Data requirements in support of the marine weather service program

Data support activities for the Marine Weather Service Program are outlined. Forecasts, cover anomolous water levels, including sea and swell, surface and breakers, and storm surge. Advisories are also provided for sea ice on the Great Lake and Cook inlet in winter, and in the Bering, Chukchi, and Beaufort Seas in summer. Attempts were made to deal with ocean currents in the Gulf Stream, areas of upwelling, and thermal structure at least down through the mixed layer

A Systematic Review Examining the Added Value of Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene Interventions for Preventive Chemotherapy Programs on Reducing the Prevalence of Trachoma

BACKGROUND: Trachoma is a leading cause of avoidable blindness. Currently, trachoma is endemic in 57 countries, infects approximately 84 million people globally, and continues to threaten over 10 % of the world’s population with the risk of blindness. Caused by the bacteria Chlamydia trachomatis, blindness due to trachoma is caused by repeated eye infection resulting in the inflammation of the upper eyelid eventually leading the upper lid to pull inward scratching and tearing the cornea causing it to become opaque resulting in loss of vision. The World Health Organization recommends eliminating trachoma as a public health problem using the SAFE strategy: Surgery, Antibiotic, Face washing and Environmental control. OBJECTIVES: This review examined the benefits of the added value of water, sanitation, and hygiene education interventions on preventive mass drug administration for trachoma. METHODS: Trials were identified from MEDLINE, PubMed, and LISTA EBSCO databases using a series of search terms. No restrictions were put on study date, location, design, or language of publication. The abstracts were examined from each of the searches, and any abstract describing risk factors, survey results of mass drug administration (MDA), or providing a general overview of trachoma were automatically discarded. Full text of papers including the combined use of key words including SAFE, WASH, intervention, impact, added value, MDA, azithromycin/ Zithromax® were obtained for review. Twelve full texts articles were retrieved all relevant information were placed in a standardized data extraction form. MAIN RESULTS: Three studies met the complete criteria for inclusion. All studies found a significant change in reduction of active trachoma prevalence. One study focused on the added benefit of antibiotic and environmental components on hygiene education delivered by radio. Another trial compared two villages; the control community performed MDA and the surgery while the intervention village added the F and E components. The final study as well focused the added benefit of ‘F’ and ‘E’ on ‘A’. Two of the three studies found this reduction was from the added benefit of face washing ‘F’ and environmental control ‘E’ to antibiotic use. CONCLUSIONS: In order to eliminate blinding trachoma as a public health problem, recurrence of the active form of the disease must be interrupted before repeated scarring leads to trichiasis. The antibiotic component of the SAFE strategy is a quick fix to the immediate problem. The ‘F’ and ‘E’ components are the more sustainable interventions, yet little research has been done on the actual amount of added value the individual ‘A’‘F’&’E’ components have to one another. After thorough review of the articles, articles were found which documented the ‘F’ and ‘E’ components provide significant value to the overall decrease of prevalence of active. However, the limited results of the search suggest more research can better elucidate the ability of the ‘F’ and ‘E’ components to reduce trachoma prevalence and ultimately impact blinding

Gain control with A-type potassium current: IA as a switch between divisive and subtractive inhibition

Neurons process information by transforming barrages of synaptic inputs into spiking activity. Synaptic inhibition suppresses the output firing activity of a neuron, and is commonly classified as having a subtractive or divisive effect on a neuron's output firing activity. Subtractive inhibition can narrow the range of inputs that evoke spiking activity by eliminating responses to non-preferred inputs. Divisive inhibition is a form of gain control: it modifies firing rates while preserving the range of inputs that evoke firing activity. Since these two "modes" of inhibition have distinct impacts on neural coding, it is important to understand the biophysical mechanisms that distinguish these response profiles. We use simulations and mathematical analysis of a neuron model to find the specific conditions for which inhibitory inputs have subtractive or divisive effects. We identify a novel role for the A-type Potassium current (IA). In our model, this fast-activating, slowly- inactivating outward current acts as a switch between subtractive and divisive inhibition. If IA is strong (large maximal conductance) and fast (activates on a time-scale similar to spike initiation), then inhibition has a subtractive effect on neural firing. In contrast, if IA is weak or insufficiently fast-activating, then inhibition has a divisive effect on neural firing. We explain these findings using dynamical systems methods to define how a spike threshold condition depends on synaptic inputs and IA. Our findings suggest that neurons can "self-regulate" the gain control effects of inhibition via combinations of synaptic plasticity and/or modulation of the conductance and kinetics of A-type Potassium channels. This novel role for IA would add flexibility to neurons and networks, and may relate to recent observations of divisive inhibitory effects on neurons in the nucleus of the solitary tract.Comment: 20 pages, 11 figure

Gain Control With A-Type Potassium Current: IA As A Switch Between Divisive And Subtractive Inhibition

Neurons process and convey information by transforming barrages of synaptic inputs into spiking activity. Synaptic inhibition typically suppresses the output firing activity of a neuron, and is commonly classified as having a subtractive or divisive effect on a neuron’s output firing activity. Subtractive inhibition can narrow the range of inputs that evoke spiking activity by eliminating responses to non-preferred inputs. Divisive inhibition is a form of gain control: it modifies firing rates while preserving the range of inputs that evoke firing activity. Since these two “modes” of inhibition have distinct impacts on neural coding, it is important to understand the biophysical mechanisms that distinguish these response profiles. In this study, we use simulations and mathematical analysis of a neuron model to find the specific conditions (parameter sets) for which inhibitory inputs have subtractive or divisive effects. Significantly, we identify a novel role for the A-type Potassium current (IA). In our model, this fast-activating, slowly-inactivating outward current acts as a switch between subtractive and divisive inhibition. In particular, if IA is strong (large maximal conductance) and fast (activates on a time-scale similar to spike initiation), then inhibition has a subtractive effect on neural firing. In contrast, if IA is weak or insufficiently fast-activating, then inhibition has a divisive effect on neural firing. We explain these findings using dynamical systems methods (plane analysis and fast-slow dissection) to define how a spike threshold condition depends on synaptic inputs and IA. Our findings suggest that neurons can “self-regulate” the gain control effects of inhibition via combinations of synaptic plasticity and/or modulation of the conductance and kinetics of A-type Potassium channels. This novel role for IA would add flexibility to neurons and networks, and may relate to recent observations of divisive inhibitory effects on neurons in the nucleus of the solitary tract

Trunk muscle activity during drop jump performance in adolescent athletes with back pain

It was with great interest we read the recently published article “Trunk Muscle Activity during Drop Jump Performance in Adolescent Athletes with Back Pain.” Investigating back pain (BP) in adolescents is commendable as there is growing evidence that for many, an experience of BP as early as 14 years of age may relate to ongoing pain in adulthood (Coenen et al., 2017). Indeed, the conventional narrative is changing as individual physical factors such as posture, use of schoolbags, and hypermobility are only weakly associated with adolescent BP. Rather, factors which predict BP at a young age are considered to be multi-dimensional and include gender, negative BP beliefs and poor mental health (O\u27Sullivan et al., 2017; Smith et al., 2017). Mueller et al. (2017) have focused on a single physical factor (trunk muscle activation patterns) drawing inferences regarding BP prevention and treatment. This article prompts consideration of three essential aspects regarding research design and interpretation of findings: 1. Interpreting results from cross-sectional designs 2. Interpreting pain-related differences in motor behavior 3. Translating and conveying scientific results to the end-user (patients, healthcare professionals and policy makers)

Weighted distances in scale-free preferential attachment models

We study three preferential attachment models where the parameters are such that the asymptotic degree distribution has infinite variance. Every edge is equipped with a non-negative i.i.d. weight. We study the weighted distance between two vertices chosen uniformly at random, the typical weighted distance, and the number of edges on this path, the typical hopcount. We prove that there are precisely two universality classes of weight distributions, called the explosive and conservative class. In the explosive class, we show that the typical weighted distance converges in distribution to the sum of two i.i.d. finite random variables. In the conservative class, we prove that the typical weighted distance tends to infinity, and we give an explicit expression for the main growth term, as well as for the hopcount. Under a mild assumption on the weight distribution the fluctuations around the main term are tight.Comment: Revised version, results are unchanged. 30 pages, 1 figure. To appear in Random Structures and Algorithm

Safety and efficacy of an oral insulin (Capsulin) in patients with early‐stage type 2 diabetes: a dose‐ranging phase IIb study

Aim This randomised, twelve-week open-label study compared the pharmacodynamic properties of different dose of regular human insulin administered in capsule form twice daily. Methods 100 persons (48 male, 52 female) with type 2 diabetes on metformin completed the study according to protocol. Mean (SD) age 48.5 (6.7) years, BMI 25.7 (2.8) kg/m2, HbA1c 8.10 (0.65) %. Subjects randomised on admission were assigned to one of three groups receiving 75iu BD of formulated regular insulin or 150iu insulin BD, or 300iu BD in enteric-coated capsules. Primary and secondary endpoints were change from baseline in HbA1c and FPG respectively. A total of 100 subjects from 15 different centres completed the study within protocol. Results The study met its primary clinical endpoint of a decrease in HbA1c ≥ 0.5% (least square mean decrease 0.52%; p = 0.004, median decrease 0.6) in the dose group receiving 150iu BD. In a subset of this population, with starting HbA1c values between 9 and 9.5%, an average decrease of 1.575% was seen. In the total population, least square mean decreases in HbA1c for groups 75iu BD and 300iu BD were -0.11% and -0.42% respectively. Mean change in FPG in the 150iu BD dose group was -18.8mg/dL (p = 0.017) and -14.8 and -2.7mg/dL for groups 75iu BD and 300iu BD respectively. A decrease of 20% for triglycerides (-40 mg/dL) was seen in the 150iu BD dose group . No significant increases in body weight were observed, and significant decreases in systolic blood pressure were seen in all groups. No serious treatment-related adverse events were recorded, and no incidence of hypoglycaemia was reported throughout the whole twelve-week study period. Conclusions Capsulin oral insulin administered twice per day at a dose of 150iu per capsule is safe, with no confirmed treatment-linked hypoglycaemic events, and results in significant decreases from baseline in HbA1c, Fasting Plasma Glucose and triglycerides