Metallopanstimulin as a marker for head and neck cancer

BACKGROUND: Metallopanstimulin (MPS-1) is a ribosomal protein that is found in elevated amounts in the sera of patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). We used a test, denoted MPS-H, which detects MPS-1 and MPS-1-like proteins, to determine the relationship between MPS-H serum levels and clinical status of patients with, or at risk for, HNSCC. PATIENTS AND METHODS: A total of 125 patients were prospectively enrolled from a university head and neck oncology clinic. Participants included only newly diagnosed HNSCC patients. Two control groups, including 25 non-smokers and 64 smokers, were studied for comparison. A total of 821 serum samples collected over a twenty-four month period were analyzed by the MPS-H radioimmunoassay. RESULTS: HNSCC, non-smokers, and smokers had average MPS-H values of 41.5 ng/mL, 10.2 ng/mL, and 12.8 ng/mL, respectively (p = 0.0001). CONCLUSION: We conclude that MPS-1 and MPS-1-like proteins are elevated in patients with HNSCC, and that MPS-H appears to be a promising marker of presence of disease and response to treatment in HNSCC patients

Inter-rater reliability and stability of diagnoses of autism spectrum disorder in children identified through screening at a very young age

To examine the inter-rater reliability and stability of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) diagnoses made at a very early age in children identified through a screening procedure around 14 months of age. In a prospective design, preschoolers were recruited from a screening study for ASD. The inter-rater reliability of the diagnosis of ASD was measured through an independent assessment of a randomly selected subsample of 38 patients by two other psychiatrists. The diagnoses at 23 months and 42 months of 131 patients, based on the clinical assessment and the diagnostic classifications of standardised instruments, were compared to evaluate stability of the diagnosis of ASD. Inter-rater reliability on a diagnosis of ASD versus non-ASD at 23 months was 87% with a weighted κ of 0.74 (SE 0.11). The stability of the different diagnoses in the autism spectrum was 63% for autistic disorder, 54% for pervasive developmental disorder, not otherwise specified (PDD-NOS), and 91% for the whole category of ASD. Most diagnostic changes at 42 months were within the autism spectrum from autistic disorder to PDD-NOS and were mainly due to diminished symptom severity. Children who moved outside the ASD category at 42 months made significantly larger gains in cognitive and language skills than children with a stable ASD diagnosis. In conclusion, the inter-rater reliability and stability of the diagnoses of ASD established at 23 months in this population-based sample of very young children are good

Priority for the Worse Off and the Social Cost of Carbon

The social cost of carbon (SCC) is a monetary measure of the harms from carbon emission. Specifically, it is the reduction in current consumption that produces a loss in social welfare equivalent to that caused by the emission of a ton of CO2. The standard approach is to calculate the SCC using a discounted-utilitarian social welfare function (SWF)—one that simply adds up the well-being numbers (utilities) of individuals, as discounted by a weighting factor that decreases with time. The discounted-utilitarian SWF has been criticized both for ignoring the distribution of well-being, and for including an arbitrary preference for earlier generations. Here, we use a prioritarian SWF, with no time-discount factor, to calculate the SCC in the integrated assessment model RICE. Prioritarianism is a well-developed concept in ethics and theoretical welfare economics, but has been, thus far, little used in climate scholarship. The core idea is to give greater weight to well-being changes affecting worse off individuals. We find substantial differences between the discounted-utilitarian and non-discounted prioritarian SCC

ARPES: A probe of electronic correlations

Angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) is one of the most direct methods of studying the electronic structure of solids. By measuring the kinetic energy and angular distribution of the electrons photoemitted from a sample illuminated with sufficiently high-energy radiation, one can gain information on both the energy and momentum of the electrons propagating inside a material. This is of vital importance in elucidating the connection between electronic, magnetic, and chemical structure of solids, in particular for those complex systems which cannot be appropriately described within the independent-particle picture. Among the various classes of complex systems, of great interest are the transition metal oxides, which have been at the center stage in condensed matter physics for the last four decades. Following a general introduction to the topic, we will lay the theoretical basis needed to understand the pivotal role of ARPES in the study of such systems. After a brief overview on the state-of-the-art capabilities of the technique, we will review some of the most interesting and relevant case studies of the novel physics revealed by ARPES in 3d-, 4d- and 5d-based oxides.Comment: Chapter to appear in "Strongly Correlated Systems: Experimental Techniques", edited by A. Avella and F. Mancini, Springer Series in Solid-State Sciences (2013). A high-resolution version can be found at: http://www.phas.ubc.ca/~quantmat/ARPES/PUBLICATIONS/Reviews/ARPES_Springer.pdf. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:cond-mat/0307085, arXiv:cond-mat/020850

Stranded research? Leading finance journals are silent on climate change

Finance research has shaped the modern financial system, influencing investors and market participants directly through research findings and indirectly through teaching and training programmes. Climate change presents major risks to the global financial system as well as new opportunities for investors. Is climate finance an important topic in finance research? We systematically analyse the content of 20,725 articles published in the leading 21 finance journals between January 1998 and June 2015. We find that only 12 articles (0.06%) are related in some way to climate finance. The three elite finance journals (Journal of Finance, Journal of Financial Economics and Review of Financial Studies) did not publish a single article related to climate finance over the 17.5-year period. We repeat our analysis across a sample of 29 elite business journals spanning accounting, economics, management, marketing and operations research, as well as finance. We find a similar dearth of published climate finance research. We consider four possible explanations for this failure of top finance and business journals to engage with climate finance as a research topic. These include methodological constraints and editorial policies. We conclude by arguing why it is critical for climate-related research to be given greater attention and prominence in finance journals

Assessing weight perception accuracy to promote weight loss among U.S. female adolescents: A secondary analysis

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Overweight and obesity have become a global epidemic. The prevalence of overweight and obesity among U.S. adolescents has almost tripled in the last 30 years. Results from recent systematic reviews demonstrate that no single, particular intervention or strategy successfully assists overweight or obese adolescents in losing weight. An understanding of factors that influence healthy weight-loss behaviors among overweight and obese female adolescents promotes effective, multi-component weight-loss interventions. There is limited evidence demonstrating associations between demographic variables, body-mass index, and weight perception among female adolescents trying to lose weight. There is also a lack of previous studies examining the association of the accuracy of female adolescents' weight perception with their efforts to lose weight. This study, therefore, examined the associations of body-mass index, weight perception, and weight-perception accuracy with trying to lose weight and engaging in exercise as a weight-loss method among a representative sample of U.S. female adolescents.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A nonexperimental, descriptive, comparative secondary analysis design was conducted using data from Wave II (1996) of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health). Data representative of U.S. female adolescents (N = 2216) were analyzed using STATA statistical software. Descriptive statistics and survey weight logistic regression were performed to determine if demographic and independent (body-mass index, weight perception, and weight perception accuracy) variables were associated with trying to lose weight and engaging in exercise as a weight-loss method.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Age, Black or African American race, body-mass index, weight perception, and weight perceptions accuracy were consistently associated with the likeliness of trying to lose weight among U.S. female adolescents. Age, body-mass index, weight perception, and weight-perception accuracy were positively associated (<it>p </it>< 0.05) with trying to lose weight. Black/African American subjects were significantly less likely than their White counterparts to be trying to lose weight. There was no association between demographic or independent variables and engaging in exercise as a weight-loss method.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Findings suggest that factors influencing weight-loss efforts, including age, race, body-mass index, weight perception, and weight-perception accuracy, should be incorporated into existing or new multi-component weight-loss interventions for U.S. adolescent females in order to help reduce the national epidemic of overweight and obesity among U.S. female adolescents.</p

Feasibility and impact of providing feedback to vaccinating medical clinics: evaluating a public health intervention

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Vaccine coverage (VC) at a given age is a widely-used indicator for measuring the performance of vaccination programs. However, there is increasing data suggesting that measuring delays in administering vaccines complements the measure of VC. Providing feedback to vaccinators is recognized as an effective strategy for improving vaccine coverage, but its implementation has not been widely documented in Canada. The objective of this study was to evaluate the feasibility of providing personalized feedback to vaccinators and its impact on vaccination delays (VD).</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>In April and May 2008, a one-hour personalized feedback session was provided to health professionals in vaccinating medical clinics in the Quebec City region. VD for vaccines administered at two and twelve months of age were presented. Data from the regional vaccination registry were analysed for participating clinics. Two 12-month periods before and after the intervention were compared, namely from April 1^st, 2007 to March 31^st, 2008 and from June 1^st, 2008 to May 31^st, 2009.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Ten medical clinics out of the twelve approached (83%), representing more than 2500 vaccinated children, participated in the project. Preparing and conducting the feedback involved 20 hours of work and expenses of $1000 per clinic. Based on a delay of one month, 94% of first doses of DTaP-Polio-Hib and 77% of meningococcal vaccine doses respected the vaccination schedule both before and after the intervention. Following the feedback, respect of the vaccination schedule increased for vaccines planned at 12 months for the four clinics that had modified their vaccination practices related to multiple injections (depending on the clinic, VD decreased by 24.4%, 32.0%, 40.2% and 44.6% respectively, p < 0.001 for all comparisons).</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The present study shows that it is feasible to provide personalized feedback to vaccinating clinics. While it may have encouraged positive changes in practice concerning multiple injections, this intervention on its own did not impact vaccination delays of the clinics visited. It is possible that feedback integrated into other types of effective interventions and sustained over time may have more impact on VD.</p

Does improving maternal knowledge of vaccines impact infant immunization rates? A community-based randomized-controlled trial in Karachi, Pakistan

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>In Pakistan, only 59-73% of children 12-23 months of age are fully immunized. This randomized, controlled trial was conducted to assess the impact of a low-literacy immunization promotion educational intervention for mothers living in low-income communities of Karachi on infant immunization completion rates.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Three hundred and sixty-six mother-infant pairs, with infants aged <b>≤ </b>6 weeks, were enrolled and randomized into either the intervention or control arm between August - November 2008. The intervention, administered by trained community health workers, consisted of three targeted pictorial messages regarding vaccines. The control group received general health promotion messages based on Pakistan's Lady Health Worker program curriculum. Assessment of DPT/Hepatitis B vaccine completion (3 doses) was conducted 4-months after enrollment. A Poisson regression model was used to estimate effect of the intervention. The multivariable Poisson regression model included maternal education, paternal occupation, ownership of home, cooking fuel used at home, place of residence, the child's immunization status at enrollment, and mother's perception about the impact of immunization on child's health.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Baseline characteristics among the two groups were similar. At 4 month assessment, among 179 mother-infant pairs in the intervention group, 129 (72.1%) had received all 3 doses of DPT/Hepatitis B vaccine, whereas in the control group 92/178 (51.7%) had received all 3 doses. Multivariable analysis revealed a significant improvement of 39% (adjusted RR = 1.39; 95% CI: 1.06-1.81) in DPT-3/Hepatitis B completion rates in the intervention group.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>A simple educational intervention designed for low-literate populations, improved DPT-3/Hepatitis B vaccine completion rates by 39%. These findings have important implications for improving routine immunization rates in Pakistan.</p

The Leverage of Demographic Dynamics on Carbon Dioxide Emissions: Does Age Structure Matter?

This article provides a methodological contribution to the study of the effect of changes in population age structure on carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. First, I propose a generalization of the IPAT equation to a multisector economy with an age-structured population and discuss the insights that can be obtained in the context of stable population theory. Second, I suggest a statistical model of household consumption as a function of household size and age structure to quantitatively evaluate the extent of economies of scale in consumption of energy-intensive goods, and to estimate age-specific profiles of consumption of energy-intensive goods and of CO2 emissions. Third, I offer an illustration of the methodologies using data for the United States. The analysis shows that per-capita CO2 emissions increase with age until the individual is in his or her 60s, and then emissions tend to decrease. Holding everything else constant, the expected change in U.S. population age distribution during the next four decades is likely to have a small, but noticeable, positive impact on CO2 emissions