Individual Occupations Research Articles

Mass dose effects and in vivo affinity in brain PET receptor studies — a study of cerebral 5-HT4 receptor binding with [11C]SB207145

Attention to tracer dose principles is crucial in positron emission tomography (PET), and deviations can induce serious errors. In this study, we devise a method for determining receptor occupancy of the mass dose of the radioligand itself and the in vivo affinity. The approach was used for [(11)C]SB207145, a new PET radioligand for imaging the cerebral 5-HT(4) receptors in humans. Test-retest PET studies with varying specific activities of [(11)C]SB207145 were conducted in seven healthy subjects, and the output parameter regional BP(ND) was modeled. Individual occupancy plots were first computed to estimate the mass dose that saturates 50% of receptors (ID(50)), and subsequently, the maximal mass dose that can be injected (arbitrarily set at an occupancy <5%) was calculated. Scatchard plots were computed to estimate the in vivo K(D). Increasing the mass dose resulted in a decrease in BP(ND), whilst the relative cerebellar uptake was unchanged. The ID(50) was 85.4±30.2 μg, and the upper mass dose limit was 4.5±1.6 μg, which does not require ultrahigh specific activity. The estimated in vivo K(D) was 2.8 nM (range 1.0-4.8), without any regional differences. The presented method for estimating the upper mass dose limit is suggested as part of validation of PET radioligands.

Occupation and work-related ill-health in UK construction workers

Construction workers are at increased risk of work-related ill-health (WRI) worldwide. To compare the incidence of medically reported WRI in occupations within the UK construction industry according to job title. We calculated standardized incidence rate ratios (SRRs) using WRI cases for individual job titles returned to The Health and Occupation Reporting network by clinical specialists and UK population denominators. We counted frequencies of reported causal exposures or tasks reported by clinical specialists, occupational physicians and general practitioners. We found significantly increased incidence of WRI compared with other workers in the same major Standard Occupational Classification, i.e. workers with similar levels of qualifications, training, skills and experience, for skin neoplasia in roofers (SRR 6.3; 95% CI: 3.1-13.1), painters and decorators (2.1; 95% CI: 1.2-3.6) and labourers in building and woodworking trades (labourers, 6.6; 95% CI: 3.2-13.2); contact dermatitis in metal workers (1.4; 95% CI: 1.1-1.7) and labourers (1.6; 95% CI: 1.1-2.3); asthma in welders (3.8; 95% CI: 2.8-5.0); musculoskeletal disorders in welders (1.7; 95% CI: 1.1-2.8), road construction operatives (6.1; 95% CI: 3.8-9.6) and labourers (2.5; 95% CI: 1.7-3.7); long latency respiratory disease (mesothelioma, pneumoconiosis, lung cancer, non-malignant pleural disease) in pipe fitters (4.5; 95% CI: 3.2-6.2), electrical workers (2.7; 95% CI: 2.4-3.2), plumbing and heating engineers (2.3; 95% CI: 1.9-2.7), carpenters and joiners (2.7; 95% CI: 2.3-3.1), scaffolders (12; 95% CI: 8-18) and labourers (3.3; 95% CI: 2.6-4.1). UK construction industry workers have significantly increased risk of WRI. These data in individual construction occupations can be used to inform appropriate targeting of occupational health resources.

Comparison of the substituent effects in tetrazole systems and benzene. A computational study

Natural Population Analysis of two tautomeric forms of 16 tetrazole derivatives substituted at carbon atom (AlH 2, BeH, BH 2, CCH, CF 3, CHO, Cl, CN, F, Me, NH 2, NO, NO 2, OH, SH, SiH 3) was carried out at B3LYP/6-31G(d,p) level of theory and compared with data for monosubstituted benzene derivatives. The individual occupancies of 2p z orbitals at all atoms of the tetrazole and benzene derivatives were correlated with the sum of occupation overall 2p z orbitals, named pEDA( A) or pEDA( B), respectively. These characteristics correlate well with the Hammett-like substituent constants. Acceptable correlations between the individual atom occupancies at the 2p z orbital and pEDA were found for all atoms except N4.

Predicting Dopamine D2 Receptor Occupancy From Plasma Levels of Antipsychotic Drugs

Measuring dopamine D₂ receptor occupancy levels using positron emission tomography (PET) is still widely unavailable. The objective of this study was to evaluate the accuracy of predicting D2 occupancy from the antipsychotic plasma level in patients with schizophrenia. Positron emission tomographic studies that measured plasma levels of antipsychotics and their corresponding D₂ occupancy levels were identified, using MEDLINE and EMBASE (last search: March 2010). Antipsychotics that were investigated in a total of 20 subjects or more were included. All data points for each antipsychotic were fit to a one-site binding model to estimate the total plasma concentration of each antipsychotic associated with a 50% occupancy (ED₅₀) of brain D₂ receptors. The mean prediction error and the root mean squared prediction error were used to measure the predictive performance of individual D₂ receptor occupancies from plasma drug levels derived from a one-site occupancy model using an ED₅₀ value calculated for each data point. A total of 34 treatment arms from 23 studies involving 281 subjects were included. The mean (95% confidence interval) prediction errors and root squared prediction errors were as low as 0.0 (-1.8 to 1.8) and 8.9 (7.6-10.2) for risperidone (n = 98); 0.0 (-3.5 to 3.5) and 15.1 (12.9-17.3) for clozapine (n = 75); -0.1 (-1.2 to 1.2), 0.0 (-1.9 to 1.9), and 4.6 (3.5-5.8) for olanzapine (n = 42); 0.1 (-3.4 to 3.5) and 9.9 (7.3-12.5) for haloperidol (n = 35); and -0.1 (-3.3 to 3.1) and 12.3 (8.8-15.7) for ziprasidone (n = 31), respectively. These findings suggest that D₂ occupancy of antipsychotics could be estimated with a high degree of accuracy using widely available plasma levels.

Stable and dynamic nucleosome states during a meiotic developmental process

The plasticity of chromatin organization as chromosomes undergo a full compendium of transactions including DNA replication, recombination, chromatin compaction, and changes in transcription during a developmental program is unknown. We generated genome-wide maps of individual nucleosome organizational states, including positions and occupancy of all nucleosomes, and H3K9 acetylation and H3K4, K36, K79 tri-methylation, during meiotic spore development (gametogenesis) in Saccharomyces. Nucleosome organization was remarkably constant as the genome underwent compaction. However, during an acute meiotic starvation response, nucleosomes were repositioned to alter the accessibility of select transcriptional start sites. Surprisingly, the majority of the meiotic programs did not use this nucleosome repositioning, but was dominated by antisense control. Histone modification states were also remarkably stable, being abundant at specific nucleosome positions at three-quarters of all genes, despite most genes being rarely transcribed. Our findings suggest that, during meiosis, the basic features of genomic chromatin organization are essentially a fixed property of chromosomes, but tweaked in a restricted and program-specific manner.

Financial Development, Entrepreneurship, and Job Satisfaction

This paper shows that utility differences between the self-employed and employees increase with financial development. This effect is explained not by increased profits but by an increased value of nonmonetary benefits, in particular job independence. We interpret these findings by building a simple occupational choice model in which financial constraints may impede the creation of firms and depress labor demand, thereby pushing some individuals into self-employment for lack of salaried jobs. In this setting, financial development favors a better matching between individual motivation and occupation, thereby increasing entrepreneurial utility despite increasing competition and so reducing profits.

Adding a Driving Task to AMPS: A Pilot Study

Driving a motor vehicle is an important occupation for many individuals, and occupational therapists may be involved in screening and assessing driving. Yet, few "top-down" occupational therapy screening tools have been developed to test driving. To develop a driving task to add to the existing occupational therapy assessment, the Assessment of Motor and Process Skills (AMPS). This pilot study involved the development and administration of a driving task to 10 healthy older adults, along with 2 existing AMPS tasks. The driving task was found to be of "average" challenge relative to existing AMPS tasks, demonstrated goodness-of-fit with the AMPS criteria, and appeared to measure the same construct as the existing AMPS tasks. If the driving task continues to demonstrate acceptable goodness-of-fit in an expanded research study, it could be added to the AMPS, which could potentially be utilized as a "top-down" screening tool for driving.

당뇨 환자의 관리행태에 대한 군집 분류

The purpose of this study is to provide informative statistics which can be used for effective Diabetes Management Programs. We collected and analyzed the data of 666 diabetic people who had participated in Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey in 2007 and 2008. Group classification on management behavior of Diabetic Mellitus is based on the K-means clustering method. The Decision Tree method and Multiple Regression Analysis were used to study factors of the management behavior of Diabetic Mellitus. Diabetic people were largely classified into three categories: Health Behavior Program Group, Focused Management Program Group, and Complication Test Program Group. First, Health Behavior Program Group means that even though drug therapy and complication test are being well performed, people should still need to improve their health behavior such as exercising regularly and avoid drinking and smoking. Second, Focused Management Program Group means that they show an uncooperative attitude about treatment and complication test and also take a passive action to improve their health behavior. Third, Complication Test Program Group means that they take a positive attitude about treatment and improving their health behavior but they pay no attention to complication test to detect acute and chronic disease early. The main factor for group classification was to prove whether they have hyperlipidemia or not. This varied widely with an individual's gender, income, age, occupation, and self rated health. To improve the rate of diabetic management, specialized diabetic management programs should be applied depending on each group's character.

Distribution and source of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in the surface soil along main transportation routes in Jiaxing City, China

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (16 EPA-PAHs) in urban surface soil from Jiaxing City were determined using HPLC. The total concentration of 16 EPA-PAHs was detected from 18.73 to 441.34 pg/g. Individual PAH occupation analysis demonstrates that four-ring PAHs comprise as much as 44.16% and were prevalent in the composition of PAH pollutants. The other components were two-ring PAHs (7.36%), three-ring PAHs (17.28%), five-ring PAHs (16.16%), and six-ring PAHs (15.04%). Source analysis on the characteristic ratios of anthracene(Ane)/[Ane+phenanthrene(Phe)], fluoranthene(Fla)/[Fla+pyrene(Pyr)], and benzo[a]pyrene(Bap)/benzo[g,h,i]perylene(Bgp) reveals that PAH pollutants originated mainly from coal combustion, but vehicular emission as a source was not negligible. All PAHs discussed in the paper have similar source in most sampling sites. The spatial distributions of pollution sources were closely related to geographic location, geographic condition, and living habit of indigenes. A linear relationship between 2-3-ring PAHs, 4-6-ring PAHs, SOM, and ∑PAHs were investigated and significant correlativity were expatiated lastly. It revealed that coefficient between 2-3-ring PAHs and ∑PAHs is 0.56, between 4-6-ring PAHs and ∑PAHs is 0.99, between SOM and ∑PAHs is 0.82.

Trade union law in Germany

REPORT□ TRADEUNIONLAWINGERMANY Trade union law in Germany I Particularly political Republic, government the protest went coming Germany democracy way taken the to decisions on in workers Weimar against oppose during by which threat under strike or was the to in theWeimar Republic,workers wenton strike to oppose politicaldecisions taken bythe government orto protestagainst theway inwhich democracy in Germanywas comingunder threat KARIN FLOTHMANN, Ver.di Vereinte Dienstleistungsgewerkschaft Flired The euros Berlin over was a supermarket all couple ittook ofdeposit to cashier seal Emmily's receipts was accused fate . 1.30 euroswas all ittookto seal Emmily's fate. TheBerlin supermarket cashier was accused ofcashing intwodepositreceipts accidentally left behindbya customer. Despitethefactthather employer had no evidencethatshe was actually guilty, 50year-old Emmily was dismissed without notice inFebruary 2008.Attheendoftheday,she had stolen1.30eurosand that, according to her employer, was enoughto justify sackingheron thespot. Emmily turned tohertrade unionver.di tohelp herfight herdismissal. However,inthesummer of2008,theBerlin LabourCourt declaredherdismissaltobe legal.Intheir verdict, thejudgesstated that itwas notthevalueofthedepositreceipts thatmattered. Rather, itwas herdishonesty that had fatally undermined thetrust betweenthe50 year-old cashier andheremployers andthey were therefore perfectly entitled todismiss herwithout notice.Emmily had workedas a cashierforthe samesupermarket chainfor30years. Ver.di rana number ofcampaigns insupport of Emmily who had previously organised a strike at thestore where sheworked. "It's pretty obvious that that istherealreasonshewas fired", according to thetrade union.Twoyears later, inthesummer of 2010,theFederalLabourCourt revoked Emmily's dismissal. Thejudgesfound that herdismissal was notjustified, sinceshewasonlyguilty ofa "serious breachofduty". Sincethiswas theonlyoccasion that Emmily hadbeenintrouble during the30years shehadworked for thecompany, this incident alone was notsufficient tocompletely "destroy" thetrust between herandheremployers. Moreover, inview oftheextremely lowsumofmoney involved, a cautionwouldhavesufficed inthis instance. Emmily's dismissal therefore hadtobe revoked. Emmily's was themostwidelypublicisedcase to be dealtwithbytheGermantradeunionsin recent years, and one oftheir greatest successes. AsEmmily's casedemonstrates, theGerman labour courtsplayan important rolewithregard to the rights ofworkers andindeedthetradeunions. Thebasisofalltrade unionactivity inGermany is thecountry's constitution, knownas theBasic Law.Article 9 3 states that "Theright toform associationsto safeguard and improve working and economicconditions shallbe guaranteed toevery individual andtoevery occupation orprofession. Agreements that restrict orseektoimpair this right shallbe nulland void;measuresdirected to this endshallbe unlawful." Thearticle goes on tosay thatthedeployment ofpolice officers or troops "may notbe directed against industrial disputes ... undertaken in orderto safeguardand improve working andeconomicconditions." Inthis article, theBasicLawthusestablishes the right tofreedom ofassociation andfree collective bargaining inGermany. Itgrants thetrade unions andemployers' associations theright toindependently negotiate and concludecollective agreements without State intervention. Industrial action isone oftheaspectsofthisprocessthat isafforded legalprotection bytheconstitution. TheState hasno desiretointervene inthesedisputes, since employers andtrade unions areabletosettle them faster andmoreflexibly thanwouldbe possibleif theStateweremoreheavily involved. Strikes are relatively rare inGermany compared toother countries , and manypeople pointto thisas evidence that thesystem is a successful one. Another peculiarity oftheGerman modelisthat all tradeunionsareindependent ofpolitical parties .Single, united trade unionshavebeenformed forindividual industries, meaning that, withonly a fewexceptions, itisone largeorganisation that sitsatthebargaining tablerather than several individualtrade unions. Germany's largest unionisIG Metall, whichrepresents allworkers inthemetalworking and electrical tradesas wellas all automotive employees. Thesecondlargest trade union is theunitedservices unionver.di, bornin 2001 out of a mergerbetweenfiveindividualtrade unions. Itrepresents alltheoccupations intheservicessector , from thearts andjournalism through to commerce, thebanking and insurance sectors andpublicsector workers. In Germany, tradeunionslikever.dienjoythe samerights andprotection as employers, andthis alsoappliesasfar as industrial action isconcerned. In 1955, the Federal Labour Courtruled that "Lockouts areequivalent tostrikes, irrespective of whether they areapproved byanemployers' associationand subsequently implemented byindividualemployers orsimply carried outbyone or moreemployers." Furthermore, a FederalLabour Court ruling from 1994entitles employers toclose partorallofa siteintheeventofstrike action. Politicalstrikes Thetrade unions invirtually every country inEurope organiseprotests or generalstrikes from timeto time inorder toprotest against measures taken by thegovernment. Frenchworkers, forexample, staged walkouts toprotest against proposals toraise theretirement age. Meanwhile,Greekworkers downedtoolsinresponse tothetrade unions'call toopposethedraconian austerity measures taken bytheir government to tacklethecountry's debt crisis. InGermany, where political strikes aretaboo, this wouldbeunthinkable. However, itwasn't ever thus. Particularly during theWeimar Republic, workerswenton strike to oppose political decisions takenbythegovernment ortoprotest against the wayinwhichdemocracy inGermany wascoming underthreat. The best-known examplewas the INTERNATIONAL union rights Page 18Volume 18Issue 3201 1 general strike calledtodefeat theattempted coup known astheKappPutsch inMarch 1920. According toGerman case law,workstoppages arepermissibleas a meansofdemocratic resistance in the event ofa threat tothecountry's democratic order that cannot be averted byanyother means. Inactualfact, there isnolegislation inGermany explicitly banning political strikes. Thebanispurelya consequenceofrulings madebytheGerman courts. Theinitial precedent wassetin1952when theprinters' unionIG DruckundPapiercalleda 48-hour...

Deconstructing responses of dragonfly species richness to area, nutrients, water plant diversity and forestry

Understanding large-scale variation in species richness in relation to area, energy, habitat heterogeneity and anthropogenic disturbance has been a major task in ecology. Ultimately, variation in species richness results from variation in individual species occupancies. We studied whether the individual species occupancy patterns are determined by the same candidate factors as total species richness. We sampled 26 boreal forest ponds for dragonflies (Odonata) and studied the effects of shoreline length, water vascular plant species density (WVPSD), availability of nutrients, intensity of forestry, amount of Sphagnum peat cover and pH on dragonfly species richness and individual dragonfly species. WVPSD and pH had a strong positive effect on species richness. Removal of six dragonfly species experiencing strongest responses to WVPSD cancelled the relationship between species richness and WVPSD. By contrast, removal of nine least observed species did not affect the relationship between WVPSD and species richness. Thus, our results showed that relatively common species responding strongly to WVPSD shaped the observed species richness pattern whereas the effect of least observed, often rare, species was negligible. Also, our results support the view that, despite of the great impact of energy on species richness at large spatial scales, habitat heterogeneity can still have an effect on species richness in smaller scales, even overriding the effects of area.

Student Perceptions of Middle Grades Learning Environments

School buildings are complex places that influence the occupants of the space, even as those occupants adapt the environment (Brand, 1994; Uline, Tschannen-Moran, & Wolsey, 2009). In the middle grades, the school building, furnishings, and grounds-the environment-may contribute in important ways to students' identities as learners and members of a learning community. In the last 40 years, researchers and educational facilities professionals have come to know a great deal about the built environment of the school as a place where students construct their own identities, where occupants work to create communities for learning, and where reflections of the larger communities provide context and support for the schools they build (e.g., BEST, 2006; Higgins, Hall, Wall, Woolner, & McCaughey, 2005; Tanner, 2008). Quantitative researchers have sought to identify links between student achievement and school facilities (e.g., Tanner, 2009; Uline & Tschannen-Moran, 2008), while qualitative researchers have provided depth to our understanding of the connections people make with important places in their lives (e.g., Jorgensen & Stedman, 2001; Newell, 1997; van Andel, 1990). The aforementioned researchers typically have used the spoken and written word to communicate, analyze, and explain important aspects of phenomena under investigation. However, built environments invite a range of sensory experiences; therefore, we contend that researchers more fully understand the school as an important place in the lives of students by using photography as a mediating tool. Students' perceptions of their built environments uniquely inform what they know about their interactions with other students, faculty, administrators, and other building occupants. This article reports findings from a study in which students took photographs of their school as a way to construct and communicate knowledge about their school buildings and how they best learn. The study revealed how students view their school facility as a place of learning and growth, and these findings have important implications for middle grades faculty, administrators, and school designers. Background Different media convey information in ways that may be unique to the tool and presentation format. Ansel Adams, a well-known photographer, at one time considered a career in music. When he settled on photography, his family resisted and told him that cameras cannot capture human souls as music could. Adams replied, Perhaps the camera cannot, but the photographer can (1985, p. 110). A thoughtful photographer may be able to isolate important attributes of the subject and, at the same time, provide context that lends richness to the image. The viewfinder, lens, image size, quality of light, resolution, and so on provide constraints the photographer must manipulate in deciding on the final organization in the image. Because schools are significant places with enormous formative effects on the lives of occupants, we chose student-created photographs as one tool to mediate our subsequent interviews with students to help them organize and lend meaning to that which had previously been ordinary in their eyes. The intersecting personalities of school buildings and occupants An important developmental task for young adolescents is to begin forming attachments to significant places and people (Carter, 2006; Violand-Sanchez & Hainer-Violand, 2006). Of particular interest to this study is the complex role the school building plays in this aspect of identity formation for middle grades students. The personality of a school building is an amalgam of various attributes, including events that have taken place within the school, effects of the people who inhabit and modify various spaces, and the way designers have organized the building space. The identities individual occupants of a school building construct result, in part, from their complex interactions with features of the built environment, which itself has been created and re-created by past occupants, designers, community supporters, and others whose interactions continue to influence learning in a given place (Uline, Tschannen-Moran, & Wolsey, 2009). …

A Channel-Aware and Occupancy-Dependent Scheduler for Video Transmission over Wireless Channels

In this paper, we propose an adaptive and fair priority scheduler for video streaming over wireless links. The proposed scheme selects the client to be served based on the instantaneous occupancy of the decoder buffers of the wireless clients as well as the quality of the channel as seen by these clients in addition to the sensitivity of scheduled video frames. Unlike conventional scheduling algorithms, the proposed scheme accounts for the characteristics and strict requirements of multimedia applications with considerably low computational complexity. When compared to other commonly-used scheduling algorithms, the proposed algorithm achieves better performance in terms of the individual and average buffer occupancies of the decoder buffers of the wireless clients as well as the end-to-end delay experienced by the video frames. Simulations are carried out to study the interactions among the key parameters of the proposed scheduling algorithm.

A complexity science approach to occupation: Moving beyond the individual

Contemporary scholarship in occupational science ranges from the biological to the cultural, which highlights the need for a systematic framework capable of addressing occupational phenomena at multiple levels of analysis. One way theorists in occupational science, as well as in other social and biological sciences, have addressed similar needs has been through models based on systems theory. These theories encourage a non‐reductionist, non‐linear approach to studying complex phenomena, and allow for the inclusion of multiple levels of analysis, from the micro to the macro. However, most of the previous applications of systems theory in occupational science have adopted a relatively narrow focus, stressing the occupation of individuals as the primary unit of analysis and viewing social and cultural phenomena as background factors influencing those occupations. Occupations performed by groups of individuals acting collectively have not been incorporated. In this article, we argue that social collectives, such as groups, communities, and populations also act as producers of occupation and that these collective occupations are also legitimate units of analysis for occupational science. We propose an analytic framework for understanding occupation which is grounded in complex systems theory, integrates across multiple levels of analysis, and highlights the socially distributed nature of occupation.

Area deprivation, individual socioeconomic position and smoking among women in South Korea

BackgroundThe objective of this study was to examine how area deprivation and individual socioeconomic position affect smoking among women using national survey data.MethodsSmoking and individual sociodemographic characteristics were gathered from...

An Adaptive Scheduling Algorithm for Video Transmission over Wireless Packet Networks

Abstract In this paper, we propose an adaptive and fair-scheduling algorithm for video streaming over wireless links. The algorithm selects the client to be served based on the instantaneous occupancy of the decoder buffers of the wireless clients as well as the channel states as seen by these clients in addition to the sensitivity of video frames. We consider a two-tier nonlinear predictor that helps in the selection process of the clients. When compared to other commonly-used scheduling algorithms, the proposed algorithm achieves better performance in terms of the individual and average buffer occupancies of the decoder buffers of the wireless clients as well as the end-to-end delay experienced by the video frames.

Occupational Status and the Experience of Anger

Current theories in the sociology of emotions posit contradictory expectations regarding the relationship between status and the relative experience of anger, with some predicting a negative relationship and others proposing a positive one. We test the compatibility of these opposing hypotheses by examining the relationship between anger and a key dimension of socioeconomic status—the occupational status score of an individual's occupation—for a representative sample of Americans. We connect different strands of theory and research in the social psychology of emotions to posit a non-linear relationship between occupational status and the experience of anger. Analyses of data from the 1996 General Social Survey's emotions module (N = 1460) are consistent with this integrative account. Individuals located at the two opposite ends of the status and prestige hierarchy are more likely to experience anger than those of middle status. We use insight from Blau's macro-structural theory to help elucidate this complex relationship.

Multiple Socioeconomic Risks and Cognitive Impairment in Older Adults

Background/Aim: To investigate the multiple effects of socioeconomic factors on cognitive impairment in older persons. Methods: Subjects were a nationally representative sample (n = 4,155) aged ≧65 years of the Korean Longitudinal Study of Aging. Cognitive status was assessed by the Mini-Mental State Examination. Education, income, wealth and occupation were measured, with low levels on each factor combined to produce an aggregate risk score. Multiple logistic regression was used to analyze the combined effects of socioeconomic risks on cognitive impairment. Results: A socioeconomic risk gradient was evident, with the combined effect being stronger than any one of the risk factors acting alone. Compared with those with no risks, the odds ratios were 2.4 (for 2 socioeconomic risks), 3.4 (3 risks) and 7.7 (4 risks) for men, and 2.8 (2 risks), 3.5 (3 risks) and 5.4 (4 risks) for women. For individual socioeconomic risks, income and occupation were significant predictors of cognitive impairment in men, whereas in women, all 4 factors were independently associated. Conclusion: Multiple socioeconomic risks have a combined effect on cognitive impairment in older adults.

Dopamine D2/3 receptor occupancy by quetiapine in striatal and extrastriatal areas

Quetiapine is next to clozapine an antipsychotic agent that exerts hardly any extrapyramidal side-effects at clinical efficacious doses. Some previous receptor occupancy studies reported preferential extrastriatal D2/3 receptor (D2/3R)-binding properties of second-generation antipsychotics and suggested this as possible reason for improved tolerability. This positron emission tomography (PET) investigation was designed to compare the occupancy of dopamine D2/3Rs by quetiapine in striatal and extrastriatal brain regions. Therefore, a cohort of 16 quetiapine-treated psychotic patients underwent an [18F]fallypride (FP) PET scan. Due to the high affinity of FP and its comparatively long half-life, striatal and extrastriatal binding potentials could be determined in one single scan. Receptor occupancy was calculated as percent reduction in binding potential relative to age-matched medication-free patients suffering from schizophrenia. Quetiapine occupied 44+/-18% in the temporal cortex and 26+/-17% in the putamen, a difference significant at the level of p=0.005 (Student's t test). Quetiapine showed a mean occupancy of 36+/-16% and in the thalamus. In the caudate nucleus there was an occupancy of 29+/-16% (p=0.0072). Individual occupancy levels did not exceed 59% in any of the striatal volumes of interest. The time-interval between scan and last drug ingestion did not influence the relationship between plasma concentration and central D2/3R occupancy. Taken together, quetiapine shows preferential extrastriatal binding at D2/3Rs; the extent of this difference is comparable to that previously described for clozapine. Both antipsychotics show very low affinity for D2/3Rs.

Cd Substitution in MxZn4−-xSb3: Effect on Thermal Stability, Crystal Structure, Phase Transitions, and Thermoelectric Performance

The effects of Cd substitution in MxZn4−xSb3 on the high-temperature thermal stability, low-temperature phase transitions and thermoelectric properties have been studied on three samples with a substitution degree of 0.1, 1, and 2 at % Cd (x = 0.004, 0.04, 0.08). The high-temperature thermal stability in atmospheric air of a 1% substituted sample is compared with an unsubstituted Zn4Sb3 sample. Multitemperature synchrotron powder diffraction data reveals that while only ∼42 wt % of the original Zn4Sb3 phase remains in the unsubstituted sample after three heating cycles to 625 K, 78 wt % is preserved in the Cd-substituted sample. Thus, Cd-substitution provides a significant improvement of the thermal stability of Zn4Sb3. Multitemperature synchrotron powder diffraction data measured between 90 and 300 K reveal that Cd substitution has a suppressing effect on the α′−α−β phase transitions. With increasing substitution, there is also a significant change in the individual Zn site occupancies. Differential scanning calorimetry shows an apparent correlation between Cd content and phase transition temperature. Thermoelectric properties have been measured from 2 to 400 K for all samples, and although some physical properties are significantly affected by doping, no immediate improvement of ZT was achieved.