The Role of Health Status and Social Capital in Cancer Mortality: Insights from Matched Register and Survey Data

Cancer mortality has been shown to be associated with social- and human capital. Several channels have been suggested, such as early detection, better compliance to treatment and better health prior to diagnosis. In this paper we study how health status and social capital jointly affect cancer mortality and cancer severity at the time of diagnosis. The analyses are based on study sample of individuals with cancer diagnosis. Our merged dataset contain information on cancer diagnosis and death from the Cancer Registry of Norway and health status, social capital and other individual level data from several national health surveys measured before the time of diagnosis. Health status and social capital are treated as unobserved latent variables, and we apply generalized structural equation modelling framework to estimate conditional statistical associations of social capital and individual health on cancer severity and mortality. We find that health has negative, and statistically significant effect, on cancer mortality, while we cannot conclude on the association between health and cancer severity (metastasis yes/no). We cannot conclude that cancer mortality and the probability of cancer metastasis is associated nor disassociated with social capital. Our results add nuance to prior studies, which frequently report a significant association between social capital and cancer mortality.The Role of Health Status and Social Capital in Cancer Mortality: Insights from Matched Register and Survey DatapublishedVersio

Children and young adults with parents with cancer: a population-based study

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Experimental Determination of the Effective Nucleon-Nucleon Interaction for P-Nucleus Reactions at Intermediate Energies

A complete measurement of the polarization transfer observables has been made for the first time in the (p,p') reaction at intermediate energies. Measurements are reported for the /sup 12/C(p,p') /sup 12/C reaction to the 1/sup +/, T = 0(12.71 MeV) and 1/sup +/, T = 1(15.11 MeV) states at 500 MeV at laboratory scattering angles of 3.5/sup 0/, 5.5/sup 0/, 7.5/sup 0/, and 12.0/sup 0/. Linear combinations of these observables are shown to exhibit a very selective dependence on the isoscalar and isovector spin-dependent components of the nucleon-nucleon interaction. To the extent of the validity of the single collision approximation, these amplitudes are compared directly to the free nucleon-nucleon amplitudes at small momentum transfers ( < 1 fm/sup -1/)

Nuclear structure of Ac-231

The low-energy structure of 231Ac has been investigated by means of gamma ray spectroscopy following the beta-decay of 231Ra. Multipolarities of 28 transitions have been established by measuring conversion electrons with a mini-orange electron spectrometer. The decay scheme of 231Ra --> 231Ac has been constructed for the first time. The Advanced Time Delayed beta-gamma-gamma(t) method has been used to measure the half-lives of five levels. The moderately fast B(E1) transition rates derived suggest that the octupole effects, albeit weak, are still present in this exotic nucleus

Local perceptions of opportunities for engagement and procedural justice in electricity transmission grid projects in Norway and the UK

ArticleCopyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.Transmission lines are critical infrastructures, but frequently contested especially at the local level, by local communities. The role of public engagement in processes pertaining to specific transmission line projects is an under-researched, yet important topic that this paper seeks to discuss by investigating how inhabitants perceive these processes and to what extent they find the processes just and fair. This paper addresses the participatory aspects of the planning process, as perceived by the local inhabitants in four Norway and UK cases, by using a qualitative comparative case study design. We further analyse this issue through frameworks of public engagement and procedural justice. In both countries public engagement is largely characterized by perceptions of insufficient information, and insufficient influence on the process. In sum, the findings indicate that the informants generally perceive the opportunities for involvement as insufficient and unjust. The findings are quite similar across all cases and both countries. Local inhabitants represent diverse groups who often have different levels of knowledge, time and engagement to bring to the planning process. Their requests for improved processes thus underline the serious public engagement challenges that applicants and decision-makers face.Research Council of Norwa

DNA adducts in fish following an oil spill exposure

On 12 December 1999, one third of the load of the Erika tanker, amounting to about 10,000 t crude oil flowed into sea waters close to the French Atlantic Coast. This oil contained polycyclic aromatic compounds (PAC) that are known to be genotoxic. Genotoxic effects induce DNA adducts formation, which can thus be used as pollution biomarkers. Here, we assessed the genotoxic impact of the “Erika” oil spill by DNA adducts detection in the liver of immature fishes (Solea solea) from four locations of the French Brittany coasts. Two months after the spill, a high amount of DNA adducts was found in samples from all locations, amounting to 92–290 DNA adduct per 109 nucleotides. Then total DNA adduct levels decreased to reach about 50 adducts per 109 nucleotides nine months after the spill. In vitro experiments using human cell cultures and fish liver microsomes evidence the genotoxicity of the Erika fuel. They also prove the formation of reactive species able to create DNA adducts. Furthermore, in vitro and in vivo DNA adducts fingerprints are similar, thus confirming that DNA adducts are a result of the oil spill

Factor copula models for item response data

Factor or conditional independence models based on copulas are proposed for multivariate discrete data such as item responses. The factor copula models have interpretations of latent maxima/minima (in comparison with latent means) and can lead to more probability in the joint upper or lower tail compared with factor models based on the discretized multivariate normal distribution (or multidimensional normal ogive model). Details on maximum likelihood estimation of parameters for the factor copula model are given, as well as analysis of the behavior of the log-likelihood. Our general methodology is illustrated with several item response data sets, and it is shown that there is a substantial improvement on existing models both conceptually and in fit to data

Standardization of Preclinical PET/CT Imaging to Improve Quantitative Accuracy, Precision, and Reproducibility: A Multicenter Study

Preclinical PET/CT is a well-established noninvasive imaging tool for studying disease development/progression and the development of novel radiotracers and pharmaceuticals for clinical applications. Despite this pivotal role, standardization of preclinical PET/CT protocols, including CT absorbed dose guidelines, is essentially nonexistent. This study (1) quantitatively assesses the variability of current preclinical PET/CT acquisition and reconstruction protocols routinely used across multiple centers and scanners; and (2) proposes acquisition and reconstruction PET/CT protocols for standardization of multicenter data, optimized for routine scanning in the preclinical PET/CT laboratory. Methods: Five different commercial preclinical PET/CT scanners in Europe and the United States were enrolled. Seven different PET/CT phantoms were used for evaluating biases on default/general scanner protocols, followed by developing standardized protocols. PET, CT, and absorbed dose biases were assessed. Results: Site default CT protocols were the following: greatest extracted Hounsfield units (HU) were 133 HU for water and −967 HU for air; significant differences in all tissue equivalent material (TEM) groups were measured. The average CT absorbed doses for mouse and rat were 72 mGy and 40 mGy, respectively. Standardized CT protocol were the following: greatest extracted HU were −77 HU for water and −990 HU for air; TEM precision improved with a reduction in variability for each tissue group. The average CT absorbed dose for mouse and rat decreased to 37 mGy and 24 mGy, respectively. Site default PET protocols were the following: uniformity was substandard in one scanner, recovery coefficients (RCs) were either over- or underestimated (maximum of 43%), standard uptake values (SUVs) were biased by a maximum of 44%. Standardized PET protocols were the following: scanner with substandard uniformity improved by 36%, RC variability decreased by 13% points, and SUV accuracy improved to 10%. Conclusion: Data revealed important quantitative biases in preclinical PET/CT and absorbed doses with default protocols. Standardized protocols showed improvements in measured PET/CT accuracy and precision with reduced CT absorbed dose across sites. Adhering to standardized protocols generates reproducible and consistent preclinical imaging datasets, thus augmenting translation of research findings to the clinic

Vine copula-based asymmetry and tail dependence modeling

© Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature 2018. Financial variables such as asset returns in the massive market contain various hierarchical and horizontal relationships that form complicated dependence structures. Modeling these structures is challenging due to the stylized facts of market data. Many research works in recent decades showed that copula is an effective method to describe relations among variables. Vine structures were introduced to represent the decomposition of multivariate copula functions. However, the model construction of vine structures is still a tough problem owing to the geometrical data, conditional independent assumptions and the stylized facts. In this paper, we introduce a new bottom-to-up method to construct regular vine structures and applies the model to 12 currencies over 16 years as a case study to analyze the asymmetric and fat tail features. The out-of-sample performance of our model is evaluated by Value at Risk, a widely used industrial benchmark. The experimental results show that our model and its intrinsic design significantly outperform industry baselines, and provide financially interpretable knowledge and profound insights into the dependence structures of multi-variables with complex dependencies and characteristics