Sodium Atoms in the Lunar Exotail: Observed Velocity and Spatial Distributions

The lunar sodium tail extends long distances due to radiation pressure on sodium atoms in the lunar exosphere. Our earlier observations measured the average radial velocity of sodium atoms moving down the lunar tail beyond Earth (i.e., near the anti-lunar point) to be ~ 12.5 km/s. Here we use the Wisconsin H-alpha Mapper to obtain the first kinematically resolved maps of the intensity and velocity distribution of this emission over a 15 x 15 deg region on the sky near the anti-lunar point. We present both spatially and spectrally resolved observations obtained over four nights bracketing new Moon in October 2007. The spatial distribution of the sodium atoms is elongated along the ecliptic with the location of the peak intensity drifting 3 deg east along the ecliptic per night. Preliminary modeling results suggest the spatial and velocity distributions in the sodium exotail are sensitive to the near surface lunar sodium velocity distribution. Future observations of this sort along with detailed modeling offer new opportunities to describe the time history of lunar surface sputtering over several days

Measuring Social Interaction Potential in Oklahoma City and Tulsa

Social degradation is now a serious problem in cities in the United States. People are interacting with their neighbors, families, and those within their community less frequently. Some major causes of this are central city decline, urban sprawl, and suburbanization. People within cities are now farther away from each other and from activity locations, making social interaction more difficult. Recently, time geography has researchers rethinking traditional approaches to these topics along with studies in transportation, accessibility, and mobility. This subdiscipline of geography is based on an individualized approach that incorporates the constraints that all humans face on a day-to-day basis. In my thesis I evaluate the social interaction potential (SIP) of working populations in the urbanized areas of Oklahoma City and Tulsa, focusing on coupling constraints that limit the opportunities for individuals to meet face-to-face at certain activity locations and interact with each other. Using restaurants as activity locations, I calculate the amount of time that can potentially be spent interacting with others at activity locations based on different combinations of work locations and home locations within the two cities. Several variables strongly affect the calculation of SIP such as the population within each zone, the driving time to activity locations, and the distance from all other zones. While Oklahoma City and Tulsa are similar in terms land area, population, restaurant location distribution, and recent capital improvement projects, the two have different urban forms which affect the patterns of SIP. While there is generally more SIP near the center of both cities, Oklahoma City shows a more dispersed and sectoral pattern with "fingers" of SIP extending from the downtown area, while Tulsa shows a more central city phenomenon with high concentration of SIP in the center and a steep drop off in SIP away from the center.Geograph

Does parental monitoring moderate the relationship between bullying and adolescent nonsuicidal self-injury and suicidal behavior? A community-based self-report study of adolescents in Germany

Background: Being a victim of bullying in school is clearly linked to various social, emotional, and behavioral problems including self-harm behavior. However, it is not known whether even occasional victimization has similar negative consequences and whether protective factors such as social support may prevent those harmful developments. The present study therefore focuses on the nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI) and suicidal behavior (SB) in victims of bullying and the potentially moderating effect of parental monitoring. Methods: In all, a cross-sectional sample of 647 adolescents (mean age 12.8 years) were surveyed concerning bullying experiences, NSSI and SB, and parental monitoring. Results: A total of 14.4 % of respondents reported being a victim of frequent bullying in the past few months (with verbal and social bullying playing the most important role), which increased the risks of both NSSI (OR = 11.75) and SB (OR = 6.08). This relationship could also be shown for occasional victims of bullying (35.6 %), although to a lesser extent. Parental monitoring had a significant protective effect on SB in victims of occasional bullying. However, parental monitoring did not show any protective effect in victims of repetitive bullying. Conclusions: Victims of bullying show a substantial risk for engaging in self-harm behavior. Therefore, the dissemination of anti-bullying programs in schools would probably also prevent such disorders. Parental participation in school-based prevention may increase its effect; this also matches the results of the present study, showing that parental monitoring may be able to buffer the negative effects of bullying victimization, at least to a certain degree

Neurostatistical Mapping: A Review and Unique Application Proposal, Exploration

Advancements in neurological data capturing and mapping have provided scientists with exponentially more information, allowing for more detailed analysis of neurological behaviors and their translations to cognitive, emotional, and physical function. Inspired by the diffculty in diagnosing brain damage, this project seeks to leverage statistical modeling with EEG data to explore a unique approach to modeling and representing neurological activity. The application of the Cox Point Process, a variation of the more commonly know Poisson Point Process, yielded simulation results that allow us to generate heat maps representing neural activity - suggesting that this application of statistical point processes potentially have promise in analyzing neurological data

Combination of methylated-DNA precipitation and methylation-sensitive restriction enzymes (COMPARE-MS) for the rapid, sensitive and quantitative detection of DNA methylation

Hypermethylation of CpG island (CGI) sequences is a nearly universal somatic genome alteration in cancer. Rapid and sensitive detection of DNA hypermethylation would aid in cancer diagnosis and risk stratification. We present a novel technique, called COMPARE-MS, that can rapidly and quantitatively detect CGI hypermethylation with high sensitivity and specificity in hundreds of samples simultaneously. To quantitate CGI hypermethylation, COMPARE-MS uses real-time PCR of DNA that was first digested by methylation-sensitive restriction enzymes and then precipitated by methyl-binding domain polypeptides immobilized on a magnetic solid matrix. We show that COMPARE-MS could detect five genome equivalents of methylated CGIs in a 1000- to 10 000-fold excess of unmethylated DNA. COMPARE-MS was used to rapidly quantitate hypermethylation at multiple CGIs in >155 prostate tissues, including benign and malignant prostate specimens, and prostate cell lines. This analysis showed that GSTP1, MDR1 and PTGS2 CGI hypermethylation as determined by COMPARE-MS could differentiate between malignant and benign prostate with sensitivities >95% and specificities approaching 100%. This novel technology could significantly improve our ability to detect CGI hypermethylation

The association of self-injurious behaviour and suicide attempts with recurrent idiopathic pain in adolescents: evidence from a population-based study

Background: While several population-based studies report that pain is independently associated with higher rates of self-destructive behaviour (suicidal ideation, suicide attempts, and self-injurious behaviour) in adults, studies in adolescents are rare and limited to specific chronic pain conditions. The aim of this study was to investigate the link between self-reported idiopathic pain and the prevalence and frequency of self-injury (SI) and suicide attempts in adolescents. Methods: Data from a cross-sectional, school-based sample was derived to assess SI, suicide attempts, recurrent pain symptoms and various areas of emotional and behavioural problems via a self-report booklet including the Youth Self-Report (YSR). Adolescents were assigned to two groups (presence of pain vs. no pain) for analysis. Data from 5,504 students of 116 schools in a region of South Western Germany was available. A series of unadjusted and adjusted multinomial logistic regression models were performed to address the association of pain, SI, and suicide attempts. Results: 929 (16.88%) respondents reported recurrent pain in one of three areas of pain symptoms assessed (general pain, headache, and abdominal pain). Adolescents who reported pain also reported greater psychopathological distress on all sub-scales of the YSR. The presence of pain was significantly associated with an increased risk ratio (RR) for SI (1–3 incidences in the past year: RR: 2.96; >3 incidences: RR: 6.04) and suicide attempts (one attempt: RR: 3.63; multiple attempts: RR: 5.4) in unadjusted analysis. Similarly, increased RR was observed when adjusting for sociodemographic variables. While controlling for psychopathology attenuated this association, it remained significant (RRs: 1.4–1.8). Sub-sequent sensitivity analysis revealed different RR by location and frequency of pain symptoms. Conclusions: Adolescents with recurrent idiopathic pain are more likely to report previous incidents of SI and suicide attempts. This association is likely mediated by the presence of psychopathological distress as consequence of recurrent idiopathic pain. However, the observed variance in dependent variables is only partially explained by emotional and behavioural problems. Clinicians should be aware of these associations and interview adolescents with recurrent symptoms of pain for the presence of self-harm, past suicide attempts and current suicidal thoughts. Future studies addressing the neurobiology underpinnings of an increased likelihood for self-injurious behaviour and suicide attempts in adolescents with recurrent idiopathic pain are necessary

Predicting future cardiovascular disease. Do we need the oral glucose tolerance test?

WSTĘP. Celem badania było porównanie przydatności doustnego testu tolerancji glukozy (OGTT, oral glucose tolerance test) z wieloczynnikowymi modelami, uwzględniającymi powszechnie dostępne dane kliniczne do przewidywania wystąpienia w przyszłości chorób układu sercowo-naczyniowego (CVD, cardiovascular disease). MATERIAŁ I METODY. Ze spisu ludności w San Antonio losowo wybrano 2662 osoby pochodzenia latynoskiego i 1595 osób rasy białej pochodzenia nielatynoskiego, w wieku 25–64 lat, niechorujących na CVD i cukrzycę w chwili rozpoczęcia badania. Na początku badania zebrano od osób zakwalifikowanych dokładny wywiad medyczny, informacje na temat palenia tytoniu oraz zbadano ich wskaźnik masy ciała (BMI, body mass index), ciśnienie tętnicze, glikemię i insulinemię na czczo i 2 godziny po posiłku, stężenie triglicerydów oraz stężenie cholesterolu całkowitego, frakcji LDL i HDL na czczo. Choroba układu sercowo-naczyniowego pojawiła się u 88 osób pochodzenia latynoskiego i 71 osób pochodzenia nielatynoskiego w czasie 7-8-letniej obserwacji. Stworzono model krokowej, wieloczynnikowej analizy regresji logistycznej w celu przewidywania występowania CVD. Pola pod krzywą operacyjno-charakterystyczną (ROC, receiver operator chracteristic) użyto do oceny mocy przewidywania tych modeli. WYNIKI. Pole powierzchni pod wykresem ROC glikemii w 2. godzinie testu obciążenia glukozą było nieznacznie, nieznamiennie większe niż pod wykresem glikemii na czczo, oba jednak były słabym wskaźnikiem wystąpienia CVD. Pole pod wykresem ROC dla modeli wieloczynnikowych, uwzględniających łatwo dostępne dane kliniczne inne niż glikemia 2 godziny po obciążeniu glukozą, były znacznie i znamiennie większe niż pod krzywymi ROC glikemii. Uwzględnienie OGTT w tych modelach nie zwiększyło ich wartości predykcyjnych. WNIOSKI. Osoby z wysokim ryzykiem wystąpienia CVD można skuteczniej rozpoznać za pomocą prostych modeli predykcyjnych niż na podstawie wyniku OGTT. Uwzględnienie tego ostatniego w modelach prawdopodobnie nieznacznie, jeżeli w ogóle, zwiększa ich siłę predykcyjną.INTRODUCTION. Our objective was to compare the performance of oral glucose tolerance tests (OGTTs) and multivariate models incorporating commonly available clinical variables in their ability to predict future cardiovascular disease (CVD). MATERIAL AND METHODS. We randomly selected 2662 Mexican-Americans and 1595 non-Hispanic whites, 25–64 years of age, who were free of both CVD and known diabetes at baseline from several San Antonio census tracts. Medical history, cigarette smoking history, BMI, blood pressure, fasting and 2-h plasma glucose and serum insulin levels, triglyceride level, and fasting serum total, LDL, and HDL cholesterol levels were obtained at baseline. CVD developed in 88 Mexican-Americans and 71 non-Hispanic whites after 7–8 years of follow-up. Stepwise multiple logistic regression models were developed to predict incident CVD. The areas under receiver operator characteristic (ROC) curves were used to assess the predictive power of these models. RESULTS. The area under the 2-h glucose ROC curve was modestly but not significantly greater than under the fasting glucose curve, but both were relatively weak predictors of CVD. The areas under the ROC curves for the multivariate models incorporating readily available clinical variables other than 2-h glucose were substantially and significantly greater than under the glucose ROC curves. Addition of 2-h glucose to these models did not improve their predicting power. CONCLUSIONS. Better identification of individuals at high risk for CVD can be achieved with simple predicting models than with OGTTs, and the addition of the latter adds little if anything to the predictive power of the model

Assessing the Accuracy of Soot Nanoparticle Morphology Measurements Using Three- Dimensional Electron Tomography

Morphology plays an important role in determining behaviour and impact of soot nanoparticles, including effect on human health, atmospheric optical properties, contribution to engine wear, and role in marine ecology. However, its nanoscopic size has limited the ability to directly measure useful morphological parameters such as surface area and effective volume. Recently, 3D morphology characterization of soot nanoparticles via electron tomography has been the subject of several introductory studies. So-called '3D-TEM' has been posited as an improvement over traditional 2D-TEM characterization due to the elimination of the error-inducing information gap that exists between 3-dimensional soot structures and 2-dimensional TEM projections. Little follow-up work has been performed due to difficulties with developing methodologies into robust high-throughput techniques. Recent work by the authors has exhibited significant improvements in efficiency, though as yet due consideration has not been given to assessing fidelity of the technique. This is vital to confirm significant and tangible improvements in soot-characterization accuracy that will establish 3D-TEM as a legitimate tool. Synthetic ground-truth data was developed to closely mimic real soot structures and the 3D-TEM volume-reconstruction process. A variety of procedures were tested to assess the magnitude and nuances of deviations from ground-truth values. Results showed average Z-elongation due to the 'missing-wedge' at 3.5% for the previously developed optimized procedure. Mean deviations from ground-truth in volume and surface area were 2.0% and-0.1% respectively. Results indicate highly accurate 3D-reconstruction can be achieved with an optimized procedure that can bridge the gap to permit high-throughput 3D morphology characterization of soot