Forecasting Proximal Femur and Wrist Fracture Caused by a Fall to the Side during Space Exploration Missions to the Moon and Mars

The possibility of bone fracture in space is a concern due to the negative impact it could have on a mission. The Bone Fracture Risk Module (BFxRM) developed at the NASA Glenn Research Center is a statistical simulation that quantifies the probability of bone fracture at specific skeletal locations for particular activities or events during space exploration missions. This paper reports fracture probability predictions for the proximal femur and wrist resulting from a fall to the side during an extravehicular activity (EVA) on specific days of lunar and Martian exploration missions. The risk of fracture at the proximal femur on any given day of the mission is small and fairly constant, although it is slightly greater towards the end of the mission, due to a reduction in proximal femur bone mineral density (BMD). The risk of wrist fracture is greater than the risk of hip fracture and there is an increased risk on Mars since it has a higher gravitational environment than the moon. The BFxRM can be used to help manage the risk of bone fracture in space as an engineering tool that is used during mission operation and resource planning

A Survey of Women in Academia and the role of a Multidisciplinary Professional Society

The Society of Women Engineers (SWE) is a global professional society of over 30,000 members with a mission to “Stimulate women to achieve full potential in careers as engineers and leaders, expand the image of the engineering profession as a positive force in improving the quality of life, and demonstrate the value of diversity”1. SWE is an organization that is deeply rooted in industry. The founding members were employed by firms that are a result of the industrial revolution, and thus the focus of its membership is on those that work for industry, consultants, and often themselves. This focus has unintentionally left a large population of its membership, the academic population, underrepresented and misunderstood. Early discussion at the board level in the mid 2000’s indicated a willingness for a paradigm shift. However, the representation of academics on the board and other leadership roles has been lacking. This can be attributed to the lower numbers of this group relative to the whole, as well as the requirements of tenure that do not support the time and dedication to such an endeavor. A small but influential group of members, including a former board member, and a few involved at various levels of the society have been working toward increasing opportunities for women in academia (WIA). Some of the initiatives have been the societal support of the WIA committee, the addition of professional development opportunities targeting women in academic careers, providing recognition and awards, and aiding in networking opportunities. These all lead toward career advancement, making SWE more attractive to women engineers in the academe. To further our understanding of available opportunities and those opportunities that will make membership and active participation more attractive to members in academia, a survey was developed. Information gathered by the survey include demographics, perceived needs, and potential contributions the individual could make in furthering the creation of professional development opportunities for this population. This work is intended to share the results of this survey, using descriptive statistics, further developing our understanding of this underserved population within SWE

Estimated Probabililty of Chest Injury During an International Space Station Mission

The Integrated Medical Model (IMM) is a decision support tool that is useful to spaceflight mission planners and medical system designers when assessing risks and optimizing medical systems. The IMM project maintains a database of medical conditions that could occur during a spaceflight. The IMM project is in the process of assigning an incidence rate, the associated functional impairment, and a best and a worst case end state for each condition. The purpose of this work was to develop the IMM Chest Injury Module (CIM). The CIM calculates the incidence rate of chest injury per person-year of spaceflight on the International Space Station (ISS). The CIM was built so that the probability of chest injury during one year on ISS could be predicted. These results will be incorporated into the IMM Chest Injury Clinical Finding Form and used within the parent IMM model

Continuum corrections to the level density and its dependence on excitation energy, n-p asymmetry, and deformation

In the independent-particle model, the nuclear level density is determined from the neutron and proton single-particle level densities. The single-particle level density for the positive-energy continuum levels is important at high excitation energies for stable nuclei and at all excitation energies for nuclei near the drip lines. This single-particle level density is subdivided into compound-nucleus and gas components. Two methods were considered for this subdivision. First in the subtraction method, the single-particle level density is determined from the scattering phase shifts. In the Gamov method, only the narrow Gamov states or resonances are included. The level densities calculated with these two methods are similar, both can be approximated by the backshifted Fermi-gas expression with level-density parameters that are dependent on A, but with very little dependence on the neutron or proton richness of the nucleus. However, a small decrease in the level-density parameter was predicted for some nuclei very close to the drip lines. The largest difference between the calculations using the two methods was the deformation dependence on the level density. The Gamov method predicts a very strong peaking of the level density at sphericity for high excitation energies. This leads to a suppression of deformed configurations and, consequently, the fission rate predicted by the statistical model is reduced in the Gamov method.Comment: 18 pages 24 figure

Nanomechanical Detection of Itinerant Electron Spin Flip

Spin is an intrinsically quantum property, characterized by angular momentum. A change in the spin state is equivalent to a change in the angular momentum or mechanical torque. This spin-induced torque has been invoked as the intrinsic mechanism in experiments ranging from the measurements of angular momentum of photons g-factor of metals and magnetic resonance to the magnetization reversal in magnetic multi-layers A spin-polarized current introduced into a nonmagnetic nanowire produces a torque associated with the itinerant electron spin flip. Here, we report direct measurement of this mechanical torque and itinerant electron spin polarization in an integrated nanoscale torsion oscillator, which could yield new information on the itinerancy of the d-band electrons. The unprecedented torque sensitivity of 10^{-22} N m/ \sqrt{Hz} may enable applications for spintronics, precision measurements of CP-violating forces, untwisting of DNA and torque generating molecules.Comment: 14 pages, 4 figures. visit http://nano.bu.edu/ for related paper

AHRQ series on complex intervention systematic reviews-paper 5: advanced analytic methods.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Advanced analytic methods for synthesizing evidence about complex interventions continue to be developed. In this paper, we emphasize that the specific research question posed in the review should be used as a guide for choosing the appropriate analytic method. METHODS: We present advanced analytic approaches that address four common questions that guide reviews of complex interventions: (1) How effective is the intervention? (2) For whom does the intervention work and in what contexts? (3) What happens when the intervention is implemented? and (4) What decisions are possible given the results of the synthesis? CONCLUSION: The analytic approaches presented in this paper are particularly useful when each primary study differs in components, mechanisms of action, context, implementation, timing, and many other domains

Mean-field description of ground-state properties of drip-line nuclei. (I) Shell-correction method

A shell-correction method is applied to nuclei far from the beta stability line and its suitability to describe effects of the particle continuum is discussed. The sensitivity of predicted locations of one- and two-particle drip lines to details of the macroscopic-microscopic model is analyzed.Comment: 22 REVTeX pages, 13 uuencoded postscript figures available upon reques

Heterochromatic sequences in a Drosophila whole-genome shotgun assembly

BACKGROUND: Most eukaryotic genomes include a substantial repeat-rich fraction termed heterochromatin, which is concentrated in centric and telomeric regions. The repetitive nature of heterochromatic sequence makes it difficult to assemble and analyze. To better understand the heterochromatic component of the Drosophila melanogaster genome, we characterized and annotated portions of a whole-genome shotgun sequence assembly. RESULTS: WGS3, an improved whole-genome shotgun assembly, includes 20.7 Mb of draft-quality sequence not represented in the Release 3 sequence spanning the euchromatin. We annotated this sequence using the methods employed in the re-annotation of the Release 3 euchromatic sequence. This analysis predicted 297 protein-coding genes and six non-protein-coding genes, including known heterochromatic genes, and regions of similarity to known transposable elements. Bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC)-based fluorescence in situ hybridization analysis was used to correlate the genomic sequence with the cytogenetic map in order to refine the genomic definition of the centric heterochromatin; on the basis of our cytological definition, the annotated Release 3 euchromatic sequence extends into the centric heterochromatin on each chromosome arm. CONCLUSIONS: Whole-genome shotgun assembly produced a reliable draft-quality sequence of a significant part of the Drosophila heterochromatin. Annotation of this sequence defined the intron-exon structures of 30 known protein-coding genes and 267 protein-coding gene models. The cytogenetic mapping suggests that an additional 150 predicted genes are located in heterochromatin at the base of the Release 3 euchromatic sequence. Our analysis suggests strategies for improving the sequence and annotation of the heterochromatic portions of the Drosophila and other complex genomes

Understanding patient acceptance and refusal of HIV testing in the emergency department

<p>ABSTRACT</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Despite high rates of patient satisfaction with emergency department (ED) HIV testing, acceptance varies widely. It is thought that patients who decline may be at higher risk for HIV infection, thus we sought to better understand patient acceptance and refusal of ED HIV testing.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>In-depth interviews with fifty ED patients (28 accepters and 22 decliners of HIV testing) in three ED HIV testing programs that serve vulnerable urban populations in northern California.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Many factors influenced the decision to accept ED HIV testing, including curiosity, reassurance of negative status, convenience, and opportunity. Similarly, a number of factors influenced the decision to decline HIV testing, including having been tested recently, the perception of being at low risk for HIV infection due to monogamy, abstinence or condom use, and wanting to focus on the medical reason for the ED visit. Both accepters and decliners viewed ED HIV testing favorably and nearly all participants felt comfortable with the testing experience, including the absence of counseling. While many participants who declined an ED HIV test had logical reasons, some participants also made clear that they would prefer not to know their HIV status rather than face psychosocial consequences such as loss of trust in a relationship or disclosure of status in hospital or public health records.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Testing for HIV in the ED as for any other health problem reduces barriers to testing for some but not all patients. Patients who decline ED HIV testing may have rational reasons, but there are some patients who avoid HIV testing because of psychosocial ramifications. While ED HIV testing is generally acceptable, more targeted approaches to testing are necessary for this subgroup.</p