Background: Radionuclides occur in coal combustion residues, such as fly ash and bottom ash, which are by-products of coal combustion. They pose potential radiological risks to people present in the surrounding areas. Materials and Methods: Gamma spectrometry was performed to determine the radionuclide activity concentrations in a coal-driven power plant located in the Limpopo province, South A...

BACKGROUND Patients often complain about insufficient sleep or chronic insomnia in the belief that they need 8 hours of sleep. Treatment strategies may be guided by what sleep durations predict optimal survival and whether insomnia might signal mortality risks. METHODS In 1982, the Cancer Prevention Study II of the American Cancer Society asked participants about their sleep duration and freq...

Several episodes in recent years have highlighted the problem of managers subjecting their firms to large risks. We develop a dynamic moral hazard model where a manager’s diversion of funds is indistinguishable from random shocks. In addition, he also takes unobservable actions which yield certain current payoffs, but expose the firm to large negative shocks. We show that standard pay-for-perfo...

Several studies have reported an increased risk of multiple myeloma associated with excess body weight. We investigated the risk of multiple myeloma in relation to separate measures of adiposity and energy balance at different ages in the National Institutes of Health-AARP Diet and Health Study, a large prospective cohort study in the United States. Participants completed a baseline questionnai...

The study evaluates associated health risks of heavy metals in the soil to inhabitants of two mining areas of Nigeria. For so doing, it collects and analyses nine homogenous soil samples for their lead, copper, cadmium, zinc, and chromium levels, using AAS. The samples are then used to calculate health risks to adults and children. For adult population in Agbaja community, the calculated hazard...

Background: Human activities such as mining enhance the radioactivity levels above normal background which can lead to an incremental increase in the radiation risk to the population. Materials and Methods: 20 tailing enriched soil samples collected around Maiganga coal mine, Gombe, Northeast Nigeria were assessed for their 226Ra, 232Th and 40K contents using HPGe gamma-ray detector. Results: T...

BACKGROUND Studies have shown that type 2 diabetic patients have higher all-cause mortality than people without diabetes, but it is less clear how diabetes affects mortality in elderly patients and to what degree mortality differs between diabetic men and women. The aim of the present study is to investigate the age- and sex-specific all-cause mortality pattern in patients with type 2 diabetes ...

Epidemiologic studies suggest positive associations between poor oral health and cardiovascular disease. The authors undertook a prospective study among 15,273 Swedish twins (1963-2000) to examine whether genetic factors underlying the 2 diseases could explain previous associations. They estimated hazard ratios and 95% confidence intervals controlling for individual factors and stratifying on t...

Historical records show that the A.D. 1783-1784 Laki eruption in Iceland caused severe environmental stress and posed a health hazard far beyond the borders of Iceland. Given the reasonable likelihood of such an event recurring, it is important to assess the scale on which a future eruption could impact society. We quantify the potential health effects caused by an increase in air pollution dur...

Editor-De Cock et al` note that waiting times to conception are significantly longer in the wives of men exposed to pesticides. They cite the evidence that the nematocide dibromochloropropane (DBCP) is associated with diminished sperm counts.2 It is worth noting that there is other evidence of hazard in these men. They reportedly have significantly high gonadotrophin concentrations although the...