Ambulatory blood pressure monitoring to assess antihypertensive therapy in private practice

Non-invasive ambulatory blood pressure monitoring has proved to be very useful in evaluating hypertensive patients. However, most previous studies were performed in specialised centres. Here the results of two trials are presented in which private physicians used ambulatory BP monitoring to assess the efficacy of antihypertensive drugs. The results were very similar to those observed previously in specialised clinics. In the individual patient, the level of ambulatory recorded pressure could not be predicted based on BP readings taken at the doctor's office. Also, the BP response to antihypertensive therapy was more reproducible when evaluated by ambulatory BP monitoring than by the doctor. Thus, the use of noninvasive ambulatory BP monitoring is also very appropriate in everyday practice for the management of hypertensive patients.

Local Public-Services Provision under Public-Private Partnerships : Contractual Design and Contracting Parties Incentives

When deciding to resort to a PPP contract for the provision of a local public service, local governments have to consider the demand risk allocation between the contracting parties. In this article, I investigate the effects of demand risk allocation on the accountability of procuring authorities regarding consumers changing demand, as well as on the cost-reducing effort incentives of the private public-service provider. I show that contracts in which the private provider bears demand risk motivate more the public authority from responding to customer needs. This is due to the fact that consumers are empowered when the private provider bears demand risk, that is, they have the possibility to oust the private provider in case of non-satisfaction with the service provision, which provides procuring authorities with more credibility in side-trading and then more incentives to be responsive. As a consequence, I show that there is a lower matching with consumers' preferences over time when demand risk is on the public authority rather than on the private provider, and this is corroborated in the light of two famous case studies. However, contracts in which the private provider does not bear demand risk motivate more the private provider from investing in cost-reducing efforts. I highlight then a tradeoff in the allocation of demand risk between productive and allocative efficiency. The striking policy implication of this article for local governments would be that the current trend towards a greater resort to contracts where private providers bear little or no demand risk may not be optimal. Local governments should impose demand risk on private providers within PPP contracts when they expect that consumers' preferences over the service provision will change over time.

Yearbook of Private International Law, Volume XIV, 2012/2013

The "Yearbook of Private International Law" provides all about the conflict of laws developments of 2012 and 2013 in one book: Volume XIV (2012/2013) includes contributions on the proposed codification of the General Part of Private International Law in Europe, on the reform of the Chinese legal system as well as on defamation and violation of personality rights (the latter in a whole section). Furthermore, the book deals with the application of EU legislation on jurisdiction and enforcement of judgements, the recognition of judgements overturned by another judgement, and the conflict of decisions in international arbitration. Reports and court decisions from the Netherlands, Turkey, India, Finland, Croatia and Switzerland and a summary of two dissertations on the role of sovereignty and choice of courts agreements complete the book.

Exposure to radio-frequency electromagnetic fields from broadcast transmitters and risk of childhood cancer: a census-based cohort study.

We investigated the association between exposure to radio-frequency electromagnetic fields (RF-EMFs) from broadcast transmitters and childhood cancer. First, we conducted a time-to-event analysis including children under age 16 years living in Switzerland on December 5, 2000. Follow-up lasted until December 31, 2008. Second, all children living in Switzerland for some time between 1985 and 2008 were included in an incidence density cohort. RF-EMF exposure from broadcast transmitters was modeled. Based on 997 cancer cases, adjusted hazard ratios in the time-to-event analysis for the highest exposure category (>0.2 V/m) as compared with the reference category (<0.05 V/m) were 1.03 (95% confidence interval (CI): 0.74, 1.43) for all cancers, 0.55 (95% CI: 0.26, 1.19) for childhood leukemia, and 1.68 (95% CI: 0.98, 2.91) for childhood central nervous system (CNS) tumors. Results of the incidence density analysis, based on 4,246 cancer cases, were similar for all types of cancer and leukemia but did not indicate a CNS tumor risk (incidence rate ratio = 1.03, 95% CI: 0.73, 1.46). This large census-based cohort study did not suggest an association between predicted RF-EMF exposure from broadcasting and childhood leukemia. Results for CNS tumors were less consistent, but the most comprehensive analysis did not suggest an association.

La construcción de la imagen de la política en los noticiarios televisivos en España. Exo- y endo- equilibrios de la calidad de la información política

En nuestra sociedad la imagen que los ciudadanos tenemos de la política está fuertemente condicionada por cómo esta aparece en los medios de comunicación y, en particular, en los noticiarios televisivos. Este artículo, fruto de un proyecto de investigación I+D+I financiado por el Ministerio de Educación, Política Social y Deporte, analiza las noticias de temática política de ocho canales de televisión en España con el objetivo de comprobar cuál es la presencia de la política en los noticiarios, qué imagen se construye de la política en ellos. Además, propone una nueva metodología para establecer la calidad de las informaciones políticas en los noticiarios televisivos en España a través de la definición de los endo- y exo- equilibrios de los contenidos políticos de los noticiarios. Las principales conclusiones del artículo son que los noticiarios que construyen una imagen más equilibrada de la política son los de Televisión Española y Cuatro, mientras que los que construyen una imagen más desequilibrada son los de la Sexta y Canal 9. El porcentaje de noticias dedicadas a la política no depende ni de la titularidad (pública-privada), ni del ámbito de cobertura (estatal-autonómica) del canal. En cambio, sí podemos encontrar una relación en la suma de las noticias de política (political issues) y las de gobernanza (policy issues).

Interprofessional practices of physiotherapists working with adults with low back pain in Québec's private sector: results of a qualitative study.

BACKGROUND: Collaboration and interprofessional practices are highly valued in health systems, because they are thought to improve outcomes of care for persons with complex health problems, such as low back pain. Physiotherapists, like all health providers, are encouraged to take part in interprofessional practices. However, little is known about these practices, especially for private sector physiotherapists. This study aimed to: 1) explore how physiotherapists working in the private sector with adults with low back pain describe their interprofessional practices, 2) identify factors that influence their interprofessional practices, and 3) identify their perceived effects. METHODS: Participants were 13 physiotherapists, 10 women/3 men, having between 3 and 21 years of professional experience. For this descriptive qualitative study, we used face-to-face semi-structured interviews and conducted content analysis encompassing data coding and thematic regrouping. RESULTS: Physiotherapists described interprofessional practices heterogeneously, including numerous processes such as sharing information and referring. Factors that influenced physiotherapists' interprofessional practices were related to patients, providers, organizations, and wider systems (e.g. professional system). Physiotherapists mostly viewed positive effects of interprofessional practices, including elements such as gaining new knowledge as a provider and being valued in one's own role, as well as improvements in overall treatment and outcome. CONCLUSIONS: This qualitative study offers new insights into the interprofessional practices of physiotherapists working with adults with low back pain, as perceived by the physiotherapists' themselves. Based on the results, the development of strategies aiming to increase interprofessionalism in the management of low back pain would most likely require taking into consideration factors associated with patients, providers, the organizations within which they work, and the wider systems.

Health consultation : Private drinking water wells -- Camanche, Iowa (2011)

This letter has been prepared as a consultation to evaluate human health impacts from the use of private drinking water wells in Clinton County, Iowa. These wells are located just to the west of Highway 67 and Camanche, Iowa and near 9th Street, 31st Avenue, and 37th Avenue. The wells are also located to the south of contaminated sites known as Chemplex and PCS Nitrogen, and near former disposal areas known as Todtz Landfill and Doty Landfill. The Iowa Department of Public Health’s priority is to ensure the Clinton County community has the best information possible to safeguard its health. That information is included in the following paragraphs.

Représentations sociales et représentations intimes de la maladie. Quelques réflexions d'un clinicien [Social and private representations of cancer. A clinician's point of view]

This paper discusses social representations in scientific communications and private ones that are linked to the individual imagination. Social representations, in a limited sense, are useful for the development of preventive messages, but of little benefit to clinical work. We highlight some non-explicit aspects of scientific discourse that impact on treatment: projected beliefs and values. We tackle the relationship between the concepts of representation, imagination, identity and temporality in the individual approach of the cancer patient.

Small-scale non-industrial private forest ownership in the United States : rationale and implications for forest management

Abstract