Alcohol purchasing by ill heavy drinkers; cheap alcohol is no single commodity.

ObjectivesPotential strategies to address alcohol misuse remain contentious. We aim to characterise the drink purchases of one population group: heavy drinkers in contact with Scottish health services. We contrast our findings with national sales data and explore the impact of socio-economic status on purchasing behaviour.Study designCross-sectional study comparing alcohol purchasing and consumption by heavy drinkers in Edinburgh and Glasgow during 2012.Methods639 patients with serious health problems linked to alcohol (recruited within NHS hospital clinics (in- and out-patient settings) 345 in Glasgow, 294 in Edinburgh) responded to a questionnaire documenting demographic data and last week's or a ‘typical’ weekly consumption (type, brand, volume, price, place of purchase). Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation quintile was derived as proxy of sociodemographic status.ResultsMedian consumption was 184.8 (IQR = 162.2) UK units/week paying a mean of 39.7 pence per alcohol unit (£0.397). Off-sales accounted for 95% of purchases with 85% of thos

Impairment and distress patterns distinguishing the melancholic depression subtype: An iSPOT-D report

10.1016/j.jad.2014.10.046Journal of Affective Disorders174493-50

Constraining 20th-Century Sea-Level Rise in the South Atlantic Ocean

Sea level in the South Atlantic Ocean has only been measured at a small number of tide-gauge locations, which causes considerable uncertainty in 20th-century sea-level trend estimates in this basin. To obtain a better-constrained sea-level trend in the South Atlantic Ocean, this study aims to answer two questions. The first question is: can we combine new observations, vertical land motion estimates, and information on spatial sampling biases to obtain a likely range of 20th-century sea-level rise in the South Atlantic? We combine existing observations with recovered observations from Dakar and a high-resolution sea-level reconstruction based on salt-marsh sediments from the Falkland Islands and find that the rate of sea-level rise in the South Atlantic has likely been between 1.1 and 2.2 mm year−1 (5%–95% confidence intervals), with a central estimate of 1.6 mm year−1. This rate is on the high side, but not statistically different compared to global-mean trends from recent reconstructions. The second question is: are there any physical processes that could explain a large deviation from the global-mean sea-level trend in the South Atlantic? Sterodynamic (changes in ocean dynamics and steric effects) and gravitation, rotation, and deformation effects related to ice mass loss and land water storage have probably led to a 20th-century sea-level trend in the South Atlantic above the global mean. Both observations and physical processes thus suggest that 20th-century sea-level rise in the South Atlantic has been about 0.3 mm year−1 above the rate of global-mean sea-level rise, although even with the additional observations, the uncertainties are still too large to distinguish a statistically significant difference

Cyber Literacy for GIScience : Toward Formalizing Geospatial Computing Education

The unprecedented availability of geospatial data and technologies is driving innovation and discovery but not without the risk of losing focus on the geographic foundations of space and place in this vast “cyber sea” of data and technology. There is a pressing need to educate a new generation of scientists and citizens who understand how space and place matter in the real world and who understand and can keep pace with technological advancements in the computational world. We define cyberliteracy for GIScience (cyberGIScience literacy) and outline eight core areas that serve as a framework for establishing the essential abilities and foundational knowledge necessary to navigate and thrive in this new technologically rich world. The core areas are arranged to provide multiple dimensions of learning ranging from a technological focus to a problem solving focus or a focus on GIScience or computational science. We establish a competency matrix as a means of assessing and evaluating levels of cyberGIScience literacy across the eight core areas. We outline plans to catalyze the collaborative development and sharing of instructional materials to embed cyberGIScience literacy in the classroom and begin to realize a cyberliterate citizenry and academe

Cyber Literacy for GIScience : Toward Formalizing Geospatial Computing Education

The unprecedented availability of geospatial data and technologies is driving innovation and discovery but not without the risk of losing focus on the geographic foundations of space and place in this vast “cyber sea” of data and technology. There is a pressing need to educate a new generation of scientists and citizens who understand how space and place matter in the real world and who understand and can keep pace with technological advancements in the computational world. We define cyberliteracy for GIScience (cyberGIScience literacy) and outline eight core areas that serve as a framework for establishing the essential abilities and foundational knowledge necessary to navigate and thrive in this new technologically rich world. The core areas are arranged to provide multiple dimensions of learning ranging from a technological focus to a problem solving focus or a focus on GIScience or computational science. We establish a competency matrix as a means of assessing and evaluating levels of cyberGIScience literacy across the eight core areas. We outline plans to catalyze the collaborative development and sharing of instructional materials to embed cyberGIScience literacy in the classroom and begin to realize a cyberliterate citizenry and academe