Assessing the Fire Risk for a Historic Hangar

NASA Ames Research Center (ARC) is evaluating options of reuse of its historic Hangar 1. As a part of this evaluation, a qualitative fire risk assessment study was performed to evaluate the potential threat of combustion of the historic hangar. The study focused on the fire risk trade-off of either installing or not installing a Special Hazard Fire Suppression System in the Hangar 1 deck areas. The assessment methodology was useful in discussing the important issues among various groups within the Center. Once the methodology was deemed acceptable, the results were assessed. The results showed that the risk remained in the same risk category, whether Hangar 1 does or does not have a Special Hazard Fire Suppression System. Note that the methodology assessed the risk to Hangar 1 and not the risk to an aircraft in the hangar. If one had a high value aircraft, the aircraft risk analysis could potentially show a different result. The assessed risk results were then communicated to management and other stakeholders

Family size and duration of fertility in female cancer survivors : a population based analysis

Funder: R.A.A. reports grant from Medical Research Council for the submitted work (Grant No. MR/N022556/1). T.W.K. has nothing to disclose. D.S.M. has nothing to disclose. W.H.B.W. has nothing to disclose.Objective: To assess family size and timescale for achieving pregnancy in women who remain fertile after cancer. Design: Population-based analysis. Setting: National databases. Patient(s): All women diagnosed with cancer before the age of 40 years in Scotland, 1981–2012 (n = 10,267) with no previous pregnancy; each was matched with 3 population controls. Intervention(s): None. Main Outcome Measure(s): The number and timing of pregnancy and live birth after cancer diagnosis, to 2018. Result(s): In 10,267 cancer survivors, the hazard ratio for a subsequent live birth was 0.56 (95% confidence interval, 0.53–0.58) overall. In women who achieved a subsequent pregnancy, age at live birth increased (mean ± SD, 31.2 ± 5.5 vs. 29.7 ± 6.1 in controls), and the family size was lower (2.0 ± 0.8 vs. 2.3 ± 1.1 live births). These findings were consistent across several diagnoses. The interval from diagnosis to last pregnancy was similar to that of controls (10.7 ± 6.4 vs. 10.9 ± 7.3 years) or significantly increased, for example, after breast cancer (6.2 ± 2.8 vs. 5.3 ± 3.3 years) and Hodgkin lymphoma (11.1 ± 5.1 vs. 10.1 ± 5.8 years). Conclusion(s): These data quantify the reduced chance of live birth after cancer. Women who subsequently conceived achieved a smaller family size than matched controls, but the period of time after cancer diagnosis across which pregnancies occurred was similar or, indeed, increased. Thus, we did not find evidence that women who were able to achieve a pregnancy after cancer had a shorter timescale over which they have pregnancies.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

U.S. Commission on Immigration Reform

The U.S. Commission on Immigration Reform was created by Congress to assess U.S. immigration policy and make recommendations regarding its implementation and effects. Mandated in the Immigration Act of 1990 to submit an interim report in 1994 and a final report in 1997, the Commission has undertaken public hearings, fact-finding missions, and expert consultations to identify the major immigration-related issues facing the United States today.LBJ School of Public Affair

Simple and objective prediction of survival in patients with lung cancer: staging the host systemic inflammatory response

Background. Prediction of survival in patients diagnosed with lung cancer remains problematical. The aim of the present study was to examine the clinical utility of an established objective marker of the systemic inflammatory response, the Glasgow Prognostic Score, as the basis of risk stratification in patients with lung cancer. Methods. Between 2005 and 2008 all newly diagnosed lung cancer patients coming through the multidisciplinary meetings (MDTs) of four Scottish centres were included in the study. The details of 882 patients with a confirmed new diagnosis of any subtype or stage of lung cancer were collected prospectively. Results. The median survival was 5.6 months (IQR 4.8–6.5). Survival analysis was undertaken in three separate groups based on mGPS score. In the mGPS 0 group the most highly predictive factors were performance status, weight loss, stage of NSCLC, and palliative treatment offered. In the mGPS 1 group performance status, stage of NSCLC, and radical treatment offered were significant. In the mGPS 2 group only performance status and weight loss were statistically significant. Discussion. This present study confirms previous work supporting the use of mGPS in predicting cancer survival; however, it goes further by showing how it might be used to provide more objective risk stratification in patients diagnosed with lung cancer

Effect of body mass index and alcohol consumption on liver disease: analysis of data from two prospective cohort studies

Objective To investigate whether alcohol consumption and raised body mass index (BMI) act together to increase risk of liver disease

Leadership in the British civil service: an interpretation

This article is essentially a polemic. The argument is that when politicians and officials now talk of ‘leadership’ in the British civil service they do not use that word in the way in which it was previously used. In the past leading civil servants, acting in partnership with ministers and within constitutional constraints, exercised leadership in the sense of setting example, inspiring confidence and encouraging loyalty. The loosening of traditional constitutional patterns, the marginalization of senior officials in the policy process and the emergence of business methods as the preferred model for public ­administration have led to a political and administrative environment in which leadership in the British civil service is now about encouraging patterns of behaviour which fit in with these changes. Leadership skills are now about ‘delivery’; they are not about motivation. It is time for politicians, officials and scholars to be open about this