Site-specific prolapse surgery. I. Reliability and durability of native tissue paravaginal repair

Introduction and hypothesis: This study aims to compare native tissue abdominal and vaginal paravaginal repair, and to investigate whether surgical outcome was independent of operative route. Methods: Retrospective comparison of 111 displacement cysto-urethrocoeles, repaired between 1997 and 2007. Treatment was by surgeon assignment, 52 women having abdominal (APVR) and 59 vaginal paravaginal repairs. Main outcome measures were same-site prolapse recurrence, time to failure and surgical complications. Initial reliability was evaluated by chi-square test, 10-year durability by Kaplan-Meier survival analysis and Cox proportional hazards model. Results: When examined in the Cox proportional hazards model, anatomic results of APVR were more durable than a mechanically analogous transvaginal operation done [95% CI=1.029-2.708 (p value=0.038)]. Kaplan-Meier curves plateaued within 38 months. Symptom resolution was broadly equivalent. Surgical complication rate was 3.6%. Conclusions: Site-specific re-suture of torn native tissue has genuine curative potential. Most of the long-term success was attributable to site-specific repair, rather than nonspecific scar formation.9 page(s

Experience of Touchscreens : a study of usage of touchscreen among different age groups in Gävle

This paper is mainly about people’s experiences of using touchscreens. Information from previous writers’ reports and papers were firstly selected and then used in this thesis. Questions about whether people would like to use touchscreens, why they would or would not like to use touchscreens, the frequency of making mistakes for respondents and the time the respondents think they need to learn to use touchscreens as well as a comparison between old techniques and touchscreens were listed in the questionnaire. After getting information from previous researchers’ reports and questionnaires, we got the results that respondents of younger ages are more likely to try touchscreens as their “input mode” and show more interesting to the entertainment applications. What’s more, younger respondents are more confident in making fewer mistakes. People of older ages are more confident in spending less time in learning how to use touchscreens. Moreover, it is also interesting to get reflection that many respondents complained the difficulties in getting used to the touchscreens and typing correctly on the icons of the touchscreens a lot when participated in this survey

Significance of ownership of aged care facilities in Australia

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Site-specific prolapse surgery. II. Vaginal paravaginal repair augmented with either synthetic mesh or remodelling xenograft

Introduction and hypothesis: This study aims to answer the question, "Does tissue augmentation improve the mechanical repair of displacement cystourethrocoele?" Methods: A retrospective cohort study comparing 108 bridging graft vaginal paravaginal repairs (89 tissue-inductive xenografts and 19 polypropylene mesh) to 59 native tissue historical controls was conducted. Main outcome measures were same-site prolapse recurrence and time to failure. Initial reliability was evaluated by chi-squared test, 10-year durability by Kaplan-Meier survival analysis and risk factors by Cox regression. Results: Late recurrence was 17.7% lower with augmentation (logrank test χ2=8. 4, p value=0.0038<0.05, adjusted regression analysis χ2=2.94;p value=0.0866 <0.10), implicating collagen degeneration in repair failure. Conclusions: Rebuilding the pubocervical septum, from arcus to arcus and pubic ramus to pericervical ring, satisfies the mechanical but not the metabolic hernia principles. Bridging grafts simplify technical repair (reducing prolapse persistence from 10.2% to 4.6%), and also rejuvenate adjacent connective tissue (reducing late recurrence from 22.6% to 4.9%).9 page(s

Ownership of residential aged care facilities in Australia

Market failure exists in the provision of residential aged care services in Australia due to imperfection of competition that arises out of government actions. The Commonwealth Government has the exclusive right to grant provider rights and control over the number of beds that will be funded to suppliers. This results in making competition in the provision of the service less than perfect. Further imperfection occurs, with the regulation of pricing with the government providing most of the revenue for the provision of services. This paper uses primary national data collected for residential aged care facilities in late 2004 to test the significance of ownership in the design and implementation of occupational health and safety management systems. As part of this paper, the importance of other factors in determining the implementation of these systems was also examined. This study finds that ownership is significant using logistic regression. The results from logistic regression were broadly consistent with those from preliminary analyses. Relatively fewer for-profit facilities operated in less than highly accessible regions and were more likely in larger sized compared to those not-forprofit. This is going to have important future impact on the availability of facilities in rural and remote regions. Increasingly not-for-profit operators are closing their facilities or moving away from the provision of aged care and they may not be necessarily replaced with for-profit providers.24 page(s

Web-based student learning of statistics

A need was identified for a statistical learning system that combines a statistical package offering all standard statistical procedures together with a system that helps students to learn the rudiments of statistics through experiential learning. The WebStat Data Analysis and Learning System, a web-based student learning system, is designed to fulfill this need. Currently, the system can handle large data sets from a range of sources and perform all standard and commonly used statistical procedures such as descriptive statistics, regression analyses, and more sophisticated statistical modelling such as Generalised Linear Models (GLM). WebStat utilises the program R, one of the most sophisticated and extensive statistical programs available. It can be used by many students, particularly non-statistics research students. WebStat can be further developed to suit a wide range of users. In this paper, we describe and discuss the advantages of using WebStat as a learning tool, along with identifying the main features of and possible improvements to the current design.8 page(s

Earth surface temperature changes above latitude 45 degrees north from 1973 to 2008

In this study, we examined monthly temperature variation from 1973 to 2008 on grid regions of the earth surface above latitude 45°North, covering the Arctic Ocean, northern areas of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, and the Asian and European continent. Linear modelling was used to investigate the trends and patterns of temperature changes and account for auto-correlations of the temperature changes over time. Factor analysis was then used to model filtered residuals, i.e., the residuals after removing time trends and auto-correlation, providing a basis for identifying and classifying regions with similar temperature change. Twelve large regions, each having similar temperature change patterns, were identified. Of the 69 sub-regions considered in the study, 64 sub-regions experienced significant increase in temperature, 2 sub- regions had insufficient data, and only 3 sub-regions remained unchanged. High temperature increases (0.200°C to 0.320°C) occurred in the North Pacific Ocean, Alaska and Eastern Siberia. Moderate temperature increases (0.130°C to 0.199°C) occurred in north Canada, Greenland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden and Finland. The north of Siberia and part of the North Atlantic had low increases (0.090°C to 0.129°C) while northeast Canada and its surrounding seas did not show evidence of warming.12 page(s

One-year follow-up study on golf injuries in Australian amateur golfers

Background: Considering its popularity, little epidemiologic literature exists on golf injuries. Hypothesis: The low back is the most common injury location for golf-related injury. Most golf injuries occur as a result of the golf swing, and occur mostly at impact. The variables age, handicap, practice habits, and warm-up habits are associated with injury. Methods: A prospective survey over 1 year was used to study golf injuries among 588 golfers at 8 Australian golf clubs. Information collected included golfers’ injuries sustained during the year, location of injury, onset, mechanism of injury, and whether injury occurred during the golf swing or at another time. Additional information was sought on the type of treatment received after injury. Logistic regression was used to examine the epidemiologic patterns of golf-related injury and any possible risk factors for the injury. Results: The overall 1-year incidence rate of golf injury was 15.8 injuries per 100 golfers, which equates to a range of 0.36 to 0.60 injuries/1000 hours/person. Recurrent injuries were most common, while injuries were more likely to occur over time as opposed to an acute onset. The lower back was the most common injury site (18.3%), closely followed by the elbow/forearm (17.2%), foot/ankle (12.9%), and shoulder/upper arm (11.8%). A total of 46.2% of all injuries were reportedly sustained during the golf swing, and injury was most likely to occur at the point of ball impact (23.7%), followed by the follow-through (21.5%). Multivariate analysis revealed that the amount of game play (odds ratio [OR] = 3.73, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.29–10.75) and the last time clubs were changed (OR = 0.32, 95% CI 0.12–0.86) were significantly associated with the risk of golf injury (P < .05). Other factors such as age, gender, handicap, practice habits, and warm-up habits were not significantly associated with golf injury. Conclusions: Nearly 16% of Australian amateur golfers may expect to sustain a golf-related injury per year. The injuries in golf are most likely sustained in the lower back region as a result of the golf swing. Based on statistical analysis, only game play and a changing of clubs seem to be significantly associated with risk of injury after adjusting for other risk factors (P < .05). Other factors such as age, gender, handicap, practice habits, and warm-up habits were not significant.7 page(s