Health Care and the Unemployed

[Excerpt] On a chilly evening in March more than 50 residents of Calumet City Illinois, gathered to hear the findings and recommendations from a survey conducted last fall by the South Suburban Task Force on the Health Impact of Unemployment and Low Income. The Task Force had conducted interviews with unemployed workers in Calumet City and two other south Cook County communities. We wanted to find out the impact unemployment was having on people\u27s health and their ability to get health care. The Task Force\u27s 90-page report, The Health Impact of Unemployment and Low Income, was released in March 1984. It summarized key findings and recommendations based on interviews with unemployed workers and surveys of local physicians, dentists, and health and social service agencies. The Midwest Center for Labor Research (MCLR), along with four local health agencies, conducted the study

The Unhappy Marriage of Theory and Practice: An Analysis of a Battered Women\u27s Shelter

Focuses on the role of battered women\u27s shelters in the U.S. as a response to the problem of violence against women in society. Examination of the battered women\u27s movement and the shelters the movement has spawned; Contradictions between feminist ideology and reality; Role of the shelter itself as a social world

Ab initio Molecular Dynamics Study of Glycine Intramolecular Proton Transfer in Water

We use ab initio molecular dynamics simulations to quantify structural and thermodynamic properties of a model proton transfer reaction that converts a neutral glycine molecule, stable in the gas phase, to the zwitterion that predominates in aqueous solution. We compute the potential of mean force associated with the direct intramolecular proton transfer event in glycine. Structural analyses show that the average hydration number Nw of glycine is not constant along the reaction coordinate, but rather progresses from Nw=5 in the neutral molecule to Nw=8 for the zwitterion. We report the free energy difference between the neutral and charged glycine molecules, and the free energy barrier to proton transfer. Finally, we identify approximations inherent in our method and estimate corresponding corrections to our reported thermodynamic predictions.Comment: 14 pages, 10 figures, to appear in J. Chem. Phy

Quasi-Chemical Theory and Implicit Solvent Models for Simulations

A statistical thermodynamic development is given of a new implicit solvent model that avoids the traditional system size limitations of computer simulation of macromolecular solutions with periodic boundary conditions. This implicit solvent model is based upon the quasi-chemical approach, distinct from the common integral equation trunk of the theory of liquid solutions. The physical content of this theory is the hypothesis that a small set of solvent molecules are decisive for these solvation problems. A detailed derivation of the quasi-chemical theory escorts the development of this proposal. The numerical application of the quasi-chemical treatment to Li$^+$ ion hydration in liquid water is used to motivate and exemplify the quasi-chemical theory. Those results underscore the fact that the quasi-chemical approach refines the path for utilization of ion-water cluster results for the statistical thermodynamics of solutions.Comment: 30 pages, contribution to Santa Fe Workshop on Treatment of Electrostatic Interactions in Computer Simulation of Condensed Medi

Labeling Workflow Views with Fine-Grained Dependencies

This paper considers the problem of efficiently answering reachability queries over views of provenance graphs, derived from executions of workflows that may include recursion. Such views include composite modules and model fine-grained dependencies between module inputs and outputs. A novel view-adaptive dynamic labeling scheme is developed for efficient query evaluation, in which view specifications are labeled statically (i.e. as they are created) and data items are labeled dynamically as they are produced during a workflow execution. Although the combination of fine-grained dependencies and recursive workflows entail, in general, long (linear-size) data labels, we show that for a large natural class of workflows and views, labels are compact (logarithmic-size) and reachability queries can be evaluated in constant time. Experimental results demonstrate the benefit of this approach over the state-of-the-art technique when applied for labeling multiple views.Comment: VLDB201

BMI-for-age graphs with severe obesity percentile curves: Tools for plotting cross-sectional and longitudinal youth BMI data

Abstract Background Severe obesity is an important and distinct weight status classification that is associated with disease risk and is increasing in prevalence among youth. The ability to graphically present population weight status data, ranging from underweight through severe obesity class 3, is novel and applicable to epidemiologic research, intervention studies, case reports, and clinical care. Methods The aim was to create body mass index (BMI) graphing tools to generate sex-specific BMI-for-age graphs that include severe obesity percentile curves. We used the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention youth reference data sets and weight status criteria to generate the percentile curves. The statistical software environments SAS and R were used to create two different graphing options. Results This article provides graphing tools for creating sex-specific BMI-for-age graphs for males and females ages 2 to <20 years. The novel aspects of these graphing tools are an expanded BMI range to accommodate BMI values ˃35 kg/m2, inclusion of percentile curves for severe obesity classes 2 and 3, the ability to plot individual data for thousands of children and adolescents on a single graph, and the ability to generate cross-sectional and longitudinal graphs. Conclusions These new BMI graphing tools will enable investigators, public health professionals, and clinicians to view and present youth weight status data in novel and meaningful ways