Annual Summary of Vital Statistics-2001

The number of births, the crude birth rate (14.5 in 2001), and the fertility rate (67.2 in 2001) all declined slightly (by 1% or less) from 2000 to 2001. Fertility rates were highest for Hispanic women (107.4), followed by Native American (70.7), Asian or Pacific Islander (69.4), black (69.3), and non-Hispanic white women (58.0). During the early to mid 1990s, fertility declined for non-Hispanic white, black, and American Indian women. Rates for these population groups have changed relatively little since 1995; however, fertility has increased for Asian or Pacific Islander and Hispanic women. The birth rate for teen mothers continued to fall, dropping 5% from 2000 to 2001 to 45.9 births per 1000 females aged 15 to 19 years, another record low. The teen birth rate has fallen 26% since 1991; declines were more rapid (35%) for younger teens aged 15 to 17 years than for older teens aged 18 to 19 years (20%). The proportion of all births to unmarried women remained about the same at one-third. Smoking during pregnancy continued to decline; smoking rates were highest among teen mothers. The use of timely prenatal care increased slightly to 83.4% in 2001. From 1990 to 2001, the use of timely prenatal care increased by 6% (to 88.5%) for non-Hispanic white women, by 23% (to 74.5%) for black women, and by 26% (to 75.7%) for Hispanic women. The number and rate of twin births continued to rise, but the triplet/+ birth rate declined for the second year in a row. For the first year in almost a decade, the preterm birth rate declined (to 11.6%); however, the low birth weight rate was unchanged at 7.6%. The total cesarean delivery rate jumped 7% from 2000 to 2001 to 24.4% of all births, the highest level reported since these data became available on birth certificates (1989). The primary cesarean rate rose 5%, whereas the rate of vaginal birth after a previous cesarean delivery tumbled 20%. In 2001, the provisional infant mortality rate was 6.9 per 1000 live births, the same as in 2000. Racial differences in infant mortality remain a major public health concern, with the rate for infants of black mothers 2.5 times those for infants of non-Hispanic white or Hispanic mothers. In 2000, 66% of all infant deaths occurred among the 7.6% of infants born low birth weight. Among all states, Maine and Massachusetts had the lowest infant mortality rates. The United States continues to rank poorly in international comparisons of infant mortality. The provisional death rate in 2001 was 8.7 deaths per 1000 population, the same as the 2000 final rate. In 2000, unintentional injuries and homicide remained the leading and second-leading causes of death for children 1 to 19 years of age, although the death rate for homicide decreased by 10% from 1999 to 2000. Among unintentional injuries to children, two-thirds were motor vehicle-related; among homicides, two-thirds were firearm-related

On the signature of tensile blobs in the scattering function of a stretched polymer

We present Monte Carlo data for a linear chain with excluded volume subjected to a uniform stretching. Simulation of long chains (up to 6000 beads) at high stretching allows us to observe the signature of tensile blobs as a crossover in the scaling behavior of the chain scattering function for wave vectors perpendicular to stretching. These results and corresponding ones in the stretching direction allow us to verify for the first time Pincus prediction on scaling inside blobs. Outside blobs, the scattering function is well described by the Debye function for a stretched ideal chain.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, to appear in Physical Review Letter

Using English Movie with Delay and Non Delay Subtitle to Improve Listening Skill

The aim of the study was to analyze and describe the process of improving students’ listeningskill for eleventh grade students of MAN 1 Majene, West Sulawesi Province through watchingEnglish movies. The subject of this research is XI Agama 2 Class that consisted of 16 students. Themethod used in this study is Classroom Action Research (CAR) which the writer workscollaboratively with the English teacher. The results in this study indicate that there wasimprovement of the students’ skill listening. Most of the students gradually gained good scores at theend of the cycle. The data were collected from a questionnaire, observation note of performance,pre-test and post-test. The study was conducted with cycle model through the steps of planning,conducting, observation, and reflection. The results of this study show a significant relationshipbetween students' learning by English movie with delay subtitle related to their listening skills as shown in their improvement of post-test and positive responses of students than English moviewith not delay. The questionnaire shows that more than 75% students felt easy to understandlistening materials from native speakers. Consequently, it was suggested that teaching learningprocess using English movie with English subtitle is recommended into learning process toimprove students' listening skills in English language classroom. In conclusion, watching Englishmovie can improve students listening skill

Death in the United States, 2009

Arialdi M. Minin\u303o.Mortality in the United States is best summarized by the age-adjusted death rate--a measure that accounts for changes in the age distribution of the population. This rate has declined in an almost uninterrupted manner since 1960. The death rate is now 45 percent lower than in 1960 (declining from 1,339.2 per 100,000 standard population in 1960 to 741.0 in 2009). Although age-adjusted mortality has declined for all demographic groups over a period of many decades, long-standing gaps between black and white populations and between male and female populations have begun to narrow only since the mid-1990s. Many of the recent improvements in death rates and life expectancy for all population groups can be attributed to ongoing reductions in death rates from major causes of death, such as heart disease, cancer, stroke, and chronic lower respiratory diseases. The figures presented in this report are based on preliminary mortality data for 2009.Includes bibliographical references (p. 7-[8]).2214287

Mortality among teenagers aged 12-19 years: United States, 1999-2006

"Deaths to teenagers 12-19 years comprise a small fraction of the total deaths occurring each year in the United States. From 1999 to 2006 less than 1 percent (0.68 percent)--or 131,000 deaths--occurred to teenagers 12-19 years. This represents an average of 16,375 deaths per year for this group. Teenage mortality is an important public health issue because the majority of deaths among teenagers are caused by external causes of injury such as accidents, homicide, and suicide. These causes of death are, by definition, preventable. All material appearing in this report is in the public domain and may be reproduced or copied without permission; citation as to source, however, is appreciated." - p. 1Arialdi M. Minin\ucc\u192o.Caption title.Also available via the World Wide Web.Includes bibliographical references

Human Prion Diseases in the United States

BACKGROUND: Prion diseases are a family of rare, progressive, neurodegenerative disorders that affect humans and animals. The most common form of human prion disease, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD), occurs worldwide. Variant CJD (vCJD), a recently emerged human prion disease, is a zoonotic foodborne disorder that occurs almost exclusively in countries with outbreaks of bovine spongiform encephalopathy. This study describes the occurrence and epidemiology of CJD and vCJD in the United States. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Analysis of CJD and vCJD deaths using death certificates of US residents for 1979-2006, and those identified through other surveillance mechanisms during 1996-2008. Since CJD is invariably fatal and illness duration is usually less than one year, the CJD incidence is estimated as the death rate. During 1979 through 2006, an estimated 6,917 deaths with CJD as a cause of death were reported in the United States, an annual average of approximately 247 deaths (range 172-304 deaths). The average annual age-adjusted incidence for CJD was 0.97 per 1,000,000 persons. Most (61.8%) of the CJD deaths occurred among persons >or=65 years of age for an average annual incidence of 4.8 per 1,000,000 persons in this population. Most deaths were among whites (94.6%); the age-adjusted incidence for whites was 2.7 times higher than that for blacks (1.04 and 0.40, respectively). Three patients who died since 2004 were reported with vCJD; epidemiologic evidence indicated that their infection was acquired outside of the United States. CONCLUSION/SIGNIFICANCE: Surveillance continues to show an annual CJD incidence rate of about 1 case per 1,000,000 persons and marked differences in CJD rates by age and race in the United States. Ongoing surveillance remains important for monitoring the stability of the CJD incidence rates, and detecting occurrences of vCJD and possibly other novel prion diseases in the United States