Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Health Among Employees at Large Firms.

Objectives: To determine whether race/ethnic disparities in the prevalence of chronic health conditions exist among an employed population.

Methods: We measured racial and ethnic differences in health across a national sample of workers in 46 large US businesses. We examined 15 chronic conditions for six ethnic/racial groups: African American, Hispanic, white, Asian/Pacific Islander, Native American, and Two or More Races.

Midinfrared broadband achromatic astronomical beam combiner for nulling interferometry.

Integrated optic beam combiners offer many advantages over conventional bulk optic implementations for astronomical imaging. To our knowledge, integrated optic beam combiners have only been demonstrated at operating wavelengths below 4 μm. Operation in the midinfrared wavelength region, however, is highly desirable.

Measuring changes in lipid and blood glucose values in the health and wellness program of Prudential Financial, Inc.

Objective: To determine the effect of health promotion programs of Prudential Financial, Inc on biometric measures of blood lipids and glucose.

Methods: Using actual biometric and self-reported measures of blood lipids and glucose values for the employees of Prudential Financial, Inc, we examined 1) the extent to which self-reported lipid and blood glucose values correlate to laboratory data, 2) whether self-reported and measured lipid values differ for physically active and sedentary employees, and 3) whether participation in a disease management program affects employees' lipid measures.

Results: We found significant differences in self-reported and measured total cholesterol and low-density lipoprotein values, although these differences and those for all lipid and blood glucose values were not clinically meaningful.