Hospitalizations for Pandemic (H1N1) 2009 among Maori and Pacific Islanders, New Zealand

Community transmission of influenza A pandemic (H1N1) 2009 was followed by high rates of hospital admissions in the Wellington region of New Zealand, particularly among Maori and Pacific Islanders. These findings may help health authorities anticipate the effects of pandemic (H1N1) 2009 in other communities

Stratospheric variability and tropospheric annular‐mode timescales

Climate models tend to exhibit much too persistent Southern Annular Mode (SAM) circulation anomalies in summer, compared to observations. Theoretical arguments suggest this bias may lead to an overly strong model response to anthropogenic forcing during this season, which is of interest since the largest observed changes in Southern Hemisphere high‐latitude climate over the last few decades have occurred in summer, and are congruent with the SAM. The origin of this model bias is examined here in the case of the Canadian Middle Atmosphere Model, using a novel technique to quantify the influence of stratospheric variability on tropospheric annular‐mode timescales. Part of the model bias is shown to be attributable to the too‐late breakdown of the stratospheric polar vortex, which allows the tropospheric influence of stratospheric variability to extend into early summer. However, the analysis also reveals an enhanced summertime persistence of the model’s SAM that is unrelated to either stratospheric variability or the bias in model stratospheric climatology, and is thus of tropospheric origin. No such feature is evident in the Northern Hemisphere. The effect of stratospheric variability in lengthening tropospheric annular‐mode timescales is evident in both hemispheres. While in the Southern Hemisphere the effect is restricted to late‐spring/early summer, in the Northern Hemisphere it can occur throughout the winter‐spring season, with the seasonality of peak timescales exhibiting considerable variability between different 50 year sections of the same simulation

The slowly evolving background state of the atmosphere

The theory of wave–mean flow interaction requires a partition of the atmospheric flow into a notional background state and perturbations to it. Here, a background state, known as the Modified Lagrangian Mean (MLM), is defined as the zonally symmetric state obtained by requiring that every potential vorticity (PV) contour lying within an isentropic layer encloses the same mass and circulation as in the full flow. For adiabatic and frictionless flow, these two integral properties are time-invariant and the MLM state is a steady solution of the primitive equations. The time dependence in the adiabatic flow is put into the perturbations, which can be described by a wave-activity conservation law that is exact even at large amplitude. Furthermore, the effects of non-conservative processes on wave activity can be calculated from the conservation law. A new method to calculate the MLM state is introduced, where the position of the lower boundary is obtained as part of the solution. The results are illustrated using Northern Hemisphere ERA-Interim data. The MLM state evolves slowly, implying that the net non-conservative effects are weak. Although ‘adiabatic eddy fluxes’ cannot affect the MLM state, the effects of Rossby-wave breaking, PV filamentation and subsequent dissipation result in sharpening of the polar vortex edge and meridional shifts in the MLM zonal flow, both at tropopause level and on the winter stratospheric vortex. The rate of downward migration of wave activity during stratospheric sudden warmings is shown to be given by the vertical scale associated with polar vortex tilt divided by the time-scale for wave dissipation estimated from the wave-activity conservation law. Aspects of troposphere–stratosphere interaction are discussed. The new framework is suitable to examine the climate and its interactions with disturbances, such as midlatitude storm tracks, and makes a clean partition between adiabatic and non-conservative processes

Impact of COVID-19 on cardiovascular testing in the United States versus the rest of the world

Objectives: This study sought to quantify and compare the decline in volumes of cardiovascular procedures between the United States and non-US institutions during the early phase of the coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the care of many non-COVID-19 illnesses. Reductions in diagnostic cardiovascular testing around the world have led to concerns over the implications of reduced testing for cardiovascular disease (CVD) morbidity and mortality. Methods: Data were submitted to the INCAPS-COVID (International Atomic Energy Agency Non-Invasive Cardiology Protocols Study of COVID-19), a multinational registry comprising 909 institutions in 108 countries (including 155 facilities in 40 U.S. states), assessing the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on volumes of diagnostic cardiovascular procedures. Data were obtained for April 2020 and compared with volumes of baseline procedures from March 2019. We compared laboratory characteristics, practices, and procedure volumes between U.S. and non-U.S. facilities and between U.S. geographic regions and identified factors associated with volume reduction in the United States. Results: Reductions in the volumes of procedures in the United States were similar to those in non-U.S. facilities (68% vs. 63%, respectively; p = 0.237), although U.S. facilities reported greater reductions in invasive coronary angiography (69% vs. 53%, respectively; p < 0.001). Significantly more U.S. facilities reported increased use of telehealth and patient screening measures than non-U.S. facilities, such as temperature checks, symptom screenings, and COVID-19 testing. Reductions in volumes of procedures differed between U.S. regions, with larger declines observed in the Northeast (76%) and Midwest (74%) than in the South (62%) and West (44%). Prevalence of COVID-19, staff redeployments, outpatient centers, and urban centers were associated with greater reductions in volume in U.S. facilities in a multivariable analysis. Conclusions: We observed marked reductions in U.S. cardiovascular testing in the early phase of the pandemic and significant variability between U.S. regions. The association between reductions of volumes and COVID-19 prevalence in the United States highlighted the need for proactive efforts to maintain access to cardiovascular testing in areas most affected by outbreaks of COVID-19 infection

Abeja Candles: Terminal year end report

Abeja Candles is a business that offers high quality-environmentally friendly scented candles. The focus of the product is to be therapeutic and to lower the stress levels of the consumer. The candle’s environmental aspect is that it uses a non-toxic wax known as Beeswax instead of the usual paraffin wax which releases toxic gasses into the air. Aside from this, Abeja Candles promotes sustainability and environmentalism with its products. The target market of the candles would range in the age demographic of 17-30 year old people of either gender who admire sustainably made local products. The product has an extra focus on those who are experiencing stress and anxiety as the Abeja candles offer various scents that uplifts an individual\u27s mood. An increase in stress levels and mental health problems are present due to the Pandemic and the team of Abeja Candles would like to aid by providing a product that would alleviate the stress that an individual has. More and more consumers are switching to the more eco-friendly alternative by supporting locally made sustainable products. This is the reason behind the creation of Abeja Candles, to not only provide aromatic candles to its consumers but also to advocate for environmental, social, and economical benefits. With this, the business will be acquiring some of the supplies from local artisans and an example of which are the pots to be used which will be bought from a local pottery store in the province. Usage of dried petals is also one of the business’s unique features which will be sourced from a local flower shop. The business will try its best to obtain Filipino flowers to use for the candles. Abeja Candles is a business that offers high quality-environmentally friendly scented candles. The focus of the product is to be therapeutic and to lower the stress levels of the consumer. The candle’s environmental aspect is that it uses a non-toxic Beeswax instead of paraffin wax and soy wax which releases toxic gasses into the air. Since the pandemic has led to a drastic increase in e-commerce shopping the product will have no physical stores and will be sold primarily online. Due to this, the majority of the advertisement and marketing will be occurring online on social media platforms as the rate of internet users have increased. As mentioned, there has been a rapid increase with e-commerce platform users and with this, the business will utilize Facebook and Instagram as its main social media platforms used for advertising and marketing. This is to effectively reach a wider audience that will be beneficial for the business. Abeja Candles will also be offering discounts and coupons on social media as a form of promotion for the product to increase its audience. The platforms include Abeja Candles’ website, Instagram, Shopee, and Lazada accounts for receiving customer orders while payment will be done through debit/credit card, cash on delivery or Gcash before shipping the products. The platforms are also used to share interesting information about the products the business offers and communicate with its customers. This helps Abeja Candles to build good customer relationships to improve customer retention. The execution of the operational activities were planned in such a way that it will adhere to the rules and regulations imposed during the pandemic. While the business plan was still in process, the management team were already starting to contact potential suppliers to give time to delays because of restrictions with delivery. In this way, the business was prepared to look for alternatives in case one of the suppliers could not comply with the agreements. The execution plan of Abeja candles also includes a list of specific tasks that each manager must accomplish within the existence of the business. The list will help the team to reach milestones and set standards for how the business will operate in the foreseeable future. The management team guarantees that all deliverables will be done in an efficient and timely manner to avoid delays and unwanted instances. The business will be starting its operations in the month of October in the year 2021 under the PRACTICUM Course. By this time, the management team have already acquired the necessary supplies and had started the production process of Abeja Candles. The source of funding for the business will be from the partnership members of the business with an estimated start-up capital of ₱65,000. The estimated profit margin per product unit will be 73.40%. The business will be able to generate an gross sales of ₱337,500 in its 10 months with a neutral estimation and will be able to generate an income of ₱116,604 with a neutral estimation of forecasts. The company has also identified any risks that might affect the business then mitigate through proper planning. One of the anticipated risks are fire, typhoon and natural disasters. Next, challenges with shipping, suppliers, international currency and economic changes. These all affect the sales and production, hence the company plans to have financial provisions for these risks while also ensuring safety and health of workers to maintain optimum output The business will be in the form of a general partnership with five partner members. The members will take on separate responsibilities and roles that align with their skills and expertise. The CEO and head of decision making will be taken by Lloyd Anthony Unabia. Marketing and Advertising will be overseen by Kathryn Gail Dee. Finance will be overseen by Jean Kenji Ang while Operations will be done by Kyla Allanah Cue and Diego Luis Norton. It is important for the team to work together effectively to reach its common goal