Internal Migration and Regional Population Dynamics in Europe: Netherlands Case Study

This report summarises the presentations made and discussions held at the Second of the ESRC/JISC Workshops Planning for the 2001 Census. The report presents views of expert census users and summarises the recommendations to ESRC and JISC about what kinds of data from the 2001 Census should be requested from the UK Census Offices. The Workshops are supported by ESRC Award H507265031. The Census of Population is a very large exercise in data collection and processing. In 2001 some 25 million households in the United Kingdom will be contacted and asked to provide answers to a simple questionnaire of 25 to 30 questions. Such a task is likely to cost £125-150 millions to the Census Offices. Purchase of the data for academic research purposes is likely to cost ESRC and JISC some £1.5 to £2 millions directly and an equivalent amount indirectly on support over the following decade. It is therefore essential that the Population Census is very carefully planned beforehand and that the greatest possible value is extracted from the data collected. This edited collection of papers reports on presentations and discussions in the Fourth and Final Workshop in the series Workshops Planning for the 2001 Census - Determining Academic Community Needs and Strategy. The Fourth Workshop was entitled The 2001 Census: What do we really really want?. The aim was to gather together and summarise the principal recommendations of the First (Geography), Second (Interfaces) and Third (Special Data Sets) Workshops. The Workshop was twinned with another on The One Number Census: A Research Workshop, organised by Ludi Simpson. The One Number Census project is a major undertaking by the Census Offices to deal with anticipated underenumeration by estimating how many households and people are missed by the standard enumeration. Part 1 of the report on Look Up Tables and Area Statistics contains chapters by David Martin on the output geography proposals for 2001, by Seraphim Alvanides and Stan Openshaw on further developments to the methods being used to define output areas and by Bob Barr on what the Look Up Tables associated with the 2001 Census should be like. These chapters contain key recommendations on census output geography. Part 2 of the report puts forward recommendations for the preparation of Microdata - Samples of Anonymised Records and Longitudinal Data from the 2001 Census. Angela Dale summarises the conclusions of the SARs Sub-Group of the Census Offices' Output Working Group. Brian Dodgeon and Heather Joshi document the essential features of the 2001 Census Link to the Longitudinal Study and make a final plea for some new questions. Part 3 of the report reviews proposals for the improvement of Interaction Statistics from the 2001 UK Census. Paul Boyle and Phil Rees make radical proposals for revamping the provision of Migration Statistics. Martin Frost concentrates on ways of improving the accuracy of the Workplace Statistics. The fourth part of the report gathers together recommendations about information technology interfaces to census data, arguing that the tools and infrastructure are now in place to make networked and standalone access to the different types of data so much easier for the new user. Donald Morse and Alistair Towers review what interfaces to boundary data should look like. James Harris argues for the development of interfaces based on general data standards and the Web to access census statistics. Oliver Duke-Williams outlines how complex migration statistics can be presented for access in a simpler and easier to use interface. Ian Turton identifies how current software developments in Java programming will make possible delivering easy to use interfaces to microdata very simple. Finally, Paul Williamson describes a design of a data dictionary for all census data sets. In Part 5, recommendations are summarised. Phil Rees reports on the views of 140 respondents drawn from the different corners of the academic community. The final pages try to draw out some general points from the very large number of recommendations made in the Fourth Workshop

Ectothiorhodospira variabilis, sp. nov., an alkaliphilic and halophilic purple sulfur bacterium from soda lakes

During studies of moderately halophilic strains of Ectothiorhodospira from steppe soda lakes, we found a novel group of bacteria related to Ectothiorhodospira haloalkaliphila with salt optima at 50–80 g NaCl l”1. Phylogenetic analysis using 16S rRNA gene sequences of strains from soda lakes in Mongolia, Egypt and Siberia revealed separation of the group of new isolates from other Ectothiorhodospira species, including the closely related Ect. haloalkaliphila. DNA–DNA hybridization studies demonstrated that the new isolates form a homogeneous group at the species level, but at the same time are distinct from related species such as Ect. haloalkaliphila, Ect. vacuolata, Ect. shaposhnikovii and Ect. marina. The new isolates are considered to be strains of a novel species, for which the name Ectothiorhodospira variabilis sp. nov. is proposed, with the type strain WN22T (5VKM B-2479T 5DSM 21381T). Photosynthetic pigments of the novel species are bacteriochlorophyll a and carotenoids of the spirilloxanthin series with spirilloxanthin and derivatives thereof, together with small amounts of lycopene and rhodopin. Gas vesicles are formed by most of the strains, particularly in media containing yeast extract (0.5 g l”1) and acetate (0.5–2.0 g l”1). Sequence analysis of nifH (nitrogenase) and cbbL (RuBisCO) confirmed the assignment of the strains to the genus Ectothiorhodospira and in particular the close relationship to Ect. haloalkaliphila. The novel species Ect. variabilis is found in soda lakes separated by great geographical distances and is an alkaliphilic and halophilic bacterium that tolerates salt concentrations up to 150–200 g NaCl l”1

The Enigmatic Young Object: Walker 90/V590 Monocerotis

We assess the evolutionary status of the intriguing object Walker 90/V590 Mon, which is located about 20 arcminutes northwest of the Cone Nebula near the center of the open cluster NGC 2264. This object, according to its most recent optical spectral type determination (B7), which we confirmed, is at least 3 magnitudes too faint in V for the cluster distance, but it shows the classical signs of a young pre-main sequence object, such as highly variable Halpha emission, Mg II emission, IR excess, UV continuum, and optical variability. We analyzed a collection of archival and original data on Walker 90, covering 45 years including photometry, imaging, and spectroscopic data ranging from ultraviolet to near-infrared wavelengths. According to star formation processes, it is expected that, as this object clears its primordial surroundings, it should become optically brighter, show a weakening of its IR excess and present decreasing line emissions. This behavior is supported by our observations and analysis, but timescales are expected to be longer than the one observed here. Based on photometric data secured in 2007, we find Walker 90 at its brightest recorded optical magnitude. We document an evolution in spectral type over the past five decades (from A2/A3 to currently B7 and as early as B4), along with a decrease in the near-infrared K fluxes. From near-infrared images secured in 2004, Walker 90 appears as a point source placing an upper limit of 0.1 arcsec for its diameter. We conclude that many observational features are explained if W90 is a flared disk system, surrounded by an inclined optically thick accretion disk.Comment: 13 pages, 19 figure

Dimensions of global population projections: what do we know about future population trends and structures?

The total size of the world population is likely to increase from its current 7 billion to 8–10 billion by 2050. This uncertainty is because of unknown future fertility and mortality trends in different parts of the world. But the young age structure of the population and the fact that in much of Africa and Western Asia, fertility is still very high makes an increase by at least one more billion almost certain. Virtually, all the increase will happen in the developing world. For the second half of the century, population stabilization and the onset of a decline are likely. In addition to the future size of the population, its distribution by age, sex, level of educational attainment and place of residence are of specific importance for studying future food security. The paper provides a detailed discussion of different relevant dimensions in population projections and an evaluation of the methods and assumptions used in current global population projections and in particular those produced by the United Nations and by IIASA

Long-Term Cause-Specific Mortality in Hodgkin Lymphoma Patients

BACKGROUND: Few studies have examined the impact of treatment-related morbidity on long-term, cause-specific mortality in Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) patients. METHODS: This multicenter cohort included 4919 HL patients, treated before age 51 years between 1965 and 2000, with a median follow-up of 20.2 years. Standardized mortality ratios, absolute excess mortality (AEM) per 10 000 person-years, and cause-specific cumulative mortality by stage and primary treatment, accounting for competing risks, were calculated. RESULTS: HL patients experienced a 5.1-fold (AEM = 123 excess deaths per 10 000 person-years) higher risk of death due to causes other than HL. This risk remained increased in 40-year survivors (standardized mortality ratio = 5.2, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 4.2 to 6.5, AEM = 619). At age 54 years, HL survivors experienced similar cumulative mortality (20.0%) from causes other than HL to 71-year-old individuals from the general population. Whereas HL mortality statistically significantly decreased over the calendar period (P < .001), solid tumor mortality did not change in the most recent treatment era. Patients treated in 1989-2000 had lower 25-year cardiovascular disease mortality than patients treated in 1965-1976 (4.3% vs 5.7%; subdistribution hazard ratio = 0.65, 95% CI = 0.46 to 0.93). Infectious disease mortality was not only increased after splenectomy but also after spleen irradiation (hazard ratio = 2.81, 95% CI = 1.55 to 5.07). For stage I-II, primary treatment with chemotherapy (CT) alone was associated with statistically significantly higher HL mortality (P < .001 for CT vs radiotherapy [RT]; P = .04 for CT vs RT+CT) but lower 30-year mortality from causes other than HL (15.8%, 95% CI = 9.7% to 23.3%) compared with RT alone (36.9%, 95% CI = 34.0% to 39.8%, P = .001) and RT and CT combined (29.8%, 95% CI = 26.8% to 32.9%, P = .02). CONCLUSIONS: Compared with the general population, HL survivors have a substantially reduced life expectancy. Optimal selection of patients for primary CT is crucial, weighing risks of HL relapse and long-term toxicity

Canine respiratory coronavirus employs caveolin-1-mediated pathway for internalization to HRT-18G cells

Canine respiratory coronavirus (CRCoV), identified in 2003, is a member of the Coronaviridae family. The virus is a betacoronavirus and a close relative of human coronavirus OC43 and bovine coronavirus. Here, we examined entry of CRCoV into human rectal tumor cells (HRT-18G cell line) by analyzing co-localization of single virus particles with cellular markers in the presence or absence of chemical inhibitors of pathways potentially involved in virus entry. We also targeted these pathways using siRNA. The results show that the virus hijacks caveolin-dependent endocytosis to enter cells via endocytic internalization