Is the Cure Worse Than the Disease? An Overview of the Patent Reform Act of 2005, 5 J. Marshall Rev. Intell. Prop. L. 55 (2005)

As a result of pressures from various groups and issues surrounding the current patent system, representative Lamar Smith introduced a bill which overhauls multiple aspects of patent practice. The patent reform act is designed to please or compromise between various industry groups while at the same time invigorating the patent system. Specifically, the Patent Reform Act proposes changes to the procedures for filing application, how the applications are filed and even how patents are enforced. In addition to the major publicized changes the Patent Reform Act proposes other alterations that, while receiving less notice, have just as much practical effect. This article will discuss the changes proposed by the Patent Reform Act as well as their practical consequences

A Mean Field Model for the Quadrupolar Phases of UPd3_3

UPd$_3$ is known to exhibit four antiferroquadrupolar ordered phases at low temperatures. We report measurements of the magnetisation and magnetostriction of single crystal UPd$_3$, along the principal symmetry directions, in fields up to 33 T. These results have been combined with recent inelastic neutron and x-ray resonant scattering measurements to construct a mean field model of UPd$_3$ including up to fourth nearest neighbour interactions. In particular we find that anisotropic quadrupolar interactions must be included in order to explain the low temperature structures derived from the scattering data.Comment: 9 pages, 6 figures, 3 table

Associations between Indicators of Livestock Farming Intensity and Incidence of Human Shiga Toxin-Producing Escherichia Coli Infection

The impact of livestock farming on the incidence of human Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) infection was assessed by using several livestock density indicators (LDI) that were generated in a systematic approach. A total of 80 LDI were considered suitable proxy measures for livestock density. Multivariate Poisson regression identified several LDI as having a significant spatial association with the incidence of human STEC infection. The strongest associations with human STEC infection were the ratio of beef cattle number to human population and the application of manure to the surface of agricultural land by a solid spreader and by a liquid spreader showed. This study demonstrates the value of using a systematic approach in identifying LDI and other spatial predictors of disease

Optimization of surgical tourniquet usage to improve patient outcomes: Translational cross-disciplinary implications of a surgical practice survey

Tourniquet use is common practice in many millions of orthopaedic procedures annually. Recent reviews of risks and benefits of surgical tourniquet use have primarily involved meta-analyses, many of which have forgone a comprehensive risk-benefit analysis to simply question whether “tourniquet or no tourniquet” use produces improved patient outcomes, often leading to limited, inconclusive, or conflicting results. To investigate further, a pilot survey was undertaken to determine current practices, opinions, and understandings among orthopaedic surgeons in Canada regarding use of surgical tourniquets in total knee arthroplasties (TKAs). Results of the pilot survey showed a wide range of understanding and practice associated with tourniquet use in TKAs, especially regarding tourniquet pressures and tourniquet times, two key factors known from basic research and clinical studies to impact the safety and efficacy of tourniquet use. The wide variation of use indicated by the survey results reveals important implications for surgeons, researchers, educators, and biomedical engineers, to better understand the association between key tourniquet parameters and outcomes assessed in research, which may be factors leading to their often limited, inconclusive, and conflicting results. Lastly, we provide an overview of the overly simplified assessments of tourniquet use in meta-analyses, whose conclusions may not provide an understanding of how or whether key tourniquet parameters might be optimized to retain the benefits of tourniquet use while mitigating the associated real or perceived risks

Quality of life in lung cancer patients: does socioeconomic status matter?

BACKGROUND: As part of a prospective study on quality of life in newly diagnosed lung cancer patients an investigation was carried out to examine whether there were differences among patients' quality of life scores and their socioeconomic status. METHODS: Quality of life was measured at two points in time (baseline and three months after initial treatment) using three standard instruments; the Nottingham Health Profile (NHP), the European Organization for Research and Cancer Treatment Quality of Life Questionnaire (EORTC QLQ-C30) and its lung cancer supplement (QLQ-LC13). Socioeconomic status for each individual patient was derived using Carstairs and Morris Deprivation Category ranging from 1 (least deprived) to 7 (most deprived) on the basis of the postcode sector of their address. RESULTS: In all, 129 lung cancer patients entered into the study. Of these data for 82 patients were complete (at baseline and follow-up). 57% of patients were of lower socioeconomic status and they had more health problems, less functioning, and more symptoms as compared to affluent patients. Of these, physical mobility (P = 0.05), energy (P = 0.01), role functioning (P = 0.04), physical functioning (P = 0.03), and breathlessness (P = 0.02) were significant at baseline. However, at follow-up assessment there was no significant difference between patient groups nor did any consistent pattern emerge. CONCLUSION: At baseline assessment patients of lower socioeconomic status showed lower health related quality of life. Since there was no clear trend at follow-up assessment this suggests that patients from different socioeconomic status responded to treatment similarly. In general, the findings suggest that quality of life is not only the outcome of the disease and its treatment, but is also highly dependent on each patients' socioeconomic characteristics