Adults with diabetes residing in "food swamps" have higher hospitalization rates.

ObjectiveTo examine the relationship between food swamps and hospitalization rates among adults with diabetes.Data sourcesBlue Cross Blue Shield Association Community Health Management Hub® 2014, AHRQ Health Care Cost and Utilization Project state inpatient databases 2014, and HHS Area Health Resources File 2010-2014.Study designCross-sectional analysis of 784 counties across 15 states. Food swamps were measured using a ratio of fast food outlets to grocers. Multivariate linear regression estimated the association of food swamp severity and hospitalization rates. Population-weighted models were controlled for comorbidities; Medicaid; emergency room utilization; percentage of population that is female, Black, Hispanic, and over age 65; and state fixed effects. Analyses were stratified by rural-urban category.Principal findingsAdults with diabetes residing in more severe food swamps had higher hospitalization rates. In adjusted analyses, a one unit higher food swamp score was significantly associated with 49.79 (95 percent confidence interval (CI) = 19.28, 80.29) additional all-cause hospitalizations and 19.12 (95 percent CI = 11.09, 27.15) additional ambulatory care-sensitive hospitalizations per 1000 adults with diabetes. The food swamp/all-cause hospitalization rate relationship was stronger in rural counties than urban counties.ConclusionsFood swamps are significantly associated with higher hospitalization rates among adults with diabetes. Improving the local food environment may help reduce this disparity

Sinusoidal Modeling Applied to Spatially Variant Tropospheric Ozone Air Pollution

This paper demonstrates how parsimonious models of sinusoidal functions can be used to fit spatially variant time series in which there is considerable variation of a periodic type. A typical shortcoming of such tools relates to the difficulty in capturing idiosyncratic variation in periodic models. The strategy developed here addresses this deficiency. While previous work has sought to overcome the shortcoming by augmenting sinusoids with other techniques, the present approach employs station-specific sinusoids to supplement a common regional component, which succeeds in capturing local idiosyncratic behavior in a parsimonious manner. The experiments conducted herein reveal that a semi-parametric approach enables such models to fit spatially varying time series with periodic behavior in a remarkably tight fashion. The methods are applied to a panel data set consisting of hourly air pollution measurements. The augmented sinusoidal models produce an excellent fit to these data at three different levels of spatial detail.Air Pollution, Idiosyncratic component, Regional variation, Semiparametric model, Sinusoidal function, Spatial-temporal data, Tropospheric Ozone

Theory of the Magnetic Moment in Iron Pnictides

We show that the combined effects of spin-orbit, monoclinic distortion, and p-d hybridization in tetrahedrally coordinated Fe in LaOFeAs invalidates the naive Hund's rule filling of the Fe d-levels. The two highest occupied levels have one electron each but as a result of the p-d hybridization have very different on-site repulsions. As a result, electrons in the upper level are more itinerant while those in the lower level are more localized. It is the xy-projection of the spin in the lower level that orders antiferromagnetically as the z-components of the spins in the two levels is shown to be vanishingly small in the ground state. The resulting magnetic moment is highly anisotropic with an in-plane value of $0.25-0.35\mu_B$ per Fe and a z-projection of $0.06\mu_B$, both of which are in agreement with experiment. As a consequence, we arrive the minimal model that describes the electronic properties of LaOFeAs.Comment: Published Versio

Only One Face In Dreamland

https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/mmb-vp/4284/thumbnail.jp

Solving Tree Problems with Category Theory

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has long pursued models, theories, and techniques to imbue machines with human-like general intelligence. Yet even the currently predominant data-driven approaches in AI seem to be lacking humans' unique ability to solve wide ranges of problems. This situation begs the question of the existence of principles that underlie general problem-solving capabilities. We approach this question through the mathematical formulation of analogies across different problems and solutions. We focus in particular on problems that could be represented as tree-like structures. Most importantly, we adopt a category-theoretic approach in formalising tree problems as categories, and in proving the existence of equivalences across apparently unrelated problem domains. We prove the existence of a functor between the category of tree problems and the category of solutions. We also provide a weaker version of the functor by quantifying equivalences of problem categories using a metric on tree problems.Comment: 10 pages, 4 figures, International Conference on Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) 201

The meaning of breast cancer risk for African American women.

PURPOSE: To describe African American women\u27s experience of being at high risk for breast cancer. DESIGN: A hermeneutic phenomenological approach was used to guide in-depth interviews and analysis. Methods to ensure trustworthiness and rigor were included. METHODS: Open interviews were conducted with 20 African American women who were at high risk for breast cancer (family history, personal history, genetic mutation). They were recruited from a cancer risk clinic and community-based settings. Data were transcribed verbatim, and themes were labeled among and between all interviews. FINDINGS: Five themes were identified: (a) life-changing experience; (b) relationships: fears, support, and concerns; (c) the healthcare experience; (d) raising awareness; and (e) strong faith. CONCLUSIONS: Young women at high risk for breast cancer have unique emotional and support needs that are shaped by stage in life, relationships with significant others, their faith, and interactions with the healthcare delivery system. CLINICAL RELEVANCE: Breast cancer does occur in young women. This highlights the need for timely and sensitive approaches to care when young women present with breast health concerns or abnormal breast findings

Regional and temporal changes in AIDS in Europe before HAART

In a prospective observational study 4485 patients from 46 clinical centres in 17 European countries were followed between April 1994 and November 1996. Information on AIDS-defining events (ADEs) were collected together with basic demographic data, treatment history and laboratory results. The centres were divided into four geographical regions (north, central, south-west and south-east) so that it was possible to identify any existing regional differences in ADEs. The regional differences that we observed included a higher risk of all forms of Mycobacterium tuberculosis infections (Tb) and wasting disease in the south-west and an increased risk of infections with the Mycobacterium avium complex (MAC) in the north. In Cox multivariable analyses, where north was used as the reference group, we observed hazard ratios of 6.87, 7.77, 2.29 and 0.16 (P < 0.05 in all cases) for pulmonary Tb, extrapulmonary Tb, wasting disease and MAC respectively in the south-west. Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia (PCP) was less commonly diagnosed in the central region (RH = 0.51, 95% CI 0.32-0.79, P = 0.003) and most common in the south-east (RH = 1.04, 95% CI 0.71-1.51, P = 0.85). Comparisons with a similar 'AIDS in Europe' study that concentrated on the early phase of the epidemic reveal that most of the regional differences that were observed in the 1980s still persist in the mid-1990s