resistance score (RScore, 0-4; higher scores indicate injury resistance). Genotype frequencies, individually and combined as an RScore, were compared between cohorts and investigated for associations with performance using official race times. Runners had 1.34 times greater odds of being rs12722 CC homozygotes than nonathletes (19.7% vs. 15.5%, p = 0.020) with no difference in the rs1800012 genotype distribution (p = 0.659). Fewer runners had an RScore 0 of (18.5% vs. 24.7%) and more had an RScore of 4 (0.6% vs. 0.3%) than nonathletes (p < 0.001). Competitive performance was not associated with the COL1A1 genotype (p = 0.933), COL5A1 genotype (p = 0.613), or RScore (p = 0.477). Although not associated directly with running performance among competitive runners, a higher combined frequency of injury-resistant COL1A1 rs1800012 A and COL5A1 rs12722 C alleles in competitive runners than nonathletes suggests these SNPs may be advantageous through a mechanism that supports, but does not directly enhance, running performance

Collagen Gene Polymorphisms Previously Associated with Resistance to Soft-Tissue Injury Are More Common in Competitive Runners Than Nonathletes

Single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of collagen genes have been associated with soft-tissue injury and running performance. However, their combined contribution to running performance is unknown. We investigated the association of 2 collagen gene SNPs with athlete status and performance in 1,429 Caucasian subjects, including 597 competitive runners (354 men and 243 women) and 832 nonathletes (490 men and 342 women). Genotyping for COL1A1 rs1800012 (C > A) and COL5A1 rs12722 (C > T) SNPs was performed by a real-time polymerase chain reaction. The numbers of “injury-resistant” alleles from each SNP, based on previous literature (rs1800012 A allele and rs12722 C allele), were combined as an injury-resistance score (RScore, 0–4; higher scores indicate injury resistance). Genotype frequencies, individually and combined as an RScore, were compared between cohorts and investigated for associations with performance using official race times. Runners had 1.34 times greater odds of being rs12722 CC homozygotes than nonathletes (19.7% vs. 15.5%, p = 0.020) with no difference in the rs1800012 genotype distribution (p = 0.659). Fewer runners had an RScore 0 of (18.5% vs. 24.7%) and more had an RScore of 4 (0.6% vs. 0.3%) than nonathletes (p < 0.001). Competitive performance was not associated with the COL1A1 genotype (p = 0.933), COL5A1 genotype (p = 0.613), or RScore (p = 0.477). Although not associated directly with running performance among competitive runners, a higher combined frequency of injury-resistant COL1A1 rs1800012 A and COL5A1 rs12722 C alleles in competitive runners than nonathletes suggests these SNPs may be advantageous through a mechanism that supports, but does not directly enhance, running performance

Screening and social prescribing in healthcare and social services to address housing issues among children and families: a systematic review

ObjectivesHousing is a social determinant of health that impacts the health and well-being of children and families. Screening and referral to address social determinants of health in clinical and social service settings has been proposed to support families with housing problems. This study aims to identify housing screening questions asked of families in healthcare and social services, determine validated screening tools and extract information about recommendations for action after screening for housing issues.MethodsThe electronic databases MEDLINE, PsycINFO, EMBASE, Ovid Emcare, Scopus and CINAHL were searched from 2009 to 2021. Inclusion criteria were peer-reviewed literature that included questions about housing being asked of children or young people aged 0-18 years and their families accessing any healthcare or social service. We extracted data on the housing questions asked, source of housing questions, validity and descriptions of actions to address housing issues.ResultsForty-nine peer-reviewed papers met the inclusion criteria. The housing questions in social screening tools vary widely. There are no standard housing-related questions that clinical and social service providers ask families. Fourteen screening tools were validated. An action was embedded as part of social screening activities in 27 of 42 studies. Actions for identified housing problems included provision of a community-based or clinic-based resource guide, and social prescribing included referral to a social worker, care coordinator or care navigation service, community health worker, social service agency, referral to a housing and child welfare demonstration project or provided intensive case management and wraparound services.ConclusionThis review provides a catalogue of housing questions that can be asked of families in the clinical and/or social service setting, and potential subsequent actions

SDSS-III: Massive Spectroscopic Surveys of the Distant Universe, the Milky Way Galaxy, and Extra-Solar Planetary Systems

Building on the legacy of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS-I and II), SDSS-III is a program of four spectroscopic surveys on three scientific themes: dark energy and cosmological parameters, the history and structure of the Milky Way, and the population of giant planets around other stars. In keeping with SDSS tradition, SDSS-III will provide regular public releases of all its data, beginning with SDSS DR8 (which occurred in Jan 2011). This paper presents an overview of the four SDSS-III surveys. BOSS will measure redshifts of 1.5 million massive galaxies and Lya forest spectra of 150,000 quasars, using the BAO feature of large scale structure to obtain percent-level determinations of the distance scale and Hubble expansion rate at z<0.7 and at z~2.5. SEGUE-2, which is now completed, measured medium-resolution (R=1800) optical spectra of 118,000 stars in a variety of target categories, probing chemical evolution, stellar kinematics and substructure, and the mass profile of the dark matter halo from the solar neighborhood to distances of 100 kpc. APOGEE will obtain high-resolution (R~30,000), high signal-to-noise (S/N>100 per resolution element), H-band (1.51-1.70 micron) spectra of 10^5 evolved, late-type stars, measuring separate abundances for ~15 elements per star and creating the first high-precision spectroscopic survey of all Galactic stellar populations (bulge, bar, disks, halo) with a uniform set of stellar tracers and spectral diagnostics. MARVELS will monitor radial velocities of more than 8000 FGK stars with the sensitivity and cadence (10-40 m/s, ~24 visits per star) needed to detect giant planets with periods up to two years, providing an unprecedented data set for understanding the formation and dynamical evolution of giant planet systems. (Abridged)Comment: Revised to version published in The Astronomical Journa

The Eleventh and Twelfth Data Releases of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey: Final Data from SDSS-III

The third generation of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS-III) took data from 2008 to 2014 using the original SDSS wide-field imager, the original and an upgraded multi-object fiber-fed optical spectrograph, a new near-infrared high-resolution spectrograph, and a novel optical interferometer. All of the data from SDSS-III are now made public. In particular, this paper describes Data Release 11 (DR11) including all data acquired through 2013 July, and Data Release 12 (DR12) adding data acquired through 2014 July (including all data included in previous data releases), marking the end of SDSS-III observing. Relative to our previous public release (DR10), DR12 adds one million new spectra of galaxies and quasars from the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS) over an additional 3000 deg2 of sky, more than triples the number of H-band spectra of stars as part of the Apache Point Observatory (APO) Galactic Evolution Experiment (APOGEE), and includes repeated accurate radial velocity measurements of 5500 stars from the Multi-object APO Radial Velocity Exoplanet Large-area Survey (MARVELS). The APOGEE outputs now include the measured abundances of 15 different elements for each star. In total, SDSS-III added 5200 deg2 of ugriz imaging; 155,520 spectra of 138,099 stars as part of the Sloan Exploration of Galactic Understanding and Evolution 2 (SEGUE-2) survey; 2,497,484 BOSS spectra of 1,372,737 galaxies, 294,512 quasars, and 247,216 stars over 9376 deg2; 618,080 APOGEE spectra of 156,593 stars; and 197,040 MARVELS spectra of 5513 stars. Since its first light in 1998, SDSS has imaged over 1/3 of the Celestial sphere in five bands and obtained over five million astronomical spectra. \ua9 2015. The American Astronomical Society