An evaluation of the first year's experience with a low-cost telemedicine link in Bangladesh

In July 1999, the Swinfen Charitable Trust in the UK established a telemedicine link in Bangladesh, between the Centre for the Rehabilitation of the Paralysed (CRP) in Dhaka and medical consultants abroad. This low-cost telemedicine system used a digital camera to capture still images, which were then transmitted by email. During the first 12 months, 27 telemedicine referrals were made. The following specialties were consulted: neurology (44%), orthopaedics (40%), rheumatology (8%), nephrology (4%) and paediatrics (4%). Initial email replies were received at the CRP within a day of referral in 70% of cases and within thee days in 100%, which shows that store-and-forward telemedicine can be both fast and reliable. Telemedicine consultation was complete within three days in 14 cases (52%) and within three weeks in 24 cases (89%). Referral was judged to be beneficial in 24 cases (89%), the benefits including establishment of the diagnosis, the provision of reassurance to the patient and referring doctor, and a change of management. Four patients (15% of the total) and their families were spared the considerable expense and unnecessary stress of travelling abroad for a second opinion, and the savings from this alone outweighed the set-up and running costs in Bangladesh. The latter are limited to an email account with an Internet service provider and the local-rate telephone call charges from the CRP. This successful telemedicine system is a model for further telemedicine projects in the developing world.

An investigation of pretend play, mental state terms and false belief understanding: In search of a metarepresentational link

The aim of this study was to investigate the association between false belief comprehension, the exhibition of pretend play and the use of mental state terms in pre-school children. Ferry children, aged between 36 and 54 months were videotaped engaging in free play with each parent. The exhibit-ion of six distinct acts of pretend play and the expression of 16 mental sr:ate terms were coded during play. Each child was also administered a pantomime task and three standard false belief casks. Reliable associations were also found between false belief performance and the pretence categories of object substitution and role assignment, and the exhibition of imaginary object pantomimes. Moreover, the use of mental state terms was positively correlated with false belief and the pretence categories of object substitution, imaginary play and role assignment, and negatively correlated with the exhibition of body part object pantomimes. These findings indicate that the development of a mental state lexicon and some, bur not all, components of pretend play are dependent on the capacity for metarepresentational cognition.

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and substance use disorders: is there a causal link?

Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), characterized by restless, inattentive and hyperactive behaviours, is a relatively common childhood disorder that affects approximately 5% of the general population. There has been controversy about whether ADHD increases risks of developing substance use disorders. The available evidence suggests that, in the absence of conduct disorder, ADHD is not associated with an increased risk of substance use problems in males. There is only limited evidence on the role of ADHD in the aetiology of substance use disorders among females. While ADHD has traditionally been considered as a childhood disorder, it may also occur in adults; research needs to examine the extent to which ADHD in adulthood increases the risk of substance use disorders.

The link between prejudiced attitudes and discriminatory behaviour: The role of ingroup norms

In the present research, a reconceptualisation of the role of norms in the link between prejudiced attitudes and discriminatory behaviour — along the lines suggested by the social identity perspective — was tested. In the first study, group salience and group norm were manipulated. As expected, participants ascribed negative traits to significantly fewer Asian university students when they had received consensus information along these lines from a salient ingroup rather than from a salient outgroup. These results were replicated on a measure of strength of motivation to appear nonprejudiced. In a second study, group salience and norm were once again manipulated and strength of attitude and perceived group threat were measured. As predicted, people's negative attitudes towards globalisation were more likely to predict congruent behavioural responses to the extent that the group norm supported the attitude and group salience was high, particularly when high levels of group threat were perceived.

Surface foam film waves studied with high-speed linescan camera

Dynamic foam films have been investigated using an improved experimental set-up with a CCD high-speed linescan camera in conjunction with the Scheludko micro-interferometric cell for studying the drainage and rupture of liquid foam films. The improved experimental set-up increased the sensibility of detection of the local thickness heterogeneities and domains during the film evolution. The evolution of the foam films up to the formation of black spots was recorded in the time intervals of 50ms. The wavelengths of the propagating surface waves and their frequencies were determined experimentally. The experimental results show that the current quasi-static hydrodynamic theory does not properly describe the wave dynamics with inter-domain channels. However, the thermodynamic condition for formation of black spots in the foam films was met by the experimental results. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Two-link approximation schemes for loss networks with linear structure and trunk reservation

Loss networks have long been used to model various types of telecommunication network, including circuit-switched networks. Such networks often use admission controls, such as trunk reservation, to optimize revenue or stabilize the behaviour of the network. Unfortunately, an exact analysis of such networks is not usually possible, and reduced-load approximations such as the Erlang Fixed Point (EFP) approximation have been widely used. The performance of these approximations is typically very good for networks without controls, under several regimes. There is evidence, however, that in networks with controls, these approximations will in general perform less well. We propose an extension to the EFP approximation that gives marked improvement for a simple ring-shaped network with trunk reservation. It is based on the idea of considering pairs of links together, thus making greater allowance for dependencies between neighbouring links than does the EFP approximation, which only considers links in isolation.

Testing the link between the latitudinal gradient in species richness and rates of molecular evolution

Numerous hypotheses have been proposed to explain latitudinal gradients in species richness, but all are subject to ongoing debate. Here we examine Rohde's (1978, 1992) hypothesis, which proposes that climatic conditions at low latitudes lead to elevated rates of speciation. This hypothesis predicts that rates of molecular evolution should increase towards lower latitudes, but this prediction has never been tested. We discuss potential links between rates of molecular evolution and latitudinal diversity gradients, and present the first test of latitudinal variation in rates of molecular evolution. Using 45 phylogenetically independent, latitudinally separated pairs of bird species and higher taxa, we compare rates of evolution of two mitochondrial genes and DNA-DNA hybridization distances. We find no support for an effect of latitude on rate of molecular evolution. This result casts doubt on the generality of a key component of Rohde's hypothesis linking climate and speciation.

On-line writing: a link to learning in a teacher education program

This paper examines the use of on-line discussion as a medium for learning in a pre-service teacher education program. As part of an Education Studies course student teachers engaged in a discussion of issues related to technology and equity in schools. The design of the task and the subsequent analysis of the on-line text were part of a research project investigating whether and how communications technology can be used to integrate and extend the learning of teacher education students. The main argument developed in the paper is that through the on-line activity distinctive sets of writing practices were created. These practices enabled students to make connections between the often disparate parts of teacher education programs-theory and practice, campus and school, research and experience. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

The Australian paralysis may be the missing link tick in the transmission of Hendra virus from bats to horses to humans

Hendra virus is a new virus of the family Paramyxoviridae. This virus was first detected in Queensland, Australia, in 1994; although, it seems that the virus has infected fruit-eating bats (flying-foxes) for a very long time. At least 2 humans and 15 horses have been killed by this virus since it first emerged as a virus that may infect mammals other than flying-foxes. Hendra virus is thought to have moved from flying-foxes to horses, and then from horses to people. There is a reasonably strong hypothesis for horse-to-human transmission: transmission of virus via nasal discharge, saliva and/or urine. In contrast, there is no strong hypothesis for flying-fox-to-human transmission. I present evidence that the Australian paralysis tick, Ixodes holocyclus, which has apparently only recently become a parasite of flying-foxes, may transmit Hendra virus and perhaps related viruses from flying-foxes to horses and other mammals. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.