HIV infection in the workplace : an exploratory study of its impact on the infected employee.

Many of the more than one million people infected with the HIV virus in the United States continue to work after a positive test for the antibody to the virus that causes AIDS. As the numbers of HIV infected people grow in this country, more and more employers, co-workers, counselors, friends or family, will have to deal with the compound issues of HIV infection and work. Therefore, knowing and understanding the issues of concern to HIV infected individuals while they continue to work will become increasingly important. To gather this information, a series of Focus Groups were conducted. From the tapes and transcriptions of the groups, discussion items were identified and clustered for each group. They were then analyzed for: convergence across groups; areas of common concern; and inferences into attitudes held by those who are HIV infected. Because the disease is relatively new and because very little data exists about the impact it is having on those who are working and infected, this research project was an exploratory one. It attempted to gain insight into how people are coping with these two issues while learning more about them. Because of the lack of current information on this topic, the groups were facilitated with low structure to generate as many ideas as possible from the participants. The purpose of the research was to supplement existing information about the impact of HIV/AIDS in the workplace. This study changed the prevailing focus of existing research/writing and brought it to those individuals who are both dealing with the disease as a personal reality and continuing to work. In gathering this data, another goal was to provide information that will help make the work-life, and thus the overall quality of life, better for those who are HIV infected

Applications of electrodynamic tethers and the STEP-AIRSEDS mission

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/76415/1/AIAA-2001-1144-690.pd

A retrospective analysis of survival and prognostic factors after stereotactic radiosurgery for aggressive meningiomas

BACKGROUND: While most meningiomas are benign, aggressive meningiomas are associated with high levels of recurrence and mortality. A single institution’s Gamma Knife radiosurgical experience with atypical and malignant meningiomas is presented, stratified by the most recent WHO classification. METHODS: Thirty-one patients with atypical and 4 patients with malignant meningiomas treated with Gamma Knife radiosurgery between July 2000 and July 2011 were retrospectively reviewed. All patients underwent prior surgical resection. Overall survival was the primary endpoint and rate of disease recurrence in the brain was a secondary endpoint. Patients who had previous radiotherapy or prior surgical resection were included. Kaplan-Meier and Cox proportional hazards models were used to estimate survival and identify factors predictive of recurrence and survival. RESULTS: Post-Gamma Knife recurrence was identified in 11 patients (31.4%) with a median overall survival of 36 months and progression-free survival of 25.8 months. Nine patients (25.7%) had died. Three-year overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) rates were 78.0% and 65.0%, respectively. WHO grade II 3-year OS and PFS were 83.4% and 70.1%, while WHO grade III 3-year OS and PFS were 33.3% and 0%. Recurrence rate was significantly higher in patients with a prior history of benign meningioma, nuclear atypia, high mitotic rate, spontaneous necrosis, and WHO grade III diagnosis on univariate analysis; only WHO grade III diagnosis was significant on multivariate analysis. Overall survival was adversely affected in patients with WHO grade III diagnosis, prior history of benign meningioma, prior fractionated radiotherapy, larger tumor volume, and higher isocenter number on univariate analysis; WHO grade III diagnosis and larger treated tumor volume were significant on multivariate analysis. CONCLUSION: Atypical and anaplastic meningiomas remain difficult tumors to treat. WHO grade III diagnosis and treated tumor volume were significantly predictive of recurrence and survival on multivariate analysis in aggressive meningioma patients treated with radiosurgery. Larger tumor size predicts poor survival, while nuclear atypia, necrosis, and increased mitotic rate are risk factors for recurrence. Clinical and pathologic predictors may help identify patients that are at higher risk for recurrence

Large-scale shock-ionized and photo-ionized gas in M83: the impact of star formation

We investigate the ionization structure of the nebular gas in M83 using the line diagnostic diagram, [O III](5007 \degA)/H{\beta} vs. [S II](6716 \deg A+6731 \deg A)/H{\alpha} with the newly available narrowband images from the Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) of the Hubble Space Telescope (HST). We produce the diagnostic diagram on a pixel-by-pixel (0.2" x 0.2") basis and compare it with several photo- and shock-ionization models. For the photo-ionized gas, we observe a gradual increase of the log([O III]/H{\beta}) ratios from the center to the spiral arm, consistent with the metallicity gradient, as the H II regions go from super solar abundance to roughly solar abundance from the center out. Using the diagnostic diagram, we separate the photo-ionized from the shock-ionized component of the gas. We find that the shock-ionized H{\alpha} emission ranges from ~2% to about 15-33% of the total, depending on the separation criteria used. An interesting feature in the diagnostic diagram is an horizontal distribution around log([O III]/H{\beta}) ~ 0. This feature is well fit by a shock-ionization model with 2.0 Z\odot metallicity and shock velocities in the range of 250 km/s to 350 km/s. A low velocity shock component, < 200 km/s, is also detected, and is spatially located at the boundary between the outer ring and the spiral arm. The low velocity shock component can be due to : 1) supernova remnants located nearby, 2) dynamical interaction between the outer ring and the spiral arm, 3) abnormal line ratios from extreme local dust extinction. The current data do not enable us to distinguish among those three possible interpretations. Our main conclusion is that, even at the HST resolution, the shocked gas represents a small fraction of the total ionized gas emission at less than 33% of the total. However, it accounts for virtually all of the mechanical energy produced by the central starburst in M83.Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ. aastex preprint 12pt, 21 pages, 13 figure

Tests for Genetic Interactions in Type 1 Diabetes: Linkage and Stratification Analyses of 4,422 Affected Sib-Pairs

OBJECTIVE - Interactions between genetic and environmental factors lead to immune dysregulation causing type 1 diabetes and other autoimmune disorders. Recently, many common genetic variants have been associated with type 1 diabetes risk, but each has modest individual effects. Familial clustering of type 1 diabetes has not been explained fully and could arise from many factors, including undetected genetic variation and gene interactions. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS - To address this issue, the Type 1 Diabetes Genetics Consortium recruited 3,892 families, including 4,422 affected sib-pairs. After genotyping 6,090 markers, linkage analyses of these families were performed, using a novel method and taking into account factors such as genotype at known susceptibility loci. RESULTS - Evidence for linkage was robust at the HLA and INS loci, with logarithm of odds (LOD) scores of 398.6 and 5.5, respectively. There was suggestive support for five other loci. Stratification by other risk factors (including HLA and age at diagnosis) identified one convincing region on chromosome 6q14 showing linkage in male subjects (corrected LOD = 4.49; replication P = 0.0002), a locus on chromosome 19q in HLA identical siblings (replication P = 0.006), and four other suggestive loci. CONCLUSIONS - This is the largest linkage study reported for any disease. Our data indicate there are no major type 1 diabetes subtypes definable by linkage analyses; susceptibility is caused by actions of HLA and an apparently random selection from a large number of modest-effect loci; and apart from HLA and INS, there is no important susceptibility factor discoverable by linkage methods

Simultaneous high resolution meausurement of phonons and ionization created by particle interactions in a 60 g germanium crystal at 25 mK

We demonstrate simultaneous high energy resolution (rms≊800 eV) measurements of ionization and phonons created by particle interactions in a semiconductor crystal of macroscopic size (60 g germanium) at 25 mK. We present first studies of charge collection at biases below 1 V/cm, and find that, contrary to commonly held opinion, the full recoil energy of particle interactions is recovered as phonons when charge trapping is negligible. We also report an unanticipated correlation between charge collection and phonon energy at very low bias, and discuss this effect in terms of charge trapping

Measurement of ionization and phonon production by nuclear recoils in a 60 g crystal of germanium at 25 mK

We report on the first measurement of the absolute phonon energy and the amount of ionization produced by the recoil of nuclei and electrons in a 60 g germanium cyrstal at a temperature of ≊25 mK. We find good agreement between our results and previous measurements of ionization yield from nuclear recoils in germanium. Our device achieves 10:1 discrimination between neutrons and photons in the few keV energy range, demonstrating the feasibility of this technique for large reductions of background in searches for direct interactions of weakly interacting massive particle dark matter

The Cold Peace: Russo-Western Relations as a Mimetic Cold War

In 1989–1991 the geo-ideological contestation between two blocs was swept away, together with the ideology of civil war and its concomitant Cold War played out on the larger stage. Paradoxically, while the domestic sources of Cold War confrontation have been transcended, its external manifestations remain in the form of a ‘legacy’ geopolitical contest between the dominant hegemonic power (the United States) and a number of potential rising great powers, of which Russia is one. The post-revolutionary era is thus one of a ‘cold peace’. A cold peace is a mimetic cold war. In other words, while a cold war accepts the logic of conflict in the international system and between certain protagonists in particular, a cold peace reproduces the behavioural patterns of a cold war but suppresses acceptance of the logic of behaviour. A cold peace is accompanied by a singular stress on notions of victimhood for some and undigested and bitter victory for others. The perceived victim status of one set of actors provides the seedbed for renewed conflict, while the ‘victory’ of the others cannot be consolidated in some sort of relatively unchallenged post-conflict order. The ‘universalism’ of the victors is now challenged by Russia's neo-revisionist policy, including not so much the defence of Westphalian notions of sovereignty but the espousal of an international system with room for multiple systems (the Schmittean pluriverse)

The remnants of galaxy formation from a panoramic survey of the region around M31

In hierarchical cosmological models, galaxies grow in mass through the continual accretion of smaller ones. The tidal disruption of these systems is expected to result in loosely bound stars surrounding the galaxy, at distances that reach $10 - 100$ times the radius of the central disk. The number, luminosity and morphology of the relics of this process provide significant clues to galaxy formation history, but obtaining a comprehensive survey of these components is difficult because of their intrinsic faintness and vast extent. Here we report a panoramic survey of the Andromeda galaxy (M31). We detect stars and coherent structures that are almost certainly remnants of dwarf galaxies destroyed by the tidal field of M31. An improved census of their surviving counterparts implies that three-quarters of M31's satellites brighter than $M_V < -6$ await discovery. The brightest companion, Triangulum (M33), is surrounded by a stellar structure that provides persuasive evidence for a recent encounter with M31. This panorama of galaxy structure directly confirms the basic tenets of the hierarchical galaxy formation model and reveals the shared history of M31 and M33 in the unceasing build-up of galaxies.Comment: Published in Nature. Supplementary movie available at https://www.astrosci.ca/users/alan/PANDAS/Latest%20news%3A%20movie%20of%20orbit.htm

The Economic Impact of Eradicating Peste des Petits Ruminants:A Benefit-Cost Analysis

Peste des petits ruminants (PPR) is an important cause of mortality and production loss among sheep and goats in the developing world. Despite control efforts in a number of countries, it has continued to spread across Africa and Asia, placing an increasing burden on the livelihoods of livestock keepers and on veterinary resources in affected countries. Given the similarities between PPR and rinderpest, and the lessons learned from the successful global eradication of rinderpest, the eradication of PPR seems appealing, both eliminating an important disease and improving the livelihoods of the poor in developing countries. We conducted a benefit-cost analysis to examine the conomic returns from a proposed programme for the global eradication of PPR. Based on our knowledge and experience, we developed the eradication strategy and estimated its costs. The benefits of the programme were determined from (i) the averted mortality costs, based on an analysis of the literature, (ii) the downstream impact of reduced mortality using a social accounting matrix, and (iii) the avoided control costs based on current levels of vaccination. The results of the benefit-cost analysis suggest strong economic returns from PPR eradication. Based on a 15-year programme with total discounted costs of US$2.26 billion, we estimate discounted benefits of US$76.5 billion, yielding a net benefit of US$74.2 billion. This suggests a benefit cost ratio of 33.8, and an internal rate of return (IRR) of 199%. As PPR mortality rates are highly variable in different populations, we conducted a sensitivity analysis based on lower and higher mortality scenarios. All the scenarios examined indicate that investment in PPR eradication would be highly beneficial economically. Furthermore, removing one of the major constraints to small ruminant production would be of considerable benefit to many of the most vulnerable communities in Africa and Asia