Biological Assessments of Six Selected Fishes, Amphibians, and Mussels in Illinois

ID: 8758; issued November 1, 1996INHS Technical Report prepared for Illinois Department of Natural Resources, Division of Natural Heritag

Managing magnetic resonance imaging machines: support tools for scheduling and planning

We devise models and algorithms to estimate the impact of current and future patient demand for examinations on Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) machines at a hospital radiology department. Our work helps improve scheduling decisions and supports MRI machine personnel and equipment planning decisions. Of particular novelty is our use of scheduling algorithms to compute the competing objectives of maximizing examination throughput and patient-magnet utilization. Using our algorithms retrospectively can help (1) assess prior scheduling decisions, (2) identify potential areas of efficiency improvement and (3) identify difficult examination types. Using a year of patient data and several years of MRI utilization data, we construct a simulation model to forecast MRI machine demand under a variety of scenarios. Under our predicted demand model, the throughput calculated by our algorithms acts as an estimate of the overtime MRI time required, and thus, can be used to help predict the impact of different trends in examination demand and to support MRI machine staffing and equipment planning

Clinical Evaluation of the Appropriateness Use Criteria for Single-Photon Emission-Computed Tomography: Differences by Patient Population, Physician Specialty, and Patient Outcomes

Objectives. Determine outcome of the 2005 appropriateness use criteria (AUC) for SPECT in a diverse population of patients and physicians. Background. AUC for SPECT were the first cardiology document to identify 52 clinical indications for imaging, 49 of them for stress SPECT. AUC have been proposed as cornerstone of responsible use of perfusion imaging. Methods. 585 consecutive patients undergoing SPECT were evaluated prospectively. Appropriateness was examined for demographic variables, clinical variables, and for physician and patient subgroups. Combined end-point of total mortality, cardiac revascularization, and cardiac admissions at 1 year post SPECT was evaluated. Results. SPECT indications were: appropriate, 63%; uncertain, 20%; inappropriate, 14%; not assigned, 3%. Most appropriate SPECT were observed in patients with known coronary disease (72%), chest pain syndrome (89%), high pre-test likelihood of disease (100%), men (70%), inpatients (72%), and cardiovascular physicians' referrals (69%). End-point was reached in 53 patients (97.4% follow up). Unadjusted event rates were: appropriate (12%), uncertain (7.1%), inappropriate (2.4%) SPECT (P = .01). Conclusion. Appropriateness of SPECT differs in subgroups of patients and physicians. Clinically significant outcomes occur more frequently in the appropriate stress SPECT group. Focused efforts are need for outpatients, asymptomatic patients, women, and non-cardiovascular physicians

The Gattini cameras for optical sky brightness measurements at Dome C, Antarctica

The Gattini cameras are two site testing instruments for the measurement of optical sky brightness, large area cloud cover and auroral detection of the night sky above the high altitude Dome C site in Antarctica. The cameras have been operating since installation in January 2006 and are currently at the end of the first Antarctic winter season. The cameras are transit in nature and are virtually identical both adopting Apogee Alta CCD detectors. By taking frequent images of the night sky we obtain long term cloud cover statistics, measure the sky background intensity as a function of solar and lunar altitude and phase and directly measure the spatial extent of bright aurora if present and when they occur. The full data set will return in December 2006 however a limited amount of data has been transferred via the Iridium network enabling preliminary data reduction and system evaluation. An update of the project is presented together with preliminary results from data taken since commencement of the winter season

We Can Change the Natural History of Type 2 Diabetes

As diabetes develops, we currently waste the first ∼10 years of the natural history. If we found prediabetes and early diabetes when they first presented and treated them more effectively, we could prevent or delay the progression of hyperglycemia and the development of complications. Evidence for this comes from trials where lifestyle change and/or glucose-lowering medications decreased progression from prediabetes to diabetes. After withdrawal of these interventions, there was no “catch-up”—cumulative development of diabetes in the previously treated groups remained less than in control subjects. Moreover, achieving normal glucose levels even transiently during the trials was associated with a substantial reduction in subsequent development of diabetes. These findings indicate that we can change the natural history through routine screening to find prediabetes and early diabetes, combined with management aimed to keep glucose levels as close to normal as possible, without hypoglycemia. We should also test the hypothesis with a randomized controlled trial

Defining and measuring gender: A social determinant of health whose time has come

This paper contributes to a nascent scholarly discussion of sex and gender as determinants of health. Health is a composite of biological makeup and socioeconomic circumstances. Differences in health and illness patterns of men and women are attributable both to sex, or biology, and to gender, that is, social factors such as powerlessness, access to resources, and constrained roles. Using examples such as the greater life expectancy of women in most of the world, despite their relative social disadvantage, and the disproportionate risk of myocardial infarction amongst men, but death from MI amongst women, the independent and combined associations of sex and gender on health are explored. A model for incorporating gender into epidemiologic analyses is proposed

CMBPol Mission Concept Study: Prospects for polarized foreground removal

In this report we discuss the impact of polarized foregrounds on a future CMBPol satellite mission. We review our current knowledge of Galactic polarized emission at microwave frequencies, including synchrotron and thermal dust emission. We use existing data and our understanding of the physical behavior of the sources of foreground emission to generate sky templates, and start to assess how well primordial gravitational wave signals can be separated from foreground contaminants for a CMBPol mission. At the estimated foreground minimum of ~100 GHz, the polarized foregrounds are expected to be lower than a primordial polarization signal with tensor-to-scalar ratio r=0.01, in a small patch (~1%) of the sky known to have low Galactic emission. Over 75% of the sky we expect the foreground amplitude to exceed the primordial signal by about a factor of eight at the foreground minimum and on scales of two degrees. Only on the largest scales does the polarized foreground amplitude exceed the primordial signal by a larger factor of about 20. The prospects for detecting an r=0.01 signal including degree-scale measurements appear promising, with 5 sigma_r ~0.003 forecast from multiple methods. A mission that observes a range of scales offers better prospects from the foregrounds perspective than one targeting only the lowest few multipoles. We begin to explore how optimizing the composition of frequency channels in the focal plane can maximize our ability to perform component separation, with a range of typically 40 < nu < 300 GHz preferred for ten channels. Foreground cleaning methods are already in place to tackle a CMBPol mission data set, and further investigation of the optimization and detectability of the primordial signal will be useful for mission design.Comment: 42 pages, 14 figures, Foreground Removal Working Group contribution to the CMBPol Mission Concept Study, v2, matches AIP versio

Measurement of Protein Tyrosine Phosphatase Activity in Single Cells by Capillary Electrophoresis

A fluorescent peptide substrate was used to measure dephosphorylation by protein tyrosine phosphatases (PTP) in cell lysates, and single cells and to investigate the effect of environmental toxins on PTP activity in these systems. Dephosphorylation of the substrate by PTPN1 and PTPN2 obeyed Michaelis-Menten kinetics, with KM values of 770 ± 250 nM and 290 ± 54 nM, respectively. Dose-response curves and IC50 values were determined for the inhibition of these two enzymes by the environmental toxins Zn2+ and 1,2-naphthoquinone, as well as pervanadate. In A431 cell lysates, the reporter was a poor substrate for peptidases (degradation rate of 100 ± 8.2 fmol min−1 mg−1) but an excellent substrate for phosphatases (dephosphorylation rate of 1.4 ± 0.3 nmol min−1 mg−1). Zn2+, 1,2-naphthoquinone and pervanadate inhibited dephosphorylation of the reporter in cell lysates with IC50 values of 470 nM, 35 μM, and 100 nM, respectively. Dephosphorylation of the reporter following loading into living single cells occurred at rates of at least 2 pmol min−1 mg−1. When single cells were exposed to 1,2-naphthoquinone (50 μM), Zn2+ (100 μM), and pervandate (1 mM), dephosphorylation was inhibited with median values and first and third quartile values of 41 (Q1 = 0%, Q3 = 96%), 50 (Q1 = 46%, Q3 = 74%), and 53% (Q1 = 36%, Q3 = 77%), respectively, demonstrating both the impact of these toxic exposures on cell signaling and the heterogeneity of response between cells. This approach will provide a valuable tool for the study of PTP dynamics, particularly in small, heterogeneous populations such as human biopsy specimens

Chlamydial clinical isolates show subtle differences in persistence phenotypes and growth in vitro

Urogenital Chlamydia trachomatis infection is the most common sexually transmitted bacterial infection throughout the world. While progress has been made to better understand how type strains develop and respond to environmental stress in vitro, very few studies have examined how clinical isolates behave under similar conditions. Here, we examined the development and persistence phenotypes of several clinical isolates, to determine how similar they are to each other, and the type strain C. trachomatis D/UW-3/Cx. The type strain was shown to produce infectious progeny at a higher magnitude than each of the clinical isolates, in each of the six tested cell lines. All chlamydial strains produced the highest number of infectious progeny at 44 h post-infection in the McCoy B murine fibroblast cell line, yet showed higher levels of infectivity in the MCF-7 human epithelial cell line. The clinical isolates were shown to be more susceptible than the type strain to the effects of penicillin and iron deprivation persistence models in the MCF-7 cell line. While subtle differences between clinical isolates were observed throughout the experiments conducted, no significant differences were identified. This study reinforces the importance of examining clinical isolates when trying to relate in vitro data to clinical outcomes, as well as the importance of considering the adaptations many type strains have to being cultured in vitro.</jats:p

Autopsy of a failed trial part 1: A qualitative investigation of clinician's views on and experiences of the implementation of the DAISIES trial in UK-based intensive eating disorder services

Objective: The DAISIES trial, comparing inpatient and stepped-care day patient treatment for adults with severe anorexia nervosa was prematurely terminated in March 2022 due to poor recruitment. This qualitative study seeks to understand the difficulties faced during the trial by investigating stakeholders' views on and experiences of its implementation. / Method: Semi-structured interview and focus group transcripts, and trial management and oversight group meeting minutes from May 2020-June 2022 were analysed using thematic analysis. Participants were 47 clinicians and co-investigators involved with the DAISIES trial. The Non-Adoption, Abandonment, Scale-up, Spread, and Sustainability (NASSS) framework was applied to the interpretive themes to classify barriers and facilitators to implementation. / Results: Five themes were identified: incompatible participation interests; changing standard practice; concerns around clinical management; systemic capacity and capability issues; and Covid-19 disrupting implementation. Applying the NASSS framework indicated the greatest implementation challenges to arise with the adopters (e.g. patients, clinicians), the organisational systems (e.g. service capacity), and the wider socio-political context (e.g. Covid-19 closing services). / Conclusions: Our findings emphasise the top-down impact of systemic-level research implementation challenges. The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic accentuated pre-existing organisational barriers to trial implementation within intensive eating disorder services, further limiting the capacity for research