How Millennials get news: Paying for content

Despite growing up amid abundant free online entertainment and news, today’s young adults still use significant amounts of paid content. Selling news to young people remains difficult, but the data from a new study finds reasons for optimism and suggests new ways to think about the challenge. The vast majority of the Millennial Generation, those Americans age 18 to 34, regularly use paid content for entertainment or news, whether they personally pay for the subscriptions and other forms of paid content themselves or someone else pays the bill, according to a new report on Millennials’ news habits. While use of paid entertainment content, including music, movies, television, and video games, is most common among Millennials, 53 percent report regularly using paid news content — in print, digital, or combined formats — in the last year. Furthermore, 40 percent of Millennials personally paid for news products or services out of their own pockets. Millennials over age 21, those most likely to be on their own or out of school, are twice as likely as those age 18-21 to personally pay for news (more than 4 in 10 vs. 2 in 10). A younger adult’s willingness to pay for news is correlated with his or her broader beliefs about the value of news. The people who want to stay connected with the world, who are interested in news, and who are more engaged with news on social networks are the most likely to be willing to personally pay for news. That “news orientation” is the biggest driver of a person’s willingness to pay for news, more so than a person’s age or socioeconomic status

Development and validation of a risk score for chronic kidney disease in HIV infection using prospective cohort data from the D:A:D study.

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a major health issue for HIV-positive individuals, associated with increased morbidity and mortality. Development and implementation of a risk score model for CKD would allow comparison of the risks and benefits of adding potentially nephrotoxic antiretrovirals to a treatment regimen and would identify those at greatest risk of CKD. The aims of this study were to develop a simple, externally validated, and widely applicable long-term risk score model for CKD in HIV-positive individuals that can guide decision making in clinical practice

Hepatitis B and C co-Infection are independent predictors of progressive kidney disease in HIV-positive, antiretroviral-treated adults

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is an important cause of morbidity and mortality in HIV-positive individuals. Hepatitis C (HCV) co-infection has been associated with increased risk of CKD, but prior studies lack information on potential mechanisms. We evaluated the association between HCV or hepatitis B (HBV) co-infection and progressive CKD among 3,441 antiretroviral-treated clinical trial participants. Progressive CKD was defined as the composite of end-stage renal disease, renal death, or significant glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) decline (25% decline to eGFR 800,000 IU/ml had increased odds (OR 3.07; 95% CI 1.60–5.90). Interleukin-6, hyaluronic acid, and the FIB-4 hepatic fibrosis index were higher among participants who developed progressive CKD, but were no longer associated with progressive CKD after adjustment. Future studies should validate the relationship between HCV viremia and CKD

Innovation and venture capital exit performance

Venture capital is a potent source of R&D financing which contributes significantly to technological innovation output in the form of patented inventions. Scholars have argued that tighter protection of intellectual property rights reduces expropriation risks and encourages venture capitalists to invest in technology firms. Prior studies have showed that early stage technology investors give much weight to investment selection criteria related to innovation e.g. protection of intellectual property, platform and uniqueness. However, VC investors generally receive little on their investments until a liquidation event occurs – IPO and M&A (trade sale) exits define venture capital performance. A review of the literature indicates that few empirical studies have examined the influence of patented innovation on the exit performance of VC-backed technology firms. This paper seeks to address this specific knowledge gap in venture capital research and practice. It builds on resource-based view (RBV) theory which argues that technological innovation is an important strategic resource of the entrepreneurial firm that can attract VC investment, provide competitive advantage and produce superior performance. This study is based on matched data compiled from VentureXpertTM, DelphionTM and NBER/USPTO databases. The resulting unique and proprietary dataset consists of 1504 U.S. VC-backed exits across 7 technology sectors in the 20 years from 1980-2000, 961 IPOs and 543 M&As. The influence of technological innovation on the exit performance of VC-backed technology firms is examined. As predicted by RBV theory, technology firms engaged in patenting activity were found more likely to be associated with the more profitable IPO exit route, higher VC investment and exit value

Applicability of in vivo staging of regional amyloid burden in a cognitively normal cohort with subjective memory complaints: the INSIGHT-preAD study.

BACKGROUND:Current methods of amyloid PET interpretation based on the binary classification of global amyloid signal fail to identify early phases of amyloid deposition. A recent analysis of 18F-florbetapir PET data from the Alzheimer's disease Neuroimaging Initiative cohort suggested a hierarchical four-stage model of regional amyloid deposition that resembles neuropathologic estimates and can be used to stage an individual's amyloid burden in vivo. Here, we evaluated the validity of this in vivo amyloid staging model in an independent cohort of older people with subjective memory complaints (SMC). We further examined its potential association with subtle cognitive impairments in this population at elevated risk for Alzheimer's disease (AD). METHODS:The monocentric INSIGHT-preAD cohort includes 318 cognitively intact older individuals with SMC. All individuals underwent 18F-florbetapir PET scanning and extensive neuropsychological testing. We projected the regional amyloid uptake signal into the previously proposed hierarchical staging model of in vivo amyloid progression. We determined the adherence to this model across all cases and tested the association between increasing in vivo amyloid stage and cognitive performance using ANCOVA models. RESULTS:In total, 156 participants (49%) showed evidence of regional amyloid deposition, and all but 2 of these (99%) adhered to the hierarchical regional pattern implied by the in vivo amyloid progression model. According to a conventional binary classification based on global signal (SUVRCereb = 1.10), individuals in stages III and IV were classified as amyloid-positive (except one in stage III), but 99% of individuals in stage I and even 28% of individuals in stage II were classified as amyloid-negative. Neither in vivo amyloid stage nor conventional binary amyloid status was significantly associated with cognitive performance in this preclinical cohort. CONCLUSIONS:The proposed hierarchical staging scheme of PET-evidenced amyloid deposition generalizes well to data from an independent cohort of older people at elevated risk for AD. Future studies will determine the prognostic value of the staging approach for predicting longitudinal cognitive decline in older individuals at increased risk for AD

Demining Programme Office in the Falkland Islands - Technical Support 2015

The need for exploitation was recognised early during the planning for mine clearance operations in the Falkland Islands. Little was known about the state of the mines some 30 years after the conflict, and it was considered important to understand the effects of ageing, along with the implications for issues such as appearance/recognition, functionality and detectability. Exploitation was previously carried out during clearance Phases 1 and 3. This report outlines the work conducted during Phase 4a, where samples of the following mines were examined: P4B, SB-33 and SB-81. Presented to the FCO (Foreign and Commonwealth Office) in March 2015

Demining Programme Office in the Falkland Islands - Exploitation 2017

In January 2017, exploitation work was carried out by Fenix Insight Ltd on mines and other ordnance recovered by the Land Release Contractor (LRC). Examination of grenades used in booby traps revealed that one, considered to be complex and dangerous, had been rendered safe by the ageing process. The other, though more familiar, was still fully functional and highly lethal. The findings highlight the continued danger from unexploded ordnance, and the need for threat assessment to be based on technical evidence rather than intuition

Demining Programme Office in the Falkland Islands - Technical Support 2013

The aim of this report is to outline the findings from exploitation work provided within the Falkland Islands demining programme during the third phase of clearance. The findings from this work were intended to assess the condition of the ordnance in order to: establish the general condition of the mines; indicate their ability to function; and to highlight significant change in their characteristics. Work was carried out by Colin King, technical director of Fenix Insight Ltd, from 19 – 22 March 2013