Influence of a lifestyle intervention in preschool children on physiological and psychological parameters (Ballabeina): study design of a cluster randomized controlled trial.

Childhood obesity and physical inactivity are increasing dramatically worldwide. Children of low socioeconomic status and/or children of migrant background are especially at risk. In general, the overall effectiveness of school-based programs on health-related outcomes has been disappointing. A special gap exists for younger children and in high risk groups. This paper describes the rationale, design, curriculum, and evaluation of a multicenter preschool randomized intervention study conducted in areas with a high migrant population in two out of 26 Swiss cantons. Twenty preschool classes in the German (canton St. Gallen) and another 20 in the French (canton Vaud) part of Switzerland were separately selected and randomized to an intervention and a control arm by the use of opaque envelopes. The multidisciplinary lifestyle intervention aimed to increase physical activity and sleep duration, to reinforce healthy nutrition and eating behaviour, and to reduce media use. According to the ecological model, it included children, their parents and the teachers. The regular teachers performed the majority of the intervention and were supported by a local health promoter. The intervention included physical activity lessons, adaptation of the built infrastructure; promotion of regional extracurricular physical activity; playful lessons about nutrition, media use and sleep, funny homework cards and information materials for teachers and parents. It lasted one school year. Baseline and post-intervention evaluations were performed in both arms. Primary outcome measures included BMI and aerobic fitness (20 m shuttle run test). Secondary outcomes included total (skinfolds, bioelectrical impedance) and central (waist circumference) body fat, motor abilities (obstacle course, static and dynamic balance), physical activity and sleep duration (accelerometry and questionnaires), nutritional behaviour and food intake, media use, quality of life and signs of hyperactivity (questionnaires), attention and spatial working memory ability (two validated tests). Researchers were blinded to group allocation. The purpose of this paper is to outline the design of a school-based multicenter cluster randomized, controlled trial aiming to reduce body mass index and to increase aerobic fitness in preschool children in culturally different parts of Switzerland with a high migrant population. Trial Registration: (clinicaltrials.gov) NCT00674544.

DNA banking for plant breeding, biotechnology and biodiversity evaluation.

The manipulation of DNA is routine practice in botanical research and has made a huge impact on plant breeding, biotechnology and biodiversity evaluation. DNA is easy to extract from most plant tissues and can be stored for long periods in DNA banks. Curation methods are well developed for other botanical resources such as herbaria, seed banks and botanic gardens, but procedures for the establishment and maintenance of DNA banks have not been well documented. This paper reviews the curation of DNA banks for the characterisation and utilisation of biodiversity and provides guidelines for DNA bank management. It surveys existing DNA banks and outlines their operation. It includes a review of plant DNA collection, preservation, isolation, storage, database management and exchange procedures. We stress that DNA banks require full integration with existing collections such as botanic gardens, herbaria and seed banks, and information retrieval systems that link such facilities, bioinformatic resources and other DNA banks. They also require efficient and well-regulated sample exchange procedures. Only with appropriate curation will maximum utilisation of DNA collections be achieved.

Reply to Budowle, Ge, Chakraborty and Gill-King: use of prior odds for missing persons identifications

Prior probabilities represent a core element of the Bayesian probabilistic approach to relatedness testing. This letter opinions on the commentary 'Use of prior odds for missing persons identifications' by Budowle et al. (2011), published recently in this journal. Contrary to Budowle et al. (2011), we argue that the concept of prior probabilities (i) is not endowed with the notion of objectivity, (ii) is not a case for computation and (iii) does not require new guidelines edited by the forensic DNA community - as long as probability is properly considered as an expression of personal belief. Please see related article: http://www.investigativegenetics.com/content/3/1/3

Three essays in control, entrepreneurship and innovation

One of the key emphases of these three essays is to provide practical managerial insight. However, good practical insight, can only be created by grounding it firmly on theoretical and empirical research. Practical experience-based understanding without theoretical grounding remains tacit and cannot be easily disseminated. Theoretical understanding without links to real life remains sterile. My studies aim to increase the understanding of how radical innovation could be generated at large established firms and how it can have an impact on business performance as most businesses pursue innovation with one prime objective: value creation. My studies focus on large established firms with sales revenue exceeding USD $ 1 billion. Usually large established firms cannot rely on informal ways of management, as these firms tend to be multinational businesses operating with subsidiaries, offices, or production facilities in more than one country. I. Internal and External Determinants of Corporate Venture Capital Investment The goal of this chapter is to focus on CVC as one of the mechanisms available for established firms to source new ideas that can be exploited. We explore the internal and external determinants under which established firms engage in CVC to source new knowledge through investment in startups. We attempt to make scholars and managers aware of the forces that influence CVC activity by providing findings and insights to facilitate the strategic management of CVC. There are research opportunities to further understand the CVC phenomenon. Why do companies engage in CVC? What motivates them to continue "playing the game" and keep their active CVC investment status. The study examines CVC investment activity, and the importance of understanding the influential factors that make a firm decide to engage in CVC. The main question is: How do established firms' CVC programs adapt to changing internal conditions and external environments. Adaptation typically involves learning from exploratory endeavors, which enable companies to transform the ways they compete (Guth & Ginsberg, 1990). Our study extends the current stream of research on CVC. It aims to contribute to the literature by providing an extensive comparison of internal and external determinants leading to CVC investment activity. To our knowledge, this is the first study to examine the influence of internal and external determinants on CVC activity throughout specific expansion and contraction periods determined by structural breaks occurring between 1985 to 2008. Our econometric analysis indicates a strong and significant positive association between CVC activity and R&D, cash flow availability and environmental financial market conditions, as well as a significant negative association between sales growth and the decision to engage into CVC. The analysis of this study reveals that CVC investment is highly volatile, as demonstrated by dramatic fluctuations in CVC investment activity over the past decades. When analyzing the overall cyclical CVC period from 1985 to 2008 the results of our study suggest that CVC activity has a pattern influenced by financial factors such as the level of R&D, free cash flow, lack of sales growth, and external conditions of the economy, with the NASDAQ price index as the most significant variable influencing CVC during this period. II. Contribution of CVC and its Interaction with R&D to Value Creation The second essay takes into account the demands of corporate executives and shareholders regarding business performance and value creation justifications for investments in innovation. Billions of dollars are invested in CVC and R&D. However there is little evidence that CVC and its interaction with R&D create value. Firms operating in dynamic business sectors seek to innovate to create the value demanded by changing market conditions, consumer preferences, and competitive offerings. Consequently, firms operating in such business sectors put a premium on finding new, sustainable and competitive value propositions. CVC and R&D can help them in this challenge. Dushnitsky and Lenox (2006) presented evidence that CVC investment is associated with value creation. However, studies have shown that the most innovative firms do not necessarily benefit from innovation. For instance Oyon (2007) indicated that between 1995 and 2005 the most innovative automotive companies did not obtain adequate rewards for shareholders. The interaction between CVC and R&D has generated much debate in the CVC literature. Some researchers see them as substitutes suggesting that firms have to choose between CVC and R&D (Hellmann, 2002), while others expect them to be complementary (Chesbrough & Tucci, 2004). This study explores the interaction that CVC and R&D have on value creation. This essay examines the impact of CVC and R&D on value creation over sixteen years across six business sectors and different geographical regions. Our findings suggest that the effect of CVC and its interaction with R&D on value creation is positive and significant. In dynamic business sectors technologies rapidly relinquish obsolete, consequently firms operating in such business sectors need to continuously develop new sources of value creation (Eisenhardt & Martin, 2000; Qualls, Olshavsky, & Michaels, 1981). We conclude that in order to impact value creation, firms operating in business sectors such as Engineering & Business Services, and Information Communication & Technology ought to consider CVC as a vital element of their innovation strategy. Moreover, regarding the CVC and R&D interaction effect, our findings suggest that R&D and CVC are complementary to value creation hence firms in certain business sectors can be better off supporting both R&D and CVC simultaneously to increase the probability of generating value creation. III. MCS and Organizational Structures for Radical Innovation Incremental innovation is necessary for continuous improvement but it does not provide a sustainable permanent source of competitiveness (Cooper, 2003). On the other hand, radical innovation pursuing new technologies and new market frontiers can generate new platforms for growth providing firms with competitive advantages and high economic margin rents (Duchesneau et al., 1979; Markides & Geroski, 2005; O'Connor & DeMartino, 2006; Utterback, 1994). Interestingly, not all companies distinguish between incremental and radical innovation, and more importantly firms that manage innovation through a one-sizefits- all process can almost guarantee a sub-optimization of certain systems and resources (Davila et al., 2006). Moreover, we conducted research on the utilization of MCS along with radical innovation and flexible organizational structures as these have been associated with firm growth (Cooper, 2003; Davila & Foster, 2005, 2007; Markides & Geroski, 2005; O'Connor & DeMartino, 2006). Davila et al. (2009) identified research opportunities for innovation management and provided a list of pending issues: How do companies manage the process of radical and incremental innovation? What are the performance measures companies use to manage radical ideas and how do they select them? The fundamental objective of this paper is to address the following research question: What are the processes, MCS, and organizational structures for generating radical innovation? Moreover, in recent years, research on innovation management has been conducted mainly at either the firm level (Birkinshaw, Hamel, & Mol, 2008a) or at the project level examining appropriate management techniques associated with high levels of uncertainty (Burgelman & Sayles, 1988; Dougherty & Heller, 1994; Jelinek & Schoonhoven, 1993; Kanter, North, Bernstein, & Williamson, 1990; Leifer et al., 2000). Therefore, we embarked on a novel process-related research framework to observe the process stages, MCS, and organizational structures that can generate radical innovation. This article is based on a case study at Alcan Engineered Products, a division of a multinational company provider of lightweight material solutions. Our observations suggest that incremental and radical innovation should be managed through different processes, MCS and organizational structures that ought to be activated and adapted contingent to the type of innovation that is being pursued (i.e. incremental or radical innovation). More importantly, we conclude that radical can be generated in a systematic way through enablers such as processes, MCS, and organizational structures. This is in line with the findings of Jelinek and Schoonhoven (1993) and Davila et al. (2006; 2007) who show that innovative firms have institutionalized mechanisms, arguing that radical innovation cannot occur in an organic environment where flexibility and consensus are the main managerial mechanisms. They rather argue that radical innovation requires a clear organizational structure and formal MCS.

Short-term investment and equilibrium multiplicity

I study the effects of the heterogeneity of traders'horizon in the context of a 2-period NREE model whereall traders are risk averse. Owing to inventory effects,myopic trading behavior generates multiplicity ofequilibria. In particular, two distinct patterns arise.Along the first equilibrium, short term tradersanticipate higher second period price reaction toinformation arrival and, owing to risk aversion,scale back their trading intensity. This, in turn,reduces both risk sharing and information impoundinginto prices enforcing a high returns' volatility-lowprice informativeness equilibrium. In the second one,the opposite happens and a low volatility-high priceinformativeness equilibrium arises.

Setting standards: Information accumulation in development

We propose a model in which economic relations and institutions in advancedand less developed economies differ as these societies have access to different amounts of information. This lack of information makes it hard to give the right incentives to managers and entrepreneurs. We argue that differences in the amount of information arise because of the differences in the scale of activities in rich and poor economies; namely, there is too little repetition of similar activities in pooreconomies, thus insufficient information to set the appropriate standards for firm performance. Our model predicts a number of institutional and structural transformations as the economy accumulates capital and information.

Non-traumatic spinal cord ischaemia in childhood - clinical manifestation, neuroimaging and outcome.

BACKGROUND: Spinal cord ischaemia is rare in childhood and information on clinical presentation and outcome is scarce. METHODS: This is a retrospective analysis of eight patients and 75 additional cases from the literature. Data search included: patient's age, primary manifestation, risk factors, neuroimaging and outcome. RESULTS: Five female and three male patients gave consent to participate. Mean age was 12.5 years (10-15 years). Six patients presented with paraplegia; this was preceded by pain in four. Brown Sequard syndrome and quadriparesis were the two others' presenting condition. Sensation levels were thoracolumbar in seven cases. Bladder dysfunction only or bladder and bowel dysfunction were reported in eight and five patients respectively. Time to maximal symptom manifestation was <12 h in 7/8. Risk factors included surgery, minor trauma, recent infection, and thrombophilia. Mean follow-up was 3.3 years (0.25-6.3 years). Three patients remained wheelchair-dependent and three patients were ambulatory without aid. Bladder function recovered fully in five children. Most affected aspects of quality of life were physical and mental well-being and self-perception. T2-weighted-MR images showed pencil-like hyperintensity (8/8) in sagittal and H-shaped or snake-eyes-like lesion (6/8) in axial views. Analyses of all 83 patients were in congruence with the above results of the study group. CONCLUSION: Spinal cord ischaemia in childhood presenting with pain, paraplegia, and bladder dysfunction has high morbidity concerning motor problems and quality of life. Acute arterial ischaemic event in children seems similar to adult events with respect to clinical presentation and, surprisingly, also in outcome.

Site Development and Facility Expansion Regularly Assistance Program, November 1, 2006

The Iowa Department of Economic Development (IDED) helps businesses expand or locate all or part of their business in Iowa. It just makes sense for companies engaged in advanced manufacturing, biosciences and information solutions/financial services to look at Iowa and IDED helps to ensure theireconomic development timelines are met. Iowa is nationally recognized as an innovator in helping businesses by meeting their development needs in a timely and effective manner. IDED networks with Regulatory Assistance Coordinators in agencies across state government to reduce response time to businesses. This agency coordination helps to ensure that regulatory and compliance questions, or other needs associated with project site development and facility expansion are serviced quickly. We have listed information below about some of the more common regulatory requirements related to site development and expansion.

Geoheritage popularisation and cartographic visualisation in the Tsanfleuron-Sanetsch area (Valais, Switzerland)

This paper presents the underlying concepts developed by the Institute of Geography of the University of Lausanne (Switzerland) for a popularisation project of the geoheritage in the Tsanfleuron-Sanetsch area (Valais, Switzerland). Due to its wide scientific interest, the local geoheritage is of great value (Reynard, 2008). The article details the complementary links existing between the different parts of a geotourist project - databases, educational panels, educational material and geotourist map - developed for popularising the geoheritage value of the area. Each element of the project is briefly presented. Special focus is set on mapping questions: how cartographic design and information structure can be set in order to facilitate map's use and comprehension. In this way, the Tsanfleuron-Sanetsch map is presented as an applied example of the guiding principles proposed by Coratza and Regolini-Bissig (2009).

Informe de la 65 IFLA Council and General Conference (Bangkok, agost de 1999)

Bangkok fou enguany la seu del 65è congrés de l'IFLA que se celebrà entre els dies 20 i 28 d'agost sota el lema «Libraries as gateways to an enlightened world». Hi estigueren representats 117 països, amb un total de 2.237 participants ¿inclosos els acompanyants¿; hi tingueren lloc un total de 280 reunions i, fins a la cloenda, s'havien rebut 311 treballs ¿que s'han publicat a IFLANET.

Risk of cardiovascular events and blood pressure control in hypertensive HIV-infected patients: Swiss HIV Cohort Study (SHCS).

BACKGROUND: Prevalence of hypertension in HIV infection is high, and information on blood pressure control in HIV-infected individuals is insufficient. We modeled blood pressure over time and the risk of cardiovascular events in hypertensive HIV-infected individuals. METHODS: All patients from the Swiss HIV Cohort Study with confirmed hypertension (systolic or diastolic blood pressure above 139 or 89 mm Hg on 2 consecutive visits and presence of at least 1 additional cardiovascular risk factor) between April 1, 2000 and March 31, 2011 were included. Patients with previous cardiovascular events, already on antihypertensive drugs, and pregnant women were excluded. Change in blood pressure over time was modeled using linear mixed models with repeated measurement. RESULTS: Hypertension was diagnosed in 2595 of 10,361 eligible patients. Of those, 869 initiated antihypertensive treatment. For patients treated for hypertension, we found a mean (95% confidence interval) decrease in systolic and diastolic blood pressure of -0.82 (-1.06 to -0.58) mm Hg and -0.89 (-1.05 to -0.73) mm Hg/yr, respectively. Factors associated with a decline in systolic blood pressure were baseline blood pressure, presence of chronic kidney disease, cardiovascular events, and the typical risk factors for cardiovascular disease. In patients with hypertension, increase in systolic blood pressure [(hazard ratio 1.18 (1.06 to 1.32) per 10 mm Hg increase], total cholesterol, smoking, age, and cumulative exposure to protease inhibitor-based and triple nucleoside regimens were associated with cardiovascular events. CONCLUSIONS: Insufficient control of hypertension was associated with increased risk of cardiovascular events indicating the need for improved management of hypertension in HIV-infected individuals.

Site Development and Facility Expansion Regulatory Assistance Program, 2001

The Iowa Department of Economic Development (IDED) helps businesses expand or locate all or part of their business in Iowa. It just makes sense for companies engaged in advanced manufacturing, biosciences and information solutions/financial services to look at Iowa and IDED helps to ensure their economic development timelines are met. Iowa is nationally recognized as an innovator in helping businesses by meeting their development needs in a timely and effective manner. IDED networks with Regulatory Assistance Coordinators in agencies across state government to reduce response time to businesses. This agency coordination helps to ensure that regulatory and compliance questions, or other needs associated with project site development and facility expansion are serviced quickly. We have listed information below about some of the more common regulatory requirements related to site development and expansion.