192 research outputs found
Is therapy based on endoscopy results better than empiric therapy for dyspepsia?
In the initial management of dyspepsia for patients without "alarm" symptoms (weight loss, recurrent vomiting, dysphagia, anemia, evidence of bleeding, onset of dyspepsia after age 45 years), therapy based on the results of early endoscopy was not better than empiric acid suppression (antisecretory therapy) or a Helicobacter pylori "test and treat" strategy in reducing symptoms or improving quality of life (strength of recommendation [SOR]: A, based on a systematic review). Results from studies of patient satisfaction comparing early endoscopy with empiric medication therapy are conflicting (SOR: A, based on 2 randomized controlled trials [RCTs]). Though formal cost analyses are not available, a strategy using "test and treat" as opposed to early endoscopy, results in significantly fewer endoscopies, which when formally evaluated, may translate into a more cost-effective strategy of care (SOR: A, based on a systematic review). Long-term followup suggests that patients receiving "test and treat" therapy may require fewer antisecretory medication prescriptions compared with patients receiving early endoscopy (SOR: B, based on a single RCT)
Hualapai Wind Project Feasibility Report
The Hualapai Department of Planning and Economic Development, with funding assistance from the U.S. Department of Energy, Tribal Energy Program, with the aid of six consultants has completed the four key prerequisites as follows: 1. Identify the site area for development and its suitability for construction. 2. Determine the wind resource potential for the identified site area. 3. Determine the electrical transmission and interconnection feasibility to get the electrical power produced to the marketplace. 4. Complete an initial permitting and environmental assessment to determine the feasibility for getting the project permitted. Those studies indicated a suitable wind resource and favorable conditions for permitting and construction. The permitting and environmental study did not reveal any fatal flaws. A review of the best power sale opportunities indicate southern California has the highest potential for obtaining a PPA that may make the project viable. Based on these results, the recommendation is for the Hualapai Tribal Nation to move forward with attracting a qualified wind developer to work with the Tribe to move the project into the second phase - determining the reality factors for developing a wind project. a qualified developer will bid to a utility or negotiate a PPA to make the project viable for financing
UV and FIR selected star-forming galaxies at z=0: differences and overlaps
We study two samples of local galaxies, one is UV (GALEX) selected and the
other FIR (IRAS) selected, to address the question whether UV and FIR surveys
see the two sides ('bright' and 'dark') of the star formation of the same
population of galaxies or two different populations of star forming galaxies.
No significant difference between the L () luminosity
functions of the UV and FIR samples is found. Also, after the correction for
the `Malmquist bias' (bias for flux limited samples), the FIR-to-UV ratio v.s.
L relations of the two samples are consistent with each other. In the
range of 9 \la \log(L_{tot}/L_\sun) \la 12, both can be approximated by a
simple linear relation of \log (L_{60}/L_{FUV})=\log(L_{tot}/L_\sun)-9.66.
These are consistent with the hypothesis that the two samples represent the
same population of star forming galaxies, and their well documented differences
in L and in FIR-to-UV ratio are due only to the selection effect. A
comparison between the UV luminosity functions shows marginal evidence for a
population of faint UV galaxies missing in the FIR selected sample. The
contribution from these 'FIR-quiet' galaxies to the overall UV population is
insignificant, given that the K-band luminosity functions (i.e. the stellar
mass functions) of the two samples do not show any significant difference.Comment: 21 pages, 7 figures. Accepted by Ap
Mid-IR Luminosities and UV/Optical Star Formation Rates at z<1.4
UV continuum and mid-IR emission constitute two widely used star formation
indicators at intermediate and high redshifts. We study 2430 galaxies with
z<1.4 in the Extended Groth Strip with MIPS 24 mic observations from FIDEL,
spectroscopy from DEEP2, and UV, optical, and near-IR photometry from AEGIS.
The data are coupled with stellar population models and Bayesian SED fitting to
estimate dust-corrected SFRs. In order to probe the dust heating from stellar
populations of various ages, the derived SFRs were averaged over various
timescales--from 100 Myr for "current" SFR to 1--3 Gyr for long-timescale SFRs.
These SED-based UV/optical SFRs are compared to total infrared luminosities
extrapolated from 24 mic observations. We find that for the blue, actively star
forming galaxies the correlation between the IR luminosity and the UV/optical
SFR shows a decrease in scatter when going from shorter to longer SFR-averaging
timescales. We interpret this as the greater role of intermediate age stellar
populations in heating the dust than what is typically assumed. This holds over
the entire redshift range. Many so-called green valley galaxies are simply
dust-obscured actively star-forming galaxies. However, there exist 24
mic-detected galaxies, some with L>10^11 L_sun, yet with little current star
formation. For them a reasonable amount of dust absorption of stellar light is
sufficient to produce the observed levels of IR. In our sample optical and
X-ray AGNs do not contribute on average more than ~50% to the mid-IR
luminosity, and we see no evidence for a large population of "IR excess"
galaxies (Abridged).Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ. Content identical to arXiv version
1. No color figure
The Look-back Time Evolution of Far-Ultraviolet Flux from the Brightest Cluster Elliptical Galaxies at z < 0.2
We present the GALEX UV photometry of the elliptical galaxies in Abell
clusters at moderate redshifts (z < 0.2) for the study of the look-back time
evolution of the UV upturn phenomenon. The brightest elliptical galaxies (M_r <
-22) in 12 remote clusters are compared with the nearby giant elliptical
galaxies of comparable optical luminosity in the Fornax and Virgo clusters. The
sample galaxies presented here appear to be quiescent without signs of massive
star formation or strong nuclear activity, and show smooth, extended profiles
in their UV images indicating that the far-UV (FUV) light is mostly produced by
hot stars in the underlying old stellar population. Compared to their
counterparts in nearby clusters, the FUV flux of cluster giant elliptical
galaxies at moderate redshifts fades rapidly with ~ 2 Gyrs of look-back time,
and the observed pace in FUV - V color evolution agrees reasonably well with
the prediction from the population synthesis models where the dominant FUV
source is hot horizontal-branch stars and their progeny. A similar amount of
color spread (~ 1 mag) in FUV - V exists among the brightest cluster elliptical
galaxies at z ~ 0.1, as observed among the nearby giant elliptical galaxies of
comparable optical luminosity.Comment: Accepted for publication in the Special GALEX ApJ Supplement,
December 200
False-Positive Human Immunodeficiency Virus Enzyme Immunoassay Results in Pregnant Women
Objective: Examine whether false-positive HIV enzyme immunoassay (EIA) test results occur more frequently among pregnant women than among women who are not pregnant and men (others). Design: To obtain a large number of pregnant women and others tested for HIV, we identified specimens tested at a national laboratory using Genetic Systems HIV-1/HIV-2 Plus O EIA from July 2007 to June 2008. Methods: Specimens with EIA repeatedly reactive and Western blot-negative or indeterminate results were considered EIA false-positive. We compared the false-positive rate among uninfected pregnant women and others, adjusting for HIV prevalence. Among all reactive EIAs, we evaluated the proportion of false-positives, positive predictive value (PPV), and Western blot bands among indeterminates, by pregnancy status. Results: HIV prevalence was 0.06 % among 921,438 pregnant women and 1.34 % among 1,103,961 others. The false-positive rate was lower for pregnant women than others (0.14 % vs. 0.21%, odds ratio 0.65 [95 % confidence interval 0.61, 0.70]). Pregnant women with reactive EIAs were more likely than others (p,0.01) to have Western blot-negative (52.9 % vs. 9.8%) and indeterminate results (17.0 % vs. 3.7%) and lower PPV (30 % vs. 87%). The p24 band was detected more often among pregnant women (p,0.01). Conclusions: False-positive HIV EIA results were rare and occurred less frequently among pregnant women than others
The Milky Way Bulge extra-tidal star survey: BH 261 (AL 3)
The Milky Way Bulge extra-tidal star survey (MWBest) is a spectroscopic
survey with the goal of identifying stripped globular cluster stars from inner
Galaxy clusters. In this way, an indication of the fraction of metal-poor bulge
stars that originated from globular clusters can be determined. We observed and
analyzed stars in and around BH 261, an understudied globular cluster in the
bulge. From seven giants within the tidal radius of the cluster, we measured an
average heliocentric radial velocity of = -61 +- 2.6 km/s with a radial
velocity dispersion of \sigma = 6.1 +- 1.9 km/s. The large velocity dispersion
may have arisen from tidal heating in the cluster's orbit about the Galactic
center, or because BH 261 has a high dynamical mass as well as a high
mass-to-light ratio. From spectra of five giants, we measure an average
metallicity of = -1.1 +- 0.2 dex. We also spectroscopically confirm an
RR Lyrae star in BH 261, which yields a distance to the cluster of 7.1 +-
0.4~kpc. Stars with 3D velocities and metallicities consistent with BH 261
reaching to ~0.5 degrees from the cluster are identified. A handful of these
stars are also consistent with the spatial distribution of that potential
debris from models focussing on the most recent disruption of the cluster.Comment: accepted for publication in The Astronomical Journa
Recall patterns and risk of primary liver cancer for subcentimeter ultrasound liver observations: a multicenter study
BACKGROUND: Patients with cirrhosis and subcentimeter lesions on liver ultrasound are recommended to undergo short-interval follow-up ultrasound because of the presumed low risk of primary liver cancer (PLC).
AIMS: The aim of this study is to characterize recall patterns and risk of PLC in patients with subcentimeter liver lesions on ultrasound.
METHODS: We conducted a multicenter retrospective cohort study among patients with cirrhosis or chronic hepatitis B infection who had subcentimeter ultrasound lesions between January 2017 and December 2019. We excluded patients with a history of PLC or concomitant lesions ≥1 cm in diameter. We used Kaplan Meier and multivariable Cox regression analyses to characterize time-to-PLC and factors associated with PLC, respectively.
RESULTS: Of 746 eligible patients, most (66.0%) had a single observation, and the median diameter was 0.7 cm (interquartile range: 0.5-0.8 cm). Recall strategies varied, with only 27.8% of patients undergoing guideline-concordant ultrasound within 3-6 months. Over a median follow-up of 26 months, 42 patients developed PLC (39 HCC and 3 cholangiocarcinoma), yielding an incidence of 25.7 cases (95% CI, 6.2-47.0) per 1000 person-years, with 3.9% and 6.7% developing PLC at 2 and 3 years, respectively. Factors associated with time-to-PLC were baseline alpha-fetoprotein \u3e10 ng/mL (HR: 4.01, 95% CI, 1.85-8.71), platelet count ≤150 (HR: 4.90, 95% CI, 1.95-12.28), and Child-Pugh B cirrhosis (vs. Child-Pugh A: HR: 2.54, 95% CI, 1.27-5.08).
CONCLUSIONS: Recall patterns for patients with subcentimeter liver lesions on ultrasound varied widely. The low risk of PLC in these patients supports short-interval ultrasound in 3-6 months, although diagnostic CT/MRI may be warranted for high-risk subgroups such as those with elevated alpha-fetoprotein levels
The Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey of SDSS-III
The Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS) is designed to measure the
scale of baryon acoustic oscillations (BAO) in the clustering of matter over a
larger volume than the combined efforts of all previous spectroscopic surveys
of large scale structure. BOSS uses 1.5 million luminous galaxies as faint as
i=19.9 over 10,000 square degrees to measure BAO to redshifts z<0.7.
Observations of neutral hydrogen in the Lyman alpha forest in more than 150,000
quasar spectra (g<22) will constrain BAO over the redshift range 2.15<z<3.5.
Early results from BOSS include the first detection of the large-scale
three-dimensional clustering of the Lyman alpha forest and a strong detection
from the Data Release 9 data set of the BAO in the clustering of massive
galaxies at an effective redshift z = 0.57. We project that BOSS will yield
measurements of the angular diameter distance D_A to an accuracy of 1.0% at
redshifts z=0.3 and z=0.57 and measurements of H(z) to 1.8% and 1.7% at the
same redshifts. Forecasts for Lyman alpha forest constraints predict a
measurement of an overall dilation factor that scales the highly degenerate
D_A(z) and H^{-1}(z) parameters to an accuracy of 1.9% at z~2.5 when the survey
is complete. Here, we provide an overview of the selection of spectroscopic
targets, planning of observations, and analysis of data and data quality of
BOSS.Comment: 49 pages, 16 figures, accepted by A
The Ninth Data Release of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey: First Spectroscopic Data from the SDSS-III Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey
The Sloan Digital Sky Survey III (SDSS-III) presents the first spectroscopic
data from the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS). This ninth data
release (DR9) of the SDSS project includes 535,995 new galaxy spectra (median
z=0.52), 102,100 new quasar spectra (median z=2.32), and 90,897 new stellar
spectra, along with the data presented in previous data releases. These spectra
were obtained with the new BOSS spectrograph and were taken between 2009
December and 2011 July. In addition, the stellar parameters pipeline, which
determines radial velocities, surface temperatures, surface gravities, and
metallicities of stars, has been updated and refined with improvements in
temperature estimates for stars with T_eff<5000 K and in metallicity estimates
for stars with [Fe/H]>-0.5. DR9 includes new stellar parameters for all stars
presented in DR8, including stars from SDSS-I and II, as well as those observed
as part of the SDSS-III Sloan Extension for Galactic Understanding and
Exploration-2 (SEGUE-2).
The astrometry error introduced in the DR8 imaging catalogs has been
corrected in the DR9 data products. The next data release for SDSS-III will be
in Summer 2013, which will present the first data from the Apache Point
Observatory Galactic Evolution Experiment (APOGEE) along with another year of
data from BOSS, followed by the final SDSS-III data release in December 2014.Comment: 9 figures; 2 tables. Submitted to ApJS. DR9 is available at
http://www.sdss3.org/dr
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