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That's what you had when you carried a Breguet watch, the best of 19th-century timepieces

BackgroundResearch has demonstrated associations between smoking and reading skills, but other literacy skills such as speaking, listening and numeracy are less studied despite our dependence on the use of numbers and the oral exchange to deliver information on the risks of smoking.MethodsThe authors used multivariable logistic regression to examine the effects of reading, numeracy, speaking and listening skills on: (1) becoming a regular smoker and (2) smoking cessation. Further, multivariable linear regression was used to examine the relation between literacy skills and amount smoked among current smokers. Models controlled for education, gender, age, race/ethnicity, income and, when relevant, age at which they became a regular smoker.ResultsFor each grade equivalent increase in reading skills, the odds of quitting smoking increased by about 8% (OR=1.08, 95% CI 1.01 to 1.15). For every point increase in numeracy skills, the odds of quitting increased by about 24% (OR=1.24, 95% CI 1.06 to 1.46). No literacy skills were associated with becoming a regular smoker or current amount smoked.ConclusionThe ability to locate, understand and use information related to the risks of smoking may impact one's decision to quit. Messaging should be designed with the goal of being easily understood by all individuals regardless of literacy level.

Background Coronary heart disease (CHD) is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality. Reducing the disease burden requires an understanding of factors associated with the prevention and management of CHD. Literacy skills may be one such factor. Objectives To examine the independent and interactive effects of four literacy skills: reading, numeracy, oral language (speaking) and aural language (listening) on calculated 10-year risk of CHD and to determine whether the relationships between literacy skills and CHD risk were similar for men and women. Design We used multivariable linear regression to assess the individual, combined, and interactive effects of the four literacy skills on risk of CHD, adjusting for education and race. Participants Four hundred and nine English-speaking adults in Boston, MA and Providence, RI. Measures Ten-year risk of coronary heart disease was calculated using the Framingham algorithm. Reading, oral language and aural language were measured using the Woodcock Johnson III Tests of Achievement. Numeracy was assessed through a modified version of the numeracy scale by Lipkus and colleagues. Key Results When examined individually, reading (p = 0.007), numeracy (p = 0.001) and aural language (p = 0.004) skills were significantly associated with CHD risk among women; no literacy skills were associated with CHD risk in men. When examined together, there was some evidence for an interaction between numeracy and aural language among women suggesting that higher skills in one area (e.g., aural language) may compensate for difficulties in another resulting in an equally low risk of CHD. Conclusions Results of this study not only provide important insight into the independent and interactive effects of literacy skills on risk of CHD, they also highlight the need for the development of easy-to use assessments of the oral exchange in the health care setting and the need to better understand which literacy skills are most important for a given health outcome.

The Mock LISA Data Challenges are a program to demonstrate LISA data-analysis capabilities and to encourage their development. Each round of challenges consists of several data sets containing simulated instrument noise and gravitational-wave sources of undisclosed parameters. Participants are asked to analyze the data sets and report the maximum information about source parameters. The challenges are being released in rounds of increasing complexity and realism: in this proceeding we present the results of Challenge 2, issued in January 2007, which successfully demonstrated the recovery of signals from supermassive black-hole binaries, from ~20,000 overlapping Galactic white-dwarf binaries, and from the extreme-mass-ratio inspirals of compact objects into central galactic black holes.