What are the living conditions and health status of those who don't report their migration status? a population-based study in Chile

BACKGROUND: Undocumented immigrants are likely to be missing from population databases, making it impossible to identify an accurate sampling frame in migration research. No population-based data has been collected in Chile regarding the living conditions and health status of undocumented immigrants. However, the CASEN survey (Caracterizacion Socio- Economica Nacional) asked about migration status in Chile for the first time in 2006 and provides an opportunity to set the base for future analysis of available migration data. We explored the living conditions and health of self-reported immigrants and respondents who preferred not to report their migration status in this survey. METHODS: Cross-sectional secondary analysis of CASEN survey in Chile in 2006. Outcomes: any disability, illness/accident, hospitalization/surgery, cancer/chronic condition (all binary variables); and the number of medical/emergency attentions received (count variables). Covariates: Demographics (age, sex, marital status, urban/rural, ethnicity), socioeconomic status (education level, employment status and household income), and material standard of living (overcrowding, sanitation, housing quality). Weighted regression models were estimated for each health outcome, crude and adjusted by sets of covariates, in STATA 10.0. RESULTS: About 1% of the total sample reported being immigrants and 0.7% preferred not to report their migration status (Migration Status - Missing Values; MS-MV). The MS-MV lived in more deprived conditions and reported a higher rate of health problems than immigrants. Some gender differences were observed by health status among immigrants and the MS-MV but they were not statistically significant. Regressions indicated that age, sex, SES and material factors consistently affected MS-MVs’ chance of presenting poor health and these patterns were different to those found among immigrants. Great heterogeneity in both the MS-MV and the immigrants, as indicated by wide confidence intervals, prevented the identification of other significantly associated covariates. CONCLUSION: This is the first study to look at the living conditions and health of those that preferred not to respond their migration status in Chile. Respondents that do not report their migration status are vulnerable to poor health and may represent undocumented immigrants. Surveys that fail to identify these people are likely to misrepresent the experiences of immigrants and further quantitative and qualitative research is urgently required

Meditation-based interventions for family caregivers of people with dementia: a review of the empirical literature

Objectives: Providing care for a family member with dementia is associated with increased risk of adverse mental health sequelae. Recently, interventions utilising meditation-based techniques have been developed with the aim of reducing psychological distress among dementia caregivers. The present review aimed to critically evaluate the extant empirical literature in order to determine: (1) whether meditation-based interventions can reduce depression among dementia caregivers and (2) whether meditation-based interventions can reduce subjective burden among dementia caregivers. Method: After adhering to inclusion and exclusion criteria, a total of eight studies were included in the present review. Methodological quality was assessed using one of two scales dependent on study design. Results: The results provide tentative evidence that meditation-based interventions do indeed improve levels of depression and burden in family dementia caregivers. Conclusions: The review highlighted the strengths and weakness of the studies’ methodological designs. Whilst this novel review offers evidence in support of meditation-based interventions to improve the psychological distress of family dementia caregivers, future research should direct efforts to conduct larger scale, more rigorous studies. Clinical implications of the findings are also discussed

Obesity and survival in operable breast cancer patients treated with adjuvant anthracyclines and taxanes according to pathological subtypes: a pooled analysis

IntroductionObesity is an unfavorable prognostic factor in breast cancer (BC) patients regardless of menopausal status and treatment received. However, the association between obesity and survival outcome by pathological subtype requires further clarification.MethodsWe performed a retrospective analysis including 5,683 operable BC patients enrolled in four randomized clinical trials (GEICAM/9906, GEICAM/9805, GEICAM/2003–02, and BCIRG 001) evaluating anthracyclines and taxanes as adjuvant treatments. Our primary aim was to assess the prognostic effect of body mass index (BMI) on disease recurrence, breast cancer mortality (BCM), and overall mortality (OM). A secondary aim was to detect differences of such prognostic effects by subtype.ResultsMultivariate survival analyses adjusting for age, tumor size, nodal status, menopausal status, surgery type, histological grade, hormone receptor status, human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) status, chemotherapy regimen, and under-treatment showed that obese patients (BMI 30.0 to 34.9) had similar prognoses to that of patients with a BMI < 25 (reference group) in terms of recurrence (Hazard Ratio [HR] = 1.08, 95% Confidence Interval [CI] = 0.90 to 1.30), BCM (HR = 1.02, 0.81 to 1.29), and OM (HR = 0.97, 0.78 to 1.19). Patients with severe obesity (BMI ≥ 35) had a significantly increased risk of recurrence (HR = 1.26, 1.00 to 1.59, P = 0.048), BCM (HR = 1.32, 1.00 to 1.74, P = 0.050), and OM (HR = 1.35, 1.06 to 1.71, P = 0.016) compared to our reference group. The prognostic effect of severe obesity did not vary by subtype.ConclusionsSeverely obese patients treated with anthracyclines and taxanes present a worse prognosis regarding recurrence, BCM, and OM than patients with BMI < 25. The magnitude of the harmful effect of BMI on survival-related outcomes was similar across subtypes

Management and valorisation of wastes through use in producing alkali-activated cement materials

There is a growing global interest in maximising the re-use and recycling of waste, to minimise the environmental impacts associated with waste treatment and disposal. Use of high-volume wastes in the production of blended or novel cements (including alkali-activated cements) is well known as a key pathway by which these wastes can be re-used. This paper presents a critical overview of the urban, agricultural, mining and industrial wastes that have been identified as potential precursors for the production of alkali-activated cement materials, or that can be effectively stabilised/solidified via alkali activation, to assure their safe disposal. The central aim of this review is to elucidate the potential advantages and pitfalls associated with the application of alkali-activation technology to a wide variety of wastes that have been claimed to be suitable for the production of construction materials. A brief overview of the generation and characteristics of each waste is reported, accompanied by identification of opportunities for the use of alkali-activation technology for their valorisation and/or management

Type 2 diabetes mellitus and heart failure: a position statement from the Heart Failure Association of the European Society of Cardiology.

The coexistence of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and heart failure (HF), either with reduced (HFrEF) or preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF), is frequent (30-40% of patients) and associated with a higher risk of HF hospitalization, all-cause and cardiovascular (CV) mortality. The most important causes of HF in T2DM are coronary artery disease, arterial hypertension and a direct detrimental effect of T2DM on the myocardium. T2DM is often unrecognized in HF patients, and vice versa, which emphasizes the importance of an active search for both disorders in the clinical practice. There are no specific limitations to HF treatment in T2DM. Subanalyses of trials addressing HF treatment in the general population have shown that all HF therapies are similarly effective regardless of T2DM. Concerning T2DM treatment in HF patients, most guidelines currently recommend metformin as the first-line choice. Sulphonylureas and insulin have been the traditional second- and third-line therapies although their safety in HF is equivocal. Neither glucagon-like preptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonists, nor dipeptidyl peptidase-4 (DPP4) inhibitors reduce the risk for HF hospitalization. Indeed, a DPP4 inhibitor, saxagliptin, has been associated with a higher risk of HF hospitalization. Thiazolidinediones (pioglitazone and rosiglitazone) are contraindicated in patients with (or at risk of) HF. In recent trials, sodium-glucose co-transporter-2 (SGLT2) inhibitors, empagliflozin and canagliflozin, have both shown a significant reduction in HF hospitalization in patients with established CV disease or at risk of CV disease. Several ongoing trials should provide an insight into the effectiveness of SGLT2 inhibitors in patients with HFrEF and HFpEF in the absence of T2DM

Protonation state of the bridging Ligand in the resting state of cytochrome c oxidase: investigations of synthetic Heme/Copper models

Inspiration for our research stems from biological redox processes performed by metalloenzymes. Heme-containing enzymes are able to perform oxidation and reduction reactions, such as in cytochrome P450 and cytochrome c oxidase (CcO). The focus of the work presented in this thesis is on the resting state of the active site of CcO. The active site of CcO consists of an iron porphyrin (heme a3) and copper site (CuB) which perform the four electron, four proton reduction of dioxygen to generate two water molecules. The resting state at this active site contains a bridging oxygen-based ligand and is an intriguing example of a heme-containing oxygen-bridged assembly. We begin with a holistic review of the literature available on these complexes and provide a classification of all ??–(hydr)oxo heme complexes (Chapter I). The exact nature and protonation state of the oxygen-based bridging ligand of the resting state of CcO is not yet known and can have significant implications for its catalytic performance. Therefore, here, we utilize synthetic models to elucidate fundamental aspects of the acid-base chemistry, formation, correlation to structure, electronic-structure, and reactivity. For pKa measurements of our heme/copper ??–hydroxo complexes, we first prepare a series of weak acids, in the form of protonated nitrogen bases (Chapter II), to then use in titration experiments with our heme/copper ??–oxo complexes (Chapter III). Chapter I contains an overview of all published oxo- or hydroxo-bridged heme complexes. They are divided into three categories which are those with two identical metal sites and porphyrin ligands (homobinuclear homoleptic complexes), those with two identical metal centers and varying ligand environments (homobinuclear heteroleptic complexes) and those with two different metal centers and ligands (heterobinuclear heteroleptic complexes). A range of investigations have been performed on these (hydr)oxo-bridged heme constructs for the important roles that they play in many life processes or their different applications in catalysis and preparation of new functional materials. We compiled structural features from crystal structures to gain a better understanding of how modifications in the metal site or ligand environment result in remarkable changes in the reactivity of synthetic ??–(hydr)oxo complexes. Their use in other applications such as materials science and environmental sciences are also discussed. Chapter II describes the preparation and characterization of the protonated nitrogen bases, or weak acids, later used for titration experiments; these can be classified as alkyl ammoniums, pyridiniums, or anilinium. The anion used with the protonated nitrogen bases is the tetrakis(pentafluorophenyl)borate complex as it increases the solubility of complexes in non-aqueous solvents such as dichloromethane, tetrahydrofuran and toluene. Strikingly, the 1H-NMR spectra of all of these weak acids highlight a distinguished triplet splitting pattern for the coupling of the acidic proton to the quadrupolar 14N nuclei (I = 1). The results point to the relatively slow spin-lattice relaxation of the 14N nucleus in these systems which permits the observation of spin-spin coupling between the 14N and bound 1H nuclei. The proton chemical shifts and 14N-1H coupling constants (1JNH) of the acidic protons also correlate well with the known pKa values and hybridization of the nitrogen site in the respective protonated species. Chapter III details the pKa measurements for two heme/copper ??–hydroxo complexes as well as UV-vis and NMR studies of three heme/copper ??–hydroxo complexes. These were obtained through titration experiments with the protonated nitrogen bases described in Chapter II. While previous reports on the pKa of heme/copper ??–hydroxo complexes provided a range of values for each complex, we are able to provide a pKa value in a non-aqueous solvent for our heme/copper complexes that can be converted to an aqueous pKa value. This will be useful for future comparisons of the structural features of the enzyme and synthetic complexes, and how those correlate to a change in basicity of the bridging oxo moiety. [This abstract has been edited to remove characters that will not display in this system. Please see the PDF for the full abstract.]]]> 2021 Proton transfer reactions Cytochrome oxidase Nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy Acid-base chemistry English http://libres.uncg.edu/ir/uncg/f/Carrasco_uncg_0154M_13263.pdf oai:libres.uncg.edu/35655 2021-06-28T16:07:21Z UNCG Loblolly pine traumatic resin ducts serve as a proxy for cool-season storm events at Nags Head, North Carolina, USA Catherwood, Avery A. NC DOCKS at The University of North Carolina at Greensboro <![CDATA[I present a method for identifying and recording cool-season weather events along northern coastal North Carolina, USA using the frequency of traumatic resin ducts (TRDs) formation in loblolly pine (Pinus taeda L.) earlywood tree samples that occur in response to stressful events. Based on a sample of 48 cores collected at Nags Head Woods Ecological Preserve during summer 2020, I tested the viability that the occurrence TRDs in the earlywood was caused by the occurrence of late-season tropical cyclones, mid-latitude windstorms including Nor’easters, and snow and ice storms, thus served as a proxy for extreme weather during 1950–2019. The stabilized frequency of earlywood TRD formations was significantly (p &lt; 0.001) related to years that had at least one documented cool-season weather event. The average number of TRDs in a non-storm year during mid-October–May is 2.80 while the average for a storm year is 3.75. Further, I found that there was no age-related bias to storm-event detection, suggesting the viability of using TRD frequency to record cool-season storms at locations where old-growth loblolly forests exist along coastal North Carolina. This method may be used to reconstruct the occurrence of cool-season weather events beyond historical records in areas where old-growth loblolly pine trees exist

Development of a Numerical Simulation Tool for Continuously Reinforced Concrete Pavements

DTRT13-G-UTC36The accurate modeling of the main features of continuously-reinforced concrete pavements (CRCP) is of primary importance in a mechanistic-empirical pavement design procedure. The use of the finite element (FE) method as a comprehensive tool for modeling the responses of rigid pavements, CRCP in particular, has been limited because of the complexity of calculations in modeling material nonlinear behaviors, which are difficult to describe mathematically and computationally. Significant amount of research has been conducted to improve the design of CRCPs under traffic, environmental, and thermal loads. To develop a reliable model that better represents the behavior of CRCP, a clear understanding of the design features that impact CRCP responses is essential. Researchers from the University of Texas at El Paso developed NYSLAB to analyze the response of comprehensively jointed concrete pavements (JCPs) under different geometric configurations, foundation models, temperature gradient profiles and traffic loads. This tool has the capability to analyze pavements under nonlinear thermal profiles across the thickness of the slab and capture the frictional tractions between the slab and foundation. All the complications related to appropriate discretization and modeling are handled internally by the software. This research study aims to expand the capacity of NYSLAB by integrating a CRCP model that is capable of predicting the responses of a critical section within a CRCP pavement structure subjected to traffic and environmental loading conditions. Unlike JCPs, CRCPs use reinforcing steel rather than contraction joints for crack control. Therefore, the development of a new FE model that defines the complex interaction between the reinforcement steel and concrete as well as the slab-foundation interaction due to friction and temperature changes will be implemented into the proposed tool

Initial validation of the general attitudes towards Artificial Intelligence Scale

Author Accepted Manuscript with Appendix A (Sources of News Stories) and Appendix B (General Attitudes Towards Artificial Intelligence Scale, with instructions and scoring). For data files, please follow the DOI https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chbr.2020.100014 to the publisher's site. This article is available Open Access via the Publisher's site: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2451958820300142A new General Attitudes towards Artificial Intelligence Scale (GAAIS) was developed. The scale underwent initial statistical validation via Exploratory Factor Analysis, which identified positive and negative subscales. Both subscales captured emotions in line with their valence. In addition, the positive subscale reflected societal and personal utility, whereas the negative subscale reflected concerns. The scale showed good psychometric indices and convergent and discriminant validity against existing measures. To cross-validate general attitudes with attitudes towards specific instances of AI applications, summaries of tasks accomplished by specific applications of Artificial Intelligence were sourced from newspaper articles. These were rated for comfortableness and perceived capability. Comfortableness with specific applications was a strong predictor of general attitudes as measured by the GAAIS, but perceived capability was a weaker predictor. Participants viewed AI applications involving big data (e.g. astronomy, law, pharmacology) positively, but viewed applications for tasks involving human judgement, (e.g. medical treatment, psychological counselling) negatively. Applications with a strong ethical dimension led to stronger discomfort than their rated capabilities would predict. The survey data suggested that people held mixed views of AI. The initially validated two-factor GAAIS to measure General Attitudes towards Artificial Intelligence is included in the Appendix