Two Scales, One Methodology - Expenditure Based Equivalence Scales for the United States and Germany

Choosing an appropriate equivalence scale is a prerequisite for comparisons of economic wellbeing income distribution, inequality or poverty. This is true for country specific work or for cross-national comparisons. Researchers generally either use a country specific equivalence scale (social assistance, expert based, or poverty scales), or adopt a single scale for all comparison across countries. Here we follow a different approach. We use microdata to estimate equivalence scales based on a revealed preference consumption approach for West Germany and the United States. We review several approaches and rely on a complete demand system approach, which provides constant utility based equivalence scales using an extended linear expenditure system (ELES). The multiple equation expenditure system takes into account a full market basket with all its interdependencies and relative prices. Our consumption-based equivalence results are compared to alternative consumption based measures, expert based measures, and subjective based measures in use in both countries and to other scales used for cross-national comparisons.alternative equivalence scale, Germany, USA, distribution of income, inequality, poverty

The impact of mass deworming programmes on schooling and economic development: an appraisal of long-term studies

Background Documents from advocacy and fund-raising organizations for child mass deworming programmes in low and middle-income countries cite unpublished economic studies claiming long-term effects on health, schooling and economic development. Methods To summarise and appraise these studies, we searched for and included all long-term follow-up studies, based on cluster-randomized trials included in a 2015 Cochrane review on deworming. We used Cochrane methods to assess risk of bias, and appraised the credibility of the main findings. Where necessary we contacted study authors for clarifications. Results We identified three studies (Baird 2016, Ozier 2016, and Croke 2014), evaluating effects more than nine years after cluster-randomized trials in Kenya and Uganda. Baird and Croke evaluate short additional exposures to deworming programmes in settings where all children were dewormed multiple times. Ozier evaluates potential spin-off effects to infants living in areas with school-based deworming. None of the studies used pre-planned protocols, or blinded the analysis to treatment allocation. Baird 2016 has been presented on-line in six iterations. It is at high risk of reporting bias and selective reporting, and there are substantive changes between versions. The main cited effects on secondary school attendance and job sector allocation are from post-hoc sub-group analyses, which the study was not powered to assess. The study finds no evidence of effect on nutritional status, cognitive tests, or school grades achieved, but these are not reported in the abstracts. Ozier 2016 has been presented on-line in four iterations, without substantive differences between versions. Higher cognitive test scores were associated with deworming but were only beyond the play of chance with inclusion of the non-randomised data. The size of the stated effect seems inconsistent with the short and indirect nature of the exposure to deworming, and a causal pathway for this effect is unclear. Croke 2014 utilizes a data set unrelated to the base trial to report improvements in English and maths test scores. The analysis is at high risk of attrition bias, due to loss of clusters, and is substantially underpowered to assess these effects. Conclusion In the context of reliable epidemiological methods, all three studies are at risk of substantial methodological bias. They therefore help in generating hypothesis, but should not be considered reliable evidence of effects

Experimental tests of reaction rate theory: Mu+H2 and Mu+D2

Copyright @ 1987 American Institute of Physics.Bimolecular rate constants for the thermal chemical reactions of muonium (Mu) with hydrogen and deuterium—Mu+H2→MuH+H and Mu+D2→MuD+D—over the temperature range 473–843 K are reported. The Arrhenius parameters and 1σ uncertainties for the H2 reaction are log A (cm3 molecule-1 s-1)=-9.605±0.074 and Ea =13.29±0.22 kcal mol-1, while for D2 the values are -9.67±0.12 and 14.73±0.40, respectively. These results are significantly more precise than those reported earlier by Garner et al. For the Mu reaction with H2 our results are in excellent agreement with the 3D quantum mechanical calculations of Schatz on the Liu–Siegbahn–Truhlar–Horowitz potential surface, but the data for both reactions compare less favorably with variational transition-state theory, particularly at the lower temperatures.NSERC (Canada) and the Petroleum Research Foundation of the Americal Chemical Society

Influenza vaccination for healthcare workers in the UK: appraisal of systematic reviews and policy options

Background: The UK Department of Health recommends annual influenza vaccination for healthcare workers, but uptake remains low. For staff, there is uncertainty about the rationale for vaccination and evidence underpinning the recommendation. Objectives: Clarify the rationale, and evidence-base, for influenza vaccination of healthcare workers from the occupational health, employer, and patient safety perspectives. Design: Systematic appraisal of published systematic reviews Results: The quality of the 11 included reviews was variable; some included exactly the same trials but made conflicting recommendations. Three reviews assessed vaccine effects in healthcare workers and found one trial reporting a vaccine efficacy of 88%. Six reviews assessed vaccine effects in healthy adults and vaccine efficacy was consistent with a median of 62% (95% CI 56 to 67). Two reviews assessed effects on working days lost in healthcare workers (three trials), and three reported effects in healthy adults (four trials). The meta-analyses presented by the most recent reviews do not reach standard levels of statistical significance, but may be misleading as individual trials suggest benefit with wide variation in size of effect. The 2013 Cochrane review reported absolute effects close to zero for laboratory-confirmed influenza, and hospitalization for patients, but excluded data on clinically-suspected influenza and all-cause mortality which had shown potentially important effects in previous editions. A more recent systematic review reports these effects as a 42% reduction in clinically-suspected influenza (95% CI 27 to 54), and a 29% reduction in all-cause mortality (95% CI 15 to 41). Conclusions: The evidence for employer and patient safety benefits of influenza vaccination is not straightforward, and has been interpreted differently by different systematic review authors. Future uptake of influenza vaccination among healthcare workers may benefit from a fully transparent guideline process by a panel representing all relevant stakeholders, which clearly communicates the underlying rationale, evidence-base, and judgements made

Whole genome sequence analysis reveals the broad distribution of the RtxA type 1 secretion system and four novel putative type 1 secretion systems throughout the Legionella genus.

Type 1 secretion systems (T1SSs) are broadly distributed among bacteria and translocate effectors with diverse function across the bacterial cell membrane. Legionella pneumophila, the species most commonly associated with Legionellosis, encodes a T1SS at the lssXYZABD locus which is responsible for the secretion of the virulence factor RtxA. Many investigations have failed to detect lssD, the gene encoding the membrane fusion protein of the RtxA T1SS, in non-pneumophila Legionella, which has led to the assumption that this system is a virulence factor exclusively possessed by L. pneumophila. Here we discovered RtxA and its associated T1SS in a novel Legionella taurinensis strain, leading us to question whether this system may be more widespread than previously thought. Through a bioinformatic analysis of publicly available data, we classified and determined the distribution of four T1SSs including the RtxA T1SS and four novel T1SSs among diverse Legionella spp. The ABC transporter of the novel Legionella T1SS Legionella repeat protein secretion system shares structural similarity to those of diverse T1SS families, including the alkaline protease T1SS in Pseudomonas aeruginosa. The Legionella bacteriocin (1-3) secretion systems T1SSs are novel putative bacteriocin transporting T1SSs as their ABC transporters include C-39 peptidase domains in their N-terminal regions, with LB2SS and LB3SS likely constituting a nitrile hydratase leader peptide transport T1SSs. The LB1SS is more closely related to the colicin V T1SS in Escherichia coli. Of 45 Legionella spp. whole genomes examined, 19 (42%) were determined to possess lssB and lssD homologs. Of these 19, only 7 (37%) are known pathogens. There was no difference in the proportions of disease associated and non-disease associated species that possessed the RtxA T1SS (p = 0.4), contrary to the current consensus regarding the RtxA T1SS. These results draw into question the nature of RtxA and its T1SS as a singular virulence factor. Future studies should investigate mechanistic explanations for the association of RtxA with virulence

Preventing malaria in international travellers: an evaluation of published English-language guidelines

Background People intending to travel may seek information on malaria prevention from a range of sources. To ensure the best protection, this information needs to be reliable, up-to-date, consistent, and useful to their decision making. This study appraises current international and national guidelines written in English for malaria prevention in travellers, and whether any recommendations conflict. Methods We systematically identified national or international English-language guidelines on malaria prevention in travellers to July 2013 using standard and multiple searching methods. We critically appraised guidelines using the AGREE II tool, and report inconsistent recommendations within guidelines. Results We identified five sets of English-language guidelines on preventing malaria for travellers. Assessment against AGREE II indicate that all of the guidelines fall short of internationally accepted standards in guideline development: none include a transparent description of methods; only one describes sources of funding or potential conflicts of interest; and only one includes formal presentation of the evidence alongside transparent assessment of the quality of that evidence. There were a number of important discrepancies between guidelines, and some omit information about effectiveness, safety and adverse effects of chemoprophylaxis options. Conclusions The methods used for developing guidelines for malaria prevention in travellers lags behind current internationally recognized standards. Healthcare professionals as well as travellers themselves could be better informed if guidelines were more systematic and transparent summaries of the current knowledge on drug interventions in relation to effects, safety, administration and contra-indications

Design synthesis and shape generation

If we are to capitalise on the potential that a design approach might bring to innovation in business and society, we need to build a better understanding of the evolving skill-sets that designers will need and the contexts within which design might operate. This demands more discourse between those involved in cutting edge practice, the researchers who help to uncover principles, codify knowledge and create theories and the educators who are nurturing future design talent. This book promotes such a discourse by reporting on the work of twenty research teams who explored different facets of future design activity as part of Phase 2 of the UK's research council supported Designing for the 21st Century Research Initiative. Each of these contributions describes the origins of the project, the research team and their project aims, the research methods used and the new knowledge and understanding generated. Editor and Initiative Director, Professor Tom Inns, provides an introductory chapter that suggests ways the reader might navigate these viewpoints. This chapter concludes with an overview of the key lessons that might be learnt from this collection of design research activity

Permutation combinatorics of worldsheet moduli space

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