Impact of osteoarthritis on individuals and society: how much disability? Social consequences and health economic implications

Osteoarthritis is a major cause of disability in both the developed and developing world. With the population aging, the prevalence of osteoarthritis is increasing and its consequences are impacting significantly on society. This is one of the reasons why osteoarthritis has been adopted as a major focus (along with osteoporosis, rheumatoid arthritis, back pain, and musculoskeletal trauma) by the global initiative-the Decade of Bone and Joint Disease. Adequate studies on the costs of osteoarthritis are urgently required so that cogent arguments can be made to governments to appropriately fund prevention and treatment programs for this condition. Its recognition as a major cause of disability, particularly in the aging population, should increase community focus on this important condition. (C) 2002 Lippincott Williams Wilkins, Inc.

Board composition and corporate performance: How the Australian experience informs contrasting theories of corporate governance

In many respects, Australian boards more closely approach normative best practice guidelines for corporate governance than boards in other Western countries. Do Australian firms then demonstrate a board demographic-organisational performance link that has not been found in other economies? We examine the relationships between board demographics and corporate performance in 348 of Australia's largest publicly listed companies and describe the attributes of these firms and their boards. We find that, after controlling for firm size, board size is positively correlated with firm value. We also find a positive relationship between the proportion of inside directors and the market-based measure of firm performance. We discuss the implications of these findings and compare our findings to prevailing research in the US and the UK.

An investigation into the possible inhibitory effects of white cypress pine (Callitris glaucophylla) litter on the germination and growth of associated ground cover species

White cypress-pine stands typically support sparse densities of shrubs and grasses. The commonly held opinion is that leaching of allelopathic chemical compounds from cypress-pine litter partly facilitates this exclusion. Germination and growth of cypress pine seedlings do not appear to be similarly affected. This study set out to determine whether cypress litter had a differential effect on germination and growth of cypress-pine seedlings and on associated ground-cover species. Glasshouse trials comparing seedling emergence under cypress- and artificial-litter layers were undertaken. Cypress-pine litter did not have an inhibitory effect on the germination or growth of ground-cover species. In most cases, seedling emergence was facilitated by the application of cypress-pine litter due to its ability to increase the water holding capacity of the underlying soil. Cypress litter did not promote growth of its own seedlings over its competitors except on coarse-textured soils where it provided an ameliorative function to water stress due to the soil's reduced water holding capacity. The inhibition of ground-cover species' germination and growth in pure cypress stands was suggested to be the result of high below-ground resource competition due to the pine's expansive root morphology.

Mean anisotropy of homogeneous Gaussian random fields and anisotropic norms of linear translation-invariant operators on multidimensional integer lattices

Sensitivity of output of a linear operator to its input can be quantified in various ways. In Control Theory, the input is usually interpreted as disturbance and the output is to be minimized in some sense. In stochastic worst-case design settings, the disturbance is considered random with imprecisely known probability distribution. The prior set of probability measures can be chosen so as to quantify how far the disturbance deviates from the white-noise hypothesis of Linear Quadratic Gaussian control. Such deviation can be measured by the minimal Kullback-Leibler informational divergence from the Gaussian distributions with zero mean and scalar covariance matrices. The resulting anisotropy functional is defined for finite power random vectors. Originally, anisotropy was introduced for directionally generic random vectors as the relative entropy of the normalized vector with respect to the uniform distribution on the unit sphere. The associated a-anisotropic norm of a matrix is then its maximum root mean square or average energy gain with respect to finite power or directionally generic inputs whose anisotropy is bounded above by a≥0. We give a systematic comparison of the anisotropy functionals and the associated norms. These are considered for unboundedly growing fragments of homogeneous Gaussian random fields on multidimensional integer lattice to yield mean anisotropy. Correspondingly, the anisotropic norms of finite matrices are extended to bounded linear translation invariant operators over such fields.

How far have reforms gone in Islam?

The encounter of East and West has initiated a period of reforms in Muslim societies. Some of the legal reforms enacted by premodern and modem Muslim states have been hailed as victories for women's rights in Islam. A historical and comparative perspective on the issue reveals that this is far from being true. Reforms constitute a far more complex issue. In many Muslim countries, Islamic law remained the main reference in matters pertaining to family and personal laws. To this day, women's rights remain a sensitive issue. A look at some modem Muslim legislations regarding divorce and polygamy illustrates both the tension that exists between the duties of modem states to uphold women's rights and their alleged Islamic principles and the tension that exists between state and religion. Paradoxically, recent developments in Iran illustrate aptly that some sort of reforms of family laws may be envisioned within the strictures of an Islamic society where Islamic law rules. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

A feminist theoethical analysis of white Pentecostal Australian women and marital abuse

Fraser details the violence experienced by white Pentecostal married women in Australia, a violence that is legitimated by and internalized through religious discourse. She focuses on the mechanisms of the androcentric silencing of women by male Pentecostal leaders and doctrine, and on women's collaboration with them from a feminist theoethical perspective.

Medical marijuana initiatives - Are they justified? How successful are they likely to be?

The principal constituent of cannabis, Delta(9)-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), is moderately effective in treating nausea and vomiting, appetite loss, and acute and chronic pain. Oral THC (dronabinol) and the synthetic cannabinoid, nabilone, have been registered for medical use in the US and UK, but they have not been widely used because patients find it difficult to titrate doses of these drugs. Advocates for the medical use of cannabis argue that patients should be allowed to smoke cannabis to relieve these above-mentioned symptoms. Some US state governments have legislated to allow the medical prescription of cannabis, but the US federal government has tried to prevent patients from obtaining cannabis and threatened physicians who prescribe it with criminal prosecution or loss of their licence to practise. In the UK and Australia, committees of inquiry have recommended medical prescription (UK) and exemption from criminal prosecution (New South Wales, Australia), but governments have not accepted these recommendations. The Canadian government allows an exemption from criminal prosecution to patients with specified medical conditions. It has recently legislated to provide cannabis on medical prescription to registered patients, but this scheme so far has not been implemented. Some advocates argue that legalising cannabis is the only way to ensure that patients can use it for medical purposes. However, this would be contrary to international drug control treaties and is electorally unpopular. The best prospects for the medical use of cannabinoids lie in finding ways to deliver THC that do not involve smoking and in developing synthetic cannabinoids that produce therapeutic effects with a minimum of psychoactive effects. While awaiting these developments, patients with specified medical conditions could be given exemptions from criminal prosecution to grow cannabis for their own use, at their own risk.

How does residue management impact soil organic matter composition and quality under Eucalyptus globulus plantations in southwestern Australia?

This study investigated the influence of harvest residue management practices on soil organic matter (SOM) composition and quality from two second-rotation Eucalyptus globulus plantations in southwestern Australia, using solid-state 13C nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy with cross-polarisation and magic-angle-spinning (CPMAS). Soil samples (0–5 cm) were collected every 12 months for 5 years from two sites that had contrasting soil types and fertility. Harvest residue management treatments established at both sites were (a) no harvest residues; and (b) double harvest residues. The use of 13C CPMAS and DD NMR spectroscopy enabled the successful non-destructive detection of SOM quality changes in the two E. globulus plantations. Relative intensities of 13C CPMAS NMR spectral regions were similar at both sites, and for both harvest residue treatments, indicating that SOM composition was also similar. Dipolar dephasing (DD) NMR spectra revealed resonances in SOM assigned to lignin and tannin structures, with larger resonances in the carbonyl and alkyl C regions that were indicative of cuticular material, enabling detection of changes in SOM quality. Retention of double harvest residues on the soil surface increased the soil quality compared with removal of all harvest residues at both sites as indicated by the NMR aromaticities, but this was most noticeable at Manjimup, which had greater initial soil fertility.

Control of familial and renal cardiac diseases in English bull terriers: How to repair a damaged breed?

Control recommendations are presented for four genetic or familial diseases that cause significant morbidity and mortality in affected English Bull Terriers. Bull Terrier polycystic kidney disease is an autosomal dominant disease diagnosed by detecting a minimum of three renal cysts, with cysts present in both kidneys, and similarly affected family members to confirm the inherited nature of the cysts. Bull Terrier hereditary nephritis is an autosomal dominant disease diagnosed in otherwise normal animals with urinary protein: creatinine ratios persistently >0.3 and no significant urinary sediment, a family history of the disease, and characteristic glomerular basement membrane lesions. Mitral valve myxomatous degeneration and left ventricular outflow tract obstruction in Bull Terriers are familial diseases diagnosed by auscultating characteristic murmurs in affected animals. Excluding animals with these clinical signs from the breeding pool will reduce the prevalence rates of these diseases, however maintenance of an effective population size is also important. Providing breeders with information on genetics, including the risks associated with inbreeding and the benefits of outcrossing, is likely to improve canine breeding practices, thus increasing fitness and fecundity of these purebred dogs.