The stability paradox : why expansion of education for women has not delayed age at first union or childbearing in Latin America

Despite substantial improvements in women's education, the age atwhich Latin American women marry (cohabit) or become mothers for the first time has barely decreased over the past four decades. We refer to this as the "stability paradox." We examine the relationship between years of schooling and transitions to first union or child, analyzing retrospective information from 50 cohorts of women born between 1940 and 1989 in 12 Latin American countries. Absolute and relative measures of schooling are compared. Data is drawn from 38 Demographic Health Surveys (DHS) conducted between 1986 and 2012 in these countries. Results show that expected postponement in family transitions due to educational expansion was offset by a rise in union formation and childbearing within strata of absolute education, but stayed approximately constant within strata of relative education. The relative measure of education retains the stratifying power of education but neutralizes any effect attached to a specific number of years of schooling and the learning skills associated with them. This is consistent with the idea that access to education in Latin America reproduces existing patterns of socioeconomic advantage, rather than creating a more equitable distribution of learning opportunities and outcomes

External validation and recalibration of an incidental meningioma prognostic model – IMPACT: protocol for an international multicentre retrospective cohort study

Introduction: Due to the increased use of CT and MRI, the prevalence of incidental findings on brain scans is increasing. Meningioma, the most common primary brain tumour, is a frequently encountered incidental finding, with an estimated prevalence of 3/1000. The management of incidental meningioma varies widely with active clinical-radiological monitoring being the most accepted method by clinicians. Duration of monitoring and time intervals for assessment, however, are not well defined. To this end, we have recently developed a statistical model of progression risk based on single-centre retrospective data. The model Incidental Meningioma: Prognostic Analysis Using Patient Comorbidity and MRI Tests (IMPACT) employs baseline clinical and imaging features to categorise the patient with an incidental meningioma into one of three risk groups: low, medium and high risk with a proposed active monitoring strategy based on the risk and temporal trajectory of progression, accounting for actuarial life expectancy. The primary aim of this study is to assess the external validity of this model. Methods and analysis: IMPACT is a retrospective multicentre study which will aim to include 1500 patients with an incidental intracranial meningioma, powered to detect a 10% progression risk. Adult patients ≥16 years diagnosed with an incidental meningioma between 1 January 2009 and 31 December 2010 will be included. Clinical and radiological data will be collected longitudinally until the patient reaches one of the study endpoints: intervention (surgery, stereotactic radiosurgery or fractionated radiotherapy), mortality or last date of follow-up. Data will be uploaded to an online Research Electronic Data Capture database with no unique identifiers. External validity of IMPACT will be tested using established statistical methods. Ethics and dissemination: Local institutional approval at each participating centre will be required. Results of the study will be reported through peer-reviewed articles and conferences and disseminated to participating centres, patients and the public using social media

Grout rheological properties for preplaced aggregate concrete production

yesThis paper investigates the effect of cement based grout rheology on the injection process through coarse aggregate for producing preplaced aggregate concrete. Four different sands were used in the grout production at different water-cement ratios and cement-sand ratios. Superplasticiers and pulverised fuel ash were also employed in the grout production. Coarse aggregate of known weight was compacted into 150 mm cubic forms, and then the grout was injected through a plastic pipe under self weight into the stone ‘skeleton’. It has been found that there are threshold values of the rheological parameters beyond which full injection is not possible. In particular, all grout mixes with and without additives and admixtures exhibited the same yield stress threshold value for full injection, whereas the threshold values for other rheological properties including the grout plastic viscosity, flow time and speed were different according to the materials added to the mix

Determinants of mortality in patients with cirrhosis and uncontrolled variceal bleeding

BACKGROUND AND AIM: Failure to control oesophago-gastric variceal bleeding (OGVB) and acute-on-chronic liver failure (ACLF) are both important prognostic factors in liver cirrhosis. The aims of this study were to determine whether ACLF and its severity define the risk of death in OGVB and whether insertion of rescue transjugular intrahepatic stent-shunt (TIPSS) improves the survival of patients with failure to control OGVB and ACLF. METHODS: From a prospectively maintained ICU registry, data of 174 consecutive eligible patients with failure to control OGVB between 2005 and 2015, were included. Rescue TIPSS was defined as technically successful TIPSS within 72-hours of presentation with failure to control OGVB. Cox proportional hazards regression analyses were applied to explore the impact of ACLF and TIPSS on survival in failure-to-control OGVB. RESULTS: ACLF patients (n=119) were significantly older, had organ failures and higher white cell count compared with patients with acute decompensation (AD, n=55). Mortality at 42-days and 1-year was significantly higher in ACLF (47.9% and 61.3%) as compared to AD patients (9.1% and 12.7%, p<0.001), whereas there was no difference in the number of endoscopies and transfusion requirements between these groups. TIPSS was inserted in 78 patients [AD: 21 (38.2%); ACLF: 57 (47.8%), p=0.41]. In ACLF, rescue TIPSS insertion was an independent favorable prognostic factor for 42-day mortality. In contrast, rescue TIPSS did not impact on the outcome of AD patients. CONCLUSIONS: This study shows for the first time that in patients with failure to control OGVB, the presence and severity of ACLF determines the risk of 42-day and 1-year mortality. Rescue TIPSS is associated with improved survival of ACLF patients

Impact of Scotland’s comprehensive, smoke-free legislation on stroke

&lt;p&gt;Background: Previous studies have reported a reduction in acute coronary events following smoke-free legislation. Evidence is lacking on whether stroke is also reduced. The aim was to determine whether the incidence of stroke, overalland by sub-type, fell following introduction of smoke-free legislation across Scotland on 26 March 2006.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;Methods and Findings: A negative binomial regression model was used to determine whether the introduction of smokefree legislation resulted in a step and/or slope change in stroke incidence. The model was adjusted for age-group, sex, socioeconomic deprivation quintile, urban/rural residence and month. Interaction tests were also performed. Routine hospital administrative data and death certificates were used to identify all hospital admissions and pre-hospital deaths due to stroke (ICD10 codes I61, I63 and I64) in Scotland between 2000 and 2010 inclusive. Prior to the legislation, rates of all stroke, intracerebral haemorrhage and unspecified stroke were decreasing, whilst cerebral infarction was increasing at 0.97% per annum. Following the legislation, there was a dramatic fall in cerebral infarctions that persisted for around 20 months. No visible effect was observed for other types of stroke. The model confirmed an 8.90% (95% CI 4.85, 12.77, p,0.001) stepwise reduction in cerebral infarction at the time the legislation was implemented, after adjustment for potential cofounders.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;Conclusions: Following introduction of national, comprehensive smoke-free legislation there was a selective reduction in cerebral infarction that was not apparent in other types of stroke.&lt;/p&gt

Evidence That Aberrant Expression of Tissue Transglutaminase Promotes Stem Cell Characteristics in Mammary Epithelial Cells

Cancer stem cells (CSCs) or tumor initiating cells (TICs) make up only a small fraction of total tumor cell population, but recent evidence suggests that they are responsible for tumor initiation and the maintenance of tumor growth. Whether CSCs/TICs originate from normal stem cells or result from the dedifferentiation of terminally differentiated cells remains unknown. Here we provide evidence that sustained expression of the proinflammatory protein tissue transglutaminase (TG2) confers stem cell like properties in non-transformed and transformed mammary epithelial cells. Sustained expression of TG2 was associated with increase in CD44high/CD24low/- subpopulation, increased ability of cells to form mammospheres, and acquisition of self-renewal ability. Mammospheres derived from TG2-transfected mammary epithelial cells (MCF10A) differentiated into complex secondary structures when grown in Matrigel cultures. Cells in these secondary structures differentiated into Muc1-positive (luminal marker) and integrin α6-positive (basal marker) cells in response to prolactin treatment. Highly aggressive MDA-231 and drug-resistant MCF-7/RT breast cancer cells, which express high basal levels of TG2, shared many traits with TG2-transfected MCF10A stem cells but unlike MCF10A-derived stem cells they failed to form the secondary structures and to differentiate into Muc1-positive luminal cells when grown in Matrigel culture. Downregulation of TG2 attenuated stem cell properties in both non-transformed and transformed mammary epithelial cells. Taken together, these results suggested a new function for TG2 and revealed a novel mechanism responsible for promoting the stem cell characteristics in adult mammary epithelial cells

Nonlinear Sigma Model for Disordered Media: Replica Trick for Non-Perturbative Results and Interactions

In these lectures, given at the NATO ASI at Windsor (2001), applications of the replicas nonlinear sigma model to disordered systems are reviewed. A particular attention is given to two sets of issues. First, obtaining non-perturbative results in the replica limit is discussed, using as examples (i) an oscillatory behaviour of the two-level correlation function and (ii) long-tail asymptotes of different mesoscopic distributions. Second, a new variant of the sigma model for interacting electrons in disordered normal and superconducting systems is presented, with demonstrating how to reduce it, under certain controlled approximations, to known ``phase-only'' actions, including that of the ``dirty bosons'' model.Comment: 25 pages, Proceedings of the NATO ASI "Field Theory of Strongly Correlated Fermions and Bosons in Low - Dimensional Disordered Systems", Windsor, August, 2001; to be published by Kluwe

Keldysh technique and non-linear sigma-model: basic principles and applications

The purpose of this review is to provide a comprehensive pedagogical introduction into Keldysh technique for interacting out-of-equilibrium fermionic and bosonic systems. The emphasis is placed on a functional integral representation of underlying microscopic models. A large part of the review is devoted to derivation and applications of the non-linear sigma-model for disordered metals and superconductors. We discuss such topics as transport properties, mesoscopic effects, counting statistics, interaction corrections, kinetic equation, etc. The sections devoted to disordered superconductors include Usadel equation, fluctuation corrections, time-dependent Ginzburg-Landau theory, proximity and Josephson effects, etc. (This review is a substantial extension of arXiv:cond-mat/0412296.)Comment: Review: 103 pages, 19 figure

Polyelectrolyte-Clay-Protein Layer Films on Microfluidic PDMS Bioreactor Surfaces for Primary Murine Bone Marrow Culture

Poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) microbioreactors with computerized perfusion controls would be useful for engineering the bone marrow microenvironment. However, previous efforts to grow primary bone marrow cells on PDMS substrates have not been successful due to the weak attachment of cells to the PDMS surface even with adsorption of cell adhesive proteins such as collagen or fibronectin. In this work, modification of the surface of PDMS with biofunctional multilayer coatings is shown to promote marrow cell attachment and spreading. An automated microfluidic perfusion system is used to create multiple types of polyelectrolyte nanoscale coatings simultaneously in multiple channels based on layer-by-layer deposition of PDDA (poly(diallyldimethyl ammonium chloride)), clay, type IV collagen and fibronectin. Adherent primary bone marrow cells attached and spread best on a surface with composition of (PDDA/clay) 5 (Collagen/Fibronectin) 2 with negatively charged fibronectin exposed on the top, remaining well spread and proliferating for at least two weeks. Compared to traditional more macroscopic layer-by-layer methods, this microfluidic nanocomposite process has advantages of greater flow control, automatic processing, multiplexed fabrication, and use of lesser amounts of polymers and protein solutions.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/57408/1/2701_ftp.pd