The efficacy of psychologically based interventions to improve anxiety, depression and quality of life in COPD: a systematic review and meta-analysis

This article comprises a systematic review and meta-analysis looking at the efficacy of psychological intervention in improving anxiety, depression and quality of life in respiratory disease.Objective: To systematically evaluate the efficacy of psychologically based interventions for addressing psychological outcomes in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Methods: Electronic databases, key journals and reference lists of included studies were scrutinised for inclusion; in addition authors were contacted for potential unpublished research. Nine studies were identified for inclusion. Data was extracted by two reviewers independently using a standardised extraction sheet and a series of meta-analyses completed for measures of anxiety, depression and quality of life. Results: Eight studies evaluated a cognitive behavioural- or psychotherapeutically based intervention and one study evaluated taped progressive muscle relaxation. The studies revealed some evidence for the interventions’ impact on anxiety, but, taken together interventions had limited effectiveness. The meta-analyses that were conducted revealed a small effect for anxiety only. Conclusion: The results are discussed considering the limitations of the research and previous work in this area. A systematic evaluation of psychological interventions on psychological co-morbidity in patients with COPD is recommended. Practice implications: There is some evidence that psychological interventions impact anxiety and this should be explored further and more interventions should target quality of life

The Value of a Statistical Life: a Meta-Analysis with a Mixed Effects Regression Model

The value of a statistical life (VSL) is a very controversial topic, but one which is essential to the optimization of governmental decisions. Indeed, our society faces any number of risks (health, transportation, work, etc.) and, as resources are limited, their complete elimination is impossible. The role of governments is to act as effectively as possible in reducing these risks. To do so, one must first determine the value that society is willing to pay in order to save a human life. However, we see a great variability in the values obtained from different studies. The source of this variability needs to be understood, in order to offer public decision-makers better guidance in choosing a value and to set clearer guidelines for future research on the topic. This article presents a meta-analysis based on 40 observations obtained from 37 studies (from nine different countries) which all use a hedonic wage method to calculate the VSL. Our meta-analysis is innovative in that it is the first to use the mixed effects regression model (Raudenbush, 1994) to analyze studies on the value of a statistical life. The outcome of our meta-analysis allows us to conclude that the variability found in the results studied stems in large part from differences in methodologies.Value of a statistical life, meta-analysis, mixed effects regression model, hedonic wage method, risk

Are Estimates of the Value of a Statistical Life Exaggerated?

The magnitude of the value of a statistical life (VSL) is critical to the evaluation of many health and safety initiatives. To date, the large and rigorous VSL research literature has not explicitly accommodated publication selectivity bias (i.e., the reduced probability that insignificant or negative VSL values are reported). This study demonstrates that doing so is essential. For studies that employ hedonic wage equations to estimate VSL, correction for selection bias reduces the average value of a statistical life by seventy to eighty percent. Our meta-regression analysis also identifies several sources for the wide heterogeneity found among reported VSL estimates.Value of statistical life; meta-regression analysis; selectivity bias

Quantum selfish gene (biological evolution in terms of quantum mechanics)

I propose to treat the biological evolution of genoms by means of quantum mechanical tools. We start with the concept of meta- gene, which specifies the "selfish gene" of R.Dawkins. Meta- gene encodes the abstract living unity, which can live relatively independently of the others, and can contain a few real creatures. Each population of living creatures we treat as the wave function on meta- genes, which module squared is the total number of creatures with the given meta-gene, and the phase is the sum of "aspirations" to change the classical states of meta- genes. Each individual life thus becomes one of possible outcomes of the virtual quantum measurement of this function. The evolution of genomes is described by the unitary operator in the space of psi-functions or by Kossovsky-Lindblad equation in the case of open biosystems. This operator contains all the information about specific conditions under which individuals are, and how "aspirations" of their meta- genes may be implemented at the biochemical level. We show the example of quantum description of the population with two parts of meta-gene: "wolves" and "deer", which can be simultaneously in the same abstract living unity. "Selfish gene" reconciled with the notion of individuality of alive beings that gives possibility to consider evolutionary scenarios and their possible physical causes from the single position.Comment: 15 pages, LATE

Socioeconomic status as a risk factor for dementia death:individual participant meta-analysis of 86 508 men and women from the UK

Background Life-course socioeconomic factors may have a role in dementia aetiology but there is a current paucity of studies. Meta-analyses of individual participant data would considerably strengthen this evidence base. Aims To examine the association between socioeconomic status in early life and adulthood with later dementia death. Method Individual participant meta-analysis of 11 prospective cohort studies (1994-2004, n = 86 508). Results Leaving full-time education at an earlier age was associated with an increased risk of dementia death in women (fully adjusted hazard ratio (HR) for age ⩽14 v. age ⩾16: HR = 1.76, 95% CI 1.23-2.53) but not men. Occupational social class was not statistically significantly associated with dementia death in men or women. Conclusions Lower educational attainment in women was associated with an increased risk of dementia-related death independently of common risk behaviours and comorbidities

Politics and Canon of Audience: Tourists and Local Cultural Performances

Tourists become important audience of traditional performing arts in Ubud. Crossing through several boundaries created by agents of tourism, from tour leader to local guide, hotel crew to hawker, not only the tourists, the audience but even the performers themselves finally arrive at the venue for the performance. In this process of becoming an audience, a tourist becomes a 'meta-tourist', Urry calls him or her a ‘post-tourist’ (Urry 2002: 91), someone who is conscious of being a tourist in a certain point of time and place in his or her life, and the one who is always on the process of becoming a tourist. Since local performers also know that they are performing it for the tourists, by the same taken it is believed that they also become ‘meta-performers’ for the tourists, someone who are conscious of doing it for some kinds of audience. And, thus performance in such context itself gets ‘meta-local’ and ‘meta-touristic’ quality since it tries its best to remain local

A meta-analysis of wage-risk estimates of the value of a statistical life

This paper presents the results of a meta-analysis of estimates of the value of statistical life (VOSL). Data on the sample characteristics, data sources and analytical approach used to derive some 60 separate estimates in 17 published papers are used in the analysis. Tests lead us to reject the hypothesis that this sample shows evidence of publication bias. A meta-regression of these estimates provides evidence that VOSL is increasing in income but is invariant with respect to baseline risk. Controlling for aspects of the sample, data sources and analytical approach allows us to derive a best estimate of the VOSL of around $7 million

Real Time Radiative Corrections to Charged Particle Decay Laws

The real time exponential decay laws for meta-stable charged particles are shown to require radiative corrections. The methods employed are well known to be valid for radiatively correcting Breit-Wigner line shapes. Radiative corrections contribute substantially to precision life time measurements of muons and pions when initially stopped in condensed matter.Comment: RevTeX File, 6 Pages, 5 Figure