An Abridged History of the Computer as it Pertains to Diagnostic Medical Imaging

The personal computer has been integrated into the fabric of everyday life, medical imaging is no different. In this article the author introduces a brief historical study of the developments that have led to the modern computer. Emphasis is placed on the computer in medical imaging

Knowledge and Beliefs about Cancer in African American Population

Cancer is the second most common cause of death in the United States, taking the lives of one in four Americans each year (American Cancer Society [ACS], 2015). A total of 1,658,370 new cancer cases and 589,430 deaths from cancer were projected to occur in the United States in 2015 (ACS, 2015). In 2013, approximately 176,630 new cancer cases and 64,880 deaths from cancer were projected to occur in African American communities. The majority of diagnoses were cancers of the prostate, lung, colon, rectum, breast, and colorectal region (ACS, 2013). For most cancers, African Americans have the highest death rate, and shortest survival rate, of any racial or ethnic sub-groups (ACS, 2013). Individual perception, knowledge, beliefs, and awareness systems can influence the cancer evaluation process and the ability to fight the disease. The health belief model (HBM) is a conceptual framework used to explain an individual’s behavior based on the individual’s belief or perception. This paper reports on an analysis of a sample of self-identified African American respondents to the Health Information National Trends Survey (HINTS) data HINT4 cycle3, to explore an association of African Americans’ knowledge, beliefs and the processes of cancer information-seeking behavior based on the HBM and demographic information. The results showed that African Americans with a higher level of education were significantly more likely to access common sources of cancer information. Perceived benefits and cues-to-action were significantly associated with the common sources of cancer information sought whereas perceived susceptibility, perceived severity, perceived barrier, and self-efficacy were not. African Americans’ perceptions and beliefs of cancer may be enhanced through health education, mass media campaigns, and a wider availability of health information online

Chief Executive Officers in United States Hospitals: A Reexamination of Workforce Demographics and Educational Issues

The United States Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reports the “employment of medical and health services mangers is expected to grow by 22 percent from 2010-2020.”The BLS notes this is substantially faster than the national average for other occupations. Information from this report finds its way into popular media, news shows, and other information outlets which increases the number of prospective applicants to College and University Healthcare Management programs. In 2007, the authors conducted a survey of chief executive officers (CEO) in United States hospitals that sought to identify educational and demographic information of individuals holding top management positions in US Healthcare institutions. The survey was repeated in 2012, at the 5-year interval, to determine if CEO information had changed

A Mini-Study of Employee Turnover in US Hospitals

A mini-study was conducted to collect self-reported employee turnover rates in U.S. hospitals. The results indicate many hospitals are struggling with high employee turnover rates. Wide-spread variances in ratings were observed across hospitals which may be due to lack of consistency in how they each calculate their employee turnover. This makes benchmarking for the purposes of performance improvement challenging

Succession Planning: Trends Regarding the Perspectives of Chief Executive Officers in United States Hospitals

A study was conducted to revisit the perceptions of chief executive officers (CEOs) in United States (U.S.) hospitals regarding the origin of leadership and how they felt about internally developed successors versus externally recruited successors. Furthermore, the study sought to understand how this group of executives utilizes the succession planning process, what factors impact successor identification, what positions are applicable for succession planning activities, and who is ultimately held responsible for leadership continuity within the hospital industry. The results of this 2012 study were compared to a previous study conducted in 2007 to determine if the perceptions had changed over time

A constrained scheme for Einstein equations based on Dirac gauge and spherical coordinates

We propose a new formulation for 3+1 numerical relativity, based on a constrained scheme and a generalization of Dirac gauge to spherical coordinates. This is made possible thanks to the introduction of a flat 3-metric on the spatial hypersurfaces t=const, which corresponds to the asymptotic structure of the physical 3-metric induced by the spacetime metric. Thanks to the joint use of Dirac gauge, maximal slicing and spherical components of tensor fields, the ten Einstein equations are reduced to a system of five quasi-linear elliptic equations (including the Hamiltonian and momentum constraints) coupled to two quasi-linear scalar wave equations. The remaining three degrees of freedom are fixed by the Dirac gauge. Indeed this gauge allows a direct computation of the spherical components of the conformal metric from the two scalar potentials which obey the wave equations. We present some numerical evolution of 3-D gravitational wave spacetimes which demonstrates the stability of the proposed scheme.Comment: Difference w.r.t. v1: Major revision: improved presentation of the tensor wave equation and addition of the first results from a numerical implementation; w.r.t. v2: Minor changes: improved conclusion and figures; w.r.t. v3: Minors changes, 1 figure added; 25 pages, 13 figures, REVTeX, accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.

ADAM19: A Novel Target for Metabolic Syndrome in Humans and Mice

Obesity is one of the most prevalent metabolic diseases in the Western world and correlates directly with insulin resistance, which may ultimately culminate in type 2 diabetes (T2D). We sought to ascertain whether the human metalloproteinase A Disintegrin and Metalloproteinase 19 (ADAM19) correlates with parameters of the metabolic syndrome in humans and mice. To determine the potential novel role of ADAM19 in the metabolic syndrome, we first conducted microarray studies on peripheral blood mononuclear cells from a well-characterised human cohort. Secondly, we examined the expression of ADAM19 in liver and gonadal white adipose tissue using an in vivo diet induced obesity mouse model. Finally, we investigated the effect of neutralising ADAM19 on diet induced weight gain, insulin resistance in vivo, and liver TNF- levels. Significantly, we show that, in humans, ADAM19 strongly correlates with parameters of the metabolic syndrome, particularly BMI, relative fat, HOMA-IR, and triglycerides. Furthermore, we identified that ADAM19 expression was markedly increased in the liver and gonadal white adipose tissue of obese and T2D mice. Excitingly, we demonstrate in our diet induced obesity mouse model that neutralising ADAM19 therapy results in weight loss, improves insulin sensitivity, and reduces liver TNF- levels. Our novel data suggest that ADAM19 is pro-obesogenic and enhances insulin resistance. Therefore, neutralisation of ADAM19 may be a potential therapeutic approach to treat obesity and T2D

Compact HI clouds from the GALFA-HI survey

The Galactic Arecibo L-band Feed Array HI (GALFA-HI) survey is mapping the entire Arecibo sky at 21-cm, over a velocity range of -700 to +700 km/s (LSR), at a velocity resolution of 0.18 km/s and a spatial resolution of 3.5 arcmin. The unprecedented resolution and sensitivity of the GALFA-HI survey have resulted in the detection of numerous isolated, very compact HI clouds at low Galactic velocities, which are distinctly separated from the HI disk emission. In the limited area of ~4600 deg$^2$ surveyed so far, we have detected 96 of such compact clouds. The detected clouds are cold with a median T$_{k,max}$ (the kinetic temperature in the case in which there is no non-thermal broadening) of 300 K. Moreover, these clouds are quite compact and faint, with median values of 5 arcmin in angular size, 0.75 K in peak brightness temperature, and $5 \times 10^{18}$ cm$^{-2}$ in HI column density. Most of the clouds deviate from Galactic rotation at the 20-30 km/s level, and a significant fraction show evidence for a multiphase medium and velocity gradients. No counterparts for these clouds were found in other wavebands. From the modeling of spatial and velocity distributions of the whole compact cloud population, we find that the bulk of the compact clouds are related to the Galactic disk, and their distances are likely to be in the range of 0.1 to a few kpc. We discuss various possible scenarios for the formation and maintenance of this cloud population and its significance for Galactic ISM studies.Comment: Accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journa

Spectral method for the time-dependent Gross-Pitaevskii equation with a harmonic trap

We study the numerical resolution of the time-dependent Gross-Pitaevskii equation, a non-linear Schroedinger equation used to simulate the dynamics of Bose-Einstein condensates. Considering condensates trapped in harmonic potentials, we present an efficient algorithm by making use of a spectral Galerkin method, using a basis set of harmonic oscillator functions, and the Gauss-Hermite quadrature. We apply this algorithm to the simulation of condensate breathing and scissors modes.Comment: 23 pages, 5 figure