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Unreliable electricity supplies are common in developing countries and impose large socio-economic costs, yet precise information on electricity reliability is typically unavailable. This paper presents preliminary results from a machine-learning approach for using satellite imagery of nighttime lights to develop estimates of electricity reliability for western India at a finer spatial scale. We use data from the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) onboard the Suomi National Polar Partnership (SNPP) satellite together with newly-available data from networked household voltage meters. Our results point to the possibilities of this approach as well as areas for refinement. With currently available training data, we find a limited ability to detect individual outages identified by household-level measurements of electricity voltage. This is likely due to the relatively small number of individual outages observed in our preliminary data. However, we find that the approach can estimate electricity reliability rates for individual locations fairly well, with the predicted versus actual regression yielding an R² > 0.5. We also find that, despite the after midnight overpass time of the SNPP satellite, the reliability estimates derived are representative of daytime reliability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Patients admitted to in-patient rehabilitation programs have an increased risk for developing deep venous thrombosis (DVT). However, the utility of screening for lower extremity DVT using duplex ultrasound in this high-risk population is not well characterized. The purpose of this study is to identify whether or not screening lower-extremity duplex exams are indicated in this high-risk population. Screening lower extremity duplex exams were performed on all patients admitted to the rehabilitation center at Mt. Sinai Hospital over a 3-year period. Charts were reviewed for patient age, gender, diagnosis, date of screening and follow-up duplex exams, presence and location of venous thrombosis at each duplex exam, history of anticoagulation, and medical DVT prophylaxis. The presence of DVT at screening, the location of DVT along the lower extremity, and the outcome of calf DVT were analyzed in terms of gender, underlying diagnosis, and history of DVT prophylaxis. Lower extremity DVT was detected in 34% of patients. Twenty-three percent of patients had isolated calf vein thrombosis. Men were more likely than women to have DVT. Calf DVTs progressed in 3% of patients over an average follow-up of 2 weeks. The presence of DVT, its location along the lower extremity, and the outcome of calf vein DVT had no significant relationship to underlying diagnosis or history of prophylaxis. Screening duplex exams to detect lower extremity DVT in rehabilitation patients is useful. Screening altered management in 26% of patients, prompting either anticoagulation or repeat duplex exam. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]