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Childhood intelligence in relation to major causes of death in 68 year follow-up: prospective population study
No full textObjectives: To examine the association between intelligence measured in childhood and leading causes of death in men and women over the life course.
Design: Prospective cohort study based on a whole population of participants born in Scotland in 1936 and linked to mortality data across 68 years of follow-up.
Setting: Scotland.
Participants: 33 536 men and 32 229 women who were participants in the Scottish Mental Survey of 1947 (SMS1947) and who could be linked to cause of death data up to December 2015.
Main outcome measures: Cause specific mortality, including from coronary heart disease, stroke, specific cancer types, respiratory disease, digestive disease, external causes, and dementia.
Results: Childhood intelligence was inversely associated with all major causes of death. The age and sex adjusted hazard ratios (and 95% confidence intervals) per 1 SD (about 15 points) advantage in intelligence test score were strongest for respiratory disease (0.72, 0.70 to 0.74), coronary heart disease (0.75, 0.73 to 0.77), and stroke (0.76, 0.73 to 0.79). Other notable associations (all P<0.001) were observed for deaths from injury (0.81, 0.75 to 0.86), smoking related cancers (0.82, 0.80 to 0.84), digestive disease (0.82, 0.79 to 0.86), and dementia (0.84, 0.78 to 0.90). Weak associations were apparent for suicide (0.87, 0.74 to 1.02) and deaths from cancer not related to smoking (0.96, 0.93 to 1.00), and their confidence intervals included unity. There was a suggestion that childhood intelligence was somewhat more strongly related to coronary heart disease, smoking related cancers, respiratory disease, and dementia in women than men (P value for interactions <0.001, 0.02, <0.001, and 0.02, respectively). Childhood intelligence was related to selected cancer presentations, including lung (0.75, 0.72 to 0.77), stomach (0.77, 0.69 to 0.85), bladder (0.81, 0.71 to 0.91), oesophageal (0.85, 0.78 to 0.94), liver (0.85, 0.74 to 0.97), colorectal (0.89, 0.83 to 0.95), and haematopoietic (0.91, 0.83 to 0.98). Sensitivity analyses on a representative subsample of the cohort observed only small attenuation of the estimated effect of intelligence (by 10-26%) after adjustment for potential confounders, including three indicators of childhood socioeconomic status. In a replication sample from Scotland, in a similar birth year cohort and follow-up period, smoking and adult socioeconomic status partially attenuated (by 16-58%) the association of intelligence with outcome rates.
Conclusions: In a whole national population year of birth cohort followed over the life course from age 11 to age 79, higher scores on a well validated childhood intelligence test were associated with lower risk of mortality ascribed to coronary heart disease and stroke, cancers related to smoking (particularly lung and stomach), respiratory diseases, digestive diseases, injury, and dementia
Supporting students’ mental health and wellbeing through the integration of companion animals into tutorial programmes at a teaching-led university
No full textThis paper considers the protocols and processes of a small-scale project involving final year university students and the companion animals (dogs and guinea pigs) of tutors, aimed at improving student wellbeing and fostering relational learning. Narratives and survey data revealed a range of perceived benefits including those relating to the technique of distraction to reduce anxiety and improve student wellbeing. Also identified are possible further benefits including relational learning and improved attendance. The paper reflects on a range of other issues, such as the welfare of the animals, potential risks and objections from staff and students. Recommendations from the pilot project are provided and the potential for further research identified
Recreational 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine or 'ecstasy': Current perspective and future research prospects.
No full textAIMS: The purpose of this article is to debate current understandings about the psychobiological effects of recreational 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA or 'ecstasy'), and recommend theoretically-driven topics for future research. METHODS: Recent empirical findings, especially those from novel topic areas were reviewed. Potential causes for the high variance often found in group findings were also examined. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: The first empirical reports into psychobiological and psychiatric aspects from the early 1990s concluded that regular users demonstrated some selective psychobiological deficits, for instance worse declarative memory, or heightened depression. More recent research has covered a far wider range of psychobiological functions, and deficits have emerged in aspects of vision, higher cognitive skill, neurohormonal functioning, and foetal developmental outcomes. However, variance levels are often high, indicating that while some recreational users develop problems, others are less affected. Potential reasons for this high variance are debated. An explanatory model based on multi-factorial causation is then proposed. FUTURE DIRECTIONS: A number of theoretically driven research topics are suggested, in order to empirically investigate the potential causes for these diverse psychobiological deficits. Future neuroimaging studies should study the practical implications of any serotonergic and/or neurohormonal changes, using a wide range of functional measures
Building the meaning of the Second World War on the British home front in commercial press advertising
Get PDFBuilding on extant literature placing consumption as a dominant feature of British life by the interwar period, this article explores how commercial advertising drew on that position on the British home front of the Second World War to explain the part it played within the wider war effort. It reveals how advertising messages stressed free consumption as an indicator of democracy and as a symbol of British national identity. The advertisements analysed highlight how this, to date, overlooked channel of propaganda fell in line with the prevailing narrative of the war, supporting, reinforcing and perpetuating the common vision of that conflict. Whilst it is not suggested that these often fanciful representations were accepted unquestioningly at the time, it is argued that the widespread circulation of such an unequivocal version of events became the definitive, non-negotiable understanding of what Britain’s war was about and how ordinary people could play their part within it
A computer model for investigating the biomechanical effects of radiation exposure on pathological and non-pathological living human cells
No full textThe cellular response to radiation insult and studies have been carried out to investigate aspects of the cytoskeleton and the force response of the cell when probed by an AFM. Confirmed for the first time that there was a statistically significant difference for the PNT2 and PC3 cell lines in response to probing with the AFM tip, and that time was eliminated a possible influencing factor in the short term (1 hour) for the force response. Showed that the Hertz model is not sufficient for distances greater than 500nm due to the strain hardening effect for biological cells and that the biological cells non-linear force response becomes marked after the 500nm region. The orientation of actin was investigated and a bimodal variation was statistical significant, although the larger tendency was for a 90 degree separation there was indications that earlier theoretical work by Pollard, 2008 was present. The importance of the contact point when considering the cell lines PNT2, DU145 and PC3 and greater than 500nm indentation is shown and four different methods are tested and the most robust of these chosen as the method for the distance and cell lines involved. That being ‘line projection’ method created by the author. A method that normalises the data for AFM force curves is presented, the method minimises the contact point error at the same time and therefore provides biologists with a way to test cell lines using standard normal population tests
Fleming Fund: supporting surveillance capacity for antimicrobial resistance Regional Networks and Educational Resources
No full textChildhood body weight in relation to morbidity from cardiovascular disease and cancer in older adulthood: 67-year follow-up of participants in the 1947 Scottish Mental Survey.
Get PDFAlthough it has been well documented that elevated body weight in middle- and older-aged populations is associated with multiple morbidities, the influence of childhood body weight on health endpoints other than coronary heart disease is not well understood. Accordingly, using a subsample of 4,620 participants (2,288 women) from the Scottish Mental Survey of 1947, we examined the association between body mass index measured at 11 years of age and future risk of 9 independent health endpoints as ascertained from national hospital admissions and cancer registers until 2014 (up to age 77 years). Although there was some evidence of a relationship between elevated childhood body mass index and higher rates of peripheral vascular disease (per each 1-standard deviation increase in body mass index, hazard ratio = 1.21, 95% confidence interval: 1.07, 1.37) and smoking-related cancers (per each 1-standard deviation increase in body mass index, hazard ratio = 1.09, 95% confidence interval: 1.01, 1.17), there was no apparent association with coronary heart disease, stroke (including ischemic stroke), heart failure, or carcinomas of the colorectum, stomach, lung, prostate, or breast. In conclusion, a relationship between childhood body weight and later morbidity was largely lacking in the present study
‘We are trying to make them good citizens’: The utilisation of SEAL to develop ‘appropriate’ social, emotional and behavioural skills amongst pupils attending disadvantaged primary schools
Get PDFThis paper focuses on primary school staff members’ interpretations of the UK social and emotional learning initiative: SEAL. The data, collected through group and individual interviews with a range of staff members working in schools located in deprived areas, illustrate how the scheme has been used to encourage various behaviours. This utilisation of SEAL was influenced by staff members’ perceptions of the pupils’ parents, and particularly their in/ability to develop ‘appropriate’ social, emotional and behavioural skills. Staff members identified a range of objectionable behaviours, exhibited by the pupils, which were perceived to have been encouraged in the home. In response, schools operationalised SEAL to endorse alternative behaviours deemed ‘appropriate’. Implications of the findings, in terms of marginalising the values and ‘othering’ the practices of specific sections of society, are discussed, and recommendations are made for a more democratic approach to schooling which prioritises a mutual exchange of knowledge between school and home
Lessons Learned from Read-Across Case Studies for Repeated-Dose Toxicity
Get PDFA series of case studies designed to further acceptance of read-across predictions, especially for chronic health-related endpoints, have been evaluated with regard to the knowledge and insight they provide. A common aim of these case studies was to examine sources of uncertainty associated with read-across. While uncertainty is related to the quality and quantity of the read across endpoint data, uncertainty also includes a variety of other factors, the foremost of which is uncertainty associated with the justification of similarity and quantity and quality of data for the source chemical(s). This investigation has demonstrated that the assessment of uncertainty associated with a similarity justification includes consideration of the information supporting the scientific arguments and the data associated with the chemical, toxicokinetic and toxicodynamic similarity. Similarity in chemistry is often not enough to justify fully a read-across prediction, thus, for chronic health endpoints, toxicokinetic and/or toxicodynamic similarity is essential. Data from New Approach Methodology(ies) including high throughput screening, in vitro and in chemico assay and in silico tools, may provide critical information needed to strengthen the toxicodynamic similarity rationale. In addition, it was shown that toxicokinetic (i.e., ADME) similarity, especially metabolism, is often the driver of the overall uncertainty
A systematic simulation methodology for LNG ship operations in port waters: a case study in Meizhou Bay
Get PDFWith the increment for liquefied natural gas (LNG) demand, LNG carriers are becoming larger in size. The operational safety of the carriers and the associated terminals is increasingly attracting attention. This is particularly true when a large LNG vessel approaches a terminal, requiring a detailed investigation of ship handling in port waters, especially in certain unusual cases. A full mission simulator provides an effective tool for research and training in operations of both port terminals and ships. This paper presents an experimental design methodology of the full mission simulation. The details as to how the simulation is achieved are described, and the simulation strategies applicable to LNG ships are specified. A typical case study is used to demonstrate and verify the proposed design methodology. The proposed methodology of the full mission simulation provides guidance for port safety research, risk evaluation and seafarer training. © 2017 Institute of Marine Engineering, Science & Technolog
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