Sensitivity of the environmental costs of air pollution caused by SOx,NOx, and PM from power plants applied to the power mix configuration in South Korea

In the 6th Basic Plan for Long-Term Electricity Supply and Demand (6th BPE) for Korea, for the first time, the environmental costs of air pollution caused by oxides of sulfur (SOx), oxides of nitrogen (NOx), and particulate matters (PM) from power plants were estimated and included. However, several deficiencies in evaluating the environmental costs were found. In this study, (1) the validity of the environmental costs used in the 6th BPE was assessed, (2) a systematic approach was suggested and used to improve the environmental costs estimation, and (3) the sensitivity of the cost of generating electricity to the environmental costs by fuel type with the proposed approach was discussed. We found that the applied environmental costs used in the 6th BPE did not fully include the demographic characteristics of Korea. By applying more realistic parameter values, it was found that the newly estimated environmental cost was about 23 times higher than the cost estimated in the original 6th BPE for coal-fired power plants and about 1.5 times higher for liquefied natural gas (LNG)-fired power plants, suggesting that LNG-fired power plants are more economical if using more realistic environmental costs. Thus, it is critical to check the validity of parameter values when calculating environmental costs.     

Safety profile of the adjuvanted recombinant zoster vaccine: Pooled analysis of two large randomised phase 3 trials

Background

The ZOE-50 (NCT01165177) and ZOE-70 (NCT01165229) phase 3 clinical trials showed that the adjuvanted recombinant zoster vaccine (RZV) was ≥90% efficacious in preventing herpes zoster in adults. Here we present a comprehensive overview of the safety data from these studies.

Cross-cultural invariance of the Academic Expectations Stress Inventory: Adolescent samples from Canada and Singapore

We provide further evidence for the two-factor structure of the 9-item Academic Expectations Stress Inventory (AESI) using confirmatory factor analysis on a sample of 289 Canadian adolescents and 310 Singaporean adolescents. Examination of measurement invariance tests the assumption that the model underlying a set of scores is directly comparable across groups. This study also examined the cross-cultural validity of the AESI using multigroup confirmatory factor analysis across both the Canadian and Singaporean adolescent samples. The results suggested cross-cultural invariance of form, factor loadings, and factor variances and covariances of the AESI across both samples. Evidence of AESI's convergent and discriminant validity was also reported. Findings from t-tests revealed that Singaporean adolescents reported a significantly higher level of academic stress arising from self expectations, other expectations, and overall academic stress, compared to Canadian adolescents. Also, a larger cross-cultural effect was associated with academic stress arising from other expectations compared with academic stress arising from self expectations.     

Respiratory tract infections due to Branhamella catarrhalis: epidemiological data from Western Australia

During a 3-year period Branhamella catarrhalis was isolated in significant numbers from 239 (1.3%) of 19,488 specimens of sputum sent for routine microbiological examination at a 700-bed general hospital. The majority of patients (83%) were over 60 years of age and 65% were male. There was a distinct seasonal variation in isolations with a peak incidence during the winter and early spring, a pattern not found with other pathogens. Susceptibility to amoxycillin decreased by approximately 50% over the 3 years, corresponding to an increased incidence of beta-lactamase-producing strains. There were minimal changes in susceptibility to other antimicrobial agents. Underlying pulmonary disease was the major factor predisposing to B. catarrhalis infection, and 71% of patients were smokers or ex-smokers.     

Blood flow acceleration in the carotid and brachial arteries of healthy volunteers: respective contributions of cardiac performance and local resistance

Summary— The influence of local resistance and cardiac performance on peripheral blood acceleration was investigated in 14 healthy male volunteers. Steady and pulsatile flow was studied in the brachial and in the common carotid arteries, ie, two territories that exhibit marked differences in resistive characteristics. Instantaneous blood velocity (V), mean blood velocity (V_m) and artery diameter (D) were evaluated at rest by an ultrasonic range-gated pulsed Doppler flowmeter using a double transducer probe, thus allowing the calculation of mean blood flow (Q). Mean local resistance (R) was obtained by dividing the mean arterial pressure by Q. The peak value of the local acceleration of the blood was obtained by computer-assisted calculation of the first derivative of instantaneous blood velocity (G_max = +dV/dt_max). Peak aortic blood acceleration (GAo) was simultaneously measured from the suprasternal notch using a pulsed Doppler velocity meter. In the brachial and the common carotid arteries, G_max was of a similar magnitude (551 ±30 and 555 ± 44 cm/s², respectively) despite major differences in the respective D, V_m, Q and R values. In neither artery was there a relationship between G_max and either resting Q or R. At the brachial artery level, G_max was positively related to GAo ( r = 0.79, P = 0.0008). At the common carotid artery level, there was a weak, although non significant relationship between G_max and GAo ( P = 0.08). Our results indicate that the local acceleration of peripheral blood flow in the brachial artery is related rather to upstream central impulse than to downstream hemodynamics, and suggest some regional differences in the hemodynamic determinants of the local acceleration of peripheral blood flow.