Heavy metals in Greenland seabirds

From six Greenland districts we report the concentration of Zn, Cd, Hg and Se in muscle (pectoral), liver and kidney for 320 seabirds of the following species: Cepphus grylle, Uria lomvia, Clangula hyemalis, Mergus serrator, Larus glaucoides, L. hyperboreus, Rissa tridactyla, Pagophila eburnea, Fulmarus glacialis, Phalacrocorax carbo and Stercorarius pomarinus. Concentrations vary widely within species. Yearlings are low in Cd and Hg. Concentrations tend to increase with age. No significant differences between sexes were found. On a wet weight basis, the Zn concentration in liver and kidney is c. three times that of muscle. Gulls and the fulmar possess significantly more Zn in muscle than do other seabirds. The Cd concentration in liver and kidney is c. 20 and 80 times higher than in muscle, whereas the Hg concentration in liver and kidney is three to five times higher than that of muscle. The Se concentration in liver and kidney is c. five times the muscle concentration. Muscle, liver and kidney concentrations tend to correlate positively for Cd, Hg and Se. For Zn only liver and kidney concentrations correlate mutually. On a molar basis, the three organs of all species have a large excess of Se over Hg. The intra-organ association of elements is strongest for Zn and Cd in liver and kidney, and for Hg and Se generally. All four elements show consistently higher concentrations in birds from NW and NE Greenland than in those from S Greenland. For C. grylle from Avanersuaq, NW Greenland, the Cd concentration is twice that of birds from S Greenland, the difference being highly significant. Hg concentrations are not significantly different

The Ørestad Traffic Passenger Demand Model, version 5.0

Vuk and Hansen ("Validating the passenger traffic model for Copenhagen", Transportation, Volume 33, Issue 4, Page 371-392. 2006) have validated the present version of the Ørestad traffic model (version 4.0 from summer 2000) and concluded that a major drawback of the model is outdated base 1992 matrices. With respect to planning of the alignment of the Metro’s phase 4, the so called Metro City Ring, a group of clients headed by the Ministry of Energy and Transport wished to upgrade OTM 4.0 to a new version, ver. 5.0, where a number of improvements were proposed. Most importantly the OTM 5.0 includes new base 2004 matrices. The main aim of the paper is to provide a description of the new base matrices as well as changes in the model estimations

Overall design of the Danish National transport model

The objective of the new Danish national transport model is to establish a unified reference model, which will form a new basis for transport policy analysis in Denmark. There are a number of important benefits by developing a single model framework rather than relying on a variety of regional models. Firstly, as different projects is compared using the same model, potential model bias will be ruled out. Secondly, as more resources can be put into the development of a single model, it can also be more comprehensive and advanced in a number of respects. Thirdly, it becomes much easier to maintain and update the data foundation, which is a very important issue in model development. The aim of the present paper is to outline the general model structure and to discuss how the model will be able to address a range of scenarios. More specifically, we will discuss how different model components are linked and briefly present the forecast methodology

Associations between follow-up screening after gestational diabetes and early detection of diabetes:a register based study

BACKGROUND: Women whose pregnancy was complicated by gestational diabetes have a 7-fold higher risk of developing diabetes, primarily type 2. Early detection can prevent or delay the onset of late complications, for which follow-up screening is important. This study investigated the extent of participation in follow-up screening and the possible consequences of nonattendance in the Region of North Jutland, Denmark. METHOD: In Danish national registers covering the years 1994–2011 we identified 2171 birthing women whose pregnancy was complicated by first-time gestational diabetes. Control visits to general practitioners and biochemical departments after giving birth were charted. Following national guidelines we defined four intervals for assessment of participation in follow-up screening. Diagnosis of diabetes or treatment with glucose-lowering agents after giving birth were also identified. Participation in follow-up screening and risk of diabetes was calculated. Time to obtaining diagnosis of diabetes or initiating treatment was analysed by Cox regression models. All models were adjusted for age, ethnicity and income. RESULTS: High attendance was found during the first control interval, after which attendance decreased with time after giving birth for both controls at general practitioners and biochemical departments. All differences in proportions were statistically significant. Women attending controls at general practitioners had a significantly higher risk of diabetes diagnosis and treatment after gestational diabetes than women not attending. The results for women attending testing at biochemical departments also showed an increased risk of initiation of treatment. Women attending at least one general practitioners control had a significantly higher risk of early diabetes diagnosis or treatment. Time to initiation of treatment was significantly higher for testing at biochemical departments. Women with high incomes had a significantly lower risk of diabetes diagnosis or initiation of treatment compared to low-income women. CONCLUSION: Participation in follow-up screening after gestational diabetes is low in the North Denmark Region. Follow-up screening ensures early detection of diabetes and initiation of treatment. Our results emphasize the importance of development of interventions to improve early detection and prevention of diabetes after gestational diabetes

Mental health and school dropout across educational levels and genders: a 4.8-year follow-up study

Abstract Background Education is a key determinant of future employment and income prospects of young people. Poor mental health is common among young people and is related to risk of dropping out of school (dropout). Educational level and gender might play a role in the association, which remains to be studied. Methods Mental health was measured in 3146 Danish inhabitants aged 16–29 years using the 12-Item Short-Form Health Survey and examined across genders and educational levels. For students, educational level at baseline was used; for young people who were not enrolled in school at baseline (non-students), the highest achieved educational level was used. The risk of dropout in students was investigated in administrative registers over a 4.8–year period (1st March 2010–31th December 2014). Odds ratios (OR) and 95 % confidence intervals (CI) were calculated for mental health and in relation to dropout in logistic regression models, adjusting for age, gender, educational level, parental education, parental income and ethnicity. Results Poor mental health was present in 24 % (n = 753) of the participants, 29 % (n = 468) in females and 19 % (n = 285) in males (p < 0.0001). The prevalence differed from 19 to 39 % across educational levels (p < 0.0001). Females had a statistically significantly higher adjusted risk of poor mental health than males (OR = 1.8, CI = 1.5–2.2). Among the students the lowest risk was found at the elementary level (OR = 1.3, CI = 0.8–2.3), while students in higher education had a statistically significantly higher risk (OR = 1.9, CI = 1.2–2.9). The lowest-educated non-students had the highest OR of poor mental health (OR = 3.3, CI = 2.1–5.4). Dropout occurred in 8 % (n = 124) of the students. Poor mental health was associated to dropout in vocational (OR = 1.8, CI = 1.0–3.2) and higher education (OR = 2.0, CI = 1.0–4.2). For males in higher education, poor mental health was a predictor of dropout (OR = 5.2, CI = 1.6–17.3), which was not seen females in higher education (OR = 1.2, CI = 0.5–3.1). Conclusions Poor mental health was significantly associated to dropout among students in vocational and higher education. Males in higher education had five times the risk of dropout when reporting poor mental health, while no such association was found for females

The relationship between self-reported mental health and redeemed prescriptions of antidepressants:a register-based cohort study

BACKGROUND: Poor mental health is a major problem in most western societies, especially predominant among young adults. However, associations of self-reported poor mental health with subsequent psychiatric or medical treatment are unknown. We examined the relation between self-reported mental health and redeeming prescriptions of antidepressants among three age groups. METHODS: We analyzed data from 16,233 individuals aged 16 years and over randomly selected to participate in the 2010 North Denmark Region Health Survey completed in February 2010. Mental health was defined according to the Short-Form 12 instrument (SF-12) and dichotomized into poor and good. Outcome data were retrieved from administrative information on redeemed prescriptions of antidepressants between February 2010 and December 2012. Crude cumulative incidence curves were produced to illustrate the probability of redeeming new prescriptions of antidepressants over time. Cox regression analysis was used to estimate risk of redeeming prescriptions of antidepressants when having poor mental health, adjusted for preselected explanatory covariates. RESULTS: Among the young (16–29 years-old), 620 (23 %) participants suffered from poor mental health. Among the adults (30–59 years-old) and elderly (60 years-old or over), 1592 (18 %) participants and 723 (15 %) reported poor mental health, respectively. Overall, women were more likely than men to rate their mental health as poor. For all age groups, there was an increased probability for redeeming prescriptions of antidepressants when having poor mental health. The hazard ratio [HR] for redeeming prescriptions of antidepressants for those reporting poor versus good mental health, adjusted for sex, ethnicity, marital status, education level, occupational status, smoking and physical activity was 3.1 (95 % confidence interval [CI] 2.20–4.29) for young participants. For adults, the HR was 2.3 (95 % CI 1.86–2.78) and for elderly, it was 3.5 (95 % CI 2.66–4.57). CONCLUSION: Self-reported poor mental health was more frequent among younger than older participants. Overall, antidepressants were the most often used treatment. An increased probability of redeeming antidepressant prescriptions when having self-reported poor mental health was observed in all age groups. These findings suggest that frequent reporting of poor mental health is a common issue for all age groups that needs more attention. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12888-016-0893-7) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users