Neighborhood Effects on the Long-Term Well-Being of Low-Income Adults

Nearly 9 million Americans live in extreme-poverty neighborhoods, places that also tend to be racially segregated and dangerous. Yet, the effects on the well-being of residents of moving out of such communities into less distressed areas remain uncertain. Using data from Moving to Opportunity, a unique randomized housing mobility experiment, we found that moving from a high-poverty to lower-poverty neighborhood leads to long-term (10- to 15-year) improvements in adult physical and mental health and subjective well-being, despite not affecting economic self-sufficiency. A 1–standard deviation decline in neighborhood poverty (13 percentage points) increases subjective well-being by an amount equal to the gap in subjective well-being between people whose annual incomes differ by $13,000—a large amount given that the average control group income is$20,000. Subjective well-being is more strongly affected by changes in neighborhood economic disadvantage than racial segregation, which is important because racial segregation has been declining since 1970, but income segregation has been increasing

Radiotherapy plus chemotherapy with or without surgical resection for stage III non-small-cell lung cancer: a phase III randomised controlled trial

Concurrent chemotherapy plus radiation therapy (chemoRT) is the standard treatment for stage IIIA(N2) non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), a common disease entity. Phase II studies demonstrated feasibility of resection after chemoRT with encouraging survival rates. This phase III trial compared both approaches

Surgical complications in neuromuscular scoliosis operated with posterior- only approach using pedicle screw fixation

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>There are no reports describing complications with posterior spinal fusion (PSF) with segmental spinal instrumentation (SSI) using pedicle screw fixation in patients with neuromuscular scoliosis.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Fifty neuromuscular patients (18 cerebral palsy, 18 Duchenne muscular dystrophy, 8 spinal muscular atrophy and 6 others) were divided in two groups according to severity of curves; group I (< 90°) and group II (> 90°). All underwent PSF and SSI with pedicle screw fixation. There were no anterior procedures. Perioperative (within three months of surgery) and postoperative (after three months of surgery) complications were retrospectively reviewed.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>There were fifty (37 perioperative, 13 postoperative) complications. Hemo/pneumothorax, pleural effusion, pulmonary edema requiring ICU care, complete spinal cord injury, deep wound infection and death were major complications; while atelectesis, pneumonia, mild pleural effusion, UTI, ileus, vomiting, gastritis, tingling sensation or radiating pain in lower limb, superficial infection and wound dehiscence were minor complications. Regarding perioperative complications, 34(68%) patients had at least one major or one minor complication. There were 16 patients with pulmonary, 14 with abdominal, 3 with wound related, 2 with neurological and 1 cardiovascular complications, respectively. There were two deaths, one due to cardiac arrest and other due to hypovolemic shock. Regarding postoperative complications 7 patients had coccygodynia, 3 had screw head prominence, 2 had bed sore and 1 had implant loosening, respectively. There was a significant relationship between age and increased intraoperative blood loss (p = 0.024). However it did not increased complications or need for ICU care. Similarly intraoperative blood loss > 3500 ml, severity of curve or need of pelvic fixation did not increase the complication rate or need for ICU. DMD patients had higher chances of coccygodynia postoperatively.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Although posterior-only approach using pedicle screw fixation had good correction rate, complications were similar to previous reports. There were few unusual complications like coccygodynia.</p

Catalyst and process development for hydrogen preparation from future fuel cell feedstocks. Quarterly report, April 1-June 30, 1980. [Pt/Pd]

Phase II of the contract, which involved catalyst preparation and evaluation, was nearly completed this quarter. Phase III, which calls for the design and construction of a fuel processor, was started. During the quarter, four types of tests were run on the small scale catalyst screening unit. The operating line for coke-free operations was found to be approximately between 0.41 to 0.44 O/sub 2//C level. Screening at lower O/sub 2//C levels led to problems with plugging. In other tests, increased severity for screening steam reforming catalysts was obtained by doubling the space velocity. Another series of tests were run to determine the gas composition from the catalytic partial oxidation (CPO) section and to evaluate two CPO catalysts. In the other series of tests, catalysts were aged for about 20 hours using a propane, steam, and air mixture before testing with No. 2 oil for another five hours. This latter test has been used to study Pt/Rh catalysts made with various supports. Differences were readily determined for Pt/Rh supported on alpha alumina and Pt/Rh supported on stabilized alumina. This test method will find continued use in evaluating metal-support interactions. Several samples must be evaluated by this method before aging runs are made in the larger unit. After leaching alumina from a used Pt/Rh catalyst, the x-ray diffraction pattern showed the presence of a Pt-Rh alloy in the metal residue. Experiments were run to show that the alloy was formed in the reactor during testing and not during catalyst preparation. A larger version of the ATR reactor has been designed and major components are on order. Completion of the construction phase is scheduled for the next quarter

Catalyst and process development for hydrogen preparation from future fuel cell feedstocks. Quarterly progress report, January 1, 1980-March 31, 1980. [Pt/Rh, Pd, Pt, Rh, Ni/Rh, Rh/Re, Ni]

Catalysts are being screened to steam reform hydrocarbons in an autothermal reformer (STR). Twenty-one samples have been screened in a 1-in.-diam (ATR) reactor using No. 2 oil as the hydrocarbon feed. A series of platinum-rhodium catalysts were evaluated to study the effect of varying compositions. A sample containing 1.7% Pt/0.3% Rh was most active but the difference among the samples was within the range of test variability. Development of a more realistic test has been started. The effect of O/sub 2//C level on the gas composition leaving the catalytic partial oxidation section has been determined. The amount of unreacted oil increases as O/sub 2//C level decreases. The unreacted oil is more aromatic than the feedstock. The gas composition contains considerably more olefins as the O/sub 2//C level decreases. Post-run catalyst characterization indicates that the catalyst carrier does not deteriorate in the ATR test. A drastic decrease in CO chemisorption is noted on the Pt/Rh samples. This decline in CO chemisorption could either be due to metal sintering or to carbon deposition on the metal. Other analysis are required to determine which is causing the decline in CO chemisorption. Very low coke levels were found on Pt, Rh, and Pt/Rh samples. Addition of Rh to nickel reduces the coke level over that observed for nickel catalysts

Catalyst and process development for the H/sub 2/ preparation from future fuel cell feedstocks. Quarterly progress report, October 1, 1978-December 31, 1978

The work done under this contract in the last quarter of 1978 was concerned with Phase I, which involved preliminary catalyst and process evaluation. The processes under study are hydrogen assisted steam reforming (HASR), catalytic partial oxidation (CPO), and autothermal steam reforming (ATR). Existing Engelhard test units were modified to carry out preliminary runs using the first two processes. Technical analysis to support work in this area consisted of heat and material balances constrained by equilibrium considerations. In a third task, the steam reforming of methanol to produce hydrogen was studied over two commercial low-temperature shift catalysts. Aging runs indicated good initial performance on both catalysts, but methanol conversion started to decline after a few hundred hours on stream

Catalyst and process development for hydrogen preparation from future fuel cell feedstocks. Quarterly progress report, October 1, 1979-December 31, 1979. [Pt/Rh, Ni/Rh, Ni/Pt/Rh, Ni, Ni/Ru, Ni/Pt, Ni/Co]

Twelve steam reforming catalysts were evaluated using an autothermal reforming screening unit. Duplicate tests were run with two samples to determine test variability. The samples tested contained either base metals, precious metals, or combinations of base and precious metals. The test was capable of distinguishing among samples where gross variations in composition are the main factor; for example, catalysts containing 2% by weight precious metals are more active than catalysts containing 15% by weight nickel. The results show a decrease in hydrocarbon breakthrough as the weight of nickel charged to the constant volume reactor increases. A commercial nickel catalyst, G90C, appears slightly better than some Engelhard prepared samples of equal nickel concentrations due to the higher density of G90C. Visual observation of the used catalysts show that samples containing only precious metals (Pt/Rh) did not coke during the run. The samples containing only base metals (nickel, cobalt) were coked and were magnetic. Samples containing 14.5% nickel by weight with 0.5% precious metals by weight added were not coked, were not magnetic, and had a blue colored core as compared to the black core of the virgin samples. Some speculation about deactivation mechanisms based on these observations are made