Zooming in and out from the mental number line: Evidence for a number range effect

The representation of numbers is commonly viewed as an ordered continuum of magnitudes, referred to as the mental number line. Previous work has repeatedly shown that number representations evoked by a given task can be easily altered, yielding an ongoing discussion about the basic properties of the mental number line and how malleable they are. Here we studied whether the resolution of the mental number line is fixed or depends on the relative magnitudes that are being processed. In 2 experiments, participants compared the same number pairs under 2 conditions that differed in terms of the overall range of numbers present. We report a novel number range effect, such that comparisons of the same number pairs were responded to faster under the smaller versus larger number range. This finding is consistent with the idea that the resolution of the mental number line can be adjusted, as if a unit difference is perceived as larger in smaller ranges

Interval Laparoscopic Cholecystectomy in the Management of Acute Biliary Pancreatitis

The timing of laparoscopic cholecystectomy following an attack of acute biliary pancreatitis is controversial. The traditional approach of interval cholecystectomy has been challenged recently. The present study was designed to evaluate the benefits of interval laparoscopic cholecystectomy for patients with mild acute pancreatitis (Ranson less than 3). Nineteen patients with mild pancreatitis underwent ultrasonographic evaluation to confirm the biliary etiology. ERCP was performed in all patients on the first available endoscopy list, and endoscopic sphincterotomy was performed in two patients with calculi or dilated common bile duct on ultrasonographic examination. Medical treatment was administered and laparoscopic cholecystectomy was scheduled after 8–12 weeks to allow the inflammatory process to settle. There were no recurrent attacks of pancreatitis during this period. The degree of difficulty of the laparoscopic procedure was assessed by the presence of adhesions to the gallbladder area, difficulty of dissection in the Calot's triangle, intraoperative bleeding and the need for a drain. Six patients (31.5%) had severe adhesions, difficult dissection of the cystic duct and artery, bleeding and prolonged operating time. In two of these patients (10.5%) the procedure was converted to open cholecystectomy. In conclusion, our results suggest that postponing laparoscopic cholecystectomy in acute pancreatitis patients is not advantageous surgically and does not justify the risk of further morbidity caused by the gallbladder disease

Air Pollution over North-West Bay of Bengal in the Early Post-Monsoon Season Based on NASA MERRAero Data

The MERRA Aerosol Reanalysis (MERRAero) has been recently developed at NASA's Global Modeling Assimilation Office (GMAO). This reanalysis is based on a version of the GEOS-5 model radiatively coupled with GOCART aerosols, and it includes assimilation of bias-corrected Aerosol Optical Thickness (AOT) from the MODIS sensor on both Terra and Aqua satellites. Our main finding is that, in October, in the absence of aerosol sources in north-west Bay of Bengal (BoB), MERRAero showed increasing AOT trends over north-west BoB exceeding those over the east of the Ganges basin. The Ganges basin is characterized by significant population growth accompanied by developing industry, agriculture, and increasing transportation: this has resulted in declining air quality. MERRAero data for the period 2002-2009 was used to study AOT trends over north-west Bay of Bengal (BoB) in the early post-monsoon season. This season is characterized by aerosol transport from the Ganges basin to north-west BoB by prevailing winds; and still significant rainfall of over 150 mmmonth. Different aerosol components showed strong increasing AOT trends over north-west BoB. The following factors contributed to the increasing AOT trend over the area in question in October: an increasing number of days when prevailing winds blew from land to sea, resulting in a drier environment and an increase in air pollution over north-west BoB; wind convergence was observed over north-west BoB causing the accumulation of aerosol particles over that region, when prevailing winds blew from land to sea. MERRAero aerosol reanalysis can be used on a global scale

AOD Distributions and Trends of Major Aerosol Species over a Selection of the World's Most Populated Cities Based on the 1st Version of NASA's MERRA Aerosol Reanalysis

NASA recently extended the Modern-Era Retrospective Analysis for Research and Application (MERRA) with an atmospheric aerosol reanalysis which includes five particulate species: sulfate, organic matter, black carbon, mineral dust and sea salt. The MERRA Aerosol Reanalysis (MERRAero) is an innovative tool to study air quality issues around the world for its global and constant coverage and its distinction of aerosol speciation expressed in the form of aerosol optical depth (AOD). The purpose of this manuscript is to apply MERRAero to the study of urban air pollution at the global scale by analyzing the AOD over a period of 13 years (2003-2015) and over a selection of 200 of the world's most populated cities in order to assess the impacts of urbanization, industrialization, air quality regulations and regional transport which affect urban aerosol load. Environmental regulations and the recent global economic recession have helped to decrease the AOD and sulfate aerosols in most cities in North America, Europe and Japan. Rapid industrialization in China over the last two decades resulted in Chinese cities having the highest AOD values in the world. China has nevertheless recently implemented emission control measures which are showing early signs of success in many cities of Southern China where AOD has decreased substantially over the last 13 years. The AOD over South American cities, which is dominated by carbonaceous aerosols, has also decreased over the last decade due to an increase in commodity prices which slowed deforestation activities in the Amazon rainforest. At the opposite, recent urbanization and industrialization in India and Bangladesh resulted in a strong increase of AOD, sulfate and carbonaceous aerosols in most cities of these two countries. The AOD over most cities in Northern Africa and Western Asia changed little over the last decade. Emissions of natural aerosols, which cities in these two regions tend to be mostly composed of, don't tend to fluctuate significantly on an annual basis

Technical Report Series on Global Modeling and Data Assimilation

NASA's Global Modeling and Assimilation Office has extended the Modern-Era Retrospective Analysis for Research and Application (MERRA) tool with five atmospheric aerosol species (sulfates, organic carbon, black carbon, mineral dust and sea salt). This inclusion of aerosol reanalysis data is now known as MERRAero. This study analyses a ten-year period (July 2002 - June 2012) MERRAero aerosol reanalysis applied to the study of aerosol optical depth (AOD) and its trends for the aforementioned aerosol species over the world's major cities (with a population of over 2 million inhabitants). We found that a proportion of various aerosol species in total AOD exhibited a geographical dependence. Cities in industrialized regions (North America, Europe, central and eastern Asia) are characterized by a strong proportion of sulfate aerosols. Organic carbon aerosols are dominant over cities which are located in regions where biomass burning frequently occurs (South America and southern Africa). Mineral dust dominates other aerosol species in cities located in proximity to the major deserts (northern Africa and western Asia). Sea salt aerosols are prominent in coastal cities but are dominant aerosol species in very few of them. AOD trends are declining over cities in North America, Europe and Japan, as a result of effective air quality regulation. By contrast, the economic boom in China and India has led to increasing AOD trends over most cities in these two highly-populated countries. Increasing AOD trends over cities in the Middle East are caused by increasing desert dust

Timing Is Everything: Age of Onset Influences Long-Term Retinopathy Risk in Type 2 Diabetes, Independent of Traditional Risk Factors

OBJECTIVE—To test the hypothesis that age of type 2 diabetes onset influences inherent susceptibility to diabetic retinopathy, independent of disease duration and degree of hyperglycemia

Economic and other barriers to adopting recommendations to prevent childhood obesity: results of a focus group study with parents

Abstract Background Parents are integral to the implementation of obesity prevention and management recommendations for children. Exploration of barriers to and facilitators of parental decisions to adopt obesity prevention recommendations will inform future efforts to reduce childhood obesity. Methods We conducted 4 focus groups (2 English, 2 Spanish) among a total of 19 parents of overweight (BMI ≥ 85th percentile) children aged 5-17 years. The main discussion focused on 7 common obesity prevention recommendations: reducing television (TV) watching, removing TV from child's bedroom, increasing physically active games, participating in community or school-based athletics, walking to school, walking more in general, and eating less fast food. Parents were asked to discuss what factors would make each recommendation more difficult (barriers) or easier (facilitators) to follow. Participants were also asked about the relative importance of economic (time and dollar costs/savings) barriers and facilitators if these were not brought into the discussion unprompted. Results Parents identified many barriers but few facilitators to adopting obesity prevention recommendations for their children. Members of all groups identified economic barriers (time and dollar costs) among a variety of pertinent barriers, although the discussion of dollar costs often required prompting. Parents cited other barriers including child preference, difficulty with changing habits, lack of information, lack of transportation, difficulty with monitoring child behavior, need for assistance from family members, parity with other family members, and neighborhood walking safety. Facilitators identified included access to physical activity programs, availability of alternatives to fast food and TV which are acceptable to the child, enlisting outside support, dietary information, involving the child, setting limits, making behavior changes gradually, and parental change in shopping behaviors and own eating behaviors. Conclusions Parents identify numerous barriers to adopting obesity prevention recommendations, most notably child and family preferences and resistance to change, but also economic barriers. Intervention programs should consider the context of family priorities and how to overcome barriers and make use of relevant facilitators during program development.http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/78270/1/1471-2431-9-81.xmlhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/78270/2/1471-2431-9-81.pdfPeer Reviewe