Research and Teaching: An Investigation of the Evolution of High School and Undergraduate Student Researchers' Understanding of Key Science Ethics Concepts

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mabrouk, Patricia Ann

2013-01-01

High school and undergraduate research students were surveyed over the 10-week period of their summer research programs to investigate their understanding of key concepts in science ethics and whether their understanding changed over the course of their summer research experiences. Most of the students appeared to understand the issues relevant to…

Student Perceptions of Alcohol Policy Issues. Office for Student Affairs Research Bulletin; v15 n5 Jul74.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brown, Joel; And Others

A mailed survey was conducted of students' opinions on issues relevant to the university's policy toward the consumption of alcoholic beverages on campus. Responses were received from 402 members of a random sample of 496 students from the Twin Cities Campus of the University of Minnesota. Key findings include: A majority of respondents believed…

Whose Side Are We on and for Whom Do We Write? Notes on Issues and Challenges Facing Those Researching and Evaluating Public Policy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Warren, Jon; Garthwaite, Kayleigh

2015-01-01

Becker (1967) poses the question "Whose side are we on?," a question which has become an enduring part of discussions within social scientific methodology. This paper explores the key issues in Becker's argument and considers its relevance to researchers today, locating this within a consideration of evaluation-based research and policy.…

Understanding Price Elasticities to Inform Public Health Research and Intervention Studies: Key Issues

PubMed Central

Nghiem, Nhung; Genç, Murat; Blakely, Tony

2013-01-01

Pricing policies such as taxes and subsidies are important tools in preventing and controlling a range of threats to public health. This is particularly so in tobacco and alcohol control efforts and efforts to change dietary patterns and physical activity levels as a means of addressing increases in noncommunicable diseases. To understand the potential impact of pricing policies, it is critical to understand the nature of price elasticities for consumer products. For example, price elasticities are key parameters in models of any food tax or subsidy that aims to quantify health impacts and cost-effectiveness. We detail relevant terms and discuss key issues surrounding price elasticities to inform public health research and intervention studies. PMID:24028228

Dietary supplement labeling and advertising claims: are clinical studies on the full product required?

PubMed

Villafranco, John E; Bond, Katie

2009-01-01

Whether labeling and advertising claims for multi-ingredient dietary supplements may be based on the testing of individual, key ingredients--rather than the actual product--has caused a good deal of confusion. This confusion stems from the dearth of case law and the open-endedness of Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) guidance on this issue. Nevertheless, the relevant regulatory guidance, case law and self-regulatory case law--when assessed together--indicate that the law allows and even protects "key ingredient claims" (i.e., claims based on efficacy testing of key ingredients in the absence of full product testing). This article provides an overview of the relevant substantiation requirements for dietary supplement claims and then reviews FTC's and FDA's guidance on key ingredient claims; relevant case law; use of key ingredient claims in the advertising of other consumer products; and the National Advertising Division of the Better Business Bureau, Inc.'s (NAD's) approach to evaluating key ingredient claims for dietary supplements. This article concludes that key ingredient claims--provided they are presented in a truthful and non-deceptive manner--are permissible, and should be upheld in litigation and cases subject to industry self-regulation. This article further concludes that the NAD's approach to key ingredient claims provides practical guidance for crafting and substantiating dietary supplement key ingredient claims.

Using Concept Mapping to Develop a Conceptual Framework for Creating Virtual Communities of Practice to Translate Cancer Research into Practice

PubMed Central

2014-01-01

Introduction Translating government-funded cancer research into clinical practice can be accomplished via virtual communities of practice that include key players in the process: researchers, health care practitioners, and intermediaries. This study, conducted from November 2012 through January 2013, examined issues that key stakeholders believed should be addressed to create and sustain government-sponsored virtual communities of practice to integrate cancer control research, practice, and policy and demonstrates how concept mapping can be used to present relevant issues. Methods Key stakeholders brainstormed statements describing what is needed to create and sustain virtual communities of practice for moving cancer control research into practice. Participants rated them on importance and feasibility, selected most relevant statements, and sorted them into clusters. I used concept mapping to examine the issues identified and multidimensional scaling analyses to create a 2-dimensional conceptual map of the statement clusters. Results Participants selected 70 statements and sorted them into 9 major clusters related to creating and sustaining virtual communities of practice: 1) standardization of best practices, 2) external validity, 3) funding and resources, 4) social learning and collaboration, 5) cooperation, 6) partnerships, 7) inclusiveness, 8) social determinants and cultural competency, and 9) preparing the environment. Researchers, health care practitioners, and intermediaries were in relative agreement regarding issues of importance for creating these communities. Conclusion Virtual communities of practice can be created to address the needs of researchers, health care practitioners, and intermediaries by using input from these key stakeholders. Increasing linkages between these subgroups can improve the translation of research into practice. Similarities and differences between groups can provide valuable information to assist the government in developing virtual communities of practice. PMID:24762532

Using concept mapping to develop a conceptual framework for creating virtual communities of practice to translate cancer research into practice.

PubMed

Vinson, Cynthia A

2014-04-24

Translating government-funded cancer research into clinical practice can be accomplished via virtual communities of practice that include key players in the process: researchers, health care practitioners, and intermediaries. This study, conducted from November 2012 through January 2013, examined issues that key stakeholders believed should be addressed to create and sustain government-sponsored virtual communities of practice to integrate cancer control research, practice, and policy and demonstrates how concept mapping can be used to present relevant issues. Key stakeholders brainstormed statements describing what is needed to create and sustain virtual communities of practice for moving cancer control research into practice. Participants rated them on importance and feasibility, selected most relevant statements, and sorted them into clusters. I used concept mapping to examine the issues identified and multidimensional scaling analyses to create a 2-dimensional conceptual map of the statement clusters. Participants selected 70 statements and sorted them into 9 major clusters related to creating and sustaining virtual communities of practice: 1) standardization of best practices, 2) external validity, 3) funding and resources, 4) social learning and collaboration, 5) cooperation, 6) partnerships, 7) inclusiveness, 8) social determinants and cultural competency, and 9) preparing the environment. Researchers, health care practitioners, and intermediaries were in relative agreement regarding issues of importance for creating these communities. Virtual communities of practice can be created to address the needs of researchers, health care practitioners, and intermediaries by using input from these key stakeholders. Increasing linkages between these subgroups can improve the translation of research into practice. Similarities and differences between groups can provide valuable information to assist the government in developing virtual communities of practice.

Overview of the Health and Retirement Study and Introduction to the Special Issue.

PubMed

Fisher, Gwenith G; Ryan, Lindsay H

2018-01-01

Twenty five years ago, the largest academic behavioral and social science project ever undertaken in the U.S. began: the Health and Retirement Study (HRS). The HRS is an invaluable publicly available dataset for investigating work, aging, and retirement and informing public policy on these issues. This biennial longitudinal study began in 1992 and has studied more than 43,000 individuals and produced almost 4000 journal articles, dissertations, books, book chapters, and reports to date. The purpose of this special issue of Work, Aging and Retirement is to describe the HRS and highlight relevant research that utilizes this rich and complex dataset. First, we briefly describe the background that led to the development of the HRS. Then we summarize key aspects of the study, including its development, sampling, and methodology. Our review of the content of the survey focuses on the aspects of the study most relevant to research on worker aging and retirement. Next, we identify key strengths and important limitations of the study and provide advice to current and future HRS data users. Finally, we summarize the articles in this Special Issue (all of which use data from the HRS) and how they advance our knowledge and understanding of worker aging and retirement.

Health Care Financing In Iran; Is Privatization A Good Solution?

PubMed Central

Davari, M; Haycox, A; Walley, T

2012-01-01

Background: This paper considers a range of issues related to the financing of health care system and relevant government policies in Iran. Methods: This study used mixed methods. A systematic literature review was undertaken to identify relevant publications. This was supplemented by hand searching in books and journals, including government publications. The issues and uncertainties identified in the literature were explored in detail through semi-structured interviews with key informants. These were triangulated with empirical evidence in the form of the literature, government statistics and independent expert opinions to validate the views expressed in the interviews. Results: The systematic review of published literature showed that no previous publication has addressed issues relating to the financing of healthcare services in Iran. However, a range of opinion pieces outlined issues to be explored further in the interviews. Such issues summarised into four main categories. Conclusion: The health care market in Iran has faced a period in which financial issues have enhanced managerial complexity. Privatization of health care services would appear to be a step too far in assisting the system to confront its challenges at the current time. The most important step toward solving such challenges is to focus on a feasible, relevant and comprehensive policy, which optimises the use of health care resources in Iran. PMID:23113205

Health care financing in iran; is privatization a good solution?

PubMed

Davari, M; Haycox, A; Walley, T

2012-01-01

This paper considers a range of issues related to the financing of health care system and relevant government policies in Iran. This study used mixed methods. A systematic literature review was undertaken to identify relevant publications. This was supplemented by hand searching in books and journals, including government publications. The issues and uncertainties identified in the literature were explored in detail through semi-structured interviews with key informants. These were triangulated with empirical evidence in the form of the literature, government statistics and independent expert opinions to validate the views expressed in the interviews. The systematic review of published literature showed that no previous publication has addressed issues relating to the financing of healthcare services in Iran. However, a range of opinion pieces outlined issues to be explored further in the interviews. Such issues summarised into four main categories. The health care market in Iran has faced a period in which financial issues have enhanced managerial complexity. Privatization of health care services would appear to be a step too far in assisting the system to confront its challenges at the current time. The most important step toward solving such challenges is to focus on a feasible, relevant and comprehensive policy, which optimises the use of health care resources in Iran.

Enhancing security and improving interoperability in healthcare information systems.

PubMed

Gritzalis, D A

1998-01-01

Security is a key issue in healthcare information systems, since most aspects of security become of considerable or even critical importance when handling healthcare information. In addition, the intense need for information exchange has revealed interoperability of systems and applications as another key issue. Standardization can play an important role towards both these issues. In this paper, relevant standardization activities are briefly presented, and existing and emerging healthcare information security standards are identified and critically analysed. The analysis is based on a framework which has been developed for this reason. Therefore, the identification of gaps and inconsistencies in current standardization, the description of the conflicts of standards with legislation, and the analysis of implications of these standards to user organizations, are the main results of this paper.

Technology Helps Increase Poverty Awareness.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Samaras, Anastasia P.

2002-01-01

Discusses the importance of developing curricular initiatives that educate students on the major facts and issues associated with poverty in America. Provides key poverty statistics and highlights useful Internet resources that offer resource lists, success stories, relevant press releases, and curriculum guides. For example, the PovertyUSA Web…

Intercomprehension: A Portal to Teachers' Intercultural Sensitivity

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pinho, Ana Sofia

2015-01-01

The development of opportunities for teachers' professional development in plurilingual and intercultural education is a key issue in language teacher education and "intercomprehension" (IC) can provide a potential portal for the development of teachers' intercultural sensitivity. Particularly relevant to this is the creation of powerful…

NOx SOx Secondary NAAQS: Integrated Review Plan ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

The NOx SOx Secondary NAAQS Integrated Review Plan is the first document generated as part of the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) review process. The Plan presents background information, the schedule for the review, the process to be used in conducting the review, and the key policy-relevant science issues that will guide the review. The integrated review plan also discusses the frameworks for the various assessment documents to be prepared by the EPA as part of the review, including an Integrated Science Assessment (ISA), and as warranted, a Risk/Exposure Assessment (REA), and a Policy Assessment (PA). The primary purpose of the NOx SOx Secondary NAAQS Integrated Review Plan is to highlight the key policy-relevant issues to be considered in the Review of the Oxides of Nitrogen and Oxides of Sulfur Secondary NAAQS. A draft of the integrated review plan will be the subject of an advisory review with the Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee (CASAC) and made available to the public for review and comment.

Influenza and immunization: a quantitative study of media coverage in the season of the «Fluad case».

PubMed

Odone, Anna; Chiesa, Valentina; Ciorba, Veronica; Cella, Paola; Pasquarella, Cesira; Signorelli, Carlo

2015-01-01

Seasonal influenza generates serious health and economic losses. In the last influenza season, the report of three deaths originally blamed on the Fluad vaccine drew widespread attention from the media and is likely to have had a major negative impact on vaccine uptake. We quantitatively analyzed media coverage on influenza and immunization-related topics on all published issues of the Italian newspaper ranking first in circulation, over one year. We retrieved relevant key words and articles, reporting on article topic, length, position, and approach to immunization, and on other selected indicators' summary statistics, trends, and correspondence with key events. Selected key words were retrieved 798 times over the study period, 34% specifically focusing on influenza. The average number of influenza-related key words per issue was 96%higher in the four-day «uncertainty» period from when the deaths were first reported to the release of the test results disproving any causal association between the deaths and the vaccine (time frame #1), as compared to the whole study period. Ninety relevant articles were included in the analysis, 51%focusing on influenza, the average number/issue being 97%higher during time frame #1. During time frame #1, articles were also longer and located in the main sections of the newspapers. No articles were published at the launch of the seasonal influenza immunization campaign. We propose an analytic model of media monitoring that could be effectively applied to support health authorities and representatives of the scientific community in conveying health education messages through the media.

"Let Me Keep My Dead Husband's Sperm": Ethical Issues in Posthumous Reproduction.

PubMed

Panagiotopoulou, Nikoletta; Karavolos, Stamatios

2015-01-01

The feasibility of posthumous reproduction when the surviving partner is female has brought to light many ethical, moral, social, and legal issues. This review aims to summarize these issues and to assist clinicians who may be faced with such requests. A question list, used for health technologies assessment, was utilized in a question-answer approach as the review methodology. Of the 1,208 publications identified through a comprehensive literature search in biomedical, psychological, and ethical databases, 31 articles included arguments related to one or more questions from the predefined question set. Key stakeholders identified include the deceased, the requesting party, the resultant child, the physician, and society. Key ethical issues relevant to posthumous reproduction include the four traditional pillars of medical ethics--autonomy, beneficence, nonmaleficence, justice--as well as the stakeholders' rights and sociocultural attitudes. The ethical framework formulated by these issues has been incorporated in a clinical ethics decision-making tool that could prove useful to clinicians and decision makers. Copyright 2015 The Journal of Clinical Ethics. All rights reserved.

A TOXICOLOGICAL VIEW OF ISSUES AND APPROACHES

EPA Science Inventory

Mode of action (MOA) is a powerful approach which can be used to improve extrapolations and understanding of relevance from studies of animals to humans, to inform differential susceptible states, and from high to low doses. In using mode of action, a key event is identified whi...

Understanding Canadian Family Policy: Intents and Models.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kieren, Dianne K.

1991-01-01

Introduces some of the key concepts and issues that face Canadian policymakers as they attempt to provide relevant and sensitive actions in support of families and individuals in families. Reviews the Quebec model, considered to be excellent for the development of humanly sensitive family policy. (Author/JOW)

Mother Tongue Education in Singapore: Concerns, Issues and Controversies

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ng, Chin Leong Patrick

2014-01-01

In 1966, the Singapore Government implemented the English-knowing bilingual policy which made it mandatory for all Chinese students to study English as a "First Language" and the Chinese language (CL) as a "Mother Tongue Language" in Singapore schools. Using key literature relevant to Singapore's bilingual educational policy…

Ocean FEST: Families Exploring Science Together

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bruno, Barbara C.; Wiener, Carlie; Kimura, Arthur; Kimura, Rene

2011-01-01

This project engages elementary school students, parents, teachers, and administrators in ocean-themed family science nights based on a proven model. Our key goals are to: (1) educate participants about ocean and earth science issues that are relevant to their communities; and (2) inspire more underrepresented students, including Native Hawaiians,…

Counselling Refugee Young People: An Exploration of Therapeutic Approaches

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Warr, Sally

2010-01-01

This paper presents and discusses the key findings from a study that considered significant issues that affect refugees and asylum-seekers, and explored beneficial counselling approaches relevant to this group. In-depth narrative interviews were conducted with three counsellors and three specialist children's support advisors. Data were analysed…

Development of Performance Dashboards in Healthcare Sector: Key Practical Issues.

PubMed

Ghazisaeidi, Marjan; Safdari, Reza; Torabi, Mashallah; Mirzaee, Mahboobeh; Farzi, Jebraeil; Goodini, Azadeh

2015-10-01

Static nature of performance reporting systems in health care sector has resulted in inconsistent, incomparable, time consuming, and static performance reports that are not able to transparently reflect a round picture of performance and effectively support healthcare managers' decision makings. So, the healthcare sector needs interactive performance management tools such as performance dashboards to measure, monitor, and manage performance more effectively. The aim of this article was to identify key issues that need to be addressed for developing high-quality performance dashboards in healthcare sector. A literature review was established to search electronic research databases, e-journals collections, and printed journals, books, dissertations, and theses for relevant articles. The search strategy interchangeably used the terms of "dashboard", "performance measurement system", and "executive information system" with the term of "design" combined with operator "AND". Search results (n=250) were adjusted for duplications, screened based on their abstract relevancy and full-text availability (n=147) and then assessed for eligibility (n=40). Eligible articles were included if they had explicitly focused on dashboards, performance measurement systems or executive information systems design. Finally, 28 relevant articles included in the study. Creating high-quality performance dashboards requires addressing both performance measurement and executive information systems design issues. Covering these two fields, identified contents were categorized to four main domains: KPIs development, Data Sources and data generation, Integration of dashboards to source systems, and Information presentation issues. This study implies the main steps to develop dashboards for the purpose of performance management. Performance dashboards developed on performance measurement and executive information systems principles and supported by proper back-end infrastructure will result in creation of dynamic reports that help healthcare managers to consistently measure the performance, continuously detect outliers, deeply analyze causes of poor performance, and effectively plan for the future.

Outcomes of the 2015 World Radiocommunication Conference for Aeronautical Spectrum and Applications

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kerczewski, Robert J.; Jonasson, Loftur

2016-01-01

At the conclusion of a nearly four year study cycle following the closing of the 2012 World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC-12), the 2015 WRC in November of 2015 considered a number of agenda items and issues relevant to systems and spectrum allocations supporting communications, navigation and surveillance for the operation of civil aviation. Among a number of WRC-15 agenda items and issues, the key agenda items affecting civil aviation included: unmanned aircraft systems use of the Fixed Satellite Service for command and control communications; global flight tracking; new allocations to International Mobile Telecommunications (IMT); and protection of the Fixed Satellite Service to support safe operation of aircraft. A number of other agenda items affecting or potentially affecting civil aviation were also addressed by WRC-15. In this paper we describe the outcomes of WRC-15 for these civil aeronautical-relevant issues. We then outline the civil aviation-related agenda items and issues that will be considered at the upcoming 2019 WRC.

Unrequited: neurochemical enhancement of love.

PubMed

Bamford, Rebecca

2015-07-01

I raise several concerns with Earp and colleagues' analysis of enhancement through neurochemical modulation of love as a key issue in contemporary neuroethics. These include: (i) strengthening their deflation of medicalization concerns by showing how the objection that love should be left outside of the scope of medicine would directly undermine the goal of medicine; (ii) developing stronger analysis of the social and political concerns relevant to neurochemical modulation of love, by exploring and suggesting possible counters to ways in which 'wellbeing' may be used as a tool of oppression; (iii) providing reasons to support a broad need for ecological investigation of, and indeed ecological education concerning, neurotechnology; (iv) suggesting ways in which philosophy, and the humanities more broadly, remain directly relevant to responding effectively to issues in contemporary neuroethics.

Overview of research addressing ethical dimensions of participation in traumatic stress studies: autonomy and beneficence.

PubMed

Newman, Elana; Kaloupek, Danny

2009-12-01

One element of the design of human research studies is ethically informed decision-making. Key issues include the safety, costs, and benefits of participation. Historically, much of this decision-making was based on opinion rather than formal evidence. Recently, however, investigators in the traumatic stress field have begun to collect data that are relevant to these decisions. In this article, the authors focus on issues emanating from the ethical concepts of autonomy and respect for persons and beneficence and nonmaleficence, and then summarize relevant evidence from studies with trauma-exposed individuals. Discussion addresses implications of this evidence for research practice and policy, and identifies some potentially informative data collections opportunities for future trauma studies.

Opportunities for Web-Based Indicators in Environmental Sciences

PubMed Central

Malcevschi, Sergio; Marchini, Agnese; Savini, Dario; Facchinetti, Tullio

2012-01-01

This paper proposes a set of web-based indicators for quantifying and ranking the relevance of terms related to key-issues in Ecology and Sustainability Science. Search engines that operate in different contexts (e.g. global, social, scientific) are considered as web information carriers (WICs) and are able to analyse; (i) relevance on different levels: global web, individual/personal sphere, on-line news, and culture/science; (ii) time trends of relevance; (iii) relevance of keywords for environmental governance. For the purposes of this study, several indicators and specific indices (relational indices and dynamic indices) were applied to a test-set of 24 keywords. Outputs consistently show that traditional study topics in environmental sciences such as water and air have remained the most quantitatively relevant keywords, while interest in systemic issues (i.e. ecosystem and landscape) has grown over the last 20 years. Nowadays, the relevance of new concepts such as resilience and ecosystem services is increasing, but the actual ability of these concepts to influence environmental governance needs to be further studied and understood. The proposed approach, which is based on intuitive and easily replicable procedures, can support the decision-making processes related to environmental governance. PMID:22905118

Opportunities for web-based indicators in environmental sciences.

PubMed

Malcevschi, Sergio; Marchini, Agnese; Savini, Dario; Facchinetti, Tullio

2012-01-01

This paper proposes a set of web-based indicators for quantifying and ranking the relevance of terms related to key-issues in Ecology and Sustainability Science. Search engines that operate in different contexts (e.g. global, social, scientific) are considered as web information carriers (WICs) and are able to analyse; (i) relevance on different levels: global web, individual/personal sphere, on-line news, and culture/science; (ii) time trends of relevance; (iii) relevance of keywords for environmental governance. For the purposes of this study, several indicators and specific indices (relational indices and dynamic indices) were applied to a test-set of 24 keywords. Outputs consistently show that traditional study topics in environmental sciences such as water and air have remained the most quantitatively relevant keywords, while interest in systemic issues (i.e. ecosystem and landscape) has grown over the last 20 years. Nowadays, the relevance of new concepts such as resilience and ecosystem services is increasing, but the actual ability of these concepts to influence environmental governance needs to be further studied and understood. The proposed approach, which is based on intuitive and easily replicable procedures, can support the decision-making processes related to environmental governance.

Disassembling archeology, reassembling the modern world.

PubMed

Carruthers, William; Van Damme, Stéphane

2017-09-01

This article provides a substantive discussion of the relevance of the history of archeology to the history of science. At the same time, the article introduces the papers contained in this special issue as exemplars of this relevance. To make its case, the article moves through various themes in the history of archeology that overlap with key issues in the history of science. The article discusses the role and tension of regimes of science in antiquarian and archeological practices, and also considers issues of scale and place, particularly in relation to the field. Additionally, the piece attends to issues of professionalization and the constitution of an archeological public, at the same time as discussing issues of empire, colonialism, and the circulation of knowledge. Meanwhile, enriching discussions within and beyond the history of science, the article discusses the history of archeology and its relationship with museums, collecting, and material culture and materiality. Finally, the piece discusses the relationship of the history of archeology with wider discussions about scientific ethics. In conclusion, the article questions whether we should speak of 'the history of archeology' at all.

USSR Space Life Sciences Digest. Index to issues 1-4

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Teeter, R.; Hooke, L. R.

1986-01-01

This document is an index to issues 1 to 4 of the USSR Space Life Sciences Digest and is arranged in three sections. In section 1, abstracts from the first four issues are grouped according to subject; please note the four letter codes in the upper right hand corner of the pages. Section 2 lists the categories according to which digest entries are grouped and cites additional entries relevant to that category by four letter code and entry number in section 1. Refer to section 1 for titles and other pertinent information. Key words are indexed in section 3.

Framing health for land-use planning legislation: A qualitative descriptive content analysis.

PubMed

Harris, Patrick; Kent, Jennifer; Sainsbury, Peter; Thow, Anne Marie

2016-01-01

Framing health as a relevant policy issue for other sectors is not well understood. A recent review of the New South Wales (Australia) land-use planning system resulted in the drafting of legislation with an internationally unprecedented focus on human health. We apply a political science approach to investigate the question 'how and to what extent were health and wider issues framed in submissions to the review?' We investigated a range of stakeholder submissions including health focussed agencies (n = 31), purposively identified key stakeholders with influence on the review (n = 24), and a random sample of other agencies and individuals (n = 47). Using qualitative descriptive analysis we inductively coded for the term 'health' and sub-categories. We deductively coded for 'wider concerns' using a locally endorsed 'Healthy Urban Development Checklist'. Additional inductive analysis uncovered further 'wider concerns'. Health was explicitly identified as a relevant issue for planning policy only in submissions by health-focussed agencies. This framing concerned the new planning system promoting and protecting health as well as connecting health to wider planning concerns including economic issues, transport, public open space and, to a slightly lesser extent, environmental sustainability. Key stakeholder and other agency submissions focussed on these and other wider planning concerns but did not mention health in detail. Health agency submissions did not emphasise infrastructure, density or housing as explicitly as others. Framing health as a relevant policy issue has the potential to influence legislative change governing the business of other sectors. Without submissions from health agencies arguing the importance of having health as an objective in the proposed legislation it is unlikely health considerations would have gained prominence in the draft bill. The findings have implications for health agency engagement with legislative change processes and beyond in land use planning. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Identifying Research Priorities for School Improvement in the Developing World

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Read, Robyn; Fernandez-Hermosilla, Magdalena; Anderson, Stephen; Mundy, Karen

2016-01-01

This paper discusses a research agenda setting project conducted for an international non-governmental organization which aims to help create a regionally relevant, high-quality knowledge base on key education issues of policy and practice. Specifically, we illustrate how our team adapted the Child Health and Nutrition Research Initiative (CHRNI)…

Guide to School Greenhouses: Growing Ideas.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Beliveau, Victoria

This booklet is part of the Growing Ideas series for educators which supports teachers by enabling them to expand their own skills as they help students use plants and gardens as contexts for developing a deeper, richer understanding of the world around them. This booklet, on school greenhouses, gives an overview of key issues relevant to…

Growth of a Science Center: The Center for Science and Mathematics Education (CESAME) at Stony Brook University

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gafney, Leo; Bynum, R. David; Sheppard, Keith

2015-01-01

This report describes the origin and development of CESAME (The Center for Science and Mathematics Education) at Stony Brook University. The analysis identifies key ingredients in areas of personnel, funding, organizational structures, educational priorities, collaboration, and institutionalization. After a discussion of relevant issues in…

A Critical Analysis of Eight Informal Reading Inventories

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nilsson, Nina L.

2008-01-01

For this content analysis study, the author examined and cross-compared the various ways in which eight informal reading inventories (IRIs) published from 2004 to 2008 address key issues relevant to new U.S. federal guidelines and the National Reading Panel's five critical components of reading instruction. Results suggest the IRIs range in…

Cultural differences in end-of-life care.

PubMed

Vincent, J L

2001-02-01

The exact time of death for many intensive care unit patients is increasingly preceded by an end-of-life decision. Such decisions are fraught with ethical, religious, moral, cultural, and legal difficulties. Key questions surrounding this issue include the difference between withholding and withdrawing, when to withhold/withdraw, who should be involved in the decision-making process, what are the relevant legal precedents, etc. Cultural variations in attitude to such issues are perhaps expected between continents, but key differences also exist on a more local basis, for example, among the countries of Europe. Physicians need to be aware of the potential cultural differences in the attitudes not only of their colleagues, but also of their patients and families. Open discussion of these issues and some change in our attitude toward life and death are needed to enable such patients to have a pain-free, dignified death.

Research on intercultural effectiveness and its relevance to multicultural crews in space.

PubMed

Kealey, Daniel J

2004-07-01

The planning for and managing of missions in space is changing dramatically due to, among other things, the involvement of more and more national cultures. In light of the need to better understand the influence and management of cultural differences among the crewmembers who will live and work in space in the future, the aim of this paper is threefold. First, some of the key research findings on intercultural effectiveness on Earth are presented and their relevance to the functioning of multicultural crews in space is discussed. Second, issues that will need to be addressed in order to maximize the effective functioning of multicultural teams in space are identified. These include improving the procedures for the screening and selection, intercultural training, monitoring and support, and debriefing and re-entry of astronauts and their families. Finally, the paper concludes with the presentation and discussion of some of the key activities that will need to be undertaken to address these issues and, thereby, enhance the overall functioning of multicultural teams living and working in space.

Disaster Mental Health and Positive Psychology-Considering the Context of Natural and Technological Disasters: An Introduction to the Special Issue.

PubMed

Schulenberg, Stefan E

2016-12-01

This article serves as an introduction to the Journal of Clinical Psychology's special issue on disaster mental health and positive psychology. The special issue comprises two sections. The first section presents a series of data-driven articles and research-informed reviews examining meaning and resilience in the context of natural and technological disasters. The second section presents key topics in the area of disaster mental health, with particular relevance for positive psychology and related frameworks. The special issue is intended to bridge the gap between these two areas of applied science, with the audience being experienced clinicians or clinicians in training. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Re-Educating Jet-Engine-Researchers to Stay Relevant

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gal-Or, Benjamin

2016-06-01

To stay relevantly supported, jet-engine researchers, designers and operators should follow changing uses of small and large jet engines, especially those anticipated to be used by/in the next generation, JET-ENGINE-STEERED ("JES") fleets of jet drones but fewer, JES-Stealth-Fighter/Strike Aircraft. In addition, some diminishing returns from isolated, non-integrating, jet-engine component studies, vs. relevant, supersonic, shock waves control in fluidic-JES-side-effects on compressor stall dynamics within Integrated Propulsion Flight Control ("IPFC"), and/or mechanical JES, constitute key relevant methods that currently move to China, India, South Korea and Japan. The central roles of the jet engine as primary or backup flight controller also constitute key relevant issues, especially under post stall conditions involving induced engine-stress while participating in crash prevention or minimal path-time maneuvers to target. And when proper instructors are absent, self-study of the JES-STVS REVOLUTION is an updating must, where STVS stands for wing-engine-airframe-integrated, embedded stealthy-jet-engine-inlets, restructured engines inside Stealth, Tailless, canard-less, Thrust Vectoring IFPC Systems. Anti-terror and Airliners Super-Flight-Safety are anticipated to overcome US legislation red-tape that obstructs JES-add-on-emergency-kits-use.

Legal Recognition of Same-Sex Relationships in the United States: A Social Science Perspective

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Herek, Gregory M.

2006-01-01

Whether and how civil society should recognize committed relationships between same-sex partners has become a prominent, often divisive, policy issue. The present article reviews relevant behavioral and social science research to assess the validity of key factual claims in this debate. The data indicate that same-sex and heterosexual…

Quality Assurance of E-learning. ENQA Workshop Report 14

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Grifoll, Josep; Huertas, Esther; Prades, Anna; Rodriguez, Sebastian; Rubin, Yuri; Mulder, Fred; Ossiannilsson, Ebba

2010-01-01

E-learning in the European Higher Education Area has stampeded its way to the foreground of the Quality Assurance (QA) forum, and has become a key issue among quality assurance agencies and institutions in the European Higher Education Area (EHEA). Because internet-based learning is currently such a relevant topic, there is a dire need for the…

Engaging Students in Physical Education: Key Challenges and Opportunities for Physical Educators in Urban Settings

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sliwa, Sarah; Nihiser, Allison; Lee, Sarah; McCaughtry, Nathan; Culp, Brian; Michael, Shannon

2017-01-01

In October 2009, "JOPERD" published a special issue about "Engaging Urban Youths in Physical Education and Physical Activity." Seven years later, many of the considerations mentioned remain relevant, such as large class sizes, limited access to equipment, and the lack of a dedicated gymnasium or outdoor space. These structural…

A Cross-Cultural Comparison of Belgian and Vietnamese Children's Social Competence and Behavior

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Roskam, Isabelle; Hoang, Thi Vân; Schelstraete, Marie-Anne

2017-01-01

Children's social competence and behavioral adjustment are key issues for child development, education, and clinical research. Cross-cultural analyses are necessary to provide relevant methods of assessing them for cross-cultural research. The aim of the current study was to contribute to this important line of research by validating the 3-factor…

Intellectual property implications for forestry research managers: Striving for win-win

Treesearch

Russell Haines

1999-01-01

Competent management of intellectual property is now a key issue for research managers increasingly driven on the one hand by more commercial approaches to research management) and on the other by the need to enter into partnerships where both inputs and outputs are shared. Products of forestry research activities that are relevant to intellectual property discussions...

The University in the Modern World: Ten Lessons of Civic and Community Engagement

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Watson, David

2008-01-01

Building on the analysis in his "Managing Civic and Community Engagement" (McGraw-Hill/Open University Press, 2007), the author offers an international perspective on the ways in which universities relate to their various communities. Relevant issues of leadership, policy and management are approached through key areas such as: the "narrative" of…

Do Prior Studies Matter?: Predicting Proficiencies Required to Excel Academically in Law School at Makerere University, Uganda

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nalukenge, Betty; Wamala, Robert; Ocaya, Bruno

2016-01-01

Purpose: Introduction of law school admission examinations has increased the debate regarding the relevance of prior studies for the enrollees in the program. The key issues of contention are whether prior studies reliably predict academic achievement of enrollees, and demonstrate proficiencies required for admission in the program. The purpose of…

Mendel in the Modern Classroom

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Smith, Mike U.; Gericke, Niklas M.

2015-01-01

Mendel is an icon in the history of genetics and part of our common culture and modern biology instruction. The aim of this paper is to summarize the place of Mendel in the modern biology classroom. In the present article we will identify key issues that make Mendel relevant in the classroom today. First, we recount some of the historical…

Teacher Evaluation: Current Practices in OECD Countries and a Literature Review. OECD Education Working Papers, No. 23

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Isore, Marlene

2009-01-01

This paper discusses the most relevant issues concerning teacher evaluation in primary and secondary education by reviewing the recent literature and analysing current practices within the OECD countries. First, it provides a conceptual framework highlighting key features of teacher evaluation schemes. In particular, it emphasises the importance…

Supporting interoperability of collaborative networks through engineering of a service-based Mediation Information System (MISE 2.0)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Benaben, Frederick; Mu, Wenxin; Boissel-Dallier, Nicolas; Barthe-Delanoe, Anne-Marie; Zribi, Sarah; Pingaud, Herve

2015-08-01

The Mediation Information System Engineering project is currently finishing its second iteration (MISE 2.0). The main objective of this scientific project is to provide any emerging collaborative situation with methods and tools to deploy a Mediation Information System (MIS). MISE 2.0 aims at defining and designing a service-based platform, dedicated to initiating and supporting the interoperability of collaborative situations among potential partners. This MISE 2.0 platform implements a model-driven engineering approach to the design of a service-oriented MIS dedicated to supporting the collaborative situation. This approach is structured in three layers, each providing their own key innovative points: (i) the gathering of individual and collaborative knowledge to provide appropriate collaborative business behaviour (key point: knowledge management, including semantics, exploitation and capitalisation), (ii) deployment of a mediation information system able to computerise the previously deduced collaborative processes (key point: the automatic generation of collaborative workflows, including connection with existing devices or services) (iii) the management of the agility of the obtained collaborative network of organisations (key point: supervision of collaborative situations and relevant exploitation of the gathered data). MISE covers business issues (through BPM), technical issues (through an SOA) and agility issues of collaborative situations (through EDA).

The many meanings of evidence: a comparative analysis of the forms and roles of evidence within three health policy processes in Cambodia.

PubMed

Walls, Helen; Liverani, Marco; Chheng, Kannarath; Parkhurst, Justin

2017-11-10

Discussions within the health community routinely emphasise the importance of evidence in informing policy formulation and implementation. Much of the support for the evidence-based policy movement draws from concern that policy decisions are often based on inadequate engagement with high-quality evidence. In many such discussions, evidence is treated as differing only in quality, and assumed to improve decisions if it can only be used more. In contrast, political science scholars have described this as an overly simplistic view of the policy-making process, noting that research 'use' can mean a variety of things and relies on nuanced aspects of political systems. An approach more in recognition of how policy-making systems operate in practice can be to consider how institutions and ideas influence which pieces of evidence appear to be relevant for, and are used within, different policy processes. Drawing on in-depth interviews undertaken in 2015-2016 with key health sector stakeholders in Cambodia, we investigate the evidence perceived to be relevant to policy decisions for three contrasting health policy examples, namely tobacco control, HIV/AIDS and performance-based salary incentives. These cases allow us to examine the ways that policy-relevant evidence may differ given the framing of the issue and the broader institutional context in which evidence is considered. The three health issues show few similarities in how pieces of evidence were used in various aspects of policy-making, despite all being discussed within a broad policy environment in which evidence-based policy-making is rhetorically championed. Instead, we find that evidence use can be better understood by mapping how these health policy issues differ in terms of the issue characteristics, and also in terms of the stakeholders structurally established as having a dominant influence for each issue. Both of these have important implications for evidence use. Contrasting concerns of key stakeholders meant that evidence related to differing issues could be understood in terms of how it was relevant to policy. The stakeholders involved, however, could further be seen to possess differing logics about how to go about achieving their various outcomes - logics that could further help explain the differences seen in evidence utilisation. A comparative approach reiterates that evidence is not a uniform concept for which more is obviously better, but rather illustrates how different constructions and pieces of evidence become relevant in relation to the features of specific health policy decisions. An institutional approach that considers the structural position of stakeholders with differing core goals or objectives, as well as their logics related to evidence utilisation, can further help to understand some of the complexities of evidence use in health policy-making.

Development of Performance Dashboards in Healthcare Sector: Key Practical Issues

PubMed Central

Ghazisaeidi, Marjan; Safdari, Reza; Torabi, Mashallah; Mirzaee, Mahboobeh; Farzi, Jebraeil; Goodini, Azadeh

2015-01-01

Background: Static nature of performance reporting systems in health care sector has resulted in inconsistent, incomparable, time consuming, and static performance reports that are not able to transparently reflect a round picture of performance and effectively support healthcare managers’ decision makings. So, the healthcare sector needs interactive performance management tools such as performance dashboards to measure, monitor, and manage performance more effectively. The aim of this article was to identify key issues that need to be addressed for developing high-quality performance dashboards in healthcare sector. Methods: A literature review was established to search electronic research databases, e-journals collections, and printed journals, books, dissertations, and theses for relevant articles. The search strategy interchangeably used the terms of “dashboard”, “performance measurement system”, and “executive information system” with the term of “design” combined with operator “AND”. Search results (n=250) were adjusted for duplications, screened based on their abstract relevancy and full-text availability (n=147) and then assessed for eligibility (n=40). Eligible articles were included if they had explicitly focused on dashboards, performance measurement systems or executive information systems design. Finally, 28 relevant articles included in the study. Results: Creating high-quality performance dashboards requires addressing both performance measurement and executive information systems design issues. Covering these two fields, identified contents were categorized to four main domains: KPIs development, Data Sources and data generation, Integration of dashboards to source systems, and Information presentation issues. Conclusion: This study implies the main steps to develop dashboards for the purpose of performance management. Performance dashboards developed on performance measurement and executive information systems principles and supported by proper back-end infrastructure will result in creation of dynamic reports that help healthcare managers to consistently measure the performance, continuously detect outliers, deeply analyze causes of poor performance, and effectively plan for the future. PMID:26635442

Context is everything: From cardiovascular disease to cerebral microbleeds.

PubMed

Charidimou, Andreas; Blacker, Deborah; Viswanathan, Anand

2018-01-01

Increasingly, our approach to cerebrovascular disease has become blurred by evidence published in literature often without careful consideration of what this evidence implies for specific patients at hand. In this essay, we analyze key contextual issues in cerebrovascular small vessel disease, in an attempt to highlight the symbolic gap that exists between research and clinical practice, a recurring theme in medicine. We highlight the importance of considering context when using data from epidemiologic, neuroimaging, and biomarker studies in determining relevance to the patient at hand. We argue, that while biomarkers and neuroimaging may eventually serve to help to identify individuals with specific cerebrovascular diseases, we must always continue to understand patients in a specific clinical context. These reflections are particularly relevant when considering cerebral microbleeds-a key marker of cerebrovascular small vessel disease whose detection often raises thorny clinical dilemmas.

The Food Code in the Yakut Culture: Semantics and Functions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gabysheva, Luiza Lvovna

2016-01-01

The relevance of researching the issue of a specific cultural meaning for a word in a folklore text is based on its being insufficiently studied and due to the importance for solving the problem of the folklore language semantic features. Yakut nominations for dairy products, which are the key words in the language of the Sakha people's folklore,…

Can a Diversified Instructional Approach Featuring Active Learning Improve Biology Students' Attitudes toward General Education?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rutledge, Michael L.; Lampley, Sandra A.

2017-01-01

In an effort to make our classes more engaging, we recently reorganized sections of our nonmajors biology course, using current issues in biology and society as a premise to promote coherence among course content and emphasize the relevance of biological concepts to everyday life. A key aspect of the reorganization included the development and…

Assessing Motivational Factors in Foreign Language Learning: Cultural Variation in Key Constructs

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rueda, Robert; Chen, Chun-ya Becky

2005-01-01

Assessment in 2nd and foreign language learning has often centered on proficiency, although motivation has been shown to be critical in learning in general, as well as in 2nd and foreign language acquisition specifically. One of the issues relevant to the assessment of motivational processes in this area is that of cultural differences. In much of…

Thought for application and application with thought: issues in theoretical thinking and practical wisdom.

PubMed

Jenkins, Sandra K; Thomas, Mary Beth

2005-01-01

Both theoretical thinking and practical wisdom are used by health professionals in their clinical practice. Lately, discussion has centered on the abstract phrase "theory-practice gap." The health profession is not the only discipline that seeks unity in theory and practice issues. Education is also building bridges in this arena. One reoccurring myth is the notion that theory and practice are separate; as a result, this gives a mistaken impression that theory serves no purpose in practice. Discussion of the issues in this paper includes definitions of theoretical thinking and practical wisdom, theoretical and practical knowledge development, and relevance to health professional's education, practice and science. These issues must be communicated to practitioners, educators and theorists. A collective definition to begin communication is proposed and suggestions are offered for addressing key issues.

The Pursuit of Quantum Gravity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dewitt-Morette, Cecile

2012-03-01

Why is it so difficult to make a Quantum Theory of Gravitation? What is the key idea of quantum physics? What is the key idea of Einstein theory of gravitation? I have selected three (simple) problems that can be solved and are relevant to these issues: 1. The nonanalyticity of semi classical approximations (or the sex life of the male moth) 2. The Pin Group (or the implication of the quantum phase in particle physics) 3. Spacetime is Space x Time (or the deflection of light by the Sun) Conclusion: La joie de l'ame est dans l'action Lyautey (or astronomical observations)

Continuing Education of Women, Report of a Seminar (Toronto, Canada, March 1, 2, 3, 1973).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Canadian Association for Adult Education, Toronto (Ontario).

A report of a Seminar on Continuing Education of Women, held in March 1973 for Canadian women, is provided. The seminar was held to explore key issues in continuing education of women and to give guidelines to the Canadian Association for Adult Education (CAAE) as to relevant action that could be taken by the association. The contents of the…

Ethnic and Gender Subgroup Differences in Education, Employment, and Incarceration in the Asian American and Pacific Islander Community

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Teranishi, Robert

2015-01-01

The stratification of opportunities and disparate outcomes for Black and Latino boys and men has been well documented. However, there remains a lack of awareness about the extent to which these issues are relevant for the Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community. This brief focuses on key status and leading indicators for the mobility…

Dental Education: Trends and Assumptions for the 21st Century

PubMed Central

Sinkford, Jeanne C.

1987-01-01

Dental educational institutions, as components of university systems, must develop strategic plans for program development, resource allocation, evaluation, and continued financial support. This dynamic process will be accomplished in a competitive academic arena where program excellence and program relevance are key issues in the game of survival. This article focuses on issues and trends that form the basis for planning assumptions and initiatives into the next decade and into the 21st century. This is our challenge, this is our mission if we are to be catalysts for change in the future. PMID:3560255

Practical Issues of Conducting a Q Methodology Study: Lessons Learned From a Cross-cultural Study.

PubMed

Stone, Teresa Elizabeth; Maguire, Jane; Kang, Sook Jung; Cha, Chiyoung

This article advances nursing research by presenting the methodological challenges experienced in conducting a multination Q-methodology study. This article critically analyzes the relevance of the methodology for cross-cultural and nursing research and the challenges that led to specific responses by the investigators. The use of focus groups with key stakeholders supplemented the Q-analysis results. The authors discuss practical issues and shared innovative approaches and provide best-practice suggestions on the use of this flexible methodology. Q methodology has the versatility to explore complexities of contemporary nursing practice and cross-cultural health research.

The Importance of Technology Readiness in NASA Earth Venture Missions

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wells, James E.; Komar, George J.

2009-01-01

The first set of Venture-class investigations share the characteristic that the technology should be mature and all investigations must use mature technology that has been modeled or demonstrated in a relevant environment (Technology Readiness Level (TRL) >5). Technology Readiness Levels are a systematic metric/measurement system that supports assessments of the maturity of a particular technology and the consistent comparison of maturity between different types of technology. The TRL is used in NASA technology planning. A major step in the level of fidelity of the technology demonstration follows the completion of TRL 5. At TRL 6, a system or subsystem model or prototype must be demonstrated in a relevant environment (ground or space) representative model or prototype system or system, which would go well beyond ad hoc, "patch-cord," or discrete component level breadboarding. These TRL levels are chosen as target objectives for the Program. The challenge for offerors is that they must identify key aspects (uncertainty, multi subsystem complexity, etc) of the TRL estimate that should be properly explained in a submitted proposal. Risk minimization is a key component of the Earth Venture missions. Experiences of prior airborne missions will be shared. The discussion will address aspects of uncertainty and issues surrounding three areas of airborne earth science missions: (1) Aircraft or proposed flight platform -- Expressing the capability of the aircraft in terms of the supporting mission requirements. These issues include airplane performance characteristics (duration, range, altitude, among others) and multiship complexities. (2) Instruments -- Establishing that the instruments have been demonstrated in a relevant environment. Instruments with heritage in prior space missions meet this requirement, as do instruments tested on the ground. Evidence that the instruments have demonstrated the ability to collect data as advertised will be described. The complexity of the integration of multiple subsystems will also be addressed. Issues associated with tailoring the instrument to meet the specific Venture mission objectives must be thoroughly explained and justified. (3) Aircraft/Instrument Integration -- Explicitly defining what development may be required to harden the instrument and integrate the instrument. The challenges associated with this key aspect of major airborne earth science investigations will be presented.

Occupational therapists' experience of workplace fatigue: Issues and action.

PubMed

Brown, Cary A; Schell, Jennifer; Pashniak, Lisa M

2017-01-01

Occupational therapists (OTs) work in all areas of health and wellbeing. The work is physically and psychologically demanding, but OTs are often not diligent about recognizing and attending to the workplace health and safety issue of fatigue in their own work settings. The purpose of this paper is to determine current issues and the evidence-base as presented in the literature so as to develop awareness and best practice interventions for fatigue reduction and management in occupational therapists' workplace. A comprehensive search strategy was carried out by the medical librarian on the study team and themes were extracted from the relevant literature by the study team. The literature revealed little research directly addressing occupational therapy workplace fatigue and we expanded our review of the evidence-base across all healthcare workers to identify publications of particular relevance to occupational therapists. This background paper is an important first step to raising awareness among OTs, guide key stakeholders regarding contributing factors to, and consequences of, OTs' workplace fatigue, and set research direction. Knowing which factors influencing workplace fatigue are shared across healthcare professionals and which are unique to OTs can also help organizations develop more tailored workplace fatigue risk reduction programs. This review concludes with a list of existing guidelines and tools for developing workplace fatigue risk assessment and management programs relevant to occupational therapists.

Relevance of Viroporin Ion Channel Activity on Viral Replication and Pathogenesis

PubMed Central

Nieto-Torres, Jose L.; Verdiá-Báguena, Carmina; Castaño-Rodriguez, Carlos; Aguilella, Vicente M.; Enjuanes, Luis

2015-01-01

Modification of host-cell ionic content is a significant issue for viruses, as several viral proteins displaying ion channel activity, named viroporins, have been identified. Viroporins interact with different cellular membranes and self-assemble forming ion conductive pores. In general, these channels display mild ion selectivity, and, eventually, membrane lipids play key structural and functional roles in the pore. Viroporins stimulate virus production through different mechanisms, and ion channel conductivity has been proved particularly relevant in several cases. Key stages of the viral cycle such as virus uncoating, transport and maturation are ion-influenced processes in many viral species. Besides boosting virus propagation, viroporins have also been associated with pathogenesis. Linking pathogenesis either to the ion conductivity or to other functions of viroporins has been elusive for a long time. This article summarizes novel pathways leading to disease stimulated by viroporin ion conduction, such as inflammasome driven immunopathology. PMID:26151305

The relevance of the Goudge inquiry to the practice of child protection/forensic paediatrics.

PubMed

Skellern, Catherine; Donald, Terence

2014-10-01

In 2008 Ontario, Canada the Goudge Inquiry arose following increasing concerns about practices surrounding forensic pathology and the investigation of paediatric deaths. Some of the considerations and recommendations have relevance to child protection/forensic paediatricians, particularly in relation to their responsibilities in opinion formulation and as expert witnesses. By examining the Inquiry recommendations, this paper applies them in relation to child protection/forensic paediatrics by discussing forensic medicine and its legal context, how interpretation of published reports and data should be used in opinion formulation; issues of 'diagnosis' versus 'opinion'; issues specific to child protection paediatrics; quality control; aspects of report writing and terminological considerations. It concludes with an adaptation of key recommendations directly from those of Goudge, applied to the context of paediatric forensic medicine undertaken in child protection assessments. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd and Faculty of Forensic and Legal Medicine. All rights reserved.

Medical technology as a key driver of rising health expenditure: disentangling the relationship

PubMed Central

Sorenson, Corinna; Drummond, Michael; Bhuiyan Khan, Beena

2013-01-01

Health care spending has risen steadily in most countries, becoming a concern for decision-makers worldwide. Commentators often point to new medical technology as the key driver for burgeoning expenditures. This paper critically appraises this conjecture, based on an analysis of the existing literature, with the aim of offering a more detailed and considered analysis of this relationship. Several databases were searched to identify relevant literature. Various categories of studies (eg, multivariate and cost-effectiveness analyses) were included to cover different perspectives, methodological approaches, and issues regarding the link between medical technology and costs. Selected articles were reviewed and relevant information was extracted into a standardized template and analyzed for key cross-cutting themes, ie, impact of technology on costs, factors influencing this relationship, and methodological challenges in measuring such linkages. A total of 86 studies were reviewed. The analysis suggests that the relationship between medical technology and spending is complex and often conflicting. Findings were frequently contingent on varying factors, such as the availability of other interventions, patient population, and the methodological approach employed. Moreover, the impact of technology on costs differed across technologies, in that some (eg, cancer drugs, invasive medical devices) had significant financial implications, while others were cost-neutral or cost-saving. In light of these issues, we argue that decision-makers and other commentators should extend their focus beyond costs solely to include consideration of whether medical technology results in better value in health care and broader socioeconomic benefits. PMID:23807855

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Gibson-Grant, Amy

Postwave tracking study for the Energy Efficiency Adult Campaign This study serves as measure of key metrics among the campaign’s target audience, homeowners age 25+. Key measures include: Awareness of messages relating to the broad issue; Recognition of the PSAs; Relevant attitudes, including interest, ease of taking energy efficient steps, and likelihood to act; Relevant knowledge, including knowledge of light bulb alternatives and energy efficient options; and Relevant behaviors, including specific energy-saving behaviors mentioned within the PSAs. Wave 1: May 27 – June 7, 2011 Wave 2: May 29 – June 8, 2012 Wave 3: May 29 – June 19,more » 2014 General market sample of adults 25+ who own their homes W1 sample: n = 704; W2: n=701; W3: n=806 Online Survey Panel Methodology Study was fielded by Lightspeed Research among their survey panel. Sample is US Census representative of US homeowners by race/ethnicity, income, age, region, and family status. At least 30% of respondents were required to have not updated major appliances in their home in the past 5 years (dishwasher, stove, refrigerator, washer, or dryer).« less

Projecting biodiversity and wood production in future forest landscapes: 15 key modeling considerations.

PubMed

Felton, Adam; Ranius, Thomas; Roberge, Jean-Michel; Öhman, Karin; Lämås, Tomas; Hynynen, Jari; Juutinen, Artti; Mönkkönen, Mikko; Nilsson, Urban; Lundmark, Tomas; Nordin, Annika

2017-07-15

A variety of modeling approaches can be used to project the future development of forest systems, and help to assess the implications of different management alternatives for biodiversity and ecosystem services. This diversity of approaches does however present both an opportunity and an obstacle for those trying to decide which modeling technique to apply, and interpreting the management implications of model output. Furthermore, the breadth of issues relevant to addressing key questions related to forest ecology, conservation biology, silviculture, economics, requires insights stemming from a number of distinct scientific disciplines. As forest planners, conservation ecologists, ecological economists and silviculturalists, experienced with modeling trade-offs and synergies between biodiversity and wood biomass production, we identified fifteen key considerations relevant to assessing the pros and cons of alternative modeling approaches. Specifically we identified key considerations linked to study question formulation, modeling forest dynamics, forest processes, study landscapes, spatial and temporal aspects, and the key response metrics - biodiversity and wood biomass production, as well as dealing with trade-offs and uncertainties. We also provide illustrative examples from the modeling literature stemming from the key considerations assessed. We use our findings to reiterate the need for explicitly addressing and conveying the limitations and uncertainties of any modeling approach taken, and the need for interdisciplinary research efforts when addressing the conservation of biodiversity and sustainable use of environmental resources. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Health Sector Reform in the Kurdistan Region - Iraq: Financing Reform, Primary Care, and Patient Safety.

PubMed

Anthony, C Ross; Moore, Melinda; Hilborne, Lee H; Mulcahy, Andrew W

2014-12-30

In 2010, the Kurdistan Regional Government asked the RAND Corporation to help guide reform of the health care system in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. The overarching goal of reform was to help establish a health system that would provide high-quality services efficiently to everyone to prevent, treat, and manage physical and mental illnesses and injuries. This article summarizes the second phase of RAND's work, when researchers analyzed three distinct but intertwined health policy issue areas: development of financing policy, implementation of early primary care recommendations, and evaluation of quality and patient safety. For health financing, the researchers reviewed the relevant literature, explored the issue in discussions with key stakeholders, developed and assessed various policy options, and developed plans or approaches to overcome barriers and achieve stated policy objectives. In the area of primary care, they developed and helped to implement a new management information system. In the area of quality and patient safety, they reviewed relevant literature, discussed issues and options with health leaders, and recommended an approach toward incremental implementation.

Space benefits: The secondary application of aerospace technology in other sectors of the economy

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1976-01-01

A 'Benefit Briefing Notebook' was prepared for the NASA Technology Utilization Office to provide accurate, convenient, and integrated resource information on the transfer of aerospace technology to other sectors of the U.S. economy. The contents are divided into three sections: (1) transfer overview, (2) benefit cases, and (3) indexes. The transfer overview section provides a general perspective for technology transfer from NASA to other organizations. In addition to a description of the basic transfer modes, the selection criteria for notebook examples and the kinds of benefit data they contain are also presented. The benefits section is subdivided into nineteen subject areas. Each subsection presents one or more key issues of current interest, with discrete transfer cases related to each key issue. Additional transfer examples relevant to each subject area are then presented. Pertinent transfer data are given at the end of each example.

Gender perspectives in resilience, vulnerability and adaptation to global environmental change.

PubMed

Ravera, Federica; Iniesta-Arandia, Irene; Martín-López, Berta; Pascual, Unai; Bose, Purabi

2016-12-01

The main goal of this special issue is to offer a room for interdisciplinary and engaged research in global environmental change (GEC), where gender plays a key role in building resilience and adaptation pathways. In this editorial paper, we explain the background setting, key questions and core approaches of gender and feminist research in vulnerability, resilience and adaptation to GEC. Highlighting the interlinkages between gender and GEC, we introduce the main contributions of the collection of 11 papers in this special issue. Nine empirical papers from around the globe allow to understand how gendered diversity in knowledge, institutions and everyday practices matters in producing barriers and options for achieving resilience and adaptive capacity in societies. Additionally, two papers contribute to the theoretical debate through a systematic review and an insight on the relevance of intersectional framings within GEC research and development programming.

Strategic environmental noise mapping: methodological issues concerning the implementation of the EU Environmental Noise Directive and their policy implications.

PubMed

Murphy, E; King, E A

2010-04-01

This paper explores methodological issues and policy implications concerning the implementation of the EU Environmental Noise Directive (END) across Member States. Methodologically, the paper focuses on two key thematic issues relevant to the Directive: (1) calculation methods and (2) mapping methods. For (1), the paper focuses, in particular, on how differing calculation methods influence noise prediction results as well as the value of the EU noise indicator L(den) and its associated implications for comparability of noise data across EU states. With regard to (2), emphasis is placed on identifying the issues affecting strategic noise mapping, estimating population exposure, noise action planning and dissemination of noise mapping results to the general public. The implication of these issues for future environmental noise policy is also examined. Copyright (c) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

An exploratory survey on the views of European tissue engineers concerning the ethical issues of tissue engineering research.

PubMed

Trommelmans, Leen; Selling, Joseph; Dierickx, Kris

2009-09-01

We present the first exploratory survey about the views of tissue engineers on the ethical issues of tissue engineering (TE), conducted among participants of a large European TE consortium. We analyzed the topics for which ethical guidance is necessary and the preferred dissemination channels, which are relevant issues and goals of clinical trials with human tissue-engineered products, and which information is to be given to trial participants. The need for comprehensive, specific ethical guidance of TE is a first key finding of this survey. Second, it becomes clear that little clarity exists on some crucial issues in the setup and conduct of clinical trials in TE. Identifying the unique features of TE and their repercussions for the ethical conduct of TE research and therapy is necessary. Third, prospective trial participants are to be informed about a wide variety of issues before taking part in the trial.

Telemental Health for Children and Adolescents: An Overview of Legal, Regulatory, and Risk Management Issues.

PubMed

Kramer, Gregory M; Luxton, David D

2016-04-01

The use of technology to provide telemental healthcare continues to increase; however, little has been written about the legal and regulatory issues involved in providing this form of care to children and adolescents. This article reviews existing laws and regulations to summarize the risk management issues relevant to providing telemental healthcare to children and adolescents. There are several legal and regulatory areas in which telemental health clinicians need to have awareness. These areas include: 1) Licensure, 2) malpractice liability, 3) credentialing and privileging, 4) informed consent, 5) security and privacy, and 6) emergency management. Although legal and regulatory challenges remain in providing telemental healthcare to children and adolescents, it is possible to overcome these challenges with knowledge of the issues and appropriate risk management strategies. We provide general knowledge of these key legal and regulatory issues, along with some risk management recommendations.

Key Issues in the Application of Knowledge Management in Education

DTIC Science & Technology

2005-03-01

designed instructional programs are often outdated before they ever leave the design stage (DAF, 1994; DAF, 1993). Such programs are far too rigid...and end up drowning in raw facts and figures (Davenport, Harris, De Long & Jacobson, 2001). Information When relevance or context is applied to...of data to information can be categorized five ways (Davenport & Prusak, 1998; Davenport, Harris, De Long & Jacobson, 2001). 1. Contexualized

Curriculum Styles and Strategies. A Review of Styles and Strategies of Curriculum Innovation in Secondary (and Higher) Education and Their Relevance and Applicability to Further Education. A Project Report.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Heathcote, Gay; And Others

Curriculum development at the secondary and higher education levels was examined to identify issues and features of interest to curriculum workers within the further education sector. The main study of the curriculum projects was concentrated on an indepth analysis of four key variables: (1) aims, goals, objectives, and associated curriculum…

Analysis of small crack behavior for airframe applications

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mcclung, R. C.; Chan, K. S.; Hudak, S. J., Jr.; Davidson, D. L.

1994-01-01

The small fatigue crack problem is critically reviewed from the perspective of airframe applications. Different types of small cracks-microstructural, mechanical, and chemical-are carefully defined and relevant mechanisms identified. Appropriate analysis techniques, including both rigorous scientific and practical engineering treatments, are briefly described. Important materials data issues are addressed, including increased scatter in small crack data and recommended small crack test methods. Key problems requiring further study are highlighted.

Developing core outcome sets for clinical trials: issues to consider

PubMed Central

2012-01-01

The selection of appropriate outcomes or domains is crucial when designing clinical trials in order to compare directly the effects of different interventions in ways that minimize bias. If the findings are to influence policy and practice then the chosen outcomes need to be relevant and important to key stakeholders including patients and the public, health care professionals and others making decisions about health care. There is a growing recognition that insufficient attention has been paid to the outcomes measured in clinical trials. These issues could be addressed through the development and use of an agreed standardized collection of outcomes, known as a core outcome set, which should be measured and reported, as a minimum, in all trials for a specific clinical area. Accumulating work in this area has identified the need for general guidance on the development of core outcome sets. Key issues to consider in the development of a core outcome set include its scope, the stakeholder groups to involve, choice of consensus method and the achievement of a consensus. PMID:22867278

An Analysis of Public Health Policy and Legal Issues Relevant to Mobile Food Vending

PubMed Central

Stevens, Stephanie A.; Yen, Irene H.; Laraia, Barbara L.

2010-01-01

Mobile food vending is a component of the food environment that has received little attention in the public health literature beyond concerns about food sanitation and hygiene issues. However, several features of mobile food vending make it an intriguing venue for food access. We present key components of mobile vending regulation and provide examples from 12 US cities to illustrate the variation that can exist surrounding these regulations. Using these regulatory features as a framework, we highlight existing examples of “healthy vending policies” to describe how mobile food vending can be used to increase access to nutritious food for vulnerable populations. PMID:20864711

EAACI position paper on occupational rhinitis

PubMed Central

Moscato, Gianna; Vandenplas, Olivier; Van Wijk, Roy Gerth; Malo, Jean-Luc; Perfetti, Luca; Quirce, Santiago; Walusiak, Jolanta; Castano, Roberto; Pala, Gianni; Gautrin, Denyse; De Groot, Hans; Folletti, Ilenia; Yacoub, Mona Rita; Siracusa, Andrea

2009-01-01

The present document is the result of a consensus reached by a panel of experts from European and non-European countries on Occupational Rhinitis (OR), a disease of emerging relevance which has received little attention in comparison to occupational asthma. The document covers the main items of OR including epidemiology, diagnosis, management, socio-economic impact, preventive strategies and medicolegal issues. An operational definition and classification of OR tailored on that of occupational asthma, as well as a diagnostic algorithm based on steps allowing for different levels of diagnostic evidence are proposed. The needs for future research are pointed out. Key messages are issued for each item. PMID:19257881

Diabetes and end of life: ethical and methodological issues in gathering evidence to guide care.

PubMed

Dunning, Trisha; Duggan, Nicole; Savage, Sally; Martin, Peter

2013-03-01

Providing palliative care for people with diabetes at the end of life is part of the chronic disease care trajectory, but end of life care is complex and the presence of diabetes further complicates management. The aim of the paper is to discuss the ethical and methodological issues encountered when undertaking research to develop guidelines for managing diabetes at the end of life and the strategies used to address the issues. The issues emerged as we developed guidelines for managing diabetes at the end of life, which included conducting individual interviews with 14 people with diabetes requiring palliative care and 10 family members. A reflexive researcher journal was maintained throughout the guideline development process. The interview transcripts and researcher's journal were analysed to determine key methodological, ethical and researcher-related issues. Key themes were vulnerability of the sampling population, methodological issues included recruiting participants and ensuring rigor, ethical issues concerned benefit and risk, justice, autonomy, privacy, professional boundaries and informed consent. Researcher-related issues were identified such as managing participant distress and their own emotional distress. People were willing to discuss end of life diabetes management preferences. Undertaking research with people at the end of life is complex because of their vulnerability and the ethical issues involved. However, the ethical principles of autonomy and justice apply and people should be given the relevant information and opportunity to decide whether to participate or not. © 2012 The Authors. Scandinavian Journal of Caring Sciences © 2012 Nordic College of Caring Science.

U.S. Trade Policy: Competing in a Global Economy. Choices for the 21st Century. Alternatives for Public Debate and Policy Development.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brown Univ., Providence, RI. Center for Foreign Policy Development.

This document contains a student text, teacher outline, and lesson plan that places beliefs and values at the center of the national discussion on trade policy. The focus of the unit is particularly relevant with the emergence of U.S. trade policy as a vital public issue. In 1993, two key elements of U.S. trade policy--the North American Free…

Cultural Interpretation of Ethnographic Evidence Relating to Astronomy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

López, Alejandro Martín

In this chapter, on the basis that ethnoastronomy deals with social facts, we discuss key concepts that should be problematized in ethnoastronomical studies. We deal with the denaturalization of categories such as ethnicity, identity, territory, culture, body, cosmovision, and cosmology, using contemporary ideas about these issues in the social sciences. Our aim is to show the relevance of this methodological reflection to the construction and interpretation of ethnographic evidence related to astronomy.

How do we make models that are useful in understanding partial epilepsies?

PubMed

Prince, David A

2014-01-01

The goals of constructing epilepsy models are (1) to develop approaches to prophylaxis of epileptogenesis following cortical injury; (2) to devise selective treatments for established epilepsies based on underlying pathophysiological mechanisms; and (3) use of a disease (epilepsy) model to explore brain molecular, cellular and circuit properties. Modeling a particular epilepsy syndrome requires detailed knowledge of key clinical phenomenology and results of human experiments that can be addressed in critically designed laboratory protocols. Contributions to understanding mechanisms and treatment of neurological disorders has often come from research not focused on a specific disease-relevant issue. Much of the foundation for current research in epilepsy falls into this category. Too strict a definition of the relevance of an experimental model to progress in preventing or curing epilepsy may, in the long run, slow progress. Inadequate exploration of the experimental target and basic laboratory results in a given model can lead to a failed effort and false negative or positive results. Models should be chosen based on the specific issues to be addressed rather than on convenience of use. Multiple variables including maturational age, species and strain, lesion type, severity and location, latency from injury to experiment and genetic background will affect results. A number of key issues in clinical and basic research in partial epilepsies remain to be addressed including the mechanisms active during the latent period following injury, susceptibility factors that predispose to epileptogenesis, injury - induced adaptive versus maladaptive changes, mechanisms of pharmaco-resistance and strategies to deal with multiple pathophysiological processes occurring in parallel.

Impacts of Permafrost on Infrastructure and Ecosystem Services

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Trochim, E.; Schuur, E.; Schaedel, C.; Kelly, B. P.

2017-12-01

The Study of Environmental Arctic Change (SEARCH) program developed knowledge pyramids as a tool for advancing scientific understanding and making this information accessible for decision makers. Knowledge pyramids are being used to synthesize, curate and disseminate knowledge of changing land ice, sea ice, and permafrost in the Arctic. Each pyramid consists of a one-two page summary brief in broadly accessible language and literature organized by levels of detail including synthesizes and scientific building blocks. Three knowledge pyramids have been produced related to permafrost on carbon, infrastructure, and ecosystem services. Each brief answers key questions with high societal relevance framed in policy-relevant terms. The knowledge pyramids concerning infrastructure and ecosystem services were developed in collaboration with researchers specializing in the specific topic areas in order to identify the most pertinent issues and accurately communicate information for integration into policy and planning. For infrastructure, the main issue was the need to build consensus in the engineering and science communities for developing improved methods for incorporating data applicable to building infrastructure on permafrost. In ecosystem services, permafrost provides critical landscape properties which affect basic human needs including fuel and drinking water availability, access to hunting and harvest, and fish and wildlife habitat. Translating these broad and complex topics necessitated a systematic and iterative approach to identifying key issues and relating them succinctly to the best state of the art research. The development of the knowledge pyramids provoked collaboration and synthesis across distinct research and engineering communities. The knowledge pyramids also provide a solid basis for policy development and the format allows the content to be regularly updated as the research community advances.

The Managed Care Backlash: Perceptions and Rhetoric in Health Care Policy and the Potential for Health Care Reform

PubMed Central

Mechanic, David

2001-01-01

The focus on managed care and the managed care backlash divert attention from more important national health issues, such as insurance coverage and quality of care. The ongoing public debate often does not accurately convey the key issues or the relevant evidence. Important perceptions of reduced encounter time with physicians, limitations on physicians' ability to communicate options to patients, and blocked access to inpatient care, among others, are either incorrect or exaggerated. The public backlash reflects a lack of trust resulting from cost constraints, explicit rationing, and media coverage. Inevitable errors are now readily attributed to managed care practices and organizations. Some procedural consumer protections may help restore the eroding trust and refocus public discussion on more central issues. PMID:11286094

Engineering evidence for carbon monoxide toxicity cases.

PubMed

Galatsis, Kosmas

2016-07-01

Unintentional carbon monoxide poisonings and fatalities lead to many toxicity cases. Given the unusual physical properties of carbon monoxide-in that the gas is odorless and invisible-unorganized and erroneous methods in obtaining engineering evidence as required during the discovery process often occurs. Such evidence gathering spans domains that include building construction, appliance installation, industrial hygiene, mechanical engineering, combustion and physics. In this paper, we attempt to place a systematic framework that is relevant to key aspects in engineering evidence gathering for unintentional carbon monoxide poisoning cases. Such a framework aims to increase awareness of this process and relevant issues to help guide legal counsel and expert witnesses. © The Author(s) 2015.

Neoliberal ideology, global capitalism, and science education: engaging the question of subjectivity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bazzul, Jesse

2012-12-01

This paper attempts to add to the multifaceted discussion concerning neoliberalism and globalization out of two Cultural Studies of Science Education journal issues along with the recent Journal of Research in Science Teaching devoted to these topics. However, confronting the phenomena of globalization and neoliberalism will demand greater engagement with relevant sociopolitical thought in fields typically outside the purview of science education. Drawing from thinkers Michel Foucault, Jean Baudrillard, Judith Butler, and Louis Althusser this paper attempts to extend some key ideas coming from Ken Tobin, Larry Bencze, and Lyn Carter and advocates science educators taking up notions of ideology, discourse, and subjectivity to engage globalization and neoliberalism. Subjectivity (and its constitution in science education) is considered alongside two relevant textbook examples and also in terms of its importance in formulating political and culturally relevant questions in science education.

Stem cells in clinical practice: applications and warnings.

PubMed

Lodi, Daniele; Iannitti, Tommaso; Palmieri, Beniamino

2011-01-17

Stem cells are a relevant source of information about cellular differentiation, molecular processes and tissue homeostasis, but also one of the most putative biological tools to treat degenerative diseases. This review focuses on human stem cells clinical and experimental applications. Our aim is to take a correct view of the available stem cell subtypes and their rational use in the medical area, with a specific focus on their therapeutic benefits and side effects. We have reviewed the main clinical trials dividing them basing on their clinical applications, and taking into account the ethical issue associated with the stem cell therapy. We have searched Pubmed/Medline for clinical trials, involving the use of human stem cells, using the key words "stem cells" combined with the key words "transplantation", "pathology", "guidelines", "properties" and "risks". All the relevant clinical trials have been included. The results have been divided into different categories, basing on the way stem cells have been employed in different pathological conditions.

Method for extracting relevant electrical parameters from graphene field-effect transistors using a physical model

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Boscá, A., E-mail: alberto.bosca@upm.es; Dpto. de Ingeniería Electrónica, E.T.S.I. de Telecomunicación, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Madrid 28040; Pedrós, J.

2015-01-28

Due to its intrinsic high mobility, graphene has proved to be a suitable material for high-speed electronics, where graphene field-effect transistor (GFET) has shown excellent properties. In this work, we present a method for extracting relevant electrical parameters from GFET devices using a simple electrical characterization and a model fitting. With experimental data from the device output characteristics, the method allows to calculate parameters such as the mobility, the contact resistance, and the fixed charge. Differentiated electron and hole mobilities and direct connection with intrinsic material properties are some of the key aspects of this method. Moreover, the method outputmore » values can be correlated with several issues during key fabrication steps such as the graphene growth and transfer, the lithographic steps, or the metalization processes, providing a flexible tool for quality control in GFET fabrication, as well as a valuable feedback for improving the material-growth process.« less

Research in support of health systems transformation in South Africa: the experience of the Centre for Health Policy.

PubMed

Rispel, Laetitia C; Doherty, Jane

2011-01-01

We describe the role and experience of the Centre for Health Policy (CHP), a university-based research unit established in 1987, in influencing and supporting health systems transformation in South Africa over two decades. During 2010, we analyzed relevant documents and conducted interviews with 25 key informants. CHP's research has contributed directly to health policy development and implementation while also changing the way government understood or approached policy issues. Key success factors for policy influence are: research quality and trustworthiness, strategic alliances and networking, and capacity building. CHP's challenges include identifying new funding sources and sustaining a high public profile. The lessons for other countries are to: conduct good quality, relevant research based on strong ethical values; build and maintain open and honest relationships with government; recognize and adapt to changes in the policy environment; develop capacity as part of a continuous programme; and seek core funding that ensures research independence and public accountability.

A Welcome for Every Child--How France Achieves Quality in Child Care: Practical Ideas for the United States. The Report of the Child Care Study Panel of the French-American Foundation.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Richardson, Gail; Marx, Elisabeth

Seven principles underlying the impressive achievements of the French child care system are especially relevant to concerns and issues in the United States. First, the primary mission of child care is to help meet young children's integrated needs for education and care. Second, skilled staff is the key to program quality. Third, incentives and…

Proceedings of the seventh Northern region paediatric colloquium.

PubMed

Barkla, Xanthe; Kaplan, Carole

2014-01-01

Ethical and legal dilemmas frequently arise in paediatric practice. Given the nature of the speciality, these issues are relevant to both the medical and legal professions. To this end, senior figures from the medical and legal professions in the Northern region have met on a regular basis in order to discuss anonymised case material. We report on the proceedings of the seventh such meeting. Six cases are described and key points arising from the subsequent discussion are presented.

ST-segment monitoring: putting standards into practice.

PubMed

Flanders, Sonya A

2007-01-01

ST-segment monitoring is one key reason that continuous electrocardiographic monitoring is performed in hospitals, and can help with early detection of myocardial ischemia for at-risk patients. Although ST-segment monitoring research, guidelines, and expert consensus statements have been published, ST-segment monitoring has not been implemented in all appropriate clinical areas. The purpose of this article is to present relevant research, review the latest practice standards, and discuss issues important to nurses wishing to implement ST-segment monitoring.

An Overview of Key Indicators and Evaluation Tools for Assessing Housing Quality: A Literature Review

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sinha, Rajan Chandra; Sarkar, Satyaki; Mandal, Nikhil Ranjan

2017-09-01

The issue of the housing quality has been addressed for various stakeholders at different levels. There exist varied opinion about its measurability and possible applications. Thus the study is carried out to have an insight into the concept of housing quality and its relevance in the changing demographics, technological, socio-economic and socio-cultural conditions. This study attempts to summarize the literature that addresses past research concerned with factors related to housing quality, its measurement methodology and critically examines the broad key indicators identified to have impact upon enhancing the housing quality. This work discusses the recent techniques which are extensively used for analysis of housing quality.

Hospital infection prevention and control issues relevant to extensive floods.

PubMed

Apisarnthanarak, Anucha; Mundy, Linda M; Khawcharoenporn, Thana; Glen Mayhall, C

2013-02-01

The devastating clinical and economic implications of floods exemplify the need for effective global infection prevention and control (IPC) strategies for natural disasters. Reopening of hospitals after excessive flooding requires a balance between meeting the medical needs of the surrounding communities and restoration of a safe hospital environment. Postflood hospital preparedness plans are a key issue for infection control epidemiologists, healthcare providers, patients, and hospital administrators. We provide recent IPC experiences related to reopening of a hospital after extensive black-water floods necessitated hospital closures in Thailand and the United States. These experiences provide a foundation for the future design, execution, and analysis of black-water flood preparedness plans by IPC stakeholders.

Cost-Utility Analysis: Current Methodological Issues and Future Perspectives

PubMed Central

Nuijten, Mark J. C.; Dubois, Dominique J.

2011-01-01

The use of cost–effectiveness as final criterion in the reimbursement process for listing of new pharmaceuticals can be questioned from a scientific and policy point of view. There is a lack of consensus on main methodological issues and consequently we may question the appropriateness of the use of cost–effectiveness data in health care decision-making. Another concern is the appropriateness of the selection and use of an incremental cost–effectiveness threshold (Cost/QALY). In this review, we focus mainly on only some key methodological concerns relating to discounting, the utility concept, cost assessment, and modeling methodologies. Finally we will consider the relevance of some other important decision criteria, like social values and equity. PMID:21713127

Health-related quality of life of cranial WHO grade I meningioma patients: are current questionnaires relevant?

PubMed

Zamanipoor Najafabadi, Amir H; Peeters, Marthe C M; Lobatto, Daniel J; Broekman, Marieke L D; Smith, Timothy R; Biermasz, Nienke R; Peerdeman, Saskia M; Peul, Wilco C; Taphoorn, Martin J B; van Furth, Wouter R; Dirven, Linda

2017-11-01

The clinical relevance of Health-Related Quality of Life (HRQoL) in meningioma patients has been increasingly acknowledged in recent years. Various questionnaires have been used. However, almost none of these questionnaires has been particularly developed for and/or validated in this patient group. Therefore, the aim of this study was to assess the relevance and comprehensiveness of existing HRQoL questionnaires used in meningioma research and to assess the agreement between patients and health care professionals (HCPs) on the most relevant and important HRQoL issues. A systematic literature search, following the PRISMA statement, was conducted to identify all HRQoL questionnaires used in meningioma research. Semi-structured interviews were organized with patients and HCPs to (1) assess the relevance of all issues covered by the questionnaires (score 0-3: not relevant-highly relevant), (2) assess the ten most important issues, and (3) identify new relevant HRQoL issues. Fourteen different questionnaires were found in the literature, comprising 140 unique issues. Interviews were conducted with 20 patients (median age 57, 71% female) and 10 HCPs (4 neurosurgeons, 2 neurologists, 2 radiotherapists, 1 rehabilitation specialist, 1 neuropsychologist; median experience 13 years). Meningioma patients rated 17-80% of the issues in each of the questionnaires as relevant, HCPs 90-100%. Patients and HCPs agreed on the relevance of only 49 issues (35%, Cohen's kappa: 0.027). Both patients and HCPs considered lack of energy the most important issue. Patients and HCPs suggested five additional relevant issues not covered by current HRQoL questionnaires. Existing HRQoL questionnaires currently used in meningioma patients do not fully cover all relevant issues to these patients. Agreement between patients and HCPs on the relevance of issues was poor. Both findings support the need to develop and validate a meningioma-specific HRQoL questionnaire.

Three Approaches to Understanding and Classifying Mental Disorder: ICD-11, DSM-5, and the National Institute of Mental Health's Research Domain Criteria (RDoC).

PubMed

Clark, Lee Anna; Cuthbert, Bruce; Lewis-Fernández, Roberto; Narrow, William E; Reed, Geoffrey M

2017-09-01

The diagnosis of mental disorder initially appears relatively straightforward: Patients present with symptoms or visible signs of illness; health professionals make diagnoses based primarily on these symptoms and signs; and they prescribe medication, psychotherapy, or both, accordingly. However, despite a dramatic expansion of knowledge about mental disorders during the past half century, understanding of their components and processes remains rudimentary. We provide histories and descriptions of three systems with different purposes relevant to understanding and classifying mental disorder. Two major diagnostic manuals-the International Classification of Diseases and the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-provide classification systems relevant to public health, clinical diagnosis, service provision, and specific research applications, the former internationally and the latter primarily for the United States. In contrast, the National Institute of Mental Health's Research Domain Criteria provides a framework that emphasizes integration of basic behavioral and neuroscience research to deepen the understanding of mental disorder. We identify four key issues that present challenges to understanding and classifying mental disorder: etiology, including the multiple causality of mental disorder; whether the relevant phenomena are discrete categories or dimensions; thresholds, which set the boundaries between disorder and nondisorder; and comorbidity, the fact that individuals with mental illness often meet diagnostic requirements for multiple conditions. We discuss how the three systems' approaches to these key issues correspond or diverge as a result of their different histories, purposes, and constituencies. Although the systems have varying degrees of overlap and distinguishing features, they share the goal of reducing the burden of suffering due to mental disorder.

A synthesis of convergent reflections, tensions and silences in linking gender and global environmental change research.

PubMed

Iniesta-Arandia, Irene; Ravera, Federica; Buechler, Stephanie; Díaz-Reviriego, Isabel; Fernández-Giménez, María E; Reed, Maureen G; Thompson-Hall, Mary; Wilmer, Hailey; Aregu, Lemlem; Cohen, Philippa; Djoudi, Houria; Lawless, Sarah; Martín-López, Berta; Smucker, Thomas; Villamor, Grace B; Wangui, Elizabeth Edna

2016-12-01

This synthesis article joins the authors of the special issue "Gender perspectives in resilience, vulnerability and adaptation to global environmental change" in a common reflective dialogue about the main contributions of their papers. In sum, here we reflect on links between gender and feminist approaches to research in adaptation and resilience in global environmental change (GEC). The main theoretical contributions of this special issue are threefold: emphasizing the relevance of power relations in feminist political ecology, bringing the livelihood and intersectionality approaches into GEC, and linking resilience theories and critical feminist research. Empirical insights on key debates in GEC studies are also highlighted from the nine cases analysed, from Europe, the Americas, Asia, Africa and the Pacific. Further, the special issue also contributes to broaden the gender approach in adaptation to GEC by incorporating research sites in the Global North alongside sites from the Global South. This paper examines and compares the main approaches adopted (e.g. qualitative or mixed methods) and the methodological challenges that derive from intersectional perspectives. Finally, key messages for policy agendas and further research are drawn from the common reflection.

Key issues in human resource planning for home support workers in Canada.

PubMed

Keefe, Janice M; Knight, Lucy; Martin-Matthews, Anne; Légaré, Jacques

2011-01-01

This paper is a synthesis of research on recruitment and retention challenges for home support workers (HSWs) in Canada. Home support workers (HSWs) provide needed support with personal care and daily activities to older persons living in the community. Literature (peer reviewed, government, and non-government documents) published in the past decade was collected from systematic data base searches between January and September 2009, and yielded over 100 references relevant to home care human resources for older Canadians. Four key human resource issues affecting HSWs were identified: compensation, education and training, quality assurance, and working conditions. To increase the workforce and retain skilled employees, employers can tailor their marketing strategies to specific groups, make improvements in work environment, and learn about what workers value and what attracts them to home support work. Understanding these HR issues for HSWs will improve recruitment and retention strategies for this workforce by helping agencies to target their limited resources. Given the projected increase in demand for these workers, preparations need to begin now and consider long-term strategies involving multiple policy areas, such as health and social care, employment, education, and immigration.

Global trade and health: key linkages and future challenges.

PubMed Central

Bettcher, D. W.; Yach, D.; Guindon, G. E.

2000-01-01

Globalization of trade, marketing and investment has important implications for public health, both negative and positive. This article considers the implications of the single package of World Trade Organization (WTO) agreements for public health research and policy, focusing on three themes: commodities, intellectual property rights, and health services. The main aims of the analysis are as follows: to identify how trade issues are associated with the transnationalization of health risks and possible benefits; to identify key areas of research; and to suggest policy-relevant advice and interventions on trade and health issues. The next wave of international trade law will need to take more account of global public health issues. However, to become more engaged in global trade debates, the public health community must gain an understanding of the health effects of global trade agreements. It must also ensure that its own facts are correct, so that public health is not blindly used for political ends, such as justifying unwarranted economic protectionism. "Healthy trade" policies, based on firm empirical evidence and designed to improve health status, are an important step towards reaching a more sustainable form of trade liberalization. PMID:10885181

Transforming Big Data into cancer-relevant insight: An initial, multi-tier approach to assess reproducibility and relevance

PubMed Central

2016-01-01

The Cancer Target Discovery and Development (CTD2) Network was established to accelerate the transformation of “Big Data” into novel pharmacological targets, lead compounds, and biomarkers for rapid translation into improved patient outcomes. It rapidly became clear in this collaborative network that a key central issue was to define what constitutes sufficient computational or experimental evidence to support a biologically or clinically relevant finding. This manuscript represents a first attempt to delineate the challenges of supporting and confirming discoveries arising from the systematic analysis of large-scale data resources in a collaborative work environment and to provide a framework that would begin a community discussion to resolve these challenges. The Network implemented a multi-Tier framework designed to substantiate the biological and biomedical relevance as well as the reproducibility of data and insights resulting from its collaborative activities. The same approach can be used by the broad scientific community to drive development of novel therapeutic and biomarker strategies for cancer. PMID:27401613

Key Issues Concerning Biolog Use for Aerobic and Anaerobic Freshwater Bacterial Community-Level Physiological Profiling

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Christian, Bradley W.; Lind, Owen T.

2006-06-01

Bacterial heterotrophy in aquatic ecosystems is important in the overall carbon cycle. Biolog MicroPlates provide information into the metabolic potential of bacteria involved in carbon cycling. Specifically, Biolog EcoPlatesTM were developed with ecologically relevant carbon substrates to allow investigators to measure carbon substrate utilization patterns and develop community-level physiological profiles from natural bacterial assemblages. However, understanding of the functionality of these plates in freshwater research is limited. We explored several issues of EcoPlate use for freshwater bacterial assemblages including inoculum density, incubation temperature, non-bacterial color development, and substrate selectivity. Each of these has various effects on plate interpretation. We offer suggestions and techniques to resolve these interpretation issues. Lastly we propose a technique to allow EcoPlate use in anaerobic freshwater bacterial studies.

Key Issues in the Role of Peroxisome Proliferator–Activated Receptor Agonism and Cell Signaling in Trichloroethylene Toxicity

PubMed Central

Keshava, Nagalakshmi; Caldwell, Jane C.

2006-01-01

Peroxisome proliferator–activated receptor α (PPARα) is thought to be involved in several different diseases, toxic responses, and receptor pathways. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency 2001 draft trichloroethylene (TCE) risk assessment concluded that although PPAR may play a role in liver tumor induction, the role of its activation and the sequence of subsequent events important to tumorigenesis are not well defined, particularly because of uncertainties concerning the extraperoxisomal effects. In this article, which is part of a mini-monograph on key issues in the health risk assessment of TCE, we summarize some of the scientific literature published since that time on the effects and actions of PPARα that help inform and illustrate the key scientific questions relevant to TCE risk assessment. Recent analyses of the role of PPARα in gene expression changes caused by TCE and its metabolites provide only limited data for comparison with other PPARα agonists, particularly given the difficulties in interpreting results involving PPARα knockout mice. Moreover, the increase in data over the last 5 years from the broader literature on PPARα agonists presents a more complex array of extraperoxisomal effects and actions, suggesting the possibility that PPARα may be involved in modes of action (MOAs) not only for liver tumors but also for other effects of TCE and its metabolites. In summary, recent studies support the conclusion that determinations of the human relevance and susceptibility to PPARα-related MOA(s) of TCE-induced effects cannot rely on inferences regarding peroxisome proliferation per se and require a better understanding of the interplay of extraperoxisomal events after PPARα agonism. PMID:16966106

Community-based participatory research in Little Haiti: challenges and lessons learned.

PubMed

Kobetz, Erin; Menard, Janelle; Diem, Joshua; Barton, Betsy; Blanco, Jenny; Pierre, Larry; Auguste, Pascale D; Etienne, Marie; Brewster, Cheryl

2009-01-01

Community-based participatory research (CBPR) is an effective methodology for developing relevant interventions with socially marginalized communities. However, implementing CBPR methods is challenging for several reasons. This paper presents challenges encountered in the context of an ongoing CBPR initiative in Little Haiti in Miami, Florida, and describes the solutions used to address them. We sought to describe the challenges faced and lessons learned while conducting CBPR in Little Haiti. Community-academic partnerships were created to guide the creation of culturally relevant cancer interventions and research. Historical distrust of research, cultural constructions of health and illness, and literacy issues are key considerations when developing partnerships with Haitian and other marginalized, immigrant communities. Partnerships are fostered over time through demonstrated mutual commitment to improving health and building community capacity. Communities must play an active role throughout the research process to ensure that studies are culturally relevant, and ensuing intervention, sustainable.

Outcomes in mothers with rheumatic diseases and their offspring workshop

PubMed Central

Neville, Autumn; Bernatsky, Sasha; Kuriya, Bindee; Bujold, Emmanuel; Chakravarty, Eliza; Platt, Robert W; Bérard, Anick; Vinet, Évelyne

2017-01-01

This conference report describes six presentations that were given during a Canadian Institutes for Health Research-funded workshop. The goal of the workshop was to discuss key knowledge gaps in the study of outcomes in mothers with rheumatic diseases and their offspring. Presentations focused on epidemiological and methodological issues associated with the reproductive and perinatal health of women with rheumatic diseases. Discussions of relevant recent research allowed for discovery of potential data sources that could facilitate interdisciplinary research and created the opportunity for future collaborations.

Preprocessing and Analysis of LC-MS-Based Proteomic Data

PubMed Central

Tsai, Tsung-Heng; Wang, Minkun; Ressom, Habtom W.

2016-01-01

Liquid chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry (LC-MS) has been widely used for profiling protein expression levels. This chapter is focused on LC-MS data preprocessing, which is a crucial step in the analysis of LC-MS based proteomics. We provide a high-level overview, highlight associated challenges, and present a step-by-step example for analysis of data from LC-MS based untargeted proteomic study. Furthermore, key procedures and relevant issues with the subsequent analysis by multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) are discussed. PMID:26519169

Effects of gravity perturbation on developing animal systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Malacinski, G. M.; Neff, A. W.

1986-01-01

The use of developing animal systems to analyze the effects of microgravity on animals is discussed. Some of the key features of developing systems, especially embryos, are reviewed and relevant space data are summarized. Issues to be addressed in the design of future space experiments are discussed. It is noted that an embryo which exhibits ground based gravity effects should be selected for use as a model system and individual variation in gravity response among batches of embryos should be taken into account.

Optimization of fluorescent imaging in the operating room through pulsed acquisition and gating to ambient background cycling

PubMed Central

Sexton, Kristian J.; Zhao, Yan; Davis, Scott C.; Jiang, Shudong; Pogue, Brian W.

2017-01-01

The design of fluorescence imaging instruments for surgical guidance is rapidly evolving, and a key issue is to efficiently capture signals with high ambient room lighting. Here, we introduce a novel time-gated approach to fluorescence imaging synchronizing acquisition to the 120 Hz light of the room, with pulsed LED excitation and gated ICCD detection. It is shown that under bright ambient room light this technique allows for the detection of physiologically relevant nanomolar fluorophore concentrations, and in particular reduces the light fluctuations present from the room lights, making low concentration measurements more reliable. This is particularly relevant for the light bands near 700nm that are more dominated by ambient lights. PMID:28663895

Legal issues in medical informatics: a bird's eye view.

PubMed

Laske, C

1996-01-01

The present paper is the result of a study investigating the legal issues, problems and obstacles which have arisen as a result of the R&D projects financed by the AIM Program 1991-94. Two parallel lines of investigation were adopted in this study. First of all, a questionnaire was sent to all project partners listed in the AIM 93 Report, with the objective of collecting information on the legal questions with which the individual projects were confronted in the course of their R&D work. This allowed for an initial mapping out of the legal aspects relevant in the field of medical informatics. Secondly, the actual projects were studied as to their legal content and in particular those which included a legal workpackage. This allowed for an assessment of further legal questions, some of which had as yet perhaps not been perceived as such. The present paper deals with five key aspects, describing the nature of the issues and the relevant law and case law or legal vacuum as it may be. It must be emphasised that, as pointed out in the title, this study offers an overview of the legal issues debate in medical informatics and is somewhat exploratory in nature. It is not intended to offer a critical analysis of existing picces of legislation or case law. This would call for more fundamental legal research. Instead the study restricts itself to a general description of existing legal principles and their relevance in the health care sector. As the reader will gather from this paper, legally speaking information technology is still a relatively new entity in the health care sector, which means that legal research and any resulting recommendations may have a real impact on the future course of the law in this field.

Modelling auditory attention

PubMed Central

Kaya, Emine Merve

2017-01-01

Sounds in everyday life seldom appear in isolation. Both humans and machines are constantly flooded with a cacophony of sounds that need to be sorted through and scoured for relevant information—a phenomenon referred to as the ‘cocktail party problem’. A key component in parsing acoustic scenes is the role of attention, which mediates perception and behaviour by focusing both sensory and cognitive resources on pertinent information in the stimulus space. The current article provides a review of modelling studies of auditory attention. The review highlights how the term attention refers to a multitude of behavioural and cognitive processes that can shape sensory processing. Attention can be modulated by ‘bottom-up’ sensory-driven factors, as well as ‘top-down’ task-specific goals, expectations and learned schemas. Essentially, it acts as a selection process or processes that focus both sensory and cognitive resources on the most relevant events in the soundscape; with relevance being dictated by the stimulus itself (e.g. a loud explosion) or by a task at hand (e.g. listen to announcements in a busy airport). Recent computational models of auditory attention provide key insights into its role in facilitating perception in cluttered auditory scenes. This article is part of the themed issue ‘Auditory and visual scene analysis’. PMID:28044012

Surrogacy in modern obstetric practice.

PubMed

Burrell, Celia; Edozien, Leroy C

2014-10-01

Surrogacy is rising in profile and prevalence, which means that perinatal care providers face an increasing likelihood of encountering a case in their clinical practice. Rapidly expanding scientific knowledge (for example, fetal programming) and technological advances (for example, prenatal screening and diagnosis) pose challenges in the management of the surrogate mother; in particular, they could exacerbate conflict between the interests of the baby, the surrogate mother, and the intending parent(s). Navigating these often-tranquil-but-sometimes-stormy waters is facilitated if perinatal care providers are aware of the relevant ethical, legal, and service delivery issues. This paper describes the ethical and legal context of surrogacy, and outlines key clinical practice issues in management of the surrogate mother. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Technical viability and development needs for waste forms and facilities

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Pegg, I.; Gould, T.

1996-05-01

The objective of this breakout session was to provide a forum to discuss technical issues relating to plutonium-bearing waste forms and their disposal facilities. Specific topics for discussion included the technical viability and development needs associated with the waste forms and/or disposal facilities. The expected end result of the session was an in-depth (so far as the limited time would allow) discussion of key issues by the session participants. The session chairs expressed allowance for, and encouragement of, alternative points of view, as well as encouragement for discussion of any relevant topics not addressed in the paper presentations. It wasmore » not the intent of this session to recommend or advocate any one technology over another.« less

Avoidant restrictive food intake disorder: an illustrative case example.

PubMed

Bryant-Waugh, Rachel

2013-07-01

Avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder (ARFID) is a new diagnostic category in DSM-5. Although replacing Feeding Disorder of Infancy or Early Childhood, it is not restricted to childhood presentations. In keeping with the broader aim of revising and updating criteria and text to better reflect lifespan issues and clinical expression across the age range, ARFID is a diagnosis relevant to children, adolescents, and adults. This case example of a 13-year old boy with ARFID illustrates key issues in diagnosis and treatment planning. The issues discussed are not exhaustive, but serve as a guide for central diagnostic and treatment issues to be considered by the clinician. It is anticipated that the inclusion of specific criteria for ARFID as a category within Feeding and Eating Disorders in DSM-5 will stimulate research into its typology, prevalence, and incidence in different populations and facilitate the development of effective, evidence-based interventions for this patient group. Copyright © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Occupational psychosocial health policies in Hong Kong schools: a review and exploration of key stakeholder perceptions.

PubMed

Tang, Jessica Janice; Leka, Stavroula; Hunt, Nigel; MacLennan, Sara

2011-12-01

It is widely acknowledged that teachers are suffering from work-related health problems. However, the implementation of relevant occupational safety and health (OSH) policies is complex and under-studied. This study reviews key legislation of relevance to psychosocial health and explores stakeholders' perceptions on their implementation in Hong Kong (HK) schools. The content of OSH legislation applicable to psychosocial health was systematically reviewed by the modified WHO checklist on legislation. Semi-structured interviews were then conducted with 38 key stakeholders. These were transcribed and subjected to Framework Analysis. The review showed that there were several ambiguities in the legislation and the interviews found that awareness and understanding in relation to OSH issues and policies differed on the basis of the level of implementation bodies. The importance of management, trust, communication and interpersonal relationships was emphasised. On the basis of the study it is concluded that implementation of psychosocial health policies in HK schools is poor and there appears to be a gap among stakeholder communication. Also, the content of these policies needs to be clarified so that it can be more conducive to implementation in practice. The improvement of OSH climate and social capital could foster a more effective implementation of OSH policies. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Towards human exploration of space: The THESEUS review series on nutrition and metabolism research priorities

PubMed Central

Bergouignan, Audrey; Stein, T Peter; Habold, Caroline; Coxam, Veronique; O’ Gorman, Donal; Blanc, Stéphane

2016-01-01

Nutrition has multiple roles during space flight from providing sufficient nutrients to meet the metabolic needs of the body and to maintain good health, to the beneficial psychosocial aspects related to the meals. Nutrition is central to the functioning of the body; poor nutrition compromises all the physiological systems. Nutrition is therefore likely to have a key role in counteracting the negative effects of space flight (e.g., radiation, immune deficits, oxidative stress, and bone and muscle loss). As missions increase in duration, any dietary/nutritional deficiencies will become progressively more detrimental. Moreover, it has been recognized that the human diet contains, in addition to essential macronutrients, a complex array of naturally occurring bioactive micronutrients that may confer significant long-term health benefits. It is therefore critical that astronauts be adequately nourished during missions. Problems of nutritional origin are often treatable by simply providing the appropriate nutrients and adequate recommendations. This review highlights six key issues that have been identified as space research priorities in nutrition field: in-flight energy balance; altered feeding behavior; development of metabolic stress; micronutrient deficiency; alteration of gut microflora; and altered fluid and electrolytes balance. For each of these topics, relevance for space exploration, knowledge gaps and proposed investigations are described. Finally, the nutritional questions related to bioastronautics research are very relevant to multiple ground-based-related health issues. The potential spin-offs are both interesting scientifically and potentially of great clinical importance. PMID:28725737

Ethical Challenges and Solutions Regarding Delirium Studies in Palliative Care

PubMed Central

Sweet, Lisa; Adamis, Dimitrios; Meagher, David; Davis, Daniel; Currow, David; Bush, Shirley H.; Barnes, Christopher; Hartwick, Michael; Agar, Meera; Simon, Jessica; Breitbart, William; MacDonald, Neil; Lawlor, Peter G.

2014-01-01

Context Delirium occurs commonly in settings of palliative care (PC), in which patient vulnerability in the unique context of end-of-life care and delirium-associated impairment of decision-making capacity may together present many ethical challenges. Objectives Based on deliberations at the Studies to Understand Delirium in Palliative Care Settings (SUNDIPS) meeting and an associated literature review, this article discusses ethical issues central to the conduct of research on delirious PC patients. Methods Together with an analysis of the ethical deliberations at the SUNDIPS meeting, we conducted a narrative literature review by key words searching of relevant databases and a subsequent hand search of initially identified articles. We also reviewed statements of relevance to delirium research in major national and international ethics guidelines. Results Key issues identified include the inclusion of PC patients in delirium research, capacity determination, and the mandate to respect patient autonomy and ensure maintenance of patient dignity. Proposed solutions include designing informed consent statements that are clear, concise, and free of complex phraseology; use of concise, yet accurate, capacity assessment instruments with a minimally burdensome schedule; and use of PC friendly consent models, such as facilitated, deferred, experienced, advance, and proxy models. Conclusion Delirium research in PC patients must meet the common standards for such research in any setting. Certain features unique to PC establish a need for extra diligence in meeting these standards and the employment of assessments, consent procedures, and patient-family interactions that are clearly grounded on the tenets of PC. PMID:24388124

Towards human exploration of space: The THESEUS review series on nutrition and metabolism research priorities.

PubMed

Bergouignan, Audrey; Stein, T Peter; Habold, Caroline; Coxam, Veronique; O' Gorman, Donal; Blanc, Stéphane

2016-01-01

Nutrition has multiple roles during space flight from providing sufficient nutrients to meet the metabolic needs of the body and to maintain good health, to the beneficial psychosocial aspects related to the meals. Nutrition is central to the functioning of the body; poor nutrition compromises all the physiological systems. Nutrition is therefore likely to have a key role in counteracting the negative effects of space flight (e.g., radiation, immune deficits, oxidative stress, and bone and muscle loss). As missions increase in duration, any dietary/nutritional deficiencies will become progressively more detrimental. Moreover, it has been recognized that the human diet contains, in addition to essential macronutrients, a complex array of naturally occurring bioactive micronutrients that may confer significant long-term health benefits. It is therefore critical that astronauts be adequately nourished during missions. Problems of nutritional origin are often treatable by simply providing the appropriate nutrients and adequate recommendations. This review highlights six key issues that have been identified as space research priorities in nutrition field: in-flight energy balance; altered feeding behavior; development of metabolic stress; micronutrient deficiency; alteration of gut microflora; and altered fluid and electrolytes balance. For each of these topics, relevance for space exploration, knowledge gaps and proposed investigations are described. Finally, the nutritional questions related to bioastronautics research are very relevant to multiple ground-based-related health issues. The potential spin-offs are both interesting scientifically and potentially of great clinical importance.

Ethically-based clinical decision-making in physical therapy: process and issues.

PubMed

Finch, Elspeth; Geddes, E Lynne; Larin, Hélène

2005-01-01

The identification and consideration of relevant ethical issues in clinical decision-making, and the education of health care professionals (HCPs) in these skills are key factors in providing quality health care. This qualitative study explores the way in which physical therapists (PTs) integrate ethical issues into clinical practice decisions and identifies ethical themes used by PTs. A purposive sample of eight PTs was asked to describe a recent ethically-based clinical decision. Transcribed interviews were coded and themes identified related to the following categories: 1) the integration of ethical issues in the clinical decision-making process, 2) patient welfare, 3) professional ethos of the PT, and 4) health care economics and business practices. Participants readily described clinical situations involving ethical issues but rarely identified specific conflicting ethical issues in their description. Ethical dilemmas were more frequently resolved when there were fewer emotional sequelae associated with the dilemma, and the PT had a clear understanding of professional ethos, valued patient autonomy, and explored a variety of alternative actions before implementing one. HCP students need to develop a clear professional ethos and an increased understanding of the economic factors that will present ethical issues in practice.

Integration of Technology-based Behavioral Health Interventions in Substance Abuse and Addiction Services

PubMed Central

Ramsey, Alex

2015-01-01

The past decade has witnessed revolutionary changes to the delivery of health services, ushered in to a great extent by the introduction of electronic health record systems. More recently, a new class of technological advancements—technology-based behavioral health interventions, which involve the delivery of evidence-informed practices via computers, web-based applications, mobile phones, wearable sensors, or other technological platforms—has emerged and is primed to once again radically shift current models for behavioral healthcare. Despite the promise and potential of these new therapeutic approaches, a greater understanding of the impact of technology-based interventions on cornerstone issues of mental health and addiction services—namely access, quality, and cost—is needed. The current review highlights 1) relevant conceptual frameworks that guide this area of research, 2) key studies that inform the relevance of technology-based interventions for behavioral healthcare access, quality, and cost, 3) pressing methodological issues that require attention, 4) unresolved questions that warrant further investigation, and 5) practical implications that underscore important new directions for this emerging area of research. PMID:26161047

Integration of Technology-based Behavioral Health Interventions in Substance Abuse and Addiction Services.

PubMed

Ramsey, Alex

2015-08-01

The past decade has witnessed revolutionary changes to the delivery of health services, ushered in to a great extent by the introduction of electronic health record systems. More recently, a new class of technological advancements-technology-based behavioral health interventions, which involve the delivery of evidence-informed practices via computers, web-based applications, mobile phones, wearable sensors, or other technological platforms-has emerged and is primed to once again radically shift current models for behavioral healthcare. Despite the promise and potential of these new therapeutic approaches, a greater understanding of the impact of technology-based interventions on cornerstone issues of mental health and addiction services-namely access, quality, and cost -is needed. The current review highlights 1) relevant conceptual frameworks that guide this area of research, 2) key studies that inform the relevance of technology-based interventions for behavioral healthcare access, quality, and cost, 3) pressing methodological issues that require attention, 4) unresolved questions that warrant further investigation, and 5) practical implications that underscore important new directions for this emerging area of research.

How should the completeness and quality of curated nanomaterial data be evaluated?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Marchese Robinson, Richard L.; Lynch, Iseult; Peijnenburg, Willie; Rumble, John; Klaessig, Fred; Marquardt, Clarissa; Rauscher, Hubert; Puzyn, Tomasz; Purian, Ronit; Åberg, Christoffer; Karcher, Sandra; Vriens, Hanne; Hoet, Peter; Hoover, Mark D.; Hendren, Christine Ogilvie; Harper, Stacey L.

2016-05-01

Nanotechnology is of increasing significance. Curation of nanomaterial data into electronic databases offers opportunities to better understand and predict nanomaterials' behaviour. This supports innovation in, and regulation of, nanotechnology. It is commonly understood that curated data need to be sufficiently complete and of sufficient quality to serve their intended purpose. However, assessing data completeness and quality is non-trivial in general and is arguably especially difficult in the nanoscience area, given its highly multidisciplinary nature. The current article, part of the Nanomaterial Data Curation Initiative series, addresses how to assess the completeness and quality of (curated) nanomaterial data. In order to address this key challenge, a variety of related issues are discussed: the meaning and importance of data completeness and quality, existing approaches to their assessment and the key challenges associated with evaluating the completeness and quality of curated nanomaterial data. Considerations which are specific to the nanoscience area and lessons which can be learned from other relevant scientific disciplines are considered. Hence, the scope of this discussion ranges from physicochemical characterisation requirements for nanomaterials and interference of nanomaterials with nanotoxicology assays to broader issues such as minimum information checklists, toxicology data quality schemes and computational approaches that facilitate evaluation of the completeness and quality of (curated) data. This discussion is informed by a literature review and a survey of key nanomaterial data curation stakeholders. Finally, drawing upon this discussion, recommendations are presented concerning the central question: how should the completeness and quality of curated nanomaterial data be evaluated?Nanotechnology is of increasing significance. Curation of nanomaterial data into electronic databases offers opportunities to better understand and predict nanomaterials' behaviour. This supports innovation in, and regulation of, nanotechnology. It is commonly understood that curated data need to be sufficiently complete and of sufficient quality to serve their intended purpose. However, assessing data completeness and quality is non-trivial in general and is arguably especially difficult in the nanoscience area, given its highly multidisciplinary nature. The current article, part of the Nanomaterial Data Curation Initiative series, addresses how to assess the completeness and quality of (curated) nanomaterial data. In order to address this key challenge, a variety of related issues are discussed: the meaning and importance of data completeness and quality, existing approaches to their assessment and the key challenges associated with evaluating the completeness and quality of curated nanomaterial data. Considerations which are specific to the nanoscience area and lessons which can be learned from other relevant scientific disciplines are considered. Hence, the scope of this discussion ranges from physicochemical characterisation requirements for nanomaterials and interference of nanomaterials with nanotoxicology assays to broader issues such as minimum information checklists, toxicology data quality schemes and computational approaches that facilitate evaluation of the completeness and quality of (curated) data. This discussion is informed by a literature review and a survey of key nanomaterial data curation stakeholders. Finally, drawing upon this discussion, recommendations are presented concerning the central question: how should the completeness and quality of curated nanomaterial data be evaluated? Electronic supplementary information (ESI) available: (1) Detailed information regarding issues raised in the main text; (2) original survey responses. See DOI: 10.1039/c5nr08944a

Multiple micro-predators controlling bacterial communities in the environment.

PubMed

Johnke, Julia; Cohen, Yossi; de Leeuw, Marina; Kushmaro, Ariel; Jurkevitch, Edouard; Chatzinotas, Antonis

2014-06-01

Predator-prey interactions are a main issue in ecological theory, including multispecies predator-prey relationships and intraguild predation. This knowledge is mainly based on the study of plants and animals, while its relevance for microorganisms is not well understood. The three key groups of micro-predators include protists, predatory bacteria and bacteriophages. They greatly differ in size, in prey specificity, in hunting strategies and in the resulting population dynamics. Yet, their potential to jointly control bacterial populations and reducing biomass in complex environments such as wastewater treatment plants is vast. Here, we present relevant ecological concepts and recent findings on micropredators, and propose that an integrative approach to predation at the microscale should be developed enabling the exploitation of this potential. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Low-rank coal study: national needs for resource development. Volume 3. Technology evaluation

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Not Available

1980-11-01

Technologies applicable to the development and use of low-rank coals are analyzed in order to identify specific needs for research, development, and demonstration (RD and D). Major sections of the report address the following technologies: extraction; transportation; preparation, handling and storage; conventional combustion and environmental control technology; gasification; liquefaction; and pyrolysis. Each of these sections contains an introduction and summary of the key issues with regard to subbituminous coal and lignite; description of all relevant technology, both existing and under development; a description of related environmental control technology; an evaluation of the effects of low-rank coal properties on the technology;more » and summaries of current commercial status of the technology and/or current RD and D projects relevant to low-rank coals.« less

[Research and development strategies in classical herbal formulae].

PubMed

Chen, Chang; Cheng, Jin-Tang; Liu, An

2017-05-01

As an outstanding representative of traditional Chinese medicine prescription, classical herbal formulae are the essence of traditional Chinese medicine great treasure. To support the development of classical herbal formulae, the state and relevant administrative departments have successively promulgated the relevant encouraged policies.But some key issues of classic herbal formulae in the development process have not reached a unified consensus and standard, and these problems were discussed in depth here.The authors discussed the registration requirements of classical herbal formulae, proposed the screening specific indicators of classical herbal formulae, determination basis of prescription and dosage,screening method of production process, and the basic principle of clinical localization, in order to bring out valuable opinions and provide a reference for classical herbal formulae development and policy formulation. Copyright© by the Chinese Pharmaceutical Association.

Cervical cancer educational pamphlets: Do they miss the mark for Mexican immigrant women's needs?

PubMed

Hunter, Jennifer L

2005-11-01

The rate of invasive cervical cancer in US Hispanic women is nearly doubled that of non-Hispanics. Using in-depth interviews and content/grade level analysis of educational materials, this study explores the relevance of cervical cancer education materials to the needs of Mexican immigrant women. It also addresses health literacy issues that create barriers to learning. Findings show aspects of language, content, reading level, structure, and visual images in 22 cervical cancer pamphlets from 11 health care sites in a Midwest city were not relevant to the learning needs or health literacy levels of local Mexican immigrant women. Further research is recommended to establish an evidence base regarding optimal presentation of key elements of the cervical cancer educational message for Mexican immigrant women.

Music, affect, method, data: reflections on the Carroll versus Kivy debate.

PubMed

Konecni, Vladimir J

2013-01-01

The comprehensive exchange between Noel Carroll and Peter Kivy, which took place in 2007, addressed key issues in the relationship between music and affect. More than in any prior philosophical debate on this topic, experimental psychologists' methods and data played a significant role. However, to a nontrivial extent, the findings-perhaps especially the dubious-were misconstrued or misused, usually without acknowledging the existence of contrary data-based opinion within the psychology of music itself. Therefore, one objective of the present article is to identify the specific problematic features and shed light on the broader context shared by the two disciplines. A complementary goal is to examine contributions to philosophers' transgressions by music psychologists' insufficiently conscientious reporting, frequent overgeneralizations, and unawareness of philosophers' critical arguments. Another objective is to examine the current status of key concepts-the relevant music, basic emotions, mood, expression, induction, movement and dance, and methods (including introspection and experimental procedures)-thus perhaps enabling the discussion of music and affect to proceed with fewer misunderstandings. Finally, the article moves beyond the initial debate and builds on a remarkable agreement of philosophical and psychological opinion on a key issue (the induction of non-basic emotions by absolute music) to reach a new conceptual ground.

Past Fame, Present Frames and Future Flagship? An Exploration of How Health is Positioned in Canadian Foreign Policy

PubMed Central

Labonté, Ronald; Runnels, Vivien; Gagnon, Michelle

2014-01-01

Canada has been regarded as a model global citizen with firm commitments to multilateralism. It has also played important roles in several international health treaties and conventions in recent years. There are now concerns that its interests in health as a foreign policy goal may be diminishing. This article reports on a thematic analysis of key Canadian foreign policy statements issued over the past decade, and interviews with key informants knowledgeable of, or experienced in the interstices of Canadian health and foreign policy. It finds that health is primarily and increasingly framed in relation to national security and economic interests. Little attention has been given to human rights obligations relevant to health as a foreign policy issue, and global health is not seen as a priority of the present government. Global health is nonetheless regarded as something with which Canadian foreign policy must engage, if only because of Canada’s membership in many United Nations and other multilateral fora. Development of a single global health strategy or framework is seen as important to improve intersectoral cooperation on health issues, and foreign policy coherence. There remains a cautious optimism that health could become the base from which Canada reasserts its internationalist status. PMID:24977037

Past Fame, Present Frames and Future Flagship? An Exploration of How Health is Positioned in Canadian Foreign Policy.

PubMed

Labonté, Ronald; Runnels, Vivien; Gagnon, Michelle

2012-06-01

Canada has been regarded as a model global citizen with firm commitments to multilateralism. It has also played important roles in several international health treaties and conventions in recent years. There are now concerns that its interests in health as a foreign policy goal may be diminishing. This article reports on a thematic analysis of key Canadian foreign policy statements issued over the past decade, and interviews with key informants knowledgeable of, or experienced in the interstices of Canadian health and foreign policy. It finds that health is primarily and increasingly framed in relation to national security and economic interests. Little attention has been given to human rights obligations relevant to health as a foreign policy issue, and global health is not seen as a priority of the present government. Global health is nonetheless regarded as something with which Canadian foreign policy must engage, if only because of Canada's membership in many United Nations and other multilateral fora. Development of a single global health strategy or framework is seen as important to improve intersectoral cooperation on health issues, and foreign policy coherence. There remains a cautious optimism that health could become the base from which Canada reasserts its internationalist status.

Trainee underperformance: a guide to achieving resolution.

PubMed

Rashid, Prem; Grills, Richard; Kuan, Melvyn; Klein, Deborah

2015-05-01

Underperformance and the disharmony it can cause are not commonly faced by trainees. However, when it occurs, a process to recognize and manage the issues compassionately must be put in place. A literature review was undertaken to outline processes and themes in addressing and resolving these types of issues. A PubMed search using 'surgical underperformance' and 'remedial teaching' was used as a broad template to find papers that illustrated key concepts. One thousand four hundred and fifteen papers were identified. In papers where the titles were in line with the stated topic, 294 abstracts were reviewed. Key papers were used to develop themes. Additional cross-referenced papers were also included where relevant. There can be a variety of reasons for trainee underperformance. The root cause is not always clear. Disharmony can result in a surgical unit during this time. The involved trainee as well as the members of the clinical unit may experience a variety of stressors. A systematic process of management can be used to evaluate the situation and bring some resolution to difficulties in working relationships. Early constructive intervention improves outcomes. There should be a process to systematically and compassionately resolve underlying issues. This paper outlines the disharmony that can result from trainee underperformance and offers guidance for resolution to those involved. © 2014 Royal Australasian College of Surgeons.

Elder Abuse: Research, Practice, and Health Policy. The 2012 GSA Maxwell Pollack Award Lecture

PubMed Central

Dong, Xinqi

2014-01-01

Elder abuse, also called elder mistreatment or elder maltreatment, includes psychological, physical, and sexual abuse, neglect (caregiver neglect and self-neglect), and financial exploitation. Evidence suggests that 1 out of 10 older adults experiences some form of elder abuse, and only a fraction of cases are actually reported to social services agencies. At the same time, elder abuse is independently associated with significant morbidity and premature mortality. Despite these findings, there is a great paucity in research, practice, and policy dealing with this pervasive issue. In this paper, I review the epidemiology of elder abuse as well as key practical issues in dealing with the cases of elder abuse. Through my experiences as a Congressional Policy Fellow/National Health and Aging Policy Fellow, I highlight key previsions on 2 major federal legislations dealing with the issues of elder abuse: Older Americans Act (OAA) and Elder Justice Act (EJA). Lastly, I highlight major research gaps and future policy relevant research directions to advance the field of elder abuse. Interdisciplinary and community-based efforts are needed to devise effective strategies to detect, treat, and prevent elder abuse in our increasingly diverse aging populations. Collective advocacy and policy advances are needed to create a national infrastructure to protect the vulnerable older adults. PMID:24270215

Elder abuse: research, practice, and health policy. The 2012 GSA Maxwell Pollack award lecture.

PubMed

Dong, Xinqi

2014-04-01

Elder abuse, also called elder mistreatment or elder maltreatment, includes psychological, physical, and sexual abuse, neglect (caregiver neglect and self-neglect), and financial exploitation. Evidence suggests that 1 out of 10 older adults experiences some form of elder abuse, and only a fraction of cases are actually reported to social services agencies. At the same time, elder abuse is independently associated with significant morbidity and premature mortality. Despite these findings, there is a great paucity in research, practice, and policy dealing with this pervasive issue. In this paper, I review the epidemiology of elder abuse as well as key practical issues in dealing with the cases of elder abuse. Through my experiences as a Congressional Policy Fellow/National Health and Aging Policy Fellow, I highlight key previsions on 2 major federal legislations dealing with the issues of elder abuse: Older Americans Act (OAA) and Elder Justice Act (EJA). Lastly, I highlight major research gaps and future policy relevant research directions to advance the field of elder abuse. Interdisciplinary and community-based efforts are needed to devise effective strategies to detect, treat, and prevent elder abuse in our increasingly diverse aging populations. Collective advocacy and policy advances are needed to create a national infrastructure to protect the vulnerable older adults.

HTA and its legal issues: a framework for identifying legal issues in health technology assessment.

PubMed

Widrig, Daniel; Tag, Brigitte

2014-12-01

Legal analysis can highlight important issues that are relevant when deciding whether a medical technology should be implemented or reimbursed. Literature and studies show that even though the law is an acknowledged part of health technology assessment (HTA), legal issues are rarely considered in practice. One reason for this may be the lack of knowledge about the diversity of legal issues that are relevant for HTA. Therefore, this contribution aims primarily to identify and then explain the relevant legal issues in HTA. This study offers a framework for identifying the legal issues in HTAs in different jurisdictions and provides a basis for further research. After extensive literature search, the authors review Swiss health law to identify legal issues that are relevant to HTA. The authors then categorize these legal issues using a framework with an inside and outside perspective. Finally, they explain a selection of these legal issues with several examples. This study reveals numerous legal issues that are relevant for HTA and underlines the necessity of incorporating legal analysis in HTAs. The suggested perspectival framework in this study provides a basis to structure the legal analysis. The identified legal issues are relevant in other countries and the perspectival framework is transferable to other jurisdictions. The article underlines the importance of in-depth discussion about the role of law in HTA. It provides a structured overview of the legal issues in HTA and suggests a development of more concrete instruments toward a standardized legal technology assessment.

Incorporating organisational safety culture within ergonomics practice.

PubMed

Bentley, Tim; Tappin, David

2010-10-01

This paper conceptualises organisational safety culture and considers its relevance to ergonomics practice. Issues discussed in the paper include the modest contribution that ergonomists and ergonomics as a discipline have made to this burgeoning field of study and the significance of safety culture to a systems approach. The relevance of safety culture to ergonomics work with regard to the analysis, design, implementation and evaluation process, and implications for participatory ergonomics approaches, are also discussed. A potential user-friendly, qualitative approach to assessing safety culture as part of ergonomics work is presented, based on a recently published conceptual framework that recognises the dynamic and multi-dimensional nature of safety culture. The paper concludes by considering the use of such an approach, where an understanding of different aspects of safety culture within an organisation is seen as important to the success of ergonomics projects. STATEMENT OF RELEVANCE: The relevance of safety culture to ergonomics practice is a key focus of this paper, including its relationship with the systems approach, participatory ergonomics and the ergonomics analysis, design, implementation and evaluation process. An approach to assessing safety culture as part of ergonomics work is presented.

Use of digital media technology for primary prevention of STIs/HIV in youth.

PubMed

Chávez, Noé Rubén; Shearer, Lee S; Rosenthal, Susan L

2014-10-01

The relevant literature was reviewed to identify issues in research evaluating digital media technology (DMT) interventions for the primary prevention of STIs/HIV in adolescents and young adults. A literature search with relevant key terms was conducted in PubMed, for articles with studies that included: (a) participants between 11-29 years; (b) use of one or more of the following forms of DMT: interactive digital video or CD-ROM, computer, text messaging, or Internet; (c) evaluation of an STI/HIV primary prevention intervention; and (d) use of a cognitive, psychosocial, behavioral, or biological outcome. Twenty-nine studies were identified and included in the review. Based on the review of these studies, 7 main issues were discussed and recommendations for improving future research were offered. The 7 main issues were: (a) need for a balance between universal application and specific sub-group focus, (b) lack of a developmental framework, (c) challenge of applying DMT in resource limited contexts, (d) rapidly changing nature of DMT, (e) lack of biological outcomes, (f) lack of comparison/control groups to assess the impact of DMT, and (g) limited temporal follow-up. There is increasing literature evaluating the effectiveness of DMT for preventing STIs/HIV among adolescents and young adults. A careful consideration of 7 main issues identified in the literature can improve the design and evaluation of these interventions and enhance our understanding of their effectiveness. Copyright © 2014 North American Society for Pediatric and Adolescent Gynecology. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Engineering education in research-intensive universities

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Alpay, E.; Jones, M. E.

2012-12-01

The strengths and weaknesses of engineering education in research-intensive institutions are reported and key areas for developmental focus identified. The work is based on a questionnaire and session summaries used during a two-day international conference held at Imperial College London. The findings highlight several common concerns, such as the need to improve faculty motivation towards teaching, broaden the workplace skills of students, widen employer engagement in teaching and raise the relevance and value of scholarly activity in the discipline of engineering education. Examples of good practice used to address such issues are reported.

Astrobiology Field Research in Moon/Mars Analogue Environments: Preface

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Foing, B. H.; Stoker, C.; Ehrenfreund, P.

2011-01-01

Extreme environments on Earth often provide similar terrain conditions to landing/operation sites on Moon and Mars. Several field campaigns (EuroGeoMars2009 and DOMMEX/ILEWG EuroMoonMars from November 2009 to March 2010) were conducted at the Mars Desert Research Station (MDRS) in Utah. Some of the key astrobiology results are presented in this special issue on Astrobiology field research in Moon/Mars analogue environments relevant to investigate the link between geology, minerals, organics and biota. Preliminary results from a multidisciplinary field campaign at Rio Tinto in Spain are presented.

Insulin Infusion Sets: A Critical Reappraisal.

PubMed

Heinemann, Lutz

2016-05-01

An insulin infusion set (IIS) is a key component of insulin pumps. In daily practice issues with the IIS appear to be as relevant for a successful insulin therapy as the pumps themselves. The insulin is applied to the subcutaneous tissue via a Teflon(®) (Dupont, Wilmington, DE) or steel cannula. There are intensive discussions about the impact the choice of material for insulin application has on insulin pharmacokinetics. In this review, this factor and others that are known to have an impact on the successful usage of IIS are discussed.

CACODYLIC ACID (DMAV): METABOLISM AND ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

The cacodylic acid (DMAV) issue paper discusses the metabolism and pharmacokinetics of the various arsenical chemicals; evaluates the appropriate dataset to quantify the potential cancer risk to the organic arsenical herbicides; provides an evaluation of the mode of carcinogenic action (MOA) for DMAV including a consideration of the key events for bladder tumor formation in rats, other potential modes of action; and also considers the human relevance of the proposed animal MOA. As part of tolerance reassessment under the Food Quality Protection Act for the August 3, 2006 deadline, the hazard of cacodylic acid is being reassessed.

DOE/NNSA perspective safeguard by design: GEN III/III+ light water reactors and beyond

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Pan, Paul Y

2010-12-10

An overview of key issues relevant to safeguards by design (SBD) for GEN III/IV nuclear reactors is provided. Lessons learned from construction of typical GEN III+ water reactors with respect to SBD are highlighted. Details of SBD for safeguards guidance development for GEN III/III+ light water reactors are developed and reported. This paper also identifies technical challenges to extend SBD including proliferation resistance methodologies to other GEN III/III+ reactors (except HWRs) and GEN IV reactors because of their immaturity in designs.

Key Issues in the Modes of Action and Effects of Trichloroethylene Metabolites for Liver and Kidney Tumorigenesis

PubMed Central

Caldwell, Jane C.; Keshava, Nagalakshmi

2006-01-01

Trichloroethylene (TCE) exposure has been associated with increased risk of liver and kidney cancer in both laboratory animal and epidemiologic studies. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency 2001 draft TCE risk assessment concluded that it is difficult to determine which TCE metabolites may be responsible for these effects, the key events involved in their modes of action (MOAs), and the relevance of these MOAs to humans. In this article, which is part of a mini-monograph on key issues in the health risk assessment of TCE, we present a review of recently published scientific literature examining the effects of TCE metabolites in the context of the preceding questions. Studies of the TCE metabolites dichloroacetic acid (DCA), trichloroacetic acid (TCA), and chloral hydrate suggest that both DCA and TCA are involved in TCE-induced liver tumorigenesis and that many DCA effects are consistent with conditions that increase the risk of liver cancer in humans. Studies of S-(1,2-dichlorovinyl)-l-cysteine have revealed a number of different possible cell signaling effects that may be related to kidney tumorigenesis at lower concentrations than those leading to cytotoxicity. Recent studies of trichloroethanol exploring an alternative hypothesis for kidney tumorigenesis have failed to establish the formation of formate as a key event for TCE-induced kidney tumors. Overall, although MOAs and key events for TCE-induced liver and kidney tumors have yet to be definitively established, these results support the likelihood that toxicity is due to multiple metabolites through several MOAs, none of which appear to be irrelevant to humans. PMID:16966105

Reshaping clinical science: Introduction to the Special Issue on Psychophysiology and the NIMH Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) initiative.

PubMed

Patrick, Christopher J; Hajcak, Greg

2016-03-01

The National Institute of Mental Health's (NIMH) Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) initiative seeks to establish new dimensional conceptions of mental health problems, through the investigation of clinically relevant "process" constructs that have neurobiological as well as psychological referents. This special issue provides a detailed overview of the RDoC framework by NIMH officials Michael Kozak and Bruce Cuthbert, and spotlights RDoC-oriented investigative efforts by leading psychophysiological research groups as examples of how clinical science might be reshaped through application of RDoC principles. Accompanying commentaries highlight key aspects of the work by each group, and discuss reported methods/findings in relation to promises and challenges of the RDoC initiative more broadly. © 2016 Society for Psychophysiological Research.

HIV and travel.

PubMed

Schuhwerk, M A; Richens, J; Zuckerman, Jane N

2006-01-01

There is a high demand for travel among HIV-positive individual. This demand arises partly from those who have benefited from advances in antiretroviral therapy as well as those with disease progression. The key to a successful and uneventful holiday lies in careful pre-trip planning, yet many patients fail to obtain advice before travelling. Travel advice for HIV patients is becoming increasingly specialized. In addition to advice on common travel-related infectious diseases, HIV-positive travellers are strongly advised to carry information with them and they need specific advice regarding country entry restrictions, HIV inclusive travel insurance, safety of travel vaccinations and highly active antiretroviral therapy-related issues. A wide range of relevant issues for the HIV-positive traveller are discussed in this review and useful websites can be found at the end.

Survey questions about party competence: Insights from cognitive interviews☆

PubMed Central

Wagner, Markus; Zeglovits, Eva

2014-01-01

Voter assessments of party competence have become a key explanation of electoral decision-making. However, there are at least three important aspects to understanding responses to questions on issue-specific party competence: comprehension difficulties; a lack of well-formed attitudes and relevant information; and the use of response heuristics. We used 20 cognitive interviews carried out in Austria in 2011 to test competence questions. The interviews show us how respondents explain their responses. We find evidence that many people (1) may hold only weak opinions and have little information on issue-specific party competence and (2) may make use of distinct but related concepts, particularly salience and position, when answering questions about competence. We provide recommendations for researchers and survey designers based on our findings. PMID:25844005

Web information retrieval based on ontology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Jian

2013-03-01

The purpose of the Information Retrieval (IR) is to find a set of documents that are relevant for a specific information need of a user. Traditional Information Retrieval model commonly used in commercial search engine is based on keyword indexing system and Boolean logic queries. One big drawback of traditional information retrieval is that they typically retrieve information without an explicitly defined domain of interest to the users so that a lot of no relevance information returns to users, which burden the user to pick up useful answer from these no relevance results. In order to tackle this issue, many semantic web information retrieval models have been proposed recently. The main advantage of Semantic Web is to enhance search mechanisms with the use of Ontology's mechanisms. In this paper, we present our approach to personalize web search engine based on ontology. In addition, key techniques are also discussed in our paper. Compared to previous research, our works concentrate on the semantic similarity and the whole process including query submission and information annotation.

Policy-Making Theory as an Analytical Framework in Policy Analysis: Implications for Research Design and Professional Advocacy.

PubMed

Sheldon, Michael R

2016-01-01

Policy studies are a recent addition to the American Physical Therapy Association's Research Agenda and are critical to our understanding of various federal, state, local, and organizational policies on the provision of physical therapist services across the continuum of care. Policy analyses that help to advance the profession's various policy agendas will require relevant theoretical frameworks to be credible. The purpose of this perspective article is to: (1) demonstrate the use of a policy-making theory as an analytical framework in a policy analysis and (2) discuss how sound policy analysis can assist physical therapists in becoming more effective change agents, policy advocates, and partners with other relevant stakeholder groups. An exploratory study of state agency policy responses to address work-related musculoskeletal disorders is provided as a contemporary example to illustrate key points and to demonstrate the importance of selecting a relevant analytical framework based on the context of the policy issue under investigation. © 2016 American Physical Therapy Association.

Ethical challenges and solutions regarding delirium studies in palliative care.

PubMed

Sweet, Lisa; Adamis, Dimitrios; Meagher, David J; Davis, Daniel; Currow, David C; Bush, Shirley H; Barnes, Christopher; Hartwick, Michael; Agar, Meera; Simon, Jessica; Breitbart, William; MacDonald, Neil; Lawlor, Peter G

2014-08-01

Delirium occurs commonly in settings of palliative care (PC), in which patient vulnerability in the unique context of end-of-life care and delirium-associated impairment of decision-making capacity may together present many ethical challenges. Based on deliberations at the Studies to Understand Delirium in Palliative Care Settings (SUNDIPS) meeting and an associated literature review, this article discusses ethical issues central to the conduct of research on delirious PC patients. Together with an analysis of the ethical deliberations at the SUNDIPS meeting, we conducted a narrative literature review by key words searching of relevant databases and a subsequent hand search of initially identified articles. We also reviewed statements of relevance to delirium research in major national and international ethics guidelines. Key issues identified include the inclusion of PC patients in delirium research, capacity determination, and the mandate to respect patient autonomy and ensure maintenance of patient dignity. Proposed solutions include designing informed consent statements that are clear, concise, and free of complex phraseology; use of concise, yet accurate, capacity assessment instruments with a minimally burdensome schedule; and use of PC friendly consent models, such as facilitated, deferred, experienced, advance, and proxy models. Delirium research in PC patients must meet the common standards for such research in any setting. Certain features unique to PC establish a need for extra diligence in meeting these standards and the employment of assessments, consent procedures, and patient-family interactions that are clearly grounded on the tenets of PC. Copyright © 2014 American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Investigating Sustainability Impacts of Bioenergy Usage Within the Eisenwurzen Region in Austria

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Putzhuber, F.; Hasenauer, H.

2009-04-01

Within the past few years sustainability and bioenergy usage become a key term in emphasizing the relationship between economic progress and the protection of the environment. One key difficulty is the definition of criteria and indicators for assessing sustainability issues and their change over time. This work introduces methods to create linear parametric models of the sustainable impact issues relevant in the establishment of new bio-energetic heating systems. Our application example is the Eisenwurzen region in Austria. The total area covers 5743 km km² and includes 99 municipalities. A total of 11 impact issues covering the economic, social and environmental areas are proposed for developing the linear parametric models. The indicator selection for deriving the impact issues is based on public official data from 68 indicators, as well as stakeholder interviews and the impact assessment framework. In total we obtained 415 variables from the 99 municipalities to create the 68 indicators for the Local Administration Unit 2 (LAU2) over the last (if available) 25 years. The 68 indicators are on a relative scale to address the size differences of the municipalities. The idea of the analysis is to create linear models which derive 11 defined impact issues related to the establishment of new bio-energetic heating systems. Each analysis follows a strict statistical procedure based on (i) independent indicator selection, (ii) remove indicators with higher VIF value grater then 6, (iii) remove indicators with α higher than 0,05, (iv) possible linear transformation, (v) remove the non-significant indicators (p-value >0,05), (vi) model valuation, (vii) remove the out-lines plots and (viii) test of the normality distribution of the residual with a Kolmogorov- Smirnov test. The results suggest that for the 11 sustainable impact issues 21 of the 68 indicators are significant drives. The models revealed that it is possible to create tools for assessing impact issues in a municipality level. In this case impact issues related to bio-energy usages on a rural mountain region.

Earth Observation, Spatial Data Quality, and Neglected Tropical Diseases.

PubMed

Hamm, Nicholas A S; Soares Magalhães, Ricardo J; Clements, Archie C A

2015-12-01

Earth observation (EO) is the use of remote sensing and in situ observations to gather data on the environment. It finds increasing application in the study of environmentally modulated neglected tropical diseases (NTDs). Obtaining and assuring the quality of the relevant spatially and temporally indexed EO data remain challenges. Our objective was to review the Earth observation products currently used in studies of NTD epidemiology and to discuss fundamental issues relating to spatial data quality (SDQ), which limit the utilization of EO and pose challenges for its more effective use. We searched Web of Science and PubMed for studies related to EO and echinococossis, leptospirosis, schistosomiasis, and soil-transmitted helminth infections. Relevant literature was also identified from the bibliographies of those papers. We found that extensive use is made of EO products in the study of NTD epidemiology; however, the quality of these products is usually given little explicit attention. We review key issues in SDQ concerning spatial and temporal scale, uncertainty, and the documentation and use of quality information. We give examples of how these issues may interact with uncertainty in NTD data to affect the output of an epidemiological analysis. We conclude that researchers should give careful attention to SDQ when designing NTD spatial-epidemiological studies. This should be used to inform uncertainty analysis in the epidemiological study. SDQ should be documented and made available to other researchers.

Space Drive Physics: Introduction and Next Steps

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Millis, M. G.

Research toward the visionary goal of propellantless ``space drives'' is introduced, covering key physics issues and a listing of roughly 2-dozen approaches. The targeted advantage of a space drive is to circumvent the propellant constraints of rockets and the maneuvering limits of light sails by using the interactions between the spacecraft and its surrounding space for propulsion. At present, the scientific foundations from which to engineer a space drive have not been discovered and, objectively, might be impossible. Although no propulsion breakthroughs appear imminent, the subject has matured to where the relevant questions have been broached and are beginning to be answered. The critical make-break issues include; conservation of momentum, uncertain sources of reaction mass, and the net-external thrusting requirement. Note: space drives are not necessarily faster- than-light devices. Speed limits are a separate, unanswered issue. Relevant unsolved physics includes; the sources and mechanisms of inertial frames, coupling of gravitation and electromagnetism, and the nature of the quantum vacuum. The propulsion approaches span mostly stages 1 through 3 of the scientific method (defining the problem, collecting data, and articulating hypotheses), while some have matured to stage 4 (testing hypotheses). Nonviable approaches include `stiction drives,' `gyroscopic antigravity,' and `lifters.' No attempt is made to gauge the prospects of the remaining approaches. Instead, a list of next-step research questions is derived from the examination of these goals, unknowns, and concepts.

How the Maori community sees the dental-care system.

PubMed

Edward, S J

1992-10-01

This report has addressed the question of how the Maori community sees the system of oral health care by indicating the complex factors influencing the Maori community's attitude toward health issues. These factors preclude the Maori community from many of the perceived benefits of the present oral health-care system. There is a need in this current climate of debate over health policies to re-focus on primary prevention policies that will be relevant to the Maori community of today. No one is seen in the Maori community to be articulating concern for oral health issues. The challenge for the Dental Council of New Zealand is how then to create a focus on oral health issues within the Maori community, and to actively promote oral health care and encourage usage of a system that is affordable, available, accessible, and appropriate. Practical and relevant recommendations arising from Rapuora: Health and Maori Women 1984 and the Hui Hauora Mokopuna, 1990(10) should be considered when planning future health-care systems. Health was one of the four key areas highlighted in the Ka Awatea report, and it will be an important feature of the work of the new Ministry of Maori Development. It is timely that the Dental Council of New Zealand and the Ministry of Maori Development should facilitate oral health-care systems for the future in partnership with the Maori community.

The Design of PSB-VVER Experiments Relevant to Accident Management

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nevo, Alessandro Del; D'Auria, Francesco; Mazzini, Marino; Bykov, Michael; Elkin, Ilya V.; Suslov, Alexander

Experimental programs carried-out in integral test facilities are relevant for validating the best estimate thermal-hydraulic codes(1), which are used for accident analyses, design of accident management procedures, licensing of nuclear power plants, etc. The validation process, in fact, is based on well designed experiments. It consists in the comparison of the measured and calculated parameters and the determination whether a computer code has an adequate capability in predicting the major phenomena expected to occur in the course of transient and/or accidents. University of Pisa was responsible of the numerical design of the 12 experiments executed in PSB-VVER facility (2), operated at Electrogorsk Research and Engineering Center (Russia), in the framework of the TACIS 2.03/97 Contract 3.03.03 Part A, EC financed (3). The paper describes the methodology adopted at University of Pisa, starting form the scenarios foreseen in the final test matrix until the execution of the experiments. This process considers three key topics: a) the scaling issue and the simulation, with unavoidable distortions, of the expected performance of the reference nuclear power plants; b) the code assessment process involving the identification of phenomena challenging the code models; c) the features of the concerned integral test facility (scaling limitations, control logics, data acquisition system, instrumentation, etc.). The activities performed in this respect are discussed, and emphasis is also given to the relevance of the thermal losses to the environment. This issue affects particularly the small scaled facilities and has relevance on the scaling approach related to the power and volume of the facility.

A scoping review identifying contemporary issues in rural nursing leadership.

PubMed

Bish, Melanie; Kenny, Amanda; Nay, Rhonda

2012-12-01

Rural nurse leaders on a global scale are being challenged to create structures and processes to enable excellence in nursing care. The purpose of this scoping review is to offer an indication of the available literature relating to contemporary issues in rural nursing leadership. A review of contemporary issues facing rural nurse leaders is timely to assist strategy development that will achieve the goal of excellence in nursing. An interpretative scoping literature review methodological framework has been used with an emphasis on thematic construction. Literature published between 2008 and 2012 was reviewed from five electronic databases using the key words rural, nursing, and leadership. Four themes have been identified: expectations of rural nursing leadership, a highly educated workforce, competing interests, and partnering within rural healthcare systems. The content may resonate with rural nurse leaders and encourage a greater awareness of their relevance to leadership practices. The findings provide a greater awareness and understanding of contemporary issues facing rural nurse leaders and may assist with the development of context-sensitive leadership strategies to facilitate excellence in nursing care. © 2012 Sigma Theta Tau International.

How Contexts and Issues Influence the Use of Policy-Relevant Research Syntheses: A Critical Interpretive Synthesis

PubMed Central

Moat, Kaelan A; Lavis, John N; Abelson, Julia

2013-01-01

Context Evidence briefs have emerged as a promising approach to synthesizing the best available research evidence for health system policymakers and stakeholders. An evidence brief may draw on systematic reviews and many other types of policy-relevant information, including local data and studies, to describe a problem, options for addressing it, and key implementation considerations. We conducted a systematic review to examine the ways in which context- and issue-related factors influence the perceived usefulness of evidence briefs among their intended users. Methods We used a critical interpretive synthesis approach to review both empirical and nonempirical literature and to develop a model that explains how context and issues influence policymakers’ and stakeholders’ views of the utility of evidence briefs prepared for priority policy issues. We used a “compass” question to create a detailed search strategy and conducted electronic searches in CINAHL, EMBASE, HealthSTAR, IPSA, MEDLINE, OAIster (gray literature), ProQuest A&I Theses, ProQuest (Sociological Abstracts, Applied Social Sciences Index and Abstracts, Worldwide Political Science Abstracts, International Bibliography of Social Sciences, PAIS, Political Science), PsychInfo, Web of Science, and WilsonWeb (Social Science Abstracts). Finally, we used a grounded and interpretive analytic approach to synthesize the results. Findings Of the 4,461 papers retrieved, 3,908 were excluded and 553 were assessed for “relevance,” with 137 included in the initial sample of papers to be analyzed and an additional 23 purposively sampled to fill conceptual gaps. Several themes emerged: (1) many established types of “evidence” are viewed as useful content in an evidence brief, along with several promising formatting features; (2) contextual factors, particularly the institutions, interests, and values of a given context, can influence views of evidence briefs; (3) whether an issue is polarizing and whether it is salient (or not) and familiar (or not) to actors in the policy arena can influence views of evidence briefs prepared for that issue; (4) influential factors can emerge in several ways (as context driven, issue driven, or a result of issue-context resonance); (5) these factors work through two primary pathways, affecting either the users or the producers of briefs; and (6) these factors influence views of evidence briefs through a variety of mechanisms. Conclusions Those persons funding and preparing evidence briefs need to consider a variety of context- and issue-related factors when deciding how to make them most useful in policymaking. PMID:24028700

Assessment of the Current Level of Automation in the Manufacture of Fuel Cell Systems for Combined Heat and Power Applications

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Ulsh, M.; Wheeler, D.; Protopappas, P.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is interested in supporting manufacturing research and development (R&D) for fuel cell systems in the 10-1,000 kilowatt (kW) power range relevant to stationary and distributed combined heat and power applications, with the intent to reduce manufacturing costs and increase production throughput. To assist in future decision-making, DOE requested that the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) provide a baseline understanding of the current levels of adoption of automation in manufacturing processes and flow, as well as of continuous processes. NREL identified and visited or interviewed key manufacturers, universities, and laboratories relevant to the study usingmore » a standard questionnaire. The questionnaire covered the current level of vertical integration, the importance of quality control developments for automation, the current level of automation and source of automation design, critical balance of plant issues, potential for continuous cell manufacturing, key manufacturing steps or processes that would benefit from DOE support for manufacturing R&D, the potential for cell or stack design changes to support automation, and the relationship between production volume and decisions on automation.« less

UAS Integration into the NAS Project

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bauer, Jeff

2010-01-01

The goal of the UAS Integration in the NAS Project is to contribute capabilities that reduce technical barriers related to the safety and operational challenges associated with enabling routine UAS access to the NAS This goal will be accomplished through a two-phased approach of system-level integration of key concepts, technologies and/or procedures, and demonstrations of integrated capabilities in an operationally relevant environment. Technical objectives include: PHASE 1: a) Validating the key technical areas identified by this project. System-level analyses, a State of the Art Analysis (SOAA), and a ConOps will identify the challenges and barriers preventing routine UAS access to the NAS. b) Developing a national roadmap and gap analysis identifying specific deliverables in the area of operations, procedures, and technologies that will impact future policy decisions. PHASE 2: a) Provide regulators with a methodology for developing airworthiness requirements for UAS and data to support development of certifications standards and regulatory guidance. b) Provide systems-level integrated testing of concepts and/or capabilities that address barriers to routine access to the NAS. Through simulation and flight testing, address issues including separation assurance, communications requirements, and Pilot Aircraft Interfaces (PAIs) in operationally relevant environments

Investigating accident causation through information network modelling.

PubMed

Griffin, T G C; Young, M S; Stanton, N A

2010-02-01

Management of risk in complex domains such as aviation relies heavily on post-event investigations, requiring complex approaches to fully understand the integration of multi-causal, multi-agent and multi-linear accident sequences. The Event Analysis of Systemic Teamwork methodology (EAST; Stanton et al. 2008) offers such an approach based on network models. In this paper, we apply EAST to a well-known aviation accident case study, highlighting communication between agents as a central theme and investigating the potential for finding agents who were key to the accident. Ultimately, this work aims to develop a new model based on distributed situation awareness (DSA) to demonstrate that the risk inherent in a complex system is dependent on the information flowing within it. By identifying key agents and information elements, we can propose proactive design strategies to optimize the flow of information and help work towards avoiding aviation accidents. Statement of Relevance: This paper introduces a novel application of an holistic methodology for understanding aviation accidents. Furthermore, it introduces an ongoing project developing a nonlinear and prospective method that centralises distributed situation awareness and communication as themes. The relevance of findings are discussed in the context of current ergonomic and aviation issues of design, training and human-system interaction.

Defining Neuromarketing: Practices and Professional Challenges

PubMed Central

Fisher, Carl Erik; Chin, Lisa; Klitzman, Robert

2011-01-01

Neuromarketing has recently generated controversies concerning the involvement of medical professionals, and many key questions remain—ones that have potentially important implications for the field of psychiatry. Conflicting definitions of neuromarketing have been proposed, and little is known about the actual practices of companies, physicians, and scientists involved in its practice. This article reviews the history of neuromarketing and uses an exploratory survey of neuromarketing Web sites to illustrate ethical issues raised by this new field. Neuromarketing, as currently practiced, is heterogeneous, as companies are offering a variety of technologies. Many companies employ academicians and professionals, but few list their clients or fees. Media coverage of neuromarketing appears disproportionately high compared to the paucity of peer-reviewed reports in the field. Companies may be making premature claims about the power of neuroscience to predict consumer behavior. Overall, neuromarketing has important implications for academic-industrial partnerships, the responsible conduct of research, and the public understanding of the brain. We explore these themes to uncover issues relevant to professional ethics, research, and policy. Of particular relevance to psychiatry, neuromarketing may be seen as an extension of the search for quantification and certainty in previously indefinite aspects of human behavior. PMID:20597593

Defining neuromarketing: practices and professional challenges.

PubMed

Fisher, Carl Erik; Chin, Lisa; Klitzman, Robert

2010-01-01

Neuromarketing has recently generated controversies concerning the involvement of medical professionals, and many key questions remain-ones that have potentially important implications for the field of psychiatry. Conflicting definitions of neuromarketing have been proposed, and little is known about the actual practices of companies, physicians, and scientists involved in its practice. This article reviews the history of neuromarketing and uses an exploratory survey of neuromarketing Web sites to illustrate ethical issues raised by this new field. Neuromarketing, as currently practiced, is heterogeneous, as companies are offering a variety of technologies. Many companies employ academicians and professionals, but few list their clients or fees. Media coverage of neuromarketing appears disproportionately high compared to the paucity of peer-reviewed reports in the field. Companies may be making premature claims about the power of neuroscience to predict consumer behavior. Overall, neuromarketing has important implications for academic-industrial partnerships, the responsible conduct of research, and the public understanding of the brain. We explore these themes to uncover issues relevant to professional ethics, research, and policy. Of particular relevance to psychiatry, neuromarketing may be seen as an extension of the search for quantification and certainty in previously indefinite aspects of human behavior.

Depression in medical students: current insights.

PubMed

Moir, Fiona; Yielder, Jill; Sanson, Jasmine; Chen, Yan

2018-01-01

Medical students are exposed to multiple factors during their academic and clinical study that have been shown to contribute to high levels of depression, anxiety, and stress. The purpose of this article was to explore the issue of depression in the medical student population, including prevalence, causes, and key issues, along with suggestions for early identification and support from one medical school in New Zealand. After establishing that the prevalence of depression is higher for medical students than the general population, the key issues explored include assessment used in the program, characteristics of the student population (such as Type A personality and perfectionism), resilience, selection procedures, students' motivation, and the nature of the clinical environment. This review includes several recommendations to improve students' psychological health such as positioning well-being within an overarching comprehensive workplace wellness model and integrating peer and faculty-led support into the day-to-day running of the institution. It also highlights the advantages of the addition of a well-being curriculum, as skills to prevent and manage distress and depression are relevant in supporting the competencies required by medical practitioners. It concludes that medical schools need wide-ranging strategies to address the complexities associated with the particular student population attracted to medicine and calls for educators to act, by noticing opportunities where they can introduce such initiatives into their medical programs.

Depression in medical students: current insights

PubMed Central

Moir, Fiona; Yielder, Jill; Sanson, Jasmine; Chen, Yan

2018-01-01

Medical students are exposed to multiple factors during their academic and clinical study that have been shown to contribute to high levels of depression, anxiety, and stress. The purpose of this article was to explore the issue of depression in the medical student population, including prevalence, causes, and key issues, along with suggestions for early identification and support from one medical school in New Zealand. After establishing that the prevalence of depression is higher for medical students than the general population, the key issues explored include assessment used in the program, characteristics of the student population (such as Type A personality and perfectionism), resilience, selection procedures, students’ motivation, and the nature of the clinical environment. This review includes several recommendations to improve students’ psychological health such as positioning well-being within an overarching comprehensive workplace wellness model and integrating peer and faculty-led support into the day-to-day running of the institution. It also highlights the advantages of the addition of a well-being curriculum, as skills to prevent and manage distress and depression are relevant in supporting the competencies required by medical practitioners. It concludes that medical schools need wide-ranging strategies to address the complexities associated with the particular student population attracted to medicine and calls for educators to act, by noticing opportunities where they can introduce such initiatives into their medical programs. PMID:29765261

Human capital flight challenges within an equitable health system.

PubMed

Udonwa, N E

2007-01-01

The issue of human capital flight has been discussed at different forums with a consensus opinion that it has its merits and demerits to equitable health system. Most often one nation becomes a substantial net exporter of talent, leaving the provider nation at risk of depleting its natural supply of talent. This paper looks into the historical perspective of human capital flight or "brain drain", and its burden. It attempts to elucidate the various causes and suggested solutions. The paper's objective is to educate colleagues on the conceptual and contextual imperatives of the issue. Using a convenient sample of key informants who were medical colleagues in Nigeria relevant information was sourced from these colleagues, documents from the postgraduate medical college of Nigeria and the internet on maters relating to human capital flight and brain drain. Every year, thousands of qualified doctors, and other professionals leave Nigeria tempted by significantly higher wages, brighter prospects for employment and education, stability, food security. It appears that the potential exposure to different working conditions, resources and professional environments can be of advantage to the country, should Nigeria be able to recall these professionals. It also appears that necessary economic reforms that make staying at home rewarding, that is--good leadership, and policy planning that seriously looks into rural development, among other issues, are keys ingredients to reversing the trend in order to ensure a more equitable health system.

Infectious diseases of animals and plants: an interdisciplinary approach.

PubMed

Wilkinson, Katy; Grant, Wyn P; Green, Laura E; Hunter, Stephen; Jeger, Michael J; Lowe, Philip; Medley, Graham F; Mills, Peter; Phillipson, Jeremy; Poppy, Guy M; Waage, Jeff

2011-07-12

Animal and plant diseases pose a serious and continuing threat to food security, food safety, national economies, biodiversity and the rural environment. New challenges, including climate change, regulatory developments, changes in the geographical concentration and size of livestock holdings, and increasing trade make this an appropriate time to assess the state of knowledge about the impact that diseases have and the ways in which they are managed and controlled. In this paper, the case is explored for an interdisciplinary approach to studying the management of infectious animal and plant diseases. Reframing the key issues through incorporating both social and natural science research can provide a holistic understanding of disease and increase the policy relevance and impact of research. Finally, in setting out the papers in this Theme Issue, a picture of current and future animal and plant disease threats is presented.

Innovation: an emerging focus from cells to societies.

PubMed

Hochberg, Michael E; Marquet, Pablo A; Boyd, Robert; Wagner, Andreas

2017-12-05

Innovations are generally unexpected, often spectacular changes in phenotypes and ecological functions. The contributions to this theme issue are the latest conceptual, theoretical and experimental developments, addressing how ecology, environment, ontogeny and evolution are central to understanding the complexity of the processes underlying innovations. Here, we set the stage by introducing and defining key terms relating to innovation and discuss their relevance to biological, cultural and technological change. Discovering how the generation and transmission of novel biological information, environmental interactions and selective evolutionary processes contribute to innovation as an ecosystem will shed light on how the dominant features across life come to be, generalize to social, cultural and technological evolution, and have applications in the health sciences and sustainability.This article is part of the theme issue 'Process and pattern in innovations from cells to societies'. © 2017 The Author(s).

Innovation: an emerging focus from cells to societies

PubMed Central

Boyd, Robert

2017-01-01

Innovations are generally unexpected, often spectacular changes in phenotypes and ecological functions. The contributions to this theme issue are the latest conceptual, theoretical and experimental developments, addressing how ecology, environment, ontogeny and evolution are central to understanding the complexity of the processes underlying innovations. Here, we set the stage by introducing and defining key terms relating to innovation and discuss their relevance to biological, cultural and technological change. Discovering how the generation and transmission of novel biological information, environmental interactions and selective evolutionary processes contribute to innovation as an ecosystem will shed light on how the dominant features across life come to be, generalize to social, cultural and technological evolution, and have applications in the health sciences and sustainability. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Process and pattern in innovations from cells to societies’. PMID:29061887

Evaluation of existing district health management information systems a case study of the district health systems in Kenya.

PubMed

Odhiambo-Otieno, George W

2005-09-01

This paper discusses some of the issues and challenges of implementing appropriate and coordinated District Health Management Information System (DHMIS) in environments dependent on external support especially when insufficient attention has been given to the sustainability of systems. It also discusses fundamental issues which affect the usability of DHMIS to support District Health System (DHS), including meeting user needs and user education in the use of information for management; and the need for integration of data from all health-providing and related organizations in the district. This descriptive cross-sectional study was carried out in three DHSs in Kenya. Data was collected through use of questionnaires, focus group discussions and review of relevant literature, reports and operational manuals of the studied DHMISs. Key personnel at the DHS level were not involved in the development and implementation of the established systems. The DHMISs were fragmented to the extent that their information products were bypassing the very levels they were created to serve. None of the DHMISs was computerized. Key resources for DHMIS operation were inadequate. The adequacy of personnel was 47%, working space 40%, storage space 34%, stationery 20%, 73% of DHMIS staff were not trained, management support was 13%. Information produced was 30% accurate, 19% complete, 26% timely, 72% relevant; the level of confidentiality and use of information at the point of collection stood at 32% and 22% respectively and information security at 48%. Basic DHMIS equipment for information processing was not available. This inhibited effective and efficient provision of information services. An effective DHMIS is essential for DHS planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation activities. Without accurate, timely, relevant and complete information the existing information systems are not capable of facilitating the DHS managers in their day-today operational management. The existing DHMISs were found not supportive of the DHS managers' strategic and operational management functions. Consequently DHMISs were found to be plagued by numerous designs, operational, resources and managerial problems. There is an urgent need to explore the possibilities of computerizing the existing manual systems to take advantage of the potential uses of microcomputers for DHMIS operations within the DHS. Information system designers must also address issues of cooperative partnership in information activities, systems compatibility and sustainability.

Taking Legal Histories in Psychiatric Assessments.

PubMed

Morris, Nathaniel P

2018-05-25

People with mental illness are often disproportionately affected by the U.S. justice system, yet psychiatrists and other mental health professionals may avoid or feel uncomfortable talking with patients about legal history. This column examines why legal history is relevant to psychiatric assessments and provides guidance for talking with patients about these issues. Key aspects of taking a legal history are reviewed, including suggested questions, the role of collateral information, and considerations for medicolegal documentation. Developing skills in taking patients' legal histories may equip clinicians to better understand their patients' stories and to provide more effective psychiatric care.

Evaluation of a seven state criminal history screening pilot program for long-term care workers.

PubMed

Radcliff, Tiffany A; White, Alan; West, David R; Hurd, Donna; Côté, Murray J

2013-01-01

This article summarizes results from an evaluation of a federally sponsored criminal history screening (CHS) pilot program to improve screening for workers in long-term care settings. The evaluation addressed eight key issues specified through enabling legislation, including efficiency, costs, and outcomes of screening procedures. Of the 204,339 completed screenings, 3.7% were disqualified due to criminal history, and 18.8% were withdrawn prior to completion for reasons that may include relevant criminal history. Lessons learned from the pilot program experiences may inform a new national background check demonstration program.

Intensity-modulated radiation therapy: a review with a physics perspective.

PubMed

Cho, Byungchul

2018-03-01

Intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) has been considered the most successful development in radiation oncology since the introduction of computed tomography into treatment planning that enabled three-dimensional conformal radiotherapy in 1980s. More than three decades have passed since the concept of inverse planning was first introduced in 1982, and IMRT has become the most important and common modality in radiation therapy. This review will present developments in inverse IMRT treatment planning and IMRT delivery using multileaf collimators, along with the associated key concepts. Other relevant issues and future perspectives are also presented.

A useful observable for estimating keff in fast subcritical systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Saracco, Paolo; Borreani, Walter; Chersola, Davide; Lomonaco, Guglielmo; Ricco, Gianni; Ripani, Marco

2017-09-01

The neutron multiplication factor keff is a key quantity to characterize subcritical neutron multiplying devices and for understanting their physical behaviour, being related to the fundamental eigenvalue of Boltzmann transport equation. Both the maximum available power - and all quantities related to it, like, e.g. the effectiveness in burning nuclear wastes - as well as reactor kinetics and dynamics depend on keff. Nevertheless, keff is not directly measurable and its determination results from the solution of an inverse problem: minimizing model dependence of the solution for keff then becomes a critical issue, relevant both for practical and theoretical reasons.

Carbohydrate Recognition by Boronolectins, Small Molecules, and Lectins

PubMed Central

Jin, Shan; Cheng, Yunfeng; Reid, Suazette; Li, Minyong; Wang, Binghe

2009-01-01

Carbohydrates are known to mediate a large number of biological and pathological events. Small and macromolecules capable of carbohydrate recognition have great potentials as research tools, diagnostics, vectors for targeted delivery of therapeutic and imaging agents, and therapeutic agents. However, this potential is far from being realized. One key issue is the difficulty in the development of “binders” capable of specific recognition of carbohydrates of biological relevance. This review discusses systematically the general approaches that are available in developing carbohydrate sensors and “binders/receptors,” and their applications. The focus is on discoveries during the last five years. PMID:19291708

Quality-of-Life Priorities in Patients with Thyroid Cancer: A Multinational European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer Phase I Study.

PubMed

Singer, Susanne; Husson, Olga; Tomaszewska, Iwona M; Locati, Laura D; Kiyota, Naomi; Scheidemann-Wesp, Ulrike; Hofmeister, Dirk; Winterbotham, Melanie; Brannan, Christine; Araújo, Cláudia; Gamper, Eva M; Kulis, Dagmara; Rimmele, Harald; Andry, Guy; Licitra, Lisa

2016-11-01

The objectives of this study were to determine quality of life (QoL) issues that are relevant to thyroid cancer patients cross-culturally, and to identify those with highest relevance to them in addition to the more general issues covered by the core European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer QoL questionnaire (EORTC QLQ-C30). A systematic literature search provided a list of potentially relevant QoL issues to supplement the core questionnaire EORTC QLQ-C30, which is widely used in research and in care and addresses QoL issues relevant to all groups of cancer patients. A panel of experts revised this list, and thyroid cancer patients rated the issues regarding their relevance for QoL by selecting the 25 issues that they would include in a thyroid cancer-specific QoL module. The literature search and expert discussion provided a list of 71 QoL issues that was rated by thyroid cancer patients (n = 110) from seven countries. All issues were of high priority to at least some of the patients. The most frequently selected issues were sudden attacks of tiredness, exhaustion, quality of sleep, employment, social support, fear of cancer progression, fear of second operation, difficulties swallowing, and globus sensation. Thyroid cancer patients cross-culturally rate fatigue-related issues as highly important for their QoL, calling for increased efforts to find successful treatments for this problem. Vocational rehabilitation is also highly relevant for them and should therefore be an important aim of multidisciplinary care. The third important area of concern is psychological issues, especially fear of progression and of additional treatments.

Experimental Study and Computational Simulations of Key Pebble Bed Thermo-mechanics Issues for Design and Safety

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Tokuhiro, Akira; Potirniche, Gabriel; Cogliati, Joshua

2014-07-08

An experimental and computational study, consisting of modeling and simulation (M&S), of key thermal-mechanical issues affecting the design and safety of pebble-bed (PB) reactors was conducted. The objective was to broaden understanding and experimentally validate thermal-mechanic phenomena of nuclear grade graphite, specifically, spheres in frictional contact as anticipated in the bed under reactor relevant pressures and temperatures. The contact generates graphite dust particulates that can subsequently be transported into the flowing gaseous coolent. Under postulated depressurization transients and with the potential for leaked fission products to be adsorbed onto graphite 'dust', there is the potential for fission products to escapemore » from the primary volume. This is a design safety concern. Furthermore, earlier safety assessment identified the distinct possibility for the dispersed dust to combust in contact with air if sufficient conditions are met. Both of these phenomena were noted as important to design review and containing uncertainty to warrant study. The team designed and conducted two separate effects tests to study and benchmark the potential dust-generation rate, as well as study the conditions under which a dust explosion may occure in a standardized, instrumented explosion chamber.« less

Addressing overuse of health services in health systems: a critical interpretive synthesis.

PubMed

Ellen, Moriah E; Wilson, Michael G; Vélez, Marcela; Shach, Ruth; Lavis, John N; Grimshaw, Jeremy M; Moat, Kaelan A

2018-06-15

Health systems are increasingly focusing on the issue of 'overuse' of health services and how to address it. We developed a framework focused on (1) the rationale and context for health systems prioritising addressing overuse, (2) elements of a comprehensive process and approach to reduce overuse and (3) implementation considerations for addressing overuse. We conducted a critical interpretive synthesis informed by a stakeholder-engagement process. The synthesis identified relevant empirical and non-empirical articles about system-level overuse. Two reviewers independently screened records, assessed for inclusion and conceptually mapped included articles. From these, we selected a purposive sample, created structured summaries of key findings and thematically synthesised the results. Our search identified 3545 references, from which we included 251. Most articles (76%; n = 192) were published within 5 years of conducting the review and addressed processes for addressing overuse (63%; n = 158) or political and health system context (60%; n = 151). Besides negative outcomes at the patient, system and global level, there were various contextual factors to addressing service overuse that seem to be key issue drivers. Processes for addressing overuse can be grouped into three elements comprising a comprehensive approach, including (1) approaches to identify overused health services, (2) stakeholder- or patient-led approaches and (3) government-led initiatives. Key implementation considerations include the need to develop 'buy in' from stakeholders and citizens. Health systems want to ensure the use of high-value services to keep citizens healthy and avoid harm. Our synthesis can be used by policy-makers, stakeholders and researchers to understand how the issue has been prioritised, what approaches have been used to address it and implementation considerations. PROSPERO CRD42014013204 .

Smart-Glasses: Exposing and Elucidating the Ethical Issues.

PubMed

Hofmann, Bjørn; Haustein, Dušan; Landeweerd, Laurens

2017-06-01

The objective of this study is to provide an overview over the ethical issues relevant to the assessment, implementation, and use of smart-glasses. The purpose of the overview is to facilitate deliberation, decision making, and the formation of knowledge and norms for this emerging technology. An axiological question-based method for human cognitive enhancement including an extensive literature search on smart-glasses is used to identify relevant ethical issues. The search is supplemented with relevant ethical issues identified in the literature on human cognitive enhancement (in general) and in the study of the technical aspects of smart-glasses. Identified papers were subject to traditional content analysis: 739 references were identified of which 247 were regarded as relevant for full text examinations, and 155 were included in the study. A wide variety of ethical issues with smart-glasses have been identified, such as issues related to privacy, safety, justice, change in human agency, accountability, responsibility, social interaction, power and ideology. Smart-glasses are envisioned to change individual human identity and behavior as well as social interaction. Taking these issues into account appears to be relevant when developing, deliberating, deciding on, implementing, and using smart-glasses.

Advances Made in the Next Generation of Satellite Networks

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bhasin, Kul B.

1999-01-01

Because of the unique networking characteristics of communications satellites, global satellite networks are moving to the forefront in enhancing national and global information infrastructures. Simultaneously, broadband data services, which are emerging as the major market driver for future satellite and terrestrial networks, are being widely acknowledged as the foundation for an efficient global information infrastructure. In the past 2 years, various task forces and working groups around the globe have identified pivotal topics and key issues to address if we are to realize such networks in a timely fashion. In response, industry, government, and academia undertook efforts to address these topics and issues. A workshop was organized to provide a forum to assess the current state-of-the-art, identify key issues, and highlight the emerging trends in the next-generation architectures, data protocol development, communication interoperability, and applications. The Satellite Networks: Architectures, Applications, and Technologies Workshop was hosted by the Space Communication Program at the NASA Lewis Research Center in Cleveland, Ohio. Nearly 300 executives and technical experts from academia, industry, and government, representing the United States and eight other countries, attended the event (June 2 to 4, 1998). The program included seven panels and invited sessions and nine breakout sessions in which 42 speakers presented on technical topics. The proceedings covers a wide range of topics: access technology and protocols, architectures and network simulations, asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) over satellite networks, Internet over satellite networks, interoperability experiments and applications, multicasting, NASA interoperability experiment programs, NASA mission applications, and Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) over satellite: issues, relevance, and experience.

Conservation biology in Asia: the major policy challenges.

PubMed

McNeely, Jeffrey A; Kapoor-Vijay, Promila; Zhi, Lu; Olsvig-Whittaker, Linda; Sheikh, Kashif M; Smith, Andrew T

2009-08-01

With about half the world's human population and booming economies, Asia faces numerous challenges to its biodiversity. The Asia Section of the Society for Conservation Biology has identified some key policy issues in which significant progress can be made. These include developing new sources of funding for forest conservation; identifying potential impacts of energy alternatives on the conservation of biodiversity; curbing the trade in endangered species of plants and animals; a special focus on the conservation of mountain biodiversity; enhancing relevant research; ensuring that conservation biology contributes to major international conventions and funding mechanisms; using conservation biology to build a better understanding of zoonotic diseases; more effectively addressing human-animal conflicts; enhancing community-based conservation; and using conservation biology to help address the pervasive water-deficit problems in much of Asia. These challenges can be met through improved regional cooperation among the relevant stakeholders.

An overview of Ireland's National Radon Policy.

PubMed

Long, S; Fenton, D

2011-05-01

In Ireland radon is a significant public health issue and is linked to 150-200 lung cancer deaths each year. Irish National Radon Policy aims to reduce individual risk by identifying and remediating buildings with high radon concentrations and also to reduce collective dose through radon prevention as required by revised building regulations. Achievements to date are significant and include the completion of the National Radon Survey, the testing of every school in Ireland, the on-going testing of social housing, collaboration between the public health and radiation protection authorities and the inclusion of radon in inspections of workplaces. However, this work now needs to be drawn together centrally to comprehensively address the radon problem. The RPII and the relevant central governing department, the Department of Environment, Heritage and Local Government are currently working to constitute a group of key experts from relevant public authorities to drive the development of a National Radon Control Strategy.

Review of Antimicrobial Resistance in the Environment and Its Relevance to Environmental Regulators.

PubMed

Singer, Andrew C; Shaw, Helen; Rhodes, Vicki; Hart, Alwyn

2016-01-01

The environment is increasingly being recognized for the role it might play in the global spread of clinically relevant antibiotic resistance. Environmental regulators monitor and control many of the pathways responsible for the release of resistance-driving chemicals into the environment (e.g., antimicrobials, metals, and biocides). Hence, environmental regulators should be contributing significantly to the development of global and national antimicrobial resistance (AMR) action plans. It is argued that the lack of environment-facing mitigation actions included in existing AMR action plans is likely a function of our poor fundamental understanding of many of the key issues. Here, we aim to present the problem with AMR in the environment through the lens of an environmental regulator, using the Environment Agency (England's regulator) as an example from which parallels can be drawn globally. The issues that are pertinent to environmental regulators are drawn out to answer: What are the drivers and pathways of AMR? How do these relate to the normal work, powers and duties of environmental regulators? What are the knowledge gaps that hinder the delivery of environmental protection from AMR? We offer several thought experiments for how different mitigation strategies might proceed. We conclude that: (1) AMR Action Plans do not tackle all the potentially relevant pathways and drivers of AMR in the environment; and (2) AMR Action Plans are deficient partly because the science to inform policy is lacking and this needs to be addressed.

Review of Antimicrobial Resistance in the Environment and Its Relevance to Environmental Regulators

PubMed Central

Singer, Andrew C.; Shaw, Helen; Rhodes, Vicki; Hart, Alwyn

2016-01-01

The environment is increasingly being recognized for the role it might play in the global spread of clinically relevant antibiotic resistance. Environmental regulators monitor and control many of the pathways responsible for the release of resistance-driving chemicals into the environment (e.g., antimicrobials, metals, and biocides). Hence, environmental regulators should be contributing significantly to the development of global and national antimicrobial resistance (AMR) action plans. It is argued that the lack of environment-facing mitigation actions included in existing AMR action plans is likely a function of our poor fundamental understanding of many of the key issues. Here, we aim to present the problem with AMR in the environment through the lens of an environmental regulator, using the Environment Agency (England’s regulator) as an example from which parallels can be drawn globally. The issues that are pertinent to environmental regulators are drawn out to answer: What are the drivers and pathways of AMR? How do these relate to the normal work, powers and duties of environmental regulators? What are the knowledge gaps that hinder the delivery of environmental protection from AMR? We offer several thought experiments for how different mitigation strategies might proceed. We conclude that: (1) AMR Action Plans do not tackle all the potentially relevant pathways and drivers of AMR in the environment; and (2) AMR Action Plans are deficient partly because the science to inform policy is lacking and this needs to be addressed. PMID:27847505

Expanding Persuasion Research: Using More Personally Relevant Issues and Exploring Relevance Perceived from Message Content.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dewis, Robert; Lee, Wen-Shu

A study explored the impact on junior high school females of "don't smoke" public service announcements (PSAs) created by two groups of high school females. The study extended the research on relevance and persuasion by utilizing intimate issues, and by exploring the potential for increasing message relevance by using persuasive messages…

Content-Based Instruction.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

CATESOL Journal, 1992

1992-01-01

This English-as-a-Second Language (ESL) journal periodical devotes entire issues to specific issues. The theme of this issue is "Content-Base Instruction." Articles include: "Syllabus Design in Content-Based Instruction" (David E. Eskey); "How Relevant Is Relevance?: An Examination of Student Needs, Interests, and…

Sex- and gender-specific research priorities in cardiovascular resuscitation: proceedings from the 2014 Academic Emergency Medicine Consensus Conference Cardiovascular Resuscitation Research Workgroup.

PubMed

Wigginton, Jane G; Perman, Sarah M; Barr, Gavin C; McGregor, Alyson J; Miller, Andrew C; Napoli, Anthony M; Napoli, Anthony F; Safdar, Basmah; Weaver, Kevin R; Deutsch, Steven; Kayea, Tami; Becker, Lance

2014-12-01

Significant sex and gender differences in both physiology and psychology are readily acknowledged between men and women; however, data are lacking regarding differences in their responses to injury and treatment and in their ultimate recovery and survival. These variations remain particularly poorly defined within the field of cardiovascular resuscitation. A better understanding of the interaction between these important factors may soon allow us to dramatically improve outcomes in disease processes that currently carry a dismal prognosis, such as sudden cardiac arrest. As part of the 2014 Academic Emergency Medicine consensus conference "Gender-Specific Research in Emergency Medicine: Investigate, Understand, and Translate How Gender Affects Patient Outcomes," our group sought to identify key research questions and knowledge gaps pertaining to both sex and gender in cardiac resuscitation that could be answered in the near future to inform our understanding of these important issues. We combined a monthly teleconference meeting of interdisciplinary stakeholders from largely academic institutions with a focused interest in cardiovascular outcomes research, an extensive review of the existing literature, and an open breakout session discussion on the recommendations at the consensus conference to establish a prioritization of the knowledge gaps and relevant research questions in this area. We identified six priority research areas: 1) out-of-hospital cardiac arrest epidemiology and outcome, 2) customized resuscitation drugs, 3) treatment role for sex steroids, 4) targeted temperature management and hypothermia, 5) withdrawal of care after cardiac arrest, and 6) cardiopulmonary resuscitation training and implementation. We believe that exploring these key topics and identifying relevant questions may directly lead to improved understanding of sex- and gender-specific issues seen in cardiac resuscitation and ultimately improved patient outcomes. © 2014 by the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine.

Health impact assessment of agriculture and food policies: lessons learnt from the Republic of Slovenia.

PubMed

Lock, Karen; Gabrijelcic-Blenkus, Mojca; Martuzzi, Marco; Otorepec, Peter; Wallace, Paul; Dora, Carlos; Robertson, Aileen; Zakotnic, Jozica Maucec

2003-01-01

The most important public health priority in agricultural policy-making is currently food safety, despite the relatively higher importance of food security, nutrition, and other agricultural-related health issues in terms of global burden of disease. There is limited experience worldwide of using health impact assessment (HIA) during the development of agriculture and food policies, which perhaps reflects the complex nature of this policy sector. This paper presents methods of HIA used in the Republic of Slovenia, which is conducting a HIA of proposed agricultural and food policies due to its accession to the European Union. It is the first time that any government has attempted to assess the health effects of agricultural policy at a national level. The HIA has basically followed a six-stage process: policy analysis; rapid appraisal workshops with stakeholders from a range of backgrounds; review of research evidence relevant to the agricultural policy; analysis of Slovenian data for key health-related indicators; a report on the findings to a key cross-government group; and evaluation. The experience in Slovenia shows that the HIA process has been a useful mechanism for raising broader public health issues on the agricultural policy agenda, and it has already had positive results for policy formation. HIA is one useful approach to more integrated policy-making across sectors, but clearly it is not the only mechanism to achieve this. A comparison of the approach used in Slovenia with HIA methods in other countries and policy contexts shows that there are still many limitations with HIA application at a government level. Lessons can be learnt from these case studies for future development and application of HIA that is more relevant to policy-makers, and assists them in making more healthy policy choices.

Health impact assessment of agriculture and food policies: lessons learnt from the Republic of Slovenia.

PubMed Central

Lock, Karen; Gabrijelcic-Blenkus, Mojca; Martuzzi, Marco; Otorepec, Peter; Wallace, Paul; Dora, Carlos; Robertson, Aileen; Zakotnic, Jozica Maucec

2003-01-01

The most important public health priority in agricultural policy-making is currently food safety, despite the relatively higher importance of food security, nutrition, and other agricultural-related health issues in terms of global burden of disease. There is limited experience worldwide of using health impact assessment (HIA) during the development of agriculture and food policies, which perhaps reflects the complex nature of this policy sector. This paper presents methods of HIA used in the Republic of Slovenia, which is conducting a HIA of proposed agricultural and food policies due to its accession to the European Union. It is the first time that any government has attempted to assess the health effects of agricultural policy at a national level. The HIA has basically followed a six-stage process: policy analysis; rapid appraisal workshops with stakeholders from a range of backgrounds; review of research evidence relevant to the agricultural policy; analysis of Slovenian data for key health-related indicators; a report on the findings to a key cross-government group; and evaluation. The experience in Slovenia shows that the HIA process has been a useful mechanism for raising broader public health issues on the agricultural policy agenda, and it has already had positive results for policy formation. HIA is one useful approach to more integrated policy-making across sectors, but clearly it is not the only mechanism to achieve this. A comparison of the approach used in Slovenia with HIA methods in other countries and policy contexts shows that there are still many limitations with HIA application at a government level. Lessons can be learnt from these case studies for future development and application of HIA that is more relevant to policy-makers, and assists them in making more healthy policy choices. PMID:12894321

Children admitted to hospital following unintentional injury: perspectives of health service providers in Aotearoa/New Zealand

PubMed Central

2010-01-01

Background Unintentional injuries are the leading cause of death and hospitalisation among New Zealand children, with indigenous Māori and ethnic minority Pacific children significantly over represented in these statistics. International research has shown that many children hospitalised for injury, as well as their families experience high levels of stress, and ethnic disparities in the quality of trauma care are not uncommon. The research on which this paper is based sought to identify key issues and concerns for New Zealand's multi-ethnic community following hospitalisation for childhood injury in order to inform efforts to improve the quality of trauma services. This paper reports on service providers' perspectives complementing previously published research on the experiences of families of injured children. Methods A qualitative research design involving eleven in-depth individual interviews and three focus groups was used to elicit the views of 21 purposefully selected service provider key informants from a range of professional backgrounds involved in the care and support of injured children and their families in Auckland, New Zealand. Interviews were transcribed and data were analysed using thematic analysis. Results Key issues identified by service providers included limited ability to meet the needs of children with mild injuries, particularly their emotional needs; lack of psychological support for families; some issues related to Māori and Pacific family support services; lack of accessible and comprehensive information for children and families; poor staff continuity and coordination; and poor coordination of hospital and community services, including inadequacies in follow-up plans. There was considerable agreement between these issues and those identified by the participant families. Conclusions The identified issues and barriers indicate the need for interventions for service improvement at systemic, provider and patient levels. Of particular relevance are strategies that enable families to have better access to information, including culturally appropriate oral and written sources; improve communication amongst staff and between staff and families; and carefully developed discharge plans that provide care continuity across boundaries between hospital and community settings. Māori and Pacific family support services are important and need better resourcing and support from an organisational culture responsive to the needs of these populations. PMID:21138584

Children admitted to hospital following unintentional injury: perspectives of health service providers in Aotearoa/New Zealand.

PubMed

Ameratunga, Shanthi; Abel, Sally; Tin Tin, Sandar; Asiasiga, Lanuola; Milne, Sharon; Crengle, Sue

2010-12-07

Unintentional injuries are the leading cause of death and hospitalisation among New Zealand children, with indigenous Māori and ethnic minority Pacific children significantly over represented in these statistics. International research has shown that many children hospitalised for injury, as well as their families experience high levels of stress, and ethnic disparities in the quality of trauma care are not uncommon. The research on which this paper is based sought to identify key issues and concerns for New Zealand's multi-ethnic community following hospitalisation for childhood injury in order to inform efforts to improve the quality of trauma services. This paper reports on service providers' perspectives complementing previously published research on the experiences of families of injured children. A qualitative research design involving eleven in-depth individual interviews and three focus groups was used to elicit the views of 21 purposefully selected service provider key informants from a range of professional backgrounds involved in the care and support of injured children and their families in Auckland, New Zealand. Interviews were transcribed and data were analysed using thematic analysis. Key issues identified by service providers included limited ability to meet the needs of children with mild injuries, particularly their emotional needs; lack of psychological support for families; some issues related to Māori and Pacific family support services; lack of accessible and comprehensive information for children and families; poor staff continuity and coordination; and poor coordination of hospital and community services, including inadequacies in follow-up plans. There was considerable agreement between these issues and those identified by the participant families. The identified issues and barriers indicate the need for interventions for service improvement at systemic, provider and patient levels. Of particular relevance are strategies that enable families to have better access to information, including culturally appropriate oral and written sources; improve communication amongst staff and between staff and families; and carefully developed discharge plans that provide care continuity across boundaries between hospital and community settings. Māori and Pacific family support services are important and need better resourcing and support from an organisational culture responsive to the needs of these populations.

Sexual behavior that is "out of control": a theoretical conceptual approach.

PubMed

Bancroft, John

2008-12-01

At this stage of our knowledge, it seems reasonable to assume that out-of-control sexual behavior results from a variety of etiological mechanisms associated with different behavioral patterns that share Goodman's two key features of addictive behavior: (1) a recurrent failure to control the sexual behavior; and (2) continuation of the behavior despite harmful consequences. Any overriding definition relevant to clinical management seems premature until we better understand the various patterns and their likely determinants. The concepts of "compulsivity" and "addiction" may have explanatory value in some cases, but are not helpful when used as general terms for this class of behavior problem. Stein and colleagues suggested that, in these circumstances, we use the term "hypersexuality." In my opinion, out-of-control sexual behavior or "impulse control disorders" as proposed by Barth and Kinder are more appropriate nonspecific terms because they focus on the issue of control rather than on high levels of sexuality. A number of clinically relevant and researchable hypotheses need to be addressed in further research, which hopefully will lead to more etiologically or therapeutically relevant subcategories of out-of-control sexual behavior.

Mammalian lipoxygenases and their biological relevance.

PubMed

Kuhn, Hartmut; Banthiya, Swathi; van Leyen, Klaus

2015-04-01

Lipoxygenases (LOXs) form a heterogeneous class of lipid peroxidizing enzymes, which have been implicated not only in cell proliferation and differentiation but also in the pathogenesis of various diseases with major public health relevance. As other fatty acid dioxygenases LOXs oxidize polyunsaturated fatty acids to their corresponding hydroperoxy derivatives, which are further transformed to bioactive lipid mediators (eicosanoids and related substances). On the other hand, lipoxygenases are key players in the regulation of the cellular redox homeostasis, which is an important element in gene expression regulation. Although the first mammalian lipoxygenases were discovered 40 years ago and although the enzymes have been well characterized with respect to their structural and functional properties the biological roles of the different lipoxygenase isoforms are not completely understood. This review is aimed at summarizing the current knowledge on the physiological roles of different mammalian LOX-isoforms and their patho-physiological function in inflammatory, metabolic, hyperproliferative, neurodegenerative and infectious disorders. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled "Oxygenated metabolism of PUFA: analysis and biological relevance". Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

A Successful Strategy to Integrate Sex and Gender Medicine into a Newly Developed Medical Curriculum.

PubMed

Ludwig, Sabine; Oertelt-Prigione, Sabine; Kurmeyer, Christine; Gross, Manfred; Grüters-Kieslich, Annette; Regitz-Zagrosek, Vera; Peters, Harm

2015-12-01

A new modular, outcome-based, interdisciplinary curriculum was introduced for undergraduate medical education at one of the largest European medical faculties. A key stated institutional goal was to systematically integrate sex and gender medicine and gender perspectives into the curriculum in order to foster adequate gender-related knowledge and skills for future doctors concerning the etiology, pathogenesis, clinical presentation, diagnosis, treatment, and research of diseases. A change agent was integrated directly into the curriculum development team to facilitate interactions with all key players of the curricular development process. The gender change agent established a supporting organizational framework of all stakeholders, and developed a 10-step approach including identification, selection, placing relevant sex and gender medicine-related issues in the curricular planning sessions, counseling of faculty members, and monitoring of the integration achieved. With this approach, quantitatively sex and gender medicine-related content was widely integrated throughout all teaching and learning formats and from early basic science to later clinical modules (94 lectures, 33 seminars, and 16 practical courses). Gender perspectives involve 5% of the learning objectives and represent an integral part of the assessment program. Qualitatively, the relevance of gender (sociocultural) differences was combined with sex (biological) differences in disease manifestation throughout the curriculum. The appointment of a change agent facilitates the development of systematic approaches that can be a key and serve as practice models to successfully integrate new overarching curricular perspectives and dimensions--in this case sex and gender medicine--into a new medical curriculum.

A Peep into the Uncertainty-Complexity-Relevance Modeling Trilemma through Global Sensitivity and Uncertainty Analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Munoz-Carpena, R.; Muller, S. J.; Chu, M.; Kiker, G. A.; Perz, S. G.

2014-12-01

Model Model complexity resulting from the need to integrate environmental system components cannot be understated. In particular, additional emphasis is urgently needed on rational approaches to guide decision making through uncertainties surrounding the integrated system across decision-relevant scales. However, in spite of the difficulties that the consideration of modeling uncertainty represent for the decision process, it should not be avoided or the value and science behind the models will be undermined. These two issues; i.e., the need for coupled models that can answer the pertinent questions and the need for models that do so with sufficient certainty, are the key indicators of a model's relevance. Model relevance is inextricably linked with model complexity. Although model complexity has advanced greatly in recent years there has been little work to rigorously characterize the threshold of relevance in integrated and complex models. Formally assessing the relevance of the model in the face of increasing complexity would be valuable because there is growing unease among developers and users of complex models about the cumulative effects of various sources of uncertainty on model outputs. In particular, this issue has prompted doubt over whether the considerable effort going into further elaborating complex models will in fact yield the expected payback. New approaches have been proposed recently to evaluate the uncertainty-complexity-relevance modeling trilemma (Muller, Muñoz-Carpena and Kiker, 2011) by incorporating state-of-the-art global sensitivity and uncertainty analysis (GSA/UA) in every step of the model development so as to quantify not only the uncertainty introduced by the addition of new environmental components, but the effect that these new components have over existing components (interactions, non-linear responses). Outputs from the analysis can also be used to quantify system resilience (stability, alternative states, thresholds or tipping points) in the face of environmental and anthropogenic change (Perz, Muñoz-Carpena, Kiker and Holt, 2013), and through MonteCarlo mapping potential management activities over the most important factors or processes to influence the system towards behavioral (desirable) outcomes (Chu-Agor, Muñoz-Carpena et al., 2012).

Building Interdisciplinary Research Capacity: a Key Challenge for Ecological Approaches in Public Health.

PubMed

Galway, Lindsay P; Parkes, Margot W; Allen, Diana; Takaro, Tim K

2016-01-01

The shortcomings of public health research informed by reductionist and fragmented biomedical approaches and the emergence of wicked problems are fueling a renewed interest in ecological approaches in public health. Despite the central role of interdisciplinarity in the context of ecological approaches in public health research, inadequate attention has been given to the specific challenge of doing interdisciplinary research in practice. As a result, important knowledge gaps exist with regards to the practice of interdisciplinary research. We argue that explicit attention towards the challenge of doing interdisciplinary research is critical in order to effectively apply ecological approaches to public health issues. This paper draws on our experiences developing and conducting an interdisciplinary research project exploring the links among climate change, water, and health to highlight five specific insights which we see as relevant to building capacity for interdisciplinary research specifically, and which have particular relevance to addressing the integrative challenges demanded by ecological approaches to address public health issues. These lessons include: (i) the need for frameworks that facilitate integration; (ii) emphasize learning-by-doing; (iii) the benefits of examining issues at multiple scales; (iv) make the implicit, explicit; and (v) the need for reflective practice. By synthesizing and sharing experiences gained by engaging in interdisciplinary inquiries using an ecological approach, this paper responds to a growing need to build interdisciplinary research capacity as a means for advancing the ecological public health agenda more broadly.

Building Interdisciplinary Research Capacity: a Key Challenge for Ecological Approaches in Public Health

PubMed Central

Galway, Lindsay P.; Parkes, Margot W.; Allen, Diana; Takaro, Tim K.

2016-01-01

The shortcomings of public health research informed by reductionist and fragmented biomedical approaches and the emergence of wicked problems are fueling a renewed interest in ecological approaches in public health. Despite the central role of interdisciplinarity in the context of ecological approaches in public health research, inadequate attention has been given to the specific challenge of doing interdisciplinary research in practice. As a result, important knowledge gaps exist with regards to the practice of interdisciplinary research. We argue that explicit attention towards the challenge of doing interdisciplinary research is critical in order to effectively apply ecological approaches to public health issues. This paper draws on our experiences developing and conducting an interdisciplinary research project exploring the links among climate change, water, and health to highlight five specific insights which we see as relevant to building capacity for interdisciplinary research specifically, and which have particular relevance to addressing the integrative challenges demanded by ecological approaches to address public health issues. These lessons include: (i) the need for frameworks that facilitate integration; (ii) emphasize learning-by-doing; (iii) the benefits of examining issues at multiple scales; (iv) make the implicit, explicit; and (v) the need for reflective practice. By synthesizing and sharing experiences gained by engaging in interdisciplinary inquiries using an ecological approach, this paper responds to a growing need to build interdisciplinary research capacity as a means for advancing the ecological public health agenda more broadly. PMID:29546171

Community Mobilization and Readiness: Planning Flaws which Challenge Effective Implementation of 'Communities that Care' (CTC) Prevention System.

PubMed

Basic, Josipa

2015-01-01

This article reviews the experience of implementing a community approach to drug use and youth delinquency prevention based on the 'Communities that Care' (CTC) system implemented in one Croatian county consisting of 12 communities, 2002 to 2013 (Hawkins, 1999; Hawkins & Catalano, 2004). This overview explores selected critical issues which are often not considered in substance use(r) community intervention planning, implementation as well as in associated process and outcome assessments. These issues include, among others, the mobilization process of adequate representation of people; the involvement of relevant key individual and organizational stakeholders and being aware of the stakeholders' willingness to participate in the prevention process. In addition, it is important to be aware of the stakeholders' knowledge and perceptions about the 'problems' of drug use and youth delinquency in their communities as well as the characteristics of the targeted population(s). Sometimes there are community members and stakeholders who block needed change and therefore prevention process enablers and 'bridges' should be involved in moving prevention programming forward. Another barrier that is often overlooked in prevention planning is community readiness to change and a realistic assessment of available and accessible resources for initiating the planned change(s) and sustaining them. All of these issues have been found to be potentially related to intervention success. At the end of this article, I summarize perspectives from prevention scientists and practitioners and lessons learned from communities' readiness research and practice in Croatian that has international relevance.

Perceptions About Disseminating Health Information Among Mommy Bloggers: Quantitative Study

PubMed Central

2018-01-01

Background Social media are potentially powerful channels for communicating relevant health information in culturally sensitive and influential ways to key audiences. Moreover, these channels hold promise for promoting awareness and knowledge of health risks, prevention, and treatment by utilizing opinion leaders for message dissemination. Despite limited empirical evidence to-date, early promising results suggest that blogs are a form of social media that should be examined as worthy channels for health communication. Objectives This formative study explored mommy bloggers’ perceptions about sharing health-related information on their blogs with their readers. It also sought to analyze which topics would be of most interest to mommy bloggers, what motivates them to write about health issues, and how they perceive interest in these topics among their readers. Methods This study employed survey methodology, including the use of open-ended questions, the responses to which were coded for analysis. Specifically, a 14-item survey was fielded with mommy bloggers between October 1 and October 28, 2016. Bloggers were recruited through The Motherhood network. A total of 461 mommy bloggers responded to the survey; 163 were removed for low quality responses and incomplete data. As a result, 298 eligible participants completed the survey. For open-ended questions in the survey, a sample of responses were coded and analyzed. Results The majority of the respondents (87.2%, 260/298) reported that they have written about health issues in the past; 97.3% (290/298) of the respondents reported that they would consider writing about health issues sometime in the future, and 96.3% (287/298) of the respondents reported that their readers like to read about health issues on their blogs. In terms of content priorities for this sample of bloggers, Nutrition and Physical Activity dominate the current conversation and similarly, Physical Activity and Nutrition remain top content priorities for these bloggers for the future. Moreover, 21.3% of the respondents reported that their readers would be interested in these topics. Finally, having a personal connection with a health issue was found to be positively associated with likeliness to write about health issues on their blog (P<.001). Conclusions This study illustrates that there are potentially rich opportunities for working with mommy bloggers to communicate with key health decision makers (moms) on important health issues. There is a great support among mommy bloggers for health information dissemination as well as interest for accessing relevant health information from their readers. This presents an opportunity for public health research and communication campaigns to more broadly promote their messages, thereby contributing to their behavior change objectives. Limitations included overrepresentation of white, higher-educated, and younger women. It suggests a need for more targeted engagement of a diverse sample for future work. PMID:29691204

Leveraging Neuroscience to Inform Adolescent Health: The Need for an Innovative Transdisciplinary Developmental Science of Adolescence.

PubMed

Suleiman, Ahna Ballonoff; Dahl, Ronald E

2017-03-01

In this article, we consider how to leverage some of the rapid advances in developmental neuroscience in ways that can improve adolescent health. We provide a brief overview of several key areas of scientific progress relevant to these issues. We then focus on two examples of important health problems that increase sharply during adolescence: sleep problems and affective disorders. These examples illustrate how an integrative, developmental science approach provides new insights into treatment and intervention. They also highlight a cornerstone principle: how a deeper understanding of potentially modifiable factors-at key developmental inflection points along the trajectory toward clinical disorders-is beginning to inform, and may eventually transform, a broad range of innovative early intervention strategies to improve adolescent health. Copyright © 2016 Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Final case for a stainless steel diagnostic first wall on ITER

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pitts, R. A.; Bazylev, B.; Linke, J.; Landman, I.; Lehnen, M.; Loesser, D.; Loewenhoff, Th.; Merola, M.; Roccella, R.; Saibene, G.; Smith, M.; Udintsev, V. S.

2015-08-01

In 2010 the ITER Organization (IO) proposed to eliminate the beryllium armour on the plasma-facing surface of the diagnostic port plugs and instead to use bare stainless steel (SS), simplifying the design and providing significant cost reduction. Transport simulations at the IO confirmed that charge-exchange sputtering of the SS surfaces would not affect burning plasma operation through core impurity contamination, but a second key issue is the potential melt damage/material loss inflicted by the intense photon radiation flashes expected at the thermal quench of disruptions mitigated by massive gas injection. This paper addresses this second issue through a combination of ITER relevant experimental heat load tests and qualitative theoretical arguments of melt layer stability. It demonstrates that SS can be employed as material for the port plug plasma-facing surface and this has now been adopted into the ITER baseline.

How to write a surgical clinical research protocol: literature review and practical guide.

PubMed

Rosenthal, Rachel; Schäfer, Juliane; Briel, Matthias; Bucher, Heiner C; Oertli, Daniel; Dell-Kuster, Salome

2014-02-01

The study protocol is the core document of every clinical research project. Clinical research in studies involving surgical interventions presents some specific challenges, which need to be accounted for and described in the study protocol. The aim of this review is to provide a practical guide for developing a clinical study protocol for surgical interventions with a focus on methodologic issues. On the basis of an in-depth literature search of methodologic literature and on some cardinal published surgical trials and observational studies, the authors provides a 10-step guide for developing a clinical study protocol in surgery. This practical guide outlines key methodologic issues important when planning an ethically and scientifically sound research project involving surgical interventions, with the ultimate goal of providing high-level evidence relevant for health care decision making in surgery. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Cultural relativism: occupation and independence reconsidered.

PubMed

Whiteford, G E; Wilcock, A A

2000-12-01

In this article, findings from a qualitative study of a cohort of occupational therapy students in Auckland, New Zealand are presented. The study focussed on the experiences of students as they learned to work with people from different social and cultural backgrounds over a 3-year period. As well as identifying curriculum and teaching/learning processes that enhance intercultural competence development, the data that emerged from the study also highlight important issues about how occupation and independence are conceptualised across cultures. A review of the trans-disciplinary and occupational therapy literature dealing with theoretical, conceptual and educational issues relating to cross-cultural practice is followed by a presentation of narrative extracts that address the key concepts of occupation and independence. These are then discussed with reference to relevant occupational therapy literature. In conclusion, implications for future research and practice are explored focussing on a need for occupation and independence to be reconsidered as culturally relative constructions.

Infectious diseases of animals and plants: an interdisciplinary approach

PubMed Central

Wilkinson, Katy; Grant, Wyn P.; Green, Laura E.; Hunter, Stephen; Jeger, Michael J.; Lowe, Philip; Medley, Graham F.; Mills, Peter; Phillipson, Jeremy; Poppy, Guy M.; Waage, Jeff

2011-01-01

Animal and plant diseases pose a serious and continuing threat to food security, food safety, national economies, biodiversity and the rural environment. New challenges, including climate change, regulatory developments, changes in the geographical concentration and size of livestock holdings, and increasing trade make this an appropriate time to assess the state of knowledge about the impact that diseases have and the ways in which they are managed and controlled. In this paper, the case is explored for an interdisciplinary approach to studying the management of infectious animal and plant diseases. Reframing the key issues through incorporating both social and natural science research can provide a holistic understanding of disease and increase the policy relevance and impact of research. Finally, in setting out the papers in this Theme Issue, a picture of current and future animal and plant disease threats is presented. PMID:21624914

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder on YouTube: Framing, Anchoring, and Objectification in Social Media.

PubMed

Kang, Seok; Ha, Jae-Sik; Velasco, Teresa

2017-05-01

This study investigated videos about Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) on YouTube in terms of issues, sources, and episodic-thematic aspects. A total of 685 videos uploaded onto YouTube between 2006 and 2014 were content analyzed. Results demonstrated that the top three key issues about ADHD were symptom, child, and treatment. Doctor, patient, and supporter were the three most interviewed sources. Videos from the public sector including the government, company representative, and public organizations were relatively rare compared to other sources suggesting the potential for a greater role for the government and public sector contributions to YouTube to provide credible information relevant to public awareness, campaigns, and policy announcements. Meanwhile, many personal videos in the episodic frame advocated social solutions. This result implies that YouTube videos about health information from the private sectors have the potential to affect change at the social level.

Ganando Confianza: Research Focus Groups with Immigrant Mexican Mothers

PubMed Central

Hausmann-Stabile, Carolina; Zayas, Luis H.; Runes, Sandra; Abenis-Cintron, Anna; Calzada, Esther

2014-01-01

Immigrant families with children with developmental disabilities must be served using culturally sensitive approaches to service and research to maximize treatment benefits. In an effort to better understand cultural issues relevant to the provision of parenting programs for immigrant Mexican mothers of children with developmental disabilities, we conducted sustained focus groups through which we could learn more about our participants and thereby improve services. This paper reports on the challenges and lessons learned from these groups. We characterize the key lessons as (a) recruitment and retention is more than agreement to participate; (b) confidentiality is not just a word but an activity; (c) the complicated nature of language; (d) cultural norms shape the group process; (e) appreciating the value of taking time; and (f) gender issues and group interaction. Service providers and researchers who work with Mexican families may benefit from our experiences as they promote and develop programs and projects in the developmental disabilities field. PMID:25674353

Ganando Confianza: Research Focus Groups with Immigrant Mexican Mothers.

PubMed

Hausmann-Stabile, Carolina; Zayas, Luis H; Runes, Sandra; Abenis-Cintron, Anna; Calzada, Esther

2011-03-01

Immigrant families with children with developmental disabilities must be served using culturally sensitive approaches to service and research to maximize treatment benefits. In an effort to better understand cultural issues relevant to the provision of parenting programs for immigrant Mexican mothers of children with developmental disabilities, we conducted sustained focus groups through which we could learn more about our participants and thereby improve services. This paper reports on the challenges and lessons learned from these groups. We characterize the key lessons as (a) recruitment and retention is more than agreement to participate; (b) confidentiality is not just a word but an activity; (c) the complicated nature of language; (d) cultural norms shape the group process; (e) appreciating the value of taking time; and (f) gender issues and group interaction. Service providers and researchers who work with Mexican families may benefit from our experiences as they promote and develop programs and projects in the developmental disabilities field.

The current state of nursing performance measurement, public reporting, and value-based purchasing.

PubMed

Kurtzman, Ellen T; Dawson, Ellen M; Johnson, Jean E

2008-08-01

Over the last decade, there has been a substantial investment in holding health care providers accountable for the quality of care provided in hospitals and other settings of care. This investment has been realized through the proliferation of national policies that address performance measurement, public reporting, and value-based purchasing. Although nurses represent the largest segment of the health care workforce and despite their acknowledged role in patient safety and health care outcomes, they have been largely absent from policy setting in these areas. This article provides an analysis of current nursing performance measurement and public reporting initiatives and presents a summary of emerging trends in value-based purchasing, with an emphasis on activities in the United States. The article synthesizes issues of relevance to advancing the current climate for nursing quality and concludes with key issues for future policy setting.

Putting the value into biosimilar decision making: the judgment value criteria.

PubMed

Mendes de Abreu, Mirhelen; Strand, Vibeke; Levy, Roger Abramino; Araujo, Denizar Vianna

2014-06-01

Uncertainties remain the key issue surrounding biosimilars, although decisions regarding their use must be made. The challenges for policymakers, doctors, patients and others seeking to navigate in the uncharted waters of biosimilars must be clarified. At the most basic level, scientific understanding of the issue remains limited and when making decisions, policymakers must consider all those affected by health policy decisions, particularly the ultimate recipients of these medicines: the patients. The biosimilar-value chain relies on measurement of comparabilities. The goal is to demonstrate how, from a molecular perspective, closely similar they are or are not and how potential small differences may be relevant to clinical outcomes. To critically understand these points, this conceptual paper will present a knowledge-value chain and discuss each dimension assigning value in the decision making process re-utilization of biosimilars. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Circles of Support and Accountability for Sex Offenders: A Systematic Review of Outcomes.

PubMed

Clarke, Martin; Brown, Susan; Völlm, Birgit

2017-08-01

We conducted a systematic review of studies reporting on the effectiveness of Circles of Support and Accountability (Circles). Circles use volunteers to provide support for sex offenders living in the community. We searched 10 databases up to the end of 2013 and identified 3 relevant outcome studies. An additional 12 papers or reports were identified by searching reference lists, Google, and contacting key authors and Circles providers to obtain unpublished data. These 15 studies comprised one randomized controlled trial, three retrospective cohorts with matched controls, and 11 case series. The majority reported measures of recidivism, particularly reconviction. The 4 studies with controls generally reported that participation in Circles was associated with lower recidivism although there were few statistically significant differences. Few studies examined changes in risk or psychosocial outcomes. A number of methodological issues are discussed. Longer term, prospective follow-up studies with control groups are required to address these issues.

Identification of priority health conditions for field-based screening in urban slums in Bangalore, India.

PubMed

Abdi, Sarah; Wadugodapitiya, Avanti; Bedaf, Sandra; George, Carolin Elizabeth; Norman, Gift; Hawley, Mark; de Witte, Luc

2018-03-02

Urban slums are characterised by unique challenging living conditions, which increase their inhabitants' vulnerability to specific health conditions. The identification and prioritization of the key health issues occurring in these settings is essential for the development of programmes that aim to enhance the health of local slum communities effectively. As such, the present study sought to identify and prioritise the key health issues occurring in urban slums, with a focus on the perceptions of health professionals and community workers, in the rapidly growing city of Bangalore, India. The study followed a two-phased mixed methods design. During Phase I of the study, a total of 60 health conditions belonging to four major categories: - 1) non-communicable diseases; 2) infectious diseases; 3) maternal and women's reproductive health; and 4) child health - were identified through a systematic literature review and semi-structured interviews conducted with health professionals and other relevant stakeholders with experience working with urban slum communities in Bangalore. In Phase II, the health issues were prioritised based on four criteria through a consensus workshop conducted in Bangalore. The top health issues prioritized during the workshop were: diabetes and hypertension (non-communicable diseases category), dengue fever (infectious diseases category), malnutrition and anaemia (child health, and maternal and women's reproductive health categories). Diarrhoea was also selected as a top priority in children. These health issues were in line with national and international reports that listed them as top causes of mortality and major contributors to the burden of diseases in India. The results of this study will be used to inform the development of technologies and the design of interventions to improve the health outcomes of local communities. Identification of priority health issues in the slums of other regions of India, and in other low and lower middle-income countries, is recommended.

Angry, Scared, and Unsure: Mental Health Consequences of Contaminated Water in Flint, Michigan.

PubMed

Cuthbertson, Courtney A; Newkirk, Cathy; Ilardo, Joan; Loveridge, Scott; Skidmore, Mark

2016-12-01

Natural and manmade crises impact community-level behavioral health, including mental health and substance use. This article shares findings from a larger project about community behavioral health, relevant to the ongoing water crisis in Flint, Michigan, using data from a larger study, involving monthly surveys of a panel of key informants from Genesee County. The data come from open-response questions and are analyzed as qualitative data using grounded theory techniques. Although respondents were not asked about the water issues in Flint, participants commented that the water situation was increasing stress, anxiety, and depression among the city's population. Participants thought these mental health issues would affect the entire community but would be worse among low-income, African American populations in the city. Mental health consequences were related not only to the water contamination but to distrust of public officials who are expected and have the authority to resolve the issues. The mental health effects of this public health crisis are significant and have received inadequate attention in the literature. Public health response to situations similar to the water issues in Flint should include sustained attention mental health.

Psychosocial assistance after environmental accidents: a policy perspective.

PubMed Central

Becker, S M

1997-01-01

There is a substantial body of literature on psychosocial impacts of chemical and nuclear accidents. Less attention, however, has been focused on the program and policy issues that are connected with efforts to provide psychosocial assistance to the victims of such accidents. Because psychosocial assistance efforts are certain to be an essential part of the response to future environmental emergencies, it is vital that relevant program and policy issues by more fully considered. This article discusses the highly complex nature of contamination situations and highlights some of the key policy issues that are associated with the provision of psychosocial services after environmental accidents. One issue concerns the potential for assistance efforts to become objects of conflict. In the context of the intense controversy typically associated with chemical or nuclear accidents, and with debates over the causation of illness usually at the center of environmental accidents, psychosocial assistance services may themselves become contested terrain. Other significant program and policy issues include determining how to interface with citizen self-help and other voluntary groups, addressing the problem of stigma, and deciding how to facilitate stakeholder participation in the shaping of service provision. This article offers a series of policy proposals that may help smooth the way for psychosocial assistance programs in future environmental emergencies. PMID:9467082

Exploring work-related issues on corporate sustainability.

PubMed

Brunoro, C M; Bolis, I; Sznelwar, L I

2015-01-01

In a research project about work-related issues and corporate sustainability conducted in Brazil, the goal was to better understand how work-related issues were addressed in the corporate context. Particularly, there are some specific initiatives that serve as guides to organizational decisions, which make their performance indicators for the context of corporate sustainability. 1) To explore the presence of work-related issues and their origins in corporate sustainability approach, analyzing a) corporate disclosures; b) sustainability guidelines that are identified as relevant in corporate disclosures; c) documents that are related to sustainable development and also identified as key-documents for these guidelines and initiatives. 2) To present the activity-centered ergonomics and psychodynamics of work contributions to work-related issues in a corporate sustainability approach. An exploratory study based on multiple sources of evidence that were performed from 2012 to 2013, including interviews with companies that engaged in corporate sustainability and document analysis using the content analysis approach. Work-related issues have been presented since the earliest sustainable development documents. It is feasible to construct an empirical framework for work-related issues and corporate sustainability approaches. 1) Although some authors argue that corporate sustainability has its roots based only on the environmental dimension, there is strong empirical evidence showing that social dimension aspects such as work-related issues have been present since the beginning. 2) Some indicators should be redesigned to more precisely translate the reality of some workplaces, particularly those indicators related to organizational design and mental health.

Integrated primary health care in Greece, a missing issue in the current health policy agenda: a systematic review

PubMed Central

Lionis, Christos; Symvoulakis, Emmanouil K; Markaki, Adelais; Vardavas, Constantine; Papadakaki, Maria; Daniilidou, Natasa; Souliotis, Kyriakos; Kyriopoulos, Ioannis

2009-01-01

Background Over the past years, Greece has undergone several endeavors aimed at modernizing and improving national health care services with a focus on PHC. However, the extent to which integrated primary health care has been achieved is still questioned. Purpose This paper explores the extent to which integrated primary health care (PHC) is an issue in the current agenda of policy makers in Greece, reporting constraints and opportunities and highlighting the need for a policy perspective in developing integrated PHC in this Southern European country. Methods A systematic review in PubMed/Medline and SCOPUS, along with a hand search in selected Greek biomedical journals was undertaken to identify key papers, reports, editorials or opinion letters relevant to integrated health care. Results Our systematic review identified 198 papers and 161 out of them were derived from electronic search. Fifty-three papers in total served the scope of this review and are shortly reported. A key finding is that the long-standing dominance of medical perspectives in Greek health policy has been paving the way towards vertical integration, pushing aside any discussions about horizontal or comprehensive integration of care. Conclusion Establishment of integrated PHC in Greece is still at its infancy, requiring major restructuring of the current national health system, as well as organizational culture changes. Moving towards a new policy-based model would bring this missing issue on the discussion table, facilitating further development. PMID:19777112

New directions for space solar power

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mankins, John C.

2009-07-01

Several of the central issues associated with the eventual realization of the vision of solar power from space for terrestrial markets resolve around the expect costs associated with the assembly, inspection, maintenance and repair of future solar power satellite (SPS) stations. In past studies (for example, NASA's "Fresh Look Study", c. 1995-1997) efforts were made to reduce both the scale and mass of large, systems-level interfaces (e.g., the power management and distribution (PMAD) system) and on-orbit fixed infrastructures through the use of modular systems strategies. These efforts have had mixed success (as reflected in the projected on-orbit mass of various systems concepts. However, the author remains convinced of the importance of modular strategies for exceptionally large space systems in eventually realizing the vision of power from space. This paper will introduce some of the key issues associated with cost-competitive space solar power in terrestrial markets. It will examine some of the relevant SPS concepts and will assess the 'pros and cons' of each in terms of space assembly, maintenance and servicing (SAMS) requirements. The paper discusses at a high level some relevant concepts and technologies that may play r role in the eventual, successful resolution of these challenges. The paper concludes with an example of the kind of novel architectural approach for space solar power that is needed.

Monte Carlo simulation of ion-material interactions in nuclear fusion devices

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nieto Perez, M.; Avalos-Zuñiga, R.; Ramos, G.

2017-06-01

One of the key aspects regarding the technological development of nuclear fusion reactors is the understanding of the interaction between high-energy ions coming from the confined plasma and the materials that the plasma-facing components are made of. Among the multiple issues important to plasma-wall interactions in fusion devices, physical erosion and composition changes induced by energetic particle bombardment are considered critical due to possible material flaking, changes to surface roughness, impurity transport and the alteration of physicochemical properties of the near surface region due to phenomena such as redeposition or implantation. A Monte Carlo code named MATILDA (Modeling of Atomic Transport in Layered Dynamic Arrays) has been developed over the years to study phenomena related to ion beam bombardment such as erosion rate, composition changes, interphase mixing and material redeposition, which are relevant issues to plasma-aided manufacturing of microelectronics, components on object exposed to intense solar wind, fusion reactor technology and other important industrial fields. In the present work, the code is applied to study three cases of plasma material interactions relevant to fusion devices in order to highlight the code's capabilities: (1) the Be redeposition process on the ITER divertor, (2) physical erosion enhancement in castellated surfaces and (3) damage to multilayer mirrors used on EUV diagnostics in fusion devices due to particle bombardment.

Behavior of nanoceria in biologically-relevant environments

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Kumar, Amit; Das, Soumen; Munusamy, Prabhakaran

2014-09-08

Cerium oxide nanoparticles (CNPs) have gained a considerable attention in biological research due to their anti-oxidant like behaviour and regenerative nature. The current literature on CNPs reports many successful attempts on harnessing the beneficial therapeutic properties in biology. However studies have also shown toxicity effect with some types of CNPs. This review discusses issues associated with the behaviours of CNPs in biological systems and identifies key knowledge gaps. We explore how salient physicochemical properties (size, surface chemistry, surface stabilizers) contribute to the potential positive and negative aspects of nanoceria in biological systems. Based on variations of results reported in themore » literature, important issues need to be addressed. Are we really studying the same particles with slight variations in size and physicochemical properties or do the particles being examined have fundamentally different behaviours? Are the variations observed in the result of differences in the initial properties of the particles or the results of downstream effects that emerge as the particles are prepared for specific studies and they interact with biological or other environmental moieties? How should particles be appropriately prepared for relevant environmental/toxicology/safety studies? It is useful to recognize that nanoparticles encompass some of the same complexities and variability associated with biological components« less

On the traceability of gaseous reference materials

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Brown, Richard J. C.; Brewer, Paul J.; Harris, Peter M.; Davidson, Stuart; van der Veen, Adriaan M. H.; Ent, Hugo

2017-06-01

The complex and multi-parameter nature of chemical composition measurement means that establishing traceability is a challenging task. As a result incorrect interpretations about the origin of the metrological traceability of chemical measurement results can occur. This discussion paper examines why this is the case by scrutinising the peculiarities of the gas metrology area. It considers in particular: primary methods, dissemination of metrological traceability and the role of documentary standards and accreditation bodies in promulgating best practice. There is also a discussion of documentary standards relevant to the NMI and reference material producer community which need clarification, and the impact which key stakeholders in the quality infrastructure can bring to these issues.

Mapping Resilience Pathways of Indigenous Youth in Five Circumpolar Communities

PubMed Central

Allen, James; Hopper, Kim; Wexler, Lisa; Kral, Michael; Rasmus, Stacy; Nystad, Kristine

2014-01-01

This introduction to the special issue Indigenous Youth Resilience in the Arctic reviews relevant resilience theory and research, with particular attention to Arctic Indigenous youth. The role of social determinants and community resilience processes in Indigenous circumpolar settings are overviewed, as are emergent Indigenous resilience frameworks. The distinctive role for qualitative inquiry in understanding these frameworks is emphasized, as is the uniquely informative lens youth narratives offer in understanding Indigenous, cultural, and community resilience processes during times of social transition. We then describe key elements of the Circumpolar Indigenous Pathways to Adulthood study cross-site methods, including sampling, design, procedures, and analytic strategies. PMID:23965730

Search for supporting methodologies - Or how to support SEI for 35 years

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Handley, Thomas H., Jr.; Masline, Richard C.

1991-01-01

Concepts relevant to the development of an evolvable information management system are examined in terms of support for the Space Exploration Initiative. The issues of interoperability within NASA and industry initiatives are studied including the Open Systems Interconnection standard and the operating system of the Open Software Foundation. The requirements of partitioning functionality into separate areas are determined with attention given to the infrastructure required to ensure system-wide compliance. The need for a decision-making context is a key to the distributed implementation of the program, and this environment is concluded to be next step in developing an evolvable, interoperable, and securable support network.

Household food insecurity access scale (HFIAS).

PubMed

Salvador Castell, Gemma; Pérez Rodrigo, Carmen; Ngo de la Cruz, Joy; Aranceta Bartrina, Javier

2015-02-26

In 1996, the World Food Summit reaffirmed the inalienable right that each person across the globe has to access safe, adequate and nutritious food. At that time a goal was established to reduce by half the number of undernourished persons worldwide by 2015, in other words the year that we are now commencing. Different countries and organisations considered the necessity of reaching consensus and developing indicators for measuring household food insecurity. The availability of a simple but evidence-based measurement method to identify nutritionally at-risk population groups constitutes an essential instrument for implementing strategies that effectively address relevant key issues. Copyright AULA MEDICA EDICIONES 2015. Published by AULA MEDICA. All rights reserved.

Measuring patient safety in a UK dental hospital: development of a dental clinical effectiveness dashboard.

PubMed

Pemberton, M N; Ashley, M P; Shaw, A; Dickson, S; Saksena, A

2014-10-01

Patient safety is an important marker of quality for any healthcare organisation. In 2008, the British Government white paper entitled High quality care for all, resulting from a review led by Lord Darzi, identified patient safety as a key component of quality and discussed how it might be measured, analysed and acted upon. National and local clinically curated metrics were suggested, which could be displayed via a 'clinical dashboard'. This paper explains the development of a clinical effectiveness dashboard focused on patient safety in an English dental hospital and how it has helped us identify relevant patient safety issues in secondary dental care.

Dating Violence among College Students: Key Issues for College Counselors

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Murray, Christine E.; Kardatzke, Kerrie N.

2007-01-01

The authors present a review of literature examining dating violence among college students. They describe 6 key issues related to dating violence among college students that affect college counselors' work. These key issues relate to the incidence and prevalence of physical, sexual, and psychological violence in college students' dating…

Radiology employees' quality of work life.

PubMed

Dargahi, Hussein; Changizi, Vahid; Jazayeri Gharabagh, Elaheh

2012-01-01

Quality of work Life (QWL) originates from interactions between employees' needs and relative organizational resources. QWL is aimed to improve and retain employees' satisfaction, productivity and effectiveness of all organizations. A cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted among 15 Tehran University of Medical Sciences. A Cross-Sectional, descriptive study was conducted among 15 Tehran University of Medical Sciences' Hospitals' Radiology Departments' Employees by QWL questionnaire. Respondents were asked to express their attitudes about a range of key factors as the most important issues impacting their QWL. The data was collected and analyzed by SPSS version 15 software. Most of the respondents indicated that they were unsatisfied and very unsatisfied with key factors of their QWL. Comparison of QWL key factors of TUMS radiology employees with the other countries indicated that most of the employees are unsatisfied with their poor QWL factors. We hope, the implications of these findings deliberate to improve QWL within each of TUMS hospitals radiology departments and also be relevant and value to policymakers of healthcare organizations in Iran. © 2012 Tehran University of Medical Sciences. All rights reserved.

Balance Theory Revisited: Relationship Issue Relevance Affects Imbalance-Induced Tension in Workplace Relationships.

PubMed

Reid, Chelsea A; Davis, Jody L; Pollack, Jeffrey M; Coughlan, Richard S

2017-08-18

The present work applies and extends balance theory by examining the role of relevance of issue to the relationship in balance theory processes within the context of workplace relationships. In Experiment 1, a sample of working adults (N = 81) reported greater job tension when self-supervisor dissimilarity involved a relationship-relevant (vs. non-relationship) ethical dilemma. In Experiment 2, a sample of working students (N = 185) who perceived greater self-supervisor dissimilarity about workplace (vs. family) ethics reported greater job tension, and in turn, less job satisfaction and organizational commitment. Perceiving dissimilarity with a work supervisor in attitudes about relationship-relevant issues may negatively affect outcomes at work. Importantly, these experiments demonstrated that not all dissimilarity is likely to yield negative outcomes; only relationship-relevant (vs. non-relevant) dissimilarity was a catalyst for imbalance-induced tension.

Emerging ICT implementation issues in aged care.

PubMed

Kapadia, Vasvi; Ariani, Arni; Li, Junhua; Ray, Pradeep K

2015-11-01

Demand for aged care services continues to soar as a result of an aging population. This increasing demand requires more residential aged care facilities and healthcare workforce. One recommended solution is to keep older people in their homes longer and support their independent life through the use of information and communication technologies (ICT). However, the aged care sector is still in the early stages of adopting ICT. The aim of this study was to identify the key issues that affect the adoption of ICT in the aged care sector. A systematic literature review was undertaken and involved four steps. The first two steps aimed to identify and select relevant articles. Data was then extracted from the selected articles and identified issues were analyzed and grouped into three major categories. ICT adoption issues were categorized into different perspectives, representing older people, health professionals and management. Our findings showed that all three groups were mostly concerned with issues around behavior, cost and lack of technical skills. Findings reported in this study will help decision makers at aged care settings to systematically understand issues related to ICT adoption and thus proactively introduce interventions to improve use of ICT in this sector. On the basis of our findings, we suggest future research focus on the examination of aged care workflow and assessment of return on ICT investment. Copyright © 2015. Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd.

Technology transfer and other public policy implications of multi-national arrangements for the production of commercial airframes

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gellman, A. J.; Price, J. P.

1978-01-01

A study to examine the question of technology transfer through international arrangements for production of commercial transport aircraft is presented. The likelihood of such transfer under various representative conditions was determined and an understanding of the economic motivations for, effects of, joint venture arrangements was developed. Relevant public policy implications were also assessed. Multinational consortia with U.S. participation were focused upon because they generate the full range of pertinent public issues (including especially technology transfer), and also because of recognized trends toward such arrangements. An extensive search and analysis of existing literature to identify the key issues, and in-person interviews with executives of U.S. and European commercial airframe producers was reviewed. Distinctions were drawn among product-embodied, process, and management technologies in terms of their relative possibilities of transfer and the significance of such transfer. Also included are observations on related issues such as the implications of U.S. antitrust policy with respect to the formation of consortia and the competitive viability of the U.S. aircraft manufacturing industry.

Should we genetically test everyone for haemochromatosis?

PubMed

Allen, K; Williamson, R

1999-04-01

The increasing availability of DNA-based diagnostic tests has raised issues about whether these should be applied to the population at large in order to identify, treat or prevent a range of diseases. DNA tests raise concerns in the community for several reasons. There is the possibility of stigmatisation and discrimination between those who test positive and those who don't. High-risk individuals may be identified for whom no proven effective intervention is possible, or conversely may test "positive" for a disease that does not eventuate. Controversy concerning prenatal diagnosis and termination of affected pregnancies may arise. Haemochromatosis, however, is a disease that is not only treatable but also preventable if those at high risk are identified presymptomatically. This paper will identify and discuss key issues regarding DNA-based population screening for haemochromatosis, and argue that population-based genetic screening for haemochromatosis should be supported when a number of contentious issues are addressed. In the context of a health system with limited resources haemochromatosis is the paradigm of a disorder where there is an ethical and clinical imperative to encourage presymptomatic DNA testing for all in ethnically relevant communities.

Contributing factors in construction accidents.

PubMed

Haslam, R A; Hide, S A; Gibb, A G F; Gyi, D E; Pavitt, T; Atkinson, S; Duff, A R

2005-07-01

This overview paper draws together findings from previous focus group research and studies of 100 individual construction accidents. Pursuing issues raised by the focus groups, the accident studies collected qualitative information on the circumstances of each incident and the causal influences involved. Site based data collection entailed interviews with accident-involved personnel and their supervisor or manager, inspection of the accident location, and review of appropriate documentation. Relevant issues from the site investigations were then followed up with off-site stakeholders, including designers, manufacturers and suppliers. Levels of involvement of key factors in the accidents were: problems arising from workers or the work team (70% of accidents), workplace issues (49%), shortcomings with equipment (including PPE) (56%), problems with suitability and condition of materials (27%), and deficiencies with risk management (84%). Employing an ergonomics systems approach, a model is proposed, indicating the manner in which originating managerial, design and cultural factors shape the circumstances found in the work place, giving rise to the acts and conditions which, in turn, lead to accidents. It is argued that attention to the originating influences will be necessary for sustained improvement in construction safety to be achieved.

Creating the Future of Evidence-Based Nutrition Recommendations: Case Studies from Lipid Research123

PubMed Central

Dwyer, Johanna T; Rubin, Kristin H; Psota, Tricia L; Liska, DeAnn J; Montain, Scott J

2016-01-01

Strategic translational research is designed to address research gaps that answer specific guidance questions. It provides translational value with respect to nutrition guidance and regulatory and public policy. The relevance and the quality of evidence both matter in translational research. For example, design decisions regarding population, intervention, comparator, and outcome criteria affect whether or not high-quality studies are considered relevant to specific guidance questions and are therefore included as evidence within the context of systematic review frameworks used by authoritative food and health organizations. The process used in systematic reviews, developed by the USDA for its Nutrition Evidence Library, is described. An eating pattern and cardiovascular disease (CVD) evidence review is provided as an example, and factors that differentiated the studies considered relevant and included in that evidence base from those that were excluded are noted. Case studies on ω-3 (n–3) fatty acids (FAs) and industrial trans-FAs illustrate key factors vital to relevance and translational impact, including choice of a relevant population (e.g., healthy, at risk, or diseased subjects; general population or high-performance soldiers); dose and form of the intervention (e.g., food or supplement); use of relevant comparators (e.g., technically feasible and realistic); and measures for both exposure and outcomes (e.g., inflammatory markers or CVD endpoints). Specific recommendations are provided to help increase the impact of nutrition research on future dietary guidance, policy, and regulatory issues, particularly in the area of lipids. PMID:27422509

Identifying the gaps in Nepalese migrant workers' health and well-being: a review of the literature.

PubMed

Simkhada, Padam P; Regmi, Pramod R; van Teijlingen, Edwin; Aryal, Nirmal

2017-07-01

The health and well-being of migrant workers from low-income countries is often neglected in travel medicine. This article uses Nepal as a case study to highlight key issues affecting this particular group of international travellers. This narrative review used a comprehensive systematic literature search to identify relevant studies on Nepal. The included articles were thematically analysed leading to four key themes or risk factors. The search found 18 articles from which we identified 3 key themes related directly to migrant workers: (1) sexual risk taking; (2) occupational health and (3) lifestyles, and a fourth theme related to partners and family of migrant workers who are left behind in Nepal. Of the 18 included articles, 11 articles discussed sexual risk taking and HIV, whilst considerably fewer focused on work-related risk factors and lifestyle factors in migrant workers. Migrant workers who are generally healthy appear to be similar to tourist travellers in regarding sexual health as a key issue related to being abroad. Risky sexual behaviour increases in individuals separated from their usual sexual partners, away from their own communities and families, leading to the so-called 'situational disinhibition'. Considering the recent media coverage of deaths and injuries among migrant workers in the Middle East, it is interesting to see that their sexual health is more prevalent in the research literature. This article argues that travel medicine should provide more emphasis to the health and well-being of migrant workers as a highly vulnerable group of travellers with additional impact on the health of those left behind. © International Society of Travel Medicine, 2017. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com

Into the void: Regulating pesticide use in Colorado's commercial cannabis markets.

PubMed

Subritzky, Todd; Pettigrew, Simone; Lenton, Simon

2017-04-01

In 2014, Colorado implemented the world's first seed-to-sale recreational cannabis market under a commercial model. This paper aims to provide a thick descriptive account that gives insight into the issues and complexities of Colorado's pioneering and evolving attempt to regulate the use of pesticides on commercial cannabis plantations. The paper examines multiple data sets including: (i) Colorado State Government documents; (ii) recreational cannabis regulations; (iii) mass and niche media publications (n=175); (iv) face-to-face interviews with key stakeholders, including seniors, regulators and industry executives (n=8); and (v) field notes from relevant conferences and cultivation facility tours in Denver in October, 2016. Two key issues are identified. First, a public safety threat has arisen relating to application of pesticides on cannabis with intensified toxicity in concentrated products of particular concern. Second, as a pioneering jurisdiction, Colorado faces a considerable knowledge gap. To expand collective learning on this issue, for which no regulatory template and little research exists, state regulators tapped industry and other stakeholder expertise while attempting to ensure public safety goals were achieved and regulatory capture by industry was limited. Four years since the recreational cannabis market in Colorado was legalised, the State continues to grapple with the pesticide issue as testing regulations and cultivation standards are yet to be finalised. While more work is needed, Colorado has made significant progress in developing regulations relating to this complex matter. As governments of countries such as Canada and US states, including California, contemplate changes to recreational cannabis laws, Colorado's experience can assist regulators in other jurisdictions considering policy change. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

A scoping review of research on complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) and the mass media: looking back, moving forward.

PubMed

Weeks, Laura C; Strudsholm, Tina

2008-07-19

The use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) has become more common in Western developed countries in recent years, as has media reporting on CAM and related issues. Correspondingly, media reports are a primary information source regarding decisions to use CAM. Research on CAM related media reports is becoming increasingly relevant and important; however, identifying key concepts to guide future research is problematic due to the dispersed nature of completed research in this field. A scoping review was conducted to: 1) determine the amount, focus and nature of research on CAM and the mass media; and 2) summarize and disseminate related research results. The main phases were: 1) searching for relevant studies; 2) selecting studies based on pre-defined inclusion criteria; 3) extracting data; and 4) collating, summarizing and reporting the results. Of 4,454 studies identified through various search strategies, 16 were relevant to our objectives and included in a final sample. CAM and media research has focused primarily on print media coverage of a range of CAM therapies, although only a few studies articulated differences within the range of therapies surveyed. Research has been developed through a variety of disciplinary perspectives, with a focus on representation research. The research reviewed suggests that journalists draw on a range of sources to prepare media reports, although most commonly they cite conventional (versus CAM) sources and personal anecdotes. The tone of media reports appears generally positive, which may be related to a lack of reporting on issues related to risk and safety. Finally, a variety of discourses within media representations of CAM are apparent that each appeal to a specific audience through resonance with their specific concerns. Research on CAM and the mass media spans multiple disciplines and strategies of inquiry; however, despite the diversity in approach, it is clear that issues related to production and reception of media content are in need of research attention. To address the varied issues in a comprehensive manner, future research needs to be collaborative, involving researchers across disciplines, journalists and CAM users.

A scoping review of research on complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) and the mass media: Looking back, moving forward

PubMed Central

Weeks, Laura C; Strudsholm, Tina

2008-01-01

Background The use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) has become more common in Western developed countries in recent years, as has media reporting on CAM and related issues. Correspondingly, media reports are a primary information source regarding decisions to use CAM. Research on CAM related media reports is becoming increasingly relevant and important; however, identifying key concepts to guide future research is problematic due to the dispersed nature of completed research in this field. A scoping review was conducted to: 1) determine the amount, focus and nature of research on CAM and the mass media; and 2) summarize and disseminate related research results. Methods The main phases were: 1) searching for relevant studies; 2) selecting studies based on pre-defined inclusion criteria; 3) extracting data; and 4) collating, summarizing and reporting the results. Results Of 4,454 studies identified through various search strategies, 16 were relevant to our objectives and included in a final sample. CAM and media research has focused primarily on print media coverage of a range of CAM therapies, although only a few studies articulated differences within the range of therapies surveyed. Research has been developed through a variety of disciplinary perspectives, with a focus on representation research. The research reviewed suggests that journalists draw on a range of sources to prepare media reports, although most commonly they cite conventional (versus CAM) sources and personal anecdotes. The tone of media reports appears generally positive, which may be related to a lack of reporting on issues related to risk and safety. Finally, a variety of discourses within media representations of CAM are apparent that each appeal to a specific audience through resonance with their specific concerns. Conclusion Research on CAM and the mass media spans multiple disciplines and strategies of inquiry; however, despite the diversity in approach, it is clear that issues related to production and reception of media content are in need of research attention. To address the varied issues in a comprehensive manner, future research needs to be collaborative, involving researchers across disciplines, journalists and CAM users. PMID:18638413

Editorial: emerging issues in sociotechnical systems thinking and workplace safety.

PubMed

Noy, Y Ian; Hettinger, Lawrence J; Dainoff, Marvin J; Carayon, Pascale; Leveson, Nancy G; Robertson, Michelle M; Courtney, Theodore K

2015-01-01

The burden of on-the-job accidents and fatalities and the harm of associated human suffering continue to present an important challenge for safety researchers and practitioners. While significant improvements have been achieved in recent decades, the workplace accident rate remains unacceptably high. This has spurred interest in the development of novel research approaches, with particular interest in the systemic influences of social/organisational and technological factors. In response, the Hopkinton Conference on Sociotechnical Systems and Safety was organised to assess the current state of knowledge in the area and to identify research priorities. Over the course of several months prior to the conference, leading international experts drafted collaborative, state-of-the-art reviews covering various aspects of sociotechnical systems and safety. These papers, presented in this special issue, cover topics ranging from the identification of key concepts and definitions to sociotechnical characteristics of safe and unsafe organisations. This paper provides an overview of the conference and introduces key themes and topics. Sociotechnical approaches to workplace safety are intended to draw practitioners' attention to the critical influence that systemic social/organisational and technological factors exert on safety-relevant outcomes. This paper introduces major themes addressed in the Hopkinton Conference within the context of current workplace safety research and practice challenges.

Editorial: emerging issues in sociotechnical systems thinking and workplace safety

PubMed Central

Noy, Y. Ian; Hettinger, Lawrence J.; Dainoff, Marvin J.; Carayon, Pascale; Leveson, Nancy G.; Robertson, Michelle M.; Courtney, Theodore K.

2015-01-01

The burden of on-the-job accidents and fatalities and the harm of associated human suffering continue to present an important challenge for safety researchers and practitioners. While significant improvements have been achieved in recent decades, the workplace accident rate remains unacceptably high. This has spurred interest in the development of novel research approaches, with particular interest in the systemic influences of social/organisational and technological factors. In response, the Hopkinton Conference on Sociotechnical Systems and Safety was organised to assess the current state of knowledge in the area and to identify research priorities. Over the course of several months prior to the conference, leading international experts drafted collaborative, state-of-the-art reviews covering various aspects of sociotechnical systems and safety. These papers, presented in this special issue, cover topics ranging from the identification of key concepts and definitions to sociotechnical characteristics of safe and unsafe organisations. This paper provides an overview of the conference and introduces key themes and topics. Practitioner Summary: Sociotechnical approaches to workplace safety are intended to draw practitioners' attention to the critical influence that systemic social/organisational and technological factors exert on safety-relevant outcomes. This paper introduces major themes addressed in the Hopkinton Conference within the context of current workplace safety research and practice challenges. PMID:25819595

Teaching professionalism in the digital age on the psychiatric consultation-liaison service.

PubMed

Baer, Wendy; Schwartz, Ann C

2011-01-01

The rapid emergence of social media, including Facebook and YouTube, have added a new dimension to defining, teaching, and role modeling professionalism in the medical field. Explicit and consistent role modeling of professional behaviors are needed to encourage the development of professional physicians. The purpose of this article is to investigate the challenges and opportunities at the interface of professionalism and social media for physicians. The medical literature via PubMed was reviewed with key words including "Facebook," "YouTube," "social media," "digital media," and key issues are discussed. Our residency program was surveyed regarding their experiences with digital media in medical practice and the findings are discussed. Sample topics and relevant, thought provoking questions generated from our practices are outlined. Case vignettes are offered to exemplify issues with regard to professionalism raised by digital and social media in medical practice. Social media sites offer great opportunity to widely distribute valuable health care information as well as provide physicians with a venue to de-stress. In this new digital age, trainees and lifelong learners must learn to be mindful of professionalism while using social media in order to protect their privacy as well as the image of physicians. Copyright © 2011 The Academy of Psychosomatic Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Cryopreserved or Fresh Mesenchymal Stromal Cells: Only a Matter of Taste or Key to Unleash the Full Clinical Potential of MSC Therapy?

PubMed

Moll, Guido; Geißler, Sven; Catar, Rusan; Ignatowicz, Lech; Hoogduijn, Martin J; Strunk, Dirk; Bieback, Karen; Ringdén, Olle

2016-01-01

Mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) harbor great therapeutic potential for numerous diseases. From early clinical trials, success and failure analysis, bench-to-bedside and back-to-bench approaches, there has been a great gain in knowledge, still leaving a number of questions to be answered regarding optimal manufacturing and quality of MSCs for clinical application. For treatment of many acute indications, cryobanking may remain a prerequisite, but great uncertainty exists considering the therapeutic value of freshly thawed (thawed) and continuously cultured (fresh) MSCs. The field has seen an explosion of new literature lately, outlining the relevance of the topic. MSCs appear to have compromised immunomodulatory activity directly after thawing for clinical application. This may provide a possible explanation for failure of early clinical trials. It is not clear if and how quickly MSCs recover their full therapeutic activity, and if the "cryo stun effect" is relevant for clinical success. Here, we will share our latest insights into the relevance of these observations for clinical practice that will be discussed in the context of the published literature. We argue that the differences of fresh and thawed MSCs are limited but significant. A key issue in evaluating potency differences is the time point of analysis after thawing. To date, prospective double-blinded randomized clinical studies to evaluate potency of both products are lacking, although recent progress was made with preclinical assessment. We suggest refocusing therapeutic MSC development on potency and safety assays with close resemblance of the clinical reality.

Consumers’ experiences of back pain in rural Western Australia: access to information and services, and self-management behaviours

PubMed Central

2012-01-01

Background Coordinated, interdisciplinary services, supported by self-management underpin effective management for chronic low back pain (CLBP). However, a combination of system, provider and consumer-based barriers exist which limit the implementation of such models into practice, particularly in rural areas where unique access issues exist. In order to improve health service delivery for consumers with CLBP, policymakers and service providers require a more in depth understanding of these issues. The objective of this qualitative study was to explore barriers experienced by consumers in rural settings in Western Australia (WA) to accessing information and services and implementing effective self-management behaviours for CLBP. Methods Fourteen consumers with a history of CLBP from three rural sites in WA participated. Maximum variation sampling was employed to ensure a range of experiences were captured. An interviewer, blinded to quantitative pain history data, conducted semi-structured telephone interviews using a standardised schedule to explore individuals’ access to information and services for CLBP, and self-management behaviours. Interviews were digitally recorded and transcribed verbatim. Inductive analysis techniques were used to derive and refine key themes. Results Five key themes were identified that affected individuals’ experiences of managing CLBP in a rural setting, including: 1) poor access to information and services in rural settings; 2) inadequate knowledge and skills among local practitioners; 3) feelings of isolation and frustration; 4) psychological burden associated with CLBP; and 5) competing lifestyle demands hindering effective self-management for CLBP. Conclusions Consumers in rural WA experienced difficulties in knowing where to access relevant information for CLBP and expressed frustration with the lack of service delivery options to access interdisciplinary and specialist services for CLBP. Competing lifestyle demands such as work and family commitments were cited as key barriers to adopting regular self-management practices. Consumer expectations for improved health service coordination and a workforce skilled in pain management are relevant to future service planning, particularly in the contexts of workforce capacity, community health services, and enablers to effective service delivery in primary care. PMID:23057669

Technologies to measure and modify physical activity and eating environments.

PubMed

King, Abby C; Glanz, Karen; Patrick, Kevin

2015-05-01

The explosion of technologic advances in information capture and delivery offers unparalleled opportunities to assess and modify built and social environments in ways that can positively impact health behaviors. This paper highlights some potentially transformative current and emerging trends in the technology arena applicable to environmental context-based assessment and intervention relevant to physical activity and dietary behaviors. A team of experts convened in 2013 to discuss the main issues related to technology use in assessing and changing built environments for health behaviors particularly relevant to obesity prevention. Each expert was assigned a specific domain to describe, commensurate with their research and expertise in the field, along with examples of specific applications. This activity was accompanied by selective examination of published literature to cover the main issues and elucidate relevant applications of technologic tools and innovations in this field. Decisions concerning which technology examples to highlight were reached through discussion and consensus-building among the team of experts. Two levels of impact are highlighted: the "me" domain, which primarily targets measurement and intervention activities aimed at individual-level behaviors and their surrounding environments; and the "we" domain, which generally focuses on aggregated data aimed at groups and larger population segments and locales. The paper ends with a set of challenges and opportunities for significantly advancing the field. Key areas for progress include data collection and expansion, managing technologic considerations, and working across sectors to maximize the population potential of behavioral health technologies. Copyright © 2015 American Journal of Preventive Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

NASA's UAS NAS Access Project

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Johnson, Charles W.

2011-01-01

The vision of the Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) Integration in the National Airspace System (NAS) Project is "A global transportation system which allows routine access for all classes of UAS." The goal of the UAS Integration in the NAS Project is to "contribute capabilities that reduce technical barriers related to the safety and operational challenges associated with enabling routine UAS access to the NAS." This goal will be accomplished through a two-phased approach based on development of system-level integration of key concepts, technologies and/or procedures, and demonstrations of integrated capabilities in an operationally relevant environment. Phase 1 will take place the first two years of the Project and Phase 2 will take place the following three years. The Phase 1 and 2 technical objectives are: Phase 1: Developing a gap analysis between current state of the art and the Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen) UAS Concept of Operations . Validating the key technical areas identified by this Project . Conducting initial modeling, simulation, and flight testing activities . Completing Sub-project Phase 1 deliverables (spectrum requirements, comparative analysis of certification methodologies, etc.) and continue Phase 2 preparation (infrastructure, tools, etc.) Phase 2: Providing regulators with a methodology for developing airworthiness requirements for UAS, and data to support development of certifications standards and regulatory guidance . Providing systems-level, integrated testing of concepts and/or capabilities that address barriers to routine access to the NAS. Through simulation and flight testing, address issues including separation assurance, communications requirements, and human systems integration in operationally relevant environments. The UAS in the NAS Project will demonstrate solutions in specific technology areas, which will address operational/safety issues related to UAS access to the NAS. Since the resource allocation for this Project is limited ($150M over the five years), the focus is on reducing the technical barriers where NASA has unique capabilities. As a result, technical areas, such as Sense and Avoid (SAA) and beyond line of sight command and control will not be addressed. While these are critical barriers to UAS access, currently, there is a great deal of global effort being exercised to address these challenge areas. Instead, specific technology development in areas where there is certainty that NASA can advance the research to high technology readiness levels will be the Project's focus. Specific sub-projects include Separation Assurance, Human Systems Integration, Communications, Certification, and Integrated Test and Evaluation. Each sub-project will transfer technologies to relevant key stakeholders and decision makers through research transition teams, technology forums, or through other analogous means.

Issue-Relevant Values and Opinions About Gay Rights: Beyond Equality and Morality.

PubMed

Rhodebeck, Laurie

2018-01-01

Although many studies have examined the role of values in shaping public opinion, the number of values that inform this research is limited. This article employs the concept of issue-relevant values as a means to explore the broader range of values associated with policy issues. After discussing the concept in general terms, the article explores issue-relevant values pertinent to public opinion about gay rights. Using the policy examples of employment nondiscrimination and same-sex couple adoption, the present study identifies, measures, and assesses several values that add to the very short list previously used to explain public opinion about gay rights issues. Content from interest-group Web sites and news media coverage of the two issues aided in identifying the values. Data from an original Internet survey yield valid measures of the values. Multivariate analyses indicate that the values behave in predictable ways: they are strongly influenced by partisanship, and they strongly affect opinions about the two issues. The performance of the values is consistent with findings from previous research on the partisan basis of values and the value-based nature of opinions. The article concludes with suggestions for further empirical and theoretical work that could apply and extend the concept of issue-relevant values.

76 FR 26290 - Science Advisory Board Staff Office; Notification of a Public Teleconference of the Chartered...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-05-06

... report entitled ``SAB Review of EPA's Reanalysis of Key Issues Related to Dioxin Toxicity and Response to... of EPA's Reanalysis of Key Issues Related to Dioxin Toxicity and Response to NAS Comments.'' The SAB... Reanalysis of Key Issues Related to Dioxin Toxicity and Response to NAS Comments.'' To conduct this review...

Cryptanalysis and Enhancement of Anonymity Preserving Remote User Mutual Authentication and Session Key Agreement Scheme for E-Health Care Systems.

PubMed

Amin, Ruhul; Islam, S K Hafizul; Biswas, G P; Khan, Muhammad Khurram; Li, Xiong

2015-11-01

The E-health care systems employ IT infrastructure for maximizing health care resources utilization as well as providing flexible opportunities to the remote patient. Therefore, transmission of medical data over any public networks is necessary in health care system. Note that patient authentication including secure data transmission in e-health care system is critical issue. Although several user authentication schemes for accessing remote services are available, their security analysis show that none of them are free from relevant security attacks. We reviewed Das et al.'s scheme and demonstrated their scheme lacks proper protection against several security attacks such as user anonymity, off-line password guessing attack, smart card theft attack, user impersonation attack, server impersonation attack, session key discloser attack. In order to overcome the mentioned security pitfalls, this paper proposes an anonymity preserving remote patient authentication scheme usable in E-health care systems. We then validated the security of the proposed scheme using BAN logic that ensures secure mutual authentication and session key agreement. We also presented the experimental results of the proposed scheme using AVISPA software and the results ensure that our scheme is secure under OFMC and CL-AtSe models. Moreover, resilience of relevant security attacks has been proved through both formal and informal security analysis. The performance analysis and comparison with other schemes are also made, and it has been found that the proposed scheme overcomes the security drawbacks of the Das et al.'s scheme and additionally achieves extra security requirements.

Improving Attitudes Toward STEM By Providing Urban-Based Environmental Science Research Opportunities

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cuff, K. E.; Molinaro, M.

2005-12-01

Over the past decade, numerous calls have been made for the need to increase the participation of the nation's underrepresented population in science, technology, engineering, and technology (STEM) fields of endeavor. A key element in improving the less than impressive conditions that now exist with regard to this issue, is the development of effective approaches that result in positive changes in young people's attitudes toward education in general, and STEM subject matter in particular during the early stages of their intellectual development. The Environmental Science Information Technology Activities (ESITA) program provides opportunities for under-represented grades 9 - 10 students in the East San Francisco Bay Area to learn about and apply key STEM concepts and related skills. Consisting of two-year-long after school programs at community center and school-based sites, as well as a Summer Research Institute, the ESITA program engages participants in a combination of STEM content learning activities and environmental science research projects that address issues relevant to their communities. Design of the ESITA program has been informed by: 1) pilot-study data that indicated key elements necessary for ensuring high levels of participant enthusiasm and interest; 2) a conceptual framework for development of instructional materials grounded in recent research about student learning of STEM content; and 3) research about effective after school programs that present academic content. Throughout the program's two-year existence, ESITA students have participated in the following projects: investigations of the distribution of elevated lead levels in drinking water samples from Washington, D.C.; air and water quality studies in and around a popular lake situated within the nation's oldest wildlife refuge, located in downtown Oakland, California; and studies of the relationship between airborne particulate matter concentrations in Richmond, California, and activity at local petroleum refineries. As participants have used newly acquired skills and understandings while performing such investigations that are directly linked to relevant, real-world environmental problems and issues, they have: significantly increased their understanding of the process and nature of science; enhanced their intellectual self-confidence with regard to STEM; developed a deeper appreciation of how scientific research can contribute to the maintenance of healthy local environments; developed a greater interest in participating in STEM-related courses of study and after school programs; improved their general attitudes toward STEM. All of these gains significantly increase the capacity of participants to enroll and perform successfully in STEM courses in the future, which together enhances their chances of deciding to pursue STEM careers.

Sustainable Sourcing of Global Agricultural Raw Materials: Assessing Gaps in Key Impact and Vulnerability Issues and Indicators

PubMed Central

Springer, Nathaniel P.; Garbach, Kelly; Guillozet, Kathleen; Haden, Van R.; Hedao, Prashant; Hollander, Allan D.; Huber, Patrick R.; Ingersoll, Christina; Langner, Megan; Lipari, Genevieve; Mohammadi, Yaser; Musker, Ruthie; Piatto, Marina; Riggle, Courtney; Schweisguth, Melissa; Sin, Emily; Snider, Sara; Vidic, Nataša; White, Aubrey; Brodt, Sonja; Quinn, James F.; Tomich, Thomas P.

2015-01-01

Understanding how to source agricultural raw materials sustainably is challenging in today’s globalized food system given the variety of issues to be considered and the multitude of suggested indicators for representing these issues. Furthermore, stakeholders in the global food system both impact these issues and are themselves vulnerable to these issues, an important duality that is often implied but not explicitly described. The attention given to these issues and conceptual frameworks varies greatly—depending largely on the stakeholder perspective—as does the set of indicators developed to measure them. To better structure these complex relationships and assess any gaps, we collate a comprehensive list of sustainability issues and a database of sustainability indicators to represent them. To assure a breadth of inclusion, the issues are pulled from the following three perspectives: major global sustainability assessments, sustainability communications from global food companies, and conceptual frameworks of sustainable livelihoods from academic publications. These terms are integrated across perspectives using a common vocabulary, classified by their relevance to impacts and vulnerabilities, and categorized into groups by economic, environmental, physical, human, social, and political characteristics. These issues are then associated with over 2,000 sustainability indicators gathered from existing sources. A gap analysis is then performed to determine if particular issues and issue groups are over or underrepresented. This process results in 44 “integrated” issues—24 impact issues and 36 vulnerability issues —that are composed of 318 “component” issues. The gap analysis shows that although every integrated issue is mentioned at least 40% of the time across perspectives, no issue is mentioned more than 70% of the time. A few issues infrequently mentioned across perspectives also have relatively few indicators available to fully represent them. Issues in the impact framework generally have fewer gaps than those in the vulnerability framework. PMID:26065899

Added value of involving patients in the first step of multidisciplinary guideline development: a qualitative interview study among infertile patients.

PubMed

den Breejen, Elvira M E; Hermens, Rosella P M G; Galama, Wienke H; Willemsen, Wim N P; Kremer, Jan A M; Nelen, Willianne L D M

2016-06-01

Patient involvement in scoping the guideline is emphasized, but published initiatives actively involving patients are generally limited to the writing and reviewing phase. To assess patients' added value to the scoping phase of a multidisciplinary guideline on infertility. Qualitative interview study. We conducted interviews among 12 infertile couples and 17 professionals. We listed and compared the couples' and professionals' key clinical issues (=care aspects that need improvement) to be addressed in the guideline according to four domains: current guidelines, professionals, patients and organization of care. Main key clinical issues suggested by more than three quarters of the infertile couples and/or at least two professionals were identified and compared. Overall, we identified 32 key clinical issues among infertile couples and 23 among professionals. Of the defined main key clinical issues, infertile couples mentioned eight issues that were not mentioned by the professionals. These main key clinical issues mainly concerned patient-centred (e.g. poor information provision and poor alignment of care) aspects of care on the professional and organizational domain. Both groups mentioned two main key clinical issues collectively that were interpreted differently: the lack of emotional support and respect for patients' values. Including patients from the first phase of the guideline development process leads to valuable additional main key clinical issues for the next step of a multidisciplinary guideline development process and broadens the scope of the guideline, particularly regarding patient-centredness and organizational issues from a patients' perspective. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press in association with the International Society for Quality in Health Care; all rights reserved.

Shifting Liberal and Conservative Attitudes Using Moral Foundations Theory

PubMed Central

Day, Martin V.; Fiske, Susan T.; Downing, Emily L.; Trail, Thomas E.

2016-01-01

People’s social and political opinions are grounded in their moral concerns about right and wrong. We examine whether five moral foundations—harm, fairness, ingroup, authority, and purity—can influence political attitudes of liberals and conservatives across a variety of issues. Framing issues using moral foundations may change political attitudes in at least two possible ways: 1. Entrenching: relevant moral foundations will strengthen existing political attitudes when framing pro-attitudinal issues (e.g., conservatives exposed to a free-market economic stance). 2. Persuasion: mere presence of relevant moral foundations may also alter political attitudes in counter-attitudinal directions (e.g., conservatives exposed to an economic regulation stance). Studies 1 and 2 support the entrenching hypothesis. Relevant moral foundation-based frames bolstered political attitudes for conservatives (Study 1) and liberals (Study 2). Only Study 2 partially supports the persuasion hypothesis. Conservative-relevant moral frames of liberal issues increased conservatives’ liberal attitudes. PMID:25286912

A view of software management issues

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Manley, J. H.

1985-01-01

The Software Development Environment (SDE) Panel addressed key programmatic, scope, and structural issues raised by its members and the general audience regarding the proposed software development environment for the Space Station program. The general team approach taken by this group led to a consensus on 18 recommendations to NASA mangament regarding the acquisition and definition of the SDE. This approach was keyed by the initial issues presentation given to the general audience. Additional issues (for a total of 23) were developed by the panelists in their first closed session from which key areas were selected and discussed in open session. These discussions led to key recommendations which are summarized and described.

Consensus statement: appropriate consumer education and communication programs for weight- loss agents in Asia.

PubMed

Chan, Siew Pheng; Chui, William C; Lo, Kwok Wing; Huang, Kuo-Chin; Leyesa, Normita D; Lin, Wen-Yuan; Mirasol, Roberto C; Robles, Yolanda R; Tey, Beng Hea; Paraidathathu, Thomas

2012-07-01

The increasing prevalence of overweight and obesity worldwide demands increased efforts in the prevention and management of obesity. This article aims to present consensus statements promoting appropriate consumer education and communication programs for weight-loss agents in Asia. Panel members from various disciplines developed consensus statements based on an expert meeting on the benefits of consumer education and communication programs for over-the-counter weight-loss agents. Key opinion leaders discussed relevant data that served as the basis of the recommendations. Obesity is a growing epidemic in Asia, turning the region into a potential market for weight-loss products and services. Current trends in direct-to-consumer advertising demonstrate the pervasiveness of false representations lacking adequate substantiation. Relevant issues and recommendations were established. Public education on weight management is a shared responsibility; there is a need to raise public awareness of obesity and its health-related consequences. Advertising guidelines should ensure responsible direct-to-consumer advertising of weight-loss agents.

The police, social services, and psychiatry (PSP) cooperation as a platform for dealing with concerns of radicalization.

PubMed

Sestoft, D; Hansen, S M; Christensen, A B

2017-08-01

The police, social services, and psychiatry (PSP) is a structured cooperation between the police, social services, and the psychiatric system in Denmark. The aim of PSP is to ensure that relevant information is shared and supportive measures enhanced concerning citizens at risk, and it involves PSP representatives from each sector meeting frequently. PSP is implemented nationwide by law. In recent years, dealing with radicalization and the threat of terrorism have become key issues in society. The PSP cooperation already facilitates the identification of citizens at many kinds of risk (e.g. suicide, substance abuse, social decline, mental illness), and coordinates relevant intervention and treatment. The existing PSP cooperation is, therefore, an obvious forum for identifying and handling concerns of radicalization and extremism. The new working model includes an upgrade of all local PSP groups and an implementation of a nationwide evaluation of the initiative. This is a presentation of the working model and the experiences in practice.

Space Station Engineering Design Issues

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mcruer, Duane T.; Boehm, Barry W.; Debra, Daniel B.; Green, C. Cordell; Henry, Richard C.; Maycock, Paul D.; Mcelroy, John H.; Pierce, Chester M.; Stafford, Thomas P.; Young, Laurence R.

1989-01-01

Space Station Freedom topics addressed include: general design issues; issues related to utilization and operations; issues related to systems requirements and design; and management issues relevant to design.

Strengthening health professions regulation in Cambodia: a rapid assessment.

PubMed

Clarke, David; Duke, Jan; Wuliji, Tana; Smith, Alyson; Phuong, Keat; San, Un

2016-03-10

This paper describes a rapid assessment of Cambodia's current system for regulating its health professions. The assessment forms part of a co-design process to set strategic priorities for strengthening health profession regulation to improve the quality and safety of health services. A health system approach for strengthening health professions' regulation is underway and aims to support the Government of Cambodia's plans for scaling up its health workforce, improving health services' safety and quality, and meeting its Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) obligations to facilitate trade in health care services. The assessment used a mixed methods approach including: A desktop review of key laws, plans, reports and other documents relating to the regulation of the health professions in Cambodia (medicine, dentistry, midwifery, nursing and pharmacy); Key informant interviews with stakeholders in Cambodia (The term "stakeholders" refers to government officials, people working on health professional regulation, people working for the various health worker training institutions and health workers at the national and provincial level); Surveys and questionnaires to assess Cambodian stakeholder knowledge of regulation; Self-assessments by members of the five Cambodian regulatory councils regarding key capacities and activities of high-performing regulatory bodies; and A rapid literature review to identify: The key functions of health professional regulation; The key issues affecting the Cambodian health sector (including relevant developments in the wider ASEAN region); and "Smart" health profession regulation practices of possible relevance to Cambodia. We found that the current regulatory system only partially meets Cambodia's needs. A number of key regulatory functions are being performed, but overall, the current system was not designed with Cambodia's specific needs in mind. The existing system is also overly complex, with considerable duplication and overlap between governance and regulatory arrangements for the five regulated professions. There is considerable scope for reform to the current regulatory system to better align the system to Cambodia's: Current needs and circumstances; Health system strategic priorities; and International obligations. Cambodia is also well placed to base its reformed regulatory system on recent developments of "smart regulatory practices" for health professionals.

Information and material flows in complex networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Helbing, Dirk; Armbruster, Dieter; Mikhailov, Alexander S.; Lefeber, Erjen

2006-04-01

In this special issue, an overview of the Thematic Institute (TI) on Information and Material Flows in Complex Systems is given. The TI was carried out within EXYSTENCE, the first EU Network of Excellence in the area of complex systems. Its motivation, research approach and subjects are presented here. Among the various methods used are many-particle and statistical physics, nonlinear dynamics, as well as complex systems, network and control theory. The contributions are relevant for complex systems as diverse as vehicle and data traffic in networks, logistics, production, and material flows in biological systems. The key disciplines involved are socio-, econo-, traffic- and bio-physics, and a new research area that could be called “biologistics”.

Instruments to measure social support and related constructs in pregnant adolescents: a review.

PubMed

Perrin, K M; McDermott, R J

1997-01-01

This review examines some of the key issues related to measuring social support and identifies 28 instruments which have been used in research with pregnant adolescents. The major external and internal variables that affect social support for pregnant adolescents are defined. Relevant questions are offered to guide the researcher in the choice of a social support instrument, and the 28 social support instruments are described by author, availability, length and item type, psychometric properties, and selected references and notes. Although not an exhaustive list, these 28 instruments are representative of the broad spectrum of measurement tools available which were chosen because they have been used in a variety of social support research endeavors.

Star polymers as unit cells for coarse-graining cross-linked networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Molotilin, Taras Y.; Maduar, Salim R.; Vinogradova, Olga I.

2018-03-01

Reducing the complexity of cross-linked polymer networks by preserving their main macroscale properties is key to understanding them, and a crucial issue is to relate individual properties of the polymer constituents to those of the reduced network. Here we study polymer networks in a good solvent, by considering star polymers as their unit elements, and first quantify the interaction between their centers of masses. We then reduce the complexity of a network by replacing sets of its bridged star polymers by equivalent effective soft particles with dense cores. Our coarse graining allows us to approximate complex polymer networks by much simpler ones, keeping their relevant mechanical properties, as illustrated in computer experiments.

Advancing efforts to address youth violence involvement.

PubMed

Weist, M D; Cooley-Quille, M

2001-06-01

Discusses the increased public attention on violence-related problems among youth and the concomitant increased diversity in research. Youth violence involvement is a complex construct that includes violence experienced in multiple settings (home, school, neighborhood) and in multiple forms (as victims, witnesses, perpetrators, and through family members, friends, and the media). Potential impacts of such violence involvement are considerable, including increased internalizing and externalizing behaviors among youth and future problems in school adjustment and life-course development. This introductory article reviews key dimensions of youth-related violence, describes an American Psychological Association Task Force (Division 12) developed to advance relevant research, and presents examples of national resources and efforts that attempt to address this critical public health issue.

Optimization of helicopter airframe structures for vibration reduction considerations, formulations and applications

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Murthy, T. Sreekanta

1988-01-01

Several key issues involved in the application of formal optimization technique to helicopter airframe structures for vibration reduction are addressed. Considerations which are important in the optimization of real airframe structures are discussed. Considerations necessary to establish relevant set of design variables, constraints and objectives which are appropriate to conceptual, preliminary, detailed design, ground and flight test phases of airframe design are discussed. A methodology is suggested for optimization of airframes in various phases of design. Optimization formulations that are unique to helicopter airframes are described and expressions for vibration related functions are derived. Using a recently developed computer code, the optimization of a Bell AH-1G helicopter airframe is demonstrated.

Should people with unhealthy lifestyles pay higher health insurance premiums?

PubMed

Buchanan, David R

2011-02-01

This commentary sets the article by Dubois on the ethical justification for charging higher insurance premiums for people with unhealthy lifestyles in the context of US health care reform. It reviews the relevance and strength of normative concerns identified by Dubois about the acceptability of such differentiated "means-tested" plans. It identifies key issues involving whether certain health behaviors matter ethically, and if so, the grounds that would justify an obligation for people to take action. The article frames the answer in terms of the need to achieve an ethically acceptable balance between the principle of equality and principle of merit and concludes with four ethical standards to focus the terms of the debate.

Toward a cognitive-affective model of goal-setting in rehabilitation: is self-regulation theory a key step?

PubMed

Siegert, Richard J; McPherson, Kathryn M; Taylor, William J

2004-10-21

The aim of this article is to argue that self-regulation theory might offer a useful model for clinical practice, theory-building and empirical research on goal-setting in rehabilitation. Relevant literature on goal-setting and motivation in rehabilitation is considered and some problematic issues for current practice and future research are highlighted. Carver and Scheier's self-regulation theory and its application to rehabilitation research is examined. It is argued that self-regulation theory offers a robust theoretical framework for goal-setting and one in which the salient concepts of motivation and emotion are prominent. Self-regulation theory offers a potentially useful heuristic framework for rehabilitation research.

Scaling Laws of Microactuators and Potential Applications of Electroactive Polymers in MEMS

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Liu, Chang; Bar-Cohen, Y.

1999-01-01

Besides the scale factor that distinguishes the various species, fundamentally biological muscles changes little between species, indicating a highly optimized system. Electroactive polymer actuators offer the closest resemblance to biological muscles, however besides the large actuation displacement these materials are falling short with regards to the actuation force. As improved materials are emerging it is becoming necessary to address key issues such as the need for effective electromechanical modeling and guiding parameters in scaling the actuators. In this paper, we will review the scaling laws for three major actuation mechanisms that are of relevance to micro electromechanical systems: electrostatic actuation, magnetic actuation, thermal bimetallic actuation, and piezoelectric actuation.

Twenty-five years of HIV: lessons for low prevalence scenarios.

PubMed

Sawires, Sharif; Birnbaum, Nina; Abu-Raddad, Laith; Szekeres, Greg; Gayle, Jacob

2009-07-01

During the initial quarter century since the discovery of HIV, international response has focused on high prevalence scenarios and concentrated epidemics. Until recently, the theoretical underpinnings of HIV prevention were largely based on these responses-the assumption that inadequate responses to concentrated epidemics within low prevalence populations could rapidly lead to generalized epidemics. The limits of these assumptions for HIV prevention in low prevalence scenarios have become evident. While examples of rapid HIV diffusion in once low prevalence scenarios exist, emergence of generalized epidemics are less likely for much of the world. This paper reviews several key issues and advances in biomedical and behavioural HIV prevention to date and highlights relevance to low prevalence scenarios.

Acoustic telemetry and fisheries management

USGS Publications Warehouse

Crossin, Glenn T.; Heupel, Michelle R.; Holbrook, Christopher; Hussey, Nigel E.; Lowerre-Barbieri, Susan K.; Nguyen, Vivian M.; Raby, Graham D.; Cooke, Steven J.

2017-01-01

This paper reviews the use of acoustic telemetry as a tool for addressing issues in fisheries management, and serves as the lead to the special Feature Issue of Ecological Applications titled “Acoustic Telemetry and Fisheries Management”. Specifically, we provide an overview of the ways in which acoustic telemetry can be used to inform issues central to the ecology, conservation, and management of exploited and/or imperiled fish species. Despite great strides in this area in recent years, there are comparatively few examples where data have been applied directly to influence fisheries management and policy. We review the literature on this issue, identify the strengths and weaknesses of work done to date, and highlight knowledge gaps and difficulties in applying empirical fish telemetry studies to fisheries policy and practice. We then highlight the key areas of management and policy addressed, as well as the challenges that needed to be overcome to do this. We conclude with a set of recommendations about how researchers can, in consultation with stock assessment scientists and managers, formulate testable scientific questions to address and design future studies to generate data that can be used in a meaningful way by fisheries management and conservation practitioners. We also urge the involvement of relevant stakeholders (managers, fishers, conservation societies, etc.) early on in the process (i.e. in the co-creation of research projects), so that all priority questions and issues can be addressed effectively.

The antecedents of identification: a rhetorical analysis of British Muslim activists' constructions of community and identity.

PubMed

Hopkins, Nick; Kahani-Hopkins, Vered

2004-03-01

This paper takes as its focus the perception of community. This is analysed through reference to the literature concerning the adoption of more inclusive, superordinate social categories. Whilst most research tends to focus on the consequences of these social categories for self and other perception, we focus on their antecedents. These are typically hypothesized to include such issues as the perception of the subordinate groups' common fate and factors affecting their perceptual differentiation (e.g. their similarity and entitativity). However, rather than conceiving of such issues as pre-given antecedent variables, we explore how these issues (and others) are actively constructed in and through discourse. More specifically, we explore how such issues are sites of contestation as activists with different political projects seek to construct quite different versions of the relevant superordinate community identity. Our data are qualitative and are drawn from contemporary debates amongst British Muslims concerning their relations with non-Muslim Britons and non-British Muslims across the globe. A key issue in these deliberations concerns the nature of British Muslims' identity and the superordinate identifications that best facilitate its expression and realization. We suggest that constructions of common fate, similarity, entitativity etc., far from being 'givens', are the means through which different definitions of Muslim identity are constructed and different forms of collective action mobilized.

An introduction to multiplicity issues in clinical trials: the what, why, when and how.

PubMed

Li, Guowei; Taljaard, Monica; Van den Heuvel, Edwin R; Levine, Mitchell Ah; Cook, Deborah J; Wells, George A; Devereaux, Philip J; Thabane, Lehana

2017-04-01

In clinical trials it is not uncommon to face a multiple testing problem which can have an impact on both type I and type II error rates, leading to inappropriate interpretation of trial results. Multiplicity issues may need to be considered at the design, analysis and interpretation stages of a trial. The proportion of trial reports not adequately correcting for multiple testing remains substantial. The purpose of this article is to provide an introduction to multiple testing issues in clinical trials, and to reduce confusion around the need for multiplicity adjustments. We use a tutorial, question-and-answer approach to address the key issues of why, when and how to consider multiplicity adjustments in trials. We summarize the relevant circumstances under which multiplicity adjustments ought to be considered, as well as options for carrying out multiplicity adjustments in terms of trial design factors including Population, Intervention/Comparison, Outcome, Time frame and Analysis (PICOTA). Results are presented in an easy-to-use table and flow diagrams. Confusion about multiplicity issues can be reduced or avoided by considering the potential impact of multiplicity on type I and II errors and, if necessary pre-specifying statistical approaches to either avoid or adjust for multiplicity in the trial protocol or analysis plan. © The Author 2016; all rights reserved. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the International Epidemiological Association.

How should the completeness and quality of curated nanomaterial data be evaluated?†

PubMed Central

Marchese Robinson, Richard L.; Lynch, Iseult; Peijnenburg, Willie; Rumble, John; Klaessig, Fred; Marquardt, Clarissa; Rauscher, Hubert; Puzyn, Tomasz; Purian, Ronit; Åberg, Christoffer; Karcher, Sandra; Vriens, Hanne; Hoet, Peter; Hoover, Mark D.; Hendren, Christine Ogilvie; Harper, Stacey L.

2016-01-01

Nanotechnology is of increasing significance. Curation of nanomaterial data into electronic databases offers opportunities to better understand and predict nanomaterials’ behaviour. This supports innovation in, and regulation of, nanotechnology. It is commonly understood that curated data need to be sufficiently complete and of sufficient quality to serve their intended purpose. However, assessing data completeness and quality is non-trivial in general and is arguably especially difficult in the nanoscience area, given its highly multidisciplinary nature. The current article, part of the Nanomaterial Data Curation Initiative series, addresses how to assess the completeness and quality of (curated) nanomaterial data. In order to address this key challenge, a variety of related issues are discussed: the meaning and importance of data completeness and quality, existing approaches to their assessment and the key challenges associated with evaluating the completeness and quality of curated nanomaterial data. Considerations which are specific to the nanoscience area and lessons which can be learned from other relevant scientific disciplines are considered. Hence, the scope of this discussion ranges from physicochemical characterisation requirements for nanomaterials and interference of nanomaterials with nanotoxicology assays to broader issues such as minimum information checklists, toxicology data quality schemes and computational approaches that facilitate evaluation of the completeness and quality of (curated) data. This discussion is informed by a literature review and a survey of key nanomaterial data curation stakeholders. Finally, drawing upon this discussion, recommendations are presented concerning the central question: how should the completeness and quality of curated nanomaterial data be evaluated? PMID:27143028

Considerations in developing and delivering a nonpharmacological intervention for symptom management in lung cancer: the views of patients and informal caregivers.

PubMed

Ellis, Jackie; Wagland, Richard; Tishelman, Carol; Williams, Mari Lloyd; Bailey, Chris D; Haines, Jemma; Caress, Ann; Lorigan, Paul; Smith, Jaclyn A; Booton, Richard; Blackhall, Fiona; Molassiotis, Alexander

2012-12-01

Few studies consider patient's and caregiver's preferences when developing nonpharmacological interventions. This is important to develop acceptable and accessible nonpharmacological interventions for patients with cancer. The objective of this study was to identify the views of patients with lung cancer and their informal caregivers on the desirable components of a novel nonpharmacological intervention for the management of the symptom cluster of cough, breathlessness, and fatigue, and their needs and preferences regarding uptake and delivery of the intervention. This study was qualitative in orientation, using semistructured interviews and framework analysis to elicit the views of 37 patients with lung cancer and 23 caregivers regarding the issues that were perceived to be important regarding the development and delivery of a nonpharmacological intervention. A number of key issues were identified that carried important implications for patient participation and adherence to the intervention, including the perceived relevance of potential techniques; appreciable benefits in the short term; convenience; variation in patient preferences; timing of the intervention; venue; caregiver involvement; the provider of the intervention, and contact with other patients. The data from this study have provided insight into the key issues that are likely to influence the development, uptake, and delivery of a nonpharmacological intervention to help manage the respiratory symptom cluster of cough, breathlessness, and fatigue. It is crucial that these findings are considered when developing and modeling a nonpharmacological symptom management intervention. Copyright © 2012 U.S. Cancer Pain Relief Committee. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Is EIA part of the wind power planning problem?

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Smart, Duncan Ewan; Stojanovic, Timothy A., E-mail: tas21@st-andrews.ac.uk; Warren, Charles R.

2014-11-15

This research evaluates the importance and effectiveness of Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) within wind farm planning debates, drawing on insights from case studies in Scotland. Despite general public support for renewable energy on the grounds that it is needed to tackle climate change and implement sustainable development, many proposed wind farms encounter significant resistance. The importance of planning issues and (EIA) processes has arguably been overlooked within recent wind farm social acceptability discourse. Through semi-structured interviews with key stakeholders and textual analysis of EIA documents, the characteristics of EIA are assessed in terms of its perceived purpose and performance. Themore » data show that whilst respondents perceive EIA to be important, they express concerns about bias and about the inability of EIA to address climate change and wind farm decommissioning issues adequately. Furthermore, the research identifies key issues which impede the effectiveness of EIA, and reveals differences between theoretical and practical framings of EIA. The paper questions the assumption that EIA is a universally applicable tool, and argues that its effectiveness should be analysed in the context of specific development sectors. The article concludes by reviewing whether the recently amended EIA Directive (2014/52/EU) could resolve identified problems within national EIA practice. - Highlights: • Evaluation of EIA for onshore wind farm planning in Scotland. • EIA is important for multiple aspects of onshore wind farm planning. • Multiple substantive deficiencies of relevance to wind farm planning exist in EIA. • Further research into EIA effectiveness for specific development types is required. • Directive 2014/52/EU may improve EIA effectiveness within wind farm planning.« less

Translational Neuromodulation: Approximating Human Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation Protocols In Rats

PubMed Central

Vahabzadeh-Hagh, Andrew M.; Muller, Paul A.; Gersner, Roman; Zangen, Abraham; Rotenberg, Alexander

2015-01-01

Objective Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) is a well-established clinical protocol with numerous potential therapeutic and diagnostic applications. Yet, much work remains in the elucidation of TMS mechanisms, optimization of protocols, and in development of novel therapeutic applications. As with many technologies, the key to these issues lies in the proper experimentation and translation of TMS methods to animal models, among which rat models have proven popular. A significant increase in the number of rat TMS publications has necessitated analysis of their relevance to human work. We therefore review the essential principles necessary for the approximation of human TMS protocols in rats as well as specific methods that addressed these issues in published studies. Materials and Methods We performed an English language literature search combined with our own experience and data. We address issues that we see as important in the translation of human TMS methods to rat models and provide a summary of key accomplishments in these areas. Results An extensive literature review illustrated the growth of rodent TMS studies in recent years. Current advances in the translation of single, paired-pulse, and repetitive stimulation paradigms to rodent models are presented. The importance of TMS in the generation of data for preclinical trials is also highlighted. Conclusions Rat TMS has several limitations when considering parallels between animal and human stimulation. However, it has proven to be a useful tool in the field of translational brain stimulation and will likely continue to aid in the design and implementation of stimulation protocols for therapeutic and diagnostic applications. PMID:22780329

Patient-centered care: the key to cultural competence.

PubMed

Epner, D E; Baile, W F

2012-04-01

Much of the early literature on 'cultural competence' focuses on the 'categorical' or 'multicultural' approach, in which providers learn relevant attitudes, values, beliefs, and behaviors of certain cultural groups. In essence, this involves learning key 'dos and don'ts' for each group. Literature and educational materials of this kind focus on broad ethnic, racial, religious, or national groups, such as 'African American', 'Hispanic', or 'Asian'. The problem with this categorical or 'list of traits' approach to clinical cultural competence is that culture is multidimensional and dynamic. Culture comprises multiple variables, affecting all aspects of experience. Cultural processes frequently differ within the same ethnic or social group because of differences in age cohort, gender, political association, class, religion, ethnicity, and even personality. Culture is therefore a very elusive and nebulous concept, like art. The multicultural approach to cultural competence results in stereotypical thinking rather than clinical competence. A newer, cross cultural approach to culturally competent clinical practice focuses on foundational communication skills, awareness of cross-cutting cultural and social issues, and health beliefs that are present in all cultures. We can think of these as universal human beliefs, needs, and traits. This patient centered approach relies on identifying and negotiating different styles of communication, decision-making preferences, roles of family, sexual and gender issues, and issues of mistrust, prejudice, and racism, among other factors. In the current paper, we describe 'cultural' challenges that arise in the care of four patients from disparate cultures, each of whom has advanced colon cancer that is no longer responding to chemotherapy. We then illustrate how to apply principles of patient centered care to these challenges.

Developing longitudinal qualitative designs: lessons learned and recommendations for health services research.

PubMed

Calman, Lynn; Brunton, Lisa; Molassiotis, Alex

2013-02-06

Longitudinal qualitative methods are becoming increasingly used in the health service research, but the method and challenges particular to health care settings are not well described in the literature.We reflect on the strategies used in a longitudinal qualitative study to explore the experience of symptoms in cancer patients and their carers, following participants from diagnosis for twelve months; we highlight ethical, practical, theoretical and methodological issues that need to be considered and addressed from the outset of a longitudinal qualitative study. Key considerations in undertaking longitudinal qualitative projects in health research, include the use of theory, utilizing multiple methods of analysis and giving consideration to the practical and ethical issues at an early stage. These can include issues of time and timing; data collection processes; changing the topic guide over time; recruitment considerations; retention of staff; issues around confidentiality; effects of project on staff and patients, and analyzing data within and across time. As longitudinal qualitative methods are becoming increasingly used in health services research, the methodological and practical challenges particular to health care settings need more robust approaches and conceptual improvement. We provide recommendations for the use of such designs. We have a particular focus on cancer patients, so this paper will have particular relevance for researchers interested in chronic and life limiting conditions.

Workshop on Basic Research Opportunities in Photovoltaics

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Benner, J.; McConnell, R.; Deb, S., Editors

1999-08-25

The Basic Research Opportunities in Photovoltaics Workshop was held on May 3, 1999, in Seattle, Washington, in conjunction with the 195th Meeting of the Electrochemical Society. The workshop was structured into eight topics. Each topic area opened with a presentation in which the participants were asked to address the following: a brief introduction of the area of research; key research issues that were identified in an earlier workshop in 1992; what fundamental research has been done since then or is currently being done to address those issues; what are the research issues that are still relevant in light of advancesmore » made since the first workshop; identification of new fundamental research opportunities that will lead to important advances and innovations; and identification of significant commonalities and common research issues that have a cross-cutting impact, such as logically exist in silicon-based thin films, II-VI, and related materials. The topic areas discussed included amorphous and microcrystalline silicon, crystalline silicon, cadmium telluride, copper indium diselenide; III-V materials; novel materials and energy conversion approaches, semiconducting oxides, and characterization. After the meeting, participants in each working topic continued discussions by electronic means, completing journal articles that are to be published as a separate section in the ECS Proceedings of the ''PV for the 21st Century'' Symposium.« less

Analysis of the Issues and Needs of Parents of Children With Developmental Disabilities in Japan Using Focus Group Interviews.

PubMed

Wakimizu, Rie; Fujioka, Hiroshi

2016-03-01

The number of Japanese children with developmental disabilities (DDs) has seen a steady increase in recent years. The parents and families of children with DD experience distress both at the time of DD diagnosis and afterward. This study aimed to elucidate the issues and needs of the parents of children with DD to facilitate the development of effective support strategies necessary to help the family handle the special needs of their child with DD. Japanese-speaking parents with children who were aged 3-14 years and currently being treated in a hospital for DDs were invited to participate in one of three focus groups. A trained moderator led each 90-minute audio-recorded group using a semistructured interview guide. All transcripts were coded using thematic content analysis. Six categories of parents' significant issues were identified, with three of the categories classified as critical needs. The issues and needs identified in this study are useful for developing an effective family support program and a related performance framework. Key concerns include providing relevant information support, providing counseling and consultation support for parents and siblings, and providing resources to children with DD that are necessary to help them deal effectively with their disabilities.

Universal financial protection through National Health Insurance: a stakeholder analysis of the proposed one-time premium payment policy in Ghana.

PubMed

Abiiro, Gilbert Abotisem; McIntyre, Di

2013-05-01

Extending coverage to the informal sector is a key challenge to achieving universal coverage through contributory health insurance schemes. Ghana introduced a mandatory National Health Insurance system in 2004 to provide financial protection for both the formal and informal sectors through a combination of taxes and annual premium payments. As part of its election promise in 2008, the current government (then in opposition) promised to make the payment of premiums 'one-time'. This has been a very controversial policy issue in Ghana. This study sought to contribute to assessing the feasibility of the proposed policy by exploring the understandings of various stakeholders on the policy, their interests or concerns, potential positions, power and influences on it, as well as the general prospects and challenges for its implementation. Data were gathered from a review of relevant documents in the public domain, 28 key informant interviews and six focus group discussions with key stakeholders in Accra and two other districts. The results show that there is a lot of confusion in stakeholders' understanding of the policy issue, and, because of the uncertainties surrounding it, most powerful stakeholders are yet to take clear positions on it. However, stakeholders raised concerns that revolved around issues such as: the meaning of a one-time premium within an insurance scheme context, the affordability of the one-time premium, financing sources and sustainability of the policy, as well as the likely impact of the policy on equity in access to health care. Policy-makers need to clearly explain the meaning of the one-time premium policy and how it will be funded, and critically consider the concerns raised by stakeholders before proceeding with further attempts to implement it. For other countries planning universal coverage reforms, it is important that the terminology of their reforms clearly reflects policy objectives.

Education Studies: Issues & Critical Perspectives

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kassem, Derek; Mufti, Emmanuel; Robinson, John

2006-01-01

This major text for Education Studies students provides a critical account of key issues in education today. The text features: (1) A critical analysis of key issues in Education Studies to encourage students' thinking about education in the broadest terms; (2) Themed sections with introductions to link the issues discussed in each chapter; (3)…

Introduction to the SPARC Reanalysis Intercomparison Project (S-RIP) and overview of the reanalysis systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fujiwara, Masatomo; Wright, Jonathon S.; Manney, Gloria L.; Gray, Lesley J.; Anstey, James; Birner, Thomas; Davis, Sean; Gerber, Edwin P.; Harvey, V. Lynn; Hegglin, Michaela I.; Homeyer, Cameron R.; Knox, John A.; Krüger, Kirstin; Lambert, Alyn; Long, Craig S.; Martineau, Patrick; Molod, Andrea; Monge-Sanz, Beatriz M.; Santee, Michelle L.; Tegtmeier, Susann; Chabrillat, Simon; Tan, David G. H.; Jackson, David R.; Polavarapu, Saroja; Compo, Gilbert P.; Dragani, Rossana; Ebisuzaki, Wesley; Harada, Yayoi; Kobayashi, Chiaki; McCarty, Will; Onogi, Kazutoshi; Pawson, Steven; Simmons, Adrian; Wargan, Krzysztof; Whitaker, Jeffrey S.; Zou, Cheng-Zhi

2017-01-01

The climate research community uses atmospheric reanalysis data sets to understand a wide range of processes and variability in the atmosphere, yet different reanalyses may give very different results for the same diagnostics. The Stratosphere-troposphere Processes And their Role in Climate (SPARC) Reanalysis Intercomparison Project (S-RIP) is a coordinated activity to compare reanalysis data sets using a variety of key diagnostics. The objectives of this project are to identify differences among reanalyses and understand their underlying causes, to provide guidance on appropriate usage of various reanalysis products in scientific studies, particularly those of relevance to SPARC, and to contribute to future improvements in the reanalysis products by establishing collaborative links between reanalysis centres and data users. The project focuses predominantly on differences among reanalyses, although studies that include operational analyses and studies comparing reanalyses with observations are also included when appropriate. The emphasis is on diagnostics of the upper troposphere, stratosphere, and lower mesosphere. This paper summarizes the motivation and goals of the S-RIP activity and extensively reviews key technical aspects of the reanalysis data sets that are the focus of this activity. The special issue The SPARC Reanalysis Intercomparison Project (S-RIP) in this journal serves to collect research with relevance to the S-RIP in preparation for the publication of the planned two (interim and full) S-RIP reports.

Integrated Science Assessment (ISA) for Oxides of Nitrogen ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

EPA is announcing the availability of the First External Review Draft of the Integrated Science Assessment for Oxides of Nitrogen – Health Criteria for public comment and independent peer review. This draft document provides EPA’s evaluation and synthesis of the most policy-relevant science related to the health effects of oxides of nitrogen. When final, it will provide a critical part of the scientific foundation for EPA’s decision regarding the adequacy of the current primary (health-based) national ambient air quality standards for nitrogen dioxide. The Clean Air Act (CAA) requires EPA to periodically review and revise, as appropriate, existing air quality criteria and NAAQS. The CAA also requires an independent scientific committee to review the criteria and to advise the Administrator regarding any recommended revisions to the existing criteria and standards, as may be appropriate. The Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee (CASAC) of EPA’s Science Advisory Board serves as this independent scientific committee. The ISA is one of the four major elements of the NAAQS review process that will inform the Agency’s final decisions; other components of the process are an integrated plan highlighting the key policy-relevant issues; a risk/exposure assessment if warranted; and an advance notice of proposed rulemaking (ANPRM) reflecting the Agency’s views regarding options to retain or revise the NO2 NAAQS based on the evaluation of key information cont

Towards systemic sustainable performance of TBI care systems: emergency leadership frontiers.

PubMed

Caro, Denis H J

2010-11-10

Traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) continue as a twenty-first century subterranean and almost invisible scourge internationally. TBI care systems provide a safety net for survival, recovery, and reintegration into social communities from this scourge, particularly in Canada, the European Union, and the USA. This paper examines the underlying issues of systemic performance and sustainability of TBI care systems, in the light of decreasing care resources and increasing demands for services. This paper reviews the extant literature on TBI care systems, systems reengineering, and emergency leadership literature. This paper presents a seven care layer paradigm, which forms the essence of systemic performance in the care of patients with TBIs. It also identifies five key strategic drivers that hold promise for the future systemic sustainability of TBI care systems. Transformational leadership and engagement from the international emergency medical community is the key to generating positive change. The sustainability/performance care framework is relevant and pertinent for consideration internationally and in the context of other emergency medical populations.

Emergency planning and management in health care: priority research topics.

PubMed

Boyd, Alan; Chambers, Naomi; French, Simon; Shaw, Duncan; King, Russell; Whitehead, Alison

2014-06-01

Many major incidents have significant impacts on people's health, placing additional demands on health-care organisations. The main aim of this paper is to suggest a prioritised agenda for organisational and management research on emergency planning and management relevant to U.K. health care, based on a scoping study. A secondary aim is to enhance knowledge and understanding of health-care emergency planning among the wider research community, by highlighting key issues and perspectives on the subject and presenting a conceptual model. The study findings have much in common with those of previous U.S.-focused scoping reviews, and with a recent U.K.-based review, confirming the relative paucity of U.K.-based research. No individual research topic scored highly on all of the key measures identified, with communities and organisations appearing to differ about which topics are the most important. Four broad research priorities are suggested: the affected public; inter- and intra-organisational collaboration; preparing responders and their organisations; and prioritisation and decision making.

The BioImage Database Project: organizing multidimensional biological images in an object-relational database.

PubMed

Carazo, J M; Stelzer, E H

1999-01-01

The BioImage Database Project collects and structures multidimensional data sets recorded by various microscopic techniques relevant to modern life sciences. It provides, as precisely as possible, the circumstances in which the sample was prepared and the data were recorded. It grants access to the actual data and maintains links between related data sets. In order to promote the interdisciplinary approach of modern science, it offers a large set of key words, which covers essentially all aspects of microscopy. Nonspecialists can, therefore, access and retrieve significant information recorded and submitted by specialists in other areas. A key issue of the undertaking is to exploit the available technology and to provide a well-defined yet flexible structure for dealing with data. Its pivotal element is, therefore, a modern object relational database that structures the metadata and ameliorates the provision of a complete service. The BioImage database can be accessed through the Internet. Copyright 1999 Academic Press.

Towards systemic sustainable performance of TBI care systems: emergency leadership frontiers

PubMed Central

2010-01-01

Background Traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) continue as a twenty-first century subterranean and almost invisible scourge internationally. TBI care systems provide a safety net for survival, recovery, and reintegration into social communities from this scourge, particularly in Canada, the European Union, and the USA. Aims This paper examines the underlying issues of systemic performance and sustainability of TBI care systems, in the light of decreasing care resources and increasing demands for services. Methods This paper reviews the extant literature on TBI care systems, systems reengineering, and emergency leadership literature. Results This paper presents a seven care layer paradigm, which forms the essence of systemic performance in the care of patients with TBIs. It also identifies five key strategic drivers that hold promise for the future systemic sustainability of TBI care systems. Conclusions Transformational leadership and engagement from the international emergency medical community is the key to generating positive change. The sustainability/performance care framework is relevant and pertinent for consideration internationally and in the context of other emergency medical populations. PMID:21373305

Modeling of Steady-state Scenarios for the Fusion Nuclear Science Facility, Advanced Tokamak Approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Garofalo, A. M.; Chan, V. S.; Prater, R.; Smith, S. P.; St. John, H. E.; Meneghini, O.

2013-10-01

A Fusion National Science Facility (FNSF) would complement ITER in addressing the community identified science and technology gaps to a commercially attractive DEMO, including breeding tritium and completing the fuel cycle, qualifying nuclear materials for high fluence, developing suitable materials for the plasma-boundary interface, and demonstrating power extraction. Steady-state plasma operation is highly desirable to address the requirements for fusion nuclear technology testing [1]. The Advanced Tokamak (AT) is a strong candidate for an FNSF as a consequence of its mature physics base, capability to address the key issues with a more compact device, and the direct relevance to an attractive target power plant. Key features of AT are fully noninductive current drive, strong plasma cross section shaping, internal profiles consistent with high bootstrap fraction, and operation at high beta, typically above the free boundary limit, βN > 3 . Work supported by GA IR&D funding, DE-FC02-04ER54698, and DE-FG02-95ER43309.

[Materiality Analysis of Health Plans Based on Stakeholder Engagement and the Issues Included at ISO 26000:2010].

PubMed

Moyano Santiago, Miguel Angel; Rivera Lirio, Juana María

2017-01-18

Health plans of the Spanish autonomous communities can incorporate sustainable development criteria in its development. There have been no analysis or proposals about development and indicators. The goal is to add a contribution to help build better health plans aimed at sustainable development and help to manage economic, social and environmental impacts of health systems criteria. We used a variation of the RAND/UCLA or modified Delphi technique method. The process consisted of a bibliographical and context matters and issues related to health and social responsibility analysis based on ISO 26000: 2010. A survey by deliberately to a selection of 70 expert members of the identified stakeholders was carried out and a discussion group was held to determine the consensus on the issues addressed in the survey sample. The research was conducted in 2015. From the literature review 33 health issues included in ISO 26000:2010 were obtained. 7 survey proved relevant high consensus, 8 relevance and average consensus and 18 with less relevance and high level of dissent. The expert group excluded 4 of the 18 subjects with less consensus. 29 issues included 33 at work, divided into 7 subjects contained in the guide ISO 26000 of social responsibility, were relevant stakeholders regarding possible inclusion in health plans. Considering the direct relationship published by ISO (International Organization for Standardization) among the issues ISO 26000 and the economic, social and environmental indicators in GRI (Global Reporting Initiative) in its G4 version, a panel with monitoring indicators related to relevant issues were elaborated.

Debate: a teaching-learning strategy for developing competence in communication and critical thinking.

PubMed

Darby, Michele

2007-01-01

The literature highlights key benefits from debate as a teaching-learning strategy for developing critical thinking and analytical skills while fostering teamwork and communication. Authors report that this method of teaching-learning has been implemented successfully in nursing and occupational therapy programs and would benefit other academic programs in the health sciences, particularly in courses that cover controversial issues. Although there are disadvantages to using the debate as a teaching-learning strategy, the benefits far outweigh the disadvantages. In conclusion, debating is an effective pedagogical strategy because of the level of responsibility for learning and active involvement required by all student debaters. Moreover, it provides an experience by which students can develop competencies in researching current issues, preparing logical arguments, actively listening to various perspectives, differentiating between subjective and evidence-based information, asking cogent questions, integrating relevant information, and formulating their own opinions based on evidence. After the debate is over, students also report that the experience is FUN!

Qualitative adaptation of child behaviour problem instruments in a developing-country setting.

PubMed

Khan, B; Avan, B I

2014-07-08

A key barrier to epidemiological research on child behaviour problems in developing countries is the lack of culturally relevant, internationally recognized psychometric instruments. This paper proposes a model for the qualitative adaptation of psychometric instruments in developing-country settings and presents a case study of the adaptation of 3 internationally recognized instruments in Pakistan: the Child Behavior Checklist, the Youth Self-Report and the Teacher's Report Form. This model encompassed a systematic procedure with 6 distinct phases to minimize bias and ensure equivalence with the original instruments: selection, deliberation, alteration, feasibility, testing and formal approval. The process was conducted in collaboration with the instruments' developer. A multidisciplinary working group of experts identified equivalence issues and suggested modifications. Focus group discussions with informants highlighted comprehension issues. Subsequently modified instruments were thoroughly tested. Finally, the instruments' developer approval further validated the qualitative adaptation. The study proposes a rigorous and systematic model to effectively achieve cultural adaptation of psychometric instruments.

Summary of the 2014 Sandia V&V Challenge Workshop

DOE PAGES

Schroeder, Benjamin B.; Hu, Kenneth T.; Mullins, Joshua Grady; ...

2016-02-19

A discussion of the five responses to the 2014 Sandia Verification and Validation (V&V) Challenge Problem, presented within this special issue, is provided hereafter. Overviews of the challenge problem workshop, workshop participants, and the problem statement are also included. Brief summations of teams' responses to the challenge problem are provided. Issues that arose throughout the responses that are deemed applicable to the general verification, validation, and uncertainty quantification (VVUQ) community are the main focal point of this paper. The discussion is oriented and organized into big picture comparison of data and model usage, VVUQ activities, and differentiating conceptual themes behindmore » the teams' VVUQ strategies. Significant differences are noted in the teams' approaches toward all VVUQ activities, and those deemed most relevant are discussed. Beyond the specific details of VVUQ implementations, thematic concepts are found to create differences among the approaches; some of the major themes are discussed. Lastly, an encapsulation of the key contributions, the lessons learned, and advice for the future are presented.« less

Oh dear, what can the matter be? A commentary on Pratto's 'On power and empowerment'.

PubMed

Reicher, Stephen

2016-03-01

In this response, I welcome Pratto's wide ranging and innovative contribution on the social psychology of power. It fulfils an important role in opening up debate around an issue of key importance for our discipline. At the same time (and to further that debate), I take issue with both of her core arguments: First, that power should not be seen as relational but rather about one's ability to reach one's desired ends and, second, that these ends are ultimately about survival. More fundamentally, though, I argue that Pratto's analysis is limited by the fact that she takes the subject of power for granted. This ignores a wealth of research which shows, on the one hand, how power constitutes the nature of subjects and, on the other, how subjects (especially collective subjects - groups) constitute power. It is through exploring these dynamics that we can understand power and its relevance to social life. © 2015 The British Psychological Society.

[Women's health in violent situations: municipal administrative roles and decision-making in the Brazilian public health system].

PubMed

Porto, Madge; McCallum, Cecilia; Scott, Russell Parry; de Morais, Heloísa M Mendonça

2003-01-01

The aim of this study was to investigate the role of health management staff concerning the health of women facing violent situations and the impact these roles have on decisions concerning health measures targeting these women. The study employed a qualitative, descriptive methodology including 18 health management staff members from three municipalities classified as having fully autonomous municipal management systems under the Unified National Health System (SUS) in Greater Metropolitan Recife, Pernambuco State, Brazil. Staff members were divided into three distinct groups according to their opinions on women in violent situations and women's health interventions. However, the three groups were convergent with respect to their roles in determining decisions on health actions for these women. The health management staff's commitment to the feminist movement proved to be the most relevant factor. Common issues among staff members, such as the problem of public health and quality of living, or more technically, the cost-benefit issue, did appear as key arguments.

Security Considerations for E-Mental Health Interventions

PubMed Central

Bennett, Anthony James; Griffiths, Kathleen Margaret

2010-01-01

Security considerations are an often overlooked and underfunded aspect of the development, delivery, and evaluation of e-mental health interventions although they are crucial to the overall success of any eHealth project. The credibility and reliability of eHealth scientific research and the service delivery of eHealth interventions rely on a high standard of data security. This paper describes some of the key methodological, technical, and procedural issues that need to be considered to ensure that eHealth research and intervention delivery meet adequate security standards. The paper concludes by summarizing broad strategies for addressing the major security risks associated with eHealth interventions. These include involving information technology (IT) developers in all stages of the intervention process including its development, evaluation, and ongoing delivery; establishing a wide-ranging discourse about relevant security issues; and familiarizing researchers and providers with the security measures that must be instituted in order to protect the integrity of eHealth interventions. PMID:21169173

Ethics of Social Media Research: Common Concerns and Practical Considerations

PubMed Central

Goniu, Natalie; Moreno, Peter S.; Diekema, Douglas

2013-01-01

Abstract Social media Websites (SMWs) are increasingly popular research tools. These sites provide new opportunities for researchers, but raise new challenges for Institutional Review Boards (IRBs) that review these research protocols. As of yet, there is little-to-no guidance regarding how an IRB should review the studies involving SMWs. The purpose of this article was to review the common risks inherent in social media research and consider how researchers can consider these risks when writing research protocols. We focused this article on three common research approaches: observational research, interactive research, and survey/interview research. Concomitant with these research approaches, we gave particular attention to the issues pertinent to SMW research, including privacy, consent, and confidentiality. After considering these challenges, we outlined key considerations for both researchers and reviewers when creating or reviewing SMW IRB protocols. Our goal in this article was to provide a detailed examination of relevant ethics and regulatory issues for both researchers and those who review their protocols. PMID:23679571

Ethics of social media research: common concerns and practical considerations.

PubMed

Moreno, Megan A; Goniu, Natalie; Moreno, Peter S; Diekema, Douglas

2013-09-01

Social media Websites (SMWs) are increasingly popular research tools. These sites provide new opportunities for researchers, but raise new challenges for Institutional Review Boards (IRBs) that review these research protocols. As of yet, there is little-to-no guidance regarding how an IRB should review the studies involving SMWs. The purpose of this article was to review the common risks inherent in social media research and consider how researchers can consider these risks when writing research protocols. We focused this article on three common research approaches: observational research, interactive research, and survey/interview research. Concomitant with these research approaches, we gave particular attention to the issues pertinent to SMW research, including privacy, consent, and confidentiality. After considering these challenges, we outlined key considerations for both researchers and reviewers when creating or reviewing SMW IRB protocols. Our goal in this article was to provide a detailed examination of relevant ethics and regulatory issues for both researchers and those who review their protocols.

The role of theory in qualitative health research.

PubMed

Kelly, Moira

2010-06-01

The role of theory in qualitative research is often underplayed but it is relevant to the quality of such research in three main ways. Theory influences research design, including decisions about what to research and the development of research questions. Theory underpins methodology and has implications for how data are analyzed and interpreted. Finally, theory about a particular health issue may be developed, contributing to what is already known about the topic that is the focus of the study. This paper will critically consider the role of theory in qualitative primary care research in relation to these three areas. Different approaches to qualitative research will be drawn upon in order to illustrate the ways in which theory might variably inform qualitative research, namely generic qualitative research, grounded theory and discourse analysis. The aim is to describe and discuss key issues and provide practical guidance so that researchers are more aware of the role theory has to play and the importance of being explicit about how theory affects design, analysis and the quality of qualitative research.

Modifying Photovoice for community-based participatory Indigenous research.

PubMed

Castleden, Heather; Garvin, Theresa

2008-03-01

Scientific research occurs within a set of socio-political conditions, and in Canada research involving Indigenous communities has a historical association with colonialism. Consequently, Indigenous peoples have been justifiably sceptical and reluctant to become the subjects of academic research. Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR) is an attempt to develop culturally relevant research models that address issues of injustice, inequality, and exploitation. The work reported here evaluates the use of Photovoice, a CBPR method that uses participant-employed photography and dialogue to create social change, which was employed in a research partnership with a First Nation in Western Canada. Content analysis of semi-structured interviews (n=45) evaluated participants' perspectives of the Photovoice process as part of a larger study on health and environment issues. The analysis revealed that Photovoice effectively balanced power, created a sense of ownership, fostered trust, built capacity, and responded to cultural preferences. The authors discuss the necessity of modifying Photovoice, by building in an iterative process, as being key to the methodological success of the project.

Ethnicity and mental health: conceptualization, definition and operationalization of ethnicity from a Canadian context.

PubMed

Clarke, D E; Colantonio, A; Rhodes, A E; Escobar, M

2008-01-01

The current study provides a critical review of Canadian studies on ethnicity and mental health with respect to the definition, conceptualization and operationalization of ethnicity. It provides a discussion on the methodological issues related to these factors and their implications to guide future research and enable comparability of results across studies. Sociological Abstracts, PsycINFO, MEDLINE and CINAHL were used to identify relevant Canadian articles published between January 1980 and December 2004. The review highlights a number of key issues for future researchers to consider such as the need for: 1) clear rationales as to why ethnicity is important to their outcome of interest; 2) clarity on the definition of ethnicity, which affects its conceptualization and operationalization; 3) a theoretically driven conceptualization of ethnicity, which should be related to the research question of interest; and 4) clear rationales for the decisions made regarding the data source used, the operationalization of ethnicity, and the ethnic categories included in their studies.

Strategies of Educational Decentralization: Key Questions and Core Issues.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hanson, E. Mark

1998-01-01

Explains key issues and forces that shape organization and management strategies of educational decentralization, using examples from Colombia, Venezuela, Argentina, Nicaragua, and Spain. Core decentralization issues include national and regional goals, planning, political stress, resource distribution, infrastructure development, and job…

The role of boldness in psychopathy: A study of academic and clinical perceptions.

PubMed

Berg, Joanna M; Lilienfeld, Scott O; Sellbom, Martin

2017-10-01

The relevance of boldness to psychopathy has recently become a major flashpoint of scientific controversy. Although some authors have contended that boldness is a necessary (although insufficient) component of psychopathy, others have asserted that it is largely or entirely irrelevant to psychopathy. We addressed this issue by examining clinical perceptions of the relevance of the 3 triarchic dimensions (boldness, disinhibition, and meanness) to psychopathy among a sample of mental health professionals and graduate students (N = 228) using a vignette-based, person-centered methodology. A vignette comprising boldness descriptors afforded statistically significant and moderate to large (Cohen's ds ranged from .47 to .99) increases in perceived resemblance to overall psychopathy above and beyond the other triarchic dimensions, both singly and jointly; these findings extended largely to clinical perceptions of Factor 1 (i.e., interpersonal and affective aspects of psychopathy) but not Factor 2 (i.e., impulsive and antisocial aspects of psychopathy) resemblance. Contrary to the claims of some recent authors, boldness alone was perceived as being as relevant to psychopathy as was disinhibition, although both dimensions were perceived as less relevant to psychopathy than was meanness. These findings offer strong support for the contention that boldness is regarded as a key feature of classical psychopathy and are broadly consistent with interpersonal models of psychopathy. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

Outcomes of an International Workshop on Preconception Expanded Carrier Screening: Some Considerations for Governments.

PubMed

Molster, Caron M; Lister, Karla; Metternick-Jones, Selina; Baynam, Gareth; Clarke, Angus John; Straub, Volker; Dawkins, Hugh J S; Laing, Nigel

2017-01-01

Consideration of expanded carrier screening has become an emerging issue for governments. However, traditional criteria for decision-making regarding screening programs do not incorporate all the issues relevant to expanded carrier screening. Further, there is a lack of consistent guidance in the literature regarding the development of appropriate criteria for government assessment of expanded carrier screening. Given this, a workshop was held to identify key public policy issues related to preconception expanded carrier screening, which governments should consider when deciding whether to publicly fund such programs. In June 2015, a satellite workshop was held at the European Society of Human Genetics Conference. It was structured around two design features: (1) the provision of information from a range of perspectives and (2) small group deliberations on the key issues that governments need to consider and the benefits, risks, and challenges of implementing publicly funded whole-population preconception carrier screening. Forty-one international experts attended the workshop. The deliberations centered primarily on the conditions to be tested and the elements of the screening program itself. Participants expected only severe conditions to be screened but were concerned about the lack of a consensus definition of "severe." Issues raised regarding the screening program included the purpose, benefits, harms, target population, program acceptability, components of a program, and economic evaluation. Participants also made arguments for consideration of the accuracy of screening tests. A wide range of issues require careful consideration by governments that want to assess expanded carrier screening. Traditional criteria for government decision-making regarding screening programs are not a "best fit" for expanded carrier screening and new models of decision-making with appropriate criteria are required. There is a need to define what a "severe" condition is, to build evidence regarding the reliability and accuracy of screening tests, to consider the equitable availability and downstream effects on and costs of follow-up interventions for those identified as carriers, and to explore the ways in which the components of a screening program would be impacted by unique features of expanded carrier screening.

Modeling and analysis of tritium dynamics in a DT fusion fuel cycle

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kuan, William

1998-11-01

A number of crucial design issues have a profound effect on the dynamics of the tritium fuel cycle in a DT fusion reactor, where the development of appropriate solutions to these issues is of particular importance to the introduction of fusion as a commercial system. Such tritium-related issues can be classified according to their operational, safety, and economic impact to the operation of the reactor during its lifetime. Given such key design issues inherent in next generation fusion devices using the DT fuel cycle development of appropriate models can then lead to optimized designs of the fusion fuel cycle for different types of DT fusion reactors. In this work, two different types of modeling approaches are developed and their application to solving key tritium issues presented. For the first approach, time-dependent inventories, concentrations, and flow rates characterizing the main subsystems of the fuel cycle are simulated with a new dynamic modular model of a fusion reactor's fuel cycle, named X-TRUFFLES (X-Windows TRitiUm Fusion Fuel cycLE dynamic Simulation). The complex dynamic behavior of the recycled fuel within each of the modeled subsystems is investigated using this new integrated model for different reactor scenarios and design approaches. Results for a proposed fuel cycle design taking into account current technologies are presented, including sensitivity studies. Ways to minimize the tritium inventory are also assessed by examining various design options that could be used to minimize local and global tritium inventories. The second modeling approach involves an analytical model to be used for the calculation of the required tritium breeding ratio, i.e., a primary design issue which relates directly to the feasibility and economics of DT fusion systems. A time-integrated global tritium balance scheme is developed and appropriate analytical expressions are derived for tritium self-sufficiency relevant parameters. The easy exploration of the large parameter space of the fusion fuel cycle can thus be conducted as opposed to previous modeling approaches. Future guidance for R&D (research and development) in fusion nuclear technology is discussed in view of possible routes to take in reducing the tritium breeding requirements of DT fusion reactors.

Integration and timing of basic and clinical sciences education.

PubMed

Bandiera, Glen; Boucher, Andree; Neville, Alan; Kuper, Ayelet; Hodges, Brian

2013-05-01

Medical education has traditionally been compartmentalized into basic and clinical sciences, with the latter being viewed as the skillful application of the former. Over time, the relevance of basic sciences has become defined by their role in supporting clinical problem solving rather than being, of themselves, a defining knowledge base of physicians. As part of the national Future of Medical Education in Canada (FMEC MD) project, a comprehensive empirical environmental scan identified the timing and integration of basic sciences as a key pressing issue for medical education. Using the literature review, key informant interviews, stakeholder meetings, and subsequent consultation forums from the FMEC project, this paper details the empirical basis for focusing on the role of basic science, the evidentiary foundations for current practices, and the implications for medical education. Despite a dearth of definitive relevant studies, opinions about how best to integrate the sciences remain strong. Resource allocation, political power, educational philosophy, and the shift from a knowledge-based to a problem-solving profession all influence the debate. There was little disagreement that both sciences are important, that many traditional models emphasized deep understanding of limited basic science disciplines at the expense of other relevant content such as social sciences, or that teaching the sciences contemporaneously rather than sequentially has theoretical and practical merit. Innovations in integrated curriculum design have occurred internationally. Less clear are the appropriate balance of the sciences, the best integration model, and solutions to the political and practical challenges of integrated curricula. New curricula tend to emphasize integration, development of more diverse physician competencies, and preparation of physicians to adapt to evolving technology and patients' expectations. Refocusing the basic/clinical dichotomy to a foundational/applied model may yield benefits in training widely competent future physicians.

Withholding differential risk information on legal consumer nicotine/tobacco products: The public health ethics of health information quarantines.

PubMed

Kozlowski, Lynn T; Sweanor, David

2016-06-01

The United States provides an example of a country with (a) legal tobacco/nicotine products (e.g., snus, other smokeless tobacco, cigarettes) differing greatly in risks to health and (b) respected health information websites that continue to omit or provide incorrect differential risk information. Concern for the principles of individual rights, health literacy, and personal autonomy (making decisions for oneself), which are key principles of public health ethics, has been countered by utilitarian arguments for the use of misleading or limited information to protect public health overall. We argue that omitting key health relevant information for current or prospective consumers represents a kind of quarantine of health-relevant information. As with disease quarantines, the coercive effects of quarantining information on differential risks need to be justified, not merely by fears of net negative public health effects, but by convincing evidence that such measures are actually warranted, that public health overall is in imminent danger and that the danger is sufficient to override principles of individual autonomy. Omitting such health-relevant information for consumers of such products effectively blindfolds them and impairs their making informed personal choices. Moral psychological issues that treat all tobacco/nicotine products similarly may also be influencing the reluctance to inform on differential risks. In countries where tobacco/nicotine products are legally sold and also differ greatly in disease risks compared to cigarettes (e.g., smokeless tobacco and vape), science-based, comprehensible, and actionable health information (consistent with health literacy principles) on differential risks should be available and only reconsidered if it is established that this information is causing losses to population health overall. Copyright © 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Food Safety at Farmers' Markets: A Knowledge Synthesis of Published Research.

PubMed

Young, Ian; Thaivalappil, Abhinand; Reimer, Danielle; Greig, Judy

2017-12-01

Farmers' markets are increasingly popular venues in North America for the sale of fresh produce and other foods. However, the nature of their operation can present possible food safety issues, challenges, and risks to consumers. A knowledge synthesis was conducted to identify, characterize, and summarize published research on the microbial food safety issues and implications associated with farmers' markets. A scoping review was conducted using the following steps: comprehensive search strategy, relevance screening of abstracts, and characterization of relevant articles. Two subsets of data were prioritized for more detailed systematic review (data extraction and risk-of-bias assessment) and meta-analysis: (i) studies comparing the microbial safety of foods from farmers' markets versus other sources and (ii) studies evaluating the use of food safety practices at farmers' markets. Overall, 83 relevant studies were identified. The majority of studies were published as journal articles (64%), used a cross-sectional design (81%), and were conducted in the United States (78%). Most studies (39%; n = 32) investigated stakeholder, mostly consumer (n = 22), attitudes toward food safety at farmers' markets. Limited but heterogeneous evidence indicated a higher prevalence of Campylobacter and Salmonella in chicken meat from farmers' markets versus other retail sources, but there was no difference in the microbial contamination of fresh produce. Studies evaluating the use of food safety practices at farmers' markets identified some gaps; for example, the average prevalence of vendor hand washing was 4% (95% confidence interval: 0 to 11%; I 2 = 27%; n = 5 studies). Twelve foodborne outbreaks and case reports were identified, resulting in a total of 411 illnesses, 38 hospitalizations, and two deaths from 1994 to 2016. Only five intervention studies were identified. Key knowledge gaps and areas warranting future research, training, and education are highlighted and discussed.

Political and institutional influences on the use of evidence in public health policy. A systematic review.

PubMed

Liverani, Marco; Hawkins, Benjamin; Parkhurst, Justin O

2013-01-01

There is increasing recognition that the development of evidence-informed health policy is not only a technical problem of knowledge exchange or translation, but also a political challenge. Yet, while political scientists have long considered the nature of political systems, the role of institutional structures, and the political contestation of policy issues as central to understanding policy decisions, these issues remain largely unexplored by scholars of evidence-informed policy making. We conducted a systematic review of empirical studies that examined the influence of key features of political systems and institutional mechanisms on evidence use, and contextual factors that may contribute to the politicisation of health evidence. Eligible studies were identified through searches of seven health and social sciences databases, websites of relevant organisations, the British Library database, and manual searches of academic journals. Relevant findings were extracted using a uniform data extraction tool and synthesised by narrative review. 56 studies were selected for inclusion. Relevant political and institutional aspects affecting the use of health evidence included the level of state centralisation and democratisation, the influence of external donors and organisations, the organisation and function of bureaucracies, and the framing of evidence in relation to social norms and values. However, our understanding of such influences remains piecemeal given the limited number of empirical analyses on this subject, the paucity of comparative works, and the limited consideration of political and institutional theory in these studies. This review highlights the need for a more explicit engagement with the political and institutional factors affecting the use of health evidence in decision-making. A more nuanced understanding of evidence use in health policy making requires both additional empirical studies of evidence use, and an engagement with theories and approaches beyond the current remit of public health or knowledge utilisation studies.

Selection, calibration, and validation of models of tumor growth.

PubMed

Lima, E A B F; Oden, J T; Hormuth, D A; Yankeelov, T E; Almeida, R C

2016-11-01

This paper presents general approaches for addressing some of the most important issues in predictive computational oncology concerned with developing classes of predictive models of tumor growth. First, the process of developing mathematical models of vascular tumors evolving in the complex, heterogeneous, macroenvironment of living tissue; second, the selection of the most plausible models among these classes, given relevant observational data; third, the statistical calibration and validation of models in these classes, and finally, the prediction of key Quantities of Interest (QOIs) relevant to patient survival and the effect of various therapies. The most challenging aspects of this endeavor is that all of these issues often involve confounding uncertainties: in observational data, in model parameters, in model selection, and in the features targeted in the prediction. Our approach can be referred to as "model agnostic" in that no single model is advocated; rather, a general approach that explores powerful mixture-theory representations of tissue behavior while accounting for a range of relevant biological factors is presented, which leads to many potentially predictive models. Then representative classes are identified which provide a starting point for the implementation of OPAL, the Occam Plausibility Algorithm (OPAL) which enables the modeler to select the most plausible models (for given data) and to determine if the model is a valid tool for predicting tumor growth and morphology ( in vivo ). All of these approaches account for uncertainties in the model, the observational data, the model parameters, and the target QOI. We demonstrate these processes by comparing a list of models for tumor growth, including reaction-diffusion models, phase-fields models, and models with and without mechanical deformation effects, for glioma growth measured in murine experiments. Examples are provided that exhibit quite acceptable predictions of tumor growth in laboratory animals while demonstrating successful implementations of OPAL.

An integrated operational definition and conceptual model of asthma self-management in teens.

PubMed

Mammen, Jennifer; Rhee, Hyekyun; Norton, Sally A; Butz, Arlene M; Halterman, Jill S; Arcoleo, Kimberly

2018-01-19

A previous definition of adolescent asthma self-management was derived from interviews with clinicians/researchers and published literature; however, it did not incorporate perspectives of teens or parents. Therefore, we conducted in-depth interviews with teens and parents and synthesized present findings with the prior analysis to develop a more encompassing definition and model. Focal concepts were qualitatively extracted from 14-day self-management voice-diaries (n = 14) and 1-hour interviews (n = 42) with teens and parents (28 individuals) along with concepts found in the previous clinical/research oriented analysis. Conceptual structure and relationships were identified and key findings synthesized to develop a revised definition and model of adolescent asthma self-management. There were two primary self-management constructs: processes of self-management and tasks of self-management. Self-management was defined as the iterative process of assessing, deciding, and responding to specific situations in order to achieve personally important outcomes. Clinically relevant asthma self-management tasks included monitoring asthma, managing active issues through pharmacologic and non-pharmacologic strategies, preventing future issues, and communicating with others as needed. Self-management processes were reciprocally influenced by intrapersonal factors (both cognitive and physical), interpersonal factors (family, social and physical environments), and personally relevant asthma and non-asthma outcomes. This is the first definition of asthma self-management incorporating teen, parent, clinician, and researcher perspectives, which suggests that self-management processes and behaviors are influenced by individually variable personal and interpersonal factors, and are driven by personally important outcomes. Clinicians and researchers should investigate teens' symptom perceptions, medication beliefs, current approaches to symptom management, relevant outcomes, and personal priorities.

Increasing the relevance of research to health care managers: hospital CEO imperatives for improving quality and lowering costs.

PubMed

Alexander, Jeffrey A; Hearld, Larry R; Jiang, H Joanna; Fraser, Irene

2007-01-01

Evidence-based management assumes that available research evidence is consistent with the problems and decision-making conditions faced by those who will utilize this evidence in practice. This article attempts to identify how hospital leaders view key determinants of hospital quality and costs, as well as the fundamental ways these leaders "think" about solutions to quality and cost issues in their organizations. The objective of this analysis is to better inform the research agenda and approaches pursued by health services research so that this research reflects the "realities" of practice in hospitals. We conducted a series of semistructured interviews with a convenience sample of eight hospital and three health system leaders. Questions focused on current and future challenges facing hospitals as they relate to hospital quality, costs, and efficiency, and potential solutions to those challenges. Nine major organizational and managerial factors emerged from the interviews, including staffing, evidence-based practice, information technology, data availability and benchmarking, and leadership. Hospital leaders tend to think about these factors systemically and consider process-related factors as the important drivers of cost and quality. The results suggest a need to expand the methods utilized by health services researchers to make their research more relevant to health care managers. Expanding research methods to reflect the systemic way that managers view the challenges and solutions facing their organizations may enhance the application of research findings into management practice. Finally, better communication is needed between the research and practice communities. Researchers must learn to think more like managers if their research is to be relevant, and managers must learn to more effectively communicate their issues with the research community and frame their problems in researchable terms.

Fitting methods to paradigms: are ergonomics methods fit for systems thinking?

PubMed

Salmon, Paul M; Walker, Guy H; M Read, Gemma J; Goode, Natassia; Stanton, Neville A

2017-02-01

The issues being tackled within ergonomics problem spaces are shifting. Although existing paradigms appear relevant for modern day systems, it is worth questioning whether our methods are. This paper asks whether the complexities of systems thinking, a currently ubiquitous ergonomics paradigm, are outpacing the capabilities of our methodological toolkit. This is achieved through examining the contemporary ergonomics problem space and the extent to which ergonomics methods can meet the challenges posed. Specifically, five key areas within the ergonomics paradigm of systems thinking are focused on: normal performance as a cause of accidents, accident prediction, system migration, systems concepts and ergonomics in design. The methods available for pursuing each line of inquiry are discussed, along with their ability to respond to key requirements. In doing so, a series of new methodological requirements and capabilities are identified. It is argued that further methodological development is required to provide researchers and practitioners with appropriate tools to explore both contemporary and future problems. Practitioner Summary: Ergonomics methods are the cornerstone of our discipline. This paper examines whether our current methodological toolkit is fit for purpose given the changing nature of ergonomics problems. The findings provide key research and practice requirements for methodological development.

Communicating with individuals receiving home mechanical ventilation: the experiences of key communication partners.

PubMed

Laakso, Katja; Markström, Agneta; Havstam, Christina; Idvall, Markus; Hartelius, Lena

2014-01-01

The aim of the study was to explore the communication experiences of key communications partners (CPs) of individuals receiving home mechanical ventilation (HMV), with particular emphasis on the possibilities, difficulties and limitations CPs experienced in communication, possible support given to facilitate communication and exploring what made a skilled communicator. A qualitative research design using interviews was used. The participants included 19 key CPs of individuals receiving HMV. The analysis resulted in five themes: Encountering communication limitations, Functional communication strategies, Being a communication facilitator, Role insecurity and Emotional reactions and coping. The findings revealed that CPs needed to develop partly new reference frames for communication. In particular, participants emphasised the need to understand and interpret subtle details in the communicative interaction. The findings are discussed in the light of previous research, in particular an earlier study exploring another perspective; the ventilator-supported individuals' experiences of communication. Issues relating to the educational needs of CPs of individuals receiving HMV are discussed. The results are intended to enhance understanding of the challenges that individuals receiving HMV and their CPs face with communication, which should be of relevance not only to speech therapists, but for all healthcare practitioners in the field of HMV.

Review of comparative LCAs of food waste management systems - Current status and potential improvements

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Bernstad, A., E-mail: anna.bernstad@chemeng.lth.se; Cour Jansen, J. la

2012-12-15

Highlights: Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer GHG-emissions from different treatment alternatives vary largely in 25 reviewed comparative LCAs of bio-waste management. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer System-boundary settings often vary largely in reviewed studies. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Existing LCA guidelines give varying recommendations in relation to several key issues. - Abstract: Twenty-five comparative cycle assessments (LCAs) addressing food waste treatment were reviewed, including the treatment alternatives landfill, thermal treatment, compost (small and large scale) and anaerobic digestion. The global warming potential related to these treatment alternatives varies largely amongst the studies. Large differences in relation to setting of system boundaries, methodological choices and variations in used input data were seenmore » between the studies. Also, a number of internal contradictions were identified, many times resulting in biased comparisons between alternatives. Thus, noticed differences in global warming potential are not found to be a result of actual differences in the environmental impacts from studied systems, but rather to differences in the performance of the study. A number of key issues with high impact on the overall global warming potential from different treatment alternatives for food waste were identified through the use of one-way sensitivity analyses in relation to a previously performed LCA of food waste management. Assumptions related to characteristics in treated waste, losses and emissions of carbon, nutrients and other compounds during the collection, storage and pretreatment, potential energy recovery through combustion, emissions from composting, emissions from storage and land use of bio-fertilizers and chemical fertilizers and eco-profiles of substituted goods were all identified as highly relevant for the outcomes of this type of comparisons. As the use of LCA in this area is likely to increase in coming years, it is highly relevant to establish more detailed guidelines within this field in order to increase both the general quality in assessments as well as the potentials for cross-study comparisons.« less

[Between evidence and negligence: coverage and invisibilityof health topics in the Portuguese printed media].

PubMed

Cavaca, Aline Guio; Vasconcellos-Silva, Paulo Roberto; Ferreira, Patrícia; Nunes, João Arriscado

2015-11-01

The scope of this study is to conduct an assessment of the media coverage and dissemination of health issues in Portugal in order to problematize the aspects of coverage and invisibility of health topics and establish the themes neglected in media coverage. To achieve this, the coverage on health issues in the Portuguese daily newspaper Público was compared with the epidemiological context regarding health priorities and the perceptions of key players on media dissemination and the themes that are relevant to the Portuguese population. The results showed that the recurrent health-associated themes do not deal with diseases per se, but with the politics and economics of health and medication. The themes neglected in media coverage identified in the Portuguese context include: communicable diseases, such as hepatitis and tuberculosis; issues related to mental health and suicide; and ailments and social consequences associated with the economic crisis that has beset Portugal recently. From the standpoint of the people interviewed, other neglected diseases include hemochromatosis and other rare diseases. In tandem with this, the study highlights the well covered media themes that revolve around the lives and activities of celebrities, which are exhaustively aired in the communication media in the country.

Ethical issues associated with medical tourism in Africa.

PubMed

Mogaka, John J O; Mupara, Lucia; Tsoka-Gwegweni, Joyce M

2017-01-01

Global disparities in medical technologies, laws, economic inequities, and social-cultural differences drive medical tourism (MT), the practice of travelling to consume healthcare that is either too delayed, unavailable, unaffordable or legally proscribed at home. Africa is simultaneously a source and destination for MT. MT however, presents a new and challenging health ethics frontier, being largely unregulated and characterized by policy contradictions, minority discrimination and conflict of interest among role-players. This article assesses the level of knowledge of MT and its associated ethical issues in Africa; it also identifies critical research gaps on the subject in the region. Exploratory design guided by Arksey and O'Malley's (2005) framework was used. Key search terms and prior determined exclusion/inclusion criteria were used to identify relevant literature sources. Fifty-seven articles met the inclusion criteria. Distributive justice, healthcare resource allocation, experimental treatments and organ transplant were the most common ethical issues of medical tourism in Africa. The dearth of robust engagement of MT and healthcare ethics, as identified through this review, calls for more rigorous research on this subject. Although the bulk of the medical tourism industry is driven by global legal disparities based on ethical considerations, little attention has been given to this subject.

The reproducibility issue and preclinical academic drug discovery: educational and institutional initiatives fostering translation success.

PubMed

Janero, David R

2016-09-01

Drug discovery depends critically upon published results from the academy. The reproducibility of preclinical research findings reported by academia in the peer-reviewed literature has been called into question, seriously jeopardizing the value of academic science for inventing therapeutics. The corrosive effects of the reproducibility issue on drug discovery are considered. Purported correctives imposed upon academia from the outside deal mainly with expunging fraudulent literature and imposing punitive sanctions on the responsible authors. The salutary influence of such post facto actions on the reproducibility of discovery-relevant preclinical research data from academia appears limited. Rather, intentional doctoral-scientist education focused on data replicability and translationally-meaningful science and active participation of university entities charged with research innovation and asset commercialization toward ensuring data quality are advocated as key academic initiatives for addressing the reproducibility issue. A mindset shift on the part of both senior university faculty and the academy to take responsibility for the data reproducibility crisis and commit proactively to positive educational, incentivization, and risk- and reward-sharing practices will be fundamental for improving the value of published preclinical academic research to drug discovery.

Propylene glycol liposomes as a topical delivery system for miconazole nitrate: comparison with conventional liposomes.

PubMed

Elmoslemany, Riham M; Abdallah, Ossama Y; El-Khordagui, Labiba K; Khalafallah, Nawal M

2012-06-01

Propylene glycol (PG)-phospholipid vesicles have been advocated as flexible lipid vesicles for enhanced skin delivery of drugs. To further characterize the performance of these vesicles and to address some relevant pharmaceutical issues, miconazole nitrate(MN)-loaded PG nanoliposomes were prepared and characterized for vesicle size, entrapment efficiency, in vitro release, and vesicle stability. An issue of pharmaceutical importance is the time-dependent, dilution-driven diffusion of propylene glycol out of the vesicles. This was addressed by assessing propylene glycol using gas chromatography in the separated vesicles and monitoring its buildup in the medium after repeated dispersion of separated vesicles in fresh medium. Further, the antifungal activity of liposomal formulations under study was assessed using Candida albicans, and their in vitro skin permeation and retention were studied using human skin. At all instances, blank and drug-loaded conventional liposomes were included for comparison. The results provided evidence of controlled MN delivery, constant percent PG uptake in the vesicles (≈45.5%) in the PG concentration range 2.5 to 10%, improved vesicle stability, and enhanced skin deposition of MN with minimum skin permeation. These are key issues for different formulation and performance aspects of propylene glycol-phospholipid vesicles.

Making communities safer from crime: An undervalued element in impact assessment

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Glasson, John, E-mail: jglasson@brookes.ac.u; Curtin University, Perth; Cozens, Paul

Crime and safety are significant issues for individuals, communities and businesses but they have tended to be undervalued elements in the consideration of social impacts in impact assessment theory and practice. It has been argued that crime is a form of pollution and an externality of development. In principle, the precautionary impact assessment family of approaches should be very useful here. The paper explores first the coverage of crime and safety issues in both the longer history of EIA, followed by the much shorter history of SEA and Sustainability Appraisal (SA). It then considers several key issues for advancing bettermore » practice. These include: the recognition of the lifecycles of projects and plans and the relevant dimensions of the local safety and crime baseline; the need to employ meaningful data, including 'fear of crime' considerations; and the consideration of innovative approaches to the use of indicators. Evidence and theories from the field of environmental criminology are presented as crucial to understanding crime and its association with land-use. The paper concludes with an exploration of appropriate mitigation measures for anticipating and designing out crime. Examples draw in particular on evolving practice in the UK and Australia.« less

Quality Management and Key Performance Indicators in Oncologic Esophageal Surgery.

PubMed

Gockel, Ines; Ahlbrand, Constantin Johannes; Arras, Michael; Schreiber, Elke Maria; Lang, Hauke

2015-12-01

Ranking systems and comparisons of quality and performance indicators will be of increasing relevance for complex "high-risk" procedures such as esophageal cancer surgery. The identification of evidence-based standards relevant for key performance indicators in esophageal surgery is essential for establishing monitoring systems and furthermore a requirement to enhance treatment quality. In the course of this review, we analyze the key performance indicators case volume, radicality of resection, and postoperative morbidity and mortality, leading to continuous quality improvement. Ranking systems established on this basis will gain increased relevance in highly complex procedures within the national and international comparison and furthermore improve the treatment of patients with esophageal carcinoma.

Management of pre-eclampsia: issues for anaesthetists.

PubMed

Dennis, A T

2012-09-01

Pre-eclampsia is a leading cause of maternal morbidity and mortality. Substandard care is often present and many deaths are preventable. The aim of this review is to summarise the key management issues for anaesthetists in the light of the current literature. A systematic literature search of electronic databases was undertaken including MEDLINE, EMBASE and the Cochrane Library using the key words obstetrics, pregnancy, pregnancy complications, maternal, pre-eclampsia, preeclampsia, cardiac function, haemodynamics, haemolysis, elevated liver enzymes, low platelets (HELLP), eclampsia, anaesthesia, anesthesia, neuraxial. Relevant Colleges and Societies websites were examined for pertinent guidelines. The disease is defined within the context of hypertensive diseases, and early recognition of pre-eclampsia and its complications, as well as multidisciplinary expert team management is highlighted. Accurate monitoring and recording of observations including the use of transthoracic echocardiography is discussed. The importance of the treatment of systolic blood pressure>180 mmHg and the use of intravenous antihypertensive medication as well as the use of parenteral magnesium sulphate for the treatment and prevention of eclampsia is emphasised . Restricted intravenous fluid therapy and avoidance of ergometrine is discussed. Neuraxial analgesia and anaesthesia, and general anaesthesia for birth is summarised as well as postpartum management including analgesia, thromboprophylaxis, management of acute pulmonary oedema and the use of pharmacological agents in the setting of breastfeeding. Anaesthesia © 2012 The Association of Anaesthetists of Great Britain and Ireland.

Key Topics for High-Lift Research: A Joint Wind Tunnel/Flight Test Approach

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Fisher, David; Thomas, Flint O.; Nelson, Robert C.

1996-01-01

Future high-lift systems must achieve improved aerodynamic performance with simpler designs that involve fewer elements and reduced maintenance costs. To expeditiously achieve this, reliable CFD design tools are required. The development of useful CFD-based design tools for high lift systems requires increased attention to unresolved flow physics issues. The complex flow field over any multi-element airfoil may be broken down into certain generic component flows which are termed high-lift building block flows. In this report a broad spectrum of key flow field physics issues relevant to the design of improved high lift systems are considered. It is demonstrated that in-flight experiments utilizing the NASA Dryden Flight Test Fixture (which is essentially an instrumented ventral fin) carried on an F-15B support aircraft can provide a novel and cost effective method by which both Reynolds and Mach number effects associated with specific high lift building block flows can be investigated. These in-flight high lift building block flow experiments are most effective when performed in conjunction with coordinated ground based wind tunnel experiments in low speed facilities. For illustrative purposes three specific examples of in-flight high lift building block flow experiments capable of yielding a high payoff are described. The report concludes with a description of a joint wind tunnel/flight test approach to high lift aerodynamics research.

Priorities and approaches to investigating Asian youth health: perspectives of young Asian New Zealanders.

PubMed

Wong, Agnes; Peiris-John, Roshini; Sobrun-Maharaj, Amritha; Ameratunga, Shanthi

2015-12-01

The proportion of young people in New Zealand identifying with Asian ethnicities has increased considerably. Despite some prevalent health concerns, Asian youth are less likely than non-Asian peers to seek help. As preparatory research towards a more nuanced approach to service delivery and public policy, this qualitative study aimed to identify young Asian New Zealanders' perspectives on best approaches to investigate health issues of priority concern to them. Three semi-structured focus group discussions were conducted with 15 Asian youth leaders aged 18-24 years. Using an inductive approach for thematic analysis, key themes were identified and analysed. Study participants considered ethno-cultural identity, racism and challenges in integration to play significant roles influencing the health of Asian youth (especially mental health) and their access to health services. While emphasising the importance of engaging young Asians in research and service development so that their needs and aspirations are met, participants also highlighted the need for approaches that are cognisant of the cultural, contextual and intergenerational dimensions of issues involved in promoting youth participation. Research that engages Asian youth as key agents using methods that are sensitive to their cultural and sociological contexts can inform more responsive health services and public policy. This is of particular relevance in primary health care where culturally competent services can mitigate risks of unmet health needs and social isolation.

Mass and Elite Views on Nuclear Security: US National Security Surveys 1993-1999

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

HERRON,KERRY G.; JENKINS-SMITH,HANK C.; HUGHES,SCOTT D.

This is the fourth report in an ongoing series of studies examining how US perspectives about nuclear security are evolving in the post-Cold War era. In Volume 1 the authors present findings from a nationwide telephone survey of randomly selected members of the US general public conducted from 13 September to 14 October 1999. Results are compared to findings from previous surveys in this series conducted in 1993, 1995, and 1997, and trends are analyzed. Key areas of investigation reported in Volume 1 include evolving perceptions of nuclear weapons risks and benefits, preferences for related policy and spending issues, andmore » views about three emerging issue areas: deterrent utility of precision guided munitions; response options to attacks in which mass casualty weapons are used; and expectations about national missile defenses. In this volume they relate respondent beliefs about nuclear security to perceptions of nuclear risks and benefits and to policy preferences. They develop causal models to partially explain key preferences, and they employ cluster analysis to group respondents into four policy relevant clusters characterized by similar views and preferences about nuclear security within each cluster. Systematic links are found among respondent demographic characteristics, perceptions of nuclear risks and benefits, policy beliefs, and security policy and spending preferences. In Volume 2 they provide analysis of in-depth interviews with fifty members of the US security policy community.« less

Rewriting the narrative of the epidemiology of HIV in sub-Saharan Africa.

PubMed

Baral, Stefan; Phaswana-Mafuya, Nancy

2012-01-01

The fight against HIV remains complicated with contracting donor resources and high burden of HIV among reproductive age adults still often limiting independent economic development. In the widespread HIV epidemics of sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), it is proposed that key populations with specific HIV acquisition and transmission risk factors, such as men who have sex with men (MSM), female sex workers (FSW), and people who use drugs (PUD), are less relevant because HIV transmission is sustained in the general population with average HIV acquisition and transmission risks. However, the understanding that key populations are less relevant in the epidemics of Africa is based on the surveillance system from which these populations are mostly excluded. Outside of SSA, the epidemics of HIV are generally concentrated in the same populations that are excluded from the primary HIV surveillance systems in SSA. The manuscripts included in this special issue present convincing data that FSW, MSM, and PUD carry disproportionate burdens of HIV wherever studied in SSA, are underrepresented in HIV programs and research, and require specific HIV prevention services. These manuscripts collectively suggest that the only effective path forward is one that transcends denial and stigma and focuses on systematically collecting data on all populations at risk for HIV. In addition, there is a need to move to a third generation of HIV surveillance as the current one inadvertently devalues HIV surveillance among key populations in the context of widespread HIV epidemics. Overall, the data reviewed here demonstrate that the dynamics of HIV in Africa are complex and achieving an AIDS-free generation necessitates acceptance of that complexity in all HIV surveillance, research, and prevention, treatment, and care programs.

Developing a template for National Child Protection Index Reports.

PubMed

Ager, Alastair; Stark, Lindsay; Chu, Erin; Dewan, Shweta; Boothby, Neil

2011-12-01

What impact does the strengthening of child rights have on the experience and circumstances of children? CRC General Comment 13 emphasizes that defining measurable targets for improvements in child protection is a key element of efforts to strengthen child rights and well-being across the world. This paper describes an attempt to identify key domains relevant to such mapping of child protection indicators, and the feasibility of collecting data-from existing data sources or otherwise-to complete a "National Child Protection Index Report" summarizing achievements and concerns at a national level. A process of inter-agency consultation was facilitated by the CPC Learning Network to establish a template for the Index Report. The template was modeled on that used for the "Countdown to 2015" maternal, neonatal and child health initiative, aiming to capture indices not only of key protection risks but also implementation and coverage of key protection measures. The work drew on indicator development and policy initiatives by a number of international child protection agencies. The template developed was used as a basis to pilot national data collection in Indonesia and, at a sub-national level, in northern Uganda. The template provides a concise summary of protection issues of relevance to a broad range of constituencies, global and national. However, in the pilot settings, existing routine data collection was inadequate to effectively populate a large proportion of indicators. Mechanisms of collating findings from discrete assessments-another potential source of data for completion of the index report-were also generally underdeveloped. In settings where state infrastructure allows the collection and analysis of routine data in such domains as health and economic activity, such efforts should be extended to the child protection sector. Discrete assessments by governmental or non-governmental agencies also provide significant potential for more effective sharing and collation of information. National Child Protection sub-clusters or equivalent structures can play an important role in facilitating both of these processes. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The Criteria People Use in Relevance Decisions on Health Information: An Analysis of User Eye Movements When Browsing a Health Discussion Forum.

PubMed

Pian, Wenjing; Khoo, Christopher Sg; Chang, Yun-Ke

2016-06-20

People are increasingly accessing health-related social media sites, such as health discussion forums, to post and read user-generated health information. It is important to know what criteria people use when deciding the relevance of information found on health social media websites, in different situations. The study attempted to identify the relevance criteria that people use when browsing a health discussion forum, in 3 types of use contexts: when seeking information for their own health issue, when seeking for other people's health issue, and when browsing without a particular health issue in mind. A total of 58 study participants were self-assigned to 1 of the 3 use contexts or information needs and were asked to browse a health discussion forum, HealthBoards.com. In the analysis, browsing a discussion forum was divided into 2 stages: scanning a set of post surrogates (mainly post titles) in the summary result screen and reading a detailed post content (including comments by other users). An eye tracker system was used to capture participants' eye movement behavior and the text they skim over and focus (ie, fixate) on during browsing. By analyzing the text that people's eyes fixated on, the types of health information used in the relevance judgment were determined. Post-experiment interviews elicited participants' comments on the relevance of the information and criteria used. It was found that participants seeking health information for their own health issue focused significantly more on the poster's symptoms, personal history of the disease, and description of the disease (P=.01, .001, and .02). Participants seeking for other people's health issue focused significantly more on cause of disease, disease terminology, and description of treatments and procedures (P=.01, .01, and .02). In contrast, participants browsing with no particular issue in mind focused significantly more on general health topics, hot topics, and rare health issues (P=.01, .01, and .01). Users browsing for their own health issues used mainly case-based relevance criteria to relate the poster's health situation to their own. Participants seeking for others' issues used mostly general knowledge-based criteria, whereas users with no particular issue in mind used general interest- and curiosity-based criteria.

The Criteria People Use in Relevance Decisions on Health Information: An Analysis of User Eye Movements When Browsing a Health Discussion Forum

PubMed Central

Khoo, Christopher SG; Chang, Yun-Ke

2016-01-01

Background People are increasingly accessing health-related social media sites, such as health discussion forums, to post and read user-generated health information. It is important to know what criteria people use when deciding the relevance of information found on health social media websites, in different situations. Objective The study attempted to identify the relevance criteria that people use when browsing a health discussion forum, in 3 types of use contexts: when seeking information for their own health issue, when seeking for other people’s health issue, and when browsing without a particular health issue in mind. Methods A total of 58 study participants were self-assigned to 1 of the 3 use contexts or information needs and were asked to browse a health discussion forum, HealthBoards.com. In the analysis, browsing a discussion forum was divided into 2 stages: scanning a set of post surrogates (mainly post titles) in the summary result screen and reading a detailed post content (including comments by other users). An eye tracker system was used to capture participants’ eye movement behavior and the text they skim over and focus (ie, fixate) on during browsing. By analyzing the text that people’s eyes fixated on, the types of health information used in the relevance judgment were determined. Post-experiment interviews elicited participants’ comments on the relevance of the information and criteria used. Results It was found that participants seeking health information for their own health issue focused significantly more on the poster’s symptoms, personal history of the disease, and description of the disease (P=.01, .001, and .02). Participants seeking for other people’s health issue focused significantly more on cause of disease, disease terminology, and description of treatments and procedures (P=.01, .01, and .02). In contrast, participants browsing with no particular issue in mind focused significantly more on general health topics, hot topics, and rare health issues (P=.01, .01, and .01). Conclusion Users browsing for their own health issues used mainly case-based relevance criteria to relate the poster's health situation to their own. Participants seeking for others’ issues used mostly general knowledge–based criteria, whereas users with no particular issue in mind used general interest– and curiosity-based criteria. PMID:27323893

Disconnects Between Audiences, Resources, and Initiatives: Key Findings of the Coastal Areas Climate Change Education Partnership

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Muller-Karger, F. E.; Ryan, J. G.; Feldman, A.; Gilbes, F.; Trotz, M.; McKayle, C.; Stone, D.; Plank, L.; Meisels, G.; Peterson, M.; Reynolds, C. J.

2012-12-01

The Coastal Areas Climate Change Education (CACCE) Partnership focused on defining a plan for effective education on climate change and its salient issues in coastal communities Florida and the US Caribbean territories. The approach included assessing perceptions and needs of stakeholders, evaluating the nature of available educational and information resources, and establishing a partnership that includes the public and professional organizations most relevant in planning and in addressing the resiliency of coastal communities. Information gathering activities included surveys among K-12 educators and students on climate change perceptions and current classroom activities in both Florida and the Caribbean territories; surveys of professional urban and land-use planners across Florida regarding their understanding of related in their professional practice; and conducting an inventory of relevant educational materials and information resources. Survey results showed a range of misperceptions about climate change, its causes and its likely impacts. At present, students and teachers in high and middle schools show poor understanding of climate science, and minimal time is spent in instruction on climate change in science courses in Florida and Puerto Rico schools. Also, there has to be professional development efforts and access to rich instructional content in a continuum spanning schools and professional communities including planners (which we surveyed). Architects and engineers are communities that also need to be surveyed and included in future efforts. A major obstacle to efforts at providing continuing education for planners and municipal officials is the lack of consensus on and access to regionally-specific scientific data regarding climate impacts and the relevant instructional content. It is difficult for professionals to prepare for climate change if they cannot define impacts in the Florida-Caribbean region and its coastal urban areas. Across over 1000 websites and online information resources on climate change reviewed for this project, less than a dozen items were identified that address climate change issues and impacts relevant to Florida and the US Caribbean Territories. This represents a serious issue for planners, who need to make effective arguments for climate adaptation strategies to the public and to public officials. These disconnects between stakeholder information and education needs, and available educational content and informational resources, is a significant obstacle to any future public education efforts on climate change in the US most vulnerable regions of the US.

Health policy making for street children: challenges and strategies.

PubMed

Abdi, Fatemeh; Saeieh, Sara Esmaelzadeh; Roozbeh, Nasibeh; Yazdkhasti, Mansoureh

2017-08-17

Background The phenomenon of street children is a bio-psychological and social issue that not only harms children, but also endangers the health of a society. In line with the national programs for the development and promotion of street children's health in Iran, health policy making and essential strategies for this group of children will be presented in this paper. This paper will discuss the main issues and challenges of street children's health and, also, health policy and guidelines for this population. Methods In this review study, the keywords; street children, health, challenges, policy, and health policy making were searched through PubMed, SID, Iranmedex, World Health Organization (WHO), Emro, the Cochran Library, Medline and Google scholar to collect data. The search resulted in 84 related resources from which 48 cases that were more relevant to this research and covered the issue more comprehensively, were used. All data published during 2002-2015 have been included in this paper. Results Key concepts including street children and their health, health policy, strategies to improve the health of street children, health policy approaches for street children, the WHO's strategies, and social support program for street children must be considered in the health policy making processes for street children, as precise identification of the relevant information makes planning more effective in health policy making for this group of children. Conclusion The phenomenon of street children is a growing problem in the world and it has turned into a serious concern in many countries including Iran. The findings of this study can be used for identifying necessary measures in order to use research outcomes more effectively in policy making processes and reforming street children's health policies in Iran.

Recommendations for Nanomedicine Human Subjects Research Oversight: An Evolutionary Approach for an Emerging Field

PubMed Central

Fatehi, Leili; Wolf, Susan M.; McCullough, Jeffrey; Hall, Ralph; Lawrenz, Frances; Kahn, Jeffrey P.; Jones, Cortney; Campbell, Stephen A.; Dresser, Rebecca S.; Erdman, Arthur G.; Haynes, Christy L.; Hoerr, Robert A.; Hogle, Linda F.; Keane, Moira A.; Khushf, George; King, Nancy M.P.; Kokkoli, Efrosini; Marchant, Gary; Maynard, Andrew D.; Philbert, Martin; Ramachandran, Gurumurthy; Siegel, Ronald A.; Wickline, Samuel

2015-01-01

The nanomedicine field is fast evolving toward complex, “active,” and interactive formulations. Like many emerging technologies, nanomedicine raises questions of how human subjects research (HSR) should be conducted and the adequacy of current oversight, as well as how to integrate concerns over occupational, bystander, and environmental exposures. The history of oversight for HSR investigating emerging technologies is a patchwork quilt without systematic justification of when ordinary oversight for HSR is enough versus when added oversight is warranted. Nanomedicine HSR provides an occasion to think systematically about appropriate oversight, especially early in the evolution of a technology, when hazard and risk information may remain incomplete. This paper presents the consensus recommendations of a multidisciplinary, NIH-funded project group, to ensure a science-based and ethically informed approach to HSR issues in nanomedicine, and integrate HSR analysis with analysis of occupational, bystander, and environmental concerns. We recommend creating two bodies, an interagency Human Subjects Research in Nanomedicine (HSR/N) Working Group and a Secretary’s Advisory Committee on Nanomedicine (SAC/N). HSR/N and SAC/N should perform 3 primary functions: (1) analysis of the attributes and subsets of nanomedicine interventions that raise HSR challenges and current gaps in oversight; (2) providing advice to relevant agencies and institutional bodies on the HSR issues, as well as federal and federal-institutional coordination; and (3) gathering and analyzing information on HSR issues as they emerge in nanomedicine. HSR/N and SAC/N will create a home for HSR analysis and coordination in DHHS (the key agency for relevant HSR oversight), optimize federal and institutional approaches, and allow HSR review to evolve with greater knowledge about nanomedicine interventions and greater clarity about attributes of concern. PMID:23289677

A technical investigation on tools and concepts for sustainable management of the subsurface in The Netherlands.

PubMed

Griffioen, Jasper; van Wensem, Joke; Oomes, Justine L M; Barends, Frans; Breunese, Jaap; Bruining, Hans; Olsthoorn, Theo; Stams, Alfons J M; van der Stoel, Almer E C

2014-07-01

In response to increasing use of the subsurface, there is a need to modernise policies on sustainable use of the subsurface. This holds in particular for the densely populated Netherlands. We aimed to analyse current practice of subsurface management and the associated pressure points and to establish a conceptual overview of the technical issues related to sustainable management of the subsurface. Case studies on the exploitation of subsurface resources (including spatial use of the subsurface) were analysed, examining social relevance, environmental impact, pressure points and management solutions. The case studies ranged from constructing underground garages to geothermal exploitation. The following issues were identified for the technological/scientific aspects: site investigation, suitability, risk assessment, monitoring and measures in the event of failure. Additionally, the following general issues were identified for the administrative aspects: spatial planning, option assessment, precaution, transparency, responsibility and liability. These issues were explored on their technological implications within the framework of sustainable management of the subsurface. This resulted into the following key aspects: (1) sustainability assessment, (2) dealing with uncertainty and (3) policy instruments and governance. For all three aspects, different options were identified which might have a legal, economic or ethical background. The technological implications of these backgrounds have been identified. A set of recommendations for sustainable management of the subsurface resources (incl. space) was established: (1) management should be driven by scarcity, (2) always implement closed loop monitoring when the subsurface activities are high-risk, (3) when dealing with unknown features and heterogeneity, apply the precautionary principle, (4) responsibility and liability for damage must be set out in legislation and (5) sustainability should be incorporated in all relevant legislation and not only in environmental legislation. Other aspects to be considered are the reversibility of the impacts from subsurface activities and the abandonment of installations. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

AGING AND TOXIC RESPONSE: ISSUES RELEVANT TO RISK ASSESSMENT (FINAL)

EPA Science Inventory

EPA has released a final report entitled, Aging and Toxic Response: Issues Relevant to Risk Assessment. This document contributes to the Agency's efforts to better understand the physiology of aging in order to protect the health of older persons, and identifies several d...

Personal genome testing: Test characteristics to clarify the discourse on ethical, legal and societal issues

PubMed Central

2011-01-01

Background As genetics technology proceeds, practices of genetic testing have become more heterogeneous: many different types of tests are finding their way to the public in different settings and for a variety of purposes. This diversification is relevant to the discourse on ethical, legal and societal issues (ELSI) surrounding genetic testing, which must evolve to encompass these differences. One important development is the rise of personal genome testing on the basis of genetic profiling: the testing of multiple genetic variants simultaneously for the prediction of common multifactorial diseases. Currently, an increasing number of companies are offering personal genome tests directly to consumers and are spurring ELSI-discussions, which stand in need of clarification. This paper presents a systematic approach to the ELSI-evaluation of personal genome testing for multifactorial diseases along the lines of its test characteristics. Discussion This paper addresses four test characteristics of personal genome testing: its being a non-targeted type of testing, its high analytical validity, low clinical validity and problematic clinical utility. These characteristics raise their own specific ELSI, for example: non-targeted genetic profiling poses serious problems for information provision and informed consent. Questions about the quantity and quality of the necessary information, as well as about moral responsibilities with regard to the provision of information are therefore becoming central themes within ELSI-discussions of personal genome testing. Further, the current low level of clinical validity of genetic profiles raises questions concerning societal risks and regulatory requirements, whereas simultaneously it causes traditional ELSI-issues of clinical genetics, such as psychological and health risks, discrimination, and stigmatization, to lose part of their relevance. Also, classic notions of clinical utility are challenged by the newer notion of 'personal utility.' Summary Consideration of test characteristics is essential to any valuable discourse on the ELSI of personal genome testing for multifactorial diseases. Four key characteristics of the test - targeted/non-targeted testing, analytical validity, clinical validity and clinical utility - together determine the applicability and the relevance of ELSI to specific tests. The paper identifies and discusses four areas of interest for the ELSI-debate on personal genome testing: informational problems, risks, regulatory issues, and the notion of personal utility. PMID:21672210

NGNP High Temperature Materials White Paper

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Lew Lommers; George Honma

2012-08-01

This white paper is one in a series of white papers that address key generic issues of the combined construction and operating license (COL) pre-application program key generic issues for the Next Generation Nuclear Plant reactor using the prismatic block fuel technology. The purpose of the pre-application program interactions with the NRC staff is to reduce the time required for COL application review by identifying and addressing key regulatory issues and, if possible, obtaining agreements for their resolution

A Review of the Relationships among the Key Determinants Affecting the Mental Health Disorders of the People in Greater Mekong Subregion Countries

PubMed Central

Nget, Manndy; Muijeen, Kasorn

2017-01-01

Background: ASEAN integration aims to transform the GMS into a single market with free flows of products, services, and skilled labor, as well as investment openness, which will ultimately force regional economic growth. Therefore, this integration is likely to bring about a big change to this area in the new era; it can subsequently cause many problems as well, including mental health issues of the people in this region. The characteristic differences among the GMS member countries in terms of trade and investment, social and cultural values, medical information and technology, and the living and working environment have become major problems affecting mental health disorders, which are usually identified as depression, stress, and substance abuse. Methods: This review paper is a literature review of the relationship of the determinants affecting GMS mental disorders conducted using the following strategies: 1) collecting data from previous qualitative and quantitative research studies, comparatively analyzing the literature, articles, published papers, and reports relevant to the existing policies on economic, environmental, and healthcare issues obtained from the GMS; and 2) exchanging information from the institutions involved, including reports and papers regarding the determinants affecting mental health disorders of the people in the GMS, which were used to generate the synthesis of the existing knowledge of the mental health and to provide recommendation programs for the GMS people. Results: Based on the reviewed literature there are four key factors affecting mental health, especially mental health in GMS populations: 1) the living and work environments; 2) trade and investment; 3) technology and medical information; and 4) social and cultural values. The study found that the increasing number of mental health disorders is a big burden for national healthcare spending. Financial issues have become a major key to the wide prevalence of mental disorders in the GMS. Health issues related to mental health disorders are also caused by the environment and other related factors and therefore a stable and a well-balanced environment is an indicator of healthy mental status. In addition, the environment is a way to pursue both physical and mental health because green spaces serve as a mood freshener and can alleviate anxiety, stress, and depression. Conclusion: Globalization and urbanization should follow sustainable development instructions and concerns about the population’s health, especially regarding mental health. These key determinants affect the people’s life, especially in terms of mental health thus leading to mental health disorders. PMID:29527146

A Review of the Relationships among the Key Determinants Affecting the Mental Health Disorders of the People in Greater Mekong Subregion Countries.

PubMed

Nget, Manndy; Muijeen, Kasorn

2017-12-01

ASEAN integration aims to transform the GMS into a single market with free flows of products, services, and skilled labor, as well as investment openness, which will ultimately force regional economic growth. Therefore, this integration is likely to bring about a big change to this area in the new era; it can subsequently cause many problems as well, including mental health issues of the people in this region. The characteristic differences among the GMS member countries in terms of trade and investment, so-cial and cultural values, medical information and technology, and the living and working environment have become major problems affecting mental health disorders, which are usually identified as depression, stress, and substance abuse. This review paper is a literature review of the relationship of the determinants affecting GMS mental disorders conducted using the following strategies: 1) collecting data from previous qualitative and quantitative research studies, com-paratively analyzing the literature, articles, published papers, and reports relevant to the existing policies on economic, environmental, and healthcare issues obtained from the GMS; and 2) exchanging information from the institutions involved, including reports and papers regarding the determinants affecting mental health disorders of the people in the GMS, which were used to generate the synthesis of the existing knowledge of the mental health and to provide recommenda-tion programs for the GMS people. Based on the reviewed literature there are four key factors affecting mental health, especially mental health in GMS populations: 1) the living and work environments; 2) trade and investment; 3) technology and medical information; and 4) social and cultural values. The study found that the increasing number of mental health dis-orders is a big burden for national healthcare spending. Financial issues have become a major key to the wide prevalence of mental disorders in the GMS. Health issues related to mental health disorders are also caused by the environment and other related factors and therefore a stable and a well-balanced environment is an indicator of healthy mental status. In addition, the environment is a way to pursue both physical and mental health because green spaces serve as a mood freshener and can al-leviate anxiety, stress, and depression. Globalization and urbanization should follow sustainable development instructions and concerns about the population's health, especially regarding mental health. These key determinants affect the people's life, especially in terms of mental health thus leading to mental health disorders.

Coalition Building for Adult Literacy: Historical and Organizational Perspectives.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Newman, Anabel P.; Lehman, Bernadette

Selected successful literacy coalitions were examined to identify key issues and trends in coalition building. The six key issues identified (focus and functions, funding, governance, membership, key figures, and evaluation) were used as a framework to review the early efforts, current activities, and future visions of literacy coalitions…

New Borns...Getting a Good Start.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Huraux-Rendu, Christine; And Others

1991-01-01

This issue of Children in the Tropics analyzes key issues relating to protecting the health of newborn infants. Many of the suggestions offered concern rudimentary health care situations in developing countries. Key issues are addressed in four sections. The first section discusses the early care and first medical examination of infants born in…

77 FR 43575 - Intent To Prepare a Draft Environmental Impact Statement/Environmental Impact Report for the...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-07-25

..., identifying significant environmental issues in the DEIS/EIR, providing useful information such as published and unpublished data, and knowledge of relevant issues and recommending mitigation measures to offset... the scoping process. c. Individuals and agencies may offer information or data relevant to the...

Accelerating global access to plant diversity information.

PubMed

Lughadha, Eimear Nic; Miller, Chuck

2009-11-01

Botanic gardens play key roles in the development and dissemination of plant information resources. Drivers for change have included progress in information technology, growing public expectations of electronic access and international conservation policy. Great advances have been made in the quantity, quality and accessibility of plant information in digital form and the extent to which information from multiple providers can be accessed through a single portal. However, significant challenges remain to be addressed in making botanic gardens resources maximally accessible and impactful, not least the overwhelming volume of material which still awaits digitisation. The year 2010 represents an opportunity for botanic gardens to showcase their collaborative achievements in delivery of electronic plant information and reinforce their relevance to pressing environmental issues.

Quality of life in HIV/AIDS.

PubMed

Basavaraj, K H; Navya, M A; Rashmi, R

2010-07-01

Given the longevity achievable with current prophylactic and therapeutic strategies for persons with HIV infection, quality of life (QOL) has emerged as a significant medical outcome measure, and its enhancement has an important goal. This review highlights the relevance and complexity of physical, psychological, and social factors as determinants of health-related quality of life in HIV-infected persons. Existing data suggest that physical manifestations, antiretroviral therapy, psychological well-being, social support systems, coping strategies, spiritual well-being, and psychiatric comorbidities are important predictors of QOL in this population. Consequently, the impact of HIV infection on the dimensions of QOL, including physical and emotional well-being, social support systems, and life roles, has emerged as a key issue for persons infected with HIV.

Quality of life in HIV/AIDS

PubMed Central

Basavaraj, K. H.; Navya, M. A.; Rashmi, R.

2010-01-01

Given the longevity achievable with current prophylactic and therapeutic strategies for persons with HIV infection, quality of life (QOL) has emerged as a significant medical outcome measure, and its enhancement has an important goal. This review highlights the relevance and complexity of physical, psychological, and social factors as determinants of health-related quality of life in HIV-infected persons. Existing data suggest that physical manifestations, antiretroviral therapy, psychological well-being, social support systems, coping strategies, spiritual well-being, and psychiatric comorbidities are important predictors of QOL in this population. Consequently, the impact of HIV infection on the dimensions of QOL, including physical and emotional well-being, social support systems, and life roles, has emerged as a key issue for persons infected with HIV. PMID:21716787

Segmentation Fusion Techniques with Application to Plenoptic Images: A Survey.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Evin, D.; Hadad, A.; Solano, A.; Drozdowicz, B.

2016-04-01

The segmentation of anatomical and pathological structures plays a key role in the characterization of clinically relevant evidence from digital images. Recently, plenoptic imaging has emerged as a new promise to enrich the diagnostic potential of conventional photography. Since the plenoptic images comprises a set of slightly different versions of the target scene, we propose to make use of those images to improve the segmentation quality in relation to the scenario of a single image segmentation. The problem of finding a segmentation solution from multiple images of a single scene, is called segmentation fusion. This paper reviews the issue of segmentation fusion in order to find solutions that can be applied to plenoptic images, particularly images from the ophthalmological domain.

Engaging Indigenous Communities and Research Scientists to Manage Climate Risk

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jasko, S. A.; Pandya, R.; Wildcat, D.; Moench, M.; Leshin, L. A.; Jasko, S. A.; Pulwarty, R. S.; Kluck, D. R.; Collins, G.; Lazrus, H.

2014-12-01

For the past five years a strategy has been employed to reach out to tribes and tribal colleges to build awareness and potentially transfer information that would strengthen tribal resilience to climate variability and changes. Finding an effective approach to first engaging tribal communities and risk management issues from their perspective has been the key. Climate information that is place based and temporally relevant provides the greatest value. By engaging in a social process of risk communication instead of traditional sender- receiver model are taking place and continuing across the U.S. 4-Corners, Pacific Northwest and Missouri Basin. For this presentation we will focus primarily on the lessons from those engagements on water resources in the Missouri Basin where twenty-eight tribes reside.

The feminist/emotionally focused therapy practice model: an integrated approach for couple therapy.

PubMed

Vatcher, C A; Bogo, M

2001-01-01

Emotionally focused therapy (EFT) is a well-developed, empirically tested practice model for couple therapy that integrates systems, experiential, and attachment theories. Feminist family therapy theory has provided a critique of biased assumptions about gender at play in traditional family therapy practice and the historical absence of discussions of power in family therapy theory. This article presents an integrated feminist/EFT practice model for use in couple therapy, using a case from practice to illustrate key concepts. Broadly, the integrated model addresses gender roles and individual emotional experience using a systemic framework for understanding couple interaction. The model provides practitioners with a sophisticated, comprehensive, and relevant practice approach for working with the issues and challenges emerging for contemporary heterosexual couples.

Toward Large-Area Sub-Arcsecond X-Ray Telescopes

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

O'Dell, Stephen L.; Aldcroft, Thomas L.; Allured, Ryan; Atkins, Carolyn; Burrows, David N.; Cao, Jian; Chalifoux, Brandon D.; Chan, Kai-Wing; Cotroneo, Vincenzo; Elsner, Ronald F.;

Nuclear power supplies: Their potential and the practical problems to their achievement for space missions

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Colston, B. W.

1986-01-01

Various issues associated with getting technology development of nuclear power systems moving at a pace which will support the anticipated need for such systems in later years is discussed. The projected power needs of such advanced space elements as growth space stations and lunar and planetary vehicles and bases are addressed briefly, and the relevance of nuclear power systems is discussed. A brief history and status of the U.S. nuclear reactor systems is provided, and some of the problems (real and/or perceived) are dealt with briefly. Key areas on which development attention should be focused in the near future are identified, and a suggested approach is recommended to help accelerate the process.

The ethics of medical tourism: from the United Kingdom to India seeking medical care.

PubMed

Meghani, Zahra

2013-01-01

Is the practice of UK patients traveling to India as medical tourists morally justified? This article addresses that question by examining three ethically relevant issues. First, the key factor motivating citizens of the United Kingdom to seek medical treatment in India is identified and analyzed. Second, the life prospects of the majority of the citizens of the two nations are compared to determine whether the United Kingdom is morally warranted in relying on India to meet the medical needs of its citizens. Third, as neoliberal reforms are justified on the grounds that they will help the indigent populations affected by them, the impact of medical tourism--a neoliberal initiative--on India's socially and economically marginalized groups is scrutinized.

CONTACT: An Air Force technical report on military satellite control technology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Weakley, Christopher K.

1993-07-01

This technical report focuses on Military Satellite Control Technologies and their application to the Air Force Satellite Control Network (AFSCN). This report is a compilation of articles that provide an overview of the AFSCN and the Advanced Technology Program, and discusses relevant technical issues and developments applicable to the AFSCN. Among the topics covered are articles on Future Technology Projections; Future AFSCN Topologies; Modeling of the AFSCN; Wide Area Communications Technology Evolution; Automating AFSCN Resource Scheduling; Health & Status Monitoring at Remote Tracking Stations; Software Metrics and Tools for Measuring AFSCN Software Performance; Human-Computer Interface Working Group; Trusted Systems Workshop; and the University Technical Interaction Program. In addition, Key Technology Area points of contact are listed in the report.

Establishing health systems financing research priorities in developing countries using a participatory methodology.

PubMed

Ranson, Kent; Law, Tyler J; Bennett, Sara

2010-06-01

Donor funding for health systems financing (HSF) research is inadequate and often poorly aligned with national priorities. This study aimed to generate consensus about a core set of research issues that urgently require attention in order to facilitate policy development. There were three key inputs into the priority setting process: key-informant interviews with health policy makers, researchers, community and civil society representatives across twenty-four low- and middle-income countries in four regions; an overview of relevant reviews to identify research completed to date; and inputs from 12 key informants (largely researchers) at a consultative workshop. Nineteen priority research questions emerged from key-informant interviews. The overview of reviews was instructive in showing which health financing topics have had comparatively little written about them, despite being identified as important by key informants. The questions ranked as most important at the consultative workshop were: It is hoped that this work on HSF research priorities will complement calls for increased health systems research and evaluation by providing specific suggestions as to where new and existing research resources can best be invested. The list of high priority HSF research questions is being communicated to research funders and researchers in order to seek to influence global patterns of HSF research funding and activity. A "bottom up" approach to setting global research priorities such as that employed here should ensure that priorities are more sensitive to user needs. Copyright 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Untapped ethical resources for neurodegeneration research

PubMed Central

2011-01-01

Background The research community has a mandate to discover effective treatments for neurodegenerative disorders. The ethics landscape surrounding this mandate is in a constant state of flux, and ongoing challenges place ever greater demands on investigators to be accountable to the public and to answer questions about the implications of their work for health care, society, and policy. Methods We surveyed US-based investigators involved in neurodegenerative diseases research about how they value ethics-related issues, what motivates them to give consideration to those issues, and the barriers to doing so. Using the NIH CRISP database we identified 1,034 researchers with relevant, active grants and invited them to complete an online questionnaire. We received 193 responses. We used exploratory factor analysis to transform individual survey questions into a smaller set of factors, and linear regression to understand the effect of key variables of interest on the factor scores. Results Ethics-related issues clustered into two groups: research ethics and external influences. Heads of research groups viewed issues of research ethics to be more important than the other respondents. Concern about external influences was related to overall interest in ethics. Motivators clustered into five groups: ensuring public understanding, external forces, requirements, values, and press and public. Heads of research groups were more motivated to ensure public understanding of research than the other respondents. Barriers clustered into four groups: lack of resources, administrative burden, relevance to the research, and lack of interest. Perceived lack of ethics resources was a particular barrier for investigators working in drug discovery. Conclusions The data suggest that senior level neuroscientists working in the field of neurodegeneration (ND), and drug discovery specifically, are motivated to consider ethics issues related to their work, but the perceived lack of ethics resources thwarts their efforts. With bioethics centres at more than 50% of the institutions at which these respondents reside, the neuroscience and bioethics communities appear to be disconnected. Dedicated ethical, legal and social implications (ELSI) programs, such as those fully integrated into genetics and regenerative medicine, provide models for achieving meaningful partnerships not yet adequately realized for scholars and trainees interested in drug discovery for ND. PMID:21635769

Ethics of health policy and systems research: a scoping review of the literature.

PubMed

Pratt, Bridget; Paul, Amy; Hyder, Adnan A; Ali, Joseph

2017-07-01

Health policy and systems research (HPSR) is increasingly funded and undertaken as part of health system strengthening efforts worldwide. HPSR ethics is also a relatively new and emerging field, with numerous normative and descriptive questions that have largely not been considered. Normative questions include what ethical principles and values should guide HPSR. Descriptive questions include what ethical concerns arise when conducting HPSR. A small but growing body of scholarly work characterizes the various ethics issues inherent in HPSR. Towards informing the future development of ethics guidance for HPSR, a scoping review was undertaken to: (1) identify the range of ethics issues relevant to the conduct of HPSR-with a deliberate (though not exclusive) focus on low- and middle-income country settings and (2) describe existing guidance on key ethics issues relevant to HPSR. Using the Cochrane methods as a basis, the review identified formal and informal literature on HPSR ethics by searching the following databases: PubMed's Medline, Embase, Global Health, Scopus, WHO Global Health Regional Libraries, LILACs, OpenDOAR and Bielefeld Academic Search Engine. In total, 11 062 documents were identified from the formal (10 519) and informal (543) literature. One hundred and seven of these documents (formal 99 and informal 8) met at least one inclusion criterion and underwent thematic analysis. Ethical issues in four main categories were identified: upholding autonomy, identifying and balancing risks and benefits, justice and determination of ethical review requirements. The review indicated that the ethical values behind HPSR place an emphasis on its contributing to the reduction of health disparities. Unsurprisingly then, numerous ethical concerns relating to justice arise in HPSR. However, the majority of existing guidance focuses on obtaining or waiving informed consent and, thus, appears to be insufficient for HPSR. A list of priority ethics issues in HPSR in need of guidance development is provided. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press in association with The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.

Children's comprehension of an unfamiliar speaker accent: a review.

PubMed

Harte, Jennifer; Oliveira, Ana; Frizelle, Pauline; Gibbon, Fiona

2016-05-01

The effect of speaker accent on listeners' comprehension has become a key focus of research given the increasing cultural diversity of society and the increased likelihood of an individual encountering a clinician with an unfamiliar accent. To review the studies exploring the effect of an unfamiliar accent on language comprehension in typically developing (TD) children and in children with speech and language difficulties. This review provides a methodological analysis of the relevant studies by exploring the challenges facing this field of research and highlighting the current gaps in the literature. A total of nine studies were identified using a systematic search and organized under studies investigating the effect of speaker accent on language comprehension in (1) TD children and (2) children with speech and/or language difficulties. This review synthesizes the evidence that an unfamiliar speaker accent may lead to a breakdown in language comprehension in TD children and in children with speech difficulties. Moreover, it exposes the inconsistencies found in this field of research and highlights the lack of studies investigating the effect of speaker accent in children with language deficits. Overall, research points towards a developmental trend in children's ability to comprehend accent-related variations in speech. Vocabulary size, language exposure, exposure to different accents and adequate processing resources (e.g. attention) seem to play a key role in children's ability to understand unfamiliar accents. This review uncovered some inconsistencies in the literature that highlight the methodological issues that must be considered when conducting research in this field. It explores how such issues may be controlled in order to increase the validity and reliability of future research. Key clinical implications are also discussed. © 2016 Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists.

Regulatory framework in assisted reproductive technologies, relevance and main issues.

PubMed

Merlet, Françoise

2009-01-01

Assisted reproductive technologies (ART) have changed life for the past 25 years and many ethical and social issues have emerged following this new method of conception. In order to protect individuals against scientific and ethical abuses without inhibiting scientific progress, a specific legal framework is necessary. The first French law on Bioethics was voted after an extensive debate in 1994 then reviewed in 2004. This review previously scheduled every five years is currently being discussed. Legal provisions applying to ART are part of a large framework including the protection of the patients' rights and biomedical research. The key principles consist of respect for human life and ban on commercial practices of human body parts, eugenic practices and any kind of cloning. These key principles apply to ART. Donation is anonymous and free. Created in 2004, the Agence de la biomédecine is a government agency and one of the main tools of the French regulations. The missions focus on improving the quality and the safety of the management of ART. Evaluation of activities is available to all from the annual report. The agency represents the French competent authority for medical and scientific aspects of ART. Substantial differences in European legislations exist from the open-up "laissez faire" to the most restrictive one. As a consequence a large reproductive tourism has developed particularly for egg donation or surrogacy. The medical and ethical conditions of management of patients and donors represent the main critical points. In order to avoid ethical abuses, homogenization regarding the key principles is necessary in Europe. It is an opportunity to reassert that human body parts should not be a source of financial gain.

Understanding the essential elements of work-based learning and its relevance to everyday clinical practice.

PubMed

Williams, Caroline

2010-09-01

To critically review the work-based learning literature and explore the implications of the findings for the development of work-based learning programmes. With NHS budgets under increasing pressure, and challenges to the impact of classroom-based learning on patient outcomes, work-based learning is likely to come under increased scrutiny as a potential solution. Evidence from higher education institutions suggests that work-based learning can improve practice, but in many cases it is perceived as little more than on-the-job training to perform tasks. The CINAHL database was searched using the keywords work-based learning, work-place learning and practice-based learning. Those articles that had a focus on post-registration nursing were selected and critically reviewed. Using the review of the literature, three key issues were explored. Work-based learning has the potential to change practice. Learning how to learn and critical reflection are key features. For effective work-based learning nurses need to take control of their own learning, receive support to critically reflect on their practice and be empowered to make changes to that practice. A critical review of the literature has identified essential considerations for the implementation of work-based learning. A change in culture from classroom to work-based learning requires careful planning and consideration of learning cultures. To enable effective work-based learning, nurse managers need to develop a learning culture in their workplace. They should ensure that skilled facilitation is provided to support staff with critical reflection and effecting changes in practice. CONTRIBUTION TO NEW KNOWLEDGE: This paper has identified three key issues that need to be considered in the development of work-based learning programmes. © 2010 The Authors. Journal compilation © 2010 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Key concepts relevant to quality of complex and shared decision-making in health care: a literature review.

PubMed

Dy, Sydney M; Purnell, Tanjala S

2012-02-01

High-quality provider-patient decision-making is key to quality care for complex conditions. We performed an analysis of key elements relevant to quality and complex, shared medical decision-making. Based on a search of electronic databases, including Medline and the Cochrane Library, as well as relevant articles' reference lists, reviews of tools, and annotated bibliographies, we developed a list of key concepts and applied them to a decision-making example. Key concepts identified included provider competence, trustworthiness, and cultural competence; communication with patients and families; information quality; patient/surrogate competence; and roles and involvement. We applied this concept list to a case example, shared decision-making for live donor kidney transplantation, and identified the likely most important concepts as provider and cultural competence, information quality, and communication with patients and families. This concept list may be useful for conceptualizing the quality of complex shared decision-making and in guiding research in this area. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Understanding the quality of life (QOL) issues in survivors of cancer: towards the development of an EORTC QOL cancer survivorship questionnaire.

PubMed

van Leeuwen, Marieke; Husson, Olga; Alberti, Paola; Arraras, Juan Ignacio; Chinot, Olivier L; Costantini, Anna; Darlington, Anne-Sophie; Dirven, Linda; Eichler, Martin; Hammerlid, Eva B; Holzner, Bernhard; Johnson, Colin D; Kontogianni, Meropi; Kjær, Trille Kristina; Morag, Ofir; Nolte, Sandra; Nordin, Andrew; Pace, Andrea; Pinto, Monica; Polz, Katja; Ramage, John; Reijneveld, Jaap C; Serpentini, Samantha; Tomaszewski, Krzysztof A; Vassiliou, Vassilios; Verdonck-de Leeuw, Irma M; Vistad, Ingvild; Young, Teresa E; Aaronson, Neil K; van de Poll-Franse, Lonneke V

2018-06-04

The number of cancer survivors is growing steadily and increasingly, clinical trials are being designed to include long-term follow-up to assess not only survival, but also late effects and health-related quality of life (HRQOL). Therefore it is is essential to develop patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) that capture the full range of issues relevant to disease-free cancer survivors. The objectives of this project are: 1) to develop a European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) questionnaire that captures the full range of physical, mental and social HRQOL issues relevant to disease-free cancer survivors; and 2) to determine at which minimal time since completion of treatment the questionnaire should be used. We reviewed 134 publications on cancer survivorship and interviewed 117 disease-free cancer survivors with 11 different types of cancer across 14 countries in Europe to generate an exhaustive, provisional list of HRQOL issues relevant to cancer survivors. The resulting issue list, the EORTC core questionnaire (QLQ-C30), and site-specific questionnaire modules were completed by a second group of 458 survivors. We identified 116 generic survivorship issues. These issues covered body image, cognitive functioning, health behaviors, negative and positive outlook, health distress, mental health, fatigue, sleep problems, physical functioning, pain, several physical symptoms, social functioning, and sexual problems. Patients rated most of the acute symptoms of cancer and its treatment (e.g. nausea) as no longer relevant approximately one year after completion of treatment. Compared to existing cancer survivorship questionnaires, our findings underscore the relevance of assessing issues related to chronic physical side effects of treatment such as neuropathy and joint pain. We will further develop a core survivorship questionnaire and three site-specific modules for disease-free adult cancer survivors who are at least one year post-treatment.

Problematic internet use in childhood and youth: evolution of a 21st century affliction.

PubMed

Tam, Philip; Walter, Garry

2013-12-01

To describe the emergence of, and myriad issues pertaining to, problematic internet use in childhood and youth. In this overview and appraisal of a uniquely 21st century affliction, the focus is on youth and less on young adult perspectives. We employed relevant literature-search methodology though EMBASE, Psychinfo and Web of Science, utilising the key terms of PIU, internet addiction and youth mental health, and present a selection of the pioneering and important research developments both nationally and internationally. We focused on the literature from the past 10 years, but we also included relevant early developments in the field going back to the 1990s. We also made reference, where appropriate, to major considerations of relevance to the general public, where these were reported in reputable international news and media organisations. The authors utilised common internet search engines to access these news reports. It was found that the complex, novel and at times controversial concept of 'problematic internet use' (PIU)--often popularly dubbed 'internet addiction'--has attracted much public, media and research interest, particularly over the past decade. In common with many other afflictions that have a prominent 'pop-cultural' component, often the commentary and debate has been polarising, unclear and sensationalist. At times, more light than heat appears to be generated.

Press releases by academic medical centers: not so academic?

PubMed

Woloshin, Steven; Schwartz, Lisa M; Casella, Samuel L; Kennedy, Abigail T; Larson, Robin J

2009-05-05

The news media are often criticized for exaggerated coverage of weak science. Press releases, a source of information for many journalists, might be a source of those exaggerations. To characterize research press releases from academic medical centers. Content analysis. Press releases from 10 medical centers at each extreme of U.S. News & World Report's rankings for medical research. Press release quality. Academic medical centers issued a mean of 49 press releases annually. Among 200 randomly selected releases analyzed in detail, 87 (44%) promoted animal or laboratory research, of which 64 (74%) explicitly claimed relevance to human health. Among 95 releases about primary human research, 22 (23%) omitted study size and 32 (34%) failed to quantify results. Among all 113 releases about human research, few (17%) promoted studies with the strongest designs (randomized trials or meta-analyses). Forty percent reported on the most limited human studies--those with uncontrolled interventions, small samples (<30 participants), surrogate primary outcomes, or unpublished data--yet 58% lacked the relevant cautions. The effects of press release quality on media coverage were not directly assessed. Press releases from academic medical centers often promote research that has uncertain relevance to human health and do not provide key facts or acknowledge important limitations. National Cancer Institute.

Developing a rapid-response program for health system decision-makers in Canada: findings from an issue brief and stakeholder dialogue.

PubMed

Wilson, Michael G; Lavis, John N; Gauvin, Francois-Pierre

2015-03-11

There is currently no mechanism in place outside of government to provide rapid syntheses of the best available research evidence about problems, options and/or implementation considerations related to a specific health system challenge that Canadian health system decision-makers need to address in a timely manner. A 'rapid-response' program could address this gap by providing access to optimally packaged, relevant and high-quality research evidence over short periods of time (i.e. days or weeks). We prepared an issue brief that describes the best available research evidence related to the problem, three broad features of a program that addresses the problem and implementation considerations. We identified systematic reviews by searching for organization-targeted implementation strategies in Health Systems Evidence ( www.healthsystemsevidence.org ) and drew on an existing analytical framework for how knowledge-brokering organizations can organize themselves to operationalize the program features. The issue brief was then used to inform a half-day stakeholder dialogue about whether and how to develop a rapid-response program for health system decision-makers in Canada. We thematically synthesized the deliberations. We found very few relevant systematic reviews but used frameworks and examples from existing programs to 1) outline key considerations for organizing a rapid-response program,, 2) determine what can be done in timelines ranging from 3 to 10 and 30 business days, and 3) define success and measure it. The 11 dialogue participants from across Canada largely agreed with the content presented in the brief, but noted two key challenges to consider: securing stable, long-term funding and finding a way to effectively and equitably manage the expected demand. Recommendations and suggestions for next steps from dialogue participants included taking an 'organic' approach to developing a pan-Canadian network and including jurisdictional scans as a type of product to deliver through the program (rather than only syntheses of research evidence). Dialogue participants clearly signalled that there is an appetite for a rapid-response program for health system decision-makers in Canada. To 'organically' build such a program, we are currently engaging in efforts to build partnerships and secure funding to support the creation of a pan-Canadian network for conducting rapid syntheses for health system decision-makers in Canada.

The Ecology of Exercise: Mechanisms Underlying Individual Variation in Behavior, Activity, and Performance: An Introduction to Symposium.

PubMed

Killen, Shaun S; Calsbeek, Ryan; Williams, Tony D

2017-08-01

Wild animals often engage in intense physical activity while performing tasks vital for their survival and reproduction associated with foraging, avoiding predators, fighting, providing parental care, and migrating. In this theme issue we consider how viewing these tasks as "exercise"-analogous to that performed by human athletes-may help provide insight into the mechanisms underlying individual variation in these types of behaviors and the importance of physical activity in an ecological context. In this article and throughout this issue, we focus on four key questions relevant to the study of behavioral ecology that may be addressed by studying wild animal behavior from the perspective of exercise physiology: (1) How hard do individual animals work in response to ecological (or evolutionary) demands?; (2) Do lab-based studies of activity provide good models for understanding activity in free-living animals and individual variation in traits?; (3) Can animals work too hard during "routine" activities?; and (4) Can paradigms of "exercise" and "training" be applied to free-living animals? Attempts to address these issues are currently being facilitated by rapid technological developments associated with physiological measurements and the remote tracking of wild animals, to provide mechanistic insights into the behavior of free-ranging animals at spatial and temporal scales that were previously impossible. We further suggest that viewing the behaviors of non-human animals in terms of the physical exercise performed will allow us to fully take advantage of these technological advances, draw from knowledge and conceptual frameworks already in use by human exercise physiologists, and identify key traits that constrain performance and generate variation in performance among individuals. It is our hope that, by highlighting mechanisms of behavior and performance, the articles in this issue will spur on further synergies between physiologists and ecologists, to take advantage of emerging cross-disciplinary perspectives and technologies. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology.

[Priority setting of health interventions. Review of criteria, approaches and role of assessment agencies].

PubMed

Varela-Lema, Leonor; Atienza-Merino, Gerardo; López-García, Marisa

This study was carried out to develop an explicit health priority setting methodology to support decision-making regarding the technologies to be assessed for inclusion in the National Health Service service portfolio. The primary objective is to identify and analyse the criteria, approaches and conceptual frameworks used for national/international priority setting. An exhaustive review of the literature was carried out. For this purpose, a search of the main biomedical databases was performed and assessment agency websites were reviewed, among other sources. In general terms, it was found that there are no standardised criteria for priority setting, although some consensus and common trends have been identified regarding key elements (criteria, models and strategies, key actors, etc.). Globally, 8 key domains were identified: 1) need for intervention; 2) health outcomes; 3) type of benefit of the intervention; 4) economic consequences; 5) existing knowledge on the intervention/quality of and uncertainties regarding the evidence; 6) implementation and complexity of the intervention/feasibility; 7) priority, justice and ethics; and 8) overall context. The review provides a thorough analysis of the relevant issues and offers key recommendations regarding considerations for developing a national prioritisation framework. Findings are envisioned to be useful for different public organisations that are aiming to establish healthcare priorities. Copyright © 2016 SESPAS. Publicado por Elsevier España, S.L.U. All rights reserved.

Making the right decisions about new technologies: a perspective on criteria and preferences in hospitals.

PubMed

Gurtner, Sebastian

2014-01-01

Decision makers in hospitals are regularly faced with choices about the adoption of new technologies. Wrong decisions lead to a waste of resources and can have serious effects on the patients' and hospital's well-being. The goal of this research was to contribute to the understanding of decision making in hospitals. This study produced insights regarding relevant decision criteria and explored their specific relevance. An initial empirical survey was used to collect the relevant criteria for technological decision making in hospitals. In total, 220 experts in the field of health technology assessment from 34 countries participated in the survey. As a second step, the abovementioned criteria were used to form the basis of an analytic hierarchy process model. A group of 115 physicians, medical technical assistants, and other staff, all of whom worked in the field of radiooncology, prioritized the criteria. An analysis of variance was performed to explore differences among groups in terms of institutional and personal categorization variables. The first part of the research revealed seven key criteria for technological decision making in hospitals. The analytic hierarchy process model revealed that organizational impact was the most important criterion, followed by budget impact. The analysis of variance indicated that there were differences in the perceptions of the importance of the identified criteria. This exploration of the criteria for technological decision making in hospitals will help decision makers consider all of the relevant aspects, leading to more structured and rational decisions. For the optimal resource allocation, all of the relevant stakeholder perspectives and local issues must be considered appropriately.

Identification and Characterization of Key Human Performance Issues and Research in the Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lee, Paul U.; Sheridan, Tom; Poage, james L.; Martin, Lynne Hazel; Jobe, Kimberly K.

2010-01-01

This report identifies key human-performance-related issues associated with Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen) research in the NASA NextGen-Airspace Project. Four Research Focus Areas (RFAs) in the NextGen-Airspace Project - namely Separation Assurance (SA), Airspace Super Density Operations (ASDO), Traffic Flow Management (TFM), and Dynamic Airspace Configuration (DAC) - were examined closely. In the course of the research, it was determined that the identified human performance issues needed to be analyzed in the context of NextGen operations rather than through basic human factors research. The main gaps in human factors research in NextGen were found in the need for accurate identification of key human-systems related issues within the context of specific NextGen concepts and better design of the operational requirements for those concepts. By focusing on human-system related issues for individual concepts, key human performance issues for the four RFAs were identified and described in this report. In addition, mixed equipage airspace with components of two RFAs were characterized to illustrate potential human performance issues that arise from the integration of multiple concepts.

Recommended approaches to the scientific evaluation of ecotoxicological hazards and risks of endocrine-active substances

USGS Publications Warehouse

Matthiessen, Peter; Ankley, Gerald T.; Biever, Ronald C.; Bjerregaard, Poul; Borgert, Christopher; Brugger, Kristin; Blankinship, Amy; Chambers, Janice; Coady, Katherine K.; Constantine, Lisa; Dang, Zhichao; Denslow, Nancy D.; Dreier, David; Dungey, Steve; Gray, L. Earl; Gross, Melanie; Guiney, Patrick D.; Hecker, Markus; Holbech, Henrik; Iguchi, Taisen; Kadlec, Sarah; Karouna-Renier, Natalie K.; Katsiadaki, Ioanna; Kawashima, Yukio; Kloas, Werner; Krueger, Henry; Kumar, Anu; Lagadic, Laurent; Leopold, Annegaaike; Levine, Steven L.; Maack, Gerd; Marty, Sue; Meador, James P.; Mihaich, Ellen; Odum, Jenny; Ortego, Lisa; Parrott, Joanne L.; Pickford, Daniel; Roberts, Mike; Schaefers, Christoph; Schwarz, Tamar; Solomon, Keith; Verslycke, Tim; Weltje, Lennart; Wheeler, James R.; Williams, Mike; Wolf, Jeffery C.; Yamazaki, Kunihiko

2017-01-01

A SETAC Pellston Workshop® “Environmental Hazard and Risk Assessment Approaches for Endocrine-Active Substances (EHRA)” was held in February 2016 in Pensacola, Florida, USA. The primary objective of the workshop was to provide advice, based on current scientific understanding, to regulators and policy makers; the aim being to make considered, informed decisions on whether to select an ecotoxicological hazard- or a risk-based approach for regulating a given endocrine-disrupting substance (EDS) under review. The workshop additionally considered recent developments in the identification of EDS. Case studies were undertaken on 6 endocrine-active substances (EAS—not necessarily proven EDS, but substances known to interact directly with the endocrine system) that are representative of a range of perturbations of the endocrine system and considered to be data rich in relevant information at multiple biological levels of organization for 1 or more ecologically relevant taxa. The substances selected were 17α-ethinylestradiol, perchlorate, propiconazole, 17β-trenbolone, tributyltin, and vinclozolin. The 6 case studies were not comprehensive safety evaluations but provided foundations for clarifying key issues and procedures that should be considered when assessing the ecotoxicological hazards and risks of EAS and EDS. The workshop also highlighted areas of scientific uncertainty, and made specific recommendations for research and methods-development to resolve some of the identified issues. The present paper provides broad guidance for scientists in regulatory authorities, industry, and academia on issues likely to arise during the ecotoxicological hazard and risk assessment of EAS and EDS. The primary conclusion of this paper, and of the SETAC Pellston Workshop on which it is based, is that if data on environmental exposure, effects on sensitive species and life-stages, delayed effects, and effects at low concentrations are robust, initiating environmental risk assessment of EDS is scientifically sound and sufficiently reliable and protective of the environment. In the absence of such data, assessment on the basis of hazard is scientifically justified until such time as relevant new information is available.

Monitoring ethical, legal, and social issues in developing population genetic databases.

PubMed

Austin, Melissa A; Harding, Sarah E; McElroy, Courtney E

2003-01-01

To characterize ethical, legal, and social issues unique to population genetic database research and to determine the relevance of international recommendations and guidelines for addressing these issues in the development of "genebank" projects globally. Building on our previous description of eight international genebanks, we conducted a comprehensive electronic search and literature review of relevant publications and consulted national and international documents applicable to genebank research. We identified and characterized five categories of ethical, legal, and social issues unique to genebank development: sponsorship and benefit-sharing, neutrality and regulatory power of ethics committees, public engagement, consent, and data protection. We illustrate these issues with examples from specific genebanks. Not all of the issues are addressed in current international guidelines, many of which are nonspecific and unenforceable. The trend of genebank development promises to provide new discoveries to the field of medical science and to greatly improve public health. However, there is a growing need for more explicit, enforceable, and coordinated international guidelines relevant to the development and implementation of genebanks. By comparing ethical, legal and social issues as they arise in genebanks, researchers can better evaluate how to best use these projects to improve public health while protecting participating populations.

Key Scientific Issues in the Health Risk Assessment of Trichloroethylene

PubMed Central

Chiu, Weihsueh A.; Caldwell, Jane C.; Keshava, Nagalakshmi; Scott, Cheryl Siegel

2006-01-01

Trichloroethylene (TCE) is a common environmental contaminant at hazardous waste sites and in ambient and indoor air. Assessing the human health risks of TCE is challenging because of its inherently complex metabolism and toxicity and the widely varying perspectives on a number of critical scientific issues. Because of this complexity, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) drew upon scientific input and expertise from a wide range of groups and individuals in developing its 2001 draft health risk assessment of TCE. This scientific outreach, which was aimed at engaging a diversity of perspectives rather than developing consensus, culminated in 2000 with 16 state-of-the-science articles published together as an Environmental Health Perspectives supplement. Since that time, a substantial amount of new scientific research has been published that is relevant to assessing TCE health risks. Moreover, a number of difficult or controversial scientific issues remain unresolved and are the subject of a scientific consultation with the National Academy of Sciences coordinated by the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy and co-sponsored by a number of federal agencies, including the U.S. EPA. The articles included in this mini-monograph provide a scientific update on the most prominent of these issues: the pharmacokinetics of TCE and its metabolites, mode(s) of action and effects of TCE metabolites, the role of peroxisome proliferator–activated receptor in TCE toxicity, and TCE cancer epidemiology. PMID:16966103

Task-Based Pronunciation Teaching and Research: Key Issues and Future Directions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mora, Joan C.; Levkina, Mayya

2017-01-01

This article synthesizes the conclusions of the empirical studies in this special issue and outlines key questions in future research. The research reported in this volume has identified several fundamental issues in pronunciation-focused task design that are discussed in detail and on which suggestions for further research are outlined. One…

Key Policy Issues in the Implementation of User Choice. Working Paper No. 8.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Smith, Joy Selby; Smith, Chris Selby; Ferrier, Fran

This working paper examines key policy issues in the implementation of Australia's User Choice policy regarding allocating public funds for vocational education and training (VET). Part 1 explains the process used to obtain stakeholders regarding the User Choice policy, the administrative arrangements required to support it, and issues that must…

Resources for Social Change II: A Guide for School Administrators.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wittes, Simon; And Others

This manual provides analyses of issues on and examples of programs relevant to contemporary school crises. Five authors comment on (1) the administrator's dilemma in school disruptions; (2) a case study of school disruption and the responses of two school administrators; (3) three major clusters of issues relevant to the state of American…

Women with epilepsy: clinically relevant issues

PubMed Central

Bangar, Santosh; Shastri, Abhishek; El-Sayeh, Hany; Cavanna, Andrea E.

2016-01-01

Summary Women with epilepsy (WWE) face specific challenges throughout their lifespan due to the effects of seizures and antiepileptic drugs on hormonal function, potentially affecting both sexual and reproductive health. This review article addresses the most common issues of practical relevance to clinicians treating WWE: epidemiology and clinical presentations (including catamenial epilepsy), contraception, reproductive and sexual dysfunction, pregnancy, lactation, menopause-related issues (including bone health), and mental health aspects. Awareness of these gender-specific issues and implementation/adaptation of effective interventions for WWE results in significantly improved health-related quality of life in this patient population. PMID:27678205

Developing Educational Resources to Advance Umbilical Cord Blood Banking and Research: A Canadian Perspective.

PubMed

Beak, Carla Pereira; Chargé, Sophie B; Isasi, Rosario; Knoppers, Bartha M

2015-05-01

In 2013 Canadian Blood Services (CBS) launched the National Public Cord Blood Bank (NPCBB), a program to collect, process, test, and store cord blood units donated for use in transplantation. A key component of the creation of the NPCBB is the establishment of a program that enables cord blood not suitable for banking or transplantation to be used for biomedical research purposes. Along with the development of processes and policies to manage the NPCBB and the cord blood research program, CBS-in collaboration with researchers from the Stem Cell Network-have also developed educational tools to provide relevant information for target audiences to aid implementation and operation. We describe here one of these tools, the REB Primer on Research and Cord Blood Donation (the Primer), which highlights key ethical and legal considerations and identifies Canadian documents that are relevant to the use of cord blood in biomedical research. The Primer also introduces the NPCBB and describes the systems CBS is implementing to address ethical issues. The Primer is intended to assist research ethics boards in evaluating the ethical acceptability of research protocols, to facilitate harmonized decision-making by providing a common reference, and to highlight the role of research ethics boards in governance frameworks. With the Primer we hope to illustrate how the development of such educational tools can facilitate the ethical implementation and governance of programs related to stem cell research in Canada and abroad.

Assessing the performance of mental health service facilities for meeting patient priorities and health service responsiveness.

PubMed

Bramesfeld, A; Stegbauer, C

2016-10-01

The World Health Organisation has defined health service responsiveness as one of the key-objectives of health systems. Health service responsiveness relates to the ability to respond to service users' legitimate expectations on non-medical issues when coming into contact with the services of a healthcare system. It is defined by the areas showing respect for persons and patient orientation. Health service responsiveness is particularly relevant to mental health services, due to the specific vulnerability of mental health patients but also because it matches what mental health patients consider as good quality of care as well as their priorities when seeking healthcare. As (mental) health service responsiveness applies equally to all concerned services it would be suitable as a universal indicator for the quality of services' performance. However, performance monitoring programs in mental healthcare rarely assess health service performance with respect to meeting patient priorities. This is in part due of patient priorities as an outcome being underrepresented in studies that evaluate service provision. The lack of studies using patient priorities as outcomes transmits into evidence based guidelines and subsequently, into underrepresentation of patient priorities in performance monitoring. Possible ways out of this situation include more intervention studies using patient priorities as outcome, considering evidence from qualitative studies in guideline development and developing performance monitoring programs along the patient pathway and on key-points of relevance for service quality from a patient perspective.

Solar geoengineering could substantially reduce climate risks—A research hypothesis for the next decade

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Keith, David W.; Irvine, Peter J.

2016-11-01

We offer a hypothesis that if solar geoengineering (SG) were deployed to offset half of the increase in global-mean temperature from the date of deployment using a technology and deployment method chosen to approximate a reduction in the solar constant then, over the 21st century, it would (a) substantially reduce the global aggregate risks of climate change, (b) without making any country worse off, and (c) with the aggregate risks from side-effects being small in comparison to the reduction in climate risks. We do not set out to demonstrate this hypothesis; rather we propose it with the goal of stimulating a strategic engagement of the SG research community with policy-relevant questions. We elaborate seven sub-hypotheses on the effects of our scenario for key risks of climate change that could be assessed in future modeling work. As an example, we provide a defence of one of our sub-hypotheses, that our scenario of SG would reduce the risk of drought in dry regions, but also identify issues that may undermine this sub-hypothesis and how future work could resolve this question. SG cannot substitute for emissions mitigation but it may be a useful supplement. It is our hope that scientific and technical research over the next decade focuses more closely on well-articulated variants of the key policy-relevant question: could SG be designed and deployed in such a way that it could substantially and equitably reduce climate risks?

Two frameworks for integrating knowledge in induction

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rosenbloom, Paul S.; Hirsh, Haym; Cohen, William W.; Smith, Benjamin D.

1994-01-01

The use of knowledge in inductive learning is critical for improving the quality of the concept definitions generated, reducing the number of examples required in order to learn effective concept definitions, and reducing the computation needed to find good concept definitions. Relevant knowledge may come in many forms (such as examples, descriptions, advice, and constraints) and from many sources (such as books, teachers, databases, and scientific instruments). How to extract the relevant knowledge from this plethora of possibilities, and then to integrate it together so as to appropriately affect the induction process is perhaps the key issue at this point in inductive learning. Here the focus is on the integration part of this problem; that is, how induction algorithms can, and do, utilize a range of extracted knowledge. Preliminary work on a transformational framework for defining knowledge-intensive inductive algorithms out of relatively knowledge-free algorithms is described, as is a more tentative problems-space framework that attempts to cover all induction algorithms within a single general approach. These frameworks help to organize what is known about current knowledge-intensive induction algorithms, and to point towards new algorithms.

Environmental application of nanotechnology: air, soil, and water.

PubMed

Ibrahim, Rusul Khaleel; Hayyan, Maan; AlSaadi, Mohammed Abdulhakim; Hayyan, Adeeb; Ibrahim, Shaliza

2016-07-01

Global deterioration of water, soil, and atmosphere by the release of toxic chemicals from the ongoing anthropogenic activities is becoming a serious problem throughout the world. This poses numerous issues relevant to ecosystem and human health that intensify the application challenges of conventional treatment technologies. Therefore, this review sheds the light on the recent progresses in nanotechnology and its vital role to encompass the imperative demand to monitor and treat the emerging hazardous wastes with lower cost, less energy, as well as higher efficiency. Essentially, the key aspects of this account are to briefly outline the advantages of nanotechnology over conventional treatment technologies and to relevantly highlight the treatment applications of some nanomaterials (e.g., carbon-based nanoparticles, antibacterial nanoparticles, and metal oxide nanoparticles) in the following environments: (1) air (treatment of greenhouse gases, volatile organic compounds, and bioaerosols via adsorption, photocatalytic degradation, thermal decomposition, and air filtration processes), (2) soil (application of nanomaterials as amendment agents for phytoremediation processes and utilization of stabilizers to enhance their performance), and (3) water (removal of organic pollutants, heavy metals, pathogens through adsorption, membrane processes, photocatalysis, and disinfection processes).

Psychiatrists and termination of pregnancy: clinical, legal and ethical aspects.

PubMed

Morris, Kirsty; Savell, Kristin; Ryan, Christopher J

2012-01-01

To provide practical guidance for psychiatrists asked to conduct an assessment of a woman requesting a termination of pregnancy. The law relevant to termination of pregnancy in each of the Australian states and territories and in New Zealand was synthesised and reviewed, as was the available literature around the key roles for the psychiatrist in these settings. Little is known about the rates of and reasons for terminations in Australasia. The 'lawfulness' of termination varies between jurisdictions and might require a consideration of the woman's mental health. When psychiatrists are asked to assist, their roles can be divided into: assessment and management of the woman's mental health, assessment of the woman's capacity to consent to the termination, assessment of the impact of having a termination or not having a termination upon the woman's mental health, assistance in determining the lawfulness of the proposed termination and, finally, support of the obstetric team providing terminations. The psychiatric assessment of a woman requesting a termination of pregnancy requires an understanding of the ethical issues, the relevant law and a clinical framework within which the psychiatrist can delineate his or her various roles.

Immigrant Mental Health, A Public Health Issue: Looking Back and Moving Forward

PubMed Central

George, Usha; Thomson, Mary S.; Chaze, Ferzana; Guruge, Sepali

2015-01-01

The Mental Health Commission of Canada’s (MHCC) strategy calls for promoting the health and wellbeing of all Canadians and to improve mental health outcomes. Each year, one in every five Canadians experiences one or more mental health problems, creating a significant cost to the health system. Mental health is pivotal to holistic health and wellbeing. This paper presents the key findings of a comprehensive literature review of Canadian research on the relationship between settlement experiences and the mental health and well-being of immigrants and refugees. A scoping review was conducted following a framework provided by Arskey and O’Malley (Int J Soc Res Methodol 8:19–32, 2005). Over two decades of relevant literature on immigrants’ health in Canada was searched. These included English language peer-reviewed publications from relevant online databases Medline, Embase, PsycInfo, Healthstar, ERIC and CINAHL between 1990 and 2015. The findings revealed three important ways in which settlement affects the mental health of immigrants and refugees: through acculturation related stressors, economic uncertainty and ethnic discrimination. The recommendations for public health practice and policy are discussed. PMID:26516884

Current knowledge and trends in age-related macular degeneration: genetics, epidemiology, and prevention.

PubMed

Velez-Montoya, Raul; Oliver, Scott C N; Olson, Jeffrey L; Fine, Stuart L; Quiroz-Mercado, Hugo; Mandava, Naresh

2014-03-01

To address the most dynamic and current issues concerning human genetics, risk factors, pharmacoeconomics, and prevention regarding age-related macular degeneration. An online review of the database Pubmed and Ovid was performed, searching for the key words: age-related macular degeneration, AMD, pharmacoeconomics, risk factors, VEGF, prevention, genetics and their compound phrases. The search was limited to articles published since 1985 to date. All returned articles were carefully screened and their references were manually reviewed for additional relevant data. The webpage www.clinicaltrials.gov was also accessed in search of relevant research trials. A total of 366 articles were reviewed, including 64 additional articles extracted from the references and 25 webpages and online databases from different institutions. At the end, only 244 references were included in this review. Age-related macular degeneration is a complex multifactorial disease that has an uneven manifestation around the world but with one common denominator, it is increasing and spreading. The economic burden that this disease poses in developed nations will increase in the coming years. Effective preventive therapies need to be developed in the near future.

Illicit drugs and the media: models of media effects for use in drug policy research.

PubMed

Lancaster, Kari; Hughes, Caitlin E; Spicer, Bridget; Matthew-Simmons, Francis; Dillon, Paul

2011-07-01

Illicit drugs are never far from the media gaze and although identified almost a decade ago as 'a new battleground' for the alcohol and other drug (AOD) field there has been limited research examining the role of the news media and its effects on audiences and policy. This paper draws together media theories from communication literature to examine media functions. We illustrate how each function is relevant for media and drugs research by drawing upon the existing literature examining Australian media coverage during the late 1990s of escalating heroin-related problems and proposed solutions. Media can influence audiences in four key ways: by setting the agenda and defining public interest; framing issues through selection and salience; indirectly shaping individual and community attitudes towards risk; and feeding into political debate and decision making. Each has relevance for the AOD field. For example, media coverage of the escalating heroin-related problems in Australia played a strong role in generating interest in heroin overdoses, framing public discourse in terms of a health and/or criminal issue and affecting political decisions. Implications AND CONCLUSION: Media coverage in relation to illicit drugs can have multifarious effects. Incorporating media communication theories into future research and actions is critical to facilitate understanding of the short- and long-term impacts of media coverage on illicit drugs and the avenues by which the AOD field can mitigate or inform future media debates on illicit drugs. © 2010 Australasian Professional Society on Alcohol and other Drugs.

Networks as systems.

PubMed

Best, Allan; Berland, Alex; Greenhalgh, Trisha; Bourgeault, Ivy L; Saul, Jessie E; Barker, Brittany

2018-03-19

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to present a case study of the World Health Organization's Global Healthcare Workforce Alliance (GHWA). Based on a commissioned evaluation of GHWA, it applies network theory and key concepts from systems thinking to explore network emergence, effectiveness, and evolution to over a ten-year period. The research was designed to provide high-level strategic guidance for further evolution of global governance in human resources for health (HRH). Design/methodology/approach Methods included a review of published literature on HRH governance and current practice in the field and an in-depth case study whose main data sources were relevant GHWA background documents and key informant interviews with GHWA leaders, staff, and stakeholders. Sampling was purposive and at a senior level, focusing on board members, executive directors, funders, and academics. Data were analyzed thematically with reference to systems theory and Shiffman's theory of network development. Findings Five key lessons emerged: effective management and leadership are critical; networks need to balance "tight" and "loose" approaches to their structure and processes; an active communication strategy is key to create and maintain support; the goals, priorities, and membership must be carefully focused; and the network needs to support shared measurement of progress on agreed-upon goals. Shiffman's middle-range network theory is a useful tool when guided by the principles of complex systems that illuminate dynamic situations and shifting interests as global alliances evolve. Research limitations/implications This study was implemented at the end of the ten-year funding cycle. A more continuous evaluation throughout the term would have provided richer understanding of issues. Experience and perspectives at the country level were not assessed. Practical implications Design and management of large, complex networks requires ongoing attention to key issues like leadership, and flexible structures and processes to accommodate the dynamic reality of these networks. Originality/value This case study builds on growing interest in the role of networks to foster large-scale change. The particular value rests on the longitudinal perspective on the evolution of a large, complex global network, and the use of theory to guide understanding.

Coeur d'Alene Tribal Production Facility, Volume I of III, 2002-2003 Progress Report.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Anders, Paul

2003-01-01

In fulfillment of the NWPPC's 3-Step Process for the implementation of new hatcheries in the Columbia Basin, this Step 1 submission package to the Council includes four items: (1) Cover letter from the Coeur d'Alene Tribe, Interdisciplinary Team Chair, and the USFWS; (2) References to key information (Attachments 1-4); (3) The updated Master Plan for the Tribe's native cutthroat restoration project; and (4) Appendices. In support of the Master Plan submitted by the Coeur d'Alene Tribe the reference chart (Item 2) was developed to allow reviewers to quickly access information necessary for accurate peer review. The Northwest Power Planning Councilmore » identified pertinent issues to be addressed in the master planning process for new artificial production facilities. References to this key information are provided in three attachments: (1) NWPPC Program language regarding the Master Planning Process, (2) Questions Identified in the September 1997 Council Policy, and (3) Program language identified by the Council's Independent Scientific Review Panel (ISRP). To meet the need for off-site mitigation for fish losses on the mainstem Columbia River, in a manner consistent with the objectives of the Council's Program, the Coeur d'Alene Tribe is proposing that the BPA fund the design, construction, operation, and maintenance of a trout production facility located adjacent to Coeur d'Alene Lake on the Coeur d'Alene Indian Reservation. The updated Master Plan (Item 3) represents the needs associated with the re-evaluation of the Coeur d'Alene Tribe's Trout Production Facility (No.199004402). This plan addresses issues and concerns expressed by the NWPPC as part of the issue summary for the Mountain Columbia provincial review, and the 3-step hatchery review process. Finally, item 4 (Appendices) documents the 3-Step process correspondence to date between the Coeur d'Alene Tribe and additional relevant entities. Item 4 provides a chronological account of previous ISRP reviews, official Coeur d'Alene fisheries program responses to a series of ISRP reviews, master planning documentation, and annual reports dating back to 1990. Collectively, the materials provided by the Coeur d'Alene Tribe in this Step-1 submission package comprehensively assesses key research, habitat improvement activities, and hatchery production issues to best protect and enhance native cutthroat trout populations and the historically and culturally important tribal fisheries they support.« less

Key populations and human rights in the context of HIV services rendition in Ghana.

PubMed

Laar, Amos; DeBruin, Debra

2017-08-02

In line with its half century old penal code, Ghana currently criminalizes and penalizes behaviors of some key populations - populations deemed to be at higher risk of acquiring or transmitting Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV). Men who have sex with men (MSM), and sex workers (SWs) fit into this categorization. This paper provides an analysis of how enactment and implementation of rights-limiting laws not only limit rights, but also amplify risk and vulnerability to HIV in key and general populations. The paper derives from a project that assessed the ethics sensitivity of key documents guiding Ghana's response to its HIV epidemic. Assessment was guided by leading frameworks from public health ethics, and relevant articles from the international bill of rights. Ghana's response to her HIV epidemic does not adequately address the rights and needs of key populations. Even though the national response has achieved some public health successes, palpable efforts to address rights issues remain nascent. Ghana's guiding documents for HIV response include no advocacy for decriminalization, depenalization or harm reduction approaches for these key populations. The impact of rights-restricting codes on the nation's HIV epidemic is real: criminalization impedes key populations' access to HIV prevention and treatment services. Given that they are bridging populations, whatever affects the Ghanaian key populations directly, affects the general population indirectly. The right to the highest attainable standard of health, without qualification, is generally acknowledged as a fundamental human right. Unfortunately, this right currently eludes the Ghanaian SW and MSM. The paper endorses decriminalization as a means of promoting this right. In the face of opposition to decriminalization, the paper proposes specific harm reduction strategies as approaches to promote health and uplift the diminished rights of key populations. Thus the authors call on Ghana to remove impediments to public health services provision to these populations. Doing so will require political will and sufficient planning toward prioritizing HIV prevention, care and treatment programming for key populations.

Workplace wellness programs in Canada: an exploration of key issues.

PubMed

Morrison, Erin; MacKinnon, Neil J

2008-01-01

Faced with the reality of rising health costs, Canadian employers are thinking beyond traditional notions of responsibility for employee health and have begun to embrace Workplace Wellness Programs (WWPs). This article investigates the critical issues of WWPs in the Canadian context from the perspective of key stakeholders. Using a combination of literature and key informant interviews, seven key themes are presented along with recommendations for wider implementation of WWPs in Canada.

The balancing act: key issues in the lives of women general practitioners in Australia.

PubMed

Kilmartin, Margaret R; Newell, Christopher J; Line, Martin A

2002-07-15

To identify key issues affecting women general practitioners in their professional and non-professional lives. A qualitative study using the Delphi technique, with three rounds of data provision circulated to each participant. Coding was used to ensure anonymity. The participants were a purposive sample of 40 women GPs drawn from all Australian States and Territories. The study was conducted between October 1996 and January 1997. Key issues affecting the professional and non-professional lives of women GPs. Some of the key professional issues for women GPs were job satisfaction, balancing work and personal life, autonomy, availability of flexible and part-time work and training, affordability of professional expenses, fair remuneration, and having a voice in decision-making. Key non-professional issues included self-care; time for relationships with a partner, children, family and friends; and time management to allow pursuit of non-medical interests. The conflicting demands made on women GPs diminish their job satisfaction and lead to stress and imbalance in their lives. Recommendations to ameliorate the problems for women GPs include appropriate training, policy formation, financial and other support, and a change in cultural expectations of women GPs by the community, the profession and governments.

WOC practice in cyberspace: legal and ethical issues.

PubMed

Hoyman, K

2001-07-01

WOC nurses have the opportunity to extend their practice geographically by using electronic media, also called telehealth or "practicing in cyberspace." Currently, laws and regulations affecting this aspect of practice are in rapid flux. In addition, practicing electronically makes the ethical issues of choice, privacy, and confidentiality more acute. This article describes the current status of relevant legislation, discusses relevant ethical issues, and provides guidelines for WOC nurses who are considering the use of e-mail and video conferencing within their practice.

Key Higher-Education Issues in the States

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fischer, Karin; Hebel, Sara

2007-01-01

Legislatures are set to convene in January in 43 states. This article presents the key issues that are expected to be debated by legislatures in states this year. These issues include: (1) Annulment of a controversial law in Texas that guarantees students who graduate in the top 10 percent of their high-school classes admission to any public…

Understanding Key Education Issues: How We Got Here and Where We Go from Here

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lynch, Matthew

2017-01-01

In this age of education innovation and reform, schools must evolve and react to current policy trends. This accessible book offers research-based insights into six key educational trends and issues that are impacting K-12 learning today: year-round schooling, assessments, educating minorities, anti-intellectualism, issues of social promotion and…

A Different Approach to Attitude Scale Construction.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Edirisooriya, Gunapala

This paper suggests a new approach to attitude scale construction. Instead of asking respondents to express the extent or the degree of opinion on a particular issue, respondents should be asked about the factors that are relevant for the issue of interest and how much weight respondents are willing to attach to each relevant piece of evidence.…

For Dr. Nancy Snyderman's Parents, Staying Close to Family Is Key

MedlinePlus

... Issues Feature: Senior Living For Dr. Nancy Snyderman's Parents, Staying Close to Family Is Key Past Issues / ... home. "Watching my children grow closer to my parents has been a blessing, and having us nearby ...

Introduction. Information, knowledge and technology.

PubMed

MacFarlane, Alistair G J

2003-08-15

Technology is the sum of the ways in which social groups manipulate order in the world to achieve their ends. It enables our active engagement with the world. Technology is central to our present well-being and vital for our future survival. As such it needs a coherent world view, a conceptual framework which will enable the fundamental problems that it poses for society to be approached in an illuminating way. Furthermore, such an approach, while remaining convincing, must not be overwhelmed by an ever-increasing welter of specialization and diversity of application. It is the purpose of the set of papers presented here to examine some key aspects of such a conceptual framework; not in the sense of offering a fully worked out philosophy of technology--that would be a huge and complex undertaking--but rather by considering some key topics. Subsidiary aims are to survey important relevant areas, to identify key sources that can provide access points for further study, and to consider some possible future developments. Major, coherent domains of activity are characterized by a few, fundamental, extensively used and essentially unifying concepts. Technology is such a domain, and its fundamental concepts are information, knowledge and agency. The following sections give a synoptic overview of the material presented in this theme issue, and set it within a wider context.

PESI - a taxonomic backbone for Europe.

PubMed

de Jong, Yde; Kouwenberg, Juliana; Boumans, Louis; Hussey, Charles; Hyam, Roger; Nicolson, Nicola; Kirk, Paul; Paton, Alan; Michel, Ellinor; Guiry, Michael D; Boegh, Phillip S; Pedersen, Henrik Ærenlund; Enghoff, Henrik; von Raab-Straube, Eckhard; Güntsch, Anton; Geoffroy, Marc; Müller, Andreas; Kohlbecker, Andreas; Berendsohn, Walter; Appeltans, Ward; Arvanitidis, Christos; Vanhoorne, Bart; Declerck, Joram; Vandepitte, Leen; Hernandez, Francisco; Nash, Róisín; Costello, Mark John; Ouvrard, David; Bezard-Falgas, Pascale; Bourgoin, Thierry; Wetzel, Florian Tobias; Glöckler, Falko; Korb, Günther; Ring, Caroline; Hagedorn, Gregor; Häuser, Christoph; Aktaç, Nihat; Asan, Ahmet; Ardelean, Adorian; Borges, Paulo Alexandre Vieira; Dhora, Dhimiter; Khachatryan, Hasmik; Malicky, Michael; Ibrahimov, Shaig; Tuzikov, Alexander; De Wever, Aaike; Moncheva, Snejana; Spassov, Nikolai; Chobot, Karel; Popov, Alexi; Boršić, Igor; Sfenthourakis, Spyros; Kõljalg, Urmas; Uotila, Pertti; Olivier, Gargominy; Dauvin, Jean-Claude; Tarkhnishvili, David; Chaladze, Giorgi; Tuerkay, Michael; Legakis, Anastasios; Peregovits, László; Gudmundsson, Gudmundur; Ólafsson, Erling; Lysaght, Liam; Galil, Bella Sarah; Raimondo, Francesco M; Domina, Gianniantonio; Stoch, Fabio; Minelli, Alessandro; Spungis, Voldermars; Budrys, Eduardas; Olenin, Sergej; Turpel, Armand; Walisch, Tania; Krpach, Vladimir; Gambin, Marie Therese; Ungureanu, Laurentia; Karaman, Gordan; Kleukers, Roy M J C; Stur, Elisabeth; Aagaard, Kaare; Valland, Nils; Moen, Toril Loennechen; Bogdanowicz, Wieslaw; Tykarski, Piotr; Węsławski, Jan Marcin; Kędra, Monika; M de Frias Martins, Antonio; Abreu, António Domingos; Silva, Ricardo; Medvedev, Sergei; Ryss, Alexander; Šimić, Smiljka; Marhold, Karol; Stloukal, Eduard; Tome, Davorin; Ramos, Marian A; Valdés, Benito; Pina, Francisco; Kullander, Sven; Telenius, Anders; Gonseth, Yves; Tschudin, Pascal; Sergeyeva, Oleksandra; Vladymyrov, Volodymyr; Rizun, Volodymyr Bohdanovych; Raper, Chris; Lear, Dan; Stoev, Pavel; Penev, Lyubomir; Rubio, Ana Casino; Backeljau, Thierry; Saarenmaa, Hannu; Ulenberg, Sandrine

2015-01-01

Reliable taxonomy underpins communication in all of biology, not least nature conservation and sustainable use of ecosystem resources. The flexibility of taxonomic interpretations, however, presents a serious challenge for end-users of taxonomic concepts. Users need standardised and continuously harmonised taxonomic reference systems, as well as high-quality and complete taxonomic data sets, but these are generally lacking for non-specialists. The solution is in dynamic, expertly curated web-based taxonomic tools. The Pan-European Species-directories Infrastructure (PESI) worked to solve this key issue by providing a taxonomic e-infrastructure for Europe. It strengthened the relevant social (expertise) and information (standards, data and technical) capacities of five major community networks on taxonomic indexing in Europe, which is essential for proper biodiversity assessment and monitoring activities. The key objectives of PESI were: 1) standardisation in taxonomic reference systems, 2) enhancement of the quality and completeness of taxonomic data sets and 3) creation of integrated access to taxonomic information. This paper describes the results of PESI and its future prospects, including the involvement in major European biodiversity informatics initiatives and programs.

PESI - a taxonomic backbone for Europe

PubMed Central

Kouwenberg, Juliana; Boumans, Louis; Hussey, Charles; Hyam, Roger; Nicolson, Nicola; Kirk, Paul; Paton, Alan; Michel, Ellinor; Guiry, Michael D.; Boegh, Phillip S.; Pedersen, Henrik Ærenlund; Enghoff, Henrik; von Raab-Straube, Eckhard; Güntsch, Anton; Geoffroy, Marc; Müller, Andreas; Kohlbecker, Andreas; Berendsohn, Walter; Appeltans, Ward; Arvanitidis, Christos; Vanhoorne, Bart; Declerck, Joram; Vandepitte, Leen; Hernandez, Francisco; Nash, Róisín; Costello, Mark John; Ouvrard, David; Bezard-Falgas, Pascale; Bourgoin, Thierry; Wetzel, Florian Tobias; Glöckler, Falko; Korb, Günther; Ring, Caroline; Hagedorn, Gregor; Häuser, Christoph; Aktaç, Nihat; Asan, Ahmet; Ardelean, Adorian; Borges, Paulo Alexandre Vieira; Dhora, Dhimiter; Khachatryan, Hasmik; Malicky, Michael; Ibrahimov, Shaig; Tuzikov, Alexander; De Wever, Aaike; Moncheva, Snejana; Spassov, Nikolai; Chobot, Karel; Popov, Alexi; Boršić, Igor; Sfenthourakis, Spyros; Kõljalg, Urmas; Uotila, Pertti; Olivier, Gargominy; Dauvin, Jean-Claude; Tarkhnishvili, David; Chaladze, Giorgi; Tuerkay, Michael; Legakis, Anastasios; Peregovits, László; Gudmundsson, Gudmundur; Ólafsson, Erling; Lysaght, Liam; Galil, Bella Sarah; Raimondo, Francesco M.; Domina, Gianniantonio; Stoch, Fabio; Minelli, Alessandro; Spungis, Voldermars; Budrys, Eduardas; Olenin, Sergej; Turpel, Armand; Walisch, Tania; Krpach, Vladimir; Gambin, Marie Therese; Ungureanu, Laurentia; Karaman, Gordan; Kleukers, Roy M.J.C.; Stur, Elisabeth; Aagaard, Kaare; Valland, Nils; Moen, Toril Loennechen; Bogdanowicz, Wieslaw; Tykarski, Piotr; Węsławski, Jan Marcin; Kędra, Monika; M. de Frias Martins, Antonio; Abreu, António Domingos; Silva, Ricardo; Medvedev, Sergei; Ryss, Alexander; Šimić, Smiljka; Marhold, Karol; Stloukal, Eduard; Tome, Davorin; Ramos, Marian A.; Valdés, Benito; Pina, Francisco; Kullander, Sven; Telenius, Anders; Gonseth, Yves; Tschudin, Pascal; Sergeyeva, Oleksandra; Vladymyrov, Volodymyr; Rizun, Volodymyr Bohdanovych; Raper, Chris; Lear, Dan; Stoev, Pavel; Penev, Lyubomir; Rubio, Ana Casino; Backeljau, Thierry; Saarenmaa, Hannu; Ulenberg, Sandrine

2015-01-01

Abstract Background Reliable taxonomy underpins communication in all of biology, not least nature conservation and sustainable use of ecosystem resources. The flexibility of taxonomic interpretations, however, presents a serious challenge for end-users of taxonomic concepts. Users need standardised and continuously harmonised taxonomic reference systems, as well as high-quality and complete taxonomic data sets, but these are generally lacking for non-specialists. The solution is in dynamic, expertly curated web-based taxonomic tools. The Pan-European Species-directories Infrastructure (PESI) worked to solve this key issue by providing a taxonomic e-infrastructure for Europe. It strengthened the relevant social (expertise) and information (standards, data and technical) capacities of five major community networks on taxonomic indexing in Europe, which is essential for proper biodiversity assessment and monitoring activities. The key objectives of PESI were: 1) standardisation in taxonomic reference systems, 2) enhancement of the quality and completeness of taxonomic data sets and 3) creation of integrated access to taxonomic information. New information This paper describes the results of PESI and its future prospects, including the involvement in major European biodiversity informatics initiatives and programs. PMID:26491393

Whistleblowing: An integrative literature review of data-based studies involving nurses.

PubMed

Jackson, Debra; Hickman, Louise D; Hutchinson, Marie; Andrew, Sharon; Smith, James; Potgieter, Ingrid; Cleary, Michelle; Peters, Kath

2014-10-27

Abstract Aim To summarise and critique the research literature about whistleblowing and nurses. Background Whistleblowing is identified as a crucial issue in maintenance of healthcare standards and nurses are frequently involved in whistleblowing events. Despite the importance of this issue, to our knowledge an evaluation of this body of the data-based literature has not been undertaken. Method An integrative literature review approach was used to summarise and critique the research literature. A comprehensive search of five databases including Medline, CINAHL, PubMed and Health Science: Nursing/Academic Edition, and Google, were searched using terms including: 'whistleblow*', 'nurs*'. In addition, relevant journals were examined, as well as reference lists of retrieved papers. Papers published during the years 2007-2013 were selected for inclusion. Findings Fifteen papers were identified, capturing data from nurses in seven countries. The findings in this review demonstrate a growing body of research for the nursing profession at large to engage and respond appropriately to issues involving suboptimal patient care or organisational wrongdoing. Conclusions Nursing plays a key role in maintaining practice standards and in reporting care that is unacceptable although the repercussions to nurses who raise concerns are insupportable. Overall, whistleblowing and how it influences the individual, their family, work colleagues, nursing practice and policy overall, requires further national and international research attention.

Whistleblowing: An integrative literature review of data-based studies involving nurses.

PubMed

Jackson, Debra; Hickman, Louise D; Hutchinson, Marie; Andrew, Sharon; Smith, James; Potgieter, Ingrid; Cleary, Michelle; Peters, Kath

2014-01-01

Abstract Aim: To summarise and critique the research literature about whistleblowing and nurses. Whistleblowing is identified as a crucial issue in maintenance of healthcare standards and nurses are frequently involved in whistleblowing events. Despite the importance of this issue, to our knowledge an evaluation of this body of the data-based literature has not been undertaken. An integrative literature review approach was used to summarise and critique the research literature. A comprehensive search of five databases including Medline, CINAHL, PubMed and Health Science: Nursing/Academic Edition, and Google, were searched using terms including: 'Whistleblow*,' 'nurs*.' In addition, relevant journals were examined, as well as reference lists of retrieved papers. Papers published during the years 2007-2013 were selected for inclusion. Fifteen papers were identified, capturing data from nurses in seven countries. The findings in this review demonstrate a growing body of research for the nursing profession at large to engage and respond appropriately to issues involving suboptimal patient care or organisational wrongdoing. Nursing plays a key role in maintaining practice standards and in reporting care that is unacceptable although the repercussions to nurses who raise concerns are insupportable. Overall, whistleblowing and how it influences the individual, their family, work colleagues, nursing practice and policy overall, requires further national and international research attention.

Training future health providers to care for the underserved: a pilot interprofessional experience.

PubMed

Hasnain, Memoona; Koronkowski, Michael J; Kondratowicz, Diane M; Goliak, Kristen L

2012-01-01

Interprofessional teamwork is essential for effective delivery of health care to all patients, particularly the vulnerable and underserved. This brief communication describes a pilot interprofessional learning experience designed to introduce medicine and pharmacy students to critical health issues affecting at-risk, vulnerable patients and helping students learn the value of functioning effectively in interprofessional teams. With reflective practice as an overarching principle, readings, writing assignments, a community-based immersion experience, discussion seminars, and presentations were organized to cultivate students' insights into key issues impacting the health and well-being of vulnerable patients. A written program evaluation form was used to gather students' feedback about this learning experience. Participating students evaluated this learning experience positively. Both quantitative and qualitative input indicated the usefulness of this learning experience in stimulating learners' thinking and helping them learn to work collaboratively with peers from another discipline to understand and address health issues for at-risk, vulnerable patients within their community. This pilot educational activity helped medicine and pharmacy students learn the value of functioning effectively in interprofessional teams. Given the importance of interprofessional teamwork and the increasing need to respond to the health needs of underserved populations, integrating interprofessional learning experiences in health professions training is highly relevant, feasible, and critically needed.

Ethical, legal, and social issues in health technology assessment for prenatal/preconceptional and newborn screening: a workshop report.

PubMed

Potter, B K; Avard, D; Entwistle, V; Kennedy, C; Chakraborty, P; McGuire, M; Wilson, B J

2009-01-01

Prenatal/preconceptional and newborn screening programs have been a focus of recent policy debates that have included attention to ethical, legal, and social issues (ELSIs). In parallel, there has been an ongoing discussion about whether and how ELSIs may be addressed in health technology assessment (HTA). We conducted a knowledge synthesis study to explore both guidance and current practice regarding the consideration of ELSIs in HTA for prenatal/preconceptional and newborn screening. As the concluding activity for this project, we held a Canadian workshop to discuss the issues with a diverse group of stakeholders. Based on key workshop themes integrated with our study results, we suggest that population-based genetic screening programs may present particular types of ELSIs and that a public health ethics perspective is potentially highly relevant when considering them. We also suggest that approaches to addressing ELSIs in HTA for prenatal/preconceptional and newborn screening may need to be flexible enough to respond to diversity in HTA organizations, cultural values, stakeholder communities, and contextual factors. Finally, we highlight a need for transparency in the way that HTA producers move from evidence to conclusions and the ways in which screening policy decisions are made. Copyright © 2008 S. Karger AG, Basel.

The use of virtual communities of practice to improve interprofessional collaboration and education: findings from an integrated review.

PubMed

McLoughlin, Clodagh; Patel, Kunal D; O'Callaghan, Tom; Reeves, Scott

2018-03-01

The recent growth in online technology has led to a rapid increase in the sharing of health related information globally. Health and social care professionals are now using a wide range of virtual communities of practice (VCoPs) for learning, support, continuing professional education, knowledge management and information sharing. In this article, we report the findings from a review of the literature that explored the use of VCoPs by health and social care professionals to determine their potential for interprofessional education and collaboration. We employed integrated review methods to search and identify relevant VCoP articles. We undertook searches of PubMed and Google Scholar from 2000, which after screening, resulted in the inclusion of 19 articles. A thematic analysis generated the following key issues related to the use of VCoPs: 'definitions and approaches', 'technological infrastructure', 'reported benefits', 'participation issues', 'trust and privacy and 'technical ability'. Based on the findings from this review, there is some evidence that VCoPs can offer an informal method of professional and interprofessional development for clinicians, and can decrease social and professional isolation. However, for VCoPs to be successful, issues of privacy, trust, encouragement and technology need to be addressed.

Ethical issues associated with medical tourism in Africa

PubMed Central

Mogaka, John J. O.; Mupara, Lucia; Tsoka-Gwegweni, Joyce M

2017-01-01

ABSTRACT Global disparities in medical technologies, laws, economic inequities, and social–cultural differences drive medical tourism (MT), the practice of travelling to consume healthcare that is either too delayed, unavailable, unaffordable or legally proscribed at home. Africa is simultaneously a source and destination for MT. MT however, presents a new and challenging health ethics frontier, being largely unregulated and characterized by policy contradictions, minority discrimination and conflict of interest among role-players. This article assesses the level of knowledge of MT and its associated ethical issues in Africa; it also identifies critical research gaps on the subject in the region. Exploratory design guided by Arksey and O’Malley’s (2005) framework was used. Key search terms and prior determined exclusion/inclusion criteria were used to identify relevant literature sources. Fifty-seven articles met the inclusion criteria. Distributive justice, healthcare resource allocation, experimental treatments and organ transplant were the most common ethical issues of medical tourism in Africa. The dearth of robust engagement of MT and healthcare ethics, as identified through this review, calls for more rigorous research on this subject. Although the bulk of the medical tourism industry is driven by global legal disparities based on ethical considerations, little attention has been given to this subject. PMID:28740618

Ethical, Legal, and Social Issues in Health Technology Assessment for Prenatal/Preconceptional and Newborn Screening: A Workshop Report

PubMed Central

Potter, B.K.; Avard, D.; Entwistle, V.; Kennedy, C.; Chakraborty, P.; McGuire, M.; Wilson, B.J.

2008-01-01

Prenatal/preconceptional and newborn screening programs have been a focus of recent policy debates that have included attention to ethical, legal, and social issues (ELSIs). In parallel, there has been an ongoing discussion about whether and how ELSIs may be addressed in health technology assessment (HTA). We conducted a knowledge synthesis study to explore both guidance and current practice regarding the consideration of ELSIs in HTA for prenatal/preconceptional and newborn screening. As the concluding activity for this project, we held a Canadian workshop to discuss the issues with a diverse group of stakeholders. Based on key workshop themes integrated with our study results, we suggest that population-based genetic screening programs may present particular types of ELSIs and that a public health ethics perspective is potentially highly relevant when considering them. We also suggest that approaches to addressing ELSIs in HTA for prenatal/preconceptional and newborn screening may need to be flexible enough to respond to diversity in HTA organizations, cultural values, stakeholder communities, and contextual factors. Finally, we highlight a need for transparency in the way that HTA producers move from evidence to conclusions and the ways in which screening policy decisions are made. PMID:19023190

Carcinoma of unknown primary: key radiological issues from the recent National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence guidelines

PubMed Central

Taylor, M B; Bromham, N R; Arnold, S E

2012-01-01

Carcinoma of unknown primary origin (CUP) accounts for 3–5% of cancer cases and is the fourth most common cause of cancer death in the UK. CUP management is challenging, partly owing to the heterogeneity of the condition and its presentation, but also owing to the lack of dedicated clinical services for these patients. The recent National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) guidelines on metastatic malignancy of unknown primary origin were developed to improve the co-ordination of diagnostic and clinical services at hospitals treating cancer patients in England and Wales, in particular by the setting up of CUP teams to manage these patients. Radiologists have a vital role in the diagnosis of these patients and should work closely with the CUP team to streamline the diagnostic pathway. This article summarises areas of the NICE guidelines relevant to radiology and discusses the radiological management of patients with CUP, including initial investigation, the importance of biopsy, the management of specific presentations, special investigations and organisational issues. PMID:22374278

Modifiable Factors that Support Political Participation by Nurses.

PubMed

Woodward, Bobbi; Smart, Denise; Benavides-Vaello, Sandra

2016-01-01

Political participation is an opportunity for individuals to give their time and energy in such a way that it benefits others and advances relevant agendas. Political participation is a key issue for nurses because they are familiar with clinical issues that directly impact health care policies instituted at the local, state, and federal levels. Collectively, nurses also represent the largest number of health care providers in the United States and are among the most trusted health professionals. However, there are many obstacles that prevent nurses from taking a more active role in politics, creating a gap in how nurses pursue and respond to political participation, or civic engagement. The purpose of this exploratory review is to identify modifiable factors that support political participation among nurses. A review of the extant literature revealed three primary factors that promote civic engagement among nurses: (a) integration of political education in the nursing curriculum; (b) value of active psychological engagement, including a personal interest in political knowledge and information; and (c) value of collective influence such as membership in professional organizations. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Initial Integration of Noise Prediction Tools for Acoustic Scattering Effects

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Nark, Douglas M.; Burley, Casey L.; Tinetti, Ana; Rawls, John W.

2008-01-01

This effort provides an initial glimpse at NASA capabilities available in predicting the scattering of fan noise from a non-conventional aircraft configuration. The Aircraft NOise Prediction Program, Fast Scattering Code, and the Rotorcraft Noise Model were coupled to provide increased fidelity models of scattering effects on engine fan noise sources. The integration of these codes led to the identification of several keys issues entailed in applying such multi-fidelity approaches. In particular, for prediction at noise certification points, the inclusion of distributed sources leads to complications with the source semi-sphere approach. Computational resource requirements limit the use of the higher fidelity scattering code to predict radiated sound pressure levels for full scale configurations at relevant frequencies. And, the ability to more accurately represent complex shielding surfaces in current lower fidelity models is necessary for general application to scattering predictions. This initial step in determining the potential benefits/costs of these new methods over the existing capabilities illustrates a number of the issues that must be addressed in the development of next generation aircraft system noise prediction tools.

Beyond Climate Focus and Disciplinary Myopia. The Roles and Responsibilities of Hospitals and Healthcare Professionals

PubMed Central

Ulhøi, John P.; Ulhøi, Benedicte P.

2009-01-01

This paper calls for the need to address climate change within the concept of sustainable development, in recognition of the interrelationships between environmental, economic and social systems. So far, health- providing organizations such as hospitals have paid surprisingly little attention to the relationships between environmental change (e.g. climate change) and human health, or between hospitals (as professional organizations) and their impact on sustainable development. Although it is usually such industries as the chemical, extractive and metal industries, etc., that are associated with environmentally harmful activities, there is also an urgent need to emphasize the roles and responsibilities of hospitals and their embeddedness in a wider ecological, economic and social context. The key objective here is to discuss the relevance of sustainability and environmental management issues in a sector that until now has conveniently ignored its roles and responsibilities in relation to sustainability issues. The paper concludes that arguments based on systems theory, environment, medicine, economics and innovation strongly urge hospitals to reconsider their present roles and environmental responsibilities. PMID:19440441

Statistical issues in reporting quality data: small samples and casemix variation.

PubMed

Zaslavsky, A M

2001-12-01

To present two key statistical issues that arise in analysis and reporting of quality data. Casemix variation is relevant to quality reporting when the units being measured have differing distributions of patient characteristics that also affect the quality outcome. When this is the case, adjustment using stratification or regression may be appropriate. Such adjustments may be controversial when the patient characteristic does not have an obvious relationship to the outcome. Stratified reporting poses problems for sample size and reporting format, but may be useful when casemix effects vary across units. Although there are no absolute standards of reliability, high reliabilities (interunit F > or = 10 or reliability > or = 0.9) are desirable for distinguishing above- and below-average units. When small or unequal sample sizes complicate reporting, precision may be improved using indirect estimation techniques that incorporate auxiliary information, and 'shrinkage' estimation can help to summarize the strength of evidence about units with small samples. With broader understanding of casemix adjustment and methods for analyzing small samples, quality data can be analysed and reported more accurately.

Insights and participatory actions driven by a socio-hydrogeological approach for groundwater management: the Grombalia Basin case study (Tunisia)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tringali, C.; Re, V.; Siciliano, G.; Chkir, N.; Tuci, C.; Zouari, K.

2017-08-01

Sustainable groundwater management strategies in water-scarce countries need to guide future decision-making processes pragmatically, by simultaneously considering local needs, environmental problems and economic development. The socio-hydrogeological approach named `Bir Al-Nas' has been tested in the Grombalia region (Cap Bon Peninsula, Tunisia), to evaluate the effectiveness of complementing hydrogeochemical and hydrogeological investigations with the social dimension of the issue at stake (which, in this case, is the identification of groundwater pollution sources). Within this approach, the social appraisal, performed through social network analysis and public engagement of water end-users, allowed hydrogeologists to get acquainted with the institutional dimension of local groundwater management, identifying issues, potential gaps (such as weak knowledge transfer among concerned stakeholders), and the key actors likely to support the implementation of the new science-based management practices resulting from the ongoing hydrogeological investigation. Results, hence, go beyond the specific relevance for the Grombaila basin, showing the effectiveness of the proposed approach and the importance of including social assessment in any given hydrogeological research aimed at supporting local development through groundwater protection measures.

Waiting for harm: deliberate self-harm and suicide in young people--a review of the literature.

PubMed

Anderson, M

1999-04-01

Mental health professionals, particularly nurses, practicing in child and adolescent psychiatry are key players in the continued development of expertise, awareness and understanding of deliberate self-harm (DSH) and suicide in young people. Enhancing this knowledge and the associated skills will contribute to effective, therapeutic relationships with individuals and their families. The purpose of this paper is to review the current literature surrounding the issue of deliberate self-harm and suicide in young people. The paper will address national and international studies selected from a variety of child and adolescent and general psychiatric literature. The research presented highlights important issues to be addressed in practice. In particular, the evidence supports the influence of mental illness in DSH and suicide, particularly depression and substance abuse. However, a clearly important factor is an individual's experience of family and social life. The literature is considered in the light of relevant governmental policy documents relating to DSH and suicide. The future role of the mental health nurse in child and adolescent psychiatry in the United Kingdom (UK) is discussed in the contexts of family work and assessment.

Chemical wiring and soldering toward all-molecule electronic circuitry.

PubMed

Okawa, Yuji; Mandal, Swapan K; Hu, Chunping; Tateyama, Yoshitaka; Goedecker, Stefan; Tsukamoto, Shigeru; Hasegawa, Tsuyoshi; Gimzewski, James K; Aono, Masakazu

2011-06-01

Key to single-molecule electronics is connecting functional molecules to each other using conductive nanowires. This involves two issues: how to create conductive nanowires at designated positions, and how to ensure chemical bonding between the nanowires and functional molecules. Here, we present a novel method that solves both issues. Relevant functional molecules are placed on a self-assembled monolayer of diacetylene compound. A probe tip of a scanning tunneling microscope is then positioned on the molecular row of the diacetylene compound to which the functional molecule is adsorbed, and a conductive polydiacetylene nanowire is fabricated by initiating chain polymerization by stimulation with the tip. Since the front edge of chain polymerization necessarily has a reactive chemical species, the created polymer nanowire forms chemical bonding with an encountered molecular element. We name this spontaneous reaction "chemical soldering". First-principles theoretical calculations are used to investigate the structures and electronic properties of the connection. We demonstrate that two conductive polymer nanowires are connected to a single phthalocyanine molecule. A resonant tunneling diode formed by this method is discussed. © 2011 American Chemical Society

Recent progress of the JT-60SA project

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shirai, H.; Barabaschi, P.; Kamada, Y.; the JT-60SA Team

2017-10-01

The JT-60SA project has been implemented for the purpose of an early realization of fusion energy. With a powerful and versatile NBI and ECRF system, a flexible plasma-shaping capability, and various kinds of in-vessel coils to suppress MHD instabilities, JT-60SA plays an essential role in addressing the key physics and engineering issues of ITER and DEMO. It aims to achieve the long sustainment of high integrated performance plasmas under the high β N condition required in DEMO. The fabrication and installation of components and systems of JT-60SA procured by the EU and Japan are steadily progressing. The installation of toroidal field (TF) coils around the vacuum vessel started in December 2016. The commissioning of the cryogenic system and power supply system has been implemented in the Naka site, and JT-60SA will start operation in 2019. The JT-60SA research plan covers a wide area of issues in ITER and DEMO relevant operation regimes, and has been regularly updated on the basis of intensive discussion among European and Japanese researchers.

Beyond climate focus and disciplinary myopia. The roles and responsibilities of hospitals and healthcare professionals.

PubMed

Ulhøi, John P; Ulhøi, Benedicte P

2009-03-01

This paper calls for the need to address climate change within the concept of sustainable development, in recognition of the interrelationships between environmental, economic and social systems. So far, health- providing organizations such as hospitals have paid surprisingly little attention to the relationships between environmental change (e.g. climate change) and human health, or between hospitals (as professional organizations) and their impact on sustainable development. Although it is usually such industries as the chemical, extractive and metal industries, etc., that are associated with environmentally harmful activities, there is also an urgent need to emphasize the roles and responsibilities of hospitals and their embeddedness in a wider ecological, economic and social context. The key objective here is to discuss the relevance of sustainability and environmental management issues in a sector that until now has conveniently ignored its roles and responsibilities in relation to sustainability issues. The paper concludes that arguments based on systems theory, environment, medicine, economics and innovation strongly urge hospitals to reconsider their present roles and environmental responsibilities.

X-ray Emission from Pre-Main-Sequence Stars - Testing the Solar Analogy

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Skinner, Stephen L.

2000-01-01

This LTSA award funded my research on the origin of stellar X-ray emission and the validity of the solar-stellar analogy. This research broadly addresses the relevance of our current understanding of solar X-ray physics to the interpretation of X-ray emission from stars in general. During the past five years the emphasis has been on space-based X-ray observations of very young stars in star-forming regions (T Tauri stars and protostars), cool solar-like G stars, and evolved high-mass Wolf-Rayet (WR) stars. These observations were carried out primarily with the ASCA and ROSAT space-based observatories (and most recently with Chandra), supplemented by ground-based observations. This research has focused on the identification of physical processes that are responsible for the high levels of X-ray emission seen in pre-main-sequence (PMS) stars, active cool stars, and WR stars. A related issue is how the X-ray emission of such stars changes over time, both on short timescales of days to years and on evolutionary timescales of millions of years. In the case of the Sun it is known that magnetic fields play a key role in the production of X-rays by confining the coronal plasma in loop-like structures where it is heated to temperatures of several million K. The extent to which the magnetically-confined corona interpretation can be applied to other X-ray emitting stars is the key issue that drives the research summarized here.

A history of the science and politics of climate change: the role of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Bolin, B.

2007-11-15

In response to growing concern about human-induced global climate change, the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) was formed in 1988. Written by its first Chairman, this book is a unique overview of the history of the IPCC. It describes and evaluates the intricate interplay between key factors in the science and politics of climate change, the strategy that has been followed, and the regretfully slow pace in getting to grips with the uncertainties that have prevented earlier action being taken. The book also highlights the emerging conflict between establishing a sustainable global energy system and preventing a seriousmore » change in global climate. Contents are: Part I. The Early History of the Climate Change Issue: 1. Nineteenth century discoveries; 2. The natural carbon cycle and life on earth; 3. Global research initiatives in meteorology and climatology; 4. Early international assessments of climate change; Part II. The Climate Change Issue Becomes One of Global Concern: 5. Setting the stage; 6. The scientific basis for a climate convention; 7. Serving the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee; 8. The Second IPP Assessment Report; 9. In the aftermath of the IPCC Second Assessment; 10. The Kyoto Protocol is agreed and a third assessment begun; 11. A decade of hesitance and slow progress; Part III. A Turning Point in Addressing Climate Change?: 12. Key scientific finding of prime political relevance; 13. Climate change and the future global energy supply system; Concluding remarks. 9 figs.« less

Structural violence and marginalisation. The sexual and reproductive health experiences of separated young people on the move. A rapid review with relevance to the European humanitarian crisis.

PubMed

Mason-Jones, A J; Nicholson, P

2018-05-01

To explore the main sexual and reproductive health (SRH) issues for separated young migrants. We conducted a rapid review. The search for articles published between 2000 and June 2017 including peer-reviewed and 'grey' published literature from a range of databases including MEDLINE, AMED, Embase, ASSIA, Scopus, Web of Science and websites of international organisations (Missing Children Alliance, United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), World Health Organization (WHO), United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC), Human Rights Watch, United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and FBX Centre for Health and Human Rights) took place over 4 months. Themes emerging from the included studies and articles were synthesised. We found 44 articles from a range of countries of which 64% were peer-reviewed and 36% were from 'grey' literature. Structural violence and marginalisation were the key analytical themes that emerged and included young people's vulnerability to violence, unmet knowledge and service needs, barriers and stigma and poor SRH outcomes. This is the first known review to summarise the key SRH issues for separated young migrants. As Europe hosts the greatest number of separated young people in recent history, their unique SRH concerns risk being overlooked. Public health practitioners and policy makers are encouraged to challenge the gaps that exist in their services. Copyright © 2018 The Royal Society for Public Health. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Practical Application of Sociology in Systems Engineering

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Watson, Michael D.; Andrews, James G.; Eckley, Jeri Cassel; Culver, Michael L.

2017-01-01

Systems engineering involves both the integration of the system and the integration of the disciplines which develop and operate the system. Integrating the disciplines is a sociological effort to bring together different groups, who often have different terminology, to achieve a common goal, the system. The focus for the systems engineer is information flow through the organization, between the disciplines, to ensure the system is developed and operated will all relevant information informing system decisions. The practical application of the sociology in systems engineering brings in various organizational development concepts including the principles of planned renegotiation and the application of principles to address information barriers created by organizational culture. Concepts such as specification of ignorance, consistent terminology, opportunity structures, role-sets, and the reclama (reconsideration) process are all important sociological approaches that help address the organizational social structure (culture). In bringing the disciplines together, the systems engineer must also be wary of social ambivalence, social anomie, social dysfunction, and insider-outsider behavior. Unintended consequences can result when these social issues are present. These issues can occur when localized subcultures shift from the overarching organizational culture, or when the organizational culture prevents achievement of system goals. These sociological principles provide the systems engineer with key approaches to manage the information flow through the organization as the disciplines are integrated and share their information and provides key sociological barriers to information flow through the organization. This paper will discuss the practical application of sociological principles to systems engineering.

The ESA Nanosatellite Beacons for Space Weather Monitoring Study

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hapgood, M.; Eckersley, S.; Lundin, R.; Kluge, M.

2008-09-01

This paper will present final results from this ESA-funded study that has investigated how current and emerging concepts for nanosats may be used to monitor space weather conditions and provide improved access to data needed for space weather services. The study has reviewed requirements developed in previous ESA space weather studies to establish a set of service and measurements requirements appropriate to nanosat solutions. The output is conveniently represented as a set of five distinct classes of nanosat constellations, each in different orbit locations and which can address a specific group of measurement requirements. One example driving requirement for several of the constellations was the need for real-time data reception. Given this background, the study then iterated a set of instrument and spacecraft solutions to address each of the nanosat constellations from the requirements. Indeed, iteration has proved to be a critical aspect of the study. The instrument solutions have driven a refinement of requirements through assessment of whether or not the physical parameters to be measured dictate instrument components too large for a nanosat. In addition, the study has also reviewed miniaturization trends for instruments relevant to space weather monitoring by nanosats, looking at the near, mid and far-term timescales. Within the spacecraft solutions the study reviewed key technology trends relevant to space weather monitoring by nanosats: (a) micro and nano-technology devices for spacecraft communications, navigation, propulsion and power, and (b) development and flight experience with nanosats for science and for engineering demonstration. These requirements and solutions were then subject to an iterative system and mission analysis including key mission design issues (e.g. launch/transfer, mission geometry, instrument accommodation, numbers of spacecraft, communications architectures, de-orbit, nanosat reliability and constellation robustness) and the impact of nanosat fundamental limitations (e.g. mass, volume/size, power, communications). As a result, top-level Strawman mission concepts were developed for each constellation, and ROM costs were derived for programme development, operation and maintenance over a ten-year period. Nanosat reliability and constellation robustness were shown to be a key driver in deriving mission costs. In parallel with the mission analysis the study results have been reviewed to identify key issues that determine the prospects for a space weather nanosat programme and to make recommendations on measures to enable implementation of such a programme. As a follow-on to this study, a student MSc project was initiated by Astrium at Cranfield University to analyse a potential space weather precursor demonstration mission in GTO (one of the recommendations from this ESA study), composing of a reduced constellation of nanosats, launched on ASAP or some other low cost method. The demonstration would include: 1/ Low cost multiple manufacture techniques for a fully industrial nanosat constellation programme 2/ Real time datalinks and fully operational mission for space weather 3/ Miniaturised payloads to fit in a nanosat for space weather monitoring: 4/ Other possible demonstrations of advanced technology The aim was to comply with ESA demonstration mission (i.e. PROBA-type) requirements, to be representative on issues such as cost and risk

Washington state short line rail inventory and needs assessment.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2015-06-01

The recently completed State Rail Plan for the state of Washington identified several key issues facing the states : rail system. Among these key issues are abandonment, port access and competitive needs of the ports and local : production regions...

Key Issues in Instructional Computer Graphics.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wozny, Michael J.

1981-01-01

Addresses key issues facing universities which plan to establish instructional computer graphics facilities, including computer-aided design/computer aided manufacturing systems, role in curriculum, hardware, software, writing instructional software, faculty involvement, operations, and research. Thirty-seven references and two appendices are…

Land Operations in the Year 2020 (LO2020) (Operations terrestres a l’horizon 2020 (LO2020)).

DTIC Science & Technology

1999-03-01

CAPABILITIES Technologies [  ] □ [500-700] n[>70°] 186 APPENDIX 4 to ANNEX V SHORT LISTED TECHNOLOGIES CARACTERISED REGARDING CC 1. top... CARACTERISATION MATRIX techno Legend: no relevance weak relevance good relevance strong relevance 189 KEY TECHNOLOGIES CARACTERISED REGARDING COST (34

Developing a research agenda for cardiovascular disease prevention in high-risk rural communities.

PubMed

Melvin, Cathy L; Corbie-Smith, Giselle; Kumanyika, Shiriki K; Pratt, Charlotte A; Nelson, Cheryl; Walker, Evelyn R; Ammerman, Alice; Ayala, Guadalupe X; Best, Lyle G; Cherrington, Andrea L; Economos, Christina D; Green, Lawrence W; Harman, Jane; Hooker, Steven P; Murray, David M; Perri, Michael G; Ricketts, Thomas C

2013-06-01

The National Institutes of Health convened a workshop to engage researchers and practitioners in dialogue on research issues viewed as either unique or of particular relevance to rural areas, key content areas needed to inform policy and practice in rural settings, and ways rural contexts may influence study design, implementation, assessment of outcomes, and dissemination. Our purpose was to develop a research agenda to address the disproportionate burden of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and related risk factors among populations living in rural areas. Complementary presentations used theoretical and methodological principles to describe research and practice examples from rural settings. Participants created a comprehensive CVD research agenda that identified themes and challenges, and provided 21 recommendations to guide research, practice, and programs in rural areas.

Beryllium for fusion application - recent results

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Khomutov, A.; Barabash, V.; Chakin, V.; Chernov, V.; Davydov, D.; Gorokhov, V.; Kawamura, H.; Kolbasov, B.; Kupriyanov, I.; Longhurst, G.; Scaffidi-Argentina, F.; Shestakov, V.

2002-12-01

The main issues for the application of beryllium in fusion reactors are analyzed taking into account the latest results since the ICFRM-9 (Colorado, USA, October 1999) and presented at 5th IEA Be Workshop (10-12 October 2001, Moscow Russia). Considerable progress has been made recently in understanding the problems connected with the selection of the beryllium grades for different applications, characterization of the beryllium at relevant operational conditions (irradiation effects, thermal fatigue, etc.), and development of required manufacturing technologies. The key remaining problems related to the application of beryllium as an armour in near-term fusion reactors (e.g. ITER) are discussed. The features of the application of beryllium and beryllides as a neutron multiplier in the breeder blanket for power reactors (e.g. DEMO) in pebble-bed form are described.

Micropatterning strategies to engineer controlled cell and tissue architecture in vitro.

PubMed

D'Arcangelo, Elisa; McGuigan, Alison P

2015-01-01

Micropatterning strategies, which enable control over cell and tissue architecture in vitro, have emerged as powerful platforms for modelling tissue microenvironments at different scales and complexities. Here, we provide an overview of popular micropatterning techniques, along with detailed descriptions, to guide new users through the decision making process of which micropatterning procedure to use, and how to best obtain desired tissue patterns. Example techniques and the types of biological observations that can be made are provided from the literature. A focus is placed on microcontact printing to obtain co-cultures of patterned, confluent sheets, and the challenges associated with optimizing this protocol. Many issues associated with microcontact printing, however, are relevant to all micropatterning methodologies. Finally, we briefly discuss challenges in addressing key limitations associated with current micropatterning technologies.

The new cell culture smallpox vaccine should be offered to the general population.

PubMed

Bicknell, William; James, Kenneth

2003-01-01

A series of major factors must be weighed in deciding whether or not, and to what extent, a particular country should consider pre-exposure vaccination for smallpox. These include the risk of a bioterrorist attack using smallpox, the risk of secondary spread from another country, the risks and benefits of vaccination, the effectivenes s of vaccination pre- and post-exposure, the prevalence of immunocompromised persons, the capacity of the medical care delivery system and the wealth of a nation. We review here the issues and variables relevant for policy making, propose a framework for country-specific decision making and suggest the World Health Organization has a key role to play, particularly with regard to lower-income countries. In doing so, we support the proposition. Copyright 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Community-Based Review of Research Across Diverse Community Contexts: Key Characteristics, Critical Issues, and Future Directions

PubMed Central

Ford, Angela; Wat, Eric; Brayboy, Missy; Isaacs, Mei-Ling; Park, Alice; Strelnick, Hal; Seifer, Sarena D.

2015-01-01

A growing number of community-based organizations and community–academic partnerships are implementing processes to determine whether and how health research is conducted in their communities. These community-based research review processes (CRPs) can provide individual and community-level ethics protections, enhance the cultural relevance of study designs and competence of researchers, build community and academic research capacity, and shape research agendas that benefit diverse communities. To better understand how they are organized and function, representatives of 9 CRPs from across the United States convened in 2012 for a working meeting. In this article, we articulated and analyzed the models presented, offered guidance to communities that seek to establish a CRP, and made recommendations for future research, practice, and policy. PMID:25973834

IWSSA 2009 PC Co-chairs' Message

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chung, Lawrence; Noguera, Manuel; Subramanian, Nary; Garrido, José Luis

Important changes in society are being predicted for the very near future. In many countries, governments look ahead by increasing reserve funds and budgets for strategically critical areas in order to identify key issues and find effective solutions. Not surprisingly, many institutions are launching research and development programs focused on health-care, elderly people, quality of life, social inclusion, energy, education, ecology, etc. Innovation is required for systems supporting such a new assisted, interactive and collaborative world. System and software designers have to be able to address how to reflect in the same system/software architecture a great amount of (sometimes conflicting) requirements. In particular, user-oriented nonfunctional requirements and developer-oriented non-functional requirements (or design constraints) gain special relevance due to the new environments in which the systems have to operate.

Understanding ‘energy insecurity’ and why it matters to health

PubMed Central

Hernández, Diana

2016-01-01

Energy insecurity is a multi-dimensional construct that describes the interplay between physical conditions of housing, household energy expenditures and energy-related coping strategies. The present study uses an adapted grounded theory approach based on in-depth interviews with 72 low-income families to advance the concept of energy insecurity. Study results illustrate the layered components of energy insecurity by providing rich and nuanced narratives of the lived experiences of affected households. Defined as an inability to adequately meet basic household energy needs, this paper outlines the key dimensions of energy insecurity-economic, physical and behavioral- and related adverse environmental, health and social consequences. By thoroughly examining this understudied phenomenon, this article serves to raise awareness of an increasingly relevant issue that merits more attention in research and policy. PMID:27592003

Standards for gene therapy clinical trials based on pro-active risk assessment in a London NHS Teaching Hospital Trust.

PubMed

Bamford, K B; Wood, S; Shaw, R J

2005-02-01

Conducting gene therapy clinical trials with genetically modified organisms as the vectors presents unique safety and infection control issues. The area is governed by a range of legislation and guidelines, some unique to this field, as well as those pertinent to any area of clinical work. The relevant regulations covering gene therapy using genetically modified vectors are reviewed and illustrated with the approach taken by a large teaching hospital NHS Trust. Key elements were Trust-wide communication and involvement of staff in a pro-active approach to risk management, with specific emphasis on staff training and engagement, waste management, audit and record keeping. This process has led to the development of proposed standards for clinical trials involving genetically modified micro-organisms.

Mindfulness-based stress reduction: an intervention to enhance the effectiveness of nurses' coping with work-related stress.

PubMed

Smith, Sarah A

2014-06-01

This critical literature review explored the current state of the science regarding mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) as a potential intervention to improve the ability of nurses to effectively cope with stress. Literature sources include searches from EBSCOhost, Gale PowerSearch, ProQuest, PubMed Medline, Google Scholar, Online Journal of Issues in Nursing, and reference lists from relevant articles. Empirical evidence regarding utilizing MBSR with nurses and other healthcare professionals suggests several positive benefits including decreased stress, burnout, and anxiety; and increased empathy, focus, and mood. Nurse use of MBSR may be a key intervention to help improve nurses' ability to cope with stress and ultimately improve the quality of patient care provided. © 2014 NANDA International, Inc.

Developing a Research Agenda for Cardiovascular Disease Prevention in High-Risk Rural Communities

PubMed Central

Corbie-Smith, Giselle; Kumanyika, Shiriki K.; Pratt, Charlotte A.; Nelson, Cheryl; Walker, Evelyn R.; Ammerman, Alice; Ayala, Guadalupe X.; Best, Lyle G.; Cherrington, Andrea L.; Economos, Christina D.; Green, Lawrence W.; Harman, Jane; Hooker, Steven P.; Murray, David M.; Perri, Michael G.; Ricketts, Thomas C.

2013-01-01

The National Institutes of Health convened a workshop to engage researchers and practitioners in dialogue on research issues viewed as either unique or of particular relevance to rural areas, key content areas needed to inform policy and practice in rural settings, and ways rural contexts may influence study design, implementation, assessment of outcomes, and dissemination. Our purpose was to develop a research agenda to address the disproportionate burden of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and related risk factors among populations living in rural areas. Complementary presentations used theoretical and methodological principles to describe research and practice examples from rural settings. Participants created a comprehensive CVD research agenda that identified themes and challenges, and provided 21 recommendations to guide research, practice, and programs in rural areas. PMID:23597371

Bioanalysis-related highlights from the 2011 AAPS National Biotechnology Conference.

PubMed

Crisino, Rebecca M; Dulanto, Beatriz

2011-08-01

The American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists is a dynamic international forum for the exchange of knowledge among scientists to enhance their contributions to drug development. The annual National Biotechnology Conference, conducted and organized by the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists, is a forum dedicated to advancements in science and technology related to discovery, development and manufacture of medical biotechnology products. The 2011 National Biotechnology Conference meeting convened in San Francisco, CA, USA on 16-18 May. Over 300 abstracts were submitted and approximately 50 sessions examined topics pertaining to advances in drug development, emerging analytical technologies, bioanalysis-related issues, biosimilar therapies, updates on global regulatory documents and expectations, and other topics. The focus of this article is to highlight key developments relevant to immunogenicity and pharmacokinetic drug concentration bioanalysis.

Nutritional issues for older adults: addressing degenerative ageing with long-term studies.

PubMed

de Groot, Lisette C P G M

2016-05-01

The ageing process is influenced by a variety of factors, including extrinsic, malleable lifestyle variables. The present paper deals with the epidemiological evidence for the role of dietary patterns and key nutritional concerns in relation to survival and ageing-related disorders that present themselves in later life. Healthful dietary patterns appear to be most relevant in old age. Specific nutritional concerns are related to vitamin D, vitamin B12 and protein malnutrition. An important challenge to further expand the knowledge base is currently addressed by the NuAge project, acknowledging the complexity of the ageing process and integrating different dimensions of research into human healthy ageing. In the meantime, reversing poor adherence to existing guidelines for a healthy diet remains a first challenge in public health nutritional practices.

Constraints to connecting children with nature--Survey of U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service employees sponsored by the National Conservation Training Center, Division of Education Outreach

USGS Publications Warehouse

Ratz, Joan M.; Schuster, Rudy M.

2011-01-01

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) names "connecting people with nature" as one of its top six priorities in the online Service Employee Pocket Guide. The National Conservation Training Center (NCTC) took the initiative to identify issues that impede greater progress in addressing constraints to connecting children with nature. The Division of Education Outreach at NCTC formed a working relation with the Policy Analysis and Science Assistance branch of the U.S. Geological Survey to conduct a study on these issues. To meet the objectives of the study, a survey of a sample of FWS employees was conducted. This report includes the description of how the survey was developed and administered, how the data were analyzed, and a discussion of the survey results. The survey was developed based on published literature and incorporated input from two working groups of professionals focused on the issue of connecting children with nature. Although the objective as stated by the FWS is to connect people with nature, the survey primarily focused on connecting children, rather than all people, with nature. The four primary concepts included on the survey were interpretation of how the FWS defined "connection" as part of its mission, perceived success with outreach, constraints to connecting children with nature, and importance of connecting children with nature. The survey was conducted online using KeySurvey© software. The survey was sent to 604 FWS employees. Responses were received from 320 employees. The respondents represented diversity in regions, tenure, wage/grade level, job series, supervisory status, and involvement with education and outreach activities. The key findings of the survey are as follows: * FWS employees believe they as individuals and the agency are successful now and will be more successful in the future in connecting children with nature. * FWS employees believe that there are many outcomes that are relevant to the FWS objective to connect people with the environment. * FWS employees believe that connecting children with nature is important. * Constraints to connecting children with nature exist but are not perceived by respondents to be severe. * The constraints of greatest concern are practical issues, competition from technology, funding issues and staffing issues.

Mental health and psychosocial support in crisis and conflict: report of the Mental Health Working Group.

PubMed

Allden, K; Jones, L; Weissbecker, I; Wessells, M; Bolton, P; Betancourt, T S; Hijazi, Z; Galappatti, A; Yamout, R; Patel, P; Sumathipala, A

2009-01-01

The Working Group on Mental Health and Psychosocial Support was convened as part of the 2009 Harvard Humanitarian Action Summit. The Working Group chose to focus on ethical issues in mental health and psychosocial research and programming in humanitarian settings. The Working Group built on previous work and recommendations, such as the Inter-Agency Standing Committee's Guidelines on Mental Health and Psychosocial Support in Emergency Settings. The objective of this working group was to address one of the factors contributing to the deficiency of research and the need to develop the evidence base on mental health and psychosocial support interventions during complex emergencies by proposing ethical research guidelines. Outcomes research is vital for effective program development in emergency settings, but to date, no comprehensive ethical guidelines exist for guiding such research efforts. Working Group members conducted literature reviews which included peer-reviewed publications, agency reports, and relevant guidelines on the following topics: general ethical principles in research, cross-cultural issues, research in resource-poor countries, and specific populations such as trauma and torture survivors, refugees, minorities, children and youth, and the mentally ill. Working Group members also shared key points regarding ethical issues encountered in their own research and fieldwork. The group adapted a broad definition of the term "research", which encompasses needs assessments and data gathering, as well as monitoring and evaluation. The guidelines are conceptualized as applying to formal and informal processes of assessment and evaluation in which researchers as well as most service providers engage. The group reached consensus that it would be unethical not to conduct research and evaluate outcomes of mental health and psychosocial interventions in emergency settings, given that there currently is very little good evidence base for such interventions. Overarching themes and issues generated by the group for further study and articulation included: purpose and benefits of research, issues of validity, neutrality, risk, subject selection and participation, confidentiality, consent, and dissemination of results. The group outlined several key topics and recommendations that address ethical issues in conducting mental health and psychosocial research in humanitarian settings. The group views this set of recommendations as a living document to be further developed and refined based on input from colleagues representing different regions of the globe with an emphasis on input from colleagues from low-resource countries.

"Biosphere Reserve"--The Actual Research Subject of the Sustainable Development Process"

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Khasaev, Gabibulla R.; Sadovenko, Marina Yu.; Isaev, Roman O.

2016-01-01

The relevance of the analyzed issue is caused by the growing slippage of research funds of sustainable development in its practice. The purpose of the article is the theoretical basis of the biosphere reserve as a scientific research subject that is relevant to rules of the scientific activity. The leading approach to the study of this issue is…

Towards optimised information about clinical trials; identification and validation of key issues in collaboration with cancer patient advocates.

PubMed

Dellson, P; Nilbert, M; Bendahl, P-O; Malmström, P; Carlsson, C

2011-07-01

Clinical trials are crucial to improve cancer treatment but recruitment is difficult. Optimised patient information has been recognised as a key issue. In line with the increasing focus on patients' perspectives in health care, we aimed to study patients' opinions about the written information used in three clinical trials for breast cancer. Primary data collection was done in focus group interviews with breast cancer patient advocates. Content analysis identified three major themes: comprehensibility, emotions and associations, and decision making. Based on the advocates' suggestions for improvements, 21 key issues were defined and validated through a questionnaire in an independent group of breast cancer patient advocates. Clear messages, emotionally neutral expressions, careful descriptions of side effects, clear comparisons between different treatment alternatives and information about the possibility to discontinue treatment were perceived as the most important issues. Patients' views of the information in clinical trials provide new insights and identify key issues to consider in optimising future written information and may improve recruitment to clinical cancer trials. © 2010 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Mode of action associated with development of hemangiosarcoma in mice given pregabalin and assessment of human relevance.

PubMed

Criswell, Kay A; Cook, Jon C; Wojcinski, Zbigniew; Pegg, David; Herman, James; Wesche, David; Giddings, John; Brady, Joseph T; Anderson, Timothy

2012-07-01

Pregabalin increased the incidence of hemangiosarcomas in carcinogenicity studies of 2-year mice but was not tumorigenic in rats. Serum bicarbonate increased within 24 h of pregabalin administration in mice and rats. Rats compensated appropriately, but mice developed metabolic alkalosis and increased blood pH. Local tissue hypoxia and increased endothelial cell proliferation were also confirmed in mice alone. The combination of hypoxia and sustained increases in endothelial cell proliferation, angiogenic growth factors, dysregulated erythropoiesis, and macrophage activation is proposed as the key event in the mode of action (MOA) for hemangiosarcoma formation. Hemangiosarcomas occur spontaneously in untreated control mice but occur only rarely in humans. The International Programme on Chemical Safety and International Life Sciences Institute developed a Human Relevance Framework (HRF) analysis whereby presence or absence of key events can be used to assess human relevance. The HRF combines the MOA with an assessment of biologic plausibility in humans to assess human relevance. This manuscript compares the proposed MOA with Hill criteria, a component of the HRF, for strength, consistency, specificity, temporality, and dose response, with an assessment of key biomarkers in humans, species differences in response to disease conditions, and spontaneous incidence of hemangiosarcoma to evaluate human relevance. Lack of key biomarker events in the MOA in rats, monkeys, and humans supports a species-specific process and demonstrates that the tumor findings in mice are not relevant to humans at the clinical dose of pregabalin. Based on this collective dataset, clinical use of pregabalin would not pose an increased risk for hemangiosarcoma to humans.

The Ivory Tower and the Community: A New Approach to Emphasizing the Relevance of Environmental Science Research

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cuff, K. E.; Corazza, L.

2006-12-01

Over the past eight years we have developed and implemented several U.C. Berkeley-based outreach programs that provide opportunities for grades nine through eleven students in the East San Francisco Bay Area to gain skills and understandings that increase their capacity to enroll and perform successfully in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) courses in the future, which enhances their capacity to decide to pursue STEM careers. A common element of these programs is the opportunity they provide participants to engage in environmental science research projects that are directly linked to relevant, real-world environmental problems and issues facing their communities. Analysis of evidence gleaned from questionnaires, interviews and specific assessment instruments indicates that these programs have consistently achieved a high degree of success in that they have: significantly increased participants' understanding of the process and nature of science; enhanced their intellectual self-confidence with regard to STEM; developed deeper appreciation of how scientific research can contribute to the maintenance of healthy local environments; developed a greater interest in participating in STEM-related courses of study and after school programs; and improved attitudes toward STEM. These results corroborate recent research studies that indicate a close relationship between educational activities that promote the perception of STEM as being relevant and the ability to foster development of deeper conceptual understandings among teens. Moreover, they support the notion that providing opportunities for students to develop personal connections with particular issues discussed, and real-world STEM experiences that make STEM more relevant and interesting can help to bring about changes in attitude, which is a key component in improving STEM learning and understanding particularly among urban youth. Overall, our work suggests that in order for a given STEM education intervention strategy to be truly successful it must include activities that effectively counter the notion of STEM irrelevancy, and provide experiences that both address youth concerns and interests, and stimulate development and enactment of ideas within a broader community-based context.

A summary and integration of research concerning single pilot IFR operational problems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Chapman, G. C.

1983-01-01

A review of seven research studies pertaining to Single Pilot IFR (SPIFR) operations was performed. Two studies were based on questionnaire surveys; two based on National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) reports; two were based on Aviation Safety Reporting System (ASRS) incident reports, and one report used event analysis and statistics to forecast problems. The results obtained in each study were extracted and integrated. Results were synthesized and key issues pertaining to SPIFR operations problems were identified. The research that was recommended by the studies and that addressed the key issues is catalogued for each key issue.

Impacts on non-human biota from a generic geological disposal facility for radioactive waste: some key assessment issues.

PubMed

Robinson, C A; Smith, K L; Norris, S

2010-06-01

This paper provides an overview of key issues associated with the application of currently available biota dose assessment methods to consideration of potential environmental impacts from geological disposal facilities. It explores philosophical, methodological and practical assessment issues and reviews the implications of test assessment results in the context of recent and on-going challenges and debates.

Cleaning by clustering: methodology for addressing data quality issues in biomedical metadata.

PubMed

Hu, Wei; Zaveri, Amrapali; Qiu, Honglei; Dumontier, Michel

2017-09-18

The ability to efficiently search and filter datasets depends on access to high quality metadata. While most biomedical repositories require data submitters to provide a minimal set of metadata, some such as the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) allows users to specify additional metadata in the form of textual key-value pairs (e.g. sex: female). However, since there is no structured vocabulary to guide the submitter regarding the metadata terms to use, consequently, the 44,000,000+ key-value pairs in GEO suffer from numerous quality issues including redundancy, heterogeneity, inconsistency, and incompleteness. Such issues hinder the ability of scientists to hone in on datasets that meet their requirements and point to a need for accurate, structured and complete description of the data. In this study, we propose a clustering-based approach to address data quality issues in biomedical, specifically gene expression, metadata. First, we present three different kinds of similarity measures to compare metadata keys. Second, we design a scalable agglomerative clustering algorithm to cluster similar keys together. Our agglomerative cluster algorithm identified metadata keys that were similar, based on (i) name, (ii) core concept and (iii) value similarities, to each other and grouped them together. We evaluated our method using a manually created gold standard in which 359 keys were grouped into 27 clusters based on six types of characteristics: (i) age, (ii) cell line, (iii) disease, (iv) strain, (v) tissue and (vi) treatment. As a result, the algorithm generated 18 clusters containing 355 keys (four clusters with only one key were excluded). In the 18 clusters, there were keys that were identified correctly to be related to that cluster, but there were 13 keys which were not related to that cluster. We compared our approach with four other published methods. Our approach significantly outperformed them for most metadata keys and achieved the best average F-Score (0.63). Our algorithm identified keys that were similar to each other and grouped them together. Our intuition that underpins cleaning by clustering is that, dividing keys into different clusters resolves the scalability issues for data observation and cleaning, and keys in the same cluster with duplicates and errors can easily be found. Our algorithm can also be applied to other biomedical data types.

Listening for Prescriptions: A National Consultation on Pharmaceutical Policy Issues

PubMed Central

Morgan, Steve; Cunningham, Colleen M.

2010-01-01

Objectives and Methods: Pharmaceutical policy is an increasingly costly, essential and challenging component of health system management. We sought to identify priority pharmaceutical policy issues in Canada and to translate them into research priorities using key informant interviews, stakeholder surveys and a deliberative workshop. Results: We found consensus on overarching policy goals: to provide all Canadians with equitable and sustainable access to necessary medicines. We also found widespread frustration that many key pharmaceutical policy issues in Canada — including improving prescription drug financing and pricing — have been persistent challenges owing to a lack of policy coordination. The coverage of extraordinarily costly medicines for serious conditions was identified as a rapidly emerging policy issue. Conclusion: Targeted research and knowledge translation activities can help address key policy issues and, importantly, challenges of policy coordination in Canada and thereby reduce inequity and inefficiency in policy approaches and outcomes. PMID:22043223

Inner Space and Outer Space: Pressure Suits & Life Support Systems for Space Workers

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Webbon, Bruce

2004-01-01

This slide presentation presents an overview of work system requirements, extravehicular activity system evolution, key issues, future needs, and a summary. Key issues include pressure suits, life support systems, system integration, biomedical requirements, and work and mobility aids.

Key water issues now facing our nation

USGS Publications Warehouse

Hirsch, Robert M.; Miller, Timothy L.; Hamilton, Pixie A.; Gilliom, Robert J.

2008-01-01

Challenges to sustaining sufficient and high-quality water for human consumption, industry, farms, energy production, and ecosystem services continue to intensify in many parts of the Nation. We face four key water issues that call for support from the science and engineering communities.

Information Systems, Security, and Privacy.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ware, Willis H.

1984-01-01

Computer security and computer privacy issues are discussed. Among the areas addressed are technical and human security threats, security and privacy issues for information in electronic mail systems, the need for a national commission to examine these issues, and security/privacy issues relevant to colleges and universities. (JN)

The Corporate Library and Issues Management.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lancaster, F. W.; Loescher, Jane

1994-01-01

Discussion of corporate library services and the role of the librarian focuses on the recognition and tracking of issues of potential significance to the corporation, or issues management. Topics addressed include environmental scanning of relevant literature, and the use of databases to track issues. (16 references) (LRW)

Is health care financing in Uganda equitable?

PubMed

Zikusooka, C M; Kyomuhang, R; Orem, J N; Tumwine, M

2009-10-01

Health care financing provides the resources and economic incentives for operating health systems and is a key determinant of health system performance. Equitable financing is based on: financial protection, progressive financing and cross-subsidies. This paper describes Uganda's health care financing landscape and documents the key equity issues associated with the current financing mechanisms. We extensively reviewed government documents and relevant literature and conducted key informant interviews, with the aim of assessing whether Uganda's health care financing mechanisms exhibited the key principles of fair financing. Uganda's health sector remains significantly under-funded, mainly relying on private sources of financing, especially out-of-pocket spending. At 9.6 % of total government expenditure, public spending on health is far below the Abuja target of 15% that GoU committed to. Prepayments form a small proportion of funding for Uganda's health sector. There is limited cross-subsidisation and high fragmentation within and between health financing mechanisms, mainly due to high reliance on out-of-pocket payments and limited prepayment mechanisms. Without compulsory health insurance and low coverage of private health insurance, Uganda has limited pooling of resources, and hence minimal cross-subsidisation. Although tax revenue is equitable, the remaining financing mechanisms for Uganda are inequitable due to their regressive nature, their lack of financial protection and limited cross-subsidisation. Overall, Uganda's current health financing is inequitable and fragmented. The government should take explicit action to promote equitable health care financing by establishing pre-payment schemes, enhancing cross-subsidisation mechanisms and through appropriate integration of financing mechanisms.

Social Issues: Making Them Relevant and Appropriate to Undergraduate Student Designers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lofthouse, Vicky

2013-01-01

Sustainable design education is now considered a core issue for industrial/product design courses, however research has shown that the predominant focus tends to be on environmental issues, as social issues are much harder to tackle. Similarly, social issues are rarely considered in industrial practice. If student designers are to become…

How do Supervising Clinicians of a University Hospital and Associated Teaching Hospitals Rate the Relevance of the Key Competencies within the CanMEDS Roles Framework in Respect to Teaching in Clinical Clerkships?

PubMed

Jilg, Stefanie; Möltner, Andreas; Berberat, Pascal; Fischer, Martin R; Breckwoldt, Jan

2015-01-01

In German-speaking countries, the physicians' roles framework of the "Canadian Medical Education Directives for Specialists" (CanMEDS) is increasingly used to conceptualize postgraduate medical education. It is however unclear, whether it may also be applied to the final year of undergraduate education within clinical clerkships, called "Practical Year" (PY). Therefore, the aim of this study was to explore how clinically active physicians at a university hospital and at associated teaching hospitals judge the relevance of the seven CanMEDS roles (and their (role-defining) key competencies) in respect to their clinical work and as learning content for PY training. Furthermore, these physicians were asked whether the key competencies were actually taught during PY training. 124 physicians from internal medicine and surgery rated the relevance of the 28 key competencies of the CanMEDS framework using a questionnaire. For each competency, following three aspects were rated: "relevance for your personal daily work", "importance for teaching during PY", and "implementation into actual PY teaching". In respect to the main study objective, all questionnaires could be included into analysis. All seven CanMEDS roles were rated as relevant for personal daily work, and also as important for teaching during PY. Furthermore, all roles were stated to be taught during actual PY training. The roles "Communicator", "Medical Expert", and "Collaborator" were rated as significantly more important than the other roles, for all three sub-questions. No differences were found between the two disciplines internal medicine and surgery, nor between the university hospital and associated teaching hospitals. Participating physicians rated all key competencies of the CanMEDS model to be relevant for their personal daily work, and for teaching during PY. These findings support the suitability of the CanMEDS framework as a conceptual element of PY training.

How do Supervising Clinicians of a University Hospital and Associated Teaching Hospitals Rate the Relevance of the Key Competencies within the CanMEDS Roles Framework in Respect to Teaching in Clinical Clerkships?

PubMed Central

Jilg, Stefanie; Möltner, Andreas; Berberat, Pascal; Fischer, Martin R.; Breckwoldt, Jan

2015-01-01

Background and aim: In German-speaking countries, the physicians’ roles framework of the “Canadian Medical Education Directives for Specialists” (CanMEDS) is increasingly used to conceptualize postgraduate medical education. It is however unclear, whether it may also be applied to the final year of undergraduate education within clinical clerkships, called “Practical Year” (PY). Therefore, the aim of this study was to explore how clinically active physicians at a university hospital and at associated teaching hospitals judge the relevance of the seven CanMEDS roles (and their (role-defining) key competencies) in respect to their clinical work and as learning content for PY training. Furthermore, these physicians were asked whether the key competencies were actually taught during PY training. Methods: 124 physicians from internal medicine and surgery rated the relevance of the 28 key competencies of the CanMEDS framework using a questionnaire. For each competency, following three aspects were rated: “relevance for your personal daily work”, “importance for teaching during PY”, and “implementation into actual PY teaching”. Results: In respect to the main study objective, all questionnaires could be included into analysis. All seven CanMEDS roles were rated as relevant for personal daily work, and also as important for teaching during PY. Furthermore, all roles were stated to be taught during actual PY training. The roles “Communicator”, “Medical Expert”, and “Collaborator” were rated as significantly more important than the other roles, for all three sub-questions. No differences were found between the two disciplines internal medicine and surgery, nor between the university hospital and associated teaching hospitals. Conclusion: Participating physicians rated all key competencies of the CanMEDS model to be relevant for their personal daily work, and for teaching during PY. These findings support the suitability of the CanMEDS framework as a conceptual element of PY training. PMID:26413171

The Promise and Limitations of Using Analogies to Improve Decision-Relevant Understanding of Climate Change.

PubMed

Raimi, Kaitlin T; Stern, Paul C; Maki, Alexander

2017-01-01

To make informed choices about how to address climate change, members of the public must develop ways to consider established facts of climate science and the uncertainties about its future trajectories, in addition to the risks attendant to various responses, including non-response, to climate change. One method suggested for educating the public about these issues is the use of simple mental models, or analogies comparing climate change to familiar domains such as medical decision making, disaster preparedness, or courtroom trials. Two studies were conducted using online participants in the U.S.A. to test the use of analogies to highlight seven key decision-relevant elements of climate change, including uncertainties about when and where serious damage may occur, its unprecedented and progressive nature, and tradeoffs in limiting climate change. An internal meta-analysis was then conducted to estimate overall effect sizes across the two studies. Analogies were not found to inform knowledge about climate literacy facts. However, results suggested that people found the medical analogy helpful and that it led people-especially political conservatives-to better recognize several decision-relevant attributes of climate change. These effects were weak, perhaps reflecting a well-documented and overwhelming effect of political ideology on climate change communication and education efforts in the U.S.A. The potential of analogies and similar education tools to improve understanding and communication in a polarized political environment are discussed.

Exploring emerging learning needs: a UK-wide consultation on environmental sustainability learning objectives for medical education.

PubMed

Walpole, Sarah C; Mortimer, Frances; Inman, Alice; Braithwaite, Isobel; Thompson, Trevor

2015-12-24

This study aimed to engage wide-ranging stakeholders and develop consensus learning objectives for undergraduate and postgraduate medical education. A UK-wide consultation garnered opinions of healthcare students, healthcare educators and other key stakeholders about environmental sustainability in medical education. The policy Delphi approach informed this study. Draft learning objectives were revised iteratively during three rounds of consultation: online questionnaire or telephone interview, face-to-face seminar and email consultation. Twelve draft learning objectives were developed based on review of relevant literature. In round one, 64 participants' median ratings of the learning objectives were 3.5 for relevance and 3.0 for feasibility on a Likert scale of one to four. Revisions were proposed, e.g. to highlight relevance to public health and professionalism. Thirty three participants attended round two. Conflicting opinions were explored. Added content areas included health benefits of sustainable behaviours. To enhance usability, restructuring provided three overarching learning objectives, each with subsidiary points. All participants from rounds one and two were contacted in round three, and no further edits were required. This is the first attempt to define consensus learning objectives for medical students about environmental sustainability. Allowing a wide range of stakeholders to comment on multiple iterations of the document stimulated their engagement with the issues raised and ownership of the resulting learning objectives.

Effectiveness of Interventions for Prevention of Road Traffic Injuries in Iran and Some Methodological Issues: A Systematic Review.

PubMed

Azami-Aghdash, Saber; Sadeghi-Bazarghani, Homayoun; Heydari, Mahdiyeh; Rezapour, Ramin; Derakhshani, Naser

2018-04-01

To review the effectiveness of Road Traffic Injuries (RTIs) interventions implemented for prevention of RTIs in Iran and to introduce some methodological issues. Required data in this systematic review study were collected through searching the following key words: "Road Traffic Injuries", "Road Traffic accidents", "Road Traffic crashes", "prevention", and Iran in PubMed, Cochrane Library electronic databases, Google Scholar, Scopus, MagIran, SID and IranMedex. Some of the relevant journals and web sites searched manually. Reference lists of the selected articles were also checked. Gray literature search and expert contact was also conducted. Out of 569 retrieved articles, finally 8 articles included. Among the included studies the effectiveness of 10 interventions were assessed containing: seat belt, enforcements of laws and legislations, educational program, wearing helmet, Antilock Braking System (ABS), motorcyclists' penalty enforcement, pupil liaisons' education, provisional driver licensing, Road bumps and traffic improvement's plans. In 7 studies (9 interventions) reduction of RTIs rate were reported. Decreased rate of mortality from RTIs were reported in three studies. Only one study had mentioned financial issue (Anti-lock Brake System intervention). Inadequate data sources, inappropriate selection of statistical index and not mention about the control of Confounding Variables (CV), the most common methodological issues were. The results of most interventional studies conducted in Iran supported the effect of the interventions on reduction of RTIs. However due to some methodological or reporting shortcoming the results of these studies should be interpreted cautiously.

Biosimilar therapeutics-what do we need to consider?

PubMed

Schellekens, Huub

2009-01-01

Patents for the first generation of approved biopharmaceuticals have either expired or are about to expire. Thus the market is opening for generic versions, referred to as 'biosimilars' (European Union) or 'follow-on protein products' (United States). Healthcare professionals need to understand the critical issues surrounding the use of biosimilars to make informed treatment decisions.The complex high-molecular-weight three-dimensional structures of biopharmaceuticals, their heterogeneity and dependence on production in living cells makes them different from classical chemical drugs. Current analytical methods cannot characterize these complex molecules sufficiently to confirm structural equivalence with reference molecules. Verification of the similarity of biosimilars to innovator biopharmaceuticals remains a key challenge. Furthermore, a critical safety issue, the immunogenicity of biopharmaceuticals, has been highlighted in recent years, confirming a need for comprehensive immunogenicity testing prior to approval and extended post-marketing surveillance.Biosimilars present a new set of challenges for regulatory authorities when compared with conventional generics. While the demonstration of a pharmacokinetic similarity is sufficient for conventional, small-molecule generic agents, a number of issues will make the approval of biosimilars more complicated. Documents recently published by the European Medicines Agency (EMEA) outlining requirements for the market approval of biosimilars provide much-needed guidance. The EMEA has approved a number of biosimilar products in a scientifically rigorous and balanced process. Outstanding issues include the interchangeability of biosimilars and innovator products, the possible need for unique naming to differentiate the various biopharmaceutical products, and more comprehensive labelling for biosimilars to include relevant clinical data.

Computerized Neuropsychological Assessment Devices: Joint Position Paper of the American Academy of Clinical Neuropsychology and the National Academy of Neuropsychology†

PubMed Central

Bauer, Russell M.; Iverson, Grant L.; Cernich, Alison N.; Binder, Laurence M.; Ruff, Ronald M.; Naugle, Richard I.

2012-01-01

This joint position paper of the American Academy of Clinical Neuropsychology and the National Academy of Neuropsychology sets forth our position on appropriate standards and conventions for computerized neuropsychological assessment devices (CNADs). In this paper, we first define CNADs and distinguish them from examiner-administered neuropsychological instruments. We then set forth position statements on eight key issues relevant to the development and use of CNADs in the healthcare setting. These statements address (a) device marketing and performance claims made by developers of CNADs; (b) issues involved in appropriate end-users for administration and interpretation of CNADs; (c) technical (hardware/software/firmware) issues; (d) privacy, data security, identity verification, and testing environment; (e) psychometric development issues, especially reliability, and validity; (f) cultural, experiential, and disability factors affecting examinee interaction with CNADs; (g) use of computerized testing and reporting services; and (h) the need for checks on response validity and effort in the CNAD environment. This paper is intended to provide guidance for test developers and users of CNADs that will promote accurate and appropriate use of computerized tests in a way that maximizes clinical utility and minimizes risks of misuse. The positions taken in this paper are put forth with an eye toward balancing the need to make validated CNADs accessible to otherwise underserved patients with the need to ensure that such tests are developed and utilized competently, appropriately, and with due concern for patient welfare and quality of care. PMID:22382386

Computerized Neuropsychological Assessment Devices: Joint Position Paper of the American Academy of Clinical Neuropsychology and the National Academy of Neuropsychology†

PubMed Central

Bauer, Russell M.; Iverson, Grant L.; Cernich, Alison N.; Binder, Laurence M.; Ruff, Ronald M.; Naugle, Richard I.

2013-01-01

This joint position paper of the American Academy of Clinical Neuropsychology and the National Academy of Neuropsychology sets forth our position on appropriate standards and conventions for computerized neuropsychological assessment devices (CNADs). In this paper, we first define CNADs and distinguish them from examiner-administered neuropsychological instruments. We then set forth position statements on eight key issues relevant to the development and use of CNADs in the healthcare setting. These statements address (a) device marketing and performance claims made by developers of CNADs; (b) issues involved in appropriate end-users for administration and interpretation of CNADs; (c) technical (hardware/software/firmware) issues; (d) privacy, data security, identity verification, and testing environment; (e) psychometric development issues, especially reliability and validity; (f) cultural, experiential, and disability factors affecting examinee interaction with CNADs; (g) use of computerized testing and reporting services; and (h) the need for checks on response validity and effort in the CNAD environment. This paper is intended to provide guidance for test developers and users of CNADs that will promote accurate and appropriate use of computerized tests in a way that maximizes clinical utility and minimizes risks of misuse. The positions taken in this paper are put forth with an eye toward balancing the need to make validated CNADs accessible to otherwise underserved patients with the need to ensure that such tests are developed and utilized competently, appropriately, and with due concern for patient welfare and quality of care. PMID:22394228

Ethical Considerations in Tissue Engineering Research: Case Studies in Translation

PubMed Central

Baker, Hannah B.; McQuilling, John P.

2016-01-01

Tissue engineering research is a complex process that requires investigators to focus on the relationship between their research and anticipated gains in both knowledge and treatment improvements. The ethical considerations arising from tissue engineering research are similarly complex when addressing the translational progression from bench to bedside, and investigators in the field of tissue engineering act as moral agents at each step of their research along the translational pathway, from early benchwork and preclinical studies to clinical research. This review highlights the ethical considerations and challenges at each stage of research, by comparing issues surrounding two translational tissue engineering technologies: the bioartificial pancreas and a tissue engineered skeletal muscle construct. We present relevant ethical issues and questions to consider at each step along the translational pathway, from the basic science bench to preclinical research to first-in-human clinical trials. Topics at the bench level include maintaining data integrity, appropriate reporting and dissemination of results, and ensuring that studies are designed to yield results suitable for advancing research. Topics in preclinical research include the principle of “modest translational distance” and appropriate animal models. Topics in clinical research include key issues that arise in early-stage clinical trials, including selection of patient-subjects, disclosure of uncertainty, and defining success. The comparison of these two technologies and their ethical issues brings to light many challenges for translational tissue engineering research and provides guidance for investigators engaged in development of any tissue engineering technology. PMID:26282436

Human trafficking: an evaluation of Canadian medical students' awareness and attitudes.

PubMed

Wong, Janice C; Hong, Jonathan; Leung, Pearl; Yin, Penny; Stewart, Donna E

2011-04-01

Human trafficking is a human rights violation prevalent globally. Current guidelines highlight healthcare professionals' key role in responding to human trafficking, emphasizing the importance of medical education in raising awareness of trafficking. To assess pre-clerkship medical students' awareness of human trafficking and attitudes towards learning about trafficking in the medical curriculum at Canada's largest medical school. An anonymous, classroom-based questionnaire was designed, piloted and administered to first- and second-year medical students at one large Canadian medical school with a diverse student population. The questionnaire sought demographic data and information on students' self-perceived awareness of human trafficking and interest in learning about trafficking and other community health issues. 262 medical students completed the questionnaire (70.0% response). Most participants reported that they were not knowledgeable (48.5%) or only somewhat knowledgeable (45.4%) about human trafficking. 88.9% of participants were not familiar with signs and symptoms of trafficked persons. While students' responses indicated that they prioritized other social issues, a majority of participants (76.0%) thought that trafficking was important to learn about in medical school, especially identifying trafficked persons and their health needs. These medical students of one Canadian medical school demonstrated limited familiarity with the issue of human trafficking but largely felt that they should be taught more about this issue during their medical education. This assessment of early medical students' awareness of human trafficking is relevant to medical educators and the organizations that could develop the required educational curricula and resources.

Ethical considerations in tissue engineering research: Case studies in translation.

PubMed

Baker, Hannah B; McQuilling, John P; King, Nancy M P

2016-04-15

Tissue engineering research is a complex process that requires investigators to focus on the relationship between their research and anticipated gains in both knowledge and treatment improvements. The ethical considerations arising from tissue engineering research are similarly complex when addressing the translational progression from bench to bedside, and investigators in the field of tissue engineering act as moral agents at each step of their research along the translational pathway, from early benchwork and preclinical studies to clinical research. This review highlights the ethical considerations and challenges at each stage of research, by comparing issues surrounding two translational tissue engineering technologies: the bioartificial pancreas and a tissue engineered skeletal muscle construct. We present relevant ethical issues and questions to consider at each step along the translational pathway, from the basic science bench to preclinical research to first-in-human clinical trials. Topics at the bench level include maintaining data integrity, appropriate reporting and dissemination of results, and ensuring that studies are designed to yield results suitable for advancing research. Topics in preclinical research include the principle of "modest translational distance" and appropriate animal models. Topics in clinical research include key issues that arise in early-stage clinical trials, including selection of patient-subjects, disclosure of uncertainty, and defining success. The comparison of these two technologies and their ethical issues brings to light many challenges for translational tissue engineering research and provides guidance for investigators engaged in development of any tissue engineering technology. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

[New italian law about end of life: self-determination and shared care pathway.

PubMed

Ciliberti, Rosagemma; Gulino, Matteo; Gorini, Ilaria

2018-05-01

The Italian Parliament has recently approved the Law n. 219/2017 concerning "Rules on informed consent and advance directives". The manuscript points out the main key points of the new law, in order to clarify the role of the advance directives and to provide clear operational guidelines for healthcare personnel. Taking into consideration the Italian deontological and juridical context, along with the main jurisprudential judgements, the law has been analysed. The Authors discussed the new rules and the bioethical issues also in relation to the provisions stated by the Convention on Human Rights and Biomedicine (Convention of Oviedo). The new law deals with relevant issues that were confined to jurisprudential rulings so far, such as the informed consent, the withdrawal/withholding of medical treatment (including artificial nutrition and hydration), the content of medical information, including the modalities, the medical responsibility and, finally, the value of advance directives. In the Authors' opinion this law provides essential rules to expressly strengthen the patients' autonomy, eliminating the juridical uncertainty on many central issues (such us, for example, the refusal of life-sustainment treatments) that have been the subject of contradictory judgments ruled by the Italian Courts. Nevertheless, advance directives should be regarded as a dynamic tools of relationship between physicians and assisted person and, thus, as an essential integrant part of the advance care planning. The education of health professionals and citizens about end of life issues is the basis for the successful implementation of this legislation.

[Key points of poverty alleviation of Chinese herbal medicine industry and classification of recommended Chinese herbal medicines].

PubMed

Huang, Lu-Qi; Su, Gang-Qiang; Zhang, Xiao-Bo; Sun, Xiao-Ming; Wu, Xiao-Jun; Guo, Lan-Ping; Li, Meng; Wang, Hui; Jing, Zhi-Xian

2017-11-01

To build a well-off society in an all-round way, eliminate poverty, improve people's livelihood and improve the level of social and economic development in poverty-stricken areas is the frontier issues of the government and science and technology workers at all levels. Chinese herbal medicine is the strategic resource of the people's livelihood, Chinese herbal medicine cultivation is an important part of China's rural poor population income. As most of the production of Chinese herbal medicine by the biological characteristics of their own and the interaction of natural ecological environment factors, showing a strong regional character.the Ministry of Traditional Chinese Medicine and the State Council Poverty Alleviation Office and other five departments jointly issued the "China Herbal Industry Poverty Alleviation Action Plan (2017-2020)", according to local conditions of guidance and planning of Chinese herbal medicine production practice, promote Chinese herbal medicine industry poverty alleviation related work In this paper, based on the relevant data of poverty-stricken areas, this paper divides the areas with priority to the poverty alleviation conditions of Chinese herbal medicine industry, and analyzes and catalogs the list of Chinese herbal medicines grown in poverty-stricken areas at the macro level. The results show that there are at least 10% of the poor counties in the counties where the poverty-stricken counties and the concentrated areas are concentrated in the poverty-stricken areas. There is already a good base of Chinese herbal medicine industry, which is the key priority area for poverty alleviation of Chinese herbal medicine industry. Poverty-stricken counties, with a certain degree of development of Chinese medicine industry poverty alleviation conditions, the need to strengthen the relevant work to expand the foundation and capacity of Chinese herbal medicine industry poverty alleviation; 37% of poor counties to develop Chinese medicine industry, the basic conditions of poverty alleviation. It is suggested that: prioritized priorities, counties that have a good foundation for Chinese herbal medicine industry will implement the "Poverty Alleviation Action Plan for Chinese Herbal Medicine Industry" through nearly 100 counties with priority development. Copyright© by the Chinese Pharmaceutical Association.

Political and Institutional Influences on the Use of Evidence in Public Health Policy. A Systematic Review

PubMed Central

Liverani, Marco; Hawkins, Benjamin; Parkhurst, Justin O.

2013-01-01

Background There is increasing recognition that the development of evidence-informed health policy is not only a technical problem of knowledge exchange or translation, but also a political challenge. Yet, while political scientists have long considered the nature of political systems, the role of institutional structures, and the political contestation of policy issues as central to understanding policy decisions, these issues remain largely unexplored by scholars of evidence-informed policy making. Methods We conducted a systematic review of empirical studies that examined the influence of key features of political systems and institutional mechanisms on evidence use, and contextual factors that may contribute to the politicisation of health evidence. Eligible studies were identified through searches of seven health and social sciences databases, websites of relevant organisations, the British Library database, and manual searches of academic journals. Relevant findings were extracted using a uniform data extraction tool and synthesised by narrative review. Findings 56 studies were selected for inclusion. Relevant political and institutional aspects affecting the use of health evidence included the level of state centralisation and democratisation, the influence of external donors and organisations, the organisation and function of bureaucracies, and the framing of evidence in relation to social norms and values. However, our understanding of such influences remains piecemeal given the limited number of empirical analyses on this subject, the paucity of comparative works, and the limited consideration of political and institutional theory in these studies. Conclusions This review highlights the need for a more explicit engagement with the political and institutional factors affecting the use of health evidence in decision-making. A more nuanced understanding of evidence use in health policy making requires both additional empirical studies of evidence use, and an engagement with theories and approaches beyond the current remit of public health or knowledge utilisation studies. PMID:24204823

Will we outlive our money?

PubMed

Salisbury, D L

2000-01-01

Fewer and fewer Americans retire with benefits in the form of life annuities. The author raises key issues regarding the increased importance that uncertainty plays in determining retirement income. The key issues include longevity risk and how savings withdrawals rates will be affected at varying rates of return.

Applications of holography to condensed matter physics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ross, Simon F.

2012-10-01

Holography is one of the key insights to emerge from string theory. It connects quantum gravity to field theory, and thereby provides a non-perturbative formulation of string theory. This has enabled progress on a range of theoretical issues, from the quantum description of spacetime to the calculation of scattering amplitudes in supersymmetric field theories. There have been important insights into both the field theories and the spacetime picture. More recently, applied holography has been the subject of intense and rapid development. The idea here is to use the spacetime description to address questions about strongly coupled field theory relevant to application areas such as finite-temperature QCD and condensed matter physics; the focus in this special issue is on the latter. This involves the study of field theory at finite temperature and with chemical potentials for appropriate charges, described in spacetime by charged black hole solutions. The use of holography to study these systems requires a significant extrapolation, from the field theories where classical gravitational calculations in the bulk are a useful approximation to the experimentally relevant theories. Nonetheless, the approach has had some striking qualitative successes, including the construction of holographic versions of superconducting or superfluid phase transitions, the identification of Fermi liquids with a variety of thermal behaviours, and the construction of a map between a class of gravity solutions and the hydrodynamic regime in the field theory. The use of holography provides a qualitatively new perspective on these aspects of strong coupling dynamics. In addition to insight into the behaviour of the strongly coupled field theories, this work has led to new insights into the bulk dynamics and a deeper understanding of holography. The purpose of this focus issue is to strengthen the connections between this direction and other gravitational research and to make the gravity community more aware of these developments. The issue is made up of original research contributions at the forefront of this area, giving a sense of the range of activity and presenting significant new contributions. Simon F RossGuest Editor

The economics of cardiac biomarker testing in suspected myocardial infarction.

PubMed

Goodacre, Steve; Thokala, Praveen

2015-03-01

Suspected myocardial infarction (MI) is a common reason for emergency hospital attendance and admission. Cardiac biomarker measurement is an essential element of diagnostic assessment of suspected MI. Although the cost of a routinely available biomarker may be small, the large patient population and consequences in terms of hospital admission and investigation mean that the economic impact of cardiac biomarker testing is substantial. Economic evaluation involves comparing the estimated costs and effectiveness (outcomes) of two or more interventions or care alternatives. This process creates some difficulties with respect to cardiac biomarkers. Estimating the effectiveness of cardiac biomarkers involves identifying how they help to improve health and how we can measure this improvement. Comparison to an appropriate alternative is also problematic. New biomarkers may be promoted on the basis of reducing hospital admission or length of stay, but hospital admission for low risk patients may incur significant costs while providing very little benefit, making it an inappropriate comparator. Finally, economic evaluation may conclude that a more sensitive biomarker strategy is more effective but, by detecting and treating more cases, is also more expensive. In these circumstances it is unclear whether we should use the more effective or the cheaper option. This article provides an introduction to health economics and addresses the specific issues relevant to cardiac biomarkers. It describes the key concepts relevant to economic evaluation of cardiac biomarkers in suspected MI and highlights key areas of uncertainty and controversy. Copyright © 2014 The Canadian Society of Clinical Chemists. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

How can we improve our understanding of cardiovascular safety liabilities to develop safer medicines?

PubMed Central

Laverty, HG; Benson, C; Cartwright, EJ; Cross, MJ; Garland, C; Hammond, T; Holloway, C; McMahon, N; Milligan, J; Park, BK; Pirmohamed, M; Pollard, C; Radford, J; Roome, N; Sager, P; Singh, S; Suter, T; Suter, W; Trafford, A; Volders, PGA; Wallis, R; Weaver, R; York, M; Valentin, JP

2011-01-01

Given that cardiovascular safety liabilities remain a major cause of drug attrition during preclinical and clinical development, adverse drug reactions, and post-approval withdrawal of medicines, the Medical Research Council Centre for Drug Safety Science hosted a workshop to discuss current challenges in determining, understanding and addressing ‘Cardiovascular Toxicity of Medicines’. This article summarizes the key discussions from the workshop that aimed to address three major questions: (i) what are the key cardiovascular safety liabilities in drug discovery, drug development and clinical practice? (ii) how good are preclinical and clinical strategies for detecting cardiovascular liabilities? and (iii) do we have a mechanistic understanding of these liabilities? It was concluded that in order to understand, address and ultimately reduce cardiovascular safety liabilities of new therapeutic agents there is an urgent need to: Fully characterize the incidence, prevalence and impact of drug-induced cardiovascular issues at all stages of the drug development process. Ascertain the predictive value of existing non-clinical models and assays towards the clinical outcome. Understand the mechanistic basis of cardiovascular liabilities; by addressing areas where it is currently not possible to predict clinical outcome based on preclinical safety data. Provide scientists in all disciplines with additional skills to enable them to better integrate preclinical and clinical data and to better understand the biological and clinical significance of observed changes. Develop more appropriate, highly relevant and predictive tools and assays to identify and wherever feasible to eliminate cardiovascular safety liabilities from molecules and wherever appropriate to develop clinically relevant and reliable safety biomarkers. PMID:21306581

Polluting Canada's Public Square: The Harper Government's War on Science and the Environment?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Linnitt, C.; Hoggan, J. C.

2013-12-01

Conversations about key environmental issues like climate change are increasingly viewed as matters of politics rather than matters of science. As a result, competing -and often polarized - interests have made public debate on these issues vulnerable to aggressive politicization. This politicization, particularly when it comes to important policy decisions regarding industrial (and especially fossil fuel) development, obscures the facts on these issues, leaving democratic public debate prey to aggressive public relations tactics, misinformation campaigns, pseudo-science, modern-day propaganda and/or the deliberate ';pollution' of the public square. In Canada a coordinated effort is underway to mischaracterize environmental groups as radical ideologues, associating environmental views and pursuits with extremism. A Tea Party-style echo chamber has also emerged in Canada, coordinating anti-science messaging in an attempt to bolster industrial development while misaligning environmental non-profits with domestic terror threats. This attempt to undermine ecological agendas and to push environmental concerns to the margins is paired with government-sponsored censorship of federally-funded scientists and the elimination of vital public science programs in Canada. The result is a dearth of scientific information surrounding significant environmental concerns - such as the Alberta oil sands and industry contamination of waterways - and a dangerous and false association of these issues with an extremist agenda. Ultimately scientists and science communicators face a unique set of challenges in Canada when it comes to addressing environmental issues. Although the 'science' of science communication has evolved to address relevant cultural and socio-political barriers associated with change resistance (for example, adapting one's behavior to minimize greenhouse gas emissions), much work remains in both acknowledging and ameliorating the politicization of science and the intentional pollution of public conversations. Democracy depends on the public's access to information; however, in a climate in which that access is under threat, scientists and science communicators may need to address those fundamental concerns deliberately in order to participate effectively in the public policy and decision-making process. This paper provides a brief overview of environmental communications theory and practice, current misinformation techniques, and key instances in which either government policy and/or media and industry behavior have actively sought to contaminate or impede more constructive discourse on issues of science and environmental regulation. We conclude by offering a set of recommendations for improving the ability of scientists and experts to communicate effectively in an increasingly complex political and media environment, and for safeguarding the quality of democratic discourse on these and other issues.

Getting sports injury prevention on to public health agendas - addressing the shortfalls in current information sources.

PubMed

Finch, Caroline F

2012-01-01

Public health policy is a successful population-level strategy for injury prevention but it is yet to be widely applied to the sports sector. Such policy is generally coordinated by government health departments concerned with the allocation of limited resources to health service delivery and preventive programs for addressing large community health issues. Prioritisation of sports injury prevention (SIP) requires high-quality evidence about the size of the problem and its public health burden; identification of at-risk vulnerable groups; confirmed effective prevention solutions; evidence of intervention cost-effectiveness; and quantification of both financial and policy implications of inaction. This paper argues that the major reason for a lack of sports injury policy by government departments for health or sport to date is a lack of relevant information available for policy makers to make their decisions. Key information gaps evident in Australia are used to highlight this problem. SIP policy does not yet rank highly because, relative to other health/injury issues, there is very little hard evidence to support: claims for its priority ranking, the existence of solutions that can be implemented and which will work, and potential cost-savings to government agencies. Moreover, policy action needs to be integrated across government portfolios, including sport, health and others. Until sports medicine research generates high-quality population-level information of direct relevance and importance to policy makers, especially intervention costing and implementation cost-benefit estimates, and fully engage in policy-informing partnerships, SIP will continue to be left off the public health agenda.

How to buy a medical home? Policy options and practical questions.

PubMed

Berenson, Robert A; Rich, Eugene C

2010-06-01

In this paper, we describe a range of payment options to support the PCMH, identifying their conceptual strengths and weaknesses. These include enhanced FFS payment for office visits to the PCMH; paying additional FFS for "new" PCMH services; variations of traditional FFS combined with new PCMH-oriented per patient per month capitation; and combined capitation payments for traditional primary care medical services as well as new medical home services. In discussing options for PCMH payment reform we consider issues in patient severity adjustment, performance payment, and the role of payments to community service organizations to collaborate with the PCMH. We also highlight some of the practical challenges that can complicate reimbursement reform for primary care and the PCMH. Through this discussion we identify key dimensions to provider payment reform relevant to promoting enhanced primary care through the patient centered medical home. These consist of paying for the basic medical home services, rewarding excellent performance of medical homes, incentivizing medical home connections to other community health care resources, and overcoming implementation challenges to medical home payments. Each of these overarching policy issues invokes a substantial subset of policy relevant research questions that collectively comprise a robust research agenda. We conclude that the conceptual strengths and weaknesses of available payment models for medical home functions invoke a complex array of options with varying levels of real-world feasibility. The different needs of patients and communities, and varying characteristics of practices must also be factors guiding PCMH payment reform. Indeed, it may be that different circumstances will require different payment approaches in various combinations.

Electronic cigarettes: patterns of use, health effects, use in smoking cessation and regulatory issues.

PubMed

Rahman, Muhammad Aziz; Hann, Nicholas; Wilson, Andrew; Worrall-Carter, Linda

2014-01-01

Electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) are battery-powered devices that vaporize a liquid solution to deliver a dose of inhaled nicotine to the user. There is ongoing debate regarding their regulation. This comprehensive narrative review aimed to discuss key issues including usage patterns, health effects, efficacy in smoking cessation and regulatory concerns with a view to informing future regulation and research agendas. PubMed, Scopus and Web of Science databases were searched using the terms (electronic cigarettes OR e-cigarettes) for articles in English, relevant to humans and published during January 2009-January 2014. The literature search revealed 37 relevant articles. Findings suggest that e-cigarettes are mostly used by middle-aged current smokers, particularly males, to help them for quitting or for recreation. E-cigarettes contain very low levels of multiple toxic substances such as formaldehyde and acrolein, but these levels are many times lower than those found in cigarettes. They were found to have effectiveness in aiding smoking cessation to a limited degree. Debate continues regarding regulating their use for cessation versus heavy restrictions to control recreational use on the basis that it perpetuates nicotine addiction. The cytotoxicity and long term health effects of e-cigarettes are unknown. Nevertheless the e-cigarette market continues to expand, largely driven by middle-aged smokers who claim to be using e-cigarettes in an attempt to reduce or quit smoking. E-cigarettes may have some potential as smoking cessation aids and, in the researchers' view, should therefore be subject to further research and regulation similar to other nicotine replacement therapies.

How to Buy a Medical Home? Policy Options and Practical Questions

PubMed Central

Berenson, Robert A.

2010-01-01

In this paper, we describe a range of payment options to support the PCMH, identifying their conceptual strengths and weaknesses. These include enhanced FFS payment for office visits to the PCMH; paying additional FFS for “new” PCMH services; variations of traditional FFS combined with new PCMH-oriented per patient per month capitation; and combined capitation payments for traditional primary care medical services as well as new medical home services. In discussing options for PCMH payment reform we consider issues in patient severity adjustment, performance payment, and the role of payments to community service organizations to collaborate with the PCMH. We also highlight some of the practical challenges that can complicate reimbursement reform for primary care and the PCMH. Through this discussion we identify key dimensions to provider payment reform relevant to promoting enhanced primary care through the patient centered medical home. These consist of paying for the basic medical home services, rewarding excellent performance of medical homes, incentivizing medical home connections to other community health care resources, and overcoming implementation challenges to medical home payments. Each of these overarching policy issues invokes a substantial subset of policy relevant research questions that collectively comprise a robust research agenda. We conclude that the conceptual strengths and weaknesses of available payment models for medical home functions invoke a complex array of options with varying levels of real-world feasibility. The different needs of patients and communities, and varying characteristics of practices must also be factors guiding PCMH payment reform. Indeed, it may be that different circumstances will require different payment approaches in various combinations. PMID:20467911

Biomedical research leaders: report on needs, opportunities, difficulties, education and training, and evaluation.

PubMed Central

Wilson, S H; Merkle, S; Brown, D; Moskowitz, J; Hurley, D; Brown, D; Bailey, B J; McClain, M; Misenhimer, M; Buckalew, J; Burks, T

2000-01-01

The National Association of Physicians for the Environment (NAPE) has assumed a leadership role in protecting environmental health in recent years. The Committee of Biomedical Research Leaders was convened at the recent NAPE Leadership Conference: Biomedical Research and the Environment held on 1--2 November 1999, at the National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland. This report summarizes the discussion of the committee and its recommendations. The charge to the committee was to raise and address issues that will promote and sustain environmental health, safety, and energy efficiency within the biomedical community. Leaders from every important research sector (industry laboratories, academic health centers and institutes, hospitals and care facilities, Federal laboratories, and community-based research facilities) were gathered in this committee to discuss issues relevant to promoting environmental health. The conference and this report focus on the themes of environmental stewardship, sustainable development and "best greening practices." Environmental stewardship, an emerging theme within and outside the biomedical community, symbolizes the effort to provide an integrated, synthesized, and concerted effort to protect the health of the environment in both the present and the future. The primary goal established by the committee is to promote environmentally responsible leadership in the biomedical research community. Key outcomes of the committee's discussion and deliberation were a) the need for a central organization to evaluate, promote, and oversee efforts in environmental stewardship; and b) immediate need to facilitate efficient information transfer relevant to protecting the global environment through a database/clearinghouse. Means to fulfill these needs are discussed in this report. PMID:11121363

Children, health and gender: recognition in nursing research?

PubMed

Taylor, Julie; Green, Lorraine

2008-12-01

This paper examines the hitherto mostly unrecognised relationship between gender, health and children; its significance for nursing practice and how it has been considered in nursing research. Holistic nursing practice with children requires adequate assessment and consideration of all potential influences on children's lives. Socioeconomic disparities have received widespread attention and gender inequalities in adult health have been studied in some depth. The links between gender, health and children, however, have received little consideration. The paper first considers this context in depth; it then applies the context to research in practice. Systematic review. A systematic literature search was undertaken on four mainstream nursing research journals over 38 months up to February 2007. A total of 567 articles met the key word searches. Duplicates, opinion pieces and articles not focusing on children were removed. The remaining 23 nursing studies relevant to child health were examined for their gender sensitivity. Full consideration of gender issues was found largely to be absent in nursing research on children. Eight studies gave specific consideration to gender relevance, where boys and girls may have responded differently to care. Only six studies specifically addressed gender sensitivity. Allowing children a voice, however, was a strength in these studies, with 18 reflecting children's views directly. Major gaps still exist in research and theorisation relating to children, health and gender. These need to be acknowledged and investigated, particularly in relation to how they might impact on nursing care. Nursing practice and research needs to account for all potential health issues, of which gender may often be important.

Biomedical research leaders: report on needs, opportunities, difficulties, education and training, and evaluation.

PubMed

Wilson, S H; Merkle, S; Brown, D; Moskowitz, J; Hurley, D; Brown, D; Bailey, B J; McClain, M; Misenhimer, M; Buckalew, J; Burks, T

2000-12-01

The National Association of Physicians for the Environment (NAPE) has assumed a leadership role in protecting environmental health in recent years. The Committee of Biomedical Research Leaders was convened at the recent NAPE Leadership Conference: Biomedical Research and the Environment held on 1--2 November 1999, at the National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland. This report summarizes the discussion of the committee and its recommendations. The charge to the committee was to raise and address issues that will promote and sustain environmental health, safety, and energy efficiency within the biomedical community. Leaders from every important research sector (industry laboratories, academic health centers and institutes, hospitals and care facilities, Federal laboratories, and community-based research facilities) were gathered in this committee to discuss issues relevant to promoting environmental health. The conference and this report focus on the themes of environmental stewardship, sustainable development and "best greening practices." Environmental stewardship, an emerging theme within and outside the biomedical community, symbolizes the effort to provide an integrated, synthesized, and concerted effort to protect the health of the environment in both the present and the future. The primary goal established by the committee is to promote environmentally responsible leadership in the biomedical research community. Key outcomes of the committee's discussion and deliberation were a) the need for a central organization to evaluate, promote, and oversee efforts in environmental stewardship; and b) immediate need to facilitate efficient information transfer relevant to protecting the global environment through a database/clearinghouse. Means to fulfill these needs are discussed in this report.

Bottlenecks in the development of topical analgesics: molecule, formulation, dose-finding, and phase III design.

PubMed

Keppel Hesselink, Jan M; Kopsky, David J; Stahl, Stephen M

2017-01-01

Topical analgesics can be defined as topical formulations containing analgesics or co-analgesics. Since 2000, interest in such formulations has been on the rise. There are, however, four critical issues in the research and development phases of topical analgesics: 1) The selection of the active pharmaceutical ingredient. Analgesics and co-analgesics differ greatly in their mechanism of action, and it is required to find the most optimal fit between such mechanisms of action and the pathogenesis of the targeted (neuropathic) pain. 2) Issues concerning the optimized formulation. For relevant clinical efficacy, specific characteristics for the selected vehicle (eg, cream base or gel base) are required, depending on the physicochemical characteristics of the active pharmaceutical ingredient(s) to be delivered. 3) Well-designed phase II dose-finding studies are required, and, unfortunately, such trials are missing. In fact, we will demonstrate that underdosing is one of the major hurdles to detect meaningful and statistically relevant clinical effects of topical analgesics. 4) Selection of clinical end points and innovatively designed phase III trials. End point selection can make or break a trial. For instance, to include numbness together with tingling as a composite end point for neuropathic pain seems stretching the therapeutic impact of an analgesic too far. Given the fast onset of action of topical analgesics (usually within 30 minutes), enrichment designs might enhance the chances for success, as the placebo response might decrease. Topical analgesics may become promising inroads for the treatment of neuropathic pain, once sufficient attention is given to these four key aspects.

Uncertainty and Variability in Physiologically-Based Pharmacokinetic (PBPK) Models: Key Issues and Case Studies (Final Report)

EPA Science Inventory

EPA announced the availability of the final report, Uncertainty and Variability in Physiologically-Based Pharmacokinetic (PBPK) Models: Key Issues and Case Studies. This report summarizes some of the recent progress in characterizing uncertainty and variability in physi...

In search of standards to support circularity in product policies: A systematic approach.

PubMed

Tecchio, Paolo; McAlister, Catriona; Mathieux, Fabrice; Ardente, Fulvio

2017-12-01

The aspiration of a circular economy is to shift material flows toward a zero waste and pollution production system. The process of shifting to a circular economy has been initiated by the European Commission in their action plan for the circular economy. The EU Ecodesign Directive is a key policy in this transition. However, to date the focus of access to market requirements on products has primarily been upon energy efficiency. The absence of adequate metrics and standards has been a key barrier to the inclusion of resource efficiency requirements. This paper proposes a framework to boost sustainable engineering and resource use by systematically identifying standardization needs and features. Standards can then support the setting of appropriate material efficiency requirements in EU product policy. Three high-level policy goals concerning material efficiency of products were identified: embodied impact reduction, lifetime extension and residual waste reduction. Through a lifecycle perspective, a matrix of interactions among material efficiency topics (recycled content, re-used content, relevant material content, durability, upgradability, reparability, re-manufacturability, reusability, recyclability, recoverability, relevant material separability) and policy goals was created. The framework was tested on case studies for electronic displays and washing machines. For potential material efficiency requirements, specific standardization needs were identified, such as adequate metrics for performance measurements, reliable and repeatable tests, and calculation procedures. The proposed novel framework aims to provide a method by which to identify key material efficiency considerations within the policy context, and to map out the generic and product-specific standardisation needs to support ecodesign. Via such an approach, many different stakeholders (industry, academics, policy makers, non-governmental organizations etc.) can be involved in material efficiency standards and regulations. Requirements and standards concerning material efficiency would compel product manufacturers, but also help designers and interested parties in addressing the sustainable resource use issue.

Legal and Ethical Issues Involved When Counseling Minors in Nonschool Settings.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lawrence, Gabrielle; Kurpius, Sharon E. Robinson

2000-01-01

It is essential for counselors to understand the legal and ethical issues relevant to working with minors. Article reviews major court cases and legislation concerning these areas. Discusses four ethical issues: counselor competence, client's rights to confidentiality, informed consent, and duties related to child abuse. Considers issues for…

Epidemiology of depression in diabetes: international and cross-cultural issues.

PubMed

Lloyd, Cathy E; Roy, Tapash; Nouwen, Arie; Chauhan, Asha M

2012-10-01

This paper reviews the most up-to-date epidemiological evidence of the relationship between depression and diabetes, and considers the risk factors for the development of depression and the consequences of depression in diabetes with an emphasis on international and cross-cultural data. The difficulties that researchers face when epidemiological studies require assessment of psychological phenomena, such as depression, across different cultural settings are explored. Relevant papers were sought on the epidemiology of diabetes and depression in people with diabetes by undertaking a literature search of electronic databases including MEDLINE, Psych-INFO, CINAHL and EMBASE. These papers were assessed by the authors and a narrative review of the relevant literature was composed. Systematic reviews of the prevalence of depression in people with diabetes have focused on studies conducted in English speaking countries and emerging data suggest that there may be international variations in prevalence and also in how symptoms of depression are reported. There appears to be a bi-directional relationship between depression and diabetes, with one influencing the other; however, research in this area is further complicated by the fact that potential risk factors for depression in people with diabetes often interact with each other and with other factors. Further research is needed to elucidate the causal mechanisms underlying these associations. Data from non-English speaking countries remain scarce and so it is difficult to come to any firm conclusions as to the international variation in prevalence rates of co-morbid diabetes and depression in these countries until further research has been conducted. It is important to take a culture-centered approach to our understanding of mental health and illness and consider the key issues related to the development of culturally sensitive depression screening tools. In order to come to any firm conclusions about the international variation in prevalence of co-morbid diabetes and depression, issues of culture and diversity must be taken into account prior to conducting international epidemiological studies. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Using data and quality monitoring to enhance maternity outcomes: a qualitative study of risk managers' perspectives.

PubMed

Simms, Rebecca A; Yelland, Andrew; Ping, Helen; Beringer, Antonia J; Draycott, Timothy J; Fox, Robert

2014-06-01

Risk management is a core part of healthcare practice, especially within maternity services, where litigation and societal costs are high. There has been little investigation into the experiences and opinions of those staff directly involved in risk management: lead obstetricians and specialist risk midwives, who are ideally placed to identify how current implementation of risk management strategies can be improved. A qualitative study of consultant-led maternity units in an English region. Semistructured interviews were conducted with the obstetric and midwifery risk management leads for each unit. We explored their approach to risk management, particularly their opinions regarding quality monitoring and related barriers/issues. Interviews were recorded, transcribed and thematically analysed. Twenty-seven staff from 12/15 maternity units participated. Key issues identified included: concern for the accuracy and validity of their local data, potential difficulties related to data collation, the negative impact of external interference by national regulatory bodies on local clinical priorities, the influence of the local culture of the maternity unit on levels of engagement in the risk management process, and scepticism about the value of benchmarking of maternity units without adjustment for population characteristics. Local maternity risk managers may provide valuable, clinically relevant insights into current issues in clinical data monitoring. Improvements should focus on the accuracy and ease of data collation with a need for an agreed maternity indicators set, populated from validated databases, and not reliant on data collection systems that distract clinicians from patient activity and quality improvement. It is clear that working relationships between risk managers, their own clinical teams and external national bodies require improvement and alignment. Further discussion regarding benchmarking between maternity units is required prior to implementation. These findings are likely to be relevant to other clinical specialties. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://group.bmj.com/group/rights-licensing/permissions.

m-Health 2.0: New perspectives on mobile health, machine learning and big data analytics.

PubMed

Istepanian, Robert S H; Al-Anzi, Turki

2018-06-08

Mobile health (m-Health) has been repeatedly called the biggest technological breakthrough of our modern times. Similarly, the concept of big data in the context of healthcare is considered one of the transformative drivers for intelligent healthcare delivery systems. In recent years, big data has become increasingly synonymous with mobile health, however key challenges of 'Big Data and mobile health', remain largely untackled. This is becoming particularly important with the continued deluge of the structured and unstructured data sets generated on daily basis from the proliferation of mobile health applications within different healthcare systems and products globally. The aim of this paper is of twofold. First we present the relevant big data issues from the mobile health (m-Health) perspective. In particular we discuss these issues from the technological areas and building blocks (communications, sensors and computing) of mobile health and the newly defined (m-Health 2.0) concept. The second objective is to present the relevant rapprochement issues of big m-Health data analytics with m-Health. Further, we also present the current and future roles of machine and deep learning within the current smart phone centric m-health model. The critical balance between these two important areas will depend on how different stakeholder from patients, clinicians, healthcare providers, medical and m-health market businesses and regulators will perceive these developments. These new perspectives are essential for better understanding the fine balance between the new insights of how intelligent and connected the future mobile health systems will look like and the inherent risks and clinical complexities associated with the big data sets and analytical tools used in these systems. These topics will be subject for extensive work and investigations in the foreseeable future for the areas of data analytics, computational and artificial intelligence methods applied for mobile health. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

"It's A Girl Thing!" Do Boys Engage in Relational Aggression? Exploration of Whether Strategies to Educate Young People about Relational Aggression Are Relevant for Boys

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

James, Deborah; Lawlor, Maria; Murphy, Niamh; Flynn, Ann

2013-01-01

Relational aggression is often perceived as a female issue. Less is known about relational aggression in adolescent boys. This study examines whether the issues associated with relational aggression in girls are similar for boys to determine whether an intervention designed for girls would be relevant for boys. Focus group discussions illustrate…

Unmanned Surface Combatant Considerations for Concept Exploration

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-06-01

counterparts who become fatigued. The USC systems could perform missions without having to consider the health and morale of the crew. 18 Arguably the...fourth objective was to evaluate the USC relevant technologies and identify potential design issues . The result was relevant technologies that...and issue mines. R MIW 8 (U) Conduct precise navigation. G MIW 9 (U) Conduct airborne mine countermeasures. R MIW 10 (U) Provide for air operations

Addressing mental health disparities through clinical competence not just cultural competence: the need for assessment of sociocultural issues in the delivery of evidence-based psychosocial rehabilitation services.

PubMed

Yamada, Ann-Marie; Brekke, John S

2008-12-01

Recognition of ethnic/racial disparities in mental health services has not directly resulted in the development of culturally responsive psychosocial interventions. There remains a fundamental need for assessment of sociocultural issues that have been linked with the expectations, needs, and goals of culturally diverse consumers with severe and persistent mental illness. The authors posit that embedding the assessment of sociocultural issues into psychosocial rehabilitation practice is one step in designing culturally relevant empirically supported practices. It becomes a foundation on which practitioners can examine the relevance of their interventions to the diversity encountered in everyday practice. This paper provides an overview of the need for culturally and clinically relevant assessment practices and asserts that by improving the assessment of sociocultural issues the clinical competence of service providers is enhanced. The authors offer a conceptual framework for linking clinical assessment of sociocultural issues to consumer outcomes and introduce an assessment tool adapted to facilitate the process in psychosocial rehabilitation settings. Emphasizing competent clinical assessment skills will ultimately offer a strategy to address disparities in treatment outcomes for understudied populations of culturally diverse consumers with severe and persistent mental illness.

How Christians reconcile their personal political views and the teachings of their faith: Projection as a means of dissonance reduction

PubMed Central

Ross, Lee D.; Lelkes, Yphtach; Russell, Alexandra G.

2012-01-01

The present study explores the dramatic projection of one's own views onto those of Jesus among conservative and liberal American Christians. In a large-scale survey, the relevant views that each group attributed to a contemporary Jesus differed almost as much as their own views. Despite such dissonance-reducing projection, however, conservatives acknowledged the relevant discrepancy with regard to “fellowship” issues (e.g., taxation to reduce economic inequality and treatment of immigrants) and liberals acknowledged the relevant discrepancy with regard to “morality” issues (e.g., abortion and gay marriage). However, conservatives also claimed that a contemporary Jesus would be even more conservative than themselves on the former issues whereas liberals claimed that Jesus would be even more liberal than themselves on the latter issues. Further reducing potential dissonance, liberal and conservative Christians differed markedly in the types of issues they claimed to be more central to their faith. A concluding discussion considers the relationship between individual motivational processes and more social processes that may underlie the present findings, as well as implications for contemporary social and political conflict. PMID:22308413

Relevance: Cornerstone for Constructing Meaning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cardell, Melanie

2005-01-01

Relevance has been called the "What's In It For Me" (WIIFM) issue. If there is not something in the content that the learner really needs, then they normally do not want to be bothered with it. Relevance is learner driven, but must be teacher provided for optimal learning. Relevance is so important to the making of meaning that Eric Jensen (1996,…

The new Met Office strategy for seasonal forecasts

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hewson, T. D.

2012-04-01

In October 2011 the Met Office began issuing a new-format UK seasonal forecast, called "The 3-month Outlook". Government interest in a UK-relevant product had been heightened by infrastructure issues arising during the severe cold of previous winters. At the same time there was evidence that the Met Office's "GLOSEA4" long range forecasting system exhibited some hindcast skill for the UK, that was comparable to its hindcast skill for the larger (and therefore less useful) 'northern Europe' region. Also, the NAO- and AO- signals prevailing in the previous two winters had been highlighted by the GLOSEA4 model well in advance. This presentation will initially give a brief overview of GLOSEA4, describing key features such as evolving sea-ice, a well-resolved stratosphere, and the perturbation strategy. Skill measures will be shown, along with forecasts for the last 3 winters. The new structure 3-month outlook will then be described and presented. Previously, our seasonal forecasts had been based on a tercile approach. The new format outlook aims to substantially improve upon this by illustrating graphically, and with text, the full range of possible outcomes, and by placing those outcomes in the context of climatology. In one key component the forecast pdfs (probability density functions) are displayed alongside climatological pdfs. To generate the forecast pdf we take the bias-corrected GLOSEA4 output (42 members), and then incorporate, via expert team, all other relevant information. Firstly model forecasts from other centres are examined. Then external 'forcing factors', such as solar, and the state of the land-ocean-ice system, are referenced, assessing how well the models represent their influence, and bringing in statistical relationships where appropriate. The expert team thereby decides upon any changes to the GLOSEA4 data, employing an interactive tool to shift, expand or contract the forecast pdfs accordingly. The full modification process will be illustrated during the presentation. Another key component of the 3-month outlook is the focus it places on potential hazards and impacts. To date specific references have been made to snow and ice disruption, to replenishment expectation for regions suffering water supply shortages, and to windstorm frequency. This aspect will be discussed, showing also some subjective verification. In future we hope to extend the 3-month outlook framework to other parts of the world, notably Africa, a region where the Met Office, with DfID support, is working collaboratively to improve real-time long range forecasts. Brief reference will also be made to such activities.

[Doctor-patient-communication in an oncological outpatient department. A linguistic study of communication problems].

PubMed

Sator, Marlene; Gstettner, Andreas; Hladschik-Kermer, Birgit

2008-01-01

Recognising and attending to patients' most relevant issues and main concerns are the basis for patient-oriented work. This qualitative study investigates the ways in which doctors communicate with their patients. The method of study is conversation and discourse analysis. The source of data are audio recordings of 20 introductory medical consultations in an oncological outpatient department in Austria. In a macro-analytical approach the duration of verbal contribution as well as the topics mentioned are analyzed. Results show that 34% of the consultation time is used for activities other than the actual doctor-patient-communication. Furthermore, the share of patients' verbal contribution was found to be half that of the doctor. Much room is given to information about chemotherapy, less is dedicated to topics like the stages of the illness and the hope for recovery. The micro-analytical approach shows that patients keep trying to allude to topics which are especially relevant to them. This happens very subtly and implicitly by means of interactional markings of relevance. These are communicative and interactive methods such as a change in volume or in speech patterns, the use of strong metaphors or hesitation phenomena. Doctors, however, often give insufficient attention to such initiatives from patients and follow their own, often institutionally-related, pre-requisites. Drawing on two examples, this article shows how insufficient attention to patient-relevant issues results in a lower quality of doctor-patient-communication, and lower satisfaction of patients and doctors. Two positive examples show that adequate attention to patient-relevant issues is possible and increases quality of doctor-patient-communication, as well as participants' satisfaction. It is argued that insufficient attention to patient-relevant issues also reduces time efficiency.

Concept of Operations Evaluation for Mitigating Space Flight-Relevant Medical Issues in a Planetary Habitat

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Barsten, Kristina; Hurst, Victor, IV; Scheuring, Richard; Baumann, David K.; Johnson-Throop, Kathy

2010-01-01

Introduction: Analogue environments assist the NASA Human Research Program (HRP) in developing capabilities to mitigate high risk issues to crew health and performance for space exploration. The Habitat Demonstration Unit (HDU) is an analogue habitat used to assess space-related products for planetary missions. The Exploration Medical Capability (ExMC) element at the NASA Johnson Space Center (JSC) was tasked with developing planetary-relevant medical scenarios to evaluate the concept of operations for mitigating medical issues in such an environment. Methods: Two medical scenarios were conducted within the simulated planetary habitat with the crew executing two space flight-relevant procedures: Eye Examination with a corneal injury and Skin Laceration. Remote guidance for the crew was provided by a flight surgeon (FS) stationed at a console outside of the habitat. Audio and video data were collected to capture the communication between the crew and the FS, as well as the movements of the crew executing the procedures. Questionnaire data regarding procedure content and remote guidance performance also were collected from the crew immediately after the sessions. Results: Preliminary review of the audio, video, and questionnaire data from the two scenarios conducted within the HDU indicate that remote guidance techniques from an FS on console can help crew members within a planetary habitat mitigate planetary-relevant medical issues. The content and format of the procedures were considered concise and intuitive, respectively. Discussion: Overall, the preliminary data from the evaluation suggest that use of remote guidance techniques by a FS can help HDU crew execute space exploration-relevant medical procedures within a habitat relevant to planetary missions, however further evaluations will be needed to implement this strategy into the complete concept of operations for conducting general space medicine within similar environments

Child Care Briefing Book.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Adams, Gina; Poersch, Nicole Oxendine

This report provides information on a range of key child care issues, including basic facts about child care and its importance to children, families, and communities; and information on key legislative issues and proposals affecting child care. Fact sheets, with supporting references and tabular data, comprise about one-half of the document.…