Risk of Tooth Loss After Cigarette Smoking Cessation

INTRODUCTION. Little is known about the effect of cigarette smoking cessation on risk of tooth loss. We examined how risk of tooth loss changed with longer periods of smoking abstinence in a prospective study of oral health in men. METHODS. Research subjects were 789 men who participated in the Veterans Administration Dental Longitudinal Study from 1968 to 2004. Tooth status and smoking status were determined at examinations performed every 3 years, for a maximum follow-up time of 35 years. Risk of tooth loss subsequent to smoking cessation was assessed sequentially at 1-year intervals with multivariate proportional hazards regression models. Men who never smoked cigarettes, cigars, or pipes formed the reference group. Hazard ratios were adjusted for age, education, total pack-years of cigarette exposure, frequency of brushing, and use of floss. RESULTS. The hazard ratio for tooth loss was 2.1 (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.5-3.1) among men who smoked cigarettes during all or part of follow-up. Risk of tooth loss among men who quit smoking declined as time after smoking cessation increased, from 2.0 (95% CI, 1.4-2.9) after 1 year of abstinence to 1.0 (95% CI, 0.5-2.2) after 15 years of abstinence. The risk remained significantly elevated for the first 9 years of abstinence but eventually dropped to the level of men who never smoked after 13 or more years. CONCLUSION. These results indicate that smoking cessation is beneficial for tooth retention, but long-term abstinence is required to reduce the risk to the level of people who have never smoked.U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Epidemiology (Merit Review grant); Massachusetts Veterans Epidemiology Research and Information Center; National Institutes of Health (R01 DA10073, R03 DE016357, R15 DE12644, K24 DE00419

Optimal experiment design revisited: fair, precise and minimal tomography

Given an experimental set-up and a fixed number of measurements, how should one take data in order to optimally reconstruct the state of a quantum system? The problem of optimal experiment design (OED) for quantum state tomography was first broached by Kosut et al. [arXiv:quant-ph/0411093v1]. Here we provide efficient numerical algorithms for finding the optimal design, and analytic results for the case of 'minimal tomography'. We also introduce the average OED, which is independent of the state to be reconstructed, and the optimal design for tomography (ODT), which minimizes tomographic bias. We find that these two designs are generally similar. Monte-Carlo simulations confirm the utility of our results for qubits. Finally, we adapt our approach to deal with constrained techniques such as maximum likelihood estimation. We find that these are less amenable to optimization than cruder reconstruction methods, such as linear inversion.Comment: 16 pages, 7 figure

Large-Alphabet Time-Frequency Entangled Quantum Key Distribution by means of Time-to-Frequency Conversion

We introduce a novel time-frequency quantum key distribution (TFQKD) scheme based on photon pairs entangled in these two conjugate degrees of freedom. The scheme uses spectral detection and phase modulation to enable measurements in the temporal basis by means of time-to-frequency conversion. This allows large-alphabet encoding to be implemented with realistic components. A general security analysis for TFQKD with binned measurements reveals a close connection with finite-dimensional QKD protocols and enables analysis of the effects of dark counts on the secure key size.Comment: 14 pages, 3 figures, submitte

The contested and contingent outcomes of Thatcherism in the UK

The death of Margaret Thatcher in April 2013 sparked a range of discussions and debates about the significance of her period in office and the political project to which she gave her name: Thatcherism. This article argues that Thatcherism is best understood as a symbolically important part of the emergence of first-phase neoliberalism. It engages with contemporary debates about Thatcherism among Marxist commentators and suggests that several apparently divergent positions can help us now reach a more useful analysis of Thatcherism’s short- and long-term outcomes for British political economy. The outcomes identified include: an initial crisis in the neoliberal project in the UK; the transformation of the party political system to be reflective of the politics of neoliberalism, rather than its contestation; long-term attempts at the inculcation of the neoliberal individual; de-industrialisation and financial sector dependence; and a fractured and partially unconscious working class. In all long-term outcomes, the contribution of Thatcherism is best understood as partial and largely negative, in that it cleared the way for a longer-term and more constructive attempt to embed neoliberal political economy. The paper concludes by suggesting that this analysis can inform current debates on the left of British politics about how to oppose and challenge the imposition of neoliberal discipline today

Population Differences in Death Rates in HIV-Positive Patients with Tuberculosis.

SETTING: Randomised controlled clinical trial of Mycobacterium vaccae vaccination as an adjunct to anti-tuberculosis treatment in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) positive patients with smear-positive tuberculosis (TB) in Lusaka, Zambia, and Karonga, Malawi. OBJECTIVE: To explain the difference in mortality between the two trial sites and to identify risk factors for death among HIV-positive patients with TB. DESIGN: Information on demographic, clinical, laboratory and radiographic characteristics was collected. Patients in Lusaka (667) and in Karonga (84) were followed up for an average of 1.56 years. Cox proportional hazard analyses were used to assess differences in survival between the two sites and to determine risk factors associated with mortality during and after anti-tuberculosis treatment. RESULTS: The case fatality rate was 14.7% in Lusaka and 21.4% in Karonga. The hazard ratio for death comparing Karonga to Lusaka was 1.47 (95% confidence interval [CI] 0.9-2.4) during treatment and 1.76 (95%CI 1.0-3.0) after treatment. This difference could be almost entirely explained by age and more advanced HIV disease among patients in Karonga. CONCLUSION: It is important to understand the reasons for population differences in mortality among patients with TB and HIV and to maximise efforts to reduce mortality

Diel variations in the assemblage structure and foraging ecology of larval and 0+ year juvenile fishes in a man-made floodplain waterbody

© 2016 The Fisheries Society of the British Isles. This study investigated diel variations in zooplankton composition and abundance, and the species composition, density, size structure, feeding activity, diet composition and prey selection of larval and 0+ year juvenile fishes in the littoral of a man-made floodplain waterbody over five 24 h periods within a 57 day period. There was a significant difference in the species composition of diurnal and nocturnal catches, with most species consistently peaking in abundance either during daylight or at night, reflecting their main activity period. There were no consistent diel patterns in assemblage structure or the abundance of some species, however, most likely, respectively, due to the phenology of fish hatching and ontogenetic shifts in diel behaviour or habitat use. There were few clear diel patterns in the diet composition or prey selection of larval and 0+ year juvenile roach Rutilus rutilus and perch Perca fluviatilis, with most taxa consistently selected or avoided irrespective of the time of day or night, and no obvious shift between planktonic and benthic food sources, but dietary overlap suggested that interspecific interactions were probably strongest at night. It is essential that sampling programmes account for the diel ecology of the target species, as diurnal surveys alone could produce inaccurate assessments of resource use. The relative lack of consistent diel patterns in this study suggests that multiple 24 h surveys are required in late spring and early summer to provide accurate assessments of 0+ year fish assemblage structure and foraging ecology

Non-chemical Signalling Between Mitochondria

A wide variety of studies have reported some form of non-chemical or non-aqueous communication between physically isolated organisms, eliciting changes in cellular proliferation, morphology, and/or metabolism. The sources and mechanisms of such signalling pathways are still unknown, but have been postulated to involve vibration, volatile transmission, or light through the phenomenon of ultraweak photon emission. Here, we report non-chemical communication between isolated mitochondria from MCF7 (cancer) and MCF10A (non-cancer) cell lines. We found that mitochondria in one cuvette stressed by an electron transport chain inhibitor, antimycin, alters the respiration of mitochondria in an adjacent, but chemically and physically separate cuvette, significantly decreasing the rate of oxygen consumption compared to a control (p = <0.0001 in MCF7 and MCF10A mitochondria). Moreover, the changes in O2-consumption were dependent on the origin of mitochondria (cancer vs non-cancer) as well as the presence of "ambient" light. Our results support the existence of non-chemical signalling between isolated mitochondria. The experimental design suggests that the non-chemical communication is light-based, although further work is needed to fully elucidate its nature

Multimode Memories in Atomic Ensembles

The ability to store multiple optical modes in a quantum memory allows for increased efficiency of quantum communication and computation. Here we compute the multimode capacity of a variety of quantum memory protocols based on light storage in ensembles of atoms. We find that adding a controlled inhomogeneous broadening improves this capacity significantly.Comment: Published version. Many thanks are due to Christoph Simon for his help and suggestions. (This acknowledgement is missing from the final draft: apologies!

European Non-native Species in Aquaculture Risk Analysis Scheme - a summary of assessment protocols and decision support tools for use of alien species in aquaculture

The European Non-native Species in Aquaculture Risk Analysis Scheme (ENSARS) was developed in response to European 'Council Regulation No. 708/2007 of 11 June 2007 concerning use of alien and locally absent species in aquaculture' to provide protocols for identifying and evaluating the potential risks of using non-native species in aquaculture. ENSARS is modular in structure and adapted from non-native species risk assessment schemes developed by the European and Mediterranean Plant Protection Organisation and for the UK. Seven of the eight ENSARS modules contain protocols for evaluating the risks of escape, introduction to and establishment in open waters, of any non-native aquatic organism being used (or associated with those used) in aquaculture, that is, transport pathways, rearing facilities, infectious agents, and the potential organism, ecosystem and socio-economic impacts. A concluding module is designed to summarise the risks and consider management options. During the assessments, each question requires the assessor to provide a response and confidence ranking for that response based on expert opinion. Each module can also be used individually, and each requires a specific form of expertise. Therefore, a multidisciplinary assessment team is recommended for its completion

National Evaluation of the Capacity Building Programme in English Local Government: Evaluation of the National Programmes: Annex 2: Evaluation of the National Programmes

The report is one of a series of outputs from the national evaluation of the CBP, being undertaken by a team of researchers at the Policy Research Institute (PRI) at Leeds Metropolitan University and the Cities Research Unit at the University of West of England. The Capacity Building Programme for local government was launched in 2003 as a joint Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) / Local Government Association (LGA) initiative to support capacity building and improvement activities within local authorities in England. The evaluation of the Capacity Building Programme has been underway since late 2004. A scoping phase was conducted until May 2005, including a short evaluation of the Pilot Programmes. The main phase of the evaluation commenced in September 2005 and encompassed four main phases (see Section 1.3: p10)