Boundary current experiment I & II, RAFOS float data report, 1994-1997

This is the final data report of all RAFOS (acoustically tracked) float data collected during the 1994-1997 Boundary Current Experiment (BOUNCE) study of the Deep Western Boundary Current (DWBC) in the North Atlantic Ocean. The overall objective of the program was to obtain the first comprehensive description of the North Atlantic DWBC's variability over a large path segment from Cape Hatteras to the Grand Banks. The experiment was comprised of CTD, tracer, and RAFOS float observations to achieve both Eulerian and Lagrangian descriptions of the DWBC. The three main objectives of the Lagrangian float study were 1) to determine fluid parcel pathways in the DWBC and identify regions of exchange with the interior, 2) to estimate the mean speed and variabilty of fluid parcels at two different levels in the DWBC, and 3) to study the kinematics and potential vorticity dynamics of fluid parcels in the DWBC at the Gulf Stream cross-over point near Cape Hatteras. Thirty floats were deployed: 15 were designed to be isopycnal floats, and 15 were isobaric floats. The isopycnal floats were ballasted for the 0, = 27.73 density surface (approximately 800 decibars (db)) to seed the Upper Labrador Sea Water. The isobaric floats were ballasted for 3000 db to seed the Nordic Seas overflow water.Funding was provided by the National Science Foundation under Grant OCE-93-01448

Selection of an internet content filtering solution using the analytic hierarchy process

This talk describes the selection of an Internet Content Filtering solution suitable for the specific requirements of the Waikato Institute of Technology (Wintec). Product data was collected from a variety of sources including: vendor product datasheets, industry benchmark tests, the experiences of other institutions and the academic literature. The available solutions were compared using the Analytic Hierarchy Process (Saaty 1980), a multicriteria decision support tool, using the above data and priority weightings determined for each criterion

A Mediterranean undercurrent seeding experiment (AMUSE) : part II: RAFOS float data report, May 1993-March 1995

This is the final data report of all acoustically tracked RAFOS data collected in 1993-1995 during A Mediterranean Undercurrent Seeding Experiment (AMUSE). The overall objective of the program was to observe directly the spreading pathways by which Mediterranean Water enters the North Atlantic. This includes the direct observation of Mediterranean eddies (meddies), which is one mechanism that transports Mediterranean Water to the North Atlantic. The experiment was comprised of a repeated high-resolution expendable bathythermograph (XBT) section and RAFOS float deployments across the Mediterranean Undercurrent south of Portugal near 8.5°W. A total of 49 floats were deployed at a rate of about two floats per week on 23 cruises on the chartered Portuguese-based vessel, Kialoa II, and one cruise on the R/V Endeavor. The floats were ballasted for 1100 or 1200 decibars (db) to seed the lower salinity core of the Mediterranean Undercurrent. The objectives of the Lagrangian float study were (1) to identify where meddies form, (2) to make the first direct estimate of meddy formation frequency, (3) to estimate the fraction of time meddies are being formed, and (4) to determine the pathways by which Mediterranean Water which is not trapped in meddies enters the North Atlantic.Funding was provided by the National Science Foundation through Grant No. OCE-91-01033 to the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and Grant No. OCE-91-00724 to Scripps Institution of Oceanography, and by the Luso-American Foundation for Development through Grant No. 54/93 to the University of Lisbon

Consumption of New Zealand blackcurrant extract improves recovery from exercise-induced muscle damage in non-resistance trained men and women: A double-blind randomised trial

Background: Blackcurrant is rich in anthocyanins that may protect against exercise-induced muscle damage (EIMD) and facilitate a faster recovery of muscle function. We examined the effects of New Zealand blackcurrant (NZBC) extract on indices of muscle damage and recovery following a bout of strenuous isokinetic resistance exercise. Methods: Using a double-blind, randomised, placebo controlled, parallel design, twenty-seven healthy participants received either a 3 g·day−1 NZBC extract (n = 14) or the placebo (PLA) (n = 13) for 8 days prior to and 4 days following 60 strenuous concentric and eccentric contractions of the biceps brachii muscle on an isokinetic dynamometer. Muscle soreness (using a visual analogue scale), maximal voluntary contraction (MVC), range of motion (ROM) and blood creatine kinase (CK) were assessed before (0 h) and after (24, 48, 72 and 96 h) exercise. Results: Consumption of NZBC extract resulted in faster recovery of baseline MVC (p = 0.04), attenuated muscle soreness at 24 h (NZBC: 21 ± 10 mm vs. PLA: 40 ± 23 mm, p = 0.02) and 48 h (NZBC: 22 ± 17 vs. PLA: 44 ± 26 mm, p = 0.03) and serum CK concentration at 96 h (NZBC: 635 ± 921 UL vs. PLA: 4021 ± 4319 UL, p = 0.04) following EIMD. Conclusions: Consumption of NZBC extract prior to and following a bout of eccentric exercise attenuates muscle damage and improves functional recovery. These findings are of practical importance in recreationally active and potentially athletic populations, who may benefit from accelerated recovery following EIMD

Hypertension in Pregnancy Is a Risk Factor for Microalbuminuria Later in Life

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/99687/1/jch12116.pd

The images of psychiatry scale: development, factor structure, and reliability.

BACKGROUND: This analysis is based on a survey questionnaire designed to describe medical educators' views of psychiatry and psychiatrists. Our goals in this paper were to assess the psychometric properties of the survey questions by (a) using exploratory factor analysis to identify the basic factor structure underlying 37 survey items; (b) testing the resulting factor structure using confirmatory factor analysis; and (c) assessing the internal reliability of each identified factor. To our knowledge, this is the first attempt to use these techniques to psychometrically assess a scale measuring the strength of stigma that medical educators attached to psychiatry. METHODS: Survey data were collected from a random sample of 1,059 teaching faculty in 23 academic teaching sites in 15 countries. We conducted exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis to identify the scale structure and Cronbach's alpha to assess internal consistency of the resulting scales. RESULTS: Results showed that a two-factor solution was the best fit for the data. Following exploratory factor analysis, we conducted confirmatory factor analysis on a split half of the sample. Results highlighted several items with low loadings. Excluding factors with low correlations and allowing for several correlated variances resulted in a good fitting model explaining 95% of the variance in the data. CONCLUSIONS: We identified two unidimensional scales. The Images Scale contained 11 items measuring stereotypic content concerning psychiatry and psychiatrists. The Efficacy of Psychiatry Scale contained 5 items addressing perceptions of the challenges and effectiveness of psychiatry as a discipline

Effects of comorbid anxiety disorders on the longitudinal course of pediatric bipolar disorders

OBJECTIVE: To examine the longitudinal effects of comorbid anxiety disorders in youth with bipolar spectrum disorder (BP). METHOD: As part of the Course and Outcome of Bipolar Youth study, 413 youth, who were 7 through 17 years or age and who met criteria for DSM-IV BP-I (n = 244), BP-II (n = 28), and operationally defined bipolar disorder not otherwise specified (BP-NOS) (n = 141) were included. Subjects were followed on average 5 years using the Longitudinal Interval Follow-up Evaluation. Effects of anxiety on the time to mood recovery and recurrence and percentage of time with syndromal and subsyndromal mood symptomatology during the follow-up period were analyzed. RESULTS: At intake and during the follow-up, 62% of youth with BP met criteria for at least 1 anxiety disorder. About 50% of the BP youth with anxiety had ≥2 anxiety disorders. Compared to BP youth without anxiety, those with anxiety had significantly more depressive recurrences and significantly longer median time to recovery. The effects of anxiety on recovery disappeared when the severity of depression at intake was taken into account. After adjusting for confounding factors, BP youth with anxiety, particularly those with ≥2 anxiety disorders, spent significantly less follow-up time asymptomatic and more time with syndromal mixed/cycling and subsyndromal depressive symptomatology compared to those without anxiety. CONCLUSIONS: Anxiety disorders are common and adversely affect the course of BP in youth, as characterized by more mood recurrences, longer time to recovery, less time euthymic, and more time in mixed/cycling and depressive episodes. Prompt recognition and the development of treatments for BP youth with anxiety are warranted

Cognitive flexibility and performance in children and adolescents with threshold and sub-threshold bipolar disorder

Greater understanding of cognitive function in children and adolescents with bipolar disorder (BD) is of critical importance to improve our ability to design targeted treatments to help with real-world impairment, including academic performance. We sought to evaluate cognitive performance among children with either BD type I, II, or “not otherwise specified” (NOS) participating in multi-site Course and Outcome of Bipolar Youth study compared to typically developing controls (TDC) without psycho-pathology. In particular, we sought to test the hypothesis that BD-I and BD-II youths with full threshold episodes of mania or hypomania would have cognitive deficits, including in reversal learning, vs. those BD-NOS participants with sub-threshold episodes and TDCs. N = 175 participants (BD-I = 81, BD-II = 11, BD-NOS = 28, TDC = 55) completed Cambridge Neuropsychological Automated Testing Battery (CANTAB) tasks. A priori analyses of the simple reversal stage of the CANTAB intra-/extra-dimensional shift task showed that aggregated BD-I/II participants required significantly more trials to complete the task than either BD-NOS participants with sub-syndromal manic/hypomanic symptoms or than TDCs. BD participants across sub-types had impairments in sustained attention and information processing for emotionally valenced words. Our results align with prior findings showing that BD-I/II youths with distinct episodes have specific alterations in reversal learning. More broadly, our study suggests that further work is necessary to see the interaction between neurocognitive performance and longitudinal illness course. Additional work is required to identify the neural underpinnings of these differences as targets for potential novel treatments, such as cognitive remediation

Bodyweight Perceptions among Texas Women: The Effects of Religion, Race/Ethnicity, and Citizenship Status

Despite previous work exploring linkages between religious participation and health, little research has looked at the role of religion in affecting bodyweight perceptions. Using the theoretical model developed by Levin et al. (Sociol Q 36(1):157–173, 1995) on the multidimensionality of religious participation, we develop several hypotheses and test them by using data from the 2004 Survey of Texas Adults. We estimate multinomial logistic regression models to determine the relative risk of women perceiving themselves as overweight. Results indicate that religious attendance lowers risk of women perceiving themselves as very overweight. Citizenship status was an important factor for Latinas, with noncitizens being less likely to see themselves as overweight. We also test interaction effects between religion and race. Religious attendance and prayer have a moderating effect among Latina non-citizens so that among these women, attendance and prayer intensify perceptions of feeling less overweight when compared to their white counterparts. Among African American women, the effect of increased church attendance leads to perceptions of being overweight. Prayer is also a correlate of overweight perceptions but only among African American women. We close with a discussion that highlights key implications from our findings, note study limitations, and several promising avenues for future research

Multi-ancestry study of blood lipid levels identifies four loci interacting with physical activity.

Many genetic loci affect circulating lipid levels, but it remains unknown whether lifestyle factors, such as physical activity, modify these genetic effects. To identify lipid loci interacting with physical activity, we performed genome-wide analyses of circulating HDL cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, and triglyceride levels in up to 120,979 individuals of European, African, Asian, Hispanic, and Brazilian ancestry, with follow-up of suggestive associations in an additional 131,012 individuals. We find four loci, in/near CLASP1, LHX1, SNTA1, and CNTNAP2, that are associated with circulating lipid levels through interaction with physical activity; higher levels of physical activity enhance the HDL cholesterol-increasing effects of the CLASP1, LHX1, and SNTA1 loci and attenuate the LDL cholesterol-increasing effect of the CNTNAP2 locus. The CLASP1, LHX1, and SNTA1 regions harbor genes linked to muscle function and lipid metabolism. Our results elucidate the role of physical activity interactions in the genetic contribution to blood lipid levels