Long Run Health Impacts of Income Shocks: Wine and Phylloxera in 19th Century France

This paper provides estimates of the long-term effects on height and health of a large income shock experienced in early childhood. Phylloxera, an insect that attacks the roots of grape vines, destroyed 40% of French vineyards between 1863 and 1890, causing major income losses among wine growing families. Because the insects spread slowly from the southern coast of France to the rest of the country, Phylloxera affected different regions in different years. We exploit the regional variation in the timing of this shock to identify its effects. We examine the effects on the adult height, health, and life expectancy of children born in the years and regions affected by the Phylloxera. The shock decreased long run height, but it did not affect other dimensions of health, including life expectancy. We find that, at age 20, those born in affected regions were about 1.8 millimeters shorter than others. This estimate implies that children of wine-growing families born when the vines were affected in their regions were 0.6 to 0.9 centimeters shorter than others by age 20. This is a significant effect since average heights grew by only 2 centimeters in the entire 19th century. However, we find no other effect on health, including infant mortality, life expectancy, and morbidity by age 20.

Essays in labor and health economics

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Economics, September 2007."September 2006."Includes bibliographical references.This dissertation consists of three essays in empirical labor and health economics. The first chapter examines how the amount of time devoted to a leisure activity varies in response to temporary changes in the price of that activity. Specifically, I estimate the effect of changes in expected winnings in an online poker game on the probability that players quit playing. I find that expected winnings have a large negative effect on the probability that a player quits playing poker. A one dollar increase in expected winnings decreases the probability that a player quits playing altogether by 0.5 percentage points, compared to the mean of 1.1 percentage points. This corresponds to a price elasticity of demand for poker of -0.14. The second chapter develops and tests a model of how college students choose their field of study. The model combines features from learning and human capital models and captures several stylized facts from the empirical literature on choice of college major. I test the model's predictions using High School and Beyond data. I find three results that generally agree with the model's predictions. First, students with higher levels of ability choose majors with higher average earnings. Second, students who receive low grades in college are more likely to change their field of study. Third, students who switch majors in college subsequently earn less than students who do not change majors, but this difference is primarily due to major-switchers obtaining degrees in low-paying fields. The third chapter, coauthored with Abhijit Banerjee, Esther Duflo and Gilles Postel-Vinay, provides estimates of the long-term effects on height and health of a large income shock experienced in early childhood.(cont.) Phylloxera, an insect that attacks the roots of grape vines, destroyed 40% of French vineyards between 1863 and 1890, causing major income losses among wine growing families. We exploit the regional variation in the timing of this shock to identify its effects. We find that, at age 20, those born in affected regions were about 1.8 millimeters shorter than others. This estimate implies that children of wine-growing families born when the vines were affected in their regions were 0.6 to 0.9 centimeters shorter than others by age 20. This is a significant effect since average heights grew by only 2 centimeters in the entire 19th century.by Timothy M. Watts.Ph.D

Cadaveric Spinal Surgery Simulation: A Comparison of Cadaver Types

Study Design: Single-blinded study. Objective: To assess the suitability of three types of cadaver for simulating pedicle screw insertion and establish if there is an ideal. Methods: Three types of cadaver-Thiel-embalmed, Crosado-embalmed, and formaldehyde-embalmed-were draped and the spines exposed. Experienced surgeons were asked to place pedicle screws in each cadaver and give written questionnaire feedback using a modified Likert scale. Soft tissue and bony properties were assessed, along with the role of simulation in spinal surgery training. Results: The Thiel cadaver rated highest for soft tissue feel and appearance with a median score of 6 for both (range 2 to 7). The Crosado cadaver rated highest for bony feel, with a median score of 6 (range 2 to 7). The formaldehyde cadaver rated lowest for all categories with median scores of 2, 2.5, and 3.5, respectively. All surgeons felt pedicle screw insertion should be learned in a simulated setting using human cadavers. Conclusion: Thiel and Crosado cadavers both offered lifelike simulation of pedicle screw insertion, with each having advantages depending on whether the focus is on soft tissue approach or technical aspects of bony screw insertion. Both cadaver types offer the advantage of long life span, unlike fresh frozen tissue, which means cadavers can be used multiple times, thus reducing the costs

Examination of potential novel biochemical factors in relation to prostate cancer incidence and mortality in UK Biobank

Background: Although prostate cancer is a leading cause of cancer death, its aetiology is not well understood. We aimed to identify novel biochemical factors for prostate cancer incidence and mortality in UK Biobank. Methods: A range of cardiovascular, bone, joint, diabetes, renal and liver-related biomarkers were measured in baseline blood samples collected from up to 211,754 men at recruitment and in a subsample 5 years later. Participants were followed-up via linkage to health administrative datasets to identify prostate cancer cases. Hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals were calculated using multivariable-adjusted Cox regression corrected for regression dilution bias. Multiple testing was accounted for by using a false discovery rate controlling procedure. Results: After an average follow-up of 6.9 years, 5763 prostate cancer cases and 331 prostate cancer deaths were ascertained. Prostate cancer incidence was positively associated with circulating vitamin D, urea and phosphate concentrations and inversely associated with glucose, total protein and aspartate aminotransferase. Phosphate and cystatin-C were the only biomarkers positively and inversely, respectively, associated with risk in analyses excluding the first 4 years of follow-up. There was little evidence of associations with prostate cancer death. Conclusion: We found novel associations of several biomarkers with prostate cancer incidence. Future research will examine associations by tumour characteristics.</p

Financing essential HIV services: a new economic agenda.

Anna Vassall and colleagues discuss the need for, and challenges facing, innovative and sustainable financing of the HIV response. Please see later in the article for the Editors' Summary

Lignocellulose degradation mechanisms across the Tree of Life.

Organisms use diverse mechanisms involving multiple complementary enzymes, particularly glycoside hydrolases (GHs), to deconstruct lignocellulose. Lytic polysaccharide monooxygenases (LPMOs) produced by bacteria and fungi facilitate deconstruction as does the Fenton chemistry of brown-rot fungi. Lignin depolymerisation is achieved by white-rot fungi and certain bacteria, using peroxidases and laccases. Meta-omics is now revealing the complexity of prokaryotic degradative activity in lignocellulose-rich environments. Protists from termite guts and some oomycetes produce multiple lignocellulolytic enzymes. Lignocellulose-consuming animals secrete some GHs, but most harbour a diverse enzyme-secreting gut microflora in a mutualism that is particularly complex in termites. Shipworms however, house GH-secreting and LPMO-secreting bacteria separate from the site of digestion and the isopod Limnoria relies on endogenous enzymes alone. The omics revolution is identifying many novel enzymes and paradigms for biomass deconstruction, but more emphasis on function is required, particularly for enzyme cocktails, in which LPMOs may play an important role.The work of the teams at York, Portsmouth and Cambridge on development of ideas expressed in this review was supported by grants from BBSRC (BB/H531543/1, BB/L001926/1, BB/1018492/1, BB/K020358/1). The workshop was supported by a US Partnering grant from BBSRC (BB/G016208/1) to Cragg and a BBSRC/FAPESP grant to Bruce (BB/1018492/1). Watts was supported by Marie Curie FP7-RG 276948. Goodell acknowledges support from USDA Hatch Project S-1041 VA-136288. Distel acknowledges support from NSF Award IOS1442759 and NIH Award Number U19 TW008163. Beckham thanks the US Department of Energy Bioenergy Technologies Office for funding. We appreciated the hospitality of the Linnean Society in allowing us to meet in inspirational surroundings under portraits of Linnaeus, Darwin and Wallace.This is the final version of the article. It first appeared from Elsevier via http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cbpa.2015.10.01