Urbanisation and Structural Transformation

This paper presents new evidence on urbanization using sub-county data for the United States from 1880-2000 and municipality data for Brazil from 1970-2000. We show that the two central stylized features of population growth for cities - Gibrat's Law and a stable population distribution - are strongly rejected when both rural and urban areas are considered. Population growth exhibits a U-shaped relationship with initial population density, and only becomes uncorrelated with initial population density at the high densities found in predominantly urban areas. We provide evidence that the explanation for these patterns lies in different employment growth dynamics in the agricultural and non-agricultural sectors and the process of structural transformation away from the agricultural sector.urbanisation, economic development, urban population, rural population

In utero and childhood polybrominated diphenyl ether (PBDE) exposures and neurodevelopment in the CHAMACOS study.

BackgroundCalifornia children's exposures to polybrominated diphenyl ether flame retardants (PBDEs) are among the highest worldwide. PBDEs are known endocrine disruptors and neurotoxicants in animals.ObjectiveHere we investigate the relation of in utero and child PBDE exposure to neurobehavioral development among participants in CHAMACOS (Center for the Health Assessment of Mothers and Children of Salinas), a California birth cohort.MethodsWe measured PBDEs in maternal prenatal and child serum samples and examined the association of PBDE concentrations with children's attention, motor functioning, and cognition at 5 (n = 310) and 7 years of age (n = 323).ResultsMaternal prenatal PBDE concentrations were associated with impaired attention as measured by a continuous performance task at 5 years and maternal report at 5 and 7 years of age, with poorer fine motor coordination-particularly in the nondominant-at both age points, and with decrements in Verbal and Full-Scale IQ at 7 years. PBDE concentrations in children 7 years of age were significantly or marginally associated with concurrent teacher reports of attention problems and decrements in Processing Speed, Perceptual Reasoning, Verbal Comprehension, and Full-Scale IQ. These associations were not altered by adjustment for birth weight, gestational age, or maternal thyroid hormone levels.ConclusionsBoth prenatal and childhood PBDE exposures were associated with poorer attention, fine motor coordination, and cognition in the CHAMACOS cohort of school-age children. This study, the largest to date, contributes to growing evidence suggesting that PBDEs have adverse impacts on child neurobehavioral development

Individual Differences in Cerebral Blood Flow in Area 17 Predict the Time to Evaluate Visualized Letters

Sixteen subjects closed their eyes and visualized uppercase letters of the alphabet at two sizes, as small as possible or as large as possible while remaining “visible.” Subjects evaluated a shape characteristic of each letter (e.g., whether it has any curved lines), and responded as quickly as possible. Cerebral blood flow was normalized to the same value for each subject, and relative blood flow was computed for a set of regions of interest. The mean response time for each subject in the task was regressed onto the blood flow values. Blood flow in area 17 was negatively correlated with response time (r = -0.65), as was blood flow in area 19 (r = -0.66), whereas blood flow in the inferior parietal lobe was positively correlated with response time (r = 0.54). The first two effects persisted even when variance due to the other correlations was removed. These findings suggest that individual differences in the activation of specific brain loci are directly related to performance of tasks that rely on processing in those loci.Psycholog

Herwig 7.1 Release Note

A new release of the Monte Carlo event generator Herwig (version 7.1) is now available. This version introduces a number of improvements, notably: multi-jet merging with the dipole shower at LO and NLO QCD; a new model for soft interactions and diffraction; improvements to mass effects and top decays in the dipole shower, as well as a new tune of the hadronisation parameters.Comment: 7 pages, 7 figures. Herwig is available from https://herwig.hepforge.org

Lipid biophysics and/or soft matter-inspired approach for controlling enveloped virus infectivity

Proven as a natural barrier against viral infection, pulmonary surfactant phospholipids have a biophysical and immunological role within the respiratory system, acting against microorganisms including viruses. Enveloped viruses have, in common, an outer bilayer membrane that forms the underlying structure for viral membrane proteins to function in an optimal way to ensure infectivity. Perturbating the membrane of viruses using exogenous lipids can be envisioned as a generic way to reduce their infectivity. In this context, the potential of exogenous lipids to be used against enveloped virus infectivity would be indicated by the resulting physical stress imposed to the viral membrane, and conical lipids, i.e. lyso-lipids, would be expected to generate stronger biophysical disturbances. We confirm that when treated with lyso-lipids the infectivity three strains of influenza virus (avian H2N3, equine H3N8 or pandemic human influenza H1N1) is reduced by up to 99% in a cell-based model. By contrast, lipids with a similar head group but two aliphatic chains were less effective (reducing infection by only 40–50%). This work opens a new path to merge concepts from different research fields, i.e. ‘soft matter physics' and virology

Preeclampsia and COVID-19: results from the INTERCOVID prospective longitudinal study

Coronavirus SARS-CoV-2; COVID-19; 2019-nCoV; Hipertensió gestacional; PreeclampsiaCoronavirus SARS-CoV-2; COVID-19; 2019-nCoV; Hipertension gestacional; PreeclampsiaCoronavirus SARS-CoV-2; COVID-19; 2019-nCoV; Gestational hypertension; PreeclampsiaBackground It is unclear whether the suggested link between COVID-19 during pregnancy and preeclampsia is an independent association or if these are caused by common risk factors. Objective This study aimed to quantify any independent association between COVID-19 during pregnancy and preeclampsia and to determine the effect of these variables on maternal and neonatal morbidity and mortality. Study Design This was a large, longitudinal, prospective, unmatched diagnosed and not-diagnosed observational study assessing the effect of COVID-19 during pregnancy on mothers and neonates. Two consecutive not-diagnosed women were concomitantly enrolled immediately after each diagnosed woman was identified, at any stage during pregnancy or delivery, and at the same level of care to minimize bias. Women and neonates were followed until hospital discharge using the standardized INTERGROWTH-21 st protocols and electronic data management system. A total of 43 institutions in 18 countries contributed to the study sample. The independent association between the 2 entities was quantified with the risk factors known to be associated with preeclampsia analyzed in each group. The outcomes were compared among women with COVID-19 alone, preeclampsia alone, both conditions, and those without either of the 2 conditions. Results We enrolled 2184 pregnant women; of these, 725 (33.2%) were enrolled in the COVID-19 diagnosed and 1459 (66.8%) in the COVID-19 not-diagnosed groups. Of these women, 123 had preeclampsia of which 59 of 725 (8.1%) were in the COVID-19 diagnosed group and 64 of 1459 (4.4%) were in the not-diagnosed group (risk ratio, 1.86; 95% confidence interval, 1.32–2.61). After adjustment for sociodemographic factors and conditions associated with both COVID-19 and preeclampsia, the risk ratio for preeclampsia remained significant among all women (risk ratio, 1.77; 95% confidence interval, 1.25–2.52) and nulliparous women specifically (risk ratio, 1.89; 95% confidence interval, 1.17–3.05). There was a trend but no statistical significance among parous women (risk ratio, 1.64; 95% confidence interval, 0.99–2.73). The risk ratio for preterm birth for all women diagnosed with COVID-19 and preeclampsia was 4.05 (95% confidence interval, 2.99–5.49) and 6.26 (95% confidence interval, 4.35–9.00) for nulliparous women. Compared with women with neither condition diagnosed, the composite adverse perinatal outcome showed a stepwise increase in the risk ratio for COVID-19 without preeclampsia, preeclampsia without COVID-19, and COVID-19 with preeclampsia (risk ratio, 2.16; 95% confidence interval, 1.63–2.86; risk ratio, 2.53; 95% confidence interval, 1.44–4.45; and risk ratio, 2.84; 95% confidence interval, 1.67–4.82, respectively). Similar findings were found for the composite adverse maternal outcome with risk ratios of 1.76 (95% confidence interval, 1.32–2.35), 2.07 (95% confidence interval, 1.20–3.57), and 2.77 (95% confidence interval, 1.66–4.63). The association between COVID-19 and gestational hypertension and the direction of the effects on preterm birth and adverse perinatal and maternal outcomes, were similar to preeclampsia, but confined to nulliparous women with lower risk ratios. Conclusion COVID-19 during pregnancy is strongly associated with preeclampsia, especially among nulliparous women. This association is independent of any risk factors and preexisting conditions. COVID-19 severity does not seem to be a factor in this association. Both conditions are associated independently of and in an additive fashion with preterm birth, severe perinatal morbidity and mortality, and adverse maternal outcomes. Women with preeclampsia should be considered a particularly vulnerable group with regard to the risks posed by COVID-19.The study was supported by the COVID-19 Research Response Fund from the University of Oxford (Ref 0009083). A.T.P. is supported by the Oxford Partnership Comprehensive Biomedical Research Centre with funding from the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Biomedical Research Centre funding scheme. The funding organization had no involvement in the design and conduct of the study; collection, management, analysis, and interpretation of the data; preparation, review, or approval of the manuscript, and decision to submit the manuscript for publication

Incidence and challenges of helicopter emergency medical service (HEMS) rescue missions with helicopter hoist operations: analysis of 11,228 daytime and nighttime missions in Switzerland

Objective: We aimed to investigate the medical characteristics of helicopter hoist operations (HHO) in HEMS missions. Methods: We designed a retrospective study evaluating all HHO and other human external cargo (HEC) missions performed by Swiss Air-Rescue (Rega) between January 1, 2010, and December 31, 2019. Results: During the study period, 9,963 (88.7 %) HEMS missions with HHO and HEC were conducted during the day, and 1,265 (11.3 %) at night. Of the victims with time-critical injuries (NACA ≥ 4), 21.1 % (n = 400) reached the hospital within 60 min during the day, and 9.1 % (n = 18) at night. Nighttime missions, a trauma diagnosis, intubation on-site, and NACA Score ≥ 4 were independently and highly significantly associated with longer mission times (p < 0.001). The greatest proportion of patients who needed hoist or HEC operations in the course of the HEMS mission during the daytime sustained moderate injuries (NACA 3, n = 3,731, 37.5 %) while practicing recreational activities (n = 5,492, 55.1 %). In daytime HHO missions, the most common medical interventions performed were insertion of a peripheral intravenous access (n = 3,857, 38.7 %) and administration of analgesia (n = 3,121, 31.3 %). Conclusions: Nearly 20 % of patients who needed to be evacuated by a hoist were severely injured, and complex and lifesaving medical interventions were necessary before the HHO procedure. Therefore, only adequately trained and experienced medical crew members should accompany HHO missions

A Latent Profile Analysis of Aggression and Victimization across Relationship Types Among Veterans Who Use Substances

Objective: This study examined patterns of violence victimization and aggression in both intimate partner and non-partner relationships among veterans, and used latent profile analysis to identify subtypes of violence involvement. Methods: Participants were 841 substance use treatment-seeking veterans (94% male) from a large VA Medical Center who completed screening measures for a randomized controlled trial. Self-report measures were: substance use, legal problems, depression, and violence involvement. Results: Past year violence involvement, including both intimate partner (IPV) and non-partner (NPV) were common in the sample; although NPV occurred at somewhat higher rates. When including either IPV or NPV aggression or victimization, over 48% reported involvement with physical violence, 31% with violence involving injury and 86% with psychological aggression. Latent profile analysis including both aggression and victimization in partner and non-partner relationships indicated a four profile solution: no-low violence (NLV, n = 701), predominantly IPV (n = 35), predominantly NPV (n = 83), and high general violence (HGV, n = 22). Multinomial logistic regression analyses revealed that compared to the no-low violence group, the remaining three groups differed in demographics, depressive symptoms, alcohol and other drug use, and legal involvement. Individuals within each profile had different patterns of substance use and legal involvement with the participants with an HGV profile reporting the most legal problems. Conclusions: IPV and NPV are relatively common among veterans seeking substance use treatment. Characteristics of violence and associated substance use, mental health, and legal difficulties may be useful in considering how to tailor substance use and mental health services

Maternal and neonatal morbidity and mortality among pregnant women with and without COVID-19 Infection: The INTERCOVID multinational cohort study

Importance: Detailed information about the association of COVID-19 with outcomes in pregnant individuals compared with not-infected pregnant individuals is much needed.Objective: To evaluate the risks associated with COVID-19 in pregnancy on maternal and neonatal outcomes compared with not-infected, concomitant pregnant individuals.Design, setting, and participants: In this cohort study that took place from March to October 2020, involving 43 institutions in 18 countries, 2 unmatched, consecutive, not-infected women were concomitantly enrolled immediately after each infected woman was identified, at any stage of pregnancy or delivery, and at the same level of care to minimize bias. Women and neonates were followed up until hospital discharge.Exposures: COVID-19 in pregnancy determined by laboratory confirmation of COVID-19 and/or radiological pulmonary findings or 2 or more predefined COVID-19 symptoms.Main outcomes and measures: The primary outcome measures were indices of (maternal and severe neonatal/perinatal) morbidity and mortality; the individual components of these indices were secondary outcomes. Models for these outcomes were adjusted for country, month entering study, maternal age, and history of morbidity.Results: A total of 706 pregnant women with COVID-19 diagnosis and 1424 pregnant women without COVID-19 diagnosis were enrolled, all with broadly similar demographic characteristics (mean [SD] age, 30.2 [6.1] years). Overweight early in pregnancy occurred in 323 women (48.6%) with COVID-19 diagnosis and 554 women (40.2%) without. Women with COVID-19 diagnosis were at higher risk for preeclampsia/eclampsia (relative risk [RR], 1.76; 95% CI, 1.27-2.43), severe infections (RR, 3.38; 95% CI, 1.63-7.01), intensive care unit admission (RR, 5.04; 95% CI, 3.13-8.10), maternal mortality (RR, 22.3; 95% CI, 2.88-172), preterm birth (RR, 1.59; 95% CI, 1.30-1.94), medically indicated preterm birth (RR, 1.97; 95% CI, 1.56-2.51), severe neonatal morbidity index (RR, 2.66; 95% CI, 1.69-4.18), and severe perinatal morbidity and mortality index (RR, 2.14; 95% CI, 1.66-2.75). Fever and shortness of breath for any duration was associated with increased risk of severe maternal complications (RR, 2.56; 95% CI, 1.92-3.40) and neonatal complications (RR, 4.97; 95% CI, 2.11-11.69). Asymptomatic women with COVID-19 diagnosis remained at higher risk only for maternal morbidity (RR, 1.24; 95% CI, 1.00-1.54) and preeclampsia (RR, 1.63; 95% CI, 1.01-2.63). Among women who tested positive (98.1% by real-time polymerase chain reaction), 54 (13%) of their neonates tested positive. Cesarean delivery (RR, 2.15; 95% CI, 1.18-3.91) but not breastfeeding (RR, 1.10; 95% CI, 0.66-1.85) was associated with increased risk for neonatal test positivity.Conclusions and relevance: In this multinational cohort study, COVID-19 in pregnancy was associated with consistent and substantial increases in severe maternal morbidity and mortality and neonatal complications when pregnant women with and without COVID-19 diagnosis were compared. The findings should alert pregnant individuals and clinicians to implement strictly all the recommended COVID-19 preventive measures