Mineral Occurrence Database suggestions for revision and update 2005

The Mineral Occurrence Database contains over 12000 entries from all parts of Great Britain. It includes mineral occurrences associated with old mines and trials, unexploited more recent discoveries and panned stream sediment concentrates (mainly gold grains). It was developed in Oracle, using an Access interface with the user, in the mid 1990s. The database structure has been unaltered for many years. It now requires a thorough re-examination of all the entries to check their validity as well as a re-examination of the relationships between tables as some of the links have become corrupted and new data entry is either difficult or impossible. The database has an important role in the future with the increasing interest in mine waste and environmental contamination, as well as to assist any commercial mineral exploration companies if necessary. However, this can only be realised if the database is current, accurate and comprehensive in both coverage and content. The database has many problems and these are detailed in this report together with possible solutions. In addition, a number of suggestions are made for the update of the database, with estimates for the time required

A GIS of the extent of historical mining activities in Scotland: explanatory notes

As part of the secondment of BGS staff to SEPA to help implement the Water Framework Directive (WFD) in Scotland, BGS have been asked to provide an approximate outline of the extent of historical mining in Scotland. This will be used to help characterize pressures on Scottish groundwater as part of the initial characterization of groundwater bodies for the WFD. Initial characterization has to be completed by December 2004; for bodies deemed to be at risk there will be further characterization after 2004. A team of BGS geologists carried out the work during September 2003. The aim of the study was: “To delineate the extent of known and inferred historical and current shallow and dee

The association of types of training and practice settings with doctors’ empathy and patient enablement among patients with chronic illness in Hong Kong

Background: The increase in non-communicable disease (NCD) is becoming a global health problem and there is an increasing need for primary care doctors to look after these patients although whether family doctors are adequately trained and prepared is unknown. Objective: This study aimed to determine if doctors with family medicine (FM) training are associated with enhanced empathy in consultation and enablement for patients with chronic illness as compared to doctors with internal medicine training or without any postgraduate training in different clinic settings. Methods: This was a cross-sectional questionnaire survey using the validated Chinese version of the Consultation and Relational Empathy (CARE) Measure as well as Patient Enablement Instrument (PEI) for evaluation of quality and outcome of care. 14 doctors from hospital specialist clinics (7 with family medicine training, and 7 with internal medicine training) and 13 doctors from primary care clinics (7 with family medicine training, and 6 without specialist training) were recruited. In total, they consulted 823 patients with chronic illness. The CARE Measure and PEI scores were compared amongst doctors in these clinics with different training background: family medicine training, internal medicine training and those without specialist training. Generalized estimation equation (GEE) was used to account for cluster effects of patients nested with doctors. <b>Results</b> Within similar clinic settings, FM trained doctors had higher CARE score than doctors with no FM training. In hospital clinics, the difference of the mean CARE score for doctors who had family medicine training (39.2, SD = 7.04) and internal medicine training (35.5, SD = 8.92) was statistically significant after adjusting for consultation time and gender of the patient. In the community care clinics, the mean CARE score for doctors with family medicine training and those without specialist training were 32.1 (SD = 7.95) and 29.2 (SD = 7.43) respectively, but the difference was not found to be significant. For PEI, patients receiving care from doctors in the hospital clinics scored significantly higher than those in the community clinics, but there was no significant difference in PEI between patients receiving care from doctors with different training backgrounds within similar clinic setting. Conclusion: Family medicine training was associated with higher patient perceived empathy for chronic illness patients in the hospital clinics. Patient enablement appeared to be associated with clinic settings but not doctors’ training background. Training in family medicine and a clinic environment that enables more patient doctor time might help in enhancing doctors’ empathy and enablement for chronic illness patients

Adolescent self-control predicts midlife hallucinatory experiences:40-year follow-up of a national birth cohort

Associations between self-control in adolescence and adult mental health are unclear in the general population; to our knowledge, no study has investigated self-control in relation to psychotic-like symptoms