“Going down the glocal”: Wildlife crime in Vietnam

The prevailing attitude of global law enforcement authorities combined with media hyperbole perpetuates the assumption that the illegal wildlife trade has a synchronic relationship with organised crime and additionally generates huge profits for the individuals involved. The global trade in rhino horn, which is poached, trafficked, sold and consumed as part of a thriving, illicit market, in wildlife products is generally viewed as one of the most heinous wildlife crimes given that the five species of rhino (white, black, greater one-horned, Sumatran and Javan) are regularly reported as being on the brink of extinction. While many support that a coetaneous contract exists between organised crime and wildlife crime at the general level, there is little to suggest that at the local level, the rhino horn trade in Vietnam constitutes organised criminal behaviour. Borrowing its title from Hobbs (1998) analytical work, which focused on the local rather than the transnational dimension of organised crime, the purpose of this paper is to examine whether the illegal wildlife trade, and specifically, the rhino horn trade in Vietnam, meet the criteria of organised crime set out under existing international and domestic legal frameworks. The conclusions drawn from the research challenge the assumption that wildlife crime at the local level in Vietnam is organised crime. Through an analysis of international and domestic norms, it can be concluded that wildlife crime in Vietnam is not categorised by domestic law as a serious crime and therefore cannot be classified as organised crime at the international level, although media and law enforcement reports claim contrary. Moreover, supplemental interview data indicates that the illegal wildlife trade in Vietnam is largely inhabited by informal participants who rely on the profits for subsistence and who lack the formal organisation required by international legislation, in order to satisfy the legal definition of organised crime. The author stresses that the context of locality of the rhino horn trade has to form the basis of future policy making decisions if this destructive trade is to be effectively curbed

Finding qualitative research: an evaluation of search strategies

BACKGROUND: Qualitative research makes an important contribution to our understanding of health and healthcare. However, qualitative evidence can be difficult to search for and identify, and the effectiveness of different types of search strategies is unknown. METHODS: Three search strategies for qualitative research in the example area of support for breast-feeding were evaluated using six electronic bibliographic databases. The strategies were based on using thesaurus terms, free-text terms and broad-based terms. These strategies were combined with recognised search terms for support for breast-feeding previously used in a Cochrane review. For each strategy, we evaluated the recall (potentially relevant records found) and precision (actually relevant records found). RESULTS: A total yield of 7420 potentially relevant records was retrieved by the three strategies combined. Of these, 262 were judged relevant. Using one strategy alone would miss relevant records. The broad-based strategy had the highest recall and the thesaurus strategy the highest precision. Precision was generally poor: 96% of records initially identified as potentially relevant were deemed irrelevant. Searching for qualitative research involves trade-offs between recall and precision. CONCLUSIONS: These findings confirm that strategies that attempt to maximise the number of potentially relevant records found are likely to result in a large number of false positives. The findings also suggest that a range of search terms is required to optimise searching for qualitative evidence. This underlines the problems of current methods for indexing qualitative research in bibliographic databases and indicates where improvements need to be made

Engaging Undergraduate Nutrition Students in Research: A Graduate Student Mentorship Approach

Poster from the 2016 Food & Nutrition Conference & Expo. Poster Session: Innovations in Dietetics Practice and Education

Development of an immunocompetent model of oncolytic adenoviral gene therapy for ovarian cancer.

PhDOncolytic adenoviral gene therapy has potential as a novel anti-cancer agent for ovarian cancer. Host immune responses are thought to contribute to its therapeutic effects. However further evaluation has been hampered by the lack of an immunocompetent animal model. This is predominantly because human adenovirus is highly species-specific and replicates poorly in murine cells. The second generation human adenovirus (hAd5) type 5 mutant dl922-947 contains a deletion in the E1A CR2 region which allows it to replicate selectively in cells with Rb pathway abnormalities, a finding observed in >90% of human cancers. Previous work has shown that dl922-947 has considerable activity in ovarian cancer and is more potent than E1A wild-type adenoviruses and the E1B-55K mutant dl1520 (Onyx-015, H101). Unfortunately, like its wild-type counterpart, dl922-947 replicates poorly in murine cells and infectious virion progeny are not generated. Mechanisms for the failure of infectious virion formation remain unclear and have been investigated as part of this project. I have found that murine malignant cells can be infected readily with hAd5 vectors. Both early and late viral genes are transcribed and there is evidence of viral genome replication. However, a profound failure of infective virion production is observed together with low levels of late viral protein expression. Ribosome fractionation assays show reduced viral mRNA loading in murine cells, resulting in failure of translation, especially of late transcripts. Aberrant function of the non-structural L4 protein 100K has been identified as a major hurdle to successful viral replication in murine cells. Ectopic expression of L4 100K promotes translation of viral late mRNA and increases expression of late viral proteins and virion production. However, these increases are only partia

The cost and cost implications of implementing the integrated chronic disease management model in South Africa.

BACKGROUND: A cost analysis of implementation of interventions informs budgeting and economic evaluations. OBJECTIVE: To estimate the cost of implementing the integrated chronic disease management (ICDM) model in primary healthcare (PHC) clinics in South Africa. METHODS: Cost data from the provider's perspective were collected in 2019 from four PHC clinics with comparable patient caseloads (except for one). We estimated the costs of implementing the ICDM model current activities for three (facility reorganization, clinical supportive management and assisted self-management) components and additional costs of implementing with enhanced fidelity. Costs were estimated based on budget reviews, interviews with management teams, and other published data. The standard of care activities such as medication were not included in the costing. One-way sensitivity analyses were carried out for key parameters by varying patient caseloads, required infrastructure and staff. Annual ICDM model implementation costs per PHC clinic and per patient per visit are presented in 2019 US dollars. RESULTS: The overall mean annual cost of implementing the ICDM model was $148 446.00 (SD:$65 125.00) per clinic. Current ICDM model activities cost accounted for 84% ($124 345.00) of the annual mean cost, while additional costs for higher fidelity were 16$24 102.00). The mean cost per patient per visit was $6.00 (SD:$0.77); $4.94 (SD:0.70) for current cost and$1.06 (SD:0.33) for additional cost to enhance ICDM model fidelity. For the additional cost, 49% was for facility reorganization, 31% for adherence clubs and 20% for training of nursing staff. In the sensitivity analyses, the major cost drivers were the proportion of effort of assisted self-management staff and the number of patients with chronic diseases receiving care at the clinic. CONCLUSION: Minimal additional cost are required to implement the ICDM model with higher fidelity. Further research on the cost-effectiveness of the ICDM model in middle-income countries is required

Crashing the Party: A Working Class Perspective on the Ivory Tower

This study explored the experience of having a working class background and an earned doctorate as part of a research course using phenomenological methods. Findings revealed a “working class way of looking at the world” that colors the meaning of the experience of graduate school and one’s professional life

Psychiatric Comorbidity in Transformed Migraine: Presentation, Treatment, Impact and Outcome

Transformed migraine is one of the subtypes of chronic daily headache (CDH), and is similar to chronic migraine, described in the new International Headache Society (IHS) classification 2004. The term CDH refers to the Headache disorders experienced 15 or more days a month and includes headaches associated with medication overuse. CDH can be divided into primary and secondary varieties. Primary CDH is not related to a structural or systemic illness. It includes diseases such as Transformed migraine (TM). Chronic tension-type headache (CTTH), new daily persistent headache (NDPH), and hemicrania continua (HC). Secondary CDH has an identifiable underlying cause, including post-traumatic headache, cervical spine disorders, vascular disorders, nonvascular intracranial disorders and headaches associated with temporomandibular joint disorders, sinus infections, chronic meningitis, low and high intracranial pressure. In this study we have adopted the 1996 definition of TM proposed by Silberstein and Lipton in preference to the new discredited 2004 IHS criteria for chronic migraine. The association between migraine and psychiatric disorders has long been established. Several clinic-based and population-based studies have discussed the relationship. However psychiatric comorbidity in transformed migraine has seldom been discussed, and the effect on overall outcome has not been examined . Population based studies have shown that 4% to 5% of the general population has primary CDH. Transformed migraine is the major cause of CDH and is associated with poor quality of life and greater medical and social expenses compared to episodic migraine. CDH is most commonly transformed Migraine and is accompanied by high anxiety levels in most patients and with hysterical traits in some. These patients frequently have a coexisting depressive disorder. The purpose of this study is to characterize psychiatric disorders accompanying TM in a tertiary headache center and to examine their impact on outcome