Gun Ownership and Firearm-related Deaths

BACKGROUND: A variety of claims about possible associations between gun ownership rates, mental illness burden, and the risk of fi rearm-related deaths have been put forward. However, systematic data on this issue among various countries remain scant. Our objective was to assess whether the popular notion "guns make a nation safer" has any merits.METHODS: Data on gun ownership were obtained from the Small Arms Survey, and for fi rearm-related deaths from a European detailed mortality database (World Health Organization), the National Center for Health Statistics, and others. Crime rate was used as an indicator of safety of the nation and was obtained from the United Nations Surveys of Crime Trends. Age-standardized disability-adjusted life- year rates due to major depressive disorder per 100,000 inhabitants with data obtained from the World Health Organization database were used as a putative indicator for mental illness burden in a given country.RESULTS: Among the 27 developed countries, there was a significant positive correlation between guns per capita per country and the rate of fi rearm-related deaths ( r ¼ 0.80; P < .0001). In addition, there was a positive correlation (r ¼ 0.52; P ¼ .005) between mental illness burden in a country and fi rearm-related deaths. However, there was no significant correlation (P ¼ .10) between guns per capita per country and crime rate ( r ¼ .33), or between mental illness and crime rate ( r ¼ 0.32; P ¼ .11). In a linear regression model with fi rearm-related deaths as the dependent variable with gun ownership and mental illness as independent covariates, gun ownership was a significant predictor ( P < .0001) of fi rearm-related deaths, whereas mental illness was of borderline significance ( P ¼ .05) only.CONCLUSION: The number of guns per capita per country was a strong and independent predictor of fi rearm-related death in a given country, whereas the predictive power of the mental illness burden was of borderline significance in a multivariable model. Regardless of exact cause and effect, however, the current study debunks the widely quoted hypothesis that guns make a nation safer

Flow distributed oscillation, flow velocity modulation and resonance

We examine the effects of a periodically varying flow velocity on the standing and travelling wave patterns formed by the flow-distributed oscillation (FDO) mechanism. In the kinematic (or diffusionless) limit, the phase fronts undergo a simple, spatiotemporally periodic longitudinal displacement. On the other hand, when the diffusion is significant, periodic modulation of the velocity can disrupt the wave pattern, giving rise in the downstream region to travelling waves whose frequency is a rational multiple of the velocity perturbation frequency. We observe frequency locking at ratios of 1:1, 2:1 and 3:1, depending on the amplitude and frequency of the velocity modulation. This phenomenon can be viewed as a novel, rather subtle type of resonant forcing.Comment: submitted to Phys. Rev.

Lesen im Bild: Zur Ikonographie von Buch und Lektüreakten vom 16. bis zum 20. Jahrhundert

Over the past twenty or more years, scholarship on the history of reading has augmented its study of textual sources by making use of images. Images do not merely serve to illustrate and confirm established insights into the history of reading practices; they also reveal additional circumstances unique to the roles of images in the history of reading. By focusing on the image - whether illustration, woodcut, oil-painting, etching, lithograph, photograph, or drawing - history of reading identifies and permits systematic analysis of, on the one hand, the involuntary and topical representations of reading and using codices, books, newspapers, manuscripts, letters, etc. On the other hand, this systematic analysis also extends to innovative and even idiosyncratic depictions of reading. Discursive (verbal) representations and visual depictions of reading do not always correspond and often feature alternative or diverging elements. Although images open up history of reading to new lines of inquiry and can serve as correctives to long-standing theoretical approaches, a systematic analysis of depictions of reading requires a cohesive corpus of material, a critique of the image as such, and a method tailored to the specific medial qualities of the image. As it stands, history of reading cannot proceed any further without taking into account the visual sources that constitute that history's fac

Impact of a community pharmacist-led medication review on medicines use in patients on polypharmacy - a prospective randomised controlled trial

In 2010 the 'Polymedication Check' (PMC), a pharmacist-led medication review, was newly introduced to be delivered independently from the prescriber and reimbursed by the Swiss health insurances. This study aimed at evaluating the impact of this new cognitive service focusing on medicines use and patients' adherence in everyday life.; This randomised controlled trial was conducted in 54 Swiss community pharmacies. Eligible patients used ≥4 prescribed medicines over &gt;3 months. The intervention group received a PMC at study start (T-0) and after 28 weeks (T-28) while the control group received only a PMC at T-28. Primary outcome measure was change in patients' objective adherence, calculated as Medication Possession Ratio (MPR) and Daily Polypharmacy Possession Ratio (DPPR), using refill data from the pharmacies and patient information of dosing. Subjective adherence was assessed as secondary outcome by self-report questionnaires (at T-0 and T-28) and telephone interviews (at T-2 and T-16), where participants estimated their overall adherence on a scale from 0-100 %.; A total of 450 patients were randomly allocated to intervention (N = 218, 48.4 %) and control group (N = 232, 51.6 %). Dropout rate was fairly low and comparable for both groups (N Int = 37 (17.0 %), NCont = 41 (17.7 %), p = 0.845). Main addressed drug-related problem (DRP) during PMC at T-0 was insufficient adherence to at least one medicine (N = 69, 26.7 %). At T-28, 1020 chronic therapies fulfilled inclusion criteria for MPR calculation, representing 293 of 372 patients (78.8 %). Mean MPR and adherence to polypharmacy (DPPR) for both groups were equally high (MPRInt = 88.3, SD = 19.03; MPRCont = 87.5, SD = 20.75 (p = 0.811) and DPPRInt = 88.0, SD = 13.31; DPPRCont = 87.5, SD = 20.75 (p = 0.906), respectively). Mean absolute change of subjective adherence between T-0 and T-2 was +1.03 % in the intervention and -0.41 % in the control group (p = 0.058). The number of patients reporting a change of their adherence of more than ±5 points on a scale 0-100 % between T-0 and T-2 was significantly higher in the intervention group (NImprovement = 30; NWorsening = 14) than in the control group (NImprovement = 20; NWorsening = 24; p = 0.028).; Through the PMC pharmacist were able to identify a significant number of DRPs. Participants showed high baseline objective adherence of 87.5 %, providing little potential for improvement. Hence, no significant increase of objective adherence was observed. However, regarding changes in subjective adherence of more than ±5 % the PMC showed a positive effect.; Clinical trial registry database, NCT01739816 ; first entry on November 27, 2012

Utilisation des logiciels d'ingénierie assistée par ordinateur dans la division ST

De juin à septembre 2000, une enquête portant sur l'utilisation des logiciels d'Ingénierie Assistée par Ordinateur (IAO) a été menée dans la division ST. Cent cinquante-trois personnes, fonctionnaires et prestataires de services, ont été interrogées sur les logiciels IAO utilisés, AutoCAD en particulier. Ce document présente les résultats statistiques bruts de cette enquête ainsi que les principales interprétations qui ont été dégagées de l'analyse de ces résultats. Il débouche, ensuite, sur des propositions concrètes dont certaines ont déjà été mises en oeuvre

Participation structure in fictional discourse: Authors, scriptwriters, audiences and characters

This chapter provides an overview of the participation structure in fic- tional discourse by discussing the relevant theoretical participation frameworks. The main focus is on the discourse of film and television, which is discussed in-depth, before the participation structures of literary fiction and drama are also addressed. The discussion highlights the participant roles each of the models describes for authors/producers, characters, and particularly for recipients/read- ers, which are given most focus in pragmatic research. One of the key differences between different frameworks has been the conceptualization of recipients/readers as either ratified participants or unratified overhearers. The chapter explains the terms as they are used by Goffman (1976, 1979) as well as the different positions that the respective theoretical approaches adopt

Anverwandlung von Straparolas Märchen in der deutschen Literatur des Barock

Zusammenfassung:Der Beitrag befasst sich mit dem 1684 in Leipzig erschienenen Roman</jats:p

The financial and economic impact of the U.S. government shutdown of October 2013 on trade and the role of information in commodities trading

The role of information on the markets is crucial as its purpose is to make the trade more efficient and transparent. The data are released by different sources and each market participant has to be able to sort them out and chose the ones that are more relevant for their activities. For most of the professionals, the data coming from the U.S. Government are the original and most reliable source of information. The U.S. federal shutdown of October 2013 created some fear and uncertainty in the United States but also worldwide. There was no information on the length and on the potential consequences that the closing would have on the economy. The market participants in commodities trading have been impacted by this event, as the national entities delivering data reports to the markets were closed for a period of two weeks. As a result, some categories of players active on the commodities markets were basically 'flying blind' as they did not have access to the necessary information that they usually base their trading decisions on. This report contemplates the potential impact that the closing had on the trade of crude oil and corn in October 2013. The main objective is to determine whether the markets are too dependent on the release of information coming from the Government and what this may imply in terms of risks. The analysis of the West Texas Intermediate and Brent crude oil markets established that the shutdown created some volatility on the spot markets; however, not in a significant way. Additionally, according to the findings, the futures markets of WTI have been impacted as there was less volume traded during the month of October 2013. Unfortunately, the prices of October 2013 for the futures contracts of crude oil and corn were not publicly available. As a result, only the volume traded on the futures markets were analysed. On the other hand, the corn markets did not manifest a strong impact from the U.S. Government shutdown. The spot markets showed some volatility; however, compared to other years it was not of great meaning. Throughout the interviews held for this project, many professionals from the agricultural commodities trading businesses did mention that they noticed a decrease in the global volume of contracts traded during October 2013. Nevertheless, after analysis of the amount of corn futures contracts traded, there was no evidence that there was a decrease in the numbers of commitments at this period. It may have impacted other agricultural goods but the corn markets showed no significant differences