Maintaining savings is an important financial goal. Yet there are times when savings should be spent, such as when people face unavoidable costs, and spending their savings allows them to avoid high ...interest rate debt. Existing behavioral research has focused on consumer decisions between savings and discretionary spending and has proposed interventions to promote savings in these contexts. However, when spending is not discretionary, such interventions could risk exacerbating a pattern found in economic research in which people borrow high interest rate debt while maintaining savings that earn low levels of interest. To examine how mental accounting interacts with considerations of personal responsibility and guilt to contribute to this pattern, this article explores whether people spend their savings when they need money most: during emergencies. Six studies reveal that people's tendency to preserve savings by borrowing from a high interest rate credit option varies as a function of the savings' intended use. Paradoxically, people are most likely to turn to high interest rate credit with the belief that doing so is the responsible option.
For low-income families in the United States disability assistance has emerged as a critical income support program in the post-welfare reform era. This article explores how this monetization of ...illness—tying receipt of government assistance to a physical or mental condition—influences how individuals evaluate the severity of another individual's health symptoms. Using data collected through a nationally representative survey experiment of adults in the United States (n = 1005) in May 2013, I find that respondents who are primed to consider the existence of disability assistance are less likely to rate the symptoms described in a hypothetical vignette as severe relative to the control group. I find evidence that this effect holds for both physical (back pain) and mental (depression) conditions for adults and behavioral conditions (ADHD) in children. Moreover, respondents in the experimental group were more likely to blame the individual for her health condition and this measure was found to partially mediate the effect of the disability assistance prime. These findings have important implications for researchers, policymakers and medical practitioners by illustrating how premising state assistance on a health condition may in turn shape how individuals evaluate the health symptoms of others.
•Evidence from a nationally representative survey experiment.•Priming disability assistance yields harsher evaluations of health condition.•Experimental group also more likely to blame individual for her condition.•Implications for how disability assistance influences evaluation of health.•Insights for understanding impact of SSI program on medicalization of poverty.
Although most interventions are web based, other modalities incluing text messaging, mobile phone applications and SNS demonstrate the potential in reaching a large number of young people in an ...non-intrusive manner.The ability to provide personalized feedback resulted in a reduction in (a) alcohol consumption (b) frequency of binge drinking and (c) drinking in a non-risky way.Intervention length did not appear to have an impact on overall effectiveness.
Previous reviews have specifically looked at computer-based or Internet-based approaches. However, there has been no systematic review focused upon electronic communication based interventions for hazardous young drinkers.
Out of 3298 relevant citations, 13 papers consisting of 11 studies met the inclusion criteria. Effectiveness of intervention delivery was assessed using behavioural outcomes. Eight papers delivered interventions using the Web, three implemented text messaging, one used a mobile phone app and the remaining paper used a social networking site.
The ability to provide personalized electronic feedback resulted in a reduction in alcohol consumption, frequency of binge drinking, and drinking in a non-risky way. However, intervention length did not appear to have an impact on overall effectiveness.
Usage of text messaging and Social Network Sites (SNS) increased accessibility and ease of engaging in an intervention that is appealing and acceptable for young adults.
Economy and Disability Rourke L. O'Brien
Social problems (Berkeley, Calif.),
08/2013, Letnik:
60, Številka:
3
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Previous work on the link between macroeconomic conditions and disability has focused almost exclusively on changes in applications for disability benefit programs, not changes in individuals' ...self-perceived disability status. This article demonstrates that macroeconomic conditions may influence disability through adirect disablingpathway that is distinct from thereservation wagepathway highlighted in previous analyses of disability assistance. State-level analyses using data from the Current Population Survey (CPS) from 1982–2006 reveal a robust inverse relationship between state GDP per capita and disability among the working-age population. Analyses using individual-level data from the 2008 American Community Survey (ACS) find that currently employed persons are more likely to report a disability if they reside in a local area with higher unemployment rates and that this association exists across levels of education; and finally, a lagged regression model analyzing change in local unemployment from 2008 to 2009, the first year of the “Great Recession,” finds that an increase in local area unemployment in one year is associated with an increased self-reported disability rate among currently employed workers in the next year. Findings have implications for understanding how macroeconomic downturns influence perceptions of disability and how structural conditions shape individual identity more broadly.
Penetrating chest wound: a case report Rourke, L. L; McKenzie, F. N; Heimbecker, R. O
Canadian Medical Association journal,
04/1977, Letnik:
116, Številka:
8
Journal Article
Recenzirano
An unusual penetrating chest injury was caused by a ball-point pen. Because of apparent penetration of the heart, preparations were made for an emergency open-heart procedure before emergency ...thoracotomy was undertaken, with the pen still in situ. The pen had bruised the epicardium but had not penetrated the pericardial sac. After removal of the pen, the wound was closed and a chest tube left in place. Recovery, apart from minor degrees of basal atelectasis, pleural effusion and wound infection, was uneventful. The outcome was consistent with that associated with current aggressive management of penetrating chest injuries. Management is based on three approaches. The primary one is intercostal thoracostomy tube drainage and fluid and blood replacement. In cases of massive hemorrhage or air leak, thoracotomy is necessary. The third approach is to prevent post-traumatic pulmonary insufficiency by using fine, high-efficiency filters during blood transfusion, avoiding excessive administration of intravenous fluids, performing tracheostomy after prolonged endotracheal intubation, and using a volume respirator with positive end-expiratory pressure. The average mortality for penetrating wounds of the heart is 25%.
Accurate quantification of forest carbon stocks is required for constraining the global carbon cycle and its impacts on climate. The accuracies of forest biomass maps are inherently dependent on the ...accuracy of the field biomass estimates used to calibrate models, which are generated with allometric equations. Here, we provide a quantitative assessment of the sensitivity of allometric parameters to sample size in temperate forests, focusing on the allometric relationship between tree height and crown radius. We use LiDAR remote sensing to isolate between 10,000 to more than 1,000,000 tree height and crown radius measurements per site in six U.S. forests. We find that fitted allometric parameters are highly sensitive to sample size, producing systematic overestimates of height. We extend our analysis to biomass through the application of empirical relationships from the literature, and show that given the small sample sizes used in common allometric equations for biomass, the average site-level biomass bias is ~+70% with a standard deviation of 71%, ranging from -4% to +193%. These findings underscore the importance of increasing the sample sizes used for allometric equation generation.
Aortic calcification is an important independent predictor of future cardiovascular events. We performed a genome-wide association meta-analysis to determine SNPs associated with the extent of ...abdominal aortic calcification (n = 9,417) or descending thoracic aortic calcification (n = 8,422). Two genetic loci, HDAC9 and RAP1GAP, were associated with abdominal aortic calcification at a genome-wide level (P < 5.0 × 10
). No SNPs were associated with thoracic aortic calcification at the genome-wide threshold. Increased expression of HDAC9 in human aortic smooth muscle cells promoted calcification and reduced contractility, while inhibition of HDAC9 in human aortic smooth muscle cells inhibited calcification and enhanced cell contractility. In matrix Gla protein-deficient mice, a model of human vascular calcification, mice lacking HDAC9 had a 40% reduction in aortic calcification and improved survival. This translational genomic study identifies the first genetic risk locus associated with calcification of the abdominal aorta and describes a previously unknown role for HDAC9 in the development of vascular calcification.
...Levin characterized Bradley's metaphysical framework as an amalgam of Hegel and Aristotle,2 in which Bradley's usual description of a Shakespearean tragedy as a process leading from the temporary ...disruption of cosmic order to its restoration displaced the idea of catharsis from an account of the experience of a playgoer to a description of the world of the play. ...poetic language does not only figure as rhetorical persuasiveness in Macbeth; a poststructuralist conception of metaphor as the constitutive principle of metaphysics rather than as an ornament to meaning can demonstrate the close-knit integrity of the language of Macbeth, and can open up a reading of the play that goes beyond the quasi-naturalism of the Bradleyan universe of tragedy which, as Levin so succinctly put it, "presupposed that man is both the master of his fate and an object of supervision on the part of the gods, to a much greater extent than either science or theodicy would encourage us to believe. Macbeth then opens the following scene by saying Bring me no more reports; let them fly all: ...Birnam wood remove to Dunsinane I cannot taint with fear (5.3.2-3) and closes it with "I will not be afraid of death and bane, / Till Birnam forest come to Dunsinane" (59-60). There is an interesting change in emphasis away from the providential reading in the introduction to Macbeth in the The Complete Works of Shakespeare, edited by David Bevington (New York: Harper Collins Publishers, 1992; formerly published by Scott, Foresman and Co., 3d edition 1980), possibly due to the addition of Jean E. Howard to the editorial advisory board for this play. 2.
Environmental arsenic exposure in adults and children has been associated with a reduction in the expression of club cell secretory protein (CC16) and an increase in the expression of matrix ...metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9), both biomarkers of lung inflammation and negative respiratory outcomes. The objectives of this study were to determine if the levels of serum CC16 and MMP-9 and subsequent respiratory infections in children are associated with the ingestion of arsenic by drinking water. This cross-sectional study included 216 children from three Yaqui villages, Potam, Vicam, and Cocorit, with levels of arsenic in their ground water of 70.01 ± 21.85, 23.3 ± 9.99, and 11.8 ± 4.42 μg/L respectively. Total arsenic in water and urine samples was determined by inductively coupled plasma/optical emission spectrometry. Serum was analyzed for CC16 and MMP-9 using ELISA. The children had an average urinary arsenic of 79.39 μg/L and 46.8 % had levels above of the national concern value of 50 μg/L. Increased arsenic concentrations in drinking water and average daily arsenic intake by water were associated with decreased serum CC16 levels (β = − 0.12, 95% CI − 0.20, − 0.04 and β = − 0.10, 95% CI − 0.18, − 0.03), and increased serum MMP-9 levels (β = 0.35, 95% CI 0.22, 0.48 and β = 0.29, 95% CI 0.18, 0.40) at significant levels (
P
< 0.05). However, no association was found between levels of these serum biomarkers and urinary arsenic concentrations. In these children, reduced serum CC16 levels were significantly associated with increased risk of respiratory infections (OR = 0.34, 95% CI 0.13, 0.90). In conclusion, altered levels of serum CC16 and MMP-9 in the children may be due to the toxic effects of arsenic exposure through drinking water.
Skeletal myoblasts are an attractive cell type for transplantation because they are autologous and resistant to ischemia. However, clinical trials of myoblast transplantation in heart failure have ...been plagued by ventricular tachyarrhythmias and sudden cardiac death. The pathogenesis of these arrhythmias is poorly understood, but may be related to the fact that skeletal muscle cells, unlike heart cells, are electrically isolated by the absence of gap junctions. Using a novel in vitro model of myoblast transplantation in cardiomyocyte monolayers, we investigated the mechanisms of transplant-associated arrhythmias. Cocultures of human skeletal myoblasts and rat cardiomyocytes resulted in reentrant arrhythmias (spiral waves) that reproduce the features of ventricular tachycardia seen in patients receiving myoblast transplants. These arrhythmias could be terminated by nitrendipine, an l-type calcium channel blocker, but not by the Na channel blocker lidocaine. Genetic modification of myoblasts to express the gap junction protein connexin43 decreased arrhythmogenicity in cocultures, suggesting a specific means for increasing the safety (and perhaps the efficacy) of myoblast transplantation in patients.
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