Can agricultural cultivation methods influence the healthfulness of crops for foods

The aim of the current study was to investigate if there are any health effects of long-term consumption of organically grown crops using a rat model. Crops were retrieved over two years from along-term field trial at three different locations in Denmark, using three different cultivation systems(OA, organic based on livestock manure; OB, organic based on green manure; and C, conventional with mineral fertilizers and pesticides)with two field replicates. The cultivation system had an impact on the nutritional quality, affecting γ-tocopherol, some amino acids, and fatty acid composition. Additionally, the nutritional quality was affected by harvest year and location. However, harvest year and location rather than cultivation system affected the measured health biomarkers. In conclusion, the differences in dietary treatments composed of ingredients from different cultivation systems did not lead to significant differences in the measured health biomarkers, except for a significant difference in plasma IgGl evels

Measuring and decomposing inequity in self-reported morbidity and self-assessed health in Thailand

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>In recent years, interest in the study of inequalities in health has not stopped at quantifying their magnitude; explaining the sources of inequalities has also become of great importance. This paper measures socioeconomic inequalities in self-reported morbidity and self-assessed health in Thailand, and the contributions of different population subgroups to those inequalities.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The Health and Welfare Survey 2003 conducted by the Thai National Statistical Office with 37,202 adult respondents is used for the analysis. The health outcomes of interest derive from three self-reported morbidity and two self-assessed health questions. Socioeconomic status is measured by adult-equivalent monthly income per household member. The concentration index (CI) of ill health is used as a measure of socioeconomic health inequalities, and is subsequently decomposed into contributing factors.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The CIs reveal inequality gradients disadvantageous to the poor for both self-reported morbidity and self-assessed health in Thailand. The magnitudes of these inequalities were higher for the self-assessed health outcomes than for the self-reported morbidity outcomes. Age and sex played significant roles in accounting for the inequality in reported chronic illness (33.7 percent of the total inequality observed), hospital admission (27.8 percent), and self-assessed deterioration of health compared to a year ago (31.9 percent). The effect of being female and aged 60 years or older was by far the strongest demographic determinant of inequality across all five types of health outcome. Having a low socioeconomic status as measured by income quintile, education and work status were the main contributors disadvantaging the poor in self-rated health compared to a year ago (47.1 percent) and self-assessed health compared to peers (47.4 percent). Residence in the rural Northeast and rural North were the main regional contributors to inequality in self-reported recent and chronic illness, while residence in the rural Northeast was the major contributor to the tendency of the poor to report lower levels of self-assessed health compared to peers.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The findings confirm that substantial socioeconomic inequalities in health as measured by self-reported morbidity and self-assessed health exist in Thailand. Decomposition analysis shows that inequalities in health status are associated with particular demographic, socioeconomic and geographic population subgroups. Vulnerable subgroups which are prone to both ill health and relative poverty warrant targeted policy attention.</p

Health Systems and Sustainability: Doctors and Consumers Differ on Threats and Solutions

Background: Healthcare systems face the problem of insufficient resources to meet the needs of ageing populations and increasing demands for access to new treatments. It is unclear whether doctors and consumers agree on the main challenges to health system sustainability. Methodology: We conducted a mail survey of Australian doctors (specialists and general practitioners) and a computer assisted telephone interview (CATI) of consumers to determine their views on contributors to increasing health care costs, rationing of services and involvement in health resource allocation decisions. Differences in responses are reported as odds ratios (OR) and 99% confidence intervals (CI). Results: Of 2948 doctors, 1139 (38.6%) responded; 533 of 826 consumers responded (64.5% response). Doctors were more concerned than consumers with the effects of an ageing population (OR 3.0; 99% CI 1.7, 5.4), and costs of new drugs and technologies (OR 5.1; CI 3.3, 8.0), but less likely to consider pharmaceutical promotional activities as a cost driver (OR 0.29, CI 0.22, 0.39). Doctors were more likely than consumers to view ‘community demand’ for new technologies as a major cost driver, (OR 1.6; 1.2, 2.2), but less likely to attribute increased costs to patients failing to take responsibility for their own health (OR 0.35; 0.24, 0.49). Like doctors, the majority of consumers saw a need for public consultation in decisions about funding for new treatments. Conclusions: Australian doctors and consumers hold different views on the sustainability of the healthcare system, and a number of key issues relating to costs, cost drivers, roles and responsibilities. Doctors recognise their dual responsibility to patients and society, see an important role for physicians in influencing resource allocation, and acknowledge their lack of skills in assessing treatments of marginal value. Consumers recognise cost pressures on the health system, but express willingness to be involved in health care decision making

Phenomenology and physical origin of shear-localization and shear-banding in complex fluids

We review and compare the phenomenological aspects and physical origin of shear-localization and shear-banding in various material types, namely emulsions, suspensions, colloids, granular materials and micellar systems. It appears that shear-banding, which must be distinguished from the simple effect of coexisting static-flowing regions in yield stress fluids, occurs in the form of a progressive evolution of the local viscosity towards two significantly different values in two adjoining regions of the fluids in which the stress takes slightly different values. This suggests that from a global point of view shear-banding in these systems has a common physical origin: two physical phenomena (for example, in colloids, destructuration due to flow and restructuration due to aging) are in competition and, depending on the flow conditions, one of them becomes dominant and makes the system evolve in a specific direction.Comment: The original publication is available at http://www.springerlink.co

Serum Vitamin D and Risk of Prostate Cancer in a Case-Control Analysis Nested Within the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC)

Results from the majority of studies show little association between circulating concentrations of vitamin D and prostate cancer risk, a finding that has not been demonstrated in a wider European population, however. The authors examined whether vitamin D concentrations were associated with prostate cancer risk in a case-control study nested within the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (1994–2000). Serum concentrations of 25-hydroxyvitamin D were measured in 652 prostate cancer cases matched to 752 controls from 7 European countries after a median follow-up time of 4.1 years. Conditional logistic regression models were used to calculate odds ratios for prostate cancer risk in relation to serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D after standardizing for month of blood collection and adjusting for covariates. No significant association was found between 25-hydroxyvitamin D and risk of prostate cancer (highest vs. lowest quintile: odds ratio = 1.28, 95% confidence interval: 0.88, 1.88; P for trend = 0.188). Subgroup analyses showed no significant heterogeneity by cancer stage or grade, age at diagnosis, body mass index, time from blood collection to diagnosis, or calcium intake. In summary, the results of this large nested case-control study provide no evidence in support of a protective effect of circulating concentrations of vitamin D on the risk of prostate cancer