Simulation of greenhouse gases following land-use change to bioenergy crops using the ECOSSE model : a comparison between site measurements and model predictions

This work contributes to the ELUM (Ecosystem Land Use Modelling & Soil Carbon GHG Flux Trial) project, which was commissioned and funded by the Energy Technologies Institute (ETI). We acknowledge the E-OBS data set from the EU-FP6 project ENSEMBLES (http://ensembles-eu.metoffice.com) and the data providers in the ECA&D project (http://www.ecad.eu).Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Lumbar spine radiographic features and demographic, clinical, and radiographic knee, hip and hand osteoarthritis: The Johnston County Osteoarthritis Project

Objective—1) To determine the prevalence of lumbar spine individual radiographic features (IRF) of disc space narrowing (DSN), osteophytes (OST) and facet joint osteoarthritis (FOA). 2) To describe the frequencies of demographic, clinic and radiographic knee, hip and hand osteoarthritis (OA) across lumbar spine IRF. 3) To determine factors associated with lumbar spine IRF. Methods—A cross-sectional study of 840 participants enrolled in the Johnston County OA Project (2003-4). Sample-based prevalence estimates were generated for each lumbar spine IRF. Associations between lumbar spine IRF and demographic, clinical and peripheral joint OA were determined with logistic regression models. Results—Sample-based prevalence estimates were similar for DSN (57.6%) and FOA (57.9%) but higher for OST (88.1%) with significant differences across race and gender. Hand and knee OA frequencies increased across IRF whereas the effect was absent for hip OA. African Americans had lower odds of FOA (adjusted odds ratio [aOR]=0.45 (95% CI 0.32, 0.62)) while there was no racial association with DSN and OST. Low back symptoms were associated with DSN (aOR=1.37 (95% CI 1.04, 1.80)) but not OST or FOA. Knee OA was associated with OST (aOR=1.62 (95% CI 1.16, 2.27)) and FOA (aOR=1.69 (95% CI 1.15, 2.49)) but not DSN. Hand OA was associated with FOA (aOR=1.67 (95% CI 1.20, 2.28)) but not with DSN or OST. No associations were found with hip OA. Conclusion—These findings underscore the importance of analyzing lumbar spine IRF separately as the associations with demographic, clinic and radiographic knee, hip and hand OA differ widely

Structure and stability of symptoms in first episode psychosis: a longitudinal network approach.

Early psychosis is characterised by heterogeneity in illness trajectories, where outcomes remain poor for many. Understanding psychosis symptoms and their relation to illness outcomes, from a novel network perspective, may help to delineate psychopathology within early psychosis and identify pivotal targets for intervention. Using network modelling in first episode psychosis (FEP), this study aimed to identify: (a) key central and bridge symptoms most influential in symptom networks, and (b) examine the structure and stability of the networks at baseline and 12-month follow-up. Data on 1027 participants with FEP were taken from the National EDEN longitudinal study and used to create regularised partial correlation networks using the 'EBICglasso' algorithm for positive, negative, and depressive symptoms at baseline and at 12-months. Centrality and bridge estimations were computed using a permutation-based network comparison test. Depression featured as a central symptom in both the baseline and 12-month networks. Conceptual disorganisation, stereotyped thinking, along with hallucinations and suspiciousness featured as key bridge symptoms across the networks. The network comparison test revealed that the strength and bridge centralities did not differ significantly between the two networks (C = 0.096153; p = 0.22297). However, the network structure and connectedness differed significantly from baseline to follow-up (M = 0.16405, p = <0.0001; S = 0.74536, p = 0.02), with several associations between psychosis and depressive items differing significantly by 12 months. Depressive symptoms, in addition to symptoms of thought disturbance (e.g. conceptual disorganisation and stereotyped thinking), may be examples of important, under-recognized treatment targets in early psychosis, which may have the potential to lead to global symptom improvements and better recovery

Characterizing the Fish Passage Environment at The Dalles Dam Spillway: 2001-2004

The spill environment at The Dalles Dam in 2001-2004 was characterized using a field-deployed autonomous sensor (the so-called Sensor Fish), computational fluid dynamics (CFD) modeling, and Lagrangian particle tracking. The sensor fish has a self-contained capability to digitally the record pressure and triaxial accelerations it was exposed to following its release into the spillway. After recovery downstream of the tailrace, the data stored in the memory of the sensor are downloaded and stored for analysis. The spillway, stilling basin, and tailrace hydrodynamics were simulated using an unsteady, free-surface, three-dimensional CFD code that solved the Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes equations in conjunction with a two-equation turbulence model. The results from the CFD simulations were then used in a Lagrangian particle tracking model that included the effects of mass, drag, and buoyancy in the particle equation of motion. A random walk method was used to simulate the effects of small-scale turbulence on the particle motion. Several operational and structural conditions were evaluated using the Sensor Fish, CFD, and particle tracking. Quantifying events such as strike and stilling basin retention time characterized exposure conditions in the spill environment

Biological Assessment of the Advanced Turbine Design at Wanapum Dam, 2005

This report summarizes the results of studies sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy and conducted by Pacific Northwest National Laboratory to evaluate the biological performance (likelihood of injury to fish) from an advanced design turbine installed at Unit 8 of Wanapum Dam on the Columbia River in Washington State in 2005. PNNL studies included a novel dye technique to measure injury to juvenile fish in the field, an evaluation of blade-strike using both deterministic and stochastic models, and extended analysis of the response of the Sensor Fish Device to strike, pressure, and turbulence within the turbine system. Fluorescein dye was used to evaluate injuries to live fish passed through the advanced turbine and an existing turbine at two spill discharges (15 and 17 kcfs). Under most treatments the results were not significantly different for the two turbines, however, eye injury occurred in nearly 30% of fish passing through Unit 9 but in less than 10% of those passing through Unit 8 at 15 kcfs. Both deterministic and stochastic blade-strike models were applied for the original and new AHTS turbines. The modeled probabilities were compared to the Sensor Fish results (Carlson et al. 2006) and the biological studies using juvenile fish (Normandeau et al. 2005) under the same operational parameters. The new AHTS turbine had slightly higher modeled injury rates than the original turbine, but no statistical evidence to suggest that there is significant difference in blade-strike injury probabilities between the two turbines, which is consistent with the experiment results using Sensor Fish and juvenile fish. PNNL also conducted Sensor Fish studies at Wanapum Dam in 2005 concurrent with live fish studies. The probablility of severe collision events was similar for both turbine. The advanced turbine had a slightly lower probability of severe shear events but a slightly higher probability of slight shear

The Translational Medicine Ontology and Knowledge Base: driving personalized medicine by bridging the gap between bench and bedside

Background: Translational medicine requires the integration of knowledge using heterogeneous data from health care to the life sciences. Here, we describe a collaborative effort to produce a prototype Translational Medicine Knowledge Base (TMKB) capable of answering questions relating to clinical practice and pharmaceutical drug discovery. Results: We developed the Translational Medicine Ontology (TMO) as a unifying ontology to integrate chemical, genomic and proteomic data with disease, treatment, and electronic health records. We demonstrate the use of Semantic Web technologies in the integration of patient and biomedical data, and reveal how such a knowledge base can aid physicians in providing tailored patient care and facilitate the recruitment of patients into active clinical trials. Thus, patients, physicians and researchers may explore the knowledge base to better understand therapeutic options, efficacy, and mechanisms of action. Conclusions: This work takes an important step in using Semantic Web technologies to facilitate integration of relevant, distributed, external sources and progress towards a computational platform to support personalized medicine. Availability: TMO can be downloaded from http://code.google.com/p/translationalmedicineontology and TMKB can be accessed at http://tm.semanticscience.org/sparql

Randomized Evaluation of Carotid Occlusion and Neurocognition (RECON) trial: Main results

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether extracranial-intracranial (EC-IC) bypass can improve cognition over 2 years compared to best medical therapy alone in patients with symptomatic internal carotid artery (ICA) occlusion and increased oxygen extraction fraction (OEF) on PET. METHODS: Patients underwent (15)O PET and were randomized if OEF ratio was >1.13 on the occluded side. Using blinded baseline and 2-year cognitive assessments, age-adjusted composite z scores were generated from subtests sensitive to right/left hemisphere plus global cognitive functioning. Multiple regression predicted 2-year cognitive change. RESULTS: Eighty-nine patients were enrolled; 41 had increased OEF and were randomized. Two died, 2 were lost to follow-up, and 2 refused 2-year testing. Of the 35 remaining, 6 had ipsilateral stroke or death, leaving 13 surgical and 16 medical patients. Controlling for age, education, and depression, there was no difference in 2-year cognitive change between the medical and surgical arms (95% confidence interval -0.5 to 0.5, p = 0.9). In post hoc analysis of 26 patients with no stroke in the follow-up period, cognitive improvement was associated with less impaired PET OEF at baseline (p = 0.045). CONCLUSION: Cognitive improvement following bypass surgery was not superior to medical therapy among patients with recently symptomatic carotid occlusion and increased OEF. Among those with no recurrent stroke, less hemodynamic impairment at baseline was associated with greater cognitive gain in both groups. Reversing cognitive impairment in hemodynamic failure remains an open challenge. CLASSIFICATION OF EVIDENCE: This study provides Class II evidence that for patients with symptomatic ICA occlusion and increased OEF on PET, EC-IC bypass compared to no bypass does not improve cognitive function after 2 years

Universal WBC reduction

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/75583/1/j.1537-2995.2000.40060751.x.pd