A South Asian disadvantage? Differences in occupational pension membership in the UK

The UK state pension system offers a state pension that is relatively low, and as a result, occupational pensions have been a key aspect of pension protection for employees to ‘top up’ their income in later life. Previous research reported that individuals from South Indian groups (Indian, Pakistani and Bangladeshi) are less likely to contribute to occupational pensions than White British individuals due to the interaction of their labour market participation and pension membership patterns, meaning they are less likely to receive income from pensions and more likely to face poverty in later life. This study uses individual data from the first wave of Understanding Society and investigates patterns of employment and the determinants of membership in an employer’s pension scheme among working-age individuals from minority ethnic groups and the White British population. The analysis focuses specifically on patterns of occupational pension membership for individuals from the three South Indian groups compared to White British individuals and those from other ethnic groups. This paper is based on Vlachantoni, A. et al (2015) ‘Ethnicity and occupational pension membership in the UK’, Social Policy and Administration. Article first published online: 14 APR 2015, DOI: 10.1111/spol.1213

Two decades on: the continuing health disadvantage of South Asian elders

In a landmark study, Evandrou (2000) highlighted the existence of significant differences in health status between ethnic elders in the UK, with the greatest health disadvantage being experienced by older people of South Asian heritage (Indian, Pakistani and Bangladeshi). In the wake of the McPherson Report and the Acheson Inquiry (Acheson, 1998), in the closing moments of the twentieth century, the Government reaffirmed the priority of tackling ethnic inequalities in health, putting a renewed focus on the social determinants of health (DH, 1999). This report draws upon recently available survey data in order to update Evandrou’s earlier analysis to investigate the progress that has been made since then

Changes in living arrangements and mortality among older people in China

Living arrangements in later life are dynamic, with changes associated with life events such as widowhood or moves into an institution. Previous research has found particular changes in living arrangements to be associated with an elevated risk of mortality. However, research in this area within the context of China is limited, despite China being home to the world’s largest population of older people. This study investigates the impact of changes in living arrangements on older persons’ survival using the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey from 2002 to 2011. The original sample was 16,064 in 2002, and this study includes 6,191 individuals who survived in 2005 and had complete information of track record in later waves. Living arrangements are examined between 2002 and 2005. Cox-proportional hazards models are then used to investigate the association between the dynamics of living arrangements and respondents’ survival status in 2008 and in 2011/12. Men and women who lived in an institution in both 2002 and 2005, or who moved into an institution from living with family faced a greater risk of dying compared to those continuing to live with family. By contrast, continuing to live with family or alone, or moving between living with family and living alone, were not associated with an increased mortality risk, although there were some differences by gender. The institutional care sector in China is still in its infancy, with provision based on ability to pay market fees rather than need associated with age-related function impairment. The finding that living in, or moving into, an institution is associated with a high mortality risk therefore requires further investigation in the context of a rapidly changing Chinese society

Social trust, interpersonal trust and self-rated health in China: a multi-level study

Background: Trust is important for health at both the individual and societal level. Previous research using Western concepts of trust has shown that a high level of trust in society can positively affect individuals’ health; however, it has been found that the concepts and culture of trust in China are different from those in Western countries and research on the relationship between trust and health in China is scarce. Method: The analyses use data from the national scale China General Social Survey (CGSS) on adults aged above 18 in 2005 and 2010. Two concepts of trust (“out-group” and “in-group” trust) are used to examine the relationship between trust and self-rated health in China. Multilevel logistical models are applied, examining the trust at the individual and societal level on individuals’ self-rated health.Results: In terms of interpersonal trust, both “out-group” and “in-group” trust are positively associated with good health in 2005 and 2010. At the societal level, the relationships between the two concepts of trust and health are different. In 2005, higher “out-group” social trust (derived from trust in strangers) is associated with better health; however, higher “in-group” social trust (derived from trust in most people) is associated with poor health in 2010. The cross-level interactions show that lower educated individuals (no education or only primary level), rural residents and those on lower incomes are the most affected groups in societies with higher “out-group” social trust; whereas people with lower levels of educational attainment, a lower income, and those who think that most people can be trusted are the most affected groups in societies with higher “in-group” social trust.Conclusion: High levels of interpersonal trust are of benefit to health. Higher “out-group” social trust is associated with better health; while higher “in-group” social trust is associated with poor health. Individuals with different levels of educational attainment are affected by trust differently

Ethnic differentials in health: the additional effect of ethnic density

It is well established that there are differentials in health among individuals of different Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) heritage. BME communities are unevenly concentrated across England and Wales. This paper examines the effect of residential density of one’s own ethnic group on physical health outcomes in England and Wales. In addition, it explores whether the effects of ethnic density on physical health outcomes are concealed by area deprivation, and whether individual economic deprivation and area deprivation play a role in this relationship. Data on BME and White British individuals from the first wave of the UK Household Longitudinal Study (Understanding Society) are linked with ethnic density characteristics from the 2011 UK Census and with the Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD) from the 2010 English and Welsh Governments. Multilevel logistic regression is then employed in the analysis. The results show that individuals from BME groups who live in areas with a high density of their own ethnic group are more likely to report poor health, but these effects are mediated by both individual economic deprivation and area deprivation. The results highlight that facilitating the improvement of economic and social conditions for individuals in deprived areas could help to reduce the negative differentials in health outcomes experienced by individuals from BME communities

The Prospects for Immigration Amendments

Obg proteins are a family of P-loop GTPases, conserved from bacteria to human. The Obg protein in Escherichia coli (ObgE) has been implicated in many diverse cellular functions, with proposed molecular roles in two global processes, ribosome assembly and stringent response. Here, using pre-steady state fast kinetics we demonstrate that ObgE is an anti-association factor, which prevents ribosomal subunit association and downstream steps in translation by binding to the 50S subunit. ObgE is a ribosome dependent GTPase; however, upon binding to guanosine tetraphosphate (ppGpp), the global regulator of stringent response, ObgE exhibits an enhanced interaction with the 50S subunit, resulting in increased equilibrium dissociation of the 70S ribosome into subunits. Furthermore, our cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) structure of the 50S? ObgE? GMPPNP complex indicates that the evolutionarily conserved N-terminal domain (NTD) of ObgE is a tRNA structural mimic, with specific interactions with peptidyl-transferase center, displaying a marked resemblance to Class I release factors. These structural data might define ObgE as a specialized translation factor related to stress responses, and provide a framework towards future elucidation of functional interplay between ObgE and ribosome-associated (p) ppGpp regulators. Together with published data, our results suggest that ObgE might act as a checkpoint in final stages of the 50S subunit assembly under normal growth conditions. And more importantly, ObgE, as a (p) ppGpp effector, might also have a regulatory role in the production of the 50S subunit and its participation in translation under certain stressed conditions. Thus, our findings might have uncovered an under-recognized mechanism of translation control by environmental cues

Comparative genomic analyses of Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae pathogenic 168 strain and its high-passaged attenuated strain

Background: Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae is the causative agent of porcine enzootic pneumonia (EP), a mild, chronic pneumonia of swine. Despite presenting with low direct mortality, EP is responsible for major economic losses in the pig industry. To identify the virulence-associated determinants of M. hyopneumoniae, we determined the whole genome sequence of M. hyopneumoniae strain 168 and its attenuated high-passage strain 168-L and carried out comparative genomic analyses. Results: We performed the first comprehensive analysis of M. hyopneumoniae strain 168 and its attenuated strain and made a preliminary survey of coding sequences (CDSs) that may be related to virulence. The 168-L genome has a highly similar gene content and order to that of 168, but is 4,483 bp smaller because there are 60 insertions and 43 deletions in 168-L. Besides these indels, 227 single nucleotide variations (SNVs) were identified. We further investigated the variants that affected CDSs, and compared them to reported virulence determinants. Notably, almost all of the reported virulence determinants are included in these variants affected CDSs. In addition to variations previously described in mycoplasma adhesins (P97, P102, P146, P159, P216, and LppT), cell envelope proteins (P95), cell surface antigens (P36), secreted proteins and chaperone protein (DnaK), mutations in genes related to metabolism and growth may also contribute to the attenuated virulence in 168-L. Furthermore, many mutations were located in the previously described repeat motif, which may be of primary importance for virulence. Conclusions: We studied the virulence attenuation mechanism of M. hyopneumoniae by comparative genomic analysis of virulent strain 168 and its attenuated high-passage strain 168-L. Our findings provide a preliminary survey of CDSs that may be related to virulence. While these include reported virulence-related genes, other novel virulence determinants were also detected. This new information will form the foundation of future investigations into the pathogenesis of M. hyopneumoniae and facilitate the design of new vaccines

Theoretical study of single transition metal atom catalysts supported on two-dimensional Nb2NO2 for efficient electrochemical CO2 reduction to CH4

The design of highly efficient catalysts for electrochemical reduction CO2 (ECR) to value-add chemicals and fuels is important for CO2 conversion technologies. In this work, earth abundant transition metal (TM = V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co and Ni) atoms embedded into two-dimensional (2D) Nb2NO2 (TM@Nb2NO2) as single-atom catalysts (SACs) for ECR was investigated by first-principles study. We demonstrated that Nb2NO2 can be an excellent substrate for anchoring single TM atom due to its excellent stability and electronic conductivity. Besides, V, Cr and Ni@Nb2NO2 could effectively promote CO2 adsorption and reduction. All TM@Nb2NO2 exhibit high selectivity towards CH4, and V, Cr and Ni@Nb2NO2 show low limiting potentials. The activity origin was revealed by analysing adsorption energy, d band centre, bonding/antibonding population and the change of valence state of TM atoms.publishedVersio

Research on Dynamic Modeling and Application of Kinetic Contact Interface in Machine Tool

A method is presented which is a kind of combining theoretic analysis and experiment to obtain the equivalent dynamic parameters of linear guideway through four steps in detail. From statics analysis, vibration model analysis, dynamic experiment, and parameter identification, the dynamic modeling of linear guideway is synthetically studied. Based on contact mechanics and elastic mechanics, the mathematic vibration model and the expressions of basic mode frequency are deduced. Then, equivalent stiffness and damping of guideway are obtained in virtue of single-freedom-degree mode fitting method. Moreover, the investigation above is applied in a certain gantry-type machining center; and through comparing with simulation model and experiment results, both availability and correctness are validated