Influenza A H5N1 Detection

We developed a sensitive and rapid real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) assay to detect influenza A H5N1 virus in clinical samples. This assay was evaluated with samples from H5N1-infected patients and demonstrated greater sensitivity and faster turnaround time than nested RT-PCR

How important is perception of safety to park use? A four-city survey

Our purpose was to determine the relative importance of individual- and park-related characteristics in influencing both local park use and specific engagement in active sports, walking and sedentary pursuits. We surveyed 3815 adults living within 0.80 km of one of 24 study parks in four US metropolitan areas. Chi-square statistics and baseline-category logit models examined how perceived safety and park characteristics were related to park visitation and types of park activities, controlling for city, individual and park characteristics. Survey participants who perceived the parks as safe (88%) had 4.6 times the odds (95% CI 3.5–6.0) of reporting having visited the study park. Men and African Americans were more likely, and older individuals and those who self-reported being in fair or poor health less likely to perceive parks as safe. Parks having low incivilities scores and those with four or more different facilities, such as tennis courts, swimming pools, basketball courts, etc., were more likely than parks with fewer facilities to be perceived as safe. While park facilities had a much smaller odds ratio for predicting park visits (1.8), it affected 70% of the population. The implication is, if these associations are causal, modifying park facilities may have a greater population impact than improving perceptions of park safety. Our findings are consistent with studies suggesting that increasing the variety of park facilities and offering more organised activities may encourage physical activity among specific target groups

Use of neighbourhood parks: does socio-economic status matter? A four-city study

To determine if neighborhood socio-economic status (SES) influences park use and park-based physical activity

Recruitment strategies for predominantly low-income, multi-racial/ethnic children and parents to 3-year community-based intervention trials: Childhood Obesity Prevention and Treatment Research (COPTR) Consortium

Background: The recruitment of participants into community-based randomized controlled trials studying childhood obesity is often challenging, especially from low-income racial/ethnical minorities and when long-term participant commitments are required. This paper describes strategies used to recruit and enroll predominately low-income racial/ethnic minority parents and children into the Childhood Obesity Prevention and Treatment Research (COPTR) consortium. Methods: The COPTR consortium has run four independent 3-year, multi-level (individual, family, school, clinic, and community) community-based randomized controlled trials. Two were prevention trials in preschool children and the other two were treatment trials in pre-adolescents and adolescent youth. All trials reported monthly participant recruitment numbers using a standardized method over the projected 18-24 months of recruitment. After randomization of participants was completed, recruitment staff and investigators from each trial retrospectively completed a survey of recruitment strategies and their perceived top three recruitment strategies and barriers. Results: Recruitment was completed in 15-21 months across trials, enrolling a total of 1745 parent-child dyads- out of 6314 screened. The number of children screened per randomized child was 4.6 and 3.5 in the two prevention trials, and 3.1 and 2.5 in the two treatment trials. Recruitment strategies reported included: (1) careful planning, (2) working with trusting community partners, (3) hiring recruitment staff who were culturally sensitive, personality appropriate, and willing to work flexible hours, (4) contacting potential participants actively and repeatedly, (5) recruiting at times and locations convenient for participants, (6) providing incentives to participants to complete baseline measures, (7) using a tracking database, (8) evaluating whether participants understand the activities and expectations of the study, and (9) assessing participants' motivation for participating. Working with community partners, hiring culturally sensitive staff, and contacting potential participants repeatedly were cited by two trials among their top three strategies. The requirement of a 3-year commitment to the trial was cited by two trials to be among the top three recruitment barriers. Conclusions: Comprehensive strategies that include community partnership support, culturally sensitive recruitment staff, and repeated contacts with potential participants can result in successful recruitment of low-income racial/ethnic minority families into obesity prevention and treatment trials

Tomato: a crop species amenable to improvement by cellular and molecular methods

Tomato is a crop plant with a relatively small DNA content per haploid genome and a well developed genetics. Plant regeneration from explants and protoplasts is feasable which led to the development of efficient transformation procedures. In view of the current data, the isolation of useful mutants at the cellular level probably will be of limited value in the genetic improvement of tomato. Protoplast fusion may lead to novel combinations of organelle and nuclear DNA (cybrids), whereas this technique also provides a means of introducing genetic information from alien species into tomato. Important developments have come from molecular approaches. Following the construction of an RFLP map, these RFLP markers can be used in tomato to tag quantitative traits bred in from related species. Both RFLP's and transposons are in the process of being used to clone desired genes for which no gene products are known. Cloned genes can be introduced and potentially improve specific properties of tomato especially those controlled by single genes. Recent results suggest that, in principle, phenotypic mutants can be created for cloned and characterized genes and will prove their value in further improving the cultivated tomato.

Studies of Dense Cores with ALMA

Dense cores are the simplest star-forming sites that we know, but despite their simplicity, they still hold a number of mysteries that limit our understanding of how solar-type stars form. ALMA promises to revolutionize our knowledge of every stage in the life of a core, from the pre-stellar phase to the final disruption by the newly born star. This contribution presents a brief review of the evolution of dense cores and illustrates particular questions that will greatly benefit from the increase in resolution and sensitivity expected from ALMAComment: 6 pages, 2 figures, to appear in Astrophysics and Space Science, special issue of "Science with ALMA: a new era for Astrophysics" conference, ed. Dr. Bachille

Octupole vibration in superdeformed 66152Dy86

The decay of SD band 6 into the yrast SD band of 125Dy was confirmed and nine linking transitions were identified. As a result, the excitation energy of the lowest level in band 6 was measured to be 14 238 keV. The states in this band were tentatively determined to be negative parity and odd spin. The measured properties are consistent with an interpretation in terms of a rotational band built on a collective octupole vibration

Rotational damping, ridges, and the quasicontinuum of γ rays in Dy152

The quasicontinuum of γ rays from the feeding and decay of superdeformed and normal bands in Dy152 have been extracted in one- and two-dimensional spectra. The Eγ-Eγ correlations in the latter reveal strong ridges associated with superdeformed and normal states in this nucleus. The entry distributions for normal and superdeformed bands have been extracted from measured fold and sum-energy distributions. A Monte Carlo model was developed to simultaneously describe all the quasicontinuum and ridge spectra as well as the feeding intensity of the superdeformed bands. The rotational damping widths in the normal and superdeformed wells were derived based on a comparison of the data with model calculations of the continuum of γ rays at finite temperature