bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Challenges in implementing evidence-based practice into mental health services
Authors: Deane Frank P , Crowe Trevor P , King Robert , Kavanagh David J , Oades Lindsay G
Published: February 2010

This paper highlights challenges in implementing
mental health policy at a service delivery level. It
describes an attempt to foster greater application of
recovery-orientated principles and practices within
mental health services. Notwithstanding a highly
supportive policy environment, strong support from
service administrators, and an enthusiastic staff
response to training, application of the training and
support tools was weaker than anticipated. This
paper evaluates the dissemination trial against key
elements to promote sustained adoption of innovations.
Organisational and procedural changes are
required before mental health policies are systematically implemented in practice.
Outsourcing: two case studies from the Victorian public hospital sector
Authors: Young Suzanne
Published: February 2010

Outsourcing was one process of privatisation
used in the Victorian public health sector in the
1990s. However it was used to varying degrees
and across a variety of different services. This
paper attempts to answer the questions: Why
have managers outsourced? What have managers
considered when they have decided to outsource?
The research was carried out in a rural
hospital and a metropolitan network in Victoria.
The key findings highlight the factors that decision
makers considered to be important and those that
led to negative outcomes. Economic factors, such
as frequency of exchange, length of relationships
between the parties, and information availability,
were often ignored. However, other factors such
as outcome measurability, technology, risk, labour
market characteristics and goal conflict, and political
factors such as relative power of management
over labour were often perceived as important in
the decision-making process. Negative outcomes
from outsourcing were due to the short length of
relationships and accompanying difficulties with
trust, commitment and loyalty; poor quality; and
excessive monitoring and the measurement of
outcomes.
Benchmarking Australia's mental health services: is it possible and useful?
Authors: Meehan Tom J , Stedman Terry J , Neuendorf Ken E , Francisco Irene D , Neilson Malcolm G
Published: February 2010

Background: Benchmarking of performance
indicators in the mental health field is gaining
currency in Australia as a strategy for improving
service quality.
Aim: To engage mental health service providers in
the collection and evaluation of performance data.
Methods: Three separate rounds of data collection
involving high secure, extended treatment, and
medium secure services were carried out between
2003 and 2005. Twenty-five core indicators were
identified and these were used to assess service
inputs, processes, outputs and outcomes.
Results: Differences in casemix, clinical practice
and local business rules gave rise to variation in
service performance. The benchmarking exercise
led to the implementation of quality improvement
initiatives.
Conclusions: It is possible and useful to collect
and evaluate performance data for mental health
services. While services appear similar enough to
benchmark, information related to both casemix
and service characteristics needs to be included
in benchmarking data to understand the factors
that produce differences in service performance.
Community consultation and engagement in health care reform
Authors: McBride Tony , Korczak Viola
Published: February 2010

In advocating for significant reform of the health
care system, the Australian Health Care Reform
Alliance (AHCRA) supports a process of citizen
engagement that will allow the wider community to
have a say in the future direction of their health
care system. Models that have engaged community
opinions have been successful overseas, and
this article calls for similar processes in Australia.
Health professional education: perpetuating obsolescence?
Authors: Playford Denese , Towler Simon , Blackwell Scott , Lake Fiona , O'Neill Barbara , Thistlethwaite Jill , Nesbitt Gillian
Published: February 2010

Letters to the Editor
Evaluation of current practice: compliance with osteoporosis clinical guidelines in an outpatient fracture clinic
Authors: Kimber Cheryl M , Grimmer-Somers Karen A
Published: February 2010

Better detection and management of osteoporosis
will reduce unnecessary health expenditure. A
number of high quality guidelines are available to
support early detection and best practice management
of osteoporosis in hospital settings. However,
sustainable implementation of guidelines
poses practical issues in terms of structure and
processes in hospitals. This paper describes an
investigation into guideline compliance in one
large tertiary metropolitan hospital and discusses
practical elements of guideline implementation.
Given the evidence of poor practice across the two
audit periods, we recommend that a coordinated
clinical pathway be implemented in the fracture
clinic, supported by a targeted and disciplinespecific
training program. Small steps towards
improving awareness and management of osteoporosis
in patients presenting for the first time
with non-trauma wrist fracture may well produce
large cost savings by future fracture prevention.
Building resiliency: ensuring business continuity is on the health care agenda
Authors: Geelen-Baass Briana NL , Johnstone Jade MK
Published: February 2010

In light of recent disasters and terrorist attacks,
private and public organisations alike are becoming
increasingly concerned with their ability to
continue operating in spite of unforeseen events.
This paper describes a project conducted at the
Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital to develop a
Business Continuity Management (BCM) Framework,
and outlines the learning experience. It
provides a Framework and describes the key
issues to be considered when initiating BCM in a
health organisation, concluding that a project
management approach can be used to establish a
framework for BCM.
It's not the evidence, it's the way you use it: is clinical practice being tyrannised by evidence?
Authors: Stiller Kathy
Published: February 2010

?Good doctors use both individual clinical expertise
and the best available external evidence, and
neither alone is enough. Without clinical expertise,
practice risks becoming tyrannised by evidence,
for even excellent external evidence may
be inapplicable to or inappropriate for an individual
patient.?1 (p. 72)
I am a senior physiotherapist and clinical
researcher and in the comparatively early stages
of a sero-negative spondyloarthropathy that may
well develop into full blown ankylosing spondylitis
(AS). The severity of my symptoms was such
that in 2005 I had to relinquish the full-time
position I had held for 21 years and reduce my
working hours to 12 hours per week in a nonclinical
role. To set the picture of my symptoms at
their worst, I was unable to sit for more than a
few minutes a day because of severe axial pain,
forced to do all work in kneeling, standing or
lying positions, with social activities likewise
restricted. In order to sleep I often needed strong
analgesia and icepacks, only to wake 2?3 hours
later. Life was pretty tough. After little response to
conventional medications, I started a tumour
necrosis factor a (TNF-a) blocker (Infliximab) in
March 2007 with a significant and dramatic
response. As well as markedly decreasing my pain
and fatigue, and improving range of movement,
function and quality of life, Infliximab has enabled
me to commence some additional part-time
work as a medical writer.
Will the Australian nuclear medicine technologist workforce meet anticipated health care demands?
Authors: Adams Edwina , Schofield Deborah , Cox Jennifer , Adamson Barbara
Published: February 2010

Determination of national nuclear medicine technologist
workforce size was made from census
data in 2001 and 1996 and from the professional
body in 2004. A survey conducted by the authors
in 2005 provided retention patterns in north-eastern
Australia and suggested causes. Utilisation of
nuclear medicine diagnostic services was established
through the Medicare Benefits Schedule
group statistics.
More than half the nuclear medicine technologist
workforce is under 35 years of age. Attrition
commences from age 30, with very few workers
over 55 years. In 2005 there was a 12% attrition of
the survey workforce. In the past decade, service
provision increased while workforce size
decreased and the nuclear medicine technologist
workforce is at risk of failing to meet the anticipated rise in health service needs.
Modelling costs of dementia in Australia: evidence, gaps, and needs
Authors: Nepal Binod , Ranmuthugala Geetha , Brown Laurie , Budge Marc
Published: February 2010

With the rapid ageing of the Australian population,
dementia has emerged as a major health and
economic challenge. Consensus exists that the
number of people with dementia will grow significantly
because the prevalence is strongly correlated
with age. However, there are substantial
gaps in our understanding of the impacts on the
dementia ?epidemic? of changes in non-demographic
risk factors and of our knowledge of the
economic implications. Only a few prevalencebased
studies have been conducted to examine
the health economics of dementia in Australia.
These studies have suggested that considerable
resources are absorbed by dementia care, yet
there is a lack of integrated models that simultaneously
explore epidemiologic and economic perspectives
incorporating the impact of preventive
and early intervention initiatives. This study
reviews the current evidence on the economic
implications of dementia in Australia and
approaches taken to project the future costs of
dementia.
Estimating and projecting subacute care demand: findings from a review of international methods
Authors: Gibbs Andrew , James Pearse E , Sheehan Jennifer A , Meleady Kathleen T , Jayasinha Hirani , Jones Neill
Published: February 2010

A review of projection methodologies used to
project sub-acute inpatient activity in various international
health care jurisdictions was undertaken
as part of a project to develop subacute inpatient
activity projections for the state with the largest
population in Australia. The literature search identified
nearly 200 articles and found three main
groups of projection methodologies: projections
with a focus on subacute care; projections with a
focus on acute care, but which often included
subacute activity in the overall projections; and
projections of specific diseases/conditions influencing
the demand for subacute care.
In terms of the examples in the literature specifically
regarding subacute care, the most common
method of estimating current or future need was
the use of normative benchmark ratios of beds to
population. This was mainly to provide a policy
basis to encourage development of subacute
services, but also because of convenience.
In the literature regarding acute activity projection
methodologies, many incorporated subacute
activity in the overall activity measures of the
acute hospital unit. The most common method of
acute care activity projection was use of current or
trended utilisation rates applied to population projections.
It appears that a significant amount of
planning and demand projection being undertaken
internationally on subacute care takes place
within acute care methodologies.
In regard to the potential use of specific diseases/
conditions that drive demand for subacute care,
such as stroke or cancer, it is suggested that the
best use of these disease-specific projections is in
reality testing the results of other modelling.
A number of conclusions are made and issues
highlighted regarding projections of subacute
inpatient activity.
A review of proposals to reform the regulation of complementary medicines
Authors: Harvey Ken J
Published: February 2010

In 2003, the Therapeutic Goods Administration
instituted a major recall of products made by Pan
Pharmaceuticals Limited. Later that year, an expert
committee produced 49 recommendations for complementary
medicines reform, many of which were
to be implemented by the proposed Australia New
Zealand Therapeutic Products Authority (ANZTPA).
In 2008, the Pan Pharmaceuticals affair reached
some conclusion in the courts, the ANZTPA had
been abandoned and the case for reform had
intensified. There was widespread and increasing
use of complementary medicines yet consumers
were often unaware that, unlike conventional medicines,
these medicines were not evaluated for
efficacy. The justification of this two-tiered regulatory
system was that complementary medicines
are relatively low-risk products. However low risk
does not mean no risk. A number of consumers
have been shown to use these products for conditions
where there is no evidence of effect, potentially
placing them at risk. In addition, promotion
often overstates their benefits while minimising and
sometimes denying known adverse effects and
drug interactions. Complaint procedures are overloaded
and the ?sanctions? available do not deter
repeat offenders. A number of regulatory reforms
have been suggested to overcome these problems;
they are reviewed in this paper.
Are immigrants at risk of heart disease in Australia? A systematic review
Authors: Dassanayake Jayantha , Dharmage Shyamali C , Gurrin Lyle , Sundararajan Vijaya , Payne Warren R
Published: February 2010

We systematically reviewed the peer-reviewed
literature to establish the prevalence of cardiovascular
disease (CVD) among immigrants in Australia
and whether being an immigrant is a CVD
risk factor. Of 23 studies identified, 12 were
included. Higher prevalence of CVD was found
among Middle Eastern, South Asian and some
European immigrants. Higher prevalence of CVD
risk factors was found among Middle Eastern and
Southern European immigrants. Higher alcohol
consumption was found among immigrants from
New Zealand, the United Kingdom and Ireland.
Smoking and physical inactivity were highly prevalent among most immigrants.
Projecting subacute inpatient activity in New South Wales
Authors: Gibbs Andrew , Pearse James E , Jones Neill , Sheehan Jennifer A , Meleady Kathleen T , Jayasinha Hirani
Published: February 2010

We describe the development of a method for estimating and modelling future demand for sub- and non-acute inpatient activity across New South Wales, Australia to 2016. A time series linear regression equation was used, which is consistent with projection models found in the literature.

Results of the modelling indicated an increase in rehabilitation, palliative care and maintenance episodes and bed-days. Projections for other categories of care are problematic due to smaller levels of activity and data quality issues. This project indicated a need for ongoing monitoring of type-changing by facilities and management of data quality. Local planners will need to consider a range of factors when considering the applicability activity projections at a local level, particularly within the specific age and clinical groupings.
Australia's "free-ride" in pharmaceuticals: Can it last?
Authors: Kemp Robert
Published: February 2010

The pharmaceutical subsidy scheme in Australia works in the public interest bykeeping prices low while assuring access to drugs across most of the drug classes.By separating the approval to market drugs from the decision to subsidise them,the Commonwealth is able to take advantage of its position ? to ?free-ride? onresearch and development expenditure in other countries. The first part of this paperexamines the factors which allow Australia to free-ride. The second part exploressome international and domestic factors which may influence the sustainability ofthe free-riding strategy.
Recruitment of medical practitioners to rural areas: A practical approach from the coalface
Authors: Wolff Alan M
Published: February 2010

The successful recruitment of medical staff to country areas is a difficult process. Thispaper outlines strategies designed to increase the probability of a successful recruitmentprogram. Strategies include determining if the position is truly required, designingan advertising campaign that reaches the target audience and addressing thesignificant regional and medical factors influencing the attractiveness of positions.Other areas discussed include the role of local hospitals, factors unique to individualmedical practitioners, contracts and two possible long-term solutions ? familiarisingmedical students with rural practice and recruiting overseas doctors.
A pilot study of the utilisation and outcome of community orders: Client, case manager and Mental Health Review Tribunal
Authors: Ozgul Salih , Brunero Scott
Published: February 2010

Mental health problems are a major public health concern due to their prevalenceand impact at a personal, family, social and economic level. Compulsory communitytreatment is being utilised as a health care approach, despite much disagreement andlack of Australian research demonstrating its effectiveness. This pilot study investigatedthe utilisation and outcomes of community orders from the perspective of a client,carer, case manager and Mental Health Review Tribunal member. The findingsindicate that compulsory community treatment had a positive impact upon hospitalreadmission rates and medication usage. All groups of respondents rated communityorders as being of benefit in a number of areas. Further controlled studies are required.
Corporate management and clinical autonomy: The ethical dilemma in mental health
Authors: Nielsen Ben , Ward Philip
Published: February 2010

Funding constraints and management practices are increasing pressure on clinicalautonomy within Australian mental health services. The introduction of total qualitymanagement, output-based funding and changes to public mental health policy havepromoted business-like efficiency and increased control of resources. It is argued thatsuch moves significantly circumscribe the discretionary authority that mental healthprofessionals have previously enjoyed. This paper attempts to highlight the ethical andmoral tension inherent within a corporate management approach, and calls formental health services to acknowledge the value of intellectual capital, creativity andinnovation.
Searching for the hospital yardstick:A case study of private hospital productivity bargaining
Authors: Timo Nils
Published: February 2010

The decentralisation of Australia?s centralised wage fixation system has been seen asproviding opportunities for employers and trade unions to tailor workingarrangements to suit the needs of the workplace and to provide better paid long-termjobs. This paper details the productivity bargaining between the Private Hospitals?Association of Queensland and The Australian Workers? Union in 1995?97 inQueensland that led to the introduction of a number of productivity-based enterpriseagreements. The case study shows that productivity bargaining in the private hospitalsstudied remains focused on ?bottom line? issues where cashable savings can readily begenerated. The paper concludes with an examination of the lessons drawn from theproductivity bargaining process.
Blood-borne virus-related discrimination in dental services
Authors: Meihubers Sandra , Godwin Phillip , Rotem Arie
Published: February 2010

While the risk of infection through occupational exposure to blood-borne viruses isa major concern of dental health care workers, the National HIV/AIDS Strategy and many health, AIDS and discrimination-related agencies have identified discrimination related to HIV/AIDS as a priority area for action. In 1995 the Commonwealth Department of Health and Family Services selected the School of Medical Education at the University of New South Wales to conduct a national project to reduce discrimination related to blood-borne viruses within dental services(Godwin, Meihubers & Rotem 1997). This paper provides an overview of the study and its major findings.The study focused on quality of care issues which may cause or manifest discrimination. Key stakeholders were invited to review policies, procedures,organisational arrangements and other systemic issues which influence the quality of oral health services to populations within selected geographical regions.
Collaborative relationships ingeneral practice projects
Authors: Walker Rae , Adam Jenny
Published: February 2010

This article reports on a national study of collaborative relationships between generalpractitioners and other health care providers in 20 Division of General Practiceprojects. It argues that health care organisations will need to collaborate with othersin the future and that much can be learnt from the literature on collaborativenetworks in business and community organisations. Successful collaborations betweengeneral practitioners and others were found to be consistent with a model ofcollaboration in 'under-organised domains', where pre-existing links betweenorganisations are weak. Lessons are identified from the study to assist futurecollaborative ventures involving general practitioners.
'No gaps' health insurance: A gain for consumers or a windfall for specialists?
Authors: Gray Gwen
Published: February 2010

Attempts to introduce contracts between the purchasers and providers of Australian health services in the 1990s in order to reduce the gaps, or 'copayments', that patients pay have met with limited success. However, the Harradine requirement that health funds introduce 'no gap' or 'known gap' policies by the middle of the year 2000 has raised a political storm within the AMA and set the funds and doctors in an adversarial position. This paper traces the history of 'gaps' and gap insurance, provides an interpretation of the present situation and speculates about likely outcomes.
Targeting mycobacterium protein tyrosine phosphatase B for antituberculosis agents
Authors: Zhou Bo , He Yantao , Zhang Xian , Xu Jie , Luo Yong , Wang Yuehong , Franzblau Scott G. , Yang Zhenyun , Chan Rebecca J. , Liu Yan , Zheng Jianyu , Zhang Zhong-Yin
Published: February 2010

Protein tyrosine phosphatases are often exploited and subverted by pathogenic bacteria to cause human diseases. The tyrosine phosphatase mPTPB from
Mycobacterium tuberculosis
is an essential virulence factor that is secreted by the bacterium into the cytoplasm of macrophages, where it mediates mycobacterial survival in the host. Consequently, there is considerable interest in understanding the mechanism by which mPTPB evades the host immune responses, and in developing potent and selective mPTPB inhibitors as unique antituberculosis (antiTB) agents. We uncovered that mPTPB subverts the innate immune responses by blocking the ERK1/2 and p38 mediated IL-6 production and promoting host cell survival by activating the Akt pathway. We identified a potent and selective mPTPB inhibitor I-A09 with highly efficacious cellular activity, from a combinatorial library of bidentate benzofuran salicylic acid derivatives assembled by click chemistry. We demonstrated that inhibition of mPTPB with I-A09 in macrophages reverses the altered host immune responses induced by the bacterial phosphatase and prevents TB growth in host cells. The results provide the necessary proof-of-principle data to support the notion that specific inhibitors of the mPTPB may serve as effective antiTB therapeutics.
Listening, Ancient and Modern
Authors: Fitzgerald William
Published: February 2010

The purpose of this paper is to describe some aspects of the agenda of listening in the Western tradition. Ancient and modern versions of some of the myths of listening (Orpheus, the Sirens) are compared to illustrate what might be at stake in the activity of listening. A basic contrast is drawn between ancient rhetorical ideas of the power of music to affect the listener and the demand of instrumental music, from the late eighteenth century on, that we understand what the music wants of us. The paper continues with a discussion of some ancient ideas about philosophical listening, which precludes talking and is directed both inwards and outwards, and it ends with some suggestions about themes that a history of listening might pursue.
Listening and Responding to the Evidence of Early Twentieth-Century Performance
Authors: Leech-Wilkinson Daniel
Published: February 2010

Early recordings raise fundamental questions about our response to music. Why do these performances seem so strange to us? How could they ever have made musical sense to listeners? How might we make sense of them now, in our very different music-cultural environment? This paper looks at some of the ways in which musical sounds model other processes involving change over time. A mechanism is proposed that may underlie the cross-domain mappings generating musical meaning. Music is seen to be exceptionally adaptable to the modelling of other experiences, able to offer many potential likenesses, among which those with most relevance to what an individual brain already knows and believes are favoured by conscious perception. Performance and perception styles change over time as certain kinds of potential meaning are selected for their relevance to other aspects of contemporary experience. The model helps to explain how subjectivity is constructed and how it changes.
SLiM on Diet: finding short linear motifs on domain interaction interfaces in Protein Data Bank
Authors: Hugo Willy , Song Fushan , Aung Zeyar , Ng See-Kiong , Sung Wing-Kin
Published: February 2010

Motivation: An important class of protein interactions involves the binding of a protein's domain to a short linear motif (SLiM) on its interacting partner. Extracting such motifs, either experimentally or computationally, is challenging because of their weak binding and high degree of degeneracy. Recent rapid increase of available protein structures provides an excellent opportunity to study SLiMs directly from their 3D structures.

Results: Using domain interface extraction (Diet), we characterized 452 distinct SLiMs from the Protein Data Bank (PDB), of which 155 are validated in varying degrees—40 have literature validation, 54 are supported by at least one domain–peptide structural instance, and another 61 have overrepresentation in high-throughput PPI data. We further observed that the lacklustre coverage of existing computational SLiM detection methods could be due to the common assumption that most SLiMs occur outside globular domain regions. 198 of 452 SLiM that we reported are actually found on domain–domain interface; some of them are implicated in autoimmune and neurodegenerative diseases. We suggest that these SLiMs would be useful for designing inhibitors against the pathogenic protein complexes underlying these diseases. Our findings show that 3D structure-based SLiM detection algorithms can provide a more complete coverage of SLiM-mediated protein interactions than current sequence-based approaches.

Contact:  ksung@comp.nus.edu.sg

Supplementary information:  Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
Serum procalcitonin, C‐reactive protein and white blood cell levels following hypothermia after cardiac arrest: a retrospective cohort study
Authors: Schuetz Philipp , Affolter Barbara , Hunziker Sabina , Winterhalder Clemens , Fischer Michael , Balestra Gianmarco M. , Hunziker Patrick , Marsch Stephan
Published: February 2010

Eur J Clin Invest 2010; 40 (4): 376–381

Introduction  The aim of this study was to investigate time course of procalcitonin (PCT), C‐reactive protein (CRP) and white blood cell (WBC) levels in patients with therapeutic hypothermia after cardiac arrest.

Methods  We retrospectively assessed laboratory and clinical data in a consecutive cohort of patients admitted to the medical intensive‐care‐unit of the University Hospital in Basel, Switzerland, in whom therapeutic hypothermia was induced because of cardiac arrest between December 2007 and January 2009. Infection was considered based on microbiological evidence (restricted definition) and/or clinical evidence of infection with prescription of antibiotics (extended definition).

Results  From 34 included patients, 25 had respiratory tract infection based on the clinical judgment and in 18 microbiological cultures turned positive (restricted definition). PCT concentrations were highest on the first day after hypothermia and showed a steady decrease until day 7 without differences in patients with and without presumed infection. CRP concentrations increased to a peak level at days 3–4 followed by a steady decrease; CRP concentrations were higher in patients with clinical diagnosis of infection on day 4 (P = 0·02); and in patients with evidence of bacterial growth in cultures on days 4 and 5 (P = 0·01 and P = 0·006). WBC remained unchanged after hypothermia without differences between patients with and without infection.

Conclusion  High initial values of PCT and high peak levels after 3–4 days of CRP were found in patients with induction of hypothermia after cardiac arrest. This increase was unspecific and mirrors rather an inflammatory reaction than true underlying infection, limiting the diagnostic potential for early antibiotic stewardship in these patients.
Scorpiurus muricatus L. subsp. subvillosus (L.) Thell., a potential forage legume species for a Mediterranean environment: a review
Authors: Abbate V. , Maugeri G. , Cristaudo A. , Gresta F.
Published: February 2010

Prickly scorpion’s tail, Scorpiurus muricatus L. subsp. subvillosus (L.) Thell., is an annual legume species, widespread in pastures of the basin of the Mediterranean Sea. It has been neglected by researchers and farmers for a long time, although the species has promise as a forage crop for its high nutritive value, self‐reseeding capability and its preference by ruminants. Harvesting and threshing of seed, however, are difficult and it has seed‐coat dormancy, which delays and reduces germination, hindering its use as a forage crop. It is suggested that plant breeding programmes would allow the selection of ecotypes and varieties for field crop cultivation. In this study, the main botanical, biological, ecological and agronomic traits are reviewed to identify those issues that currently limit its introduction into cultivation as a forage crop in Mediterranean areas.
Identifying suitable temperate grass species and cultural practices for herbage production in the mountain regions of North Vietnam
Authors: Salgado P. , Le Hoa B. , Tran V. T. , Vu Chi C. , Faye B. , Lecomte P.
Published: February 2010

In North Vietnam, during winter, shortage of herbage constrains the profitability of dairy farming. The first objective of this study was to evaluate the potential of alternative temperate (C3) forage species, namely common oat (Avena sativaL.), lop‐sided oat (Avena strigosaSchreb.), Italian ryegrass (Lolium multiflorumL.) and a commercial forage mixture (Avex), to address the shortage of herbage during winter in the mountain regions of North Vietnam. The second objective was to measure the effects of cultural practices (sowing rate, harvest interval and irrigation level) on yield of dry matter (DM), chemical composition, digestibility of DM and metabolizable energy (ME) concentration of herbage from the best adapted C3species previously tested (lop‐sided oat). Four experiments were conducted. Oat species proved to be the best adapted species and produced the highest annual yield of herbage (7600 kg DM ha−1) with a high nutritive value. Yields of DM of lop‐sided oat were not affected by sowing rate of seed but increased as the length of harvest intervals increased from 30 to 45 and 60 d (P < 0·001). Crude protein concentration, digestibility of DM and ME concentration decreased as the harvest interval increased (P < 0·01). Irrigation increased the yields of DM of lop‐sided oats by 1·3 (P < 0·05) but had no effect on the nutritive value of herbage. It is concluded that both common oat and lop‐sided oat are suitable species to provide herbage in the winter for the mountain regions of North Vietnam.
Expression of Endothelin‐1 and Endothelin Receptor A in Canine Ovarian Tumours
Authors: Borzacchiello G , Mogavero S , Tortorella G , Catone G , Russo M
Published: February 2010

Contents

Ovarian tumours have a low incidence in bitch. Endothelin (ET‐1) and endothelin A receptor (ET‐A) are overexpressed in human ovarian cancer. Twenty canine ovarian tumours and five normal samples were first evaluated by western blotting and then immunohistochemically for ET‐1 and ET‐A expression. Seventeen out of twenty tumours were ET‐1 positive. Eight out of twenty tumours were ET‐A immunohistochemically positive. At molecular level both proteins were proven to be expressed in normal as well as in tumour samples. Our results show that ET‐1 and ET‐A are overexpressed in canine ovarian tumours, suggesting a potential role of these two molecules in canine ovarian carcinogenesis.
Population ecology of nitrifying Archaea and Bacteria in the Southern California Bight
Authors: Beman J. Michael , Sachdeva Rohan , Fuhrman Jed A.
Published: February 2010

Marine Crenarchaeota are among the most abundant microbial groups in the ocean, and although relatively little is currently known about their biogeochemical roles in marine ecosystems, recognition that Crenarchaeota posses ammonia monooxygenase (amoA) genes and may act as ammonia‐oxidizing archaea (AOA) offers another means of probing the ecology of these microorganisms. Here we use a time series approach combining quantification of archaeal and bacterial ammonia oxidizers with bacterial community fingerprints and biogeochemistry, to explore the population and community ecology of nitrification. At multiple depths (150, 500 and 890 m) in the Southern California Bight sampled monthly from 2003 to 2006, AOA were enumerated via quantitative PCR of archaeal amoA and marine group 1 Crenarchaeota 16S rRNA genes. Based on amoA genes, AOA were highly variable in time – a consistent feature of marine Crenarchaeota– however, average values were similar at different depths and ranged from 2.20 to 2.76 × 104amoA copies ml−1. Archaeal amoA genes were correlated with Crenarchaeota 16S rRNA genes (r2 = 0.79) and the slope of this relationship was 1.02, demonstrating that the majority of marine group 1 Crenarchaeota present over the dates and depths sampled possessed amoA. Two AOA clades were specifically quantified and compared with betaproteobacterial ammonia‐oxidizing bacteria (β‐AOB) amoA genes at 150 m; these AOA groups were found to strongly co‐vary in time (r2 = 0.70, P < 0.001) whereas AOA : β‐AOB ratios ranged from 13 to 5630. Increases in the AOA : β‐AOB ratio correlated with the accumulation of nitrite (r2 = 0.87, P < 0.001), and may be indicative of differences in substrate affinities and activities leading to periodic decoupling between ammonia and nitrite oxidation. These data capture a dynamic nitrogen cycle in which multiple microbial groups appear to be active participants.
Preparedness for anthrax attack: the effect of knowledge on the willingness to treat patients
Authors: Rokach Ariel , Cohen Robert , Shapira Naomi , Einav Shmuel , Mandibura Alex , Bar‐Dayan Yaron
Published: February 2010

Little is known about the factors that may impact on the willingness of physicians and nurses to treat patients during a bioterrorism attack. This survey was conducted among 76 randomly selected nurses and physicians in the emergency rooms of three public hospitals in order to analyse the relationship between knowledge, profession and the willingness to treat anthrax. The study finds that the willingness of physicians and nurses to come to work is 50% greater among the group with the highest knowledge about anthrax (P < 0.0001). Within that group, the willingness to treat patients suspected of being infected with anthrax was 37% greater (P < 0.0001) and the willingness to treat patients diagnosed with anthrax was 28% greater (P = 0.004) than in the other groups. These results imply that enhancement of knowledge among health care workers may improve their willingness to come to work and treat patients infected with anthrax during a bioterrorism attack.
Creative imitation: exploring the case of cross‐industry innovation
Authors: Enkel Ellen , Gassmann Oliver
Published: February 2010

In cross‐industry innovation, already existing solutions from other industries are creatively imitated and retranslated to meet the needs of the company's current market or products. Such solutions can be technologies, patents, specific knowledge, capabilities, business processes, general principles, or whole business models. Innovations systematically created in a cross‐industry context are a new phenomenon for theory and practice in respect of an open innovation approach. While the cognitive distance between the acquired knowledge and the problem to be solved was regarded as a counterproductive factor in older research, recent theory regards it as positively related to innovation performance. Following the latest theory, we examine 25 cross‐industry cases to ascertain cognitive distance's influence on innovation performance. Our study reveals that there is no direct correlation between a higher or a closer distance and a more explorative or exploitative outcome.
Evaluating Natural Resource Investments under Different Model Dynamics: Managerial Insights
Authors: Tsekrekos Andrianos E. , Shackleton Mark B. , Wojakowski Rafał
Published: February 2010

We focus on factors that drive the dynamics of commodity prices. We highlight the capital budgeting implications of three highly‐cited, nested, multi‐factor models for commodity prices that have been successful in empirical investigations. Competing assumptions regarding commodity prices and their convenience yields can account for differences close to 40% on average, and in excess of 60% in cases, in the valuation of typical natural resource investments. These value differences are found to increase with the maturity and the intrinsic value of the investment, and also with the level and the volatility of the resource's convenience yield. Resources such as oil or copper, that are used for production purposes, usually exhibit high and volatile convenience yields; thus our findings should be more relevant for decision‐makers in such sectors.
Kant, Reichenbach, and the Fate of A Priori Principles
Authors: de Boer Karin
Published: February 2010

Abstract: This article contends that the relation of early logical empiricism to Kant was more complex than is often assumed. It argues that Reichenbach's early work on Kant and Einstein, entitled The Theory of Relativity and A Priori Knowledge (1920) aimed to transform rather than to oppose Kant's Critique of Pure Reason. One the one hand, I argue that Reichenbach's conception of coordinating principles, derived from Kant's conception of synthetic a priori principles, offers a valuable way of accounting for the historicity of scientific paradigms. On the other hand, I show that even Reichenbach, in line with Neo‐Kantianism, associated Kant's view of synthetic a priori principles too closely with Newtonian physics and, consequently, overestimated the difference between Kant's philosophy and his own. This is even more so, I point out, in the retrospective account logical empiricism presented of its own history. Whereas contemporary reconstructions of this history, including Michael Friedman's, tend to endorse this account, I offer an interpretation of Kant's conception of a priori principles that contrasts with the one put forward by both Neo‐Kantianism and logical empiricism. On this basis, I re‐examine the early Reichenbach's effort to accommodate these principles to the paradigm forged by Einstein.
Option Market Efficiency and Analyst Recommendations
Authors: Doran James S. , Fodor Andy , Krieger Kevin
Published: February 2010

Abstract:  This paper examines the information content in option markets surrounding analyst recommendation changes. The sample includes 6,119 recommendation changes for optionable stocks over the period January 1996 through December 2005. As expected, mean underlying asset returns are positive (negative) on days of recommendation upgrades (downgrades). However, volatility levels and shifts prior to recommendation changes explain a significant portion of underlying asset price responses. Ex‐ante price and volatility responses in option markets are linked to increased jump uncertainty risk premia. Our findings suggest information in option markets leads analyst recommendation changes, implying revisions contain less information than previously thought.
Sexual Predators, Energy Development, and Conservation in Greater Yellowstone
Authors: BERGER JOEL , BECKMANN JON P.
Published: February 2010

Abstract:  In the United States, as elsewhere, a growing debate pits national energy policy and homeland security against biological conservation. In rural communities the extraction of fossil fuels is often encouraged because of the employment opportunities it offers, although the concomitant itinerant workforce is often associated with increased wildlife poaching. We explored possible positive and negative factors associated with energy extraction in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (GYE), an area known for its national parks, intact biological diversity, and some of the New World's longest terrestrial migrations. Specifically, we asked whether counties with different economies—recreation (ski), agrarian (ranching or farming), and energy extractive (petroleum)—differed in healthcare (gauged by the abundance of hospital beds) and in the frequency of sexual predators. The absolute and relative frequency of registered sex offenders grew approximately two to three times faster in areas reliant on energy extraction. Healthcare among counties did not differ. The strong conflation of community dishevel, as reflected by in‐migrant sexual predators, and ecological decay in Greater Yellowstone is consistent with patterns seen in similar systems from Ecuador to northern Canada, where social and environmental disarray exist around energy boomtowns. In our case, that groups (albeit with different aims) mobilized campaigns to help maintain the quality of rural livelihoods by protecting open space is a positive sign that conservation can matter, especially in the face of rampant and poorly executed energy extraction projects. Our findings further suggest that the public and industry need stronger regulatory action to instill greater vigilance when and where social factors and land conversion impact biological systems.
Sweat duct proliferation associated with aggregates of elastic tissue and atrophodermia vermiculata: a simulator of microcystic adnexal carcinoma. Report of two cases†
Authors: Schaller Jörg , Rytina Ed , Rütten Arno , Hendricks Carlo , Ha Tom , Requena Luis
Published: February 2010

Microcystic adnexal carcinoma (MAC) is a rare, usually solitary, slowly growing, yet aggressive neoplasm with a tendency for local recurrences. Herein, we present two patients who had been histopathologically diagnosed as suffering from MAC on both cheeks since childhood, an unlikely scenario. Both from a clinical and from a histopathological point of view, our two cases showed some similarities with those previously described in patients with Nicolau‐Balus syndrome, Rombo syndrome, and so‐called eccrine‐pilar hamartoma. Common to all these latter disorders are the round aggregations of elastic tissue in the papillary dermis, a histopathological feature which was also found in our patients. However, to our knowledge, the presence of a MAC‐like ductal proliferation embedded in sclerotic stroma and extending to the deep dermis has not been previously described. Dermatologists and dermatopathologists should be aware of this disorder to avoid overdiagnosis of and inappropriate treatment for MAC.

Schaller J, Rytina E, Rütten A, Hendricks C, Ha T, Requena L. Sweat duct proliferation associated with aggregates of elastic tissue and atrophodermia vermiculata: a simulator of microcystic adnexal carcinoma. Report of two cases.
Indication of higher salivary α‐amylase expression in hamadryas baboons and geladas compared to chimpanzees and humans
Authors: Mau M. , Südekum K.‐H. , Johann A. , Sliwa A. , Kaiser T.M.
Published: February 2010

Background  Little is known about salivary α‐amylase expression in primates.

Methods  We compared saliva of gelada and hamadryas baboons, chimpanzees and humans using SDS‐PAGE and immunoblotting.

Results and conclusions  Amylase expression was increased in hamadryas baboons (P = 0.0376) compared to humans and might indicate dietary starch use in Cercopithecines.
Clustering of acute respiratory infection hospitalizations in childcare facilities
Authors: Kamper‐Jørgensen Mads , Benn Christine Stabell , Simonsen Jacob , Thrane Nana , Wohlfahrt Jan
Published: February 2010

Aim:  To estimate how risk of acute respiratory infection (ARI) hospitalization in children attending childcare facilities with a recently (within 1 month) hospitalized child is affected by gender, age and other characteristics.

Methods:  Population‐based prospective cohort study of 436 434 Danish 0–5‐year‐old children attending childcare during 1989–2004. Information was collected from Danish registers. Main outcome measure was incidence rate ratios (IRRs) of in‐patient hospitalization for ARI.

Results:  During 1 777 999 person‐years of follow‐up 42 681 hospitalizations for ARI occurred, of which 362 (1%) occurred within 1 month after another child was hospitalized for ARI in the facility. Children attending a facility with a recent ARI hospitalization had an increased risk of 42% (95% CI 27%;60%) compared with other children. The increased risk was higher in 0–2‐year‐old children than in 3–5‐year‐old children (55% vs 17%, p = 0.02) and if the latest hospitalized child was 0–2 years rather than 3–5 years (52% vs 19%, p = 0.04). The increased risk was similar in boys and girls, but was higher if the latest hospitalized child was a boy rather than a girl (52% vs 13%, p = 0.02).

Conclusion:  Although occurring infrequently, clustering of ARI hospitalizations involve 0–2‐year‐olds and boys as first hospitalized child relatively more often than would be expected.
Imagination and Choice
Authors: Dailey Anne C.
Published: February 2010

Individual choice is a central feature of the psychological portrait drawn by nearly every established school of thought in modern American jurisprudence. Legal scholars are increasingly interested in piercing the conceptual surface of choice to inquire into its actual psychological workings. The study of choice in this emerging behavioral legal scholarship draws primarily from cognitive psychology. This article argues that this important inquiry into choice should be broadened to include modern psychoanalytic ideas about imagination. An example of the importance of a psychoanalytic perspective on imagination is provided by the law governing the enforceability of prenuptial agreements. As this discussion illustrates, psychoanalytic psychology, in conjunction with research from the cognitive sciences, provides a valuable framework for examining assumptions about individual choice in law.