A common trajectory recapitulated by urban economies

Is there a general economic pathway recapitulated by individual cities over and over? Identifying such evolution structure, if any, would inform models for the assessment, maintenance, and forecasting of urban sustainability and economic success as a quantitative baseline. This premise seems to contradict the existing body of empirical evidences for path-dependent growth shaping the unique history of individual cities. And yet, recent empirical evidences and theoretical models have amounted to the universal patterns, mostly size-dependent, thereby expressing many of urban quantities as a set of simple scaling laws. Here, we provide a mathematical framework to integrate repeated cross-sectional data, each of which freezes in time dimension, into a frame of reference for longitudinal evolution of individual cities in time. Using data of over 100 millions employment in thousand business categories between 1998 and 2013, we decompose each city's evolution into a pre-factor and relative changes to eliminate national and global effects. In this way, we show the longitudinal dynamics of individual cities recapitulate the observed cross-sectional regularity. Larger cities are not only scaled-up versions of their smaller peers but also of their past. In addition, our model shows that both specialization and diversification are attributed to the distribution of industry's scaling exponents, resulting a critical population of 1.2 million at which a city makes an industrial transition into innovative economies

High Temperatures and Kidney Disease Morbidity: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

Objectives In recent years, serious concerns have been raised regarding the impacts of rising temperatures on health. The present study was conducted to investigate the relationship between elevated temperatures and kidney disease through a systematic review and meta-analysis. Methods In October 2017, 2 researchers independently searched related studies in PubMed and Embase. A meta-analysis was conducted using a random-effects model, including only studies that presented odds ratios, relative risks, or percentage changes, along with 95% confidence intervals (CIs). The characteristics of each study were summarized, and the Egger test and funnel plots were used to evaluate publication bias. Results Eleven studies that met the criteria were included in the final analysis. The pooled results suggest an increase of 30% (95% CI, 20 to 40) in kidney disease morbidity with high temperatures. In a disease-specific subgroup analysis, statistically significant results were observed for both renal colic or kidney stones and other renal diseases. In a study design–specific subgroup analysis, statistically significant results were observed in both time-series analyses and studies with other designs. In a temperature measure–specific subgroup analysis, significant results were likewise found for both studies using mean temperature measurements and studies measuring heat waves or heat stress. Conclusions Our results indicate that morbidity due to kidney disease increases at high temperatures. We also found significant results in subgroup analyses. However, further time-series analyses are needed to obtain more generalizable evidence

Radiation exposure from computed tomography in blunt trauma patients

Introduction. Computed tomography (CT) has many diagnostic advantages, spurring growth in the number of CT examinations. As the use of CT increases, the potential for radiation-induced adverse effects has become an issue. The primary objective of this study was to assess the liberal use of CT induced radiation exposure in patients with multiple blunt traumas. The secondary objective was to investigate the factors affecting the estimated effective dose resulting from CTs unrelated to final diagnosis. Methods. Using data from our hospital information system, we selected patients assigned a trauma code, according to the Korean Standard Classification of Diseases, and with three or more body lesions assessed by CT at the same time in the emergency department. Each CT conducted was categorized into ‘CT related to the final diagnosis’ or ‘CT unrelated to final diagnosis’. The characteristics and estimated effective dose of CTs unrelated to the final diagnosis were analyzed. The factors affecting the estimated effective dose of CTs unrelated to final diagnosis were investigated. Results. More than half of all CT examinations were not associated with the final diagnosis. The additional estimated effective dose due to CTs being unrelated to the final diagnosis in each patient was a sufficient amount of radiation exposure to increase the possibility of fatal cancer. Conclusion. A considerable number of CT scans were unrelated to the patient’s final diagnosis, which exposes the patient to additional radiation exposure

Comment on "Stellar activity masquerading as planets in the habitable zone of the M dwarf Gliese 581"

This document is the Accepted Manuscript Version of the following article: Guillem Anglada-Escude and Mikko Tuomi, 'Comment on "Stellar activity masquerading as planets in the habitable zone of the M dwarf Gliese 581"', Science, Vol 347 (6226), 2015, the final, published version is available online at doi: 10.1126/science.1260796. © 2015 The American Association for the Advancement of Science. All rights reserved.Robertson et al. (Reports, 25 July 2014, p. 440) claimed that activity-induced variability is responsible for the Doppler signal of the proposed planet candidate GJ 581d. We point out that their analysis using periodograms of residual data is inappropriate and promotes inadequate tools. Because the claim challenges the viability of the method to detect exo-Earths, we encourage reanalysis and a deliberation on what the field-standard methods should be.Peer reviewedFinal Accepted Versio

In vitro activity of gemifloxacin against recent clinical isolates of bacteria in Korea.

Gemifloxacin is an enhanced-affinity fluoroquinolone with broad-spectrum antibacterial activity. In Korea, resistant bacteria are relatively more prevalent than in other industrialized countries. In this study, we studied the in vitro activities of gemifloxacin, gatifloxacin, moxifloxacin, levofloxacin, ciprofloxacin, and other commonly used antimicrobial agents against 1,689 bacterial strains isolated at four Korean university hospitals during 1999-2000. Minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) were determined using the agar dilution method of National Committee for Clinical Laboratory Standards. Gemifloxacin had the lowest MICs for the respiratory pathogens: 90% of Streptococcus pneumoniae, Moraxella catarrhalis, and Haemophilus influenzae were inhibited by 0.06, 0.03, and 0.03 mg/L, respectively. Gemifloxacin was more active than the other fluoroquinolones against methicillin-susceptible Staphylococcus aureus, coagulase-negative staphylococci, streptococci, and Enterococcus faecalis. The MIC90s of gemifloxacin for Klebsiella oxytoca, Proteus vulgaris, and non-typhoidal Salmonella spp. were 0.25, 1.0, and 0.12 mg/L, respectively, while those for other Gram-negative bacilli were 4-64 mg/L. In conclusion, gemifloxacin was the most active among the comparative agents against Gram-positive species, including respiratory pathogens isolated in Korea