The Chinese Value Survey : an interpretation of value scales and consideration of some preliminary results.

The Chinese Value Survey (CVS) was developed by Bond and his colleagues as a complement to survey instruments constructed by research workers such as Rokeach (1973) and Schwartz (1992). It was designed to be used with people living in geographical regions where Eastern life values are pre-eminent. Preliminary studies have been carried out using this instrument with university students from ethnically Chinese backgrounds studying in three Australian universities. Data were examined using principal components analysis rotated to orthogonal structure. Initial results indicate that of the 40 values measured, 39 neatly form four factors, which are renamed to suit their content. This analysis makes interpretation of the values held by students from an ethnically Chinese background more accessible. [Author abstract

The relationship between values and learning

Values are seen as antecedents of behaviour. The study reported has assumed that values have a direct influence on learning behaviour. Values that guide students' lives in their home countries are argued to influence the ways in which learning takes place in other countries. Ethnically Chinese students in Australia are the subjects of the study. Values have been measured on five occasions using the Chinese Value Survey (CVS). Approaches to study have also been measured on five occasions using the Study Process Questionnaire (SPQ). This paper considers the results of canonical correlation analysis using the four value scales of the CVS and the six SPQ scales. A strong first canonical factor is found in which a weighted combination of values is related to a weighted combination of learning motivations and strategies. The second pair of canonical factors relates low integrity values with a surface learning strategy. The third pair of canonical factors involves low Confucian values and a high deep learning strategy. The second and third canonical factors suggest that for some students their values and approaches to learning are changing during their period of study in Australia. This possible change in values and learning approaches warrants further investigation. [Author abstract, ed

Emerging Public International Banking Law? Lessons from the Law of the Sea Experience

During the twentieth century, the law of the sea had been criticized as having a democratic deficit because the customary standards articulated in treaty-based codifications deprived modern and newer nation-states from participating in the standard-setting process.4 Some might suggest that therefore the law of the sea does not provide the best example for modern global normative processes. This Article does not opine on the merits of the democratic deficit debate regarding the law of the sea. This Article instead asserts that the modern global normative process in the financial sector area composed of the G20 and its observers (the international regulatory standard-setters) make irrelevant the democratic deficit argument raised by law of the sea critics because all relevant standard-setters are global in their constituency. The Article focuses on the process of developing global international law frameworks and, for this purpose, the law of the sea discipline is both helpful and instructive

The relationship between deprivation and frailty trajectories over 1 year and at the end of life: A case-control study

Background: We investigated the association between area-level, multi-domain deprivation and frailty trajectories in the last year of life and over 1 year in a matched non-end-of-life sample. Methods: A 1-year longitudinal case-control study using primary care electronic health records from 20 460 people age ≥ 75. Cases (died 1 January 2015 to 1 January 2016) were 1:1 matched to controls by age, sex and practice location. Monthly interval frailty measured using a 36-item electronic frailty index (eFI: range 0-1, lower scores mean less frailty). Deprivation measured using Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD) quintiles. We used latent growth curves to model the relationship between IMD and eFI trajectory. Results: Living in a less deprived area was associated with faster increase in eFI for cases (0.005% per month, 95%confidence interval [CI]: 0.001, 0.010), but not controls, and was associated with lower eFI at study baseline in cases (-0.29% per IMD quintile, 95%CI -0.45, -0.13) and controls (-0.35% per quintile, 95%CI -0.51, -0.20). Conclusions: Overall, greater area-level deprivation is associated with higher levels of frailty, but people who survive to ≥75 have similar 1-year frailty trajectories, regardless of area-level deprivation. Interventions to reduce frailty should target younger age groups, especially those living in the most deprived areas

The individual context, and met and unmet palliative care needs of stage III and IV HIV/AIDS isiXhosa speaking patients in the Grahamstown hospice service

Includes bibliographical references (leaves 87-102).Palliative care developed as a response to the specific needs experienced by terminally ill cancer patients and their families. The modern palliative care movement began in London in 1967 and African palliative care developed against this backdrop. The HIV pandemic has confronted African palliative care workers with new challenges to provide accessible, affordable, culturally sensitive care in resource limited settings. The domains of palliative care are well recognised and the provision of holistic patient centered care requires that the individual context of each person requiring palliative care is considered as these influenced the experience of life-threatening illness. The HIV burden in South Africa is complicated by other health care issues, poverty, and the implications of a multi-cultural, multi-racial society which add to the complexities of palliative care service provision. This study considered the individual context and palliative care needs of a group of HIV positive patients who access palliative care from Grahamstown Hospice

Suppository formulations as a potential treatment for nephropathic cystinosis.

Nephropathic cystinosis is a rare autosomal recessive disease characterised by raised lysosomal levels of cystine in the cells of all the organs. It is treated by the 6-h oral administration of the aminothiol, cysteamine, which has an offensive taste and smell. In an attempt to reduce this frequency and improve the treatment, cysteamine-containing polyethylene glycol suppositories were prepared and evaluated for dissolution and stability. The results demonstrated that cysteamine release was complete after 30 min, and that there was a uniform drug distribution within the formulations. Twelve-month stability tests highlighted a potential incompatibility among some excipients, although stability was demonstrated for the cysteamine suppositories up to 6 months. These suppositories may provide a useful alternative to the current oral therapy for cystinosis