The concept of allostatic load (AL) refers to the idea of a global physiological ‘wear and tear’ resulting from the adaptation to the environment through the stress response systems over the life span. The link between socioeconomic position (SEP) and mortality has now been established, and there is evidence that AL may capture the link between SEP and mortality. In order to quantitatively assess the role of AL on mortality, we use data from the 1958 British birth cohort including eleven year mortality in 8,113 adults. Specifically, we interrogate the hypothesis of a cumulative biological risk (allostatic load) reflecting 4 physiological systems potentially predicting future risk of death (N = 132). AL was defined using 14 biomarkers assayed in blood from a biosample collected at 44 years of age. Cox proportional hazard regression analysis revealed that higher allostatic load at 44 years old was a significant predictor of mortality 11 years later [HR = 3.56 (2.3 to 5.53)]. We found that this relationship was not solely related to early-life SEP, adverse childhood experiences and young adulthood health status, behaviours and SEP [HR = 2.57 (1.59 to 4.15)]. Regarding the ability of each physiological system and biomarkers to predict future death, our results suggest that the cumulative measure was advantageous compared to evaluating each physiological system sub-score and biomarker separately. Our findings add some evidence of a biological embodiment in response to stress which ultimately affects mortality.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1007/s10654-018-0364-1) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

This paper introduces a new on-line voltage disturbance detection approach based on wavelet transform. The proposed approach (1) identifies voltage disturbances, and (2) discriminates the type of event which has resulted in the voltage disturbance, e.g. either a fault or a capacitor-switching incident. The proposed approach is (1) significantly faster and (2) more precise in discriminating the type of transient event than conventional voltage-based disturbance detection approaches. Feasibility of the proposed disturbance detection approach is demonstrated based on digital time-domain simulation of a distribution power system using the PSCAD/EMTDC software package.Index Terms-Wavelet transform, disturbance detection, power quality, adaptive digital filter.

Chronic inflammation has been proposed as having a prominent role in the construction of social inequalities in health. Disentangling the effects of early life and adulthood social disadvantage on inflammation is key in elucidating biological mechanisms underlying socioeconomic disparities. Here we explore the relationship between socioeconomic position (SEP) across the life course and inflammation (as measured by CRP levels) in up to 23,008 participants from six European cohort studies from three countries conducted between 1958 and 2013. We find a consistent inverse association between SEP and CRP across cohorts, where participants with a less advantaged SEP have higher levels of inflammation. Educational attainment is most strongly related to inflammation, after adjusting for health behaviours, body mass index and later-in-life SEP. These findings suggest socioeconomic disadvantage in young adulthood is independently associated with later life inflammation calling for further studies of the pathways operating through educational processes.

s Introduction During the COVID-19 pandemic, teleconsultation was implemented in clinical practice to limit patient exposure to COVID-19 while monitoring their treatment and follow-up. We sought to examine the satisfaction of patients with breast cancer (BC) who underwent teleconsultations during this period. Methods Eighteen centres in France and Italy invited patients with BC who had at least one teleconsultation during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic to participate in a web-based survey that evaluated their satisfaction (EORTC OUT-PATSAT 35 and Telemedicine Satisfaction Questionnaire [TSQ] scores) with teleconsultation. Results Among the 1299 participants eligible for this analysis, 53% of participants were undergoing standard post-treatment follow-up while 22 and 17% were currently receiving active anticancer therapy for metastatic and localised cancers, respectively. The mean satisfaction scores were 77.4 and 73.3 for the EORTC OUT-PATSAT 35 and TSQ scores, respectively. In all, 52.6% of participants had low/no anxiety. Multivariable analysis showed that the EORTC OUT-PATSAT 35 score correlated to age, anxiety score and teleconsultation modality. The TSQ score correlated to disease status and anxiety score. Conclusion Patients with BC were satisfied with oncology teleconsultations during the COVID-19 pandemic. Teleconsultation may be an acceptable alternative follow-up modality in specific circumstances.