Motivation to drink alcohol in first year university students : having a good time or simply coping?

Research suggests that excessive alcohol consumption is a major health concern in undergraduates with typical drinking patterns established in the first year (Berwick, et al., 2008). While the stereotype is that students drink to have fun, some American research has suggested that excessive alcohol use is associated with stress in students (DeHart et al., 2009). The self-medication hypothesis (Khantzian, 2003) suggests that individuals with high levels of stress and anxiety will drink alcohol more frequently as a coping mechanism and this was examined here. The motivation to drink alcohol was assessed in British first year undergraduates (N=137) along with levels of stress, state and trait anxiety, and frequency of alcohol use. The self-medication theory was supported for women but not for men. Women also had higher perceived stress scores than men. The more students were motivated to drink to have a good time, the more frequently they drank

The countryside in urbanized Flanders: towards a flexible definition for a dynamic policy

The countryside, the rural area, the open space, … many definitions are used for rural Flanders. Everyone makes its own interpretation of the countryside, considering it as a place for living, working or recreating. The countryside is more than just a geographical area: it is an aggregate of physical, social, economic and cultural functions, strongly interrelated with each other. According to international and European definitions of rural areas there would be almost no rural area in Flanders. These international definitions are all developed to be used for analysis and policy within their specific context. They are not really applicable to Flanders because of the historical specificity of its spatial structure. Flanders is characterized by a giant urbanization pressure on its countryside while internationally rural depopulation is a point of interest. To date, for every single rural policy initiative – like the implementation of the European Rural Development Policy – Flanders used a specifically adapted definition, based on existing data or previously made delineations. To overcome this oversupply of definitions and delineations, the Flemish government funded a research project to obtain a clear and flexible definition of the Flemish countryside and a dynamic method to support Flemish rural policy aims. First, an analysis of the currently used definitions of the countryside in Flanders was made. It is clear that, depending on the perspective or the policy context, another definition of the countryside comes into view. The comparative study showed that, according to the used criteria, the area percentage of Flanders that is rural, varies between 9 and 93 per cent. Second, dynamic sets of criteria were developed, facilitating a flexible definition of the countryside, according to the policy aims concerned. This research part was focused on 6 policy themes, like ‘construction, maintenance and management of local (transport) infrastructures’ and ‘provision of (minimum) services (education, culture, health care, …)’. For each theme a dynamic set of criteria or indicators was constructed. These indicators make it possible to show where a policy theme manifests itself and/or where policy interventions are possible or needed. In this way every set of criteria makes up a new definition of rural Flanders. This method is dynamic; new data or insights can easily be incorporated and new criteria sets can be developed if other policy aims come into view. The developed method can contribute to a more region-oriented and theme-specific rural policy and funding mechanism

Implementing US-style anti-fraud laws in the Australian pharmaceutical and health care industries

This article critically analyses the prospects for introducing United States anti-fraud (or anti-false claims) laws in the Australian health care setting. Australian governments spend billions of dollars each year on medicines and health care. A recent report estimates that the money lost to corporate fraud in Australia is growing at an annual rate of 7%, but that only a third of the losses are currently being detected. In the US, qui tam provisions - the component of anti-fraud or anti-false claims laws involving payments to whistleblowers - have been particularly successful in providing critical evidence allowing public prosecutors to recover damages for fraud and false claims made by corporations in relation to federal and state health care programs. The US continues to strengthen such anti-fraud measures and to successfully apply them to a widening range of areas involving large public investment. Australia still suffers from the absence of any comprehensive scheme that not only allows treble damages recovery for fraud on the public purse, but crucially supports such actions by providing financial encouragement for whistleblowing corporate insiders to expose evidence of fraud. Potential areas of application could include direct and indirect government expenditure on health care service provision, pharmaceuticals, medical devices, defence, carbon emissions compensation and tobacco-related illness. The creation in Australia of an equivalent to US anti-false claims legislation should be a policy priority, particularly in a period of financial stringency

THE ROLE OF PHYSALIN F IN REVERSING EXPERIMENTAL NEUROPATHIC PAIN

Chronic pain continues to be an insurmountable issue in recent times, particularly due to the lack of adequate knowledge as well as the unavailability of appropriate therapeutics that target it. The increasingly common prescription of opioids as medication to treat chronic pain has ultimately contributed to a national opioid epidemic. In response to this, several strides have been made by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to revise guidelines pertaining to opioid prescription for chronic pain. This project specifically focuses on identifying the mechanism of action of Physalin F, a natural compound isolated from the Physalis acutifolia (family: Solanaceae) herb, and previously demonstrated to exhibit antinociceptive effects in models of inflammatory pain, consistent with earlier reports of its anti-inflammatory and immunomodulatory activities. Through the use of calcium imaging, it was revealed that Physalin F had a significant inhibitory effect on voltage-gated calcium channels in dorsal root ganglion. In order to replicate these findings in-vivo, Physalin F was found to reverse mechanical allodynia in both paclitaxel-induced and spinal nerve ligation-induced neuropathic pain models, further elucidating its antinociceptive behavior. Experimentation results provided a better scope on Physalin F mechanism of action as well as grounds for further investigation

If at first you don't succeed: an experimental investigation of the impact of repetition options on corporate takeovers

This paper models, and experimentally simulates, the free-rider problem in a takeover when the raider has the option to “resolicit,” that is, to make a new offer after an offer has been rejected. In theory, the option to resolicit, by lowering offer credibility, increases the dissipative losses associated with free riding. In practice, the outcomes of our experiment, while quite closely tracking theory in the effective absence of an option to resolicit, differed dramatically from theory when a significant probability of resolicitation was introduced: The option to resolicit reduced the costs of free riding fairly substantially. Both the raider offers and the shareholder tendering responses generally exceeded equilibrium predictions.Corporations - Finance ; Game theory

Urban dynamics in the Flemish countryside: a comparative study on morphological patterns and local economy dynamics

The article examines two aspects of urbanisation in the rural areas of Flanders, the northern part of Belgium. On the one hand, the evolution of the built environment is studied in terms of built-up density and the corresponding morphological sprawl pattern, from the beginning of the 19th century up until now. On the other hand, the economy dynamics in the rural areas are investigated. This shift in economic activities can be seen as part of a broader urbanisation process, with aspects such as tertiarisation and broadening of agriculture. The main driving factors behind these transformations are discussed based on literature study. It becomes clear that urbanisation of the countryside is the combined result of economic, physical, cultural and political evolutions. The comparative study in eight case municipalities with different spatial characteristics maps the evolution of the built environment and continuity of the economic activities. Temporal and regional differences are analysed and related to more location-specific driving factors. The sprawl pattern seems to have a historical ground, whereas the difference in density is related to the evolution path. Regarding the local economy dynamics, no clear regional differences can be found. The professions and other business services category has the highest density. The amount of tertiary activities proves the importance of tertiarisation on the countryside. Both studied evolutions tend to change the open space profoundly. Therefore, insights are crucial in order to develop location specific policies