The Diabetes Subgroup Baseline Characteristics of the Avoiding Cardiovascular Events Through Combination Therapy in Patients Living With Systolic Hypertension (ACCOMPLISH) Trial

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/73240/1/j.1559-4572.2008.00023.x.pd

Spectrum of the Frobenius-Perron operator for systems with stochastic perturbation

We analyze the problem of evolution in a system with stochastic perturbation and point out that analytic properties of the noise present in the system might determine spectral properties of the evolution operator (Frobenius-Perron operator). We also propose a method for approximation of the spectrum and eigenvectors of the FP-operator by applying a suitable noise. Moreover we demonstrate that the eigenvalues of the FP-operator located outside the essential spectrum are robust not only against local perturbation but also against the non local perturbation and that these stable eigenvalues have a direct physical meaning: they determine the rate of the exponential decay of correlation in the system.Comment: LaTeX2e, 11 pages, 6 figures (EPS format

How Many HIV Infections May Be Averted by Targeting Primary Infection in Men Who Have Sex With Men? Quantification of Changes in Transmission-Risk Behavior, Using an Individual-Based Model

In the United Kingdom, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) transmission among men who have sex with men (MSM) is not under control, despite readily available treatment, highlighting the need to design a cost-effective combination prevention package. MSM report significantly reduced transmission risk behavior following HIV diagnosis. To assess the effectiveness of HIV diagnosis in averting transmission during highly infectious primary HIV infection (PHI), we developed a stochastic individual-based model to calculate the number of HIV-transmission events expected to occur from a cohort of recently infected MSM with and those without the behavior changes reported after diagnosis. The model incorporates different types of sex acts, incorporates condom use, and distinguishes between regular and casual sex partners. The impact on transmission in the 3 months after infection depends on PHI duration and testing frequency. If PHI lasts for 3 months and testing is performed monthly, then behavior changes after diagnosis would have reduced estimated transmission events by 49%–52%, from 31–45 to 15–23 events; a shorter duration of PHI and/or a lower testing frequency reduces the number of infections averted. Diagnosing HIV during PHI can markedly reduce transmission by changing transmission-risk behavior. Because of the high infectivity but short duration of PHI, even short-term behavior change can significantly reduce transmission. Our quantification of the number of infections averted is an essential component of assessment of the cost-effectiveness of strategies to increase detection and diagnoses of PHI

Piet Mondrian's early Years:The winding path to straight abstraction

This thesis is a close investigation of the life of Piet Mondrian from his birth in 1872 through his permanent move to Paris in 1919. It explores in unprecedented ways the shared qualities of Mondrian’s early figurative art, including scenes of lighthouses and sand dunes and churches, with his abstractions that are intentionally representative of no known visible subject matter. The thesis sees work ranging from Mondrian’s paintings of flowers, whether singly or grouped in bouquets, with his constructions devoid of all elements other than straight vertical and horizontal lines, a pure white background, and occasional rectangular form in primary color. Weber makes clear his own deep personal involvement with Mondrian’s art, and addresses the question of why the qualities of Mondrian’s work can have tremendous emotional impact on people of all nationalities and in all time periods. As closely as Weber explores the life of Mondrian as a human being he makes the case that one does not even need to know the name of the artist, let alone any further information, in order to be seduced and exhilarated by Mondrian’s paintings. Weber explores with rigorous precision the existing literature on Piet Mondrian in order to shatter the myths that predominate in cost of what is written or said about the artist. He uses primary sources like Mondrian’s own letters and first hand accounts of people who knew Mondrian in order to create a circumspect and vivid portrait of a highly elusive individual

Crystal structures of the carborane dianions, [1,4-(PhCB10H10C)2C6H4]2- and [1,4-(PhCB10H10C)2C6F4]2-, and the stabilizing role of the para-phenylene unit on unusual 2n+3 SE clusters

While carboranes with 2 n+2 and 2 n+4 (n=number of skeletal atoms) skeletal electrons (SE) are widely known, little has been reported on carboranes with odd SE numbers. Electrochemical measurements on two-cage assemblies, where two C-phenyl-ortho-carboranyl groups are linked by a para-phenylene or a para-tetrafluorophenylene bridge, revealed two well separated and reversible two-electron reduction waves indicating formation of stable dianions and tetraanions. The salts of the dianions were isolated by reduction with sodium metal and their unusual structures were determined by X-ray crystallography. The diamagnetic dianions contain two 2 n+3 SE clusters where each cluster has a notably long carborane C–carborane C distance of ca 2.4 Å. The π conjugation within the phenylene bridge plays an important role in the stabilization of these carboranes with odd SE counts