A study of low birth weight infants in an urban community

The study concerns the problem of low birth weight as seen in a prospectively studied cohort from a South Delhi urban community covering 23,700 families and 1,19,799 population over a four year period from 1969-73. The incidence of low birth weight was 22.9 per cent of which 2.7 per cent had a birth weight of 2000 gms. or less and 20.2 per cent had a birth weight 2001-2500 gms. Maternal height of 140 cms or less and pregravid weight of 35 kg or less were associated with the occurrence of low birth weight infant. The mortality was related inversely to birth weight and the gestation affected the outcome directly. The mortality rates declined sharply in infants of birth weight 2001-2500 gms but was still high as compared to infants of birth weight more than 2.5 kg. The later physical growth was affected by the initial birth weight. The study was conducted under the research project 01-658-2 funded by the National Centre for Health Statistics, 3700 East West Highway, Hyattsville, Maryland-20782, U.S.A.     

秦朝速亡原因新论

秦朝成为短命王朝,并非千百年来史坛众口一词所认为的只是“酷刑”、“暴政”所致。秦速亡的根本原因是秦统一后不适时地一味推行准军事化的法治国策和统治方式。揭竿而起的陈胜吴广仅是秦速亡的纵火者,而集国仇家恨于一身的六国旧贵族的激烈反抗导致了秦王朝的迅速倾覆     

Daily rhythm of salivary IL-1ß, cortisol and melatonin in day and night workers

Shiftwork-induced sleep deprivation and circadian disruption probably leads to an increase in the production of cytokines and dysregulation of innate immune system, respectively. This project aims evaluating changes in salivary IL-1 beta, cortisol, and melatonin in night workers. Method. Two day and three night healthy workers participated in this study. Sleep was evaluated by actimetry and activity protocols. Saliva was collected at waking and bedtime the last workday and the following two days-off and was analyzed by ELISA. Results. Neither sleep duration nor efficiency showed any association with salivary IL-1beta. IL-1beta levels were higher at waking than at bedtime during working days for all workers, but only one day and one night-worker maintained this pattern and hormone rhythms during days off. For this night worker, melatonin levels were shifted to daytime. A second one presented clear alterations in IL-1beta and hormone rhythms on days-off. Conclusions. Our preliminary results suggest that night work can disturb the variation pattern of salivary IL-1beta. No association of this variation with sleep was observed. It seems that disruption in hormone rhythms interfere with salivary IL-1beta production. IL- 1beta production pattern seems to be maintained when rhythms are present, in spite of a shift in melatonin secretion.     

论徐訏小说中的寻梦情结

寻梦是徐讠于人格力量和诗学宇宙的母题。对梦的追求经历着人生探索的两个境界。在对经验世界中的理想的社会和人性探索走向幻灭后,便转而从超验世界来透视人生的本相和真谛,由此升华出宗教救赎意识     

试论比例原则及其在我国行政诉讼中的适用

比例原则是德国首创的行政法原则,有不少国家予以运用。它包括适当性原则、必要性原则和相称性原则。该原则的价值在于从权利的基本性质和法治国的实质精神出发,对行政权进行有效控制,体现出法的正义。在我国行政诉讼中将其作为司法审查的标准,可以缩小法官自由裁量的空间,提高审判的可操作性和司法权威性,有助于我国行政法治的发展。     

Cortisol on Sunday as indicator of recovery from work: Prediction by observer ratings of job demands and control

Several considerations guided the research reported in this paper. First, recovery is pivotal for preventing stressful experiences from inducing long-term consequences. Second, cortisol levels under relaxed conditions constitute a good baseline measure. Third, there are many calls to avoid common method problems. Therefore, the Job Demands–Control (JDS) model, one of the most prominent models in occupational stress, should be tested by a combination of observation, self-report, and physiological data in terms of predicting recovery-related variables. In a sample of 53 Swiss employees, we assessed the JDS variables, demands and control, by systematic observation, fatigue at the end of work as an indicator of short-term recovery by questionnaire, and delayed recovery by baseline levels of cortisol on a Sunday under relaxing conditions. In line with expectations, regression analyses showed an impact of job demands and control on Sunday cortisol levels, and this effect was fully mediated by after work fatigue. Contrary to expectations, there was no significant interaction between job demands and control. Demonstrating that job demands and control predict after-work fatigue as well as a delayed physiological marker of recovery, these findings suggest that high after-work fatigue may entail costs to the individual’s physiological systems.     

Quantitative Assessment of the Risk of Release of Foot‐and‐Mouth Disease Virus via Export of Bull Semen from Israel

Various foot‐and‐mouth disease (FMD) virus strains circulate in the Middle East, causing frequent episodes of FMD outbreaks among Israeli livestock. Since the virus is highly resistant in semen, artificial insemination with contaminated bull semen may lead to the infection of the receiver cow. As a non‐FMD‐free country with vaccination, Israel is currently engaged in trading bull semen only with countries of the same status. The purpose of this study was to assess the risk of release of FMD virus through export of bull semen in order to estimate the risk for FMD‐free countries considering purchasing Israeli bull semen. A stochastic risk assessment model was used to estimate this risk, defined as the annual likelihood of exporting at least one ejaculate of bull semen contaminated with viable FMD virus. A total of 45 scenarios were assessed to account for uncertainty and variability around specific parameter estimates and to evaluate the effect of various mitigation measures, such as performing a preexport test on semen ejaculates. Under the most plausible scenario, the annual likelihood of exporting bull semen contaminated with FMD virus had a median of 1.3 * 10^?7 for an export of 100 ejaculates per year. This corresponds to one infected ejaculate exported every 7 million years. Under the worst‐case scenario, the median of the risk rose to 7.9 * 10^?5, which is equivalent to the export of one infected ejaculate every 12,000 years. Sensitivity analysis indicated that the most influential parameter is the probability of viral excretion in infected bulls.     

Path analysis and determining the distribution of indirect effects via simulation

The difference between a path analysis and the other multivariate analyses is that the path analysis has the ability to compute the indirect effects apart from the direct effects. The aim of this study is to investigate the distribution of indirect effects that is one of the components of path analysis via generated data. To realize this, a simulation study has been conducted with four different sample sizes, three different numbers of explanatory variables and with three different correlation matrices. A replication of 1000 has been applied for every single combination. According to the results obtained, it is found that irrespective of the sample size path coefficients tend to be stable. Moreover, path coefficients are not affected by correlation types either. Since the replication number is 1000, which is fairly large, the indirect effects from the path models have been treated as normal and their confidence intervals have been presented as well. It is also found that the path analysis should not be used with three explanatory variables. We think that this study would help scientists who are working in both natural and social sciences to determine sample size and different number of variables in the path analysis.