Direct to consumer advertising via the Internet, a study of hip resurfacing

With increased use of the internet for health information and direct to consumer advertising from medical companies, there is a concern about the quality of the information available for patients. The aim of this study was to examine the quality of health information on the internet for hip resurfacing. An assessment tool was designed to measure quality of information. Websites were measured on credibility of source; usability; currentness of the information; content relevance; content accuracy/completeness and disclosure/bias. Each website assessed was given a total score, based on number of scores achieved from the above categories websites were further analysed on author, geographical origin and possession of an independent credibility check. There was positive correlation between the overall score for the website and the score of each website in each assessment category. Websites by implant companies, doctors and hospitals scored poorly. Websites with an independent credibility check such as Health on the Net (HoN) scored twice the total scores of websites without. Like other internet health websites, the quality of information on hip resurfacing websites is variable. This study highlights methods by which to assess the quality of health information on the internet and advocates that patients should look for a statement of an "independent credibility check" when searching for information on hip resurfacing

The cranking formula and the spurious behaviour of the mass parameters

We discuss some aspects of the approach of the mass parameters by means of the simple cranking model. In particular, it is well known that the numerical application of this formula is often subject to ambiguities or contradictions. It is found that these problems are induced by the presence of two derivatives in the formula. To overcome these problems, we state a useful ansatz and we develop a number of simple arguments which tend to justify the removal of these terms. As soon as this is done, the formula becomes simpler and easier to interpret. In this respect, it is shown how the shell effects affect the mass parameters. A number of numerical tests help us in our conclusions.Comment: version 3 corrigendum of the ansatz of section V, corrigendum of the legend of Fig3. Submission = text file + 5 figure

Economic assessment of acquiring water for environmental flows in the Murray Basin

This article is an economic analysis of reallocating River Murray Basin water from agriculture to the environment with and without the possibility of interregional water trade. Acquiring environmental flows as an equal percentage of water allocations from all irrigation regions in the Basin is estimated to reduce returns to irrigation. When the same volume of water is taken from selected low-value regions only, the net revenue reduction is less. In all scenarios considered, net revenue gains from freeing trade are estimated to outweigh the negative revenue effects of reallocating water for environmental flows. The model accounts for how stochastic weather affects market water demand, supply and requirements for environmental flows. Net irrigation revenue is estimated to be $75 million less than the baseline level for a scenario involving reallocating a constant volume of water for the environment in both wet and dry years. For a more realistic scenario involving more water for the environment in wet and less in dry years, estimated net revenue loss is reduced by 48 per cent to$39 million. Finally, the external salinity-related costs of water trading are estimated at around $1 million per annum, a quite modest amount compared to the direct irrigation benefits of trade.Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

FTIR-DRIFTS-based prediction of β-carotene, α-tocopherol and L-ascorbic acid in mango (Mangifera indica L.) fruit pulp

Mango fruits contain substantial vitamins and dietary fibre. Vitamins vary among and within fruits depending on cultivar type and ripening stage. Conventional techniques of vitamins analysis are based on High Pressure Liquid Chromatography, which are costly and laborious. This study evaluated the potential of Fourier transform infrared-diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (FTIR-DRIFTS) technique in predicting β-carotene, α-tocopherol and L-ascorbic acid in pulps of four mango cultivar types (‘Apple’, ‘Kent’, ‘Ngowe’, and ‘Tommy Atkins’). Combination of ran dom forest (RF) and first derivative spectra developed the predictive models. Factorial ANOVA examined the interaction effect of cultivar type, site (‘Thika’, ‘Embu’ and ‘Machakos), and fruit canopy position (sun exposed/within crown) on β-carotene, α-tocopherol and L-ascorbic acid contents. RF Models gave R2 = 0.97, RMSE = 2.27, RPD = 0.72 for β-carotene; R2 = 0.98, RMSE = 0.26, RPD = 0.30 for α-tocopherol and R2 = 0.96, RMSE = 0.51, RPD = 1.96 for L-ascorbic acid. Generally cultivar type affected vitamin C, F (3, 282) = 7.812, p < 0.05. Apple and Tommy Atkins had higher mean vitamins than Ngowe and Kent. In Machakos, within canopy fruits had higher β-carotene than sun-exposed fruits, F (5, 257) = 2.328, p = 0.043. However, interactions between fruit position, site and cultivar did not affect α-tocopherol and vitamin C. In Thika, Tommy Atkins at fully ripe stage had higher vitamin C than at intermediate maturity stage, F (2, 143) = 7.328, p = 0.01. These results show that FTIR-DRIFTS spectroscopy is a high-throughput method that can be used to predict mango fruit vitamins of in a large data set