The federal law of age discrimination in the U.S.A

The American workforce and society as a whole is aging, and age-based decisions and policies are increasingly under attack as violative of a civil right. At the federal level, the response has been to deal with discrete problems as they arise by separate pieces of legislation: of age bias in the administration of programs receiving federal funds; of age bias in employment; and of decisions based upon the reduction of benefit costs that impact with special harshness on older workers. The author supplies a very brief and simplified overview of the relevant federal law in the U.S.A.     

Volunteering, driving status, and mortality in U.S. retirees

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate how accounting for driving status altered the relationship between volunteering and mortality in U.S. retirees. DESIGN: Observational prospective cohort. SETTING: Nationally representative sample from the Health and Retirement Study in 2000 and 2002 followed to 2006. PARTICIPANTS: Retirees aged 65 and older (N=6,408). MEASUREMENTS: Participants self‐reported their volunteering, driving status, age, sex, race or ethnicity, presence of chronic conditions, geriatric syndromes, socioeconomic factors, functional limitations, and psychosocial factors. Death by December 31, 2006, was the outcome. RESULTS: For drivers, mortality in volunteers (9%) and nonvolunteers (12%) was similar; for limited or non‐drivers, mortality for volunteers (15%) was markedly lower than for nonvolunteers (32%). Adjusted results showed that, for drivers, the volunteering‐mortality odds ratio (OR) was 0.90 (95% confidence interval (CI)=0.66–1.22), whereas for limited or nondrivers, the OR was 0.62 (95% CI=0.49–0.78) (interaction P=.05). The effect of driving status was greater for rural participants, with greater differences between rural drivers and rural limited or nondrivers (interaction P=.02) and between urban drivers and urban limited or nondrivers (interaction P=.81). CONCLUSION: The influence of volunteering in decreasing mortality seems to be stronger in rural retirees who are limited or nondrivers. This may be because rural or nondriving retirees are more likely to be socially isolated and thus receive more benefit from the greater social integration from volunteering.     

Abstention in the General Population of the U.S.A.

Data on abstention from a 1979 general population survey in the U.S.A. were analyzed and compared to data from a similar 1964 survey. Trend comparisons for the 15 year interval revealed few changes in abstention rates among various demographic categories. There was no evidence that the difference between male and female abstention rates has narrowed, that a more abstemious older generation is being replaced by a less abstemious younger generation, that there has been a regional convergence of abstention rates, or that the influence of religion on abstention has declined. A cluster analysis of reasons for abstaining (among lifelong abstainers) identified four sets of reasons: moral objection to drinking, dislike of the consequences of drinking, ‘inconsequential’ reasons, and abstinent family background. Compared to drinkers, abstainers consistently and significantly tended to disapprove of drinking by others in a variety of situational contexts. Militancy on these issues was stronger among abstainers from dry regions and among abstainers who were fundamentalist Protestants. Militancy was not, however, related to age or education. Lifelong abstainers who cited moral reasons for abstaining were more militant than those who did not.     

内蒙古自治区2011年8～10岁儿童碘营养现状

目的掌握内蒙古8~10岁儿童碘营养状况,为自治区因地制宜、科学补碘提供参考依据。方法在内蒙古自治区的12个盟（市）,70个旗（县、区）,每个旗（县、区）按东、西、南、北、中5个方位各抽取100名8~10岁儿童（男、女各半）尿样进行尿碘测定。结果共检测8~10岁儿童尿样6993份,尿碘中位数为249.0ug/L,〈50ug/L的占1.5%,50~99ug/L的占4.7%,100~199 ug/L的占26.5%,200~299ug/L的占32.4%,≥300ug/L的占34.8%。结论内蒙古自治区8~10岁儿童碘营养处于充足状态,居民食用盐加碘浓度还有下调的空间。     

Rheumatic diseases in the U.S.S.R

Despite our inability to precisely prognosticate disease, accumulation of knowledge about risk factors allows us to form a real basis for attempts at primary prevention of rheumatic disease. Because rheumatic diseases are multifactorial in nature, it may be suggested that the more factors an individual has the higher is the risk of disease. Relative risk values are certain to have a known limitation, since they are not independent. In addition, the number of risk factors may be significantly more than that known today. Increasing our knowledge in disease etiology and pathogenesis will definitely increase the number of risk factors. At the same time, available data may serve as a basis for developing a system for individual and group prognosis, the latter being to a certain degree tentative for the majority of diseases. All factors affecting disease development and course are divided into the controllable and the uncontrollable. The majority of the factors mentioned--especially, the environmental--are controllable ones. So the challenge facing practitioners and scientists involves development of a comprehensive system of recommendations aimed at elimination or maximum lessening of unfavorable risk factors, which is the only real basis for primary rheumatic disease prophylaxis.