FARMERS' APPREHENSIONS ABOUT THE FUTURE - REAL OR FANCIED

Institutional and Behavioral Economics,

THE NEED FOR RESEARCH IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF FARM POLICY

Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies,

PUBLIC POLICY PERSPECTIVES

Public Economics,

High dose atorvastatin associated with increased risk of significant hepatotoxicity in comparison to simvastatin in UK GPRD cohort

Background and Aims: Occasional risk of serious liver dysfunction and autoimmune hepatitis during atorvastatin therapy has been reported. We compared the risk of hepatotoxicity in atorvastatin relative to simvastatin treatment. Methods: The UK GPRD identified patients with a first prescription for simvastatin [164,407] or atorvastatin [76,411] between 1997 and 2006, but with no prior record of liver disease, alcohol-related diagnosis, or liver dysfunction. Incident liver dysfunction in the following six months was identified by biochemical value and compared between statin groups by Cox regression model adjusting for age, sex, year treatment started, dose, alcohol consumption, smoking, body mass index and comorbid conditions. Results: Moderate to severe hepatotoxicity [bilirubin >60μmol/L, AST or ALT >200U/L or alkaline phosphatase >1200U/L] developed in 71 patients on atorvastatin versus 101 on simvastatin. Adjusted hazard ratio [AHR] for all atorvastatin relative to simvastatin was 1.9 [95% confidence interval 1.4–2.6]. High dose was classified as 40–80mg daily and low dose 10–20mg daily. Hepatotoxicity occurred in 0.44% of 4075 patients on high dose atorvastatin [HDA], 0.07% of 72,336 on low dose atorvastatin [LDA], 0.09% of 44,675 on high dose simvastatin [HDS] and 0.05% of 119,732 on low dose simvastatin [LDS]. AHRs compared to LDS were 7.3 [4.2–12.7] for HDA, 1.4 [0.9–2.0] for LDA and 1.5 [1.0–2.2] for HDS. Conclusions: The risk of hepatotoxicity was increased in the first six months of atorvastatin compared to simvastatin treatment, with the greatest difference between high dose atorvastatin and low dose simvastatin. The numbers of events in the analyses were small

José Rubia Barcia: Biography & Selected Bibliography

José Rubia Barcia was born on July 31, 1914, in El Ferrol (Galicia). ... In 1947 José Barcia began his teaching career at VCLA as a lecturer in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese, where his fellow Galician, César Barja was one of a number of distinguished Hispanists. In 1949 he was promoted to Assistant Professor. His marriage to the lovely Eva and his promotion provided a degree of security and support which enabled him to dedicate himself to research and his own creative writing for the first time since his days in Granada. ... In the years ahead his many friends expect to continue to benefit from his knowledge, enthusiasm, and encouragement. They wish him health and as much satisfaction in his new stage of his career as he has had in the one just completed

Probability of Attack by Southern Pine Beetle in Relation to Distance from an Attractive Host Tree

The pattern of southern pine beetle (SPB) attack was examined in two infestations in East Texas to determine the probability of host tree attack (PA) as a function of distance (X) from a recently attacked tree (pheromone source). In an infestation having a low rate of newly attacked trees per day and only a few pheromone sources occurring simultaneously, distance was a critical factor in determining PA. The probability decreased as In X, and was described by the regression model, PA=0.06757- 0.2583 In X. Distance, however, was less critical in a larger infestation which had multiple pheromone sources occurring simultaneously and a high rate of new trees attacked each day. Implications for pheromone control strategies utilizing SPB attractants are discussed. FOREST SCL 24:574-580

Characterizing Flight Aggregation of the Southern Pine Beetle

Spatial aggregation patterns of flying southern pine beetles, Dendroctonus frontalis Zimm., were studied using a systematic grid of sticky flight traps placed in 3 beetle infestations. Five methods of characterizing dispersion were compared: Lloyd\u27s index of patchiness (IP), Morisita\u27s index of dispersion (15), the coefficient of dispersion (CD), the slope of Taylor\u27s power function (b) and the slope of Iwao\u27s regression of mean crowding on mean density (m). All indices indicated a high degree of aggregation of flying southern pine beetles within the infestations. The indices varied, however, in their ranking of aggregation for the 3 study sites. IP and 15 gave the same relative results while CD showed a different pattern. The two regression techniques showed no significant differences between slopes for the various study sites. The m-m regression provided more information for interpretation and more potential for evaluating influences of system manipulations. It is recommended, therefore, for characterization of southern pine beetle aggregation within infestations. IP (which serves as the theoretical basis of the regression), is suggested for comparisons between daily aggregation patterns. The m-m regression may be useful for evaluating behavioral chemical effects on aggregation through comparison of daily m-m pairs to the 95% prediction limits about the regression line; pairs falling outside these limits represent aggregation patterns significantly different from the norm