951 research outputs found
Exploring Diet, Physical Activity, and Self-Reported Health Status Among Individuals in the Medically Underserved Population
The primary purpose of this study is to determine if certain lifestyle and health behaviors (e.g. smoking, physical activity, diet) in the medically underserved population have any influence on particular health statuses. This study also looked to determine if these health behaviors resulted in particular medical aliments being more prevalent or specific to this community. The secondary purpose of this study aims to gain information that may help health care providers practicing in this community to earlier identify risk factors in patients before a medical problem becomes more severe, difficult and expensive to treat. A survey, adapted from the CDC\u27s Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS), was created to allow for the collection of descriptive statistical data. The survey contains questions on the various topics of diet, physical activity, chronic diseases, and self-perception of overall health status. The survey was distributed to 20 older adult participants at Hebni Nutrition, LLC, all from disadvantaged backgrounds. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze the data. Of the 20 surveys collected, about half of the respondents reported consuming close to the recommended fruit and vegetable servings and participating in regular physical activity. Furthermore, the participants reported rates of diabetes and hypertension well above average. This study\u27s results were inconclusive as to whether any specific health behaviors among medically underserved individuals influence the prevalence of chronic diseases in this population; more likely a combination of many factors and overall poorer health habits that persist over a lifetime are contributors to chronic diseases among the medically underserved population
Learning about compact binary merger: the interplay between numerical relativity and gravitational-wave astronomy
Activities in data analysis and numerical simulation of gravitational waves
have to date largely proceeded independently. In this work we study how
waveforms obtained from numerical simulations could be effectively used within
the data analysis effort to search for gravitational waves from black hole
binaries. We propose measures to quantify the accuracy of numerical waveforms
for the purpose of data analysis and study how sensitive the analysis is to
errors in the waveforms. We estimate that ~100 templates (and ~10 simulations
with different mass ratios) are needed to detect waves from non-spinning binary
black holes with total masses in the range 100 Msun < M < 400 Msun using
initial LIGO. Of course, many more simulation runs will be needed to confirm
that the correct physics is captured in the numerical evolutions. From this
perspective, we also discuss sources of systematic errors in numerical waveform
extraction and provide order of magnitude estimates for the computational cost
of simulations that could be used to estimate the cost of parameter space
surveys. Finally, we discuss what information from near-future numerical
simulations of compact binary systems would be most useful for enhancing the
detectability of such events with contemporary gravitational wave detectors and
emphasize the role of numerical simulations for the interpretation of eventual
gravitational-wave observations.Comment: 19 pages, 12 figure
Large-scale Oscillation of Structure-Related DNA Sequence Features in Human Chromosome 21
Human chromosome 21 is the only chromosome in human genome that exhibits
oscillation of (G+C)-content of cycle length of hundreds kilobases (500 kb near
the right telomere). We aim at establishing the existence of similar
periodicity in structure-related sequence features in order to relate this
(G+C)% oscillation to other biological phenomena. The following quantities are
shown to oscillate with the same 500kb periodicity in human chromosome 21:
binding energy calculated by two sets of dinucleotide-based thermodynamic
parameters, AA/TT and AAA/TTT bi-/tri-nucleotide density, 5'-TA-3' dinucleotide
density, and signal for 10/11-base periodicity of AA/TT or AAA/TTT. These
intrinsic quantities are related to structural features of the double helix of
DNA molecules, such as base-pair binding, untwisting/unwinding, stiffness, and
a putative tendency for nucleosome formation.Comment: submitted to Physical Review
142: Low dose thalidomide maintenance in myeloma patients after autologous stem cell transplantation
Radiochemical separation of indium by amalgam-exchange
The radiochemical separation of indium by an amalgam-exchange technique has been critically evaluated for the aqueous hydrogen bromide system. The efficiency and contamination of the separation has been studied using tracers of 19 different representative elements. Yields of contaminating elements are reduced in most cases to less than 0.1 %, and indium yields are usually above 95 %. The procedure requires no special equipment, and takes about 11 min overall. A number of factors affecting the separation have been studied and improved.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/32327/1/0000397.pd
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
- …