552 research outputs found
A high signal to noise ratio map of the Sunyaev-Zel'dovich increment at 1.1 mm wavelength in Abell 1835
We present an analysis of an 8 arcminute diameter map of the area around the
galaxy cluster Abell 1835 from jiggle map observations at a wavelength of 1.1
mm using the Bolometric Camera (Bolocam) mounted on the Caltech Submillimeter
Observatory (CSO). The data is well described by a model including an extended
Sunyaev-Zel'dovich (SZ) signal from the cluster gas plus emission from two
bright background submm galaxies magnified by the gravitational lensing of the
cluster. The best-fit values for the central Compton value for the cluster and
the fluxes of the two main point sources in the field: SMM J140104+0252, and
SMM J14009+0252 are found to be ,
6.5 mJy and 11.3 mJy, where the first error
represents the statistical measurement error and the second error represents
the estimated systematic error in the result. This measurement assumes the
presence of dust emission from the cluster's central cD galaxy of
mJy, based on higher frequency observations of Abell 1835. The cluster image
represents one of the highest-significance SZ detections of a cluster in the
positive region of the thermal SZ spectrum to date. The inferred central
intensity is compared to other SZ measurements of Abell 1835 and this
collection of results is used to obtain values for and the cluster peculiar velocity km/s.Comment: 9 pages, 5 figure
Analysis of Johne’s disease ELISA status and associated performance parameters in Irish dairy cows
peer-reviewedBackground
Infection with Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis (MAP) has been associated with reductions in milk production in dairy cows and sub optimal fertility. The aim of this study was to highlight the production losses associated with testing MAP ELISA positive in Irish dairy cows. Secondary objectives included investigation of risk factors associated with testing MAP ELISA positive. A survey of management practices on study farms was also conducted, with examination of associations between management practices and herd MAP status.
Blood samples were collected from 4188 breeding animals on 22 farms. Samples were ELISA tested using the ID Screen Paratuberculosis Indirect Screening Test. Production parameters examined included milk yield, milk fat, milk protein, somatic cell count, and calving interval. The association between MAP ELISA status and production data was investigated using multi-level mixed models. Logistic regression was used to identify risk factors for testing JD blood ELISA positive at individual cow level and to identify associations between farm management practices and herd MAP status.
Results
Data were available for 3528 cows. The apparent prevalence recorded was 7.4 %. Mixed model analysis revealed no statistically significant association between testing MAP ELISA positive and dairy cow production parameters. Risk factors associated with testing positive included larger sized herds being over twice more likely to test positive than smaller herds (OR 2.4 P = <0.001). Friesians were less likely to test positive relative to other breeds. A number of study farmers were engaged in management practices that have previously been identified as high risk for MAP transmission e.g., 73.1 % pooled colostrum and 84.6 % of study farmers used the calving area to house sick animals throughout the year. No significant associations however, were identified between farm management practices and herd MAP status.
Conclusion
No production losses were identified; however an apparent prevalence of 7.4Â % was recorded. With the abolition of EU milk quotas herd size in Ireland is expanding, as herds included in this study were larger than the national average, results may be indicative of future JD levels if no JD control programmes are implemented to minimise transmission
Social Support and Self-Care of Patients with Heart Failure
Background
Social support can influence treatment adherence of patients with chronic illnesses, which may explain the positive effects of social support on heart failure (HF) outcomes.
Purpose
To investigate the effects of social support among patients with HF, we examined whether aspects of social support were associated with self-care, including medication adherence, dietary adherence, and HF symptom monitoring functions.
Methods
We recruited 74 patients with HF from cardiology clinics of a Veterans Affairs Medical Center and a university-affiliated hospital, and tested the relationships between social support and the patients\u27 self-care.
Results
Consistent with previous research in older adults, family members, especially spouses, were often involved in the medical care of patients with chronic HF and provided a range of levels of support to patients. Self-care was generally poor, as measured across several self-care domains. Perceived social support was moderately associated with relatively better self-reported medication and dietary adherence, and other aspects of self-care such as daily weighing.
Conclusions
These findings suggest that a relatively higher level of self-care is an important correlate of social support and may explain how social support influences HF outcomes. This study also suggests that family members should play a greater part in clinical care focused on improving self-care
GenBank
GenBank(R) is a comprehensive database that contains publicly available nucleotide sequences for more than 380,000 organisms named at the genus level or lower, obtained primarily through submissions from individual laboratories and batch submissions from large-scale sequencing projects, including whole genome shotgun (WGS) and environmental sampling projects. Most submissions are made using the web-based BankIt or standalone Sequin programs, and accession numbers are assigned by GenBank staff upon receipt. Daily data exchange with the European Nucleotide Archive (ENA) and the DNA Data Bank of Japan (DDBJ) ensures worldwide coverage. GenBank is accessible through the NCBI Entrez retrieval system that integrates data from the major DNA and protein sequence databases along with taxonomy, genome, mapping, protein structure and domain information, and the biomedical journal literature via PubMed. BLAST provides sequence similarity searches of GenBank and other sequence databases. Complete bimonthly releases and daily updates of the GenBank database are available by FTP. To access GenBank and its related retrieval and analysis services, begin at the NCBI Homepage: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
Clinical Exacerbations as a Surrogate End Point in Heart Failure Research
Background
We examined the utility of an index of clinical exacerbations of heart failure (HF) as a surrogate measure of outcome for use in modestly sized clinical trials and observational studies.
Methods
Electronic records of 189 outpatients with HF in a US Veterans Affairs Medical Center were examined over a 2- to 3-year period. Data collected included patient characteristics, clinical exacerbations of HF, hospitalizations, and deaths. Subsets of patient were also assessed for HF-related level of functioning.
Results
Episodes of clinical exacerbation could be detected reliably (kappa = .83). An index of episodes (number of episodes divided by the time in years) was associated with lower quality of life, higher functional class, increased rate of HF hospitalization, poorer exercise tolerance, and up to 30% increased risk of mortality across 2 years.
Conclusions
The index of HF exacerbations is potentially a useful surrogate end point for use in clinical HF research
Bolocam Survey for 1.1 mm Dust Continuum Emission in the c2d Legacy Clouds. II. Ophiuchus
We present a large-scale millimeter continuum map of the Ophiuchus molecular
cloud. Nearly 11 square degrees, including all of the area in the cloud with
visual extinction more than 3 magnitudes, was mapped at 1.1 mm with Bolocam on
the Caltech Submillimeter Observatory (CSO). By design, the map also covers the
region mapped in the infrared with the Spitzer Space Telescope. We detect 44
definite sources, and a few likely sources are also seen along a filament in
the eastern streamer. The map indicates that dense cores in Ophiuchus are very
clustered and often found in filaments within the cloud. Most sources are
round, as measured at the half power point, but elongated when measured at
lower contour levels, suggesting spherical sources lying within filaments. The
masses, for an assumed dust temperature of 10 K, range from 0.24 to 3.9 solar
masses, with a mean value of 0.96 solar masses. The total mass in distinct
cores is 42 solar masses, 0.5 to 2% of the total cloud mass, and the total mass
above 4 sigma is about 80 solar masses. The mean densities in the cores are
quite high, with an average of 1.6 x 10^6 per cc, suggesting short free-fall
times. The core mass distribution can be fitted with a power law with slope of
2.1 plus or minus 0.3 for M>0.5 solar masses, similar to that found in other
regions, but slightly shallower than that of some determinations of the local
IMF. In agreement with previous studies, our survey shows that dense cores
account for a very small fraction of the cloud volume and total mass. They are
nearly all confined to regions with visual extinction at least 9 mag, a lower
threshold than found previously.Comment: 47 pages, 16 figures, accepted for Ap
THE STATISTICAL PROPERTIES OF DIMENSION CALCULATIONS USING SMALL DATA SETS: SOME ECONOMIC APPLICATIONS
economic theory ; statistics
The biomechanical characteristics of wearing FitFlopâ„¢ sandals highlight significant alterations in gait pattern: a comparative study.
BACKGROUND: The net contribution of all muscles that act about a joint can be represented as an internal joint moment profile. This approach may be advantageous when studying footwear-induced perturbations during walking since the contribution of the smaller deeper muscles that cross the ankle joint cannot be evaluated with surface electromyography. Therefore, the present study aimed to advance the understanding of FitFlopâ„¢ footwear interaction by investigating lower extremity joint moment, and kinematic and centre of pressure profiles during gait. METHODS: 28 healthy participants performed 5 walking trials in 3 conditions: a FitFlopâ„¢ sandal, a conventional sandal and an athletic trainer. Three-dimensional ankle joint, and sagittal plane knee and hip joint moments, as well as corresponding kinematics and centre of pressure trajectories were evaluated. FINDINGS: FitFlopâ„¢ differed significantly to both the conventional sandal and athletic trainer in: average anterior position of centre of pressure trajectory (P<0.0001) and peak hip extensor moment (P=0.001) during early stance; average medial position of centre of pressure trajectory during late stance; peak ankle dorsiflexion and corresponding range of motion; peak plantarflexor moment and total negative work performed at the ankle (all P<0.0001). INTERPRETATION: The present findings demonstrate that FitFlopâ„¢ footwear significantly alters the gait pattern of wearers. An anterior displacement of the centre of pressure trajectory during early stance is the primary response to the destabilising effect of the mid-sole technology, and this leads to reductions in sagittal plane ankle joint range of motion and corresponding kinetics. Future investigations should consider the clinical implications of these findings
A Multi-wavelength Study of the Sunyaev-Zel'dovich Effect in the Triple-Merger Cluster MACS J0717.5+3745 with MUSTANG and Bolocam
We present 90, 140, and 268GHz sub-arcminute resolution imaging of the
Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect (SZE) in MACSJ0717.5+3745. Our 90GHz SZE data result
in a sensitive, 34uJy/bm map at 13" resolution using MUSTANG. Our 140 and
268GHz SZE imaging, with resolutions of 58" and 31" and sensitivities of 1.8
and 3.3mJy/beam respectively, was obtained using Bolocam. We compare these maps
to a 2-dimensional pressure map derived from Chandra X-ray observations. Our
MUSTANG data confirm previous indications from Chandra of a pressure
enhancement due to shock-heated, >20keV gas immediately adjacent to extended
radio emission seen in low-frequency radio maps. The MUSTANG data also detect
pressure substructure that is not well-constrained by the X-ray data in the
remnant core of a merging subcluster. We find that the small-scale pressure
enhancements in the MUSTANG data amount to ~2% of the total pressure measured
in the 140GHz Bolocam observations. The X-ray template also fails on larger
scales to accurately describe the Bolocam data, particularly at the location of
a subcluster known to have a high line of sight optical velocity (~3200km/s).
Our Bolocam data are adequately described when we add an additional component -
not described by a thermal SZE spectrum - coincident with this subcluster.
Using flux densities extracted from our model fits, and marginalizing over the
temperature constraints for the region, we fit a thermal+kinetic SZE spectrum
to our data and find the subcluster has a best-fit line of sight proper
velocity of 3600+3440/-2160km/s. This agrees with the optical velocity
estimates for the subcluster. The probability of velocity<0 given our
measurements is 2.1%. Repeating this analysis using flux densities measured
non-parametrically results in a 3.4% probability of a velocity<=0. We note that
this tantalizing result for the kinetic SZE is on resolved, subcluster scales.Comment: 10 Figures, 18 pages. this version corrects issues with the previous
arXiv versio
Higher 30-day mortality associated with the use of intramedullary nails compared with sliding hip screws for the treatment of trochanteric hip fractures:a prospective national registry study
Aims
The aim of this study was to investigate the association between the type of operation used to treat a trochanteric fracture of the hip and 30-day mortality.
Patients and Methods
Data on 82 990 patients from the National Hip Fracture Database were analyzed using generalized linear models with incremental case-mix adjustment for patient, non-surgical and surgical characteristics, and socioeconomic factors.
Results
The use of short and long intramedullary nails was associated with an increase in 30-day mortality (adjusted odds ratio (OR) 1.125, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.040 to 1.218; p = 0.004) compared with the use of sliding hip screws (12.5% increase). If this were causative, it would represent 98 excess deaths over the four-year period of the study and one excess death would be caused by treating 112 patients with an intramedullary nail rather than a sliding hip screw.
Conclusion
There is a 12.5% increase in the risk of 30-day mortality associated with the use of an intramedullary nail compared with a sliding hip screw in the treatment of a trochanteric fractures of the hip.</p
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