Mortality by education in German speaking Switzerland, 1990-1997: results from the Swiss National Cohort

Background The aim of this paper is to show for the first time mortality differentials by level of education for Swiss men and women. This work is of interest to public health efforts in Switzerland as well as for co-operative international research into the determinants of socioeconomic differentials in health and mortality. Methods This study is based on a longitudinal data set from the Swiss National Cohort, currently incorporating a probabilistic record linkage of the 1990 Swiss census, and all subsequent deaths until the end of 1997. The study population covers all Swiss nationals aged ≥25 years living in German speaking Switzerland, with 19.7 million person-years and 296 929 deaths observed. Educational gradients were analysed using standardized mortality ratios, multiple logistic regression, and the Relative Index of Inequality (RII). Results There were sizeable gradients in mortality by education for all age groups and both sexes. The mortality odds ratio decreased by 7.2% (95% CI: 7.0-7.5%) per additional year of education for men, and by 6.0% (95% CI: 5.6-6.3%) for women. In men, we found a steady decrease of the gradient from 13.1% (95% CI: 11.9-14.4%) in the age group 25-39 to 4.5% (95% CI: 4.0-5.0%) in the age group ≥75 years. For women in the age groups under 65 the gradients were smaller; over the age of 40 there was no decrease with increasing age. These results were fairly insensitive to variations in the parameters of record linkage. Conclusions Despite a comparatively low overall mortality, Swiss men in the 1990s show larger relative gradients in mortality by education than men in other European countries in the 1980s, with the possible exception of younger men in Italy. In Switzerland there is a sizeable potential for further increasing overall life expectancy by reducing the mortality of those with a lower educational level. The results presented contribute to a reliable assessment of socioeconomic mortality differentials in Europ

Mission Possible: BioMedical Experiments on the Space Shuttle

Biomedical research, both applied and basic, was conducted on every Shuttle mission from 1981 to 2011. The Space Shuttle Program enabled NASA investigators and researchers from around the world to address fundamental issues concerning living and working effectively in space. Operationally focused occupational health investigations and tests were given priority by the Shuttle crew and Shuttle Program management for the resolution of acute health issues caused by the rigors of spaceflight. The challenges of research on the Shuttle included: limited up and return mass, limited power, limited crew time, and requirements for containment of hazards. The sheer capacity of the Shuttle for crew and equipment was unsurpassed by any other launch and entry vehicle and the Shuttle Program provided more opportunity for human research than any program before or since. To take advantage of this opportunity, life sciences research programs learned how to: streamline the complicated process of integrating experiments aboard the Shuttle, design experiments and hardware within operational constraints, and integrate requirements between different experiments and with operational countermeasures. We learned how to take advantage of commercial-off-the-shelf hardware and developed a hardware certification process with the flexibility to allow for design changes between flights. We learned the importance of end-to-end testing for experiment hardware with humans-in-the-loop. Most importantly, we learned that the Shuttle Program provided an excellent platform for conducting human research and for developing the systems that are now used to optimize research on the International Space Station. This presentation will include a review of the types of experiments and medical tests flown on the Shuttle and the processes that were used to manifest and conduct the experiments. Learning Objective: This paper provides a description of the challenges related to launching and implementing biomedical experiments aboard the Space Shuttle

\u3cem\u3eWebster\u3c/em\u3e and the Future of Substantive Due Process

In Webster v. Reproductive Health Services, the United States Supreme Court indicated that Roe v. Wade (the case that found a federal constitutional right to abortion) is without majority support on the Court. Roe is de facto overruled. However, the rejection of Roe does not mean a rejection of substantive due process analysis or the right of privacy, which have been approved by all members of the current Court. But substantive due process analysis has been significantly refined. The analysis has been made more objective in two ways. First, the Court now relies primarily on the test for fundamentality which asks whether a liberty was fundamental in the history and tradition of our Nation (rather than upon the more amorphous essential to a scheme of ordered liberty test), and eschews an analysis which asks whether a formerly discovered right is broad enough to encompass a newly-asserted right. Second, the analysis requires that before a proposed fundamental right is tested against the history and tradition or our Nation, it must be formulated in a concrete, fact sensitive manner, which is neither so overbroad as to include other activities which are logically distinct and involve separate considerations nor so narrow as to fail to reasonably accommodate all the interests at stake in a case. As a result of this refinement, when an abortion right is again expressly considered by the Court, it will not be found fundamental, for the right to abortion has been regulated by the states. Nor will abortion rights advocates be able to shelter an abortion right under any sweeping, amorphous formulation of a right, such as the right of procreative choice, which they attempted to employ in the Webster oral arguments. Roe awaits only the proper case for reconsideration to occur and it will be expressly overruled

Distinguishing Genuine from Sham\u27 in Grassroots Lobbying: Protecting the Right to Petition During Elections

This article returns to the debate over a proper test by collecting relevant ads and test proposals in an Appendix and using these as tools to analyze a test derived from a grassroots lobbying ad (hereinafter the PBA Ad ) that was recognized as a genuine issue ad by defense expert Goldstein in McConnell. Parts I through III provide the context for Part IV, which derives and analyzes a test from the PBA Ad. Part I provides a brief overview of the legislative, rulemaking, and constitutional context. Part II demonstrates that McConnell only decided a facial challenge, leaving as-applied challenges for later. Part III shows that the prohibition is unconstitutional as applied here. Part IV analyzes a test derived from a recognized genuine issue ad

Distinguishing Genuine from Sham\u27 in Grassroots Lobbying: Protecting the Right to Petition During Elections

This article returns to the debate over a proper test by collecting relevant ads and test proposals in an Appendix and using these as tools to analyze a test derived from a grassroots lobbying ad (hereinafter the PBA Ad ) that was recognized as a genuine issue ad by defense expert Goldstein in McConnell. Parts I through III provide the context for Part IV, which derives and analyzes a test from the PBA Ad. Part I provides a brief overview of the legislative, rulemaking, and constitutional context. Part II demonstrates that McConnell only decided a facial challenge, leaving as-applied challenges for later. Part III shows that the prohibition is unconstitutional as applied here. Part IV analyzes a test derived from a recognized genuine issue ad