88th Annual Georgia Public Health Association Meeting & Conference Report

The 88th Annual Meeting of the Georgia Public Health Association (GPHA) was held in Atlanta, Georgia, on April 11-12, 2017, with pre-conference (April 10th) and post-conference (April 12th) Executive Board meetings. As Georgia’s leading forum for public health researchers, practitioners, and students, the annual meeting of the GPHA brings together participants from across the state to explore recent developments in the field and to exchange techniques, tools, and experiences. In recent years the venue for the GPHA annual conference has been Atlanta, but in an effort to expand participation across the state the 2018 GPHA Annual Meeting and Conference is scheduled to be held on Jekyll Island, GA (April 4-6. 2018). This conference built on the successes of the previous years’ conferences. These included the continuation of offering three pre-conference workshops, an expansion of sponsorships, more poster sessions, more CEU-certified workshops, and the expansion of dedicated tracks for administration, accreditation, and boards of health training. The theme for the 2017 conference was People, Providers, Professionals, and Partners, which reflects an understanding of the all-encompassing nature of who is part of public health in Georgia. Public Health in Georgia includes all individuals who live, work, and play in Georgia, not just those who provide public health services through government agencies. It includes those in education, public safety, and emergency services. It includes those in private industry as well as public. It includes those working for foundations, non-profit, and non-governmental organizations who are working for the health of all Georgians. All of these individuals have a role in Georgia’s public health, and, therefore, a reason to be at the GPHA annual conference. One hundred and thirty-three (133) abstracts were submitted for peer review; 52 were accepted for poster (41 by students) and 62 for workshop presentations. Four plenary sessions with keynote speakers covered the international, national, and local response to the Zika pandemic, and setting the stage for further discussions on the future workforce education and training challenges for public health in Georgia. Concurrent workshops focused on board of health training, public health accreditation, genomics, environmental health regulations, continuing education of nurses, best practices learned from natural disasters, community capacity building, and lessons learned from other surveillance activities in dealing with the emerging Zika disease crisis, and the implementation of policies and regulations. Seventeen (17) GPHA awards were presented at the conference, including Legislator of the Year Award to State Senator Renee Untermann (a two-time award winner) for her legislative efforts critical to the success of public health initiatives in Georgia. These efforts included working tirelessly to keep the Department of Public Health funded and increase “hold harmless” funding for county boards of health, push through funding to make public health nursing salaries competitive, and a host of other issues. The Sellers-McCroan Award went to the Gwinnett, Newton, and Rockdale Health District Epidemiology Team (Brittany Carter, MPH; Catherine Clark, RN, MPH, CIC; and Modu Feyistitan, MPH) for their tieless work in keeping the people of their health district safe. The Gwinnett, Newton, and Rockdale Epidemiology Team has consistently investigated more outbreaks than any other health district and has excelled in their targeted approaches to education and disease control. The conference attracted 534 registrants (491 one- or two-day attendees, 26 luncheon-only, and 10 President’s Reception only). This was a 12.4% increase over the previous year. Additionally, there was a 55% increase in the number of workshops offered (n=62), and a 15.6% increase in the number of poster presentations (n=52). The number of exhibitors decreased by 13.9% (n=31), but the number of sponsors increased, by 46.7% (n=22) compared to 2016. Conference sponsorships brought in $82,850, a 14.1$85,000. Of registrants reporting GPHA section participation, representation included: Academic (6.4%); Administration (15.7%); Behavioral Health (0.3%); Boards of Health (9.3%); Career Development (6.1%); Safety and Health Preparedness (0.3%); Environmental Health (5.5%); Epidemiology (7.4%); Health Education and Promotion (15.7%); Information Technology (2.2%); Maternal and Child Health (5.5%); Medical/Dental (2.2%); Nursing (13.8%); Nutrition (8.0%); and Primary Care (0.6%). Yvette Daniels, JD, of the Department of Public Health was instrumental in working to revitalize the Nutrition Section participation at the Annual Meeting and Conference. There was 100% participation in the conference from the state’s 18 public health districts again this year. The online conference evaluation completed by a representative sample of registrants indicated areas of potential improvement as: include all speakers in handbook, handouts available, diversity in concurrent sessions, better scheduling of poster sessions, use of technology and social media for changes in programming and locations, avoid Holy Week and/or Passover, conference date earlier in calendar year or during summer would bring more county-level participation. Over 90 percent rated the conference as “good” or “excellent.

Investigating the clinical advantages of a robotic linac equipped with a multileaf collimator in the treatment of brain and prostate cancer patients.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the performance of a commercially available CyberKnife system with a multileaf collimator (CK-MLC) for stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT) and standard fractionated intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) applications. Ten prostate and ten intracranial cases were planned for the CK-MLC. Half of these cases were compared with clinically approved SBRT plans generated for the CyberKnife with circular collimators, and the other half were compared with clinically approved standard fractionated IMRT plans generated for conventional linacs. The plans were compared on target coverage, conformity, homogeneity, dose to organs at risk (OAR), low dose to the surrounding tissue, total monitor units (MU), and treatment time. CK-MLC plans generated for the SBRT cases achieved more homogeneous dose to the target than the CK plans with the circular collimators, for equivalent coverage, conformity, and dose to OARs. Total monitor units were reduced by 40% to 70% and treatment time was reduced by half. The CK-MLC plans generated for the standard fractionated cases achieved prescription isodose lines between 86% and 93%, which was 2%-3% below the plans generated for conventional linacs. Compared to standard IMRT plans, the total MU were up to three times greater for the prostate (whole pelvis) plans and up to 1.4 times greater for the intracranial plans. Average treatment time was 25 min for the whole pelvis plans and 19 min for the intracranial cases. The CK-MLC system provides significant improvements in treatment time and target homogeneity compared to the CK system with circular collimators, while maintaining high conformity and dose sparing to critical organs. Standard fractionated plans for large target volumes (>100 cm3) were generated that achieved high prescription isodose levels. The CK-MLC system provides more efficient SRS and SBRT treatments and, in select clinical cases, might be a potential alternative for standard fractionated treatments. PACS numbers: 87.56.nk, 87.56.bd

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Beagle 2: Seeking the signatures of life on Mars

ESA's Beagle 2 lander will land on Mars to search for signatures of present and past life. A Gas Analysis Package (GAP) with a mass spectrometer, XRF, Mossbauer, stereo cameras, microscope, environmental sensors, rock corer/grinder, and a Mole attachment are on the lander

Experimental and molecular dynamics studies of anthraquinone dyes in a nematic liquid-crystal host: a rationale for observed alignment trends

Five anthraquinone dyes with bis(4-propylphenyl) substituents, connected via sulfide or amine linking groups at the 1,5-positions or directly at the 2,6-positions, have been studied as guests in the nematic liquid crystal host, E7. Polarized UV-visible absorption spectra of aligned samples were used to obtain experimental dichroic order parameters, which exhibit values in the range 0.51-0.74. Fully atomistic MD simulations of these guest-host systems were carried out, generally using default parameters but using new force constants derived here for the dyes containing flexible phenyl-sulfide and phenyl-amine linking groups. An analysis of the alignment of the dye molecules in these simulations provides calculated molecular order parameters, which are combined with calculated order parameters for the alignment of the transition dipole moments within the dyes, reported previously, to give calculated dichroic order parameters. The trend in the calculated dichroic order parameters between the dyes shows a good match with the trend in the experimental values, enabling the observed variation to be rationalised primarily by changes in the alignment of the calculated transition dipole moments within the dyes; the calculated molecular order parameters show a relatively small variation between the dyes. The results indicate that this computational approach may be used generally to rationalise trends in the alignment of guest molecules in liquid crystal hosts, suggesting that it may also be able to provide a predictive aid in the design of guest dyes

Usage analysis of public AC chargers in the UK

In the United Kingdom, approximately 56% of the total charging network, consisting of forty thousand charge points, is comprised of fast AC chargers. However, there exists a significant lack of information regarding usage patterns, which poses a challenge for making informed decisions about future infrastructure planning. This paper focuses on a statistical analysis of the usage patterns of 416 public AC chargers (7 kW) in the UK, based on a dataset comprising over ten thousand charging sessions. The data was collected from one of the UK's largest AC charging network operators over a four-month period (April to July 2022). The study specifically examines the charging demand (measured in kWh) and utilisation rates of chargers located in four different types of parking lots: multi-storey, workplace, on-street, and surface car parks. The analysis reveals that the median charging demand remains consistent across different locations, but there is a high standard deviation in locations with parking restrictions. Two different utilisation metrics, namely sojourn-based and energy-based, are employed to assess the utilisation rates. The results indicate that the overall median utilization rates are generally low, with most locations recording rates below 5%. These findings contribute valuable insights for effective planning and optimal allocation of investments aimed at expanding charging infrastructure

Shape segregation in molecular organisation: a combined X-ray scattering and molecular dynamics study of smectic liquid crystals

Temperature-dependent X-ray scattering studies have been carried out on 4-undecyloxy-4'-cyanobiphenyl (11OCB) and 4-(12,12-dimethyltridecyloxy)-4'-cyanobiphenyl (t-Bu-11OCB) in the smectic A phase, from which their layer spacings and translational order parameters were obtained. Marked differences between the layer structures of the two compounds were demonstrated, showing that the addition of the t-Bu group results in a higher translational order parameter and wider layer spacing for t-Bu-11OCB than 11OCB. Fully atomistic MD simulations of both compounds run for >1000 ns demonstrated the spontaneous formation of smectic mesophases from isotropic starting geometries, and experimental trends in order parameters and absolute layer spacings were shown to be replicated well. Further analysis showed that both the aromatic head-groups and the alkyl tail-groups exhibit interdigitation in the simulated smectic phases of both compounds, and the difference in the layer structures between 11OCB and t-Bu-11OCB could be attributed mainly to a shape segregation effect arising from the addition of the bulky t-Bu end-group to the alkyl chain

Purification and characterization of the isoprene monooxygenase from Rhodococcus sp. strain AD45

Isoprene (2-methyl-1,3-butadiene) is a climate-active gas released to the atmosphere in large quantities, comparable to methane in magnitude. Several bacteria have been isolated which can grow on isoprene as a sole carbon and energy source, but very little information is available about the degradation of isoprene by these bacteria at the biochemical level. Isoprene utilization is dependent on a multistep pathway, with the first step being the oxidation of isoprene to epoxy-isoprene. This is catalyzed by a four-component soluble diiron monooxygenase, isoprene monooxygenase (IsoMO). IsoMO is a six-protein complex comprising an oxygenase (IsoABE), containing the di-iron active site, a Rieske-type ferredoxin (IsoC), a NADH reductase (IsoF), and a coupling/effector protein (IsoD), homologous to the soluble methane monooxygenase and alkene/aromatic monooxygenases. Here, we describe the purification of the IsoMO components from Rhodococcus sp. AD45 and reconstitution of isoprene-oxidation activity in vitro. Some IsoMO components were expressed and purified from the homologous host Rhodococcus sp. AD45-ID, a Rhodococcus sp. AD45 strain lacking the megaplasmid which contains the isoprene metabolic gene cluster. Others were expressed in Escherichia coli and purified as fusion proteins. We describe the characterization of these purified components and demonstrate their activity when combined with Rhodococcus sp. AD45 cell lysate. Demonstration of IsoMO activity in vitro provides a platform for further biochemical and biophysical characterization of this novel soluble diiron center monooxygenase, facilitating new insights into the enzymatic basis for the bacterial degradation of isoprene

Analytic approximations of scattering effects on beam chromaticity in 21-cm global experiments

Scattering from objects near an antenna produce correlated signals from strong compact radio sources in a manner similar to those used by the Sea Interferometer to measure the radio source positions using the fine frequency structure in the total power spectrum of a single antenna. These fringes or ripples due to correlated signal interference are present at a low level in the spectrum of any single antenna and are a major source of systematics in systems used to measure the global redshifted 21-cm signal from the early universe. In the Sea Interferometer a single antenna on a cliff above the sea is used to add the signal from the direct path to the signal from the path reflected from the sea thereby forming an interferometer. This was used for mapping radio sources with a single antenna by Bolton and Slee in the 1950s. In this paper we derive analytic expressions to determine the level of these ripples and compare these results in a few simple cases with electromagnetic modeling software to verify that the analytic calculations are sufficient to obtain the magnitude of the scattering effects on the measurements of the global 21-cm signal. These analytic calculations are needed to evaluate the magnitude of the effects in cases that are either too complex or take too much time to be modeled using software

First report on National Health Priority Areas 1996

Focuses on the health of Australians by documenting progress towards goals and targets for the five priority areas of cardiovascular health, cancer control, injury prevention and control, mental health, and diabetes mellitus