Objective To determine the demographics and seasonal and geographic variation of epistaxis in the United States. Study Design Retrospective cohort analysis based on data from Medicare claims. Setting Emergency department visits. Subjects and Methods We used a 5% sample of Medicare data from January 2012 to December 2012. Our cohort included patients with an incident diagnosis of epistaxis during a visit to the emergency department, excluding those with a diagnosis in the prior 12 months. Demographics included age, sex, race, and ethnicity. We compared the rate of emergency department visits for epistaxis by geographic division and individual states. Results In the 5% sample of Medicare data, 4120 emergency department visits for incident epistaxis were identified in 2012. Our results showed an increase in the emergency department visits for epistaxis with age. Compared with patients <65 years old, patients who were 66 to 76, 76 to 85, and >85 years old were 1.36 (95% confidence interval [95% CI], 1.23-1.50), 2.37 (95% CI, 2.14-2.62), and 3.24 (95% CI, 2.91-3.62) more likely to present with epistaxis, respectively. Men were 1.24 (95% CI, 1.17-1.32) times more likely to present with epistaxis than women. Blacks were 1.23 (95% CI, 1.10-1.36) times more likely to present with epistaxis when compared with non-Hispanic whites. Epistaxis emergency department visits were 40% lower in the summer months versus winter. The seasonal variation was more pronounced in the northern versus southern United States. Conclusion Emergency department visits for epistaxis increase with age and appear to be seasonal, with a more pronounced variation in the northern versus southern United States.

This study investigated the release of microplastics and nanoplastics from plastic containers and reusable food pouches under different usage scenarios, using DI water and 3% acetic acid as food simulants for aqueous foods and acidic foods. The results indicated that microwave heating caused the highest release of microplastics and nanoplastics into food compared to other usage scenarios, such as refrigeration or room-temperature storage. It was found that some containers could release as many as 4.22 million microplastic and 2.11 billion nanoplastic particles from only one square centimeter of plastic area within 3 min of microwave heating. Refrigeration and room-temperature storage for over six months can also release millions to billions of microplastics and nanoplastics. Additionally, the polyethylene-based food pouch released more particles than polypropylene-based plastic containers. Exposure modeling results suggested that the highest estimated daily intake was 20.3 ng/kg•day for infants drinking microwaved water and 22.1 ng/kg•day for toddlers consuming microwaved dairy products from polypropylene containers. Furthermore, an in vitro study conducted to assess the cell viability showed that the extracted microplastics and nanoplastics released from the plastic container can cause the death of 76.70 and 77.18% of human embryonic kidney cells (HEK293T) at 1000 μg/mL concentration after exposure of 48 and 72 h, respectively.

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We studied the molecular population structure of the hermaphroditic caridean shrimp Lysmata wurdemanni (Gibbes, 1850), which is distributed along the east coast of the USA and in the Gulf of Mexico. Four populations within the reported range were sampled: North Carolina (NC), Florida east coast (FLE), Florida Keys (FLK), and Texas (TX). Of the 3 populations of L. wurdemanni tested for interpopulation breeding (FLE, FLK, TX), only the FLE × FLK cross was successful. Both Florida populations failed to successfully hybridize with the Texas population during the experimental period. Additionally, there appears to be strong directionality between Florida and Texas crosses: when TX females crossed with either male FLK or FLE shrimps, few eggs were present and no larval hatching occurred, whereas crosses between FLE or FLK females and TX males produced embryos, but no viable larvae were produced during the experimental period. Genealogical analyses of the mitochondrial genes cytochrome oxidase subunit I (COI) and the large subunit of ribosomal RNA (16S rRNA) genes yielded distinct and highly supported clades for each of the FLE, FLK, and TX populations. High pairwise F ST values between TX versus FLK, TX versus FLE, and FLK versus FLE suggested that the populations are genetically disconnected. The NC and FLE populations could not be distinguished phylogenetically. This is an example of a marine species for which the potential for larval dispersal is predominantly unrealized given the observed absence of gene flow and the strong reproductive isolation between populations on the southeast coast of the United States and on the Gulf coast.

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This study investigates the effect on varying flow rates and bubble sizes on gas–liquid flow through porous media in a horizontal microchannel. A simple bubble generation system was set up to generate bubbles with controllable sizes and frequencies, which directly flowed into microfluidic channels packed with different sizes of glass beads. Bubble flow was visualized using a high-speed camera and analyzed to obtain the change in liquid holdup. Pressure data were measured for estimation of hydraulic conductivity. The bubble displacement pattern in the porous media was viscous fingering based on capillary numbers and visual observation. Larger bubbles resulted in lower normalized frequency of the bubble breakthrough by 20 to 60 percent. Increasing the flow rate increased the change in apparent liquid holdup during bubble breakthrough. Larger bubbles and lower flow rate reduced the relative permeability of each channel by 50 to 57 percent and 30 to 64 percent, respectively.