Screening for abdominal aortic aneurysm

The official published version can be found at the link below

The historical foundations of the narcotic drug control regime

This paper outlines the institutional history of the international narcotic drug control regime. It details the evolution of the control system, from its foundations at the beginning of the twentieth century - a period of mass, unregulated narcotic drug use - to the current period. The paper argues that the contemporary control model is ill-positioned to address the dynamic and rapidly changing nature of the global narcotics trade. The persistence of anachronistic guiding first principles, specifically the utopian idea of prohibition, is identified as the key impediment to the adoption of a more humane and effective policy approach. But while there is growing pressure for a revision of founding ideas, this is not supported by a host of powerful actors that includes the United States.Crime and Society,Post Conflict Reconstruction,Alcohol and Substance Abuse,Pharmaceuticals&Pharmacoeconomics,Pharmaceuticals Industry

Global IDEA

Five members of the Global IDEA Scientific Advisory Committee respond to Dr. Moore and colleagues: Global IDEA Scientific Advisory Committee. Health and economic benefits of an accelerated program of research to combat global infectious diseases

Economic evaluation of ondansetron: Preliminary analysis using clinical trial data prior to price setting

This article has been made available through the Brunel Open Access Publishing Fund and is available from the specified link - Copyright © 1992 Macmillan Press Ltd.This study combines secondary analysis of efficacy and side-effect data from a randomised controlled trial with estimates of resource use to evaluate the likely economic effects of the new antiemetic agent ondansetron. Costs, effects and cost-effectiveness of ondansetron in the prophylaxis of acute nausea and vomiting induced by chemotherapy are assessed relative to antiemetic therapy with metoclopramide. Superior efficacy of ondansetron is quantified both in terms of significant emesis avoided and emesis management costs avoided. A simple cost analysis, with the metoclopramide dosage priced at 10 pounds, indicates that therapy with ondansetron would give equivalent net treatment costs, at a price ratio (ondansetron/metoclopramide) of 2.3 to 1. If therapeutic success is defined as the avoidance of emesis and antiemetic side-effects, then the two therapies would be equally cost-effective at a drug price ratio of 5 to 1. We conclude that, (i) economic evaluation prior to price setting is feasible and informative; (ii) such models can indicate prospective data collection priorities

Genetic programming for mining DNA chip data from cancer patients

In machine learning terms DNA (gene) chip data is unusual in having thousands of attributes (the gene expression values) but few (<100) records (the patients). A GP based method for both feature selection and generating simple models based on a few genes is demonstrated on cancer data

Possible Optical/Infrared Jet Emission in 4U 1543-47

We have taken optical and infrared observations during the 2002 outburst of the soft X-ray transient, 4U 1543-47. A secondary maximum occurs in the lightcurves during the outburst decline. This feature is much stronger at infrared wavelengths than optical. We have applied single blackbody, multicolor blackbody and broken-power law models to the optical/infrared spectral energy distribution of the secondary maximum and find that the broken power-law provides the best fit. We therefore conclude that the secondary maximum emission originates from a jet. We also show the most recent lightcurves of the 2002/2003 outburst of GX 339-4 in which a secondary maximum appears. This leads us to the conclusion that secondary maxima may be a common occurrence in soft X-ray transients during outburst decline which appear after the object transitions into the low-hard state. Infrared observations of such phenomena will give reliable triggers for multiwavelength observations, allowing us to greatly improve our knowledge of jet formation and behavior, and how this relates to the accretion geometry.Comment: 4 pages, to appear in ``X-Ray Timing 2003: Rossi and Beyond'' conference proceedings, references now visibl

Advancing the REVOLUTION: Using Earth Systems Science to Prepare Elementary School Teachers in an Urban Environment

This article describes an Earth Systems approach that was developed to prepare preservice elementary school teachers in understanding science content and pedagogy with emphases in technology and mathematics. This approach, developed at the University of New Orleans, uses Lake Ponchartrain as the unifying theme for four courses in which students learn both scientific content and process. The authors note that many children decide if they like or dislike science by middle school and that improvements in science teaching in the middle grades are imperative, and that improving elementary science education is especially important in regions where significant portions of the student body are from groups traditionally under-represented in science. Surveying and field-testing results suggest that participants in these classes are likely to apply this approach to science teaching in their own classrooms. Educational levels: Graduate or professional

THE DAIRY INDUSTRY IN TRANSITION

Livestock Production/Industries,

A FRAMEWORK FOR EVALUATING THE ECONOMIC IMPACT OF CLASSIFIED PRICING OF MILK

The objective of this paper is to analyze the effects of increasing, decreasing, or having no-minimum Class I differentials on regional fluid milk consumption, milk production, prices received by farmers, and the U.S. manufacturing milk price.Demand and Price Analysis,