University of Colorado: 1970 Summer Field Season in East Baffin Island

... Field work continued on [the late glacial and neoglacial chronology and recent crustal movements] program with the main emphasis being shifted to Narpaing Fiord and outer Okoa Bay. Marine limits were measured at many localities in the two areas and some samples of marine shells were collected for dating ... Studies continued on the task of subdividing the glacial deposits on the basis of a number of weathering criteria such as: depth of pitting, surface texture of boulders, soil development, X-ray analysis for clay minerals and Free-iron content. The combined results suggest several episodes of glaciation with a general decrease of glacier area and volume throughout the Wisconsin. ... A tentative lichen growth-curve is being developed based on a variety of evidence, and it is considered that the graph may usefully be extended back to 8,000 or 10,000 years ago. Work on a series of corrie moraines at the heads of Narpaing and Quajon fiords suggests that the outermost south-facing moraines at 600 m.a.s.l. may be 15,000 years old whereas the north-facing moraines at 550 m.a.s.l. are 8,000 to 10,000 years old. ... A series of 7 weather stations were established at different exposures and elevations in the area between the head of Quajon and Narpaing fiords. ... Mass budgets were measured in early June and mid-August using a variety of methods. Stakes, probing and pits were used to detail the progress of melting during the ablation season. In early June the specific net budget was + 0.42 cm ± 0.06 and in mid-August was + 0.38 ± 0.06 cm water equivalent. In complete contrast to 1969, no ice was showing on the glacier and the summer melt had been compensated by snowfalls throughout the "ablation" season. Surface lowering amounted to about 45 cm of snow and this was nearly identical to the mass added in the growth of superimposed ice. Because of low temperatures the glacier was acting nearly as a closed system. ..

University of Colorado 1974 Field Season in Eastern Baffin Island

The summer of 1974 saw one of the largest research parties the University of Colorado has been able to mount operating along the eastern coast of Baffin Island. The early and widespread break-up of sea ice greatly assisted in the completion of the field programme in which a total of sixteen persons were involved. In addition to members of the University staff, the following individuals from other institutions also participated. In the programme: a member of the Department of Micropalaeontology of the University of Aarhus, Denmark; a soil scientist from the University of Pennsylvania, U.S.A.; a Quaternary geologist from Brock University, Ontario, Canada; and a Quaternary geologist from Grand Valley State College, Michigan, U.S.A. ... Raised marine sediments and tills were investigated on Broughton Island and northwards along the coast to Quajon Fiord. Specific attention was focused on collecting samples for micro-faunal analysis and delimiting different marine episodes. In addition, a number of sites were revisited on Broughton Island and northwards along the coast to Kivitoo and Quajon Fiord. Large (1000-g and over) samples of marine shells were collected from sites previously given dates of over 30,000 years BP. ... One field party mapped the southern part of the Baffin Island National Park, giving particular attention to (a) the delimitation of glacial periods on the basis of surface weathering of boulders, and (b) determining the elevation of local marine limits and lower strandlines. The latter research was concentrated on the mapping of the southern shore of Cumberland Peninsula, from outer Kingnait Fiord westward to the head of Cumberland Sound. ... Soil scientists established a soil chronosequence, and investigated the range of soil types existing within the southern part of Cumberland Peninsula. They sent samples south from laboratory analysis. Plant collection: Specimens of vascular plants, mosses and lichens were collected from Broughton Island and from the head of Maktak Fiord, and sent to the University of Colorado Museum. By December 1974, a total of 86 vascular plants had been identified. Climatological studies in relation to fast ice: Work done during the summer of 1974 concludes the field-measurement phase of the University of Colorado's study of the surface energy budgets of fast ice at Broughton Island. A micrometeorological station was operated at a site approximately one kilometre south of Broughton settlement, from late May until local break-up in early July. The programme of observation consisted of the periodic taking of profiles of wind, temperature and relative humidity; the continuous measurement of temperature at two metres, and net radiation over both saturated and unsaturated surfaces; and transects of surface short-wave albedo. Salinity and temperature profiles in the ice and water were taken every 304 days. Comparative analysis of the data for 1972-74 is now in progress in relation to the observed ice regime. The 1974 data should provide better estimates of the turbulent flux components of the energy budget than it was possible to make in previous summers. Meteorological observations were continued near the base of the Broughton Island operations through mid-August. Results are now available of four summers and two winters of standard meteorological observations, and global solar and net radiation measurements as well. The Atmospheric Environment Service Cooperative Observer station, with its twice-daily measurements of maximum and minimum temperatures and of precipitation, is now into its fourth calendar year of operation. The summer of 1974 was unusually mild. The mean ablation seasonal temperature was 3.9°C at the Broughton DEW line weather station. In contrast, 1972 was the coldest (-1.2 C°). The early part of June 1974 was dominated by anticyclonic synoptic weather patterns which greatly accelerated the fast ice ablation rate to give the earliest break-up in five years. Satellite-observed conce ntrations of pack ice in Davis Strait in late May were less than at the same time in 1973. With the resurvey of the "Boas" Glacier (67 35 N, 65 16 W) in August 1974, the mass balance measurements were extended to five balance years. Accurate measurements were not possible, because most ablation poles melted out during the warm summer of 1974. However, it is estimated that the net specific balance for the 1973-74 budget year was approximately -0.5 m water equivalent (w.e.). ... Analysis of the past five budget years shows that (a) the "Boas" Glacier exhibited a two-year alternation of large mass gains and losses during the first four years, and (b) the estimated net specific mass balance for the five-year period was -0.16 m w.e., in spite of the total net mass gains of 0.38 m w.e. during the first four years. ..

Results of Prevention of REStenosis with Tranilast and its Outcomes (PRESTO) trial

BACKGROUND: Restenosis after percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) is a major problem affecting 15% to 30% of patients after stent placement. No oral agent has shown a beneficial effect on restenosis or on associated major adverse cardiovascular events. In limited trials, the oral agent tranilast has been shown to decrease the frequency of angiographic restenosis after PCI. METHODS AND RESULTS: In this double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial of tranilast (300 and 450 mg BID for 1 or 3 months), 11 484 patients were enrolled. Enrollment and drug were initiated within 4 hours after successful PCI of at least 1 vessel. The primary end point was the first occurrence of death, myocardial infarction, or ischemia-driven target vessel revascularization within 9 months and was 15.8% in the placebo group and 15.5% to 16.1% in the tranilast groups (P=0.77 to 0.81). Myocardial infarction was the only component of major adverse cardiovascular events to show some evidence of a reduction with tranilast (450 mg BID for 3 months): 1.1% versus 1.8% with placebo (P=0.061 for intent-to-treat population). The primary reason for not completing treatment was > or =1 hepatic laboratory test abnormality (11.4% versus 0.2% with placebo, P<0.01). In the angiographic substudy composed of 2018 patients, minimal lumen diameter (MLD) was measured by quantitative coronary angiography. At follow-up, MLD was 1.76+/-0.77 mm in the placebo group, which was not different from MLD in the tranilast groups (1.72 to 1.78+/-0.76 to 80 mm, P=0.49 to 0.89). In a subset of these patients (n=1107), intravascular ultrasound was performed at follow-up. Plaque volume was not different between the placebo and tranilast groups (39.3 versus 37.5 to 46.1 mm(3), respectively; P=0.16 to 0.72). CONCLUSIONS: Tranilast does not improve the quantitative measures of restenosis (angiographic and intravascular ultrasound) or its clinical sequelae

Measurement of νˉμ\bar{\nu}_{\mu} and νμ\nu_{\mu} charged current inclusive cross sections and their ratio with the T2K off-axis near detector

We report a measurement of cross section $\sigma(\nu_{\mu}+{\rm nucleus}\rightarrow\mu^{-}+X)$ and the first measurements of the cross section $\sigma(\bar{\nu}_{\mu}+{\rm nucleus}\rightarrow\mu^{+}+X)$ and their ratio $R(\frac{\sigma(\bar \nu)}{\sigma(\nu)})$ at (anti-)neutrino energies below 1.5 GeV. We determine the single momentum bin cross section measurements, averaged over the T2K $\bar{\nu}/\nu$-flux, for the detector target material (mainly Carbon, Oxygen, Hydrogen and Copper) with phase space restricted laboratory frame kinematics of $\theta_{\mu}$500 MeV/c. The results are $\sigma(\bar{\nu})=\left( 0.900\pm0.029{\rm (stat.)}\pm0.088{\rm (syst.)}\right)\times10^{-39}$ and $\sigma(\nu)=\left( 2.41\ \pm0.022{\rm{(stat.)}}\pm0.231{\rm (syst.)}\ \right)\times10^{-39}$in units of cm$^{2}$/nucleon and$R\left(\frac{\sigma(\bar{\nu})}{\sigma(\nu)}\right)= 0.373\pm0.012{\rm (stat.)}\pm0.015{\rm (syst.)}$.Comment: 18 pages, 8 figure

Use of Repeated Blood Pressure and Cholesterol Measurements to Improve Cardiovascular Disease Risk Prediction: An Individual-Participant-Data Meta-Analysis

The added value of incorporating information from repeated blood pressure and cholesterol measurements to predict cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk has not been rigorously assessed. We used data on 191,445 adults from the Emerging Risk Factors Collaboration (38 cohorts from 17 countries with data encompassing 1962-2014) with more than 1 million measurements of systolic blood pressure, total cholesterol, and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol. Over a median 12 years of follow-up, 21,170 CVD events occurred. Risk prediction models using cumulative mean values of repeated measurements and summary measures from longitudinal modeling of the repeated measurements were compared with models using measurements from a single time point. Risk discrimination (Cindex) and net reclassification were calculated, and changes in C-indices were meta-analyzed across studies. Compared with the single-time-point model, the cumulative means and longitudinal models increased the C-index by 0.0040 (95% confidence interval (CI): 0.0023, 0.0057) and 0.0023 (95% CI: 0.0005, 0.0042), respectively. Reclassification was also improved in both models; compared with the single-time-point model, overall net reclassification improvements were 0.0369 (95% CI: 0.0303, 0.0436) for the cumulative-means model and 0.0177 (95% CI: 0.0110, 0.0243) for the longitudinal model. In conclusion, incorporating repeated measurements of blood pressure and cholesterol into CVD risk prediction models slightly improves risk prediction

Search for Lorentz and CPT violation using sidereal time dependence of neutrino flavor transitions over a short baseline

A class of extensions of the Standard Model allows Lorentz and CPT violations, which can be identified by the observation of sidereal modulations in the neutrino interaction rate. A search for such modulations was performed using the T2K on-axis near detector. Two complementary methods were used in this study, both of which resulted in no evidence of a signal. Limits on associated Lorentz and CPT-violating terms from the Standard Model extension have been derived by taking into account their correlations in this model for the first time. These results imply such symmetry violations are suppressed by a factor of more than 10 20 at the GeV scale

The economic well-being of nations is associated with positive daily situational experiences

People in economically advantaged nations tend to evaluate their life as more positive overall and report greater well-being than people in less advantaged nations. But how does positivity manifest in the daily life experiences of individuals around the world? The present study asked 15,244 college students from 62 nations, in 42 languages, to describe a situation they experienced the previous day using the Riverside Situational Q-sort (RSQ). Using expert ratings, the overall positivity of each situation was calculated for both nations and individuals. The positivity of the average situation in each nation was strongly related to the economic development of the nation as measured by the Human Development Index (HDI). For individuals’ daily experiences, the economic status of their nation also predicted the positivity of their experience, even more than their family socioeconomic status. Further analyses revealed the specific characteristics of the average situations for higher HDI nations that make their experiences more positive. Higher HDI was associated with situational experiences involving humor, socializing with others, and the potential to express emotions and fantasies. Lower HDI was associated with an increase in the presence of threats, blame, and hostility, as well as situational experiences consisting of family, religion, and money. Despite the increase in a few negative situational characteristics in lower HDI countries, the overall average experience still ranged from neutral to slightly positive, rather than negative, suggesting that greater HDI may not necessarily increase positive experiences but rather decrease negative experiences. The results illustrate how national economic status influences the lives of individuals even within a single instance of daily life, with large and powerful consequences when accumulated across individuals within each nation