Early Adversity and Late Life Employment History—A Sequence Analysis Based on SHARE

Numerous studies have linked poor socioeconomic circumstances during working life with early retirement. Few studies, however, have summarized entire patterns of employment histories and tested their links to social position at earlier stages of the life course. Therefore, this article summarizes types of late life employment histories and tests their associations with adversity both during childhood and early adulthood. We use data from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) with retrospective life history data on 5,857 older men and women across 14 countries. Employment histories are studied with annual information on the employment situation between ages 50 and 70. To summarize employment histories we apply sequence analysis and group histories into 8 clusters with similar histories. Most of these clusters are dominated by full-time employees, with retirement before, at or after age 60. Additionally, we find clusters that are dominated by self-employment and comparatively late retirement. The remaining clusters are marked by part-time work, continuous domestic work, or discontinuous histories that include unemployment before retirement. Results of multinomial regressions (accounting for country affiliation and adjusted for potential confounders) show that early adversity is linked to full-time employment ending in retirement at age 60 or earlier and to discontinuous histories (in the case of women), but not to histories of self-employment. In sum, we find that histories of employees with early retirement and discontinuous histories are part of larger trajectories of disadvantage throughout the life course, supporting the idea of cumulative disadvantage in life course research

Rapid surfactant-free synthesis of Mg(OH)2 nanoplates and pseudomorphic dehydration to MgO

Magnesium hydroxide nanoplates ca. 50 nm in thickness can be prepared over minute timescales via hydrothermal synthesis in a multimode cavity (MMC) microwave reactor. This approach allows ca. 1 g of single-phase Mg(OH)2 to be synthesised in under 3 minutes without the requirement of surfactants or non-aqueous solvents. The hydroxide nanomaterial dehydrates at temperatures >200 K below that of the equivalent bulk material and can be utilised as a precursor for the pseudomorphic synthesis of nanoplates of MgO as investigated by TG-DTA-MS, XRD and SEM measurements. Equally, the pseudomorphic synthesis can be performed by irradiating the Mg(OH)2 nanomaterial with microwaves for 6 minutes to produce single phase MgO

Successful ageing in an area of deprivation: Part 1—A qualitative exploration of the role of life experiences in good health in old age

Objectives: To determine the life histories and current circumstances of healthy and unhealthy older people who share an ecology marked by relative deprivation and generally poor health. Study design: In-depth interview study with a qualitative analysis. Methods: Matched pairs of healthy and unhealthy ‘agers’ were interviewed face-to-face. Healthy ageing was assessed in terms of hospital morbidity and self-reported health. Study participants consisted of 22 pairs (44 individuals), aged 72–89 years, matched for sex, age and deprivation category, and currently resident in the West of Scotland. All study participants were survivors of the Paisley/Renfrew (MIDSPAN) survey, a longitudinal study commenced in 1972 with continuous recording of morbidity and mortality since. Detailed life histories were obtained which focused on family, residence, employment, leisure and health. This information was supplemented by more focused data on ‘critical incidents’, financial situation and position in social hierarchies. Results: Data provided rich insights into life histories and current circumstances but no differences were found between healthy and unhealthy agers. Conclusions: It is important to understand what differentiates individuals who have lived in circumstances characterized by relative deprivation and poor health, yet have aged healthily. This study collected rich and detailed qualitative data. Yet, no important differences were detected between healthy and unhealthy agers. This is an important negative result as it suggests that the phenomenon of healthy ageing and the factors that promote healthy ageing over a lifetime are so complex that they will require even more detailed studies to disentangle

Jupiter's visible aurora and Io footprint

Images obtained by the Galileo spacecraft's solid-state imaging (SSI) system represent the first survey of Jupiter's northern auroral emissions at visible wavelengths and on the nightside of the planet. These images captured the emissions with unprecedented spatial resolutions down to ∼26 km pixel^(−1). Four classes of emission were observed: (1) a continuous, primary arc associated with the middle/outer magnetosphere, (2) a variable secondary arc associated with the region just beyond Io's torus, (3) diffuse “polar cap” emission, and (4) a patch and tail associated with the magnetic footprint of Io. The primary arc emission occurs at an altitude 245±30 km above the 1-bar pressure level. Its horizontal width is typically a few hundred kilometers, and its total optical power output varied between ∼10^(10) and ∼10^(11) W in observations taken months apart. The location of the primary arc in planetary coordinates is similar to that on dayside images at other wavelengths and does not vary with local time. The morphology of the primary arc is not constant, changing from a multiply branched, latitudinally distributed pattern after dusk to a single, narrow arc before dawn. Emission from Io's ionospheric footprint is distinct from both the primary and secondary arcs. Measurements of its optical power output ranged from 2 to 7×10^8 W

Process for Removing Radioactive Wastes from Liquid Streams

The process is under development at Mound Laboratory to remove radioactive waste (principally plutonium-238) from process water prior to discharge of the water to the Miami river. The contaminated water, as normally received, is at a pH between 6 and 90. Under these conditions, plutonium in all its oxidation states is hydrolyzed; however, the level of the radioactive solids varies from about 50ppm down to about 50 ppb and the plutonium remains in a colloidal or subcolloidal condition. The permissible concentration for discharge to the river is about 50 parts per trillion. Pilot plant test show that 95-99% of the radioactive material is removed by adsorption on diatomaceous earth. The remainder is removed by passage through a bed of either dibasic or tribasic calcium phosphate. Ground phosphate rock is equally effective in removing the radioactive material if the flow rate is controlled to permit sufficient contact time. Parameters for optimizing the process are now under study. Future plans include application of the process to wastes from reactor fuels reprocessing

CT appearance of the spleen following conservative management of traumatic injury

Objective: To describe the long-term changes in the traumatized spleen following conservative management in pediatric patients. Methods: Between 1991 and 1997, 92 children were imaged with splenic trauma. The study population includes the 25 boys and 11 girls with follow-up computed tomography (CT) imaging at our institution. The follow-up CT studies were evaluated to determine the evolution of splenic injury. Results: On initial CT there were 6 grade I, 12 grade II, 9 grade III, and 9 grade IV–V splenic injuries. In follow-up 11 spleens were normal (30 %), including at least one in each grade of severity of injury. Splenic abnormalities were identified on follow-up in 25 children. These findings comprised clefts in 8 children, small cysts in 4, and devascularized segments involving less than 1 cm 3 in 6, 1–2 cm 3 in 2, and 2–4 cm 3 in 5 children. Conclusions: All grades of splenic injury can resolve completely on subsequent CT imaging. In this series 30 % of patients had a normal follow-up CT. The most common persistent abnormalities included clefts and devascularized areas less than 4 cm 3 .Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/42349/1/10140-6-3-157_90060157.pd

‘Do i care?’ young adults' recalled experiences of early adolescent overweight and obesity: a qualitative study

<p>Objective: Individual behaviour change to reduce obesity requires awareness of, and concern about, weight. This paper therefore describes how young adults, known to have been overweight or obese during early adolescence, recalled early adolescent weight-related awareness and concerns. Associations between recalled concerns and weight-, health- and peer-related survey responses collected during adolescence are also examined.</p> <p>Design: Qualitative semi-structured interviews with young adults; data compared with responses to self-report questionnaires obtained in adolescence.</p> <p>Participants: A total of 35 participants, purposively sub-sampled at age 24 from a longitudinal study of a school year cohort, previously surveyed at ages 11, 13 and 15. Physical measures during previous surveys allowed identification of participants with a body mass index (BMI) indicative of overweight or obesity (based on British 1990 growth reference) during early adolescence. Overall, 26 had been obese, of whom 11 had BMI99.6th centile, whereas 9 had been overweight (BMI=95th–97.9th centile).</p> <p>Measures: Qualitative interview responses describing teenage life, with prompts for school-, social- and health-related concerns. Early adolescent self-report questionnaire data on weight-worries, self-esteem, friends and victimisation (closed questions).</p> <p>Results: Most, but not all recalled having been aware of their overweight. None referred to themselves as having been obese. None recalled weight-related health worries. Recollection of early adolescent obesity varied from major concerns impacting on much of an individual's life to almost no concern, with little relation to actual severity of overweight. Recalled concerns were not clearly patterned by gender, but young adult males recalling concerns had previously reported more worries about weight, lower self-esteem, fewer friends and more victimisation in early adolescence; no such pattern was seen among females. Conclusion: The popular image of the unhappy overweight teenager was not borne out. Many obese adolescents, although well aware of their overweight recalled neither major dissatisfaction nor concern. Weight-reduction behaviours are unlikely in such circumstances.</p&gt

The role of childhood social position in adult type 2 diabetes: Evidence from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing

Copyright @ 2014 Pikhartova et al. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.This article has been made available through the Brunel Open Access Publishing Fund.Background: Socioeconomic circumstances in childhood and early adulthood may influence the later onset of chronic disease, although such research is limited for type 2 diabetes and its risk factors at the different stages of life. The main aim of the present study is to examine the role of childhood social position and later inflammatory markers and health behaviours in developing type 2 diabetes at older ages using a pathway analytic approach. Methods. Data on childhood and adult life circumstances of 2,994 men and 4,021 women from English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA) were used to evaluate their association with diabetes at age 50 years and more. The cases of diabetes were based on having increased blood levels of glycated haemoglobin and/or self-reported medication for diabetes and/or being diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. Father's job when ELSA participants were aged 14 years was used as the measure of childhood social position. Current social characteristics, health behaviours and inflammatory biomarkers were used as potential mediators in the statistical analysis to assess direct and indirect effects of childhood circumstances on diabetes in later life. Results: 12.6 per cent of participants were classified as having diabetes. A disadvantaged social position in childhood, as measured by father's manual occupation, was associated at conventional levels of statistical significance with an increased risk of type 2 diabetes in adulthood, both directly and indirectly through inflammation, adulthood social position and a risk score constructed from adult health behaviours including tobacco smoking and limited physical activity. The direct effect of childhood social position was reduced by mediation analysis (standardised coefficient decreased from 0.089 to 0.043) but remained statistically significant (p = 0.035). All three indirect pathways made a statistically significantly contribution to the overall effect of childhood social position on adulthood type 2 diabetes. Conclusions: Childhood social position influences adult diabetes directly and indirectly through inflammatory markers, adulthood social position and adult health behaviours. © 2014Pikhartova et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.Economic and Social Research Council-funded International Centre for Life Course Studies in Society and Health (RES-596-28-0001)

Towards a consistent model of the hot quadruple system HD 93206 = QZ Carin\ae: II. N-body model

HD 93206 is early-type massive stellar system, composed of components resolved by direct imaging (Ab, Ad, B, C, D) as well as a compact sub-system (Aa1, Aa2, Ac1, Ac2). Its geometry was already determined on the basis of extensive photometric, spectroscopic and interferometric observations. However, the fundamental absolute parameters are still not known precisely enough. We use an advanced N-body model to account for all mutual gravitational perturbations among the four close components, and all observational data types, including: astrometry, radial velocities, eclipse timing variations, squared visibilities, closure phases, triple products, normalized spectra, and spectral-energy distribution (SED). The respective model has 38 free parameters, namely three sets of orbital elements, component masses, and their basic radiative properties ($T$, $\log g$, $v_{\rm rot}$). We revised the fundamental parameters of QZ Car as follows. For a model with the nominal extinction coefficient $R_V \equiv A_V/E(B-V) = 3.1$, the best-fit masses are $m_1 = 26.1\,M_{\rm S}$, $m_2 = 32.3\,M_{\rm S}$, $m_3 = 70.3\,M_{\rm S}$, $m_4 = 8.8\,M_{\rm S}$, with uncertainties of the order of $2\,M_{\rm S}$, and the system distance $d = (2800\pm 100)\,{\rm pc}$. In an alternative model, where we increased the weights of RV and TTV observations and relaxed the SED constraints, because extinction can be anomalous with $R_V \sim 3.4$, the distance is smaller, $d = (2450\pm 100)\,{\rm pc}$. This would correspond to that of Collinder 228 cluster. Independently, this is confirmed by dereddening of the SED, which is only then consistent with the early-type classification (O9.7Ib for Aa1, O8III for Ac1). Future modelling should also account for an accretion disk around Ac2 component.Comment: A&A, submitte