A comparison of the Scottish index of multiple deprivation (SIMD) 2004 with the 2009 + 1 SIMD: does choice of measure affect the interpretation of inequality in mortality?

Background There is a growing international literature assessing inequalities in health and mortality by area based measures. However, there are few works comparing measures available to inform research design. The analysis here seeks to begin to address this issue by assessing whether there are important differences in the relationship between deprivation and inequalities in mortality when measures that have been constructed at different time points are compared. Methods We contrast whether the interpretation of inequalities in all-cause mortality between the years 2008-10 changes in Scotland if we apply the earliest (2004) and the 2009 + 1 releases of the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD) to make this comparison. The 2004 release is based on data from 2001/2 and the 2009 + 1 release is based on data from 2008/9. The slope index of inequality (SII) and 1:10 ratio are used to summarise inequalities standardised by age/sex using population and mortality records. Results The 1:10 ratio suggests some differences in the magnitude of inequalities measured using SIMD at different time points. However, the SII shows much closer correspondence. Conclusions Overall the findings show that substantive conclusions in relation to inequalities in all-cause mortality are little changed by the updated measure. This information is beneficial to researchers as the most recent measures are not always available. This adds to the body of literature showing stability in inequalities in health and mortality by geographical deprivation over time.</p

Engineering direct-indirect band gap transition in wurtzite GaAs nanowires through size and uniaxial strain

Electronic structures of wurtzite GaAs nanowires in the [0001] direction were studied using first-principles calculations. It was found that the band gap of GaAs nanowires experience a direct-to-indirect transition when the diameter of the nanowires is smaller than ~28 {\AA}. For those thin GaAs nanowires with an indirect band gap, it was found that the gap can be tuned to be direct if a moderate external uniaxial strain is applied. Both tensile and compressive strain can trigger the indirect-to-direct gap transition. The critical strains for the gap-transition are determined by the energy crossover of two states in conduction bands.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

The Pathogenesis and Management of Malignancy-Associated Hypercalcaemia

Traditionally, accelerated bone resorption has been considered to play the principal pathogenic role in malignancy-associated hypercalcaemia (MH), by one of two basic mechanisms. Hypercalcaemia in patients with metastatic bone disease, is thought to be due to the local release of skeletal calcium at a rate in excess of that which can be excreted by the kidney. In patients without bone metastases, hypercalcaemia is also thought to arise as the result of bone resorption, in this case stimulated by humoral mediators, which are released by the primary tumour. Although both humoral and metastatic mechanisms of hypercalcaemia could in theory coexist, the demonstration of bone metastases has conventionally been considered to provide reason enough for the occurrence of hypercalcaemia without invoking an additional humoral component. The humoral mediators responsible for MH are at present poorly defined, but have been generally been considered to differ from parathyroid hormone (PTH) both structurally and functionally. Previous investigators have failed to find evidence of increased renal tubular calcium reabsorption or stimulation of 1,25 dihydroxyvitamin (1,25(OH)2D3) synthesis in MH. The skeletal effects of these humoral mediators have also been considered to be distinct from PTH, in causing "uncoupling" of bone cell activity, with greatly increased osteoclastic bone resorption and depressed bone formation. While metastatic bone disease has traditionally been considered to be the commonest cause of MH, a retrospective study of 195 cancer patients undergoing bone scan examinations showed no correlation between the extent of skeletal involvement and serum calcium values. These observations, indicated that, in most cases, the development of hypercalcaemia could not simply have been explained on the basis of local bone destruction, but rather may have been due to humoral mechanisms (chapter 3.1). A further prospective study of bone scan appearances in 87 consecutive cancer patients confirmed these results but in addition, showed that other biochemical indices of bone resorption were significantly higher in hypercalcaemic when compared with normocalcaemic patients, and were disproportionately raised with respect to the extent of metastatic disease seen on the bone scan. These observations indicated that in MH, bone resorption was largely occurring on a systemic, humorally mediated basis, rather than on a local "metastatic" basis (chapter 3.2). Further studies compared renal tubular reabsorption of calcium in MH, primary hyperparathyroidism (HPT) and normal subjects undergoing acute calcium infusions. While immunoreactive PTH levels were invariably low or undetectable in the cancer patients, renal tubular reabsorption of calcium was raised to a level comparable with that in HPT. These observations raised the possibility that there frequently may be released a humoral mediator in MH which, although immunologically distinct from PTH, did possess a "PTH-like" effect on renal tubular reabsorption of calcium (chapter 4.1). Studies of renal tubular calcium reabsorption in patients with benign, non-parathyroid hypercalcaemia revealed generally normal results, excluding the possibility that the raised levels of renal tubular calcium reabsorption in malignancy may simply have been the result of chronic hypercalcaemia per se (chapter 4.2). Further studies also excluded the possibility that the raised levels of renal tubular reabsorption of calcium in malignancy may have been due to sodium depletion, since the renal handling of sodium in relation to renal tubular calcium reabsorption was similar in MH and HPT (chapter 4.3). Studies performed during the surgical exploration of tumours associated with humoral hypercalcaemia (HHM) demonstrated that a fall in renal tubular calcium reabsorption was the major factor responsible for the normalisation of serum calcium values after surgical resection (chapter 6.1). A comparison of the mechanisms of hypercalcaemia in patients with early and advanced HHM showed that in the early stages, increased renal tubular reabsorption of calcium was the most important pathogenic mechanism, often occurring in the absence of increased bone resorption. With progression of the tumour and increasing immobilisation however, accelerated osteoclastic bone resorption with depressed bone formation became more apparent. This indicated that, the HHM-associated humoral factor, like PTH itself, had more potent effects on the kidney than on osteoclastic bone resorption. A possible explanation for the increased bone resorption and depressed bone formation associated with advanced tumours may however have been due to the synergistic effects of immobilisation and HHM-associated humoral factors on bone cells (chapter 6.2)

Aerodynamic characteristics of forebody and nose strakes based on F-16 wind tunnel test experience. Volume 1: Summary and analysis

The YF-16 and F-16 developmental wind tunnel test program was reviewed. Geometrical descriptions, general comments, representative data, and the initial efforts toward the development of design guides for the application of strakes to future aircraft are presented

A DISTRIBUTIONAL ANALYSIS OF THE COSTS OF FOODBORNE ILLNESS: WHO ULTIMATELY PAYS?

This paper traces the economic impact of the costs of foodborne illness on the U.S. economy using a Social Accounting Matrix (SAM) framework. Previous estimates of the costs of seven foodborne pathogens are disaggregated by type, and distributed across the population using data from the National Health Interview Survey. Initial income losses resulting from premature death cause a decrease in economic activity. Medical costs, in contrast, result in economic growth, though this growth does not outweigh the total costs of premature death. A SAM accounting of how the costs of illness are diffused through the economy provides useful information for policy makers.Cost of illness, Foodborne illness, Social Accounting Matrix, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety,

Distribution and co-occurrence of rockfishes (family: Sebastidae) over trawlable shelf and slope habitats of California and southern Oregon

The rockfishes of the sebastid genus Sebastes are a very important fishery resource off the coasts of California and southern Oregon. How-ever, many of the 54 managed stocks of west coast rockfish have recently reached historically low population levels, leading fishery managers to re-examine current management practices. Management of rockfish stocks as multispecies aggregates, as opposed to independent stocks within the ground-fish fishery, can be more desirable when nontargeted bycatch, discard, and management complexity are considered. Rockfish assemblage structure and species co-occurrences were determined by using data from the Alaska Fisheries Science Center triennial continental shelf bottom trawl survey. The weight of rockfish species in trawl catches was expressed as a catch-per-unit-of-effort (CPUE) statistic, from which species spatial distributions, overlaps, diversity, and richness were analyzed. Multidimensional scaling of transformed CPUE data was employed in indirect gradient and multivariate partitioning analyses to quantify assemblage relationships. Results indicated that rockfish distributions closely match the bathymetry of coastal waters. Indirect gradient analysis suggested that depth and latitude are the principal factors in structuring the spatial distributions of rockfish on trawlable habitat. In addition, four assemblages were identified through the joint evaluation of species’ distributions and multivariate partitioning analyses: 1) deep-water slope; 2) northern shelf; 3) southern shelf; and 4) nearshore. The slope, shelf, and near-shore groups are found in depth ranges of 200–500 m, 100–250 m, and 50–150 m, respectively. The division of northern and southern shelf assemblages occurs over a broad area between Cape Mendocino and Monterey Canyon. The results of this analysis are likely to have direct application in the management of rockfish stocks off the coasts of southern Oregon and California

Genetic determinants of Paget’s Disease of Bone

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: To provide an overview of the role of genes and loci that predispose to Paget’s disease of bone and related disorders. RECENT FINDINGS: Studies over the past ten years have seen major advances in knowledge on the role of genetic factors in Paget’s disease of bone (PDB). Genome wide association studies have identified six loci that predispose to the disease whereas family based studies have identified a further eight genes that cause PDB. This brings the total number of genes and loci implicated in PDB to fourteen. Emerging evidence has shown that a number of these genes also predispose to multisystem proteinopathy syndromes where PDB is accompanied by neurodegeneration and myopathy due to the accumulation of abnormal protein aggregates, emphasising the importance of defects in autophagy in the pathogenesis of PDB. SUMMARY: Genetic factors play a key role in the pathogenesis of PDB and the studies in this area have identified several genes previously not suspected to play a role in bone metabolism. Genetic testing coupled to targeted therapeutic intervention is being explored as a way of halting disease progression and improving outcome before irreversible skeletal damage has occurred

THE WHEAT AND STOCKER CATTLE ANALYZER: A MICROCOMPUTER DECISION AID FOR EVALUATING WHEAT PRODUCTION AND STOCKER CATTLE GRAZING DECISIONS

The Wheat and Stocker Cattle Analyzer is a microcomputer decision aid for evaluating interrelated wheat production and stocker cattle grazing decisions under yield, weight gain, and price uncertainty. An important feature of the model is that wheat commodity program provisions are incorporated into the analysis. A wide range of alternatives including wheat production for grain only, owned stocker cattle grazing, and wheat pasture leasing can be evaluated by the program.Crop Production/Industries, Livestock Production/Industries,

Efficient numerical diagonalization of hermitian 3x3 matrices

A very common problem in science is the numerical diagonalization of symmetric or hermitian 3x3 matrices. Since standard "black box" packages may be too inefficient if the number of matrices is large, we study several alternatives. We consider optimized implementations of the Jacobi, QL, and Cuppen algorithms and compare them with an analytical method relying on Cardano's formula for the eigenvalues and on vector cross products for the eigenvectors. Jacobi is the most accurate, but also the slowest method, while QL and Cuppen are good general purpose algorithms. The analytical algorithm outperforms the others by more than a factor of 2, but becomes inaccurate or may even fail completely if the matrix entries differ greatly in magnitude. This can mostly be circumvented by using a hybrid method, which falls back to QL if conditions are such that the analytical calculation might become too inaccurate. For all algorithms, we give an overview of the underlying mathematical ideas, and present detailed benchmark results. C and Fortran implementations of our code are available for download from http://www.mpi-hd.mpg.de/~globes/3x3/ .Comment: 13 pages, no figures, new hybrid algorithm added, matches published version, typo in Eq. (39) corrected; software library available at http://www.mpi-hd.mpg.de/~globes/3x3