Motor imagery ability in patients with traumatic brain injury

Oostra KM, Vereecke A, Jones K, Vanderstraeten G, Vingerhoets G. Motor imagery ability in patients with traumatic brain injury. Arch Phys Med Rehabil 2012;93:828-33. Objective: To assess motor imagery (MI) ability in patients with moderate to severe traumatic brain injury (TBI). Design: Prospective, cohort study. Setting: University hospital rehabilitation unit. Participants: Patients with traumatic brain injury (mean coma duration, 18d) undergoing rehabilitation (n=20) and healthy controls (n=17) matched for age and education level. Interventions: Not applicable. Main Outcome Measures: The vividness of MI was assessed using a revised version of the Movement Imagery Questionnaire-Revised second version (MIQ-RS); the temporal features were assessed using the time-dependent motor imagery (TDMI) screening test, the temporal congruence test, and a walking trajectory imagery test; and the accuracy of MI was assessed using a mental rotation test. Results: The MIQ-RS revealed a decrease of MI vividness in the TBI group. An increasing number of stepping movements was observed with increasing time periods in both groups during the TDMI screening test. The TBI group performed a significantly smaller number of imagery movements in the same movement time. The temporal congruence test revealed a significant correlation between imagery and actual stepping time in both groups. The walking trajectory test revealed an increase of the imagery and actual walking time with increasing path length in both groups, but the ratio of imaginary walking over actual walking time was significantly greater than 1 in the TBI group. Results of the hand mental rotation test indicated significant effects of rotation angles on imagery movement times in both groups, but rotation time was significantly slower in the TBI group. Conclusions: Our patients with TBI demonstrated a relatively preserved MI ability indicating that MI could be used to aid rehabilitation and subsequent functional recovery

Landscape-Scale Geospatial Assessment of Open Pine and Natural Grassland Condition for Northern Bobwhite in the Gulf Coastal Plains and Ozarks

The National Bobwhite Conservation Initiative 2.0 (NBCI) suggests \u3e13 million acres of pine forests and \u3e600,000 acres of grasslands have high potential for northern bobwhite (Colinus virginianus) conservation in the Southeast. The Gulf Coastal Plains and Ozarks Landscape Conservation Cooperative (LCC) identifies northern bobwhite as one of 15 indicator species for open pine/woodland/savanna and grassland/prairie ecological systems, and describes specific habitat conditions considered desirable as measurable landscape endpoints in each system as part of an Integrated Science Agenda (ISA). The ISA suggests bobwhite are limited by the habitat characteristics associated with basal area and canopy cover in pine systems, and patch size, vegetation density, bare ground, shrub cover, and warm-season grass density in grassland systems across the 180 million acre LCC. We conducted Rapid Ecological Assessments (REAs) of pine and grassland systems to describe where, how much, and in what condition the desired habitat conditions exist for each system. Using endpoint threshold values, the best available geospatial data, and a dichotomous decision tree approach, the pine and grassland REAs assigned per-pixel Condition Index Values (CIV) for the entire LCC. Results indicate 46% of the 48 million acres of pine or mixed-pine hardwood forests are in patches \u3e600 acres with one other endpoint present, but only 0.2% (100,000 acres) reflect all desired open pine conditions. In the grassland system, 48% of the 32 million acres of grassland were characterized by the presence of at least one desired condition, with no areas meeting all desired conditions. In many cases, areas with high CIV scores overlap areas classified as high and medium land use opportunities in NBCI 2.0, suggesting continuity of these independent empirical and expert-driven assessments. Understanding the current condition of pine and grassland systems in concert with NBCI potential acreage targets can help refine management and population objectives in NBCI and LCC conservation planning

Access to Healthcare for American Indians Residing in the Northeast United States

Urban American Indians/Alaskan Natives (AIs/ANs) have limited access to health care in comparison to non-Hispanic Whites (NHWs), which furthers health disparities for indigenous communities. The purpose of this quantitative, nonexperimental study, which was guided by the socioecological model, was to examine the relationship between access to health care and healthcare utilization among urban AIs/ANs and urban NHWs in the Northeast United States. The research questions addressed the difference in access to healthcare based on health insurance, difference in healthcare utilization, and whether there is an association between health care access and health care utilization for AIs in the Northeast United States. Additionally, the study addressed whether race, gender, age, income, and education status predict access to healthcare. Secondary datasets from the Research Data Center/Centers for Disease Control and Prevention were used. Dataset samples were retrieved based on race (AI/NHW), age (18- 85 years old) and demographics (Northeast United States). Statistical analysis included chi-square test and logistic regression. Results led to rejecting all the null hypotheses (p \u3c 0.05), indicating a moderate association between healthcare access and utilization for urban AIs and higher health care access for NHWs (73%) compared to AIs/ANs (43%). Age and earnings predictors for healthcare access indicated a 50/50 chance of having access to health care. Social change implications for this study include encouraging public policies to combat access to health care issues for indigenous communities in the Northeast United States

Chromium Tolerant Microbial Communities from the Chesapeake Bay Watershed

Chromium tolerant bacteria were enumerated from portions of the Chesapeake Bay watershed and examined for their potential to reduce Cr(VI). Water and sediment samples were collected from various locations in Baltimore Harbor and Bear Creek, as well as Sandy Point State Park in Maryland and the Anacostia River in Washington, DC. Samples were spread onto agar plates with CrO42- (5 ppm) as the sole terminal electron acceptor. Plates were incubated anaerobically and colony forming units (CFU) enumerated. CFU arising on minimal-CrO42- medium ranged from 103-104 mL-1 or g-1 and community estimates from sites in proximity to Baltimore City were approximately 6-30X higher than distal sites. Bacterial identification by BIOLOG™ or 16S rRNA sequencing indicated the presence of bacteria of the genera Klebsiella, Pseudomonas, Burkholderia, Kluyvera and others. Typical Cr(VI) reduction rates by these isolates were significantly lower than Shewanella oneidensis, a known metal-reducing bacterium. Results suggested that microbial communities in the Chesapeake Bay watershed, particularly in Baltimore Harbor and Bear Creek, had a high tolerance for Cr(VI) and/or could grow slowly with Cr(VI) as a terminal electron acceptor. However, the isolates did not rapidly degrade Cr(VI) in the laboratory

Optical Properties of Superconducting Nanowire Single-Photon Detectors

We measured the optical absorptance of superconducting nanowire single photon detectors. We found that 200-nm-pitch, 50%-fill-factor devices had an average absorptance of 21% for normally-incident front-illumination of 1.55-um-wavelength light polarized parallel to the nanowires, and only 10% for perpendicularly-polarized light. We also measured devices with lower fill-factors and narrower wires that were five times more sensitive to parallel-polarized photons than perpendicular-polarized photons. We developed a numerical model that predicts the absorptance of our structures. We also used our measurements, coupled with measurements of device detection efficiencies, to determine the probability of photon detection after an absorption event. We found that, remarkably, absorbed parallel-polarized photons were more likely to result in detection events than perpendicular-polarized photons, and we present a hypothesis that qualitatively explains this result. Finally, we also determined the enhancement of device detection efficiency and absorptance due to the inclusion of an integrated optical cavity over a range of wavelengths (700-1700 nm) on a number of devices, and found good agreement with our numerical model.Comment: will appear in optics express with minor revision

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The Quenched Satellite Population Around Milky Way Analogs

We study the relative fractions of quenched and star-forming satellite galaxies in the Satellites Around Galactic Analogs (SAGA) survey and Exploration of Local VolumE Satellites (ELVES) program, two nearby and complementary samples of Milky Way-like galaxies that take different approaches to identify faint satellite galaxy populations. We cross-check and validate sample cuts and selection criteria, as well as explore the effects of different star-formation definitions when determining the quenched satellite fraction of Milky Way analogs. We find the mean ELVES quenched fraction ($\langle QF\rangle$), derived using a specific star formation rate (sSFR) threshold, decreases from $\sim$50% to $\sim$27% after applying a cut in absolute magnitude to match that of the SAGA survey ($\langle QF\rangle_{SAGA}\sim$9%). We show these results are consistent for alternative star-formation definitions. Furthermore, these quenched fractions remain virtually unchanged after applying an additional cut in surface brightness. Using a consistently-derived sSFR and absolute magnitude limit for both samples, we show that the quenched fraction and the cumulative number of satellites in the ELVES and SAGA samples broadly agree. We briefly explore radial trends in the ELVES and SAGA samples, finding general agreement in the number of star-forming satellites per host as a function of radius. Despite the broad agreement between the ELVES and SAGA samples, some tension remains with these quenched fractions in comparison to the Local Group and simulations of Milky Way analogs.Comment: 13 pages, 7 figures, 1 table, 1 appendix with 2 additional figures. Main results in Figure 3-6. Submitted to MNRAS and comments welcome