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Pre-pandemic psychological distress is associated with increased susceptibility to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection, but associations with the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) severity are not established. The authors examined the associations between distress prior to SARS-CoV-2 infection and subsequent risk of hospitalization.
Methods
Between April 2020 (baseline) and April 2021, we followed 54 781 participants from three ongoing cohorts: Nurses' Health Study II (NHSII), Nurses' Health Study 3 (NHS3), and the Growing Up Today Study (GUTS) who reported no current or prior SARS-CoV-2 infection at baseline. Chronic depression was assessed during 2010–2019. Depression, anxiety, worry about COVID-19, perceived stress, and loneliness were measured at baseline. SARS-CoV-2 infection and hospitalization due to COVID-19 was self-reported. Relative risks (RRs) were calculated by Poisson regression.
Results
3663 participants reported a positive SARS-CoV-2 test (mean age = 55.0 years, standard deviation = 13.8) during follow-up. Among these participants, chronic depression prior to the pandemic [RR = 1.72; 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.20–2.46], and probable depression (RR = 1.81, 95% CI 1.08–3.03), being very worried about COVID-19 (RR = 1.79; 95% CI 1.12–2.86), and loneliness (RR = 1.81, 95% CI 1.02–3.20) reported at baseline were each associated with subsequent COVID-19 hospitalization, adjusting for demographic factors and healthcare worker status. Anxiety and perceived stress were not associated with hospitalization. Depression, worry about COVID-19, and loneliness were as strongly associated with hospitalization as were high cholesterol and hypertension, established risk factors for COVID-19 severity.
Conclusions
Psychological distress may be a risk factor for hospitalization in patients with SARS-CoV-2 infection. Assessment of psychological distress may identify patients at greater risk of hospitalization. Future work should examine whether addressing distress improves physical health outcomes.
Background:Candida auris is an emerging multidrug-resistant yeast that is transmitted in healthcare facilities and is associated with substantial morbidity and mortality. Environmental contamination is suspected to play an important role in transmission but additional information is needed to inform environmental cleaning recommendations to prevent spread. Methods: We conducted a multiregional (Chicago, IL; Irvine, CA) prospective study of environmental contamination associated with C. auris colonization of patients and residents of 4 long-term care facilities and 1 acute-care hospital. Participants were identified by screening or clinical cultures. Samples were collected from participants’ body sites (eg, nares, axillae, inguinal creases, palms and fingertips, and perianal skin) and their environment before room cleaning. Daily room cleaning and disinfection by facility environmental service workers was followed by targeted cleaning of high-touch surfaces by research staff using hydrogen peroxide wipes (see EPA-approved product for C. auris, List P). Samples were collected immediately after cleaning from high-touch surfaces and repeated at 4-hour intervals up to 12 hours. A pilot phase (n = 12 patients) was conducted to identify the value of testing specific high-touch surfaces to assess environmental contamination. High-yield surfaces were included in the full evaluation phase (n = 20 patients) (Fig. 1). Samples were submitted for semiquantitative culture of C. auris and other multidrug-resistant organisms (MDROs) including methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus (VRE), extended-spectrum β-lactamase–producing Enterobacterales (ESBLs), and carbapenem-resistant Enterobacterales (CRE). Times to room surface contamination with C. auris and other MDROs after effective cleaning were analyzed. Results:Candida auris colonization was most frequently detected in the nares (72%) and palms and fingertips (72%). Cocolonization of body sites with other MDROs was common (Fig. 2). Surfaces located close to the patient were commonly recontaminated with C. auris by 4 hours after cleaning, including the overbed table (24%), bed handrail (24%), and TV remote or call button (19%). Environmental cocontamination was more common with resistant gram-positive organisms (MRSA and, VRE) than resistant gram-negative organisms (Fig. 3). C. auris was rarely detected on surfaces located outside a patient’s room (1 of 120 swabs; <1%). Conclusions: Environmental surfaces near C. auris–colonized patients were rapidly recontaminated after cleaning and disinfection. Cocolonization of skin and environment with other MDROs was common, with resistant gram-positive organisms predominating over gram-negative organisms on environmental surfaces. Limitations include lack of organism sequencing or typing to confirm environmental contamination was from the room resident. Rapid recontamination of environmental surfaces after manual cleaning and disinfection suggests that alternate mitigation strategies should be evaluated.
Flutter suppression is an important measure to improve fatigue life and enhance the performance of aircraft in modern aircraft design. In order to design more effective controllers for flutter suppression with high efficiency, an efficient reduced-order framework for active/passive hybrid flutter suppression is proposed. The traditional CFD-based ROMs have been successfully applied to active flutter suppression with high accuracy and efficiency. But, when a structure modification is made such as in aeroelastic tailoring and aeroelastic structural optimisation, the structural model should be updated, and the expensive, time-consuming CFD-based ROMs have to be reconstructed; such a process is impractical for passive flutter suppression. To overcome the realistic challenge, an efficient reduced-order framework for active/passive hybrid flutter suppression is proposed by extending an efficient aeroelastic CFD-based POD/ROM which we have developed. The proposed framework is demonstrated and evaluated using an improved AGARD 445.6 wing model. The results show that the proposed framework can accurately predict the aeroelastic response for active/passive hybrid flutter suppression with high efficiency. It provides a powerful tool for active/passive hybrid flutter suppression, and therefore, is ideally suited to design more effective controllers, and may have the potential to reduce the overall cost of aircraft design.
The incidence of scarlet fever has increased dramatically in recent years in Chongqing, China, but there has no effective method to forecast it. This study aimed to develop a forecasting model of the incidence of scarlet fever using a seasonal autoregressive integrated moving average (SARIMA) model. Monthly scarlet fever data between 2011 and 2019 in Chongqing, China were retrieved from the Notifiable Infectious Disease Surveillance System. From 2011 to 2019, a total of 5073 scarlet fever cases were reported in Chongqing, the male-to-female ratio was 1.44:1, children aged 3–9 years old accounted for 81.86% of the cases, while 42.70 and 42.58% of the reported cases were students and kindergarten children, respectively. The data from 2011 to 2018 were used to fit a SARIMA model and data in 2019 were used to validate the model. The normalised Bayesian information criterion (BIC), the coefficient of determination (R2) and the root mean squared error (RMSE) were used to evaluate the goodness-of-fit of the fitted model. The optimal SARIMA model was identified as (3, 1, 3) (3, 1, 0)12. The RMSE and mean absolute per cent error (MAPE) were used to assess the accuracy of the model. The RMSE and MAPE of the predicted values were 19.40 and 0.25 respectively, indicating that the predicted values matched the observed values reasonably well. Taken together, the SARIMA model could be employed to forecast scarlet fever incidence trend, providing support for scarlet fever control and prevention.
OBJECTIVES/GOALS: Wild-type transthyretin amyloid (ATTRwt) deposits have been found to deposit in the ligamentum flavum (LF) of spinal stenosis patients prior to systemic and cardiac amyloidosis, and is implicated in LF hypertrophy. Currently, no precise method of quantifying amyloid deposits exists. Here, we present our machine learning quantification method. METHODS/STUDY POPULATION: Images of ligamentum flavum specimens stained with Congo red are obtained from spinal stenosis patients undergoing laminectomies and confirmed to be positive for ATTRwt. Amyloid deposits in these specimens are classified and quantified by TWS through training the algorithm via user-directed annotations on images of LF. TWS can also be automated through exposure to a set of training images with user- directed annotations, and then application to a set of new images without additional annotations. Additional methods of color thresholding and manual segmentation are also used on these images for comparison to TWS. RESULTS/ANTICIPATED RESULTS: We develop the use of TWS in images of LF and demonstrate its potential for automated quantification. TWS is strongly correlated with manual segmentation in the training set of images with user-directed annotations (R = 0.98; p = 0.0033) as well as in the application set of images where TWS was automated (R = 0.94; p = 0.016). Color thresholding was weakly correlated with manual segmentation in the training set of images (R = 0.78; p = 0.12) and in the application set of images (R = 0.65; p = 0.23). DISCUSSION/SIGNIFICANCE: Our machine learning method correlates with the gold standard comparator of manual segmentation and outperforms color thresholding. This novel machine learning quantification method is a precise, objective, accessible, high throughput, and powerful tool that will hopefully pave the way towards future research and clinical applications.
The Fanshi Basin is one of the NE–SW-striking depocentres formed along the northern segment of the fault-bounded Shanxi rift. In order to understand the crustal driving stresses that led to the basin formation and development, a palaeostress analysis of a large quantity of fault-slip data collected mainly at the boundaries of the basin was accomplished. The stress inversion of these data revealed three stress regimes. The oldest SR1 was a Neogene stress regime giving rise to a strike-slip deformation with NE–SW contraction and NW–SE extension. SR1 activated the large faults trending NNE–NE, i.e. (sub)parallel to the main strike of the Shanxi rift, as right-lateral strike-slip faults. It was subjected to the Shanxi rift before the activation of the Fanshi Basin boundary fault, i.e. the Fanshi (or Wutai) fault, as a normal fault. The next is a short-lived NE–SW extensional stress regime SR2 in early Pleistocene time, which shows the inception of the basin’s extension. A strong NW–SE to NNW–SSE extensional stress regime SR3 has governed the northern segment of the Shanxi rift since late Pleistocene time and is the present-day extension. It gave rise to the current half-graben geometry of the Fanshi Basin by activating the Fanshi (or Wutai) fault as a normal fault in the southern part of the graben. Because of the dominance of the NW–SE to NNW–SSE extension, which is perpendicular to the NE–SW extension, mutual permutations between σ3 and σ2 due to inherited fault patterns might have occurred while the crustal stresses in the Fanshi Basin changed from the SR1 to SR3 stress regimes.
To examine the association between adherence to plant-based diets and mortality.
Design:
Prospective study. We calculated a plant-based diet index (PDI) by assigning positive scores to plant foods and reverse scores to animal foods. We also created a healthful PDI (hPDI) and an unhealthful PDI (uPDI) by further separating the healthy plant foods from less-healthy plant foods.
Setting:
The VA Million Veteran Program.
Participants:
315 919 men and women aged 19–104 years who completed a FFQ at the baseline.
Results:
We documented 31 136 deaths during the follow-up. A higher PDI was significantly associated with lower total mortality (hazard ratio (HR) comparing extreme deciles = 0·75, 95 % CI: 0·71, 0·79, Ptrend < 0·001]. We observed an inverse association between hPDI and total mortality (HR comparing extreme deciles = 0·64, 95 % CI: 0·61, 0·68, Ptrend < 0·001), whereas uPDI was positively associated with total mortality (HR comparing extreme deciles = 1·41, 95 % CI: 1·33, 1·49, Ptrend < 0·001). Similar significant associations of PDI, hPDI and uPDI were also observed for CVD and cancer mortality. The associations between the PDI and total mortality were consistent among African and European American participants, and participants free from CVD and cancer and those who were diagnosed with major chronic disease at baseline.
Conclusions:
A greater adherence to a plant-based diet was associated with substantially lower total mortality in this large population of veterans. These findings support recommending plant-rich dietary patterns for the prevention of major chronic diseases.
This study seeks to identify Alzheimer’s and related dementias (ADRD) biomarkers associated with postoperative delirium (POD) via meta-analysis.
Design:
A comprehensive search was conducted. Studies met the following inclusion criteria: >18 years of age, identified POD with standardized assessment, and biomarker measured in the AT(N)-X (A = amyloid, T = tau, (N)=neurodegeneration, X-Other) framework. Exclusion criteria: focus on prediction of delirium, delirium superimposed on dementia, other neurologic or psychiatric disorders, or terminal delirium. Reviewers extracted and synthesized data for the meta-analysis.
Setting:
Meta-analysis.
Participants:
Patients with POD.
Measurements:
Primary outcome: association between POD and ATN-X biomarkers. Secondary outcomes involved sample heterogeneity.
Results
28 studies were included in this meta-analysis. Studies focused on inflammatory and neuronal injury biomarkers; there were an insufficient number of studies for amyloid and tau biomarker analysis. Two inflammatory biomarkers (IL-6, and CRP) showed a significant relationship with POD (IL-6 n = 10, standardized mean difference (SMD): 0.53, 95% CI: 0.36–0.70; CRP n = 14, SMD: 0.53, 95% CI: 0.33–0.74). Two neuronal injury biomarkers (blood-based S100B and NfL) were positively associated with POD (S100B n = 5, SMD: 0.40, 95% CI: 0.11–0.69; NFL n = 2, SMD: 0.93, 95% CI: 0.28–1.57). Of note, many analyses were impacted by significant study heterogeneity.
Conclusions
This meta-analysis identified an association between certain inflammatory and neuronal injury biomarkers and POD. Future studies will need to corroborate these relationships and include amyloid and tau biomarkers in order to better understand the relationship between POD and ADRD.
To assess the rate and factors associated with healthcare personnel (HCP) testing positive for severe acute respiratory coronavirus virus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) after an occupational exposure.
Design:
Retrospective cohort study.
Setting:
Academic medical center with sites in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Arizona, and Florida.
Participants:
HCP with a high or medium risk occupational exposure to a patient or other HCP with SARS-CoV-2.
Methods:
We reviewed the records of HCP with significant occupational exposures from March 20, 2020, through December 31, 2020. We then performed regression analysis to assess the impact of demographic and occupational variables to assess their impact on the likelihood of testing positive for SARS-CoV-2.
Results:
In total, 2,253 confirmed occupational exposures occurred during the study period. Employees were the source for 57.1% of exposures. Overall, 101 HCP (4.5%) tested positive in the postexposure period. Of these, 80 had employee sources of exposure and 21 had patient sources of exposure. The postexposure infection rate was 6.2% when employees were the source, compared to 2.2% with patient sources. In a multivariate analysis, occupational exposure from an employee source had a higher risk of testing positive compared to a patient source (odds ratio [OR], 3.22; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.72–6.04). Sex, age, high-risk exposure, and HCP role were not associated with an increased risk of testing positive.
Conclusions:
The risk of acquiring coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) following a significant occupational exposure has remained relatively low, even in the prevaccination era. Exposure to an infectious coworker carries a higher risk than exposure to a patient. Continued vigilance and precautions remain necessary in healthcare settings.
Mid- and far-infrared (IR) photometric and spectroscopic observations are fundamental to a full understanding of the dust-obscured Universe and the evolution of both star formation and black hole accretion in galaxies. In this work, using the specifications of the SPace Infrared telescope for Cosmology and Astrophysics (SPICA) as a baseline, we investigate the capability to study the dust-obscured Universe of mid- and far-IR photometry at 34 and
$70\, {\rm{\mu }}\mathrm{m}$
and low-resolution spectroscopy at
$17{-}36\, {\rm{\mu }}\mathrm{m}$
using the state-of-the-art Spectro-Photometric Realisations of Infrared-selected Targets at all-z (Spritz) simulation. This investigation is also compared to the expected performance of the Origins Space Telescope and the Galaxy Evolution Probe. The photometric view of the Universe of a SPICA-like mission could cover not only bright objects (e.g.
$L_{IR}>10^{12}\,{\rm L}_{\odot}$
) up to
${z}=10$
, but also normal galaxies (
$L_{IR}<10^{11}\,{\rm L}_{\odot}$
) up to
$\textit{z}\sim4$
. At the same time, the spectroscopic observations of such mission could also allow us to estimate the redshifts and study the physical properties for thousands of star-forming galaxies and active galactic nuclei by observing the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and a large set of IR nebular emission lines. In this way, a cold, 2.5-m size space telescope with spectro-photometric capability analogous to SPICA, could provide us with a complete three-dimensional (i.e. images and integrated spectra) view of the dust-obscured Universe and the physics governing galaxy evolution up to
$\textit{z}\sim4$
.
Antibiotics are frequently prescribed in nursing homes; national data describing facility-level antibiotic use are lacking. The objective of this analysis was to describe variability in antibiotic use in nursing homes across the United States using electronic health record orders.
Methods:
A retrospective cohort study of antibiotic orders for 309,884 residents in 1,664 US nursing homes in 2016 were included in the analysis. Antibiotic use rates were calculated as antibiotic days of therapy (DOT) per 1,000 resident days and were compared by type of stay (short stay ≤100 days vs long stay >100 days). Prescribing indications and the duration of nursing home-initiated antibiotic orders were described. Facility-level correlations of antibiotic use, adjusting for resident health and facility characteristics, were assessed using multivariate linear regression models.
Results:
In 2016, 54% of residents received at least 1 systemic antibiotic. The overall rate of antibiotic use was 88 DOT per 1,000 resident days. The 3 most common antibiotic classes prescribed were fluoroquinolones (18%), cephalosporins (18%), and urinary anti-infectives (9%). Antibiotics were most frequently prescribed for urinary tract infections, and the median duration of an antibiotic course was 7 days (interquartile range, 5–10). Higher facility antibiotic use rates correlated positively with higher proportions of short-stay residents, for-profit ownership, residents with low cognitive performance, and having at least 1 resident on a ventilator. Available facility-level characteristics only predicted a small proportion of variability observed (Model R2 version 0.24 software).
Conclusions:
Using electronic health record orders, variability was found among US nursing-home antibiotic prescribing practices, highlighting potential opportunities for targeted improvement of prescribing practices.
Mars exploration motivates the search for extraterrestrial life, the development of space technologies, and the design of human missions and habitations. Here, we seek new insights and pose unresolved questions relating to the natural history of Mars, habitability, robotic and human exploration, planetary protection, and the impacts on human society. Key observations and findings include:
– high escape rates of early Mars' atmosphere, including loss of water, impact present-day habitability;
– putative fossils on Mars will likely be ambiguous biomarkers for life;
– microbial contamination resulting from human habitation is unavoidable; and
– based on Mars' current planetary protection category, robotic payload(s) should characterize the local martian environment for any life-forms prior to human habitation.
Some of the outstanding questions are:
– which interpretation of the hemispheric dichotomy of the planet is correct;
– to what degree did deep-penetrating faults transport subsurface liquids to Mars' surface;
– in what abundance are carbonates formed by atmospheric processes;
– what properties of martian meteorites could be used to constrain their source locations;
– the origin(s) of organic macromolecules;
– was/is Mars inhabited;
– how can missions designed to uncover microbial activity in the subsurface eliminate potential false positives caused by microbial contaminants from Earth;
– how can we ensure that humans and microbes form a stable and benign biosphere; and
– should humans relate to putative extraterrestrial life from a biocentric viewpoint (preservation of all biology), or anthropocentric viewpoint of expanding habitation of space?
Studies of Mars' evolution can shed light on the habitability of extrasolar planets. In addition, Mars exploration can drive future policy developments and confirm (or put into question) the feasibility and/or extent of human habitability of space.
Since its inception, ICSI has become the most widely used ART technique, and the ultimate treatment for severe male factor infertility. In this chapter, we provide fertilization and clinical pregnancy outcomes with ICSI utilizing oligo-, crypto- and astheno- zoospermic samples. We also describe the negative impact of ooplasmic dysmaturity on fertilization and propose methods to correct it. We also report the selection of spermatozoa with higher genomic integrity using a microfluidic chip in couples with high chromatin fragmentation and complete embryo aneuploidy. This will be followed by a discussion on the safety of ICSI in which we enlist various follow-up studies on the development and health of ICSI offspring through adulthood. To provide an overview on the widespread utilization of this procedure, we comment on the ICSI results reported worldwide.
Several social determinants of health (SDoH) have been associated with the onset of major depressive disorder (MDD). However, prior studies largely focused on individual SDoH and thus less is known about the relative importance (RI) of SDoH variables, especially in older adults. Given that risk factors for MDD may differ across the lifespan, we aimed to identify the SDoH that was most strongly related to newly diagnosed MDD in a cohort of older adults.
Methods
We used self-reported health-related survey data from 41 174 older adults (50–89 years, median age = 67 years) who participated in the Mayo Clinic Biobank, and linked ICD codes for MDD in the participants' electronic health records. Participants with a history of clinically documented or self-reported MDD prior to survey completion were excluded from analysis (N = 10 938, 27%). We used Cox proportional hazards models with a gradient boosting machine approach to quantify the RI of 30 pre-selected SDoH variables on the risk of future MDD diagnosis.
Results
Following biobank enrollment, 2073 older participants were diagnosed with MDD during the follow-up period (median duration = 6.7 years). The most influential SDoH was perceived level of social activity (RI = 0.17). Lower level of social activity was associated with a higher risk of MDD [hazard ratio = 2.27 (95% CI 2.00–2.50) for highest v. lowest level].
Conclusion
Across a range of SDoH variables, perceived level of social activity is most strongly related to MDD in older adults. Monitoring changes in the level of social activity may help identify older adults at an increased risk of MDD.
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has significantly increased depression rates, particularly in emerging adults. The aim of this study was to examine longitudinal changes in depression risk before and during COVID-19 in a cohort of emerging adults in the U.S. and to determine whether prior drinking or sleep habits could predict the severity of depressive symptoms during the pandemic.
Methods
Participants were 525 emerging adults from the National Consortium on Alcohol and NeuroDevelopment in Adolescence (NCANDA), a five-site community sample including moderate-to-heavy drinkers. Poisson mixed-effect models evaluated changes in the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (CES-D-10) from before to during COVID-19, also testing for sex and age interactions. Additional analyses examined whether alcohol use frequency or sleep duration measured in the last pre-COVID assessment predicted pandemic-related increase in depressive symptoms.
Results
The prevalence of risk for clinical depression tripled due to a substantial and sustained increase in depressive symptoms during COVID-19 relative to pre-COVID years. Effects were strongest for younger women. Frequent alcohol use and short sleep duration during the closest pre-COVID visit predicted a greater increase in COVID-19 depressive symptoms.
Conclusions
The sharp increase in depression risk among emerging adults heralds a public health crisis with alarming implications for their social and emotional functioning as this generation matures. In addition to the heightened risk for younger women, the role of alcohol use and sleep behavior should be tracked through preventive care aiming to mitigate this looming mental health crisis.
Frequent freezing injury greatly influences winter wheat production; thus, effective prevention and a command of agricultural production are vital. The freezing injury monitoring method integrated with ‘3S’ (geographic information systems (GIS), global positioning system (GPS) and remote sensing (RS)) technology has an unparalleled advantage. Using HuanJing (HJ)-1A/1B satellite images of a winter wheat field in Shanxi Province, China plus a field survey, crop types and winter wheat planting area were identified through repeated visual interpretations of image information and spatial analyses conducted in GIS. Six vegetation indices were extracted from processed HJ-1A/1B satellite images to determine whether the winter wheat suffered from freezing injury and its degree of severity and recovery, using change vector analysis (CVA), the freeze injury representative vegetation index and the combination of the two methods, respectively. Accuracy of the freezing damage classification results was verified by determining the impact of freezing damage on yield and quantitative analysis. The CVA and the change of normalized difference vegetation index (ΔNDVI) monitoring results were different so a comprehensive analysis of the combination of CVA and ΔNDVI was performed. The area with serious freezing injury covered 0.9% of the total study area, followed by the area of no freezing injury (3.5%), moderate freezing injury (10.2%) and light freezing injury (85.4%). Of the moderate and serious freezing injury areas, 0.2% did not recover; 1.2% of the no freezing injury and light freezing injury areas showed optimal recovery, 15.6% of the light freezing injury and moderate freezing injury areas showed poor recovery, and the remaining areas exhibited general recovery.
This study investigated the audiometric and sound localisation results in patients with conductive hearing loss after bilateral Bonebridge implantation.
Method
Eight patients with congenital microtia and atresia supplied with bilateral Bonebridge devices were enrolled in this study. Hearing tests and sound localisation were tested under unaided, unilateral and bilateral aided conditions.
Results
Mean functional gain was higher with a bilateral fitting than with a unilateral fitting, especially at 1.0–4.0 kHz (p < 0.05, both). The improvement in speech reception threshold in noise with a bilateral fitting was a 2.3 dB higher signal-to-noise ratio compared with unilateral fitting (p < 0.05). Bilateral fitting had better sound localisation than unilateral fitting (p <0.001). Four participants who attended follow up showed improved sound localisation ability after one year.
Conclusion
Patients demonstrated better hearing threshold, speech reception thresholds in noise and directional hearing with bilateral Bonebridge devices than with a unilateral Bonebridge device. Sound localisation ability with bilateral Bonebridge devices can be improved through long-term training.
The Variables and Slow Transients Survey (VAST) on the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP) is designed to detect highly variable and transient radio sources on timescales from 5 s to
$\sim\!5$
yr. In this paper, we present the survey description, observation strategy and initial results from the VAST Phase I Pilot Survey. This pilot survey consists of
$\sim\!162$
h of observations conducted at a central frequency of 888 MHz between 2019 August and 2020 August, with a typical rms sensitivity of
$0.24\ \mathrm{mJy\ beam}^{-1}$
and angular resolution of
$12-20$
arcseconds. There are 113 fields, each of which was observed for 12 min integration time, with between 5 and 13 repeats, with cadences between 1 day and 8 months. The total area of the pilot survey footprint is 5 131 square degrees, covering six distinct regions of the sky. An initial search of two of these regions, totalling 1 646 square degrees, revealed 28 highly variable and/or transient sources. Seven of these are known pulsars, including the millisecond pulsar J2039–5617. Another seven are stars, four of which have no previously reported radio detection (SCR J0533–4257, LEHPM 2-783, UCAC3 89–412162 and 2MASS J22414436–6119311). Of the remaining 14 sources, two are active galactic nuclei, six are associated with galaxies and the other six have no multi-wavelength counterparts and are yet to be identified.
The discovery of wake bistability has generated an upsurge in experimental investigations into the wakes of simplified vehicle geometries. Particular focus has centred on the probabilistic switching between two asymmetrical bistable wake states of a square-back Ahmed body; however, the majority of this research has been undertaken in wind tunnels with turbulence intensities of less than $1\,\%$, considerably lower than typical atmospheric levels. To better simulate bistability under on-road conditions, in which turbulence intensities can easily reach levels of $10\,\%$ or more, this experimental study investigates the effects of free-stream turbulence on the bistability characteristics of the square-back Ahmed body. Through passive generation and quantification of the free-stream turbulent conditions, a monotonic correlation was found between the switching rate and free-stream turbulence intensity.