Homeless children in New York City had an extremely high asthma prevalence-40%-in a cross-sectional study at 3 shelters (n=740) during 1998 to 1999. We used the same protocol to summarize subsequent data through December 2002. Asthma prevalence was 33% (n=1636); only 15% of the children previously diagnosed were taking an asthma controller medication. Emergency department use was 59%. These data were used to support a class action lawsuit that was resolved in favor of homeless children with asthma in New York City.

We create nearly perfect centimetric spheres of water by splitting a cavity consisting of two metal hemispheres coated with a hydrophobic paint and under-filled with liquid, while releasing the apparatus in free-fall. A high-speed camera captures how water spread on hydrophobic aluminum and polycarbonate plates perforated with cylindrical capillaries. We compare observations at the ZARM drop tower in Bremen with Lattice-Boltzmann numerical simulations of Frank, Perré and Li for the inertial phase of imbibition.