1,337 research outputs found
Depoliticisation, Resilience and the Herceptin Post-code Lottery Crisis: Holding Back the Tide
This article:
Covers new empirical terrain in the study of depoliticisation, with an in-depth case study of health technology regulation;
Analyses depoliticisation from a novel analytical perspective, examining how depoliticised institutions are resilient to external pressure for politicisation;
Posits a distinctive framework for analysing resilience, drawing on cognate literatures on policy networks and agencification;
Raises interesting and distinctive questions about the nature of depoliticisation in advanced liberal democracies, arguing it is more contested than commonly acknowledged.
Depoliticisation as a concept offers distinctive insights into how governments attempt to relieve political pressures in liberal democracies. Analysis has examined the effects of depoliticisation tactics on the public, but not how those tactics are sustained during moments of political tension. Drawing on policy networks and agencification literatures, this article examines how these tactics are resilient against pressure for politicisation. Using an in-depth case study of the controversial appraisal of cancer drug Herceptin in 2005/6 by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE), the article examines how âresilientâ NICE was to external politicisation. It is argued that NICE was resilient because it was effectively âinsulatedâ by formal procedures and informal norms of deference to scientific expertise. This mechanism is termed âinstitutional double glazingâ. The conclusion suggests developments to the conceptual and methodological framework of depoliticisation, and highlights theoretical insights into the nature of âanti-politicsâ in contemporary democracies
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The identification and psychological treatment of panic disorder in adolescents: a survey of CAMHS clinicians
Background
Panic disorder is experienced by around 1% of adolescents, and has a significant impact on social and academic functioning. Preliminary evidence supports the effectiveness of panic disorder specific treatment in adolescents with panic disorder, however panic disorder may be overlooked in adolescents due to overlapping symptoms with other anxiety disorders and other difficulties being more noticeable to others. The aim of this study was to establish what training National Health Service (NHS) Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) clinicians have received in psychological therapies and panic disorder and how they identify and treat panic disorder in adolescents.
Method
CAMHS clinicians from a range of professions (n = 427), who were delivering psychological treatments to children and adolescents with anxiety disorders, participated. They completed a cross-sectional, online survey, including a vignette describing an adolescent with panic disorder, and were asked to identify the main diagnosis or presenting problem.
Results
Less than half the clinicians (48.6%) identified panic disorder or panic symptoms as the main presenting problem from the vignette. The majority of clinicians suggested CBT would be their treatment approach. However, few identified an evidence-based treatment protocol for working with young people with panic disorder. Almost half the sample had received no training in cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) and around a fifth had received no training in delivering psychological treatments.
Conclusions
Only half of CAMHS clinicians identified panic disorder from a vignette and although CBT treatments are widely offered, only a minority of adolescents with panic disorder are receiving treatments developed for, and evaluated with young people with panic disorder. There is a vital need for clinician training, the use of tools that aid identification and the implementation of evidence-based treatments within CAMHS
The Probability Distribution of Binary Pulsar Coalescence Rate Estimates. II. Neutron Star-White Dwarf Binaries
We consider the statistics of pulsar binaries with white dwarf companions
(NS-WD). Using the statistical analysis method developed by Kim et al. (2003)
we calculate the Galactic coalescence rate of NS-WD binaries due to
gravitational-wave emission. We find that the most likely values for the total
Galactic coalescence rate (R_tot) of NS-WD binaries lie in the range 0.2--10
per Myr depending on different assumed pulsar population models. For our
reference model, we obtain R_tot=4.11_(-2.56)^(+5.25) per Myr at a 68%
statistical confidence level. These rate estimates are not corrected for pulsar
beaming and as such they are found to be about a factor of 20 smaller than the
Galactic coalescence rate estimates for double neutron star systems. Based on
our rate estimates, we calculate the gravitational-wave background due to
coalescing NS-WD binaries out to extragalactic distances within the frequency
band of the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna. We find the contribution from
NS-WD binaries to the gravitational-wave background to be negligible.Comment: 20 pages, 2 figures, 2 tables, Accepted for publication in Ap
Stability window and mass-radius relation for magnetized strange quark stars
The stability of magnetized strange quark matter (MSQM) is investigated
within the phenomenological MIT bag model, taking into account the variation of
the relevant input parameters, namely, the strange quark mass, baryon density,
magnetic field and bag parameter. We obtain that the energy per baryon
decreases as the magnetic field increases, and its minimum value at vanishing
pressure is lower than the value found for SQM. This implies that MSQM is more
stable than non-magnetized SQM. Furthermore, the stability window of MSQM is
found to be wider than the corresponding one of SQM. The mass-radius relation
for magnetized strange quark stars is also derived in this framework.Comment: 12 pages, 6 figures, 3 table
Quark Matter in Neutron Stars: An apercu
The existence of deconfined quark matter in the superdense interior of
neutron stars is a key question that has drawn considerable attention over the
past few decades. Quark matter can comprise an arbitrary fraction of the star,
from 0 for a pure neutron star to 1 for a pure quark star, depending on the
equation of state of matter at high density. From an astrophysical viewpoint,
these two extreme cases are generally expected to manifest different
observational signatures. An intermediate fraction implies a hybrid star, where
the interior consists of mixed or homogeneous phases of quark and nuclear
matter, depending on surface and Coulomb energy costs, as well as other finite
size and screening effects. In this brief review article, we discuss what we
can deduce about quark matter in neutron stars in light of recent exciting
developments in neutron star observations. We state the theoretical ideas
underlying the equation of state of dense quark matter, including color
superconducting quark matter. We also highlight recent advances stemming from
re-examination of an old paradigm for the surface structure of quark stars and
discuss possible evolutionary scenarios from neutron stars to quark stars, with
emphasis on astrophysical observations.Comment: 15 pages, 1 figure. Invited review for Modern Physics Letters
Merger of white dwarf-neutron star binaries: Prelude to hydrodynamic simulations in general relativity
White dwarf-neutron star binaries generate detectable gravitational
radiation. We construct Newtonian equilibrium models of corotational white
dwarf-neutron star (WDNS) binaries in circular orbit and find that these models
terminate at the Roche limit. At this point the binary will undergo either
stable mass transfer (SMT) and evolve on a secular time scale, or unstable mass
transfer (UMT), which results in the tidal disruption of the WD. The path a
given binary will follow depends primarily on its mass ratio. We analyze the
fate of known WDNS binaries and use population synthesis results to estimate
the number of LISA-resolved galactic binaries that will undergo either SMT or
UMT. We model the quasistationary SMT epoch by solving a set of simple ordinary
differential equations and compute the corresponding gravitational waveforms.
Finally, we discuss in general terms the possible fate of binaries that undergo
UMT and construct approximate Newtonian equilibrium configurations of merged
WDNS remnants. We use these configurations to assess plausible outcomes of our
future, fully relativistic simulations of these systems. If sufficient WD
debris lands on the NS, the remnant may collapse, whereby the gravitational
waves from the inspiral, merger, and collapse phases will sweep from LISA
through LIGO frequency bands. If the debris forms a disk about the NS, it may
fragment and form planets.Comment: 28 pages, 25 figures, 6 table
Arecibo timing and single-pulse observations of 17 pulsars
We report on timing and single-pulse observations of 17 pulsars discovered at
the Arecibo observatory. The highlights of our sample are the recycled pulsars
J1829+2456, J1944+0907 and the drifting subpulses observed in PSR J0815+0939.
For the double neutron star binary J1829+2456, in addition to improving upon
our existing measurement of relativistic periastron advance, we have now
measured the pulsar's spin period derivative. This new result sets an upper
limit on the transverse speed of 120 km/s and a lower limit on the
characteristic age of 12.4 Gyr. From our measurement of proper motion of the
isolated 5.2-ms pulsar J1944+0907, we infer a transverse speed of 188 +/- 65
km/s. This is higher than that of any other isolated millisecond pulsar. An
estimate of the speed, using interstellar scintillation, of 235 +/- 45 km/s
indicates that the scattering medium along the line of sight is non-uniform. We
discuss the drifting subpulses detected from three pulsars in the sample, in
particular the remarkable drifting subpulse properties of the 645-ms pulsar
J0815+0939. Drifting is observed in all four components of the pulse profile,
with the sense of drift varying among the different components. This unusual
`bi-drifting'' behaviour challenges standard explanations of the drifting
subpulse phenomenon.Comment: 9 pages, 6 figures. Accepted for publication in MNRA
How strange are compact star interiors ?
We discuss a Nambu--Jona-Lasinio (NJL) type quantum field theoretical
approach to the quark matter equation of state with color superconductivity and
construct hybrid star models on this basis. It has recently been demonstrated
that with increasing baryon density, the different quark flavors may occur
sequentially, starting with down-quarks only, before the second light quark
flavor and at highest densities also the strange quark flavor appears. We find
that color superconducting phases are favorable over non-superconducting ones
which entails consequences for thermodynamic and transport properties of hybrid
star matter. In particular, for NJL-type models no strange quark matter phases
can occur in compact star interiors due to mechanical instability against
gravitational collapse, unless a sufficiently strong flavor mixing as provided
by the Kobayashi-Maskawa-'t Hooft determinant interaction is present in the
model. We discuss observational data on mass-radius relationships of compact
stars which can put constraints on the properties of dense matter equation of
state.Comment: 7 pages, 2 figures, to appear in the Proceedings of the International
Conference SQM2009, Buzios, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Sep.27-Oct.2, 200
A precise mass measurement of the intermediate-mass binary pulsar PSR J1802-2124
PSR J1802-2124 is a 12.6-ms pulsar in a 16.8-hour binary orbit with a
relatively massive white dwarf (WD) companion. These properties make it a
member of the intermediate-mass class of binary pulsar (IMBP) systems. We have
been timing this pulsar since its discovery in 2002. Concentrated observations
at the Green Bank Telescope, augmented with data from the Parkes and Nancay
observatories, have allowed us to determine the general relativistic Shapiro
delay. This has yielded pulsar and white dwarf mass measurements of 1.24(11)
and 0.78(4) solar masses (68% confidence), respectively. The low mass of the
pulsar, the high mass of the WD companion, the short orbital period, and the
pulsar spin period may be explained by the system having gone through a
common-envelope phase in its evolution. We argue that selection effects may
contribute to the relatively small number of known IMBPs.Comment: 9 pages, 4 figures, 3 tables, accepted for publication in the
Astrophysical Journa
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