Association of Over-The-Counter Pharmaceutical Sales with Influenza-Like-Illnesses to Patient Volume in an Urgent Care Setting

We studied the association between OTC pharmaceutical sales and volume of patients with influenza-like-illnesses (ILI) at an urgent care center over one year. OTC pharmaceutical sales explain 36% of the variance in the patient volume, and each standard deviation increase is associated with 4.7 more patient visits to the urgent care center (p<0.0001). Cross-correlation function analysis demonstrated that OTC pharmaceutical sales are significantly associated with patient volume during non-flu season (p<0.0001), but only the sales of cough and cold (p<0.0001) and thermometer (p<0.0001) categories were significant during flu season with a lag of two and one days, respectively. Our study is the first study to demonstrate and measure the relationship between OTC pharmaceutical sales and urgent care center patient volume, and presents strong evidence that OTC sales predict urgent care center patient volume year round. © 2013 Liu et al

Beam instrumentation for the Tevatron Collider

The Tevatron in Collider Run II (2001-present) is operating with six times more bunches and many times higher beam intensities and luminosities than in Run I (1992-1995). Beam diagnostics were crucial for the machine start-up and the never-ending luminosity upgrade campaign. We present the overall picture of the Tevatron diagnostics development for Run II, outline machine needs for new instrumentation, present several notable examples that led to Tevatron performance improvements, and discuss the lessons for future colliders

TRANSPORT OF DESY 1.3 GHZ CRYOMODULE AT FERMILAB*

Abstract In an exchange of technology agreement, Deutsches Elektron-Synchrotron (DESY) Laboratory in Hambur

Test of a coaxial blade tuner at HTS/FNAL

A coaxial blade tuner has been selected for the 1.3GHz SRF cavities of the Fermilab SRF Accelerator Test Facility. Results from tuner cold tests in the Fermilab Horizontal Test Stand are presented. Fermilab is constructing the SRF Accelerator Test Facility, a facility for accelerator physics research and development. This facility will contain a total of six cryomodules, each containing eight 1.3 GHz nine-cell elliptical cavities. Each cavity will be equipped with a Slim Blade Tuner designed by INFN Milan. The blade tuner incorporates both a stepper motor and piezo actuators to allow for both slow and fast cavity tuning. The stepper motor allows the cavity frequency to be statically tuned over a range of 500 kHz with an accuracy of several Hz. The piezos provide up to 2 kHz of dynamic tuning for compensation of Lorentz force detuning and variations in the He bath pressure. The first eight blade tuners were built at INFN Milan, but the remainder are being manufactured commercially following the INFN design. To date, more than 40 of the commercial tuners have been delivered

Genomic organization and complete sequence of the human gene encoding the β-subunit of the cGMP phosphodiesterase and its localisation to 4p16.3

As part of the search for the Huntington disease (HD) gene we have cloned and sequenced 34 kb of genomic DNA containing the full-length gene for the β-subunit of the human cGMP phosphodiesterase (β-cGMP PDE). This gene is localized to 4p16.3 about 700 kb proximal to the 4p telomere and represents the most telomeric gene characterized on 4p to date. We show that this gene is comprised of 22 exons spanning approximately 43 kb of genomic DNA. We also provide 400 bp immediately 5′ to the putative initiator methionine and 700 bp of 3′ flanking sequences. Northern blot analysis of several human tissues revealed a highly abundant 3.5 kb transcript and a minor signal of 4.5 kb in retinal tissue. Alignment of the deduced amino acid sequence to the previously identified β-subunits of the cGMP PDEs of mouse and cow demonstrates highly significant similarities and, therefore, confirms the identity of the cloned gene. A defect in the β-subunit of the cGMP PDE gene has been shown recently to be the cause for the retinal degeneration in the rd mouse. The cloning of the human homolog and the knowledge of its genomic organization with exon/intron boundaries will allow rapid assessment of the role of this gene in the causation of human retinopathies

Value of Laboratory Tests in Employer-Sponsored Health Risk Assessments for Newly Identifying Health Conditions: Analysis of 52,270 Participants

Employer-sponsored health risk assessments (HRA) may include laboratory tests to provide evidence of disease and disease risks for common medical conditions. We evaluated the ability of HRA-laboratory testing to provide new disease-risk information to participants.We performed a cross-sectional analysis of HRA-laboratory results for participating adult employees and their eligible spouses or their domestic partners, focusing on three common health conditions: hyperlipidemia, diabetes mellitus, and chronic kidney disease. HRA with laboratory results of 52,270 first-time participants were analyzed. Nearly all participants had access to health insurance coverage. Twenty-four percent (12,392) self-reported one or more of these medical conditions: 21.1% (11,017) self-identified as having hyperlipidemia, 4.7% (2,479) self-identified as having diabetes, and 0.7% (352) self-identified as having chronic kidney disease. Overall, 36% (n = 18,540) of participants had laboratory evidence of at least one medical condition newly identified: 30.7% (16,032) had laboratory evidence of hyperlipidemia identified, 1.9% (984) had laboratory evidence of diabetes identified, and 5.5% (2,866) had laboratory evidence of chronic kidney disease identified. Of all participants with evidence of hyperlipidemia 59% (16,030 of 27,047), were newly identified through the HRA. Among those with evidence of diabetes 28% (984 of 3,463) were newly identified. The highest rate of newly identified disease risk was for chronic kidney disease: 89% (2,866 of 3,218) of participants with evidence of this condition had not self-reported it. Men (39%) were more likely than women (33%) to have at least one newly identified condition (p<0.0001). Among men, lower levels of educational achievement were associated with modestly higher rates of newly identified disease risk (p<0.0001); the association with educational achievement among women was unclear. Even among the youngest age range (20 to 29 year olds), nearly 1 in 4 participants (24%) had a newly identified risk for disease.These results support the important role of employer-sponsored laboratory testing as an integral element of HRA for identifying evidence of previously undiagnosed common medical conditions in individuals of all working age ranges, regardless of educational level and gender

Adsorption-Induced Deformation in Nanopores: Unexpected Results Obtained by Molecular Simulations

International audienceThe adsorption of a fluid in a nanoporous material induces deformations of the solid. The saturating regime, where the solid is filled with liquid, generally exhibits a linear relationship between the liquid pressure and the solid strain. This provides an experimental way to measure the elastic moduli of the solid walls. For large pores, the strain is determined by the pressure of the liquid saturating the pores and the mechanical properties of the porous solid. What happens at the nanometric scale, where liquid/matrix interfacial effects dominate? We have performed molecular simulations of a simple Lennard-Jones fluid confined between deformable nanoplatelets. The simulations provide the deformation of the nanopore as a function of the liquid pressure, in a way similar to what is done experimentally. The results show unexpected interface effects, which could be relevant to experimental data analysis