Towards actionable international comparisons of health system performance: expert revision of the OECD framework and quality indicators.

OBJECTIVE: To review and update the conceptual framework, indicator content and research priorities of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development's (OECD) Health Care Quality Indicators (HCQI) project, after a decade of collaborative work. DESIGN: A structured assessment was carried out using a modified Delphi approach, followed by a consensus meeting, to assess the suite of HCQI for international comparisons, agree on revisions to the original framework and set priorities for research and development. SETTING: International group of countries participating to OECD projects. PARTICIPANTS: Members of the OECD HCQI expert group. RESULTS: A reference matrix, based on a revised performance framework, was used to map and assess all seventy HCQI routinely calculated by the OECD expert group. A total of 21 indicators were agreed to be excluded, due to the following concerns: (i) relevance, (ii) international comparability, particularly where heterogeneous coding practices might induce bias, (iii) feasibility, when the number of countries able to report was limited and the added value did not justify sustained effort and (iv) actionability, for indicators that were unlikely to improve on the basis of targeted policy interventions. CONCLUSIONS: The revised OECD framework for HCQI represents a new milestone of a long-standing international collaboration among a group of countries committed to building common ground for performance measurement. The expert group believes that the continuation of this work is paramount to provide decision makers with a validated toolbox to directly act on quality improvement strategies.

Enhanced capture of healthcare-related harms and injuries in the 11th revision of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11).

The World Health Organization (WHO) plans to submit the 11th revision of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD) to the World Health Assembly in 2018. The WHO is working toward a revised classification system that has an enhanced ability to capture health concepts in a manner that reflects current scientific evidence and that is compatible with contemporary information systems. In this paper, we present recommendations made to the WHO by the ICD revision's Quality and Safety Topic Advisory Group (Q&S TAG) for a new conceptual approach to capturing healthcare-related harms and injuries in ICD-coded data. The Q&S TAG has grouped causes of healthcare-related harm and injuries into four categories that relate to the source of the event: (a) medications and substances, (b) procedures, (c) devices and (d) other aspects of care. Under the proposed multiple coding approach, one of these sources of harm must be coded as part of a cluster of three codes to depict, respectively, a healthcare activity as a 'source' of harm, a 'mode or mechanism' of harm and a consequence of the event summarized by these codes (i.e. injury or harm). Use of this framework depends on the implementation of a new and potentially powerful code-clustering mechanism in ICD-11. This new framework for coding healthcare-related harm has great potential to improve the clinical detail of adverse event descriptions, and the overall quality of coded health data.

International archives of photogrammetry.

Volumes consist of proceedings, reports, and/or reprints of papers of the International Congress of Photogrammetry, or papers from various other congresses and symposia sponsored by the International Society for Photogrammetry.

The Committee appointed ... for the Fourth International Congress on School hygiene, at Buffalo August 25-30, 1913.

Cover title.

Études sur la Belgique. Conférences faites au VIe cours international d'expansion commerciale organisé à l'Institut supérieur de commerce d'Anvers du 22 juillet au 10 août 1912 sous les auspices de la Société internationale pour le développement de l'enseignement commercial. Avec 54 tableaux, 23 diagrammes et 16 cartes et planches hors texte.

Contains bibliographies.

The Christian endeavor manual : a text-book on the history, theory, principles, and practice of the society, with complete bibliography and several appendixes /

Mode of access: Internet.

Internationale volkskundliche Bibliographie. International folklore bibliography. Bibliographie internationale des arts et traditions populaires.

Mode of access: Internet.

The Society of States under siege? An English School perspective on the emergence of global civil society

In this article I critically examine the theoretical and empirical relationship between world society, whereby global civil society is taken to be its physical or empirical counterpart, and the society of states. This relationship is typically portrayed as contradictory or confrontational, and I contend that this mainstream perspective is reliant on a superficial analysis of the relationship. If one examines the deeper dynamics, viewed in their contemporary international normative context, then one can identify the more constructive and permissive aspects of the relationship. Rather than being wholly incompatible I argue that world society and international society are mutually constitutive and mutually dependent regimes, whose relationship is more often marked by cooperation than by conflict. English School theory provides the conceptual framework for this analysis. The relationship between international and world society presents a core ontological tension within this theory, and again they tend to occupy polarised positions. A synthesis of four international theories - pluralist international society theory, solidarist international society theory, critical international theory, and the discourse of global civil society - informs the hypothesis that the relationship can be normatively and empirically reconciled. In order to empirically support this explanation I analyse two phenomena in world politics - transnational advocacy networks and humanitarian intervention - where there is an apparent tension between international and world society.

En teorispäckad sociologisk analys av fritid och sport – ett ambitiöst projekt : recension av boken Leisure, Sports & Society av Karl Spracklen

I september 2014 bytte Leeds Metropolitan University, trots studentprotester, namn till Leeds Beckett University; universitetets första colleges låg i Beckett Park, vilken i sin tur fått namn efter bankiren och konservative parlamentsledamoten Ernest Beckett, 2nd Baron Grimthorpe (1856–1917), vars alma mater faktiskt var Trinity College, Cambridge. Leeds-studenternas motstånd hade sin grund i att namnändringen beräknades kosta en kvarts miljon pund, alltmedan inte minst universitetets idrottsanläggningar tillåtits förfalla. Vi vet inte hur universitetets personal ställde sig till namnförändringen, och särskilt nyfikna är vi ju på vad professorn i Leisure Studies (fritidsforskning, fritidsvetenskap) vid Leeds Beckett University, Karl Spracklen, tyckte om förändringen. Detta är dock blott "idle curiosity"; Spracklen är aktuell av ett helt annat, och viktigare, skäl, nämligen för sin bok Leisure, Sports & Society (Palgrave Macmillan). Spracklen, som är sociolog och vars forskningsintresse också inkluderar "metal music" (som sekreterare för International Society for Metal Music Studies och redaktör för Metal Music Studies) och "whiskey tourism" (som drivande i British Sociological Associations Alcohol Study Group) är en centralfigur inom det brittiska fritidsforskningsetablissemanget – han har bland annat varit ordförande i viktiga LSA, Leisure Studies Association från 2009 till 2013. Han har därtill en lång rad publikationer bakom sig, böcker, antologibidrag och vetenskapliga artiklar inom idrotts- och fritidsforskning i vid mening. Den nya boken ges här en grundlig recension av Erik Backman, som ju vet ett och annat om fritidsforskning, Spracklen bottnar teoretiskt i Habermas, i sig ovanligt bland brittiska forskare, men också i Marx, Weber och Bourdieu, bland andra, i sin utforskning av sambandet mellan fritid, fysisk aktivitet och sport ur ett tvärvetenskapligt perspektiv som innefattar idrottsvetenskap, sociologi, cultural studies, historia, filosofi och psykologi. Och vår recensent är imponerad över bredden, djupet och ambitionsnivån – även om det kan bli lite tjatigt från och till.

The Cratylia Mollis Seed Lectin Induces Membrane Permeability Transition In Isolated Rat Liver Mitochondria And A Cyclosporine A-insensitive Permeability Transition In Trypanosoma Cruzi Mitochondria.

Previous results provided evidence that Cratylia mollis seed lectin (Cramoll 1,4) promotes Trypanosoma cruzi epimastigotes death by necrosis via a mechanism involving plasma membrane permeabilization to Ca(2+) and mitochondrial dysfunction due to matrix Ca(2+) overload. In order to investigate the mechanism of Ca(2+) -induced mitochondrial impairment, experiments were performed analyzing the effects of this lectin on T. cruzi mitochondrial fraction and in isolated rat liver mitochondria (RLM), as a control. Confocal microscopy of T. cruzi whole cell revealed that Cramoll 1,4 binding to the plasma membrane glycoconjugates is followed by its internalization and binding to the mitochondrion. Electrical membrane potential (∆Ψm ) of T. cruzi mitochondrial fraction suspended in a reaction medium containing 10 μM Ca(2+) was significantly decreased by 50 μg/ml Cramoll 1,4 via a mechanism insensitive to cyclosporine A (CsA, membrane permeability transition (MPT) inhibitor), but sensitive to catalase or 125 mM glucose. In RLM suspended in a medium containing 10 μM Ca(2+) this lectin, at 50 μg/ml, induced increase in the rate of hydrogen peroxide release, mitochondrial swelling, and ∆Ψm disruption. All these mitochondrial alterations were sensitive to CsA, catalase, and EGTA. These results indicate that Cramoll 1, 4 leads to inner mitochondrial membrane permeabilization through Ca(2+) dependent mechanisms in both mitochondria. The sensitivity to CsA in RLM characterizes this lectin as a MPT inducer and the lack of CsA effect identifies a CsA-insensitive MPT in T. cruzi mitochondria.

The Intrahippocampal Infusion Of Crotamine From Crotalus Durissus Terrificus Venom Enhances Memory Persistence In Rats.

Previous research has shown that crotamine, a toxin isolated from the venom of Crotalus durissus terrificus, induces the release of acetylcholine and dopamine in the central nervous system of rats. Particularly, these neurotransmitters are important modulators of memory processes. Therefore, in this study we investigated the effects of crotamine infusion on persistence of memory in rats. We verified that the intrahippocampal infusion of crotamine (1 μg/μl; 1 μl/side) improved the persistence of object recognition and aversive memory. By other side, the intrahippocampal infusion of the toxin did not alter locomotor and exploratory activities, anxiety or pain threshold. These results demonstrate a future prospect of using crotamine as potential pharmacological tool to treat diseases involving memory impairment, although it is still necessary more researches to better elucidate the crotamine effects on hippocampus and memory.