Income related inequalities in self assessed health in Britain: 1979-1995

Study objective: To measure and decompose income related inequalities in self assessed health in England, Scotland, and Wales, 1979-1995. Design: The relation between individual health and a non-linear transformation of equivalised income, allowing for sex, age, country, and year effects, was estimated by multiple regression. The share of health attributable to transformed income and the Gini coefficient for transformed income were calculated. Inequality in health was measured by the partial concentration index, which is the product of the. Gini coefficient and the share of health attributable to transformed income. Participants and setting: Representative annual samples of the adult population living in private households in Great Britain 1979-1995. The total analysed sample was 299 968 people. Main results: Pro-rich health inequality was largest in Wales and smallest in England over the period because the effect of increased income on health was greatest in Wales and least in England. In all three countries, pro-rich health inequality increased throughout the period. In the early 1980s this was primarily attributable to increases in income inequality. Thereafter the increased share of health attributable to income was the principal cause. Conclusions: Reductions in pro-rich health inequality can be achieved by reducing income inequality, reducing the effect of income on health, or both

Climate change: Why the conspiracy theories are dangerous

Uncertainty surrounds the public understanding of climate change and provides fertile ground for conspiracy theories. Typically, such conspiracy theories assert that climate scientists and politicians are distorting or hijacking the science to suit their own purposes. Climate change conspiracy theories resemble other conspiracy theories in some respects, but in others they appear to be quite different. For example, climate change conspiracy theories appear to be motivated by the desire to deny or minimize an unwelcome and threatening conclusion. They also appear to be more contentious than other types of conspiracy theories. Perhaps to an unparalleled extent, people on both sides of the issue champion climate change conspiracy theories. Finally, more than other conspiracy theories, those concerning climate change appear to be more politically loaded, dividing opinion across the left-right continuum. Some empirical evidence suggests that climate change conspiracy theories may be harmful, steering people away from environmentally friendly initiatives. They therefore present a significant challenge for governments and environmental organizations that are attempting to convince people to take action against global warming

Income, relative income, and self-reported health in Britain 1979-2000

According to the relative income hypothesis, an individual’s health depends on the distribution of income in a reference group, as well as on the income of the individual. We use data on 231,208 individuals in Great Britain from 19 rounds of the General Household Survey between 1979 and 2000 to test alternative specifications of the hypothesis with different measures of relative income, national and regional reference groups, and two measures of self assessed health. All models include individual education, social class, housing tenure, age, gender and income. The estimated effects of relative income measures are usually weaker with regional reference groups and in models with time trends. There is little evidence for an independent effect of the Gini coefficient once time trends are allowed for. Deprivation relative to mean income and the Hey-Lambert-Yitzhaki measures of relative deprivation are generally negatively associated with individual health, though most such models do not perform better on the Bayesian Information Criterion than models without relative income. The only model which performs better than the model without relative income and which has a positive estimated effect of absolute income on health has relative deprivation measured as income proportional to mean income. In this model the increase in the probability of good health from a ceteris paribus reduction in relative deprivation from the upper quartile to zero is 0.010, whereas as an increase in income from the lower to the upper quartile increases the probability by 0.056. Measures of relative deprivation constructed by comparing individual income with incomes within a regional or national reference group will always be highly correlated with individual income, making identification of the separate effects of income and relative deprivation problematic

Temperature dependence of surface reconstructions of Au on Pd(110)

Surface reconstructions of Au film on Pd(110) substrate are studied using a local Einstein approximation to quasiharmonic theory with the Sutton-Chen interatomic potential. Temperature dependent surface free energies for different coverages and surface structures are calculated. Experimentally observed transformations from $(1\times1)$ to $(1 \times 2)$ and $(1 \times 3)$ structures can be explained in the framework of this model. Also conditions for Stranski-Krastanov growth mode are found to comply with experiments. The domain of validity of the model neglecting mixing entropy is analyzed.Comment: 7 pages, REVTeX two-column format, 3 postscript figures available on request from [email protected] To appear in Phys. Rev. Letter

How to identify when a performance indicator has run its course

The official published version can be found at the link below.Increasing numbers of countries are using indicators to evaluate the quality of clinical care, with some linking payment to achievement. For performance frameworks to remain effective the indicators need to be regularly reviewed. The frameworks cannot cover all clinical areas, and achievement on chosen indicators will eventually reach a ceiling beyond which further improvement is not feasible. However, there has been little work on how to select indictors for replacement. The Department of Health decided in 2008 that it would regularly replace indicators in the national primary care pay for performance scheme, the Quality and Outcomes Framework, making a rigorous approach to removal a priority. We draw on our previous work on pay for performance and our current work advising the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) on the Quality and Outcomes Framework to suggest what should be considered when planning to remove indicators from a clinical performance framework

Mineralogy and heavy metal content of secondary mineral salts: A case study from the Witwatersrand Gold Basin, South Africa.

Secondary minerals associated with acid mine drainage play an important role in metal cycling and may pose a geochemical hazard. The occurrence of secondary minerals indicates prevailing and past geochemical conditions. Detecting and characterising secondary minerals is necessary to the planning of remediation programmes. This paper investigates the mineralogical and heavy metal contents of mineral salts associated with acid mine drainage in the East Rand area of the Witwatersrand Basin. Powdered X-ray diffraction was used to identify and quantify mineralogical phases and a scanning electron microscope was used to determine the morphology of the identified minerals. Major cations and anions were determined using Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS) and Ion Chromatography (IC). Geochemical modelling was used to predict the saturation of the minerals. Efflorescent crusts contained high levels of trace metals. Enrichment of trace metals, electrical conductivity and sulphate were highest in white salts. A high metal content was associated with low pH values in mineral salts. The salts were dominated by quartz and clay minerals of the smectite group. Tamarugite, apjohnite and jarosite were the predominant sulphate minerals in the salts. These minerals are very acidic and will accelerate weathering in the surrounding soils. Geochemical modelling yielded precipitated hydrated sulphate, halite and goethite. The information gathered during this study will be useful in managing salinity and high metal contents in receiving waters and soils associated with gold mining activities

Scattering and Diffraction in Magnetospheres of Fast Pulsars

We apply a theory of wave propagation through a turbulent medium to the scattering of radio waves in pulsar magnetospheres. We find that under conditions of strong density modulation the effects of magnetospheric scintillations in diffractive and refractive regimes may be observable. The most distinctive feature of the magnetospheric scintillations is their independence on frequency. Results based on diffractive scattering due to small scale inhomogeneities give a scattering angle that may be as large as 0.1 radians, and a typical decorrelation time of $10^{-8}$ seconds. Refractive scattering due to large scale inhomogeneities is also possible, with a typical angle of $10^{-3}$ radians and a correlation time of the order of $10^{-4}$ seconds. Temporal variation in the plasma density may also result in a delay time of the order of $10^{-4}$ seconds. The different scaling of the above quantities with frequency may allow one to distinguish the effects of propagation through a pulsar magnetosphere from the interstellar medium. In particular, we expect that the magnetospheric scintillations are relatively more important for nearby pulsars when observed at high frequencies.Comment: 19 pages, 1 Figur