Outer zone electrons

Spatial and temporal behavior of high energy trapped electrons in outer zone of magnetospher

Groundwater recharge from heavy rainfall in the southwestern Lake Chad Basin: evidence from isotopic observations

We examine groundwater recharge processes and their relationship to rainfall intensity in the semi-arid, southwestern Lake Chad Basin of Nigeria using a newly compiled database of stable isotope data (δ2H, δ18O) from groundwater and rainfall. δ18O signatures in groundwater proximate to surface waters are enriched in 18O relative to regional rainfall and trace focused groundwater recharge from evaporated waters via ephemeral river discharge and Lake Chad; groundwater remote from river channels is comparatively depleted and associated with diffuse recharge, often via sand dunes. Stable isotope ratios of O and H (δ2H, δ18O) in groundwater samples regress to a value along the local meteoric waterline that is depleted relative to weighted mean composition of rainfall, consistent with rainfall exceeding the 60th percentile of monthly precipitation intensity. The observed bias in groundwater recharge to heavy monthly rainfall suggests that the intensification of tropical rainfall under global warming favours groundwater recharge in this basin

Efficient Cross-Validation of Echo State Networks

Echo State Networks (ESNs) are known for their fast and precise one-shot learning of time series. But they often need good hyper-parameter tuning for best performance. For this good validation is key, but usually, a single validation split is used. In this rather practical contribution we suggest several schemes for cross-validating ESNs and introduce an efficient algorithm for implementing them. The component that dominates the time complexity of the already quite fast ESN training remains constant (does not scale up with $k$) in our proposed method of doing $k$-fold cross-validation. The component that does scale linearly with $k$ starts dominating only in some not very common situations. Thus in many situations $k$-fold cross-validation of ESNs can be done for virtually the same time complexity as a simple single split validation. Space complexity can also remain the same. We also discuss when the proposed validation schemes for ESNs could be beneficial and empirically investigate them on several different real-world datasets.Comment: Accepted in ICANN'19 Workshop on Reservoir Computin

Characterization and Changes of Lymphocyte Subsets in Baricitinib‐Treated Patients With Rheumatoid Arthritis

Objective Baricitinib is an orally administered inhibitor of JAK1 and JAK2 that has been shown to be effective in treating rheumatoid arthritis (RA). This study was undertaken to analyze changes in lymphocyte cell subsets during baricitinib treatment and to correlate these changes with clinical outcomes. Methods An integrated analysis was conducted by pooling data from 3 completed phase III trials comparing placebo with baricitinib treatment (RA‐BEAM, RA‐BUILD, and RA‐BEACON) and 1 ongoing long‐term extension study (RA‐BEYOND) in patients with active RA (n = 2,186). Results Baricitinib treatment was associated with an early transient increase in total lymphocyte count at week 4, which returned to baseline by week 12. Transient changes within normal reference ranges in T cells and subsets were observed with baricitinib treatment, up to week 104. B cells and relevant subpopulations increased after 4 weeks of baricitinib treatment, with no further increases noted through 104 weeks of treatment. Natural killer (NK) cells temporarily increased after 4 weeks of baricitinib treatment, before decreasing below baseline levels and then stabilizing over time. With baricitinib treatment, few correlations were observed between changes in lymphocyte subsets and clinical end points, and most correlations were also observed within the placebo group. A modest potential association between low NK cell numbers and treatment‐emergent infections was observed in the baricitinib 4 mg/day treatment group, but not for serious infections or herpes zoster. Conclusion Overall, these findings demonstrate that changes in lymphocyte subsets were largely within normal reference ranges across the baricitinib phase III RA clinical program and were not associated with increased risk of serious infections

One for All—A Highly Efficient and Versatile Method for Fluorescent Immunostaining in Fish Embryos

Background: For the detection and sub-cellular (co)-localization of proteins in the context of the tissue or organism immunostaining in whole mount preparations or on sections is still the best approach. So far, each antibody required its own fixation and antigen retrieval protocol so that optimizing immunostaining turned out to be tedious and time consuming. Methodology/Principal Finding: Here we present a novel method to efficiently retrieve the antigen in a widely applicable standard protocol, facilitating fluorescent immunostaining of both cryosections and whole mount preparations in zebrafish (Danio rerio) and medaka (Oryzias latipes). Conclusions/Significance: Our method overcomes the loss of sections and damage of tissue and cell morphology, and allows parallel immunostaining in multiple colors, co-immunostaining with fluorescent proteins in transgenic fish lines and in combination with whole mount in situ hybridization

Challenges of Loss to Follow-up in Tuberculosis Research.

In studies evaluating methods for diagnosing tuberculosis (TB), follow-up to verify the presence or absence of active TB is crucial and high dropout rates may significantly affect the validity of the results. In a study assessing the diagnostic performance of the QuantiFERON®-TB Gold In-Tube test in TB suspect children in Tanzania, factors influencing patient adherence to attend follow-up examinations and reasons for not attending were examined. In 160 children who attended and 102 children who did not attend scheduled 2-month follow-up baseline health characteristics, demographic data and risk factors for not attending follow-up were determined. Qualitative interviews were used to understand patient and caretakers reasons for not returning for scheduled follow-up. Being treated for active tb in the dots program (OR: 4.14; 95% CI:1.99-8.62;p-value<0.001) and receiving money for the bus fare (OR:129; 95% CI 16->100;P-value<0.001) were positive predictors for attending follow-up at 2 months, and 21/85(25%) of children not attending scheduled follow-up had died. Interviews revealed that limited financial resources, i.e. lack of money for transportation and poor communication, were related to non-adherence. Patients lost to follow-up is a potential problem for TB research. Receiving money for transportation to the hospital and communication is crucial for adherence to follow-up conducted at a study facility. Strategies to ensure follow-up should be part of any study protocol

TechCare: Mobile-assessment and therapy for psychosis: An intervention for clients within the early intervention service

In the UK, mental illness is a major source of disease burden costing in the region of £105 billion pounds. mHealth is a novel and emerging field in psychiatric and psychological care for the treatment of mental health difficulties such as psychosis

Nebuliser therapy in the intensive care unit

The relationship between identity, lived experience, sexual practices and the language through which these are conveyed has been widely debated in sexuality literature. For example, ‘coming out’ has famously been conceptualised as a ‘speech act’ (Sedgwick 1990) and as a collective narrative (Plummer 1995), while a growing concern for individuals’ diverse identifications in relations to their sexual and gender practices has produced interesting research focusing on linguistic practices among LGBT-identified individuals (Leap 1995; Kulick 2000; Cameron and Kulick 2006; Farqhar 2000). While an explicit focus on language remains marginal to literature on sexualities (Kulick 2000), issue of language use and translation are seldom explicitly addressed in the growing literature on intersectionality. Yet intersectional perspectives ‘reject the separability of analytical and identity categories’ (McCall 2005:1771), and therefore have an implicit stake in the ‘vernacular’ language of the researched, in the ‘scientific’ language of the researcher and in the relationship of continuity between the two. Drawing on literature within gay and lesbian/queer studies and cross-cultural studies, this chapter revisits debates on sexuality, language and intersectionality. I argue for the importance of giving careful consideration to the language we choose to use as researchers to collectively define the people whose experiences we try to capture. I also propose that language itself can be investigated as a productive way to foreground how individual and collective identifications are discursively constructed, and to unpack the diversity of lived experience. I address intersectional complexity as a methodological issue, where methodology is understood not only as the methods and practicalities of doing research, but more broadly as ‘a coherent set of ideas about the philosophy, methods and data that underlie the research process and the production of knowledge’ (McCall 2005:1774). My points are illustrated with examples drawn from my ethnographic study on ‘lesbian’ identity in urban Russia, interspersed with insights from existing literature. In particular, I aim to show that an explicit focus on language can be a productive way to explore the intersections between the global, the national and the local in cross-cultural research on sexuality, while also addressing issues of positionality and accountability to the communities researched

Internal and external cooling methods and their effect on body temperature, thermal perception and dexterity

© 2018 The Authors. Published by PLOS. This is an open access article available under a Creative Commons licence. The published version can be accessed at the following link on the publisher’s website: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0191416© 2018 Maley et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Objective The present study aimed to compare a range of cooling methods possibly utilised by occupational workers, focusing on their effect on body temperature, perception and manual dexterity. Methods Ten male participants completed eight trials involving 30 min of seated rest followed by 30 min of cooling or control of no cooling (CON) (34C, 58% relative humidity). The cooling methods utilised were: ice cooling vest (CV0), phase change cooling vest melting at 14C (CV14), evaporative cooling vest (CVEV), arm immersion in 10C water (AI), portable water-perfused suit (WPS), heliox inhalation (HE) and ice slushy ingestion (SL). Immediately before and after cooling, participants were assessed for fine (Purdue pegboard task) and gross (grip and pinch strength) manual dexterity. Rectal and skin temperature, as well as thermal sensation and comfort, were monitored throughout. Results Compared with CON, SL was the only method to reduce rectal temperature (P = 0.012). All externally applied cooling methods reduced skin temperature (P0.05). Conclusion The present study observed that ice ingestion or ice applied to the skin produced the greatest effect on rectal and skin temperature, respectively. AI should not be utilised if workers require subsequent fine manual dexterity. These results will help inform future studies investigating appropriate pre-cooling methods for the occupational worker.This project is financially supported by the US Government through the Technical Support Working Group within the Combating Terrorism Technical Support Office.Published versio