Creating a California Blueprint for Fall Prevention: Proceedings of a Statewide Conference

In February 2003, the Foundation convened over 150 leaders in academic, legislative, community-based services, consumer advocates, aging network, housing, public health, public safety, and other leaders who worked for two days on a statewide blueprint on fall prevention.  In preparation for the convening, a Preconference White Paper was created and used to build the blueprint.  The California Blueprint describes state-of-the-art approaches to reducing the risks of falls, and the challenges to implementing fall prevention in California.  One of the top recommendations from this blueprint was the creation of a coordination center that could serve as a statewide resource and lead efforts in fall prevention.  This recommendation eventually led to the creation of the Fall Prevention Center of Excellence (FPCE)

Wood-Based Carbon Storage in the Mackenzie River Delta: The World\u27s Largest Mapped Riverine Wood Deposit

The Mackenzie River Delta (MRD) has been recognized as an important host of river-derived wood deposits, and Mackenzie River wood has been found across the Arctic Ocean. Nevertheless, we lack estimates of the amount of carbon stored as wood and its age in the delta, representing a gap in carbon cycle estimates. Here, we use very high-resolution satellite imagery and deep learning to map wood deposits in the MRD, combining this with field data to measure the stock and age of wood-based carbon. We find \u3e400,000 individual large wood deposits, collectively storing 3.1 × 1012 g-C, equating to 2 × 106 g-C ha−1 across the delta. Sampled wood pieces date from 690 AD to 2015 AD but are mostly young with ∼40% of the wood samples formed after 1955 AD. These estimates represent a minimum bound on an important surficial, potentially reactive, carbon pool compared to other deeper carbon stocks in permafrost zones

Management of large wood in streams of Colorado's Front Range: a risk analysis based on physical, biological, and social factors

March 2017.Includes bibliographical references.Instream and floodplain wood can provide many benefits to river ecosystems, but can also create risks to inhabitants, infrastructure, property, and recreational users in the river corridor. In this report we outline a decision process for managing large wood, and particularly for assessing the relative benefits and risks associated with individual wood pieces and with accumulations of wood. This process can be applied at varying levels of effort, from a relatively cursory visual assessment to more detailed numerical modeling. Decisions of whether to retain, remove, or modify wood in a channel or on a floodplain are highly dependent on the specific context: the same piece of wood might require removal in a highly urbanized setting, for example, but provide sufficient benefits to justify retention in a natural area. Our intent is that the decision process outlined here can be used by individuals with diverse technical backgrounds and in a range of urban to natural river reaches

Fragmentation Instability of Molecular Clouds: Numerical Simulations

We simulate fragmentation and gravitational collapse of cold, magnetized molecular clouds. We explore the nonlinear development of an instability mediated by ambipolar diffusion, in which the collapse rate is intermediate to fast gravitational collapse and slow quasistatic collapse. Initially uniform stable clouds fragment into elongated clumps with masses largely determined by the cloud temperature, but substantially larger than the thermal Jeans mass. The clumps are asymmetric, with significant rotation and vorticity, and lose magnetic flux as they collapse. The clump shapes, intermediate collapse rates, and infall profiles may help explain observations not easily fit by contemporary slow or rapid collapse models.Comment: 25pp, 20 small eps figures, in press ApJ, April 1, 200

Regarding Pilot Usage of Display Technologies for Improving Awareness of Aircraft System States

ed systems and the procedures for ng in complexity. This interacting trend places a larger burden on pilots to manage increasing amounts of information and to understand system interactions. The result is an increase in the likelihood of loss of airplane state awareness (ASA). One way to gain more insight into this issue is through experimentation using objective measures of visual behavior. This study summarizes an analysis of oculometer data obtained during a high-fidelity flight simulation study that included a variety of complex pilot-system interactions that occur in current flight decks, as well as several planned for the next generation air transportation system. The study was comprised of various scenarios designed to induce low and high energy aircraft states coupled with other emulated causal factors in recent accidents. Three different display technologies were evaluated in this recent pilot-in-the-loop study conducted at NASA Langley Research Center. These technologies include a stall recovery guidance algorithm and display concept, an enhanced airspeed control indication of when the automation is no longer actively controlling airspeed, and enhanced synoptic diagrams with corresponding simplified electronic interactive checklists. Multiple data analyses were performed to understand how the 26 participating airline pilots were observing ASA-related information provided during different stag specific events within these stages

Prediction of drop-out and outcome in integrated cognitive behavioral therapy for ADHD and SUD:Results from a randomized clinical trial

Background: Patients with substance use disorder (SUD) or Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) have a high risk of drop out from treatment. Few studies have investigated predictors of therapy drop out and outcome in SUD patients with comorbid ADHD. Recently, integrated cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT/Integrated) was shown to be more effective than standard CBT (CBT/SUD) in the treatment of SUD + ADHD. Objective: To investigate the association of demographic, clinical and neurocognitive variables with drop-out and treatment outcome, and to examine which of these variables are suitable for patient-treatment matching. Methods: We performed an RCT in which 119 patients were allocated to CBT/Integrated (n = 60) or CBT/SUD (n = 59). In addition, 55 patients had dropped out before randomization. Demographic variables, clinical characteristics and measures of cognitive functioning (Stroop, Tower of London (ToL) and Balloon Analogue Risk Task (BART)) were included as predictors. Outcome measures were: early treatment drop-out, ADHD symptom severity, and substance use severity at end of treatment and follow up. Results: Primary substance of abuse (drugs as opposed to alcohol only) and lower accuracy scores on the ToL were significant predictors of early treatment drop-out. Having more depression and anxiety symptoms and using ADHD medication at baseline significantly predicted more ADHD symptoms at end of treatment, and higher accuracy scores on the ToL significantly predicted higher substance use at end of treatment. No significant predictor-by-treatment interactions were found. Conclusion: The results add to the existing realization that also relatively mild cognitive deficits are a risk factor for treatment drop-out in these patients

Fast and accurate prediction of positive and negative urine cultures by flow cytometry

Background: Urinary tract infection (UTI) is a widespread infectious disease in humans. Urine culture, a huge workload in the microbiology laboratory, is still the standard diagnostic test for UTI, but most of the cultures are negative. A reliable screening method could reduce unnecessary cultures and quicken reporting of negative results. Methods: We evaluated the usefulness of a flow cytometry (FC) screening method in the prediction of positive urine culture to reduce the number of urine cultures. The urine specimens sent to the laboratory for culture were tested with the flow cytometer Accuri C6. FC bacterial counts were compared to standard urine culture results to assess the best cut-off values. Results: Two hundred nine urine samples were included, of which 79 (37.8 %) were culture positive. On comparing the culture and the FC data in the ROC curve, the FC bacterial counts of >= 10(6) bacteria/mL provided a reliable screening for bacteriuria with a sensitivity and specificity of 99 and 58 %, respectively. All negative FC results (<106 bacteria/mL) showed a negative predictive value of 99 % with a negative likelihood ratio of 0.02. The FC bacterial counts of >= 10(8)/mL showed a positive predictive value of 99 % with a positive likelihood ratio of 60.9. Conclusions: Counting bacteria in human urine samples by the FC is a fast, accurate and cost-effective screening method for bacteriuria. Our results showed that FC is able to rule out UTI, which can lead to a substantial reduction (36 %) of urine cultures. It also demonstrated that this method predicts positive cultures accurately

Specific Inflammatory Stimuli Lead to Distinct Platelet Responses in Mice and Humans

INTRODUCTION: Diverse and multi-factorial processes contribute to the progression of cardiovascular disease. These processes affect cells involved in the development of this disease in varying ways, ultimately leading to atherothrombosis. The goal of our study was to compare the differential effects of specific stimuli - two bacterial infections and a Western diet - on platelet responses in ApoE-/- mice, specifically examining inflammatory function and gene expression. Results from murine studies were verified using platelets from participants of the Framingham Heart Study (FHS; n = 1819 participants). METHODS: Blood and spleen samples were collected at weeks 1 and 9 from ApoE-/- mice infected with Porphyromonas gingivalis or Chlamydia pneumoniae and from mice fed a Western diet for 9 weeks. Transcripts based on data from a Western diet in ApoE-/- mice were measured in platelet samples from FHS using high throughput qRT-PCR. RESULTS:At week 1, both bacterial infections increased circulating platelet-neutrophil aggregates. At week 9, these cells individually localized to the spleen, while Western diet resulted in increased platelet-neutrophil aggregates in the spleen only. Microarray analysis of platelet RNA from infected or Western diet-fed mice at week 1 and 9 showed differential profiles. Genes, such as Serpina1a, Ttr, Fgg, Rpl21, and Alb, were uniquely affected by infection and diet. Results were reinforced in platelets obtained from participants of the FHS. CONCLUSION: Using both human studies and animal models, results demonstrate that variable sources of inflammatory stimuli have the ability to influence the platelet phenotype in distinct ways, indicative of the diverse function of platelets in thrombosis, hemostasis, and immunity

Distinct gene signatures in aortic tissue from ApoE-/- mice exposed to pathogens or Western diet

BACKGROUND: Atherosclerosis is a progressive disease characterized by inflammation and accumulation of lipids in vascular tissue. Porphyromonas gingivalis (Pg) and Chlamydia pneumoniae (Cp) are associated with inflammatory atherosclerosis in humans. Similar to endogenous mediators arising from excessive dietary lipids, these Gram-negative pathogens are pro-atherogenic in animal models, although the specific inflammatory/atherogenic pathways induced by these stimuli are not well defined. In this study, we identified gene expression profiles that characterize P. gingivalis, C. pneumoniae, and Western diet (WD) at acute and chronic time points in aortas of Apolipoprotein E (ApoE-/-) mice. RESULTS: At the chronic time point, we observed that P. gingivalis was associated with a high number of unique differentially expressed genes compared to C. pneumoniae or WD. For the top 500 differentially expressed genes unique to each group, we observed a high percentage (76%) that exhibited decreased expression in P. gingivalis-treated mice in contrast to a high percentage (96%) that exhibited increased expression in WD mice. C. pneumoniae treatment resulted in approximately equal numbers of genes that exhibited increased and decreased expression. Gene Set Enrichment Analysis (GSEA) revealed distinct stimuli-associated phenotypes, including decreased expression of mitochondrion, glucose metabolism, and PPAR pathways in response to P. gingivalis but increased expression of mitochondrion, lipid metabolism, carbohydrate and amino acid metabolism, and PPAR pathways in response to C. pneumoniae; WD was associated with increased expression of immune and inflammatory pathways. DAVID analysis of gene clusters identified by two-way ANOVA at acute and chronic time points revealed a set of core genes that exhibited altered expression during the natural progression of atherosclerosis in ApoE-/- mice; these changes were enhanced in P. gingivalis-treated mice but attenuated in C. pneumoniae-treated mice. Notable differences in the expression of genes associated with unstable plaques were also observed among the three pro-atherogenic stimuli. CONCLUSIONS: Despite the common outcome of P. gingivalis, C. pneumoniae, and WD on the induction of vascular inflammation and atherosclerosis, distinct gene signatures and pathways unique to each pro-atherogenic stimulus were identified. Our results suggest that pathogen exposure results in dysregulated cellular responses that may impact plaque progression and regression pathways

Facial trustworthiness and criminal sentencing: A comment on Wilson and Rule (2015)

Our first impressions of others, whether accurate or unfounded, have real-world consequences in terms of how we judge and treat those people. Previous research has suggested that criminal sentencing is influenced by the perceived facial trustworthiness of defendants in murder trials. In real cases, those who appeared less trustworthy were more likely to receive death rather than life sentences. Here, we carried out several attempts to replicate this finding, utilizing the original set of stimuli (Study 1), multiple images of each identity (Study 2), and a larger sample of identities (Study 3). In all cases, we found little support for the association between facial trustworthiness and sentencing. Furthermore, there was clear evidence that the specific image chosen to depict each identity had a significant influence on subsequent judgments. Taken together, our findings suggest that perceptions of facial trustworthiness have no real-world influence on sentencing outcomes in serious criminal cases