San Francisco Predictable Scheduling and Fair Treatment for Formula Retail Employees Ordinance

Economic and labor force changes since the Great Recession of 2007 have changed the way many American workers support themselves and their families. Today, Americans who would prefer full-time stable work are more likely to work in part-time jobs, and have little control over their work schedules. As employers seek new ways to maximize scheduling efficiency and profit, worker advocate groups have raised concerns about the implications of these scheduling practices on the lives of employees. This issue brief highlights some of the research on the growth of unstable work schedules, and describes the provisions of recently introduced legislation in San Francisco that seeks to increase predictable scheduling among certain retail and food service workers. San Francisco's is the first such legislation to be introduced at the local level in the natio

Effects of cholesterol-lowering with simvastatin on stroke and other major vascular events in 20536 people with cerebrovascular disease or other high-risk conditions.

BACKGROUND: Lower blood cholesterol concentrations have consistently been found to be strongly associated with lower risks of coronary disease but not with lower risks of stroke. Despite this observation, previous randomised trials had indicated that cholesterol-lowering statin therapy reduces the risk of stroke, but large-scale prospective confirmation has been needed. METHODS: 3280 adults with cerebrovascular disease, and an additional 17256 with other occlusive arterial disease or diabetes, were randomly allocated 40 mg simvastatin daily or matching placebo. Subgroup analyses were prespecified of first "major vascular event" (ie, non-fatal myocardial infarction or coronary death, stroke of any type, or any revascularisation procedure) in prior disease subcategories. Subsidiary outcomes included any stroke, and stroke sub-type. Comparisons are of all simvastatin-allocated versus all placebo-allocated participants (ie, "intention-to-treat"), which yielded an average difference in LDL cholesterol of 1.0 mmol/L (39 mg/dL) during the 5-year treatment period. FINDINGS: Overall, there was a highly significant 25% (95% CI 15-34) proportional reduction in the first event rate for stroke (444 [4.3%] simvastatin vs 585 [5.7%] placebo; p<0.0001), reflecting a definite 28% (19-37) reduction in presumed ischaemic strokes (p<0.0001) and no apparent difference in strokes attributed to haemorrhage (51 [0.5%] vs 53 [0.5%]; rate ratio 0.95 [0.65-1.40]; p=0.8). In addition, simvastatin reduced the numbers having transient cerebral ischaemic attacks alone (2.0% vs 2.4%; p=0.02) or requiring carotid endarterectomy or angioplasty (0.4% vs 0.8%; p=0.0003). The reduction in stroke was not significant during the first year, but was already significant (p=0.0004) by the end of the second year. Among patients with pre-existing cerebrovascular disease there was no apparent reduction in the stroke rate, but there was a highly significant 20% (8-29) reduction in the rate of any major vascular event (406 [24.7%] vs 488 [29.8%]; p=0.001). The proportional reductions in stroke were about one-quarter in each of the other subcategories of participant studied, including: those with coronary disease or diabetes; those aged under or over 70 years at entry; and those presenting with different levels of blood pressure or lipids (even when the pretreatment LDL cholesterol was below 3.0 mmol/L [116 mg/dL]). INTERPRETATION: Much larger numbers of people in the present study suffered a stroke than in any previous cholesterol-lowering trial. The results demonstrate that statin therapy rapidly reduces the incidence not only of coronary events but also of ischaemic strokes, with no apparent effect on cerebral haemorrhage, even among individuals who do not have high cholesterol concentrations. Allocation to 40 mg simvastatin daily reduced the rate of ischaemic strokes by about one-quarter and so, after making allowance for non-compliance in the trial, actual use of this regimen would probably reduce the stroke rate by about a third. HPS also provides definitive evidence that statin therapy is beneficial for people with pre-existing cerebrovascular disease, even if they do not already have manifest coronary disease

Bibliography of Secondary Sources on the History of Dermatology II. Obituaries and Biographies in English Supplemented through 2015

Introduction A bibliographic record on the history of dermatology has been a project that started over 4 decades ago. It is a collection of all forms of history, ranging from dermatologic conditions, to famous dermatologists and physicians who have advanced the field of both dermatology and medicine, to the different countries that promoted the development of scientists, researchers and physicians alike. It was decided that the bibliographic record would encompass journals, books and a compilation of obituaries. A pertinent question is whether a manually created bibliographic project is still warranted in the 21st century. In short, yes. While Index Medicus has expanded the number of journals that are indexed, the number of dermatology publications currently included by Index Medicus exceeds 164; however, not all are in English or easily accessible. Although most of the papers of dermatologic interest are included in these journals, some contributions are also located in non-indexed publications. In addition, many documents of an historical interest or of a biographical nature are not necessarily selected for indexing in Index Medicus. The amalgamation of these historical publications from 2010-2015 will be divided into 3 separate contributions: journals, obituaries and books, with only those in English being recorded. Not only will this bibliographic record serve as a formal collection on the history of dermatology, it will also provide a reference to those wishing to enrich their knowledge on the expansion of the different fields of dermatology over time. It will also serve as a reminder of the achievements of our dermatology forefathers, from whom we have still so much to learn

Bibliography of Secondary Sources on the History of Dermatology

Introduction A bibliographic record on the history of dermatology has been a project that started over 4 decades ago. It is a collection of all forms of history, ranging from dermatologic conditions, to famous dermatologists and physicians who have advanced the field of both dermatology and medicine, to the different countries that promoted the development of scientists, researchers and physicians alike. It was decided that the bibliographic record would encompass journals, books and a compilation of obituaries. A pertinent question is whether a manually created bibliographic project is still warranted in the 21st century. In short, yes. While Index Medicus has expanded the number of journals that are indexed, the number of dermatology publications currently included by Index Medicus exceeds 164; however, not all are in English or easily accessible. Although most of the papers of dermatologic interest are included in these journals, some contributions are also located in non-indexed publications. In addition, many documents of an historical interest or of a biographical nature are not necessarily selected for indexing in Index Medicus. The amalgamation of these historical publications from 2010-2015 will be divided into 3 separate contributions: journals, obituaries and books, with only those in English being recorded. Not only will this bibliographic record serve as a formal collection on the history of dermatology, it will also provide a reference to those wishing to enrich their knowledge on the expansion of the different fields of dermatology over time. It will also serve as a reminder of the achievements of our dermatology forefathers, from whom we have still so much to learn

Bibliography of Secondary Sources on the History of Dermatology III. Books, Monographs, and Chapters in English Supplemented through 2015

Introduction A bibliographic record on the history of dermatology has been a project that started over 4 decades ago. It is a collection of all forms of history, ranging from dermatologic conditions, to famous dermatologists and physicians who have advanced the field of both dermatology and medicine, to the different countries that promoted the development of scientists, researchers and physicians alike. It was decided that the bibliographic record would encompass journals, books and a compilation of obituaries. A pertinent question is whether a manually created bibliographic project is still warranted in the 21st century. In short, yes. While Index Medicus has expanded the number of journals that are indexed, the number of dermatology publications currently included by Index Medicus exceeds 164; however, not all are in English or easily accessible. Although most of the papers of dermatologic interest are included in these journals, some contributions are also located in non-indexed publications. In addition, many documents of an historical interest or of a biographical nature are not necessarily selected for indexing in Index Medicus. The amalgamation of these historical publications from 2010-2015 will be divided into 3 separate contributions: journals, obituaries and books, with only those in English being recorded. Not only will this bibliographic record serve as a formal collection on the history of dermatology, it will also provide a reference to those wishing to enrich their knowledge on the expansion of the different fields of dermatology over time. It will also serve as a reminder of the achievements of our dermatology forefathers, from whom we have still so much to learn

Lymphotoxin-α Gene and Risk of Myocardial Infarction in 6,928 Cases and 2,712 Controls in the ISIS Case-Control Study

Lymphotoxin-α (LTA) is a pro-inflammatory cytokine that plays an important role in the immune system and local inflammatory response. LTA is expressed in atherosclerotic plaques and has been implicated in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis and coronary heart disease (CHD). Polymorphisms in the gene encoding lymphotoxin-α (LTA) on Chromosome 6p21 have been associated with susceptibility to CHD, but results in different studies appear to be conflicting. We examined the association of seven single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) across the LTA gene, and their related haplotypes, with risk of myocardial infarction (MI) in the International Study of Infarct Survival (ISIS) case-control study involving 6,928 non-fatal MI cases and 2,712 unrelated controls. The seven SNPs (including the rs909253 and rs1041981 SNPs previously implicated in the risk of CHD) were in strong linkage disequilibrium with each other and contributed to six common haplotypes. Some of the haplotypes for LTA were associated with higher plasma concentrations of C-reactive protein (p = 0.004) and lower concentrations of albumin (p = 0.023). However, none of the SNPs or related haplotypes were significantly associated with risk of MI. The results of the ISIS study were considered in the context of six previously published studies that had assessed this association, and this meta-analysis found no significant association with CHD risk using a recessive model and only a modest association using a dominant model (with narrow confidence intervals around these risk estimates). Overall, these studies provide reliable evidence that these common polymorphisms for the LTA gene are not strongly associated with susceptibility to coronary disease

Individuals With Scleroderma May Have Increased Risk of Sleep-Disordered Breathing.

STUDY OBJECTIVES:Scleroderma is associated with abnormal skin thickening, interstitial lung disease, pulmonary hypertension, and abnormalities of the upper airway. These changes can cause cardiopulmonary complications, potentially including sleep-disordered breathing. The objective of this study is to examine the risk of sleep-disordered breathing in patients with scleroderma. METHODS:We retrospectively identified patients with documented scleroderma. We abstracted data from their electronic health records, including findings from antibody tests, serial pulmonary function tests, transthoracic echocardiography, high-resolution computed tomography, and overnight forehead oximetry. RESULTS:We identified 171 patients with scleroderma. Mean age at the time of initial consult was 56.5 years (range, 18-96 years), and 150 (86.7%) were women. Scleroderma was categorized as limited disease for 108 (62.4%), diffuse disease for 59 (34.1%), and mixed connective tissue disease for 6 (3.5%). Fifty-four patients (31.2%) had abnormal overnight forehead oximetry results, defined as an oxygen desaturation index greater than 5 or a baseline mean arterial oxygen saturation level less than 90%. CONCLUSIONS:Cardiopulmonary complications are common in patients with scleroderma, one of which may be sleep-disordered breathing. In our cohort, approximately one-third of individuals with scleroderma had evidence of sleep-disordered breathing. Moreover, the rate of sleep-disordered breathing in our population of scleroderma patients was twice the rate of pulmonary hypertension and was approximately the same as the rate of interstitial lung disease. Future prospective studies are needed to further assess the role of sleep-disordered breathing in scleroderma clinical outcomes

Mixed yeast communities contribute to regionally distinct wine attributes

There is evidence that vineyard yeast communities are regionally differentiated, but the extent to which this contributes to wine regional distinctiveness is not yet clear. This study represents the first experimental test of the hypothesis that mixed yeast communities—comprising multiple, region-specific, isolates and species—contribute to regional wine attributes. Yeast isolates were sourced from uninoculated Pinot Noir fermentations from 17 vineyards across Martinborough, Marlborough and Central Otago in New Zealand. New methodologies for preparing representative, mixed species inoculum from these significantly differentiated regional yeast communities in a controlled, replicable manner were developed and used to inoculate Pinot Noir ferments. Twenty-eight yeast-derived aroma compounds were measured in the resulting wines via Headspace Solid-Phase Microextraction coupled with Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry. Yeast community region of origin had a significant impact on wine aroma, explaining ∼10% of the observed variation, which is in line with previous reports of the effects of region-specific S. cerevisiae isolates on Sauvignon Blanc ferments. This study shows that regionally distinct, mixed yeast communities can modulate wine aroma compounds in a regionally distinct manner and are in line with the hypothesis that there is a microbial component to regional distinctiveness, or terroir, for New Zealand Pinot Noir