Mandatory Disclosure of Pharmaceutical Industry-Funded Events for Health Professionals

David Henry and colleagues examine compliance with new disclosure requirements of Medicines Australia, the pharmaceutical industry representative body, and argue that they fall short and instead more comprehensive reporting standards are needed

Motion Rail: A Virtual Reality Level Crossing Training Application

This paper presents the development and usability testing of a Virtual Reality (VR) based system named 'Motion Rail' for training children on railway crossing safety. The children are to use a VR head mounted device and a controller to navigate the VR environment to perform a level crossing task and they will receive instant feedback on pass or failure on a display in the VR environment. Five participants consisting of two male and three females were considered for the usability test. The outcomes of the test was promising, as the children were very engaging and will like to adopt this training approach in future safety training

Health Systems and Sustainability: Doctors and Consumers Differ on Threats and Solutions

Background: Healthcare systems face the problem of insufficient resources to meet the needs of ageing populations and increasing demands for access to new treatments. It is unclear whether doctors and consumers agree on the main challenges to health system sustainability. Methodology: We conducted a mail survey of Australian doctors (specialists and general practitioners) and a computer assisted telephone interview (CATI) of consumers to determine their views on contributors to increasing health care costs, rationing of services and involvement in health resource allocation decisions. Differences in responses are reported as odds ratios (OR) and 99% confidence intervals (CI). Results: Of 2948 doctors, 1139 (38.6%) responded; 533 of 826 consumers responded (64.5% response). Doctors were more concerned than consumers with the effects of an ageing population (OR 3.0; 99% CI 1.7, 5.4), and costs of new drugs and technologies (OR 5.1; CI 3.3, 8.0), but less likely to consider pharmaceutical promotional activities as a cost driver (OR 0.29, CI 0.22, 0.39). Doctors were more likely than consumers to view ‘community demand’ for new technologies as a major cost driver, (OR 1.6; 1.2, 2.2), but less likely to attribute increased costs to patients failing to take responsibility for their own health (OR 0.35; 0.24, 0.49). Like doctors, the majority of consumers saw a need for public consultation in decisions about funding for new treatments. Conclusions: Australian doctors and consumers hold different views on the sustainability of the healthcare system, and a number of key issues relating to costs, cost drivers, roles and responsibilities. Doctors recognise their dual responsibility to patients and society, see an important role for physicians in influencing resource allocation, and acknowledge their lack of skills in assessing treatments of marginal value. Consumers recognise cost pressures on the health system, but express willingness to be involved in health care decision making

Disability activism and the politics of scale

In this paper, we examine the role of spatial scale in mediating and shaping political struggles between disabled people and the state. Specifically, we draw on recent theoretical developments concerning the social construction of spatial scale to interpret two case studies of disability activism within Canada and Ireland. In particular, we provide an analysis of how successful the disability movement in each locale has been at 'jumping scale' and enacting change, as well as examining what the consequences of such scaling-up have been for the movement itself. We demonstrate that the political structures operating in each country markedly affect the scaled nature of disability issues and the effectiveness of political mobilization at different scales

Fibre diameter variation as a measure of resilience in sheep

The ability to select sheep which have a greater capacity to overcome environmental fluctuations
 is topical given the severity of climatic events, labour shortages and increased productive demands
 (lamb, meat and wool). In this paper, we review the possibility of using variation in fibre diameter
 (FD), measured along the wool staple as an indicator of how sheep respond to the fluctuations of
 their environment

Merits of developing a genetic evaluation for the Australian dairy sheep and goat industries

The Australian dairy sheep and goat industries have been constrained by the size of the national flock and the geographical spread of flocks across the country. The absence of a national genetic evaluation system to underpin meaningful genetic improvement has contributed to the production performance of Australian dairy sheep and goat milk production being lower compared to the more developed dairy sheep and goat industries of Europe. Implementing a national genetic evaluation scheme will aid the development and future progress of the Australian dairy sheep and goat industries through identification and selection of the genetically superior animals. This study investigated the advantages of a genetic evaluation program for traits of value in Australian dairy sheep and goats, and outlined potential gains from implementing a breeding program

Defining resilience traits in sheep from fibre diameter variation of wool

The capacity to measure and select livestock that are more resilient to environmental fluctuation is of increasing importance amidst climate change, labour shortages and increasing production demand. Currently, however, there is no consensus on how to quantify resilience, particularly in extensive sheep populations. In this study, we explored the ability to derive resilience indicator traits from fibre diameter variation measured longitudinally (5 mm increments) along the wool staple. Fibre diameter varies in relation to the supply of nutrients to the wool follicles and thereby provides a stable archive of the animal's physiological status across the preceding wool growth period. From this fibre diameter variation, ways to detect and characterise an animal's ability to withstand or be minimally affected by its environment were explored. The heritability estimates of these traits were shown to be low to moderate (0.10 to 0.31), indicating that genetic variation exists for fibre diameter variation measured along the wool staple which may be interpreted as a measure of resilience. The inclusion of such measures in sheep breeding programs has the potential to improve the resilience of sheep to environmental challenges, which may have positive implications for sheep enterprise profitability, health and welfare

Genetic Parameters for Growth Traits in Hampshire Sheep in Mexico

Univariate and bivariate linear models via Restricted Maximum Likelihood (ASReml) were used to estimate heritability, phenotypic and genetic correlation for growth traits measured at birth (BW), weaning (WW) around 60 days, 90 days (W90), 120 days (W120) and 150 days (W150) in Hampshire sheep raised in Mexico. From 2005 to 2009 a total of 1,133 individual records of lambs born on 10 farms from 612 ewes and 63 sires were analysed. Direct heritability estimates for BW, WW, W90, W120 and W150 were 0.38±0.11, 0.15±0.08, 0.17±0.09, 0.18±0.07 and 0.14±0.06, respectively. All direct and maternal permanent environmental effect correlations were positive for BM, WW, W90, W120 and W150. The phenotypic correlations between all traits were positive and ranged from 0.29 to 0.96. The genetic correlations among growth traits were positive ranging from 0.35 to 0.94. The genetic parameter estimates presented here can be used to estimate breeding values to support genetic improvement programs for the Hampshire breed in Mexico