Smoking, dementia and cognitive decline in the elderly, a systematic review.

Background. Nicotine may aid reaction time, learning and memory, but smoking increases cardiovascular risk. Cardiovascular risk factors have been linked to increased risk of dementia. A previous meta-analysis found that current smokers were at higher risk of subsequent dementia, Alzheimers disease, vascular dementia and cognitive decline. Methods. In order to update and examine this further a systematic review and meta-analysis was carried out using different search and inclusion criteria, database selection and more recent publications. Both reviews were restricted to those aged 65 and over. Results. The review reported here found a significantly increased risk of Alzheimers disease with current smoking and a likely but not significantly increased risk of vascular dementia, dementia unspecified and cognitive decline. Neither review found clear relationships with former smoking. Conclusion. Current smoking increases risk of Alzheimers disease and may increase risk of other dementias. This reinforces need for smoking cessation, particularly aged 65 and over. Nicotine alone needs further investigation. © 2008 Peters et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd

Small portable speed calculator

Calculator is adapted stopwatch calibrated for fast accurate measurement of speeds. Single assembled unit is rugged, self-contained, and relatively inexpensive to manufacture. Potential market includes automobile-speed enforcement, railroads, and field-test facilities

Speed Calculator

An apparatus for measuring the velocity of a vehicle traveling between first and second measured points. The apparatus includes a cylindrical housing having an open top for receiving a transparent disk. Indicia representing speed calibrations is circumferentially spaced adjacent an outer perimeter of the disk. A stopwatch is carried in the housing below said disk and has a rotatable hand which rotates at a predetermined rate under the indicia. A lamp is carried below the stopwatch for illuminating the indicia carried on the transparent disk. The stopwatch is started when the vehicle passes a first reference point and stopped when the vehicle passes the second reference point. Thus, when the hand is stopped, such points to the calibrated indicia on said disk indicating the velocity of a vehicle

The equation of state with nonzero chemical potential for 2+1 flavors

We present results for the QCD equation of state with nonzero chemical potential using the Taylor expansion method with terms up to sixth order in the expansion. Our calculations are performed on asqtad 2+1 quark flavor lattices at $N_t=4$.Comment: Talk given at the XXV International Symposium on Lattice Field Theory, July 30-4 August 2007, Regensburg, German

Report from magnetospheric science

By the early 1990s, magnetospheric physics will have progressed primarily through observations made from Explorer-class spacecraft, sounding rockets, ground based facilities, and shuttle based experiments. The global geospace science (GGS) element of the International Solar Terrestrial Physics program, when combined with contributions to the ESA Cluster mission and ground based and computer modeling programs, will form the basis for a major U.S. initiative in magnetospheric physics. The scientific objectives of the GGS program involve the study of energy transport throughout geospace. The Cluster mission will investigate turbulence and boundary phenomena in geospace, particularly at high latitudes on the dayside and in the region of the neutral sheet at geocentric distances of about 20 earth radii on the night side of the earth. The current state of knowledge is reviewed and the goals of these missions are briefly discussed

The QCD equation of state with asqtad staggered fermions

We report on our result for the equation of state (EOS) with a Symanzik improved gauge action and the asqtad improved staggered fermion action at $N_t=4$ and 6. In our dynamical simulations with 2+1 flavors we use the inexact R algorithm and here we estimate the finite step-size systematic error on the EOS. Finally we discuss the non-zero chemical potential extension of the EOS and give some preliminary results.Comment: 7 pages, 6 figures, presented at Lattice2006(High Temperature and Density), to appear in Proceedings of Scienc

The Equation of State for QCD with 2+1 Flavors of Quarks

We report results for the interaction measure, pressure and energy density for nonzero temperature QCD with 2+1 flavors of improved staggered quarks. In our simulations we use a Symanzik improved gauge action and the Asqtad $O(a^2)$ improved staggered quark action for lattices with temporal extent $N_t=4$ and 6. The heavy quark mass $m_s$ is fixed at approximately the physical strange quark mass and the two degenerate light quarks have masses $m_{ud} =0.1m_s$ or $0.2m_s$. The calculation of the thermodynamic observables employs the integral method where energy density and pressure are obtained by integration over the interaction measure.Comment: 6 pages, 1 figure, 3 tables, contribution to the XXIIIrd International Symposium on Lattice Field Theory, 25-30 July 2005, Trinity College, Dublin, Irelan