Book review: why Britain must fight for a fairer society

Alex Moore finds some important lessons for David Cameron in Will Hutton�s book on how to save the country from social and economic ruin

Factors Effecting Survival of Teeth with Nonsurgical Root Canal Therapy Including a Multi-State Outcome Analysis

Objective: To study the factors effecting the survival of teeth with non-surgical root canal therapy (NS-RCT) and to compare the transitions between failure states for teeth treated with NS-RCT based on initial provider type. Methods: Insurance claims were analyzed for 438,487 initial NS-RCT procedures to determine the effect of provider type, patient age, tooth position, presence of post/core, and crown at 90 days on tooth survival. Kaplan Meier survival estimates were evaluated for 1, 3, 5, and 10 years and adjusted hazard ratios (aHR’s) were calculated. A multi-state model with six transitions was created using the ‘mstate’ R package. Results: Overall survival was 98.2% at 1 year, 94.4% at 3 years, 90.8% at 5 years, and 82.8% at 10 years. Ten-year survival rates were 84.5% and 81.9% for teeth treated by endodontists and other providers, respectively. In the multiple regression analysis, significant differences in survival were found comparing NS-RCT provider (other provider vs. endodontist, aHR 1.31 [1.27, 1.35]) and tooth location (molar vs. anterior, aHR 1.26 [1.21, 1.31]). Increasing age at NS-RCT was significantly associated with a greater hazard of extraction. Placement of core/post and crown within 90 days were each significantly associated with a reduced hazard of extraction (aHR = 0.74 [0.72, 0.76] and aHR = 0.53 [0.51, 0.54]). Most teeth treated by NS-RCT had no subsequent treatment interventions. Teeth that were retreated were more likely to be extracted than teeth that did not have such an intervention. Teeth were more likely to be extracted than retreated. If a tooth had a non-surgical retreatment and subsequently a surgical retreatment, then it was more likely that the surgical intervention occurred during the first year of treatment. Conclusion: Survival rates of NSRCT treated teeth are higher among teeth treated by endodontists, when a crown was placed within 90-days of NSRCT and among younger patients. NS-RCT failures are most likely to result in tooth extraction. When retreatment is performed, it is more likely to be non-surgical and retreatment in any form increases the likelihood for future extraction. NS-RCTs initially performed by non-endodontists also have a greater chance for non-surgical retreatment or extraction

A rank based social norms model of how people judge their levels of drunkenness whilst intoxicated

Background: A rank based social norms model predicts that drinkers’ judgements about their drinking will be based on the rank of their breath alcohol level amongst that of others in the immediate environment, rather than their actual breath alcohol level, with lower relative rank associated with greater feelings of safety. This study tested this hypothesis and examined how people judge their levels of drunkenness and the health consequences of their drinking whilst they are intoxicated in social drinking environments. Methods: Breath alcohol testing of 1,862 people (mean age = 26.96 years; 61.86 % male) in drinking environments. A subset (N = 400) also answered four questions asking about their perceptions of their drunkenness and the health consequences of their drinking (plus background measures). Results: Perceptions of drunkenness and the health consequences of drinking were regressed on: (a) breath alcohol level, (b) the rank of the breath alcohol level amongst that of others in the same environment, and (c) covariates. Only rank of breath alcohol level predicted perceptions: How drunk they felt (b 3.78, 95 % CI 1.69 5.87), how extreme they regarded their drinking that night (b 3.7, 95 % CI 1.3 6.20), how at risk their long-term health was due to their current level of drinking (b 4.1, 95 % CI 0.2 8.0) and how likely they felt they would experience liver cirrhosis (b 4.8. 95 % CI 0.7 8.8). People were more influenced by more sober others than by more drunk others. Conclusion: Whilst intoxicated and in drinking environments, people base judgements regarding their drinking on how their level of intoxication ranks relative to that of others of the same gender around them, not on their actual levels of intoxication. Thus, when in the company of others who are intoxicated, drinkers were found to be more likely to underestimate their own level of drinking, drunkenness and associated risks. The implications of these results, for example that increasing the numbers of sober people in night time environments could improve subjective assessments of drunkenness, are discussed

The academic, linguistic and social development of bilingual pupils in secondary education: issues of diagnosis, pedagogy and culture

Different pedagogical and curricular approaches to bilingual pupils are examined at two institutions. At the first institution, an off-site language unit, bilingual pupils are shown to be denied access to the full range of normal classroom discourses, being denied opportunities to initiate discussions, ask questions or work in small groups. When pupils attempt to take control of discourses themselves, their cognitive-linguistic inputs, imperfectly expressed, are often interpreted as incorrect. Typically, existing language and learning skills, including first-language skills, are not taken into account by teachers, and cognitive levels are set at levels commensurate with the pupils' second-language, rather than first-language, competences. This pedagogical approach, described as 'language led', results in pupils engaging in language-learning activities far below those appropriate to their chronological ages. At the second institution, a mainstream comprehensive school, bilingual pupils are shown ostensibly to be provided access to a curriculum appropriate to their chronological ages, and to the full range of normal classroom discourses. It is argued, however, that particular discursive forms and genres imported into the classroom from 'out-of-school' cultures - for example, preferred ways of writing and drawing - are treated by teachers as incorrect and as symptoms of pupil deficiency. This results in unhelpful pedagogies which inhibit pupils' linguistic-academic development. The thesis concludes by describing classroom situations in which more helpful pedagogical approaches are adopted, through teachers 'distancing themselves' from their own and their pupils' cultural preferences and through treating alternative forms of representation as different rather than as merely wrong. Such teachers adopt a policy of extending their pupils, cultural-representational repertoires, rather than seeking to replace one set of cultural forms with another. The thesis questions the extent to which teachers can, through such approaches, mount an effective challenge to existing perceptions that certain forms of representation are intrinsically superior to others

Which is Not One

Specific yet anonymous, my paintings allow the viewer to sit within what would normally be a fleeting moment of intimacy

Effects of Microstructure Formation on the Stability of Vapor Deposited Glasses

Glasses formed by physical vapor deposition (PVD) are an interesting new class of materials, exhibiting properties thought to be equivalent to those of glasses aged for thousands of years. Exerting control over the structure and properties of PVD glasses formed with different types of glass-forming molecules is now an emerging challenge. In this work, we study coarse grained models of organic glass formers containing fluorocarbon tails of increasing length, corresponding to an increased tendency to form microstructures. We use simulated PVD to examine how the presence of the microphase separated domains in the supercooled liquid influences the ability to form stable glasses. This model suggests that increasing molecule tail length results in decreased thermodynamic and kinetic stability of the molecules in PVD films. The reduced stability is further linked to the reduced ability of these molecules to equilibrate at the free surface during PVD. We find that as the tail length is increased, the relaxation time near the surface of the supercooled equilibrium liquid films of these molecules are slowed and become essentially bulk-like, due to the segregation of the fluorocarbon tails to the free surface. Surface diffusion is also markedly reduced due to clustering of the molecules at the surface. Based on these results, we propose a trapping mechanism where tails are unable to move between local phase separated domains on the relevant deposition time scales

Effects of adrenoreceptor activation and aging on skeletal muscle arterioles at rest and during rapid onset vasodilation

The entire dissertation/thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file (which also appears in the research.pdf); a non-technical general description, or public abstract, appears in the public.pdf file.Title from PDF of title page (University of Missouri--Columbia, viewed on October 31, 2011).Vita.Thesis advisor: Steven S. Segal.Ph. D. University of Missouri-Columbia 2010.Sympathetic nerve activity (SNA) induces arteriolar vasoconstriction via [alpha]-adrenoreceptor ([alpha]AR) activation. Whether [alpha]AR activation affects the spread of rapid onset vasodilation (ROV) in contracting muscle is unknown. Differential [alpha]AR distribution in vascular smooth muscle has been proposed to mediate functional sympatholysis, however the [alpha]AR subtype distribution in locomotor muscle is undefined. This dissertation determined: 1) the effects of constitutive [alpha]AR activation on the spread of ROV within contracting muscle, 2) the functional [alpha]AR distribution in locomotor muscle of the mouse, and 3) the influence of [alpha]AR on ROV during aging. In arterioles of the gluteus maximus muscle (GM), I tested the hypotheses that: 1) adrenoreceptor subtype distribution is heterogeneous and 2) adrenoreceptor activation modulates the spread of ROV. The left GM of young (3-month) anesthetized C57BL/6 mice were studied using intravital microscopy. Distinct anastomotic, 1A, 2A, and 3A arterioles were studied at rest and following single muscle contraction in the presence or absence of topical [alpha]AR agonists and antagonists. Functional [alpha]AR distribution differed between proximal and distal arterioles. Constitutive [alpha]AR activation inhibited the spread of ROV between regions of the GM. It also reduced the amount of ROV seen in old ([about]20-month) versus young male mice. I conclude that functional [alpha]AR are heterogeneously distributed in arteriolar networks and serve to modulate regional vasodilation.Includes bibliographical reference

Fast Algorithms and Efficient Statistics: N-point Correlation Functions

We present here a new algorithm for the fast computation of N-point correlation functions in large astronomical data sets. The algorithm is based on kdtrees which are decorated with cached sufficient statistics thus allowing for orders of magnitude speed-ups over the naive non-tree-based implementation of correlation functions. We further discuss the use of controlled approximations within the computation which allows for further acceleration. In summary, our algorithm now makes it possible to compute exact, all-pairs, measurements of the 2, 3 and 4-point correlation functions for cosmological data sets like the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS; York et al. 2000) and the next generation of Cosmic Microwave Background experiments (see Szapudi et al. 2000).Comment: To appear in Proceedings of MPA/MPE/ESO Conference "Mining the Sky", July 31 - August 4, 2000, Garching, German

Multiparametric MR imaging for detection of clinically significant prostate cancer: a validation cohort study with transperineal template prostate mapping as the reference standard.

PURPOSE: To evaluate the diagnostic performance of multiparametric (MP) magnetic resonance (MR) imaging for prostate cancer detection by using transperineal template prostate mapping (TTPM) biopsies as the reference standard and to determine the potential ability of MP MR imaging to identify clinically significant prostate cancer. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Institutional review board exemption was granted by the local research ethics committee for this retrospective study. Included were 64 men (mean age, 62 years [range, 40-76]; mean prostate-specific antigen, 8.2 ng/mL [8.2 μg/L] [range, 2.1-43 ng/mL]), 51 with biopsy-proved cancer and 13 suspected of having clinically significant cancer that was biopsy negative or without prior biopsy. MP MR imaging included T2-weighted, dynamic contrast-enhanced and diffusion-weighted imaging (1.5 T, pelvic phased-array coil). Three radiologists independently reviewed images and were blinded to results of biopsy. Two-by-two tables were derived by using sectors of analysis of four quadrants, two lobes, and one whole prostate. Primary target definition for clinically significant disease necessary to be present within a sector of analysis on TTPM for that sector to be deemed positive was set at Gleason score of 3+4 or more and/or cancer core length involvement of 4 mm or more. Sensitivity, negative predictive value, and negative likelihood ratio were calculated to determine ability of MP MR imaging to rule out cancer. Specificity, positive predictive value, positive likelihood ratio, accuracy (overall fraction correct), and area under receiver operating characteristic curves were also calculated. RESULTS: Twenty-eight percent (71 of 256) of sectors had clinically significant cancer by primary endpoint definition. For primary endpoint definition (≥ 4 mm and/or Gleason score ≥ 3+4), sensitivity, negative predictive value, and negative likelihood ratios were 58%-73%, 84%-89%, and 0.3-0.5, respectively. Specificity, positive predictive value, and positive likelihood ratios were 71%-84%, 49%-63%, and 2.-3.44, respectively. Area under the curve values were 0.73-0.84. CONCLUSION: Results of this study indicate that MP MR imaging has a high negative predictive value to rule out clinically significant prostate cancer and may potentially have clinical use in diagnostic pathways of men at risk