The Relationship Between Social Vulnerability and COVID-19 Incidence Among Louisiana Census Tracts

Objective: To examine the association between the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)\u27s Social Vulnerability Index (SVI) and COVID-19 incidence among Louisiana census tracts. Methods: An ecological study comparing the CDC SVI and census tract-level COVID-19 case counts was conducted. Choropleth maps were used to identify census tracts with high levels of both social vulnerability and COVID-19 incidence. Negative binomial regression with random intercepts was used to compare the relationship between overall CDC SVI percentile and its four sub-themes and COVID-19 incidence, adjusting for population density. Results: In a crude stratified analysis, all four CDC SVI sub-themes were significantly associated with COVID-19 incidence. Census tracts with higher levels of social vulnerability were associated with higher COVID-19 incidence after adjusting for population density (adjusted RR: 1.52, 95% CI: 1.41-1.65). Conclusions: The results of this study indicate that increased social vulnerability is linked with COVID-19 incidence. Additional resources should be allocated to areas of increased social disadvantage to reduce the incidence of COVID-19 in vulnerable populations

Stabilin receptors clear LPS and control systemic inflammation

Lipopolysaccharides (LPSs) cause lethal endotoxemia if not rapidly cleared from blood circulation. Liver sinusoidal endothelial cells (LSEC) systemically clear LPS by unknown mechanisms. We discovered that LPS clearance through LSEC involves endocytosis and lysosomal inactivation via Stabilin-1 and 2 (Stab1 and Stab2) but does not involve TLR4. Cytokine production was inversely related to clearance/endocytosis of LPS by LSEC. When exposed to LPS, Stabilin double knockout mice (Stab DK) and Stab1 KO, but not Stab2 KO, showed significantly enhanced systemic inflammatory cytokine production and early death compared with WT mice. Stab1 KO is not significantly different from Stab DK in circulatory LPS clearance, LPS uptake and endocytosis by LSEC, and cytokine production. These data indicate that (1) Stab1 receptor primarily facilitates the proactive clearance of LPS and limits TLR4-mediated inflammation and (2) TLR4 and Stab1 are functionally opposing LPS receptors. These findings suggest that endotoxemia can be controlled by optimizing LPS clearance by Stab1

Characteristics associated with quality of life among people with drug-resistant epilepsy

Quality of Life (QoL) is the preferred outcome in non-pharmacological trials, but there is little UK population evidence of QoL in epilepsy. In advance of evaluating an epilepsy self-management course we aimed to describe, among UK participants, what clinical and psycho-social characteristics are associated with QoL. We recruited 404 adults attending specialist clinics, with at least two seizures in the prior year and measured their self-reported seizure frequency, co-morbidity, psychological distress, social characteristics, including self-mastery and stigma, and epilepsy-specific QoL (QOLIE-31-P). Mean age was 42 years, 54% were female, and 75% white. Median time since diagnosis was 18 years, and 69% experienced ≥10 seizures in the prior year. Nearly half (46%) reported additional medical or psychiatric conditions, 54% reported current anxiety and 28% reported current depression symptoms at borderline or case level, with 63% reporting felt stigma. While a maximum QOLIE-31-P score is 100, participants’ mean score was 66, with a wide range (25–99). In order of large to small magnitude: depression, low self-mastery, anxiety, felt stigma, a history of medical and psychiatric comorbidity, low self-reported medication adherence, and greater seizure frequency were associated with low QOLIE-31-P scores. Despite specialist care, UK people with epilepsy and persistent seizures experience low QoL. If QoL is the main outcome in epilepsy trials, developing and evaluating ways to reduce psychological and social disadvantage are likely to be of primary importance. Educational courses may not change QoL, but be one component supporting self-management for people with long-term conditions, like epilepsy

The Mock LISA Data Challenges: from Challenge 3 to Challenge 4

The Mock LISA Data Challenges are a program to demonstrate LISA data-analysis capabilities and to encourage their development. Each round of challenges consists of one or more datasets containing simulated instrument noise and gravitational waves from sources of undisclosed parameters. Participants analyze the datasets and report best-fit solutions for the source parameters. Here we present the results of the third challenge, issued in Apr 2008, which demonstrated the positive recovery of signals from chirping Galactic binaries, from spinning supermassive--black-hole binaries (with optimal SNRs between ~ 10 and 2000), from simultaneous extreme-mass-ratio inspirals (SNRs of 10-50), from cosmic-string-cusp bursts (SNRs of 10-100), and from a relatively loud isotropic background with Omega_gw(f) ~ 10^-11, slightly below the LISA instrument noise.Comment: 12 pages, 2 figures, proceedings of the 8th Edoardo Amaldi Conference on Gravitational Waves, New York, June 21-26, 200

Chamber Singers, Men\u27s Ensemble and University Chorale, Requiem for the Living

KSU School of Music presents Chamber Singers, Men\u27s Ensemble and University Chorale directed by Dr. Leslie Blackwell, Director of Choral Activities and Professor of Music and Music Education.https://digitalcommons.kennesaw.edu/musicprograms/2033/thumbnail.jp

Astrometric and Light-travel Time Orbits to Detect Low-mass Companions: A Case Study of the Eclipsing System R Canis Majoris

We discuss a method to determine orbital properties and masses of low-mass bodies orbiting eclipsing binaries. The analysis combines long-term eclipse timing modulations (light-travel time or LTT effect) with short-term, high-accuracy astrometry. As an illustration of the method, the results of a comprehensive study of Hipparcos astrometry and over a hundred years of eclipse timings of the Algol-type eclipsing binary R Canis Majoris are presented. A simultaneous solution of the astrometry and the LTTs yields an orbital period of P_12=92.8+/-1.3 yr, an LTT semiamplitude of 2574+/-57 s, an angular semi-major axis of a_12=117+/-5 mas, and values of the orbital eccentricity and inclination of e_12=0.49+/-0.05, and i_12=91.7+/-4.7 deg, respectively. Adopting the total mass of R CMa of M_12=1.24+/-0.05 Mo, the mass of the third body is M_3=0.34+/-0.02 Mo and the semi-major axis of its orbit is a_3=18.7+/-1.7 AU. From its mass, the third body is either a dM3-4 star or, more unlikely, a white dwarf. With the upcoming microarcsecond-level astrometric missions, the technique that we discuss can be successfully applied to detect and characterize long-period planetary-size objects and brown dwarfs around eclipsing binaries. Possibilities for extending the method to pulsating variables or stars with transiting planets are briefly addressed.Comment: 9 pages, 3 figures, accepted for publication in AJ (April 2002 issue