Temporal Trends in Relative Educational Disparities Measured by Relative Risk (RR) and Relative Index of Inequality (RII).

<p>Temporal Trends in Relative Educational Disparities Measured by Relative Risk (RR) and Relative Index of Inequality (RII).</p

Temporal Trends in Absolute Educational Disparities Measured by Rate Difference (RD) and Slope Index of Inequality (SII).

<p>Temporal Trends in Absolute Educational Disparities Measured by Rate Difference (RD) and Slope Index of Inequality (SII).</p

Educational Distribution of Population and Cause of Death Fractions by Gender in 1993 and 2007.

<p>Educational Distribution of Population and Cause of Death Fractions by Gender in 1993 and 2007.</p

Widening Educational Disparities in Premature Death Rates in Twenty Six States in the United States, 1993–2007

<div><h3>Background</h3><p>Eliminating socioeconomic disparities in health is an overarching goal of the U.S. Healthy People decennial initiatives. We present recent trends in mortality by education among working-aged populations.</p> <h3>Methods and Findings</h3><p>Age-standardized death rates and their average annual percent change for all-cause and five major causes (cancer, heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and accidents) were calculated from 1993 through 2007 for individuals aged 25–64 years by educational attainment as a marker of socioeconomic status, using national vital registration data for 26 states with consistent educational information on the death certificates. Rate ratios and rate differences were used to assess disparities (≤12 versus ≥16 years of education) for 1993 through 2007. From 1993 through 2007, relative educational disparities in all-cause mortality continued to increase among working-aged men and women in the U.S., due to larger decreases of mortality rates among the most educated coupled with smaller decreases or even worsening trends in the less educated. For example, the rate ratios of all-cause mortality increased from 2.5 (95% confidence interval (CI), 2.4–2.6) in 1993 to 3.6 (95% CI, 3.5–3.7) in 2007 in men and from 1.9 (95% CI, 1.8–2.0) to 3.0 (95% CI, 2.9–3.1) in women. Generally, the rate differences (per 100,000 persons) of all-cause mortality increased from 415.5 (95% CI, 399.1–431.9) in 1993 to 472.7 (95% CI, 460.2–485.2) in 2007 in men and from 165.4 (95% CI, 154.5–176.2) to 256.2 (95% CI, 248.3–264.2) in women. Disparity patterns varied largely across the five specific causes considered in this study, with the largest increases of relative disparities for accidents, especially in women.</p> <h3>Conclusions</h3><p>Relative educational differentials in mortality continued to widen among men and women despite emphasis on reducing disparities in the U.S. Healthy People decennial initiatives.</p> </div

Trends in Age-Standardized Death Rates from All Causes and Five Major Causes by Educational Attainment in 26 U.S. States, 1993–2007.

<p>Trends in Age-Standardized Death Rates from All Causes and Five Major Causes by Educational Attainment in 26 U.S. States, 1993–2007.</p

Relative and Absolute Disparities in Mortality by Educational Attainment in 1993, 2001, and 2007.

<p>Abbreviation: CI, Confidence Interval; RR, Relative Risk; RD, Rate Difference.</p>*<p>≤12 years of education Vs. ≥16 years of education.</p

Temporal Changes of Educational Disparities in Mortality from All Causes and Five Major Causes in 26 U.S. States, 1993–2007.

<p>Temporal Changes of Educational Disparities in Mortality from All Causes and Five Major Causes in 26 U.S. States, 1993–2007.</p

Quantitative Determination of Bulk Molecular Concentrations of β‑Agonists in Pork Tissue Samples by Direct Internal Extractive Electrospray Ionization-Mass Spectrometry

Rapid quantitative determination of bulk molecular concentration in solid samples without sample pretreatment is demonstrated using the internal extractive electrospray ionization-mass spectrometry (iEESI-MS) analysis of six β-agonists, including salbutamol (Sal), clenbuterol (Cle), ractopamine (Rac), terbutaline (Ter), tulobuterol (Tul), brombuterol (Bro), in pork tissue samples. Single sample analysis only required 1 min. The linear range of detection was about 0.01–1000 μg/kg (<i>R</i>² > 0.9994). The limit-of-detection (LOD) varied from 0.002 μg/kg for Sal to 0.006 μg/kg for Tul. Relative standard deviation (RSD) of quantitation was in the range 6.5–11.3%. The analytical results were validated by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS) and high-performance liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry (LC–MS), showing the accuracy rates of 92–105%. The current study extends the power of ambient MS as a method for the quantification of molecules at the surface of solid samples (e.g., in μg/cm² units) toward the quantification of molecules in bulk sample volume (i.e., in μg/kg units), which is commonly required in food safety control, biomedical analysis, public security, and many other disciplines

Degradable Zinc-Phosphate-Based Hierarchical Nanosubstrates for Capture and Release of Circulating Tumor Cells

Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) play a significant role in cancer diagnosis and personalized therapy, and it is still a significant challenge to efficiently capture and gently release CTCs from clinical samples for downstream manipulation and molecular analysis. Many CTC devices incorporating various nanostructures have been developed for CTC isolation with sufficient capture efficiency, however, fabricating such nanostructured substrates often requires elaborate design and complicated procedures. Here we fabricate a degradable zinc-phosphate-based hierarchical nanosubstrate (HZnPNS), and we demonstrate its excellent CTC-capture performance along with effective cell-release capability for downstream molecular analysis. This transparent hierarchical architecture prepared by a low-temperature hydrothermal method, enables substantially enhanced capture efficiency and convenient imaging. Biocompatible sodium citrate could rapidly dissolve the architecture at room temperature, allowing that 88 ± 4% of captured cells are gently released with a high viability of 92 ± 1%. Furthermore, antiepithelial cell adhesion molecule antibody functionalized HZnPNS (anti-EpCAM/HZnPNS) was successfully applied to isolate CTCs from whole blood samples of cancer patients, as well as release CTCs for global DNA methylation analysis, indicating it will serve as a simple and reliable alternative platform for CTC detection