Why do Particle Clouds Generate Electric Charges?

Grains in desert sandstorms spontaneously generate strong electrical charges; likewise volcanic dust plumes produce spectacular lightning displays. Charged particle clouds also cause devastating explosions in food, drug and coal processing industries. Despite the wide-ranging importance of granular charging in both nature and industry, even the simplest aspects of its causes remain elusive, because it is difficult to understand how inert grains in contact with little more than other inert grains can generate the large charges observed. Here, we present a simple yet predictive explanation for the charging of granular materials in collisional flows. We argue from very basic considerations that charge transfer can be expected in collisions of identical dielectric grains in the presence of an electric field, and we confirm the model's predictions using discrete-element simulations and a tabletop granular experiment

Effects of semaglutide on stroke subtypes in type 2 diabetes: post hoc analysis of the randomised SUSTAIN 6 & PIONEER 6

This is the final version. Available on open access from Lippincott, Williams & Wilkins via the DOI in this record Background: Glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists, including semaglutide, may reduce stroke risk in people with type 2 diabetes (T2D). This post hoc analysis examined the subcutaneous and oral semaglutide effects, versus placebo, on stroke and its subtypes in people with T2D at high cardiovascular (CV) risk. Methods: SUSTAIN 6 and PIONEER 6 were randomised CV outcome trials of subcutaneous and oral semaglutide in people with T2D at high CV risk, respectively. Time to first stroke and stroke subtypes were analysed using a Cox proportional hazards model stratified by trial with pooled treatment as a factor. The impact of prior stroke, prior myocardial infarction or stroke, age, sex, systolic blood pressure, estimated glomerular filtration rate, and prior atrial fibrillation on treatment effects was assessed using interaction p-values. Risk of major adverse CV event (MACE) was analysed according to prior stroke. Results: 106/6480 participants had a stroke (1.0 event/100 patient-years of observation [PYO]). Semaglutide reduced incidence of any stroke versus placebo (0.8 vs 1.1 events/100 PYO; HR 0.68, 95%CI 0.46–1.00;p=0.048), driven by significant reductions in risk of small-vessel occlusion (0.3 vs 0.7 events/100 PYO; HR 0.51, 95%CI 0.29–0.89;p=0.017). HRs for risk of any stroke with semaglutide versus placebo were 0.60 (95%CI 0.37–0.99; 0.5 vs 0.9 events/100 PYO) and 0.89 (95%CI 0.47–1.69; 2.7 vs 3.0 events/100 PYO) in those without and with prior stroke, respectively. Except for prior atrial fibrillation (pinteraction=0.025), no significant interactions were observed between treatment effects on risk of any stroke and subgroups investigated, or between treatment effects on risk of MACE and prior stroke (pinteraction>0.05 for all). Conclusions: Semaglutide reduced incidence of any first stroke during the trials versus placebo in people with T2D at high CV risk, primarily driven by small-vessel occlusion prevention. Semaglutide treatment, versus placebo, lowered the risk of stroke irrespective of prior stroke at baseline. Clinical Trial Registration Information: SUSTAIN 6: NCT01720446 (https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT01720446); PIONEER 6: NCT02692716 (https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT02692716).Novo Nordisk A/S (Søborg, Denmark

ICD-10 coding algorithms for defining comorbidities of acute myocardial infarction

BACKGROUND: With the introduction of ICD-10 throughout Canada, it is important to ensure that Acute Myocardial Infarction (AMI) comorbidities employed in risk adjustment methods remain valid and robust. Therefore, we developed ICD-10 coding algorithms for nine AMI comorbidities, examined the validity of the ICD-10 and ICD-9 coding algorithms in detection of these comorbidities, and assessed their performance in predicting mortality. The nine comorbidities that we examined were shock, diabetes with complications, congestive heart failure, cancer, cerebrovascular disease, pulmonary edema, acute renal failure, chronic renal failure, and cardiac dysrhythmias. METHODS: Coders generated a comprehensive list of ICD-10 codes corresponding to each AMI comorbidity. Physicians independently reviewed and determined the clinical relevance of each item on the list. To ensure that the newly developed ICD-10 coding algorithms were valid in recording comorbidities, medical charts were reviewed. After assessing ICD-10 algorithms' validity, both ICD-10 and ICD-9 algorithms were applied to a Canadian provincial hospital discharge database to predict in-hospital, 30-day, and 1-year mortality. RESULTS: Compared to chart review data as a 'criterion standard', ICD-9 and ICD-10 data had similar sensitivities (ranging from 7.1 – 100%), and specificities (above 93.6%) for each of the nine AMI comorbidities studied. The frequencies for the comorbidities were similar between ICD-9 and ICD-10 coding algorithms for 49,861 AMI patients in a Canadian province during 1994 – 2004. The C-statistics for predicting 30-day and 1 year mortality were the same for ICD-9 (0.82) and for ICD-10 data (0.81). CONCLUSION: The ICD-10 coding algorithms developed in this study to define AMI comorbidities performed similarly as past ICD-9 coding algorithms in detecting conditions and risk-adjustment in our sample. However, the ICD-10 coding algorithms should be further validated in external databases

Seeing the woods for the trees: the problem of information inefficiency and information overload on operator performance

One of the recurring questions in designing dynamic control environments is whether providing more information leads to better operational decisions. The idea of having every piece of information is increasingly tempting (and in safety critical domains often mandatory) but has become a potential obstacle for designers and operators. The present research study examined this challenge of appropriate information design and usability within a railway control setting. A laboratory study was conducted to investigate the presentation of different levels of information (taken from data processing framework, Dadashi et al., 2014) and the association with, and potential prediction of, the performance of a human operator when completing a cognitively demanding problem solving scenario within railways. Results indicated that presenting users only with information corresponding to their cognitive task, and in the absence of other, non task-relevant information, improves the performance of their problem solving/alarm handling. Knowing the key features of interest to various agents (machine or human) and using the data processing framework to guide the optimal level of information required by each of these agents could potentially lead to safer and more usable designs

Acute myocardial infarction incidence and hospital mortality: routinely collected national data versus linkage of national registers

Background and Objective To compare levels of and trends in incidence and hospital mortality of first acute myocardial infarction (AMI) based on routinely collected hospital morbidity data and on linked registers. Cases taken from routine hospital data are a mix of patients with recurrent and first events, and double counting occurs when cases are admitted for an event several times during 1 year. By linkage of registers, recurrent events and double counts can be excluded. Study Design and Setting In 1995 and 2000, 28,733 and 25,864 admissions for AMI were registered in the Dutch national hospital discharge register. Linkage with the population register yielded 21,565 patients with a first AMI in 1995 and 20,414 in 2000. Results In 1995 and 2000, the incidence based on the hospital register was higher than based on the linked registers in men (22% and 23% higher) and women (18% and 20% higher). In both years, hospital mortality based on the hospital register and on linked registers was similar. The decline in incidence between 1995 and 2000 was comparable whether based on standard hospital register data or linked data (18% and 20% in men, 15% and 17% in women). Similarly, the decline in hospital mortality was comparable using either approach (11% and 9% in both men and women). Conclusion Although the incidence based on routine hospital data overestimates the actual incidence of first AMI based on linked registers, hospital mortality and trends in incidence and hospital mortality are not changed by excluding recurrent events and double counts. Since trends in incidence and hospital mortality of AMI are often based on national routinely collected data, it is reassuring that our results indicate that findings from such studies are indeed valid and not biased because of recurrent events and double counts

Left Hemisphere Specialization for Oro-Facial Movements of Learned Vocal Signals by Captive Chimpanzees

The left hemisphere of the human brain is dominant in the production of speech and signed language. Whether similar lateralization of function for communicative signal production is present in other primates remains a topic of considerable debate. In the current study, we examined whether oro-facial movements associated with the production of learned attention-getting sounds are differentially lateralized compared to facial expressions associated with the production of species-typical emotional vocalizations in chimpanzees.Still images captured from digital video were used to quantify oro-facial asymmetries in the production of two attention-getting sounds and two species-typical vocalizations in a sample of captive chimpanzees. Comparisons of mouth asymmetries during production of these sounds revealed significant rightward biased asymmetries for the attention-getting sounds and significant leftward biased asymmetries for the species-typical sounds.These results suggest that the motor control of oro-facial movements associated with the production of learned sounds is lateralized to the left hemisphere in chimpanzees. Furthermore, the findings suggest that the antecedents for lateralization of human speech may have been present in the common ancestor of chimpanzees and humans approximately 5 mya and are not unique to the human lineage

Use of recommended medications after myocardial infarction in Austria

Guidelines recommend long-term use of beta-blockers (BB), statins, and angiotensin-converting-enzyme-inhibitors or angiotensin-receptor-blockers (ACEI/ARB) after myocardial infarction (MI), but data on their use after discharge are scarce. From Austrian sickness funds claims, we identified all acute MI patients who were discharged within 30 days and who survived ≥120 days after MI in 2004. We ascertained outpatient use of ACEI/ARBs, BBs, statins, and aspirin from all filled prescriptions between discharge and 120 days post MI. Comorbidities were ascertained from use of indicator drugs during the preceding year. Multivariate logistic regression was used to evaluate the independent determinants of study drug use. We evaluated 4,105 MI patients, whose mean age was 68.8 (±13.2) years; 59.5% were men. Within 120 days after MI, 67% filled prescriptions for ACE/ARBs, 74% for BBs, and 67% for statin. While 41% received all these classes and 34% two, 25% of patients received only one or none of these drugs. Older age and presence of severe mental illness were associated with lower use of all drug classes. Diabetics had greater ACEI/ARB use. Fewer BBs were used in patients with obstructive lung disease. Statin use was lower in patients using treatment for congestive heart failure (all P < 0.001). We conclude that recommended medications were underused in Austrian MI survivors. Quality indicators should be established and interventions be implemented to ensure maximum secondary prevention after MI

Genome Erosion in a Nitrogen-Fixing Vertically Transmitted Endosymbiotic Multicellular Cyanobacterium

Background: An ancient cyanobacterial incorporation into a eukaryotic organism led to the evolution of plastids (chloroplasts) and subsequently to the origin of the plant kingdom. The underlying mechanism and the identities of the partners in this monophyletic event remain elusive. Methodology/Principal Findings: To shed light on this evolutionary process, we sequenced the genome of a cyanobacterium residing extracellularly in an endosymbiosis with a plant, the water-fern Azolla filiculoides Lam. This symbiosis was selected as it has characters which make it unique among extant cyanobacterial plant symbioses: the cyanobacterium lacks autonomous growth and is vertically transmitted between plant generations. Our results reveal features of evolutionary significance. The genome is in an eroding state, evidenced by a large proportion of pseudogenes (31.2%) and a high frequency of transposable elements (,600) scattered throughout the genome. Pseudogenization is found in genes such as the replication initiator dnaA and DNA repair genes, considered essential to free-living cyanobacteria. For some functional categories of genes pseudogenes are more prevalent than functional genes. Loss of function is apparent even within the ‘core’ gene categories of bacteria, such as genes involved in glycolysis and nutrient uptake. In contrast, serving as a critical source of nitrogen for the host, genes related to metabolic processes such as cell differentiation and nitrogen-fixation are well preserved. Conclusions/Significance: This is the first finding of genome degradation in a plant symbiont and phenotypically complex cyanobacterium and one of only a few extracellular endosymbionts described showing signs of reductive genome evolution. Our findings suggest an ongoing selective streamlining of this cyanobacterial genome which has resulted in an organism devoted to nitrogen fixation and devoid of autonomous growth. The cyanobacterial symbiont of Azolla can thus be considered at the initial phase of a transition from free-living organism to a nitrogen-fixing plant entity, a transition process which may mimic what drove the evolution of chloroplasts from a cyanobacterial ancestor

Complementary and alternative medicine use among US Navy and Marine Corps personnel

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Recently, numerous studies have revealed an increase in complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) use in US civilian populations. In contrast, few studies have examined CAM use within military populations, which have ready access to conventional medicine. Currently, the prevalence and impact of CAM use in US military populations remains unknown.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>To investigate CAM use in US Navy and Marine Corps personnel, the authors surveyed a stratified random sample of 5,000 active duty and Reserve/National Guard members between December 2000 and July 2002. Chi-square tests and multivariable logistic regression were used to assess univariate associations and adjusted odds of CAM use in this population.</p> <p>Results and discussion</p> <p>Of 3,683 service members contacted, 1,446 (39.3%) returned a questionnaire and 1,305 gave complete demographic and survey data suitable for study. Among respondents, more than 37% reported using at least one CAM therapy during the past year. Herbal therapies were among the most commonly reported (15.9%). Most respondents (69.8%) reported their health as being very good or excellent. Modeling revealed that CAM use was most common among personnel who were women, white, and officers. Higher levels of recent physical pain and lower levels of satisfaction with conventional medical care were significantly associated with increased odds of reporting CAM use.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>These data suggest that CAM use is prevalent in the US military and consistent with patterns in other US civilian populations. Because there is much to be learned about CAM use along with allopathic therapy, US military medical professionals should record CAM therapies when collecting medical history data.</p