Variations in statin prescribing for primary cardiovascular disease prevention: cross-sectional analysis

Background Statins are an important intervention for primary and secondary cardiovascular disease (CVD) prevention. We aimed to establish the variation in primary preventive treatment for CVD with statins in the English population. Methods Cross sectional analyses of 6155 English primary care practices with 40,017,963 patients in 2006/7. Linear regression was used to model prescribing rates of statins for primary CVD prevention as a function of IMD (index of multiple deprivation) quintile, proportion of population from an ethnic minority, and age over 65 years. Defined Daily Doses (DDD) were used to calculate the numbers of patients receiving a statin. Statin prescriptions were allocated to primary and secondary prevention based on the prevalence of CVD and stroke. Results We estimated that 10.5% (s.d.3.7%) of the registered population were dispensed a statin for any indication and that 6.3% (s.d. 3.0%) received a statin for primary CVD prevention. The regression model explained 21.2% of the variation in estimates of prescribing for primary prevention. Practices with higher prevalence of hypertension (β co-efficient 0.299 p <0.001) and diabetes (β co-efficient 0.566 p < 0.001) prescribed more statins for primary prevention. Practices with higher levels of ethnicity (β co-efficient-0.026 p <0.001), greater deprivation (β co-efficient −0.152 p < 0.001) older patients (β co-efficient −0.032 p 0.002), larger lists (β co-efficient −0.085, p < 0.001) and were more rural (β co-efficient −0.121, p0.026) prescribed fewer statins. In a small proportion of practices (0.5%) estimated prescribing rates for statins were so low that insufficient prescriptions were issued to meet the predicted secondary prevention requirements of their registered population. Conclusions Absolute estimated prescribing rates for primary prevention of CVD were 6.3% of the population. There was evidence of social inequalities in statin prescribing for primary prevention. These findings support the recent introduction of a financial incentive for primary prevention of CVD in England

Kyrgyzstan's 'manas' epos millennium celebrations : post-colonial resurgence of Turkic culture and the strategic marketing of cultural tourism

The paper addresses the symbolic nature of the Manas epos and its influence on both the unification of Kyrgyzstan and the enhancement of the country's national and Turkic identity. The case of the Manas epos millennium celebrations event is then used to illustrate the relationship between the uses of the Manas 'legend' in the construction of a national identity and in the positioning of the cultural tourism product. The paper subsequently assess the potential usefulness of the Manas epos in the creation of a destination image for Kyrgyzstan and in the positioning of Kyrgyzstan in the global tourism marketplace

Does the factor theory of satisfaction explain political voting behaviour?

Purpose – The validity of the three factor theory of satisfaction in explaining consumer decision making for products and services is well established. This paper explains voter perceptions and voting behaviour in the 2010 UK General Election on the basis of this theory, by evaluating the differential impact of government performance on key political issues defined as hierarchical voter satisfaction factor types. Design/methodology/approach – British Election Survey (2010) data is used to test the relative influence of hierarchical voter satisfaction factor types in predicting: (1) the perceived overall performance of the former Labour government; (2) actual voting behaviour. Sequential and multinomial logistic regression models are used in (1) and (2), respectively. Findings – ‘Basic’ factors explain more of the variance in perceived overall government performance and voting behaviour than ‘performance’ factors. There are significant positive main and interaction effects on Conservative and Liberal Democrat party votes from Labour’s under performance on the ‘basic’ factors. The results have important implications for political marketing and voting behaviour research. Originality/value – The study establishes the relevance of the three factor theory of satisfaction within a political marketing context. It demonstrates that, controlling for party loyalty, perceived government performance on the hierarchical voter satisfaction factors explains voter perceptions and voting behaviour to a significant degree. In particular, it highlights the criticality for voting behaviour of both the direct and indirect impacts of ‘basic’ factor under performance. Keywords - political marketing, three factor theory, voting behaviour</p

Re-animating Ghosts: Materiality and memory in hauntological appropriation

This research examines the spectrality of animation and other media based on the photographic trace. Using diverse examples from popular culture and the author’s own investigative practice in media art, this paper looks at how archival media is re-used and can be brought back to life in new moving image works, in a gesture we might call hauntological appropriation. While sampling and re-using old materials is nothing new, over the last 15 years we have seen an ongoing tendency to foreground the ghostly qualities of vintage recordings and found footage, and a recurrent fetishisation and simulation of obsolete technologies. Here we examine the philosophies and productions behind this hauntological turn and why the materiality of still and moving image media has become such a focus. We ask how that materiality effects the machines that remember for us, and how we re-use these analogue memories in digital cultures. Due to the multimodal nature of the author’s creative practice, photography, video art, documentary film and animation, are interrogated here theoretically. Re-animating the ghosts of old media can reveal ontological differences between these forms, and a ghostly synergy between the animated and the photographic

Industry and Society: A Study of the Home Front in Barrow-in-Furness during the First World War

The thesis examines the case of Barrow-in-Furness through the period of the First World War. As a town dominated by one of the UK’s most important armaments firms, Vickers, Barrow experienced the full force of industrial mobilisation and government intervention. In analysing the responses to these events, the thesis provides insights into their impact on a town and population dependent on industries stimulated by war. Barrow had special problems arising from its geographical isolation and large munitions population. Vickers, the work force and the town at large were used to negotiating their own difficulties, but these were severely tested by the impact of war. Industrial relations in a heavily unionised but strategically important town were complicated by the different positions of Vickers, unions, shop stewards, rival government agencies, and the role of women, yet ultimately all parties found ways of working together. The knock-on effects of the war on industry were extensive and far reaching. The life of the town was intimately bound up with the war industry and the changes in war requirements ultimately affected its population through housing, health and welfare and the need for utilities and transport. Addressing these difficulties posed some of the greatest problems. Political implications of wartime in a working-class town led to a split in the Labour Party and ultimately the return of a Tory in 1919. While historians have considered how the nation met the demands of the war, a focus on the regionality of the home front highlights more precisely the impact on specific places and how the war effort was sustained in practice. The experience of the town of Barrow throughout the period of the First World War is therefore invaluable for demonstrating the complexity and inter-relatedness of how the war affected people, industry and infrastructure on the home front

Recent developments in chemoinformatics education

Chemoinformatics techniques are increasingly being used to analyse the huge volumes of chemical and biological data resulting from combinatorial synthesis and high-throughput screening programmes. Scientists with both the chemical and the computing skills required to carry out such analyses are currently in very short supply, this resulting in the establishment of MSc programmes for the training of chemoinformatics specialists

Regenerating the Quays in Salford: an Analysis of Visitor Perception, Behaviour and Experience

Tourism can generate substantial benefits to destination communities and has featured extensively in urban regeneration policy, but whilst there is now an extensive literature covering urban tourism and dockland regeneration, visitor perceptions of urban waterfront destinations and their on-site behaviour and experience remain largely unexplored. The paper focuses on the Quays in Salford, the city’s former docklands, which has been regenerated and repositioned as its flagship tourism product. It reports the findings from a questionnaire survey of visitors’ perceptions, behaviour and experience of the Quays. A principal components analysis revealed that four product performance dimensions: ‘primary attractions’, ‘secondary attractions’, ‘access’ and ‘environment’, explained 62 percent of the variance in the data and just under 38 percent of overall visitor satisfaction. Furthermore, the destination’s secondary features, explained more of the variance in visitor satisfaction than its primary attractions, which in turn, were more influential than the environment and access components. The implications of the findings for destination marketing and management are discussed

A Cross-Cultural and Cross-Gender Analysis of Compulsive Buying Behaviour's Core Dimensions

This study seeks to address the disagreement in the literature about compulsive buying behavior's (CBB) dimensional structure and tests for cross-cultural and cross-gender invariance in young British, Chinese, Czech and Spanish consumers using structural equation modelling. The results show that CBB has two compulsive dimensions: Compulsive Purchasing (CP), and Self-control Impaired Spending (SIS). These dimensions are cross-culturally invariant, although the influence of SIS on CBB is higher in more developed countries, particularly among females. The confirmation of the SIS dimension and the external validity of the CBB construct established through the cross-cultural invariance in CBB dimensions indicate that screening tools should be revised accordingly. The SIS dimension has possibly been previously misinterpreted as impulsive and/or as spontaneous buying and may explain the higher incidence of CBB among female consumers

Bootlegger : Turning Fans into Film Crew

Abstract Bootlegger is a system for creating multi-camera films of live music events using mobile devices. Using readily available technology and a synthesis of film-making conventions, the system coordinates music fans at live shows into an improvised film crew, suggesting shots, collating footage and generating rich metadata in real time. Bootlegger is part of a research project exploring adapting professional media workflows to amateur contexts in order to lower the bar to entry for media production. By enabling concert-goers ..