Concomitant and antecedent deep venous thrombosis and cancer survival in male US veterans

Survival is reportedly worse in patients with cancer concurrently diagnosed with deep venous thrombosis. However, information on specific malignancies is limited. From a cohort study of male US veterans we identified incident cancer cases (n aEuroS== aEuroS412 008) and compared survival patterns among those with versus without a history of deep venous thrombosis. Using Cox proportional hazard models, we estimated hazard ratios (HRs) and 95%% confidence intervals as measures of the relative risk of dying. Individuals with (versus without) a concomitant deep venous thrombosis and cancer diagnosis had a higher risk of dying (HR aEuroS== aEuroS1.38; 1.28--1.49). The most prominent excess mortality (HR aEuroS== aEuroS1.29--2.55) was observed among patients diagnosed with deep venous thrombosis at the time of diagnosis of lung, gastric, prostate, bladder, or kidney cancer. Increased risk of dying was also found among cancer patients diagnosed with deep venous thrombosis 1 year (HR aEuroS== aEuroS1.14; 1.07--1.22), 1--5 years (HR aEuroS== aEuroS1.14; 1.10--1.19), and > 5 years (HR aEuroS== aEuroS1.27; 1.23--1.31) before cancer; this was true for most cancer sites (HR aEuroS== aEuroS1.17--1.64). In summary, antecedent deep venous thrombosis confers a worse prognosis upon cancer patients. Advanced stage at diagnosis, treatment effects, lifestyle factors, and comorbidity could explain differences by cancer site and time frame between a prior deep venous thrombosis diagnosis and cancer outcome.

Military Service Pensions for Veterans of the Irish Revolution, 1916–1923

In 1924 the Irish Free State government passed legislation to award pensions to veterans of the Irish revolution and Civil War. This article argues that the motivation for the pensions was the need to placate the national army after a failed mutiny in 1924 and that this explains their unusual nature in being based on service alone rather than disability. It will also explore the problems this created for defining service, examine the extension of eligibility to former republican enemies of the state and women revolutionaries in 1934, and describe the application and assessment procedure.

Apolipoprotein-defined and NMR lipoprotein subclasses in the veterans affairs diabetes trial

The VADT was a randomized clinical trial designed to assess the effect of intensive vs. standard glucose management on cardiovascular events in Type 2 diabetes. At the end of the study, intensive management failed to improve outcomes. We performed plasma lipoprotein subclass analyses to yield new information on the effects of study randomization on cardiovascular risk.

Financial reintegration assistance for veterans of the Irish revolution (1916-23): post-conflict policy in an historical setting

In the aftermath of the Irish revolution and Civil War the governments of independent Ireland introduced various compensation schemes to provide financial reintegration assistance to revolutionary veterans. This would be recognised today as part of a programme for DDR. This paper will examine various service and disability pensions paid to veterans in the context of literature on post-conflict reintegration. It will examine various challenges to reintegration in an effort to analyse the success of revolutionary compensation as a post-conflict reintegration mechanism in independent Ireland after 1922.

Inland shell midden site-formation:Investigation into a late Pleistocene to early Holocene midden from Trang An, Northern Vietnam

Over the course of the past two decades there has been growing research interest in the site formation processes of shell middens. This stands along-side and is being used to inform cultural, dietary and palaeo-environmental reconstructions. Just as midden site formation processes have turned out to be many and varied, however, the kinds of shell-bearing sites that past human communities created are likely to have been no less diverse. Subsuming such sites under a single category - shell middens - normalises that variation and may lead to the misinterpretation of site function. The greater part of research in this field also continues to focus on coastal shell middens; comparatively little attention has been paid to middens containing freshwater and especially terrestrial molluscs from hinterland locations. As a result, much of the current understanding about shell-midden sites carries a spatial as well as a functional bias. This paper hopes to contribute towards discussion on both fronts. It presents a detailed examination of the formation processes that went into the creation of a land snail-dominated late- to post-glacial midden from northern Vietnam, and considers the role that it may have played in the early settlement of this area. The data presented comes from ongoing archaeological excavations at Hang Boi, a cave located in the sub-coastal karstic uplands of Trang An park, in the Vietnamese Province of Ninh Binh. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd and INQUA. All rights reserved.

Cataract surgical outcomes, visual function and quality of life in four rural districts in Vietnam.

BACKGROUND: To evaluate cataract surgical outcomes in four rural districts of Ha Tinh Province, Vietnam. DESIGN: Cross-sectional study. PARTICIPANTS: Post-cataract surgery patients sampled randomly from facilities in four rural districts of Ha Tinh Province >3 months after surgery. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Postoperative visual acuity (VA), visual function and quality of life. RESULTS: Among 412 patients, the mean age was 74.5 ± 9.4 years, 67% (276) were female, and 377 (91.5%) received intraocular lenses (IOL). Nearly two-thirds of patients had no postoperative visits after discharge. Postoperatively, more than 40% of eyes had presenting VA <6/18, while 20% remained <6/60. The mean self-reported visual function and quality of life for all patients were 68.7 ± 23.8 and 73.8 ± 21.6, respectively. Most patients (89.5%) were satisfied with surgery and the majority (94.4%) would recommend surgery to others. One-third of patients paid ≥$US50 for surgery. In multiple regression modelling, older age (P < 0.01), intraoperative complications (P < 0.01) and failure to receive an IOL (P < 0.01) were associated with postoperative VA <6/60. CONCLUSION: Satisfaction with surgery was high, and many patients were willing to pay for their operations. Poor visual outcomes were common; however, and better surgical training is needed to reduce complications and their impact on visual outcomes. More intensive postoperative follow-up may also be beneficial. © 2011 The Authors. Clinical and Experimental Ophthalmology © 2011 Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Ophthalmologists.

Tropical limestone forest resilience and late Pleistocene foraging during MIS-2 in the Tràng An massif, Vietnam

In this paper we present a multi-proxy study of tropical limestone forest and its utilization by human groups during the major climatic and environmental upheavals of MIS-2 (29-11.7 kBP). Our data are drawn from new field research within the Tràng An World Heritage property on the edge of the Red River Delta, northern Vietnam. Key findings from this study include 1) that limestone forest formations were resilient to the large-scale landscape transformation of the Sunda continent at the end of the last glaciation; 2) that prehistoric human groups were probably present in this habitat through-out MIS-2; and 3) that the forested, insular, karst of Tràng An provided foragers with a stable resource-base in a wider changing landscape. These results have implications for our understanding of the prehistoric utilization of karst environments, and resonance for their conservation in the face of climate and environmental change today.

No Sense of an Ending: Researching the Experience of Imprisonment and Release upon Republican Ex-Prisoners

This article describes an interview-based study of the effects of long-term imprisonment upon 18 Republican ex-prisoners and their families. The interviews followed a biographical, narrative format, drawing from experience of psychiatric assessment of released long-term prisoners. Interpretation of the material was influenced by the sociological literature on imprisonment effects and war trauma. The ex-prisoners had spent an average of 11 years in custody. They described complex experiences of loss, psychological change and social integration, particularly in the area of employment. A decade after release some still had vivid difficulties in coming to terms with the losses of the past and finding purpose for the future. There were parallels between the experiences of this goup and those of war veterans returning home. There is insufficient recognition of these phenomena in previous research on the psychological effects of imprisonment.