Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013

This factsheet was last updated in August 2013. Background to the Act The Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Bill was introduced to Parliament in May 2012 and, following various amendments, received Royal Assent on 25 April 2013. In early June 2013, the Government issued an indicative timetable of commencement dates for the various sections of the Act. While some of the changes have come into force or had definite implementation dates announced, for other there is no definite date. The Act is broad ranging. Although this factsheet focuses specifically on employment related issues it is important to note that the Act also makes other provisions: Login or register for a free account to continue reading this factsheet and to learn about: •Background to the Act •Employment provisions of the Act •Action points for employers •CIPD viewpoint •Useful contacts •References •Further reading

Use of medications with anticholinergic activity and self-reported injurious falls in older community-dwelling adults

Objectives: To assess the association between the use of medications with anticholinergic activity and the subsequent risk of injurious falls in older adults. Design: Prospective, population-based study using data from The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing. Setting: Irish population. Participants: Community-dwelling men and women without dementia aged 65 and older (N = 2,696). Measurements: Self-reported injurious falls reported once approximately 2 years after baseline interview. Self-reported regular medication use at baseline interview. Pharmacy dispensing records from the Irish Health Service Executive Primary Care Reimbursement Service in a subset (n = 1,553). Results: Nine percent of men and 17% of women reported injurious falls. In men, the use of medications with definite anticholinergic activity was associated with greater risk of subsequent injurious falls (adjusted relative risk (aRR) = 2.55, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.33-4.88), but the risk of having any fall and the number of falls reported were not significantly greater. Greater anticholinergic burden was associated with greater injurious falls risk. No associations were observed for women. Findings were similar using pharmacy dispensing records. The aRR for medications with definite anticholinergic activity dispensed in the month before baseline and subsequent injurious falls in men was 2.53 (95% CI = 1.15-5.54). Conclusion: The regular use of medications with anticholinergic activity is associated with subsequent injurious falls in older men, although falls were self-reported after a 2-year recall and so may have been underreported. Further research is required to validate this finding in men and to consider the effect of duration and dose of anticholinergic medications.

Some Marginal Densities of the Wishart Distribution

Евелина Илиева Велева - Разпределението на Уишарт се среща в практиката като разпределението на извадъчната ковариационна матрица за наблюдения над многомерно нормално разпределение. Изведени са някои маргинални плътности, получени чрез интегриране на плътността на Уишарт разпределението. Доказани са необходими и достатъчни условия за положителна определеност на една матрица, които дават нужните граници за интегрирането.

A solution of the trigonometric moment problem via Tagamlitzki's "Theorem of the Cones"

In 1952 Y. Tagamlitzki gave an elegant proof of the classical Bochner’s theorem on the positively definite functions. Unfortunately, he never published his proof. In this paper we consider a related but simpler problem, the trigonometric moment problem, by using Tagamlitzki’s approach.

Marginal Densities of the Wishart Distribution

2010 Mathematics Subject Classification: 62H10.

On some Extremal Problems of Landau

2000 Mathematics Subject Classification: Primary: 42A05. Secondary: 42A82, 11N05.

Global Waves with Non-Positive Energy in General Relativity

2000 Mathematics Subject Classification: 35Lxx, 35Pxx, 81Uxx, 83Cxx.

Dynamical Resonances and SSF Singularities for a Magnetic Schrödinger Operator

We consider the Hamiltonian H of a 3D spinless non-relativistic quantum particle subject to parallel constant magnetic and non-constant electric field. The operator H has infinitely many eigenvalues of infinite multiplicity embedded in its continuous spectrum. We perturb H by appropriate scalar potentials V and investigate the transformation of these embedded eigenvalues into resonances. First, we assume that the electric potentials are dilation-analytic with respect to the variable along the magnetic field, and obtain an asymptotic expansion of the resonances as the coupling constant ϰ of the perturbation tends to zero. Further, under the assumption that the Fermi Golden Rule holds true, we deduce estimates for the time evolution of the resonance states with and without analyticity assumptions; in the second case we obtain these results as a corollary of suitable Mourre estimates and a recent article of Cattaneo, Graf and Hunziker [11]. Next, we describe sets of perturbations V for which the Fermi Golden Rule is valid at each embedded eigenvalue of H; these sets turn out to be dense in various suitable topologies. Finally, we assume that V decays fast enough at infinity and is of definite sign, introduce the Krein spectral shift function for the operator pair (H+V, H), and study its singularities at the energies which coincide with eigenvalues of infinite multiplicity of the unperturbed operator H.

On Majorization for Matrices

In this paper, we give several results for majorized matrices by using continuous convex function and Green function. We obtain mean value theorems for majorized matrices and also give corresponding Cauchy means, as well as prove that these means are monotonic. We prove positive semi-definiteness of matrices generated by differences deduced from majorized matrices which implies exponential convexity and log-convexity of these differences and also obtain Lypunov's and Dresher's type inequalities for these differences.

Integral Representations of Functional Series with Members Containing Jacobi Polynomials

MSC 2010: Primary 33C45, 40A30; Secondary 26D07, 40C10

Is it safe to increase diabetic retinopathy screening intervals in patients with no background diabetic retinopathy?

Introduction. A 4 year retrospective follow up of 996 patients who pre-sented with no DR and 500 with background DR at baseline digital DR screening in 2006. Purpose. To evaluate the safety of increasing screening intervals in patients with no diabetic retinopathy (DR) or with background DR.Methods. A 4 year retrospective follow up of 996 patients who presented with no DR and 500 with background DR at baseline digital DR screening in 2006.results. Background DR Group: Of the 500 subjects that had back-ground DR in 2006, 231 were referred for DR, with an average DR routine referral rate of 12% (46 subjects) per year. nodrgrouP. Of the 996 patients who had no DR at baseline, 51 were referred over the 4 years for sight threatening DR (STDR), of these 45 patients have definite STDR confirmed by ophthalmological examination. 78% of these had type 2 diabetes and mean age at referral was 60 years (25-87). Mean diabetes duration was 10.7 years (3-32), with a mean HbA1c of 7.8% (5.7-11.3%). Eight patients (0.9%) were referred in the first year, 9 (0.9%) in the second year, 19 (1.9%) in the third year and 15 (1.5%) in the fourth year. 86% of referrals were for maculopathy, and all had observable retinopathy and none required ophthalmology clinic assessment or laser treatment.If biannual screening was adopted for patients with no DR at baseline, allowing for patients who subsequently develop background DR and would then revert to annual screening, a total of 7 (0.7%) patients would not have been appropriately referred for STDR and would have waited a further year for identification. None of the 51 referrals across the 4 years required laser treatment apart from just one patient who developed PDR in year 4 (2010) and had background since 2007.conclusIons. It could be recommended that it is safe to screen pa-tients with no DR biannually due to the low risk of developing STDR. However, patients who present with background DR should continue to be screened annually as there is a significant proportion developing STDR and would not be identified at an appropriate screening interval.

The tuberous sclerosis 2000 study:presentation initial assessments and implications for diagnosis and management

Aims: The Tuberous Sclerosis 2000 Study is the first comprehensive longitudinal study of tuberous sclerosis (TS) and aims to identify factors that determine prognosis. Mode of presentation and findings at initial assessments are reported here. Methods: Children aged 0-16 years newly diagnosed with TS in the UK were evaluated. Results: 125 children with TS were studied. 114 (91%) met clinical criteria for a definite diagnosis and the remaining 11 (9%) had pathogenic TSC1 or TSC2 mutations. In families with a definite clinical diagnosis, the detection rate for pathogenic mutations was 89%. 21 cases (17%) were identified prenatally, usually with abnormalities found at routine antenatal ultrasound examination. 30 cases (24%) presented before developing seizures and in 10 of these without a definite diagnosis at onset of seizures, genetic testing could have confirmed TS. 77 cases (62%) presented with seizures. Median age at recruitment assessment was 2.7 years (range:4 weeks-18 years). Dermatological features of TS were present in 81%. The detection rate of TS abnormalities was 20/107 (19%) for renal ultrasound including three cases with polycystic kidney disease, 51/88 (58%) for echocardiography, 29/35 (83%) for cranial CT and 95/104 (91%) for cranial MRI. 91% of cases had epilepsy and 65% had intellectual disability (IQ<70). Conclusions: Genetic testing can be valuable in confirming the diagnosis. Increasing numbers of cases present prenatally or in early infancy, before onset of seizures, raising important questions about whether these children should have EEG monitoring and concerning the criteria for starting anticonvulsant therapy.

Anticholinergic burden in older adults with intellectual disability; relationships with multimorbidity and adverse effects

Background: Anticholinergic medications may be associated with adverse clinical outcomes, including acute impairments in cognition and anticholinergic side effects, the risk of adverse outcomes increasing with increasing anticholinergic exposure. Older people with intellectual disability may be at increased risk of exposure to anticholinergic medicines due to their higher prevalence of comorbidities. We sought to determine anticholinergic burden in ageing people with intellectual disability. Methods: Medication data (self-report/proxy-report) was drawn from Wave 1 of the Intellectual Disability Supplement to the Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (IDS-TILDA), a study on the ageing of 753nationally representative people with an IDC40 years randomly selected from the National Intellectual Disability Database. Each individual’s cumulative exposure to anticholinergic medications was calculated using the Anticholinergic Cognitive Burden Scale (ACB) amended by a multi-disciplinary group with independent advice to account for the range of medicines in use in this population. Results: Overall, 70.1 % (527) reported taking medications with possible or definite anticholinergic properties (ACBC1), with a mean (±SD) ACB score of 4.5 (±3.0) (maximum 16). Of those reporting anticholinergic exposure (n=527), 41.3 % (217) reported an ACB score o fC5. Antipsychotics accounted for 36.4 % of the total cumulative ACB score followed by anticholinergics (16 %) and antidepressants (10.8 %). The most frequently reported medicine with anticholinergic activity was carbamazepine 16.8 % (127). The most frequently reported medicine with high anticholinergic activity (ACB 3) was olanzapine13.4 % (101). There was a significant association between higher anti-cholinergic exposure and multimorbidity, particularly mental health morbidity, and some anticholinergic adverse effects such as constipation and day-time drowsiness but not self-rated health. Conclusion: Using simple cumulative measures proved an effective means to capture total burden and helped establish that anticholinergic exposure in the study population was high. The finding highlights the need for comprehensive reviews of medications.

A kereskedelmi láncok CSR-tevékenysége – a versenyképességük fokozása (CSR activities of commercial chains – increasing their competitiveness)

A kereskedelmi láncok különböző stratégiákat választhatnak, illetve alkalmazhatnak a társadalmi, gazdasági és környezeti kihívások kezelésére, a társadalmi normákhoz és elvárásokhoz való igazodáshoz. A tanulmányban a szerző azt vizsgálja, hogy milyen összefüggés van a társadalmi felelősségvállalásuk és a versenyképességük között, s a felelős magatartásuk javítja-e versenypozíciójukat. Bemutatja, hogy hazai viszonylatban a nagyobb forgalmat lebonyolító kereskedelmi láncok milyen CSR-tevékenységet végeznek, ez beépült-e hosszabb távú üzleti stratégiájukba, és mennyiben járul/járulhat hozzá versenyképességük fokozásához. Elemzi több kereskedelmi láncnál, hogy miképpen sikerült összeegyeztetni társadalmi felelősségvállalásukat a profitérdekeltségükkel, továbbá megteremthető-e a felelős működésük és a költséghatékony gazdálkodásuk összhangja. Többek között rámutat arra, hogy a gazdasági és külső szociális felelősségvállalásuk, továbbá a versenyképességük közötti pozitív korreláció megkérdőjelezhetetlen, ami win-win szituációt alakít ki. ______ Commercial companies can embark on and apply different strategies to tackle social, economic and environmental challenges and to comply with the standards and expectations of the community. In the study the author analyses the relationship between corporate social responsibility activities and competitiveness, and whether or not the responsible attitude of these companies improves their competitive position. She outlines the CSR activities of high turnover commercial chains in Hungary, examining their incorporation into the company’s longer term business strategy, and how these activities may contribute to their enhanced competitiveness. She will analyse several commercial chains from the point of view of their success in harmonizing their CSR with their profit making, and whether they can create the harmony of an environmentally friendly attitude and cost-effective operations. Among other findings, the author concludes that there is an unquestionable correlation between corporate economic and outside social responsibility and profitability, which creates a definite win-win situation.

The Latin American Perspective in Dade County Schools: An Initial Curricular and Teacher Survey (Dialogue #65)

This paper analyzes the knowledge about Latin America that is present in the newly required 9th grade World History Course in Dade County Public Schools. Nine recommended World History textbooks are examined in terms of their Latin American content. Also, the results of a survey questionnaire dealing with knowledge and perceptions of Latin America, which was distributed to various World History and general teachers, are discussed. The findings of this research effort while tentative, seem to indicate that there is a definite need to upgrade the Latin American knowledge base both in textbook content and among teachers. Few of the texts are considered adequate in their treatment of Latin America. Some, especially those for below average readers, present a slanted, even distorted picture of Latin American reality. While World History teachers appear to be more knowledgeable about Latin America than teachers in general, lack of knowledge and stereotyping are clearly manifested in certain persisting beliefs about the region. While this is a narrow research effort, it explores the intriguing notion that what is often considered legitimate knowledge in our classrooms can in fact be quite inadequate. The concluding section of the paper focuses on whether academic excellence is possible when there are distortions and lacunae in our classroom knowledge base.