Perceptions of Environmental Supports for Physical Activity in African American and White Adults in a Rural County in South Carolina

INTRODUCTION: This study examined the association between perceptions of social and safety-related environmental attributes and physical activity (PA) and walking in African American and white adults. METHODS: In a random-digit–dial telephone survey, 1165 adults in a rural county in South Carolina answered questions about their perceptions of social and safety-related environmental supports for PA and their overall PA and walking behavior. Social perceptions included whether neighbors could be trusted or were perceived to be physically active. Safety-related perceptions included neighborhood safety, the safety of public recreation facilities, problems with unattended dogs, traffic volume, and streetlight quality. Logistic regression models were used to examine the associations between environmental supports and PA and walking stratified by race. RESULTS: No association between perceived neighborhood environmental supports and PA or walking was observed in African Americans. Among whites, individuals who perceived their neighbors as active were twice (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.19–3.25) as likely to report meeting the recommendation for PA compared with individuals who did not report their neighbors as active. Whites who perceived their neighbors as active were 2.5 times (95% CI, 1.54–4.08) as likely to report meeting the recommendations for walking than whites who did not, and whites who perceived their neighborhoods as safe were 1.8 times (95% CI, 1.03–3.12) as likely to report meeting the recommendations for walking than whites who did not. CONCLUSION: These data indicate that perceptions of certain social and safety-related environmental supports were strongly associated with meeting the recommendations for PA and walking among white but not African American adults

Atlantic Bluefin Tuna (Thunnus thynnus) Diet in the Gulf of St. Lawrence and on the Eastern Scotian Shelf

The stomach contents of 68 Atlantic bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus) landed in Port Hood and Canso, Nova Scotia, in 2010, were analyzed to characterize the diet of bluefin tuna at the two locations. Of the sampled fish, 54 stomachs had contents. Pelagic schooling fish such as herring (Clupea harengus) and mackerel (Scomber scombrus) dominated the diets in both regions. However, a number of rare species, including demersal species, were also observed. Despite the difference in location and the significantly larger size of the Atlantic bluefin tuna landed in Port Hood, the diets of the Atlantic bluefin tuna landed at both sites were similar

Mapping The Interstellar Medium With Near-Infrared Diffuse Interstellar Bands

We map the distribution and properties of the Milky Way's interstellar medium as traced by diffuse interstellar bands (DIBs) detected in near-infrared stellar spectra from the SDSS-III/APOGEE survey. Focusing exclusively on the strongest DIB in the H band, at lambda similar to 1.527 mu m, we present a projected map of the DIB absorption field in the Galactic plane, using a set of about 60,000 sightlines that reach up to 15 kpc from the Sun and probe up to 30 mag of visual extinction. The strength of this DIB is linearly correlated with dust reddening over three orders of magnitude in both DIB equivalent width (Wpm) and extinction, with a power law index of 1.01 +/- 0.01, a mean relationship of W-DIB/A(v) = 0.1 angstrom mag(-1) and a dispersion of similar to 0.05 angstrom mag(-1) at extinctions characteristic of the Galactic midplane. These properties establish this DIB as a powerful, independent probe of dust extinction over a wide range of Av values. The subset of about 14,000 robustly detected DIB features have a W-DIB distribution that follows an exponential trend. We empirically determine the intrinsic rest wavelength of this transition to be lambda(0) = 15 272.42 angstrom and use it to calculate absolute radial velocities of the carrier, which display the kinematical signature of the rotating Galactic disk. We probe the DIB carrier distribution in three dimensions and show that it can be characterized by an exponential disk model with a scale height of about 100 pc and a scale length of about 5 kpc. Finally, we show that the DIB distribution also traces large-scale Galactic structures, including the Galactic long bar and the warp of the outer disk.NSF Astronomy & Astrophysics Postdoctoral Fellowship AST-1203017NSF AST-1109665Alfred P. Sloan FoundationNational Science FoundationU.S. Department of Energy Office of ScienceUniversity of ArizonaBrazilian Participation GroupBrookhaven National LaboratoryUniversity of CambridgeCarnegie Mellon UniversityUniversity of FloridaFrench Participation GroupGerman Participation GroupHarvard UniversityInstituto de Astrofisica de CanariasMichigan State/Notre Dame/JINA Participation GroupJohns Hopkins UniversityLawrence Berkeley National LaboratoryMax Planck Institute for AstrophysicsMax Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial PhysicsNew Mexico State UniversityNew York UniversityOhio State UniversityPennsylvania State UniversityUniversity of PortsmouthPrinceton UniversitySpanish Participation GroupUniversity of TokyoUniversity of UtahVanderbilt UniversityUniversity of VirginiaUniversity of WashingtonYale UniversitySpanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness AYA-2011-27754McDonald Observator

Engine Materials Compatibility with Alternate Fuels

The compatibility of aluminum and aluminum alloys with synthetic fuel blends comprised of ethanol and reference fuel C (a 50/50 mix of toluene and iso-octane) was examined as a function of water content and temperature. Commercially pure wrought aluminum and several cast aluminum alloys were observed to be similarly susceptible to substantial corrosion in dry (< 50 ppm water) ethanol. Corrosion rates of all the aluminum materials examined were accelerated by increased temperature and ethanol content in the fuel mixture, but inhibited by increased water content. Pretreatments designed to stabilize passive films on aluminum increased the incubation time for onset of corrosion, suggesting film stability is a significant factor in the mechanism of corrosion

A comparison of collision cross section values obtained via travelling wave ion mobility-mass spectrometry and ultra high performance liquid chromatography-ion mobility-mass spectrometry : application to the characterisation of metabolites in rat urine

A comprehensive Collision Cross Section (CCS) library was obtained via Travelling Wave Ion Guide mobility measurements through direct infusion (DI). The library consists of CCS and Mass Spectral (MS) data in negative and positive ElectroSpray Ionisation (ESI) mode for 463 and 479 endogenous metabolites, respectively. For both ionisation modes combined, TWCCSN2 data were obtained for 542 non-redundant metabolites. These data were acquired on two different ion mobility enabled orthogonal acceleration QToF MS systems in two different laboratories, with the majority of the resulting TWCCSN2 values (from detected compounds) found to be within 1% of one another. Validation of these results against two independent, external TWCCSN2 data sources and predicted TWCCSN2 values indicated to be within 1-2% of these other values. The same metabolites were then analysed using a rapid reversed-phase ultra (high) performance liquid chromatographic (U(H)PLC) separation combined with IM and MS (IM-MS) thus providing retention time (tr), m/z and TWCCSN2 values (with the latter compared with the DI-IM-MS data). Analytes for which TWCCSN2 values were obtained by U(H)PLC-IM-MS showed good agreement with the results obtained from DI-IM-MS. The repeatability of the TWCCSN2 values obtained for these metabolites on the different ion mobility QToF systems, using either DI or LC, encouraged the further evaluation of the U(H)PLC-IM-MS approach via the analysis of samples of rat urine, from control and methotrexate-treated animals, in order to assess the potential of the approach for metabolite identification and profiling in metabolic phenotyping studies. Based on the database derived from the standards 63 metabolites were identified in rat urine, using positive ESI, based on the combination of tr, TWCCSN2 and MS data.</p

Psychological interventions for adults with bipolar disorder: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Background Psychological interventions may be beneficial for bipolar disorder. Aims Efficacy evaluation of psychological interventions for adults with bipolar disorder. Methods A systematic review of randomised controlled trials.. Outcomes were meta-analysed using RevMan and confidence assessed using the GRADE-method. Results We included 55 trials with 6010 participants. Moderate quality evidence associated individual psychological interventions with reduced relapses at post-treatment and follow-up, and collaborative care with a reduction in hospitalisations. . Low quality evidence associated group interventions with fewer depression relapses at post-treatment and follow-up, and family psycho-education with reduced symptoms of depression and mania at post-treatment. Conclusions There is evidence that psychological interventions are effective for people with bipolar disorder. Limits were the very low quality of much of the evidence and therefore inconclusive. Further research should identify the most (cost)-effective interventions for each phase of this disorder

Combined use of steady-state fluorescence emission and anisotropy of merocyanine 540 to distinguish crystalline, gel, ripple, and liquid crystalline phases in dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine bilayers

The various lamellar phases of dipalmitoylphosphadtidylcholine bilayers with and without cholesterol were used to assess the versatility of the fluorescent probe merocyanine 540 through simultaneous measurements of emission intensity, spectral shape, and steady-state anisotropy. Induction of the crystalline phase (Lc') by pre-incubation at 4°C produced a wavelength dependence of anisotropy which was strong at 15 and 25°C, weak at 38°C, and minimal above the main transition (>~41.5°C) or after returning the temperature from 46 to 25°C. The profile of anisotropy values across this temperature range revealed the ability of the probe to detect crystalline, gel (Lβ'), and liquid crystalline (Lα) phases. The temperature dependence of fluorescence intensity was additionally able to distinguish between the ripple (Pβ') and gel phases. In contrast, the shape of the emission spectrum, quantified as the ratio of merocyanine monomer and dimer peaks (585 and 621 nm), was primarily sensitive to the crystalline and gel phases because dimer fluorescence requires a highly-ordered environment. This requirement also explained the diminution of anisotropy wavelength dependence above 25°C. Repetition of experiments with vesicles containing cholesterol allowed creation of a phase map. Superimposition of data from the three simultaneous measurements provided details about the various phase regions in the map not discernible from any one of the three alone. The results were applied to assessment of calcium-induced membrane changes in living cells

Reliability-Based Electronics Shielding Design Tools

Shielding design on large human-rated systems allows minimization of radiation impact on electronic systems. Shielding design tools require adequate methods for evaluation of design layouts, guiding qualification testing, and adequate follow-up on final design evaluation