Socioeconomic status and anxiety as predictors of antidepressant treatment response and suicidal ideation in older adults.

BACKGROUND: Separate reports from the maintenance treatment for late-life depression (MTLD) trials have shown that low socioeconomic status (SES) and anxiety symptoms at the time of treatment initiation predict lower levels of response to antidepressant treatment and higher levels of suicidal ideation in older adults. AIM: To determine whether SES and anxiety independently contribute to worse treatment outcomes, as indicated by persistence of depressive symptoms during treatment and the persistence of suicidal ideation. Consistent with prior evidence that sociodemographic factors and clinical history are both prognostic of depression treatment efficacy, we hypothesized that SES and pre-existing anxiety symptoms will both predict lower levels of response to treatment and higher levels of suicidal ideation. METHOD: Secondary analyses of data from the MTLD trials. RESULTS: Regression analyses which controlled for comorbid anxiety indicated that residents of middle- and high-income census tracts were more likely to respond to treatment (HR, 1.63; 95%CI, 1.08-2.46) and less likely to report suicidal ideation during treatment (OR, 0.51; 95%CI, 0.28-0.90) than residents of low income census tracts. The same regression models indicated that pre-existing anxiety symptoms were independently related to lower treatment response (HR, 0.73; 95%CI, 0.60-0.89) and higher risk of suicidal ideation (OR, 1.45; 95%CI, 0.98-2.14). CONCLUSION: These findings demonstrate the importance of treating anxiety symptoms during the course of treatment for late-life depression and, at the same time, addressing barriers to treatment response related to low SES

A Dark Census: Statistically Detecting the Satellite Populations of Distant Galaxies

In the standard structure formation scenario based on the cold dark matter paradigm, galactic halos are predicted to contain a large population of dark matter subhalos. While the most massive members of the subhalo population can appear as luminous satellites and be detected in optical surveys, establishing the existence of the low mass and mostly dark subhalos has proven to be a daunting task. Galaxy-scale strong gravitational lenses have been successfully used to study mass substructures lying close to lensed images of bright background sources. However, in typical galaxy-scale lenses, the strong lensing region only covers a small projected area of the lens's dark matter halo, implying that the vast majority of subhalos cannot be directly detected in lensing observations. In this paper, we point out that this large population of dark satellites can collectively affect gravitational lensing observables, hence possibly allowing their statistical detection. Focusing on the region of the galactic halo outside the strong lensing area, we compute from first principles the statistical properties of perturbations to the gravitational time delay and position of lensed images in the presence of a mass substructure population. We find that in the standard cosmological scenario, the statistics of these lensing observables are well approximated by Gaussian distributions. The formalism developed as part of this calculation is very general and can be applied to any halo geometry and choice of subhalo mass function. Our results significantly reduce the computational cost of including a large substructure population in lens models and enable the use of Bayesian inference techniques to detect and characterize the distributed satellite population of distant lens galaxies.Comment: 21 pages + appendices, 7 figures. v2: Some derivations streamlined, extended appendices. Matches version published in PR

Freeform Powder Molding for Rapid Tooling

Tooling development can be quite time consuming and costly. Several iterations may be required, and later product or process modifications may necessitate tooling redesign. Rapid prototyping techniques capable of meeting the structural requirements of short-run and end-use tooling will have a significant impact on the product development cycle. This paper presents a technique for producing tooling using the Freeform Powder Molding process. Resulting tooling can be made from a wide variety of readily available metal powders, and mechanical properties can be tailored for customized tool design and fabrication. The example presented in this paper focuses on the rapid production of tooling for sheet metal formingMechanical Engineerin

Beyond birth-weight: early growth and adolescent blood pressure in a Peruvian population

Background. Longitudinal investigations into the origins of adult essential hypertension have found elevated blood pressure in children to accurately track into adulthood, however the direct causes of essential hypertension in adolescence and adulthood remains unclear.Methods. We revisited 152 Peruvian adolescents from a birth cohort tracked from 0 to 30 months of age, and evaluated growth via monthly anthropometric measurements between 1995 and 1998, and obtained anthropometric and blood pressure measurements 11–14 years later. We used multivariable regression models to study the effects of infantile and childhood growth trends on blood pressure and central obesity in early adolescence.Results. In regression models adjusted for interim changes in weight and height, each 0.1 SD increase in weight for length from 0 to 5 months of age, and 1 SD increase from 6 to 30 months of age, was associated with decreased adolescent systolic blood pressure by 1.3 mm Hg (95% CI −2.4 to −0.1) and 2.5 mm Hg (95% CI −4.9 to 0.0), and decreased waist circumference by 0.6 (95% CI −1.1 to 0.0) and 1.2 cm (95% CI −2.3 to −0.1), respectively. Growth in infancy and early childhood was not significantly associated with adolescent waist-to-hip ratio.Conclusions. Rapid compensatory growth in early life has been posited to increase the risk of long-term cardiovascular morbidities such that nutritional interventions may do more harm than good. However, we found increased weight growth during infancy and early childhood to be associated with decreased systolic blood pressure and central adiposity in adolescence

Final Report for Grant DE-FG02-03ER41253

This is the final report of activity under this grant. The polarimeter is built and awaits installation in the HMS in Hall C, now planned for the Spring of 2007. The experiment itself will occur in the second half of 2007. The parameters of the drift chambers have been studied experimentally and found to satisfy our original request

A country bug in the city: urban infestation by the Chagas disease vector Triatoma infestans in Arequipa, Peru

BACKGROUND:Interruption of vector-borne transmission of Trypanosoma cruzi remains an unrealized objective in many Latin American countries. The task of vector control is complicated by the emergence of vector insects in urban areas.METHODS:Utilizing data from a large-scale vector control program in Arequipa, Peru, we explored the spatial patterns of infestation by Triatoma infestans in an urban and peri-urban landscape. Multilevel logistic regression was utilized to assess the associations between household infestation and household- and locality-level socio-environmental measures.RESULTS:Of 37,229 households inspected for infestation, 6,982 (18.8%95% CI: 18.4 - 19.2%) were infested by T. infestans. Eighty clusters of infestation were identified, ranging in area from 0.1 to 68.7 hectares and containing as few as one and as many as 1,139 infested households. Spatial dependence between infested households was significant at distances up to 2,000 meters. Household T. infestans infestation was associated with household- and locality-level factors, including housing density, elevation, land surface temperature, and locality type.CONCLUSIONS:High levels of T. infestans infestation, characterized by spatial heterogeneity, were found across extensive urban and peri-urban areas prior to vector control. Several environmental and social factors, which may directly or indirectly influence the biology and behavior of T. infestans, were associated with infestation. Spatial clustering of infestation in the urban context may both challenge and inform surveillance and control of vector reemergence after insecticide intervention.This item is part of the UA Faculty Publications collection. For more information this item or other items in the UA Campus Repository, contact the University of Arizona Libraries at [email protected]

Two Higgs Bi-doublet Left-Right Model With Spontaneous P and CP Violation

A left-right symmetric model with two Higgs bi-doublet is shown to be a consistent model for both spontaneous P and CP violation. The flavor changing neutral currents can be suppressed by the mechanism of approximate global U(1) family symmetry. We calculate the constraints from neural $K$ meson mass difference $\Delta m_K$ and demonstrate that a right-handed gauge boson $W_2$ contribution in box-diagrams with mass well below 1 TeV is allowed due to a cancellation caused by a light charged Higgs boson with a mass range $150 \sim 300$ GeV. The $W_2$ contribution to $\epsilon_K$ can be suppressed from appropriate choice of additional CP phases appearing in the right-handed Cabbibo-Kobayashi-Maskawa matrix. The model is also found to be fully consistent with $B^0$ mass difference $\Delta m_B$, and the mixing-induced CP violation quantity $\sin2\beta_{J/\psi}$, which is usually difficult for the model with only one Higgs bi-doublet. The new physics beyond the standard model can be directly searched at the colliders LHC and ILC.Comment: 25 pages, 6 figures, typos corrected, 1 figure added, published versio

Combining functional weed ecology and crop stable isotope ratios to identify cultivation intensity: a comparison of cereal production regimes in Haute Provence, France and Asturias, Spain

This investigation combines two independent methods of identifying crop growing conditions and husbandry practices—functional weed ecology and crop stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analysis—in order to assess their potential for inferring the intensity of past cereal production systems using archaeobotanical assemblages. Present-day organic cereal farming in Haute Provence, France features crop varieties adapted to low-nutrient soils managed through crop rotation, with little to no manuring. Weed quadrat survey of 60 crop field transects in this region revealed that floristic variation primarily reflects geographical differences. Functional ecological weed data clearly distinguish the Provence fields from those surveyed in a previous study of intensively managed spelt wheat in Asturias, north-western Spain: as expected, weed ecological data reflect higher soil fertility and disturbance in Asturias. Similarly, crop stable nitrogen isotope values distinguish between intensive manuring in Asturias and long-term cultivation with minimal manuring in Haute Provence. The new model of cereal cultivation intensity based on weed ecology and crop isotope values in Haute Provence and Asturias was tested through application to two other present-day regimes, successfully identifying a high-intensity regime in the Sighisoara region, Romania, and low-intensity production in Kastamonu, Turkey. Application of this new model to Neolithic archaeobotanical assemblages in central Europe suggests that early farming tended to be intensive, and likely incorporated manuring, but also exhibited considerable variation, providing a finer grained understanding of cultivation intensity than previously available