Small Business Enterprise and Development: Consultation Modes

By  means  of four   illustrative  case studies,  consultation  interventions  in small  and  medium sized  (SMEs)  enterprises  are  explored     Recognized  consultation  intervention  modes  of 'expert ',  'doctor-patient' and  'process  consultation'  are found  to fluctuate  rapidly  within each case st11dy, making apparent the need for  consultants to be flexible  and adopt an appropriate stance for  client and contingencies of the situation.  The permeability  of the boundaries between content and process issues, with diagnosis and intervention inter-woven, is also apparent. The article concludes with a consideration of the conditions for success for different consultation modes with small businesses and implications for small businesses and enterprise development in their use of consultants

Effects of weight loss and seafood consumption on inflammation parameters in young, overweight and obese European men and women during 8 weeks of energy restriction

To access publisher full text version of this article. Please click on the hyperlink in Additional Links fieldBackground/Objectives:In vitro studies have shown that long-chain n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (LC n-3 PUFAs) can affect inflammation; however, results from intervention studies in overweight or obese individuals are contradicting. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of weight loss and seafood consumption on inflammation parameters during energy restriction.Subjects/Methods:In this 8-week intervention trial, 324 subjects (aged 20-40 years, body mass index 27.5-32.5 kg/m(2) from Iceland, Spain and Ireland) were randomized to one of four energy-restricted diets (-30% relative to estimated requirements): salmon (3 x 150 g/week, 2.1 g LC n-3 PUFA per day); cod (3 x 150 g/week, 0.3 g LC n-3 PUFA per day); fish oil capsules (1.3 g LC n-3 PUFA per day); and control (sunflower oil capsules, no seafood). Body weight, high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (CRP), interleukin-6 (IL-6), glutathione reductase and prostaglandin F2 alpha (PGEF2alpha) were measured at baseline and end point.Results:Subjects experienced weight loss (-5.2+/-3.2 kg, P<0.001). Taken together for all subjects, there were significant decreases in all inflammation parameters. On a group level, salmon consumption was most effective, three of the four inflammation parameters decreased in the salmon group (high-sensitivity CRP=-32.0%; IL-6=-18.4%; PGEF2alpha=-18.5%; all P<0.05). Cod consumption decreased high-sensitivity CRP and IL-6 (-21.5 and -10.8%, respectively, both P<0.05). Changes in the other two groups were not significant, which can be partly explained by the large s.d.Conclusions:The mean concentrations of inflammation parameters decreased during a period of weight loss and dietary intervention. In our study, salmon consumption was most effective, three of the four measured inflammation parameters decreased significantly in the salmon group

The influence of smoking, sedentary lifestyle and obesity on cognitive impairment-free life expectancy

BACKGROUND Smoking, sedentary lifestyle and obesity are risk factors for mortality and dementia. However, their impact on cognitive impairment-free life expectancy (CIFLE)has not previously been estimated. METHODS Data were drawn from the DYNOPTA dataset which was derived by harmonizing and pooling common measures from five longitudinal ageing studies. Participants for whom the Mini-Mental State Examination was available were included (N¼8111,48.6% men). Data on education, sex, body mass index, smoking and sedentary lifestyle were collected and mortality data were obtained from Government Records via data linkage.Total life expectancy (LE), CIFLE and years spent with cognitive impairment (CILE)were estimated for each risk factor and total burden of risk factors. RESULTS CILE was approximately 2 years for men and 3 years for women, regardless of age. For men and women respectively, reduced LE associated with smoking was 3.82and 5.88 years, associated with obesity was 0.62 and 1.72 years and associated with being sedentary was 2.50 and 2.89 years. Absence of each risk factor was associated with longer LE and CIFLE, but also longer CILE for smoking in women and being sedentary in both sexes. Compared with participants with no risk factors, those with 2þ had shorter CIFLE of up to 3.5 years depending on gender and education level. CONCLUSIONS Population level reductions in smoking, sedentary lifestyle and obesity increase longevity and number of years lived without cognitive impairment. Years lived with cognitive impairment may also increase.This work was supported by a National Health and Medical Research Council grant # 410215 and by the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence in Population Ageing Research (CE110001029). K.J.A is funded by NHMRC Fellowship #1002560. C.J. is funded by the AXA Research Fund

Psychosocial difficulties, deprivation and cancer: three questionnaire studies involving 609 cancer patients

The aim of the study is to investigate associations between deprivation and self-reported social difficulties and psychological distress in cancer patients. A total of 304 men and 305 women (age range 18–88 years) with a range of cancer diagnoses and living in a socially diverse region (Carstairs and Morris index) completed the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale and the Social Difficulties Inventory. Univariate analyses of variance revealed statistically significant differences in reported social difficulties between groups (F (67, 576)=2.4, P<0.0001) with stage of disease (F (5, 576)=7.6, P<0.0001), age (F (2, 576)=4.8, P=0.009) and to a lesser extent deprivation (F (1, 576)=4.0, P=0.048) making significant contributions. Significantly more social difficulties were reported by less affluent patients with locally recurrent disease or ‘survivors'. No other interactions were found. Significant differences in levels of reported psychological distress were found between groups (F (67, 575)=1.723, P=0.001) for stage of disease, sex and deprivation but no interactions observed. In conclusion, deprivation is associated with reported psychological distress and, to a lesser extent, social difficulties. Patients at particular risk cannot be identified with confidence by socio-demographic and clinical means supporting the recommendation from National Institute for Clinical Excellence for provision of psychosocial assessment for individual cancer patients

Inclusion of fish or fish oil in weight-loss diets for young adults: effects on blood lipids.

To access publisher full text version of this article. Please click on the hyperlink in Additional Links fieldOBJECTIVE: To assess the effects of fish (lean or oily) and fish oil consumption on blood lipid concentration during weight loss. DESIGN: Randomized, controlled 8-week trial of energy-restricted diet varying in fish and fish oil content. Subjects, 324 men and women, aged 20-40 years, body mass index 27.5-32.5 kg m(-2), from Iceland, Spain and Ireland, were randomized to one of four groups: (1) control (sunflower oil capsules, no seafood), (2) cod diet (3 x 150 g week(-1)), (3) salmon diet (3 x 150 g week(-1)), (4) fish oil (DHA/EPA capsules, no seafood). The macronutrient composition of the diets was similar between the groups and the capsule groups were single-blinded. MEASUREMENTS: Total cholesterol (TC), high-density lipoprotein (HDL) and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, triacylglycerol (TG) and anthropometrics were measured at baseline and end point. RESULTS: The difference in logTG lowering between the control group and the cod diet, salmon diet and fish oil from baseline to end point was -0.036 (95% CI -0.079 to 0.006), -0.060 (-0.101 to -0.018) and -0.037 (-0.079 to 0.006), respectively. Reduction in TC was about 0.2 mmol l(-1) greater in the fish groups (cod and salmon) than in the control group, but only of borderline significance when adjusting for weight loss. HDL tended to decrease less in the diet groups consuming a significant amount of n-3 fatty acids (salmon and fish oil). CONCLUSION: Weight-loss diet including oily fish resulted in greater TG reduction than did a diet without fish or fish oil. Controlled trials using whole fish as a test meal are encouraged to be able to elucidate the role of different constituents of fish for human health

Gender differences in the trajectories of late-life depressive symptomology and probable depression in the years prior to death

BACKGROUND: Gender differences in depression are well established. Whether these differences persist into late life and in the years preceding death is less clear. There is a suggestion that there is no increased likelihood of depression in late life, but that there is an increase in depressive symptomology, particularly with proximity to death. We compared trajectories of probable depression and depressive symptomology between men and women over age and distance-to-death metrics to determine whether reports of depressive symptoms are more strongly related to age or mortality. METHODS: Participants (N = 2,852) from the Dynamic Analyses to Optimise Ageing (DYNOPTA) project had a mean age of 75 years (SD = 5.68 years) at baseline and were observed for up to 16 years prior to death. Multi-level regression models estimated change in depressive symptomology and probable depression over two time metrics, increasing age, and distance-to-death. RESULTS: Increases in depressive symptomology were reported over increasing age and in the years approaching death. Only male participants reported increased probable depression in the years preceding death. Models that utilized distance-to-death metrics better represented changes in late-life depression, although any changes in depression appear to be accounted for by co-varying physical health status. CONCLUSIONS: As death approaches, there are increases in the levels of depressive symptomology even after controlling for socio-demographic and health covariates. In line with increases in suicide rates in late life, male participants were at greater risk of reporting increases in depressive symptomology.NHMRC (National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia

The CCSDS 123.0-B-2 Low-Complexity Lossless and Near-Lossless Multispectral and Hyperspectral Image Compression Standard: A comprehensive review

The Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems (CCSDS) published the CCSDS 123.0-B-2, “Low- Complexity Lossless and Near-Lossless Multispectral and Hyperspectral Image Compression” standard. This standard extends the previous issue, CCSDS 123.0-B-1, which supported only lossless compression, while maintaining backward compatibility. The main novelty of the new issue is support for near-lossless compression, i.e., lossy compression with user-defined absolute and/or relative error limits in the reconstructed images. This new feature is achieved via closed-loop quantization of prediction errors. Two further additions arise from the new near lossless support: first, the calculation of predicted sample values using sample representatives that may not be equal to the reconstructed sample values, and, second, a new hybrid entropy coder designed to provide enhanced compression performance for low-entropy data, prevalent when non lossless compression is used. These new features enable significantly smaller compressed data volumes than those achievable with CCSDS 123.0-B-1 while controlling the quality of the decompressed images. As a result, larger amounts of valuable information can be retrieved given a set of bandwidth and energy consumption constraints

Proceedings of the Rank Forum on Vitamin D

The Rank Forum on Vitamin D was held on 2nd and 3rd July 2009 at the University of Surrey, Guildford, UK. The workshop consisted of a series of scene-setting presentations to address the current issues and challenges concerning vitamin D and health, and included an open discussion focusing on the identification of the concentrations of serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) (a marker of vitamin D status) that may be regarded as optimal, and the implications this process may have in the setting of future dietary reference values for vitamin D in the UK. The Forum was in agreement with the fact that it is desirable for all of the population to have a serum 25(OH)D concentration above 25 nmol/l, but it discussed some uncertainty about the strength of evidence for the need to aim for substantially higher concentrations (25(OH)D concentrations . 75 nmol/l). Any discussion of ‘optimal’ concentration of serum 25(OH)D needs to define ‘optimal’ with care since it is important to consider the normal distribution of requirements and the vitamin D needs for a wide range of outcomes. Current UK reference values concentrate on the requirements of particular subgroups of the population; this differs from the approaches used in other European countries where a wider range of age groups tend to be covered. With the re-emergence of rickets and the public health burden of low vitamin D status being already apparent, there is a need for urgent action from policy makers and risk managers. The Forum highlighted concerns regarding the failure of implementation of existing strategies in the UK for achieving current vitamin D recommendations

High performing and stable supported nano-alloys for the catalytic hydrogenation of levulinic acid to γ-valerolactone

The catalytic hydrogenation of ​levulinic acid, a key platform molecule in many biorefinery schemes, into ​γ-valerolactone is considered as one of the pivotal reactions to convert lignocellulose-based biomass into renewable fuels and chemicals. Here we report on the development of highly active, selective and stable supported metal catalysts for this reaction and on the beneficial effects of metal nano-alloying. Bimetallic random alloys of ​gold-palladium and ​ruthenium-palladium supported on ​titanium dioxide are prepared with a modified metal impregnation method. ​Gold-palladium/​titanium dioxide shows a marked,~27-fold increase in activity (that is, turnover frequency of 0.1 s−1) compared with its monometallic counterparts. Although ​ruthenium-palladium/​titanium dioxide is not only exceptionally active (that is, turnover frequency of 0.6 s−1), it shows excellent, sustained selectivity to ​γ-valerolactone (99%). The dilution and isolation of ruthenium by palladium is thought to be responsible for this superior catalytic performance. Alloying, furthermore, greatly improves the stability of both supported nano-alloy catalysts