Social mobility and inflammatory and metabolic markers at older ages: the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing

BACKGROUND: Since our knowledge of the associations between socioeconomic position (SEP) over the life course and inflammatory and metabolic markers, which are excellent predictors of cardiovascular disease, remains limited, we examined the association between social mobility over the life course and these markers at older ages. METHODS: Our study used cross-sectionally collected data from 6142 participants aged 50 years and older from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing. We estimated linear and logistic models of the associations between social mobility, using information on childhood and adult SEP, C reactive protein (CRP), fibrinogen, glycated haemoglobin (HbA1c) and high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol. Our models were gradually adjusted for age, sex, chronic diseases, obesity, physical activity, alcohol consumption, smoking status and depressive symptoms. RESULTS: Participants who experienced upward social mobility had higher CRP, fibrinogen and HbA1c levels compared with those who had stable high SEP over the life course, but lower compared with those who experienced downward social mobility or had stable low SEP. They also had lower HDL levels compared with those who had stable high SEP or downwardly mobile. Adjustment for covariates partially explained the associations between social mobility and CRP and HDL, and fully explained those between social mobility and fibrinogen and HbA1c. CONCLUSIONS: Social mobility is associated with inflammatory and metabolic markers at older ages with some of the observed associations persisting after accounting for covariates. Upward social mobility appears to partially reverse the damaging effect of childhood social disadvantage on inflammatory profiles in older ages

The effect of pictorial depth information on projected size judgments.

When full depth cues are available, size judgments are dominated by physical size. However, with reduced depth cues, size judgments are influenced less by physical size and more by projected size. By manipulating monocularly presented pictorial depth cues only, in this study we reduced depth cues further than had previous size judgment studies. Participants were presented monocularly with two shapes against a background of zero (control), one, two, or three pictorial depth cues. Each cue was added progressively in the following order: height in the visual field, linear perspective, and texture gradient. Participants made a same/different judgment regarding the projected size of the two shapes (i.e., ignoring any depth cues). As was expected, accuracy increased and response times decreased as the ratio between the projected size of the two shapes increased (range of projected size ratios, 1:1-1:5). In addition, with the exception of the larger size ratios (1:4 and 1:5), detection of projected size difference grew poorer as depth cues were added. One- and two-cue conditions had the most weighting in this performance decrement, with little weighting from the three-cue condition. We conclude that even minimal depth information is difficult to inhibit, which indicates that depth perception requires little focused attention

Compression Ignition and Exhaust Gas Emissions of Fuel Molecules Which Can Be Produced from Lignocellulosic Biomass: Levulinates, Valeric Esters, and Ketones

This paper presents the results of combustion experiments conducted in a single cylinder compression ignition engine with several fuel molecules which can be produced from lignocellulosic biomass through a variety of processing routes. The lignocellulosic fuel molecules tested were ethyl levulinate, butyl levulinate, ethyl valerate, butyl valerate, pentyl valerate, 5-nonanone, 3-heptanone, dipentyl ether and three alkanes. To ensure reliable compression ignition of all of the molecules, all of the molecules were tested after adding 30 wt % of heptane to them. Levulinates were observed to have longer ignition delays than valeric esters, which in turn had longer ignition delays compared to ketones. All of the tested oxygenated molecules ignited later than the corresponding alkanes, excluding dipentyl ether. The differences in ignition delays were mainly attributed to the higher electronegativity of oxygen atoms compared to that of carbon and hydrogen atoms. The tested molecules, excluding 3-heptanone, had similar engine efficiency as that of diesel fuel. However, the oxygenated fuel molecules resulted in higher NOxemissions and higher number of small particulates in exhaust gas emissions compared to alkanes and diesel fuel

Discrete-choice modelling of patient preferences for modes of drug administration.

The administration of (biologically-derived) drugs for various disease conditions involves consumption of resources that constitutes a direct monetary cost to healthcare payers and providers. An often ignored cost relates to a mismatch between patients' preferences and the mode of drug administration. The "intangible" benefits of giving patients what they want in terms of the mode of drug delivery is seldom considered. This study aims to evaluate, in monetary terms, end-user preferences for the non-monetary attributes of different modes of drug administration using a discrete-choice experiment. It provides empirical support to the notion that there are significant benefits from developing patient-friendly approaches to drug delivery. The gross benefits per patient per unit administration is in the same order of magnitude as the savings in resource costs of administering drugs. The study argues that, as long as the underlying manufacturing science is capable, a patient-centred approach to producing drug delivery systems should be encouraged and pursued

Tailoring Gold Nanoparticle Characteristics and the Impact on Aqueous-Phase Oxidation of Glycerol

Poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA)-stabilized Au nanoparticles (NPs) were synthesized by colloidal methods in which temperature variations (−75 to 75 °C) and mixed H2O/EtOH solvent ratios (0, 50, and 100 vol/vol) were used. The resulting Au NPs were immobilized on TiO2 (P25), and their catalytic performance was investigated for the liquid phase oxidation of glycerol. For each unique solvent system, there was a systematic increase in the average Au particle diameter as the temperature of the colloidal preparation increased. Generation of the Au NPs in H2O at 1 °C resulted in a high observed activity compared with current Au/TiO2 catalysts (turnover frequency = 915 h–1). Interestingly, Au catalysts with similar average particle sizes but prepared under different conditions had contrasting catalytic performance. For the most active catalyst, aberration-corrected high angle annular dark field scanning transmission electron microscopy analysis identified the presence of isolated Au clusters (from 1 to 5 atoms) for the first time using a modified colloidal method, which was supported by experimental and computational CO adsorption studies. It is proposed that the variations in the populations of these species, in combination with other solvent/PVA effects, is responsible for the contrasting catalytic properties

SIKAP DAN KEBIASAAN BELAJAR MAHASISWA TUNANETRA PRODI PLB FKIP UNINUS

Penelitian ini dilatarbelakangi adanya program bimbingan yang diselenggarakan oleh program studi pendidikan luar biasa, fakultas keguruan Universitas Islam Nusantara Bandung untuk mengembangkan sikap dan kebiasaan belajar dalam menyelesaikan studi. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk: 1) memperoleh gambaran tentang kondisi objektif penyelenggaraan bimbingan bagi mahasiswa tunanetra; 2) menemukan model Bimbingan belajar dalam meningkatkan prestasi; 3) menemukan model hasil validasi dan siap diimplementasikan.Pendekatan yang dipergunakan dalam penelitian ini adalah perpaduan antara pendekatan kualitatif dan kuantitatif dengan metode penelitian dan pengembangan. Lokasi penelitian di prodi PLB FKIP Uninus. Data yang diperoleh melalui observasi, wawancara, studi dokumentasi dan teknik Focus Group Discussion. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan: keberadaan bimbingan belajar belum optimal, artinya dalam perencanaan, pelaksanaan, dan tindak lanjut belum sesuai dengan kebutuhan mahasiswa tunanetra. Sebagai upaya untuk mengoptimalkan bimbingan tersebut, maka disusun model konseptual yang telah divalidasi dan diimplementasikan. Model bimbingan belajar memiliki sembilan komponen untuk membangun sikap dan kebiasaan belajar yang positif

Apport de la télédétection à la cartographie de l’évolution spatio-temporelle de la dynamique de l’occupation du sol dans la région des Lacs (Centre de la Côte d’Ivoire)

L’objectif de cet article est la cartographie de l’évolution spatio-temporelle de l’occupation du sol dans la région des Lacs (Côte d’Ivoire) à partir des données de télédétection (images Landsat TM et ETM+) sur une période de 16 ans (1986-2002) d’une part, et l’impact de cette occupation sur les coefficients de rétention d’autre part. Une analyse diachronique des données satellitaires a été réalisée et l’approche de la classification supervisée à partir des compositions colorées des bandes a été retenue en vue de la discrimination des classes. Les précisions globales obtenues pour les images classifiées sont de 88,47% (1986) et de 90,46% (2002). Les indices de Kappa sont de 85,84% (1986) et 88 % (2002). L’étude de la dynamique spatio-temporelle de l’occupation du sol de 1986 à 2002 fait apparaitre des taux moyens annuels calculés de régression pour les plans d’eau de -0,164, les cultures irriguées -0,231 et la savane -1,063. On observe parallèlement une progression des classes forêt (0,287), cultures (0,473) et sols nus ou dégradés (0,699). Les coefficients de rétention calculés sont faibles. En conséquence, cette étude montre que la zone d’étude est marquée par une forte anthropisation et une dégradation des conditions pluviométriques qui ont fortement affecté le mode d’occupation du sol.Mots-clés : télédétection, dynamique, occupation du sol, région des Lacs, Côte d’Ivoire