Alien Registration- Pell, Carrie G. (Brewer, Penobscot County)

https://digitalmaine.com/alien_docs/10571/thumbnail.jp

Smoke-free legislation and hospitalizations for childhood asthma

<b>BACKGROUND:</b> Previous studies have shown that after the adoption of comprehensive smoke-free legislation, there is a reduction in respiratory symptoms among workers in bars. However, it is not known whether respiratory disease is also reduced among people who do not have occupational exposure to environmental tobacco smoke. The aim of our study was to determine whether the ban on smoking in public places in Scotland, which was initiated in March 2006, influenced the rate of hospital admissions for childhood asthma.<br></br> <b>METHODS:</b> Routine hospital administrative data were used to identify all hospital admissions for asthma in Scotland from January 2000 through October 2009 among children younger than 15 years of age. A negative binomial regression model was fitted, with adjustment for age group, sex, quintile of socioeconomic status, urban or rural residence, month, and year. Tests for interactions were also performed. <br></br> <b>RESULTS:</b> Before the legislation was implemented, admissions for asthma were increasing at a mean rate of 5.2% per year (95% confidence interval [CI], 3.9 to 6.6). After implementation of the legislation, there was a mean reduction in the rate of admissions of 18.2% per year relative to the rate on March 26, 2006 (95% CI, 14.7 to 21.8; P<0.001). The reduction was apparent among both preschool and school-age children. There were no significant interactions between hospital admissions for asthma and age group, sex, urban or rural residence, region, or quintile of socioeconomic status. <b>CONCLUSIONS:</b> In Scotland, passage of smoke-free legislation in 2006 was associated with a subsequent reduction in the rate of respiratory disease in populations other than those with occupational exposure to environmental tobacco smoke. (Funded by NHS Health Scotland.

Association between exposure to second-hand smoke and telomere length: cross-sectional study of 1303 non-smokers

Background: Both active smoking and second-hand smoke (SHS) are important risk factors for many age-related diseases. Active smoking is associated with shortened telomere length. However, whether SHS accelerates telomere attrition with age is uncertain. The aim of this study was to examine the association between SHS exposure and shortening by age of leukocyte telomere length among adult non-smokers. Methods: We undertook a cross-sectional study of the association between self-reported levels of SHS exposure and telomere length shortening per annum on a subgroup of participants from the Scottish Family Health Study. Inclusion was restricted to non-smokers aged ≥ 18 years, who had provided self-reported overall usual SHS exposure (total hours per week) and blood samples for telomere analysis. Linear regression models were used to compare the ratio of telomere repeat copy number to single copy gene number (T/S)by age according to SHS exposure. Results: Of the 1303 eligible participants, 779 (59.8%) reported no SHS exposure, 495 (38.0%) low exposure (1–19 h per week) and 29 (2.2%) high exposure (≥20 h per week). In the univariate linear regression analyses, relative T/S ratio declined with increasing age in all exposure groups. Telomere length decreased more rapidly with increasing age among those with high exposure to SHS [adjusted coefficient −0.019, 95% confidence interval (CI) −0.031- −0.007) when compared with both those with no exposure to SHS (adjusted coefficient −0.006, 95% CI −0.008- −0.004) (high vs no SHS: P = 0.010) and those with low exposure to SHS (adjusted coefficient −0.005, 95% CI −0.007- −0.003) (high vs low SHS: P = 0.005). Conclusions: Our findings suggest that high SHS exposure may accelerate normal biological ageing, and support efforts to protect the public from SHS exposure. Further studies on relevant mechanisms should be conducted

Foreign Currency Borrowing: The Case of Hungary

We use household survey data from Hungary to analyse the determinants of foreign currency (FX) borrowing. We do not find evidence that Hungarian FX borrowers are better educated, wealthier or more risk-loving than their peers. In fact, FX borrowing is a common phenomenon driven mostly by macroeconomic factors: high interest rate spreads, a relatively stable exchange rate and the competition of foreign owned banks. Although FX borrowing is widespread, our analysis suggests that loan losses directly attributed to it may be limited, given currency fluctuations up to autumn 2009

Quantifying error in OSCE standard setting for varying cohort sizes: A resampling approach to measuring assessment quality

Background: The use of the borderline regression method (BRM) is a widely accepted standard setting method for OSCEs. However, it is unclear whether this method is appropriate for use with small cohorts (e.g. specialist post-graduate examinations). Aims and methods: This work uses an innovative application of resampling methods applied to four pre-existing OSCE data sets (number of stations between 17 and 21) from two institutions to investigate how the robustness of the BRM changes as the cohort size varies. Using a variety of metrics, the ‘quality’ of an OSCE is evaluated for cohorts of approximately n=300 down to n=15. Estimates of the standard error in station-level and overall pass marks, R2 coefficient, and Cronbach’s alpha are all calculated as cohort size varies. Results and conclusion: For larger cohorts (n>200), the standard error in the overall pass mark is small (less than 0.5%), and for individual stations is of the order of 1-2%. These errors grow as the sample size reduces, with cohorts of less than 50 candidates showing unacceptably large standard error. Alpha and R2 also become unstable for small cohorts. The resampling methodology is shown to be robust and has the potential to be more widely applied in standard setting and medical assessment quality assurance and research

Bank Competition and Firm Growth in the Enlarged European Union

We examine the impact of bank competition and institutional factors on net firm entry in a sample of European manufacturing industries over the 1995-2006 period. Taking into account industry differences in the need for external finance, we find that bank competition helps firm entry. In addition, better institutions - especially legal structure and property rights - also have a positive impact, particularly through a better functioning financial system

Applying and advancing the economic resource scarcity potential (ESP) method for rare earth elements

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available on open access from Elsevier via the DOI in this record.A number of studies have identified rare earth elements (REE) as critical metals due to their high economic importance combined with a high risk of supply disruption (Du et al, 2011; Nassar et al, 2015; Schneider et al, 2014). The current methods used to calculate resource depletion in life cycle assessments (LCA) neglect socio-economic, regulatory and geopolitical aspects, nor do they include functionalities such as material recycling or reuse that control the supply of raw materials. These are important factors in determining criticality and are the controlling factors on REE availability rather than geological availability. The economic scarcity potential (ESP) method introduced by Schneider et al. (2014) provides a framework to calculate criticality. This paper reviews the ESP method and advances the method based on recent developments in material criticality. ESP criticality scores for 15 REE with the addition of Au, Cu, platinum-group metals (PGM), Fe and Li are measured. The results highlight that Nd and Dy are the most critical REE, owing mainly to the high demand growth forecast for these two elements. A pathway is presented for incorporating these calculated scores into the ReCiPe life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) method of a LCA.Research was funded by NERC SoS RARE consortium (NE/M011429/1), www.sosrare.org with University of Exeter co-funding for R. Pell’s PhD project. The authors appreciate the funding assistance from the Camborne School of Mines Trust to visit and present this research in USA and gain insight from the Critical Metals team from Yale University and Nedal Nassar and his team at USGS

Digestion kinetics of dried cereal grains

Grain fermentability largely determines the feed value of grains for ruminants. Our objective was to evaluate the variation in kinetics of gas production of cereal grains and the relationship among gas production, chemical composition and feed value. Eighteen barley, 99 corn, 23 sorghum, and 57 wheat samples were fermented in vitro for 48 h. Gas production was measured with a computerized system and an exponential model was fitted to the data. The impact of the variation in composition and kinetics on the feed value of grains in feedlot rations was assessed with the Cornell Net Carbohydrate and Protein System (CNCPS). Fractional gas rates were significantly different between grains (P\u3c0.001), with a mean and S.D. of 0.24 (0.029) h-1 for barley (n=20), 0.15 (0.026) h-1 for corn (n=98), 0.06 (0.016) h-1 for sorghum (n=23) and 0.26 (0.039) h-1 for wheat (n=57). Fermentation rates were more variable than the chemical components. Fractional rates were poorly correlated with chemical composition within grain with the highest correlations for acid detergent insoluble crude protein (ADICP) (r=-0.31, P\u3c0.01) and ADF (r=-0.27, P\u3c0.01) for corn and neutral detergent insoluble crude protein (NDICP) (r=0.35, P\u3c0.05) for wheat. The impact of the variation in composition and kinetics on the feed value of grains in feedlot rations was assessed. The CNCPS predicted a maximal variation of \u3c2.1 MJ/day and \u3c60 g/day in metabolizable energy (ME) and metabolizable protein (MP) supply from grains, respectively. For sorghum, the fermentation rate was predicted to be a major determinant of the site of starch fermentation. A detailed evaluation of feed values for grains needs to include information on rates of fermentation

Response to ‘Assessing the energy requirements and global warming potential of the production of rare earth elements’

This is the final version. Available on open access from Elsevier via the DOI in this recordIn this letter, we respond to the article in this journal by Weng et al. (2016) which performs a cradle to gate scale life cycle impact assessment for 26 operating and potential rare earth element (REE) mining projects. The work focuses on gross energy requirement and the global warming impacts of the primary REE production stage. The results suggest that the declining ore grades of REE significantly increase the environmental impact of REE production. We agree that a life cycle impact approach can be useful in comparing proposed REE production routes in the various different deposits currently under exploration, and were pleased to see a range of deposit types included in this work. However, we would like to make five points to clarify some of the results, which if taken at ‘face value’ from the graphs presented by Weng et al. (2016) may be misleading.Research was funded by SoS RARE NERC consortium (NE/ M011429/1), www.sosrare.org with University of Exeter cofunding for R. Pell’s PhD project. Mkango Resources Ltd, owners of the Songwe Hill exploration project, are one of the industry partners on this project

Screening families of patients with premature coronary heart disease to identify avoidable cardiovascular risk: a cross-sectional study of family members and a general population comparison group

<b>Background:</b> Primary prevention should be targeted at individuals with high global cardiovascular risk, but research is lacking on how best to identify such individuals in the general population. Family history is a good proxy measure of global risk and may provide an efficient mechanism for identifying high risk individuals. The aim was to test the feasibility of using patients with premature cardiovascular disease to recruit family members as a means of identifying and screening high-risk individuals. <b>Findings:</b> We recruited family members of 50 patients attending a cardiology clinic for premature coronary heart disease (CHD). We compared their cardiovascular risk with a general population control group, and determined their perception of their risk and current level of screening. 103 (36%) family members attended screening (27 siblings, 48 adult offspring and 28 partners). Five (5%) had prevalent CHD. A significantly higher percentage had an ASSIGN risk score >20% compared with the general population (13% versus 2%, p < 0.001). Only 37% of family members were aware they were at increased risk and only 50% had had their blood pressure and serum cholesterol level checked in the previous three years. <b>Conclusions:</b> Patients attending hospital for premature CHD provide a mechanism to contact family members and this can identify individuals with a high global risk who are not currently screened