Trends in cancer incidence and mortality in Scotland: description and possible explanations.

Secular and cohort trends in mortality from cancer in Scotland during 1953-93, and incidence during 1960-90, were analysed using individual records from the national mortality and registration files. For certain cancer sites, the secular analyses of mortality were extended back to 1911 by use of published data. Mortality from cancer at older ages in Scotland has increased over the last 40 years. In each sex, this trend has been dominated by the effects of smoking: all-cancer rates and rates of lung cancer, now the most common fatal cancer in men and in women in Scotland, reached a peak in the cohort of men born at the turn of the century and the cohort of women born in the 1920s. For much of the period, the Scottish all-age rates of lung cancer were the highest reported in the world; they are now decreasing on a secular basis in men, but are still increasing in women. There have also been large increases at older ages in the incidence and mortality rates for cancer of the prostate in recent years. bladder cancer, nervous system cancer, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, myeloma and leukaemia; for each there is likely to be a considerable artefactual element to the increase, with differing degrees of possibility that there may in addition be an element of real increase. Substantial decreases in mortality at all ages have occurred for stomach and colorectal cancers and substantial increases at all ages for pleural cancer and melanoma. Rates of mortality from breast cancer, the most common cancer in women in Scotland, have generally increased over the past 80 years; a temporary cessation in this upward trend occurred in the years during and after the Second World War, and recently rates have turned downward, probably at least in part because of better treatment. Mortality from ovarian cancer, the second most common reproductive-related female tumour in Scotland, has also increased at older ages. At younger ages, mortality from cancer in Scotland has decreased, especially in men, whereas incidence has not. This divergence, which has been a consequence of better treatment, has occurred especially for cancers of the testis and ovary, Hodgkin's disease and leukaemia. There have been increases at young adult ages, however, in both mortality from and incidence of oral and pharyngeal, oesophageal and laryngeal cancers in men, and melanoma and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in each sex. Cervical cancer rates at young ages also increased, but this trend has reversed for incidence in the most recent birth cohorts. Incidence rates have also increased for testicular cancer in young adults and leukaemia in children. With the possible exceptions of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and childhood leukaemia, the increasing rates are likely largely to reflect real rises in incidence, and they highlight the need for investigation of the causes of these cancers, and, when causes are known, for preventive action

On the effect of multiple parallel nonlinear absorbers in palliation of torsional response of automotive drivetrain

Torsional vibrations transmitted from the engine to the drivetrain system induce a plethora of noise, vibration and harshness (NVH) concerns, such a transmission gear rattle and clutch in-cycle vibration, to name but a few. The main elements of these oscillations are variations in the inertial imbalance and the constituents of combustion power torque, collectively referred to as engine order vibration. To attenuate the effect of these transmitted vibrations and their oscillatory effects in the drive train system, a host of palliative measures are employed in practice, such as clutch pre-dampers, slipping discs, dual mass flywheel and others, all of which operate effectively over a narrow band of frequencies and have various unintended repercussions. These include increased powertrain inertia, installation package space and cost. This paper presents a numerical study of the use of multiple Nonlinear Energy Sinks (NES) as a means of attenuating the torsional oscillations for an extended frequency range and under transient vehicle manoeuvres. Frequency–Energy Plots (FEP) are used to obtain the nonlinear absorber parameters for multiple NES coupled in parallel to the clutch disc of a typical drivetrain configuration. The results obtained show significant reduction in the oscillations of the transmission input shaft, effective over a broad range of response frequencies. It is also noted that the targeted reduction of the acceleration amplitude of the input shaft requires significantly lower NES inertia, compared with the existing palliative measures

Public housing, commodification, and rights to the city: the US and England compared

In the past decade, England has not experienced the radical neglect and demolition of public housing that We Call These Projects Home describes happening in the United States. The English social housing sector has declined in size, primarily by sales to sitting tenants, but it remains a significant part of the housing system. Nonetheless, in London, we find that the progressive commodification of housing has contributed to the dispersion and suburbanisation of the urban poor over the 2000s, as the city as a whole prospered. As well as some demolition of inner-city housing estates, the increasing use of subsidised private renting has played a central role in this. We argue that in England, the boundary and relationship between state and market is an essential foundation to an analysis of ‘rights to the city’. This is because it both determines the actual proportion of housing allocated by market pricing (as opposed to rights or needs) and the spheres of decision where market logic (rather than claims to rights) prevails. Current changes to Housing Benefit exemplify the effects of privatisation on the socio-spatial organisation of the city

Mortality and survival among a cohort of drug injectors in Glasgow, 1982-1994

There has been much speculation about the nature and extent of mortality among drug injectors in Glasgow. In order to determine injectors' mortality rate and compare this rate to the general population, identifier information from 459 drug injectors who received treatment for drug misuse in Glasgow between 1982 and 1994 was linked to the Scottish Mortality Register. The average duration of follow-up from cohort entry was 5.5 years and 10.2 years from commencement of drug injection. By the end of 1994, 53 cohort members had died. The average annual mortality rate of 1.8% was the same as that observed in a London cohort followed-up from 1969 to 1991. However, the excess mortality ratio (EMR) of 22.0 was almost double the London rate (11.9) because of the much lower average age of mortality (26.3 vs. 38.2 years). There was no significant time trend in EMR. Kaplan-Meier hazard analyzes show that younger patients and those who were HIV positive had significantly elevated mortality rates. The main cause of death was overdose, although it is unclear how many were accidental and how many intentional. Three of the six fatalities among HIV positive injectors were AIDS related. This study enables the first realistic assessment of the hypothesis that drug-related deaths in Glasgow are especially high. In relation to other populations of drug injectors, the annual mortality rate is comparable, although the average age of mortality is much lower in Glasgow. Consequently, in comparison to the general population, the mortality rate of drug injectors is higher in Glasgow compared to other cities