Randomised controlled trial of a supervised exercise rehabilitation program for colorectal cancer survivors immediately after chemotherapy: study protocol

Background Colorectal cancer (CRC) diagnosis and the ensuing treatments can have a substantial impact on the physical and psychological health of survivors. As the number of CRC survivors increases, so too does the need to develop viable rehabilitation programs to help these survivors return to good health as quickly as possible. Exercise has the potential to address many of the adverse effects of CRC treatment; however, to date, the role of exercise in the rehabilitation of cancer patients immediately after the completion of treatment has received limited research attention. This paper presents the design of a randomised controlled trial which will evaluate the feasibility and efficacy of a 12-week supervised aerobic exercise program (ImPACT Program) on the physiological and psychological markers of rehabilitation, in addition to biomarkers of standard haematological outcomes and the IGF axis. Methods/Design Forty CRC patients will be recruited through oncology clinics and randomised to an exercise group or a usual care control group. Baseline assessment will take place within 4 weeks of the patient completing adjuvant chemotherapy treatment. The exercise program for patients in the intervention group will commence a week after the baseline assessment. The program consists of three supervised moderate-intensity aerobic exercise sessions per week for 12 weeks. All participants will have assessments at baseline (0 wks), mid-intervention (6 wks), post-intervention (12 wks) and at a 6-week follow-up (18 wks). Outcome measures include cardio-respiratory fitness, biomarkers associated with health and survival, and indices of fatigue and quality of life. Process measures are participants' acceptability of, adherence to, and compliance with the exercise program, in addition to the safety of the program. Discussion The results of this study will provide valuable insight into the role of supervised exercise in improving life after CRC. Additionally, process analyses will inform the feasibility of implementing the program in a population of CRC patients immediately after completing chemotherapy.

Women's labor force participation and marriage : the case of Korea

In this paper, we examine the relationship between marital status and female labor force participation in Korea, and argue that marriage remains a major obstacle to young Korean women's employment. We find that an average married woman is much less likely (by 40–60%) to participate in the labor force than a single woman in urban Korea. Further investigation into the participation patterns among married women reveals that labor force participation rate (LFPR) varies with husband's occupation and her own age. Lower LFPR among the young married women is explained by demand-side factors, while relatively higher LFPR among the middle-aged married women is mostly explained by the supply-side factors.

Planning volunteer responses to low-volume mass gatherings: do event characteristics predict patient workload?

INTRODUCTION: Workforce planning for first aid and medical coverage of mass gatherings is hampered by limited research. In particular, the characteristics and likely presentation patterns of low-volume mass gatherings of between several hundred to several thousand people are poorly described in the existing literature. OBJECTIVES: This study was conducted to: 1. Describe key patient and event characteristics of medical presentations at a series of mass gatherings, including events smaller than those previously described in the literature; 2. Determine whether event type and event size affect the mean number of patients presenting for treatment per event, and specifically, whether the 1:2,000 deployment rule used by St John Ambulance Australia is appropriate; and 3. Identify factors that are predictive of injury at mass gatherings. METHODS: A retrospective, observational, case-series design was used to examine all cases treated by two Divisions of St John Ambulance (Queensland) in the greater metropolitan Brisbane region over a three-year period (01 January 2002-31 December 2004). Data were obtained from routinely collected patient treatment forms completed by St John officers at the time of treatment. Event-related data (e.g., weather, event size) were obtained from event forms designed for this study. Outcome measures include: total and average number of patient presentations for each event; event type; and event size category. Descriptive analyses were conducted using chi-square tests, and mean presentations per event and event type were investigated using Kruskal-Wallis tests. Logistic regression analyses were used to identify variables independently associated with injury presentation (compared with non-injury presentations). RESULTS: Over the three-year study period, St John Ambulance officers treated 705 patients over 156 separate events. The mean number of patients who presented with any medical condition at small events (less than or equal to 2,000 attendees) did not differ significantly from that of large (>2,000 attendees) events (4.44 vs. 4.67, F = 0.72, df = 1, 154, p = 0.79). Logistic regression analyses indicated that presentation with an injury compared with non-injury was independently associated with male gender, winter season, and sporting events, even after adjusting for relevant variables. CONCLUSIONS: In this study of low-volume mass gatherings, a similar number of patients sought medical treatment at small (<2,000 patrons) and large (>2,000 patrons) events. This demonstrates that for low-volume mass gatherings, planning based solely on anticipated event size may be flawed, and could lead to inappropriate levels of first-aid coverage. This study also highlights the importance of considering other factors, such as event type and patient characteristics, when determining appropriate first-aid resourcing for low-volume events. Additionally, identification of factors predictive of injury presentations at mass gatherings has the potential to significantly enhance the ability of event coordinators to plan effective prevention strategies and response capability for these events.

A study of abrasive water jet characteristics by CFD simulation

Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) models for ultrahigh velocity waterjets and abrasive waterjets (AWJs) are established using the Fluent 6 flow solver. Jet dynamic characteristics for the flow downstream from a very fine nozzle are then simulated under steady state, turbulent, two-phase and three-phase flow conditions. Water and particle velocities in a jet are obtained under different input and boundary conditions to provide an insight into the jet characteristics and a fundamental understanding of the kerf formation process in AWJ cutting. For the range of downstream distances considered, the results indicate that a jet is characterised by an initial rapid decay of the axial velocity at the jet centre while the cross-sectional flow evolves towards a top-hat profile downstream.

[Letter to the Editor] Telemonitoring in Patients with Heart Failure

To the Editor: Chaudhry et al. suggest that enhanced support in the use of a telephone-based interactive voice-response system for patients recently discharged after worsening heart failure does not improve outcomes. This finding is broadly consistent with previous systematic reviews of telephone support1 and contrasts with the substantial effect observed with home telemonitoring of vital signs in similar populations.1 The treatment of patients in the control group was excellent, but unrepresentative of usual clinical care and not inferior to the treatment of patients receiving enhanced support. Monitoring alone is unlikely to improve outcomes but may do so when it improves prescription of or adherence to lifesaving treatments. Given enough resources, traditional methods for delivering care may render an interactive voice-response system or a home telemonitoring system ineffective. Nonetheless, there may be more cost-efficient approaches to ensuring quality care.2 Informal post hoc addition of these data to our recent meta-analysis of telephone support1 does not substantially alter the point estimates for death from any cause or heart-failure−related hospitalizations, but it does nullify the small benefit in hospitalizations for any cause, which may not be reduced by a heart-failure−focused intervention.1 Original article: Telemonitoring in Patients with Heart Failure NEJM. December 9, 2010 | S.I. Chaudhry and Others

Fashion localisation in a global aesthetic market

This paper investigates how fashion circulates globally and is adapted and localised by consumers. The rise of fashion blogs, social networking, on-line retail and on-line streaming of fashion shows has exponentially increased the availability of fashion images globally, enabling a further multiplication of styles and looks. The geographical dispersion of production systems in third world countries, and the concentration of management and finance in first world countries are increasingly acknowledged as having an uneven social and economic effect. However, processes of hibridisation and creolisation give rise to new cultural forms where the local and the foreign are mixed in interesting ways. I argue that the current circulation of fashion must be understood as adaptation in which “outside aesthetic influence is integrated into and becomes part of an existing style tradition” (Lynch and Strauss, 2007, p. 154). This emergence of new local and eclectic styles denies assumptions in which consumers are disengaged while duped by a system of commodification. The paper argues that, through a process of “deterritorialisation”, “displacement” and “repatriation” (Appadurai 1996, p. 32), creative ordinary consumers are able to engage with fashion, reinventing it in the context of their local cultures.

Attitudes of employees and employers towards older workers in a climate of anti-discrimination

Attitudes and practices towards older workers were surveyed in Brisbane with 525 employees randomly sampled from the electoral roll and executives of 104 companies obtained by stratified random sampling from the Register of Workplaces (response rates, 60% and 80% respectively). The results indicated that “older workers” are young in terms of contemporary life expectancy, and younger for employers than employees; they have some desirable personal qualities (eg. loyalty), but are not perceived as adaptable; workers aged 25–39 were preferred on qualities held to be important in the workplace and there was minimal interest in recruiting anyone over 45 years.

Simultaneous voltammetric determination of three herbicides in food and water samples with the aid of chemometrics

Differential pulse stripping voltammetry method(DPSV) was applied to the determination of three herbicides, ametryn, cyanatryn, and dimethametryn. It was found that their voltammograms overlapped strongly, and it is difficult to determine these compounds individually from their mixtures. With the aid of chemometrics, classical least squares(CLS), principal component regression(PCR) and partial least squares(PLS), voltammogram resolution and quantitative analysis of the synthetic mixtures of the three compounds were successfully performed. The proposed method was also applied to the analysis of some real samples with satisfactory results.

Outdoor simultaneous localisation and mapping using RatSLAM

In this paper an existing method for indoor Simultaneous Localisation and Mapping (SLAM) is extended to operate in large outdoor environments using an omnidirectional camera as its principal external sensor. The method, RatSLAM, is based upon computational models of the area in the rat brain that maintains the rodent’s idea of its position in the world. The system uses the visual appearance of different locations to build hybrid spatial-topological maps of places it has experienced that facilitate relocalisation and path planning. A large dataset was acquired from a dynamic campus environment and used to verify the system’s ability to construct representations of the world and simultaneously use these representations to maintain localisation.

Practices of interactive courseware at Malaysia primary smart school : usage standing and causes attributing

Malaysian teachers are now using interactive courseware in their teaching practices as part of teaching activity in classroom, to teach some subjects such as languages, mathematics, and science. Towards this, there is some debate going on the effectiveness of interactive courseware used in classroom. This paper reports data from interviews conducted with school principals and teachers from six selected primary Smart Schools across Malaysia.The interview conducted is looked on their current school practices and challenges in the implementation of interactive courseware in the classroom. The interview covers several aspects of their school facilities, the causes attributed and their concerns. However, the findings revealed that these six schools generally need more supports in the physical and technical form, in order to utilize the interactive courseware. Initially, the current support from the Malaysian Ministry of Education in physical form has proved that not very helpful. Thus, the respondents suggested that supports should be both: physical and technical. Therefore, this preliminary findings could be used as a pointer to the Malaysian government and other stakeholders to the improvement of interface design for future interactive courseware.

Environmental reporting in the Australian mining industry : complying with regulation or meeting international best practice?

It is nearly 10 years since the introduction of s 299(1)(f) Corporations Act , which requires the disclosure of information regarding a company's environmental performance within its annual report. This provision has generated considerable debate in the years since its introduction, fundamentally between proponents of either a voluntary or mandatory environmental reporting framework. This study examines the adequacy of the current regulatory framework. The environmental reporting practices of 24 listed companies in the resources industries are assessed relative to a standard set by the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Sustainability Reporting Guidelines. These Guidelines are argued to represent "international best practice" in environmental reporting and a "scorecard" approach is used to score the quality of disclosure according to this voluntary benchmark. Larger companies in the sample tend to report environmental information over and above the level required by legislation. Some, but not all companies present a stand-alone environmental/sustainability report. However, smaller companies provide minimal information in compliance with s 299(1)(f) . The findings indicate that "international best practice" environmental reporting is unlikely to be achieved by Australian companies under the current regulatory framework. In the current regulatory environment that scrutinises s 299(1)(f) , this article provides some preliminary evidence of the quality of disclosures generated in the Australian market.