Iowa Leading Indicators Index August 2008

The Iowa Leading Indicators Index (ILII) is a tool for monitoring the future direction of the Iowa economy and State revenues. Its eight components include an agricultural futures price index, an Iowa stock market index, average weekly manufacturing hours in Iowa, initial unemployment claims in Iowa, an Iowa new orders index, diesel fuel consumption in Iowa, residential building permits in Iowa, and the national yield spread.

Iowa Leading Indicators Index September 2008

The Iowa Leading Indicators Index (ILII) is a tool for monitoring the future direction of the Iowa economy and State revenues. Its eight components include an agricultural futures price index, an Iowa stock market index, average weekly manufacturing hours in Iowa, initial unemployment claims in Iowa, an Iowa new orders index, diesel fuel consumption in Iowa, residential building permits in Iowa, and the national yield spread.

Iowa Leading Indicators Index October 2008

The Iowa Leading Indicators Index (ILII) is a tool for monitoring the future direction of the Iowa economy and State revenues. Its eight components include an agricultural futures price index, an Iowa stock market index, average weekly manufacturing hours in Iowa, initial unemployment claims in Iowa, an Iowa new orders index, diesel fuel consumption in Iowa, residential building permits in Iowa, and the national yield spread.

Iowa Leading Indicators Index November 2008

The Iowa Leading Indicators Index (ILII) is a tool for monitoring the future direction of the Iowa economy and State revenues. Its eight components include an agricultural futures price index, an Iowa stock market index, average weekly manufacturing hours in Iowa, initial unemployment claims in Iowa, an Iowa new orders index, diesel fuel consumption in Iowa, residential building permits in Iowa, and the national yield spread.

Iowa Leading Indicators Index December 2008

The Iowa Leading Indicators Index (ILII) is a tool for monitoring the future direction of the Iowa economy and State revenues. Its eight components include an agricultural futures price index, an Iowa stock market index, average weekly manufacturing hours in Iowa, initial unemployment claims in Iowa, an Iowa new orders index, diesel fuel consumption in Iowa, residential building permits in Iowa, and the national yield spread.

Iowa Leading Indicators Index January 2009

The Iowa Leading Indicators Index (ILII) is a tool for monitoring the future direction of the Iowa economy and State revenues. Its eight components include an agricultural futures price index, an Iowa stock market index, average weekly manufacturing hours in Iowa, initial unemployment claims in Iowa, an Iowa new orders index, diesel fuel consumption in Iowa, residential building permits in Iowa, and the national yield spread.

The predictive value of trabecular bone score (TBS) on whole lumbar vertebrae mechanics: an ex vivo study.

We investigated the association of trabecular bone score (TBS) with microarchitecture and mechanical behavior of human lumbar vertebrae. We found that TBS reflects vertebral trabecular microarchitecture and is an independent predictor of vertebral mechanics. However, the addition of TBS to areal BMD (aBMD) did not significantly improve prediction of vertebral strength. INTRODUCTION: The trabecular bone score (TBS) is a gray-level measure of texture using a modified experimental variogram which can be extracted from dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) images. The current study aimed to confirm whether TBS is associated with trabecular microarchitecture and mechanics of human lumbar vertebrae, and if its combination with BMD improves prediction of fracture risk. METHODS: Lumbar vertebrae (L3) were harvested fresh from 16 donors. The anteroposterior and lateral bone mineral content (BMC) and areal BMD (aBMD) of the vertebral body were measured using DXA; then, the TBS was extracted using TBS iNsight software (Medimaps SA, France). The trabecular bone volume (Tb.BV/tissue volume, TV), trabecular thickness (Tb.Th), degree of anisotropy, and structure model index (SMI) were measured using microcomputed tomography. Quasi-static uniaxial compressive testing was performed on L3 vertebral bodies to assess failure load and stiffness. RESULTS: The TBS was significantly correlated to Tb.BV/TV and SMI (râeuro0/00=âeuro0/000.58 and -0.62; pâeuro0/00=âeuro0/000.02, 0.01), but not related to BMC and BMD. TBS was significantly correlated with stiffness (râeuro0/00=âeuro0/000.64; pâeuro0/00=âeuro0/000.007), independently of bone mass. Using stepwise multiple regression models, we failed to demonstrate that the combination of BMD and TBS was better at explaining mechanical behavior than either variable alone. However, the combination TBS, Tb.Th, and BMC did perform better than each parameter alone, explaining 79 % of the variability in stiffness. CONCLUSIONS: In our study, TBS was associated with microarchitecture parameters and with vertebral mechanical behavior, but TBS did not improve prediction of vertebral biomechanical properties in addition to aBMD.

In-vitro testing of biofilm formation on infected bone grafts and bone substitutes

Background: Bacteria form biofilms on the surface of orthopaedic devices, causing persistent infections. Monitoring biofilm formation on bone grafts and bone substitutes is challenging due to heterogeneous surface characteristics. We analyzed various bone grafts and bone substitutes regarding their propensity for in-vitro biofilm formation caused by S. aureus and S. epidermidis. Methods: Beta-tricalciumphosphate (b-TCP, ChronOsTM), processed human spongiosa (TutoplastTM) and PMMA (PalacosTM) were investigated. PE was added as a growth control. As test strains S. aureus (ATCC 29213) and S. epidermidis RP62A (ATCC 35984) were used. Test materials were incubated with 105 cfu/ml. After 24 h, test materials were removed and washed, followed by a standardised sonication protocol. The resulting sonication fluid was plated and bacterial counts were enumerated and expressed as cfu/sample. Sonicated samples were transferred to a microcalorimeter (TA Instrument) and heat flow monitored over a 24 h period with a precision of 0.0001°C and a sensitiviy of 200 μW. Experiments were performed in triplicates to calculate the mean ± SD. One-way ANOVA analysis was used for statistical analysis. Results: Bacterial counts (log10 cfu/sample) were highest on b-TCP (S. aureus 7.67 ± 0.17; S. epidermidis 8.14 ± 0.05) while bacterial density (log10 cfu/surface) was highest on PMMA (S. aureus 6.12 ± 0.2, S. epidermidis 7.65 ± 0.13). Detection time for S. aureus biofilms was shorter for the porous materials (b-TCP and Tutoplast, p <0.001) compared to the smooth materials (PMMA and PE) with no differences between b-TCP and TutoplastTM (p >0.05) or PMMA and PE (p >0.05). In contrast, for S. epidermidis biofilms the detection time was different (p <0.001) between all materials except between Tutoplast and PE (p >0.05). Conclusion: Our results demonstrate biofilm formation with both strains on all tested materials. Microcalorimetry was able to detect quantitatively the amount of biofilm. Further studies are needed to see whether calorimetry is a suitable tool also to monitor approaches to prevent and treat infections associated with bone grafts and bone substitutes.

Income and body mass index in Europe

The problem of obesity is alarming public health authorities around the world. Therefore, it is important to study its determinants. In this paper we explore the empirical relationship between household income and body mass index (BMI) in nine European Union countries. Our findings suggest that the association is negative for women, but we find no statistically significant relationship for men. However, we show that the different relationship for men and women appears to be driven by the negative relationship for women between BMI and individual income from work. We tentatively conclude that the negative relationship between household income and BMI for women may simply be capturing the wage penalty that obese women suffer in the labor market.

Comparative testing of a miniature diffusion size classifier to assess airborne ultrafine particles under field conditions

Miniature diffusion size classifiers (miniDiSC) are novel handheld devices to measure ultrafine particles (UFP). UFP have been linked to the development of cardiovascular and pulmonary diseases; thus, detection and quantification of these particles are important for evaluating their potential health hazards. As part of the UFP exposure assessments of highwaymaintenance workers in western Switzerland, we compared a miniDiSC with a portable condensation particle counter (P-TRAK). In addition, we performed stationary measurements with a miniDiSC and a scanning mobility particle sizer (SMPS) at a site immediately adjacent to a highway. Measurements with miniDiSC and P-TRAK correlated well (correlation of r = 0.84) but average particle numbers of the miniDiSC were 30%âeuro"60% higher. This difference was significantly increased for mean particle diameters below 40 nm. The correlation between theminiDiSC and the SMPSduring stationary measurements was very high (r = 0.98) although particle numbers from the miniDiSC were 30% lower. Differences between the three devices were attributed to the different cutoff diameters for detection. Correction for this size dependent effect led to very similar results across all counters.We did not observe any significant influence of other particle characteristics. Our results suggest that the miniDiSC provides accurate particle number concentrations and geometric mean diameters at traffic-influenced sites, making it a useful tool for personal exposure assessment in such settings.

Testing the response of macroinvertebrate functional structure and biodiversity to flooding and confinement

The aim of the present study was to investigate the relative importance of flooding- and confinement-related environmentalfeatures in explaining macroinvertebrate trait structure and diversity in a pool of wetlands located in a Mediterranean riverfloodplain. To test hypothesized trait-environment relationships, we employed a recently implemented statistical procedure, thefourth-corner method. We found that flooding-related variables, mainly pH and turbidity, were related to traits that confer an abilityof the organism to resist flooding (e.g., small body-shape, protection of eggs) or recuperate faster after flooding (e.g., short life-span, asexual reproduction). In contrast, confinement-related variables, mainly temperature and organic matter, enhanced traits that allow organisms to interact and compete with other organisms (e.g., large size, sexual reproduction) and to efficiently use habitat and resources (e.g., diverse locomotion and feeding strategies). These results are in agreement with predictions made under the River Habitat Templet for lotic ecosystems, and demonstrate the ability of the fourth-corner method to test hypothesis that posit traitenvironment relationships. Trait diversity was slightly higher in flooded than in confined sites, whereas trait richness was not significantly different. This suggests that although trait structure may change in response to the main environmental factors, as evidenced by the fourth-corner method, the number of life-history strategies needed to persist in the face of such constraints remains more or less constant; only their relative dominance differs

Anàlisi de les revistes indexades al Journal of Citation Reports del Social Science Citation Index. Període 1997-2005

En aquest estat de la qüestió, s’hi presenten els resultats d’una anàlisi sobre l’evolució i les característiques principals de les revistes de geografia incloses al Journal of Citation Reports dins de la versió del Social Science Citation Index i, per tant, amb factor d’impacte. El període d’estudi escollit ha estat el que va de 1997 a 2005, és a dir, al llarg dels darrers nou anys amb dades disponibles. En total, hi han aparegut incloses trenta-nou revistes, una bona part de les quals ha romàs a la llista durant tot el temps estudiat. Hi ha hagut deu publicacions que han estat situades entre les cinc amb més factor d’impacte de cada any, i cap no ha estat la primera més de dos anys seguits. S’han trobat divuit temàtiques diferents en el conjunt de les revistes, en destaquen les de caire generalista i les de geografia econòmica i regional. Una gran majoria dels volums està publicada per editorials, Blackwell Publishing n’és la més destacada. L’origen de les revistes és clarament anglosaxó, només n’hi trobem dues d’escrites en una altra llengua. La segona part de l’article descriu totes les publicacions contemplades en els nou anys estudiats, amb una petita ressenya de cadascuna

The debates of the Constitutional Convention of the state of Iowa, assembled at Iowa City, Monday, January 19, 1857. Being a full and complete report of the debates and proceedings, by authority of the Convention; accompanied, for purposes of reference, by a copious index of subjects, and remarks of members thereon. W. Blair Lord, reporter.

The two volume record of the debates that occured during the thirty-nine days it took to draft the third constitution of the State of Iowa.