An examination of cancer epidemiology studies among populations living close to toxic waste sites

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Toxic waste sites contain a broad range of suspected or confirmed human carcinogens, and remain a source of concern to many people, particularly those living in the vicinity of a site. Despite years of study, a consensus has not emerged regarding the cancer risk associated with such sites.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We examined the published, peer-reviewed literature addressing cancer incidence or mortality in the vicinity of toxic waste sites between 1980 and 2006, and catalogued the methods employed by such studies.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Nineteen studies are described with respect to eight methodological criteria. Most were ecological, with minimal utilization of hydrogeological or air pathway modeling. Many did not catalogue whether a potable water supply was contaminated, and very few included contaminant measurements at waste sites or in subjects' homes. Most studies did not appear to be responses to a recognized cancer mortality cluster. Studies were highly variable with respect to handling of competing risk factors and multiple comparisons.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>We conclude that studies to date have generated hypotheses, but have been of limited utility in determining whether populations living near toxic waste sites are at increased cancer risk.</p

Volunteering in the care of people with severe mental illness: a systematic review

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited

HCV treatment rates and sustained viral response among people who inject drugs in seven UK sites: real world results and modelling of treatment impact.

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) antiviral treatment for people who inject drugs (PWID) could prevent onwards transmission and reduce chronic prevalence. We assessed current PWID treatment rates in seven UK settings and projected the potential impact of current and scaled-up treatment on HCV chronic prevalence. Data on number of PWID treated and sustained viral response rates (SVR) were collected from seven UK settings: Bristol (37-48% HCV chronic prevalence among PWID), East London (37-48%), Manchester (48-56%), Nottingham (37-44%), Plymouth (30-37%), Dundee (20-27%) and North Wales (27-33%). A model of HCV transmission among PWID projected the 10-year impact of (i) current treatment rates and SVR (ii) scale-up with interferon-free direct acting antivirals (IFN-free DAAs) with 90% SVR. Treatment rates varied from <5 to over 25 per 1000 PWID. Pooled intention-to-treat SVR for PWID were 45% genotypes 1/4 [95%CI 33-57%] and 61% genotypes 2/3 [95%CI 47-76%]. Projections of chronic HCV prevalence among PWID after 10 years of current levels of treatment overlapped substantially with current HCV prevalence estimates. Scaling-up treatment to 26/1000 PWID annually (achieved already in two sites) with IFN-free DAAs could achieve an observable absolute reduction in HCV chronic prevalence of at least 15% among PWID in all sites and greater than a halving in chronic HCV in Plymouth, Dundee and North Wales within a decade. Current treatment rates among PWID are unlikely to achieve observable reductions in HCV chronic prevalence over the next 10 years. Achievable scale-up, however, could lead to substantial reductions in HCV chronic prevalence

The moment of truth for WIMP Dark Matter

We know that dark matter constitutes 85% of all the matter in the Universe, but we do not know of what it is made. Amongst the many Dark Matter candidates proposed, WIMPs (weakly interacting massive particles) occupy a special place, as they arise naturally from well motivated extensions of the standard model of particle physics. With the advent of the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, and a new generation of astroparticle experiments, the moment of truth has come for WIMPs: either we will discover them in the next five to ten years, or we will witness the inevitable decline of WIMP paradigm.Comment: To appear in Nature (Nov 18, 2010

Constraints on the pMSSM from searches for squarks and gluinos by ATLAS

We study the impact of the jets and missing transverse momentum SUSY analyses of the ATLAS experiment on the phenomenological MSSM (pMSSM). We investigate sets of SUSY models with a flat and logarithmic prior in the SUSY mass scale and a mass range up to 1 and 3 TeV, respectively. These models were found previously in the study 'Supersymmetry without Prejudice'. Removing models with long-lived SUSY particles, we show that 99% of 20000 randomly generated pMSSM model points with a flat prior and 87% for a logarithmic prior are excluded by the ATLAS results. For models with squarks and gluinos below 600 GeV all models of the pMSSM grid are excluded. We identify SUSY spectra where the current ATLAS search strategy is less sensitive and propose extensions to the inclusive jets search channel

Solving the mu problem with a heavy Higgs boson

We discuss the generation of the mu-term in a class of supersymmetric models characterized by a low energy effective superpotential containing a term lambda S H_1 H_2 with a large coupling lambda~2. These models generically predict a lightest Higgs boson well above the LEP limit of 114 GeV and have been shown to be compatible with the unification of gauge couplings. Here we discuss a specific example where the superpotential has no dimensionful parameters and we point out the relation between the generated mu-term and the mass of the lightest Higgs boson. We discuss the fine-tuning of the model and we find that the generation of a phenomenologically viable mu-term fits very well with a heavy lightest Higgs boson and a low degree of fine-tuning. We discuss experimental constraints from collider direct searches, precision data, thermal relic dark matter abundance, and WIMP searches finding that the most natural region of the parameter space is still allowed by current experiments. We analyse bounds on the masses of the superpartners coming from Naturalness arguments and discuss the main signatures of the model for the LHC and future WIMP searches.Comment: Extended discussion of the LHC phenomenology, as published on JHEP plus an addendum on the existence of further extremal points of the potential. 47 pages, 16 figure

A new hammer to crack an old nut : interspecific competitive resource capture by plants is regulated by nutrient supply, not climate

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Employment of ex-prisoners with mental health problems, a realistic evaluation protocol

Background Offenders with a mental illness are routinely excluded from vocational services due to their mental health. Employment has shown to be very important in improving mental health, reducing recidivism, and connecting people to society. This study examines the effectiveness of an established intervention which is relatively untested in this population, Individual Placement and Support (IPS), to help offenders with mental health problems into competitive employment. The overall research question is whether IPS is effective in gaining and sustaining competitive employment for offenders with a Severe Mental Illness (SMI). The context is an English criminal justice setting across different populations. The study will also measure non-vocational outcomes such as recidivism, mental health and social stability. Methods/Design A Realistic Evaluation (RE) design will address the questions “What works, for whom, and in what circumstances?” This study includes pre and post comparisons for a cohort of approximately 20 people taking part in IPS, and a similar number of controls, over a one year period. The RE also consists of interviews with practitioners and offenders in order to understand how IPS works and develops within the criminal justice system (CJS). By applying this framework the research can go from discovering whether IPS works, to how and why (or why not) IPS works. This is achieved by examining where the intervention is occurring (Context (C)), the mechanisms (M) that create particular behaviours, and how the outcomes (O) from the intervention all come together (CMOs). Employment outcomes will also be examined for all participants. Discussion By applying RE the research will permit inferences to be drawn about how and why (or why not) IPS works, by examining context, mechanisms and outcomes. IPS has never been implemented within the CJS in the United Kingdom. As a result, this evaluative research will not only provide a novel insight into the core research areas, but also how the intervention can be improved for others in the future