The Take-Over Bid by Private Agreement: The Follow-Up Offer Obligation

The acquisition of control of a public corporation by the private purchase of shares from a controlling shareholder\u27 or a control group has been one of the most controversial issues in corporate and securities law and has been the subject of a continuing debate. 2 The purchase of corporate control raises the fundamental issue of the extent to which a controlling shareholder should be permitted to dispose of his shares at a premium without sharing the premium with minority shareholders. Securities law in the United States does not require equal treatment where control is acquired by private agreement, 3 but some American jurisprudence holds, as a matter of corporate law, that majority shareholders who sell effective control of a corporation at a premium are under a duty to share the premium with the remaining minority shareholders, essentially on the ground that majority shareholders owe a fiduciary duty to the minority

Data Collection Methods in Prospective Economic Evaluations: How Accurate Are the Results?

AbstractObjectivesOften in economic evaluations a division is made between those studies that have a high level of accuracy versus those that are easily generalized. This interstudy dichotomy is often translated into prospective, randomized controlled trials with high internal validity and observational and modeling studies with a high level of external validity. This article challenges this conventional view and examines intrastudy effects on validity.MethodA review and summary of the literature was conducted in order to assess the impact that data collection strategies will have on internal validity. Two scenario models were created in order to gain a preliminary understanding of the magnitude of the problem.ResultsData collection strategies have an impact on the level of internal validity found in an economic evaluation. Comparisons of studies that are prospective in nature is misleading as data collection strategy can lead to different resource and cost estimates even when all other relevant factors are similar. It is possible to shift and improve the level of validity by combining different collection methods.ConclusionInstead of viewing internal and external validity as polar opposites, validity should be considered in terms of a continuum within a particular study. The use of proxies to collect resource utilization estimates, the reliance on patient self-reported data, and the method of collecting this type of data all impact the validity of study results. National guidelines for the economic evaluation of agents and devices should consider this issue in more depth, and existing evidence rankings should be adapted to be more appropriate to pharmacoeconomic studies

Exploring the potential of expatriate social networks to reduce HIV and STI transmission: a protocol for a qualitative study

Introduction HIV diagnoses acquired among Australian men working or travelling overseas including Southeast Asia are increasing. This change within transmission dynamics means traditional approaches to prevention need to be considered in new contexts. The significance and role of social networks in mediating sexual risk behaviours may be influential. Greater understanding of expatriate and traveller behaviour is required to understand how local relationships are formed, how individuals enter and are socialised into networks, and how these networks may affect sexual intentions and behaviours. This paper describes the development of a qualitative protocol to investigate how social networks of Australian expatriates and long-term travellers might support interventions to reduce transmission of HIV and sexually transmitted infections. Methods and analysis To explore the interactions of male expatriates and long-term travellers within and between their environments, symbolic interactionism will be the theoretical framework used. Grounded theory methods provide the ability to explain social processes through the development of explanatory theory. The primary data source will be interviews conducted in several rounds in both Australia and Southeast Asia. Purposive and theoretical sampling will be used to access participants whose data can provide depth and individual meaning. Ethics and dissemination The role of expatriate and long-term traveller networks and their potential to impact health are uncertain. This study seeks to gain a deeper understanding of the Australian expatriate culture, behavioural contexts and experiences within social networks in Southeast Asia. This research will provide tangible recommendations for policy and practice as the findings will be disseminated to health professionals and other stakeholders, academics and the community via local research and evaluation networks, conference presentations and online forums. The Curtin University Human Research Ethics Committee has granted approval for this research

Conceptual adequacy of the neuropathic pain symptom inventory in six countries

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Neuropathic pain results from a nerve lesion or nerve damage. Because it is a subjective experience, patient-reported outcomes may measure both the symptoms and impact on the patient's life. The purpose of this study was to determine whether the Neuropathic Pain Symptom Inventory (NPSI) adequately assesses neuropathic pain symptoms in patients with diabetic peripheral neuropathy, post-herpetic neuralgia, trigeminal neuralgia, and sciatica across multiple cultures.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>From data collected from 132 subjects in 6 countries, qualitative research methods identified their most important symptoms (and verbal descriptions) associated with neuropathic pain. A core set of commonly described symptoms spanning multiple cultures was also described. Moderators using a semi-structured discussion guide conducted focus groups consisting of patients in the U.S., Brazil, Japan, China, Finland, and Spain to elicit concepts that were most important and relevant (concept elicitation phase). Study subjects ranked the importance of each neuropathic pain symptom, completed the NPSI, and commented on its ability to capture key symptoms (face and content validation phase).</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Descriptive terms for sensations of neuropathic pain were similar in all countries; burning, electric shocks, and pins and needles were among the most-common sensations. Individuals with neuropathic pain experienced all sensations that were included in the NPSI. They also tended to describe pins and needles and numbness interchangeably, perhaps reflecting the relative number of DPN subjects on study.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Based on data from these focus groups, the NPSI is an acceptable instrument for assessing neuropathic pain.</p

VLA Observations of Ultraluminous IRAS Galaxies: Active Nuclei or Starbursts?

We employed the Very Large Array (VLA) of the National Radio Astronomy Observatory in C configuration to map 39 ultraluminous IRAS galaxies at 6~cm and 20~cm, at resolutions of ~ 4" and 15", respectively, and 24 sources at 6~cm with in the A configuration with a resolution of ~0.5". Most of the sources have radio spectral indices indicative of synchrotron emission (alpha ~ -0.65). There is one source, however, that shows an inverted spectrum with alpha = +2.1; observations at higher frequencies show that the spectrum peaks between 5 and 8 GHz, as high as any of the ``gigahertz peaked spectrum'' sources studied by O'Dea etal. We discuss the implications of this source for observations of fluctuations in the CMB. Two of the sources show multiple unresolved components, another four are doubles with at least one resolved component, 14 show extended emission which could arise from a disk, and two show arc-second long jets. Our data fit the tight correlation found by Helou etal (1985) between far-infrared and microwave luminosity; this correlation extends to the highest infrared luminosities. The correlation is weaker if only the extended or the nuclear components of the radio luminosity are used. Therefore the far-infrared emission in the majority of these higher luminosity galaxies is due to the same mechanism as the lower luminosity FIR sources, which is believed to be star formation, rather than non-thermal activity in the nucleus. Moreover, the star formation is not confined to the extended disk in these sources, but is important in the nucleus as well.Comment: In press, Astrophysical Journal. 34 pages, uuencoded gzip'ed postscript of text, tables and figures. 3 figures not included; contact Margaret Best at [email protected] for hardcopies of thes

Valve Excrescences: Prevalence, Evolution and Risk for Cardioembolism

AbstractObjectives. We sought to determine prospectively the prevalence, evolution and embolic risk of valve excrescences in normal subjects and patients with and without suspected cardioembolism.Background. Valve excrescences detected by transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) have been considered a cardioembolic substrate in selected patients.Methods. Ninety healthy volunteers (Group I) and 88 patients without suspected cardioembolism and a normal TEE (Group II) were studied and followed up clinically for 58 ± 21 and 48 ± 20 months, respectively. To assess the evolution of valve excrescences, 45 of these subjects underwent repeat TEE at 31 ± 13 months. The findings in Groups I and II were compared with those of Group III—49 patients referred for TEE for suspected cardioembolism.Results. Valve excrescences were detected in 34 subjects (38%) in Group I and in 41 patients (47%) in Group II. In Group III, 20 patients (41%) had excrescences, but 85% of them had other potential cardiac or vascular sources of embolism. In all groups, mitral valve excrescences were predominant (68% to 76%), followed by aortic (38% to 50%) and right-sided valves (<10%). Excrescences were equally frequent in men and women and between all age groups studied. During follow-up in Groups I and II, excrescences persisted unchanged, and 1 (1.4%) of 74 patients with and 2 (2%) of 99 subjects without excrescences had cerebral ischemic events (80% power to detect a clinically meaningful difference of 4%).Conclusions. Valve excrescences are common on the left-sided heart valves of normal subjects and patients regardless of gender and age; they persist unchanged over time and do not appear to be a primary source of cardioembolism

Bayesian Meta-Analysis of Multiple Treatment Comparisons: An Introduction to Mixed Treatment Comparisons

AbstractRecently, mixed treatment comparisons (MTC) have been presented as an extension of traditional meta-analysis by including multiple different pairwise comparisons across a range of different interventions. MTC allow for indirect comparisons and can therefore provide very useful information for clinical and reimbursement decision-making in the absence of head-to-head data. In this article, we provide an introductory overview of MTC illustrated with example analyses of different drug treatments in rheumatoid arthritis using a continuous patient-reported end point. As a background, we start with an overview of the traditional meta-analyses for pairwise trials, and the difference between a traditional approach and a Bayesian approach. Next, the Bayesian MTC for continuous outcomes are presented. We finish with a discussion of how MTC can best be presented in order to maximize acceptance by target audiences, i.e., clinicians and market access decision-makers

A Personality study of university students beginning transcendental meditation

Transcendental meditation (TM), as taught by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, is now being practised by hundreds1 of New Zealand University students. This meditation form, which is defined as "a simple, natural process which involves the progressive refinement of the nervous system through the regular alternation of deep rest and activity" (Katz 1968, p 2) is claimed to be easily taught and universally applicable. From the research point of view it has a number of advantages: (1) Large numbers of subjects are being taught at the same time. (2) The effects are said to become apparent from the beginning of practice. (3) Practice starts at the beginning of a short (4 days) "training" period. (4) No concentration or effort of any kind is involved. (5) Subject can practice in any comparatively quiet environment for as little as 15 minutes twice a day. These considerations allow the practice of transcendental meditation to be scientifically investigated with comparative ease. Physiological measurements on practitioners have already been carried out