Zeeman energy and anomalous spin splitting in lateral GaAs quantum dots

The level splittings induced by a horizontal magnetic field in a parabolic two-dimensional quantum dot with spin-orbit interaction are obtained. Characteristic features induced by the spin-orbit coupling are the appearance of zero-field gaps as well as energy splittings that depend on the electronic state and the orientation of the magnetic field in the quantum-dot plane. It is suggested that these quantum-dot properties could be used to determine the Rashba and Dresselhaus spin-orbit intensitiesComment: 6 pages, 6 figures. To be published in Eur. Phys. J. B (2004

Preferences and skills of Indian public sector teachers

With a sample of 700 future public sector primary teachers in India, a Discrete Choice Experiment is used to measure job preferences, particularly regarding location. General skills are also tested. Urban origin teachers and women are more averse to remote locations than rural origin teachers and men respectively. Women would require a 26-73 percent increase in salary for moving to a remote location. The results suggest that existing caste and gender quotas can be detrimental for hiring skilled teachers willing to work in remote locations. The most preferred location is home, which supports decentralised hiring, although this could compromise skills

Onset of Workplace Bullying and Risk of Weight Gain: A Multicohort Longitudinal Study

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to examine the onset of workplace bullying as a risk factor for BMI increase. METHODS: Repeated biennial survey data from three Nordic cohort studies were used, totaling 46,148 participants (67,337 participant observations) aged between 18 and 65 who did not have obesity and who were not bullied at the baseline. Multinomial logistic regression was applied for the analysis under the framework of generalized estimating equations. RESULTS: Five percent reported onset of workplace bullying within 2 years from the baseline. In confounder-adjusted models, onset of workplace bullying was associated with a higher risk of weight gain of ≥ 1 BMI unit (odds ratio = 1.09; 95% CI: 1.01-1.19) and of ≥ 2.5 BMI units (odds ratio = 1.24; 95% CI: 1.06-1.45). A dose-response pattern was observed, and those exposed to workplace bullying more frequently showed a higher risk (Ptrend  = 0.04). The association was robust to adjustments, restrictions, stratifications, and use of relative/absolute scales for BMI change. CONCLUSIONS: Participants with exposure to the onset of workplace bullying were more likely to gain weight, a possible pathway linking workplace bullying to increased long-term risk of type 2 diabetes

IFNβ Protects Neurons from Damage in a Murine Model of HIV-1 Associated Brain Injury.

Infection with human immunodeficiency virus-1 (HIV-1) causes brain injury. Type I interferons (IFNα/β) are critical mediators of any anti-viral immune response and IFNβ has been implicated in the temporary control of lentiviral infection in the brain. Here we show that transgenic mice expressing HIV-1 envelope glycoprotein 120 in their central nervous system (HIVgp120tg) mount a transient IFNβ response and provide evidence that IFNβ confers neuronal protection against HIVgp120 toxicity. In cerebrocortical cell cultures, neuroprotection by IFNβ against gp120 toxicity is dependent on IFNα receptor 1 (IFNAR1) and the β-chemokine CCL4, as IFNAR1 deficiency and neutralizing antibodies against CCL4, respectively, abolish the neuroprotective effects. We find in vivo that IFNβ mRNA is significantly increased in HIVgp120tg brains at 1.5, but not 3 or 6 months of age. However, a four-week intranasal IFNβ treatment of HIVgp120tg mice starting at 3.5 months of age increases expression of CCL4 and concomitantly protects neuronal dendrites and pre-synaptic terminals in cortex and hippocampus from gp120-induced damage. Moreover, in vivo and in vitro data suggests astrocytes are a major source of IFNβ-induced CCL4. Altogether, our results suggest exogenous IFNβ as a neuroprotective factor that has potential to ameliorate in vivo HIVgp120-induced brain injury

Sleep Duration and Sleep Disturbances as Predictors of Healthy and Chronic Disease-Free Life Expectancy between Ages 50 and 75: A Pooled Analysis of Three Cohorts

The aim of this study was to examine the associations of sleep duration and sleep disturbances with healthy and chronic disease-free life expectancy (LE) between ages 50 and 75.\nData were drawn from repeated waves of three occupational cohort studies in England, Finland and Sweden (n=55,494) and the follow-up ranged from 6 to 18 years. Self-reported sleep duration was categorized into Persons who slept 7-8.5 hours could expect to live 19.1 (95% CI 19.0-19.3) years in good health and 13.5 (95% CI 13.2-13.7) years without chronic diseases between ages 50 and 75. Healthy and disease-free years were 1-3 years shorter for those who slept less than 7 hours or slept 9 hours or more. Persons who did not have sleep disturbances could expect to live 20.4 (95% CI 20.3-20.6) years in good health and 14.3 (95% CI 14.1-14.5) years without chronic diseases between ages 50 and 75. Healthy and disease-free years were 6-3 years shorter for those who reported severe sleep disturbances.Sleeping 7-8.5 hours and having no sleep disturbances between ages 50 to 75 are associated with longer healthy and chronic disease-free LE

Enhancement of the magnetic anisotropy of nanometer-sized Co clusters: influence of the surface and of the inter-particle interactions

We study the magnetic properties of spherical Co clusters with diameters between 0.8 nm and 5.4 nm (25 to 7500$ atoms) prepared by sequential sputtering of Co and Al2O3. The particle size distribution has been determined from the equilibrium susceptibility and magnetization data and it is compared to previous structural characterizations. The distribution of activation energies was independently obtained from a scaling plot of the ac susceptibility. Combining these two distributions we have accurately determined the effective anisotropy constant Keff. We find that Keff is enhanced with respect to the bulk value and that it is dominated by a strong anisotropy induced at the surface of the clusters. Interactions between the magnetic moments of adjacent layers are shown to increase the effective activation energy barrier for the reversal of the magnetic moments. Finally, this reversal is shown to proceed classically down to the lowest temperature investigated (1.8 K).Comment: 13 figures submitted to Phys. Rev.

Long working hours and risk of 50 health conditions and mortality outcomes: a multicohort study in four European countries

Background: Studies on the association between long working hours and health have captured only a narrow range of outcomes (mainly cardiometabolic diseases and depression) and no outcome-wide studies on this topic are available. To achieve wider scope of potential harm, we examined long working hours as a risk factor for a wide range of disease and mortality endpoints. / Methods: The data of this multicohort study were from two population cohorts from Finland (primary analysis, n=59 599) and nine cohorts (replication analysis, n=44 262) from Sweden, Denmark, and the UK, all part of the Individual-participant Meta-analysis in Working Populations (IPD-Work) consortium. Baseline-assessed long working hours (≥55 hours per week) were compared to standard working hours (35-40 h). Outcome measures with follow-up until age 65 years were 46 diseases that required hospital treatment or continuous pharmacotherapy, all-cause, and three cause-specific mortality endpoints, ascertained via linkage to national health and mortality registers. / Findings: 2747 (4·6%) participants in the primary cohorts and 3027 (6·8%) in the replication cohorts worked long hours. After adjustment for age, sex, and socioeconomic status, working long hours was associated with increased risk of cardiovascular death (hazard ratio 1·68; 95% confidence interval 1·08-2·61 in primary analysis and 1·52; 0·90-2·58 in replication analysis), infections (1·37; 1·13-1·67 and 1·45; 1·13-1·87), diabetes (1·18; 1·01-1·38 and 1·41; 0·98-2·02), injuries (1·22; 1·00-1·50 and 1·18; 0·98-1·18) and musculoskeletal disorders (1·15; 1·06-1·26 and 1·13; 1·00-1·27). Working long hours was not associated with all-cause mortality. / Interpretation: Follow-up of 50 health outcomes in four European countries suggests that working long hours is associated with an elevated risk of early cardiovascular death and hospital-treated infections before age 65. Associations, albeit weak, were also observed with diabetes, musculoskeletal disorders and injuries. In these data working long hours was not related to elevated overall mortality. Funding: NordForsk, the Medical Research Council, the National Institute on Aging, the Wellcome Trust, Academy of Finland, and Finnish Work Environment Fund

Do clinical guidelines reduce clinician dependent costs?

Clinician dependent costs are the costs of care that are under the discretion of the healthcare provider. These costs include the costs of drugs, tests and investigations, and discretionary outpatient visits and impatient stays. The purpose of this review was to summarize recent evidence, relevant to both developed and developing countries on whether evidence based clinical guidelines can change hospitals variable costs which are clinician dependent, and the degree of financial savings achieved at hospital level. Potential studies for inclusion were identified using structured searches of Econlit, J-Stor, and Pubmed databases. Two reviewers independently evaluated retrieved studies for inclusion. The methodological quality of the selected articles was assessed using the Oxford Centre for Evidence- Based Medicine (CEBM) levels of evidence. The results suggest that 10 of the 11 interventions were successful reducing financial costs. Most of the interventions, either in modeling studies or real interventions generate significant financial saving, although the former reported higher savings because the studies assumed 100 percent compliance

Validation of the Comprehensive Feeding Practices Questionnaire with parents of 10-to-12-year-olds

Abstract Background: There is a lack of validated instruments for quantifying feeding behavior among parents of older children and adolescents. The Comprehensive Feeding Practices Questionnaire (CFPQ) is a self-report measure to assess multiple parental feeding practices. The CFPQ is originally designed for use with parents of children ranging in age from about 2 to 8 years. It is previously validated with American and French parents of children within this age range. The aim of the present study was to adapt and test the validity of this measure with parents of older children (10-to-12-year-olds) in a Norwegian setting. Methods: A sample of 963 parents of 10-to-12-year-olds completed a Norwegian, slightly adapted version of the CFPQ. Scale analyses were performed to test the validity of the instrument in our sample. Results: Although a few problematic items and scales were revealed, scale analyses showed that the psychometric properties of the slightly adapted, Norwegian version of the CFPQ were surprisingly similar to those of the original CFPQ. Conclusions: Our results indicated that the CFPQ, with some small modifications, is a valid tool for measuring multiple parental feeding practices with parents of 10-to12-year-olds