Serendipitous Data Following a Severe Windstorm in an Old-Growth Pine Stand

Reliable dimensional data for old-growth pine-dominated forests in the Gulf Coastal Plain of Arkansas are hard to find, but sometimes unfortunate circumstances provide good opportunities to acquire this information. On July 11, 2013, a severe thunderstorm with high winds struck the Levi Wilcoxon Demonstration Forest (LWDF) near Hamburg, Arkansas. This storm uprooted or snapped dozens of large pines and hardwoods and provided an opportunity to more closely inspect these rare specimens. For instance, the largest tree killed in this event, a loblolly pine (Pinus taeda), was 105 cm in diameter at breast height, 39.3 m tall, and if the tree had been sound would have yielded 3,803 board feet (Doyle log rule) of lumber. Gross board foot volume yield was also estimated from two other recently toppled large pines, an 85-cm-DBH loblolly and an 86-cm-DBH shortleaf pine (Pinus echinata), which tallied 2,430 and 2,312 board feet Doyle, respectively. A number of the other wind thrown pines on the LWDF were sound enough to count their rings for a reasonable (± 2-5 years) estimate of their ages. The stump of the fallen national champion shortleaf pine had 168 rings, and counts from other pines toppled by this storm had from 68 to 198 rings. We also searched for a new champion shortleaf pine using a LiDAR canopy height model of the LWDF to narrow our search. This preliminary assessment produced a number of targets that exceeded 40 m in height; further field checking of the tallest of these trees found that these were loblolly pines up to about 44 m. We eventually found shortleaf pines between 37 and 41 m tall, with diameters of up to 85 cm, indicating that the LWDF could still contain the Arkansas state champion

Synoptic observations of Jupiter's radio emissions: Average Statistical properties observed by Voyager

Observations of Jupiter's low frequency radio emissions collected over one month intervals before and after each Voyager encounter were analyzed. Compilations of occurrence probability, average power flux density and average sense of circular polarization are presented as a function of central meridian longitude, phase of Io, and frequency. The results are compared with ground based observations. The necessary geometrical conditions are preferred polarization sense for Io-related decametric emission observed by Voyager from above both the dayside and nightside hemispheres are found to be essentially the same as are observed in Earth based studies. On the other hand, there is a clear local time dependence in the Io-independent decametric emission. Io appears to have an influence on average flux density of the emission down to below 2 MHz. The average power flux density spectrum of Jupiter's emission has a broad peak near 9MHz. Integration of the average spectrum over all frequencies gives a total radiated power for an isotropic source of 4 x 10 to the 11th power W

Increase in whole-body peripheral vascular resistance during three hours of air or oxygen prebreathing

Male and female subjects prebreathed air or 100% oxygen through a mask for 3.0 hours while comfortably reclined. Blood pressures, heart rate, and cardiac output were collected before and after the prebreathe. Peripheral vascular resistance (PVR) was calculated from these parameters and increased by 29% during oxygen prebreathing and 15% during air prebreathing. The oxygen contributed substantially to the increase in PVR. Diastolic blood pressure increased by 18% during the oxygen prebreathe while stystolic blood pressure showed no change under either procedure. The increase in PVR during air prebreathing was attributed to procedural stress common to air and oxygen prebreathing

Radial Velocities of Six OB Stars

We present new results from a radial velocity study of six bright OB stars with little or no prior measurements. One of these, HD 45314, may be a long-period binary, but the velocity variations of this Be star may be related to changes in its circumstellar disk. Significant velocity variations were also found for HD 60848 (possibly related to nonradial pulsations) and HD 61827 (related to wind variations). The other three targets, HD 46150, HD 54879, and HD 206183, are constant velocity objects, but we note that HD 54879 has H$\alpha$ emission that may originate from a binary companion. We illustrate the average red spectrum of each target.Comment: Accepted for publication in PASP July 2007 issu

Voyager spacecraft radio observations of Jupiter: Initial cruise results

Jupiter's low-frequency radio emission were detected by the planetary radio astronomy instruments onboard the two Voyager spacecraft. The emission is surprisingly similar in morphology but opposite in polarization to the high-frequency Jovian radio noise that were observed with ground-based telescopes for more than two decades. Several possible explanations for the behavior of the low-frequency emission are examined, but none of them is completely satisfactory

Pain Coping Skills Training for Patients Who Catastrophize About Pain Prior to Knee Arthroplasty: A Multisite Randomized Clinical Trial

BACKGROUND: Pain catastrophizing has been identified as a prognostic indicator of poor outcome following knee arthroplasty. Interventions to address pain catastrophizing, to our knowledge, have not been tested in patients undergoing knee arthroplasty. The purpose of this study was to determine whether pain coping skills training in persons with moderate to high pain catastrophizing undergoing knee arthroplasty improves outcomes 12 months postoperatively compared with usual care or arthritis education. METHODS: A multicenter, 3-arm, single-blinded, randomized comparative effectiveness trial was performed involving 5 university-based medical centers in the United States. There were 402 randomized participants. The primary outcome was the Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index (WOMAC) Pain Scale, measured at baseline, 2 months, 6 months, and 12 months following the surgical procedure. RESULTS: Participants were recruited from January 2013 to June 2016. In 402 participants, 66% were women and the mean age of the participants (and standard deviation) was 63.2 ± 8.0 years. Three hundred and forty-six participants (90% of those who underwent a surgical procedure) completed a 12-month follow-up. All 3 treatment groups had large improvements in 12-month WOMAC pain scores with no significant differences (p > 0.05) among the 3 treatment arms. No differences were found between WOMAC pain scores at 12 months for the pain coping skills and arthritis education groups (adjusted mean difference, 0.3 [95% confidence interval (CI), -0.9 to 1.5]) or between the pain coping and usual-care groups (adjusted mean difference, 0.4 [95% CI, -0.7 to 1.5]). Secondary outcomes also showed no significant differences (p > 0.05) among the 3 groups. CONCLUSIONS: Among adults with pain catastrophizing undergoing knee arthroplasty, cognitive behaviorally based pain coping skills training did not confer pain or functional benefit beyond the large improvements achieved with usual surgical and postoperative care. Future research should develop interventions for the approximately 20% of patients undergoing knee arthroplasty who experience persistent function-limiting pain. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Therapeutic Level I. See Instructions for Authors for a complete description of levels of evidence

Observational study of the association of first insulin type in uncontrolled type 2 diabetes with macrovascular and microvascular disease

<p>Aims: To compare the risk of vascular disease, HbA1c and weight change, between first prescribed insulins in people with type 2 diabetes.</p> <p>Methods: People included in THIN United Kingdom primary care record database who began insulin (2000–2007) after poor control on oral glucose-lowering agents (OGLD) were grouped by the number of OGLDs in their treatment regimen immediately before starting insulin (n = 3,485). Within OGLD group, Cox regression compared macrovascular (all-cause mortality, myocardial infarction, acute coronary syndrome and stroke) and microvascular disease (peripheral neuropathy, nephropathy, and retinopathy) between insulin type (basal, pre-mix or Neutral Protamine Hagedorn, NPH) while ANCOVAs compared haemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) and weight change.</p> <p>Results: Mean follow-up was 3.6 years. Rates of incident macrovascular events were similar when basal insulin was compared to pre-mix or NPH, adjusted hazard ratio versus basal: pre-mix 1.08 (95% CI 0.73, 1.59); NPH 1.00 (0.63, 1.58) after two OGLDs, and pre-mix 0.97 (0.46, 2.02); NPH 0.77 (0.32, 1.86) after three OGLDs. An increased risk of microvascular disease in NPH versus basal after 3 OGLDs, adjusted hazard ratio1.87 (1.04, 3.36), was not seen after two agents or in comparisons of basal and pre-mix. At one year, after two OGLDs, weight increase was less with basal compared with pre-mix. After three OGLDs, mean HbA1c had reduced less in basal versus pre-mix or NPH at 6–8 and at 9–11 months, and versus pre-mix at 12–14 months.</p> <p>Conclusion: We found no difference in the risk of macrovascular events between first insulins in the medium term when started during poor glycaemia control. The increased risk of microvascular events with NPH warrants further study. In certain groups, first use of basal insulin was associated with less gain in weight and decrease in HbA1c compared to other insulins.</p&gt

Northern Bobwhite Nest Site Selection in Field Borders

Field borders are used to supplement early successional habitat critical for northern bobwhite (Colinus virginianus) nesting that is lost to modern intensive agricultural practices. The suitability of field border habitat for nesting may be affected by microhabitat characteristics at the site and patch scale and placement relative to various land-cover types at the landscape scale. We sought to determine whether bobwhite select nest locations at site, patch, and landscape scales. We collected microhabitat data (stem density, percent cover, and ground composition) and distance to land-cover type data (woody edge, crop, ditch, and road) from 26 bobwhite nests and 26 control sites in field borders in North Carolina, USA, during 2010 and 2011. We modeled nest site selection by comparing nests with random locations using conditional logistic regression at the site scale and logistic regression at the combined patch–landscape scale. We performed model selection using the small sample Akaike’s Information Criterion (AICc). The top site-scale model showed that bobwhite selected for the presence of woody cover and avoided open soil at the nest. There was no clear top model at the combined patch–landscape level. In an agriculture-dominated landscape, managers should focus on microhabitat characteristics of field borders to improve suitability for bobwhite nesting

Voyager 1 Planetary Radio Astronomy Observations Near Jupiter

Results are reported from the first low frequency radio receiver to be transported into the Jupiter magnetosphere. Dramatic new information was obtained both because Voyager was near or in Jupiter's radio emission sources and also because it was outside the relatively dense solar wind plasma of the inner solar system. Extensive radio arcs, from above 30 MHz to about 1 MHz, occurred in patterns correlated with planetary longitude. A newly discovered kilometric wavelength radio source may relate to the plasma torus near Io's orbit. In situ wave resonances near closest approach define an electron density profile along the Voyager trajectory and form the basis for a map of the torus. Studies in progress are outlined briefly