Half a Million Older Californians Living Alone Unable to Make Ends Meet

Presents findings on the economic security of Californians age 65 and older, using the 2007 Elder Index, with a focus on those living alone. Analyzes data by race/ethnicity, gender, age, and county and compares income levels with the federal poverty line

Health of American Indian and Alaska Native Elders in California

Analyzes the health risks, health status, and utilization of and access to health services among American Indians/Alaska Natives age 55 and older in California, as well as trends in demographics and underlying factors including economic security

A novel profluorescent dinitroxide for imaging polypropylene degradation

Free-radical processes underpin the thermo-oxidative degradation of polyolefins. Thus, to extend the lifetime of these polymers, stabilizers are generally added during processing to scavenge the free radicals formed as the polymer degrades. Nitroxide radical precursors, such as hindered amine stabilizers (HAS),1,2 are common polypropylene additives as the nitroxide moiety is a potent scavenger of polymer alkyl radicals (R¥). Oxidation of HAS by radicals formed during polypropylene degradation yields nitroxide radicals (RRNO¥), which rapidly trap the polymer degradation species to produce alkoxyamines, thus retarding oxidative polymer degradation. This increase in polymer stability is demonstrated by a lengthening of the “induction period” of the polymer (the time prior to a sharp rise in the oxidation of the polymer). Instrumental techniques such as chemiluminescence or infrared spectroscopy are somewhat limited in detecting changes in the polymer during the initial stages of degradation. Therefore, other methods for observing polymer degradation have been sought as the useful life of a polymer does not extend far beyond its “induction period

Resonance assignments for latherin, a natural surfactant protein from horse sweat

Latherin is an intrinsically surfactant protein of ~23 kDa found in the sweat and saliva of horses. Its function is probably to enhance the translocation of sweat water from the skin to the surface of the pelt for evaporative cooling. Its role in saliva may be to enhance the wetting, softening and maceration of the dry, fibrous food for which equines are adapted. Latherin is unusual in its relatively high content of aliphatic amino acids (~25 % leucines) that might contribute to its surfactant properties. Latherin is related to the palate, lung, and nasal epithelium carcinoma-associated proteins (PLUNCs) of mammals, at least one of which is now known to exhibit similar surfactant activity to latherin. No structures of any PLUNC protein are currently available. 15N,13C-labelled recombinant latherin was produced in Escherichia coli, and essentially all of the resonances were assigned despite the signal overlap due to the preponderance of leucines. The most notable exceptions include a number of residues located in an apparently dynamic loop region between residues 145 and 154. The assignments have been deposited with BMRB accession number 19067

Positron-inert gas differential elastic scattering

Measurements are being made in a crossed beam experiment of the relative elastic differential cross section (DCS) for 5 to 300 eV positrons scattering from inert gas atoms (He, Ne, Ar, Kr, and Xe) in the angular range from 30 to 134 deg. Results obtained at energies around the positronium (Ps) formation threshold provide evidence that Ps formation and possibly other inelastic channels have an effect on the elastic scattering channel

Public Sector Collectice Bargaining in Ohio: Before and After Senate Bill No. 133

When 1983 ushered in a new administration more sensitive to the glaring absence of such legislation, the passage of a comprehensive public employees\u27 collective bargaining law was clearly imminent. This article will examine the inadequacies of Ohio\u27s law prior to the enactment of Senate Bill No. 133; summarize the provisions of this new statute; and note its impact on public employees and their employee organizations

The structure of latherin, a surfactant allergen protein from horse sweat and saliva

Latherin is a highly surface-active allergen protein found in the sweat and saliva of horses and other equids. Its surfactant activity is intrinsic to the protein in its native form, and is manifest without associated lipids or glycosylation. Latherin probably functions as a wetting agent in evaporative cooling in horses, but it may also assist in mastication of fibrous food as well as inhibition of microbial biofilms. It is a member of the PLUNC family of proteins abundant in the oral cavity and saliva of mammals, one of which has also been shown to be a surfactant and capable of disrupting microbial biofilms. How these proteins work as surfactants while remaining soluble and cell membrane-compatible is not known. Nor have their structures previously been reported. We have used protein nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy to determine the conformation and dynamics of latherin in aqueous solution. The protein is a monomer in solution with a slightly curved cylindrical structure exhibiting a ‘super-roll’ motif comprising a four-stranded anti-parallel β-sheet and two opposing α-helices which twist along the long axis of the cylinder. One end of the molecule has prominent, flexible loops that contain a number of apolar amino acid side chains. This, together with previous biophysical observations, leads us to a plausible mechanism for surfactant activity in which the molecule is first localized to the non-polar interface via these loops, and then unfolds and flattens to expose its hydrophobic interior to the air or non-polar surface. Intrinsically surface-active proteins are relatively rare in nature, and this is the first structure of such a protein from mammals to be reported. Both its conformation and proposed method of action are different from other, non-mammalian surfactant proteins investigated so far

The Effects of Surfaces on the Aerodynamics and Acoustics of Jet Flows

Aircraft noise mitigation is an ongoing challenge for the aeronautics research community. In response to this challenge, low-noise aircraft concepts have been developed that exhibit situations where the jet exhaust interacts with an airframe surface. Jet flows interacting with nearby surfaces manifest a complex behavior in which acoustic and aerodynamic characteristics are altered. In this paper, the variation of the aerodynamics, acoustic source, and far-field acoustic intensity are examined as a large at plate is positioned relative to the nozzle exit. Steady Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes solutions are examined to study the aerodynamic changes in the field-variables and turbulence statistics. The mixing noise model of Tam and Auriault is used to predict the noise produced by the jet. To validate both the aerodynamic and the noise prediction models, results are compared with Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) and free-field acoustic data respectively. The variation of the aerodynamic quantities and noise source are examined by comparing predictions from various jet and at plate configurations with an isolated jet. To quantify the propulsion airframe aeroacoustic installation effects on the aerodynamic noise source, a non-dimensional number is formed that contains the flow-conditions and airframe installation parameters

Aluminum sulfate significantly reduces the skin test response to common allergens in sensitized patients

BACKGROUND: Avoidance of allergens is still recommended as the first and best way to prevent allergic illnesses and their comorbid diseases. Despite a variety of attempts there has been very limited success in the area of environmental control of allergic disease. Our objective was to identify a non-invasive, non-pharmacological method to reduce indoor allergen loads in atopic persons' homes and public environments. We employed a novel in vivo approach to examine the possibility of using aluminum sulfate to control environmental allergens. METHODS: Fifty skin test reactive patients were simultaneously skin tested with conventional test materials and the actions of the protein/glycoprotein modifier, aluminum sulfate. Common allergens, dog, cat, dust mite, Alternaria, and cockroach were used in the study. RESULTS: Skin test reactivity was significantly reduced by the modifier aluminum sulfate. Our studies demonstrate that the effects of histamine were not affected by the presence of aluminum sulfate. In fact, skin test reactivity was reduced independent of whether aluminum sulfate was present in the allergen test material or removed prior to testing, indicating that the allergens had in some way been inactivated. CONCLUSION: Aluminum sulfate was found to reduce the in vivo allergic reaction cascade induced by skin testing with common allergens. The exact mechanism is not clear but appears to involve the alteration of IgE-binding epitopes on the allergen. Our results indicate that it may be possible to diminish the allergenicity of an environment by application of the active agent aluminum sulfate, thus producing environmental control without complete removal of the allergen

Galactic winds and stellar populations in Lyman α\alpha emitting galaxies at z ~ 3.1

We present a sample of 33 spectroscopically confirmed z ~ 3.1 Ly$\alpha$-emitting galaxies (LAEs) in the Cosmological Evolution Survey (COSMOS) field. This paper details the narrow-band survey we conducted to detect the LAE sample, the optical spectroscopy we performed to confirm the nature of these LAEs, and a new near-infrared spectroscopic detection of the [O III] 5007 \AA\ line in one of these LAEs. This detection is in addition to two [O III] detections in two z ~ 3.1 LAEs we have reported on previously (McLinden et al 2011). The bulk of the paper then presents detailed constraints on the physical characteristics of the entire LAE sample from spectral energy distribution (SED) fitting. These characteristics include mass, age, star-formation history, dust content, and metallicity. We also detail an approach to account for nebular emission lines in the SED fitting process - wherein our models predict the strength of the [O III] line in an LAE spectrum. We are able to study the success of this prediction because we can compare the model predictions to our actual near-infrared observations both in galaxies that have [O III] detections and those that yielded non-detections. We find a median stellar mass of 6.9 $\times$ 10$^8$ M$_{\odot}$ and a median star formation rate weighted stellar population age of 4.5 $\times$ 10$^6$ yr. In addition to SED fitting, we quantify the velocity offset between the [O III] and Ly$\alpha$ lines in the galaxy with the new [O III] detection, finding that the Ly$\alpha$ line is shifted 52 km s$^{-1}$ redwards of the [O III] line, which defines the systemic velocity of the galaxy.Comment: 38 pages, 27 figures, 4 tables, Accepted for publication in MNRA