Historical cohort study examining comparative effectiveness of albuterol inhalers with and without integrated dose counter for patients with asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

This study was supported financially by an unrestricted grant from Teva Pharmaceuticals, Frazer, PA, USA. The authors thank Jenny Fanstone of Fanstone Medical Communications Ltd., UK, and Elizabeth V Hillyer for medical writing support, funded by Research in Real-Life. We acknowledge with gratitude Dr Ruchir Parikh for his review of and contributions to the manuscript.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Comparative Effectiveness of Step-up Therapies in Children with Asthma Prescribed Inhaled Corticosteroids : A Historical Cohort Study

This work was supported by the Respiratory Effectiveness Group. Acknowledgments We thank the Respiratory Effectiveness Group for funding this work, Annie Burden for assistance with statistics, and Simon Van Rysewyk and Lisa Law for assistance with medical writing.Peer reviewedPostprin

Ipratropium/Salbutamol Comparator Versus Originator for Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease Exacerbations : USA Observational Cohort Study Using the Clinformatics™ Health Claims Database

Acknowledgements The authors wish to thank Priyanka Raju Konduru of Observational and Pragmatic Research Institute Pte Ltd (OPRI) for assistance with data extraction. This study was sponsored and funded by Teva Branded Pharmaceutical Products, R&D, Inc. Lynanne McGuire, PhD, of MedVal Scientific Information Services, LLC (Princeton, NJ, USA) provided medical writing and editorial assistance. This manuscript was prepared according to the International Society for Medical Publication Professionals’ ‘Good Publication Practice for Communicating Company-Sponsored Medical Research: the GPP3 Guidelines.’ Funding to support medical writing assistance was provided to MedVal by Teva Branded Pharmaceutical Products R&D, Inc., Frazer, PA, USA. Teva provided a full review of the article and provided funding of the journal’s article processing charges. All named authors meet the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) criteria for authorship for this manuscript, take responsibility for the integrity of the work as a whole, and have given final approval to the version to be published. All authors had full access to all of the data in this study and take complete responsibility for the integrity of the data and accuracy of the data analysis.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Ocean response to a hurricane, part II : data tabulations and numerical modeling

Field observations of the ocean's forced stage response to three hurricanes, Norbert (1984), Josephine (1984) and Gloria (1985), are analyzed and presented in a storm-centered coordinate system. All three hurricanes had a non-dimensional speed of O(1) and produced a strongly rightward biased response of the ocean surface mixed layer (SML) transport and current. The maximum layer-averaged SML currents varried from 0.8 m S-1 in response to Josephine, which was a fairly weak hurricane, to 1.7 m S.l in response to Gloria, which was much stronger. In these two cases the current amplitude is set primarly by the strength of the wind stress and its efficiency of coupling with the SML current, and the depth of vertical mixing of the SML. The Norbert case (SML Burger number ≈ 1/2) was also affected by significant pressure-coupling with the thermocline that caused appreciable upwellng by inertial pumping and strong thermocline-depth currents, up to 0.3 m S-l, under the trailing edge of Norbert. The observed SML current has a vertical shear in the direction of the local wind of up to 0.01 S-l. This vertical shear causes the surface current to be larger than the layer-averaged SML current described above by typically 0.2 m S.l.Funding was provided by the Office of Naval Research under grant No. N00014-89-J-I053

Highly resolved observations and simulations of the ocean response to a hurricane

Author Posting. © American Geophysical Union, 2007. This article is posted here by permission of American Geophysical Union for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Geophysical Research Letters 34 (2007): L13604, doi:10.1029/2007GL029679.An autonomous, profiling float called EM-APEX was developed to provide a quantitative and comprehensive description of the ocean side of hurricane-ocean interaction. EM-APEX measures temperature, salinity and pressure to CTD quality and relative horizontal velocity with an electric field sensor. Three prototype floats were air-deployed into the upper ocean ahead of Hurricane Frances (2004). All worked properly and returned a highly resolved description of the upper ocean response to a category 4 hurricane. At a float launched 55 km to the right of the track, the hurricane generated large amplitude, inertially rotating velocity in the upper 120 m of the water column. Coincident with the hurricane passage there was intense vertical mixing that cooled the near surface layer by about 2.2°C. We find consistent model simulations of this event provided the wind stress is computed from the observed winds using a high wind-speed saturated drag coefficient.The development of the EM-APEX float system was supported by the Office of Naval Research through SBIR contract N00014-03-C-0242 to Webb Research Corporation and with a subcontract to APL-UW

Upper-ocean response to Hurricane Frances (2004) observed by Profiling EM-APEX floats

Author Posting. © American Meteorological Society, 2011. This article is posted here by permission of American Meteorological Society for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Physical Oceanography 41 (2011): 1041–1056, doi:10.1175/2010JPO4313.1.Three autonomous profiling Electromagnetic Autonomous Profiling Explorer (EM-APEX) floats were air deployed one day in advance of the passage of Hurricane Frances (2004) as part of the Coupled Boundary Layer Air–Sea Transfer (CBLAST)-High field experiment. The floats were deliberately deployed at locations on the hurricane track, 55 km to the right of the track, and 110 km to the right of the track. These floats provided profile measurements between 30 and 200 m of in situ temperature, salinity, and horizontal velocity every half hour during the hurricane passage and for several weeks afterward. Some aspects of the observed response were similar at the three locations—the dominance of near-inertial horizontal currents and the phase of these currents—whereas other aspects were different. The largest-amplitude inertial currents were observed at the 55-km site, where SST cooled the most, by about 2.2°C, as the surface mixed layer deepened by about 80 m. Based on the time–depth evolution of the Richardson number and comparisons with a numerical ocean model, it is concluded that SST cooled primarily because of shear-induced vertical mixing that served to bring deeper, cooler water into the surface layer. Surface gravity waves, estimated from the observed high-frequency velocity, reached an estimated 12-m significant wave height at the 55-km site. Along the track, there was lesser amplitude inertial motion and SST cooling, only about 1.2°C, though there was greater upwelling, about 25-m amplitude, and inertial pumping, also about 25-m amplitude. Previously reported numerical simulations of the upper-ocean response are in reasonable agreement with these EM-APEX observations provided that a high wind speed–saturated drag coefficient is used to estimate the wind stress. A direct inference of the drag coefficient CD is drawn from the momentum budget. For wind speeds of 32–47 m s−1, CD ~ 1.4 × 10−3.The Office of Naval Research supported the development of the EM-APEX float system through SBIR Contract N00014-03-C-0242 to Webb Research Corporation and with a subcontract to APL-UW. Sanford and J. Girton were supported by the Office of Naval Research through GrantsN00014-04-1-0691 and N00014- 07-1-024, and J. Price was supported through Grant N00014-04-1-0109

Attitude Determination from Single-Antenna Carrier-Phase Measurements

A model of carrier phase measurement (as carried out by a satellite navigation receiver) is formulated based on electromagnetic theory. The model shows that the phase of the open-circuit voltage induced in the receiver antenna with respect to a local oscillator (in the receiver) depends on the relative orientation of the receiving and transmitting antennas. The model shows that using a {\it single} receiving antenna, and making carrier phase measurements to seven satellites, the 3-axis attitude of a user platform (in addition to its position and time) can be computed relative to an initial point. This measurement model can also be used to create high-fidelity satellite signal simulators that take into account the effect of platform rotation as well as translation.Comment: 12 pages, and one figure. Published in J. Appl. Phys. vol. 91, No. 7, April 1, 200

Applying UK real world primary care data to predict asthma attacks in 3776 well-characterised children : a retrospective cohort study

FUNDING This analysis was funded by Respiratory Effectiveness Group DATA AVAILABILITY STATEMENT Data are available from Clinical Practice Research Datalink (https://www.cprd.com/home/) and Optimum Patient Care (http://optimumpatientcare.org/about-us/).Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Gender and Aphasia in the Stroke Data Bank

Aphasia Was Present in 19.4% of the Men and 22.5% of the Women in the Stroke Data Bank. There Were No Gender Differences in Aphasia Incidence among the Intracerebral Hemorrhages. Aphasia Was More Frequent among Women with Infarcts (37.0%) Than Men (28.3%). When Stroke Mechanism Was Controlled For, There Was an Excess of Aphasia among the Women with Stroke Due to Cardiac Embolism. When Stroke Site Was Controlled For, There Were No Gender Differences in Aphasia Frequency. Wernicke′s, Global, and Anomic Aphasias Were More Common in Women Than Men; Broca′s Aphasia Was Somewhat More Common in Men. Although There Were No Gender Differences in Infarct Size overall, Men with Aphasia Had Larger Infarcts Than Women with Aphasia. Although Gender Differences Were Small, the Infarct Lesions Producing Aphasia in Men Were More Posteriorly Placed and the Infarct Lesions in Women Were More Anteriorly Placed, Suggesting Possible Gender Differences in the Positioning of the Language Zone in the Brain. © 1994 Academic Press, Inc

The Stroke Data Bank: Design, Methods, and Baseline Characteristics

The National Institute of Neurological and Communicative Disorders and Stroke Initiated the Stroke Data Bank, which is a Multicenter Project to Prospectively Collect Data on the Clinical Course and Sequelae of Stroke. Additional Objectives Were to Provide Information that Would Enable a Standard Diagnostic Clinical Evaluation, to Identify Prognostic Factors, and to Provide Planning Data for Future Studies. a Brief Description of the Structure and Methods Precede the Baseline Characterization of 1,805 Patients Enrolled in the Stroke Data Bank between July 1983 and June 1986. Two Thirds of These Patients Were Admitted within 24 Hours after Stroke Onset. Medical History, Neurologic History, and Hospitalization Summaries Are Presented Separately for the Following Stroke Subtypes: Infarction, Unknown Cause; Embolism from Cardiac Source; Infarction Due to Atherosclerosis; Lacune; Parenchy-Matous or Intracerebral Hemorrhage; Subarachnoid Hemorrhage; and Other. the Utility and Limitations of These Data Are Discussed. © 1988 American Heart Association, Inc