Rates of intentionally caused and road crash deaths of US citizens abroad.

Science.gov (United States)

Sherry, Melissa K; Mossallam, Mahmoud; Mulligan, Matthew; Hyder, Adnan A; Bishai, David

2015-04-01

Currently, little is known about rates of death by cause and country among US travellers. Understanding the risk by cause and country is imperative to risk communication and the development of risk reduction strategies. Publicly available data on non-natural deaths of US citizens abroad were gathered from January 2003 to December 2009 from the US Department of State's Department Bureau of Consular Affairs. Traveller information was gathered from the US Department of Commerce Office of Travel and Tourism for the same time period. Rates of death were calculated by dividing the number of non-natural deaths of US citizens abroad by the number of US outbound visits for each country. A total of 5417 non-natural death events were retrieved between 2003 and 2009 from the US State Department. Intentionally caused death rates ranged from 21.44 per 1 000 000 visits in the Philippines to 0 per 1 000 000 visits in several countries; the majority of countries had fewer than five intentionally caused deaths per 1 000 000 visits. Rates of road traffic crashes were higher than rates of intentionally caused deaths in almost every instance. Thailand had the highest rate of deaths due to road traffic crashes (16.49 per 1 000 000), followed by Vietnam, Morocco and South Africa (15.12 per 1 000 000, 11.96 per 1 000 000 and 10.90 per 1 000 000, respectively). Motorcycle deaths account for most of the heightened risk observed in Thailand and Vietnam. The leading cause of non-natural deaths in US travellers abroad was road crashes, which exceeds intentional injury as the leading cause of non-natural deaths in almost every country where US citizens travel. Southeast Asia had the highest unintentional injury death rates for US citizens abroad due to the high rates of deaths from motorcycle crashes. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://group.bmj.com/group/rights-licensing/permissions.

Estimating Benefits of Past, Current, and Future Reductions in Smoking Rates Using a Comprehensive Model With Competing Causes of Death

OpenAIRE

van Meijgaard, Jeroen; Fielding, Jonathan E.

2012-01-01

Introduction Despite years of declining smoking prevalence, tobacco use is still the leading preventable contributor to illness and death in the United States, and the effect of past tobacco-use control efforts has not fully translated into improvements in health outcomes. The objective of this study was to use a life course model with multiple competing causes of death to elucidate the ongoing benefits of tobacco-use control efforts on US death rates. Methods We used a continuous-time life c...

Trends in Continuous Deep Sedation until Death between 2007 and 2013: A Repeated Nationwide Survey

Science.gov (United States)

Cohen, Joachim; Rietjens, Judith

2016-01-01

Background Continuous deep sedation until death is a highly debated medical practice, particularly regarding its potential to hasten death and its proper use in end-of-life care. A thorough analysis of important trends in this practice is needed to identify potentially problematic developments. This study aims to examine trends in the prevalence and practice characteristics of continuous deep sedation until death in Flanders, Belgium between 2007 and 2013, and to study variation on physicians’ degree of palliative training. Methods Population-based death certificate study in 2007 and 2013 in Flanders, Belgium. Reporting physicians received questionnaires about medical practices preceding the patient’s death. Patient characteristics, clinical characteristics (drugs used, duration, artificial nutrition/hydration, intention and consent), and palliative care training of attending physician were recorded. We posed the following question regarding continuous deep sedation: ‘Was the patient continuously and deeply sedated or kept in a coma until death by the use of one or more drugs’. Results After the initial rise of continuous deep sedation to 14.5% in 2007 (95%CI 13.1%-15.9%), its use decreased to 12.0% in 2013 (95%CI 10.9%-13.2%). Compared with 2007, in 2013 opioids were less often used as sole drug and the decision to use continuous deep sedation was more often preceded by patient request. Compared to non-experts, palliative care experts more often used benzodiazepines and less often opioids, withheld artificial nutrition/hydration more often and performed sedation more often after a request from or with the consent of the patient or family. Conclusion Worldwide, this study is the first to show a decrease in the prevalence of continuous deep sedation. Despite positive changes in performance and decision-making towards more compliance with due care requirements, there is still room for improvement in the use of recommended drugs and in the involvement of

Trends in Continuous Deep Sedation until Death between 2007 and 2013: A Repeated Nationwide Survey.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lenzo Robijn

Full Text Available Continuous deep sedation until death is a highly debated medical practice, particularly regarding its potential to hasten death and its proper use in end-of-life care. A thorough analysis of important trends in this practice is needed to identify potentially problematic developments. This study aims to examine trends in the prevalence and practice characteristics of continuous deep sedation until death in Flanders, Belgium between 2007 and 2013, and to study variation on physicians' degree of palliative training.Population-based death certificate study in 2007 and 2013 in Flanders, Belgium. Reporting physicians received questionnaires about medical practices preceding the patient's death. Patient characteristics, clinical characteristics (drugs used, duration, artificial nutrition/hydration, intention and consent, and palliative care training of attending physician were recorded. We posed the following question regarding continuous deep sedation: 'Was the patient continuously and deeply sedated or kept in a coma until death by the use of one or more drugs'.After the initial rise of continuous deep sedation to 14.5% in 2007 (95%CI 13.1%-15.9%, its use decreased to 12.0% in 2013 (95%CI 10.9%-13.2%. Compared with 2007, in 2013 opioids were less often used as sole drug and the decision to use continuous deep sedation was more often preceded by patient request. Compared to non-experts, palliative care experts more often used benzodiazepines and less often opioids, withheld artificial nutrition/hydration more often and performed sedation more often after a request from or with the consent of the patient or family.Worldwide, this study is the first to show a decrease in the prevalence of continuous deep sedation. Despite positive changes in performance and decision-making towards more compliance with due care requirements, there is still room for improvement in the use of recommended drugs and in the involvement of patients and relatives in the

Continuous palliative sedation until death: practice after introduction of the Dutch national guideline.

Science.gov (United States)

Swart, Siebe J; van der Heide, Agnes; Brinkkemper, Tijn; van Zuylen, Lia; Perez, Roberto; Rietjens, Judith

2012-09-01

In 2005, a national palliative guideline was launched in The Netherlands. The authors describe the practice of continuous palliative sedation until death (CPS) after the introduction of this guideline. In 2008, a random sample of physicians (n=1580) were asked to fill out a questionnaire regarding the last patient in whom they had provided CPS until death. The response was 38%. In all, 82% of the respondents were aware of the existence of the national guideline. Dyspnoea, pain and physical exhaustion were most often mentioned as decisive indications for continuous sedation. The decision to use sedation was discussed with all competent patients, but in 18% this merely involved informing the patient. Life expectancy at the start of continuous sedation was estimated to be less than 2 weeks in 97% of the cases. In 14%, the physicians had felt pressure to start the sedation, predominantly from patients and relatives. Physicians were present at the start of the sedation in 81% of the cases. Midazolam was used to induce the sedation in 92%. Overall, 41% of the physicians estimated that continuous sedation had hastened death to some extent. Most physicians thought that patients' complaints were adequately relieved by continuous sedation, that relatives were satisfied and that a good quality of dying was achieved. Continuous palliative sedation practice in The Netherlands largely reflects the recommendations from the national guideline. Issues needing further attention are the pressure felt by physicians to start continuous sedation and the potential life-shortening effect as mentioned by the physicians.

Death Rates in the Calorie Model

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Martin Machay

2016-01-01

Full Text Available The Calorie model unifies the Classical demand and the supply in the food market. Hence, solves the major problem of Classical stationary state. It is, hence, formalization of the Classical theory of population. The model does not reflect the imperfections of reality mentioned by Malthus himself. It is the aim of this brief paper to relax some of the strong assumptions of the Calorie model to make it more realistic. As the results show the political economists were correct. The death resulting from malnutrition can occur way sooner than the stationary state itself. Moreover, progressive and retrograde movements can be easily described by the death rate derived in the paper. JEL Classification: J11, Q11, Q15, Q21, Y90.

Bridging the Gap Between Continuous Sedation Until Death and Physician-Assisted Death: A Focus Group Study in Nursing Homes in Flanders, Belgium

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Rys, S.; Deschepper, R.; Mortier, F.; Deliens, L.; Bilsen, J.

2015-01-01

The distinction between continuous sedation until death (CSD) and physician-assisted death (PAD) has become a topic of medical ethical debate. We conducted 6 focus groups to examine how nursing home clinicians perceive this distinction. For some, the difference is clear whereas others consider CSD a

Contesting the Equivalency of Continuous Sedation until Death and Physician-assisted Suicide/Euthanasia: A Commentary on LiPuma.

Science.gov (United States)

Raho, Joseph A; Miccinesi, Guido

2015-10-01

Patients who are imminently dying sometimes experience symptoms refractory to traditional palliative interventions, and in rare cases, continuous sedation is offered. Samuel H. LiPuma, in a recent article in this Journal, argues that continuous sedation until death is equivalent to physician-assisted suicide/euthanasia based on a higher brain neocortical definition of death. We contest his position that continuous sedation involves killing and offer four objections to the equivalency thesis. First, sedation practices are proportional in a way that physician-assisted suicide/euthanasia is not. Second, continuous sedation may not entirely abolish consciousness. Third, LiPuma's particular version of higher brain neocortical death relies on an implausibly weak construal of irreversibility--a position that is especially problematic in the case of continuous sedation. Finally, we explain why continuous sedation until death is not functionally equivalent to neocortical death and, hence, physician-assisted suicide/euthanasia. Concluding remarks review the differences between these two end-of-life practices. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press, on behalf of the Journal of Medicine and Philosophy Inc. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Premature death rates diverge in the United States

Science.gov (United States)

An NCI press release on a study that shows premature death rates have declined in the United States among Hispanics, blacks, and Asian/Pacific Islanders but increased among whites and American Indian/Alaska Natives.

Representations for the rate of convergence of birth-death processes

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van Doorn, Erik A.

2002-01-01

We display some representations for the rate of convergence of a birth-death process, which are useful for obtaining upper and lower bounds. The expressions are brought to light by exploiting the spectral representation for the transition probabilities of a birth-death process and results from the

Representations for the rate of convergence of birth-death processes

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van Doorn, Erik A.

2001-01-01

We display some representations for the rate of convergence of a birth-death process, which are useful for obtaining upper and lower bounds. The expressions are brought to light by exploiting the spectral representation for the transition probabilities of a birth-death process and results from the

Disability Rating, Age at Death, and Cause of Death in U.S. Veterans with Service-Connected Conditions.

Science.gov (United States)

Maynard, Charles; Trivedi, Ranak; Nelson, Karin; Fihn, Stephan D

2018-03-26

The association between disability and cause of death in Veterans with service-connected disabilities has not been studied. The objective of this study was to compare age at death, military service and disability characteristics, including disability rating, and cause of death by year of birth. We also examined cause of death for specific service-connected conditions. This study used information from the VETSNET file, which is a snapshot of selected items from the Veterans Benefits Administration corporate database. We also used the National Death Index (NDI) for Veterans which is part of the VA Suicide Data Repository. In VETSNET, there were 758,324 Veterans who had a service-connected condition and died between the years 2004 and 2014. Using the scrambled social security number to link the two files resulted in 605,493 (80%) deceased Veterans. Age at death, sex, and underlying cause of death were obtained from the NDI for Veterans and military service characteristics and types of disability were acquired from VETSNET. We constructed age categories corresponding to period of service; birth years 1938 and earlier corresponded to Korea and World War II ("oldest"), birth years 1939-1957 to the Vietnam era ("middle"), and birth years 1958 and later to post Vietnam, Gulf War, and the more recent conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan ("youngest"). Sixty-two percent were in the oldest age category, 34% in the middle group, and 4% in the youngest one. The overall age at death was 75 ± 13 yr. Only 1.6% of decedents were women; among women 25% were in the youngest age group, while among men only 4% were in the youngest group. Most decedents were enlisted personnel, and 60% served in the U.S. Army. Nearly 61% had a disability rating of >50% and for the middle age group 54% had a disability rating of 100%. The most common service-connected conditions were tinnitus, hearing loss, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). In the oldest group, nearly half of deaths were due to

Nonlinear fluctuations-induced rate equations for linear birth-death processes

Science.gov (United States)

Honkonen, J.

2008-05-01

The Fock-space approach to the solution of master equations for one-step Markov processes is reconsidered. It is shown that in birth-death processes with an absorbing state at the bottom of the occupation-number spectrum and occupation-number independent annihilation probability of occupation-number fluctuations give rise to rate equations drastically different from the polynomial form typical of birth-death processes. The fluctuation-induced rate equations with the characteristic exponential terms are derived for Mikhailov’s ecological model and Lanchester’s model of modern warfare.

Nonlinear fluctuation-induced rate equations for linear birth-death processes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Honkonen, J.

2008-01-01

The Fock-space approach to the solution of master equations for the one-step Markov processes is reconsidered. It is shown that in birth-death processes with an absorbing state at the bottom of the occupation-number spectrum and occupation-number independent annihilation probability occupation-number fluctuations give rise to rate equations drastically different from the polynomial form typical of birth-death processes. The fluctuation-induced rate equations with the characteristic exponential terms are derived for Mikhailov's ecological model and Lanchester's model of modern warfare

Justifying continuous sedation until death: A focus group study in nursing homes in Flanders, Belgium

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Rys, S.; Deschepper, R.; Deliens, L.; Mortier, F.; Bilsen, J.

2013-01-01

Continuous Sedation until Death (CSD), the act of reducing or removing the consciousness of an incurably ill patient until death, has become a common practice in nursing homes in Flanders (Belgium). Quantitative research has suggested that CSD is not always properly applied. This qualitative study

QuickStats: Age-Adjusted Death Rates* for Top Five Causes of Cancer Death,(†) by Race/Hispanic Ethnicity - United States, 2014.

Science.gov (United States)

2016-09-16

In 2014, the top five causes of cancer deaths for the total population were lung, colorectal, female breast, pancreatic, and prostate cancer. The non-Hispanic black population had the highest age-adjusted death rates for each of these five cancers, followed by non-Hispanic white and Hispanic groups. The age-adjusted death rate for lung cancer, the leading cause of cancer death in all groups, was 42.1 per 100,000 standard population for the total population, 45.4 for non-Hispanic white, 45.7 for non-Hispanic black, and 18.3 for Hispanic populations.

Lung cancer death rates among nonsmokers and pipe and cigarette smokers

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Stocks, P; Campbell, J M

1955-01-01

This report discusses a two-year comparison of deaths from lung cancer with environmental histories, including smoking and pollution character of residence, of British men aged 45 to 74. In rural areas, lung cancer increases almost linearly with smoking, the increment being 1 death per 1000 for each 13 cigarettes. Pipe smoking is about 1/3 as hazardous as cigarette-smoking. In mixed rural-urban areas, rates in light and moderate smokers were higher than rural but not so with pipe or heavy smokers. There was a higher death rate in every group in urban area, but rate of mortality increase with increasing cigarette exposure was greater for those living in rural areas. Urban/rural ratio was about 9 for nonsmokers decreasing to almost 1 for heavy smokers. Smoking contributes 1/2 of lung cancer in urban area; urban factor contributes 3/8 (absolute excess in every group). Benzopyrene concentration of urban area was 8 to 11 times that of rural areas and gradient corresponds to urban/rural ratio for nonsmokers. Benzopyrene/death correlation was good if assumed combined intake is considered.

Childhood death rates declined in Sweden from 2000 to 2014 but deaths from external causes were not always investigated.

Science.gov (United States)

Otterman, Gabriel; Lahne, Klara; Arkema, Elizabeth V; Lucas, Steven; Janson, Staffan; Hellström-Westas, Lena

2018-03-08

Countries that conduct systematic child death reviews report a high proportion of modifiable characteristics among deaths from external causes, and this study examined the trends in Sweden. We analysed individual-level data on external, ill-defined and unknown causes from the Swedish cause of death register from 2000 to 2014, and mortality rates were estimated for children under the age of one and for those aged 1-14 and 15-17 years. Child deaths from all causes were 7914, and 2006 (25%) were from external, ill-defined and unknown causes: 610 (30%) were infants, 692 (34%) were 1-14 and 704 (35%) were 15-17. The annual average was 134 cases (range 99-156) during the study period. Mortality rates from external, ill-defined and unknown causes in children under 18 fell 19%, from 7.4 to 6.0 per 100 000 population. A sizeable number of infant deaths (8.0%) were registered without a death certificate during the study period, but these counts were lower in children aged 1-14 (1.3%) and 15-17 (0.9%). Childhood deaths showed a sustained decline from 2000 to 2014 in Sweden and a quarter were from external, ill-defined or unknown causes. Systematic, interagency death reviews could yield information that could prevent future deaths. ©2018 Foundation Acta Paediatrica. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Death and population dynamics affect mutation rate estimates and evolvability under stress in bacteria.

Science.gov (United States)

Frenoy, Antoine; Bonhoeffer, Sebastian

2018-05-01

The stress-induced mutagenesis hypothesis postulates that in response to stress, bacteria increase their genome-wide mutation rate, in turn increasing the chances that a descendant is able to better withstand the stress. This has implications for antibiotic treatment: exposure to subinhibitory doses of antibiotics has been reported to increase bacterial mutation rates and thus probably the rate at which resistance mutations appear and lead to treatment failure. More generally, the hypothesis posits that stress increases evolvability (the ability of a population to generate adaptive genetic diversity) and thus accelerates evolution. Measuring mutation rates under stress, however, is problematic, because existing methods assume there is no death. Yet subinhibitory stress levels may induce a substantial death rate. Death events need to be compensated by extra replication to reach a given population size, thus providing more opportunities to acquire mutations. We show that ignoring death leads to a systematic overestimation of mutation rates under stress. We developed a system based on plasmid segregation that allows us to measure death and division rates simultaneously in bacterial populations. Using this system, we found that a substantial death rate occurs at the tested subinhibitory concentrations previously reported to increase mutation rate. Taking this death rate into account lowers and sometimes removes the signal for stress-induced mutagenesis. Moreover, even when antibiotics increase mutation rate, we show that subinhibitory treatments do not increase genetic diversity and evolvability, again because of effects of the antibiotics on population dynamics. We conclude that antibiotic-induced mutagenesis is overestimated because of death and that understanding evolvability under stress requires accounting for the effects of stress on population dynamics as much as on mutation rate. Our goal here is dual: we show that population dynamics and, in particular, the

Effect of continuous exposure to very low dose rates of gamma rays on life span and neoplasia in mice

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tanaka, I.B. III; Tanaka, Satoshi; Ichinohe, Kazuaki; Matsumoto, Tsuneya; Otsu, Hiroshi; Oghiso, Yoichi; Sato, Fumiaki; Matsushita, Satoru

2008-01-01

Late effects of continuous exposure to ionizing radiation are potential hazards to workers in radiation facilities as well as to the general public. In the recent years, low-dose-rate and low-dose effects have become a serious concern. Using a total of 4,000 mice, we studied the late biological effects of chronic exposure to low-dose-rate radiation on life span and neoplasia. Two thousand male and 2000 female 8-week-old specific pathogen free (SPF) B6C3F1 mice were randomly divided into 4 groups, one non-irradiated (control) and three irradiated. The irradiated groups were exposed to 137 Cs gamma rays at dose-rates of 21, 1.1 and 0.05 mGy day -1 for approximately 400 days with total doses equivalent to 8000, 400 and 20 mGy, respectively. All mice were kept under SPF conditions until natural death and pathological examination was performed to determine the cause of death. Statistical analyses showed that the life spans of mice of both sexes irradiated with 21 mGy day -1 (P -1 (P 86.7% of all deaths. Compared to the non-irradiated controls, incidences of lethal neoplasms were significantly increased for myeloid leukaemia and hemangiosarcoma in males, soft tissue neoplasms and malignant granulosa cell tumors in females exposed to 21 mGy day -1 . The number of multiple primary neoplasms per mouse was significantly increased in mice irradiated at 21 mGy day -1 . Our results suggest that life shortening in mice continuously exposed to low dose-rate gamma rays is due to early death from a variety of neoplasms and not from increased incidence of specific lethal neoplasms. (author)

Relationship of dose rate and total dose to responses of continuously irradiated beagles

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fritz, T.E.; Norris, W.P.; Tolle, D.V.; Seed, T.M.; Poole, C.M.; Lombard, L.S.; Doyle, D.E.

1978-01-01

Young-adult beagles were exposed continuously (22 hours/day) to 60 Co γ rays in a specially constructed facility. The exposure rates were either 5, 10, 17, or 35 R/day, and the exposures were terminated at either 600, 1400, 2000, or 4000 R. A total of 354 dogs were irradiated; 221 are still alive as long-term survivors, some after more than 2000 days. The data on survival of these dogs, coupled with data from similar preliminary experiments, allow an estimate of the LD 50 for γ-ray exposures given at a number of exposure rates. They also allow comparison of the relative importance of dose rate and total dose, and the interaction of these two variables, in the early and late effects after protracted irradiation. The LD 50 for the beagle increases from 258 rad delivered at 15 R/minute to approximately 3000 rad at 10 R/day. Over this entire range, the LD 50 is dependent upon hematopoietic damage. At 5 R/day and less, no meaningful LD 50 can be determined; there is nearly normal continued hematopoietic function, survival is prolonged, and the dogs manifest varied individual responses in other organ systems. Although the experiment is not complete, interim data allow several important conclusions. Terminated exposures, while not as effective as radiation continued until death, can produce myelogenous leukemia at the same exposure rate, 10 R/day. More importantly, at the same total accumulated dose, lower exposure rates are more damaging than higher rates on the basis of the rate and degree of hematological recovery that occurs after termination of irradiation. Thus, the rate of hematologic depression, the nadir of the depression, and the rate of recovery are dependent upon exposure rate; the latter is inversely related and the former two are directly related to exposure rate

Relationship of dose rate and total dose to responses of continuously irradiated beagles

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fritz, T.E.; Norris, W.P.; Tolle, D.V.; Seed, T.M.; Poole, C.M.; Lombard, L.S.; Doyle, D.E.

1978-01-01

Young-adult beagles were exposed continuously (22 hours/day) to 60 Co gamma rays in a specially constructed facility. The exposure rates were 5, 19, 17 or 35 R/day, and the exposures were terminated at 600, 1400, 2000 or 4000 R. A total of 354 dogs were irradiated; 221 are still alive as long-term survivors, some after more than 2000 days. The data on survival of these dogs, coupled with data from similar preliminary experiments, allow an estimate of the LD 50 for gamma-ray exposures given at a number of exposure rates. They also allow comparison of the relativeimportance of dose rate and total dose, and the interaction of these two variables, in the early and late effects after protracted irradiation. The LD 50 for the beagle increases from 344 R (258 rads) delivered at 15 R/minute to approximately 4000 R (approximately 3000 rads) at 10 R/day. Over this entire range, the LD 50 is dependent upon haematopoietic damage. At 5 R/day and less, no definitive LD 50 can be determined; there is nearly normal continued haematopoietic function, survival is prolonged, and the dogs manifest varied individual responses in the organ systems. Although the experiment is not complete, interim data allow serveral important conclusions. Terminated exposures, while not as effective as irradiation continued until death, can produce myelogenous leukaemia at the same exposure rate, 10 R/day. More importantly, at the same total accumulated dose, lower exposure rates appear more damaging than higher rates on the basis of the rate and degree of haematological recovery that occurs after termination of irradiation. Thus, the rate of haematologic depression, the nadir of the depression and the rate of recovery are dependent upon exposure rate; the latter is inversely related and the first two are directly related to exposure rate. ( author)

US County-Level Trends in Mortality Rates for Major Causes of Death, 1980-2014.

Science.gov (United States)

Dwyer-Lindgren, Laura; Bertozzi-Villa, Amelia; Stubbs, Rebecca W; Morozoff, Chloe; Kutz, Michael J; Huynh, Chantal; Barber, Ryan M; Shackelford, Katya A; Mackenbach, Johan P; van Lenthe, Frank J; Flaxman, Abraham D; Naghavi, Mohsen; Mokdad, Ali H; Murray, Christopher J L

2016-12-13

County-level patterns in mortality rates by cause have not been systematically described but are potentially useful for public health officials, clinicians, and researchers seeking to improve health and reduce geographic disparities. To demonstrate the use of a novel method for county-level estimation and to estimate annual mortality rates by US county for 21 mutually exclusive causes of death from 1980 through 2014. Redistribution methods for garbage codes (implausible or insufficiently specific cause of death codes) and small area estimation methods (statistical methods for estimating rates in small subpopulations) were applied to death registration data from the National Vital Statistics System to estimate annual county-level mortality rates for 21 causes of death. These estimates were raked (scaled along multiple dimensions) to ensure consistency between causes and with existing national-level estimates. Geographic patterns in the age-standardized mortality rates in 2014 and in the change in the age-standardized mortality rates between 1980 and 2014 for the 10 highest-burden causes were determined. County of residence. Cause-specific age-standardized mortality rates. A total of 80 412 524 deaths were recorded from January 1, 1980, through December 31, 2014, in the United States. Of these, 19.4 million deaths were assigned garbage codes. Mortality rates were analyzed for 3110 counties or groups of counties. Large between-county disparities were evident for every cause, with the gap in age-standardized mortality rates between counties in the 90th and 10th percentiles varying from 14.0 deaths per 100 000 population (cirrhosis and chronic liver diseases) to 147.0 deaths per 100 000 population (cardiovascular diseases). Geographic regions with elevated mortality rates differed among causes: for example, cardiovascular disease mortality tended to be highest along the southern half of the Mississippi River, while mortality rates from self-harm and

Continuous sedation until death: moral justifications of physicians and nurses-a content analysis of opinion pieces

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Rys, S.; Mortier, F.; Deliens, L.; Deschepper, R.; Battin, M.P.; Bilsen, J.

2013-01-01

Continuous sedation until death (CSD), the act of reducing or removing the consciousness of an incurably ill patient until death, often provokes medical-ethical discussions in the opinion sections of medical and nursing journals. A content analysis of opinion pieces in medical and nursing literature

International comparisons of preterm birth: higher rates of late preterm birth are associated with lower rates of stillbirth and neonatal death.

Science.gov (United States)

Lisonkova, S; Sabr, Y; Butler, B; Joseph, K S

2012-12-01

To examine international rates of preterm birth and potential associations with stillbirths and neonatal deaths at late preterm and term gestation. Ecological study. Canada, USA and 26 countries in Europe. All deliveries in 2004. Information on preterm birth (Statistics Canada, the EURO-PERISTAT project and the National Center for Health Statistics. Pearson correlation coefficients and random-intercept Poisson regression were used to examine the association between preterm birth rates and gestational age-specific stillbirth and neonatal death rates. Rate ratios with 95% confidence intervals were estimated after adjustment for maternal age, parity and multiple births. Stillbirths and neonatal deaths ≥ 32 and ≥ 37 weeks of gestation. International rates of preterm birth (births. Preterm birth rates at 32-36 weeks were inversely associated with stillbirths at ≥ 32 weeks (adjusted rate ratio 0.94, 95% CI 0.92-0.96) and ≥ 37 weeks (adjusted rate ratio 0.88, 95% CI 0.85-0.91) of gestation and inversely associated with neonatal deaths at ≥ 32 weeks (adjusted rate ratio 0.88, 95% CI 0.85-0.91) and ≥ 37 weeks (adjusted rate ratio 0.82, 95% CI 0.78-0.86) of gestation. Countries with high rates of preterm birth at 32-36 weeks of gestation have lower stillbirth and neonatal death rates at and beyond 32 weeks of gestation. Contemporary rates of preterm birth are indicators of both perinatal health and obstetric care services. © 2012 The Authors BJOG An International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology © 2012 RCOG.

Rates of TBI-related Deaths by Age Group - United States, 2001 - 2010

Data.gov (United States)

U.S. Department of Health & Human Services — Changes in the rates of TBI-related deaths vary depending on age. For persons 44 years of age and younger, TBI-related deaths decreased between the periods of...

Trend and forecasting rate of cancer deaths at a public university hospital using univariate modeling

Science.gov (United States)

Ismail, A.; Hassan, Noor I.

2013-09-01

Cancer is one of the principal causes of death in Malaysia. This study was performed to determine the pattern of rate of cancer deaths at a public hospital in Malaysia over an 11 year period from year 2001 to 2011, to determine the best fitted model of forecasting the rate of cancer deaths using Univariate Modeling and to forecast the rates for the next two years (2012 to 2013). The medical records of the death of patients with cancer admitted at this Hospital over 11 year's period were reviewed, with a total of 663 cases. The cancers were classified according to 10th Revision International Classification of Diseases (ICD-10). Data collected include socio-demographic background of patients such as registration number, age, gender, ethnicity, ward and diagnosis. Data entry and analysis was accomplished using SPSS 19.0 and Minitab 16.0. The five Univariate Models used were Naïve with Trend Model, Average Percent Change Model (ACPM), Single Exponential Smoothing, Double Exponential Smoothing and Holt's Method. The overall 11 years rate of cancer deaths showed that at this hospital, Malay patients have the highest percentage (88.10%) compared to other ethnic groups with males (51.30%) higher than females. Lung and breast cancer have the most number of cancer deaths among gender. About 29.60% of the patients who died due to cancer were aged 61 years old and above. The best Univariate Model used for forecasting the rate of cancer deaths is Single Exponential Smoothing Technique with alpha of 0.10. The forecast for the rate of cancer deaths shows a horizontally or flat value. The forecasted mortality trend remains at 6.84% from January 2012 to December 2013. All the government and private sectors and non-governmental organizations need to highlight issues on cancer especially lung and breast cancers to the public through campaigns using mass media, media electronics, posters and pamphlets in the attempt to decrease the rate of cancer deaths in Malaysia.

AN AUDIT OF MATERNAL DEATHS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Basavana Gowda

2015-03-01

Full Text Available OBJECTIVES: A study of maternal death conducted to evaluate various factors responsible for maternal deaths. To identify complications in pregnancy, a childbirth which result in maternal death, and to identify opportunities for preventive intervention and understand the events leading to death; so that improving maternal health and reducing maternal mortality rate significantly. To analyze the causes and epidemiological amounts maternal mortality e.g. age parity, socioeconomic status and literacy. In order to reduce maternal mortality and to implement safe motherhood program and complications of pregnancy and to find out safe motherhood program. METHODS: The data collected was a retrograde by a proforma containing particulars of the diseased, detailed history and relatives were interviewed for additional information. The data collected was analysed. RESULTS: Maternal mortality rate in our own institution is 200/ 100,000 live births. Among 30 maternal deaths, 56% deaths (17 were among low socio - economic status, groups 60% deaths among unbooked 53.5% deaths more along illiterates evidenced by direct and indirect deaths about 25% of deaths were preventable. CONCLUSION: Maternal death is a great tragedy in the family life. It is crusade to know not just the medical cause of the death but the circumstances what makes these continued tragic death even more unacceptable is that deaths are largely preventable

Continuous Deep Sedation Until Death in Nursing Home Residents with Dementia: A Case Series

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Anquinet, L.; Rietjens, J.A.C.; Vandervoort, A.; van der Steen, J.T.; van der Stichele, R.; Deliens, L.; Block, L.

2013-01-01

Objectives To describe the characteristics of continuous deep sedation until death and the prior decision-making process of nursing home residents dying with dementia and to evaluate this practice according to features reflecting sedation guideline recommendations. Design Epidemiological

System care improves trauma outcome: patient care errors dominate reduced preventable death rate.

Science.gov (United States)

Thoburn, E; Norris, P; Flores, R; Goode, S; Rodriguez, E; Adams, V; Campbell, S; Albrink, M; Rosemurgy, A

1993-01-01

A review of 452 trauma deaths in Hillsborough County, Florida, in 1984 documented that 23% of non-CNS trauma deaths were preventable and occurred because of inadequate resuscitation or delay in proper surgical care. In late 1988 Hillsborough County organized a County Trauma Agency (HCTA) to coordinate trauma care among prehospital providers and state-designated trauma centers. The purpose of this study was to review county trauma deaths after the inception of the HCTA to determine the frequency of preventable deaths. 504 trauma deaths occurring between October 1989 and April 1991 were reviewed. Through committee review, 10 deaths were deemed preventable; 2 occurred outside the trauma system. Of the 10 deaths, 5 preventable deaths occurred late in severely injured patients. The preventable death rate has decreased to 7.0% with system care. The causes of preventable deaths have changed from delayed or inadequate intervention to postoperative care errors.

Bridging the gap between continuous sedation until death and physician-assisted death: a focus group study in nursing homes in Flanders, Belgium.

Science.gov (United States)

Rys, Sam; Deschepper, Reginald; Mortier, Freddy; Deliens, Luc; Bilsen, Johan

2015-06-01

The distinction between continuous sedation until death (CSD) and physician-assisted death (PAD) has become a topic of medical ethical debate. We conducted 6 focus groups to examine how nursing home clinicians perceive this distinction. For some, the difference is clear whereas others consider CSD a form of euthanasia. Another group situates CSD between pain relief and ending life. Arguments for these perspectives refer to the following themes: intention, dosage of sedative drugs, unconsciousness, and the pace of the dying process. Generally, CSD is considered emotionally easier to deal with since it entails a gradual dying process. Nursing home clinicians have diverging perceptions of the relation between CSD and PAD; some consider CSD to be more than a purely palliative measure, that is, also as a means to hasten death. © The Author(s) 2014.

The fall in the rate of death from heart diseases

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bemski, G.

1983-01-01

A self limiting interaction between heart disease producing factors and genetic factors is postulated. Such an interaction could be responsable for the fall in rate of death from ischemic disease observed in the United States. (Author) [pt

Radiation-induced inheritable changes in the death-rate of cells

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bychkovskaya, I.B.; Ochinskaya, G.K.

1980-01-01

By the use of an original technique (regeneration of individual lines from sister cells) it was demonstrated on various individually cultivated protozoa (Amoeba proteus, Paramecium caudatum and Climacostomum virens) that even weak direct and indirect radiation effects can induce an appreciable increase in the death-rate of descendants. After a certain dose threshold, the effect did not depend on the power of the attack and remained at the same level for as long as 3 years. The observed changes were qualitatively different from known types of inheritable changes leading to cell death

Impact of socioeconomic deprivation on rate and cause of death in severe mental illness.

Science.gov (United States)

Martin, Julie Langan; McLean, Gary; Park, John; Martin, Daniel J; Connolly, Moira; Mercer, Stewart W; Smith, Daniel J

2014-09-12

Socioeconomic status has important associations with disease-specific mortality in the general population. Although individuals with Severe Mental Illnesses (SMI) experience significant premature mortality, the relationship between socioeconomic status and mortality in this group remains under investigated. We aimed to assess the impact of socioeconomic status on rate and cause of death in individuals with SMI (schizophrenia and bipolar disorder) relative to the local (Glasgow) and wider (Scottish) populations. Cause and age of death during 2006-2010 inclusive for individuals with schizophrenia or bipolar disorder registered on the Glasgow Psychosis Clinical Information System (PsyCIS) were obtained by linkage to the Scottish General Register Office (GRO). Rate and cause of death by socioeconomic status, measured by Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD), were compared to the Glasgow and Scottish populations. Death rates were higher in people with SMI across all socioeconomic quintiles compared to the Glasgow and Scottish populations, and persisted when suicide was excluded. Differences were largest in the most deprived quintile (794.6 per 10,000 population vs. 274.7 and 252.4 for Glasgow and Scotland respectively). Cause of death varied by socioeconomic status. For those living in the most deprived quintile, higher drug-related deaths occurred in those with SMI compared to local Glasgow and wider Scottish population rates (12.3% vs. 5.9%, p = socioeconomic quintiles compared to the Glasgow and Scottish populations but was most marked in the most deprived quintiles when suicide was excluded as a cause of death. Further work assessing the impact of socioeconomic status on specific causes of premature mortality in SMI is needed.

Why is the death rate from lung cancer falling in the Russian Federation?

Science.gov (United States)

Shkolnikov, V; McKee, M; Leon, D; Chenet, L

1999-03-01

Age standardised death rates (European standard population) from lung cancer in the Russian Federation, have been rising since at least 1965, levelled out in the late 1980s and have subsequently decreased. The reasons for this decline are not apparent. This study seeks to identify the reasons for the decline in mortality from lung cancer in the Russian Federation in the 1990s. Changes in age-specific mortality from lung cancer in the Russian Federation between 1990 are described and age-cohort analysis, based on age-specific death rates for lung cancer is undertaken for the period 1965 to 1995. As other work has shown that any recent deterioration in coding of cause of death has been confined largely to the elderly, this suggests that the trend is not a coding artefact. Age-period-cohort analysis demonstrates the existence of a marked birth cohort effect, with two major peaks corresponding to those born around 1926 and 1938. These groups would have reached their early teens during the second world war and the period immediately after the death of Stalin, respectively. The present downward trend in death rates from lung cancer in the Russian Federation is partly due to a cohort effect and it is expected that this will soon reverse, with a second peak occurring in about 2003.

The practice of continuous sedation until death in nursing homes in Flanders, Belgium: a nationwide study.

Science.gov (United States)

Rys, Sam; Mortier, Freddy; Deliens, Luc; Bilsen, Johan

2014-10-01

To investigate how continuous sedation until death (CSD), the reduction or removal of consciousness of an incurably ill individual until death to relieve refractory suffering, is practiced in nursing homes. Nationwide cross-sectional retrospective survey. Nursing homes in Flanders, Belgium. Palliative care nurses (N = 660) in all nursing homes in Flanders. Nurse reports of their most recent patient treated with CSD. The response rate was 65.5%, and 249 nurses reported a case of CSD (57.6%). Most individuals had cancer (33.6%) or dementia (32.8%); lacked competence (65.7%); and had severe pain (71.2%), fatigue (62.3%), loss of dignity (59%), anxiety (58.4%), and longing for death (58.4%). Intractable pain (70.7%) and physical exhaustion (63.9%) were the most decisive symptoms for initiating CSD. Life expectancy was generally limited to 1 week (64.9%), and 88.4% had insufficient nutritional oral intake before the start of CSD. CSD was rarely combined with artificial nutrition or hydration. Benzodiazepines were most frequently used (84.8%). Overall, according to the reporting nurses, CSD provided adequate symptom relief and good quality of dying. In nursing homes, CSD is typically used in residents with cancer or dementia and severe, intractable physical symptoms. Lack of competence prevents most residents from being involved in the decision-making process, which illustrates the importance of advance care planning in nursing homes in Flanders. © 2014, Copyright the Authors Journal compilation © 2014, The American Geriatrics Society.

General birth-death processes: probabilities, inference, and applications

OpenAIRE

Crawford, Forrest Wrenn

2012-01-01

A birth-death process is a continuous-time Markov chain that counts the number of particles in a system over time. Each particle can give birth to another particle or die, and the rate of births and deaths at any given time depends on how many extant particles there are. Birth-death processes are popular modeling tools in evolution, population biology, genetics, epidemiology, and ecology. Despite the widespread interest in birth-death models, no efficient method exists to evaluate the fini...

G2 arrest and apoptosis of cultured Raji cells by continuous low dose rate beta irradiation therapy with 188Re-perrhenate

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yim, S. J.; Kim, E. H.; Lee, T. S.; Woo, K. S.; Jeong, W. S.; Choi, C. W.; Yim, S. M.

2001-01-01

Beta emitting radionuclide therapy gives exponentially decreasing radiation dose rate and results in cell death presumably by apoptosis. We observed changes in DNA content and apoptosis in relatively low dose rate beta irradiation. Raji cells were cultured and incubated with 188Re-perrhenate (3.7MBq, or 370MBq/ml) for 4 hours to give irradiation dose of 0.4, 4, or 40 Gy. After changing the culture media, cells were cultured for 2,4,8,16, and 24 hours. The cells were stained with Trypan blue, Annexin-V and Propidium Iodide (PI) to observe cell viability, cell membrane alternation by apoptosis and changes in DNA content respectively. Flowcytometry was done for Annexin-V and PI to quantitate apoptosis and necrosis in the irradiated cells. DAPI(4,6-diamidino-2-phenylindole) stain was also done to observe the damage in the nucleus. Cell viability decreased with an increasing radiation dose. Cells irradiated in 40 Gy showed early uptake of both Annexin-V and PI suggesting cell death by necrosis. Cells irradiated in 0.4 Gy showed delayed uptake of Annexin-V only, and later on PI uptake suggesting cell death mainly by apoptosis. The cells irradiated in 0.4 Gy showed G2 arrest in 16 hours after irradiation, but the cells irradiated in 40 Gy showed early DNA fragmentation within 2 hours after irradiation. In DAPI stain, early nucleus damage was observed in the cells irradiated in 40 Gy. On the other hand, slowly increasing apoptotic bodies were observed in the cells irradiated in 0.4 Gy. These results suggest that continuous low-dose irradiation induces G2 arrest and progressive apoptosis in cells while continuous high-dose irradiation induces rapid necrosis. Therefore, we expect therapeutic effect by continuous low-dose rate irradiation with beta emitting radiopharmaceuticals

Characteristics of visiting nurse agencies with high home death rates: A prefecture-wide study in Japan.

Science.gov (United States)

Kashiwagi, Masayo; Tamiya, Nanako; Murata, Masako

2015-08-01

The purpose of the present study was to identify characteristics of visiting nurse agencies (VNA) in Japan with high home death rates by a prefecture-wide survey. A cross-sectional study of visiting nurse agencies (n = 101) in Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan, was completed. Data included the basic characteristics of each VNA, the type of services provided, level of coordination with other service providers, total number of VNA patients who died per year and place of death and contractual relationship with home-care supporting clinics providing end-of-life care services in the home 24 h a day. The VNA characteristics were analyzed by logistic regression, using the home death rate per VNA as a dependent variable. A total 69 agencies, excluding those that did not report number of deaths (n = 14) and those without deaths during the year (n = 6), were analyzed. The median home death rate of the 69 VNA was 29.8%. The results of logistic regression analysis showed that higher home death rate was significantly associated with lack of attachment to a hospital, existence of a contractual relationship with home-care supporting clinics and existence of an interactive information exchange through telephone/face-to-face communication with attending physicians. In order to increase the home death rate of people using VNA, policymakers must consider establishing home-based service systems within the community that can provide home end-of-life care services 24 h a day, and support the interactive exchange of information between the visiting nurse and the attending physician. © 2014 The Authors. Geriatrics & Gerontology International published by Wiley Publishing Asia Pty Ltd on behalf of Japanese Geriatrics Society.

Surveillance for Violent Deaths - National Violent Death Reporting System, 17 States, 2013.

Science.gov (United States)

Lyons, Bridget H; Fowler, Katherine A; Jack, Shane P D; Betz, Carter J; Blair, Janet M

2016-08-19

health problem or a crisis during the previous or upcoming 2 weeks. Homicide rates were higher among males and persons aged 15-44 years; rates were highest among non-Hispanic black males. Homicides primarily were precipitated by arguments and interpersonal conflicts, occurrence in conjunction with another crime, or were related to intimate partner violence (particularly for females). A known relationship between a homicide victim and a suspected perpetrator was most likely either that of an acquaintance or friend or an intimate partner. Legal intervention death rates were highest among males and persons aged 20-24 years and 30-34 years; rates were highest among non-Hispanic black males. Precipitating factors for the majority of legal intervention deaths were another crime, a mental health problem, or a recent crisis. Deaths of undetermined intent occurred at the highest rates among males and persons aged guide suicide prevention efforts at workplaces. The continued development and expansion of NVDRS to include all U.S. states, territories, and the District of Columbia are essential to public health efforts to reduce the impact of violence.

Mathematical modelling of the death rate dynamics in mammals with intestinal form of radiation sicleness

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Smirnova, O.A.

1990-01-01

A mathematical models has been developed to describe the death rate dynamics in irradiated mammals. The model links statistical biometric functions with statistical and dynamic characteristics of the organism's 'critical' system. There is an agreement between the results of modelling and experiments with respect to death rate dynamics of small laboratory animals subjected to acute and chronic irradiation with doses and dose-rates at which small intestine epithelium is 'ctitical'

Demographic trade-offs in a neutral model explain death-rate--abundance-rank relationship.

Science.gov (United States)

Lin, Kui; Zhang, Da-Yong; He, Fangliang

2009-01-01

The neutral theory of biodiversity has been criticized for its neglect of species differences. Yet it is much less heeded that S. P. Hubbell's definition of neutrality allows species to differ in their birth and death rates as long as they have an equal per capita fitness. Using the lottery model of competition we find that fitness equalization through birth-death trade-offs can make species coexist longer than expected for demographically identical species, whereas the probability of monodominance for a species under zero-sum neutral dynamics is equal to its initial relative abundance. Furthermore, if newly arising species in a community survive preferentially they are more likely to slip through the quagmire of rareness, thus creating a strong selective bias favoring their community membership. On the other hand, high-mortality species, once having gained a footing in the community, are more likely to become abundant due to their compensatory high birth rates. This unexpected result explains why a positive association between species abundance and per capita death rate can be seen in tropical-forest communities. An explicit incorporation of interspecific trade-offs between birth and death into the neutral theory increases the theory's realism as well as its predictive power.

Critical role of poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase-1 in modulating the mode of cell death caused by continuous oxidative stress.

Science.gov (United States)

Son, Young-Ok; Kook, Sung-Ho; Jang, Yong-Suk; Shi, Xianglin; Lee, Jeong-Chae

2009-11-01

Continuously generated hydrogen peroxide (H(2)O(2)) inhibits typical apoptosis and instead initiates a caspase-independent, apoptosis-inducing factor (AIF)-mediated pyknotic cell death. This may be related to H(2)O(2)-mediated DNA damage and subsequent ATP depletion, although the exact mechanisms by which the mode of cell death is decided after H(2)O(2) exposure are still unclear. Accumulated evidence and our previous data led us to hypothesize that continuously generated H(2)O(2), not an H(2)O(2) bolus, induces severe DNA damage, signaling poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase-1 (PARP-1) activation, ATP depletion, and eventually caspase-independent cell death. Results from the present study support that H(2)O(2) generated continuously by glucose oxidase causes excessive DNA damage and PARP-1 activation. Blockage of PARP-1 by a siRNA transfection or by pharmacological inhibitor resulted in the significant inhibition of ATP depletion, loss of mitochondrial membrane potential, nuclear translocation of AIF and endonuclease G, and eventually conversion to caspase-dependent apoptosis. Overall, the current study demonstrates the different roles of PARP-1 inhibition in modulation of cell death according to the method of H(2)O(2) exposure, that is, continuous generation versus a direct addition. (c) 2009 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Long-term dynamics of death rates of emphysema, asthma, and pneumonia and improving air quality.

Science.gov (United States)

Kravchenko, Julia; Akushevich, Igor; Abernethy, Amy P; Holman, Sheila; Ross, William G; Lyerly, H Kim

2014-01-01

The respiratory tract is a major target of exposure to air pollutants, and respiratory diseases are associated with both short- and long-term exposures. We hypothesized that improved air quality in North Carolina was associated with reduced rates of death from respiratory diseases in local populations. We analyzed the trends of emphysema, asthma, and pneumonia mortality and changes of the levels of ozone, sulfur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), carbon monoxide (CO), and particulate matters (PM2.5 and PM10) using monthly data measurements from air-monitoring stations in North Carolina in 1993-2010. The log-linear model was used to evaluate associations between air-pollutant levels and age-adjusted death rates (per 100,000 of population) calculated for 5-year age-groups and for standard 2000 North Carolina population. The studied associations were adjusted by age group-specific smoking prevalence and seasonal fluctuations of disease-specific respiratory deaths. Decline in emphysema deaths was associated with decreasing levels of SO2 and CO in the air, decline in asthma deaths-with lower SO2, CO, and PM10 levels, and decline in pneumonia deaths-with lower levels of SO2. Sensitivity analyses were performed to study potential effects of the change from International Classification of Diseases (ICD)-9 to ICD-10 codes, the effects of air pollutants on mortality during summer and winter, the impact of approach when only the underlying causes of deaths were used, and when mortality and air-quality data were analyzed on the county level. In each case, the results of sensitivity analyses demonstrated stability. The importance of analysis of pneumonia as an underlying cause of death was also highlighted. Significant associations were observed between decreasing death rates of emphysema, asthma, and pneumonia and decreases in levels of ambient air pollutants in North Carolina.

Young, Black, and Sentenced To Die: Black Males and the Death Penalty.

Science.gov (United States)

Joseph, Janice

1996-01-01

Explores the death penalty as imposed on young black males in the United States and examines the disparity in death penalty rates for homicides with black offenders and white victims. States continue to impose the death penalty rather than viewing youth violence as a failure of the social system. (SLD)

Similarities and differences between continuous sedation until death and euthanasia - professional caregivers' attitudes and experiences: A focus group study

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Anquinet, L.; Raus, K.; Sterckx, S.; Smets, T.; Deliens, L.; Rietjens, J.A.C.

2013-01-01

Background: According to various guidelines about continuous sedation until death, this practice can and should be clearly distinguished from euthanasia, which is legalized in Belgium. Aim: To explore professional caregivers perceptions of the similarities and differences between continuous sedation

The involvement of cancer patients in the four stages of decision-making preceding continuous sedation until death: A qualitative study.

Science.gov (United States)

Robijn, Lenzo; Seymour, Jane; Deliens, Luc; Korfage, Ida; Brown, Jayne; Pype, Peter; Van Der Heide, Agnes; Chambaere, Kenneth; Rietjens, Judith

2018-04-01

Involving patients in decision-making is considered to be particularly appropriate towards the end of life. Professional guidelines emphasize that the decision to initiate continuous sedation should be made in accordance with the wishes of the dying person and be preceded by their consent. To describe the decision-making process preceding continuous sedation until death with particular attention to the involvement of the person who is dying. Qualitative case studies using interviews. Interviews with 26 physicians, 30 nurses and 24 relatives caring for 24 patients with cancer who received continuous sedation until death in Belgium, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands. We distinguished four stages of decision-making: initiation, information exchange, deliberation and the decision to start continuous sedation until death. There was wide variation in the role the patient had in the decision-making process. At one end of the spectrum (mostly in the United Kingdom), the physician discussed the possible use of sedation with the patient, but took the decision themselves. At the other end (mostly in Belgium and the Netherlands), the patient initiated the conversation and the physician's role was largely limited to evaluating if and when the medical criteria were met. Decision-making about continuous sedation until death goes through four stages and the involvement of the patient in the decision-making varies. Acknowledging the potential sensitivity of raising the issue of end-of-life sedation, we recommend building into clinical practice regular opportunities to discuss the goals and preferences of the person who is dying for their future medical treatment and care.

Impaired Driving Death Rate, by Age and Gender, 2012 & 2014, All States

Data.gov (United States)

U.S. Department of Health & Human Services — Rate of deaths by age/gender (per 100,000 population) for people killed in crashes involving a driver with BAC =>0.08%, 2012. 2012 Source: Fatality Analysis...

30 CFR 77.801-1 - Grounding resistors; continuous current rating.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... 30 Mineral Resources 1 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Grounding resistors; continuous current rating... OF UNDERGROUND COAL MINES Surface High-Voltage Distribution § 77.801-1 Grounding resistors; continuous current rating. The ground fault current rating of grounding resistors shall meet the “extended...

30 CFR 77.901-1 - Grounding resistor; continuous current rating.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... 30 Mineral Resources 1 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Grounding resistor; continuous current rating. 77.901-1 Section 77.901-1 Mineral Resources MINE SAFETY AND HEALTH ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF... resistor; continuous current rating. The ground fault current rating of grounding resistors shall meet the...

Thermal Death Kinetics of Conogethes Punctiferalis (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae) as Influenced by Heating Rate and Life Stage.

Science.gov (United States)

Hou, Lixia; Du, Yanli; Johnson, Judy A; Wang, Shaojin

2015-10-01

Thermal death kinetics of Conogethes punctiferalis (Guenée) (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae) at different life stages, heating rate, and temperature is essential for developing postharvest treatments to control pests in chestnuts. Using a heating block system (HBS), the most heat-tolerant life stage of C. punctiferalis and the effects of heating rate (0.1, 0.5, 1, 5, and 10°C/min) on insect mortality were determined. The thermal death kinetic data of fifth-instar C. punctiferalis were obtained at temperatures between 44 and 50°C at a heating rate of 5°C/min. The results showed that the relative heat tolerance of C. punctiferalis was found to be fifth instars>pupae> third instars> eggs. To avoid the enhanced thermal tolerance of C. punctiferalis at low heating rates (0.1 or 0.5°C/min), a high heating rate of 5°C/min was selected to simulate the fast radio frequency heating in chestnuts and further determine the thermal death kinetic data. Thermal death curves of C. punctiferalis followed a 0th-order kinetic reaction model. The minimum exposure time to achieve 100% mortality was 55, 12, 6, and 3 min at 44, 46, 48, and 50°C, respectively. The activation energy for controlling C. punctiferalis was 482.15 kJ/mol with the z value of 4.09°C obtained from the thermal death-time curve. The information provided by thermal death kinetics for C. punctiferalis is useful in developing effective postharvest thermal treatment protocols for disinfesting chestnuts. © The Authors 2015. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Entomological Society of America. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Transition probabilities for general birth-death processes with applications in ecology, genetics, and evolution

Science.gov (United States)

Crawford, Forrest W.; Suchard, Marc A.

2011-01-01

A birth-death process is a continuous-time Markov chain that counts the number of particles in a system over time. In the general process with n current particles, a new particle is born with instantaneous rate λn and a particle dies with instantaneous rate μn. Currently no robust and efficient method exists to evaluate the finite-time transition probabilities in a general birth-death process with arbitrary birth and death rates. In this paper, we first revisit the theory of continued fractions to obtain expressions for the Laplace transforms of these transition probabilities and make explicit an important derivation connecting transition probabilities and continued fractions. We then develop an efficient algorithm for computing these probabilities that analyzes the error associated with approximations in the method. We demonstrate that this error-controlled method agrees with known solutions and outperforms previous approaches to computing these probabilities. Finally, we apply our novel method to several important problems in ecology, evolution, and genetics. PMID:21984359

Long-term dynamics of death rates of emphysema, asthma, and pneumonia and improving air quality

Science.gov (United States)

Kravchenko, Julia; Akushevich, Igor; Abernethy, Amy P; Holman, Sheila; Ross, William G; Lyerly, H Kim

2014-01-01

Background The respiratory tract is a major target of exposure to air pollutants, and respiratory diseases are associated with both short- and long-term exposures. We hypothesized that improved air quality in North Carolina was associated with reduced rates of death from respiratory diseases in local populations. Materials and methods We analyzed the trends of emphysema, asthma, and pneumonia mortality and changes of the levels of ozone, sulfur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), carbon monoxide (CO), and particulate matters (PM2.5 and PM10) using monthly data measurements from air-monitoring stations in North Carolina in 1993–2010. The log-linear model was used to evaluate associations between air-pollutant levels and age-adjusted death rates (per 100,000 of population) calculated for 5-year age-groups and for standard 2000 North Carolina population. The studied associations were adjusted by age group-specific smoking prevalence and seasonal fluctuations of disease-specific respiratory deaths. Results Decline in emphysema deaths was associated with decreasing levels of SO2 and CO in the air, decline in asthma deaths–with lower SO2, CO, and PM10 levels, and decline in pneumonia deaths–with lower levels of SO2. Sensitivity analyses were performed to study potential effects of the change from International Classification of Diseases (ICD)-9 to ICD-10 codes, the effects of air pollutants on mortality during summer and winter, the impact of approach when only the underlying causes of deaths were used, and when mortality and air-quality data were analyzed on the county level. In each case, the results of sensitivity analyses demonstrated stability. The importance of analysis of pneumonia as an underlying cause of death was also highlighted. Conclusion Significant associations were observed between decreasing death rates of emphysema, asthma, and pneumonia and decreases in levels of ambient air pollutants in North Carolina. PMID:25018627

Childhood obesity, other cardiovascular risk factors, and premature death.

Science.gov (United States)

Franks, Paul W; Hanson, Robert L; Knowler, William C; Sievers, Maurice L; Bennett, Peter H; Looker, Helen C

2010-02-11

The effect of childhood risk factors for cardiovascular disease on adult mortality is poorly understood. In a cohort of 4857 American Indian children without diabetes (mean age, 11.3 years; 12,659 examinations) who were born between 1945 and 1984, we assessed whether body-mass index (BMI), glucose tolerance, and blood pressure and cholesterol levels predicted premature death. Risk factors were standardized according to sex and age. Proportional-hazards models were used to assess whether each risk factor was associated with time to death occurring before 55 years of age. Models were adjusted for baseline age, sex, birth cohort, and Pima or Tohono O'odham Indian heritage. There were 166 deaths from endogenous causes (3.4% of the cohort) during a median follow-up period of 23.9 years. Rates of death from endogenous causes among children in the highest quartile of BMI were more than double those among children in the lowest BMI quartile (incidence-rate ratio, 2.30; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.46 to 3.62). Rates of death from endogenous causes among children in the highest quartile of glucose intolerance were 73% higher than those among children in the lowest quartile (incidence-rate ratio, 1.73; 95% CI, 1.09 to 2.74). No significant associations were seen between rates of death from endogenous or external causes and childhood cholesterol levels or systolic or diastolic blood-pressure levels on a continuous scale, although childhood hypertension was significantly associated with premature death from endogenous causes (incidence-rate ratio, 1.57; 95% CI, 1.10 to 2.24). Obesity, glucose intolerance, and hypertension in childhood were strongly associated with increased rates of premature death from endogenous causes in this population. In contrast, childhood hypercholesterolemia was not a major predictor of premature death from endogenous causes. 2010 Massachusetts Medical Society

Malaria model with periodic mosquito birth and death rates.

Science.gov (United States)

Dembele, Bassidy; Friedman, Avner; Yakubu, Abdul-Aziz

2009-07-01

In this paper, we introduce a model of malaria, a disease that involves a complex life cycle of parasites, requiring both human and mosquito hosts. The novelty of the model is the introduction of periodic coefficients into the system of one-dimensional equations, which account for the seasonal variations (wet and dry seasons) in the mosquito birth and death rates. We define a basic reproduction number R(0) that depends on the periodic coefficients and prove that if R(0)1 then the disease is endemic and may even be periodic.

Fluid queues driven by a birth and death process with alternating flow rates

OpenAIRE

P. R. Parthasarathy; K. V. Vijayashree; R. B. Lenin

2004-01-01

Fluid queue driven by a birth and death process (BDP) with only one negative effective input rate has been considered in the literature. As an alternative, here we consider a fluid queue in which the input is characterized by a BDP with alternating positive and negative flow rates on a finite state space. Also, the BDP has two alternating arrival rates and two alternating service rates. Explicit expression for the distribution function of the buffer occupancy is obtained. The case where the s...

Motor Vehicle Occupant Death Rate, by Age and Gender, 2012 & 2014, All States

Data.gov (United States)

U.S. Department of Health & Human Services — Rate of deaths by age/gender (per 100,000 population) for motor vehicle occupants killed in crashes, 2012 & 2014. 2012 Source: Fatality Analysis Reporting System...

Interphase death of dividing cells. Death rate of cultured Chinese hamster fibroblasts as a function of ph inside and outside cells

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Veksler, A.M.; Kublik, L.N.; Ehjdus, L.Kh.

1990-01-01

In studying interphase death (ID) of dividing cells from Chinese hamster fibroblast culture a differently directed relationship between ID rate and pH has been shown: the ID rate increases with pH increasing from 6.6 to 8.1 and decreases with pH from 5.0 to 6.6. The dependence is the same as that observed with lymphoid cells. With radiation doses increasing from 100 to 600 Gy and pH defined, the ID rate increases

Problems in continuous dose rate measurement

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yoshioka, Mitsuo

1983-01-01

The system of continuous dose rate measurement in Fukui Prefecture is described. A telemeter system was constructed in October, 1976, and it has been operated since 1977. Observation has been made at 11 observation stations in the Prefecture. In addition to the continuous measurement of dose rate by using NaI(T1)-DBM systems, the ionization chambers for high dose rate were installed, and also meteorological data have been collected. The detectors are covered with 1 mm thick aluminum designed so that the absorption of external radiation is kept as small as possible. To keep the environmental temperature of the detectors constant, constant temperature wind blow is made. With these consideration, the measurement of Xe-133 is possible, and the standard deviation of yearly dose is around 0.4 mR/Y. By measuring DBM transmission rate, the contribution of Xe-133, which comes from the exhaust pumps in power plants, can be detected. The problems of this system are as follows. First of all, the characteristics of the system must meet the purpose of dose monitoring. The system must detect the dose less than the target value to be achieved. The second is the selection of measuring systems to be set. The system is still not unified, and it is difficult to exchange data between different stations. Finally, the method of data analysis is not yet unified. Manuals or guide-books for this purpose are necessary for the mutual comparison of the data from the stations in different districts. (Kato, T.)

Low dose rate radiation favors apoptosis as a mechanism of cell death

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Murtha, Albert D.; Rupnow, Brent; Knox, Susan J.

1997-01-01

Purpose/Objective: Radioimmunotherapy (RIT) has demonstrated promising results in the treatment of chemotherapy refractory non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. The radiation associated with this therapy is emitted in a continuous fashion at low dose rates (LDR). Results from studies comparing the relative efficacy of LDR radiation and high dose rate (HDR) radiation on malignant cell killing have been variable. This variability may be due in part to the relative contribution of different mechanisms of cell killing (apoptosis or necrosis) at different dose rates. Materials and Methods: In order to test this hypothesis, the relative efficacy of LDR (16.7 cGy/hr) and HDR radiation (422 cGy/min) were compared using a human B cell lymphoma cell line (PW) and a PW clone (c26) stably transfected to overexpress the anti-apoptotic gene Bcl-2. The endpoints evaluated included the relative amount of cell killing, the fraction of cell killing attributable to apoptosis versus necrosis, and the impact of Bcl-2 overexpression on both overall cell killing and the fraction of killing attributable to apoptosis. Results: HDR and LDR radiation resulted in similar overall cell killing in the PW wild type cell line. In contrast, killing of clone c26 cells was dose rate dependent. One third less killing was seen following LDR irradiation of c26 cells compared with equivalent doses of HDR radiation. Analysis of the relative mechanisms of killing following LDR irradiation revealed a relative increase in the proportion of killing attributable to apoptosis. Conclusion: These findings support the hypothesis that in PW cells, LDR radiation appears to be highly dependent on apoptosis as a mechanism of cell death. These findings may have implications for the selection of patients for RIT, and for the treatment of tumors that overexpress Bcl-2. They may also help form the basis for future rational design of effective combined modality therapies utilizing RIT

Impaired Driving Death Rate, by Age and Gender, 2012 & 2014, Region 3 - Philadelphia

Data.gov (United States)

U.S. Department of Health & Human Services — Rate of deaths by age/gender (per 100,000 population) for people killed in crashes involving a driver with BAC =>0.08%, 2012, 2014. 2012 Source: Fatality Analysis...

Impaired Driving Death Rate, by Age and Gender, 2012 & 2014, Region 5 - Chicago

Data.gov (United States)

U.S. Department of Health & Human Services — Rate of deaths by age/gender (per 100,000 population) for people killed in crashes involving a driver with BAC =>0.08%, 2012, 2014. 2012 Source: Fatality Analysis...

Impaired Driving Death Rate, by Age and Gender, 2012 & 2014, Region 8 - Denver

Data.gov (United States)

U.S. Department of Health & Human Services — Rate of deaths by age/gender (per 100,000 population) for people killed in crashes involving a driver with BAC =>0.08%, 2012, 2014. 2012 Source: Fatality Analysis...

Impaired Driving Death Rate, by Age and Gender, 2012 & 2014, Region 4 - Atlanta

Data.gov (United States)

U.S. Department of Health & Human Services — Rate of deaths by age/gender (per 100,000 population) for people killed in crashes involving a driver with BAC =>0.08%, 2012, 2014. 2012 Source: Fatality Analysis...

Impaired Driving Death Rate, by Age and Gender, 2012 & 2014, Region 10 - Seattle

Data.gov (United States)

U.S. Department of Health & Human Services — Rate of deaths by age/gender (per 100,000 population) for people killed in crashes involving a driver with BAC =>0.08%, 2012, 2014. 2012 Source: Fatality Analysis...

Impaired Driving Death Rate, by Age and Gender, 2012 & 2014, Region 6 - Dallas

Data.gov (United States)

U.S. Department of Health & Human Services — Rate of deaths by age/gender (per 100,000 population) for people killed in crashes involving a driver with BAC =>0.08%, 2012, 2014. 2012 Source: Fatality Analysis...

Impaired Driving Death Rate, by Age and Gender, 2012 & 2014, Region 1 - Boston

Data.gov (United States)

U.S. Department of Health & Human Services — Rate of deaths by age/gender (per 100,000 population) for people killed in crashes involving a driver with BAC =>0.08%, 2012, 2014. 2012 Source: Fatality Analysis...

Saving Mothers' Lives: Reviewing maternal deaths to make motherhood safer: 2006-2008. The Eighth Report of the Confidential Enquiries into Maternal Deaths in the United Kingdom.

LENUS (Irish Health Repository)

Cantwell, Roch

2011-03-01

In the triennium 2006-2008, 261 women in the UK died directly or indirectly related to pregnancy. The overall maternal mortality rate was 11.39 per 100,000 maternities. Direct deaths decreased from 6.24 per 100,000 maternities in 2003-2005 to 4.67 per 100,000 maternities in 2006–2008 (p = 0.02). This decline is predominantly due to the reduction in deaths from thromboembolism and, to a lesser extent, haemorrhage. For the first time there has been a reduction in the inequalities gap, with a significant decrease in maternal mortality rates among those living in the most deprived areas and those in the lowest socio-economic group. Despite a decline in the overall UK maternal mortality rate, there has been an increase in deaths related to genital tract sepsis, particularly from community acquired Group A streptococcal disease. The mortality rate related to sepsis increased from 0.85 deaths per 100,000 maternities in 2003-2005 to 1.13 deaths in 2006-2008, and sepsis is now the most common cause of Direct maternal death. Cardiac disease is the most common cause of Indirect death; the Indirect maternal mortality rate has not changed significantly since 2003-2005. This Confidential Enquiry identified substandard care in 70% of Direct deaths and 55% of Indirect deaths. Many of the identified avoidable factors remain the same as those identified in previous Enquiries. Recommendations for improving care have been developed and are highlighted in this report. Implementing the Top ten recommendations should be prioritised in order to ensure the overall UK maternal mortality rate continues to decline.

Verbal autopsy completion rate and factors associated with undetermined cause of death in a rural resource-poor setting of Tanzania

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Maliti Deodatus V

2011-08-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Verbal autopsy (VA is a widely used tool to assign probable cause of death in areas with inadequate vital registration systems. Its uses in priority setting and health planning are well documented in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA and Asia. However, there is a lack of data related to VA processing and completion rates in assigning causes of death in a community. There is also a lack of data on factors associated with undetermined causes of death documented in SSA. There is a need for such information for understanding the gaps in VA processing and better estimating disease burden. Objective The study's intent was to determine the completion rate of VA and factors associated with assigning undetermined causes of death in rural Tanzania. Methods A database of deaths reported from the Ifakara Health and Demographic Surveillance System from 2002 to 2007 was used. Completion rates were determined at the following stages of processing: 1 death identified; 2 VA interviews conducted; 3 VA forms submitted to physicians; 4 coding and assigning of cause of death. Logistic regression was used to determine factors associated with deaths coded as "undetermined." Results The completion rate of VA after identification of death and the VA interview ranged from 83% in 2002 and 89% in 2007. Ninety-four percent of deaths submitted to physicians were assigned a specific cause, with 31% of the causes coded as undetermined. Neonates and child deaths that occurred outside health facilities were associated with a high rate of undetermined classification (33%, odds ratio [OR] = 1.33, 95% confidence interval [CI] (1.05, 1.67, p = 0.016. Respondents reporting high education levels were less likely to be associated with deaths that were classified as undetermined (24%, OR = 0.76, 95% CI (0.60, -0.96, p = 0.023. Being a child of the deceased compared to a partner (husband or wife was more likely to be associated with undetermined cause of death classification

How the 2008 stock market crash and seasons affect total and cardiac deaths in Los Angeles County.

Science.gov (United States)

Schwartz, Bryan Glen; Pezzullo, John Christopher; McDonald, Scott Andrew; Poole, William Kenneth; Kloner, Robert Alan

2012-05-15

Various stressors trigger cardiac death. The objective was to investigate a possible relation between a stock market crash and cardiac death in a large population within the United States. We obtained daily stock market data (Dow Jones Industrial Average Index), death certificate data for daily deaths in Los Angeles County (LA), and annual LA population estimates for 2005 through 2008. The 4 years death rate curves (2005 through 2008) were averaged into a single curve to illustrate annual trends. Data were "deseasonalized" by subtracting from the daily observed value the average value for that day of year. There was marked seasonal variation in total and cardiac death rates. Even in the mild LA climate, death rates were higher in winter versus summer including total death (+17%), circulatory death (+24%), coronary heart disease death (+28%), and myocardial infarction death (+38%) rates (p stock market crash in October 2008 did not affect death rates in LA. Death rates remained at or below seasonal averages during the stock market crash. In conclusion, after correcting for seasonal variation, the stock market crash in October 2008 was not associated with an increase in total or cardiac death in LA. Annual coronary heart disease death rates continue to decrease. However, seasonal variation (specifically winter) remains a trigger for death and coronary heart disease death even in LA where winters are mild. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Differences Between Rural and Urban Areas in Mortality Rates for the Leading Causes of Infant Death: United States, 2013-2015.

Science.gov (United States)

Ely, Danielle M; Hoyert, Donna L

2018-02-01

The leading causes of infant death vary by age at death but were consistent from 2005 to 2015 (1-6). Previous research shows higher infant mortality rates in rural counties compared with urban counties and differences in cause of death for individuals aged 1 year and over by urbanization level (4,5,7,8). No research, however, has examined if mortality rates from the leading causes of infant death differ by urbanization level. This report describes the mortality rates for the five leading causes of infant, neonatal, and postneonatal death in the United States across rural, small and medium urban, and large urban counties defined by maternal residence, as reported on the birth certificate for combined years 2013-2015. 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.

Motor Vehicle Occupant Death Rate, by Age and Gender, 2012 & 2014, Region 10 - Seattle

Data.gov (United States)

U.S. Department of Health & Human Services — Rate of deaths by age/gender (per 100,000 population) for motor vehicle occupants killed in crashes, 2012 & 2014. 2012 Source: Fatality Analysis Reporting System...

Motor Vehicle Occupant Death Rate, by Age and Gender, 2012 & 2014, Region 6 - Dallas

Data.gov (United States)

U.S. Department of Health & Human Services — Rate of deaths by age/gender (per 100,000 population) for motor vehicle occupants killed in crashes, 2012 & 2014. 2012 Source: Fatality Analysis Reporting System...

Motor Vehicle Occupant Death Rate, by Age and Gender, 2012 & 2014, Region 5 - Chicago

Data.gov (United States)

U.S. Department of Health & Human Services — Rate of deaths by age/gender (per 100,000 population) for motor vehicle occupants killed in crashes, 2012 & 2014. 2012 Source: Fatality Analysis Reporting System...

Motor Vehicle Occupant Death Rate, by Age and Gender, 2012 & 2014, Region 8 - Denver

Data.gov (United States)

U.S. Department of Health & Human Services — Rate of deaths by age/gender (per 100,000 population) for motor vehicle occupants killed in crashes, 2012 & 2014. 2012 Source: Fatality Analysis Reporting System...

Motor Vehicle Occupant Death Rate, by Age and Gender, 2012 & 2014, Region 4 - Atlanta

Data.gov (United States)

U.S. Department of Health & Human Services — Rate of deaths by age/gender (per 100,000 population) for motor vehicle occupants killed in crashes, 2012 & 2014. 2012 Source: Fatality Analysis Reporting System...

Motor Vehicle Occupant Death Rate, by Age and Gender, 2012 & 2014, Region 3 - Philadelphia

Data.gov (United States)

U.S. Department of Health & Human Services — Rate of deaths by age/gender (per 100,000 population) for motor vehicle occupants killed in crashes, 2012 & 2014. 2012 Source: Fatality Analysis Reporting System...

Scaling in Rate-Changeable Birth and Death Processes with Random Removals

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ke Jianhong; Lin Zhenquan; Chen Xiaoshuang

2009-01-01

We propose a monomer birth-death model with random removals, in which an aggregate of size k can produce a new monomer at a time-dependent rate I(t)k or lose one monomer at a rate J(t)k, and with a probability P (t) an aggregate of any size is randomly removed. We then analytically investigate the kinetic evolution of the model by means of the rate equation. The results show that the scaling behavior of the aggregate size distribution is dependent crucially on the net birth rate I(t) - J(t) as well as the birth rate I(t). The aggregate size distribution can approach a standard or modified scaling form in some cases, but it may take a scale-free form in other cases. Moreover, the species can survive finally only if either I(t) - J(t) ≥ P (t) or [J(t) + P (t) - I(t)]t ≅ 0 at t >> 1; otherwise, it will become extinct.

Deaths related to lead poisoning in the United States, 1979-1998

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kaufmann, R.B.; Staes, Catherine J.; Matte, Thomas D.

2003-01-01

This study was conducted to describe trends in US lead poisoning-relate deaths between 1979 and 1998. The predictive value of relevant ICD-9 codes was also evaluated. Multiple cause-of-death files were searched for record containing relevant ICD-9 codes, and underlying causes and demographic characteristics were assessed. For 1979-1988, death certificates were reviewed; lead source information was abstracted and accuracy of coding was determined. An estimated 200 lead poisoning-related deaths occurred from 1979 to 1998. Most were among males (74%), Blacks (67%), adults of age ≥45 years (76%), and Southerners (70%). The death rate was significantly lower in more recent years. An alcohol-related code was a contributing cause for 28% of adults. Only three of nine ICD-9 codes for lead poisoning were highl predictive of lead poisoning-related deaths. In conclusion, lead poisoning-related death rates have dropped dramatically since earlier decades and are continuing to decline. However, the findings imply that moonshine ingestion remains a source of high-dose lead exposure in adults

Changes in causes of death and mortality rates among children in Greenland from 1987 - 91 to 1992 - 99

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Aaen-Larsen, Birger; Bjerregaard, Peter

2003-01-01

This study analysed the spontaneous trends in mortality among children in Greenland from 1987 - 91 to 1992 - 99 and describes the changes in the causes of death, mortality rates, and variation between regions.......This study analysed the spontaneous trends in mortality among children in Greenland from 1987 - 91 to 1992 - 99 and describes the changes in the causes of death, mortality rates, and variation between regions....

Continuation rate of hormone replacement therapy in Hong Kong public health sector.

Science.gov (United States)

Leung, K Y; Ling, M; Tang, G W K

2004-12-10

To assess the 1-year continuation rate of HRT prescribed in Hong Kong public health sector and to identify factors affecting this continuation rate. All women who received at least one dispensed prescription of estrogens between January 1998 and December 2000 from 36 specialist outpatient clinics of the Hospital Authority were selected, and observed for at least 2 years and at most 3 years. The duration of use and variables including age, types of hormones, routes of delivery, dose of estrogen, and prescribing specialty were retrieved from the central prescription database of the Hospital Authority. Of 12,711 incident users of HRT, more than half were aged 50-59. Most (78.5%) of the users took conjugated equine estrogens (CEE) 0.625 mg or related products. Only a small proportion (3.0%) of women used CEE 0.3 mg. Initial estrogen prescriptions were written by gynaecologists in 86.7%. The overall 1-year continuation rate was 68.3%. The highest and lowest continuation rates were observed in women aged 40-49 and the two extreme age groups (35-39 and 70-79), respectively. Better continuation rate was observed in women taking estrogen-only therapy such as CEE or estradiol (overall 76.3%) than in women using continuous combined therapy (58.6%), sequential combined therapy (64.8%), or transdermal estrogen (60.6%). In the age group 60-69, the use of CEE 0.3 mg was associated with better continuation rate than CEE 0.625 mg. Better continuation rate at 1 year was associated with age younger than 60, oral route of HRT and hysterectomy.

Impaired Driving Death Rate, by Age and Gender, 2012 & 2014, Region 7 - Kansas City

Data.gov (United States)

U.S. Department of Health & Human Services — Rate of deaths by age/gender (per 100,000 population) for people killed in crashes involving a driver with BAC =>0.08%, 2012, 2014. 2012 Source: Fatality Analysis...

Impaired Driving Death Rate, by Age and Gender, 2012 & 2014, Region 9 - San Francisco

Data.gov (United States)

U.S. Department of Health & Human Services — Rate of deaths by age/gender (per 100,000 population) for people killed in crashes involving a driver with BAC =>0.08%, 2012, 2014. 2012 Source: Fatality Analysis...

Impaired Driving Death Rate, by Age and Gender, 2012 & 2014, Region 2 - New York

Data.gov (United States)

U.S. Department of Health & Human Services — Rate of deaths by age/gender (per 100,000 population) for people killed in crashes involving a driver with BAC =>0.08%, 2012, 2014. 2012 Source: Fatality Analysis...

Pathology of Serially Sacrificed Female B6C3F1 Mice Continuously Exposed to Very Low-Dose-Rate Gamma Rays.

Science.gov (United States)

Tanaka, I B; Komura, J; Tanaka, S

2017-03-01

We have previously reported on life span shortening as well as increased incidence rates in several neoplasms in B6C3F1 mice that were continuously exposed to 21 mGy/day of gamma rays for 400 days. To clarify whether the life shortening was due to early appearance of neoplasms (shortened latency) or increased promotion/progression, 8-week-old female specific-pathogen-free B6C3F1 mice were gamma-ray irradiated at a low dose rate of 20 mGy/day for 400 days. At 100 days postirradiation, 60-90 mice were sacrificed, and thereafter every 100 days alongside the age-matched nonirradiated controls, for 700 days. Additional groups were allowed to live out their natural life span. Pathological examination was performed on all mice to identify lesions, non-neoplastic and neoplastic, as well as to determine the cause of death. Body weights were significantly increased in irradiated mice from sacrifice days 200-500. Incidence rates for spontaneously occurring non-neoplastic lesions, such as adrenal subcapsular cell hyperplasia, fatty degeneration of the liver, atrophy and tubulostromal hyperplasia of the ovaries, were significantly increased in irradiated mice. Significantly increased incidence rates with no shortening of latency periods were observed in irradiated mice for malignant lymphomas, hepatocellular adenomas/carcinomas, bronchioloalveolar adenomas, harderian gland adenoma/adenocarcinoma. Shortened latencies with significantly increased incidence rates were observed for adrenal subcapsular cell adenomas and ovarian neoplasms (tubulostromal adenoma, granulosa cell tumors) in irradiated mice. Life span shortening in mice exposed to 20 mGy/day was mostly due to malignant lymphomas. Multiple primary neoplasms were significantly increased in mice exposed to 20 mGy/day from sacrifice days 400-700 and in the life span group. Our results confirm that continuous low-dose-rate gamma-ray irradiation of female B6C3F1 mice causes both cancer induction (shortened latency) and

Life Experience with Death: Relation to Death Attitudes and to the Use of Death-Related Memories

Science.gov (United States)

Bluck, Susan; Dirk, Judith; Mackay, Michael M.; Hux, Ashley

2008-01-01

The study examines the relation of death experience to death attitudes and to autobiographical memory use. Participants (N = 52) completed standard death attitude measures and wrote narratives about a death-related autobiographical memory and (for comparison) a memory of a low point. Self-ratings of the memory narratives were used to assess their…

Long-term dynamics of death rates of emphysema, asthma, and pneumonia and improving air quality

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kravchenko J

2014-06-01

Full Text Available Julia Kravchenko,1 Igor Akushevich,2 Amy P Abernethy,3 Sheila Holman,4 William G Ross Jr,5 H Kim Lyerly1,6 1Department of Surgery, 2Center for Population Health and Aging, 3Duke Clinical Research Institute, Duke University Medical Center, Duke University, Durham, 4Division of Air Quality, North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Raleigh, 5Nicholas School of the Environment, 6Department of Pathology, Duke University Medical Center, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA Background: The respiratory tract is a major target of exposure to air pollutants, and respiratory diseases are associated with both short- and long-term exposures. We hypothesized that improved air quality in North Carolina was associated with reduced rates of death from respiratory diseases in local populations. Materials and methods: We analyzed the trends of emphysema, asthma, and pneumonia mortality and changes of the levels of ozone, sulfur dioxide (SO2, nitrogen dioxide (NO2, carbon monoxide (CO, and particulate matters (PM2.5 and PM10 using monthly data measurements from air-monitoring stations in North Carolina in 1993–2010. The log-linear model was used to evaluate associations between air-pollutant levels and age-adjusted death rates (per 100,000 of population calculated for 5-year age-groups and for standard 2000 North Carolina population. The studied associations were adjusted by age group-specific smoking prevalence and seasonal fluctuations of disease-specific respiratory deaths. Results: Decline in emphysema deaths was associated with decreasing levels of SO2 and CO in the air, decline in asthma deaths–with lower SO2, CO, and PM10 levels, and decline in pneumonia deaths–with lower levels of SO2. Sensitivity analyses were performed to study potential effects of the change from International Classification of Diseases (ICD-9 to ICD-10 codes, the effects of air pollutants on mortality during summer and winter, the impact of approach when only

Normal overall mortality rate in Addison's disease, but young patients are at risk of premature death.

Science.gov (United States)

Erichsen, Martina M; Løvås, Kristian; Fougner, Kristian J; Svartberg, Johan; Hauge, Erik R; Bollerslev, Jens; Berg, Jens P; Mella, Bjarne; Husebye, Eystein S

2009-02-01

Primary adrenal insufficiency (Addison's disease) is a rare autoimmune disease. Until recently, life expectancy in Addison's disease patients was considered normal. To determine the mortality rate in Addison's disease patients. i) Patients registered with Addison's disease in Norway during 1943-2005 were identified through search in hospital diagnosis registries. Scrutiny of the medical records provided diagnostic accuracy and age at diagnosis. ii) The patients who had died were identified from the National Directory of Residents. iii) Background mortality data were obtained from Statistics Norway, and standard mortality rate (SMR) calculated. iv) Death diagnoses were obtained from the Norwegian Death Cause Registry. Totally 811 patients with Addison's disease were identified, of whom 147 were deceased. Overall SMR was 1.15 (95% confidence intervals (CI) 0.96-1.35), similar in females (1.18 (0.92-1.44)) and males (1.10 (0.80-1.39)). Patients diagnosed before the age of 40 had significantly elevated SMR at 1.50 (95% CI 1.09-2.01), most pronounced in males (2.03 (1.19-2.86)). Acute adrenal failure was a major cause of death; infection and sudden death were more common than in the general population. The mean ages at death for females (75.7 years) and males (64.8 years) were 3.2 and 11.2 years less than the estimated life expectancy. Addison's disease is still a potentially lethal condition, with excess mortality in acute adrenal failure, infection, and sudden death in patients diagnosed at young age. Otherwise, the prognosis is excellent for patients with Addison's disease.

Death rates for acquired hypothyroidism and thyrotoxicosis in English populations (1979-2010): comparison of underlying cause and all certified causes.

Science.gov (United States)

Goldacre, M J; Duncan, M E

2013-03-01

Overt hypothyroidism and thyrotoxicosis have widespread systemic effects and are associated with increased mortality. Most death certificates that include them do not have the thyroid disease coded as the underlying cause of death. To describe regional (1979-2010) and national (1995-2010) trends in mortality rates for acquired hypothyroidism and thyrotoxicosis, analysing all certified causes of death (termed 'mentions') and not just the underlying cause. Analysis of death registration data. Analysis of data for the Oxford region (mentions available from 1979) and English national data (mentions available from 1995). The data were grouped in periods defined by different national rules for selecting the underlying cause of death (1979-83, 1984-92, 1993-2000 and 2001-10) and were also analysed as single calendar years. Mentions mortality for acquired hypothyroidism in the Oxford region declined significantly from 1979 to 2010: the average annual percentage change (AAPC) was -2.6% (95% confidence intervals -3.5, -1.8). Most of the decrease occurred during the 1980s. The AAPC in rates for later years in England (1995-2010) was non-significant at 0.2% (-0.7, 1.0). Mortality rates for thyrotoxicosis decreased significantly: the AAPC was -2.8% (-4.1, -1.5) in the Oxford region and -3.8% (-4.7, -3.0) in England. In England, between 2001 and 2010, hypothyroidism or thyrotoxicosis was coded as the underlying cause of death on, respectively, 17 and 24% of death certificates that included them. Mortality rates for hypothyroidism and thyrotoxicosis have fallen substantially. The fall is probably wholly or mainly a result of improved care.

Justifying continuous sedation until death: a focus group study in nursing homes in Flanders, Belgium.

Science.gov (United States)

Rys, Sam; Deschepper, Reginald; Deliens, Luc; Mortier, Freddy; Bilsen, Johan

2013-01-01

Continuous Sedation until Death (CSD), the act of reducing or removing the consciousness of an incurably ill patient until death, has become a common practice in nursing homes in Flanders (Belgium). Quantitative research has suggested that CSD is not always properly applied. This qualitative study aims to explore and describe the circumstances under which nursing home clinicians consider CSD to be justified. Six focus groups were conducted including 10 physicians, 24 nurses, and 14 care assistants working in either Catholic or non-Catholic nursing homes of varying size. Refractory suffering, limited life expectancy and respecting patient autonomy are considered essential elements in deciding for CSD. However, multiple factors complicate the care of nursing home residents at the end of life, and often hinder clinicians from putting these elements into practice. Nursing home clinicians may benefit from more information and instruction about managing CSD in the complex care situations which typically occur in nursing homes. Copyright © 2013 Mosby, Inc. All rights reserved.

Rates of TBI-related Emergency Department Visits, Hospitalizations, and Deaths - United States, 2001 – 2010

Data.gov (United States)

U.S. Department of Health & Human Services — In general, total combined rates for traumatic brain injury (TBI)-related emergency department (ED) visits, hospitalizations and deaths have increased over the past...

CONTINUOUS MODELING OF FOREIGN EXCHANGE RATE OF USD VERSUS TRY

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yakup Arı

2011-01-01

Full Text Available This study aims to construct continuous-time autoregressive (CAR model and continuous-time GARCH (COGARCH model from discrete time data of foreign exchange rate of United States Dollar (USD versus Turkish Lira (TRY. These processes are solutions to stochastic differential equation Lévy-driven processes. We have shown that CAR(1 and COGARCH(1,1 processes are proper models to represent foreign exchange rate of USD and TRY for different periods of time February 2002- June 2010.

Continuous measurement of heart rate variability following carbon ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Background: Previous studies of autonomic nervous system activity through analysis of heart rate variability (HRV) have demonstrated increased sympathetic activity during positive-pressure pneumoperitoneum. We employed an online, continuous method for rapid HRV analysis (MemCalc™, Tarawa, Suwa Trust, Tokyo, ...

Perturbation theory for continuous stochastic equations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chechetkin, V.R.; Lutovinov, V.S.

1987-01-01

The various general perturbational schemes for continuous stochastic equations are considered. These schemes have many analogous features with the iterational solution of Schwinger equation for S-matrix. The following problems are discussed: continuous stochastic evolution equations for probability distribution functionals, evolution equations for equal time correlators, perturbation theory for Gaussian and Poissonian additive noise, perturbation theory for birth and death processes, stochastic properties of systems with multiplicative noise. The general results are illustrated by diffusion-controlled reactions, fluctuations in closed systems with chemical processes, propagation of waves in random media in parabolic equation approximation, and non-equilibrium phase transitions in systems with Poissonian breeding centers. The rate of irreversible reaction X + X → A (Smoluchowski process) is calculated with the use of general theory based on continuous stochastic equations for birth and death processes. The threshold criterion and range of fluctuational region for synergetic phase transition in system with Poissonian breeding centers are also considered. (author)

Motor Vehicle Occupant Death Rate, by Age and Gender, 2012 & 2014, Region 7 - Kansas City

Data.gov (United States)

U.S. Department of Health & Human Services — Rate of deaths by age/gender (per 100,000 population) for motor vehicle occupants killed in crashes, 2012 & 2014. 2012 Source: Fatality Analysis Reporting System...

Motor Vehicle Occupant Death Rate, by Age and Gender, 2012 & 2014, Region 9 - San Francisco

Data.gov (United States)

U.S. Department of Health & Human Services — Rate of deaths by age/gender (per 100,000 population) for motor vehicle occupants killed in crashes, 2012 & 2014. 2012 Source: Fatality Analysis Reporting System...

Motor Vehicle Occupant Death Rate, by Age and Gender, 2012 & 2014, HHS Region 1 - Boston

Data.gov (United States)

U.S. Department of Health & Human Services — Rate of deaths by age/gender (per 100,000 population) for motor vehicle occupants killed in crashes, 2012 & 2014. 2012 Source: Fatality Analysis Reporting System...

Motor Vehicle Occupant Death Rate, by Age and Gender, 2012 & 2014, Region 2 - New York

Data.gov (United States)

U.S. Department of Health & Human Services — Rate of deaths by age/gender (per 100,000 population) for motor vehicle occupants killed in crashes, 2012 & 2014. 2012 Source: Fatality Analysis Reporting System...

Mortality and causes of death in children referred to a tertiary epilepsy center

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Grønborg, Sabine; Uldall, Peter

2014-01-01

BACKGROUND: Patients with epilepsy, including children, have an increased mortality rate when compared to the general population. Only few studies on causes of mortality in childhood epilepsy exist and pediatric SUDEP rate is under continuous discussion. AIM: To describe general mortality......, incidence of sudden unexpected death in epilepsy (SUDEP), causes of death and age distribution in a pediatric epilepsy patient population. METHODS: The study retrospectively examined the mortality and causes of death in 1974 patients with childhood-onset epilepsy at a tertiary epilepsy center in Denmark...... that underwent dietary epilepsy treatment was slightly higher than in the general cohort. There were no epilepsy-related deaths due to drowning. CONCLUSIONS: This study confirms that SUDEP must not be disregarded in the pediatric age group. The vast majority of SUDEP cases in this study displays numerous risk...

Myeloid-derived suppressor activity is mediated by monocytic lineages maintained by continuous inhibition of extrinsic and intrinsic death pathways.

Science.gov (United States)

Haverkamp, Jessica M; Smith, Amber M; Weinlich, Ricardo; Dillon, Christopher P; Qualls, Joseph E; Neale, Geoffrey; Koss, Brian; Kim, Young; Bronte, Vincenzo; Herold, Marco J; Green, Douglas R; Opferman, Joseph T; Murray, Peter J

2014-12-18

Nonresolving inflammation expands a heterogeneous population of myeloid suppressor cells capable of inhibiting T cell function. This heterogeneity has confounded the functional dissection of individual myeloid subpopulations and presents an obstacle for antitumor immunity and immunotherapy. Using genetic manipulation of cell death pathways, we found the monocytic suppressor-cell subset, but not the granulocytic subset, requires continuous c-FLIP expression to prevent caspase-8-dependent, RIPK3-independent cell death. Development of the granulocyte subset requires MCL-1-mediated control of the intrinsic mitochondrial death pathway. Monocytic suppressors tolerate the absence of MCL-1 provided cytokines increase expression of the MCL-1-related protein A1. Monocytic suppressors mediate T cell suppression, whereas their granulocytic counterparts lack suppressive function. The loss of the granulocytic subset via conditional MCL-1 deletion did not alter tumor incidence implicating the monocytic compartment as the functionally immunosuppressive subset in vivo. Thus, death pathway modulation defines the development, survival, and function of myeloid suppressor cells. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Cancer mortality in a cohort of continuous glass filament workers.

Science.gov (United States)

Pira, Enrico; Manzari, Marco; Gallus, Silvano; Negri, Eva; Bosetti, Cristina; Romano, Canzio; McLaughlin, Joseph K; Boffetta, Paolo; La Vecchia, Carlo

2009-02-01

To examine cancer mortality in continuous glass filament workers. A cohort of 936 continuous glass filament workers employed in a plant from northern Italy since January 1976 was followed-up through December 2003, for a total of 19,987 man-years. Overall, 144 deaths were observed compared with 160.8 expected based on regional death rates (standardized mortality ratio [SMR] = 0.90, 95% CI = 0.76 to 1.05). There were 53 deaths from all cancers (SMR = 1.01, 95% CI = 0.75 to 1.32), and 21 from lung cancer (SMR = 1.23, 95% CI = 0.76 to 1.89). There was no consistent relation with risk for age at first employment, time since first or last employment, or duration of employment for any of the causes considered. Although limited in size, this study provides no evidence that continuous glass filament workers experience a significant increased risk of cancer, including respiratory cancer.

The practice of continuous sedation until death in nursing homes in flanders, belgium: a nationwide study

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Rys, S.; Mortier, F.; Deliens, L.; Bilsen, J.

2014-01-01

Results The response rate was 65.5%, and 249 nurses reported a case of CSD (57.6%). Most individuals had cancer (33.6%) or dementia (32.8%); lacked competence (65.7%); and had severe pain (71.2%), fatigue (62.3%), loss of dignity (59%), anxiety (58.4%), and longing for death (58.4%). Intractable

Continuous stochastic approach to birth and death processes and co-operative behaviour of systems far from equilibrium

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Chechetkin, V.R.; Lutovinov, V.S.

1986-09-11

The continuous stochastic formalism for the description of systems with birth and death processes randomly distributed in space is developed with the use of local birth and death operators and local generalization of the corresponding Chapman-Kolmogorov equation. The functional stochastic equation for the evolution of the probability functional is derived and its modifications for evolution of the characteristic functional and the first passage time problem are given. The corresponding evolution equations for equal-time correlators are also derived. The results are generalized then on the exothermic and endothermic chemical reactions. As examples of the particular applications of the results the small fluctuations near stable equilibrium state and fluctuations in mono-molecular reactions, Lotka-Volterra model, Schloegl reaction and brusselator are considered. It is shown that the two-dimensional Lotka-Volterra model may exhibit synergetic phase transition analogous to the topological transition of the Kosterlitz-Thouless-Berezinskii type. At the end of the paper some general consequences from stochastic evolution of the birth and death processes are discussed and the arguments on their importance in evolution of populations, cellular dynamics and in applications to various chemical and biological problems are presented.

Quasi-stationary distributions for structured birth and death processes with mutations

OpenAIRE

Collet , Pierre; Martinez , Servet; Méléard , Sylvie; San Martin , Jaime

2009-01-01

39 pages; We study the probabilistic evolution of a birth and death continuous time measure-valued process with mutations and ecological interactions. The individuals are characterized by (phenotypic) traits that take values in a compact metric space. Each individual can die or generate a new individual. The birth and death rates may depend on the environment through the action of the whole population. The offspring can have the same trait or can mutate to a randomly distributed trait. We ass...

A Longitudinal Analysis of Site of Death: The Effects of Continuous Enrollment in Medicare Advantage Versus Conventional Medicare.

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Elizabeth Edmiston; Miller, Edward Alan

2017-09-01

This study assessed the odds of dying in hospital associated with enrollment in Medicare Advantage (M-A) versus conventional Medicare Fee-for-Service (M-FFS). Data were derived from the 2008 and 2010 waves of the Health and Retirement Study ( n = 1,030). The sample consisted of elderly Medicare beneficiaries who died in 2008-2010 (34% died in hospital, and 66% died at home, in long-term senior care, a hospice facility, or other setting). Logistic regression estimated the odds of dying in hospital for those continuously enrolled in M-A from 2008 until death compared to those continuously enrolled in M-FFS and those switching between the two plans. Results indicate that decedents continuously enrolled in M-A had 43% lower odds of dying in hospital compared to those continuously enrolled in M-FFS. Financial incentives in M-A contracts may reduce the odds of dying in hospital.

Using continuous sedation until death for cancer patients: A qualitative interview study of physicians' and nurses' practice in three European countries

NARCIS (Netherlands)

J. Seymour (Jane); J.A.C. Rietjens (Judith); S.M. Bruinsma (Sophie); L. Deliens (Luc); S. Sterckx (Sigrid); F. Mortier (Freddy); J. Brown (Jayne); N. Mathers (Nigel); A. van der Heide (Agnes)

2015-01-01

textabstractBackground: Extensive debate surrounds the practice of continuous sedation until death to control refractory symptoms in terminal cancer care. We examined reported practice of United Kingdom, Belgian and Dutch physicians and nurses. Methods: Qualitative case studies using interviews.

Molecular mechanisms of cell death: recommendations of the Nomenclature Committee on Cell Death 2018

OpenAIRE

Galluzzi, L; Vitale, I; Aaronson, Sa; Abrams, Jm; Adam, D; Agostinis, P; Alnemri, Es; Altucci, L; Amelio, I; Andrews, Dw; Annicchiarico-Petruzzelli, M; Antonov, Av; Arama, E; Baehrecke, Eh; Barlev, Na

2018-01-01

Over the past decade, the Nomenclature Committee on Cell Death (NCCD) has formulated guidelines for the definition and interpretation of cell death from morphological, biochemical, and functional perspectives. Since the field continues to expand and novel mechanisms that orchestrate multiple cell death pathways are unveiled, we propose an updated classification of cell death subroutines focusing on mechanistic and essential (as opposed to correlative and dispensable) aspects of the process. A...

Martingale Regressions for a Continuous Time Model of Exchange Rates

OpenAIRE

Guo, Zi-Yi

2017-01-01

One of the daunting problems in international finance is the weak explanatory power of existing theories of the nominal exchange rates, the so-called “foreign exchange rate determination puzzle”. We propose a continuous-time model to study the impact of order flow on foreign exchange rates. The model is estimated by a newly developed econometric tool based on a time-change sampling from calendar to volatility time. The estimation results indicate that the effect of order flow on exchange rate...

Asymptotic failure rate of a continuously monitored system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Grall, A.; Dieulle, L.; Berenguer, C.; Roussignol, M.

2006-01-01

This paper deals with a perfectly continuously monitored system which gradually and stochastically deteriorates. The system is renewed by a delayed maintenance operation, which is triggered when the measured deterioration level exceeds an alarm threshold. A mathematical model is developed to study the asymptotic behavior of the reliability function. A procedure is proposed which allows us to identify the asymptotic failure rate of the maintained system. Numerical experiments illustrate the efficiency of the proposed procedure and emphasize the relevance of the asymptotic failure rate as an interesting indicator for the evaluation of the control-limit preventive replacement policy

Asymptotic failure rate of a continuously monitored system

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Grall, A. [Institut des Sciences et Technologies de l' Information de Troyes (CNRS-FRE 2732), Equipe de Modelisation et de Surete des Systemes, Universite de Technologie de Troyes, 12 rue Marie Curie, BP 2060, 10010 Troyes Cedex (France)]. E-mail: antoine.grall@utt.fr; Dieulle, L. [Institut des Sciences et Technologies de l' Information de Troyes (CNRS-FRE 2732), Equipe de Modelisation et de Surete des Systemes, Universite de Technologie de Troyes, 12 rue Marie Curie, BP 2060, 10010 Troyes Cedex (France)]. E-mail: laurence.dieulle@utt.fr; Berenguer, C. [Institut des Sciences et Technologies de l' Information de Troyes (CNRS-FRE 2732), Equipe de Modelisation et de Surete des Systemes, Universite de Technologie de Troyes, 12 rue Marie Curie, BP 2060, 10010 Troyes Cedex (France)]. E-mail: christophe.berenguer@utt.fr; Roussignol, M. [Laboratoire d' Analyse et de Mathematiques Appliquees, Universite de Marne la Vallee, 5 bd Descartes, Champs sur Marne, 77454 Marne la Vallee, Cedex 2 (France)]. E-mail: michel.roussignol@univ-mlv.fr

2006-02-01

This paper deals with a perfectly continuously monitored system which gradually and stochastically deteriorates. The system is renewed by a delayed maintenance operation, which is triggered when the measured deterioration level exceeds an alarm threshold. A mathematical model is developed to study the asymptotic behavior of the reliability function. A procedure is proposed which allows us to identify the asymptotic failure rate of the maintained system. Numerical experiments illustrate the efficiency of the proposed procedure and emphasize the relevance of the asymptotic failure rate as an interesting indicator for the evaluation of the control-limit preventive replacement policy.

State-level minimum wage and heart disease death rates in the United States, 1980-2015: A novel application of marginal structural modeling.

Science.gov (United States)

Van Dyke, Miriam E; Komro, Kelli A; Shah, Monica P; Livingston, Melvin D; Kramer, Michael R

2018-07-01

Despite substantial declines since the 1960's, heart disease remains the leading cause of death in the United States (US) and geographic disparities in heart disease mortality have grown. State-level socioeconomic factors might be important contributors to geographic differences in heart disease mortality. This study examined the association between state-level minimum wage increases above the federal minimum wage and heart disease death rates from 1980 to 2015 among 'working age' individuals aged 35-64 years in the US. Annual, inflation-adjusted state and federal minimum wage data were extracted from legal databases and annual state-level heart disease death rates were obtained from CDC Wonder. Although most minimum wage and health studies to date use conventional regression models, we employed marginal structural models to account for possible time-varying confounding. Quasi-experimental, marginal structural models accounting for state, year, and state × year fixed effects estimated the association between increases in the state-level minimum wage above the federal minimum wage and heart disease death rates. In models of 'working age' adults (35-64 years old), a $1 increase in the state-level minimum wage above the federal minimum wage was on average associated with ~6 fewer heart disease deaths per 100,000 (95% CI: -10.4, -1.99), or a state-level heart disease death rate that was 3.5% lower per year. In contrast, for older adults (65+ years old) a $1 increase was on average associated with a 1.1% lower state-level heart disease death rate per year (b = -28.9 per 100,000, 95% CI: -71.1, 13.3). State-level economic policies are important targets for population health research. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

A pediatric death audit in a large referral hospital in Malawi.

Science.gov (United States)

Fitzgerald, Elizabeth; Mlotha-Mitole, Rachel; Ciccone, Emily J; Tilly, Alyssa E; Montijo, Jennie M; Lang, Hans-Joerg; Eckerle, Michelle

2018-02-21

Death audits have been used to describe pediatric mortality in under-resourced settings, where record keeping is often a challenge. This information provides the cornerstone for the foundation of quality improvement initiatives. Malawi, located in sub-Saharan Africa, currently has an Under-5 mortality rate of 64/1000. Kamuzu Central Hospital, in the capital city Lilongwe, is a busy government referral hospital, which admits up to 3000 children per month. A study published in 2013 reported mortality rates as high as 9%. This is the first known audit of pediatric death files conducted at this hospital. A retrospective chart review on all pediatric deaths that occurred at Kamuzu Central Hospital (excluding deaths in the neonatal nursery) during a 13-month period was done using a standardized death audit form. A descriptive analysis was completed, including patient demographics, HIV and nutritional status, and cause of death. Modifiable factors were identified that may have contributed to mortality, including a lack of vital sign collection, poor documentation, and delays in the procurement or results of tests, studies, and specialist review. Seven hundred forty three total pediatric deaths were recorded and 700 deceased patient files were reviewed. The mortality rate by month ranged from a low of 2.2% to a high of 4.4%. Forty-four percent of deaths occurred within the first 24 h of admission, and 59% occurred within the first 48 h. The most common causes of death were malaria, malnutrition, HIV-related illnesses, and sepsis. The mortality rate for this pediatric referral center has dramatically decreased in the 6 years since the last published mortality data, but remains high. Areas identified for continued development include improved record keeping, improved patient assessment and monitoring, and more timely and reliable provision of testing and treatment. This study demonstrates that in low-resource settings, where reliable record keeping is often difficult

5 CFR 843.409 - Rates of annuities.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... 5 Administrative Personnel 2 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Rates of annuities. 843.409 Section 843... (CONTINUED) FEDERAL EMPLOYEES RETIREMENT SYSTEM-DEATH BENEFITS AND EMPLOYEE REFUNDS Child Annuities § 843.409 Rates of annuities. (a) For each month, the amount of annuity payable to each surviving child under this...

Respiratory induced heart rate variability during slow mechanical ventilation Marker to exclude brain death patients

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Jurák, Pavel; Halámek, Josef; Vondra, Vlastimil; Kružliak, P.; Šrámek, V.; Cundrle, I.; Leinveber, P.; Adamek, M.; Zvoníček, V.

2017-01-01

Roč. 129, 7-8 (2017), s. 251-258 ISSN 0043-5325 R&D Projects: GA ČR GAP103/11/0933; GA MŠk(CZ) LO1212; GA MŠk ED0017/01/01; GA MZd NS10105 Institutional support: RVO:68081731 Keywords : critical illness * sedation * brain death * respiratory rate variability * heart rate variability * mechanical ventilation Subject RIV: FS - Medical Facilities ; Equipment OBOR OECD: Medical engineering Impact factor: 0.974, year: 2016

Using continuous sedation until death for cancer patients: A qualitative interview study of physicians’ and nurses’ practice in three European countries

Science.gov (United States)

Rietjens, Judith; Bruinsma, Sophie; Deliens, Luc; Sterckx, Sigrid; Mortier, Freddy; Brown, Jayne; Mathers, Nigel; van der Heide, Agnes

2015-01-01

Background: Extensive debate surrounds the practice of continuous sedation until death to control refractory symptoms in terminal cancer care. We examined reported practice of United Kingdom, Belgian and Dutch physicians and nurses. Methods: Qualitative case studies using interviews. Setting: Hospitals, the domestic home and hospices or palliative care units. Participants: In all, 57 Physicians and 73 nurses involved in the care of 84 cancer patients. Results: UK respondents reported a continuum of practice from the provision of low doses of sedatives to control terminal restlessness to rarely encountered deep sedation. In contrast, Belgian respondents predominantly described the use of deep sedation, emphasizing the importance of responding to the patient’s request. Dutch respondents emphasized making an official medical decision informed by the patient’s wish and establishing that a refractory symptom was present. Respondents employed rationales that showed different stances towards four key issues: the preservation of consciousness, concerns about the potential hastening of death, whether they perceived continuous sedation until death as an ‘alternative’ to euthanasia and whether they sought to follow guidelines or frameworks for practice. Conclusion: This qualitative analysis suggests that there is systematic variation in end-of-life care sedation practice and its conceptualization in the United Kingdom, Belgium and the Netherlands. PMID:25062816

Comparison of hurricane exposure methods and associations with county fetal death rates, adjusting for environmental quality

Science.gov (United States)

Adverse effects of hurricanes are increasing as coastal populations grow and events become more severe. Hurricane exposure during pregnancy can influence fetal death rates through mechanisms related to healthcare, infrastructure disruption, nutrition, and injury. Estimation of hu...

'Continuation rate', 'use-effectiveness' and their assessment for the diaphragm and jelly method.

Science.gov (United States)

Chandrasekaran, C; Karkal, M

1972-11-01

Abstract The application of the life-table technique in the calculation of use-effectiveness of a contraceptive was proposed by Potter in 1963.(1) The technique was also found to be useful in assessing the duration for which the use of a contraceptive was continued. The keen interest that existed in the use of IUD in the mid-1960's was reflected in the terminology developed for assessment of the continuity of use. 'Retention rate' was a frequently used index.(2) Because of the development of the concept of segments whose end-period determined either termination of the use of a method or its continuance on a cut-off date, 'closure rate' and 'termination rate' have been used as measures of the discontinuance of the use of methods primarily of the IUD.(3) While discussing concepts relating to acceptance, use and effectiveness of family planning methods, more generally, an expert group suggested that 'continuation' should be used to denote that a client (or a couple) had begun to practise a method and that the method was still being practised.(4) Since this group defined 'an acceptor' as a person taking service and/or advice, i.e. having an IUD insertion or a sterilization operation or receiving supplies (or advice on methods such as 'rhythm' or coitus-interruptus with the intent of using the method), the base for the assessment of continuation rates, according to this group, would be only those acceptors who had begun using the method. The lifetable method has also been used for the study of the continuation rate for pill acceptors.(5) Balakrishnan, et al., made a study of continuation rates of oral contraceptives using the multiple decrement life-table technique.(6).

Molecular mechanisms of cell death: recommendations of the Nomenclature Committee on Cell Death 2018

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Galluzzi, Lorenzo; Vitale, Ilio; Aaronson, Stuart A.; Abrams, John M.; Adam, Dieter; Agostinis, Patrizia; Alnemri, Emad S.; Altucci, Lucia; Amelio, Ivano; Andrews, David W.; Annicchiarico-Petruzzelli, Margherita; Antonov, Alexey V.; Arama, Eli; Baehrecke, Eric H.; Barlev, Nickolai A.; Bazan, Nicolas G.; Bernassola, Francesca; Bertrand, Mathieu J. M.; Bianchi, Katiuscia; Blagosklonny, Mikhail V.; Blomgren, Klas; Borner, Christoph; Boya, Patricia; Brenner, Catherine; Campanella, Michelangelo; Candi, Eleonora; Carmona-Gutierrez, Didac; Cecconi, Francesco; Chan, Francis K.-M.; Chandel, Navdeep S.; Cheng, Emily H.; Chipuk, Jerry E.; Cidlowski, John A.; Ciechanover, Aaron; Cohen, Gerald M.; Conrad, Marcus; Cubillos-Ruiz, Juan R.; Czabotar, Peter E.; D'Angiolella, Vincenzo; Dawson, Ted M.; Dawson, Valina L.; de Laurenzi, Vincenzo; de Maria, Ruggero; Debatin, Klaus-Michael; DeBerardinis, Ralph J.; Deshmukh, Mohanish; Di Daniele, Nicola; Di Virgilio, Francesco; Dixit, Vishva M.; Dixon, Scott J.; Duckett, Colin S.; Dynlacht, Brian D.; El-Deiry, Wafik S.; Elrod, John W.; Fimia, Gian Maria; Fulda, Simone; García-Sáez, Ana J.; Garg, Abhishek D.; Garrido, Carmen; Gavathiotis, Evripidis; Golstein, Pierre; Gottlieb, Eyal; Green, Douglas R.; Greene, Lloyd A.; Gronemeyer, Hinrich; Gross, Atan; Hajnoczky, Gyorgy; Hardwick, J. Marie; Harris, Isaac S.; Hengartner, Michael O.; Hetz, Claudio; Ichijo, Hidenori; Jäättelä, Marja; Joseph, Bertrand; Jost, Philipp J.; Juin, Philippe P.; Kaiser, William J.; Karin, Michael; Kaufmann, Thomas; Kepp, Oliver; Kimchi, Adi; Kitsis, Richard N.; Klionsky, Daniel J.; Knight, Richard A.; Kumar, Sharad; Lee, Sam W.; Lemasters, John J.; Levine, Beth; Linkermann, Andreas; Lipton, Stuart A.; Lockshin, Richard A.; López-Otín, Carlos; Lowe, Scott W.; Luedde, Tom; Lugli, Enrico; MacFarlane, Marion; Madeo, Frank; Malewicz, Michal; Malorni, Walter; Manic, Gwenola; Marine, Jean-Christophe; Martin, Seamus J.; Martinou, Jean-Claude; Medema, Jan Paul; Mehlen, Patrick; Meier, Pascal; Melino, Sonia; Miao, Edward A.; Molkentin, Jeffery D.; Moll, Ute M.; Muñoz-Pinedo, Cristina; Nagata, Shigekazu; Nuñez, Gabriel; Oberst, Andrew; Oren, Moshe; Overholtzer, Michael; Pagano, Michele; Panaretakis, Theocharis; Pasparakis, Manolis; Penninger, Josef M.; Pereira, David M.; Pervaiz, Shazib; Peter, Marcus E.; Piacentini, Mauro; Pinton, Paolo; Prehn, Jochen H. M.; Puthalakath, Hamsa; Rabinovich, Gabriel A.; Rehm, Markus; Rizzuto, Rosario; Rodrigues, Cecilia M. P.; Rubinsztein, David C.; Rudel, Thomas; Ryan, Kevin M.; Sayan, Emre; Scorrano, Luca; Shao, Feng; Shi, Yufang; Silke, John; Simon, Hans-Uwe; Sistigu, Antonella; Stockwell, Brent R.; Strasser, Andreas; Szabadkai, Gyorgy; Tait, Stephen W. G.; Tang, Daolin; Tavernarakis, Nektarios; Thorburn, Andrew; Tsujimoto, Yoshihide; Turk, Boris; Vanden Berghe, Tom; Vandenabeele, Peter; Vander Heiden, Matthew G.; Villunger, Andreas; Virgin, Herbert W.; Vousden, Karen H.; Vucic, Domagoj; Wagner, Erwin F.; Walczak, Henning; Wallach, David; Wang, Ying; Wells, James A.; Wood, Will; Yuan, Junying; Zakeri, Zahra; Zhivotovsky, Boris; Zitvogel, Laurence; Melino, Gerry; Kroemer, Guido

2018-01-01

Over the past decade, the Nomenclature Committee on Cell Death (NCCD) has formulated guidelines for the definition and interpretation of cell death from morphological, biochemical, and functional perspectives. Since the field continues to expand and novel mechanisms that orchestrate multiple cell

ATM phosphorylation in HepG2 cells following continuous low dose-rate irradiation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mei Quelin; Du Duanming; Chen Zaizhong; Liu Pengcheng; Yang Jianyong; Li Yanhao

2008-01-01

Objective: To investigate the change of ATM phosphorylation in HepG2 cells following a continuous low dose-rate irradiation. Methods: Cells were persistently exposed to low dose-rate (8.28 cGy/h) irradiation. Indirect immunofluorescence and Western blot were used to detect the expression of ATM phosphorylated proteins. Colony forming assay was used to observe the effect of a low dose-rate irradiation on HepG2 cell survival. Results: After 30 min of low dose-rate irradiation, the phosphorylation of ATM occurred. After 6 h persistent irradiation, the expression of ATM phosphorylated protein reached the peak value, then gradually decreased. After ATM phosphorylation was inhibited with Wortmannin, the surviving fraction of HepG2 cells was lower than that of the irradiation alone group at each time point (P<0.05). Conclusions: Continuous low dose-rate irradiation attenuated ATM phosphorylation, suggesting that continuous low dose-rate irradiation has a potential effect for increasing the radiosensitivity of HepG2 cells. (authors)

Continuing increase in mesothelioma mortality in Britain.

Science.gov (United States)

Peto, J; Hodgson, J T; Matthews, F E; Jones, J R

1995-03-04

Mesothelioma is closely related to exposure to asbestos, and mesothelioma mortality can be taken as an index of past exposure to asbestos in the population. We analysed mesothelioma mortality since 1968 to assess the current state of the mesothelioma epidemic, and to predict its future course. We found that rates of mesothelioma in men formed a clear pattern defined by age and date of birth. Rates rose steeply with age showing a very similar pattern in all five-year birth cohorts. By date of birth, rates increased from mid-1893 to mid-1948, and then fell. Relative to the 1943-48 cohort, the risk for the 1948-53 cohort is 0.79 and for the 1953-58 cohort 0.48. Despite these falls, if the age profile of rates for these cohorts follows the pattern of past cohorts, their predicted lifetime mesothelioma risks will be 1.3%, 1.0%, and 0.6%. Combining projections for all cohorts results in a peak of annual male mesothelioma deaths in about the year 2020 of between 2700 and 3300 deaths. If diagnostic trend is responsible for a 20% growth in recorded cases every 5 years--an extreme but arguable case--and if this trend has now ceased, the peak of annual male deaths will be reduced to 1300, reached around the year 2010. Analysis of occupations recorded on death certificates indicate that building workers, especially plumbers and gas fitters, carpenters and electricians are the largest high-risk group. These data indicate that mesothelioma deaths will continue to increase for at least 15 and more likely 25 years. For the worst affected cohorts--men born in the 1940s--mesothelioma may account for around 1% of all deaths. Asbestos exposure at work in construction and building maintenance will account for a large proportion of these deaths, and it is important that such workers should be aware of the risks and take appropriate precautions.

Outcomes of chronic dialysis in Korean children with respect to survival rates and causes of death

OpenAIRE

Chang, Hye Jin; Han, Kyoung Hee; Cho, Min Hyun; Park, Young Seo; Kang, Hee Gyung; Cheong, Hae Il; Ha, Il Soo

2014-01-01

Purpose Adult Korean patients on chronic dialysis have a 9-year survival rate of 50%, with cardiovascular problems being the most significant cause of death. The 2011 annual report of the North American Pediatric Renal Trials and Collaborative Studies group reported 3-year survival rates of 93.4% and relatively poorer survival in younger patients. Methods In this study, we have reviewed data from Korean Pediatric Chronic Kidney Disease Registry from 2002 to 2010 to assess survival rates and c...

Heart rate variability and QT dispersion study in brain death patients and comatose patients with normal brainstem function

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Vakilian, A.R.; Iranmanesh, F.; Nadimi, A.E.; Kahnali, J.A.

2011-01-01

To compare heart rate variability (HRV) and QT dispersion in comatose patients with normal brainstem function and with brain death. Fourteen brain death patients with clinical signs of imminent brain death and 15 comatose patients were examined by neurologist in intensive care unit. HRV, RR interval and QT dispersion on ECG were assessed for 24 hours in both groups. Independent t-test and chi-square test were used for statistical analysis to determine significance which was set at p < 0.05. According to Holter findings, mean of standard deviation of RR-interval in the comatose and brain death groups was 48.33 and 35 respectively (p = 0.045). Mean of covariance coefficient of RR-interval was 0.065 in the comatose group and 0.043 in the brain deaths (p = 0.006). QT dispersion was not significant difference in two groups. HRV and RR-interval analysis appeared as an early finding for the diagnosis of brainstem death in comparison to comatose patients with normal brainstem function. QT dispersion had not significant in this regard. (author)

Characterization of death of human fetal bone marrow CD34+ cells after different dose of γ-irradiation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Xiang Yingsong; Yang Rujun; Tang Gusheng

2001-01-01

Objective: To investigate the characterization of death of the human hematopoietic stem cells after irradiation. Methods: Human fetal bone marrow mononuclear cells were irradiated with different doses of 60 Co γ-rays at different high dose rates. Apoptosis and necrosis of CD34 + cells were analyzed by flow cytometry, following three-color labelling with PE-CD34/FITC-Annexin V/7AAD at different times after irradiation. Results: The death of CD34 + cells after 5 Gy and 8 Gy irradiation showed a continuous process of reproductive death during the first week,and the main death type was apoptosis. A majority of CD34 + cells died of necrosis during the first day after 10 Gy and 12 Gy irradiation, and all of them died within a week. Conclusion: Niches are continuously vacated every day within a week following irradiation and reproductive death of hematopoietic stem cells occurred

All-cause mortality rates and home deaths decreased in children with life-limiting diagnoses in Denmark between 1994 and 2014

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lykke, Camilla; Ekholm, Ola; Schmiegelow, Kjeld

2018-01-01

%). The relative proportion of hospital deaths increased, while home deaths decreased. CONCLUSION: All-cause mortality rate decreased markedly, and the relative proportion of hospital deaths increased. The results may reflect more aggressive and effective treatment attempts to save lives, but some terminally ill...... deaths. The decline in infant mortality (26%) primarily reflected fewer deaths due to congenital malformations and chromosomal abnormalities (68%) and perinatal deaths (30%). In children aged one year to 17 years, the substantial decrease (65%) was due to external causes (75%) and neoplasms (57......AIM: Specialised paediatric palliative care has not previously been a priority in Denmark. The aim of this study was to support its development and organisation, by examining why and where children died using official national data for 1994-2014. METHODS: We obtained data on 9462 children who died...

Prolonged Living as a Refugee from the Area Around a Stricken Nuclear Power Plant Increases the Risk of Death.

Science.gov (United States)

Tanaka, Reiichiro

2015-08-01

Although it is well known that the Great East Japan Earthquake (March 11, 2011) resulted in a large number of disaster-related deaths, it is not common knowledge that the number of disaster-related deaths continues to increase, even four years after the earthquake, in Fukushima Prefecture, where the nuclear power plant accident occurred. There has been a lack of a minute and critical analysis for the causes for this continuous increase. In this report, the causes for the increase in disaster-related deaths in Fukushima Prefecture were analyzed by aggregating and comparing multiple data released by public organizations (the Reconstruction Agency, the National Police Agency, and Fukushima Prefecture), which may also have implications for developing response strategies to other disasters. The disaster-related death rate, the dead or missing rate, and the refugee rate (the number of disaster-related deaths, dead or missing persons, and refugees per 1,000 people) in each prefecture in stricken areas, and also each city, county, town, and village in Fukushima Prefecture, were calculated and compared with each other. The populations which were used for the calculation of each death rate in the area were based on the number of dead victims who had lived in the area when the earthquake occurred, regardless of where they were at the time of their death. The disaster-related death rate was higher than the dead or missing rate in the area around a stricken nuclear power plant in Fukushima Prefecture. These areas coincide exactly with the Areas under Evacuation Orders because of unsafe radiation levels. The external and internal radiation doses of most of the victims of the Great East Japan Earthquake have appeared not to be so high to harm their health, until now. The psychological stress associated with being displaced from one's home for a long time with an uncertain future may be the cause for these disaster-related deaths. There is an urgent need to recognize refugees

A hospital-based palliative care service for patients with advanced organ failure in sub-Saharan Africa reduces admissions and increases home death rates.

Science.gov (United States)

Desrosiers, Taylor; Cupido, Clint; Pitout, Elizabeth; van Niekerk, Lindi; Badri, Motasim; Gwyther, Liz; Harding, Richard

2014-04-01

Despite emerging data of cost savings under palliative care in various regions, no such data have been generated in response to the high burden of terminal illness in Africa. This evaluation of a novel hospital-based palliative care service for patients with advanced organ failure in urban South Africa aimed to determine whether the service reduces admissions and increases home death rates compared with the same fixed time period of standard hospital care. Data on admissions and place of death were extracted from routine hospital activity records for a fixed period before death, using standard patient daily expense rates. Data from the first 56 consecutive deaths under the new service (intervention group) were compared with 48 consecutive deaths among patients immediately before the new service (historical controls). Among the intervention and control patients, 40 of 56 (71.4%) and 47 of 48 (97.9%), respectively, had at least one admission (P home death was achieved by 33 of 56 (58.9%) and nine of 48 (18.8%), respectively (P ≤ 0.001). These data demonstrate that an outpatient hospital-based service reduced admissions and improved the rate of home deaths and offers a feasible and cost-effective model for such settings. Copyright © 2014 U.S. Cancer Pain Relief Committee. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Identifying transition rates of ionic channels via observations at a single state

CERN Document Server

Deng Ying Chun; Qian Min Ping; Feng Jian Feng

2003-01-01

We consider how to determine all transition rates of an ion channel when it can be described by a birth-death chain or a Markov chain on a star-graph with continuous time. It is found that all transition rates are uniquely determined by the distribution of its lifetime and death-time histograms at a single state. An algorithm to calculate the transition rates exactly, based on the statistics of the lifetime and death-time of the Markov chain at the state, is provided. Examples to illustrate how an ion channel activity is fully determined by the observation of a single state of the ion channel are included.

Identifying transition rates of ionic channels via observations at a single state

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Deng Yingchun; Peng Shenglun; Qian Minping; Feng Jianfeng

2003-01-01

We consider how to determine all transition rates of an ion channel when it can be described by a birth-death chain or a Markov chain on a star-graph with continuous time. It is found that all transition rates are uniquely determined by the distribution of its lifetime and death-time histograms at a single state. An algorithm to calculate the transition rates exactly, based on the statistics of the lifetime and death-time of the Markov chain at the state, is provided. Examples to illustrate how an ion channel activity is fully determined by the observation of a single state of the ion channel are included

Identifying transition rates of ionic channels via observations at a single state

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Deng Yingchun [School of Mathematics, Peking University, Beijing (China); Peng Shenglun [School of Mathematics, Peking University, Beijing (China); Qian Minping [School of Mathematics, Peking University, Beijing (China); Feng Jianfeng [COGS, Sussex University, Brighton (United Kingdom)

2003-02-07

We consider how to determine all transition rates of an ion channel when it can be described by a birth-death chain or a Markov chain on a star-graph with continuous time. It is found that all transition rates are uniquely determined by the distribution of its lifetime and death-time histograms at a single state. An algorithm to calculate the transition rates exactly, based on the statistics of the lifetime and death-time of the Markov chain at the state, is provided. Examples to illustrate how an ion channel activity is fully determined by the observation of a single state of the ion channel are included.

The context of illicit drug overdose deaths in British Columbia, 2006

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Waheed Bilal

2009-05-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Illicit drug overdose deaths (IDD relate to individual drug dose and context of use, including use with other drugs and alcohol. IDD peaked in British Columbia (BC in 1998 with 417 deaths, and continues to be a public health problem. The objective of this study was to examine IDD in 2006 in BC by place of residence, injury and death, decedents' age and sex and substances identified. Methods IDD data was obtained through the BC Coroners Office and entered into SPSS (version 14. Fisher's exact and Pearson's χ2 were used for categorical data; Mann-Whitney U-test for continuous variables. Rates were calculated using 2006 population estimates. Results We identified 223 IDD in BC; 54 (24% occurred in Vancouver. Vancouver decedents (compared to those occurring outside Vancouver were older (mean age 43.9 vs. 39.2 years; p Cocaine was identified in 80.3%, opiates 59.6%, methadone 13.9%, methamphetamine/amphetamine 6.3%, and alcohol in 22.9% of deaths. Poly-substance use was common, 2 substances were identified in 43.8% and 3 or more in 34.5% of deaths. Opiates were more frequently identified in Vancouver compared to outside Vancouver (74.1% vs. 55.0% p = 0.015. Conclusion Collaboration with the Coroner's office allowed us to analyze IDD in detail including place of death; cocaine, opiates and poly-substance use were commonly identified. Poly-substance use should be explored further to inform public health interventions.

The problem of fuzzy cause-specific death rates in mortality context analysis: the case of Panama City.

Science.gov (United States)

Bock, S; Gans, P

1993-05-01

In studies of mortality, small and fluctuating numbers of deaths are problems which are caused by infrequent reporting and small spatial unit reporting. To use Panama City as an example, the paper will introduce a Monte Carlo simulation which allows for the analysis of mortality even with small absolute numbers. In addition, Panama City will be used as an example where good medical care is available in every city district, so that social class differences between the districts have a negligible effect on most cause-specific death rates and infant mortality.

Suicide on Death Row.

Science.gov (United States)

Tartaro, Christine; Lester, David

2016-11-01

Despite the level of supervision of inmates on death row, their suicide rate is higher than both the male prison population in the United States and the population of males over the age of 14 in free society. This study presents suicide data for death row inmates from 1978 through 2010. For the years 1978 through 2010, suicide rates on death row were higher than that for the general population of males over the age of 15 and for state prisons for all but 2 years. © 2016 American Academy of Forensic Sciences.

CDC WONDER: Mortality - Infant Deaths

Data.gov (United States)

U.S. Department of Health & Human Services — The Mortality - Infant Deaths (from Linked Birth / Infant Death Records) online databases on CDC WONDER provide counts and rates for deaths of children under 1 year...

7 CFR 707.3 - Death.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... 7 Agriculture 7 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Death. 707.3 Section 707.3 Agriculture Regulations of the Department of Agriculture (Continued) FARM SERVICE AGENCY, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE AGRICULTURAL... Death. (a) Where any person who is otherwise eligible to receive a payment dies before the payment is...

Determination of area reduction rate by continuous ball indentation test

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zou, Bin; Guan, Kai Shu; Wu, Sheng Bao

2016-01-01

Rate of area reduction is an important mechanical property to appraise the plasticity of metals, which is always obtained from the uniaxial tensile test. A methodology is proposed to determine the area reduction rate by continuous ball indentation test technique. The continuum damage accumulation theory has been adopted in this work to identify the failure point in the indentation. The corresponding indentation depth of this point can be obtained and used to estimate the area reduction rate. The local strain limit criterion proposed in the ASME VIII-2 2007 alternative rules is also adopted in this research to convert the multiaxial strain of indentation test to uniaxial strain of tensile test. The pile-up and sink-in phenomenon which can affect the result significantly is also discussed in this paper. This method can be useful in engineering practice to evaluate the material degradation under severe working condition due to the non-destructive nature of ball indentation test. In order to validate the method, continuous ball indentation test is performed on ferritic steel 16MnR and ASTM (A193B16), then the results are compared with that got from the traditional uniaxial tensile test.

Descriptions by General Practitioners and Nurses of Their Collaboration in Continuous Sedation Until Death at Home: In-Depth Qualitative Interviews in Three European Countries

NARCIS (Netherlands)

L. Anquinet (Livia); J.A.C. Rietjens (Judith); N. Mathers (Nigel); J. Seymour (Jane); A. van der Heide (Agnes); L. Deliens (Luc)

2014-01-01

textabstractContext: One palliative care approach that is increasingly being used at home for relieving intolerable suffering in terminally ill patients is continuous sedation until death. Its provision requires a multidisciplinary team approach, with adequate collaboration and communication.

Shear rate analysis of water dynamic in the continuous stirred tank

Science.gov (United States)

Tulus; Mardiningsih; Sawaluddin; Sitompul, O. S.; Ihsan, A. K. A. M.

2018-02-01

Analysis of mixture in a continuous stirred tank reactor (CSTR) is an important part in some process of biogas production. This paper is a preliminary study of fluid dynamic phenomenon in a continuous stirred tank numerically. The tank is designed in the form of cylindrical tank equipped with a stirrer. In this study, it is considered that the tank is filled with water. Stirring is done with a stirring speed of 10rpm, 15rpm, 20rpm, and 25rpm. Mathematical modeling of stirred tank is derived. The model is calculated by using the finite element method that are calculated using CFD software. The result shows that the shear rate is high on the front end portion of the stirrer. The maximum shear rate tend to a stable behaviour after the stirring time of 2 second. The relation between the speed and the maximum shear rate is in the form of linear equation.

Causes of death among females-investigating beyond maternal causes: a community-based longitudinal study.

Science.gov (United States)

Melaku, Yohannes Adama; Weldearegawi, Berhe; Aregay, Alemseged; Tesfay, Fisaha Haile; Abreha, Loko; Abera, Semaw Ferede; Bezabih, Afework Mulugeta

2014-09-10

In developing countries, investigating mortality levels and causes of death among all age female population despite the childhood and maternal related deaths is important to design appropriate and tailored interventions and to improve survival of female residents. Under Kilite-Awlealo Health and Demographic Surveillance System, we investigated mortality rates and causes of death in a cohort of female population from 1st of January 2010 to 31st of December 2012. At the baseline, 33,688 females were involved for the prospective follow-up study. Households under the study were updated every six months by fulltime surveillance data collectors to identify vital events, including deaths. Verbal Autopsy (VA) data were collected by separate trained data collectors for all identified deaths in the surveillance site. Trained physicians assigned underlining causes of death using the 10th edition of International Classification of Diseases (ICD). We assessed overall, age- and cause-specific mortality rates per 1000 person-years. Causes of death among all deceased females and by age groups were ranked based on cause specific mortality rates. Analysis was performed using Stata Version 11.1. During the follow-up period, 105,793.9 person-years of observation were generated, and 398 female deaths were recorded. This gave an overall mortality rate of 3.76 (95% confidence interval (CI): 3.41, 4.15) per 1,000 person-years. The top three broad causes of death were infectious and parasitic diseases (1.40 deaths per 1000 person-years), non-communicable diseases (0.98 deaths per 1000 person-years) and external causes (0.36 per 1000 person-years). Most deaths among reproductive age female were caused by Human Deficiency Virus/Acquired Immune Deficiency Virus (HIV/AIDS) and tuberculosis (0.14 per 1000 person-years for each cause). Pregnancy and childbirth related causes were responsible for few deaths among women of reproductive age--3 out of 73 deaths (4.1%) or 5.34 deaths per 1,000 person

31 CFR 353.61 - Payment after death.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... 31 Money and Finance: Treasury 2 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Payment after death. 353.61 Section 353.61 Money and Finance: Treasury Regulations Relating to Money and Finance (Continued) FISCAL... Payment after death. After the death of the ward, and at any time prior to the representative's discharge...

31 CFR 360.61 - Payment after death.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... 31 Money and Finance: Treasury 2 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Payment after death. 360.61 Section 360.61 Money and Finance: Treasury Regulations Relating to Money and Finance (Continued) FISCAL... after death. After the death of the ward, and at any time prior to the representative's discharge, the...

Continuous Rating for Diggability Assessment in Surface Mines

Science.gov (United States)

IPHAR, Melih

2016-10-01

The rocks can be loosened either by drilling-blasting or direct excavation using powerful machines in opencast mining operations. The economics of rock excavation is considered for each method to be applied. If blasting operation is not preferred and also the geological structures and rock mass properties in site are convenient (favourable ground conditions) for ripping or direct excavation method by mining machines, the next step is to determine which machine or excavator should be selected for the excavation purposes. Many researchers have proposed several diggability or excavatability assessment methods for deciding on excavator type to be used in the field. Most of these systems are generally based on assigning a rating for the parameters having importance in rock excavation process. However, the sharp transitions between the two adjacent classes for a given parameter can lead to some uncertainties. In this paper, it has been proposed that varying rating should be assigned for a given parameter called as “continuous rating” instead of giving constant rating for a given class.

Data study of death rate and cancer incidence among Thule workers, 2005; Registerundersoegelse af doedelighed og kraeftforekomst blandt Thulearbejdere, 2005

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Juel, K. [Statens Insti. for Folkesundhed, Copenhagen (Denmark); Engholm, G.; Storm, H. [Kraeftens Bekaempelse, Copenhagen (Denmark)

2005-12-01

January 21st, 1968, an American B52 bomber with nuclear weapons aboard crashed close to the Thule air-base in Greenland. In 1986 suspicions arose that there might be increased disease incidences and death rate among the employees at the base that were involved in the clearing operations. During 1986 - 1995, several health studies were made of the Thule workers. These studies of death rate, cancer, hospitalization, and fertility did not show any differences between the Thule workers from the clearing operations and those not involved in the clearing. The present study shows no difference in total death rate among the clearing workers compared to other workers. The same results were found for cancer mortality, circulatory diseases, pulmonary diseases, natural causes, and accidents. As the previous studies showed, the present study shows that there were a slightly less number of suicides among the clearing workers. The data analyses show with great certainty that the Thule workers as a group do not have a great excessive mortality or an increased cancer incidence caused by the aircraft crash. Thus, the present results fall in line with the previous investigations. (ln)

The perspectives of clinical staff and bereaved informal care-givers on the use of continuous sedation until death for cancer patients: The study protocol of the UNBIASED study

Science.gov (United States)

2011-01-01

Background A significant minority of dying people experience refractory symptoms or extreme distress unresponsive to conventional therapies. In such circumstances, sedation may be used to decrease or remove consciousness until death occurs. This practice is described in a variety of ways, including: 'palliative sedation', 'terminal sedation', 'continuous deep sedation until death', 'proportionate sedation' or 'palliative sedation to unconsciousness'. Surveys show large unexplained variation in incidence of sedation at the end of life across countries and care settings and there are ethical concerns about the use, intentions, risks and significance of the practice in palliative care. There are also questions about how to explain international variation in the use of the practice. This protocol relates to the UNBIASED study (UK Netherlands Belgium International Sedation Study), which comprises three linked studies with separate funding sources in the UK, Belgium and the Netherlands. The aims of the study are to explore decision-making surrounding the application of continuous sedation until death in contemporary clinical practice, and to understand the experiences of clinical staff and decedents' informal care-givers of the use of continuous sedation until death and their perceptions of its contribution to the dying process. The UNBIASED study is part of the European Association for Palliative Care Research Network. Methods/Design To realize the study aims, a two-phase study has been designed. The study settings include: the domestic home, hospital and expert palliative care sites. Phase 1 consists of: a) focus groups with health care staff and bereaved informal care-givers; and b) a preliminary case notes review to study the range of sedation therapy provided at the end of life to cancer patients who died within a 12 week period. Phase 2 employs qualitative methods to develop 30 patient-centred case studies in each country. These involve interviews with staff and

Comparative response of dogs and monkeys to sublethal acute and continuous low dose-rate gamma-ray exposure

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Spalding, J.F.; Holland, L.M.; Johnson, O.S.; LaBauve, P.M.; London, J.E.; Prine, J.R.; Vigil, E.A.

1977-02-01

Monkeys (Macaca mulatta) and dogs (beagle) were given thirteen 100-rad gamma-ray doses at 28-day intervals. The comparative response (injury and recovery) of the hematopoietic system of the two species was observed at 7-day intervals during the exposure regime. At 84 days after the thirteenth gamma-ray dose, the 1300-rad conditioned and control dogs and monkeys were challenged continuously with 35 R/day until death to determine the amount of radiation-induced injury remaining in conditioned animals as a reduction in mean survival time. Dogs (50 percent) and monkeys (8 percent) died from injury incurred during the conditioning exposures. Thus, the comparative response of dogs and monkeys to dose protraction by acute dose fractionation was similar to what might be expected from a single acute dose. Mean survival times for nonconditioned dogs and monkeys during continuous exposure at 35 R/day were the same (approximately 1400 h). Thus, hematopoietic response of the two species by this method of dose protraction was not significantly different. Mean survival times of conditioned dogs and monkeys during the continuous 35 R/day gamma-ray challenge exposure were greater than for their control counterparts. Thus, the long-term radiation-induced injury was not measurable by this method. Conditioning doses of more than four times the acute LD 50 - 30 in dogs and approximately two times that of monkeys served only to increase both mean survival time and variance in a gamma-ray stress environment with a dose rate of 35 R/day

Descriptions by General Practitioners and Nurses of Their Collaboration in Continuous Sedation Until Death at Home: In-Depth Qualitative Interviews in Three European Countries

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Anquinet, L.; Rietjens, J.A.; Mathers, N.; Seymour, J.; Heide, A.; Deliens, L.

2015-01-01

Context. One palliative care approach that is increasingly being used at home for relieving intolerable suffering in terminally ill patients is continuous sedation until death. Its provision requires a multidisciplinary team approach, with adequate collaboration and communication. However, it is

Fast maximum likelihood estimation of mutation rates using a birth-death process.

Science.gov (United States)

Wu, Xiaowei; Zhu, Hongxiao

2015-02-07

Since fluctuation analysis was first introduced by Luria and Delbrück in 1943, it has been widely used to make inference about spontaneous mutation rates in cultured cells. Under certain model assumptions, the probability distribution of the number of mutants that appear in a fluctuation experiment can be derived explicitly, which provides the basis of mutation rate estimation. It has been shown that, among various existing estimators, the maximum likelihood estimator usually demonstrates some desirable properties such as consistency and lower mean squared error. However, its application in real experimental data is often hindered by slow computation of likelihood due to the recursive form of the mutant-count distribution. We propose a fast maximum likelihood estimator of mutation rates, MLE-BD, based on a birth-death process model with non-differential growth assumption. Simulation studies demonstrate that, compared with the conventional maximum likelihood estimator derived from the Luria-Delbrück distribution, MLE-BD achieves substantial improvement on computational speed and is applicable to arbitrarily large number of mutants. In addition, it still retains good accuracy on point estimation. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Continuing with "…a heavy heart" - consequences of maternal death in rural Kenya.

Science.gov (United States)

Pande, Rohini; Ogwang, Sheila; Karuga, Robinson; Rajan, Radha; Kes, Aslihan; Odhiambo, Frank O; Laserson, Kayla; Schaffer, Kathleen

2015-05-06

This study analyzes the consequences of maternal death to households in Western Kenya, specifically, neonatal and infant survival, childcare and schooling, disruption of daily household activities, the emotional burden on household members, and coping mechanisms. The study is a combination of qualitative analysis with matched and unmatched quantitative analysis using surveillance and survey data. Between September 2011 and March 2013 all households in the study area with a maternal death were surveyed. Data were collected on the demographic characteristics of the deceased woman; household socio-economic status; a history of the pregnancy that led to the death; schooling experiences of surviving school-age children; and disruption to household functioning due to the maternal death. These data were supplemented by in-depth and focus group discussions. Quantitative data on neonatal and infant survival from a demographic surveillance system in the study area were also used. Descriptive and bivariate analyses were conducted with the quantitative data, and qualitative data were analyzed through text analysis using NVivo. More than three-quarters of deceased women performed most household tasks when healthy. After the maternal death, the responsibility for these tasks fell primarily on the deceased's husbands, mothers, and mothers-in-law. Two-thirds of the individuals from households that suffered a maternal death had to shift into another household. Most children had to move away, mostly to their grandmother's home. About 37% of live births to women who died of maternal causes survived till age 1 year, compared to 65% of live births to a matched sample of women who died of non-maternal causes and 93% of live births to surviving women. Older, surviving children missed school or did not have enough time for schoolwork, because of increased housework or because the loss of household income due to the maternal death meant school fees could not be paid. Respondents expressed

Updated Death and Injury Rates of U.S. Military Personnel During the Conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan

Science.gov (United States)

2014-12-01

35 were related to pregnancy . Amputations A number of studies have estimated the frequency with which soldiers lost a limb either directly on the...vehicle accidents—as well as training and occupational accidents at the workplace . The average mortality rate (including all causes of death) for military

31 CFR 315.61 - Payment after death.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... 31 Money and Finance: Treasury 2 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Payment after death. 315.61 Section 315.61 Money and Finance: Treasury Regulations Relating to Money and Finance (Continued) FISCAL..., Absentees, et al. § 315.61 Payment after death. After the death of the ward, and at any time prior to the...

Effects of low-dose continuously fractionated X-ray irradiation on murine peripheral blood lymphocytes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Xie Yi; Zhang Hong; Dang Bingrong; Hao Jifang; Guo Hongyun; Wang Xiaohu

2007-01-01

For estimating biological risks from low doses continual irradiation, we investigated the effects of exposure to continuously fractionated X-rays on murine immune system. The BALB/c mice were irradiated with 0.07Gy at the first day and 0.08 Gy/d in the following 12 days at a dose rate of 0.2 Gy/min. The peripheral blood lymphocyte cycle and death were determined by flow cytometry at the cumulative doses of 0, 0.07, 0.23, 0.39, 0.55, 0.71, 0.87 and 1.03 Gy respectively. The results showed that the cycle of peripheral blood lymphocyte was arrested in G 0 /G 1 at cumulative doses of 0.07, 0.23, 0.71 and 0.87 Gy, and in G 2 /M at cumulative doses of 0.39 and 1.03 Gy; the percentage of death of peripheral blood lymphocyte was ascended with dose increasing, and reached the death peak at cumulative doses of 0.71 Gy. The results suggested that low doses continual X-rays total-body irradiated could result in changes of cellular cycle and death, and some damages to immunocytes, which accorded to linear square model. (authors)

Changes in mortality rates and humanitarian conditions in Darfur, Sudan 2003-2007.

Science.gov (United States)

Garfield, Richard; Polonsky, Jonny

2010-01-01

The Darfur region of Sudan has been an intense focus of humanitarian concern since rebellions began there early in 2003. In 2004, the US Secretary of State declared that conflict in Darfur represented genocide. Since 2003, many sample surveys and various mortality estimates for Darfur have been made. Nonetheless, confusion and controversy surrounding mortality levels and trends have continued. For this project, results were reviewed from the highest quality field surveys on mortality in Darfur conducted between 2003 and 2008. Trend analysis demonstrated a dramatic decline in mortality over time in Darfur. By 2005, mortality levels had fallen below emergency levels and have continued to decline. Deaths directly due violence have declined as a proportion of all of the deaths in Darfur. Declining mortality in Darfur was not associated with other proximate improvements in well-being, such as improved nutrition. Without large-scale, humanitarian intervention, continuing high rates of mortality due to violence likely would have occurred. If mortality had continued at the high rate documented in 2004, by January 2009, there would have been 330,000 additional deaths. With the humanitarian assistance provided through the United Nations and non-governmental organizations, these people are alive today. A focus on excess deaths among noncombatants may draw attention away from other needs, such as establishing better security, improving service delivery to the displaced, and advocating for internally displaced persons to be reached today and to re-establish their lives and livelihoods tomorrow.

Socioeconomic factors affecting infant sleep-related deaths in St. Louis.

Science.gov (United States)

Hogan, Cathy

2014-01-01

Though the Back to Sleep Campaign that began in 1994 caused an overall decrease in sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) rates, racial disparity has continued to increase in St. Louis. Though researchers have analyzed and described various sociodemographic characteristics of SIDS and infant deaths by unintentional suffocation in St. Louis, they have not simultaneously controlled for contributory risk factors to racial disparity such as race, poverty, maternal education, and number of children born to each mother (parity). To determine whether there is a relationship between maternal socioeconomic factors and sleep-related infant death. This quantitative case-control study used secondary data collected by the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services between 2005 and 2009. The sample includes matched birth/death certificates and living birth certificates of infants who were born/died within time frame. Descriptive analysis, Chi-square, and logistic regression. The controls were birth records of infants who lived more than 1 year. Chi-square and logistic regression analyses confirmed that race and poverty have significant relationships with infant sleep-related deaths. The social significance of this study is that the results may lead to population-specific modifications of prevention messages that will reduce infant sleep-related deaths. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

[Maternal death: unequal risks].

Science.gov (United States)

Defossez, A C; Fassin, D

1989-01-01

Nearly 99% of maternal deaths in the world each year occur in developing countries. New efforts have recently been undertaken to combat maternal mortality through research and action. The medical causes of such deaths are coming to be better understood, but the social mechanisms remain poorly grasped. Maternal mortality rates in developing countries are difficult to interpret because they tend to exclude all deaths not occurring in health care facilities. The countries of Europe and North America have an average maternal mortality rate of 30/100,000 live births, representing about 6000 deaths each year. The developing countries of Asia, Africa, and Latin America have rates of 270-640/100,000, representing some 492,000 deaths annually. For a true comparison of the risks of maternal mortality in different countries, the risk itself and the average number of children per woman must both be considered. A Nigerian woman has 375 times greater risk of maternal death than a Swedish woman, but since she has about 4 times more children, her lifetime risk of maternal death is over 1500 times greater than that of the Swedish woman. The principal medical causes of maternal death are known: hemorrhages due to placenta previa or retroplacental hematoma, mechanical dystocias responsible for uterine rupture, toxemia with eclampsia, septicemia, and malaria. The exact weight of abortion in maternal mortality is not known but is probably large. The possible measures for improving such rates are of 3 types: control of fertility to avoid early, late, or closely spaced pregnancies; effective medical surveillance of the pregnancy to reduce the risk of malaria, toxemia, and hemorrhage, and delivery in an obstetrical facility, especially for high-risk pregnancies. Differential access to high quality health care explains much of the difference between mortality rates in urban and rural, wealthy and impoverished areas of the same country. The social determinants of high maternal mortality

Adaptation of cell renewal systems under continuous irradiation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fabrikant, J.I.

1987-01-01

There are adaptive changes in the proliferative characteristics of renewal tissues under the stress of continuous low-dose-rate irradiation which indicate that cell and tissue kinetics will have a considerable effect on the radiation response. Factors that determine the adaptation response involve cellular radiosensitivity, i.e. cell cycle effects, which determine the rate of cell sterilization and death, and compensatory cell proliferation and the capacity for regeneration, i.e. changes in the patterns of cell population kinetics, which determine the rate of cell birth. In rapidly dividing cell renewal systems, there is an effective elimination of damaged cells, with almost complete repair of cellular nonlethal damage. In slowly dividing renewal tissues, there is some repair or elimination of cellular radiation damage and the pattern of cell proliferation during regeneration is relatively little disturbed by prior continuous irradiation. Experimental data on intestinal epithelium, immunohematopoietic tissues, seminiferous epithelium and regenerating liver are presented. Discussion includes differences in adaptation to continuous low-dose-rate irradiation involving intracellular and extracellular control mechanisms which regulate cellular proliferation and differentiation and, thereby, control cell population levels and physiological function. 29 references

An interspecies comparison of responses of mice and dogs to continuous 60Co γ irradiation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Norris, W.P.; Tyler, S.A.; Sacher, G.A.

1976-01-01

Young-adult purebred beagle dogs were exposed continuously, 22h/d, to 60 Co γ rays until they died. The daily dose rates ranged from 3.5 to 210 rad. At 3.5 rad/d the mean survival time was in excess of 1860 days (the study was still in progress in Nov.1975), while at 210 rad/d mean survival time was 13 days. The data are compared with those from previously published information from similarly irradiated mice. The comparison is made in terms of radiation-specific death rate, defined as 1/MASsub(i)-1/MASsub(c), where MASsub(i) and MASsub(c) are the mean after-survival times of the irradiated and control populations, respectively. In both species, when log radiation-specific death rate is plotted against log dose rate, the response has a slope=2, i.e. the death rate increases with the square of dose rate. This occurs over the entire dose rate range where damage to haematopoietic tissues is the primary cause of death. In the mouse, at daily dose rates below 20 rad/d, haematopoietic injury is no longer a primary cause of death and the response curve shifts to slope=1 where injury is dependent only on total accumulated dose and is independent of dose rate. The data available so far suggest that a similar inflection may occur with the dog at dose rates below 3.5 rad/d. An experiment is being initiated to determine whether this will be the case. Statistical considerations, essential to the design of the study, are presented. (author)

Pharmacokinetics and toxicology of continuously infused nitroimidazoles

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Eifel, P.J.; Brown, J.M.

1984-01-01

The pharmacokinetics and toxicology of misonidazole (MISO) and SR-2508 given by continuous intraperitoneal infusion were studied in female C 3 H mice. The survival (time to death) of animals receiving continuous infusions of SR-2508 and MISO was compared and related to plasma concentration, rate of infusion and total amount of drug delivered. Brain and plasma concentrations were determined by HPLC. For SR-2508, plasma concentration was directly proportional to the infusion rate. However, as the infusion rate of MISO was doubled, the plasma concentration of MISO increased approximately 6-fold, reflecting a substantial increase in the apparent half-life. The brain/plasma concentration ratio in animals infused for up to 6 days with SR-2508 remained constant, at approximately 0.09. At plasma concentrations of 0.08-1.5 mM, animals receiving SR-2508 survived approximately 3 times as long as animals exposed to a comparable plasma concentration of MISO. Even at the lowest infusion rates employed in this study, the survival of mice receiving SR-2508 was much shorter than would have been predicted if the toxicity of these two drugs were solely related to the integral brain exposure. The low brain/plasma concentration ratio of SR-2508 was maintained throughout long continuous exposures

Rates of death and euthanasia for cats in no-kill shelters in the Czech Republic

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Vladimír Večerek

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Successful reduction of death and euthanasia rates requires the determination of factors related to death and euthanasia of cats in shelters. In the period from 2011 to 2015, 474 cats died and 240 had to be euthanized for health reasons in the three cat shelters monitored in our study. Altogether, death was the ultimate outcome for 33% of the cats admitted in the shelters. Out of the cats that died, 67.3% cats died within the first month and 95.4% within 6 months of admission to the shelter. Similarly, 65.0% of all euthanized cats were euthanized within the first month and 88.3% were euthanized within 6 months of admission. Since the majority of mortalities occurred shortly after admission, they more probably resulted from the cats’ poor condition at the time of admission rather than from the shelter’s environment. Females and cats younger than 6 months were at an increased risk of mortality. Autumn and summer were the seasons with the majority of fatalities. In general, the number of cats that died was almost double the number of cats that were euthanized; this suggests that attempts to cure cats were favoured over euthanasia, even in cases of serious health problems. In the fields of cat welfare and veterinary healthcare, the results enable increased attention to be focused on the determined risk factors and thus are an important prerequisite for a successful solution to the problem of the high number of deaths and instances of euthanasia of cats in shelters.

Causes of death and infant mortality rates among full-term births in the United States between 2010 and 2012: An observational study.

Science.gov (United States)

Bairoliya, Neha; Fink, Günther

2018-03-01

While the high prevalence of preterm births and its impact on infant mortality in the US have been widely acknowledged, recent data suggest that even full-term births in the US face substantially higher mortality risks compared to European countries with low infant mortality rates. In this paper, we use the most recent birth records in the US to more closely analyze the primary causes underlying mortality rates among full-term births. Linked birth and death records for the period 2010-2012 were used to identify the state- and cause-specific burden of infant mortality among full-term infants (born at 37-42 weeks of gestation). Multivariable logistic models were used to assess the extent to which state-level differences in full-term infant mortality (FTIM) were attributable to observed differences in maternal and birth characteristics. Random effects models were used to assess the relative contribution of state-level variation to FTIM. Hypothetical mortality outcomes were computed under the assumption that all states could achieve the survival rates of the best-performing states. A total of 10,175,481 infants born full-term in the US between January 1, 2010, and December 31, 2012, were analyzed. FTIM rate (FTIMR) was 2.2 per 1,000 live births overall, and ranged between 1.29 (Connecticut, 95% CI 1.08, 1.53) and 3.77 (Mississippi, 95% CI 3.39, 4.19) at the state level. Zero states reached the rates reported in the 6 low-mortality European countries analyzed (FTIMR 2.75. Sudden unexpected death in infancy (SUDI) accounted for 43% of FTIM; congenital malformations and perinatal conditions accounted for 31% and 11.3% of FTIM, respectively. The largest mortality differentials between states with good and states with poor FTIMR were found for SUDI, with particularly large risk differentials for deaths due to sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) (odds ratio [OR] 2.52, 95% CI 1.86, 3.42) and suffocation (OR 4.40, 95% CI 3.71, 5.21). Even though these mortality differences

Suicide and accidental deaths in children and adolescents in England and Wales, 2001-2010.

Science.gov (United States)

Windfuhr, Kirsten; While, David; Hunt, Isabelle M; Shaw, Jenny; Appleby, Louis; Kapur, Nav

2013-12-01

To investigate the impact of narrative verdicts on suicide statistics among 10-19-year-olds; to identify the number and rate of suicide and accidental deaths, particularly in 10-14-year-olds. National cohort study. England and Wales. Mid-year population estimates from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) were used to calculate rates per 100,000 population for suicide (undetermined and suicide verdicts) and accidental deaths (poisoning, hanging) for those aged 10-14 and 15-19. Trends in rates over time (2001-2010) were investigated using Poisson regression. Interaction tests were carried out to determine differences in trends between the two time periods (2001-2005 and 2006-2010). There were 1523 suicides (2.25/100,000). Suicide rates were highest in those aged 15-19 years (4.04/100,000) and in males (3.14/100,000). Between 2001 and 2010, rates significantly decreased among those aged 15-19 years (incidence rate-ratio (IRR): 0.95; 95% CI 0.93 to 0.97), with no change in rates of accidental deaths (IRR: 1.01, 95% CI 0.95 to 1.07). However, there was a significant interaction between the two time periods for accidental poisonings (2001-2005: IRR: 0.79 (95% CI 0.69 to 0.91); 2006-2010: IRR: 1.01 (95% CI 0.89 to 1.15), interaction p=0.012) and accidental hangings (2001-2005: IRR: 0.93 (95% CI 0.76 to 1.14); 2006-2010: IRR: 1.25 (95% CI 1.04 to 1.49), interaction=0.01) Undetermined deaths significantly decreased among females aged 15-19 yeras (IRR: 0.93; 95% CI 0.88 to 0.98). There were no significant trends among 10-14-year-olds. Rates of suicide are higher among older adolescents and males. There was a significant fall in suicide rates in males aged 15-19 years that was not accounted for by changes in rates of accidental death. The absence of a significant trend in suicide or accidental deaths in those aged 10-14 years may have been the result of small numbers. However, monitoring should continue to identify longitudinal trends in all young people.

Predicting and analyzing the trend of traffic accidents deaths in Iran in 2014 and 2015.

Science.gov (United States)

Mehmandar, Mohammadreza; Soori, Hamid; Mehrabi, Yadolah

2016-01-01

Predicting the trend in traffic accidents deaths and its analysis can be a useful tool for planning and policy-making, conducting interventions appropriate with death trend, and taking the necessary actions required for controlling and preventing future occurrences. Predicting and analyzing the trend of traffic accidents deaths in Iran in 2014 and 2015. It was a cross-sectional study. All the information related to fatal traffic accidents available in the database of Iran Legal Medicine Organization from 2004 to the end of 2013 were used to determine the change points (multi-variable time series analysis). Using autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA) model, traffic accidents death rates were predicted for 2014 and 2015, and a comparison was made between this rate and the predicted value in order to determine the efficiency of the model. From the results, the actual death rate in 2014 was almost similar to that recorded for this year, while in 2015 there was a decrease compared with the previous year (2014) for all the months. A maximum value of 41% was also predicted for the months of January and February, 2015. From the prediction and analysis of the death trends, proper application and continuous use of the intervention conducted in the previous years for road safety improvement, motor vehicle safety improvement, particularly training and culture-fostering interventions, as well as approval and execution of deterrent regulations for changing the organizational behaviors, can significantly decrease the loss caused by traffic accidents.

Patterns of gun deaths across US counties 1999-2013.

Science.gov (United States)

Kalesan, Bindu; Galea, Sandro

2017-05-01

We examined the socio-demographic distribution of gun deaths across 3143 counties in 50 United States' states to understand the spatial patterns and correlates of high and low gun deaths. We used aggregate counts of gun deaths and population in all counties from 1999 to 2013 from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Wide-ranging Online Data for Epidemiologic Research (WONDER). We characterized four levels of gun violence, as distinct levels of gun death rates of relatively safe, unsafe, violent, and extremely violent counties, based on quartiles of 15-year county-specific gun death rates per 100,000 and used negative binomial regression models allowing clustering by state to calculate incidence rate ratios and 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs). Most states had at least one violent or extremely violent county. Extremely violent gun counties were mostly rural, poor, predominantly minority, had high unemployment rate and homicide rate. Overall, homicide rate was significantly associated with gun deaths (incidence rate ratios = 1.08, 95% CI = 1.06-1.09). In relatively safe counties, this risk was 1.09 (95% CI = 1.05-1.13) and in extremely violent gun counties was 1.03 (95% CI = 1.03-1.04). There are broad differences in gun death rates across the United States representing different levels of gun death rates in each state with distinct socio-demographic profiles. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The perspectives of clinical staff and bereaved informal care-givers on the use of continuous sedation until death for cancer patients: The study protocol of the UNBIASED study

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

van der Heide Agnes

2011-03-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background A significant minority of dying people experience refractory symptoms or extreme distress unresponsive to conventional therapies. In such circumstances, sedation may be used to decrease or remove consciousness until death occurs. This practice is described in a variety of ways, including: 'palliative sedation', 'terminal sedation', 'continuous deep sedation until death', 'proportionate sedation' or 'palliative sedation to unconsciousness'. Surveys show large unexplained variation in incidence of sedation at the end of life across countries and care settings and there are ethical concerns about the use, intentions, risks and significance of the practice in palliative care. There are also questions about how to explain international variation in the use of the practice. This protocol relates to the UNBIASED study (UK Netherlands Belgium International Sedation Study, which comprises three linked studies with separate funding sources in the UK, Belgium and the Netherlands. The aims of the study are to explore decision-making surrounding the application of continuous sedation until death in contemporary clinical practice, and to understand the experiences of clinical staff and decedents' informal care-givers of the use of continuous sedation until death and their perceptions of its contribution to the dying process. The UNBIASED study is part of the European Association for Palliative Care Research Network. Methods/Design To realize the study aims, a two-phase study has been designed. The study settings include: the domestic home, hospital and expert palliative care sites. Phase 1 consists of: a focus groups with health care staff and bereaved informal care-givers; and b a preliminary case notes review to study the range of sedation therapy provided at the end of life to cancer patients who died within a 12 week period. Phase 2 employs qualitative methods to develop 30 patient-centred case studies in each country. These involve

Using continuous sedation until death for cancer patients: A qualitative interview study of physicians’ and nurses’ practice in three European countries

OpenAIRE

Seymour, Jane; Rietjens, Judith; Bruinsma, Sophie; Deliens, Luc; Sterckx, Sigrid; Mortier, Freddy; Brown, Jayne; Mathers, Nigel; van der Heide, Agnes

2014-01-01

Open access article BACKGROUND: Extensive debate surrounds the practice of continuous sedation until death to control refractory symptoms in terminal cancer care. We examined reported practice of United Kingdom, Belgian and Dutch physicians and nurses. METHODS: Qualitative case studies using interviews. SETTING: Hospitals, the domestic home and hospices or palliative care units. PARTICIPANTS: In all, 57 Physicians and 73 nurses involved in the care of 84 cancer pati...

Parent & Child Perceptions of Child Health after Sibling Death.

Science.gov (United States)

Roche, Rosa M; Brooten, Dorothy; Youngblut, JoAnne M

Understanding children's health after a sibling's death and what factors may affect it is important for treatment and clinical care. This study compared children's and their parents' perceptions of children's health and identified relationships of children's age, gender, race/ethnicity, anxiety, and depression and sibling's cause of death to these perceptions at 2 and 4 months after sibling death. 64 children and 48 parents rated the child's health "now" and "now vs before" the sibling's death in an ICU or ER or at home shortly after withdrawal of life-prolonging technology. Children completed the Child Depression Inventory and Spence Children's Anxiety Scale. Sibling cause of death was collected from hospital records. At 2 and 4 months, 45% to 54% of mothers' and 53% to 84% of fathers' ratings of their child's health "now" were higher than their children's ratings. Child health ratings were lower for: children with greater depression; fathers whose children reported greater anxiety; mothers whose child died of a chronic condition. Children's ratings of their health "now vs before" their sibling's death did not differ significantly from mothers' or fathers' ratings at 2 or 4 months. Black fathers were more likely to rate the child's health better "now vs before" the death; there were no significant differences by child gender and cause of death in child's health "now vs before" the death. Children's responses to a sibling's death may not be visually apparent or become known by asking parents. Parents often perceive their children as healthier than children perceive themselves at 2 and 4 months after sibling death, so talking with children separately is important. Children's perceptions of their health may be influenced by depression, fathers' perceptions by children's anxiety, and mother's perceptions by the cause of sibling death.

Making death 'good': instructional tales for dying in newspaper accounts of Jade Goody's death.

Science.gov (United States)

Frith, Hannah; Raisborough, Jayne; Klein, Orly

2013-03-01

Facilitating a 'good' death is a central goal for hospices and palliative care organisations. The key features of such a death include an acceptance of death, an open awareness of and communication about death, the settling of practical and interpersonal business, the reduction of suffering and pain, and the enhancement of autonomy, choice and control. Yet deaths are inherently neither good nor bad; they require cultural labour to be 'made over' as good. Drawing on media accounts of the controversial death of UK reality television star Jade Goody, and building on existing analyses of her death, we examine how cultural discourses actively work to construct deaths as good or bad and to position the dying and those witnessing their death as morally accountable. By constructing Goody as bravely breaking social taboos by openly acknowledging death, by contextualising her dying as occurring at the end of a life well lived and by emphasising biographical continuity and agency, newspaper accounts serve to position themselves as educative rather than exploitative, and readers as information-seekers rather than ghoulishly voyeuristic. We argue that popular culture offers moral instruction in dying well which resonates with the messages from palliative care. © 2012 The Authors. Sociology of Health & Illness © 2012 Foundation for the Sociology of Health & Illness/Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Controlled population-based comparative study of USA and international adult [55-74] neurological deaths 1989-2014.

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Pritchard, C; Rosenorn-Lanng, E; Silk, A; Hansen, L

2017-12-01

A population-based controlled study to determine whether adult (55-74 years) neurological disease deaths are continuing to rise and are there significant differences between America and the twenty developed countries 1989-91 and 2012-14. Total Neurological Deaths (TND) rates contrasted against control Cancer and Circulatory Disease Deaths (CDD) extrapolated from WHO data. Confidence intervals compare USA and the other countries over the period. The Over-75's TND and population increases are examined as a context for the 55-74 outcomes. Male neurological deaths rose >10% in eleven countries, the other countries average rose 20% the USA 43% over the period. Female neurological deaths rose >10% in ten counties, averaging 14%, the USA up 68%. USA male and female neurological deaths increased significantly more than twelve and seventeen countries, respectively. USA over-75s population increased by 49%, other countries 56%. Other countries TND up 187% the USA rose fourfold. Male and female cancer and CDD fell in every country averaging 26% and 21%, respectively, and 64% and 67% for CDD. Male neurological rates rose significantly more than Cancer and CCD in every country; Female neurological deaths rose significantly more than cancer in 17 countries and every country for CDD. There was no significant correlation between increases in neurological deaths and decreases in control mortalities. There are substantial increases in neurological deaths in most countries, significantly so in America. Rises in the 55-74 and over-75's rates are not primarily due to demographic changes and are a matter of concern warranting further investigation. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

An in vivo root hair assay for determining rates of apoptotic-like programmed cell death in plants

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hogg Bridget V

2011-12-01

Full Text Available Abstract In Arabidopsis thaliana we demonstrate that dying root hairs provide an easy and rapid in vivo model for the morphological identification of apoptotic-like programmed cell death (AL-PCD in plants. The model described here is transferable between species, can be used to investigate rates of AL-PCD in response to various treatments and to identify modulation of AL-PCD rates in mutant/transgenic plant lines facilitating rapid screening of mutant populations in order to identify genes involved in AL-PCD regulation.

International comparison of death place for suicide; a population-level eight country death certificate study.

Science.gov (United States)

Rhee, YongJoo; Houttekier, Dirk; MacLeod, Roderick; Wilson, Donna M; Cardenas-Turanzas, Marylou; Loucka, Martin; Aubry, Regis; Teno, Joan; Roh, Sungwon; Reinecke, Mark A; Deliens, Luc; Cohen, Joachim

2016-01-01

The places of death for people who died of suicide were compared across eight countries and socio-demographic factors associated with home suicide deaths identified. Death certificate data were analyzed; using multivariable binary logistic regression to determine associations. National suicide death rates ranged from 1.4 % (Mexico) to 6.4 % (South Korea). The proportion of suicide deaths occurring at home was high, ranging from 29.9 % (South Korea) to 65.8 % (Belgium). Being older, female, widowed/separated, highly educated and living in an urban area were risk factors for home suicide. Home suicide deaths need specific attention in prevention programs.

Deaths from international terrorism compared with road crash deaths in OECD countries.

Science.gov (United States)

Wilson, N; Thomson, G

2005-12-01

To estimate the relative number of deaths in member countries of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) from international terrorism and road crashes. Data on deaths from international terrorism (US State Department database) were collated (1994-2003) and compared to the road injury deaths (year 2000 and 2001 data) from the OECD International Road Transport Accident Database. In the 29 OECD countries for which comparable data were available, the annual average death rate from road injury was approximately 390 times that from international terrorism. The ratio of annual road to international terrorism deaths (averaged over 10 years) was lowest for the United States at 142 times. In 2001, road crash deaths in the US were equal to those from a September 11 attack every 26 days. There is a large difference in the magnitude of these two causes of deaths from injury. Policy makers need to be aware of this when allocating resources to preventing these two avoidable causes of mortality.

Using continuous sedation until death for cancer patients: A qualitative interview study of physicians’ and nurses' practice in three European countries

OpenAIRE

Seymour, J.; Rietjens, J.; Bruinsma, S.; Deliens, L.; Sterckx, S.; Mortier, F.; Brown, J.; Mathers, N.; van der Heide, A.; Consortium, UNBIASED

2015-01-01

Background: Extensive debate surrounds the practice of continuous sedation until death to control refractory symptoms in terminal cancer care. We examined reported practice of United Kingdom, Belgian and Dutch physicians and nurses.\\ud Methods: Qualitative case studies using interviews.\\ud Setting: Hospitals, the domestic home and hospices or palliative care units.\\ud Participants: In all, 57 Physicians and 73 nurses involved in the care of 84 cancer patients.\\ud Results: UK respondents repor...

Prosperity as a cause of death.

Science.gov (United States)

Eyer, J

1977-01-01

The general death rate rises during business booms and falls during depressions. The causes of death involved in this variation range from infectious diseases through accidents to heart disease, cancer, and cirrhosis of the liver, and include the great majority of all causes of death. Less than 2 percent of the death rate-that for suicide and homicide-varies directly with unemployment. In the older historical data, deterioration of housing and rise of alcohol consumption on the boom may account for part of this variation. In twentieth-century cycles, the role of social stress is probably predominant. Overwork and fragmentation of community through migration are two important sources of stress which rise with the boom, and they are demonstrably related to the causes of death which show this variation.

The Effects of Vehicle Redesign on the Risk of Driver Death.

Science.gov (United States)

Farmer, Charles M; Lund, Adrian K

2015-01-01

This study updates a 2006 report that estimated the historical effects of vehicle design changes on driver fatality rates in the United States, separate from the effects of environmental and driver behavior changes during the same period. In addition to extending the period covered by 8 years, this study estimated the effect of design changes by model year and vehicle type. Driver death rates for consecutive model years of vehicle models without design changes were used to estimate the vehicle aging effect and the death rates that would have been expected if the entire fleet had remained unchanged from the 1985 calendar year. These calendar year estimates are taken to be the combined effect of road environment and motorist behavioral changes, with the difference between them and the actual calendar year driver fatality rates reflecting the effect of changes in vehicle design and distribution of vehicle types. The effects of vehicle design changes by model year were estimated for cars, SUVs, and pickups by computing driver death rates for model years 1984-2009 during each of their first 3 full calendar years of exposure and comparing with the expected rates if there had been no design changes. As reported in the 2006 study, had there been no changes in the vehicle fleet, driver death risk would have declined during calendar years 1985-1993 and then slowly increased from 1993 to 2004. The updated results indicate that the gradual increase would have continued through 2006, after which driver fatality rates again would have declined through 2012. Overall, it is estimated that there were 7,700 fewer driver deaths in 2012 than there would have been had vehicle designs not changed. Cars were the first vehicle type whose design safety generally exceeded that of the 1984 model year (starting in model year 1996), followed by SUVs (1998 models) and pickups (2002 models). By the 2009 model year, car driver fatality risk had declined 51% from its high in 1994, pickup driver

Classification of sudden and arrhythmic death

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Torp-Pedersen, C; Køber, L; Elming, H

1997-01-01

was nearly abolished by the implantable defibrillator, indicating that arrhythmic death by this classification is meaningful, at least in the population studied. For future investigations, a call is made for committees to present data in a way that allows the reader to examine the quality of the data used......Since all death is (eventually) sudden and associated with cardiac arrhythmias, the concept of sudden death is only meaningful if it is unexpected, while arrhythmic death is only meaningful if life could have continued had the arrhythmia been prevented or treated. Current classifications of death...... or autopsy) are available in only a few percent of cases. A main problem in using classifications is the lack of validation data. This situation has, with the MADIT trial, changed in the case of the Thaler and Hinkle classification of arrhythmic death. The MADIT trial demonstrated that arrhythmic death...

Acute cell death rate of vascular smooth muscle cells during or after short heating up to 20s ranging 50 to 60°C as a basic study of thermal angioplasty

Science.gov (United States)

Shinozuka, Machiko; Shimazaki, Natsumi; Ogawa, Emiyu; Machida, Naoki; Arai, Tsunenori

2014-02-01

We studied the relations between the time history of smooth muscle cells (SMCs) death rate and heating condition in vitro to clarify cell death mechanism in heating angioplasty, in particular under the condition in which intimal hyperplasia growth had been prevented in vivo swine experiment. A flow heating system on the microscope stage was used for the SMCs death rate measurement during or after the heating. The cells were loaded step-heating by heated flow using a heater equipped in a Photo-thermo dynamic balloon. The heating temperature was set to 37, 50-60°C. The SMCs death rate was calculated by a division of PI stained cell number by Hoechst33342 stained cell number. The SMCs death rate increased 5-10% linearly during 20 s with the heating. The SMCs death rate increased with duration up to 15 min after 5 s heating. Because fragmented nuclei were observed from approximately 5 min after the heating, we defined that acute necrosis and late necrosis were corresponded to within 5 min after the heating and over 5 min after the heating, respectively. This late necrosis is probably corresponding to apoptosis. The ratio of necrotic interaction divided the acute necrosis rate by the late necrosis was calculated based on this consideration as 1.3 under the particular condition in which intimal hyperplasia growth was prevented in vivo previous porcine experiment. We think that necrotic interaction rate is larger than expected rate to obtain intimal hyperplasia suppression.

Quantifying cause-related mortality by weighting multiple causes of death

Science.gov (United States)

Moreno-Betancur, Margarita; Lamarche-Vadel, Agathe; Rey, Grégoire

2016-01-01

Abstract Objective To investigate a new approach to calculating cause-related standardized mortality rates that involves assigning weights to each cause of death reported on death certificates. Methods We derived cause-related standardized mortality rates from death certificate data for France in 2010 using: (i) the classic method, which considered only the underlying cause of death; and (ii) three novel multiple-cause-of-death weighting methods, which assigned weights to multiple causes of death mentioned on death certificates: the first two multiple-cause-of-death methods assigned non-zero weights to all causes mentioned and the third assigned non-zero weights to only the underlying cause and other contributing causes that were not part of the main morbid process. As the sum of the weights for each death certificate was 1, each death had an equal influence on mortality estimates and the total number of deaths was unchanged. Mortality rates derived using the different methods were compared. Findings On average, 3.4 causes per death were listed on each certificate. The standardized mortality rate calculated using the third multiple-cause-of-death weighting method was more than 20% higher than that calculated using the classic method for five disease categories: skin diseases, mental disorders, endocrine and nutritional diseases, blood diseases and genitourinary diseases. Moreover, this method highlighted the mortality burden associated with certain diseases in specific age groups. Conclusion A multiple-cause-of-death weighting approach to calculating cause-related standardized mortality rates from death certificate data identified conditions that contributed more to mortality than indicated by the classic method. This new approach holds promise for identifying underrecognized contributors to mortality. PMID:27994280

Causes of death from the randomized CoreValve US Pivotal High-Risk Trial.

Science.gov (United States)

Gaudiani, Vincent; Deeb, G Michael; Popma, Jeffrey J; Adams, David H; Gleason, Thomas G; Conte, John V; Zorn, George L; Hermiller, James B; Chetcuti, Stan; Mumtaz, Mubashir; Yakubov, Steven J; Kleiman, Neal S; Huang, Jian; Reardon, Michael J

2017-06-01

Explore causes and timing of death from the CoreValve US Pivotal High-Risk Trial. An independent clinical events committee adjudicated causes of death, followed by post hoc hierarchical classification. Baseline characteristics, early outcomes, and causes of death were evaluated for 3 time periods (selected based on threshold of surgical 30-day mortality and on the differences in the continuous hazard between the 2 groups): early (0-30 days), recovery (31-120 days), and late (121-365 days). Differences in the rate of death were evident only during the recovery period (31-120 days), whereas 15 patients undergoing transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) (4.0%) and 27 surgical aortic valve replacement (SAVR) patients (7.9%) died (P = .025). This mortality difference was largely driven by higher rates of technical failure, surgical complications, and lack of recovery following surgery. From 0 to 30 days, the causes of death were more technical failures in the TAVR group and lack of recovery in the SAVR group. Mortality in the late period (121-365 days) in both arms was most commonly ascribed to other circumstances, comprising death from medical complications from comorbid disease. Mortality at 1 year in the CoreValve US Pivotal High-Risk Trial favored TAVR over SAVR. The major contributor was that more SAVR patients died during the recovery period (31-121 days), likely affected by the overall influence of physical stress associated with surgery. Similar rates of technical failure and complications were observed between the 2 groups. This suggests that early TAVR results can improve with technical refinements and that high-risk surgical patients will benefit from reducing complications. Copyright © 2017 The American Association for Thoracic Surgery. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Radiobiological aspects of continuous low dose-rate irradiation and fractionated high dose-rate irradiation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Turesson, I.

1990-01-01

The biological effects of continuous low dose-rate irradiation and fractionated high dose-rate irradiation in interstitial and intracavitary radiotherapy and total body irradiation are discussed in terms of dose-rate fractionation sensitivity for various tissues. A scaling between dose-rate and fraction size was established for acute and late normal-tissue effects which can serve as a guideline for local treatment in the range of dose rates between 0.02 and 0.005 Gy/min and fraction sizes between 8.5 and 2.5 Gy. This is valid provided cell-cycle progression and proliferation can be ignored. Assuming that the acute and late tissue responses are characterized by α/β values of about 10 and 3 Gy and a mono-exponential repair half-time of about 3 h, the same total doses given with either of the two methods are approximately equivalent. The equivalence for acute and late non-hemopoietic normal tissue damage is 0.02 Gy/min and 8.5 Gy per fraction; 0.01 Gy/min and 5.5 Gy per fraction; and 0.005 Gy/min and 2.5Gy per fraction. A very low dose rate, below 0.005 Gy/min, is thus necessary to simulate high dose-rate radiotherapy with fraction sizes of about 2Gy. The scaling factor is, however, dependent on the repair half-time of the tissue. A review of published data on dose-rate effects for normal tissue response showed a significantly stronger dose-rate dependence for late than for acute effects below 0.02 Gy/min. There was no significant difference in dose-rate dependence between various acute non-hemopoietic effects or between various late effects. The consistent dose-rate dependence, which justifies the use of a general scaling factor between fraction size and dose rate, contrasts with the wide range of values for repair half-time calculated for various normal-tissue effects. This indicates that the model currently used for repair kinetics is not satisfactory. There are also few experimental data in the clinical dose-rate range, below 0.02 Gy/min. It is therefore

Adolescents' Attitudes toward the Death Penalty.

Science.gov (United States)

Lester, David; Maggioncalda-Aretz, Maria; Stark, Scott Hunter

1997-01-01

Examines whether high school (n=142) and college students (n=112) favored the death penalty for certain criminal acts. Findings indicate that high school students rated more criminal acts as meriting the death penalty. Gender and personality were not found to be associated with attitudes toward the death penalty. (RJM)

A comparison of anti-tumor effects of high dose rate fractionated and low dose rate continuous irradiation in multicellular spheroids

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kubota, Nobuo; Omura, Motoko; Matsubara, Sho.

1997-01-01

In a clinical experience, high dose rate (HDR) fractionated interstitial radiotherapy can be an alternative to traditional low dose rate (LDR) continuous interstitial radiotherapy for head and neck cancers. To investigate biological effect of HDR, compared to LDR, comparisons have been made using spheroids of human squamous carcinoma cells. Both LDR and HDR were delivered by 137 Cs at 37degC. Dose rate of LDR was 8 Gy/day and HDR irradiations of fraction size of 4, 5 or 6 Gy were applied twice a day with an interval time of more than 6 hr. We estimated HDR fractionated dose of 31 Gy with 4 Gy/fr to give the same biological effects of 38 Gy by continuous LDR for spheroids. The ratio of HDR/LDR doses to control 50% spheroids was 0.82. (author)

Changes in mortality rates and causes of death in a population-based cohort of persons living with and without HIV from 1996 to 2012.

Science.gov (United States)

Eyawo, Oghenowede; Franco-Villalobos, Conrado; Hull, Mark W; Nohpal, Adriana; Samji, Hasina; Sereda, Paul; Lima, Viviane D; Shoveller, Jeannie; Moore, David; Montaner, Julio S G; Hogg, Robert S

2017-02-27

Non-HIV/AIDS-related diseases are gaining prominence as important causes of morbidity and mortality among people living with HIV. The purpose of this study was to characterize and compare changes over time in mortality rates and causes of death among a population-based cohort of persons living with and without HIV in British Columbia (BC), Canada. We analysed data from the Comparative Outcomes And Service Utilization Trends (COAST) study; a retrospective population-based study created via linkage between the BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS and Population Data BC, and containing data for HIV-infected individuals and the general population of BC, respectively. Our analysis included all known HIV-infected adults (≥ 20 years) in BC and a random 10% sample of uninfected BC adults followed from 1996 to 2012. Deaths were identified through Population Data BC - which contains information on all registered deaths in BC (BC Vital Statistics Agency dataset) and classified into cause of death categories using International Classification of Diseases (ICD) 9/10 codes. Age-standardized mortality rates (ASMR) and mortality rate ratios were calculated. Trend test were performed. 3401 (25%), and 47,647 (9%) individuals died during the 5,620,150 person-years of follow-up among 13,729 HIV-infected and 510,313 uninfected individuals, respectively. All-cause and cause-specific mortality rates were consistently higher among HIV-infected compared to HIV-negative individuals, except for neurological disorders. All-cause ASMR decreased from 126.75 (95% CI: 84.92-168.57) per 1000 population in 1996 to 21.29 (95% CI: 17.79-24.79) in 2011-2012 (83% decline; p ASMR reductions were also observed for hepatic/liver disease and drug abuse/overdose deaths. ASMRs for neurological disorders increased significantly over time. Non-AIDS-defining cancers are currently the leading non-HIV/AIDS-related cause of death in both HIV-infected and uninfected individuals. Despite the significant

The association of culling and death rate within 30 days after calving with productivity or reproductive performance in dairy herds in Fukuoka, Southern Japan.

Science.gov (United States)

Goto, Akira; Nakada, Ken; Katamoto, Hiromu

2016-05-03

The incidence of peripartum disorders in dairy herds negatively influences productivity and reproductive performance. Concrete data from local areas are helpful for explaining the importance of peripartum management to dairy farmers. This study was conducted to clarify the association of culling and death rate within 30 days after calving with productivity or reproductive performance in 179 dairy herds in Fukuoka, Southern Japan. A database was compiled from the records of the Livestock Improvement Association of Japan, the Dairy Cooperative Association and the Federation of Agricultural Mutual Relief Association. In this study, we created a comprehensive database of dairy farm production data for epidemiological analysis and used a general linear mixed model to analyze the association of culling and death rate within 30 days after calving with milk production or reproductive performance. The database can be used to describe, analyze and predict the risk of production. A cross-sectional analysis with contrasts was applied to investigate the association of cows served by AI/all cows, pregnant cows/cows served by AI, days open, milk yield and somatic cell counts with culling and death rate within 30 days after calving. The days open value significantly increased with increasing rate of culling and death within 30 days after calving (P for trend <0.001). No significant differences were found for the other comparisons. Our data suggest that proper feeding and management in the dry period may lead to improved postpartum reproductive performance in this dairy cow cohort.

Frequency distributions from birth, death, and creation processes.

Science.gov (United States)

Bartley, David L; Ogden, Trevor; Song, Ruiguang

2002-01-01

The time-dependent frequency distribution of groups of individuals versus group size was investigated within a continuum approximation, assuming a simplified individual growth, death and creation model. The analogy of the system to a physical fluid exhibiting both convection and diffusion was exploited in obtaining various solutions to the distribution equation. A general solution was approximated through the application of a Green's function. More specific exact solutions were also found to be useful. The solutions were continually checked against the continuum approximation through extensive simulation of the discrete system. Over limited ranges of group size, the frequency distributions were shown to closely exhibit a power-law dependence on group size, as found in many realizations of this type of system, ranging from colonies of mutated bacteria to the distribution of surnames in a given population. As an example, the modeled distributions were successfully fit to the distribution of surnames in several countries by adjusting the parameters specifying growth, death and creation rates.

Mortality and causes of death in children referred to a tertiary epilepsy center.

Science.gov (United States)

Grønborg, Sabine; Uldall, Peter

2014-01-01

Patients with epilepsy, including children, have an increased mortality rate when compared to the general population. Only few studies on causes of mortality in childhood epilepsy exist and pediatric SUDEP rate is under continuous discussion. To describe general mortality, incidence of sudden unexpected death in epilepsy (SUDEP), causes of death and age distribution in a pediatric epilepsy patient population. The study retrospectively examined the mortality and causes of death in 1974 patients with childhood-onset epilepsy at a tertiary epilepsy center in Denmark over a period of 9 years. Cases of death were identified through their unique civil registration number. Information from death certificates, autopsy reports and medical notes were collected. 2.2% (n = 43) of the patient cohort died during the study period. This includes 9 patients with SUDEP (8 SUDEP cases per 10,000 patient years). 9 patients died in the course of neurodegenerative disease and 28 children died of various causes. Epilepsy was considered drug resistant in more than 95% of the deceased patients, 90% were diagnosed with intellectual disability. Mortality of patients that underwent dietary epilepsy treatment was slightly higher than in the general cohort. There were no epilepsy-related deaths due to drowning. This study confirms that SUDEP must not be disregarded in the pediatric age group. The vast majority of SUDEP cases in this study displays numerous risk factors similar to those described in adult epilepsy patients. Including SUDEP, only 30% of the mortality was directly seizure related. Copyright © 2013 European Paediatric Neurology Society. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Circulatory Arrest, Brain Arrest and Death Determination

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sam David Shemie

2018-03-01

Full Text Available Technological advances, particularly in the capacity to support, replace or transplant failing organs, continue to challenge and refine our understanding of human death. Given the ability to reanimate organs before and after death, both inside and outside of the body, through reinstitution of oxygenated circulation, concepts related to death of organs (e.g. cardiac death are no longer valid. This paper advances the rationale for a single conceptual determination of death related to permanent brain arrest, resulting from primary brain injury or secondary to circulatory arrest. The clinical characteristics of brain arrest are the permanent loss of capacity for consciousness and loss of all brainstem functions. In the setting of circulatory arrest, death occurs after the arrest of circulation to the brain rather than death of the heart. Correspondingly, any intervention that resumes oxygenated circulation to the brain after circulatory arrest would invalidate the determination of death.

Sudden cardiac death in children (1-18 years)

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Winkel, Bo Gregers; Risgaard, Bjarke; Sadjadieh, Golnaz

2014-01-01

AIMS: Hitherto, sudden cardiac death in children (SCDc)-defined as sudden cardiac death (SCD) in the 1-18 years old-has been incompletely described in the general population. Knowledge on incidence rates, causes of death and symptoms prior to death is sparse and has been affected by reporting...... and referral bias. METHODS AND RESULTS: In a nationwide setting all deaths in children aged 1-18 years in Denmark in 2000-06 were included. To chart causes of death and incidence rates, death certificates and autopsy reports were collected and read. By additional use of the extensive healthcare registries...... in Denmark, we were also able to investigate prior disease and symptoms. During the 7-year study period there was an average of 1.11 million persons aged 1-18 years. There were a total of 1504 deaths (214 deaths per year) from 7.78 million person-years. A total of 114 (7.5%) were sudden and unexpected...

Delayed Referral Results in Missed Opportunities for Organ Donation After Circulatory Death.

Science.gov (United States)

Krmpotic, Kristina; Payne, Clare; Isenor, Cynthia; Dhanani, Sonny

2017-06-01

Rates of organ donation and transplantation have steadily increased in the United States and Canada over the past decade, largely attributable to a notable increase in donation after circulatory death. However, the number of patients awaiting solid organ transplantation continues to remain much higher than the number of organs transplanted each year. The objective of this study was to determine the potential to increase donation rates further by identifying gaps in the well-established donation after circulatory death process in Ontario. Retrospective cohort study. Provincial organ procurement organization. Patients who died in designated donation hospitals within the province of Ontario, Canada between April 1, 2013, and March 31, 2015. None. Of 1,407 patient deaths following planned withdrawal of life-sustaining therapy, 54.0% (n = 760) were medically suitable for donation after circulatory death. In 438 cases where next of kin was approached, consent rates reached 47.5%. A total of 119 patients became actual organ donors. Only 66.2% (n = 503) of suitable patients were appropriately referred, resulting in 251 missed potential donors whose next of kin could not be approached regarding organ donation because referral occurred after initiation of withdrawal of life-sustaining therapy or not at all. The number of medically suitable patients who die within 2 hours of planned withdrawal of life-sustaining therapy is nearly six times higher than the number of actual organ donors, with the greatest loss of potential due to delayed referral until at the time of or after planned withdrawal of life-sustaining therapy. Intensive care teams are not meeting their ethical responsibility to recognize impending death and appropriately refer potential organ donors to the local organ procurement organization. In cases where patients had previously registered their consent decision, they were denied a healthcare right.

High death rate in mice treated topically with diclofenac

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lerche, Catharina M; Philipsen, Peter A; Poulsen, Thomas

2011-01-01

). Diclofenac was applied topically on the backs of hairless, female, C3.Cg/TifBomTac immunocompetent mice three times weekly followed by ultraviolet radiation (2, 3, or 4 Standard Erythema Dose) until death. There was a significant difference in survival between diclofenac-treated groups and control groups (P...

Death and Death Anxiety

OpenAIRE

Gonca Karakus; Zehra Ozturk; Lut Tamam

2012-01-01

Although death and life concepts seem so different from each other, some believe that death and life as a whole that death is accepted as the goal of life and death completes life. In different cultures, societies and disciplines, there have been very different definitions of death which changes according to personality, age, religion and cultural status of the individual. Attitudes towards death vary dramatically according to individuals. As for the death anxiety, it is a feeling which start...

Death in the United States, 2011

Science.gov (United States)

... Order from the National Technical Information Service NCHS Death in the United States, 2011 Recommend on Facebook ... 2011 SOURCE: National Vital Statistics System, Mortality. Do death rates vary by state? States experience different mortality ...

Agreement between death-certificate and autopsy diagnoses among atomic-bomb survivors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ron, E.; Carter, R.L.; Jablon, S.; Mabuchi, Kiyohiko.

1993-11-01

Using the Atomic Bomb Casualty Commission/Radiation Effects Research Foundation series of over 5000 autopsies, we examined death-certificate accuracy for several disease categories and assessed the effect of potential modifying factors on this accuracy. For 12 cause-of-death categories, the overall percent agreement between death-certificate and autopsy diagnoses was only 52.5%. Although neoplasms had the highest detection rate (on the death certificate) in the study, still almost 25% of cancers diagnosed at autopsy were missed on the death certificate. Only for neoplasms and external causes of death were confirmation and detection rates above 70%. Confirmation rates were between 50% and 70% for infectious and parasitic diseases and heart and other vascular diseases. Detection rates reached a similar level for infectious and parasitic, cerebrovascular, and digestive diseases. Specificity rates were above 90% for all but the cerebrovascular disease category. Overall agreement decreased with increasing age of the decedents and was lower for deaths occurring outside of hospital vs those occurring in a hospital. There was some suggestion that agreement rates were higher for more-recent deaths but no indication that radiation dose, sex, city of residence, or inclusion in a biennial clinical-examination program influenced agreement. Because the inaccuracy of death-certificate diagnoses can have major implications for many aspects of health research and planning, it is important to be aware that death-certificate accuracy is low and can vary widely depending on the patient's age at death and the place of death. (J.P.N.)

Lymphoid cell kinetics under continuous low dose-rate gamma irradiation: A comparison study

Science.gov (United States)

Foster, B. R.

1975-01-01

A comparison study was conducted of the effects of continuous low dose-rate gamma irradiation on cell population kinetics of lymphoid tissue (white pulp) of the mouse spleen with findings as they relate to the mouse thymus. Experimental techniques employed included autoradiography and specific labeling with tritiated thymidine (TdR-(h-3)). The problem studied involved the mechanism of cell proliferation of lymphoid tissue of the mouse spleen and thymus under the stress of continuous irradiation at a dose rate of 10 roentgens (R) per day for 105 days (15 weeks). The aim was to determine whether or not a steady state or near-steady state of cell population could be established for this period of time, and what compensatory mechanisms of cell population were involved.

Heart rate reserve predicts cardiovascular death among physically unfit but otherwise healthy middle-aged men: a 35-year follow-up study.

Science.gov (United States)

Engeseth, Kristian; Hodnesdal, Christian; Grundvold, Irene; Liestøl, Knut; Gjesdal, Knut; Erikssen, Gunnar; Kjeldsen, Sverre E; Erikssen, Jan E; Bodegard, Johan; Skretteberg, Per Torger

2016-01-01

Heart rate reserve (HRR) has been reported to be inversely associated with cardiovascular (CV) disease and death. The impact of physical fitness (PF) on this relationship has not, however, been described in detail. We investigated how different levels of PF influenced the association between HRR and CV death during a 35-year follow-up. HRR and PF were measured in 2014 apparently healthy, middle-aged men during a symptom-limited bicycle exercise test in 1972-75. The men were divided into tertiles (T1-T3) by age-adjusted HRR. Morbidity and mortality data were registered from hospital charts through 2007 and the Norwegian Cause of Death Registry. Adjusted Cox proportional hazard regression models were used to calculate risks. Incidence of CV death was 528 (26%) during median 30 years of follow-up. Men with the lowest HRR had 41% (HR 1.41 [1.14-1.75]) increased risk of CV death compared with the men with the highest. We found a significant interaction between age-adjusted PF and HRR. After stratifying the men by PF, results were statistically significant only among men with the lowest PF, where the men with lowest HRR had a 70% (HR 1.70 [1.12-2.67]) increased risk of CV death compared with the men with the highest. Low HRR was independently associated with increased risk of CV death in apparently healthy, middle-aged men. The predictive impact of HRR on CV death risk was, however, confined to unfit men. © The European Society of Cardiology 2014.

A population-based study of homicide deaths in Ontario, Canada using linked death records.

Science.gov (United States)

Lachaud, James; Donnelly, Peter D; Henry, David; Kornas, Kathy; Calzavara, Andrew; Bornbaum, Catherine; Rosella, Laura

2017-07-24

Homicide - a lethal expression of violence - has garnered little attention from public health researchers and health policy makers, despite the fact that homicides are a cause of preventable and premature death. Identifying populations at risk and the upstream determinants of homicide are important for addressing inequalities that hinder population health. This population-based study investigates the public health significance of homicides in Ontario, Canada, over the period of 1999-2012. We quantified the relative burden of homicides by comparing the socioeconomic gradient in homicides with the leading causes of death, cardiovascular disease (CVD) and neoplasm, and estimated the potential years of life lost (PYLL) due to homicide. We linked vital statistics from the Office of the Registrar General Deaths register (ORG-D) with Census and administrative data for all Ontario residents. We extracted all homicide, neoplasm, and cardiovascular deaths from 1999 to 2012, using International Classification of Diseases codes. For socioeconomic status (SES), we used two dimensions of the Ontario Marginalization Index (ON-Marg): material deprivation and residential instability. Trends were summarized across deprivation indices using age-specific rates, rate ratios, and PYLL. Young males, 15-29 years old, were the main victims of homicide with a rate of 3.85 [IC 95%: 3.56; 4.13] per 100,000 population and experienced an upward trend over the study period. The socioeconomic neighbourhood gradient was substantial and higher than the gradient for both cardiovascular and neoplasms. Finally, the PYLL due to homicide were 63,512 and 24,066 years for males and females, respectively. Homicides are an important cause of death among young males, and populations living in disadvantaged neighbourhoods. Our findings raise concerns about the burden of homicides in the Canadian population and the importance of addressing social determinants to address these premature deaths.

Do loss to follow-up and death rates from ART care vary across primary health care facilities and hospitals in south Ethiopia? A retrospective follow-up study.

Science.gov (United States)

Teshome, Wondu; Belayneh, Mehretu; Moges, Mathewos; Mekonnen, Emebet; Endrias, Misganu; Ayele, Sinafiksh; Misganaw, Tebeje; Shiferaw, Mekonnen; Tesema, Tigist

2015-01-01

Decentralization and task shifting has significantly improved access to antiretroviral therapy (ART). Many studies conducted to determine the attrition rate in Ethiopia have not compared attrition rates between hospitals and health centers in a relatively recent cohort of patients. This study compared death and loss to follow-up (LTFU) rates among ART patients in hospitals and health centers in south Ethiopia. Data routinely collected from patients aged older than 15 years who started ART between July 2011 and August 2012 in 20 selected health facilities (12 being hospitals) were analyzed. The outcomes of interest were LTFU and death. The data were entered, cleaned, and analyzed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences version 20.0 and Stata version 12.0. Competing-risk regression models were used. The service years of the facilities were similar (median 8 and 7.5 for hospitals and health centers, respectively). The mean patient age was 33.7±9.6 years. The median baseline CD4 count was 179 (interquartile range 93-263) cells/mm(3). A total of 2,356 person-years of observation were made with a median follow-up duration of 28 (interquartile range 22-31) months; 24.6% were either dead or LTFU, resulting in a retention rate of 75.4%. The death rates were 3.0 and 1.5 and the LTFU rate were 9.0 and 10.9 per 100 person-years of observation in health centers and hospitals, respectively. The competing-risk regression model showed that the gap between testing and initiation of ART, body mass index, World Health Organization clinical stage, isoniazid prophylaxis, age, facility type, and educational status were independently associated with LTFU. Moreover, baseline tuberculous disease, poor functional status, and follow-up at a health center were associated with an elevated probability of death. We observed a higher death rate and a lower LTFU rate in health centers than in hospitals. Most of the associated variables were also previously documented. Higher LTFU was

Near-term and late biological effects of acute and low-dose-rate continuous gamma-ray exposure in dogs and monkeys

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Spalding, J.F.; Holland, L.M.

1979-07-01

Monkeys (Macaca mulatta) and dogs (beagle) were given thirteen 100-rad gamma-ray doses at 28-day intervals. The comparative response (inury and recovery) of the hematopoietic system of the two species was observed at 7-day intervals during the exposure regime. At 84 days after the thirteenth gamma-ray dose, the 1300-rad conditioned and control dogs and monkeys were challenged continuously with gamma rays at 35 r/day until death to determine the amount of radiation-induced injry remaining in conditioned animals as a reduction in mean survival time. Dogs (50%) and monkeys (8%) died from injury incurred during conditioning exposures. Thus, the comparative response (in terms of lethality) of dogs and monkeys to dose protraction by acute dose fractionation was similar to what we would expect from a single acute dose. The mean survival times for nonconditioned dogs and monkeys during continuous exposure at 35 R/day were the same (approx. 1400 h). Thus, the hematopoietic response of the two species by this method of dose protraction was not significantly different. Mean survival times of conditioned dogs and monkeys during the continuous 35-R/day gamma-ray challenge exposure were greater (significant in dogs but not in monkeys) than for their control counterparts. Thus, long-term radiation-induced injury was not measurable by this method. Conditioning doses of more than 4 times the acute LD 50 30 in dogs and approximately 2 times that in monkeys served only to increase both mean survival time and variance in a gamma-ray stress environment with a dose rate of 35 Rat/day

Massive haemoptysis death and other morbidity associated with high dose rate intraluminal radiotherapy for carcinoma of the bronchus

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gollins, S.W.; Ryder, W.D.J.; Burt, P.A.; Barber, P.V.; Stout, R.

1996-01-01

%) did not. For surviving patients the instantaneous risk of death at any one time (the cause-specific death rate expressed as deaths per 100 cases per month), showed a sharp peak for MH deaths between 9 and 12 months post ILT in contradistinction to OC death where the peak was between 3 and 6 months post ILT. These findings may imply a role for late radiation reaction in the treatment-related risk factors identified as increasing the relative risk of MH death and possible mechanisms are discussed. The results have implications for treatment regimes that use a dose of 2000 cGy at 1 cm in a single fraction technique, that have a high frequency of previous laser treatment, that use multiple, repeated ILT treatments in the same location and that use ILT concurrently with EB

A method for projecting age-specific mortality rates for certain causes of death

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Leggett, R.W.; Crawford, D.J.

1981-01-01

A method is presented for projecting mortality rates for certain causes on the basis of observed rates during past years. This method arose from a study of trends in age-specific mortality rates for respiratory cancers, and for heuristic purposes it is shown how the method can be developed from certain theories of cancer induction. However, the method is applicable in the more common situation in which the underlying physical processes cannot be modeled with any confidence but the mortality rates are approximable over short time intervals by functions of the form a exp(bt), where b may vary in a continuous, predictable fashion as the time interval is varied. It appears from applications to historical data that this projection method is in some cases a substantial improvement over conventional curve-fitting methods and often uncovers trends which are not from observed data

On the rate of convergence in von Neumann's ergodic theorem with continuous time

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kachurovskii, A G; Reshetenko, Anna V

2010-01-01

The rate of convergence in von Neumann's mean ergodic theorem is studied for continuous time. The condition that the rate of convergence of the ergodic averages be of power-law type is shown to be equivalent to requiring that the spectral measure of the corresponding dynamical system have a power-type singularity at 0. This forces the estimates for the convergence rate in the above ergodic theorem to be necessarily spectral. All the results obtained have obvious exact analogues for wide-sense stationary processes. Bibliography: 7 titles.

Cultural perspectives of death, grief, and bereavement.

Science.gov (United States)

Clements, Paul T; Vigil, Gloria J; Manno, Martin S; Henry, Gloria C; Wilks, Jonathan; Das Sarthak; Kellywood, Rosie; Foster, Wil

2003-07-01

The cultural makeup of the United States continues to change rapidly, and as minority groups continue to grow, these groups' beliefs and customs must be taken into account when examining death, grief, and bereavement. This article discusses the beliefs, customs, and rituals of Latino, African American, Navajo, Jewish, and Hindu groups to raise awareness of the differences health care professionals may encounter among their grieving clients. Discussion of this small sample of minority groups in the United States is not intended to cover all of the degrees of acculturation within each group. Cultural groups are not homogeneous, and individual variation must always be considered in situations of death, grief, and bereavement. However, because the customs, rituals, and beliefs of the groups to which they belong affect individuals' experiences of death, grief, and bereavement, health care professionals need to be open to learning about them to better understand and help.

Death certificates underestimate infections as proximal causes of death in the U.S.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sushant Govindan

Full Text Available Death certificates are a primary data source for assessing the population burden of diseases; however, there are concerns regarding their accuracy. Diagnosis-Related Group (DRG coding of a terminal hospitalization may provide an alternative view. We analyzed the rate and patterns of disagreement between death certificate data and hospital claims for patients who died during an inpatient hospitalization.We studied respondents from the Health and Retirement Study (a nationally representative sample of older Americans who had an inpatient death documented in the linked Medicare claims from 1993-2007. Causes of death abstracted from death certificates were aggregated to the standard National Center for Health Statistics List of 50 Rankable Causes of Death. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS-DRGs were manually aggregated into a parallel classification. We then compared the two systems via 2×2, focusing on concordance. Our primary analysis was agreement between the two data sources, assessed with percentages and Cohen's kappa statistic.2074 inpatient deaths were included in our analysis. 36.6% of death certificate cause-of-death codes agreed with the reason for the terminal hospitalization in the Medicare claims at the broad category level; when re-classifying DRGs without clear alignment as agreements, the concordance only increased to 61%. Overall Kappa was 0.21, or "fair." Death certificates in this cohort redemonstrated the conventional top 3 causes of death as diseases of the heart, malignancy, and cerebrovascular disease. However, hospitalization claims data showed infections, diseases of the heart, and cerebrovascular disease as the most common diagnoses for the same terminal hospitalizations.There are significant differences between Medicare claims and death certificate data in assigning cause of death for inpatients. The importance of infections as proximal causes of death is underestimated by current death certificate

Calculation of the gamma-dose rate from a continuously emitted plume

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Huebschmann, W.; Papadopoulos, D.

1975-06-01

A computer model is presented which calculates the long term gamma dose rate caused by the radioactive off-gas continuously emitted from a stack. The statistical distribution of the wind direction and velocity and of the stability categories is taken into account. The emitted activity, distributed in the atmosphere according to this statistics, is assumed to be concentrated at the mesh points of a three-dimensional grid. The grid spacing and the integration limits determine the accuracy as well as the computer time needed. When calculating the dose rate in a given wind direction, the contribution of the activity emitted into the neighbouring sectors is evaluated. This influence is demonstrated in the results, which are calculated with a error below 3% and compared to the dose rate distribution curves of the submersion model and the model developed by K.J. Vogt. (orig.) [de

Model of transition between causes of death.

Science.gov (United States)

Damiani, P; Aubenque, M

1975-06-01

This paper describes an attempt to estimate the probabilities of transition between various major causes of death during the period 1954-1962. The regression coefficients have been estimated from French département death rates for ten main or typical causes of death, assessed by sex for the age group 45-64 years.

Current state of the problem sudden infant death at home

OpenAIRE

Berlay Margarita Vasilievna; Kopylov Anatoliy Vasilievich; Karpov Sergey Mikhailovich

2017-01-01

The “Sudden Infant Death Syndrome” stands for unexpected nonviolent death of apparently healthy chest age child when there is no history or pathomorphological features which can be adequate explanations for death reasons. In Russian Federation, the death rate from this syndrome in the range of 0,06 to 2,8 per 1000 live births. In Stavropol region, average figures are equal to 0,36 per 1000 live births in the period of 2005–2014. Rates of incidence sudden infant death syndrome are similar to t...

Rates of TBI-related Emergency Department Visits, Hospitalizations, and Deaths by Sex - United States, 2001 – 2010

Data.gov (United States)

U.S. Department of Health & Human Services — Overall rates of TBI climbed slowly from 2001 through 2007, then spiked sharply in 2008 and continued to climb through 2010. The increase in TBI rates in 2008 was...

Nonthermal-plasma-mediated animal cell death

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Wanil; Woo, Kyung-Chul; Kim, Gyoo-Cheon; Kim, Kyong-Tai

2011-01-01

Animal cell death comprising necrosis and apoptosis occurred in a well-regulated manner upon specific stimuli. The physiological meanings and detailed molecular mechanisms of cell death have been continuously investigated over several decades. Necrotic cell death has typical morphological changes, such as cell swelling and cell lysis followed by DNA degradation, whereas apoptosis shows blebbing formation and regular DNA fragmentation. Cell death is usually adopted to terminate cancer cells in vivo. The current strategies against tumour are based on the induction of cell death by adopting various methods, including radiotherapy and chemotherapeutics. Among these, radiotherapy is the most frequently used treatment method, but it still has obvious limitations. Recent studies have suggested that the use of nonthermal air plasma can be a prominent method for inducing cancer cell death. Plasma-irradiated cells showed the loss of genomic integrity, mitochondrial dysfunction, plasma membrane damage, etc. Tumour elimination with plasma irradiation is an emerging concept in cancer therapy and can be accelerated by targeting certain tumour-specific proteins with gold nanoparticles. Here, some recent developments are described so that the mechanisms related to plasma-mediated cell death and its perspectives in cancer treatment can be understood.

Nonthermal-plasma-mediated animal cell death

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kim, Wanil; Woo, Kyung-Chul; Kim, Kyong-Tai [Department of Life Science, Division of Molecular and Life Science, Pohang University of Science and Technology, San 31, Hyoja Dong, Pohang 790-784 (Korea, Republic of); Kim, Gyoo-Cheon, E-mail: ktk@postech.ac.kr [Department of Oral Anatomy and Cell Biology, School of Dentistry, Pusan National University, Yangsan 626-810 (Korea, Republic of)

2011-01-12

Animal cell death comprising necrosis and apoptosis occurred in a well-regulated manner upon specific stimuli. The physiological meanings and detailed molecular mechanisms of cell death have been continuously investigated over several decades. Necrotic cell death has typical morphological changes, such as cell swelling and cell lysis followed by DNA degradation, whereas apoptosis shows blebbing formation and regular DNA fragmentation. Cell death is usually adopted to terminate cancer cells in vivo. The current strategies against tumour are based on the induction of cell death by adopting various methods, including radiotherapy and chemotherapeutics. Among these, radiotherapy is the most frequently used treatment method, but it still has obvious limitations. Recent studies have suggested that the use of nonthermal air plasma can be a prominent method for inducing cancer cell death. Plasma-irradiated cells showed the loss of genomic integrity, mitochondrial dysfunction, plasma membrane damage, etc. Tumour elimination with plasma irradiation is an emerging concept in cancer therapy and can be accelerated by targeting certain tumour-specific proteins with gold nanoparticles. Here, some recent developments are described so that the mechanisms related to plasma-mediated cell death and its perspectives in cancer treatment can be understood. (topical review)

Nonthermal-plasma-mediated animal cell death

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kim, Wanil; Woo, Kyung-Chul; Kim, Kyong-Tai; Kim, Gyoo-Cheon

2011-01-01

Animal cell death comprising necrosis and apoptosis occurred in a well-regulated manner upon specific stimuli. The physiological meanings and detailed molecular mechanisms of cell death have been continuously investigated over several decades. Necrotic cell death has typical morphological changes, such as cell swelling and cell lysis followed by DNA degradation, whereas apoptosis shows blebbing formation and regular DNA fragmentation. Cell death is usually adopted to terminate cancer cells in vivo. The current strategies against tumour are based on the induction of cell death by adopting various methods, including radiotherapy and chemotherapeutics. Among these, radiotherapy is the most frequently used treatment method, but it still has obvious limitations. Recent studies have suggested that the use of nonthermal air plasma can be a prominent method for inducing cancer cell death. Plasma-irradiated cells showed the loss of genomic integrity, mitochondrial dysfunction, plasma membrane damage, etc. Tumour elimination with plasma irradiation is an emerging concept in cancer therapy and can be accelerated by targeting certain tumour-specific proteins with gold nanoparticles. Here, some recent developments are described so that the mechanisms related to plasma-mediated cell death and its perspectives in cancer treatment can be understood. (topical review)

Spatial birth-and-death processes in random environment

OpenAIRE

Fernandez, Roberto; Ferrari, Pablo A.; Guerberoff, Gustavo R.

2004-01-01

We consider birth-and-death processes of objects (animals) defined in ${\\bf Z}^d$ having unit death rates and random birth rates. For animals with uniformly bounded diameter we establish conditions on the rate distribution under which the following holds for almost all realizations of the birth rates: (i) the process is ergodic with at worst power-law time mixing; (ii) the unique invariant measure has exponential decay of (spatial) correlations; (iii) there exists a perfect-simulation algorit...

Do loss to follow-up and death rates from ART care vary across primary health care facilities and hospitals in south Ethiopia? A retrospective follow-up study

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Teshome W

2015-05-01

Full Text Available Wondu Teshome,1 Mehretu Belayneh,1 Mathewos Moges,1 Emebet Mekonnen,2 Misganu Endrias,2 Sinafiksh Ayele,2 Tebeje Misganaw,2 Mekonnen Shiferaw,2 Tigist Tesema2 1School of Public and Environmental Health, Hawassa University, 2Health Research and Technology Transfer Support Process, Southern Nations Nationalities and Peoples' Regional Health Bureau, Hawassa, Ethiopia Background: Decentralization and task shifting has significantly improved access to antiretroviral therapy (ART. Many studies conducted to determine the attrition rate in Ethiopia have not compared attrition rates between hospitals and health centers in a relatively recent cohort of patients. This study compared death and loss to follow-up (LTFU rates among ART patients in hospitals and health centers in south Ethiopia. Methods: Data routinely collected from patients aged older than 15 years who started ART between July 2011 and August 2012 in 20 selected health facilities (12 being hospitals were analyzed. The outcomes of interest were LTFU and death. The data were entered, cleaned, and analyzed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences version 20.0 and Stata version 12.0. Competing-risk regression models were used. Results: The service years of the facilities were similar (median 8 and 7.5 for hospitals and health centers, respectively. The mean patient age was 33.7±9.6 years. The median baseline CD4 count was 179 (interquartile range 93–263 cells/mm3. A total of 2,356 person-years of observation were made with a median follow-up duration of 28 (interquartile range 22–31 months; 24.6% were either dead or LTFU, resulting in a retention rate of 75.4%. The death rates were 3.0 and 1.5 and the LTFU rate were 9.0 and 10.9 per 100 person-years of observation in health centers and hospitals, respectively. The competing-risk regression model showed that the gap between testing and initiation of ART, body mass index, World Health Organization clinical stage, isoniazid prophylaxis

Determination of Methane and Carbon Dioxide Formation Rate Constants for Semi-Continuously Fed Anaerobic Digesters

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jan Moestedt

2015-01-01

Full Text Available To optimize commercial-scale biogas production, it is important to evaluate the performance of each microbial step in the anaerobic process. Hydrolysis and methanogenesis are usually the rate-limiting steps during digestion of organic waste and by-products. By measuring biogas production and methane concentrations on-line in a semi-continuously fed reactor, gas kinetics can be evaluated. In this study, the rate constants of the fermentative hydrolysis step (kc and the methanogenesis step (km were determined and evaluated in a continuously stirred tank laboratory-scale reactor treating food and slaughterhouse waste and glycerin. A process additive containing Fe2+, Co2+ and Ni2+ was supplied until day 89, after which Ni2+ was omitted. The omission resulted in a rapid decline in the methanogenesis rate constant (km to 70% of the level observed when Ni2+ was present, while kc remained unaffected. This suggests that Ni2+ mainly affects the methanogenic rather than the hydrolytic microorganisms in the system. However, no effect was initially observed when using conventional process monitoring parameters such as biogas yield and volatile fatty acid concentration. Hence, formation rate constants can reveal additional information on process performance and km can be used as a complement to conventional process monitoring tools for semi-continuously fed anaerobic digesters.

An estimation of the domain of attraction and convergence rate for Hopfield continuous feedback neural networks

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cao Jinde

2004-01-01

In this Letter, the domain of attraction of memory patterns and exponential convergence rate of the network trajectories to memory patterns for Hopfield continuous associative memory are estimated by means of matrix measure and comparison principle. A new estimation is given for the domain of attraction of memory patterns and exponential convergence rate. These results can be used for the evaluation of fault-tolerance capability and the synthesis procedures for Hopfield continuous feedback associative memory neural networks

Childhood deaths from external causes in Estonia, 2001-2005.

Science.gov (United States)

Väli, Marika; Lang, Katrin; Soonets, Ruth; Talumäe, Marika; Grjibovski, Andrej M

2007-07-17

In 2000, the overall rate of injury deaths in children aged 0-14 was 28.7 per 100000 in Estonia, which is more than 5 times higher than the corresponding rate in neighbouring Finland. This paper describes childhood injury mortality in Estonia by cause and age groups, and validates registration of these deaths in the Statistical Office of Estonia against the autopsy data. The data on causes of all child deaths in Estonia in 2001-2005 were abstracted from the autopsy protocols at the Estonian Bureau of Forensic Medicine. Average annual mortality rates per 100,000 were calculated. Coverage (proportion of the reported injury deaths from the total number of injury deaths) and accuracy (proportion of correctly classified injury deaths) of the registration of causes of death in Statistical Office of Estonia were assessed by comparing the Statistical Office of Estonia data with the data from Estonian Bureau of Forensic Medicine. Average annual mortality from external causes in 0-14 years-old children in Estonia was 19.1 per 100,000. Asphyxia and transport accidents were the major killers followed by poisoning and suicides. Relative contribution of these causes varied greatly between age groups. Intent of death was unknown for more than 10% of injury deaths. Coverage and accuracy of registration of injury deaths by Statistical Office of Estonia were 91.5% and 95.3%, respectively. Childhood mortality from injuries in Estonia is among the highest in the EU. The number of injury deaths in Statistical Office of Estonia is slightly underestimated mostly due to misclassification for deaths from diseases. Accuracy of the Statistical Office of Estonia data was high with some underestimation of intentional deaths. Moreover, high proportion of death with unknown intent suggests underestimation of intentional deaths. Reduction of injury deaths should be given a high priority in Estonia. More information on circumstances around death is needed to enable establishing the intent of death.

Role of climate variability in the heatstroke death rates of Kanto region in Japan

Science.gov (United States)

Akihiko, Takaya; Morioka, Yushi; Behera, Swadhin K.

2014-07-01

The death toll by heatstroke in Japan, especially in Kanto region, has sharply increased since 1994 together with large interannual variability. The surface air temperature and humidity observed during boreal summers of 1980-2010 were examined to understand the role of climate in the death toll. The extremely hot days, when the daily maximum temperature exceeds 35°C, are more strongly associated with the death toll than the conventional Wet Bulb Globe Temperature index. The extremely hot days tend to be associated with El Niño/Southern Oscillation or the Indian Ocean Dipole, suggesting a potential link with tropical climate variability to the heatstroke related deaths. Also, the influence of these climate modes on the death toll has strengthened since 1994 probably related to global warming. It is possible to develop early warning systems based on seasonal climate predictions since recent climate models show excellent predictability skills for those climate modes.

Thermal death rate of ascospores of Neosartorya fischeri ATCC 200957 in the presence of organic acids and preservatives in fruit juices.

Science.gov (United States)

Rajashekhara, E; Suresh, E R; Ethiraj, S

1998-10-01

Heat-resistant molds, including Neosartorya fischeri, are known to spoil thermally processed fruit products. The control measures required for such problems must not cause an appreciable loss of the organoleptic qualities of the final products. In the present study we determined the thermal death rates of ascospores of N. fischeri ATCC 200957 in fruit juices containing organic acids and preservatives. The ascospores were able to survive for more than 6 h of heating at 75 degrees C, 5 h at 80 degrees C, and 3 to 4 h at 85 degrees C in mango or grape juice. Of the four organic acids tested, citric acid exhibited the maximal destruction of ascospores in mango juice at 85 degrees C (1/k = 27.22 min), and tartaric acid the least (1/k = 61.73 min). The effect of common preservatives on the thermal death rates of ascospores at .85 degrees C in mango and grape juices was studied. Almost similar effects on thermal inactivation of ascospores were noted when potassium sorbate (1/k = 29.38 min) or sodium benzoate (1/k = 27.64 min) or the combination of both (1/k = 27.53 min) was used in mango juice. In grape juice, potassium sorbate (1/k = 25.07 min) was more effective than sodium benzoate (1/k = 50.08 min) or the combination of both (1/k = 40.79 min) in inactivation of ascospores of the mold. The thermal death rate (1/k) values in mango and grape juices in the absence of any preservative were 63.51 and 69.27 min respectively.

Tasteless: Towards a Food-Based Approach to Death

OpenAIRE

Val Plumwood

2008-01-01

In this posthumously published paper Val Plumwood reflects on two personal encounters with death, being seized as prey by a crocodile and burying her son in a country cemetery with a flourishing botanic community. She challenges the exceptionalism which sets the human self apart from nature and which is reflected in the choice between two conceptions of death, one of continuity in the realm of spirit, the other a reductive materialist conception in which death marks the end of the story of th...

Sudden unexpected death caused by stroke

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ågesen, Frederik Nybye; Risgaard, Bjarke; Zachariasardóttir, Sára

2017-01-01

Background Stroke is the fifth leading cause of death in young individuals globally. Data on the burden of sudden death by stroke are sparse in the young. Aims The aim of this study was to report mortality rates, cause of death, stroke subtype, and symptoms in children and young adults who suffered....... There was a male predominance (56%) and the median age was 33 years. The incidence of sudden death by stroke in individuals aged 1-49 years was 0.19 deaths per 100,000 person-years. Stroke was hemorrhagic in 94% of cases, whereof subarachnoid hemorrhage was the cause of death in 63% of cases. Seventeen (33%) cases...... contacted the healthcare system because of neurological symptoms, whereof one was suspected of having a stroke (6%). Conclusions Sudden death by stroke in children and young adults occurs primarily due to hemorrhagic stroke. We report a high frequency of neurological symptoms prior to sudden death by stroke...

Gun ownership and firearm-related deaths.

Science.gov (United States)

Bangalore, Sripal; Messerli, Franz H

2013-10-01

A variety of claims about possible associations between gun ownership rates, mental illness burden, and the risk of firearm-related deaths have been put forward. However, systematic data on this issue among various countries remain scant. Our objective was to assess whether the popular notion "guns make a nation safer" has any merits. Data on gun ownership were obtained from the Small Arms Survey, and for firearm-related deaths from a European detailed mortality database (World Health Organization), the National Center for Health Statistics, and others. Crime rate was used as an indicator of safety of the nation and was obtained from the United Nations Surveys of Crime Trends. Age-standardized disability-adjusted life-year rates due to major depressive disorder per 100,000 inhabitants with data obtained from the World Health Organization database were used as a putative indicator for mental illness burden in a given country. Among the 27 developed countries, there was a significant positive correlation between guns per capita per country and the rate of firearm-related deaths (r = 0.80; P ownership and mental illness as independent covariates, gun ownership was a significant predictor (P <.0001) of firearm-related deaths, whereas mental illness was of borderline significance (P = .05) only. The number of guns per capita per country was a strong and independent predictor of firearm-related death in a given country, whereas the predictive power of the mental illness burden was of borderline significance in a multivariable model. Regardless of exact cause and effect, however, the current study debunks the widely quoted hypothesis that guns make a nation safer. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Factors affecting death at home in Japan.

Science.gov (United States)

Sauvaget, C; Tsuji, I; Li, J H; Hosokawa, T; Fukao, A; Hisamichi, S

1996-10-01

Despite the wish of the Japanese people to spend their final moments at home, the percentage of deaths at home among elderly is decreasing. Moreover, large variations in this rate were observed over the country. The present ecological study analyzed the relationship between the percentage of deaths at home for decedents aged 70 and over, and demographic, medical and socioeconomic characteristics. The data published in 1990 by the Japanese National Government were analyzed by correlation, principal-component, and multiple linear regression analyses. The results showed that the percentage of deaths at home for decedents aged 70 and over was positively associated with the number of persons per household, and the area of floor space per house. The divorce rate, the national tax per capita, and the mean length of hospitalization for stroke showed a negative association with the percentage of deaths at home. In the prefectures where the crude death rates of stroke and senility were high, elderly were more likely to die at home. These results suggested the importance of the number of family caregivers, and the housing conditions for terminal care at home. This research may lead to improve home medical assistance which is still underdeveloped in Japan.

Mortality trends for ischemic heart disease in China: an analysis of 102 continuous disease surveillance points from 1991 to 2009.

Science.gov (United States)

Wan, Xia; Ren, Hongyan; Ma, Enbo; Yang, Gonghuan

2017-07-25

In the past 20 years, the trends of ischemic heart disease (IHD) mortality in China have been described in divergent claims. This research analyzes mortality trends for IHD by using the data from 102 continuous Disease Surveillance Points (DSP) from 1991 to 2009. The 102 continuous DSP covered 7.3 million people during the period 1991-2000, and then were expanded to a population of 52 million in the same areas for 2004-2009. The data were adjusted by using garbage code redistribution and underreporting rate, mapped from international classification of diseases ICD-9 to ICD-10. The mortality rates for IHD were further adjusted by the crude death proportion multiplied by the total number of deaths in the mortality envelope, which was calculated by using logr t  = a + bt. Age-standard death rates (ASDRs) were computed using China's 2010 census population structure. Trend in IHD was calculated from ASDRs by using a joinpoint regression model. The IHD ASDRs increased in total in regions with an average annual percentage change (AAPC) 4.96%, especially for the Southwest (AAPC = 7.97%) and Northeast areas (AAPC = 7.10%), and for male and female subjects (with 5% AAPC) as well. In rural areas, the year 2000 was a cut-off point for mortality rate with annual percentage change increasing from 3.52% in 1991-2000 to 9.02% in 2000-2009, which was much higher than in urban areas (AAPC = 1.05%). And the proportion of deaths increased in older adults, and more male deaths occurred before age 60 compared to female deaths. By observing a wide range of areas across China from 1991 to 2009, this paper concludes that the ASDR trend for IHD increased. These trends reflect changes in the Chinese standard of living and lifestyle with diets higher in fat, higher blood lipids and increased body weight.

NCHS - Leading Causes of Death: United States

Data.gov (United States)

U.S. Department of Health & Human Services — This dataset presents the age-adjusted death rates for the 10 leading causes of death in the United States beginning in 1999. Data are based on information from all...

Neurocognitive processes of linguistic cues related to death.

Science.gov (United States)

Han, Shihui; Qin, Jungang; Ma, Yina

2010-10-01

Consciousness of the finiteness of one's personal existence influences human thoughts and behaviors tremendously. However, the neural substrates underlying the processing of death-related information remain unclear. The current study addressed this issue by scanning 20 female adults, using functional magnetic resonance imaging, in a modified Stroop task that required naming colors of death-related, negative-valence, and neutral-valence words. We found that, while both death-related and negative-valence words increased activity in the precuneus/posterior cingulate and lateral frontal cortex relative to neutral-valence words, the neural correlate of the processing of death-related words was characterized by decreased activity in bilateral insula relative to both negative-valence and neutral-valence words. Moreover, the decreased activity in the left insula correlated with subjective ratings of death relevance of death-related words and the decreased activity in the right insula correlated with subjective ratings of arousal induced by death-related words. Our fMRI findings suggest that, while both death-related and negative-valence words are associated with enhanced arousal and emotion regulation, the processing of linguistic cues related to death is associated with modulations of the activity in the insula that mediates neural representation of the sentient self. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Potentially avoidable perinatal deaths in Denmark and Sweden 1991

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Langhoff-Roos, J; Borch-Christensen, H; Larsen, S

1996-01-01

to some extent could reflect differences in the quality of care, indicated by the numbers of perinatal deaths in categories of potentially avoidable deaths. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Medical records of 97% of all perinatal deaths in 1991 in the two countries were analyzed. A new classification focusing......BACKGROUND: Since 1950 the perinatal mortality has been significantly higher in Denmark than in Sweden. In 1991 the rate in Denmark was 8.0/1000 deliveries compared to 6.5/1000 in Sweden. An international audit was designed to investigate whether the perinatal death rates in the two countries...

Potentially avoidable perinatal deaths in Denmark and Sweden 1991

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Langhoff-Roos, J; Borch-Christensen, H; Larsen, S

1996-01-01

BACKGROUND: Since 1950 the perinatal mortality has been significantly higher in Denmark than in Sweden. In 1991 the rate in Denmark was 8.0/1000 deliveries compared to 6.5/1000 in Sweden. An international audit was designed to investigate whether the perinatal death rates in the two countries...... to some extent could reflect differences in the quality of care, indicated by the numbers of perinatal deaths in categories of potentially avoidable deaths. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Medical records of 97% of all perinatal deaths in 1991 in the two countries were analyzed. A new classification focusing...

Religious affiliation at time of death - Global estimates and projections.

Science.gov (United States)

Skirbekk, Vegard; Todd, Megan; Stonawski, Marcin

2018-03-01

Religious affiliation influences societal practices regarding death and dying, including palliative care, religiously acceptable health service procedures, funeral rites and beliefs about an afterlife. We aimed to estimate and project religious affiliation at the time of death globally, as this information has been lacking. We compiled data on demographic information and religious affiliation from more than 2500 surveys, registers and censuses covering 198 nations/territories. We present estimates of religious affiliation at the time of death as of 2010, projections up to and including 2060, taking into account trends in mortality, religious conversion, intergenerational transmission of religion, differential fertility, and gross migration flows, by age and sex. We find that Christianity continues to be the most common religion at death, although its share will fall from 37% to 31% of global deaths between 2010 and 2060. The share of individuals identifying as Muslim at the time of death increases from 21% to 24%. The share of religiously unaffiliated will peak at 17% in 2035 followed by a slight decline thereafter. In specific regions, such as Europe, the unaffiliated share will continue to rises from 14% to 21% throughout the period. Religious affiliation at the time of death is changing globally, with distinct regional patterns. This could affect spatial variation in healthcare and social customs relating to death and dying.

Towards 24/7 continuous heart rate monitoring.

Science.gov (United States)

Tarniceriu, Adrian; Parak, Jakub; Renevey, Philippe; Nurmi, Marko; Bertschi, Mattia; Delgado-Gonzalo, Ricard; Korhonen, Ilkka

2016-08-01

Heart rate (HR) and HR variability (HRV) carry rich information about physical activity, mental and physical load, physiological status, and health of an individual. When combined with activity monitoring and personalized physiological modelling, HR/HRV monitoring may be used for monitoring of complex behaviors and impact of behaviors and external factors on the current physiological status of an individual. Optical HR monitoring (OHR) from wrist provides a comfortable and unobtrusive method for HR/HRV monitoring and is better adhered by users than traditional ECG electrodes or chest straps. However, OHR power consumption is significantly higher than that for ECG based methods due to the measurement principle based on optical illumination of the tissue. We developed an algorithmic approach to reduce power consumption of the OHR in 24/7 HR trending. We use continuous activity monitoring and a fast converging frequency domain algorithm to derive a reliable HR estimate in 7.1s (during outdoor sports, in average) to 10.0s (during daily life). The method allows >80% reduction in power consumption in 24/7 OHR monitoring when average HR monitoring is targeted, without significant reduction in tracking accuracy.

[Karoshi, death by overwork].

Science.gov (United States)

Uehata, Tetsunojo

2005-07-01

Karoshi (death by overwork) is one of social medical terms, which used by survivors of victims who attacked with cardiovascular diseases such as stroke, myocardial infarction and sudden cardiac death. In Dec. 2000, Compensation Standard of cardiovascular diseases in Workers' Insurance was changed and admitted the relationship between chronic fatigue and cardiovascular attacks. As a result, compensation numbers of Karoshi attributed to three hundred and more from about 80 cases. The Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare thinks that most of Karoshi caused by long working hours continuing for several months, especially without payment, so that the Labour Standard Inspector Office requests to decrease overtime work more than 45 hours per month to firm administrators.

Analysis of birth-death fluid queues

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van Doorn, Erik A.; Scheinhardt, Willem R.W.

1996-01-01

We present a survey of techniques for analysing the performance of a reservoir which receives and releases fluid at rates which are determined by the state of a background birth-death process. The reservoir is assumed to be infinitely large, but the state space of the modulating birth-death process

Death and suicide among former child and adolescent psychiatric patients

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rydelius Per-Anders

2006-11-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Increased mortality rates among previous child and adolescent psychiatry (CAP patients have been found in Scandinavian studies up to the 1980s. The suicide risk in this group has been estimated to be almost five times higher than expected. This article addresses two questions: Do Swedish CAP patients continue to risk premature death and what kind of information related to psychiatric symptoms and/or behavior problems can predict later suicide? Methods Hospital files, Sweden's census databases (including immigration and emigration and administrative databases (including the Swedish Hospital Discharge register and the Persons Convicted of Offences register, and the Cause of Death register were examined to determine the mortality rate in a group of 1,400 former CAP inpatients and outpatients over a period of 12–33 years. Observed and expected numbers of deceased were calculated with the prospective method and the standardized mortality ratio (SMR method. The relative risk or the risk ratio (RR is presented with 95% confidence intervals (CIs. Significance level tests were made using two-by-two tables and chi-square tests. The Cox proportional-hazards regression model was used for survival analysis. Results Twenty-four males and 14 females died. Compared with the general population, the standardized mortality ratio in this group of CAP patients was significantly higher in both sexes. Behavioral problems, school problems, and co-morbid alcohol or drug abuse and criminality (including alcohol-related crimes were found to be important predictors. Thirty-two deaths were attributed to suicide, intoxication, drug overdose, or accident; one patient died of an alcohol abuse-related disorder, and five patients died of natural causes. Suicide was the most common cause of death, but only 2 of these 19 cases were initially admitted for attempted suicide. Conclusion We suggest that suicide and death prevention among CAP patients may not be a

Comparison of outcomes of kidney transplantation from donation after brain death, donation after circulatory death, and donation after brain death followed by circulatory death donors.

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Guodong; Wang, Chang; Ko, Dicken Shiu-Chung; Qiu, Jiang; Yuan, Xiaopeng; Han, Ming; Wang, Changxi; He, Xiaoshun; Chen, Lizhong

2017-11-01

There are three categories of deceased donors of kidney transplantation in China, donation after brain death (DBD), donation after circulatory death (DCD), and donation after brain death followed by circulatory death (DBCD) donors. The aim of this study was to compare the outcomes of kidney transplantation from these three categories of deceased donors. We retrospectively reviewed 469 recipients who received deceased kidney transplantation in our hospital from February 2007 to June 2015. The recipients were divided into three groups according to the source of their donor kidneys: DBD, DCD, or DBCD. The primary endpoints were delayed graft function (DGF), graft loss, and patient death. The warm ischemia time was much longer in DCD group compared to DBCD group (18.4 minutes vs 12.9 minutes, P < .001). DGF rate was higher in DCD group than in DBD and DBCD groups (22.5% vs 10.2% and 13.8%, respectively, P = .021). Urinary leakage was much higher in DCD group (P = .049). Kaplan-Meier analysis showed that 1-, 2-, and 3-year patient survivals were all comparable among the three groups. DBCD kidney transplantation has lower incidences of DGF and urinary leakage than DCD kidney transplant. However, the overall patient and graft survival were comparable among DBD, DCD, and DBCD kidney transplantation. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Current asthma deaths among adults in Japan

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tsugio Nakazawa

2004-01-01

Full Text Available Recent asthma deaths were examined from yearly reports of the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare of Japan and from reports published by the Japan Asthma Death Investigation Committee on 811 deaths over the period 1992–2000. The rate and number of recent asthma deaths in Japan have been decreasing rapidly. Most asthma deaths were of patients aged 70–90 years and there has been a marked trend for increased asthma deaths in the elderly. As for the circumstances surrounding the deaths, sudden death, unstable sudden aggravation and intermittent aggravation were mainly noted. Respiratory infections, fatigue and stress were the major courses of fatal attacks contributing to deaths due to asthma. Many of the patients who died from asthma had been diagnosed as having as moderate to severe asthma and many had non-atopic asthma. There are some reports that suggest that the recent decrease in asthma deaths in Japan is correlated with the use of inhaled cortico- steroids.

Profile of sudden death in an adult population (1999-2008).

LENUS (Irish Health Repository)

Downes, M R

2010-06-01

Sudden death is the sudden and unexpected death of an individual within 24 hours of symptom onset. The vast majority of these cases are found, at autopsy, to be due to underlying ischaemic cardiac disease. We retrospectively reviewed all adult post mortems performed at Beaumont Hospital over a decade (1999-2008). Our aim was to identify all sudden death cases (natural and accidental) and subclassify them according to age profile and organ system involved. We identified 1230 sudden death cases in the review period with 775 (63%) deaths attributable to ischaemic heart disease. The rate of sudden death remained constant over the decade with 663 (54%) deaths occurring in the first five years. Our negative autopsy rate was 2.8% corresponding to 35 cases. This is the first Irish study to retrospectively review all adult sudden deaths within a defined catchment area and analyse them as outlined above.

Sickle cell trait and sudden death--bringing it home.

Science.gov (United States)

Mitchell, Bruce L.

2007-01-01

Sickle cell trait continues to be the leading cause of sudden death for young African Americans in military basic training and civilian organized sports. The syndrome may have caused the death of up to 10 college football players since 1974 and, as recently as 2000, was suspected as the cause of death of three U.S. Army recruits. The penal military-style boot camps in the United States and the recent death of two teenagers with sickle cell trait merits renewed vigor in the education of athletic instructors, the military and the public about conditions associated with sudden death in individuals with sickle cell trait. Images Figure 1 Figure 2 PMID:17393956

Epidemiology of deaths due to traffic accidents in Kermanshah province (2012

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Azam Malekifar

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Background: The increasing trend of traffic accidents is one of the most serious problems of public health. The aim of this paper was to investigate the fatal traffic accidents in Kermanshah province. Method: All research data required were obtained from Legal Medicine Organization and analyzed by Stata-11 software. Traffic statistics available on the Road Maintenance and Transportation Organization website were used to study the death rate per month and day according to traffic level on suburban highways. Results: The incidence rate of age-standardized deaths due to road traffic accidents was 26.1per 100,000 people, and the mean age of the dead was 39.98±21.60 years. The mortality rate was higher in men, those more than 40 years old, married, illiterate and self-employed. Considering the traffic rate on suburban roads, the highest death rate occurred in the warmest months of the year during the day. Furthermore, most deaths were due to collisions and the highest frequency of death was reported for the car occupants. In most cases, head injuries and head traumas were the final cause of death. A significant correlation was reported between the type of vehicle and the cause of death and how the accident occurred (P<0.05. Conclusion: The mortality rate due to traffic accidents in Kermanshah province is high. Surveillance over the suburban roads in hot seasons and male drivers is of particular importance.

Analysis of birth-death fluid queues

OpenAIRE

van Doorn, Erik A.; Scheinhardt, Willem R.W.

1996-01-01

We present a survey of techniques for analysing the performance of a reservoir which receives and releases fluid at rates which are determined by the state of a background birth-death process. The reservoir is assumed to be infinitely large, but the state space of the modulating birth-death process may be finite or infinite.

Childhood deaths from external causes in Estonia, 2001–2005

Science.gov (United States)

Väli, Marika; Lang, Katrin; Soonets, Ruth; Talumäe, Marika; Grjibovski, Andrej M

2007-01-01

Background In 2000, the overall rate of injury deaths in children aged 0–14 was 28.7 per 100000 in Estonia, which is more than 5 times higher than the corresponding rate in neighbouring Finland. This paper describes childhood injury mortality in Estonia by cause and age groups, and validates registration of these deaths in the Statistical Office of Estonia against the autopsy data. Methods The data on causes of all child deaths in Estonia in 2001–2005 were abstracted from the autopsy protocols at the Estonian Bureau of Forensic Medicine. Average annual mortality rates per 100,000 were calculated. Coverage (proportion of the reported injury deaths from the total number of injury deaths) and accuracy (proportion of correctly classified injury deaths) of the registration of causes of death in Statistical Office of Estonia were assessed by comparing the Statistical Office of Estonia data with the data from Estonian Bureau of Forensic Medicine. Results Average annual mortality from external causes in 0–14 years-old children in Estonia was 19.1 per 100,000. Asphyxia and transport accidents were the major killers followed by poisoning and suicides. Relative contribution of these causes varied greatly between age groups. Intent of death was unknown for more than 10% of injury deaths. Coverage and accuracy of registration of injury deaths by Statistical Office of Estonia were 91.5% and 95.3%, respectively. Conclusion Childhood mortality from injuries in Estonia is among the highest in the EU. The number of injury deaths in Statistical Office of Estonia is slightly underestimated mostly due to misclassification for deaths from diseases. Accuracy of the Statistical Office of Estonia data was high with some underestimation of intentional deaths. Moreover, high proportion of death with unknown intent suggests underestimation of intentional deaths. Reduction of injury deaths should be given a high priority in Estonia. More information on circumstances around death is

Childhood deaths from external causes in Estonia, 2001–2005

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Soonets Ruth

2007-07-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background In 2000, the overall rate of injury deaths in children aged 0–14 was 28.7 per 100000 in Estonia, which is more than 5 times higher than the corresponding rate in neighbouring Finland. This paper describes childhood injury mortality in Estonia by cause and age groups, and validates registration of these deaths in the Statistical Office of Estonia against the autopsy data. Methods The data on causes of all child deaths in Estonia in 2001–2005 were abstracted from the autopsy protocols at the Estonian Bureau of Forensic Medicine. Average annual mortality rates per 100,000 were calculated. Coverage (proportion of the reported injury deaths from the total number of injury deaths and accuracy (proportion of correctly classified injury deaths of the registration of causes of death in Statistical Office of Estonia were assessed by comparing the Statistical Office of Estonia data with the data from Estonian Bureau of Forensic Medicine. Results Average annual mortality from external causes in 0–14 years-old children in Estonia was 19.1 per 100,000. Asphyxia and transport accidents were the major killers followed by poisoning and suicides. Relative contribution of these causes varied greatly between age groups. Intent of death was unknown for more than 10% of injury deaths. Coverage and accuracy of registration of injury deaths by Statistical Office of Estonia were 91.5% and 95.3%, respectively. Conclusion Childhood mortality from injuries in Estonia is among the highest in the EU. The number of injury deaths in Statistical Office of Estonia is slightly underestimated mostly due to misclassification for deaths from diseases. Accuracy of the Statistical Office of Estonia data was high with some underestimation of intentional deaths. Moreover, high proportion of death with unknown intent suggests underestimation of intentional deaths. Reduction of injury deaths should be given a high priority in Estonia. More information on

Declining risk of sudden death in heart failure

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Shen, Li; Jhund, Pardeep S.; Petrie, Mark C.

2017-01-01

BACKGROUND The risk of sudden death has changed over time among patients with symptomatic heart failure and reduced ejection fraction with the sequential introduction of medications including angiotensin-converting-enzyme inhibitors, angiotensin-receptor blockers, beta-blockers, and mineralocorti......BACKGROUND The risk of sudden death has changed over time among patients with symptomatic heart failure and reduced ejection fraction with the sequential introduction of medications including angiotensin-converting-enzyme inhibitors, angiotensin-receptor blockers, beta...... cardioverter-defibrillator at the time of trial enrollment were excluded. Weighted multivariable regression was used to examine trends in rates of sudden death over time. Adjusted hazard ratios for sudden death in each trial group were calculated with the use of Cox regression models. The cumulative incidence...... rates of sudden death were assessed at different time points after randomization and according to the length of time between the diagnosis of heart failure and randomization. RESULTS Sudden death was reported in 3583 patients. Such patients were older and were more often male, with an ischemic cause...

Public Opinion and the Death Penalty: A Qualitative Approach

Science.gov (United States)

Falco, Diana L.; Freiburger, Tina L.

2011-01-01

Strong public support for capital punishment is arguably the number one reason why the death penalty continues to be used as a form of correctional policy in the U.S. criminal justice system. Therefore, it is fundamental that the measure of death penalty opinion be heavily scrutinized. Utilizing a methodological approach not typically employed in…

Effects of intracellular iron overload on cell death and identification of potent cell death inhibitors.

Science.gov (United States)

Fang, Shenglin; Yu, Xiaonan; Ding, Haoxuan; Han, Jianan; Feng, Jie

2018-06-11

Iron overload causes many diseases, while the underlying etiologies of these diseases are unclear. Cell death processes including apoptosis, necroptosis, cyclophilin D-(CypD)-dependent necrosis and a recently described additional form of regulated cell death called ferroptosis, are dependent on iron or iron-dependent reactive oxygen species (ROS). However, whether the accumulation of intracellular iron itself induces ferroptosis or other forms of cell death is largely elusive. In present study, we study the role of intracellular iron overload itself-induced cell death mechanisms by using ferric ammonium citrate (FAC) and a membrane-permeable Ferric 8-hydroxyquinoline complex (Fe-8HQ) respectively. We show that FAC-induced intracellular iron overload causes ferroptosis. We also identify 3-phosphoinositide-dependent kinase 1 (PDK1) inhibitor GSK2334470 as a potent ferroptosis inhibitor. Whereas, Fe-8HQ-induced intracellular iron overload causes unregulated necrosis, but partially activates PARP-1 dependent parthanatos. Interestingly, we identify many phenolic compounds as potent inhibitors of Fe-8HQ-induced cell death. In conclusion, intracellular iron overload-induced cell death form might be dependent on the intracellular iron accumulation rate, newly identified cell death inhibitors in our study that target ferroptosis and unregulated oxidative cell death represent potential therapeutic strategies against iron overload related diseases. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Glutathione in Cancer Cell Death

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ortega, Angel L. [Department of Physiology, Faculty of Medicine and Odontology, University of Valencia, 17 Av. Blasco Ibanez, 46010 Valencia (Spain); Mena, Salvador [Green Molecular SL, Pol. Ind. La Coma-Parc Cientific, 46190 Paterna, Valencia (Spain); Estrela, Jose M., E-mail: jose.m.estrela@uv.es [Department of Physiology, Faculty of Medicine and Odontology, University of Valencia, 17 Av. Blasco Ibanez, 46010 Valencia (Spain)

2011-03-11

Glutathione (L-γ-glutamyl-L-cysteinyl-glycine; GSH) in cancer cells is particularly relevant in the regulation of carcinogenic mechanisms; sensitivity against cytotoxic drugs, ionizing radiations, and some cytokines; DNA synthesis; and cell proliferation and death. The intracellular thiol redox state (controlled by GSH) is one of the endogenous effectors involved in regulating the mitochondrial permeability transition pore complex and, in consequence, thiol oxidation can be a causal factor in the mitochondrion-based mechanism that leads to cell death. Nevertheless GSH depletion is a common feature not only of apoptosis but also of other types of cell death. Indeed rates of GSH synthesis and fluxes regulate its levels in cellular compartments, and potentially influence switches among different mechanisms of death. How changes in gene expression, post-translational modifications of proteins, and signaling cascades are implicated will be discussed. Furthermore, this review will finally analyze whether GSH depletion may facilitate cancer cell death under in vivo conditions, and how this can be applied to cancer therapy.

Donations After Circulatory Death in Liver Transplant.

Science.gov (United States)

Eren, Emre A; Latchana, Nicholas; Beal, Eliza; Hayes, Don; Whitson, Bryan; Black, Sylvester M

2016-10-01

The supply of liver grafts for treatment of end-stage liver disease continues to fall short of ongoing demands. Currently, most liver transplants originate from donations after brain death. Enhanced utilization of the present resources is prudent to address the needs of the population. Donation after circulatory or cardiac death is a mechanism whereby the availability of organs can be expanded. Donations after circulatory death pose unique challenges given their exposure to warm ischemia. Technical principles of donations after circulatory death procurement and pertinent studies investigating patient outcomes, graft outcomes, and complications are highlighted in this review. We also review associated risk factors to suggest potential avenues to achieve improved outcomes and reduced complications. Future considerations and alternative techniques of organ preservation are discussed, which may suggest novel strategies to enhance preservation and donor expansion through the use of marginal donors. Ultimately, without effective measures to bolster organ supply, donations after circulatory death should remain a consideration; however, an understanding of inherent risks and limitations is necessary.

Risk for Death among Children with Pneumonia, Afghanistan.

Science.gov (United States)

Zabihullah, Rahmani; Dhoubhadel, Bhim G; Rauf, Ferogh A; Shafiq, Sahab A; Suzuki, Motoi; Watanabe, Kiwao; Yoshida, Lay M; Yasunami, Michio; Zabihullah, Salihi; Parry, Christopher M; Mirwais, Rabi; Ariyoshi, Koya

2017-08-01

In Afghanistan, childhood deaths from pneumonia are high. Among 639 children at 1 hospital, the case-fatality rate was 12.1%, and 46.8% of pneumococcal serotypes detected were covered by the 13-valent vaccine. Most deaths occurred within 2 days of hospitalization; newborns and malnourished children were at risk. Vaccination could reduce pneumonia and deaths.

Why has the continuous decline in German suicide rates stopped in 2007?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ulrich Hegerl

Full Text Available BACKGROUND: Whereas German suicide rates had a clear decreasing tendency between 1991 and 2006, they increased from 2007 to 2010. Deeper analyses of suicide data might help to understand better this change. The aim of this study was to analyze 1 whether recent trends can be related to changes in specific suicide methods and diverge by gender and age; 2 whether the decrease of suicide rates before 2007 as well as the increase from 2007 to 2010 are driven by the same suicide method. METHODS: Analyses were based on suicide data from the Federal Statistical Office of Germany. For 1998-2010, 136.583 suicide cases of men and women with known age and suicide method could be identified. These data were analyzed by joinpoint regression analysis, allowing identification of the best fitting point in time ("joinpoint" at which the suicide rate significantly changes in magnitude or direction. RESULTS: The national downward trend between 1998 and 2007 was mainly due to corresponding changes in self-poisoning by other means than drugs (e.g., pesticides (annual percentage change (APC ≤ -4.33, drowning (APC ≤ -2.73, hanging (APC ≤ -2.69 and suicides by firearms (APC ≤ -1.46 in both genders. Regarding the overall increase of age-adjusted suicide rates in Germany 2007-2010, mainly the increase of self-poisoning (e.g., by drugs and "being overrun" (APC ≥ 1.50 contributed to this trend. LIMITATIONS: The true suicide rates might have been underestimated because of errors in the official death certificates. CONCLUSIONS: Increase in suicide rates in Germany since 2007 went along with corresponding changes for "being overrun" and "self-poisoning". Copycat suicides following the railway suicide of the goalkeeper Robert Enke partly contributed to the results. Thus, prevention of Werther effects and limitation of the availability of high pack sizes for drugs are of special relevance for the reversal of this trend.

Neonatal heart rate prediction.

Science.gov (United States)

Abdel-Rahman, Yumna; Jeremic, Aleksander; Tan, Kenneth

2009-01-01

Technological advances have caused a decrease in the number of infant deaths. Pre-term infants now have a substantially increased chance of survival. One of the mechanisms that is vital to saving the lives of these infants is continuous monitoring and early diagnosis. With continuous monitoring huge amounts of data are collected with so much information embedded in them. By using statistical analysis this information can be extracted and used to aid diagnosis and to understand development. In this study we have a large dataset containing over 180 pre-term infants whose heart rates were recorded over the length of their stay in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). We test two types of models, empirical bayesian and autoregressive moving average. We then attempt to predict future values. The autoregressive moving average model showed better results but required more computation.

A Continuously Running High-Rate GEM-TPC for P-bar ANDA

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Boehmer, F.V.; Angerer, H.; Dorheim, S.; Hoeppner, C.; Ketzer, B.; Konorov, I.; Neubert, S.; Paul, S.; Vandenbroucke, M.; Zhang, X.; Berger, M.; Cusanno, F.; Fabbietti, L.; Lalik, R.; Beck, R.; Kaiser, D.; Lang, M.; Schmitz, R.; Walther, D.; Winnebeck, A.

2011-01-01

The P-bar ANDA fixed target experiment planned at FAIR will investigate fundamental questions of non-perturbative QCD. It makes use of a cooled antiproton beam (momentum: 1.5 to 15GeV/c) and will reach luminosities of up to 2.10 32 cm -2 s -1 , yielding a p-bar p-annihilation rate of 2.10 7 s -1 . One option for the central tracker of P-bar ANDA is a cylindrical, ungated, continuously running TPC with GEM-based gas amplification stage.

26 CFR 20.2014-7 - Limitation on credit if a deduction for foreign death taxes is allowed under section 2053(d).

Science.gov (United States)

2010-04-01

... Country X. The Country X tax imposed was at a 50-percent rate on all beneficiaries. A State inheritance... death taxes is allowed under section 2053(d). 20.2014-7 Section 20.2014-7 Internal Revenue INTERNAL REVENUE SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY (CONTINUED) ESTATE AND GIFT TAXES ESTATE TAX; ESTATES OF...

Precisely Tracking Childhood Death.

Science.gov (United States)

Farag, Tamer H; Koplan, Jeffrey P; Breiman, Robert F; Madhi, Shabir A; Heaton, Penny M; Mundel, Trevor; Ordi, Jaume; Bassat, Quique; Menendez, Clara; Dowell, Scott F

2017-07-01

Little is known about the specific causes of neonatal and under-five childhood death in high-mortality geographic regions due to a lack of primary data and dependence on inaccurate tools, such as verbal autopsy. To meet the ambitious new Sustainable Development Goal 3.2 to eliminate preventable child mortality in every country, better approaches are needed to precisely determine specific causes of death so that prevention and treatment interventions can be strengthened and focused. Minimally invasive tissue sampling (MITS) is a technique that uses needle-based postmortem sampling, followed by advanced histopathology and microbiology to definitely determine cause of death. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is supporting a new surveillance system called the Child Health and Mortality Prevention Surveillance network, which will determine cause of death using MITS in combination with other information, and yield cause-specific population-based mortality rates, eventually in up to 12-15 sites in sub-Saharan Africa and south Asia. However, the Gates Foundation funding alone is not enough. We call on governments, other funders, and international stakeholders to expand the use of pathology-based cause of death determination to provide the information needed to end preventable childhood mortality.

Continuous fermentation and in-situ reed separation of butyric acid for higher sugar consumption rate and productivity

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Baroi, George Nabin; Skiadas, Ioannis; Westermann, Peter

that disconnection of the REED system resulted to much lower (48 and 83% for glucose and xylose, respectively) sugars consumption rates and consequently lower butyric acid production rates. It was also noticeable that continuous operation, even without the REED system, resulted to higher glucose consumption rates...

Interphase death of dividing cells. Kinetics of death of cultured Chinese hamster fibroblasts after irradiation with various doses

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kublik, L.N.; Veksler, A.M.; Ehjdus, L.Kh.

1989-01-01

In studying the kinetics of interphase death (ID) of cultured Chinese hamster cells after irradiation with doses of 100 to 800 Gy the authors showed an increase in the ID rate with increasing radiation dose; the presence of serum in the medium both during and after irradiation prevents the cell death

Drug Poisoning Deaths according to Ethnicity in Utah

OpenAIRE

Merrill, Ray M.; Hedin, Riley J.; Fondario, Anna; Sloan, Arielle A.; Hanson, Carl L.

2013-01-01

This study characterizes drug-related deaths according to ethnicity in Utah during 2005–2010, based on data from the Utah Violent Death Reporting System (UTVDRS). Hispanics made up 12.1% (12.5% male and 11.7% female) of deaths. The most frequently identified drugs among decedents were opiates, then illicit drugs, benzodiazepines, over-the-counter medication, and antidepressants. Death rates for each drug were significantly greater in non-Hispanics than Hispanics. Most decedents used a combina...

Molecular characterization of non-thymic lymphomas in mice exposed to continuous low-dose-rate g-ray irradiation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Takabatake, T.; Fujikawa, K.; Nakamura, S.; Tanaka, S.; Tanaka, I.; Tanaka-Braga III, I.; Sunaga, Y.; Ichinoche, K.; Sato, F.; Tanaka, K.; Matsumoto, T.

2004-01-01

To investigate the effects of continuous low-dose-rate irradiation on life span and neoplasm incidence, SPE B6C3 F1 mice were irradiated with 137Cs-ray at dose-rates of 20, 1 and 0.05 mGy/day with accumulated doses equivalent to 8000, 40 and 20 mGy, respectively. Examination of a total of 3,000 irradiated and 1,000 non-irradiated control mice showed that the life spans of the both sexes irradiated at 20 mGy/day, respectively. Examination of a total of 3,000 irradiated and 1,000 non-irradiated control mice showed that the life spans of the both sexes irradiated at 20 mGy/day were significantly shorter than that of the non-irradiated group. No significant difference in the cause of death and mortality rates was found between the groups. However, non-thymic lymphomas, the most common lethal neoplasm, showed a tendency to develop at an earlier age in mice irradiated with 20 mGy/day, regardless of sex. to obtain clues on the molecular mechanisms underlying the earlier development of non-thymic lymphomas in 20 mGy/day irradiated group, detailed molecular characterizations of non-thymic lymphomas with respect to B-cell or T-cell origin was done by detecting rearrangements in immunoglobulin heavy gene and in T-cell receptor b-and g chain genes by Southem hybridization method. to determine whether the early development of non-thymic lymphomas in 20 mGy/day irradiated group is associated wi the any recurrent chromosomal imbalance such as deletions and amplifications, the genome-wide scanning is also currently in progress by both LOH and array CGH methods. Present data obtained by LOH method show that deletions in parts of chromosomes 11 and 12 were more frequent than in chromosomes 2, 4 and 14 in both the non-irradiated control and 20 mGy/day irradiated groups. this work is supported by grants from Aomori Prefecture, Japan. (Author)

Is the Modern American Death Penalty a Fatal Lottery? Texas as a Conservative Test

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Scott Phillips

2014-01-01

Full Text Available In Furman v. Georgia (1972, the Supreme Court was presented with data indicating that 15% to 20% of death-eligible defendants were actually sentenced to death. Based on such a negligible death sentence rate, some Justices concluded that the imposition of death was random and capricious—a fatal lottery. Later, the Court assumed in Gregg v. Georgia (1976 that guided discretion statutes would eliminate the constitutional infirmities identified in Furman: If state legislatures narrowed the pool of death-eligible defendants to the “worst of the worst” then most would be sentenced to death, eliminating numerical arbitrariness. However, recent research suggests that numerical arbitrariness remains, as the death sentence rate falls below the Furman threshold in California (11%, Connecticut (4%, and Colorado (less than 1%. The current research estimates the death sentence rate in Texas. Interestingly, Texas provides a conservative test. In contrast to most states, the Texas statute does not include broad aggravators that substantially enlarge the pool of death-eligible defendants and therefore depress the death sentence rate. Nonetheless, the death sentence rate in Texas during the period from 2006 to 2010 ranges from 3% to 6% (depending on assumptions made about the data. The same pattern holds true in the key counties that send the largest number of defendants to death row: Harris (Houston, Dallas (Dallas, Tarrant (Fort Worth and Arlington, and Bexar (San Antonio. Thus, the data suggest that Texas can be added to the list of states in which capital punishment is unconstitutional as administered. If the death sentence rate in Texas runs afoul of the Furman principle then the prognosis for other states is not encouraging.

Tritium releases, birth defects and infant deaths

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1991-01-01

The AECB has published a report 'Tritium releases from the Pickering Nuclear Generating Station and Birth Defects and Infant Mortality in Nearby Communities 1971-1988' (report number INFO-0401). This presents the results of a detailed analysis of deaths and birth defects occurring in infants born to mothers living in the area (25 Km radius) of the Pickering nuclear power plant, over an 18-year period. The analysis looked at the frequency of these defects and deaths in comparison to the general rate for Ontario, and also in relation to airborne and waterborne releases of tritium from the power plant. The overall conclusion was that the rates of infant death and birth defects were generally not higher in the study population than in all of Ontario. There was no prevalent relationship between these deaths and defects and tritium releases measured either at the power plant or by ground monitoring stations t some distance from the facility

Estimated reductions in hospitalizations and deaths from childhood diarrhea following implementation of rotavirus vaccination in Africa.

Science.gov (United States)

Shah, Minesh P; Tate, Jacqueline E; Mwenda, Jason M; Steele, A Duncan; Parashar, Umesh D

2017-10-01

Rotavirus is the leading cause of hospitalizations and deaths from diarrhea. 33 African countries had introduced rotavirus vaccines by 2016. We estimate reductions in rotavirus hospitalizations and deaths for countries using rotavirus vaccination in national immunization programs and the potential of vaccine introduction across the continent. Areas covered: Regional rotavirus burden data were reviewed to calculate hospitalization rates, and applied to under-5 population to estimate baseline hospitalizations. Rotavirus mortality was based on 2013 WHO estimates. Regional pre-licensure vaccine efficacy and post-introduction vaccine effectiveness studies were used to estimate summary effectiveness, and vaccine coverage was applied to calculate prevented hospitalizations and deaths. Uncertainties around input parameters were propagated using boot-strapping simulations. In 29 African countries that introduced rotavirus vaccination prior to end 2014, 134,714 (IQR 112,321-154,654) hospitalizations and 20,986 (IQR 18,924-22,822) deaths were prevented in 2016. If all African countries had introduced rotavirus vaccines at benchmark immunization coverage, 273,619 (47%) (IQR 227,260-318,102) hospitalizations and 47,741 (39%) (IQR 42,822-52,462) deaths would have been prevented. Expert commentary: Rotavirus vaccination has substantially reduced hospitalizations and deaths in Africa; further reductions are anticipated as additional countries implement vaccination. These estimates bolster wider introduction and continued support of rotavirus vaccination programs.

A follow-up meeting post death is appreciated by family members of deceased patients.

Science.gov (United States)

Kock, M; Berntsson, C; Bengtsson, A

2014-08-01

A practice with a follow-up meeting post death (FUMPD) with physician and staff for family members of patients who died in the intensive care unit (ICU) was started as a quality project to improve the support of families in post-ICU bereavement. A quality improvement control was conducted after 4 years. The quality improvement control was made retrospectively as an anonymous non-coded questionnaire. Part A related to the FUMPD. Part B inquired if we could contact the family member again for a research project to evaluate family support post-ICU bereavement. The questionnaires were sent to 84 family members of 56 deceased patients. Part A: 46 out of 84 family members answered and had attended a FUMPD. Ninety-one percent of the family members thought that we should continue to offer FUMPD. Seventy-eight percent were satisfied with their meeting. Eighty percent felt that they understood the cause of death. The majority wanted the meeting to take place within 6 weeks of death. Ninety-one percent rated the physician as important to be present at the meeting. The social worker was rated more important to attend the meeting than the assistant nurse. Ninety-one percent wanted to discuss the cause of death.Part B: 54 out of 84 family members answered. Twenty out of 54 did not want us to contact them again. A routine with a Follow-Up Meeting Post Death with the ICU team for the families of the patients who die in the ICU is appreciated. The presence of the physician is important. © 2014 The Acta Anaesthesiologica Scandinavica Foundation. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

On the edge of death: Rates of decline and lower thresholds of biochemical condition in food-deprived fish larvae and juveniles

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Meyer, Stefan; Caldarone, E.M.; Chicharo, M.A.

2012-01-01

Gaining reliable estimates of how long fish early life stages can survive without feeding and how starvation rate and time until death are influenced by body size, temperature and species is critical to understanding processes controlling mortality in the sea. The present study is an across-speci...... are viable proxies for the physiological processes under food deprivation of individual fish pre-recruits in the laboratory and provide useful metrics for research on the role of starvation in the sea......Gaining reliable estimates of how long fish early life stages can survive without feeding and how starvation rate and time until death are influenced by body size, temperature and species is critical to understanding processes controlling mortality in the sea. The present study is an across......-species analysis of starvation-induced changes in biochemical condition in early life stages of ninemarine and freshwater fishes. Datawere compiled on changes in body size (dry weight, DW) and biochemical condition (standardized RNA–DNA ratio, sRD) throughout the course of starvation of yolk-sac and feeding larvae...

Likelihood-based inference for discretely observed birth-death-shift processes, with applications to evolution of mobile genetic elements.

Science.gov (United States)

Xu, Jason; Guttorp, Peter; Kato-Maeda, Midori; Minin, Vladimir N

2015-12-01

Continuous-time birth-death-shift (BDS) processes are frequently used in stochastic modeling, with many applications in ecology and epidemiology. In particular, such processes can model evolutionary dynamics of transposable elements-important genetic markers in molecular epidemiology. Estimation of the effects of individual covariates on the birth, death, and shift rates of the process can be accomplished by analyzing patient data, but inferring these rates in a discretely and unevenly observed setting presents computational challenges. We propose a multi-type branching process approximation to BDS processes and develop a corresponding expectation maximization algorithm, where we use spectral techniques to reduce calculation of expected sufficient statistics to low-dimensional integration. These techniques yield an efficient and robust optimization routine for inferring the rates of the BDS process, and apply broadly to multi-type branching processes whose rates can depend on many covariates. After rigorously testing our methodology in simulation studies, we apply our method to study intrapatient time evolution of IS6110 transposable element, a genetic marker frequently used during estimation of epidemiological clusters of Mycobacterium tuberculosis infections. © 2015, The International Biometric Society.

Age spectrometry of infant death rates as a probe of immunity: Identification of two peaks due to viral and bacterial diseases respectively

Science.gov (United States)

Berrut, Sylvie; Richmond, Peter; Roehner, Bertrand M.

2017-11-01

After birth, setting up an effective immune system is a major challenge for all living organisms. In this paper we show that this process can be explored by using the age-specific infant death rate as a kind of sensor. This is made possible because, as shown by the authors in Berrut et al. (2016), between birth and a critical age tc, for all mammals the death rate decreases with age as a smooth hyperbolic function. For humans tc is equal to 10 years. It turns out that for some causes of deaths and specific ages the hyperbolic fall displays temporary spikes which, it is assumed, correspond to specific events in the organism's response to exogenous factors. One of these spikes occurs 10 days after birth and there is another at the age of 300 days. It is shown that the first spike is related to viral infections whereas the second is related to bacterial diseases. By going back to former time periods during which infant mortality was much higher than it is currently, one gets a magnified view of these peaks. They give us useful information about how an organism adapts to new conditions. Apart from the reaction to pathogens, the same methodology can be used to study the response to changes in other external conditions, e.g. temperature or oxygen level.

Mortality rates and causes of death in children with epilepsy prescribed antiepileptic drugs: a retrospective cohort study using the UK General Practice Research Database.

Science.gov (United States)

Ackers, Ruth; Besag, Frank M C; Hughes, Elaine; Squier, Waney; Murray, Macey L; Wong, Ian C K

2011-05-01

Patients with epilepsy, including children, have an increased risk of mortality compared with the general population. Antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) were the most frequent class of drugs reported in a study looking at fatal suspected adverse drug reactions in children in the UK. The objective of the study was to identify cases and causes of death in a paediatric patient cohort prescribed AEDs with an associated epilepsy diagnosis. This was a retrospective cohort study supplemented with general practitioner-completed questionnaires, post-mortem reports and death certificates. The setting was UK primary care practices contributing to the General Practice Research Database. Participants were children and adolescents aged 0-18 years prescribed AEDs between 1993 and 2005. Causality assessment was undertaken by a consensus panel comprising paediatric specialists in neuropathology, neurology, neuropsychiatry, paediatric epilepsy, pharmacoepidemiology and pharmacy to determine crude mortality rate (CMR) and standardized mortality ratios (SMRs), and the likelihood of an association between AED(s) and the event of death. There were 6190 subjects in the cohort (contributing 26,890 person-years of data), of whom 151 died. Median age at death was 8.0 years. CMR was 56.2 per 10,000 person-years and the SMR was 22.4 (95% CI 18.9, 26.2). The majority of deceased subjects had severe underlying disorders. Death was attributable to epilepsy in 18 subjects; in 9 the cause of death was sudden unexpected death in epilepsy (SUDEP) [3.3 per 10 000 person-years (95% CI 1.5, 6.4)]. AEDs were probably (n = 2) or possibly (n = 3) associated causally with death in five subjects. Two status epilepticus deaths were associated causally with AED withdrawal. Children prescribed AEDs have an increased risk of mortality relative to the general population. Most of the deaths were in children with serious underlying disorders. A small number of SUDEP cases were identified. AEDs are not a major

A Continuously Running High-Rate GEM-TPC for P-bar ANDA

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Boehmer, F.V., E-mail: felix.valentin.boehmer@cern.ch [Technische Universitaet Muenchen Physik Department, James-Franck-Strasse, 85748 Garching (Germany); Angerer, H.; Dorheim, S.; Hoeppner, C.; Ketzer, B.; Konorov, I.; Neubert, S.; Paul, S.; Vandenbroucke, M.; Zhang, X. [Technische Universitaet Muenchen Physik Department, James-Franck-Strasse, 85748 Garching (Germany); Berger, M.; Cusanno, F.; Fabbietti, L.; Lalik, R. [Excellence Cluster Universe, Muenchen (Germany); Beck, R.; Kaiser, D.; Lang, M.; Schmitz, R.; Walther, D.; Winnebeck, A. [Helmholtz-Institut fuer Strahlen- und Kernphysik, Bonn (Germany)

2011-06-15

The P-bar ANDA fixed target experiment planned at FAIR will investigate fundamental questions of non-perturbative QCD. It makes use of a cooled antiproton beam (momentum: 1.5 to 15GeV/c) and will reach luminosities of up to 2.10{sup 32}cm{sup -2}s{sup -1}, yielding a p-bar p-annihilation rate of 2.10{sup 7}s{sup -1}. One option for the central tracker of P-bar ANDA is a cylindrical, ungated, continuously running TPC with GEM-based gas amplification stage.

A CLINICAL STUDY OF MATERNAL DEATHS DUE TO PPH

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Basavana Gowda

2015-03-01

Full Text Available OBJECTIVES: A study of maternal death conducted to evaluate various factors responsible for maternal deaths. To identify complications in pregnancy, a childbirth which result in maternal death, and to identify opportunities for preventive intervention and understand the events leading to death; so that improving maternal health and reducing maternal mortality rate significantly. To analyze the causes and epidemiological amounts maternal mortality e.g. age parity, socioeconomic status and literacy. In order to reduce maternal mortality and to implement safe motherhood program and complications of pregnancy and to find out safe motherhood program. METHODS: The data collected was a retrograde by a proforma containing particulars of the diseased, detailed history and relatives were interviewed for additional information. The data collected was analysed. RESULTS: Maternal mortality rate in our own institution is 200/ 100,000 live births. Among 30 maternal deaths, 56% deaths (17 were among low socio - economic status, groups 60% deaths among unbooked 53.5% deaths more along illiterates evidenced by direct and indirect deaths about 25% of deaths were preventable. CONCLUSION: Maternal mortality is a global problem, facing every country in the world. Target specific interventions are needed for specific population. Fifth millennium development goal (MDG is to reduce maternal mortality by 75% by the year 2015, worthwhile investment for every case provider, results that investing on mothers

Rates of Very Preterm Birth in Europe and Neonatal Mortality Rates

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Field, David John; Draper, Elizabeth S; Fenton, Alan

2008-01-01

OBJECTIVE: To estimate the influence of variation in the rate of very preterm delivery on the reported rate of neonatal death in ten European regions. DESIGN: Comparison of 10 separate geographically defined European populations, from nine European countries, over a one year period (seven months......) a standardised rate of very preterm delivery and b) the existing death rate for babies born at this gestation in the individual region. This produced much greater homogeneity in terms of neonatal mortality. CONCLUSIONS: Variation in the rate of very preterm delivery has a major influence on reported neonatal...

A qualitative study of recently bereaved people's beliefs about death: implications for bereavement care.

Science.gov (United States)

Draper, Peter; Holloway, Margaret; Adamson, Susan

2014-05-01

To investigate the beliefs of recently bereaved people about death and to explore the implications of these beliefs for bereavement care. Little is known about recently bereaved people's beliefs about death, although there is evidence that these beliefs may have an impact on health. The funeral provides an opportunity for bereaved people to reflect on their beliefs about death. A qualitative approach. This paper describes one aspect of an interdisciplinary study of the spirituality of contemporary funerals. We obtained access to 46 funerals through funeral directors and other contacts, and interviewed principal mourners to explore their beliefs. Interviews were recorded, transcribed verbatim and analysed thematically. Three themes emerged that reflected the beliefs and experiences of bereaved people. The first theme describes people's understanding of death in terms of five positions: religious, dualist, eco-spiritualist, materialist and death-as-transition. The second theme addresses a range of views about the possibility of life after death: resurrection, reuniting and reincarnation. The third theme describes ways in which people felt that their relationship with the deceased person continues after death: continuity as sense of presence and continuity as memory, legacy and love. Some people were reluctant to express a firm view about death. People express a spectrum of beliefs about death. Their beliefs are infrequently linked to formal religious or spiritual perspectives but seem to have an important role in coping with bereavement. This is a unique study illustrating the complexity of bereaved people's beliefs about death. The study provides a research-based framework within which to understand contemporary beliefs about death, and contributes to our understanding of how health professionals can support recently bereaved people. © 2013 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Lack of association between use of efavirenz and death from suicide

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Smith, Colette; Ryom, Lene; Monforte, Antonella d'Arminio

2014-01-01

INTRODUCTION: A recent meta-analysis of 4 RCTs showed an increased rate of suicidality events (suicidal ideation or attempted/completed suicide) associated with efavirenz (EFV) compared to other regimens, but only a trend towards a higher rate of completed/attempted suicides, as only 17 events...... occurred. We investigated the association between EFV use and completed suicide. MATERIALS AND METHODS: All D:A:D participants were followed from study entry to the first of death, last study visit or 1 February 2013. Deaths are centrally validated using cause of death methodology, which assigns underlying......, immediate and up to four contributing causes of death. Two endpoints were considered: 1) suicide or psychiatric disease as the underlying cause, and 2) suicide or psychiatric disease mentioned as an underlying, immediate or contributing cause of death (anywhere). Adjusted rate ratios were calculated using...

Insights on dying, dementia and death certificates.

Science.gov (United States)

Vandormael, Sofie; Meirschaert, Alexander; Steyaert, Jan; De Lepeleire, Jan

2018-01-01

For our master thesis in medicine, we aimed to determine how many deaths were caused by and with dementia in 2014 and we compared our results with figures from abroad. The mortality rates of 2014 in Flanders were used to determine the amount of deaths related to dementia. These figures are collected by Vlaams Agentschap Zorg & Gezondheid (VAZG) and coded per ICD-10 classification. Of all deaths in Flanders in 2014, 6.60% were caused by dementia and 4.29% were caused by another condition, while also suffering from dementia. Data from abroad are ambiguous. While working on our thesis about "death & dementia", we questioned the reliability of mortality statistics. Possible explanations could be; the complexity of completing death certificates correctly and the challenges involved in properly constructing a chain of causes of death. The accuracy of mortality data can be improved by training and redrafting death certificates.

Long-term mortality and causes of death among hospitalized Swedish drug users.

Science.gov (United States)

Fugelstad, Anna; Annell, Anders; Ågren, Gunnar

2014-06-01

To study long-term mortality and causes of death in a cohort of drug users in relation to main type of drug use and HIV-status. A total of 1640 hospitalized drug users in Stockholm was followed up from 1985 to the end of 2007. The mortality was compared with the general Swedish population and hazard ratios (HR) for the main risk indicators were calculated. The causes of death were studied, using information from death certificates. 630 persons died during the observation period. The Standard Mortality Ratio (SMR) was 16.1 (males 13.8, females 18.5). The crude mortality rate was 2.0 % (males 2.2% and females 1.5%). The mortality rate was higher in heroin users than among amphetamine users, HR 1.96, controlled for age and other risk factors. The mortality rate among individuals infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) was high (4.9 %), HR 2.64, compared with HIV-negative individuals. Most of the deaths were from other causes than acquired immune deficiency syndrome. One-third of deaths (227) were caused by heroin intoxication. The number of deaths from HIV-related causes decreased after 1996, when highly active anti-retroviral therapy was introduced. In all, there were 92 HIV-related deaths. Deaths from natural causes increased during the observation period. The SMR was highest for cardiovascular and gastrointestinal diseases. The results indicate a correlation between amphetamine use and death from cerebral haemorrhage. A high proportion of natural deaths were alcohol-related. The death rate among illicit drug users was persistently high. Alcohol consumption was a contributing factor to premature death. © 2014 the Nordic Societies of Public Health.

Lexis diagram and illness-death model: simulating populations in chronic disease epidemiology.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ralph Brinks

Full Text Available Chronic diseases impose a tremendous global health problem of the 21st century. Epidemiological and public health models help to gain insight into the distribution and burden of chronic diseases. Moreover, the models may help to plan appropriate interventions against risk factors. To provide accurate results, models often need to take into account three different time-scales: calendar time, age, and duration since the onset of the disease. Incidence and mortality often change with age and calendar time. In many diseases such as, for example, diabetes and dementia, the mortality of the diseased persons additionally depends on the duration of the disease. The aim of this work is to describe an algorithm and a flexible software framework for the simulation of populations moving in an illness-death model that describes the epidemiology of a chronic disease in the face of the different times-scales. We set up a discrete event simulation in continuous time involving competing risks using the freely available statistical software R. Relevant events are birth, the onset (or diagnosis of the disease and death with or without the disease. The Lexis diagram keeps track of the different time-scales. Input data are birth rates, incidence and mortality rates, which can be given as numerical values on a grid. The algorithm manages the complex interplay between the rates and the different time-scales. As a result, for each subject in the simulated population, the algorithm provides the calendar time of birth, the age of onset of the disease (if the subject contracts the disease and the age at death. By this means, the impact of interventions may be estimated and compared.

Cause of death and potentially avoidable deaths in Australian adults with intellectual disability using retrospective linked data.

Science.gov (United States)

Trollor, Julian; Srasuebkul, Preeyaporn; Xu, Han; Howlett, Sophie

2017-02-07

To investigate mortality and its causes in adults over the age of 20 years with intellectual disability (ID). Retrospective population-based standardised mortality of the ID and Comparison cohorts. The ID cohort comprised 42 204 individuals who registered for disability services with ID as a primary or secondary diagnosis from 2005 to 2011 in New South Wales (NSW). The Comparison cohort was obtained from published deaths in NSW from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) from 2005 to 2011. We measured and compared Age Standardised Mortality Rate (ASMR), Comparative Mortality Figure (CMF), years of productive life lost (YPLL) and proportion of deaths with potentially avoidable causes in an ID cohort with an NSW general population cohort. There were 19 362 adults in the ID cohort which experienced 732 (4%) deaths at a median age of 54 years. Age Standardised Mortality Rates increased with age for both cohorts. Overall comparative mortality figure was 1.3, but was substantially higher for the 20-44 (4.0) and 45-64 (2.3) age groups. YPLL was 137/1000 people in the ID cohort and 49 in the comparison cohort. Cause of death in ID cohort was dominated by respiratory, circulatory, neoplasm and nervous system. After recoding deaths previously attributed to the aetiology of the disability, 38% of deaths in the ID cohort and 17% in the comparison cohort were potentially avoidable. Adults with ID experience premature mortality and over-representation of potentially avoidable deaths. A national system of reporting of deaths in adults with ID is required. Inclusion in health policy and services development and in health promotion programmes is urgently required to address premature deaths and health inequalities for adults with ID. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://www.bmj.com/company/products-services/rights-and-licensing/.

Infant Mortality Statistics From the 2013 Period Linked Birth/Infant Death Data Set.

Science.gov (United States)

Matthews, T J; MacDorman, Marian F; Thoma, Marie E

2015-08-06

This report presents 2013 period infant mortality statistics from the linked birth/infant death data set (linked file) by maternal and infant characteristics. The linked file differs from the mortality file, which is based entirely on death certificate data. Descriptive tabulations of data are presented and interpreted. The U.S. infant mortality rate was 5.96 infant deaths per 1,000 live births in 2013, similar to the rate of 5.98 in 2012. The number of infant deaths was 23,446 in 2013, a decline of 208 infant deaths from 2012. From 2012 to 2013, infant mortality rates were stable for most race and Hispanic origin groups; declines were reported for two Hispanic subgroups: Cuban and Puerto Rican. Since 2005, the most recent high, the U.S. infant mortality rate has declined 13% (from 6.86), with declines in both neonatal and postneonatal mortality overall and for most groups. In 2013, infants born at 37–38 weeks of gestation (early term) had mortality rates that were 63% higher than for full-term (39–40 week) infants. For multiple births, the infant mortality rate was 25.84, 5 times the rate of 5.25 for singleton births. In 2013, 36% of infant deaths were due to preterm-related causes of death, and an additional 15% were due to causes grouped into the sudden unexpected infant death category. 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.

Relationship between leukotriene-modifying agent prescriptions dispensed and rate of suicide deaths by county in the US

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Schumock GT

2011-09-01

Full Text Available Glen T Schumock1, Robert D Gibbons2, Todd A Lee1,3,4,6, Min J Joo4, Robert J Valuck5, Leslie T Stayner61Center for Pharmacoeconomic Research, and Department of Pharmacy Practice, College of Pharmacy, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA; 2Center for Health Statistics, and Departments of Medicine and Health Studies, Pritzker School of Medicine, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA; 3Center for Management of Complex Chronic Care, Hines VA Hospital, Hines, IL, USA; 4Section of Pulmonary, Critical Care, Sleep and Allergy, Department of Medicine, College of Medicine, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA; 5Department of Clinical Pharmacy, School of Pharmacy, University of Colorado, Aurora, CO, USA; 6Division of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL, USABackground: The US Food and Drug Administration has issued warnings about a potential link between leukotriene receptor-modifying agents (LTMA and suicide. These warnings are based on case reports and there is controversy about the association. While spontaneous reporting of suicide-related events attributed to LTMA has risen dramatically, these data may be biased by the warnings. The objective of this study was to explore the relationship between LTMA and suicide deaths using event data preceding the Food and Drug Administration warnings.Methods: We conducted a mixed-effects Poisson regression analysis of the association between LTMA prescriptions dispensed and suicide deaths at the county level. Counts of suicide deaths in each US county, stratified by race, age group, gender, and year were obtained from the National Center for Health Statistics for the period January 1, 1999 to December 31, 2006. Counts of LTMA prescriptions dispensed in each US county were obtained from IMS Health Incorporated. The model estimated the overall suicide rate conditional on LTMA use, adjusted for age, gender, race, year

Tempo of Diversification of Global Amphibians: One-Constant Rate, One-Continuous Shift or Multiple-Discrete Shifts?

OpenAIRE

Youhua Chen

2014-01-01

In this brief report, alternative time-varying diversification rate models were fitted onto the phylogeny of global amphibians by considering one-constant-rate (OCR), one-continuous-shift (OCS) and multiplediscrete- shifts (MDS) situations. The OCS diversification model was rejected by γ statistic (γ=-5.556, p⁄ 0.001), implying the existence of shifting diversification rates for global amphibian phylogeny. Through model selection, MDS diversification model outperformed OCS and OCR...

Birth/birth-death processes and their computable transition probabilities with biological applications.

Science.gov (United States)

Ho, Lam Si Tung; Xu, Jason; Crawford, Forrest W; Minin, Vladimir N; Suchard, Marc A

2018-03-01

Birth-death processes track the size of a univariate population, but many biological systems involve interaction between populations, necessitating models for two or more populations simultaneously. A lack of efficient methods for evaluating finite-time transition probabilities of bivariate processes, however, has restricted statistical inference in these models. Researchers rely on computationally expensive methods such as matrix exponentiation or Monte Carlo approximation, restricting likelihood-based inference to small systems, or indirect methods such as approximate Bayesian computation. In this paper, we introduce the birth/birth-death process, a tractable bivariate extension of the birth-death process, where rates are allowed to be nonlinear. We develop an efficient algorithm to calculate its transition probabilities using a continued fraction representation of their Laplace transforms. Next, we identify several exemplary models arising in molecular epidemiology, macro-parasite evolution, and infectious disease modeling that fall within this class, and demonstrate advantages of our proposed method over existing approaches to inference in these models. Notably, the ubiquitous stochastic susceptible-infectious-removed (SIR) model falls within this class, and we emphasize that computable transition probabilities newly enable direct inference of parameters in the SIR model. We also propose a very fast method for approximating the transition probabilities under the SIR model via a novel branching process simplification, and compare it to the continued fraction representation method with application to the 17th century plague in Eyam. Although the two methods produce similar maximum a posteriori estimates, the branching process approximation fails to capture the correlation structure in the joint posterior distribution.

Social desintegration and violent deaths in countries of the Soviet Union

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Pablo Daniel Bonaldi

2016-02-01

Full Text Available This paper intents to show that deep social transformations that took place in the Soviet Union, between middle 80s and middle 90s during XXth. century, provoqued a significant increase in violent deaths rates (suicides, homicides and accidents. Our study follows a theoretical perspective based on Durkheim ideas , that try to explain variations in violent deaths rates analyzing changes in the intensity and nature of social relationships. The analysis of evolution of specific rates by region, sex and age allowed us to verify that groups more directly affected by social transformations were those that also presented the highest rates in the proportion of violent deaths. 

Radiation exposure and risk of death

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hongo, Syozo

1979-01-01

By using the risk factor given in ICRP publication 26 and an assumption of linear relationship between risk and dose, death rate and death number which correspond to radiation dose level and collective dose level of Japanese are estimated and they are compared with vital statistics of Japanese in 1975 to get out some ideas about radiation risk relative to the risks of everyday life. (author)

Incarcerating Death: Mortality in U.S. State Correctional Facilities, 1985–1998

OpenAIRE

PATTERSON, EVELYN J.

2010-01-01

Using data from the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics and Census Bureau, I estimate death rates of working-age prisoners and nonprisoners by sex and race. Incarceration was more detrimental to females in comparison to their male counterparts in the period covered by this study. White male prisoners had higher death rates than white males who were not in prison. Black male prisoners, however, consistently exhibited lower death rates than black male nonprisoners did. Additionally, the findings ...

Antiepileptic drugs and intrauterine death

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Tomson, Torbjörn; Battino, Dina; Bonizzoni, Erminio

2015-01-01

) after prenatal AED exposure. Using EURAP data, we prospectively monitored pregnancies exposed to the 6 most common AED monotherapies and to polytherapy. Intrauterine death (spontaneous abortion and stillbirth combined) was the primary endpoint. RESULTS: Of 7,055 pregnancies exposed to monotherapy...... with lamotrigine (n = 1,910), carbamazepine (n = 1,713), valproic acid (n = 1,171), levetiracetam (n = 324), oxcarbazepine (n = 262), or phenobarbital (n = 260), and to polytherapy (n = 1,415), 632 ended in intrauterine deaths (592 spontaneous abortions and 40 stillbirths). Rates of intrauterine death were similar...... that the risk was greater with polytherapy vs monotherapy (risk ratio [RR] 1.38; 95% CI 1.14-1.66), parental history of MCMs (RR 1.92; 1.20-3.07), maternal age (RR 1.06; 1.04-1.07), and number of previous intrauterine deaths (RR 1.09; 1.00-1.19). The risk was greater with early enrollment and decreased...

Avoidable deaths in Greenland 1968-1985

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bjerregaard, Peter; Juel, K

1990-01-01

and several showed an increasing time trend. The regional patterns were particularly clear for infectious diseases and accidents, which showed low mortality rates in the capital and other towns and high mortality rates in settlements and in the remote East Greenland, while mortality rates from suicides...... and political will of the society. A list of avoidable deaths is proposed for Greenland which includes, inter alia, meningitis, lung cancer, acute respiratory infections, suicides, boat accidents and alcohol related diseases and accidents. All were considerably more common in Greenland than in Denmark...... and alcohol related diseases were high in the capital and East Greenland and low in West Greenlandic settlements. It is concluded that further studies on preventable diseases and causes of death, in particular certain infectious diseases, accidents and suicides, are needed....

26 CFR 3.8 - Certain corporate reorganizations and changes in partnerships, and certain transfers on death...

Science.gov (United States)

2010-04-01

... in partnerships, and certain transfers on death. [Reserved] 3.8 Section 3.8 Internal Revenue INTERNAL REVENUE SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY (CONTINUED) INCOME TAX (CONTINUED) CAPITAL CONSTRUCTION FUND § 3.8 Certain corporate reorganizations and changes in partnerships, and certain transfers on death...

Socioeconomic inequalities in mortality rates in old age in the World Health Organization Europe Region

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Huisman, M.; Read, S.; Towriss, C.A.; Deeg, D.J.H.; Grundy, E.

2013-01-01

Socioeconomic adversity is among the foremost fundamental causes of human suffering, and this is no less true in old age. Recent reports on socioeconomic inequalities in mortality rate in old age suggest that a low socioeconomic position continues to increase the risk of death even among the oldest

Did the Great Recession affect mortality rates in the metropolitan United States? Effects on mortality by age, gender and cause of death.

Science.gov (United States)

Strumpf, Erin C; Charters, Thomas J; Harper, Sam; Nandi, Arijit

2017-09-01

Mortality rates generally decline during economic recessions in high-income countries, however gaps remain in our understanding of the underlying mechanisms. This study estimates the impacts of increases in unemployment rates on both all-cause and cause-specific mortality across U.S. metropolitan regions during the Great Recession. We estimate the effects of economic conditions during the recent and severe recessionary period on mortality, including differences by age and gender subgroups, using fixed effects regression models. We identify a plausibly causal effect by isolating the impacts of within-metropolitan area changes in unemployment rates and controlling for common temporal trends. We aggregated vital statistics, population, and unemployment data at the area-month-year-age-gender-race level, yielding 527,040 observations across 366 metropolitan areas, 2005-2010. We estimate that a one percentage point increase in the metropolitan area unemployment rate was associated with a decrease in all-cause mortality of 3.95 deaths per 100,000 person years (95%CI -6.80 to -1.10), or 0.5%. Estimated reductions in cardiovascular disease mortality contributed 60% of the overall effect and were more pronounced among women. Motor vehicle accident mortality declined with unemployment increases, especially for men and those under age 65, as did legal intervention and homicide mortality, particularly for men and adults ages 25-64. We find suggestive evidence that increases in metropolitan area unemployment increased accidental drug poisoning deaths for both men and women ages 25-64. Our finding that all-cause mortality decreased during the Great Recession is consistent with previous studies. Some categories of cause-specific mortality, notably cardiovascular disease, also follow this pattern, and are more pronounced for certain gender and age groups. Our study also suggests that the recent recession contributed to the growth in deaths from overdoses of prescription drugs in

X-γ dose rate continuous monitor with wide range based on single-chip microcomputer

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wu Debo; Ling Qiu; Guo Lanying; Yang Binhua

2007-01-01

This paper describes a concept about circuit designing of X-γ dose rate continuous monitor with wide range based on single-chip microcomputer, and also presents the design procedure of hardware and software, and gives several methods for solving the design procedure of hardware and software with emphasis. (authors)

Cell death in Pseudomonas aeruginosa biofilm development

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Webb, J.S.; Thompson, L.S.; James, S.

2003-01-01

Bacteria growing in biofilms often develop multicellular, three-dimensional structures known as microcolonies. Complex differentiation within biofilms of Pseudomonas aeruginosa occurs, leading to the creation of voids inside microcolonies and to the dispersal of cells from within these voids....... However, key developmental processes regulating these events are poorly understood. A normal component of multicellular development is cell death. Here we report that a repeatable pattern of cell death and lysis occurs in biofilms of P. aeruginosa during the normal course of development. Cell death...... occurred with temporal and spatial organization within biofilms, inside microcolonies, when the biofilms were allowed to develop in continuous-culture flow cells. A subpopulation of viable cells was always observed in these regions. During the onset of biofilm killing and during biofilm development...

Predictors of sudden death and death from pump failure in congestive heart failure are different. Analysis of 24 h Holter monitoring, clinical variables, blood chemistry, exercise test and radionuclide angiography

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Madsen, B K; Rasmussen, Verner; Hansen, J F

1997-01-01

Association class II and 44% in III. Total mortality after 1 year was 21%, after 2 years 32%. Of 60 deaths, 33% were sudden and 49% due to pump failure. Multivariate analyses identified totally different risk factors for sudden death: ventricular tachycardia, s-sodium ....6 mmol/l, s-potassium sudden death and for death from progressive pump failure........80 mmol/l, s-creatinine > 121 mumol/l, and maximal change in heart rate during exercise death from progressive pump failure: New York Heart Association class III + IV, delta heart rate over 24 h 7...

Analytical approaches to and interpretations of data on time, rate, and cause of death of mice exposed to external gamma irradiation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Grahn, D.; Sacher, G.A.; Lea, R.A.; Fry, R.J.M.; Rust, J.H.

1978-01-01

Young adult male and female mice of inbred strains, A, BALB/c, C57BL/6, and C57L, and B6CF 1 and F 2 hybrids were exposed to daily duration-of-life external 60 Co γ irradiation. Age at death was recorded, and most decedents were necropsied to ascertain occurrence of major types of tumors. Age- and cause-specific mortality or incidence rates were derived, and their regressions on age were fitted with polynomial equations by least-squares procedures. Age-specific and age-adjusted integrated lifetime risk in excess of the control population was expressed as the mortality ratio (irradiated/control). Linear and nonlinear functions and widely different life expectancies can be accommodated by this technique. These basic actuarial statistics provide a means for comparative analysis of dose-response functions, sex and genetic variables, relative vs. absolute risk, protraction or dose-rate factors, and major contributing causes of excess risk. They also provide a basis for extrapolation to man. As examples, life shortening in days per rad (4 days/100 rads accumulated) is generally independent of sex, genotype, and daily dose rate. The integrated average lifetime risk of death related to all tumors (0.025%/rad) is largely independent of sex, genotype and dose-rates <12 rads/day, despite the fact that tumor incidence varies by a factor of 2 to 3 among genotypes. At low exposure rates, tumor-related mortality accounts for 80% of the excess risk, and life shortening is a function only of accumulated dose, independent of dose rate below 12 rads/day. The radiobiological effectiveness for low daily exposure levels is less than that for single exposures by a factor of 5 to 10. Life shortening following low daily exposure rates is induced at the rate of .03 to .06 days/R for the mouse, which extrapolates to about 1 to 2 days/R for man

On the problem of non-zero word error rates for fixed-rate error correction codes in continuous variable quantum key distribution

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Johnson, Sarah J; Ong, Lawrence; Shirvanimoghaddam, Mahyar; Lance, Andrew M; Symul, Thomas; Ralph, T C

2017-01-01

The maximum operational range of continuous variable quantum key distribution protocols has shown to be improved by employing high-efficiency forward error correction codes. Typically, the secret key rate model for such protocols is modified to account for the non-zero word error rate of such codes. In this paper, we demonstrate that this model is incorrect: firstly, we show by example that fixed-rate error correction codes, as currently defined, can exhibit efficiencies greater than unity. Secondly, we show that using this secret key model combined with greater than unity efficiency codes, implies that it is possible to achieve a positive secret key over an entanglement breaking channel—an impossible scenario. We then consider the secret key model from a post-selection perspective, and examine the implications for key rate if we constrain the forward error correction codes to operate at low word error rates. (paper)

An examination of pregnancy- related deaths among adolescents

African Journals Online (AJOL)

(SA) reports the current maternal mortality rate at 147.7 deaths per. 100 000 live ... decreased from 299 deaths per 100 000 live births in 2007 to 147.7 in 2013, SA ... The data were anonymised by Statistics SA before becoming available for ...

5 CFR 880.207 - Adjustment of accounts after finding of death.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... 5 Administrative Personnel 2 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Adjustment of accounts after finding of death. 880.207 Section 880.207 Administrative Personnel OFFICE OF PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT (CONTINUED) CIVIL... Procedures § 880.207 Adjustment of accounts after finding of death. After a missing annuitant is determined...

Continuously variable rating: a new, simple and logical procedure to evaluate original scientific publications

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mauricio Rocha e Silva

2011-01-01

Full Text Available OBJECTIVE: Impact Factors (IF are widely used surrogates to evaluate single articles, in spite of known shortcomings imposed by cite distribution skewness. We quantify this asymmetry and propose a simple computer-based procedure for evaluating individual articles. METHOD: (a Analysis of symmetry. Journals clustered around nine Impact Factor points were selected from the medical ‘‘Subject Categories’’ in Journal Citation Reports 2010. Citable items published in 2008 were retrieved and ranked by granted citations over the Jan/2008 - Jun/2011 period. Frequency distribution of cites, normalized cumulative cites and absolute cites/decile were determined for each journal cluster. (b Positive Predictive Value. Three arbitrarily established evaluation classes were generated: LOW (1.33.9. Positive Predictive Value for journal clusters within each class range was estimated. (c Continuously Variable Rating. An alternative evaluation procedure is proposed to allow the rating of individually published articles in comparison to all articles published in the same journal within the same year of publication. The general guiding lines for the construction of a totally dedicated software program are delineated. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: Skewness followed the Pareto Distribution for (1Continuously Variable Rating is shown to be a simple computer based procedure capable of accurately providing a valid rating for each article within the journal and time frame in which it was published.

Blastocyst utilization rates after continuous culture in two commercial single-step media: a prospective randomized study with sibling oocytes.

Science.gov (United States)

Sfontouris, Ioannis A; Kolibianakis, Efstratios M; Lainas, George T; Venetis, Christos A; Petsas, George K; Tarlatzis, Basil C; Lainas, Tryfon G

2017-10-01

The aim of this study is to determine whether blastocyst utilization rates are different after continuous culture in two different commercial single-step media. This is a paired randomized controlled trial with sibling oocytes conducted in infertility patients, aged ≤40 years with ≥10 oocytes retrieved assigned to blastocyst culture and transfer. Retrieved oocytes were randomly allocated to continuous culture in either Sage one-step medium (Origio) or Continuous Single Culture (CSC) medium (Irvine Scientific) without medium renewal up to day 5 post oocyte retrieval. Main outcome measure was the proportion of embryos suitable for clinical use (utilization rate). A total of 502 oocytes from 33 women were randomly allocated to continuous culture in either Sage one-step medium (n = 250) or CSC medium (n = 252). Fertilization was performed by either in vitro fertilization or intracytoplasmic sperm injection, and embryo transfers were performed on day 5. Two patients had all blastocysts frozen due to the occurrence of severe ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome. Fertilization and cleavage rates, as well as embryo quality on day 3, were similar in the two media. Blastocyst utilization rates (%, 95% CI) [55.4% (46.4-64.1) vs 54.7% (44.9-64.6), p = 0.717], blastocyst formation rates [53.6% (44.6-62.5) vs 51.9 (42.2-61.6), p = 0.755], and proportion of good quality blastocysts [36.8% (28.1-45.4) vs 36.1% (27.2-45.0), p = 0.850] were similar in Sage one-step and CSC media, respectively. Continuous culture of embryos in Sage one-step and CSC media is associated with similar blastocyst development and utilization rates. Both single-step media appear to provide adequate support during in vitro preimplantation embryo development. Whether these observations are also valid for other continuous single medium protocols remains to be determined. NCT02302638.

Antioxidant supplementation decreases the cell death rate in the prostatic stromal tissue of long-term castrated rats

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Guilherme Fartes

2012-06-01

Full Text Available OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to compare the effects of castration on cell death rate of the adult rat prostates and to evaluate the benefic action of alpha tocopherol supplementation to avoid apoptosis post-orchiectomy. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Thirty male Wistar rats weighing 250-300g were divided into three groups: group I - they were subjected to bilateral orchiectomy and sacrificed eight weeks after the procedure; group II - subjected to bilateral orchiectomy and alpha-tocopherol supplementation for four weeks preceding the procedure; and group III - subjected to bilateral orchiectomy and alpha-tocopherol supplementation for four weeks preceding the procedure and for eight weeks afterwards. At the end of the experiment, the prostatectomy was performed in all rats. The presence of oxidative stress was determined by assaying the blood level of 8-isoprostane and the occurrence of apoptosis was evaluated by identification of active caspase-3 through immunohistochemical analysis. RESULTS: The statistic analysis of active caspase-3 showed that in the long-term castrated group the detection was higher than in groups were the alpha-tocopherol was supplemented (p=0.007. Analysis of 8-isoprostane levels showed higher concentrations of reactive oxygen species in group I compared to other groups (p<0.05. Groups II and III presented active caspase-3 lower than in group I (p<0.05. CONCLUSION: Our exploratory analyses demonstrate a method to study the aging process and its influence on oxidative stress of prostatic tissue and cells death rate. Based on our results we can suggest that alpha tocopherol supplementation can decrease the apoptotic process as well as the oxidative stress levels induced by androgen deprivation of the prostate gland.

Validation of a new control system for Elekta accelerators facilitating continuously variable dose rate

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bertelsen, Anders; Lorenzen, Ebbe L; Brink, Carsten

2011-01-01

) as well as BVDR. Using CVDR opposed to BVDR for VMAT has the potential of reducing the treatment time but may lead to lower dosimetric accuracy due to faster moving accelerator parts. Using D7 and a test version of Integrity, differences in ability to control the accelerator, treatment efficiency......Elekta accelerators controlled by the current clinically used accelerator control system, Desktop 7.01 (D7), uses binned variable dose rate (BVDR) for volumetric modulated arc therapy (VMAT). The next version of the treatment control system (Integrity) supports continuously variable dose rate (CVDR...

Continuous multi-parameter heart rate variability analysis heralds onset of sepsis in adults.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Saif Ahmad

Full Text Available BACKGROUND: Early diagnosis of sepsis enables timely resuscitation and antibiotics and prevents subsequent morbidity and mortality. Clinical approaches relying on point-in-time analysis of vital signs or lab values are often insensitive, non-specific and late diagnostic markers of sepsis. Exploring otherwise hidden information within intervals-in-time, heart rate variability (HRV has been documented to be both altered in the presence of sepsis, and correlated with its severity. We hypothesized that by continuously tracking individual patient HRV over time in patients as they develop sepsis, we would demonstrate reduced HRV in association with the onset of sepsis. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We monitored heart rate continuously in adult bone marrow transplant (BMT patients (n = 21 beginning a day before their BMT and continuing until recovery or withdrawal (12+/-4 days. We characterized HRV continuously over time with a panel of time, frequency, complexity, and scale-invariant domain techniques. We defined baseline HRV as mean variability for the first 24 h of monitoring and studied individual and population average percentage change (from baseline over time in diverse HRV metrics, in comparison with the time of clinical diagnosis and treatment of sepsis (defined as systemic inflammatory response syndrome along with clinically suspected infection requiring treatment. Of the 21 patients enrolled, 4 patients withdrew, leaving 17 patients who completed the study. Fourteen patients developed sepsis requiring antibiotic therapy, whereas 3 did not. On average, for 12 out of 14 infected patients, a significant (25% reduction prior to the clinical diagnosis and treatment of sepsis was observed in standard deviation, root mean square successive difference, sample and multiscale entropy, fast Fourier transform, detrended fluctuation analysis, and wavelet variability metrics. For infected patients (n = 14, wavelet HRV demonstrated a 25% drop from

Impact of unlinked deaths and coding changes on mortality trends in the Swiss National Cohort.

Science.gov (United States)

Schmidlin, Kurt; Clough-Gorr, Kerri M; Spoerri, Adrian; Egger, Matthias; Zwahlen, Marcel

2013-01-04

Results of epidemiological studies linking census with mortality records may be affected by unlinked deaths and changes in cause of death classification. We examined these issues in the Swiss National Cohort (SNC). The SNC is a longitudinal study of the entire Swiss population, based on the 1990 (6.8 million persons) and 2000 (7.3 million persons) censuses. Among 1,053,393 deaths recorded 1991-2007 5.4% could not be linked using stringent probabilistic linkage. We included the unlinked deaths using pragmatic linkages and compared mortality rates for selected causes with official mortality rates. We also examined the impact of the 1995 change in cause of death coding from version 8 (with some additional rules) to version 10 of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD), using Poisson regression models with restricted cubic splines. Finally, we compared results from Cox models including and excluding unlinked deaths of the association of education, marital status, and nationality with selected causes of death. SNC mortality rates underestimated all cause mortality by 9.6% (range 2.4%-17.9%) in the 85+ population. Underestimation was less pronounced in years nearer the censuses and in the 75-84 age group. After including 99.7% of unlinked deaths, annual all cause SNC mortality rates were reflecting official rates (relative difference between -1.4% and +1.8%). In the 85+ population the rates for prostate and breast cancer dropped, by 16% and 21% respectively, between 1994 and 1995 coincident with the change in cause of death coding policy. For suicide in males almost no change was observed. Hazard ratios were only negligibly affected by including the unlinked deaths. A sudden decrease in breast (21% less, 95% confidence interval: 12%-28%) and prostate (16% less, 95% confidence interval: 7%-23%) cancer mortality rates in the 85+ population coincided with the 1995 change in cause of death coding policy. Unlinked deaths bias analyses of absolute mortality rates

Impact of unlinked deaths and coding changes on mortality trends in the Swiss National Cohort

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Schmidlin Kurt

2013-01-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Results of epidemiological studies linking census with mortality records may be affected by unlinked deaths and changes in cause of death classification. We examined these issues in the Swiss National Cohort (SNC. Methods The SNC is a longitudinal study of the entire Swiss population, based on the 1990 (6.8 million persons and 2000 (7.3 million persons censuses. Among 1,053,393 deaths recorded 1991–2007 5.4% could not be linked using stringent probabilistic linkage. We included the unlinked deaths using pragmatic linkages and compared mortality rates for selected causes with official mortality rates. We also examined the impact of the 1995 change in cause of death coding from version 8 (with some additional rules to version 10 of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD, using Poisson regression models with restricted cubic splines. Finally, we compared results from Cox models including and excluding unlinked deaths of the association of education, marital status, and nationality with selected causes of death. Results SNC mortality rates underestimated all cause mortality by 9.6% (range 2.4% - 17.9% in the 85+ population. Underestimation was less pronounced in years nearer the censuses and in the 75–84 age group. After including 99.7% of unlinked deaths, annual all cause SNC mortality rates were reflecting official rates (relative difference between −1.4% and +1.8%. In the 85+ population the rates for prostate and breast cancer dropped, by 16% and 21% respectively, between 1994 and 1995 coincident with the change in cause of death coding policy. For suicide in males almost no change was observed. Hazard ratios were only negligibly affected by including the unlinked deaths. A sudden decrease in breast (21% less, 95% confidence interval: 12% - 28% and prostate (16% less, 95% confidence interval: 7% - 23% cancer mortality rates in the 85+ population coincided with the 1995 change in cause of death coding policy

Continuity Between Interview-Rated Personality Disorders and Self-Reported DSM-5 Traits in a Danish Psychiatric Sample

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bach, Bo; Anderson, Jaime; Simonsen, Erik

2017-01-01

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (5th ed.; DSM-5) Section III offers an alternative model for the diagnosis of personality disorders (PDs), including 25 pathological personality trait facets organized into 5 trait domains. To maintain continuity with the categorical PD...... diagnoses found in DSM-5 Section II, specified sets of facets are configured into familiar PD types. The current study aimed to evaluate the continuity across the Section II and III models of PDs. A sample of 142 psychiatric outpatients were administered the Personality Inventory for DSM-5 and rated...... showed that, overall, the interview-rated DSM-5 Section II disorders were most strongly associated with expected self-reported Section III traits. Results also supported the addition of facets not included in the proposed Section III PD criteria. These findings partly underscore the continuity between...

Conscience in health care and the definitions of death.

Science.gov (United States)

Kato, Yutaka

2013-02-01

Brain death or neurologic death has gradually become recognized as human death over the past decades worldwide. Nevertheless, in Japan, the New York State, and the State of New Jersey, death is declared based not on brain death criteria, but on cardio-pulmonary criteria. In Japan, the 1997 Organ Transplant Law legalized brain death determination exclusively when organs were to be procured from brain-dead patients. Even after 2009 law revision, the default definition of death continued to be based on cardio-pulmonary criteria, despite the criticism. The cases of Japan and the United States provide a good reference as social experiments of appreciating conscientious or religio-cultural dimensions in health care. This text theoretically examines the 1997 organ transplant law of Japan and its 2009 revision, presenting some characteristics of Japan's case compared to American cases and the implications its approach has for the rest of the world. This is an example in which a foreign idea that did not receive widespread support from Japanese citizens was transformed to fit the religio-cultural landscape.

Analysis of novel stochastic switched SILI epidemic models with continuous and impulsive control

Science.gov (United States)

Gao, Shujing; Zhong, Deming; Zhang, Yan

2018-04-01

In this paper, we establish two new stochastic switched epidemic models with continuous and impulsive control. The stochastic perturbations are considered for the natural death rate in each equation of the models. Firstly, a stochastic switched SILI model with continuous control schemes is investigated. By using Lyapunov-Razumikhin method, the sufficient conditions for extinction in mean are established. Our result shows that the disease could be die out theoretically if threshold value R is less than one, regardless of whether the disease-free solutions of the corresponding subsystems are stable or unstable. Then, a stochastic switched SILI model with continuous control schemes and pulse vaccination is studied. The threshold value R is derived. The global attractivity of the model is also obtained. At last, numerical simulations are carried out to support our results.

Epidemiology of violent deaths in the world.

Science.gov (United States)

Reza, A; Mercy, J A; Krug, E

2001-06-01

This study describes epidemiologic patterns of mortality due to suicide, homicide, and war for the world in order to serve as a benchmark against which to measure future progress and to raise awareness about violence as a global public health problem. The world and its eight major regions. Data were derived from The Global Burden of Disease series and the US National Center for Health Statistics to estimate crude rates, age adjusted rates, sex rate ratios, and the health burden for suicide, homicide, and war related deaths for the world and its eight major regions in 1990. In 1990, an estimated 1,851,000 people died from violence (35.3 per 100,000) in the world. There were an estimated 786,000 suicides. Overall suicide rates ranged from 3.4 per 100,000 in Sub-Saharan Africa to 30.4 per 100,000 in China. There were an estimated 563,000 homicides. Overall homicide rates ranged from 1.0 per 100,000 in established market economies to 44.8 per 100,000 in Sub-Saharan Africa with peaks among males aged 15-24 years old, and among females aged 0-4 years old. There were an estimated 502,000 war related deaths with peaks in rates for both sexes among people aged 0-4, 15-29, and 60-69 years old. The number of violence related deaths in the world is unacceptably high. Coordinated prevention and control efforts are urgently needed.

Trends in bipolar disorder or depression as a cause of death on death certificates of US residents, 1999-2009.

Science.gov (United States)

Polednak, Anthony P

2013-07-01

Temporal trends in mortality from bipolar disorder (BD) or depression in the US population, based on multiple causes (MC) rather than underlying cause (UC) alone on death certificates, apparently have not been examined. The annual US age-standardized rate (ASR) for deaths per 100,000 US residents age 15+ years, and age-specific rates, for BD or depression using MC versus UC alone was examined for 1999-2009; percentage change (PC) from 1999 to 2009 was calculated. The ASRs at age 15+ years were much higher using MC than UC alone. For BD using MC, the ASR increased from 1999 to 2009 (PC +69.2 %) with larger increases in age groups within 15-64 years (PCs about 200 %). For depression using MC, the ASR rose from 1999 to 2003 and then declined, but the decline was restricted to age 65+ years; the ASR at age 15-64 years increased from 1999 to 2009 (PC +55.5 %). For deaths at age 15-64 years with BD or depression as other than UC, the ASRs increased for external causes, cardiovascular diseases, external causes, and neoplasms as UC. The large increases in mortality from BD using MC are consistent with reported increases in BD prevalence rates in the US population. The temporal increases in death rates related to mood disorders at age 15-64 years may provide further support for the need for interventions to address the mediators of excess mortality identified from cohort studies.

Births and deaths including fetal deaths

Data.gov (United States)

U.S. Department of Health & Human Services — Access to a variety of United States birth and death files including fetal deaths: Birth Files, 1968-2009; 1995-2005; Fetal death file, 1982-2005; Mortality files,...

African Cultural Concept of Death and the Idea of Advance Care Directives

OpenAIRE

Ekore, Rabi Ilemona; Lanre-Abass, Bolatito

2016-01-01

An advance care directive is a person's oral or written instructions about his or her future medical care, if he or she becomes unable to communicate. It may be in written or oral form. Africans ordinarily do not encourage the contemplation of death or any discussion about their own or their loved ones? death. According to the African belief system, life does not end with death, but continues in another realm. Becoming an ancestor after death is a desirable goal of every individual, a feat wh...

Staging Death, Translating Death, Rehearsing Death: A Photographer’s Apprenticeship in Dying

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Daniela Fargione

2010-10-01

Full Text Available The preponderance of death imagery in the mass media and a recent interest of photography in the practice of death suggest the need to reevaluate our approach to death and dying, especially when violence is involved. This essay is a case study of History of Violence, Claudio Cravero's last photographic project. His collection of "portraits" reproduce apparent dead bodies, mostly attacked in their own domestic spheres, but neither the perpetrator of death (a mysterious murderer?, nor the weapon used (an omnipresent knife, should be considered as main focal points of the artist's inquiry. The undoubtful protagonist of these photographs, instead, is the light, that illuminates fear: not of death itself, rather of the obnoxious indifference to it, as the result of generalized death imagery saturation.     The staged apparent death displayed in Cravero's photographs serve both as a memento mori and as a strategy to come to terms with the idea of death. In short, it is an apprentship in dying through a domesticating translation practice. Eventually, Cravero's History of Violence offers a complex reflection on the interplay between each individual story and macrolevel social History, thus providing some hypotheses of where violence and death fit in that odd geometry of time and space that we call life.

[Statistics of causes of death and analysis of risk factors in a surgical intensive care unit].

Science.gov (United States)

Jianhua, Yao; Xingxing, Shi; Fen, Wang; Xijing, Zhang

2015-11-01

To summarize the causes of death and to analyze the risk factors in a surgical intensive care unit (SICU). The relevant information of patients died in the SICU of Xijing Hospital of Fourth Military Medical University in past 15 years (from December 1999 to February 2015) was retrospectively analyzed. The gender, age, reason and date of hospitalization, date of transfer SICU, past medical history, whether or not admitted directly from emergency department or transferred from other department, operated or not, date of death, the main cause of death, acute physiology and chronic health evaluation II (APACHE II) score, the history of undergoing mechanical ventilation, continuous renal replacement therapy (CRRT), or antifungal therapy, as well as the ratio of the patients with body temperature higher than 39 °C, white blood cell (WBC) count higher than 10 x 10⁹/L, platelet (PLT) count below 100 x 10⁹/L, albumin (Alb) below 35 g/L of two periods, namely from December 1999 to July 2007 (the first period), and from August 2007 to February 2015 (the second period) were compared. The above parameters were compared with those of 201 survivors in SICU, and the risk factors leading to death were analyzed by logistic regression. From December 1999 to February 2015, 4 317 patients were taken care of in the SICU. Among them, the number of death was 186, and the mortality rate was 4.3%. In the first time period (from December 1999 to July 2007), the total number of patients was 1 356, and the number of death were 109 (the mortality rate was 8.0%). In the second period, i.e. from August 2007 to February 2015, the number of SICU patients was 2,961, and 77 died (the mortality rate was 2.6%). The difference of mortality rate between the two periods was statistically significant (χ² = 66.707, P = 0.001 ). The death rate of patients transferred directly from emergency department in the first period was 79.8% (87/109), and it was lower in the second period (51.9%, 40/77, χ² = 16

Decision Strategies in Continuous Ratings of Jealousy Feelings Elicited by Sexual and Emotional Infidelity

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Achim Schützwohl

2007-10-01

Full Text Available Two studies (total N = 689 tested the assumption of DeSteno, Bartlett, Braverman, and Salovey (2002 that sex differences in jealousy predicted by the evolutionary view are an artifact of measurement because they are restricted to a forced-choice response format and do not emerge when using continuous jealousy ratings. In Study 1, men and women rated how much a mate's emotional and sexual infidelity contributed to their jealousy feeling. In Study 2, men and women rated the intensity of their jealousy feeling elicited by a mate's emotional and sexual infidelity. In one condition they were asked to make their ratings spontaneously whereas in the other condition they were instructed to make their ratings only after careful consideration. The results of both studies lend no support for the artifact-of-measurement assumption. The implications of the present finding for the assumption of DeSteno et al. (2002 are discussed.

Patterns of mortality rates in Darfur conflict.

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Degomme, Olivier; Guha-Sapir, Debarati

2010-01-23

Several mortality estimates for the Darfur conflict have been reported since 2004, but few accounted for conflict dynamics such as changing displacement and causes of deaths. We analyse changes over time for crude and cause-specific mortality rates, and assess the effect of displacement on mortality rates. Retrospective mortality surveys were gathered from an online database. Quasi-Poisson models were used to assess mortality rates with place and period in which the survey was done, and the proportions of displaced people in the samples were the explanatory variables. Predicted mortality rates for five periods were computed and applied to population data taken from the UN's series about Darfur to obtain the number of deaths. 63 of 107 mortality surveys met all criteria for analysis. Our results show significant reductions in mortality rates from early 2004 to the end of 2008, although rates were higher during deployment of fewer humanitarian aid workers. In general, the reduction in rate was more important for violence-related than for diarrhoea-related mortality. Displacement correlated with increased rates of deaths associated with diarrhoea, but also with reduction in violent deaths. We estimated the excess number of deaths to be 298 271 (95% CI 178 258-461 520). Although violence was the main cause of death during 2004, diseases have been the cause of most deaths since 2005, with displaced populations being the most susceptible. Any reduction in humanitarian assistance could lead to worsening mortality rates, as was the case between mid 2006 and mid 2007. Copyright 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

On incomplete sampling under birth-death models and connections to the sampling-based coalescent.

Science.gov (United States)

Stadler, Tanja

2009-11-07

The constant rate birth-death process is used as a stochastic model for many biological systems, for example phylogenies or disease transmission. As the biological data are usually not fully available, it is crucial to understand the effect of incomplete sampling. In this paper, we analyze the constant rate birth-death process with incomplete sampling. We derive the density of the bifurcation events for trees on n leaves which evolved under this birth-death-sampling process. This density is used for calculating prior distributions in Bayesian inference programs and for efficiently simulating trees. We show that the birth-death-sampling process can be interpreted as a birth-death process with reduced rates and complete sampling. This shows that joint inference of birth rate, death rate and sampling probability is not possible. The birth-death-sampling process is compared to the sampling-based population genetics model, the coalescent. It is shown that despite many similarities between these two models, the distribution of bifurcation times remains different even in the case of very large population sizes. We illustrate these findings on an Hepatitis C virus dataset from Egypt. We show that the transmission times estimates are significantly different-the widely used Gamma statistic even changes its sign from negative to positive when switching from the coalescent to the birth-death process.

Continuous sedation until death: the everyday moral reasoning of physicians, nurses and family caregivers in the UK, The Netherlands and Belgium.

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Raus, Kasper; Brown, Jayne; Seale, Clive; Rietjens, Judith A C; Janssens, Rien; Bruinsma, Sophie; Mortier, Freddy; Payne, Sheila; Sterckx, Sigrid

2014-02-20

Continuous sedation is increasingly used as a way to relieve symptoms at the end of life. Current research indicates that some physicians, nurses, and relatives involved in this practice experience emotional and/or moral distress. This study aims to provide insight into what may influence how professional and/or family carers cope with such distress. This study is an international qualitative interview study involving interviews with physicians, nurses, and relatives of deceased patients in the UK, The Netherlands and Belgium (the UNBIASED study) about a case of continuous sedation at the end of life they were recently involved in. All interviews were transcribed verbatim and analysed by staying close to the data using open coding. Next, codes were combined into larger themes and categories of codes resulting in a four point scheme that captured all of the data. Finally, our findings were compared with others and explored in relation to theories in ethics and sociology. The participants' responses can be captured as different dimensions of 'closeness', i.e. the degree to which one feels connected or 'close' to a certain decision or event. We distinguished four types of 'closeness', namely emotional, physical, decisional, and causal. Using these four dimensions of 'closeness' it became possible to describe how physicians, nurses, and relatives experience their involvement in cases of continuous sedation until death. More specifically, it shined a light on the everyday moral reasoning employed by care providers and relatives in the context of continuous sedation, and how this affected the emotional impact of being involved in sedation, as well as the perception of their own moral responsibility. Findings from this study demonstrate that various factors are reported to influence the degree of closeness to continuous sedation (and thus the extent to which carers feel morally responsible), and that some of these factors help care providers and relatives to distinguish

Continuous sedation until death: the everyday moral reasoning of physicians, nurses and family caregivers in the UK, The Netherlands and Belgium

Science.gov (United States)

2014-01-01

Background Continuous sedation is increasingly used as a way to relieve symptoms at the end of life. Current research indicates that some physicians, nurses, and relatives involved in this practice experience emotional and/or moral distress. This study aims to provide insight into what may influence how professional and/or family carers cope with such distress. Methods This study is an international qualitative interview study involving interviews with physicians, nurses, and relatives of deceased patients in the UK, The Netherlands and Belgium (the UNBIASED study) about a case of continuous sedation at the end of life they were recently involved in. All interviews were transcribed verbatim and analysed by staying close to the data using open coding. Next, codes were combined into larger themes and categories of codes resulting in a four point scheme that captured all of the data. Finally, our findings were compared with others and explored in relation to theories in ethics and sociology. Results The participants’ responses can be captured as different dimensions of ‘closeness’, i.e. the degree to which one feels connected or ‘close’ to a certain decision or event. We distinguished four types of ‘closeness’, namely emotional, physical, decisional, and causal. Using these four dimensions of ‘closeness’ it became possible to describe how physicians, nurses, and relatives experience their involvement in cases of continuous sedation until death. More specifically, it shined a light on the everyday moral reasoning employed by care providers and relatives in the context of continuous sedation, and how this affected the emotional impact of being involved in sedation, as well as the perception of their own moral responsibility. Conclusion Findings from this study demonstrate that various factors are reported to influence the degree of closeness to continuous sedation (and thus the extent to which carers feel morally responsible), and that some of these

recommendations for completing death notification forms in hiv

African Journals Online (AJOL)

2008-10-14

Oct 14, 2008 ... (including tuberculosis and respiratory diseases) with age-specific death rates for HIV as predicted by the. Actuarial Society of South Africa model (ASSA 2000), and observed a high level of correlation, concluding that these diseases account for the 'missing' HIV cause of death statistics, and showing that ...

Drug Poisoning Deaths according to Ethnicity in Utah

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Ray M. Merrill

2013-01-01

Full Text Available This study characterizes drug-related deaths according to ethnicity in Utah during 2005–2010, based on data from the Utah Violent Death Reporting System (UTVDRS. Hispanics made up 12.1% (12.5% male and 11.7% female of deaths. The most frequently identified drugs among decedents were opiates, then illicit drugs, benzodiazepines, over-the-counter medication, and antidepressants. Death rates for each drug were significantly greater in non-Hispanics than Hispanics. Most decedents used a combination of drugs. For each combination, rates were significantly greater for non-Hispanics than Hispanics, with an exception for opiates and illicit drugs combined, where there was no significant difference. Approximately 79% of non-Hispanics and 65% of Hispanics had one or more of the selected problems (e.g., mental, physical, or crisis related. Rates for each combination of problems were significantly greater in non-Hispanics, with the exception of crisis. Hispanics were less affected by the rise in prescription drug abuse. Hispanic decedents had a greater proportion of illegal drugs, consistent with it being more difficult to obtain prescription drugs. Hispanic decedents were less likely to have physical and mental health problems, which may be related to a smaller chance of diagnosis of such problems through the healthcare system.

Sudden unexpected death in infancy: place and time of death.

Science.gov (United States)

Glasgow, J F T; Thompson, A J; Ingram, P J

2006-01-01

In recent years, many babies who die of Sudden Unexpected Death in Infancy (SUDI) in Northern Ireland are found dead in bed--i.e. co-sleeping--with an adult. In order to assess its frequency autopsy reports between April 1996 and August 2001 were reviewed and linked to temporal factors. The day and month of death, and the place where the baby was found were compared to a reference population of infant deaths between one week of age and the second birthday. Although the rate of SUDI was lower than the UK average, 43 cases of SUDI were identified, and two additional deaths with virtually identical autopsy findings that were attributed to asphyxia caused by suffocation due to overlaying. Thirty-two of the 45 (71%) were less than four months of age. In 30 of the 45 cases (67%) the history stated that the baby was bed sharing with others; 19 died sleeping in an adult bed, and 11 on a sofa or armchair. In 16 of the 30 (53%) there were at least two other people sharing the sleeping surface, and in one case, three. SUDI was twice as frequent at weekends (found dead Saturday-Monday mornings) compared to weekdays (psharing a place of sleep per se may not increase the risk of death, our findings may be linked to factors such as habitual smoking, consumption of alcohol or illicit drugs as reported in case-control studies. In advising parents on safer childcare practices, health professionals must be knowledgeable of current research and when, for example, giving advice on co-sleeping this needs to be person-specific cognisant of the risks within a household. New and better means of targeting such information needs to be researched if those with higher risk life-styles are to be positively influenced.

Life-style and death patterns of the Missouri RLDS church members.

Science.gov (United States)

McEvoy, L; Land, G

1981-12-01

Members of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (RLDS) are dissuaded from the use of tobacco, alcohol, and hot drinks. A well-balanced diet is also stressed. This study compares the 1972-78 mortality experience of the Missouri RLDS with three other population groups. The findings show Missouri RLDS experiencing age-adjusted death rates which are 22.6 percent lower than rates for Missouri non-RLDs whites; 19.6 per cent lower than the non-RLDS of Independence, Missouri; and 14.4 per cent lower than Utah residents. The RLDS display lower death rates than the two Missouri comparison groups for each of seven selected causes-particularly lung cancer, pneumonia/influenza, and violent deaths. Comparisons between the Missouri RLDS and Utah residents show an inconsistent pattern, with Utah residents having non-significantly lower death rates for lung cancer and ischemic heart disease, but with the Missouri RLDS having significantly lower rates for pneumonia/influenza and violent deaths. These inconsistencies are of interest because 72 per cent of Utah's population belong to the Mormon Church which advocates life-styles similar to the RLDS. If these disparate mortality patterns persist under a more direct comparison between the Missouri RLDS and Utah Mormons, they could provide the opportunity to assess the impact of similar life-styles in separate settings.

Leading Causes of Death among Asian American Subgroups (2003-2011.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Katherine G Hastings

Full Text Available Our current understanding of Asian American mortality patterns has been distorted by the historical aggregation of diverse Asian subgroups on death certificates, masking important differences in the leading causes of death across subgroups. In this analysis, we aim to fill an important knowledge gap in Asian American health by reporting leading causes of mortality by disaggregated Asian American subgroups.We examined national mortality records for the six largest Asian subgroups (Asian Indian, Chinese, Filipino, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese and non-Hispanic Whites (NHWs from 2003-2011, and ranked the leading causes of death. We calculated all-cause and cause-specific age-adjusted rates, temporal trends with annual percent changes, and rate ratios by race/ethnicity and sex. Rankings revealed that as an aggregated group, cancer was the leading cause of death for Asian Americans. When disaggregated, there was notable heterogeneity. Among women, cancer was the leading cause of death for every group except Asian Indians. In men, cancer was the leading cause of death among Chinese, Korean, and Vietnamese men, while heart disease was the leading cause of death among Asian Indians, Filipino and Japanese men. The proportion of death due to heart disease for Asian Indian males was nearly double that of cancer (31% vs. 18%. Temporal trends showed increased mortality of cancer and diabetes in Asian Indians and Vietnamese; increased stroke mortality in Asian Indians; increased suicide mortality in Koreans; and increased mortality from Alzheimer's disease for all racial/ethnic groups from 2003-2011. All-cause rate ratios revealed that overall mortality is lower in Asian Americans compared to NHWs.Our findings show heterogeneity in the leading causes of death among Asian American subgroups. Additional research should focus on culturally competent and cost-effective approaches to prevent and treat specific diseases among these growing diverse populations.

Leading Causes of Death among Asian American Subgroups (2003-2011).

Science.gov (United States)

Hastings, Katherine G; Jose, Powell O; Kapphahn, Kristopher I; Frank, Ariel T H; Goldstein, Benjamin A; Thompson, Caroline A; Eggleston, Karen; Cullen, Mark R; Palaniappan, Latha P

2015-01-01

Our current understanding of Asian American mortality patterns has been distorted by the historical aggregation of diverse Asian subgroups on death certificates, masking important differences in the leading causes of death across subgroups. In this analysis, we aim to fill an important knowledge gap in Asian American health by reporting leading causes of mortality by disaggregated Asian American subgroups. We examined national mortality records for the six largest Asian subgroups (Asian Indian, Chinese, Filipino, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese) and non-Hispanic Whites (NHWs) from 2003-2011, and ranked the leading causes of death. We calculated all-cause and cause-specific age-adjusted rates, temporal trends with annual percent changes, and rate ratios by race/ethnicity and sex. Rankings revealed that as an aggregated group, cancer was the leading cause of death for Asian Americans. When disaggregated, there was notable heterogeneity. Among women, cancer was the leading cause of death for every group except Asian Indians. In men, cancer was the leading cause of death among Chinese, Korean, and Vietnamese men, while heart disease was the leading cause of death among Asian Indians, Filipino and Japanese men. The proportion of death due to heart disease for Asian Indian males was nearly double that of cancer (31% vs. 18%). Temporal trends showed increased mortality of cancer and diabetes in Asian Indians and Vietnamese; increased stroke mortality in Asian Indians; increased suicide mortality in Koreans; and increased mortality from Alzheimer's disease for all racial/ethnic groups from 2003-2011. All-cause rate ratios revealed that overall mortality is lower in Asian Americans compared to NHWs. Our findings show heterogeneity in the leading causes of death among Asian American subgroups. Additional research should focus on culturally competent and cost-effective approaches to prevent and treat specific diseases among these growing diverse populations.

Using stochastic cell division and death to probe minimal units of cellular replication

Science.gov (United States)

Chib, Savita; Das, Suman; Venkatesan, Soumya; Sai Narain Seshasayee, Aswin; Thattai, Mukund

2018-03-01

The invariant cell initiation mass measured in bacterial growth experiments has been interpreted as a minimal unit of cellular replication. Here we argue that the existence of such minimal units induces a coupling between the rates of stochastic cell division and death. To probe this coupling we tracked live and dead cells in Escherichia coli populations treated with a ribosome-targeting antibiotic. We find that the growth exponent from macroscopic cell growth or decay measurements can be represented as the difference of microscopic first-order cell division and death rates. The boundary between cell growth and decay, at which the number of live cells remains constant over time, occurs at the minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) of the antibiotic. This state appears macroscopically static but is microscopically dynamic: division and death rates exactly cancel at MIC but each is remarkably high, reaching 60% of the antibiotic-free division rate. A stochastic model of cells as collections of minimal replicating units we term ‘widgets’ reproduces both steady-state and transient features of our experiments. Sub-cellular fluctuations of widget numbers stochastically drive each new daughter cell to one of two alternate fates, division or death. First-order division or death rates emerge as eigenvalues of a stationary Markov process, and can be expressed in terms of the widget’s molecular properties. High division and death rates at MIC arise due to low mean and high relative fluctuations of widget number. Isolating cells at the threshold of irreversible death might allow molecular characterization of this minimal replication unit.

Comparison between continuous and localized methods to evaluate the flow rate through containment concrete structures

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Jason, L., E-mail: ludovic.jason@cea.fr [Atomic Energy Commission (CEA), DEN, DANS, DM2S, SEMT, Mechanics and System Simulation Laboratory (LM2S), F-91191 Gif sur Yvette (France); LaMSID, UMR CNRS-EDF-CEA 8193, F-92141 Clamart (France); Masson, B. [Electricité de France (EDF), SEPTEN, F-69628 Villeurbanne (France)

2014-10-01

Highlights: • The contribution focuses on the gas transfer through reinforced concrete structures. • A continuous approach with a damage–permeability law is investigated. • It is significant, for this case, only when the damage variable crosses the section. • In this case, two localized approaches are compared. • It helps at evaluating a “reference” crack opening for engineering laws. - Abstract: In this contribution, different techniques are compared to evaluate the gas flow rate through a representative section of a reinforced and prestressed concrete containment structure. A continuous approach is first applied which is based on the evaluation of the gas permeability as a function of the damage variable. The calculations show that the flow rate becomes significant only when the damage variable crosses the section. But in this situation, the continuous approach is no longer fully valid. That is why localized approaches, based on a fine description of the crack openings, are then investigated. A comparison between classical simplified laws (Poiseuille flow) and a more refined model which takes into account the evolution of the crack opening in the depth of the section enables to define the validity domain of the simplified laws and especially the definition of the associated “reference opening”.

Sudden death in eating disorders

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jáuregui-Garrido B

2012-02-01

Full Text Available Beatriz Jáuregui-Garrido1, Ignacio Jáuregui-Lobera2,31Department of Cardiology, University Hospital Virgen del Rocío, 2Behavioral Sciences Institute, 3Pablo de Olavide University, Seville, SpainAbstract: Eating disorders are usually associated with an increased risk of premature death with a wide range of rates and causes of mortality. “Sudden death” has been defined as the abrupt and unexpected occurrence of fatality for which no satisfactory explanation of the cause can be ascertained. In many cases of sudden death, autopsies do not clarify the main cause. Cardiovascular complications are usually involved in these deaths. The purpose of this review was to report an update of the existing literature data on the main findings with respect to sudden death in eating disorders by means of a search conducted in PubMed. The most relevant conclusion of this review seems to be that the main causes of sudden death in eating disorders are those related to cardiovascular complications. The predictive value of the increased QT interval dispersion as a marker of sudden acute ventricular arrhythmia and death has been demonstrated. Eating disorder patients with severe cardiovascular symptoms should be hospitalized. In general, with respect to sudden death in eating disorders, some findings (eg, long-term eating disorders, chronic hypokalemia, chronically low plasma albumin, and QT intervals >600 milliseconds must be taken into account, and it must be highlighted that during refeeding, the adverse effects of hypophosphatemia include cardiac failure. Monitoring vital signs and performing electrocardiograms and serial measurements of plasma potassium are relevant during the treatment of eating disorder patients.Keywords: sudden death, cardiovascular complications, refeeding syndrome, QT interval, hypokalemia

Variation in the place of death among nursing home residents in France.

Science.gov (United States)

Morin, Lucas; Johnell, Kristina; Aubry, Régis

2015-05-01

recent studies have reported that hospitals have become a common place of death for nursing home residents. This study aimed to (i) measure variations in the proportion of in-hospital deaths across regions after adjustment for facility-level characteristics and (ii) identify environmental risk factors that might explain these variations in France. a cross-sectional retrospective survey was conducted in 2013. coordinating physicians in 3,705 nursing homes in France. a regression model was used to construct risk-adjusted rates of in-hospital deaths considering the facilities' characteristics. At the regional level, the outcome was defined as the difference between the observed rate of in-hospital deaths and the expected risk-adjusted rate. Values exceeding zero indicated rates that exceeded the national predicted rate of in-hospital deaths and thus highlighted regions in which the risk-adjusted probability for nursing home residents to die in a hospital was greater than average. among 70,119 nursing home decedents, 25.4% (n = 17,789) died in hospitals. The characteristics of the facilities had a significant influence on the proportion of in-hospital deaths among the nursing home decedents. However, after adjustment for these facility-level risk factors, the proportion of nursing homes that reported worse-than-average outcomes showed significant variation (range 26.0-79.6%). At the regional level, both the rate of acute hospital beds and the rate of general practitioners were found to be strongly correlated with the probability of reporting worse-than-average outcomes (P nursing home facilities. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the British Geriatrics Society. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

The small-molecule TNF-α inhibitor, UTL-5g, delays deaths and increases survival rates for mice treated with high doses of cisplatin.

Science.gov (United States)

Shaw, Jiajiu; Media, Joseph; Chen, Ben; Valeriote, Fredrick

2013-09-01

UTL-5g is a novel small-molecule chemoprotector that lowers hepatotoxicity, nephrotoxicity, and myelotoxicity induced by cisplatin through TNF-α inhibition among other factors. The objective of this study was to investigate whether UTL-5g can reduce the overall acute toxicity of cisplatin and increase cisplatin tolerability in mice. BDF1 female mice were treated individually with UTL-5g (suspended in Ora-Plus) by oral gavage at 60 mg/kg, 30 min before i.p. injection of cisplatin at 10, 15, and 20 mg/kg, respectively, on Day 0. Starting from Day 1, individual mice were again treated daily by the same dose of UTL-5g for 4 consecutive days. Survivals and body weights were monitored. UTL-5g treatment increased the survival rate and delayed the time to death for mice treated with 150 % of the maximum tolerated dose (MTD) of cisplatin (15 mg/kg). Likewise, at 200 % of the MTD of cisplatin (20 mg/kg), treatment of UTL-5g increased the survival rate and delayed the time to death. Treatment of UTL-5g did not have a significant effect on weight loss induced by cisplatin, indicating that body weight may not be a sensitive-enough measure for chemoprotection of UTL-5g against cisplatin. In summary, UTL-5g delayed deaths and increased survival rates of mice treated by high doses of cisplatin, indicating that UTL-5g is capable of reducing the overall acute toxicity of cisplatin and increased cisplatin tolerability in mice; this is in line with the specific chemoprotective effects of UTL-5g previously reported. Further investigation of UTL-5g in combination with cisplatin is warranted.

Prospective risk of fetal death in uncomplicated monochorionic twins.

LENUS (Irish Health Repository)

Farah, Nadine

2012-03-01

A retrospective cohort study was carried out in a university teaching hospital to determine the prospective risk of unexpected fetal death in uncomplicated monochorionic diamniotic (MCDA) twin pregnancies after viability. All MCDA twins delivered at or after 24 weeks\\' gestation from July 1999 to July 2007 were included. Pregnancies with twin-twin transfusion syndrome, growth restriction, structural abnormalities, or twin reversed arterial perfusion sequence were excluded. Of the 144 MCDA twin pregnancies included in our analysis, the risk of intrauterine death was 4.9%. The prospective risk of unexpected intrauterine death was 1 in 43 after 32 weeks\\' gestation and 1 in 37 after 34 weeks\\' gestation. Our results demonstrate that despite close surveillance, the unexpected intrauterine death rate in uncomplicated MCDA twin pregnancies is high. This rate seems to increase after 34 weeks\\' gestation, suggesting that a policy of elective preterm delivery warrants evaluation.

Effect of Flow Rate Controller on Liquid Steel Flow in Continuous Casting Mold using Numerical Modeling

Science.gov (United States)

Gursoy, Kadir Ali; Yavuz, Mehmet Metin

2014-11-01

In continuous casting operation of steel, the flow through tundish to the mold can be controlled by different flow rate control systems including stopper rod and slide-gate. Ladle changes in continuous casting machines result in liquid steel level changes in tundishes. During this transient event of production, the flow rate controller opening is increased to reduce the pressure drop across the opening which helps to keep the mass flow rate at the desired level for the reduced liquid steel level in tundish. In the present study, computational fluid dynamic (CFD) models are developed to investigate the effect of flow rate controller on mold flow structure, and particularly to understand the effect of flow controller opening on meniscus flow. First, a detailed validation of the CFD models is conducted using available experimental data and the performances of different turbulence models are compared. Then, the constant throughput casting operations for different flow rate controller openings are simulated to quantify the opening effect on meniscus region. The results indicate that the meniscus velocities are significantly affected by the flow rate controller and its opening level. The steady state operations, specified as constant throughput casting, do not provide the same mold flow if the controller opening is altered. Thus, for quality and castability purposes, adjusting the flow controller opening to obtain the fixed mold flow structure is proposed. Supported by Middle East Technical University (METU) BAP (Scientific Research Projects) Coordination.

Direct estimates of cause-specific mortality fractions and rates of under-five deaths in the northern and southern regions of Nigeria by verbal autopsy interview.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Adeyinka Adewemimo

Full Text Available Nigeria's under-five mortality rate is the eighth highest in the world. Identifying the causes of under-five deaths is crucial to achieving Sustainable Development Goal 3 by 2030 and improving child survival. National and international bodies collaborated in this study to provide the first ever direct estimates of the causes of under-five mortality in Nigeria. Verbal autopsy interviews were conducted of a representative sample of 986 neonatal and 2,268 1-59 month old deaths from 2008 to 2013 identified by the 2013 Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey. Cause of death was assigned by physician coding and computerized expert algorithms arranged in a hierarchy. National and regional estimates of age distributions, mortality rates and cause proportions, and zonal- and age-specific mortality fractions and rates for leading causes of death were evaluated. More under-fives and 1-59 month olds in the South, respectively, died as neonates (N = 24.1%, S = 32.5%, p<0.001 and at younger ages (p<0.001 than in the North. The leading causes of neonatal and 1-59 month mortality, respectively, were sepsis, birth injury/asphyxia and neonatal pneumonia, and malaria, diarrhea and pneumonia. The preterm delivery (N = 1.2%, S = 3.7%, p = 0.042, pneumonia (N = 15.0%, S = 21.6%, p = 0.004 and malaria (N = 34.7%, S = 42.2%, p = 0.009 fractions were higher in the South, with pneumonia and malaria focused in the South East and South South; while the diarrhea fraction was elevated in the North (N = 24.8%, S = 13.2%, p<0.001. However, the diarrhea, pneumonia and malaria mortality rates were all higher in the North, respectively, by 222.9% (Z = -10.9, p = 0.000, 27.6% (Z = -2.3, p = 0.020 and 50.6% (Z = -5.7, p = 0.000, with the greatest excesses in older children. The findings support that there is an epidemiological transition ongoing in southern Nigeria, suggest the way forward to a similar transition in the North, and can help guide maternal, neonatal and child health

Risk factors and outcomes of high peritonitis rate in continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis patients

Science.gov (United States)

Tian, Yuanshi; Xie, Xishao; Xiang, Shilong; Yang, Xin; Zhang, Xiaohui; Shou, Zhangfei; Chen, Jianghua

2016-01-01

Abstract Peritonitis remains a major complication of peritoneal dialysis (PD). A high peritonitis rate (HPR) affects continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (CAPD) patients’ technique survival and mortality. Predictors and outcomes of HPR, rather than the first peritonitis episode, were rarely studied in the Chinese population. In this study, we examined the risk factors associated with HPR and its effects on clinical outcomes in CAPD patients. This is a single center, retrospective, observational cohort study. A total of 294 patients who developing at least 1 episode of peritonitis were followed up from March 1st, 2002, to July 31, 2014, in our PD center. Multivariate logistic regression was used to determine the factors associated with HPR, and the Cox proportional hazard model was conducted to assess the effects of HPR on clinical outcomes. During the study period of 2917.5 patient-years, 489 episodes of peritonitis were recorded, and the total peritonitis rate was 0.168 episodes per patient-year. The multivariate analysis showed that factors associated with HPR include a quick occurrence of peritonitis after CAPD initiation (shorter than 12 months), and a low serum albumin level at the start of CAPD. In the Cox proportional hazard model, HPR was a significant predictor of technique failure. There were no differences between HPR and low peritonitis rate (LPR) group for all-cause mortality. However, when the peritonitis rate was considered as a continuous variable, a positive correlation was observed between the peritonitis rate and mortality. We found the quick peritonitis occurrence after CAPD and the low serum albumin level before CAPD were strongly associated with an HPR. Also, our results verified that HPR was positively correlated with technique failure. More importantly, the increase in the peritonitis rate suggested a higher risk of all-cause mortality. These results may help to identify and target patients who are at higher risk of HPR at the start

Mortality in well controlled HIV in the continuous antiretroviral therapy arms of the SMART and ESPRIT trials compared with the general population.

Science.gov (United States)

Rodger, Alison J; Lodwick, Rebecca; Schechter, Mauro; Deeks, Steven; Amin, Janaki; Gilson, Richard; Paredes, Roger; Bakowska, Elzbieta; Engsig, Frederik N; Phillips, Andrew

2013-03-27

Due to the success of antiretroviral therapy (ART), it is relevant to ask whether death rates in optimally treated HIV are higher than the general population. The objective was to compare mortality rates in well controlled HIV-infected adults in the SMART and ESPRIT clinical trials with the general population. Non-IDUs aged 20-70 years from the continuous ART control arms of ESPRIT and SMART were included if the person had both low HIV plasma viral loads (≤400 copies/ml SMART, ≤500 copies/ml ESPRIT) and high CD4(+) T-cell counts (≥350 cells/μl) at any time in the past 6 months. Standardized mortality ratios (SMRs) were calculated by comparing death rates with the Human Mortality Database. Three thousand, two hundred and eighty individuals [665 (20%) women], median age 43 years, contributed 12,357 person-years of follow-up. Sixty-two deaths occurred during follow up. Commonest cause of death was cardiovascular disease (CVD) or sudden death (19, 31%), followed by non-AIDS malignancy (12, 19%). Only two deaths (3%) were AIDS-related. Mortality rate was increased compared with the general population with a CD4(+) cell count between 350 and 499 cells/μl [SMR 1.77, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.17-2.55]. No evidence for increased mortality was seen with CD4(+) cell counts greater than 500 cells/μl (SMR 1.00, 95% CI 0.69-1.40). In HIV-infected individuals on ART, with a recent undetectable viral load, who maintained or had recovery of CD4(+) cell counts to at least 500 cells/μl, we identified no evidence for a raised risk of death compared with the general population.

Continuity of care by a midwife team versus routine care during pregnancy and birth: a randomised trial.

Science.gov (United States)

Rowley, M J; Hensley, M J; Brinsmead, M W; Wlodarczyk, J H

1995-09-18

To compare continuity of care from a midwife team with routine care from a variety of doctors and midwives. A stratified, randomised controlled trial. 814 women attending the antenatal clinic of a tertiary referral, university hospital. Women were randomly allocated to team care from a team of six midwives, or routine care from a variety of doctors and midwives. Antenatal, intrapartum and neonatal events; maternal satisfaction; and cost of treatment. 405 women were randomly allocated to team care and 409 to routine care; they delivered 385 and 386 babies, respectively. Team care women were more likely to attend antenatal classes (OR, 1.73; 95% CI, 1.23-2.42); less likely to use pethidine during labour (OR, 0.32; 95% CI, 0.22-0.46); and more likely to labour and deliver without intervention (OR, 1.73; 95% CI, 1.28-2.34). Babies of team care mothers received less neonatal resuscitation (OR, 0.59; 95% CI, 0.41-0.86), although there was no difference in Apgar scores at five minutes (OR, 0.86; 95% CI, 0.29-2.57). The stillbirth and neonatal death rate was the same for both groups of mothers with a singleton pregnancy (three deaths), but there were three deaths (birthweights of 600 g, 660 g, 1340 g) in twin pregnancies in the group receiving team care. Team care was rated better than routine care for all measures of maternal satisfaction. Team care meant a cost reduction of 4.5%. Continuity of care provided by a small team of midwives resulted in a more satisfying birth experience at less cost than routine care and fewer adverse maternal and neonatal outcomes. Although a much larger study would be required to provide adequate power to detect rare outcomes, our study found that continuity of care by a midwife team was as safe as routine care.

Neonatal Death

Science.gov (United States)

... Home > Complications & Loss > Loss & grief > Neonatal death Neonatal death E-mail to a friend Please fill in ... cope with your baby’s death. What is neonatal death? Neonatal death is when a baby dies in ...

Kinetics of aggregation growth with competition between catalyzed birth and catalyzed death

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wang Haifeng; Gao Yan; Lin Zhenquan

2008-01-01

An aggregation growth model of three species A, B and C with the competition between catalyzed birth and catalyzed death is proposed. Irreversible aggregation occurs between any two aggregates of the like species with the constant rate kernels I n (n = 1,2,3). Meanwhile, a monomer birth of an A species aggregate of size k occurs under the catalysis of a B species aggregate of size j with the catalyzed birth rate kernel K(k,j) = Kkj v and a monomer death of an A species aggregate of size k occurs under the catalysis of a C species aggregate of size j with the catalyzed death rate kernel L(k,j)=Lkj v , where v is a parameter reflecting the dependence of the catalysis reaction rates of birth and death on the size of catalyst aggregate. The kinetic evolution behaviours of the three species are investigated by the rate equation approach based on the mean-field theory. The form of the aggregate size distribution of A species a k (t) is found to be dependent crucially on the competition between the catalyzed birth and death of A species, as well as the irreversible aggregation processes of the three species: (1) In the v k (t) satisfies the conventional scaling form; (2) In the v ≥ 0 case, the competition between the catalyzed birth and death dominates the process. When the catalyzed birth controls the process, a k (t) takes the conventional or generalized scaling form. While the catalyzed death controls the process, the scaling description of the aggregate size distribution breaks down completely

Surveillance of maritime deaths on board Danish merchant ships, 1986-2009.

Science.gov (United States)

Borch, Daniel F; Hansen, Henrik L; Burr, Hermann; Jepsen, Jørgen R

2012-01-01

A previous study demonstrated a high death rate among seafarers signed on Danish ships during the years 1986-1993. This study aimed to examine and analyse the subsequent development until 2009. A total of 356 fatalities were identified from data supplied from the Danish Maritime Authority, an insurance company, and other sources. Maritime deaths among seafarers signed on Danish ships comprise deaths from 1) accidents, suicides and homicides; and 2) disease on board. Deaths due to 2) occurring ashore within 30 days after signing off were included. The overall and mode-specific death rates were calculated for three eight-year observation periods. The rates for work-related fatal accidents were compared with the rates for land-based trades. All categories of maritime deaths were significantly reduced from 1986 to 2009 - in particular during the last eight-year period (Accidents 1986-1993: 66.6 per 100,000 person years, 2002-2009: 27.0 per 100,000 person years, diseases 49.5-26.1, suicides 14.4-7.8). In spite of the remarkable improvement since 1986, seafarers remain in 2002-2009 more than six times more likely to die from occupational accidents (including shipwrecks) than do workers ashore. The favourable trend of maritime deaths in the Danish merchant fleet may be due to 1) preventive measures - e.g. interventions relating to vessel safety, work environment, and improved medical care on board - and to 2) technological and organizational changes - e.g. newer and larger vessels in the Danish merchant fleet, changed composition of the workforce, and reduced shore leaves. The persisting excess risk warrants further preventive actions.

Death Cafe.

Science.gov (United States)

Miles, Lizzy; Corr, Charles A

2017-06-01

This article explains the meaning of the phrase Death Cafe and describes what typically occurs at a Death Cafe gathering. The article traces the history of the Death Cafe movement, explores some reasons why people take part in a Death Cafe gathering, and gives examples of what individuals think they might derive from their participation. In addition, this article notes similarities between the Death Cafe movement and three other developments in the field of death, dying, and bereavement. Finally, this article identifies two provisional lessons that can be drawn from Death Cafe gatherings and the Death Cafe movement itself.

27 CFR 478.55 - Continuing partnerships.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-04-01

... is not terminated on death or insolvency of a partner, but continues until the winding up of the... own name from the date of acquisition, as provided in § 478.44. The rule set forth in this section...

27 CFR 555.58 - Continuing partnerships.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-04-01

... death or insolvency of a partner, but continues until the winding up of the partnership affairs is... obtain a license or permit in his own name from the date of acquisition, as provided in § 555.45. The...

Renal failure deaths and their risk factors in India 2001-13: nationally representative estimates from the Million Death Study.

Science.gov (United States)

Dare, Anna J; Fu, Sze Hang; Patra, Jayadeep; Rodriguez, Peter S; Thakur, J S; Jha, Prabhat

2017-01-01

Renal failure represents a growing but mostly undocumented cause of premature mortality in low-income and middle-income countries. We investigated changes in adult renal failure mortality and its key risk factors in India using the nationally representative Million Death Study. In this cross-sectional analysis of population-based data, two trained physicians independently assigned underlying causes to 150 018 deaths at ages 15-69 years from a nationally-representative mortality survey in India for 2001-03 and 2010-13, using the International Classification of Diseases, 10th version (ICD-10). We applied the age-specific proportion of renal failure deaths for the 2010-13 period to the 2015 UN estimates of total deaths in India and calculated age-standardised death rates for renal failure by rural or urban residence, state, and age group. We used proportional mortality of renal deaths (cases) to injuries (controls) to calculate the odds of renal death in the presence of different comorbidities and stratified risks by decade of birth. In 2001-03, 2·1% of total deaths among 15-69 year olds were from renal failure (1266 [2·2%] of 58 871; unweighted). By 2010-13, the proportion of deaths from renal failure had risen to 2·9% (2943 [3·2%] of 91 147; unweighted) of total deaths and corresponding to 136 000 renal failure deaths (range 108 000-150 000) of 4 688 000 total deaths nationally in 2015. Age-standardised renal death rates were highest in the southern and eastern states, particularly among adults aged 45-69 years in 2010-13. Diabetes, hypertension, and cardiovascular disease were all significantly associated with increased renal failure deaths, with diabetes the strongest predictor-odds ratio (OR) vs control 9·2 (95% CI 6·7-12·7) in 2001-03, rising to 15·1 (12·6-18·1) in 2010-13. In the 2010-13 study population, the diabetes to non-diabetes OR was twice as large in adults born in the 1970s (25·5, 95% CI 17·6-37·1) as in those individuals

Study of recent and future trends in place of death in Belgium using death certificate data: a shift from hospitals to care homes

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Deliens Luc

2011-04-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Since most patients prefer out-of-hospital death, place of death can be considered an indicator of end-of-life care quality. The study of trends in place of death is necessary to examine causes of shifts, to evaluate efforts to alter place of death and develop future policies. This study aims to examine past trends and future projections of place of death. Methods Analysis of death certificates (decedents aged ≥ 1 year in Belgium (Flanders and Brussels Capital region 1998-2007. Trends in place of death were adjusted for cause of death, sociodemographic characteristics, environmental factors, numbers of hospital beds, and residential and skilled nursing beds in care homes. Future trends were based on age- and sex-specific mortality prognoses. Results Hospital deaths decreased from 55.1% to 51.7% and care home deaths rose from 18.3% to 22.6%. The percentage of home deaths remained stable. The odds of dying in a care home versus hospital increased steadily and was 1.65 (95%CI:1.53-1.78 in 2007 compared to 1998. This increase could be attributed to the replacement of residential beds by skilled nursing beds. Continuation of these trends would result in the more than doubling of deaths in care homes and a decrease in deaths at home and in hospital by 2040. Conclusions Additional end-of-life care resources in care homes largely explain the decrease in hospital deaths. Care homes will become the main locus of end-of-life care in the future. Governments should provide sufficient skilled nursing resources in care homes to fulfil the end-of-life care preferences and needs of patients.

A one-year retrospective study on the pattern of death found at ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

A one-year retrospective study on the pattern of death found at autopsy at Forensic ... Among the accidental deaths, road traffic injuries were 1092 (67.6%), ... and subsequently make an impact in the decrement of death rate in our societies.

Direct estimates of cause-specific mortality fractions and rates of under-five deaths in the northern and southern regions of Nigeria by verbal autopsy interview.

Science.gov (United States)

Adewemimo, Adeyinka; Kalter, Henry D; Perin, Jamie; Koffi, Alain K; Quinley, John; Black, Robert E

2017-01-01

Nigeria's under-five mortality rate is the eighth highest in the world. Identifying the causes of under-five deaths is crucial to achieving Sustainable Development Goal 3 by 2030 and improving child survival. National and international bodies collaborated in this study to provide the first ever direct estimates of the causes of under-five mortality in Nigeria. Verbal autopsy interviews were conducted of a representative sample of 986 neonatal and 2,268 1-59 month old deaths from 2008 to 2013 identified by the 2013 Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey. Cause of death was assigned by physician coding and computerized expert algorithms arranged in a hierarchy. National and regional estimates of age distributions, mortality rates and cause proportions, and zonal- and age-specific mortality fractions and rates for leading causes of death were evaluated. More under-fives and 1-59 month olds in the South, respectively, died as neonates (N = 24.1%, S = 32.5%, pbirth injury/asphyxia and neonatal pneumonia, and malaria, diarrhea and pneumonia. The preterm delivery (N = 1.2%, S = 3.7%, p = 0.042), pneumonia (N = 15.0%, S = 21.6%, p = 0.004) and malaria (N = 34.7%, S = 42.2%, p = 0.009) fractions were higher in the South, with pneumonia and malaria focused in the South East and South South; while the diarrhea fraction was elevated in the North (N = 24.8%, S = 13.2%, prates were all higher in the North, respectively, by 222.9% (Z = -10.9, p = 0.000), 27.6% (Z = -2.3, p = 0.020) and 50.6% (Z = -5.7, p = 0.000), with the greatest excesses in older children. The findings support that there is an epidemiological transition ongoing in southern Nigeria, suggest the way forward to a similar transition in the North, and can help guide maternal, neonatal and child health programming and their regional and zonal foci within the country.

5 CFR 847.211 - Death of employee during election opportunity period.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... 5 Administrative Personnel 2 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Death of employee during election opportunity period. 847.211 Section 847.211 Administrative Personnel OFFICE OF PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT (CONTINUED) CIVIL SERVICE REGULATIONS (CONTINUED) ELECTIONS OF RETIREMENT COVERAGE BY CURRENT AND FORMER EMPLOYEES OF NONAPPROPRIATED FUND INSTRUMENTALITIES...

Perinatal death audits in a peri-urban hospital in Kampala, Uganda ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Background: The perinatal mortality of 70 deaths per 1,000 total births in Uganda is unacceptably high. Perinatal death audits are important for improvement of perinatal care and reduction of perinatal morality. We integrated perinatal death audits in routine care, and describe its effect on perinatal mortality rate at Nsambya ...

Changes in causes of death among persons with AIDS: San Francisco, California, 1996-2011.

Science.gov (United States)

Schwarcz, Sandra K; Vu, Annie; Hsu, Ling Chin; Hessol, Nancy A

2014-10-01

The increased life expectancy among HIV-infected persons treated with combination antiretroviral therapy (ART), risk behaviors, and co-morbidities associated with ART place HIV-infected persons at risk for non-HIV-related causes of death. We used the San Francisco HIV/AIDS registry to identify deaths that occurred from January 1996 through December 2011. Temporal trends in AIDS- and non-AIDS-related mortality rates, the proportion of underlying and contributory causes of death, and the ratio of observed deaths in the study population to expected number of deaths among California men aged 20-79 (standardized mortality ratio [SMR]) of underlying causes of death were examined. A total of 5338 deaths were identified. The annual AIDS-related death rate (per 100 deaths) declined from 10.8 in 1996 to 0.9 in 2011 (pdeath rate from non-AIDS-related causes declined from 2.1 in 1996 to 0.9 in 2011 (pdeaths due to all types of heart disease combined, all non-AIDS cancers combined, mental disorders resulting from substance abuse, drug overdose, suicide and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease increased significantly over time. The SMRs for liver diseased decreased significantly over time but remained elevated. Our data highlight the importance of age-related causes of death as well as deaths from causes that are, at least in part, preventable.

Changes of some serum proteins in rats continuously irradiated with daily dose rate of 0. 0258 C/kg

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Chlebovska, K; Chlebovsky, O; Praslicka, M [Univerzita P.J. Safarika, Kosice (Czechoslovakia). Katedra Vseobecnej Biologie

1976-01-01

Changes of serum albumin, haptoglobin, hemopexin and IgG in rats during chronic /sup 60/Co gamma irradiation with a daily dose rate of 0.0258 C/kg within 44 days were investigated by the method of two-dimensional quantitative immunoelectrophoresis. In comparison with normal levels, the values of albumin and IgG in rats during irradiation decreased until the death of animals to 50%, the values of haptoglobin increased till the 39th day of irradiation to 250% and hemopexin values increased to 150%.

[Study on smoking-attributed mortality by using all causes of death surveillance system in Tianjin].

Science.gov (United States)

Jiang, Guohong; Zhang, Hui; Li, Wei; Wang, Dezheng; Xu, Zhongliang; Song, Guide; Zhang, Ying; Shen, Chengfeng; Zheng, Wenlong; Xue, Xiaodan; Shen, Wenda

2016-03-01

To understand the smoking-attributed mortality by inclusion of smoking information into all causes of death surveillance. Since 2010, the information about smoking status, smoking history and the number of cigarettes smoked daily had been added in death surveillance system. The measures of training, supervision, check, sampling survey and telephone verifying were taken to increase death reporting rate and reduce data missing rate and underreporting rate. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was conducted to identify risk factors for smoking-attributed mortality. During the study period (2010-2014), the annual death reporting rates ranged from 6.5‰ to 7.0‰. The reporting rates of smoking status, smoking history and the number of cigarettes smoked daily were 95.53%, 98.63% and 98.58%, respectively. Compared with the nonsmokers, the RR of males was 1.38 (1.33-1.43) for all causes of death and 3.07 (2.91-3.24) for lung cancer due to smoking, the RR of females was 1.46 (1.39-1.54) for all causes of death and 4.07 (3.81-4.35) for lung cancer due to smoking, respectively. The study of smoking attributed mortality can be developed with less investment by using the stable and effective all causes of death surveillance system in Tianjin.

Effects of tobacco control policies on smoking prevalence and tobacco-attributable deaths in Mexico: the SimSmoke model

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Luz Myriam Reynales-Shigematsu

Full Text Available OBJECTIVE: To examine how policies adopted in Mexico in response to the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control affected smoking prevalence and smoking-attributable deaths. METHODS: The SimSmoke simulation model of tobacco control policy is applied to Mexico. This discrete time, first-order Markov model uses data on population size, smoking rates and tobacco control policy for Mexico. It assesses, individually and jointly, the effects of seven types of policies: cigarette taxes, smoke-free air laws, mass media campaigns, advertising bans, warning labels, cessation treatment, and youth tobacco access policies. RESULTS: The Mexico SimSmoke model estimates that smoking rates have been reduced by about 30% as a result of policies implemented since 2002, and that the number of smoking-attributable deaths will have been reduced by about 826 000 by 2053. Increases in cigarette prices are responsible for over 60% of the reductions, but health warnings, smoke-free air laws, marketing restrictions and cessation treatments also play important roles. CONCLUSIONS: Mexico has shown steady progress towards reducing smoking prevalence in a short period of time, as have other Latin American countries, such as Brazil, Panama and Uruguay. Tobacco control policies play an important role in continued efforts to reduce tobacco use and associated deaths in Mexico.

Competing causes of death: a death certificate study

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Mackenbach, J. P.; Kunst, A. E.; Lautenbach, H.; Oei, Y. B.; Bijlsma, F.

1997-01-01

BACKGROUND: Despite the widespread interest in competing causes of death, empirical information on interrelationships between causes of death is scarce. We have used death certificate information to estimate the prevalence of competing causes of death at the moment of dying from specific underlying

A birth-death process suggested by a chain sequence

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Lenin, R.B.; Parthasarathy, P.R.

2000-01-01

We consider a birth-death process whose birth and death rates are suggested by a chain sequence. We use an elegant transformation to find the transition probabilities in a simple closed form. We also find an explicit expression for time-dependent mean. We find parallel results in discrete time.

Twenty-three-year trend in firearm deaths in the Transkei subregion of South Africa (1993-2015).

Science.gov (United States)

Meel, Banwari

2018-04-01

Background Firearm-related deaths are a serious public-health problem in South Africa, which has the second-highest rate of firearm-related deaths in the world. Objective The aim of this study was to examine the trend in firearm deaths in the Transkei subregion of South Africa. Method An autopsy record review study was conducted at the Forensic Pathology Laboratory at Mthatha over a period of 23 years (1993-2015). Results Over a 23-year period (1993-2015), 27,036 autopsies were performed at the Mthatha Forensic Pathology Laboratory on people who had died from unnatural causes. Of these, 3935 (14.2%) deaths were related to firearm injuries. The average gunshot death rate during the study period was 29/100,000 of the population annually. The majority (3236; 82%) were males, among whom the death rate was 24.4/100,000 of the population per year. The rate of gunshot deaths was 27/100,000 of the population in 1993, while in 2015 it was 12.8/100,000. About a third (1207; 31%) of victims were between 21 and 30 years of age. Conclusion The gunshot death rate is at an unacceptably high level in the Transkei subregion of South Africa, especially among young people.

Kinetics of Infection-Driven Growth Model with Birth and Death

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yang Shunyou; Zhu Shengqing; Ke Jianhong; Lin Zhenquan

2008-01-01

We propose a two-species infection model, in which an infected aggregate can gain one monomer from a healthy one due to infection when they meet together. Moreover, both the healthy and infected aggregates may lose one monomer because of self-death, but a healthy aggregate can spontaneously yield a new monomer. Consider a simple system in which the birth/death rates are directly proportional to the aggregate size, namely, the birth and death rates of the healthy aggregate of size k are J 1 k and J 2 k while the self-death rate of the infected aggregate of size k is J 3 k. We then investigate the kinetics of such a system by means of rate equation approach. For the J 1 > J 2 case, the aggregate size distribution of either species approaches the generalized scaling form and the typical size of either species increases wavily at large times. For the J 1 = J 2 case, the size distribution of healthy aggregates approaches the generalized scaling form while that of infected aggregates satisfies the modified scaling form. For the J 1 2 case, the size distribution of healthy aggregates satisfies the modified scaling form, but that of infected aggregates does not scale

Solvable Catalyzed Birth-Death-Exchange Competition Model of Three Species

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wang Haifeng; Gao Yan; Zhang Heng; Lin Zhenquan

2009-01-01

A competition model of three species in exchange-driven aggregation growth is proposed. In the model, three distinct aggregates grow by exchange of monomers and in parallel, birth of species A is catalyzed by species B and death of species A is catalyzed by species C. The rates for both catalysis processes are proportional to kj ν and kj ω respectively, where ν(Ω) is a parameter reflecting the dependence of the catalysis reaction rate of birth (death) on the catalyst aggregate's size. The kinetic evolution behaviors of the three species are investigated by the rate equation approach based on the mean-field theory. The form of the aggregate size distribution of A-species a k (t) is found to be dependent crucially on the two catalysis rate kernel parameters. The results show that (i) in case of μ ≤ 0, the form of a k (t) mainly depends on the competition between self-exchange of species A and species-C-catalyzed death of species A; (ii) in case of ν > 0, the form of a k (t) mainly depends on the competition between species-B-catalyzed birth of species A and species-C-catalyzed death of species A. (interdisciplinary physics and related areas of science and technology)

Tuberculosis deaths averted by implementation of the DOTS strategy in Kazakhstan.

Science.gov (United States)

Favorov, M; Belilovsky, E; Aitmagambetova, I; Ismailov, S; White, M E; Chorba, T

2010-12-01

Kazakhstan began implementing the DOTS strategy for tuberculosis (TB) in 1998. Data were analyzed 1) to determine if changes in TB mortality rate (MR) and case fatality rate (CFR) in Kazakhstan for 1998-2003 differed from those of Uzbekistan and four adjacent Russian Federation (RF) oblasts that had not yet implemented DOTS, and 2) to estimate the number of deaths averted in Kazakhstan as a result of DOTS. Observed MRs were calculated, and predicted MRs for Kazakhstan were approximated by linear regression based on average slope of MRs from 1998 through 2003 in adjacent non-DOTS-implementing territories. Deaths averted were calculated by comparing predicted MRs to actual MRs by converting rate differences to numbers of deaths. TB MRs in Kazakhstan decreased markedly, but remained stable or increased in the neighboring territories. CFRs decreased markedly in Kazakhstan and marginally in Uzbekistan, and increased in the neighboring RF oblasts. From 1998 to 2004, DOTS appears to have helped avert approximately 17,800 deaths in Kazakhstan. DOTS has contributed markedly to a decrease in TB mortality in Kazakhstan. In settings where mortality data are relatively complete, deaths averted can be another indicator of DOTS effectiveness.

Operation Iraqi Freedom/Operation Enduring Freedom: exploring wartime death and bereavement.

Science.gov (United States)

Harrington Lamorie, Jill

2011-01-01

Military deaths are often sudden, unanticipated, traumatic, and/or violent in nature and involve the death of a young adult. More than 5,500 service members have died as a result of their service in the wars in Afghanistan (2001) and Iraq (2003) in combat- or non-combat- related incidences. As the death toll continues to rise, service members and their families struggle with the visible and invisible wounds of war. This article explores wartime death, trauma, and bereavement experienced by those survivors affected by service members who have died as a result of their military service in Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) and Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF). It recognizes the circumstantial and cultural factors of the death as well as the grief and trauma experiences of survivors. Resources and suggested interventions of support are highlighted.

"Courageous, Zealous, Learned, Wise, and Chaste" - Queen Elizabeth I's Biblical Analogies After Her Death

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Aidan Norrie

2015-11-01

Full Text Available During her reign, Queen Elizabeth I of England was the subject of various biblical analogies. Much of the current historiography, however, does not continue analysis of these literary devices after the Queen's death in 1603. Primary source documents show that their use did not cease with the Queen's death. These analogies appear to have continued for two primary purposes. Analogies legitimised a questionable event that had occurred during Elizabeth's reign, and portrayed these decisions as an example for the current Protestant monarch to imitate. Also, in the years after the Queen's death, analogies reinforced England's Protestantism (and its divine sanction, and gave the Stuart monarchs an example to emulate in religio-political matters.

Faster Blood Flow Rate Does Not Improve Circuit Life in Continuous Renal Replacement Therapy: A Randomized Controlled Trial.

Science.gov (United States)

Fealy, Nigel; Aitken, Leanne; du Toit, Eugene; Lo, Serigne; Baldwin, Ian

2017-10-01

To determine whether blood flow rate influences circuit life in continuous renal replacement therapy. Prospective randomized controlled trial. Single center tertiary level ICU. Critically ill adults requiring continuous renal replacement therapy. Patients were randomized to receive one of two blood flow rates: 150 or 250 mL/min. The primary outcome was circuit life measured in hours. Circuit and patient data were collected until each circuit clotted or was ceased electively for nonclotting reasons. Data for clotted circuits are presented as median (interquartile range) and compared using the Mann-Whitney U test. Survival probability for clotted circuits was compared using log-rank test. Circuit clotting data were analyzed for repeated events using hazards ratio. One hundred patients were randomized with 96 completing the study (150 mL/min, n = 49; 250 mL/min, n = 47) using 462 circuits (245 run at 150 mL/min and 217 run at 250 mL/min). Median circuit life for first circuit (clotted) was similar for both groups (150 mL/min: 9.1 hr [5.5-26 hr] vs 10 hr [4.2-17 hr]; p = 0.37). Continuous renal replacement therapy using blood flow rate set at 250 mL/min was not more likely to cause clotting compared with 150 mL/min (hazards ratio, 1.00 [0.60-1.69]; p = 0.68). Gender, body mass index, weight, vascular access type, length, site, and mode of continuous renal replacement therapy or international normalized ratio had no effect on clotting risk. Continuous renal replacement therapy without anticoagulation was more likely to cause clotting compared with use of heparin strategies (hazards ratio, 1.62; p = 0.003). Longer activated partial thromboplastin time (hazards ratio, 0.98; p = 0.002) and decreased platelet count (hazards ratio, 1.19; p = 0.03) were associated with a reduced likelihood of circuit clotting. There was no difference in circuit life whether using blood flow rates of 250 or 150 mL/min during continuous renal replacement therapy.

Suicide deaths in rural Andhra Pradesh--a cause for global health action.

Science.gov (United States)

Joshi, Rohina; Guggilla, Rama; Praveen, Devarsetty; Maulik, Pallab K

2015-02-01

To determine the proportion of deaths attributable to suicides in rural Andhra Pradesh, India over a 4-year period using a verbal autopsy method. Deaths occurring in 45 villages (population 185,629) were documented over a 4-year period from 2003 to 2007 by non-physician healthcare workers trained in the use of a verbal autopsy tool. Causes of death were assigned by physicians trained in the International Classification of Diseases, version 10. All data were entered and processed electronically using a secure study website. Verbal autopsies were completed for 98.2% (5786) of the deaths (5895) recorded. The crude death rate was 8.0/1000. 4.8% (95% CI 4.3-5.4) of all deaths were suicides, giving a suicide rate of 37.5/100,000 population. Forty-three percent of suicides occurred in the age group 15-29 years, and 62% were in men. In the younger age groups (10-29 years), suicides by women (56%) were more common than by men (44%). Poisoning (40%) was the most common method of self-harm followed by hanging (12%). The suicide rate in this part of rural Andhra Pradesh is three times higher than the national average of 11.2/100,000, but is in line with that reported in the Million Death Study. There is an urgent need to develop strategies targeted at young individuals to prevent deaths by suicide in India. © 2014 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Deaths in New York City Jails, 2001–2009

Science.gov (United States)

Brittain, Joan; Axelrod, George

2013-01-01

Approximately 90 000 inmates are admitted annually to the New York City jail system, many of whom require a high level of medical or mental health services. According to our analysis of deaths in custody from 2001 to 2009, crude death rates have dropped significantly despite the increasing age of the population. Falling HIV-related mortality appears to contribute to this change. Other observations include low rates of suicide across all 9 years and increasing age of the population in recent years. PMID:23409900

Primary Causes of Death After Permanent Prostate Brachytherapy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bittner, Nathan; Merrick, Gregory S.; Galbreath, Robert W.; Butler, Wayne M.; Wallner, Kent E.; Allen, Zachariah A.; Brammer, Sarah G.; Moyad, Mark

2008-01-01

Purpose: To evaluate the primary causes of death in low-risk (low-risk), intermediate-risk (intermediate-risk), and high-risk (high-risk) patients undergoing permanent prostate brachytherapy with or without supplemental therapies. Methods and Materials: From April 1995 through November 2004, a total of 1,354 consecutive patients underwent prostate brachytherapy. All patients underwent brachytherapy >3 years before analysis. Of the patients, 532 (39.3%) received androgen deprivation therapy and 703 (51.9%) received supplemental radiation therapy. The median follow-up was 5.4 years. Multiple parameters were evaluated as predictors of cause-specific, biochemical progression-free, and overall survival. Results: The 10-year cause-specific survival was 97.0% (99.7%, 99.0%, and 90.1% for low-risk, intermediate-risk, and high-risk patients). Overall survival was 76.7% (82.5%, 78.3%, and 67.6% for low-, intermediate-, and high-risk patients, respectively). The cumulative death rate for cardiovascular disease was 11.5% (8.7%, 9.3%, and 19.8% for low-, intermediate-, and high-risk patients). The death rate from second malignancies (nonprostate cancer) was 7.2% and was not substantially different when stratified by risk group. Death from all other causes was 6.5% for the entire cohort but 1.3%, 5.0%, and 10.8% for low-, intermediate-, and high-risk patients. In multivariate analysis, death from prostate cancer was best predicted by Gleason score and risk group, whereas death from cardiovascular disease, nonprostate cancer, and all other causes were most closely related to patient age and tobacco use. Conclusions: Although cardiovascular mortality was the predominant cause of death, prostate cancer was responsible for approximately 10% of all deaths. In particular, overall survival was poorest in the high-risk group. Although high-risk patients were most likely to die of prostate cancer, the divergence in overall survival between high-risk and lower-risk patients primarily

Dealing with death: medical students' experiences with patient loss.

Science.gov (United States)

Pessagno, Regina; Foote, Carrie E; Aponte, Robert

This article explores medical students' experiences and coping strategies when confronting patient loss in their 3rd and 4th years of their programs. Much of the literature on the impact of patient losses focuses on physicians. This article joins a handful of works aimed at how medical students experience and cope with patient loss. In-depth interviews with 20 medical students provided rich descriptions of their varying experiences coping with death. Consistent with previous work, students experience substantial emotional stress coping with patient deaths, though some were more difficult to bear than others, such as when the dying patient was a child or when treatment errors could have contributed to deaths. Common coping mechanisms included talking through their emotions, thrusting themselves into continuing their rounds, crying, participating in infant death rituals, and turning to religion. When deaths occurred, senior personnel who exhibited empathy toward the deceased and tolerance toward the students' emotional responses were lauded and made the process easier. Also emotionally daunting, in many instances, was dealing with the families of dying patients. Most of the students did not view death as a failure, contrary to much earlier literature, except in instances in which human error or decision making may have played a part in causing the death of a patient.

A Latent Class Multidimensional Scaling Model for Two-Way One-Mode Continuous Rating Dissimilarity Data

Science.gov (United States)

Vera, J. Fernando; Macias, Rodrigo; Heiser, Willem J.

2009-01-01

In this paper, we propose a cluster-MDS model for two-way one-mode continuous rating dissimilarity data. The model aims at partitioning the objects into classes and simultaneously representing the cluster centers in a low-dimensional space. Under the normal distribution assumption, a latent class model is developed in terms of the set of…

[Estimation of the excess death associated with influenza pandemics and epidemics in Japan after world war II: relation with pandemics and the vaccination system].

Science.gov (United States)

Ohmi, Kenichi; Marui, Eiji

2011-10-01

To estimate the excess death associated with influenza pandemics and epidemics in Japan after World War II, and to reexamine the relationship between the excess death and the vaccination system in Japan. Using the Japanese national vital statistics data for 1952-2009, we specified months with influenza epidemics, monthly mortality rates and the seasonal index for 1952-74 and for 1975-2009. Then we calculated excess deaths of each month from the observed number of deaths and the 95% range of expected deaths. Lastly we calculated age-adjusted excess death rates using the 1985 model population of Japan. The total number of excess deaths for 1952-2009 was 687,279 (95% range, 384,149-970,468), 12,058 (95% range, 6,739-17,026) per year. The total number of excess deaths in 6 pandemic years of 1957-58, 58-59, 1968-69, 69-70, 77-78 and 78-79, was 95,904, while that in 51 'non-pandemic' years was 591,376, 6.17 fold larger than pandemic years. The average number of excess deaths for pandemic years was 23,976, nearly equal to that for 'non-pandemic' years, 23,655. At the beginning of pandemics, 1957-58, 1968-69, 1969-70, the proportion of those aged pandemic' years. In the 1970s and 1980s, when the vaccination program for schoolchildren was mandatory in Japan on the basis of the "Fukumi thesis", age-adjusted average excess mortality rates were relatively low, with an average of 6.17 per hundred thousand. In the 1990s, when group vaccination was discontinued, age-adjusted excess mortality rose up to 9.42, only to drop again to 2.04 when influenza vaccination was made available to the elderly in the 2000s, suggesting that the vaccination of Japanese children prevented excess deaths from influenza pandemics and epidemics. Moreover, in the age group under 65, average excess mortality rates were low in the 1970s and 1980s rather than in the 2000s, which shows that the "Social Defensive" schoolchildren vaccination program in the 1970s and 1980s was more effective than the

Cause of death in former miners of uranium mines

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Vich, Z.; Koskova, D.

1992-01-01

The mortality in a cohort of 4,803 former miners from uranium mines was analyzed with special reference to other causes of death than bronchogenic cancer. The observed frequencies of death from other causes were significantly lower than the expected rates for the period of 1968-1985 as well as in various periods of observation, this especially in the group of cardiovascular diseases, other tumors and the group of other diseases; at the same time, frequencies of death from diseases of respiratory and digestive systems and from injuries were not different from the expected rates. This may be caused by the s.c. health worker effect or by increased mortality from lung tumors at a younger age than that which is usual in the non-exposed male population. (author) 4 tabs., 14 refs

Cardiovascular death and manic-depressive psychosis

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Weeke, A; Juel, K; Vaeth, M

2013-01-01

In order to study if tricyclic antidepressant drugs (TCA) in therapeutic doses increase the risk of death due to cardiovascular causes, the relative mortality from cardiovascular diseases was studied in two large groups of first hospitalized manic-depressive patients, one from the TCA era...... to the general population. Among 1133 such cases admitted between 1950 and 1956, the rate was 1.87. Our findings do not support the hypothesis that TCA contribute to the cardiovascular mortality in manic-depressives and even support suggestions that TCA treatment may lower the risk of death by cardiovascular...

Geospatial Analysis of Drug Poisoning Deaths Involving Heroin in the USA, 2000-2014.

Science.gov (United States)

Stewart, Kathleen; Cao, Yanjia; Hsu, Margaret H; Artigiani, Eleanor; Wish, Eric

2017-08-01

We investigate the geographic patterns of drug poisoning deaths involving heroin by county for the USA from 2000 to 2014. The county-level patterns of mortality are examined with respect to age-adjusted rates of death for different classes of urbanization and racial and ethnic groups, while rates based on raw counts of drug poisoning deaths involving heroin are estimated for different age groups and by gender. To account for possible underestimations in these rates due to small areas or small numbers, spatial empirical Baye's estimation techniques have been used to smooth the rates of death and alleviate underestimation when analyzing spatial patterns for these different groups. The geographic pattern of poisoning deaths involving heroin has shifted from the west coast of the USA in the year 2000 to New England, the Mid-Atlantic region, and the Great Lakes and central Ohio Valley by 2014. The evolution over space and time of clusters of drug poisoning deaths involving heroin is confirmed through the SaTScan analysis. For this period, White males were found to be the most impacted population group overall; however, Blacks and Hispanics are highly impacted in counties where significant populations of these two groups reside. Our results show that while 35-54-year-olds were the most highly impacted age group by county from 2000 to 2010, by 2014, the trend had changed with an increasing number of counties experiencing higher death rates for individuals 25-34 years. The percentage of counties across the USA classified as large metro with deaths involving heroin is estimated to have decreased from approximately 73% in 2010 to just fewer than 56% in 2014, with a shift to small metro and non-metro counties. Understanding the geographic variations in impact on different population groups in the USA has become particularly necessary in light of the extreme increase in the use and misuse of street drugs including heroin and the subsequent rise in opioid-related deaths in the

The dual impact of Freud's death and Freud's death instinct theory on the history of psychoanalysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Bergmann, Martin S

2011-10-01

Since I have ranged over a rather large territory in this presentation I will summarize my main points. I claim that the very way Freud created psychoanalysis made it impossible for it to continue to grow and develop as a unified movement after his death. Unlike other sciences, psychoanalysis had no way of differentiating its basic findings from what is yet to be discovered. I then reintroduced my differentiation between heretics, modifiers, and extenders, claiming that after Freud’s death there was less opportunity for heretics and more space for modifiers. I assigned a crucial role to the fact that Anna Freud did not succeed in expelling the Kleinians. In the second part of the paper I presented the view of those who made use of Freud’s death instinct theory and those who opposed it. Many analysts preferred to ignore dealing with it rather than state their opposition. My presentation was biased in favor of those who chose to work with the death instinct as a clinical reality,highlighting Ferenczi’s construction. I made the claim, so far as I know never made before, that Freud’s death instinct theory had a traumatic impact on the psychoanalytic movement because it greatly limited the belief in the curative power of our therapeutic work. After his announcement of the dual-instinct theory Freud withdrew his interest in psychoanalysis as a method of cure. By doing so he inflicted a narcissistic wound on psychoanalysis. I believe that the creativity of psychoanalysis will improve if we face this difficult chapter in our history.

The relationship between employees’ continuing education and performance in Tehran’s teaching hospitals

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Mohsen Ghobadi Tara

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Introduction: Continuing education and training of employees significantly affect a hospital’s performance and efficiency, and learning organizations usually exhibit higher efficiency. Hence, the objective of this study was to evaluate the correlation between the hospital employees’ continuing education and performance indicators in the teaching hospitals affiliated to Tehran’s Azad University. Method: A cross-sectional study was conducted in the teaching hospitals affiliated to Tehran’s Azad University in 2014. The subjects consisted of 70 professional hospital employees, including physicians, nurses, midwives and other personnel who had attended continuing education courses. A data collection form was used to collect the data. The data were analyzed with SPSSW-20 software. Pearson correlation coefficient was used at a significance level of 0.05. Results:The number of continuing education courses held for physicians and nurses was equal five courses, while fewer courses were held for the remaining personnel. There were significant associations between the employees’ continuing education and bed occupancy rate (p=0.009 and bed turnover interval (p=0.01. There was no significant association between the employees’ continuing education and hospital death rate (p=0.19. Conclusion: Training employees ultimately affects their performance in the hospital. Hence, a deeper insight into the significance of hospital training is needed for decision-making policy-makers and for hospitals’ executive managers to efficiently use the limited therapeutic resources and eventually achieve optimum effectiveness.

Parent & Child Perceptions of Child Health after Sibling Death

OpenAIRE

Roche, Rosa M.; Brooten, Dorothy; Youngblut, JoAnne M.

2016-01-01

Background Understanding children?s health after a sibling?s death and what factors may affect it is important for treatment and clinical care. This study compared children?s and their parents? perceptions of children?s health and identified relationships of children?s age, gender, race/ethnicity, anxiety, and depression and sibling?s cause of death to these perceptions at 2 and 4 months after sibling death. Methods 64 children and 48 parents rated the child?s health ?now? and ?now vs before?...

Hospital deaths and adverse events in Brazil

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Pavão Ana Luiza B

2011-09-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Adverse events are considered a major international problem related to the performance of health systems. Evaluating the occurrence of adverse events involves, as any other outcome measure, determining the extent to which the observed differences can be attributed to the patient's risk factors or to variations in the treatment process, and this in turn highlights the importance of measuring differences in the severity of the cases. The current study aims to evaluate the association between deaths and adverse events, adjusted according to patient risk factors. Methods The study is based on a random sample of 1103 patient charts from hospitalizations in the year 2003 in 3 teaching hospitals in the state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The methodology involved a retrospective review of patient charts in two stages - screening phase and evaluation phase. Logistic regression was used to evaluate the relationship between hospital deaths and adverse events. Results The overall mortality rate was 8.5%, while the rate related to the occurrence of an adverse event was 2.9% (32/1103 and that related to preventable adverse events was 2.3% (25/1103. Among the 94 deaths analyzed, 34% were related to cases involving adverse events, and 26.6% of deaths occurred in cases whose adverse events were considered preventable. The models tested showed good discriminatory capacity. The unadjusted odds ratio (OR 11.43 and the odds ratio adjusted for patient risk factors (OR 8.23 between death and preventable adverse event were high. Conclusions Despite discussions in the literature regarding the limitations of evaluating preventable adverse events based on peer review, the results presented here emphasize that adverse events are not only prevalent, but are associated with serious harm and even death. These results also highlight the importance of risk adjustment and multivariate models in the study of adverse events.

Simple approximation for estimating centerline gamma absorbed dose rates due to a continuous Gaussian plume

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Overcamp, T.J.; Fjeld, R.A.

1987-01-01

A simple approximation for estimating the centerline gamma absorbed dose rates due to a continuous Gaussian plume was developed. To simplify the integration of the dose integral, this approach makes use of the Gaussian cloud concentration distribution. The solution is expressed in terms of the I1 and I2 integrals which were developed for estimating long-term dose due to a sector-averaged Gaussian plume. Estimates of tissue absorbed dose rates for the new approach and for the uniform cloud model were compared to numerical integration of the dose integral over a Gaussian plume distribution

Continuous biohydrogen production using cheese whey: Improving the hydrogen production rate

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Davila-Vazquez, Gustavo; Cota-Navarro, Ciria Berenice; Razo-Flores, Elias [Division de Ciencias Ambientales, Instituto Potosino de Investigacion Cientifica y Tecnologica, Camino a la Presa San Jose 2055, Lomas 4a seccion, C.P. 78216, San Luis Potosi, S.L.P (Mexico); Rosales-Colunga, Luis Manuel; de Leon-Rodriguez, Antonio [Division de Biologia Molecular, Instituto Potosino de Investigacion Cientifica y Tecnologica, Camino a la Presa San Jose 2055, Lomas 4a seccion, C.P. 78216, San Luis Potosi, S.L.P (Mexico)

2009-05-15

Due to the renewed interest in finding sustainable fuels or energy carriers, biohydrogen (Bio-H{sub 2}) from biomass is a promising alternative. Fermentative Bio-H{sub 2} production was studied in a continuous stirred tank reactor (CSTR) operated during 65.6 d with cheese whey (CW) as substrate. Three hydraulic retention times (HRTs) were tested (10, 6 and 4 h) and the highest volumetric hydrogen production rate (VHPR) was attained with HRT of 6 h. Therefore, four organic loading rates (OLRs) at a fixed HRT of 6 h were tested thereafter, being: 92.4, 115.5, 138.6 and 184.4 g lactose/L/d. The highest VHPR (46.61 mmol H{sub 2}/L/h) and hydrogen molar yield (HMY) of 2.8 mol H{sub 2}/mol lactose were found at an OLR of 138.6 g lactose/L/d; a sharp fall in VHPR occurred at an OLR of 184.4 g lactose/L/d. Butyric, propionic and acetic acids were the main soluble metabolites found, with butyric-to-acetic ratios ranging from 1.0 to 2.4. Bacterial community was identified by partial sequence analysis of the 16S rRNA and polymerase chain reaction-denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (PCR-DGGE). The results showed that at HRT of 10 h and 6 h were dominated by the Clostridium genus. The VHPR attained in this study is the highest reported value for a CSTR system using CW as substrate with anaerobic sludge as inoculum and represents a 33-fold increase compared to a previous study. Thus, it was demonstrated that continuous fermentative Bio-H{sub 2} production from CW can be significantly enhanced by an appropriate selection of parameters such as HRT and OLR. Enhancements in VHPR are significant because it is a critical parameter to determine the full-scale practical application of fermentation technologies that will be used for sustainable and clean energy generation. (author)

Evaluation of autopsy imaging (postmortem CT) to presume causes of death

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nishihara, Keisuke; Sugihara, Shuji; Morioka, Nobuo; Sato, Shinya; Tsukamoto, Kazumichi; Ogawa, Toshihide

2010-01-01

A total of 123 patients arrived at the emergency room in a state of cardiopulmonary arrest were examined by CT after death. Forty one patients (33.3%) were presumed the causes of death by autopsy imaging (Ai). Only 30 patients (24.4%) could be presumed causes of death with postmortem inspection and clinical information. However, presumption rate of cause of death was improved up to 46.3% (22.0 points increase) by adding information provided in Ai. (author)

Sudden death in young persons with uncontrolled asthma--a nationwide cohort study in Denmark

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Gullach, Anders Juul; Risgaard, Bjarke; Lynge, Thomas Hadberg

2015-01-01

BACKGROUND: Asthma is a common chronic disease among young adults, and several studies have reported increased mortality rates in patients with asthma. However, no study has described sudden unexpected death in a nationwide setting in patients with uncontrolled asthma. We defined uncontrolled...... in preventing sudden unexpected deaths. We therefore aimed to describe clinical characteristics, symptoms, causes of death, and contact with the healthcare system prior to sudden unexpected death in young persons with uncontrolled asthma. METHODS: Through the review of death certificates, we found 625 sudden...... individuals who suffered from uncontrolled asthma. This corresponds to an incidence rate of 0.32 per 100,000 person-years. The cause of death in 31 cases (63%) was sudden cardiac death, and in 13 cases (27%), it was a fatal asthma attack. Symptoms (chest pain, dyspnea, seizures, general malaise, syncope...

Changes of chromosome aberration rate and micronucleus frequency along with accumulated dose in continuously irradiated mice with a low dose rate of γ-rays

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tanaka, Kimio; Izumi, Jun; Yanai, Takanori; Ichinohe, Kazuaki; Matsumoto, Tsuneya

2003-01-01

Chromosome aberrations in chronically exposed workers in nuclear facilities and medical radiologists have been reported. However chronological change of chromosome aberration rates along with accumulated dose has not been well studied. Chromosome aberrations and micronuclei in spleen lymphocytes were observed serially in mice continuously irradiated with a low dose rate of 20 mGy/day up to 400 days. Chromosome aberration rates were rapidly increased to 11.1% at 1 Gy, while micronucleus incidence increased at 5 Gy. After these doses their increase rates were saturated. Micronucleus incidence in bone marrow erythroblasts was higher than in spleen cells. These chronological changes of cytogenetic aberrations seem to be induced through a balance between developments of chromosome aberrations and micronuclei, and life span of spleen lymphocytes. These results will be helpful for risk assessment in low dose rate radiation exposure. (author)

Radiobiological responses for two cell lines following continuous low dose-rate (CLDR) and pulsed dose rate (PDR) brachytherapy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hanisch, Per Henrik; Furre, Torbjoern; Olsen, Dag Rune; Pettersen, Erik O.

2007-01-01

The iso-effective irradiation of continuous low-dose-rate (CLDR) irradiation was compared with that of various schedules of pulsed dose rate (PDR) irradiation for cells of two established human lines, T-47D and NHIK 3025. Complete single-dose response curves were obtained for determination of parameters α and β by fitting of the linear quadratic formula. Sublethal damage repair constants μ and T 1/2 were determined by split-dose recovery experiments. On basis of the acquired parameters of each cell type the relative effectiveness of the two regimens of irradiation (CLDR and PDR) was calculated by use of Fowler's radiobiological model for iso-effect irradiation for repeated fractions of dose delivered at medium dose rates. For both cell types the predicted and observed relative effectiveness was compared at low and high iso-effect levels. The results indicate that the effect of PDR irradiation predicted by Fowler's model is equal to that of CLDR irradiation for both small and large doses with T-47D cells. With NHIK 3025 cells PDR irradiation induces a larger effect than predicted by the model for small doses, while it induces the predicted effect for high doses. The underlying cause of this difference is unclear, but cell-cycle parameters, like G2-accumulation is tested and found to be the same for the two cell lines

Preventing Heat-Related Illness or Death of Outdoor Workers

Science.gov (United States)

... instructed him to rest, but the man continued working. An hour later, the man appeared confused and coworkers carried ... for conducting research and making recommendations to prevent work-related illness and ... significantly reduced Preventing Heat-related Illness or Death of Outdoor ...

Risk of Cardiomyopathy in Younger Persons With a Family History of Death from Cardiomyopathy

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ranthe, Mattis F; Carstensen, Lisbeth; Øyen, Nina

2015-01-01

at the population level is unclear. In a nationwide cohort, we examined the risk of cardiomyopathy by family history of premature death (... ascertained family history of premature (... incidence rate ratios for cardiomyopathy by family history of premature death. Premature cardiomyopathy deaths in first- and second-degree relatives were associated with 29- and 6-fold increases in the rate of cardiomyopathy, respectively. If the first-degree relative died aged

Most drug overdose deaths from nonprescription opioids

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Robbins RA

2016-12-01

Full Text Available No abstract available. Article truncated at 150 words. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC is reporting in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly that the number of people dying from an opioid overdose rose 15.5% from 2014 to 2015, but the increase had little to do with prescription painkillers such as oxycodone or hydrocodone (1. Roughly 52,000 people died from drug overdoses in 2015 and of those deaths 33,091 involved an opioid. The increases in “death rates were driven by synthetic opioids other than methadone (72.2%, most likely illicitly-manufactured fentanyl, and heroin (20.6%”. Deaths from methadone, which is usually prescribed by physicians, decreased 9.1%. The largest increase in deaths occurred in the South and Northeast with 3% and 24% increases in deaths from synthetic opioids from 2014 to 2015. In the Midwest and West, there were more modest 17% and 9% increases during the same period. States in the Southwest with “good” to “excellent” reporting included Colorado, Nevada, and New …

Deliberating death.

Science.gov (United States)

Landes, Scott D

2010-01-01

Utilizing a particular case study of a woman attempting to come to terms with her death, this article explores the difficult metaphors of death present within the Christian tradition. Tracing a Christian understanding of death back to the work of Augustine, the case study is utilized to highlight the difficulties presented by past and present theology embracing ideas of punishment within death. Following the trajectory of the case study, alternative understandings of death present in recent Christian theology and within Native American spirituality are presented in an attempt to find room for a fuller meaning of death post-reconciliation, but premortem.

Death analysis of residents in an area of twenty kilometers around Qinshan nuclear power station

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ma Mingqiang; Lu Zhunrong; Zheng Wen; Sun Peizhi

2001-01-01

Objective: To set up a data bank for residents health condition 20 kilometers within around Qinshan nuclear power station. Methods: Combining with retrospective investigation, the relevant data were acquired from medical certification for resident's death reported by all local disease surveillance. Results: The mortality rate of these residents from 1988 to 1999 was 6.92%. The first course of mortality was diseases of respiratory system, the second of circulatory system, and the third was malignant tumor. The first 5 death causes among all male and female persons were diseases of respiratory system and circulatory system, malignant tumor, injuries and poisoning, diseases of digestive system. The mortality rate for malignant tumor was 121.33/100000 (the standard death rate is : 100.13/100000), and liver cancer was the first death cause, while lung and stomach cancers, the second and the third, respectively. The main death causes in juvenile and youth was leukemia, but liver cancer and lung cancer were the main courses of death in the middle-aged, and in old people, lung and liver cancers. Conclusion: The chronic non-infectious diseases in respiratory system, circulatory system etc, are the major death causes in the residents, the mortality rate for malignant tumor in them is lower than that reported by provincial disease surveillance station

Sibling bereavement and continuing bonds.

Science.gov (United States)

Packman, Wendy; Horsley, Heidi; Davies, Betty; Kramer, Robin

2006-11-01

Historically, from a Freudian and medical model perspective, emotional disengagement from the deceased was seen as essential to the successful adaptation of bereavement. A major shift in the bereavement literature has occurred and it is now generally accepted that despite the permanence of physical separation, the bereaved remains involved and connected to the deceased and can be emotionally sustained through continuing bonds. The majority of literature has focused on adults and on the nature of continuing bonds following the death of a spouse. In this article, the authors demonstrate how the continuing bonds concept applies to the sibling relationship. We describe the unique continued relationship formed by bereaved children and adolescents following a sibling loss, highlight the factors that influence the siblings continuing bonds expressions, and offer clinical interventions. In our view, mental health professionals can play an important role in helping parents encourage activities that may facilitate the creation and maintenance of continuing bonds in their children.

Update on the prevention of death from ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm.

Science.gov (United States)

Jacomelli, Jo; Summers, Lisa; Stevenson, Anne; Lees, Tim; Earnshaw, Jonothan J

2017-09-01

Objectives To monitor the early effect of a national population screening programme for abdominal aortic aneurysm in 65-year-old men. Setting The study used national statistics for death rates from abdominal aortic aneurysm (Office of National Statistics) and hospital admission data in England (Hospital Episode Statistics). Methods Information concerning deaths from abdominal aortic aneurysm (ruptured and non-ruptured) (1999-2014) and hospital admissions for ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm (2000-2015) was examined. Results The absolute number of deaths from abdominal aortic aneurysm in men and women aged 65 and over has decreased by around 30% from 2001 to 2014, but as the population has increased, the relative reduction was 45.6% and 40.0%, respectively. Some 65% of all abdominal aortic aneurysm deaths are in men aged over 65; women aged 65 and over account for around 31%. Deaths from ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm in men aged 60-74 (the screened group) appear to be declining at the same rate as in men aged 75 and over. The relative decline in admissions to hospital with ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm may be greater in men and women aged 60-74 (which contains the screened group of men), than those older, giving the first possible evidence that abdominal aortic aneurysm screening is having an effect. Conclusion The death rate from abdominal aortic aneurysm is declining rapidly in England. There is the first evidence that screening may be contributing to this reduction.

Combining diagnostic categories to improve agreement between death certificate and autopsy classifications of cause of death for atomic bomb survivors, 1950-87

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Carter, R.L.; Ron, E.; Mabuchi, Kiyohiko.

1993-05-01

Several investigators have observed less-than-desirable agreement between death certificate diagnoses and autopsy diagnoses for most specific causes of death, and even for some causes grouped by major disease category. Our results from data on 5130 autopsies of members of the Life Span Study cohort of atomic bomb survivors in Hiroshima and Nagasaki conducted prior to September 1987 were equally discouraging. Among diseases with more than 10 cases observed, confirmation rates ranged from 13 % to 97 % and detection rates from 6 % to 90 %. Both rates were greater than 70 % for only 6 of 60 disease categories studied and for only 1 of 16 categories defined by major International Classification of Disease categories (neoplasms). This deficiency suggests cautious interpretation of results from studies based on death certificate diagnoses. To determine whether any groupings of diagnoses might meet acceptable accuracy requirements, we applied a hierarchical clustering method to data from these 5130 cohort members. The resulting classification system had 10 categories: breast cancer; other female cancers; cancers of the digestive organs; cancer of the larynx; leukemia; nasal, ear, or sinus cancer; tongue cancer; external causes; vascular disease; and all other causes. Confirmation and detection rates for each of these categories were at least 66 %. Although the categories are broad, particularly for nonneoplastic diseases, further divisions led to unacceptable accuracy rates for some of the resulting diagnostic groups. Using the derived classification system, there was 72 % agreement overall between death certificate and autopsy diagnoses compared to 53 % agreement for a second system obtained by grouping strictly by major disease category. Eighty-seven percent agreement was observed for a similar classification system with vascular disease grouped with all other nonneoplastic diseases. Further agglomeration achieved very little additional improvement. (J.P.N.)

Sudden infant death syndrome, childhood thrombosis, and presence of genetic risk factors for thrombosis

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Larsen, TB; Nørgaard-Pedersen, B; Lundemose, JB

2000-01-01

in the child. This prompted us to investigate these genetic markers of thromboembolic disease in 121 cases of sudden infant death syndrome and in relevant controls, in the expectation of a more frequent occurrence of these markers if thrombosis is an etiological factor in sudden infant death syndrome...... or unknown risk factors for thrombosis as possible etiological factors for sudden infant death syndrome. It is likely that we must continuously employ the exclusion principle on possible etiological causes in genetic material from a large group of victims of sudden infant death syndrome if the phenomenon...

Real-time Continuous Assessment Method for Mental and Physiological Condition using Heart Rate Variability

Science.gov (United States)

Yoshida, Yutaka; Yokoyama, Kiyoko; Ishii, Naohiro

It is necessary to monitor the daily health condition for preventing stress syndrome. In this study, it was proposed the method assessing the mental and physiological condition, such as the work stress or the relaxation, using heart rate variability at real time and continuously. The instantanuous heart rate (HR), and the ratio of the number of extreme points (NEP) and the number of heart beats were calculated for assessing mental and physiological condition. In this method, 20 beats heart rate were used to calculate these indexes. These were calculated in one beat interval. Three conditions, which are sitting rest, performing mental arithmetic and watching relaxation movie, were assessed using our proposed algorithm. The assessment accuracies were 71.9% and 55.8%, when performing mental arithmetic and watching relaxation movie respectively. In this method, the mental and physiological condition was assessed using only 20 regressive heart beats, so this method is considered as the real time assessment method.

Causes of death after traumatic spinal cord injury-a 70-year British study.

Science.gov (United States)

Savic, G; DeVivo, M J; Frankel, H L; Jamous, M A; Soni, B M; Charlifue, S

2017-10-01

Retrospective and prospective observational. Analyse causes of death after traumatic spinal cord injury (tSCI) in persons surviving the first year post injury, and establish any trend over time. Two spinal centres in Great Britain. The sample consisted of 5483 patients with tSCI admitted to Stoke Mandeville and Southport spinal centres who were injured between 1943 and 2010, survived first year post injury, had residual neurological deficit on discharge and were British residents. Mortality information, including causes of death, was collected up to 31 December 2014. Age-standardised cause-specific mortality rates were calculated for selected causes of death, and included trends over time and comparison with the general population. In total, 2322 persons (42.3% of the sample) died, with 2170 (93.5%) having a reliable cause of death established. The most frequent causes of death were respiratory (29.3% of all certified causes), circulatory, including cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases (26.7%), neoplasms (13.9%), urogenital (11.5%), digestive (5.3%) and external causes, including suicides (4.5%). Compared to the general population, age-standardised cause-specific mortality rates were higher for all causes, especially skin, urogenital and respiratory; rates showed improvement over time for suicides, circulatory and urogenital causes, no significant change for neoplasms, and increase for skin and respiratory causes. Leading causes of death after tSCI in persons surviving the first year post injury were respiratory, circulatory, neoplasms and urogenital. Cause-specific mortality rates showed improvement over time for most causes, but were still higher than the general population rates, especially for skin, urinary and respiratory causes.

Statistical Survey of Deaths from Non melanoma Skin Cancer in Japan during 54 Years

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ohtsuka, H.

2011-01-01

The author analyzed the annual trends in the number of deaths from non melanoma skin cancer (NMSC) from 1955 to 2008 in Japan on the basis of the data from the Vital Statistics of Japan. The general trends in the number of deaths from NMSC were downward between 1979 to 1994, but upward after 1995. The general trends in age-standardized death rates were roughly downward, although the death rates plateaued after 1995. The recent annual increased ratio of deaths from NMSC was 3.8% (95% confidence interval: 2.7∼4.9%). The number and proportion of deaths from NMSC among the elderly were increasing in Japan. For females, more than 50% of the deaths occurred recently at or after 85 years of age, whereas, for males, this proportion was at or after 75 years of age, nearly reaching at or after 80 years of age.