Suicidal Ideation Assessment in Individuals with Premanifest and Manifest Huntington Disease.

BACKGROUND: Huntington disease (HD) is associated with increased risk of suicide. OBJECTIVE: This study compares suicide ideation in HD to the general population, assesses factors associated with increased prevalence of suicidal thoughts, and compares clinician-rated to self-reported assessments of suicidal ideation. METHODS: We examined 496 participants with premanifest or manifest HD. Clinician-rated suicidal ideation was measured using the Problem Behaviors Assessment - short form. Self-reported ideation was measured using two items from the HDQLIFE Concern with Death and Dying item bank. Independent sample t-tests were conducted to compare the prevalence of suicidal thoughts between our HD sample and the U.S. POPULATION: Logistic regression analyses were used to determine characteristics associated with higher odds of clinically significant suicidal ideation. Kappa agreement coefficients were calculated to evaluate concurrence between clinician-rated and self-reported assessments. RESULTS: Our sample had a significantly higher occurrence of suicidal ideation (19.76%) and suicidal plans (2.1%) than the general population (p \u3c 0.0001). Odds of clinically significant suicidal ideation were 6.8 times higher in females (p = 0.04) on the clinician measure, and Hispanic/Latinos had 10.9 times higher odds than non-Hispanics (p = 0.025) on the self-report measure. Clinician-rated assessment had fair agreement (k = 0.2-0.4) with self-reported assessments, except in early stage HD where there was no overlap in the identification of participants with clinically significant suicidal ideation. DISCUSSION: Assessment for suicidal ideation and clinically significant suicidal thoughts in HD with a multimodal approach that includes clinician-rated and self-report measures is critical at all stages of the disease

The EuroSTARRS-2001 aircraft campaign of the European Space Agency in support of the SMOS Mission

Ponencia presentada en: III Congreso de la Asociación Española de Climatología “El agua y el clima”, celebrado en Palma de Mallorca del 16 al 19 de junio de 2002.This work was carried out in the framework of the ESA-ESTEC contract no: 15949/02/NL/SF, and the Spanish National Space Research Programme Project no: PNE-009/2001-C-03

Sea Surface Signature of Tropical Cyclones Using Microwave Remote Sensing

Measuring the sea surface during tropical cyclones (TC) is challenging due to severe weather conditions that prevent shipboard measurements and clouds which mask the sea surface for visible satellite sensors. However, sea surface emission in the microwave L-band can penetrate rain and clouds and be measured from space. The European Space Agency (ESA) MIRAS L-band radiometer on the Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS) satellite enables a view of the sea surface from which the effects of tropical cyclones on sea surface emissivity can be measured. The emissivity at these frequencies is a function of sea surface salinity (SSS), sea surface temperature (SST), sea surface roughness, polarization, and angle of emission. If the latter four variables can be estimated, then models of the sea surface emissivity can be used to invert SSS from measured brightness temperature (TB). Actual measured TB from space also has affects due to the ionosphere and troposphere, which have to be compensated for, and components due to the galactic and cosmic background radiation those have to be removed. In this research, we study the relationships between retrieved SSS from MIRAS, and SST and precipitation collected by the NASA TMI sensor from the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite during Hurricane Isaac, in August 2012. During the slower movement of the storm, just before landfall on the vicinity of the Louisiana Shelf, higher precipitation amounts were associated with lower SSS and slightly increased SST. This increased trend of SST and lower SSS under regions of high precipitation are indicative of inhibited vertical mixing. The SMOS Level 2 SSS were filtered by a stepwise process with removal of high uncertainty in TB under conditions of strong surface roughness which are known to create noise. The signature of increased SST associated with increasing precipitation was associated with decreased SSS during the storm. Although further research is required, this study shows that there is a TB signal from the sea surface beneath a tropical cyclone that provides information on roughness and salinity

Relationship Between Sea Surface Salinity From L-Band Radiometer and Optical Features In the East China Sea

The East China Sea (ECS) is often obscured from space in the visible and near-visible bands by cloud cover, which prevents remote sensing retrieval of optical properties. However, clouds are transparent to microwaves, and satellites with L-band radiometers have recently been put into orbit to monitor sea surface salinity (SSS). Previous studies have used the mixing of fluvial colored dissolved organic matter (CDOM) near coasts, where the mixing is approximately conservative over short time scales, to estimate SSS. In this study, the usual relationship between CDOM and salinity in the ECS has been used in reverse to estimate CDOM from remotely sensed SSS in the ECS and compare that CDOM with MODIS data. The SSS data used are 7 day composites from NASA’s Aquarius/SAC-D satellite which has an L-band radiometer. The challenges in using this approach are that 1) Aquarius SSS has coarse spatial resolution (150 km), and 2) the ECS has numerous anthropogenic sources of radiofrequency interference which adds noise to the L-band signal for the SSS retrievals. Despite the limits in the method, CDOM distribution in the ECS can be estimated under cloudy conditions. In addition to all-weather retrievals, an additional advantage of the approach is that the algorithm provides an estimate of CDOM absorption that is unaffected by the spectrally similar detritus absorption that can confound optical remote sensing estimates of CDOM

Measuring Coastal Sea-Surface Salinity of the Louisiana Shelf From Aerially Observed Ocean Color

We have demonstrated the ability of airborne radiance and irradiance sensors to detect the persistent salinity gradient of the Atchafalaya plume and corresponding color fronts as observed by in-situ shipboard measurements as well as STARRS. We used an empirical algorithm A cdom (412) = 0.227×((R rs 510)/(R rs 555)) -2.022 for CDOM from D\u27Sa et al. 2006. Their study was conducted in the same region (Louisiana Shelf) and time of year (March) as our study and it was performed with similar optical equipment. This study resulted in an Ocean Color Salinity model that can measure with ~88% accuracy the Sea-Surface Salinity of the Louisiana shelf. A multi-linear regression for salinity, based on two of the optical channels, provides an excellent qualitative proxy for large scale coastal salinity in the Atchafalaya plume region (y=-0.0082*x+0.34, R 2 =0.90, n=5220). We then developed two algorithms from the May and November data. This was done to create two seasonal equations for salinity

Aircraft and in Situ Salinity and Ocean Color Measurements and Comparisons in the Gulf of Mexico

We report here on aircraft measurements made in May, 2007, with the NRL STARRS (Salinity, Temperature and Roughness Remote Scanner), and optical multi-wavelength radiance and irradiance sensors (Satlantic OCR-507 at SEA-WIFS wavelength bands). These measurements were made in conjunction with in situ measurements of sea surface salinity (SSS), ocean color, and fluorescence in the Atchafalaya River outflow from the R/V Pelican. In this work we demonstrate the ability of the aircraft optical and L-Band measurements to a) detect the location of salinity and color fronts as observed in the in situ measurements from the ship and b) provide context for the in situ measurements by providing synoptic measurements over a wider area than the ship was able to cover. A multilinear regression for salinity, based on three of the optical channels, provides an excellent qualitatative proxy for large scale salinity in the Atchafalaya plume region. We believe this is the first simultaneous use of L-Band and optical instruments to measure salinity from an aircraft

Aircraft and In Situ Salinity and Ocean Color Measurements and Comparisons In the Gulf of Mexico

We report here on aircraft measurements made in May, 2007, with the NRL STARRS (Salinity, Temperature and Roughness Remote Scanner), and optical multi-wavelength radiance and irradiance sensors (Satlantic OCR-507 at SEA-WIFS wavelength bands). These measurements were made in conjunction with in situ measurements of sea surface salinity (SSS), ocean color, and fluorescence in the Atchafalaya River outflow from the R/V Pelican. In this work we demonstrate the ability of the aircraft optical and L-Band measurements to a) detect the location of salinity and color fronts as observed in the in situ measurements from the ship and b) provide context for the in situ measurements by providing synoptic measurements over a wider area than the ship was able to cover. A multilinear regression for salinity, based on three of the optical channels, provides an excellent qualitatative proxy for large scale salinity in the Atchafalaya plume region. We believe this is the first simultaneous use of L-Band and optical instruments to measure salinity from an aircraft

Patos lagoon outflow within the Río de La Plata plume using an airborne salinity mapper: observing an embedded plume

Major river systems discharging into continental shelf waters frequently form buoyant coastal currents that propagate along the continental shelf in the direction of coastal trapped wave propagation(with the coast on the right/left, in the northern/southern hemisphere). The combined flow of the Uruguay and Parana´ Rivers, which discharges freshwater into the Rı´o de la Plata estuary (Lat. 361S), often gives rise to a buoyant coastal current (the ‘Plata plume’) that extends northward along the continental shelf off Uruguay and Southern Brazil. Depending upon the prevailing rainfall,wind and tidal conditions, the Patos/Mirim Lagoon complex (Lat. 321S) may also produce a freshwater outflow plume that expands across the inner continental shelf. Under these circumstances the Patos outflow plume can be embedded in temperature, salinity and current fields that are strongly influenced by the larger Plata plume. The purpose of this paper is to present observations of such an embedded plume structure and to determine the dynamical characteristics of the ambient and embedded plumes. We describe selected results of coincident airborne remote sensing and shipboard in-situ surveys of the salinity distribution and extent of the Plata and Patos/Mirim Lagoon plumes conducted under contrasting winter (2003) and summer (2004) conditions. The surveys were carried out in the context of a comprehensive multi-disciplinary study of the Plata plume and its response to prevailing seasonal weather conditions. The objective was to map the surface salinity distribution of the Plata plume at synoptic scales under representative winter and summer conditions. Additionally, the airborne survey included finer-scale mapping of specific features including the Rı´o de Plata estuarine front and the Patos Lagoon plume, with the objective of determining the distribution and behavior of the plumes in the estuaries and on the continental shelf. The airborne survey was conducted with an aircraft carrying an infrared and microwave radiometer system, the Naval Research Laboratory’s (NRL) Salinity, Temperature and Roughness Remote Scanner (STARRS). A series of broadscale flights over the continental shelf off Argentina, Uruguay and Brazil were made using STARRS to determine the spatial extent of the Plata plume, and detailed mapping flights were undertaken in the vicinity of Rı´o de la Plata Estuary and Patos/Mirim outflows to observe associated frontal features. The results of the airborne surveys were compared with shipboard hydrographic data obtained from a conductivity, temperature and depth (CTD) profiler. The combined ship and aircraft data were used to estimate parameters of dynamical classification schemes. These schemes were used to characterize the gross behavior and dynamics of the ambient Plata plume and embedded Patos plume. The Plata plume was highly asymmetric with along-shelf development towards the north and it behaved dynamically like a buoyant coastal boundary current, with an approximately geostrophic across-shelf momentum balance. The Patos plume, on the other hand, maintained its integrity as a relatively symmetric, ageostrophic, frictionally dominated plume with significant across-shelf, and modest along-shelf, development

High HIV and syphilis prevalence among female sex workers in Juba, South Sudan.

HIV prevalence is estimated to be 2.7% in South Sudan; however, little is known about the young country's epidemic. We conducted a respondent-driven sampling biobehavioral survey in Juba of female sex workers (FSW) aged ≥15 years who sold or exchanged sex in the last 6 months to learn more about this population. We enrolled 838 FSW from November 2015 to March 2016 and estimated HIV prevalence to be 37.8%. Prevalence of active syphilis was 7.3%. FSW were from South Sudan and most neighboring countries. Comprehensive knowledge of HIV was 11.1% and 64.2% of FSW had never spoken with an outreach worker. In multivariable analysis, HIV was associated with being from Uganda (aOR: 3.3, 95% CI: 1.7-6.1) or Kenya (aOR: 4.3, 95% CI: 1.5-13.0) versus from South Sudan. Our survey suggests that FSW may play a critical role in South Sudan's HIV epidemic and highlights the importance of tailoring services to the unique needs of FSW of all nationalities in Juba

EuroSTARRS: campaign description

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