Towards Understanding Apparent South Australian GP Resistance to Adopting Health Informatics Systems

This paper reports on a qualitative study of the attitudes of 23 South Australian practitioners in General Practice (GP) towards adopting an unspecified data amalgamating Health Informatics (HI) system. Findings suggest key areas of concern are associated with the potential for diminution of control over change and adoption was primarily influenced by a perceived need to protect the role and value of GPs. If change was seen as involuntary, uncertain or without demonstrable benefit to relevant patient outcomes, the prospect of change tended to manifest as passive or active GP resistance. Findings suggest increased exposure to use of HI systems influences GP perception of both the importance and certainty of potential implementation outcomes. It was concluded that discrete attitudes towards the use of HIS technology could be identified. Determined by contextual GP perceptions of competing managerial, technological and political factors, they are not mutually exclusive and more appropriately seen as a series of developmental and co-existing perspectives

Understanding South Australian GP Attitudes Towards Health Informatics Systems

This paper reports on the attitudes of 20 practitioners in South Australian General Practice towards adopting Health Informatics (HI) systems. HI systems are aimed at improving the overall quality and management of healthcare, but adoption of the technology may require a change in the General Practitioner’s (GP) approach to the way they perform their healthcare delivery role. This qualitative study found HI adoption was primarily influenced by the perceived potential for change in the professional’s value and role. While GPs were generally reluctant to consider technological innovation that was not perceived to demonstrate potential for improvement in patient health outcomes, increased exposure to HI systems positively influenced perceptions of both the importance and the certainty of potential implementation outcomes. It was concluded that GP attitudes could be characterised by four different perspectives of HI systems use in general practice medicine delivery

Process-based common supply chain management practices in manufacturing firms

Copyright © 2020 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd. Present study explore common supply chain management practices (SCMPs) and investigate how these practices facilitate the development of supply chain capabilities. The study adopts an exploratory case study approach with the content analysis of the data collected through semi-structured interviews, followed by site visits to 14 Australian manufacturing firms. The findings show six common SCMPs in the case study firms. Findings also demonstrate how these practices promote and further develop inter-organisational and intra-organisational integration, coordination for increased responsiveness and delivering valued services to customers in supply chain. The practices explored can be used as a supply chain framework for the manufacturing industry which can provide an effective tool for developing increased responsiveness in the supply chain through capabilities of integration, coordination and valued services delivery. Moreover, this study for the first time explores how supply chain capabilities emerge from SCMPs and how do both differ

Determination of fats, oils and greases in food service establishment wastewater using a modification of the Gerber Method

Discharges from food service establishments (FSEs) are a major source of fat, oil and grease (FOG) which cause blockages in sewer networks. Previous research has identified that current methods are unsuitable for quantifying FOG in FSE wastewater owing to interference from surfactants in detergents, and protein from food residuals which emulsify FOG. A novel quantification method, based on the dairy industry Gerber method, has been developed which negates the impact of surfactants. Moreover, the method allows free and emulsified oil to be quantified separately providing greater insight into FOG management strategies. Trials in synthetic and real FSE wastewaters indicate the novel method is more reliable than standard liquid–liquid and solid phase extraction in FOG‐rich systems

Characterisation of food service establishment wastewater and its implication for treatment

Essential for the selection of a reliable treatment system is the characterisation of the effluent to treat. Kitchen wastewater (KWW) from food service establishments (FSEs) is a strong organic and fat-rich effluent whose characterisation has not been sufficiently addressed. KWW composition is highly variable and linked to the FSE's size, the type of meals prepared and the amount of water used during the cleaning. COD, TSS and fat content (FOG) are the most common parameters found in literature. However, other physical and chemical parameters (e.g. temperature, pH, oil droplets characteristics and trace elements), correlated to commercial kitchen cleaning practices rather than the specific effluent, but equally influential on the treatment efficiencies of both physical and biological methods, have hardly been investigated. A comprehensive characterisation of wastewaters from three food service establishments was used to generate data to support the selection of appropriate FOG mitigation methods. Two novel analytical methods were used to quantify the proportion of emulsified FOG and associated droplet size from different kitchen washing effluents. The results showed that more than 90% of the FOG from the dishwasher effluent and around 35% of sink one was emulsified, with droplet sizes less than 100 μm, well below the removal capabilities of conventional grease interceptors, but easily removed using biological means. From the WW composition results, a formula for predictive modelling was derived to represent average organic matter composition for kitchen wastewater as C20H38O10N, applicable in remediation processes. These results offer a good starting point for the design, operation, and optimisation of wastewater treatment systems of oil-rich KWW

No effect of glutamine supplementation and hyperoxia on oxidative metabolism and performance during high-intensity exercise.

addresses: Health and Biology, Liverpool Hope University, Liverpool, UK. [email protected]: Comparative Study; Journal ArticleThis is an Author's Accepted Manuscript of an article published in Journal of Sports Sciences, 2008, Vol. 26, Issue 10, pp. 1081 – 1090 © 2008 copyright Taylor & Francis, available online at: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02640410801930200Glutamine enhances the exercise-induced expansion of the tricarboxylic acid intermediate pool. The aim of the present study was to determine whether oral glutamine, alone or in combination with hyperoxia, influenced oxidative metabolism and cycle time-trial performance. Eight participants consumed either placebo or 0.125 g kg body mass(-1) of glutamine in 5 ml kg body mass(-1) placebo 1 h before exercise in normoxic (control and glutamine respectively) or hyperoxic (FiO(2) = 50%; hyperoxia and hyperoxia + glutamine respectively) conditions. Participants then cycled for 6 min at 70% maximal oxygen uptake (VO(2max)) immediately before completing a brief high-intensity time-trial (approximately 4 min) during which a pre-determined volume of work was completed as fast as possible. The increment in pulmonary oxygen uptake during the performance test (DeltaVO(2max), P = 0.02) and exercise performance (control: 243 s, s(x) = 7; glutamine: 242 s, s(x) = 3; hyperoxia: 231 s, s(x) = 3; hyperoxia + glutamine: 228 s, s(x) = 5; P < 0.01) were significantly improved in hyperoxic conditions. There was some evidence that glutamine ingestion increased DeltaVO(2max) in normoxia, but not hyperoxia (interaction drink/FiO(2), P = 0.04), but there was no main effect or impact on performance. Overall, the data show no effect of glutamine ingestion either alone or in combination with hyperoxia, and thus no limiting effect of the tricarboxylic acid intermediate pool size, on oxidative metabolism and performance during maximal exercise

The importance of the cellular stress response in the pathogenesis and treatment of type 2 diabetes

Organisms have evolved to survive rigorous environments and are not prepared to thrive in a world of caloric excess and sedentary behavior. A realization that physical exercise (or lack of it) plays a pivotal role in both the pathogenesis and therapy of type 2 diabetes mellitus (t2DM) has led to the provocative concept of therapeutic exercise mimetics. A decade ago, we attempted to simulate the beneficial effects of exercise by treating t2DM patients with 3 weeks of daily hyperthermia, induced by hot tub immersion. The short-term intervention had remarkable success, with a 1 % drop in HbA1, a trend toward weight loss, and improvement in diabetic neuropathic symptoms. An explanation for the beneficial effects of exercise and hyperthermia centers upon their ability to induce the cellular stress response (the heat shock response) and restore cellular homeostasis. Impaired stress response precedes major metabolic defects associated with t2DM and may be a near seminal event in the pathogenesis of the disease, tipping the balance from health into disease. Heat shock protein inducers share metabolic pathways associated with exercise with activation of AMPK, PGC1-a, and sirtuins. Diabetic therapies that induce the stress response, whether via heat, bioactive compounds, or genetic manipulation, improve or prevent all of the morbidities and comorbidities associated with the disease. The agents reduce insulin resistance, inflammatory cytokines, visceral adiposity, and body weight while increasing mitochondrial activity, normalizing membrane structure and lipid composition, and preserving organ function. Therapies restoring the stress response can re-tip the balance from disease into health and address the multifaceted defects associated with the disease