The out-of-sample performance of stochastic methods in forecasting age-specific mortality rates /

"July 2008."

The innocent vindicated from the falshoods & slanders of certain certificates sent from America on behalf of Samuell Jenings [microform] : and made publick by J.P. in Old England /

Master microform held by: Readex.

Peripheral circulation for low-cost central heating in old houses /

Cover title.

The frontier of loyalty : political exiles in the age of the nation-state /

Originally presented as the author's thesis (Ph. D.)--Yale.

In old Bohemia,

Mode of access: Internet.

The End of Everest? Reimagining Himalayan Adventure Travel in an Age of Unnatural Disasters

Himalayan adventure travel is a burgeoning industry in some mountainous regions of Nepal, India, and the Tibet Autonomous Region of the People‘s Republic of China. The development of a trekking and expedition mountaineering infrastructure has created economic opportunities in remote areas and allowed foreign visitors to embark on life-changing explorations. However, with the industry’s rapid, uneven, and largely unregulated growth have come environmental and resource challenges, the creation of new economic and social arrangements, and renewed questions of equity and safety. The current Himalayan adventure travel paradigm is unsustainable, and I argue that only a profound reimagining of sociopolitical relationships—those between the state, local and global civil society actors, and adventure travel practitioners and participants—will allow it to continue. A series of recent disasters in the mountains may serve as the necessary catalyst for previously underrepresented stakeholders to translate their growing assertiveness into meaningful and durable solutions.

Mutation in mitochondrial DNA as a cause of presbyacusis

Much of the hearing loss that occurs in old age is likely to be due to the long-term deterioration of the mitochondria in the different structures of the cochlea. The current review surveys some of the basic information on mitochondria and mitochondrial DNA, as a background to their possible involvement in presbyacusis. It is likely that oxygen radicals damage mitochondrial DNA and other components of the mitochondria, such as their proteins and lipids. This further compromises both oxidative phosphorylation and the repair processes in mitochondria, setting up a vicious cycle of degradation. Evidence is presented from inherited point mutations on the possibly most critical sites for mutations in mitochondrial DNA associated with hearing loss. It is suggested that random sorting and clonal expansion of mutations both maintain the integrity of the pool of mitochondrial DNA molecules and give rise to the apoptosis that leads to loss of vulnerable cells, and hence to deafness. It is moreover suggested that apoptosis of the vulnerable cells of the inner ear may to some extent be preventable, or at least delayed. Copyright (C) 2004 S. Karger AG, Basel.

Graphic satire and public life in the age of terror

This paper investigates media representations of international insecurity through a selection of newspaper cartoons from some of the major daily Australian broadsheets. Since 2001, cartoonists such as Bruce Petty, John Spooner and Bill Leak (in The Age and The Australian) have provided an ongoing and vehement critique of the Australian government’s policies of ‘border protection’, the ‘war on terror’ and the words of mass distraction associated with Australia joining the war in Iraq. Cartoonists are often said to represent the ‘citizen’s perspective’ of public life through their graphic satire on the editorial pages of our daily newspapers. Increasingly, they can also be seen to be fulfilling the role of public intellectuals, defined by Richard A. Posner as ‘someone whose place it is publicly to raise embarrassing questions, to confront orthodoxy and dogma, to be someone who cannot easily be co-opted by governments and corporations’. Cartoonists enjoy an independence and freedom from censorship that is rarely extended to their journalistic colleagues in the print media and it is this independence that is the vital component in their being categorised as public intellectuals. Their role is to ‘question over and over again what is postulated as self-evident, to disturb people’s mental habits, to dissipate what is familiar and accepted, to re-examine rules and institutions’ (Posner, 2003: 31). With this useful — if generalised — definition in mind, the paper considers how cartoonists have contributed to debates concerning international insecurity in public life since 2001.

Renal and hepatic accumulation of cadmium and lead in the expression of CYP4F2 and CYP2E1

The present study examined accumulation of the metal toxins cadmium (Cd) and lead (Pb) in relation to the abundance of cytochrome P450 4F2 (CYP4F2), CYP2E1 and concentrations of zinc and copper in liver and kidney samples using immunoblotting coupled with metal analysis. The post mortem liver and kidney cortex samples were from 23 males and 8 females aged 3-89 years. All were Caucasians who had not been exposed to metals in the workplace. Average kidney cortex Cd load of 17.4 mu g/g w.w. was 17 times greater than average liver Cd load (1.1 mu g/g w.w.). In contrast, average kidney cortex Ph load of 0.09 mu g/g w.w. was two times lower than liver Pb load of 0.19 mu g/g w.w. Average Zn and Cu concentrations in the kidney cortex samples were 67% and 33% lower than those in the liver. Liver and kidney Cd loads, but not liver or kidney Ph loads, correlated positively with donors' age. After controlling for liver Cd load, an inverse correlation was seen between Zn and age (partial r = -0.39, P = 0.02), suggesting reduction in liver Zn levels in old age. Liver CYP2E1 protein abundance correlated with age-adjusted Cd load (partial r = 0.37, P = 0.02) whereas kidney CYP4172 protein abundance showed a positive correlation with age-adjusted Cd loads (partial r = 0.40, P = 0.02). These findings suggest that Cd may be an inducer of renal CYP4172 and hepatic CYP2E1 and that increased renal CYP4172 expression may implicate in Cd-linked renal tubular dysfunction and high blood pressure, involving CYP4F2-dependent arachidonic acid metabolism. (c) 2005 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

A comparison of the association between socioeconomic position and cardiovascular disease risk factors in three age cohorts of Australian women: findings from the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women's Health

Objectives To assess the associations between three measurements of socioeconomic position (SEP) - education, occupation and ability to cope on available income - and cardiovascular risk factors in three age cohorts of Australian women. Methods Cross-sectional analysis of three cohorts of Australian women aged 18-23, 45-50 and 70-75 years. Results In general, for all exposures and in all three cohorts, the odds of each adverse risk factor (smoking, obesity and physical inactivity) were lower in the most advantaged compared with the least advantaged. Within each of the three cohorts, the effects of each measurement of SEP on the outcomes were similar. There were, however, some notable between-cohort differences. The most marked differences were those with smoking. For women aged 70-75 (older), those with the highest educational attainment were more likely to have ever smoked than those with the lowest level of attainment. However, for the other two cohorts, this association was reversed, with a stronger association between low levels of education and ever smoking among those aged 18-23 (younger) than those aged 45-50 (mid-age). Similarly, for older women, those in the most skilled occupational classes were most likely to have ever smoked, with opposite findings for mid-age women. Education was also differently associated with physical inactivity across the three cohorts. Older women who were most educated were least likely to be physically inactive, whereas among the younger and mid-age cohorts there was little or no effect of education on physical inactivity. Conclusion These findings demonstrate the dynamic nature of the association between SEP and some health outcomes. Our findings do not appear to confirm previous suggestions that prestige-based measurements of SEP are more strongly associated with health-related behaviours than measurements that reflect material and psychosocial resources.