Chronic hepatitis B: A critical appraisal of current approaches to therapy

Background & Aims: Treatment of chronic hepatitis B (CHB) involves a number of complex and controversial issues. Expert opinions may differ from those of practicing hepatologists and gastroenterologists. We aimed to explore this issue further after a critical review of the literature. Methods: A panel of 14 international experts graded the strength of evidence for 16 statements addressing 3 content areas: patient selection, therapeutic end points, and treatment options. Available data relating to the statements were reviewed critically in 3 small work groups. After discussion of each statement with the entire panel, the experts voted anonymously to accept or reject statements based on the strength of evidence and their experience. A total of 241 members of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD) responded to the same statements and their responses were compared with those of the experts. A discordant response was defined as a difference of more than 20% in any of the 5 graded levels of response (accept or reject) between the 2 groups. Results: With the exception of 2 statements, the experts’ responses were relatively uniform. However, the responses of the AASLD members were discordant from the experts in 12 statements, spanning all 3 content areas. Conclusions: Several areas of disagreement on the management of CHB exist between experts and AASLD members. Our results indicate a potential knowledge gap among practicing hepatologists. Better educational efforts are needed to meet the challenge of managing this complex disorder in which even expert opinion occasionally may disagree.

Critical behavior of one-particle spectral weights in the transverse Ising model

We investigate the critical behavior of the spectral weight of a single quasiparticle, one of the key observables in experiment, for the particular case of the transverse Ising model. Series expansions are calculated for the linear chain and the square and simple cubic lattices. For the chain model, a conjectured exact result is discovered. For the square and simple cubic lattices, series analyses are used to estimate the critical exponents. The results agree with the general predictions of Sachdev [Quantum Phase Transitions (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, England, 1999)].

Critical Temperature of a Trapped Bose Gas: Comparison of Theory and Experiment

We apply the projected Gross-Pitaevskii equation (PGPE) formalism to the experimental problem of the shift in critical temperature T-c of a harmonically confined Bose gas as reported in Gerbier , Phys. Rev. Lett. 92, 030405 (2004). The PGPE method includes critical fluctuations and we find the results differ from various mean-field theories, and are in best agreement with experimental data. To unequivocally observe beyond mean-field effects, however, the experimental precision must either improve by an order of magnitude, or consider more strongly interacting systems. This is the first application of a classical field method to make quantitative comparison with experiment.

Tradesperson or artist? A critical exploration of chefs' job satisfaction and turnover

The interest in experiential and embodied aspects of brand and other product usage is under-represented in tourism orientated research, which generally falls to develop a contextualised understanding of the relationships between products and consumers, and within this in particular, considerations of individuality and self, embodiment, emotion and sensation. Aiming to `reverse the causality' (Lannon and Cooper 1983:201) of consumption focused tourism research, in this paper, I draw on the tourism experiences of Audrey, a participant in a larger study to reveal how, rather than just `consuming', tourism consumers interpret the meaning and values in a wide range of products and objects, weaving individual, rich, sensory, embodied experiences which are informed by the interactions and relationships with activities and products, and by their own personalities, past experiences and aspirations. Audrey is highly conscious of her self and of elsewhereness, hers are fragile, self-indulgent, tactile experiences which offer the freedom to step out of everyday life roles into other time and situational spheres where environment, objects and sensory stimulation are paramount. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]