Socio-economic inequalities in survival of patients with prostate cancer: role of age and Gleason grade at diagnosis

In the United Kingdom, survival of prostate cancer patients has improved since the 1990s. A deprivation gap in survival (better survival for the least deprived compared with the most deprived) has been reported but it is not known if differential distribution of earlier age or lower grade disease at diagnosis might explain such patterns. We therefore investigated the impact of age and Gleason grade at diagnosis on the deprivation gap in survival of prostate cancer patients over time. Incident cases of prostate cancer (ICD-10 C61) from the West of Scotland were extracted from the Scottish Cancer Registry from 1991 to 2007. Socio-economic circumstances were measured using the Scottish Index for Multiple Deprivation 2004 (SIMD). Age and deprivation specific mortality rates were obtained from the General Registrar Office for Scotland (GRO(S)). The survival gradient across the five deprivation categories was estimated with linear regression, weighted by the variance of the relative survival estimate. We examined the data for 15,292 adults diagnosed with prostate cancer between 1991 and 2007. Despite substantial improvements in survival of prostate cancer patients, a deprivation gap persists throughout the three periods of diagnoses. The deprivation gap in five year relative survival widened from −4.76 in 1991–1996 to −10.08 in 2003–2007. On age and grade-specific analyses, a significant deprivation gap in five year survival existed between all age groups except among patients' age ≥75 and both low and high grade disease. On multivariate analyses, deprivation was significantly associated with increased excess risk of death (RER 1.48, 95% CI 1.31–1.68, p-value<0.001) independent of age, Gleason grade and period of diagnosis. The deprivation gap in survival from prostate cancer cannot be wholly explained by socio-economic differentials in early detection of disease. Further research is needed to understand whether differences in comorbidities or treatment explain inequalities in prostate cancer outcomes

Fluctuations in canal water supplies: a case study

Irrigation management / Water allocation / Canals / Water distribution / Water supply / Performance evaluation / Irrigated farming / Irrigation systems / Pakistan / Chishtian Sub-Division / Fordwah Distributary

Proceedings of the National Conference on Managing Irrigation for Environmentally Sustainable Agriculture in Pakistan, Islamabad, November 5-7, 1996. Volume III - Papers on the theme, Water management below the Mogha

Water allocationWater distributionWatercoursesIrrigation waterIrrigation canalsWaterloggingSalinityWater useDecision makingSurface drainageIrrigation designIrrigation requirementsSprinkler irrigationWheatSurface irrigationIrrigation schedulingCottonCrop yieldSoil reclamationSodic soilsSoil salinityConjunctive useGroundwaterSurface waterFlow measurementIrrigation practicesMonitoringEvaluationFarmer participationFarmers' attitudes

Proceedings of the National Conference on Managing Irrigation for Environmentally Sustainable Agriculture in Pakistan, Islamabad, November 5-7, 1996. Volume I - Inauguration and deliberations

Irrigation managementSustainable agricultureEnvironmental effectsIrrigation canalsFarmer managed irrigation systemsWater distributionIrrigation efficiencyDrainageHydrologyWater reuseTube wellsSoil salinityWater tableWaterloggingGroundwater managementIrrigated farmingInstitution building

Proceedings of the National Conference on Managing Irrigation for Environmentally Sustainable Agriculture in Pakistan, Islamabad, November 5-7, 1996. Volume V - Papers on the theme, institutional development

Irrigated farmingSocial organizationWater users' associationsFarmers' associationsInstitution buildingWater resource managementOperationsMaintenancePolicyIrrigation managementParticipatory management

Root zone salinity management using fractional skimming wells with pressurized irrigation: Inception report

Wells / Aquifers / Pumping / Groundwater irrigation / Water quality / Salinity control / Irrigation programs / Climate / Waterlogging / Drainage / Soils / Land use / Cropping systems / Farm income

The Transmuted Weibull-Pareto Distribution

A new generalization of the Weibull-Pareto distribution called the transmuted Weibull-Pareto distribution is proposed and studied. Various mathematical properties of this distribution including ordinary and incomplete moments, quantile and generating functions, Bonferroni and Lorenz curves and order statistics are derived. The method of maximum likelihood is used for estimating the model parameters. The flexibility of the new lifetime model is illustrated by means of an application to a real data set

Photoplethysmographic signals and blood oxygen saturation values during artificial hypothermia in healthy volunteers

Pulse oximetry utilizes the technique of photoplethysmography to estimate arterial oxygen saturation (SpO2) values. During hypothermia, the amplitude of the photoplethysmograph (PPG) is compromised which can lead to inaccurate estimation of SpO2. A new mutlimode PPG/pulse oximeter sensor was developed to investigate the behaviour of PPGs during conditions of induced hypothermia (hand immersed in an ice bath). PPG measurements from 20 volunteers were conducted and SpO2 values were estimated at all stages of the experiment. Good quality PPG signals were observed from the majority of the volunteers at almost all hand temperatures. At low temperature ranges, from 13 to 21 ◦C, the failure rate to estimate SpO2 values from the multimode transreflectance PPG sensor was 2.4% as compared to the commercial pulse oximeter with a failure rate of 70%

VLSI Circuits, Systems, and Architectures for Advanced Image and Video Compression Standards

Modern image and video standards achieve very high compression ratios and include several coding modes in order to address applications with different requirements ranging from low-complexity to high-quality/high-end applications. As a consequence, VLSI circuits, systems, and architectures are mandatory to effectively address the above-mentioned challenges and application demands/characteristics with low power consumption. This special issue is dedicated to research problems and innovative solutions in all aspects of design and architecture addressing realization issues of cutting-edge standards for image and video compression. The authors have focused on different aspects including i) VLSI architectures for computationally intensive blocks, as the DCT and the intra-frame coding mode; ii) Automatic code generation and multicore implementation of complex video encoders, as MPEG4 and H.264. Due to the increasing importance of stereo and 3D video processing an invited paper dealing with this topic is included in the issu

An Empirical Study on the Impact of Micro-Credit Financing on the Socio-Economic Status of Small Agriculturists in Pakistan

This study empirically studies the impacts of micro-credit finance on the socio-economic status of small agriculturists in Pakistan. Little research has been conducted in this area in Pakistan. The data was gathered from 693 micro-credit finance participants and non-participants, at a 2 to 3 ratio, through an adapted questionnaire from the 8-clusters out of 12 clusters of 36 districts of Punjab using the cluster sampling technique. A survey was organized to perform the investigation in which two close-ended structured questionnaires were developed to collect data from the small agriculturists who owned less than twelve and a half acres of land. Both descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyze the results of the study. Various statistical tests, such as EFA, SEM, KMO, ANOVA tests, etc., were used to test the expected hypothesis of the study and to confirm the affinity among variables. This research revealed that micro-credit finance has performed a positive role in developing the socio-economic status of small agriculturists after obtaining the micro-credit finance. The study indicated that micro-credit finance has played a significant role in changing and developing the socio-economic status of the respondents. Participation of small agriculturists enables the poor masses of rural areas to eradicate poverty in rural areas to enhance their living standards and to strengthen their financial conditions. The end results of the study revealed that most small agriculturists were taking benefits from micro-credit lending schemes. They also improved their socio-economic status and mitigated poverty. The findings of the study provide profound insight and should be helpful to regulators, policy makers, managers, microfinance institutions, government authorities, and all other stakeholders