Variations in daily cigarette consumption on work days compared with nonwork days and associations with quitting: findings from the international tobacco control four-country survey.

PubMed

Cooper, Jae; Borland, Ron; Yong, Hua-Hie; Hyland, Andrew; Cummings, K Michael

2013-01-01

We explore whether reported daily cigarette consumption differs between work days and nonwork days and whether variation in consumption between work days and nonwork days influences quitting and abstinence from smoking. We also explore whether effects are independent of measures of addiction and smoking restrictions at work and home. Data were from 5,732 respondents from the first five waves of the International Tobacco Control Four-Country Survey, occurring between 2002 and 2006. Respondents were current smokers employed outside the home. Variation in daily cigarette consumption on work days compared with nonwork days at one wave was used to predict the likelihood of making an attempt and the likelihood of maintaining a quit attempt for at least a month at the next wave. Generalized estimating equations were used to combine data for multiple waves. Just under half reported smoking more on a nonwork day, a little over a third reported no difference, and around one fifth reported smoking more on a work day. Controlling for possible confounding factors, smoking more on a work day was associated with making quit attempts. Among people who made a quit attempt, variation in consumption did not consistently predict one month's abstinence, being positive in Australia, but negative in the United Kingdom. Those who smoke more on work days try to quit more. Country differences for success may be related to the extent of bans on smoking, with those smoking more on work days more likely to succeed where bans in workplaces and public places were more prevalent, such as Australia at the time.

A QC approach to the determination of day-to-day reproducibility and robustness of LC-MS methods for global metabolite profiling in metabonomics/metabolomics.

PubMed

Gika, Helen G; Theodoridis, Georgios A; Earll, Mark; Wilson, Ian D

2012-09-01

An approach to the determination of day-to-day analytical robustness of LC-MS-based methods for global metabolic profiling using a pooled QC sample is presented for the evaluation of metabonomic/metabolomic data. A set of 60 urine samples were repeatedly analyzed on five different days and the day-to-day reproducibility of the data obtained was determined. Multivariate statistical analysis was performed with the aim of evaluating variability and selected peaks were assessed and validated in terms of retention time stability, mass accuracy and intensity. The methodology enables the repeatability/reproducibility of extended analytical runs in large-scale studies to be determined, allowing the elimination of analytical (as opposed to biological) variability, in order to discover true patterns and correlations within the data. The day-to-day variability of the data revealed by this process suggested that, for this particular system, 3 days continuous operation was possible without the need for maintenance and cleaning. Variation was generally based on signal intensity changes over the 7-day period of the study, and was mainly a result of source contamination.

Variations in vital signs in the last days of life in patients with advanced cancer.

PubMed

Bruera, Sebastian; Chisholm, Gary; Dos Santos, Renata; Crovador, Camila; Bruera, Eduardo; Hui, David

2014-10-01

Few studies have examined variation in vital signs in the last days of life. We determined the variation of vital signs in the final two weeks of life in patients with advanced cancer and examined their association with impending death in three days. In this prospective, longitudinal, observational study, we enrolled consecutive patients admitted to two acute palliative care units and documented their vital signs (heart rate, blood pressure, respiratory rate, oxygen saturation, and temperature) twice a day serially from admission to death or discharge. Of 357 patients, 203 (57%) died in hospital. Systolic blood pressure (P < 0.001), diastolic blood pressure (P < 0.001), and oxygen saturation (P < 0.001) decreased significantly in the final three days of life, and temperature increased slightly (P < 0.04). Heart rate (P = 0.22) and respiratory rate (P = 0.24) remained similar in the last three days. Impending death in three days was significantly associated with increased heart rate (odds ratio [OR] = 2; P = 0.01), decreased systolic blood pressure (OR = 2.5; P = 0.004), decreased diastolic blood pressure (OR = 2.3; P = 0.002), and decreased oxygen saturation (OR = 3.7; P = 0.003) from baseline readings on admission. These changes had high specificity (≥ 80%), low sensitivity (≤ 35%), and modest positive likelihood ratios (≤ 5) for impending death within three days. A large proportion of patients had normal vital signs in the last days of life. Blood pressure and oxygen saturation decreased in the last days of life. Clinicians and families cannot rely on vital sign changes alone to rule in or rule out impending death. Our findings do not support routine vital signs monitoring of patients who are imminently dying. Copyright © 2014 American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Variations in Vital Signs in the Last Days of Life in Patients With Advanced Cancer

PubMed Central

Bruera, Sebastian; Chisholm, Gary; Dos Santos, Renata; Crovador, Camila; Bruera, Eduardo; Hui, David

2014-01-01

Context Few studies have examined variation in vital signs in the last days of life. Objectives We determined the variation of vital signs in the final two weeks of life in patients with advanced cancer and examined their association with impending death in three days. Methods In this prospective, longitudinal, observational study, we enrolled consecutive patients admitted to two acute palliative care units and documented their vital signs (heart rate, blood pressure, respiratory rate, oxygen saturation, and temperature) twice a day serially from admission to death or discharge. Results Of 357 patients, 203 (55%) died in hospital. Systolic blood pressure (P < 0.001), diastolic blood pressure (P < 0.001), and oxygen saturation (P < 0.001) decreased significantly in the final three days of life, and temperature increased slightly (P < 0.04). Heart rate (P = 0.22) and respiratory rate (P = 0.24) remained similar in the last three days. Impending death in three days was significantly associated with increased heart rate (odds ratio [OR] = 2; P = 0.01), decreased systolic blood pressure (OR = 2.5; P = 0.004), decreased diastolic blood pressure (OR = 2.3; P = 0.002), and decreased oxygen saturation (OR = 3.7; P = 0.003) from baseline readings on admission. These changes had high specificity (≥80%), low sensitivity (≤35%), and modest positive likelihood ratios (≤5) for impending death within three days. A large proportion of patients had normal vital signs in the last days of life. Conclusion Blood pressure and oxygen saturation decreased in the last days of life. Clinicians and families cannot rely on vital sign changes alone to rule in or rule out impending death. Our findings do not support routine vital signs monitoring of patients who are imminently dying. PMID:24731412

Effects of day-length variations on emotional responses towards unfamiliarity in Swiss mice.

PubMed

Kopp, C; Misslin, R; Vogel, E; Rettori, M C; Delagrange, P; Guardiola-Lemaitre, B

1997-11-01

Pineal melatonin secretion occurs at night in all vertebrates and the duration of its secretion is negatively correlated with day length. As an anxiolytic activity of melatonin has been shown in rats and mice, this study examined possible changes of emotional reactivity in response to day length variations in Swiss mice. Three groups of mice were observed in a free-exploratory test: a group submitted to a short-day exposure (6:18 h light-dark cycle) for 2 weeks, a group submitted to a long-day exposure (18:6 h light-dark cycle) for 2 weeks and a control group which was maintained in housing 12:12 h light-dark cycle. The short-day exposed group of mice exhibited significantly fewer attempts to enter into the unfamiliar enclosure, spent significantly more time in it and presented significantly more rears than controls whereas the long-day exposed group of mice made more attempts than controls. These results suggest a decreased emotional level in short-day exposed mice and an increased level in long-day exposed mice. This could be interpreted as confirming the idea of anxiolytic-like properties of melatonin; however, the specific role of this hormone in the changes of anxiety related to day length must be assessed by further measures of potential variations of circulating melatonin.

Day to day variability in fat oxidation and the effect after only 1 day of change in diet composition.

PubMed

Støa, Eva Maria; Nyhus, Lill-Katrin; Børresen, Sandra Claveau; Nygaard, Caroline; Hovet, Åse Marie; Bratland-Sanda, Solfrid; Helgerud, Jan; Støren, Øyvind

2016-04-01

Indirect calorimetry is a common and noninvasive method to estimate rate of fat oxidation (FatOx) during exercise, and test-retest reliability should be considered when interpreting results. Diet also has an impact on FatOx. The aim of the present study was to investigate day to day variations in FatOx during moderate exercise given the same diet and 2 different isoenergetic diets. Nine healthy, moderately-trained females participated in the study. They performed 1 maximal oxygen uptake test and 4 FatOx tests. Habitual diets were recorded and repeated to assess day to day variability in FatOx. FatOx was also measured after 1 day of fat-rich (26.8% carbohydrates (CHO), 23.2% protein, 47.1% fat) and 1 day of CHO-rich diet (62.6% CHO, 20.1% protein, 12.4% fat). The reliability test revealed no differences in FatOx, respiratory exchange ratio (RER), oxygen uptake, carbon dioxide production, heart rate, blood lactate concentration, or blood glucose between the 2 habitual diet days. FatOx decreased after the CHO-rich diet compared with the habitual day 2 (from 0.42 ± 0.15 to 0.29 ± 0.13 g·min(-1), p < 0.05). No difference was found in FatOx between fat-rich diet and the 2 habitual diet days. FatOx was 31% lower (from 0.42 ± 0.14 to 0.29 ± 0.13 g·min(-1), p < 0.01) after the CHO-rich diet compared with the fat-rich diet. Using RER data to measure FatOx is a reliable method as long as the diet is strictly controlled. However, even a 1-day change in macronutrient composition will likely affect the FatOx results.

Investigation of TEC Variations over Mid-Latitude during Quit and Disturbed Days of March 2015

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Atıcı, Ramazan; Saǧır, Selçuk; Güzel, Esat

2016-07-01

The variations during 09-14-March-2015 quit days and 15-20 March 2015 disturbed days of Total Electron Content (TEC) values (provided by IONOLAB group) obtained by analysis the data from Ankara Global Position System (GPS) station of Turkey located at mid-latitude, IRI -2012 model the and IRI-PLUS model are investigated. Also, the variations of the geomagnetic, interplanetary and solar wind parameters are examined. As a result of investigations, TEC values from all three models are not change too much at quit days. Unlike, at the disturbed days, although IRI-2012 and IRI-PLUS TEC values are not change too much, a noticeable change in GPS-TEC values is occurred. GPS-TEC values are rapidly increased on 17-March 2015 to be severe magnetic storm (Dst = -124 nT). Then, on following days it was observed to significantly decrease. Thus, it is said that GPS-TEC values are more sensitive than IRI-2012 and IRI-PLUS models to variations occurred on disturbed days.

The 27-day versus 13.5-day variations in the solar Lyman-alpha radiation and the radio wave absorption in the lower ionosphere over Europe

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Delamorena, B. A.; Lastovicka, Jan; Rapoport, Z. TS.; Alberca, L.

1989-01-01

In order to clarify the question of solar periods in absorption, the pattern was studied of the solar Lyman-alpha radiation (the principal ionizing agent of the lower ionosphere) and of the radio wave absorption at five widely spaced places in Europe. When the solar Lyman-alpha flux variability is very well developed, then it dominates in the lower ionospheric variability. The most pronounced Lyman-alpha variation on time scale day-month is the solar rotation variation (about 27 days). When the Lyman-alpha variability is developed rather poorly, as it is typical for periods dominated by the 13.5 day variability, then the lower ionospheric variability appears to be dominated by variations of meteorological origin. The conclusions hold for all five widely spaced placed in Europe.

Day to Day

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jurecki, Dennis

2006-01-01

A clean, healthy and safe school provides students, faculty and staff with an environment conducive to learning and working. However, budget and staff reductions can lead to substandard cleaning practices and unsanitary conditions. Some school facility managers have been making the switch to a day-schedule to reduce security and energy costs, and…

Day-to-day variability in spot urine protein-creatinine ratio measurements.

PubMed

Naresh, Chetana N; Hayen, Andrew; Craig, Jonathan C; Chadban, Steven J

2012-10-01

Accurate measurement of proteinuria is important in the diagnosis and management of chronic kidney disease (CKD). The reference standard test, 24-hour urinary protein excretion, is inconvenient and vulnerable to collection errors. Spot urine protein-creatinine ratio (PCR) is a convenient alternative and is in widespread use. However, day-to-day variability in PCR measurements has not been evaluated. Prospective cohort study of day-to-day variability in spot urine PCR measurement. Clinically stable outpatients with CKD (n = 145) attending a university hospital CKD clinic in Australia between July 2007 and April 2010. Spot urine PCR. Spot PCR variability was assessed and repeatability limits were determined using fractional polynomials. Spot PCRs were measured from urine samples collected at 9:00 am on consecutive days and 24-hour urinary protein excretion was collected concurrently. Paired results were analyzed from 145 patients: median age, 56 years; 59% men; and median 24-hour urinary protein excretion, 0.7 (range, 0.06-35.7) g/d. Day-to-day variability was substantial and increased in absolute terms, but decreased in relative terms with increasing baseline PCR. For patients with a low baseline PCR (20 mg/mmol [177 mg/g]), a change greater than ±160% (repeatability limits, 0-52 mg/mmol [0-460 mg/g]) is required to indicate a real change in proteinuria status with 95% certainty, whereas for those with a high baseline PCR (200 mg/mmol [1,768 mg/g]), a change of ±50% (decrease to <100 mg/mmol [<884 mg/g] or increase to >300 mg/mmol [>2,652 mg/g]) represents significant change. These study results need to be replicated in other ethnic groups. Changes in PCR observed in patients with CKD, ranging from complete resolution to doubling of PCR values, could be due to inherent biological variation and may not indicate a change in disease status. This should be borne in mind when using PCR in the diagnosis and management of CKD. Copyright © 2012 National Kidney Foundation

Day-to-day dynamics of experience–cortisol associations in a population-based sample of older adults

PubMed Central

Adam, Emma K.; Hawkley, Louise C.; Kudielka, Brigitte M.; Cacioppo, John T.

2006-01-01

In 156 older adults, day-to-day variations in cortisol diurnal rhythms were predicted from both prior-day and same-day experiences, to examine the temporal ordering of experience–cortisol associations in naturalistic environments. Diary reports of daily psychosocial, emotional, and physical states were completed at bedtime on each of three consecutive days. Salivary cortisol levels were measured at wakeup, 30 min after awakening, and at bedtime each day. Multilevel growth curve modeling was used to estimate diurnal cortisol profiles for each person each day. The parameters defining those profiles (wakeup level, diurnal slope, and cortisol awakening response) were predicted simultaneously from day-before and same-day experiences. Prior-day feelings of loneliness, sadness, threat, and lack of control were associated with a higher cortisol awakening response the next day, but morning awakening responses did not predict experiences of these states later the same day. Same-day, but not prior-day, feelings of tension and anger were associated with flatter diurnal cortisol rhythms, primarily because of their association with higher same-day evening cortisol levels. Although wakeup cortisol levels were not predicted by prior-day levels of fatigue and physical symptoms, low wakeup cortisol predicted higher levels of fatigue and physical symptoms later that day. Results are consistent with a dynamic and transactional function of cortisol as both a transducer of psychosocial and emotional experience into physiological activation and an influence on feelings of energy and physical well-being. PMID:17075058

Lack of Day/Night variation in fibroblast growth factor 21 levels in young healthy men.

PubMed

Foo, J-P; Aronis, K N; Chamberland, J P; Mantzoros, C S

2015-06-01

Fibroblast growth factor (FGF) 21 is an endocrine factor with an emerging role as a metabolic regulator. We previously reported the presence of a significant day/night variation of FGF-21 in energy-replete, healthy female subjects. However the day/night patterns of secretion in male subjects remain to be fully elucidated. To elucidate day/night pattern of FGF-21 levels in male subjects in the energy-replete state, its relationship to FFA and to investigate whether a sexual dimorphism exists in FGF-21 physiology. Eight healthy lean male subjects were studied for up to 5 days while on an isocaloric diet. Blood samples were obtained for measurement of FGF-21 and free fatty acids (FFA) hourly from 0800 AM on day 4 till 0800AM on day 5. FGF-21 did not exhibit any statistically significant day/night variation pattern of circulating FGF-21 levels during the isocaloric fed state in male subjects. FGF-21 levels in male subjects are closely cross-correlated with FFA levels, similar to female subjects. A sexual dimorphism exists in FGF-21 physiology; that as opposed to female subjects, no significant day/night variation exists in FGF-21 rhythm in male subjects in the energy-replete state. Circulating pattern of FGF-21, similar to the female subjects, was highly cross-correlated to the FFA levels in the male subjects, signifying that the sexual dimorphism in FGF-21 physiology may be related to the differing lipid metabolism in both the genders.

Variation in suicide occurrence by day and during major American holidays.

PubMed

Beauchamp, Gillian A; Ho, Mona L; Yin, Shan

2014-06-01

Due to temporal variations in completed suicides, it has been suggested that impulsivity and environmental factors may influence suicide. Our intent was to determine if particular days of the week, seasons, or holidays were associated with increased attempted and completed suicides by poisoning. All calls recorded in the National Poison Database System coded as "suspected suicide" from 2006 through 2010 were included. Exposures were evaluated by day, season, and holidays, and compared to control dates. There were 1,065,067 exposures (63% female) related to suicide attempts, with completions in 0.4% of cases. Sundays and Mondays for adults, and Mondays and Tuesdays for age < 19 years were the most common. Spring and fall had higher numbers of exposures than summer and winter. New Year's Day had a higher number of exposures, whereas Independence Day, Thanksgiving, and Christmas had fewer exposures. The beginning of the week, spring and fall, and New Year's Day were associated with higher numbers of ingestions with suicidal intent. This has implications for clinicians advising potential victims and providing emergency care for these patients. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Day-night variation in operationally retrieved TOVS temperature biases

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kidder, Stanley Q.; Achtemeier, Gary L.

1986-01-01

Several authors have reported that operationally retrieved TOVS (TIROS Operational Vertical Sounder) temperatures are biased with respect to rawinsonde temperatures or temperature analyses. This note reports a case study from which it is concluded that, at least for the time period Mar. 26 through Apr. 8, 1979, there was a significant day-night variation in TOVS mean layer virtual temperature biases with respect to objective analyses of rawinsonde data over the U.S.

Temporal variations of black carbon during haze and non-haze days in Beijing

PubMed Central

Liu, Qingyang; Ma, Tangming; Olson, Michael R; Liu, Yanju; Zhang, Tingting; Wu, Yu; Schauer, James J.

2016-01-01

Black carbon (BC) aerosol has been identified as one of key factors responsible for air quality in Beijing. BC emissions abatement could help slow regional climate change while providing benefits for public health. In order to quantify its variations and contribution to air pollution, we systematically studied real-time measurements of equivalent black carbon (eBC) in PM2.5 aerosols at an urban site in Beijing from 2010 to 2014. Equivalent black carbon (eBC) is used instead of black carbon (BC) for data derived from Aethalometer-31 measurement. Equivalent BC concentrations showed significant temporal variations with seasonal mean concentration varying between 2.13 and 5.97 μg m−3. The highest concentrations of eBC were found during autumn and winter, and the lowest concentrations occurred in spring. We assessed the temporal variations of eBC concentration during haze days versus non-haze days and found significantly lower eBC fractions in PM2.5 on haze days compared to those on non-haze days. Finally, we observed a clear inverse relationship between eBC and wind speed. Our results show that wind disperses PM2.5 more efficiently than eBC; so, secondary aerosols are not formed to the same degree as primary aerosols over the same transport distance during windy conditions. PMID:27634102

34 CFR 300.11 - Day; business day; school day.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... 34 Education 2 2011-07-01 2010-07-01 true Day; business day; school day. 300.11 Section 300.11... CHILDREN WITH DISABILITIES General Definitions Used in This Part § 300.11 Day; business day; school day. (a) Day means calendar day unless otherwise indicated as business day or school day. (b) Business day...

Effect of Azilsartan on Day-to-Day Variability in Home Blood Pressure: A Prospective Multicenter Clinical Trial.

PubMed

Miyoshi, Toru; Suetsuna, Ryoji; Tokunaga, Naoto; Kusaka, Masayasu; Tsuzaki, Ryuichiro; Koten, Kazuya; Kunihisa, Kohno; Ito, Hiroshi

2017-07-01

The blood pressure variability (BPV) such as visit-to-visit, day-by-day, and ambulatory BPV has been also shown to be a risk of future cardiovascular events. However, the effects of antihypertensive therapy on BPV remain unclear. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of azilsartan after switching from another angiotensin II receptor blocker (ARB) on day-to-day BPV in home BP monitoring. This prospective, multicenter, open-labeled, single-arm study included 28 patients undergoing treatment with an ARB, which was switched to azilsartan after enrollment. The primary outcome was the change in the mean of the standard deviation and the coefficient of variation of morning home BP for 5 consecutive days from baseline to the 24-week follow-up. The secondary outcome was the change in arterial stiffness measured by the cardio-ankle vascular index. The mean BPs in the morning and evening for 5 days did not statistically differ between baseline and 24 weeks. For the morning BP, the means of the standard deviations and coefficient of variation of the systolic BP were significantly decreased from 7.4 ± 3.6 mm Hg to 6.1 ± 3.2 mm Hg and from 5.4±2.7% to 4.6±2.3% (mean ± standard deviation, P = 0.04 and P = 0.04, respectively). For the evening BP, no significant change was observed in the systolic or diastolic BPV. The cardio-ankle vascular index significantly decreased from 8.3 ± 0.8 to 8.1 ± 0.8 (P = 0.03). Switching from another ARB to azilsartan reduced day-to-day BPV in the morning and improved arterial stiffness.

Reliability and variability of day-to-day vault training measures in artistic gymnastics.

PubMed

Bradshaw, Elizabeth; Hume, Patria; Calton, Mark; Aisbett, Brad

2010-06-01

Inter-day training reliability and variability in artistic gymnastics vaulting was determined using a customised infra-red timing gate and contact mat timing system. Thirteen Australian high performance gymnasts (eight males and five females) aged 11-23 years were assessed during two consecutive days of normal training. Each gymnast completed a number of vault repetitions per daily session. Inter-day variability of vault run-up velocities (at -18 to -12 m, -12 to -6 m, -6 to -2 m, and -2 to 0 m from the nearest edge of the beat board), and board contact, pre-flight, and table contact times were determined using mixed modelling statistics to account for random (within-subject variability) and fixed effects (gender, number of subjects, number of trials). The difference in the mean (Mdiff) and Cohen's effect sizes for reliability assessment and intra-class correlation coefficients, and the coefficient of variation percentage (CV%) were calculated for variability assessment. Approach velocity (-18 to -2m, CV = 2.4-7.8%) and board contact time (CV = 3.5%) were less variable measures when accounting for day-to-day performance differences, than pre-flight time (CV = 17.7%) and table contact time (CV = 20.5%). While pre-flight and table contact times are relevant training measures, approach velocity and board contact time are more reliable when quantifying vaulting performance.

Day-to-day variability of midlatitude ionospheric currents due to magnetospheric and lower atmospheric forcing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yamazaki, Y.; Häusler, K.; Wild, J. A.

2016-07-01

As known from previous studies on the solar quiet (Sq) variation of the geomagnetic field, the strength and pattern of ionospheric dynamo currents change significantly from day to day. The present study investigates the relative importance of two sources that contribute to the day-to-day variability of the ionospheric currents at middle and low latitudes. One is high-latitude electric fields that are caused by magnetospheric convection, and the other is atmospheric waves from the lower atmosphere. Global ionospheric current systems, commonly known as Sq current systems, are simulated using the National Center for Atmospheric Research thermosphere-ionosphere-mesosphere-electrodynamics general circulation model. Simulations are run for 1-30 April 2010 with a constant solar energy input but with various combinations of high-latitude forcing and lower atmospheric forcing. The model well reproduces geomagnetic perturbations on the ground, when both forcings are taken into account. The contribution of high-latitude forcing to the total Sq current intensity (Jtotal) is generally smaller than the contribution of wave forcing from below 30 km, except during active periods (Kp≥4), when Jtotal is enhanced due to the leakage of high-latitude electric fields to lower latitudes. It is found that the penetration electric field drives ionospheric currents at middle and low latitudes not only on the dayside but also on the nightside, which has an appreciable effect on the Dst index. It is also found that quiet time day-to-day variability in Jtotal is dominated by symmetric-mode migrating diurnal and semidiurnal tidal winds at 45-60° latitude at ˜110 km.

Predicting sleep quality from stress and prior sleep--a study of day-to-day covariation across six weeks.

PubMed

Åkerstedt, Torbjörn; Orsini, Nicola; Petersen, Helena; Axelsson, John; Lekander, Mats; Kecklund, Göran

2012-06-01

The connection between stress and sleep is well established in cross-sectional questionnaire studies and in a few prospective studies. Here, the intention was to study the link between stress and sleep on a day-to-day basis across 42 days. Fifty participants kept a sleep/wake diary across 42 days and responded to daily questions on sleep and stress. The results were analyzed with a mixed model approach using stress during the prior day to predict morning ratings of sleep quality. The results showed that bedtime stress and worries were the main predictors of sleep quality, but that, also, late awakening, short prior sleep, high quality of prior sleep, and good health the prior day predicted higher sleep quality. Stress during the day predicts subsequent sleep quality on a day-to-day basis across 42 days. The observed range of variation in stress/worries was modest, which is why it is suggested that the present data underestimates the impact of stress on subsequent sleep quality. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Day-to-day relations between stress and sleep and the mediating role of perseverative cognition.

PubMed

Van Laethem, Michelle; Beckers, Debby G J; van Hooff, Madelon L M; Dijksterhuis, Ap; Geurts, Sabine A E

2016-08-01

The goals of this longitudinal diary-based study were to shed light on the day-level relationship between stress and subsequent sleep, and to examine whether perseverative cognition is a mediating factor in this relation. A total of 44 Dutch PhD students were followed during a two-month period, from one month before their public thesis defense (ie, a stressful life event), until one month thereafter. Participants completed short evening and morning questionnaires on eight occasions (in anticipation of and following the defense), including questions about day-level stress, sleep quality, and perseverative cognition. Objective sleep parameters were collected with the SenseWear Pro Armband. Multilevel analysis was used to analyze daily observations nested within individuals. Analyses revealed that day-level stress was not directly related to subsequent subjective sleep indicators or to subsequent objective sleep indicators. Day-level stress was significantly associated with day-level perseverative cognition, and daily variations in perseverative cognition were significantly related to several day-level objective sleep parameters (sleep efficiency, marginally to number of awakenings, and wake after sleep onset), and to several day-level subjective sleep parameters (sleep quality, number of awakenings, wake after sleep onset). Finally, mediation analyses using path analysis suggested that, on the day level, perseverative cognition functions as a mediator between stress and several sleep parameters, namely, subjective sleep quality, objective sleep efficiency, and subjective wake after sleep onset. Perseverative cognition is a promising explanatory mechanism linking day-level stress to subjective and objective measures of sleep. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Effect of Azilsartan on Day-to-Day Variability in Home Blood Pressure: A Prospective Multicenter Clinical Trial

PubMed Central

Miyoshi, Toru; Suetsuna, Ryoji; Tokunaga, Naoto; Kusaka, Masayasu; Tsuzaki, Ryuichiro; Koten, Kazuya; Kunihisa, Kohno; Ito, Hiroshi

2017-01-01

Background The blood pressure variability (BPV) such as visit-to-visit, day-by-day, and ambulatory BPV has been also shown to be a risk of future cardiovascular events. However, the effects of antihypertensive therapy on BPV remain unclear. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of azilsartan after switching from another angiotensin II receptor blocker (ARB) on day-to-day BPV in home BP monitoring. Methods This prospective, multicenter, open-labeled, single-arm study included 28 patients undergoing treatment with an ARB, which was switched to azilsartan after enrollment. The primary outcome was the change in the mean of the standard deviation and the coefficient of variation of morning home BP for 5 consecutive days from baseline to the 24-week follow-up. The secondary outcome was the change in arterial stiffness measured by the cardio-ankle vascular index. Results The mean BPs in the morning and evening for 5 days did not statistically differ between baseline and 24 weeks. For the morning BP, the means of the standard deviations and coefficient of variation of the systolic BP were significantly decreased from 7.4 ± 3.6 mm Hg to 6.1 ± 3.2 mm Hg and from 5.4±2.7% to 4.6±2.3% (mean ± standard deviation, P = 0.04 and P = 0.04, respectively). For the evening BP, no significant change was observed in the systolic or diastolic BPV. The cardio-ankle vascular index significantly decreased from 8.3 ± 0.8 to 8.1 ± 0.8 (P = 0.03). Conclusions Switching from another ARB to azilsartan reduced day-to-day BPV in the morning and improved arterial stiffness. PMID:28611863

Dietary Polyphenol Intake Estimated by 7-Day Dietary Records among Japanese Male Workers: Evaluation of the Within- and Between-Individual Variation.

PubMed

Taguchi, Chie; Kishimoto, Yoshimi; Fukushima, Yoichi; Saita, Emi; Tanaka, Miori; Takahashi, Yoshinari; Masuda, Yasunobu; Goda, Toshinao; Kondo, Kazuo

2017-01-01

Polyphenol intake has been estimated in some populations; however, information about day-to-day and individual differences in polyphenol intake has not been well-evaluated. In this study, we aimed to examine within- and between-individual variation in polyphenol intake in Japanese male workers. First, 56 male subjects (aged 37.9±10.4 y) completed detailed 7-d dietary records (DR). We then calculated their total polyphenol intake using our polyphenol content database and the within- and between-individual variations. We also estimated the minimum number of days of dietary assessment required both to rank individuals within a group and to assess an individual's usual polyphenol intake with acceptable accuracy. The estimated daily total polyphenol intake was 965±471 mg/d, which was largely sourced from beverages. The day-to-day variation (CV w ) for polyphenol intake was 43.6%, and the variation between the individuals in the population (CV b ) for polyphenol intake was 45.9%. A 4-d DR was required to rank individuals within a group with high correlation coefficients (r=0.9), and a 19-d DR was required to assess the individual's usual polyphenol intake with 20% deviation. The CV w for polyphenol intake was intermediate between those of the other nutrients, but the CV b for polyphenol intake was largest among the nutrients. These results suggest that the dietary intake of polyphenols should be carefully estimated considering its within- and between-individual variation.

34 CFR 300.11 - Day; business day; school day.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... has the same meaning for all children in school, including children with and without disabilities... 34 Education 2 2012-07-01 2012-07-01 false Day; business day; school day. 300.11 Section 300.11... CHILDREN WITH DISABILITIES General Definitions Used in This Part § 300.11 Day; business day; school day. (a...

34 CFR 300.11 - Day; business day; school day.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... has the same meaning for all children in school, including children with and without disabilities... 34 Education 2 2014-07-01 2013-07-01 true Day; business day; school day. 300.11 Section 300.11... CHILDREN WITH DISABILITIES General Definitions Used in This Part § 300.11 Day; business day; school day. (a...

34 CFR 300.11 - Day; business day; school day.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... has the same meaning for all children in school, including children with and without disabilities... 34 Education 2 2013-07-01 2013-07-01 false Day; business day; school day. 300.11 Section 300.11... CHILDREN WITH DISABILITIES General Definitions Used in This Part § 300.11 Day; business day; school day. (a...

Role of optometry school in single day large scale school vision testing

PubMed Central

Anuradha, N; Ramani, Krishnakumar

2015-01-01

Background: School vision testing aims at identification and management of refractive errors. Large-scale school vision testing using conventional methods is time-consuming and demands a lot of chair time from the eye care professionals. A new strategy involving a school of optometry in single day large scale school vision testing is discussed. Aim: The aim was to describe a new approach of performing vision testing of school children on a large scale in a single day. Materials and Methods: A single day vision testing strategy was implemented wherein 123 members (20 teams comprising optometry students and headed by optometrists) conducted vision testing for children in 51 schools. School vision testing included basic vision screening, refraction, frame measurements, frame choice and referrals for other ocular problems. Results: A total of 12448 children were screened, among whom 420 (3.37%) were identified to have refractive errors. 28 (1.26%) children belonged to the primary, 163 to middle (9.80%), 129 (4.67%) to secondary and 100 (1.73%) to the higher secondary levels of education respectively. 265 (2.12%) children were referred for further evaluation. Conclusion: Single day large scale school vision testing can be adopted by schools of optometry to reach a higher number of children within a short span. PMID:25709271

Regional Variation in 30-Day Ischemic Stroke Outcomes for Medicare Beneficiaries Treated in Get With The Guidelines-Stroke Hospitals.

PubMed

Thompson, Michael P; Zhao, Xin; Bekelis, Kimon; Gottlieb, Daniel J; Fonarow, Gregg C; Schulte, Phillip J; Xian, Ying; Lytle, Barbara L; Schwamm, Lee H; Smith, Eric E; Reeves, Mathew J

2017-08-01

We explored regional variation in 30-day ischemic stroke mortality and readmission rates and the extent to which regional differences in patients, hospitals, healthcare resources, and a quality of care composite care measure explain the observed variation. This ecological analysis aggregated patient and hospital characteristics from the Get With The Guidelines-Stroke registry (2007-2011), healthcare resource data from the Dartmouth Atlas of Health Care (2006), and Medicare fee-for-service data on 30-day mortality and readmissions (2007-2011) to the hospital referral region (HRR) level. We used linear regression to estimate adjusted HRR-level 30-day outcomes, to identify HRR-level characteristics associated with 30-day outcomes, and to describe which characteristics explained variation in 30-day outcomes. The mean adjusted HRR-level 30-day mortality and readmission rates were 10.3% (SD=1.1%) and 13.1% (SD=1.1%), respectively; a modest, negative correlation ( r =-0.17; P =0.003) was found between one another. Demographics explained more variation in readmissions than mortality (25% versus 6%), but after accounting for demographics, comorbidities accounted for more variation in mortality compared with readmission rates (17% versus 7%). The combination of hospital characteristics and healthcare resources explained 11% and 16% of the variance in mortality and readmission rates, beyond patient characteristics. Most of the regional variation in mortality (65%) and readmission (50%) rates remained unexplained. Thirty-day mortality and readmission rates vary substantially across HRRs and exhibit an inverse relationship. While regional variation in 30-day outcomes were explained by patient and hospital factors differently, much of the regional variation in both outcomes remains unexplained. © 2017 American Heart Association, Inc.

The Prediction of Length-of-day Variations Based on Gaussian Processes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lei, Y.; Zhao, D. N.; Gao, Y. P.; Cai, H. B.

2015-01-01

Due to the complicated time-varying characteristics of the length-of-day (LOD) variations, the accuracies of traditional strategies for the prediction of the LOD variations such as the least squares extrapolation model, the time-series analysis model, and so on, have not met the requirements for real-time and high-precision applications. In this paper, a new machine learning algorithm --- the Gaussian process (GP) model is employed to forecast the LOD variations. Its prediction precisions are analyzed and compared with those of the back propagation neural networks (BPNN), general regression neural networks (GRNN) models, and the Earth Orientation Parameters Prediction Comparison Campaign (EOP PCC). The results demonstrate that the application of the GP model to the prediction of the LOD variations is efficient and feasible.

Responses of the lower thermospheric temperature to the 9 day and 13.5 day oscillations of recurrent geomagnetic activity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jiang, Guoying; Wang, Wenbin; Xu, Jiyao; Yue, Jia; Burns, Alan G.; Lei, Jiuhou; Mlynczak, Martin G.; Rusell, James M., III

2015-04-01

Responses of the lower thermospheric temperature to the 9 day and 13.5 day oscillations of recurrent geomagnetic activity and solar EUV radiation have been investigated using neutral temperature data observed by the TIMED/SABER (Thermosphere IonosphereMesosphere Energetics and Dynamics/Sounding of the Atmosphere using Broadband Emission Radiometry) instrument and numerical experiments by the NCAR-TIME-GCM (National Center for Atmospheric Research-thermosphere-ionosphere-mesosphere electrodynamics-general circulation model). The TIMED/SABER data analyzed were for the period from 2002 to 2007 during the declining phase of solar cycle 23. The observations show that the zonal mean temperature in the lower thermosphere oscillated with periods of near 9 and 13.5 days in the height range of 100-120 km. These oscillations were more strongly correlated with the recurrent geomagnetic activity than with the solar EUV variability of the same periods. The 9 day and 13.5 day oscillations of lower thermospheric temperature had greater amplitudes at high latitudes than at low latitudes; they also had larger amplitudes at higher altitudes, and the oscillations could penetrate down to ~105 km, depending on the strength of the recurrent geomagnetic activity for a particular time period. The data further show that the periodic responses of the lower thermospheric temperature to recurrent geomagnetic activity were different in the two hemispheres. In addition, numerical experiments have been carried out using the NCAR-TIME-GCM to investigate the causal relationship between the temperature oscillations and the geomagnetic activity and solar EUV variations of the same periods. Model simulations showed the same periodic oscillations as those seen in the observations when the real geomagnetic activity index, Kp, was used to drive the model. These numerical results show that recurrent geomagnetic activity is the main cause of the 9 day and 13.5 day variations in the lower thermosphere

Responses of the lower thermospheric temperature to the 9 day and 13.5 day oscillations of recurrent geomagnetic activity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jiang, Guoying; Wang, Wenbin; Xu, Jiyao; Yue, Jia; Burns, Alan G.; Lei, Jiuhou; Mlynczak, Martin G.; Rusell, James M.

2014-06-01

Responses of the lower thermospheric temperature to the 9 day and 13.5 day oscillations of recurrent geomagnetic activity and solar EUV radiation have been investigated using neutral temperature data observed by the TIMED/SABER (Thermosphere Ionosphere Mesosphere Energetics and Dynamics/Sounding of the Atmosphere using Broadband Emission Radiometry) instrument and numerical experiments by the NCAR-TIME-GCM (National Center for Atmospheric Research-thermosphere-ionosphere-mesosphere electrodynamics-general circulation model). The TIMED/SABER data analyzed were for the period from 2002 to 2007 during the declining phase of solar cycle 23. The observations show that the zonal mean temperature in the lower thermosphere oscillated with periods of near 9 and 13.5 days in the height range of 100-120 km. These oscillations were more strongly correlated with the recurrent geomagnetic activity than with the solar EUV variability of the same periods. The 9 day and 13.5 day oscillations of lower thermospheric temperature had greater amplitudes at high latitudes than at low latitudes; they also had larger amplitudes at higher altitudes, and the oscillations could penetrate down to 105 km, depending on the strength of the recurrent geomagnetic activity for a particular time period. The data further show that the periodic responses of the lower thermospheric temperature to recurrent geomagnetic activity were different in the two hemispheres. In addition, numerical experiments have been carried out using the NCAR-TIME-GCM to investigate the causal relationship between the temperature oscillations and the geomagnetic activity and solar EUV variations of the same periods. Model simulations showed the same periodic oscillations as those seen in the observations when the real geomagnetic activity index, Kp, was used to drive the model. These numerical results show that recurrent geomagnetic activity is the main cause of the 9 day and 13.5 day variations in the lower thermosphere

The suprachiasmatic nucleus drives day-night variations in postprandial triglyceride uptake into skeletal muscle and brown adipose tissue.

PubMed

Moran-Ramos, Sofía; Guerrero-Vargas, Natali N; Mendez-Hernandez, Rebeca; Basualdo, Maria Del Carmen; Escobar, Carolina; Buijs, Ruud M

2017-12-01

What is the central question of this study? What are the factors influencing day-night variations in postprandial triglycerides? What is the main finding and its importance? Rats show low postprandial plasma triglyceride concentrations early in the active period that are attributable to a higher uptake by skeletal muscle and brown adipose tissue. We show that these day-night variations in uptake are driven by the suprachiasmatic nucleus, probably via a Rev-erbα-mediated mechanism and independent of locomotor activity. These findings highlight that the suprachiasmatic nucleus has a major role in day-night variations in plasma triglycerides and that disturbances in our biological clock might be an important risk factor contributing to development of postprandial hyperlipidaemia. Energy metabolism follows a diurnal pattern, mainly driven by the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN), and disruption of circadian regulation has been linked to metabolic abnormalities. Indeed, epidemiological evidence shows that night work is a risk factor for cardiovascular disease, and postprandial hyperlipidaemia is an important contributor. Therefore, the aim of this work was to investigate the factors that drive day-night variations in postprandial triglycerides (TGs). Intact and SCN-lesioned male Wistar rats were subjected to an oral fat challenge during the beginning of the rest phase (day) or the beginning of the active phase (night). The plasma TG profile was evaluated and tissue TG uptake assayed. After the fat challenge, intact rats showed lower postprandial plasma TG concentrations early in the night when compared with the day. However, no differences were observed in the rate of intestinal TG secretion between day and night. Instead, there was a higher uptake of TG by skeletal muscle and brown adipose tissue early in the active phase (night) when compared with the rest phase (day), and these variations were abolished in rats bearing bilateral SCN lesions. Rev-erbα gene expression

Longitudinal Variations of Low-Latitude Ionospheric Irregularities during the 2015 St. Patrick's Day Storm

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pi, X.; Vergados, P.

2017-12-01

GPS data from more than 2000 globally distributed ground-based stations are processed to generate Global Map of Ionospheric Irregularities and Scintillation (GMIIS) at 5-minite cadence for the 2015 St. Patrick's Day Storm. The time sequence of GMIIS provides global snapshots of evolving ionospheric irregularities that are helpful in investigations of small-scale ionospheric perturbations globally. Such data from selected stations at longitudes distributed around the globe are also analyzed to investigate longitudinal variations of low-latitude ionospheric irregularities (LLII) during the storm. Prior to the storm day, The GPS data show typical seasonal (March equinox) activities of LLII during evening hours in different longitude regions, i.e., active in American through Asian longitudes but relatively inactive in the Pacific sector. The data also reveal dramatic changes in LLII during the storm main phase (17 March 2015) and recovery phase (18-19 March 2015). While remaining inactive in the Pacific region, LLII have gone through complicated variations in the longitude regions of high scintillation season. The variations include active, weakened or suppressed, or post-midnight triggering during the storm main phase and recovery phase depending on specific longitude. To understand possible responsible causes of these variations in different longitudes, the Global Assimilative Ionospheric Model (GAIM) is used to reproduce ambient ionospheric state and its disturbances. For this storm study, GAIM assimilates GPS data from about 650 globally distributed stations and from spaceborne receivers onboard the COSMIC satellites. The global assimilative modeling enables us to investigate the changes of the equatorial ionospheric anomaly (EIA) and corresponding ionospheric dynamical processes in the concerned longitudes. This presentation will combine pictures of small- and large-scale ionospheric perturbations and attempt to obtain insight into mechanisms that drive LLII

Geographic Variation in Mentally Unhealthy Days: Air Pollution and Altitude Perspectives.

PubMed

Ha, Hoehun

2017-09-01

Ha, Hoehun. Geographic variation in mentally unhealthy days: air pollution and altitude perspectives. High Alt Med Biol. 18:258-266, 2017. Mental health incorporates our emotional, psychological, and social well-being and it is critical at each phase of life, from youth and preadulthood through adulthood. We assessed the association between mentally unhealthy days (MUDs), air pollutant concentrations, and altitude on the basis of cross-county studies. Data on poor mental health days for the United States were based on health-related telephone surveys conducted by the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS). Average annual regional air pollution data were obtained from Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) WONDER Environmental data, and altitude data were collected from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). In the data set (across 2589 U.S. counties for 2011), even after accounting for potential confounding variables and multicollinearity, a significant association between altitude, air pollution, and poor mental health days was found, explaining that poor mental health days increase with increasing air pollution concentrations and with decreasing altitude (R 2  = 0.663, p < 0.001). Controlling for socioeconomic (e.g., education and employment) and social (including social relationship and crime) factors did not change these findings. In this study, we found that counties with lower air pollution and higher altitude had significantly lower average number of MUDs reported within the past 30 days. This association has not been reported before in the literature. These findings suggest a need for further investigation into the extent that air quality and altitude may serve as significant factors for mental health and have major implications in our understanding of the etiology of mental health by medical professionals.

34 CFR 300.11 - Day; business day; school day.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... 34 Education 2 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Day; business day; school day. 300.11 Section 300.11 Education Regulations of the Offices of the Department of Education (Continued) OFFICE OF SPECIAL EDUCATION AND REHABILITATIVE SERVICES, DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION ASSISTANCE TO STATES FOR THE EDUCATION OF...

Early processing variations in selective attention to the color and direction of moving stimuli during 30 days head-down bed rest

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Lin-Jie; He, Si-Yang; Niu, Dong-Bin; Guo, Jian-Ping; Xu, Yun-Long; Wang, De-Sheng; Cao, Yi; Zhao, Qi; Tan, Cheng; Li, Zhi-Li; Tang, Guo-Hua; Li, Yin-Hui; Bai, Yan-Qiang

2013-11-01

Dynamic variations in early selective attention to the color and direction of moving stimuli were explored during a 30 days period of head-down bed rest. Event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded at F5, F6, P5, P6 scalp locations in seven male subjects who attended to pairs of bicolored light emitting diodes that flashed sequentially to produce a perception of movement. Subjects were required to attend selectively to a critical feature of the moving target, e.g., color or direction. The tasks included: a no response task, a color selective response task, a moving direction selective response task, and a combined color-direction selective response task. Subjects were asked to perform these four tasks on: the 3rd day before bed rest; the 3rd, 15th and 30th day during the bed rest; and the 5th day after bed rest. Subjects responded quickly to the color than moving direction and combined color-direction response. And they had a longer reaction time during bed rest on the 15th and 30th day during bed rest after a relatively quicker response on the 3rd day. Using brain event-related potentials technique, we found that in the color selective response task, the mean amplitudes of P1 and N1 for target ERPs decreased in the 3rd day during bed rest and 5th day after bed rest in comparison with pre-bed rest, 15th day and 30th day during bed rest. In the combined color-direction selective response task, the P1 latencies for target ERPs on the 3rd and 30th day during bed rest were longer than on the 15th day during bed rest. As 3rd day during bed rest was in the acute adaptation period and 30th day during bed rest was in the relatively adaptation stage of head-down bed rest, the results help to clarify the effects of bed rest on different task loads and patterns of attention. It was suggested that subjects expended more time to give correct decision in the head-down tilt bed rest state. A difficulty in the recruitment of brain resources was found in feature selection task

Vibration sensibility testing in the workplace. Day-to-day reliability.

PubMed

Rosecrance, J C; Cook, T M; Satre, D L; Goode, J D; Schroder, M J

1994-09-01

Loss of vibration sensibility has been suggested as an early indicator of peripheral compression neuropathy, including carpal tunnel syndrome. Although vibration sensibility has been used frequently to evaluate carpal tunnel syndrome, the day-to-day reliability of vibration measurements in an industrial population measured at the workplace has not been assessed. Vibration sensibility testing was performed at the university ergonomics laboratory on 50 volunteers (100 hands) and at a newspaper company on 50 workers (100 hands). Vibration perception and disappearance thresholds were measured on two occasions separated by 3 to 5 days. Student's t tests indicated no significant differences between the first and second tests or between the two groups. Pearson product-moment correlations for test-retest reliability were lower in the industry group but were relatively high despite the less than optimal testing conditions. Our findings suggest that vibration sensibility measurements are reliable from day to day not only in the laboratory but also in the workplace.

Day-to-day reliability of gait characteristics in rats.

PubMed

Raffalt, Peter C; Nielsen, Louise R; Madsen, Stefan; Munk Højberg, Laurits; Pingel, Jessica; Nielsen, Jens Bo; Wienecke, Jacob; Alkjær, Tine

2018-04-27

The purpose of the present study was to determine the day-to-day reliability in stride characteristics in rats during treadmill walking obtained with two-dimensional (2D) motion capture. Kinematics were recorded from 26 adult rats during walking at 8 m/min, 12 m/min and 16 m/min on two separate days. Stride length, stride time, contact time, swing time and hip, knee and ankle joint range of motion were extracted from 15 strides. The relative reliability was assessed using intra-class correlation coefficients (ICC(1,1)) and (ICC(3,1)). The absolute reliability was determined using measurement error (ME). Across walking speeds, the relative reliability ranged from fair to good (ICCs between 0.4 and 0.75). The ME was below 91 mm for strides lengths, below 55 ms for the temporal stride variables and below 6.4° for the joint angle range of motion. In general, the results indicated an acceptable day-to-day reliability of the gait pattern parameters observed in rats during treadmill walking. The results of the present study may serve as a reference material that can help future intervention studies on rat gait characteristics both with respect to the selection of outcome measures and in the interpretation of the results. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

27-day variation in solar-terrestrial parameters: Global characteristics and an origin based approach of the signals

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Poblet, Facundo L.; Azpilicueta, Francisco

2018-05-01

The Earth and the near interplanetary medium are affected by the Sun in different ways. Those processes generated in the Sun that induce perturbations into the Magnetosphere-Ionosphere system are called geoeffective processes and show a wide range of temporal variations, like the 11-year solar cycle (long term variations), the variation of ∼27 days (recurrent variations), solar storms enduring for some days, particle acceleration events lasting for some hours, etc. In this article, the periodicity of ∼27 days associated with the solar synodic rotation period is investigated. The work is mainly focused on studying the resulting 27-day periodic signal in the magnetic activity, by the analysis of the horizontal component of the magnetic field registered on a set of 103 magnetic observatories distributed around the world. For this a new method to isolate the periodicity of interest has been developed consisting of two main steps: the first one consists of removing the linear trend corresponding to every calendar year from the data series, and the second one of removing from the resulting series a smoothed version of it obtained by applying a 30-day moving average. The result at the end of this process is a data series in which all the signal with periods larger than 30 days are canceled. The most important characteristics observed in the resulting signals are two main amplitude modulations: the first and most prominent related to the 11-year solar cycle and the second one with a semiannual pattern. In addition, the amplitude of the signal shows a dependence on the geomagnetic latitude of the observatory with a significant discontinuity at approx. ±60°. The processing scheme was also applied to other parameters that are widely used to characterize the energy transfer from the Sun to the Earth: F10.7 and Mg II indices and the ionospheric vertical total electron content (vTEC) were considered for radiative interactions; and the solar wind velocity for the non

Melatonin receptors in a pleuronectiform species, Solea senegalensis: Cloning, tissue expression, day-night and seasonal variations.

PubMed

Confente, Francesca; Rendón, María Carmen; Besseau, Laurence; Falcón, Jack; Muñoz-Cueto, José A

2010-06-01

Melatonin receptors are expressed in neural and peripheral tissues and mediate melatonin actions on the synchronization of circadian and circannual rhythms. In this study we have cloned three melatonin receptor subtypes (MT1, MT2 and Mel1c) in the Senegalese sole and analyzed their central and peripheral tissue distribution. The full-length MT1 (1452 nt), MT2 (1728 nt) and Mel1c (1980 nt) cDNAs encode different proteins of 345, 373, 355 amino acids, respectively. They were mainly expressed in retina, brain and pituitary, but MT1 was also expressed in gill, liver, intestine, kidney, spleen, heart and skin. At peripheral level, MT2 expression was only evident in gill, kidney and skin whereas Mel1c expression was restricted to the muscle and skin. This pattern of expression was not markedly different between sexes or among the times of day analyzed. The real-time quantitative PCR analyses showed that MT1 displayed higher expression at night than during the day in the retina and optic tectum. Seasonal MT1 expression was characterized by higher mRNA levels in spring and autumn equinoxes for the retina, and in winter and summer solstices for the optic tectum. An almost similar expression profile was found for MT2, but differences were less conspicuous. No day-night differences in MT1 and MT2 expression were observed in the pituitary but a seasonal variation was detected, being mRNA levels higher in summer for both receptors. Mel1c expression did not exhibit significant day-night variation in retina and optic tectum but showed seasonal variations, with higher transcript levels in summer (optic tectum) and autumn (retina). Our results suggest that day-night and seasonal variations in melatonin receptor expression could also be mediating circadian and circannual rhythms in sole. Copyright 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Development of an Experimental Model to Study the Relationship Between Day-to-Day Variability in Blood Pressure and Aortic Stiffness

PubMed Central

Bouissou-Schurtz, Camille; Lindesay, Georges; Regnault, Véronique; Renet, Sophie; Safar, Michel E.; Molinie, Vincent; Dabire, Hubert; Bezie, Yvonnick

2015-01-01

We aimed to develop an animal model of long-term blood pressure variability (BPV) and to investigate its consequences on aortic damage. We hypothesized that day-to-day BPV produced by discontinuous treatment of spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) by valsartan may increase arterial stiffness. For that purpose, rats were discontinuously treated, 2 days a week, or continuously treated by valsartan (30 mg/kg/d in chow) or placebo. Telemetered BP was recorded during 2 min every 15 min, 3 days a week during 8 weeks to cover the full BP variations in response to the treatment schedule. Pulse wave velocity (PWV) and aortic structure evaluated by immunohistochemistry were investigated in a second set of rats treated under the same conditions. Continuous treatment with valsartan reduced systolic BP (SBP) and reversed the aortic structural alterations observed in placebo treated SHR (decrease of medial cross-sectional area). Discontinuous treatment with valsartan decreased SBP to a similar extent but increased the day-to-day BPV, short term BPV, diastolic blood pressure (DBP), and PWV as compared with continuous treatment. Despite no modifications in the elastin/collagen ratio and aortic thickness, an increase in PWV was observed following discontinuous treatment and was associated with a specific accumulation of fibronectin and its αv-integrin receptor compared with both groups of rats. Taken together the present results indicate that a discontinuous treatment with valsartan is able to induce a significant increase in day-to-day BPV coupled to an aortic phenotype close to that observed in hypertension. This experimental model should pave the way for future experimental and clinical studies aimed at assessing how long-term BPV increases aortic stiffness. PMID:26696902

Reliability and day-to-day variability of peak fat oxidation during treadmill ergometry.

PubMed

De Souza Silveira, Raul; Carlsohn, Anja; Langen, Georg; Mayer, Frank; Scharhag-Rosenberger, Friederike

2016-01-01

Exercising at intensities where fat oxidation rates are high has been shown to induce metabolic benefits in recreational and health-oriented sportsmen. The exercise intensity (Fatpeak) eliciting peak fat oxidation rates is therefore of particular interest when aiming to prescribe exercise for the purpose of fat oxidation and related metabolic effects. Although running and walking are feasible and popular among the target population, no reliable protocols are available to assess Fatpeak as well as its actual velocity (VPFO) during treadmill ergometry. Our purpose was therefore, to assess the reliability and day-to-day variability of VPFO and Fatpeak during treadmill ergometry running. Sixteen recreational athletes (f = 7, m = 9; 25 ± 3 y; 1.76 ± 0.09 m; 68.3 ± 13.7 kg; 23.1 ± 2.9 kg/m(2)) performed 2 different running protocols on 3 different days with standardized nutrition the day before testing. At day 1, peak oxygen uptake (VO2peak) and the velocities at the aerobic threshold (VLT) and respiratory exchange ratio (RER) of 1.00 (VRER) were assessed. At days 2 and 3, subjects ran an identical submaximal incremental test (Fat-peak test) composed of a 10 min warm-up (70 % VLT) followed by 5 stages of 6 min with equal increments (stage 1 = VLT, stage 5 = VRER). Breath-by-breath gas exchange data was measured continuously and used to determine fat oxidation rates. A third order polynomial function was used to identify VPFO and subsequently Fatpeak. The reproducibility and variability of variables was verified with an intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC), Pearson's correlation coefficient, coefficient of variation (CV) and the mean differences (bias) ± 95 % limits of agreement (LoA). ICC, Pearson's correlation and CV for VPFO and Fatpeak were 0.98, 0.97, 5.0 %; and 0.90, 0.81, 7.0 %, respectively. Bias ± 95 % LoA was -0.3 ± 0.9 km/h for VPFO and -2 ± 8 % of VO2peak for Fatpeak. In summary, relative

About the variations on lightning activity in Brazil from 1960s to 1990s based on thunderstorm days: preliminary results

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pinto, O.; Pinto, I. R.

2009-12-01

Thunder day frequencies (TD) have been collected throughout the world in a systematic way since the beginning of the twenty century, producing the longest lightning-related data set available to investigate possible climatic changes in the global, tropical or, even, regional lightning activity. Such changes may be related to natural climate variations associated with many different large scale phenomena and/or to anthropogenic warming variations. The role of each component may be different at different spatial scales. In Brazil TD data have been recorded in many stations throughout the country. In this report, TD data from 1960s to 1990s in different stations in Brazil are analyzed looking for variations related to volcanic eruptions, El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO), tropical Atlantic sea-surface temperature (SST) anomaly, Pacific Decadal Oscillation (POD), solar irradiance and urban effects. The preliminary results are discussed in the context of their implications for future climatic changes in the lightning activity.

The variation of characteristics and formation mechanisms of aerosols in dust, haze, and clear days in Beijing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Ying; Zhuang, Guoshun; Sun, Yele; An, Zhisheng

A 4-year campaign from 2001 to 2004 monitoring PM 2.5 and TSP in the spring season in urban Beijing, China was performed to study the variation of characteristics and the different formation mechanisms of aerosols in dust, haze, and clear days. A total of 315 aerosol samples were collected and used in this study. The aerosols were more basic in dust days and more acidic in haze days. The ions presented in the order of SO42->Ca 2+≫ NO3->Cl -> NH4+>Na + in dust days, and of SO42-> NO3-> NH4+≫Cl ->Ca 2+>K + in haze days. Ions has been classified into three groups, "Na +, Mg 2+, Ca 2+", "K +, SO42-, Cl -", and " NO3-, NH4+", representing crust, pollution-crust, and pollution species, respectively. Crust and pollution ions were the main ion fractions in dust and haze days, respectively. The variation of Ca 2+/Al showed that the increase of dust in dust and haze days was from soil and construction, respectively. "CaCO 3, CaSO 4, and (NH 4) 2SO 4" and "(NH 4) 2SO 4, NH 4NO 3, and Ca(NO 3) 2" were the major species in dust and haze days, respectively. The formation of CaSO 4 on airborne soil particles and the formation of (NH 4) 2SO 4 and NH 4NO 3 were the predominant pathways of sulfate and nitrate formations in dust and haze days, respectively. Sulfate might be mainly formed through heterogeneous reactions in the aqueous surface layer on the pre-existing particles, while nitrate mainly through homogeneous gas-phase reactions in the spring season in Beijing. The formation of sulfate and nitrate was accelerated in dust and haze days.

Time of Day and Day of Week Trends in EMS Demand.

PubMed

Cantwell, Kate; Morgans, Amee; Smith, Karen; Livingston, Michael; Spelman, Tim; Dietze, Paul

2015-01-01

We examined temporal variations in overall Emergency Medical Services (EMS) demand, as well as medical and trauma cases separately. We analyzed cases according to time of day and day of week to determine whether population level demand demonstrates temporal patterns that will increase baseline knowledge for EMS planning. We conducted a secondary analysis of data from the Ambulance Victoria data warehouse covering the period 2008-2011. We included all cases of EMS attendance which resulted in 1,203,803 cases for review. Data elements comprised age, gender, date and time of call to the EMS emergency number along with the clinical condition of the patient. We employed Poisson regression to analyze case numbers and trigonometric regression to quantify distribution patterns. EMS demand exhibited a bimodal distribution with the highest peak at 10:00 and a second smaller peak at 19:00. The highest number of cases occurred on Fridays, and the lowest on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. However, the distribution of cases throughout the day differed by day of week. Distribution patterns on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays differed significantly from the rest of the week (p < 0.001). When categorized into medical or trauma cases, medical cases were more frequent during working hours and involved patients of higher mean age (57 years vs. 49 years for trauma, p < 0.001). Trauma cases peaked on Friday and Saturday nights around midnight. Day of week EMS demand distribution patterns reveal differences that can be masked in aggregate data. Day of week EMS demand distribution patterns showed not only which days have differences in demand but the times of day at which the demand changes. Patterns differed by case type as well. These differences in distribution are important for EMS demand planning. Increased understanding of EMS demand patterns is imperative in a climate of ever-increasing demand and fiscal constraints. Further research is needed into the effect of age and case type on EMS

Feel the Fatigue and Be Active Anyway: Physical Activity on High-Fatigue Days Protects Adults With Arthritis From Decrements in Same-Day Positive Mood.

PubMed

Hegarty, Rosisin S M; Conner, Tamlin S; Stebbings, Simon; Treharne, Gareth J

2015-09-01

The present study examined whether daily physical activity moderated the within-person relationship between daily fatigue and positive or negative mood in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) or osteoarthritis (OA). Participants were 142 patients, 70 with RA and 72 with OA (67.6% women). Participants completed daily diaries during 4 fixed time windows per day for 7 days. Each diary assessed fatigue, pain, and positive and negative mood. Participants wore pedometers throughout each day and recorded pedometer readings at the end of each day. Physical activity buffered the same-day relationship between daily fatigue and positive mood for both RA and OA participants. On high-fatigue days, large decrements in mood were noted, but this was mitigated on days when participants were more physically active. Being more physically active on high-fatigue days buffered the negative effect of fatigue on positive mood among adults with both OA and RA. These findings have implications for understanding the daily variations in fatigue and inform potential clinical interventions. © 2015, American College of Rheumatology.

Variation in the flowering gene SELF PRUNING 5G promotes day-neutrality and early yield in tomato.

PubMed

Soyk, Sebastian; Müller, Niels A; Park, Soon Ju; Schmalenbach, Inga; Jiang, Ke; Hayama, Ryosuke; Zhang, Lei; Van Eck, Joyce; Jiménez-Gómez, José M; Lippman, Zachary B

2017-01-01

Plants evolved so that their flowering is triggered by seasonal changes in day length. However, day-length sensitivity in crops limits their geographical range of cultivation, and thus modification of the photoperiod response was critical for their domestication. Here we show that loss of day-length-sensitive flowering in tomato was driven by the florigen paralog and flowering repressor SELF-PRUNING 5G (SP5G). SP5G expression is induced to high levels during long days in wild species, but not in cultivated tomato because of cis-regulatory variation. CRISPR/Cas9-engineered mutations in SP5G cause rapid flowering and enhance the compact determinate growth habit of field tomatoes, resulting in a quick burst of flower production that translates to an early yield. Our findings suggest that pre-existing variation in SP5G facilitated the expansion of cultivated tomato beyond its origin near the equator in South America, and they provide a compelling demonstration of the power of gene editing to rapidly improve yield traits in crop breeding.

Seasonal Variations in the Number of the Summer Shamal Days in the Southern Arabian Gulf

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Saleh Almehrezi, Ali Saif Ali; Shapiro, Georgy; Thain, Richard

2014-05-01

The purpose of this paper is to present the results of a study into seasonal variations in the number of Summer Shamal days in the southern Arabian Gulf. The Shamal wind is a north-westerly wind, which has acquired the local name of Shamal. It is the primary ambient wind in the Arabian Gulf and persists most of the year over the area, but with varying characteristics ( Godvina et al, 2001). The study is focused on the parameters of the wind cycles. The wind data are collected over a thirty year period (1981 to 2010) from Bahrain airport data set (Al Aali, 2011) as it is less affected by surrounding topography and the meteorological charts were obtained from NCEP Reanalysis -II data set (NCEP, 2013). The wind data is analyzed to show variations in the number of summer Shamal days over the southern Arabian Gulf. The synoptic conditions which help to understand the wind cycles are analyzed using NCEP Charts. A Shamal Day is defined when the prevailing wind over the Arabian Gulf is from the North-West sector and the strength of the daily mean Shamal wind is 11 knots and more. The condition for the existence of Summer Shamal days is the deepening of the thermal Monsoon Low or the ridging from the Mediterranean High or both (Govinda et al, 2003). A key finding is that the Summer Shamal days start in May and end in October of each year and the number of the Summer Shamal days is decreasing over the study period. During the months of May, June and July the number of Shamal days is the highest. Out of these three months, June has the highest number of Shamal day's. The analysis shows that the reduction in the number of Summer Shamal days over the thirty year period is potentially related to the variations in the parameters of the summer monsoon and the longitudinal location of the Azores High. Furthermore, in the summer there are two global systems: (i) El Nino, which effects the Summer Monsoon (Nazemosadat et al, 2003) and (ii) the Azores High, which have an indirect

Prognostic significance of day-by-day variability of home blood pressure on progression to macroalbuminuria in patients with diabetes.

PubMed

Ushigome, Emi; Matsumoto, Shinobu; Oyabu, Chikako; Kitagawa, Noriyuki; Tanaka, Toru; Hasegawa, Goji; Ohnishi, Masayoshi; Tsunoda, Sei; Ushigome, Hidetaka; Yokota, Isao; Nakamura, Naoto; Oda, Yohei; Asano, Mai; Tanaka, Muhei; Yamazaki, Masahiro; Fukui, Michiaki

2018-05-01

Previously, we have shown in cross-sectional analysis of patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus that the presence of diabetic nephropathy is associated with increased home blood pressure (HBP) variability. We now examine the prognostic significance of HBP variability in substantially the same cohort. We performed a prospective cohort study of type 2 diabetes patients. We analyzed 714 patients. Major exclusion criteria are missing data of urinary albumin excretion and newly prescribed or stopped renin-angiotensin system inhibitors during 2-year follow-up. Patients were instructed to perform triplicate morning and evening HBP measurements for 14 consecutive days. We computed day-by-day HBP variability as within-patient standard deviation (SD) and coefficient of variation (CV) of measurements. During the follow-up period of 2 years, 23 patients progressed to macroalbuminuria. The changing risk of progression to macroalbuminuria with increasing day-by-day variability of morning SBP was better depicted using smoothing spline analyses. Patients with greater SD of morning SBP tended to significantly progress to macroalbuminuria [odds ratio: 5.24 (95% confidence interval: 2.10-13.03; P > 0.001)]. Patients with greater CV of morning SBP also tended to significantly progress to macroalbuminuria [odds ratio: 3.36 (95% confidence interval: 1.39-8.12; P = 0.007)]. Day-by-day variability of morning SBP was proven as an independent predictor for progression to macroalbuminuria in patients with type 2 diabetes.

Thirty-day Readmission Rates and Associated Factors: A Multilevel Analysis of Practice Variations in French Public Psychiatry.

PubMed

Gandré, Coralie; Gervaix, Jeanne; Thillard, Julien; Macé, Jean-Marc; Roelandt, Jean-Luc; Chevreul, Karine

2018-03-01

Inpatient psychiatric readmissions are often used as an indicator of the quality of care and their reduction is in line with international recommendations for mental health care. Research on variations in inpatient readmission rates among mental health care providers is therefore of key importance as these variations can impact equity, quality and efficiency of care when they do not result from differences in patients' needs. Our objectives were first to describe variations in inpatient readmission rates between public mental health care providers in France on a nationwide scale, and second, to identify their association with patient, health care providers and environment characteristics. We carried out a study for the year 2012 using data from ten administrative national databases. 30-day readmissions in inpatient care were identified in the French national psychiatric discharge database. Variations were described numerically and graphically between French psychiatric sectors and factors associated with these variations were identified by carrying out a multi-level logistic regression accounting for the hierarchical structure of the data. Significant practice variations in 30-day inpatient readmission rates were observed with a coefficient of variation above 50%. While a majority of those variations was related to differences within sectors, individual patient characteristics explained a lower part of the variations resulting from differences between sectors than the characteristics of sectors and of their environment. In particular, an increase in the mortality rate and in the acute admission rate for somatic disorders in sectors' catchment area was associated with a decrease in the probability of 30-day readmission. Similarly, an increase in the number of psychiatric inpatient beds in private for-profit hospitals per 1,000 inhabitants in sectors' catchment area was associated with a decrease in this probability, which also varied with overall sectors' case

Variation in the days supply field for osteoporosis medications in Ontario.

PubMed

Burden, Andrea M; Huang, Anjie; Tadrous, Mina; Cadarette, Suzanne M

2013-01-01

We examined pharmacy claims for osteoporosis medications dispensed in the community (78 %) and long-term care (LTC) to determine if days supply values matched expected dosing intervals. Results identify potential reporting errors that can have implications for drug exposure misclassification, particularly in LTC where only 59 % of reported values matched expected values. The days supply field is commonly used to examine patterns of drug utilization and classify drug exposure, yet its accuracy has received little attention. We sought to describe the days supply reported for osteoporosis drugs and examine if values matched expected therapeutic dosing intervals. We examined days supply values for osteoporosis medications submitted to the Ontario Drug Benefits program for seniors, 1997-2011. Days supply values were evaluated by dosing regimen and setting (community or long-term care [LTC]) and compared to pre-defined expected values. We defined expected days supply by the therapeutic dosing interval: daily in 7- or 30-day intervals, or as 100 days; weekly in 7- or 30-day intervals; monthly and daily nasal spray in 28- or 30-day intervals; and cyclical etidronate as a 90-day supply. We identified 17,615,404 osteoporosis prescriptions, with 78 % dispensed in the community. Most daily oral prescriptions were dispensed by an expected therapeutic dosing interval (97 %). Annual IV zoledronic acid was most commonly dispensed as a 1-day supply (62 %). Distinct differences in agreement were observed for other regimens, with the expected days supply more commonly reported in community versus LTC: cyclical etidronate (86 % vs. 40 %), weekly (91 % vs. 60 %), monthly (94 % vs. 35 %), and nasal spray (84 % vs. 40 %). Results suggest that inaccuracies in the days supply field exist, particularly among prescriptions dispensed in LTC. Inaccurate reporting may have significant implications for osteoporosis drug exposure misclassification.

Northern Drosophila montana flies show variation both within and between cline populations in the critical day length evoking reproductive diapause.

PubMed

Lankinen, Pekka; Tyukmaeva, Venera I; Hoikkala, Anneli

2013-08-01

Reproductive diapause, and its correct timing, plays an important role in the life cycle of many insect species living in a seasonally varying environment at high latitudes. In the present paper we have documented variation in the critical day length (CDL) for adult reproductive diapause and the steepness of photoperiodic response curves (PPRCs) in seven clinal populations of Drosophila montana in Finland between the latitudes 61 and 67°N, paying special attention to variation in these traits within and between cline populations. The isofemale lines representing these populations showed a sharp transition from 0% to 100% in females' diapause incidence in the shortening day lengths, indicated by steep PPRCs. The mean CDL showed a clear latitudinal cline decreasing by 1.6h from North to South regardless of the age of the lines, variation within the populations (i.e. among lines) in this trait being up to 3h. The steepness of the PPRCs correlated with the age of the line and this trait showed no clear latitudinal cline. Further studies on a large number of lines from one D. montana population confirmed that while maintaining the flies in diapause preventing conditions in the laboratory has no effect on CDL, older lines had steeper PPRCs. High variation in CDL within and between D. montana cline populations is likely to be heritable and provide a good potential for the evolution of photoperiodic responses. Information on genetic variation in life-history traits, such as diapause, is of utmost importance for predicting the ability of insects to survive in seasonally changing environmental conditions and to respond to long term changes in the length of the growing period e.g. by postponing the timing of diapause towards shorter day length and later calendar date. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Children's Moderate to Vigorous Physical Activity Attending Summer Day Camps.

PubMed

Brazendale, Keith; Beets, Michael W; Weaver, R Glenn; Chandler, Jessica L; Randel, Allison B; Turner-McGrievy, Gabrielle M; Moore, Justin B; Huberty, Jennifer L; Ward, Dianne S

2017-07-01

National physical activity standards call for all children to accumulate 60 minutes/day of moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA). The contribution of summer day camps toward meeting this benchmark is largely unknown. The purpose of this study was to provide estimates of children's MVPA during summer day camps. Children (n=1,061, 78% enrollment; mean age, 7.8 years; 46% female; 65% African American; 48% normal weight) from 20 summer day camps wore ActiGraph GT3x+ accelerometers on the wrist during camp hours for up to 4 non-consecutive days over the summer of 2015 (July). Accumulated MVPA at the 25th, 50th, and 75th percentile of the distribution was estimated using random-effects quantile regression. All models were estimated separately for boys and girls and controlled for wear time. Minutes of MVPA were dichotomized to ≥60 minutes/day of MVPA or <60 minutes/day to estimate percentage of boys and girls meeting the 60 minutes/day guideline. All data were analyzed in spring 2016. Across the 20 summer day camps, boys (n=569) and girls (n=492) accumulated a median of 96 and 82 minutes/day of MVPA, respectively. The percentage of children meeting 60 minutes/day of MVPA was 80% (range, 41%-94%) for boys and 73% (range, 30%-97%) for girls. Summer day camps are a setting where a large portion of boys and girls meet daily physical activity guidelines. Public health practitioners should focus efforts on making summer day camps accessible for children in the U.S. Copyright © 2017 American Journal of Preventive Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Interdecadal variation of precipitation days in August in the Korean Peninsula

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Choi, Jae-Won; Cha, Yumi; Kim, Hae-Dong

2017-03-01

The present study examines a climate regime shift in the time series of the number of rainy days during August in the Korean Peninsula. The statistical change-point analysis indicates that a significant shift occurred in the time series around 1998, providing a rationale to divide it into two parts: 1975-1997 for the shorter rainy-day period and 1998-2012 for the longer rainy-day period. To examine the cause of recent rapid increases in the number of days with precipitation in August in the Korean Peninsula, differences in the averages of large-scale environments between the 1998-2012 period and the 1975-1997 period were analyzed. The differences in stream flows showed that anomalous cyclones were reinforced in the East Asian continent while anomalous anticyclones were reinforced in the western North Pacific at all layers of the troposphere. The anomalous anticyclones reinforced in the western North Pacific were associated with the western North Pacific subtropical high (WNPSH) developed a little more toward the Korean Peninsula recently. Consequently, the Korean Peninsula has been affected by anomalous south westerlies that supplied warm and humid airs from low tropical regions to the Korean Peninsula. The vertical thermal instability (warm anomaly at lower-level and cold anomaly at middle and upper-level) developed near the Korean Peninsula. In addition, upper tropospheric jets were reinforced further recently near the Korean Peninsula to provide good environments for development of upward flows. The frequency of TCs that affect the Korean Peninsula in August also increased rapidly since 1998.

The Day-to-Day Co-Production of Ageing in Place.

PubMed

Procter, Rob; Greenhalgh, Trisha; Wherton, Joe; Sugarhood, Paul; Rouncefield, Mark; Hinder, Sue

We report findings from a study that set out to explore the experience of older people living with assisted living technologies and care services. We find that successful 'ageing in place' is socially and collaboratively accomplished - 'co-produced' - day-to-day by the efforts of older people, and their formal and informal networks of carers (e.g. family, friends, neighbours). First, we reveal how 'bricolage' allows care recipients and family members to customise assisted living technologies to individual needs. We argue that making customisation easier through better design must be part of making assisted living technologies 'work'. Second, we draw attention to the importance of formal and informal carers establishing and maintaining mutual awareness of the older person's circumstances day-to-day so they can act in a concerted and coordinated way when problems arise. Unfortunately, neither the design of most current assisted living technologies, nor the ways care services are typically configured, acknowledges these realities of ageing in place. We conclude that rather than more 'advanced' technologies, the success of ageing in place programmes will depend on effortful alignments in the technical, organisational and social configuration of support.

Biomarker patterns in present-day vegetation: consistency and variation - A study on plaggen soils

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kirkels, Frédérique; Jansen, Boris; Kalbitz, Karsten

2013-04-01

Biomarker patterns in present-day vegetation are commonly used as proxies to reconstruct paleo-vegetation composition, land use history and to elucidate carbon cycling. Plaggen soils are formed by diverse vegetational inputs during century-long plaggen (i.e. sod) application associated with plaggen-agriculture on poor soils in north-western Europe. This resulted in remarkably stable organic matter. Plant source identification by biomarkers could provide insight in yet unknown stabilization mechanisms and the fate of organic matter upon ongoing land use change. The current rationale behind biomarker-based source identification is that patterns observed in present-day vegetation are generally representative with little random variation. However, our knowledge on variability and consistency of biomarker patterns is yet scarce. Therefore, to assess the applicability of biomarkers for source identification in plaggen soils, we analyzed published n-alkane and n-alcohol patterns of species and their various parts which contribute(d) input to plaggen soils. We considered shrubs, trees and grass species and evaluated rescaled patterns (i.e. relative abundances in chain-length range C17-36), odd-over-even predominance (OEP) and predominant n-alkanes. In addition, we explicitly looked into potential sources of systematic variation, e.g. spatial variation (climate, site conditions), temporal variation (seasonality, ontogeny) and laboratory methodology (extraction technique: washing/shaking, Soxhlet/ASE, saponification). We found meaningful clustering of n-alkanes C27, C29, C31 and C33, allowing for clear distinction of input by shrubs, trees and grasses to plaggen soils. Combination of these homologues with complete n-alkane patterns (C17-36) and OEP enabled further differentiation, while n-alcohols patterns were less distinct. Current limitation is the lack of extended and diverse quantitative records on biomarker patterns, especially for n-alcohols, non-leaf and belowground

Seasonal variation of degree-day accumulation in relation to phenology of western spruce budworm, Douglas-fir tussock moth, and host trees in northeastern Oregon.

Treesearch

Boyd E. Wickman

1988-01-01

The annual variation of degree-days and early summer phenology of Douglas-fir tussock moth, western spruce budworm, and their host trees was monitored over five to six seasons at two locations in the Blue Mountains. Accumulated degree-days and the phenology of bud burst and larval development were consistent and comparable at the two sites. Either degree-days or shoot...

Composition of hydroponic lettuce: effect of time of day, plant size, and season.

PubMed

Gent, Martin P N

2012-02-01

The diurnal variation of nitrate and sugars in leafy green vegetables may vary with plant size or the ability of plants to buffer the uptake, synthesis, and use of metabolites. Bibb lettuce was grown in hydroponics in a greenhouse and sampled at 3 h intervals throughout one day in August 2007 and another day in November 2008 to determine fresh weight, dry matter, and concentration of nitrate and sugars. Plantings differing in size and age were sampled on each date. The dry/fresh weight ratio increased during the daylight period. This increase was greater for small compared to large plants. On a fresh weight basis, tissue nitrate of small plants was only half that of larger plants. The variation in concentration with time was much less for nitrate than for soluble sugars. Soluble sugars were similar for all plant sizes early in the day, but they increased far more for small compared to large plants in the long days of summer. The greatest yield on a fresh weight basis was obtained by harvesting lettuce at dawn. Although dry matter or sugar content increased later in the day, there is no commercial benefit to delaying harvest as consumers do not buy lettuce for these attributes. Copyright © 2011 Society of Chemical Industry.

The Influence of Internal and External Torques on Titan's Length-of-day Variations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

van Hoolst, T.; Karatekin, O.; Rambaux, N.

2008-12-01

Cassini radar observations show that Titan's spin is slightly faster than synchronous spin. Angular momentum exchange between Titan and its atmosphere is the most likely cause of the observed non-synchronous rotation. We study the effect of Saturn's gravitational torque and torques between Titan's internal layers on the length-of-day (LOD) variations driven by the atmosphere. Those torques depend on the equatorial flattening of Titan resulting from static tides raised by Saturn. We calculate Titan's flattening under the assumption of hydrostatic equilibrium and show that the gravitational forcing by Saturn, due to misalignment of the long axis of Titan with the line joining the mass centers of Titan and Saturn, reduces the LOD variations with respect to those for a spherical Titan by an order of magnitude. Internal gravitational and pressure coupling between the ice shell and the interior beneath a putative ocean tends to diminish any differential rotation between shell and interior and reduces further the LOD variations by a few times. For the current estimate of the atmospheric torque, we obtain LOD variations of a hydrostatic Titan that are more than 50 times smaller than the observations indicate when a subsurface ocean exists and more than 100 times smaller when Titan has no ocean. Moreover, Saturn's torque causes the rotation to be slower than synchronous in contrast to the Cassini observations. Those large differences with the observations suggest that non-hydrostatic effects in Titan are important. In particular, we show that the amplitude and phase of the calculated rotation variations would be similar to the observed values if non-hydrostatic effects strongly reduce the equatorial flattening of the ice shell above an internal ocean. Alternatively, the calculated LOD variations could be increased if the atmospheric torque is larger than predicted or if fast viscous relaxation of the ice shell could reduce the gravitational coupling, but it remains to be

Age Differences in Day-To-Day Speed-Accuracy Tradeoffs: Results from the COGITO Study.

PubMed

Ghisletta, Paolo; Joly-Burra, Emilie; Aichele, Stephen; Lindenberger, Ulman; Schmiedek, Florian

2018-04-23

We examined adult age differences in day-to-day adjustments in speed-accuracy tradeoffs (SAT) on a figural comparison task. Data came from the COGITO study, with over 100 younger and 100 older adults, assessed for over 100 days. Participants were given explicit feedback about their completion time and accuracy each day after task completion. We applied a multivariate vector auto-regressive model of order 1 to the daily mean reaction time (RT) and daily accuracy scores together, within each age group. We expected that participants adjusted their SAT if the two cross-regressive parameters from RT (or accuracy) on day t-1 of accuracy (or RT) on day t were sizable and negative. We found that: (a) the temporal dependencies of both accuracy and RT were quite strong in both age groups; (b) younger adults showed an effect of their accuracy on day t-1 on their RT on day t, a pattern that was in accordance with adjustments of their SAT; (c) older adults did not appear to adjust their SAT; (d) these effects were partly associated with reliable individual differences within each age group. We discuss possible explanations for older adults' reluctance to recalibrate speed and accuracy on a day-to-day basis.

Identification of human plasma metabolites exhibiting time-of-day variation using an untargeted liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry metabolomic approach.

PubMed

Ang, Joo Ern; Revell, Victoria; Mann, Anuska; Mäntele, Simone; Otway, Daniella T; Johnston, Jonathan D; Thumser, Alfred E; Skene, Debra J; Raynaud, Florence

2012-08-01

Although daily rhythms regulate multiple aspects of human physiology, rhythmic control of the metabolome remains poorly understood. The primary objective of this proof-of-concept study was identification of metabolites in human plasma that exhibit significant 24-h variation. This was assessed via an untargeted metabolomic approach using liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS). Eight lean, healthy, and unmedicated men, mean age 53.6 (SD ± 6.0) yrs, maintained a fixed sleep/wake schedule and dietary regime for 1 wk at home prior to an adaptation night and followed by a 25-h experimental session in the laboratory where the light/dark cycle, sleep/wake, posture, and calorific intake were strictly controlled. Plasma samples from each individual at selected time points were prepared using liquid-phase extraction followed by reverse-phase LC coupled to quadrupole time-of-flight MS analysis in positive ionization mode. Time-of-day variation in the metabolites was screened for using orthogonal partial least square discrimination between selected time points of 10:00 vs. 22:00 h, 16:00 vs. 04:00 h, and 07:00 (d 1) vs. 16:00 h, as well as repeated-measures analysis of variance with time as an independent variable. Subsequently, cosinor analysis was performed on all the sampled time points across the 24-h day to assess for significant daily variation. In this study, analytical variability, assessed using known internal standards, was low with coefficients of variation <10%. A total of 1069 metabolite features were detected and 203 (19%) showed significant time-of-day variation. Of these, 34 metabolites were identified using a combination of accurate mass, tandem MS, and online database searches. These metabolites include corticosteroids, bilirubin, amino acids, acylcarnitines, and phospholipids; of note, the magnitude of the 24-h variation of these identified metabolites was large, with the mean ratio of oscillation range over MESOR (24-h time series mean) of 65% (95

PHASE CHANGES IN THE 27 DAY TYPE OF INTENSITY VARIATION OF PRIMARY COSMIC RAYS FROM JANUARY 1955 TO JANUARY 1961

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

Freon, A.

1962-01-01

It is well known that 27-day recurrent variation of cosmic radiation presents long periods of stability in correlation with long-life high-activity regions of the sun. These variations have been previously studied during the last solar activity maximum (Oct. 1956 to Dec. 1958) using data from two neutron monitors located at Pic-du-Midi, France, and Port-aux-Francais, Kerguelen Island. Results are presented from a study of these recurrent variations for the Jan. 1955 to Jan. 1961 period. (W.D.M.)

Day-to-day Consistency in Positive Parent-Child Interactions and Youth Well-Being.

PubMed

Lippold, Melissa A; Davis, Kelly D; Lawson, Katie M; McHale, Susan M

2016-12-01

The frequency of positive parent-child interactions is associated with youth adjustment. Yet, little is known about daily parent-child interactions and how day-to-day consistency in positive parent-child interactions may be linked to youth well-being. Using a daily diary approach, this study added to this literature to investigate whether and how day-to-day consistency in positive parent-child interactions was linked to youth depressive symptoms, risky behavior, and physical health. Participants were youth whose parents were employed in the IT division of a Fortune 500 company ( N = 129, youth's mean age = 13.39, 55 % female), who participated in an 8 day daily diary study. Analyses revealed that, controlling for cross-day mean levels of positive parent-child interactions, older (but not younger) adolescents who experienced more consistency in positive interactions with parents had fewer depressive and physical health symptoms (e.g., colds, flu). The discussion focuses on the utility of daily diary methods for assessing the correlates of consistency in parenting, possible processes underlying these associations, and intervention implications.

Day-night variation in heart rate variability changes induced by endotoxaemia in healthy volunteers.

PubMed

Alamili, M; Rosenberg, J; Gögenur, I

2015-04-01

Morbidity and mortality in response to sepsis may be dependent on clock time for the initiation of sepsis. Endotoxaemia, an experimental model for systemic inflammation, induces alterations in sympatico-vagal balance in the autonomic nervous system (ANS). The activity of sympathetic and parasympathetic activity can be estimated by measuring heart rate variability (HRV). Based on the intimate link between ANS and the inflammatory response, we hypothesized, that HRV changes seen during endotoxaemia would be different based on time of the day the endotoxaemia is initiated. We investigated day/night variation in endotoxaemia-induced changes in HRV. A randomized, crossover study with 12 healthy men (age 18-31) was conducted. Endotoxaemia were induced by lipopolysaccharide (LPS) endotoxin 0.3 ng/kg b.w. in two visits (day visit and night visit). At the day visit, endotoxaemia were induced at 12:00 h, and at the night visit it was induced at 24:00 h. Holter recordings were started 1 h before administration of LPS, and continued for 10 h. Time-domain and frequency-domain parameters of HRV were analysed. A total of nine persons finished the study with valid recordings. Endotoxaemia at both night and day resulted in a significant depression in HRV parameters high-frequency power (HF), low-frequency power (LF), standard deviation of normal-to-normal (NN) intervals, root mean square of successive differences and proportion of NN50 divided by total number of NNs (P<0.001). The ratio LF/HF and mean heart rate significantly increased by endotoxaemia (P<0.001). At night-time endotoxaemia, a more pronounced depression of LF, HF and SDNN (P<0.01) and a more pronounced increase in the ratio of LF/HF and mean heart rate (P<0.01) occurred compared with day-time endotoxaemia. Endotoxaemia induced changes in HRV exhibit a day-night difference. This difference may have clinical consequences in patients with sepsis. © 2015 The Acta Anaesthesiologica Scandinavica Foundation

Influence of Atmospheric Variations on Photovoltaic Performance and Modeling Their Effects for Days with Clear Skies: Preprint

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

Marion, B.

2012-06-01

Although variation in photovoltaic (PV) performance is predominantly influenced by clouds, performance variations also exist for days with clear skies with different amounts of atmospheric constituents that absorb and reflect different amounts of radiation as it passes through the earth's atmosphere. The extent of the attenuation is determined by the mass of air and the amounts of water vapor, aerosols, and ozone that constitute the atmosphere for a particular day and location. Because these constituents selectively absorb radiation of particular wavelengths, their impact on PV performance is sensitive to the spectral response of the PV device. The impact may bemore » assessed by calculating the spectral mismatch correction. This approach was validated using PV module performance data at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) for summer, fall, and winter days with clear skies. The standard deviation of daily efficiencies for single-crystal Si, a-Si/a-Si/a-Si:Ge, CdTe, and CIGS PV modules were reduced to 0.4% to 1.0% (relative) by correcting for spectral mismatch, temperature, and angle-of-incidence effects.« less

Go-To-Blazes Day.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McLean, Ross

THE FOLLOWING IS THE FULL TEXT OF THIS DOCUMENT: Last year, the Bruce Trail Association held its first annual Go-To-Blazes Day in which a record number of volunteers gave the 700 kilometres of Trail from Queenston to Tobermory a spring-cleaning. One key section of Trail near Dyer's Bay had been closed for over a year. On this day, over four miles…

Day-to-Day Population Movement and the Management of Dengue Epidemics.

PubMed

Falcón-Lezama, Jorge A; Martínez-Vega, Ruth A; Kuri-Morales, Pablo A; Ramos-Castañeda, José; Adams, Ben

2016-10-01

Dengue is a growing public health problem in tropical and subtropical cities. It is transmitted by mosquitoes, and the main strategy for epidemic prevention and control is insecticide fumigation. Effective management is, however, proving elusive. People's day-to-day movement about the city is believed to be an important factor in the epidemiological dynamics. We use a simple model to examine the fundamental roles of broad demographic and spatial structures in epidemic initiation, growth and control. We show that the key factors are local dilution, characterised by the vector-host ratio, and spatial connectivity, characterised by the extent of habitually variable movement patterns. Epidemic risk in the population is driven by the demographic groups that frequent the areas with the highest vector-host ratio, even if they only spend some of their time there. Synchronisation of epidemic trajectories in different demographic groups is governed by the vector-host ratios to which they are exposed and the strength of connectivity. Strategies for epidemic prevention and management may be made more effective if they take into account the fluctuating landscape of transmission intensity associated with spatial heterogeneity in the vector-host ratio and people's day-to-day movement patterns.

Using robust principal component analysis to alleviate day-to-day variability in EEG based emotion classification.

PubMed

Ping-Keng Jao; Yuan-Pin Lin; Yi-Hsuan Yang; Tzyy-Ping Jung

2015-08-01

An emerging challenge for emotion classification using electroencephalography (EEG) is how to effectively alleviate day-to-day variability in raw data. This study employed the robust principal component analysis (RPCA) to address the problem with a posed hypothesis that background or emotion-irrelevant EEG perturbations lead to certain variability across days and somehow submerge emotion-related EEG dynamics. The empirical results of this study evidently validated our hypothesis and demonstrated the RPCA's feasibility through the analysis of a five-day dataset of 12 subjects. The RPCA allowed tackling the sparse emotion-relevant EEG dynamics from the accompanied background perturbations across days. Sequentially, leveraging the RPCA-purified EEG trials from more days appeared to improve the emotion-classification performance steadily, which was not found in the case using the raw EEG features. Therefore, incorporating the RPCA with existing emotion-aware machine-learning frameworks on a longitudinal dataset of each individual may shed light on the development of a robust affective brain-computer interface (ABCI) that can alleviate ecological inter-day variability.

When Every Day Is Professional Development Day

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tienken, Christopher H.; Stonaker, Lew

2007-01-01

In the Monroe Township (New Jersey) Public Schools, teachers' learning occurs daily, not just on one day in October and February. Central office and school-level administrators foster job-embedded teacher growth. Every day is a professional development day in the district, but that has not always been so. How did the district become a system with…

Macrocognition in Day-To-Day Police Incident Response

PubMed Central

Baber, Chris; McMaster, Richard

2016-01-01

Using examples of incidents that UK Police Forces deal with on a day-to-day basis, we explore the macrocognition of incident response. Central to our analysis is the idea that information relating to an incident is translated from negotiated to structured and actionable meaning, in terms of the Community of Practice of the personnel involved in incident response. Through participant observation of, and interviews with, police personnel, we explore the manner in which these different types of meaning shift over the course of incident. In this way, macrocognition relates to gathering, framing, and sharing information through the collaborative sensemaking practices of those involved. This involves two cycles of macrocognition, which we see as ‘informal’ (driven by information gathering as the Community of Practice negotiates and actions meaning) and ‘formal’ (driven by the need to assign resources to the response and the need to record incident details). The examples illustrate that these cycles are often intertwined, as are the different forms of meaning, in situation-specific ways that provide adaptive response to the demands of the incident. PMID:27014117

Macrocognition in Day-To-Day Police Incident Response.

PubMed

Baber, Chris; McMaster, Richard

2016-01-01

Using examples of incidents that UK Police Forces deal with on a day-to-day basis, we explore the macrocognition of incident response. Central to our analysis is the idea that information relating to an incident is translated from negotiated to structured and actionable meaning, in terms of the Community of Practice of the personnel involved in incident response. Through participant observation of, and interviews with, police personnel, we explore the manner in which these different types of meaning shift over the course of incident. In this way, macrocognition relates to gathering, framing, and sharing information through the collaborative sensemaking practices of those involved. This involves two cycles of macrocognition, which we see as 'informal' (driven by information gathering as the Community of Practice negotiates and actions meaning) and 'formal' (driven by the need to assign resources to the response and the need to record incident details). The examples illustrate that these cycles are often intertwined, as are the different forms of meaning, in situation-specific ways that provide adaptive response to the demands of the incident.

The Role of Day-to-Day Emotions, Sleep, and Social Interactions in Pediatric Anxiety Treatment

PubMed Central

Wallace, Meredith L.; McMakin, Dana L.; Tan, Patricia Z.; Rosen, Dana; Forbes, Erika E.; Ladouceur, Cecile D.; Ryan, Neal D.; Siegle, Greg J.; Dahl, Ronald E.; Kendall, Philip C.; Mannarino, Anthony; Silk, Jennifer S.

2016-01-01

Do day-to-day emotions, social interactions, and sleep play a role in determining which anxious youth respond to supportive child-centered therapy (CCT) versus cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT)? We explored whether measures of day-to-day functioning (captured through ecological momentary assessment, sleep diary, and actigraphy), along with clinical and demographic measures, were predictors or moderators of treatment outcome in 114 anxious youth randomized to CCT or CBT. We statistically combined individual moderators into a single, optimal composite moderator to characterize subgroups for which CCT or CBT may be preferable. The strongest predictors of better outcome included: (a) experiencing higher positive affect when with one’s mother and (b) fewer self-reported problems with sleep duration. The composite moderator indicated that youth for whom CBT was indicated had: (a) more day-to-day sleep problems related to sleep quality, efficiency, and waking, (b) day-to-day negative events related to interpersonal concerns, (c) more DSM-IV anxiety diagnoses, and (d) college-educated parents. These findings illustrate the value of both day-to-day functioning characteristics and more traditional sociodemographic and clinical characteristics in identifying optimal anxiety treatment assignment. Future studies will need to enhance the practicality of real-time measures for use in clinical decision making and evaluate additional anxiety treatments. PMID:28013054

A Day as a Scientist: Take Your Child to Work Day | Poster

Cancer.gov

Do you ever dream you could fight a fire, conduct fascinating experiments, and eat ice cream all in one day? A record number of kids—285 in all—got to do just that during the NCI at Frederick’s annual Take Your Child to Work Day.

Preparing Students for Front-Line Management: Non-Routine Day-to-Day Decisions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Clydesdale, Greg; Tan, John

2009-01-01

Purpose: This paper attempts to reduce the gap between management education and practice. It emphasises day-to-day decisions that middle and lower level managers make. The purpose is to provide an education framework embodying a flexible approach to interpretation and solution creation, suitable for situations of ambiguity and uncertainty.…

The effect of gravitational and pressure torques on Titan's length-of-day variations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Van Hoolst, T.; Rambaux, N.; Karatekin, Ö.; Baland, R.-M.

2009-03-01

Cassini radar observations show that Titan's spin is slightly faster than synchronous spin. Angular momentum exchange between Titan's surface and the atmosphere over seasonal time scales corresponding to Saturn's orbital period of 29.5 year is the most likely cause of the observed non-synchronous rotation. We study the effect of Saturn's gravitational torque and torques between internal layers on the length-of-day (LOD) variations driven by the atmosphere. Because static tides deform Titan into an ellipsoid with the long axis approximately in the direction to Saturn, non-zero gravitational and pressure torques exist that can change the rotation rate of Titan. For the torque calculation, we estimate the flattening of Titan and its interior layers under the assumption of hydrostatic equilibrium. The gravitational forcing by Saturn, due to misalignment of the long axis of Titan with the line joining the mass centers of Titan and Saturn, reduces the LOD variations with respect to those for a spherical Titan by an order of magnitude. Internal gravitational and pressure coupling between the ice shell and the interior beneath a putative ocean tends to reduce any differential rotation between shell and interior and reduces further the LOD variations by a few times. For the current estimate of the atmospheric torque, we obtain LOD variations of a hydrostatic Titan that are more than 100 times smaller than the observations indicate when Titan has no ocean as well as when a subsurface ocean exists. Moreover, Saturn's torque causes the rotation to be slower than synchronous in contrast to the Cassini observations. The calculated LOD variations could be increased if the atmospheric torque is larger than predicted and or if fast viscous relaxation of the ice shell could reduce the gravitational coupling, but it remains to be studied if a two order of magnitude increase is possible and if these effects can explain the phase difference of the predicted rotation variations

The role of day-to-day emotions, sleep, and social interactions in pediatric anxiety treatment.

PubMed

Wallace, Meredith L; McMakin, Dana L; Tan, Patricia Z; Rosen, Dana; Forbes, Erika E; Ladouceur, Cecile D; Ryan, Neal D; Siegle, Greg J; Dahl, Ronald E; Kendall, Philip C; Mannarino, Anthony; Silk, Jennifer S

2017-03-01

Do day-to-day emotions, social interactions, and sleep play a role in determining which anxious youth respond to supportive child-centered therapy (CCT) versus cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT)? We explored whether measures of day-to-day functioning (captured through ecological momentary assessment, sleep diary, and actigraphy), along with clinical and demographic measures, were predictors or moderators of treatment outcome in 114 anxious youth randomized to CCT or CBT. We statistically combined individual moderators into a single, optimal composite moderator to characterize subgroups for which CCT or CBT may be preferable. The strongest predictors of better outcome included: (a) experiencing higher positive affect when with one's mother and (b) fewer self-reported problems with sleep duration. The composite moderator indicated that youth for whom CBT was indicated had: (a) more day-to-day sleep problems related to sleep quality, efficiency, and waking, (b) day-to-day negative events related to interpersonal concerns, (c) more DSM-IV anxiety diagnoses, and (d) college-educated parents. These findings illustrate the value of both day-to-day functioning characteristics and more traditional sociodemographic and clinical characteristics in identifying optimal anxiety treatment assignment. Future studies will need to enhance the practicality of real-time measures for use in clinical decision making and evaluate additional anxiety treatments. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Assessing the effect of the relative atmospheric angular momentum (AAM) on length-of-day (LOD) variations under climate warming

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lehmann, E.; Hansen, F.; Ulbrich, U.; Nevir, P.; Leckebusch, G. C.

2009-04-01

While most studies on model-projected future climate warming discuss climatological quantities, this study investigates the response of the relative atmospheric angular momentum (AAM) to climate warming for the 21th century and discusses its possible effects on future length-of-day variations. Following the derivation of the dynamic relation between atmosphere and solid earth by Barnes et al. (Proc. Roy. Soc., 1985) this study relates the axial atmospheric excitation function X3 to changes in length-of-day that are proportional to variations in zonal winds. On interannual time scales changes in the relative AAM (ERA40 reanalyses) are well correlated with observed length-of-day (LOD, IERS EOP CO4) variability (r=0.75). The El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) is a prominent coupled ocean-atmosphere phenomenon to cause global climate variability on interannual time scales. Correspondingly, changes in observed LOD relate to ENSO due to observed strong wind anomalies. This study investigates the varying effect of AAM anomalies on observed LOD by relating AAM to variations to ENSO teleconnections (sea surface temperatures, SSTs) and the Pacific North America (PNA) oscillation for the 20th and 21st century. The differently strong effect of strong El Niño events (explained variance 71%-98%) on present time (1962-2000) observed LOD-AAM relation can be associated to variations in location and strength of jet streams in the upper troposphere. Correspondingly, the relation between AAM and SSTs in the NIÑO 3.4 region also varies between explained variances of 15% to 73%. Recent coupled ocean-atmosphere projections on future climate warming suggest changes in frequency and amplitude of ENSO events. Since changes in the relative AAM indicate shifts in large-scale atmospheric circulation patterns due to climate change, AAM - ENSO relations are assessed in coupled atmosphere-ocean (ECHAM5-OM1) climate warming projections (A1B) for the 21st century. A strong rise (+31%) in

A Critical Appraisal of the `Day' Diagram

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Roberts, A. P.; Tauxe, L.; Heslop, D.

2017-12-01

The `Day' diagram [Day et al., 1977; doi:10.1016/0031-9201(77)90108-X] is used widely to infer the mean domain state of magnetic mineral assemblages. The Day plot coordinates are the ratios of the saturation remanent magnetization to saturation magnetization (Mrs/Ms) and the coercivity of remanence to coercivity (Bcr/Bc), as determined from a major hysteresis loop and a backfield demagnetization curve. Based on theoretical and empirical arguments, Day plots are typically demarcated into stable single domain (SD), `pseudosingle domain' (`PSD'), and multidomain (MD) zones. It is a simple task to determine Mrs/Ms and Bcr/Bc for a sample and to assign a mean domain state based on the boundaries defined by Day et al. [1977]. Many other parameters contribute to variability in a Day diagram, including surface oxidation, mineral stoichiometry, stress state, magnetostatic interactions, and mixtures of magnetic particles with different sizes and shapes. Bulk magnetic measurements usually lack detailed independent evidence to constrain each free parameter, which makes the Day diagram fundamentally ambiguous. This raises questions about its usefulness for diagnosing magnetic particle size variations. The Day diagram is also used to make inferences about binary mixing of magnetic particles, where, for example, mixtures of SD and MD particles give rise to a bulk `PSD' response even though the concentration of `PSD' grains could be zero. In our assessment of thousands of hysteresis measurements of geological samples, binary mixing occurs in a tiny number of cases. Ternary, quaternary, and higher order mixing are usually observed. Also, uniaxial SD and MD end-members are nearly always inappropriate for considering mixing because uniaxial SD particles are virtually non-existent in igneous rocks. Thus, use of mixing lines in Day diagrams routinely provides unsatisfactory representations of particle size variations. We critically appraise the Day diagram and argue that its many

Trends and Variations in the Rates of Hospital Complications, Failure-to-Rescue and 30-Day Mortality in Surgical Patients in New South Wales, Australia, 2002-2009

PubMed Central

Ou, Lixin; Chen, Jack; Assareh, Hassan; Hollis, Stephanie J.; Hillman, Ken; Flabouris, Arthas

2014-01-01

Background Despite the increased acceptance of failure-to-rescue (FTR) as an important patient safety indicator (defined as the percentage of deaths among surgical patients with treatable complications), there has not been any large epidemiological study reporting FTR in an Australian setting nor any evaluation on its suitability as a performance indicator. Methods We conducted a population-based study on elective surgical patients from 82 public acute hospitals in New South Wales, Australia between 2002 and 2009, exploring the trends and variations in rates of hospital complications, FTR and 30-day mortality. We used Poisson regression models to derive relative risk ratios (RRs) after adjusting for a range of patient and hospital characteristics. Results The average rates of complications, FTR and 30-day mortality were 13.8 per 1000 admissions, 14.1% and 6.1 per 1000 admission, respectively. The rates of complications and 30-day mortality were stable throughout the study period however there was a significant decrease in FTR rate after 2006, coinciding with the establishment of national and state-level peak patient safety agencies. There were marked variations in the three rates within the top 20% of hospitals (best) and bottom 20% of hospitals (worst) for each of the four peer-hospital groups. The group comprising the largest volume hospitals (principal referral/teaching hospitals) had a significantly higher rate of FTR in comparison to the other three groups of smaller-sized peer hospital groups (RR = 0.78, 0.57, and 0.61, respectively). Adjusted rates of complications, FTR and 30-day mortality varied widely for individual surgical procedures between the best and worst quintile hospitals within the principal referral hospital group. Conclusions The decrease in FTR rate over the study period appears to be associated with a wide range of patient safety programs. The marked variations in the three rates between- and within- peer hospital groups highlight the

How to Operate Your Day Care Program.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jones (Ryan) Associates, Inc., Wyomissing, PA.

Originally written to assist communities in Pennsylvania in the design and implementation of comprehensive child development day care programs to meet Federal Inter-Agency guidelines, this manual is geared to the specific needs of the administrator and is equally valuable for any program, large or small, public or private. Section I is on the…

Comparison of ectopic pregnancy risk among transfers of embryos vitrified on day 3, day 5, and day 6.

PubMed

Du, Tong; Chen, Hong; Fu, Rong; Chen, Qiuju; Wang, Yun; Mol, Ben W; Kuang, Yanping; Lyu, Qifeng

2017-07-01

To compare ectopic pregnancy risk among transfers of embryos vitrified on day 3, day 5, and day 6. Retrospective cohort study. Academic tertiary-care medical center. A total of 10,736 pregnancies after 23,730 frozen-thawed embryo transfer (FET) cycles of in vitro fertilization/intracytoplasmic sperm injection from March 2003 to May 2015. The ectopic pregnancy rate was compared among pregnancies resulting from transfers of embryos vitrified on day 3, day 5, and day 6. Generalized estimation equation regression models were used to calculate unadjusted and adjusted odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals for the association between ectopic pregnancy and selected patient and treatment characteristics. We studied this association in both the group that achieved pregnancy and the group that underwent an FET cycle. Odds of ectopic pregnancy. The overall rate of ectopic pregnancy was 2.8% (304/10,736). Ectopic pregnancy rates after day-3, day-5, and day-6 vitrified embryo transfers were 3.1% (287/9,224), 2.0% (11/562), and 0.6% (6/950), respectively. After adjusting for confounders, the risks of ectopic pregnancy in day-3 and day-5 vitrified embryo transfers were both significantly higher than in day-6 vitrified embryo transfers. The associations were similar when we did calculations per cycle. In women undergoing FET, day-6 vitrified embryo transfer is associated with a significantly lower risk of ectopic pregnancy than both day-3 and day-5 vitrified embryo transfers. Copyright © 2017 American Society for Reproductive Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Full-Day or Half-Day Kindergarten? ERIC Digest.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rothenberg, Dianne

This ERIC Digest examines how changing family patterns have affected the full-day/half-day kindergarten issue, discussing why schools are currently considering alternative scheduling and describing the advantages and disadvantages of each type of program. The following changing family patterns affecting the choice of full-day kindergarten programs…

Prediction of the intensity and diversity of day-to-day activities among people with schizophrenia using parameters obtained during acute hospitalization.

PubMed

Lipskaya-Velikovsky, Lena; Jarus, Tal; Kotler, Moshe

2017-06-01

Participation in day-to-day activities of people with schizophrenia is restricted, causing concern to them, their families, service providers and the communities at large. Participation is a significant component of health and recovery; however, factors predicting participation are still not well established. This study examines whether the parameters obtained during acute hospitalization can predict the intensity and diversity of participation in day-to-day activities six months after discharge. In-patients with chronic schizophrenia (N = 104) were enrolled into the study and assessed for cognitive functioning, functional capacity in instrumental activities of daily living (IADL), and symptoms. Six months after discharge, the intensity and diversity of participation in day-to-day activities were evaluated (N = 70). Multiple correlations were found between parameters obtained during hospitalization and participation diversity, but not participation intensity. The model that is better suited to the prediction of participation diversity contains cognitive ability of construction, negative symptoms and number of previous hospitalizations. The total explained variance is 37.8% (F 3,66  =   14.99, p < 0.001). This study provides evidence for ecological validity of the in-patient evaluation process for the prediction of participation diversity in day-to-day activities six months after discharge. Participation diversity is best predicted through a set of factors reflecting personal and environmental indicators. Implications for rehabilitation Results of in-patient evaluations can predict the diversity of participation in day-to-day activities six months after discharge. Higher prediction of participation diversity is obtained using a holistic evaluation model that includes assessments for cognitive abilities, negative symptoms severity and number of hospitalizations.

The day-to-day occurrence of equatorial plasma bubbles measured from Vanimo, Papua New Guinea

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Carter, B. A.; Yizengaw, E.; Francis, M.; Terkildsen, M. B.; Marshall, R. A.; Norman, R.; Zhang, K.

2013-12-01

An analysis of the occurrence of Equatorial Plasma Bubbles (EPBs) detected using a ground-based Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver located at Vanimo in South-east Asia will be presented. The 3-year (2000-2002) dataset employed shows that the EPB occurrence maximizes (minimizes) during the equinoxes (solstices), in good agreement with previous findings. The low-latitude ionosonde station at Vanimo is used in conjunction with the GPS receiver in an analysis of the day-to-day EPB occurrence variability during the equinox period. A superposed epoch analysis of the ionosonde data reveals that the height, and the change in height, of the F layer is 1 standard deviation (1σ) larger on the days for which EPBs were detected, compared to non-EPB days. These results are interpreted using the generalized Rayleigh-Taylor (R-T) plasma instability growth rate, for which stronger upward drift of the lower-altitude F-layer plasma promotes faster growth of EPBs after sunset. These results are then compared to the results of the Thermosphere Ionosphere Electrodynamic General Circulation Model (TIEGCM), which surprisingly show strong similarities to the observations, despite only using geomagnetic and solar activity inputs. The TIEGCM is also used to directly calculate the hourly flux-tube integrated R-T growth rate. A superposed epoch analysis reveals that the modeled R-T growth rate is a little less than 1σ higher on average for EPB days compared to non-EPB days. The implication of this result is that the TIEGCM generates almost enough day-to-day variability in order to account for the day-to-day EPB occurrence observed during the equinox. This result isn't necessarily expected due to the model's limited altitude coverage of 100-700 km (depending on solar activity) and the lack of ionospheric observation inputs. It is thought that the remaining variability could originate from either lower altitudes (e.g. atmospheric gravity waves from the troposphere) or from higher

Components of day-to-day variability of cerebral perfusion measurements - Analysis of phase contrast mapping magnetic resonance imaging measurements in healthy volunteers.

PubMed

Ismaili, Abd R A; Vestergaard, Mark B; Hansen, Adam E; Larsson, Henrik B W; Johannesen, Helle H; Law, Ian; Henriksen, Otto M

2018-01-01

The aim of the study was to investigate the components of day-to-day variability of repeated phase contrast mapping (PCM) magnetic resonance imaging measurements of global cerebral blood flow (gCBF). Two dataset were analyzed. In Dataset 1 duplicated PCM measurements of total brain flow were performed in 11 healthy young volunteers on two separate days applying a strictly standardized setup. For comparison PCM measurements obtained from a previously published study (Dataset 2) were analyzed in order to assess long-term variability in an aged population in a less strictly controlled setup. Global CBF was calculated by normalizing total brain flow to brain volume. On each day measurements of hemoglobin, caffeine and glucose were obtained. Linear mixed models were applied to estimate coefficients of variation (CV) of total (CVt), between-subject (CVb), within-subject day-to-day (CVw), and intra-session residual variability (CVr). In Dataset 1 CVt, CVb, CVw and CVr were estimated to be 11%, 9.4%, 4% and 4.2%, respectively, and to 8.8%, 7.2%, 2.7% and 4.3%, respectively, when adjusting for hemoglobin and plasma caffeine. In Dataset 2 CVt, CVb and CVw were estimated to be 25.4%, 19.2%, and 15.0%, respectively, and decreased to 16.6%, 8.2% and 12.5%, respectively, when adjusting for the same covariates. Our results suggest that short-term day-to-day variability of gCBF is relatively low compared to between-subject variability when studied in standardized conditions, whereas long-term variability in an aged population appears to be much larger when studied in less a standardized setup. The results further showed that from 20% to 35% of the total variability in gCBF can be attributed to the effects of hemoglobin and caffeine.

Helicobacter pylori eradication with either seven-day or 10-day triple therapies, and with a 10-day sequential regimen

PubMed Central

Scaccianoce, Giuseppe; Hassan, Cesare; Panarese, Alba; Piglionica, Donato; Morini, Sergio; Zullo, Angelo

2006-01-01

BACKGROUND Helicobacter pylori eradication rates achieved by standard seven-day triple therapies are decreasing in several countries, while a novel 10-day sequential regimen has achieved a very high success rate. A longer 10-day triple therapy, similar to the sequential regimen, was tested to see whether it could achieve a better infection cure rate. METHODS Patients with nonulcer dyspepsia and H pylori infection were randomly assigned to one of the following three therapies: esomeprazole 20 mg, clarithromycin 500 mg and amoxycillin 1 g for seven days or 10 days, or a 10-day sequential regimen including esomeprazole 20 mg plus amoxycillin 1 g for five days and esomeprazole 20 mg, clarithromycin 500 mg and tinidazole 500 mg for the remaining five days. All drugs were given twice daily. H pylori eradication was checked four to six weeks after treatment by using a 13C-urea breath test. RESULTS Overall, 213 patients were enrolled. H pylori eradication was achieved in 75.7% and 77.9%, in 81.7% and 84.1%, and in 94.4% and 97.1% of patients following seven-day or 10-day triple therapy and the 10-day sequential regimen, at intention-to-treat and per protocol analyses, respectively. The eradication rate following the sequential regimen was higher than either seven-day (P=0.002) or 10-day triple therapy (P=0.02), while no significant difference emerged between the latter two regimens (P=0.6). CONCLUSIONS The 10-day sequential regimen was significantly more effective than both triple regimens, while 10-day triple therapy failed to significantly increase the H pylori eradication rate achieved by the standard seven-day regimen. PMID:16482238

A Combined Length-of-Day Series Spanning 1832-1997

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gross, Richard S.

1999-01-01

The Earth's rotation is not constant but exhibits minute changes on all observable time scales ranging from subdaily to secular. This rich spectrum of observed Earth rotation changes reflects the rich variety of astronomical and geophysical phenomena that are causing the Earth's rotation to change, including, but not limited to, ocean and solid body tides, atmospheric wind and pressure changes, oceanic current and sea level height changes, post-glacial rebound, and torques acting at the core-mantle boundary. In particular, the decadal-scale variations of the Earth's rotation are thought to be largely caused by interactions between the Earth's outer core and mantle. Comparing the inferred Earth rotation variations caused by the various core-mantle interactions to observed variations requires Earth rotation observations spanning decades, if not centuries. During the past century many different techniques have been used to observe the Earth's rotation. By combining the individual Earth rotation series determined by each of these techniques, a series of the Earth's rotation can be obtained that is based upon independent measurements spanning the greatest possible time interval. In this study, independent observations of the Earth's rotation are combined to generate a length-of-day series spanning 1832-1997. The observations combined include lunar occultation measurements spanning 1832-1955, optical astrometric measurements spanning 1956-1982, lunar laser ranging measurements spanning 1970-1997, and very long baseline interferometric measurements spanning 1978-1998. These series are combined using a Kalman filter developed at JPL for just this purpose. The resulting combined length-of-day series will be presented and compared with other available length-of-day series of similar duration.

Spatial-temporal variations in the thermal growing degree-days and season under climate warming in China during 1960-2011

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yin, Yunhe; Deng, Haoyu; Wu, Shaohong

2017-10-01

Vegetation growth and phenology are largely regulated by base temperature (T b) and thermal accumulation. Hence, the growing degree-days (GDD) and growing season (GS) calculated based on T b have primary effects on terrestrial ecosystems, and could be changed by the significant warming during the last century. By choosing 0, 5, and 10 °C, three key T b for vegetation growth, the GDD and GS in China during 1960-2011 were developed based on 536 meteorological stations with homogenized daily mean temperatures. Results show that both the GDD and GS showed positive sensitivity to the annual mean temperature. The start of the growing season (SOS) has advanced by 4.86-6.71 days, and the end of the growing season (EOS) has been delayed by 4.32-6.19 days, lengthening the GS by 10.76-11.02 days in China as a whole during 1960-2011, depending on the T b chosen. Consistently, the GDD has totally increased 218.92-339.40 °C days during the 52 years, with trends more pronounced in those based on a lower T b. The GDD increase was significant (Mann-Kendall test, p < 0.01) over China except for the north of Southwest China, while the significant GS extension only scattered over China. Whereas the extensions of GS0 and GS5 were dominated by the advance in SOS, the GS10 extension was closely linked to the delay in EOS. Regionally, the GS extension in the eastern monsoon zone and northwest arid/semi-arid zone was driven by the advance in SOS and delay in EOS, respectively. Moreover, each variation has a substantial acceleration mostly in 1987 or 1996, and a speed reduction or even a trend reversal in the early 2000s. Changes in the thermal growing degree-days and season are expected to have great implications for biological phenology, agricultural production, and terrestrial carbon cycle in the future.

Exploring the day-to-day life of mothers dealing with preschool children who have behavioral disorders.

PubMed

Coke, Sallie; Spratling, Regena; Minick, Ptlene

2013-01-01

The purpose of this study was to explore the day-to-day life of mothers dealing with preschool children who have behavioral disorders and to explore the mothers' experiences with their children's health care. A qualitative design was used to explore mothers' experiences in their day-to-day lives. A purposive sample of eight mothers was interviewed in their homes. A recorded face-to-face format was used that included open-ended, semi-structured questions. Two major themes emerged from the day-to-day experiences of these mothers: "abandoning my other child" and "parenting in unsupportive environments". The theme of "parenting in unsupportive environments" reflects the frustrations the mothers felt in their day-to-day lives while trying to find help for their children. The theme of "abandoning my other child" refers to the siblings of the children with behavioral disorders being overlooked by the mothers because so much of the mothers' attention and time was given to the child with the behavioral disorder. Copyright © 2013 National Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners. Published by Mosby, Inc. All rights reserved.

Does Stress-Related Growth Really Matter for Adolescents' Day-to-Day Adaptive Functioning?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mansfield, Cade D.; Diamond, Lisa M.

2017-01-01

Adolescent stress-related growth refers to enhancement in an adolescent's cognitive-affective or social resources as a result of experiencing stressors. We tested whether adolescents reporting high levels of stress-related growth showed superior adaptation outcomes on a day-to-day basis. Participants (n = 91; females = 46, age = 14) completed a…

Day-to-Day Variability of Postural Sway and Its Association With Cognitive Function in Older Adults: A Pilot Study

PubMed Central

Leach, Julia M.; Mancini, Martina; Kaye, Jeffrey A.; Hayes, Tamara L.; Horak, Fay B.

2018-01-01

Introduction: Increased variability in motor function has been observed during the initial stages of cognitive decline. However, the natural variability of postural control, as well as its association with cognitive status and decline, remains unknown. The objective of this pilot study was to characterize the day-to-day variability in postural sway in non-demented older adults. We hypothesized that older adults with a lower cognitive status would have higher day-to-day variability in postural sway. Materials and Methods: A Nintendo Wii balance board (WBB) was used to quantify postural sway in the home twice daily for 30 days in 20 non-demented, community-dwelling older adults: once under a single-task condition and once under a dual-task condition (using a daily word search task administered via a Nook tablet). Mean sway distance, velocity, area, centroidal frequency and frequency dispersion were derived from the center of pressure data acquired from the WBB. Results: Linear relationships were observed between the day-to-day variability in postural sway and cognitive status (indexed by cognitive global z-scores). More variability in time-domain postural sway (sway distance and area) and less variability in frequency-domain postural sway (centroidal sway frequency) were associated with a lower cognitive status under both the single- and dual-task conditions. Additionally, lower cognitive performance rates on the daily word search task were related to a lower cognitive status. Discussion: This small pilot study conducted on a short time scale motivates large-scale implementations over more extended time periods. Tracking longitudinal changes in postural sway may further our understanding of early-stage postural decline and its association with cognitive decline and, in turn, may aid in the early detection of dementia during preclinical stages when the utility of disease-modifying therapies would be greatest. PMID:29780319

Day-to-Day Variability of Postural Sway and Its Association With Cognitive Function in Older Adults: A Pilot Study.

PubMed

Leach, Julia M; Mancini, Martina; Kaye, Jeffrey A; Hayes, Tamara L; Horak, Fay B

2018-01-01

Introduction : Increased variability in motor function has been observed during the initial stages of cognitive decline. However, the natural variability of postural control, as well as its association with cognitive status and decline, remains unknown. The objective of this pilot study was to characterize the day-to-day variability in postural sway in non-demented older adults. We hypothesized that older adults with a lower cognitive status would have higher day-to-day variability in postural sway. Materials and Methods : A Nintendo Wii balance board (WBB) was used to quantify postural sway in the home twice daily for 30 days in 20 non-demented, community-dwelling older adults: once under a single-task condition and once under a dual-task condition (using a daily word search task administered via a Nook tablet). Mean sway distance, velocity, area, centroidal frequency and frequency dispersion were derived from the center of pressure data acquired from the WBB. Results : Linear relationships were observed between the day-to-day variability in postural sway and cognitive status (indexed by cognitive global z-scores). More variability in time-domain postural sway (sway distance and area) and less variability in frequency-domain postural sway (centroidal sway frequency) were associated with a lower cognitive status under both the single- and dual-task conditions. Additionally, lower cognitive performance rates on the daily word search task were related to a lower cognitive status. Discussion : This small pilot study conducted on a short time scale motivates large-scale implementations over more extended time periods. Tracking longitudinal changes in postural sway may further our understanding of early-stage postural decline and its association with cognitive decline and, in turn, may aid in the early detection of dementia during preclinical stages when the utility of disease-modifying therapies would be greatest.

Do Street Robbery Location Choices Vary Over Time of Day or Day of Week? A Test in Chicago

PubMed Central

Ruiter, Stijn; Block, Richard

2016-01-01

Objectives: This article examines the hypothesis that in street robbery location choices, the importance of location attributes is conditional on the time of day and on the day of the week. Method: The hypothesis is assessed by estimating and comparing separate discrete location choice models for each two-hour time block of the day and for each day of the week. The spatial units of analysis are census blocks. Their relevant attributes include presence of various legal and illegal cash economies, presence of high schools, measures of accessibility, and distance from the offender’s home. Results: The hypothesis is strongly rejected because for almost all census block attributes, their importance hardly depends on time of day or day of week. Only the effect of high schools in census blocks follows expectations, as its effect is only demonstrated at the times and on the days that schools are open. Conclusions: The results suggest that street robbers’ location choices are not as strongly driven by spatial variations in immediate opportunities as has been suggested in previous studies. Rather, street robbers seem to perpetrate in the environs of cash economies and transit hubs most of the time irrespective of how many potential victims are around. PMID:28232756

Living Day by Day

PubMed Central

Kaplan, Rachel L.; Khoury, Cynthia El; Field, Emily R. S.; Mokhbat, Jacques

2016-01-01

We examined the meaning of living with HIV/AIDS among women in Lebanon. Ten women living with HIV/AIDS (WLWHA) described their experiences via semistructured in-depth interviews. They navigated a process of HIV diagnosis acceptance that incorporated six overlapping elements: receiving the news, accessing care, starting treatment, navigating disclosure decisions, negotiating stigma, and maintaining stability. Through these elements, we provide a framework for understanding three major themes that were constructed during data analysis: Stand by my side: Decisions of disclosure; Being “sick” and feeling “normal”: Interacting with self, others, and society; and Living day by day: focusing on the present. We contribute to the existing literature by providing a theoretical framework for understanding the process of diagnosis and sero-status acceptance among WLWHA. This was the first study of its kind to examine the meaning of living with HIV/AIDS among women in a Middle Eastern country. PMID:28462340

Spatial versus Day-To-Day Within-Lake Variability in Tropical Floodplain Lake CH4 Emissions – Developing Optimized Approaches to Representative Flux Measurements

PubMed Central

Peixoto, Roberta B.; Machado-Silva, Fausto; Marotta, Humberto; Enrich-Prast, Alex; Bastviken, David

2015-01-01

Inland waters (lakes, rivers and reservoirs) are now understood to contribute large amounts of methane (CH4) to the atmosphere. However, fluxes are poorly constrained and there is a need for improved knowledge on spatiotemporal variability and on ways of optimizing sampling efforts to yield representative emission estimates for different types of aquatic ecosystems. Low-latitude floodplain lakes and wetlands are among the most high-emitting environments, and here we provide a detailed investigation of spatial and day-to-day variability in a shallow floodplain lake in the Pantanal in Brazil over a five-day period. CH4 flux was dominated by frequent and ubiquitous ebullition. A strong but predictable spatial variability (decreasing flux with increasing distance to the shore or to littoral vegetation) was found, and this pattern can be addressed by sampling along transects from the shore to the center. Although no distinct day-to-day variability were found, a significant increase in flux was identified from measurement day 1 to measurement day 5, which was likely attributable to a simultaneous increase in temperature. Our study demonstrates that representative emission assessments requires consideration of spatial variability, but also that spatial variability patterns are predictable for lakes of this type and may therefore be addressed through limited sampling efforts if designed properly (e.g., fewer chambers may be used if organized along transects). Such optimized assessments of spatial variability are beneficial by allowing more of the available sampling resources to focus on assessing temporal variability, thereby improving overall flux assessments. PMID:25860229

Multi-day convective-environmental evolution prior to tropical cyclone formation from geostationary satellite measurements

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chang, Minhee; Ho, Chang-Hoi; Park, Myung-Sook

2016-04-01

Tropical cyclones (TCs) are developed through persistent latent heating taken from deep convective process. By analyzing aircraft and polar-orbit satellite observations, distinct upper-level warm-core induced by strong updraft was found in pre-TCs while vertically uniform temperature profile is found in non-developers. Precipitation is also broader and more frequent in developing disturbances than in nondeveloping ones. However, large uncertainties remain in determining which disturbance will develop into TC by using observation snap-shots. Here, five-day systematic evolution of deep convection and environments in developing (80) and non-developing (491) disturbances are examined over the western North Pacific for 20072009 by using geostationary satellite observation. Daily, positive tendencies in the hourly time series of the area of the MTSAT-1R infrared (IR) and water vapor (WV) brightness temperature difference < 0 are used to define single diurnal convective burst (CB) event. In terms of single CB properties (duration, expanded convective area, maximum convective area, and expanding rate), developing and nondeveloping disturbances shows significantly different mean values in the statistics, but it is not effective to estimate TC genesis. The presence of continuous CB events more than two days (i.e. multi-day CB; mCB), however, is generally found in developing disturbances. Based on the presence and absence mCB in the IR-WV time series, two different evolutions from Day 1 to Day 5 of TC formation (non-development) are explored, in which Day 6 is set to be a TC formation day (Day5 as non-development vortex decaying day). The majority of developing disturbances with mCB (83 %) initially have stronger large-scale vorticity with low-level maxima, tend to have gradually increasing deep convective area and vorticities at low-to-upper troposphere. By contrast, few developing disturbances (17 %) without mCB are pre-conditioned by much weaker large-scale vorticity

CGH Supports World Cancer Day Every Day

Cancer.gov

We celebrate World Cancer Day every year on February 4th. This year the theme “We can. I can.” invites us to think not only about how we can work with one another to reduce the global burden of cancer, but how we as individuals can make a difference. Every day the staff at CGH work to establish and build upon programs that are aimed at improving the lives of people affected by cancer.

Relationship of boreal summer 10-20-day and 30-60-day intraseasonal oscillation intensity over the tropical western North Pacific to tropical Indo-Pacific SST

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wu, Renguang; Cao, Xi

2017-06-01

The present study contrasts interannual variations in the intensity of boreal summer 10-20-day and 30-60-day intraseasonal oscillations (ISOs) over the tropical western North Pacific and their factors. A pronounced difference is found in the relationship of the two ISOs to El Niño-Southern Oscillation. The 10-20-day ISO intensity is enhanced during El Niño developing summer, whereas the 30-60-day ISO intensity is enhanced during La Niña decaying summer. The above different relationship is interpreted as follows. The equatorial central and eastern Pacific SST anomalies modify vertical wind shear, lower-level moisture, and vertical motion in a southeast-northwest oriented band from the equatorial western Pacific to the tropical western North Pacific where the 10-20-day ISOs originate and propagate. These background field changes modulate the amplitude of 10-20-day ISOs. Preceding equatorial central and eastern Pacific SST anomalies induce SST anomalies in the North Indian Ocean in summer, which in turn modify vertical wind shear and vertical motion over the tropical western North Pacific. The modified background fields influence the amplitude of the 30-60-day ISOs when they reach the tropical western North Pacific from the equatorial region. A feedback of ISO intensity on local SST change is identified in the tropical western North Pacific likely due to a net effect of ISOs on surface heat flux anomalies. This feedback is more prominent from the 10-20-day than the 30-60-day ISO intensity change.

Is Full-Day Kindergarten Worth It? an Academic Comparison of Full-Day and Half-Day Kindergarten Programs

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Romines, Robert A.

2012-01-01

The purpose of this study is to answer this question: Which is academically superior for young children, full-or half-day kindergarten? This inquiry-oriented case study was designed to compare and contrast students who attended half-day versus full-day kindergarten programs in a suburban public school district. The study is necessary because the…

Day-to-Day Inconsistency in Parent Knowledge: Links with Youth Health and Parents’ Stress

PubMed Central

Lippold, Melissa A.; McHale, Susan M.; Davis, Kelly D.; Kossek, Ellen Ernst

2015-01-01

Purpose Considerable evidence documents the linkages between higher levels of parental knowledge about youth activities and positive youth outcomes. This study investigated how day-to-day inconsistency in parental knowledge of youth activities was linked to youth behavioral, psychological, and physical health as well as parents’ stress. Methods Participants were employees in the Information Technology division of a Fortune 500 company and their children (N =129, Mean age youth = 13.39 years, 55% female). Data were collected from parents and youth via separate workplace and in-home surveys as well as telephone diary surveys on 8 consecutive evenings. We assessed day-to-day inconsistency in parental knowledge across these eight calls. Results Parents differed in their knowledge from day to day almost as much as their average knowledge scores differed from those of other parents. Controlling for mean levels of knowledge, youth whose parents exhibited more knowledge inconsistency reported more physical health symptoms (e.g., colds, flu). Knowledge inconsistency was also associated with more risky behavior for girls but greater psychological well-being for older adolescents. Parents who reported more stressors also had higher knowledge inconsistency. Conclusions Assessing only average levels of parental knowledge does not fully capture how this parenting dimension is associated with youth health. Consistent knowledge may promote youth physical health and less risky behavior for girls. Yet knowledge inconsistency also may reflect normative increases in autonomy as it was positively associated with psychological well-being for older adolescents. Given the linkages between parental stress and knowledge inconsistency, parent interventions should include stress-management components. PMID:25703318

Gravity wave control on ESF day-to-day variability: An empirical approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Aswathy, R. P.; Manju, G.

2017-06-01

The gravity wave control on the daily variation in nighttime ionization irregularity occurrence is studied using ionosonde data for the period 2002-2007 at magnetic equatorial location Trivandrum. Recent studies during low solar activity period have revealed that the seed perturbations should have the threshold amplitude required to trigger equatorial spread F (ESF), at a particular altitude and that this threshold amplitude undergoes seasonal and solar cycle changes. In the present study, the altitude variation of the threshold seed perturbations is examined for autumnal equinox of different years. Thereafter, a unique empirical model, incorporating the electrodynamical effects and the gravity wave modulation, is developed. Using the model the threshold curve for autumnal equinox season of any year may be delineated if the solar flux index (F10.7) is known. The empirical model is validated using the data for high, moderate, and low solar epochs in 2001, 2004, and 1995, respectively. This model has the potential to be developed further, to forecast ESF incidence, if the base height of ionosphere is in the altitude region where electrodynamics controls the occurrence of ESF. ESF irregularities are harmful for communication and navigation systems, and therefore, research is ongoing globally to predict them. In this context, this study is crucial for evolving a methodology to predict communication as well as navigation outages.