Simulating Changes in Regional Air Pollution over the Eastern United States Due to Changes in Global and Regional Climate and Emissions

[1] To simulate ozone (O3) air quality in future decades over the eastern United States, a modeling system consisting of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies Atmosphere-Ocean Global Climate Model, the Pennsylvania State University/National Center for Atmospheric Research mesoscale regional climate model (MM5), and the Community Multiscale Air Quality model has been applied. Estimates of future emissions of greenhouse gases and ozone precursors are based on the A2 scenario developed by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), one of the scenarios with the highest growth of CO2 among all IPCC scenarios. Simulation results for five summers in the 2020s, 2050s, and 2080s indicate that summertime average daily maximum 8-hour O3 concentrations increase by 2.7, 4.2, and 5.0 ppb, respectively, as a result of regional climate change alone with respect to five summers in the 1990s. Through additional sensitivity simulations for the five summers in the 2050s the relative impact of changes in regional climate, anthropogenic emissions within the modeling domain, and changed boundary conditions approximating possible changes of global atmospheric composition was investigated. Changed boundary conditions are found to be the largest contributor to changes in predicted summertime average daily maximum 8-hour O3 concentrations (5.0 ppb), followed by the effects of regional climate change (4.2 ppb) and the effects of increased anthropogenic emissions (1.3 ppb). However, when changes in the fourth highest summertime 8-hour O3 concentration are considered, changes in regional climate are the most important contributor to simulated concentration changes (7.6 ppb), followed by the effect of increased anthropogenic emissions (3.9 ppb) and increased boundary conditions (2.8 ppb). Thus, while previous studies have pointed out the potentially important contribution of growing global emissions and intercontinental transport to O3 air quality in the United States for future decades, the results presented here imply that it may be equally important to consider the effects of a changing climate when planning for the future attainment of regional-scale air quality standards such as the U.S. national ambient air quality standard that is based on the fourth highest annual daily maximum 8-hour O3 concentration

Long-Term Corticosteroid-Sparing Immunosuppression for Cardiac Sarcoidosis.

Background Long-term corticosteroid therapy is the standard of care for treatment of cardiac sarcoidosis (CS). The efficacy of long-term corticosteroid-sparing immunosuppression in CS is unknown. The goal of this study was to assess the efficacy of methotrexate with or without adalimumab for long-term disease suppression in CS, and to assess recurrence and adverse event rates after immunosuppression discontinuation. Methods and Results Retrospective chart review identified treatment-naive CS patients at a single academic medical center who received corticosteroid-sparing maintenance therapy. Demographics, cardiac uptake of 18-fluorodeoxyglucose, and adverse cardiac events were compared before and during treatment and between those with persistent or interrupted immunosuppression. Twenty-eight CS patients were followed for a mean 4.1 (SD 1.5) years. Twenty-five patients received 4 to 8 weeks of high-dose prednisone (>30 mg/day), followed by taper and maintenance therapy with methotrexate±low-dose prednisone (low-dose prednisone, <10 mg/day). Adalimumab was added in 19 patients with persistently active CS or in those with intolerance to methotrexate. Methotrexate±low-dose prednisone resulted in initial reduction (88%) or elimination (60%) of 18-fluorodeoxyglucose uptake, and patients receiving adalimumab-containing regimens experienced improved (84%) or resolved (63%) 18-fluorodeoxyglucose uptake. Radiologic relapse occurred in 8 of 9 patients after immunosuppression cessation, 4 patients on methotrexate-containing regimens, and in no patients on adalimumab-containing regimens. Conclusions Corticosteroid-sparing regimens containing methotrexate with or without adalimumab is an effective maintenance therapy in patients after an initial response is confirmed. Disease recurrence in patients on and off immunosuppression support need for ongoing radiologic surveillance regardless of immunosuppression regimen

Urban Heat Island and Vulnerable Population. The Case of Madrid

The Urban Heat Island effect shows the differences among temperatures in urban areas and the surrounding rural ones. Previous studies have demonstrated that temperature differences could be up to 8 °C during the hottest periods of summer in Madrid , and that it varies according to the urban structure. Associated to this effect, the impact of temperature increase over dwelling indoor thermal comfort seems to double cooling energy demand . In Madrid, fuel poor households already suffering from inadequate indoor temperatures can face important overheating problems and, as a consequence, relevant health problems could become more frequent and stronger. This poses an increment in mortality rates in risk groups that should be evaluated. This research is aimed at establishing the geospatial connection between the urban heat island and the most vulnerable population living in the city of Madrid. Hence, those areas most in need for an urban intervention can be detected and prioritized

Warfare, Fiscal Capacity, and Performance

We exploit differences in casualties sustained in pre-modern wars to estimate the impact of fiscal capacity on economic performance. In the past, states fought different amounts of external conflicts, of various lengths and magnitudes. To raise the revenues to wage wars, states made fiscal innovations, which persisted and helped to shape current fiscal institutions. Economic historians claim that greater fiscal capacity was the key long-run institutional change brought about by historical conflicts. Using casualties sustained in pre-modern wars to instrument for current fiscal institutions, we estimate substantial impacts of fiscal capacity on GDP per worker. The results are robust to a broad range of specifications, controls, and sub-samples

Behavioral Priming: It's All in the Mind, but Whose Mind?

The perspective that behavior is often driven by unconscious determinants has become widespread in social psychology. Bargh, Chen, and Burrows' (1996) famous study, in which participants unwittingly exposed to the stereotype of age walked slower when exiting the laboratory, was instrumental in defining this perspective. Here, we present two experiments aimed at replicating the original study. Despite the use of automated timing methods and a larger sample, our first experiment failed to show priming. Our second experiment was aimed at manipulating the beliefs of the experimenters: Half were led to think that participants would walk slower when primed congruently, and the other half was led to expect the opposite. Strikingly, we obtained a walking speed effect, but only when experimenters believed participants would indeed walk slower. This suggests that both priming and experimenters' expectations are instrumental in explaining the walking speed effect. Further, debriefing was suggestive of awareness of the primes. We conclude that unconscious behavioral priming is real, while real, involves mechanisms different from those typically assumed to cause the effect

The enduring culture and limits of political song

The connection between song and politics is well documented, but in recent years is said to be severed. This is not the case. The relationship between politics and song endures, reflecting and revivifying a culture of political struggle. In this essay, I survey political song, outlining how it is approached, before arguing for a tighter definition after working through the claim that all song is political. In doing so, I build a platform for discussion of songs by English singer-songwriter Leon Rosselson. For over 50 years, Rosselson’s songwriting has illuminated historical and topical events from a left-wing perspective, but he is also clear a song converts noone and changes nothing. To think otherwise misunderstands that songs are neither mobilisers or opiates, but an idiom for people to express their everyday lives and struggles. The essay concludes by assessing Rosselson’s insights on the power and limits of song

Affective stimulus properties influence size perception and the Ebbinghaus illusion

In the New Look literature of the 1950s, it has been suggested that size judgments are dependent on the affective content of stimuli. This suggestion, however, has been ‘discredited’ due to contradictory findings and methodological problems. In the present study, we revisited this forgotten issue in two experiments. The first experiment investigated the influence of affective content on size perception by examining judgments of the size of target circles with and without affectively loaded (i.e., positive, neutral, and negative) pictures. Circles with a picture were estimated to be smaller than circles without a picture, and circles with a negative picture were estimated to be larger than circles with a positive or a neutral picture confirming the suggestion from the 1950s that size perception is influenced by affective content, an effect notably confined to negatively loaded stimuli. In a second experiment, we examined whether affective content influenced the Ebbinghaus illusion. Participants judged the size of a target circle whereby target and flanker circles differed in affective loading. The results replicated the first experiment. Additionally, the Ebbinghaus illusion was shown to be weakest for a negatively loaded target with positively loaded and blank flankers. A plausible explanation for both sets of experimental findings is that negatively loaded stimuli are more attention demanding than positively loaded or neutral stimuli

Osteoid osteoma of the femur in a 7-month-old infant treated with radiofrequency ablation

Osteoid osteoma occurs most commonly in children, adolescents, and young adults between the ages of 5 and 30 years. In the preschool age group, it is quite uncommon, accounting for only 3–8% of all osteoid osteoma cases. We report a case of osteoid osteoma in a 7-month-old infant, who presented with decreased use of the right lower extremity due to pain. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) showed an atypical appearance. A biopsy of the lesion, with histopathological examination, confirmed the diagnosis of osteoid osteoma. Radiofrequency ablation (RFA) of the nidus under computed tomography (CT) guidance was performed. The patient developed a recurrence after 3 months, which was treated with a second RFA. On subsequent follow-up, the infant did not show signs of pain after 1 month. In summary, this case report shows that osteoid osteoma can present in early infancy and can be successfully treated with RFA at this age, however, recurrence after the procedure can occur and close follow-up is recommended

Single hadron response measurement and calorimeter jet energy scale uncertainty with the ATLAS detector at the LHC

The uncertainty on the calorimeter energy response to jets of particles is derived for the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). First, the calorimeter response to single isolated charged hadrons is measured and compared to the Monte Carlo simulation using proton-proton collisions at centre-of-mass energies of sqrt(s) = 900 GeV and 7 TeV collected during 2009 and 2010. Then, using the decay of K_s and Lambda particles, the calorimeter response to specific types of particles (positively and negatively charged pions, protons, and anti-protons) is measured and compared to the Monte Carlo predictions. Finally, the jet energy scale uncertainty is determined by propagating the response uncertainty for single charged and neutral particles to jets. The response uncertainty is 2-5% for central isolated hadrons and 1-3% for the final calorimeter jet energy scale.Comment: 24 pages plus author list (36 pages total), 23 figures, 1 table, submitted to European Physical Journal

Development and assessment of the Alberta Context Tool

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The context of healthcare organizations such as hospitals is increasingly accepted as having the potential to influence the use of new knowledge. However, the mechanisms by which the organizational context influences evidence-based practices are not well understood. Current measures of organizational context lack a theory-informed approach, lack construct clarity and generally have modest psychometric properties. This paper presents the development and initial psychometric validation of the Alberta Context Tool (ACT), an eight dimension measure of organizational context for healthcare settings.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Three principles guided the development of the ACT: substantive theory, brevity, and modifiability. The Promoting Action on Research Implementation in Health Services (PARiHS) framework and related literature were used to guide selection of items in the ACT. The ACT was required to be brief enough to be tolerated in busy and resource stretched work settings and to assess concepts of organizational context that were potentially <it>modifiable</it>. The English version of the ACT was completed by 764 nurses (752 valid responses) working in seven Canadian pediatric care hospitals as part of its initial validation. Cronbach's alpha, exploratory factor analysis, analysis of variance, and tests of association were used to assess instrument reliability and validity.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Factor analysis indicated a 13-factor solution (accounting for 59.26% of the variance in 'organizational context'). The composition of the factors was similar to those originally conceptualized. Cronbach's alpha for the 13 factors ranged from .54 to .91 with 4 factors performing below the commonly accepted alpha cut off of .70. Bivariate associations between instrumental research utilization levels (which the ACT was developed to predict) and the ACT's 13 factors were statistically significant at the 5% level for 12 of the 13 factors. Each factor also showed a trend of increasing mean score ranging from the lowest level to the highest level of instrumental research use, indicating construct validity.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>To date, no completely satisfactory measures of organizational context are available for use in healthcare. The ACT assesses several core domains to provide a comprehensive account of organizational context in healthcare settings. The tool's strengths are its brevity (allowing it to be completed in busy healthcare settings) and its focus on dimensions of organizational context that are modifiable. Refinements of the instrument for acute, long term care, and home care settings are ongoing.</p