Demonstration of the Zero-Crossing Phasemeter with a LISA Test-bed Interferometer

The Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) is being designed to detect and study in detail gravitational waves from sources throughout the Universe such as massive black hole binaries. The conceptual formulation of the LISA space-borne gravitational wave detector is now well developed. The interferometric measurements between the sciencecraft remain one of the most important technological and scientific design areas for the mission. Our work has concentrated on developing the interferometric technologies to create a LISA-like optical signal and to measure the phase of that signal using commercially available instruments. One of the most important goals of this research is to demonstrate the LISA phase timing and phase reconstruction for a LISA-like fringe signal, in the case of a high fringe rate and a low signal level. We present current results of a test-bed interferometer designed to produce an optical LISA-like fringe signal previously discussed in the literature.Comment: find minor corrections in the CQG versio

Supporting Collaborative Health Tracking in the Hospital: Patients' Perspectives

The hospital setting creates a high-stakes environment where patients' lives depend on accurate tracking of health data. Despite recent work emphasizing the importance of patients' engagement in their own health care, less is known about how patients track their health and care in the hospital. Through interviews and design probes, we investigated hospitalized patients' tracking activity and analyzed our results using the stage-based personal informatics model. We used this model to understand how to support the tracking needs of hospitalized patients at each stage. In this paper, we discuss hospitalized patients' needs for collaboratively tracking their health with their care team. We suggest future extensions of the stage-based model to accommodate collaborative tracking situations, such as hospitals, where data is collected, analyzed, and acted on by multiple people. Our findings uncover new directions for HCI research and highlight ways to support patients in tracking their care and improving patient safety

Charge Management for Gravitational Wave Observatories using UV LEDs

Accumulation of electrical charge on the end mirrors of gravitational wave observatories, such as the space-based LISA mission and ground-based LIGO detectors, can become a source of noise limiting the sensitivity of such detectors through electronic couplings to nearby surfaces. Torsion balances provide an ideal means for testing gravitational wave technologies due to their high sensitivity to small forces. Our torsion pendulum apparatus consists of a movable Au-coated Cu plate brought near a Au-coated Si plate pendulum suspended from a non-conducting quartz fiber. A UV LED located near the pendulum photoejects electrons from the surface, and a UV LED driven electron gun directs photoelectrons towards the pendulum surface. We have demonstrated both charging and discharging of the pendulum with equivalent charging rates of $\sim$$10^5 e/\mathrm{s}$, as well as spectral measurements of the pendulum charge resulting in a white noise level equivalent to $3\times10^5 e/\sqrt{Hz}$.Comment: 5 pages, submitted to PR

Microbiological and Clinical Significance of a New Property of Defective Lysis in Clinical Strains of Pneumococci

A pneumococcal isolate that caused relapsing meningitis in a patient infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) was found to display an unusual response to penicillin - rapid death but a striking lack of cellular lysis. This lytic defect was also detected in all four pneumococcal isolates from three additional HIV-infected patients and in more than half of the clinical isolates from patients with bacteremia. In a rabbit model of meningitis, the lysis-defective strain remained cryptic, with a delay of 5 h in the onset of leukocytosis in cerebrospinal fluid. A marked burst of leukocytosis was associated with ampicillin-induced lysis of a lysis-sensitive strain but not of a lysis-defective strain. Pneumococcal clinical isolates have different lytic responses to penicillin; defective lysis may adversely affect the course of meningitis, an observation suggesting that autolysins play a role in modulating infectious disease

Spatial Distribution of Competing Ions around DNA in Solution

The competition of monovalent and divalent cations for proximity to negatively charged DNA is of biological importance and can provide strong constraints for theoretical treatments of polyelectrolytes. Resonant x-ray scattering experiments have allowed us to monitor the number and distribution of each cation in a mixed ion cloud around DNA. These measurements provide experimental evidence to support a general theoretical prediction: the normalized distribution of each ion around polyelectrolytes remains constant when ions are mixed at different ratios. In addition, the amplitudes of the scattering signals throughout the competition provide a measurement of the surface concentration parameter that predicts the competition behavior of these cations. The data suggest that ion size needs to be taken into account in applying Poisson-Boltzmann treatments to polyelectrolytes such as DNA

Respiratory tract infections among children younger than 5 years: Current management in Australian general practice

Objective: To explore the current management in Australian general practice of common respiratory tract infections (RTIs) in children younger than 5 years. Design, setting and participants: Analysis of data from a sample of 4522 general practitioners who participated in the Bettering the Evaluation and Care of Health (BEACH) cross-sectional survey, April 2007 to March 2012. Consultations with children younger than 5 years were analysed. Main outcome measures: GPs’ management of four common RTIs (acute upper RTI [URTI], acute bronchitis/bronchiolitis, acute tonsillitis, and pneumonia) in association with six management options: antibiotic medications; prescribed or supplied non-antibiotic medications; medications advised for over-the-counter purchase; referrals; pathology testing; and counselling. Results: Of 31 295 encounters recorded, at least one of the four selected paediatric RTIs was managed at 8157 encounters. URTI was managed 18.6 times per 100 GP patient encounters, bronchitis/bronchiolitis 4.2 times, acute tonsillitis 2.7 times, and pneumonia 0.6 times per 100 encounters. Antibiotics were prescribed most frequently for tonsillitis and least frequently for URTI. Male GPs prescribed antibiotics for URTI significantly more often than female GPs, while older GPs prescribed antibiotics for URTI more often than younger GPs. Conclusion: GP management of paediatric RTIs in Australia varied according to the clinical problem and with age and sex of the GP. Further research into parents’ and health professionals’ attitudes and practices regarding the role of antibiotics, over-the-counter medications, and hygiene will help maintain favourable management practices

The Troublesome Broadband Evolution of GRB 061126: Does a Grey Burst Imply Grey Dust?

We report on observations of a gamma-ray burst (GRB 061126) with an extremely bright (R ~ 12 mag at peak) early-time optical afterglow. The optical afterglow is already fading as a power law 22 seconds after the trigger, with no detectable prompt contribution in our first exposure, which was coincident with a large prompt-emission gamma-ray pulse. The optical--infrared photometric spectral energy distribution is an excellent fit to a power law, but it exhibits a moderate red-to-blue evolution in the spectral index at about 500 s after the burst. This color change is contemporaneous with a switch from a relatively fast decay to slower decay. The rapidly decaying early afterglow is broadly consistent with synchrotron emission from a reverse shock, but a bright forward-shock component predicted by the intermediate- to late-time X-ray observations under the assumptions of standard afterglow models is not observed. Indeed, despite its remarkable early-time brightness, this burst would qualify as a dark burst at later times on the basis of its nearly flat optical-to-X-ray spectral index. Our photometric spectral energy distribution provides no evidence of host-galaxy extinction, requiring either large quantities of grey dust in the host system (at redshift 1.1588 +/- 0.0006, based upon our late-time Keck spectroscopy) or separate physical origins for the X-ray and optical afterglows.Comment: Revised version submitted to ApJ. Contains significantly expanded discussion, an additional figure, and numerous other change

Evaluation of subcutaneous proleukin (Interleukin-2) in a randomized international trial (ESPRIT): Geographical and gender differences in the baseline characteristics of participants

Background: ESPRIT, is a phase III, open-label, randomized, international clinical trial evaluating the effects of subcutaneous recombinant interleukin-2 (rIL-2) plus antiretroviral therapy (ART) versus ART alone on HIV-disease progression and death in HIV-1-infected individuals with CD4+ T-cells ≥300 cells/μL. Objectives: To describe the baseline characteristics of participants randomized to ESPRIT overall and by geographic location. Method: Baseline characteristics of randomized participants were summarized by region. Results: 4,150 patients were enrolled in ESPRIT from 254 sites in 25 countries. 41%, 27%, 16%, 11%, and 5% were enrolled in Europe, North America, South America, Asia, and Australia, respectively. The median age was 40 years, 81% were men, and 76%, 11%, and 9% were Caucasian, Asian, and African American or African, respectively. 44% of women enrolled (n = 769) were enrolled in Thailand and Argentina. Overall, 55% and 38% of the cohort acquired HIV through male homosexual and heterosexual contact, respectively. 25% had a prior history of AIDS-defining illness; Pneumocystis jirovecii pneumonia, M. tuberculosis, and esophageal candida were most commonly reported. Median nadir and baseline CD4+ T-cell counts were 199 and 458 cells/μL, respectively. 6% and 13% were hepatitis B or C virus coinfected, respectively. Median duration of antiretroviral therapy (ART) was 4.2 years; the longest median duration was in Australia (5.2 years) and the shortest was in Asia (2.3 years). 17%, 13%, and 69% of participants began ART before 1995, between 1996 and 1997, and from 1998 onward, respectively. 86% used ART from two or more ART classes, with 49% using a protease inhibitor-based regimen and 46% using a nonnucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor-based regimen. 78% had plasma HIV RNA below detection (<500 cp/mL). Conclusion: ESPRIT has enrolled a diverse population of HIV-infected individuals including large populations of women and patients of African-American/African and Asian ethnicity often underrepresented in HIV research. As a consequence, the results of the study may have wide global applicability