Occupational exposure and new-onset asthma in the population-based Telemark study: a 5-year follow-up.

Objectives: This study aimed to estimate the incidence of asthma and assess the association between job exposure matrix (N-JEM) assigned occupational exposure, self-reported occupational exposure to vapour, gas, dust and fumes (VGDF), mould, damages from moisture and cold, and new-onset asthma. We also aimed to assess the corresponding population attributable fraction (PAF) for ever exposure to VGDF.

Design: Longitudinal population-based respiratory health study.

Loss to 5-year follow-up in the population-based Telemark Study: risk factors and potential for bias.

Objectives: This study aimed to characterise participants lost to follow-up and identify possible factors associated with non-participation in a prospective population-based study of respiratory health in Norway. We also aimed to analyse the impact of potentially biased risk estimates associated with a high proportion of non-responders.

Design: Prospective 5-year follow-up study.

Outcomes That Matter to Adolescents With Continuous Headache Due to Chronic Migraine and Their Parents: A Pilot Survey Study.

Background And Objectives: Children and adolescents with chronic migraine who have continuous headache may have high levels of headache-related disability but have largely been excluded from clinical trials. Understanding patient-valued treatment outcomes may facilitate future study design. The aim of this work was to identify patient-valued outcome measures for headache preventive treatments among adolescents with continuous headache due to chronic migraine and their parents.

Excessive Daytime Sleepiness and Associated Factors in Military Search and Rescue Personnel.

Abnormal excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS) has been reported worldwide, but too little is known about EDS and its determinants in Search and Rescue (SAR) populations. We aimed to determine the prevalence of abnormal EDS and contributing factors among Royal Norwegian Air Force (RNoAF) SAR helicopter personnel. In this cross-sectional study, a total of = 175 RNoAF SAR personnel completed an electronic survey including socio-demographic and lifestyle questions.

Adsorption of a diverse range of pharmaceuticals to polyethylene microplastics in wastewater and their desorption in environmental matrices.

It is proposed that microplastics discharged from wastewater treatment plants act as a vector of pharmaceuticals. In this study, adsorption of pharmaceuticals to polyethylene microplastics was investigated in municipal wastewater. Pharmaceuticals for study were selected to represent different speciation (anionic, cationic, and neutral) and a range of pH dependant octanol-water distribution coefficients (log D).

Polyamide microplastics in wastewater as vectors of cationic pharmaceutical drugs.

Reported here is the first study to investigate the adsorption of pharmaceutical drugs to microplastics in wastewater. Wastewater is an environmental source of microplastics and pharmaceuticals, which is discharged as treated effluent or combined sewer overflows. In this study, adsorption of cationic pharmaceuticals, with a range of octanol-water distribution coefficients, to polyamide (Nylon 12) microplastics was investigated in real wastewater samples.

Who is more likely to return for TB test results? A survey at three high-burden primary healthcare facilities in Cape Town, South Africa.

Background: In low- and middle-income countries with a high burden of tuberculosis (TB), a large proportion of people who are tested for TB do not return to the health facility to collect their test results and initiate treatment, thus putting themselves at increased risk of adverse outcomes.

Methods: This prospective study aimed to identify predictors of returning to the primary health care (PHC) facility to collect TB test results. From 15 August to 15 December 2017, 1105 people who tested for pulmonary TB at three Cape Town PHC facilities were surveyed.

Optimal Use of Physical Centric Relation Records for Digital Workflows.

Correctly articulated dental casts are essential for certain dental treatment. Articulation can be traditional: using a physical articulator; digital: using a physical articulator followed by 3D scanning, or virtual: using 3D scanning and software to articulate scans without initial physical articulation. This study compared the precision of traditional articulation, using physical centric relation records and an articulator and virtually, by digitally aligning scans of the casts and record.

Factors Associated With, and Mitigation Strategies for, Health Care Disparities Faced by Patients With Headache Disorders.

Objective: To review contemporary issues of health care disparities in headache medicine with regard to race/ethnicity, socioeconomic status (SES), and geography and propose solutions for addressing these disparities.

Methods: An Internet and PubMed search was performed and literature was reviewed for key concepts underpinning disparities in headache medicine. Content was refined to areas most salient to our goal of informing the provision of equitable care in headache treatment through discussions with a group of 16 experts from a range of headache subspecialties.

The Case Against Labor-Tax-Financed Social Health Insurance For Low- And Low-Middle-Income Countries.

An increasing interest in initiating and expanding social health insurance through labor taxes in low- and low-middle-income countries goes against available empirical evidence. This article builds on existing recommendations by leading health financing experts and summarizes recent research that makes the case against labor-tax financing of health care in low- and low-middle-income countries. We found very little evidence to justify the pursuit of labor-tax financing for health care in these countries and persistent evidence that such policies could lead to increased inequality and fragmentation of the health system.

TimeSets: Temporal Sensemaking in Intelligence Analysis.

TimeSets is a temporal data visualization technique designed to reveal insights into event sets, such as all the events linked to one person or organization. In this article, we describe two TimeSets-based visual analytics tools for intelligence analysis. In the first case, TimeSets is integrated with other visual analytics tools to support open-source intelligence analysis with Twitter data, particularly the challenge of finding the right questions to ask.

A comprehensive assessment of universal health coverage in 111 countries: a retrospective observational study.

Background: The goal of universal health coverage (UHC) requires that everyone receive needed health services, and that families who get needed services do not suffer undue financial hardship. Tracking progress towards UHC requires measurement of both these dimensions, and a way of trading them off against one another.

Methods: We measured service coverage by a weighted geometric average of four prevention indicators (antenatal care, full immunisation, and screening for breast and cervical cancers) and four treatment indicators (skilled birth attendance, inpatient admission, and treatment for acute respiratory infection and diarrhoea), financial protection by the incidence of catastrophic health expenditures (those exceeding 10% of household consumption or income), and a country's UHC performance as a geometric average of the service coverage index and the complement of the incidence of catastrophic expenditures.

Cardiac Autonomic Activity in Commercial Aircrew During an Actual Flight Duty Period.

The work schedules of airline crewmembers include extended workdays, compressed work periods, and limited time for recovery, which may lead to cardiovascular strain and fatigue. The aim of this study was to evaluate changes in heart rate variability (HRV) during work and sleep, and with respect to work characteristics and breaks. We followed 49 airline crewmembers during four consecutive workdays of ≥39 h.

SMS nudges as a tool to reduce tuberculosis treatment delay and pretreatment loss to follow-up. A randomized controlled trial.

Background: TB persists despite being relatively easy to detect and cure because the journey from the onset of symptoms to cure involves a series of steps, with patients being lost to follow-up at each stage and delays occurring among patients not lost to follow-up. One cause of drop-off and delay occurs when patients delay or avoid returning to clinic to get their test results and start treatment.

Methods: We fielded two SMS interventions in three Cape Town clinics to see their effects on whether people returned to clinic, and how quickly.

Risk of Fatigue Among Airline Crew During 4 Consecutive Days of Flight Duty.

Airline crew are being exposed to extended workdays and compressed work periods, with quick returns between duties, implying a heightened physiological and psychological strain that may lead to sleep deprivation and fatigue. The aim of the study was assessment of the effect of an extended day of flight duty and a compressed work week with regard to recovery, cumulative fatigue, and neurobehavioral performance. We followed 18 pilots and 41 cabin crewmembers during four consecutive days of flight duty, comprising a total of ≥ 39 h, where the first day was ≥ 10 h.

The aggregate income losses from childhood stunting and the returns to a nutrition intervention aimed at reducing stunting.

We undertake two calculations, one for all developing countries, the other for 34 developing countries that together account for 90% of the world's stunted children. The first asks how much lower a country's per capita income is today as a result of having a fraction of its workforce been stunted in childhood. We use a development accounting framework, relying on micro-econometric estimates of the effects of childhood stunting on adult wages through their effects on years of schooling, cognitive skills, and height, parsing out the relative contribution of each set of returns to avoid double counting.

Measuring catastrophic medical expenditures: Reflections on three issues.

In the "basic" approach, medical expenses are catastrophic if they exceed a prespecified percentage of consumption or income; the approach tells us if expenses cause a large percentage reduction in living standards. The ability-to-pay (ATP) approach defines expenses as catastrophic if they exceed a prespecified percentage of consumption less expenses on nonmedical necessities or an allowance for them. The paper argues that the ATP approach does not tell us whether expenses are large enough to undermine a household's ability to purchase nonmedical necessities.

Diversity in randomized clinical trials of depression: A 36-year review.

Historically, authors reporting the results of randomized clinical trials (RCTs) to address mental health problems have insufficiently described sample characteristics pertaining to the ethnic/racial, linguistic, socioeconomic, and immigrant backgrounds of participants. RCTs have also had inadequate representation of participants from diverse backgrounds. This study reports on the trends in the reporting and representation of various sample demographic characteristics in RCTs of psychotherapy and other psychosocial interventions for depression over a 36-year period, and on the extent to which ethnicity, in particular, is considered in the analyses of treatment effects.

Progress on catastrophic health spending in 133 countries: a retrospective observational study.

Background: The goal of universal health coverage (UHC) requires inter alia that families who get needed health care do not suffer undue financial hardship as a result. This can be measured by the percentage of people in households whose out-of-pocket health expenditures are large relative to their income or consumption. We aimed to estimate the global incidence of catastrophic health spending, trends between 2000 and 2010, and associations between catastrophic health spending and macroeconomic and health system variables at the country level.

Progress on impoverishing health spending in 122 countries: a retrospective observational study.

Background: The goal of universal health coverage (UHC) requires that families who get needed health care do not suffer financial hardship as a result. This can be measured by instances of impoverishment, when a household's consumption including out-of-pocket spending on health is more than the poverty line but its consumption, excluding out-of-pocket spending, is less than the poverty line. This links UHC directly to the policy goal of reducing poverty.

Fluctuations in heart rate variability of health care workers during four consecutive extended work shifts and recovery during rest and sleep.

The aim of this study was to investigate fluctuations in heart rate variability (HRV), which reflect autonomic nervous system (ANS) function and potential psychological and physical strain, among 24 health care workers during work and sleep during four consecutive extended work shifts. Data included 24/36/12 h of HRV measurements, two logbooks, and a questionnaire. A cross-shift/cross-week design was applied.

Readability of New Aviation Chart Symbology in Day and NVG Reading Conditions.

Background: The Swedish Air Force (SwAF) conducted a study in 2010 to harmonize portrayal of aeronautical info (AI) on SwAF charts with NATO standards. A mismatch was found concerning vertical obstructions (VO). Norway regarded Sweden's existing symbology as a way to solve the problem of overcrowded air charts and the two countries started to cooperate.

Student life - Prospect of police interview daunted me, but was my duty.

I was involved in an investigation of the death of a patient following a medication error.