Secondhand smoke exposure and risk of incident peripheral arterial disease and mortality: a Scotland-wide retrospective cohort study of 4045 non-smokers with cotinine measurement

Background: Active smoking is an important risk factor for all-cause mortality and peripheral arterial disease (PAD). In contrast, published studies on the associations with secondhand smoke (SHS) are limited. The aim of this study was to examine the associations between SHS exposure and incident PAD, as well as mortality, among middle-aged non-smokers. Methods: We undertook a retrospective, cohort study using record linkage of the Scottish Health Surveys between 1998 and 2010 to hospital admissions and death certificates. Inclusion was restricted to participants aged > 45 years. Cox proportional hazard models were used to examine the association between SHS exposure and incident PAD (hospital admission or death) and all-cause mortality, with adjustment for potential confounders. Results: Of the 4045 confirmed non-smokers (self-reported non-smokers with salivary cotinine concentrations < 15 ng/mL), 1163 (28.8%) had either moderate or high exposure to SHS at baseline. In men, high exposure to SHS (cotinine ≥2.7 ng/mL) was associated with increased risk of all-cause mortality (fully adjusted hazard ratio [HR] 1.54, 95% CI 1.07–2.22, p = 0.020) with evidence of a dose-relationship (p for trend = 0.004). In men, high exposure to SHS was associated with increased risk of incident PAD over the first five years of follow-up (fully adjusted HR 4.29, 95% CI 1.14–16.10, p = 0.031) but the association became non-significant over longer term follow-up. Conclusions: SHS exposure was independently associated with all-cause mortality and may be associated with PAD, but larger studies, or meta-analyses, are required to confirm the latter

Gaussian Effective Potential and the Coleman's normal-ordering Prescription : the Functional Integral Formalism

For a class of system, the potential of whose Bosonic Hamiltonian has a Fourier representation in the sense of tempered distributions, we calculate the Gaussian effective potential within the framework of functional integral formalism. We show that the Coleman's normal-ordering prescription can be formally generalized to the functional integral formalism.Comment: 6 pages, revtex; With derivation details and an example added. To appear in J. Phys.

High quality epitaxial ZnSe and the relationship between electron mobility and photoluminescence characteristics

High quality epitaxial layers of nominally undoped ZnSe have been grown by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition at low temperature (325 °C) and pressure (30 Torr), using dimethylzinc and hydrogen selenide. All layers were unintentionally doped n type with net carrier concentrations of 6.4×10^(14)–1.5×10^(16) cm^(−3) and exhibited very high mobility at room temperature (up to 500 cm2/V s) as well as at 77 K, where the measured value of 9250 cm^2/V s is the highest so far reported for vapor phase growth. Additional evidence for the high quality of the material is provided by photoluminescence. Experimental results indicate a correlation between the photoluminescence characteristics and the electrical properties that may be useful in assessing the quality of ZnSe films

An improved panel method for the solution of three-dimensional leading edge vortex flows Volume 2: User's guide and programmer's document

A computer program developed for solving the subsonic, three dimensional flow over wing-body configurations with leading edge vortex separation is presented. Instructions are given for the proper set up and input of a problem into the computer code. Program input formats and output are described, as well as the overlay structure of the program. The program is written in FORTRAN

A Three-Dimensional Solution of Flows over Wings with Leading-Edge Vortex Separation. Part 2: Program Description Document

For abstract, see N75-32026

An improved panel method for the solution of three-dimensional leading-edge vortex flows. Volume 1: Theory document

An improved panel method for the solution of three dimensional flow and wing and wing-body combinations with leading edge vortex separation is presented. The method employs a three dimensional inviscid flow model in which the configuration, the rolled-up vortex sheets, and the wake are represented by quadratic doublet distributions. The strength of the singularity distribution as well as shape and position of the vortex spirals are computed in an iterative fashion starting with an assumed initial sheet geometry. The method calculates forces and moments as well as detail surface pressure distributions. Improvements include the implementation of improved panel numerics for the purpose of elimination the highly nonlinear effects of ring vortices around double panel edges, and the development of a least squares procedure for damping vortex sheet geometry update instabilities. A complete description of the method is included. A variety of cases generated by the computer program implementing the method are presented which verify the mathematical assumptions of the method and which compare computed results with experimental data to verify the underlying physical assumptions made by the method

Electron-doped phosphorene: A potential monolayer superconductor

We predict by first-principles calculations that the electron-doped phosphorene is a potential BCS-like superconductor. The stretching modes at the Brillouin-zone center are remarkably softened by the electron-doping, which results in the strong electron-phonon coupling. The superconductivity can be introduced by a doped electron density ($n_{2D}$) above $1.3 \times10^{14}$ cm$^{-2}$, and may exist over the liquid helium temperature when $n_{2D}>2.6 \times10^{14}$ cm$^{-2}$. The maximum critical temperature is predicted to be higher than 10 K. The superconductivity of phosphorene will significantly broaden the applications of this novel material