bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Konrad Bloch. 21 January 1912 – 5 October 2000
Authors: Westheimer Frank H. , Lipscomb W.
Published: December 2006

Konrad Bloch was one of the leaders of the small group of exceptional biochemists who unravelled the pathways of intermediary metabolism. He was born in 1912 in Niesse, Germany, into a highly cultured, prosperous Jewish family, and began his schooling at the local
gymnasium
. For his 13th birthday, a rich uncle offered Konrad his choice of a cello or a canoe. Before he had a chance to make the obvious choice of any red-blooded 13-year-old boy, his mother intervened: ‘Of course Konrad would prefer the cello’. And a cello it was.

In due course, Konrad graduated from the
gymnasium
at Niesse and embarked on a career in organic chemistry in Hans Fischer's laboratory in Munich. He earned from Fischer the greatest four-word recommendation ever: ‘Herr Bloch ist ausgezeichnet’. (Some critics claim that the recommendation read, ‘Herr Bloch ist sehr gut’.) But spectacular recommendation or no, there was no place for Konrad in Hitler's Germany. He applied to Fritz Kögl in Utrecht but fortunately was rejected; had he been accepted he would have been trapped when the Nazis overran Holland. He managed to slip into Switzerland, where he tried to obtain a PhD This future Nobel laureate failed his doctoral examination; he had neglected to cite a publication of one of his examiners.

During his stay in Switzerland, Bloch had occasion to try to repeat some work on the fatty acids of tubercle bacilli, work that Rudolf Anderson at Yale had published. He found that Anderson's work had been faulty. With an audacity that he would never have dared towards a German
Geheimrat
, Bloch wrote to Professor Anderson to correct his experimental results. Anderson reacted as the ideal scientist is supposed to react but as not all scientists do. He checked his work again, and then wrote promptly, confirming Bloch's experiments, and thanking him for the correction.

Later, when Bloch was forced to leave Switzerland, he appealed in desperation to Anderson for help in entering the USA. Anderson again reacted as one would hope that a scientist would: he promptly sent two letters in reply, one from the Dean that Bloch could show to the US consul, promising Bloch an assistantship at Yale, and a second, private letter, admitting that there was no money to support the assistantship. Bloch gratefully used the first letter to gain entry to the USA, and started his search for a PhD advisor.
Donald Watts Davies, C.B.E. 7 June 1924 – 28 May 2000
Authors: Needham Roger M.
Published: December 2006

Donald Davies left a comprehensive note of his career, in a delightful and very personal style, and it would be a poor service to his memory to do other than quote from it extensively. His friends will almost be able to hear him saying it.
Richard Phillips Feynman. 11 May 1918 – 15 February 1988
Authors: Mehra Jagdish
Published: December 2006

Just as Josiah Willard Gibbs was assuredly the greatest American physicist of the nineteenth century, Richard Phillips Feynman was arguably the greatest American-born theoretical physicist of the twentieth century. Feynman was among the truly great physicists of the world. Mark Kac, the eminent Polish-American mathematician, wrote (Kac 1985, p. xxv):

In science, as well as in other fields of human endeavor, there are two kinds of geniuses: the ‘ordinary’ and the ‘magicians’. An ordinary genius is a fellow that you and I would be just as good as, if we were only many times better. There is no mystery as to how his mind works. Once we understand what he has done, we feel certain that we, too, could have done it. It is different with magicians. They are, to use a mathematical jargon, in the orthogonal complement of where we are and the working of their minds is for all intents and purposes incomprehensible. They seldom, if ever, have students because they cannot be emulated and it must be terribly frustrating for a brilliant young mind to cope with the mysterious ways in which the magician's mind works. Richard Feynman [was] a magician of the highest caliber.
James Stanley Hey, M.B.E. 3 May 1909 – 27 February 2000
Authors: Hewish Antony
Published: December 2006

Bearing in mind the dramatic impact of radioastronomy upon our knowledge of the Universe during the years after World War II, it is remarkable that the seminal discovery of radio emission from our galaxy by Karl Jansky in the USA in 1931 attracted so little attention from the astronomical community at that time. It was, in fact, the radio amateur Grote Reber, of Wheaton, Illinois, and not the professionals, who first followed up Jansky's discovery. Designing his own radio telescopes, the first of which were unsuitable because the wavelengths were too short, Reber persevered until, in 1941, he successfully performed surveys of the distribution of radio noise intensity across the sky that indicated a strong concentration towards the galactic centre. In this country the key figure was J.S. Hey, who was engaged in wartime operational research concerned with anti-aircraft radar when, in February 1942, radar stations along the south coast of England were seriously affected by radio interference of unknown origin. From the direction of the interfering signals Hey concluded that the Sun must be responsible, so he contacted the Royal Greenwich Observatory and was informed that a large sunspot group was near the centre of the solar disc. He correctly deduced that some kind of disturbance in the solar atmosphere must have generated the radio signals, but this remained a wartime secret until the cessation of hostilities. Returning to his discovery in 1946, when the Sun was again active, Hey and his team made more detailed observations and showed that the intense bursts of radiation were often associated with solar flares. In the same year, while following up the work of Jansky and Reber, Hey noticed that radiation from the direction of the constellation Cygnus often showed fluctuations of intensity on a time-scale of a few seconds. With his experience of solar radiation, Hey deduced that a discrete source must have been responsible and more were soon located by other groups. Initially called radio stars, but later found to be supernova remnants, normal galaxies and new types of galaxy located near, or beyond, the limits of optical telescopes, Hey's discovery initiated an era of research that transformed observational astronomy. Such was the pace and excitement of this period that the significance of Hey's pioneering contributions tended to be overlooked. He was not proposed for Fellowship of The Royal Society until 1978, and he was elected in the same year.
Guido Pontecorvo. 29 November 1907 – 25 September 1999
Authors: Siddiqi O.
Published: December 2006

Guido Pontecorvo was elected a Fellow of The Royal Society in 1955 for his contributions to the genetics of
Drosophila
and the fungus
Aspergillus nidulans
. Pontecorvo was a leading British geneticist, prominent in the decade preceding the discovery of DNA, who enriched our understanding of genes and whose pioneering work on the parasexual cycle in fungi found application in human somatic cell genetics.

Known to friends as Ponte, he had a strong personality. Somewhat irascible but warm, with a wry sense of humor, he made many lifelong friends and acquired a large body of admirers.
Ian Naismith Sneddon, O.B.E. 8 December 1919 – 4 November 2000
Authors: Chadwick P.
Published: December 2006

Ian Sneddon was introduced to problems in the linear theory of elasticity involving the indentation of a surface and the extension of a crack through his work for the Ministry of Supply during World War II. He maintained a lifelong research interest in this area and also made distinguished contributions to a range of related analytical techniques, notably the application of integral transforms and the solution of dual integral equations. His many books, extensive travels and engaging personality made him very well known internationally, and he developed particularly fruitful contacts in the USAand Poland. He gave devoted service to the University of Glasgow, where the bulk of his career was spent, and played an active part in the cultural life of Scotland.
Ralph Louis Wain, C.B.E. 29 May 1911 – 14 December 2000
Authors: Fowden Leslie
Published: December 2006

Ralph Louis Wain died on 14 December 2000, at the age of 89 years. Just a few weeks before his death he had kept an audience enraptured by his enthusiastic presentation of chemical ideas during a two-hour lecture. Louis applied his chemical acumen to the solution of agricultural problems, believing the advancement of agricultural practice was highly dependent on developments in chemistry. He was interested particularly in how subtle changes in the structures of chemicals could influence their plant-growth-regulatory properties, and he discovered and actively promoted a group of selective herbicides, some of which are still used today in commercial practice. Many would regard him as Britain's most outstanding agricultural chemist of the twentieth century. He received numerous honours and prizes, but two gave him especial pleasure, perhaps because of their unusual citations. These were the Actonian Prize of the Royal Institution of Great Britain, awarded only every seventh year, for outstanding scientific work ‘which illustrated the wisdom and beneficence of the Almighty’ (previous winners had included Edison, Marconi, Marie Curie and Fleming), and the John Scott (USA) International Award for ‘research for the benefit, welfare and happiness of mankind’. Wain was ever conscious of the need to protect and increase the harvests of food crops for the peoples of poorer, developing countries, and he was a major player in scientists' successes in increasing food crop production.

Louis took every opportunity to convey his ideas and enthusiasm to fascinated audiences, whether they were schoolchildren or learned scientists, at home or abroad. He listed travel as one of his hobbies. Did this passion derive from the many invitations he received to lecture abroad? Whatever the answer, he gained great satisfaction from this role; and his audiences were most appreciative of his lucid lecturing style, and often the puckish humour with which his ideas were presented.
Robert Brown. 29 July 1908 – 13 July 1999
Authors: Cocking Edward C.
Published: December 2006

It was Robert Brown who brought botany into the mainstream of developmental biology, integrating plant physiology, cell biology, biochemistry and molecular biology into a holistic view of plant growth. Robert's scientific legacy is not just what he himself accomplished but also what he inspired others to do.
Philip George Houthem Gell. 20 October 1914 – 3 May 2001 Elected FRS 1969
Authors: Silverstein Arthur M.
Published: December 2006

Philip Gell was one of a small but outstanding group of immunologists who led Britain during the postwar years to a leading role in this increasingly important biomedical discipline. He pioneered in those studies that helped to change the field from an earlier, narrowly chemical approach to one with much broader biological and medical implications. He helped to train and guide an entire generation of scientists, both domestic and foreign, and did all of this with a most becoming modesty. But he was more than just a narrowly oriented scientist; his interest in horticulture, in poetry, in philosophy and in the interrelationship of art and science was mediated by the interplay of a keen mind with a broad fund of general knowledge.
Tom Kilburn CBE FREng. 11 August 1921 – 17 January 2001
Authors: Wilkes Maurice , Kahn Hilary J.
Published: December 2006

Tom Kilburn was one of the early pioneers of the stored-program computer. He was born on 11 August 1921 in Earlseaton near Dewsbury in the West Riding of Yorkshire. His father was John William Kilburn, who was initially a statistical clerk and then a company secretary.
Frederick Ernest King. 2 May 1905 – 14 August 1999
Authors: Whiting Donald
Published: December 2006

Frederick Ernest King (Freddie) was born in East London in 1905, studied chemistry in London and Oxford, achieved Fellowship of The Royal Society at the age of 49, and held the Jesse Boot Chair of Organic Chemistry at Nottingham from 1948 to 1955. He moved on to senior positions in industry as a scientific advisor, first to British Celanese and then to British Petroleum, retiring in 1970.
Vincent Massey 28 November 1926 – 26 August 2002 Elected FRS 1977
Authors: Williams Charles H. , Ballou David P.
Published: December 2006

Vincent Massey—Vince to all who knew him—lived life very fully. Carol Strickland, the wife of a former graduate student of Vince's, captured his vitality for many of us. ‘The stop-flow might have been Vince's favorite research tool, but in life, he was all flow without stop. I can still see Vince—his eyes twinkling—practically chomping the stem of his pipe in two as he guffawed at something that struck him as funny. What a bon vivant he was! Whatever he did, he did full-bore, “sucking all the marrow out of life”, as Thoreau put it.’

Vincent Massey gained international distinction in physical biochemistry. His pioneering efforts to relate flavin chemistry to flavin enzymology resulted in a new understanding of flavin charge-transfer complexes, free radicals in flavoproteins, oxygen reactivity of flavins, the interactions of the flavin ring structure with proteins, and the classification of flavoenzymes. His discovery that Straub diaphorase is in fact lipoamide dehydrogenase and that it functions in the pyruvate and 2-oxoglutarate dehydrogenase complexes was a milestone in understanding metabolism. His development of totally innovative methodology for the determination of intermediates in enzyme catalysis through transient kinetics made flavoproteins one of the best understood enzyme families. This allowed him to define the mechanism by which the drug allopurinol inhibited xanthine oxidase; this was one of the first instances in which the effects of a drug on an enzyme were understood chemically. Vince had a great human impact on science by inspiring and training others and by his determination to maintain the integrity of the scientific method as well as to foster basic research.
Sir Ralph Riley. 23 October 1924 – 27 August 1999
Authors: Flavell Richard B.
Published: December 2006

Sir Ralph Riley was a leader in UK science. He rose to hold the office of Secretary (Chief Executive) and Deputy Chairman of the Agriculture and Food Research Council (now the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council) after having gained a substantial reputation in plant genetics, and cereal crop cytogenetics in particular. His wisdom and experience were widely recognized at home and abroad, including in developing countries where the needs for more food from enhanced agricultural productivity are so great. In the UK his vision in genetics led to the establishment of major national research programmes in molecular and cell biology in agricultural contexts, actions that put the UK in the forefront of these subjects. When he died at the age of nearly 75 years he was still serving the agricultural research programmes for the world's poor with his enthusiasm and beliefs that improved crop production grows from high-quality, multidisciplinary research.
Sir Rutherford Ness Robertson. 29 September 1913 – 5 March 2001 Elected FRS 1961
Authors: Hatch Marshall D. , Osmond Barry (C.B.) , Wiskich Joseph T.
Published: December 2006

Sir Rutherford Ness (Bob) Robertson was one of Australia' most distinguished, influential and respected scientists. He was eminent both for his contributions to scientific thought and knowledge and for the remarkable range of activities he undertook in the cause of science. His contributions to our understanding of the bioenergetics of inorganic ion transport in plant cells were widely recognized. In his other life he served in several key administrative–managerial positions, was the prime mover in a variety of major initiatives that had critical and lasting impacts on the development of Australian science and was a trusted friend and adviser to a generation of younger plant scientists. Known universally as Bob and almost universally addressed as such, it would seem odd and almost disrespectful not to refer to him in this way here.

In the following account we draw heavily on four sources of information about Bob's life and work. These are a Personal Record submitted to the Royal Society (Robertson 1991), the transcript of an interview conducted for the Australian Academy of Science (Robertson 1993), an autobiographical article written for the Annual Review of Plant Physiology and Plant Molecular Biology (23)* and a personal account of his involvement in the field of charge separation and energy transduction in biological membranes (24).
George Dixon Rochester. 4 February 1908 – 26 December 2001
Authors: Wolfendale Arnold
Published: December 2006

George Rochester was a Tynesider through and through, and his family on both sides had lived in the area for 200 years. University appointments took him away, but when in 1955 he had the opportunity to return to his roots—the Chair of Physics at Durham—he accepted with alacrity. He stayed in this city, so close to the Tyne, for the rest of his life.
George Salt. 12 December 1903 – 17 February 2003
Authors: Bateson Patrick
Published: December 2006

George Salt was first and foremost an entomologist but, because much of his scientific life had been concerned with the interplay between parasites and their hosts, he described himself as an ecologist. He developed very successful methods for controlling insects pests by introducing other parasitic insects, known as parasitoids. Later in his career he studied the host-finding behaviour of the parasitoids, the physiology of the hosts' reactions to the parasitism and the range of countermeasures employed by the parasitoids to avoid such reactions. He is properly regarded as a pioneer in his field.
Ruth Ann Sanger. 6 June 1918 – 4 June 2001
Authors: Hughes-Jones Nevin , Tippett Patricia
Published: December 2006

Ruth Ann Sanger's scientific career was concerned with the delineation and mapping of human blood group genes by simple manual methods using, as tools, blood group antibodies and the agglutination reaction followed by statistical analysis of the results. Her active period coincided with the flowering of the whole subject of blood groups, which was initiated by the recognition of the clinical significance of the Rh antigens and the rediscovery of the antiglobulin reaction by Coombs, Mourant and Race (Coombs
et al.
1945). In these days of ‘high-technology’ research, it is salutary to recognize that the complex body of knowledge that has been accumulated about blood groups has been derived by using the very simple technique of the visible cross-linking of red cells by antibodies specific for the blood group antigens present on the red cell surface. Landsteiner had by chance discovered the ABO blood group system in 1900 with the use of the agglutination reaction, but little progress was made in the next 45 years and we now know that the main reason for this is that most blood group antibodies are not physically capable of bringing about the cross-linking and agglutination of red cells on their own. This problem was solved by the introduction of the antiglobulin reaction, which uses a secondary antibody to bring about the cross-linking of blood group antibodies already attached to red cells.
Charles William Shoppee. 4 February 1904 – 20 October 1994
Authors: Mander Lewis N.
Published: December 2006

Charles Shoppee was a major figure in research into the steroid family of organic compounds. After an extensive grounding in mechanistic organic chemistry with such major figures as Sir Jocelyn Thorpe FRS at Imperial College and Sir Christopher Ingold FRS at the University of Leeds, Shoppee spent the war years in Basel working with Tadeus Reichstein (ForMemRS 1952). There he began to apply reaction mechanistic concepts to the reactions of natural products, particularly steroids, in which he was in the vanguard of a huge and widespread activity prompted, in part, by the pharmaceutical industry's interests in these important compounds. However, in additional to their therapeutic potential they provided a rigid template on which one could explore aspects of structure determination, synthesis, mechanism and stereochemistry. After the war, Shoppee spent a brief period in London before taking up the chair of chemistry at the University of Wales, Swansea, where he built up the research strengths of the Chemistry Department and continued to build a major opus on the synthesis, stereochemistry and physical-organic chemistry of steroids during the following eight years. These interests were continued for a further 13 years at the University of Sydney until his formal retirement in 1969. After a period of five years at Texas Technological University, he returned to Australia and maintained his commitment to science until the end, still working at the bench in his 87th year.
Alfred Gordon Gaydon. 26 September 1911 – 16 April 2004
Authors: Weinberg F. J.
Published: December 2006

Obstacles that would discourage lesser men occasionally seem to challenge some to pinnacles of achievement in what may seem to be antithetical fields of endeavour. Dick Gaydon, as he was known to all his friends, was handicapped early in his career by the loss of one eye and the eye lens in the other, yet distinguished himself as an outstanding experimental spectroscopist studying flames and shock waves, as a writer of half a dozen acclaimed texts in these fields, and as a photographer of butterflies and birds. During much of his long and productive life he held the Warren Fellowship of the Royal Society and the Chair of Molecular Spectroscopy in the Department of Chemical Engineering and Chemical Technology of Imperial College, London, before devoting himself to nature study after his retirement.
Sir Richard John Harrison. 8 October 1920 – 17 October 1999
Authors: Keverne E. B.
Published: December 2006

Richard Harrison was a convivial man, equally at ease having a drink with his friends discussing science issues, and as Chair of a relatively large Department of Anatomy directing teaching and research. After graduating in natural sciences at Cambridge and medicine from St Bartholemew's Hospital in 1944, Richard Harrison started his research in comparative reproduction on a variety of mammals. Horses, goats, deer, primates, seals and whales were just some of the species to which he dedicated his career as a comparative anatomist, but equally important was his strong interest in function. This was not the orthodox career of a medical doctor, but as he would frequently say, ‘ you can always tell a man who is from Bart's, but you cannot tell him very much’. We have to remember that horses and medicine were not, at that time, from the same stable, and the boundaries between anatomy and physiology were very distinct. Richard Harrison was early into the integration of structure and function and a pioneer of cross–disciplinary studies that are now so much a feature of modern anatomy departments.In 1946 Harrison moved to a lectureship in anatomy at Glasgow and there he received the degree of DSc in 1948. The early phases of his research on reproduction focused on the ovary and the placenta, a structure unique to mammals created from a uniquely mammalian tissue, trophectoderm, and developed de novo during each pregnancy. In 1949 he published his first of several Nature papers, this being on multiovular follicles in the ovaries of lower primates. His critical examination of the ovaries of some of the lower primates revealed the presence of several multiovular follicles and multinuclear oocytes, an unusual observation for primates. The majority of the multiple forms of follicles in all of the ovaries investigated showed either early or advanced signs of atresia. In many oocytes, in which the zona pellucida had not developed, small groups of granulosa cells had invaded the ooplasm. It is probable, he concluded, that multiovular follicles and multinuclear oocytes do represent atretic changes, although it had been reported for other species that they could reach maturity and ovulate. The findings from this study supported the view that was gaining favour at the time; namely, that in a mammal that produced only a single offspring in each pregnancy, many oocytes are potentially available for ovulation.
Gopalasamudram Narayana Ramachandran. 8 October 1922 – 7 April 2001
Authors: Vijayan M. , Johnson L. N.
Published: December 2006

Gopalasamudram Narayana Ramachandran, the eldest son of G. R. Narayana Iyer and Lakshmi Ammal, was born on 8 October 1922. G. R. Narayana Iyer, who had previously taught at Tirunelveli in Tamilnadu, had joined the Mathematics Department of the Maharaja's College at Ernakulam in the erstwhile Cochin state, which is now part of Kerala. He rose to become the principal of the college. Ramachandran had his schooling at Ernakulam. He also completed the intermediate course at the same city. He was a brilliant student who was particularly good in mathematics. He stood first in the intermediate examination in the entire Madras University, to which most of the colleges in south India were then affiliated. He then joined, in 1938, the BSc (Hons) course in physics in St Joseph's College, Trichy. Ramachandran completed the course, again standing first in the Madras University.
Sir Alwyn Williams. 8 June 1921 — 4 April 2004
Authors: Briggs Derek E. G. , Edwards Dianne
Published: December 2006

Sir Alwyn Williams was distinguished as a geologist and palaeontologist and as a university administrator. His PhD investigation of a classic area of his native Wales led to a lifetime of research on the rocks of the Ordovician System, and on fossil and living brachiopods. He became an international authority in both fields, with his original contributions and his organization of multiauthored syntheses. He pioneered the application of electron microscopy to palaeontology using observations on living representatives to inform his interpretation of the fossils. He maintained an active research programme during a remarkable career as a university leader, guiding the University of Glasgow through government restructuring of university finances in the late 1970s and early 1980s. He was determined, decisive and eloquent in his promotion of the ideals of university education.
The First Tetrapod Finds from the Devonian (Upper Famennian) of Latvia
Authors: Ahlberg Per Erik , Luksevics Ervins , Lebedev Oleg
Published: December 2006

Ventastega curonica, from the Upper Famennian Ketleri Formation, is the first tetrapod find from the Upper Devonian of Latvia, and only the fourth adequately represented Devonian tetrapod genus to be described. The taxon is represented by disarticulated cranial and postcranial elements from two localities, Ketleri on the Venta River and Pavari on the Ciecere River. A second tetrapod, represented by a single mandibular fragment, appears to be present at Ketleri. The lower jaw of Ventastega is strikingly primitive in retaining fangs on the coronoid series, but shares many characters with those of other known Devonian tetrapods. Some of these features are interpreted as basal tetrapod synapomorphies; they provide a new data set for the identification of isolated tetrapod jaw fragments, and confirm the (previously disputed) tetrapod status of Metaxygnathus. The upper jaw bones of Ventastega are broadly similar to those of Acanthostega, Ichthyostega and Tulerpeton, as is the narial region. The lateral rostral bone is either very small or absent. A preopercular bone is present in the cheek, and the lacrimal is excluded from the orbit. The palate is closed. Palatine and vomer bear fangs which are set in the marginal tooth row. An isolated iliac blade from Pavari, probably attributable to Ventastega, resembles that of Acanthostega but may not have carried a dorsal process. Two clavicles from Pavari and Ketleri which may also belong to Ventastega are of a typical early tetrapod pattern, similar to Greerpeton but with a broader ventral blade. Non-attributable or doubtfully attributable bones from Ketleri include a probable tetrapod postorbital and a possible limb bone. Ventastega appears to be a tetrapod of the same broad `grade' as Ichthyostega and Acanthostega, but is arguably more primitive than either.
Repeat adverse drug reactions causing hospitalization in older Australians: a population‐based longitudinal study 1980–2003
Authors: Zhang Min , Holman C. D'Arcy J. , Preen David B. , Brameld Kate
Published: December 2006

What is already known about this subject

• Adverse drug reactions (ADRs) are a major cause of morbidity in older patients and represent a major burden on healthcare.

• The rate of ADR‐related hospital stays in older people in Western Australia (WA) increased fivefold from 1981 to 2002.

• Little information is available regarding repeated ADRs in the elderly and the drugs most responsible.

What this study adds

• Repeat ADR‐related hospitalizations have consistently increased faster than first‐time ADRs in the elderly in WA from 1980 and had reached 30.3% of all ADRs by 2003.

• The mean time interval declined with each successive repeat ADR and the most common repeat ADRs were nausea and vomiting, haemorrhage due to anticoagulants, drug‐induce osteoporosis and poisoning by cardiovascular agents.

• Strategies to ensure the safer use cardiovascular agents, corticoids, nonsteroidal anti‐inflammatory drugs, opioids and, in particular, anticoagulants, in this population are warranted.

Aim To examine trends in the rate of repeat adverse drug reactions (ADRs) causing hospitalization in older Australians and to identify the most common ADRs and drugs most often implicated in repeat and first‐time ADRs.

Methods

Analysis of routinely collected hospital record administrative data, with International Classification of Diseases external cause codes for ADRs extracted from the Western Australia (WA) Hospital Morbidity Data System and WA Death Register, for people aged ≥60 years in 1980–2003.

Results

A total of 37 296 people aged ≥60 years with an ADR‐related hospitalization were identified. Among them, 6853 (18.4%) patients had 10 212 repeat ADRs. Repeat ADRs consistently increased from 1980 and reached 30.3% of all ADRs by 2003. The mean time interval declined with each successive repeat ADR (810, 606 and 299 days for the first, second and higher ranked repeat episodes, respectively). The most common repeat ADRs were nausea/vomiting (8.0%), haemorrhage due to anticoagulants (5.5%), drug‐induced osteoporosis (4.8%) and poisoning by cardiovascular agents (3.9%). The drugs most often involved in repeat ADRs were cardiovascular agents (15.6%), antineoplastic drugs (11.0%), corticoids (10.1%), anticoagulants (8.6%), antirheumatics/nonsteroidal anti‐inflammatory drugs (5.1%) and opioids (4.9%). The trends of anticoagulants and antineoplastic drugs implicated in repeat ADRs were still rising at the end of the study. The specific drug classes involved in repeat ADRs differed in relative importance from first‐time ADRs.

Conclusions

Repeat ADR‐related hospitalizations have consistently increased in elderly Australians from 1980 to 2003. Strategies to ensure the safer use of medicines, in particular anticoagulants, in this population are warranted.
Projected changes in the organic carbon stocks of cropland mineral soils of European Russia and the Ukraine, 1990–2070
Authors: SMITH JO , SMITH PETE , WATTENBACH MARTIN , GOTTSCHALK PIA , ROMANENKOV VLADIMIR A. , SHEVTSOVA LUDMILA K. , SIROTENKO OLEG D. , RUKHOVICH DMITRY I. , KOROLEVA POLINA V. , ROMANENKO IRINA A. , LISOVOI NICOLAI V.
Published: December 2006

In this paper, we use the Rothamsted Carbon Model to estimate how cropland mineral soil carbon stocks are likely to change under future climate, and how agricultural management might influence these stocks in the future. The model was run for croplands occurring on mineral soils in European Russia and the Ukraine, representing 74 Mha of cropland in Russia and 31 Mha in the Ukraine. The model used climate data (1990–2070) from the HadCM3 climate model, forced by four Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) emission scenarios representing various degrees of globalization and emphasis on economic vs. environmental considerations. Three land use scenarios were examined, business as usual (BAU) management, optimal management (OPT) to maximize profit, and soil sustainability (SUS) in which profit was maximized within the constraint that soil carbon must either remain stable or increase. Our findings suggest that soil organic carbon (SOC) will be lost under all climate scenarios, but less is lost under the climate scenarios where environmental considerations are placed higher than purely economic considerations (IPCC B1 and B2 scenarios) compared with the climate associated with emissions resulting from the global free market scenario (IPCC A1FI scenario). More SOC is lost towards the end of the study period. Optimal management is able to reduce this loss of SOC, by up to 44% compared with business as usual management. The soil sustainability scenario could be run only for a limited area, but in that area was shown to increase SOC stocks under three climate scenarios, compared with a loss of SOC under business as usual management in the same area. Improved agricultural soil management will have a significant role to play in the adaptation to, and mitigation of, climate change in this region. Further, our results suggest that this adaptation could be realized without damaging profitability for the farmers, a key criteria affecting whether optimal management can be achieved in reality.
Atherogenesis: the role of inflammation and infection
Authors: Mahmoudi M , Curzen N , Gallagher P J
Published: December 2006

Atherosclerosis is no longer considered a disorder of lipid accumulation, but a disease process characterized by the dynamic interaction between endothelial dysfunction, subendothelial inflammation and the ‘wound healing response’ of the vascular smooth muscle cells. Prospective epidemiological studies have unequivocally demonstrated increased vascular risk in individuals with elevated levels of (i) cytokines such as interleukin‐6 and tumour necrosis factor‐alpha, (ii) cell adhesion molecules such as intercellular adhesion molecule‐1 and P‐selectin, and (iii) acute‐phase proteins such as C‐reactive protein, fibrinogen and serum amyloid A. Furthermore, evidence from clinical trials have demonstrated that risk reduction achieved with anti‐inflammatory agents such as statins is significantly greater in patients with evidence of inflammation. A number of risk factors for atherogenesis, including infectious agents, have been shown to exert their influence via inflammatory mechanisms. However, despite compelling experimental evidence, clinical studies looking at the role of infection in atherogenesis have lacked consistency. The clinical product of this dynamic process is variable and unpredictable between individuals, even those with apparently similar risk profiles
Learning for reality
Authors: Bendall Eve
Published: December 2006

This paper gives a brief description of a research project carried out to test the assumption that there is a relationship between a student nurse's description, on paper, of how she would care for a patient, and the actual observed behaviour. No relationship was found in more than two‐thirds of subjects in 19 hospitals. The paper goes on to look at the possible reasons for this phenomenon and suggests alterations in the training programmes for nurses in England and Wales which could create a greater correlation between the theory and practice of nursing. The views expressed are those of the author and not necessarily of any organization.
Some determinants of care of patients with stroke who were nursed in their own homes
Authors: Kratz Charlotte R.
Published: December 2006

This article considers some of the components of a model of care which was constructed to help with the analysis of care given to a small number of patients with stroke in the course of a recent research project. The components which are put forward for consideration in this paper are the knowledge district nurses had of stroke care and the value they attached to such care. It is demonstrated how these are based mainly on knowledge and values transferred from their training in general hospitals catering for acutely ill patients. In addition the importance of ‘managing’ and ‘fairness’ are considered and these are shown to form a link between the nurses and the administrators. The special problems inherent in the administration of a district nursing service are also outlined.
Decision‐making in the nutritional care of unconscious patients
Authors: Jones Daniel C. , Dickerson J.W.T.
Published: December 2006

A study of the preparation and administration of naso‐gastric feeds to unconscious patients in a number of general hospitals showed that one of the main areas of neglect was in decision‐making. There was minimal involvement by medical personnel and dietetic staff in prescribing feeds for patients, resulting in feeding regimes being administered to patients substantially below their presumed requirements.
The Edinburgh University's Nursing Research Unit: the first four years
Authors: Hockey Lisbeth
Published: December 2006

The Edinburgh University's Nursing Research Unit, under the direction of a nurse‐researcher, was established in October 1971: the first unit of its kind in the United Kingdom. This paper describes its development, philosophy and future strategy. In the first instance attempts were made to identify nursing problems from which a common core of problems was identified. This provided specific pointers for future research activity.

The unit offers research training facilities for trained nurses and research appreciation courses have also been provided for nursing students and their teachers. A major bonus to the unit has been the opportunity and facilities for interdisciplinary and collaborative research. The unit's future activities include plans to develop new statistical, computer and data management techniques and information retrieval systems more appropriate to nursing research.
An experimental scheme in nurse education
Authors: Warcaba Basil
Published: December 2006

This paper summarizes some of the principles and experience in nurse education based on the recommendation of the Nurse Tutor Working Party 1970. St Crispin is one of four British nurse training schools where a pilot modular system was introduced in February 1972. This account shows how the historical gap between the classroom and the ward teaching was narrowed if not bridged. The system, according to this experience, is flexible enough to adapt to any local needs and with suitable preparation the scheme could be successfully implemented without incurring additional expense. Points to avoid are shown, but these are few and on balance the scheme has proved to be successful and offers scope and potential for future developments.
An ethological study of the development of infant feeding
Authors: Crow Rosemary A.
Published: December 2006

This paper outlines an ethological study of the development of infant feeding. Firstly, a framework for analysing the practice of infant feeding is presented from which five sources of faulty feeding and possible infant obesity are identified. Then there is a discussion of the research design which attempts to disentangle the various contributions of environmental, developmental and constitutional factors. This focuses on the infant's feeding behaviour and mother–infant interaction during feeding, and the appropriate observational methods developed by ethologists are described. Finally data from a part of the study concerned with early food regulation and the mother's concept of feeding are presented. It appears that at 3 days of age bottle fed babies are having more to eat than breast fed babies, that mothers are muddled about demand feeding and that mothers who are breast feeding are probably overemphasizing the psychological aspects of the feeding environment.
Suggestions for the reorganization of nurse training and improvement of patient care in a hospital for the mentally handicapped
Authors: Alaszewski A. M.
Published: December 2006

Traditionally, the service requirements of hospitals and the health service have dominated the educational needs of training nurses. With the impending implementation of the Briggs Report on Nursing, the relationship between service and educational needs, especially the regulation for clinical experience, requires fresh thought. The author argues, taking one mental hospital as an example, that the present regulations for clinical experience, in the existing hospital structure, have negative effects both on the quality of nurse education and on the quality of patient care. He argues that both patient care and nurse education can be improved by a rethinking of the regulation for clinical experience and a change in the structure of mental handicap hospitals.
Continuities in the development of hospital nursing in Britain
Authors: Davies Celia
Published: December 2006

This paper develops an argument that the choice of occupational strategy for nursing in the last century still has implications today. Nurses have retained a hierarchical principle of organization and have, albeit reluctantly, retained an in‐service pattern of training. They have been concerned about recurrent shortages of nurses and this has influenced modes of development. These factors contribute to a continuity which is apparent in both ‘Salmon’ and ‘Briggs’, the two most influential reports on British nursing in recent decades. Such continuities in nursing development tend to preclude the raising of fundamental questions about the nature of nursing work and the manner in which it might be changed.
Indicators in nursing research with emphasis on sociai indicators
Authors: Hockey Lisbeth
Published: December 2006

It is contended that an indicator in nursing research is a means, not an end in itself and before its usefulness can be established and ascertained its purpose must be recognized. The need to identify indicators, their purpose, the selection and development of suitable indicators and the main problems of measurement, are discussed and put into a social context illustrated by examples, many of which are derived from the author's own research activities.
Psychological indicators in nursing research*
Authors: Hayward Jack C.
Published: December 2006

It is argued that the psychological perspective not only contributes to improving the provision of health care but also contributes to nursing research by enriching insights into what nurses do and the effects of these activities on their patients and clients. In particular the operant approach, the concept of anxiety and communications are discussed in the context of nursing care and research, and the author contends that the analysis of psychological aspects of care environment seems to be one of the most relevant and challenging fields of research which psychologists and nurses face together.
Evaluating clinical performance in nursing
Authors: Adderley Beatrice V. , Brock Anna M.
Published: December 2006

Evaluation of clinical performance requires that the nurse educator observes behaviour in a specific, goal‐directed manner and reports these observations clearly and unambiguously, although it is conceded that beyond basic technical skills there is little consensus as to what constitutes a good professional nurse. The author questions the purposes and process of evaluation.

The thesis of this paper is that the concept of evaluation must be broadened to include other clinical performances which include human skills as well as technical skills.
Mutuality in nursing leads to vulnerability for patient and nurse in a psychotherapeutic community
Authors: Mills Victoria H.
Published: December 2006

Mutuality in nursing leads to vulnerability for patient and nurse in a psychotherapeutic community This paper was written whilst the author was doing the Cassel Hospital course in psychosocial nursing and was written following a particularly difficult weekend duty experienced at the Cassel Hospital. The social defence systems used in general nursing are compared with those used when nursing in a psychotherapeutic community. In such a community staff, especially nurses, by the very nature of their work, meet their patients at a more mutual level, and this can hopefully help to examine anxiety‐provoking situations more honestly, to the greater benefit of the patient.

'Mutual', in this sense, refers to a reciprocal relationship which relies on a refined sensitivity in emotion and taste, quickness and acuteness of apprehension and feeling, and a readiness to feel compassion that is not just pity but a complete blend of empathy and understanding. It does not rely on equality, but this absence of equality need not lead to feelings of inferiority on one side and superiority on the other. This kind of‘mutuality’inevitably leads to vulnerability of both nurse and patient and, to be able to use experiences to enable growth, a strong support system becomes necessary.
Research in clinical nursing
Authors: Rubin Reva , Erickson Florence
Published: December 2006

This paper presents a tested and useful method of research in clinical nursing at the doctoral and post‐doctoral levels of research skill. Field theory‐based, salient variables in patients' experience are inductively arrived at from empirical data. The unitizing of data provides true numbers for measurements of relationships and change in the dependent variable. Descriptive analysis and data‐based theory benefit from increased reliability.

The authors argue that clinical field research permits a wide choice in designs and observational tools to fit the exigencies of the patient situation under investigation. The method is particularly useful td nurses in direct nursing care situations.
A strategy for patient teaching
Authors: Jenny Jean
Published: December 2006

A theoretical model is described whose particular emphasis is directed towards operationalizing the statements: ‘effective teaching bridges the gap between information and practice’ or ‘teaching is more than telling’. It concentrates on nurse behaviours (facilitation) designed to actively engage the patient in learning, whereby he accepts his diagnosis or situation, projects the effects of prescribed therapy on his future life, and commits his intentions to practice.

It utilizes principles of learning derived from the perceptual (phenomenological) approach and indicates the nurses' responsibilities. The model identifies four critical elements in the engagement process–the patient's values, his perception of the disease threat, his perceived utility of the prescription, and the facilitating behaviours of the nurse. The strategy is adapted from a combination of the Health Belief Model and the Personal Choice Model.