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Rates of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) have been reported to be higher among US military veterans, who currently number more than 21 million, but the causal factor(s) has not been identified. We conducted a review to examine the weight of evidence for associations between military service, deployments, and exposures and ALS etiology and survival. Thirty articles or abstracts published through 2013 were reviewed. Although the current evidence suggests a positive association with ALS etiology, it is too limited to draw firm conclusions regarding associations between military service and ALS etiology or survival. Some evidence suggests that deployment to the 1990–1991 Persian Gulf War may be associated with ALS etiology, but there is currently no strong evidence that any particular military exposure is associated with ALS etiology. Future studies should address the limitations of previous ones, such as reliance on mortality as a surrogate for incidence, a dearth of survival analyses, lack of clinical data, low statistical power, and limited exposure assessment. The Genes and Environmental Exposures in Veterans with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (GENEVA) Study is one such study, but additional research is needed to determine whether military-related factors are associated with ALS and to assess potential prevention strategies.

Introduction: Working Time Regulations in Europe allied with the endovascular revolution require vascular surgeons to be innovative in achieving competence during their training period. We evaluated the feasibility of eLearning to teach the use of OsiriX for sizing and planning endovascular aortic aneurysm repairs. Materials and Methods: Eight blended learning modules were constructed, consisting of instructional PDFs, demonstration videos, CT angiogram downloads for individual practice and online support forums. These were delivered online over a nine-week period. The learning material encompassed an introduction to the OsiriX interface, the basic skills to use OsiriX for sizing and planning of aneurysm repairs and advanced techniques for reconstruction and online communication relating to imaging. Results: The course was successfully delivered and produced positive feedback from registered users. A high rate of dropouts occurred during the early phase. The design and implementation of a fully web-based course by full time clinicians utilising multimedia and user forums to teach vascular surgeons the performance of a practical skill is feasible. Conclusions: A modular instructional course offered online by vascular surgeons is feasible in teaching clinicians the use of OsiriX for 3D reconstructions of CT angiograms of aortic aneurysms. Shortening course duration may improve compliance. The instructional model is effective and well received by compliant learners.

Abstract

Background
Job-exposure matrices (JEMs) are often used for exposure assessment in occupational exposure and epidemiology studies. However, general population JEMs are difficult to find and access for workers in the United States of America.


Objective
We aimed to use publicly available information to develop a JEM-like exposure assessment method to determine exposure to a wide range of occupational agents in a wide range of occupations for US general population studies.


Methods
We used information from the US Department of Labor's Occupational Information Network database (O*NET) for 19,636 job tasks and 974 civilian occupations. We used automated keyword searches to identify 1,804 job tasks that involved exposure to 50 occupational agents. We had 2 reviewers determine whether each identified job task actually involved exposure to the 50 occupational agents. We had a third reviewer, a certified industrial hygienist, assess any job task and exposure for which the first 2 reviewers disagreed. For each U.S. Census 2010 occupation code, we used this information to derive 3 exposure variables for each occupational agent: ever exposure, number of job tasks of exposure, and frequency of exposure.


Results
Our keyword searches identified a median of 10 (interquartile range [IQR]: 43.75) job tasks for each occupational agent, and the maximum was 308. We determined job tasks actually involved exposure to 45 occupational agents, including solvents, air pollution, pesticides, radiation, metals, etc. We derived the 3 exposure variables for these 45 occupational agents for 516 U.S. Census 2010 occupation codes. The median percentage for ever exposure to individual occupational agents was 1.16% (IQR: 1.74%), and the maximum was 11.43%.


Conclusions
Our JEM-like exposure assessment method based on O*NET information can be used to determine exposure to a wide range of occupational agents in a wide range of occupations for the US general population.

The rare earth elements (REE) are critical raw materials for much of modern technology, particularly renewable energy infrastructure and electric vehicles that are vital for the energy transition. Many of the world's largest REE deposits occur in alkaline rocks and carbonatites, which are found in intracontinental, rift-related settings, and also in syn- to post-collisional settings. Post-collisional settings host significant REE deposits, such as those of the Mianning-Dechang belt in China. This paper reviews REE mineralisation in syn- to post-collisional alkaline-carbonatite complexes worldwide, in order to demonstrate some of the key physical and chemical features of these deposits. We use three examples, in Scotland, Namibia, and Turkey, to illustrate the structure of these systems. We review published geochemical data and use these to build up a broad model for the REE mineral system in post-collisional alkaline-carbonatite complexes. It is evident that immiscibility of carbonate-rich magmas and fluids plays an important part in generating mineralisation in these settings, with REE, Ba and F partitioning into the carbonate-rich phase. The most significant REE mineralisation in post-collisional alkaline-carbonatite complexes occurs in shallow-level, carbothermal or carbonatite intrusions, but deeper carbonatite bodies and associated alteration zones may also have REE enrichment. ; European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme through the HiTech AlkCarb Project [689909]; Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) Industrial Innovation FellowshipUK Research & Innovation (UKRI)Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) [NE/R013403/1] ; This research was supported by the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme through the HiTech AlkCarb Project (No. 689909). Sam Broom-Fendley acknowledges a Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) Industrial Innovation Fellowship (No. NE/R013403/1). Kathryn M. Goodenough and Eimear A. Deady publish with the permission of the Director of the British Geological Survey. Martin Gillespie and two anonymous reviewers are greatly thanked for their constructive and thoughtful comments, which have greatly improved the manuscript. The final publication is available at Springer via https://doi.org/10.1007/s12583-021-1500-5.