Caractéristiques des médecins prescrivant des psychotropes davantage aux femmes qu’aux hommes

Les différences observées dans l'état de santé et l'utilisation des services médicaux, selon le sexe, se sont avérées insuffisantes pour expliquer une plus grande consommation de psychotropes chez les femmes que chez les hommes dans les pays industrialisés. Nous avons testé l'hypothèse selon laquelle les habitudes de prescription des médecins expliquent une partie importante de cette observation. Nous démontrons, à l'aide des données de la Régie de l'assurance-maladie du Québec pour les personnes âgées de 65 ans et plus, que le profil socio-démographique et le style de gestion des médecins prescripteurs sont associés de façon significative au pourcentage d'hommes et de femmes ayant obtenu une ordonnance de psychotrope dans leurs pratiques.In industrialized countries, gender differences observed in health condition and the use of medical services appear insufficient to explain a greater consumption of psychotropic drugs in women than men. The authors have tested the hypothesis that physician prescribing patterns largely explains this observation. They demonstrate, using data from the Régie de l'assurance maladie du Québec for people aged 65 and over, that physicians' sociodemographic and practice characteristics are significantly associated with the percentage of men and women who receive a psychotropic drug prescription in their practice

ENABLING WARFARE AT THE SPEED OF LIGHT: A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF MULTI-MISSION HIGH ENERGY LASER RADARS

This capstone report provides a cost effectiveness analysis of various radar systems capable of guiding the Multi-Mission High Energy Laser (MMHEL) from a Stryker platform. The Army's Rapid Capability and Critical Technologies Office (RCCTO) is developing the MMHEL to provide a Mobile Short-Range Air Defense (MSHORAD) capability to maneuver units. The MMHEL requires a radar to cue the fire control system for target engagement. Past efforts to employ high-energy lasers have relied on large, stationary radars for target acquisition. The reliance on such radars limits a unit's ability to maneuver and results in the laser being employed primarily from a defensive posture. To maximize maneuverability and enable the offensive employment of the MMHEL, the U.S. Army needs an on-platform radar that is compact and inexpensive enough to equip multiple Strykers within a Stryker Brigade Combat Team with the capability to engage targets from a mobile platform. The RCCTO is currently tasked with accelerating efforts to fill this need. The intent of this report is to assist the RCCTO in these efforts by generating a list of viable radar alternatives and conducting a cost effectiveness analysis to produce a recommendation of the most optimal solution. The results indicate that RADA's aCHR radar presents the best value in terms of cost and benefit to the warfighter.http://archive.org/details/enablingwarfarea1094564109Captain, United States ArmyCaptain, United States ArmyMajor, United States ArmyCaptain, United States ArmyCaptain, United States ArmyApproved for public release; distribution is unlimited

Development of extinction imagers for the determination of atmospheric optical extinction: final report

The primary goals of this project for JTO and ONR (Grant N00014-07-1-1060) were to further develop Extinction Imagers for use in the ocean environment, and to extend the capabilities into the Short Wave IR (SWIR). Extinction Imaging is a method for determining the effective extinction coefficient over an extended path using a sensor at one end of the path. It uses calibrated imagers to acquire the relative radiance of a dark target near the other the end of the path and the horizon sky in the direction of the dark target. It is completely passive and thus covert, and the hardware is robust and relatively inexpensive. It uses rigorous equations, which determine the extinction coefficient from the measured apparent contrast of the radiance of the dark target with respect to the horizon sky. The project was very successful. We found that the ocean surface could readily be used as a dark target in red and SWIR wavelengths. Both the red and the SWIR measurement results were excellent for daytime. Comparisons with standard instruments, as well as uncertainty analysis, indicated that extinction imagers provide better measurements of the atmospheric extinction losses over extended paths than other methods of which we are aware. Our secondary goals were to address the night regime, and to address slanted paths above the horizontal. Regarding night, we found that the visible sensor acquired excellent data, but the ocean surface was not a good dark target in our wavelengths. Recommendations on the handling of night are given in the report. Regarding the lines of sight above the horizon, we developed a slant path algorithm that determines beam transmittance. It performed very well. Recommendations are made regarding integration of these techniques for military applications.Joint Technology Office via Office of Naval ResearchGrant N00014-07-1-106

Clusters and Fluctuations at Mean-Field Critical Points and Spinodals

We show that the structure of the fluctuations close to spinodals and mean-field critical points is qualitatively different than the structure close to non-mean-field critical points. This difference has important implications for many areas including the formation of glasses in supercooled liquids. In particular, the divergence of the measured static structure function in near-mean-field systems close to the glass transition is suppressed relative to the mean-field prediction in systems for which a spatial symmetry is broken.Comment: 5 pages, 1 figur

Positron Emission Tomography/Computed Tomography with Gallium-68-labeled Prostate-specific Membrane Antigen Detects Relapse After Vascular-targeted Photodynamic Therapy in a Prostate Cancer Model

BACKGROUND: Evaluating the efficacy of focal therapy for prostate cancer is limited by current approaches and may be improved with biological imaging techniques. OBJECTIVE: We assessed whether positron emission tomography/computed tomography with gallium-68-labeled prostate-specific membrane antigen (Ga-PSMA PET/CT) can be used to predict relapse after vascular-targeted photodynamic therapy (VTP). DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: A total of 1×10 LNCaP cells were grafted subcutaneously in the flanks of 6-8-wk-old SCID mice. Of 24 mice with measurable tumors 6 wk after tumor implantation, 20 were treated with VTP (150mW/cm) to ablate the tumors. Blood prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels were assessed, and ⁶⁸Ga-PSMA PET/CT images were performed 1 d before VTP and 1 and 4 wk after. OUTCOME MEASUREMENTS AND STATISTICAL ANALYSIS: Local tumor relapse was evaluated by histology, and tumors were analyzed by prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA) and PSA immunohistochemistry. T tests and Kruskal-Wallis tests were used to determine significance. RESULTS AND LIMITATIONS: Four weeks after VTP, 11 (65%) mice had complete responses and six (35%) had tumor relapses confirmed by histology (hematoxylin and eosin, and PSMA immunohistochemistry). All mice with local relapse had positive Ga-PSMA PET/CT findings 4 wk after VTP; all complete responders did not. One week after VTP, the relapse detection sensitivity of Ga-PSMA PET/CT was 75%, whereas the sensitivity of PSA was only 33%. Compared with controls, relapsed tumors had a three-fold reduction in the number of cells with strong PSA staining by immunohistochemistry (1.5% vs 4.5%; p=0.01). CONCLUSIONS: In a preclinical prostate cancer model, we show that Ga-PSMA PET/CT can identify and predict relapse earlier than blood PSA level. These findings support further testing in clinical trials. PATIENT SUMMARY: Positron emission tomography/computed tomography with gallium-68-labeled prostate-specific membrane antigen may be used to follow and evaluate treatment outcomes in men who receive focal therapy for prostate cancer

Avalanches in Breakdown and Fracture Processes

We investigate the breakdown of disordered networks under the action of an increasing external---mechanical or electrical---force. We perform a mean-field analysis and estimate scaling exponents for the approach to the instability. By simulating two-dimensional models of electric breakdown and fracture we observe that the breakdown is preceded by avalanche events. The avalanches can be described by scaling laws, and the estimated values of the exponents are consistent with those found in mean-field theory. The breakdown point is characterized by a discontinuity in the macroscopic properties of the material, such as conductivity or elasticity, indicative of a first order transition. The scaling laws suggest an analogy with the behavior expected in spinodal nucleation.Comment: 15 pages, 12 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev. E, corrected typo in authors name, no changes to the pape

Nucleation in Systems with Elastic Forces

Systems with long-range interactions when quenced into a metastable state near the pseudo-spinodal exhibit nucleation processes that are quite different from the classical nucleation seen near the coexistence curve. In systems with long-range elastic forces the description of the nucleation process can be quite subtle due to the presence of bulk/interface elastic compatibility constraints. We analyze the nucleation process in a simple 2d model with elastic forces and show that the nucleation process generates critical droplets with a different structure than the stable phase. This has implications for nucleation in many crystal-crystal transitions and the structure of the final state

Critical behavior of a fluid in a disordered porous matrix: An Ornstein-Zernike approach

Using a liquid-state approach based on Ornstein-Zernike equations, we study the behavior of a fluid inside a porous disordered matrix near the liquid-gas critical point.The results obtained within various standard approximation schemes such as lowest-order $\gamma$-ordering and the mean-spherical approximation suggest that the critical behavior is closely related to that of the random-field Ising model (RFIM).Comment: 10 pages, revtex, to appear in Physical Review Letter