Cambodia: property rights, banding together

By uniting to fight land grab by business interests, members of the Preynub II Community Fishery in Cambodia have set an example for other communitie

How a2i is using empathy to foster innovation in Bangladesh

Developing countries are often notorious for their inefficient public service delivery. However, the Bangladeshi government is seeking to vastly improve the citizen experience of government services through empathy-led innovation, write Anir Chowdhury and Nick Beresford. This involves arranging for civil servants to act as secret shoppers to identify weaknesses and come up with solutions, often using new technologies

Femoral diaphyseal fractures in young adults: Predictors of complications

Background: Intramedullary nailing is an accepted method of management for femoral diaphyseal fractures. There are, however, risks associated with surgery such as nonunion, infection, and venous thromboembolism (VTE). Objectives: Our objective was to identify independent predictors of complications following intramedullary nailing of femoral diaphyseal fractures in young adults. Patients and Methods: During a 3-year period, 59 patients (aged 1355 years) underwent intramedullary nailing for high energy femoral diaphyseal fracture. These patients were identified from a radiographic database. Patient demographics, socioeconomic status, smoking status, alcohol intake, diagnosis of diabetes, intravenous drug use, fracture comminution, and if it was open were recorded retrospectively. Complications assessed were nonunion, deep infection, VTE, amputation, and revision of the nail. Results: Univariate analysis identified that socioeconomic status, excess alcohol intake, intravenous drug use, fracture comminution, and an open fracture were predictors of complications. Logistic regression analysis identified that intravenous drug use (P = 0.036) and open fractures (P = 0.05) were significant independent predictors of nonunion. There was a trend toward significance (P = 0.07) for excess alcohol intake as a predictor of deep infection. Fracture comminution (P = 0.015) was an independent predictor of VTE. Logistic regression analysis failed to identify any significant independent predictors of amputation or revision after adjusting for confounding variables. Conclusions: Intravenous drug use, open fractures, and fracture comminution are independent predictors of nonunion and/or VTE. These patient factors could be used to identify those at risk of nonunion and VTE who may benefit from early preventative measures

Detailed plan for the COMET WP3 initial research activity - list of research projects and goals, participants and timing

Detailed plan for the COMET Work Package (WP) 3

Prevalence of childhood disability and the characteristics and circumstances of disabled children in the UK : secondary analysis of the Family Resources Survey

Background: Robust data on the prevalence of childhood disability and the circumstances and characteristics of disabled children is crucial to understanding the relationship between impairment and social disadvantage. It is also crucial for public policy development aimed at reducing the prevalence of childhood disability and providing appropriate and timely service provision. This paper reports prevalence rates for childhood disability in the United Kingdom (UK) and describes the social and household circumstances of disabled children, comparing these where appropriate to those of non-disabled children. Methods: Data were generated from secondary analysis of the Family Resources Survey, a national UK cross-sectional survey, (2004/5) which had data on 16,012 children aged 0-18 years. Children were defined as disabled if they met the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) definition (1995 and 2005). Frequency distributions and cross-tabulations were run to establish prevalence estimates, and describe the circumstances of disabled children. To establish the association between individual social and material factors and childhood disability when other factors were controlled for, logistic regression models were fitted on the dependent variable 'DDA defined disability'. Results: 7.3% (CI 6.9, 7.7) of UK children were reported by as disabled according to the DDA definition. Patterns of disability differed between sexes with boys having a higher rate overall and more likely than girls to experience difficulties with physical coordination; memory, concentration and learning; communication. Disabled children lived in different personal situations from their non-disabled counterparts, and were more likely to live with low-income, deprivation, debt and poor housing. This was particularly the case for disabled children from black/minority ethnic/ mixed parentage groups and lone-parent households. Childhood disability was associated with lone parenthood and parental disability and these associations persisted when social disadvantage was controlled for. Conclusion: These analyses suggest that UK disabled children experience higher levels of poverty and personal and social disadvantage than other children. Further research is required to establish accurate prevalence estimates of childhood disability among different black and minority ethnic groups and to understand the associations between childhood disability and lone parenthood and the higher rates of sibling and parental disability in households with disabled children

STAR deliverable (D-No. 3.3). International wildlife dosimetry workshop

This report summarises the main issues related with the International Wildlife Dosimetry Workshop, organized by STAR in June 2014. All the information of the workshop: the agenda, the presentations of all the speakers and the minutes of the discussion sessions can be freely downloaded from the STAR web page: https://wiki.ceh.ac.uk/display/star/ Wildlife+Dosimetry+Workshop. The workshop addressed a wide spectrum of questions related to the ionising radiation dose estimation in animals and plants, involving world leading experts in each of the subjects treated. There were 30 participants from 12 countries (Belgium, Canada, USA, Spain, France, Germany, Japan, Norway, Portugal, United Kingdom, Russia and Sweden)