Integrating Technology to Support and Maintain Glycemic Control in People With Diabetes

Presented to the Faculty of the University of Alaska Anchorage in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of MASTER OF SCIENCEType II diabetes is a chronic disease state that leads to increased morbidity and mortality and impacts the lives of millions of Americans. This quality improvement project explored the use of a free smartphone application, Glucose Buddy, in aiding people with Type II diabetes to achieve and maintain glycemic control. The project was conducted through the involvement of patients at the Creekside Family Health Clinic in Ketchikan, Alaska over a three month time period. Pre-intervention hemoglobin A1c (HA1c) was compared with post-intervention HA1c. The project, due to the small sample size and high withdraw rate, was not statistically significant. However, there was clinical significance as it showed a decrease in HA1c levels in 60% of the participants.Abstract / Introduction / Literature Review and Synthesis / Problem Statement / Research Question / Methodology / Results / Limitations / Conclusions / Outcomes / Impact on Practice / Dissemination / References / Appendix A / Appendix B / Appendix C / Appendix

Searching for the 3.5 keV Line in the Stacked Suzaku Observations of Galaxy Clusters

We perform a detailed study of the stacked Suzaku observations of 47 galaxy clusters, spanning a redshift range of 0.01-0.45, to search for the unidentified 3.5 keV line. This sample provides an independent test for the previously detected line. We detect only a 2sigma-significant spectral feature at 3.5 keV in the spectrum of the full sample. When the sample is divided into two subsamples (cool-core and non-cool core clusters), cool-core subsample shows no statistically significant positive residuals at the line energy. A very weak (2sigma-confidence) spectral feature at 3.5 keV is permitted by the data from the non-cool core clusters sample. The upper limit on a neutrino decay mixing angle from the full Suzaku sample is consistent with the previous detections in the stacked XMM-Newton sample of galaxy clusters (which had a higher statistical sensitivity to faint lines), M31, and Galactic Center at a 90% confidence level. However, the constraint from the present sample, which does not include the Perseus cluster, is in tension with previously reported line flux observed in the core of the Perseus cluster with XMM-Newton and Suzaku.Comment: ApJ in press, 9 pages, 3 figure

Multi-wavelength analysis of the Galactic supernova remnant MSH 11-61A

Due to its centrally bright X-ray morphology and limb brightened radio profile, MSH 11-61A (G290.1-0.8) is classified as a mixed morphology supernova remnant (SNR). H\textsc{i} and CO observations determined that the SNR is interacting with molecular clouds found toward the north and southwest regions of the remnant. In this paper we report on the detection of $\gamma$-ray emission coincident with MSH 11-61A, using 70 months of data from the Large Area Telescope on board the \textit{Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope}. To investigate the origin of this emission, we perform broadband modelling of its non-thermal emission considering both leptonic and hadronic cases and concluding that the $\gamma$-ray emission is most likely hadronic in nature. Additionally we present our analysis of a 111 ks archival \textit{Suzaku} observation of this remnant. Our investigation shows that the X-ray emission from MSH 11-61A arises from shock-heated ejecta with the bulk of the X-ray emission arising from a recombining plasma, while the emission towards the east arises from an ionising plasma.Comment: 12 Pages, 8 figures. Accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journa