A New Direction for the Payment of Milk: Technological and Seasonality Considerations in Multiple Component Milk Pricing of Milk (Liquid and Manufacturing) for a Diversifying Dairy Industry

End of project reportThe main objectives of this study were to compare a Multiple Component Pricing system with the current milk pricing practice in Ireland and to estimate the marginal values of the three main milk components (fat, protein and lactose) in the context of the Irish milk processing industry. A representative linear programming model of an average Irish milk processor was developed in order to determine the marginal values of the milk components and to compare the value of milk under the Multiple Component Pricing system with the value under the current milk pricing practice. This study also examined the effect of product mix, milk supply and milk composition on the marginal value of the milk components

In two minds: executive functioning versus theory of mind in behavioural variant frontotemporal dementia

Background: The relationship of executive function (EF) and theory of mind (ToM) deficits in neurodegeneration is still debated. There is contradicting evidence as to whether these cognitive processes are overlapping or distinct, which has clear clinical relevance for the evaluation of their associated clinical symptoms. Aim: To investigate the relationship of EF and ToM deficits via a data-driven approach in a large sample of patients with behavioural variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD). Methods: Data of 46 patients with bvFTD were employed in a hierarchical cluster analysis to determine the similarity of variance between different EF measures (verbal abstraction, verbal initiation, motor programming, sensitivity to interference, inhibitory control, visual abstraction, flexibility, working memory/attention) and ToM (faux pas). Results: Overall results showed that EF measures were clustered separately from the ToM measure. A post hoc analysis revealed a more complex picture where selected ToM subcomponents (empathy; intention) showed a relationship to specific EF measures (verbal abstraction; working memory/attention), whereas the remaining EF and ToM subcomponents were separate. Conclusions: Taken together, these findings suggest that EF and ToM are distinct components; however, ToM empathy and intention subcomponents might share some functions with specific EF processes. This has important implications for guiding diagnostic assessment of these deficits in clinical conditions

Fronto-striatal atrophy in behavioural variant frontotemporal dementia & Alzheimer’s disease

Behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD) has only recently been associated with significant striatal atrophy, whereas the striatum appears to be relatively preserved in Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Considering the critical role the striatum has in cognition and behavior, striatal degeneration, together with frontal atrophy, could be responsible of some characteristic symptoms in bvFTD and emerges therefore as promising novel diagnostic biomarker to distinguish bvFTD and AD. Previous studies have, however, only taken either cortical or striatal atrophy into account when comparing the two diseases. In this study, we establish for the first time a profile of fronto-striatal atrophy in 23 bvFTD and 29 AD patients at presentation, based on the structural connectivity of striatal and cortical regions. Patients are compared to 50 healthy controls by using a novel probabilistic connectivity atlas, which defines striatal regions by their cortical white-matter connectivity, allowing us to explore the degeneration of the frontal and striatal regions that are functionally linked. Comparisons with controls revealed that bvFTD showed substantial fronto-striatal atrophy affecting the ventral as well as anterior and posterior dorso-lateral prefrontal cortices and the related striatal subregions. In contrast, AD showed few frontostriatal atrophy, despite having significant posterior dorso-lateral prefrontal degeneration. Direct comparison between bvFTD and AD revealed significantly more atrophy in the ventral striatal–ventromedial prefrontal cortex regions in bvFTD. Consequently, deficits in ventral fronto-striatal regions emerge as promising novel and efficient diagnosis biomarker for bvFTD. Future investigations into the contributions of these fronto-striatal loops on bvFTD symptomology are needed to develop simple diagnostic and disease tracking algorithms

Self-regulation: A new perspective on learning problems experienced by children born extremely preterm

Survival rates are increasing for children born extremely preterm, yet despite the majority of these children having IQ scores within the average range, 50-70% of these children have later school difficulties. This paper reviews factors associated with academic difficulties in these children, emphasizing the contributions of executive functions (EF) and self-regulation. The roles of EF are examined separately, and also under the unifying construct of self-regulation; that is, the integration of various behavioural, cognitive, and affective elements. Improving self-regulatory skills could moderate the negative effects of EF deficits and inform interventions to improve the educational outcomes of these childre

A retrospective analysis of Victorian and South Australian clinical registries for prostate cancer: trends in clinical presentation and management of the disease

Open AccessThis article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.Abstract Background: Prostate cancer (PCa) is the most commonly diagnosed malignancy reported to Australian cancer registries with numerous studies from individual registries summarizing diagnostic and treatment characteristics. The aim of this study was to describe annual trends in clinical and treatment characteristics, and changes in surveillance practice within a large combined cohort of men with PCa in South Australia (SA) and Victoria, Australia in 2008–2013. Methods: Common data items from clinical registries in SA and Victoria were merged to develop a crossjurisdictional dataset consisting of 13,598 men with PCa. Frequencies were used to describe these variables using the National Comprehensive Cancer Network risk of disease progression categories in 10 year age groups. A logistic regression analysis was performed to assess the impact of a number of factors (both individually and together) on the likelihood of men receiving no active treatment within twelve months of the diagnosis (i.e. managed with active surveillance/watchful waiting). Results: Trend analysis showed that over time: (1) men in SA and Victoria are being diagnosed at older age in 2013, 66.1 (SD = 9.7) years compared to 2009 (64.5 (SD = 9.7)); (2) diagnostic methods and characteristics have changed with time; and (3) types of the treatments have changed, with more men having no active treatment. The majority of men were diagnosed with Prostate-Specific Antigen (PSA) <10 ng/mL (66 %) and Grade Group < 4 (65 %). Nearly seventy percent received radical treatment within 12 months of diagnosis, while ~20 % had no active treatment. In 14 % of cases treatment was not recorded or had not commenced. Having no active treatment was strongly associated older age, lower PSA and lower Grade Group at diagnosis, and in 2013 it was offered more frequently (more than 3 times) than in 2009 (OR = 2.63, 95 % CI: 2.16–3.22). Conclusions: Findings of this study provide the first cross-jurisdictional description of PCa characteristics and management in Australia. These findings will provide benchmarking for ongoing monitoring and feedback of disease management and outcomes of PCa through the Prostate Cancer Outcomes Registry–Australia New Zealand to improve evidence-based practice

Assessing awareness and attitudes of healthcare professionals on the use of biosimilar medicines: A survey of physicians and pharmacists in Ireland

Increasing numbers of biosimilar medicines are becoming available. The objective of this survey was to assess awareness of and attitudes to biosimilars amongst physicians (medical specialists and General Practitioners (GPs)) and community pharmacists in Ireland. Physicians were invited to complete an online questionnaire during April and May 2016. Community pharmacists received a postal questionnaire in August 2015. Responses from 102 medical specialists, 253 GPs and 125 community pharmacists were analysed. The majority of medical specialists (85%) and pharmacists (77%) claimed to be either very familiar or familiar with the term biosimilar, whereas many GPs (60%) were unable to define or had never heard of the term. One in five (21%) healthcare professionals responded that biosimilars were the same as generic medicines. The majority of medical specialists opposed pharmacist-led substitution of biological medicines but some thought it could be appropriate if agreed with the clinician in advance. Medical specialists who prescribe biosimilars (n = 43) were more likely to do so on treatment initiation (67%), than switch a patient from an originator medicine to a biosimilar (28%). The findings will aid the design of educational initiatives for healthcare professionals and highlight attitudes of healthcare professionals to biosimilars, so informing regulators, policy makers and industry

Regulatory Science Ireland: bridging the information gap on biosimilar medicines

Regulatory Science Ireland (RSI) is a voluntary network of interested parties from academia, the Health Products Regulatory Authority (HPRA), pharmaceutical and medical device industries and government agencies. RSI is conducting a research project, the objective of which is to enhance understanding of biosimilar medicines amongst stakeholders and encourage best practice in the use of these medicines

Preschool children perceived by mothers as irregular eaters: physical and psychosocial predictors from a Birth Cohort Study

Objective: Parents often report their children display irregular eating patterns. Our aim is to describe the stability of maternal-perceived irregular eating of their offspring from 6 months to 2-4 years of age and to investigate factors that are associated with maternal perceived irregular eating of their 2-4 year old offspring. Methods: A longitudinal mother-child linked analysis was carried out using 5 year follow-up data from a population-based prospective birth cohort of 5122 mothers who were participants in the Mater-University Study of Pregnancy, Brisbane. Measures included responses to standardized questionnaires, pediatrician review and standardized measures such as the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-Revised and the Child Behavior Checklist. Results: 20.2% and 7.6% of mothers respectively stated their 2-4 year old was sometimes or often an irregular eater. Continuity of feeding difficulties from age 6 months was prominent: 48% of 6 month Olds with a feeding problem were 'sometimes' or 'often' irregular eaters at age 2-4 years. From a multivariable analysis, both child-intrinsic factors (chronic physical morbidity, sleeplessness and anxiety-depressive symptoms) and factors that impinge upon the child (poor maternal health and maternal depression and anxiety) independently contributed to irregular eating status at age 2-4 years. Conclusions: We conclude that approximately one third of mothers had some concern with their child's irregular eating, 7.6% of mothers were often concerned. irregular eating children were usually physically well, more likely to have persisting feeding problems, sleeplessness, behavioral problems and lived with mothers with perceived poor physical and mental health. Ontervention strategies should be family orientated and include child, mother and mother-child psychosocial approaches