13,038 research outputs found

    Retention of Low Income Children in Three Dental Studies Investigating Early Childhood Caries

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    Background: To our knowledge no dental studies have looked closely at subject retention, which is crucial to better understand oral health disparities. In this paper, we report retention rates and review and attempt to assess which retention strategies utilized in 3 dental research studies investigating ECC were effective for retaining WIC-enrolled children. The purpose of this paper is to discuss challenges that were encountered when working with these populations, describe characteristics of those not retained, and summarize some recommendations for future dental studies working at WIC sites. Methods: Three dental studies were conducted at WIC clinics in Iowa. Retention strategies focused on maintenance of contact over time, persistence in rescheduling appointments, utilization of incentives, high recruitment, and frequent communication with parents and program staff. Results: Retention rates in the studies ranged from 60 to 75 percent at the final research interventions. Studies were challenged by frequent moves of subjects, missed appointments, disconnected phones, busy schedules of parents, transportation problems, loss of child custody, family illness, and lack of interest. Those not retained in the studies were more likely to be younger, single, and less educated, with a lower household income and a non-Caucasian child. Lower retention was also associated with the presence of carious lesions. Conclusions: Despite many challenges, studies had good retention rates and benefited from the retention strategies. Future dental studies at WIC clinics may also benefit from arranging transportation, obtaining a free, 800 callback number, and offering after-hours appointments for working parents

    Phage ϕC2 mediates transduction of Tn6215, encoding erythromycin resistance, between Clostridium difficile strains

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    UNLABELLED: In this work, we show that Clostridium difficile phage ϕC2 transduces erm(B), which confers erythromycin resistance, from a donor to a recipient strain at a frequency of 10(-6) per PFU. The transductants were lysogenic for ϕC2 and contained the erm(B) gene in a novel transposon, Tn6215. This element is 13,008 bp in length and contains 17 putative open reading frames (ORFs). It could also be transferred at a lower frequency by filter mating. IMPORTANCE: Clostridium difficile is a major human pathogen that causes diarrhea that can be persistent and difficult to resolve using antibiotics. C. difficile is potentially zoonotic and has been detected in animals, food, and environmental samples. C. difficile genomes contain large portions of horizontally acquired genetic elements. The conjugative elements have been reasonably well studied, but transduction has not yet been demonstrated. Here, we show for the first time transduction as a mechanism for the transfer of a novel genetic element in C. difficile. Transduction may also be a useful tool for the genetic manipulation of C. difficile.Peer reviewe

    Critical current density and vortex pinning in tetragonal FeS1x_{1-x}Sex_{x} (x=0,0.06x=0,0.06)

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    We report critical current density (JcJ_c) in tetragonal FeS single crystals, similar to iron based superconductors with much higher superconducting critical temperatures (TcT_{c}'s). The JcJ_c is enhanced 3 times by 6\% Se doping. We observe scaling of the normalized vortex pinning force as a function of reduced field at all temperatures. Vortex pinning in FeS and FeS0.94_{0.94}Se0.06_{0.06} shows contribution of core-normal surface-like pinning. Reduced temperature dependence of JcJ_c indicates that dominant interaction of vortex cores and pinning centers is via scattering of charge carriers with reduced mean free path (δ\deltall), in contrast to Kx_xFe2y_{2-y}Se2_2 where spatial variations in TcT_{c} (δ\deltaTcT_{c}) prevails.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure

    EFFECTS OF HIGH AND LOW MANAGEMENT INTENSITY ON PROFITABILITY FOR THREE WATERMELON GENOTYPES

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    A replicated, small plot study on watermelon [Citrullus lanatus (Thunberg) Matsumura and Nakai] in 1997, 1999, and 2000 revealed that production management intensity affected yields and profitability of watermelon, in Oklahoma. Management intensity was based on a combination of cultural practices and levels of use of production methods. Low intensity management (LM) consisted of use of soil fertilization and weed control. High intensity management (HM) included the same weed control and fertilization as LM but also included use of plastic mulch, drip irrigation, insect pest control, and plant disease control. Cost and return analyses were based on the range of actual prices during the cropping season and the range of yields during the three years. Yields from the seedless triploid genotype 'Gem Dandy' consistently resulted in greater positive net revenue under HM than the diploid open pollinated 'Allsweet' or the hybrid diploid 'Sangria'. Under LM, yields from the seedless triploid also resulted in greater net revenues when conditions were favorable or lost less money than the open pollinated 'Allsweet' or the hybrid diploid 'Sangria' when conditions were unfavorable.Crop Production/Industries,

    Improvements and modifications to the NASA microwave signature acquisition system

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    A user oriented description of the modified and upgraded Microwave Signature Acquisition System is provided. The present configuration of the sensor system and its operating characteristics are documented and a step-by-step operating procedure provides instruction for mounting the antenna truss assembly, readying the system for data acquisition, and for controlling the system during the data collection sequence. The resulting data products are also identified

    Accretion Disks Around Young Objects. III. Grain Growth

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    We present detailed models of irradiated T Tauri disks including dust grain growth with power-law size distributions. The models assume complete mixing between dust and gas and solve for the vertical disk structure self-consistentlyincluding the heating effects of stellar irradiation as well as local viscous heating. For a given total dust mass, grain growth is found to decrease the vertical height of the surface where the optical depth to the stellar radiation becomes unit and thus the local irradiation heating, while increasing the disk emission at mm and sub-mm wavelengths. The resulting disk models are less geometrically thick than our previous models assuming interstellar medium dust, and agree better with observed spectral energy distributions and images of edge-on disks, like HK Tau/c and HH 30. The implications of models with grain growth for determining disk masses from long-wavelength emission are considered.Comment: 29 pages, including 11 figures and 1 table, APJ accepte

    Garnet–monazite rare earth element relationships in sub-solidus metapelites: a case study from Bhutan

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    A key aim of modern metamorphic geochronology is to constrain precise and accurate rates and timescales of tectonic processes. One promising approach in amphibolite and granulite-facies rocks links the geochronological information recorded in zoned accessory phases such as monazite to the pressure–temperature information recorded in zoned major rock-forming minerals such as garnet. Both phases incorporate rare earth elements (REE) as they crystallize and their equilibrium partitioning behaviour potentially provides a useful way of linking time to temperature. We report REE data from sub-solidus amphibolite-facies metapelites from Bhutan, where overlapping ages, inclusion relationships and Gd/Lu ratios suggest that garnet and monazite co-crystallized. The garnet–monazite REE relationships in these samples show a steeper pattern across the heavy (H)REE than previously reported. The difference between our dataset and the previously reported data may be due to a temperature-dependence on the partition coefficients, disequilibrium in either dataset, differences in monazite chemistry or the presence or absence of a third phase that competed for the available REE during growth. We urge caution against using empirically-derived partition coefficients from natural samples as evidence for, or against, equilibrium of REE-bearing phases until monazite–garnet partitioning behaviour is better constrained

    Hydrodynamic bubble coarsening in off-critical vapour-liquid phase separation

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    Late-stage coarsening in off-critical vapour-liquid phase separation is re-examined. In the limit of bubbles of vapour distributed throughout a continuous liquid phase, it is argued that coarsening proceeds via inertial hydrodynamic bubble collapse. This replaces the Lifshitz-Slyozov-Wagner mechanism seen in binary liquid mixtures. The arguments are strongly supported by simulations in two dimensions using a novel single-component soft sphere fluid.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, revtex3.
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