Salt-induced hydrogelation of functionalised-dipeptides at high pH

Addition of divalent cations to a solution of a naphthalene-diphenylalanine that forms worm-like micelles at high pH results in the formation of a rigid, self-supporting hydrogel

Workers with elderly dependants: employment law’s response to the latest care-giving conundrum

This paper considers how employment laws are being used in response to what we have termed ‘the eldercare/workplace conundrum’. It is well known that people are now living longer but health is still failing in a significant percentage of older people, meaning that many adults require care for longer, albeit to varying degrees and for varying amounts of time. Many of these individuals will receive care from relatives or close friends who are participating in the labour market: this is increasingly likely as adults are expected / wanting to remain in paid work for longer, often into their 60s and 70s. The requirements of elderly dependants can cause these workers huge difficulties and dilemmas as they attempt, across time, to accommodate the particular needs of the person for whom they wish to provide care, often a loved one, and meet the particular demands of their employment relationship. In this paper we consider why this is an area of social policy that warrants effective legal engagement and consider, drawing on various examples of legal responses in other countries that face similar conundrums, what might improve legal engagement in this area.

Assessment of plant uptake models used in exposure assessment tools for soils contaminated with organic pollutants

The aim of this study was to evaluate and improve the accuracy of plant uptake models for neutral hydrophobic organic pollutants (1 < logKOW < 9, −8 < logKAW < 0) used in regulatory exposure assessment tools, using uncertainty and sensitivity analyses. The models considered were RAIDAR, EUSES, CSOIL, CLEA, and CalTOX. In this research, CSOIL demonstrated the best performance of all five exposure assessment tools for root uptake from polluted soil in comparison with observed data, but no model predicted shoot uptake well. Recalibration of the transpiration and volatilisation parameters improved the performance of CSOIL and CLEA. The dominant pathway for shoot uptake simulated differed according to the properties of the chemical under consideration; those with a higher air–water partition coefficient were transported into shoots via the soil-air-plant pathway, while chemicals with a lower octanol–water partition coefficient and air–water partition coefficient were transported via the root. The soil organic carbon content was a particularly sensitive parameter in each model and using a site specific value improved model performance.

The use of capital budgeting and cost of capital estimation methods in Swedish listed companies

In this paper Swedish listed companies’ use of capital budgeting and cost of capital estimation methods in 2005 and 2008 are examined. The relation between company characteristics and choice of methods is investigated and both within-country longitudinal and cross-country comparisons are made. Larger companies seem to have used capital budgeting methods more frequently than smaller companies. When compared to U.S. and continental European companies, Swedish listed companies employed capital budgeting methods less frequently. In 2005 the most common method for establishing the cost of equity was by asking the investors what return they required. By 2008 CAPM was instead the most utilised method, which could indicate greater sophistication. The use of project risk when evaluating investments also seems to have gained in popularity, while the use of company risk declined. Overall, the use of sophisticated capital budgeting and cost of capital estimation methods seem to be rising and the use of less sophisticated methods declining.

Unlicensed personnel administering medications to older persons living at home : a challenge for social and care services

BACKGROUND: Administration of medication to care recipients is delegated to home-care assistants working in the municipal social care, alongside responsibility for providing personal assistance for older people. Home-care assistants have practical administration skills, but lack formal medical knowledge. AIM: The aim of this study was to explore how home-care assistants perceive administration of medication to older people living at home, as delegated to them in the context of social care. METHODS: Four focus groups consisting of 19 home-care assistants were conducted. Data were analysed using qualitative content analysis. RESULTS: According to home-care assistants, health and social care depends on delegation arrangements to function effectively, but in the first place it relieves a burden for district nurses. Even when the delegation had expired, administration of medication continued, placing the statutes of regulation in a subordinate position. There was low awareness among home-care assistants about the content of the statutes of delegation. Accepting delegation to administer medications has become an implicit prerequisite for social care work in the municipality. CONCLUSIONS: Accepting the delegation to administer medication was inevitable and routine. In practice, the regulating statute is made subordinate and consequently patient safety can be threatened. The organisation of health and social care relies on the delegation arrangement to meet the needs of a growing number of older home-care recipients. IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE: This is a crucial task which management within both the healthcare professions and municipal social care needs to address, to bridge the gap between statutes and practice, to create arenas for mutual collaboration in the care recipients' best interest and to ensure patient safety.

Complexity of management and health outcomes in a prospective cohort study of 573 heart failure patients in Australia : does more equal less?

Aims and objectives : To compare the efficacy of chronic heart failure management programmes (CHF-MPs) according to a scoring algorithm used to quantify the level of applied interventions–the Heart Failure Intervention Score (HF-IS).

Background : The overall efficacy of heart failure programmes has been proven in several meta-analyses. However, the debate continues as to which components are essential in a heart failure programme to improve patient outcomes.

Design : Prospective cohort study of patients participating in heart failure programmes.

Method : Forty-eight of 62 (77%) programmes in Australia participating in a national register of CHF-MPs were evaluated using the HF-IS: derived from a summed and weighted score of each intervention applied by the CHF-MP (27 interventions overall). The CHF-MPs were prospectively categorised as relatively low (HF-IS < 190 – n = 39 programmes & 407 patients) or high (HF-IS ≥ 190 – n = 9 programmes & 166 patients) in complexity. Six-month morbidity and mortality rates in 573 consecutively recruited patients with systolic dysfunction and in New York Heart Association Class II–IV were prospectively examined.

Results : Patients exposed to CHF-MPs with a high HF-IS had a lower rate of unplanned, all-cause hospitalisation (n = 24, 14% vs. n = 102, 25%) compared with CHF-MPs with a low HF-IS within six months. On an adjusted basis, CHF-MPs with a high HF-IS were associated with a reduced risk of unplanned hospitalisation and/or death within six months and remained event-free longer.

Conclusion : High complexity CHF-MPs applying more evidence-based interventions are associated with a higher event-free survival over six months.

Relevance to clinical practice : The HF-IS is an easy-to-use evidence-based tool to assist programme coordinators to improve the quality of their heart failure programme which may also improve patient outcomes.

Global patterns for upper ceilings on migration distance in sea turtles and comparisons with fish, birds and mammals

1. Some animals migrate huge distances in search of resources with locomotory mode (flying/swimming/walking) thought to drive the upper ceilings on migration distance. Yet in cross-taxa comparisons, upper ceilings on migration distance have been ignored for one important group, sea turtles. 2. Using migration distances recorded for 407 adult and 4715 juvenile sea turtles across five species, we show that for adult cheloniid turtles, the upper ceiling on species migration distances between breeding and foraging habitats (1050–2850 km across species) is similar to that predicted for equivalent-sized marine mammals and fish. 3. In contrast, by feeding in the open ocean, adult leatherback turtles (Dermochelys coriacea) and juveniles of all turtle species can travel around 12 000 km from their natal regions, travelling across the widest ocean basins. For juvenile turtles, this puts their maximum migration distances well beyond those expected for equivalent-sized marine mammals and fish, but not those found in some similar sized birds. 4. Post-hatchling turtles perform these long-distance migrations to juvenile foraging sites only once in their lifetime, while adult turtles return to their breeding sites every few (generally ?2) years. Our results highlight the important roles migration periodicity and foraging mode can play in driving the longest migrations, and the implications for Marine Protected Area planning are considered in terms of sea turtle conservation.

How do Thai patients receiving haemodialysis cope with pain?

Does control-ownership divergence impair market liquidity in an emerging market? Evidence from China

This paper examines how institutional characteristics of emerging economies influence the effect of control-ownership divergence on market liquidity. We find that the divergence is negatively associated with liquidity and that this negative relationship is more pronounced in firms with more severe agency problems and information asymmetry. We argue that in an emerging market, the negative effect of the divergence on liquidity is worsened by state ownership and poorer shareholder protection, both of which result in more severe agency conflicts; we also find, however, that this effect is alleviated by the NTS reform, which aligns the interest of different shareholders.

Performance contrasts during the financial crisis between publicly traded family and non-family firms in Europe

Neste estudo, analiso o desempenho de empresas familiares e não-familiares na Europa, entre 2001 e 2013, com uma especial atenção ao período da crise financeira de 2008 e 2009. Doze anos de dados foram recolhidos e analisadosusando dois modelos: o modelo de ajustamento do mercado e uma técnica de estimativa de painéis. Ao contrário das expectativas, os resultados mostram que as empresas familiares não têm resultados significativamente superiores às empresas não familiares durante o período em análise, inclusive antes, durante, e depois da crise. No entanto, considerando o valor do beta, existem diferenças significativas. É possível concluir que as empresas familiares são, em geral, menos voláteis e que durante a crise apresentaram uma volatilidade extremamente baixa comparativamente com o mercado.JEL

Sustentabilidade das empresas associadas à REDEPETRO-RN

The present study investigated the management of social, environmental and economic sustainability practices employed by 72 oil companies in Rio Grande do Norte state in Brazil associated to Joint Business Network for Enhancing the Competitive Ability of Suppliers of Goods and Services to the Gas and Oil Industry in Rio Grande do Norte (REDEPETRO-RN). Thus, our investigation aimed to determine the extent to which sustainability practices of companies associated to REDEPETRO-RN are developed through their own efforts or influenced by the Triple Helix interorganizational arrangement (governamental organizations, education and research institutions, and industries). The research instrument used was a questionnaire in order to map and characterize the sustainability practices. The research subjects were business owners and managers. The data collected supported the descriptive, correspondence and correlation analyzes. Were identified a greater emphasis of the companies surveyed in developing sustainability practices and greater economic influence of business organizations in the construction of sustainability status. It was concluded with confirmation of thesis of the REDEPETRO-RN arrangement exhibits the characteristics and functioning of a common Interorganizational Cooperative Arrangement, not those of a triple helix interorganizational arrangement, given that the influences exerted for the development of social, environmental and economical sustainability on the part of teaching and research institutions, and government and business organizations do not interact with one another sufficiently to create a virtuous circle of cooperation among the associated companies. By contrast, the Interorganizational Cooperative Arrangement plays an important role in strengthening the competitiveness of companies affiliated to REDEPETRO-RN, by combining different competencies in an attempt at supporting the adoption of sustainability practices, a role reinforced by the scope of PETROBRAS, which, due to its economic importance, has considerable weight in the managerial decisions of associated companies

Miomas submucosos: classificação pré-operatória para avaliação da viabilidade da cirurgia histeroscópica

OBJETIVO: desenvolver uma nova classificação pré-operatória dos miomas submucosos para avaliação da viabilidade e do grau de dificuldade da miomectomia histeroscópica. MÉTODOS: conduzimos um estudo onde quarenta e quatro pacientes foram submetidas a ressecção histeroscópica de 51 miomas submucosos. Foram considerados a possibilidade da ressecção total do mioma, o tempo cirúrgico, o balanço hídrico e a incidência de complicações. Os miomas foram classificados pela classificação da sociedade Européia de Cirurgia Endoscópica (CSECE) e pela Classificação Proposta (CP) pelo nosso grupo, que, além do grau de penetração do mioma no miométrio, adiciona como parâmetros a extensão da base do mioma em relação à parede do útero, o tamanho do nódulo em centímetros e a topografia na cavidade uterina. Para análise estatística foram usados o teste de Fisher, o teste t de Student e a análise de variância. Foi considerado estatisticamente significativo quando o valor de p-valor foi menor que 0,05 no teste bicaudal. RESULTADOS: em 47 miomas a cirurgia histeroscópica foi considerada completa. Não houve diferença significativa entre os três níveis (0, 1 e 2) da CSECE. Pela CP, a diferença quanto ao número de cirurgias completas foi significativa (p=0,001) entre os dois níveis (grupos I e II). A diferença da duração da cirurgia quando se compara as duas classificações foi significativa. em relação ao balanço hídrico, apenas a CP mostrou diferenças entre os níveis (p=0,02). CONCLUSÕES: a CP inclui mais dados sinalizadores das dificuldades da miomectomia histeroscópica do que a CSECE, atualmente em uso. Deve ser enfatizado que o número de miomectomias histeroscópicas usado para essa análise foi modesto, sendo interessante a avaliação do desempenho dessa classificação em séries maiores de casos.

Un modelo macroeconómico integrado para el Caribe

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Long-wave infrared radiation reflected by compression stockings in the treatment of cellulite: a clinical double-blind, randomized and controlled study

SynopsisBackgroundCellulite refers to changes in skin relief on the thighs and buttocks of women, with a prevalence of 80-90%, causing dissatisfaction and search for treatment. Etiopathogenesis is multifactorial, as follows: herniation of the hypodermis towards the dermis, facilitated by perpendicular fibrous septa, changes in the dermal extracellular matrix, decreased adiponectin, genetic polymorphism, microcirculation alterations and inflammatory process. There are numerous therapeutic approaches, with little evidence of effectiveness. The long-wave infrared (LWIR) radiation interacts with water, improves microcirculation and stimulates metabolic processes. To date, the use of tissues with potential reflection of LWIR radiation has not been systematically investigated as adjuvant treatment for cellulite.ObjectiveTo investigate the efficacy and safety of the treatment of cellulite through the use of compression stockings made with thread reflecting LWIR radiation.Patients and methodsClinical study of therapeutic intervention, controlled and double-blind, including 30 women, aging from 25 to 40years, with cellulite of grades II and III on the thighs and buttocks who used compression stockings, pantyhose model, made with reflector thread of LWIR radiation, on only one randomized side. Women under other treatments for cellulite and with venous and/or blood insufficiencies were excluded. Evaluation of efficacy by clinical parameters, photographs, Dermatology Life Quality Index (DLQI), cutometry and high frequency ultrasonography and security by observation of adverse events and venous EcoDoppler recordings.ResultsDLQI scores showed significant reduction; the two-dimensional high-frequency ultrasonography showed an insignificant increase in dermal echogenicity as well as other efficacy parameters demonstrated no or slight improvement, with no differences between the sides exposed or not to LWIR; and there were no severe adverse events.ConclusionCompression stockings, with or without thread reflector of LWIR, showed slight effects in the appearance of cellulite, but the treatment determined a positive impact on women quality of life.