What are the benefits and risks of daily low-dose aspirin for primary prevention of CV events?

Q: What are the benefits and risks of daily low-dose aspirin for primary prevention of CV events? A: One nonfatal myocardial infarction (MI) will be avoided for every 126 to 138 adults who take daily aspirin for 10 years (strength of recommendation [SOR]: A, systematic reviews and meta-analyses of multiple randomized controlled trials [RCTs]). Taking low-dose aspirin for primary prevention shows no clear mortality benefit. A benefit for primary prevention of stroke is less certain. Although no evidence establishes increased risk of hemorrhagic stroke from daily low-dose aspirin, one gastrointestinal hemorrhage will occur for every 72 to 357 adults who take aspirin for longer than 10 years (SOR: A, systematic reviews and meta-analyses of multiple RCTs and cohort studies).Authors: Justin Mutter, MD, MSc University of Virginia School of Medicine, Charlottesville; Rebecca Grandy, PharmD, BCACP, CPP Mountain Area Health Education Center, Asheville, NC, and Eshelman School of Pharmacy, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, Asheville; Stephen Hulkower, MD Mountain Area Health Education Center, Asheville, NC; Sue Stigleman, MLS Mountain Area Health Education Center, Asheville

Strength and Conditioning Coaches\u27 Perceptions of Sport Psychology Strategies

Strength and conditioning coaches (SCCs) hold a central role in the development of student-athletes. Although they certainly focus on student-athletes\u27 physical skill development, SCCs are in an ideal position to integrate mental skills into their strength and conditioning sessions. For example, sport psychology (SP) strategies can be used within strength and conditioning sessions to assist in athlete exercise execution by regulating arousal, improving concentration, confidence, as well as improve self-correction through self-talk and imagery. The purpose of this study was to assess collegiate SCCs\u27 use of SP skills/strategies. A total sample of 415 SCCs (19.7% return rate) across the United States participated in an online survey. Although the majority of these coaches reported having less than moderate training in SP (59.9%), they also reported a moderate to high use of certain SP strategies (e.g., goal setting, self-talk). Strength and conditioning coaches\u27 familiarity with, knowledge of, and confidence to use the SP strategies were found to be predictors of SCCs\u27 frequency of SP strategy use. This study aimed to provide an initial exploration of SCCs\u27 understanding and use of specific SP strategies, which was influenced by the SCCs\u27 perceived level of preparation to use these strategies. For SCCs to be able to purposefully and confidently incorporate SP strategies into training sessions, the current study suggests the need for specific training aimed to enhance the SCCs\u27 knowledge of and confidence in using specific SP strategies

A Scale-Explicit Framework for Conceptualizing the Environmental Impacts of Agricultural Land Use Changes

Demand for locally-produced food is growing in areas outside traditionally dominant agricultural regions due to concerns over food safety, quality, and sovereignty; rural livelihoods; and environmental integrity. Strategies for meeting this demand rely upon agricultural land use change, in various forms of either intensification or extensification (converting non-agricultural land, including native landforms, to agricultural use). The nature and extent of the impacts of these changes on non-food-provisioning ecosystem services are determined by a complex suite of scale-dependent interactions among farming practices, site-specific characteristics, and the ecosystem services under consideration. Ecosystem modeling strategies which honor such complexity are often impenetrable by non-experts, resulting in a prevalent conceptual gap between ecosystem sciences and the field of sustainable agriculture. Referencing heavily forested New England as an example, we present a conceptual framework designed to synthesize and convey understanding of the scale- and landscape-dependent nature of the relationship between agriculture and various ecosystem services. By accounting for the total impact of multiple disturbances across a landscape while considering the effects of scale, the framework is intended to stimulate and support the collaborative efforts of land managers, scientists, citizen stakeholders, and policy makers as they address the challenges of expanding local agriculture

Wideband timing of the double pulsar (PSR J0737-3039A)

Pulsars are neutron stars (NS) that produce beamed radio-frequency emission. Due to their rapid, steady rotation rate, this signal is detected as a series of pulses whose integrated profile is unusually stable over time. Pulsars in double neutron star (DNS) binary systems are a rare, but extremely useful, astronomical tool and have been used in tests of gravity theories in the strong-gravitational field limit. Rarer still are DNS systems in which both objects have been detected as pulsars; only one such system has been found thus far -- PSR J0737-3039A/B. Discovered over a decade ago, this system consists of one recycled pulsar, PSR J0737-3039A, and its companion, PSR J0737-3039B, which has since become undetectable. In any pulsar-related research, precise timing is necessary to produce meaningful results. The pulse time of arrivals (TOAs) are greatly affected by the medium through which the electromagnetic (EM) signal travels in both frequency-dependent and -independent ways. Even after accounting for such effects, many pulse profiles still exhibit frequency-dependent shape changes, which can greatly affect the precision of the timing results. Traditionally, corrections are applied to the TOAs after calculation in an ad hoc manner. In contrast to this, we explored the wideband timing algorithm developed by Timothy T. Pennucci and collaborators which accounts for frequency-dependent profile changes through a two-dimensional Gaussian pulse portrait model implemented in the TOA calculations. It was found that the portrait model is well-representative of the pulse profile shape over a wide frequency range. This method is also able to produce a robust set of wideband TOAs. The subsequent timing model, determined with TEMPO timing software, was found to be comparable to those produced from subbanded TOAs derived though more traditional methods. Some inconsistencies between the timing model astrometric and spin parameters of the wideband and subbanded data of this well-studied pulsar imply potential difficulties in achieving precise timing results not only for this pulsar, but for others, such as those used in pulsar timing arrays aiming to detect gravitational waves.Science, Faculty ofPhysics and Astronomy, Department ofGraduat

A Scale-Explicit Framework for Conceptualizing the Environmental Impacts of Agricultural Land Use Changes

Demand for locally-produced food is growing in areas outside traditionally dominant agricultural regions due to concerns over food safety, quality, and sovereignty; rural livelihoods; and environmental integrity. Strategies for meeting this demand rely upon agricultural land use change, in various forms of either intensification or extensification (converting non-agricultural land, including native landforms, to agricultural use). The nature and extent of the impacts of these changes on non-food-provisioning ecosystem services are determined by a complex suite of scale-dependent interactions among farming practices, site-specific characteristics, and the ecosystem services under consideration. Ecosystem modeling strategies which honor such complexity are often impenetrable by non-experts, resulting in a prevalent conceptual gap between ecosystem sciences and the field of sustainable agriculture. Referencing heavily forested New England as an example, we present a conceptual framework designed to synthesize and convey understanding of the scale- and landscape-dependent nature of the relationship between agriculture and various ecosystem services. By accounting for the total impact of multiple disturbances across a landscape while considering the effects of scale, the framework is intended to stimulate and support the collaborative efforts of land managers, scientists, citizen stakeholders, and policy makers as they address the challenges of expanding local agriculture

Biological and Environmental Research Exascale Requirements Review

The article of record as published may be found at http://dx.doi.org/10.2172/1375720An Office of Science review sponsored jointly by Advanced Scientific Computing Research and Biological and Environmental Research, March 28-31, 2016, Rockville, MarylandUnderstanding the fundamentals of genomic systems or the processes governing impactful weather patterns are examples of the types of simulation and modeling performed on the most advanced computing resources in America. High-performance computing and computational science together provide a necessary platform for the mission science conducted by the Biological and Environmental Research (BER) office at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). This report reviews BER’s computing needs and their importance for solving some of the toughest problems in BER’s portfolio. BER’s impact on science has been transformative. Mapping the human genome, including the U.S.-supported international Human Genome Project that DOE began in 1987, initiated the era of modern biotechnology and genomics-based systems biology. And since the 1950s, BER has been a core contributor to atmospheric, environmental, and climate science research, beginning with atmospheric circulation studies that were the forerunners of modern Earth system models (ESMs) and by pioneering the implementation of climate codes onto high-performance computers. See http://exascaleage.org/ber/ for more information.USDOE Office of Science (SC), Advanced Scientific Computing Research (SC-21)USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER) (SC-23