The percentage of HITs correctly classified by the majority (>50%) of KW’s, with range of percentage of correct “votes” for each image category in brackets.

<p>The percentage of HITs correctly classified by the majority (>50%) of KW’s, with range of percentage of correct “votes” for each image category in brackets.</p

Alcohol consumption and future hospital usage: The EPIC-Norfolk prospective population study

<div><p>Background</p><p>Heavy drinkers of alcohol are reported to use hospitals more than non-drinkers, but it is unclear whether light-to-moderate drinkers use hospitals more than non-drinkers.</p><p>Objective</p><p>We examined the relationship between alcohol consumption in 10,883 men and 12,857 women aged 40–79 years in the general population and subsequent admissions to hospital and time spent in hospital.</p><p>Methods</p><p>Participants from the EPIC-Norfolk prospective population-based study were followed for ten years (1999–2009) using record linkage.</p><p>Results</p><p>Compared to current non-drinkers, men who reported any alcohol drinking had a lower risk of spending more than twenty days in hospital multivariable adjusted OR 0.80 (95%CI 0.68–0.94) after adjusting for age, smoking status, education, social class, body mass index and prevalent diseases. Women who were current drinkers were less likely to have any hospital admissions multivariable adjusted OR 0.84 (95%CI 0.74–0.95), seven or more admissions OR 0.77 (95% CI 0.66–0.88) or more than twenty hospital days OR 0.70 (95%CI 0.62–0.80). However, compared to lifelong abstainers, men who were former drinkers had higher risk of any hospital admissions multivariable adjusted OR 2.22 (95%CI 1.51–3.28) and women former drinkers had higher risk of seven or more admissions OR 1.30 (95%CI 1.01–1.67).</p><p>Conclusion</p><p>Current alcohol consumption was associated with lower risk of future hospital usage compared with non-drinkers in this middle aged and older population. In men, this association may in part be due to whether former drinkers are included in the non-drinker reference group but in women, the association was consistent irrespective of the choice of reference group. In addition, there were few participants in this cohort with very high current alcohol intake. The measurement of past drinking, the separation of non-drinkers into former drinkers and lifelong abstainers and the choice of reference group are all influential in interpreting the risk of alcohol consumption on future hospitalisation.</p></div

The proportion correctly identified by severity of abnormality as well as the sensitivity, specificity and area under the ROC curve (AUC) for each study design in trials 1 and 2 by classification difficulty.

<p>(0.03c = study design 1; 0.05c = study design 2; 0.03c_500_90% = study design 3; 0.03c_5000_99% = study design 4).</p

The AUC and associated 95%CI for trial 1 (0.03c) as a function of the number of KW gradings per image.

<p>The AUC increases as the number of KW gradings increases with a peak at 16 individual gradings per image. A similar curve was obtained for all study designs in both trials, although a variation was seen in the optimal number of KWs needed to achieve a peak ROC.</p

Baseline characteristics of KW participation by study design for trials 1 and 2.

<p>(0.03c = study design 1; 0.05c = study design 2; 0.03c_500_90% = study design 3; 0.03c_5000_99% = study design 4).</p

Descriptive characteristics by alcohol category for men in the EPIC-Norfolk cohort 1993–1997 and hospital admission 1999–2009.

<p>Descriptive characteristics by alcohol category for men in the EPIC-Norfolk cohort 1993–1997 and hospital admission 1999–2009.</p

Age adjusted and multivariable logistic regression of risk factors for any hospital admissions (compared to none), ≥7 hospital admissions (compared to <7 admissions) and >20 days of hospital stay (compared to ≤20 days) from 1999–2009 in 23,740 men and women aged 40–79 years 1993–1997.

<p>Age adjusted and multivariable logistic regression of risk factors for any hospital admissions (compared to none), ≥7 hospital admissions (compared to <7 admissions) and >20 days of hospital stay (compared to ≤20 days) from 1999–2009 in 23,740 men and women aged 40–79 years 1993–1997.</p

Comparative graphical illustration of the AUC for all classifications by study design (normal-abnormal) - Trial 1 (A) and Trial 2 (D); Comparative graphical illustration of the AUC for easy classifications (normal versus severely abnormal) by study design- Trial 1 (B) and Trial 2 (E); Comparative graphical illustration of the AUC for difficult classifications (normal versus mildly abnormal) by study design- Trial 1 (C) and Trial 2 (F).

<p>Comparative graphical illustration of the AUC for all classifications by study design (normal-abnormal) - Trial 1 (A) and Trial 2 (D); Comparative graphical illustration of the AUC for easy classifications (normal versus severely abnormal) by study design- Trial 1 (B) and Trial 2 (E); Comparative graphical illustration of the AUC for difficult classifications (normal versus mildly abnormal) by study design- Trial 1 (C) and Trial 2 (F).</p

Logistic regression models for any hospital admissions comparing non-drinkers with current drinkers in subgroups in 23,740 men and women aged 40–79 years 1993–1997.

<p>Logistic regression models for any hospital admissions comparing non-drinkers with current drinkers in subgroups in 23,740 men and women aged 40–79 years 1993–1997.</p

Plastid genome evolution of the non-photosynthetic liverwort Aneura mirabilis (Malmb.) Wickett & Goffinet (Aneuraceae)

Aneura mirabilis is a parasitic liverwort in the Aneuraceae that obtains fixed atmospheric carbon from a host tree, using a fungal symbiont that is simultaneously ectomycorrhizal on the tree. Originally placed in its own genus, Cryptothallus, I determined in chapter one that the parasitic liverwort is nested within a Glade of morphologically indistinguishable photosynthetic liverworts and should be considered to be a distinct species of the genus Aneura. The annotated, complete plastid genome sequence of A. mirabilis, presented in chapter two, revealed the complete functional loss of the chlororespiration (ndh) genes, pseudogenes for major subunits of photosystem I, photosystem II, and the cytochrome b6f complex, and an inversion of psbE and petL. Aside from this inversion, the order of genes is congruent with the order of genes in Marchantia polymorpha, the only other liverwort plastid genome sequence available. The designation of pseudogenes was made using genomic comparisons with the phylogenetically distant liverwort M. polymorpha. In order to correlate functional gene losses with the evolution of a heterotrophic life history, we sampled several populations of A. mirabilis and its photosynthetic sister groups and sequenced plastid regions homologous with the losses detected in the plastid genome sequence. A functional gene loss or the psbE- petL inversion was never detected in a photosynthetic liverwort. All the gene losses and the psbE-petL inversion were detected in every population of the nonphotosynthetic liverwort sampled. The rates of synonymous and non-synonymous substitutions were estimated for eight pseudogenes and six genes to detect whether they are evolving under relaxed purifying selection. Here we present evidence that A. mirabilis has recently acquired an obligately heterotrophic life history, and that large deletions, and structural rearrangements may play an important role in the functional reduction of the plastid genome, rather than a relaxation of a synonymous substitution bias, early in the shift to parasitism.