217 research outputs found
Phytoplankton successions and lake dynamics in Las Vegas Bay, Lake Mead, Nevada
Phytoplankton successions, applications of the general growth equation, and physical measurements have been employed to investigate events occurring at the interface between industrial and sewage effluent contained in Las Vegas Wash and the waters of Lake Mead, Nevada. The data indicate that the entering waters tend to form a density current interrupted at intervals by dynamic effects generated in the lake. The dynamic relationships described here for the spring months suggest that a much more thorough understanding of physical, chemical and biological interactions is necessary to permit solution of the numerous problems of Las Vegas Bay discussed or alluded to by Hoffman et al
Recommendations for ICT use in Alzheimer's Disease assessment: Monaco CTAD expert meeting
International audienceAlzheimer disease (AD) and other related dementia represent a major challenge for health care systems within the aging population. It is therefore important to develop better instruments for assessing disease severity and disease progression to optimize patient's care and support to care provide rs, and also provide better tools for clinical research. In this area, Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) are of particular interest. Such techniques enable accurate and standardized assessments of patients' performance and actions in real time and real life situations. The aim of this article is to provide basic recommendation concerning the development and the use of ICT for Alzheimer's disease and related disorders. During he ICT and Mental Health workshop (CTAD meeting held in Monaco on the 30th October 2012) an expert panel was set up to prepare the first recommendations for the use of ICT in dementia research. The expert panel included geriatrician, epidemiologist, neurologist, psychiatrist, psychologist, ICT engineers, representatives from the industry and patient association. The recommendations are divided into three sections corresponding to 1/ the clinical targets of interest for the use of ICT, 2/ the cond itions, the type of sensors and the outputs (scores) that could be used and obtained, 3/ finally the last section concerns specifically the use of ICT within clinical trials
Medium effects in high energy heavy-ion collisions
The change of hadron properties in dense matter based on various theoretical
approaches are reviewed. Incorporating these medium effects in the relativistic
transport model, which treats consistently the change of hadron masses and
energies in dense matter via the scalar and vector fields, heavy-ion collisions
at energies available from SIS/GSI, AGS/BNL, and SPS/CERN are studied. This
model is seen to provide satisfactory explanations for the observed enhancement
of kaon, antikaon, and antiproton yields as well as soft pions in the
transverse direction from the SIS experiments. In the AGS heavy-ion
experiments, it can account for the enhanced ratio, the difference
in the slope parameters of the and transverse kinetic energy
spectra, and the lower apparent temperature of antiprotons than that of
protons. This model also provides possible explanations for the observed
enhancement of low-mass dileptons, phi mesons, and antilambdas in heavy-ion
collisions at SPS energies. Furthermore, the change of hadron properties in hot
dense matter leads to new signatures of the quark-gluon plasma to hadronic
matter transition in future ultrarelativistic heavy-ion collisions at RHIC/BNL.Comment: RevTeX, 65 pages, including 25 postscript figures, invited topical
review for Journal of Physics G: Nuclear and Particle Physic
Fluctuations In ``BR-Scaled'' Chiral Lagrangians
We develop arguments for "mapping" the effective chiral Lagrangian whose
parameters are given by "BR scaling" to a Landau Fermi-liquid fixed-point
theory for nuclear matter in describing fluctuations in various flavor (e.g.,
strangeness) directions. We use for this purpose the effective Lagrangian used
by Furnstahl, Tang and Serot that incorporates the trace anomaly of QCD in
terms of a light-quark (quarkonium) degree of freedom with the heavy (gluonium)
degree of freedom integrated out. The large anomalous dimension for the scalar field found by Furnstahl et al to be needed for a correct
description of nuclear matter is interpreted as an indication for a
strong-coupling regime and the ground state given by the BR-scaled parameters
is suggested as the background around which fluctuations can be rendered weak
so that mean-field approximation is reliable. We construct a simple model with
BR scaled parameters that provides a satisfactory description of the properties
of matter at normal nuclear matter density. Given this, fluctuations around the
BR scaled background are dominated by tree diagrams. Our reasoning relies
heavily on recent developments in the study of nucleon and kaon properties in
normal and dense nuclear matter, e.g., nucleon and kaon flows in heavy-ion
processes, kaonic atoms, and kaon condensation in dense compact-star matter.Comment: 33 pages, Latex, 5 Postscript figure
Novel Use of Surveillance Data to Detect HIV-Infected Persons with Sustained High Viral Load and Durable Virologic Suppression in New York City
Background: Monitoring of the uptake and efficacy of ART in a population often relies on cross-sectional data, providing limited information that could be used to design specific targeted intervention programs. Using repeated measures of viral load (VL) surveillance data, we aimed to estimate and characterize the proportion of persons living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) in New York City (NYC) with sustained high VL (SHVL) and durably suppressed VL (DSVL). Methods/Principal Findings: Retrospective cohort study of all persons reported to the NYC HIV Surveillance Registry who were alive and 2 VL tests in 2006 and 2007. SHVL and DSVL were defined as PLWHA with 2 consecutive VLs $100,000 copies/mL and PLWHA with all VLs #400 copies/mL, respectively. Logistic regression models using generalized estimating equations were used to model the association between SHVL and covariates. There were 56,836 PLWHA, of whom 7 % had SHVL and 38 % had DSVL. Compared to those without SHVL, persons with SHVL were more likely to be younger, black and have injection drug use (IDU) risk. PLWHA with SHVL were more likely to die by 2007 and be younger by nearly ten years, on average. Conclusions/Significance: Nearly 60 % of PLWHA in 2005 had multiple VLs, of whom almost 40 % had DSVL, suggesting successful ART uptake. A small proportion had SHVL, representing groups known to have suboptimal engagement in care. This group should be targeted for additional outreach to reduce morbidity and secondary transmission. Measures based o
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