Which symptoms are linked to a delayed presentation among melanoma patients? A retrospective study

Background: The incidence of melanoma is rising. Early detection is associated with a more favourable outcome. The factors that influence the timing of a patient’s presentation for medical assessment are not fully understood. The aims of the study were to measure the nature and duration of melanoma symptoms in a group of patients diagnosed with melanoma within the preceding 18 months and to identify the symptoms and barriers associated with a delay in presentation. Methods: A questionnaire was distributed to a random sample of 200 of the 963 melanoma patients who had participated in the Cancer Patient Experience Survey 2010 and were known to be alive 1 year later. Data were collected on symptoms, duration of symptoms prior to presentation and the reasons for not attending a doctor sooner. Results: A total of 159 patients responded to the questionnaire; 74 (47%) were men; mean age was 62 (range 24–90) years. Of the 149 patients who reported a symptom, 40 (27%) had a delayed presentation (i.e. >3 months). A mole growing bigger was the most common symptom and reporting this symptom was significantly associated with a delayed presentation (odds ratio (OR) 2.04, 95% confidence interval (95% CI) 1.14–5.08). Patients aged ≥65 years were less likely to report a barrier to presentation and were less likely to delay than those under 40, although this was of borderline statistical significance (OR 0.28, 95% CI 0.08–1.00). Conclusions: This study highlights that an enlarging mole is a significant symptom influencing the timing of presentation. Increasing public awareness of the signs of melanoma and of the importance of early presentation is desirable. Health professionals should take advantage of the opportunity to educate patients on such symptoms and signs where feasible. Further exploration of the barriers to presentation in younger people should be considered

An Analysis of Private School Closings

We add to the small literature on private school supply by exploring exits of K-12 private schools. We find that the closure of private schools is not an infrequent event, and use national survey data from the National Center for Education Statistics to study closures of private schools. We assume that the probability of an exit is a function of excess supply of private schools over the demand, as well as the school's characteristics such as age, size, and religious affiliation. Our empirical results generally support the implications of the model. Working Paper 07-0

A Roadmap for HEP Software and Computing R&D for the 2020s

Particle physics has an ambitious and broad experimental programme for the coming decades. This programme requires large investments in detector hardware, either to build new facilities and experiments, or to upgrade existing ones. Similarly, it requires commensurate investment in the R&D of software to acquire, manage, process, and analyse the shear amounts of data to be recorded. In planning for the HL-LHC in particular, it is critical that all of the collaborating stakeholders agree on the software goals and priorities, and that the efforts complement each other. In this spirit, this white paper describes the R&D activities required to prepare for this software upgrade.Peer reviewe

Ethical Space: journal with a difference

Overview of the journal Ethical Space: The International Journal of Communication Ethic

Ethical Space - Journal With a Difference: Celebrating 20 Years Vol. 1

In 2023, Ethical Space: The International Journal of Communication Ethics celebrates its 20th anniversary. Yes, we have come through! The opening editorial spelled out its stance clearly, stressing that it was ‘an academic quarterly with a difference’. The journal was to be inter-disciplinary, international, philosophically and theoretically eclectic and rooted in a determination to approach in original ways the pressing communication, political, cultural and environmental issues of the day. This volume brings together papers from those 20 years under five main themes: Communication ethics: Philosophical reflections New media, new ethical challenges Professionalisation and media ethics: Beyond the rhetoric Communication ethics and pedagogy And finally: Speaking out on ethics In his Foreword, Professor Clifford Christians describes ES as ‘an inspiring model of moral realism

BOUNDARY MAINTENANCE AND INTERLOPER MEDIA REACTION Differentiating between journalism's discursive enforcement processes

In his fictional story “The Interlopers”, Saki tells of two men fighting over the rights to a wooded hunting land. While both have long claimed the right to the land, one holds the legal right and the other—the interloper—claims to belong (Saki 1930). This story forms the allegorical locus of this paper, examining the way a self-defined in-group of traditional journalism protects its perceived professional identity against entities—Interloper Media—who claim belonging. This is achieved through distinct processes that echo but diverge from traditional boundary maintenance. This paper argues subtle and nuanced language in news texts referring to WikiLeaks serves to invalidate WikiLeaks' extant and persistent claims of “being” journalism. These processes differ from boundary maintenance processes related to phone hacking, which serve as inwardly focused self-policing of the profession