Bromazolam, a novel designer benzodiazepine (NBD), exhibits potent sedative, hypnotic and anxiolytic effects, raising concerns regarding its potential for misuse and fatal outcomes, particularly when ...combined with opioids such as fentanyl. Despite limited documented fatalities globally, its use poses a significant threat, exacerbated by under-reporting and a lack of routine testing. This study analysed NBD-related deaths in a major US city over a 4-year period.
Analysis of accidental overdose deaths involving NBDs in San Francisco, CA, USA from 2020 to 2023, was performed utilizing medico-legal death investigations including comprehensive forensic toxicology, pathology and demographic information. San Francisco conducts thorough investigations into all non-natural and sudden unexpected deaths, including routine alcohol and drug testing of decedents under its jurisdiction, including etizolam, flualprazolam, flubromazolam and bromazolam analysis.
There was a sudden surge in bromazolam-related deaths, with 44 fatalities documented in 2023, contrasting with relatively fewer deaths related to other NBDs. Bromazolam fatalities frequently involved co-ingestion with opioids, primarily fentanyl, and stimulants such as methamphetamine and cocaine. Demographic characteristics indicated a predominance of males, with a significant proportion lacking fixed addresses. Blood concentrations of bromazolam increased during the study period, suggesting heightened availability and/or purity in the community.
There was a surge in bromazolam-related deaths during 2023 in San Francisco, CA, USA, contrasting with relatively stable numbers of deaths associated with other NBDs over the preceding years. The findings underscore the urgency for enhanced death investigation, testing and reporting to facilitate targeted harm reduction strategies for individuals at risk of bromazolam-related morbidity and mortality.
Endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) are ubiquitous in the environment, and human exposure to these pollutants has caused great public concern. Five groups of EDCs, including parabens, ...antimicrobials (triclosan (TCS) and triclocarban (TCC)), bisphenols (BPs), tetrabromobisphenol A and its alternatives (TBBPAs), and benzophenones, in urines of general populations from three cities with different economic levels in China were determined simultaneously to evaluate the coexposure levels of such chemicals. The total concentration of target compounds was approximately two times higher in the urines from Chengdu (a first-tier city; geometric mean: 2.50 μg/L) than that from Nantong (a second-tier city; 1.34 μg/L), and was one order of magnitude higher than that from Shehong (a fifth-tier city; 0.73 μg/L). Urinary target compounds were significantly correlated with gender, age, body mass index (BMI), education level, occupation, and diet. The estimated daily intakes of target chemicals ranged from 0.002 (benzophenones) to 10.2 µg/kg-bw/day (parabens). The exposure estimate showed that females were more vulnerable to exposure to these EDCs. This study profiles the regional and demographic-related differences in the concentrations and exposure risks of several typical EDCs in urines from general populations in three cities with different economic levels in China.
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•Several typical EDCs were ubiquitous in human urines from three cities in China.•The economic level of cities influenced human exposure to such EDCs.•Urinary EDCs were correlated with gender, age, and BMI in the general population.•Females are at higher risk of exposure to these EDCs than males.
With increasingly prevalence of distributed renewable energy sources, Peer-to-Peer (P2P) energy trading has become an active research direction. This study explores the role of the participants’ ...Socio-Demographic Characteristics (SDCs) in the decision-making process P2P energy trading by proposing a personalized P2P energy trading system. The system periodically collects the participants’ bids and pair energy sellers and buyers to form transactions. An attention-based SDC inference system is developed, which identifies a participant’s SDCs from the on-site historical smart meter readings. Followed by this, the system analyzes the importance of energy buyers’ demands based on their SDCs, and an alternative current network constrained P2P energy market clearing model is formulated to maximize the participant population’s social warfare by considering their energy demand importance and economic benefits. Simulations based on real-world datasets are conducted to validate the proposed system.
•To propose a new Socio-Demographic Characteristic Inference (SDCI) system, which enables the market operator to understand the participants’ social-demographic characteristics from the power consumption data collected by smart meters deployed in the participants’ sites.•To propose a new P2P energy trading system, which periodically performs market clearing to form energy trading transactions by considering the participants’ socio-demographic characteristics.•A market clearing model is established for maximizing the social welfare of the participants while satisfying the Alternative Current (AC) constraints of the underlying power distribution network.
Research on commercial activities and their spatial structure is an important topic in urban geography and economic geography. As an online-to-offline business activity, takeout ordering is an ...important approach for urban residents to solve their catering needs. It can well reflect the working and living conditions of the population and is a source for studying urban life. Based on the takeout data in the city of Hangzhou, China, this study uses the customers' detailed order information to extract three dietary taste patterns: spicy, sweet, and light. We then combine the dietary taste patterns with points of interest and land use data to identify the location attributes of order destination and explore the temporal and spatial distribution characteristics of dietary taste patterns. The results show differences in dietary behavior of people at the community scale, and help us understand the local culture and socio-demographic characteristics from the perspective of diet. Dietary taste pattern is closely related to timing and location, which reflects differences in consumption tendencies, and socio-demographic heterogeneity. This research helps to present the dietary characteristics of different population groups and their spatial distribution, and supplements the content of urban research on foodscape.
•Extracts three dietary patterns of Hangzhou people based on take-out order data•Links dietary habits to socio-demographic heterogeneity and sense of place•Utilizes a new type of big data from the food delivery industry into urban analytics on foodscape research and planning
The aim of the present study was to examine prevalence, characteristics and health outcomes among young adults (18 to 25 years) who provide informal care to family members or others with physical or ...mental illnesses, substance misuse or disabilities.
The sample was obtained from a national survey in Norway from 2018 among students in higher education (the SHoT2018-study). The current sample comprise 40,205 participants, 70.2% women, mean age 22 years (
= 1.7).
Participants answered questions on care responsibilities, mental health problems (The Hopkins Symptoms Checklist-25), insomnia (sleep questionnaire), somatic health (Somatic Symptom Scale-8), and life satisfaction (Satisfaction With Life Scale).
5.5% of the respondents reported having care responsibilities. Caring was associated with being female, single, having divorced parents, being an immigrant, and having financial difficulties. More mental health problems, insomnia, somatic symptoms, and lower life satisfaction were found among respondents with care responsibilities. Number of hours of caring was associated with negative health outcomes in a dose-response pattern.
Professionals within health care, social services and the educational system should be sensitized to the needs of young adults with care responsibilities for family members or others with illness, substance misuse, or disabilities. The negative health problems among these young adult carers (YACs) should be acknowledged, and adequate support made available.
The Evolution and Future of Diversity at Work Roberson, Quinetta; Ryan, Ann Marie; Ragins, Belle Rose
Journal of applied psychology,
03/2017, Letnik:
102, Številka:
3
Journal Article
Recenzirano
This article examines the evolution of diversity in the Journal of Applied Psychology. To begin, we explore foundations of the concept of diversity, including its appearance in both applied contexts ...and the scholarly literature. We then review the literature on diversity, including the development of its conceptualization and operationalizations over time, in the Journal and in the field of applied psychological science at large. We also examine the processes underlying the effects of diversity, and specific outcomes of diversity in organizations. To conclude, we offer a future research agenda that highlights diversity-related topics and issues important for advancing an understanding of diversity and moving the field forward, especially within the Journal. This work makes several contributions to research on diversity in organizations. First, we provide a lens for examining change in the study of diversity over time as well as a critical examination of the benefits and challenges associated with these changes. Second, we review the underlying mechanisms and key contextual influences on diversity effects in organizations. Third, our review examines the explanatory power of current diversity research and then uses this to develop a research agenda. By organizing the broad body of literature that exists on diversity, our article offers a sharp picture of what gaps in knowledge exist and where future research should focus.
Previous studies tend to not only assess principals’ demographic variables but also use other dependent variables, such as administrative effectiveness, job performance, and student achievement. In ...the literature, principals’ demographic qualities and the misuse of material capital have been under-assessed. This study used a quantitative approach to investigate the demographic attributes of principals and the abuse of school material capital in secondary schools. Using a questionnaire, data were gathered from 667 secondary school administrators in Cross River State, Nigeria. The findings revealed significant differences in the misuse of school material capital by principals of different ages, professional qualifications, and years of experience. However, major disparities between male and female principals were not identified. More specifically, principals who were older, seasoned, and possessed bachelor’s and Master of Education degrees were efficient managers of school material capital. A high rate of misuse was found among principals who were younger and inexperienced than their counterparts who were young, less experienced, and possessed a postgraduate diploma in education, as well as other professional academic qualifications unrelated to the field of education (e.g., HND, BSc, BA, and MSc). Based on these findings, key implications for quality service delivery and administrative effectiveness were discussed.
The aim of this research is to evaluate the demographic attributes and clinical manifestations of uveitis in adult patients frequenting the Mansoura Ophthalmic Center.
Utilizing a cross-sectional, ...prospective, analytical study design, this research engaged adult patients visiting the outpatient uveitis clinic at the Mansoura Ophthalmic Center. Comprehensive case evaluations involved collecting detailed patient histories, examining ophthalmic records, and conducting thorough ocular examinations. These examinations encompassed the assessment of visual acuity, slit-lamp examination, and fundus examination. Furthermore, selected cases underwent optical coherence tomography (OCT) and fundus fluorescein angiography (FFA).
The Study involved an examination of 411 eyes belonging to 254 uveitic patients. In the Egyptian context, anterior uveitis surfaced as the most prevalent form of uveitis. The average Best-Corrected Visual Acuity (BCVA) among the cases studied was 0.797 ± 0.77 LogMAR, with the majority of cases demonstrating vision superior to 0.3 LogMAR. Notably, the principal causes of vision loss were generally reversible. Macular edema was identified as the leading cause of vision loss, representing 20.7% of cases as evidenced by OCT. The ratio of non-infectious to infectious uveitis stood at 92.2% to 7.8%. The most commonly observed etiologies of non-infectious uveitis included Behçet's disease (33.3%), Vogt-Koyanagi-Harada (VKH) syndrome (19.7%), idiopathic causes (19.2%), and ankylosing spondylitis (AS) (11.9%). Conversely, the most frequent infectious etiologies were trematode-induced uveitis (2.9%), herpetic uveitis (1.7%), toxoplasmosis (1.5%), tuberculosis (TB) (1.5%), and brucellosis (0.2%).
This study conclusively indicates that anterior uveitis is the predominant anatomical type of uveitis in Egypt. Further, etiological diagnoses of uveitis should particularly emphasize Behçet's disease, VKH syndrome, and ankylosing spondylitis.
Over a century of research has focused on the relationship between student characteristics and academic dishonesty. Here we conduct a meta-analysis of this extensive literature across three broad ...domains: personality, academic attitudes, and historical information including demographic and prior accomplishments. After analyzing correlations from over 27,000 participants across 75 samples, several relationships stand out. Although measures of conscientiousness (ρ¯ = −.25) and agreeableness (ρ¯ = −.13) from the popular five-factor model demonstrate important relationships with dishonesty, equal or greater effects were found for specific personality scales including impulsivity (ρ¯ = .39) and psychopathy (ρ¯ = .40). Both morality (ρ¯ = −.24) and academic self-efficacy (ρ¯ = −.28) were related to less dishonest behavior but demonstrated substantially smaller effects than measures of neutralization (ρ¯ = .43), a tendency to justify and deflect immoral behavior as reasonable given the circumstances. Hypotheses were developed and results are framed by two competing models of academic dishonesty.
Public Significance Statement
This study examined how the personality, values, and demographic characteristics of students are related to engaging in academically dishonest behaviors during college. Many characteristics are related to academic dishonesty with the impulsivity, morality, and a tendency to justify inappropriate behavior as being understandable demonstrating the largest reliable effects.
Electric vehicles are considered to be one of the most important ways for China to solve a series of energy problems such as urban smog, energy supply security and turning to green development. With ...the powerful support provided by the government, China has become the world's largest electric vehicle market and continues to maintain a high-speed growth. This paper examines the factors that may affect the public's purchasing intention of electric vehicles via a survey. An electric vehicle purchasing intention model is proposed based on the literature review and the reality in China. The model takes into consideration a number of demographic characteristic factors and attitude factors. A survey was conducted in China's four largest cities which include: Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen. Based on the survey data, the paper examines the public's cognition of each influencing factor and analyses the impacts of these factors. The results reveal that attitude factors such as network externality, price acceptability, government subsidies, vehicle performance, environmental concerns, and demographic characteristics such as gender, age and marital status have significant impact on respondents’ willingness to purchase electric vehicles. The finding of this paper provides constructive advices to diverse stakeholders.
•Main factors that may affect the purchasing intention of EV are investigated.•An electric vehicle purchasing intention model is proposed.•A survey is conducted in four largest cities.•Valuable information and policy implication is proposed for the stakeholders.
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