Substance and non-substance addictions

What are we talking about when we speak of substance and nonsubstance addictions? Why is prevention important to society? What are the impacts of prevention on general health? These questions were the guidelines for structuring this paper, in which the conceptualization of prevention and prevention practices are systematically discussed. Furthermore, some emerging challenges in the development of preventive strategies are raised. The present paper starts with a theoretical debate, supported with empirical evidence and literature.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Measuring preparedness : accessing the impact of the Homeland Security grant program

CHDS State/LocalSince the creation of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in 2003, DHS has awarded over 28.7 billion dollars in grant funds to states, locals, territories and tribal entities to enhance prevention, protection, response, and recovery efforts. Yet, the homeland security community continues to struggle with measuring the impact these investments have made toward improving preparedness. The 2009 Federal Preparedness Report highlighted that the nation lacks risk-based performance metrics, accurate data, and analytical tools to measure how these investments have improved preparedness. This thesis outlines the challenges of measuring preparedness across the numerous federal funding streams, assesses the prevalence of these factors, and proposes five recommendations for improving the capacity to answer how prepared we are; how prepared we need to be; and how we close the gap between the two.http://archive.org/details/measuringprepare109454837Program Coordinator, Hamilton County Homeland Security author (civilian)

Characterising the burden of chronic kidney disease among people with type 2 diabetes in England: a cohort study using the Clinical Practice Research Datalink

Objectives To describe prevalence of chronic kidney disease (CKD), demographic and clinical characteristics, treatment patterns and rates of cardiovascular and renal complications for patients with type 2 diabetes (T2D) treated in routine clinical care. Design Repeat cross-sectional study (6 monthly cross-sections) and cohort study from 1 January 2017 to 31 December 2019. Setting Primary care data from English practices contributing to the UK Clinical Practice Research Datalink linked to Hospital Episode Statistics and Office for National Statistics mortality data. Participants Patients with T2D aged >18 years, at least one year of registration data. Primary and secondary outcomes Primary outcome was prevalence of CKD defined as chronic kidney disease epidemiology collaboration (CKD-EPI) estimated glomerular filtration rate <60 mL/min/1.73 m2, and/or urinary albumin creatinine ratio ≥3 mg/mmol in the past 24 months. Secondary outcomes were prescriptions of medications of interest and clinical and demographic characteristics in the past 3 months. In the cohort study rates of renal and cardiovascular complications, all-cause mortality and hospitalisations over the study period were compared among those with and without CKD. Results There were 574 190 eligible patients with T2D as of 1 January 2017 and 664 296 as of 31 December 2019. Estimated prevalence of CKD across the study period was stable at approximately 30%. Medication use was stable over time in people with CKD and T2D, with low use of steroidal mineralocorticoid receptor antagonists (approximately 4.5% across all time points) and a low use but steady increase in use of sodium-glucose co-transporter-2 inhibitors (from 2.6% to 6.2%). Rates of all complications were higher in those with CKD at the start of the study period, with increasing rates, with increased severity of CKD, heart failure and albuminuria. Conclusions The burden of CKD in patients with T2D is high and associated with substantially increased rates of complications particularly in those with comorbid heart failure

Analytical response time estimation in parallel relational database systems

Techniques for performance estimation in parallel database systems are well established for parameters such as throughput, bottlenecks and resource utilisation. However, response time estimation is a complex activity which is difficult to predict and has attracted research for a number of years. Simulation is one option for predicting response time but this is a costly process. Analytical modelling is a less expensive option but requires approximations and assumptions about the queueing networks built up in real parallel database machines which are often questionable and few of the papers on analytical approaches are backed by results from validation against real machines. This paper describes a new analytical approach for response time estimation that is based on a detailed study of different approaches and assumptions. The approach has been validated against two commercial parallel DBMSs running on actual parallel machines and is shown to produce acceptable accuracy

Pharmacological profile of vascular activity of human stem villous arteries

© 2019 Introduction: The function of the placental vasculature differs considerably from other systemic vascular beds of the human body. A detailed understanding of the normal placental vascular physiology is the foundation to understand perturbed conditions potentially leading to placental dysfunction. Methods: Behaviour of human stem villous arteries isolated from placentae at term pregnancy was assessed using wire myography. Effects of a selection of known vasoconstrictors and vasodilators of the systemic vasculature were assessed. The morphology of stem villous arteries was examined using IHC and TEM. Results: Contractile effects in stem villous arteries were caused by U46619, 5-HT, angiotensin II and endothelin-1 (p ≤ 0.05), whereas noradrenaline and AVP failed to result in a contraction. Dilating effects were seen for histamine, riluzole, nifedipine, papaverine, SNP and SQ29548 (p ≤ 0.05) but not for acetylcholine, bradykinin and substance P. Discussion: Stem villous arteries behave differently to vessels of the systemic vasculature and results indicate that the placenta is cut off from the systemic maternal vascular regulation. Particularly, endothelium-dependent processes were attenuated in the placental vasculature, creating a need to determine the role of the endothelium in the placenta in future studies

Partial inhibition of RNA polymerase I promotes animal health and longevity

Health and survival in old age can be improved by changes in gene expression. RNA polymerase (Pol) I is the essential, conserved enzyme whose task is to generate the pre-ribosomal RNA (rRNA). We find that reducing the levels of Pol I activity is sufficient to extend lifespan in the fruit fly. This effect can be recapitulated by partial, adult-restricted inhibition, with both enterocytes and stem cells of the adult midgut emerging as important cell types. In stem cells, Pol I appears to act in the same longevity pathway as Pol III, implicating rRNA synthesis in these cells as the key lifespan determinant. Importantly, reduction in Pol I activity delays broad, age-related impairment and pathology, improving the function of diverse organ systems. Hence, our study shows that Pol I activity in the adult drives systemic, age-related decline in animal health and anticipates mortality

Singularities and Topology of Meromorphic Functions

We present several aspects of the "topology of meromorphic functions", which we conceive as a general theory which includes the topology of holomorphic functions, the topology of pencils on quasi-projective spaces and the topology of polynomial functions.Comment: 21 pages, 1 figur