Organic Livestock: Animal Health, Welfare and Husbandry Assessment of existing knowledge and production of an advisory resource compendium(OF0162)

1. A compendium of animal health and welfare information relevant to organic livestock production has been produced by the Organic Livestock Research Group (OLRG), Veterinary Epidemiology and Economics Research Unit (VEERU), Department of Agriculture, the University of Reading. The compendium is supported by full scientific abstracts taken from the CAB International information database. 2. The objective of the project was to: - Create a database and archive of information on animal health, welfare and husbandry relevant to livestock production under organic standards; - Assess the database and its relevance to organic livestock production; - Develop a series of compendia of advisory resource materials on CD-ROM and in printed format, in consultation with relevant sector bodies, the veterinary profession and organic livestock producers. 3. The compendium has been produced in a CD ROM format and is internet accessible (http://www.organic-vet.reading.ac.uk/). The compendium has been reviewed by specialist veterinarians, advisors and farmers. For copyright purposes, the internet accessible version has been produced without scientific abstracts 4. The aim of the compendia is to serve as a resource material for advisors, inspectors and veterinarians who work with organic or converting farmers in the UK. It is also envisaged that the compendia could be used as a training tool for advisors and veterinarians learning about the issues related to general and specific animal health and welfare aspects of organic livestock production. In addition, the material will provide a useful resource material for the sector bodies and policymakers in the development of organic livestock production standards and regulations. 5. Each compendium is divided into four sub-compendia: Cattle, Sheep, Pigs and Poultry. Each is further divided into two sections. An introductory section, Health and Welfare, outlines general health and welfare issues related to the specific organic production system. Emphasis is placed on the requirements of organic standards in the approach to health and welfare problems. A second section, accessible via the Disease Index, deals in detail with the specific conditions affecting the species in question. Each disease is indexed alphabetically, and by the veterinary and common terms normally applied. 6. The Disease Section describes a range of specific condition is divided further into sub-sections on causes, symptoms, treatment, control, prevention, welfare implications, good practice based on current knowledge and guidelines for the conversion period. The poultry compendium does not contain a sub-section on the conversion period as there is little technical information available to support this. 7. In total, the compendium covers 45 cattle, 44 sheep, 32 poultry and 27 pig diseases and conditions. 8. Each section is supported throughout by references to scientific literature and other publications. These references can be accessed directly from the text by using text links to scientific abstracts, scanned-in advisory materials and reference or reading lists. 9. The compendium has Help and Search facilities. 10. At the time of publication. the compendium contains over 1700 scientific references and more than 50 full advisory documents. It is intended that this particular feature of the compendia will prove useful when in-depth information is sought, or the compendia are used as a training tool. 11. It should be emphasised that the compendium is not intended as a diagnostic or self-help tool for animal health management on the farm. For this reason, diagnostics are not covered in any depth, and the treatment sections usually only suggest potential treatment categories and discuss the urgency and need for treatment from an animal welfare perspective. The authors wish it to be known that diagnosis should always be carried out by a veterinary surgeon, in response to problems seen on a farm. 12. The compendium have been reviewed by members of the advisory team at the Organic Advisory Service on Elm Farm Research Centre in Berkshire, by specialist veterinarians and by organic farmers. 13. In light of the rapid developments within organic farming and research, it is proposed that the information contained within the compendium will require frequent updating, probably on an annual basis. A proposal for the maintenance and expansion of the compendium has been included within the final proposal. The main component of this proposal is the development of a “stakeholder club” of interested parties, whose function would be to raise financial support, to supply technical information and to provide a practical link to the organic farming, advisory and administrative sectors

Northern Periphery Programme Preparatory Project - Arctic Collaboration Mechanism

This final report of the ‘Northern Periphery Programme Preparatory Project – Arctic Collaboration Mechanism’ details project progress and results to date and sets out the final steps for the project. The report draws on a synthesis of past project outputs and new research and consultation. The overall aims of the project are to consider the need for improved collaboration across regional economic development programmes in the Arctic and High North, and how a collaboration mechanism can be optimally structured and delivered

Proposal and evaluation of online medical services expansion mode for specialties: a patient perceived value perspective

There is a great imbalance and difference in the distribution of Chinese medical resources in urban and rural areas, as most medical resources are concentrated in urban areas. Against the backdrop of China’s promotion of "Internet + medical healthcare", medical institutions are encouraged to apply Internet and other information technologies to expand the space and content of medical services, but patients in remote places lack independent choice of consultation platform. Based on the theory of Maslow's hierarchy of needs, customer perception theory, Synergy theory, TAM and ACSIM, the model building of remote patients' perceived value satisfaction with online medical services for specialties is hypothesized. Take F hospital as the subject, The research provides an empirical research on the process rebuilding and redesigning specialized online health services based on the perceived value of remote patients. To obtain the perceived value needs of remote patients’ visits, this study carries out questionnaire survey to understand the main needs of remote patients visiting. The results show that: social contact and respect value need > safety and survival value need > self-value need > cost losses value. Meanwhile, the preliminary evaluation indicators of patients' perceived value are derived based on the results of the questionnaire. The research is mainly to verify the effect of the implementation of the Internet-based specialized medical partnership medical service access model for remote patients. The post-test questionnaire is designed to understand the overall level of remote patients’ perceived value of online medical services, including the level of perceived ease of use, the level of perceived usefulness, the level of perceived value, the level of satisfaction, and the level of synergy. Among them, the perceived usefulness scores the highest, It is found that the cost of the new model in terms of time, distance, expense, and energy has been significantly reduced. The research, through building the SEM model, tests the path relationships of relevant dimensions and mediating effect of the model of remote patients’ perceived value satisfaction with online medical services for specialties.Verifica-se um grande desequilíbrio na distribuição dos recursos médicos chineses nas áreas urbanas e rurais, visto que a maioria dos recursos médicos está concentrada nas áreas urbanas. No contexto da promoção chinesa de "Internet + saúde médica", as instituições médicas são incentivadas a recorrer à Internet e a outras tecnologias de informação para expandir o espaço e o conteúdo dos serviços médicos, mas os pacientes em lugares remotos não têm escolha independente da plataforma de consulta. Com base na teoria da hierarquia de necessidades de Maslow, teoria da perceção do cliente, teoria da sinergia, TAM e ACSIM, realizou-se a construção do modelo de satisfação do valor percebido de pacientes remotos, com serviços médicos online para especialidades. Considerou-se o hospital F como caso de estudo. A investigação fornece uma pesquisa empírica sobre o processo de reconstrução e redesenho de serviços de saúde online especializados, com base no valor percebido de pacientes remotos. Para obter as necessidades de valor percebido das visitas de pacientes remotos, neste estudo realizou-se uma pesquisa por questionário para entender as principais necessidades das visitas de pacientes remotos. Os resultados mostram que: contato social e respeito valor necessidade e > segurança e valor de sobrevivência necessidade > necessidade de valor próprio > valor de perdas de custo. Enquanto isso, os indicadores de avaliação preliminar do valor percebido dos pacientes são derivados com base nos resultados do questionário. O objetivo principal do presente trabalho é verificar o efeito da implementação do modelo de acesso a serviços médicos especializados, baseada na Internet para pacientes remotos. O questionário pós-teste foi projetado para compreender o nível geral de valor percebido de pacientes remotos de serviços médicos online, incluindo o nível de facilidade de uso percebida, o nível de utilidade percebida, o nível de valor percebido, o nível de satisfação e o nível de sinergia. Entre eles, a utilidade percebida pontua mais alto. Verifica-se que o custo do novo modelo em termos de tempo, distância, despesa e energia foi reduzido significativamente. Por meio da construção do modelo SEM, testaram-se as relações do caminho de dimensões relevantes, e o efeito mediador do modelo de satisfação de valor percebido de pacientes remotos, com serviços médicos online para especialidades

WoundsWest: delivering comprehensive strategies to improve wound management in Western Australian Health Services

It is well known that prudent, supported, early discharge of patients back to their home environment facilitates recuperation, rehabilitation or palliation. Patients with wounds are no exception to this.The provision of effective ambulatory wound care is gaining increasing attention and importance worldwide as health services seek to provide efficient and effective services to growing numbers of patients with wounds, often under burgeoning fiscal constraints. The lack of, or poor utilisation of, evidence-based clinical practice guidelines and protocols for wound care and inequities in terms of access to resources, whether wound dressings or education, are causal factors leading to inconsistencies in the clinical management of wounds that contribute to less than optimal outcomes for patients with wounds.Health services and health managers' ability to strategically plan and rationalise wound management services is often further hindered by a lack of data on the epidemiology and potential burden of acute or chronic wounds within and on local or state health services. Furthermore, where there is an absence of clinical governance in relation to wounds, these wounds are not subject to the same scrutiny as other medical conditions and, therefore, opportunities to improve service delivery in relation to wound management are missed.This article describes a tripartite and multidimensional approach to providing West Australian public health services and employees with a sustainable system for the prediction, prevention and management of wounds. WoundsWest (WW), a partnership between WA Department of Health (WA Health), Silver Chain Nursing Association (Silver Chain) and Curtin University of Technology (Curtin University) is a novel, 6-year project and a first for Australia. WW aims to facilitate clinical governance of wounds within health services, enhance clinicians? knowledge, skill and competence in wound management, improve clinical outcomes for patients with wounds and increase health services' ability to decrease the burden of wounds in Western Australian public hospitals.In order to achieve these aims, WW established a number of subprojects to ascertain the prevalence of wounds within WA public hospitals, improve access to educational resources for wounds, improve access to expertise in wound management and provide a repository for wound-related data for the purpose of ongoing research

The practice of telemedicine and challenges to the regulatory authorities

The practice of telemedicine is viewed as a possible solution to the human resources crisis in health care in South Africa and internationally. Reports on its successful implementation and combating of health-related problems are readily available from both developed and developing countries. Even though these reports indicate that telemedicine seems to have addressed the problem related to the shortage of health care personnel, it is still posing a challenge to regulatory authorities such as the Health Professions Council of South Africa. The regulatory authorities are there to ensure that quality health care service is delivered and that the patient will be protected from possible mismanagement by the health care practitioners involved. Misconduct can occur through improper clinical care or excessive billing. Policies and guidelines from both developing and developed countries were reviewed to highlight how telemedicine is regulated elsewhere. The focus was on the ethical implications of telemedicine practice. Telemedicine has proved itself to be a possible solution to the human resources crisis, especially in developing countries or where there are vast rural communities. Success of telemedicine has been reported in a number of developed and developing countries as a way of alleviating the human resources crisis and providing quality health care to needy communities

A Review on Provisioning Quality of Service of Wireless Telemedicine for E-Health Services

In general, on-line medical consultation reduces time required for medical consultation induces improvement in the quality and efficiency of healthcare services. All major types of current e-health applications such as ECG, X-ray, video, diagnosis images and other common applications have been included in the scope of the study. In addition, the provision of Quality of Service (QoS) for the application of specific healthcare services in e-health, the scheme of priority for e-health services and the support of QoS in wireless networks and techniques or methods for IEEE 802.11 to guarantee the provision of QoS has also been assessed. In e-health, medical services in remote locations such as rural healthcare centers, ambulances, ships as well as home healthcare services can be supported through the applications of e-health services such as medical databases, electronic health records and the routing of text, audio, video and images. Given this, an adaptive resource allocation for a wireless network with multiple service types and multiple priorities have been proposed. For the provision of an acceptable QoS level to users of e-health services, prioritization is an important criterion in a multi-traffic network. The requirement for QoS provisioning in wireless broadband medical networks have paved the pathway for bandwidth requirements and the real-time or live transmission of medical applications. From the study, good performance of the proposed scheme has been validated by the results obtained. The proposed wireless network is capable of handling medical applications for both normal and life-threatening conditions as characterized by the level of emergencies. In addition, the bandwidth allocation and admission control algorithm for IEEE 802.16- based design specifically for wireless telemedicine/e-health services have also been presented in the study. It has been concluded that under busy traffic conditions, the proposed architecture can used as a feasible and reliable infrastructure network for telemedicine