Benchmarking as a means of improving the financial wellbeing of organic dairy farms

This report was presented at the UK Organic Research 2002 Conference. Benchmarking is an important management tool enabling the comparison of actual financial data on a similar basis. Currently there is little data available on the actual costs of farming to organic standards. Limited financial or incomplete management information tends to lead to poor decision taking. The objective of the exercise is to identify the practices, which lead to enhanced financial performance, either low costs of production or high levels of profitability. The identification of these most profitable practices enables informed decisions to be made about the way the farming business needs to change. The main problem areas include the collection of detailed information broken down into the required cost centres. The allocation of costs between enterprises on small and medium sized farms is often difficult. Obtaining either a large enough sample of farms, if the farming system is different, or a sufficient number of farms with a similar farming system is essential. Analysis is normally undertaken on a cost of production basis as this allows for better comparison between units of a different size. Finance costs are normally excluded, but depreciation charges are included to reflect the level of investment in the business. A realistic value of family labour needs to be included to allow for the production of a Comparable Farm Profit (CFP)

Monitoring Productivity of A UK Dairy System Aiming to Increase Soil Carbon, based on Diverse Swards and Incorporating Mob Grazing

There is interest in increasing soil organic matter (SOM), both to improve plant productivity, and augment carbon sequestration. One practice that may contribute to increasing SOM is a “mob grazing” approach. This involves high stocking density for a short period of time, and often grazing more mature swards, leaving higher cover and longer recovery times between grazings than is typical in the UK. This approach is likely to be best suited to swards that include a wide variety of grass and herb species, giving greater resilience than a purely ryegrass sward. The performance of dairy herds on such swards under this type of management in the UK has not been documented. This paper describes how a participatory approach is used to gather sward and animal production data from a farm where diverse swards and a “mob grazing” system have been developed over seven years, with the aim of increasing the return of organic matter to the soil

Public Health Agencies’ Health Informatics Capacity and Its Impact on Activities to Address Health Disparities

This study examines LHDs’ activities and strategies that seek to address health disparities and inequities and whether the LHDs’ informatics capacities shape the likelihood of performing those activities

Sobre a definição de natureza

Pretendo neste artigo discutir a definição de natureza que Aristóteles oferece em Física 192b 20-23, tentando mostrar que tal definição deve ser entendida como uma conjunção de três (não apenas duas) condições: a primeira condição estabelece que a natureza é um tipo de causa; a segunda condição diz respeito à relação entre a natureza e a coisa natural que a tem como princípio e causa; a terceira condição diz respeito à relação entre a natureza e as propriedades que, enquanto causa, ela instila na coisa natural.<br>I discuss in this paper Aristotle's definition of nature in Physics 192b 20-23. I intend to prove that this definition has to taken as a set of three (not only two) conditions: the first condition just establishes that nature is a sort of cause; the second condition concerns the relationship between nature and the natural thing that has it as a cause; the third condition concerns the relationship between nature and the properties that natural things have from nature's causality

Effects of antiplatelet therapy on stroke risk by brain imaging features of intracerebral haemorrhage and cerebral small vessel diseases: subgroup analyses of the RESTART randomised, open-label trial

Background Findings from the RESTART trial suggest that starting antiplatelet therapy might reduce the risk of recurrent symptomatic intracerebral haemorrhage compared with avoiding antiplatelet therapy. Brain imaging features of intracerebral haemorrhage and cerebral small vessel diseases (such as cerebral microbleeds) are associated with greater risks of recurrent intracerebral haemorrhage. We did subgroup analyses of the RESTART trial to explore whether these brain imaging features modify the effects of antiplatelet therapy

BHPR research: qualitative1. Complex reasoning determines patients' perception of outcome following foot surgery in rheumatoid arhtritis

Background: Foot surgery is common in patients with RA but research into surgical outcomes is limited and conceptually flawed as current outcome measures lack face validity: to date no one has asked patients what is important to them. This study aimed to determine which factors are important to patients when evaluating the success of foot surgery in RA Methods: Semi structured interviews of RA patients who had undergone foot surgery were conducted and transcribed verbatim. Thematic analysis of interviews was conducted to explore issues that were important to patients. Results: 11 RA patients (9 ♂, mean age 59, dis dur = 22yrs, mean of 3 yrs post op) with mixed experiences of foot surgery were interviewed. Patients interpreted outcome in respect to a multitude of factors, frequently positive change in one aspect contrasted with negative opinions about another. Overall, four major themes emerged. Function: Functional ability & participation in valued activities were very important to patients. Walking ability was a key concern but patients interpreted levels of activity in light of other aspects of their disease, reflecting on change in functional ability more than overall level. Positive feelings of improved mobility were often moderated by negative self perception ("I mean, I still walk like a waddling duck”). Appearance: Appearance was important to almost all patients but perhaps the most complex theme of all. Physical appearance, foot shape, and footwear were closely interlinked, yet patients saw these as distinct separate concepts. Patients need to legitimize these feelings was clear and they frequently entered into a defensive repertoire ("it's not cosmetic surgery; it's something that's more important than that, you know?”). Clinician opinion: Surgeons' post operative evaluation of the procedure was very influential. The impact of this appraisal continued to affect patients' lasting impression irrespective of how the outcome compared to their initial goals ("when he'd done it ... he said that hasn't worked as good as he'd wanted to ... but the pain has gone”). Pain: Whilst pain was important to almost all patients, it appeared to be less important than the other themes. Pain was predominately raised when it influenced other themes, such as function; many still felt the need to legitimize their foot pain in order for health professionals to take it seriously ("in the end I went to my GP because it had happened a few times and I went to an orthopaedic surgeon who was quite dismissive of it, it was like what are you complaining about”). Conclusions: Patients interpret the outcome of foot surgery using a multitude of interrelated factors, particularly functional ability, appearance and surgeons' appraisal of the procedure. While pain was often noted, this appeared less important than other factors in the overall outcome of the surgery. Future research into foot surgery should incorporate the complexity of how patients determine their outcome Disclosure statement: All authors have declared no conflicts of interes

Point-of-care testing in paediatric settings in the UK and Ireland: A cross-sectional study

Background: Point-of-care testing (POCT) is diagnostic testing performed at or near to the site of the patient. Understanding the current capacity, and scope, of POCT in this setting is essential in order to respond to new research evidence which may lead to wide implementation. Methods: A cross-sectional online survey study of POCT use was conducted between 6th January and 2nd February 2020 on behalf of two United Kingdom (UK) and Ireland-based paediatric research networks (Paediatric Emergency Research UK and Ireland, and General and Adolescent Paediatric Research UK and Ireland). Results: In total 91/109 (83.5%) sites responded, with some respondents providing details for multiple units on their site based on network membership (139 units in total). The most commonly performed POCT were blood sugar (137/139; 98.6%), urinalysis (134/139; 96.4%) and blood gas analysis (132/139; 95%). The use of POCT for Influenza/Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) (45/139; 32.4%, 41/139; 29.5%), C-Reactive Protein (CRP) (13/139; 9.4%), Procalcitonin (PCT) (2/139; 1.4%) and Group A Streptococcus (5/139; 3.6%) and was relatively low. Obstacles to the introduction of new POCT included resources and infrastructure to support test performance and quality assurance. Conclusion: This survey demonstrates significant consensus in POCT practice in the UK and Ireland but highlights specific inequity in newer biomarkers, some which do not have support from national guidance. A clear strategy to overcome the key obstacles of funding, evidence base, and standardising variation will be essential if there is a drive toward increasing implementation of POCT

Diverse swards and mob grazing for dairy farm productivity: A UK case study

The paper presents first year results of one participatory case study carried out as part of EU FP7 funded SOLID project (Sustainable Organic and Low Input Dairying) on an organic dairy farm managed with diverse swards and mob grazing in Britain. Mob grazing is a livestock management strategy consisting of high stocking density for a short time to remove forage rapidly due to high grazing pressure and then removing livestock to allow grass recovery. On the farm this is combined with a diverse sward, paying particular consideration to soil fertility. First results indicate that there was more available herbage in front of the cows, especially in the summer months, than could be expected from rotational grazing with shorter rest periods. Differences between the diverse and standard mixture measure in one field were not as marked as expected. Further measurements during the coming grazing season will be carried out