Food insecurity in veteran households: findings from nationally representative data

OBJECTIVE: The present study is the first to use nationally representative data to compare rates of food insecurity among households with veterans of the US Armed Forces and non-veteran households. DESIGN: We used data from the 2005-2013 waves of the Current Population Survey - Food Security Supplement to identify rates of food insecurity and very low food security in veteran and non-veteran households. We estimated the odds and probability of food insecurity in veteran and non-veteran households in uncontrolled and controlled models. We replicated these results after separating veteran households by their most recent period of service. We weighted models to create nationally representative estimates. SETTING: Nationally representative data from the 2005-2013 waves of the Current Population Survey - Food Security Supplement. SUBJECTS: US households (n 388 680). RESULTS: Uncontrolled models found much lower rates of food insecurity (8·4 %) and very low food security (3·3 %) among veteran households than in non-veteran households (14·4 % and 5·4 %, respectively), with particularly low rates among households with older veterans. After adjustment, average rates of food insecurity and very low food security were not significantly different for veteran households. However, the probability of food insecurity was significantly higher among some recent veterans and significantly lower for those who served during the Vietnam War. CONCLUSIONS: Although adjusting eliminated many differences between veteran and non-veteran households, veterans who served from 1975 and onwards may be at higher risk for food insecurity and should be the recipients of targeted outreach to improve nutritional outcomes

Two-atom dark states in electromagnetic cavities

The center-of-mass motion of two two-level atoms coupled to a single damped mode of an electromagnetic resonator is investigated. For the case of one atom being initially excited and the cavity mode in the vacuum state it is shown that the atomic time evolution is dominated by the appearance of dark states. These states, in which the initial excitation is stored in the internal atomic degrees of freedom and the atoms become quantum mechanically entangled, are almost immune against photon loss from the cavity. Various properties of the dark states within and beyond the Raman-Nath approximation of atom optics are worked out.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figure

Oregon Medicaid Expenditures after the 2014 Affordable Care Act Medicaid Expansion: Over-time Differences among New, Returning, and Continuously Insured Enrollees

Background—There is interest in assessing healthcare utilization and expenditures among new Medicaid enrollees after the 2014 Medicaid expansion. Recent studies have not differentiated between newly enrolled individuals and those returning after coverage gaps. Objectives—To assess healthcare expenditures among Medicaid enrollees in the 24 months after Oregon’s 2014 Medicaid expansions and examine whether expenditure patterns were different among the newly, returning, and continuously insured. Research Design—Retrospective cohort study using inverse-propensity weights to adjust for differences between groups. Subjects—Oregon adult Medicaid beneficiaries insured continuously from 2014-2015 who were either newly, returning, or continuously insured. Measures—Monthly expenditures for inpatient care, prescription drugs, total outpatient care, and subdivisions of outpatient care: emergency department (ED), dental, mental and behavioral health (MBH), primary care (PC), and specialist care. Results—After initial increases, newly and returning insured outpatient expenditures dropped below continuously insured. Expenditures for ED and dental services among the returning insured remained higher than among the newly insured. Newly insured MBH, PC, and specialist expenditures plateaued higher than returning insured. Prescription drug expenditures increased over time for all groups, with continuously insured highest and returning insured lowest. All groups had similar inpatient expenditures over 24 months post-Medicaid expansion. Conclusions—Our findings reveal that outpatient expenditures for new non-pregnant, non-dual-eligible Oregon Medicaid recipients stabilized over time after meeting pent-up demand, and prior insurance history affected the mix of services that individuals received. Policy evaluations should consider expenditures over at least 24 months and should account for enrollees’ prior insurance histories

A microfabricated sensor for thin dielectric layers

We describe a sensor for the measurement of thin dielectric layers capable of operation in a variety of environments. The sensor is obtained by microfabricating a capacitor with interleaved aluminum fingers, exposed to the dielectric to be measured. In particular, the device can measure thin layers of solid frozen from a liquid or gaseous medium. Sensitivity to single atomic layers is achievable in many configurations and, by utilizing fast, high sensitivity capacitance read out in a feedback system onto environmental parameters, coatings of few layers can be dynamically maintained. We discuss the design, read out and calibration of several versions of the device optimized in different ways. We specifically dwell on the case in which atomically thin solid xenon layers are grown and stabilized, in cryogenic conditions, from a liquid xenon bath

Quantum Communication with Phantom Photons

We show that quantum information may be transferred between atoms in different locations by using ``phantom photons'': the atoms are coupled through electromagnetic fields, but the corresponding field modes do not have to be fully populated. In the case where atoms are placed inside optical cavities, errors in quantum information processing due to photon absorption inside the cavity are diminished in this way. This effect persists up to intercavity distances of about a meter for the current levels of cavity losses, and may be useful for distributed quantum computing.Comment: 6 pages RevTex, 4 eps figures included. Revised calculation with more details about mode structure calculation and the introduction of losse

Characterization of high finesse mirrors: loss, phase shifts and mode structure in an optical cavity

An extensive characterization of high finesse optical cavities used in cavity QED experiments is described. Different techniques in the measurement of the loss and phase shifts associated with the mirror coatings are discussed and their agreement shown. Issues of cavity field mode structure supported by the dielectric coatings are related to our effort to achieve the strongest possible coupling between an atom and the cavity.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figure

Omega-3 fatty acids plus rosuvastatin improves endothelial function in South Asians with dyslipidemia

Catalin Mindrescu1,2,3, Rakesh P Gupta1,3, Eileen V Hermance1, Mary C DeVoe1, Vikas R Soma1, John T Coppola1,2, Cezar S Staniloae1,21Comprehensive Cardiovascular Center, Saint Vincent’s Hospital Manhattan, New York, NY, USA; 2New York Medical College, Valhalla, NY, USA; 3Rakesh P Gupta and Catalin Mindrescu contributed equally to this article.Background: The present study was undertaken to investigate the effect of statins plus omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) on endothelial function and lipid profile in South Asians with dyslipidemia and endothelial dysfunction, a population at high risk for premature coronary artery disease.Methods: Thirty subjects were randomized to rosuvastatin 10 mg and omega-3-PUFAs 4 g or rosuvastatin 10 mg. After 4 weeks, omega-3-PUFAs were removed from the first group and added to subjects in the second group. All subjects underwent baseline, 4-, and 8-week assessment of endothelial function and lipid profile.Results: Compared to baseline, omega-3-PUFAs plus rosuvastatin improved endothelial-dependent vasodilation (EDV: −1.42% to 11.36%, p = 0.001), and endothelial-independent vasodilation (EIV: 3.4% to 17.37%, p = 0.002). These effects were lost when omega-3-PUFAs were removed (EDV: 11.36% to 0.59%, p = 0.003). In the second group, rosuvastatin alone failed to improve both EDV and EIV compared to baseline. However, adding omega-3-PUFAs to rosuvastatin, significantly improved EDV (−0.66% to 14.73%, p = 0.001) and EIV (11.02% to 24.5%, p = 0.001). Addition of omega-3-PUFAs further improved the lipid profile (triglycerides 139 to 91 mg/dl, p = 0.006, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol 116 to 88 mg/dl, p = 0.014).Conclusions: Combined therapy with omega-3-PUFAs and rosuvastatin improves endothelial function in South Asian subjects with dyslipidemia and endothelial dysfunction.Keywords: omega-3 fatty acids, endothelial function, South Asians, dyslipidemia, rosuvastati

Sympathetic Cooling of Trapped Cd+ Isotopes

We sympathetically cool a trapped 112Cd+ ion by directly Doppler-cooling a 114Cd+ ion in the same trap. This is the first demonstration of optically addressing a single trapped ion being sympathetically cooled by a different species ion. Notably, the experiment uses a single laser source, and does not require strong focusing. This paves the way toward reducing decoherence in an ion trap quantum computer based on Cd+ isotopes.Comment: 4 figure