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BackgroundTrends in occupational disease incidence are estimated in voluntary reporting schemes such as The Health and Occupational Reporting (THOR) Network in the UK. Voluntary reporting schemes request responses even if no cases are observed to reduce uncertainty in non-response. This may result in false zeros that bias trends estimates. Analysis using zero-inflated models is unsuitable for specific health outcomes due to overestimates of the excess zeros. Here, we attempt to account for excess zeros while investigating condition-specific trends.MethodsZero-inflated negative binomial (ZINB) models were fitted to three THOR work-related ill health surveillance schemes Occupational Skin Disease Surveillance (437 reporters between 1996 and 2019), Occupational Physicians Reporting Activity (1094 between 1996 and 2019) and Surveillance of Work-Related and Occupational Respiratory Disease (878 between 1999 and 2019). The probability associated with a response being a false zero was estimated and applied in weighted negative binomial (wgt-NB) models fitted to specific ill-heath conditions. Three ill-health conditions from the three THOR schemes were considered; contact dermatitis, musculoskeletal and asthma, respectively.ResultsWgt-NB models approximately estimated the incidence rate ratios reported by the ZINB models (eg, EPIDERM; ZINB=0.969, NB=0.963, wgt-NB=0.968) for all health outcome annual trends. This was consistent for specific health outcomes which also tended towards the null (eg, contact dermatitis; NB=0.964, wgt-NB=0.969), indicating potentially overestimated downward trends. Though as the ratio of excess zeros to true zeros decreased in rarer health outcomes, the influence on trends also decreased.ConclusionsThrough weighting, we were able to adjust for excess zeros in health outcome-specific trends estimates. Though uncertainty is still present in underlying reporter behaviour meaning caution should be applied with interpretation of any results.

Women engage in a variety of beauty practices, or “beauty work,” to enhance their physical appearance, such as applying cosmetics, tanning, or exercising. Although the rewards of physical attractiveness are well documented, perceptions of both the women who engage in efforts to enhance their appearance and the high-effort beauty products marketed to them are not well understood. Across seven studies, we demonstrate that consumers judge women who engage in certain types of extensive beauty work as possessing poorer moral character. These judgments occur only for effortful beauty work perceived as transformative (significantly altering appearance) and transient (lasting a relatively short time), such that they emerge within cosmetics and tanning, yet not skincare or exercise. This effect is mediated by the perception that putting high effort into one’s appearance signals a willingness to misrepresent one’s true self, and translates into lower purchase intentions for higher-effort cosmetics. We identify several boundary conditions, including the attractiveness of the woman performing the beauty work and whether the effort is attributed to external norms or causes. In examining how beauty work elicits moral judgments, we also shed light on why effortful cosmetic use is viewed negatively, yet effortful products continue to be commercially successful.

It was believed that Type 2 diabetes (DM2) was a progressive condition, with gradual decrease in beta-cell function. Data from the United Kingdom Prospective Study indicate that approximately only 50% beta-cell function remains at the time of diagnosis which decreases to 30% within 6 years. 1 This reduction in betacell function is associated with treatment intensification including additional oral hypoglycaemic agents and ultimately insulin. 1 Due to the decrease in beta-cell function, the first phase insulin response (insulin secretion within the first 10 minutes after eating) is believed to be permanently lost in people with Type 2 diabetes. 2,3 Lim et al. (2011) challenged this view when the first phase insulin secretion normalised following a very low calorie diet (VLCD) (less than 600 kcal) for 8 weeks. 4 Subsequently, glycaemic control normalized and DM2 was in remission. It is not surprising that this study led researchers to question if DM2 could be reversed 3 and sparked mass interest in these diets from people living with DM2. 5

Introduction Youth empowerment programs have increasingly gained attention in public health as emphasis shifts on children and adolescents as decision makers in their health and well-being. Adolescence obesity is among the public health concerns that require more active engagement at individual and community level while empowering adolescents to take charge of their own health. This study examines the influence of youth empowerment on nutritional and physical activity factors associated with adolescence obesity. Methods Data were gathered through a self-administered survey among adolescents (N = 410) ages 11–15 years in three U.S. States - Kansas, Ohio and South Dakota. Results Findings show that youth empowerment significantly influences adolescents' self-efficacy, perceptions for healthy food choice, healthy eating, attitudes towards physical activity and the overall motivation for health. Gender differences exist in adolescents' self-efficacy for physical activity whereas ethnicity played a role in perceived youth empowerment and perceived barriers to healthy eating. Age was also a significant contributor in efficacy for healthy food choice and perception of healthy food availability. Conclusions This study suggests more focus on youth empowerment in interventions that seek to reduce obesity and improve adolescents' overall health by creating environments where they can play a more active decision-making role. With empowerment, adolescents are more likely to be motivated to adopt healthier dietary habits and engage more in physical activity. Further research would establish the impact of youth empowerment on obesity reduction and other public health problems that impact children across ages.

Networked systems for audio post-production provide solutions to several persistent problems in the cinema industry. By enabling remote collaboration between media professionals, networked computing increases efficiency and reduces costs. This practice creates a virtual organization in which media and media editing devices are tightly synchronized between remote locations. An experimental system meeting these needs is described. Two successful demonstrations of this system have taken place, in which media assets and control information were streamed between several locations using a secure managed network. The practicality and decreasing expense of this system have led many to predict its widespread adoption in the near future.

Pet presence (ownership) and attachment interview items were appended to a statewide telephone survey of more than 1,800 adults to obtain a demographic profile of pet presence and attachment in a Midwestern state in the United States. Pet presence in the adults' households increased from 54% for the 18–25 year-olds to 71% for the 36–45 year-olds and declined to 37% for those more than 65 years old. Pet presence was associated with larger families, rural residences, family income, and marital status. In contrast, companion animal bonding scores were higher for adults in smaller families, urban residents, divorced adults, and those who mentioned a dog first when asked about their pets.

Code-excited linear prediction (CELP) is one of the most commonly used approaches for speech compression. The CELP coder, in particular the ACELP coder, relies on extracting an appropriate excitation sequence that is passed through a long-term and short-term linear prediction filter to synthesize the speech. One limitation of the analysis-by-synthesis search methods employed in the ACELP coder is that the positions of the non-zero entries in the excitation sequence and their gains are limited. Increasing the richness of the excitation to improve the speech quality is not only accompanied by the usual increase in the bit rate but also by a significant increase in search complexity. We propose dealing with this scalability issue by using tools from the compressed sensing (CS) domain. An analysis by synthesis coder using a CS based excitation sequence framework is developed and the encoder is shown to scale gracefully with CS dimension and offers a mechanism for quality to bit rate trade off.

This author argues that youth sports can move beyond the dichotomy of cooperation versus competition by redefining competition. This can be accomplished by considering the development of cooperative skills and achievement motivation. The article addresses how cooperative skills can be taught within a competitive sport. First, it is important to understand how children and youth understand and process competition based on their developmental stage. Parents need to consider whether a child is mentally, emotionally, socially, and physically mature enough to participate in an organized sport. Readiness for a sport is just as important as readiness for school. Teaching cooperative skills within a competitive context involves a focus on personal development rather than performance. By asking themselves a series of developmental questions, such as, "Is the sport appropriate for the developmental age of the child?" parents and coaches can form realistic expectations of young athletes. Motivation is also a key determinant of a child's readiness for youth sports and competition. Children want to play a sport when they feel competent. It is up to parents and coaches to create a motivational climate that is focused on doing one's best and not on external rewards like winning. Children and youth receive specific and constructive feedback that focuses on improvement in this type of climate. The author also discusses three models of competition: the military model, the reward model, and the partnership model. The partnership model is the approach that balances competition in youth sports. The author concludes by introducing the "athletic square" model as an important and appropriate way to promote youth sports.

Changes after 2 years in a Head Start Family Service Center Demonstration Project were assessed through pre-implementation and postimplementation interviews with 80 parents of Head Start children to evaluate changes during the project noted for the children's parents. Compared with parents in regular Head Start, parents in the supplementary Family Service Center project reported more contact with staff, increased their functional literacy scores, and increased their family incomes. The percentage of these parents with high depression scores decreased. These changes encourage implementation of more intensive social services within Head Start programs as a means of effectively assisting Head Start parents.

The internal structure of the Center for Epidemiologic Studies–Depression Scale was examined within the context of a three-year longitudinal study of 80 low-income parents of young children. The baseline, first-year, and second-year follow-up home interviews included the scale. Principal components factor analyses with varimax rotation yielded six factors for the baseline data, and five factors for the follow-up data with different items loading on different factors each year suggesting some instability of the factors. Cronbach alpha estimates of the internal consistency of the original factors showed satisfactory values for Depressed Affect, Positive Affect, and possibly Somatic, but not for Interpersonal. However, alpha for the total score was very strong. Positive Affect and the total score also showed stability over the three administrations. These results question the use of the original factor scores for the CES–Depression as subscales but support the use of the total score as a measure of depression.

The didanosine Expanded Access Program was the largest AIDS treatment program to prospectively evaluate the safety of an antiretroviral agent among patients with advanced human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) disease in whom therapy with zidovudine was failing. A total of 21,198 patients who had infections refractory to zidovudine or who were intolerant of the drug received didanosine as a buffered powder for oral solution (sachet), with total daily doses of 6.6-10 mg/kg; the median CD4 lymphocyte count was 0.04 x 10(9)/L for this population. At the currently recommended dose (6.6-8.29 mg/[kg.d]), 6-month estimated rates of pancreatitis ranged from 1.2% for patients with AIDS-related complex (ARC) and CD4 lymphocyte counts of > or = 0.1 x 10(9)/L to 6.7% for patients with AIDS and CD4 lymphocyte counts of < 0.05 x 10(9)/L. Laboratory toxicities of World Health Organization grades 3 and 4 developed in fewer than 4% of patients entering the study with normal baseline values; the sole exception was leukopenia, which was documented in 8% of these patients. The results of this program demonstrated that patients with CD4 lymphocyte counts of < 0.10 x 10(9)/L or with a diagnosis of AIDS (defined by the 1987 classification system of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) were less tolerant of didanosine and significantly more likely to develop adverse clinical reactions and myelosuppression than other patients.