Rural depopulation and levels of living in post war Japan : the case of Kyoto and Shiga prefectures.

This research attempts to explain spatial variations in rural depopulation rates which were evident at the sub-municipal level in Japan during the period 1965 to 1975. A random sample of 168 'agricultural settlements' in Kyoto and Shiga prefectures is taken, and net migration rates estimated using the Basic Demographic Equation. The independent variable is a composite expression termed 'level of living'. Approximately 60 variables, grouped into nine domains, are combined to form this index. Account is taken of the' 'behavioural' aspects of environmental perception and subsequent migration by incorporating priority preference weightings on domain scores, using results derived from a questionnaire survey. In particular, two population sub-groups are identified, representing 'young family' migrants and 'young individual' migrants, and domain weightings for the construction of level of living scores are adjusted accordingly. The correlation coefficient between net migration rates and levels of living for the 'young individual' sub-group is r = 0.67, whilst for the 'young family' sub-group it is only r = o. 17. The reasons for this disparity are discussed in the concluding chapters of this research, when evidence drawn from three intensive village surveys is utilized to provide a more detailed understanding of the specific case histories of individual and family migrants

Journals Supporting Terrorism Research: Identification and Investigation into their Impact on the Social Sciences

A citation analysis of two preeminent terrorism journals (Terrorism and Political Violence and Studies in Conflict and Terrorism) was used to identify 37 additional social science journals of significant importance to terrorism research. Citation data extracted from the Web of Science database was used to investigate the impact of the two journals on the social science journal literature. The impact of the two journals was also analyzed in terms of SSCI subject categories. This study could provide useful information for collection development librarians interested in the social sciences

How should we measure ambulance service quality and performance?

The problem Ambulance services in England treat 6.5 million people per year but get no information about what happens to patients after discharge. This has led to a reliance on measuring response times rather than outcomes to assess how well services perform, and little opportunity for identifying problems and good practice or evaluating service developments. Research aim There is a lack of consensus on which outcome measures are important for pre-hospital care so we set out to address this within the Prehospital Outcomes for Evidence Based Evaluation (PhOEBE) research programme. Methods We conducted a two round Delphi study to prioritise outcome measures identified from a systematic review and a multi-stakeholder consensus event. 20 participants scored 57 measures over two rounds. Participants included policy makers and commissioners, clinical ambulance service and ambulance service operational groups. Outcomes were scored in three categories: patient outcomes; whole service measures and clinical management. Results Highly ranked patient outcome measures related to pain, survival, recontacts and patient experience. High ranking outcomes in the Clinical Management group related to compliance with protocols and guidelines and appropriateness and accuracy of triage. In the Whole Service measures group highly ranked measures related to completeness of clinical records, staff training and time to definitive care. Conclusions The next steps are to identify which measures are suitable for measuring with routine data; use a linked dataset to build predictive models and determine what aspects of care can predict good or poor outcomes (mortality and non-mortality); measure the effectiveness and quality of ambulance service care, and; assess the practical use of the measures and the linked data as a way to support quality improvement in the NHS

Which cuff should I use? Indirect blood pressure measurement for the diagnosis of hypertension in patients with obesity: a diagnostic accuracy review.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the diagnostic accuracy of different methods of blood pressure (BP) measurement compared with reference standards for the diagnosis of hypertension in patients with obesity with a large arm circumference. DESIGN: Systematic review with meta-analysis with hierarchical summary receiver operating characteristic models. Bland-Altman analyses where individual patient data were available. Methodological quality appraised using Quality Assessment of Diagnostic Accuracy Studies 2 (QUADAS2) criteria. DATA SOURCES: MEDLINE, EMBASE, Cochrane, DARE, Medion and Trip databases were searched. ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA: Cross-sectional, randomised and cohort studies of diagnostic test accuracy that compared any non-invasive BP tests (upper arm, forearm, wrist, finger) with an appropriate reference standard (invasive BP, correctly fitting upper arm cuff, ambulatory BP monitoring) in primary care were included. RESULTS: 4037 potentially relevant papers were identified. 20 studies involving 26 different comparisons met the inclusion criteria. Individual patient data were available from 4 studies. No studies satisfied all QUADAS2 criteria. Compared with the reference test of invasive BP, a correctly fitting upper arm BP cuff had a sensitivity of 0.87 (0.79 to 0.93) and a specificity of 0.85 (0.64 to 0.95); insufficient evidence was available for other comparisons to invasive BP. Compared with the reference test of a correctly fitting upper arm cuff, BP measurement at the wrist had a sensitivity of 0.92 (0.64 to 0.99) and a specificity of 0.92 (0.85 to 0.87). Measurement with an incorrectly fitting standard cuff had a sensitivity of 0.73 (0.67 to 0.78) and a specificity of 0.76 (0.69 to 0.82). Measurement at the forearm had a sensitivity of 0.84 (0.71 to 0.92) and a specificity 0.75 of (0.66 to 0.83). Bland-Altman analysis of individual patient data from 3 studies comparing wrist and upper arm BP showed a mean difference of 0.46 mm Hg for systolic BP measurement and 2.2 mm Hg for diastolic BP measurement. CONCLUSIONS: BP measurement with a correctly fitting upper arm cuff is sufficiently sensitive and specific to diagnose hypertension in patients with obesity with a large upper arm circumference. If a correctly fitting upper arm cuff cannot be applied, an incorrectly fitting standard size cuff should not be used and BP measurement at the wrist should be considered

Diversity in Collection Development: Comparing Access Strategies to Alternative Press Periodicals

A study by researchers from the State University of New York at Albany compared the efficacy of various strategies for providing access to nonmainstream periodicals listed in the Alternative Press Index. The strategies that were compared included the regular local subscription approach, resource-sharing consortia that include expedited interlibrary loan systems, and four electronic full-text periodical products. Although electronic full-text packages were found to provide some added access to nonmainstream journals, results revealed that much greater access was provided by participation in resource-sharing networks

A selective role for neuronal activity regulated pentraxin in the processing of sensory-specific incentive value

Neuronal activity regulated pentraxin (Narp) is a secreted neuronal product which clusters AMPA receptors and regulates excitatory synaptogenesis. Although Narp is selectively enriched in brain, its role in behavior is not known. As Narp is expressed prominently in limbic regions, we examined whether Narp deletion affects performance on tasks used to assess motivational consequences of food-rewarded learning. Narp knock-out (KO) mice were unimpaired in learning simple pavlovian discriminations, instrumental lever pressing, and in acquisition of at least two aspects of pavlovian incentive learning, conditioned reinforcement and pavlovian-instrumental transfer. In contrast, Narp deletion resulted in a substantial deficit in the ability to use specific outcome expectancies to modulate instrumental performance in a devaluation task. In this task, mice were trained to respond on two levers for two different rewards. After training, mice were prefed with one of the two rewards, devaluing it. Responding on both levers was then assessed in extinction. Whereas control mice showed a significant preference in responding on the lever associated with the nondevalued reward, Narp KO mice responded equally on both levers, failing to suppress responding on the lever associated with the devalued reward. Both groups consumed more of the nondevalued reward in a subsequent choice test, indicating Narp KO mice could distinguish between the rewards themselves. These data suggest Narp has a selective role in processing sensory-specific information necessary for appropriate devaluation performance, but not in general motivational effects of reward-predictive cues on performance

Air freshener composition containing a fiber pad

This invention is directed to an air freshener composition containing a fiber pad comprising at least one needle-punched, nonwoven, hydrophilic fiber wherein the fiber has a capillary structure and deep grooves or channels along the longitudinal axis of the fiber, a fragrance incorporated into said fiber pad, wherein the fiber pad is enclosed by a container having air passageways to allow for the fragrance to escape into the surrounding environment