Who in Europe works beyond the state pension age and under which conditions? Results from SHARE

There is much research about those who exit the labour market prematurely, however, comparatively little is known about people working longer and about their employment and working conditions. In this paper, we describe the employment and working conditions of men and women working between 65 and 80 years, and compare them with previous conditions of those retired in the same age group. Analyses are based on wave 4 data from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) with information collected between 2009 and 2011 from 17,625 older men and women across 16 European countries. Besides socio-demographic and health-related factors (physical and mental health), the focus lies on employment conditions (e.g. employment status, occupational position and working hours) and on stressful working conditions, measured in terms of low control at work and effort-reward imbalance. In case of retired people, information on working conditions refer to the last job before retirement. Following descriptive analyses, we then conduct multivariable analyses and investigate how working conditions and poor health are related to labour market participation (i.e. random intercept models accounting for country affiliation and adjusted for potential confounders). Results illustrate that people working between the ages of 65 and 80 are more likely to be self-employed (either with or without employees) and work in advantaged occupational positions. Furthermore, findings reveal that psychosocial working conditions are generally better than the conditions retired respondents had in their last job. Finally, in contrast to those who work, health tends to be worse among retired people. In conclusion, findings deliver empirical evidence that paid employment beyond age 65 is more common among self-employed workers throughout Europe, in advantaged occupations and under-favourable psychosocial circumstances, and that this group of workers are in considerably good mental and physical health. This highlights that policies aimed at increasing the state pension age beyond the age of 65 years put pressure on specific disadvantaged groups of men and women

The potential role of T-cells and their interaction with antigen-presenting cells in mediating immunosuppression following trauma-hemorrhage

Objective: Trauma-hemorrhage results in depressed immune responses of antigen-presenting cells (APCs) and T-cells. Recent studies suggest a key role of depressed T-cell derived interferon (IFN)-g in this complex immune cell interaction. The aim of this study was to elucidate further the underlying mechanisms responsible for dysfunctional T-cells and their interaction with APCs following trauma-hemorrhage. Design: Adult C3H/HeN male mice were subjected to trauma-hemorrhage (3-cm midline laparotomy) followed by hemorrhage (blood pressure of 35�5mmHg for 90 min and resuscitation) or sham operation. At 24 h thereafter, spleens were harvested and T-cells (by Microbeads) and APCs (via adherence) were Isolated. Co-cultures of T-cells and APCs were established for 48 h and stimulated with concanavalin A and lipopolysaccharide. T-Cell specific cytokines known to affect APC function (i.e. interleukin(IL)-2, IL-4 and granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF)) were measured in culture supernatants by Multiplex assay. The expression of MHC class II as well as co-stimulatory surface molecules on T-cells and APCs was determined by flow cytometry. Results: The release of IL-4 and GM-CSF by T-cells was suppressed following trauma-hemorrhage, irrespective of whether sham or trauma-hemorrhage APCs were present. Antigen-presenting cells from animals subjected to trauma-hemorrhage did not affect T-cell derived cytokine release by sham T-cells. In contrast, T-cells from traumahemorrhage animals depressed MHC class II expression of CD11c(þ) cells, irrespective of whether APCs underwent sham or trauma-hemorrhage procedure. Surprisingly, co-stimulatory molecules on APCs (CD80, CD86) were not affected by trauma-hemorrhage. Conclusions: These results suggest that beside IFN-g other T-cell derived cytokines contribute to immunosuppression following trauma-hemorrhage causing diminished MHC II expression on APCs. Thus, T-cells appear to play an important role in this interaction at the time-point examined. Therapeutic approaches should aim at maintenance of T-cell function and their interaction with APCs to prevent extended immunosuppression following trauma-hemorrhage

An Inversion Method for Measuring Beta in Large Redshift Surveys

A precision method for determining the value of Beta= Omega_m^{0.6}/b, where b is the galaxy bias parameter, is presented. In contrast to other existing techniques that focus on estimating this quantity by measuring distortions in the redshift space galaxy-galaxy correlation function or power spectrum, this method removes the distortions by reconstructing the real space density field and determining the value of Beta that results in a symmetric signal. To remove the distortions, the method modifies the amplitudes of a Fourier plane-wave expansion of the survey data parameterized by Beta. This technique is not dependent on the small-angle/plane-parallel approximation and can make full use of large redshift survey data. It has been tested using simulations with four different cosmologies and returns the value of Beta to +/- 0.031, over a factor of two improvement over existing techniques.Comment: 16 pages including 6 figures Submitted to The Astrophysical Journa

Maternal and neonatal outcomes by labor onset type and gestational age.

OBJECTIVE: We sought to determine maternal and neonatal outcomes by labor onset type and gestational age. STUDY DESIGN: We used electronic medical records data from 10 US institutions in the Consortium on Safe Labor on 115,528 deliveries from 2002 through 2008. Deliveries were divided by labor onset type (spontaneous, elective induction, indicated induction, unlabored cesarean). Neonatal and maternal outcomes were calculated by labor onset type and gestational age. RESULTS: Neonatal intensive care unit admissions and sepsis improved with each week of gestational age until 39 weeks (P \u3c .001). After adjusting for complications, elective induction of labor was associated with a lower risk of ventilator use (odds ratio [OR], 0.38; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.28-0.53), sepsis (OR, 0.36; 95% CI, 0.26-0.49), and neonatal intensive care unit admissions (OR, 0.52; 95% CI, 0.48-0.57) compared to spontaneous labor. The relative risk of hysterectomy at term was 3.21 (95% CI, 1.08-9.54) with elective induction, 1.16 (95% CI, 0.24-5.58) with indicated induction, and 6.57 (95% CI, 1.78-24.30) with cesarean without labor compared to spontaneous labor. CONCLUSION: Some neonatal outcomes improved until 39 weeks. Babies born with elective induction are associated with better neonatal outcomes compared to spontaneous labor. Elective induction may be associated with an increased hysterectomy risk

Genetic Studies of Sulfadiazine-resistant and Methionine-requiring \u3cem\u3eNeisseria\u3c/em\u3e Isolated From Clinical Material

Deoxyribonucleate (DNA) preparations were extracted from Neisseria meningitidis (four isolates from spinal fluid and blood) and N. gonorrhoeae strains, all of which were resistant to sulfadiazine upon primary isolation. These DNA preparations, together with others from in vitro mutants of N. meningitidis and N. perflava, were examined in transformation tests by using as recipient a drug-susceptible strain of N. meningitidis (Ne 15 Sul-s Met+) which was able to grow in a methionine-free defined medium. The sulfadiazine resistance typical of each donor was introduced into the uniform constitution of this recipient. Production of p-aminobenzoic acid was not significantly altered thereby. Transformants elicited by DNA from the N. meningitidis clinical isolates were resistant to at least 200 μg of sulfadiazine/ml, and did not show a requirement for methionine (Sul-r Met+). DNA from six strains of N. gonorrhoeae, which were isolated during the period of therapeutic use of sulfonamides, conveyed lower degrees of resistance and, invariably, a concurrent methionine requirement (Sul-r/Met−). The requirement of these transformants, and that of in vitro mutants selected on sulfadiazine-agar, was satisfied by methionine, but not by vitamin B12, homocysteine, cystathionine, homoserine, or cysteine. Sul-r Met+ and Sul-r/Met− loci could coexist in the same genome, but were segregated during transformation. On the other hand, the dual Sul-r/Met− properties were not separated by recombination, but were eliminated together. DNA from various Sul-r/Met− clones tested against recipients having nonidentical Sul-r/Met− mutant sites yielded Sul-s Met+ transformants. The met locus involved is genetically complex, and will be a valuable tool for studies of genetic fine structure of members of Neisseria, and of genetic homology between species

The Clustering of Colour Selected Galaxies

We present measurements of the angular correlation function of galaxies selected from a B_J=23.5 multicolour survey of two 5 degree by 5 degree fields located at high galactic latitudes. The galaxy catalogue of approximately 400,000 galaxies is comparable in size to catalogues used to determine the galaxy correlation function at low-redshift. Measurements of the z=0.4 correlation function at large angular scales show no evidence for a break from a power law though our results are not inconsistent with a break at >15 Mpc. Despite the large fields-of-view, there are large discrepancies between the measurements of the correlation function in each field, possibly due to dwarf galaxies within z=0.11 clusters near the South Galactic Pole. Colour selection is used to study the clustering of galaxies z=0 to z=0.4. The galaxy correlation function is found to strongly depend on colour with red galaxies more strongly clustered than blue galaxies by a factor of 5 at small scales. The slope of the correlation function is also found to vary with colour with gamma=1.8 for red galaxies while gamma=1.5 for blue galaxies. The clustering of red galaxies is consistently strong over the entire magnitude range studied though there are large variations between the two fields. The clustering of blue galaxies is extremely weak over the observed magnitude range with clustering consistent with r_0=2 Mpc. This is weaker than the clustering of late-type galaxies in the local Universe and suggests galaxy clustering is more strongly correlated with colour than morphology. This may also be the first detection of a substantial low redshift galaxy population with clustering properties similar to faint blue galaxies.Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS. 13 pages, 20 figure

The challenges of communicating research evidence in practice: perspectives from UK health visitors and practice nurses

<p>Background: Health practitioners play a pivotal role in providing patients with up-to-date evidence and health information. Evidence-based practice and patient-centred care are transforming the delivery of healthcare in the UK. Health practitioners are increasingly balancing the need to provide evidence-based information against that of facilitating patient choice, which may not always concur with the evidence base. There is limited research exploring how health practitioners working in the UK, and particularly those more autonomous practitioners such as health visitors and practice nurses working in community practice settings, negotiate this challenge. This research provides a descriptive account of how health visitors and practice nurses negotiate the challenges of communicating health information and research evidence in practice.</p> <p>Methods: A total of eighteen in-depth telephone interviews were conducted in the UK between September 2008 and May 2009. The participants comprised nine health visitors and nine practice nurses, recruited via adverts on a nursing website, posters at a practitioner conference and through recommendation. Thematic analysis, with a focus on constant comparative method, was used to analyse the data.</p> <p>Results: The data were grouped into three main themes: communicating evidence to the critically-minded patient; confidence in communicating evidence; and maintaining the integrity of the patient-practitioner relationship. These findings highlight some of the daily challenges that health visitors and practice nurses face with regard to the complex and dynamic nature of evidence and the changing attitudes and expectations of patients. The findings also highlight the tensions that exist between differing philosophies of evidence-based practice and patient-centred care, which can make communicating about evidence a daunting task.</p> <p>Conclusions: If health practitioners are to be effective at communicating research evidence, we suggest that more research and resources need to be focused on contextual factors, such as how research evidence is negotiated, appraised and communicated within the dynamic patient-practitioner relationship.</p&gt

First detection of galaxy-galaxy-galaxy lensing in RCS. A new tool for studying the matter environment of galaxy pairs

The weak gravitational lensing effect, small coherent distortions of galaxy images by means of a gravitational tidal field, can be used to study the relation between the matter and galaxy distribution. In this context, weak lensing has so far only been used for considering a second-order correlation function that relates the matter density and galaxy number density as a function of separation. We implement two new, third-order correlation functions that have recently been suggested in the literature, and apply them to the Red-Sequence Cluster Survey. We demonstrate that it is possible, even with already existing data, to make significant measurements of third-order lensing correlations. We develop an optimised computer code for the correlation functions. To test its reliability a set of tests are performed. The correlation functions are transformed to aperture statistics, which allow easy tests for remaining systematics in the data. In order to further verify the robustness of our measurement, the signal is shown to vanish when randomising the source ellipticities. Finally, the lensing signal is compared to crude predictions based on the halo-model. On angular scales between roughly 1 arcmin and 11 arcmin a significant third-order correlation between two lens positions and one source ellipticity is found. We discuss this correlation function as a novel tool to study the average matter environment of pairs of galaxies. Correlating two source ellipticities and one lens position yields a less significant but nevertheless detectable signal on a scale of 4 arcmin. Both signals lie roughly within the range expected by theory which supports their cosmological origin.[ABRIDGED]Comment: 15 pages, 12 figures, accepted by A&A; minor change