Measurements of Nitric Oxide During a Stratospheric Warming

The altitude distribution of NO was measured between 12 and 33 km near 54°N during the stratospheric warming of February, 1979. The NO mixing ratios were considerably smaller compared to summer conditions, especially below 23 km. The measurements are used to estimate the distribution of NO2 for comparison with ground‐based column measurements and to show that during the warming NOx is at least a factor of two lower than is observed in summer at this latitude. This reduction in NOx is shown to be consistent with a larger fraction of odd‐nitrogen existing as N2O5

Lightweight Tennis Ball Pick Up & Hopper

Within this document, the “Pursuit of Hoppiness” team will clarify some of the details associated with completing this design project. The project is focused on designing a mechanism for tennis players and coaches of all ages that is able to collect tennis balls around a tennis court, specifically around the net and fence. The goal is to make the final product lightweight, inexpensive, and easy to use. With multiple ideation sessions, the team was able to brainstorm several ideas that serve the above functions and constraints. The initial process began with choosing two different ideas that followed through until the beginning of the final phase of our senior project timeframe. The two prototypes were built to show the functions of gathering and collecting tennis balls. At this point, both prototypes were presented to our sponsor so that as a team, one prototype was chosen to move forward with. The Paddlewheel mechanism was chosen as the final product to build and deliver. There were multiple tests performed on the Paddlewheel mechanism to ensure the intended goals were met. This project includes a functionality of a four-bar linkage system that incorporates a locking component that locks the linkage system and bin at different positions. For the second iteration of this project, there will be a cable-locking system implemented on the handle that will allow the user to pull a smaller handle that will disengage the locking pin for ease of rotating the four-bar linkage system

Systemic Lupus Erythematosus in Dogs and Cats

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is an autoimmune disease affecting multiple systems and has been reported in humans, dogs, and cats. Although known since the 19th century in humans, SLE was not recognized in the dog until 1965. Since the first case report, a number of cases have been documented in the dog. On the other hand, the firs case of SLE to be suspected in a cat was in 1971, and only five further cases have appeared in the literature

Fleas: Related Health Problems and Control

Fleas are the most prevalent ectoparasites found on dogs and cats. For most small animal practitioners, flea-related health problems are number one. While a mild infestation of fleas is not significant clinically, the associated dermatitis, tapeworm infection, hemobartenellosis, and anemia are the major health problems

The Effect Of Depression And Antidepressants On Cost, Survival And Adherence To Hormone Therapy In Breast Cancer

Introduction: Breast cancer patients with a depression diagnosis before or after cancer diagnosis have increased cost, shorter survival time and reduced adherence to hormone therapy. Treating depression in these patients should improve these outcomes; however, there is scarce literature on this topic. Currently, no study has determined the association of concurrent depression while adjusting for a history of depression or treating depression with antidepressants with cost, survival and adherence to hormone therapy. This study has two objectives: 1) to determine the association of concurrent depression with cost, survival and adherence to hormone therapy adjusting for a history of depression 2) to determine the association of antidepressant use with cost, survival and adherence to hormone therapy in patients with depression. Methods: The SEER-Medicare dataset for 2005-2010 was used to address the study objectives. Breast cancer patients with hormone receptor positive cancers diagnosed from 2006 to 2009 were identified from the SEER cancer registry. Those who initiated hormone therapy within a year of cancer diagnosis were included in the initial population. A depression diagnosis was determined using ICD-9 codes. Those who had an ICD-9 code for depression within a year of cancer diagnosis were included in the final sample. Antidepressant use was determined from prescription drug claims and those who had at least one claim after a depression diagnosis were included in the final analysis. Generalized linear models (GLMs) were used to determine the association of antidepressant use with adherence to hormone therapy and the incremental cost of antidepressant use among breast cancer patients with depression. Kaplan-Meier curves were used to determine the initial association of antidepressant use with survival. Results: The final study population was 10,471 hormone receptor positive breast cancer patients who took hormone therapy within a year of breast cancer diagnosis. Of these patients, 10% had a diagnosis of depression within a year of breast cancer diagnosis. In breast cancer patients with depression, 62% took an antidepressant after their depression diagnosis. Depression was associated with a statistically significant decrease in adherence (OR 0.81; 0.71-0.93) in the adjusted model. Depression had a statistically significant 30% decrease in survival in the adjusted model. Depression was associated with increased cost ($21,978.75) in the adjusted model; however, this was not statistically significant. Adjusted general antidepressant use in breast cancer patients with depression had a non -significant reduction in the odds of adhering to hormone therapy (OR .79; .55-1.14). Those who took antidepressants for a year had a statistically significant increase in the likelihood of adhering to hormone therapy (OR 2.4; 1.61-3.65). Adjusted general antidepressant use was not associated with survival in breast cancer patients with depression. Continual antidepressant use for a year was associated with a statistically significant 60$27,840.50 increase in per patient per year cost; however, this difference is not statistically significant. Continual antidepressant use for 90+ days was associated with a statistically non-significant decrease in per patient per year total medical cost. Conclusion: Concurrent depression is associated with worse outcomes in breast cancer patients adjusting for having a history of depression. Continual antidepressant use in breast cancer patients with depression is associated with improved adherence to hormone therapy and increased survival time. The benefit of antidepressant use is time dependent and those who with longer use of antidepressants show more improvement compared to those who do not. Antidepressant use increases per patient per year total medical cost; however, this is not a significant increase and continual use might be associated with decreased cost. Extended antidepressant use in the depressed cancer population provides positive benefits to these patients by improving adherence to hormone therapy and survival and potentially reducing cost

The radical right: both winners and losers in northern Europe

Radical right-wing parties have been increasing their electoral success across Europe over the last few decades. Despite the widely covered surge in their success, many radical right-wing parties have achieved marginal to no electoral success, but there continues to be a lack of research trying to explain their failure. The question guiding this thesis focuses on why there is varied electoral success of radical right-wing parties across Europe and suggests that it could be explained through differences in the importance of economic compared to cultural-political issues in each country. To investigate this, the work uses data from public opinion surveys and party manifesto content from three countries which saw different radical right-wing party success in elections between 2005 and 2011 - Finland, Norway, and Iceland. Tentative findings indicate that cultural issues were the most salient in the public and amongst parties in the country with the most electorally successful radical right-wing party, Norway. Broadly, however, the public is still much more focused on economic issues than cultural issues, but political party rhetoric is much more evenly divided. Partisanship is the most influential factor on vote choice and though issue salience was rarely significant in vote choice, it was nearly always significant when trying to explain partisanship. Though issue salience is not directly influencing vote choice, it is influencing partisanship which has a strong impact on vote choice