Health and Its Relationship with Residential Relocations of Older People to Institutions versus to Independent Dwellings

Research into older people's relocations to independent dwellings has largely remained separate from research into moves to institutions. Yet, both types of moves could be a response to health problems and to a certain extent they could be substitutes for each other. Using Litwak and Longino's model of moves of older people, this study assesses the extent to which three commonly used health measures (limitations in activities of daily living [ADL], self-rated health, and the prevalence of [limiting] chronic conditions) predict older people's moves to subsidized care institutions and elsewhere, in one multinomial logistic regression model. The data were derived from the POLS survey for the Netherlands (N=8306) enriched with administrative data on subsequent moves. In line with Litwak and Longino's model, the findings indicate that older people's moves to institutions were more likely among those with more severe health problems, whereas moves elsewhere were more likely among those with moderate health problems. Among the three investigated health measures, limitations in ADL had the strongest predictive value, and was the only one for which the difference in effect between relocations to care institutions and relocations elsewhere was statistically significant

Lombardi Drawings of Graphs

We introduce the notion of Lombardi graph drawings, named after the American abstract artist Mark Lombardi. In these drawings, edges are represented as circular arcs rather than as line segments or polylines, and the vertices have perfect angular resolution: the edges are equally spaced around each vertex. We describe algorithms for finding Lombardi drawings of regular graphs, graphs of bounded degeneracy, and certain families of planar graphs.Comment: Expanded version of paper appearing in the 18th International Symposium on Graph Drawing (GD 2010). 13 pages, 7 figure

Nuclear reactor operator training for disadvantaged Americans. Final report, March 1, 1984--November 30, 1992

The Nuclear Engineering and Engineering Physics Department of the University of Virginia was awarded a grant by the US Department of Energy in 1984 to establish and administer a reactor operator training program for disadvantaged Americans. Stipends were provided by the US DOE for five trainees with the anticipation that four other educational facilities would participate in the program. Sub-contracts were awarded to four other Universities: Massachusetts Institute of Technology, The University of Missouri at Columbia, Oregon State University, and The State University of New York at Buffalo. The initial two year program was very successful and the grant was renewed in late 1986 for another two years. MIT declined to participate in the second program and was replaced by Ohio State University. U.VA. was notified in September, 1987 that new funding would no longer be provided for this program after December, 1987. U.VA. requested and was granted a no cost extention for the program through December, 1990, since sufficient funds remained in the initial grant to pursue the program further. DOE subsequently approved a no cost extension through November, 1992

Sensitivity and specificity of faecal tumour M2 pyruvate kinase for detection of colorectal adenomas in a large screening study

The measurement of faecal tumour M2 pyruvate kinase (tumour M2 PK) has been proposed as a novel approach for early detection of colorectal cancer (CRC). However, as regards the potential of the test to detect precursors to CRC, an issue that is highly relevant to estimate its use in reducing CRC incidence and mortality, the available evidence is scant and controversial. The aim of our study was to determine the performance characteristics of the tumour M2 PK test with respect to colorectal adenomas in the target population of screening. Among 1082 participants of screening colonoscopy in Germany, of whom 30% had any adenoma and 10% had an advanced adenoma, the median (interquartile range) tumour M2 PK level in the whole study population was 1.3 U ml−1 (0.3–3.3). At a cutoff value of 4 U ml−1, sensitivity was 22 and 23% for detection of advanced and other adenomas, respectively, whereas specificity was 82%. The area under the receiver-operating characteristics curve (95% confidence interval) was 0.54 (0.51–0.58) and 0.56 (0.52–0.59) for advanced and other adenomas, respectively. In conclusion, the tumour M2 PK test has only very limited potential to distinguish between people bearing precursors to CRC and people with no finding at colonoscopy