London Breastfeeding Education in Schools Project

This report was commissioned by the Regional Public Health Group DH London to scope the need for a Curriculum Toolkit to promote breastfeeding amongst school aged children in London

The relative roles of CO2 and palaeogeography in determining Late Miocene climate: results from a terrestrial model-data comparison

The Late Miocene (∼11.6–5.3 Ma) palaeorecord provides evidence for a warmer and wetter climate than that of today and there is uncertainty in the palaeo-CO2 record of at least 150 ppmv. We present results from fully coupled atmosphere-ocean-vegetation simulations for the Late Miocene that examine the relative roles of palaeogeography (topography and ice sheet geometry) and CO2 concentration in the determination of Late Miocene climate through comprehensive terrestrial model-data comparisons. Assuming that the data accurately reflects the Late Miocene climate, and that the Late Miocene palaeogeographic reconstruction used in the model is robust, then results indicate that the proxy-derived precipitation differences between the Late Miocene and modern can be largely accounted for by the palaeogeographic changes alone. However, the proxy-derived temperatures differences between the Late Miocene and modern can only begin to be accounted for if we assume a palaeo-CO2 concentration towards the higher end of the range of estimates

Education and training in radioecology during the EU-COMET project-successes and suggestions for the future

The 2014 Strategic Research Agenda (SRA) for Radioecology identified the key challenge in education and training (E&T) as being 'to maintain and develop a skilled workforce in Europe and world-wide, through university candidates and professionals trained within radioecology' since 'scientific research in radioecology and application of that knowledge ... requires scientists and workers with adequate competence and appropriate skills.' Radioecology is a multidisciplinary science and E&T is needed by both students and professionals within research, industry and radiation protection. In order to address these needs, the EU COMET project has developed an E&T web platform and arranged a number of field courses, training courses, PhD and MSc courses, refresher courses and workshops, drawing on the COMET consortium to assemble relevant experts. In addition, COMET has been engaged in discussions with stakeholders for more long-term solutions to maintain the sustainability of radioecology E&T after the end of the project. Despite much progress in some areas, many of the challenges outlined in the 2014 SRA remain, mainly due to the lack of sustainable dedicated funding. Future plans within the ALLIANCE radioecology platform and the CONCERT-European Joint Programme for the Integration of Radiation Protection Research must urgently address this lack of sustainability if radioecological competence is to be maintained in Europe

Quantification of proteins in whole blood, plasma and DBS, with element-labelled antibody detection by ICP-MS

Over recent years, quantification of multiple proteins in body fluids has become increasingly prominent, which is beneficial to a number of scientific fields, not least biomedical. Several techniques have been developed based on conventional ELISA; one of these techniques is analysis of proteins labelled with element-tagged antibodies by ICP-MS in serum, allowing quantification of multiple targets within a single sample. This research aimed to quantify albumin and immunoglobulin G (IgG) levels in plasma, whole blood and dried blood spots using NANOGOLD and Europium labelled antibodies analysed by ICP-MS. Before the proteins were quantified simultaneously, albumin and IgG concentrations were measured separately and compared to protein levels obtained by ELISA. It was found that protein concentrations for both albumin and IgG obtained with element-labelled antibody detection correspond to those determined by ELISA. Furthermore, albumin and IgG levels measured simultaneously by ICP-MS correspond to concentrations found when the proteins were analysed separately by ICP-MS. Finally, development of this method has provided a positive indication that it can be extended to quantification of additional proteins, which could be related to a disease or as a minimum provide additional information for a protein profile of an individual. [Abstract copyright: Copyright © 2019. Published by Elsevier Inc.

Examining potential school contextual influences on gambling among high school youth

Background and Objectives: Gambling is an increasing concern among adolescence, yet there has been limited investigation into school-level factors that may increase the risk for gambling. The current study examined the relationship between substance use and gambling, and explored the influence of school context on adolescent gambling. Methods: Data come from 25,456 students in 58 high schools participating in the Maryland Safe and Supportive Schools Initiative. Youth-reports of socio-demographics, lifetime gambling, and past-month substance use (ie, alcohol, cigarette, marijuana, non-medical prescription drug) were collected. School-level characteristics were student suspension rate, student mobility, percentage of students receiving free/reduce-priced meals, percentage of African American students, urbanicity, gambling prevalence, gambling problem prevalence, and substance use prevalence. Weighted multilevel analyses were conducted. Results: One-third (n = 8,318) reported lifetime gambling, and 10% (n = 2,580) of the full sample, or 31% of the gamblers, experienced gambling problems. Being male and alcohol, marijuana, and non-medical prescription drug use were associated with twice the odds of gambling. Among gamblers, being male, African American, and cigarette, marijuana, and non-medical prescription drug use were associated with higher odds of gambling problems. The school-level factors of suspension rate and percentage of African American had minimal, inverse associations with gambling; however, none were related to gambling problems. Conclusions: Multilevel results indicated that adolescents that are male and use substances are more likely to gamble and have gambling problems. Scientific Significance: The findings indicate a need for prevention programs targeting risky behaviors to also target gambling as such behaviors often co-occur among adolescents

Follow-up costs increase the cost disparity between endovascular and open abdominal aortic aneurysm repair

ObjectiveThis study compared the hospital and follow-up costs of patients who have undergone endovascular (EVAR) or open (OR) elective abdominal aortic aneurysm repair.MethodsThe records of 195 patients (EVAR, n = 55; OR, n = 140) who underwent elective aortic aneurysm repair between 1995 and 2004 were reviewed. Primary costing data were analyzed for 54 EVAR and 135 OR patients. Hospital costs were divided into preoperative, operative, and postoperative costs. Follow-up costs for EVAR patients were recorded, with a median follow-up time of 12 months.ResultsMean preoperative costs were slightly higher in the EVAR group (AU $961/US$733 vs AU $869/US$663; not significant). Operative costs were significantly higher in the EVAR group (AU $16,124/US$12,297 vs AU $6077/US$4635; P < .001); this was entirely due to the increased cost of the endograft (AU $10,181/US$7,765 for EVAR vs AU $476/US$363 for OR). Postoperative costs were significantly reduced in the EVAR group (AU $4719/US$3599 vs AU $11,491/US$8,764; P < .001). Total hospital costs were significantly greater in the EVAR group (AU $21,804/US$16,631 vs AU $18,437/US$14,063; P < .001). The increase in total hospital costs was due to a significant difference in graft costs, which was not offset by reduced postoperative costs. The average follow-up cost per year after EVAR was AU $1316/US$999. At 1 year of follow-up, EVAR remained significantly more expensive than OR (AU $23,120/US$17,640 vs AU $18,510/US$14,122; P < .001); this cost discrepancy increased with a longer follow-up.ConclusionsEVAR results in significantly greater hospital costs compared with OR, despite reduced hospital and intensive care unit stays. The inclusion of follow-up costs further increases the cost disparity between EVAR and OR. Because EVAR requires lifelong surveillance and has a high rate of reintervention, follow-up costs must be included in any cost comparison of EVAR and OR. The economic cost, as well as the efficacy, of new technologies such as EVAR must be addressed before their widespread use is advocated

Gender differences in research areas, methods and topics: Can people and thing orientations explain the results?

Although the gender gap in academia has narrowed, females are underrepresented within some fields in the USA. Prior research suggests that the imbalances between science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields may be partly due to greater male interest in things and greater female interest in people, or to off-putting masculine cultures in some disciplines. To seek more detailed insights across all subjects, this article compares practising US male and female researchers between and within 285 narrow Scopus fields inside 26 broad fields from their first-authored articles published in 2017. The comparison is based on publishing fields and the words used in article titles, abstracts, and keywords. The results cannot be fully explained by the people/thing dimensions. Exceptions include greater female interest in veterinary science and cell biology and greater male interest in abstraction, patients, and power/control fields, such as politics and law. These may be due to other factors, such as the ability of a career to provide status or social impact or the availability of alternative careers. As a possible side effect of the partial people/thing relationship, females are more likely to use exploratory and qualitative methods and males are more likely to use quantitative methods. The results suggest that the necessary steps of eliminating explicit and implicit gender bias in academia are insufficient and might be complemented by measures to make fields more attractive to minority genders

Global assessment of impacts on migration and security issues

HELIX - High-End cLimate Impacts and eXtreme