Preventive activities during consultations in general practice : influences on performance

Copyright © 2005 Royal Australian College of General Practitioners Copyright to Australian Family Physician. Reproduced with permission. Permission to reproduce must be sought from the publisher, The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners.BACKGROUND: The relationship between the performance of opportunistic preventive activities in general practice consultations and characteristics of patients, general practitioners, consultations and preventive opportunities is poorly understood. METHODS: We recorded the performance of 11 preventive care activities by 10 GPs in one practice and examined the associations of performance of the preventive activities and the characteristics of the patients, GPs, consultations and preventive opportunities. RESULTS: Every patient, GP, consultation and preventive opportunity characteristic studied was independently significantly associated with the performance of at least two of the preventive activities. DISCUSSION: These findings suggest ways of designing more effective reminders, particularly for patients least likely to receive prevention counselling.Oliver Frank, John Litt and Justin Beilb

Opportunistic electronic reminders : improving performance of preventive care in general practice

Copyright © 2004 Royal Australian College of General Practitioners Copyright to Australian Family Physician. Reproduced with permission. Permission to reproduce must be sought from the publisher, The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners.BACKGROUND: Preventive care is an important role for general practitioners, yet opportunities for prevention are often missed. METHOD: We provided an automatic electronic record preventive care reminder system for 12 preventive care activities for one 10 doctor practice. All patients who attended were randomised by the terminal digit of their record number. RESULTS: The control uptake of opportunistic prevention was low; ranging from 1.5% (tetanus immunisation) to 27% (influenza immunisation). The reminders increased this by significant but small amounts for four out of 12 activities (immunisation for tetanus and pneumococcus and recording of allergies and weight), insignificant increases for four (mumps, measles and rubella immunisation, recording of smoking, and taking of cervical smears and of blood pressure), and insignificantly decreased influenza immunisation, and screening for diabetes and hyperlipidaemia. DISCUSSION: Opportunistic electronic reminders have the potential to increase preventive care in general practice.Oliver Frank, John Litt and Justin Beilb

The Effect of Modified Control Limits on the Performance of a Generic Commercial Aircraft Engine

This paper studies the effect of modifying the control limits of an aircraft engine to obtain additional performance. In an emergency situation, the ability to operate an engine above its normal operating limits and thereby gain additional performance may aid in the recovery of a distressed aircraft. However, the modification of an engine s limits is complex due to the risk of an engine failure. This paper focuses on the tradeoff between enhanced performance and risk of either incurring a mechanical engine failure or compromising engine operability. The ultimate goal is to increase the engine performance, without a large increase in risk of an engine failure, in order to increase the probability of recovering the distressed aircraft. The control limit modifications proposed are to extend the rotor speeds, temperatures, and pressures to allow more thrust to be produced by the engine, or to increase the rotor accelerations and allow the engine to follow a fast transient. These modifications do result in increased performance; however this study indicates that these modifications also lead to an increased risk of engine failure

Variation in the flowering time orthologs BrFLC and BrSOC1 in a natural population of Brassica rapa.

Understanding the genetic basis of natural phenotypic variation is of great importance, particularly since selection can act on this variation to cause evolution. We examined expression and allelic variation in candidate flowering time loci in Brassica rapa plants derived from a natural population and showing a broad range in the timing of first flowering. The loci of interest were orthologs of the Arabidopsis genes FLC and SOC1 (BrFLC and BrSOC1, respectively), which in Arabidopsis play a central role in the flowering time regulatory network, with FLC repressing and SOC1 promoting flowering. In B. rapa, there are four copies of FLC and three of SOC1. Plants were grown in controlled conditions in the lab. Comparisons were made between plants that flowered the earliest and latest, with the difference in average flowering time between these groups ∼30 days. As expected, we found that total expression of BrSOC1 paralogs was significantly greater in early than in late flowering plants. Paralog-specific primers showed that expression was greater in early flowering plants in the BrSOC1 paralogs Br004928, Br00393 and Br009324, although the difference was not significant in Br009324. Thus expression of at least 2 of the 3 BrSOC1 orthologs is consistent with their predicted role in flowering time in this natural population. Sequences of the promoter regions of the BrSOC1 orthologs were variable, but there was no association between allelic variation at these loci and flowering time variation. For the BrFLC orthologs, expression varied over time, but did not differ between the early and late flowering plants. The coding regions, promoter regions and introns of these genes were generally invariant. Thus the BrFLC orthologs do not appear to influence flowering time in this population. Overall, the results suggest that even for a trait like flowering time that is controlled by a very well described genetic regulatory network, understanding the underlying genetic basis of natural variation in such a quantitative trait is challenging

Arginine-rich peptides destabilize the plasma membrane, consistent with a pore formation translocation mechanism of cell penetrating peptides

Recent molecular dynamics simulations (Herce and Garcia, PNAS, 104: 20805 (2007)) have suggested that the arginine-rich HIV Tat peptides might be able to translocate by destabilizing and inducing transient pores in phospholipid bilayers. In this pathway for peptide translocation, arginine residues play a fundamental role not only in the binding of the peptide to the surface of the membrane but also in the destabilization and nucleation of transient pores across the bilayer, despite being charged and highly hydrophilic. Here we present a molecular dynamics simulation of a peptide composed of nine arginines (Arg-9) that shows that this peptide follows the same translocation pathway previously found for the Tat peptide. We test this hypothesis experimentally by measuring ionic currents across phospholipid bilayers and cell membranes through the pores induced by Arg-9 peptides. We find that Arg-9 peptides, in the presence of an electrostatic potential gradient, induce ionic currents across planar phospholipid bilayers, as well as in cultured osteosarcoma cells and human smooth muscle cells freshly isolated from the umbilical artery. Our results suggest that the mechanism of action of Arg-9 peptide involves the creation of transient pores in lipid bilayers and cell membranes.Comment: This is an extended version of the published manuscript, which had to be shortened before publication to fit within the number of pages required by the journa

Survival and Reproduction of Wild Turkeys in the Northern Black Hills of South Dakota

In South Dakota, wild turkeys are a high-interest species for both consumptive and non-consumptive uses.  Harvest records indicate that the population segment residing in the northern Black Hills may be declining.  Although data on hen survival, nesting survival, and early poult survival were collected for the southern Black Hills in the early 2000s, there is currently a paucity of demographic data for the northern Black Hills.  We seek to inform wild turkey management by characterizing demography specifically for the northern Black Hills.  We radio-tracked 80 turkey hens (40 adults/40 juveniles) in 2016 to estimate rates of hen survival, nesting, nesting success, and early poult survival; this two-year study will continue in 2017.  Based on preliminary data, rates of nesting by adult hens are lower in the northern Black Hills than the southern Black Hills (77.5% vs. 98%), as are rates of renesting by adult hens (33% vs. 75%).  We are in the process of estimating hen survival, but preliminary results indicate that annual survival is approximately 50%.  Poult survival to 4 weeks is comparable in the northern and southern Black Hills, but lower than in other portions of the range of Merriam’s wild turkey.  Although the northern and southern Black Hills are in close proximity, the substantial climatic differences likely explain the reduced productivity of the turkey population in the northern Black Hills.  Limiting fall harvest of wild turkey hens in the northern Black Hills may be required to sustainably manage this important game species

Understanding how Characteristics of the Nest Site Affect Nest Success of Wild Turkeys

Wild turkeys (Meleagris gallapavo) are a highly-desirable game species throughout the United States, but harvest records in the northern Black Hills, South Dakota suggest that this population is declining.  We wondered whether vegetation characteristics at the nest site would affect nest fate (success/failure).  We monitored 40 nests during summer 2016 to determine nest fate and 27 were successful (?1 egg hatched).  At the actual or expected hatch date, we quantified characteristics of the understory vegetation at the nest bowl, namely total cover, shrub cover, woody debris, and the degree of visual obstruction.  We compared these characteristics between successful and unsuccessful nests. Successful nests had slightly less woody debris and total cover than unsuccessful nests.  We did not detect differences in shrub cover or the degree of visual obstruction.  Our results suggest that there may be some optimal amount of total cover and woody debris at the nest bowl that contributes to a higher chance of nest success.  We recommend additional research that focuses on how vegetation characteristics found at nest sites compares to what is available.  This information in conjunction with our findings could provide guidance for managers regarding vegetation characteristics that may be optimal for nest success.  Although these data may help manage turkey populations, nesting represents only one part of the life cycle of a wild turkey.  We recommend that managers strive for a mosaic of vegetation characteristics to accommodate the needs of turkey populations throughout their life history

Sensory imagery in craving: From cognitive psychology to new treatments for addiction

Sensory imagery is a powerful tool for inducing craving because it is a key component of the cognitive system that underpins human motivation. The role of sensory imagery in motivation is explained by Elaborated Intrusion (EI) theory. Imagery plays an important role in motivation because it conveys the emotional qualities of the desired event, mimicking anticipated pleasure or relief, and continual elaboration of the imagery ensures that the target stays in mind. We argue that craving is a conscious state, intervening between unconscious triggers and consumption, and summarise evidence that interfering with sensory imagery can weaken cravings. We argue that treatments for addiction can be enhanced by the application of EI theory to maintain motivation, and assist in the management of craving in high-risk situations