Semiclosed-circuit atmosphere control in a portable recompression chamber

A small portable recompression chamber is described that can be used both to treat a diver for decompression sickness or to transport him to a larger chamber complex. The device can be operated in either open circuit or semiclosed circuit atmospheres, permits two way conversation between patient and attendant, and uses an air injector for circulation of the chamber atmosphere

Barriers to Charitable Nonprofit Access and Advocacy amid a Pandemic: A Case Study of the Louisiana State Legislature

Research has long established nonprofit organizations’ vital role advocating for the needs of vulnerable populations before legislative policymakers. In the best of times, it is difficult for 501(c)(3) charitable nonprofits employing grassroots advocacy to mobilize vulnerable constituencies to compete with 501(c)(4) and 501(c)(6) advocacy and special interest groups. The latter organizations inherently have greater flexibility and resources to lobby lawmakers directly, permitting greater access to influencing the policy agenda. Through a multi-method case study of the 2020 regular session of the Louisiana State Legislature, this article demonstrates how the COVID-19 pandemic’s unique contextual conditions made legislative advocacy more difficult than usual for charitable nonprofits promoting a progressive policy response to the pandemic within a politically conservative state. Conducted through interviews with nonprofit leaders and an analysis of legislative records and committee hearings, the case study reveals specific barriers that hampered charitable nonprofits’ access to the legislative process, including physical capacity restrictions and health concerns, as well as issues with virtual legislative protocols and conservative committee chairs’ discretion to ignore remote testimony. The article analyzes how these barriers negatively impacted charitable nonprofits’ ability to advocate for vulnerable populations and explores potential implications for equitable political participation and response to the pandemic

Ecological Studies of Blue Grama Grass (Bouteloua gracilis)

Blue grama grass (Bouteloua gracilis) was selected for detailed description here because of its wide distribution and importance throughout the Great Plains Region in the United States.https://scholars.fhsu.edu/fort_hays_studies_series/1058/thumbnail.jp

A Model Predicting the Health Status of Patients with Heart Failure

Objective: To test the causal relationships among the components of sociodemographics,illnesscharacteristics, and selfmanagement ability, and health status in the model of health status of patients with heart failure (HSHF). Design: Descriptive cross-sectional study Materials and methods: Four hundred heart failure patients, either hospitalized or attending out-patient clinics at six hospitals in southern Thailand, were interviewed. Questionnaires covered sociodemographics, the duration of illness, severity of illness, comorbid diseases, measured by the New York Heart Association Functional Classification (NYHA-FC) using the Charlson Comorbidity Index, self-management ability, using the Self-Care of Heart Failure Index (SCHFI), and health status using the Short Form-36 Health Survey (SF-36). The relationships among the study variables were tested and modified under the structural equation modeling (SEM) technique by using LISREL. Results: The collected data were found not to fit with the initial hypothesized model but after modification the new derived model gave an adequate fit with the data and accounted for 64% of the variance in health status. Age had a direct negative effect on health status (β=-0.20, p \u3c 0.01) and had an indirect negative effect on health status through self-management ability, severity of illness and comorbid disease (β=-0.13, p \u3c 0.01). Education had a direct positive effect on health status (β=0.12, p \u3c 0.01). Gender and income had indirect negative effects on health status through severity of illness (β=-0.05; -0.05, p \u3c 0.05). Duration of illness had an indirect positive effect on health status through self-management ability (β=0.09, p \u3c 0.05). Severity of illness and comorbid disease had a direct negative effect on health status (β=-0.31; -0.16, p \u3c 0.01, respectively) and indirect negative effect on health status through self-management ability (β=-0.06; -0.05, p \u3c 0.05, respectively). Selfmanagement ability had a direct positive effect on health status (β=0.38, p \u3c 0.01). Conclusions: The final model provides a guideline for explaining and predicting the health status of patients with heart failure. To improve health status continuity care programs promoting self management ability should be developed and imple-mented both in hospital-based and home-based settings

Extracellular Glutamate: Functional Compartments Operate in Different Concentration Ranges

Extracellular glutamate of glial origin modulates glial and neuronal glutamate release and synaptic plasticity. Estimates of the tonic basal concentration of extracellular glutamate range over three orders of magnitude (0.02–20 μM) depending on the technology employed to make the measurement. Based upon binding constants for glutamate receptors and transporters, this range of concentrations translates into distinct physiological and pathophysiological roles for extracellular glutamate. Here we speculate that the difference in glutamate measurements can be explained if there is patterned membrane surface expression of glutamate release and transporter sites creating extracellular subcompartments that vary in glutamate concentration and are preferentially sampled by different technologies

Environmental effects of SPS: The middle atmosphere

The heavy lift launch vehicle associated with the solar power satellite (SPS) would deposit in the upper atmosphere exhaust and reentry products which could modify the composition of the stratosphere, mesosphere, and lower ionosphere. In order to assess such effects, atmospheric model simulations were performed, especially considering a geographic zone centered at the launch and reentry latitudes

Racial Differences in Clinical Treatment and Self-Care Behaviors of Adults with Chronic Heart Failure

BackgroundIn the United States, the highest prevalence of heart failure (HF) is in blacks followed by whites. Compared with whites, blacks have a higher risk of HF‐related morbidity and mortality and HF‐related hospitalization. Little research has focused on explaining the reasons for these disparities. The purpose of this study was to examine racial differences in demographic and clinical characteristics in blacks and whites with HF and to determine if these characteristics influenced treatment, or together with treatment, influenced self‐care behaviors.Methods and ResultsThis was a secondary analysis of existing data collected from adults (n=272) with chronic HF enrolled from outpatient sites in the northeastern United States and followed for 6 months. After adjusting for sociodemographic and clinical characteristics within reduced (HFrEF) and preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) groups, there were 2 significant racial differences in clinical treatment. Blacks with HFrEF were prescribed ACE inhibitors and hydralazine and isosorbide dinitrate (H‐ISDN) more often than whites. In the HFpEF group, blacks were taking more medications and were prescribed digoxin and a diuretic when symptomatic. Deficits in HF knowledge and decreased medication adherence, objectively measured, were more prominent in blacks. These racial differences were not explained by sociodemographic or clinical characteristics or clinical treatment variables. Premorbid intellect and the quality of support received contributed to clinical treatment and self‐care.ConclusionAlthough few differences in clinical treatment could be attributed solely to race, knowledge about HF and medication adherence is lower in blacks than whites. Further research is needed to explain these observations, which may be targets for future intervention research

Origin of the giant magnetic moments of Fe impurities on and in Cs films

To explore the origin of the observed giant magnetic moments ($\sim 7 \mu_B$) of Fe impurities on the surface and in the bulk of Cs films, we have performed the relativistic LSDA + U calculations using the linearized muffin-tin orbital (LMTO) band method. We have found that Fe impurities in Cs behave differently from those in noble metals or in Pd. Whereas the induced spin polarization of Cs atoms is negligible, the Fe ion itself is found to be the source of the giant magnetic moment. The 3d electrons of Fe in Cs are localized as the 4f electrons in rare-earth ions so that the orbital magnetic moment becomes as large as the spin magnetic moment. The calculated total magnetic moment of $M = 6.43 \mu_B$, which comes mainly from Fe ion, is close to the experimentally observed value.Comment: 4 pages including 3 figures and 1 table. Submitted to PR

The NASA Ames Research Center one- and two-dimensional stratospheric models. Part 2: The two-dimensional model

The two-dimensional model of stratospheric constituents is presented in detail. The derivation of pertinent transport parameters and the numerical solution of the species continuity equations, including a technique for treating the stiff differential equations that represent the chemical kinetic terms, and appropriate methods for simulating the diurnal variations of the solar zenith angle and species concentrations are discussed. Predicted distributions of tracer constituents (ozone, carbon 14, nitric acid) are compared with observed distributions

The VLA Galactic Plane Survey

The VLA Galactic Plane Survey (VGPS) is a survey of HI and 21-cm continuum emission in the Galactic plane between longitude 18 degrees 67 degr. with latitude coverage from |b| < 1.3 degr. to |b| < 2.3 degr. The survey area was observed with the Very Large Array (VLA) in 990 pointings. Short-spacing information for the HI line emission was obtained by additional observations with the Green Bank Telescope (GBT). HI spectral line images are presented with a resolution of 1 arcmin x 1 arcmin x 1.56 km/s (FWHM) and rms noise of 2 K per 0.824 km/s channel. Continuum images made from channels without HI line emission have 1 arcmin (FWHM) resolution. VGPS images are compared with images from the Canadian Galactic Plane Survey (CGPS) and the Southern Galactic Plane Survey (SGPS). In general, the agreement between these surveys is impressive, considering the differences in instrumentation and image processing techniques used for each survey. The differences between VGPS and CGPS images are small, < 6 K (rms) in channels where the mean HI brightness temperature in the field exceeds 80 K. A similar degree of consistency is found between the VGPS and SGPS. The agreement we find between arcminute resolution surveys of the Galactic plane is a crucial step towards combining these surveys into a single uniform dataset which covers 90% of the Galactic disk: the International Galactic Plane Survey (IGPS). The VGPS data will be made available on the World Wide Web through the Canadian Astronomy Data Centre (CADC).Comment: Accepted for publication in The Astronomical Journal. 41 pages, 13 figures. For information on data release, colour images etc. see http://www.ras.ucalgary.ca/VGP