Grand Rounds in Pediatric Endocrinology

No Abstract - Question and answer case repor

The Importance of Brand Liking and Brand Trust in Consumer Decision Making: Insights from Bulgarian and Hungarian Consumers During the Global Economic Crisis

This paper presents the research findings of a global brand study conducted during the recent global economic crisis. The study sought to understand how four brand constructs (country-of-origin, brand familiarity, brand liking and brand trust) would influence global brand purchase intent in a sample of consumers living in Bulgaria and Hungary. Step-wise regression models were used for the study’s twenty brands for consumers living in both countries. The regression models indicated that brand liking and brand trust were the most important predictors of purchase intent in both groups. The paper discusses the relevance of these findings for marketing global brands in post-crisis environments in both countries.brand trust, brand liking, Hungary, Bulgaria, global marketing

Sustainability Vision and Practice: The Apparent Gap Between Corporate Leaders’ Pronouncements and the Perceptions of Polish and U.S. MBA Students from Three Universities.

This study focuses on the CEO-asserted critical need for sustainability in corporate strategy and MBA student perceptions of the extent to which their respective programs prepare them to handle sustainability challenges successfully. Students in one Polish and two U.S. mid-tier MBA programs were surveyed regarding their perceptions of four issues: 1) the link between sustainability practices and corporate performance; 2) the barriers to embedding sustainability practices in their current job; 3) the effects of being a sustainability advocate on their careers; and 4) the efficacy of their MBA programs in fostering leadership perspectives and skills related to sustainability. While students generally agreed on the positive link between sustainability practices and performance, they differed on the other issues. The study discusses the implications of these findings for faculty members who want to close the gap between what CEOs say they need from graduates related to sustainability vis-à-vis the ability of current MBA programs to fulfill that need

Sustainability Vision and Practice: The Apparent Gap Between Corporate Leaders’ Pronouncements and the Perceptions of Polish and U.S. MBA Students from Three Universities.

This study focuses on the CEO-asserted critical need for sustainability in corporate strategy and MBA student perceptions of the extent to which their respective programs prepare them to handle sustainability challenges successfully. Students in one Polish and two U.S. mid-tier MBA programs were surveyed regarding their perceptions of four issues:1) the link between sustainability practices and corporate performance;2) the barriers to embedding sustainability practices in their current job;3) the effects of being a sustainability advocate on their careers; and 4) the efficacy of their MBA programs in fostering leadership perspectives and skills related to sustainability. While students generally agreed on the positive link between sustainability practices and performance, they differed on the other issues. The study discusses the implications of these findings for faculty members who want to close the gap between what CEOs say they need from graduates related to sustainability vis-à-vis the ability of current MBA programs to fulfill that need

Nigerian Consumers and their Purchase Intentions for Global Brands

This paper presents the research findings of a global brand study conducted in Nigeria. This empirical research sought to evaluate the relative contribution of the following five constructs on global brand purchase intent: country of origin, brand familiarity, brand linking, brand trust, and weak-strong perceptions of the brand’s masculinity-femininity associations. Step-wise regression models were used for the study’s ten brands. The regression models indicated that brand liking and brand trust were the most important predictors of global brand purchase intent in the studied sample of Nigerian consumers

A method for encoding clinical datasets with SNOMED CT

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Over the past decade there has been a growing body of literature on how the Systematised Nomenclature of Medicine Clinical Terms (SNOMED CT) can be implemented and used in different clinical settings. Yet, for those charged with incorporating SNOMED CT into their organisation's clinical applications and vocabulary systems, there are few detailed encoding instructions and examples available to show how this can be done and the issues involved. This paper describes a heuristic method that can be used to encode clinical terms in SNOMED CT and an illustration of how it was applied to encode an existing palliative care dataset.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The encoding process involves: identifying input data items; cleaning the data items; encoding the cleaned data items; and exporting the encoded terms as output term sets. Four outputs are produced: the SNOMED CT reference set; interface terminology set; SNOMED CT extension set and unencodeable term set.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The original palliative care database contained 211 data elements, 145 coded values and 37,248 free text values. We were able to encode ~84% of the terms, another ~8% require further encoding and verification while terms that had a frequency of fewer than five were not encoded (~7%).</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>From the pilot, it would seem our SNOMED CT encoding method has the potential to become a general purpose terminology encoding approach that can be used in different clinical systems.</p

Knowledge and perceptions of diabetes in a semi-urban Omani population

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Diabetes mellitus is a major public health problem in the Sultanate of Oman. This study aimed to evaluate the knowledge and perception of diabetes in a sample of the Omani general population, and the associations between the elements of knowledge and perception, and socio-demographic factors.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The study was carried out in two semi-urban localities. A total of 563 adult residents were interviewed, using a questionnaire specifically designed for the present study. In addition to demographic information, the questionnaire contained questions on knowledge related to diabetes definition, symptoms, risk factors, complications and preventative measures, as well as risk perception for diabetes.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Knowledge of diabetes was suboptimal. The percentages of correct responses to questions on diabetes definition, classical symptoms, and complications were 46.5%, 57.0%, and 55.1%, respectively. Only 29.5%, 20.8% and 16.9% identified obesity, physical inactivity and a positive family history, respectively, as risk factors for diabetes. A higher level of education, a higher household income, and the presence of a family history of diabetes were found to be positively associated with more knowledge.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>This study demonstrated that there is lack of awareness of major risk factors for diabetes mellitus. Level of education is the most significant predictor of knowledge regarding risk factors, complications and the prevention of diabetes. Given that the prevalence of diabetes has increased drastically in Oman over the last decade, health promotion seems essential, along with other means to prevent and control this emerging health problem.</p