202,415 research outputs found
Reductions in cardiovascular, cerebrovascular, and respiratory mortality following the national Irish smoking ban: Interrupted time-series analysis
No full textCopyright @ 2013 Stallings-Smith et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.This article has been made available through the Brunel Open Access Publishing Fund.Background: Previous studies have shown decreases in cardiovascular mortality following the implementation of comprehensive smoking bans. It is not known whether cerebrovascular or respiratory mortality decreases post-ban. On March 29, 2004, the Republic of Ireland became the first country in the world to implement a national workplace smoking ban. The aim of this study was to assess the effect of this policy on all-cause and cause-specific, non-trauma mortality. Methods: A time-series epidemiologic assessment was conducted, utilizing Poisson regression to examine weekly age and gender-standardized rates for 215,878 non-trauma deaths in the Irish population, ages ≥35 years. The study period was from January 1, 2000, to December 31, 2007, with a post-ban follow-up of 3.75 years. All models were adjusted for time trend, season, influenza, and smoking prevalence. Results: Following ban implementation, an immediate 13% decrease in all-cause mortality (RR: 0.87; 95% CI: 0.76-0.99), a 26% reduction in ischemic heart disease (IHD) (RR: 0.74; 95% CI: 0.63-0.88), a 32% reduction in stroke (RR: 0.68; 95% CI: 0.54-0.85), and a 38% reduction in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) (RR: 0.62; 95% CI: 0.46-0.83) mortality was observed. Post-ban reductions in IHD, stroke, and COPD mortalities were seen in ages ≥65 years, but not in ages 35-64 years. COPD mortality reductions were found only in females (RR: 0.47; 95% CI: 0.32-0.70). Post-ban annual trend reductions were not detected for any smoking-related causes of death. Unadjusted estimates indicate that 3,726 (95% CI: 2,305-4,629) smoking-related deaths were likely prevented post-ban. Mortality decreases were primarily due to reductions in passive smoking. Conclusions: The national Irish smoking ban was associated with immediate reductions in early mortality. Importantly, post-ban risk differences did not change with a longer follow-up period. This study corroborates previous evidence for cardiovascular causes, and is the first to demonstrate reductions in cerebrovascular and respiratory causes
Field Trip to Ban Houei Sai
No full textA letter from James R. Chamberlain concerning a trip to Ban Houei Sai and contact with a rural group in Pha Te
The public health benefits of smoking ban policies: epidemiologic analyses of mortality effects and differentials by socioeconomic status
No full textThis thesis was submited for the degree of Doctor of Public Health and awarded by Brunel UniversityBackground: The implementation of comprehensive smoking ban policies results in reduced population exposure to secondhand smoke, yielding health benefits such as improved respiratory function and decreased risk of cardiovascular events. However, smoking ban effects on respiratory and cerebrovascular mortality and effect differences by socioeconomic status (SES) are unknown. Methods: A literature review was conducted to understand the health benefits of smoking ban policies and to identify areas of research that needed to be addressed. Subsequently, an epidemiologic study employing an interrupted time-series approach was conducted with a national mortality dataset from the Republic of Ireland to determine effects following the implementation of the national workplace smoking ban. Irish census data were used to calculate frequencies of deprivation at the level of the local authority and principal component analysis was conducted to generate a composite SES index. To determine whether the smoking ban policy impacted inequalities, Poisson regression with interrupted time-series analysis was conducted to examine mortality rates, stratified by tertiles of discrete SES indicators and the composite index.
Results: The review identified strong evidence for post-ban reductions in cardiovascular morbidity and mortality, and suggestive evidence of reductions in respiratory morbidity following smoking ban implementation. Few studies assessed ban effects by SES and findings were inconsistent; hence, insufficient evidence was available to determine smoking ban policy impacts on health inequalities. Epidemiologic analyses demonstrated that the national Irish smoking ban was associated with immediate reductions in early mortality for cardiovascular, cerebrovascular, and respiratory causes. Further analyses by discrete socioeconomic indicators and a composite index indicated that the national Irish smoking ban was associated with decreased inequalities in smoking-related mortality. Conclusions: Smoking ban policies are effective public health interventions for the prevention of cardiovascular, cerebrovascular, and respiratory mortality. Furthermore, findings indicate that smoking ban policies have the potential to reduce inequalities in mortality
Did the ban on smoking reduce the revenue in pubs and restaurants in Norway?
No full textAfter 16 years of exemptions from the ban on indoor smoking in other places of work, Norway became the second country after Ireland to implement a smoke-free regime in pubs and restaurants. This paper evaluates the economic impact on the hospitality sector in a northern region with a cold climate. The data consists of bi-monthly observations of revenues in restaurants and pubs starting in January 1999 and ending in August 2007. Auto-regressive integrated moving average (ARIMA) intervention analysis was used to test for possible economic impacts, controlling for variations in temperature. The ban on smoking did not have a statistically significant effect on revenue in restaurants or on restaurant revenue as a share of personal consumption. There is also no evidence that the ban reduce revenues in bars, but there is some indication that it may have reduced bar revenue as a share of personal consumption. Conclusion: A large body of research has found no negative economic effect of smoke-free legislation on restaurant and bar sales in the United States, Australia and elsewhere Our study confirms these results in a northern region with a cold climate with respect to restaurants, but the results was more mixed for bars.Tobacco; economics; business; passive smoking; legislation
Is the Log Export Ban Effective? Revisiting the Issue through the Case of Indonesia
No full textThe effectiveness of a log export ban policy in achieving the twin goals of conservation and economic development has been vigorously debated by many researchers and policymakers for the last two decades or so. Despite the abundance of work focusing on this issue that demonstrates the perversity of this policy, many countries around the world still implement it. This paper will, first, review the economic and political arguments on the pros and cons of this policy. Second, it will review the Indonesian experience in implementing the policy in the 1980s and 2000s. Third, using a CGE model, this paper will predict the anticipated impact of implementing the log export ban policy on the national economy and on household incomes for various socio-economic groups.log export ban policy, conservation and economic development, national economy, household incomes, CGE
Impact of a smoking ban in hospitality venues on second hand smoke exposure: a comparison of exposure assessment methods
No full textBACKGROUND: In May 2010, Switzerland introduced a heterogeneous smoking ban in the hospitality sector. While the law leaves room for exceptions in some cantons, it is comprehensive in others. This longitudinal study uses different measurement methods to examine airborne nicotine levels in hospitality venues and the level of personal exposure of non-smoking hospitality workers before and after implementation of the law. METHODS: Personal exposure to second hand smoke (SHS) was measured by three different methods. We compared a passive sampler called MoNIC (Monitor of NICotine) badge, to salivary cotinine and nicotine concentration as well as questionnaire data. Badges allowed the number of passively smoked cigarettes to be estimated. They were placed at the venues as well as distributed to the participants for personal measurements. To assess personal exposure at work, a time-weighted average of the workplace badge measurements was calculated. RESULTS: Prior to the ban, smoke-exposed hospitality venues yielded a mean badge value of 4.48 (95%-CI: 3.7 to 5.25; n = 214) cigarette equivalents/day. At follow-up, measurements in venues that had implemented a smoking ban significantly declined to an average of 0.31 (0.17 to 0.45; n = 37) (p = 0.001). Personal badge measurements also significantly decreased from an average of 2.18 (1.31-3.05 n = 53) to 0.25 (0.13-0.36; n = 41) (p = 0.001).Spearman rank correlations between badge exposure measures and salivary measures were small to moderate (0.3 at maximum). CONCLUSIONS: Nicotine levels significantly decreased in all types of hospitality venues after implementation of the smoking ban. In-depth analyses demonstrated that a time-weighted average of the workplace badge measurements represented typical personal SHS exposure at work more reliably than personal exposure measures such as salivary cotinine and nicotine
Socioeconomic differentials in the immediate mortality effects of the national Irish smoking ban
No full textThis article has been made available through the Brunel Open Access Publishing Fund.Background: Consistent evidence has demonstrated that smoking ban policies save lives, but impacts on health inequalities are uncertain as few studies have assessed post-ban effects by socioeconomic status (SES) and findings have been inconsistent. The aim of this study was to assess the effects of the national Irish smoking ban on ischemic heart disease (IHD), stroke, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) mortality by discrete and composite SES indicators to determine impacts on inequalities. Methods: Census data were used to assign frequencies of structural and material SES indicators to 34 local authorities across Ireland with a 2000–2010 study period. Discrete indicators were jointly analysed through principal component analysis to generate a composite index, with sensitivity analyses conducted by varying the included indicators. Poisson regression with interrupted time-series analysis was conducted to examine monthly age and gender-standardised mortality rates in the Irish population, ages ≥35 years, stratified by tertiles of SES indicators. All models were adjusted for time trend, season, influenza, and smoking prevalence. Results: Post-ban mortality reductions by structural SES indicators were concentrated in the most deprived tertile for all causes of death, while reductions by material SES indicators were more equitable across SES tertiles. The composite indices mirrored the results of the discrete indicators, demonstrating that post-ban mortality decreases were either greater or similar in the most deprived when compared to the least deprived for all causes of death. Conclusions: Overall findings indicated that the national Irish smoking ban reduced inequalities in smoking-related mortality. Due to the higher rates of smoking-related mortality in the most deprived group, even equitable reductions across SES tertiles resulted in decreases in inequalities. The choice of SES indicator was influential in the measurement of effects, underscoring that a differentiated analytical approach aided in understanding the complexities in which structural and material factors influence mortality
An interpretation of building structures and their implications for social stratification at the site of Ban Non Wat, Thailand : a GIS analysis of prehistoric post-holes
No full textIn order to understand prehistoric behaviors through the field of archaeology, it may first be necessary to determine the social structure, as well as the political and economic growth of that society over time. Culture change may be displayed in a number of ways, including changes in pottery type, the presence or absence of materials such as copper and iron, or mortuary context and practices. According to Flannery (2002), social and economic evolution may be displayed in the archaeological record by changes in the shape and size of domestic structures. Excavations at the site of Ban Non Wat have revealed occupations covering a span of over 4000 years, ranging from the Neolithic to the Iron Age. During these excavations, thousands of post-holes were evident in the stratigraphic context of the site. Using a GIS (Geographic Information Systems) application, a general overlay of post-hole patterns per occupation level can be examined. By then deducing which of these post-holes had been dug during later occupations, patterns and changes in structure types over time can be investigated. This paper examines the apparent structural transformations at the site of Ban Non Wat, and compares them to other indications of social, physical, and economic change that have previously been revealed
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
No full textWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Texas' remote hunting ban
No full textElectronic data.; Title from title screen.; "September 14, 2005."; Explains Texas' law banning Internet- or computer-assisted remote hunting (allowing a person to remotely hunt and kill an animal in "real-time", for a fee, from a computer) and if Connecticut could enact a similar ban.; Harvested from the web on 11/2/0
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