Background: Continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP), mandibular advancement device (MAD), upper airway stimulation (UAS), and maxillomandibular advancement (MMA) are techniques to reduce apnea hypopnea index (AHI) in obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) patients. Current literature does not include a direct comparison of the 4 methods.
Purpose: The purpose of this study is to measure and compare the efficacy of 4 common OSA treatments: CPAP, MAD, UAS, MMA.
Hot Jupiters are among the best-studied exoplanets, but it is still poorly understood how their chemical composition and cloud properties vary with longitude. Theoretical models predict that clouds may condense on the nightside and that molecular abundances can be driven out of equilibrium by zonal winds. Here we report a phase-resolved emission spectrum of the hot Jupiter WASP-43b measured from 5 μm to 12 μm with the JWST's Mid-Infrared Instrument.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Diabetic patients with foot ulcers are commonly prescribed assistive walking devices to unload the affected foot and promote tissue healing. However, the effect on shear loads to the contralateral foot is unknown. This study investigated the effect of a wheeled knee walker (WKW), compared to common devices, on compressive and shear plantar forces carried by the propulsive foot during walking in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe recent inference of sulfur dioxide (SO) in the atmosphere of the hot (approximately 1,100 K), Saturn-mass exoplanet WASP-39b from near-infrared JWST observations suggests that photochemistry is a key process in high-temperature exoplanet atmospheres. This is because of the low (<1 ppb) abundance of SO under thermochemical equilibrium compared with that produced from the photochemistry of HO and HS (1-10 ppm). However, the SO inference was made from a single, small molecular feature in the transmission spectrum of WASP-39b at 4.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Patients suffering from a diabetic foot ulcer often receive a non-weight bearing prescription of the affected limb to promote healing. Total unilalteral offloading of the affected foot necessitates walking aids that require loading at the hands during ambulation. Excessive loading at the hands can increase of the risk of crutch palsy.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFClose-in giant exoplanets with temperatures greater than 2,000 K ('ultra-hot Jupiters') have been the subject of extensive efforts to determine their atmospheric properties using thermal emission measurements from the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) and Spitzer Space Telescope. However, previous studies have yielded inconsistent results because the small sizes of the spectral features and the limited information content of the data resulted in high sensitivity to the varying assumptions made in the treatment of instrument systematics and the atmospheric retrieval analysis. Here we present a dayside thermal emission spectrum of the ultra-hot Jupiter WASP-18b obtained with the NIRISS instrument on the JWST.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe Saturn-mass exoplanet WASP-39b has been the subject of extensive efforts to determine its atmospheric properties using transmission spectroscopy. However, these efforts have been hampered by modelling degeneracies between composition and cloud properties that are caused by limited data quality. Here we present the transmission spectrum of WASP-39b obtained using the Single-Object Slitless Spectroscopy (SOSS) mode of the Near Infrared Imager and Slitless Spectrograph (NIRISS) instrument on the JWST.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMeasuring the abundances of carbon and oxygen in exoplanet atmospheres is considered a crucial avenue for unlocking the formation and evolution of exoplanetary systems. Access to the chemical inventory of an exoplanet requires high-precision observations, often inferred from individual molecular detections with low-resolution space-based and high-resolution ground-based facilities. Here we report the medium-resolution (R ≈ 600) transmission spectrum of an exoplanet atmosphere between 3 and 5 μm covering several absorption features for the Saturn-mass exoplanet WASP-39b (ref.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAquatic treadmill gait training is a poorly understood rehabilitation method that alters bodyweight support, increases lower limb resistance, and assists with postural stability. This training could be an attractive tool for clinical populations with balance control issues or limited weight-bearing prescriptions for the lower limb. As a first step, the purpose of this study was to quantify differences in mean muscle activity of the tibialis anterior, rectus femoris, medial gastrocnemius, and semitendinosus, and perceived exertion (RPE) in typically developing children (7:8 M:F, age = 11.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAims: Patients with diabetic foot ulcers are instructed to be non-weight bearing on the affected limb to promote healing. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the effect of different assistive devices on whole foot plantar loading, peak forefoot force, ankle range of motion, and locomotion speed during gait in patients with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus.
Methods: Participants walked normally, with crutches, a walker, and a wheeled knee walker (WKW) in randomized order.
Raman spectroscopy provides a non-invasive, chemically-specific optical imaging of biological objects without relying on endogenous labels. Nonlinear Raman spectroscopy allows non-invasive imaging at much faster speed with an improved spatial resolution and axial sectioning capability. In this report we propose a novel use of nonlinear Raman spectroscopy as a sensor of local nano-environment.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose: The minimal clinically important difference (MCID) is a way of dichotomizing data for assessment of success or failure based on clinically meaningful changes. The magnitude of the MCID is often misunderstood to be a singular quantity applicable across studies. However, substantial differences have been reported among MCIDs for the same outcome measures usually based upon differences extrinsic to the calculation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEngaging patients, clinicians, and community members in the development of a research network creates opportunities and challenges beyond engagement in discrete learning activities. This paper describes our experiences establishing and maintaining a stakeholder engagement infrastructure for the Chicago Area Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Network (CAPriCORN) and highlights important lessons learned over the first 4 years. During this time, the CAPriCORN Patient and Community Advisory Committee (PCAC) appointed patient, clinician, and community representatives to governance and advisory groups throughout the network, developed a process and criteria for patient- and clinician-centered review of research proposals, and evolved from a large, diverse group to a smaller yet still diverse, more actively engaged group with connections to the broader community.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBreastfeeding is now widely recognized as a vital obesity prevention strategy and hospitals play a primary role in promoting, supporting and helping mothers to initiate and maintain breastfeeding. The Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative (BFHI) provides an evidence-based model that hospitals can use to plan and implement breastfeeding quality improvement (QI) projects. Funding under Communities Putting Prevention to Work (CPPW), administered by the CDC, brought together key Chicago partners to provide individualized support and technical assistance with breastfeeding QI projects to the 19 maternity hospitals in Chicago.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe carbon-to-oxygen ratio (C/O) in a planet provides critical information about its primordial origins and subsequent evolution. A primordial C/O greater than 0.8 causes a carbide-dominated interior, as opposed to the silicate-dominated composition found on Earth; the atmosphere can also differ from those in the Solar System.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe nearby extrasolar planet GJ 436b-which has been labelled as a 'hot Neptune'-reveals itself by the dimming of light as it crosses in front of and behind its parent star as seen from Earth. Respectively known as the primary transit and secondary eclipse, the former constrains the planet's radius and mass, and the latter constrains the planet's temperature and, with measurements at multiple wavelengths, its atmospheric composition. Previous work using transmission spectroscopy failed to detect the 1.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTo promote stockpiling of anti-viral drugs by non-government organizations such as hospitals, drug manufacturers have introduced Manufacturer Reserve Programs which, for an annual fee, provide the right to buy in the event of a severe outbreak of influenza. We show that these programs enhance drug manufacturer profits but could either increase or decrease the amount of pre-pandemic stockpiling of anti-viral drugs.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFOf the over 200 known extrasolar planets, just 14 pass in front of and behind their parent stars as seen from Earth. This fortuitous geometry allows direct determination of many planetary properties. Previous reports of planetary thermal emission give fluxes that are roughly consistent with predictions based on thermal equilibrium with the planets' received radiation, assuming a Bond albedo of approximately 0.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWe examine whether handedness is related to performance in the labour market and, in particular, to earnings. We find a significant wage effect for left-handed men with high levels of education. This positive wage effect is strongest among those who have lower than average earnings relative to those of similar high education.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFOf the over 200 known extrasolar planets, 14 exhibit transits in front of their parent stars as seen from Earth. Spectroscopic observations of the transiting planets can probe the physical conditions of their atmospheres. One such technique can be used to derive the planetary spectrum by subtracting the stellar spectrum measured during eclipse (planet hidden behind star) from the combined-light spectrum measured outside eclipse (star + planet).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe star upsilon Andromedae is orbited by three known planets, the innermost of which has an orbital period of 4.617 days and a mass at least 0.69 that of Jupiter.
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