Imported measles. A potential control problem

From Dec 23, 1978, through Jan 31, 1979, an outbreak of five laboratory-confirmed cases and four clinical cases of measles occurred in a Vietnamese refugee population living in a single housing complex in Albuquerque, NM. The index cases were in two refugee siblings in whom measles was incubating on arrival in the United States. Despite spread through three subsequent generations of disease transmission within the Vietnamese population, there was no additional spread into the general Albuquerque population. Responsible factors included the age distribution of susceptible persons, the social isolation of the refugee population, and the physical structure of the housing complex. There is a need to identify the problem of imported measles in "ethnic islands" in need of vaccination.     

Haemoglobins of the shark, Heterodontus portusjacksoni II. Amino acid sequence of the alpha-chain

The amino acid sequence of the alpha-chain of the principal haemoglobin from the shark, H. portusjacksoni has been determined. The chain has 148 residues and is acetylated at the amino terminal. The soluble peptides obtained by tryptic and chymotryptic digestion of the protein or its cyanogen bromide fragments were isolated by gel filtration, paper ionophoresis and paper chromatography. The amino acid sequences were determined by the dansyl-Edman procedure. The insoluble "core" peptide from the tryptic digestion contained 34 residues and required cleavage by several prosteases before the sequence was established. Compared with human alpha-chain there are 88 amino acid differences including the additional seven residues which appear on the amino terminal of the shark chain. There is also one deletion and one insertion. The chain contains no tryptophan but has four cysteinyl residues which is the highest number of such residues recorded for a vertebrate globin. In the alpha1beta1 contact sites there are four changes in the oxyhaemoglobin form and six deoxy form. Nine of the 16, alpha1beta1 contact sites show variation while three of the haem contact sites have changed in comparison to the residues known to be involved in these interactions in horse haemoglobin alpha-chain. Use of the sequence data to estimate a time of divergence of the shark from the main vertebrate line yielded the value of 410 +/- 46 million years. The data, in general, support the palaeontological view that bony fishes arose before the elasmobranchs.     

The relationship of education to blood pressure: findings on 40,000 employed Chicagoans

The relationship of education to both actual blood pressure and the prevalence of high blood pressure, based on a systolic pressure of 160 mm Hg or greater or a diastolic pressure of 95 mm Hg or greater, was analyzed among 27,033 men and women, white and black, age 25-44 and 45-64, from the Chicago Heart Association Detection Project in Industry. The educational status of each individual was categorized as not a high school graduate, high school graduate, some college, or college graduate. A statistically significant inverse association between education and high blood pressure was present in all groups of whites. This association could not be "accounted for" by differences in age, relative weight, and heart rate among the educational strata. Controlling for these variables did, however, lessen the association. Among black males a significant inverse association between education level and blood pressure was found for the younger group. For the older black males there was a clear inverse association although with the small numbers it did not achieve statistical significance. For black females there was no clear association.     

SNR estimation in time-varying fading channels

Signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) estimation is considered for phase-shift keying communication systems in time-varying fading channels. Both data-aided (DA) estimation and nondata-aided (NDA) estimation are addressed. The time-varying fading channel is modeled as a polynomial-in-time. Inherent estimation accuracy limitations are examined via the Cramer-Rao lower bound, where it is shown that the effect of the channel's time variation on SNR estimation is negligible. A novel maximum-likelihood (ML) SNR estimator is derived for the time-varying channel model. In DA scenarios, where the estimator has a simple closed-form solution, the exact performance is evaluated both with correct and incorrect (i.e., mismatched) polynomial order. In NDA estimation, the unknown data symbols are modeled as random, and the marginal likelihood is used. The expectation-maximization algorithm is proposed to iteratively maximize this likelihood function. Simulation results show that the resulting estimator offers statistical efficiency over a wider range of scenarios than previously published methods.     

ATSC DTV Receiver Implementation

Receivers of broadcast digital television (DTV) service operate in an often difficult environment of electrical interference, multiple other TV signals in close frequency proximity, multipath, wide dynamic range input signals, and uncertain antenna choice and installation. Receivers must demodulate and decode the signal and optimize its processing for different display technologies-a process that can include format conversion between progressive and interlaced scanning and different screen pixel counts. Data that supports the new services enabled by digital transmission must be decoded and processed. Receiver designers must implement the required functions cost-effectively even as they strive to provide performance and feature differentiation from their competitors' products. This paper describes all of the DTV receiver functions and references the associated standards. Emphasis is given to the difficult areas of signal reception and demodulation and to sections of the receiver that enable attractive and recognizable consumer features.     

High-throughput detection and sizing of individual low-index nanoparticles and viruses for pathogen identification

Rapid, chip-scale, and cost-effective single particle detection of biological agents is of great importance to human health and national security. We report real-time, high-throughput detection and sizing of individual, low-index polystyrene nanoparticles and H1N1 virus. Our widefield, common path interferometer detects nanoparticles and viruses over a very large sensing area, orders of magnitude larger than competing techniques. We demonstrate nanoparticle detection and sizing down to 70 nm in diameter. We clearly size discriminate nanoparticles with diameters of 70, 100, 150, and 200 nm. We also demonstrate detection and size characterization of hundreds of individual H1N1 viruses in a single experiment.     

Stigma, social context, and mental health: Lesbian and gay couples across the transition to adoptive parenthood.

This is the first study to examine change in depression and anxiety across the first year of adoptive parenthood in same-sex couples (90 couples: 52 lesbian, 38 gay male). Given that sexual minorities uniquely contend with sexual orientation-related stigma, this study examined how both internalized and enacted forms of stigma affect the mental health of lesbians and gay men during the transition to parenthood. In addition, the role of contextual support was examined. Higher perceived workplace support, family support, and relationship quality were related to lower depressive and anxious symptoms at the time of the adoption, and higher perceived friend support was related to lower anxiety symptoms. Lower internalized homophobia and higher perceived neighborhood gay-friendliness were related to lower depressive symptoms. Finally, individuals with high internalized homophobia who lived in states with unfavorable legal climates regarding gay adoption experienced the steepest increases in depressive and anxious symptoms. Findings have important implications for counselors working with sexual minorities, especially those experiencing the transition to parenthood. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Preoperative chemoradiation and pancreaticoduodenectomy for adenocarcinoma of the pancreas

The goal of multimodality therapy for localized pancreatic cancer is to maximize local-regional disease control and patient survival. In contrast to surgery for other solid tumors, prolonged recovery following pancreaticoduodenectomy may prevent the timely delivery of postoperative adjuvant therapy. Therefore, efforts at The University of Texas, M.D. Anderson Cancer Center have focused on the delivery of chemotherapy and radiation therapy prior to surgery in patients with localized pancreatic cancer. Clinical trials have emphasized the use of altered-fractionation schedules of radiation therapy combined with novel radiation-sensitizing agents. All treatment schemes aim to decrease toxicity and treatment time while improving therapeutic efficacy.     

Familial influences on gambling behavior: an analysis of 3359 twin pairs

BACKGROUND: Pathological gambling is becoming an increasing problem in the United States as the number of legalized gambling establishments grows. To examine vulnerability to pathological gambling, we estimated the familial contributions (i.e. inherited factors and/or experiences shared by twin siblings during childhood) to DSM-III-R pathological gambling symptoms and disorder. METHODS: Data were obtained from a telephone interview performed in 1991-92 utilizing the Diagnostic Interview Schedule Version III-Revised. Interviews were administered to 6718 members of the nationally distributed Vietnam Era Twin Registry of male-male monozygotic and dizygotic twin pairs who served in the military during the Vietnam era. RESULTS: Inherited factors explain between 35% (95% CI: 28%, 42%) and 54% (95% CI: 39%, 67%) of the liability for the five individual symptoms of pathological gambling behavior that could be estimated statistically. In addition, familial factors explain 56% (95% CI: 36%, 71%) of the report of three or more symptoms of pathological gambling and 62% (95% CI: 40%, 79%) of the diagnosis of pathological gambling disorder (four or more symptoms). CONCLUSIONS: Familial factors have an important influence on risk for pathological gambling behavior. The increasing access to legalized gambling is likely to result in a higher prevalence of pathological gambling behavior among individuals who are more vulnerable because of familial factors.