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BACKGROUND: Recent studies have reported the association between air pollution exposure and reduced kidney function. However, it is unclear whether air pollution is associated with an increased risk of acute kidney injury (AKI). OBJECTIVES: To address this gap in knowledge, we investigated the effect estimates of long-term exposures to fine particulate matter [PM ≤ 2.5 μm in aerodynamic diameter (PM2.5)], nitrogen dioxide (NO2), and ozone (O3) on the risk of first hospital admission for AKI using nationwide Medicare data. METHODS: This nationwide population-based longitudinal cohort study included 61,300,754 beneficiaries enrolled in Medicare Part A fee-for-service (FFS) who were ≥65 years of age and resided in the continental United States from the years 2000 through 2016. We applied Cox-equivalent Poisson models to estimate the association between air pollution and first hospital admission for AKI. RESULTS: Exposure to PM2.5, NO2, and O3 was associated with increased risk for first hospital admission for AKI, with hazard ratios (HRs) of 1.17 (95% CI: 1.16, 1.19) for a 5-μg/m³ increase in PM2.5, 1.12 (95% CI: 1.11, 1.13) for a 10-ppb increase in NO2, and 1.03 (95% CI: 1.02, 1.04) for a 10-ppb increase in summer-period O3 (June to September). The associations persisted at annual exposures lower than the current National Ambient Air Quality Standard. DISCUSSION: This study found an association between exposures to air pollution and the risk of the first hospital admission with AKI, and this association persisted even at low concentrations of air pollution. Our findings provide beneficial implications for public health policies and air pollution guidelines to alleviate health care expenditures and the disease burden attributable to AKI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND: The increasing size and frequency of wildland fires are leading to greater potential for cardiopulmonary disease and cancer in exposed populations; however, little is known about how the types of fuel and combustion phases affect these adverse outcomes. OBJECTIVES: We evaluated the mutagenicity and lung toxicity of particulate matter (PM) from flaming vs. smoldering phases of five biomass fuels, and compared results by equal mass or emission factors (EFs) derived from amount of fuel consumed. METHODS: A quartz-tube furnace coupled to a multistage cryotrap was employed to collect smoke condensate from flaming and smoldering combustion of red oak, peat, pine needles, pine, and eucalyptus. Samples were analyzed chemically and assessed for acute lung toxicity in mice and mutagenicity in Salmonella. RESULTS: The average combustion efficiency was 73 and 98% for the smoldering and flaming phases, respectively. On an equal mass basis, PM from eucalyptus and peat burned under flaming conditions induced significant lung toxicity potencies (neutrophil/mass of PM) compared to smoldering PM, whereas high levels of mutagenicity potencies were observed for flaming pine and peat PM compared to smoldering PM. When effects were adjusted for EF, the smoldering eucalyptus PM had the highest lung toxicity EF (neutrophil/mass of fuel burned), whereas smoldering pine and pine needles had the highest mutagenicity EF. These latter values were approximately 5, 10, and 30 times greater than those reported for open burning of agricultural plastic, woodburning cookstoves, and some municipal waste combustors, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: PM from different fuels and combustion phases have appreciable differences in lung toxic and mutagenic potency, and on a mass basis, flaming samples are more active, whereas smoldering samples have greater effect when EFs are taken into account. Knowledge of the differential toxicity of biomass emissions will contribute to more accurate hazard assessment of biomass smoke exposures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many professional truck drivers suffer from low back pain (LBP) which is thought to be associated with exposure to whole-body vibration (WBV). The objectives of this study were to: (i) characterize general health, regional body pain and WBV exposures, (ii) evaluate the associations between different WBV parameters and health outcomes, and (iii) determine whether there were factors which affect a truck driver's WBV exposures. This study analyzed WBV exposures from 96 long-haul truck drivers over their regular work shift (6-15h) per International Standards Organization (ISO) 2631-1 and 2631-5 WBV standards. This study also evaluated regional body pain (10-point scale), low back disability (the Oswestry Disability Index), and physical and mental health (the Short Form 12-item Health Survey). The results demonstrated that the daily vector sum WBV exposures [A(8), VDV(8) and Sed(8)] were above action limits while the predominant z-axis exposures were below action limits. Among all the musculoskeletal outcomes, LBP was the most prevalent (72.5%) with average LBP score of 2.9 (SD: 2.0). The SF-12 health scores demonstrated that truck drivers in general had lower physical health status than the general US population (P's < 0.04) and that physical health status decreased as WBV exposures increased (P = 0.03). In addition, the correlations between the WBV measures and health outcomes indicated that A(8) exposure measures had a stronger link to musculoskeletal (LBP) and other health outcomes than the VDV(8) and Sed(8) measures. Finally, seat manufacturer and seat age were two factors which had a strong influence on WBV exposures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigated the acculturative stress of Korean heritage college students. The final sample included 170 Korean college students living in the United States. We performed hierarchical multiple regression analyses to examine the effects of demographic variables and coping strategies on acculturative stress. The results indicated that age and emotion-oriented coping were significant predictors of acculturative stress among Korean heritage college students. The implications of the results are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We estimated overweight and obesity (OWOB) prevalence of children in US-Affiliated Pacific jurisdictions (USAP) of the Children’s Healthy Living Program compared with the contiguous United States. We searched peer-reviewed literature and government reports (January 2001–April 2014) for OWOB prevalence of children aged 2 to 8 years in the USAP and found 24 sources. We used 3 articles from National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys for comparison. Mixed models regressed OWOB prevalence on an age polynomial to compare trends (n = 246 data points). In the USAP, OWOB prevalence estimates increased with age, from 21% at age 2 years to 39% at age 8 years, increasing markedly at age 5 years; the proportion obese increased from 10% at age 2 years to 23% at age 8 years. The highest prevalence was in American Samoa and Guam. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The superiority of the contrarian investment strategy, though well attested to in the finance literature, has received scant attention, if any, in the real estate literature. This study uses empirical industrial real estate investment return data from 1985Q1 to 2005Q3 for the US, and some Asia Pacific cities in order to ascertain the relative superiority of “value” and “growth” industrial real estate investments. The results show that “value” industrial property investment outperformed “growth” industrial property investment in all the holding periods under consideration. Furthermore the industrial property investments exhibit return reversal. This implies that the superiority of the contrarian strategy is sustainable. The results of stochastic dominance tests validate the relative superiority of “value” over “growth” industrial property investment. This implies that fund managers who traditionally have been favoring prime (i.e. growth) industrial property investment may have to reconsider their investment strategy if they want to maximize their return. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As everybody knows, Coca-Cola is a symbol for the American consumer culture, at the same time, it is a top global brand-value drink. However, at its early stage, Coca-Cola was advertised and sold as a patent medicine for headaches, gastroenteritis, or tonic. If then, why has its usage been switched from patent medicine to soft drink despite its ingredients has been little changed more than 120 years? This article tries to answer to this question by way of analyzing the advertisements of Coca-Cola. Unlike the existing interpretation, Joseph Pemberton, the inventor of Coca-Cola, sold it as a soda beverage. As its sale was very bad, however, he switched its selling target into a patent medicine for the white-collar. Due to Pemberton's untimely death, Asa Candler undertook Pemberton's business. He also posited its goal as a patent medicine. Once its purchasers had been diverse, about after 1890s he also advertised it as a soft drink for the mass consumers. At that time, in particular, Frank Robinson being responsible for its advertisement keenly recognized the advent of mass consumer society in America. Even though this kind of Candler's dual strategy seems to be ambiguous whether it was patent medicine or soft drink, in fact, he seemed to strive for two purposes at the same time. During the Spanish-American War of 1898, when the federal government imposed taxes to the medicinal goods the Coca-Cola Company stood at the crossroad. Furthermore, when the federal government basing on the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906 raised a lawsuit against the Coca-Cola Company, its advertising strategy had been changed. As a result, at its ad copies words such as 'relieve fatigue,' 'tonic,' 'nerve' had disappeared, instead, words such as 'fun,' 'pleasure,' 'satisfying,' 'thirst' had shown up. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study attempts to build a causal model of attitudes towards the welfare state in Japan and to compare it to those of Germany, Sweden and the U.S., which represent conservative, socialist, and liberal welfare regime respectively. The effect of political preferences on attitudes towards the welfare state is the focus of the comparison. The basic premise of this comparison is that welfare attitudes vary across countries, bearing the characteristics of the given welfare regime that they belong to. Structural equation modeling and path analysis are conducted on a large-scale international survey dataset, ISSP 1996. Each country is first analyzed separately, and then all four countries are compared to each other. The single-country analysis reveals the cross-national diversity of welfare attitudes, while the effect of political preferences on the welfare attitudes exhibits a bifurcate pattern: in Sweden and the U.S. it is quite strong, relatively weak in Germany, and not even statistically significant in Japan. The comparative analysis further confirms this pattern. Therefore, I conclude that Japan is closest to the German conservative regime in terms of attitudes and political preferences, sharing welfare conservatism that credits the conservative party for building a welfare state. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Addresses a debate on whether the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution should protect the press from tort liability. Provision of the First Amendment on constitutional protection for publication; Analysis of precedent publication damages cases; Conclusions.

Focuses on the proposal for a technological hierarchy in judging obscenity on the Internet. Evolution of the obscenity standard; Discussion of contemporary community standards; Implication of the decision on the United States versus Robert Thomas case for obscenity legislation.

Comments on the inefficiency of the method used by author Mohsen Bahmani-Oskooee to determine the variables of the current account and trade balance of the United States. Relationship between current account and trade balance with money supply; Use of the methodology designed to complement unit root tests.

Many studies investigating the relation between inflation and exchange rates have found that exchange rates influenced inflation, while other studies have failed to do so or reported mixed results. These findings, however, might be spurious as the majority of the earlier investigations suffered from misspecifications of one kind or another. The current paper addresses the problem by employing an up-to-date and powerful cointegration method developed by Johansen (1988). In a system of five-equation vector error correction model, this paper finds that the US inflation, exchange rate, money supply, income, and interest rate are cointegrated. The cointegration analysis of the data covering the 1973-95 period reveals that the dollar exchange rate has a significant negative impact on the inflation measured by the producer price index. It is further established that the exchange rate Granger causes the inflation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Shows that the demand for both the U.S. imports and exports of manufactured goods experienced instability. Presentation of evidence of structural shifts in the United States import demand during mid-1970s; Changes in trade parameters; Trade model used in discussing the hypothesized break in structural parameter; Statistical analysis; Conclusion.

Shows the evidence that pricing strategy and profit margin of the U.S. manufacturing industry is influenced by the fluctuations in the real exchange rate. Regression analysis of the profit margin; Reason why foreign exchange rate was not an effective tool for controlling the trade balance.

A National Science Foundation-sponsored workshop was held from Feb. 24-26, 2010 in Arlington, VA. The purpose of this "Uncertainty in machining" workshop was to address uncertainty and risk in machining and related manufacturing operations. The application of decision theory, which defines how rational decision makers should make decisions in the presence of uncertainty, was discussed. A summary of the meeting outcomes is presented. To aid in the application of decision theory to manufacturing process modeling, an example of Bayesian inference for the well-known mechanistic turning force model is provided. The discrete grid method is presented, and updating is performed using force data from the Assessment of Machining Models study completed by the National Institute of Standards and Technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the inspection of aircraft structures, the probability of detection has typically been determined based on the size of damage alone. However, the inspection process involves randomness due to variability in inspection conditions, including inspector competence, difficulties associated with the location, and type of damage. To account for these other factors, we develop a simple inspection model from the assumption that for each combination of crack location and inspector there is a threshold crack size, such that larger cracks will be detected and smaller ones will be missed. The proposed model fits the threshold crack sizes to 2603 detection events reported for 43 panels inspected by 62 inspectors from a U.S. Air Force study. The threshold values are obtained by maximizing the matching detection events between the model and the inspection data. First, when 62 inspector thresholds are used, the model matches 78 % of detection events. It is further increased to 81% when both inspector and location thresholds are employed. For comparison, the matching percentage using crack size alone is only 55 %. Cross-validation of the fitting process indicates that part of the improvement represents fitting noise in the data, and that only about 72% matching is repeatable. The proposed model is further extended by including randomness to represent inconsistent behavior of inspectors. Replicating the observed inconsistency for the same inspector reduces the matching to about the same 72 %. Confidence intervals of the proposed model are presented. The proposed model may be used to assess the effect of better training for inspectors, and this is illustrated with a study that shows that, if the poorer half of inspectors is replaced by the top half, the crack size identified with 50% probability can be reduced by half. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose. Examine behavioral, demographic, psychosocial, and sociocultural concomitants of the stages of change for physical activity behavior among college students in South Korea (n = 221) and the United Stales (n = 166). Methods. Measures obtained in this cross-sectional study included age; body mass index; nationality; gender; exercise behavior; processes of change; decisional balance; self-efficacy; stage of change; and predisposing, reinforcing, and enabling factors. Results. The amount of variance explained for stage of change by the transtheoretical model constructs (i.e., decisional balance, processes of change, self-efficacy) ranged from 11 % to 29% (all p < .001), whereas the predisposing (2%; p = .052), reinforcing (3%; p = .06), and enabling (5%; p < .001) factors were not as important. In multivariate ordinal logistic regression analysis, gender (odds ratio [OR] = 3.3; p < .001), gender by nationality interaction (OR = .27; p < .01), weekly exercise behavior (OR = 1.04; p < .001), and behavioral processes of change (OR 1.12; p < .001) were each significant concomitants of the stages of change. Discussion. In terms of physical activity behavior, South Korean women were more likely than South Korean men to be in the early stages, whereas American men were slightly more likely to be in the early stages than American women when all the concomitants were accounted for. Among the psychosocial stage of change concomitants, only the behavioral processes of change were found to be important. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite recent advances in early detection and treatment, prostate cancer is still the second leading cause of cancer death in men in the United States, and approximately 27,000 men will die from it this year. Better treatments are needed for aggressive forms of localized disease and hormone-refractory metastatic disease. Recently, several gene therapy strategies have generated provocative results in early-stage clinical trials, raising the possibility that gene therapy may have the potential to affect both localized and metastatic disease. Much work lies ahead. Nevertheless, for the time being, these studies provide hope that gene therapy may someday earn a place in the management of prostate cancer.Molecular Therapy (2007) 15 6, 1042–1052. doi:10.1038/sj.mt.6300162 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Seasonal variations in acute coronary syndromes (ACS) have been reported, with incidence and mortality peaking in the winter. However, the underlying pathophysiology for these variations remain speculative. Methods and Results Patients with ACS who underwent optical coherence tomography were recruited from 6 countries. The prevalence of the 3 most common pathologies (plaque rupture, plaque erosion, and calcified plaque) were compared between the 4 seasons. In 1113 patients with ACS (885 male; mean age, 65.8±11.6 years), the rates of plaque rupture, plaque erosion, and calcified plaque were 50%, 39%, and 11% in spring; 44%, 43%, and 13% in summer; 49%, 39%, and 12% in autumn; and 57%, 30%, and 13% in winter ( P =0.039). After adjusting for age, sex, and other coronary risk factors, winter was significantly associated with increased risk of plaque rupture (odds ratio [OR], 1.652; 95% CI, 1.157-2.359; P =0.006) and decreased risk of plaque erosion (OR, 0.623; 95% CI, 0.429-0.905; P =0.013), compared with summer as a reference. Among patients with rupture, the prevalence of hypertension was significantly higher in winter ( P =0.010), whereas no significant difference was observed in the other 2 groups. Conclusions Seasonal variations in the incidence of ACS reflect differences in the underlying pathobiology. The proportion of plaque rupture is highest in winter, whereas that of plaque erosion is highest in summer. A different approach may be needed for the prevention and treatment of ACS depending on the season of its occurrence. Registration URL: https://www.clini​caltr​ials.gov. Unique identifier: NCT03479723.

The canine influenza virus (CIV) has spread globally from East Asia to the United States and mutated and evolved to generate various CIVs. Since 2010, the mutant CIVs found in China and Korea have presented increased virulence in mice, guinea pigs and ferrets, which has raised concerns about public health and outbreak of a severe canine flu. We analysed and compared the morphology, cellular uptake and pathogenicity of CIV variants in host animals, to determine their characteristics. The Chinese mutant, A/canine/Jiangsu/06/2010[H3N2](JS10), has two amino acid insertions at the distal end of the NA stalk, and A/canine/Korea/01/2007[H3N2](KR07) presented comparable efficiency of cell uptake and a similar morphology to spherical or small ovoid particles. However, KR07M generated from swapping of M segment of the pandemic isolate, A/California/04/2009 [H1N1] (CA04) into KR07 alone accounted for morphologic change and higher efficiency of cell uptake to the wild-type CIV. This study will provide an insight into the pathogenesis, transmission and evolution of CIVs and help determine future countermeasures., (© 2020 Blackwell Verlag GmbH.)

An autosomal genomewide search for genes related to body composition and its changes after a 20-wk endurance-exercise training program has been completed in the HERITAGE Family Study. Phenotypes included body mass index (BMI), sum of eight skinfold thicknesses, fat mass (FM), fat-free mass, percent body fat (%Fat), and plasma leptin levels. A maximum of 364 sib-pairs from 99 Caucasian families was studied with the use of 344 markers with single-point and multipoint linkage analyses. Evidence of significant linkage was observed for changes in fat-free mass with the S100A and the insulin-like growth factor I genes (P = 0.0001). Suggestive evidence (2.0 < or = Lod < 3.0; 0.0001 < P < or = 0.001) was also observed for the changes in FM and %Fat at 1q31 and 18q21-q23, in %Fat with the uncoupling protein 2 and 3 genes, and in BMI at 5q14-q21. At baseline, suggestive evidence was observed for BMI at 8q23-q24, 10p15, and 14q11; for FM at 14q11; and for plasma leptin levels with the low-density lipoprotein receptor gene. This is the first genomic scan on genes involved in exercise-training-induced changes in body composition that could provide information on the determinants of weight loss.

Background: The study of the immunogenetics of the human platelet antigens is important to the improvement of diagnosis and genetic counseling and to the development of screening programs for women at risk of having babies with neonatal alloimmune thrombocytopenia. Description of the immunogenetics of the human platelet antigens in some racial groups has been incomplete., Study Design and Methods: A reverse dot blot technique employing polymerase chain reaction-amplified genomic DNA was applied in genotyping the five major human platelet antigens in the following populations: 100 African American and 100 white women admitted to the obstetric unit at Johns Hopkins Hospital (Baltimore, MD) and 100 inpatients at Yonsei University (Seoul, Korea)., Results: The gene frequencies of HPA-2b (Koa) and HPA-5b (Bra) in African Americans were twice those in whites (African Americans: 0.18 and 0.21, respectively; whites: 0.09 and 0.11, respectively). There is a very low gene frequency of the HPA-1b (PIA2) allele in Koreans (0.005). No significant differences were found in the gene frequencies of the human platelet antigens in whites in this series and those in published European studies., Conclusion: These studies indicate a higher potential risk for alloimmunization to HPA-2 (Ko) and HPA-5 (Br) antigens in African Americans than in whites. In addition, the low gene frequency of HPA-1b (PIA2) in African Americans and Koreans suggests that alloimmunization to HPA-1a (PIA1) would be very unusual in these populations. These data may provide the basis for planning neonatal alloimmune thrombocytopenia screening programs in certain ethnic populations.