Application of Natural Mineral Additives in Construction

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Linek, Malgorzata; Nita, Piotr; Wolka, Paweł; Zebrowski, Wojciech

2017-12-01

The article concerns the idea of using selected mineral additives in the pavement quality concrete composition. The basis of the research paper was the modification of cement concrete intended for airfield pavements. The application of the additives: metakaolonite and natural zeolite was suggested. Analyses included the assessment of basic physical properties of modifiers. Screening analysis, assessment of micro structure and chemical microanalysis were conducted in case of these materials. The influence of the applied additives on the change of concrete mix parameters was also presented. The impact of zeolite and metakaolinite on the mix density, oxygen content and consistency class was analysed. The influence of modifiers on physical and mechanical changes of the hardened cement concrete was discussed (concrete density, compressive strength and bending strength during fracturing) in diversified research periods. The impact of the applied additives on the changes of internal structure of cement concrete was discussed. Observation of concrete micro structure was conducted using the scanning electron microscope. According to the obtained lab test results, parameters of the applied modifiers and their influence on changes of internal structure of cement concrete are reflected in the increase of mechanical properties of pavement quality concrete. The increase of compressive and bending strength in case of all analysed research periods was proved.

78 FR 67369 - National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program: Addition to the Vaccine Injury Table to Include All...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-11-12

... Vaccine Injury Compensation Program: Addition to the Vaccine Injury Table to Include All Vaccines Against...) announces that all FDA- approved vaccines against seasonal influenza are covered under the National Vaccine... individuals who have been injured by covered childhood vaccines. Prior to this publication, trivalent...

Computational Aeroelastic Analyses of a Low-Boom Supersonic Configuration

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Silva, Walter A.; Sanetrik, Mark D.; Chwalowski, Pawel; Connolly, Joseph

2015-01-01

An overview of NASA's Commercial Supersonic Technology (CST) Aeroservoelasticity (ASE) element is provided with a focus on recent computational aeroelastic analyses of a low-boom supersonic configuration developed by Lockheed-Martin and referred to as the N+2 configuration. The overview includes details of the computational models developed to date including a linear finite element model (FEM), linear unsteady aerodynamic models, unstructured CFD grids, and CFD-based aeroelastic analyses. In addition, a summary of the work involving the development of aeroelastic reduced-order models (ROMs) and the development of an aero-propulso-servo-elastic (APSE) model is provided.

41 CFR 302-7.21 - If my HHG shipment includes an item for which a weight additive is assessed by the HHG carrier (e...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... includes an item for which a weight additive is assessed by the HHG carrier (e.g., boat, trailer... BAGGAGE ALLOWANCE General Rules § 302-7.21 If my HHG shipment includes an item for which a weight additive... payment? (a) No, you will not be responsible for the shipping charges that result from a weight additive...

41 CFR 302-7.21 - If my HHG shipment includes an item for which a weight additive is assessed by the HHG carrier (e...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... includes an item for which a weight additive is assessed by the HHG carrier (e.g., boat, trailer...) General Rules § 302-7.21 If my HHG shipment includes an item for which a weight additive is assessed by... will not be responsible for the shipping charges that result from a weight additive so long as the...

41 CFR 302-7.21 - If my HHG shipment includes an item for which a weight additive is assessed by the HHG carrier (e...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... includes an item for which a weight additive is assessed by the HHG carrier (e.g., boat, trailer...) General Rules § 302-7.21 If my HHG shipment includes an item for which a weight additive is assessed by... will not be responsible for the shipping charges that result from a weight additive so long as the...

An efficient quantum circuit analyser on qubits and qudits

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Loke, T.; Wang, J. B.

2011-10-01

This paper presents a highly efficient decomposition scheme and its associated Mathematica notebook for the analysis of complicated quantum circuits comprised of single/multiple qubit and qudit quantum gates. In particular, this scheme reduces the evaluation of multiple unitary gate operations with many conditionals to just two matrix additions, regardless of the number of conditionals or gate dimensions. This improves significantly the capability of a quantum circuit analyser implemented in a classical computer. This is also the first efficient quantum circuit analyser to include qudit quantum logic gates.

Tafamidis delays disease progression in patients with early stage transthyretin familial amyloid polyneuropathy: additional supportive analyses from the pivotal trial.

PubMed

Keohane, Denis; Schwartz, Jeffrey; Gundapaneni, Balarama; Stewart, Michelle; Amass, Leslie

2017-03-01

Tafamidis, a non-NSAID highly specific transthyretin stabilizer, delayed neurologic disease progression as measured by Neuropathy Impairment Score-Lower Limbs (NIS-LL) in an 18-month, double-blind, placebo-controlled randomized trial in 128 patients with early-stage transthyretin V30M familial amyloid polyneuropathy (ATTRV30M-FAP). The current post hoc analyses aimed to further evaluate the effects of tafamidis in delaying ATTRV30M-FAP progression in this trial. Pre-specified, repeated-measures analysis of change from baseline in NIS-LL in this trial (ClinicalTrials.gov NCT00409175) was repeated with addition of baseline as covariate and multiple imputation analysis for missing data by treatment group. Change in NIS-LL plus three small-fiber nerve tests (NIS-LL + Σ3) and NIS-LL plus seven nerve tests (NIS-LL + Σ7) were assessed without baseline as covariate. Treatment outcomes over the NIS-LL, Σ3, Σ7, modified body mass index and Norfolk Quality of Life-Diabetic Neuropathy Total Quality of Life Score were also examined using multivariate analysis techniques. Neuropathy progression based on NIS-LL change from baseline to Month 18 remained significantly reduced for tafamidis versus placebo in the baseline-adjusted and multiple imputation analyses. NIS-LL + Σ3 and NIS-LL + Σ7 captured significant treatment group differences. Multivariate analyses provided strong statistical evidence for a superior tafamidis treatment effect. These supportive analyses confirm that tafamidis delays neurologic progression in early-stage ATTRV30M-FAP. NCT00409175.

Overlapping meta-analyses on the same topic: survey of published studies.

PubMed

Siontis, Konstantinos C; Hernandez-Boussard, Tina; Ioannidis, John P A

2013-07-19

To assess how common it is to have multiple overlapping meta-analyses of randomized trials published on the same topic. Survey of published meta-analyses. PubMed. Meta-analyses published in 2010 were identified, and 5% of them were randomly selected. We further selected those that included randomized trials and examined effectiveness of any medical intervention. For eligible meta-analyses, we searched for other meta-analyses on the same topic (covering the same comparisons, indications/settings, and outcomes or overlapping subsets of them) published until February 2013. Of 73 eligible meta-analyses published in 2010, 49 (67%) had at least one other overlapping meta-analysis (median two meta-analyses per topic, interquartile range 1-4, maximum 13). In 17 topics at least one author was involved in at least two of the overlapping meta-analyses. No characteristics of the index meta-analyses were associated with the potential for overlapping meta-analyses. Among pairs of overlapping meta-analyses in 20 randomly selected topics, 13 of the more recent meta-analyses did not include any additional outcomes. In three of the four topics with eight or more published meta-analyses, many meta-analyses examined only a subset of the eligible interventions or indications/settings covered by the index meta-analysis. Conversely, for statins in the prevention of atrial fibrillation after cardiac surgery, 11 meta-analyses were published with similar eligibility criteria for interventions and setting: there was still variability on which studies were included, but the results were always similar or even identical across meta-analyses. While some independent replication of meta-analyses by different teams is possibly useful, the overall picture suggests that there is a waste of efforts with many topics covered by multiple overlapping meta-analyses.

24 CFR 81.65 - Other information and analyses.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... 24 Housing and Urban Development 1 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Other information and analyses. 81... information and analyses. When deemed appropriate and requested in writing, on a case by-case basis, by the... conduct additional analyses concerning any such report. A GSE shall submit additional reports or other...

24 CFR 81.65 - Other information and analyses.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-04-01

... 24 Housing and Urban Development 1 2012-04-01 2012-04-01 false Other information and analyses. 81... information and analyses. When deemed appropriate and requested in writing, on a case by-case basis, by the... conduct additional analyses concerning any such report. A GSE shall submit additional reports or other...

24 CFR 81.65 - Other information and analyses.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-04-01

... 24 Housing and Urban Development 1 2011-04-01 2011-04-01 false Other information and analyses. 81... information and analyses. When deemed appropriate and requested in writing, on a case by-case basis, by the... conduct additional analyses concerning any such report. A GSE shall submit additional reports or other...

24 CFR 81.65 - Other information and analyses.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-04-01

... 24 Housing and Urban Development 1 2014-04-01 2014-04-01 false Other information and analyses. 81... information and analyses. When deemed appropriate and requested in writing, on a case by-case basis, by the... conduct additional analyses concerning any such report. A GSE shall submit additional reports or other...

24 CFR 81.65 - Other information and analyses.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-04-01

... 24 Housing and Urban Development 1 2013-04-01 2013-04-01 false Other information and analyses. 81... information and analyses. When deemed appropriate and requested in writing, on a case by-case basis, by the... conduct additional analyses concerning any such report. A GSE shall submit additional reports or other...

Method for assessment of stormwater treatment facilities - Synthetic road runoff addition including micro-pollutants and tracer.

PubMed

Cederkvist, Karin; Jensen, Marina B; Holm, Peter E

2017-08-01

Stormwater treatment facilities (STFs) are becoming increasingly widespread but knowledge on their performance is limited. This is due to difficulties in obtaining representative samples during storm events and documenting removal of the broad range of contaminants found in stormwater runoff. This paper presents a method to evaluate STFs by addition of synthetic runoff with representative concentrations of contaminant species, including the use of tracer for correction of removal rates for losses not caused by the STF. A list of organic and inorganic contaminant species, including trace elements representative of runoff from roads is suggested, as well as relevant concentration ranges. The method was used for adding contaminants to three different STFs including a curbstone extension with filter soil, a dual porosity filter, and six different permeable pavements. Evaluation of the method showed that it is possible to add a well-defined mixture of contaminants despite different field conditions by having a flexibly system, mixing different stock-solutions on site, and use bromide tracer for correction of outlet concentrations. Bromide recovery ranged from only 12% in one of the permeable pavements to 97% in the dual porosity filter, stressing the importance of including a conservative tracer for correction of contaminant retention values. The method is considered useful in future treatment performance testing of STFs. The observed performance of the STFs is presented in coming papers. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Spacelab Charcoal Analyses

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Slivon, L. E.; Hernon-Kenny, L. A.; Katona, V. R.; Dejarme, L. E.

1995-01-01

This report describes analytical methods and results obtained from chemical analysis of 31 charcoal samples in five sets. Each set was obtained from a single scrubber used to filter ambient air on board a Spacelab mission. Analysis of the charcoal samples was conducted by thermal desorption followed by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS). All samples were analyzed using identical methods. The method used for these analyses was able to detect compounds independent of their polarity or volatility. In addition to the charcoal samples, analyses of three Environmental Control and Life Support System (ECLSS) water samples were conducted specifically for trimethylamine.

Chemical Analyses of Pre-Holocene Rocks from Medicine Lake Volcano and Vicinity, Northern California

USGS Publications Warehouse

Donnelly-Nolan, Julie M.

2008-01-01

Chemical analyses are presented in an accompanying table (Table 1) for more than 600 pre-Holocene rocks collected at and near Medicine Lake Volcano, northern California. The data include major-element X-ray fluorescence (XRF) analyses for all of the rocks plus XRF trace element data for most samples, and instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA) trace element data for many samples. In addition, a limited number of analyses of Na2O and K2O by flame photometry (FP) are included as well assome wet chemical analyses of FeO, H2O+/-, and CO2. Latitude and longitude location information is provided for all samples. This data set is intended to accompany the geologic map of Medicine Lake Volcano (Donnelly-Nolan, in press); map unit designations are given for each sample collected from the map area.

Additives

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Smalheer, C. V.

1973-01-01

The chemistry of lubricant additives is discussed to show what the additives are chemically and what functions they perform in the lubrication of various kinds of equipment. Current theories regarding the mode of action of lubricant additives are presented. The additive groups discussed include the following: (1) detergents and dispersants, (2) corrosion inhibitors, (3) antioxidants, (4) viscosity index improvers, (5) pour point depressants, and (6) antifouling agents.

10 CFR 436.24 - Uncertainty analyses.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

... Procedures for Life Cycle Cost Analyses § 436.24 Uncertainty analyses. If particular items of cost data or... impact of uncertainty on the calculation of life cycle cost effectiveness or the assignment of rank order... and probabilistic analysis. If additional analysis casts substantial doubt on the life cycle cost...

10 CFR 436.24 - Uncertainty analyses.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-01-01

... Procedures for Life Cycle Cost Analyses § 436.24 Uncertainty analyses. If particular items of cost data or... impact of uncertainty on the calculation of life cycle cost effectiveness or the assignment of rank order... and probabilistic analysis. If additional analysis casts substantial doubt on the life cycle cost...

10 CFR 436.24 - Uncertainty analyses.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

... Procedures for Life Cycle Cost Analyses § 436.24 Uncertainty analyses. If particular items of cost data or... impact of uncertainty on the calculation of life cycle cost effectiveness or the assignment of rank order... and probabilistic analysis. If additional analysis casts substantial doubt on the life cycle cost...

10 CFR 436.24 - Uncertainty analyses.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-01-01

... Procedures for Life Cycle Cost Analyses § 436.24 Uncertainty analyses. If particular items of cost data or... impact of uncertainty on the calculation of life cycle cost effectiveness or the assignment of rank order... and probabilistic analysis. If additional analysis casts substantial doubt on the life cycle cost...

Analyses of ACPL thermal/fluid conditioning system

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Stephen, L. A.; Usher, L. H.

1976-01-01

Results of engineering analyses are reported. Initial computations were made using a modified control transfer function where the systems performance was characterized parametrically using an analytical model. The analytical model was revised to represent the latest expansion chamber fluid manifold design, and systems performance predictions were made. Parameters which were independently varied in these computations are listed. Systems predictions which were used to characterize performance are primarily transient computer plots comparing the deviation between average chamber temperature and the chamber temperature requirement. Additional computer plots were prepared. Results of parametric computations with the latest fluid manifold design are included.

Grey literature in meta-analyses.

PubMed

Conn, Vicki S; Valentine, Jeffrey C; Cooper, Harris M; Rantz, Marilyn J

2003-01-01

In meta-analysis, researchers combine the results of individual studies to arrive at cumulative conclusions. Meta-analysts sometimes include "grey literature" in their evidential base, which includes unpublished studies and studies published outside widely available journals. Because grey literature is a source of data that might not employ peer review, critics have questioned the validity of its data and the results of meta-analyses that include it. To examine evidence regarding whether grey literature should be included in meta-analyses and strategies to manage grey literature in quantitative synthesis. This article reviews evidence on whether the results of studies published in peer-reviewed journals are representative of results from broader samplings of research on a topic as a rationale for inclusion of grey literature. Strategies to enhance access to grey literature are addressed. The most consistent and robust difference between published and grey literature is that published research is more likely to contain results that are statistically significant. Effect size estimates of published research are about one-third larger than those of unpublished studies. Unfunded and small sample studies are less likely to be published. Yet, importantly, methodological rigor does not differ between published and grey literature. Meta-analyses that exclude grey literature likely (a) over-represent studies with statistically significant findings, (b) inflate effect size estimates, and (c) provide less precise effect size estimates than meta-analyses including grey literature. Meta-analyses should include grey literature to fully reflect the existing evidential base and should assess the impact of methodological variations through moderator analysis.

Cytogenetic analyses of four solid tumours in dogs.

PubMed

Mayr, B; Reifinger, M; Weissenböck, H; Schleger, W; Eisenmenger, E

1994-07-01

Four solid tumours (one haemangiopericytoma, one haemangioendothelioma, one spindle-cell sarcoma and one mammary carcinoma) in dogs were analysed cytogenetically. In the haemangiopericytoma, an additional small chromosomal segment was present. Very complex changes including centric fusions and symmetric meta-centrics 1, 6, 10 and 12 were conspicuous in the highly unbalanced karyotype of the haemangioendothelioma. Complex changes, particularly many centric fusions and a tandem translocation 4/14, were features of the spindle-cell sarcoma. One centric fusion and a symmetric metacentric 13 were present in the mammary carcinoma.

Association analyses of East Asian individuals and trans-ancestry analyses with European individuals reveal new loci associated with cholesterol and triglyceride levels.

PubMed

Spracklen, Cassandra N; Chen, Peng; Kim, Young Jin; Wang, Xu; Cai, Hui; Li, Shengxu; Long, Jirong; Wu, Ying; Wang, Ya Xing; Takeuchi, Fumihiko; Wu, Jer-Yuarn; Jung, Keum-Ji; Hu, Cheng; Akiyama, Koichi; Zhang, Yonghong; Moon, Sanghoon; Johnson, Todd A; Li, Huaixing; Dorajoo, Rajkumar; He, Meian; Cannon, Maren E; Roman, Tamara S; Salfati, Elias; Lin, Keng-Hung; Guo, Xiuqing; Sheu, Wayne H H; Absher, Devin; Adair, Linda S; Assimes, Themistocles L; Aung, Tin; Cai, Qiuyin; Chang, Li-Ching; Chen, Chien-Hsiun; Chien, Li-Hsin; Chuang, Lee-Ming; Chuang, Shu-Chun; Du, Shufa; Fan, Qiao; Fann, Cathy S J; Feranil, Alan B; Friedlander, Yechiel; Gordon-Larsen, Penny; Gu, Dongfeng; Gui, Lixuan; Guo, Zhirong; Heng, Chew-Kiat; Hixson, James; Hou, Xuhong; Hsiung, Chao Agnes; Hu, Yao; Hwang, Mi Yeong; Hwu, Chii-Min; Isono, Masato; Juang, Jyh-Ming Jimmy; Khor, Chiea-Chuen; Kim, Yun Kyoung; Koh, Woon-Puay; Kubo, Michiaki; Lee, I-Te; Lee, Sun-Ju; Lee, Wen-Jane; Liang, Kae-Woei; Lim, Blanche; Lim, Sing-Hui; Liu, Jianjun; Nabika, Toru; Pan, Wen-Harn; Peng, Hao; Quertermous, Thomas; Sabanayagam, Charumathi; Sandow, Kevin; Shi, Jinxiu; Sun, Liang; Tan, Pok Chien; Tan, Shu-Pei; Taylor, Kent D; Teo, Yik-Ying; Toh, Sue-Anne; Tsunoda, Tatsuhiko; van Dam, Rob M; Wang, Aili; Wang, Feijie; Wang, Jie; Wei, Wen Bin; Xiang, Yong-Bing; Yao, Jie; Yuan, Jian-Min; Zhang, Rong; Zhao, Wanting; Chen, Yii-Der Ida; Rich, Stephen S; Rotter, Jerome I; Wang, Tzung-Dau; Wu, Tangchun; Lin, Xu; Han, Bok-Ghee; Tanaka, Toshihiro; Cho, Yoon Shin; Katsuya, Tomohiro; Jia, Weiping; Jee, Sun-Ha; Chen, Yuan-Tsong; Kato, Norihiro; Jonas, Jost B; Cheng, Ching-Yu; Shu, Xiao-Ou; He, Jiang; Zheng, Wei; Wong, Tien-Yin; Huang, Wei; Kim, Bong-Jo; Tai, E-Shyong; Mohlke, Karen L; Sim, Xueling

2017-05-01

Large-scale meta-analyses of genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified >175 loci associated with fasting cholesterol levels, including total cholesterol (TC), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), and triglycerides (TG). With differences in linkage disequilibrium (LD) structure and allele frequencies between ancestry groups, studies in additional large samples may detect new associations. We conducted staged GWAS meta-analyses in up to 69,414 East Asian individuals from 24 studies with participants from Japan, the Philippines, Korea, China, Singapore, and Taiwan. These meta-analyses identified (P < 5 × 10-8) three novel loci associated with HDL-C near CD163-APOBEC1 (P = 7.4 × 10-9), NCOA2 (P = 1.6 × 10-8), and NID2-PTGDR (P = 4.2 × 10-8), and one novel locus associated with TG near WDR11-FGFR2 (P = 2.7 × 10-10). Conditional analyses identified a second signal near CD163-APOBEC1. We then combined results from the East Asian meta-analysis with association results from up to 187,365 European individuals from the Global Lipids Genetics Consortium in a trans-ancestry meta-analysis. This analysis identified (log10Bayes Factor ≥6.1) eight additional novel lipid loci. Among the twelve total loci identified, the index variants at eight loci have demonstrated at least nominal significance with other metabolic traits in prior studies, and two loci exhibited coincident eQTLs (P < 1 × 10-5) in subcutaneous adipose tissue for BPTF and PDGFC. Taken together, these analyses identified multiple novel lipid loci, providing new potential therapeutic targets. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Reporting and methodological quality of meta-analyses in urological literature.

PubMed

Xia, Leilei; Xu, Jing; Guzzo, Thomas J

2017-01-01

To assess the overall quality of published urological meta-analyses and identify predictive factors for high quality. We systematically searched PubMed to identify meta-analyses published from January 1st, 2011 to December 31st, 2015 in 10 predetermined major paper-based urology journals. The characteristics of the included meta-analyses were collected, and their reporting and methodological qualities were assessed by the PRISMA checklist (27 items) and AMSTAR tool (11 items), respectively. Descriptive statistics were used for individual items as a measure of overall compliance, and PRISMA and AMSTAR scores were calculated as the sum of adequately reported domains. Logistic regression was used to identify predictive factors for high qualities. A total of 183 meta-analyses were included. The mean PRISMA and AMSTAR scores were 22.74 ± 2.04 and 7.57 ± 1.41, respectively. PRISMA item 5, protocol and registration, items 15 and 22, risk of bias across studies, items 16 and 23, additional analysis had less than 50% adherence. AMSTAR item 1, " a priori " design, item 5, list of studies and item 10, publication bias had less than 50% adherence. Logistic regression analyses showed that funding support and " a priori " design were associated with superior reporting quality, following PRISMA guideline and " a priori " design were associated with superior methodological quality. Reporting and methodological qualities of recently published meta-analyses in major paper-based urology journals are generally good. Further improvement could potentially be achieved by strictly adhering to PRISMA guideline and having " a priori " protocol.

Statistical methods for meta-analyses including information from studies without any events-add nothing to nothing and succeed nevertheless.

PubMed

Kuss, O

2015-03-30

Meta-analyses with rare events, especially those that include studies with no event in one ('single-zero') or even both ('double-zero') treatment arms, are still a statistical challenge. In the case of double-zero studies, researchers in general delete these studies or use continuity corrections to avoid them. A number of arguments against both options has been given, and statistical methods that use the information from double-zero studies without using continuity corrections have been proposed. In this paper, we collect them and compare them by simulation. This simulation study tries to mirror real-life situations as completely as possible by deriving true underlying parameters from empirical data on actually performed meta-analyses. It is shown that for each of the commonly encountered effect estimators valid statistical methods are available that use the information from double-zero studies without using continuity corrections. Interestingly, all of them are truly random effects models, and so also the current standard method for very sparse data as recommended from the Cochrane collaboration, the Yusuf-Peto odds ratio, can be improved on. For actual analysis, we recommend to use beta-binomial regression methods to arrive at summary estimates for the odds ratio, the relative risk, or the risk difference. Methods that ignore information from double-zero studies or use continuity corrections should no longer be used. We illustrate the situation with an example where the original analysis ignores 35 double-zero studies, and a superior analysis discovers a clinically relevant advantage of off-pump surgery in coronary artery bypass grafting. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Tardigrada of Ireland: a review of records and an updated checklist of species including a new addition to the Irish fauna.

PubMed

DeMilio, Erica; Lawton, Colin; Marley, Nigel J

2016-01-01

The phylum Tardigrada was not recorded in Ireland until the Clare Island Survey of 1909-1911, with only rare subsequent reports on Irish tardigrade species. In recent decades, significant taxonomic revision has occurred within Tardigrada. This has resulted in the need for a review of all known historical records from Ireland and Northern Ireland in order to produce an updated checklist of valid taxa. The new checklist includes fifty-one tardigrade species and subspecies including a new addition to the Irish fauna reported herein, Echiniscus quadrispinosus quadrispinosus Richters, 1902 from Newtown, Ballyvaughan, Co. Clare.

Using FUN3D for Aeroelastic, Sonic Boom, and AeroPropulsoServoElastic (APSE) Analyses of a Supersonic Configuration

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Silva, Walter A.; Sanetrik, Mark D.; Chwalowski, Pawel; Connolly, Joseph; Kopasakis, George

2016-01-01

An overview of recent applications of the FUN3D CFD code to computational aeroelastic, sonic boom, and aeropropulsoservoelasticity (APSE) analyses of a low-boom supersonic configuration is presented. The overview includes details of the computational models developed including multiple unstructured CFD grids suitable for aeroelastic and sonic boom analyses. In addition, aeroelastic Reduced-Order Models (ROMs) are generated and used to rapidly compute the aeroelastic response and utter boundaries at multiple flight conditions.

10 CFR 61.13 - Technical analyses.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... 10 Energy 2 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Technical analyses. 61.13 Section 61.13 Energy NUCLEAR....13 Technical analyses. The specific technical information must also include the following analyses... air, soil, groundwater, surface water, plant uptake, and exhumation by burrowing animals. The analyses...

Characterization of Metal Powders Used for Additive Manufacturing.

PubMed

Slotwinski, J A; Garboczi, E J; Stutzman, P E; Ferraris, C F; Watson, S S; Peltz, M A

2014-01-01

Additive manufacturing (AM) techniques can produce complex, high-value metal parts, with potential applications as critical parts, such as those found in aerospace components. The production of AM parts with consistent and predictable properties requires input materials (e.g., metal powders) with known and repeatable characteristics, which in turn requires standardized measurement methods for powder properties. First, based on our previous work, we assess the applicability of current standardized methods for powder characterization for metal AM powders. Then we present the results of systematic studies carried out on two different powder materials used for additive manufacturing: stainless steel and cobalt-chrome. The characterization of these powders is important in NIST efforts to develop appropriate measurements and standards for additive materials and to document the property of powders used in a NIST-led additive manufacturing material round robin. An extensive array of characterization techniques was applied to these two powders, in both virgin and recycled states. The physical techniques included laser diffraction particle size analysis, X-ray computed tomography for size and shape analysis, and optical and scanning electron microscopy. Techniques sensitive to structure and chemistry, including X-ray diffraction, energy dispersive analytical X-ray analysis using the X-rays generated during scanning electron microscopy, and X-Ray photoelectron spectroscopy were also employed. The results of these analyses show how virgin powder changes after being exposed to and recycled from one or more Direct Metal Laser Sintering (DMLS) additive manufacturing build cycles. In addition, these findings can give insight into the actual additive manufacturing process.

Characterization of Metal Powders Used for Additive Manufacturing

PubMed Central

Slotwinski, JA; Garboczi, EJ; Stutzman, PE; Ferraris, CF; Watson, SS; Peltz, MA

2014-01-01

Additive manufacturing (AM) techniques1 can produce complex, high-value metal parts, with potential applications as critical parts, such as those found in aerospace components. The production of AM parts with consistent and predictable properties requires input materials (e.g., metal powders) with known and repeatable characteristics, which in turn requires standardized measurement methods for powder properties. First, based on our previous work, we assess the applicability of current standardized methods for powder characterization for metal AM powders. Then we present the results of systematic studies carried out on two different powder materials used for additive manufacturing: stainless steel and cobalt-chrome. The characterization of these powders is important in NIST efforts to develop appropriate measurements and standards for additive materials and to document the property of powders used in a NIST-led additive manufacturing material round robin. An extensive array of characterization techniques was applied to these two powders, in both virgin and recycled states. The physical techniques included laser diffraction particle size analysis, X-ray computed tomography for size and shape analysis, and optical and scanning electron microscopy. Techniques sensitive to structure and chemistry, including X-ray diffraction, energy dispersive analytical X-ray analysis using the X-rays generated during scanning electron microscopy, and X-Ray photoelectron spectroscopy were also employed. The results of these analyses show how virgin powder changes after being exposed to and recycled from one or more Direct Metal Laser Sintering (DMLS) additive manufacturing build cycles. In addition, these findings can give insight into the actual additive manufacturing process. PMID:26601040

7 CFR 94.102 - Analyses available.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... 7 Agriculture 3 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Analyses available. 94.102 Section 94.102 Agriculture... POULTRY AND EGG PRODUCTS Voluntary Analyses of Egg Products § 94.102 Analyses available. A wide array of analyses for voluntary egg product samples is available. Voluntary egg product samples include surveillance...

Alcohol intake and gastric cancer: Meta-analyses of published data versus individual participant data pooled analyses (StoP Project).

PubMed

Ferro, Ana; Morais, Samantha; Rota, Matteo; Pelucchi, Claudio; Bertuccio, Paola; Bonzi, Rossella; Galeone, Carlotta; Zhang, Zuo-Feng; Matsuo, Keitaro; Ito, Hidemi; Hu, Jinfu; Johnson, Kenneth C; Yu, Guo-Pei; Palli, Domenico; Ferraroni, Monica; Muscat, Joshua; Malekzadeh, Reza; Ye, Weimin; Song, Huan; Zaridze, David; Maximovitch, Dmitry; Fernández de Larrea, Nerea; Kogevinas, Manolis; Vioque, Jesus; Navarrete-Muñoz, Eva M; Pakseresht, Mohammadreza; Pourfarzi, Farhad; Wolk, Alicja; Orsini, Nicola; Bellavia, Andrea; Håkansson, Niclas; Mu, Lina; Pastorino, Roberta; Kurtz, Robert C; Derakhshan, Mohammad H; Lagiou, Areti; Lagiou, Pagona; Boffetta, Paolo; Boccia, Stefania; Negri, Eva; La Vecchia, Carlo; Peleteiro, Bárbara; Lunet, Nuno

2018-05-01

Individual participant data pooled analyses allow access to non-published data and statistical reanalyses based on more homogeneous criteria than meta-analyses based on systematic reviews. We quantified the impact of publication-related biases and heterogeneity in data analysis and presentation in summary estimates of the association between alcohol drinking and gastric cancer. We compared estimates obtained from conventional meta-analyses, using only data available in published reports from studies that take part in the Stomach Cancer Pooling (StoP) Project, with individual participant data pooled analyses including the same studies. A total of 22 studies from the StoP Project assessed the relation between alcohol intake and gastric cancer, 19 had specific data for levels of consumption and 18 according to cancer location; published reports addressing these associations were available from 18, 5 and 5 studies, respectively. The summary odds ratios [OR, (95%CI)] estimate obtained with published data for drinkers vs. non-drinkers was 10% higher than the one obtained with individual StoP data [18 vs. 22 studies: 1.21 (1.07-1.36) vs. 1.10 (0.99-1.23)] and more heterogeneous (I 2 : 63.6% vs 54.4%). In general, published data yielded less precise summary estimates (standard errors up to 2.6 times higher). Funnel plot analysis suggested publication bias. Meta-analyses of the association between alcohol drinking and gastric cancer tended to overestimate the magnitude of the effects, possibly due to publication bias. Additionally, individual participant data pooled analyses yielded more precise estimates for different levels of exposure or cancer subtypes. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Tardigrada of Ireland: a review of records and an updated checklist of species including a new addition to the Irish fauna

PubMed Central

DeMilio, Erica; Lawton, Colin; Marley, Nigel J.

2016-01-01

Abstract The phylum Tardigrada was not recorded in Ireland until the Clare Island Survey of 1909–1911, with only rare subsequent reports on Irish tardigrade species. In recent decades, significant taxonomic revision has occurred within Tardigrada. This has resulted in the need for a review of all known historical records from Ireland and Northern Ireland in order to produce an updated checklist of valid taxa. The new checklist includes fifty-one tardigrade species and subspecies including a new addition to the Irish fauna reported herein, Echiniscus quadrispinosus quadrispinosus Richters, 1902 from Newtown, Ballyvaughan, Co. Clare. PMID:27667947

Detection of Organic Constituents Including Chloromethylpropene in the Analyses of the ROCKNEST Drift by Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Eigenbrode, J. L.; Glavin, D.; Coll, P.; Summons, R. E.; Mahaffy, P.; Archer, D.; Brunner, A.; Conrad, P.; Freissinet, C.; Martin, M.;

Reporting and methodological quality of meta-analyses in urological literature

PubMed Central

Xu, Jing

2017-01-01

Purpose To assess the overall quality of published urological meta-analyses and identify predictive factors for high quality. Materials and Methods We systematically searched PubMed to identify meta-analyses published from January 1st, 2011 to December 31st, 2015 in 10 predetermined major paper-based urology journals. The characteristics of the included meta-analyses were collected, and their reporting and methodological qualities were assessed by the PRISMA checklist (27 items) and AMSTAR tool (11 items), respectively. Descriptive statistics were used for individual items as a measure of overall compliance, and PRISMA and AMSTAR scores were calculated as the sum of adequately reported domains. Logistic regression was used to identify predictive factors for high qualities. Results A total of 183 meta-analyses were included. The mean PRISMA and AMSTAR scores were 22.74 ± 2.04 and 7.57 ± 1.41, respectively. PRISMA item 5, protocol and registration, items 15 and 22, risk of bias across studies, items 16 and 23, additional analysis had less than 50% adherence. AMSTAR item 1, “a priori” design, item 5, list of studies and item 10, publication bias had less than 50% adherence. Logistic regression analyses showed that funding support and “a priori” design were associated with superior reporting quality, following PRISMA guideline and “a priori” design were associated with superior methodological quality. Conclusions Reporting and methodological qualities of recently published meta-analyses in major paper-based urology journals are generally good. Further improvement could potentially be achieved by strictly adhering to PRISMA guideline and having “a priori” protocol. PMID:28439452

Major histocompatibility complex harbors widespread genotypic variability of non-additive risk of rheumatoid arthritis including epistasis.

PubMed

Wei, Wen-Hua; Bowes, John; Plant, Darren; Viatte, Sebastien; Yarwood, Annie; Massey, Jonathan; Worthington, Jane; Eyre, Stephen

2016-04-25

Genotypic variability based genome-wide association studies (vGWASs) can identify potentially interacting loci without prior knowledge of the interacting factors. We report a two-stage approach to make vGWAS applicable to diseases: firstly using a mixed model approach to partition dichotomous phenotypes into additive risk and non-additive environmental residuals on the liability scale and secondly using the Levene's (Brown-Forsythe) test to assess equality of the residual variances across genotype groups per marker. We found widespread significant (P < 2.5e-05) vGWAS signals within the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) across all three study cohorts of rheumatoid arthritis. We further identified 10 epistatic interactions between the vGWAS signals independent of the MHC additive effects, each with a weak effect but jointly explained 1.9% of phenotypic variance. PTPN22 was also identified in the discovery cohort but replicated in only one independent cohort. Combining the three cohorts boosted power of vGWAS and additionally identified TYK2 and ANKRD55. Both PTPN22 and TYK2 had evidence of interactions reported elsewhere. We conclude that vGWAS can help discover interacting loci for complex diseases but require large samples to find additional signals.

Genome-wide analyses implicate 33 loci in heritable dog osteosarcoma, including regulatory variants near CDKN2A/B

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

Background Canine osteosarcoma is clinically nearly identical to the human disease, but is common and highly heritable, making genetic dissection feasible. Results Through genome-wide association analyses in three breeds (greyhounds, Rottweilers, and Irish wolfhounds), we identify 33 inherited risk loci explaining 55% to 85% of phenotype variance in each breed. The greyhound locus exhibiting the strongest association, located 150 kilobases upstream of the genes CDKN2A/B, is also the most rearranged locus in canine osteosarcoma tumors. The top germline candidate variant is found at a >90% frequency in Rottweilers and Irish wolfhounds, and alters an evolutionarily constrained element that we show has strong enhancer activity in human osteosarcoma cells. In all three breeds, osteosarcoma-associated loci and regions of reduced heterozygosity are enriched for genes in pathways connected to bone differentiation and growth. Several pathways, including one of genes regulated by miR124, are also enriched for somatic copy-number changes in tumors. Conclusions Mapping a complex cancer in multiple dog breeds reveals a polygenic spectrum of germline risk factors pointing to specific pathways as drivers of disease. PMID:24330828

Phylogenetic analyses indicate little variation among reticuloendotheliosis viruses infecting avian species, including the endangered Attwater's prairie chicken.

PubMed

Bohls, Ryan L; Linares, Jose A; Gross, Shannon L; Ferro, Pam J; Silvy, Nova J; Collisson, Ellen W

2006-08-01

Reticuloendotheliosis virus infection, which typically causes systemic lymphomas and high mortality in the endangered Attwater's prairie chicken, has been described as a major obstacle in repopulation efforts of captive breeding facilities in Texas. Although antigenic relationships among reticuloendotheliosis virus (REV) strains have been previously determined, phylogenetic relationships have not been reported. The pol and env of REV proviral DNA from prairie chickens (PC-R92 and PC-2404), from poxvirus lesions in domestic chickens, the prototype poultry derived REV-A and chick syncytial virus (CSV), and duck derived spleen necrosis virus (SNV) were PCR amplified and sequenced. The 5032bp, that included the pol and most of env genes, of the PC-R92 and REV-A were 98% identical, and nucleotide sequence identities of smaller regions within the pol and env from REV strains examined ranged from 95 to 99% and 93 to 99%, respectively. The putative amino acid sequences were 97-99% identical in the polymerase and 90-98% in the envelope. Phylogenetic analyses of the nucleotide and amino acid sequences indicated the closest relationship among the recent fowl pox-associated chicken isolates, the prairie chicken isolates and the prototype CSV while only the SNV appeared to be distinctly divergent. While the origin of the naturally occurring viruses is not known, the avian poxvirus may be a critical component of transmission of these ubiquitous oncogenic viruses.

Comprehensive Genomic Analyses of the OM43 Clade, Including a Novel Species from the Red Sea, Indicate Ecotype Differentiation among Marine Methylotrophs

PubMed Central

Jimenez-Infante, Francy; Ngugi, David Kamanda; Vinu, Manikandan; Alam, Intikhab; Kamau, Allan Anthony; Blom, Jochen; Bajic, Vladimir B.

2015-01-01

The OM43 clade within the family Methylophilaceae of Betaproteobacteria represents a group of methylotrophs that play important roles in the metabolism of C1 compounds in marine environments and other aquatic environments around the globe. Using dilution-to-extinction cultivation techniques, we successfully isolated a novel species of this clade (here designated MBRS-H7) from the ultraoligotrophic open ocean waters of the central Red Sea. Phylogenomic analyses indicate that MBRS-H7 is a novel species that forms a distinct cluster together with isolate KB13 from Hawaii (Hawaii-Red Sea [H-RS] cluster) that is separate from the cluster represented by strain HTCC2181 (from the Oregon coast). Phylogenetic analyses using the robust 16S-23S internal transcribed spacer revealed a potential ecotype separation of the marine OM43 clade members, which was further confirmed by metagenomic fragment recruitment analyses that showed trends of higher abundance in low-chlorophyll and/or high-temperature provinces for the H-RS cluster but a preference for colder, highly productive waters for the HTCC2181 cluster. This potential environmentally driven niche differentiation is also reflected in the metabolic gene inventories, which in the case of the H-RS cluster include those conferring resistance to high levels of UV irradiation, temperature, and salinity. Interestingly, we also found different energy conservation modules between these OM43 subclades, namely, the existence of the NADH:quinone oxidoreductase complex I (NUO) system in the H-RS cluster and the nonhomologous NADH:quinone oxidoreductase (NQR) system in the HTCC2181 cluster, which might have implications for their overall energetic yields. PMID:26655752

Additional EIPC Study Analysis. Final Report

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Hadley, Stanton W; Gotham, Douglas J.; Luciani, Ralph L.

Between 2010 and 2012 the Eastern Interconnection Planning Collaborative (EIPC) conducted a major long-term resource and transmission study of the Eastern Interconnection (EI). With guidance from a Stakeholder Steering Committee (SSC) that included representatives from the Eastern Interconnection States Planning Council (EISPC) among others, the project was conducted in two phases. Phase 1 involved a long-term capacity expansion analysis that involved creation of eight major futures plus 72 sensitivities. Three scenarios were selected for more extensive transmission- focused evaluation in Phase 2. Five power flow analyses, nine production cost model runs (including six sensitivities), and three capital cost estimations weremore » developed during this second phase. The results from Phase 1 and 2 provided a wealth of data that could be examined further to address energy-related questions. A list of 14 topics was developed for further analysis. This paper brings together the earlier interim reports of the first 13 topics plus one additional topic into a single final report.« less

Using Additional Analyses to Clarify the Functions of Problem Behavior: An Analysis of Two Cases

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Payne, Steven W.; Dozier, Claudia L.; Neidert, Pamela L.; Jowett, Erica S.; Newquist, Matthew H.

2014-01-01

Functional analyses (FA) have proven useful for identifying contingencies that influence problem behavior. Research has shown that some problem behavior may only occur in specific contexts or be influenced by multiple or idiosyncratic variables. When these contexts or sources of influence are not assessed in an FA, further assessment may be…

SOCR Analyses - an Instructional Java Web-based Statistical Analysis Toolkit.

PubMed

Chu, Annie; Cui, Jenny; Dinov, Ivo D

2009-03-01

The Statistical Online Computational Resource (SOCR) designs web-based tools for educational use in a variety of undergraduate courses (Dinov 2006). Several studies have demonstrated that these resources significantly improve students' motivation and learning experiences (Dinov et al. 2008). SOCR Analyses is a new component that concentrates on data modeling and analysis using parametric and non-parametric techniques supported with graphical model diagnostics. Currently implemented analyses include commonly used models in undergraduate statistics courses like linear models (Simple Linear Regression, Multiple Linear Regression, One-Way and Two-Way ANOVA). In addition, we implemented tests for sample comparisons, such as t-test in the parametric category; and Wilcoxon rank sum test, Kruskal-Wallis test, Friedman's test, in the non-parametric category. SOCR Analyses also include several hypothesis test models, such as Contingency tables, Friedman's test and Fisher's exact test.The code itself is open source (http://socr.googlecode.com/), hoping to contribute to the efforts of the statistical computing community. The code includes functionality for each specific analysis model and it has general utilities that can be applied in various statistical computing tasks. For example, concrete methods with API (Application Programming Interface) have been implemented in statistical summary, least square solutions of general linear models, rank calculations, etc. HTML interfaces, tutorials, source code, activities, and data are freely available via the web (www.SOCR.ucla.edu). Code examples for developers and demos for educators are provided on the SOCR Wiki website.In this article, the pedagogical utilization of the SOCR Analyses is discussed, as well as the underlying design framework. As the SOCR project is on-going and more functions and tools are being added to it, these resources are constantly improved. The reader is strongly encouraged to check the SOCR site for most

Constitutive Analyses of Nontraditional Stabilization Additives

DTIC Science & Technology

2004-11-01

cm-I Figure 29. FTIRIATR spectrum of Ven-Set 950 soil stabilization agent Based on the information provided in the MSDS and the FTIR analysis above...emulsion. The MSDS states that it is composed of an acrylic polymer (52 percent) with zinc oxide (2 percent), activated carbon (8 to 9 percent), and...water. The polymer as yet is unidentified. However, it appears to be an acrylate/ methacrylate with some aromaticity (peak about 1,635 c-f’). The

Post hoc analyses: after the facts.

PubMed

Srinivas, Titte R; Ho, Bing; Kang, Joseph; Kaplan, Bruce

2015-01-01

Prospective clinical trials are constructed with high levels of internal validity. Sample size and power considerations usually address primary endpoints. Primary endpoints have traditionally included events that are becoming increasingly less common and thus have led to growing use of composite endpoints and noninferiority trial designs in transplantation. This approach may mask real clinical benefit in one or the other domain with regard to either clinically relevant secondary endpoints or other unexpected findings. In addition, endpoints solely chosen based on power considerations are prone to misjudgment of actual treatment effect size as well as consistency of that effect. In the instances where treatment effects may have been underestimated, valuable information may be lost if buried within a composite endpoint. In all these cases, analyses and post hoc analyses of data become relevant in informing practitioners about clinical benefits or safety signals that may not be captured by the primary endpoint. On the other hand, there are many pitfalls in using post hoc determined endpoints. This short review is meant to allow readers to appreciate post hoc analysis not as an entity with a single approach, but rather as an analysis with unique limitations and strengths that often raise new questions to be addressed in further inquiries.

Impact of searching clinical trial registries in systematic reviews of pharmaceutical treatments: methodological systematic review and reanalysis of meta-analyses.

PubMed

Baudard, Marie; Yavchitz, Amélie; Ravaud, Philippe; Perrodeau, Elodie; Boutron, Isabelle

2017-02-17

Objective  To evaluate the impact of searching clinical trial registries in systematic reviews. Design  Methodological systematic review and reanalyses of meta-analyses. Data sources  Medline was searched to identify systematic reviews of randomised controlled trials (RCTs) assessing pharmaceutical treatments published between June 2014 and January 2015. For all systematic reviews that did not report a trial registry search but reported the information to perform it, the World Health Organization International Trials Registry Platform (WHO ICTRP search portal) was searched for completed or terminated RCTs not originally included in the systematic review. Data extraction  For each systematic review, two researchers independently extracted the outcomes analysed, the number of patients included, and the treatment effect estimated. For each RCT identified, two researchers independently determined whether the results were available (ie, posted, published, or available on the sponsor website) and extracted the data. When additional data were retrieved, we reanalysed meta-analyses and calculated the weight of the additional RCTs and the change in summary statistics by comparison with the original meta-analysis. Results  Among 223 selected systematic reviews, 116 (52%) did not report a search of trial registries; 21 of these did not report the information to perform the search (key words, search date). A search was performed for 95 systematic reviews; for 54 (57%), no additional RCTs were found and for 41 (43%) 122 additional RCTs were identified. The search allowed for increasing the number of patients by more than 10% in 19 systematic reviews, 20% in 10, 30% in seven, and 50% in four. Moreover, 63 RCTs had results available; the results for 45 could be included in a meta-analysis. 14 systematic reviews including 45 RCTs were reanalysed. The weight of the additional RCTs in the recalculated meta-analyses ranged from 0% to 58% and was greater than 10% in five of 14

Phylogenetic Analyses: A Toolbox Expanding towards Bayesian Methods

PubMed Central

Aris-Brosou, Stéphane; Xia, Xuhua

2008-01-01

The reconstruction of phylogenies is becoming an increasingly simple activity. This is mainly due to two reasons: the democratization of computing power and the increased availability of sophisticated yet user-friendly software. This review describes some of the latest additions to the phylogenetic toolbox, along with some of their theoretical and practical limitations. It is shown that Bayesian methods are under heavy development, as they offer the possibility to solve a number of long-standing issues and to integrate several steps of the phylogenetic analyses into a single framework. Specific topics include not only phylogenetic reconstruction, but also the comparison of phylogenies, the detection of adaptive evolution, and the estimation of divergence times between species. PMID:18483574

Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analyses of individual participant data: the PRISMA-IPD Statement.

PubMed

Stewart, Lesley A; Clarke, Mike; Rovers, Maroeska; Riley, Richard D; Simmonds, Mark; Stewart, Gavin; Tierney, Jayne F

2015-04-28

Systematic reviews and meta-analyses of individual participant data (IPD) aim to collect, check, and reanalyze individual-level data from all studies addressing a particular research question and are therefore considered a gold standard approach to evidence synthesis. They are likely to be used with increasing frequency as current initiatives to share clinical trial data gain momentum and may be particularly important in reviewing controversial therapeutic areas. To develop PRISMA-IPD as a stand-alone extension to the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) Statement, tailored to the specific requirements of reporting systematic reviews and meta-analyses of IPD. Although developed primarily for reviews of randomized trials, many items will apply in other contexts, including reviews of diagnosis and prognosis. Development of PRISMA-IPD followed the EQUATOR Network framework guidance and used the existing standard PRISMA Statement as a starting point to draft additional relevant material. A web-based survey informed discussion at an international workshop that included researchers, clinicians, methodologists experienced in conducting systematic reviews and meta-analyses of IPD, and journal editors. The statement was drafted and iterative refinements were made by the project, advisory, and development groups. The PRISMA-IPD Development Group reached agreement on the PRISMA-IPD checklist and flow diagram by consensus. Compared with standard PRISMA, the PRISMA-IPD checklist includes 3 new items that address (1) methods of checking the integrity of the IPD (such as pattern of randomization, data consistency, baseline imbalance, and missing data), (2) reporting any important issues that emerge, and (3) exploring variation (such as whether certain types of individual benefit more from the intervention than others). A further additional item was created by reorganization of standard PRISMA items relating to interpreting results. Wording

Personalized genomic analyses for cancer mutation discovery and interpretation

PubMed Central

Jones, Siân; Anagnostou, Valsamo; Lytle, Karli; Parpart-Li, Sonya; Nesselbush, Monica; Riley, David R.; Shukla, Manish; Chesnick, Bryan; Kadan, Maura; Papp, Eniko; Galens, Kevin G.; Murphy, Derek; Zhang, Theresa; Kann, Lisa; Sausen, Mark; Angiuoli, Samuel V.; Diaz, Luis A.; Velculescu, Victor E.

2015-01-01

Massively parallel sequencing approaches are beginning to be used clinically to characterize individual patient tumors and to select therapies based on the identified mutations. A major question in these analyses is the extent to which these methods identify clinically actionable alterations and whether the examination of the tumor tissue alone is sufficient or whether matched normal DNA should also be analyzed to accurately identify tumor-specific (somatic) alterations. To address these issues, we comprehensively evaluated 815 tumor-normal paired samples from patients of 15 tumor types. We identified genomic alterations using next-generation sequencing of whole exomes or 111 targeted genes that were validated with sensitivities >95% and >99%, respectively, and specificities >99.99%. These analyses revealed an average of 140 and 4.3 somatic mutations per exome and targeted analysis, respectively. More than 75% of cases had somatic alterations in genes associated with known therapies or current clinical trials. Analyses of matched normal DNA identified germline alterations in cancer-predisposing genes in 3% of patients with apparently sporadic cancers. In contrast, a tumor-only sequencing approach could not definitively identify germline changes in cancer-predisposing genes and led to additional false-positive findings comprising 31% and 65% of alterations identified in targeted and exome analyses, respectively, including in potentially actionable genes. These data suggest that matched tumor-normal sequencing analyses are essential for precise identification and interpretation of somatic and germline alterations and have important implications for the diagnostic and therapeutic management of cancer patients. PMID:25877891

NMC stratospheric analyses during the 1987 Antarctic expedition

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gelman, Melvyn E.; Newman, Paul A.

1988-01-01

Stratospheric constant pressure analyses of geopotential height and temperature, produced as part of regular operations at the National Meteorological Center (NMC), were used by several participants of the Antarctic Ozone Expedition. A brief decription is given of the NMC stratospheric analyses and the data that are used to derive them. In addition, comparisons of the analysis values at the locations of radiosonde and aircraft data are presented to provide indications for assessing the representativeness of the NMC stratospheric analyses during the 1987 Antarctic winter-spring period.

SOCR Analyses – an Instructional Java Web-based Statistical Analysis Toolkit

PubMed Central

Chu, Annie; Cui, Jenny; Dinov, Ivo D.

2011-01-01

The Statistical Online Computational Resource (SOCR) designs web-based tools for educational use in a variety of undergraduate courses (Dinov 2006). Several studies have demonstrated that these resources significantly improve students' motivation and learning experiences (Dinov et al. 2008). SOCR Analyses is a new component that concentrates on data modeling and analysis using parametric and non-parametric techniques supported with graphical model diagnostics. Currently implemented analyses include commonly used models in undergraduate statistics courses like linear models (Simple Linear Regression, Multiple Linear Regression, One-Way and Two-Way ANOVA). In addition, we implemented tests for sample comparisons, such as t-test in the parametric category; and Wilcoxon rank sum test, Kruskal-Wallis test, Friedman's test, in the non-parametric category. SOCR Analyses also include several hypothesis test models, such as Contingency tables, Friedman's test and Fisher's exact test. The code itself is open source (http://socr.googlecode.com/), hoping to contribute to the efforts of the statistical computing community. The code includes functionality for each specific analysis model and it has general utilities that can be applied in various statistical computing tasks. For example, concrete methods with API (Application Programming Interface) have been implemented in statistical summary, least square solutions of general linear models, rank calculations, etc. HTML interfaces, tutorials, source code, activities, and data are freely available via the web (www.SOCR.ucla.edu). Code examples for developers and demos for educators are provided on the SOCR Wiki website. In this article, the pedagogical utilization of the SOCR Analyses is discussed, as well as the underlying design framework. As the SOCR project is on-going and more functions and tools are being added to it, these resources are constantly improved. The reader is strongly encouraged to check the SOCR site for most

Proteomic Analyses of the Unexplored Sea Anemone Bunodactis verrucosa

PubMed Central

Campos, Alexandre; Turkina, Maria V.; Ribeiro, Tiago; Osorio, Hugo; Vasconcelos, Vítor; Antunes, Agostinho

2018-01-01

Cnidarian toxic products, particularly peptide toxins, constitute a promising target for biomedicine research. Indeed, cnidarians are considered as the largest phylum of generally toxic animals. However, research on peptides and toxins of sea anemones is still limited. Moreover, most of the toxins from sea anemones have been discovered by classical purification approaches. Recently, high-throughput methodologies have been used for this purpose but in other Phyla. Hence, the present work was focused on the proteomic analyses of whole-body extract from the unexplored sea anemone Bunodactis verrucosa. The proteomic analyses applied were based on two methods: two-dimensional gel electrophoresis combined with MALDI-TOF/TOF and shotgun proteomic approach. In total, 413 proteins were identified, but only eight proteins were identified from gel-based analyses. Such proteins are mainly involved in basal metabolism and biosynthesis of antibiotics as the most relevant pathways. In addition, some putative toxins including metalloproteinases and neurotoxins were also identified. These findings reinforce the significance of the production of antimicrobial compounds and toxins by sea anemones, which play a significant role in defense and feeding. In general, the present study provides the first proteome map of the sea anemone B. verrucosa stablishing a reference for future studies in the discovery of new compounds. PMID:29364843

Proteomic Analyses of the Unexplored Sea Anemone Bunodactis verrucosa.

PubMed

Domínguez-Pérez, Dany; Campos, Alexandre; Alexei Rodríguez, Armando; Turkina, Maria V; Ribeiro, Tiago; Osorio, Hugo; Vasconcelos, Vítor; Antunes, Agostinho

2018-01-24

Cnidarian toxic products, particularly peptide toxins, constitute a promising target for biomedicine research. Indeed, cnidarians are considered as the largest phylum of generally toxic animals. However, research on peptides and toxins of sea anemones is still limited. Moreover, most of the toxins from sea anemones have been discovered by classical purification approaches. Recently, high-throughput methodologies have been used for this purpose but in other Phyla. Hence, the present work was focused on the proteomic analyses of whole-body extract from the unexplored sea anemone Bunodactis verrucosa . The proteomic analyses applied were based on two methods: two-dimensional gel electrophoresis combined with MALDI-TOF/TOF and shotgun proteomic approach. In total, 413 proteins were identified, but only eight proteins were identified from gel-based analyses. Such proteins are mainly involved in basal metabolism and biosynthesis of antibiotics as the most relevant pathways. In addition, some putative toxins including metalloproteinases and neurotoxins were also identified. These findings reinforce the significance of the production of antimicrobial compounds and toxins by sea anemones, which play a significant role in defense and feeding. In general, the present study provides the first proteome map of the sea anemone B. verrucosa stablishing a reference for future studies in the discovery of new compounds.

Hearing loss among older construction workers: Updated analyses.

PubMed

Dement, John; Welch, Laura S; Ringen, Knut; Cranford, Kim; Quinn, Patricia

2018-04-01

A prior study of this construction worker population found significant noise-associated hearing loss. This follow-up study included a much larger study population and consideration of additional risk factors. Data included audiometry, clinical chemistry, personal history, and work history. Qualitative exposure metrics for noise and solvents were developed. Analyses compared construction workers to an internal reference group with lower exposures and an external worker population with low noise exposure. Among participants (n = 19 127) an overall prevalence of hearing loss of 58% was observed, with significantly increased prevalence across all construction trades. Construction workers had significantly increased risk of hearing loss compared to reference populations, with increasing risk by work duration. Noise exposure, solvent exposure, hypertension, and smoking were significant risk factors in multivariate models. Results support a causal relationship between construction trades work and hearing loss. Prevention should focus on reducing exposure to noise, solvents, and cigarette smoke. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Metagenomic analyses of the late Pleistocene permafrost - additional tools for reconstruction of environmental conditions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rivkina, Elizaveta; Petrovskaya, Lada; Vishnivetskaya, Tatiana; Krivushin, Kirill; Shmakova, Lyubov; Tutukina, Maria; Meyers, Arthur; Kondrashov, Fyodor

2016-04-01

A comparative analysis of the metagenomes from two 30 000-year-old permafrost samples, one of lake-alluvial origin and the other from late Pleistocene Ice Complex sediments, revealed significant differences within microbial communities. The late Pleistocene Ice Complex sediments (which have been characterized by the absence of methane with lower values of redox potential and Fe2+ content) showed a low abundance of methanogenic archaea and enzymes from both the carbon and nitrogen cycles, but a higher abundance of enzymes associated with the sulfur cycle. The metagenomic and geochemical analyses described in the paper provide evidence that the formation of the sampled late Pleistocene Ice Complex sediments likely took place under much more aerobic conditions than lake-alluvial sediments.

ISAAC - InterSpecies Analysing Application using Containers.

PubMed

Baier, Herbert; Schultz, Jörg

2014-01-15

Information about genes, transcripts and proteins is spread over a wide variety of databases. Different tools have been developed using these databases to identify biological signals in gene lists from large scale analysis. Mostly, they search for enrichments of specific features. But, these tools do not allow an explorative walk through different views and to change the gene lists according to newly upcoming stories. To fill this niche, we have developed ISAAC, the InterSpecies Analysing Application using Containers. The central idea of this web based tool is to enable the analysis of sets of genes, transcripts and proteins under different biological viewpoints and to interactively modify these sets at any point of the analysis. Detailed history and snapshot information allows tracing each action. Furthermore, one can easily switch back to previous states and perform new analyses. Currently, sets can be viewed in the context of genomes, protein functions, protein interactions, pathways, regulation, diseases and drugs. Additionally, users can switch between species with an automatic, orthology based translation of existing gene sets. As todays research usually is performed in larger teams and consortia, ISAAC provides group based functionalities. Here, sets as well as results of analyses can be exchanged between members of groups. ISAAC fills the gap between primary databases and tools for the analysis of large gene lists. With its highly modular, JavaEE based design, the implementation of new modules is straight forward. Furthermore, ISAAC comes with an extensive web-based administration interface including tools for the integration of third party data. Thus, a local installation is easily feasible. In summary, ISAAC is tailor made for highly explorative interactive analyses of gene, transcript and protein sets in a collaborative environment.

Additional Sr Isotopic Heterogeneity in Zagami Olivine-Rich Lithology

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Misawa, K.; Niihara, T.; Shih, C.-Y; Reese, Y. D.; Nyquist, L. E.; Yoneda, S.; Yamashita, H.

2012-01-01

Prior isotopic analyses of Zagami have established differing initial Sr-87/Sr-86 (ISr) ratios of among Zagami lithologies, fine-grained (FG), coarse-grained (CG), and dark mottled lithologies (DML)]. The Zagami sample (KPM-NLH000057) newly allocated from the Kanagawa Prefectural Museum of Natural History contained DML and the Ol-rich lithology which included more ferroan olivines (Ol-rich: Fa(sub 97- 99) vs late-stage melt pockets: Fa(sub 90-97)]). We have combined mineralogy-petrology and Rb-Sr isotopic studies on the Kanagawa Zagami sample, which will provide additional clues to the genesis of enriched shergottites and to the evolution of Martian crust and mantle

RNA-sequencing-based transcriptome and biochemical analyses of steroidal saponin pathway in a complete set of Allium fistulosum—A. cepa monosomic addition lines

PubMed Central

Abdelrahman, Mostafa; El-Sayed, Magdi; Sato, Shusei; Hirakawa, Hideki; Ito, Shin-ichi; Tanaka, Keisuke; Mine, Yoko; Sugiyama, Nobuo; Suzuki, Minoru; Yamauchi, Naoki

2017-01-01

The genus Allium is a rich source of steroidal saponins, and its medicinal properties have been attributed to these bioactive compounds. The saponin compounds with diverse structures play a pivotal role in Allium’s defense mechanism. Despite numerous studies on the occurrence and chemical structure of steroidal saponins, their biosynthetic pathway in Allium species is poorly understood. The monosomic addition lines (MALs) of the Japanese bunching onion (A. fistulosum, FF) with an extra chromosome from the shallot (A. cepa Aggregatum group, AA) are powerful genetic resources that enable us to understand many physiological traits of Allium. In the present study, we were able to isolate and identify Alliospiroside A saponin compound in A. fistulosum with extra chromosome 2A from shallot (FF2A) and its role in the defense mechanism against Fusarium pathogens. Furthermore, to gain molecular insight into the Allium saponin biosynthesis pathway, high-throughput RNA-Seq of the root, bulb, and leaf of AA, MALs, and FF was carried out using Illumina's HiSeq 2500 platform. An open access Allium Transcript Database (Allium TDB, http://alliumtdb.kazusa.or.jp) was generated based on RNA-Seq data. The resulting assembled transcripts were functionally annotated, revealing 50 unigenes involved in saponin biosynthesis. Differential gene expression (DGE) analyses of AA and MALs as compared with FF (as a control) revealed a strong up-regulation of the saponin downstream pathway, including cytochrome P450, glycosyltransferase, and beta-glucosidase in chromosome 2A. An understanding of the saponin compounds and biosynthesis-related genes would facilitate the development of plants with unique saponin content and, subsequently, improved disease resistance. PMID:28800607

RNA-sequencing-based transcriptome and biochemical analyses of steroidal saponin pathway in a complete set of Allium fistulosum-A. cepa monosomic addition lines.

PubMed

Abdelrahman, Mostafa; El-Sayed, Magdi; Sato, Shusei; Hirakawa, Hideki; Ito, Shin-Ichi; Tanaka, Keisuke; Mine, Yoko; Sugiyama, Nobuo; Suzuki, Yutaka; Yamauchi, Naoki; Shigyo, Masayoshi

2017-01-01

The genus Allium is a rich source of steroidal saponins, and its medicinal properties have been attributed to these bioactive compounds. The saponin compounds with diverse structures play a pivotal role in Allium's defense mechanism. Despite numerous studies on the occurrence and chemical structure of steroidal saponins, their biosynthetic pathway in Allium species is poorly understood. The monosomic addition lines (MALs) of the Japanese bunching onion (A. fistulosum, FF) with an extra chromosome from the shallot (A. cepa Aggregatum group, AA) are powerful genetic resources that enable us to understand many physiological traits of Allium. In the present study, we were able to isolate and identify Alliospiroside A saponin compound in A. fistulosum with extra chromosome 2A from shallot (FF2A) and its role in the defense mechanism against Fusarium pathogens. Furthermore, to gain molecular insight into the Allium saponin biosynthesis pathway, high-throughput RNA-Seq of the root, bulb, and leaf of AA, MALs, and FF was carried out using Illumina's HiSeq 2500 platform. An open access Allium Transcript Database (Allium TDB, http://alliumtdb.kazusa.or.jp) was generated based on RNA-Seq data. The resulting assembled transcripts were functionally annotated, revealing 50 unigenes involved in saponin biosynthesis. Differential gene expression (DGE) analyses of AA and MALs as compared with FF (as a control) revealed a strong up-regulation of the saponin downstream pathway, including cytochrome P450, glycosyltransferase, and beta-glucosidase in chromosome 2A. An understanding of the saponin compounds and biosynthesis-related genes would facilitate the development of plants with unique saponin content and, subsequently, improved disease resistance.

Linkage analyses of chromosome 6 loci, including HLA, in familial aggregations of Crohn disease

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Hugot, J.P.; Laurent-Puig, P.; Gower-Rousseau, C.

1994-08-15

Segregation analyses of familial aggregations of Crohn disease have provided consistent results pointing to the involvement of a predisposing gene with a recessive mode of inheritance. Although extensively investigated, the role played by human leucocyte antigen (HLA) genes in this inflammatory bowel disease remains elusive and the major histocompatibility complex is a candidate region for the mapping of the Crohn disease susceptibility gene. A total of 25 families with multiple cases of Crohn disease was genotyped for HLA DRB1 and for 16 highly polymorphic loci evenly distributed on chromosome 6. The data were subjected to linkage analysis using the lodmore » score method. Neither individual nor combined lod scores for any family and for any locus tested reached values suggesting linkage or genetic heterogeneity. The Crohn disease predisposing locus was excluded from the whole chromosome 6 with lod scores less than -2. It was excluded from the major histocompatibility complex and from 91% of the chromosome 6 genetic map with lod scores less than -4. The major recessive gene involved in genetic predisposition to Crohn disease does not reside on the major histocompatibility complex nor on any locus mapping to chromosome 6. 37 refs., 2 figs., 2 tabs.« less

Summary of Meta-Analyses Dealing with Single-Row versus Double-Row Repair Techniques for Rotator Cuff Tears

PubMed Central

Spiegl, U.J.; Euler, S.A.; Millett, P.J.; Hepp, P.

2016-01-01

Background: Several meta-analyses of randomized clinical trials have been performed to analyze whether double-row (DR) rotator cuff repair (RCR) provides superior clinical outcomes and structural healing compared to single-row (SR) repair. The purpose of this study was to sum up the results of meta-analysis comparing SR and DR repair with respect on clinical outcomes and re-tear rates. Methods: A literature search was undertaken to identify all meta-analyses dealing with randomized controlled trials comparing clinical und structural outcomes after SR versus DR RCR. Results: Eight meta-analyses met the eligibility criteria: two including Level I studies only, five including both Level I and Level II studies, and one including additional Level III studies. Four meta-analyses found no differences between SR and DR RCR for patient outcomes, whereas four favored DR RCR for tears greater than 3 cm. Two meta-analyses found no structural healing differences between SR and DR RCR, whereas six found DR repair to be superior for tears greater than 3 cm tears. Conclusion: No clinical differences are seen between single-row and double-row repair for small and medium rotator cuff tears after a short-term follow-up period with a higher re-tear rate following single-row repairs. There seems to be a trend to superior results with double-row repair in large to massive tear sizes. PMID:27708735

Recent meta-analyses neglect previous systematic reviews and meta-analyses about the same topic: a systematic examination.

PubMed

Helfer, Bartosz; Prosser, Aaron; Samara, Myrto T; Geddes, John R; Cipriani, Andrea; Davis, John M; Mavridis, Dimitris; Salanti, Georgia; Leucht, Stefan

2015-04-14

As the number of systematic reviews is growing rapidly, we systematically investigate whether meta-analyses published in leading medical journals present an outline of available evidence by referring to previous meta-analyses and systematic reviews. We searched PubMed for recent meta-analyses of pharmacological treatments published in high impact factor journals. Previous systematic reviews and meta-analyses were identified with electronic searches of keywords and by searching reference sections. We analyzed the number of meta-analyses and systematic reviews that were cited, described and discussed in each recent meta-analysis. Moreover, we investigated publication characteristics that potentially influence the referencing practices. We identified 52 recent meta-analyses and 242 previous meta-analyses on the same topics. Of these, 66% of identified previous meta-analyses were cited, 36% described, and only 20% discussed by recent meta-analyses. The probability of citing a previous meta-analysis was positively associated with its publication in a journal with a higher impact factor (odds ratio, 1.49; 95% confidence interval, 1.06 to 2.10) and more recent publication year (odds ratio, 1.19; 95% confidence interval 1.03 to 1.37). Additionally, the probability of a previous study being described by the recent meta-analysis was inversely associated with the concordance of results (odds ratio, 0.38; 95% confidence interval, 0.17 to 0.88), and the probability of being discussed was increased for previous studies that employed meta-analytic methods (odds ratio, 32.36; 95% confidence interval, 2.00 to 522.85). Meta-analyses on pharmacological treatments do not consistently refer to and discuss findings of previous meta-analyses on the same topic. Such neglect can lead to research waste and be confusing for readers. Journals should make the discussion of related meta-analyses mandatory.

Effect of periodontal treatment on preterm birth rate: a systematic review of meta-analyses.

PubMed

López, Néstor J; Uribe, Sergio; Martinez, Benjamín

2015-02-01

Preterm birth is a major cause of neonatal morbidity and mortality in both developed and developing countries. Preterm birth is a highly complex syndrome that includes distinct clinical subtypes in which many different causes may be involved. The results of epidemiological, molecular, microbiological and animal-model studies support a positive association between maternal periodontal disease and preterm birth. However, the results of intervention studies carried out to determine the effect of periodontal treatment on reducing the risk of preterm birth are controversial. This systematic review critically analyzes the methodological issues of meta-analyses of the studies to determine the effect of periodontal treatment to reduce preterm birth. The quality of the individual randomized clinical trials selected is of highest relevance for a systematic review. This article describes the methodological features that should be identified a priori and assessed individually to determine the quality of a randomized controlled trial performed to evaluate the effect of periodontal treatment on pregnancy outcomes. The AMSTAR and the PRISMA checklist tools were used to assess the quality of the six meta-analyses selected, and the bias domain of the Cochrane Collaboration's Tool was applied to evaluate each of the trials included in the meta-analyses. In addition, the methodological characteristics of each clinical trial were assessed. The majority of the trials included in the meta-analyses have significant methodological flaws that threaten their internal validity. The lack of effect of periodontal treatment on preterm birth rate concluded by four meta-analyses, and the positive effect of treatment for reducing preterm birth risk concluded by the remaining two meta-analyses are not based on consistent scientific evidence. Well-conducted randomized controlled trials using rigorous methodology, including appropriate definition of the exposure, adequate control of confounders for

Quantifying Special Generator Ridership in Transit Analyses

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1997-01-01

In major investment analyses and transit corridor studies, the impact of conventions, sporting matches, and other special events on transit ridership is often of interest. In many locations, it is hypothesized that additional ridership to and from su...

Anti-Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor Comparative Effectiveness Trial for Diabetic Macular Edema: Additional Efficacy Post Hoc Analyses of a Randomized Clinical Trial.

PubMed

Jampol, Lee M; Glassman, Adam R; Bressler, Neil M; Wells, John A; Ayala, Allison R

2016-12-01

Post hoc analyses from the Diabetic Retinopathy Clinical Research Network randomized clinical trial comparing aflibercept, bevacizumab, and ranibizumab for diabetic macular edema (DME) might influence interpretation of study results. To provide additional outcomes comparing 3 anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) agents for DME. Post hoc analyses performed from May 3, 2016, to June 21, 2016, of a randomized clinical trial performed from August 22, 2012, to September 23, 2015, of 660 participants comparing 3 anti-VEGF treatments in eyes with center-involved DME causing vision impairment. Randomization to intravitreous aflibercept (2.0 mg), bevacizumab (1.25 mg), or ranibizumab (0.3 mg) administered up to monthly based on a structured retreatment regimen. Focal/grid laser treatment was added after 6 months for the treatment of persistent DME. Change in visual acuity (VA) area under the curve and change in central subfield thickness (CST) within subgroups based on whether an eye received laser treatment for DME during the study. Post hoc analyses were performed for 660 participants (mean [SD] age, 61 [10] years; 47% female, 65% white, 16% black or African American, 16% Hispanic, and 3% other). For eyes with an initial VA of 20/50 or worse, VA improvement was greater with aflibercept than the other agents at 1 year but superior only to bevacizumab at 2 years. Mean (SD) letter change in VA over 2 years (area under curve) was greater with aflibercept (+17.1 [9.7]) than with bevacizumab (+12.1 [9.4]; 95% CI, +1.6 to +7.3; P < .001) or ranibizumab (+13.6 [8.5]; 95% CI, +0.7 to +6.0; P = .009). When VA was 20/50 or worse at baseline, bevacizumab reduced CST less than the other agents at 1 year, but at 2 years the differences had diminished. In subgroups stratified by baseline VA, anti-VEGF agent, and whether focal/grid laser treatment was performed for DME, the only participants to have a substantial reduction in mean CST between 1 and 2 years were those

Cost-inclusive evaluation: a banquet of approaches for including costs, benefits, and cost-effectiveness and cost-benefit analyses in your next evaluation.

PubMed

Yates, Brian T

2009-02-01

An introduction to the special issue on cost-inclusive evaluation, providing a brief history of the use of costs, benefits, cost-effectiveness, and cost-benefit analyses in the evaluation of human services. Two tables present brief glossaries of terms and analyses common in cost-inclusive program evaluation.

Development of Brassica oleracea-nigra monosomic alien addition lines: genotypic, cytological and morphological analyses.

PubMed

Tan, Chen; Cui, Cheng; Xiang, Yi; Ge, Xianhong; Li, Zaiyun

2017-12-01

We report the development and characterization of Brassica oleracea - nigra monosomic alien addition lines (MAALs) to dissect the Brassica B genome. Brassica nigra (2n = 16, BB) represents the diploid Brassica B genome which carries many useful genes and traits for breeding but received limited studies. To dissect the B genome from B. nigra, the triploid F 1 hybrid (2n = 26, CCB) obtained previously from the cross B. oleracea var. alboglabra (2n = 18, CC) × B. nigra was used as the maternal parent and backcrossed successively to parental B. oleracea. The progenies in BC 1 to BC 3 generations were analyzed by the methods of FISH and SSR markers to screen the monosomic alien addition lines (MAALs) with each of eight different B-genome chromosomes added to C genome (2n = 19, CC + 1B 1-8 ), and seven different MAALs were established, except for the one with chromosome B2 which existed in one triple addition. Most of these MAALs were distinguishable morphologically from each other, as they expressed the characters from B. nigra differently and at variable extents. The alien chromosome remained unpaired as a univalent in 86.24% pollen mother cells at diakinesis or metaphase I, and formed a trivalent with two C-genome chromosomes in 13.76% cells. Transmission frequency of all the added chromosomes was far higher through the ovules (averagely 14.40%) than the pollen (2.64%). The B1, B4 and B5 chromosomes were transmitted by female at much higher rates (22.38-30.00%) than the other four (B3, B6, B7, B8) (5.04-8.42%). The MAALs should be valuable for exploiting the genome structure and evolution of B. nigra.

Evaluation of non-additive genetic variation in feed-related traits of broiler chickens.

PubMed

Li, Y; Hawken, R; Sapp, R; George, A; Lehnert, S A; Henshall, J M; Reverter, A

2017-03-01

Genome-wide association mapping and genomic predictions of phenotype of individuals in livestock are predominately based on the detection and estimation of additive genetic effects. Non-additive genetic effects are largely ignored. Studies in animals, plants, and humans to assess the impact of non-additive genetic effects in genetic analyses have led to differing conclusions. In this paper, we examined the consequences of including non-additive genetic effects in genome-wide association mapping and genomic prediction of total genetic values in a commercial population of 5,658 broiler chickens genotyped for 45,176 single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers. We employed mixed-model equations and restricted maximum likelihood to analyze 7 feed related traits (TRT1 - TRT7). Dominance variance accounted for a significant proportion of the total genetic variance in all 7 traits, ranging from 29.5% for TRT1 to 58.4% for TRT7. Using a 5-fold cross-validation schema, we found that in spite of the large dominance component, including the estimated dominance effects in the prediction of total genetic values did not improve the accuracy of the predictions for any of the phenotypes. We offer some possible explanations for this counter-intuitive result including the possible confounding of dominance deviations with common environmental effects such as hatch, different directional effects of SNP additive and dominance variations, and the gene-gene interactions' failure to contribute to the level of variance. © 2016 Poultry Science Association Inc.

Cytogenetic analyses of eight species in the genus Leptodactylus Fitzinger, 1843 (Amphibia, Anura, Leptodactylidae), including a new diploid number and a karyotype with multiple translocations.

PubMed

Gazoni, Thiago; Gruber, Simone L; Silva, Ana P Z; Araújo, Olivia G S; Narimatsu, Hideki; Strüssmann, Christine; Haddad, Célio F B; Kasahara, Sanae

2012-12-26

The karyotypes of Leptodactylus species usually consist of 22 bi-armed chromosomes, but morphological variations in some chromosomes and even differences in the 2n have been reported. To better understand the mechanisms responsible for these differences, eight species were analysed using classical and molecular cytogenetic techniques, including replication banding with BrdU incorporation. Distinct chromosome numbers were found: 2n = 22 in Leptodactylus chaquensis, L. labyrinthicus, L. pentadactylus, L. petersii, L. podicipinus, and L. rhodomystax; 2n = 20 in Leptodactylus sp. (aff. podicipinus); and 2n = 24 in L. marmoratus. Among the species with 2n = 22, only three had the same basic karyotype. Leptodactylus pentadactylus presented multiple translocations, L. petersii displayed chromosome morphological discrepancy, and L. podicipinus had four pairs of telocentric chromosomes. Replication banding was crucial for characterising this variability and for explaining the reduced 2n in Leptodactylus sp. (aff. podicipinus). Leptodactylus marmoratus had few chromosomes with a similar banding patterns to the 2n = 22 karyotypes. The majority of the species presented a single NOR-bearing pair, which was confirmed using Ag-impregnation and FISH with an rDNA probe. In general, the NOR-bearing chromosomes corresponded to chromosome 8, but NORs were found on chromosome 3 or 4 in some species. Leptodactylus marmoratus had NORs on chromosome pairs 6 and 8. The data from C-banding, fluorochrome staining, and FISH using the telomeric probe helped in characterising the repetitive sequences. Even though hybridisation did occur on the chromosome ends, telomere-like repetitive sequences outside of the telomere region were identified. Metaphase I cells from L. pentadactylus confirmed its complex karyotype constitution because 12 chromosomes appeared as ring-shaped chain in addition to five bivalents. Species of Leptodactylus exhibited both major and minor karyotypic differences which

Cytogenetic analyses of eight species in the genus Leptodactylus Fitzinger, 1843 (Amphibia, Anura, Leptodactylidae), including a new diploid number and a karyotype with multiple translocations

PubMed Central

2012-01-01

Background The karyotypes of Leptodactylus species usually consist of 22 bi-armed chromosomes, but morphological variations in some chromosomes and even differences in the 2n have been reported. To better understand the mechanisms responsible for these differences, eight species were analysed using classical and molecular cytogenetic techniques, including replication banding with BrdU incorporation. Results Distinct chromosome numbers were found: 2n = 22 in Leptodactylus chaquensis, L. labyrinthicus, L. pentadactylus, L. petersii, L. podicipinus, and L. rhodomystax; 2n = 20 in Leptodactylus sp. (aff. podicipinus); and 2n = 24 in L. marmoratus. Among the species with 2n = 22, only three had the same basic karyotype. Leptodactylus pentadactylus presented multiple translocations, L. petersii displayed chromosome morphological discrepancy, and L. podicipinus had four pairs of telocentric chromosomes. Replication banding was crucial for characterising this variability and for explaining the reduced 2n in Leptodactylus sp. (aff. podicipinus). Leptodactylus marmoratus had few chromosomes with a similar banding patterns to the 2n = 22 karyotypes. The majority of the species presented a single NOR-bearing pair, which was confirmed using Ag-impregnation and FISH with an rDNA probe. In general, the NOR-bearing chromosomes corresponded to chromosome 8, but NORs were found on chromosome 3 or 4 in some species. Leptodactylus marmoratus had NORs on chromosome pairs 6 and 8. The data from C-banding, fluorochrome staining, and FISH using the telomeric probe helped in characterising the repetitive sequences. Even though hybridisation did occur on the chromosome ends, telomere-like repetitive sequences outside of the telomere region were identified. Metaphase I cells from L. pentadactylus confirmed its complex karyotype constitution because 12 chromosomes appeared as ring-shaped chain in addition to five bivalents. Conclusions Species of Leptodactylus exhibited both major and minor

Food additives

MedlinePlus

... or natural. Natural food additives include: Herbs or spices to add flavor to foods Vinegar for pickling ... Certain colors improve the appearance of foods. Many spices, as well as natural and man-made flavors, ...

Atmospheric tether mission analyses

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1996-01-01

NASA is considering the use of tethered satellites to explore regions of the atmosphere inaccessible to spacecraft or high altitude research balloons. This report summarizes the Lockheed Martin Astronautics (LMA) effort for the engineering study team assessment of an Orbiter-based atmospheric tether mission. Lockheed Martin responsibilities included design recommendations for the deployer and tether, as well as tether dynamic analyses for the mission. Three tether configurations were studied including single line, multistrand (Hoytether) and tape designs.

Electron microprobe analyses of glasses from Kīlauea tephra units, Kīlauea Volcano, Hawaii

USGS Publications Warehouse

Helz, Rosalind L.; Clague, David A.; Mastin, Larry G.; Rose, Timothy R.

2014-01-01

This report presents approximately 2,100 glass analyses from three tephra units of Kīlauea Volcano: the Keanakākoʻi Tephra, the Kulanaokuaiki Tephra, and the Pāhala Ash. It also includes some new analyses obtained as part of a re-evaluation of the MgO contents of glasses in two of the three original datasets; this re-evaluation was conducted to improve the consistency of glass MgO contents among the three datasets. The glass data are a principal focus of Helz and others (in press), which will appear in the AGU Monograph Hawaiian Volcanoes—From Source to Surface. The report is intended to support this publication, in addition to making the data available to the scientific community.

Network meta-analyses performed by contracting companies and commissioned by industry.

PubMed

Schuit, Ewoud; Ioannidis, John Pa

2016-11-25

Industry commissions contracting companies to perform network meta-analysis for health technology assessment (HTA) and reimbursement submissions. Our objective was to estimate the number of network meta-analyses performed by consulting companies contracted by industry, to assess whether they were published, and to explore reasons for non-publication. We searched MEDLINE for network meta-analyses of randomized trials. Papers were included if they had authors affiliated with any contracting company. All identified contracting companies as well as additional ones from the list of the exhibitors at the International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research, an annual meeting that representatives from many contracting companies attend and exhibit at, were surveyed regarding conduct and publication of network meta-analyses. In 162 of 822 (20%) network meta-analysis papers, authors were affiliated to 66 contracting companies. Another 36 contracting companies were identified by the exhibitors list. Three companies had no contact information and six merged with others, therefore 93 companies were contacted. Thirty seven out of ninety three (40%) companies responded, and 19 indicated that they had performed a total of 476 network meta-analyses, but only 102 (21%) papers were published. Thirteen companies that disclosed to have conducted 174 network meta-analyses (45 published) provided reasons for non-publication. Of the 129 still unpublished meta-analyses, for 40 there were plans for future publication, for 37 the sponsor did not allow publication, for 16 the contracting companies did not plan to publish the meta-analysis, for another 23 plans were unclear, and the remaining 13 were used as HTA submission. The protocol of the network meta-analysis was publically available from 11/162 (6.8%) network meta-analyses published by authors affiliated with contracting companies. There is a prolific sector of professional contracting companies that perform network meta-analyses

Publication bias in dermatology systematic reviews and meta-analyses.

PubMed

Atakpo, Paul; Vassar, Matt

2016-05-01

Systematic reviews and meta-analyses in dermatology provide high-level evidence for clinicians and policy makers that influence clinical decision making and treatment guidelines. One methodological problem with systematic reviews is the under representation of unpublished studies. This problem is due in part to publication bias. Omission of statistically non-significant data from meta-analyses may result in overestimation of treatment effect sizes which may lead to clinical consequences. Our goal was to assess whether systematic reviewers in dermatology evaluate and report publication bias. Further, we wanted to conduct our own evaluation of publication bias on meta-analyses that failed to do so. Our study considered systematic reviews and meta-analyses from ten dermatology journals from 2006 to 2016. A PubMed search was conducted, and all full-text articles that met our inclusion criteria were retrieved and coded by the primary author. 293 articles were included in our analysis. Additionally, we formally evaluated publication bias in meta-analyses that failed to do so using trim and fill and cumulative meta-analysis by precision methods. Publication bias was mentioned in 107 articles (36.5%) and was formally evaluated in 64 articles (21.8%). Visual inspection of a funnel plot was the most common method of evaluating publication bias. Publication bias was present in 45 articles (15.3%), not present in 57 articles (19.5%) and not determined in 191 articles (65.2%). Using the trim and fill method, 7 meta-analyses (33.33%) showed evidence of publication bias. Although the trim and fill method only found evidence of publication bias in 7 meta-analyses, the cumulative meta-analysis by precision method found evidence of publication bias in 15 meta-analyses (71.4%). Many of the reviews in our study did not mention or evaluate publication bias. Further, of the 42 articles that stated following PRISMA reporting guidelines, 19 (45.2%) evaluated for publication bias. In

Covariate adjustment of event histories estimated from Markov chains: the additive approach.

PubMed

Aalen, O O; Borgan, O; Fekjaer, H

2001-12-01

Markov chain models are frequently used for studying event histories that include transitions between several states. An empirical transition matrix for nonhomogeneous Markov chains has previously been developed, including a detailed statistical theory based on counting processes and martingales. In this article, we show how to estimate transition probabilities dependent on covariates. This technique may, e.g., be used for making estimates of individual prognosis in epidemiological or clinical studies. The covariates are included through nonparametric additive models on the transition intensities of the Markov chain. The additive model allows for estimation of covariate-dependent transition intensities, and again a detailed theory exists based on counting processes. The martingale setting now allows for a very natural combination of the empirical transition matrix and the additive model, resulting in estimates that can be expressed as stochastic integrals, and hence their properties are easily evaluated. Two medical examples will be given. In the first example, we study how the lung cancer mortality of uranium miners depends on smoking and radon exposure. In the second example, we study how the probability of being in response depends on patient group and prophylactic treatment for leukemia patients who have had a bone marrow transplantation. A program in R and S-PLUS that can carry out the analyses described here has been developed and is freely available on the Internet.

Criteria for the assessment of analyser practicability

PubMed Central

Biosca, C.; Galimany, R.

1993-01-01

This article lists the theoretical criteria that need to be considered to assess the practicability of an automatic analyser. Two essential sets of criteria should be taken into account when selecting an automatic analyser: ‘reliability’ and ‘practicability’. Practibility covers the features that provide information about the suitability of an analyser for specific working conditions. These practibility criteria are classsified in this article and include the environment; work organization; versatility and flexibility; safely controls; staff training; maintenance and operational costs. PMID:18924972

Chemical analyses of fossil bone.

PubMed

Zheng, Wenxia; Schweitzer, Mary Higby

2012-01-01

The preservation of microstructures consistent with soft tissues, cells, and other biological components in demineralized fragments of dinosaur bone tens of millions of years old was unexpected, and counter to current hypotheses of tissue, cellular, and molecular degradation. Although the morphological similarity of these tissues to extant counterparts was unmistakable, after at least 80 million years exposed to geochemical influences, morphological similarity is insufficient to support an endogenous source. To test this hypothesis, and to characterize these materials at a molecular level, we applied multiple independent chemical, molecular, and microscopic analyses to identify the presence of original components produced by the extinct organisms. Microscopic techniques included field emission scanning electron microscopy, analytical transmission electron microscopy, transmitted light microscopy (LM), and fluorescence microscopy (FM). The chemical and molecular techniques include enzyme-linked immunosorbant assay, sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, western blot (immunoblot), and attenuated total reflectance infrared spectroscopy. In situ analyses performed directly on tissues included immunohistochemistry and time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry. The details of sample preparation and methodology are described in detail herein.

A comparison between different finite elements for elastic and aero-elastic analyses.

PubMed

Mahran, Mohamed; ELsabbagh, Adel; Negm, Hani

2017-11-01

In the present paper, a comparison between five different shell finite elements, including the Linear Triangular Element, Linear Quadrilateral Element, Linear Quadrilateral Element based on deformation modes, 8-node Quadrilateral Element, and 9-Node Quadrilateral Element was presented. The shape functions and the element equations related to each element were presented through a detailed mathematical formulation. Additionally, the Jacobian matrix for the second order derivatives was simplified and used to derive each element's strain-displacement matrix in bending. The elements were compared using carefully selected elastic and aero-elastic bench mark problems, regarding the number of elements needed to reach convergence, the resulting accuracy, and the needed computation time. The best suitable element for elastic free vibration analysis was found to be the Linear Quadrilateral Element with deformation-based shape functions, whereas the most suitable element for stress analysis was the 8-Node Quadrilateral Element, and the most suitable element for aero-elastic analysis was the 9-Node Quadrilateral Element. Although the linear triangular element was the last choice for modal and stress analyses, it establishes more accurate results in aero-elastic analyses, however, with much longer computation time. Additionally, the nine-node quadrilateral element was found to be the best choice for laminated composite plates analysis.

An experiment in software reliability: Additional analyses using data from automated replications

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Dunham, Janet R.; Lauterbach, Linda A.

1988-01-01

A study undertaken to collect software error data of laboratory quality for use in the development of credible methods for predicting the reliability of software used in life-critical applications is summarized. The software error data reported were acquired through automated repetitive run testing of three independent implementations of a launch interceptor condition module of a radar tracking problem. The results are based on 100 test applications to accumulate a sufficient sample size for error rate estimation. The data collected is used to confirm the results of two Boeing studies reported in NASA-CR-165836 Software Reliability: Repetitive Run Experimentation and Modeling, and NASA-CR-172378 Software Reliability: Additional Investigations into Modeling With Replicated Experiments, respectively. That is, the results confirm the log-linear pattern of software error rates and reject the hypothesis of equal error rates per individual fault. This rejection casts doubt on the assumption that the program's failure rate is a constant multiple of the number of residual bugs; an assumption which underlies some of the current models of software reliability. data raises new questions concerning the phenomenon of interacting faults.

10 CFR 52.158 - Contents of application; additional technical information.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... 10 Energy 2 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Contents of application; additional technical information... APPROVALS FOR NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS Manufacturing Licenses § 52.158 Contents of application; additional technical information. The application must contain: (a)(1) Inspections, tests, analyses, and acceptance...

Using generalized additive (mixed) models to analyze single case designs.

PubMed

Shadish, William R; Zuur, Alain F; Sullivan, Kristynn J

2014-04-01

This article shows how to apply generalized additive models and generalized additive mixed models to single-case design data. These models excel at detecting the functional form between two variables (often called trend), that is, whether trend exists, and if it does, what its shape is (e.g., linear and nonlinear). In many respects, however, these models are also an ideal vehicle for analyzing single-case designs because they can consider level, trend, variability, overlap, immediacy of effect, and phase consistency that single-case design researchers examine when interpreting a functional relation. We show how these models can be implemented in a wide variety of ways to test whether treatment is effective, whether cases differ from each other, whether treatment effects vary over cases, and whether trend varies over cases. We illustrate diagnostic statistics and graphs, and we discuss overdispersion of data in detail, with examples of quasibinomial models for overdispersed data, including how to compute dispersion and quasi-AIC fit indices in generalized additive models. We show how generalized additive mixed models can be used to estimate autoregressive models and random effects and discuss the limitations of the mixed models compared to generalized additive models. We provide extensive annotated syntax for doing all these analyses in the free computer program R. Copyright © 2013 Society for the Study of School Psychology. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Identity-by-descent analyses for measuring population dynamics and selection in recombining pathogens.

PubMed

Henden, Lyndal; Lee, Stuart; Mueller, Ivo; Barry, Alyssa; Bahlo, Melanie

2018-05-01

Identification of genomic regions that are identical by descent (IBD) has proven useful for human genetic studies where analyses have led to the discovery of familial relatedness and fine-mapping of disease critical regions. Unfortunately however, IBD analyses have been underutilized in analysis of other organisms, including human pathogens. This is in part due to the lack of statistical methodologies for non-diploid genomes in addition to the added complexity of multiclonal infections. As such, we have developed an IBD methodology, called isoRelate, for analysis of haploid recombining microorganisms in the presence of multiclonal infections. Using the inferred IBD status at genomic locations, we have also developed a novel statistic for identifying loci under positive selection and propose relatedness networks as a means of exploring shared haplotypes within populations. We evaluate the performance of our methodologies for detecting IBD and selection, including comparisons with existing tools, then perform an exploratory analysis of whole genome sequencing data from a global Plasmodium falciparum dataset of more than 2500 genomes. This analysis identifies Southeast Asia as having many highly related isolates, possibly as a result of both reduced transmission from intensified control efforts and population bottlenecks following the emergence of antimalarial drug resistance. Many signals of selection are also identified, most of which overlap genes that are known to be associated with drug resistance, in addition to two novel signals observed in multiple countries that have yet to be explored in detail. Additionally, we investigate relatedness networks over the selected loci and determine that one of these sweeps has spread between continents while the other has arisen independently in different countries. IBD analysis of microorganisms using isoRelate can be used for exploring population structure, positive selection and haplotype distributions, and will be a

Tracking the direct impact of rainfall on groundwater at Mt. Fuji by multiple analyses including microbial DNA

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sugiyama, Ayumi; Masuda, Suguru; Nagaosa, Kazuyo; Tsujimura, Maki; Kato, Kenji

2018-02-01

A total of 2 to 3 million tons of spring water flushes out from the foot of Mt. Fuji, the largest volcanic mountain in Japan. Based on the concept of piston flow transport, residence time of stored groundwater at Mt. Fuji was estimated at ˜ 15-30 years by the 36Cl / Cl ratio (Tosaki et al., 2011). This range, however, represents the average residence time of groundwater that was mixed before it flushed out. To elucidate the route of groundwater in a given system, we determined signatures of direct impacts of rainfall on groundwater, using microbial, stable isotopic (δ18O), and chemical analyses (concentration of silica). Chemical analysis of the groundwater gave an average value of the water, which was already mixed with waters from various sources and routes in the subsurface environment. The microbial analysis suggested locations of water origin and paths. In situ observation during four rainfall events revealed that the stable oxygen isotopic signature obtained from spring water (at 726 m a.s.l., site SP-0 m) and shallow groundwater (at 150 m a.s.l., site GW-42 m), where the average recharge height from rainfall was 1700-1800 m, became greater than values observed prior to a torrential rain producing more than 300 mm of precipitation. The concentration of silica decreased after this event. In addition, the abundance of Bacteria in spring water increased, suggesting the influence of heavy rain. Such changes did not appear when rainfall was less than 100 mm per event. The above findings indicate a rapid flow of rain through the shallow part of the aquifer, which appeared within a few weeks of torrential rain extracting abundant microbes from soil in the studied geologic setting. Interestingly, we found that after the torrential rain, the abundance of Archaea increased in the deep groundwater at site GW-550 m, ˜ 12 km downstream of SP-0 m. However, chemical parameters did not show any change after the event. This suggests that strengthened piston flow caused by

Identification among morphologically similar Argyreia (Convolvulaceae) based on leaf anatomy and phenetic analyses.

PubMed

Traiperm, Paweena; Chow, Janene; Nopun, Possathorn; Staples, G; Swangpol, Sasivimon C

2017-12-01

The genus Argyreia Lour. is one of the species-rich Asian genera in the family Convolvulaceae. Several species complexes were recognized in which taxon delimitation was imprecise, especially when examining herbarium materials without fully developed open flowers. The main goal of this study is to investigate and describe leaf anatomy for some morphologically similar Argyreia using epidermal peeling, leaf and petiole transverse sections, and scanning electron microscopy. Phenetic analyses including cluster analysis and principal component analysis were used to investigate the similarity of these morpho-types. Anatomical differences observed between the morpho-types include epidermal cell walls and the trichome types on the leaf epidermis. Additional differences in the leaf and petiole transverse sections include the epidermal cell shape of the adaxial leaf blade, the leaf margins, and the petiole transverse sectional outline. The phenogram from cluster analysis using the UPGMA method represented four groups with an R value of 0.87. Moreover, the important quantitative and qualitative leaf anatomical traits of the four groups were confirmed by the principal component analysis of the first two components. The results from phenetic analyses confirmed the anatomical differentiation between the morpho-types. Leaf anatomical features regarded as particularly informative for morpho-type differentiation can be used to supplement macro morphological identification.

A Reconstruction Approach to High-Order Schemes Including Discontinuous Galerkin for Diffusion

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Huynh, H. T.

2009-01-01

We introduce a new approach to high-order accuracy for the numerical solution of diffusion problems by solving the equations in differential form using a reconstruction technique. The approach has the advantages of simplicity and economy. It results in several new high-order methods including a simplified version of discontinuous Galerkin (DG). It also leads to new definitions of common value and common gradient quantities at each interface shared by the two adjacent cells. In addition, the new approach clarifies the relations among the various choices of new and existing common quantities. Fourier stability and accuracy analyses are carried out for the resulting schemes. Extensions to the case of quadrilateral meshes are obtained via tensor products. For the two-point boundary value problem (steady state), it is shown that these schemes, which include most popular DG methods, yield exact common interface quantities as well as exact cell average solutions for nearly all cases.

Orthodontic archwire composition and phase analyses by neutron spectroscopy.

PubMed

Tian, Kun V; Festa, Giulia; Basoli, Francesco; Laganà, Giuseppina; Scherillo, Antonella; Andreani, Carla; Bollero, Patrizio; Licoccia, Silvia; Senesi, Roberto; Cozza, Paola

2017-05-31

Quantitative metallurgical and phase analyses employing neutron diffraction technique were conducted on two as-received commercial rectangular austenitic stainless steel orthodontic archwires, G&H and Azdent, 0.43×0.64 mm (0.017×0.025 inch). Results showed a bi-phase structure containing martensitic phase (45.67% for G&H and 6.62% for Azdent) in addition to the expected metastable austenite. The former may be a strain-induced phase-transformation arising during the cold working process of wire fabrication. Further neutron resonance capture analysis determinations provided atomic and isotopic compositions, including alloying elements in each sample, complementary to the results of traditional energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. Together, these results assist in relating commercial alloying recipes and processing histories with mechanical performance, strength and ductility in particular.

The Effects of Intravenous Immunoglobulins in Women with Recurrent Miscarriages: A Systematic Review of Randomised Trials with Meta-Analyses and Trial Sequential Analyses Including Individual Patient Data.

PubMed

Egerup, Pia; Lindschou, Jane; Gluud, Christian; Christiansen, Ole Bjarne

2015-01-01

Immunological disturbances are hypothesised to play a role in recurrent miscarriage (RM) and therefore intravenous immunoglubulins (IVIg) have been tested in RM patients. The objectives were to investigate the benefits and harms of IVIg versus placebo, no intervention, or treatment as usual in women with RM. We searched the published literature in all relevant databases. Randomised trials investigating IVIg versus placebo, no intervention, or treatment as usual in women with RM. We undertook meta-analyses of aggregated data and individual patient data using a two-step approach, and we conducted bias domain assessments and trial sequential analyses to assess the risks of systematic and random errors. We identified 11 randomised clinical trials. No significant difference in the frequency of no live birth was found when IVIg was compared with placebo or treatment as usual (RR 0.92, 95% CI 0.75-1.12, p = 0.42). Trial sequential analysis showed that the required information size of 1,008 participants was not obtained. IVIg compared with placebo seems to increase the risk of adverse events. Subgroup analysis suggests that women with RM after a birth (secondary RM) seemed most likely to obtain a potential beneficial effect of IVIg (RR for no live birth 0.77, 95%CI 0.58-1.02, p = 0.06), however, trial sequential analysis showed that insufficient information is presently accrued. We cannot recommend or refute IVIg in women with RM. IVIg should therefore be assessed in further randomised clinical trials with positive outcomes before any clinical use is considered.

Estimating Additive and Non-Additive Genetic Variances and Predicting Genetic Merits Using Genome-Wide Dense Single Nucleotide Polymorphism Markers

PubMed Central

Su, Guosheng; Christensen, Ole F.; Ostersen, Tage; Henryon, Mark; Lund, Mogens S.

2012-01-01

Non-additive genetic variation is usually ignored when genome-wide markers are used to study the genetic architecture and genomic prediction of complex traits in human, wild life, model organisms or farm animals. However, non-additive genetic effects may have an important contribution to total genetic variation of complex traits. This study presented a genomic BLUP model including additive and non-additive genetic effects, in which additive and non-additive genetic relation matrices were constructed from information of genome-wide dense single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers. In addition, this study for the first time proposed a method to construct dominance relationship matrix using SNP markers and demonstrated it in detail. The proposed model was implemented to investigate the amounts of additive genetic, dominance and epistatic variations, and assessed the accuracy and unbiasedness of genomic predictions for daily gain in pigs. In the analysis of daily gain, four linear models were used: 1) a simple additive genetic model (MA), 2) a model including both additive and additive by additive epistatic genetic effects (MAE), 3) a model including both additive and dominance genetic effects (MAD), and 4) a full model including all three genetic components (MAED). Estimates of narrow-sense heritability were 0.397, 0.373, 0.379 and 0.357 for models MA, MAE, MAD and MAED, respectively. Estimated dominance variance and additive by additive epistatic variance accounted for 5.6% and 9.5% of the total phenotypic variance, respectively. Based on model MAED, the estimate of broad-sense heritability was 0.506. Reliabilities of genomic predicted breeding values for the animals without performance records were 28.5%, 28.8%, 29.2% and 29.5% for models MA, MAE, MAD and MAED, respectively. In addition, models including non-additive genetic effects improved unbiasedness of genomic predictions. PMID:23028912

Fractal and multifractal analyses of bipartite networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Jin-Long; Wang, Jian; Yu, Zu-Guo; Xie, Xian-Hua

2017-03-01

Bipartite networks have attracted considerable interest in various fields. Fractality and multifractality of unipartite (classical) networks have been studied in recent years, but there is no work to study these properties of bipartite networks. In this paper, we try to unfold the self-similarity structure of bipartite networks by performing the fractal and multifractal analyses for a variety of real-world bipartite network data sets and models. First, we find the fractality in some bipartite networks, including the CiteULike, Netflix, MovieLens (ml-20m), Delicious data sets and (u, v)-flower model. Meanwhile, we observe the shifted power-law or exponential behavior in other several networks. We then focus on the multifractal properties of bipartite networks. Our results indicate that the multifractality exists in those bipartite networks possessing fractality. To capture the inherent attribute of bipartite network with two types different nodes, we give the different weights for the nodes of different classes, and show the existence of multifractality in these node-weighted bipartite networks. In addition, for the data sets with ratings, we modify the two existing algorithms for fractal and multifractal analyses of edge-weighted unipartite networks to study the self-similarity of the corresponding edge-weighted bipartite networks. The results show that our modified algorithms are feasible and can effectively uncover the self-similarity structure of these edge-weighted bipartite networks and their corresponding node-weighted versions.

Fractal and multifractal analyses of bipartite networks.

PubMed

Liu, Jin-Long; Wang, Jian; Yu, Zu-Guo; Xie, Xian-Hua

2017-03-31

Bipartite networks have attracted considerable interest in various fields. Fractality and multifractality of unipartite (classical) networks have been studied in recent years, but there is no work to study these properties of bipartite networks. In this paper, we try to unfold the self-similarity structure of bipartite networks by performing the fractal and multifractal analyses for a variety of real-world bipartite network data sets and models. First, we find the fractality in some bipartite networks, including the CiteULike, Netflix, MovieLens (ml-20m), Delicious data sets and (u, v)-flower model. Meanwhile, we observe the shifted power-law or exponential behavior in other several networks. We then focus on the multifractal properties of bipartite networks. Our results indicate that the multifractality exists in those bipartite networks possessing fractality. To capture the inherent attribute of bipartite network with two types different nodes, we give the different weights for the nodes of different classes, and show the existence of multifractality in these node-weighted bipartite networks. In addition, for the data sets with ratings, we modify the two existing algorithms for fractal and multifractal analyses of edge-weighted unipartite networks to study the self-similarity of the corresponding edge-weighted bipartite networks. The results show that our modified algorithms are feasible and can effectively uncover the self-similarity structure of these edge-weighted bipartite networks and their corresponding node-weighted versions.

Fractal and multifractal analyses of bipartite networks

PubMed Central

Liu, Jin-Long; Wang, Jian; Yu, Zu-Guo; Xie, Xian-Hua

2017-01-01

Bipartite networks have attracted considerable interest in various fields. Fractality and multifractality of unipartite (classical) networks have been studied in recent years, but there is no work to study these properties of bipartite networks. In this paper, we try to unfold the self-similarity structure of bipartite networks by performing the fractal and multifractal analyses for a variety of real-world bipartite network data sets and models. First, we find the fractality in some bipartite networks, including the CiteULike, Netflix, MovieLens (ml-20m), Delicious data sets and (u, v)-flower model. Meanwhile, we observe the shifted power-law or exponential behavior in other several networks. We then focus on the multifractal properties of bipartite networks. Our results indicate that the multifractality exists in those bipartite networks possessing fractality. To capture the inherent attribute of bipartite network with two types different nodes, we give the different weights for the nodes of different classes, and show the existence of multifractality in these node-weighted bipartite networks. In addition, for the data sets with ratings, we modify the two existing algorithms for fractal and multifractal analyses of edge-weighted unipartite networks to study the self-similarity of the corresponding edge-weighted bipartite networks. The results show that our modified algorithms are feasible and can effectively uncover the self-similarity structure of these edge-weighted bipartite networks and their corresponding node-weighted versions. PMID:28361962

Methodological concerns for meta-analyses of meditation: Comment on Sedlmeier et al. (2012).

PubMed

Orme-Johnson, David W; Dillbeck, Michael C

2014-03-01

We commend Sedlmeier et al. (2012) for their significant undertaking of meta-analysis of all meditation types on all psychological variables, but additional analyses may modify some of their conclusions. Whereas they suggest from visual inspection of funnel diagrams that there may be publication bias of underreporting low-effect studies on the Transcendental Meditation (TM) technique, quantitative tests do not indicate the presence of bias for any type of meditation. We additionally found that there was no significant difference in effect sizes between studies originating from researchers affiliated with a TM organization and studies from other universities. We found that comparison of different types of meditation on their global index was confounded because their global index aggregated different sets of variables for the different groups. That is, using composite indices that only aggregated variables for which each group had at least 3 studies confirmed the authors' conclusion that effect sizes for different research designs were not different, but found that effect sizes for the TM technique were significantly larger than effect sizes for mindfulness meditation or other meditations. We also located 35 studies on the TM technique that appear to meet the authors' inclusion criteria that were missed by their meta-analysis, and several others on important psychosocial behavioral variables, such as job performance, substance abuse, and prison recidivism that were not reviewed. In addition, we suggest that future meta-analyses on psychological variables include cross-validating physiological studies.

The Effects of Intravenous Immunoglobulins in Women with Recurrent Miscarriages: A Systematic Review of Randomised Trials with Meta-Analyses and Trial Sequential Analyses Including Individual Patient Data

PubMed Central

Egerup, Pia; Lindschou, Jane; Gluud, Christian; Christiansen, Ole Bjarne

2015-01-01

Background Immunological disturbances are hypothesised to play a role in recurrent miscarriage (RM) and therefore intravenous immunoglubulins (IVIg) have been tested in RM patients. Objectives The objectives were to investigate the benefits and harms of IVIg versus placebo, no intervention, or treatment as usual in women with RM. Search Strategy We searched the published literature in all relevant databases. Selection Criteria Randomised trials investigating IVIg versus placebo, no intervention, or treatment as usual in women with RM. Data Collection and Analysis We undertook meta-analyses of aggregated data and individual patient data using a two-step approach, and we conducted bias domain assessments and trial sequential analyses to assess the risks of systematic and random errors. Main Results We identified 11 randomised clinical trials. No significant difference in the frequency of no live birth was found when IVIg was compared with placebo or treatment as usual (RR 0.92, 95% CI 0.75–1.12, p = 0.42). Trial sequential analysis showed that the required information size of 1,008 participants was not obtained. IVIg compared with placebo seems to increase the risk of adverse events. Subgroup analysis suggests that women with RM after a birth (secondary RM) seemed most likely to obtain a potential beneficial effect of IVIg (RR for no live birth 0.77, 95%CI 0.58–1.02, p = 0.06), however, trial sequential analysis showed that insufficient information is presently accrued. Conclusion We cannot recommend or refute IVIg in women with RM. IVIg should therefore be assessed in further randomised clinical trials with positive outcomes before any clinical use is considered. PMID:26517123

Descriptive Analyses of Pediatric Food Refusal and Acceptance

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Borrero, Carrie S. W.; Woods, Julia N.; Borrero, John C.; Masler, Elizabeth A.; Lesser, Aaron D.

2010-01-01

Functional analyses of inappropriate mealtime behavior typically include conditions to determine if the contingent delivery of attention, tangible items, or escape reinforce food refusal. In the current investigation, descriptive analyses were conducted for 25 children who had been admitted to a program for the assessment and treatment of food…

Methodological Quality Assessment of Meta-analyses in Endodontics.

PubMed

Kattan, Sereen; Lee, Su-Min; Kohli, Meetu R; Setzer, Frank C; Karabucak, Bekir

2018-01-01

The objectives of this review were to assess the methodological quality of published meta-analyses related to endodontics using the assessment of multiple systematic reviews (AMSTAR) tool and to provide a follow-up to previously published reviews. Three electronic databases were searched for eligible studies according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria: Embase via Ovid, The Cochrane Library, and Scopus. The electronic search was amended by a hand search of 6 dental journals (International Endodontic Journal; Journal of Endodontics; Australian Endodontic Journal; Oral Surgery, Oral Medicine, Oral Pathology, Oral Radiology; Endodontics and Dental Traumatology; and Journal of Dental Research). The searches were conducted to include articles published after July 2009, and the deadline for inclusion of the meta-analyses was November 30, 2016. The AMSTAR assessment tool was used to evaluate the methodological quality of all included studies. A total of 36 reports of meta-analyses were included. The overall quality of the meta-analyses reports was found to be medium, with an estimated mean overall AMSTAR score of 7.25 (95% confidence interval, 6.59-7.90). The most poorly assessed areas were providing an a priori design, the assessment of the status of publication, and publication bias. In recent publications in the field of endodontics, the overall quality of the reported meta-analyses is medium according to AMSTAR. Copyright © 2017 American Association of Endodontists. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Formation and reduction of carcinogenic furan in various model systems containing food additives.

PubMed

Kim, Jin-Sil; Her, Jae-Young; Lee, Kwang-Geun

2015-12-15

The aim of this study was to analyse and reduce furan in various model systems. Furan model systems consisting of monosaccharides (0.5M glucose and ribose), amino acids (0.5M alanine and serine) and/or 1.0M ascorbic acid were heated at 121°C for 25 min. The effects of food additives (each 0.1M) such as metal ions (iron sulphate, magnesium sulphate, zinc sulphate and calcium sulphate), antioxidants (BHT and BHA), and sodium sulphite on the formation of furan were measured. The level of furan formed in the model systems was 6.8-527.3 ng/ml. The level of furan in the model systems of glucose/serine and glucose/alanine increased 7-674% when food additives were added. In contrast, the level of furan decreased by 18-51% in the Maillard reaction model systems that included ribose and alanine/serine with food additives except zinc sulphate. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Thermodynamic Analyses of the LCLS-II Cryogenic Distribution System

DOE PAGES

Dalesandro, Andrew; Kaluzny, Joshua; Klebaner, Arkadiy

2016-12-29

The Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) at Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC) is in the process of being upgraded to a superconducting radio frequency (SRF) accelerator and renamed LCLS-II. This upgrade requires thirty-five 1.3 GHz SRF cryomodules (CM) and two 3.9 GHz CM. A cryogenic distribution system (CDS) is in development by Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory to interconnect the CM Linac with the cryogenic plant (CP). The CDS design utilizes cryogenic helium to support the CM operations with a high temperature thermal shield around 55 K, a low temperature thermal intercepts around 5 K, and a SRF cavity liquid heliummore » supply and sub-atmospheric vapor return both around 2 K. Additionally the design must accommodate a Linac consisting of two parallel cryogenic strings, supported by two independent CP utilizing CDS components such as distribution boxes, transfer lines, feed caps and endcaps. In this paper, we describe the overall layout of the cryogenic distribution system and the major thermodynamic factors which influence the CDS design including heat loads, pressure drops, temperature profiles, and pressure relieving requirements. In addition the paper describes how the models are created to perform the analyses.« less

Additive interaction between heterogeneous environmental ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

BACKGROUND Environmental exposures often occur in tandem; however, epidemiological research often focuses on singular exposures. Statistical interactions among broad, well-characterized environmental domains have not yet been evaluated in association with health. We address this gap by conducting a county-level cross-sectional analysis of interactions between Environmental Quality Index (EQI) domain indices on preterm birth in the Unites States from 2000-2005.METHODS: The EQI, a county-level index constructed for the 2000-2005 time period, was constructed from five domain-specific indices (air, water, land, built and sociodemographic) using principal component analyses. County-level preterm birth rates (n=3141) were estimated using live births from the National Center for Health Statistics. Linear regression was used to estimate prevalence differences (PD) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) comparing worse environmental quality to the better quality for each model for a) each individual domain main effect b) the interaction contrast and c) the two main effects plus interaction effect (i.e. the “net effect”) to show departure from additive interaction for the all U.S counties. Analyses were also performed for subgroupings by four urban/rural strata. RESULTS: We found the suggestion of antagonistic interactions but no synergism, along with several purely additive (i.e., no interaction) associations. In the non-stratified model, we observed antagonistic interac

Effective Immunological Guidance of Genetic Analyses Including Exome Sequencing in Patients Evaluated for Hemophagocytic Lymphohistiocytosis.

PubMed

Ammann, Sandra; Lehmberg, Kai; Zur Stadt, Udo; Klemann, Christian; Bode, Sebastian F N; Speckmann, Carsten; Janka, Gritta; Wustrau, Katharina; Rakhmanov, Mirzokhid; Fuchs, Ilka; Hennies, Hans C; Ehl, Stephan

2017-11-01

We report our experience in using flow cytometry-based immunological screening prospectively as a decision tool for the use of genetic studies in the diagnostic approach to patients with hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (HLH). We restricted genetic analysis largely to patients with abnormal immunological screening, but included whole exome sequencing (WES) for those with normal findings upon Sanger sequencing. Among 290 children with suspected HLH analyzed between 2010 and 2014 (including 17 affected, but asymptomatic siblings), 87/162 patients with "full" HLH and 79/111 patients with "incomplete/atypical" HLH had normal immunological screening results. In 10 patients, degranulation could not be tested. Among the 166 patients with normal screening, genetic analysis was not performed in 107 (all with uneventful follow-up), while 154 single gene tests by Sanger sequencing in the remaining 59 patients only identified a single atypical CHS patient. Flow cytometry correctly predicted all 29 patients with FHL-2, XLP1 or 2. Among 85 patients with defective NK degranulation (including 13 asymptomatic siblings), 70 were Sanger sequenced resulting in a genetic diagnosis in 55 (79%). Eight patients underwent WES, revealing mutations in two known and one unknown cytotoxicity genes and one metabolic disease. FHL3 was the most frequent genetic diagnosis. Immunological screening provided an excellent decision tool for the need and depth of genetic analysis of HLH patients and provided functionally relevant information for rapid patient classification, contributing to a significant reduction in the time from diagnosis to transplantation in recent years.

43 CFR 46.130 - Mitigation measures in analyses.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... 43 Public Lands: Interior 1 2011-10-01 2011-10-01 false Mitigation measures in analyses. 46.130... Mitigation measures in analyses. (a) Bureau proposed action. The analysis of the proposed action and any alternatives must include an analysis of the effects of the proposed action or alternative as well as analysis...

Analyses of the reflector tank, cold source, and beam tube cooling for ANS reactor. [Advanced Neutron Source (ANS)

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Marland, S.

1992-07-01

This report describes my work as an intern with Martin Marietta Energy Systems, Inc., in the summer of 1991. I was assigned to the Reactor Technology Engineering Department, working on the Advanced Neutron Source (ANS). My first project was to select and analyze sealing systems for the top of the diverter/reflector tank. This involved investigating various metal seals and calculating the forces necessary to maintain an adequate seal. The force calculations led to an analysis of several bolt patterns and lockring concepts that could be used to maintain a seal on the vessel. Another project involved some pressure vessel stressmore » calculations and the calculation of the center of gravity for the cold source assembly. I also completed some sketches of possible cooling channel patterns for the inner vessel of the cold source. In addition, I worked on some thermal design analyses for the reflector tank and beam tubes, including heat transfer calculations and assisting in Patran and Pthermal analyses. To supplement the ANS work, I worked on other projects. I completed some stress/deflection analyses on several different beams. These analyses were done with the aid of CAASE, a beam-analysis software package. An additional project involved bending analysis on a carbon removal system. This study was done to find the deflection of a complex-shaped beam when loaded with a full waste can.« less

Apology in the criminal justice setting: evidence for including apology as an additional component in the legal system.

PubMed

Petrucci, Carrie J

2002-01-01

The criminal justice system has reached unprecedented scope in the United States, with over 6.4 million people under some type of supervision. Remedies that have the potential to reduce this number are continually being sought. This article analyzes an innovative strategy currently being reconsidered in criminal justice: the apology. Despite a legal system that only sporadically acknowledges it, evidence for the use of apology is supported by social science research, current criminal justice theories, case law, and empirical studies. Social psychological, sociological and socio-legal studies pinpoint the elements and function of apology, what makes apologies effective, and concerns about apology if it were implemented in the criminal justice system. Theoretical evidence is examined (including restorative justice, therapeutic jurisprudence, crime, shame, and reintegration) to explore the process of apology in the criminal justice context. Attribution theory and social conduct theory are used to explain the apology process specifically for victims and offenders. A brief examination of case law reveals that though apology has no formal place in criminal law, it has surfaced recently under the federal sentencing guidelines. Finally, empirical evidence in criminal justice settings reveals that offenders want to apologize and victims desire an apology. Moreover, by directly addressing the harmful act, apology may be the link to reduced recidivism for offenders, as well as empowerment for victims. This evidence combined suggests that apology is worthy of further study as a potentially valuable addition to the criminal justice process. Copyright 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Additive Manufactured Product Integrity

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Waller, Jess; Wells, Doug; James, Steve; Nichols, Charles

2017-01-01

NASA is providing key leadership in an international effort linking NASA and non-NASA resources to speed adoption of additive manufacturing (AM) to meet NASA's mission goals. Participants include industry, NASA's space partners, other government agencies, standards organizations and academia. Nondestructive Evaluation (NDE) is identified as a universal need for all aspects of additive manufacturing.

Functional Additive Mixed Models

PubMed Central

Scheipl, Fabian; Staicu, Ana-Maria; Greven, Sonja

2014-01-01

We propose an extensive framework for additive regression models for correlated functional responses, allowing for multiple partially nested or crossed functional random effects with flexible correlation structures for, e.g., spatial, temporal, or longitudinal functional data. Additionally, our framework includes linear and nonlinear effects of functional and scalar covariates that may vary smoothly over the index of the functional response. It accommodates densely or sparsely observed functional responses and predictors which may be observed with additional error and includes both spline-based and functional principal component-based terms. Estimation and inference in this framework is based on standard additive mixed models, allowing us to take advantage of established methods and robust, flexible algorithms. We provide easy-to-use open source software in the pffr() function for the R-package refund. Simulations show that the proposed method recovers relevant effects reliably, handles small sample sizes well and also scales to larger data sets. Applications with spatially and longitudinally observed functional data demonstrate the flexibility in modeling and interpretability of results of our approach. PMID:26347592

Functional Additive Mixed Models.

PubMed

Scheipl, Fabian; Staicu, Ana-Maria; Greven, Sonja

2015-04-01

We propose an extensive framework for additive regression models for correlated functional responses, allowing for multiple partially nested or crossed functional random effects with flexible correlation structures for, e.g., spatial, temporal, or longitudinal functional data. Additionally, our framework includes linear and nonlinear effects of functional and scalar covariates that may vary smoothly over the index of the functional response. It accommodates densely or sparsely observed functional responses and predictors which may be observed with additional error and includes both spline-based and functional principal component-based terms. Estimation and inference in this framework is based on standard additive mixed models, allowing us to take advantage of established methods and robust, flexible algorithms. We provide easy-to-use open source software in the pffr() function for the R-package refund. Simulations show that the proposed method recovers relevant effects reliably, handles small sample sizes well and also scales to larger data sets. Applications with spatially and longitudinally observed functional data demonstrate the flexibility in modeling and interpretability of results of our approach.

Large-scale genomic analyses link reproductive aging to hypothalamic signaling, breast cancer susceptibility and BRCA1-mediated DNA repair.

PubMed

Day, Felix R; Ruth, Katherine S; Thompson, Deborah J; Lunetta, Kathryn L; Pervjakova, Natalia; Chasman, Daniel I; Stolk, Lisette; Finucane, Hilary K; Sulem, Patrick; Bulik-Sullivan, Brendan; Esko, Tõnu; Johnson, Andrew D; Elks, Cathy E; Franceschini, Nora; He, Chunyan; Altmaier, Elisabeth; Brody, Jennifer A; Franke, Lude L; Huffman, Jennifer E; Keller, Margaux F; McArdle, Patrick F; Nutile, Teresa; Porcu, Eleonora; Robino, Antonietta; Rose, Lynda M; Schick, Ursula M; Smith, Jennifer A; Teumer, Alexander; Traglia, Michela; Vuckovic, Dragana; Yao, Jie; Zhao, Wei; Albrecht, Eva; Amin, Najaf; Corre, Tanguy; Hottenga, Jouke-Jan; Mangino, Massimo; Smith, Albert V; Tanaka, Toshiko; Abecasis, Goncalo; Andrulis, Irene L; Anton-Culver, Hoda; Antoniou, Antonis C; Arndt, Volker; Arnold, Alice M; Barbieri, Caterina; Beckmann, Matthias W; Beeghly-Fadiel, Alicia; Benitez, Javier; Bernstein, Leslie; Bielinski, Suzette J; Blomqvist, Carl; Boerwinkle, Eric; Bogdanova, Natalia V; Bojesen, Stig E; Bolla, Manjeet K; Borresen-Dale, Anne-Lise; Boutin, Thibaud S; Brauch, Hiltrud; Brenner, Hermann; Brüning, Thomas; Burwinkel, Barbara; Campbell, Archie; Campbell, Harry; Chanock, Stephen J; Chapman, J Ross; Chen, Yii-Der Ida; Chenevix-Trench, Georgia; Couch, Fergus J; Coviello, Andrea D; Cox, Angela; Czene, Kamila; Darabi, Hatef; De Vivo, Immaculata; Demerath, Ellen W; Dennis, Joe; Devilee, Peter; Dörk, Thilo; Dos-Santos-Silva, Isabel; Dunning, Alison M; Eicher, John D; Fasching, Peter A; Faul, Jessica D; Figueroa, Jonine; Flesch-Janys, Dieter; Gandin, Ilaria; Garcia, Melissa E; García-Closas, Montserrat; Giles, Graham G; Girotto, Giorgia G; Goldberg, Mark S; González-Neira, Anna; Goodarzi, Mark O; Grove, Megan L; Gudbjartsson, Daniel F; Guénel, Pascal; Guo, Xiuqing; Haiman, Christopher A; Hall, Per; Hamann, Ute; Henderson, Brian E; Hocking, Lynne J; Hofman, Albert; Homuth, Georg; Hooning, Maartje J; Hopper, John L; Hu, Frank B; Huang, Jinyan; Humphreys, Keith; Hunter, David J; Jakubowska, Anna; Jones, Samuel E; Kabisch, Maria; Karasik, David; Knight, Julia A; Kolcic, Ivana; Kooperberg, Charles; Kosma, Veli-Matti; Kriebel, Jennifer; Kristensen, Vessela; Lambrechts, Diether; Langenberg, Claudia; Li, Jingmei; Li, Xin; Lindström, Sara; Liu, Yongmei; Luan, Jian'an; Lubinski, Jan; Mägi, Reedik; Mannermaa, Arto; Manz, Judith; Margolin, Sara; Marten, Jonathan; Martin, Nicholas G; Masciullo, Corrado; Meindl, Alfons; Michailidou, Kyriaki; Mihailov, Evelin; Milani, Lili; Milne, Roger L; Müller-Nurasyid, Martina; Nalls, Michael; Neale, Ben M; Nevanlinna, Heli; Neven, Patrick; Newman, Anne B; Nordestgaard, Børge G; Olson, Janet E; Padmanabhan, Sandosh; Peterlongo, Paolo; Peters, Ulrike; Petersmann, Astrid; Peto, Julian; Pharoah, Paul D P; Pirastu, Nicola N; Pirie, Ailith; Pistis, Giorgio; Polasek, Ozren; Porteous, David; Psaty, Bruce M; Pylkäs, Katri; Radice, Paolo; Raffel, Leslie J; Rivadeneira, Fernando; Rudan, Igor; Rudolph, Anja; Ruggiero, Daniela; Sala, Cinzia F; Sanna, Serena; Sawyer, Elinor J; Schlessinger, David; Schmidt, Marjanka K; Schmidt, Frank; Schmutzler, Rita K; Schoemaker, Minouk J; Scott, Robert A; Seynaeve, Caroline M; Simard, Jacques; Sorice, Rossella; Southey, Melissa C; Stöckl, Doris; Strauch, Konstantin; Swerdlow, Anthony; Taylor, Kent D; Thorsteinsdottir, Unnur; Toland, Amanda E; Tomlinson, Ian; Truong, Thérèse; Tryggvadottir, Laufey; Turner, Stephen T; Vozzi, Diego; Wang, Qin; Wellons, Melissa; Willemsen, Gonneke; Wilson, James F; Winqvist, Robert; Wolffenbuttel, Bruce B H R; Wright, Alan F; Yannoukakos, Drakoulis; Zemunik, Tatijana; Zheng, Wei; Zygmunt, Marek; Bergmann, Sven; Boomsma, Dorret I; Buring, Julie E; Ferrucci, Luigi; Montgomery, Grant W; Gudnason, Vilmundur; Spector, Tim D; van Duijn, Cornelia M; Alizadeh, Behrooz Z; Ciullo, Marina; Crisponi, Laura; Easton, Douglas F; Gasparini, Paolo P; Gieger, Christian; Harris, Tamara B; Hayward, Caroline; Kardia, Sharon L R; Kraft, Peter; McKnight, Barbara; Metspalu, Andres; Morrison, Alanna C; Reiner, Alex P; Ridker, Paul M; Rotter, Jerome I; Toniolo, Daniela; Uitterlinden, André G; Ulivi, Sheila; Völzke, Henry; Wareham, Nicholas J; Weir, David R; Yerges-Armstrong, Laura M; Price, Alkes L; Stefansson, Kari; Visser, Jenny A; Ong, Ken K; Chang-Claude, Jenny; Murabito, Joanne M; Perry, John R B; Murray, Anna

2015-11-01

Menopause timing has a substantial impact on infertility and risk of disease, including breast cancer, but the underlying mechanisms are poorly understood. We report a dual strategy in ∼70,000 women to identify common and low-frequency protein-coding variation associated with age at natural menopause (ANM). We identified 44 regions with common variants, including two regions harboring additional rare missense alleles of large effect. We found enrichment of signals in or near genes involved in delayed puberty, highlighting the first molecular links between the onset and end of reproductive lifespan. Pathway analyses identified major association with DNA damage response (DDR) genes, including the first common coding variant in BRCA1 associated with any complex trait. Mendelian randomization analyses supported a causal effect of later ANM on breast cancer risk (∼6% increase in risk per year; P = 3 × 10(-14)), likely mediated by prolonged sex hormone exposure rather than DDR mechanisms.

Large-scale genomic analyses link reproductive ageing to hypothalamic signaling, breast cancer susceptibility and BRCA1-mediated DNA repair

PubMed Central

Lunetta, Kathryn L.; Pervjakova, Natalia; Chasman, Daniel I.; Stolk, Lisette; Finucane, Hilary K.; Sulem, Patrick; Bulik-Sullivan, Brendan; Esko, Tõnu; Johnson, Andrew D.; Elks, Cathy E.; Franceschini, Nora; He, Chunyan; Altmaier, Elisabeth; Brody, Jennifer A.; Franke, Lude L.; Huffman, Jennifer E.; Keller, Margaux F.; McArdle, Patrick F.; Nutile, Teresa; Porcu, Eleonora; Robino, Antonietta; Rose, Lynda M.; Schick, Ursula M.; Smith, Jennifer A.; Teumer, Alexander; Traglia, Michela; Vuckovic, Dragana; Yao, Jie; Zhao, Wei; Albrecht, Eva; Amin, Najaf; Corre, Tanguy; Hottenga, Jouke-Jan; Mangino, Massimo; Smith, Albert V.; Tanaka, Toshiko; Abecasis, Goncalo; Andrulis, Irene L.; Anton-Culver, Hoda; Antoniou, Antonis C.; Arndt, Volker; Arnold, Alice M.; Barbieri, Caterina; Beckmann, Matthias W.; Beeghly-Fadiel, Alicia; Benitez, Javier; Bernstein, Leslie; Bielinski, Suzette J.; Blomqvist, Carl; Boerwinkle, Eric; Bogdanova, Natalia V.; Bojesen, Stig E.; Bolla, Manjeet K.; Borresen-Dale, Anne-Lise; Boutin, Thibaud S; Brauch, Hiltrud; Brenner, Hermann; Brüning, Thomas; Burwinkel, Barbara; Campbell, Archie; Campbell, Harry; Chanock, Stephen J.; Chapman, J. Ross; Chen, Yii-Der Ida; Chenevix-Trench, Georgia; Couch, Fergus J.; Coviello, Andrea D.; Cox, Angela; Czene, Kamila; Darabi, Hatef; De Vivo, Immaculata; Demerath, Ellen W.; Dennis, Joe; Devilee, Peter; Dörk, Thilo; dos-Santos-Silva, Isabel; Dunning, Alison M.; Eicher, John D.; Fasching, Peter A.; Faul, Jessica D.; Figueroa, Jonine; Flesch-Janys, Dieter; Gandin, Ilaria; Garcia, Melissa E.; García-Closas, Montserrat; Giles, Graham G.; Girotto, Giorgia G.; Goldberg, Mark S.; González-Neira, Anna; Goodarzi, Mark O.; Grove, Megan L.; Gudbjartsson, Daniel F.; Guénel, Pascal; Guo, Xiuqing; Haiman, Christopher A.; Hall, Per; Hamann, Ute; Henderson, Brian E.; Hocking, Lynne J.; Hofman, Albert; Homuth, Georg; Hooning, Maartje J.; Hopper, John L.; Hu, Frank B.; Huang, Jinyan; Humphreys, Keith; Hunter, David J.; Jakubowska, Anna; Jones, Samuel E.; Kabisch, Maria; Karasik, David; Knight, Julia A.; Kolcic, Ivana; Kooperberg, Charles; Kosma, Veli-Matti; Kriebel, Jennifer; Kristensen, Vessela; Lambrechts, Diether; Langenberg, Claudia; Li, Jingmei; Li, Xin; Lindström, Sara; Liu, Yongmei; Luan, Jian’an; Lubinski, Jan; Mägi, Reedik; Mannermaa, Arto; Manz, Judith; Margolin, Sara; Marten, Jonathan; Martin, Nicholas G.; Masciullo, Corrado; Meindl, Alfons; Michailidou, Kyriaki; Mihailov, Evelin; Milani, Lili; Milne, Roger L.; Müller-Nurasyid, Martina; Nalls, Michael; Neale, Ben M.; Nevanlinna, Heli; Neven, Patrick; Newman, Anne B.; Nordestgaard, Børge G.; Olson, Janet E.; Padmanabhan, Sandosh; Peterlongo, Paolo; Peters, Ulrike; Petersmann, Astrid; Peto, Julian; Pharoah, Paul D.P.; Pirastu, Nicola N.; Pirie, Ailith; Pistis, Giorgio; Polasek, Ozren; Porteous, David; Psaty, Bruce M.; Pylkäs, Katri; Radice, Paolo; Raffel, Leslie J.; Rivadeneira, Fernando; Rudan, Igor; Rudolph, Anja; Ruggiero, Daniela; Sala, Cinzia F.; Sanna, Serena; Sawyer, Elinor J.; Schlessinger, David; Schmidt, Marjanka K.; Schmidt, Frank; Schmutzler, Rita K.; Schoemaker, Minouk J.; Scott, Robert A.; Seynaeve, Caroline M.; Simard, Jacques; Sorice, Rossella; Southey, Melissa C.; Stöckl, Doris; Strauch, Konstantin; Swerdlow, Anthony; Taylor, Kent D.; Thorsteinsdottir, Unnur; Toland, Amanda E.; Tomlinson, Ian; Truong, Thérèse; Tryggvadottir, Laufey; Turner, Stephen T.; Vozzi, Diego; Wang, Qin; Wellons, Melissa; Willemsen, Gonneke; Wilson, James F.; Winqvist, Robert; Wolffenbuttel, Bruce B.H.R.; Wright, Alan F.; Yannoukakos, Drakoulis; Zemunik, Tatijana; Zheng, Wei; Zygmunt, Marek; Bergmann, Sven; Boomsma, Dorret I.; Buring, Julie E.; Ferrucci, Luigi; Montgomery, Grant W.; Gudnason, Vilmundur; Spector, Tim D.; van Duijn, Cornelia M; Alizadeh, Behrooz Z.; Ciullo, Marina; Crisponi, Laura; Easton, Douglas F.; Gasparini, Paolo P.; Gieger, Christian; Harris, Tamara B.; Hayward, Caroline; Kardia, Sharon L.R.; Kraft, Peter; McKnight, Barbara; Metspalu, Andres; Morrison, Alanna C.; Reiner, Alex P.; Ridker, Paul M.; Rotter, Jerome I.; Toniolo, Daniela; Uitterlinden, André G.; Ulivi, Sheila; Völzke, Henry; Wareham, Nicholas J.; Weir, David R.; Yerges-Armstrong, Laura M.; Price, Alkes L.; Stefansson, Kari; Visser, Jenny A.; Ong, Ken K.; Chang-Claude, Jenny; Murabito, Joanne M.; Perry, John R.B.; Murray, Anna

2015-01-01

Menopause timing has a substantial impact on infertility and risk of disease, including breast cancer, but the underlying mechanisms are poorly understood. We report a dual strategy in ~70,000 women to identify common and low-frequency protein-coding variation associated with age at natural menopause (ANM). We identified 44 regions with common variants, including two harbouring additional rare missense alleles of large effect. We found enrichment of signals in/near genes involved in delayed puberty, highlighting the first molecular links between the onset and end of reproductive lifespan. Pathway analyses revealed a major association with DNA damage-response (DDR) genes, including the first common coding variant in BRCA1 associated with any complex trait. Mendelian randomisation analyses supported a causal effect of later ANM on breast cancer risk (~6% risk increase per-year, P=3×10−14), likely mediated by prolonged sex hormone exposure, rather than DDR mechanisms. PMID:26414677

Influence of bio-additives on combustion of liquid fuels

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Patsch, Marek; Durčanský, Peter

2016-06-01

In this contribution there are analyses of the course of the pressure curves, which were measured in the diesel engine MD UR IV, which is often used in cogeneration units. The results of the analyses confront the properties and quality of fuels. The measuring was realized with a constant rotation speed of the engine and by using different fuels. The fuels were pure diesel fuels and diesel fuel with bio-additives of hydrogenate RO (rape oil), FAME, and bioethanol.

The past, present and future of microbiome analyses

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

White, Richard Allen; Callister, Stephen J.; Moore, Ronald J.

Microbes evolved on Earth approximately 3.5 billion years ago and eventually occupied every habitable environment in its biosphere. While microorganisms are responsible for key functions on Earth including carbon and nutrient cycling and determining the health and disease of its inhabitants (i.e. plants and animals), >99% of the estimated trillions of microbes have yet to be discovered.1 In addition, high microbial diversity has made it difficult to study specific functions carried out by complex microbial communities within "microbiomes", such as those inhabiting the soil and human gut.2,3 Fortunately, technological advances over the last few decades have greatly facilitated studies ofmore » complex microbiomes and their functions. Here we will specifically discuss advances related to nucleic acid sequencing and mass spectrometry analyses that have enabled exploration and understanding of complex microbiomes in a range of environments and our own bodies.4,5,6,7« less

The Presentation of Animals in English as an Additional Language Coursebooks

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jacobs, George M.; Jiexin, Teh; Michael, Joyce J.

2016-01-01

Education materials can be analysed in many ways. The current study analysed EAL (English as an Additional Language) coursebooks as to the presentation of nonhuman animals in the books. The study examined 22 EAL coursebooks. The research looked at the percentage of activities that contained animals in the coursebooks, what types of animals were…

Reporting of meta-analyses of randomized controlled trials with a focus on drug safety: an empirical assessment.

PubMed

Hammad, Tarek A; Neyarapally, George A; Pinheiro, Simone P; Iyasu, Solomon; Rochester, George; Dal Pan, Gerald

2013-01-01

(>60%) did not address most (>80%) of the additional reporting elements critical for the evaluation of drug safety. Some of these elements were not addressed in any of the reviewed meta-analyses. This review included a sample of meta-analyses, with a focus on drug safety, recently published in high-impact journals; therefore, we may have underestimated the extent of the reporting problem across all meta-analyses of drug safety. Furthermore, temporal trends in reporting could not be evaluated in this review because of the short time interval selected. While the majority of PRISMA elements were addressed by most studies reviewed, the majority of studies did not address most of the additional safety-related elements. These findings highlight the need for the development and validation of a drug safety reporting framework and the importance of the current initiative by the Council for International Organizations of Medical Sciences (CIOMS) to create a guidance document for drug safety information synthesis/meta-analysis, which may improve reporting, conduct, and evaluation of meta-analyses of drug safety and inform clinical and regulatory decision making.

Descriptive and Experimental Analyses of Potential Precursors to Problem Behavior

PubMed Central

Borrero, Carrie S.W; Borrero, John C

2008-01-01

We conducted descriptive observations of severe problem behavior for 2 individuals with autism to identify precursors to problem behavior. Several comparative probability analyses were conducted in addition to lag-sequential analyses using the descriptive data. Results of the descriptive analyses showed that the probability of the potential precursor was greater given problem behavior compared to the unconditional probability of the potential precursor. Results of the lag-sequential analyses showed a marked increase in the probability of a potential precursor in the 1-s intervals immediately preceding an instance of problem behavior, and that the probability of problem behavior was highest in the 1-s intervals immediately following an instance of the precursor. We then conducted separate functional analyses of problem behavior and the precursor to identify respective operant functions. Results of the functional analyses showed that both problem behavior and the precursor served the same operant functions. These results replicate prior experimental analyses on the relation between problem behavior and precursors and extend prior research by illustrating a quantitative method to identify precursors to more severe problem behavior. PMID:18468281

Overview of Materials Qualification Needs for Metal Additive Manufacturing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Seifi, Mohsen; Salem, Ayman; Beuth, Jack; Harrysson, Ola; Lewandowski, John J.

2016-03-01

This overview highlights some of the key aspects regarding materials qualification needs across the additive manufacturing (AM) spectrum. AM technology has experienced considerable publicity and growth in the past few years with many successful insertions for non-mission-critical applications. However, to meet the full potential that AM has to offer, especially for flight-critical components (e.g., rotating parts, fracture-critical parts, etc.), qualification and certification efforts are necessary. While development of qualification standards will address some of these needs, this overview outlines some of the other key areas that will need to be considered in the qualification path, including various process-, microstructure-, and fracture-modeling activities in addition to integrating these with lifing activities targeting specific components. Ongoing work in the Advanced Manufacturing and Mechanical Reliability Center at Case Western Reserve University is focusing on fracture and fatigue testing to rapidly assess critical mechanical properties of some titanium alloys before and after post-processing, in addition to conducting nondestructive testing/evaluation using micro-computerized tomography at General Electric. Process mapping studies are being conducted at Carnegie Mellon University while large area microstructure characterization and informatics (EBSD and BSE) analyses are being conducted at Materials Resources LLC to enable future integration of these efforts via an Integrated Computational Materials Engineering approach to AM. Possible future pathways for materials qualification are provided.

Walking- and cycling track networks in Norwegian cities : cost-benefit analyses including health effects and external costs of road traffic : summary

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2002-04-01

Cost- benefit analyses of walking- and cycling track net-works in three Norwegian cities are presented in this study. A project group working with a National Cycling Strategy in Norway initialised the study. Motivation for starting the study is the P...

Comparison of multipoint linkage analyses for quantitative traits in the CEPH data: parametric LOD scores, variance components LOD scores, and Bayes factors.

PubMed

Sung, Yun Ju; Di, Yanming; Fu, Audrey Q; Rothstein, Joseph H; Sieh, Weiva; Tong, Liping; Thompson, Elizabeth A; Wijsman, Ellen M

2007-01-01

We performed multipoint linkage analyses with multiple programs and models for several gene expression traits in the Centre d'Etude du Polymorphisme Humain families. All analyses provided consistent results for both peak location and shape. Variance-components (VC) analysis gave wider peaks and Bayes factors gave fewer peaks. Among programs from the MORGAN package, lm_multiple performed better than lm_markers, resulting in less Markov-chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) variability between runs, and the program lm_twoqtl provided higher LOD scores by also including either a polygenic component or an additional quantitative trait locus.

Twenty years of meta-analyses in orthopaedic surgery: has quality kept up with quantity?

PubMed

Dijkman, Bernadette G; Abouali, Jihad A K; Kooistra, Bauke W; Conter, Henry J; Poolman, Rudolf W; Kulkarni, Abhaya V; Tornetta, Paul; Bhandari, Mohit

2010-01-01

As the number of studies in the literature is increasing, orthopaedic surgeons highly depend on meta-analyses as their primary source of scientific evidence. The objectives of this review were to assess the scientific quality and number of published meta-analyses on orthopaedics-related topics over time. We conducted, in duplicate and independently, a systematic review of published meta-analyses in orthopaedics in the years 2005 and 2008 and compared them with a previous systematic review of meta-analyses from 1969 to 1999. A search of electronic databases (MEDLINE, EMBASE, and the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews) was performed to identify meta-analyses published in 2005 and 2008. We searched bibliographies and contacted content experts to identify additional relevant studies. Two investigators independently assessed the quality of the studies, using the Oxman and Guyatt index, and abstracted relevant data. We included forty-five and forty-four meta-analyses from 2005 and 2008, respectively. While the number of meta-analyses increased fivefold from 1999 to 2008, the mean quality score did not change significantly over time (p = 0.067). In the later years, a significantly lower proportion of meta-analyses had methodological flaws (56% in 2005 and 68% in 2008) compared with meta-analyses published prior to 2000 (88%) (p = 0.006). In 2005 and 2008, respectively, 18% and 30% of the meta-analyses had major to extensive flaws in their methodology. Studies from 2008 with positive conclusions used and described appropriate criteria for the validity assessment less often than did those with negative results. The use of random-effects and fixed-effects models as pooling methods became more popular toward 2008. Although the methodological quality of orthopaedic meta-analyses has increased in the past twenty years, a substantial proportion continues to show major to extensive flaws. As the number of published meta-analyses is increasing, a routine checklist for

[The maintenance of automatic analysers and associated documentation].

PubMed

Adjidé, V; Fournier, P; Vassault, A

2010-12-01

The maintenance of automatic analysers and associated documentation taking part in the requirements of the ISO 15189 Standard and the French regulation as well have to be defined in the laboratory policy. The management of the periodic maintenance and documentation shall be implemented and fulfilled. The organisation of corrective maintenance has to be managed to avoid interruption of the task of the laboratory. The different recommendations concern the identification of materials including automatic analysers, the environmental conditions to take into account, the documentation provided by the manufacturer and documents prepared by the laboratory including procedures for maintenance.

Understanding the Flow Physics of Shock Boundary-Layer Interactions Using CFD and Numerical Analyses

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Friedlander, David J.

2013-01-01

Computational fluid dynamic (CFD) analyses of the University of Michigan (UM) Shock/Boundary-Layer Interaction (SBLI) experiments were performed as an extension of the CFD SBLI Workshop held at the 48th AIAA Aerospace Sciences Meeting in 2010. In particular, the UM Mach 2.75 Glass Tunnel with a semi-spanning 7.75deg wedge was analyzed in attempts to explore key physics pertinent to SBLI's, including thermodynamic and viscous boundary conditions as well as turbulence modeling. Most of the analyses were 3D CFD simulations using the OVERFLOW flow solver, with additional quasi-1D simulations performed with an in house MATLAB code interfacing with the NIST REFPROP code to explore perfect verses non-ideal air. A fundamental exploration pertaining to the effects of particle image velocimetry (PIV) on post-processing data is also shown. Results from the CFD simulations showed an improvement in agreement with experimental data with key contributions including adding a laminar zone upstream of the wedge and the necessity of mimicking PIV particle lag for comparisons. Results from the quasi-1D simulation showed that there was little difference between perfect and non-ideal air for the configuration presented.

Should Title 24 Ventilation Requirements Be Amended to include an Indoor Air Quality Procedure?

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Dutton, Spencer M.; Mendell, Mark J.; Chan, Wanyu R.

Minimum outdoor air ventilation rates (VRs) for buildings are specified in standards, including California?s Title 24 standards. The ASHRAE ventilation standard includes two options for mechanically-ventilated buildings ? a prescriptive ventilation rate procedure (VRP) that specifies minimum VRs that vary among occupancy classes, and a performance-based indoor air quality procedure (IAQP) that may result in lower VRs than the VRP, with associated energy savings, if IAQ meeting specified criteria can be demonstrated. The California Energy Commission has been considering the addition of an IAQP to the Title 24 standards. This paper, based on a review of prior data and newmore » analyses of the IAQP, evaluates four future options for Title 24: no IAQP; adding an alternate VRP, adding an equivalent indoor air quality procedure (EIAQP), and adding an improved ASHRAE-like IAQP. Criteria were established for selecting among options, and feedback was obtained in a workshop of stakeholders. Based on this review, the addition of an alternate VRP is recommended. This procedure would allow lower minimum VRs if a specified set of actions were taken to maintain acceptable IAQ. An alternate VRP could also be a valuable supplement to ASHRAE?s ventilation standard.« less

Cost-benefit analyses of supplementary measles immunisation in the highly immunized population of New Zealand.

PubMed

Hayman, D T S; Marshall, J C; French, N P; Carpenter, T E; Roberts, M G; Kiedrzynski, T

2017-09-05

As endemic measles is eliminated from countries through increased immunisation, the economic benefits of enhanced immunisation programs may come into question. New Zealand has suffered from outbreaks after measles introductions from abroad and we use it as a model system to understand the benefits of catch up immunisation in highly immunised populations. We provide cost-benefit analyses for measles supplementary immunisation in New Zealand. We model outbreaks based on estimates of the basic reproduction number in the vaccinated population (R v , the number of secondary infections in a partially immunised population), based on the number of immunologically-naïve people at district and national levels, considering both pre- and post-catch up vaccination scenarios. Our analyses suggest that measles R v often includes or exceeds one (0.18-3.92) despite high levels of population immunity. We calculate the cost of the first 187 confirmed and probable measles cases in 2014 to be over NZ$1 million (∼US$864,200) due to earnings lost, case management and hospitalization costs. The benefit-cost ratio analyses suggest additional vaccination beyond routine childhood immunisation is economically efficient. Supplemental vaccination-related costs are required to exceed approximately US$66 to US$1877 per person, depending on different scenarios, before supplemental vaccination is economically inefficient. Thus, our analysis suggests additional immunisation beyond childhood programs to target naïve individuals is economically beneficial even when childhood immunisation rates are high. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

10 CFR 61.13 - Technical analyses.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

... REGULATORY COMMISSION (CONTINUED) LICENSING REQUIREMENTS FOR LAND DISPOSAL OF RADIOACTIVE WASTE Licenses § 61... characteristics and design features in isolating and segregating the wastes. The analyses must clearly demonstrate... inadvertent intrusion must include demonstration that there is reasonable assurance the waste classification...

10 CFR 61.13 - Technical analyses.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

... REGULATORY COMMISSION (CONTINUED) LICENSING REQUIREMENTS FOR LAND DISPOSAL OF RADIOACTIVE WASTE Licenses § 61... characteristics and design features in isolating and segregating the wastes. The analyses must clearly demonstrate... inadvertent intrusion must include demonstration that there is reasonable assurance the waste classification...

10 CFR 61.13 - Technical analyses.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-01-01

... REGULATORY COMMISSION (CONTINUED) LICENSING REQUIREMENTS FOR LAND DISPOSAL OF RADIOACTIVE WASTE Licenses § 61... characteristics and design features in isolating and segregating the wastes. The analyses must clearly demonstrate... inadvertent intrusion must include demonstration that there is reasonable assurance the waste classification...

10 CFR 61.13 - Technical analyses.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-01-01

... REGULATORY COMMISSION (CONTINUED) LICENSING REQUIREMENTS FOR LAND DISPOSAL OF RADIOACTIVE WASTE Licenses § 61... characteristics and design features in isolating and segregating the wastes. The analyses must clearly demonstrate... inadvertent intrusion must include demonstration that there is reasonable assurance the waste classification...

Evaluation of certain food additives.

PubMed

2017-01-01

This report represents the conclusions of a Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee convened to evaluate the safety of various food additives, including flavouring agents, with a view to concluding as to safety concerns and to preparing specifications for identity and purity. The first part of the report contains a general discussion of the principles governing the toxicological evaluation of and assessment of dietary exposure to food additives, including flavouring agents. A summary follows of the Committee’s evaluations of technical, toxicological and dietary exposure data for 10 food additives (Allura Red AC; carob bean gum; lutein esters from Tagetes erecta; octenyl succinic acid (OSA)– modified gum arabic; pectin; Quinoline Yellow; rosemary extract; steviol glycosides; tartrazine; and xanthan gum) and five groups of flavouring agents (alicyclic, alicyclic-fused and aromatic-fused ring lactones; aliphatic and aromatic amines and amides; aliphatic secondary alcohols, ketones and related esters; cinnamyl alcohol and related substances; and tetrahydrofuran and furanone derivatives). Specifications for the following food additives were revised: aspartame; cassia gum; citric and fatty acid esters of glycerol (CITREM); modified starches; octanoic acid; starch sodium octenyl succinate; and total colouring matters. Annexed to the report are tables summarizing the Committee’s recommendations for dietary exposures to and toxicological evaluations of all of the food additives, including flavouring agents, considered at this meeting.

Predictors for additional anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction: data from the Swedish national ACL register.

PubMed

Fältström, Anne; Hägglund, Martin; Magnusson, Henrik; Forssblad, Magnus; Kvist, Joanna

2016-03-01

To identify predictors for additional anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction. Patients from the Swedish national ACL register who underwent ACL reconstruction between January 2005 and February 2013 (follow-up duration 6-104 months) were included. Cox regression analyses included the following independent variables regarding primary injury: age, sex, time between injury and primary ACL reconstruction, activity at primary injury, concomitant injuries, injury side, graft type, and pre-surgery KOOS and EQ-5D scores. Among ACL reconstruction procedures, 93% involved hamstring tendon (HT) autografts. Graft type did not predict additional ACL reconstruction. Final regression models only included patients with HT autograft (n = 20,824). Of these, 702 had revision and 591 contralateral ACL reconstructions. The 5-year post-operative rates of revision and contralateral ACL reconstruction were 4.3 and 3.8%, respectively. Significant predictors for additional ACL reconstruction were age (fourfold increased rate for <16-year-old patients vs. >35-year-old patients), time between injury and primary surgery (two to threefold increased rate for ACL reconstruction within 0-90 days vs. >365 days), and playing football at primary injury. This study identified younger age, having ACL reconstruction early after the primary injury, and incurring the primary injury while playing football as the main predictors for revision and contralateral ACL reconstruction. This suggests that the rate of additional ACL reconstruction is increased in a selected group of young patients aiming to return to strenuous sports after primary surgery and should be taken into consideration when discussing primary ACL reconstruction, return to sports, and during post-surgery rehabilitation. II.

Analyses of Injection-Coupled Combustion Instability from J-2X Gas Generator Development

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hulka, James R.; Kenny, R. Jeremy; Protz, Chris; Casiano, Matthew

2011-01-01

During development of the gas generator for the liquid oxygen/liquid hydrogen propellant J-2X rocket engine, combustion instabilities were observed near the frequency of the first longitudinal acoustic mode of the hot gas combustion chamber duct. These instabilities were similar to intermediate-frequency or buzz-type instabilities as described in historical programs, except for several aspects: 1) the frequencies were low, in the realm of chug; 2) at times the instability oscillation amplitudes were quite large, with peak-to-peak amplitudes exceeding 50% of the mean chamber pressure along with the appearance of harmonics; 3) the chamber excitation was related to but not exactly at the first longitudinal combustion chamber acoustic mode; and 4) the injector provided mass flow rate oscillations induced by capacitance and inertance effects in the injector rather than by organ pipe resonances of the coaxial oxidizer posts. This type of combustion instability is referred to as "injection coupling" because one critical driving source of the instability is mass flow rate oscillations from the injector. However, the type of injection coupling observed here is different than observed in previous instances of buzz instability with coaxial injectors, because of the lower frequencies and lack of influence from the oxidizer post organ pipe resonances. Test data and preliminary analyses of the initial combustion instabilities were presented in several papers at the 5th Liquid Propulsion Subcommittee meeting. Since that time, additional hot-fire tests with several new hardware configurations have been conducted, and additional analyses have been completed. The analytical models described in previous papers have been updated to include the influences of new geometrical configurations, including a different oxidizer injector manifold configuration and a branch pipe in the hot gas duct that supplies gaseous helium during the start transient to pre-spin the turbine. In addition, the

Additive-dominance genetic model analyses for late-maturity alpha-amylase activity in a bread wheat factorial crossing population.

PubMed

Rasul, Golam; Glover, Karl D; Krishnan, Padmanaban G; Wu, Jixiang; Berzonsky, William A; Ibrahim, Amir M H

2015-12-01

Elevated level of late maturity α-amylase activity (LMAA) can result in low falling number scores, reduced grain quality, and downgrade of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) class. A mating population was developed by crossing parents with different levels of LMAA. The F2 and F3 hybrids and their parents were evaluated for LMAA, and data were analyzed using the R software package 'qgtools' integrated with an additive-dominance genetic model and a mixed linear model approach. Simulated results showed high testing powers for additive and additive × environment variances, and comparatively low powers for dominance and dominance × environment variances. All variance components and their proportions to the phenotypic variance for the parents and hybrids were significant except for the dominance × environment variance. The estimated narrow-sense heritability and broad-sense heritability for LMAA were 14 and 54%, respectively. High significant negative additive effects for parents suggest that spring wheat cultivars 'Lancer' and 'Chester' can serve as good general combiners, and that 'Kinsman' and 'Seri-82' had negative specific combining ability in some hybrids despite of their own significant positive additive effects, suggesting they can be used as parents to reduce LMAA levels. Seri-82 showed very good general combining ability effect when used as a male parent, indicating the importance of reciprocal effects. High significant negative dominance effects and high-parent heterosis for hybrids demonstrated that the specific hybrid combinations; Chester × Kinsman, 'Lerma52' × Lancer, Lerma52 × 'LoSprout' and 'Janz' × Seri-82 could be generated to produce cultivars with significantly reduced LMAA level.

Quality of meta-analyses in major leading gastroenterology and hepatology journals: A systematic review.

PubMed

Liu, Pengfei; Qiu, Yuanyu; Qian, Yuting; Chen, Xiao; Wang, Yiran; Cui, Jin; Zhai, Xiao

2017-01-01

To appraise the current reporting methodological quality of meta-analyses in five leading gastroenterology and hepatology journals, and to identify the variables associated with the reporting quality. We systematically searched the literature of meta-analyses in Gastroenterology, Gut, Hepatology, Journal of Hepatology (J HEPATOL) and American Journal of Gastroenterology (AM J GASTROENTEROL) from 2006 to 2008 and from 2012 to 2014. Characteristics were extracted based on the PRISMA statement and the AMSTAR tool. Country, number of patients, funding source were also revealed and descriptively reported. A total of 127 meta-analyses were enrolled in this study and were compared among journals, study years, and other characters. Compliances with the PRISMA statement and the AMSTAR checklist were 20.8 ± 4.2 out of a maximum of 27 and 7.6 ± 2.4 out of a maximum of 11, respectively. Some domains were poorly reported including describing a protocol and/or registration (item 5, 0.0%), describing methods, and giving results of additional analyses (item 16, 45.7% and item 23, 48.0%) for PRISMA and duplicating study selection and data extraction (item 2, 53.5%), and providing a list of included and excluded studies (item 5, 14.2%) for AMSTAR. Publication in recent years showed a significantly better methodological quality than those published in previous years. This study shows that methodological reporting quality of MAs in the major gastroenterology and hepatology journals has improved in recent years after the publication of the developed PRISMA statement, and it can be further improved. © 2016 Journal of Gastroenterology and Hepatology Foundation and John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd.

Performance of Stratified and Subgrouped Disproportionality Analyses in Spontaneous Databases.

PubMed

Seabroke, Suzie; Candore, Gianmario; Juhlin, Kristina; Quarcoo, Naashika; Wisniewski, Antoni; Arani, Ramin; Painter, Jeffery; Tregunno, Philip; Norén, G Niklas; Slattery, Jim

2016-04-01

Disproportionality analyses are used in many organisations to identify adverse drug reactions (ADRs) from spontaneous report data. Reporting patterns vary over time, with patient demographics, and between different geographical regions, and therefore subgroup analyses or adjustment by stratification may be beneficial. The objective of this study was to evaluate the performance of subgroup and stratified disproportionality analyses for a number of key covariates within spontaneous report databases of differing sizes and characteristics. Using a reference set of established ADRs, signal detection performance (sensitivity and precision) was compared for stratified, subgroup and crude (unadjusted) analyses within five spontaneous report databases (two company, one national and two international databases). Analyses were repeated for a range of covariates: age, sex, country/region of origin, calendar time period, event seriousness, vaccine/non-vaccine, reporter qualification and report source. Subgroup analyses consistently performed better than stratified analyses in all databases. Subgroup analyses also showed benefits in both sensitivity and precision over crude analyses for the larger international databases, whilst for the smaller databases a gain in precision tended to result in some loss of sensitivity. Additionally, stratified analyses did not increase sensitivity or precision beyond that associated with analytical artefacts of the analysis. The most promising subgroup covariates were age and region/country of origin, although this varied between databases. Subgroup analyses perform better than stratified analyses and should be considered over the latter in routine first-pass signal detection. Subgroup analyses are also clearly beneficial over crude analyses for larger databases, but further validation is required for smaller databases.

Ionic liquids, electrolyte solutions including the ionic liquids, and energy storage devices including the ionic liquids

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Gering, Kevin L.; Harrup, Mason K.; Rollins, Harry W.

2015-12-08

An ionic liquid including a phosphazene compound that has a plurality of phosphorus-nitrogen units and at least one pendant group bonded to each phosphorus atom of the plurality of phosphorus-nitrogen units. One pendant group of the at least one pendant group comprises a positively charged pendant group. Additional embodiments of ionic liquids are disclosed, as are electrolyte solutions and energy storage devices including the embodiments of the ionic liquid.

The detective quantum efficiency of photon-counting x-ray detectors using cascaded-systems analyses

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Tanguay, Jesse; Yun, Seungman; School of Mechanical Engineering, Pusan National University, Jangjeon-dong, Geumjeong-gu, Busan 609-735

Purpose: Single-photon counting (SPC) x-ray imaging has the potential to improve image quality and enable new advanced energy-dependent methods. The purpose of this study is to extend cascaded-systems analyses (CSA) to the description of image quality and the detective quantum efficiency (DQE) of SPC systems. Methods: Point-process theory is used to develop a method of propagating the mean signal and Wiener noise-power spectrum through a thresholding stage (required to identify x-ray interaction events). The new transfer relationships are used to describe the zero-frequency DQE of a hypothetical SPC detector including the effects of stochastic conversion of incident photons to secondarymore » quanta, secondary quantum sinks, additive noise, and threshold level. Theoretical results are compared with Monte Carlo calculations assuming the same detector model. Results: Under certain conditions, the CSA approach can be applied to SPC systems with the additional requirement of propagating the probability density function describing the total number of image-forming quanta through each stage of a cascaded model. Theoretical results including DQE show excellent agreement with Monte Carlo calculations under all conditions considered. Conclusions: Application of the CSA method shows that false counts due to additive electronic noise results in both a nonlinear image signal and increased image noise. There is a window of allowable threshold values to achieve a high DQE that depends on conversion gain, secondary quantum sinks, and additive noise.« less

17 CFR 230.408 - Additional information.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-04-01

... 17 Commodity and Securities Exchanges 2 2013-04-01 2013-04-01 false Additional information. 230... RULES AND REGULATIONS, SECURITIES ACT OF 1933 General Requirements § 230.408 Additional information. (a) In addition to the information expressly required to be included in a registration statement, there...

Multiphase Method for Analysing Online Discussions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Häkkinen, P.

2013-01-01

Several studies have analysed and assessed online performance and discourse using quantitative and qualitative methods. Quantitative measures have typically included the analysis of participation rates and learning outcomes in terms of grades. Qualitative measures of postings, discussions and context features aim to give insights into the nature…

The evolution of high-alumina basalts of the Klyuchevskoy volcano, Kamchatka, Russia, based on microprobe analyses of mineral inclusions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ozerov, Alexei Y.

2000-01-01

The origin of calc-alkaline high-alumina basalts (HAB) of the Klyuchevskoy volcano, Kamchatka, was examined using electron microprobe analyses of phenocrysts and mineral phases included in the phenocrysts. Continuous trends on major-element variation diagrams suggest the HAB were derived from high-magnesia basalt (HMB) by fractional crystallization. Phenocrysts in the HAB are strongly zoned: olivine (Mg# 91-64), clinopyroxene (Wo 45-38En 40-51Fs 5-20) and chrome—spinel/magnetite inclusions in them (Cr 2O 3 45-0 wt.%, TiO 2 0.5-11%). Microprobe analyses of minerals included in the phenocrysts provide additional constraints on the mineral crystallization trends in the HAB. Fe/Mg partitioning data, when applied to the phenocrysts cores, show they crystallized from a HMB. The similarity of phenocryst core compositions in HAB with those in HMB strongly suggests a genetic relationship between the two magma types.

[Reevaluation of the methodological quality in meta-analyses of accelerated rehabilitation on recovery after surgery for colorectal cancer].

PubMed

Ding, S N; Pan, H Y; Zhang, J G

2017-03-14

Objective: To evaluate the methodological quality and impacts on outcomes for systematic reviews (SRs) of accelerated rehabilitation versus traditional control for colorectal surgery. Methods: We comprehensively searched six databases and additional websites to collect SRs, or meta-analysis from inception to July 2016. The Overview Quality Assessment Questionnaire (OQAQ) was applied for quality assessment of the included studies, the tools recommended by the Cochrane Collaboration was applied for quality assessment for RCT and CCT and the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale (NOS) was applied to assess observational study. The relative ratios (RRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were integrated using Review Manager 5.3 software. Results: Fourteen meta-analyses were included in total. The mean OQAQ score was 3.8 with 95% CI 3.2 to 4.3. Only three meta-analyses were assessed as good quality. Two studies misused statistical models. A total of 42 primary studies referenced by meta-analyses were included, of which, 25 RCTs were levelled grade B and 1 CCT was levelled grade C. An estimated mean NOS score of 16 observation studies was 6.75 (totally scored 9 with 95% CI 6.4 to 7.1), of which, 10 studies scored ≥7 were high quality, 6 studies scored 6 were moderate quality. Conclusions: Currently, the overall quality of meta-analyses about comparing the effects and safety between accelerated rehabilitation and traditional control for colorectal surgery is fairly poor and the evidence level is lower. Health providers should apply the evidence with caution in clinical practice.

Early Versus Delayed Motion After Rotator Cuff Repair: A Systematic Review of Overlapping Meta-analyses.

PubMed

Houck, Darby A; Kraeutler, Matthew J; Schuette, Hayden B; McCarty, Eric C; Bravman, Jonathan T

2017-10-01

Previous meta-analyses have been conducted to compare outcomes of early versus delayed motion after rotator cuff repair. To conduct a systematic review of overlapping meta-analyses comparing early versus delayed motion rehabilitation protocols after rotator cuff repair to determine which meta-analyses provide the best available evidence. Systematic review. A systematic review was performed by searching PubMed and Cochrane Library databases. Search terms included "rotator cuff repair," "early passive motion," "immobilization," "rehabilitation protocol," and "meta-analysis." Results were reviewed to determine study eligibility. Patient outcomes and structural healing were extracted from these meta-analyses. Meta-analysis quality was assessed using the Oxman-Guyatt and Quality of Reporting of Meta-analyses (QUOROM) systems. The Jadad decision algorithm was then used to determine which meta-analyses provided the best level of evidence. Seven meta-analyses containing a total of 5896 patients met the eligibility criteria (1 Level I evidence, 4 Level II evidence, 2 Level III evidence). None of these meta-analyses found immobilization to be superior to early motion; however, most studies suggested that early motion would increase range of motion (ROM), thereby reducing time of recovery. Three of these studies suggested that tear size contributed to the choice of rehabilitation to ensure proper healing of the shoulder. A study by Chan et al in 2014 received the highest QUOROM and Oxman-Guyatt scores, and therefore this meta-analysis appeared to have the highest level of evidence. Additionally, a study by Riboh and Garrigues in 2014 was selected as the highest quality study in this systematic review according to the Jadad decision algorithm. The current, best available evidence suggests that early motion improves ROM after rotator cuff repair but increases the risk of rotator cuff retear. Lower quality meta-analyses indicate that tear size may provide a better strategy in

Challenges and solutions to pre- and post-randomization subgroup analyses.

PubMed

Desai, Manisha; Pieper, Karen S; Mahaffey, Ken

2014-01-01

Subgroup analyses are commonly performed in the clinical trial setting with the purpose of illustrating that the treatment effect was consistent across different patient characteristics or identifying characteristics that should be targeted for treatment. There are statistical issues involved in performing subgroup analyses, however. These have been given considerable attention in the literature for analyses where subgroups are defined by a pre-randomization feature. Although subgroup analyses are often performed with subgroups defined by a post-randomization feature--including analyses that estimate the treatment effect among compliers--discussion of these analyses has been neglected in the clinical literature. Such analyses pose a high risk of presenting biased descriptions of treatment effects. We summarize the challenges of doing all types of subgroup analyses described in the literature. In particular, we emphasize issues with post-randomization subgroup analyses. Finally, we provide guidelines on how to proceed across the spectrum of subgroup analyses.

Experimental test of a hot water storage system including a macro-encapsulated phase change material (PCM)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mongibello, L.; Atrigna, M.; Bianco, N.; Di Somma, M.; Graditi, G.; Risi, N.

2017-01-01

Thermal energy storage systems (TESs) are of fundamental importance for many energetic systems, essentially because they permit a certain degree of decoupling between the heat or cold production and the use of the heat or cold produced. In the last years, many works have analysed the addition of a PCM inside a hot water storage tank, as it can allow a reduction of the size of the storage tank due to the possibility of storing thermal energy as latent heat, and as a consequence its cost and encumbrance. The present work focuses on experimental tests realized by means of an indoor facility in order to analyse the dynamic behaviour of a hot water storage tank including PCM modules during a charging phase. A commercial bio-based PCM has been used for the purpose, with a melting temperature of 58°C. The experimental results relative to the hot water tank including the PCM modules are presented in terms of temporal evolution of the axial temperature profile, heat transfer and stored energy, and are compared with the ones obtained by using only water as energy storage material. Interesting insights, relative to the estimation of the percentage of melted PCM at the end of the experimental test, are presented and discussed.

Cost effectiveness of the addition of a comprehensive CT scan to the abdomen and pelvis for the detection of cancer after unprovoked venous thromboembolism.

PubMed

Coyle, Kathryn; Carrier, Marc; Lazo-Langner, Alejandro; Shivakumar, Sudeep; Zarychanski, Ryan; Tagalakis, Vicky; Solymoss, Susan; Routhier, Nathalie; Douketis, James; Coyle, Douglas

2017-03-01

Unprovoked venous thromboembolism (VTE) can be the first manifestation of cancer. It is unclear if extensive screening for occult cancer including a comprehensive computed tomography (CT) scan of the abdomen/pelvis is cost-effective in this patient population. To assess the health care related costs, number of missed cancer cases and health related utility values of a limited screening strategy with and without the addition of a comprehensive CT scan of the abdomen/pelvis and to identify to what extent testing should be done in these circumstances to allow early detection of occult cancers. Cost effectiveness analysis using data that was collected alongside the SOME randomized controlled trial which compared an extensive occult cancer screening including a CT of the abdomen/pelvis to a more limited screening strategy in patients with a first unprovoked VTE, was used for the current analyses. Analyses were conducted with a one-year time horizon from a Canadian health care perspective. Primary analysis was based on complete cases, with sensitivity analysis using appropriate multiple imputation methods to account for missing data. Data from a total of 854 patients with a first unprovoked VTE were included in these analyses. The addition of a comprehensive CT scan was associated with higher costs ($551 CDN) with no improvement in utility values or number of missed cancers. Results were consistent when adopting multiple imputation methods. The addition of a comprehensive CT scan of the abdomen/pelvis for the screening of occult cancer in patients with unprovoked VTE is not cost effective, as it is both more costly and not more effective in detecting occult cancer. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Analysing photonic structures in plants

PubMed Central

Vignolini, Silvia; Moyroud, Edwige; Glover, Beverley J.; Steiner, Ullrich

2013-01-01

The outer layers of a range of plant tissues, including flower petals, leaves and fruits, exhibit an intriguing variation of microscopic structures. Some of these structures include ordered periodic multilayers and diffraction gratings that give rise to interesting optical appearances. The colour arising from such structures is generally brighter than pigment-based colour. Here, we describe the main types of photonic structures found in plants and discuss the experimental approaches that can be used to analyse them. These experimental approaches allow identification of the physical mechanisms producing structural colours with a high degree of confidence. PMID:23883949

Analyses of Great Smoky Mountain Red Spruce Tree Ring Data

Treesearch

Paul C. van Deusen; [Editor

1988-01-01

Four different analyses of red spruce tree ring data from the Great Smoky Mountains are presented along with a description of the spruce/fir ecosystem.The analyses use several techniques including spatial analysis, fractals, spline detrending, and the Kalman filter.

Business and Marketing Cluster. Task Analyses.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Henrico County Public Schools, Glen Allen, VA. Virginia Vocational Curriculum and Resource Center.

Developed in Virginia, this publication contains task analysis guides to support selected tech prep programs that prepare students for careers in the business and marketing cluster. Guides are included for accounting systems, legal systems administration, office systems technology, and retail marketing. Each task analyses guide has the following…

Comparison of multipoint linkage analyses for quantitative traits in the CEPH data: parametric LOD scores, variance components LOD scores, and Bayes factors

PubMed Central

Sung, Yun Ju; Di, Yanming; Fu, Audrey Q; Rothstein, Joseph H; Sieh, Weiva; Tong, Liping; Thompson, Elizabeth A; Wijsman, Ellen M

2007-01-01

We performed multipoint linkage analyses with multiple programs and models for several gene expression traits in the Centre d'Etude du Polymorphisme Humain families. All analyses provided consistent results for both peak location and shape. Variance-components (VC) analysis gave wider peaks and Bayes factors gave fewer peaks. Among programs from the MORGAN package, lm_multiple performed better than lm_markers, resulting in less Markov-chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) variability between runs, and the program lm_twoqtl provided higher LOD scores by also including either a polygenic component or an additional quantitative trait locus. PMID:18466597

Large-scale association analyses identify new loci influencing glycemic traits and provide insight into the underlying biological pathways.

PubMed

Scott, Robert A; Lagou, Vasiliki; Welch, Ryan P; Wheeler, Eleanor; Montasser, May E; Luan, Jian'an; Mägi, Reedik; Strawbridge, Rona J; Rehnberg, Emil; Gustafsson, Stefan; Kanoni, Stavroula; Rasmussen-Torvik, Laura J; Yengo, Loïc; Lecoeur, Cecile; Shungin, Dmitry; Sanna, Serena; Sidore, Carlo; Johnson, Paul C D; Jukema, J Wouter; Johnson, Toby; Mahajan, Anubha; Verweij, Niek; Thorleifsson, Gudmar; Hottenga, Jouke-Jan; Shah, Sonia; Smith, Albert V; Sennblad, Bengt; Gieger, Christian; Salo, Perttu; Perola, Markus; Timpson, Nicholas J; Evans, David M; Pourcain, Beate St; Wu, Ying; Andrews, Jeanette S; Hui, Jennie; Bielak, Lawrence F; Zhao, Wei; Horikoshi, Momoko; Navarro, Pau; Isaacs, Aaron; O'Connell, Jeffrey R; Stirrups, Kathleen; Vitart, Veronique; Hayward, Caroline; Esko, Tõnu; Mihailov, Evelin; Fraser, Ross M; Fall, Tove; Voight, Benjamin F; Raychaudhuri, Soumya; Chen, Han; Lindgren, Cecilia M; Morris, Andrew P; Rayner, Nigel W; Robertson, Neil; Rybin, Denis; Liu, Ching-Ti; Beckmann, Jacques S; Willems, Sara M; Chines, Peter S; Jackson, Anne U; Kang, Hyun Min; Stringham, Heather M; Song, Kijoung; Tanaka, Toshiko; Peden, John F; Goel, Anuj; Hicks, Andrew A; An, Ping; Müller-Nurasyid, Martina; Franco-Cereceda, Anders; Folkersen, Lasse; Marullo, Letizia; Jansen, Hanneke; Oldehinkel, Albertine J; Bruinenberg, Marcel; Pankow, James S; North, Kari E; Forouhi, Nita G; Loos, Ruth J F; Edkins, Sarah; Varga, Tibor V; Hallmans, Göran; Oksa, Heikki; Antonella, Mulas; Nagaraja, Ramaiah; Trompet, Stella; Ford, Ian; Bakker, Stephan J L; Kong, Augustine; Kumari, Meena; Gigante, Bruna; Herder, Christian; Munroe, Patricia B; Caulfield, Mark; Antti, Jula; Mangino, Massimo; Small, Kerrin; Miljkovic, Iva; Liu, Yongmei; Atalay, Mustafa; Kiess, Wieland; James, Alan L; Rivadeneira, Fernando; Uitterlinden, Andre G; Palmer, Colin N A; Doney, Alex S F; Willemsen, Gonneke; Smit, Johannes H; Campbell, Susan; Polasek, Ozren; Bonnycastle, Lori L; Hercberg, Serge; Dimitriou, Maria; Bolton, Jennifer L; Fowkes, Gerard R; Kovacs, Peter; Lindström, Jaana; Zemunik, Tatijana; Bandinelli, Stefania; Wild, Sarah H; Basart, Hanneke V; Rathmann, Wolfgang; Grallert, Harald; Maerz, Winfried; Kleber, Marcus E; Boehm, Bernhard O; Peters, Annette; Pramstaller, Peter P; Province, Michael A; Borecki, Ingrid B; Hastie, Nicholas D; Rudan, Igor; Campbell, Harry; Watkins, Hugh; Farrall, Martin; Stumvoll, Michael; Ferrucci, Luigi; Waterworth, Dawn M; Bergman, Richard N; Collins, Francis S; Tuomilehto, Jaakko; Watanabe, Richard M; de Geus, Eco J C; Penninx, Brenda W; Hofman, Albert; Oostra, Ben A; Psaty, Bruce M; Vollenweider, Peter; Wilson, James F; Wright, Alan F; Hovingh, G Kees; Metspalu, Andres; Uusitupa, Matti; Magnusson, Patrik K E; Kyvik, Kirsten O; Kaprio, Jaakko; Price, Jackie F; Dedoussis, George V; Deloukas, Panos; Meneton, Pierre; Lind, Lars; Boehnke, Michael; Shuldiner, Alan R; van Duijn, Cornelia M; Morris, Andrew D; Toenjes, Anke; Peyser, Patricia A; Beilby, John P; Körner, Antje; Kuusisto, Johanna; Laakso, Markku; Bornstein, Stefan R; Schwarz, Peter E H; Lakka, Timo A; Rauramaa, Rainer; Adair, Linda S; Smith, George Davey; Spector, Tim D; Illig, Thomas; de Faire, Ulf; Hamsten, Anders; Gudnason, Vilmundur; Kivimaki, Mika; Hingorani, Aroon; Keinanen-Kiukaanniemi, Sirkka M; Saaristo, Timo E; Boomsma, Dorret I; Stefansson, Kari; van der Harst, Pim; Dupuis, Josée; Pedersen, Nancy L; Sattar, Naveed; Harris, Tamara B; Cucca, Francesco; Ripatti, Samuli; Salomaa, Veikko; Mohlke, Karen L; Balkau, Beverley; Froguel, Philippe; Pouta, Anneli; Jarvelin, Marjo-Riitta; Wareham, Nicholas J; Bouatia-Naji, Nabila; McCarthy, Mark I; Franks, Paul W; Meigs, James B; Teslovich, Tanya M; Florez, Jose C; Langenberg, Claudia; Ingelsson, Erik; Prokopenko, Inga; Barroso, Inês

2012-09-01

Through genome-wide association meta-analyses of up to 133,010 individuals of European ancestry without diabetes, including individuals newly genotyped using the Metabochip, we have increased the number of confirmed loci influencing glycemic traits to 53, of which 33 also increase type 2 diabetes risk (q < 0.05). Loci influencing fasting insulin concentration showed association with lipid levels and fat distribution, suggesting impact on insulin resistance. Gene-based analyses identified further biologically plausible loci, suggesting that additional loci beyond those reaching genome-wide significance are likely to represent real associations. This conclusion is supported by an excess of directionally consistent and nominally significant signals between discovery and follow-up studies. Functional analysis of these newly discovered loci will further improve our understanding of glycemic control.

Random regression analyses using B-splines functions to model growth from birth to adult age in Canchim cattle.

PubMed

Baldi, F; Alencar, M M; Albuquerque, L G

2010-12-01

The objective of this work was to estimate covariance functions using random regression models on B-splines functions of animal age, for weights from birth to adult age in Canchim cattle. Data comprised 49,011 records on 2435 females. The model of analysis included fixed effects of contemporary groups, age of dam as quadratic covariable and the population mean trend taken into account by a cubic regression on orthogonal polynomials of animal age. Residual variances were modelled through a step function with four classes. The direct and maternal additive genetic effects, and animal and maternal permanent environmental effects were included as random effects in the model. A total of seventeen analyses, considering linear, quadratic and cubic B-splines functions and up to seven knots, were carried out. B-spline functions of the same order were considered for all random effects. Random regression models on B-splines functions were compared to a random regression model on Legendre polynomials and with a multitrait model. Results from different models of analyses were compared using the REML form of the Akaike Information criterion and Schwarz' Bayesian Information criterion. In addition, the variance components and genetic parameters estimated for each random regression model were also used as criteria to choose the most adequate model to describe the covariance structure of the data. A model fitting quadratic B-splines, with four knots or three segments for direct additive genetic effect and animal permanent environmental effect and two knots for maternal additive genetic effect and maternal permanent environmental effect, was the most adequate to describe the covariance structure of the data. Random regression models using B-spline functions as base functions fitted the data better than Legendre polynomials, especially at mature ages, but higher number of parameters need to be estimated with B-splines functions. © 2010 Blackwell Verlag GmbH.

A computer graphics program for general finite element analyses

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Thornton, E. A.; Sawyer, L. M.

1978-01-01

Documentation for a computer graphics program for displays from general finite element analyses is presented. A general description of display options and detailed user instructions are given. Several plots made in structural, thermal and fluid finite element analyses are included to illustrate program options. Sample data files are given to illustrate use of the program.

A web-based endpoint adjudication system for interim analyses in clinical trials.

PubMed

Nolen, Tracy L; Dimmick, Bill F; Ostrosky-Zeichner, Luis; Kendrick, Amy S; Sable, Carole; Ngai, Angela; Wallace, Dennis

2009-02-01

A data monitoring committee (DMC) is often employed to assess trial progress and review safety data and efficacy endpoints throughout a trail. Interim analyses performed for the DMC should use data that are as complete and verified as possible. Such analyses are complicated when data verification involves subjective study endpoints or requires clinical expertise to determine each subject's status with respect to the study endpoint. Therefore, procedures are needed to obtain adjudicated data for interim analyses in an efficient manner. In the past, methods for handling such data included using locally reported results as surrogate endpoints, adjusting analysis methods for unadjudicated data, or simply performing the adjudication as rapidly as possible. These methods all have inadequacies that make their sole usage suboptimal. For a study of prophylaxis for invasive candidiasis, adjudication of both study eligibility criteria and clinical endpoints prior to two interim analyses was required. Because the study was expected to enroll at a moderate rate and the sponsor required adjudicated endpoints to be used for interim analyses, an efficient process for adjudication was required. We created a web-based endpoint adjudication system (WebEAS) that allows for expedited review by the endpoint adjudication committee (EAC). This system automatically identifies when a subject's data are complete, creates a subject profile from the study data, and assigns EAC reviewers. The reviewers use the WebEAS to review the subject profile and submit their completed review form. The WebEAS then compares the reviews, assigns an additional review as a tiebreaker if needed, and stores the adjudicated data. The study for which this system was originally built was administratively closed after 10 months with only 38 subjects enrolled. The adjudication process was finalized and the WebEAS system activated prior to study closure. Some website accessibility issues presented initially. However

[Methods, challenges and opportunities for big data analyses of microbiome].

PubMed

Sheng, Hua-Fang; Zhou, Hong-Wei

2015-07-01

Microbiome is a novel research field related with a variety of chronic inflamatory diseases. Technically, there are two major approaches to analysis of microbiome: metataxonome by sequencing the 16S rRNA variable tags, and metagenome by shot-gun sequencing of the total microbial (mainly bacterial) genome mixture. The 16S rRNA sequencing analyses pipeline includes sequence quality control, diversity analyses, taxonomy and statistics; metagenome analyses further includes gene annotation and functional analyses. With the development of the sequencing techniques, the cost of sequencing will decrease, and big data analyses will become the central task. Data standardization, accumulation, modeling and disease prediction are crucial for future exploit of these data. Meanwhile, the information property in these data, and the functional verification with culture-dependent and culture-independent experiments remain the focus in future research. Studies of human microbiome will bring a better understanding of the relations between the human body and the microbiome, especially in the context of disease diagnosis and therapy, which promise rich research opportunities.

Three WRKY transcription factors additively repress abscisic acid and gibberellin signaling in aleurone cells.

PubMed

Zhang, Liyuan; Gu, Lingkun; Ringler, Patricia; Smith, Stanley; Rushton, Paul J; Shen, Qingxi J

2015-07-01

Members of the WRKY transcription factor superfamily are essential for the regulation of many plant pathways. Functional redundancy due to duplications of WRKY transcription factors, however, complicates genetic analysis by allowing single-mutant plants to maintain wild-type phenotypes. Our analyses indicate that three group I WRKY genes, OsWRKY24, -53, and -70, act in a partially redundant manner. All three showed characteristics of typical WRKY transcription factors: each localized to nuclei and yeast one-hybrid assays indicated that they all bind to W-boxes, including those present in their own promoters. Quantitative real time-PCR (qRT-PCR) analyses indicated that the expression levels of the three WRKY genes varied in the different tissues tested. Particle bombardment-mediated transient expression analyses indicated that all three genes repress the GA and ABA signaling in a dosage-dependent manner. Combination of all three WRKY genes showed additive antagonism of ABA and GA signaling. These results suggest that these WRKY proteins function as negative transcriptional regulators of GA and ABA signaling. However, different combinations of these WRKY genes can lead to varied strengths in suppression of their targets. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

"Analysing Genre: Language Use in Professional Settings." A Review.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Drury, Helen

1995-01-01

"Analysing Genre," by Vijay K. Bhatia, is a timely addition to the literature on genre analysis in English for specific purposes. It is divided into three parts: the first provides theoretical background; the second explains how genre analysis works in different academic and professional settings; and the third exemplifies the…

Recommendations for Conduct, Methodological Practices, and Reporting of Cost-effectiveness Analyses: Second Panel on Cost-Effectiveness in Health and Medicine.

PubMed

Sanders, Gillian D; Neumann, Peter J; Basu, Anirban; Brock, Dan W; Feeny, David; Krahn, Murray; Kuntz, Karen M; Meltzer, David O; Owens, Douglas K; Prosser, Lisa A; Salomon, Joshua A; Sculpher, Mark J; Trikalinos, Thomas A; Russell, Louise B; Siegel, Joanna E; Ganiats, Theodore G

2016-09-13

Since publication of the report by the Panel on Cost-Effectiveness in Health and Medicine in 1996, researchers have advanced the methods of cost-effectiveness analysis, and policy makers have experimented with its application. The need to deliver health care efficiently and the importance of using analytic techniques to understand the clinical and economic consequences of strategies to improve health have increased in recent years. To review the state of the field and provide recommendations to improve the quality of cost-effectiveness analyses. The intended audiences include researchers, government policy makers, public health officials, health care administrators, payers, businesses, clinicians, patients, and consumers. In 2012, the Second Panel on Cost-Effectiveness in Health and Medicine was formed and included 2 co-chairs, 13 members, and 3 additional members of a leadership group. These members were selected on the basis of their experience in the field to provide broad expertise in the design, conduct, and use of cost-effectiveness analyses. Over the next 3.5 years, the panel developed recommendations by consensus. These recommendations were then reviewed by invited external reviewers and through a public posting process. The concept of a "reference case" and a set of standard methodological practices that all cost-effectiveness analyses should follow to improve quality and comparability are recommended. All cost-effectiveness analyses should report 2 reference case analyses: one based on a health care sector perspective and another based on a societal perspective. The use of an "impact inventory," which is a structured table that contains consequences (both inside and outside the formal health care sector), intended to clarify the scope and boundaries of the 2 reference case analyses is also recommended. This special communication reviews these recommendations and others concerning the estimation of the consequences of interventions, the valuation of health

Effects of xanthan, guar, carrageenan and locust bean gum addition on physical, chemical and sensory properties of meatballs.

PubMed

Demirci, Zeynep Ozben; Yılmaz, Ismail; Demirci, Ahmet Şukru

2014-05-01

This study evaluated the effects of xanthan gum, guar gum, carrageenan and locust bean gum on physical, chemical and sensory properties of meatballs. Meatball samples were produced with three different formulations including of 0.5, 1, and 1.5% each gum addition and gum added samples were compared with the control meatballs. Physical and chemical analyses were carried out on raw and cooked samples separately. Moisture contents of raw samples decreased by addition of gums. There were significant decreases (p < 0.05) in moisture and fat contents of raw and cooked meatball samples formulated with gum when compared with control. Ash contents and texture values increased with gum addition to meatballs. Meatball redness decreased with more gum addition in raw and cooked meatball samples, which means that addition of gums resulted in a lighter-coloured product. According to sensory analysis results, locust bean gum added (1%) samples were much preferred by the panelists.

The phaco machine: analysing new technology.

PubMed

Fishkind, William J

2013-01-01

The phaco machine is frequently overlooked as the crucial surgical instrument it is. Understanding how to set parameters is initiated by understanding fundamental concepts of machine function. This study analyses the critical concepts of partial occlusion phaco, occlusion phaco and pump technology. In addition, phaco energy categories as well as variations of phaco energy production are explored. Contemporary power modulations and pump controls allow for the enhancement of partial occlusion phacoemulsification. These significant changes in the anterior chamber dynamics produce a balanced environment for phaco; less complications; and improved patient outcomes.

Financial relationships in economic analyses of targeted therapies in oncology.

PubMed

Valachis, Antonis; Polyzos, Nikolaos P; Nearchou, Andreas; Lind, Pehr; Mauri, Davide

2012-04-20

A potential financial relationship between investigators and pharmaceutical manufacturers has been associated with an increased likelihood of reporting favorable conclusions about a sponsor's proprietary agent in pharmacoeconomic studies. The purpose of this study is to investigate whether there is an association between financial relationships and outcome in economic analyses of new targeted therapies in oncology. We searched PubMed (last update June 2011) for economic analyses of targeted therapies (including monoclonal antibodies, tyrosine-kinase inhibitors, and mammalian target of rapamycin inhibitors) in oncology. The trials were qualitatively rated regarding the cost assessment as favorable, neutral, or unfavorable on the basis of prespecified criteria. Overall, 81 eligible studies were identified. Economic analyses that were funded by pharmaceutical companies were more likely to report favorable qualitative cost estimates (28 [82%] of 34 v 21 [45%] of 47; P = .003). The presence of an author affiliated with manufacturer was not associated with study outcome. Furthermore, if only studies including a conflict of interest statement were included (66 of 81), studies that reported any financial relationship with manufacturers (author affiliation and/or funding and/or other financial relationship) were more likely to report favorable results of targeted therapies compared with studies without financial relationship (32 [71%] of 45 v nine [43%] of 21; P = .025). Our study reveals a potential threat for industry-related bias in economic analyses of targeted therapies in oncology in favor of analyses with financial relationships between authors and manufacturers. A more balanced funding of economic analyses from other sources may allow greater confidence in the interpretation of their results.

Analyses of 1/15 scale Creare bypass transient experiments. [PWR

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Kmetyk, L.N.; Buxton, L.D.; Cole, R.K. Jr.

1982-09-01

RELAP4 analyses of several 1/15 scale Creare H-series bypass transient experiments have been done to investigate the effect of using different downcomer nodalizations, physical scales, slip models, and vapor fraction donoring methods. Most of the analyses were thermal equilibrium calculations performed with RELAP4/MOD5, but a few such calculations were done with RELAP4/MOD6 and RELAP4/MOD7, which contain improved slip models. In order to estimate the importance of nonequilibrium effects, additional analyses were performed with TRAC-PD2, RELAP5 and the nonequilibrium option of RELAP4/MOD7. The purpose of these studies was to determine whether results from Westinghouse's calculation of the Creare experiments, which weremore » done with a UHI-modified version of SATAN, were sufficient to guarantee SATAN would be conservative with respect to ECC bypass in full-scale plant analyses.« less

[Involvement of scientific societies in early benefit assessment: Simulated participation or valuable additional input?

PubMed

Bleß, Hans-Holger; Seidlitz, Cornelia; Ohlmeier, Christoph; de Millas, Christoph

2018-02-01

The German framework of early benefit assessment (EBA) of drugs also provides for the participation of scientific medical societies. The aim of their inclusion is to assure that care providers can critically assess all aspects of the EBA and provide insights into relevant aspects regarding the provision of care. This study systematically reviews the frequency of participation of the scientific medical societies (FGs) and the Drug Commission of the German Medical Association (AkdÄ) within the scope of the EBA. In addition, the positioning of AkdÄ/FG is compared to the Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care (IQWiG) and the Federal Joint Committee (G-BA) with a focus on antidiabetic drugs and cancer drugs. A literature analysis was performed based on the comprehensive documentation of benefit assessments published by G-BA. All proceedings of antidiabetic drugs and cancer drugs were included, for which a decision was published by August 6, 2015. In addition, statements of FGs or AkdÄ were identified by an exploratory literature review and included in the analysis. The statements considered were assessed with regard to three categories: (1) additional benefit, (2) appropriate comparator (ZVT) and (3) suitability of the endpoints. For each procedure and category, it was assessed whether there was agreement or disagreement between IGWiG/G-BA and AkdÄ/FGs statements. Regarding the additional benefit, a deviating position was further differentiated according to the level of additional benefit (higher/lower). Afterwards, the proportion of favorable and unfavorable positions was calculated, stratified by FGs and AkdÄ and, separately, for proceedings of antidiabetics and cancer drugs. The literature review revealed 41 proceedings of cancer drugs and 21 proceedings of antidiabetic drugs which were included in the analyses. Statements by AkdÄ/FGs were identified in 90 % of the proceedings for antidiabetic drugs and in 98 % of the proceedings for cancer drugs

Analyses of the 1981-82 Illinois Public Library Statistics.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wallace, Danny P.

Using data provided by the annual reports of Illinois public libraries and by the Illinois state library, this publication is a companion to the November 1982 issue of "Illinois Libraries," which enumerated the 16 data elements upon which the analyses are based. Three additional types of information are provided for each of six…

Randomized double-blind placebo-controlled trial of buccal misoprostol to reduce the need for additional uterotonic drugs during cesarean delivery.

PubMed

Hernández-Castro, Flavio; López-Serna, Norberto; Treviño-Salinas, Emilio M; Soria-López, Juan A; Sordia-Hernández, Luis H; Cárdenas-Estrada, Eloy

2016-02-01

To determine whether buccal misoprostol during cesarean delivery in conjunction with active management of the third stage of labor reduces the need for additional uterotonic drugs. A double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial was performed in Monterrey, Mexico, between February 2008 and December 2013. Eligible women had risk factors for uterine atony and were to undergo cesarean delivery under epidural block. Using a computer-generated sequence and blocks of six, patients were randomly assigned to receive 400μg misoprostol or 800μg placebo buccally after cord clamping. Both groups received an intravenous oxytocin infusion. The primary outcome was the need for additional uterotonic drugs. Analyses were performed per protocol. Patients, investigators, and data analysts were masked to group assignment. A total of 120 women were included in analyses (60 in each group). At least one additional uterotonic drug was required in 24 (40%) women in the placebo group versus 6 (10%) women in the misoprostol group (relative risk 0.16; 95% confidence interval 0.06-0.44). No adverse effects due to misoprostol were recorded. Buccal misoprostol during cesarean delivery reduced the need for additional uterotonic drugs to treat uterine atony. ClinicalTrials.gov:NCT01733329. Copyright © 2015 International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics. Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Additive Manufacturing of Aerospace Propulsion Components

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Misra, Ajay K.; Grady, Joseph E.; Carter, Robert

2015-01-01

The presentation will provide an overview of ongoing activities on additive manufacturing of aerospace propulsion components, which included rocket propulsion and gas turbine engines. Future opportunities on additive manufacturing of hybrid electric propulsion components will be discussed.

Development of a set of equations for incorporating disk flexibility effects in rotordynamical analyses

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Flowers, George T.; Ryan, Stephen G.

1991-01-01

Rotordynamical equations that account for disk flexibility are developed. These equations employ free-free rotor modes to model the rotor system. Only transverse vibrations of the disks are considered, with the shaft/disk system considered to be torsionally rigid. Second order elastic foreshortening effects that couple with the rotor speed to produce first order terms in the equations of motion are included. The approach developed in this study is readily adaptable for usage in many of the codes that are current used in rotordynamical simulations. The equations are similar to those used in standard rigid disk analyses but with additional terms that include the effects of disk flexibility. An example case is presented to demonstrate the use of the equations and to show the influence of disk flexibility on the rotordynamical behavior of a sample system.

Evaluation of certain food additives.

PubMed

2015-01-01

This report represents the conclusions of a Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee convened to evaluate the safety of various food additives, including flavouring agents, and to prepare specifications for identity and purity. The first part of the report contains a general discussion of the principles governing the toxicological evaluation of and assessment of dietary exposure to food additives, including flavouring agents. A summary follows of the Committee's evaluations of technical, toxicological and dietary exposure data for eight food additives (Benzoe tonkinensis; carrageenan; citric and fatty acid esters of glycerol; gardenia yellow; lutein esters from Tagetes erecta; octenyl succinic acid-modified gum arabic; octenyl succinic acid-modified starch; paprika extract; and pectin) and eight groups of flavouring agents (aliphatic and alicyclic hydrocarbons; aliphatic and aromatic ethers; ionones and structurally related substances; miscellaneous nitrogen-containing substances; monocyclic and bicyclic secondary alcohols, ketones and related esters; phenol and phenol derivatives; phenyl-substituted aliphatic alcohols and related aldehydes and esters; and sulfur-containing heterocyclic compounds). Specifications for the following food additives were revised: citric acid; gellan gum; polyoxyethylene (20) sorbitan monostearate; potassium aluminium silicate; and Quillaia extract (Type 2). Annexed to the report are tables summarizing the Committee's recommendations for dietary exposures to and toxicological evaluations of all of the food additives and flavouring agents considered at this meeting.

Should Relational Aggression Be Included in DSM-V?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Keenan, Kate; Coyne, Claire; Lahey, Benjamin B.

2008-01-01

The study examines whether relational aggression should be included in DSM-V disruptive behavior disorders. The results conclude that some additional information is gathered from assessing relational aggression but not enough to be included in DSM-V.

NEXT Ion Thruster Performance Dispersion Analyses

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Soulas, George C.; Patterson, Michael J.

2008-01-01

The NEXT ion thruster is a low specific mass, high performance thruster with a nominal throttling range of 0.5 to 7 kW. Numerous engineering model and one prototype model thrusters have been manufactured and tested. Of significant importance to propulsion system performance is thruster-to-thruster performance dispersions. This type of information can provide a bandwidth of expected performance variations both on a thruster and a component level. Knowledge of these dispersions can be used to more conservatively predict thruster service life capability and thruster performance for mission planning, facilitate future thruster performance comparisons, and verify power processor capabilities are compatible with the thruster design. This study compiles the test results of five engineering model thrusters and one flight-like thruster to determine unit-to-unit dispersions in thruster performance. Component level performance dispersion analyses will include discharge chamber voltages, currents, and losses; accelerator currents, electron backstreaming limits, and perveance limits; and neutralizer keeper and coupling voltages and the spot-to-plume mode transition flow rates. Thruster level performance dispersion analyses will include thrust efficiency.

Broadband rotor noise analyses

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

George, A. R.; Chou, S. T.

1984-01-01

The various mechanisms which generate broadband noise on a range of rotors studied include load fluctuations due to inflow turbulence, due to turbulent boundary layers passing the blades' trailing edges, and due to tip vortex formation. Existing analyses are used and extensions to them are developed to make more accurate predictions of rotor noise spectra and to determine which mechanisms are important in which circumstances. Calculations based on the various prediction methods in existing experiments were compared. The present analyses are adequate to predict the spectra from a wide variety of experiments on fans, full scale and model scale helicopter rotors, wind turbines, and propellers to within about 5 to 10 dB. Better knowledge of the inflow turbulence improves the accuracy of the predictions. Results indicate that inflow turbulence noise depends strongly on ambient conditions and dominates at low frequencies. Trailing edge noise and tip vortex noise are important at higher frequencies if inflow turbulence is weak. Boundary layer trailing edge noise, important, for large sized rotors, increases slowly with angle of attack but not as rapidly as tip vortex noise.

Should Age at Diagnosis Be Included as an Additional Variable in the Risk of Recurrence Classification System in Patients with Differentiated Thyroid Cancer.

PubMed

Pitoia, Fabián; Jerkovich, Fernando; Smulever, Anabella; Brenta, Gabriela; Bueno, Fernanda; Cross, Graciela

2017-07-01

To evaluate the influence of age at diagnosis on the frequency of structural incomplete response (SIR) according to the modified risk of recurrence (RR) staging system from the American Thyroid Association guidelines. We performed a retrospective analysis of 268 patients with differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC) followed up for at least 3 years after initial treatment (total thyroidectomy and remnant ablation). The median follow-up in the whole cohort was 74.3 months (range: 36.1-317.9) and the median age at diagnosis was 45.9 years (range: 18-87). The association between age at diagnosis and the initial and final response to treatment was assessed with analysis of variance (ANOVA). Patients were also divided into several groups considering age younger and older than 40, 50, and 60 years. Age at diagnosis was not associated with either an initial or final statistically significant different SIR to treatment ( p = 0.14 and p = 0.58, respectively). Additionally, we did not find any statistically significant differences when the percentages of SIR considering the classification of RR were compared between different groups of patients by using several age cutoffs. When patients are correctly risk stratified, it seems that age at diagnosis is not involved in the frequency of having a SIR at the initial evaluation or at the final follow-up, so it should not be included as an additional variable to be considered in the RR classifications.

Should Age at Diagnosis Be Included as an Additional Variable in the Risk of Recurrence Classification System in Patients with Differentiated Thyroid Cancer

PubMed Central

Pitoia, Fabián; Jerkovich, Fernando; Smulever, Anabella; Brenta, Gabriela; Bueno, Fernanda; Cross, Graciela

2017-01-01

Objective To evaluate the influence of age at diagnosis on the frequency of structural incomplete response (SIR) according to the modified risk of recurrence (RR) staging system from the American Thyroid Association guidelines. Patients and Methods We performed a retrospective analysis of 268 patients with differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC) followed up for at least 3 years after initial treatment (total thyroidectomy and remnant ablation). The median follow-up in the whole cohort was 74.3 months (range: 36.1-317.9) and the median age at diagnosis was 45.9 years (range: 18-87). The association between age at diagnosis and the initial and final response to treatment was assessed with analysis of variance (ANOVA). Patients were also divided into several groups considering age younger and older than 40, 50, and 60 years. Results Age at diagnosis was not associated with either an initial or final statistically significant different SIR to treatment (p = 0.14 and p = 0.58, respectively). Additionally, we did not find any statistically significant differences when the percentages of SIR considering the classification of RR were compared between different groups of patients by using several age cutoffs. Conclusions When patients are correctly risk stratified, it seems that age at diagnosis is not involved in the frequency of having a SIR at the initial evaluation or at the final follow-up, so it should not be included as an additional variable to be considered in the RR classifications. PMID:28785543

Use of Statistical Analyses in the Ophthalmic Literature

PubMed Central

Lisboa, Renato; Meira-Freitas, Daniel; Tatham, Andrew J.; Marvasti, Amir H.; Sharpsten, Lucie; Medeiros, Felipe A.

2014-01-01

Purpose To identify the most commonly used statistical analyses in the ophthalmic literature and to determine the likely gain in comprehension of the literature that readers could expect if they were to sequentially add knowledge of more advanced techniques to their statistical repertoire. Design Cross-sectional study Methods All articles published from January 2012 to December 2012 in Ophthalmology, American Journal of Ophthalmology and Archives of Ophthalmology were reviewed. A total of 780 peer-reviewed articles were included. Two reviewers examined each article and assigned categories to each one depending on the type of statistical analyses used. Discrepancies between reviewers were resolved by consensus. Main Outcome Measures Total number and percentage of articles containing each category of statistical analysis were obtained. Additionally we estimated the accumulated number and percentage of articles that a reader would be expected to be able to interpret depending on their statistical repertoire. Results Readers with little or no statistical knowledge would be expected to be able to interpret the statistical methods presented in only 20.8% of articles. In order to understand more than half (51.4%) of the articles published, readers were expected to be familiar with at least 15 different statistical methods. Knowledge of 21 categories of statistical methods was necessary to comprehend 70.9% of articles, while knowledge of more than 29 categories was necessary to comprehend more than 90% of articles. Articles in retina and glaucoma subspecialties showed a tendency for using more complex analysis when compared to cornea. Conclusions Readers of clinical journals in ophthalmology need to have substantial knowledge of statistical methodology to understand the results of published studies in the literature. The frequency of use of complex statistical analyses also indicates that those involved in the editorial peer-review process must have sound statistical

Hidden sources of phosphorus: presence of phosphorus-containing additives in processed foods.

PubMed

Lou-Arnal, Luis M; Arnaudas-Casanova, Laura; Caverni-Muñoz, Alberto; Vercet-Tormo, Antonio; Caramelo-Gutiérrez, Rocío; Munguía-Navarro, Paula; Campos-Gutiérrez, Belén; García-Mena, Mercedes; Moragrera, Belén; Moreno-López, Rosario; Bielsa-Gracia, Sara; Cuberes-Izquierdo, Marta

2014-01-01

An increased consumption of processed foods that include phosphorus-containing additives has led us to propose the following working hypothesis: using phosphate-rich additives that can be easily absorbed in processed foods involves a significant increase in phosphorus in the diet, which may be considered as hidden phosphorus since it is not registered in the food composition tables. The quantity of phosphorus contained in 118 processed products was determined by spectrophotometry and the results were contrasted with the food composition tables of the Higher Education Centre of Nutrition and Diet, those of Morandeira and those of the BEDCA (Spanish Food Composition Database) Network. Food processing frequently involves the use of phosphoric additives. The products whose label contains these additives have higher phosphorus content and higher phosphorus-protein ratio. We observed a discrepancy with the food composition tables in terms of the amount of phosphorus determined in a sizeable proportion of the products. The phosphorus content of prepared refrigerated foods hardly appears in the tables. Product labels provide little information on phosphorus content. We observed a discrepancy in phosphorus content in certain foods with respect to the food composition tables. We should educate our patients on reviewing the additives on the labels and on the limitation of processed foods. There must be health policy actions to deal with the problem: companies should analyse the phosphorus content of their products, display the correct information on their labels and incorporate it into the food composition tables. Incentives could be established to prepare food with a low phosphorus content and alternatives to phosphorus-containing additives.

Large-scale association analyses identify new loci influencing glycemic traits and provide insight into the underlying biological pathways

PubMed Central

Scott, Robert A; Lagou, Vasiliki; Welch, Ryan P; Wheeler, Eleanor; Montasser, May E; Luan, Jian’an; Mägi, Reedik; Strawbridge, Rona J; Rehnberg, Emil; Gustafsson, Stefan; Kanoni, Stavroula; Rasmussen-Torvik, Laura J; Yengo, Loïc; Lecoeur, Cecile; Shungin, Dmitry; Sanna, Serena; Sidore, Carlo; Johnson, Paul C D; Jukema, J Wouter; Johnson, Toby; Mahajan, Anubha; Verweij, Niek; Thorleifsson, Gudmar; Hottenga, Jouke-Jan; Shah, Sonia; Smith, Albert V; Sennblad, Bengt; Gieger, Christian; Salo, Perttu; Perola, Markus; Timpson, Nicholas J; Evans, David M; Pourcain, Beate St; Wu, Ying; Andrews, Jeanette S; Hui, Jennie; Bielak, Lawrence F; Zhao, Wei; Horikoshi, Momoko; Navarro, Pau; Isaacs, Aaron; O’Connell, Jeffrey R; Stirrups, Kathleen; Vitart, Veronique; Hayward, Caroline; Esko, Tönu; Mihailov, Evelin; Fraser, Ross M; Fall, Tove; Voight, Benjamin F; Raychaudhuri, Soumya; Chen, Han; Lindgren, Cecilia M; Morris, Andrew P; Rayner, Nigel W; Robertson, Neil; Rybin, Denis; Liu, Ching-Ti; Beckmann, Jacques S; Willems, Sara M; Chines, Peter S; Jackson, Anne U; Kang, Hyun Min; Stringham, Heather M; Song, Kijoung; Tanaka, Toshiko; Peden, John F; Goel, Anuj; Hicks, Andrew A; An, Ping; Müller-Nurasyid, Martina; Franco-Cereceda, Anders; Folkersen, Lasse; Marullo, Letizia; Jansen, Hanneke; Oldehinkel, Albertine J; Bruinenberg, Marcel; Pankow, James S; North, Kari E; Forouhi, Nita G; Loos, Ruth J F; Edkins, Sarah; Varga, Tibor V; Hallmans, Göran; Oksa, Heikki; Antonella, Mulas; Nagaraja, Ramaiah; Trompet, Stella; Ford, Ian; Bakker, Stephan J L; Kong, Augustine; Kumari, Meena; Gigante, Bruna; Herder, Christian; Munroe, Patricia B; Caulfield, Mark; Antti, Jula; Mangino, Massimo; Small, Kerrin; Miljkovic, Iva; Liu, Yongmei; Atalay, Mustafa; Kiess, Wieland; James, Alan L; Rivadeneira, Fernando; Uitterlinden, Andre G; Palmer, Colin N A; Doney, Alex S F; Willemsen, Gonneke; Smit, Johannes H; Campbell, Susan; Polasek, Ozren; Bonnycastle, Lori L; Hercberg, Serge; Dimitriou, Maria; Bolton, Jennifer L; Fowkes, Gerard R; Kovacs, Peter; Lindström, Jaana; Zemunik, Tatijana; Bandinelli, Stefania; Wild, Sarah H; Basart, Hanneke V; Rathmann, Wolfgang; Grallert, Harald; Maerz, Winfried; Kleber, Marcus E; Boehm, Bernhard O; Peters, Annette; Pramstaller, Peter P; Province, Michael A; Borecki, Ingrid B; Hastie, Nicholas D; Rudan, Igor; Campbell, Harry; Watkins, Hugh; Farrall, Martin; Stumvoll, Michael; Ferrucci, Luigi; Waterworth, Dawn M; Bergman, Richard N; Collins, Francis S; Tuomilehto, Jaakko; Watanabe, Richard M; de Geus, Eco J C; Penninx, Brenda W; Hofman, Albert; Oostra, Ben A; Psaty, Bruce M; Vollenweider, Peter; Wilson, James F; Wright, Alan F; Hovingh, G Kees; Metspalu, Andres; Uusitupa, Matti; Magnusson, Patrik K E; Kyvik, Kirsten O; Kaprio, Jaakko; Price, Jackie F; Dedoussis, George V; Deloukas, Panos; Meneton, Pierre; Lind, Lars; Boehnke, Michael; Shuldiner, Alan R; van Duijn, Cornelia M; Morris, Andrew D; Toenjes, Anke; Peyser, Patricia A; Beilby, John P; Körner, Antje; Kuusisto, Johanna; Laakso, Markku; Bornstein, Stefan R; Schwarz, Peter E H; Lakka, Timo A; Rauramaa, Rainer; Adair, Linda S; Smith, George Davey; Spector, Tim D; Illig, Thomas; de Faire, Ulf; Hamsten, Anders; Gudnason, Vilmundur; Kivimaki, Mika; Hingorani, Aroon; Keinanen-Kiukaanniemi, Sirkka M; Saaristo, Timo E; Boomsma, Dorret I; Stefansson, Kari; van der Harst, Pim; Dupuis, Josée; Pedersen, Nancy L; Sattar, Naveed; Harris, Tamara B; Cucca, Francesco; Ripatti, Samuli; Salomaa, Veikko; Mohlke, Karen L; Balkau, Beverley; Froguel, Philippe; Pouta, Anneli; Jarvelin, Marjo-Riitta; Wareham, Nicholas J; Bouatia-Naji, Nabila; McCarthy, Mark I; Franks, Paul W; Meigs, James B; Teslovich, Tanya M; Florez, Jose C; Langenberg, Claudia; Ingelsson, Erik; Prokopenko, Inga; Barroso, Inês

2012-01-01

Through genome-wide association meta-analyses of up to 133,010 individuals of European ancestry without diabetes, including individuals newly genotyped using the Metabochip, we have raised the number of confirmed loci influencing glycemic traits to 53, of which 33 also increase type 2 diabetes risk (q < 0.05). Loci influencing fasting insulin showed association with lipid levels and fat distribution, suggesting impact on insulin resistance. Gene-based analyses identified further biologically plausible loci, suggesting that additional loci beyond those reaching genome-wide significance are likely to represent real associations. This conclusion is supported by an excess of directionally consistent and nominally significant signals between discovery and follow-up studies. Functional follow-up of these newly discovered loci will further improve our understanding of glycemic control. PMID:22885924

Consumer brand choice: individual and group analyses of demand elasticity.

PubMed

Oliveira-Castro, Jorge M; Foxall, Gordon R; Schrezenmaier, Teresa C

2006-03-01

Following the behavior-analytic tradition of analyzing individual behavior, the present research investigated demand elasticity of individual consumers purchasing supermarket products, and compared individual and group analyses of elasticity. Panel data from 80 UK consumers purchasing 9 product categories (i.e., baked beans, biscuits, breakfast cereals, butter, cheese, fruit juice, instant coffee, margarine and tea) during a 16-week period were used. Elasticity coefficients were calculated for individual consumers with data from all or only 1 product category (intra-consumer elasticities), and for each product category using all data points from all consumers (overall product elasticity) or 1 average data point per consumer (interconsumer elasticity). In addition to this, split-sample elasticity coefficients were obtained for each individual with data from all product categories purchased during weeks 1 to 8 and 9 to 16. The results suggest that: 1) demand elasticity coefficients calculated for individual consumers purchasing supermarket food products are compatible with predictions from economic theory and behavioral economics; 2) overall product elasticities, typically employed in marketing and econometric research, include effects of interconsumer and intraconsumer elasticities; 3) when comparing demand elasticities of different product categories, group and individual analyses yield similar trends; and 4) individual differences in demand elasticity are relatively consistent across time, but do not seem to be consistent across products. These results demonstrate the theoretical, methodological, and managerial relevance of investigating the behavior of individual consumers.

Cognitive remediation in schizophrenia: A methodological appraisal of systematic reviews and meta-analyses.

PubMed

Bryce, Shayden; Sloan, Elise; Lee, Stuart; Ponsford, Jennie; Rossell, Susan

2016-04-01

Systematic reviews and meta-analyses are a primary source of evidence when evaluating the benefit(s) of cognitive remediation (CR) in schizophrenia. These studies are designed to rigorously synthesize scientific literature; however, cannot be assumed to be of high methodological quality. The aims of this report were to: 1) review the use of systematic reviews and meta-analyses regarding CR in schizophrenia; 2) conduct a systematic methodological appraisal of published reports examining the benefits of this intervention on core outcome domains; and 3) compare the correspondence between methodological and reporting quality. Electronic databases were searched for relevant articles. Twenty-one reviews met inclusion criteria and were scored according to the AMSTAR checklist-a validated scale of methodological quality. Five meta-analyses were also scored according to PRISMA statement to compare 'quality of conduct' with 'quality of reporting'. Most systematic reviews and meta-analyses shared strengths and fell within a 'medium' level of methodological quality. Nevertheless, there were consistent areas of potential weakness that were not addressed by most reviews. These included the lack of protocol registration, uncertainty regarding independent data extraction and consensus procedures, and the minimal assessment of publication bias. Moreover, quality of conduct may not necessarily parallel quality of reporting, suggesting that consideration of these methods independently may be important. Reviews concerning CR for schizophrenia are a valuable source of evidence. However, the methodological quality of these reports may require additional consideration. Enhancing quality of conduct is essential for enabling research literature to be interpreted with confidence. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Modeling process-structure-property relationships for additive manufacturing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yan, Wentao; Lin, Stephen; Kafka, Orion L.; Yu, Cheng; Liu, Zeliang; Lian, Yanping; Wolff, Sarah; Cao, Jian; Wagner, Gregory J.; Liu, Wing Kam

2018-02-01

This paper presents our latest work on comprehensive modeling of process-structure-property relationships for additive manufacturing (AM) materials, including using data-mining techniques to close the cycle of design-predict-optimize. To illustrate the processstructure relationship, the multi-scale multi-physics process modeling starts from the micro-scale to establish a mechanistic heat source model, to the meso-scale models of individual powder particle evolution, and finally to the macro-scale model to simulate the fabrication process of a complex product. To link structure and properties, a highefficiency mechanistic model, self-consistent clustering analyses, is developed to capture a variety of material response. The model incorporates factors such as voids, phase composition, inclusions, and grain structures, which are the differentiating features of AM metals. Furthermore, we propose data-mining as an effective solution for novel rapid design and optimization, which is motivated by the numerous influencing factors in the AM process. We believe this paper will provide a roadmap to advance AM fundamental understanding and guide the monitoring and advanced diagnostics of AM processing.

Group-Level EEG-Processing Pipeline for Flexible Single Trial-Based Analyses Including Linear Mixed Models.

PubMed

Frömer, Romy; Maier, Martin; Abdel Rahman, Rasha

2018-01-01

Here we present an application of an EEG processing pipeline customizing EEGLAB and FieldTrip functions, specifically optimized to flexibly analyze EEG data based on single trial information. The key component of our approach is to create a comprehensive 3-D EEG data structure including all trials and all participants maintaining the original order of recording. This allows straightforward access to subsets of the data based on any information available in a behavioral data structure matched with the EEG data (experimental conditions, but also performance indicators, such accuracy or RTs of single trials). In the present study we exploit this structure to compute linear mixed models (LMMs, using lmer in R) including random intercepts and slopes for items. This information can easily be read out from the matched behavioral data, whereas it might not be accessible in traditional ERP approaches without substantial effort. We further provide easily adaptable scripts for performing cluster-based permutation tests (as implemented in FieldTrip), as a more robust alternative to traditional omnibus ANOVAs. Our approach is particularly advantageous for data with parametric within-subject covariates (e.g., performance) and/or multiple complex stimuli (such as words, faces or objects) that vary in features affecting cognitive processes and ERPs (such as word frequency, salience or familiarity), which are sometimes hard to control experimentally or might themselves constitute variables of interest. The present dataset was recorded from 40 participants who performed a visual search task on previously unfamiliar objects, presented either visually intact or blurred. MATLAB as well as R scripts are provided that can be adapted to different datasets.

Group-Level EEG-Processing Pipeline for Flexible Single Trial-Based Analyses Including Linear Mixed Models

PubMed Central

Frömer, Romy; Maier, Martin; Abdel Rahman, Rasha

2018-01-01

Here we present an application of an EEG processing pipeline customizing EEGLAB and FieldTrip functions, specifically optimized to flexibly analyze EEG data based on single trial information. The key component of our approach is to create a comprehensive 3-D EEG data structure including all trials and all participants maintaining the original order of recording. This allows straightforward access to subsets of the data based on any information available in a behavioral data structure matched with the EEG data (experimental conditions, but also performance indicators, such accuracy or RTs of single trials). In the present study we exploit this structure to compute linear mixed models (LMMs, using lmer in R) including random intercepts and slopes for items. This information can easily be read out from the matched behavioral data, whereas it might not be accessible in traditional ERP approaches without substantial effort. We further provide easily adaptable scripts for performing cluster-based permutation tests (as implemented in FieldTrip), as a more robust alternative to traditional omnibus ANOVAs. Our approach is particularly advantageous for data with parametric within-subject covariates (e.g., performance) and/or multiple complex stimuli (such as words, faces or objects) that vary in features affecting cognitive processes and ERPs (such as word frequency, salience or familiarity), which are sometimes hard to control experimentally or might themselves constitute variables of interest. The present dataset was recorded from 40 participants who performed a visual search task on previously unfamiliar objects, presented either visually intact or blurred. MATLAB as well as R scripts are provided that can be adapted to different datasets. PMID:29472836

Genetic parameter estimates for carcass traits and visual scores including or not genomic information.

PubMed

Gordo, D G M; Espigolan, R; Tonussi, R L; Júnior, G A F; Bresolin, T; Magalhães, A F Braga; Feitosa, F L; Baldi, F; Carvalheiro, R; Tonhati, H; de Oliveira, H N; Chardulo, L A L; de Albuquerque, L G

2016-05-01

The objective of this study was to determine whether visual scores used as selection criteria in Nellore breeding programs are effective indicators of carcass traits measured after slaughter. Additionally, this study evaluated the effect of different structures of the relationship matrix ( and ) on the estimation of genetic parameters and on the prediction accuracy of breeding values. There were 13,524 animals for visual scores of conformation (CS), finishing precocity (FP), and muscling (MS) and 1,753, 1,747, and 1,564 for LM area (LMA), backfat thickness (BF), and HCW, respectively. Of these, 1,566 animals were genotyped using a high-density panel containing 777,962 SNP. Six analyses were performed using multitrait animal models, each including the 3 visual scores and 1 carcass trait. For the visual scores, the model included direct additive genetic and residual random effects and the fixed effects of contemporary group (defined by year of birth, management group at yearling, and farm) and the linear effect of age of animal at yearling. The same model was used for the carcass traits, replacing the effect of age of animal at yearling with the linear effect of age of animal at slaughter. The variance and covariance components were estimated by the REML method in analyses using the numerator relationship matrix () or combining the genomic and the numerator relationship matrices (). The heritability estimates for the visual scores obtained with the 2 methods were similar and of moderate magnitude (0.23-0.34), indicating that these traits should response to direct selection. The heritabilities for LMA, BF, and HCW were 0.13, 0.07, and 0.17, respectively, using matrix and 0.29, 0.16, and 0.23, respectively, using matrix . The genetic correlations between the visual scores and carcass traits were positive, and higher correlations were generally obtained when matrix was used. Considering the difficulties and cost of measuring carcass traits postmortem, visual scores of

Methodological quality of meta-analyses of single-case experimental studies.

PubMed

Jamshidi, Laleh; Heyvaert, Mieke; Declercq, Lies; Fernández-Castilla, Belén; Ferron, John M; Moeyaert, Mariola; Beretvas, S Natasha; Onghena, Patrick; Van den Noortgate, Wim

2017-12-28

Methodological rigor is a fundamental factor in the validity and credibility of the results of a meta-analysis. Following an increasing interest in single-case experimental design (SCED) meta-analyses, the current study investigates the methodological quality of SCED meta-analyses. We assessed the methodological quality of 178 SCED meta-analyses published between 1985 and 2015 through the modified Revised-Assessment of Multiple Systematic Reviews (R-AMSTAR) checklist. The main finding of the current review is that the methodological quality of the SCED meta-analyses has increased over time, but is still low according to the R-AMSTAR checklist. A remarkable percentage of the studies (93.80% of the included SCED meta-analyses) did not even reach the midpoint score (22, on a scale of 0-44). The mean and median methodological quality scores were 15.57 and 16, respectively. Relatively high scores were observed for "providing the characteristics of the included studies" and "doing comprehensive literature search". The key areas of deficiency were "reporting an assessment of the likelihood of publication bias" and "using the methods appropriately to combine the findings of studies". Although the results of the current review reveal that the methodological quality of the SCED meta-analyses has increased over time, still more efforts are needed to improve their methodological quality. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Effusion plate using additive manufacturing methods

DOEpatents

Johnson, Thomas Edward; Keener, Christopher Paul; Ostebee, Heath Michael; Wegerif, Daniel Gerritt

2016-04-12

Additive manufacturing techniques may be utilized to construct effusion plates. Such additive manufacturing techniques may include defining a configuration for an effusion plate having one or more internal cooling channels. The manufacturing techniques may further include depositing a powder into a chamber, applying an energy source to the deposited powder, and consolidating the powder into a cross-sectional shape corresponding to the defined configuration. Such methods may be implemented to construct an effusion plate having one or more channels with a curved cross-sectional geometry.

Understanding the Flow Physics of Shock Boundary-Layer Interactions Using CFD and Numerical Analyses

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Friedlander, David Joshua

Mixed compression inlets are common among supersonic propulsion systems. However they are susceptible to total pressure losses due to shock/boundary-layer interactions (SBLI's). Because of their importance, a workshop was held at the 48th American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) Aerospace Sciences Meeting in 2010 to gauge current computational fluid dynamics (CFD) tools abilities to predict SBLI's. One conclusion from the workshop was that the CFD consistently failed to agree with the experimental data. This thesis presents additional CFD and numerical analyses that were performed on one of the configurations presented at the workshop. The additional analyses focused on the University of Michigan's Mach 2.75 Glass Tunnel with a semi-spanning 7.75 degree wedge while exploring key physics pertinent to modeling SBLI's. These include thermodynamic and viscous boundary conditions as well as turbulence modeling. Most of the analyses were 3D CFD simulations using the OVERFLOW flow solver. However, a quasi-1D MATLAB code was developed to interface with the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Reference Fluid Thermodynamic and Transport Properties Database (REFPROP) code to explore perfect verses non-ideal air as this feature is not supported within OVERFLOW. Further, a grid resolution study was performed on the 3D 56 million grid point grid which was shown to be nearly grid independent. Because the experimental data was obtained via particle image velocimetry (PIV), a fundamental study pertaining to the effects of PIV on post-processing data was also explored. Results from the CFD simulations showed an improvement in agreement with experimental data with certain settings. This is especially true of the v velocity field within the streamwise data plane. Key contributions to the improvement include utilizing a laminar zone upstream of the wedge (the boundary-layer was considered transitional downstream of the nozzle throat) and the necessity

Fire-Retardant Polymeric Additives

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Williams, Martha K.; Smith, Trent M.

2011-01-01

Polyhydroxyamide (PHA) and polymethoxyamide (PMeOA) are fire-retardant (FR) thermoplastic polymers and have been found to be useful as an additive for imparting fire retardant properties to other compatible, thermoplastic polymers (including some elastomers). Examples of compatible flammable polymers include nylons, polyesters, and acrylics. Unlike most prior additives, PHA and PMeOA do not appreciably degrade the mechanical properties of the matrix polymer; indeed, in some cases, mechanical properties are enhanced. Also, unlike some prior additives, PHA and PMeOA do not decompose into large amounts of corrosive or toxic compounds during combustion and can be processed at elevated temperatures. PMeOA derivative formulations were synthesized and used as an FR additive in the fabrication of polyamide (PA) and polystyrene (PS) composites with notable reduction (>30 percent for PS) in peak heat release rates compared to the neat polymer as measured by a Cone Calorimeter (ASTM E1354). Synergistic effects were noted with nanosilica composites. These nanosilica composites had more than 50-percent reduction in peak heat release rates. In a typical application, a flammable thermoplastic, thermoplastic blend, or elastomer that one seeks to render flame-retardant is first dry-mixed with PHA or PMeOA or derivative thereof. The proportion of PHA or PMeOA or derivative in the mixture is typically chosen to lie between 1 and 20 weight percent. The dry blend can then be melt-extruded. The extruded polymer blend can further be extruded and/or molded into fibers, pipes, or any other of a variety of objects that may be required to be fire-retardant. The physical and chemical mechanisms which impart flame retardancy of the additive include inhibiting free-radical oxidation in the vapor phase, preventing vaporization of fuel (the polymer), and cooling through the formation of chemical bonds in either the vapor or the condensed phase. Under thermal stress, the cyclic hydroxyl/ methoxy

Genetic Association and Gene-Gene Interaction Analyses in African American Dialysis Patients With Nondiabetic Nephropathy

PubMed Central

Bostrom, Meredith A.; Kao, W.H. Linda; Li, Man; Abboud, Hanna E.; Adler, Sharon G.; Iyengar, Sudha K.; Kimmel, Paul L.; Hanson, Robert L.; Nicholas, Susanne B.; Rasooly, Rebekah S.; Sedor, John R.; Coresh, Josef; Kohn, Orly F.; Leehey, David J.; Thornley-Brown, Denyse; Bottinger, Erwin P.; Lipkowitz, Michael S.; Meoni, Lucy A.; Klag, Michael J.; Lu, Lingyi; Hicks, Pamela J.; Langefeld, Carl D.; Parekh, Rulan S.; Bowden, Donald W.; Freedman, Barry I.

2011-01-01

Background African Americans (AAs) have increased susceptibility to non-diabetic nephropathy relative to European Americans. Study Design Follow-up of a pooled genome-wide association study (GWAS) in AA dialysis patients with nondiabetic nephropathy; novel gene-gene interaction analyses. Setting & Participants Wake Forest sample: 962 AA nondiabetic nephropathy cases; 931 non-nephropathy controls. Replication sample: 668 Family Investigation of Nephropathy and Diabetes (FIND) AA nondiabetic nephropathy cases; 804 non-nephropathy controls. Predictors Individual genotyping of top 1420 pooled GWAS-associated single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and 54 SNPs in six nephropathy susceptibility genes. Outcomes APOL1 genetic association and additional candidate susceptibility loci interacting with, or independently from, APOL1. Results The strongest GWAS associations included two non-coding APOL1 SNPs, rs2239785 (odds ratio [OR], 0.33; dominant; p = 5.9 × 10−24) and rs136148 (OR, 0.54; additive; p = 1.1 × 10−7) with replication in FIND (p = 5.0 × 10−21 and 1.9 × 10−05, respectively). Rs2239785 remained significantly associated after controlling for the APOL1 G1 and G2 coding variants. Additional top hits included a CFH SNP(OR from meta-analysis in above 3367 AA cases and controls, 0.81; additive; p = 6.8 × 10−4). The 1420 SNPs were tested for interaction with APOL1 G1 and G2 variants. Several interactive SNPs were detected, the most significant was rs16854341 in the podocin gene (NPHS2) (p = 0.0001). Limitations Non-pooled GWAS have not been performed in AA nondiabetic nephropathy. Conclusions This follow-up of a pooled GWAS provides additional and independent evidence that APOL1 variants contribute to nondiabetic nephropathy in AAs and identified additional associated and interactive non-diabetic nephropathy susceptibility genes. PMID:22119407

[Total analysis of organic rubber additives].

PubMed

He, Wen-Xuan; Robert, Shanks; You, Ye-Ming

2010-03-01

In the present paper, after middle pressure chromatograph separation using both positive phase and reversed-phase conditions, the organic additives in ethylene-propylene rubber were identified by infrared spectrometer. At the same time, by using solid phase extraction column to maintain the main component-fuel oil in organic additves to avoid its interfering with minor compounds, other organic additves were separated and analysed by GC/Ms. In addition, the remaining active compound such as benzoyl peroxide was identified by CC/Ms, through analyzing acetone extract directly. Using the above mentioned techniques, soften agents (fuel oil, plant oil and phthalte), curing agent (benzoylperoxide), vulcanizing accelerators (2-mercaptobenzothiazole, ethyl thiuram and butyl thiuram), and antiagers (2, 6-Di-tert-butyl-4-methyl phenol and styrenated phenol) in ethylene-propylene rubber were identified. Although the technique was established in ethylene-propylene rubber system, it can be used in other rubber system.

Providing Additional Support for MNA by Including Quantitative Lines of Evidence for Abiotic Degradation and Co-metabolic Oxidation of Chlorinated Ethylenes

DTIC Science & Technology

2017-02-08

cost benefit of the technology. 7.1 COST MODEL A simple cost model for the technology is presented so that a remediation professional can understand...reporting costs . The benefit of the qPCR analyses is that they allow the user to determine if aerobic cometabolism is possible. Because the PHE and...of Chlorinated Ethylenes February 2017 This document has been cleared for public release; Distribution Statement A Page Intentionally Left

Reduction of dioxin-like toxicity in effluents by additional wastewater treatment and related effects in fish.

PubMed

Maier, Diana; Benisek, Martin; Blaha, Ludek; Dondero, Francesco; Giesy, John P; Köhler, Heinz-R; Richter, Doreen; Scheurer, Marco; Triebskorn, Rita

2016-10-01

Efficiency of advanced wastewater treatment technologies to reduce micropollutants which mediate dioxin-like toxicity was investigated. Technologies compared included ozonation, powdered activated carbon and granular activated carbon. In addition to chemical analyses in samples of effluents, surface waters, sediments, and fish, (1) dioxin-like potentials were measured in paired samples of effluents, surface waters, and sediments by use of an in vitro biotest (reporter gene assay) and (2) dioxin-like effects were investigated in exposed fish by use of in vivo activity of the mixed-function, monooxygenase enzyme, ethoxyresorufin O-deethylase (EROD) in liver. All advanced technologies studied, based on degradation or adsorption, significantly reduced dioxin-like potentials in samples and resulted in lesser EROD activity in livers of fish. Results of in vitro and in vivo biological responses were not clearly related to quantification of targeted analytes by use of instrumental analyses. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Phylogenomic analyses of deep gastropod relationships reject Orthogastropoda

PubMed Central

Zapata, Felipe; Wilson, Nerida G.; Howison, Mark; Andrade, Sónia C. S.; Jörger, Katharina M.; Schrödl, Michael; Goetz, Freya E.; Giribet, Gonzalo; Dunn, Casey W.

2014-01-01

Gastropods are a highly diverse clade of molluscs that includes many familiar animals, such as limpets, snails, slugs and sea slugs. It is one of the most abundant groups of animals in the sea and the only molluscan lineage that has successfully colonized land. Yet the relationships among and within its constituent clades have remained in flux for over a century of morphological, anatomical and molecular study. Here, we re-evaluate gastropod phylogenetic relationships by collecting new transcriptome data for 40 species and analysing them in combination with publicly available genomes and transcriptomes. Our datasets include all five main gastropod clades: Patellogastropoda, Vetigastropoda, Neritimorpha, Caenogastropoda and Heterobranchia. We use two different methods to assign orthology, subsample each of these matrices into three increasingly dense subsets, and analyse all six of these supermatrices with two different models of molecular evolution. All 12 analyses yield the same unrooted network connecting the five major gastropod lineages. This reduces deep gastropod phylogeny to three alternative rooting hypotheses. These results reject the prevalent hypothesis of gastropod phylogeny, Orthogastropoda. Our dated tree is congruent with a possible end-Permian recovery of some gastropod clades, namely Caenogastropoda and some Heterobranchia subclades. PMID:25232139

Meta-synthesis of health behavior change meta-analyses.

PubMed

Johnson, Blair T; Scott-Sheldon, Lori A J; Carey, Michael P

2010-11-01

We integrated and compared meta-analytic findings across diverse behavioral interventions to characterize how well they have achieved change in health behavior. Outcomes from 62 meta-analyses of interventions for change in health behavior were quantitatively synthesized, including 1011 primary-level investigations with 599,559 participants. Content coding suggested 6 behavioral domains: eating and physical activity, sexual behavior, addictive behaviors, stress management, female-specific screening and intervention behaviors, and behaviors involving use of health services. Behavior change interventions were efficacious (mean effect sizes = 0.08-0.45). Behavior change was more evident in more recent meta-analyses; those that sampled older interventions and literatures or sampled more published articles; those that included studies that relied on self-report, used briefer interventions, or sampled fewer, older, or female participants; and in some domains (e.g., stress management) more than others (e.g., sexual behaviors). Interventions improved health-related behaviors; however, efficacy varied as a function of participant and intervention characteristics. This meta-synthesis provides information about the efficacy of behavioral change interventions across health domains and populations; this knowledge can inform the design and development of public health interventions and future meta-analyses of these studies.

Building a Competitive Edge with Additive Manufacturing

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-02-14

construct ceramic molds for complex metal parts using a 3D printing technique. They estimate the new 6 technique could eliminate all of the...processes. They include 3D printing and Additive Beam Techniques.15 Most Additive Manufacturing techniques are specific to certain classes of materials...9 Example Additive Manufacturing Techniques16 3D Printing Additive Beam Stereolithography (SLA) Direct Metal Laser Sintering (DMLS

Additional Development and Systems Analyses of Pneumatic Technology for High Speed Civil Transport Aircraft

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Englar, Robert J.; Willie, F. Scott; Lee, Warren J.

1999-01-01

In the Task I portion of this NASA research grant, configuration development and experimental investigations have been conducted on a series of pneumatic high-lift and control surface devices applied to a generic High Speed Civil Transport (HSCT) model configuration to determine their potential for improved aerodynamic performance, plus stability and control of higher performance aircraft. These investigations were intended to optimize pneumatic lift and drag performance; provide adequate control and longitudinal stability; reduce separation flowfields at high angle of attack; increase takeoff/climbout lift-to-drag ratios; and reduce system complexity and weight. Experimental aerodynamic evaluations were performed on a semi-span HSCT generic model with improved fuselage fineness ratio and with interchangeable plain flaps, blown flaps, pneumatic Circulation Control Wing (CCW) high-lift configurations, plain and blown canards, a novel Circulation Control (CC) cylinder blown canard, and a clean cruise wing for reference. Conventional tail power was also investigated for longitudinal trim capability. Also evaluated was unsteady pulsed blowing of the wing high-lift system to determine if reduced pulsed mass flow rates and blowing requirements could be made to yield the same lift as that resulting from steady-state blowing. Depending on the pulsing frequency applied, reduced mass flow rates were indeed found able to provide lift augmentation at lesser blowing values than for the steady conditions. Significant improvements in the aerodynamic characteristics leading to improved performance and stability/control were identified, and the various components were compared to evaluate the pneumatic potential of each. Aerodynamic results were provided to the Georgia Tech Aerospace System Design Lab. to conduct the companion system analyses and feasibility study (Task 2) of theses concepts applied to an operational advanced HSCT aircraft. Results and conclusions from these

An analysis of candidates for addition to the Clean Air Act list of hazardous air pollutants.

PubMed

Lunder, Sonya; Woodruff, Tracey J; Axelrad, Daniel A

2004-02-01

There are 188 air toxics listed as hazardous air pollutants (HAPs) in the Clean Air Act (CAA), based on their potential to adversely impact public health. This paper presents several analyses performed to screen potential candidates for addition to the HAPs list. We analyzed 1086 HAPs and potential HAPs, including chemicals regulated by the state of California or with emissions reported to the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI). HAPs and potential HAPs were ranked by their emissions to air, and by toxicity-weighted (tox-wtd) emissions for cancer and noncancer, using emissions information from the TRI and toxicity information from state and federal agencies. Separate consideration was given for persistent, bioaccumulative toxins (PBTs), reproductive or developmental toxins, and chemicals under evaluation for regulation as toxic air contaminants in California. Forty-four pollutants were identified as candidate HAPs based on three ranking analyses and whether they were a PBT or a reproductive or developmental toxin. Of these, nine qualified in two or three different rankings (ammonia [NH3], copper [Cu], Cu compounds, nitric acid [HNO3], N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone, sulfuric acid [H2SO4], vanadium [V] compounds, zinc [Zn], and Zn compounds). This analysis suggests further evaluation of several pollutants for possible addition to the CAA list of HAPs.

Fragile--Handle with Care: Regression Analyses That Include Categorical Data.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brown, Diane Peacock

In education and the social sciences, problems of interest to researchers and users of research often involve variables that do not meet the assumptions of regression in the area of an equal interval scale relative to a zero point. Various coding schemes exist that allow the use of regression while still answering the researcher's questions of…

External validity of a hierarchical dimensional model of child and adolescent psychopathology: Tests using confirmatory factor analyses and multivariate behavior genetic analyses.

PubMed

Waldman, Irwin D; Poore, Holly E; van Hulle, Carol; Rathouz, Paul J; Lahey, Benjamin B

2016-11-01

Several recent studies of the hierarchical phenotypic structure of psychopathology have identified a General psychopathology factor in addition to the more expected specific Externalizing and Internalizing dimensions in both youth and adult samples and some have found relevant unique external correlates of this General factor. We used data from 1,568 twin pairs (599 MZ & 969 DZ) age 9 to 17 to test hypotheses for the underlying structure of youth psychopathology and the external validity of the higher-order factors. Psychopathology symptoms were assessed via structured interviews of caretakers and youth. We conducted phenotypic analyses of competing structural models using Confirmatory Factor Analysis and used Structural Equation Modeling and multivariate behavior genetic analyses to understand the etiology of the higher-order factors and their external validity. We found that both a General factor and specific Externalizing and Internalizing dimensions are necessary for characterizing youth psychopathology at both the phenotypic and etiologic levels, and that the 3 higher-order factors differed substantially in the magnitudes of their underlying genetic and environmental influences. Phenotypically, the specific Externalizing and Internalizing dimensions were slightly negatively correlated when a General factor was included, which reflected a significant inverse correlation between the nonshared environmental (but not genetic) influences on Internalizing and Externalizing. We estimated heritability of the general factor of psychopathology for the first time. Its moderate heritability suggests that it is not merely an artifact of measurement error but a valid construct. The General, Externalizing, and Internalizing factors differed in their relations with 3 external validity criteria: mother's smoking during pregnancy, parent's harsh discipline, and the youth's association with delinquent peers. Multivariate behavior genetic analyses supported the external validity

Fracture Mechanics Analyses of Reinforced Carbon-Carbon Wing-Leading-Edge Panels

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Raju, Ivatury S.; Phillips, Dawn R.; Knight, Norman F., Jr.; Song, Kyongchan

2010-01-01

Fracture mechanics analyses of subsurface defects within the joggle regions of the Space Shuttle wing-leading-edge RCC panels are performed. A 2D plane strain idealized joggle finite element model is developed to study the fracture behavior of the panels for three distinct loading conditions - lift-off and ascent, on-orbit, and entry. For lift-off and ascent, an estimated bounding aerodynamic pressure load is used for the analyses, while for on-orbit and entry, thermo-mechanical analyses are performed using the extreme cold and hot temperatures experienced by the panels. In addition, a best estimate for the material stress-free temperature is used in the thermo-mechanical analyses. In the finite element models, the substrate and coating are modeled separately as two distinct materials. Subsurface defects are introduced at the coating-substrate interface and within the substrate. The objective of the fracture mechanics analyses is to evaluate the defect driving forces, which are characterized by the strain energy release rates, and determine if defects can become unstable for each of the loading conditions.

Fractal Analyses of High-Resolution Cloud Droplet Measurements.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Malinowski, Szymon P.; Leclerc, Monique Y.; Baumgardner, Darrel G.

1994-02-01

Fractal analyses of individual cloud droplet distributions using aircraft measurements along one-dimensional horizontal cross sections through clouds are performed. Box counting and cluster analyses are used to determine spatial scales of inhomogeneity of cloud droplet spacing. These analyses reveal that droplet spatial distributions do not exhibit a fractal behavior. A high variability in local droplet concentration in cloud volumes undergoing mixing was found. In these regions, thin filaments of cloudy air with droplet concentration close to those observed in cloud cores were found. Results suggest that these filaments may be anisotropic. Additional box counting analyses performed for various classes of cloud droplet diameters indicate that large and small droplets are similarly distributed, except for the larger characteristic spacing of large droplets.A cloud-clear air interface defined by a certain threshold of total droplet count (TDC) was investigated. There are indications that this interface is a convoluted surface of a fractal nature, at least in actively developing cumuliform clouds. In contrast, TDC in the cloud interior does not have fractal or multifractal properties. Finally a random Cantor set (RCS) was introduced as a model of a fractal process with an ill-defined internal scale. A uniform measure associated with the RCS after several generations was introduced to simulate the TDC records. Comparison of the model with real TDC records indicates similar properties of both types of data series.

Partially incorrect fossil data augment analyses of discrete trait evolution in living species.

PubMed

Puttick, Mark N

2016-08-01

Ancestral state reconstruction of discrete character traits is often vital when attempting to understand the origins and homology of traits in living species. The addition of fossils has been shown to alter our understanding of trait evolution in extant taxa, but researchers may avoid using fossils alongside extant species if only few are known, or if the designation of the trait of interest is uncertain. Here, I investigate the impacts of fossils and incorrectly coded fossils in the ancestral state reconstruction of discrete morphological characters under a likelihood model. Under simulated phylogenies and data, likelihood-based models are generally accurate when estimating ancestral node values. Analyses with combined fossil and extant data always outperform analyses with extant species alone, even when around one quarter of the fossil information is incorrect. These results are especially pronounced when model assumptions are violated, such as when there is a trend away from the root value. Fossil data are of particular importance when attempting to estimate the root node character state. Attempts should be made to include fossils in analysis of discrete traits under likelihood, even if there is uncertainty in the fossil trait data. © 2016 The Authors.

36 CFR 1290.4 - Types of materials included in scope of assassination record and additional records and information.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

..., Forests, and Public Property NATIONAL ARCHIVES AND RECORDS ADMINISTRATION JFK ASSASSINATION RECORDS... COLLECTION ACT OF 1992 (JFK ACT) § 1290.4 Types of materials included in scope of assassination record and... information includes, for purposes of interpreting and implementing the JFK Act: (a) Papers, maps, and other...

36 CFR 1290.4 - Types of materials included in scope of assassination record and additional records and information.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

..., Forests, and Public Property NATIONAL ARCHIVES AND RECORDS ADMINISTRATION JFK ASSASSINATION RECORDS... COLLECTION ACT OF 1992 (JFK ACT) § 1290.4 Types of materials included in scope of assassination record and... information includes, for purposes of interpreting and implementing the JFK Act: (a) Papers, maps, and other...

36 CFR 1290.4 - Types of materials included in scope of assassination record and additional records and information.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

..., Forests, and Public Property NATIONAL ARCHIVES AND RECORDS ADMINISTRATION JFK ASSASSINATION RECORDS... COLLECTION ACT OF 1992 (JFK ACT) § 1290.4 Types of materials included in scope of assassination record and... information includes, for purposes of interpreting and implementing the JFK Act: (a) Papers, maps, and other...

36 CFR 1290.4 - Types of materials included in scope of assassination record and additional records and information.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

..., Forests, and Public Property NATIONAL ARCHIVES AND RECORDS ADMINISTRATION JFK ASSASSINATION RECORDS... COLLECTION ACT OF 1992 (JFK ACT) § 1290.4 Types of materials included in scope of assassination record and... information includes, for purposes of interpreting and implementing the JFK Act: (a) Papers, maps, and other...

Metabolic effect of alkaline additives and guanosine/gluconate in storage solutions for red blood cells.

PubMed

D'Alessandro, Angelo; Reisz, Julie A; Culp-Hill, Rachel; Korsten, Herbert; van Bruggen, Robin; de Korte, Dirk

2018-04-06

Over a century of advancements in the field of additive solutions for red blood cell (RBC) storage has made transfusion therapy a safe and effective practice for millions of recipients worldwide. Still, storage in the blood bank results in the progressive accumulation of metabolic alterations, a phenomenon that is mitigated by storage in novel storage additives, such as alkaline additive solutions. While novel alkaline additive formulations have been proposed, no metabolomics characterization has been performed to date. We performed UHPLC-MS metabolomics analyses of red blood cells stored in SAGM (standard additive in Europe), (PAGGSM), or alkaline additives SOLX, E-SOL 5 and PAG3M for either 1, 21, 35 (end of shelf-life in the Netherlands), or 56 days. Alkaline additives (especially PAG3M) better preserved 2,3-diphosphoglycerate and adenosine triphosphate (ATP). Deaminated purines such as hypoxanthine were predictive of hemolysis and morphological alterations. Guanosine supplementation in PAGGSM and PAG3M fueled ATP generation by feeding into the nonoxidative pentose phosphate pathway via phosphoribolysis. Decreased urate to hypoxanthine ratios were observed in alkaline additives, suggestive of decreased generation of urate and hydrogen peroxide. Despite the many benefits observed in purine and redox metabolism, alkaline additives did not prevent accumulation of free fatty acids and oxidized byproducts, opening a window for future alkaline formulations including (lipophilic) antioxidants. Alkalinization via different strategies (replacement of chloride anions with either high bicarbonate, high citrate/phosphate, or membrane impermeant gluconate) results in different metabolic outcomes, which are superior to current canonical additives in all cases. © 2018 AABB.

Evaluation of European Schizophrenia GWAS Loci in Asian Populations via Comprehensive Meta-Analyses.

PubMed

Xiao, Xiao; Luo, Xiong-Jian; Chang, Hong; Liu, Zichao; Li, Ming

2017-08-01

Schizophrenia is a severe and highly heritable neuropsychiatric disorder. Recent genetic analyses including genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have implicated multiple genome-wide significant variants for schizophrenia among European populations. However, many of these risk variants were not largely validated in other populations of different ancestry such as Asians. To validate whether these European GWAS significant loci are associated with schizophrenia in Asian populations, we conducted a systematic literature search and meta-analyses on 19 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in Asian populations by combining all available case-control and family-based samples, including up to 30,000 individuals. We employed classical fixed (or random) effects inverse variance weighted methods to calculate summary odds ratios (ORs) and 95 % confidence intervals (CIs). Among the 19 GWAS loci, we replicated the risk associations of nine markers (e.g., SNPs at VRK2, ITIH3/4, NDST3, NOTCH4) surpassing significance level (two-tailed P < 0.05), and three additional SNPs in MIR137 and ZNF804A also showed trend associations (one-tailed P < 0.05). These risk associations are in the same directions of allelic effects between Asian replication samples and initial European GWAS findings, and the successful replications of these GWAS loci in a different ethnic group provide stronger evidence for their clinical associations with schizophrenia. Further studies, focusing on the molecular mechanisms of these GWAS significant loci, will become increasingly important for understanding of the pathogenesis to schizophrenia.

Candidate gene association analyses for ketosis resistance in Holsteins.

PubMed

Kroezen, V; Schenkel, F S; Miglior, F; Baes, C F; Squires, E J

2018-06-01

High-yielding dairy cattle are susceptible to ketosis, a metabolic disease that negatively affects the health, fertility, and milk production of the cow. Interest in breeding for more robust dairy cattle with improved resistance to disease is global; however, genetic evaluations for ketosis would benefit from the additional information provided by genetic markers. Candidate genes that are proposed to have a biological role in the pathogenesis of ketosis were investigated in silico and a custom panel of 998 putative single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers was developed. The objective of this study was to test the associations of these new markers with deregressed estimated breeding values (EBV) for ketosis. A sample of 653 Canadian Holstein cows that had been previously genotyped with a medium-density SNP chip were regenotyped with the custom panel. The EBV for ketosis in first and later lactations were obtained for each animal and deregressed for use as pseudo-phenotypes for association analyses. Results of the mixed inheritance model for single SNP association analyses suggested 15 markers in 6 unique candidate genes were associated with the studied trait. Genes encoding proteins involved in metabolic processes, including the synthesis and degradation of fatty acids and ketone bodies, gluconeogenesis, lipid mobilization, and the citric acid cycle, were identified to contain SNP associated with ketosis resistance. This work confirmed the presence of previously described quantitative trait loci for dairy cattle, suggested novel markers for ketosis-resistance, and provided insight into the underlying biology of this disease. Copyright © 2018 American Dairy Science Association. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Analytical and numerical analyses of an unconfined aquifer test considering unsaturated zone characteristics

USGS Publications Warehouse

Moench, A.F.

2008-01-01

A 7-d, constant rate aquifer test conducted by University of Waterloo researchers at Canadian Forces Base Borden in Ontario, Canada, is useful for advancing understanding of fluid flow processes in response to pumping from an unconfined aquifer. Measured data include not only drawdown in the saturated zone but also volumetric soil moisture measured at various times and distances from the pumped well. Analytical analyses were conducted with the model published in 2001 by Moench and colleagues, which allows for gradual drainage but does not include unsaturated zone characteristics, and the model published in 2006 by Mathias and Butler, which assumes that moisture retention and relative hydraulic conductivity (RHC) in the unsaturated zone are exponential functions of pressure head. Parameters estimated with either model yield good matches between measured and simulated drawdowns in piezometers. Numerical analyses were conducted with two versions of VS2DT: one that uses traditional Brooks and Corey functional relations and one that uses a RHC function introduced in 2001 by Assouline that includes an additional parameter that accounts for soil structure and texture. The analytical model of Mathias and Butler and numerical model of VS2DT with the Assouline model both show that the RHC function must contain a fitting parameter that is different from that used in the moisture retention function. Results show the influence of field-scale heterogeneity and suggest that the RHC at the Borden site declines more rapidly with elevation above the top of the capillary fringe than would be expected if the parameters were to reflect local- or core-scale soil structure and texture.

Microwave power transmission system studies. Volume 2: Introduction, organization, environmental and spaceborne systems analyses

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Maynard, O. E.; Brown, W. C.; Edwards, A.; Haley, J. T.; Meltz, G.; Howell, J. M.; Nathan, A.

1975-01-01

Introduction, organization, analyses, conclusions, and recommendations for each of the spaceborne subsystems are presented. Environmental effects - propagation analyses are presented with appendices covering radio wave diffraction by random ionospheric irregularities, self-focusing plasma instabilities and ohmic heating of the D-region. Analyses of dc to rf conversion subsystems and system considerations for both the amplitron and the klystron are included with appendices for the klystron covering cavity circuit calculations, output power of the solenoid-focused klystron, thermal control system, and confined flow focusing of a relativistic beam. The photovoltaic power source characteristics are discussed as they apply to interfacing with the power distribution flow paths, magnetic field interaction, dc to rf converter protection, power distribution including estimates for the power budget, weights, and costs. Analyses for the transmitting antenna consider the aperture illumination and size, with associated efficiencies and ground power distributions. Analyses of subarray types and dimensions, attitude error, flatness, phase error, subarray layout, frequency tolerance, attenuation, waveguide dimensional tolerances, mechanical including thermal considerations are included. Implications associated with transportation, assembly and packaging, attitude control and alignment are discussed. The phase front control subsystem, including both ground based pilot signal driven adaptive and ground command approaches with their associated phase errors, are analyzed.

Publication Bias and Nonreporting Found in Majority of Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses in Anesthesiology Journals.

PubMed

Hedin, Riley J; Umberham, Blake A; Detweiler, Byron N; Kollmorgen, Lauren; Vassar, Matt

2016-10-01

Systematic reviews and meta-analyses are used by clinicians to derive treatment guidelines and make resource allocation decisions in anesthesiology. One cause for concern with such reviews is the possibility that results from unpublished trials are not represented in the review findings or data synthesis. This problem, known as publication bias, results when studies reporting statistically nonsignificant findings are left unpublished and, therefore, not included in meta-analyses when estimating a pooled treatment effect. In turn, publication bias may lead to skewed results with overestimated effect sizes. The primary objective of this study is to determine the extent to which evaluations for publication bias are conducted by systematic reviewers in highly ranked anesthesiology journals and which practices reviewers use to mitigate publication bias. The secondary objective of this study is to conduct publication bias analyses on the meta-analyses that did not perform these assessments and examine the adjusted pooled effect estimates after accounting for publication bias. This study considered meta-analyses and systematic reviews from 5 peer-reviewed anesthesia journals from 2007 through 2015. A PubMed search was conducted, and full-text systematic reviews that fit inclusion criteria were downloaded and coded independently by 2 authors. Coding was then validated, and disagreements were settled by consensus. In total, 207 systematic reviews were included for analysis. In addition, publication bias evaluation was performed for 25 systematic reviews that did not do so originally. We used Egger regression, Duval and Tweedie trim and fill, and funnel plots for these analyses. Fifty-five percent (n = 114) of the reviews discussed publication bias, and 43% (n = 89) of the reviews evaluated publication bias. Funnel plots and Egger regression were the most common methods for evaluating publication bias. Publication bias was reported in 34 reviews (16%). Thirty-six of the 45

High performance, durable polymers including poly(phenylene)

DOEpatents

Fujimoto, Cy; Pratt, Harry; Anderson, Travis Mark

2017-02-28

The present invention relates to functionalized polymers including a poly(phenylene) structure. In some embodiments, the polymers and copolymers of the invention include a highly localized concentration of acidic moieties, which facilitate proton transport and conduction through networks formed from these polymers. In addition, the polymers can include functional moieties, such as electron-withdrawing moieties, to protect the polymeric backbone, thereby extending its durability. Such enhanced proton transport and durability can be beneficial for any high performance platform that employs proton exchange polymeric membranes, such as in fuel cells or flow batteries.

Reporting completeness and transparency of meta-analyses of depression screening tool accuracy: A comparison of meta-analyses published before and after the PRISMA statement.

PubMed

Rice, Danielle B; Kloda, Lorie A; Shrier, Ian; Thombs, Brett D

2016-08-01

Meta-analyses that are conducted rigorously and reported completely and transparently can provide accurate evidence to inform the best possible healthcare decisions. Guideline makers have raised concerns about the utility of existing evidence on the diagnostic accuracy of depression screening tools. The objective of our study was to evaluate the transparency and completeness of reporting in meta-analyses of the diagnostic accuracy of depression screening tools using the PRISMA tool adapted for diagnostic test accuracy meta-analyses. We searched MEDLINE and PsycINFO from January 1, 2005 through March 13, 2016 for recent meta-analyses in any language on the diagnostic accuracy of depression screening tools. Two reviewers independently assessed the transparency in reporting using the PRISMA tool with appropriate adaptations made for studies of diagnostic test accuracy. We identified 21 eligible meta-analyses. Twelve of 21 meta-analyses complied with at least 50% of adapted PRISMA items. Of 30 adapted PRISMA items, 11 were fulfilled by ≥80% of included meta-analyses, 3 by 50-79% of meta-analyses, 7 by 25-45% of meta-analyses, and 9 by <25%. On average, post-PRISMA meta-analyses complied with 17 of 30 items compared to 13 of 30 items pre-PRISMA. Deficiencies in the transparency of reporting in meta-analyses of the diagnostic test accuracy of depression screening tools of meta-analyses were identified. Authors, reviewers, and editors should adhere to the PRISMA statement to improve the reporting of meta-analyses of the diagnostic accuracy of depression screening tools. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The effect of alum addition on microbial communities in poultry litter.

PubMed

Rothrock, M J; Cook, K L; Warren, J G; Sistani, K

2008-08-01

Alum [Al(2)(SO(4))(3).14H(2)O] is a common poultry litter amendment used to decrease water-soluble phosphorus or reduce ammonia volatilization, or both. Although the physiochemical effects of alum addition have been well researched, little attention has been given to the poultry litter microbial communities. The goal of this study was to use molecular biological methods [denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE), community cloning, and quantitative real-time PCR] to characterize general, group-specific and pathogenic microbial communities in alum (10% wt/wt) and non-alum-treated litter. According to quantitative real-time PCR analyses, alum addition to the poultry litter resulted in significant reductions in both Campylobacter jejuni and Escherichia coli concentrations by the end of the first month of the experiment (3 log and 2 log, respectively). The concentrations of Salmonella spp. were below detection (<5 x 10(3) cell.g(-1) of litter) for the entire experiment. The DGGE analyses revealed significant reductions in the Clostridium/Eubacterium and low %GC gram-positive groups in the alum-treated litters by the end of the first month, with no bands detectable for either group after 8 wk of incubation. Conversely, minimal effects of alum addition were observed in the Actinomycetes community. The most significant shift in the microbial community (based on DGGE analyses) occurred in the fungal population, with a large increase in diversity and abundance within 1 mo of alum addition (1 dominant band on d 0 to 9 dominant bands at 4 wk). Specifically, the incidence of Aspergillus spp. increased from 0 to 50% of the sequences in fungal clone libraries (n = 80) over the course of the experiment. This suggests that the addition of alum to poultry litter potentially shifts the microbial populations from bacterially dominated to dominated by fungi. The ramifications of this shift in dominance are still unknown, and future work will be aimed at characterizing these fungi

Applying isozyme analyses in tree-breeding programs

Treesearch

W. T. Adams

1981-01-01

Four examples illustrate the potential for practical use of isozyme analyses in applied breeding programs. These include identifying parent trees and clones, seed sources, and parentage of controlled crosses, and evaluating the effectiveness of different procedures involving open-pollination to produce seed of specific crosses. The improved ability to assess the true...

Consumer Brand Choice: Individual and Group Analyses of Demand Elasticity

PubMed Central

Oliveira-Castro, Jorge M; Foxall, Gordon R; Schrezenmaier, Teresa C

2006-01-01

Following the behavior-analytic tradition of analyzing individual behavior, the present research investigated demand elasticity of individual consumers purchasing supermarket products, and compared individual and group analyses of elasticity. Panel data from 80 UK consumers purchasing 9 product categories (i.e., baked beans, biscuits, breakfast cereals, butter, cheese, fruit juice, instant coffee, margarine and tea) during a 16-week period were used. Elasticity coefficients were calculated for individual consumers with data from all or only 1 product category (intra-consumer elasticities), and for each product category using all data points from all consumers (overall product elasticity) or 1 average data point per consumer (interconsumer elasticity). In addition to this, split-sample elasticity coefficients were obtained for each individual with data from all product categories purchased during weeks 1 to 8 and 9 to 16. The results suggest that: 1) demand elasticity coefficients calculated for individual consumers purchasing supermarket food products are compatible with predictions from economic theory and behavioral economics; 2) overall product elasticities, typically employed in marketing and econometric research, include effects of interconsumer and intraconsumer elasticities; 3) when comparing demand elasticities of different product categories, group and individual analyses yield similar trends; and 4) individual differences in demand elasticity are relatively consistent across time, but do not seem to be consistent across products. These results demonstrate the theoretical, methodological, and managerial relevance of investigating the behavior of individual consumers. PMID:16673823

Search for Organic Matter on Mars: Complementarity of In Situ Analyses and Laboratory Analyses of Martian Samples

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Brack, A.; Commeyras, A.; Derenne, S.; Despois, D.; Dhamelincourt, P.; Dobrijevic, M.; Engrand, C.; Geffard, M.; Grenier-Loustalot, M. F.; Largeau, C.

2000-07-01

On Earth, the molecules which participated in the emergence of life about 4 Ga ago have been erased by plate tectonics, the permanent presence of running water, unshielded solar ultraviolet radiation and by oxygen produced by life. Since the environment of the early Mars about 3.5-4 Ga ago was probably very close to that of the early Earth, life might have emerged on Mars as well and might give us some insight into the prebiotic chemistry that took place on Earth about 4 Ga ago. Furthermore, there is a possibility that life still exists on Mars, protected from the harsh environment in some specific locales. In order to search for life on Mars, one should look for potential biogenic markers such as organic matter and inorganic signatures (microfossils, biominerals, biogenic etching, isotopic fingerprints...) which have different degrees of resistance to the Martian environment. As biomarkers could be organic or inorganic in nature, complete organic and mineral analyses should therefore be conducted in parallel on the same sets of samples, going from the least destructive to the most destructive technique of micro-analysis. Furthermore, in situ analyses should be complemented by high precision and high sensitivity laboratory measurements of returned Martian samples. Due to the very oxidized Martian environment, organic molecules should be searched for in protected sites, either surface boulders or near sub-surface, in layers deep enough for avoiding the oxidizing effect of the atmosphere. Molecules that should be looked for include low and high molecular weight organics (like alkanoic acids, peroxiacids, PAHs and amino acids, respectively), and macromolecular com-pounds like kerogens or kerogen-like materials. Previous in situ analyses were performed using pyrolysis systems which allow to detect organic compounds but do not always permit the identification of individual molecules. New possible analytical solutions could include gas chromatography-based techniques

Sensitivity of Assimilated Tropical Tropospheric Ozone to the Meteorological Analyses

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hayashi, Hiroo; Stajner, Ivanka; Pawson, Steven; Thompson, Anne M.

2002-01-01

Tropical tropospheric ozone fields from two different experiments performed with an off-line ozone assimilation system developed in NASA's Data Assimilation Office (DAO) are examined. Assimilated ozone fields from the two experiments are compared with the collocated ozone profiles from the Southern Hemispheric Additional Ozonesondes (SHADOZ) network. Results are presented for 1998. The ozone assimilation system includes a chemistry-transport model, which uses analyzed winds from the Goddard Earth Observing System (GEOS) Data Assimilation System (DAS). The two experiments use wind fields from different versions of GEOS DAS: an operational version of the GEOS-2 system and a prototype of the GEOS-4 system. While both versions of the DAS utilize the Physical-space Statistical Analysis System and use comparable observations, they use entirely different general circulation models and data insertion techniques. The shape of the annual-mean vertical profile of the assimilated ozone fields is sensitive to the meteorological analyses, with the GEOS-4-based ozone being closest to the observations. This indicates that the resolved transport in GEOS-4 is more realistic than in GEOS-2. Remaining uncertainties include quantification of the representation of sub-grid-scale processes in the transport calculations, which plays an important role in the locations and seasons where convection dominates the transport.

Prepotent response inhibition and interference control in autism spectrum disorders: two meta-analyses.

PubMed

Geurts, Hilde M; van den Bergh, Sanne F W M; Ruzzano, Laura

2014-08-01

There is a substantial amount of data providing evidence for, but also against the hypothesis that individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) encounter inhibitory control deficits. ASD is often associated with interference control deficits rather than prepotent response inhibition. Moreover, the developmental trajectory for these inhibitory control processes is hypothesized to differ in ASD as compared to typical development. In efforts to gain a more comprehensive perspective of inhibition in ASD, separate quantitative analysis for prepotent response inhibition studies and interference control studies were conducted. Together, these two meta-analyses included 41 studies with a combined sample size of 1,091 people with ASD (M age 14.8 years), and 1,306 typically developing (TD) controls (M age 13.8 years).The meta-analyses indicated that individuals with ASD show increased difficulties in prepotent response inhibition (effect size 0.55) and in interference control (effect size 0.31). In addition, age was a relevant moderator for prepotent response inhibition but not for interference control. Exploratory analyses revealed that when IQ was taken into account, heterogeneity considerably decreased among interference control studies but not among prepotent response inhibition. In contrast to the general belief, both prepotent response inhibition and interference control problems were observed in individuals with ASD. However, a large variation between studies was also found. Therefore, there remain factors beyond inhibition type, age, or IQ that significantly influence inhibitory control performance among individuals with ASD. © 2014 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

A Systematic Review of Health Economic Analyses of Housing Improvement Interventions and Insecticide-Treated Bednets in the Home

PubMed Central

Pega, Frank; Wilson, Nick

2016-01-01

Background Housing improvements have considerable potential for improving health. So does the provision of insecticide-treated bednets for malaria prevention. Therefore we aimed to conduct updated systematic reviews of health economic analyses in both these intervention domains. Methods and findings The search strategy included economic analyses of housing improvement interventions and use of insecticide-treated bednets for community-dwelling, healthy populations (published between 1 January 2000 and 15 April 2014). We searched the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, MEDLINE, PubMed, EMBASE, and three health economics databases. Thirty-five economic analyses of seven types of intervention fulfilled the inclusion criteria. Most included studies adopted a health sector perspective and were cost-effectiveness analyses using decision analytic modeling or conducted alongside trials. The overall quality of the studies was generally likely to be adequate for informing policy-making (albeit with limitations in some areas). There was fairly consistent evidence for the cost-effectiveness/favorable cost-benefit of removing indoor lead to prevent lead poisoning and sequelae, and retrofitting insulation to prevent lung disease. But the value of assessing and improving home safety and providing smoke alarms to prevent injuries was more mixed and the economic evidence was inconclusive or insufficient for: home ventilation to prevent lung disease, installing heaters to prevent lung disease and regulating tap water temperatures to prevent scalding. Few studies (n = 4) considered health equity. The 12 studies of providing insecticide-treated bednets or hammocks to prevent malaria found these interventions to be moderately to highly cost-effective. Conclusions This systematic review provides updated evidence that several housing improvement interventions (such as removing indoor lead and retrofitting insulation) and also the provision of insecticide-treated bednets are cost

Phosphorus-containing food additives and the accuracy of nutrient databases: implications for renal patients.

PubMed

Sullivan, Catherine M; Leon, Janeen B; Sehgal, Ashwini R

2007-09-01

Phosphorus-containing additives are increasingly being added to food products. We sought to determine the potential impact of these additives. We focused on chicken products as an example. We purchased a variety of chicken products, prepared them according to package directions, and performed laboratory analyses to determine their actual phosphorus content. We used ESHA Food Processor SQL Software (version 9.8, ESHA Research, Salem, OR) to determine the expected phosphorus content of each product. Of 38 chicken products, 35 (92%) had phosphorus-containing additives listed among their ingredients. For every category of chicken products containing additives, the actual phosphorus content was greater than the content expected from nutrient database. For example, actual phosphorus content exceeded expected phosphorus content by an average of 84 mg/100 g for breaded breast strips. There was also a great deal of variation within each category. For example, the difference between actual and expected phosphorus content ranged from 59-165 mg/100 g for breast patties. Two 100-g servings of additive-containing products contained, on average, 440 mg of phosphorus, or about half the total daily recommended intake for dialysis patients. Phosphorus-containing additives significantly increase the amount of phosphorus in chicken products. Available nutrient databases do not reflect this higher phosphorus content, and the variation between similar products makes it impossible for patients and dietitians to accurately estimate phosphorus content. We recommend that dialysis patients limit their intake of additive-containing products, and that the phosphorus content of food products be included on nutrition facts labels.

PHOSPHORUS CONTAINING FOOD ADDITIVES AND THE ACCURACY OF NUTRIENT DATABASES: IMPLICATIONS FOR RENAL PATIENTS

PubMed Central

Sullivan, Catherine M.; Leon, Janeen B.; Sehgal, Ashwini R.

2007-01-01

Objective Phosphorus containing additives are increasingly added to food products. We sought to determine the potential impact of these additives. We focused on chicken products as an example. Methods We purchased a variety of chicken products, prepared them according to package directions, and performed laboratory analyses to determine their actual phosphorus content. We used ESHA Food Processor SQL Software to determine the expected phosphorus content of each product. Results Of 38 chicken products, 35 (92%) had phosphorus containing additives listed among their ingredients. For every category of chicken products containing additives, the actual phosphorus content was greater than the content expected from nutrient database. For example, actual phosphorus content exceeded expected phosphorus content by an average of 84 mg/100g for breaded breast strips. There was also a great deal of variation within each category. For example, the difference between actual and expected phosphorus content ranged from 59 to 165 mg/100g for breast patties. Two 100 g servings of additive containing products contain an average of 440 mg of phosphorus, or about half the total daily recommended intake for dialysis patients. Conclusion Phosphorus containing additives significantly increase the amount of phosphorus in chicken products. Available nutrient databases do not reflect this higher phosphorus content, and the variation between similar products makes it impossible for patients and dietitians to accurately estimate phosphorus content. We recommend that dialysis patients limit their intake of additive containing products and that the phosphorus content of food products be included on nutrition facts labels. PMID:17720105

Genetic variants associated with subjective well-being, depressive symptoms and neuroticism identified through genome-wide analyses

PubMed Central

Derringer, Jaime; Gratten, Jacob; Lee, James J; Liu, Jimmy Z; de Vlaming, Ronald; Ahluwalia, Tarunveer S; Buchwald, Jadwiga; Cavadino, Alana; Frazier-Wood, Alexis C; Davies, Gail; Furlotte, Nicholas A; Garfield, Victoria; Geisel, Marie Henrike; Gonzalez, Juan R; Haitjema, Saskia; Karlsson, Robert; van der Laan, Sander W; Ladwig, Karl-Heinz; Lahti, Jari; van der Lee, Sven J; Miller, Michael B; Lind, Penelope A; Liu, Tian; Matteson, Lindsay; Mihailov, Evelin; Minica, Camelia C; Nolte, Ilja M; Mook-Kanamori, Dennis O; van der Most, Peter J; Oldmeadow, Christopher; Qian, Yong; Raitakari, Olli; Rawal, Rajesh; Realo, Anu; Rueedi, Rico; Schmidt, Börge; Smith, Albert V; Stergiakouli, Evie; Tanaka, Toshiko; Taylor, Kent; Thorleifsson, Gudmar; Wedenoja, Juho; Wellmann, Juergen; Westra, Harm-Jan; Willems, Sara M; Zhao, Wei; Amin, Najaf; Bakshi, Andrew; Bergmann, Sven; Bjornsdottir, Gyda; Boyle, Patricia A; Cherney, Samantha; Cox, Simon R; Davis, Oliver S P; Ding, Jun; Direk, Nese; Eibich, Peter; Emeny, Rebecca T; Fatemifar, Ghazaleh; Faul, Jessica D; Ferrucci, Luigi; Forstner, Andreas J; Gieger, Christian; Gupta, Richa; Harris, Tamara B; Harris, Juliette M; Holliday, Elizabeth G; Hottenga, Jouke-Jan; De Jager, Philip L; Kaakinen, Marika A; Kajantie, Eero; Karhunen, Ville; Kolcic, Ivana; Kumari, Meena; Launer, Lenore J; Franke, Lude; Li-Gao, Ruifang; Liewald, David C; Koini, Marisa; Loukola, Anu; Marques-Vidal, Pedro; Montgomery, Grant W; Mosing, Miriam A; Paternoster, Lavinia; Pattie, Alison; Petrovic, Katja E; Pulkki-Råback, Laura; Quaye, Lydia; Räikkönen, Katri; Rudan, Igor; Scott, Rodney J; Smith, Jennifer A; Sutin, Angelina R; Trzaskowski, Maciej; Vinkhuyzen, Anna E; Yu, Lei; Zabaneh, Delilah; Attia, John R; Bennett, David A; Berger, Klaus; Bertram, Lars; Boomsma, Dorret I; Snieder, Harold; Chang, Shun-Chiao; Cucca, Francesco; Deary, Ian J; van Duijn, Cornelia M; Eriksson, Johan G; Bültmann, Ute; de Geus, Eco J C; Groenen, Patrick J F; Gudnason, Vilmundur; Hansen, Torben; Hartman, Catharine A; Haworth, Claire M A; Hayward, Caroline; Heath, Andrew C; Hinds, David A; Hyppönen, Elina; Iacono, William G; Järvelin, Marjo-Riitta; Jöckel, Karl-Heinz; Kaprio, Jaakko; Kardia, Sharon L R; Keltikangas-Järvinen, Liisa; Kraft, Peter; Kubzansky, Laura D; Lehtimäki, Terho; Magnusson, Patrik K E; Martin, Nicholas G; McGue, Matt; Metspalu, Andres; Mills, Melinda; de Mutsert, Renée; Oldehinkel, Albertine J; Pasterkamp, Gerard; Pedersen, Nancy L; Plomin, Robert; Polasek, Ozren; Power, Christine; Rich, Stephen S; Rosendaal, Frits R; den Ruijter, Hester M; Schlessinger, David; Schmidt, Helena; Svento, Rauli; Schmidt, Reinhold; Alizadeh, Behrooz Z; Sørensen, Thorkild I A; Spector, Tim D; Starr, John M; Stefansson, Kari; Steptoe, Andrew; Terracciano, Antonio; Thorsteinsdottir, Unnur; Thurik, A Roy; Timpson, Nicholas J; Tiemeier, Henning; Uitterlinden, André G; Vollenweider, Peter; Wagner, Gert G; Weir, David R; Yang, Jian; Conley, Dalton C; Smith, George Davey; Hofman, Albert; Johannesson, Magnus; Laibson, David I; Medland, Sarah E; Meyer, Michelle N; Pickrell, Joseph K; Esko, Tõnu; Krueger, Robert F; Beauchamp, Jonathan P; Koellinger, Philipp D; Benjamin, Daniel J; Bartels, Meike; Cesarini, David

2016-01-01

We conducted genome-wide association studies of three phenotypes: subjective well-being (N = 298,420), depressive symptoms (N = 161,460), and neuroticism (N = 170,910). We identified three variants associated with subjective well-being, two with depressive symptoms, and eleven with neuroticism, including two inversion polymorphisms. The two depressive symptoms loci replicate in an independent depression sample. Joint analyses that exploit the high genetic correlations between the phenotypes (|ρ^| ≈ 0.8) strengthen the overall credibility of the findings, and allow us to identify additional variants. Across our phenotypes, loci regulating expression in central nervous system and adrenal/pancreas tissues are strongly enriched for association. PMID:27089181

Effects of exercise on depressive symptoms in adults with arthritis and other rheumatic disease: a systematic review of meta-analyses

PubMed Central

2014-01-01

Background Depression is a major public health problem among adults with arthritis and other rheumatic disease. The purpose of this study was to conduct a systematic review of previous meta-analyses addressing the effects of exercise (aerobic, strength or both) on depressive symptoms in adults with osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, fibromyalgia and systemic lupus erythematous. Methods Previous meta-analyses of randomized controlled trials were included by searching nine electronic databases and cross-referencing. Methodological quality was assessed using the Assessment of Multiple Systematic Reviews (AMSTAR) Instrument. Random-effects models that included the standardized mean difference (SMD) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were reported. The alpha value for statistical significance was set at p ≤ 0.05. The U3 index, number needed to treat (NNT) and number of US people who could benefit were also calculated. Results Of the 95 citations initially identified, two aggregate data meta-analyses representing 6 and 19 effect sizes in as many as 870 fibromyalgia participants were included. Methodological quality was 91% and 82%, respectively. Exercise minus control group reductions in depressive symptoms were found for both meta-analyses (SMD, -0.61, 95% CI, -0.99 to -0.23, p = 0.002; SMD, -0.32, 95% CI, -0.53 to -0.12, p = 0.002). Percentile improvements (U3) were equivalent to 22.9 and 12.6. The number needed to treat was 6 and 9 with an estimated 0.83 and 0.56 million US people with fibromyalgia potentially benefitting. Conclusions Exercise improves depressive symptoms in adults with fibromyalgia. However, a need exists for additional meta-analytic work on this topic. PMID:24708605

Congenital Hypogonadotropic Hypogonadism during Childhood: Presentation and Genetic Analyses in 46 Boys

PubMed Central

Vizeneux, Audrey; Hilfiger, Aude; Bouligand, Jérôme; Pouillot, Monique; Brailly-Tabard, Sylvie; Bashamboo, Anu; McElreavey, Ken; Brauner, Raja

2013-01-01

Background The majority of the patients reported with mutations in isolated hypogonadotropic hypogonadism (HH) are adults. We analysed the presentation and the plasma inhibin B and anti-müllerian hormone (AMH) concentrations during childhood and adolescence, and compared them to the genetic results. Methods This was a retrospective, single-center study of 46 boys with HH. Results Fourteen (30.4%) had Kallmann syndrome (KS), 4 (8.7%) had CHARGE syndrome and 28 (60.9%) had HH without olfaction deficit nor olfactive bulb hypoplasia. Eighteen (39%) had an associated malformation or syndromes. At diagnosis, 22 (47.8%) boys were aged including all those including one CHARGE and 5 other HH), at the lower limit of the normal in 6 and decreased in 13 (48%) boys. The AMH concentrations were normal in 15 (6 KS including one CHARGE and 9 other HH) and decreased in 12 (44%) boys. In addition to the CHD7 gene mutations in 4 patients with CHARGE, mutations were found in 5/26 other boys analysed including one in KAL1 gene with STS, 2 in FGFR1 gene, one in PROKR2 gene and one in GnRHR gene. Conclusions The presence of micropenis in neonate, particularly if associated with cryptorchidism, is an indication to look for gonadotropin deficiency isolated or associated with other hypothalamic-pituitary deficiencies. Inhibin B and AMH concentrations are suggestive if low, but they may be normal. Despite the high frequency of the associated malformations and excluding the patients with CHARGE or ichtyosis, the 4 patients with mutations had no family history or malformation. This suggests that many other genes are involved. PMID:24204987

Multi-country health surveys: are the analyses misleading?

PubMed

Masood, Mohd; Reidpath, Daniel D

2014-05-01

The aim of this paper was to review the types of approaches currently utilized in the analysis of multi-country survey data, specifically focusing on design and modeling issues with a focus on analyses of significant multi-country surveys published in 2010. A systematic search strategy was used to identify the 10 multi-country surveys and the articles published from them in 2010. The surveys were selected to reflect diverse topics and foci; and provide an insight into analytic approaches across research themes. The search identified 159 articles appropriate for full text review and data extraction. The analyses adopted in the multi-country surveys can be broadly classified as: univariate/bivariate analyses, and multivariate/multivariable analyses. Multivariate/multivariable analyses may be further divided into design- and model-based analyses. Of the 159 articles reviewed, 129 articles used model-based analysis, 30 articles used design-based analyses. Similar patterns could be seen in all the individual surveys. While there is general agreement among survey statisticians that complex surveys are most appropriately analyzed using design-based analyses, most researchers continued to use the more common model-based approaches. Recent developments in design-based multi-level analysis may be one approach to include all the survey design characteristics. This is a relatively new area, however, and there remains statistical, as well as applied analytic research required. An important limitation of this study relates to the selection of the surveys used and the choice of year for the analysis, i.e., year 2010 only. There is, however, no strong reason to believe that analytic strategies have changed radically in the past few years, and 2010 provides a credible snapshot of current practice.

Application of Sigma Metrics and Performance Comparison Between Two Biochemistry Analyser and a Blood Gas Analyser for the Determination of Electrolytes.

PubMed

Ustundag-Budak, Yasemin; Huysal, Kagan

2017-02-01

Electrolytes have a narrow range of biological variation and small changes are clinically significant. It is important to select the best method for clinical decision making and patient monitoring in the emergency room. The sigma metrics model provides an objective method to evaluate the performance of a method. To calculate sigma metrics for electrolytes measured with one arterial blood gas analyser including two auto-analysers that use different technologies. To identify the best approach for electrolyte monitoring in an emergency setting and the context of routine emergency room workflow. The Coefficient of Variation (CV) was determined from Internal Quality Control (IQC). Data was measured from July 2015 to January 2016 for all three analysers. The records of KBUD external quality data (Association of Clinical Biochemists, Istanbul, Turkey) for both Mindray BS-2000M analyser (Mindray, Shenzhen, China) and Architect C16000 (Abbott Diagnostics, Abbott Park, IL) and MLE clinical laboratory evaluation program (Washington, DC, USA) for Radiometer ABL 700 (Radiometer Trading, Copenhagen, Denmark) during the study period were used to determine the bias. The calculated average sigma values for sodium (-1.1), potassium (3.3), and chloride (0.06) were with the Radiometer ABL700. All calculated sigma values were better than the auto-analysers. The sigma values obtained from all analysers suggest that running more controls and increasing the calibration frequency for electrolytes is necessary for quality assurance.

OdorMapComparer: an application for quantitative analyses and comparisons of fMRI brain odor maps.

PubMed

Liu, Nian; Xu, Fuqiang; Miller, Perry L; Shepherd, Gordon M

2007-01-01

Brain odor maps are reconstructed flat images that describe the spatial activity patterns in the glomerular layer of the olfactory bulbs in animals exposed to different odor stimuli. We have developed a software application, OdorMapComparer, to carry out quantitative analyses and comparisons of the fMRI odor maps. This application is an open-source window program that first loads two odor map images being compared. It allows image transformations including scaling, flipping, rotating, and warping so that the two images can be appropriately aligned to each other. It performs simple subtraction, addition, and average of signals in the two images. It also provides comparative statistics including the normalized correlation (NC) and spatial correlation coefficient. Experimental studies showed that the rodent fMRI odor maps for aliphatic aldehydes displayed spatial activity patterns that are similar in gross outlines but somewhat different in specific subregions. Analyses with OdorMapComparer indicate that the similarity between odor maps decreases with increasing difference in the length of carbon chains. For example, the map of butanal is more closely related to that of pentanal (with a NC = 0.617) than to that of octanal (NC = 0.082), which is consistent with animal behavioral studies. The study also indicates that fMRI odor maps are statistically odor-specific and repeatable across both the intra- and intersubject trials. OdorMapComparer thus provides a tool for quantitative, statistical analyses and comparisons of fMRI odor maps in a fashion that is integrated with the overall odor mapping techniques.

Characteristics and Methodological Quality of Meta-Analyses on Hypertension Treatments-A Cross-Sectional Study.

PubMed

Wu, Xin Yin; Du, Xin Jian; Ho, Robin S T; Lee, Clarence C Y; Yip, Benjamin H K; Wong, Martin C S; Wong, Samuel Y S; Chung, Vincent C H

2017-02-01

Methodological quality of meta-analyses on hypertension treatments can affect treatment decision-making. The authors conducted a cross-sectional study to investigate the methodological quality of meta-analyses on hypertension treatments. One hundred and fifty-eight meta-analyses were identified. Overall, methodological quality was unsatisfactory in the following aspects: comprehensive reporting of financial support (1.9%), provision of included and excluded lists of studies (22.8%), inclusion of grey literature (27.2%), and inclusion of protocols (32.9%). The 126 non-Cochrane meta-analyses had poor performance on almost all the methodological items. Non-Cochrane meta-analyses focused on nonpharmacologic treatments were more likely to consider scientific quality of included studies when making conclusions. The 32 Cochrane meta-analyses generally had good methodological quality except for comprehensive reporting of the sources of support. These results highlight the need for cautious interpretation of these meta-analyses, especially among physicians and policy makers when guidelines are formulated. Future meta-analyses should pay attention to improving these methodological aspects. ©2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Additive effects of word frequency and stimulus quality: the influence of trial history and data transformations.

PubMed

Balota, David A; Aschenbrenner, Andrew J; Yap, Melvin J

2013-09-01

A counterintuitive and theoretically important pattern of results in the visual word recognition literature is that both word frequency and stimulus quality produce large but additive effects in lexical decision performance. The additive nature of these effects has recently been called into question by Masson and Kliegl (in press), who used linear mixed effects modeling to provide evidence that the additive effects were actually being driven by previous trial history. Because Masson and Kliegl also included semantic priming as a factor in their study and recent evidence has shown that semantic priming can moderate the additivity of word frequency and stimulus quality (Scaltritti, Balota, & Peressotti, 2012), we reanalyzed data from 3 published studies to determine if previous trial history moderated the additive pattern when semantic priming was not also manipulated. The results indicated that previous trial history did not influence the joint influence of word frequency and stimulus quality. More important, and independent of Masson and Kliegl's conclusions, we also show how a common transformation used in linear mixed effects analyses to normalize the residuals can systematically alter the way in which two variables combine to influence performance. Specifically, using transformed, rather than raw reaction times, consistently produces more underadditive patterns. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2013 APA, all rights reserved.

Chemical Mixture Risk Assessment Additivity-Based Approaches

EPA Science Inventory

Powerpoint presentation includes additivity-based chemical mixture risk assessment methods. Basic concepts, theory and example calculations are included. Several slides discuss the use of "common adverse outcomes" in analyzing phthalate mixtures.

Chase the direct impact of rainfall into groundwater in Mt. Fuji from multiple analyses including microbial DNA

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kato, Kenji; Sugiyama, Ayumi; Nagaosa, Kazuyo; Tsujimura, Maki

2016-04-01

A huge amount of groundwater is stored in subsurface environment of Mt. Fuji, the largest volcanic mountain in Japan. Based on the concept of piston flow transport of groundwater an apparent residence time was estimated to ca. 30 years by 36Cl/Cl ratio (Tosaki et al., 2011). However, this number represents an averaged value of the residence time of groundwater which had been mixed before it flushes out. We chased signatures of direct impact of rainfall into groundwater to elucidate the routes of groundwater, employing three different tracers; stable isotopic analysis (delta 18O), chemical analysis (concentration of silica) and microbial DNA analysis. Though chemical analysis of groundwater shows an averaged value of the examined water which was blended by various water with different sources and routes in subsurface environment, microbial DNA analysis may suggest the place where they originated, which may give information of the source and transport routes of the water examined. Throughout the in situ observation of four rainfall events showed that stable oxygen isotopic ratio of spring water and shallow groundwater obtained from 726m a.s.l. where the average recharge height of rainfall was between 1500 and 1800 m became higher than the values before a torrential rainfall, and the concentration of silica decreased after this event when rainfall exceeded 300 mm in precipitation of an event. In addition, the density of Prokaryotes in spring water apparently increased. Those changes did not appear when rainfall did not exceed 100 mm per event. Thus, findings shown above indicated a direct impact of rainfall into shallow groundwater, which appeared within a few weeks of torrential rainfall in the studied geological setting. In addition, increase in the density of Archaea observed at deep groundwater after the torrential rainfall suggested an enlargement of the strength of piston flow transport through the penetration of rainfall into deep groundwater. This finding was

Topographic ERP analyses: a step-by-step tutorial review.

PubMed

Murray, Micah M; Brunet, Denis; Michel, Christoph M

2008-06-01

In this tutorial review, we detail both the rationale for as well as the implementation of a set of analyses of surface-recorded event-related potentials (ERPs) that uses the reference-free spatial (i.e. topographic) information available from high-density electrode montages to render statistical information concerning modulations in response strength, latency, and topography both between and within experimental conditions. In these and other ways these topographic analysis methods allow the experimenter to glean additional information and neurophysiologic interpretability beyond what is available from canonical waveform analyses. In this tutorial we present the example of somatosensory evoked potentials (SEPs) in response to stimulation of each hand to illustrate these points. For each step of these analyses, we provide the reader with both a conceptual and mathematical description of how the analysis is carried out, what it yields, and how to interpret its statistical outcome. We show that these topographic analysis methods are intuitive and easy-to-use approaches that can remove much of the guesswork often confronting ERP researchers and also assist in identifying the information contained within high-density ERP datasets.

Phylogenomic analyses data of the avian phylogenomics project.

PubMed

Jarvis, Erich D; Mirarab, Siavash; Aberer, Andre J; Li, Bo; Houde, Peter; Li, Cai; Ho, Simon Y W; Faircloth, Brant C; Nabholz, Benoit; Howard, Jason T; Suh, Alexander; Weber, Claudia C; da Fonseca, Rute R; Alfaro-Núñez, Alonzo; Narula, Nitish; Liu, Liang; Burt, Dave; Ellegren, Hans; Edwards, Scott V; Stamatakis, Alexandros; Mindell, David P; Cracraft, Joel; Braun, Edward L; Warnow, Tandy; Jun, Wang; Gilbert, M Thomas Pius; Zhang, Guojie

2015-01-01

Determining the evolutionary relationships among the major lineages of extant birds has been one of the biggest challenges in systematic biology. To address this challenge, we assembled or collected the genomes of 48 avian species spanning most orders of birds, including all Neognathae and two of the five Palaeognathae orders. We used these genomes to construct a genome-scale avian phylogenetic tree and perform comparative genomic analyses. Here we present the datasets associated with the phylogenomic analyses, which include sequence alignment files consisting of nucleotides, amino acids, indels, and transposable elements, as well as tree files containing gene trees and species trees. Inferring an accurate phylogeny required generating: 1) A well annotated data set across species based on genome synteny; 2) Alignments with unaligned or incorrectly overaligned sequences filtered out; and 3) Diverse data sets, including genes and their inferred trees, indels, and transposable elements. Our total evidence nucleotide tree (TENT) data set (consisting of exons, introns, and UCEs) gave what we consider our most reliable species tree when using the concatenation-based ExaML algorithm or when using statistical binning with the coalescence-based MP-EST algorithm (which we refer to as MP-EST*). Other data sets, such as the coding sequence of some exons, revealed other properties of genome evolution, namely convergence. The Avian Phylogenomics Project is the largest vertebrate phylogenomics project to date that we are aware of. The sequence, alignment, and tree data are expected to accelerate analyses in phylogenomics and other related areas.

Cross-species infection of hepatitis E virus in a zoo-like location, including birds

PubMed Central

ZHANG, W.; SHEN, Q.; MOU, J.; YANG, Z. B.; YUAN, C. L.; CUI, L.; ZHU, J. G.; HUA, X. G.; XU, C. M.; HU, J.

2008-01-01

SUMMARY Hepatitis E virus (HEV) is a zoonotic pathogen of which several species of animals are considered to be reservoirs. Thirty-eight faecal samples, obtained from 22 species of animals including birds in a wildlife first-aid centre in Eastern China, were tested for HEV RNA. Our survey revealed that in total 28·9% (95% confidence interval 14·5–43·4) of the faecal samples from various mammals and birds were HEV RNA positive. Sequence and phylogenetic analyses of the 11 isolates demonstrated that all sequences clustered in genotype 4 with 96–100% identity to each other. In addition, serum samples from seven animal handlers have shown that five (71·4%) were seropositive. The findings imply that cross-species infection of HEV had probably occurred in this zoo-like location, and moreover, birds can be infected naturally with mammalian HEV. PMID:17961279

Nanoparticle Addition to Enhance the Mechanical Response of Magnesium Alloys Including Nanoscale Deformation Mechanisms

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Paramsothy, Muralidharan; Gupta, Manoj

In this study, various magnesium alloy nanocomposites derived from AZ (Aluminium-Zinc) or ZK (Zinc-Zirconium) series matrices and containing Al2O3, Si3N4, TiC or carbon nanotube (CNT) nanoparticle reinforcement (representative oxide, nitride, carbide or carbon nanoparticle reinforcement, respectively) were fabricated using solidification processing followed by hot extrusion. The main aim here was to simultaneously enhance tensile strength and ductility of each alloy using nanoparticles. The magnesium-oxygen strong affinity and magnesium-carbon weak affinity (comparison of extremes in affinity) are both well known in the context of magnesium composite processing. However, an approach to possibly quantify this affinity in magnesium nanocomposite processing is not clear. In this study accordingly, Nanoscale Electro Negative Interface Density or NENID quantifies the nanoparticle-alloy matrix interfacial area per unit volume in the magnesium alloy nanocomposite taking into consideration the electronegativity of the nanoparticle reinforcement. The beneficial (as well as comparative) effect of the nanoparticles on each alloy is discussed in this article. Regarding the mechanical performance of the nanocomposites, it is important to understand the experimentally observed nanoparticle-matrix interactions during plastic deformation (nanoscale deformation mechanisms). Little is known in this area based on direct observations for metal matrix nanocomposites. Here, relevant multiple nanoscale phenomena includes the emanation of high strain zones (HSZs) from nanoparticle surfaces.

Understanding differences in results from literature-based and individual patient meta-analyses: an example from meta-analyses of observational data.

PubMed

Poppe, Katrina K; Doughty, Robert N; Yu, Cheuk-Man; Quintana, Miguel; Møller, Jacob E; Klein, Allan L; Gamble, Greg D; Dini, Frank L; Whalley, Gillian A

2011-04-14

Meta-analyses are increasingly used to summarise observational data however a literature meta-analysis (LMA) may give different results to the corresponding individual patient meta-analysis (IPMA). This study compares the published results of equivalent LMAs and IPMAs, highlighting factors that can affect the results and therefore impact on clinical interpretation of meta-analyses. Univariate results from published meta-analyses of prospective observational outcome data were compared, as were the number of studies, patients and length of follow-up. The absolute difference in survival was calculated. The association between severe diastolic dysfunction (RFP) and death post acute myocardial infarction (AMI) and in chronic heart failure (HF) were used as clinical examples. The IPMA hazard ratio was lower that the LMA odds ratio: AMI hazard ratio 2.67 (95% confidence interval 2.23 to 3.20), odds ratio 4.10 (3.38 to 4.99); HF hazard ratio 2.42 (2.06 to 2.83), odds ratio 4.36 (3.60 to 5.04). The IPMAs contained most of the studies from the LMAs as well as additional unpublished data, and a longer length of follow-up was available in the IPMAs (AMI 3.7 vs 2.6 yr, HF 4.0 vs 1.5 yr). Restricting analysis to the same studies in both the LMA and IPMA resulted in a similar difference in effect sizes between methods to those found in the published analyses. The result of a meta-analysis is affected by whether study level or individual patient data have been used, and the variant of analysis that is required. Awareness and consideration of these factors is important for clinical interpretation of meta-analyses. Copyright © 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Towards interoperable and reproducible QSAR analyses: Exchange of datasets.

PubMed

Spjuth, Ola; Willighagen, Egon L; Guha, Rajarshi; Eklund, Martin; Wikberg, Jarl Es

2010-06-30

QSAR is a widely used method to relate chemical structures to responses or properties based on experimental observations. Much effort has been made to evaluate and validate the statistical modeling in QSAR, but these analyses treat the dataset as fixed. An overlooked but highly important issue is the validation of the setup of the dataset, which comprises addition of chemical structures as well as selection of descriptors and software implementations prior to calculations. This process is hampered by the lack of standards and exchange formats in the field, making it virtually impossible to reproduce and validate analyses and drastically constrain collaborations and re-use of data. We present a step towards standardizing QSAR analyses by defining interoperable and reproducible QSAR datasets, consisting of an open XML format (QSAR-ML) which builds on an open and extensible descriptor ontology. The ontology provides an extensible way of uniquely defining descriptors for use in QSAR experiments, and the exchange format supports multiple versioned implementations of these descriptors. Hence, a dataset described by QSAR-ML makes its setup completely reproducible. We also provide a reference implementation as a set of plugins for Bioclipse which simplifies setup of QSAR datasets, and allows for exporting in QSAR-ML as well as old-fashioned CSV formats. The implementation facilitates addition of new descriptor implementations from locally installed software and remote Web services; the latter is demonstrated with REST and XMPP Web services. Standardized QSAR datasets open up new ways to store, query, and exchange data for subsequent analyses. QSAR-ML supports completely reproducible creation of datasets, solving the problems of defining which software components were used and their versions, and the descriptor ontology eliminates confusions regarding descriptors by defining them crisply. This makes is easy to join, extend, combine datasets and hence work collectively, but

Towards interoperable and reproducible QSAR analyses: Exchange of datasets

PubMed Central

2010-01-01

Background QSAR is a widely used method to relate chemical structures to responses or properties based on experimental observations. Much effort has been made to evaluate and validate the statistical modeling in QSAR, but these analyses treat the dataset as fixed. An overlooked but highly important issue is the validation of the setup of the dataset, which comprises addition of chemical structures as well as selection of descriptors and software implementations prior to calculations. This process is hampered by the lack of standards and exchange formats in the field, making it virtually impossible to reproduce and validate analyses and drastically constrain collaborations and re-use of data. Results We present a step towards standardizing QSAR analyses by defining interoperable and reproducible QSAR datasets, consisting of an open XML format (QSAR-ML) which builds on an open and extensible descriptor ontology. The ontology provides an extensible way of uniquely defining descriptors for use in QSAR experiments, and the exchange format supports multiple versioned implementations of these descriptors. Hence, a dataset described by QSAR-ML makes its setup completely reproducible. We also provide a reference implementation as a set of plugins for Bioclipse which simplifies setup of QSAR datasets, and allows for exporting in QSAR-ML as well as old-fashioned CSV formats. The implementation facilitates addition of new descriptor implementations from locally installed software and remote Web services; the latter is demonstrated with REST and XMPP Web services. Conclusions Standardized QSAR datasets open up new ways to store, query, and exchange data for subsequent analyses. QSAR-ML supports completely reproducible creation of datasets, solving the problems of defining which software components were used and their versions, and the descriptor ontology eliminates confusions regarding descriptors by defining them crisply. This makes is easy to join, extend, combine datasets

Statistical Analyses of Raw Material Data for MTM45-1/CF7442A-36% RW: CMH Cure Cycle

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Coroneos, Rula; Pai, Shantaram, S.; Murthy, Pappu

2013-01-01

This report describes statistical characterization of physical properties of the composite material system MTM45-1/CF7442A, which has been tested and is currently being considered for use on spacecraft structures. This composite system is made of 6K plain weave graphite fibers in a highly toughened resin system. This report summarizes the distribution types and statistical details of the tests and the conditions for the experimental data generated. These distributions will be used in multivariate regression analyses to help determine material and design allowables for similar material systems and to establish a procedure for other material systems. Additionally, these distributions will be used in future probabilistic analyses of spacecraft structures. The specific properties that are characterized are the ultimate strength, modulus, and Poisson??s ratio by using a commercially available statistical package. Results are displayed using graphical and semigraphical methods and are included in the accompanying appendixes.

Extending Data Worth Analyses to Select Multiple Observations Targeting Multiple Forecasts.

PubMed

Vilhelmsen, Troels N; Ferré, Ty P A

2018-05-01

Hydrological models are often set up to provide specific forecasts of interest. Owing to the inherent uncertainty in data used to derive model structure and used to constrain parameter variations, the model forecasts will be uncertain. Additional data collection is often performed to minimize this forecast uncertainty. Given our common financial restrictions, it is critical that we identify data with maximal information content with respect to forecast of interest. In practice, this often devolves to qualitative decisions based on expert opinion. However, there is no assurance that this will lead to optimal design, especially for complex hydrogeological problems. Specifically, these complexities include considerations of multiple forecasts, shared information among potential observations, information content of existing data, and the assumptions and simplifications underlying model construction. In the present study, we extend previous data worth analyses to include: simultaneous selection of multiple new measurements and consideration of multiple forecasts of interest. We show how the suggested approach can be used to optimize data collection. This can be used in a manner that suggests specific measurement sets or that produces probability maps indicating areas likely to be informative for specific forecasts. Moreover, we provide examples documenting that sequential measurement election approaches often lead to suboptimal designs and that estimates of data covariance should be included when selecting future measurement sets. © 2017, National Ground Water Association.

Effect of sodium azide addition and aging storage on casein micelle size

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sinaga, H.; Deeth, H.; Bhandari, B.

2018-02-01

Casein micelles affected most of milk properties, therefore the use sodium azide as milk preservation is not expected to alter milk properties during storage, including the casein micelle size. The aim of this study was to analyse casein micelle size after the addition of sodium azide during storage. The experiment was performed as a complete block randomised design with three replications. The addition of 0.02-0.10% Na-azide do not lead to any noticeable differences in average casein size at the same day and show similar trend after 14 day-storage. At concentration of 0.02% sodium azide (Na-azide), the size of pasteurised milk did not change up to 12 days, while the size of raw skim milk slightly increased by ageing time at day 5. The treated concentration did not affect the size distribution, except for milk with 0.02% Na-azide which had narrower distribution compared to other treated and control milk. The finding from this study suggests that the role of Na-azide in this experiments during storage at 4°C is only for preventing the microbial growth.

Low Reporting Quality of the Meta-Analyses in Diagnostic Pathology.

PubMed

Liu, Xulei; Kinzler, Michael; Yuan, Jiangfan; He, Guozhong; Zhang, Lanjing

2017-03-01

- Little is known regarding the reporting quality of meta-analyses in diagnostic pathology. - To compare reporting quality of meta-analyses in diagnostic pathology and medicine and to examine factors associated with reporting quality of diagnostic pathology meta-analyses. - Meta-analyses were identified in 12 major diagnostic pathology journals without specifying years and 4 major medicine journals in 2006 and 2011 using PubMed. Reporting quality of meta-analyses was evaluated using the 27-item checklist of Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) statement published in 2009. A higher PRISMA score indicates higher reporting quality. - Forty-one diagnostic pathology meta-analyses and 118 medicine meta-analyses were included. Overall, reporting quality of meta-analyses in diagnostic pathology was lower than that in medicine (median [interquartile range] = 22 [15, 25] versus 27 [23, 28], P < .001). Compared with medicine meta-analyses, diagnostic pathology meta-analyses less likely reported 23 of the 27 items (85.2%) on the PRISMA checklist, but more likely reported the data items. Higher reporting quality of diagnostic pathology meta-analyses was associated with recent publication years (later than 2009 versus 2009 or earlier, P = .002) and non-North American first authors (versus North American, P = .001), but not journal publisher's location (P = .11). Interestingly, reporting quality was not associated with adjusted citation ratio for meta-analyses in either diagnostic pathology or medicine (P = .40 and P = .09, respectively). - Meta-analyses in diagnostic pathology had lower reporting quality than those in medicine. Reporting quality of diagnostic pathology meta-analyses is linked to publication year and first author's location, but not to journal publisher's location or article's adjusted citation ratios. More research and education on meta-analysis methodology may improve the reporting quality of diagnostic pathology meta-analyses.

Value and usability of unpublished data sources for systematic reviews and network meta-analyses.

PubMed

Halfpenny, Nicholas James Anthony; Quigley, Joan Mary; Thompson, Juliette Catherine; Scott, David Alexander

2016-12-01

Peer-reviewed publications and conference proceedings are the mainstay of data sources for systematic reviews and network meta-analyses (NMA), but access to informative unpublished data is now becoming commonplace. To explore the usefulness of three types of 'grey' literature-clinical trials registries, clinical study reports and data from regulatory authorities-we conducted four case studies. The reporting of outcome data in peer-reviewed publications, the clinical trials registries and the clinical study reports for two clinical trials-one in melanoma, one in juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA)-was examined. In addition, we assessed the value of including unpublished data from the European Medicines Agency (EMA) and US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in evidence syntheses of hepatitis C virus (HCV) and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), respectively. For the clinical trials in melanoma and JIA, we identified outcome parameters on ClinicalTrials.gov additional to those reported in the peer-reviewed publications: subgroup data and additional efficacy end points/extended follow-up, respectively. The clinical study report also provided results for several subgroups unavailable elsewhere. For HCV and COPD, additional outcome data were obtained from the EMA European Public Assessment Report (EPAR) and the FDA, respectively, including data on subgroups and mortality. We conclude that data from these grey literature sources have the potential to influence results of systematic reviews and NMAs, and may thus have implications for healthcare decisions. However, it is important to consider carefully the availability, reliability and consequent usability of these data sources in systematic reviews and NMAs. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://www.bmj.com/company/products-services/rights-and-licensing/.

78 FR 71468 - Rules Relating to Additional Medicare Tax

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-11-29

... Rules Relating to Additional Medicare Tax AGENCY: Internal Revenue Service (IRS), Treasury. ACTION... Insurance Tax on income above threshold amounts (``Additional Medicare Tax''), as added by the Affordable... to the implementation of Additional Medicare Tax, including the requirement to withhold Additional...

A systematic meta-review of evaluations of youth violence prevention programs: Common and divergent findings from 25 years of meta-analyses and systematic reviews☆

PubMed Central

Matjasko, Jennifer L.; Vivolo-Kantor, Alana M.; Massetti, Greta M.; Holland, Kristin M.; Holt, Melissa K.; Cruz, Jason Dela

2018-01-01

Violence among youth is a pervasive public health problem. In order to make progress in reducing the burden of injury and mortality that result from youth violence, it is imperative to identify evidence-based programs and strategies that have a significant impact on violence. There have been many rigorous evaluations of youth violence prevention programs. However, the literature is large, and it is difficult to draw conclusions about what works across evaluations from different disciplines, contexts, and types of programs. The current study reviews the meta-analyses and systematic reviews published prior to 2009 that synthesize evaluations of youth violence prevention programs. This meta-review reports the findings from 37 meta-analyses and 15 systematic reviews; the included reviews were coded on measures of the social ecology, prevention approach, program type, and study design. A majority of the meta-analyses and systematic reviews were found to demonstrate moderate program effects. Meta-analyses yielded marginally smaller effect sizes compared to systematic reviews, and those that included programs targeting family factors showed marginally larger effects than those that did not. In addition, there are a wide range of individual/family, program, and study moderators of program effect sizes. Implications of these findings and suggestions for future research are discussed. PMID:29503594

Health economic analyses in medical nutrition: a systematic literature review.

PubMed

Walzer, Stefan; Droeschel, Daniel; Nuijten, Mark; Chevrou-Séverac, Hélène

2014-01-01

Medical nutrition is a specific nutrition category either covering specific dietary needs and/or nutrient deficiency in patients or feeding patients unable to eat normally. Medical nutrition is regulated by a specific bill in Europe and in the US, with specific legislation and guidelines, and is provided to patients with special nutritional needs and indications for nutrition support. Therefore, medical nutrition products are delivered by medical prescription and supervised by health care professionals. Although these products have existed for more than 2 decades, health economic evidence of medical nutrition interventions is scarce. This research assesses the current published health economic evidence for medical nutrition by performing a systematic literature review related to health economic analysis of medical nutrition. A systematic literature search was done using standard literature databases, including PubMed, the Health Technology Assessment Database, and the National Health Service Economic Evaluation Database. Additionally, a free web-based search was conducted using the same search terms utilized in the systematic database search. The clinical background and basis of the analysis, health economic design, and results were extracted from the papers finally selected. The Drummond checklist was used to validate the quality of health economic modeling studies and the AMSTAR (A Measurement Tool to Assess Systematic Reviews) checklist was used for published systematic reviews. Fifty-three papers were identified and obtained via PubMed, or directly via journal webpages for further assessment. Thirty-two papers were finally included in a thorough data extraction procedure, including those identified by a "gray literature search" utilizing the Google search engine and cross-reference searches. Results regarding content of the studies showed that malnutrition was the underlying clinical condition in most cases (32%). In addition, gastrointestinal disorders (eg

Additive manufactured serialization

DOEpatents

Bobbitt, III, John T.

2017-04-18

Methods for forming an identifying mark in a structure are described. The method is used in conjunction with an additive manufacturing method and includes the alteration of a process parameter during the manufacturing process. The method can form in a unique identifying mark within or on the surface of a structure that is virtually impossible to be replicated. Methods can provide a high level of confidence that the identifying mark will remain unaltered on the formed structure.

Test-specific control conditions for functional analyses.

PubMed

Fahmie, Tara A; Iwata, Brian A; Querim, Angie C; Harper, Jill M

2013-01-01

Most functional analyses of problem behavior include a common condition (play or noncontingent reinforcement) as a control for both positive and negative reinforcement. However, test-specific conditions that control for each potential source of reinforcement may be beneficial occasionally. We compared responding during alone, ignore, play, and differential reinforcement of other behavior (DRO) control conditions for individuals whose problem behavior was maintained by positive or negative reinforcement. Results showed that all of the conditions were effective controls for problem behavior maintained by positive reinforcement; however, the DRO condition was consistently ineffective as a control for problem behavior maintained by negative reinforcement. Implications for the design of functional analyses and future research are discussed. © Society for the Experimental Analysis of Behavior.

Metal Additive Manufacturing: A Review of Mechanical Properties

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lewandowski, John J.; Seifi, Mohsen

2016-07-01

This article reviews published data on the mechanical properties of additively manufactured metallic materials. The additive manufacturing techniques utilized to generate samples covered in this review include powder bed fusion (e.g., EBM, SLM, DMLS) and directed energy deposition (e.g., LENS, EBF3). Although only a limited number of metallic alloy systems are currently available for additive manufacturing (e.g., Ti-6Al-4V, TiAl, stainless steel, Inconel 625/718, and Al-Si-10Mg), the bulk of the published mechanical properties information has been generated on Ti-6Al-4V. However, summary tables for published mechanical properties and/or key figures are included for each of the alloys listed above, grouped by the additive technique used to generate the data. Published values for mechanical properties obtained from hardness, tension/compression, fracture toughness, fatigue crack growth, and high cycle fatigue are included for as-built, heat-treated, and/or HIP conditions, when available. The effects of test orientation/build direction on properties, when available, are also provided, along with discussion of the potential source(s) (e.g., texture, microstructure changes, defects) of anisotropy in properties. Recommendations for additional work are also provided.

Meta-Analyses and Orthodontic Evidence-Based Clinical Practice in the 21st Century

PubMed Central

Papadopoulos, Moschos A.

2010-01-01

Introduction: Aim of this systematic review was to assess the orthodontic related issues which currently provide the best evidence as documented by meta-analyses, by critically evaluating and discussing the methodology used in these studies. Material and Methods: Several electronic databases were searched and handsearching was also performed in order to identify the corresponding meta-analyses investigating orthodontic related subjects. In total, 197 studies were retrieved initially. After applying specific inclusion and exclusion criteria, 27 articles were identified as meta-analyses treating orthodontic-related subjects. Results: Many of these 27 papers presented sufficient quality and followed appropriate meta-analytic approaches to quantitatively synthesize data and presented adequately supported evidence. However, the methodology used in some of them presented weaknesses, limitations or deficiencies. Consequently, the topics in orthodontics which currently provide the best evidence, include some issues related to Class II or Class III treatment, treatment of transverse problems, external apical root resorption, dental anomalies, such as congenital missing teeth and tooth transposition, frequency of severe occlusal problems, nickel hypersensitivity, obstructive sleep apnea syndrome, and computer-assisted learning in orthodontic education. Conclusions: Only a few orthodontic related issues have been so far investigated by means of MAs. In addition, for some of these issues investigated in the corresponding MAs no definite conclusions could be drawn, due to significant methodological deficiencies of these studies. According to this investigation, it can be concluded that at the begin of the 21st century there is evidence for only a few orthodontic related issues as documented by meta-analyses, and more well-conducted high quality research studies are needed to produce strong evidence in order to support evidence-based clinical practice in orthodontics. PMID

Paleostress Reconstruction from 3D seismic, Natural Fracture and Calcite Twin Analyses: Structural Insights into the Otway Basin, Australia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Burgin, Hugo; Amrouch, Khalid; Holford, Simon

2017-04-01

The Otway Basin, Australia, is of particular interest due to its significance as an Australian hydrocarbon producing province and a major global CO2 burial project. Structural data was collected in the form of natural fractures from wellbore image logs and outcrop in addition to calcite twin analyses, within formations from the mid cretaceous from both on and offshore. Evidence for four structural events within the study area have been identified including NE-SW and NW-SE orientated extension, in addition to a NW-SE compressive event. Natural fracture data also reveals a previously "un-detected" NE-SW compression within the Otway Basin. This study presents the first investigation of paleostress environments within the region from micro, meso and macro scale tectonic data in both onshore and offshore in addition to the first quantification of differential paleostresses. This work highlights the importance of a comprehensive understanding of four dimensional stress evolution within the sedimentary basins of Australia's southern margin.

Hair analyses: worthless for vitamins, limited for minerals.

PubMed

Hambidge, K M

1982-11-01

Despite many major and minor problems with interpretation of analytical data, chemical analyses of human hair have some potential value. Extensive research will be necessary to define this value, including correlation of hair concentrations of specific elements with those in other tissues and metabolic pools and definition of normal physiological concentration ranges. Many factors that may compromise the correct interpretation of analytical data require detailed evaluation for each specific element. Meanwhile, hair analyses are of some value in the comparison of different populations and, for example, in public health community surveys of environmental exposure to heavy metals. On an individual basis, their established usefulness is much more restricted and the limitations are especially notable for evaluation of mineral nutritional status. There is a wide gulf between the limited and mainly tentative scientific justification for their use on an individual basis and the current exploitation of multielement chemical analyses of human hair.

Comparison of first-line chemotherapy including escalated BEACOPP versus chemotherapy including ABVD for people with early unfavourable or advanced stage Hodgkin lymphoma.

PubMed

Skoetz, Nicole; Will, Andrea; Monsef, Ina; Brillant, Corinne; Engert, Andreas; von Tresckow, Bastian

2017-05-25

included all five trials with 3427 people in the meta-analyses: the HD9 and HD14 trials were co-ordinated in Germany, the HD2000 and GSM-HD trials were performed in Italy and the EORTC 20012 was conducted in Belgium. The overall risk of performance and detection bias was low for overall survival (OS), but was high for other outcomes, as therapy blinding was not feasible. The remaining 'Risk of bias' domains were low and unclear.All trials reported results for OS and progression-free survival (PFS). In contrast to the our first published review (2011) the addition of results from the EORTC 20012 BEACOPP escalated increases OS (3142 participants; HR 0.74 (95% confidence interval (CI) 0.57 to 0.97; high-quality evidence). This means that only 90 (70 to 117) patients will die after five years in the BEACOPP escalated arm compared to 120 in the ABVD arm. This survival advantage is also reflected in an increased PFS with BEACOPP escalated (3142 participants; HR 0.54 (95% CI 0.45 to 0.64); moderate-quality evidence), meaning that after five years only 144 (121 to 168) patients will experience a progress, relapse or death in the BEACOPP escalated arm compared to 250 in the ABVD arm.There is no evidence for a difference for treatment-related mortality (2700 participants, RR 2.15 (95% CI = 0.93 to 4.95), low-quality evidence).Although the occurrence of MDS or AML may increase with BEACOPP escalated (3332 participants, RR 3.90 (95% CI 1.36 to 11.21); low-quality evidence)), there is no evidence for a difference between both regimens for overall secondary malignancies (3332 participants, RR 1.00 (95% CI 0.68 to 1.48), low-quality evidence). However, the observation time of the studies included in the review is too short to be expected to demonstrate differences with respect to second solid tumours which would not be expected to show significance until around 15 years after treatment.We are very uncertain how many female patients will be infertile due to chemotherapy and which arm

Review of the risks and benefits of yellow fever vaccination including some new analyses.

PubMed

Monath, Thomas P

2012-04-01

The live, attenuated yellow fever (YF) 17D vaccine provides highly effective and durable immunity and is widely used for travelers to and residents of endemic areas of South America and Africa. Neurotropic and viscerotropic serious adverse events associated with these vaccines occur rarely, but YF 17D vaccine-associated viscerotropic disease (YEL-AVD) is notable for its lethality. There appear to be two distinct patterns of risk for YEL-AVD: the first in younger persons, particularly women, with defects in innate immunity, in whom the case-fatality rate is higher; and the second in elderly persons, particularly men with age-related immune senescence and a lower case-fatality rate. From 1990 to the present, the number of cases (n = 31) and deaths (n = 12) from YEL-AVD in travelers has exceeded the reports of YF (n = 6) acquired by natural infection, raising the question whether the risk of vaccination exceeds the benefit in travelers. To provide some guidance on this point, the rate of vaccine-related injury is compared with the rate of naturally acquired disease in a new analysis that estimates the immunologically susceptible denominator population in YF endemic and epidemic areas. For many years, the risk of vaccine-related illness and death was similar to the risk of illness and death from natural infection with YF in South America. Africa posed a substantially higher estimated risk of wild-type YF than vaccine-related injury. Multiple factors should be considered in making decisions about YF vaccination, including specific destination, season of the year, local evidence for YF transmission, likelihood of exposure to vector mosquitoes and individual risk factors for YEL-AVD, with the goal of increasing vaccine coverage for travel to high-risk areas and reducing unnecessary vaccination. Prospects for future, safer vaccines are also described.

Medical Isotope Production Analyses In KIPT Neutron Source Facility

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Talamo, Alberto; Gohar, Yousry

Medical isotope production analyses in Kharkov Institute of Physics and Technology (KIPT) neutron source facility were performed to include the details of the irradiation cassette and the self-shielding effect. An updated detailed model of the facility was used for the analyses. The facility consists of an accelerator-driven system (ADS), which has a subcritical assembly using low-enriched uranium fuel elements with a beryllium-graphite reflector. The beryllium assemblies of the reflector have the same outer geometry as the fuel elements, which permits loading the subcritical assembly with different number of fuel elements without impacting the reflector performance. The subcritical assembly is drivenmore » by an external neutron source generated from the interaction of 100-kW electron beam with a tungsten target. The facility construction was completed at the end of 2015, and it is planned to start the operation during the year of 2016. It is the first ADS in the world, which has a coolant system for removing the generated fission power. Argonne National Laboratory has developed the design concept and performed extensive design analyses for the facility including its utilization for the production of different radioactive medical isotopes. 99Mo is the parent isotope of 99mTc, which is the most commonly used medical radioactive isotope. Detailed analyses were performed to define the optimal sample irradiation location and the generated activity, for several radioactive medical isotopes, as a function of the irradiation time.« less

MSL SAM-like Analyses of Hawaiian Altered Basaltic Materials: Implications for Analyses by the Mars Science Laboratory

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

McAdam, A.; Eigenbrode, J. L.; Young, K. E.; Bleacher, J. E.; Knudson, C. A.; Rogers, D.; Glotch, T. D.; Sutter, B.; Mahaffy, P. R.; Navarro-Gonzalez, R.; Downs, R. T.

2015-12-01

Samples of basaltic materials were collected during several traverses of the Kau Desert on the leeward side of the Kilauea Volcano, Hawaii, conducted by the Remote, In Situ, and Synchrotron Studies for Science and Exploration (RIS4E) team, a node of the Solar System Exploration and Research Virtual Institute (SSERVI) program. Some of these samples had been exposed to circumneutral to slightly acidic alteration conditions from exposure to fog/rain, and acidic fog/rain, while others had been exposed to more acidic conditions due to proximity to fumaroles. The samples consisted of basalts with coatings, sands and soils, and ash, and were collected using organically clean protocols to enable investigation of organic chemistry and organic-mineral associations, in addition to mineralogy. The Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) rover has analyzed basaltic materials inferred to have been altered under conditions ranging from circumneutral to acidic, but several aspects of the Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) instrument suite results are still being investigated and analyses of relevant terrestrial analogs can play an important role in interpretation of the data. For example, all materials analyzed to date have a significant amorphous component. Comparisons of the mineralogy obtained with the MSL CheMin instrument and volatiles evolved during SAM analyses indicate that, by mass balance, some portion of the volatiles, such as SO2 and H2O, are likely associated with this component. Many of the RIS4E samples also have a significant amorphous component, and field x-ray diffraction (XRD) and x-ray fluorescence (XRF) data indicate differences in the chemistry of this material in samples exposed to different alteration conditions. Preliminary SAM-like analyses indicate that the amorphous materials in some of these samples evolve volatiles such as H2O and SO2 during heating. Here we will discuss these results, and others, obtained through SAM-like analyses of selected samples.

DATA AND ANALYSES

EPA Science Inventory

In order to promote transparency and clarity of the analyses performed in support of EPA's Supplemental Guidance for Assessing Susceptibility from Early-Life Exposure to Carcinogens, the data and the analyses are now available on this web site. The data is presented in two diffe...

Coexposure to phytoestrogens and bisphenol a mimics estrogenic effects in an additive manner.

PubMed

Katchy, Anne; Pinto, Caroline; Jonsson, Philip; Nguyen-Vu, Trang; Pandelova, Marchela; Riu, Anne; Schramm, Karl-Werner; Samarov, Daniel; Gustafsson, Jan-Åke; Bondesson, Maria; Williams, Cecilia

2014-03-01

Endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDC) are abundant in our environment. A number of EDCs, including bisphenol A (BPA) can bind to the estrogen receptors (ER), ERα and ERβ, and may contribute to estrogen-linked diseases such as breast cancer. Early exposure is of particular concern; many EDCs cross the placenta and infants have measurable levels of, eg, BPA. In addition, infants are frequently fed soy-based formula (SF) that contains phytoestrogens. Effects of combined exposure to xeno- and phytoestrogens are poorly studied. Here, we extensively compared to what extent BPA, genistein, and an extract of infant SF mimic estrogen-induced gene transcription and cell proliferation. We investigated ligand-specific effects on ER activation in HeLa-ERα and ERβ reporter cells; on proliferation, genome-wide gene regulation and non-ER-mediated effects in MCF7 breast cancer cells; and how coexposure influenced these effects. The biological relevance was explored using enrichment analyses of differentially regulated genes and clustering with clinical breast cancer profiles. We demonstrate that coexposure to BPA and genistein, or SF, results in increased functional and transcriptional estrogenic effects. Using statistical modeling, we determine that BPA and phytoestrogens act in an additive manner. The proliferative and transcriptional effects of the tested compounds mimic those of 17β-estradiol, and are abolished by cotreatment with an ER antagonist. Gene expression profiles induced by each compound clustered with poor prognosis breast cancer, indicating that exposure may adversely affect breast cancer prognosis. This study accentuates that coexposure to BPA and soy-based phytoestrogens results in additive estrogenic effects, and may contribute to estrogen-linked diseases, including breast cancer.

Coexposure to Phytoestrogens and Bisphenol A Mimics Estrogenic Effects in an Additive Manner

PubMed Central

Katchy, Anne; Pinto, Caroline; Williams, Cecilia

2014-01-01

Endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDC) are abundant in our environment. A number of EDCs, including bisphenol A (BPA) can bind to the estrogen receptors (ER), ERα and ERβ, and may contribute to estrogen-linked diseases such as breast cancer. Early exposure is of particular concern; many EDCs cross the placenta and infants have measurable levels of, eg, BPA. In addition, infants are frequently fed soy-based formula (SF) that contains phytoestrogens. Effects of combined exposure to xeno- and phytoestrogens are poorly studied. Here, we extensively compared to what extent BPA, genistein, and an extract of infant SF mimic estrogen-induced gene transcription and cell proliferation. We investigated ligand-specific effects on ER activation in HeLa-ERα and ERβ reporter cells; on proliferation, genome-wide gene regulation and non-ER–mediated effects in MCF7 breast cancer cells; and how coexposure influenced these effects. The biological relevance was explored using enrichment analyses of differentially regulated genes and clustering with clinical breast cancer profiles. We demonstrate that coexposure to BPA and genistein, or SF, results in increased functional and transcriptional estrogenic effects. Using statistical modeling, we determine that BPA and phytoestrogens act in an additive manner. The proliferative and transcriptional effects of the tested compounds mimic those of 17β-estradiol, and are abolished by cotreatment with an ER antagonist. Gene expression profiles induced by each compound clustered with poor prognosis breast cancer, indicating that exposure may adversely affect breast cancer prognosis. This study accentuates that coexposure to BPA and soy-based phytoestrogens results in additive estrogenic effects, and may contribute to estrogen-linked diseases, including breast cancer. PMID:24284790

Intraoperative adaptation and visualization of preoperative risk analyses for oncologic liver surgery

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hansen, Christian; Schlichting, Stefan; Zidowitz, Stephan; Köhn, Alexander; Hindennach, Milo; Kleemann, Markus; Peitgen, Heinz-Otto

2008-03-01

Tumor resections from the liver are complex surgical interventions. With recent planning software, risk analyses based on individual liver anatomy can be carried out preoperatively. However, additional tumors within the liver are frequently detected during oncological interventions using intraoperative ultrasound. These tumors are not visible in preoperative data and their existence may require changes to the resection strategy. We propose a novel method that allows an intraoperative risk analysis adaptation by merging newly detected tumors with a preoperative risk analysis. To determine the exact positions and sizes of these tumors we make use of a navigated ultrasound-system. A fast communication protocol enables our application to exchange crucial data with this navigation system during an intervention. A further motivation for our work is to improve the visual presentation of a moving ultrasound plane within a complex 3D planning model including vascular systems, tumors, and organ surfaces. In case the ultrasound plane is located inside the liver, occlusion of the ultrasound plane by the planning model is an inevitable problem for the applied visualization technique. Our system allows the surgeon to focus on the ultrasound image while perceiving context-relevant planning information. To improve orientation ability and distance perception, we include additional depth cues by applying new illustrative visualization algorithms. Preliminary evaluations confirm that in case of intraoperatively detected tumors a risk analysis adaptation is beneficial for precise liver surgery. Our new GPU-based visualization approach provides the surgeon with a simultaneous visualization of planning models and navigated 2D ultrasound data while minimizing occlusion problems.

LOX/GOX sensitivity of fluoroelastomers. [effect of formulation components and addition of fire retardants

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kirshen, N.; Mill, T.

1973-01-01

The effect of formulation components and the addition of fire retardants on the impact sensitivity of Viton B fluoroelastomer in liquid oxygen was studied with the objective of developing a procedure for reliably reducing this sensitivity. Component evaluation, carried out on more than 40 combinations of components and cure cycles, showed that almost all the standard formulation agents, including carbon, MgO, Diak-3, and PbO2, will sensitize the Viton stock either singly or in combinations, some combinations being much more sensitive than others. Cure and postcure treatments usually reduced the sensitivity of a given formulation, often dramatically, but no formulated Viton was as insensitive as the pure Viton B stock. Coating formulated Viton with a thin layer of pure Viton gave some indication of reduced sensitivity, but additional tests are needed. It is concluded that sensitivity in formulated Viton arises from a variety of sources, some physical and some chemical in origin. Elemental analyses for all the formulated Vitons are reported as are the results of a literature search on the subject of LOX impact sensitivity.

The utility of atmospheric analyses for the mitigation of artifacts in InSAR

USGS Publications Warehouse

Foster, James; Kealy, John; Cherubini, Tiziana; Businger, S.; Lu, Zhong; Murphy, Michael

2013-01-01

The numerical weather models (NWMs) developed by the meteorological community are able to provide accurate analyses of the current state of the atmosphere in addition to the predictions of the future state. To date, most attempts to apply the NWMs to estimate the refractivity of the atmosphere at the time of satellite synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data acquisitions have relied on predictive models. We test the hypothesis that performing a final assimilative routine, ingesting all available meteorological observations for the times of SAR acquisitions, and generating customized analyses of the atmosphere at those times will better mitigate atmospheric artifacts in differential interferograms. We find that, for our study area around Mount St. Helens (Amboy, Washington, USA), this approach is unable to model the refractive changes and provides no mean benefit for interferogram analysis. The performance is improved slightly by ingesting atmospheric delay estimates derived from the limited local GPS network; however, the addition of water vapor products from the GOES satellites reduces the quality of the corrections. We interpret our results to indicate that, even with this advanced approach, NWMs are not a reliable mitigation technique for regions such as Mount St. Helens with highly variable moisture fields and complex topography and atmospheric dynamics. It is possible, however, that the addition of more spatially dense meteorological data to constrain the analyses might significantly improve the performance of weather modeling of atmospheric artifacts in satellite radar interferograms.

Use of number needed to treat in cost-effectiveness analyses.

PubMed

Garg, Vishvas; Shen, Xian; Cheng, Yan; Nawarskas, James J; Raisch, Dennis W

2013-03-01

To review the use of number needed to treat (NNT) and/or number needed to harm (NNH) values to determine their relevance in helping clinicians evaluate cost-effectiveness analyses (CEAs). PubMed and EconLit were searched from 1966 to September 2012. Reviews, editorials, non-English-language articles, and articles that did not report NNT/NNH or cost-effectiveness ratios were excluded. CEA studies reporting cost per life-year gained, per quality-adjusted life-year (QALY), or other cost per effectiveness measure were included. Full texts of all included articles were reviewed for study information, including type of journal, impact factor of the journal, focus of study, data source, publication year, how NNT/NNH values were reported, and outcome measures. A total of 188 studies were initially identified, with 69 meeting our inclusion criteria. Most were published in clinician-practice-focused journals (78.3%) while 5.8% were in policy-focused journals, and 15.9% in health-economics-focused journals. The majority (72.4%) of the articles were published in high-impact journals (impact factor >3.0). Many articles focused on either disease treatment (40.5%) or disease prevention (40.5%). Forty-eight percent reported NNT as a part of the CEA ratio per event. Most (53.6%) articles used data from literature reviews, while 24.6% used data from randomized clinical trials, and 20.3% used data from observational studies. In addition, 10% of the studies implemented modeling to perform CEA. CEA studies sometimes include NNT ratios. Although it has several limitations, clinicians often use NNT for decision-making, so including NNT information alongside CEA findings may help clinicians better understand and apply CEA results. Further research is needed to assess how NNT/NNH might meaningfully be incorporated into CEA publications.

Alcohol Consumption and the Physical Availability of Take-Away Alcohol: Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses of the Days and Hours of Sale and Outlet Density.

PubMed

Sherk, Adam; Stockwell, Tim; Chikritzhs, Tanya; Andréasson, Sven; Angus, Colin; Gripenberg, Johanna; Holder, Harold; Holmes, John; Mäkelä, Pia; Mills, Megan; Norström, Thor; Ramstedt, Mats; Woods, Jonathan

2018-01-01

Systematic reviews and meta-analyses were completed studying the effect of changes in the physical availability of take-away alcohol on per capita alcohol consumption. Previous reviews examining this topic have not focused on off-premise outlets where take-away alcohol is sold and have not completed meta-analyses. Systematic reviews were conducted separately for policies affecting the temporal availability (days and hours of sale) and spatial availability (outlet density) of take-away alcohol. Studies were included up to December 2015. Quality criteria were used to select articles that studied the effect of changes in these policies on alcohol consumption with a focus on natural experiments. Random-effects meta-analyses were applied to produce the estimated effect of an additional day of sale on total and beverage-specific consumption. Separate systematic reviews identified seven studies regarding days and hours of sale and four studies regarding density. The majority of articles included in these systematic reviews, for days/hours of sale (7/7) and outlet density (3/4), concluded that restricting the physical availability of take-away alcohol reduces per capita alcohol consumption. Meta-analyses studying the effect of adding one additional day of sale found that this was associated with per capita consumption increases of 3.4% (95% CI [2.7, 4.1]) for total alcohol, 5.3% (95% CI [3.2, 7.4]) for beer, 2.6% (95% CI [1.8, 3.5]) for wine, and 2.6% (95% CI [2.1, 3.2]) for spirits. The small number of included studies regarding hours of sale and density precluded meta-analysis. The results of this study suggest that decreasing the physical availability of take-away alcohol will decrease per capita consumption. As decreasing per capita consumption has been shown to reduce alcohol-related harm, restricting the physical availability of take-away alcohol would be expected to result in improvements to public health.

Does the inclusion of grey literature influence estimates of intervention effectiveness reported in meta-analyses?

PubMed

McAuley, L; Pham, B; Tugwell, P; Moher, D

2000-10-07

The inclusion of only a subset of all available evidence in a meta-analysis may introduce biases and threaten its validity; this is particularly likely if the subset of included studies differ from those not included, which may be the case for published and grey literature (unpublished studies, with limited distribution). We set out to examine whether exclusion of grey literature, compared with its inclusion in meta-analysis, provides different estimates of the effectiveness of interventions assessed in randomised trials. From a random sample of 135 meta-analyses, we identified and retrieved 33 publications that included both grey and published primary studies. The 33 publications contributed 41 separate meta-analyses from several disease areas. General characteristics of the meta-analyses and associated studies and outcome data at the trial level were collected. We explored the effects of the inclusion of grey literature on the quantitative results using logistic-regression analyses. 33% of the meta-analyses were found to include some form of grey literature. The grey literature, when included, accounts for between 4.5% and 75% of the studies in a meta-analysis. On average, published work, compared with grey literature, yielded significantly larger estimates of the intervention effect by 15% (ratio of odds ratios=1.15 [95% CI 1.04-1.28]). Excluding abstracts from the analysis further compounded the exaggeration (1.33 [1.10-1.60]). The exclusion of grey literature from meta-analyses can lead to exaggerated estimates of intervention effectiveness. In general, meta-analysts should attempt to identify, retrieve, and include all reports, grey and published, that meet predefined inclusion criteria.

7 CFR 93.3 - Analyses available and location of laboratory.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

..., Florida. Such analyses include tests for vitamins, naringin, sodium benzoate, Salmonella, protein, salt, pesticide residues, sodium metal, ash, potassium metal, and coliforms for citrus products. [65 FR 64316, Oct...

7 CFR 93.3 - Analyses available and location of laboratory.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-01-01

..., Florida. Such analyses include tests for vitamins, naringin, sodium benzoate, Salmonella, protein, salt, pesticide residues, sodium metal, ash, potassium metal, and coliforms for citrus products. [65 FR 64316, Oct...

7 CFR 93.3 - Analyses available and location of laboratory.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-01-01

..., Florida. Such analyses include tests for vitamins, naringin, sodium benzoate, Salmonella, protein, salt, pesticide residues, sodium metal, ash, potassium metal, and coliforms for citrus products. [65 FR 64316, Oct...

Understanding the Doppler effect by analysing spectrograms of the sound of a passing vehicle

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lubyako, Dmitry; Martinez-Piedra, Gordon; Ushenin, Arthur; Denvir, Patrick; Dunlop, John; Hall, Alex; Le Roux, Gus; van Someren, Laurence; Weinberger, Harvey

2017-11-01

The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate how the Doppler effect can be analysed to deduce information about a moving source of sound waves. Specifically, we find the speed of a car and the distance of its closest approach to an observer using sound recordings from smartphones. A key focus of this paper is how this can be achieved in a classroom, both theoretically and experimentally, to deepen students’ understanding of the Doppler effect. Included are our own experimental data (48 sound recordings) to allow others to reproduce the analysis, if they cannot repeat the whole experiment themselves. In addition to its educational purpose, this paper examines the percentage errors in our results. This enabled us to determine sources of error, allowing those conducting similar future investigations to optimize their accuracy.

Kinetics of Hydrogen Abstraction and Addition Reactions of 3-Hexene by ȮH Radicals.

PubMed

Yang, Feiyu; Deng, Fuquan; Pan, Youshun; Zhang, Yingjia; Tang, Chenglong; Huang, Zuohua

2017-03-09

Rate coefficients of H atom abstraction and H atom addition reactions of 3-hexene by the hydroxyl radicals were determined using both conventional transition-state theory and canonical variational transition-state theory, with the potential energy surface (PES) evaluated at the CCSD(T)/CBS//BHandHLYP/6-311G(d,p) level and quantum mechanical effect corrected by the compounded methods including one-dimensional Wigner method, multidimensional zero-curvature tunneling method, and small-curvature tunneling method. Results reveal that accounting for approximate 70% of the overall H atom abstractions occur in the allylic site via both direct and indirect channels. The indirect channel containing two van der Waals prereactive complexes exhibits two times larger rate coefficient relative to the direct one. The OH addition reaction also contains two van der Waals complexes, and its submerged barrier results in a negative temperature coefficient behavior at low temperatures. In contrast, The OH addition pathway dominates only at temperatures below 450 K whereas the H atom abstraction reactions dominate overwhelmingly at temperature over 1000 K. All of the rate coefficients calculated with an uncertainty of a factor of 5 were fitted in a quasi-Arrhenius formula. Analyses on the PES, minimum reaction path and activation free Gibbs energy were also performed in this study.

Contour plot assessment of existing meta-analyses confirms robust association of statin use and acute kidney injury risk.

PubMed

Chevance, Aurélie; Schuster, Tibor; Steele, Russell; Ternès, Nils; Platt, Robert W

2015-10-01

Robustness of an existing meta-analysis can justify decisions on whether to conduct an additional study addressing the same research question. We illustrate the graphical assessment of the potential impact of an additional study on an existing meta-analysis using published data on statin use and the risk of acute kidney injury. A previously proposed graphical augmentation approach is used to assess the sensitivity of the current test and heterogeneity statistics extracted from existing meta-analysis data. In addition, we extended the graphical augmentation approach to assess potential changes in the pooled effect estimate after updating a current meta-analysis and applied the three graphical contour definitions to data from meta-analyses on statin use and acute kidney injury risk. In the considered example data, the pooled effect estimates and heterogeneity indices demonstrated to be considerably robust to the addition of a future study. Supportingly, for some previously inconclusive meta-analyses, a study update might yield statistically significant kidney injury risk increase associated with higher statin exposure. The illustrated contour approach should become a standard tool for the assessment of the robustness of meta-analyses. It can guide decisions on whether to conduct additional studies addressing a relevant research question. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

36 CFR § 1290.4 - Types of materials included in scope of assassination record and additional records and information.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

..., Forests, and Public Property NATIONAL ARCHIVES AND RECORDS ADMINISTRATION JFK ASSASSINATION RECORDS... COLLECTION ACT OF 1992 (JFK ACT) § 1290.4 Types of materials included in scope of assassination record and... information includes, for purposes of interpreting and implementing the JFK Act: (a) Papers, maps, and other...

Random regression analyses using B-spline functions to model growth of Nellore cattle.

PubMed

Boligon, A A; Mercadante, M E Z; Lôbo, R B; Baldi, F; Albuquerque, L G

2012-02-01

The objective of this study was to estimate (co)variance components using random regression on B-spline functions to weight records obtained from birth to adulthood. A total of 82 064 weight records of 8145 females obtained from the data bank of the Nellore Breeding Program (PMGRN/Nellore Brazil) which started in 1987, were used. The models included direct additive and maternal genetic effects and animal and maternal permanent environmental effects as random. Contemporary group and dam age at calving (linear and quadratic effect) were included as fixed effects, and orthogonal Legendre polynomials of age (cubic regression) were considered as random covariate. The random effects were modeled using B-spline functions considering linear, quadratic and cubic polynomials for each individual segment. Residual variances were grouped in five age classes. Direct additive genetic and animal permanent environmental effects were modeled using up to seven knots (six segments). A single segment with two knots at the end points of the curve was used for the estimation of maternal genetic and maternal permanent environmental effects. A total of 15 models were studied, with the number of parameters ranging from 17 to 81. The models that used B-splines were compared with multi-trait analyses with nine weight traits and to a random regression model that used orthogonal Legendre polynomials. A model fitting quadratic B-splines, with four knots or three segments for direct additive genetic effect and animal permanent environmental effect and two knots for maternal additive genetic effect and maternal permanent environmental effect, was the most appropriate and parsimonious model to describe the covariance structure of the data. Selection for higher weight, such as at young ages, should be performed taking into account an increase in mature cow weight. Particularly, this is important in most of Nellore beef cattle production systems, where the cow herd is maintained on range conditions

Evaluation of certain food additives.

PubMed

2012-01-01

This report represents the conclusions of a Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee convened to evaluate the safety of various food additives, including flavouring agents, with a view to concluding as to safety concerns and to preparing specifications for identity and purity. The first part of the report contains a general discussion of the principles governing the toxicological evaluation of and assessment of dietary exposure to food additives, including flavouring agents. A summary follows of the Committee's evaluations of technical, toxicological and dietary exposure data for five food additives (magnesium dihydrogen diphosphate; mineral oil (medium and low viscosity) classes II and III; 3-phytase from Aspergillus niger expressed in Aspergillus niger; serine protease (chymotrypsin) from Nocardiopsis prasina expressed in Bacillus licheniformis; and serine protease (trypsin) from Fusarium oxysporum expressed in Fusarium venenatum) and 16 groups of flavouring agents (aliphatic and aromatic amines and amides; aliphatic and aromatic ethers; aliphatic hydrocarbons, alcohols, aldehydes, ketones, carboxylic acids and related esters, sulfides, disulfides and ethers containing furan substitution; aliphatic linear alpha,beta-unsaturated aldehydes, acids and related alcohols, acetals and esters; amino acids and related substances; epoxides; furfuryl alcohol and related substances; linear and branched-chain aliphatic, unsaturated, unconjugated alcohols, aldehydes, acids and related esters; miscellaneous nitrogen-containing substances; phenol and phenol derivatives; pyrazine derivatives; pyridine, pyrrole and quinoline derivatives; saturated aliphatic acyclic branched-chain primary alcohols, aldehydes and acids; simple aliphatic and aromatic sulfides and thiols; sulfur-containing heterocyclic compounds; and sulfur-substituted furan derivatives). Specifications for the following food additives were revised: ethyl cellulose, mineral oil (medium viscosity), modified starches and titanium

Improvement of Prediction Ability for Genomic Selection of Dairy Cattle by Including Dominance Effects

PubMed Central

Sun, Chuanyu; VanRaden, Paul M.; Cole, John B.; O'Connell, Jeffrey R.

2014-01-01

Dominance may be an important source of non-additive genetic variance for many traits of dairy cattle. However, nearly all prediction models for dairy cattle have included only additive effects because of the limited number of cows with both genotypes and phenotypes. The role of dominance in the Holstein and Jersey breeds was investigated for eight traits: milk, fat, and protein yields; productive life; daughter pregnancy rate; somatic cell score; fat percent and protein percent. Additive and dominance variance components were estimated and then used to estimate additive and dominance effects of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). The predictive abilities of three models with both additive and dominance effects and a model with additive effects only were assessed using ten-fold cross-validation. One procedure estimated dominance values, and another estimated dominance deviations; calculation of the dominance relationship matrix was different for the two methods. The third approach enlarged the dataset by including cows with genotype probabilities derived using genotyped ancestors. For yield traits, dominance variance accounted for 5 and 7% of total variance for Holsteins and Jerseys, respectively; using dominance deviations resulted in smaller dominance and larger additive variance estimates. For non-yield traits, dominance variances were very small for both breeds. For yield traits, including additive and dominance effects fit the data better than including only additive effects; average correlations between estimated genetic effects and phenotypes showed that prediction accuracy increased when both effects rather than just additive effects were included. No corresponding gains in prediction ability were found for non-yield traits. Including cows with derived genotype probabilities from genotyped ancestors did not improve prediction accuracy. The largest additive effects were located on chromosome 14 near DGAT1 for yield traits for both breeds; those SNPs also

Children's patterns of reasoning about reading and addition concepts.

PubMed

Farrington-Flint, Lee; Canobi, Katherine H; Wood, Clare; Faulkner, Dorothy

2010-06-01

Children's reasoning was examined within two educational contexts (word reading and addition) so as to understand the factors that contribute to relational reasoning in the two domains. Sixty-seven 5- to 7-year-olds were given a series of related words to read or single-digit addition items to solve (interspersed with unrelated items). The frequency, accuracy, and response times of children's self-reports on the conceptually related items provided a measure of relational reasoning, while performance on the unrelated addition and reading items provided a measure of procedural skill. The results indicated that the children's ability to use conceptual relations to solve both reading and addition problems enhanced speed and accuracy levels, increased with age, and was related to procedural skill. However, regression analyses revealed that domain-specific competencies can best explain the use of conceptual relations in both reading and addition. Moreover, a cluster analysis revealed that children differ according to the academic domain in which they first apply conceptual relations and these differences are related to individual variation in their procedural skills within these particular domains. These results highlight the developmental significance of relational reasoning in the context of reading and addition and underscore the importance of concept-procedure links in explaining children's literacy and arithmetical development.

Emergency School Aid Act (ESAA) Evaluation: Results of Supplemental Analyses Conducted in the Contract Extension Period.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Carriere, Ronald A.; And Others

This report focuses on a set of supplemental analyses that were performed on portions of the Emergency School Aid Act (ESAA) evaluation data. The goal of these analyses was to explore additional relationships in the data that might help to inform program policy, to confirm and/or further explicate some of the findings reported earlier, and to put…

16 CFR 1102.16 - Additional information.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

... PUBLICLY AVAILABLE CONSUMER PRODUCT SAFETY INFORMATION DATABASE (Eff. Jan. 10, 2011) Content Requirements... notices, the CPSC shall include in the Database any additional information it determines to be in the...

Integrated Waste Treatment Unit (IWTU) Input Coal Analyses and Off-Gass Filter (OGF) Content Analyses

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Jantzen, Carol M.; Missimer, David M.; Guenther, Chris P.

corrosion in process piping and materials, in excessive off-gas absorbent loading, and in undesired process emissions. The ash content of the coal is important as the ash adds to the DMR and other vessel products which affect the final waste product mass and composition. The amount and composition of the ash also affects the reaction kinetics. Thus ash content and composition contributes to the mass balance. In addition, sodium, potassium, calcium, sulfur, and maybe silica and alumina in the ash may contribute to wall-scale formation. Sodium, potassium, and alumina in the ash will be overwhelmed by the sodium, potassium, and alumina from the feed but the impact from the other ash components needs to be quantified. A maximum coal particle size is specified so the feed system does not plug and a minimum particle size is specified to prevent excess elutriation from the DMR to the Process Gas Filter (PGF). A vendor specification was used to procure the calcined coal for IWTU processing. While the vendor supplied a composite analysis for the 22 tons of coal (Appendix A), this study compares independent analyses of the coal performed at the Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) and at the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL). Three supersacks a were sampled at three different heights within the sack in order to determine within bag variability and between bag variability of the coal. These analyses were also compared to the vendor’s composite analyses and to the coal specification. These analyses were also compared to historic data on Bestac coal analyses that had been performed at Hazen Research Inc. (HRI) between 2004-2011.« less

Cetuximab in treatment of metastatic colorectal cancer: final survival analyses and extended RAS data from the NORDIC-VII study.

PubMed

Guren, Tormod Kyrre; Thomsen, Maria; Kure, Elin H; Sorbye, Halfdan; Glimelius, Bengt; Pfeiffer, Per; Österlund, Pia; Sigurdsson, Fridbjörn; Lothe, Inger Marie Bowitz; Dalsgaard, Astrid Marie; Skovlund, Eva; Christoffersen, Thoralf; Tveit, Kjell Magne

2017-05-09

The NORDIC-VII study is a randomised phase III trial of cetuximab plus continuous or intermittent fluorouracil, folinic acid, and oxaliplatin (Nordic FLOX) vs FLOX alone in first-line treatment of metastatic colorectal cancer. The present report presents an updated and final survival analysis with BRAF and extended RAS mutational status, 5 years after the primary analysis. A total of 566 patients were included in the intention-to-treat (ITT) population of the NORDIC-VII study. Updated survival status was obtained from 176 patients who were alive in the primary survival analyses. Samples from 223 tumours previously found to be KRAS (exon 2) and BRAF (V600E) wild-type, were re-analysed for KRAS (exons 3 and 4) and NRAS (exons 2-4) mutations. Including the extended RAS analyses, RAS and BRAF mutational status was available from 457 patients (81% of the ITT population). RAS was mutated in 46% and BRAF in 12% of the tumours. RAS and BRAF, if mutated, were negative prognostic factors. The updated analyses confirmed the finding of the primary report that cetuximab did not provide any additional benefit when added to FLOX in patients with RAS/BRAF wild-type tumours, neither on progression-free nor overall survival. However, the outcomes in a subset of patients, which, after the first eight treatment cycles, received cetuximab alone, suggested a beneficial effect of cetuximab monotherapy. Adding cetuximab to Nordic FLOX did not provide any clinical benefit, but the data suggested an effect of cetuximab monotherapy in patients with RAS/BRAF wild-type tumours in the NORDIC-VII cohort. The data were compatible with a negative interaction between cetuximab and the Nordic FLOX chemotherapy backbone.

Diagnostic Comparison of Meteorological Analyses during the 2002 Antarctic Winter

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Manney, Gloria L.; Allen, Douglas R.; Kruger, Kirstin; Naujokat, Barbara; Santee, Michelle L.; Sabutis, Joseph L.; Pawson, Steven; Swinbank, Richard; Randall, Cora E.; Simmons, Adrian J.;

NOAA's National Snow Analyses

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Carroll, T. R.; Cline, D. W.; Olheiser, C. M.; Rost, A. A.; Nilsson, A. O.; Fall, G. M.; Li, L.; Bovitz, C. T.

2005-12-01

NOAA's National Operational Hydrologic Remote Sensing Center (NOHRSC) routinely ingests all of the electronically available, real-time, ground-based, snow data; airborne snow water equivalent data; satellite areal extent of snow cover information; and numerical weather prediction (NWP) model forcings for the coterminous U.S. The NWP model forcings are physically downscaled from their native 13 km2 spatial resolution to a 1 km2 resolution for the CONUS. The downscaled NWP forcings drive an energy-and-mass-balance snow accumulation and ablation model at a 1 km2 spatial resolution and at a 1 hour temporal resolution for the country. The ground-based, airborne, and satellite snow observations are assimilated into the snow model's simulated state variables using a Newtonian nudging technique. The principle advantages of the assimilation technique are: (1) approximate balance is maintained in the snow model, (2) physical processes are easily accommodated in the model, and (3) asynoptic data are incorporated at the appropriate times. The snow model is reinitialized with the assimilated snow observations to generate a variety of snow products that combine to form NOAA's NOHRSC National Snow Analyses (NSA). The NOHRSC NSA incorporate all of the available information necessary and available to produce a "best estimate" of real-time snow cover conditions at 1 km2 spatial resolution and 1 hour temporal resolution for the country. The NOHRSC NSA consist of a variety of daily, operational, products that characterize real-time snowpack conditions including: snow water equivalent, snow depth, surface and internal snowpack temperatures, surface and blowing snow sublimation, and snowmelt for the CONUS. The products are generated and distributed in a variety of formats including: interactive maps, time-series, alphanumeric products (e.g., mean areal snow water equivalent on a hydrologic basin-by-basin basis), text and map discussions, map animations, and quantitative gridded products

Meta-analyses with industry involvement are massively published and report no caveats for antidepressants.

PubMed

Ebrahim, Shanil; Bance, Sheena; Athale, Abha; Malachowski, Cindy; Ioannidis, John P A

2016-02-01

To identify the impact of industry involvement in the publication and interpretation of meta-analyses of antidepressant trials in depression. Using MEDLINE, we identified all meta-analyses evaluating antidepressants for depression published in January 2007-March 2014. We extracted data pertaining to author affiliations, conflicts of interest, and whether the conclusion of the abstract included negative statements on whether the antidepressant(s) were effective or safe. We identified 185 eligible meta-analyses. Fifty-four meta-analyses (29%) had authors who were employees of the assessed drug manufacturer, and 147 (79%) had some industry link (sponsorship or authors who were industry employees and/or had conflicts of interest). Only 58 meta-analyses (31%) had negative statements in the concluding statement of the abstract. Meta-analyses including an author who were employees of the manufacturer of the assessed drug were 22-fold less likely to have negative statements about the drug than other meta-analyses [1/54 (2%) vs. 57/131 (44%); P < 0.001]. There is a massive production of meta-analyses of antidepressants for depression authored by or linked to the industry, and they almost never report any caveats about antidepressants in their abstracts. Our findings add a note of caution for meta-analyses with ties to the manufacturers of the assessed products. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Systematic overview and critical appraisal of meta-analyses of interventions in intensive care medicine.

PubMed

Koster, T M; Wetterslev, J; Gluud, C; Keus, F; van der Horst, I C C

2018-05-24

Meta-analysed intervention effect estimates are perceived to represent the highest level of evidence. However, such effects and the randomized clinical trials which are included in them need critical appraisal before the effects can be trusted. Critical appraisal of a predefined set of all meta-analyses on interventions in intensive care medicine to assess their quality and assessed the risks of bias in those meta-analyses having the best quality. We conducted a systematic search to select all meta-analyses of randomized clinical trials on interventions used in intensive care medicine. Selected meta-analyses were critically appraised for basic scientific criteria, (1) presence of an available protocol, (2) report of a full search strategy, and (3) use of any bias risk assessment of included trials. All meta-analyses which qualified these criteria were scrutinized by full "Risk of Bias in Systematic Reviews" ROBIS evaluation of 4 domains of risks of bias, and a "Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses" PRISMA evaluation. We identified 467 meta-analyses. A total of 56 meta-analyses complied with these basic scientific criteria. We scrutinized the risks of bias in the 56 meta-analyses by full ROBIS evaluation and a PRISMA evaluation. Only 4 meta-analyses scored low risk of bias in all the 4 ROBIS domains and 41 meta-analyses reported all 27 items of the PRISMA checklist. In contrast with what might be perceived as the highest level of evidence only 0.9% of all meta-analyses were judged to have overall low risk of bias. © 2018 The Acta Anaesthesiologica Scandinavica Foundation. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Methodological Quality Assessment of Meta-Analyses of Hyperthyroidism Treatment.

PubMed

Qin, Yahong; Yao, Liang; Shao, Feifei; Yang, Kehu; Tian, Limin

2018-01-01

Hyperthyroidism is a common condition that is associated with increased morbidity and mortality. A number of meta-analyses (MAs) have assessed the therapeutic measures for hyperthyroidism, including antithyroid drugs, surgery, and radioiodine, however, the methodological quality has not been evaluated. This study evaluated the methodological quality and summarized the evidence obtained from MAs of hyperthyroidism treatments for radioiodine, antithyroid drugs, and surgery. We searched the PubMed, EMBASE, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, and Chinese Biomedical Literature Database databases. Two investigators independently assessed the meta-analyses titles and abstracts for inclusion. Methodological quality was assessed using the validated AMSTAR (Assessing the Methodological Quality of Systematic Reviews) tool. A total of 26 MAs fulfilled the inclusion criteria. Based on the AMSTAR scores, the average methodological quality was 8.31, with large variability ranging from 4 to 11. The methodological quality of English meta-analyses was better than that of Chinese meta-analyses. Cochrane reviews had better methodological quality than non-Cochrane reviews due to better study selection and data extraction, the inclusion of unpublished studies, and better reporting of study characteristics. The authors did not report conflicts of interest in 53.8% meta-analyses, and 19.2% did not report the harmful effects of treatment. Publication bias was not assessed in 38.5% of meta-analyses, and 19.2% did not report the follow-up time. Large-scale assessment of methodological quality of meta-analyses of hyperthyroidism treatment highlighted methodological strengths and weaknesses. Consideration of scientific quality when formulating conclusions should be made explicit. Future meta-analyses should improve on reporting conflict of interest. © Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York.

Preparation and Characterization of SN-38-Encapsulated Phytantriol Cubosomes Containing α-Monoglyceride Additives.

PubMed

Ali, Md Ashraf; Noguchi, Shuji; Iwao, Yasunori; Oka, Toshihiko; Itai, Shigeru

2016-01-01

SN-38 is a potent active metabolite of irinotecan that has been considered as an anticancer candidate. However, the clinical development of this compound has been hampered by its poor aqueous solubility and chemical instability. In this study, we developed SN-38-encapsulated cubosomes to resolve these problems. Six α-monoglyceride additives, comprising monocaprylin, monocaprin, monolaurin, monomyristin, monopalmitin, and monostearin, were used to prepare phytantriol (PHYT) cubosomes by probe sonication. The mean particle size, polydispersity index, and zeta potential values of these systems were around 190-230 nm, 0.19-0.25 and -17 to -22 mV, respectively. Small-angle X-ray scattering analyses confirmed that the SN-38-encapsulated cubosomes existed in the Pn̄3m space group both with and without the additives. The monoglyceride additives led to around a two-fold increase in the solubility of SN-38 compared with the PHYT cubosome. The drug entrapment efficiency of PHYT cubosomes with additives was greater than 97%. The results of a stability study at 25°C showed no dramatic changes in the particle size or polydispersity index characteristics, with at least 85% of the SN-38 existing in its active lactone form after 10 d, demonstrating the high stability of the cubosome nanoparticles. Furthermore, approximately 55% of SN-38 was slowly released from the cubosomes with additives over 96 h in vitro under physiological conditions. Taken together, these results show that the SN-38-encapsulated PHYT cubosome particles are promising drug carriers that should be considered for further in vivo experiments, including drug delivery to tumor cells using the enhanced permeability and retention effect.

Dose-related beneficial and harmful effects of gabapentin in postoperative pain management – post hoc analyses from a systematic review with meta-analyses and trial sequential analyses

PubMed Central

Fabritius, Maria Louise; Wetterslev, Jørn; Mathiesen, Ole; Dahl, Jørgen B

2017-01-01

Background During the last 15 years, gabapentin has become an established component of postoperative pain treatment. Gabapentin has been employed in a wide range of doses, but little is known about the optimal dose, providing the best balance between benefit and harm. This systematic review with meta-analyses aimed to explore the beneficial and harmful effects of various doses of gabapentin administered to surgical patients. Materials and methods Data in this paper were derived from an original review, and the subgroup analyses were predefined in an International Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews published protocol: PROSPERO (ID: CRD42013006538). The methods followed Cochrane guidelines. The Cochrane Library’s CENTRAL, PubMed, EMBASE, Science Citation Index Expanded, Google Scholar, and FDA database were searched for relevant trials. Randomized clinical trials comparing gabapentin versus placebo were included. Four different dose intervals were investigated: 0–350, 351–700, 701–1050, and >1050 mg. Primary co-outcomes were 24-hour morphine consumption and serious adverse events (SAEs), with emphasis put on trials with low risk of bias. Results One hundred and twenty-two randomized clinical trials, with 8466 patients, were included. Sixteen were overall low risk of bias. No consistent increase in morphine-sparing effect was observed with increasing doses of gabapentin from the trials with low risk of bias. Analyzing all trials, the smallest and the highest dose subgroups demonstrated numerically the most prominent reduction in morphine consumption. Twenty-seven trials reported 72 SAEs, of which 83% were reported in the >1050 mg subgroup. No systematic increase in SAEs was observed with increasing doses of gabapentin. Conclusion Data were sparse, and the small number of trials with low risk of bias is a major limitation for firm conclusions. Taking these limitations into account, we were not able to demonstrate a clear relationship between the dosage

Modular space station phase B extension preliminary systems design report. Volume 6: Trades and analyses

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Jones, A. L.

1972-01-01

Requirements and concepts and the tradeoff analysis leading to the preferred concept are presented. Integrated analyses are given for subsystems and thermal control. Specific tradeoffs and analyses are also given for water management, atmosphere control, energy storage, radiators, navigation, control moment gyros, and system maintenance. The analyses of manipulator concepts and requirements, and supplemental analyses of information management issues are summarized. Subsystem reliability analyses include a detailed discussion of the critical failure analysis.

Chemical and physical analyses of selected plants and soils from Puerto Rico (1981-2000)

Treesearch

M.J. Sanchez; E. Lopez; A.E. Lugo

2015-01-01

This report contains the results of analyses conducted at the chemistry laboratory of the International Institute of Tropical Forestry in Puerto Rico from 1981 to 2000. The data set includes 109,177 plant analyses and 70,729 soil analyses. We report vegetation chemical data by plant part, species, life zone, soil order, geology, or parent material. Soil data are...

Nanofibrillated cellulose as an additive in papermaking process: A review.

PubMed

Boufi, Sami; González, Israel; Delgado-Aguilar, Marc; Tarrès, Quim; Pèlach, M Àngels; Mutjé, Pere

2016-12-10

During the last two decades, cellulose nanofibres (CNF) have emerged as a promising, sustainable reinforcement with outstanding potential in material sciences. Though application of CNF in papermaking is recent, it is expected to find implementation in the near future to give a broader commercial market to this type of cellulose. The present review highlights recent progress in the field of the application of cellulose nanofibres as additives in papermaking. The effect of CNF addition on the wet end process is analysed according to the type of pulp used for papermaking. According to the literature consulted, improvement in paper's overall properties after CNF addition depended not only on the type and amount of CNF applied, but also in the pulp's origin and treatment. Bulk and surface application of CNF also presented significant differences regarding paper's final properties. This review also revises the mechanisms behind CNF reinforcing effect on paper and the effect of chemically modified CNF as additives. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Polymerization of ethylene through reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT).

PubMed

Dommanget, Cédric; D'Agosto, Franck; Monteil, Vincent

2014-06-23

The present paper reports the first example of a controlled radical polymerization of ethylene using reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) in the presence of xanthates (Alkyl-OC(=S)S-R) as controlling agents under relative mild conditions (70 °C, <200 bars). The specific reactivity of the produced alkyl-type propagating radicals induces a side fragmentation reaction of the stabilizing O-alkyl Z group of the controlling agents. This fragmentation, rarely observed in RAFT, was proven by NMR analyses. In addition, semicrystalline copolymers of ethylene and vinyl acetate were also prepared with a similar level of control. © 2014 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Parametric and Nonparametric Statistical Methods for Genomic Selection of Traits with Additive and Epistatic Genetic Architectures

PubMed Central

Howard, Réka; Carriquiry, Alicia L.; Beavis, William D.

2014-01-01

Parametric and nonparametric methods have been developed for purposes of predicting phenotypes. These methods are based on retrospective analyses of empirical data consisting of genotypic and phenotypic scores. Recent reports have indicated that parametric methods are unable to predict phenotypes of traits with known epistatic genetic architectures. Herein, we review parametric methods including least squares regression, ridge regression, Bayesian ridge regression, least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO), Bayesian LASSO, best linear unbiased prediction (BLUP), Bayes A, Bayes B, Bayes C, and Bayes Cπ. We also review nonparametric methods including Nadaraya-Watson estimator, reproducing kernel Hilbert space, support vector machine regression, and neural networks. We assess the relative merits of these 14 methods in terms of accuracy and mean squared error (MSE) using simulated genetic architectures consisting of completely additive or two-way epistatic interactions in an F2 population derived from crosses of inbred lines. Each simulated genetic architecture explained either 30% or 70% of the phenotypic variability. The greatest impact on estimates of accuracy and MSE was due to genetic architecture. Parametric methods were unable to predict phenotypic values when the underlying genetic architecture was based entirely on epistasis. Parametric methods were slightly better than nonparametric methods for additive genetic architectures. Distinctions among parametric methods for additive genetic architectures were incremental. Heritability, i.e., proportion of phenotypic variability, had the second greatest impact on estimates of accuracy and MSE. PMID:24727289

Fatigue Behavior and Modeling of Additively Manufactured Ti-6Al-4V Including Interlayer Time Interval Effects

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Torries, Brian; Shamsaei, Nima

2017-12-01

The effects of different cooling rates, as achieved by varying the interlayer time interval, on the fatigue behavior of additively manufactured Ti-6Al-4V specimens were investigated and modeled via a microstructure-sensitive fatigue model. Comparisons are made between two sets of specimens fabricated via Laser Engineered Net Shaping (LENS™), with variance in interlayer time interval accomplished by depositing either one or two specimens per print operation. Fully reversed, strain-controlled fatigue tests were conducted, with fractography following specimen failure. A microstructure-sensitive fatigue model was calibrated to model the fatigue behavior of both sets of specimens and was found to be capable of correctly predicting the longer fatigue lives of the single-built specimens and the reduced scatter of the double-built specimens; all data points fell within the predicted upper and lower bounds of fatigue life. The time interval effects and the ability to be modeled are important to consider when producing test specimens that are smaller than the production part (i.e., property-performance relationships).

Food webs including parasites, biomass, body sizes, and life stages for three California/Baja California estuaries

USGS Publications Warehouse

Hechinger, Ryan F.; Lafferty, Kevin D.; McLaughlin, John P.; Fredensborg, Brian L.; Huspeni, Todd C.; Lorda, Julio; Sandhu, Parwant K.; Shaw, Jenny C.; Torchin, Mark E.; Whitney, Kathleen L.; Kuris, Armand M.

2001-01-01

This data set presents food webs for three North American Pacific coast estuaries and a “Metaweb” composed of the species/stages compiled from all three estuaries. The webs have four noteworthy attributes: (1) parasites (infectious agents), (2) body-size information, (3) biomass information, and (4) ontogenetic stages of many animals with complex life cycles. The estuaries are Carpinteria Salt Marsh, California (CSM); Estero de Punta Banda, Baja California (EPB); and Bahía Falsa in Bahía San Quintín, Baja California (BSQ). Most data on species assemblages and parasitism were gathered via consistent sampling that acquired body size and biomass information for plants and animals larger than ∼1 mm, and for many infectious agents (mostly metazoan parasites, but also some microbes). We augmented this with information from additional published sources and by sampling unrepresented groups (e.g., plankton). We estimated free-living consumer–resource links primarily by extending a previously published version of the CSM web (which the current CSM web supplants) and determined most parasite consumer–resource links from direct observation. We recognize 21 possible link types including four general interactions: predators consuming prey, parasites consuming hosts, predators consuming parasites, and parasites consuming parasites. While generally resolved to the species level, we report stage-specific nodes for many animals with complex life cycles. We include additional biological information for each node, such as taxonomy, lifestyle (free-living, infectious, commensal, mutualist), mobility, and residency. The Metaweb includes 500 nodes, 314 species, and 11 270 links projected to be present given appropriate species' co-occurrences. Of these, 9247 links were present in one or more of the estuarine webs. The remaining 2023 links were not present in the estuaries but are included here because they may occur in other places or times. Initial analyses have examined

Impact of hepatitis C virus polymorphisms on direct-acting antiviral treatment efficacy: Regulatory analyses and perspectives.

PubMed

Harrington, Patrick R; Komatsu, Takashi E; Deming, Damon J; Donaldson, Eric F; O'Rear, Julian J; Naeger, Lisa K

2018-06-01

Several highly effective, interferon-free, direct-acting antiviral (DAA)-based regimens are available for the treatment of chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. Despite impressive efficacy overall, a small proportion of patients in registrational trials experienced treatment failure, which in some cases was associated with the detection of HCV resistance-associated substitutions (RASs) at baseline. In this article, we describe methods and key findings from independent regulatory analyses investigating the impact of baseline nonstructural (NS) 3 Q80K and NS5A RASs on the efficacy of current United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved regimens for patients with HCV genotype (GT) 1 or GT3 infection. These analyses focused on clinical trials that included patients who were previously naïve to the DAA class(es) in their investigational regimen and characterized the impact of baseline RASs that were enriched in the viral population as natural or transmitted polymorphisms (i.e., not drug-selected RASs). We used a consistent approach to optimize comparability of results across different DAA regimens and patient populations, including the use of a 15% sensitivity cutoff for next-generation sequencing results and standardized lists of NS5A RASs. These analyses confirmed that detection of NS3 Q80K or NS5A baseline RASs was associated with reduced treatment efficacy for multiple DAA regimens, but their impact was often minimized with the use of an intensified treatment regimen, such as a longer treatment duration and/or addition of ribavirin. We discuss the drug resistance-related considerations that contributed to pretreatment resistance testing and treatment recommendations in drug labeling for FDA-approved DAA regimens. Independent regulatory analyses confirmed that baseline HCV RASs can reduce the efficacy of certain DAA-based regimens in selected patient groups. However, highly effective treatment options are available for patients with or without

From Lucy to Kadanuumuu: balanced analyses of Australopithecus afarensis assemblages confirm only moderate skeletal dimorphism.

PubMed

Reno, Philip L; Lovejoy, C Owen

2015-01-01

Sexual dimorphism in body size is often used as a correlate of social and reproductive behavior in Australopithecus afarensis. In addition to a number of isolated specimens, the sample for this species includes two small associated skeletons (A.L. 288-1 or "Lucy" and A.L. 128/129) and a geologically contemporaneous death assemblage of several larger individuals (A.L. 333). These have driven both perceptions and quantitative analyses concluding that Au. afarensis was markedly dimorphic. The Template Method enables simultaneous evaluation of multiple skeletal sites, thereby greatly expanding sample size, and reveals that A. afarensis dimorphism was similar to that of modern humans. A new very large partial skeleton (KSD-VP-1/1 or "Kadanuumuu") can now also be used, like Lucy, as a template specimen. In addition, the recently developed Geometric Mean Method has been used to argue that Au. afarensis was equally or even more dimorphic than gorillas. However, in its previous application Lucy and A.L. 128/129 accounted for 10 of 11 estimates of female size. Here we directly compare the two methods and demonstrate that including multiple measurements from the same partial skeleton that falls at the margin of the species size range dramatically inflates dimorphism estimates. Prevention of the dominance of a single specimen's contribution to calculations of multiple dimorphism estimates confirms that Au. afarensis was only moderately dimorphic.

From Lucy to Kadanuumuu: balanced analyses of Australopithecus afarensis assemblages confirm only moderate skeletal dimorphism

PubMed Central

Lovejoy, C. Owen

2015-01-01

Sexual dimorphism in body size is often used as a correlate of social and reproductive behavior in Australopithecus afarensis. In addition to a number of isolated specimens, the sample for this species includes two small associated skeletons (A.L. 288-1 or “Lucy” and A.L. 128/129) and a geologically contemporaneous death assemblage of several larger individuals (A.L. 333). These have driven both perceptions and quantitative analyses concluding that Au. afarensis was markedly dimorphic. The Template Method enables simultaneous evaluation of multiple skeletal sites, thereby greatly expanding sample size, and reveals that A. afarensis dimorphism was similar to that of modern humans. A new very large partial skeleton (KSD-VP-1/1 or “Kadanuumuu”) can now also be used, like Lucy, as a template specimen. In addition, the recently developed Geometric Mean Method has been used to argue that Au. afarensis was equally or even more dimorphic than gorillas. However, in its previous application Lucy and A.L. 128/129 accounted for 10 of 11 estimates of female size. Here we directly compare the two methods and demonstrate that including multiple measurements from the same partial skeleton that falls at the margin of the species size range dramatically inflates dimorphism estimates. Prevention of the dominance of a single specimen’s contribution to calculations of multiple dimorphism estimates confirms that Au. afarensis was only moderately dimorphic. PMID:25945314

Measuring the apparent diffusion coefficient in primary rectal tumors: is there a benefit in performing histogram analyses?

PubMed

van Heeswijk, Miriam M; Lambregts, Doenja M J; Maas, Monique; Lahaye, Max J; Ayas, Z; Slenter, Jos M G M; Beets, Geerard L; Bakers, Frans C H; Beets-Tan, Regina G H

2017-06-01

The apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) is a potential prognostic imaging marker in rectal cancer. Typically, mean ADC values are used, derived from precise manual whole-volume tumor delineations by experts. The aim was first to explore whether non-precise circular delineation combined with histogram analysis can be a less cumbersome alternative to acquire similar ADC measurements and second to explore whether histogram analyses provide additional prognostic information. Thirty-seven patients who underwent a primary staging MRI including diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI; b0, 25, 50, 100, 500, 1000; 1.5 T) were included. Volumes-of-interest (VOIs) were drawn on b1000-DWI: (a) precise delineation, manually tracing tumor boundaries (2 expert readers), and (b) non-precise delineation, drawing circular VOIs with a wide margin around the tumor (2 non-experts). Mean ADC and histogram metrics (mean, min, max, median, SD, skewness, kurtosis, 5th-95th percentiles) were derived from the VOIs and delineation time was recorded. Measurements were compared between the two methods and correlated with prognostic outcome parameters. Median delineation time reduced from 47-165 s (precise) to 21-43 s (non-precise). The 45th percentile of the non-precise delineation showed the best correlation with the mean ADC from the precise delineation as the reference standard (ICC 0.71-0.75). None of the mean ADC or histogram parameters showed significant prognostic value; only the total tumor volume (VOI) was significantly larger in patients with positive clinical N stage and mesorectal fascia involvement. When performing non-precise tumor delineation, histogram analysis (in specific 45th ADC percentile) may be used as an alternative to obtain similar ADC values as with precise whole tumor delineation. Histogram analyses are not beneficial to obtain additional prognostic information.

What is included with your online e-cigarette order? An analysis of e-cigarette shipping, product and packaging features

PubMed Central

Kong, Amanda Y; Derrick, Jason C; Abrantes, Anthony S

2016-01-01

Background The electronic cigarette industry is growing, with youth using e-cigarettes at higher rates than they are using cigarettes, and retail and online sales projected to reach $10 billion in 2017. Minimal regulation of the production and marketing of e-cigarettes exists to date, which has allowed companies to promote unsupported claims. We assessed the shipping, product features and packaging of a wide variety of e-cigarettes purchased online by adults and youth. Methods The most popular internet e-cigarette vendors were identified from a larger study of internet tobacco vendors. Between August 2013 and June 2014, adults made 56 purchase attempts from online vendors, and youth made 98 attempts. Packages received were assessed for exterior and internal packaging features, including product information, health warnings and additional materials. Results We analysed a total of 125 orders featuring 86 unique brands of e-cigarettes. The contents were rarely indicated on package exteriors. Product information came with just 60% of orders and just 38.4% included an instruction manual. Only 44.6% of products included a health warning, and some had unsupported claims, such as lack of secondhand smoke exposure. Additionally, some products were leaking e-liquid and battery fluid on arrival. Conclusions A large variety of e-cigarette products are manufactured and marketed to consumers. Many products do not include instructions for use, and unsupported claims are being presented to consumers. Effective federal regulation of the manufacturing, packaging, product information and health claims surrounding e-cigarettes is necessary to ensure consumers are presented with accurate e-cigarette use information. PMID:27357936

Phospholipid and Respiratory Quinone Analyses From Extreme Environments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pfiffner, S. M.

2008-12-01

Extreme environments on Earth have been chosen as surrogate sites to test methods and strategies for the deployment of space craft in the search for extraterrestrial life. Surrogate sites for many of the NASA astrobiology institutes include the South African gold mines, Canadian subpermafrost, Atacama Desert, and acid rock drainage. Soils, sediments, rock cores, fracture waters, biofilms, and service and drill waters represent the types of samples collected from these sites. These samples were analyzed by gas chromatography mass spectrometry for phospholipid fatty acid methyl esters and by high performance liquid chromatography atmospheric pressure chemical ionization tandem mass spectrometry for respiratory quinones. Phospholipid analyses provided estimates of biomass, community composition, and compositional changes related to nutritional limitations or exposure to toxic conditions. Similar to phospholipid analyses, respiratory quinone analyses afforded identification of certain types of microorganisms in the community based on respiration and offered clues to in situ redox conditions. Depending on the number of samples analyzed, selected multivariate statistical methods were applied to relate membrane lipid results with site biogeochemical parameters. Successful detection of life signatures and refinement of methodologies at surrogate sites on Earth will be critical for the recognition of extraterrestrial life. At this time, membrane lipid analyses provide useful information not easily obtained by other molecular techniques.

Effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of ehealth interventions in somatic diseases: a systematic review of systematic reviews and meta-analyses.

PubMed

Elbert, Niels J; van Os-Medendorp, Harmieke; van Renselaar, Wilco; Ekeland, Anne G; Hakkaart-van Roijen, Leona; Raat, Hein; Nijsten, Tamar E C; Pasmans, Suzanne G M A

2014-04-16

eHealth potentially enhances quality of care and may reduce health care costs. However, a review of systematic reviews published in 2010 concluded that high-quality evidence on the benefits of eHealth interventions was still lacking. We conducted a systematic review of systematic reviews and meta-analyses on the effectiveness/cost-effectiveness of eHealth interventions in patients with somatic diseases to analyze whether, and to what possible extent, the outcome of recent research supports or differs from previous conclusions. Literature searches were performed in PubMed, EMBASE, The Cochrane Library, and Scopus for systematic reviews and meta-analyses on eHealth interventions published between August 2009 and December 2012. Articles were screened for relevance based on preset inclusion and exclusion criteria. Citations of residual articles were screened for additional literature. Included papers were critically appraised using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) Statement before data were extracted. Based on conclusions drawn by the authors of the included articles, reviews and meta-analyses were divided into 1 of 3 groups: suitable, promising, or limited evidence on effectiveness/cost-effectiveness. Cases of uncertainty were resolved by consensus discussion. Effect sizes were extracted from papers that included a meta-analysis. To compare our results with previous findings, a trend analysis was performed. Our literature searches yielded 31 eligible reviews, of which 20 (65%) reported on costs. Seven papers (23%) concluded that eHealth is effective/cost-effective, 13 (42%) underlined that evidence is promising, and others found limited or inconsistent proof. Methodological quality of the included reviews and meta-analyses was generally considered high. Trend analysis showed a considerable accumulation of literature on eHealth. However, a similar percentage of papers concluded that eHealth is effective/cost-effective or

Developing Critical Thinking about Reporting of Bayesian Analyses

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pullenayegum, Eleanor M.; Guo, Qing; Hopkins, Robert B.

2012-01-01

Graduate students in the health sciences who hope to become independent researchers must be able to write up their results at a standard suitable for submission to peer-reviewed journals. Bayesian analyses are still rare in the medical literature, and students are often unclear on what should be included in a manuscript. Whilst there are published…

Electric utility use of fireside additives. Final report

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Locklin, D.W.; Krause, H.H.; Anson, D.

1980-01-01

Fireside additives have been used or proposed for use in fossil-fired utility boilers to combat a number of problems related to boiler performance and reliability. These problems include corrosion, fouling, superheat control, and acidic emissions. Fuel additives and other fireside additives have been used mainly with oil firing; however, there is growing experience with additives in coal-firing, especially for flyash conditioning to improve the performance of electrostatic precipitators. In decisions regarding the selection and use of additives, utilities have had to rely extensively on empiricism, due partly to an incomplete understanding of processes involved and partly to the limited amountmore » of quantitative data. The study reported here was sponsored by the Electric Power Research Institute to assemble and analyze pertinent operating experience and to recommend guidelines for utility decisions on the use of additives. The combined results of the state-of-the-art review of technical literature and a special survey of utility experience are reported. A total of 38 utilities participated in the survey, providing information on trials conducted on 104 units in 93 different plants. Altogether, 445 separate trials were reported, each representing a unit/additive/fuel combination. Additives used in these trials included 90 different additive formulations, both pure compounds and proprietary products. These formulations were categorized into 37 generic classes according to their chemical constituents, and the results of the survey are presented by these generic classes. The findings are organized according to the operating problems for which fireside additives are used. Guidelines are presented for utility use in additive selection and in planning additive trials.« less

Further evaluation of leisure items in the attention condition of functional analyses.

PubMed

Roscoe, Eileen M; Carreau, Abbey; MacDonald, Jackie; Pence, Sacha T

2008-01-01

Research suggests that including leisure items in the attention condition of a functional analysis may produce engagement that masks sensitivity to attention. In this study, 4 individuals' initial functional analyses indicated that behavior was maintained by nonsocial variables (n = 3) or by attention (n = 1). A preference assessment was used to identify items for subsequent functional analyses. Four conditions were compared, attention with and without leisure items and control with and without leisure items. Following this, either high- or low-preference items were included in the attention condition. Problem behavior was more probable during the attention condition when no leisure items or low-preference items were included, and lower levels of problem behavior were observed during the attention condition when high-preference leisure items were included. These findings suggest how preferred items may hinder detection of behavioral function.

Compositional and expression analyses of the glideosome during the Plasmodium life cycle reveal an additional myosin light chain required for maximum motility

PubMed Central

Green, Judith L.; Wall, Richard J.; Vahokoski, Juha; Yusuf, Noor A.; Ridzuan, Mohd A. Mohd; Stanway, Rebecca R.; Stock, Jessica; Knuepfer, Ellen; Brady, Declan; Martin, Stephen R.; Howell, Steven A.; Pires, Isa P.; Moon, Robert W.; Molloy, Justin E.; Kursula, Inari; Tewari, Rita

2017-01-01

Myosin A (MyoA) is a Class XIV myosin implicated in gliding motility and host cell and tissue invasion by malaria parasites. MyoA is part of a membrane-associated protein complex called the glideosome, which is essential for parasite motility and includes the MyoA light chain myosin tail domain–interacting protein (MTIP) and several glideosome-associated proteins (GAPs). However, most studies of MyoA have focused on single stages of the parasite life cycle. We examined MyoA expression throughout the Plasmodium berghei life cycle in both mammalian and insect hosts. In extracellular ookinetes, sporozoites, and merozoites, MyoA was located at the parasite periphery. In the sexual stages, zygote formation and initial ookinete differentiation precede MyoA synthesis and deposition, which occurred only in the developing protuberance. In developing intracellular asexual blood stages, MyoA was synthesized in mature schizonts and was located at the periphery of segmenting merozoites, where it remained throughout maturation, merozoite egress, and host cell invasion. Besides the known GAPs in the malaria parasite, the complex included GAP40, an additional myosin light chain designated essential light chain (ELC), and several other candidate components. This ELC bound the MyoA neck region adjacent to the MTIP-binding site, and both myosin light chains co-located to the glideosome. Co-expression of MyoA with its two light chains revealed that the presence of both light chains enhances MyoA-dependent actin motility. In conclusion, we have established a system to study the interplay and function of the three glideosome components, enabling the assessment of inhibitors that target this motor complex to block host cell invasion. PMID:28893907

Metal-air cell with performance enhancing additive

DOEpatents

Friesen, Cody A; Buttry, Daniel

2015-11-10

Systems and methods drawn to an electrochemical cell comprising a low temperature ionic liquid comprising positive ions and negative ions and a performance enhancing additive added to the low temperature ionic liquid. The additive dissolves in the ionic liquid to form cations, which are coordinated with one or more negative ions forming ion complexes. The electrochemical cell also includes an air electrode configured to absorb and reduce oxygen. The ion complexes improve oxygen reduction thermodynamics and/or kinetics relative to the ionic liquid without the additive.

Modular space station phase B extension, preliminary system design. Volume 4: Subsystems analyses

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Antell, R. W.

1972-01-01

The subsystems tradeoffs, analyses, and preliminary design results are summarized. Analyses were made of the structural and mechanical, environmental control and life support, electrical power, guidance and control, reaction control, information, and crew habitability subsystems. For each subsystem a summary description is presented including subsystem requirements, subsystem description, and subsystem characteristics definition (physical, performance, and interface). The major preliminary design data and tradeoffs or analyses are described in detail at each of the assembly levels.

14 CFR 11.77 - Is there any additional information I must include in my petition for designating airspace?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

..., including a detailed description of the type, volume, duration, time, and place of the operations to be conducted in the area; (c) A description of the air navigation, air traffic control, surveillance, and...

14 CFR 11.77 - Is there any additional information I must include in my petition for designating airspace?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

..., including a detailed description of the type, volume, duration, time, and place of the operations to be conducted in the area; (c) A description of the air navigation, air traffic control, surveillance, and...

Gender differences in depression in representative national samples: Meta-analyses of diagnoses and symptoms.

PubMed

Salk, Rachel H; Hyde, Janet S; Abramson, Lyn Y

2017-08-01

In 2 meta-analyses on gender differences in depression in nationally representative samples, we advance previous work by including studies of depression diagnoses and symptoms to (a) estimate the magnitude of the gender difference in depression across a wide array of nations and ages; (b) use a developmental perspective to elucidate patterns of gender differences across the life span; and (c) incorporate additional theory-driven moderators (e.g., gender equity). For major depression diagnoses and depression symptoms, respectively, we meta-analyzed data from 65 and 95 articles and their corresponding national data sets, representing data from 1,716,195 and 1,922,064 people in over 90 different nations. Overall, odds ratio (OR) = 1.95, 95% confidence interval (CI) [1.88, 2.03], and d = 0.27 [0.26, 0.29]. Age was the strongest predictor of effect size. The gender difference for diagnoses emerged earlier than previously thought, with OR = 2.37 at age 12. For both meta-analyses, the gender difference peaked in adolescence (OR = 3.02 for ages 13-15, and d = 0.47 for age 16) but then declined and remained stable in adulthood. Cross-national analyses indicated that larger gender differences were found in nations with greater gender equity, for major depression, but not depression symptoms. The gender difference in depression represents a health disparity, especially in adolescence, yet the magnitude of the difference indicates that depression in men should not be overlooked. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

Advanced vehicle systems assessment. Volume 4: Supporting analyses

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hardy, K.

1985-01-01

Volume 4 (Supporting Analyses) is part of a five-volume report, Advanced Vehicle Systems Assessment. Thirty-nine individuals, knowledgeable in advanced technology, were interviewed to obtain their preferences. Rankings were calculated for the eight groups they represented, using multiplicative and additive utility models. The four topics for consideration were: (1) preferred range for various battery technologies; (2) preferred battery technology for each of a variety of travel ranges; (3) most promising battery technology, vehicle range combination; and (4) comparison of the most preferred electric vehicle with the methanol-fuled, spark-ignition engine vehicle and with the most preferred of the hybrid vehicles.

Including foreshocks and aftershocks in time-independent probabilistic seismic hazard analyses

USGS Publications Warehouse

Boyd, Oliver S.

2012-01-01

Time‐independent probabilistic seismic‐hazard analysis treats each source as being temporally and spatially independent; hence foreshocks and aftershocks, which are both spatially and temporally dependent on the mainshock, are removed from earthquake catalogs. Yet, intuitively, these earthquakes should be considered part of the seismic hazard, capable of producing damaging ground motions. In this study, I consider the mainshock and its dependents as a time‐independent cluster, each cluster being temporally and spatially independent from any other. The cluster has a recurrence time of the mainshock; and, by considering the earthquakes in the cluster as a union of events, dependent events have an opportunity to contribute to seismic ground motions and hazard. Based on the methods of the U.S. Geological Survey for a high‐hazard site, the inclusion of dependent events causes ground motions that are exceeded at probability levels of engineering interest to increase by about 10% but could be as high as 20% if variations in aftershock productivity can be accounted for reliably.

Operational Satellite-based Surface Oil Analyses (Invited)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Streett, D.; Warren, C.

2010-12-01

During the Deepwater Horizon spill, NOAA imagery analysts in the Satellite Analysis Branch (SAB) issued more than 300 near-real-time satellite-based oil spill analyses. These analyses were used by the oil spill response community for planning, issuing surface oil trajectories and tasking assets (e.g., oil containment booms, skimmers, overflights). SAB analysts used both Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) and high resolution visible/near IR multispectral satellite imagery as well as a variety of ancillary datasets. Satellite imagery used included ENVISAT ASAR (ESA), TerraSAR-X (DLR), Cosmo-Skymed (ASI), ALOS (JAXA), Radarsat (MDA), ENVISAT MERIS (ESA), SPOT (SPOT Image Corp.), Aster (NASA), MODIS (NASA), and AVHRR (NOAA). Ancillary datasets included ocean current information, wind information, location of natural oil seeps and a variety of in situ oil observations. The analyses were available as jpegs, pdfs, shapefiles and through Google, KML files and also available on a variety of websites including Geoplatform and ERMA. From the very first analysis issued just 5 hours after the rig sank through the final analysis issued in August, the complete archive is still publicly available on the NOAA/NESDIS website http://www.ssd.noaa.gov/PS/MPS/deepwater.html SAB personnel also served as the Deepwater Horizon International Disaster Charter Project Manager (at the official request of the USGS). The Project Manager’s primary responsibility was to acquire and oversee the processing and dissemination of satellite data generously donated by numerous private companies and nations in support of the oil spill response including some of the imagery described above. SAB has begun to address a number of goals that will improve our routine oil spill response as well as help assure that we are ready for the next spill of national significance. We hope to (1) secure a steady, abundant and timely stream of suitable satellite imagery even in the absence of large-scale emergencies such as

Novel Flow Cytometry Analyses of Boar Sperm Viability: Can the Addition of Whole Sperm-Rich Fraction Seminal Plasma to Frozen-Thawed Boar Sperm Affect It?

PubMed

Torres, Mariana Andrade; Díaz, Rommy; Boguen, Rodrigo; Martins, Simone Maria Massami Kitamura; Ravagnani, Gisele Mouro; Leal, Diego Feitosa; Oliveira, Melissa de Lima; Muro, Bruno Bracco Donatelli; Parra, Beatriz Martins; Meirelles, Flávio Vieira; Papa, Frederico Ozanan; Dell'Aqua, José Antônio; Alvarenga, Marco Antônio; Moretti, Aníbal de Sant'Anna; Sepúlveda, Néstor; de Andrade, André Furugen Cesar

2016-01-01

Boar semen cryopreservation remains a challenge due to the extension of cold shock damage. Thus, many alternatives have emerged to improve the quality of frozen-thawed boar sperm. Although the use of seminal plasma arising from boar sperm-rich fraction (SP-SRF) has shown good efficacy; however, the majority of actual sperm evaluation techniques include a single or dual sperm parameter analysis, which overrates the real sperm viability. Within this context, this work was performed to introduce a sperm flow cytometry fourfold stain technique for simultaneous evaluation of plasma and acrosomal membrane integrity and mitochondrial membrane potential. We then used the sperm flow cytometry fourfold stain technique to study the effect of SP-SRF on frozen-thawed boar sperm and further evaluated the effect of this treatment on sperm movement, tyrosine phosphorylation and fertility rate (FR). The sperm fourfold stain technique is accurate (R2 = 0.9356, p > 0.01) for simultaneous evaluation of plasma and acrosomal membrane integrity and mitochondrial membrane potential (IPIAH cells). Centrifugation pre-cryopreservation was not deleterious (p > 0.05) for any analyzed variables. Addition of SP-SRF after cryopreservation was able to improve total and progressive motility (p < 0.05) when boar semen was cryopreserved without SP-SRF; however, it was not able to decrease tyrosine phosphorylation (p > 0.05) or improve IPIAH cells (p > 0.05). FR was not (p > 0.05) statistically increased by the addition of seminal plasma, though females inseminated with frozen-thawed boar semen plus SP-SRF did perform better than those inseminated with sperm lacking seminal plasma. Thus, we conclude that sperm fourfold stain can be used to simultaneously evaluate plasma and acrosomal membrane integrity and mitochondrial membrane potential, and the addition of SP-SRF at thawed boar semen cryopreserved in absence of SP-SRF improve its total and progressive motility.

Novel Flow Cytometry Analyses of Boar Sperm Viability: Can the Addition of Whole Sperm-Rich Fraction Seminal Plasma to Frozen-Thawed Boar Sperm Affect It?

PubMed Central

Díaz, Rommy; Boguen, Rodrigo; Martins, Simone Maria Massami Kitamura; Ravagnani, Gisele Mouro; Leal, Diego Feitosa; Oliveira, Melissa de Lima; Muro, Bruno Bracco Donatelli; Parra, Beatriz Martins; Meirelles, Flávio Vieira; Papa, Frederico Ozanan; Dell’Aqua, José Antônio; Alvarenga, Marco Antônio; Moretti, Aníbal de Sant’Anna; Sepúlveda, Néstor

2016-01-01

Boar semen cryopreservation remains a challenge due to the extension of cold shock damage. Thus, many alternatives have emerged to improve the quality of frozen-thawed boar sperm. Although the use of seminal plasma arising from boar sperm-rich fraction (SP-SRF) has shown good efficacy; however, the majority of actual sperm evaluation techniques include a single or dual sperm parameter analysis, which overrates the real sperm viability. Within this context, this work was performed to introduce a sperm flow cytometry fourfold stain technique for simultaneous evaluation of plasma and acrosomal membrane integrity and mitochondrial membrane potential. We then used the sperm flow cytometry fourfold stain technique to study the effect of SP-SRF on frozen-thawed boar sperm and further evaluated the effect of this treatment on sperm movement, tyrosine phosphorylation and fertility rate (FR). The sperm fourfold stain technique is accurate (R2 = 0.9356, p > 0.01) for simultaneous evaluation of plasma and acrosomal membrane integrity and mitochondrial membrane potential (IPIAH cells). Centrifugation pre-cryopreservation was not deleterious (p > 0.05) for any analyzed variables. Addition of SP-SRF after cryopreservation was able to improve total and progressive motility (p < 0.05) when boar semen was cryopreserved without SP-SRF; however, it was not able to decrease tyrosine phosphorylation (p > 0.05) or improve IPIAH cells (p > 0.05). FR was not (p > 0.05) statistically increased by the addition of seminal plasma, though females inseminated with frozen-thawed boar semen plus SP-SRF did perform better than those inseminated with sperm lacking seminal plasma. Thus, we conclude that sperm fourfold stain can be used to simultaneously evaluate plasma and acrosomal membrane integrity and mitochondrial membrane potential, and the addition of SP-SRF at thawed boar semen cryopreserved in absence of SP-SRF improve its total and progressive motility. PMID:27529819

Inelastic and Dynamic Fracture and Stress Analyses

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Atluri, S. N.

1984-01-01

Large deformation inelastic stress analysis and inelastic and dynamic crack propagation research work is summarized. The salient topics of interest in engine structure analysis that are discussed herein include: (1) a path-independent integral (T) in inelastic fracture mechanics, (2) analysis of dynamic crack propagation, (3) generalization of constitutive relations of inelasticity for finite deformations , (4) complementary energy approaches in inelastic analyses, and (5) objectivity of time integration schemes in inelastic stress analysis.

Kinetic analyses of vasculogenesis inform mechanistic studies

PubMed Central

Winfree, Seth; Chu, Chenghao; Tu, Wanzhu; Blue, Emily K.; Gohn, Cassandra R.; Dunn, Kenneth W.

2017-01-01

Vasculogenesis is a complex process by which endothelial stem and progenitor cells undergo de novo vessel formation. Quantitative assessment of vasculogenesis is a central readout of endothelial progenitor cell functionality. However, current assays lack kinetic measurements. To address this issue, new approaches were developed to quantitatively assess in vitro endothelial colony-forming cell (ECFC) network formation in real time. Eight parameters of network structure were quantified using novel Kinetic Analysis of Vasculogenesis (KAV) software. KAV assessment of structure complexity identified two phases of network formation. This observation guided the development of additional vasculogenic readouts. A tissue cytometry approach was established to quantify the frequency and localization of dividing ECFCs. Additionally, Fiji TrackMate was used to quantify ECFC displacement and speed at the single-cell level during network formation. These novel approaches were then implemented to identify how intrauterine exposure to maternal diabetes mellitus (DM) impairs fetal ECFC vasculogenesis. Fetal ECFCs exposed to maternal DM form fewer initial network structures, which are not stable over time. Correlation analyses demonstrated that ECFC samples with greater division in branches form fewer closed network structures. Additionally, reductions in average ECFC movement over time decrease structural connectivity. Identification of these novel phenotypes utilizing the newly established methodologies provides evidence for the cellular mechanisms contributing to aberrant ECFC vasculogenesis. PMID:28100488

Elemental abundance analyses with Complejo Astronomico El Leoncito REOSC echelle spectrograms. IV. Extensions of nine previous analyses

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Adelman, S. J.; Pintado, O. I.

2000-02-01

Using new CASLEO echelle spectrograms, we extended our elemental abundances of the sharp-lined Mercury-Manganese stars mu Lep, 14 Hya, kappa Cnc, HR 4487, HR 4817, 28 Her, and HR 7245, the closely related star 3 Cen A, and 7 Sex an A0 V star with Population I abundances, but with Population II star space motions. The lambda lambda 4500-6200 region contains a sufficient number of lines to derive high-quality abundances of these stars. For most stars, the new spectra provide additional lines for the analyses which improve their quality as well as help fill in the periodic table. Table~5 is only available in electronic form at the CDS via anonymous ftp to cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr(130.79.128.5) or via http://cdsweb.u-strabg.fr/Abstract.html}

Comparative Genome Analyses of Serratia marcescens FS14 Reveals Its High Antagonistic Potential

PubMed Central

Li, Pengpeng; Kwok, Amy H. Y.; Jiang, Jingwei; Ran, Tingting; Xu, Dongqing; Wang, Weiwu; Leung, Frederick C.

2015-01-01

S. marcescens FS14 was isolated from an Atractylodes macrocephala Koidz plant that was infected by Fusarium oxysporum and showed symptoms of root rot. With the completion of the genome sequence of FS14, the first comprehensive comparative-genomic analysis of the Serratia genus was performed. Pan-genome and COG analyses showed that the majority of the conserved core genes are involved in basic cellular functions, while genomic factors such as prophages contribute considerably to genome diversity. Additionally, a Type I restriction-modification system, a Type III secretion system and tellurium resistance genes are found in only some Serratia species. Comparative analysis further identified that S. marcescens FS14 possesses multiple mechanisms for antagonism against other microorganisms, including the production of prodigiosin, bacteriocins, and multi-antibiotic resistant determinants as well as chitinases. The presence of two evolutionarily distinct Type VI secretion systems (T6SSs) in FS14 may provide further competitive advantages for FS14 against other microbes. To our knowledge, this is the first report of comparative analysis on T6SSs in the genus, which identifies four types of T6SSs in Serratia spp.. Competition bioassays of FS14 against the vital plant pathogenic bacterium Ralstonia solanacearum and fungi Fusarium oxysporum and Sclerotinia sclerotiorum were performed to support our genomic analyses, in which FS14 demonstrated high antagonistic activities against both bacterial and fungal phytopathogens. PMID:25856195

Electrochemical (Bio) Sensors for Environmental and Food Analyses.

PubMed

Honeychurch, Kevin C; Piano, Martina

2018-06-22

In recent years, great progress has been made in the development of sensors and biosensors to meet the demands of environmental and food analysis. In this Special Issue, the state of art and the future trends in the field of environmental and food analyses have been explored. A total of seven papers (three research and four review papers) are included. These are focused on the fabrication and detection of contaminates such as heavy metals, pesticides and food components, including uric acid and 3-hydroxybutyrate. Included in this Issue is a paper dedicated to the experimental determination of the electroactive area of screen-printed electrodes, an important parameter in the development of such sensors.

Effects of Including Misidentified Sharks in Life History Analyses: A Case Study on the Grey Reef Shark Carcharhinus amblyrhynchos from Papua New Guinea.

PubMed

Smart, Jonathan J; Chin, Andrew; Baje, Leontine; Green, Madeline E; Appleyard, Sharon A; Tobin, Andrew J; Simpfendorfer, Colin A; White, William T

2016-01-01

Fisheries observer programs are used around the world to collect crucial information and samples that inform fisheries management. However, observer error may misidentify similar-looking shark species. This raises questions about the level of error that species misidentifications could introduce to estimates of species' life history parameters. This study addressed these questions using the Grey Reef Shark Carcharhinus amblyrhynchos as a case study. Observer misidentification rates were quantified by validating species identifications using diagnostic photographs taken on board supplemented with DNA barcoding. Length-at-age and maturity ogive analyses were then estimated and compared with and without the misidentified individuals. Vertebrae were retained from a total of 155 sharks identified by observers as C. amblyrhynchos. However, 22 (14%) of these were sharks were misidentified by the observers and were subsequently re-identified based on photographs and/or DNA barcoding. Of the 22 individuals misidentified as C. amblyrhynchos, 16 (73%) were detected using photographs and a further 6 via genetic validation. If misidentified individuals had been included, substantial error would have been introduced to both the length-at-age and the maturity estimates. Thus validating the species identification, increased the accuracy of estimated life history parameters for C. amblyrhynchos. From the corrected sample a multi-model inference approach was used to estimate growth for C. amblyrhynchos using three candidate models. The model averaged length-at-age parameters for C. amblyrhynchos with the sexes combined were L∞ = 159 cm TL and L0 = 72 cm TL. Females mature at a greater length (l50 = 136 cm TL) and older age (A50 = 9.1 years) than males (l50 = 123 cm TL; A50 = 5.9 years). The inclusion of techniques to reduce misidentification in observer programs will improve the results of life history studies and ultimately improve management through the use of more accurate data

Effects of Including Misidentified Sharks in Life History Analyses: A Case Study on the Grey Reef Shark Carcharhinus amblyrhynchos from Papua New Guinea

PubMed Central

Smart, Jonathan J.; Chin, Andrew; Baje, Leontine; Green, Madeline E.; Appleyard, Sharon A.; Tobin, Andrew J.; Simpfendorfer, Colin A.; White, William T.

2016-01-01

Fisheries observer programs are used around the world to collect crucial information and samples that inform fisheries management. However, observer error may misidentify similar-looking shark species. This raises questions about the level of error that species misidentifications could introduce to estimates of species’ life history parameters. This study addressed these questions using the Grey Reef Shark Carcharhinus amblyrhynchos as a case study. Observer misidentification rates were quantified by validating species identifications using diagnostic photographs taken on board supplemented with DNA barcoding. Length-at-age and maturity ogive analyses were then estimated and compared with and without the misidentified individuals. Vertebrae were retained from a total of 155 sharks identified by observers as C. amblyrhynchos. However, 22 (14%) of these were sharks were misidentified by the observers and were subsequently re-identified based on photographs and/or DNA barcoding. Of the 22 individuals misidentified as C. amblyrhynchos, 16 (73%) were detected using photographs and a further 6 via genetic validation. If misidentified individuals had been included, substantial error would have been introduced to both the length-at-age and the maturity estimates. Thus validating the species identification, increased the accuracy of estimated life history parameters for C. amblyrhynchos. From the corrected sample a multi-model inference approach was used to estimate growth for C. amblyrhynchos using three candidate models. The model averaged length-at-age parameters for C. amblyrhynchos with the sexes combined were  L¯∞ = 159 cm TL and  L¯0 = 72 cm TL. Females mature at a greater length (l50 = 136 cm TL) and older age (A50 = 9.1 years) than males (l50 = 123 cm TL; A50 = 5.9 years). The inclusion of techniques to reduce misidentification in observer programs will improve the results of life history studies and ultimately improve management through the use of more

Meta-analyses of HFE variants in coronary heart disease.

PubMed

Lian, Jiangfang; Xu, Limin; Huang, Yi; Le, Yanping; Jiang, Danjie; Yang, Xi; Xu, Weifeng; Huang, Xiaoyan; Dong, Changzheng; Ye, Meng; Zhou, Jianqing; Duan, Shiwei

2013-09-15

HFE gene variants can cause hereditary hemochromatosis (HH) that often comes along with an increased risk of coronary heart disease (CHD). The goal of our study is to assess the contribution of four HFE gene variants to the risk of CHD. We conducted four meta-analyses of the studies examining the association between four HFE gene variants and the risk of CHD. A systematic search was conducted using MEDLINE, EMBASE, Web of Science and China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), Wanfang Chinese Periodical. Meta-analyses showed that HFE rs1799945-G allele was associated with a 6% increased risk of CHD (P=0.02, odds ratio (OR)=1.06, 95% confidence interval (CI)=1.01-1.11). However, no association between the other three HFE gene variants (rs1800562, rs1800730, and rs9366637) and CHD risk was observed by the meta-analyses (all P values>0.05). In addition, the results of our case-control study indicated that rs1800562 and rs1800730 were monomorphic, and that rs1799945 and rs9366637 were not associated with CHD in Han Chinese. Our meta-analysis suggested that a significant association existed between rs1799945 mutation and CHD, although this mutation was rare in Han Chinese. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Multidisciplinary Geo-scientific Hazard Analyses: Istanbul Microzonation Projects

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kara, Sema; Baş, Mahmut; Kılıç, Osman; Tarih, Ahmet; Yahya Menteşe, Emin; Duran, Kemal

2017-04-01

Istanbul (Turkey) is located on the west edge of North Anatolia Fault and hence is an earthquake prone city with a population that exceeds 15 million people. In addition, the city is still growing as center of commerce, tourism and culture that increases the exposure more and more. During the last decade, although Istanbul grew faster than ever in its history, precautions against a possible earthquake have also increased steadily. The two big earthquakes (in Kocaeli and Duzce Provinces) occurred in 1999 alongside Istanbul and these events became the trigger events that accelerated the disaster risk reduction activities in Istanbul. Following a loss estimation study carried out by Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA) in 2001 and Istanbul Earthquake Master Plan prepared by four major universities' researchers in 2003; it was evaluated that understanding and analyzing the geological structure in Istanbul was the main concern. Thereafter Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality's Directorate of Earthquake and Ground Research (DEGRE) carried out two major geo-scientific studies called "microzonation studies" covering 650 km2 of Istanbul's urbanized areas between 2006 and 2009. The studies were called "microzonation" because the analysis resolution was as dense as 250m grids and included various assessments on hazards such as ground shaking, liquefaction, karstification, landslide, flooding, and surface faulting. After the evaluation of geological, geotechnical and geophysical measurements; Earthquake and Tsunami Hazard Maps for all Istanbul, slope, engineering geology, ground water level, faulting, ground shaking, inundation, shear wave velocity and soil classification maps for the project areas were obtained. In the end "Land Suitability Maps" are derived from the combination of inputs using multi-hazard approach. As a result, microzonation is tool for risk oriented urban planning; consisting of interdisciplinary multi-hazard risk analyses. The outputs of

Variation of facial features among three African populations: Body height match analyses.

PubMed

Taura, M G; Adamu, L H; Gudaji, A

2017-01-01

Body height is one of the variables that show a correlation with facial craniometry. Here we seek to discriminate the three populations (Nigerians, Ugandans and Kenyans) using facial craniometry based on different categories of body height of adult males. A total of 513 individuals comprising 234 Nigerians, 169 Ugandans and 110 Kenyans with mean age of 25.27, s=5.13 (18-40 years) participated. Paired and unpaired facial features were measured using direct craniometry. Multivariate and stepwise discriminate function analyses were used for differentiation of the three populations. The result showed significant overall facial differences among the three populations in all the body height categories. Skull height, total facial height, outer canthal distance, exophthalmometry, right ear width and nasal length were significantly different among the three different populations irrespective of body height categories. Other variables were sensitive to body height. Stepwise discriminant function analyses included maximum of six variables for better discrimination between the three populations. The single best discriminator of the groups was total facial height, however, for body height >1.70m the single best discriminator was nasal length. Most of the variables were better used with function 1, hence, better discrimination than function 2. In conclusion, adult body height in addition to other factors such as age, sex, and ethnicity should be considered in making decision on facial craniometry. However, not all the facial linear dimensions were sensitive to body height. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.

Subgroup analyses in confirmatory clinical trials: time to be specific about their purposes.

PubMed

Tanniou, Julien; van der Tweel, Ingeborg; Teerenstra, Steven; Roes, Kit C B

2016-02-18

It is well recognized that treatment effects may not be homogeneous across the study population. Subgroup analyses constitute a fundamental step in the assessment of evidence from confirmatory (Phase III) clinical trials, where conclusions for the overall study population might not hold. Subgroup analyses can have different and distinct purposes, requiring specific design and analysis solutions. It is relevant to evaluate methodological developments in subgroup analyses against these purposes to guide health care professionals and regulators as well as to identify gaps in current methodology. We defined four purposes for subgroup analyses: (1) Investigate the consistency of treatment effects across subgroups of clinical importance, (2) Explore the treatment effect across different subgroups within an overall non-significant trial, (3) Evaluate safety profiles limited to one or a few subgroup(s), (4) Establish efficacy in the targeted subgroup when included in a confirmatory testing strategy of a single trial. We reviewed the methodology in line with this "purpose-based" framework. The review covered papers published between January 2005 and April 2015 and aimed to classify them in none, one or more of the aforementioned purposes. In total 1857 potentially eligible papers were identified. Forty-eight papers were selected and 20 additional relevant papers were identified from their references, leading to 68 papers in total. Nineteen were dedicated to purpose 1, 16 to purpose 4, one to purpose 2 and none to purpose 3. Seven papers were dedicated to more than one purpose, the 25 remaining could not be classified unambiguously. Purposes of the methods were often not specifically indicated, methods for subgroup analysis for safety purposes were almost absent and a multitude of diverse methods were developed for purpose (1). It is important that researchers developing methodology for subgroup analysis explicitly clarify the objectives of their methods in terms that can be

Additive and Interactive Effects on Response Time Distributions in Visual Word Recognition

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yap, Melvin J.; Balota, David A.

2007-01-01

Across 3 different word recognition tasks, distributional analyses were used to examine the joint effects of stimulus quality and word frequency on underlying response time distributions. Consistent with the extant literature, stimulus quality and word frequency produced additive effects in lexical decision, not only in the means but also in the…

Transportation systems analyses. Volume 2: Technical/programmatics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

1993-05-01

The principal objective of this study is to accomplish a systems engineering assessment of the nation's space transportation infrastructure. This analysis addresses the necessary elements to perform man delivery and return, cargo transfer, cargo delivery, payload servicing, and the exploration of the Moon and Mars. Specific elements analyzed, but not limited to, include the Space Exploration Initiative (SEI), the National Launch System (NLS), the current expendable launch vehicle (ELV) fleet, ground facilities, the Space Station Freedom (SSF), and other civil, military and commercial payloads. The performance of this study entails maintaining a broad perspective on the large number of transportation elements that could potentially comprise the U.S. space infrastructure over the next several decades. To perform this systems evaluation, top-level trade studies are conducted to enhance our understanding of the relationships between elements of the infrastructure. This broad 'infrastructure-level perspective' permits the identification of preferred infrastructures. Sensitivity analyses are performed to assure the credibility and usefulness of study results. This report documents the three principal transportation systems analyses (TSA) efforts during the period 7 November 92 - 6 May 93. The analyses are as follows: Mixed-Fleet (STS/ELV) strategies for SSF resupply; Transportation Systems Data Book - overview; and Operations Cost Model - overview/introduction.

Residual Stresses and Critical Initial Flaw Size Analyses of Welds

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Brust, Frederick W.; Raju, Ivatury, S.; Dawocke, David S.; Cheston, Derrick

2009-01-01

An independent assessment was conducted to determine the critical initial flaw size (CIFS) for the flange-to-skin weld in the Ares I-X Upper Stage Simulator (USS). A series of weld analyses are performed to determine the residual stresses in a critical region of the USS. Weld residual stresses both increase constraint and mean stress thereby having an important effect on the fatigue life. The purpose of the weld analyses was to model the weld process using a variety of sequences to determine the 'best' sequence in terms of weld residual stresses and distortions. The many factors examined in this study include weld design (single-V, double-V groove), weld sequence, boundary conditions, and material properties, among others. The results of this weld analysis are included with service loads to perform a fatigue and critical initial flaw size evaluation.

Effect of Hypoeutectic Boron Additions on the Grain Size and Mechanical Properties of Ti-6Al-4V Manufactured with Powder Bed Electron Beam Additive Manufacturing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mahbooba, Zaynab; West, Harvey; Harrysson, Ola; Wojcieszynski, Andrzej; Dehoff, Ryan; Nandwana, Peeyush; Horn, Timothy

2017-03-01

In additive manufacturing, microstructural control is feasible via processing parameter alteration. However, the window for parameter variation for certain materials, such as Ti-6Al-4V, is limited, and alternative methods must be employed to customize microstructures. Grain refinement and homogenization in cast titanium alloys has been demonstrated through the addition of hypoeutectic concentrations of boron. This work explores the influence of 0.00 wt.%, 0.25 wt.%, 0.50 wt.%, and 1.0 wt.% boron additions on the microstructure and bulk mechanical properties of Ti-6Al-4V samples fabricated in an Arcam A2 electron beam melting (EBM) system with commercial processing parameters for Ti-6Al-4V. Analyses of EBM fabricated Ti-6Al-4V + B indicate that the addition of 0.25-1.0 wt.% boron progressively refines the grain structure, and it improves hardness and elastic modulus. Despite a reduction in size, the β grain structure remained columnar as a result of directional heat transfer during EBM fabrication.

How individual participant data meta-analyses have influenced trial design, conduct, and analysis.

PubMed

Tierney, Jayne F; Pignon, Jean-Pierre; Gueffyier, Francois; Clarke, Mike; Askie, Lisa; Vale, Claire L; Burdett, Sarah

2015-11-01

To demonstrate how individual participant data (IPD) meta-analyses have impacted directly on the design and conduct of trials and highlight other advantages IPD might offer. Potential examples of the impact of IPD meta-analyses on trials were identified at an international workshop, attended by individuals with experience in the conduct of IPD meta-analyses and knowledge of trials in their respective clinical areas. Experts in the field who did not attend were asked to provide any further examples. We then examined relevant trial protocols, publications, and Web sites to verify the impacts of the IPD meta-analyses. A subgroup of workshop attendees sought further examples and identified other aspects of trial design and conduct that may inform IPD meta-analyses. We identified 52 examples of IPD meta-analyses thought to have had a direct impact on the design or conduct of trials. After screening relevant trial protocols and publications, we identified 28 instances where IPD meta-analyses had clearly impacted on trials. They have influenced the selection of comparators and participants, sample size calculations, analysis and interpretation of subsequent trials, and the conduct and analysis of ongoing trials, sometimes in ways that would not possible with systematic reviews of aggregate data. We identified additional potential ways that IPD meta-analyses could be used to influence trials. IPD meta-analysis could be better used to inform the design, conduct, analysis, and interpretation of trials. Crown Copyright © 2015. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

How individual participant data meta-analyses have influenced trial design, conduct, and analysis

PubMed Central

Tierney, Jayne F.; Pignon, Jean-Pierre; Gueffyier, Francois; Clarke, Mike; Askie, Lisa; Vale, Claire L.; Burdett, Sarah; Alderson, P.; Askie, L.; Bennett, D.; Burdett, S.; Clarke, M.; Dias, S.; Emberson, J.; Gueyffier, F.; Iorio, A.; Macleod, M.; Mol, B.W.; Moons, C.; Parmar, M.; Perera, R.; Phillips, R.; Pignon, J.P.; Rees, J.; Reitsma, H.; Riley, R.; Rovers, M.; Rydzewska, L.; Schmid, C.; Shepperd, S.; Stenning, S.; Stewart, L.; Tierney, J.; Tudur Smith, C.; Vale, C.; Welge, J.; White, I.; Whiteley, W.

2015-01-01

Objectives To demonstrate how individual participant data (IPD) meta-analyses have impacted directly on the design and conduct of trials and highlight other advantages IPD might offer. Study Design and Setting Potential examples of the impact of IPD meta-analyses on trials were identified at an international workshop, attended by individuals with experience in the conduct of IPD meta-analyses and knowledge of trials in their respective clinical areas. Experts in the field who did not attend were asked to provide any further examples. We then examined relevant trial protocols, publications, and Web sites to verify the impacts of the IPD meta-analyses. A subgroup of workshop attendees sought further examples and identified other aspects of trial design and conduct that may inform IPD meta-analyses. Results We identified 52 examples of IPD meta-analyses thought to have had a direct impact on the design or conduct of trials. After screening relevant trial protocols and publications, we identified 28 instances where IPD meta-analyses had clearly impacted on trials. They have influenced the selection of comparators and participants, sample size calculations, analysis and interpretation of subsequent trials, and the conduct and analysis of ongoing trials, sometimes in ways that would not possible with systematic reviews of aggregate data. We identified additional potential ways that IPD meta-analyses could be used to influence trials. Conclusions IPD meta-analysis could be better used to inform the design, conduct, analysis, and interpretation of trials. PMID:26186982

On Deviations between Observed and Theoretically Estimated Values on Additivity-Law Failures

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nayatani, Yoshinobu; Sobagaki, Hiroaki

The authors have reported in the previous studies that the average observed results are about a half of the corresponding predictions on the experiments with large additivity-law failures. One of the reasons of the deviations is studied and clarified by using the original observed data on additivity-law failures in the Nakano experiment. The conclusion from the observations and their analyses clarified that it was essentially difficult to have a good agreement between the average observed results and the corresponding theoretical predictions in the experiments with large additivity-law failures. This is caused by a kind of unavoidable psychological pressure existing in subjects participated in the experiments. We should be satisfied with the agreement in trend between them.

Active mineral additives of sapropel ashes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Khomich, V. A.; Danilina, E. V.; Krivonos, O. I.; Plaksin, G. V.

2015-01-01

The goal of the presented research is to establish a scientific rational for the possibility of sapropel ashes usage as an active mineral additive. The research included the study of producing active mineral additives from sapropels by their thermal treatment at 850900 °C and afterpowdering, the investigation of the properties of paste matrix with an ash additive, and the study of the ash influence on the cement bonding agent. Thermogravimetric analysis and X-ray investigations allowed us to establish that while burning, organic substances are removed, clay minerals are dehydrated and their structure is broken. Sapropel ashes chemical composition was determined. An amorphous ash constituent is mainly formed from silica of the mineral sapropel part and alumosilicagels resulted from clay minerals decomposition. Properties of PC 400 and PC 500A0 sparopel ash additives were studied. Adding ashes containing Glenium plasticizer to the cement increases paste matrix strength and considerably reduces its water absorption. X-ray phase analysis data shows changes in the phase composition of the paste matrix with an ash additive. Ash additives produce a pozzolanic effect on the cement bonding agent. Besides, an ash additive due to the alumosilicagels content causes transformation from unstable calcium aluminate forms to the stable ones.

Compositional and expression analyses of the glideosome during the Plasmodium life cycle reveal an additional myosin light chain required for maximum motility.

PubMed

Green, Judith L; Wall, Richard J; Vahokoski, Juha; Yusuf, Noor A; Ridzuan, Mohd A Mohd; Stanway, Rebecca R; Stock, Jessica; Knuepfer, Ellen; Brady, Declan; Martin, Stephen R; Howell, Steven A; Pires, Isa P; Moon, Robert W; Molloy, Justin E; Kursula, Inari; Tewari, Rita; Holder, Anthony A

2017-10-27

Myosin A (MyoA) is a Class XIV myosin implicated in gliding motility and host cell and tissue invasion by malaria parasites. MyoA is part of a membrane-associated protein complex called the glideosome, which is essential for parasite motility and includes the MyoA light chain myosin tail domain-interacting protein (MTIP) and several glideosome-associated proteins (GAPs). However, most studies of MyoA have focused on single stages of the parasite life cycle. We examined MyoA expression throughout the Plasmodium berghei life cycle in both mammalian and insect hosts. In extracellular ookinetes, sporozoites, and merozoites, MyoA was located at the parasite periphery. In the sexual stages, zygote formation and initial ookinete differentiation precede MyoA synthesis and deposition, which occurred only in the developing protuberance. In developing intracellular asexual blood stages, MyoA was synthesized in mature schizonts and was located at the periphery of segmenting merozoites, where it remained throughout maturation, merozoite egress, and host cell invasion. Besides the known GAPs in the malaria parasite, the complex included GAP40, an additional myosin light chain designated essential light chain (ELC), and several other candidate components. This ELC bound the MyoA neck region adjacent to the MTIP-binding site, and both myosin light chains co-located to the glideosome. Co-expression of MyoA with its two light chains revealed that the presence of both light chains enhances MyoA-dependent actin motility. In conclusion, we have established a system to study the interplay and function of the three glideosome components, enabling the assessment of inhibitors that target this motor complex to block host cell invasion. © 2017 by The American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Inc.

Multi-orifice deposition nozzle for additive manufacturing

DOEpatents

Lind, Randall F.; Post, Brian K.; Cini, Colin L.

2017-11-21

An additive manufacturing extrusion head includes a nozzle for accepting and depositing a heated material onto a work surface and/or part. The nozzle includes a valve body and an internal poppet body moveable between positions to permit deposition of at least two bead sizes of heated material onto a work surface and/or part.

Additive effects of plant sterols supplementation in addition to different lipid-lowering regimens.

PubMed

Malina, Daniela M T; Fonseca, Francisco A; Barbosa, Sílvio A; Kasmas, Soraia H; Machado, Valéria A; França, Carolina N; Borges, Ney C; Moreno, Ronilson A; Izar, Maria C

2015-01-01

Plant sterol (PS) supplementation has been widely used alone or combined with lipid-lowering therapies (LLTs) to reduce low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol. The effects of PS added to high-intensity LLT are less reported, especially regarding the effects on cholesterol synthesis and absorption. A prospective, randomized, open-label study, with parallel arms and blinded end points was designed to evaluate the effects of addition of PS to LLT on LDL cholesterol, markers of cholesterol synthesis, and absorption. Eighty-six patients of both genders were submitted to a 4-wk run-in period with atorvastatin 10 mg (baseline). Following, subjects received atorvastatin 40 mg, ezetimibe 10 mg, or combination of both drugs for another 4-wk period (phase I). In phase II, capsules containing 2.0 g of PSs were added to previous assigned treatments for 4 wk. Lipids, apolipoproteins, plasma campesterol, β-sitosterol, and desmosterol levels were assayed at all time points. Within and between-group analyses were performed. Compared with baseline, atorvastatin 40 mg reduced total and LDL cholesterol (3% and 22%, respectively, P < .05), increased β-sitosterol, campesterol/cholesterol, and β-sitosterol/cholesterol ratios (39%, 47%, and 32%, respectively, P < .05); ezetimibe 10 mg reduced campesterol and campesterol/cholesterol ratio (67% and 70%, respectively, P < .05), and the combined therapy decreased total and LDL cholesterol (22% and 38%, respectively, P < .05), campesterol, β-sitosterol, and campesterol/cholesterol ratio (54%, 40%, and 27%, P < .05). Addition of PS further reduced total and LDL cholesterol by ∼ 7.7 and 6.5%, respectively, in the atorvastatin therapy group and 5.0 and 4.0% in the combined therapy group (P < .05, for all), with no further effects in absorption or synthesis markers. PS added to LLT can further improve lipid profile, without additional effects on intestinal sterol absorption or synthesis. Copyright © 2015 National Lipid Association

QuickRNASeq lifts large-scale RNA-seq data analyses to the next level of automation and interactive visualization.

PubMed

Zhao, Shanrong; Xi, Li; Quan, Jie; Xi, Hualin; Zhang, Ying; von Schack, David; Vincent, Michael; Zhang, Baohong

2016-01-08

RNA sequencing (RNA-seq), a next-generation sequencing technique for transcriptome profiling, is being increasingly used, in part driven by the decreasing cost of sequencing. Nevertheless, the analysis of the massive amounts of data generated by large-scale RNA-seq remains a challenge. Multiple algorithms pertinent to basic analyses have been developed, and there is an increasing need to automate the use of these tools so as to obtain results in an efficient and user friendly manner. Increased automation and improved visualization of the results will help make the results and findings of the analyses readily available to experimental scientists. By combing the best open source tools developed for RNA-seq data analyses and the most advanced web 2.0 technologies, we have implemented QuickRNASeq, a pipeline for large-scale RNA-seq data analyses and visualization. The QuickRNASeq workflow consists of three main steps. In Step #1, each individual sample is processed, including mapping RNA-seq reads to a reference genome, counting the numbers of mapped reads, quality control of the aligned reads, and SNP (single nucleotide polymorphism) calling. Step #1 is computationally intensive, and can be processed in parallel. In Step #2, the results from individual samples are merged, and an integrated and interactive project report is generated. All analyses results in the report are accessible via a single HTML entry webpage. Step #3 is the data interpretation and presentation step. The rich visualization features implemented here allow end users to interactively explore the results of RNA-seq data analyses, and to gain more insights into RNA-seq datasets. In addition, we used a real world dataset to demonstrate the simplicity and efficiency of QuickRNASeq in RNA-seq data analyses and interactive visualizations. The seamless integration of automated capabilites with interactive visualizations in QuickRNASeq is not available in other published RNA-seq pipelines. The high degree

Materials Characterization of Additively Manufactured Components for Rocket Propulsion

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Carter, Robert; Draper, Susan; Locci, Ivan; Lerch, Bradley; Ellis, David; Senick, Paul; Meyer, Michael; Free, James; Cooper, Ken; Jones, Zachary

2015-01-01

To advance Additive Manufacturing (AM) technologies for production of rocket propulsion components the NASA Glenn Research Center (GRC) is applying state of the art characterization techniques to interrogate microstructure and mechanical properties of AM materials and components at various steps in their processing. The materials being investigated for upper stage rocket engines include titanium, copper, and nickel alloys. Additive manufacturing processes include laser powder bed, electron beam powder bed, and electron beam wire fed processes. Various post build thermal treatments, including Hot Isostatic Pressure (HIP), have been studied to understand their influence on microstructure, mechanical properties, and build density. Micro-computed tomography, electron microscopy, and mechanical testing in relevant temperature environments has been performed to develop relationships between build quality, microstructure, and mechanical performance at temperature. A summary of GRC's Additive Manufacturing roles and experimental findings will be presented.

Material Characterization of Additively Manufactured Components for Rocket Propulsion

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Carter, Robert; Draper, Susan; Locci, Ivan; Lerch, Bradley; Ellis, David; Senick, Paul; Meyer, Michael; Free, James; Cooper, Ken; Jones, Zachary

2015-01-01

To advance Additive Manufacturing (AM) technologies for production of rocket propulsion components the NASA Glenn Research Center (GRC) is applying state of the art characterization techniques to interrogate microstructure and mechanical properties of AM materials and components at various steps in their processing. The materials being investigated for upper stage rocket engines include titanium, copper, and nickel alloys. Additive manufacturing processes include laser powder bed, electron beam powder bed, and electron beam wire fed processes. Various post build thermal treatments, including Hot Isostatic Pressure (HIP), have been studied to understand their influence on microstructure, mechanical properties, and build density. Micro-computed tomography, electron microscopy, and mechanical testing in relevant temperature environments has been performed to develop relationships between build quality, microstructure, and mechanical performance at temperature. A summary of GRCs Additive Manufacturing roles and experimental findings will be presented.

Effectiveness of acupuncture for cancer pain: protocol for an umbrella review and meta-analyses of controlled trials

PubMed Central

He, Yihan; Liu, Yihong; May, Brian H; Zhang, Anthony Lin; Zhang, Haibo; Lu, ChuanJian; Yang, Lihong; Guo, Xinfeng; Xue, Charlie Changli

2017-01-01

Introduction The National Comprehensive Cancer Network guidelines for adult cancer pain indicate that acupuncture and related therapies may be valuable additions to pharmacological interventions for pain management. Of the systematic reviews related to this topic, some concluded that acupuncture was promising for alleviating cancer pain, while others argued that the evidence was insufficient to support its effectiveness. Methods and analysis This review will consist of three components: (1) synthesis of findings from existing systematic reviews; (2) updated meta-analyses of randomised clinical trials and (3) analyses of results of other types of clinical studies. We will search six English and four Chinese biomedical databases, dissertations and grey literature to identify systematic reviews and primary clinical studies. Two reviewers will screen results of the literature searches independently to identify included reviews and studies. Data from included articles will be abstracted for assessment, analysis and summary. Two assessors will appraise the quality of systematic reviews using Assessment of Multiple Systematic Reviews; assess the randomised controlled trials using the Cochrane Collaboration’s risk of bias tool and other types of studies according to the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale. We will use ‘summary of evidence’ tables to present evidence from existing systematic reviews and meta-analyses. Using the primary clinical studies, we will conduct meta-analysis for each outcome, by grouping studies based on the type of acupuncture, the comparator and the specific type of pain. Sensitivity analyses are planned according to clinical factors, acupuncture method, methodological characteristics and presence of statistical heterogeneity as applicable. For the non-randomised studies, we will tabulate the characteristics, outcome measures and the reported results of each study. Consistencies and inconsistencies in evidence will be investigated and discussed. Finally

78 FR 56695 - Proposed Listing of Additional Waters To Be Included on Indiana's 2010 List of Impaired Waters...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-09-13

... for its notice which announces the availability of EPA's proposed decision identifying water quality limited segments and associated pollutants in Indiana to be listed pursuant to the Clean Water Act Section... Be Included on Indiana's 2010 List of Impaired Waters Under the Clean Water Act AGENCY: Environmental...

Predictive distributions were developed for the extent of heterogeneity in meta-analyses of continuous outcome data.

PubMed

Rhodes, Kirsty M; Turner, Rebecca M; Higgins, Julian P T

2015-01-01

Estimation of between-study heterogeneity is problematic in small meta-analyses. Bayesian meta-analysis is beneficial because it allows incorporation of external evidence on heterogeneity. To facilitate this, we provide empirical evidence on the likely heterogeneity between studies in meta-analyses relating to specific research settings. Our analyses included 6,492 continuous-outcome meta-analyses within the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. We investigated the influence of meta-analysis settings on heterogeneity by modeling study data from all meta-analyses on the standardized mean difference scale. Meta-analysis setting was described according to outcome type, intervention comparison type, and medical area. Predictive distributions for between-study variance expected in future meta-analyses were obtained, which can be used directly as informative priors. Among outcome types, heterogeneity was found to be lowest in meta-analyses of obstetric outcomes. Among intervention comparison types, heterogeneity was lowest in meta-analyses comparing two pharmacologic interventions. Predictive distributions are reported for different settings. In two example meta-analyses, incorporating external evidence led to a more precise heterogeneity estimate. Heterogeneity was influenced by meta-analysis characteristics. Informative priors for between-study variance were derived for each specific setting. Our analyses thus assist the incorporation of realistic prior information into meta-analyses including few studies. Copyright © 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Analysis of variability in additive manufactured open cell porous structures.

PubMed

Evans, Sam; Jones, Eric; Fox, Pete; Sutcliffe, Chris

2017-06-01

In this article, a novel method of analysing build consistency of additively manufactured open cell porous structures is presented. Conventionally, methods such as micro computed tomography or scanning electron microscopy imaging have been applied to the measurement of geometric properties of porous material; however, high costs and low speeds make them unsuitable for analysing high volumes of components. Recent advances in the image-based analysis of open cell structures have opened up the possibility of qualifying variation in manufacturing of porous material. Here, a photogrammetric method of measurement, employing image analysis to extract values for geometric properties, is used to investigate the variation between identically designed porous samples measuring changes in material thickness and pore size, both intra- and inter-build. Following the measurement of 125 samples, intra-build material thickness showed variation of ±12%, and pore size ±4% of the mean measured values across five builds. Inter-build material thickness and pore size showed mean ranges higher than those of intra-build, ±16% and ±6% of the mean material thickness and pore size, respectively. Acquired measurements created baseline variation values and demonstrated techniques suitable for tracking build deviation and inspecting additively manufactured porous structures to indicate unwanted process fluctuations.

Analyses of some exoplanets' transits and transit timing variations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Püsküllü, ćaǧlar; Soydugan, Faruk

2017-02-01

We present solutions of the transit light curves and transit timing variations (TTVs) analyses of the exoplanets HAT-P-5b, HAT-P-9b and HAT-P-25b. Transit light curves were collected at Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University Observatory and TUBITAK National Observatory. The models were produced by WINFITTER program and stellar, planetary and orbital properties were obtained and discussed. We gave new transit times and generated TTVs with them by appending additional data based on Exoplanet Transit Database (ETD). Significant signals at the TTVs were also investigated.

Manipulating crystallization with molecular additives.

PubMed

Shtukenberg, Alexander G; Lee, Stephanie S; Kahr, Bart; Ward, Michael D

2014-01-01

Given the importance of organic crystals in a wide range of industrial applications, the chemistry, biology, materials science, and chemical engineering communities have focused considerable attention on developing methods to control crystal structure, size, shape, and orientation. Tailored additives have been used to control crystallization to great effect, presumably by selectively binding to particular crystallographic surfaces and sites. However, substantial knowledge gaps still exist in the fundamental mechanisms that govern the formation and growth of organic crystals in both the absence and presence of additives. In this review, we highlight research discoveries that reveal the role of additives, either introduced by design or present adventitiously, on various stages of formation and growth of organic crystals, including nucleation, dislocation spiral growth mechanisms, growth inhibition, and nonclassical crystal morphologies. The insights from these investigations and others of their kind are likely to guide the development of innovative methods to manipulate crystallization for a wide range of materials and applications.

Uncertainty in Operational Atmospheric Analyses and Re-Analyses

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Langland, R.; Maue, R. N.

2016-12-01

This talk will describe uncertainty in atmospheric analyses of wind and temperature produced by operational forecast models and in re-analysis products. Because the "true" atmospheric state cannot be precisely quantified, there is necessarily error in every atmospheric analysis, and this error can be estimated by computing differences ( variance and bias) between analysis products produced at various centers (e.g., ECMWF, NCEP, U.S Navy, etc.) that use independent data assimilation procedures, somewhat different sets of atmospheric observations and forecast models with different resolutions, dynamical equations, and physical parameterizations. These estimates of analysis uncertainty provide a useful proxy to actual analysis error. For this study, we use a unique multi-year and multi-model data archive developed at NRL-Monterey. It will be shown that current uncertainty in atmospheric analyses is closely correlated with the geographic distribution of assimilated in-situ atmospheric observations, especially those provided by high-accuracy radiosonde and commercial aircraft observations. The lowest atmospheric analysis uncertainty is found over North America, Europe and Eastern Asia, which have the largest numbers of radiosonde and commercial aircraft observations. Analysis uncertainty is substantially larger (by factors of two to three times) in most of the Southern hemisphere, the North Pacific ocean, and under-developed nations of Africa and South America where there are few radiosonde or commercial aircraft data. It appears that in regions where atmospheric analyses depend primarily on satellite radiance observations, analysis uncertainty of both temperature and wind remains relatively high compared to values found over North America and Europe.

POEM: Identifying Joint Additive Effects on Regulatory Circuits.

PubMed

Botzman, Maya; Nachshon, Aharon; Brodt, Avital; Gat-Viks, Irit

2016-01-01

Expression Quantitative Trait Locus (eQTL) mapping tackles the problem of identifying variation in DNA sequence that have an effect on the transcriptional regulatory network. Major computational efforts are aimed at characterizing the joint effects of several eQTLs acting in concert to govern the expression of the same genes. Yet, progress toward a comprehensive prediction of such joint effects is limited. For example, existing eQTL methods commonly discover interacting loci affecting the expression levels of a module of co-regulated genes. Such "modularization" approaches, however, are focused on epistatic relations and thus have limited utility for the case of additive (non-epistatic) effects. Here we present POEM (Pairwise effect On Expression Modules), a methodology for identifying pairwise eQTL effects on gene modules. POEM is specifically designed to achieve high performance in the case of additive joint effects. We applied POEM to transcription profiles measured in bone marrow-derived dendritic cells across a population of genotyped mice. Our study reveals widespread additive, trans-acting pairwise effects on gene modules, characterizes their organizational principles, and highlights high-order interconnections between modules within the immune signaling network. These analyses elucidate the central role of additive pairwise effect in regulatory circuits, and provide computational tools for future investigations into the interplay between eQTLs. The software described in this article is available at csgi.tau.ac.il/POEM/.

Additive Interaction between Heterogeneous Environmental Quality Domains (Air, Water, Land, Sociodemographic, and Built Environment) on Preterm Birth.

PubMed

Grabich, Shannon C; Rappazzo, Kristen M; Gray, Christine L; Jagai, Jyotsna S; Jian, Yun; Messer, Lynne C; Lobdell, Danelle T

2016-01-01

Environmental exposures often occur in tandem; however, epidemiological research often focuses on singular exposures. Statistical interactions among broad, well-characterized environmental domains have not yet been evaluated in association with health. We address this gap by conducting a county-level cross-sectional analysis of interactions between Environmental Quality Index (EQI) domain indices on preterm birth in the Unites States from 2000 to 2005. The EQI, a county-level index constructed for the 2000-2005 time period, was constructed from five domain-specific indices (air, water, land, built, and sociodemographic) using principal component analyses. County-level preterm birth rates ( n  = 3141) were estimated using live births from the National Center for Health Statistics. Linear regression was used to estimate prevalence differences (PDs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) comparing worse environmental quality to the better quality for each model for (a) each individual domain main effect, (b) the interaction contrast, and (c) the two main effects plus interaction effect (i.e., the "net effect") to show departure from additivity for the all U.S. counties. Analyses were also performed for subgroupings by four urban/rural strata. We found the suggestion of antagonistic interactions but no synergism, along with several purely additive (i.e., no interaction) associations. In the non-stratified model, we observed antagonistic interactions, between the sociodemographic/air domains [net effect (i.e., the association, including main effects and interaction effects) PD: -0.004 (95% CI: -0.007, 0.000), interaction contrast: -0.013 (95% CI: -0.020, -0.007)] and built/air domains [net effect PD: 0.008 (95% CI 0.004, 0.011), interaction contrast: -0.008 (95% CI: -0.015, -0.002)]. Most interactions were between the air domain and other respective domains. Interactions differed by urbanicity, with more interactions observed in non-metropolitan regions. Observed

Multiple correlation analyses of metabolic and endocrine profiles with fertility in primiparous and multiparous cows.

PubMed

Wathes, D C; Bourne, N; Cheng, Z; Mann, G E; Taylor, V J; Coffey, M P

2007-03-01

Results from 4 studies were combined (representing a total of 500 lactations) to investigate the relationships between metabolic parameters and fertility in dairy cows. Information was collected on blood metabolic traits and body condition score at 1 to 2 wk prepartum and at 2, 4, and 7 wk postpartum. Fertility traits were days to commencement of luteal activity, days to first service, days to conception, and failure to conceive. Primiparous and multiparous cows were considered separately. Initial linear regression analyses were used to determine relationships among fertility, metabolic, and endocrine traits at each time point. All metabolic and endocrine traits significantly related to fertility were included in stepwise multiple regression analyses alone (model 1), including peak milk yield and interval to commencement of luteal activity (model 2), and with the further addition of dietary group (model 3). In multiparous cows, extended calving to conception intervals were associated prepartum with greater concentrations of leptin and lesser concentrations of nonesterified fatty acids and urea, and postpartum with reduced insulin-like growth factor-I at 2 wk, greater urea at 7 wk, and greater peak milk yield. In primiparous cows, extended calving to conception intervals were associated with more body condition and more urea prepartum, elevated urea postpartum, and more body condition loss by 7 wk. In conclusion, some metabolic measurements were associated with poorer fertility outcomes. Relationships between fertility and metabolic and endocrine traits varied both according to the lactation number of the cow and with the time relative to calving.

Proppant flowback control additives

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Nguyen, P.D.; Weaver, J.D.; Parker, M.A.

1996-12-31

This paper describes the laboratory and field development of thermoplastic film materials used to reduce proppant flowback that can occur after fracturing treatments. The paper provides a summary of flowback mechanism theories and laboratory tests comparing flowback tendency for various types of treating procedures and materials. Some of these materials include angular proppant, proppant/fiber mixtures, and proppant with film strips tested over a wide range of temperature, closure stress, and flow-rate conditions. Field treatment procedures are discussed, and several case histories are presented. All of the methods evaluated were effective in reducing proppant flowback under certain conditions. Heat-shrink film cutmore » into thin slivers proved to provide flowback reduction over broad temperature and closure stress ranges and was found to cause little impairment to fracture conductivity with some dependency on use concentration, temperature, and closure stress. The film materials were more resistant to damage caused by blending and pumping than all other materials evaluated. In addition, proppant packs, including consolidated packs, were significantly more tolerant of large, repeated stress changes. Field results indicate that the use of the heat-shrink film material as a flowback control agent permits more aggressive bean-up procedures following conventional fracturing treatments. Conventional dry-additive metering systems were used to add the film material to the fracturing fluid proppant slurry.« less

Geologist's Field Assistant: Developing Image and Spectral Analyses Algorithms for Remote Science Exploration

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gulick, V. C.; Morris, R. L.; Bishop, J.; Gazis, P.; Alena, R.; Sierhuis, M.

2002-01-01

We are developing science analyses algorithms to interface with a Geologist's Field Assistant device to allow robotic or human remote explorers to better sense their surroundings during limited surface excursions. Our algorithms will interpret spectral and imaging data obtained by various sensors. Additional information is contained in the original extended abstract.

Predictors of Post-School Success: A Systematic Review of NLTS2 Secondary Analyses

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mazzotti, Valerie L.; Rowe, Dawn A.; Sinclair, James; Poppen, Marcus; Woods, William E.; Shearer, Mackenzie L.

2016-01-01

The purpose of this systematic review was to (a) systematically review the literature to identify National Longitudinal Transition Study-2 secondary analyses articles published since 2009 that met the quality indicators for correlational research, (b) further extend the findings of Test et al. by identifying additional evidence to support the…

40 CFR 80.161 - Detergent additive certification program.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... requirements. For a detergent additive package to be certified as eligible for use by detergent blenders in...: (i) The compositional data required under § 79.21(a) of this chapter shall include the information... chapter shall be reported to EPA in units of gallons of detergent additive package per 1000 gallons of...

40 CFR 80.161 - Detergent additive certification program.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... requirements. For a detergent additive package to be certified as eligible for use by detergent blenders in...: (i) The compositional data required under § 79.21(a) of this chapter shall include the information... chapter shall be reported to EPA in units of gallons of detergent additive package per 1000 gallons of...

40 CFR 80.161 - Detergent additive certification program.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... requirements. For a detergent additive package to be certified as eligible for use by detergent blenders in...: (i) The compositional data required under § 79.21(a) of this chapter shall include the information... chapter shall be reported to EPA in units of gallons of detergent additive package per 1000 gallons of...

A retrospective cost-analysis of additional homeopathic treatment in Germany: Long-term economic outcomes

PubMed Central

Ostermann, Julia K.; Witt, Claudia M.; Reinhold, Thomas

2017-01-01

Objectives This study aimed to provide a long-term cost comparison of patients using additional homeopathic treatment (homeopathy group) with patients using usual care (control group) over an observation period of 33 months. Methods Health claims data from a large statutory health insurance company were analysed from both the societal perspective (primary outcome) and from the statutory health insurance perspective (secondary outcome). To compare costs between patient groups, homeopathy and control patients were matched in a 1:1 ratio using propensity scores. Predictor variables for the propensity scores included health care costs and both medical and demographic variables. Health care costs were analysed using an analysis of covariance, adjusted for baseline costs, between groups both across diagnoses and for specific diagnoses over a period of 33 months. Specific diagnoses included depression, migraine, allergic rhinitis, asthma, atopic dermatitis, and headache. Results Data from 21,939 patients in the homeopathy group (67.4% females) and 21,861 patients in the control group (67.2% females) were analysed. Health care costs over the 33 months were 12,414 EUR [95% CI 12,022–12,805] in the homeopathy group and 10,428 EUR [95% CI 10,036–10,820] in the control group (p<0.0001). The largest cost differences were attributed to productivity losses (homeopathy: EUR 6,289 [6,118–6,460]; control: EUR 5,498 [5,326–5,670], p<0.0001) and outpatient costs (homeopathy: EUR 1,794 [1,770–1,818]; control: EUR 1,438 [1,414–1,462], p<0.0001). Although the costs of the two groups converged over time, cost differences remained over the full 33 months. For all diagnoses, homeopathy patients generated higher costs than control patients. Conclusion The analysis showed that even when following-up over 33 months, there were still cost differences between groups, with higher costs in the homeopathy group. PMID:28915242

The dilemma of allergy to food additives.

PubMed

Bahna, Sami L; Burkhardt, Joshua G

2018-01-01

To provide a brief summary on food additives and to outline a practical approach for evaluating subjects suspected of having reactions to food additives. Information was derived from selected reviews and original articles published in peer-reviewed journals, supplemented by the clinical experience of the authors. Priority was given to studies that used blinded, placebo controlled, oral challenges to confirm adverse reactions to food additives. In addition, selected, appropriately evaluated case reports were included. A large number of food additives are widely used in the food industry. Allergic reactions to additives seem to be rare but are very likely underdiagnosed, primarily due to a low index of suspicion. A wide variety of symptoms to food additives have been reported, but a cause-and-effect relationship has not been well documented in the majority of cases. Reactions to food additives should be suspected in patients who report symptoms related to multiple foods or to a certain food when commercially prepared but not when home made. It is also prudent to investigate food additives in subjects considered to have "idiopathic" reactions. Except for a limited number of natural additives, there is a small role for skin tests or in vitro testing. Oral challenge, in stages, with commonly used additives is the definitive procedure for detecting the offending agent. Once the specific additive is identified, management is strict avoidance, which can be difficult.

Additive Manufacturing for Cost Efficient Production of Compact Ceramic Heat Exchangers and Recuperators

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Shulman, Holly; Ross, Nicole

2015-10-30

An additive manufacture technique known as laminated object manufacturing (LOM) was used to fabricate compact ceramic heat exchanger prototypes. LOM uses precision CO2 laser cutting of ceramic green tapes, which are then precision stacked to build a 3D object with fine internal features. Modeling was used to develop prototype designs and predict the thermal response, stress, and efficiency in the ceramic heat exchangers. Build testing and materials analyses were used to provide feedback for the design selection. During this development process, laminated object manufacturing protocols were established. This included laser optimization, strategies for fine feature integrity, lamination fluid control, greenmore » handling, and firing profile. Three full size prototypes were fabricated using two different designs. One prototype was selected for performance testing. During testing, cross talk leakage prevented the application of a high pressure differential, however, the prototype was successful at withstanding the high temperature operating conditions (1300 °F). In addition, analysis showed that the bulk of the part did not have cracks or leakage issues. This led to the development of a module method for next generation LOM heat exchangers. A scale-up cost analysis showed that given a purpose built LOM system, these ceramic heat exchangers would be affordable for the applications.« less

Stuttering, Induced Fluency, and Natural Fluency: A Hierarchical Series of Activation Likelihood Estimation Meta-Analyses

PubMed Central

Budde, Kristin S.; Barron, Daniel S.; Fox, Peter T.

2015-01-01

Developmental stuttering is a speech disorder most likely due to a heritable form of developmental dysmyelination impairing the function of the speech-motor system. Speech-induced brain-activation patterns in persons who stutter (PWS) are anomalous in various ways; the consistency of these aberrant patterns is a matter of ongoing debate. Here, we present a hierarchical series of coordinate-based meta-analyses addressing this issue. Two tiers of meta-analyses were performed on a 17-paper dataset (202 PWS; 167 fluent controls). Four large-scale (top-tier) meta-analyses were performed, two for each subject group (PWS and controls). These analyses robustly confirmed the regional effects previously postulated as “neural signatures of stuttering” (Brown 2005) and extended this designation to additional regions. Two smaller-scale (lower-tier) meta-analyses refined the interpretation of the large-scale analyses: 1) a between-group contrast targeting differences between PWS and controls (stuttering trait); and 2) a within-group contrast (PWS only) of stuttering with induced fluency (stuttering state). PMID:25463820

Stuttering, induced fluency, and natural fluency: a hierarchical series of activation likelihood estimation meta-analyses.

PubMed

Budde, Kristin S; Barron, Daniel S; Fox, Peter T

2014-12-01

Developmental stuttering is a speech disorder most likely due to a heritable form of developmental dysmyelination impairing the function of the speech-motor system. Speech-induced brain-activation patterns in persons who stutter (PWS) are anomalous in various ways; the consistency of these aberrant patterns is a matter of ongoing debate. Here, we present a hierarchical series of coordinate-based meta-analyses addressing this issue. Two tiers of meta-analyses were performed on a 17-paper dataset (202 PWS; 167 fluent controls). Four large-scale (top-tier) meta-analyses were performed, two for each subject group (PWS and controls). These analyses robustly confirmed the regional effects previously postulated as "neural signatures of stuttering" (Brown, Ingham, Ingham, Laird, & Fox, 2005) and extended this designation to additional regions. Two smaller-scale (lower-tier) meta-analyses refined the interpretation of the large-scale analyses: (1) a between-group contrast targeting differences between PWS and controls (stuttering trait); and (2) a within-group contrast (PWS only) of stuttering with induced fluency (stuttering state). Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

18 CFR 33.3 - Additional information requirements for applications involving horizontal competitive impacts.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-04-01

... result of the proposed transaction, a single corporate entity obtains ownership or control over the... applicant may provide other analyses for defining relevant markets (e.g. the Hypothetical Monopolist Test with or without the assumption of price discrimination) in addition to the delivered price test under...

18 CFR 33.3 - Additional information requirements for applications involving horizontal competitive impacts.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-04-01

... result of the proposed transaction, a single corporate entity obtains ownership or control over the... applicant may provide other analyses for defining relevant markets (e.g. the Hypothetical Monopolist Test with or without the assumption of price discrimination) in addition to the delivered price test under...

18 CFR 33.3 - Additional information requirements for applications involving horizontal competitive impacts.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-04-01

... result of the proposed transaction, a single corporate entity obtains ownership or control over the... applicant may provide other analyses for defining relevant markets (e.g. the Hypothetical Monopolist Test with or without the assumption of price discrimination) in addition to the delivered price test under...

18 CFR 33.3 - Additional information requirements for applications involving horizontal competitive impacts.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-04-01

... result of the proposed transaction, a single corporate entity obtains ownership or control over the... applicant may provide other analyses for defining relevant markets (e.g. the Hypothetical Monopolist Test with or without the assumption of price discrimination) in addition to the delivered price test under...

18 CFR 33.3 - Additional information requirements for applications involving horizontal competitive impacts.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... result of the proposed transaction, a single corporate entity obtains ownership or control over the... applicant may provide other analyses for defining relevant markets (e.g. the Hypothetical Monopolist Test with or without the assumption of price discrimination) in addition to the delivered price test under...

Evaluation of certain food additives and contaminants.

PubMed

2001-01-01

This report represents the conclusions of a Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee convened to evaluate the safety of various food additives and contaminants, with a view to recommending Acceptable Daily Intakes (ADIs) and tolerable intakes, respectively, and to prepare specifications for the identity and purity of food additives. The first part of the report contains a general discussion of the principles governing the toxicological evaluation of food additives and contaminants (including flavouring agents), and the establishment and revision of specifications. A summary follows of the Committee's evaluations of toxicological data on various specific food additives (furfural, paprika oleoresin, caramel colour II, cochineal extract, carmines, aspartame-acesulfame salt, D-tagatose, benzoyl peroxide, nitrous oxide, stearyl tartrate and trehalose), flavouring agents and contaminants (cadmium and tin), and of intake data on calcium from calcium salts of food additives. Annexed to the report are tables summarizing the Committee's recommendations for ADIs of the food additives and tolerable intakes of the contaminants considered, changes in the status of specifications of these food additives and specific flavouring agents, and further information required or desired.

Surface-specific additive manufacturing test artefacts

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Townsend, Andrew; Racasan, Radu; Blunt, Liam

2018-06-01

Many test artefact designs have been proposed for use with additive manufacturing (AM) systems. These test artefacts have primarily been designed for the evaluation of AM form and dimensional performance. A series of surface-specific measurement test artefacts designed for use in the verification of AM manufacturing processes are proposed here. Surface-specific test artefacts can be made more compact because they do not require the large dimensions needed for accurate dimensional and form measurements. The series of three test artefacts are designed to provide comprehensive information pertaining to the manufactured surface. Measurement possibilities include deviation analysis, surface texture parameter data generation, sub-surface analysis, layer step analysis and build resolution comparison. The test artefacts are designed to provide easy access for measurement using conventional surface measurement techniques, for example, focus variation microscopy, stylus profilometry, confocal microscopy and scanning electron microscopy. Additionally, the test artefacts may be simply visually inspected as a comparative tool, giving a fast indication of process variation between builds. The three test artefacts are small enough to be included in every build and include built-in manufacturing traceability information, making them a convenient physical record of the build.

Database-Driven Analyses of Astronomical Spectra

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cami, Jan

2012-03-01

species to the fullerene species C60 and C70 [4]. Given the large number and variety of molecules detected in space, molecular infrared spectroscopy can be used to study pretty much any astrophysical environment that is not too energetic to dissociate the molecules. At the lowest energies, it is interesting to note that molecules such as CN have been used to measure the temperature of the Cosmic Microwave Background (see e.g., Ref. 15). The great diagnostic potential of infrared molecular spectroscopy comes at a price though. Extracting the physical parameters from the observations requires expertise in knowing how various physical processes and instrumental characteristics play together in producing the observed spectra. In addition to the astronomical aspects, this often includes interpreting and understanding the limitations of laboratory data and quantum-chemical calculations; the study of the interaction of matter with radiation at microscopic scales (called radiative transfer, akin to ray tracing) and the effects of observing (e.g., smoothing and resampling) on the resulting spectra and possible instrumental effects (e.g., fringes). All this is not trivial. To make matters worse, observational spectra often contain many components, and might include spectral contributions stemming from very different physical conditions. Fully analyzing such observations is thus a time-consuming task that requires mastery of several techniques. And with ever-increasing rates of observational data acquisition, it seems clear that in the near future, some form of automation is required to handle the data stream. It is thus appealing to consider what part of such analyses could be done without too much human intervention. Two different aspects can be separated: the first step involves simply identifying the molecular species present in the observations. Once the molecular inventory is known, we can try to extract the physical parameters from the observed spectral properties. For both

Comparison of nitrogen adsorption and transmission electron microscopy analyses for structural characterization of carbon nanotubes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Abbaslou, Reza Malek; Vosoughi, Vahid; Dalai, Ajay K.

2017-10-01

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are different from other porous substrates such as activated carbon due to their high external surfaces. This structural feature can lead in some uncertainties in the results of nitrogen adsorption analysis for characterization of CNTs. In this paper, the results of microscopic analyses and nitrogen adsorption method for characterization of carbon nanotubes were compared. Five different types of CNTs with different structures were either synthesized or purchased. The CNT samples were characterized by high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and N2 adsorption analysis. The comparisons between the results from the microscopic analyses and N2 adsorption showed that the total pore volume and BET surface measurements include the internal and external porosity of CNTs. Therefore, the interpretation of N2 adsorption data required accurate TEM analysis. In addition, the evaluation of pore size distribution curves from all CNT samples in this study and several instances in the literature revealed the presence of a common peak in the range of 2-5 nm. This peak does not explain the inner pore size distribution. The presence of this common peak can be attributed to the strong adsorption of N2 on the junction of touched and crossed nanotubes.

Quality control and conduct of genome-wide association meta-analyses

PubMed Central

Winkler, Thomas W; Day, Felix R; Croteau-Chonka, Damien C; Wood, Andrew R; Locke, Adam E; Mägi, Reedik; Ferreira, Teresa; Fall, Tove; Graff, Mariaelisa; Justice, Anne E; Luan, Jian'an; Gustafsson, Stefan; Randall, Joshua C; Vedantam, Sailaja; Workalemahu, Tsegaselassie; Kilpeläinen, Tuomas O; Scherag, André; Esko, Tonu; Kutalik, Zoltán; Heid, Iris M; Loos, Ruth JF

2014-01-01

Rigorous organization and quality control (QC) are necessary to facilitate successful genome-wide association meta-analyses (GWAMAs) of statistics aggregated across multiple genome-wide association studies. This protocol provides guidelines for [1] organizational aspects of GWAMAs, and for [2] QC at the study file level, the meta-level across studies, and the meta-analysis output level. Real–world examples highlight issues experienced and solutions developed by the GIANT Consortium that has conducted meta-analyses including data from 125 studies comprising more than 330,000 individuals. We provide a general protocol for conducting GWAMAs and carrying out QC to minimize errors and to guarantee maximum use of the data. We also include details for use of a powerful and flexible software package called EasyQC. For consortia of comparable size to the GIANT consortium, the present protocol takes a minimum of about 10 months to complete. PMID:24762786

High performance computation of landscape genomic models including local indicators of spatial association.

PubMed

Stucki, S; Orozco-terWengel, P; Forester, B R; Duruz, S; Colli, L; Masembe, C; Negrini, R; Landguth, E; Jones, M R; Bruford, M W; Taberlet, P; Joost, S

2017-09-01

With the increasing availability of both molecular and topo-climatic data, the main challenges facing landscape genomics - that is the combination of landscape ecology with population genomics - include processing large numbers of models and distinguishing between selection and demographic processes (e.g. population structure). Several methods address the latter, either by estimating a null model of population history or by simultaneously inferring environmental and demographic effects. Here we present samβada, an approach designed to study signatures of local adaptation, with special emphasis on high performance computing of large-scale genetic and environmental data sets. samβada identifies candidate loci using genotype-environment associations while also incorporating multivariate analyses to assess the effect of many environmental predictor variables. This enables the inclusion of explanatory variables representing population structure into the models to lower the occurrences of spurious genotype-environment associations. In addition, samβada calculates local indicators of spatial association for candidate loci to provide information on whether similar genotypes tend to cluster in space, which constitutes a useful indication of the possible kinship between individuals. To test the usefulness of this approach, we carried out a simulation study and analysed a data set from Ugandan cattle to detect signatures of local adaptation with samβada, bayenv, lfmm and an F ST outlier method (FDIST approach in arlequin) and compare their results. samβada - an open source software for Windows, Linux and Mac OS X available at http://lasig.epfl.ch/sambada - outperforms other approaches and better suits whole-genome sequence data processing. © 2016 The Authors. Molecular Ecology Resources Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

15 CFR 990.66 - Additional considerations.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... NATURAL RESOURCE DAMAGE ASSESSMENTS Restoration Implementation Phase § 990.66 Additional considerations... implementation of restoration: (1) Establish a trustee committee and/or memorandum of understanding or other... restoration success and the need for corrective action. (b) The reasonable costs of such actions are included...

NASA OSMA NDE Program Additive Manufacturing Foundational Effort

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Waller, Jess; Walker, James; Burke, Eric; Wells, Douglas

2016-01-01

NASA is providing key leadership in an international effort linking NASA and non-NASA resources to speed adoption of additive manufacturing (AM) to meet NASA's mission goals. Participants include industry, NASA's space partners, other government agencies, standards organizations and academia. Nondestructive Evaluation (NDE) is identified as a universal need for all aspects of additive manufacturing.

Studies and analyses of the management of scientific research and development, including implementation and application at NASA centers

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rubenstein, A. H.

1975-01-01

Summary results obtained through the Program of Research on the Management of Research and Development (POMRAD) were presented. The nature of the overall program and the specific projects undertaken were described. Statistical data is also given concerning the papers, publications, people, and major program areas associated with the program. The actual list of papers, names of doctoral and masters theses, and other details of the program are included as appendices.

Global linear gyrokinetic simulations for LHD including collisions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kauffmann, K.; Kleiber, R.; Hatzky, R.; Borchardt, M.

2010-11-01

The code EUTERPE uses a Particle-In-Cell (PIC) method to solve the gyrokinetic equation globally (full radius, full flux surface) for three-dimensional equilibria calculated with VMEC. Recently this code has been extended to include multiple kinetic species and electromagnetic effects. Additionally, a pitch-angle scattering operator has been implemented in order to include collisional effects in the simulation of instabilities and to be able to simulate neoclassical transport. As a first application of this extended code we study the effects of collisions on electrostatic ion-temperature-gradient (ITG) instabilities in LHD.

Homeopathy: meta-analyses of pooled clinical data.

PubMed

Hahn, Robert G

2013-01-01

In the first decade of the evidence-based era, which began in the mid-1990s, meta-analyses were used to scrutinize homeopathy for evidence of beneficial effects in medical conditions. In this review, meta-analyses including pooled data from placebo-controlled clinical trials of homeopathy and the aftermath in the form of debate articles were analyzed. In 1997 Klaus Linde and co-workers identified 89 clinical trials that showed an overall odds ratio of 2.45 in favor of homeopathy over placebo. There was a trend toward smaller benefit from studies of the highest quality, but the 10 trials with the highest Jadad score still showed homeopathy had a statistically significant effect. These results challenged academics to perform alternative analyses that, to demonstrate the lack of effect, relied on extensive exclusion of studies, often to the degree that conclusions were based on only 5-10% of the material, or on virtual data. The ultimate argument against homeopathy is the 'funnel plot' published by Aijing Shang's research group in 2005. However, the funnel plot is flawed when applied to a mixture of diseases, because studies with expected strong treatments effects are, for ethical reasons, powered lower than studies with expected weak or unclear treatment effects. To conclude that homeopathy lacks clinical effect, more than 90% of the available clinical trials had to be disregarded. Alternatively, flawed statistical methods had to be applied. Future meta-analyses should focus on the use of homeopathy in specific diseases or groups of diseases instead of pooling data from all clinical trials. © 2013 S. Karger GmbH, Freiburg.

Vibro-Acoustic FE Analyses of the Saab 2000 Aircraft

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Green, Inge S.

1992-01-01

A finite element model of the Saab 2000 fuselage structure and interior cavity has been created in order to compute the noise level in the passenger cabin due to propeller noise. Areas covered in viewgraph format include the following: coupled acoustic/structural noise; data base creation; frequency response analysis; model validation; and planned analyses.

Measurement of neutrino and antineutrino oscillations by the T2K experiment including a new additional sample of νe interactions at the far detector

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Abe, K.; Amey, J.; Andreopoulos, C.; Antonova, M.; Aoki, S.; Ariga, A.; Ashida, Y.; Ban, S.; Barbi, M.; Barker, G. J.; Barr, G.; Barry, C.; Batkiewicz, M.; Berardi, V.; Berkman, S.; Bhadra, S.; Bienstock, S.; Blondel, A.; Bolognesi, S.; Bordoni, S.; Boyd, S. B.; Brailsford, D.; Bravar, A.; Bronner, C.; Buizza Avanzini, M.; Calland, R. G.; Campbell, T.; Cao, S.; Cartwright, S. L.; Catanesi, M. G.; Cervera, A.; Chappell, A.; Checchia, C.; Cherdack, D.; Chikuma, N.; Christodoulou, G.; Coleman, J.; Collazuol, G.; Coplowe, D.; Cudd, A.; Dabrowska, A.; De Rosa, G.; Dealtry, T.; Denner, P. F.; Dennis, S. R.; Densham, C.; Di Lodovico, F.; Dolan, S.; Drapier, O.; Duffy, K. E.; Dumarchez, J.; Dunne, P.; Emery-Schrenk, S.; Ereditato, A.; Feusels, T.; Finch, A. J.; Fiorentini, G. A.; Fiorillo, G.; Friend, M.; Fujii, Y.; Fukuda, D.; Fukuda, Y.; Garcia, A.; Giganti, C.; Gizzarelli, F.; Golan, T.; Gonin, M.; Hadley, D. R.; Haegel, L.; Haigh, J. T.; Hansen, D.; Harada, J.; Hartz, M.; Hasegawa, T.; Hastings, N. C.; Hayashino, T.; Hayato, Y.; Hillairet, A.; Hiraki, T.; Hiramoto, A.; Hirota, S.; Hogan, M.; Holeczek, J.; Hosomi, F.; Huang, K.; Ichikawa, A. K.; Ikeda, M.; Imber, J.; Insler, J.; Intonti, R. A.; Ishida, T.; Ishii, T.; Iwai, E.; Iwamoto, K.; Izmaylov, A.; Jamieson, B.; Jiang, M.; Johnson, S.; Jonsson, P.; Jung, C. K.; Kabirnezhad, M.; Kaboth, A. C.; Kajita, T.; Kakuno, H.; Kameda, J.; Karlen, D.; Katori, T.; Kearns, E.; Khabibullin, M.; Khotjantsev, A.; Kim, H.; Kim, J.; King, S.; Kisiel, J.; Knight, A.; Knox, A.; Kobayashi, T.; Koch, L.; Koga, T.; Koller, P. P.; Konaka, A.; Kormos, L. L.; Koshio, Y.; Kowalik, K.; Kudenko, Y.; Kurjata, R.; Kutter, T.; Lagoda, J.; Lamont, I.; Lamoureux, M.; Lasorak, P.; Laveder, M.; Lawe, M.; Licciardi, M.; Lindner, T.; Liptak, Z. J.; Litchfield, R. P.; Li, X.; Longhin, A.; Lopez, J. P.; Lou, T.; Ludovici, L.; Lu, X.; Magaletti, L.; Mahn, K.; Malek, M.; Manly, S.; Maret, L.; Marino, A. D.; Martin, J. F.; Martins, P.; Martynenko, S.; Maruyama, T.; Matveev, V.; Mavrokoridis, K.; Ma, W. Y.; Mazzucato, E.; McCarthy, M.; McCauley, N.; McFarland, K. S.; McGrew, C.; Mefodiev, A.; Metelko, C.; Mezzetto, M.; Minamino, A.; Mineev, O.; Mine, S.; Missert, A.; Miura, M.; Moriyama, S.; Morrison, J.; Mueller, Th. A.; Nakadaira, T.; Nakahata, M.; Nakamura, K. G.; Nakamura, K.; Nakamura, K. D.; Nakanishi, Y.; Nakayama, S.; Nakaya, T.; Nakayoshi, K.; Nantais, C.; Nielsen, C.; Nishikawa, K.; Nishimura, Y.; Novella, P.; Nowak, J.; O'Keeffe, H. M.; Okumura, K.; Okusawa, T.; Oryszczak, W.; Oser, S. M.; Ovsyannikova, T.; Owen, R. A.; Oyama, Y.; Palladino, V.; Palomino, J. L.; Paolone, V.; Patel, N. D.; Paudyal, P.; Pavin, M.; Payne, D.; Petrov, Y.; Pickering, L.; Pinzon Guerra, E. S.; Pistillo, C.; Popov, B.; Posiadala-Zezula, M.; Poutissou, J.-M.; Pritchard, A.; Przewlocki, P.; Quilain, B.; Radermacher, T.; Radicioni, E.; Ratoff, P. N.; Rayner, M. A.; Reinherz-Aronis, E.; Riccio, C.; Rodrigues, P. A.; Rondio, E.; Rossi, B.; Roth, S.; Ruggeri, A. C.; Rychter, A.; Sakashita, K.; Sánchez, F.; Scantamburlo, E.; Scholberg, K.; Schwehr, J.; Scott, M.; Seiya, Y.; Sekiguchi, T.; Sekiya, H.; Sgalaberna, D.; Shah, R.; Shaikhiev, A.; Shaker, F.; Shaw, D.; Shiozawa, M.; Shirahige, T.; Smy, M.; Sobczyk, J. T.; Sobel, H.; Steinmann, J.; Stewart, T.; Stowell, P.; Suda, Y.; Suvorov, S.; Suzuki, A.; Suzuki, S. Y.; Suzuki, Y.; Tacik, R.; Tada, M.; Takeda, A.; Takeuchi, Y.; Tamura, R.; Tanaka, H. K.; Tanaka, H. A.; Thakore, T.; Thompson, L. F.; Tobayama, S.; Toki, W.; Tomura, T.; Tsukamoto, T.; Tzanov, M.; Vagins, M.; Vallari, Z.; Vasseur, G.; Vilela, C.; Vladisavljevic, T.; Wachala, T.; Walter, C. W.; Wark, D.; Wascko, M. O.; Weber, A.; Wendell, R.; Wilking, M. J.; Wilkinson, C.; Wilson, J. R.; Wilson, R. J.; Wret, C.; Yamada, Y.; Yamamoto, K.; Yanagisawa, C.; Yano, T.; Yen, S.; Yershov, N.; Yokoyama, M.; Yu, M.; Zalewska, A.; Zalipska, J.; Zambelli, L.; Zaremba, K.; Ziembicki, M.; Zimmerman, E. D.; Zito, M.; T2K Collaboration

2017-11-01

The T2K experiment reports an updated analysis of neutrino and antineutrino oscillations in appearance and disappearance channels. A sample of electron neutrino candidates at Super-Kamiokande in which a pion decay has been tagged is added to the four single-ring samples used in previous T2K oscillation analyses. Through combined analyses of these five samples, simultaneous measurements of four oscillation parameters, |Δ m322 |, sin2θ23, sin2θ13, and δCP and of the mass ordering are made. A set of studies of simulated data indicates that the sensitivity to the oscillation parameters is not limited by neutrino interaction model uncertainty. Multiple oscillation analyses are performed, and frequentist and Bayesian intervals are presented for combinations of the oscillation parameters with and without the inclusion of reactor constraints on sin2θ13. When combined with reactor measurements, the hypothesis of C P conservation (δCP=0 or π ) is excluded at 90% confidence level. The 90% confidence region for δCP is [-2.95 ,-0.44 ] ([-1.47 ,-1.27 ] ) for normal (inverted) ordering. The central values and 68% confidence intervals for the other oscillation parameters for normal (inverted) ordering are Δ m322=2.54 ±0.08 (2.51 ±0.08 )×10-3 eV2/c4 and sin2θ23 =0.5 5-0.09+0.05 (0.5 5-0.08+0.05), compatible with maximal mixing. In the Bayesian analysis, the data weakly prefer normal ordering (Bayes factor 3.7) and the upper octant for sin2θ23 (Bayes factor 2.4).

Phylogenomic analyses reveal novel relationships among snake families.

PubMed

Streicher, Jeffrey W; Wiens, John J

2016-07-01

Snakes are a diverse and important group of vertebrates. However, relationships among the major groups of snakes have remained highly uncertain, with recent studies hypothesizing very different (and typically weakly supported) relationships. Here, we address family-level snake relationships with new phylogenomic data from 3776 nuclear loci from ultraconserved elements (1.40million aligned base pairs, 52% missing data overall) sampled from 29 snake species that together represent almost all families, a dataset ∼100 times larger than used in previous studies. We found relatively strong support from species-tree analyses (NJst) for most relationships, including three largely novel clades: (1) a clade uniting the boas, pythons and their relatives, (2) a clade placing cylindrophiids and uropeltids with this clade, and (3) a clade uniting bolyeriids (Round Island boas) with pythonids and their relatives (xenopeltids and loxocemids). Relationships among families of advanced snakes (caenophidians) were also strongly supported. The results show the potential for phylogenomic analyses to resolve difficult groups, but also show a surprising sensitivity of the analyses to the inclusion or exclusion of outgroups. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Assessing causality in drug policy analyses: How useful are the Bradford Hill criteria in analysing take-home naloxone programs?

PubMed

Olsen, Anna; McDonald, David; Lenton, Simon; Dietze, Paul M

2018-05-01

The Bradford Hill criteria for assessing causality are useful in assembling evidence, including within complex policy analyses. In this paper, we argue that the implementation of take-home naloxone (THN) programs in Australia and elsewhere reflects sensible, evidence-based public health policy, despite the absence of randomised controlled trials. However, we also acknowledge that the debate around expanding access to THN would benefit from a careful consideration of causal inference and health policy impact of THN program implementation. Given the continued debate around expanding access to THN, and the relatively recent access to new data from implementation studies, two research groups independently conducted Bradford Hill analyses in order to carefully consider causal inference and health policy impact. Hill's criteria offer a useful analytical tool for interpreting current evidence on THN programs and making decisions about the (un)certainty of THN program safety and effectiveness. © 2017 Australasian Professional Society on Alcohol and other Drugs.

Molecular Microbial Analyses of the Mars Exploration Rovers Assembly Facility

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Venkateswaran, Kasthuri; LaDuc, Myron T.; Newcombe, David; Kempf, Michael J.; Koke, John. A.; Smoot, James C.; Smoot, Laura M.; Stahl, David A.

2004-01-01

During space exploration, the control of terrestrial microbes associated with robotic space vehicles intended to land on extraterrestrial solar system bodies is necessary to prevent forward contamination and maintain scientific integrity during the search for life. Microorganisms associated with the spacecraft assembly environment can be a source of contamination for the spacecraft. In this study, we have monitored the microbial burden of air samples of the Mars Exploration Rovers' assembly facility at the Kennedy Space Center utilizing complementary diagnostic tools. To estimate the microbial burden and identify potential contaminants in the assembly facility, several microbiological techniques were used including culturing, cloning and sequencing of 16S rRNA genes, DNA microarray analysis, and ATP assays to assess viable microorganisms. Culturing severely underestimated types and amounts of contamination since many of the microbes implicated by molecular analyses were not cultivable. In addition to the cultivation of Agrobacterium, Burkholderia and Bacillus species, the cloning approach retrieved 16s rDNA sequences of oligotrophs, symbionts, and y-proteobacteria members. DNA microarray analysis based on rational probe design and dissociation curves complemented existing molecular techniques and produced a highly parallel, high resolution analysis of contaminating microbial populations. For instance, strong hybridization signals to probes targeting the Bacillus species indicated that members of this species were present in the assembly area samples; however, differences in dissociation curves between perfect-match and air sample sequences showed that these samples harbored nucleotide polymorphisms. Vegetative cells of several isolates were resistant when subjected to treatments of UVC (254 nm) and vapor H202 (4 mg/L). This study further validates the significance of non-cultivable microbes in association with spacecraft assembly facilities, as our analyses have

Mechanics of additively manufactured biomaterials.

PubMed

Zadpoor, Amir A

2017-06-01

Additive manufacturing (3D printing) has found many applications in healthcare including fabrication of biomaterials as well as bioprinting of tissues and organs. Additively manufactured (AM) biomaterials may possess arbitrarily complex micro-architectures that give rise to novel mechanical, physical, and biological properties. The mechanical behavior of such porous biomaterials including their quasi-static mechanical properties and fatigue resistance is not yet well understood. It is particularly important to understand the relationship between the designed micro-architecture (topology) and the resulting mechanical properties. The current special issue is dedicated to understanding the mechanical behavior of AM biomaterials. Although various types of AM biomaterials are represented in the special issue, the primary focus is on AM porous metallic biomaterials. As a prelude to this special issue, this editorial reviews some of the latest findings in the mechanical behavior of AM porous metallic biomaterials so as to describe the current state-of-the-art and set the stage for the other studies appearing in the issue. Some areas that are important for future research are also briefly mentioned. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Ares I-X Separation and Reentry Trajectory Analyses

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Tartabini, Paul V.; Starr, Brett R.

2011-01-01

The Ares I-X Flight Test Vehicle was launched on October 28, 2009 and was the first and only test flight of NASA s two-stage Ares I launch vehicle design. The launch was successful and the flight test met all of its primary and secondary objectives. This paper discusses the stage separation and reentry trajectory analysis that was performed in support of the Ares I-X test flight. Pre-flight analyses were conducted to assess the risk of stage recontact during separation, to evaluate the first stage flight dynamics during reentry, and to define the range safety impact ellipses of both stages. The results of these pre-flight analyses were compared with available flight data. On-board video taken during flight showed that the flight test vehicle successfully separated without any recontact. Reconstructed trajectory data also showed that first stage flight dynamics were well characterized by pre-flight Monte Carlo results. In addition, comparisons with flight data indicated that the complex interference aerodynamic models employed in the reentry simulation were effective in capturing the flight dynamics during separation. Finally, the splash-down locations of both stages were well within predicted impact ellipses.

36 CFR 1290.7 - Additional guidance.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... Section 1290.7 Parks, Forests, and Public Property NATIONAL ARCHIVES AND RECORDS ADMINISTRATION JFK... ASSASSINATION RECORDS COLLECTION ACT OF 1992 (JFK ACT) § 1290.7 Additional guidance. (a) A government agency, office, or entity includes, for purposes of interpreting and implementing the JFK Act, all current, past...

36 CFR 1290.7 - Additional guidance.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... Section 1290.7 Parks, Forests, and Public Property NATIONAL ARCHIVES AND RECORDS ADMINISTRATION JFK... ASSASSINATION RECORDS COLLECTION ACT OF 1992 (JFK ACT) § 1290.7 Additional guidance. (a) A government agency, office, or entity includes, for purposes of interpreting and implementing the JFK Act, all current, past...

36 CFR 1290.7 - Additional guidance.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... Section 1290.7 Parks, Forests, and Public Property NATIONAL ARCHIVES AND RECORDS ADMINISTRATION JFK... ASSASSINATION RECORDS COLLECTION ACT OF 1992 (JFK ACT) § 1290.7 Additional guidance. (a) A government agency, office, or entity includes, for purposes of interpreting and implementing the JFK Act, all current, past...

36 CFR 1290.7 - Additional guidance.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... Section 1290.7 Parks, Forests, and Public Property NATIONAL ARCHIVES AND RECORDS ADMINISTRATION JFK... ASSASSINATION RECORDS COLLECTION ACT OF 1992 (JFK ACT) § 1290.7 Additional guidance. (a) A government agency, office, or entity includes, for purposes of interpreting and implementing the JFK Act, all current, past...

"Meta-analyses and P-curves support robust cycle shifts in women's mate preferences: Reply to Wood and Carden (2014) and Harris, Pashler, and Mickes (2014)": Correction to Gildersleeve, Haselton, and Fales (2014).

PubMed

2017-11-01

Reports an error in "Meta-analyses and p -curves support robust cycle shifts in women's mate preferences: Reply to Wood and Carden (2014) and Harris, Pashler, and Mickes (2014)" by Kelly Gildersleeve, Martie G. Haselton and Melissa R. Fales ( Psychological Bulletin , 2014[Sep], Vol 140[5], 1272-1280). In the article, all p -curve analyses examining the Context Moderation Hypothesis Prediction mistakenly included the p-value from Little, Jones, Burt, & Perrett (2007) Study 2 for the simple effect of fertility on attraction to facial symmetry in a short-term relationship context ( p < .001). The analyses should have instead included the p -value for the fertility X relationship context interaction ( p = .011). In addition, the p -curve analyses examining exact two-tailed p -values for the Cycle Shift Prediction should have included an additional p -value from Provost et al. (2008) Study 1 for the main effect of fertility on attraction to gait masculinity. The reported p -value for this effect was .05, making it ineligible for inclusion in p -curves of reported p-values. However, the exact recalculated two-tailed p -value was .049, making it eligible for inclusion in p -curves of exact p -values. The corrected p -curve of exact two-tailed p -values evaluating the Cycle Shift Prediction and Context Moderation Prediction (displayed in Figure 2) now includes a total of 15 p -values ( N = 1442) is no longer significantly right skewed χ²(30) = 41.25, p = .08. The corrected p -curve of exact two-tailed p -values evaluating the Cycle Shift Prediction, Context Moderation Prediction, and Partner Qualities Moderation Prediction (displayed in Figure 3) now includes a total of 21 p -values ( N = 1707) and continues to be significantly right skewed Χ²(42) = 69.83, p = .004. As part of this correction, the online supplemental materials have been updated. (The following abstract of the original article appeared in record 2014-35938-003.) Two meta-analyses evaluated shifts across

Effect of excess iodine intake on thyroid diseases in different populations: A systematic review and meta-analyses including observational studies

PubMed Central

Katagiri, Ryoko; Yuan, Xiaoyi; Kobayashi, Satomi; Sasaki, Satoshi

2017-01-01

Background Although several reports concerning the association of iodine excess and thyroid disease have appeared, no systematic review of the association between iodine excess intake and thyroid diseases, especially hyperthyroidism and hypothyroidism, has yet been reported. Method We conducted a systematic search of Ovid MEDLINE, PubMed, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials databases, Ichushi-Web and CiNii database for intervention trials and observational studies. Search terms were constructed from related words for excess AND iodine intake or excretion AND thyroid hormones or diseases AND study designs. After considering the qualitative heterogeneity among studies, a meta-analysis was conducted and odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were estimated in random-effects models. A protocol was registered with PROSPERO (No. CRD42015028081). Results 50 articles were included, including three intervention trials, six case-control studies, six follow-up studies and 35 cross-sectional studies. Three cross-sectional studies in adults included in meta-analysis. Odds ratio of overt and subclinical hypothyroidism between excess and adequate populations were 2.78 (CI:1.47 to 5.27) and 2.03 (CI:1.58 to 2.62) in adults, respectively. Source of excess iodine status was mainly iodized salt or water in included studies. Conclusion Although universal salt iodization has improved goiter rates, chronic exposure to excess iodine from water or poorly monitored salt are risk factors for hypothyroidism in free-living populations. Monitoring of both iodine concentration in salt as well as the iodine concentration in local drinking water are essential to preventing thyroid diseases. Hypothyroidism should be also carefully monitored in areas with excess iodine. Because of the low quality and limited number of included studies, further evidence and review are required. PMID:28282437

Combined Analyses of Bacterial, Fungal and Nematode Communities in Andosolic Agricultural Soils in Japan

PubMed Central

Bao, Zhihua; Ikunaga, Yoko; Matsushita, Yuko; Morimoto, Sho; Takada-Hoshino, Yuko; Okada, Hiroaki; Oba, Hirosuke; Takemoto, Shuhei; Niwa, Shigeru; Ohigashi, Kentaro; Suzuki, Chika; Nagaoka, Kazunari; Takenaka, Makoto; Urashima, Yasufumi; Sekiguchi, Hiroyuki; Kushida, Atsuhiko; Toyota, Koki; Saito, Masanori; Tsushima, Seiya

2012-01-01

We simultaneously examined the bacteria, fungi and nematode communities in Andosols from four agro-geographical sites in Japan using polymerase chain reaction-denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (PCR-DGGE) and statistical analyses to test the effects of environmental factors including soil properties on these communities depending on geographical sites. Statistical analyses such as Principal component analysis (PCA) and Redundancy analysis (RDA) revealed that the compositions of the three soil biota communities were strongly affected by geographical sites, which were in turn strongly associated with soil characteristics such as total C (TC), total N (TN), C/N ratio and annual mean soil temperature (ST). In particular, the TC, TN and C/N ratio had stronger effects on bacterial and fungal communities than on the nematode community. Additionally, two-way cluster analysis using the combined DGGE profile also indicated that all soil samples were classified into four clusters corresponding to the four sites, showing high site specificity of soil samples, and all DNA bands were classified into four clusters, showing the coexistence of specific DGGE bands of bacteria, fungi and nematodes in Andosol fields. The results of this study suggest that geography relative to soil properties has a simultaneous impact on soil microbial and nematode community compositions. This is the first combined profile analysis of bacteria, fungi and nematodes at different sites with agricultural Andosols. PMID:22223474

Combined analyses of bacterial, fungal and nematode communities in andosolic agricultural soils in Japan.

PubMed

Bao, Zhihua; Ikunaga, Yoko; Matsushita, Yuko; Morimoto, Sho; Takada-Hoshino, Yuko; Okada, Hiroaki; Oba, Hirosuke; Takemoto, Shuhei; Niwa, Shigeru; Ohigashi, Kentaro; Suzuki, Chika; Nagaoka, Kazunari; Takenaka, Makoto; Urashima, Yasufumi; Sekiguchi, Hiroyuki; Kushida, Atsuhiko; Toyota, Koki; Saito, Masanori; Tsushima, Seiya

2012-01-01

We simultaneously examined the bacteria, fungi and nematode communities in Andosols from four agro-geographical sites in Japan using polymerase chain reaction-denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (PCR-DGGE) and statistical analyses to test the effects of environmental factors including soil properties on these communities depending on geographical sites. Statistical analyses such as Principal component analysis (PCA) and Redundancy analysis (RDA) revealed that the compositions of the three soil biota communities were strongly affected by geographical sites, which were in turn strongly associated with soil characteristics such as total C (TC), total N (TN), C/N ratio and annual mean soil temperature (ST). In particular, the TC, TN and C/N ratio had stronger effects on bacterial and fungal communities than on the nematode community. Additionally, two-way cluster analysis using the combined DGGE profile also indicated that all soil samples were classified into four clusters corresponding to the four sites, showing high site specificity of soil samples, and all DNA bands were classified into four clusters, showing the coexistence of specific DGGE bands of bacteria, fungi and nematodes in Andosol fields. The results of this study suggest that geography relative to soil properties has a simultaneous impact on soil microbial and nematode community compositions. This is the first combined profile analysis of bacteria, fungi and nematodes at different sites with agricultural Andosols.

Systematic Review of Health Economic Analyses of Measles and Rubella Immunization Interventions.

PubMed

Thompson, Kimberly M; Odahowski, Cassie L

2016-07-01

Economic analyses for vaccine-preventable diseases provide important insights about the value of prevention. We reviewed the literature to identify all of the peer-reviewed, published economic analyses of interventions related to measles and rubella immunization options to assess the different types of analyses performed and characterize key insights. We searched PubMed, the Science Citation Index, and references from relevant articles for studies in English and found 67 analyses that reported primary data and quantitative estimates of benefit-cost or cost-effectiveness analyses for measles and/or rubella immunization interventions. We removed studies that we characterized as cost-minimization analyses from this sample because they generally provide insights that focused on more optimal strategies to achieve the same health outcome. The 67 analyses we included demonstrate the large economic benefits associated with preventing measles and rubella infections using vaccines and the benefit of combining measles and rubella antigens into a formulation that saves the costs associated with injecting the vaccines separately. Despite the importance of population immunity and dynamic viral transmission, most of the analyses used static models to estimate cases prevented and characterize benefits, although the use of dynamic models continues to increase. Many of the analyses focused on characterizing the most significant adverse outcomes (e.g., mortality for measles, congenital rubella syndrome for rubella) and/or only direct costs, and the most complete analyses present data from high-income countries. © 2014 Society for Risk Analysis.

Uranium hydrogeochemical and stream sediment reconnaissance of the Durango NTMS quadrangle, Colorado, including concentrations of forty-two additional elements

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Shannon, S.S. Jr.

1980-05-01

Uranium and other elemental data resulting from the Hydrogeochemical and Stream Sediment Reconnaissance (HSSR) of the Durango National Topographic Map Series (NTMS) quadrangle, Colorado, by the Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory (LASL) are reported herein. The LASL is responsible for conducting the HSSR primarily in the states of New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, and Alaska. This study was conducted as part of the United States Department of Energy's National Uranium Resource Evaluation (NURE), which is designed to provide improved estimates of the availability and economics of nuclear fuel resources and to make available to industry information for use in exploration andmore » development of uranium resources. The HSSR data will ultimately be integrated with other NURE data (e.g., airborne radiometric surveys and geological investigations) to complete the entire NURE program. This report is a supplement to the HSSR uranium evaluation report for the Durango quadrangle which presented the field and uranium data for the 1518 water and 1604 sediment samples collected from 1804 locations in the quadrangle. The earlier report contains an evaluation of the uranium concentrations of the samples as well as descriptions of the geology, hydrology, climate, and uranium occurrences of the quadrangle. This supplement presents the sediment field and uranium data again and the analyses of 42 other elements in the sediments.« less

33 CFR 154.1125 - Additional response plan requirements.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... Prince William Sound, Alaska § 154.1125 Additional response plan requirements. (a) The owner or operator of a TAPAA facility shall include the following information in the Prince William Sound appendix to... for personnel, including local residents and fishermen, from the following locations in Prince William...

Astronomy sortie mission definition study. Addendum: Follow-on analyses

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1973-01-01

Results of design analyses, trade studies, and planning data of the Astronomy Sortie Mission Definition Study are presented. An in-depth analysis of UV instruments, nondeployed solar payload, and on-orbit access is presented. Planning data are considered, including the cost and schedules associated with the astronomy instruments and/or support hardware. Costs are presented in a parametric fashion.

Food additives

PubMed Central

Spencer, Michael

1974-01-01

Food additives are discussed from the food technology point of view. The reasons for their use are summarized: (1) to protect food from chemical and microbiological attack; (2) to even out seasonal supplies; (3) to improve their eating quality; (4) to improve their nutritional value. The various types of food additives are considered, e.g. colours, flavours, emulsifiers, bread and flour additives, preservatives, and nutritional additives. The paper concludes with consideration of those circumstances in which the use of additives is (a) justified and (b) unjustified. PMID:4467857

Precise Chemical Analyses of Planetary Surfaces

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kring, David; Schweitzer, Jeffrey; Meyer, Charles; Trombka, Jacob; Freund, Friedemann; Economou, Thanasis; Yen, Albert; Kim, Soon Sam; Treiman, Allan H.; Blake, David;

A decade of individual participant data meta-analyses: A review of current practice.

PubMed

Simmonds, Mark; Stewart, Gavin; Stewart, Lesley

2015-11-01

Individual participant data (IPD) systematic reviews and meta-analyses are often considered to be the gold standard for meta-analysis. In the ten years since the first review into the methodology and reporting practice of IPD reviews was published much has changed in the field. This paper investigates current reporting and statistical practice in IPD systematic reviews. A systematic review was performed to identify systematic reviews that collected and analysed IPD. Data were extracted from each included publication on a variety of issues related to the reporting of IPD review process, and the statistical methods used. There has been considerable growth in the use of "one-stage" methods to perform IPD meta-analyses. The majority of reviews consider at least one covariate other than the primary intervention, either using subgroup analysis or including covariates in one-stage regression models. Random-effects analyses, however, are not often used. Reporting of review methods was often limited, with few reviews presenting a risk-of-bias assessment. Details on issues specific to the use of IPD were little reported, including how IPD were obtained; how data was managed and checked for consistency and errors; and for how many studies and participants IPD were sought and obtained. While the last ten years have seen substantial changes in how IPD meta-analyses are performed there remains considerable scope for improving the quality of reporting for both the process of IPD systematic reviews, and the statistical methods employed in them. It is to be hoped that the publication of the PRISMA-IPD guidelines specific to IPD reviews will improve reporting in this area. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Food additives used in meat processing according to the Polish and European Union legislation.

PubMed

Uradziński, J; Weiner, M

2003-01-01

This paper presents the legal regulations related to the use of food additives in meat production in Poland and the European Union. The Polish legal definition of food additives is given as well as the classification of permitted food additives added to food and stimulants by their technological function. In addition, a definition of processing aids in the food industry is included. It shows that Polish legislation includes food additives used to ensure or improve food nutritional value, whereas in the EU legislation, these substances are not included in the list of food additives. Moreover, the Council Directives include food additive specific purity criteria, whereas the Polish regulations do not mention the legal regulations of this issue in practice. The European Union use mechanisms and procedures for the introduction of new food additives into internal markets as well as controlling the circulation of additives. The Polish legislation in practice, however, does not determine approval or methods for the introduction of new food additives to the market. Legal regulations on the monitoring of food additives no exist.

Mortality and economic instability: detailed analyses for Britain and comparative analyses for selected industrialized countries.

PubMed

Brenner, M H

1983-01-01

This paper discusses a first-stage analysis of the link of unemployment rates, as well as other economic, social and environmental health risk factors, to mortality rates in postwar Britain. The results presented represent part of an international study of the impact of economic change on mortality patterns in industrialized countries. The mortality patterns examined include total and infant mortality and (by cause) cardiovascular (total), cerebrovascular and heart disease, cirrhosis of the liver, and suicide, homicide and motor vehicle accidents. Among the most prominent factors that beneficially influence postwar mortality patterns in England/Wales and Scotland are economic growth and stability and health service availability. A principal detrimental factor to health is a high rate of unemployment. Additional factors that have an adverse influence on mortality rates are cigarette consumption and heavy alcohol use and unusually cold winter temperatures (especially in Scotland). The model of mortality that includes both economic changes and behavioral and environmental risk factors was successfully applied to infant mortality rates in the interwar period. In addition, the "simple" economic change model of mortality (using only economic indicators) was applied to other industrialized countries. In Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Sweden, the simple version of the economic change model could be successfully applied only if the analysis was begun before World War II; for analysis beginning in the postwar era, the more sophisticated economic change model, including behavioral and environmental risk factors, was required. In France, West Germany, Italy, and Spain, by contrast, some success was achieved using the simple economic change model.

Micro-CT analyses of apical enlargement and molar root canal complexity.

PubMed

Markvart, M; Darvann, T A; Larsen, P; Dalstra, M; Kreiborg, S; Bjørndal, L

2012-03-01

To compare the effectiveness of two rotary hybrid instrumentation techniques with focus on apical enlargement in molar teeth and to quantify and visualize spatial details of instrumentation efficacy in root canals of different complexity. Maxillary and mandibular molar teeth were scanned using X-ray microcomputed tomography. Root canals were prepared using either a GT/Profile protocol or a RaCe/NiTi protocol. Variables used for evaluation were the following: distance between root canal surfaces before and after preparation (distance after preparation, DAP), percentage of root canal area remaining unprepared and increase in canal volume after preparation. Root canals were classified according to size and complexity, and consequences of unprepared portions of narrow root canals and intraradicular connections/isthmuses were included in the analyses. One- and two-way anova were used in the statistical analyses. No difference was found between the two techniques: DAP(apical-third) (P = 0.590), area unprepared(apical-third) (P = 0.126) and volume increase(apical-third) (P = 0.821). Unprepared root canal area became larger in relation to root canal size and complexity, irrespective of the technique used. Percentage of root canal area remaining unprepared was significantly lower in small root canals and complex systems compared to large root canals. The isthmus area per se contributed with a mean of 17.6%, and with a mean of 25.7%, when a narrow root canal remained unprepared. The addition of isthmuses did not significantly alter the ratio of instrumented to unprepared areas at total root canal level. Distal and palatal root canals had the highest level of unprepared area irrespective of the two instrumentation techniques examined. © 2011 International Endodontic Journal.

Evaluation of the Zeiss retinal vessel analyser

PubMed Central

Polak, K.; Dorner, G.; Kiss, B.; Polska, E.; Findl, O.; Rainer, G.; Eichler, H.; Schmetterer, L.

2000-01-01

AIM—To investigate the reproducibility and sensitivity of the Zeiss retinal vessel analyser, a new method for the online determination of retinal vessel diameters in healthy subjects.
METHODS—Two model drugs were administered, a peripheral vasoconstrictor (the α receptor agonist phenylephrine) and a peripheral vasodilator (the nitric oxide donor sodium nitroprusside) in stepwise increasing doses. Nine healthy young subjects were studied in a placebo controlled double masked three way crossover design. Subjects received intravenous infusions of either placebo or stepwise increasing doses of phenylephrine (0.5, 1, or 2 µg/kg/min) or sodium nitroprusside (0.5, 1, or 2 µg/kg/min). Retinal vessel diameters were measured with the new Zeiss retinal vessel analyser. Retinal leucocyte velocity, flow, and density were measured with the blue field entoptic technique. The reproducibility of measurements was assessed with coefficients of variation and intraclass correlation coefficients.
RESULTS—Placebo and phenylephrine did not influence retinal haemodynamics, although the α receptor antagonist significantly increased blood pressure. Sodium nitroprusside induced a significant increase in retinal venous and arterial diameters (p<0.001 each), leucocyte density (p=0.001), and leucocyte flow (p=0.024) despite lowering blood pressure to a significant degree. For venous and arterial vessel size measurements short term coefficients of variation were 1.3% and 2.6% and intraclass correlation coefficients were 0.98 and 0.96, respectively. The sensitivity was between 3% and 5% for retinal veins and 5% and 7% for retinal arteries.
CONCLUSIONS—These data indicate that the Zeiss retinal vessel analyser is an accurate system for the assessment of retinal diameters in healthy subjects. In addition, nitric oxide appears to have a strong influence on retinal vascular tone.

 PMID:11049956

Theoretical analyses of the refractive implications of transepithelial PRK ablations.

PubMed

Arba Mosquera, Samuel; Awwad, Shady T

2013-07-01

To analyse the refractive implications of single-step, transepithelial photorefractive keratectomy (TransPRK) ablations. A simulation for quantifying the refractive implications of TransPRK ablations has been developed. The simulation includes a simple modelling of corneal epithelial profiles, epithelial ablation profiles as well as refractive ablation profiles, and allows the analytical quantification of the refractive implications of TransPRK in terms of wasted tissue, achieved optical zone (OZ) and induced refractive error. Wasted tissue occurs whenever the actual corneal epithelial profile is thinner than the applied epithelial ablation profile, achieved OZ is reduced whenever the actual corneal epithelial profile is thicker than the applied epithelial ablation profile and additional refractive errors are induced whenever the actual difference centre-to-periphery in the corneal epithelial profile deviates from the difference in the applied epithelial ablation profile. The refractive implications of TransPRK ablations can be quantified using simple theoretical simulations. These implications can be wasted tissue (∼14 µm, if the corneal epithelial profile is thinner than the ablated one), reduced OZ (if the corneal epithelial profile is thicker than ablated one, very severe for low corrections) and additional refractive errors (∼0.66 D, if the centre-to-periphery progression of the corneal epithelial profile deviates from the progression of the ablated one). When TransPRK profiles are applied to normal, not previously treated, non-pathologic corneas, no specific refractive implications associated to the transepithelial profile can be anticipated; TransPRK would provide refractive outcomes equal to those of standard PRK. Adjustments for the planned OZ and, in the event of retreatments, for the target sphere can be easily derived.

Efficacy of Addition of Antiangiogenic Agents to Taxanes-Containing Chemotherapy in Advanced Nonsmall-Cell Lung Cancer

PubMed Central

Sheng, Jin; Yang, Yun-Peng; Yang, Bi-Jun; Zhao, Yuan-Yuan; Ma, Yu-Xiang; Hong, Shao-Dong; Zhang, Ya-Xiong; Zhao, Hong-Yun; Huang, Yan; Zhang, Li

2015-01-01

Abstract Preclinical researches indicated a potential synergistic effect of taxanes-containing chemotherapy (TCC) and antiangiogenic agents (AAs) on the treatment of advanced nonsmall-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). The advantage of adding AA to TCC in the real world remains confusing. We summarized the current evidences from relevant phase II/III randomized controlled trials (RCTs) by performing this meta-analyses. Electronic databases were searched for eligible literatures. The primary endpoint was overall survival (OS). Pooled hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for outcomes were calculated using RevMan 5.2. A total of 14 phase II/III RCTs involving 9703 participants were included. Compared to standard TCC, the addition of AA was associated with the significant better OS (HR 0.92, 95% CI 0.87–0.97, P = 0.002), prolonged progression-free survival (HR 0.79, 95% CI 0.71–0.87, P < 0.00001), superior response rate (risk ratio [RR] 1.69, 95% CI 1.47–1.95, P < 0.0001), and disease control rate (RR 1.19, 95% CI 1.08–1.32, P < 0.00001). Subgroup analyses indicated that patient treated with monoclonal antibodies (HR 0.89, 95% CI 0.82–0.96, P = 0.02) as well as application in second-line (HR 0.91, 95% CI 0.85–0.96, P = 0.02) acquired significant OS improvement. Other clinical factors directing significant OS improvement by the combination strategy included nonsquamous cancer (P = 0.002), nonsmokers (P = 0.0005), and female (P = 0.02). Toxicities were greater but generally mild or moderate in the combination group, and were mostly manageable. In summary, the addition of AAs to TCC could improve prognosis of advanced NSCLC. Furthermore, proper selection of patient population and AAs is crucial for clinical trials design and clinical practice in the future. PMID:26252298

Effect of hypoeutectic boron additions on the grain size and mechanical properties of Ti-6Al-4V manufactured with powder bed electron beam additive manufacturing

DOE PAGES

Mahbooba, Zaynab; West, Harvey; Harrysson, Ola; ...

2016-12-02

In additive manufacturing, microstructural control is feasible via processing parameter alteration. However, the window for parameter variation for certain materials, such as Ti-6Al-4V, is limited, and alternative methods must be employed to customize microstructures. Grain refinement and homogenization in cast titanium alloys has been demonstrated through the addition of hypoeutectic concentrations of boron. This work explores the influence of 0.00 wt.%, 0.25 wt.%, 0.50 wt.%, and 1.0 wt.% boron additions on the microstructure and bulk mechanical properties of Ti-6Al-4V samples fabricated in an Arcam A2 electron beam melting (EBM) system with commercial processing parameters for Ti-6Al-4V. Analyses of EBM fabricatedmore » Ti-6Al-4V + B indicate that the addition of 0.25–1.0 wt.% boron progressively refines the grain structure, and it improves hardness and elastic modulus. Furthermore, despite a reduction in size, the β grain structure remained columnar as a result of directional heat transfer during EBM fabrication.« less

Effect of hypoeutectic boron additions on the grain size and mechanical properties of Ti-6Al-4V manufactured with powder bed electron beam additive manufacturing

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Mahbooba, Zaynab; West, Harvey; Harrysson, Ola

In additive manufacturing, microstructural control is feasible via processing parameter alteration. However, the window for parameter variation for certain materials, such as Ti-6Al-4V, is limited, and alternative methods must be employed to customize microstructures. Grain refinement and homogenization in cast titanium alloys has been demonstrated through the addition of hypoeutectic concentrations of boron. This work explores the influence of 0.00 wt.%, 0.25 wt.%, 0.50 wt.%, and 1.0 wt.% boron additions on the microstructure and bulk mechanical properties of Ti-6Al-4V samples fabricated in an Arcam A2 electron beam melting (EBM) system with commercial processing parameters for Ti-6Al-4V. Analyses of EBM fabricatedmore » Ti-6Al-4V + B indicate that the addition of 0.25–1.0 wt.% boron progressively refines the grain structure, and it improves hardness and elastic modulus. Furthermore, despite a reduction in size, the β grain structure remained columnar as a result of directional heat transfer during EBM fabrication.« less

Quality control and conduct of genome-wide association meta-analyses.

PubMed

Winkler, Thomas W; Day, Felix R; Croteau-Chonka, Damien C; Wood, Andrew R; Locke, Adam E; Mägi, Reedik; Ferreira, Teresa; Fall, Tove; Graff, Mariaelisa; Justice, Anne E; Luan, Jian'an; Gustafsson, Stefan; Randall, Joshua C; Vedantam, Sailaja; Workalemahu, Tsegaselassie; Kilpeläinen, Tuomas O; Scherag, André; Esko, Tonu; Kutalik, Zoltán; Heid, Iris M; Loos, Ruth J F

2014-05-01

Rigorous organization and quality control (QC) are necessary to facilitate successful genome-wide association meta-analyses (GWAMAs) of statistics aggregated across multiple genome-wide association studies. This protocol provides guidelines for (i) organizational aspects of GWAMAs, and for (ii) QC at the study file level, the meta-level across studies and the meta-analysis output level. Real-world examples highlight issues experienced and solutions developed by the GIANT Consortium that has conducted meta-analyses including data from 125 studies comprising more than 330,000 individuals. We provide a general protocol for conducting GWAMAs and carrying out QC to minimize errors and to guarantee maximum use of the data. We also include details for the use of a powerful and flexible software package called EasyQC. Precise timings will be greatly influenced by consortium size. For consortia of comparable size to the GIANT Consortium, this protocol takes a minimum of about 10 months to complete.

[Effect of K2O addition on the crystallization property of dental glass-ceramics].

PubMed

Liu, Xiao-Qiu; Song, Wen-Zhi; Sun, Hong-Chen; Yang, Hai-Bin; Zou, Guang-Tian; Wang, Jing-Yun; Ye, Chang-Li

2006-10-01

To evaluate the effect of K2O addition on the crystallization property of dental glass-ceramics in the Li2O-SiO2-Al2O3-P2O5-ZnO system. Different content of K2O was added into Li2O-SiO2-Al2O3-P2O5-ZnO glass system. The heat-treated system of the glass-ceramics was determined by differential thermal analyses (DTA), then the crystallization components and the microstmcture of the glass-ceramics with different content of K2O were investigated from X-ray diffraction (XRD) analyses and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Addition of K2O helped to reduce the viscosity of the glass system and improved crystallization. More lithium disilicate crystals appeared after heated-treatment of the glass system which contained 5.3 wt% addition of K2O, and the homogeneously lath-shaped crystals were 4 gm in length. Certain content of K2O can improve the crystallization property of dental glass-ceramics in the Li2O-SiO2-Al2O3-P2O5-ZnO system.

Reduced Toxicity Fuel Satellite Propulsion System Including Plasmatron

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Schneider, Steven J. (Inventor)

2003-01-01

A reduced toxicity fuel satellite propulsion system including a reduced toxicity propellant supply for consumption in an axial class thruster and an ACS class thruster. The system includes suitable valves and conduits for supplying the reduced toxicity propellant to the ACS decomposing element of an ACS thruster. The ACS decomposing element is operative to decompose the reduced toxicity propellant into hot propulsive gases. In addition the system includes suitable valves and conduits for supplying the reduced toxicity propellant to an axial decomposing element of the axial thruster. The axial decomposing element is operative to decompose the reduced toxicity propellant into hot gases. The system further includes suitable valves and conduits for supplying a second propellant to a combustion chamber of the axial thruster. whereby the hot gases and the second propellant auto-ignite and begin the combustion process for producing thrust.

Modulation of additive and interactive effects in lexical decision by trial history.

PubMed

Masson, Michael E J; Kliegl, Reinhold

2013-05-01

Additive and interactive effects of word frequency, stimulus quality, and semantic priming have been used to test theoretical claims about the cognitive architecture of word-reading processes. Additive effects among these factors have been taken as evidence for discrete-stage models of word reading. We present evidence from linear mixed-model analyses applied to 2 lexical decision experiments indicating that apparent additive effects can be the product of aggregating over- and underadditive interaction effects that are modulated by recent trial history, particularly the lexical status and stimulus quality of the previous trial's target. Even a simple practice effect expressed as improved response speed across trials was powerfully modulated by the nature of the previous target item. These results suggest that additivity and interaction between factors may reflect trial-to-trial variation in stimulus representations and decision processes rather than fundamental differences in processing architecture.

Additive manufactured x-ray optics for astronomy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Atkins, Carolyn; Feldman, Charlotte; Brooks, David; Watson, Stephen; Cochrane, William; Roulet, Melanie; Doel, Peter; Willingale, Richard; Hugot, Emmanuel

2017-08-01

Additive manufacturing, more commonly known as 3D printing, has become a commercially established technology for rapid prototyping and the fabrication of bespoke intricate parts. Optical components, such as mirrors and lenses, are now being fabricated via additive manufacturing, where the printed substrate is polished in a post-processing step. One application of additively manufactured optics could be within the astronomical X-ray community, where there is a growing need to demonstrate thin, lightweight, high precision optics for a beyond Chandra style mission. This paper will follow a proof-of-concept investigation, sponsored by the UK Space Agency's National Space Technology Programme, into the feasibility of applying additive manufacturing in the production of thin, lightweight, precision X-ray optics for astronomy. One of the benefits of additive manufacturing is the ability to construct intricate lightweighting, which can be optimised to minimise weight while ensuring rigidity. This concept of optimised lightweighting will be applied to a series of polished additively manufactured test samples and experimental data from these samples, including an assessment of the optical quality and the magnitude of any print-through, will be presented. In addition, the finite element analysis optimisations of the lightweighting development will be discussed.

Assessment of the Impact of Scheduled Postmarketing Safety Summary Analyses on Regulatory Actions

PubMed Central

Sekine, S; Pinnow, EE; Wu, E; Kurtzig, R; Hall, M; Dal Pan, GJ

2016-01-01

In addition to standard postmarketing drug safety monitoring, Section 915 of the Food and Drug Administration Amendments Act of 2007 (FDAAA) requires the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to conduct a summary analysis of adverse event reports to identify risks of a drug or biologic product 18 months after product approval, or after 10,000 patients have used the product, whichever is later. We assessed the extent to which these analyses identified new safety signals and resultant safety-related label changes. Among 458 newly approved products, 300 were the subjects of a scheduled analysis; a new safety signal that resulted in a safety-related label change was found for 11 of these products. Less than 2% of 713 safety-related label changes were based on the scheduled analyses. Our study suggests that the safety summary analyses provide only marginal value over other pharmacovigilance activities. PMID:26853718

Reducing nontemplated 3' nucleotide addition to polynucleotide transcripts

DOEpatents

Kao, C. Cheng

2000-01-01

Non-template 3' nucleotide addition to a transcript is reduced by transcribing a transcript from a template comprising an ultimate and/or penultimate 5' ribose having a C'2 substituent such as methoxy, which reduces non-template 3' nucleotide addition to the transcript. The methods are shown to be applicable to a wide variety of polymerases, including Taq, T7 RNA polymerase, etc.

POEM: Identifying Joint Additive Effects on Regulatory Circuits

PubMed Central

Botzman, Maya; Nachshon, Aharon; Brodt, Avital; Gat-Viks, Irit

2016-01-01

Motivation: Expression Quantitative Trait Locus (eQTL) mapping tackles the problem of identifying variation in DNA sequence that have an effect on the transcriptional regulatory network. Major computational efforts are aimed at characterizing the joint effects of several eQTLs acting in concert to govern the expression of the same genes. Yet, progress toward a comprehensive prediction of such joint effects is limited. For example, existing eQTL methods commonly discover interacting loci affecting the expression levels of a module of co-regulated genes. Such “modularization” approaches, however, are focused on epistatic relations and thus have limited utility for the case of additive (non-epistatic) effects. Results: Here we present POEM (Pairwise effect On Expression Modules), a methodology for identifying pairwise eQTL effects on gene modules. POEM is specifically designed to achieve high performance in the case of additive joint effects. We applied POEM to transcription profiles measured in bone marrow-derived dendritic cells across a population of genotyped mice. Our study reveals widespread additive, trans-acting pairwise effects on gene modules, characterizes their organizational principles, and highlights high-order interconnections between modules within the immune signaling network. These analyses elucidate the central role of additive pairwise effect in regulatory circuits, and provide computational tools for future investigations into the interplay between eQTLs. Availability: The software described in this article is available at csgi.tau.ac.il/POEM/. PMID:27148351

Analyses of S-Box in Image Encryption Applications Based on Fuzzy Decision Making Criterion

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rehman, Inayatur; Shah, Tariq; Hussain, Iqtadar

2014-06-01

In this manuscript, we put forward a standard based on fuzzy decision making criterion to examine the current substitution boxes and study their strengths and weaknesses in order to decide their appropriateness in image encryption applications. The proposed standard utilizes the results of correlation analysis, entropy analysis, contrast analysis, homogeneity analysis, energy analysis, and mean of absolute deviation analysis. These analyses are applied to well-known substitution boxes. The outcome of these analyses are additional observed and a fuzzy soft set decision making criterion is used to decide the suitability of an S-box to image encryption applications.

25 CFR 162.521 - May a lessee incorporate its WEEL analyses into its WSR lease analyses?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-04-01

... LAND AND WATER LEASES AND PERMITS Wind and Solar Resource Leases Weels § 162.521 May a lessee incorporate its WEEL analyses into its WSR lease analyses? Any analyses a lessee uses to bring a WEEL activity...

25 CFR 162.521 - May a lessee incorporate its WEEL analyses into its WSR lease analyses?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-04-01

... LAND AND WATER LEASES AND PERMITS Wind and Solar Resource Leases Weels § 162.521 May a lessee incorporate its WEEL analyses into its WSR lease analyses? Any analyses a lessee uses to bring a WEEL activity...

Proteomic Interaction Patterns between Human Cyclins, the Cyclin-Dependent Kinase Ortholog pUL97 and Additional Cytomegalovirus Proteins

PubMed Central

Steingruber, Mirjam; Kraut, Alexandra; Socher, Eileen; Sticht, Heinrich; Reichel, Anna; Stamminger, Thomas; Amin, Bushra; Couté, Yohann; Hutterer, Corina; Marschall, Manfred

2016-01-01

The human cytomegalovirus (HCMV)-encoded cyclin-dependent kinase (CDK) ortholog pUL97 associates with human cyclin B1 and other types of cyclins. Here, the question was addressed whether cyclin interaction of pUL97 and additional viral proteins is detectable by mass spectrometry-based approaches. Proteomic data were validated by coimmunoprecipitation (CoIP), Western blot, in vitro kinase and bioinformatic analyses. Our findings suggest that: (i) pUL97 shows differential affinities to human cyclins; (ii) pUL97 inhibitor maribavir (MBV) disrupts the interaction with cyclin B1, but not with other cyclin types; (iii) cyclin H is identified as a new high-affinity interactor of pUL97 in HCMV-infected cells; (iv) even more viral phosphoproteins, including all known substrates of pUL97, are detectable in the cyclin-associated complexes; and (v) a first functional validation of pUL97-cyclin B1 interaction, analyzed by in vitro kinase assay, points to a cyclin-mediated modulation of pUL97 substrate preference. In addition, our bioinformatic analyses suggest individual, cyclin-specific binding interfaces for pUL97-cyclin interaction, which could explain the different strengths of interactions and the selective inhibitory effect of MBV on pUL97-cyclin B1 interaction. Combined, the detection of cyclin-associated proteins in HCMV-infected cells suggests a complex pattern of substrate phosphorylation and a role of cyclins in the fine-modulation of pUL97 activities. PMID:27548200

Should family planning include STD services?

PubMed

Finger, W R

1994-05-01

Recent reviews suggest that the addition of programs aimed at preventing and controlling sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), specifically human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), to existing family planning programs does not necessarily dilute overall program effectiveness. In Colombia, Mexico, and Jamaica, where condom distribution and/or information to prevent HIV transmission was integrated into the activities of family planning field workers, no negative effect on the image of condoms as a pregnancy prevention method was observed and there was a great demand on the part of family planning clients for information about acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). In Brazil, family planning staff are receiving training in HIV risk assessment and the counseling of women in partner negotiation skills. However, steps must be taken to reach men since it is their high-risk behavior that puts most women at risk of HIV. Both separate STD clinics for men and condom social marketing projects have yielded promising results. Obstacles to the addition of STD services to family planning programs include the need to treat male partners as well as female clients, a shortage of diagnostic tools and antibiotics for treatment, and the fact that the majority of women with STDs are asymptomatic. Indicative of the increased attention being given this approach, however, is the recent release of guidelines by the US Agency for International Development Office of Population on how family planning programs should approach integration. Suggested activities include condom promotion, behavior change, counseling, information, contraceptive development, and selected efforts at STD treatment.

Boundary element analyses for sound transmission loss of panels.

PubMed

Zhou, Ran; Crocker, Malcolm J

2010-02-01

The sound transmission characteristics of an aluminum panel and two composite sandwich panels were investigated by using two boundary element analyses. The effect of air loading on the structural behavior of the panels is included in one boundary element analysis, by using a light-fluid approximation for the eigenmode series to evaluate the structural response. In the other boundary element analysis, the air loading is treated as an added mass. The effect of the modal energy loss factor on the sound transmission loss of the panels was investigated. Both boundary element analyses were used to study the sound transmission loss of symmetric sandwich panels excited by a random incidence acoustic field. A classical wave impedance analysis was also used to make sound transmission loss predictions for the two foam-filled honeycomb sandwich panels. Comparisons between predictions of sound transmission loss for the two foam-filled honeycomb sandwich panels excited by a random incidence acoustic field obtained from the wave impedance analysis, the two boundary element analyses, and experimental measurements are presented.

Multivariate analyses of crater parameters and the classification of craters

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Siegal, B. S.; Griffiths, J. C.

1974-01-01

Multivariate analyses were performed on certain linear dimensions of six genetic types of craters. A total of 320 craters, consisting of laboratory fluidization craters, craters formed by chemical and nuclear explosives, terrestrial maars and other volcanic craters, and terrestrial meteorite impact craters, authenticated and probable, were analyzed in the first data set in terms of their mean rim crest diameter, mean interior relief, rim height, and mean exterior rim width. The second data set contained an additional 91 terrestrial craters of which 19 were of experimental percussive impact and 28 of volcanic collapse origin, and which was analyzed in terms of mean rim crest diameter, mean interior relief, and rim height. Principal component analyses were performed on the six genetic types of craters. Ninety per cent of the variation in the variables can be accounted for by two components. Ninety-nine per cent of the variation in the craters formed by chemical and nuclear explosives is explained by the first component alone.

Effects of additional data on Bayesian clustering.

PubMed

Yamazaki, Keisuke

2017-10-01

Hierarchical probabilistic models, such as mixture models, are used for cluster analysis. These models have two types of variables: observable and latent. In cluster analysis, the latent variable is estimated, and it is expected that additional information will improve the accuracy of the estimation of the latent variable. Many proposed learning methods are able to use additional data; these include semi-supervised learning and transfer learning. However, from a statistical point of view, a complex probabilistic model that encompasses both the initial and additional data might be less accurate due to having a higher-dimensional parameter. The present paper presents a theoretical analysis of the accuracy of such a model and clarifies which factor has the greatest effect on its accuracy, the advantages of obtaining additional data, and the disadvantages of increasing the complexity. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Delineation of ground-water contamination using soil-gas analyses near Jackson, Tennessee

USGS Publications Warehouse

Lee, R.W.

1991-01-01

An investigation of the ground-water resources near Jackson, West Tennessee, was conducted during 1988-89. The study included determination of the occurrence of contaminants in the shallow aquifer using soil-gas analyses in the unsaturated zone. Between 1980 and 1988, an underground fuel-storage tank leaked about 3,000 gallons of unleaded fuel to the water table about 4 feet below land surface. A survey of soil gas using a gas chromatograph equipped with a photoionization detector showed concentrations of volatile organic compounds greater than IO, 000 parts per million near the leak These compounds were detected in an area about 240 feet long and 110 feet wide extending west from the point source. The chromatograms provided two distinct 'fingerprints' of volatile organic compounds. The first revealed the presence of benzene, toluene, andxylenes, which are constituents of unleaded fuel, in addition to other volatile compounds, in soil gas in the area near the leak The second did not reveal any detectable benzene, toluene, or xylenes in the soil-gas samples, but showed the presence of other unidentified volatile organic compounds in soil gas north of the storage tank. The distribution of total concentrations of volatile organic compounds in the unsaturated zone indicated that a second plume about 200 feet long and 90 feet wide was present about 100 feet north of the storage tank The second plume could have been the result of previous activities at this site during the 1950's or earlier. Activities at the site are believed to have included storage of solvents used at the nearby railyard and flushing of tanks containing tar onto a gravel-covered parking area. The delineation of these plumes has shown that soil-gas analyses can be a useful technique for identifying areas of contamination with volatile organic compounds in shallow water-table aquifers and may have broad applications in similar situations where the water table is relatively close to the surface.

Advanced Material Strategies for Next-Generation Additive Manufacturing

PubMed Central

Chang, Jinke; He, Jiankang; Zhou, Wenxing; Lei, Qi; Li, Xiao; Li, Dichen

2018-01-01

Additive manufacturing (AM) has drawn tremendous attention in various fields. In recent years, great efforts have been made to develop novel additive manufacturing processes such as micro-/nano-scale 3D printing, bioprinting, and 4D printing for the fabrication of complex 3D structures with high resolution, living components, and multimaterials. The development of advanced functional materials is important for the implementation of these novel additive manufacturing processes. Here, a state-of-the-art review on advanced material strategies for novel additive manufacturing processes is provided, mainly including conductive materials, biomaterials, and smart materials. The advantages, limitations, and future perspectives of these materials for additive manufacturing are discussed. It is believed that the innovations of material strategies in parallel with the evolution of additive manufacturing processes will provide numerous possibilities for the fabrication of complex smart constructs with multiple functions, which will significantly widen the application fields of next-generation additive manufacturing. PMID:29361754

Advanced Material Strategies for Next-Generation Additive Manufacturing.

PubMed

Chang, Jinke; He, Jiankang; Mao, Mao; Zhou, Wenxing; Lei, Qi; Li, Xiao; Li, Dichen; Chua, Chee-Kai; Zhao, Xin

2018-01-22

Additive manufacturing (AM) has drawn tremendous attention in various fields. In recent years, great efforts have been made to develop novel additive manufacturing processes such as micro-/nano-scale 3D printing, bioprinting, and 4D printing for the fabrication of complex 3D structures with high resolution, living components, and multimaterials. The development of advanced functional materials is important for the implementation of these novel additive manufacturing processes. Here, a state-of-the-art review on advanced material strategies for novel additive manufacturing processes is provided, mainly including conductive materials, biomaterials, and smart materials. The advantages, limitations, and future perspectives of these materials for additive manufacturing are discussed. It is believed that the innovations of material strategies in parallel with the evolution of additive manufacturing processes will provide numerous possibilities for the fabrication of complex smart constructs with multiple functions, which will significantly widen the application fields of next-generation additive manufacturing.

Wear Resistance of Austempered Ductile Iron with Nanosized Additives

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kaleicheva, J. K.; Mishev, V.

2018-01-01

The wear resistance, microstructure and mechanical properties of austempered ductile iron (ADI) with nanosized additives of cubic boron nitride cBN are investigated. Samples of ductile iron are put under austhempering at the following conditions: heating at 900°С, 1 h and isothermal retention at 280оС, 2 h and 380°С, 2 h with the aim to achieve a lower bainitic structure and an upper bainitic structure. The experimental wear testing of austempered ductile irons is performed in friction conditions of a fixed abrasive by a cinematic scheme „pin - disc” using an accelerated testing method and device. The microstructure of the ADI is investigated by metallographic and X-Ray analyses. The Vickers hardness testing and impact strength examination are carried out. The influence of the nanosized additives of cBN on the wear resistance, microstructure, impact strength and hardness of the ADI is investigated.

Effect of additive on Zeta potential and particle size of nickel nanoparticles

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sharma, Vikash; Tarachand, Chotia, Chandrabhan; Okram, G. S.

2017-05-01

Nickel nanoparticles (NPs) were prepared by thermal decomposition method using Oleylamine (OLY) as a solvent and Trioctylphosphine (TOP) as a surfactant. We have investigated the effect of pH and addition of Ethylenediamine tetraacetic acid (EDTA) on the stability and particle size of Ni NPs using zeta potential and particle size analyser. Coating of the surfactants on the surface of Ni NPs was confirmed by Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. Autotitration study of zeta potential of these NPs in ethanol by dynamic light scattering (DLS) at different pH values confirmed an isoelectric point (IEP) at pH = 3.64 in ethanol and pH = 3.04 after addition of EDTA in ethanol. It was observed that addition of EDTA in nanosuspension enhances stability of Ni-NPs significantly.

What is included with your online e-cigarette order? An analysis of e-cigarette shipping, product and packaging features.

PubMed

Kong, Amanda Y; Derrick, Jason C; Abrantes, Anthony S; Williams, Rebecca S

2016-06-29

The electronic cigarette industry is growing, with youth using e-cigarettes at higher rates than they are using cigarettes, and retail and online sales projected to reach $10 billion in 2017. Minimal regulation of the production and marketing of e-cigarettes exists to date, which has allowed companies to promote unsupported claims. We assessed the shipping, product features and packaging of a wide variety of e-cigarettes purchased online by adults and youth. The most popular internet e-cigarette vendors were identified from a larger study of internet tobacco vendors. Between August 2013 and June 2014, adults made 56 purchase attempts from online vendors, and youth made 98 attempts. Packages received were assessed for exterior and internal packaging features, including product information, health warnings and additional materials. We analysed a total of 125 orders featuring 86 unique brands of e-cigarettes. The contents were rarely indicated on package exteriors. Product information came with just 60% of orders and just 38.4% included an instruction manual. Only 44.6% of products included a health warning, and some had unsupported claims, such as lack of secondhand smoke exposure. Additionally, some products were leaking e-liquid and battery fluid on arrival. A large variety of e-cigarette products are manufactured and marketed to consumers. Many products do not include instructions for use, and unsupported claims are being presented to consumers. Effective federal regulation of the manufacturing, packaging, product information and health claims surrounding e-cigarettes is necessary to ensure consumers are presented with accurate e-cigarette use information. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://www.bmj.com/company/products-services/rights-and-licensing/

Analyses of Selected Provisions of Proposed Energy Legislation: 2003

EIA Publications

2003-01-01

This study responds to a July 31, 2003 request from Senator Byron L. Dorgan. The study is based primarily on analyses the Energy Information Administration has previously done for studies requested by Congress. It includes analysis of the Renewable Portfolio Standard, Renewable Fuels Standard, production in the Alaskan National Wildlife Refuge, the construction of an Alaskan Natural Gas pipeline, and various tax provisions.

[STandardized Reporting Of Secondary data Analyses (STROSA)—a recommendation].

PubMed

Swart, Enno; Schmitt, Jochen

2014-01-01

Secondary data analyses will play an increasingly important role in health services research. But to date, there is no guideline for the systematic, transparent and complete reporting of secondary data. We investigated whether the STROBE statement, i.e., the recommendations for reporting observational studies, satisfies the specific characteristics of secondary data analyses and whether any specifications/modifications and extensions are necessary. For the majority of the 22 STROBE criteria, specifications and extensions are needed to meet the requirements of systematic, transparent and complete reporting of secondary data analysis. Seven aspects of secondary data analysis not covered by STROBE (legal aspects, data flow, protocol, unit of analysis, internal validations/definitions, advantages of secondary data utilisation, role of data owners) should be considered as a specific complement to STROBE. The so called STROSA (STandardized Reporting Of Secondary data Analyses) checklist therefore includes 29 items that relate to the title/abstract, introduction, methods, results and discussion sections of articles. The STROSA checklist is intended to support authors and readers in the critical appraisal of secondary data analyses. This proposal will now be subject to continued scientific discussions. Copyright © 2014. Published by Elsevier GmbH.

Effectiveness and Cost-Effectiveness of eHealth Interventions in Somatic Diseases: A Systematic Review of Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses

PubMed Central

Elbert, Niels J; van Os-Medendorp, Harmieke; van Renselaar, Wilco; Ekeland, Anne G; Hakkaart-van Roijen, Leona; Raat, Hein; Nijsten, Tamar EC

2014-01-01

Background eHealth potentially enhances quality of care and may reduce health care costs. However, a review of systematic reviews published in 2010 concluded that high-quality evidence on the benefits of eHealth interventions was still lacking. Objective We conducted a systematic review of systematic reviews and meta-analyses on the effectiveness/cost-effectiveness of eHealth interventions in patients with somatic diseases to analyze whether, and to what possible extent, the outcome of recent research supports or differs from previous conclusions. Methods Literature searches were performed in PubMed, EMBASE, The Cochrane Library, and Scopus for systematic reviews and meta-analyses on eHealth interventions published between August 2009 and December 2012. Articles were screened for relevance based on preset inclusion and exclusion criteria. Citations of residual articles were screened for additional literature. Included papers were critically appraised using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) Statement before data were extracted. Based on conclusions drawn by the authors of the included articles, reviews and meta-analyses were divided into 1 of 3 groups: suitable, promising, or limited evidence on effectiveness/cost-effectiveness. Cases of uncertainty were resolved by consensus discussion. Effect sizes were extracted from papers that included a meta-analysis. To compare our results with previous findings, a trend analysis was performed. Results Our literature searches yielded 31 eligible reviews, of which 20 (65%) reported on costs. Seven papers (23%) concluded that eHealth is effective/cost-effective, 13 (42%) underlined that evidence is promising, and others found limited or inconsistent proof. Methodological quality of the included reviews and meta-analyses was generally considered high. Trend analysis showed a considerable accumulation of literature on eHealth. However, a similar percentage of papers concluded that e

5 CFR 831.407 - Purchase of additional annuity.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... benefit, each $100 credited to his or her voluntary contribution account, including interest, purchases an additional annuity at the rate of $7 per year, plus 20 cents for each full year, if any, he or she is over... benefit, each $100 credited to his or her voluntary contribution account, including interest, purchases an...

Current and anticipated use of thermal-hydraulic codes for BWR transient and accident analyses in Japan

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Arai, Kenji; Ebata, Shigeo

1997-07-01

This paper summarizes the current and anticipated use of the thermal-hydraulic and neutronic codes for the BWR transient and accident analyses in Japan. The codes may be categorized into the licensing codes and the best estimate codes for the BWR transient and accident analyses. Most of the licensing codes have been originally developed by General Electric. Some codes have been updated based on the technical knowledge obtained in the thermal hydraulic study in Japan, and according to the BWR design changes. The best estimates codes have been used to support the licensing calculations and to obtain the phenomenological understanding ofmore » the thermal hydraulic phenomena during a BWR transient or accident. The best estimate codes can be also applied to a design study for a next generation BWR to which the current licensing model may not be directly applied. In order to rationalize the margin included in the current BWR design and develop a next generation reactor with appropriate design margin, it will be required to improve the accuracy of the thermal-hydraulic and neutronic model. In addition, regarding the current best estimate codes, the improvement in the user interface and the numerics will be needed.« less

System Requirement Analyses for Ubiquitous Environment Management System

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lim, Sang Boem; Gil, Kyung Jun; Choe, Ho Rim; Eo, Yang Dam

We are living in new stage of society. U-City introduces new paradigm that cannot be archived in traditional city to future city. Korea is one of the most active countries to construct U-City based on advances of IT technologies - especially based on high-speed network through out country [1]. Peoples are realizing ubiquitous service is key factor of success of U-City. Among the U-services, U-security service is one of the most important services. Nowadays we have to concern about traditional threat and also personal information. Since apartment complex is the most common residence type in Korea. We are developing security rules and system based on analyses of apartment complex and assert of apartment complex. Based on these analyses, we are developing apartment complex security using various technologies including home network system. We also will discuss basic home network security architecture.

A Review of Empirical Analyses of Disinvestment Initiatives.

PubMed

Chambers, James D; Salem, Mark N; D'Cruz, Brittany N; Subedi, Prasun; Kamal-Bahl, Sachin J; Neumann, Peter J

Disinvesting in low-value health care services provides opportunities for investment in higher value care and thus an increase in health care efficiency. To identify international experience with disinvestment initiatives and to review empirical analyses of disinvestment initiatives. We performed a literature search using the PubMed database to identify international experience with disinvestment initiatives. We also reviewed empirical analyses of disinvestment initiatives. We identified 26 unique disinvestment initiatives implemented across 11 countries. Nineteen addressed multiple intervention types, six addressed only drugs, and one addressed only devices. We reviewed 18 empirical analyses of disinvestment initiatives: 7 reported that the initiative was successful, 8 reported that the initiative was unsuccessful, and 3 reported that findings were mixed; that is, the study considered multiple services and reported a decrease in the use of some but not others. Thirty-seven low-value services were evaluated across the 18 empirical analyses, for 14 (38%) of which the disinvestment initiative led to a decline in use. Six of the seven studies that reported the disinvestment initiative to be successful included an attempt to promote the disinvestment initiative among participating clinicians. The success of disinvestment initiatives has been mixed, with fewer than half the identified empirical studies reporting that use of the low-value service was reduced. Our findings suggest that promotion of the disinvestment initiative among clinicians is a key component to the success of the disinvestment initiative. Copyright © 2017 International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research (ISPOR). Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Comparative sequence analyses of sixteen reptilian paramyxoviruses

USGS Publications Warehouse

Ahne, W.; Batts, W.N.; Kurath, G.; Winton, J.R.

1999-01-01

Viral genomic RNA of Fer-de-Lance virus (FDLV), a paramyxovirus highly pathogenic for reptiles, was reverse transcribed and cloned. Plasmids with significant sequence similarities to the hemagglutinin-neuraminidase (HN) and polymerase (L) genes of mammalian paramyxoviruses were identified by BLAST search. Partial sequences of the FDLV genes were used to design primers for amplification by nested polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and sequencing of 518-bp L gene and 352-bp HN gene fragments from a collection of 15 previously uncharacterized reptilian paramyxoviruses. Phylogenetic analyses of the partial L and HN sequences produced similar trees in which there were two distinct subgroups of isolates that were supported with maximum bootstrap values, and several intermediate isolates. Within each subgroup the nucleotide divergence values were less than 2.5%, while the divergence between the two subgroups was 20-22%. This indicated that the two subgroups represent distinct virus species containing multiple virus strains. The five intermediate isolates had nucleotide divergence values of 11-20% and may represent additional distinct species. In addition to establishing diversity among reptilian paramyxoviruses, the phylogenetic groupings showed some correlation with geographic location, and clearly demonstrated a low level of host species-specificity within these viruses. Copyright (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V.

Nanocrystal Additives for Advanced Lubricants

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Cooper, Gregory; Lohuis, James; Demas, Nicholaos

The innovations in engine and drivetrain lubricants are mainly driven by ever more stringent regulations, which demand better fuel economy, lower carbon emission, and less pollution. Many technologies are being developed for the next generations of vehicles to achieve these goals. Even if these technologies can be adopted, there still is a significant need for a “drop-in” lubricant solution for the existing ground vehicle fleet to reap immediate fuel savings at the same time reduce the pollution. Dramatic improvements were observed when Pixelligent’s proprietary, mono-dispersed, and highly scalable metal oxide nanocrystals were added to the base oils. The dispersions inmore » base and formulated oils are clear and without any change of appearance and viscosity. However, the benefits provided by the nanocrystals were limited to the base oils due to the interference of exiting additives in the fully formulated oils. Developing a prototype formulation including the nanocrystals that can demonstrate the same improvements observed in the base oils is a critical step toward the commercialization of these advanced nano-additives. A ‘bottom-up’ approach was adopted to develop a prototype lubricant formulation to avoid the complicated interactions with the multitude of additives, only minimal numbers of most essential additives are added, step by step, into the formulation, to ensure that they are compatible with the nanocrystals and do not compromise their tribological performance. Tribological performance are characterized to come up with the best formulations that can demonstrate the commercial potential of the nano-additives.« less

Efficiency and Flexibility of Indirect Addition in the Domain of Multi-Digit Subtraction

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Torbeyns, Joke; Ghesquiere, Pol; Verschaffel, Lieven

2009-01-01

This article discusses the characteristics of the indirect addition strategy (IA) in the domain of multi-digit subtraction. In two studies, adults' use of IA on three-digit subtractions with a small, medium, or large difference between the integers was analysed using the choice/no-choice method. Results from both studies indicate that adults…

False-positive findings in Cochrane meta-analyses with and without application of trial sequential analysis: an empirical review.

PubMed

Imberger, Georgina; Thorlund, Kristian; Gluud, Christian; Wetterslev, Jørn

2016-08-12

Many published meta-analyses are underpowered. We explored the role of trial sequential analysis (TSA) in assessing the reliability of conclusions in underpowered meta-analyses. We screened The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews and selected 100 meta-analyses with a binary outcome, a negative result and sufficient power. We defined a negative result as one where the 95% CI for the effect included 1.00, a positive result as one where the 95% CI did not include 1.00, and sufficient power as the required information size for 80% power, 5% type 1 error, relative risk reduction of 10% or number needed to treat of 100, and control event proportion and heterogeneity taken from the included studies. We re-conducted the meta-analyses, using conventional cumulative techniques, to measure how many false positives would have occurred if these meta-analyses had been updated after each new trial. For each false positive, we performed TSA, using three different approaches. We screened 4736 systematic reviews to find 100 meta-analyses that fulfilled our inclusion criteria. Using conventional cumulative meta-analysis, false positives were present in seven of the meta-analyses (7%, 95% CI 3% to 14%), occurring more than once in three. The total number of false positives was 14 and TSA prevented 13 of these (93%, 95% CI 68% to 98%). In a post hoc analysis, we found that Cochrane meta-analyses that are negative are 1.67 times more likely to be updated (95% CI 0.92 to 2.68) than those that are positive. We found false positives in 7% (95% CI 3% to 14%) of the included meta-analyses. Owing to limitations of external validity and to the decreased likelihood of updating positive meta-analyses, the true proportion of false positives in meta-analysis is probably higher. TSA prevented 93% of the false positives (95% CI 68% to 98%). Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://www.bmj.com/company/products-services/rights-and-licensing/

Validation analysis of probabilistic models of dietary exposure to food additives.

PubMed

Gilsenan, M B; Thompson, R L; Lambe, J; Gibney, M J

2003-10-01

The validity of a range of simple conceptual models designed specifically for the estimation of food additive intakes using probabilistic analysis was assessed. Modelled intake estimates that fell below traditional conservative point estimates of intake and above 'true' additive intakes (calculated from a reference database at brand level) were considered to be in a valid region. Models were developed for 10 food additives by combining food intake data, the probability of an additive being present in a food group and additive concentration data. Food intake and additive concentration data were entered as raw data or as a lognormal distribution, and the probability of an additive being present was entered based on the per cent brands or the per cent eating occasions within a food group that contained an additive. Since the three model components assumed two possible modes of input, the validity of eight (2(3)) model combinations was assessed. All model inputs were derived from the reference database. An iterative approach was employed in which the validity of individual model components was assessed first, followed by validation of full conceptual models. While the distribution of intake estimates from models fell below conservative intakes, which assume that the additive is present at maximum permitted levels (MPLs) in all foods in which it is permitted, intake estimates were not consistently above 'true' intakes. These analyses indicate the need for more complex models for the estimation of food additive intakes using probabilistic analysis. Such models should incorporate information on market share and/or brand loyalty.

Using Generalized Additive Models to Analyze Single-Case Designs

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shadish, William; Sullivan, Kristynn

2013-01-01

Many analyses for single-case designs (SCDs)--including nearly all the effect size indicators-- currently assume no trend in the data. Regression and multilevel models allow for trend, but usually test only linear trend and have no principled way of knowing if higher order trends should be represented in the model. This paper shows how Generalized…

32 CFR 37.405 - What must my announcement or solicitation include?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... 32 National Defense 1 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false What must my announcement or solicitation include? 37.405 Section 37.405 National Defense Department of Defense OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY OF DEFENSE... competitive procedure, must include the basic information described in 32 CFR 22.315(a). Additional elements...

KOH concentration effect on the cycle life of nickel-hydrogen cells. Part 4: Results of failure analyses

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lim, H. S.; Verzwyvelt, S. A.

1989-01-01

KOH concentration effects on cycle life of a Ni/H2 cell have been studied by carrying out a cycle life test of ten Ni/H2 boiler plate cells which contain electrolytes of various KOH concentrations. Failure analyses of these cells were carried out after completion of the life test which accumulated up to 40,000 cycles at an 80 percent depth of discharge over a period of 3.7 years. These failure analyses included studies on changes of electrical characteristics of test cells and component analyses after disassembly of the cell. The component analyses included visual inspections, dimensional changes, capacity measurements of nickel electrodes, scanning electron microscopy, BET surface area measurements, and chemical analyses. Results have indicated that failure mode and change in the nickel electrode varied as the concentration was varied, especially, when the concentration was changed from 31 percent or higher to 26 percent or lower.

Education and dementia in the context of the cognitive reserve hypothesis: a systematic review with meta-analyses and qualitative analyses.