How do perceived changes in inequality affect health?

Individuals do not possess an entirely accurate assessment of the level of income differences in their society and so changes in quantitative measures of income inequality may not always align with changes in the perceptions of income inequality. This disconnect is partly driven by how people form their opinions about the level of inequality. In this study we explore whether there is an association between perceptions of inequality and health, and if so, how it differs depending on the specific channel through which people formed their opinions about changes in income inequality. Drawing on data from 31 European and Eurasian countries, we find that both men and women are more likely to report bad health when their perceptions of increasing inequality are formed through experiences of inequality in their communities than through media and other channels

Summing free unitary random matrices

I use quaternion free probability calculus - an extension of free probability to non-Hermitian matrices (which is introduced in a succinct but self-contained way) - to derive in the large-size limit the mean densities of the eigenvalues and singular values of sums of independent unitary random matrices, weighted by complex numbers. In the case of CUE summands, I write them in terms of two "master equations," which I then solve and numerically test in four specific cases. I conjecture a finite-size extension of these results, exploiting the complementary error function. I prove a central limit theorem, and its first sub-leading correction, for independent identically-distributed zero-drift unitary random matrices.Comment: 17 pages, 15 figure

Characteristics of drug-resistant tuberculosis in Abkhazia (Georgia), a high-prevalence area in Eastern Europe

Although multidrug-resistant (MDR) tuberculosis (TB) is a major public health problem in Eastern Europe, the factors contributing to emergence, spread and containment of MDR-TB are not well defined. Here, we analysed the characteristics of drug-resistant TB in a cross-sectional study in Abkhazia (Georgia) between 2003 and 2005, where standard short-course chemotherapy is supplemented with individualized drug-resistance therapy. Drug susceptibility testing (DST) and molecular typing were carried out for Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex strains from consecutive smear-positive TB patients. Out of 366 patients, 60.4% were resistant to any first-line drugs and 21% had MDR-TB. Overall, 25% of all strains belong to the Beijing genotype, which was found to be strongly associated with the risk of MDR-TB (OR 25.9, 95% CI 10.2-66.0) and transmission (OR 2.8, 95% CI 1.6-5.0). One dominant MDR Beijing clone represents 23% of all MDR-TB cases. The level of MDR-TB did not decline during the study period, coinciding with increasing levels of MDR Beijing strains among previously treated cases. Standard chemotherapy plus individualized drug-resistance therapy, guided by conventional DST, might be not sufficient to control MDR-TB in Eastern Europe in light of the spread of "highly transmissible" MDR Beijing strains circulating in the community

Eigenvalues and Singular Values of Products of Rectangular Gaussian Random Matrices

We derive exact analytic expressions for the distributions of eigenvalues and singular values for the product of an arbitrary number of independent rectangular Gaussian random matrices in the limit of large matrix dimensions. We show that they both have power-law behavior at zero and determine the corresponding powers. We also propose a heuristic form of finite size corrections to these expressions which very well approximates the distributions for matrices of finite dimensions.Comment: 13 pages, 3 figure

CO2 budgeting at the regional scale using a Lagrangian experimental strategy and meso-scale modeling

An atmospheric Lagrangian experiment for regional CO2 budgeting with aircraft measurements took place during the CarboEurope Regional Experiment Strategy campaign (CERES) in south-west France, in June 2005. The atmospheric CO2 aircraft measurements taken upstream and downstream of an active and homogeneous pine forest revealed a CO2 depletion in the same air mass, using a Lagrangian strategy. This field experiment was analyzed with a meteorological meso-scale model interactively coupled with a surface scheme, with plant assimilation, ecosystem respiration, anthropogenic CO2 emissions and sea fluxes. First, the model was carefully validated against observations made close to the surface and in the atmospheric boundary layer. Then, the carbon budget was evaluated using the numerous CERES observations, by upscaling the surface fluxes observations, and using the modeling results, in order to estimate the relative contribution of each physical process. A good agreement is found between the two methods which use the same vegetation map: the estimation of the regional CO2 surface flux by the Eulerian meso-scale model budget is close to the budget deduced from the upscaling of the observed surface fluxes, and found a budget between −9.4 and −12.1μmol.m−2.s−1, depending on the size of the considered area. Nevertheless, the associated uncertainties are rather large for the upscaling method and reach 50%. A third method, using Lagrangian observations of CO2 estimates a regional CO2 budget a few different and more scattered, (−16.8μmol.m−2.s−1 for the small sub-domain and −8.6μmol.m−2.s−1 for the larger one). For this budgeting method, we estimate a mean of 31% error, mainly arising from the time of integration between the two measurements of the Lagrangian experiment. The paper describes in details the three methods to assess the regional CO2 budget and the associated error

Cryptic Variation in Morphological Evolution: HSP90 as a Capacitor for Loss of Eyes in Cavefish

In the process of morphological evolution, the extent to which cryptic, preexisting variation provides a substrate for natural selection has been controversial. We provide evidence that heat shock protein 90 (HSP90) phenotypically masks standing eye-size variation in surface populations of the cavefish Astyanax mexicanus. This variation is exposed by HSP90 inhibition and can be selected for, ultimately yielding a reduced-eye phenotype even in the presence of full HSP90 activity. Raising surface fish under conditions found in caves taxes the HSP90 system, unmasking the same phenotypic variation as does direct inhibition of HSP90. These results suggest that cryptic variation played a role in the evolution of eye loss in cavefish and provide the first evidence for HSP90 as a capacitor for morphological evolution in a natural setting

The effect of tumour necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) muteins on human neutrophils in vitro

Tumour necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) has been implicated as an important inflammatory mediator. In vitro, TNF-α is reported to activate human polymorphonuclear neutrophils (PMN), inducing responses such as phagocytic activity, degranulation and oxidative metabolism. Biological responses to TNF-α are initiated by its binding to specific cell surface receptors, and various studies have shown that the major TNF receptor species on PMN is the 75 kDa receptor. To verify the suggestion that the receptor binding domain includes the region close to the N-terminus of the TNF-α molecule, four TNF-α derivatives termed muteins were constructed, using a synthetic cDNA fragment substituting the N-terminal 3–7 selected hydrophilic or hydrophobic amino acids in the original TNF-α genomic DNA. Binding of muteins to PMN was assessed using monoclonal antibodies recognizing either the 55 kDa (p55) or the 75 kDa (p75) TNF receptor subtypes. Blocking by muteins of anti-p75 antibody binding to PMN was as expected from their N-terminal amino acid composition and hydrophilic properties. Hydrophilic muteins competed well with anti-TNF receptor antibodies for binding to the p75 receptor. In contrast, hydrophobic muteins were unable to block anti-p75 binding. Similarly, degranulation, chemiluminescence or enhancement of the PMN response to specific stimuli by the muteins correlated with the hydrophilic properties of the muteins. The significance of these observations in relation to the molecular structure of TNF-α is discussed

Semiclassical approach to fidelity amplitude

The fidelity amplitude is a quantity of paramount importance in echo type experiments. We use semiclassical theory to study the average fidelity amplitude for quantum chaotic systems under external perturbation. We explain analytically two extreme cases: the random dynamics limit --attained approximately by strongly chaotic systems-- and the random perturbation limit, which shows a Lyapunov decay. Numerical simulations help us bridge the gap between both extreme cases.Comment: 10 pages, 9 figures. Version closest to published versio

Capturing health and eating status through a nutritional perception screening questionnaire (NPSQ9) in a randomised internet-based personalised nutrition intervention : the Food4Me study

BACKGROUND: National guidelines emphasize healthy eating to promote wellbeing and prevention of non-communicable diseases. The perceived healthiness of food is determined by many factors affecting food intake. A positive perception of healthy eating has been shown to be associated with greater diet quality. Internet-based methodologies allow contact with large populations. Our present study aims to design and evaluate a short nutritional perception questionnaire, to be used as a screening tool for assessing nutritional status, and to predict an optimal level of personalisation in nutritional advice delivered via the Internet. METHODS: Data from all participants who were screened and then enrolled into the Food4Me proof-of-principle study (n = 2369) were used to determine the optimal items for inclusion in a novel screening tool, the Nutritional Perception Screening Questionnaire-9 (NPSQ9). Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were performed on anthropometric and biochemical data and on dietary indices acquired from participants who had completed the Food4Me dietary intervention (n = 1153). Baseline and intervention data were analysed using linear regression and linear mixed regression, respectively. RESULTS: A final model with 9 NPSQ items was validated against the dietary intervention data. NPSQ9 scores were inversely associated with BMI (β = -0.181, p < 0.001) and waist circumference (Β = -0.155, p < 0.001), and positively associated with total carotenoids (β = 0.198, p < 0.001), omega-3 fatty acid index (β = 0.155, p < 0.001), Healthy Eating Index (HEI) (β = 0.299, p < 0.001) and Mediterranean Diet Score (MDS) (β = 0. 279, p < 0.001). Findings from the longitudinal intervention study showed a greater reduction in BMI and improved dietary indices among participants with lower NPSQ9 scores. CONCLUSIONS: Healthy eating perceptions and dietary habits captured by the NPSQ9 score, based on nine questionnaire items, were associated with reduced body weight and improved diet quality. Likewise, participants with a lower score achieved greater health improvements than those with higher scores, in response to personalised advice, suggesting that NPSQ9 may be used for early evaluation of nutritional status and to tailor nutritional advice. TRIAL REGISTRATION: NCT01530139 .Peer reviewedFinal Published versio