Trichobezoar in a 13 year old Male: a case report and review of literature

Case report of a trichobezoar occuring in the stomach of a 13 year old boy known to suffer from trichotillomania. 90% of trichobezoars occur in adolescent females and the occurrence in males is rarely documented. The clinical presentation and complications of trichobezoars are discussed. Differential diagnosis of epigastric masses in children and the investigations utilised to diagnose these intragastric hairballs together with possible hypothses on their pathogenesis are discussed.peer-reviewe

From consumerism to citizenship: a journey of involvement

The level of interest in sustainability, amongst the general public and within the media, is growing week by week, giving rise to initiatives from numerous stakeholders, public and private, to inform, educate and facilitate behaviour change at the level of individual households – customers and final consumers. In this paper we argue that in order to achieve this behavioural change, the ‘sustainable shopper’ must be targeted in a meaningful and relevant manner and their motivations for purchasing more or less sustainable foods be thoroughly understood in order to maintain the momentum that govt and industry have created in shifting the balance in our lifestyles from consumerism to citizenship. Different groups of shoppers behave in different ways and for different reasons, which has important implications for policy makers, NGOs, food manufacturers and retailers seeking to stimulate a change in purchasing behaviour towards more sustainable foods. In exploring the journey which the sustainable shopper makes, from consumer to citizen, we highlight the importance of ‘involvement’ - of the individual and in the product – in shaping the marketing, merchandising and communication strategies to speed up the journey and ensure more people arrive at the desired destination

SUPPLY CHAIN PARTNERSHIPS FOR PRIVATE-LABEL PRODUCTS: INSIGHTS FROM THE UNITED KINGDOM

Agribusiness,

Prevalence of Infantile Hypertrophic Pyloric Stenosis and relation to breast feeding trends in the Maltese Islands between 1995 and 2007

Introduction: Several studies have indicated that breastfeeding may protect against the development of infantile hypertrophic pyloric stenosis (IHPS). This study investigated trends in IHPS over the period 1995-2007 in Malta and analysed the relationship of IHPS and changes in infant feeding practices during the same time period. Methods: Patients with IHPS were identified from Hospital Activity Analysis reports. The case notes were obtained and the following data were collected: birth order of the patient, gender and type of feeding. Breast feeding information trends were obtained from published reports. Population data were obtained from publications of the National Statistics Office. Results: A total of 125 patients were operated for IHPS. Case records were available for 86. The incidence was 2.26 per 1000 live births. There was an expected preponderance of males with no mortality. Seventy one patients (82.5%) had been formula fed from day one, while ten patients were exclusively breast fed. Five patients were breast fed and supplemented with formula at presentation. Forty-six patients were first born infants. A nonsignificant downward trend was noted. IHPS was significantly less common in breast fed infants (χ2 72.4, p=<0.001). Conclusion: These findings further support the hypothesis that breast feeding protects against the development of IHPS.peer-reviewe

A training needs analysis of health care providers within Malta’s Primary Health Department : a boon or a bane?

In 2009, the Practice Development Unit and the Specialist Training Programme in Family Medicine within Malta’s Primary Health Department carried out a training needs analysis of health care providers working in government primary health centres and clinics so as to investigate their educational requirements. Method: After a questionnaire was developed as a tool, a pilot study was conducted in a particular health centre to test its validity. The amended version of the questionnaire was then mailed individually to all health providers working at that time in the various health centres and peripheral clinics. Out of the 498 questionnaires sent, 215 were completed and returned, with a resulting response rate of 43%. One main finding was that, irrespective of one’s discipline, the programme topic and the lecturer were the important decisive factors of whether one attended a training course or not. On the other hand, specific obstacles to training emerged that are directly related to one’s profession: these included shortage of staff, lack of time and other commitments. From the information revealed by the training needs analysis, the department revamped its training strategy to consist of three-monthly Saturday seminars dealing with topics relevant to primary health care, with such activities being oversubscribed and well-received. In this manner a thriving continuing professional development programme was designed and delivered for health care professionals within Malta’s Primary Health Departmentpeer-reviewe

How do consumers differentiate between fresh food stores

In making their decision to purchase fresh food from a retail store, the consumer behaviour literature identifies three key factors: (i) offer quality; (ii) a competitive price; and (iii) convenience. In an effort to reduce the decline in patronage as more fresh produce moves directly from growers to the major chain stores, the Perth Metropolitan Market commissioned an exploratory study to identify how consumers choose between alternative retail stores. Four categories of store were identified: (i) the major supermarkets; (ii) independent supermarkets; (iii) green grocers; and (iv) grower direct markets. Results reveal that for the major supermarkets, all three factors: quality, competitive price and convenience were rated equally, implying a one-stop shop. For the independent supermarkets, which are primarily located closer to the consumers' place of residence, convenience was the key determining variable. For the independent green grocers and grower direct markets, superior quality and a wide range of product was most important. While consumers generally purchase 80% of the fresh produce they consumed from their preferred place of purchase, convenience was identified as the main reason to purchase from another retail store

BEEF PRODUCER ATTITUDES TO COORDINATION AND QUALITY ASSURANCE IN CANADA AND THE UK

Livestock Production/Industries,

Reconstructing systematic persistent impacts of promotional marketing with empirical nonlinear dynamics

An empirical question of long-standing interest is how price promotions affect a brand’s sale shares in the fast-moving consumer-goods market. We investigated this question with concurrent promotions and sales records of specialty beer brands pooled over Tesco stores in the UK. Most brands were continuously promoted, rendering infeasible a conventional approach of establishing impact against an off-promotion sales baseline, and arguing in favor of a dynamics approach. Moreover, promotion/sales records were volatile without easily-discernable regularity. Past work conventionally attributed volatility to the impact of exogenous random shocks on stable markets, and reasoned that promotions have only an ephemeral impact on sales shares in stationary mean-reverting stochastic markets, or a persistent freely-wandering impact in nonstationary markets. We applied new empirical methods from the applied sciences to uncover an overlooked alternative: ‘systematic persistence’ in which promotional impacts evolve systematically in an endogenously-unstable market governed by deterministic-nonlinear dynamics. We reconstructed real-world market dynamics from the Tesco dataset, and detected deterministic-nonlinear market dynamics. We used reconstructed market dynamics to identify a complex network of systematic interactions between promotions and sales shares among competing brands, and quantified/ characterized the dynamics of these interactions. For the majority of weeks in the study, we found that: (1) A brand’s promotions drove down own sales shares (a possibility recognized in the literature), but ‘cannibalized’ sales shares of competing brands (perhaps explaining why brands were promoted despite a negative marginal impact on own sales shares); and (2) Competitive interactions between brands owned by the same multinational brewery differed from those with outside brands. In particular, brands owned by the same brewery enjoyed a ‘mutually-beneficial’ relationship in which an incremental increase in the sales share of one marginally increased the sales share of the other. Alternatively, the sales shares of brands owned by different breweries preyed on each other’s market shares

Organic food: what we know (and do not know) about consumers

This paper reports on the latest contributions to over 20 years of research on organic food consumers. There is a general consensus in the literature on the reasons why people buy organic food. However, there is also a gap between consumers’ generally positive attitude toward organic food and their relatively low level of actual purchases. Product differentiation based on intangible features, such as credence attributes such as organic, in fast-moving consumer goods categories is enjoying rapid growth. However, there are many difficulties with research in this area, including the errors inherent in research that relies on consumer self-reporting methodologies. Further, in relation to organic food, there is a divergence between consumers’ perception of its superior health features and scientific evidence. Fresh fruits and vegetables are of vital importance to the organic sector as they are the entry point for many customers and account for one-third of sales. Further, although there is a small proportion of dedicated organic food buyers, most sales come from the majority of buyers who switch between conventional and organic food purchases. This paper identifies the practical implications for generic organic food marketing campaigns, as well as for increasing sales of specific products. It concludes with suggested priorities for further research