The Scottish school leavers cohort: linkage of education data to routinely collected records for mortality, hospital discharge and offspring birth characteristics.

Science.gov (United States)

Stewart, Catherine H; Dundas, Ruth; Leyland, Alastair H

2017-07-10

The Scottish school leavers cohort provides population-wide prospective follow-up of local authority secondary school leavers in Scotland through linkage of comprehensive education data with hospital and mortality records. It considers educational attainment as a proxy for socioeconomic position in young adulthood and enables the study of associations and causal relationships between educational attainment and health outcomes in young adulthood. Education data for 284 621 individuals who left a local authority secondary school during 2006/2007-2010/2011 were linked with birth, death and hospital records, including general/acute and mental health inpatient and day case records. Individuals were followed up from date of school leaving until September 2012. Age range during follow-up was 15 years to 24 years. Education data included all formal school qualifications attained by date of school leaving; sociodemographic information; indicators of student needs, educational or non-educational support received and special school unit attendance; attendance, absence and exclusions over time and school leaver destination. Area-based measures of school and home deprivation were provided. Health data included dates of admission/discharge from hospital; principal/secondary diagnoses; maternal-related, birth-related and baby-related variables and, where relevant, date and cause of death. This paper presents crude rates for all-cause and cause-specific deaths and general/acute and psychiatric hospital admissions as well as birth outcomes for children of female cohort members. This study is the first in Scotland to link education and health data for the population of local authority secondary school leavers and provides access to a large, representative cohort with the ability to study rare health outcomes. There is the potential to study health outcomes over the life course through linkage with future hospital and death records for cohort members. The cohort may also be

Branch President gives evidence at Scottish Parliament.

Science.gov (United States)

2017-07-01

As the Scottish Government moves forward with its recently announced package of measures on animal health and welfare, Hayley Atkin, BVA Policy Officer, describes a busy month for the President of BVA Scottish Branch representing members in the Scottish Parliament. British Veterinary Association.

From intermittent antibiotic point prevalence surveys to quality improvement: experience in Scottish hospitals

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Malcolm William

2013-01-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background In 2008, the Scottish Antimicrobial Prescribing Group (SAPG was established to coordinate a national antimicrobial stewardship programme. In 2009 SAPG led participation in a European point prevalence survey (PPS of hospital antibiotic use. We describe how SAPG used this baseline PPS as the foundation for implementation of measures for improvement in antibiotic prescribing. Methods In 2009 data for the baseline PPS were collected in accordance with the European Surveillance of Antimicrobial Consumption [ESAC] protocol. This informed the development of two quality prescribing indicators: compliance with antibiotic policy in acute admission units and duration of surgical prophylaxis. From December 2009 clinicians collected these data on a monthly basis. The prescribing indicators were reviewed and further modified in March 2011. Data for the follow up PPS in September 2011 were collected as part of a national PPS of healthcare associated infection and antimicrobial use developed using ECDC protocols. Results In the baseline PPS data were collected in 22 (56% acute hospitals. The frequency of recording the reason for treatment in medical notes was similar in Scotland (75.9% and Europe (75.7%. Compliance with policy (81.0% was also similar to Europe (82.5% but duration of surgical prophylaxis Conclusions The baseline PPS identified priorities for quality improvement. SAPG has demonstrated that implementation of regularly reviewed national prescribing indicators, acceptable to clinicians, implemented through regular systematic measurement can drive improvement in quality of antibiotic use in key clinical areas. However, our data also show that the ESAC PPS method may underestimate the proportion of surgical prophylaxis with duration

Cashmere production from Scottish Cashmere kids and crossbreed Scottish Cashmere x Jonica kids

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Giuseppe Marsico

2010-01-01

Full Text Available This study is part of a much wider research programme to evaluate the possibility of producing valuable textile fibres, such as cashmere, from goat breeds reared in Italy. In order to achieve this, we have used crossbreeding. The first stage of the programme consisted of evaluating cashmere production in F1 kids obtained by crossing white-haired Jonica does, which have no secondary fibres, with Scottish Cashmere bucks. The trial lasted one year starting in March 2007, and took place in the Department of Animal Production of the University of Bari (Italy. We used 14 male kids: 7 Scottish Cashmere (SC group, and 7 F1 (SC x J group derived from crossing Scottish Cashmere bucks with does of the Jonica breed, commonly reared in southern Italy. All the parameters considered (live weight, number and active percentage of primary and secondary follicles, S/P ratio, patch weight, growth and length of guard hair and down, yield, down production and diameter, blood protein and T3 and T4 were significantly influenced (P<0.01 by age. Genotype also had a significant effect (P<0.01 on all parameters except for the active percentage of primary follicles and the blood protein level. The factors which influence down production showed the heterosis effect to a varying extent in F1, but they still produced significantly less than the SC group kids (38.5±4.04 vs 68.5±9.16 g; P<0.01. These results are largely due to both their low number of secondary follicles (30.0±1.46 vs 39.3±1.02; P<0.01, which also have a lower percentage of activity (64.7±2.47 vs 90.0±1.53; P<0.01, and also to the down length which was 28% shorter than in SC group. This genetic combination is clearly unsatisfactory so others must be sought, probably by using more rustic local breeds, as well as more productive breeds for crossbreeding.

“The tie that binds”: commerce, migration, and the Australian Scottish delegation of 1928

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Benjamin Vincent Wilkie

2014-10-01

Full Text Available By examining the commercial and migratory connections forged between Australia and Scotland between the wars, this article extends discussions of the relationship between the Empire and the Scottish diaspora in Australia. Foreign trade and investment was central to Scotland’s role in the British Empire, and Scottish commercial activities in Australia had their own unique contexts and outcomes. The Australian Scottish Delegation of 1928 offers a distinct example of the commercial links forged between Australia and Scotland in the context of the Empire, and presents insights into the way in which Scottish émigrés imagined their role in the imperial project. Additionally, the linkage of economic development and migration during the interwar period took on a distinctive Scottish flavour with the delegation, and the selection of migrants for emigration offers insights into the ways in which delegates defined and understood the Scottish diaspora in Australia.

Renewable energy and Scottish trading arrangements

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2001-01-01

This report summarises the findings of a project involving the participation of the Scottish Renewables Forum (SRF) in the ongoing Ofgem consultation process concerning the future electricity trading arrangements in Scotland. The present administrative arrangements, the activities of the SRF, the prospects for the British Electricity Trading and Transmission Arrangements (BETTA), generator connection policy, and transmission access are discussed, and an overview of consultations relating to Scotland-England interconnection access is presented. The appendices cover the SRF responses to the Ofgem consultation, a discussion paper in advance of the SRF meeting with Ofgem in April 2001, an SRF trading update, the SRF's responses to Ofgem's Environmental Action Plan, the Scottish Embedded Generators Working Group's terms of reference and draft paper on issues, and a briefing on prices in administered arrangements

Policy for home or hospice as the preferred place of death from cancer: Scottish Health and Ethnicity Linkage Study population cohort shows challenges across all ethnic groups in Scotland.

Science.gov (United States)

Sharpe, Katharine H; Cezard, Genevieve; Bansal, Narinder; Bhopal, Raj S; Brewster, David H

2015-12-01

Place of cancer death varies ethnically and internationally. Palliative care reviews highlight limited ability to demonstrate equal access due to incomplete or unreliable ethnicity data. To establish place of cancer death by ethnicity and describe patient characteristics. We linked census, hospital episode and mortality data for 117 467 persons dying of cancer, 2001-2009. With White Scottish population as reference, prevalence ratios (PR), 95% CIs and p values of death in hospital, home or hospice adjusted for sex and age were calculated by ethnic group. White Scottish group and minority ethnic groups combined constituted 91% and 0.4% of cancer deaths, respectively. South Asian, Chinese and African Origin patients were youngest at death (66, 66 and 65.9 years). Compared with the Scottish White reference, the White Irish (1.15 (1.10 to 1.22), pScottish White patients were less likely to die in hospital and more likely to die at home or in a hospice regardless of socioeconomic indicator used. Cancer deaths occur most often in hospital (52.3%) for all ethnic groups. Regardless of the socioeconomic indicator used, more affluent Scottish White patients were less likely to die in hospital; existing socioeconomic indicators detected no clear trend for the non-White population. Regardless of ethnic group, significant work is required to achieve more people dying at home or the setting of their choice. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://www.bmj.com/company/products-services/rights-and-licensing/

Social Justice Leadership in Scottish Education

Science.gov (United States)

Torrance, Deirdre; Forde, Christine

2017-01-01

Leadership has been identified in contemporary policy as a critical factor in taking forward school improvement and enhancing outcomes for pupils (Pontz, Nusche and Moorman, 2008) in many educational systems including Scottish education. A second policy driver in Scottish education currently is focused on "closing the gap" (Scottish…

Scottish Literature and Visual Art: A Caledonian Synergy

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Murdo Macdonald

2014-01-01

Full Text Available The 2009 Andrew Tannahill Lecture This lecture explores the rich relationship between Scottish writing and visual art. This extends from visual responses to Macpherson, Burns and Scott to artists working with Gaelic poetry in our own time. While the focus is on Scottish art the effect of Scottish literature on visual art internationally is also to be noted.

Scottish Nuclear's information systems strategy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Inglis, P.

1991-01-01

Scottish Nuclear, the company which has owned and operated Scotland's nuclear power generating capacity since privatization, inherited a substantial amount of computer hardware and software from its predecessor, the South of Scotland Electricity Board. Each of the two power stations, Torness and Hunterston, were using Digital Vax clusters as the Scottish Nuclear company was formed. This had a major influence on the information systems strategy which has subsequently been adopted. (UK)

A dominant TRPV4 variant underlies osteochondrodysplasia in Scottish fold cats.

Science.gov (United States)

Gandolfi, B; Alamri, S; Darby, W G; Adhikari, B; Lattimer, J C; Malik, R; Wade, C M; Lyons, L A; Cheng, J; Bateman, J F; McIntyre, P; Lamandé, S R; Haase, B

2016-08-01

Scottish fold cats, named for their unique ear shape, have a dominantly inherited osteochondrodysplasia involving malformation in the distal forelimbs, distal hindlimbs and tail, and progressive joint destruction. This study aimed to identify the gene and the underlying variant responsible for the osteochondrodysplasia. DNA samples from 44 Scottish fold and 54 control cats were genotyped using a feline DNA array and a case-control genome-wide association analysis conducted. The gene encoding a calcium permeable ion channel, transient receptor potential cation channel, subfamily V, member 4 (TRPV4) was identified as a candidate within the associated region and sequenced. Stably transfected HEK293 cells were used to compare wild-type and mutant TRPV4 expression, cell surface localisation and responses to activation with a synthetic agonist GSK1016709A, hypo-osmolarity, and protease-activated receptor 2 stimulation. The dominantly inherited folded ear and osteochondrodysplasia in Scottish fold cats is associated with a p.V342F substitution (c.1024G>T) in TRPV4. The change was not found in 648 unaffected cats. Functional analysis in HEK293 cells showed V342F mutant TRPV4 was poorly expressed at the cell surface compared to wild-type TRPV4 and as a consequence the maximum response to a synthetic agonist was reduced. Mutant TRPV4 channels had a higher basal activity and an increased response to hypotonic conditions. Access to a naturally-occurring TRPV4 mutation in the Scottish fold cat will allow further functional studies to identify how and why the mutations affect cartilage and bone development. Copyright © 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Mutuality in the provision of Scottish healthcare.

Science.gov (United States)

Howieson, Brian

2015-11-01

The backdrop to this article is provided by the Better Health, Better Care Action Plan (Scottish Government, 2007), Section 1 of which is entitled 'Towards a Mutual NHS'. According to Better Health, Better Care (Scottish Government, 2007: 5): 'Mutual organisations are designed to serve their members. They are designed to gather people around a common sense of purpose. They are designed to bring the organisation together in what people often call "co-production."' The aim of this article is to précis the current knowledge of mutuality in the provision of Scottish healthcare. In detail, it will: introduce the 'mutual' organisation; offer a historical perspective of mutuality; suggest why healthcare mutuality is important; and briefly, detail the differences in mutual health-care policy in England and Scotland. It is hoped that this analysis will help researchers and practitioners alike appreciate further the philosophy of mutuality in the provision of Scottish healthcare. © The Author(s) 2015.

Inpatient costs for people with type 1 and type 2 diabetes in Scotland: a study from the Scottish Diabetes Research Network Epidemiology Group.

Science.gov (United States)

Govan, L; Wu, O; Briggs, A; Colhoun, H M; McKnight, J A; Morris, A D; Pearson, D W M; Petrie, J R; Sattar, N; Wild, S H; Lindsay, R S

2011-08-01

The rising prevalence of diabetes worldwide has increased interest in the cost of diabetes. Inpatient costs for all people with diabetes in Scotland were investigated. The Scottish Care Information-Diabetes Collaboration (SCI-DC), a real-time clinical information system of almost all diagnosed cases of diabetes in Scotland, UK, was linked to data on all hospital admissions for people with diabetes. Inpatient stay costs were estimated using the 2007-2008 Scottish National Tariff. The probability of hospital admission and total annual cost of admissions were estimated in relation to age, sex, type of diabetes, history of vascular admission, HbA(1c), creatinine, body mass index and diabetes duration. In Scotland during 2005-2007, 24,750 people with type 1 and 195,433 people with type 2 diabetes were identified, accounting for approximately 4.3% of the total Scottish population (5.1 million). The estimated total annual cost of admissions for all people diagnosed with type 1 and type 2 diabetes was £26 million and £275 million, respectively, approximately 12% of the total Scottish inpatient expenditure (£2.4 billion). Sex, increasing age, serum creatinine, previous vascular history and HbA(1c) (the latter differentially in type 1 and type 2) were all associated with likelihood and total annual cost of admission. Diabetes inpatient expenditure accounted for 12% of the total Scottish inpatient expenditure, whilst people with diabetes account for 4.3% of the population. Of the modifiable risk factors, HbA(1c) was the most important driver of cost in type 1 diabetes.

Genetics of Hereditary Ataxia in Scottish Terriers.

Science.gov (United States)

Urkasemsin, G; Nielsen, D M; Singleton, A; Arepalli, S; Hernandez, D; Agler, C; Olby, N J

2017-07-01

Scottish Terriers have a high incidence of juvenile onset hereditary ataxia primarily affecting the Purkinje neuron of the cerebellar cortex and causing slowly progressive cerebellar dysfunction. To identify chromosomal regions associated with hereditary ataxia in Scottish Terriers. One hundred and fifty-three Scottish Terriers were recruited through the Scottish Terrier Club of America. Prospective study. Dogs were classified as affected if they had slowly progressive cerebellar signs. When possible, magnetic resonance imaging and histopathological evaluation of the brain were completed as diagnostic aids. To identify genomic regions connected with the disease, genome-wide mapping was performed using both linkage- and association-based approaches. Pedigree evaluation and homozygosity mapping were also performed to examine mode of inheritance and to investigate the region of interest, respectively. Linkage and genome-wide association studies in a cohort of Scottish Terriers both identified a region on CFA X strongly associated with the disease trait. Homozygosity mapping revealed a 4 Mb region of interest. Pedigree evaluation failed to identify the possible mode of inheritance due to the lack of complete litter information. This finding suggests that further genetic investigation of the potential region of interest on CFA X should be considered in order to identify the causal mutation as well as develop a genetic test to eliminate the disease from this breed. Copyright © 2017 The Authors. Journal of Veterinary Internal Medicine published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine.

Progress with the Scottish Trading Arrangements Group (STAG)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fellows, A.

1998-01-01

Since November 1996 STAG has operated as a forum to allow traders in the Scottish market to consider trading arrangements which will facilitate competition while coping with foreseeable trading requirements beyond the 1998 franchise break. The author has promoted the interest of renewables generators on behalf of the Scottish Renewables Forum throughout this process. An Interim Report summarising the high level options considered was submitted to OFFER in June 1997. This paper summarises the interim report content and draws on other aspects of the Scottish market to review the future prospects in Scotland for trading electricity form wind energy schemes. (Author)

The Scottish Independence Referendum and After

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Michael Keating

2015-04-01

Full Text Available The Scottish independence referendum on 18 September 2014 produced an apparently decisive result, with 45 per cent for independence and 55 per cent against. Yet, it has not settled the constitutional issue. There was a huge public engagement in the campaign, which has left a legacy for Scottish and UK politics. Scotland has been reinforced as a political community. The losing Yes side has emerged in better shape and more optimistic, while the winners have struggled to formulate the better autonomy package they had promised. Public opinion continues to favour maximum devolution short of independence. Scotland is a case of the kind of spatial rescaling that is taking place more generally across Europe, as new forms of statehood and of sovereignty evolve. Scottish public opinion favours more self-government but no longer recognizes the traditional nation-state model presented in the referendum question.

Anti-TNF therapy for paediatric IBD: the Scottish national experience.

Science.gov (United States)

Cameron, F L; Wilson, M L; Basheer, N; Jamison, A; McGrogan, P; Bisset, W M; Gillett, P M; Russell, R K; Wilson, D C

2015-04-01

Biological agents are being increasingly used in the UK for paediatric-onset inflammatory bowel disease (PIBD) despite limited evidence and safety concerns. We evaluated effectiveness and safety in the clinical setting, highlighting drug cost pressures, using our national Scottish PIBD biological registry. Complete usage of the biological agents, infliximab (IFX) and adalimumab (ADA) for treatment of PIBD (in those aged Scottish Paediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition (PGHAN) national managed service network (all regional PGHAN centres and paediatric units within their associated district general hospitals). 132 children had biological therapy; 24 required both agents; 114 had Crohn's disease (CD), 16 had ulcerative colitis (UC) and 2 had IBD Unclassified (IBDU). 127 children received IFX to induce remission; 61 entered remission, 49 had partial response and 17 had no response. 72 were given maintenance IFX and 23 required dose escalation. 18 had infusion reactions and 27 had adverse events (infections/other adverse events). 29 had ADA to induce remission (28 CD and 1 UC), 24 after IFX; 10 entered remission, 12 had partial response and 7 had no response. All had maintenance; 19 required dose escalation. 12 children overall required hospitalisation due to drug toxicity. No deaths occurred with either IFX or ADA. Complete accrual of the Scottish nationwide 'real-life' experience demonstrates moderate effectiveness of anti tumour necrosis factor agents in severe PIBD but duration of effect is limited; significant financial issues (drug cost-need for dose escalation and/or multiple biological usage) and safety issues exist. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://group.bmj.com/group/rights-licensing/permissions.

The epidemiology of adults with severe sepsis and septic shock in Scottish emergency departments.

Science.gov (United States)

Gray, Alasdair; Ward, Kirsty; Lees, Fiona; Dewar, Colin; Dickie, Sarah; McGuffie, Crawford

2013-05-01

The Surviving Sepsis Campaign (SSC) promotes a bundle approach to the care of septic patients to improve outcome. Some have questioned the capability of delivering the bundle in emergency departments (EDs). The authors report the epidemiology and 6 h bundle compliance of patients with severe sepsis/septic shock presenting to Scottish EDs. Analysis of the previously reported Scottish Trauma Audit Group sepsis database was performed including 20 mainland Scottish EDs. A total of 308,910 attendances were screened (between 2 March and 31 May 2009), and 5285 of 27,046 patients were identified after case note review and included on the database. This analysis includes patients who had severe sepsis/septic shock before leaving the ED. Epidemiological, severity of illness criteria, and ED management data were analysed. 626 patients (median age 73; M/F ratio 1:1; 637 presentations) met entrance criteria. The median number of cases per site was 16 (range 3-103). 561 (88.1%) patients arrived by ambulance. The most common source of infection was the respiratory tract (n=411, 64.5%) The most common physiological derangements were heart rate (n=523, 82.1%), respiratory rate (n=452, 71%) and white cell count (n=432, 67.8%). The median hospital stay was 9 days (IQR 4-17 days). 201 (31.6%) patients were admitted to critical care within 2 days, 130 (20.4%) directly from the ED. 180 patients (28.3%) died. There was poor compliance with all aspect of the SSC resuscitation bundle. Sepsis presentations are of variable frequency but have typical epidemiology and clinical outcomes. SSC bundle resuscitation uptake is poor in Scottish EDs.

Patient safety climate and worker safety behaviours in acute hospitals in Scotland.

Science.gov (United States)

Agnew, Cakil; Flin, Rhona; Mearns, Kathryn

2013-06-01

To obtain a measure of hospital safety climate from a sample of National Health Service (NHS) acute hospitals in Scotland and to test whether these scores were associated with worker safety behaviors, and patient and worker injuries. Data were from 1,866 NHS clinical staff in six Scottish acute hospitals. A Scottish Hospital Safety Questionnaire measured hospital safety climate (Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture), worker safety behaviors, and worker and patient injuries. The associations between the hospital safety climate scores and the outcome measures (safety behaviors, worker and patient injury rates) were examined. Hospital safety climate scores were significantly correlated with clinical workers' safety behavior and patient and worker injury measures, although the effect sizes were smaller for the latter. Regression analyses revealed that perceptions of staffing levels and managerial commitment were significant predictors for all the safety outcome measures. Both patient-specific and more generic safety climate items were found to have significant impacts on safety outcome measures. This study demonstrated the influences of different aspects of hospital safety climate on both patient and worker safety outcomes. Moreover, it has been shown that in a hospital setting, a safety climate supporting safer patient care would also help to ensure worker safety. The Scottish Hospital Safety Questionnaire has proved to be a usable method of measuring both hospital safety climate as well as patient and worker safety outcomes. Copyright © 2013 National Safety Council and Elsevier Ltd. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Scottish Nuclear, the company

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yeomans, R.M.

1991-01-01

A former chief executive of Scottish Nuclear, formed when United Kingdom electricity generation was privatized, describes the financial viability of the company and considers the future of nuclear power. Scottish Nuclear owns and operates the Advanced Gas Cooled (AGR) and Magnox reactors at Hunterston and the AGR reactor at Torness and is a separate company from those dealing with hydro-electric and non-nuclear generation of electricity. Costs of running the reactors is identified as a proportion of the whole for certain key issues such as station costs, depreciation, decommissioning and insurance. While nuclear power generation using outmoded Magnox reactors is costly, the ecological cost of global warming is seen as more of a problem. Future policy for nuclear power in Scotland must include new plant, probably pressurized water reactors and a clear policy of safety enhancement. (UK)

Education in the Scottish Parliament: Parliamentary Report Number 3.

Science.gov (United States)

Donn, Gari

2000-01-01

Describes the new Scottish Parliament's first education crisis: failure of the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA), which oversees the public examinations system, to make timely and correct awards to secondary students who sat exams. Discusses data processing problems, accountability and ministerial responsibility, communication issues,…

Contemporary role of the kilt and tartan in the construction and expression of Scottish American identity

OpenAIRE

Maitland Hume, Ian M.

2001-01-01

This study explores how influential the kilt and tartan are in the way Americans perceive and express their identity in Scottish terms. Its principal focus is directed on individuals who wear the kilt in America today. The reasons which prompt people to consider qualifying their American identity are considered in the context of a number of different Scottish American organisations and community activities. These are prefaced by an appraisal of contemporary attitudes to ...

The engineering function in Scottish Nuclear

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Grant, J.

1991-01-01

The work of the Engineering and Development Division of Scottish Nuclear is described in this article. This company, formed since the privatization of electricity generation in the United Kingdom, owns and operates the two Hunterston Magnox reactors and the Torness Advanced Gass Cooled Reactors. Principle responsibilities such as maintaining safety standards, formulating policy for radioactive waste disposal and decommissioning and optimally controlling the nuclear generation cycle are outlined. Objectives for the next five years are identified and explained separately. The experience, knowledge and expertise of engineering staff is stressed as being of key importance to the future success of Scottish Nuclear. (UK)

Prevalence of periradicular periodontitis in a Scottish subpopulation found on CBCT images.

Science.gov (United States)

Dutta, A; Smith-Jack, F; Saunders, W P

2014-09-01

To investigate the prevalence of periradicular periodontitis (PRP) using cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) scans in a retrospective cross-sectional epidemiological study in a Scottish subpopulation. Of the 319 CBCT scans performed at Dundee Dental Hospital between November 2009 and July 2012, 245 dentate scans of patients over 18 years of age were included and 3595 teeth examined. Odds ratios were calculated, and the association between root filling and posts with PRP was determined. Radiological signs of PRP were detected in 209 teeth (5.8%) in 96 patients (male = 53, female = 43) of which 145 (69.4%) were measurable and 64 (30.6%) appeared as periapical widening. Most lesions were seen in the 46-55-year age group and in maxillary anterior teeth (35.4%); 47.4% (n = 81) of the total root filled teeth (n = 171) had PRP. Of the root filled teeth with lesions, approximately half (50.6%) had an inadequate root filling. Teeth with crowns, but not root filled, accounted for 17.7% of PRP. Periapical changes were detected on a high proportion of teeth with post-retained crowns (70.7%). The presence of a root filling was significantly associated with PRP (z = 17.689 P Scottish subpopulation was 5.8%. The presence of a root filling or a post-retained crown was significantly associated with the presence of PRP as determined by CBCT scans. The prevalence of periradicular disease in root filled teeth remains high in the Scottish population. © 2013 International Endodontic Journal. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Caseload of NHS plastic surgeons in Scotland, 2005-2006: analysis of Scottish hospital activity data.

Science.gov (United States)

Brewster, Colin T; Shoaib, Taimur

2009-04-01

To assess the contemporary caseload of NHS plastic surgeons. Descriptive study. Scotland. Analysis of routinely collected NHS hospital activity data relating to the financial year 2005-2006. Number of inpatient/day-case episodes and bed-days by principal diagnosis and main operative procedure. During the study period, 12,844 inpatient and 9439 day-case episodes were recorded in 19,166 patients, accounting for 36,300 bed-days. There were more female patients, especially among middle-age groups. Socioeconomic deprivation was more common than expected (P accounted for a higher proportion of bed-days (37.3%) than neoplasms (23.8%). Only approximately half of all surgical procedures were assigned to the skin chapter of the OPCS-4 classification. Despite some limitations, this study provides an insight into the current caseload of NHS plastic surgeons working in Scotland. The data suggest that cosmetic surgery for purely aesthetic reasons represents a relatively small part of NHS plastic surgery activity in Scotland, and that the majority of caseload is in reconstructive plastic surgery.

Birth weight and cognitive function at age 11 years: the Scottish Mental Survey 1932

OpenAIRE

Shenkin, S; Starr, J; Pattie, A; Rush, M; Whalley, L; Deary, I; PHARAOH, E. P.

2001-01-01

AIMS—To examine the relation between birth weight and cognitive function at age 11 years, and to examine whether this relation is independent of social class.
METHODS—Retrospective cohort study based on birth records from 1921 and cognitive function measured while at school at age 11 in 1932.Subjects were 985 live singletons born in the Edinburgh Royal Maternity and Simpson Memorial Hospital in 1921. Moray House Test scores from the Scottish Mental Survey 1932 were trace...

Radioactivity in Scottish soils and grassy vegetation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Miller, G.R.; Horrill, A.D.; Thomson, A.J.; Howson, G.

1989-05-01

In June 1987, soil and graminoid vegetation samples were collected from 159 randomly selected Scottish sites and analysed for radioactivity due to potassium-40, caesium-134 and caesium-137. Activity due to plutonium-238 and plutonium-239/240 was also measured in soils from 47 of the sites. The main aims of this survey were to determine: (a) the geographic distribution of radiocaesium activity due to fallout from the Chernobyl reactor disaster, (b) the pattern of radiation due to the naturally occurring isotope potassium-40, (c) the activity attributable to caesium-137 fallout from nuclear weapons testing prior to the Chernobyl deposition, (d) the uptake of caesium-137 by vegetation from different soil types. (author)

Fresh Air Practices in English and Scottish Homes

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hauge, Bettina

2013-01-01

This article presents anthropological research results on how and why English and Scottish families use the fresh air from outside into the home (FAFOH). The introducing exchange was often heard in the English and Scottish families visited. Throughout the entire study the opposite only occurred...... in a few cases: The man opening the window, the woman closing it, in her own words: ”so that I stay snug”....

Scottish outcomes for extra hepatic biliary atresia post-rationalisation of services.

Science.gov (United States)

Tayler, Rachel; Barclay, Andrew R; Rogers, Pam; Mcintyre, Karen; Russell, Richard K; Devadason, David; Bisset, W Mike; Ling, Simon C; McGrogan, Paraic

2013-05-01

To evaluate the outcome of Scottish children with extra hepatic biliary atresia (EHBA) since rationalisation of Kasai services to three English centres in 2002 (The 'Group A' centres). All Scottish children with EHBA diagnosed between 2002 and 2009 were identified via the Scottish Society of Paediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition (SSPGHAN) clinicians. A case-note review was conducted with demographics, presentation and outcome data recorded. These data were compared with historical Scottish data and data published previously by the supraregional liver units. 25 patients were identified, of whom 22 were referred for Kasai in the group A centres, and of whom 19 had a Kasai. 2 year transplant-free survival (TFS) was significantly lower in the SSPGHAN 2002-2009 group than the group A centres in (1) (6/18 (33%) vs 36/57 (63%), p=0.023). These postrationalisation data are disappointing. The emphasis for care will now focus on improved communication between, primary care, general paediatricians and surgical centres through regional and national managed clinical networks, aiming to improve future outcomes for Scottish children with BA.

Annual report and accounts 1994/95: Scottish Nuclear

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1995-01-01

The Annual Report and Accounts for Scottish Nuclear are presented for the year 1994/1995. Scottish Nuclear Limited produces about half of Scotland's electricity requirement in its advanced gas-cooled reactors (AGRs) at Hunterston and Torness. It also has responsibility for decommissioning the Hunterston A Magnox nuclear power station. The role of the company in the international arena and as part of the United Kingdom's electric power industry, following privatisation, are discussed. (UK)

Birth weight and cognitive function at age 11years: the Scottish Mental Survey 1932

OpenAIRE

Shenkin, S D; Starr, John M; Pattie, Alison; Rush, M A; Whalley, Lawrence J; Deary, Ian J

2001-01-01

AIMS---To examine the relation between birth weight and cognitive function at age 11 years, and to examine whether this relation is independent of social class. METHODS---Retrospective cohort study based on birth records from 1921 and cognitive function measured while at school at age 11 in 1932. Subjects were 985 live singletons born in the Edinburgh Royal Maternity and Simpson Memorial Hospital in 1921. Moray House Test scores from the Scottish Mental Survey 1932 were traced on 449 of th...

Sports related injuries in Scottish adolescents aged 11-15

OpenAIRE

Williams, J. M.; Wright, P.; Currie, C. E.; Beattie, T. F.

1998-01-01

OBJECTIVES: To measure the age and sex distribution of self reported sports and leisure injuries in a 12 month retrospective recall period among a representative national sample of Scottish adolescents, and to examine the characteristics (gender, age, handedness, and level of sports participation) of sports related injuries in relation to injuries sustained during other activities. DESIGN/SETTING: Self completion questionnaire survey administered in schools during April- June 1994. SUBJ...

Educational Theory and the Social Vision of the Scottish Enlightenment

Science.gov (United States)

Hanley, Ryan Patrick

2011-01-01

The Scottish Enlightenment is celebrated for its many contributions to the natural sciences, the social sciences and the moral sciences. But for all this attention, one aspect of the Scottish Enlightenment has been almost entirely neglected: its educational theory. This paper aims to illuminate the relationship between the educational theory of…

Negative stereotypes of the Scottish diet: A qualitative analysis of deep-fried Mars bar references in bestselling newspapers in Scotland, 2011-14.

Science.gov (United States)

Knight, Christine

2016-08-01

The Scottish diet is associated in the UK media and popular discourse with unhealthy deep-fried foods. In addition to the stereotype's negative effects on perceptions of Scottish food, culture and people, there is evidence that the stereotype of the Scottish diet has negative effects on food behaviour and public health in Scotland, having been shown to encourage consumption of deep-fried foods and discourage positive dietary change. The most notorious deep-fried food associated with Scotland is the deep-fried Mars bar (DFMB), arguably invented in Stonehaven (near Aberdeen), and first reported in the Scottish and UK press in 1995. This article reports findings from an analysis of newspaper references to the DFMB in the two highest selling newspapers in Scotland, the Scottish Sun and the Daily Record, between 2011 and 2014. A keyword search ("deep fried Mars bar") using the online media database Lexis Library generated 97 unique records, and the resulting dataset was analysed thematically and discursively. Analysis showed that both newspapers clearly associated the DFMB with Scotland. Further, both newspapers portrayed the DFMB and the broader "deep-fried" Scottish diet stereotype ambivalently (mixed positive and negative associations). However, the Daily Record actively criticised the DFMB stereotype much more often than did the Scottish Sun. These findings suggest that the Scottish population encounters different messages in the press about food and nutrition from people elsewhere in the UK, and that these messages vary depending on choice of media in Scotland. Given the known negative effects of the stereotype, differences in Scottish media discourse should be considered a potential factor in persistent health inequalities affecting Scotland. Educational efforts, and opening discussion with journalists and amongst the Scottish public, may be helpful. Copyright © 2016 The Author. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Characterization of viruses infecting potato plants from a single location in Shetland, an isolated scottish archipelago

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Mortensen, R.J.; Shen, Xinyi; Reid, Alex

2010-01-01

, as were 29 Scottish mainland isolates of the same four potato virus species, and these 58 isolates were compared to previously published sequence data. This has allowed the characterization of viruses from a relatively isolated location, where there is little production of ware potatoes and no seed potato...... production. Phylogenetic homogeneity of the Shetland isolates of PVS and PVV was apparent. PVX was more heterogeneous, and Shetland isolates cluster with the Scottish isolates in a group which includes Asian and European isolates. For PVA, the majority of the Shetland and Scottish mainland isolates formed...... a predominantly Scottish grouping, with the remaining Shetland and Scottish mainland isolates clustering with a previously characterized Scottish isolate. There were three main groups of PVA, of which the Scottish grouping was the only one which did not have a fully characterized representative. To extend...

Variation in practice: an analysis of Scottish Surgical Profiles ENT data.

Science.gov (United States)

Yeo, J C L; Ah-See, K W; Mackenzie, K

2013-02-01

Variation in otolaryngology intervention rates is reported in the Scottish Surgical Profiles Project. Tonsillectomy is one of the selected key indicator procedures. The variation in practice was discussed nationally at the Scottish Otolaryngology Society summer meetings in 2009 and 2010. NHS Grampian had a significantly higher tonsillectomy rate compared with other Scottish NHS boards. To determine the accuracy of NHS Grampian data reported by the Information Service Division (ISD) and to record the appropriateness of listing of patients for tonsillectomy with reference to the Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network (SIGN). Retrospective review of case notes and surgical records of patients who had undergone tonsillectomy between March 2007 and March 2008 in NHS Grampian. Between March 2007 and March 2008, 509 tonsillectomy cases were performed in NHS Grampian. This corresponded to the data received from ISD. 87% of tonsillectomies performed were compliant with SIGN guidelines. The Scottish otolaryngology clinicians have found the reporting of the intervention rates stimulating and challenging. Discussion of the surgical profile project regularly at national specialty meetings resulted in a preliminary detailed targeted audit of those who were persistent outliers for tonsillectomy. This refuted the presumed reasons for this variation, namely inaccurate figures from ISD and inappropriate listings by clinicians.

Education in the Scottish Parliament.

Science.gov (United States)

Donn, Gari

2000-01-01

Reviews some educational issues arising during the first year of the new Scottish Parliament. Discusses facility problems and funding needs of small rural schools, debate over what constitutes standards and which performance indicators should be included in legislation, proposed accountability structures for local education authorities, and the…

Scottish Classroom Voices: A Case Study of Teaching and Learning Scots

Science.gov (United States)

Shoba, Jo Arthur

2010-01-01

Research in multilingual classrooms demonstrates education as a key site within which social and linguistic values are shaped. This study extends such research by investigating language use in a Scottish primary classroom. Scots is widely spoken throughout Scotland, figuring in a 2003 Scottish Parliament report as one of two indigenous heritage…

Problems of Assessment in Religious and Moral Education: The Scottish Case

Science.gov (United States)

Grant, Lynne; Matemba, Yonah H.

2013-01-01

This article is concerned with assessment issues in Religious and Moral Education (RME) offered in Scottish non-denominational schools. The analysis of the findings in this article is weighed against the framework of the new "3-18" Scottish curriculum called "Curriculum for Excellence" (CfE). CfE was introduced in primary…

Operating experience at Scottish Nuclear's power stations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Blackburn, P.

1991-01-01

A brief history is presented of the design and operation of the four Scottish nuclear power stations currently run by Scottish Nuclear, namely Hunterston 'A' and 'B' and the Torness reactors. A design flaw in the Magnox reactor at Hunterston 'A' led to it being operated at lower than optimal temperature and hence producing less power. For Hunterston 'B' reactor the Advanced Gas Cooled design prototype was used. Operating setbacks and successes are noted. The design chosen for Torness embraced all the good points of Hunterston 'B' but sought to eliminate its faults. After 26 years of successful operation Hunterston 'A' is now being decommissioned, while the other three stations continue to generate electricity successfully. (UK)

Teaching China in Scotland's Secondary Schools as Sino-Scottish Engagement Intensifies

Science.gov (United States)

Oates, John Vincent

2011-01-01

At a time of burgeoning Sino-Scottish engagement, and the introduction of a new national education policy, "Curriculum for Excellence" designed to enhance teacher autonomy, this paper draws on the national response of Modern Studies teachers who are the only group of Scottish teachers to have the (voluntary) option of including the study…

Dr Catherine Louisa Corbett MB ChB DPH (1877-1960), Diary in Serbia. Her work with the Scottish Women's Hospitals in Serbia and Russia, 1915-1917.

Science.gov (United States)

Mohr, Peter D

2018-01-01

Catherine Corbett was the second woman to gain a medical degree from the University of Manchester Medical School in 1905; however, little was known about her life or work, apart from the fact that she was a School Medical Inspector (SMI) and never married. The rediscovery of her Diary in Serbia (1916) has revealed her work for the Scottish Women's Hospitals (SWH) during the First World War in Serbia (1915-1916). Her time alongside her female colleagues was a good experience, however the harsh conditions, especially those she experienced during a further period working in Russia (1916-1917), left her exhausted and psychologically stressed. After the war, her job as a SMI in Burnley and her pursuit of rock climbing helped her adjust to a normal life and allowed her to promote her views on female education.

Does Scottish Education Need Traditions?

Science.gov (United States)

Paterson, Lindsay

2009-01-01

Scottish education was, until quite recently, the conscious product of liberal tradition, of the belief by influential elites that the nation's educational history was strong, coherent, and progressive, a source of economic flexibility, of modernising ideas, and of liberal opportunity. In recent decades, however, it has become fashionable to decry…

Scottish solar enthusiasts out and about in the North

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Porteous, Colin (Mackintosh School of Architecture, Glasgow (United Kingdom))

1993-12-01

Each year the Scottish Solar Energy Group organises a 3-4 day visit to solar buildings or installations which are a bit further afield than Scotland's ''central belt''. This year they visited a new house overlooking Loch Ness. The Lionacleit community school in Benbecula, while of a much larger scale at abut 6000m[sup 2], is analogous to the house in that energy consciousness is addressed through a range of both active and passive measures. (author)

Using patient-reported outcomes in schizophrenia: the Scottish Schizophrenia Outcomes Study.

Science.gov (United States)

Hunter, Robert; Cameron, Rosie; Norrie, John

2009-02-01

The primary aim of the Scottish Schizophrenia Outcomes Study (SSOS) was to assess the feasibility and utility of routinely collecting outcome data in everyday clinical settings. Data were collected over three years in the Scottish National Health Service (NHS). There were two secondary aims of SSOS: first, to compare data from patient-rated, objective, and clinician-rated outcomes, and second, to describe trends in outcome data and service use across Scotland over the three years of the study (2002-2005). This study used a naturalistic, longitudinal, observational cohort design. A representative sample of 1,015 persons with ICD-10 F20-F29 diagnoses (schizophrenia, schizotypal disorders, or delusional disorders) was assessed annually using the clinician-rated measure, the Health of the Nation Outcome Scale (HoNOS), and the patient-reported assessment, the Avon Mental Health Measure (Avon). Objective outcomes data and information on services and interventions were collected. Data were analyzed with regression modeling. Of the 1,015 persons recruited, 78% of the cohort (N=789) completed the study. Over the study period, significant decreases were seen in the number of hospitalizations, incidence of attempted suicide and self-harm, and civil detentions. Avon scores indicated significant improvement on all subscales (behavior, social, access, and mental health) and on the total score. However, HoNOS scores on the behavior and symptom subscales did not change, scores on the impairment subscale increased significantly (indicating increased levels of impairment), and scores on the social subscale decreased significantly (indicating improved social functioning). This study has demonstrated that it is feasible within the Scottish NHS to routinely collect meaningful outcomes data in schizophrenia. Patient-reported assessments were also successfully collected and used in care plans. This model shows that it is possible to incorporate patient-reported assessments into routine

Factors affecting the views and attitudes of Scottish pharmacists to continuing professional development.

Science.gov (United States)

Power, Ailsa; Grammatiki, Aikaterini; Bates, Ian; Mc Kellar, Susan; Johnson, B Julienne; Diack, H Lesley; Stewart, Derek; Hudson, Steve A

2011-12-01

To explore factors associated with Scottish pharmacists' views and attitudes to continuing professional development (CPD). A retrospective principal component analysis of 552 (22.8%) questionnaires returned from a sample of 2420 Scottish pharmacists randomly selected from the 4300 pharmacists registered with the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain and with a Scottish address. Principal component analysis of questionnaire items (n = 19) revealed four factors associated with Scottish pharmacists' views and attitudes to CPD: having positive support in the workplace, having access to resources and meeting learning needs, having confidence in the CPD process and motivation to participate in the CPD process. Community pharmacists were identified as the subgroup of pharmacists that needed most support for CPD regarding all four factors, while pharmacists working in primary care felt that they had most support in the workplace in comparison to other sectors (P Scottish pharmacists' views and attitudes to CPD. This may provide an approach to facilitate comparison of CPD views and attitudes with intra and inter professional groupings. Further study may allow identification of good practice and solutions to common CPD issues. © 2011 The Authors. IJPP © 2011 Royal Pharmaceutical Society.

Wear Fast, Die Young: More Worn Teeth and Shorter Lives in Iberian Compared to Scottish Red Deer.

Science.gov (United States)

Pérez-Barbería, F J; Carranza, J; Sánchez-Prieto, C

2015-01-01

Teeth in Cervidae are permanent structures that are not replaceable or repairable; consequently their rate of wear, due to the grinding effect of food and dental attrition, affects their duration and can determine an animal's lifespan. Tooth wear is also a useful indicator of accumulative life energy investment in intake and mastication and their interactions with diet. Little is known regarding how natural and sexual selection operate on dental structures within a species in contrasting environments and how these relate to life history traits to explain differences in population rates of tooth wear and longevity. We hypothesised that populations under harsh environmental conditions should be selected for more hypsodont teeth while sexual selection may maintain similar sex differences within different populations. We investigated the patterns of tooth wear in males and females of Iberian red deer (Cervus elaphus hispanicus) in Southern Spain and Scottish red deer (C. e. scoticus) across Scotland, that occur in very different environments, using 10343 samples from legal hunting activities. We found higher rates of both incisor and molar wear in the Spanish compared to Scottish populations. However, Scottish red deer had larger incisors at emergence than Iberian red deer, whilst molars emerged at a similar size in both populations and sexes. Iberian and Scottish males had earlier tooth depletion than females, in support of a similar sexual selection process in both populations. However, whilst average lifespan for Iberian males was 4 years shorter than that for Iberian females and Scottish males, Scottish males only showed a reduction of 1 year in average lifespan with respect to Scottish females. More worn molars were associated with larger mandibles in both populations, suggesting that higher intake and/or greater investment in food comminution may have favoured increased body growth, before later loss of tooth efficiency due to severe wear. These results

Nose profile morphology and accuracy study of nose profile estimation method in Scottish subadult and Indonesian adult populations.

Science.gov (United States)

Sarilita, Erli; Rynn, Christopher; Mossey, Peter A; Black, Sue; Oscandar, Fahmi

2018-05-01

This study investigated nose profile morphology and its relationship to the skull in Scottish subadult and Indonesian adult populations, with the aim of improving the accuracy of forensic craniofacial reconstruction. Samples of 86 lateral head cephalograms from Dundee Dental School (mean age, 11.8 years) and 335 lateral head cephalograms from the Universitas Padjadjaran Dental Hospital, Bandung, Indonesia (mean age 24.2 years), were measured. The method of nose profile estimation based on skull morphology previously proposed by Rynn and colleagues in 2010 (FSMP 6:20-34) was tested in this study. Following this method, three nasal aperture-related craniometrics and six nose profile dimensions were measured from the cephalograms. To assess the accuracy of the method, six nose profile dimensions were estimated from the three craniometric parameters using the published method and then compared to the actual nose profile dimensions.In the Scottish subadult population, no sexual dimorphism was evident in the measured dimensions. In contrast, sexual dimorphism of the Indonesian adult population was evident in all craniometric and nose profile dimensions; notably, males exhibited statistically significant larger values than females. The published method by Rynn and colleagues (FSMP 6:20-34, 2010) performed better in the Scottish subadult population (mean difference of maximum, 2.35 mm) compared to the Indonesian adult population (mean difference of maximum, 5.42 mm in males and 4.89 mm in females).In addition, regression formulae were derived to estimate nose profile dimensions based on the craniometric measurements for the Indonesian adult population. The published method is not sufficiently accurate for use on the Indonesian population, so the derived method should be used. The accuracy of the published method by Rynn and colleagues (FSMP 6:20-34, 2010) was sufficiently reliable to be applied in Scottish subadult population.

The impact of spousal bereavement on hospitalisations: Evidence from the Scottish Longitudinal Study.

Science.gov (United States)

Tseng, Fu-Min; Petrie, Dennis; Wang, Shaolin; Macduff, Colin; Stephen, Audrey I

2018-02-01

This paper estimates the impact of spousal bereavement on hospital inpatient use for the surviving bereaved by following the experience of 94,272 married Scottish individuals from 1991 until 2009 using a difference-in-difference model. We also consider the sample selection issues related to differences in survival between the bereaved and non-bereaved using a simple Cox Proportional-Hazard model. Before conducting these estimations, propensity score approaches are used to re-weight the non-bereaved to generate a more random-like comparison sample for the bereaved. We find that those bereaved who survive are both more likely to be admitted and to stay longer in hospital than a comparable non-bereaved cohort. Bereavement is estimated to induce on average an extra 0.24 (95% CI [0.15, 0.33]) hospital inpatient days per year. Similar to previous studies, we estimate the bereaved have a 19.2% (95% CI [12.5%, 26.3%]) higher mortality rate than the comparable non-bereaved cohort. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

THE POLITICS OF EVALUATION IN CO-FINANCED PROJECTS: THE CASE OF THE SCOTTISH EXECUTIVE AND THE EVALUATION OF THE STRUCTURAL FUNDS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Delia M. Costân

2009-06-01

Full Text Available This paper combines an analysis of the different theories expressed in the literature in relation to the process of evaluation and their empirical application to the case of a project evaluation undertaken by the Scottish Executive. The evaluation undertaken by the Scottish Executive is analysed in the context of the various theories and hypotheses expressed in the evaluation literature. Insight into the activity undertaken by the Scottish Executive and access to primary documents used, was facilitated by the author’s participation in a six week internship within the Structural Funds Division of the Scottish Executive. The analysis of the evaluation of the co-financed projects in Scotland revealed that the challenges to the process of evaluation in Scotland resulted in part from the existence of different understandings by the various stakeholders involved in the setting of the goals of the evaluation process. The author’s findings on the application of Article 4 in Scotland are that the different interpretations of Article 4 come from the European Commissions’ general approach to evaluation;, the Scottish Executives’ emphasis on meeting the absorption requirements of the Structural Funds and less on detailed evaluation, and the Programme Management Executives’ focus on supporting the project beneficiaries and less on evaluating the projects.

Oral Health and Risk of Arthritis in the Scottish Population: Results from the Scottish Health Survey.

Science.gov (United States)

Abbood, Hadeel Mohammed; Cherukara, George; Pathan, Ejaz; Macfarlane, Tatiana V

2017-01-01

To investigate the link between self-reported oral health and arthritis in the Scottish population using data from the Scottish Health Survey. Data were available from 2008 to 2013 on self-reported arthritis, oral health conditions and oral hygiene habits from the Scottish Health Survey. Arthritis was defined in this survey by self-reported long standing illness, those who reported having arthritis, rheumatism and/or fibrositis. Oral conditions were defined by self-reported bleeding gums, toothache, biting difficulties and/or edentulousness. Oral hygiene habits were defined by self-reported brushing teeth and/or using dental floss on daily basis. Logistic regression was used for statistical analysis adjusted for age, gender, qualification, smoking and body mass index. Prevalence of self-reported arthritis was 9.3% (95% confidence interval [CI] = 9.03 to 9.57). Those who reported having bleeding gums (adjusted odds ratio [OR] = 1.63; 95% CI = 1.35 to 1.96), toothache (OR = 1.32; 95% CI = 1.16 to 1.5), biting difficulties (OR = 1.95; 95% CI = 1.62 to 2.34), and being edentulous (OR = 1.22; 95% CI = 1.08 to 1.37) had an increased risk of arthritis. Brushing teeth (OR = 1.25; 95% CI = 0.74 to 2.12), and using dental floss (OR = 1.11; 95% CI = 0.89 to 1.39) were not associated with arthritis. Self-reported oral conditions were associated with increased risk of self-reported arthritis. Oral hygiene habits were not associated with self-reported arthritis. Further investigation is required to assess the causal association between oral hygiene, oral disease and arthritis.

The Scottish Enlightenment and Its Influence on the American Enlightenment

OpenAIRE

Tanaka, Hideo

2010-01-01

It is often said that Witherspoon brought Scottish Enlightenment to America, and diffused Reid’s Common Sense Philosophy in the continent. At the time he arrived in the former British colony, however, the Americans had already read Scottish books, such as those written by Hutcheson, Hume, Kames, Montesquieu, Locke, Cato, and others. Hutcheson’s Introduction had been used as a text book in Harvard and elsewhere. America’s struggle for independence had appealed to the right of resistance agains...

Family size and perinatal circumstances, as mental health risk factors in a Scottish birth cohort.

Science.gov (United States)

Riordan, Daniel Vincent; Morris, Carole; Hattie, Joanne; Stark, Cameron

2012-06-01

Higher maternal parity and younger maternal age have each been observed to be associated with subsequent offspring suicidal behaviour. This study aimed to establish if these, and other variables from the perinatal period, together with family size, are also associated with other psychiatric morbidity. Linked datasets of the Scottish Morbidity Record and Scottish death records were used to follow up, into young adulthood, a birth cohort of 897,685. In addition to the index maternity records, mothers' subsequent pregnancy records were identified, allowing family size to be estimated. Three independent outcomes were studied: suicide, self-harm, and psychiatric hospital admission. Data were analysed using Cox regression. Younger maternal age and higher maternal parity were independently associated with increased risk in offspring of suicide, of self-harm and of psychiatric admission. Risk of psychiatric admission was higher amongst those from families of three or more, but, compared with only children, those with two or three siblings had a lower risk of self harm. Perinatal and family composition factors have a broad influence on mental health outcomes. These data suggest that the existence of younger, as well as elder siblings may be important.

Digitization of Microfilm: A Scottish Perspective.

Science.gov (United States)

Lauder, John

1995-01-01

Discusses the Scottish Newspapers Microfilming Unit's interest in conversion of microfilm to digital technology. Concerns include cost, potential market, reliability of digital technology as a preservation medium, and the necessity to have both microfilm and digital formats for preservation. Solicits feedback and information from colleagues on the…

Minor parties and independents in times of change: Scottish local elections 1974 to 2007

OpenAIRE

Bochel, Hugh; Denver, David

2008-01-01

This article explores the electoral performance of minor party and Independent candidates in Scottish local elections from 1974 to 2007. This is a period which began with a major restructuring of local government and ended with a change in the electoral system from first-past-the-post to the single transferable vote. It encompasses a second restructuring in the 1990s, the consolidation of the Scottish National Party as an electoral force, and the creation of the Scottish Parliament. Throughou...

Unlocking Hospitality Managers Career Transitions through Applying Schein's Career Anchors Theory

Science.gov (United States)

McGuire, David; Polla, Giovana; Heidl, Britta

2017-01-01

Purpose: This paper seeks to unlock the career transitions of hospitality managers through applying Schein's career anchors theory. It seeks to understand how Schein's Career Anchors help explain the career transitions of managers in the Scottish hospitality industry. Design/methodology/approach: The paper adopts a non-sequential multi-method…

Bruno Braunerde und die Bodentypen - The German-speaking friends of the Scottish soil characters

Science.gov (United States)

Hofmann, Anett

2014-05-01

Cartoon figures of soil profiles with faces, legs, arms and funny names: the Scottish soil characters Rusty (Cambisol), Heather (Podzol), Pete (Histosol) and five others were developed at the James Hutton Institute in Aberdeen for outreach activities. They represent eight soil types that are common in Scotland. Recently they have become movie stars in an animated film, where they speak with a Scottish accent. The Scottish soil characters are a true soil science communication success story and it would be great if they had friends in many places to tell some stories from the underground in the respective native languages. This contribution will introduce the draft for 13 German-speaking soil characters that represent the most common soil types in Austria, Germany and Switzerland. Each name is a play on words with respect to German soil classification terms and serves as a mnemonic for typical characteristics of these soils. The 'hair' shows detailed vegetation and the context with common land use. For non-soil scientists the soil characters can be used as story-tellers, e.g. about their life (soil evolution), home (spatial distribution), job (function), fears (threats) and joys (best-practice land use, restoration). Because the International Year of Soil (2015) is an excellent opportunity for new outreach activities, the aim is to publish the German-speaking soil characters as a collaboration of the Austrian, German and Swiss Soil Science Societies. The soil characters could be used in print or online formats, and even - as can be seen in Aberdeen - as human-sized walking soil profiles.

Is there a 'Scottish effect' for mortality? Prospective observational study of census linkage studies.

Science.gov (United States)

Popham, Frank; Boyle, Paul J

2011-09-01

Scotland's mortality rate is higher than England and Wales' and this difference cannot be explained by differences in area-level socio-economic deprivation. However, studies of this 'Scottish effect' have not adjusted for individual-level measures of socio-economic position nor accounted for country of birth; important as Scottish born living in England and Wales also have high mortality risk. Data sets (1991-2001 and 2001-2007) were obtained from the Scottish Longitudinal Study and the Office for National Statistics England and Wales Longitudinal Study that both link census records to subsequent mortality. Analysis was limited to those aged 35-74 at baseline with people followed to emigration, death or end of follow-up. Those born in Scotland living in either England and Wales or Scotland had a higher mortality rate than the English born living in England and Wales that was not fully attenuated by adjustment for car access and housing tenure. Adjusting for household-level differences in socio-economic deprivation does not fully explain the Scottish excess mortality that is seen for those born in Scotland whether living in England and Wales or Scotland. Taking a life course approach may reveal the cause of the 'Scottish effect'.

Managing radioactive waste safely. Awareness and attitudes of the Scottish public

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rodger, N.

2002-01-01

Between January and April 2002, the Scottish Executive Environment and Rural Affairs department inducted a consultation exercise in conjunction with DEFRA on 'Managing Radioactive Waste Safely', and commissioned several pieces of supplementary research to gauge levels of awareness of the issues around radioactive waste among the Scottish public. This research was conducted as part of this process. Its main aims were to measure awareness and assess attitudes towards radioactive waste, its sources, its perceived risks and its management. Reflecting a key objective of the main consultation, this research also sought to assess how the public rate a variety of possible actions that could be taken to involve them in this debate and decision-making process. A representative sample of 1,000 Scottish adults (age 18+) was interviewed by telephone using 'Computer Assisted Telephone Interviewing' during February 2002

Embodied intersubjective engagement in mother-infant tactile communication: a cross-cultural study of Japanese and Scottish mother-infant behaviors during infant pick-up.

Science.gov (United States)

Negayama, Koichi; Delafield-Butt, Jonathan T; Momose, Keiko; Ishijima, Konomi; Kawahara, Noriko; Lux, Erin J; Murphy, Andrew; Kaliarntas, Konstantinos

2015-01-01

This study examines the early development of cultural differences in a simple, embodied, and intersubjective engagement between mothers putting down, picking up, and carrying their infants between Japan and Scotland. Eleven Japanese and ten Scottish mothers with their 6- and then 9-month-old infants participated. Video and motion analyses were employed to measure motor patterns of the mothers' approach to their infants, as well as their infants' collaborative responses during put-down, pick-up, and carry phases. Japanese and Scottish mothers approached their infants with different styles and their infants responded differently to the short duration of separation during the trial. A greeting-like behavior of the arms and hands was prevalent in the Scottish mothers' approach, but not in the Japanese mothers' approach. Japanese mothers typically kneeled before making the final reach to pick-up their children, giving a closer, apparently gentler final approach of the torso than Scottish mothers, who bent at the waist with larger movements of the torso. Measures of the gap closure between the mothers' hands to their infants' heads revealed variably longer duration and distance gap closures with greater velocity by the Scottish mothers than by the Japanese mothers. Further, the sequence of Japanese mothers' body actions on approach, contact, pick-up, and hold was more coordinated at 6 months than at 9 months. Scottish mothers were generally more variable on approach. Measures of infant participation and expressivity indicate more active participation in the negotiation during the separation and pick-up phases by Scottish infants. Thus, this paper demonstrates a culturally different onset of development of joint attention in pick-up. These differences reflect cultures of everyday interaction.

Embodied intersubjective engagement in mother–infant tactile communication: a cross-cultural study of Japanese and Scottish mother–infant behaviors during infant pick-up

Science.gov (United States)

Negayama, Koichi; Delafield-Butt, Jonathan T.; Momose, Keiko; Ishijima, Konomi; Kawahara, Noriko; Lux, Erin J.; Murphy, Andrew; Kaliarntas, Konstantinos

2015-01-01

This study examines the early development of cultural differences in a simple, embodied, and intersubjective engagement between mothers putting down, picking up, and carrying their infants between Japan and Scotland. Eleven Japanese and ten Scottish mothers with their 6- and then 9-month-old infants participated. Video and motion analyses were employed to measure motor patterns of the mothers’ approach to their infants, as well as their infants’ collaborative responses during put-down, pick-up, and carry phases. Japanese and Scottish mothers approached their infants with different styles and their infants responded differently to the short duration of separation during the trial. A greeting-like behavior of the arms and hands was prevalent in the Scottish mothers’ approach, but not in the Japanese mothers’ approach. Japanese mothers typically kneeled before making the final reach to pick-up their children, giving a closer, apparently gentler final approach of the torso than Scottish mothers, who bent at the waist with larger movements of the torso. Measures of the gap closure between the mothers’ hands to their infants’ heads revealed variably longer duration and distance gap closures with greater velocity by the Scottish mothers than by the Japanese mothers. Further, the sequence of Japanese mothers’ body actions on approach, contact, pick-up, and hold was more coordinated at 6 months than at 9 months. Scottish mothers were generally more variable on approach. Measures of infant participation and expressivity indicate more active participation in the negotiation during the separation and pick-up phases by Scottish infants. Thus, this paper demonstrates a culturally different onset of development of joint attention in pick-up. These differences reflect cultures of everyday interaction. PMID:25774139

Project-Based Learning in Scottish Prisons

Science.gov (United States)

Sams, Kirsten

2014-01-01

The article describes the development of a project-based approach to learning in seven Scottish prisons. It argues that the project-based approach is ideally suited to prison education due to its flexibility and ability to enrich the relatively narrow prison curriculum and create meaningful links with wider society, reducing the isolation of…

A historical review of the key bacterial and viral pathogens of Scottish wild fish.

Science.gov (United States)

Wallace, I S; McKay, P; Murray, A G

2017-12-01

Thousands of Scottish wild fish were screened for pathogens by Marine Scotland Science. A systematic review of published and unpublished data on six key pathogens (Renibacterium salmoninarum, Aeromonas salmonicida, IPNV, ISAV, SAV and VHSV) found in Scottish wild and farmed fish was undertaken. Despite many reported cases in farmed fish, there was a limited number of positive samples from Scottish wild fish, however, there was evidence for interactions between wild and farmed fish. A slightly elevated IPNV prevalence was reported in wild marine fish caught close to Atlantic salmon, Salmo salar L., farms that had undergone clinical IPN. Salmonid alphavirus was isolated from wild marine fish caught near Atlantic salmon farms with a SAV infection history. Isolations of VHSV were made from cleaner wrasse (Labridae) used on Scottish Atlantic salmon farms and VHSV was detected in local wild marine fish. However, these pathogens have been detected in wild marine fish caught remotely from aquaculture sites. These data suggest that despite the large number of samples taken, there is limited evidence for clinical disease in wild fish due to these pathogens (although BKD and furunculosis historically occurred) and they are likely to have had a minimal impact on Scottish wild fish. © 2017 Crown Copyright. Journal of Fish Diseases © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Hospitality Services. Student Activity Book.

Science.gov (United States)

Texas Tech Univ., Lubbock. Home Economics Curriculum Center.

This student activity book contains pencil-and-paper activities for use in a hospitality services course focusing on the food and lodging segments of the hospitality and tourism industry. The activities are organized into 29 chapters on the following topics: hospitality services industry; professional ethics; organization/management structures in…

School Grades, School Context and University Degree Performance: Evidence from an Elite Scottish Institution

Science.gov (United States)

Lasselle, Laurence; McDougall-Bagnall, Jonathan; Smith, Ian

2014-01-01

This paper investigates degree classification outcomes for students with SQA Higher qualifications at an elite Scottish university. Students are characterised according to a new indicator based on their secondary school's academic performance relative to the national (Scottish) average. The results show that our school context indicator provides…

Ethnic Variations in Liver- and Alcohol-Related Disease Hospitalisations and Mortality: The Scottish Health and Ethnicity Linkage Study.

Science.gov (United States)

Bhala, Neeraj; Cézard, Genevieve; Ward, Hester J T; Bansal, Narinder; Bhopal, Raj

2016-09-01

Preventing alcohol-related harms, including those causing liver disease, is a public health priority in the UK, especially in Scotland, but the effects of ethnicity are not known. We assessed liver- and alcohol-related events (hospitalisations and deaths) in Scotland using self-reported measures of ethnicity. Linking Scottish NHS hospital admissions and mortality to the Scottish Census 2001, we explored ethnic differences in hospitalisations and mortality (2001-2010) of all liver diseases, alcoholic liver disease (ALD) and specific alcohol-related diseases (ARD). Risk ratios (RR) were calculated using Poisson regression with robust variance, by sex, adjusted for age, country of birth and the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD) presented below. The White Scottish population was the standard reference population with 95% confidence intervals (CI) calculated to enable comparison (multiplied by 100 for results). For all liver diseases, Chinese had around 50% higher risks for men (RR 162; 95% CI 127-207) and women (141; 109-184), as did Other South Asian men (144; 104-201) and Pakistani women (140; 116-168). Lower risks for all liver diseases occurred in African origin men (42; 24-74), other White British men (72; 63-82) and women (80; 70-90) and other White women (80; 67-94). For ALD, White Irish had a 75% higher risk for men (175; 107-287). Other White British men had about a third lower risk of ALD (63; 50-78), as did Pakistani men (65; 42-99). For ARD, almost 2-fold higher risks existed for White Irish men (182; 161-206) and Any Mixed Background women (199; 152-261). Lower risks of ARD existed in Pakistani men (67; 55-80) and women (48; 33-70), and Chinese men (55; 41-73) and women (54; 32-90). Substantial variations by ethnicity exist for both alcohol-related and liver disease hospitalisations and deaths in Scotland: these exist in subgroups of both White and non-White populations and practical actions are required to ameliorate these differences. © The

Concurrent Transitional Meningioma and Ceruminous Gland Adenocarcinoma in a Scottish Wildcat Hybrid (Felis silvestris).

Science.gov (United States)

Drew, S J; Perpiñán, D; Baily, J

2016-01-01

The Scottish wildcat (Felis silvestris) is an iconic and endangered subpopulation of the European wildcat (F. silvestris silvestris). There is much research devoted to the ecology, genetics and conservation of this animal, but little published information on pathology and disease. The investigation and reporting of such information is vital to furthering understanding of the effects of hybridization, a factor that is crucial if we are to secure a future for the Scottish wildcat. This report describes the clinical presentation, gross post-mortem and histological findings in an elderly Scottish wildcat hybrid with concurrent transitional meningioma and ceruminous gland adenocarcinoma. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Folio Assessment or External Examinations? An Investigation into Alternative Means of Assessing SCE Ordinary Grade English. Report to the Scottish Certificate of Education Examination Board from the Scottish Council for Research in Education.

Science.gov (United States)

Spencer, Ernest

From 1974 through 1978, three methods of assessing Scottish high school students' (O level) English achievement were studied: (1) Ordinary (O level) examinations; (2) assessment of writing skills (folio assessment); and (3) criterion referenced tests developed by the Scottish Council for Research in Education (SCRE) to measure the objectives of…

Jan Culik on the Scottish independence referendum

OpenAIRE

Culik, Jan

2014-01-01

A live interview with Jan Culik on the results and the political circumstances of the referendum on Scottish independence, broadcast from the BBC Pacific Quay studios. The interview was transmitted on Friday 19th September, 2014, by the nationwide Czech public service Radio (Radiozurnal) from 10 to 11 am.

Nurture Groups in a Scottish Secondary School: Purpose, Features, Value and Areas for Development

Science.gov (United States)

Kourmoulaki, Athina

2013-01-01

Nurture groups (NGs) are increasingly being established in Scottish secondary schools yet research in this context is limited. The current study explores the purpose, features and value of two NGs in a Scottish secondary school through interviewing current and former NG members, parents/carers, NG staff and other school staff. A thematic analysis…

The Silver Darlings: An Emblem of the Scottish Sea and History

OpenAIRE

Berton-Charrière, Danièle

2017-01-01

From the Middle Ages onwards, herring—one of the most used marine resources—has provided Scotland with a precious, cheap, plentiful and nutritious source of food. Fishing was first a subsistence activity, and it then developed into an industry. Once in unbelievable abundance—the Old German word ‘herring’ means ‘multitude’—herring attracted thousands of boats from all over Europe to the Scottish waters, and at the peak of the herring boom, Britain exported a quarter of a million tonnes a year....

Complications following incident stroke resulting in readmissions: an analysis of data from three Scottish health surveys.

Science.gov (United States)

Ponomarev, Dmitry; Miller, Claire; Govan, Lindsay; Haig, Caroline; Wu, Olivia; Langhorne, Peter

2015-08-01

Stroke is widely recognized as the major contributor to morbidity and mortality in the United Kingdom. We analyzed the data obtained from the three consecutive Scottish Health Surveys and the Scottish Morbidity records, with the aim of identifying risk factors for, and timing of, common poststroke complications. There were 19434 individuals sampled during three Scottish Health Surveys in 1995, 1998, and 2001. For these individuals their morbidity and mortality outcomes were obtained in 2007. Incident stroke prevalence, risk factors for a range of poststroke complications, and average times until such complications in the sample were established. Of the total of 168 incident stroke admissions (0·86% of the survey), 16·1% people died during incident stroke hospitalization. Of the remaining 141 stroke survivors, 75·2% were rehospitalized at least once. The most frequent reason for readmission after stroke was a cardiovascular complication (28·6%), median time until event 1412 days, followed by infection (17·3%, median 1591 days). The risk of cardiovascular readmission was higher in those with 'poor' self-assessed health (odds ratio 7·70; 95% confidence interval 1·64-43·27), smokers (odds ratio 4·24; 95% confidence interval 1·11-21·59), and doubled with every five years increase in age (odds ratio 1·97; 95% confidence interval 1·46-2·65). 'Poor' self-assessed health increased chance of readmission for infection (odds ratio 14·11; 95% confidence interval 2·27-276·56). Cardiovascular events and infections are the most frequent poststroke complications resulting in readmissions. The time period until event provides a possibility to focus monitoring on those people at risk of readmission and introduce preventative measures, thereby reducing readmission-associated costs. © 2013 The Authors. International Journal of Stroke © 2013 World Stroke Organization.

Society, self, and mind in moral philosophy: the Scottish moralists as precursors of symbolic interactionism.

Science.gov (United States)

Shott, S

1976-01-01

Many of the concepts central to symbolic interactionism were anticipated by the eighteenth century Scottish moralists. The symbolic-interactionist and Scottish moralist orientations both hold that society alone engenders uniquely human qualities, self-arises through sympathetic interaction, and mind and self reconstruct their environments. George H. Mead's conception of though as internal dialogue between the "I" and "me" aspects of the self and his notion of the "generalized other" were foreshadowed by some of the Scottish moralists, particularly Adam Smith. These schools differ, though in their treatments of emotion, communication, political structures, and the origin of sympathy.

A gradient of mercury concentrations in Scottish single malt whiskies.

Science.gov (United States)

Rose, Neil L; Yang, Handong; Turner, Simon D

2016-02-01

Mercury (Hg) concentrations were measured in 26 Scottish single malt whiskies, and all found to be very low (mercury emissions and deposition over the last 200 years affecting concentrations in local waters used in whisky production. As UK atmospheric emissions of mercury have declined by 90 % since the 1970s, we suggest that whisky being produced today should have even lower Hg concentrations when consumed in 10- to 15-years time. This reduction may be compromised by the remobilisation of contaminants stored in catchment soils being transferred to source waters, but is very unlikely to raise the negligible health risk due to Hg from Scottish single malt whisky consumption.

Accounting for risk conflicts in Scottish salmon farming

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Georgakopoulos, G.; Thomson, I.; Kaldis, P.

2008-01-01

Purpose: To offer a theoretical analysis, inspired by contemporary research into risk, of the social and environmental accounting processes observed in an empirical study on Scottish salmon farming. Methodology / Approach: This paper used a Grounded Theory approach. Empirical evidence was collected

Agri-food supply chains and sustainability-related issues: evidence from across the Scottish agri-food economy

OpenAIRE

Leat, Philip M.K.; Lamprinopoulou-Kranis, Chrysa; Revoredo-Giha, Cesar; Kupiec-Teahan, Beata

2011-01-01

This paper examines the influence of agri-food supply chains on the sustainability-related activities and decisions of Scottish farmers, as well as the treatment of sustainability issues by food processors and retailers themselves. It is based on 8 whole chain case studies covering some of Scotland’s major agricultural products. The cases identify differing levels of understanding and activities related to sustainability, but widespread acknowledgement that sustainability involves the develop...

Developments in emergency planning within Scottish nuclear

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Simpson, A.

2000-01-01

Scottish Nuclear has recently completed a major program of improvements to its nuclear emergency facilities. The improvements include the construction of a purpose built Off-Site Emergency Centre for each of its two power stations and the development of a computer based information management system to facilitate the rapid distribution of information on an emergency to local, regional and national agencies. A computer code has also been developed to allow the rapid assessment of the effects of any accidental release on the local population. The improvements to the emergency facilities have been coupled with changes in local and national arrangements for dealing with a civil nuclear emergency. The use of airborne surveying techniques for rapidly determining levels of deposited activity following an accident is also being examined and preliminary airborne surveys have been carried out. (author)

Scottish Premier League Reading Stars Evaluation Report

Science.gov (United States)

National Literacy Trust, 2009

2009-01-01

Scottish Premier League (SPL) Reading Stars uses the motivational power of football to attract families who need support with literacy into a positive and friendly learning environment. It ran for the first time between March and August 2009 and attracted 225 children and 190 adults to take part in a series of inspirational learning sessions in 23…

Ethnicity and first birth: age, smoking, delivery, gestation, weight and feeding: Scottish Health and Ethnicity Linkage Study.

Science.gov (United States)

Bansal, Narinder; Chalmers, James W T; Fischbacher, Colin M; Steiner, Markus F C; Bhopal, Raj S

2014-12-01

We linked census and health service data sets to address the shortage of information comparing maternal characteristics and pregnancy outcomes by ethnic group in Scotland. Retrospective cohort study linking the 2001 National Census for Scotland and hospital obstetric data (2001-08), comparing maternal age, smoking status, gestational age, caesarean section rates, birthweight, preterm birth and breastfeeding rates by ethnic group. In all, 144 344 women were identified as having had a first birth between 1 May 2001 and 30 April 2008. White Scottish mothers were younger [mean age 27.3 years; 95% confidence interval (CI): 27.3, 27.4] than other white groups and most non-white groups. They had the highest smoking rates (25.8%; CI: 25.5, 26.0) and the lowest rates of breastfeeding at 6-8 weeks (23.4%; CI: 23.1, 23.6), with most of the other groups being around 40%. Women from non-white minority ethnic groups in Scotland tended to have babies of lower birthweight (e.g. Pakistani mean birthweight-3105 g, white Scottish-3356 g), even after adjustment for gestational age, maternal age, education, smoking and housing tenure. This effect was more noticeable for women born in the UK. White English, Irish and other white babies tended to have higher birthweights. There was little variation between groups in caesarean section rates. Pregnant women from ethnic minority populations in Scotland have more favourable health behaviour than the white Scottish, although the non-white groups tend to have lower birthweight. Further exploration of the reasons for these differences has potential to benefit women from the majority population. © The Author 2014. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the European Public Health Association. All rights reserved.

Attitudes of Scottish abortion care providers towards provision of abortion after 16 weeks' gestation within Scotland.

Science.gov (United States)

Cochrane, Rosemary A; Cameron, Sharon T

2013-06-01

In Scotland, in contrast to the rest of Great Britain, abortion at gestations over 20 weeks is not provided, and provision of procedures above 16 weeks varies considerably between regions. Women at varying gestations above 16 weeks must travel outside Scotland, usually to England, for the procedure. To determine the views of professionals working within Scottish abortion care about a Scottish late abortion service. Delegates at a meeting for abortion providers in Scotland completed a questionnaire about their views on abortion provision over 16 weeks and their perceived barriers to service provision. Of 95 distributed questionnaires, 70 (76%) were analysed. Fifty-six respondents (80%) supported a Scottish late abortion service, ten (14%) would maintain current service arrangements, and five (7%) were undecided. Forty (57%) of the supporters of a Scottish service would prefer a single national service, and 16 (22%) several regional services. Perceived barriers included lack of trained staff (n = 39; 56%), accommodation for the service (n = 34; 48%), and perception of lack of support among senior management (n = 28; 40%). The majority of health professionals surveyed who work in Scottish abortion services support provision of abortion beyond 16 weeks within Scotland, and most favour a single national service. Further work on the feasibility of providing this service is required.

Student Engagement in the Scottish Quality Enhancement Framework

Science.gov (United States)

Gvaramadze, Irakli

2011-01-01

The research addressed the interplay of student engagement and quality enhancement mechanisms in the Scottish higher education system. The paper demonstrates increasing focus on student learning, learning experience and high-quality learning in the current quality enhancement approaches. The student-university coproduction model is used to…

The impact of oil on the Scottish economy with particular reference to the Aberdeen economy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lloyd, M.G.; Newlands, D.A.

1992-01-01

The establishment of the North Sea oil industry over the last 20 years has had far reaching and dramatic effects upon the whole Scottish economy but especially upon those areas where oil related activity is geographically concentrated. This chapter discusses the impact of oil on the Scottish economy with particular reference to developments in the Aberdeen area. It is comprised of five main sections. The first outlines the way in which the oil industry has developed in Britain, noting that, despite rapid growth, there have been many lost opportunities. The impact of oil related developments in Scotland is discussed next before the focus narrows to the Aberdeen economy. The third section describes the familiar benefits of oil developments in Aberdeen while the fourth section analyses some of the less familiar costs. Finally, there is some discussion of the way in which the gains and losses of oil developments in Aberdeen have been distributed. (author)

Hydrops associated with chondrodysplasia of the fetus in a miniature Scottish Highland cow.

Science.gov (United States)

Catalina Cabrera, L; McNabb, Bret R; Woods, Sarah E; Cartoceti, Andrew N; Busch, Rosie C

2016-03-01

CASE DESCRIPTION A 2-year-old primiparous miniature Scottish Highland cow with an unknown breeding date was evaluated for suspected hydrops. CLINICAL FINDINGS Transabdominal and transrectal ultrasonographic examination identified a large amount of hypoechoic fluid within an enlarged uterus; the fetus could not be identified. Presence of a severely distended uterus and concerns regarding associated health risks to the cow led to the decision to induce labor. Although fluids were expelled, parturition did not progress further over the following 48 hours. Vaginal examination revealed a partially dilated cervix and an abnormally shaped fetus that was too large to pass vaginally. TREATMENT AND OUTCOME Supportive care was provided to the cow, and a stillborn bull calf was delivered by cesarean section. Grossly evident chondrodystrophic dwarfism with hydrocephalus, compatible with so-called bulldog calf malformations, was confirmed by diagnostic imaging and histopathologic evaluation. The cow recovered from surgery uneventfully and was discharged from the hospital the following day. Genetic analysis of DNA from hair roots collected from the sire and dam confirmed both were carriers of an aggrecan-1 gene mutation (bulldog dwarfism1) previously associated with dwarfism and bulldog calf malformations in Dexter cattle. CLINICAL RELEVANCE To our knowledge, this is the first reported case of bulldog calf malformations associated with an aggrecan-1 gene mutation in miniature Scottish Highland cattle, confirming that at least 1 genetic mutation associated with this condition is found in cattle breeds other than Dexter. The findings highlighted the clinical importance of testing for known genetic diseases in breeding cattle, particularly among miniature breeds.

Scottish Power Annual Report and Accounts - 1996-97

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1997-01-01

The annual report and accounts of Scottish Power for 1996-97 outlines the operational and financial highlights of the year, and presents the reports of the Chairman and other Directors. Details are given of the financial year, the accounting policy, profits and losses, and company and shareholder information. (UK)

The importance of understanding epidemiology in order to inform financial decisions: a lesson from the Scottish Home Oxygen Service.

Science.gov (United States)

Wood, R; Grant, I; Bain, M

2012-11-01

To ensure that decisions on the future planning of the Scottish Home Oxygen Service reflect population needs by examining the epidemiology of the main conditions that require home oxygen therapy and trends in their management. Analysis of routinely available vital event and health service data supplemented by published literature. Use of linked data to provide person-based analyses. Consideration of trends in key risk factors, disease incidence, prevalence and mortality for chronic neonatal lung disease, cystic fibrosis, chronic interstitial lung disease in adults and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Examination of trends in management of these conditions including hospital admissions, length of stay and re-admissions. The prevalence of all the conditions studied has increased in Scotland over recent years due to a combination of increased incidence, increased survival, more active case finding and demographic changes. There have been changes in management with trends towards shorter hospital stays. The clinical need for home oxygen therapy is likely to continue to increase over the next 10-20 years. It will encompass all age groups and a complex range of conditions. Public health needs to be proactive in providing relevant needs assessment information to ensure that planning within financial constraints is appropriately informed on population needs. Crown Copyright © 2012. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Murray Pittock, ed., The Edinburgh Companion to Scottish Romanticism.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Manfred Malzahn

2013-10-01

Full Text Available Murray Pittock, ed., The Edinburgh Companion to Scottish Romanticism. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2011. Pp. 251. ISBN 978-0-7486-3845-1 (hardback. £ 65.00. ISBN 978-0-7486-3846-8 (paperback. £ 21.99.

Scottish Universities Research and Reactor Centre annual report 1987-1988

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Whitley, J.E.

1988-01-01

The Scottish Universities Research and Reactor Centre (SURRC) provides facilities for research in isotopic, nuclear and earth sciences and collaborates with Scottish University departments on a wide range of research topics. One of its main areas of work is the Isotope Geology Unit. This has worked with the Nuclear Medicine Unit on the application of enriched stable isotope tracers in the biological and clinical sciences. The measurement of radioactive isomers is applied to quaternary geology, archaeology, nuclear medicine, health physics, oceanography, atomospheric sciences, environmental chemistry, nuclear waste disposal and mathematical modelling of the environment. There are also radiocarbon dating facilities. The facilities and the research undertaken at the Centre in the year 1987-1988, the Centre's twenty-fifth year are summarized in this report. (U.K.)

ScottishPower learning's school-to-work education and training programs[Empowering socially excluded youth and building future managers' leadership, communication and social skills

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kitagawa, K.; Watt, D.; Yachnin, R.

2001-08-01

Serving approximately 7 million homes and businesses across the United Kingdom and the northwest United States, ScottishPower and its subsidiaries are one of the 12 largest electricity groups in the world. Following deregulation in the electricity industry in the United Kingdom in 1990, ScottishPower found it had to change quickly to capture emerging opportunities. It recognized the need to support employee development and set up an Open Learning Centre to be used by staff for their own personal development. Investment was made in occupational health and wellness services. The following three-step training process was established for ScottishPower: (1) conduct employability assessments; (2) design and deliver a learning activity so that the individual will be successful in the workplace; and (3) engage learners. ScottishPower has implemented several training programs to empower employees, their families and their communities: education transition programs for 15-18 year olds; pre-vocational training for 16-25 year olds; and, vocational training for 16-25 year olds. The keys to success include people, processes, infrastructure, resources committed, challenges, and innovation. In cooperation with trade unions, government bodies, economic development agencies and education and training agencies, ScottishPower has developed a wide spectrum of training and development programs aimed at unemployed young people in socially deprived areas of the United Kingdom.

A Review of The Architecture of the Scottish Medieval Church 1100–1560

OpenAIRE

Campbell, Ian

2013-01-01

If ever a book could be described as a ‘magnum opus’ it is this: indeed it is a summa. Richard Fawcett has been publishing on Scottish medieval architecture, mainly ecclesiastical, for three decades, ranging from articles on minute changes in Gothic mouldings (the subject of his doctoral research at the University of East Anglia) such as ‘Dunblane Cathedral: evidence for a change in the design of the nave’ (1982) to a survey of architecture between 370 and 1560, Scottish Architecture from the...

Physical activity during hospitalization: Activities and preferences of adults versus older adults.

Science.gov (United States)

Meesters, Jorit; Conijn, D; Vermeulen, H M; Vliet Vlieland, Tpm

2018-04-16

Inactivity during hospitalization leads to a functional decline and an increased risk of complications. To date, studies focused on older adults. This study aims to compare the physical activities performed by older adult and adult hospitalized patients. Patients hospitalized for >3 days at a university hospital completed a questionnaire regarding their physical activities (% of days on which an activity was performed divided by the length of stay) and physical activity needs during hospitalization. Crude and adjusted comparisons of older adult (>60 years) and adult (≤60 years) patients were performed using parametric testing and regression analyses. Of 524 patients, 336 (64%) completed the questionnaire, including 166 (49%) older adult patients. On average, the patients were physically active on 35% or less of the days during their hospitalization. Linear regression analysis showed no significant associations between being an older adult and performing physical activities after adjusting for gender, length of stay, surgical intervention, and meeting physical activity recommendations prior to hospitalization. Most patients were well informed regarding physical activity during hospitalization; however, the older adult patients reported a need for information regarding physical activities after hospitalization more frequently (odds ratios, 2.47) after adjusting for educational level, gender, and physical therapy during hospitalization. Both older adult and adult patients are physically inactive during hospitalization, and older adult patients express a greater need for additional information regarding physical activity after hospitalization than adult patients. Therefore, personalized strategies that inform and motivate patients to resume physical activities during hospitalization are needed regardless of age.

Gardening is beneficial for adult mental health: Scottish Health Survey, 2012-2013.

Science.gov (United States)

Shiue, Ivy

2016-07-01

Gardening has been reported as being beneficial for mental well-being for vulnerable populations since 2000. However, little is known concerning its role in the general population. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to investigate the relationship of gardening and mental health in adults in a countrywide and population-based setting. Data was retrieved from and analysed in the Scottish Health Survey, 2012-2013. Information on demographics, lifestyle factors, gardening engagement, and adult mental health by General Health Questionnaire was obtained by household interview. Statistical analyses including chi-square test, t-test and survey-weighted logistic and multi-nominal regression modelling were performed. Of 9709 Scottish adults aged 16-99, 5 531 (57.0%) people did not do any gardening or building work in the last four weeks. A total of 888 (9.2%) people reported poor self-rated health. Gardening was associated with adult mental health in people both with or without heart conditions including ability to concentrate, feeling playing a useful part in things, feeling capable of making decisions, thinking of self as worthless, feeling reasonably happy, etc. General adults with or without heart conditions could benefit from engaging with gardening or building work. Future public health programmes promoting such activity should be encouraged in order to optimise adult mental health.

Scottish Campaign to Resist the Atomic Menace annual report 1992/93

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1993-01-01

In a year which saw the Scottish Campaign to Resist the Atomic Menace (SCRAM) Safe Energy journal reach its 15th birthday, the Earth Summit in Rio was amongst the most important events. Though this historic international meeting failed to live up to the expectations of many, it was a step in the right direction. The activities of the many non-governmental organisations was particularly encouraging, and their continuing work on climate change in particular could be vital. The nuclear industry persists in claiming green credentials, but it has not had a good year. For SCRAM, founded to oppose the Torness nuclear power station, the Public Inquiry in December into Scottish Nuclear's plans for a dry store was of particular significance. Our pragmatic decision not to oppose the scheme did not go unnoticed. We were happy to provide registered objectors with information, including our report on dry storage. Having reached a landmark of fifteen years continuous publication, Safe Energy continues to be well received by a readership which includes concerned individuals, campaigners, politicians, environmentalists, government agencies, the media and the nuclear industry. SCRAM's main role is dissemination of information, and the journal is our main vehicle. We aim to deal with complex issues in a readable way, and are encouraged that such a broad range of people find it of use. (author)

Censorship Challenges to Books in Scottish Public Libraries

Science.gov (United States)

Taylor, Kelly; McMenemy, David

2013-01-01

Censorship challenges to books in UK public libraries have received renewed attention recently. This study sought to establish the incidence of censorship challenges to books in Scottish public libraries in the years 2005-2009 and the actions taken in response to these challenges. It was found that eight local authorities in Scotland had received…

Social deprivation and prognosis in Scottish patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension.

Science.gov (United States)

Pellino, Katherine; Kerridge, Simon; Church, Colin; Peacock, Andrew J; Crowe, Timothy; Jayasekera, Geeshath; Johnson, Martin K; MacKenzie, Alison M

2018-02-01

Several demographic and clinical factors have prognostic significance in idiopathic pulmonary arterial hypertension (IPAH). Studies in China and the USA have suggested an association between low socioeconomic status and reduced survival. The impact of social deprivation on IPAH survival in the UK is not known.280 patients with IPAH and hereditary PAH (HPAH) attending the Scottish Pulmonary Vascular Unit (Glasgow, UK) were assigned to social deprivation quintiles using the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation database. The association between survival and social deprivation quintile was assessed using Cox proportional hazards regression analysis.The distribution of IPAH/HPAH patients was more socially deprived than would be expected based on Scottish citizenry as a whole (Chi-squared 16.16, p=0.003), suggesting referral and access to care is not impeded by socioeconomic status. Univariate analysis demonstrated no significant association between social deprivation and survival (p=0.81), and this association failed to reach significance with inclusion of time, sex and age as covariates in the model (p=0.23). There were no statistically significant correlations between social deprivation and baseline clinical variables of prognostic importance except for age, sex and quality of life.Social deprivation is not a significant referral barrier or prognostic factor for IPAH and HPAH in Scotland. Copyright ©ERS 2018.

La “struttura ecclesiastica” dello Scottish Enlightenment. Le origini dell’illuminismo scozzese fra religione naturale e teologia razionale

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Francesco Alicino

2011-03-01

After general considerations about the process of secularization (which spread out in Europe at that time the author analyses the peculiar evolution of relationships between the Scottish Established Church and the Scottish Enlightenment, which also affected the constitutional system in this country.

"You Have to Be a Bit Brave": Barriers to Scottish Student-Teachers' Participation in Study-Abroad Programmes

Science.gov (United States)

Santoro, Ninetta; Sosu, Edward; Fassetta, Giovanna

2016-01-01

This article reports on a study that examined Scottish student teachers' attitudes to study-abroad and the reasons underpinning their reluctance to participate in these programmes. Data collection comprised a mixed-methods approach consisting of a survey of 318 student-teachers in one Scottish university followed by semi-structured interviews with…

Serious shortcomings in the management of children with anaphylaxis in Scottish schools.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kirsty E Rankin

2006-08-01

Full Text Available BACKGROUND: The United Kingdom incidence of anaphylaxis has increased very sharply over the last decade, with the highest rates of hospital admissions occurring in school-aged children. This raises concerns about the extent to which schools are aware of approaches to the prevention and treatment of anaphylaxis. METHODS AND FINDINGS: We undertook a national postal survey of 250 Scottish schools enquiring about approaches to managing children considered to be at risk of anaphylaxis. We obtained responses from 148 (60% schools, 90 (61% of which reported having at least one at risk child. Most (80% schools with children considered to be at risk reported having personalised care plans and invariably reported having at least one member of staff trained in the emergency treatment of anaphylaxis. Access to adrenaline was available on-site in 97% of these schools. However, significantly fewer schools without children considered to be at risk reported having a trained member of staff (48%, p < 0.001, with access to adrenaline being very poor (12%, p < 0.001. Overall, 59% of respondents did not feel confident in their school's ability to respond in an emergency situation. CONCLUSIONS: Most schools with children considered to be at risk of anaphylaxis report using personal care plans and having a member of staff trained in the use of, and with access to, adrenaline. The picture is, however, less encouraging in schools without known at risk children, both in relation to staff training and access to adrenaline. The majority of schools with at risk children have poorly developed strategies for preventing food-triggered anaphylaxis reactions. There is a need for detailed national guidelines for all schools, which the Scottish Executive must now ensure are developed and implemented.

Hospitals and health care establishments

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1999-01-01

These guidelines have been drown up to assist all those involved in the management and maintenance of hospitals and health care establishments. Compliance with this guidance should minimise the risk of pollution occurring. The guidelines are jointly produced by the Environment Agency for England and Wales, the Scottish Environment Protection Agency and the Environment and Heritage Service for Northern Ireland, referred to as the Agency or Agencies. It includes guidelines on site drainage, sewage and waste water disposal, treatment of surface water drainage and waste management

The safety function in Scottish Nuclear

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

McKeown, J.

1991-01-01

The Director of Safety for Scottish Nuclear Ltd, the company which has owned and operated Scotland's nuclear power generating capacity since privatization, explains how the management of safety is realized within the company, in line with the company's motto of ''Quality, Safety, Excellence''. A commitment to the highest levels of safety management in all its aspects is emphasized, from Board level down. The various measures taken to ensure these aims are realized are explained in three broad areas, radiological protection, operational nuclear safety and industrial safety. (UK)

Does the 'Scottish effect' apply to all ethnic groups? All-cancer, lung, colorectal, breast and prostate cancer in the Scottish Health and Ethnicity Linkage Cohort Study.

Science.gov (United States)

Bhopal, Raj S; Bansal, Narinder; Steiner, Markus; Brewster, David H

2012-01-01

Although ethnic group variations in cancer exist, no multiethnic, population-based, longitudinal studies are available in Europe. Our objectives were to examine ethnic variation in all-cancer, and lung, colorectal, breast and prostate cancers. DESIGN, SETTING, POPULATION, MEASURES AND ANALYSIS: This retrospective cohort study of 4.65 million people linked the 2001 Scottish Census (providing ethnic group) to cancer databases. With the White Scottish population as reference (value 100), directly age standardised rates and ratios (DASR and DASRR), and risk ratios, by sex and ethnic group with 95% CI were calculated for first cancers. In the results below, 95% CI around the DASRR excludes 100. Eight indicators of socio-economic position were assessed as potential confounders across all groups. For all cancers the White Scottish population (100) had the highest DASRRs, Indians the lowest (men 45.9 and women 41.2) and White British (men 87.6 and women 87.3) and other groups were intermediate (eg, Chinese men 57.6). For lung cancer the DASRRs for Pakistani men (45.0), and women (53.5), were low and for any mixed background men high (174.5). For colorectal cancer the DASRRs were lowest in Pakistanis (men 32.9 and women 68.9), White British (men 82.4 and women 83.7), other White (men 77.2 and women 74.9) and Chinese men (42.6). Breast cancer in women was low in Pakistanis (62.2), Chinese (63.0) and White Irish (84.0). Prostate cancer was lowest in Pakistanis (38.7), Indian (62.6) and White Irish (85.4). No socio-economic indicator was a valid confounding variable across ethnic groups. The 'Scottish effect' does not apply across ethnic groups for cancer. The findings have implications for clinical care, prevention and screening, for example, responding appropriately to the known low uptake among South Asian populations of bowel screening might benefit from modelling of cost-effectiveness of screening, given comparatively low cancer rates.

SMEs and Barriers to Skill Development: A Scottish Perspective.

Science.gov (United States)

Lange, Thomas; Ottens, Melanie; Taylor, Andrea

2000-01-01

Analysis of Scottish small and medium-sized enterprises reveals that small business culture is a significant barrier to skill development. Other barriers include awareness, finance, and access to training. A welter of recent policy initiatives has added to a state of confusion about the role of training. (SK)

The Scottish Government's Rural and Environmental Science and Analytical Services Strategic Research Progamme

Science.gov (United States)

Dawson, Lorna; Bestwick, Charles

2013-04-01

The Strategic Research Programme focuses on the delivery of outputs and outcomes within the major policy agenda areas of climate change, land use and food security, and to impact on the 'Wealthier', 'Healthier' and 'Greener' strategic objectives of the Scottish Government. The research is delivered through two programmes: 'Environmental Change' and 'Food, Land and People'; the core strength of which is the collaboration between the Scottish Government's Main Research Providers-The James Hutton Institute, the Moredun Research Institute, Rowett Institute of Nutrition and Health University of Aberdeen, Scotland's Rural College, Biomathematics and Statistics Scotland and The Royal Botanic Gardens Edinburgh. The research actively seeks to inform and be informed by stakeholders from policy, farming, land use, water and energy supply, food production and manufacturing, non-governmental organisations, voluntary organisations, community groups and general public. This presentation will provide an overview of the programme's interdisciplinary research, through examples from across the programme's themes. Examples will exemplify impact within the Strategic Programme's priorities of supporting policy and practice, contributing to economic growth and innovation, enhancing collaborative and multidisciplinary research, growing scientific resilience and delivering scientific excellence. http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Research/About/EBAR/StrategicResearch/future-research-strategy/Themes/ http://www.knowledgescotland.org/news.php?article_id=295

Costing for long-term care: the development of Scottish health service resource utilization groups as a casemix instrument.

Science.gov (United States)

Urquhart, J; Kennie, D C; Murdoch, P S; Smith, R G; Lennox, I

1999-03-01

to create a casemix measure with a limited number of categories which discriminate in terms of resource use and will assist in the development of a currency for contracting for the provision of health care. nursing staff completed a questionnaire providing clinical data and also gave estimates of relative patient resource use; ward-based costs were collected from appropriate unit managers. National Health Service continuing-care wards in 50 Scottish hospitals. 2783 long-stay patients aged 65 years and over. inter-rater reliability was assessed using 1402 patients; percentage agreement between raters for individual variables varied from 68% for feeding to 97% for clinically complex treatments. Nursing costs gave 62% agreement given categories of high, medium and low. The Scottish health service resource utilization groups (SHRUG) measure was developed using 606 cases, and 67% consistency was achieved for the five categories. The relative weights for the SHRUG categories ranged from 0.56 to 1.41. The five categories explain 35% of variance in costs. the five SHRUG casemix categories show good discrimination in terms of costs. The SHRUG measure compares favourably with diagnosis-related groups in the acute sector and with other casemix instruments for long-term care previously piloted in the UK. SHRUG is a useful measurement instrument in assessing the resource needs of elderly people in long-term care.

Cost of Mastitis in Scottish Dairy Herds with Low and High Subclinical Mastitis Problems

OpenAIRE

YALÇIN, Cengiz

2000-01-01

The aim of this study was to estimate the cost of mastitis and the contribution of each cost component of mastitis to the total mastitis induced cost in herds with low and high levels of subclinical mastitis under Scottish field conditions. It was estimated that mastitis cost £140 per cow/year to the average Scottish dairy farmer in 1996. However, this figure was as low as £69 per cow/year in herds with lower levels of subclinical mastitis, and as high as £228 cow/year in herds with high s...

Does the ‘Scottish effect’ apply to all ethnic groups? All-cancer, lung, colorectal, breast and prostate cancer in the Scottish Health and Ethnicity Linkage Cohort Study

Science.gov (United States)

Bhopal, Raj S; Bansal, Narinder; Steiner, Markus; Brewster, David H

2012-01-01

Background and objectives Although ethnic group variations in cancer exist, no multiethnic, population-based, longitudinal studies are available in Europe. Our objectives were to examine ethnic variation in all-cancer, and lung, colorectal, breast and prostate cancers. Design, setting, population, measures and analysis This retrospective cohort study of 4.65 million people linked the 2001 Scottish Census (providing ethnic group) to cancer databases. With the White Scottish population as reference (value 100), directly age standardised rates and ratios (DASR and DASRR), and risk ratios, by sex and ethnic group with 95% CI were calculated for first cancers. In the results below, 95% CI around the DASRR excludes 100. Eight indicators of socio-economic position were assessed as potential confounders across all groups. Results For all cancers the White Scottish population (100) had the highest DASRRs, Indians the lowest (men 45.9 and women 41.2) and White British (men 87.6 and women 87.3) and other groups were intermediate (eg, Chinese men 57.6). For lung cancer the DASRRs for Pakistani men (45.0), and women (53.5), were low and for any mixed background men high (174.5). For colorectal cancer the DASRRs were lowest in Pakistanis (men 32.9 and women 68.9), White British (men 82.4 and women 83.7), other White (men 77.2 and women 74.9) and Chinese men (42.6). Breast cancer in women was low in Pakistanis (62.2), Chinese (63.0) and White Irish (84.0). Prostate cancer was lowest in Pakistanis (38.7), Indian (62.6) and White Irish (85.4). No socio-economic indicator was a valid confounding variable across ethnic groups. Conclusions The ‘Scottish effect’ does not apply across ethnic groups for cancer. The findings have implications for clinical care, prevention and screening, for example, responding appropriately to the known low uptake among South Asian populations of bowel screening might benefit from modelling of cost-effectiveness of screening, given comparatively low

The Scottish book mathematics from the Scottish café, with selected problems from the new Scottish book

CERN Document Server

Mauldin, R Daniel

2015-01-01

The second edition of this book updates and expands upon a historically important collection of mathematical problems first published in the United States by Birkhäuser in 1981. These problems serve as a record of the informal discussions held by a group of mathematicians at the Scottish Café in Lwów, Poland, between the two world wars. Many of them were leaders in the development of such areas as functional and real analysis, group theory, measure and set theory, probability, and topology. Finding solutions to the problems they proposed has been ongoing since World War II, with prizes offered in many cases to those who are successful. In the 35 years since the first edition published, several more problems have been fully or partially solved, but even today many still remain unsolved and several prizes remain unclaimed. In view of this, the editor has gathered new and updated commentaries on the original 193 problems. Some problems are solved for the first time in this edition. Included again in full are ...

Testing the social identity relative deprivation (SIRD) model of social change: the political rise of Scottish nationalism.

Science.gov (United States)

Abrams, Dominic; Grant, Peter R

2012-12-01

We tested a social-identity relative deprivation (SIRD) model predicting Scottish nationalist beliefs and intention to vote for the separatist Scottish Nationalist Party (SNP). Data were from a survey of a large and representative sample of Scottish teenagers administered in the late 1980s. The SIRD model distinguishes effects of group-based and personal relative deprivation, which should be independent of one another. Importantly, social change beliefs should mediate the effects of both collective relative deprivation and group identification on protest intentions (in this case intention to vote for the SNP). Egoistic relative deprivation should be the strongest predictor of feelings of depression. Using structural equation modelling, the results strongly support this model and replicate in two different cohorts. ©2011 The British Psychological Society.

Osteosarcoma inheritance in two families of Scottish deerhounds.

Science.gov (United States)

Dillberger, John E; McAtee, Sara Ann

2017-01-01

Osteosarcoma is the most common neoplastic disease in Scottish Deerhounds. For Deerhounds, a 2007 population-based study concluded that a single dominant genetic factor largely governed disease risk. For Greyhounds, Rottweilers, and Irish Wolfhounds, a 2013 genome-wide association study found multiple genetic markers in each breed, with each marker only weakly associated with the disease. We obtained from two breeders the pedigrees, age (if alive) or age at death, and osteosarcoma status for two families of Scottish Deerhounds, designated Cohorts K and T. A dog was considered unaffected only if it was osteosarcoma-free and at least 8.5 years old. We analyzed the data in two ways, by assuming either a single recessive genetic factor or a single dominant genetic factor with high penetrance. Cohort K contained 54 evaluable dogs representing 12 litters. Cohort T contained 56 evaluable dogs representing eight litters. Osteosarcoma seemed clearly heritable in both cohorts; however, having a parent with osteosarcoma raised a pup's risk of developing osteosarcoma to 38% for Cohort K but 78% for Cohort T, suggesting the possibility of different genetic risk factors in each cohort. In Cohort K, osteosarcoma inheritance fit well with a single, recessive, autosomal risk factor, although we could not rule out the possibility of a single dominant risk factor with incomplete penetrance. In Cohort T, inheritance could be explained well by a single, dominant, autosomal risk factor but was inconsistent with recessive expression. Inheritance of osteosarcoma in two Scottish Deerhound families could be explained well by a single genetic risk factor residing on an autosome, consistent with a 2007 report. In one family, inheritance was consistent with dominant expression, as previously reported. In the other family, inheritance fit better with recessive expression, although the possibility of a dominant genetic factor influenced by one or more other genetic factors could not be ruled

Most Scottish neurologists do not apply the 2010 McDonald criteria when diagnosing multiple sclerosis.

Science.gov (United States)

Lumley, R; Davenport, R; Williams, A

2015-03-01

The diagnostic criteria for multiple sclerosis have evolved over time and currently the 2010 McDonald criteria are the most widely accepted. These criteria allow the diagnosis of multiple sclerosis to be made at the clinically isolated syndrome stage provided certain criteria are met on a single magnetic resonance brain scan. Our hypothesis was that neurologists in Scotland did not use these criteria routinely. We sent a SurveyMonkey questionnaire to all Scottish neurologists (consultants and trainees) regarding the diagnosis of multiple sclerosis. Our questionnaire response rate was 65/99 (66%). Most Scottish neurologists were aware of the criteria and 31/58 (53%) felt that they were using these routinely. However, in a clinical vignette designed to test the application of these criteria, only 5/57 (9%) of neurologists appeared to use them. Scottish neurologists' use of the 2010 McDonald criteria for diagnosis of multiple sclerosis varies from practitioners' perception of their use of these criteria.

Skeletal carbonate mineralogy of Scottish bryozoans

Science.gov (United States)

Spencer Jones, Mary; Najorka, Jens; Smith, Abigail M.

2018-01-01

This paper describes the skeletal carbonate mineralogy of 156 bryozoan species collected from Scotland (sourced both from museum collections and from waters around Scotland) and collated from literature. This collection represents 79% of the species which inhabit Scottish waters and is a greater number and proportion of extant species than any previous regional study. The study is also of significance globally where the data augment the growing database of mineralogical analyses and offers first analyses for 26 genera and four families. Specimens were collated through a combination of field sampling and existing collections and were analysed by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and micro-XRD to determine wt% MgCO3 in calcite and wt% aragonite. Species distribution data and phylogenetic organisation were applied to understand distributional, taxonomic and phylo-mineralogical patterns. Analysis of the skeletal composition of Scottish bryozoans shows that the group is statistically different from neighbouring Arctic fauna but features a range of mineralogy comparable to other temperate regions. As has been previously reported, cyclostomes feature low Mg in calcite and very little aragonite, whereas cheilostomes show much more variability, including bimineralic species. Scotland is a highly variable region, open to biological and environmental influx from all directions, and bryozoans exhibit this in the wide range of within-species mineralogical variability they present. This plasticity in skeletal composition may be driven by a combination of environmentally-induced phenotypic variation, or physiological factors. A flexible response to environment, as manifested in a wide range of skeletal mineralogy within a species, may be one characteristic of successful invasive bryozoans. PMID:29897916

Barriers to Higher Education Entry--A Scottish Rural Perspective

Science.gov (United States)

Lasselle, Laurence

2016-01-01

This paper explores some of the unique issues in accessing Higher Education (HE) faced by pupils living in some Scottish rural communities in Argyll & Bute, Highland, Eilean Siar (Western Isles), Orkney Islands and Shetland Islands. Many of these communities are hard to reach and in some of the least deprived areas of Scotland. Despite this,…

Access to bank finance for Scottish SMEs.

OpenAIRE

North, David J.; Baldock, Robert; Deakins, David; Whittam, Geoff

2008-01-01

There is evidence that some SMEs may still face difficulties in accessing bank finance from lenders (CEEDR, 2007). This paper reports an in-depth study into demand and supply side issues relating to access to bank finance by Scottish SMEs and whether there is still market\\ud failure associated with good, bankable business cases from SMEs that do not receive finance. We argue that our study utilises innovative methodology and is relatively rare as a robust study in this area. We combine demand...

Rebound and disinvestment effects in refined oil consumption and supply resulting from an increase in energy efficiency in the Scottish commercial transport sector

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Anson, Sam; Turner, Karen

2009-01-01

In this paper, we use an energy-economy-environment computable general equilibrium (CGE) model of the Scottish economy to examine the impacts of an exogenous increase in energy augmenting technological progress in the domestic commercial Transport sector on the supply and use of energy. We focus our analysis on Scottish refined oil, as the main type of energy input used in commercial transport activity. We find that a 5% increase in energy efficiency in the commercial Transport sector leads to rebound effects in the use of oil-based energy commodities in all time periods, in the target sector and at the economy-wide level. However, our results also suggest that such an efficiency improvement may cause a contraction in capacity in the Scottish refined oil supply sector. This 'disinvestment effect' acts as a constraint on the size of rebound effects. However, the magnitude of rebound effects and presence of the disinvestment effect in the simulations conducted here are sensitive to the specification of key elasticities of substitution in the nested production function for the target sector, particularly the substitutability of energy for non-energy intermediate inputs to production.

Rebound and disinvestment effects in refined oil consumption and supply resulting from an increase in energy efficiency in the Scottish commercial transport sector

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Anson, Sam [Transport Analytical Services, Scottish Government, Victoria Quay, Edinburgh, EH6 6QQ (United Kingdom); Turner, Karen [Department of Economics, University of Strathclyde, Sir William Duncan Building, 130 Rottenrow, Glasgow G4 0GE (United Kingdom)

2009-09-15

In this paper, we use an energy-economy-environment computable general equilibrium (CGE) model of the Scottish economy to examine the impacts of an exogenous increase in energy augmenting technological progress in the domestic commercial Transport sector on the supply and use of energy. We focus our analysis on Scottish refined oil, as the main type of energy input used in commercial transport activity. We find that a 5% increase in energy efficiency in the commercial Transport sector leads to rebound effects in the use of oil-based energy commodities in all time periods, in the target sector and at the economy-wide level. However, our results also suggest that such an efficiency improvement may cause a contraction in capacity in the Scottish refined oil supply sector. This 'disinvestment effect' acts as a constraint on the size of rebound effects. However, the magnitude of rebound effects and presence of the disinvestment effect in the simulations conducted here are sensitive to the specification of key elasticities of substitution in the nested production function for the target sector, particularly the substitutability of energy for non-energy intermediate inputs to production. (author)

The impact of smokefree legislation in Scotland: results from the Scottish ITC Scotland/UK longitudinal surveys

Science.gov (United States)

Hassan, Louise M.; Higbee, Cheryl; Boudreau, Christian; Fong, Geoffrey T.; Borland, Ron; Cummings, K. Michael; Yan, Mi; Thompson, Mary E.; Hastings, Gerard

2009-01-01

Background: To evaluate how Scotland's smokefree law impacted self-reported secondhand smoke (SHS) exposure in hospitality venues, workplaces and in people's homes. In addition, we examine changes in support for the law, pub and restaurant patronage, smoking cessation indicators and whether any observed changes varied by socioeconomic status. Methods: A quasi-experimental longitudinal telephone survey of nationally representative samples of smokers and non-smokers interviewed before the Scottish law (February to March 2006) and 1 year later after the law (March 2007) in Scotland (n = 705 smokers and n = 417 non-smokers) and the rest of the UK (n = 1027 smokers and n = 447 non-smokers) where smoking in public places was not regulated at the time. Results: Dramatic declines in the observance of smoking in pubs, restaurants and workplaces were found in Scotland relative to the rest of the UK. The change in the percent of smokers reporting a smokefree home and number of cigarettes smoked inside the home in the evening was comparable in Scotland and the rest of the UK. Support for smokefree policies increased to a greater extent in Scotland than in the rest of the UK. Self-reported frequency of going to pubs and restaurants was generally comparable between Scotland and the rest of the UK; however, non-smokers in Scotland were more likely to frequent pubs more often. No differences in smoking cessation indicators were observed between countries. Conclusion: The Scottish smokefree law has been successful in decreasing secondhand smoke exposure while causing none of the hypothesized negative outcomes. PMID:19151105

Oil and gas prospects offshore Newfoundland: the Hibernia Project and opportunities for the Scottish industry

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Anon.

1992-01-01

The oil industry has been interested in prospects offshore Eastern Canada for well over a decade. In fact, the lack of substantial development activity has disappointed many in the industry. The offshore Canadian development of the Hibernia field could be the catalyst to spark world-wide interest and involvement in this newest of offshore petroleum provinces. The extent of the exploration of the field to date is reviewed, the prospects for development are assessed and the opportunities for Scottish industry in construction and development are examined. (author)

Factors associated with self-reported first sexual intercourse in Scottish adolescents

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

van Teijlingen Edwin R

2009-03-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background There is continuing concern about high pregnancy rates and increasing numbers of sexually transmitted infections being detected in Scottish adolescents. Consistent evidence about factors associated with risky sexual behaviours, including early first sexual intercourse, may help to identify adolescents at risk and help improve interventions. This study aimed to provide detailed analysis of the evidence of the associations between individual factors and early sexual intercourse using cross-sectional questionnaire data from 4,379 Scottish adolescents who participated in a sexual health intervention evaluation. Findings Multivariate secondary analysis showed that aspects of family and school life such as decreasing parental monitoring (OR 1.45, 95% CI 1.24–1.70 and decreasing enjoyment of school (OR 2.55, 95% CI 2.15–3.03 were associated with reporting previous sexual intercourse. Furthermore, females were more likely to report previous sexual intercourse than males (OR 1.48, 95% CI 1.14–1.91. Several factors commonly used to inform sexual health intervention design, such as socioeconomic status, self-esteem and religion, were not independently associated. Conclusion These results contribute to the evidence base for the association of several factors with early initiation of sexual activity. The findings suggest that interventions aiming to delay first intercourse may need to consider targeting aspects of individuals' connection to their school and family. Furthermore, the results do not support the need to consider socio-economic background, religion or self-esteem of the individuals in intervention design.

Anna Groundwater, The Scottish Middle March 1573-1625: Power, Kinship, Allegiance

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Janine van Vliet

2011-09-01

Full Text Available Anna Groundwater. The Scottish Middle March 1573-1625: Power, Kinship, Allegiance. Royal Historical Society Studies in History, New Series. Woodbridge, UK: The Boydell Press, 2010. Pp. 236. ISBN 978-0-86193-307-5. £50.00; US$90.00.

The Presbyterian Churches in New South Wales, 1823-1865 : with particular reference to their Scottish relations

OpenAIRE

Bridges, Barry John

1987-01-01

This study covers the period from arrival of the first minister to union of most congregations in a Church unconnected with the Scottish parent Churches. My thesis is that reliance on the Scottish Churches was a necessary condition for establishment of the Presbyterian Church in the Colony but also the principal cause of failure to attempt to become a major religious force. Equality with the Church of England was conceded gradually and, initially, reluctantly and from the first State aid and ...

"Attacking the Citadel": James Moncreiff's Proposals to Reform Scottish Education, 1851-69.

Science.gov (United States)

Bain, Wilson H.

1978-01-01

A review of the parliamentary actions of Lord Advocate James Moncreiff to create a fully national Scottish educational system against the opposition by church groups reluctant to lose control over parish schools and schoolmasters. (SJL)

Developing and Rewarding Excellent Teachers: The Scottish Chartered Teacher Scheme

Science.gov (United States)

Ingvarson, Lawrence

2009-01-01

The Scottish Chartered Teacher Scheme was designed to recognise and reward teachers who attained high standards of practice. The scheme emerged in 2001 as part of an agreement between government, local employing authorities and teacher organisations. Policies such as the chartered teacher scheme aim to benefit students in two main ways: by…

The "Curriculum for Excellence": A Major Change for Scottish Science Education

Science.gov (United States)

Brown, Sally

2014-01-01

The Curriculum for Excellence and new National Qualifications offer innovative reform, based on widely supported ideas and aims, for Scottish preschool, primary and secondary education levels. "Objectives and syllabuses" for science are replaced by "experiences and outcomes". Most strikingly, central prescription makes way for…

Resolution of lameness associated with Scottish fold osteodystrophy following bilateral ostectomies and pantarsal arthrodeses: a case report

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mathews, K.G.; Koblik, P.D.; Knoeckel, M.J.; Pool, R.R.; Fyfe, J.C.

1995-01-01

Bilateral hind-limb lameness, associated with tarsal exostoses in a Scottish fold diagnosed as having Scottish fold osteodystrophy, resolved following staged bilateral ostectomies and pantarsal arthrodeses. Degenerative changes in the phalangeal joints of the hind limbs have progressed radiographically, but lameness has not recurred 48 weeks following the second arthrodesis. Additional skeletal abnormalities were detected radiographically in both carpi and in several caudal vertebrae. A partial, left-sided conduction deafness was diagnosed by evaluating brain stem auditory-evoked responses

A Comparison of Science Word Meaning in the Classrooms of Two Different Countries: Scottish Integrated Science in Scotland and in Malaysia.

Science.gov (United States)

Isa, A. M.; Maskill, R.

1982-01-01

Investigates the difference between two groups of adolescents learning basic science from the same curriculum (Scottish Integrated Science) but in two different languages and cultural settings. Word association tests distinguished between the groups, with the Malay children producing more associations than the Scottish children. (Author/JJD)

[Claw size of Scottish Highland Cows after pasture and housing periods].

Science.gov (United States)

Nuss, K; Kolp, E; Braun, U; Weidmann, E; Hässig, M

2014-09-01

The claws of pastured Scottish Highland Cattle are large and this may raise the question if regular claw trimming is necessary. Therefore, the claws of the right thoracic and pelvic limbs were measured in 22 Scottish Highland cows 4 times 8 weeks apart. The cows were kept on various alpine pastures before the first measurement, on a two-hectare low-land pasture before the second measurement, in a welfare-compliant straw-bedded free stall before the third measurement and on alpine pasture before the fourth measurement. Housing conditions significantly affected claw dimensions. The claws were composed of dry, hard horn during pasture periods, and had prominent weight-bearing hoof-wall borders and soles with a natural axial slope. Long dorsal walls and heels and a greater symmetry were common. Claw lesions were absent. In contrast, free-stall housing was associated with shorter toes and steeper toe angles, but white line deterioration, heel horn erosion, wearing of the axial slope and hoof wall edges were common.

Duration of daily TV/screen watching with cardiovascular, respiratory, mental and psychiatric health: Scottish Health Survey, 2012-2013.

Science.gov (United States)

Shiue, Ivy

2015-01-01

The link of duration of TV and/or screen watching and chronic health conditions by subtypes is unclear. Therefore, the relationship between TV and/or screen watching hours and cardiovascular, respiratory, mental and psychiatric health and well-being (happiness) was assessed in an independent population-based survey to identify correlations of various hours with health conditions. Data was retrieved from the Scottish Health Survey, 2012-2013. Information on demographics, lifestyle factors, self-reported health conditions and TV and/or screen watching duration in both Scottish adults and children was collected by annual household interviews. Chi-square test and survey weighted logistic and multi-nominal modelling were performed. 5527 (57.0%) Scottish adults aged 16-99 watched TV and/or screen daily for 3 + h on average. There was a trend toward more hypertension, angina, stroke, diabetes, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and poor self-rated health and mental health. Reporting watching TV and/or screen for 4 + h, for 5 + h and for 8 + h was associated with higher rates of heart attack, heart murmur or other heart troubles and abnormal heart rhythms, respectively. 414 (20.7%) Scottish children aged 4-12 watched TV and/or screen for 3h or more. They tended to have poor self-rated health and life difficulties perceived as emotional and behavioural problems. There were associations between various hours of TV and/or screen watching (3+h) and poor health observed both in Scottish adults and children. Future educational and public health programmes minimising TV and/or screen watching in order to protect cardiovascular, respiratory, mental and psychiatric health might be considered. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

A Review of The Architecture of the Scottish Medieval Church 1100–1560

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ian Campbell

2013-01-01

Full Text Available If ever a book could be described as a ‘magnum opus’ it is this: indeed it is a summa. Richard Fawcett has been publishing on Scottish medieval architecture, mainly ecclesiastical, for three decades, ranging from articles on minute changes in Gothic mouldings (the subject of his doctoral research at the University of East Anglia such as ‘Dunblane Cathedral: evidence for a change in the design of the nave’ (1982 to a survey of architecture between 370 and 1560, Scottish Architecture from the Accession of the Stewarts to the Reformation (1994. For much of that time he was an Inspector of Ancient Monuments for Historic Scotland, allowing him unfettered access to all the key monuments for most of which he has written authoritative guidebooks. However, besides Scotland, his knowledge of other European medieval architecture, especially in England, France and the Low Countries is encyclopaedic. His researches have made unsustainable the inferiorist attitude that Scottish medieval architecture was insular and backward, by pointing out countless foreign parallels, which demonstrate that Scotland’s patrons and masons were always aware of contemporary developments beyond its borders and shores. This monumental book brings together the fruits of these years of study into a rich synthesis. At last MacGibbon and Ross’ groundbreaking Ecclesiastical architecture of Scotland (1896-7 has been superseded.

Predicting Use and Maintenance of Use of Substances in Scottish Adolescents.

Science.gov (United States)

Karatzias, A.; Power, K. G.; Swanson, V.

2001-01-01

Studied the roles of demographic, school, nonschool, and personality factors in predicting the use of tobacco, alcohol, and illicit drugs and maintenance of this use. Findings for 425 Scottish secondary school students show different predictive factors. Discusses implications of the findings for decreasing the prevalence of substance use. (SLD)

A 'Scottish Poor Law of Lunacy'? Poor Law, Lunacy Law and Scotland's parochial asylums.

Science.gov (United States)

Farquharson, Lauren

2017-03-01

Scotland's parochial asylums are unfamiliar institutional spaces. Representing the concrete manifestation of the collision between two spheres of legislation, the Poor Law and the Lunacy Law, six such asylums were constructed in the latter half of the nineteenth century. These sites expressed the enduring mandate of the Scottish Poor Law 1845 over the domain of 'madness'. They were institutions whose very existence was fashioned at the directive of the local arm of the Poor Law, the parochial board, and they constituted a continuing 'Scottish Poor Law of Lunacy'. Their origins and operation significantly subverted the intentions and objectives of the Lunacy Act 1857, the aim of which had been to institute a public district asylum network with nationwide coverage.

Scottish independence and the all-affected interests principle

OpenAIRE

Saunders, Ben

2012-01-01

It is frequently argued that non-Scottish UK citizens should be enfranchised in any referendum on the future of Scotland because they are affected by the decision. This article argues that this position cannot in fact be supported by the all-affected interests principle for two reasons. First, a consistent application of the all-affected interests principle would require enfranchising not only all UK citizens but also many non-UK citizens who are also affected. Second, doubt is cast upon the ...

Service contacts prior to death in people dying by suicide in the Scottish Highlands.

Science.gov (United States)

Stark, Cameron R; Vaughan, Susan; Huc, Sara; O'Neill, Noelle

2012-01-01

Many people who die by suicide have been in contact with health services prior to their death. This study examined service contacts in people in urban and rural areas of the Scottish Highlands. Highland residents dying by suicide or undetermined intent in 2001-2004 were identified using routine death records. Health service databases were searched to identify general hospital, mental health and general practice notes. 177 residents died in the time period (136 males). At least one type of record was identified on 175 people, including general practice records (167 people, 94.4%), psychiatric hospital records (n=87, 49.2%) and general hospital records (n=142, 80.2%). Of these, 52.5% had been in contact with at least one health service in the month before their death, including 18.6% with mental health services, and 46.4% with general practice. In total, 68.9% had a previous diagnosis of mental illness, 52.5% of substance misuse problems, and 40.1% of self-harm. The commonest mental illness diagnosis was depression (n=97, 54.8%). There was no difference in rates of GP contact in rural and urban areas. Of those dying in urban areas, 32% had been in contact with mental health services in the previous month, compared with 21% in Accessible Rural/Accessible Small Towns, and 11% in Remote Rural/Remote Small Towns (prural areas were less likely to have had contact with mental health services in the year before their death (prural than urban areas, and this finding increased with greater rurality.

Paediatric tracheostomy-An 11 year experience at a Scottish paediatric tertiary referral centre.

Science.gov (United States)

Douglas, C M; Poole-Cowley, J; Morrissey, S; Kubba, H; Clement, W A; Wynne, D

2015-10-01

The aim of this paper was to review the indications, complications and outcomes for tracheostomy at a Scottish paediatric tertiary referral hospital. All patients undergoing tracheostomy between January 2001 and September 2012 were identified. A retrospective case note analysis was performed. 111 tracheostomies were done in the study period. The mean number per year was 11 (3-12). Full data was available for 95 patients. There were 56 (59%) males and 39 (41%) females. Age at time of tracheostomy ranged from one day to 15 years, the mean age of tracheostomy insertion was 69 weeks. The majority of patients, 75 (79%), were under one year old when they had their tracheostomy. The most common indication was long-term ventilation (20%), followed by craniofacial abnormality causing airway obstruction (18%), followed by subglottic stenosis (14%). 37% of patients were decannulated. This series reflects current trends in the indications for paediatric tracheostomy, with chronic lung disease of prematurity being the most common indication. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Pre-hospital physical activity status affects in-hospital course of elderly patients with acute myocardial infarction.

Science.gov (United States)

Miyamoto, Takamichi; Obayashi, Tohru; Hattori, Eijirou; Yamauchi, Yasuteru; Niwa, Akihiro; Isobe, Mitsuaki

2010-03-01

The clinical course of elderly patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI) can sometimes unexpectedly result in an adverse outcome even when therapy appears to be successful. We suspect that specific factors may characterize this worsening of status during hospitalization. This study examines whether the pre-hospital physical activity status of the elderly treated with percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) for AMI affects their in-hospital course. We studied 110 consecutive patients, aged 80 or older, who had undergone emergent PCI for AMI. Patients were divided into two groups based on clinical presentation: Better Killip class (Killip classes I and II) and Worse Killip class (Killip classes III and IV). Patients were also divided into two groups based on pre-hospital physical activity status, determined retrospectively by review of medical records: Good physical activity (n=57) comprising those able to go out alone independently and Poor physical activity comprising those mainly confined to home (n=53). The overall in-hospital mortality rate was 9.1% for the study population. The Worse Killip class group had a higher in-hospital mortality rate than the Better Killip class group (27.8% vs 5.4%, respectively; p=0.0102). In addition, the Poor physical activity group had a higher in-hospital mortality rate than the Good physical activity group (15.1% vs. 3.5%, respectively; p=0.047). These data suggest that pre-hospital physical activity status in elderly patients with AMI may affect in-hospital mortality as well as Killip class.

Genetic determinants of hair and eye colours in the Scottish and Danish populations

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Mengel-From, Jonas; Wong, Terence H; Morling, Niels

2009-01-01

BACKGROUND: Eye and hair colour is highly variable in the European population, and is largely genetically determined. Both linkage and association studies have previously been used to identify candidate genes underlying this variation. Many of the genes found were previously known as underlying...... mutant mouse phenotypes or human genetic disease, but others, previously unsuspected as pigmentation genes, have also been discovered. RESULTS: We assayed the hair of a population of individuals of Scottish origin using tristimulus colorimetry, in order to produce a quantitative measure of hair colour....... Cluster analysis of this data defined two groups, with overlapping borders, which corresponded to visually assessed dark versus red/light hair colour. The Danish population was assigned into categorical hair colour groups. Both cohorts were also assessed for eye colour. DNA from the Scottish group...

Widening Access to Scottish Higher Education: Unresolved Issues and Future Challenges

Science.gov (United States)

Riddell, Sheila

2016-01-01

Despite the Scottish Government's frequent affirmation of its commitment to social justice principles, there has of late been a recognition of the need for firmer action to tackle the social class gap in higher education participation, reflecting wider social inequalities in Scotland. In a recent policy statement, Angela Constance, Cabinet…

Changes and Challenges: Key Issues for Scottish Rural Schools and Communities

Science.gov (United States)

Dowling, Jennie

2009-01-01

Education in rural Scottish schools has changed rapidly over the past 15 years. These changes include the implementation of national curriculum and assessment guidelines, increased parental influence and a shift from local authority based management to more locally based schemes. During the 1990s, research in the field focused largely on learning…

Scottish Academy of Fashion Showcase Exhibition at Inspace Edinburgh

OpenAIRE

Gillan, Robert

2011-01-01

The Scottish Academy of Fashion (SAF) is an ambitious project to establish Scotland as a global centre for excellence in fashion related learning and commercially relevant research.Scotland has world-class education and globally recognised leaders in the fashion industry. It has a niche fashion and textile industry embedded in luxury fashion worldwide. Scotland attracts international talent to fashion-related education.SAF aims to develop an effective platform to combine these strengths, and ...

The measurement and regulation of cross subsidy. The case of the Scottish water industry

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sawkins, John W.; Reid, Scott

2007-01-01

There is a widespread belief that significant cross subsidies exist in the water, gas and electricity utility industries, particularly those under public ownership. In this paper we discuss the measurement of cross subsidy and its regulatory implications in the context of a publicly owned utility on the verge of being opened up to product market competition. Using the case of the publicly owned Scottish water industry the paper outlines the definition and measurement of cross subsidy in theoretical terms before reviewing the policy debate over the desirability of cross subsidy between different customer groups and services. It then explains the approach to measurement recently adopted by the Scottish Executive. Having established the size and direction of cross subsidy the regulatory implications are considered. (author)

Income, Wealth and Health Inequalities - A Scottish Social Justice Perspective.

Science.gov (United States)

Molony, Elspeth; Duncan, Christine

2016-01-01

This paper considers health inequalities through a social justice perspective. The authors draw on a variety of existing sources of evidence, including experiential, scientific and contextual knowledge. The authors work with NHS Health Scotland, a national Health Board working to reduce health inequalities and improve health. Working closely with the Scottish Government and with a variety of stakeholders across different sectors, NHS Health Scotland's vision for a fairer, healthier Scotland is founded on the principles of social justice. The paper takes social justice as the starting point and explores what it means for two interlinked paradigms of social injustice-health inequality and income inequality. Utilising the wealth of evidence synthesised by NHS Health Scotland as well as drawing on the writings and evidence of philosophers, epidemiologists, the Scottish Government and international bodies, the authors explore the links between income and wealth inequality, social justice, the right to health and health inequalities. The paper ends by considering the extent to which there is appetite for social change in Scotland by considering the attitudes of the people of Scotland and of Britain to poverty, inequality and welfare.

Gill pathology in Scottish farmed Atlantic salmon, Salmo salar L., associated with the microsporidian Desmozoon lepeophtherii Freeman et Sommerville, 2009.

Science.gov (United States)

Matthews, C G G; Richards, R H; Shinn, A P; Cox, D I

2013-10-01

Gill disorders have emerged in recent years as a significant problem in the production of marine-stage Atlantic salmon Salmo salar L. The multi-aetiological condition 'proliferative gill inflammation' (PGI) has been reported to cause heavy losses in western Norway, yet reports of Scottish cases of the disease have remained anecdotal. In the present study, histopathological material from a marine production site in the Scottish Highlands experiencing mortalities due to a seasonal gill disease with proliferative-type pathology was examined using light microscopy, special staining techniques and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The microsporidian Desmozoon lepeophtherii Freeman et Sommerville, 2009 (syn. Paranucleospora theridion) was identified by staining using a Gram Twort method and TEM associated with distinctive proliferative and necrotic pathology confined to the interlamellar Malpighian cell areas of the primary filaments. Epitheliocystis was not a feature of the gill pathology observed. It is believed this is the first report of D. lepeophtherii being identified associated with pathology in a Scottish gill disease case, and supports anecdotal reports that a disease at least partly synonymous with PGI as described by Norwegian researchers is present in Scottish aquaculture. © 2013 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Using the SIRDE model of social change to examine the vote of Scottish teenagers in the 2014 independence referendum.

Science.gov (United States)

Grant, Peter R; Bennett, Mark; Abrams, Dominic

2017-09-01

Five hundred and seventy-three Scottish high school students were surveyed in the 2 months following the 2014 referendum on Scotland's independence. We used the Social Identity, Relative Deprivation, collective Efficacy (SIRDE) model of social change to examine the social psychological factors that should have influenced the voting choices of these teenagers. Structural equation modelling indicated that the SIRDE model fit the data and largely supported four sets of hypotheses derived from the model. Specifically, (1) those with a stronger Scottish identity, (2) those who felt frustrated and angry that Scottish people are discriminated against in British society, and (3) those who believed that Scottish people are not able to improve their relatively poor social conditions within the United Kingdom (a lack of collective efficacy) were more likely to hold separatist beliefs. Further, the relationships between identity, relative deprivation, and collective efficacy, on the one hand, and voting for Scotland's independence, on the other, were fully mediated by separatist social change beliefs. Consistent with the specificity of the model, neither political engagement nor personal relative deprivation were associated with voting choice, whereas the latter was associated with lower life satisfaction. The implications and limitations of these findings are discussed. © 2017 The British Psychological Society.

Anna Groundwater, The Scottish Middle March 1573-1625: Power, Kinship, Allegiance

OpenAIRE

Janine van Vliet

2011-01-01

Anna Groundwater. The Scottish Middle March 1573-1625: Power, Kinship, Allegiance. Royal Historical Society Studies in History, New Series. Woodbridge, UK: The Boydell Press, 2010. Pp. 236. ISBN 978-0-86193-307-5. £50.00; US$90.00.

Pathways between Socioeconomic Disadvantage and Childhood Growth in the Scottish Longitudinal Study, 1991-2001.

Science.gov (United States)

Silverwood, Richard J; Williamson, Lee; Grundy, Emily M; De Stavola, Bianca L

2016-01-01

Socioeconomically disadvantaged children are more likely to be of shorter stature and overweight, leading to greater risk of obesity in adulthood. Disentangling the mediatory pathways between socioeconomic disadvantage and childhood size may help in the development of appropriate policies aimed at reducing these health inequalities. We aimed to elucidate the putative mediatory role of birth weight using a representative sample of the Scottish population born 1991-2001 (n = 16,628). Estimated height and overweight/obesity at age 4.5 years were related to three measures of socioeconomic disadvantage (mother's education, Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation, synthetic weekly income). Mediation was examined using two approaches: a 'traditional' mediation analysis and a counterfactual-based mediation analysis. Both analyses identified a negative effect of each measure of socioeconomic disadvantage on height, mediated to some extent by birth weight, and a positive 'direct effect' of mother's education and Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation on overweight/obesity, which was partly counterbalanced by a negative 'indirect effect'. The extent of mediation estimated when adopting the traditional approach was greater than when adopting the counterfactual-based approach because of inappropriate handling of intermediate confounding in the former. Our findings suggest that higher birth weight in more disadvantaged groups is associated with reduced social inequalities in height but also with increased inequalities in overweight/obesity.

Safety at The William Quarrier Scottish Epilepsy Centre.

Science.gov (United States)

Anderson, James; Grant, Victoria; Elgammal, Mariam; Campbell, Alison; Hampshire, Julia; Hansen, Stig; Russell, Aline J C

2017-12-01

We examined the yield from EMFIT bed alarms and staff response time to generalised seizure in a medium term residential assessment unit for epilepsy. The Scottish Epilpesy Centre (SEC) has a Video Observation System (VOS) that provides continuous recording of all patient spaces (external and internal) and allows retention of clinically relevant events. A retrospective audit of daily EMFIT test records, nursing seizure record sheets (seizure type and EMFIT alert status), clinical incident reporting systems and the VOS database of retained clinical events was conducted for an 9 month period from April 1st 2016 till December 31st 2016. All generalized tonic clonic seizures (GTCS) were noted by patient, time and location and staff response time to GTCS was calculated. There were 85 people admitted during the audit period who had 61 GTCS. 50 events were in bed and EMFIT alert status was recorded. On 8 occasions the EMFIT did not alert: 5 events were not of sufficient duration or frequency, in 2 the patient fell from the bed early and 1 event the alarm did not trigger. The average response time to GTCS was 23s. The longest response time was 69s (range, 0-69s, sd 15.76.). The EMFIT bed alarm appears to be a valuable adjunct to safety systems. Within the novel environment of the SEC it is possible to maintain a response time to GTCS that is comparable to hospital based UK video telemetry units. Copyright © 2017 British Epilepsy Association. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Progress with Scottish Nuclear Limited's dry fuel store proposals

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cathro, I.S.

1994-01-01

At present Scottish Nuclear plc's largest operating cost, associated with the Advanced Gas Cooled Reactors that it manages, is the reprocessing of spent fuels. Looking to reduce the costs, the company has considered alternative disposal options. Dry vault storage has emerged as a clear leader. An adaption of the United States Modular Vault Dry Storage design is being studied in order to examine the feasibility of a store of this type at each of its power stations. (UK)

Electricity privatisation and the Scottish coal industry

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Davies, P.

1988-09-01

In the run up to the privatisation of the electricity supply industry in Scotland, the South of Scotland Electricity Board (SSEB) is involved in a battle for power with British Coal's Scottish area over the price of its coal, the bulk of which has been purchased by the SSEB in recent years. The SSEB has been trying to persuade British Coal to bring its prices down to those currently available on the world market. This would require a reduction of some 30%. The SSEB has backed up its requests by threatening to import more foreign coal if British Coal refuses to comply.

87Sr/86Sr isotope fingerprinting of Scottish and Icelandic migratory shorebirds

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Evans, Jane; Bullman, Rhys

2009-01-01

Biosphere Sr isotope composition data from Iceland and Scotland suggest that terrestrially feeding birds from these two countries will have significantly different 87 Sr/ 86 Sr isotope composition in their tissues. The aim of this study is to test if these differences can be measured within the bone and feather of migratory wading birds, who feed terrestrially as juveniles, thus providing a provenance tool for these birds. The study shows that birds can be distinguished on the basis of the Sr isotope composition of their bone. The field for Icelandic birds is defined by data from juvenile common redshank (Tringa totanus) and whimbrel (Numenius phaeopus) which give 0.7056 ± 0.0012, (2σ, n = 7). The majority of Scottish birds in this study are from coastal regions and have a signature close to that of seawater of 0.7095 ± 0.0006 (2σ, n = 9). The Sr ratios in the body tissue of these two populations of all Icelandic and Scottish adult and juvenile birds analysed are significantly different (p 87 Sr/ 86 Sr values as high as 0.7194 which reflect their non-marine diet. Icelandic redshank (Tringa totanus robusta) that have flown to Scotland and returned to Iceland show the effect of the Scottish contribution to their diet with elevated values of 0.7086 ± 0.0004, (2σ, n = 6). Redshank found in Scotland that cannot be classified on the basis biometric analysis are shown to be of Icelandic origin and analysis of the primary feathers from two birds demonstrates that isotope variation between feathers could be used to track changes in diet related to the timing of individual feather growth.

Lessons from America? US magnet hospitals and their implications for UK nursing.

Science.gov (United States)

Buchan, J

1994-02-01

This paper examines possible implications of the US 'magnet hospital' concept for the UK nursing labour market. Magnet hospitals have been researched in the US and have been demonstrated to exhibit lower nurse turnover and higher levels of reported job satisfaction than other hospitals. Key characteristics include a decentralized organizational structure, a commitment to flexible working hours, an emphasis on professional autonomy and development, and systematic communication between management and staff. The paper examines the labour market characteristics of UK nurses and US nurses and finds many similarities. Detailed case studies of employment practice in 10 US hospitals and 10 Scottish hospitals are reported, with specific attention to remuneration practice, methods of organizing nursing care, establishment-setting and flexible hours. The paper concludes that there are features of the magnet hospital concept which are of relevance and applicable to the UK nursing labour market, but that piecemeal importation of ideas is unlikely to be beneficial.

Scottish hydrocarbons: Borders and bounty

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Roberts, John

1999-01-01

On 6 May, the people of Scotland will vote for the country's first parliament in almost three centuries. One issue is expected to arouse particularly strong views: the question of North Sea oil and gas, and who benefits from its production and taxation. Most of these hydrocarbons lie in the northern half of the British Isles, but drawing boundaries to settle contentious issues such as oil and gas fields is not an easy task. And, if boundaries were to be drawn, then a scarcely less contentious subject arises: just how much cash might an independent Scotland expect to receive? Reading between the lines it's clear that in hard cash terms, were Scotland to be independent whilst still retaining the vast bulk of North Sea oilfields, depressed prices would ensure that hydrocarbon tax revenues would be unlikely to constitute a particularly impressive addition to the Scottish Treasury. (UK)

Bright Ideas, Creative People, Teamwork, and Money: Developing Courseware for Teaching Scottish History.

Science.gov (United States)

Munro, R. K.; Hillis, P. L. M.

1996-01-01

Describes three hypermedia databases designed to support secondary education classes in Scottish history. The databases contain mostly 19th-century census information with links to subjects such as fashion, education, and entertainment. Interactive interfaces allow students to create original research applications. (MJP)

Utility of the PRE-DELIRIC delirium prediction model in a Scottish ICU cohort.

Science.gov (United States)

Paton, Lia; Elliott, Sara; Chohan, Sanjiv

2016-08-01

The PREdiction of DELIRium for Intensive Care (PRE-DELIRIC) model reliably predicts at 24 h the development of delirium during intensive care admission. However, the model does not take account of alcohol misuse, which has a high prevalence in Scottish intensive care patients. We used the PRE-DELIRIC model to calculate the risk of delirium for patients in our ICU from May to July 2013. These patients were screened for delirium on each day of their ICU stay using the Confusion Assessment Method for ICU (CAM-ICU). Outcomes were ascertained from the national ICU database. In the 39 patients screened daily, the risk of delirium given by the PRE-DELIRIC model was positively associated with prevalence of delirium, length of ICU stay and mortality. The PRE-DELIRIC model can therefore be usefully applied to a Scottish cohort with a high prevalence of substance misuse, allowing preventive measures to be targeted.

'Out of two bad choices, I took the slightly better one': vaccination dilemmas for Scottish and Polish migrant women during the H1N1 influenza pandemic.

Science.gov (United States)

Sim, J A; Ulanika, A A; Katikireddi, S V; Gorman, D

2011-08-01

Pregnancy has been identified as a risk factor for complications from pandemic H1N1 influenza, and pregnant women were identified as a target group for vaccination in the UK in the 2009 pandemic. Poland took a more conservative approach, and did not offer vaccination to pregnant women. Poland accounts for the largest wave of recent migrants to the UK, many of whom are in their reproductive years and continue to participate actively in Polish healthcare systems after migration. The authors speculated that different national responses may shape differences in approaches to the vaccine between Scottish and Polish women. This study therefore aimed to assess how pregnant Polish migrants to Scotland weighed up the risks and benefits of the vaccine for pandemic H1N1 influenza in comparison with their Scottish counterparts. A qualitative interview-based study comparing the views of Scottish and Polish pregnant women on H1N1 vaccination was carried out in 'real time' during the first 2 weeks of the vaccination programme in November 2009. One-to-one interviews were conducted with 10 women (five Polish and five Scottish) in their native language. Interviews were transcribed, translated, coded and analysed for differences and similarities in decision-making processes between the two groups. Contrary to expectations, Scottish and Polish women drew on a strikingly similar set of considerations in deciding whether or not to accept the vaccine, with individual women reaching different conclusions. Almost all of the women adopted a critical stance towards the vaccine. While most women understood that pregnancy was a risk factor for complications from influenza, their primary concern was protecting family health overall and their fetus in particular. Deciding whether or not to accept the vaccine was difficult for women. Some identified a contradiction between the culture of caution which characterizes pregnancy-related advice, and the fact that they were being urged to accept what

The role of public relations activities in hospital choice.

Science.gov (United States)

Tengilimoglu, Dilaver; Yesiltas, Mehmet; Kisa, Adnan; Dziegielewski, Sophia F

2007-01-01

Public relations activities for all organizations can have an important effect on consumer decision-making when buying goods or services. This study examines the effect that public relations activities can have regarding consumer decisions and choice. To explore exemplify this relationship a questionnaire was given to 971 patients within public, university and private hospitals in Ankara, Turkey. Study results show that public relations activities were a crucial factor in determining consumer hospital choice. The majority of respondents reported that the behaviors and attitude of personnel as public relations activities that support the hospital's reputation within the public were the primary variables in hospital choice. Health care managers can use these findings to further understand how patients make informed choices related to usage of a health care facility and to develop and/or improve public relations activities.

Income, Wealth and Health Inequalities — A Scottish Social Justice Perspective

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Elspeth Molony

2016-04-01

Full Text Available This paper considers health inequalities through a social justice perspective. The authors draw on a variety of existing sources of evidence, including experiential, scientific and contextual knowledge. The authors work with NHS Health Scotland, a national Health Board working to reduce health inequalities and improve health. Working closely with the Scottish Government and with a variety of stakeholders across different sectors, NHS Health Scotland’s vision for a fairer, healthier Scotland is founded on the principles of social justice. The paper takes social justice as the starting point and explores what it means for two interlinked paradigms of social injustice—health inequality and income inequality. Utilising the wealth of evidence synthesised by NHS Health Scotland as well as drawing on the writings and evidence of philosophers, epidemiologists, the Scottish Government and international bodies, the authors explore the links between income and wealth inequality, social justice, the right to health and health inequalities. The paper ends by considering the extent to which there is appetite for social change in Scotland by considering the attitudes of the people of Scotland and of Britain to poverty, inequality and welfare.

Income, Wealth and Health Inequalities — A Scottish Social Justice Perspective

Science.gov (United States)

Molony, Elspeth; Duncan, Christine

2016-01-01

This paper considers health inequalities through a social justice perspective. The authors draw on a variety of existing sources of evidence, including experiential, scientific and contextual knowledge. The authors work with NHS Health Scotland, a national Health Board working to reduce health inequalities and improve health. Working closely with the Scottish Government and with a variety of stakeholders across different sectors, NHS Health Scotland's vision for a fairer, healthier Scotland is founded on the principles of social justice. The paper takes social justice as the starting point and explores what it means for two interlinked paradigms of social injustice—health inequality and income inequality. Utilising the wealth of evidence synthesised by NHS Health Scotland as well as drawing on the writings and evidence of philosophers, epidemiologists, the Scottish Government and international bodies, the authors explore the links between income and wealth inequality, social justice, the right to health and health inequalities. The paper ends by considering the extent to which there is appetite for social change in Scotland by considering the attitudes of the people of Scotland and of Britain to poverty, inequality and welfare. PMID:29546160

Independent sector treatment centres: the first independent evaluation, a Scottish case study.

Science.gov (United States)

Pollock, Allyson M; Kirkwood, Graham

2009-07-01

The pound5 billion English Independent Sector Treatment Centre (ISTC) programme remains unevaluated because of a lack of published contract data and poor quality data returns. Scotland has a three-year pilot ISTC, the Scottish Regional Treatment Centre (SRTC), the contract for which is now in the public domain. This study aims to conduct an independent evaluation of the performance of the SRTC during the first year of operation. A retrospective analysis of the SRTC comparing activity as reported by hospital episode statistics returned to ISD Scotland with: volume and cost data in the SRTC contract; a 10-month audit carried out by management consultants Price Waterhouse Coopers (PWC); and an internal NHS Tayside performance report. All day-case and inpatient activity at the SRTC from 1 December 2006 to 31 January 2008. Activity and cost. The annual contract was based on patient referrals to the SRTC and not actual treatments. The contract was awarded on the basis of 2624 referrals a year, total value of pound5,667,464. According to ISD data, the SRTC performed 831 procedures (32% of annual contract) in the first 13 months worth pound1,035,603 (18%). PWC's figures report 2200 referrals (84%) to the SRTC at a cost of 2,642,000 (47%) in the first 10 months. Basing the SRTC contract on payments for referrals rather than actual treatment represents a major departure from normal standards of reporting and commissioning and may have resulted in over-payment for referrals for patients who did not receive treatment of up to pound3 million in the first 10 months. The PWC report falls well below the standards one would expect of an independent evaluation and we were unable to validate PWC's analysis and the claim of value for money. If wave-one ISTCs in England perform similarly to the SRTC then as much as pound927 million may have been paid for patients who did not receive treatment. We recommend a moratorium on all ISTC contracts until the contracts have been published and

Clinical features of progressive vacuolar hepatopathy in Scottish Terriers with and without hepatocellular carcinoma: 114 cases (1980-2013).

Science.gov (United States)

Cortright, Catherine C; Center, Sharon A; Randolph, John F; McDonough, Sean P; Fecteau, Kellie A; Warner, Karen L; Chiapella, Ann M; Pierce, Rhonda L; Graham, A Heather; Wall, Linda J; Heidgerd, John H; Degen, Melisa A; Lucia, Patricia A; Erb, Hollis N

2014-10-01

To characterize signalment, clinical features, clinicopathologic variables, hepatic ultrasonographic characteristics, endocrinologic profiles, treatment response, and age at death of Scottish Terriers with progressive vacuolar hepatopathy (VH) with or without hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Retrospective case series. 114 Scottish Terriers with progressive VH. Electronic databases from 1980 to 2013 were searched for adult (age > 1 year) Scottish Terriers with histopathologic diagnoses of diffuse glycogen-like VH. Available sections of liver specimens were histologically reevaluated to confirm diffuse VH with or without HCC; 8 dogs with HCC only had neoplastic tissue available. Physical examination, clinicopathologic, treatment, and survival data were obtained. 39 of 114 (34%) dogs with VH had HCC detected at surgery or necropsy or by abdominal ultrasonography. Histologic findings indicated that HCC was seemingly preceded by dysplastic hepatocellular foci. No significant differences were found in clinicopathologic variables or age at death between VH-affected dogs with or without HCC. Fifteen of 26 (58%) dogs with high hepatic copper concentrations had histologic features consistent with copper-associated hepatopathy. Although signs consistent with hyperadrenocorticism were observed in 40% (46/114) of dogs, definitive diagnosis was inconsistently confirmed. Assessment of adrenal sex hormone concentrations before and after ACTH administration identified high progesterone and androstenedione concentrations in 88% (22/25) and 80% (20/25) of tested dogs, respectively. Results suggested that VH in Scottish Terriers may be linked to adrenal steroidogenesis and a predisposition to HCC. In dogs with VH, frequent serum biochemical analysis and ultrasonographic surveillance for early tumor detection are recommended.

The Scottish Structural Proteomics Facility: targets, methods and outputs

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Oke, Muse; Carter, Lester G; Johnson, Kenneth A

2010-01-01

The Scottish Structural Proteomics Facility was funded to develop a laboratory scale approach to high throughput structure determination. The effort was successful in that over 40 structures were determined. These structures and the methods harnessed to obtain them are reported here. This report...... reflects on the value of automation but also on the continued requirement for a high degree of scientific and technical expertise. The efficiency of the process poses challenges to the current paradigm of structural analysis and publication. In the 5 year period we published ten peer-reviewed papers...

'If you happen to be the right age, have the right colour, no disability...you're sorted':Social Audit and Equality Policies for staff in Scottish Further Education Colleges

OpenAIRE

Weedon, Elisabet; Riddell, Sheila; Ahlgren, Linda; Litjens, Judith

2008-01-01

This paper focuses on the implications of adopting social audit approaches in order to implement equality policies in Scottish FE colleges, exploring the tension between surface compliance and deep institutional engagement. It provides a brief overview of the Scottish further education context, before turning to a consideration of social audit and equalities within the sector. The data reported comes from a research study funded by the Scottish Further Education Unit which examined college po...

The twinning of Scottish general practices and Malawian clinics: the provision of email and internet services

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ron Neville

2007-01-01

Full Text Available Many patients and health care professionals in the developed world are uncomfortable about doing nothing in the face of the glaring inequities in health care between their own environment and that of Africa. In an effort to 'think global, act local' a Scottish GP practice used personal contacts to build a twinning link with a clinic serving a township in Malawi. This article describes the experience of establishing e-mail and internet services for Malawian health care staff to afford them the same level of access as developed world staff enjoy in accessing educational materials and professional supports. Using our twin link as an exemplar we are now matching other Scottish General Practices to Malawian Clinics around a common theme of modern communication media.

Low-Impact Exploration for Gold in the Scottish Caledonides.

Science.gov (United States)

Rice, Samuel; Cuthbert, Simon; Hursthouse, Andrew; Broetto, Gabriele

2017-04-01

The Caledonian orogenic belt of the northern British Isles hosts some significant gold deposits. However, gold mineralization in the region is underexplored. Some of the most prospective areas identified by rich alluvial gold anomalies are environmentally and culturally sensitive. Traditional mineral exploration methods can have a range of negative environmental, social and economic impacts. The regional tourism economy is dependent on outdoor activities, landscape quality, wildlife and industrial heritage and has the potential to be disrupted by mineral resource developments. Low-cost, low-impact exploration strategies are therefore, key to sustainably developing the mineral resource potential. Research currently in progress in part of the Scottish Caledonides aims to develop protocols for more sustainable exploration. We are using a range of geoscience techniques to characterize the mineral system, improve exploration targeting and reduce negative impacts. To do this we targeted an area with a large preexisting dataset (e.g. stream sediment geochemistry, geomorphology, structural geology, petrology, geophysics, mine data) that can be synthesized and analyzed in a GIS. Part of the work aims to develop and test a model for gold dispersion in the surface environment that accounts for climatic and anthropogenic influences in order to locate bedrock sources. This multidisciplinary approach aims to reduce the target areas for subsequent exploration activities such as soil sampling, excavation and drilling.

Catholic Women Teachers and Scottish Education in the Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries

Science.gov (United States)

McDermid, Jane

2009-01-01

Catholics remained outside the Scottish educational system until 1918. The Church preferred mixed-sex infant schools and either single-sex schools or separate departments. In small towns and rural areas the schools were mixed-sex. Women were considered naturally best suited to teach infants and girls, but even in boys' schools, female assistants…

Diode laser coagulation for the treatment of epistaxis in a Scottish fold cat

Science.gov (United States)

Aoki, Takuma; Madarame, Hiroo; Sugimoto, Keisuke; Sunahara, Hiroshi; Fujii, Yoko; Kanai, Eiichi; Ito, Tetsuro

2015-01-01

We report the case of a 4-year-old, castrated 4.2-kg Scottish fold cat with recurrent epistaxis that was unresponsive to medical therapy. Diathermocoagulation of the nasal mucosa with a diode laser controlled the epistaxis and there was no significant recurrence of epistaxis during 1 year of follow-up. PMID:26130838

'Not our war, not our country': contents and contexts of Scottish political rhetoric and popular understandings during the invasion of Iraq.

Science.gov (United States)

Elcheroth, Guy; Reicher, Steve

2014-03-01

Recent research has questioned the traditional assumption that populations inevitably rally round their national leaders in times of war and suggested instead that whether this occurs depends upon political communication and mass media coverage. In this study, we provide systematic analysis of the debate in Scotland over the invasion of Iraq in 2003. We examine how the conflict was construed as either for or against the national interest, and how the way this is done is linked to different dimensions of context. First, we provide a mixed-methods analysis of debates in the Scottish Parliament. We show that anti-war speakers from Scottish separatist parties map opposition to the war onto a series of collectively consistent and temporarily flexible categorical oppositions, starting with a familiar antinomy between Scottish people and British rulers (before the invasion), and then shifting to broader oppositions between subjugated people and imperial powers (after the invasion). By contrast, speakers from other parties appear less consistent and less flexible in the nature of their arguments. Second, we examine the opinions of a population sample on the war, how these opinions relate to understandings of Scottish identity and how the media context is pivotal in the translation of anti-war opinions into votes for separatist/anti-war political parties. © 2013 The British Psychological Society.

An Investigation into Customer Service Policies and Practices within the Scottish College Library Sector: A Comparison between the Customer Service Exemplars from the Retail Sector with Current Scottish College Library Practice

Science.gov (United States)

Paterson, Neil

2011-01-01

The aim of this research project was to investigate the customer care methods within the Scottish college library sector. The researcher sought to compare examples of the customer care and service policies and practices from the sector with exemplars of good customer service from the retail sector. A qualitative, grounded theory approach was…

Genetic epidemiology of motor neuron disease-associated variants in the Scottish population.

Science.gov (United States)

Black, Holly A; Leighton, Danielle J; Cleary, Elaine M; Rose, Elaine; Stephenson, Laura; Colville, Shuna; Ross, David; Warner, Jon; Porteous, Mary; Gorrie, George H; Swingler, Robert; Goldstein, David; Harms, Matthew B; Connick, Peter; Pal, Suvankar; Aitman, Timothy J; Chandran, Siddharthan

2017-03-01

Genetic understanding of motor neuron disease (MND) has evolved greatly in the past 10 years, including the recent identification of association between MND and variants in TBK1 and NEK1. Our aim was to determine the frequency of pathogenic variants in known MND genes and to assess whether variants in TBK1 and NEK1 contribute to the burden of MND in the Scottish population. SOD1, TARDBP, OPTN, TBK1, and NEK1 were sequenced in 441 cases and 400 controls. In addition to 44 cases known to carry a C9orf72 hexanucleotide repeat expansion, we identified 31 cases and 2 controls that carried a loss-of-function or pathogenic variant. Loss-of-function variants were found in TBK1 in 3 cases and no controls and, separately, in NEK1 in 3 cases and no controls. This study provides an accurate description of the genetic epidemiology of MND in Scotland and provides support for the contribution of both TBK1 and NEK1 to MND susceptibility in the Scottish population. Copyright © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Scottish economic bulletin

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1993-01-01

The evidence of recovery in the United Kingdom (UK) economy, which had tentatively emerged in the second half of 1992, became stronger in the first half of this year. Examination of the components of total final demand shows that the UK has a longstanding preference to consume rather than to save and invest. Government policy in the 1990s will seek to create the conditions in which this balance can be altered. Given that consumer spending accounts for over half of final demand, the behaviour of the consumer remains a key determinant of the timing and strength of economic recovery. Data for the service sector in Scotland show that employment levels have held up much better than in Great Britain as a whole, although there is some evidence of the later impact of the recession on Scotland. The short-term prospects for the Scottish economy continue to be critically dependent on the export sector, given the depreciation of sterling since the suspension of exchange rate mechanism (ERM) membership, the fall in short-term UK interest rates and the continued improvement in relative manufacturing unit costs. The principal worry concerns the demand prospects in Scotland's major export markets, especially in Europe. Most independent economic forecasters expect that gross domestic product (GDP) growth in Scotland will be below that of the UK in 1993 and 1994. However, the unemployment rate is expected to remain lower in Scotland than in the UK over this period. (author)

The SERA Lecture 2013: Scottish Research in a Global Context--Dependence, Independence or Interdependence?

Science.gov (United States)

Menter, Ian

2014-01-01

Educational research in Scotland has a very distinguished history and has made a major contribution in several aspects of methodology, not least in the relationships between researchers, policymakers and practitioners. The paper considers the Scottish contribution to the development of educational research past, present and future and the…

Concurrency and climate change signal in Scottish flooding

Science.gov (United States)

Harding, A. E.; Butler, A.; Goody, N.; Bertram, D.; Baggaley, N.; Tett, S. F.

2013-12-01

The Scottish Environment Protection Agency maintains a database of river gauging stations and intensity rain-gauges with a 3-hourly resolution that covers the majority of Scotland. Both SEPA and a number of other Scottish agencies are invested in climate change attribution in this data set. SEPA's main interest lies in trend detection and changes in river level (';stage') data throughout Scotland. Emergency response teams are more concerned with the concurrency of multiple flood events that might stretch their ability to respond effectively. Unfortunately, much of the rainfall signal within SEPA's river-gauge data is altered by land use changes, modified by artificial interventions such as reservoirs, compromised by tidal flow, or obscured by measurement issues. Data reduction techniques, indices of extreme rainfall, and hydrology-driven discrimination have been employed to produce a reduced set of flood-relevant information for 24-hour ';flashy' events. Links between this set and North Atlantic circulation have been explored, as have patterns of mutual occurrence across Scotland and location- and seasonally- dependent trends through time. Both frontal systems and summer convective storms have been characterised in terms of subsequent flood-inducing flow regime, their changing behaviour over the last fifty years, and their spatial extent. This is the first stage of an ongoing project that will intelligently expand to take less robust river and rain-gauge stations into account through statistical analysis and hydrological modelling. It is also the first study of its type to analyse a nation-scale dataset of both rainfall and river flow from multiple catchments for flood event concurrency. As rainfall events are expected to intensify across much of Europe, this kind of research is likely to have an increasing degree of relevance for policy-makers. This project demonstrates that productive, policy-relevant and mutually-rewarding partnerships are already underway.

Myocardial infarction incidence and survival by ethnic group: Scottish Health and Ethnicity Linkage retrospective cohort study.

Science.gov (United States)

Bansal, Narinder; Fischbacher, Colin M; Bhopal, Raj S; Brown, Helen; Steiner, Markus Fc; Capewell, Simon

2013-09-13

Inequalities in coronary heart disease mortality by country of birth are large and poorly understood. However, these data misclassify UK-born minority ethnic groups and provide little detail on whether excess risk is due to increased incidence, poorer survival or both. Retrospective cohort study. General resident population of Scotland. All those residing in Scotland during the 2001 Census were eligible for inclusion: 2 972 120 people were included in the analysis. The number still residing in Scotland at the end of the study in 2008 is not known. As specified in the analysis plan, the primary outcome measures were first occurrence of admission or death due to myocardial infarction and time to event. There were no secondary outcome measures. Acute myocardial infarction (AMI) incidence risk ratios (95% CIs) relative to white Scottish populations (100) were highest among Pakistani men (164.1 (142.2 to 189.2)) and women (153.7 (120.5, 196.1)) and lowest for men and women of Chinese (39.5 (27.1 to 57.6) and 59.1 (38.6 to 90.7)), other white British (77 (74.2 to 79.8) and 72.2 (69.0 to 75.5)) and other white (83.1 (75.9 to 91.0) and 79.9 (71.5 to 89.3)) ethnic groups. Adjustment for educational qualification did not eliminate these differences. Cardiac intervention uptake was similar across most ethnic groups. Compared to white Scottish, 28-day survival did not differ by ethnicity, except in Pakistanis where it was better, particularly in women (0.44 (0.25 to 0.78)), a difference not removed by adjustment for education, travel time to hospital or cardiac intervention uptake. Pakistanis have the highest incidence of AMI in Scotland, a country renowned for internationally high cardiovascular disease rates. In contrast, survival is similar or better in minority ethnic groups. Clinical care and policy should focus on reducing incidence among Pakistanis through more aggressive prevention.

Activity Limitation Stages Are Associated With Risk of Hospitalization Among Medicare Beneficiaries.

Science.gov (United States)

Na, Ling; Pan, Qiang; Xie, Dawei; Kurichi, Jibby E; Streim, Joel E; Bogner, Hillary R; Saliba, Debra; Hennessy, Sean

2017-05-01

Activity limitation stages based on activities of daily living (ADLs) and instrumental activities of daily living (IADLs) are associated with 3-year mortality in elderly Medicare beneficiaries, yet their associations with hospitalization risk in this population have not been studied. To examine the independent association of activity limitation stages with risk of hospitalization within a year among Medicare beneficiaries aged 65 years and older. Cohort study. Community. A total of 9447 community-dwelling elderly Medicare beneficiaries from the Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey for years 2005-2009. Stages were derived for ADLs and IADLs separately. Associations of stages with time to first hospitalization and time to recurrent hospitalizations within a year were assessed with Cox proportional hazards models, with which we accounted for baseline sociodemographics, smoking status, comorbidities, and the year of survey entry. Time to first hospitalization and time to recurrent hospitalizations within 1 year. The adjusted risk of first hospitalization increased with greater activity limitation stages (except stage III). The hazard ratios (95% confidence intervals) for ADL stages I-IV compared with stage 0 (no limitations) were 1.49 (1.36-1.63), 1.61 (1.44-1.80), 1.54 (1.35-1.76), and 2.06 (1.61-2.63), respectively. The pattern for IADL stages was similar. For recurrent hospitalizations, activity limitation stages were associated with the risk of the first hospitalization but not with subsequent hospitalizations. Activity limitation stages are associated with the risk of first hospitalization in the subsequent year among elderly Medicare beneficiaries. Stages capture clinically interpretable profiles of ADL and IADL functionality and describe preserved functions and activity limitation in an aggregated measure. Stage can inform interventions to ameliorate disability and thus reduce the risk of a subsequent hospitalization in this population. IV. Copyright © 2017

HPV immunisation and increased uptake of cervical screening in Scottish women; observational study of routinely collected national data.

Science.gov (United States)

Palmer, T J; McFadden, M; Pollock, K G J; Kavanagh, K; Cuschieri, K; Cruickshank, M; Nicoll, S; Robertson, C

2016-03-01

To measure the uptake of first invitation to cervical screening by vaccine status in a population-based cohort offered HPV immunisation in a national catch-up campaign. A retrospective observational study of routinely collected data from the Scottish Cervical Screening Programme. Data were extracted and linked from the Scottish Cervical Call Recall System, the Scottish Population Register and the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation. Records from 201 023 women born between 1 January 1988 and 30 September 1993 were assessed. Women born in or after 1990 were eligible for the national catch-up programme of HPV immunisation. Attendance for screening was within 12 months of the first invitation at age 20 years. There was a significant decline in overall attendance from the 1988 cohort to the 1993 cohort with the adjusted attendance ratio of the 1988 cohort being 1.49 times (95% CI 1.46-1.52) that of the 1993 cohort. Immunisation compensated for this decrease in uptake with unvaccinated individuals having a reduced ratio of attendance compared with those fully vaccinated (RR=0.65, 95% CI 0.64-0.65). Not taking up the opportunity for HPV immunisation was associated with an attendance for screening below the trend line for all women before the availability of HPV immunisation. HPV immunisation is not associated with the reduced attendance for screening that had been feared. Immunised women in the catch-up cohorts appear to be more motivated to attend than unimmunised women, but this may be a result of a greater awareness of health issues. These results, while reassuring, may not be reproduced in routinely immunised women. Continued monitoring of attendance for the first smear and subsequent routine smears is needed.

Acute respiratory distress syndrome: an audit of incidence and outcome in Scottish intensive care units.

Science.gov (United States)

Hughes, M; MacKirdy, F N; Ross, J; Norrie, J; Grant, I S

2003-09-01

This prospective audit of incidence and outcome of the acute respiratory distress syndrome was conducted as part of the national audit of intensive care practice in Scotland. All patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome in 23 adult intensive care units were identified using the diagnostic criteria defined by the American-European Consensus Conference. Daily data collection was continued until death or intensive care unit discharge. Three hundred and sixty-nine patients were diagnosed with acute respiratory distress syndrome over the 8-month study period. The frequency of acute respiratory distress syndrome in the intensive care unit population was 8.1%; the incidence in the Scottish population was estimated at 16.0 cases.100,000(-1).year(-1). Intensive care unit mortality for acute respiratory distress syndrome was 53.1%, with a hospital mortality of 60.9%. In our national unselected population of critically ill patients, the overall outcome is comparable with published series (Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation II standardised mortality ratio = 0.99). However, mortality from acute respiratory distress syndrome in Scotland is substantially higher than in recent other series suggesting an improvement in outcome in this condition.

Public Health and Unconventional Oil and Gas Extraction Including Fracking: Global Lessons from a Scottish Government Review.

Science.gov (United States)

Watterson, Andrew; Dinan, William

2018-04-04

Unconventional oil and gas extraction (UOGE) including fracking for shale gas is underway in North America on a large scale, and in Australia and some other countries. It is viewed as a major source of global energy needs by proponents. Critics consider fracking and UOGE an immediate and long-term threat to global, national, and regional public health and climate. Rarely have governments brought together relatively detailed assessments of direct and indirect public health risks associated with fracking and weighed these against potential benefits to inform a national debate on whether to pursue this energy route. The Scottish government has now done so in a wide-ranging consultation underpinned by a variety of reports on unconventional gas extraction including fracking. This paper analyses the Scottish government approach from inception to conclusion, and from procedures to outcomes. The reports commissioned by the Scottish government include a comprehensive review dedicated specifically to public health as well as reports on climate change, economic impacts, transport, geology, and decommissioning. All these reports are relevant to public health, and taken together offer a comprehensive review of existing evidence. The approach is unique globally when compared with UOGE assessments conducted in the USA, Australia, Canada, and England. The review process builds a useful evidence base although it is not without flaws. The process approach, if not the content, offers a framework that may have merits globally.

Who Gets to Play? Investigating Equity in Musical Instrument Instruction in Scottish Primary Schools

Science.gov (United States)

Moscardini, Lio; Barron, David S.; Wilson, Alastair

2013-01-01

There is a widely held view that learning to play a musical instrument is a valuable experience for all children in terms of their personal growth and development. Although there is no statutory obligation for instrumental music provision in Scottish primary schools, there are well-established Instrumental Music Services in Local Education…

Active listening: The key of successful communication in hospital managers.

Science.gov (United States)

Jahromi, Vahid Kohpeima; Tabatabaee, Seyed Saeed; Abdar, Zahra Esmaeili; Rajabi, Mahboobeh

2016-03-01

One of the important causes of medical errors and unintentional harm to patients is ineffective communication. The important part of this skill, in case it has been forgotten, is listening. The objective of this study was to determine whether managers in hospitals listen actively. This study was conducted between May and June 2014 among three levels of managers at teaching hospitals in Kerman, Iran. Active Listening skill among hospital managers was measured by self-made Active Listening Skill Scale (ALSS), which consists of the key elements of active listening and has five subscales, i.e., Avoiding Interruption, Maintaining Interest, Postponing Evaluation, Organizing Information, and Showing Interest. The data were analyzed by IBM-SPSS software, version 20, and the Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient, the chi-squared test, and multiple linear regressions. The mean score of active listening in hospital managers was 2.32 out of 3.The highest score (2.27) was obtained by the first-level managers, and the top managers got the lowest score (2.16). Hospital mangers were best in showing interest and worst in avoiding interruptions. The area of employment was a significant predictor of avoiding interruption and the managers' gender was a strong predictor of skill in maintaining interest (p < 0.05). The type of management and education can predict postponing evaluation, and the length of employment can predict showing interest (p < 0.05). There is a necessity for the development of strategies to create more awareness among the hospital managers concerning their active listening skills.

Is the health of people living in rural areas different from those in cities? Evidence from routine data linked with the Scottish Health Survey.

Science.gov (United States)

Teckle, P; Hannaford, P; Sutton, M

2012-02-17

To examine the association between rurality and health in Scotland, after adjusting for differences in individual and practice characteristics. Mortality and hospital record data linked to two cross sectional health surveys. Respondents in the community-based 1995 and 1998 Scottish Health Survey who consented to record-linkage follow-up. Hypertension, all-cause premature mortality, total hospital stays and admissions due to coronary heart disease (CHD). Older age and lower social class were strongly associated with an increased risk of each of the four health outcomes measured. After adjustment for individual and practice characteristics, no consistent pattern of better or poorer health in people living in rural areas was found, compared to primary cities. However, individuals living in remote small towns had a lower risk of a hospital admission for CHD and those in very remote rural had lower mortality, both compared with those living in primary cities. This study has shown how linked data can be used to explore the possible influence of area of residence on health. We were unable to find a consistent pattern that people living in rural areas have materially different health to that of those living in primary cities. Instead, we found stronger relationships between compositional determinants (age, gender and socio-economic status) and health than contextual factors (including rurality).

Risk, risk conflicts, sub-politics and social and environmental accounting and accountability in Scottish salmon farming

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Georgakopoulos, G.; Thomson, I.

2008-01-01

Purpose To offer a theoretical analysis, inspired by contemporary research into risk, of the social and environmental accounting processes observed in an empirical study on Scottish salmon farming. Methodology / Approach This paper used a Grounded Theory approach. Empirical evidence was collected on

Review of the Contribution of the Scottish Science Centres Network to Formal and Informal Science Education: Report of Follow-Through Visits by HM Inspectorate of Education--June 2009

Science.gov (United States)

Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Education, 2009

2009-01-01

In 2006, the Scottish Executive's Enterprise, Transport and Lifelong Learning Department (SEETLLD) asked HM Inspectorate of Education (HMIE) to carry out a review of the four Scottish science centres--Glasgow Science Centre (GSC), Our Dynamic Earth (ODE) in Edinburgh, Satrosphere Science Centre in Aberdeen, and Sensation Science Centre in Dundee.…

Plutonium and americium in arctic waters, the North Sea and Scottish and Irish coastal zones

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hallstadius, L.; Aarkrog, Asker; Dahlgaard, Henning

1986-01-01

Plutonium and americium have been measured in surface waters of the Greenland and Barents Seas and in the northern North Sea from 1980 through 1984. Measurements in water and biota, Fucus, Mytilus and Patella, were carried out in North-English and Scottish waters in 1982 and Fucus samples were co...

Revolution, Evolution or a Trojan Horse? Piloting Assessment for Learning in Some Scottish Primary Schools

Science.gov (United States)

Kirton, Alison; Hallam, Susan; Peffers, Jack; Robertson, Pamela; Stobart, Gordon

2007-01-01

This article analyses some of the findings of an evaluation of Project One of the "Assessment is for Learning" Development Programme in 16 Scottish primary schools and two junior high schools in which teachers developed formative assessment strategies aimed at improving teaching and learning. Drawing on data from pupils, teachers and…

Scottish adolescents’ sun-related behaviours, tanning attitudes and associations with skin cancer awareness: a cross-sectional study

Science.gov (United States)

Kyle, Richard G; MacMillan, Iona; Forbat, Liz; Neal, Richard D; O'Carroll, Ronan E; Haw, Sally; Hubbard, Gill

2014-01-01

Objectives To describe Scottish adolescents’ sun-related behaviours and tanning attitudes and assess associations with skin cancer awareness. Design Cross-sectional study. Setting 20 state secondary schools in one Scottish local authority (Glasgow City). Participants 2173 adolescents (females: 50.7%, n=1102) with a mean age of 12.4 (SD=0.55). Outcome measures Sun-related behaviour (suntan, sunbathing, sunburn, sunscreen use, sunbed use), tanning attitudes, skin cancer-related symptom and risk factor awareness. Results Adolescents reported poor sun-related practice: 51% of adolescents reported sunburn the previous summer of whom 38% indicated sunburn on more than one occasion. Skin cancer awareness was low: 45% recognised ‘change in the appearance of a mole’ as a cancer symptom, and 39% agreed that ‘getting sunburnt more than once as a child’ increased cancer risk. 42% and 26% of adolescents, respectively, reported that friends and family held protanning attitudes. Compared with males, females were statistically significantly more likely to: report sunbathing (pcancer symptom (p=0.036) and sunburn more than once as a child was a skin cancer risk factor (p=0.005); perceive their friends to hold protanning attitudes (pcancer awareness. Girls adopted riskier sun-related behaviour despite greater awareness of skin cancer-related risk. Urgent action is required to promote positive sun-related behaviour and increase skin cancer awareness among Scottish adolescents. However, further research is needed to inform the development of effective sun-safe interventions. PMID:24793258

Scottish adolescents' sun-related behaviours, tanning attitudes and associations with skin cancer awareness: a cross-sectional study.

Science.gov (United States)

Kyle, Richard G; Macmillan, Iona; Forbat, Liz; Neal, Richard D; O'Carroll, Ronan E; Haw, Sally; Hubbard, Gill

2014-05-02

To describe Scottish adolescents' sun-related behaviours and tanning attitudes and assess associations with skin cancer awareness. Cross-sectional study. 20 state secondary schools in one Scottish local authority (Glasgow City). 2173 adolescents (females: 50.7%, n=1102) with a mean age of 12.4 (SD=0.55). Sun-related behaviour (suntan, sunbathing, sunburn, sunscreen use, sunbed use), tanning attitudes, skin cancer-related symptom and risk factor awareness. Adolescents reported poor sun-related practice: 51% of adolescents reported sunburn the previous summer of whom 38% indicated sunburn on more than one occasion. Skin cancer awareness was low: 45% recognised 'change in the appearance of a mole' as a cancer symptom, and 39% agreed that 'getting sunburnt more than once as a child' increased cancer risk. 42% and 26% of adolescents, respectively, reported that friends and family held protanning attitudes. Compared with males, females were statistically significantly more likely to: report sunbathing (ptanning (p=0.009) and sunburn (pskin cancer symptom (p=0.036) and sunburn more than once as a child was a skin cancer risk factor (p=0.005); perceive their friends to hold protanning attitudes (ptan made them feel better about themselves (pskin cancer awareness. Girls adopted riskier sun-related behaviour despite greater awareness of skin cancer-related risk. Urgent action is required to promote positive sun-related behaviour and increase skin cancer awareness among Scottish adolescents. However, further research is needed to inform the development of effective sun-safe interventions.

Public Health and Unconventional Oil and Gas Extraction Including Fracking: Global Lessons from a Scottish Government Review

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Andrew Watterson

2018-04-01

Full Text Available Unconventional oil and gas extraction (UOGE including fracking for shale gas is underway in North America on a large scale, and in Australia and some other countries. It is viewed as a major source of global energy needs by proponents. Critics consider fracking and UOGE an immediate and long-term threat to global, national, and regional public health and climate. Rarely have governments brought together relatively detailed assessments of direct and indirect public health risks associated with fracking and weighed these against potential benefits to inform a national debate on whether to pursue this energy route. The Scottish government has now done so in a wide-ranging consultation underpinned by a variety of reports on unconventional gas extraction including fracking. This paper analyses the Scottish government approach from inception to conclusion, and from procedures to outcomes. The reports commissioned by the Scottish government include a comprehensive review dedicated specifically to public health as well as reports on climate change, economic impacts, transport, geology, and decommissioning. All these reports are relevant to public health, and taken together offer a comprehensive review of existing evidence. The approach is unique globally when compared with UOGE assessments conducted in the USA, Australia, Canada, and England. The review process builds a useful evidence base although it is not without flaws. The process approach, if not the content, offers a framework that may have merits globally.

Public Health and Unconventional Oil and Gas Extraction Including Fracking: Global Lessons from a Scottish Government Review

Science.gov (United States)

Watterson, Andrew

2018-01-01

Unconventional oil and gas extraction (UOGE) including fracking for shale gas is underway in North America on a large scale, and in Australia and some other countries. It is viewed as a major source of global energy needs by proponents. Critics consider fracking and UOGE an immediate and long-term threat to global, national, and regional public health and climate. Rarely have governments brought together relatively detailed assessments of direct and indirect public health risks associated with fracking and weighed these against potential benefits to inform a national debate on whether to pursue this energy route. The Scottish government has now done so in a wide-ranging consultation underpinned by a variety of reports on unconventional gas extraction including fracking. This paper analyses the Scottish government approach from inception to conclusion, and from procedures to outcomes. The reports commissioned by the Scottish government include a comprehensive review dedicated specifically to public health as well as reports on climate change, economic impacts, transport, geology, and decommissioning. All these reports are relevant to public health, and taken together offer a comprehensive review of existing evidence. The approach is unique globally when compared with UOGE assessments conducted in the USA, Australia, Canada, and England. The review process builds a useful evidence base although it is not without flaws. The process approach, if not the content, offers a framework that may have merits globally. PMID:29617318

How much of the difference in life expectancy between Scottish cities does deprivation explain?

Science.gov (United States)

Seaman, R; Mitchell, R; Dundas, R; Leyland, A H; Popham, F

2015-10-16

Glasgow's low life expectancy and high levels of deprivation are well documented. Studies comparing Glasgow to similarly deprived cities in England suggest an excess of deaths in Glasgow that cannot be accounted for by deprivation. Within Scotland comparisons are more equivocal suggesting deprivation could explain Glasgow's excess mortality. Few studies have used life expectancy, an intuitive measure that quantifies the between-city difference in years. This study aimed to use the most up-to-date data to compare Glasgow to other Scottish cities and to (i) evaluate whether deprivation could account for lower life expectancy in Glasgow and (ii) explore whether the age distribution of mortality in Glasgow could explain its lower life expectancy. Sex specific life expectancy was calculated for 2007-2011 for the population in Glasgow and the combined population of Aberdeen, Dundee and Edinburgh. Life expectancy was calculated for deciles of income deprivation, based on the national ranking of datazones, using the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation. Life expectancy in Glasgow overall, and by deprivation decile, was compared to that in Aberdeen, Dundee and Edinburgh combined, and the life expectancy difference decomposed by age using Arriaga's discrete method. Life expectancy for the whole Glasgow population was lower than the population of Aberdeen, Dundee and Edinburgh combined. When life expectancy was compared by national income deprivation decile, Glasgow's life expectancy was not systematically lower, and deprivation accounted for over 90 % of the difference. This was reduced to 70 % of the difference when carrying out sensitivity analysis using city-specific income deprivation deciles. In both analyses life expectancy was not systematically lower in Glasgow when stratified by deprivation. Decomposing the differences in life expectancy also showed that the age distribution of mortality was not systematically different in Glasgow after accounting for deprivation

Activity-based costing and its application in a Turkish university hospital.

Science.gov (United States)

Yereli, Ayşe Necef

2009-03-01

Resource management in hospitals is of increasing importance in today's global economy. Traditional accounting systems have become inadequate for managing hospital resources and accurately determining service costs. Conversely, the activity-based costing approach to hospital accounting is an effective cost management model that determines costs and evaluates financial performance across departments. Obtaining costs that are more accurate can enable hospitals to analyze and interpret costing decisions and make more accurate budgeting decisions. Traditional and activity-based costing approaches were compared using a cost analysis of gall bladder surgeries in the general surgery department of one university hospital in Manisa, Turkey. Copyright (c) AORN, Inc, 2009.

The activities of hospital nursing unit managers and quality of patient care in South African hospitals: a paradox?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Susan J. Armstrong

2015-05-01

Full Text Available Background: Improving the quality of health care is central to the proposed health care reforms in South Africa. Nursing unit managers play a key role in coordinating patient care activities and in ensuring quality care in hospitals. Objective: This paper examines whether the activities of nursing unit managers facilitate the provision of quality patient care in South African hospitals. Methods: During 2011, a cross-sectional, descriptive study was conducted in nine randomly selected hospitals (six public, three private in two South African provinces. In each hospital, one of each of the medical, surgical, paediatric, and maternity units was selected (n=36. Following informed consent, each unit manager was observed for a period of 2 hours on the survey day and the activities recorded on a minute-by-minute basis. The activities were entered into Microsoft Excel, coded into categories, and analysed according to the time spent on activities in each category. The observation data were complemented by semi-structured interviews with the unit managers who were asked to recall their activities on the day preceding the interview. The interviews were analysed using thematic content analysis. Results: The study found that nursing unit managers spent 25.8% of their time on direct patient care, 16% on hospital administration, 14% on patient administration, 3.6% on education, 13.4% on support and communication, 3.9% on managing stock and equipment, 11.5% on staff management, and 11.8% on miscellaneous activities. There were also numerous interruptions and distractions. The semi-structured interviews revealed concordance between unit managers’ recall of the time spent on patient care, but a marked inflation of their perceived time spent on hospital administration. Conclusion: The creation of an enabling practice environment, supportive executive management, and continuing professional development are needed to enable nursing managers to lead the provision

Educational Commitments in the 2016 Election to the Scottish Parliament: An Analysis of Party Manifestos

Science.gov (United States)

Humes, Walter

2017-01-01

This paper examines the 2016 manifestos of the main political parties seeking election to the Scottish Parliament, with particular reference to their educational commitments on issues of equality and inclusion. The policy context is described and related to academic accounts of the policy-making process. Use is made of discourse analysis as a…

Mortality, ethnicity, and country of birth on a national scale, 2001-2013: A retrospective cohort (Scottish Health and Ethnicity Linkage Study).

Science.gov (United States)

Bhopal, Raj S; Gruer, Laurence; Cezard, Genevieve; Douglas, Anne; Steiner, Markus F C; Millard, Andrew; Buchanan, Duncan; Katikireddi, S Vittal; Sheikh, Aziz

2018-03-01

Migrant and ethnic minority groups are often assumed to have poor health relative to the majority population. Few countries have the capacity to study a key indicator, mortality, by ethnicity and country of birth. We hypothesized at least 10% differences in mortality by ethnic group in Scotland that would not be wholly attenuated by adjustment for socio-economic factors or country of birth. We linked the Scottish 2001 Census to mortality data (2001-2013) in 4.62 million people (91% of estimated population), calculating age-adjusted mortality rate ratios (RRs; multiplied by 100 as percentages) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for 13 ethnic groups, with the White Scottish group as reference (ethnic group classification follows the Scottish 2001 Census). The Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation, education status, and household tenure were socio-economic status (SES) confounding variables and born in the UK or Republic of Ireland (UK/RoI) an interacting and confounding variable. Smoking and diabetes data were from a primary care sub-sample (about 53,000 people). Males and females in most minority groups had lower age-adjusted mortality RRs than the White Scottish group. The 95% CIs provided good evidence that the RR was more than 10% lower in the following ethnic groups: Other White British (72.3 [95% CI 64.2, 81.3] in males and 75.2 [68.0, 83.2] in females); Other White (80.8 [72.8, 89.8] in males and 76.2 [68.6, 84.7] in females); Indian (62.6 [51.6, 76.0] in males and 60.7 [50.4, 73.1] in females); Pakistani (66.1 [57.4, 76.2] in males and 73.8 [63.7, 85.5] in females); Bangladeshi males (50.7 [32.5, 79.1]); Caribbean females (57.5 [38.5, 85.9]); and Chinese (52.2 [43.7, 62.5] in males and 65.8 [55.3, 78.2] in females). The differences were diminished but not eliminated after adjusting for UK/RoI birth and SES variables. A mortality advantage was evident in all 12 minority groups for those born abroad, but in only 6/12 male groups and 5/12 female groups of

Comparing early years and childhood experiences and outcomes in Scotland, England and three city-regions: a plausible explanation for Scottish 'excess' mortality?

Science.gov (United States)

Taulbut, Martin; Walsh, David; O'Dowd, John

2014-10-10

Negative early years and childhood experiences (EYCE), including socio-economic circumstances, parental health and parenting style, are associated with poor health outcomes both in childhood and adulthood. It has also been proposed that EYCE were historically worse in Scottish areas, especially Glasgow and the Clyde Valley, compared to elsewhere in the UK and that this variation can provide a partial explanation for the excess of ill health and mortality observed among those Scottish populations. Multiple logistic regression analysis was applied to two large, representative, British birth cohorts (the NCDS58 and the BCS70), to test the independent association of area of residence at ages 7 and 5 with risk of behavioural problems, respiratory problems and reading/vocabulary problems at the same age. Cohort members resident in Scotland were compared with those who were resident in England, while those resident in Glasgow and the Clyde Valley were compared with those resident in Merseyside and Greater Manchester. After adjustment for a range of relevant variables, the risk of adverse childhood outcomes was found to be either no different, or lower, in the Scottish areas. At a national level, the study reinforces the combined association of socio-economic circumstances, parental health (especially maternal mental health) and parenting with child health outcomes. Based on these samples, the study does not support the hypothesis that EYCE were worse in Scotland and Glasgow and the Clyde Valley. It seems, therefore (based on these data), less likely that the roots of the excess mortality observed in the Scottish areas can be explained by these factors.

Validation of an imaging based cardiovascular risk score in a Scottish population.

Science.gov (United States)

Kockelkoren, Remko; Jairam, Pushpa M; Murchison, John T; Debray, Thomas P A; Mirsadraee, Saeed; van der Graaf, Yolanda; Jong, Pim A de; van Beek, Edwin J R

2018-01-01

A radiological risk score that determines 5-year cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk using routine care CT and patient information readily available to radiologists was previously developed. External validation in a Scottish population was performed to assess the applicability and validity of the risk score in other populations. 2915 subjects aged ≥40 years who underwent routine clinical chest CT scanning for non-cardiovascular diagnostic indications were followed up until first diagnosis of, or death from, CVD. Using a case-cohort approach, all cases and a random sample of 20% of the participant's CT examinations were visually graded for cardiovascular calcifications and cardiac diameter was measured. The radiological risk score was determined using imaging findings, age, gender, and CT indication. Performance on 5-year CVD risk prediction was assessed. 384 events occurred in 2124 subjects during a mean follow-up of 4.25 years (0-6.4 years). The risk score demonstrated reasonable performance in the studied population. Calibration showed good agreement between actual and 5-year predicted risk of CVD. The c-statistic was 0.71 (95%CI:0.67-0.75). The radiological CVD risk score performed adequately in the Scottish population offering a potential novel strategy for identifying patients at high risk for developing cardiovascular disease using routine care CT data. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Tobacco Retail Environments and Social Inequalities in Individual-Level Smoking and Cessation Among Scottish Adults.

Science.gov (United States)

Pearce, Jamie; Rind, Esther; Shortt, Niamh; Tisch, Catherine; Mitchell, Richard

2016-02-01

Many neighborhood characteristics may constrain or enable smoking. This study investigated whether the neighborhood tobacco retail environment was associated with individual-level smoking and cessation in Scottish adults, and whether inequalities in smoking status were related to tobacco retailing. Tobacco outlet density measures were developed for neighborhoods across Scotland using the September 2012 Scottish Tobacco Retailers Register. The outlet data were cleaned and geocoded (n = 10,161) using a Geographic Information System. Kernel density estimation was used to calculate an outlet density measure for each postcode. The kernel density estimation measures were then appended to data on individuals included in the 2008-2011 Scottish Health Surveys (n = 28,751 adults aged ≥16), via their postcode. Two-level logistic regression models examined whether neighborhood density of tobacco retailing was associated with current smoking status and smoking cessation and whether there were differences in the relationship between household income and smoking status, by tobacco outlet density. After adjustment for individual- and area-level confounders, compared to residents of areas with the lowest outlet densities, those living in areas with the highest outlet densities had a 6% higher chance of being a current smoker, and a 5% lower chance of being an ex-smoker. There was little evidence to suggest that inequalities in either current smoking or cessation were narrower in areas with lower availability of tobacco retailing. The findings suggest that residents of environments with a greater availability of tobacco outlets are more likely to start and/or sustain smoking, and less likely to quit. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Indisciplines of Inquiry: The Scottish "Children's Story", Documentary Film and the Construction of the Viewer

Science.gov (United States)

Cabeleira, Helena; Martins, Catarina; Lawn, Martin

2011-01-01

The starting point for this article is a film about Scottish education, "Children's Story". "Children's Story" was one of a group of seven documentaries made for the 1938 British Empire Exhibition in Glasgow, under the supervision of John Grierson. The film was an official entry into the Exhibition and is a formal display of…

Smoking uptake, transitions and inequalities in Scottish young adults - a mixed methods study

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Andy Macgregor

2018-03-01

Full Text Available Background In recent years there has been a major decline in the smoking prevalence of under-16 year olds in Scotland, but relatively little decline smoking among 16-24 year olds. In addition, smoking uptake continues until the mid-20s, with smoking rates in 20-24 year olds higher than in 16-19 year olds. However, we know little about who is most at risk of becoming a smoker in this age group, what influences this, and how this relates to inequalities and smoking. This mixed-methods study aimed to address these questions. Methods Detailed secondary analysis of the annual Scottish Health Surveys (SHeS 2012-15 examined smoking behaviour in 16-24 year olds by key sociodemographic factors including gender, socio-economic status (area deprivation and educational/employment status and other relevant health-related data including drinking behaviour and mental health status. After the quantitative analysis, qualitative purposive sampling of SHeS respondents was used to recruit a diverse sample (by smoking status, age, gender, economic activity for in-depth qualitative interviews. Twenty-five interviews were conducted in 2016/17. Results Smoking prevalence increased between 16-19 and 20-24 in both genders and all SES groups, and was significantly associated with SES, ranging in 16-24 year olds from 42% among those not in education, employment or training, to 24% among the employed and 13% among full-time students. Qualitative interviews highlighted the importance of educational and occupational transitions (to and from school/college and the workplace, social contexts and alcohol use in shaping smoking behaviour including uptake, consumption levels and quit attempts. Conclusions Understanding the smoking beliefs, behaviour, social and occupational contexts and transitions of 16-24 year olds is vital for developing effective policies to reduce smoking and inequalities in smoking in this key age group. This research demonstrates the nature of inequalities

The relationship between UK hospital nurse staffing and emotional exhaustion and job dissatisfaction.

Science.gov (United States)

Sheward, Louisa; Hunt, Jennifer; Hagen, Suzanne; Macleod, Margaret; Ball, Jane

2005-01-01

To explore the relationship between nurse outcomes (dissatisfaction and emotional exhaustion) and nurse workload, nurse characteristics and hospital variables. Concern about the impact of restructuring of nurse staffing, and reports of nurse shortages, on nurse and patient outcomes led to the research being reported on in this article. A questionnaire survey of registered nurses in Scotland and England. A questionnaire survey of the hospitals in which these nurses worked. Respondents in the two countries were similar in terms of demographic, work and employment characteristics. Significant relationships were found using the combined English and Scottish data between nurse patient ratios and (1) emotional exhaustion and (2) dissatisfaction with current job reported by nurses. Increasing numbers of patients to nurses was associated with increasing risk of emotional exhaustion and dissatisfaction with current job.

Trends in bullying victimization in Scottish adolescents 1994-2014: changing associations with mental well-being.

Science.gov (United States)

Cosma, Alina; Whitehead, Ross; Neville, Fergus; Currie, Dorothy; Inchley, Jo

2017-07-01

Bullying victimization among schoolchildren is a major public health concern. This paper aims to analyse the changing associations over two decades between bullying victimization and mental well-being in a representative Scottish schoolchildren sample. Data were collected in six rounds of the cross-sectional Health Behaviour in School-aged Children study in Scotland, with 42,312 adolescents (aged 11, 13 and 15 years). Logistic and linear regressions were used to examine changes in the association between bullying victimization and mental well-being. The prevalence of bullying victimization rates in Scotland increased between 1994 and 2014 for most age-gender groups, apart from 13-year-old boys and 15-year-old girls. Over time, female victims reported less confidence and happiness and more psychological complaints than their non-bullied counterparts. This worsening effect over time was not observed in boys. Overall, our evidence indicates that the associations between bullying victimization and poor mental well-being strengthened overtime for bullied girls. This finding might partly explain the observed deterioration in mental health indicators among Scottish adolescent girls.

Edinburgh, the Scottish pioneers of anatomy and their lasting influence in South Africa.

Science.gov (United States)

Correia, J C; Wessels, Q; Vorster, W

2013-11-01

The history of the origin of anatomy education in South Africa is the history of an arduous journey through time. The lasting influence of Edinburgh came in the form of Robert Black Thomson. He was a student and assistant of Sir William Turner who gave rise to the first chair of anatomy and the establishment of a department at the South African College, known today as University of Cape Town. Thomson was later succeeded by Matthew Drennan, a keen anthropologist, who was revered by his students. This Scottish link prevailed over time with the appointment of Edward Philip Stibbe as the chair of anatomy at the South African School of Mines and Technology, which later became the University of the Witwatersrand. Stibbe's successor, Raymond Arthur Dart, a graduate of the University of Sydney, was trained in an anatomy department sculpted on that of Edinburgh by Professor James Thomas Wilson. Wilson's influence at the University of Sydney can be traced back to Edinburgh and William Turner through Thomas Anderson Stuart. Both Dart and Robert Broom, another Scot, were considered as Africa's wild men by the late Professor Tobias. Here, the authors explore the Scottish link and origins of anatomy pedagogy in South Africa.

A review of photodiagnostic investigations over 26 years: experience of the National Scottish Photobiology Service (1989-2015).

Science.gov (United States)

Nassan, H; Dawe, R S; Moseley, H; Ibbotson, S H

2017-12-01

Background The Scottish Photobiology Service is the national referral pathway for patients with cutaneous photosensitivity diseases in Scotland. We reviewed the pattern of diagnosis of photosensitivity diseases and investigations performed between 1989 and 2015. Methods and Results Data were collected from the Photodiagnostic Database, annual reports and paper records. The total number of patients assessed each year was stable over the period studied (median 242 [range 231-266]), with most being new patients (median 69 [range 62-73]%). Monochromator phototesting was the most utilised investigation, although the use of provocation testing and photopatch testing has increased. The most common diagnosis was polymorphic light eruption, and there was a trend to increasing diagnosis of photoaggravated atopic eczema. Conclusions The pattern of diagnosis of photosensitivity diseases remains fairly stable in Scotland and we wish to emphasise the importance of this Scottish specialist service for patients with photosensitivity diseases and referrers.

Antimicrobial stewardship activities: a survey of Queensland hospitals.

Science.gov (United States)

Avent, Minyon L; Hall, Lisa; Davis, Louise; Allen, Michelle; Roberts, Jason A; Unwin, Sean; McIntosh, Kylie A; Thursky, Karin; Buising, Kirsty; Paterson, David L

2014-11-01

In 2011, the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care (ACSQHC) recommended that all hospitals in Australia must have an Antimicrobial Stewardship (AMS) program by 2013. Nevertheless, little is known about current AMS activities. This study aimed to determine the AMS activities currently undertaken, and to identify gaps, barriers to implementation and opportunities for improvement in Queensland hospitals. The AMS activities of 26 facilities from 15 hospital and health services in Queensland were surveyed during June 2012 to address strategies for effective AMS: implementing clinical guidelines, formulary restriction, reviewing antimicrobial prescribing, auditing antimicrobial use and selective reporting of susceptibility results. The response rate was 62%. Nineteen percent had an AMS team (a dedicated multidisciplinary team consisting of a medically trained staff member and a pharmacist). All facilities had access to an electronic version of Therapeutic Guidelines: Antibiotic, with a further 50% developing local guidelines for antimicrobials. One-third of facilities had additional restrictions. Eighty-eight percent had advice for restricted antimicrobials from in-house infectious disease physicians or clinical microbiologists. Antimicrobials were monitored with feedback given to prescribers at point of care by 76% of facilities. Deficiencies reported as barriers to establishing AMS programs included: pharmacy resources, financial support by hospital management, and training and education in antimicrobial use. Several areas for improvement were identified: reviewing antimicrobial prescribing with feedback to the prescriber, auditing, and training and education in antimicrobial use. There also appears to be a lack of resources to support AMS programs in some facilities. WHAT IS KNOWN ABOUT THE TOPIC?: The ACSQHC has recommended that all hospitals implement an AMS program by 2013 as a requirement of Standard 3 (Preventing and Controlling Healthcare

The utilization of activity-based cost accounting in hospitals.

Science.gov (United States)

Emmett, Dennis; Forget, Robert

2005-01-01

Healthcare costs are being examined on all fronts. Healthcare accounts for 11% of the gross national product and will continue to rise as the "babyboomers" reach retirement age. While ascertaining costs is important, most research shows that costing methods have not been implemented in hospitals. This study is concerned with the use of costing methods; particularly activity-based cost accounting. A mail survey of CFOs was undertaken to determine the type of cost accounting method they use. In addition, they were asked whether they were aware of activity-based cost accounting and whether they had implemented it or were planning to implement it. Only 71.8% were aware of it and only 4.7% had implemented it. In addition, only 52% of all hospitals report using any cost accounting systems. Education needs to ensure that all healthcare executives are cognizant of activity-based accounting and its importance in determining costs. Only by determining costs can hospitals strive to contain them.

Is the health of people living in rural areas different from those in cities? Evidence from routine data linked with the Scottish Health Survey

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Teckle P

2012-02-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background To examine the association between rurality and health in Scotland, after adjusting for differences in individual and practice characteristics. Methods Design: Mortality and hospital record data linked to two cross sectional health surveys. Setting: Respondents in the community-based 1995 and 1998 Scottish Health Survey who consented to record-linkage follow-up. Main outcome measures: Hypertension, all-cause premature mortality, total hospital stays and admissions due to coronary heart disease (CHD. Results Older age and lower social class were strongly associated with an increased risk of each of the four health outcomes measured. After adjustment for individual and practice characteristics, no consistent pattern of better or poorer health in people living in rural areas was found, compared to primary cities. However, individuals living in remote small towns had a lower risk of a hospital admission for CHD and those in very remote rural had lower mortality, both compared with those living in primary cities. Conclusion This study has shown how linked data can be used to explore the possible influence of area of residence on health. We were unable to find a consistent pattern that people living in rural areas have materially different health to that of those living in primary cities. Instead, we found stronger relationships between compositional determinants (age, gender and socio-economic status and health than contextual factors (including rurality.

Pervasive Computing Support for Hospitals: An Overview of the Activity-Based Computing Project

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Christensen, Henrik Bærbak; Bardram, Jakob E

2007-01-01

The activity-based computing project researched pervasive computing support for clinical hospital work. Such technologies have potential for supporting the mobile, collaborative, and disruptive use of heterogeneous embedded devices in a hospital......The activity-based computing project researched pervasive computing support for clinical hospital work. Such technologies have potential for supporting the mobile, collaborative, and disruptive use of heterogeneous embedded devices in a hospital...

Types of internal facilitation activities in hospitals implementing evidence-based interventions.

Science.gov (United States)

Baloh, Jure; Zhu, Xi; Ward, Marcia M

2017-01-25

Implementation models, frameworks, and theories recognize the importance of activities that facilitate implementation success. However, little is known about internal facilitation activities that hospital personnel engage in during implementation efforts. The aim of the study was to examine internal facilitation activities at 10 critical access hospitals in rural Iowa during their implementation of TeamSTEPPS, a patient safety intervention, and to identify characteristics that distinguish different types of facilitation activities. We followed 10 critical access hospitals for 2 years after the onset of implementation, conducting quarterly interviews with key informants. On the basis of the transcripts from the first two quarters, a coding template was developed using inductive analyses. The template was then applied deductively to code all interview transcripts. Using comparative analysis, we examined the characteristics that distinguish between the facilitation types. We identified four types of facilitation activities-Leadership, Buy-in, Customization, and Accountability. Individuals and teams engaged in different types of facilitation activities, both in a planned and an ad hoc manner. These activities targeted at both people and practices and exhibited varying temporal patterns (start and peak time). There are four types of facilitation activities that hospitals engage in while implementing evidence-based practices, offering a parsimonious way to characterize facilitation activities. New theoretical and empirical research opportunities are discussed. Understanding the types of facilitation activities and their distinguishing characteristics can assist managers in planning and executing implementations of evidence-based interventions.

Relationship between hospital pharmacists' job satisfaction and involvement in clinical activities.

Science.gov (United States)

Olson, D S; Lawson, K A

1996-02-01

Job satisfaction among hospital pharmacists employed by a national hospital pharmacy management company was measured by using a mail questionnaire. A previously validated survey that measured pharmacists' job satisfaction was adapted for use in this study. Additional questions determined the pharmacist's clinical pharmacy training and participation in clinical pharmacy services. Questionnaires were mailed to all full-time hospital pharmacists employed by the pharmacy management company. Of the 606 mailed, deliverable questionnaires, 354 usable responses were returned, for a response rate of 58.4%. The respondent hospital pharmacists' level of job satisfaction showed a positive association with clinical pharmacy involvement. Of the nine items in the questionnaire that measured the pharmacists' involvement in clinical pharmacy services, seven items showed a positive relationship between involvement in that clinical activity and job satisfaction. Mean job satisfaction increased as the percentage of time spent performing clinical pharmacy activities increased. Job satisfaction decreased as time spent performing distributive functions increased. The percentage of time hospital pharmacists were engaged in clinical activities was significantly associated with job satisfaction.

Determinants and benefits of physical activity maintenance in hospital employees.

Science.gov (United States)

Lavoie-Tremblay, Mélanie; Sounan, Charles; Martin, Kara; Trudel, Julie G; Lavigne, Genevieve L; Grover, Steven A; Lowensteyn, Ilka

2014-01-01

This study investigated whether the positive behavioral and anthropometric outcomes of a pedometer-based physical activity 8-week challenge were maintained 6 months after the end of the program. It further investigated the motivational profile of those who maintained their physical activity levels in the months following the end of the program and of those who did not. Hospital employees from a university-affiliated multisite health care center in Canada participated using a questionnaire. Of the 235 participants who completed the 8-week challenge, 157 questionnaires were returned 6 months later. Paired-samples t tests were conducted between the baseline and follow-up scores as well as between the postprogram and follow-up scores to detect significant differences between the measurement points. This study shows that the pedometer-based physical activity helped hospital employees maintain a high level of physical activity as well as maintain a healthy body mass index after 6 months. The results demonstrated that during maintenance the high physical activity group obtained higher scores for identified regulation and intrinsic regulation compared with the other groups. The results of the study revealed that identified and intrinsic regulations are important contributors to maintaining physical activity among hospital employees.

Is there a "Scottish effect" for self reports of health? Individual level analysis of the 2001 UK census

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Popham Frank

2006-07-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Scotland's overall health record is comparatively poor for a Western European country, particularly amongst people of working age. A number of previous studies have explored why this might be the case by comparing mortality in Scotland with England and Wales. A study in the 1980s showed that the higher prevalence of deprivation in Scotland accounted for Scotland's excess mortality risk. However, more recent studies suggest that deprivation now explains less of this excess. This has led to the suggestion that there is a yet unidentified "Scottish effect" contributing to Scotland's mortality excess. Recent research has also suggested that there could be an unidentified effect influencing Scotland's higher rate of heart disease. This paper explores whether there is also an unexplained Scottish excess, relative to England, in self reports of poor health. Methods Data came from the individual Sample of Anonymised Records, a 3% random sample of the 2001 UK census. Using logistic regression models, self reports of health (limiting illness and general health from the working age populations (aged 25 to 64 of Scotland and England were compared. Account was taken of people's country of birth. Stratified analysis by employment status allowed further exploration of Scotland's excess. Results People born and living in Scotland reported higher levels of poor general health and limiting illness compared to people born and living in England. Adjustment for socioeconomic position and employment status largely explained the higher rates. In the stratified analysis a Scottish excess was seen only amongst the economically inactive born and living in Scotland. For those in employment, people born and living in Scotland actually had slightly lower odds of reporting poor general health and limiting illness than people born and living in England. Conclusion This analysis suggests that higher rates of poor self reported health in Scotland can be

Young people in 'drinking' societies? Norwegian, Scottish and Swedish adolescents' perceptions of alcohol use.

Science.gov (United States)

Kloep, M; Hendry, L B; Ingebrigtsen, J E; Glendinning, A; Espnes, G A

2001-06-01

The paper studies young people's reported drinking behaviors and their views on various social aspects of alcohol, utilizing a sample of over 4000 rural adolescents aged 11.8-16.5 years in Norway, Scotland and Sweden. The methodology employed includes a common questionnaire and a range of varying qualitative approaches (essays and focus group interviews). The various venues and drinking contexts used by young people, their motives for drinking, and their 'learning' experiences with alcohol are described. Beyond nationality, the most powerful predictors of 'high' drinking are 'involvement with friends' and 'participation in commercial leisure'. The predictors for 'low' drinking are 'involvement in activities with parents' and 'parental concerns about drinking'. Results show that Scottish teenagers drink most, Norwegians least and no differences in the predictor variables are found that can explain this. Results are discussed in relation to social and cultural differences, and illustrated by quotations from rural young people in Scotland and Sweden.

Ethics, Power, Internationalisation and the Postcolonial: A Foucauldian Discourse Analysis of Policy Documents in Two Scottish Universities

Science.gov (United States)

Guion Akdag, Emma; Swanson, Dalene M.

2018-01-01

This paper provides a critical discussion of internationalisation in Higher Education (HE), and exemplifies a process of uncovering the investments in power and ideology through the partial analysis of four strategic internationalisation documents at two Scottish Higher Education institutions, as part of an ongoing international study into the…

Delivering Formal Outdoor Learning in Protected Areas: A Case Study of Scottish Natural Heritage National Nature Reserves

Science.gov (United States)

Black, Rosemary

2013-01-01

In most countries, protected area management agencies provide formal outdoor learning opportunities for a wide range of educational groups. For high-quality formal outdoor learning programmes that provide a range of experiences to be effectively delivered, specific resources and infrastructure are needed. Using the case study of Scottish Natural…

Active8! Technology-Based Intervention to Promote Physical Activity in Hospital Employees.

Science.gov (United States)

Blake, Holly; Suggs, L Suzanne; Coman, Emil; Aguirre, Lucia; Batt, Mark E

2017-03-01

Increase physical activity in health care employees using health messaging, and compare e-mail with mobile phone short-message service (SMS) as delivery channels. Randomized controlled trial Setting. U.K. hospital workplace. Two hundred ninety-six employees (19-67 years, 53% of study Web site visitors). Twelve-week messaging intervention designed to increase physical activity and delivered via SMS (n =147) or e-mail (n =149); content tailored using theory of planned behavior (TPB) and limited to 160 characters. Baseline and 6, 12, and 16 weeks. Online measures included TPB constructs, physical activity behavior on the Global Physical Activity Questionnaire, and health-related quality of life on the Short-Form 12. General linear models for repeated measures. Increase in duration (mean h/d) of moderate work-related activity and moderate recreational activity from baseline to 16 weeks. Short-lived increase in frequency (d/wk) of vigorous recreational activity from baseline to 6 weeks. Increase in duration and frequency of active travel from baseline to 16 weeks. E-mails generated greater changes than SMS in active travel and moderate activity (work and recreational). Minimal physical activity promotion delivered by SMS or e-mail can increase frequency and duration of active travel and duration of moderate intensity physical activity at work and for leisure, which is maintained up to 1 month after messaging ends. Both channels were useful platforms for health communication; e-mails were particularly beneficial with hospital employees.

External quality assurance for image grading in the Scottish Diabetic Retinopathy Screening Programme.

Science.gov (United States)

Goatman, K A; Philip, S; Fleming, A D; Harvey, R D; Swa, K K; Styles, C; Black, M; Sell, G; Lee, N; Sharp, P F; Olson, J A

2012-06-01

To develop and evaluate an image grading external quality assurance system for the Scottish Diabetic Retinopathy Screening Programme. A web-based image grading system was developed which closely matches the current Scottish national screening software. Two rounds of external quality assurance were run in autumn 2008 and spring 2010, each time using the same 100 images. Graders were compared with a consensus standard derived from the top-level graders' results. After the first round, the centre lead clinicians and top-level graders reviewed the results and drew up guidance notes for the second round. Grader sensitivities ranged from 60.0 to 100% (median 92.5%) in 2008, and from 62.5 to 100% (median 92.5%) in 2010. Specificities ranged from 34.0 to 98.0% (median 86%) in 2008, and 54.0 to 100% (median 88%) in 2010. There was no difference in sensitivity between grader levels, but first-level graders had a significantly lower specificity than level-two and level-three graders. In 2008, one centre had a lower sensitivity but higher specificity than the majority of centres. Following the feedback from the first round, overall agreement improved in 2010 and there were no longer any significant differences between centres. A useful educational tool has been developed for image grading external quality assurance. © 2011 The Authors. Diabetic Medicine © 2011 Diabetes UK.

Turning the tide or riding the waves? Impacts of antibiotic stewardship and infection control on MRSA strain dynamics in a Scottish region over 16 years: non-linear time series analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Lawes, Timothy; López-Lozano, José-María; Nebot, César; Macartney, Gillian; Subbarao-Sharma, Rashmi; Dare, Ceri R J; Edwards, Giles F S; Gould, Ian M

2015-03-26

To explore temporal associations between planned antibiotic stewardship and infection control interventions and the molecular epidemiology of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). Retrospective ecological study and time-series analysis integrating typing data from the Scottish MRSA reference laboratory. Regional hospital and primary care in a Scottish Health Board. General adult (N=1,051,993) or intensive care (18,235) admissions and primary care registrations (460,000 inhabitants) between January 1997 and December 2012. Hand-hygiene campaign; MRSA admission screening; antibiotic stewardship limiting use of macrolides and '4Cs' (cephalosporins, coamoxiclav, clindamycin and fluoroquinolones). Prevalence density of MRSA clonal complexes CC22, CC30 and CC5/Other in hospital (isolates/1000 occupied bed days, OBDs) and community (isolates/10,000 inhabitant-days). 67% of all clinical MRSA isolates (10,707/15,947) were typed. Regional MRSA population structure was dominated by hospital epidemic strains CC30, CC22 and CC45. Following declines in overall MRSA prevalence density, CC5 and other strains of community origin became increasingly important. Reductions in use of '4Cs' and macrolides anticipated declines in sublineages with higher levels of associated resistances. In multivariate time-series models (R(2)=0.63-0.94) introduction of the hand-hygiene campaign, reductions in mean length of stay (when >4 days) and bed occupancy (when >74 to 78%) predicted declines in CC22 and CC30, but not CC5/other strains. Lower importation pressures, expanded MRSA admission screening, and reductions in macrolide and third generation cephalosporin use (thresholds for association: 135-141, and 48-81 defined daily doses/1000 OBDs, respectively) were followed by declines in all clonal complexes. Strain-specific associations with fluoroquinolones and clindamycin reflected resistance phenotypes of clonal complexes. Infection control measures and changes in population

Relative professional roles in antenatal care: results of a survey in Scottish rural general practice.

Science.gov (United States)

Farmer, Jane; Stimpson, Paul; Tucker, Janet

2003-11-01

There is evidence of variation and some ambiguity about self-perceived relative professional roles in antenatal care in the UK. There is little information about models of antenatal care provision in UK rural areas. In rural areas, in particular, women have limited choice in accessing health care professionals or alternative primary care delivery settings. In the light of a recent review of Scottish maternity services, it is important and timely to examine models of care and interprofessional working in antenatal care in rural areas. This study explores midwives' and GPs' perceptions about their relative professional roles in remote and rural general practice in Scotland. A questionnaire survey involving all 174 Scottish remote and rural general practices (using one definition of rurality) was conducted, followed by 20 interviews. At least one professional returned a completed questionnaire from 91% of rural practices. A number of areas of dissonance were noted between GPs' and midwives' perceptions of their roles in maternity care and, given the context of service provision, these may impact upon rural patients. Findings are relevant to wider debates on extending the primary care team and strengthening inter-disciplinary working, particularly in rural areas.

Maternal and neonatal outcomes of antenatal anemia in a Scottish population: a retrospective cohort study.

Science.gov (United States)

Rukuni, Ruramayi; Bhattacharya, Sohinee; Murphy, Michael F; Roberts, David; Stanworth, Simon J; Knight, Marian

2016-05-01

Antenatal anemia is a major public health problem in the UK, yet there is limited high quality evidence for associated poor clinical outcomes. The objectives of this study were to estimate the incidence and clinical outcomes of antenatal anemia in a Scottish population. A retrospective cohort study of 80 422 singleton pregnancies was conducted using data from the Aberdeen Maternal and Neonatal Databank between 1995 and 2012. Antenatal anemia was defined as haemoglobin ≤ 10 g/dl during pregnancy. Incidence was calculated with 95% confidence intervals and compared over time using a chi-squared test for trend. Multivariable logistic regression was used to adjust for confounding variables. Results are presented as adjusted odds ratios with 95% confidence interval. The overall incidence of antenatal anemia was 9.3 cases/100 singleton pregnancies (95% confidence interval 9.1-9.5), decreasing from 16.9/100 to 4.1/100 singleton pregnancies between 1995 and 2012 (p Scottish population. However, given that anemia is a readily correctable risk factor for major causes of morbidity and mortality in the UK, further work is required to investigate appropriate preventive measures. © 2016 Nordic Federation of Societies of Obstetrics and Gynecology.

Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation in a Scottish intensive care unit.

Science.gov (United States)

Berryman, Sean

2010-01-01

I reflected on the training I had on an extraordinary treatment for profound respiratory failure. The result of training enabled us to successfully treat a young female with the influenza A virus with extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO). I report the positive outcome that occurred, while continuing to run a busy general intensive care unit (ICU). She was the first of six patients who were all successfully treated with ECMO. Ten trained and experienced critical care nurses and two doctors attended the ECMO training course provided by the national centre in the UK. Five patients had already received ECMO therapy in the Scottish specialist unit (over the period of 8 years). As our Scottish specialist unit purchased exactly the same equipment as the national centre, it was easier for the multidisciplinary team to utilize their new-found knowledge and treat future patients with ECMO. With the predicted swine flu (H1N1) pandemic and the subsequent demand for critical care beds, funding was obtained to facilitate ECMO training. The potential need for increased provision of ECMO therapies was highlighted by recent events in Australia and New Zealand. Their most recent winter produced 68 patients requiring ECMO, whereas the previous year had manifested only three. Using our new equipment and adapted protocols from the national centre, we used these new skills to treat our first patient in October 2009. Johns' reflective practice tool was used to evaluate the care provided. Our patient was on ECMO for 9 days. She went on to make a remarkable recovery and was discharged from the ICU 1 week after ECMO was discontinued. She was discharged to the cardiothoracic high-dependency unit, where she was successfully rehabilitated. We were able to successfully treat a young lady, while providing the care for all other patients. This was a complex treatment, one that uses many resources including time and finance. Now that we have all the equipment, the necessary training and the

Wild Harvests from Scottish Woodlands Social, cultural and economic values of contemporary non-timber forest products

Science.gov (United States)

Marla Emery; Suzanne Martin; Alison Dyke; Alison Dyke

2006-01-01

More than 30 people were interviewed about the wild edibles, medicinals, and craft materials they collect and the part that collecting plays in their lives as part of the Wild Harvests from Scottish Woodlands project. Interviews were conducted in autumn 2004. Collecting non-timber forest products (NTFPs) is a source of joy and satisfaction for many of those interviewed...

Cultural leisure activities, recovery and work engagement among hospital employees

Science.gov (United States)

TUISKU, Katinka; VIRTANEN, Marianna; DE BLOOM, Jessica; KINNUNEN, Ulla

2016-01-01

This study explored the relationship between cultural leisure activities, recovery experiences and two outcomes among hospital workers. The differences in recovery experiences (detachment, relaxation, mastery and control) and outcomes (work engagement and subjective recovery state) among hospital personnel (N=769) were analysed by the type (receptive or creative) and frequency of cultural activities. The cross-sectional data were collected by a digital questionnaire. Employees who reported both receptive and creative cultural leisure activities on a weekly basis had the highest relaxation, mastery and control experiences during off-job time. In addition, those with weekly creative activities had beneficial mastery experiences. There were no differences in recovery outcomes after adjustment for age, except in work engagement. Cultural leisure activities, and creative activities in particular, play an important role in certain aspects of recovery. PMID:26829973

Scottish Nuclear's advertising campaign: 'The on-going task'

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Marshall, R R [Scottish Nuclear (United Kingdom)

1993-07-01

During the past year the Scottish Nuclear had been working to win increased public acceptance of nuclear power in Scotland. Since then it has stepped up the PR campaign activities - and has had a very successful year. But much has still to be done. The programme 'Come and See' which was introduced in the Spring of 1991. was developed and extended introducing a Talks Service and a mobile exhibition as two new features. At the same time the Torness Power Station Visitors' Centre was opened. In 1992 a visitor's centre was opened at Hunterston Power Station. By the end of November 1992, there was almost 28,000 visitors - an increase of 48% compared to the previous year. An extensive 1.9 million pound television and newspaper advertising campaign was also mounted during the summer months. So it has been a particularly busy year and more than modestly successful. Another arm of Come and See is 'Talkabout' - the Talks Service. In 1992 members of staff gave 187 talks all over Scotland - to over 5,000 people. In the Spring of 1992 a Mobile Exhibition was also introduced. It tours the whole of Scotland. In all there have been 62 venues, a large variety of events. Over 30,000 people have visited the exhibition since March. To enhance all these Programmes a variety of literature, videos, promotional items, and static exhibition material are prepared. These have all been developed since 1990 and are kept updated on an on-going basis.

Scottish Nuclear's advertising campaign: 'The on-going task'

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Marshall, R.R.

1993-01-01

During the past year the Scottish Nuclear had been working to win increased public acceptance of nuclear power in Scotland. Since then it has stepped up the PR campaign activities - and has had a very successful year. But much has still to be done. The programme 'Come and See' which was introduced in the Spring of 1991. was developed and extended introducing a Talks Service and a mobile exhibition as two new features. At the same time the Torness Power Station Visitors' Centre was opened. In 1992 a visitor's centre was opened at Hunterston Power Station. By the end of November 1992, there was almost 28,000 visitors - an increase of 48% compared to the previous year. An extensive 1.9 million pound television and newspaper advertising campaign was also mounted during the summer months. So it has been a particularly busy year and more than modestly successful. Another arm of Come and See is 'Talkabout' - the Talks Service. In 1992 members of staff gave 187 talks all over Scotland - to over 5,000 people. In the Spring of 1992 a Mobile Exhibition was also introduced. It tours the whole of Scotland. In all there have been 62 venues, a large variety of events. Over 30,000 people have visited the exhibition since March. To enhance all these Programmes a variety of literature, videos, promotional items, and static exhibition material are prepared. These have all been developed since 1990 and are kept updated on an on-going basis

Destination Healthcare Facility of Shocked Trauma Patients in Scotland: Analysis of Transfusion and Surgical Capability of Receiving Hospitals

Science.gov (United States)

2013-01-01

Scottish urban rural classification (SURC), using postcode look-up tables available from the Scottish Government.29 SURC is a scale from one through...Table 5). The vast majority of incidents involving shocked patients (76.8%) occur in urban areas ( Scottish urban/ rural classification category 1 and...177 551 160 (2.4) 451 158 (2.4) 445 2 (1.8) 6 8 161 885 145 (2.2) 448 145 (2.2) 448 0 (0.0) 0 SURC, Scottish urban/ rural classification; IR

School and local authority characteristics associated with take-up of free school meals in Scottish secondary schools, 2014.

Science.gov (United States)

Chambers, Stephanie; Dundas, Ruth; Torsney, Ben

2016-01-02

School meals are an important state-delivered mechanism for improving children's diets. Scottish local authorities have a statutory duty to provide free school meals (FSM) to families meeting means-testing criteria. Inevitably take-up of FSM does not reach 100%. Explanations put forward to explain this include social stigma, as well as a more general dissatisfaction amongst pupils about lack of modern facilities and meal quality, and a preference to eat where friends are eating. This study investigated characteristics associated with take-up across Scottish secondary schools in 2013-2014 using multilevel modelling techniques. Results suggest that stigma, food quality and the ability to eat with friends are associated with greater take-up. Levels of school modernisation appeared less important, as did differences between more urban or rural areas. Future studies should focus on additional school-level variables to identify characteristics associated with take-up, with the aim of reducing the number of registered pupils not taking-up FSM.

Hospital CEOs' priorities and perceptions regarding industry issues and the Virginia Hospital Association's activities.

Science.gov (United States)

McDermott, D R; Gerardo, E F; Duguid, D A; Cooning, P J

1991-01-01

Based on a survey of Virginia hospital CEOs, it was revealed that four industry issues are causing a high degree of concern, namely Medicare/Medicaid reimbursement policies, personnel shortages, indigent care, and increased operating expenses. Each of these issues will be discussed regarding the VHA's activities to devise possible solutions. Regarding Medicare, the VHA has worked closely with the American Hospital Association in their federal advocacy efforts encouraging members to write, call, and visit their Congressional representatives to persuade them to pass legislation increasing the Medicare budget. Regarding Medicaid, which is administered by each state and in Virginia involves a 50/50 sharing of the funding between the federal and state governments, the VHA has challenged what it believes to be an illegal hospital reimbursement system through the federal judicial system. While the process is continuing, the VHA is encouraged by the U.S. Supreme Court's decision (July 1990) affirming hospitals' and all other health care providers' right, to pursue via the judicial process their allegation that a state is violating federal law by setting inadequate and inequitable Medicaid reimbursement rates to hospitals. In order to address the personnel shortages issue, the VHA has actively addressed recruitment and retention challenges by establishing a Health Manpower Resource Center and hiring a full-time director. This office targets high school students, second-career adults, and current health care professionals through communication and education programs. The area of indigent care represents one of the VHA's most notable achievements to date. This entails the recent Virginia legislation creating the Indigent Care Trust Fund. This fund's initial amount is some $15 million and represents an approximate 60/40 contribution ratio involving both the State of Virginia and hospitals in Virginia. A formula has been developed for each hospital in Virginia to assess how

Collaborative Learning in the Scottish Curriculum for Excellence: The Challenges of Assessment and Potential of Multi-Touch Technology

Science.gov (United States)

McKechan, Sandra; Ellis, Jennifer

2014-01-01

Scottish educational policy advocates the benefits of collaborative learning as a way of developing critical life skills, across the primary curriculum. In this paper, the rationale for collaborative learning, and specifically the Critical Skills (CS) approach, is considered along with an account of the perspectives of primary teachers…

Middle Managers' Experience of Policy Implementation and Mediation in the Context of the Scottish Quality Enhancement Framework

Science.gov (United States)

Saunders, Murray; Sin, Cristina

2015-01-01

This paper analyses how middle managers perform and experience their role in enacting policy in Scottish higher education institutions. The policy focus is the quality enhancement framework (QEF) for learning and teaching in higher education, which was launched in 2003. The data-set was collected between 2008 and 2010, during the evaluation of the…

Aspiration, Agency, and the Production of New Selves in a Scottish New Town, c.1947-c.2016.

Science.gov (United States)

Abrams, Lynn; Hazley, Barry; Wright, Valerie; Kearns, Ade

2018-05-30

Narratives of deindustrialization, urban decline and failing public housing and the negative outcomes associated with these processes dominate accounts of post-war Scotland, bolstering the interpretation of Scottish exceptionalism in a British context. Within these accounts working people appear as victims of powerful and long-term external forces suffering sustained and ongoing deleterious vulnerabilities in terms of employment, health, and housing. This article challenges this picture by focusing on the first Scottish new town which made space for working people's aspiration and new models of the self manifested in new lifestyles and social relations. Drawing on archival data and oral history interviews, we identify how elective relocation fostered and enabled new forms of identity predicated upon new housing, new social relations, and lifestyle opportunities focused on the family and home and elective social networks no longer determined by traditional class and gender expectations. These findings permit an intervention in the historical debates on post-war housing and social change which go beyond the materialistic experience to deeper and affective dimensions of the new town self.

Identification of Cryptosporidium Species and Genotypes in Scottish Raw and Drinking Waters during a One-Year Monitoring Period▿

Science.gov (United States)

Nichols, R. A. B.; Connelly, L.; Sullivan, C. B.; Smith, H. V.

2010-01-01

We analyzed 1,042 Cryptosporidium oocyst-positive slides (456 from raw waters and 586 from drinking waters) of which 55.7% contained 1 or 2 oocysts, to determine species/genotypes present in Scottish waters. Two nested PCR-restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) assays targeting different loci (1 and 2) of the hypervariable region of the 18S rRNA gene were used for species identification, and 62.4% of samples were amplified with at least one of the PCR assays. More samples (577 slides; 48.7% from raw water and 51.3% from drinking water) were amplified at locus 1 than at locus 2 (419 slides; 50.1% from raw water and 49.9% from drinking water). PCR at loci 1 and 2 amplified 45.4% and 31.7% of samples containing 1 or 2 oocysts, respectively. We detected both human-infectious and non-human-infectious species/genotype oocysts in Scottish raw and drinking waters. Cryptosporidium andersoni, Cryptosporidium parvum, and the Cryptosporidium cervine genotype (now Cryptosporidium ubiquitum) were most commonly detected in both raw and drinking waters, with C. ubiquitum being most common in drinking waters (12.5%) followed by C. parvum (4.2%) and C. andersoni (4.0%). Numerous samples (16.6% total; 18.9% from drinking water) contained mixtures of two or more species/genotypes, and we describe strategies for unraveling their identity. Repetitive analysis for discriminating mixtures proved useful, but both template concentration and PCR assay influenced outcomes. Five novel Cryptosporidium spp. (SW1 to SW5) were identified by RFLP/sequencing, and Cryptosporidium sp. SW1 was the fourth most common contaminant of Scottish drinking water (3%). PMID:20639357

Correlations of indoor second-hand smoking, household smoking rules, regional deprivation and children mental health: Scottish Health Survey, 2013.

Science.gov (United States)

Shiue, Ivy

2015-07-01

It has been known that second-hand smoking and deprivation could cluster together affecting child health. However, little is known on the role of household smoking rules. Therefore, it was aimed to study the relationships among indoor second-hand smoking, household smoking rules, deprivation level and children mental health in a country-wide and population-based setting. Data was retrieved from and analysed in Scottish Health Survey, 2013. Information on demographics, indoor second-hand smoking status, household smoking rules, deprivation level and child mental health by Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire was obtained by household interview through parents. Statistical analysis included chi-square test and survey-weighted logistic regression modelling. Of 1019 children aged 4-12, 17.9% (n = 182) lived in the 15% most deprivation areas. Deprived areas tended to be where indoor smoking occurred (p Scottish children are greater Glasgow, Ayrshire & Arran and Forth Valley while the top three sub-regions of exposure to the indoor second-hand smoking are Fife, Forth Valley and Ayrshire & Arran. The top three sub-regions with indoor smoking allowed are greater Glasgow, Western Isles and Borders. Children emotional and behavioural problems were reduced when the strict household smoking rules (not allowed or outdoor areas) applied. One in six Scottish children lived in the 15% most deprivation areas and exposed to indoor second-hand smoking that could have led to emotional and behavioural problems. Public health programs promoting strict household smoking rules should be encouraged in order to optimise children mental health.

Methods of recording theatre activity across publicly funded hospitals in Ireland.

LENUS (Irish Health Repository)

Cronin, J

2013-10-13

A review of theatre activity in all Health Service Executive (HSE) hospitals in Cork and Kerry in 2008 required a manual extraction of theatre activity data from largely paper-based logbooks. A key data management recommendation suggested that "a standardised computerised theatre logbook system be developed in all hospitals in the region". HSE (2010) Reconfiguration of health services for Cork and Kerry-theatre utilisation review. ISBN 978-1-906218-54-6.

Improving Outcomes through Transformational Health and Social Care Integration - The Scottish Experience.

Science.gov (United States)

Hendry, Anne; Taylor, Alison; Mercer, Stewart; Knight, Peter

2016-01-01

The Scottish Parliament recently passed legislation on integrating healthcare and social care to improve the quality and outcomes of care and support for people with multiple and complex needs across Scotland. This ambitious legislation provides a national framework to accelerate progress in person-centred and integrated care and support for the growing number of people who have multiple physical and mental health conditions and complex needs. Additional investment and improvement capacity is helping to commission support and services that are designed and delivered with people in local communities and in partnership with housing, community, voluntary and independent sectors.

Participant observation of time allocation, direct patient contact and simultaneous activities in hospital physicians

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zupanc Andrea

2009-06-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Hospital physicians' time is a critical resource in medical care. Two aspects are of interest. First, the time spent in direct patient contact – a key principle of effective medical care. Second, simultaneous task performance ('multitasking' which may contribute to medical error, impaired safety behaviour, and stress. There is a call for instruments to assess these aspects. A preliminary study to gain insight into activity patterns, time allocation and simultaneous activities of hospital physicians was carried out. Therefore an observation instrument for time-motion-studies in hospital settings was developed and tested. Methods 35 participant observations of internists and surgeons of a German municipal 300-bed hospital were conducted. Complete day shifts of hospital physicians on wards, emergency ward, intensive care unit, and operating room were continuously observed. Assessed variables of interest were time allocation, share of direct patient contact, and simultaneous activities. Inter-rater agreement of Kappa = .71 points to good reliability of the instrument. Results Hospital physicians spent 25.5% of their time at work in direct contact with patients. Most time was allocated to documentation and conversation with colleagues and nursing staff. Physicians performed parallel simultaneous activities for 17–20% of their work time. Communication with patients, documentation, and conversation with colleagues and nursing staff were the most frequently observed simultaneous activities. Applying logit-linear analyses, specific primary activities increase the probability of particular simultaneous activities. Conclusion Patient-related working time in hospitals is limited. The potential detrimental effects of frequently observed simultaneous activities on performance outcomes need further consideration.

The disappearance of the “revolving door” patient in Scottish general practice: successful policies

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Williamson Andrea E

2012-10-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background We describe the health of "revolving door" patients in general practice in Scotland, estimate changes in their number over the timescale of the study, and explore reasons for changes, particularly related to NHS and government policy. Methods A mixed methods predominantly qualitative study, using a grounded theory approach, set in Scottish general practice. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with professional key informants, 6 Practitioner Services staff who administer the GP registration system and 6 GPs with managerial or clinical experience of working with “revolving door” patients. Descriptive statistical analysis and qualitative analysis of patient removal episodes linked with routine hospital admissions, outpatient appointments, drug misuse treatment episodes and deaths were carried out with cohorts of “revolving door” patients identified from 1999 to 2005 in Scotland. Results A “revolving door” patient is removed 4 or more times from GP lists in 7 years. Patients had complex health issues including substance misuse, psychiatric and physical health problems and were at high risk of dying. There was a dramatic reduction in the number of “revolving door” patients during the course of the study. Conclusions “Revolving door” patients in general practice had significant health problems. Their numbers have reduced dramatically since 2004 and this probably resulted from improved drug treatment services, pressure from professional bodies to reduce patient removals and the positive ethical regulatory and financial climate of the 2004 GMS GP contract. This is a positive development for the NHS.

Scottish and Slovak University Student Discussions about Stigmatized Persons: A Challenge for Education--Moving towards Democracy and Inclusion

Science.gov (United States)

Plichtová, Jana

2013-01-01

The paper compares discussions in 12 groups of university students (6 Slovak and 6 Scottish) equal in sex and age. The participants discussed the same problem--how to control the spread of HIV/AIDS and respect medical confidentiality (MC). Systematic comparisons revealed striking differences between the two national groups. The Scottish…

“Weary for the Heather and the Deer”: R. L. Stevenson Depicts the Scottish Diasporic Experience

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Christy Danelle Di Frances

2015-07-01

Full Text Available Robert Louis Stevenson is well known as a writer of popular Victorian adventures, yet much of his fiction is steeped in the cultural and historical preoccupations of Scotland. Texts such as Kidnapped (1886, The Master of Ballantrae (1889, and Catriona (1893 hinge upon culturally significant events such as the Jacobite Rising of 1745 and the Appin Murder. These works also allude to the Highland Clearances of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries and the Battle of Culloden with its ensuing disarming acts—all occurrences which contributed to or comprised significant catalysts for the large-scale expulsion of Scots from their homeland. Certainly, themes of exile pervade Stevenson’s Scottish work and maintain a more liminal presence in his later South Seas fiction, and many of the author’s finest characters can be read as enactments of temporary or permanent expatriates whose real-life counterparts form a fascinating cross-section of the diasporic movement. This paper focuses on several of these characters, whose adventures are encoded into their corresponding texts as fictional re-constructions of a broader experience common to displaced Scots in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Some are driven from Scotland as a direct result of economic hardship or domestic conflict, while others leave (at least temporarily as a means of avoiding the political corruption and intrigue characteristic of the historical struggle for Scottish independence. Through characters like David Balfour, Alan Breck Stewart, James Durie, and Archie Weir, Stevenson explores the psychological ramifications of politically enforced and self-imposed exile, thus providing fictional extrapolations of the Scottish diasporic experience. These portrayals, infused with a the author’s own experiences abroad, offer fascinating microcosms which gesture towards the collective experience of a wide-scale network of displaced Scots in the Victorian world. An early version of this

An audit of the quality of referral letters received by the Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Dublin Dental School and Hospital.

LENUS (Irish Health Repository)

Moloney, Justin

2010-10-01

One hundred consecutive referral letters, sent by dental practitioners to the Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Dublin Dental School and Hospital, were audited in terms of quality. The audit was based on the Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network (SIGN) recommendations of 1998. The audit demonstrated that in general referral letters required modification and did not give the clinician the required information. This paper sets out the results of the audit and suggests a template that should be used for future referrals.

An audit of the quality of referral letters received by the Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Dublin Dental School and Hospital.

LENUS (Irish Health Repository)

Moloney, Justin

2010-11-01

One hundred consecutive referral letters, sent by dental practitioners to the Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Dublin Dental School and Hospital, were audited in terms of quality. The audit was based on the Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network (SIGN) recommendations of 1998. The audit demonstrated that in general referral letters required modification and did not give the clinician the required information. This paper sets out the results of the audit and suggests a template that should be used for future referrals.

Activity-based computing for medical work in hospitals

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bardram, Jakob Eyvind

2009-01-01

principles, the Java-based implementation of the ABC Framework, and an experimental evaluation together with a group of hospital clinicians. The article contributes to the growing research on support for human activities, mobility, collaboration, and context-aware computing. The ABC Framework presents...

Methods for the evaluation of hospital cooperation activities (Systematic review protocol

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rotter Thomas

2012-02-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Hospital partnerships, mergers and cooperatives are arrangements frequently seen as a means of improving health service delivery. Many of the assumptions used in planning hospital cooperatives are not stated clearly and are often based on limited or poor scientific evidence. Methods This is a protocol for a systematic review, following the Cochrane EPOC methodology. The review aims to document, catalogue and synthesize the existing literature on the reported methods for the evaluation of hospital cooperation activities as well as methods of hospital cooperation. We will search the Database of Abstracts of Reviews of Effectiveness, the Effective Practice and Organisation of Care Register, the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials and bibliographic databases including PubMed (via NLM, Web of Science, NHS EED, Business Source Premier (via EBSCO and Global Health for publications that report on methods for evaluating hospital cooperatives, strategic partnerships, mergers, alliances, networks and related activities and methods used for such partnerships. The method proposed by the Cochrane EPOC group regarding randomized study designs, controlled clinical trials, controlled before and after studies, and interrupted time series will be followed. In addition, we will also include cohort, case-control studies, and relevant non-comparative publications such as case reports. We will categorize and analyze the review findings according to the study design employed, the study quality (low versus high quality studies and the method reported in the primary studies. We will present the results of studies in tabular form. Discussion Overall, the systematic review aims to identify, assess and synthesize the evidence to underpin hospital cooperation activities as defined in this protocol. As a result, the review will provide an evidence base for partnerships, alliances or other fields of cooperation in a hospital setting. PROSPERO

Ladies from hell, Aberdeen free gardeners, and the Russian influenza: an anthropometric analysis of WWI-era Scottish soldiers and civilians.

Science.gov (United States)

Riggs, Paul; Cuff, Timothy

2013-01-01

We analyze data on the height of Scottish men, both civilians and members of the military forces serving in World War I measured in the 1910s, in order to provide another window into the biological well-being of late nineteenth-century birth cohorts. The evidence indicates that rural residents still had a distinct height advantage over their urban counterparts and that military men displayed a slower growth profile than did civilians, but mean heights for the two groups of adults were similar. Mean stature for both groups is well above those found by Floud for British troops born in the 1880s and greater than that of Scottish convicts from the 1830s. Men who were in utero between 1889 and 1893 were slightly stunted, "marked for life" by an encounter with the Russian influenza which struck the region repeatedly. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

On the sources of uranium in some Scottish Caledonian granites

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Halliday, A.N.

1982-01-01

The lead isotope systematics, zircon uranium concentrations and whole-rock rubidium concentrations of 11 Scottish Caledonian granites are examined for clues to the origin of their uranium. A positive correlation between U in zircon and initial lead isotope ratios suggests that U and Pb were derived from the same source which, as some of these granites contain their U in inherited zircons, is likely to have been within the crust. It is argued, therefore, that most of the uranium in these granites had a crustal derivation but lead isotope ratios indicate that any Lewisian contribution was minor in comparison with those from postulated Grenville, Morarian or Caledonian metamorphic reservoirs. However, additional data are required before this conclusion can be extended to include uraniferous Caledonian granites such as Cairngorm. (author)

Reforming Scottish Criminal Procedure: In Search of Process Values

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Pamela R. Ferguson

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Recent proposals to reform Scottish criminal procedure are motivated by considerations of efficiency and accurate fact-finding, and there is little attempt to offer a normative account. This paper describes these proposals and contends that their emphasis on finding ‘the truth’ is misplaced on two distinct bases: (1 it equates erroneous acquittals to wrongful convictions, thus fails to uphold a fundamental tenet of criminal procedure, namely the particular importance of protecting the innocent against wrongful conviction; and (2 it fails to recognise the importance of non-instrumental process values which are at the heart of the adversarial criminal trial.  The paper suggests that it is only by adhering to these process values that the state maintains – and demonstrates that it maintains – its moral authority to condemn and punish offenders. Key notes: Return Directive, entry ban, illegal migrant, criminal law sanctions, crimmigration, expulsion.

The 'Walking for Wellbeing in the West' randomised controlled trial of a pedometer-based walking programme in combination with physical activity consultation with 12 month follow-up: rationale and study design

OpenAIRE

Fitzsimons, Claire F; Baker, Graham; Wright, Annemarie; Nimmo, Myra A; Ward Thompson, Catharine; Lowry, Ruth; Millington, Catherine; Shaw, Rebecca; Fenwick, Elisabeth; Ogilvie, David; Inchley, Joanna; Foster, Charlie E; Mutrie, Nanette

2008-01-01

This research was undertaken as part of work carried out by the Scottish Physical Activity Research Collaboration (SPARColl). SPARColl is managed by NHS Health Scotland, hosted by the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow and funded by the Scottish Government. Background: Scotland has a policy aimed at increasing physical activity levels in the population, but evidence on how to achieve this is still developing. Studies that focus on encouraging real world participants to start physical activ...

[Cost of hospitalization by the Activity Based Costing method in the neonatal department of Principal Hospital of Dakar].

Science.gov (United States)

Tchamdja, T; Balaka, A; Tchandana, M; Agbétra, A

2015-01-01

To determine the cost of hospitalization per day in the neonatal department of Principal Hospital of Dakar. This prospective study took place during the month of July 2011 in the newborn unit. The activity-based costing method was used to analyze costs. During the study period, 52 newborns were hospitalized for a total of 590 days. The cost of the human resources during that month was 9,907,832 FCFA (US $ 19,815.66), the cost of depreciation of fixed assets was estimated at 571,952 FCFA (US $ 1143.90), and supplies at 112,084 FCFA (US $ 224.17). External services cost 386,753 FCFA (US $ 773.51) and support services 6,917,380.65 FCFA (US $ 13,834.7613). The monthly expenses incurred for the hospitalization of newborns totaled 17,896,002 FCFA (US $ 35,792), for a cost per patient per day of 30,332.20 FCFA (US $ 60.66) and an average cost of hospitalization 334,153.88 FCFA (US $ 668,31). This study is the first of its kind in Senegal and neighboring countries. By applying the ABC approach, we can obtain a more detailed and precise estimate of the cost of activities and services. Process improvements and corrective actions should make it possible to identify cost drivers, such as time.

The use of combined techniques: Scottish showers, hot bath and manual techniques in the treatment of migraine headache

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Andrei-Cătălin Ionițe

2017-12-01

Full Text Available Migraines are caused by internal factors (out of which the most important are genetically and physiologically determined and the external ones, namely, the environment. The most common factor which triggers the migraines is the physiological one. According to some specialized studies, in most cases, it is assumed that migraines are caused by a neuro-vascular disorder. This statement works as a compromise solution for the two theories supported by specialists, which explain the occurrence of migraines: neural mechanisms theory and the theory of vascular origin. Starting from these two theories, we’ve used Scottish showers, hot baths (37oC followed by manual drainage of the venous sinuses. The Scottish showers determine the toning of the muscle capillaries. Immersion in warm water for 15 minutes determines vasodilation, along with muscle and mental relaxation. Drainage techniques of venous sinuses operate on the reciprocal tension membranes (RTM, restoring their mobility and improving neuro-vascular disorders. In this research, there were involved 3 subjects, who have taken part in the treatment sessions; they have been monitored and the resulting data has been recorded.

129I/127I ratios in Scottish coastal surface sea water: Geographical and temporal responses to changing emissions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Schnabel, Christoph; Olive, Valerie; Atarashi-Andoh, Mariko; Dougans, Andrew; Ellam, Robert M.; Freeman, Stewart; Maden, Colin; Stocker, Martin; Synal, Hans-Arno; Wacker, Lukas; Xu Sheng

2007-01-01

This work constitutes the first survey of I isotope ratios for Scottish sea water including the first data for the west of Scotland. These data are of importance because of the proximity to the world's second largest emission source of 129 I to the sea, the Sellafield nuclear reprocessing plant, because of the increasing importance of the sea to land transfer of 129 I and also as input data for dose estimates based on this pathway of 129 I. 129 I/ 127 I ratios in SW Scotland reached 3 x 10 -6 in 2004. No strong variation of I isotope ratios was found from 2003 to 2005 in Scottish sea waters. Iodine isotope ratios increased by about a factor of 6 from 1992 to 2003 in NE Scotland, in agreement with the increase of liquid 129 I emissions from Sellafield over that time period. It is demonstrated that 129 I/ 127 I ratios agree better than 129 I concentrations for samples from similar locations taken in very close temporal proximity, indicating that this ratio is more appropriate to interpret than the radionuclide concentration

Objectively measured physical activity of hospital shift workers.

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Loef, Bette; van der Beek, Allard J; Holtermann, Andreas; Hulsegge, Gerben; van Baarle, Debbie; Proper, Karin I

2018-01-01

Objectives Shift work may alter workers' leisure-time and occupational physical activity (PA) levels, which might be one of the potential underlying mechanisms of the negative health effects of shift work. Therefore, we compared objectively measured PA levels between hospital shift and non-shift

Haemodialysis in a rural area: a demanding form of treatment.

Science.gov (United States)

Brammah, A; Young, G; Allan, A; Robertson, S; Norrie, J; Isles, C

2001-09-01

To determine distances travelled and time spent waiting for transport among hospital haemodialysis patients living in a rural area. Cross sectional survey comparing the subregional dialysis unit in south west Scotland with 12 of the other 13 Scottish Adult Renal Units. Forty three Dumfries and Galloway patients and 935 other Scottish patients receiving hospital haemodialysis in November 1999. At the time of the survey 8/43 (19%) Dumfries patients travelled in excess of 100 miles per dialysis day (15,000 miles per year) solely for the purpose of dialysis, compared to 20/935 (2%) elsewhere in Scotland (p Scottish Units relied on hospital car, Patient Transport Service bus or ambulance for the journey home after treatment. Dumfries patients who travelled by Patient Transport Service or hospital ambulance had to wait twice as long before they left the renal unit as patients using a dedicated hospital car or private car. Haemodialysis in a rural area has every reason to be considered a demanding form of treatment. Greater promotion of home based treatment would improve the quality of life for many of these patients, while dedicated hospital cars would reduce 'car to needle time' for those who remain on hospital haemodialysis.

Exploring the Work/Life/Study Balance: The Experience of Higher Education Students in a Scottish Further Education College

Science.gov (United States)

Lowe, Janet; Gayle, Vernon

2007-01-01

This study explores the dimensions of the work/life/study balance and its influence on student participation in higher education, through a case study of the experience of higher education students, studying both full time and part time, in a Scottish further education college. The experience of the students and the work/life/study challenges that…

Hospital's activity-based financing system and manager-physician [corrected] interaction.

Science.gov (United States)

Crainich, David; Leleu, Hervé; Mauleon, Ana

2011-10-01

This paper examines the consequences of the introduction of an activity-based reimbursement system on the behavior of physicians and hospital's managers. We consider a private for-profit sector where both hospitals and physicians are initially paid on a fee-for-service basis. We show that the benefit of the introduction of an activity-based system depends on the type of interaction between managers and physicians (simultaneous or sequential decision-making games). It is shown that, under the activity-based system, a sequential interaction with physician leader could be beneficial for both agents in the private sector. We further model an endogenous timing game à la Hamilton and Slutsky (Games Econ Behav 2: 29-46, 1990) in which the type of interaction is determined endogenously. We show that, under the activity-based system, the sequential interaction with physician leader is the unique subgame perfect equilibrium.

Critical Access Hospitals and Retail Activity: An Empirical Analysis in Oklahoma

Science.gov (United States)

Brooks, Lara; Whitacre, Brian E.

2011-01-01

Purpose: This paper takes an empirical approach to determining the effect that a critical access hospital (CAH) has on local retail activity. Previous research on the relationship between hospitals and economic development has primarily focused on single-case, multiplier-oriented analysis. However, as the efficacy of federal and state-level rural…

Performance of activities of daily living among hospitalized cancer patients

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lindahl-Jacobsen, Line; Hansen, Dorte Gilså; Wæhrens, Eva Ejlersen

2015-01-01

and characterize ADL task performance problems among a group of adult disabled hospitalized cancer patients using interview and questionnaire data. METHODS: Cross-sectional study on prevalence of ADL task performance problems experienced by disabled hospitalized cancer patients using the Activities of Daily Living...... Questionnaire (ADL-Q) (n = 118) and the Canadian Occupational Performance Measure (COPM) (n = 55). RESULTS: All 118 patients reported problems with ADL task performance. Based on the ADL-Q patients reported more problems within instrumental (I-)ADL than personal (P-)ADL. In both I-ADL and P-ADL the results......BACKGROUND: Many cancer patients report unmet rehabilitation needs. Rehabilitation may include activities of daily living (ADL) tasks, but little is known about how cancer patients perform these tasks and how they prioritize their daily activities. Hence, this study aims to identify...

Schistosomiasis in Scottish travellers: public health importance of laboratory testing and the need for enhanced surveillance.

Science.gov (United States)

Alexander, Claire L; Cottom, Laura; Smith, Kitty; Perrow, Kali; Coyne, Michael; Jones, Brian L

2018-03-01

Imported schistosomiasis is of significant public health importance and is likely to be underestimated since infection is often asymptomatic. We describe data from travellers residing in Scotland which includes a subset of group travellers from one of the largest Health Boards in Scotland. Clotted bloods were obtained during the period 2001-15 from a total of 8163 Scottish travellers. This included seven groups comprising of 182 travellers. Sera were examined for the presence of Schistosome species antibody at the Scottish Parasite Diagnostic and Reference Laboratory (SPDRL). Of all, 25% (n = 1623) tested positive with 40% (n = 651) of those patients aged between 20 and 24 years. Although 62% (n = 1006) of those who tested positive reported travel to Africa, important information on the specific region visited was lacking in almost one-third of samples received. Overall, 62 (34%) of group travellers tested positive and 95% (n = 59) reporting travel to Africa. Globalization, affordable air travel and improved awareness, are likely to contribute towards the increasing number of imported schistosomiasis cases. Therefore, enhanced surveillance capturing detailed travel history and fresh water exposures will improve risk stratification, pre-travel advice and optimize testing and treatment regimes for this increasingly important parasitic disease.

Teaching sex education: are Scottish school nurses prepared for the challenge?

Science.gov (United States)

McFadyen, J

2004-02-01

Teaching sex education to school pupils in Scotland continues to be a controversial issue. In reality there is lack of leadership, strategy and an uncoordinated approach to delivering this important topic. The school nurse is frequently identified as a suitable professional to lead the way because it is assumed that school nurses are well educated in the field of sexual and reproductive health. Nationally, little is known about the educational status of Scottish school nurses and there is no research evidence available from which generalisations can be made. This study aims to explore the educational preparation of school nurses that underpins teaching sex education to school pupils in Scotland. A cross-sectional descriptive study was completed in September 1998. The results confirmed that school nurses in Scotland are predominantly female and 70% of the respondents (n=117) were over the age of 40 years of age. No common basic nursing qualification was identified. The majority of school nurses in Scotland perceive sex education to be part of their role and 39% (n=65) testified that specific sexual health training had been undertaken. Many lack confidence in this area of practice and are aware of extensive educational needs in relation to teaching sexual health and reproductive health. Despite these findings 75% (n=126) were actively involved in teaching sex education to school pupils.

The relationship between waiting times and 'adherence' to the Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network 98 guideline in autism spectrum disorder diagnostic services in Scotland.

Science.gov (United States)

McKenzie, Karen; Forsyth, Kirsty; O'Hare, Anne; McClure, Iain; Rutherford, Marion; Murray, Aja; Irvine, Linda

2016-05-01

The aim of this study was to explore the extent to which the Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network 98 guidelines on the assessment and diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder were adhered to in child autism spectrum disorder diagnostic services in Scotland and whether there was a significant relationship between routine practice which more closely reflected these recommendations (increased adherence) and increased waiting times. Retrospective, cross-sectional case note analysis was applied to data from 80 case notes. Adherence ranged from a possible 0 (no adherence) to 19 (full adherence). Overall, 17/22 of the recommendations were adhered to in over 50 of the 80 cases and in 70 or more cases for 11/22 of the recommendations, with a mean adherence score of 16 (standard deviation = 1.9). No significant correlation was found between adherence and total wait time for untransformed (r = 0.15, p = 0.32) or transformed data (r = 0.12, p = 0.20). The results indicated that the assessment and diagnostic practices were consistent with the relevant Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network 98 guideline recommendations. Increased adherence to the 19 included recommendations was not significantly related to increased total waiting times, indicating that the Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network 98 recommendations have generally been integrated into practice, without a resultant increase in patient waits. © The Author(s) 2015.

Is there a relationship between the food intakes of Scottish 5(1/2)-8(1/2)-year-olds and those of their mothers?

Science.gov (United States)

Longbottom, P J; Wrieden, W L; Pine, C M

2002-08-01

Recent reports have highlighted certain aspects of the diets of children and adults in Scotland today that are a cause for concern. If there are significant associations between family members in food choice and thus in nutrient intakes, this may be important in the aetiology and prevention of diseases relating to dietary risk factors. To compare the food intake of Scottish children aged 5(1/2)-8(1/2) years with that of their mothers. As part of a larger study, data on food intakes were obtained from 4-day weighed food records for 36 Scottish children (12 boys and 24 girls), aged 5(1/2)-8(1/2) years, who had participated in the 1992/1993 National Diet and Nutrition Survey (NDNS), and their mothers. Compared with their mothers, children had higher median densities [weight (g) of foods per 4.2 MJ (1000 kcal)] of snack foods including fruit, bread and confectionery and lower median densities of meat and meat products, fish, potatoes and vegetables. Positive, significant correlations between children and mothers were found for median densities of bread (r = 0.360, P foods that should be reduced in the average Scottish diet. Children's intakes of snack foods were correlated with that of their mothers emphasizing the need for change at a family level if current guidelines on diet are to be implemented.

A new version of the HBSC Family Affluence Scale - FAS III: Scottish Qualitative Findings from the International FAS Development Study.

Science.gov (United States)

Hartley, Jane E K; Levin, Kate; Currie, Candace

A critical review of the Family Affluence Scale (FAS) concluded that FAS II was no longer discriminatory within very rich or very poor countries, where a very high or a very low proportion of children were categorised as high FAS or low FAS respectively (Currie et al. 2008). The review concluded that a new version of FAS - FAS III - should be developed to take into account current trends in family consumption patterns across the European region, the US and Canada. In 2012, the FAS Development and Validation Study was conducted in eight countries - Denmark, Greenland, Italy, Norway, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Scotland. This paper describes the Scottish qualitative findings from this study. The Scottish qualitative fieldwork comprising cognitive interviews and focus groups sampled from 11, 13 and 15 year-old participants from 18 of the most- and least- economically deprived schools. These qualitative results were used to inform the final FAS III recommendations.

Prevalence of overweight and obesity among nurses in Scotland: A cross-sectional study using the Scottish Health Survey.

Science.gov (United States)

Kyle, Richard G; Neall, Rosie A; Atherton, Iain M

2016-01-01

Increasing prevalence of overweight and obesity represents a global pandemic. As the largest occupational group in international healthcare systems nurses are at the forefront of health promotion to address this pandemic. However, nurses own health behaviours are known to influence the extent to which they engage in health promotion and the public's confidence in advice offered. Estimating the prevalence of overweight and obesity among nurses is therefore important. However, to date, prevalence estimates have been based on non-representative samples and internationally no studies have compared prevalence of overweight and obesity among nurses to other healthcare professionals using representative data. To estimate overweight and obesity prevalence among nurses in Scotland, and compare to other healthcare professionals and those working in non-heath related occupations. Cross-sectional study using a nationally representative sample of five aggregated annual rounds (2008-2012) of the Scottish Health Survey. Scotland. 13,483 adults aged 17-65 indicating they had worked in the past 4 weeks, classified in four occupational groups: nurses (n=411), other healthcare professionals (n=320), unqualified care staff (n=685), and individuals employed in non-health related occupations (n=12,067). Prevalence of overweight and obesity defined as Body Mass Index≥25.0. Estimates of overweight and obesity prevalence in each occupational group were calculated with 95% confidence intervals (CI). A logistic regression model was then built to compare the odds of being overweight or obese with not being overweight or obese for nurses in comparison to the other occupational categories. Data were analysed using SAS 9.1.3. 69.1% (95% CI 64.6, 73.6) of Scottish nurses were overweight or obese. Prevalence of overweight and obesity was higher in nurses than other healthcare professionals (51.3%, CI 45.8, 56.7), unqualified care staff (68.5%, CI 65.0, 72.0) and those in non-health related

Share and share alike: encouraging the reuse of academic resources through the Scottish electronic Staff Development Library

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lorna M. Campbell

2001-12-01

Full Text Available The Scottish electronic Staff Development Library (http://www.sesdl.scotcit.acuk is an ongoing collaborative project involving the Universities of Edinburgh, Paisley and Strathclyde which has been funded by SHEFC as part of their current ScotCIT Programme (http:llwww.scotcit.ac.uk. This project is being developed in response to the increasing demand for flexible, high-quality staff development materials.

Youth Employment, Psychosocial Health and the Importance of Person/Environment Fit: A Case Study of Two Scottish Rural Towns.

Science.gov (United States)

Pavis, Stephen; Platt, Stephen; Hubbard, Gill

2002-01-01

Reports on the employment experiences of young people from two small rural Scottish towns. The majority of available employment was repetitive, and involved poor working conditions and limited opportunity for skill development or promotion. Most respondents recognized that in the longer term such work was detrimental to their quality of life and…

Factors Related to Healthy Diet and Physical Activity in Hospital-Based Clinical Nurses.

Science.gov (United States)

Albert, Nancy M; Butler, Robert; Sorrell, Jeanne

2014-09-30

Hospitals often promote healthy lifestyles, but little is known about nurses' actual diet and physical activity. Greater understanding about these lifestyle choices for clinical nurses may improve existing hospital-based programs and/or create desirable services. This article discusses a study that considered diet and physical activity of clinical nurses, using elements of Pender's self-care theory as a conceptual framework. Study methods included a cross-sectional, correlational design and a convenience sample of 278 nurses who worked on units with 24 hours/day and seven days-per-week responsibilities. Participants completed diet and exercise questionnaires about perceptions of attitudes and opinions, barriers, diet benefits/exercise motivators, self-efficacy, and locus of control, and personal and work characteristics. Diet and activity categories were created. Study results demonstrated that over 50% of nurses had moderately healthy diets but were insufficiently active. Healthy diet and physical activity levels were associated with higher self-efficacy, more diet benefits and physical activity motivators, fewer perceived barriers, and confidence in body image. The article discussion and conclusion sections note areas for future research and suggest that focused interventions that address benefits, motivators, and self-efficacy may increase participation in hospital-based programs and enhance healthy lifestyle for hospital-based clinical nurses.

Early Professional Development in the Scottish Context: Pre-Service High School Teachers and the Management of Behaviour in Classrooms

Science.gov (United States)

Hamilton, Lorna

2015-01-01

This paper gives an account of an exploratory piece of research focused on understanding more fully the nature of pre-service teachers' developing approaches to classroom behaviour management on a one-year postgraduate teacher education programme in the Scottish context. Drawing on individual and focus group interviews as well as journaling of…

Regional variation in fire weather controls the reported occurrence of Scottish wildfires

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

G. Matt Davies

2016-11-01

Full Text Available Fire is widely used as a traditional habitat management tool in Scotland, but wildfires pose a significant and growing threat. The financial costs of fighting wildfires are significant and severe wildfires can have substantial environmental impacts. Due to the intermittent occurrence of severe fire seasons, Scotland, and the UK as a whole, remain somewhat unprepared. Scotland currently lacks any form of Fire Danger Rating system that could inform managers and the Fire and Rescue Services (FRS of periods when there is a risk of increased of fire activity. We aimed evaluate the potential to use outputs from the Canadian Fire Weather Index system (FWI system to forecast periods of increased fire risk and the potential for ignitions to turn into large wildfires. We collated four and a half years of wildfire data from the Scottish FRS and examined patterns in wildfire occurrence within different regions, seasons, between urban and rural locations and according to FWI system outputs. We used a variety of techniques, including Mahalanobis distances, percentile analysis and Thiel-Sen regression, to scope the best performing FWI system codes and indices. Logistic regression showed significant differences in fire activity between regions, seasons and between urban and rural locations. The Fine Fuel Moisture Code and the Initial Spread Index did a tolerable job of modelling the probability of fire occurrence but further research on fuel moisture dynamics may provide substantial improvements. Overall our results suggest it would be prudent to ready resources and avoid managed burning when FFMC > 75 and/or ISI > 2.

Regional variation in fire weather controls the reported occurrence of Scottish wildfires.

Science.gov (United States)

Davies, G Matt; Legg, Colin J

2016-01-01

Fire is widely used as a traditional habitat management tool in Scotland, but wildfires pose a significant and growing threat. The financial costs of fighting wildfires are significant and severe wildfires can have substantial environmental impacts. Due to the intermittent occurrence of severe fire seasons, Scotland, and the UK as a whole, remain somewhat unprepared. Scotland currently lacks any form of Fire Danger Rating system that could inform managers and the Fire and Rescue Services (FRS) of periods when there is a risk of increased of fire activity. We aimed evaluate the potential to use outputs from the Canadian Fire Weather Index system (FWI system) to forecast periods of increased fire risk and the potential for ignitions to turn into large wildfires. We collated four and a half years of wildfire data from the Scottish FRS and examined patterns in wildfire occurrence within different regions, seasons, between urban and rural locations and according to FWI system outputs. We used a variety of techniques, including Mahalanobis distances, percentile analysis and Thiel-Sen regression, to scope the best performing FWI system codes and indices. Logistic regression showed significant differences in fire activity between regions, seasons and between urban and rural locations. The Fine Fuel Moisture Code and the Initial Spread Index did a tolerable job of modelling the probability of fire occurrence but further research on fuel moisture dynamics may provide substantial improvements. Overall our results suggest it would be prudent to ready resources and avoid managed burning when FFMC > 75 and/or ISI > 2.

Falls in Scottish homicide: lessons for homicide reduction in mental health patients

Science.gov (United States)

Crichton, John H. M.

2017-01-01

The sustained fall in Scottish homicide rates follows crime reduction measures informed by the epidemiology of suicide. The violence reduction unit targeted young men carrying knives in public. The restriction of weapons immediately to hand appears to have caused an absolute fall in homicide just as suicide reduction was observed following changes to domestic gas supply. Further homicide reduction may be accomplished in the domestic setting with targeted changes in kitchen knife design in home safety planning for high-risk households. Most commonly homicides involving those in recent contact with mental health services in the UK have domestic characteristics and similar safety planning may be targeted at those with mental disorder and a history of violence. PMID:28811910

Social Relationships and Health: The Meaning of Social "Connectedess" and How It Relates to Health Concerns for Rural Scottish Adolescents.

Science.gov (United States)

Hendry, Leo B.; Reid, Marylou

2000-01-01

Discusses social belonging as both a health-related goal and an antidote for emotional crises. Examines how social connectedess represents both a content and process variable in Northern Scottish young people's discussion of their health concerns. Analyses reveal both the potency of all these concerns and participants' belief that skills acquired…

A comparison of hospital administrative costs in eight nations: US costs exceed all others by far.

Science.gov (United States)

Himmelstein, David U; Jun, Miraya; Busse, Reinhard; Chevreul, Karine; Geissler, Alexander; Jeurissen, Patrick; Thomson, Sarah; Vinet, Marie-Amelie; Woolhandler, Steffie

2014-09-01

A few studies have noted the outsize administrative costs of US hospitals, but no research has compared these costs across multiple nations with various types of health care systems. We assembled a team of international health policy experts to conduct just such a challenging analysis of hospital administrative costs across eight nations: Canada, England, Scotland, Wales, France, Germany, the Netherlands, and the United States. We found that administrative costs accounted for 25.3 percent of total US hospital expenditures--a percentage that is increasing. Next highest were the Netherlands (19.8 percent) and England (15.5 percent), both of which are transitioning to market-oriented payment systems. Scotland and Canada, whose single-payer systems pay hospitals global operating budgets, with separate grants for capital, had the lowest administrative costs. Costs were intermediate in France and Germany (which bill per patient but pay separately for capital projects) and in Wales. Reducing US per capita spending for hospital administration to Scottish or Canadian levels would have saved more than $150 billion in 2011. This study suggests that the reduction of US administrative costs would best be accomplished through the use of a simpler and less market-oriented payment scheme. Project HOPE—The People-to-People Health Foundation, Inc.

Applying Activity Based Costing (ABC) Method to Calculate Cost Price in Hospital and Remedy Services.

Science.gov (United States)

Rajabi, A; Dabiri, A

2012-01-01

Activity Based Costing (ABC) is one of the new methods began appearing as a costing methodology in the 1990's. It calculates cost price by determining the usage of resources. In this study, ABC method was used for calculating cost price of remedial services in hospitals. To apply ABC method, Shahid Faghihi Hospital was selected. First, hospital units were divided into three main departments: administrative, diagnostic, and hospitalized. Second, activity centers were defined by the activity analysis method. Third, costs of administrative activity centers were allocated into diagnostic and operational departments based on the cost driver. Finally, with regard to the usage of cost objectives from services of activity centers, the cost price of medical services was calculated. The cost price from ABC method significantly differs from tariff method. In addition, high amount of indirect costs in the hospital indicates that capacities of resources are not used properly. Cost price of remedial services with tariff method is not properly calculated when compared with ABC method. ABC calculates cost price by applying suitable mechanisms but tariff method is based on the fixed price. In addition, ABC represents useful information about the amount and combination of cost price services.

Tracking paraglacial sediment with cosmogenic 10Be using an example from the northwest Scottish Highlands

Science.gov (United States)

Fame, Michelle L.; Owen, Lewis A.; Spotila, James A.; Dortch, Jason M.; Caffee, Marc W.

2018-02-01

Beryllium-10 concentrations in samples of sediment and bedrock from five study sites across the Scottish Highlands trace paraglacial sediment sources and define the nature of glacial erosion for the late Quaternary. Exposure ages derived from 10Be concentrations in ridge and lower elevation bedrock range from 10 to 33 ka, which suggest that polythermal ice and warm based ice were primarily responsible for producing glacial sediment. Comparisons of 10Be concentrations between catchment-wide sediment (2.06 ± 0.34 × 104 to 11.24 ± 1.54 × 104 atoms g-1 SiO2; n = 33), near surface deposits (2.71 ± 0.33 × 104 to 3.48 ± 0.49 × 104 atoms g-1 SiO2; n = 6), 4-m-thick deep till (0.68 × 10410Be atoms g-1 SiO2; n = 1), ridge bedrock (8.93 ± 0.47 × 104 to 34.05 ± 1.66 × 104 atoms g-1 SiO2; n = 20), and lower elevation polished bedrock (6.74 ± 0.67 × 104 to 12.65 ± 0.7 × 104 atoms g-1 SiO2, n = 5) indicate that most sand fluxing through catchments in the Scottish Highlands is sourced from the remobilization and vertical mixing of near surface deposits. These findings indicate that glaciogenic material continues to dominate paraglacial sediment budgets more than 11 ka after deglaciation.

7th February 2011 - Scottish Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning M. Russell MSP signing the guest book with Beams Department Head P. Collier and Adviser J. Ellis

CERN Multimedia

Maximilien Brice

2011-01-01

01-17:Scottish Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning M. Russell MSP signing the guest book with Beams Department Head P. Collier and Adviser J. Ellis 18-22: Teachers and Pupils signing the guest book 23-27: visiting the CERN control centre with P. Collier 28-32: visiting the LHCb underground area 33-74: visitng the ATLAS underground area Other members of the delegation: Chief Scientific Adviser to the Scottish Government and Chair in Molecular and Cell Biology at the University of Aberdeen A. Glover; Assistant Private Secretary M. Gallagher; Associate Director Institute for Gravitational Research, University of Glasgow J.Hough.

Application of the Activity-Based Costing Method for Unit-Cost Calculation in a Hospital

Science.gov (United States)

Javid, Mahdi; Hadian, Mohammad; Ghaderi, Hossein; Ghaffari, Shahram; Salehi, Masoud

2016-01-01

Background: Choosing an appropriate accounting system for hospital has always been a challenge for hospital managers. Traditional cost system (TCS) causes cost distortions in hospital. Activity-based costing (ABC) method is a new and more effective cost system. Objective: This study aimed to compare ABC with TCS method in calculating the unit cost of medical services and to assess its applicability in Kashani Hospital, Shahrekord City, Iran. Methods: This cross-sectional study was performed on accounting data of Kashani Hospital in 2013. Data on accounting reports of 2012 and other relevant sources at the end of 2012 were included. To apply ABC method, the hospital was divided into several cost centers and five cost categories were defined: wage, equipment, space, material, and overhead costs. Then activity centers were defined. ABC method was performed into two phases. First, the total costs of cost centers were assigned to activities by using related cost factors. Then the costs of activities were divided to cost objects by using cost drivers. After determining the cost of objects, the cost price of medical services was calculated and compared with those obtained from TCS. Results: The Kashani Hospital had 81 physicians, 306 nurses, and 328 beds with the mean occupancy rate of 67.4% during 2012. Unit cost of medical services, cost price of occupancy bed per day, and cost per outpatient service were calculated. The total unit costs by ABC and TCS were respectively 187.95 and 137.70 USD, showing 50.34 USD more unit cost by ABC method. ABC method represented more accurate information on the major cost components. Conclusion: By utilizing ABC, hospital managers have a valuable accounting system that provides a true insight into the organizational costs of their department. PMID:26234974

Application of the Activity-Based Costing Method for Unit-Cost Calculation in a Hospital.

Science.gov (United States)

Javid, Mahdi; Hadian, Mohammad; Ghaderi, Hossein; Ghaffari, Shahram; Salehi, Masoud

2015-05-17

Choosing an appropriate accounting system for hospital has always been a challenge for hospital managers. Traditional cost system (TCS) causes cost distortions in hospital. Activity-based costing (ABC) method is a new and more effective cost system. This study aimed to compare ABC with TCS method in calculating the unit cost of medical services and to assess its applicability in Kashani Hospital, Shahrekord City, Iran.‎ This cross-sectional study was performed on accounting data of Kashani Hospital in 2013. Data on accounting reports of 2012 and other relevant sources at the end of 2012 were included. To apply ABC method, the hospital was divided into several cost centers and five cost categories were defined: wage, equipment, space, material, and overhead costs. Then activity centers were defined. ABC method was performed into two phases. First, the total costs of cost centers were assigned to activities by using related cost factors. Then the costs of activities were divided to cost objects by using cost drivers. After determining the cost of objects, the cost price of medical services was calculated and compared with those obtained from TCS.‎ The Kashani Hospital had 81 physicians, 306 nurses, and 328 beds with the mean occupancy rate of 67.4% during 2012. Unit cost of medical services, cost price of occupancy bed per day, and cost per outpatient service were calculated. The total unit costs by ABC and TCS were respectively 187.95 and 137.70 USD, showing 50.34 USD more unit cost by ABC method. ABC method represented more accurate information on the major cost components. By utilizing ABC, hospital managers have a valuable accounting system that provides a true insight into the organizational costs of their department.

Do health behaviours change after colonoscopy? A prospective cohort study on diet, alcohol, physical activity and smoking among patients and their partners.

Science.gov (United States)

Hubbard, Gill; Brown, Alistair; Campbell, Anna; Campbell, Neil; Diament, Bob; Fielding, Shona; Forbat, Liz; Masson, Lindsey F; O'Carroll, Ronan; Stein, Kevin; Morrison, David S

2014-01-14

To describe diet, alcohol, physical activity and tobacco use prospectively, that is, before and 10 months after colonoscopy for patients and their partners. Prospective cohort study of health behaviour change in patients and partners. Comparison groups are patients receiving a normal result notification (NRN) versus patients receiving an abnormal result notification (ARN). Patients and partners (controls) are also compared. 5 Scottish hospitals. Of 5798 colonoscopy registrations, 2577 (44%) patients met the eligibility criteria of whom 565 (22%) were recruited; 460 partners were also recruited. International Physical Activity Questionnaire, Scottish Collaborative Group Food Frequency Questionnaire (includes alcohol), smoking status, sociodemographic characteristics, body mass index, medical conditions, colonoscopy result, Multidimensional Health Locus of Control Scale, behaviour-specific self-efficacy scales. 57% of patients were men, with a mean age of 60.8 years (SE 0.5) and 43% were from more affluent areas. 72% (n=387) of patients received an ARN and 28% (n=149) received an NRN. Response rate of the second questionnaire was 68.9%. Overall, 27% of patients consumed <5 measures of fruit and vegetables/day, 20% exceeded alcohol limits, 50% had low levels of physical activity and 21% were obese. At 10-month follow-up, a 5% reduction in excessive alcohol consumption and an 8% increase in low levels of physical activity were observed among patients; no significant changes occurred in partners. Baseline high alcohol consumption and low physical activity were the strongest predictors of these behaviours at follow-up. Low alcohol self-efficacy and increasing age were associated with poorer health-related behaviours at follow-up for alcohol consumption and physical activity, respectively. Colonoscopy is associated with marginal beneficial changes in some behaviours but not others. Further work is needed to explore how services can optimise increases in beneficial

Childhood cognitive ability and incident dementia: the 1932 Scottish Mental Survey cohort into their tenth decade

OpenAIRE

Russ, T. C.; Hannah, J.; Batty, G. D.; Booth, C. C.; Deary, I. J.; Starr, J. M.

2017-01-01

BACKGROUND: The prevention of dementia is a global priority but its etiology is poorly understood. Early life cognitive ability has been linked to subsequent dementia risk but studies to date have been small and none has examined sex differences. METHODS: In the 1932 Scottish Mental Survey cohort, we related intelligence test scores at age 11 years in 16,370 boys and 16,097 girls (born in 1921) to incident dementia aged ≥65 years as ascertained using probabilistic linkage to electronic health...

Childhood cognitive ability and incident dementia: the 1932 Scottish Mental Survey cohort into their tenth decade

OpenAIRE

Russ, Tom C.; Hannah, Jean; Batty, G. David; Booth, Christopher C.; Deary, Ian J.; Starr, John M.

2017-01-01

Background: The prevention of dementia is a global priority but its aetiology is poorly understood. Early life cognitive ability has been linked to subsequent dementia risk but studies to date have been small and none has examined sex differences. Methods: In the 1932 Scottish Mental Survey cohort, we related intelligence test scores at age 11 years in 16,370 boys and 16,097 girls (born in 1921) to incident dementia aged ≥65 years as ascertained using probabilistic linkage to electronic healt...

The value of chest X-ray in the Scottish Referral Guidelines for suspected head and neck cancer in 2144 patients.

Science.gov (United States)

Fingland, P; Carswell, V; Tikka, T; Douglas, C M; Montgomery, J

2018-04-30

In Scotland, patients with suspected head and neck cancer are referred on the basis of the Scottish Referral Guidelines for Suspected Cancer, rather than the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidelines. A chest X-ray should be requested by the general practitioner at the same time as referral for persistent hoarseness. The evidence for this is level 4. This audit identified adherence to this recommendation and X-ray results. All 'urgent suspicion of cancer' referrals to the ENT department in the National Health Service Greater Glasgow and Clyde for 2015-2016 were audited. Persistent hoarseness for more than 3 weeks instigated referral in 318 patients (15.7 per cent). Chest X-ray was performed in 120 patients (38 per cent), which showed: no abnormality in 116 (96.7 per cent), features of infection in 2 (1.7 per cent) and something else in 2 patients (1.7 per cent). No chest X-ray altered the management of a patient. Performance of chest X-ray does not alter management and its removal from the Scottish Referral Guidelines for Suspected Cancer is recommended.

Ethnic variations in asthma hospital admission, readmission and death: a retrospective, national cohort study of 4.62 million people in Scotland.

Science.gov (United States)

Sheikh, Aziz; Steiner, Markus F C; Cezard, Genevieve; Bansal, Narinder; Fischbacher, Colin; Simpson, Colin R; Douglas, Anne; Bhopal, Raj

2016-01-12

Our previous meta-analysis found that South Asians and Blacks in the UK were at a substantially increased risk of hospital admission from asthma. These estimates were, however, derived from pooling data from a limited number of now dated studies, confined to only three very broad ethnic groups (i.e. Whites, South Asians and Blacks) and failed to take account of possible sex-related differences in outcomes within these ethnic groups. We undertook the first study investigating ethnic variations in asthma outcomes across an entire population. This retrospective 9-year cohort study linked Scotland's hospitalisation/death records on asthma to the 2001 census (providing ethnic group). We calculated age, country of birth and Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation adjusted incident rate ratios (IRRs) for hospitalisation or death by sex for the period May 2001-2010. We calculated hazard ratios (HRs) for asthma readmission and subsequent asthma death. We were able to link data on 4.62 million people (91.8% of the Scottish population), yielding over 38 million patient-years of data, 1,845 asthma deaths, 113,795 first asthma admissions, and 107,710 readmissions (40,075 of which were for asthma). There were substantial ethnic variations in the rate of hospitalisation/death in both males and females. When compared to the reference Scottish White population, the highest age-adjusted rates were in Pakistani males (IRR = 1.59; 95% CI, 1.30-1.94) and females (IRR = 1.50; 95% CI, 1.06-2.11) and Indian males (IRR = 1.34; 95% CI, 1.16-1.54), and the lowest were seen in Chinese males (IRR = 0.62; 95% CI, 0.41-0.94) and females (IRR = 0.49; 95% CI, 0.39-0.61). There are very substantial ethnic variations in hospital admission/deaths from asthma in Scotland, with Pakistanis having the worst and Chinese having the best outcomes. Cultural factors, including self-management and health seeking behaviours, and variations in the quality of primary care provision are the most

Choice of Scottish Gaelic-Medium and Welsh-Medium Education at the Primary and Secondary School Stages: Parent and Pupil Perspectives

Science.gov (United States)

O'Hanlon, Fiona

2015-01-01

Results are presented of a comparative study of the reasons for parental choice of Scottish Gaelic-medium and Welsh-medium primary education in the year 2000 and of the reasons for pupils' decisions to continue with Gaelic or Welsh-medium education at secondary school in 2007. Parents in both contexts cited the quality of Celtic-medium education…

Hypophysitis, Panhypopituitarism, and Hypothalamitis in a Scottish Terrier Dog.

Science.gov (United States)

Polledo, L; Oliveira, M; Adamany, J; Graham, P; Baiker, K

2017-09-01

A 6-year old male neutered Scottish Terrier was referred with a 1 week history of progressive lethargy and anorexia. Neurological examination localized a lesion to the forebrain and hormonal testing showed panhypopituitarism. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the brain revealed a rounded, well-defined, suprasellar central mass. The mass was slightly hyperintense to the cortical grey matter on T2-weighted (T2W), hypointense on T1-weighted (T1W) images and without T2* signal void. There was a central fusiform enhancement of the mass after contrast administration which raised the suspicion of a pituitary neoplasm. Rapid deterioration of the dog prevented further clinical investigations. Histopathologic examination revealed a lymphocytic panhypophysitis of unknown origin suspected autoimmune involving the hypothalamus (hypothalamitis). This is a unique case report of a dog presenting with inflammatory hypophysitis and hypothalamitis of suspected autoimmune origin with detailed clinical, MRI, histology and immunohistochemistry findings. Copyright © 2017 The Authors. Journal of Veterinary Internal Medicine published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine.

A prospective audit of emergency urology activity in a university teaching hospital

LENUS (Irish Health Repository)

2014-06-01

Urology cover is commonly available out-of-hours in most teaching hospitals. However, increased pressure to reduce hospital expenditure has forced many institutions to consider removing middle grade cover outside of normal working hours. The aim of this study was to audit the emergency urology activity in our institution over a 12-month period.

Longitudinal changes in physical self-perceptions and associations with physical activity during adolescence.

Science.gov (United States)

Inchley, Jo; Kirby, Jo; Currie, Candace

2011-05-01

The purpose of this study was to examine adolescents' physical self-perceptions and their associations with physical activity using a longitudinal perspective. Utilizing data from the Physical Activity in Scottish Schoolchildren (PASS) study, changes in exercise self-efficacy, perceived competence, global self-esteem and physical self-worth were assessed among a sample of 641 Scottish adolescents from age 11-15 years. Girls reported lower levels of perceived competence, self-esteem and physical self-worth than boys at each age. Furthermore, girls' physical self-perceptions decreased markedly over time. Among boys, only perceived competence decreased, while global self-esteem increased. Baseline physical activity was a significant predictor of later activity levels for both genders. Findings demonstrate the importance of physical self-perceptions in relation to physical activity behavior among adolescents. Among older boys, high perceived competence increased the odds of being active by 3.8 times. Among older girls, high exercise self-efficacy increased the odds of being active by 5.2 times. There is a need for early interventions which promote increased physical literacy and confidence, particularly among girls.

Evidence for the Psychometric Validity, Internal Consistency and Measurement Invariance of Warwick Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale Scores in Scottish and Irish Adolescents.

Science.gov (United States)

McKay, Michael T; Andretta, James R

2017-09-01

Mental well-being is an important indicator of current, but also the future health of adolescents. The 14-item Warwick Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale (WEMWBS) has been well validated in adults world-wide, but less work has been undertaken to examine the psychometric validity and internal consistency of WEMWBS scores in adolescents. In particular, little research has examined scores on the short 7-item version of the WEMWBS. The present study used two large samples of school children in Scotland and Northern Ireland and found that for both forms of the WEMWBS, scores were psychometrically valid, internally consistent, factor saturated, and measurement invariant by country. Using the WEMWBS full form, males reported significantly higher scores than females, and Northern Irish adolescents reported significantly higher scores than their Scottish counterparts. Last, the lowest overall levels of well-being were observed among Scottish females. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier B.V.

A brief look at the history of the Deaconess Hospital, Edinburgh, 1894-1990.

Science.gov (United States)

McNeill, E R; Wright, D; Demetriades, A K

2018-03-01

The Deaconess Hospital, Edinburgh, opened in 1894 and was the first establishment of its kind in the UK, maintained and wholly funded as it was by the Reformed Church. Through its 96-year lifetime it changed and evolved to time and circumstance. It was a school: for the training of nurses and deaconesses who took their practical skills all over the world. It was a sanctum: for the sick-poor before the NHS. It was a subsidiary: for the bigger hospitals of Edinburgh after amalgamation into the NHS. It was a specialised centre: as the Urology Department in Edinburgh and the Scottish Lithotripter centre. And now it is currently student accommodation. There is no single source to account for its history. Through the use of original material made available by the Lothian Health Services Archives - including Church of Scotland publications, patient records, a doctor's casebook and annual reports - we review its conception, purpose, development and running; its fate on joining the NHS, its identity in the latter years and finally its closure.

[Relating costs to activities in hospitals. Use of internal cost accounting].

Science.gov (United States)

Stavem, K

1995-01-10

During the last few years hospital cost accounting has become widespread in many countries, in parallel with increasing cost pressure, greater competition and new financing schemes. Cost accounting has been used in the manufacturing industry for many years. Costs can be related to activities and production, e.g. by the costing of procedures, episodes of care and other internally defined cost objectives. Norwegian hospitals have lagged behind in the adoption of cost accounting. They ought to act quickly if they want to be prepared for possible changes in health care financing. The benefits can be considerable to a hospital operating in a rapidly changing health care environment.

CLINICAL SURFACES - Activity-Based Computing for Distributed Multi-Display Environments in Hospitals

Science.gov (United States)

Bardram, Jakob E.; Bunde-Pedersen, Jonathan; Doryab, Afsaneh; Sørensen, Steffen

A multi-display environment (MDE) is made up of co-located and networked personal and public devices that form an integrated workspace enabling co-located group work. Traditionally, MDEs have, however, mainly been designed to support a single “smart room”, and have had little sense of the tasks and activities that the MDE is being used for. This paper presents a novel approach to support activity-based computing in distributed MDEs, where displays are physically distributed across a large building. CLINICAL SURFACES was designed for clinical work in hospitals, and enables context-sensitive retrieval and browsing of patient data on public displays. We present the design and implementation of CLINICAL SURFACES, and report from an evaluation of the system at a large hospital. The evaluation shows that using distributed public displays to support activity-based computing inside a hospital is very useful for clinical work, and that the apparent contradiction between maintaining privacy of medical data in a public display environment can be mitigated by the use of CLINICAL SURFACES.

Bank stability as a risk factor for pipeline infrastructure: a Scottish example

Science.gov (United States)

Maniatis, Georgios; Williams, Richard; Hoey, Trevor

2017-04-01

Bank erosion is a spatially variable process controlled by a number of factors that are interrelated (e.g. grain size, moisture content, organic content, vegetation, bank gradient). As a risk factor, bank erosion has been strongly connected to the failure of infrastructure that crosses or is adjacent to morphologically dynamic rivers. To manage this risk, comprehensive infrastructure asset management programs should include risk assessment of all structures that cross or are near a river. In Scotland, a significant proportion of cross-river infrastructure is pipe bridges, for both clean and waste water. These river crossings are maintained and managed by Scottish Water, a supplier responsible for a 48,000 km long drinking water pipe network and a 52,000 km long wastewater pipe network. Recently, Scottish Water began a comprehensive pipe bridge asset inspection program, which incorporates the acquisition of data to assess riverbank stability. The first step in the development of this database is the use of a prototype software application (a tablet app) which simplifies the surveying process by framing specific geomorphological questions and surveying tasks. As a result, the surveys can be conducted by inspectors with no specialist training in bank stability assessment and then reviewed by those with more expertise. Here, results are presented of a review of survey data, enabling the identification of the assets that are most at risk from bank erosion. The assessment focuses on assets from catchments in two contrasting areas of Scotland; the Hebrides and Glasgow. The uncertainty analysis focuses on input data quality and the variability of information available for desk based risk assessments using Geographic Information Systems (GIS). In parallel, considerations regarding the extension of this framework towards a unified strategy for assessing bank erosion are discussed such as the selection of a statistical framework and the catchment classification process

Detection and effects of harmful algal toxins in Scottish harbour seals and potential links to population decline.

Science.gov (United States)

Jensen, Silje-Kristin; Lacaze, Jean-Pierre; Hermann, Guillaume; Kershaw, Joanna; Brownlow, Andrew; Turner, Andrew; Hall, Ailsa

2015-04-01

Over the past 15 years or so, several Scottish harbour seal (Phoca vitulina) populations have declined in abundance and several factors have been considered as possible causes, including toxins from harmful algae. Here we explore whether a link could be established between two groups of toxins, domoic acid (DA) and saxitoxins (STXs), and the decline in the harbour seal populations in Scotland. We document the first evidence that harbour seals are exposed to both DA and STXs from consuming contaminated fish. Both groups of toxins were found in urine and faeces sampled from live captured (n = 162) and stranded animals (n = 23) and in faecal samples collected from seal haul-out sites (n = 214) between 2008 and 2013. The proportion of positive samples and the toxins levels measured in the excreta were significantly higher in areas where harbour seal abundance is in decline. There is also evidence that DA has immunomodulatory effects in harbour seals, including lymphocytopenia and monocytosis. Scottish harbour seals are exposed to DA and STXs through contaminated prey at potentially lethal levels and with this evidence we suggest that exposure to these toxins are likely to be important factors driving the harbour seal decline in some regions of Scotland. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

[Successful patient-activated help call for a doctor during in-hospital stay].

Science.gov (United States)

Hansen, Mette Mejlby; Hasselkvist, Birgith; Thordal, Sofie; Riiskjær, Erik; Kelsen, Jens

2014-09-29

Department of Medicine, Randers Regional Hospital, conducted a study of patient-activated help call, involving 1,050 patients with nearly 3,700 days in-hospital stay. Patients were encou-raged to bypass traditional clinical hierarchy of communication when they felt, that their concern was not met by the staff. Three help calls were related to the management of pain. In two cases it resulted in a surgical procedure. A survey including 104 patients revealed that one third reported that patient safety was improved by the initiative and nearly three quarters re-ported that they would be willing to activate the call.

Greater number of group identifications is associated with healthier behaviour: Evidence from a Scottish community sample.

Science.gov (United States)

Sani, Fabio; Madhok, Vishnu; Norbury, Michael; Dugard, Pat; Wakefield, Juliet R H

2015-09-01

This paper investigates the interplay between group identification (i.e., the extent to which one has a sense of belonging to a social group, coupled with a sense of commonality with in-group members) and four types of health behaviour, namely physical exercise, smoking, drinking, and diet. Specifically, we propose a positive relationship between one's number of group identifications and healthy behaviour. This study is based on the Scottish portion of the data obtained for Wave 1 of the two-wave cross-national Health in Groups project. Totally 1,824 patients from five Scottish general practitioner (GP) surgeries completed the Wave 1 questionnaire in their homes. Participants completed measures of group identification, group contact, health behaviours, and demographic variables. Results demonstrate that the greater the number of social groups with which one identifies, the healthier one's behaviour on any of the four health dimensions considered. We believe our results are due to the fact that group identification will generally (1) enhance one's sense of meaning in life, thereby leading one to take more care of oneself, (2) increase one's sense of responsibility towards other in-group members, thereby enhancing one's motivation to be healthy in order to fulfil those responsibilities, and (3) increase compliance with healthy group behavioural norms. Taken together, these processes amply overcompensate for the fact that some groups with which people may identify can actually prescribe unhealthy behaviours. © 2014 The British Psychological Society.

Preventing violence against women by challenging gender stereotypes in Scottish primary schools

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Fage-Butler, Antoinette Mary

2016-01-01

Gender violence is a major public health issue in Europe; it is normalized and partly legitimized by gender stereotypes. An example of a primary prevention education programme designed to challenge the attitudes that underpin gender violence, particularly violence against women, is the Zero...... Tolerance Respect (ZTR) programme developed for Scottish pupils. Given the importance of early preventative action in this area, this paper analyses how gender stereotypes were challenged in ZTR materials for primary pupils aged 10-12 years. Qualitative content analysis was used to analyse the content...... of the seven lessons in the ZTR primary school programme; the materials were also evaluated in relation to best practice within attitudinal change promotion. Analysis shows that ZTR empowers pupils to reflect on and confront gender stereotypes by developing pupils’ social awareness, as respect is characterized...

Childhood IQ and marriage by mid-life: the Scottish Mental Survey 1932 and the Midspan Studies

OpenAIRE

Taylor, M.D.; Hart, C.L.; Davey Smith, G.; Whalley, L.J.; Hole, D.

2005-01-01

The study examined the influence of IQ at age 11 years on marital status by mid-adulthood. The combined databases of the Scottish Mental Survey 1932 and the Midspan studies provided data from 883 subjects. With regard to IQ at age 11, there was an interaction between sex and marital status by mid-adulthood (p = 0.0001). Women who had ever-married achieved mean lower childhood IQ scores than women who had never-married (p < 0.001). Conversely, there was a trend for men who had ever-mar...

A cross-sectional survey of the access of older people in the Scottish Highlands to general medical practices, community pharmacies and prescription medicines.

Science.gov (United States)

Rushworth, Gordon F; Cunningham, Scott; Pfleger, Sharon; Hall, Jenny; Stewart, Derek

2018-01-01

Access to medicines and healthcare is more problematic in remote and rural areas. To quantify issues of access to general practitioners (GPs), community pharmacies and prescribed medicines in older people resident in the Scottish Highlands. Anonymized questionnaires were mailed to a random sample of 2000 older people (≥60 years) resident in the Scottish Highlands. Questionnaire items were: access and convenience to GP and pharmacy services (10 items); prescribed medicines (13 items); attitudinal statements based on the Theoretical Domains Framework (12 items); quality of life (SF8, 8 items); and demographics (12 items). Results were analysed using descriptive, inferential and spatial statistics, and principal component analysis (PCA) of attitudinal items. With a response rate of 54.2%, the majority reported convenient access to GPs (89.1%) and community pharmacies (84.3%). Older age respondents (p rural areas to community pharmacies (p rural areas and taking five or more prescribed medicines. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Clinical, radiographic, pathologic, and genetic features of osteochondrodysplasia in Scottish Deerhounds

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Breur, G.J.; Zerbe, C.A.; Slocombe, R.F.; Padgett, G.A.; Braden, T.D.

1989-01-01

Clinical, radiographic, pathologic, and genetic features of a form of osteochondrodysplasia in 5 related Scottish Deerhound pups from 2 litters were evaluated. All pups appeared to be phenotypically normal at birth. At approximately 4 or 5 weeks, exercise intolerance and retarded growth were observed. Kyphosis, limb deformities, and joint laxity gradually developed. Radiography of the affected pups revealed skeletal changes characterized by abnormalities in long bones and vertebrae, with involvement of epiphyses, growth plates, and metaphyses. Short long bones and vertebrae and irregular and delayed epiphyseal ossification were most noticeable in younger pups; in older pups, bony deformities became more prominent. In skeletally mature dogs, osteopenia and severe deformities were seen. The histologic changes of the growth plate were compatible with a diagnosis of chondrodysplasia. Growth plate chondrocytes contained periodic acid Schiff-positive, diastase-resistant cytoplasmic inclusions. A single autosomal recessive mode of inheritance was suspected

Locum tenens consultant doctors in a rural general hospital - an essential part of the medical workforce or an expensive stopgap?

Science.gov (United States)

Sim, Andrew Jw

2011-01-01

Maintaining hospital consultant staffing levels often requires the employment of locum tenens to meet service needs. This is particularly so in hospitals where core clinical services are run by a small number of permanently appointed consultants. The problems associated with locum employment are underestimated and little attention has been directed towards addressing the issue in the rural general hospitals of Scotland. This study looked at the permanent and short- and long-term locum consultant usage over an 8 year period in one Scottish rural general hospital, the Western Isles Hospital in Stornoway. Data were extracted from the Human Resources Department of NHS Western Isles' list of locum consultants for most weeks from the beginning of January 2002 to the end of December 2009. The Western Isles Hospital in Stornoway has an establishment of 17 permanent consultants. During the 8 year study period 239 different consultants were employed, 20 held substantive permanent positions, 31 were long-term locums (employed >3 months) and 188 were short-term locums. The short-term locums worked for 535 different locum episodes. The pattern of usage varied according to service configuration. Study data revealed the alarming scope of the locum tenens issue, which will increase unless action is taken. For sustainable medical services to continue in the rural general hospitals of Scotland, staffing models must minimise the need to employ locum consultants.

The first description of the complete natural history of uveal melanoma by two Scottish surgeons, Allan Burns and James Wardrop.

Science.gov (United States)

Kivelä, Tero T

2018-03-01

James Wardrop (1782-1869), a young Scottish surgeon and an early ophthalmologist in Edinburgh, is credited for describing in 1809 retinoblastoma as an entity in his treatise 'Observations on Fungus Haematodes or Soft Cancer'. His treatise also reveals that Allan Burns (1781-1813), another young Scottish surgeon and anatomist, had invited Wardrop to assist in enucleating an eye from a 41-year-old Glasgow woman who, in retrospect, had a uveal melanoma. Her eye had become blind 4 months after symptoms of exudative retinal detachment had appeared, and it had become painful after a further 2-4 months. The tumour eventually perforated the sclera, and she died within a year thereafter of hepatic metastases. Burns and Wardrop went on to publish detailed parallel accounts of the symptoms, signs, ophthalmic pathology and post-mortem findings regarding the primary, recurrent and metastatic tumour. Burns may have performed the post-mortem after exhuming the body, a common occurrence in early 19th Century Scotland, a thriving hub for teaching morbid anatomy to young surgeons at the time. © 2017 Acta Ophthalmologica Scandinavica Foundation. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Hospitality and Institutional Meals

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Justesen, Lise; Strøjer, Anna-Lise

2017-01-01

Abstract: There is a growing interest in articulating institutional meal serving practices as a hospitality activity involving host and guest interactions. This study aims to qualify institutional hospitality and meal activities by exploring private hospitality events. The study is based......-structured interview, students reflected on their hospitality experiences. The interviews were transcribed and analyzed using a thematic analysis method. The emerging themes on hospitality activities were identified. It was found that hospitality activities could be characterized as a process where the individual...... was transformed into a guest. Information on purpose of the event and other information given in the invitation were part of this process. Furthermore, hospitality activities could be characterized by blurred host-guest relations and by being able to embrace unexpected events as well. The activities were...

Evaluation of gait performance of a participant with Perthes disease while walking with and without a Scottish-Rite orthosis.

Science.gov (United States)

Karimi, Mohammad; Sedigh, Jafar; Fatoye, Francis

2013-06-01

Scottish-Rite orthosis is one of the conservative methods used to treat Legg-Calvé-Perthes disease. As there was not enough evidence to show the effects of using this orthosis on reducing the loads applied on the limb, this research aimed to find the influence of this orthosis. A participant with Perthes disease on the left hip joint was recruited into this study to walk with and without the orthosis. The kinetic and kinematic parameters were collected by a motion analysis system and a Kistler force platform. No significant differences were noted between the hip joint flexion/extension range of motion and the moments between the sound side and the side affected by Legg-Calvé-Perthes disease. It may be concluded that use of orthosis may not have any positive effects to decrease the loads or to improve the alignment of the hip joint in participants with Perthes disease, as expected. The use of Scottish-Rite orthosis not only does not improve the containment of the hip joint, but also does not have any significant influence on loads applied on the joint during walking of the subject with Perthes disease. The results of this research can be used by clinicians involved in treatment of patients with Legg-Calvé-Perthes disease.

Bone lead levels and lead isotope ratios in red grouse from Scottish and Yorkshire moors

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Thomas, Vernon G., E-mail: vthomas@uoguelph.ca [Department of Integrative Biology, College of Biological Science, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, N1G 2W1 (Canada); Scheuhammer, Anton M.; Bond, Della E. [Metals Toxicology Laboratory, National Wildlife Research Centre, Carleton University, Ottawa, Ontario, K1A 0H3 (Canada)

2009-05-15

Leg and foot bones of adult and juvenile red grouse (Lagopus lagopus scoticus) were collected from hunter-shot birds on two Scottish estates (Glendye and Invermark) and one Yorkshire estate in September, 2003. The lead content of bones was measured by atomic absorption spectrophotometry, and corresponding stable lead isotopes (Pb204, 206, 207, 208) by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. At the Glendye (N = 111) and Invermark (N = 85) estates, relatively few birds (5.4% and 3.5%, respectively) had highly elevated bone lead concentrations (> 20 mug/g dry weight). In bones of these highly exposed birds, a combination of Pb206:Pb207 and Pb208:Pb207ratios was consistent with ingestion of lead gunshot available in Europe. By contrast, Yorkshire grouse experienced a high incidence (65.8%) of bone lead > 20 mug/g. The Pb206:Pb207 and Pb208:Pb207ratios in bones of these highly exposed birds were consistent with a combined exposure to ingested lead gunshot and lead from galena mining in the region. Lead isotope ratios also indicated that lead from UK gasoline combustion and fallout from atmospheric particles was not a likely source of elevated lead in bones of either Scottish or Yorkshire grouse. Suggested management options for the three moors include adopting nontoxic shot for all game shooting on the estates, allowing heather (Calluna vulgaris) vegetation to grow tall in lead shot fall-out zones to reduce physical access to high densities of lead shot already present, and provision of calcareous grit across moors to reduce lead assimilation from all ingested sources of lead.

Colonization of the Scottish islands via long-distance Neolithic transport of red deer (Cervus elaphus).

Science.gov (United States)

Stanton, David W G; Mulville, Jacqueline A; Bruford, Michael W

2016-04-13

Red deer (Cervus elaphus) have played a key role in human societies throughout history, with important cultural significance and as a source of food and materials. This relationship can be traced back to the earliest human cultures and continues to the present day. Humans are thought to be responsible for the movement of a considerable number of deer throughout history, although the majority of these movements are poorly described or understood. Studying such translocations allows us to better understand ancient human-wildlife interactions, and in the case of island colonizations, informs us about ancient human maritime practices. This study uses DNA sequences to characterise red deer genetic diversity across the Scottish islands (Inner and Outer Hebrides and Orkney) and mainland using ancient deer samples, and attempts to infer historical colonization events. We show that deer from the Outer Hebrides and Orkney are unlikely to have originated from mainland Scotland, implying that humans introduced red deer from a greater distance. Our results are also inconsistent with an origin from Ireland or Norway, suggesting long-distance maritime travel by Neolithic people to the outer Scottish Isles from an unknown source. Common haplotypes and low genetic differentiation between the Outer Hebrides and Orkney imply common ancestry and/or gene flow across these islands. Close genetic proximity between the Inner Hebrides and Ireland, however, corroborates previous studies identifying mainland Britain as a source for red deer introductions into Ireland. This study provides important information on the processes that led to the current distribution of the largest surviving indigenous land mammal in the British Isles. © 2016 The Authors.

Bone lead levels and lead isotope ratios in red grouse from Scottish and Yorkshire moors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Thomas, Vernon G.; Scheuhammer, Anton M.; Bond, Della E.

2009-01-01

Leg and foot bones of adult and juvenile red grouse (Lagopus lagopus scoticus) were collected from hunter-shot birds on two Scottish estates (Glendye and Invermark) and one Yorkshire estate in September, 2003. The lead content of bones was measured by atomic absorption spectrophotometry, and corresponding stable lead isotopes (Pb204, 206, 207, 208) by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. At the Glendye (N = 111) and Invermark (N = 85) estates, relatively few birds (5.4% and 3.5%, respectively) had highly elevated bone lead concentrations (> 20 mug/g dry weight). In bones of these highly exposed birds, a combination of Pb206:Pb207 and Pb208:Pb207ratios was consistent with ingestion of lead gunshot available in Europe. By contrast, Yorkshire grouse experienced a high incidence (65.8%) of bone lead > 20 mug/g. The Pb206:Pb207 and Pb208:Pb207ratios in bones of these highly exposed birds were consistent with a combined exposure to ingested lead gunshot and lead from galena mining in the region. Lead isotope ratios also indicated that lead from UK gasoline combustion and fallout from atmospheric particles was not a likely source of elevated lead in bones of either Scottish or Yorkshire grouse. Suggested management options for the three moors include adopting nontoxic shot for all game shooting on the estates, allowing heather (Calluna vulgaris) vegetation to grow tall in lead shot fall-out zones to reduce physical access to high densities of lead shot already present, and provision of calcareous grit across moors to reduce lead assimilation from all ingested sources of lead.

Preventing violence against women by challenging gender stereotypes in Scottish primary schools

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Fage-Butler, Antoinette Mary

2016-01-01

stereotypes for the individual pupil. Moreover, further attention could have been given to surrounding powerful discourses and media representations that may be at odds with the messages of the programme. The present study illustrates that the growing field of public health can be supported through an “all......Gender violence is a major public health issue in Europe; it is normalized and partly legitimized by gender stereotypes. An example of a primary prevention education programme designed to challenge the attitudes that underpin gender violence, particularly violence against women, is the Zero...... Tolerance Respect (ZTR) programme developed for Scottish pupils. Given the importance of early preventative action in this area, this paper analyses how gender stereotypes were challenged in ZTR materials for primary pupils aged 10-12 years. Qualitative content analysis was used to analyse the content...

Ethnic variations in chest pain and angina in men and women: Scottish Ethnicity and Health Linkage Study of 4.65 million people.

Science.gov (United States)

Bhopal, Raj S; Bansal, Narinder; Fischbacher, Colin; Brown, Helen; Capewell, Simon

2012-12-01

European research on ethnic variations in cardiovascular disease has mostly examined mortality endpoints using country of birth as a proxy for ethnicity. We report on chest pain and angina by ethnic group. Retrospective cohort linking the Census 2001 for Scotland (providing 14 ethnic group categories) and hospital discharge/community and hospital deaths data. Directly age-standardized rates and rate ratios were calculated. Risk ratios were adjusted for age and then highest educational qualification of the individual using Poisson regression. Ratios were multiplied by 100 and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were calculated. The reference was the White Scottish population (100). In the results below, the 95% CI excludes 100. There was raised chest pain mortality/hospital discharge risk in Indian men (rate ratio 141.2), Other South Asian women (rate ratio 140.9), and Pakistanis (rate ratio 216.2 in men, 243.0 in women). Rate ratios were lowest in other White British (rate ratio 76.1 in men, 73.7 in women) and Chinese (rate ratio 67.6 in men, 76.7 in women). Adjustment for age and education attenuated, but did not abolish, differences in other White British (risk ratio from 73.5 to 83.5) and Pakistani (risk ratio from 209.0 to 198.2) male populations and increased them in most others, e.g. other South Asian men (from risk ratio of 128.9 to 140.1). Pakistani populations had the highest risk of angina (rate ratio 189.3 in men, 159.7 in women). Other White British (rate ratio 81.4 for men, 78.0 for women), Other White (rate ratio 89.6 men, 85.2 women), and Chinese (rate ratio 60.5 men, 67.4 women) had the lowest risk. Adjustment for education did not greatly alter these patterns. There were important ethnic variations. The results call for replication elsewhere in Europe and targeted prevention programmes and vigilant diagnosis and management by clinicians.

Exploring the relationship between ADHD symptoms and prison breaches of discipline amongst youths in four Scottish prisons.

Science.gov (United States)

Gordon, V; Williams, D J; Donnelly, P D

2012-04-01

To explore the relationship between attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms (inattention, hyperactivity and impulsivity) and violent and non-violent prison breaches of discipline in incarcerated male youths aged 18-21 years. A case-control study of 169 male youth offenders incarcerated in Scottish prisons and classified as 'symptomatic' or 'non-symptomatic' of inattentive and hyperactive/impulsive ADHD symptoms. ADHD symptoms were measured using the Conners' Adult ADHD Rating Scales-Self Report: Long Version, and prison breaches of discipline were gathered from the Scottish Prison Service's Prisoner Records System. Youths who were symptomatic of Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th Edition (DSM-IV) ADHD total symptoms had a significantly higher number of prison breaches of discipline than those who were non-symptomatic. Youths who were symptomatic of DSM-IV hyperactive/impulsive symptoms had a significantly higher number of violent and non-violent prison breaches of discipline than those who were non-symptomatic. However, no such significant difference was found between youths who were symptomatic and non-symptomatic of DSM-IV inattentive symptoms. Young male offenders who are symptomatic of ADHD have a higher number of prison breaches of discipline. In particular, symptoms of hyperactivity/impulsivity are associated with breaches of both a violent and non-violent nature. Implications of such symptoms on rehabilitation and recidivism are discussed. Copyright © 2012 The Royal Society for Public Health. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Mortality from lymphatic and haematopoietic cancer in Scottish coastal towns

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lloyd, O.Ll.; Macdonald, J.; Lloyd, M.M.

1984-01-01

Using annual Scottish registration data, the authors have been examining mortality from cancers including all leukaemias, classified within malignant neoplasm of lymphatic and haematopoietic tissue, from 1969/73. The results showed: (1) Coastal burghs had a higher standardised mortality than did inland burghs; (2) the SMRs in communities of the east coast as a whole were consistently higher than those in west-coast communities, whether small burghs, large burghs, or cities were considered; (3) all segments of the eastern coastline, other than the open coastline stretching from Aberdeenshire to Angus, showed relatively high SMRs; (4) on the west coast, the highest SMRs (of only 100) were in Ayrshire and Glasgow; (5) in terms of statistical significance at the level p<=0.5, mortality in inland burghs was significantly low, while in east-coast burghs, in Edinburgh, and in Aberdeen it was significantly high. The geographical distribution cannot be explained in terms of nuclear power stations, and differs importantly from that given by registration data for leukaemia alone (Heasman et al, May 26, p.1188). (U.K.)

Activity-based costs of blood transfusions in surgical patients at four hospitals.

Science.gov (United States)

Shander, Aryeh; Hofmann, Axel; Ozawa, Sherri; Theusinger, Oliver M; Gombotz, Hans; Spahn, Donat R

2010-04-01

Blood utilization has long been suspected to consume more health care resources than previously reported. Incomplete accounting for blood costs has the potential to misdirect programmatic decision making by health care systems. Determining the cost of supplying patients with blood transfusions requires an in-depth examination of the complex array of activities surrounding the decision to transfuse. To accurately determine the cost of blood in a surgical population from a health system perspective, an activity-based costing (ABC) model was constructed. Tasks and resource consumption (materials, labor, third-party services, capital) related to blood administration were identified prospectively at two US and two European hospitals. Process frequency (i.e., usage) data were captured retrospectively from each hospital and used to populate the ABC model. All major process steps, staff, and consumables to provide red blood cell (RBC) transfusions to surgical patients, including usage frequencies, and direct and indirect overhead costs contributed to per-RBC-unit costs between $522 and $1183 (mean, $761 +/- $294). These exceed previously reported estimates and were 3.2- to 4.8-fold higher than blood product acquisition costs. Annual expenditures on blood and transfusion-related activities, limited to surgical patients, ranged from $1.62 to $6.03 million per hospital and were largely related to the transfusion rate. Applicable to various hospital practices, the ABC model confirms that blood costs have been underestimated and that they are geographically variable and identifies opportunities for cost containment. Studies to determine whether more stringent control of blood utilization improves health care utilization and quality, and further reduces costs, are warranted.

Physical activity, health status and risk of hospitalization in patients with severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Science.gov (United States)

Benzo, Roberto P; Chang, Chung-Chou H; Farrell, Max H; Kaplan, Robert; Ries, Andrew; Martinez, Fernando J; Wise, Robert; Make, Barry; Sciurba, Frank

2010-01-01

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a leading cause of death and 70% of the cost of COPD is due to hospitalizations. Self-reported daily physical activity and health status have been reported as predictors of a hospitalization in COPD but are not routinely assessed. We tested the hypothesis that self-reported daily physical activity and health status assessed by a simple question were predictors of a hospitalization in a well-characterized cohort of patients with severe emphysema. Investigators gathered daily physical activity and health status data assessed by a simple question in 597 patients with severe emphysema and tested the association of those patient-reported outcomes to the occurrence of a hospitalization in the following year. Multiple logistic regression analyses were used to determine predictors of hospitalization during the first 12 months after randomization. The two variables tested in the hypothesis were significant predictors of a hospitalization after adjusting for all univariable significant predictors: >2 h of physical activity per week had a protective effect [odds ratio (OR) 0.60; 95% confidence interval (95% CI) 0.41-0.88] and self-reported health status as fair or poor had a deleterious effect (OR 1.57; 95% CI 1.10-2.23). In addition, two other variables became significant in the multivariate model: total lung capacity (every 10% increase) had a protective effect (OR 0.88; 95% CI 0.78-0.99) and self-reported anxiety had a deleterious effect (OR 1.75; 95% CI 1.13-2.70). Self-reported daily physical activity and health status are independently associated with COPD hospitalizations. Our findings, assessed by simple questions, suggest the value of patient-reported outcomes in developing risk assessment tools that are easy to use.

Early-career registered nurses' participation in hospital quality improvement activities.

Science.gov (United States)

Djukic, Maja; Kovner, Christine T; Brewer, Carol S; Fatehi, Farida K; Bernstein, Ilya

2013-01-01

We surveyed 2 cohorts of early-career registered nurses from 15 states in the US, 2 years apart, to compare their reported participation in hospital quality improvement (QI) activities. We anticipated differences between the 2 cohorts because of the growth of several initiatives for engaging nurses in QI. There were no differences between the 2 cohorts across 14 measured activities, except for their reported use of appropriate strategies to improve hand-washing compliance to reduce nosocomial infection rates.

Shirt sponsorship by gambling companies in the English and Scottish Premier Leagues: global reach and public health concerns

OpenAIRE

Bunn, C.; Ireland, R.; Minton, J.; Holman, D.J.; Philpott, M.; Chambers, S.

2018-01-01

While the nature of gambling practices is contested, a strong evidence\\ud base demonstrates that gambling can become a serious disorder and have\\ud a range of detrimental effects for individuals, communities and societies.\\ud Over the last decade, football in the UK has become visibly entwined with\\ud gambling marketing. To explore this apparent trend, we tracked shirt\\ud sponsors in both the English and Scottish Premier Leagues since 1992 and\\ud found a pronounced increase in the presence of...

The Relationship between Waiting Times and "Adherence" to the Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network 98 Guideline in Autism Spectrum Disorder Diagnostic Services in Scotland

Science.gov (United States)

McKenzie, Karen; Forsyth, Kirsty; O'Hare, Anne; McClure, Iain; Rutherford, Marion; Murray, Aja; Irvine, Linda

2016-01-01

The aim of this study was to explore the extent to which the Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network 98 guidelines on the assessment and diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder were adhered to in child autism spectrum disorder diagnostic services in Scotland and whether there was a significant relationship between routine practice which more…

Experiences of Knowledge Brokering for Evidence-Informed Public Health Policy and Practice: Three Years of the Scottish Collaboration for Public Health Research and Policy

Science.gov (United States)

Frost, Helen; Geddes, Rosemary; Haw, Sally; Jackson, Caroline A.; Jepson, Ruth; Mooney, John D.; Frank, John

2012-01-01

Despite a burgeoning literature on, and widespread interest in, knowledge translation and exchange in public health, few articles provide an account of the actual experiences of knowledge brokerage organisations. The Scottish Collaboration for Public Health Research and Policy (SCPHRP) was formed in 2008 to: identify public health interventions…

Double trouble: the impact of multimorbidity and deprivation on preference-weighted health related quality of life a cross sectional analysis of the Scottish Health Survey

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Lawson, K.D.; Mercer, S.W.; Wyke, S.; Grieve, E.; Guthrie, B.; Watt, G.C.; Fenwick, E.A.

2013-01-01

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the association between multimorbidity and Preference_Weighted Health Related Quality of Life (PW_HRQoL), a score that combines physical and mental functioning, and how this varies by socioeconomic deprivation and age. DESIGN: The Scottish Health Survey (SHeS) is a

Effects of Docosahexaenoic Acid Supplementation on Blood Pressure, Heart Rate, and Serum Lipids in Scottish Men with Hypertension and Hypercholesterolemia

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Miki Sagara

2011-01-01

Full Text Available To investigate the effects of daily supplementation with docosahexaenoic acid (DHA on coronary heart disease risks in 38 middle-aged men with hypertension and/or hypercholesterolemia in Scotland, a five-week double-blind placebo-controlled dietary supplementation with either 2 g of DHA or active placebo (1 g of olive oil was conducted. Percent composition of DHA in plasma phospholipids increased significantly in DHA group. Systolic and diastolic blood pressure and heart rate decreased significantly in DHA group, but not in placebo group. High-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C increased significantly, and total cholesterol (TC/HDL-C and non-HDL-C/HDL-C ratios decreased significantly in both groups. There was no change in TC and non-HDL-C. We conclude that 2 g/day of DHA supplementation reduced coronary heart disease risk factor level improving blood pressure, heart rate, and lipid profiles in hypertensive, hypercholesterolemic Scottish men who do not eat fish on a regular basis.

17. Primary Clients, Secondary Clients, Surrogate Clients and Non-Clients – the Expanding Duty of Care of Scottish Solicitors

OpenAIRE

Swinton, Kenneth

2016-01-01

Until the publication by Professor Rennie of his monograph Solicitors’ Negligence in 1997 there was no coherent treatment of the liability of Scottish solicitors for their negligent acts or omissions. Thereafter Professor Rennie published a volume of opinions on professional negligence and has published a stream of articles which relate to the professional practice of conveyancing. He has continued to make himself available for opinion work as well as appearing as an expert witness in many ca...

Preserving the Social Cohesiveness and Lifelong Learning Mission of Scotland's Public Libraries: Evaluating the Scottish National Library Strategy through the Capabilities Approach

Science.gov (United States)

Badwal, Kiran

2016-01-01

The following paper is based on my master's degree thesis written as a graduate student at the University of Glasgow from 2014-2015 titled, "Preserving the Social Cohesiveness and Lifelong Educational Mission of Public Libraries in Times of Austerity: Assessing the Potential of the Scottish National Library Strategy through the Capabilities…

Pharmacy Simulation: A Scottish, Student-Led Perspective with Lessons for the UK and Beyond

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kirsty Regan

2014-02-01

Full Text Available Compared to the nursing and medical professions, simulation-based pharmacy education is a relatively new mode of supporting learning, although one that is growing rapidly to meet the training needs of a new generation of healthcare professionals. Within the UK (and particularly Scotland, access to the clinical environment through the more traditional route of placement is limited, and simulation offers a partial solution to this problem. As is well-established, simulation—if used appropriately—also offers excellent opportunities for enhancing patient safety, including allowing the exploration of the science of human factors. Given the high incidence of medication errors, pharmacists need to be included in any intervention for improvement of patient safety. It is true, however, that the “clinical environment” experienced by the practising pharmacist (especially in community pharmacy is different from the typical nursing or medical situation. This, combined with a lack of understanding of the role of the pharmacist as a member of the wider healthcare team, means that there are additional considerations required when designing simulation-based learning activities. This commentary undertakes a narrative review of the current situation for pharmacy simulation, and considers how this may be developed to support the Scottish healthcare vision, whilst recognising that the issues raised are likely to be relevant across the sector.

Exposure to smoking in films and own smoking among Scottish adolescents: a cross-sectional study

Science.gov (United States)

Hunt, Kate; Henderson, Marion; Wight, Daniel; Sargent, James D

2013-01-01

Background Evidence of high exposure of UK youth to images of smoking in films has led to calls for an 18 rating for films with smoking to reduce smoking in youth. However, the only study to date in the UK to test for an association showed no relation between film-smoking exposure and smoking among young adults. Objective To assess whether there is an association between exposure to film images of smoking and own smoking among UK adolescents and whether repeated viewings of films has an impact. Design Cross-sectional study. Participants 1999 pupils aged 15–16 years from 13 Scottish schools. Outcome Smoked tobacco in the past year. Exposure measure Film-smoking exposure was assessed using the Beach method; account for repeated viewings of films was then used to modify estimated exposure. Covariates included: media usage, parental restriction on and context of TV/film viewing, family connectedness, parental monitoring and friends' smoking. Results Most (71%) students had not smoked in the past year. About half reported no parental restrictions on TV/film viewing. Many reported repeated viewings of films; accounting for this more than doubled exposure estimates and strengthened the association with smoking. Adolescents with high exposure to film smoking were more likely to have smoked than those with low exposure (adjusted odds ratio (AOR) 2.08, 95% CI 1.22 to 3.55). Additionally, adolescents who reported parental rules about TV/film watching were less likely to smoke (AOR 0.37 (0.27 to 0.52)) than those who did not. Adolescents who mainly watched films with friends had higher exposure to film smoking and were more likely to smoke (AOR 2.19 (1.10 to 4.38)). Conclusions Exposure to film smoking is associated with smoking among Scottish adolescents. These data lend support to calls for an 18 rating for films with images of smoking. PMID:21764893

Barriers to and enablers of physical activity in patients with COPD following a hospital admission: a qualitative study

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Thorpe O

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Olivia Thorpe, Saravana Kumar, Kylie JohnstonInternational Centre for Allied Health Evidence, The Samson Institute for Health Research, School of Health Sciences, University of South Australia, Adelaide, SA, AustraliaBackground: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD is characterized by a persistent blockage of airflow, prompting episodes of shortness of breath, commonly leading to hospitalization. Hospitalization may lead to a decline in physical activity following discharge. Physical activity has been shown to improve symptoms of COPD and reduce readmissions, and to decrease morbidity and mortality. This study aims to explore, from the perspectives of people with COPD, the barriers to and enablers of participation in physical activity following hospitalization for COPD.Methods: This study had a qualitative descriptive design and included semistructured interviews with 28 adult COPD patients who had been admitted to hospital with a primary diagnosis of exacerbation of COPD.Results: A plethora of barriers to but fewer enablers of participation in physical activity and pulmonary rehabilitation were identified for this cohort of people. The main barriers identified were health-related (comorbidities, COPD symptoms, and physical injury or illness environment-related (weather, transport, and finance, and self-related. The main enabling factors reported were access to health professionals and equipment, social support, routine and extracurricular activities, personal goals and motivation, and the effect of physical activity and "feeling better".Conclusion: This research provides a snapshot of the barriers to and enablers of physical activity and pulmonary rehabilitation in people with COPD. It is evident that there are significant barriers which hinder the ability of people with COPD to undertake and continue participation in physical activity and pulmonary rehabilitation. While there are some enablers that may counter these barriers, it is

Cause-specific mortality in Scottish patients with colorectal cancer with and without type 2 diabetes (2000-2007).

Science.gov (United States)

Walker, J J; Brewster, D H; Colhoun, H M; Fischbacher, C M; Lindsay, R S; Wild, S H

2013-07-01

The objective of this study was to use Scottish national data to assess the influence of type 2 diabetes on (1) survival (overall and cause-specific) in multiple time intervals after diagnosis of colorectal cancer and (2) cause of death. Data from the Scottish Cancer Registry were linked to data from a population-based national diabetes register. All people in Scotland diagnosed with non-metastatic cancer of the colon or rectum in 2000-2007 were included. The effect of pre-existing type 2 diabetes on survival over four discrete time intervals (5 years) after cancer diagnosis was assessed by Cox regression. Cumulative incidence functions were calculated representing the respective probabilities of death from the competing causes of colorectal cancer, cardiovascular disease, other cancers and any other cause. Data were available for 19,505 people with colon or rectal cancer (1,957 with pre-existing diabetes). Cause-specific mortality analyses identified a stronger association between diabetes and cardiovascular disease mortality than that between diabetes and cancer mortality. Beyond 5 years after colon cancer diagnosis, diabetes was associated with a detrimental effect on all-cause mortality after adjustment for age, socioeconomic status and cancer stage (HR [95% CI]: 1.57 [1.19, 2.06] in men; 1.84 [1.36, 2.50] in women). For patients with rectal cancer, diabetes was not associated with differential survival in any time interval. Poorer survival observed for colon cancer associated with type 2 diabetes in Scotland may be explained by higher mortality from causes other than cancer.

Increased Toxoplasma gondii positivity relative to age in 125 Scottish sheep flocks; evidence of frequent acquired infection

Science.gov (United States)

2011-01-01

Toxoplasma gondii seroprevalence was determined in 3333 sheep sera from 125 distinct sheep flocks in Scotland, with the majority of flocks being represented by 27 samples, which were collected between July 2006 and August 2008. The selected farms give a representative sample of 14 400 sheep holdings identified in the Scottish Government census data from 2004. Overall T. gondii seroprevalence, at individual sheep level, was determined to be 56.6%; each flock tested, had at least a single positive animal and in four flocks all ewes tested positive. The seroprevalence of sheep increased from 37.7% in one year old stock to 73.8% in ewes that were older than six years, showing that acquired infections during the life of the animals is frequent and that environmental contamination by T. gondii oocysts must be significant. The median within-flock seroprevalence varied significantly across Scotland, with the lowest seroprevalence of 42.3% in the South and the highest seroprevalence of 69.2% in the far North of Scotland and the Scottish Islands, while the central part of Scotland had a seroprevalence of 57.7%. This distribution disequilibrium may be due to the spread and survival of oocysts on pasture and lambing areas. A questionnaire accompanying sampling of flocks identified farms that used Toxovax®, a commercial vaccine that protects sheep from abortion due to T. gondii infection. Only 24.7% of farmers used the vaccine and the vaccine did not significantly affect the within flock seroprevalence for T. gondii. The implications for food safety and human infection are discussed. PMID:22189159

76 FR 56503 - Agency Information Collection (Report of Treatment in Hospital) Activity Under OMB Review

Science.gov (United States)

2011-09-13

... of Treatment in Hospital) Activity Under OMB Review AGENCY: Veterans Benefits Administration... Administration (VBA), Department of Veterans Affairs, will submit the collection of information abstracted below... Treatment in Hospital, VA FL 29-551. OMB Control Number: 2900-0119. Type of Review: Extension of a currently...

CE: Original research: hospital system barriers to rapid response team activation: a cognitive work analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Braaten, Jane Saucedo

2015-02-01

The goal of rapid response team (RRT) activation in acute care facilities is to decrease mortality from preventable complications, but such efforts have been only moderately successful. Although recent research has shown decreased mortality when RRTs are activated more often, many hospitals have low activation rates. This has been linked to various hospital, team, and nursing factors. Yet there is a dearth of research examining how hospital systems shape nurses' behavior with regard to RRT activation. Making systemic constraints visible and modifying them may be the key to improving RRT activation rates and saving more lives. The purpose of this study was to use cognitive work analysis to describe factors within the hospital system that shape medical-surgical nurses' RRT activation behavior. Cognitive work analysis offers a framework for the study of complex sociotechnical systems. This framework was used as the organizing element of the study. Qualitative descriptive design was used to obtain data to fill the framework's five domains: resources, tasks, strategies, social systems, and worker competency. Data were obtained from interviews with 12 medical-surgical nurses and document review. Directed content analysis was used to place the obtained data into the framework's predefined domains. Many system factors affected participants' decisions to activate or not activate an RRT. Systemic constraints, especially in cases of subtle or gradual clinical changes, included a lack of adequate information, the availability of multiple strategies, the need to justify RRT activation, a scarcity of human resources, and informal hierarchical norms in the hospital culture. The most profound constraint was the need to justify the call. Justification was based on the objective or subjective nature of clinical changes, whether the nurse expected to be able to "handle" these changes, the presence or absence of a physician, and whether there was an expectation of support from the RRT

In vitro antimicrobial activity of linezolid tested against vancomycin-resistant enterococci isolated in Brazilian hospitals

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Reis Adriana O.

2001-01-01

Full Text Available The emergence of vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE has been described recently in Brazil. This is in contrast to the USA and Europe, where the VRE appeared in the late 1980s. The progressive increase in VRE isolation poses important problems in the antimicrobial therapy of nosocomial infections. Treatment options and effective antimicrobial agents for VRE are often limited and the possibility of transfer of vancomycin genes to other Gram-positive microorganisms continues. In the search for antimicrobial agents for multiresistant Gram-positive cocci, compounds such as linezolid and quinupristin/dalfopristin have been evaluated. The present study was conducted to evaluate the in vitro activity of the oxazolidinone linezolid and 10 other antimicrobial agents, including quinupristin-dalfopristin, against multiresistant enterococci isolated in Brazilian hospitals. Thirty-three vancomycin resistant isolates (17 Enterococcus faecium and 16 E. faecalis, were analyzed. Strains were isolated from patients at São Paulo Hospital, Oswaldo Cruz Hospital, Hospital do Servidor Público Estadual, Santa Marcelina Hospital, Santa Casa de Misericórdia de São Paulo, and Hospital de Clínicas do Paraná. The samples were tested by a broth microdilution method following the National Committee for Clinical Laboratory Standards (NCCLS recommendations. All isolates were molecular typed using pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE. Linezolid was the most active compound against these multiresistant enterococci, showing 100% inhibition at the susceptible breakpoints. Quinupristin/dalfopristin and teicoplanin showed poor activity against both species. The molecular typing results suggest that there has been interhospital spread of vancomycin resistant E. faecium and E. faecalis among Brazilian hospitals. The results of this study indicate that linezolid is an appropriate therapeutic option for the treatment of vancomycin-resistant enterococci infections in Brazil.

Do relationships exist between the scope and intensity of quality improvement activities and hospital operation performance? A 10-year observation in Taiwan.

Science.gov (United States)

Chung, Kuo-Piao; Yu, Tsung-Hsien

2015-08-14

The relationship between the scope and intensity of quality improvement (QI) activities and hospital performance remains unclear. This study investigated the relationship between performance, external environment, and the scope and intensity of QI activities in hospitals. The study used a longitudinal observation. Data regarding the scope and intensity of QI activities were collected using a questionnaire survey among the administrative deputy superintendents / directors of quality management center in 139 hospitals. Hospital performance indicators were abstracted from the 2000-2009 national hospitals profiles. We adopted year 2000 as the baseline, and divided the study period into three 3-year periods. The Generalized Estimating Equations (GEE) model was used for the statistical analysis. Seventy-two hospitals responded to the survey, giving a response rate of 52%. The results showed a significant increase in the scope and intensity of QI activities between 2000 and 2009. The results also showed that the scope and intensity of a hospital's QI activities were associated with the scope and intensity of its competitors' QI activities in the previous period and its own prior performance. The scope of QI activities in the previous period was not significantly related to the selected hospital performance measures. However, the intensity of QI activities in the previous period showed a significant and positive relationship with the number of inpatients and the turnover of beds. The study demonstrates that the intensity of QI activities is associated with the external environment and the hospital's own performance in the previous period. Furthermore, some performance measures are associated with the intensity of the QI activities in the previous period.

Family health nursing: the education programme for the WHO Europe Scottish Pilot.

Science.gov (United States)

Murray, Ian

2004-06-01

This article outlines the development of the family health nurse (FNH) programme, which was delivered by the University of Stirling in the highlands and islands of Scotland as part of a World Health Organization European pilot project. An outline of the structure of the programme and its key features is described. The concept of the FHN emerged from the WHO's initiative to develop a practitioner who has the family as the organizing focus of their practice (WHO, 2000). An insight is provided into the experience of the first students to undergo this programme, along with a brief summary of the main findings of the external evaluation of both the education programme and the implementation of the role in the remote and rural communities of the highlands and islands of Scotland. Suggestions are made that will hopefully influence the second phase of this project that the Scottish Executive are supporting in an urban setting, which is due to begin in September 2004.

A Sedimentary Carbon Inventory for a Scottish Sea Loch

Science.gov (United States)

Smeaton, Craig; Austin, William; Davies, Althea; Baltzer, Agnes

2015-04-01

Coastal oceans are sites of biogeochemical cycling, as terrestrial, atmospheric, and marine carbon cycles interact. Important processes that affect the carbon cycle in the coastal ocean include upwelling, river input, air-sea gas exchange, primary production, respiration, sediment burial, export, and sea-ice dynamics. The magnitude and variability of many carbon fluxes are accordingly much higher in coastal oceans than in open ocean environments. Having high-quality observations of carbon stocks and fluxes in the coastal environment is important both for understanding coastal ocean carbon balance and for reconciling continent-scale carbon budgets. Despite the ecological, biological, and economic importance of coastal oceans, the magnitude and variability of many of the coastal carbon stocks are poorly quantified in most regions in comparison to terrestrial and deep ocean carbon stocks. The first stage in understanding the carbon dynamics in coastal waters is to quantify the existing carbon stocks. The coastal sediment potentially holds a significant volume of carbon; yet there has been no comprehensive attempt to quantitatively determine the volume of carbon held in those coastal sediments as echoed by Bauer et al., (2013) "the diverse sources and sinks of carbon and their complex interactions in these waters remain poorly understood". We set out to create the first sedimentary carbon inventory for a sea loch (fjord); through a combination of geophysics and biogeochemistry. Two key questions must be answered to achieve this goal; how much sediment is held within the loch and what percentage of that sediment carbon? The restrictive geomorphology of sea lochs (fjords) provides the perfect area to develop this methodology and answer these fundamental questions. Loch Sunart the longest of the Scottish sea lochs is our initial test site due to existing geophysical data being available for analysis. Here we discuss the development of the joint geophysics and

Urban and rural risks of Lyme disease in the Scottish Highlands.

Science.gov (United States)

Mavin, S; Hopkins, P C; MacLennan, A; Joss, A W L; Ho-Yen, D O

2009-05-01

This paper investigates the pattern of Lyme disease testing and infection within the Highland region of Scotland. Data from all Highland samples tested during 2004-2006 were analysed according to result and patient's residence in relation to the eight fold Scottish Executive's urban/rural classification, and distance from woodland. In total, 1602 patients were tested for Lyme disease, 0.71% of the Highland population. From these, 104 (6.5%) were seropositive. There were more patients tested, and seropositive patients from rural than urban locations, 1113 vs 489, and 79 vs 25 respectively. There were also significantly more seropositive patients per patients tested from rural locations (chi2, prural areas become more remote. The likelihood of being tested for Lyme disease also increased as the distance between a patient's residence and woodland decreased. The relative risk of being tested elevated by 74% for those patients living within 200 metres of woodland. Those living in the most rural areas of Highland and those living closest to woodland have an increased risk of being tested and having Lyme disease.

Surface electric fields and geomagnetically induced currents in the Scottish Power grid during the 30 October 2003 geomagnetic storm

OpenAIRE

Thomson, Alan W.P.; McKay, Allan J.; Clarke, Ellen; Reay, Sarah J.

2005-01-01

A surface electric field model is used to estimate the UK surface E field during the 30 October 2003 severe geomagnetic storm. This model is coupled with a power grid model to determine the flow of geomagnetically induced currents (GIC) through the Scottish part of the UK grid. Model data are compared with GIC measurements at four sites in the power network. During this storm, measured and modeled GIC levels exceeded 40 A, and the surface electric field reached 5 V/km at sites in ...

Measurement properties of the Human Activity Profile questionnaire in hospitalized patients.

Science.gov (United States)

Souza, Daniel C; Wegner, Fernando; Costa, Lucíola C M; Chiavegato, Luciana D; Lunardi, Adriana C

To test the measurement properties (reproducibility, internal consistency, ceiling and floor effects, and construct validity) of the Human Activity Profile (HAP) questionnaire in hospitalized patients. This measurement properties study recruited one-hundred patients hospitalized for less than 48h for clinical or surgical reasons. The HAP was administered at baseline and after 48h in a test-retest design). The International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ-6) was also administered at baseline, aiming to assess the construct validity. We tested the following measurement properties: reproducibility (reliability assessed by type 2,1 intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC 2,1 )); agreement by the standard error of measurement (SEM) and by the minimum detectable change with 90% confidence (MDC 90 ), internal consistency by Cronbach's alpha, construct validity using a chi-square test, and ceiling and floor effects by calculating the proportion of patients who achieved the minimum or maximum scores. Reliability was excellent with an ICC of 0.99 (95% CI=0.98-0.99). SEM was 1.44 points (1.5% of the total score), the MDD 90 was 3.34 points (3.5% of the total score) and the Cronbach's alpha was 0.93 (alpha if item deleted ranging from 0.94 to 0.94). An association was observed between patients classified by HAP and by IPAQ-6 (χ 2 =3.38; p=0.18). Ceiling or floor effects were not observed. The HAP shows adequate measurement properties for the assessment of the physical activity/inactivity level in hospitalized patients. Copyright © 2017 Associação Brasileira de Pesquisa e Pós-Graduação em Fisioterapia. Publicado por Elsevier Editora Ltda. All rights reserved.

Physical activity among hospitalized older adults - an observational study.

Science.gov (United States)

Evensen, Sigurd; Sletvold, Olav; Lydersen, Stian; Taraldsen, Kristin

2017-05-16

Low level of physical activity is common among hospitalized older adults and is associated with worse prognosis. The aim of this paper is to describe the pattern and level of physical activity in a group of hospitalized older adults and to identify factors associated with physical activity. We measured physical activity on day three after admission using accelerometer based activity monitors and time in upright position as outcome measure. We collected data of physical function (Short Physical Performance Battery, SPPB. 0-12), cognitive function (Mini Mental Status Examination, MMSE, 0-30 and diagnosis of cognitive impairment at discharge, yes/no), personal Activities of Daily Living (p-ADL, Barthel Index, BI, 0-20) and burden of disease (Cumulative Illness Rating Scale, CIRS, 0-56). We analyzed data using univariable and multivariable linear regression models, with time in upright position as dependent variable. We recorded physical activity in a consecutive sample of thirty-eight geriatric patients. Their (mean age 82.9 years, SD 6.3) mean time in upright position one day early after admission was 117.1 min (SD 90.1, n = 38). Mean SPPB score was 4.3 (SD 3.3, n = 34). Mean MMSE score was 19.3 (SD 5.3, n = 30), 73% had a diagnosis of cognitive impairment (n = 38). Mean BI score was 16.4 (SD 4.4, n = 36). Mean CIRS score was 17.0 (SD 4.2, n = 38). There was a significant association between SPPB score and time in upright position (p = 0.048): For each one unit increase in SPPB, the expected increase in upright time was 11.7 min. There was no significant association between age (p = 0.608), diagnosis of cognitive impairment (p = 0.794), p-ADL status (p = 0.127), CIRS score (p = 0.218) and time in upright position. The overall model fit was R 2 0.431. Participants' mean time in upright position one day early after admission was almost two hours, indicating a high level of physical activity compared to results from similar studies. Physical

The use of enhanced recovery after surgery (ERAS) principles in Scottish orthopaedic units--an implementation and follow-up at 1 year, 2010-2011: a report from the Musculoskeletal Audit, Scotland.

Science.gov (United States)

Scott, Nicholas B; McDonald, David; Campbell, Jane; Smith, Richard D; Carey, A Kate; Johnston, Ian G; James, Kate R; Breusch, Steffen J

2013-01-01

To establish whether a nationally guided programme can lead to more widespread implementation of enhanced recovery after surgery (ERAS), a well-established optimised care pathway for lower limb arthroplasty. In 2010, National Services Scotland's Musculoskeletal Audit was asked to perform a 'snapshot' audit of the current peri-operative management of patients undergoing total hip and knee arthroplasty in all 22 Scottish orthopaedic units with an identical follow-up audit in 2011 after input and support from the national steering group. Audit 1 and audit 2 involved 1,345 and 1,278 patients, respectively. The number of Scottish units that developed an ERAS programme increased from 8 (36 %) to 15 (68 %). Units that included more ERAS patients had earlier mobilisation rates (146/474, 36 % ERAS patients mobilised same day vs. 34/873, 4 % non-ERAS; n = 22 units, r = 0.55, p = 0.008) and shorter post-operative length of stay (median 4 days vs. ERAS, 5 days non-ERAS, n = 22 units, r = -0.64, p = 0.001). ERAS knee arthroplasty patients had lower blood transfusion rates (5/205, 2 % vs. 51/399, 13 %, n = 22 units, r = -0.62, p = 0.002). Units that restricted the use of IV fluids post-operatively had higher early mobilisation rates (n = 22 units, r = 0.48, p = 0.03) and shorter post-operative length of stay (n = 22 units, r = -0.56, p = 0.007). Reduced use of patient-controlled analgesia was also associated with earlier mobilisation (n = 22 units, r = 0.49, p = 0.02) and shorter length of stay (n = 22 units, r = -0.39, p = 0.07). Urinary catheterisation rates also dropped from 468/1,345 (35 %) in 2010 to 337/1,278 (26 %) in 2011 (n = 22 units, z = 2.19, p = 0.03). A clinically guided and nationally supported process has proven highly successful in achieving a further uptake of enhanced recovery principles after lower limb arthroplasty in Scotland, which has resulted in clinical benefits to patients and reduced length of hospital stay.

Radiographic bone loss in a Scottish non-smoking Type 1 Diabetes mellitus population; a Bitewing Radiographic Study.

Science.gov (United States)

Plessas, Anastasios; Robertson, Douglas P; Hodge, Penny J

2018-05-15

The dental complications of uncontrolled diabetes include reduced salivary flow rate, candidiasis and periodontal manifestations. A recent meta-analysis concluded that diabetes patients have a significantly higher severity, but not extent, of destructive periodontal disease than non-diabetes people. The authors reported that most type-1 diabetes studies using dental radiographic data have not controlled for confounding factors such as smoking. The aim of this cross-sectional study was to compare radiographic alveolar bone loss between type 1 diabetes (T1DM) and non-diabetes (NDM) participants in a Scottish non-smoking population. Digital bitewing radiographs for 174 Scottish adult never or ex-smoker (> 5 years) participants (108 T1DM, 66 NDS), recruited from outpatient clinics throughout Greater Glasgow and Clyde, were included in the analysis. A single blinded, trained and calibrated examiner recorded the radiographic bone loss seen on bitewing radiographs using the digital screen caliper. The bone loss was measured as the distance between the cemento-enamel junction (CEJ) and the deepest radiographic alveolar bone margin interproximally of each tooth. T1DM participants had more radiographic alveolar bone loss throughout the all teeth measured (median:1.27 mm vs 1.06 mm, P diabetes subjects. Patients suffering from type 1 diabetes are at higher risk of periodontitis even when controlling for multiple possible confounding factors and this difference can be detected on routine dental radiographs at an early stage. These data confirm radiographically the previously reported association between T1DM and periodontal bone loss. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. © 2018 American Academy of Periodontology.

Human activities and microbial geographies. An anthropological approach to the risk of infections in West African hospitals.

Science.gov (United States)

d'Alessandro, Eugénie

2015-07-01

In hospital care, management of the risk of infection represents a crucial issue. Nevertheless, this question remains a neglected area in anthropological research, especially in African countries. To shed new light on this question, we conducted an anthropological investigation in the infectious disease department of a hospital in Niger. Daily observation of the work of the hospital staff for a total period of 6 months was spread out over 2008 and 2009. During our prolonged stay, we also collected 64 in-depth interviews of health care workers and attendants in the department. This study method made it possible to describe many of the practices and discourses related to the issues of medical and personal care and hospital hygiene and to compare the practices observed to standard principles for preventing hospital-acquired infections. Our ethnographic attention to the behavior of the actors showed the absence of formal spatial segmentations between different activities. The care provided by the untrained relatives serving as personal attendants introduced territorial enclaves governed by home hygiene standards into the interior of technical spaces. At the same time, privatizing equipment and space for their diverse activities, the medical staff disrupted technical chains and generated the recurrent crossing of microbial geographies. These results allow us to offer two principal guidelines for improving the quality of care and the management of risks of infection in hospitals in West Africa: (1) the essential role of the attendants in the care provided to hospital inpatients must be officially taken into account, especially by including them in the organization of medical hygiene procedures; (2) the different overlapping technical activities and social activities in the work space must be limited by their geographic and architectural segmentation. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The Scottish Mental Survey 1932 linked to the Midspan studies: a prospective investigation of childhood intelligence and future health

OpenAIRE

Hart, C.L.; Deary, I.J.; MacKinnon, P.L.; Davey Smith, G.; Whalley, L.J.; Wilson, V.; Hole, D.J.; Starr, J.M.

2003-01-01

The Scottish Mental Survey of 1932 (SMS1932) recorded mental ability test scores for nearly all of the age group of children born in 1921 and at school in Scotland on 1st June 1932. The Collaborative and Renfrew/Paisley studies, two of the Midspan studies, obtained health and social data by questionnaire and a physical examination in the 1970s. Some Midspan participants were born in 1921 and may have taken part in the SMS1932, so might have mental ability data available from childhood. The 19...

Dyad conversations about self-stigma in two Scottish communities.

Science.gov (United States)

Mackay, Rob; Bradstreet, Simon; McArthur, Andy; Dunion, Linda

2015-06-01

This study explored self-stigma in 2 Scottish communities and strategies for challenging stigma and discrimination. A mixed-methods approach was used encompassing a survey including the Internalized Stigma of Mental Illness Inventory (ISMI) and facilitated dyad conversations with people with lived experience of mental illness. Self-reported experience of self-stigma across 2 communities was most closely associated with the ISMI Alienation cluster, accompanied by a high level of agreement with the Stigma Resistance cluster. Some 44% agreed that stereotypes about people with mental health problems applied to them, and almost 2/3 felt that having a mental health problem had spoiled their lives. Many participants reported reduced confidence, loss of hope, a sense of failure, and protecting oneself through social withdrawal. The findings also offer hope through narratives from people who have "pushed back" and are striving to reduce their own self-stigma by engaging with others and managing their own recovery journey. The journey through self-stigma and beyond has to be informed by what we know works with recovery from a mental health problem. At a policy and practice level, we recommend emphasis on 4 priorities: (a) refocusing antistigma and discrimination efforts more on the experiences of people who report stigma, (b) rights-based approaches, (c) identity-based work, and (d) information sharing and educational strategies. (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).

A Measure of the Potential Impact of Hospital Community Health Activities on Population Health and Equity.

Science.gov (United States)

Begun, James W; Kahn, Linda M; Cunningham, Brooke A; Malcolm, Jan K; Potthoff, Sandra

2017-12-13

Many hospitals in the United States are exploring greater investment in community health activities that address upstream causes of poor health. Develop and apply a measure to categorize and estimate the potential impact of hospitals' community health activities on population health and equity. We propose a scale of potential impact on population health and equity, based on the cliff analogy developed by Jones and colleagues. The scale is applied to the 317 activities reported in the community health needs assessment implementation plan reports of 23 health care organizations in the Minneapolis-St Paul, Minnesota metropolitan area in 2015. Using a 5-point ordinal scale, we assigned a score of potential impact on population health and equity to each community health activity. A majority (50.2%) of health care organizations' community health activities are classified as addressing social determinants of health (level 4 on the 5-point scale), though very few (5.4%) address structural causes of health equity (level 5 on the 5-point scale). Activities that score highest on potential impact fall into the topic categories of "community health and connectedness" and "healthy lifestyles and wellness." Lower-scoring activities focus on sick or at-risk individuals, such as the topic category of "chronic disease prevention, management, and screening." Health care organizations in the Minneapolis-St Paul metropolitan area vary substantially in the potential impact of their aggregated community health activities. Hospitals can be significant contributors to investment in upstream community health programs. This article provides a scale that can be used not only by hospitals but by other health care and public health organizations to better align their community health strategies, investments, and partnerships with programming and policies that address the foundational causes of population health and equity within the communities they serve.

Assessing the Quality of a Local Authority Conference and Hospitality Venue Using the ServQual Model

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Donnelly Mike

2014-11-01

Full Text Available The close attention paid to service quality by successful private companies has become part of the environment within which most public service organizations now operate. The ServQual model has been used with success to help companies quantify customers' expectations and perceptions of their service and to use this analysis as the basis for improvement. More recently, the ServQual approach has been applied in public service contexts with mixed reliability and validity. This paper reports on the application of the ServQual model to a conference and hospitality venue operated by a Scottish local authority. The study investigates five distinct customer segments: conferences, meetings, receptions, performances, and weddings. The expectations-perceptions gaps are assessed for each of these segments using the ServQual model and the size and antecedents of ServQual Gap 1 is also examined.

CT scanning in stroke patients: meeting the challenge in the remote and rural district general hospital.

Science.gov (United States)

Todd, A W; Anderson, E M

2009-05-01

National audit data allow crude comparison between centres and indicate that most Scottish hospitals fail to meet current guidelines for CT scanning of the brain in stroke patients. This study identifies some of the reasons for delay in performing CT scans in a largely rural population. This audit study assesses the delays from onset of symptoms, time of admission and request received to CT scan in stroke patients for three different in-patient groups as well as those managed in the community. The reasons for delay in CT scanning varied between different patient groups but for one group of in-patients, changes in booking procedure and introduction of a second CT scanner increased the proportion scanned within 48 hours of request from 65% to 96%. Further developments including the introduction of Saturday and Sunday routine CT scanning, radiologist reporting from home and additional CT scanners placed in remote hospitals may be expected to improve these figures further. Target times of three hours from onset of symptoms to scan to allow thrombolysis may however be impossible to meet for all stroke patients in rural areas.

Effects of a worksite physical activity intervention for hospital nurses who are working mothers.

Science.gov (United States)

Tucker, Sharon J; Lanningham-Foster, Lorraine M; Murphy, Justyne N; Thompson, Warren G; Weymiller, Audrey J; Lohse, Christine; Levine, James A

2011-09-01

Hospital nurses who are working mothers are challenged to maintain their personal health and model healthy behaviors for their children. This study aimed to develop and test an innovative 10-week worksite physical activity intervention integrated into the work flow of hospital-based nurses who were mothers. Three volunteer adult medical-surgical nursing units participated as intervention units. Fifty-eight nurses (30 intervention and 28 control) provided baseline and post-intervention repeated measurements of physical activity (steps) and body composition. Intervention participants provided post-intervention focus group feedback. For both groups, daily steps averaged more than 12,400 at baseline and post-intervention. No significant effects were found for physical activity; significant effects were found for fat mass, fat index, and percent fat (p working mothers. Future research is warranted with a larger sample, longer intervention, and additional measures. Copyright 2011, SLACK Incorporated.

Serum Uric Acid and the Risk of Mortality During 23 Years Follow-up in the Scottish Heart Health Extended Cohort Study

Science.gov (United States)

Juraschek, Stephen P.; Tunstall-Pedoe, Hugh; Woodward, Mark

2017-01-01

Background Elevated uric acid is a prevalent condition with controversial health consequences. Observational studies disagree with regard to the relationship of uric acid with mortality, and with factors modifying this relationship. Objective We examined the association of serum uric acid with mortality in 15,083 participants in the Scottish Heart Health Extended Cohort (SHHEC) Study. Methods Serum uric acid measured at study enrollment. Death was ascertained using both the Scottish death register and record linkage. Results During a median follow-up of 23 years, there were 3,980 deaths. In Cox proportional hazards models with sexes combined, those in the highest fifth of uric acid had significantly greater mortality (HR 1.18, 95% CI: 1.06, 1.31) compared with the second fifth, after adjustment for traditional cardiovascular risk factors. This relationship was modified by sex (P-interaction = 0.002) with adjusted HRs of 1.69 (95% CI: 1.40, 2.04) and 0.99 (95% CI: 0.86, 1.14) in women and men, respectively. Compared with the second fifth, the highest fifth of uric acid was most associated with kidney-related death (HR: 2.08, 95% CI: 1.31, 3.32). Conclusion Elevated uric acid is associated with earlier mortality, especially in women. Future studies should evaluate mechanisms for these interactions and explore the strong association with renal-related mortality. PMID:24534458

Serum uric acid and the risk of mortality during 23 years follow-up in the Scottish Heart Health Extended Cohort Study.

Science.gov (United States)

Juraschek, Stephen P; Tunstall-Pedoe, Hugh; Woodward, Mark

2014-04-01

Elevated uric acid is a prevalent condition with controversial health consequences. Observational studies disagree with regard to the relationship of uric acid with mortality, and with factors modifying this relationship. We examined the association of serum uric acid with mortality in 15,083 participants in the Scottish Heart Health Extended Cohort (SHHEC) Study. Serum uric acid was measured at study enrollment. Death was ascertained using both the Scottish death register and record linkage. During a median follow-up of 23 years, there were 3980 deaths. In Cox proportional hazards models with sexes combined, those in the highest fifth of uric acid had significantly greater mortality (HR 1.18, 95% CI: 1.06, 1.31) compared with the second fifth, after adjustment for traditional cardiovascular risk factors. This relationship was modified by sex (P-interaction=0.002) with adjusted HRs of 1.69 (95% CI: 1.40, 2.04) and 0.99 (95% CI: 0.86, 1.14) in women and men, respectively. Compared with the second fifth, the highest fifth of uric acid was most associated with kidney-related death (HR: 2.08, 95% CI: 1.31, 3.32). Elevated uric acid is associated with earlier mortality, especially in women. Future studies should evaluate mechanisms for these interactions and explore the strong association with renal-related mortality. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Impact of Management on Avian Communities in the Scottish Highlands.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Scott Newey

Full Text Available The protection of biodiversity is a key national and international policy objective. While protected areas provide one approach, a major challenge lies in understanding how the conservation of biodiversity can be achieved in the context of multiple land management objectives in the wider countryside. Here we analyse metrics of bird diversity in the Scottish uplands in relation to land management types and explore how bird species composition varies in relation to land managed for grazing, hunting and conservation. Birds were surveyed on the heather moorland areas of 26 different landholdings in Scotland. The results indicate that, in relation to dominant management type, the composition of bird species varies but measures of diversity and species richness do not. Intensive management for grouse shooting affects the occurrence, absolute and relative abundance of bird species. While less intensive forms of land management appear to only affect the relative abundance of species, though extensive sheep grazing appears to have little effect on avian community composition. Therefore enhanced biodiversity at the landscape level is likely to be achieved by maintaining heterogeneity in land management among land management units. This result should be taken into account when developing policies that consider how to achieve enhanced biodiversity outside protected areas, in the context of other legitimate land-uses.

Downsizing of acute inpatient beds associated with private finance initiative: Scotland's case study

Science.gov (United States)

Dunnigan, Matthew G; Pollock, Allyson M

2003-01-01

Objectives To evaluate whether the projected 24% reduction in acute bed numbers in Lothian hospitals, which formed part of the private finance initiative (PFI) plans for the replacement Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh, is being compensated for by improvements in efficiency and greater use of community facilities, and to ascertain whether there is an independent PFI effect by comparing clinical activity and performance in acute specialties in Lothian hospitals with other NHS hospitals in Scotland. Design Comparison of projected and actual trends in acute bed capacity and inpatient and day case admissions in the first five years (1995-6 to 2000-1) of Lothian Health Board's integrated healthcare plan. Population study of trends in bed rate, hospital activity, length of stay, and throughput in Lothian hospitals compared with the rest of Scotland from 1990-1 to 2000-1. Main outcome measures Staffed bed rates, admission rates, mean lengths of stay, occupancy, and throughput in four adult acute specialty groups in 1990-1, 1995-6, and 2000-1. Results By 2000-1, rates for inpatient admission in all acute, medical, surgical, and intensive therapy specialties in Lothian hospitals were respectively 20%, 6%, 28%, and 38% below those in the rest of Scotland. Day case rates in all acute and acute surgical specialties were 13% and 33% lower. The proportion of delayed discharges in staffed acute and post-acute NHS beds in Lothian hospitals exceeded the Scottish average (15% and 12% respectively; Pfinance initiative (PFI) hospitals in England and Scotland projected reductions in acute beds of about 30% in the five years before the opening of the new replacement hospitalsThe new PFI Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh, which will fully open in 2003, is the cornerstone of Lothian Health Board's healthcare plan for its acute hospitalsWhat this study addsCompared with other Scottish NHS hospitals, service delivery has been reduced across Lothian associated with PFI developmentThe planning targets

Becoming independent: political participation and youth transitions in the Scottish referendum.

Science.gov (United States)

Breeze, Maddie; Gorringe, Hugo; Jamieson, Lynn; Rosie, Michael

2017-12-01

Sociological debates on youth engagement with electoral politics play out against a backdrop of supposed 'decline' in civic participation (e.g. Putnam , Norris, ), in turn contextualized by theories of individualization in 'late' or 'reflexive' modernity (Beck, Giddens). However, the enfranchisement of 16 and 17 year olds in the 2014 Scottish Independence Referendum catalysed remarkably high levels of voter turnout among this youngest group, and was accompanied by apparently ongoing political engagement. We explored this engagement among a strategic sample of young 'Yes' voters, in the immediate aftermath of this exceptional political event. Analysis of qualitative interview data generated an unanticipated finding; that interviewees narrated their political engagement biographically, articulated their referendum participation reflexively, and located their new political ideas, allegiances and actions in the context of their own transitions to 'independent' adulthood. This inspired us to rethink young people's political engagement in relation to youth transitions. Doing so enables a synthesis of divergent strands in the sociology of youth, and offers new insights into the combinations of 'personal' agentic and 'political' structural factors involved in young people's politicization. © London School of Economics and Political Science 2017.

Association between health-related quality of life, physical fitness, and physical activity in older adults recently discharged from hospital.

Science.gov (United States)

Brovold, Therese; Skelton, Dawn A; Sylliaas, Hilde; Mowe, Morten; Bergland, Astrid

2014-07-01

The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship among health-related quality of life (HRQOL), physical fitness, and physical activity in older patients after recent discharge from hospital. One hundred fifteen independent-living older adults (ages 70-92 years) were included. HRQOL (Medical Outcomes Study 36-item Short Form Health Survey), physical activity (Physical Activity Scale for the Elderly), and physical fitness (Senior Fitness Test) were measured 2-4 weeks after discharge. Higher levels of physical activity and physical fitness were correlated with higher self-reported HRQOL. Although cause and effect cannot be determined from this study, the results suggest that a particular focus on the value of physical activity and physical fitness while in hospital and when discharged from hospital may be important to encourage patients to actively preserve independence and HRQOL. It may be especially important to target those with lower levels of physical activity, poorer physical fitness, and multiple comorbidities.

Application of the WFD cost proportionality principle to diffuse pollution mitigation: a case study for Scottish Lochs.

Science.gov (United States)

Vinten, A J A; Martin-Ortega, J; Glenk, K; Booth, P; Balana, B B; MacLeod, M; Lago, M; Moran, D; Jones, M

2012-04-30

The Water Framework Directive (WFD) aims to deliver good ecological status (GES) for Europe's waters. It prescribes the use of economic principles, such as derogation from GES on grounds of disproportionate costs of mitigation. This paper proposes an application of the proportionality principle to mitigation of phosphorus (P) pollution of 544 Scottish lochs at national and local water body scales. P loading estimates were derived from a national diffuse pollution screening tool. For 293 of these lochs (31% of the loch area), GES already occurred. Mitigation cost-effectiveness was assessed using combined mitigation cost curves for managed grassland, rough grazing, arable land, sewage and septic tank sources. These provided sufficient mitigation (92% of national P load) for GES to be achieved on another 31% of loch area at annualised cost of £2.09 m/y. Mitigation of the residual P loading preventing other lochs achieving GES was considered by using a "mop-up" cost of £200/kg P (assumed cost effectiveness of removal of P directly from lochs), leading to a total cost of £189 m/y. Lochs were ranked by mitigation costs per loch area to give a national scale marginal mitigation cost curve. A published choice experiment valuation of WFD targets for Scottish lochs was used to estimate marginal benefits at national scale and combined with the marginal cost curve. This gave proportionate costs of £5.7 m/y leading to GES in 72% of loch area. Using national mean marginal benefits with a scheme to estimate changes in individual loch value with P loading gave proportionate costs of £25.6 m/y leading to GES in 77% of loch area (491 lochs). Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Views of the Scottish general public on community pharmacy weight management services: international implications.

Science.gov (United States)

Weidmann, Anita Elaine; Cunningham, Scott; Gray, Gwen; Hansford, Denise; Bermano, Giovanna; Stewart, Derek

2012-04-01

Obesity has reached pandemic levels, with more than 1.5 billion adults being affected worldwide. In Scotland two-thirds of men and more than half of women are either overweight or obese, placing Scotland overall third behind the United States of America and Mexico. All community pharmacies in Scotland are contracted to provide public health services such as smoking cessation and there is increasing interest in their contribution to weight management. Researching this area in Scotland may provide valuable information to facilitate the development of community pharmacy services in other parts of the UK and internationally. To describe the views of the Scottish general public on the provision of weight management services via community pharmacies. General public in Scotland. A cross-sectional postal questionnaire survey of 6,000 randomly selected members of the Scottish general public aged 18 years and over. Views on community pharmacy led weight management services. Questionnaires were returned by 20.6% (n = 1,236). Over half 60.1% (n = 751) agreed or strongly agreed that they had easy access to pharmacy services in general and around one-third agreed (35%; n = 438) that it was more convenient to obtain weight management advice from a pharmacist than it is to make an appointment with a GP. Most respondents however lacked awareness of the types of health services available through community pharmacy (13.2%; n = 162) and would not feel comfortable speaking to a pharmacist or medicines counter assistant about weight related issues (25%; n = 320). Concerns over privacy (47.3%; n = 592) and perceived lack of pharmacists' specialist knowledge (open comments) were identified as potential barriers to service uptake by the general public. Overall, respondents appear to be receptive to the idea of accessing weight management services through community pharmacy but a perceived lack of privacy, poor knowledge of pharmacists' skill level and of public health services available to

Medication safety activities of hospital pharmacists in Ghana; challenges and perceived impact on patient care.

Science.gov (United States)

Acheampong, Franklin; Bruce, Elizabeth; Anto, Berko Panyin

2015-01-01

Pharmacists by their training have the competences and skills to promote safe use of medicines which is an essential component of patient safety. This study explored the perceptions of hospital pharmacists' role in medication safety in Ghana, identified their attendant challenges and ways of enhancing such roles in the future. A self-administered questionnaire was delivered to 200 pharmacists selected conveniently from the 10 regions of Ghana. Questions in the questionnaire were based on a systematic literature review that had catalogued and summarised all the activities of hospital pharmacists related to medication safety. A total of 176 (88% response rate) questionnaires were completed and returned. Almost all pharmacists (97.7%) believed that they were involved in medication safety activities in their daily routine. The frequently performed activities were counselling of out-patient (91.8%), training pharmacy and other clinical students (72.2%), reporting on medication errors (70%), and reconciling medications (69.2%). The mean weekly time spent on the activities ranged from 6.5 to 19.8 hours. Participants who had clinical pharmacy related additional qualifications (χ2 = 37.749; p = 0.049) and worked in tertiary care hospitals (χ2 = 26.6; p = 0.377) undertook more medication safety activities than those without. The cited challenges faced by participants included inadequate time available (62.7%), spending most time in managerial activities (47.3%), lack of formal structures of engagement (43.8%), lack of motivation by superiors (34.9%), and no formal schedule by supervisor (32%). Only 7.7% stated they lack interest in performing those activities. Pharmacists undertake many medication safety activities routinely that they perceive to have impact on patient care outcomes. Restructuring of their managerial roles will contribute to freeing time for pharmacists to engage more in those activities.

Business, Management and Administration: A Subject-Based Aspect Report by Education Scotland on Behalf of the Scottish Funding Council on Provision in Scotland's Colleges. Transforming Lives through Learning

Science.gov (United States)

Education Scotland, 2014

2014-01-01

In preparing this report, reviewers visited a sample of four colleges, detailed in Appendix 1. They also drew on the findings of published Education Scotland external reviews of colleges, and examined other relevant publications and reports. They consulted and held focus groups with key stakeholders, including the Scottish Qualifications Authority…

Hospital clinical pharmacy services in Vietnam.

Science.gov (United States)

Trinh, Hieu T; Nguyen, Huong T L; Pham, Van T T; Ba, Hai L; Dong, Phuong T X; Cao, Thao T B; Nguyen, Hanh T H; Brien, Jo-Anne

2018-04-07

Background Clinical pharmacy is key to the quality use of medicines. While there are different approaches in different countries, international perspectives may inform health service development. The Vietnamese Ministry of Health introduced a legal regulation of clinical pharmacy services in December 2012. Objective To describe the services, and to explore reported barriers and facilitators in implementing clinical pharmacy activities in Vietnamese hospitals after the introduction of Vietnamese Ministry of Health legal regulation. Setting Thirty-nine hospitals in Hanoi, Vietnam, including 22 provincial and 17 district hospitals. Method A mixed methods study was utilized. An online questionnaire was sent to the hospitals. In-depth interviews were conducted with pairs of nominated pharmacists at ten of these hospitals. The questionnaire focused on four areas: facilities, workforce, policies and clinical pharmacy activities. Main outcome measure Proportion of clinical pharmacy activities in hospitals. Themes in clinical pharmacy practice. Results 34/39 (87%) hospitals had established clinical pharmacy teams. Most activities were non-patient-specific (87%) while the preliminary patient-specific clinical pharmacy services were available in only 8/39 hospitals (21%). The most common non-patient-specific activities were providing medicines information (97%), reporting adverse drug reactions (97%), monitoring medication usage (97%). The patient specific activities varied widely between hospitals and were ad hoc. The main challenges reported were: lack of workforce and qualified clinical pharmacists. Conclusion While most hospitals had hospital-based pharmacy activities, the direct patient care was limited. Training, education and an expanded work forces are needed to improve clinical pharmacy services.

Very Low Levels of Physical Activity in Older Patients During Hospitalization at an Acute Geriatric Ward: A Prospective Cohort Study.

Science.gov (United States)

Villumsen, Morten; Jorgensen, Martin Gronbech; Andreasen, Jane; Rathleff, Michael Skovdal; Mølgaard, Carsten Møller

2015-10-01

Lack of activity during hospitalization may contribute to functional decline. The purpose of this study was to investigate (1) the time spent walking during hospitalization by geriatric patients referred to physical and/or occupational therapy and (2) the development in time spent walking during hospitalization. In this observational study, 24-hr accelerometer data (ActivPal) were collected from inclusion to discharge in 124 patients at an acute geriatric ward. The median time spent walking was 7 min per day. During the first quartile of hospitalization, the patients spent 4 (IQR:1;11) min per day walking, increasing to 10 (IQR:1;29) min during the last quartile. Improvement in time spent walking was primarily observed in the group able to perform the Timed Up & Go task at admission. When walking only 7 min per day, patients could be classified as inactive and at risk for functional decline; nonetheless, the physical activity level increased significantly during hospitalization.

Childhood IQ of parents related to characteristics of their offspring: linking the Scottish Mental Survey 1932 to the Midspan Family Study

OpenAIRE

Hart, C L; Deary, Ian J; Davey Smith, G; Upton, M N; Whalley, Lawrence J; Starr, John M; Hole, D J; Wilson, V; Watt, G C M

2005-01-01

The objective of the study was to investigate the relationship between childhood IQ of parents and characteristics of their adult offspring. It was a prospective family cohort study linked to a mental ability survey of the parents and set in Renfrew and Paisley in Scotland. Participants were 1921-born men and women who took part in the Scottish Mental Survey in 1932 and the Renfrew/Paisley study in the 1970s, and whose,offspring took part in the Midspan Family study in 1996. There were 286 of...

Moving from trust to trustworthiness: Experiences of public engagement in the Scottish Health Informatics Programme.

Science.gov (United States)

Aitken, Mhairi; Cunningham-Burley, Sarah; Pagliari, Claudia

2016-10-01

The Scottish Health Informatics Programme (SHIP) was a Scotland-wide research programme exploring ways of collecting, managing and analysing electronic patient records for health research. As part of the SHIP public engagement work stream, a series of eight focus groups and a stakeholder workshop were conducted to explore perceptions of the role, relevance and functions of trust (or trustworthiness) in relation to research practices. The findings demonstrate that the public's relationships of trust and/or mistrust in science and research are not straightforward. This paper aims to move beyond simple descriptions of whether publics trust researchers, or in whom members of the public place their trust, and to explore more fully the bases of public trust/mistrust in science, what trust implies and equally what it means for research/researchers to be trustworthy. This has important implications for public engagement in interdisciplinary projects.

A Novel Approach for Creating Activity-Aware Applications in a Hospital Environment

Science.gov (United States)

Bardram, Jakob E.

Context-aware and activity-aware computing has been proposed as a way to adapt the computer to the user’s ongoing activity. However, deductively moving from physical context - like location - to establishing human activity has proved difficult. This paper proposes a novel approach to activity-aware computing. Instead of inferring activities, this approach enables the user to explicitly model their activity, and then use sensor-based events to create, manage, and use these computational activities adjusted to a specific context. This approach was crafted through a user-centered design process in collaboration with a hospital department. We propose three strategies for activity-awareness: context-based activity matching, context-based activity creation, and context-based activity adaptation. We present the implementation of these strategies and present an experimental evaluation of them. The experiments demonstrate that rather than considering context as information, context can be a relational property that links ’real-world activities’ with their ’computational activities’.

Strategic activity and financial performance of U.S. rural hospitals: a national study, 1983 to 1988.

Science.gov (United States)

Mick, S S; Morlock, L L; Salkever, D; de Lissovoy, G; Malitz, F; Wise, C G; Jones, A

1994-01-01

This study examines the effect of 13 strategic management activities on the financial performance of a national sample of 797 U.S. rural hospitals during the period of 1983-1988. Controlled for environment-market, geographic-region, and hospital-related variables, the results show almost no measurable effect of strategic adoption on rural hospital profitability and liquidity. Where statistically significant relationships existed, they were more often negative than positive. These findings were not expected; it was hypothesized that positive effects across a broad range of strategies would emerge, other things being equal. Discussed are possible explanations for these findings as well as their implication for a rural health policy relying on individual rural hospital strategic adaptation to environmental change.

Historical accumulation rates of mercury in four Scottish ombrotrophic peat bogs over the past 2000 years

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Farmer, John G., E-mail: J.G.Farmer@ed.ac.uk [School of GeoSciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, EH9 3JN, Scotland (United Kingdom); Anderson, Peter [Contaminated Land Assessment and Remediation Research Centre, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, EH9 3JL, Scotland (United Kingdom); Cloy, Joanna M.; Graham, Margaret C. [School of GeoSciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, EH9 3JN, Scotland (United Kingdom); MacKenzie, Angus B.; Cook, Gordon T. [Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre, East Kilbride, G75 0QF, Scotland (United Kingdom)

2009-10-15

The historical accumulation rates of mercury resulting from atmospheric deposition to four Scottish ombrotrophic peat bogs, Turclossie Moss (northeast Scotland), Flanders Moss (west-central), Red Moss of Balerno (east-central) and Carsegowan Moss (southwest), were determined via analysis of {sup 210}Pb- and {sup 14}C-dated cores up to 2000 years old. Average pre-industrial rates of mercury accumulation of 4.5 and 3.7 {mu}g m{sup -2} y{sup -1} were obtained for Flanders Moss (A.D. 1-1800) and Red Moss of Balerno (A.D. 800-1800), respectively. Thereafter, mercury accumulation rates increased to typical maximum values of 51, 61, 77 and 85 {mu}g m{sup -2} y{sup -1}, recorded at different times possibly reflecting local/regional influences during the first 70 years of the 20th century, at the four sites (TM, FM, RM, CM), before declining to a mean value of 27 {+-} 15 {mu}g m{sup -2} y{sup -1} during the late 1990s/early 2000s. Comparison of such trends for mercury with those for lead and arsenic in the cores and also with direct data for the declining UK emissions of these three elements since 1970 suggested that a substantial proportion of the mercury deposited at these sites over the past few decades originated from outwith the UK, with contributions to wet and dry deposition arising from long-range transport of mercury released by sources such as combustion of coal. Confidence in the chronological reliability of these core-derived trends in absolute and relative accumulation of mercury, at least since the 19th century, was provided by the excellent agreement between the corresponding detailed and characteristic temporal trends in the {sup 206}Pb/{sup 207}Pb isotopic ratio of lead in the {sup 210}Pb-dated Turclossie Moss core and those in archival Scottish Sphagnum moss samples of known date of collection. The possibility of some longer-term loss of volatile mercury released from diagenetically altered older peat cannot, however, be excluded by the findings of this

Historical accumulation rates of mercury in four Scottish ombrotrophic peat bogs over the past 2000 years

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Farmer, John G.; Anderson, Peter; Cloy, Joanna M.; Graham, Margaret C.; MacKenzie, Angus B.; Cook, Gordon T.

2009-01-01

The historical accumulation rates of mercury resulting from atmospheric deposition to four Scottish ombrotrophic peat bogs, Turclossie Moss (northeast Scotland), Flanders Moss (west-central), Red Moss of Balerno (east-central) and Carsegowan Moss (southwest), were determined via analysis of 210 Pb- and 14 C-dated cores up to 2000 years old. Average pre-industrial rates of mercury accumulation of 4.5 and 3.7 μg m -2 y -1 were obtained for Flanders Moss (A.D. 1-1800) and Red Moss of Balerno (A.D. 800-1800), respectively. Thereafter, mercury accumulation rates increased to typical maximum values of 51, 61, 77 and 85 μg m -2 y -1 , recorded at different times possibly reflecting local/regional influences during the first 70 years of the 20th century, at the four sites (TM, FM, RM, CM), before declining to a mean value of 27 ± 15 μg m -2 y -1 during the late 1990s/early 2000s. Comparison of such trends for mercury with those for lead and arsenic in the cores and also with direct data for the declining UK emissions of these three elements since 1970 suggested that a substantial proportion of the mercury deposited at these sites over the past few decades originated from outwith the UK, with contributions to wet and dry deposition arising from long-range transport of mercury released by sources such as combustion of coal. Confidence in the chronological reliability of these core-derived trends in absolute and relative accumulation of mercury, at least since the 19th century, was provided by the excellent agreement between the corresponding detailed and characteristic temporal trends in the 206 Pb/ 207 Pb isotopic ratio of lead in the 210 Pb-dated Turclossie Moss core and those in archival Scottish Sphagnum moss samples of known date of collection. The possibility of some longer-term loss of volatile mercury released from diagenetically altered older peat cannot, however, be excluded by the findings of this study.

A new costing model in hospital management: time-driven activity-based costing system.

Science.gov (United States)

Öker, Figen; Özyapıcı, Hasan

2013-01-01

Traditional cost systems cause cost distortions because they cannot meet the requirements of today's businesses. Therefore, a new and more effective cost system is needed. Consequently, time-driven activity-based costing system has emerged. The unit cost of supplying capacity and the time needed to perform an activity are the only 2 factors considered by the system. Furthermore, this system determines unused capacity by considering practical capacity. The purpose of this article is to emphasize the efficiency of the time-driven activity-based costing system and to display how it can be applied in a health care institution. A case study was conducted in a private hospital in Cyprus. Interviews and direct observations were used to collect the data. The case study revealed that the cost of unused capacity is allocated to both open and laparoscopic (closed) surgeries. Thus, by using the time-driven activity-based costing system, managers should eliminate the cost of unused capacity so as to obtain better results. Based on the results of the study, hospital management is better able to understand the costs of different surgeries. In addition, managers can easily notice the cost of unused capacity and decide how many employees to be dismissed or directed to other productive areas.

Biodegradation of pharmaceuticals in hospital wastewater by a hybrid biofilm and activated sludge system (Hybas)

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Escola Casas, Monica; Chhetri, Ravi Kumar; Ooi, Gordon Tze Hoong

2015-01-01

TM is a hybrid process, based on the integrated fixed-film activated sludge technology, where plastic carriers for biofilm growth are suspended within activated sludge. To investigate the potential of a hybrid system for the removal of pharmaceuticals in hospital wastewater a pilot plant consisting of a series...

A comparison of the risks of leukaemia in the offspring of the Sellafield workforce born in Seascale and those born elsewhere in West Cumbria with the risks in the offspring of the Ontario and Scottish workforces and the Japanese bomb survivors

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Little, M.P. (National Radiological Protection Board, Chilton (United Kingdom)); Wakeford, R. (British Nuclear Fuels plc, Risley (United Kingdom)); Charles, M.W. (Nuclear Electric plc, Berkeley (United Kingdom). Berkeley Technology Centre)

1994-09-01

The cases of childhood leukaemia found among children of the Sellafield (West Cumbria), Ontario and Scottish radiation workers and in the offspring of the Japanese bomb survivors are analysed using linear and exponential forms of a relative risk model with total preconception external radiation dose estimates. In particular, the risks among children of the Sellafield workforce born in Seascale and among those born elsewhere in West Cumbria are compared with the risks derived from the other datasets. There is a highly significant inconsistency between the raised paternal preconception exposure excess relative risk coefficients for leukaemia in those children of the Sellafield workforce born in Seascale and the coefficients for children born elsewhere in West Cumbria, those for the offspring of the Ontario or Scottish workforces as well as those for the offspring of the Japanese bomb survivors. These incompatabilities are independent of the models used. In contrast to this, the leukaemia excess relative risk coefficients for paternal preconception exposure of those children of the Sellafield workforce born elsewhere in West Cumbria are not significantly elevated and do not differ significantly from those observed in the Japanese, Ontario and Scottish datasets. (author).

A comparison of the risks of leukaemia in the offspring of the Sellafield workforce born in Seascale and those born elsewhere in West Cumbria with the risks in the offspring of the Ontario and Scottish workforces and the Japanese bomb survivors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Little, M.P.; Wakeford, R.; Charles, M.W.

1994-01-01

The cases of childhood leukaemia found among children of the Sellafield (West Cumbria), Ontario and Scottish radiation workers and in the offspring of the Japanese bomb survivors are analysed using linear and exponential forms of a relative risk model with total preconception external radiation dose estimates. In particular, the risks among children of the Sellafield workforce born in Seascale and among those born elsewhere in West Cumbria are compared with the risks derived from the other datasets. There is a highly significant inconsistency between the raised paternal preconception exposure excess relative risk coefficients for leukaemia in those children of the Sellafield workforce born in Seascale and the coefficients for children born elsewhere in West Cumbria, those for the offspring of the Ontario or Scottish workforces as well as those for the offspring of the Japanese bomb survivors. These incompatabilities are independent of the models used. In contrast to this, the leukaemia excess relative risk coefficients for paternal preconception exposure of those children of the Sellafield workforce born elsewhere in West Cumbria are not significantly elevated and do not differ significantly from those observed in the Japanese, Ontario and Scottish datasets. (author)

Outcomes of Nulliparous Women with Spontaneous Labor Onset Admitted to Hospitals in Pre-active versus Active Labor

Science.gov (United States)

NEAL, Jeremy L.; LAMP, Jane M.; BUCK, Jacalyn S.; LOWE, Nancy K.; GILLESPIE, Shannon L.; RYAN, Sharon L.

2014-01-01

Introduction The timing of when a woman is admitted to the hospital for labor care following spontaneous contraction onset may be among the most important decisions that labor attendants make as it can influence care patterns and birth outcomes. The aims of this study were to estimate the percentage of low-risk, nulliparous women at term who are admitted to labor units prior to active labor and to evaluate the effects of the timing of admission (i.e., pre-active versus active labor) on labor interventions and mode of birth. Methods Obstetrics data from low-risk, nulliparous women with spontaneous labor onset at term gestation (N = 216) were merged from two prospective studies conducted at three large, Midwestern hospitals. Baseline characteristics, labor interventions, and outcomes were compared between groups using Fisher’s exact and Mann-Whitney U tests, as appropriate. Likelihoods for oxytocin augmentation, amniotomy, and cesarean delivery were assessed by logistic regression. Results Of the sample of 216 low-risk nulliparous women, 114 (52.8%) were admitted in pre-active labor and 102 (47.2%) were admitted in active labor. Women admitted in pre-active labor were more likely to undergo oxytocin augmentation (84.2% and 45.1%, respectively; odds ratio (OR) 6.5, 95% confidence interval (CI) 3.43–12.27) but not amniotomy (55.3% and 61.8%, respectively; OR 0.8, 95% CI 0.44–1.32) when compared to women admitted in active labor. The likelihood of cesarean delivery was higher for women admitted before active labor onset (15.8% and 6.9%, respectively; OR 2.6, 95% CI 1.02–6.37). Discussion Many low-risk nulliparous women with regular, spontaneous uterine contractions are admitted to labor units before active labor onset, which increases their likelihood of receiving oxytocin and being delivered via cesarean section. An evidence-based, standardized approach for labor admission decision-making is recommended to decrease inadvertent admissions of women in pre-active

Scottish Passive House: Insights into Environmental Conditions in Monitored Passive Houses

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Janice Foster

2016-04-01

Full Text Available Climate change and sustainability legislation in recent years has led to significant changes in construction approaches in the UK housing sector. This has resulted in the adoption of new building typologies, including the German Passivhaus (Passive House standard. This standard aims to improve occupant comfort and energy efficiency, potentially changing the ways in which homes operate and how occupants interact with them. With increasing construction of low energy dwellings, there is an emerging gap in knowledge in relation to occupant health and wellbeing, thermal comfort, and indoor air quality (IAQ. Using data collected from a two year Building Performance Evaluation (BPE study funded by Innovate UK, the environmental data (temperature, relative humidity and carbon dioxide concentrations from five Certified Passive House homes in Scotland was compared. The results demonstrate problems with overheating with peak temperatures exceeding 30 °C. Imbalanced mechanical ventilation with heat recovery (MVHR systems were identified in 80% of the dwellings and inadequate IAQ was found due to poor ventilation. Only one of the Passive Houses studied exhibited thermal conditions and IAQ which were, on the whole within Passive House parameters. This paper outlines the insights and the main issues of Scottish Passive House in the broader context of sustainability.

The Centre for Mountain Studies: Active From Scottish to Global Scales

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Amy Woolvin

2016-11-01

Full Text Available The Centre for Mountain Studies (CMS, located at Perth College, University of the Highlands and Islands, Scotland, hosts the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization Chair in Sustainable Mountain Development. Since 2000, CMS staff and students have been active in research and knowledge exchange activities at scales from the local—in Scotland—to the global (Price 2011; Glass et al 2013. In addition to hosting the Mountains of our Future Earth conference (Perth III, recent international activities have focused on climate change, biosphere reserves, social innovation, and stakeholder engagement in biodiversity research. Projects in Scotland have mainly addressed land management and local communities. The CMS also runs a part-time online MSc program in Sustainable Mountain Development.

Activity restriction increases deoxypyridinoline excretion in hospitalized high-risk pregnant women.

Science.gov (United States)

Vanderspank, Dana; Bernier, Suzanne M; Sopper, Maggie M; Watson, Patricia; Mottola, Michelle F

2014-01-01

Activity restriction (AR), one of the most common interventions used in high-risk pregnancies, may exacerbate loss of bone mass. The purpose of this study was to determine changes over time in bone resorption in hospitalized AR women during late pregnancy. This was a short-term prospective study conducted in two tertiary-care obstetric hospitals. We measured urinary deoxypyridinoline (Dpd) excretion, a marker of bone resorption, once per week in a convenience sample of 14 hospitalized AR women in the third trimester and compared values at 28-31 and 34-36 weeks' gestation to those of 11 ambulatory control women. Both groups completed a bone-loading questionnaire, 3-day food intake record, and pedometer step counts at the same gestational age. Urinary Dpd excretion increased from Days 1-7 (2.60 ± 0.32 nmol/mmol creatinine) to Days 22-28 (5.36 ± 0.83 nmol/mmol creatinine; p ≤ .05). Dpd excretion was higher in AR women (4.51 ± 0.31 nmol/mmol creatinine) than ambulatory women (2.72 ± 0.39 nmol/mmol creatinine) at 34-36 weeks' gestation (p ≤ .05). Energy intake between ambulatory and AR women was not different (p ≥ .05). All women met the daily requirements for calcium and vitamin D intake during pregnancy. Average daily pedometer steps for the AR women were significantly less compared to controls (1,329 ± 936 and 8,024 ± 1,890 steps/day, respectively; p ≤ .05). AR leads to increased bone resorption in hospitalized pregnant women, which may impact future risk of developing osteopenia and osteoporosis.

The Effect of Activating Early Warning System on Motahari Hospital Preparedness

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Vahid Delshad

2015-10-01

Full Text Available Background: One of the important aspects of hospital preparedness in disasters is its rapid early warning system. In this study, the activation of early warning system was evaluated under the monitoring of disasters workgroup of the Ministry of Health based on the national program of “hospitals preparedness in disasters” in Shahid Motahari Hospital.  Materials and Methods: The sample was composed of 801 adults exposed to the earthquake. Two months after the earthquake, all subjects were surveyed with measures administrated in a standard order as follows: demographic data sheet, disaster experiences scale (DES, general health questionnaire (GHQ, and symptom checklist 90-revised (SCL-90-R. Results: The results revealed that 23% of the survivors in the exposed group had ASD, 10% had anxiety symptoms, 7.5% depression, 4% MADD, 5% psychosomatic disorders, 10% phobia, 7% aggressive behavior, and 10% insomnia. Conclusion: This article has summarized the current status of information on mental disorders caused by experiencing or witnessing a life threatening severe earthquake. The experience of fear, helplessness, and panic during the earthquake, and the appraisal by the victims of serious psychological, social, as well as demographical consequences after the earthquake, were positively related to the subscale scores and the total score of GHQ, SCL-90-R, and DES.

Trends in adult cardiovascular disease risk factors and their socio-economic patterning in the Scottish population 1995–2008: cross-sectional surveys

Science.gov (United States)

Davies, Carolyn; Gray, Linsay; Bromley, Catherine; Capewell, Simon; Leyland, Alastair H

2011-01-01

Objectives To examine secular and socio-economic changes in cardiovascular disease risk factor prevalences in the Scottish population. This could contribute to a better understanding of why the decline in coronary heart disease mortality in Scotland has recently stalled along with a widening of socio-economic inequalities. Design Four Scottish Health Surveys 1995, 1998, 2003 and 2008 (6190, 6656, 5497 and 4202 respondents, respectively, aged 25–64 years) were used to examine gender-stratified, age-standardised prevalences of smoking, alcohol consumption, physical activity, fruit and vegetable consumption, discretionary salt use and self-reported diabetes or hypertension. Prevalences were determined according to education and social class. Inequalities were assessed using the slope index of inequality, and time trends were determined using linear regression. Results There were moderate secular declines in the prevalence of smoking, excess alcohol consumption and physical inactivity. Smoking prevalence declined between 1995 and 2008 from 33.4% (95% CI 31.8% to 35.0%) to 29.9% (27.9% to 31.8%) for men and from 36.1% (34.5% to 37.8%) to 27.4% (25.5% to 29.3%) for women. Adverse trends in prevalence were noted for self-reported diabetes and hypertension. Over the four surveys, the diabetes prevalence increased from 1.9% (1.4% to 2.4%) to 3.6% (2.8% to 4.4%) for men and from 1.7% (1.2% to 2.1%) to 3.0% (2.3% to 3.7%) for women. Socio-economic inequalities were evident for almost all risk factors, irrespective of the measure used. These social gradients appeared to be maintained over the four surveys. An exception was self-reported diabetes where, although inequalities were small, the gradient increased over time. Alcohol consumption was unique in consistently showing an inverse gradient, especially for women. Conclusions There has been only a moderate decline in behavioural cardiovascular risk factor prevalences since 1995, with increases in self-reported diabetes

Status of costing hospital nursing work within Australian casemix activity-based funding policy.

Science.gov (United States)

Heslop, Liza

2012-02-01

Australia has a long history of patient level costing initiated when casemix funding was implemented in several states in the early 1990s. Australia includes, to some extent, hospital payment based on nursing intensity adopted within casemix funding policy and the Diagnostic Related Group system. Costing of hospital nursing services in Australia has not changed significantly in the last few decades despite widespread introduction of casemix funding policy at the state level. Recent Commonwealth of Australia National Health Reform presents change to the management of the delivery of health care including health-care costing. There is agreement for all Australian jurisdictions to progress to casemix-based activity funding. Within this context, nurse costing infrastructure presents contemporary issues and challenges. An assessment is made of the progress of costing nursing services within casemix funding models in Australian hospitals. Valid and reliable Australian-refined nursing service weights might overcome present cost deficiencies and limitations. © 2012 Blackwell Publishing Asia Pty Ltd.

Evaluation of an impedance threshold device in patients receiving active compression-decompression cardiopulmonary resuscitation for out of hospital cardiac arrest.

Science.gov (United States)

Plaisance, Patrick; Lurie, Keith G; Vicaut, Eric; Martin, Dominique; Gueugniaud, Pierre-Yves; Petit, Jean-Luc; Payen, Didier

2004-06-01

The purpose of this multicentre clinical randomized controlled blinded prospective trial was to determine whether an inspiratory impedance threshold device (ITD), when used in combination with active compression-decompression (ACD) cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), would improve survival rates in patients with out-of-hospital cardiac arrest. Patients were randomized to receive either a sham (n = 200) or an active impedance threshold device (n = 200) during advanced cardiac life support performed with active compression-decompression cardiopulmonary resuscitation. The primary endpoint of this study was 24 h survival. The 24 h survival rates were 44/200 (22%) with the sham valve and 64/200 (32%) with the active valve (P = 0.02). The number of patients who had a return of spontaneous circulation (ROSC), intensive care unit (ICU) admission, and hospital discharge rates was 77 (39%), 57 (29%), and 8 (4%) in the sham valve group versus 96 (48%) (P = 0.05), 79 (40%) (P = 0.02), and 10 (5%) (P = 0.6) in the active valve group. Six out of ten survivors in the active valve group and 1/8 survivors in the sham group had normal neurological function at hospital discharge (P = 0.1). The use of an impedance valve in patients receiving active compression-decompression cardiopulmonary resuscitation for out-of-hospital cardiac arrest significantly improved 24 h survival rates.

Trauma care in Scotland: effect of rurality on ambulance travel times and level of destination healthcare facility.

Science.gov (United States)

Yeap, E E; Morrison, J J; Apodaca, A N; Egan, G; Jansen, J O

2014-06-01

The aim of this study was to determine the effect of rurality on the level of destination healthcare facility and ambulance response times for trauma patients in Scotland. We used a retrospective analysis of pre-hospital data routinely collected by the Scottish Ambulance Service from 2009-2010. Incident locations were categorised by rurality, using the Scottish urban/rural classification. The level of destination healthcare facility was coded as either a teaching hospital, large general hospital, general hospital, or other type of facility. A total of 64,377 incidents met the inclusion criteria. The majority of incidents occurred in urban areas, which mostly resulted in admission to teaching hospitals. Incidents from other areas resulted in admission to a lower-level facility. The majority of incidents originating in very remote small towns and very remote rural areas were treated in a general hospital. Median call-out times and travel times increased with the degree of rurality, although with some exceptions. Trauma is relatively rare in rural areas, but patients injured in remote locations are doubly disadvantaged by prolonged pre-hospital times and admission to a hospital that may not be adequately equipped to deal with their injuries. These problems may be overcome by the regionalisation of trauma care, and enhanced retrieval capability.

Logistics in hospitals: a case study of some Singapore hospitals.

Science.gov (United States)

Pan, Zhi Xiong; Pokharel, Shaligram

2007-01-01

The purpose of this paper is to investigate logistics activities in Singapore hospitals. It defines various types of activities handled by a logistics division. Inventory management policy and the use of information and communication technologies (ICT) for logistics purposes are also discussed. The study identifies the nature of strategic alliances in Singapore's health care industry. This study was conducted by utilizing a framework for data collection, pre-testing the questionnaire and conducting interviews. Various relevant literature was reviewed to design the questionnaire. This study finds that logistics division carry out many related activities and some of them also provide engineering services. The hospitals make use of ICT. The hospitals are clustered under various groups to minimize the cost of operation, including the logistics related costs. However, hospitals do not see alliances with suppliers as a strategic option; rather they focus on outsourcing of logistics services. The findings also show that Singapore hospitals have a good stocking policy for both medical and non-medical items so that changes in patient mix can be easily handled. Singapore is continuously improving its health care industry and therefore, the findings will help hospitals in other regions to adopt some of the practices, like concentrating on local vendors, outsourcing, clustering, and maximum use of information technology as competitive factors that can improve the service and reduce the cost of operation. The paper suggests motivators and barriers to the use of ICT in logistics in the health care industry.

Genetic variation in Hyperpolarization-activated cyclic nucleotide-gated (HCN channels and its relationship with neuroticism, cognition and risk of depression

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Andrew Mark Mcintosh

2012-07-01

Full Text Available Hyperpolarization-activated cyclic nucleotide-gated (HCN channels are encoded by four genes (HCN1-4 and, through activation by cyclic AMP (cAMP, represent a point of convergence for several psychosis risk genes. On the basis of positive preliminary data, we sought to test whether genetic variation in HCN1-4 conferred risk of depression or cognitive impairment in the Generation Scotland: Scottish Family Health Study. HCN1, HCN2, HCN3 and HCN4 were genotyped for 43 haplotype-tagging SNPs and tested for association with DSM-IV depression, neuroticism and a battery of cognitive tests assessing cognitive ability, memory, verbal fluency and psychomotor performance. No association was found between any HCN channel gene SNP and risk of depression, neuroticism or on any cognitive measure. The current study does not support a genetic role for HCN channels in conferring risk of depression or cognitive impairment in human subjects within the Scottish population.

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in Scottish military veterans.

Science.gov (United States)

Bergman, Beverly P; Mackay, D F; Pell, J P

2018-02-01

Smoking is a major risk factor for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Serving military personnel have previously been shown to be more likely to smoke, and to smoke more heavily, than civilians, but there is no clear consensus as to whether in later life, as veterans, they experience a higher prevalence and mortality from COPD than do non-veterans. We examined the risk of COPD in Scottish veterans and assessed the impact of changes in military smoking. Retrospective 30-year cohort study of 56 205 veterans born 1945-1985, and 172 741 people with no record of military service, matched for age, sex and area of residence, using Cox proportional hazard models to examine the association between veteran status, birth cohort, length of service and risk of COPD resulting in hospitalisation or death. There were 1966 (3.52%) cases of COPD meeting the definition in veterans, compared with 5434 (3.19%) in non-veterans. The difference was statistically significant (p=0.001) in the unadjusted model although it became non-significant after adjusting for deprivation. The highest risk was seen in the oldest (1945-1949) birth cohort and in veterans with the shortest service (Early Service Leavers). The risk was significantly reduced in veterans born from 1960, and in those with over 12 years' service. Our findings are consistent with falling rates of military smoking since the 1960s, and with the reduction in smoking with longer service. The oldest veterans, and those with the shortest service, are least likely to have benefited from this, as reflected in their higher risk for COPD. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://www.bmj.com/company/products-services/rights-and-licensing/.

A study of plutonium and americium concentrations in seaspray on the southern Scottish coast

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

McKay, W.A.; Strange, L.; Walker, M.I.; Halliwell, C.M.

1992-01-01

Seaspray and seawater have been collected from the southern Scottish coast and, for comparison, Cumbria in northwest England during 1989 and 1991. The occurrence of sea-to-land transfer of the actinides plutonium and americium in seaspray was observed on these coasts using muslin screens (a semi-quantitative technique most efficient for collecting large spray droplets) and high volume conventional air samplers. The actinides and fine particulate in the spray were present in relatively higher concentrations than measured in the adjacent seawater, i.e. the spray was enriched in particulate actinides. The net efficiency of the muslim screens in collecting airborne plutonium isotopes and 241 Am generally appeared to be about 20%. A review of earlier published concentrations of 239+240 Pu and 241 Am measured in aerosol and deposition for over a year several tens of metres inland was carried out. This suggested that airborne activities are up to a factor of 5 times higher in Cumbria than southern Scotland. However, neither the new data collected in 1989 and 1991 nor this older data suggests any enhancement of seaspray actinide enrichment in southern Scotland compared to Cumbria. This finding contrasts with earlier, more limited, comparisons that have been carried out which suggested such a difference. There is clear evidence of considerable localised spatial and temporal variability in aerosol actinide enrichment over the beaches in both areas. Enrichments varies between 20 and 500 relative to the adjacent surf zone waters. However, the average enrichment in spray based on the continuous measurements made further inland is likely to be at the lower end of this range. (author)

Physical activity history and end-of-life hospital and long-term care

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

von Bonsdorff, Mikaela B; Rantanen, Taina; Leinonen, Raija

2009-01-01

persons aged 66-98 years at death, who, on average 5.8 years prior to death, had participated in an interview about their current and earlier physical activity. Data on the use of care in the last year of life are register-based data and complete. RESULTS: Men needed on average 96 days (SD 7.0) and women.......06-2.43), than for those who had been consistently active from midlife onward, whereas use of hospital care did not correlate with physical activity history. CONCLUSION: People who had been physically active since midlife needed less end-of-life inpatient care but patterns differed between men and women....... had been consistently physically active, whereas use of long-term care did not correlate with physical activity history. Among women, the risk for long-term care was higher for those who had been sedentary (IRR 2.03, 95% CI 1.28-3.21) or only occasionally physically active (IRR 1.60, 95% CI 1...

Is hospital 'community benefit' charity care?

Science.gov (United States)

Bakken, Erik; Kindig, David A

2012-10-01

The Affordable Care Act is drawing increased attention to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Community Benefit policy. To qualify for tax exemption, the IRS requires nonprofit hospitals to allocate a portion of their operating expenses to certain "charitable" activities, such as providing free or reduced care to the indigent. To determine the total amount of community benefit reported by Wisconsin hospitals using official IRS tax return forms (Form 990), and examine the level of allocation across allowable activities. Primary data collection from IRS 990 forms submitted by Wisconsin hospitals for 2009. Community benefit reported in absolute dollars and as percent of overall hospital expenditures, both overall and by activity category. For 2009, Wisconsin hospitals reported $1.064 billion in community benefits, or 7.52% of total hospital expenditures. Of this amount, 9.1% was for charity care, 50% for Medicaid subsidies, 11.4% for other subsidized services, and 4.4% for Community Health Improvement Services. Charity care is not the primary reported activity by Wisconsin hospitals under the IRS Community Benefit requirement. Opportunities may exist for devoting increasing amounts to broader community health improvement activities.

Surgical management for active infective endocarditis: a single hospital 10 years experience

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Parvizi, R.; Varshouchi, M.; Alizadeh, R.

2007-01-01

To examine the outcome of surgery for active infective endocarditis (IE) in a cohort of patients. One hundred sixty-four consecutive patients who underwent valve surgery for active IE (diagnosis according to Duke criteria) in Madani Heart Center, Tabriz, Iran from 1996 to 2006 were studied. The mean age of patients was 36.3+-16 years overall: 34.6+-17.5 years for native valve endocarditis and 38.6+-15.2 yrs for prosthetic valve endocarditis (p=0.169). Ninety one (55.5%) patients were men. The infected valve was native in 112 (68.7%) of patients and prosthetic in 52(31.3%). In 61 (37%) patients, no predisposing heart disease was found. The aortic valve was infected in 78 (47.6%), mitral valve in 69 (42.1%), and multiple valves in 17 (10.3%) of patients. Active culture positive endocarditis was present in 81 (49.4%) whereas 83 (50.6%) patients had culture-negative endocarditis. Staphylococcus aureus was the most common isolated microorganism. Ninety patients (54.8%) were in NYHA classes III and IV. Mechanical valves were implanted in 69 patients (42.1%) and bioprostheses in 95 (57.9%), including a homograft in 19 (11.5%). There were 16 (9%) operative deaths, but there was only 1 death in patients that underwent aortic homograft replacement. Reoperation was required in 18 (10.9%) of cases. On multivariate logistic regression analysis, Staphylococcus aureus infection (p=0.008), prosthetic valve endocarditis (p=0.01), paravalvular abscess (p=0.001) and left ventricular ejection fraction less than 40% (p=0.04) were independent predictors of in-hospital mortality. Surgery for infective endocarditis continues to be challenging and associated with high operative mortality and morbidity. Prosthetic valve endocarditis, impaired ventricular function, paravalvular abscess and Staphylococcus aureus infection adversely affect in-hospital mortality. Also we found that aortic valve replacement with an aortic homograft can be performed with acceptable in hospital mortality and

Predictors of admission to a high-security hospital of people with intellectual disability with and without schizophrenia.

Science.gov (United States)

Doody, G A; Thomson, L D; Miller, P; Johnstone, E C

2000-04-01

Admission to secure hospital facilities is a rare outcome for people with intellectual disability with or without concomitant psychosis. The present study compares people with mild intellectual disability with and without schizophrenia resident in the Scottish and Northern Irish State Hospital, Carstairs, to matched mild intellectual disability controls, also with and without schizophrenia, in the community. It is hoped that this study may identify socio-demographic, clinical or historical predictors which may lead to admission to secure hospital facilities for people with mild intellectual disability. One hundred and eight subjects were identified from two previous studies which concerned State Hospital patients and patients with intellectual disability with and without schizophrenia. Four experimental groups were derived: (1) 14 individuals with comorbid intellectual disability and schizophrenia who had been resident in the State Hospital; (2) 34 comorbid community control subjects; (3) 33 individuals with intellectual disability and no psychosis who had been resident in the State Hospital; and (4) 27 community control subjects with mild intellectual disability. The four groups were compared on a range of socio-demographic, historical and clinical variables obtained from case records and subject interviews. Relative to community controls, people with intellectual disability and no psychosis in the State Hospital are likely to be single, to have a later age of first psychiatric hospital admission, and to have a history of previous suicide attempts, alcohol abuse or drug misuse. Subjects with comorbid intellectual disability and schizophrenia in the State Hospital are more likely to be male, to have an early age of first psychiatric admission, and to have no family history of either schizophrenia or intellectual disability. Strategies aimed at addressing suicidal behaviour, alcohol and drug misuse amongst people with intellectual disability may facilitate a

Costs of Dengue Control Activities and Hospitalizations in the Public Health Sector during an Epidemic Year in Urban Sri Lanka.

Science.gov (United States)

Thalagala, Neil; Tissera, Hasitha; Palihawadana, Paba; Amarasinghe, Ananda; Ambagahawita, Anuradha; Wilder-Smith, Annelies; Shepard, Donald S; Tozan, Yeşim

2016-02-01

Reported as a public health problem since the 1960s in Sri Lanka, dengue has become a high priority disease for public health authorities. The Ministry of Health is responsible for controlling dengue and other disease outbreaks and associated health care. The involvement of large numbers of public health staff in dengue control activities year-round and the provision of free medical care to dengue patients at secondary care hospitals place a formidable financial burden on the public health sector. We estimated the public sector costs of dengue control activities and the direct costs of hospitalizations in Colombo, the most heavily urbanized district in Sri Lanka, during the epidemic year of 2012 from the Ministry of Health's perspective. The financial costs borne by public health agencies and hospitals are collected using cost extraction tools designed specifically for the study and analysed retrospectively using a combination of activity-based and gross costing approaches. The total cost of dengue control and reported hospitalizations was estimated at US$3.45 million (US$1.50 per capita) in Colombo district in 2012. Personnel costs accounted for the largest shares of the total costs of dengue control activities (79%) and hospitalizations (46%). The results indicated a per capita cost of US$0.42 for dengue control activities. The average costs per hospitalization ranged between US$216-609 for pediatric cases and between US$196-866 for adult cases according to disease severity and treatment setting. This analysis is a first attempt to assess the economic burden of dengue response in the public health sector in Sri Lanka. Country-specific evidence is needed for setting public health priorities and deciding about the deployment of existing or new technologies. Our results suggest that dengue poses a major economic burden on the public health sector in Sri Lanka.

Costs of Dengue Control Activities and Hospitalizations in the Public Health Sector during an Epidemic Year in Urban Sri Lanka

Science.gov (United States)

Thalagala, Neil; Tissera, Hasitha; Palihawadana, Paba; Amarasinghe, Ananda; Ambagahawita, Anuradha; Wilder-Smith, Annelies; Shepard, Donald S.; Tozan, Yeşim

2016-01-01

Background Reported as a public health problem since the 1960s in Sri Lanka, dengue has become a high priority disease for public health authorities. The Ministry of Health is responsible for controlling dengue and other disease outbreaks and associated health care. The involvement of large numbers of public health staff in dengue control activities year-round and the provision of free medical care to dengue patients at secondary care hospitals place a formidable financial burden on the public health sector. Methods We estimated the public sector costs of dengue control activities and the direct costs of hospitalizations in Colombo, the most heavily urbanized district in Sri Lanka, during the epidemic year of 2012 from the Ministry of Health’s perspective. The financial costs borne by public health agencies and hospitals are collected using cost extraction tools designed specifically for the study and analysed retrospectively using a combination of activity-based and gross costing approaches. Results The total cost of dengue control and reported hospitalizations was estimated at US$3.45 million (US$1.50 per capita) in Colombo district in 2012. Personnel costs accounted for the largest shares of the total costs of dengue control activities (79%) and hospitalizations (46%). The results indicated a per capita cost of US$0.42 for dengue control activities. The average costs per hospitalization ranged between US$216–609 for pediatric cases and between US$196–866 for adult cases according to disease severity and treatment setting. Conclusions This analysis is a first attempt to assess the economic burden of dengue response in the public health sector in Sri Lanka. Country-specific evidence is needed for setting public health priorities and deciding about the deployment of existing or new technologies. Our results suggest that dengue poses a major economic burden on the public health sector in Sri Lanka. PMID:26910907

Upgrade of ductal carcinoma in situ on core biopsies to invasive disease at final surgery: a retrospective review across the Scottish Breast Screening Programme.

Science.gov (United States)

Sim, Y T; Litherland, J; Lindsay, E; Hendry, P; Brauer, K; Dobson, H; Cordiner, C; Gagliardi, T; Smart, L

2015-05-01

To identify factors affecting upgrade rates from B5a (non-invasive) preoperative core biopsies to invasive disease at surgery and ways to improve screening performance. This was a retrospective analysis of 1252 cases of B5a biopsies across all six Scottish Breast Screening Programmes (BSPs), ranging between 2004 and 2012. Final surgical histopathology was correlated with radiological and biopsy factors. Data were analysed using basic Microsoft Excel and standard Chi-squared test used for evaluating statistical significance. B5a upgrade rates for the units ranged from 19.2% to 29.2%, with an average of 23.6%. Mean sizes of invasive tumours were small (3-11 mm). The upgrade rate was significantly higher for cases where the main mammographic abnormality was mass, distortion, or asymmetry, compared with micro-calcification alone (33.2% versus 21.7%, p = 0.0004). The upgrade rate was significantly lower with the use of large-volume vacuum-assisted biopsy (VAB) devices than 14 G core needles (19.9% versus 26%, p = 0.013); in stereotactic than ultrasound-guided biopsies (21.2% versus 36.1%, p Scottish BSPs, including first-line biopsy technique and/or device; and it is of interest that a few centres maintain low upgrade rates despite not using VAB routinely for biopsy of micro-calcification. Copyright © 2015 The Royal College of Radiologists. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

A gender-sensitised weight loss and healthy living programme for overweight and obese men delivered by Scottish Premier League football clubs (FFIT): a pragmatic randomised controlled trial.

Science.gov (United States)

Hunt, Kate; Wyke, Sally; Gray, Cindy M; Anderson, Annie S; Brady, Adrian; Bunn, Christopher; Donnan, Peter T; Fenwick, Elisabeth; Grieve, Eleanor; Leishman, Jim; Miller, Euan; Mutrie, Nanette; Rauchhaus, Petra; White, Alan; Treweek, Shaun

2014-04-05

The prevalence of male obesity is increasing but few men take part in weight loss programmes. We assessed the effect of a weight loss and healthy living programme on weight loss in football (soccer) fans. We did a two-group, pragmatic, randomised controlled trial of 747 male football fans aged 35-65 years with a body-mass index (BMI) of 28 kg/m(2) or higher from 13 Scottish professional football clubs. Participants were randomly assigned with SAS (version 9·2, block size 2-9) in a 1:1 ratio, stratified by club, to a weight loss programme delivered by community coaching staff in 12 sessions held every week. The intervention group started a weight loss programme within 3 weeks, and the comparison group were put on a 12 month waiting list. All participants received a weight management booklet. Primary outcome was mean difference in weight loss between groups at 12 months, expressed as absolute weight and a percentage of their baseline weight. Primary outcome assessment was masked. Analyses were based on intention to treat. The trial is registered with Current Controlled Trials, number ISRCTN32677491. 374 men were allocated to the intervention group and 374 to the comparison group. 333 (89%) of the intervention group and 355 (95%) of the comparison group completed 12 month assessments. At 12 months the mean difference in weight loss between groups, adjusted for baseline weight and club, was 4·94 kg (95% CI 3·95-5·94) and percentage weight loss, similarly adjusted, was 4·36% (3·64-5·08), both in favour of the intervention (pScottish Government and The UK Football Pools funded delivery of the programme through a grant to the Scottish Premier League Trust. The National Institute for Health Research Public Health Research Programme funded the assessment (09/3010/06). Copyright © 2014 Hunt et al. Open Access article distributed under the terms of CC BY-NC-ND. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

[Physical activity in outpatients with type 2 diabetes in a National Hospital of Peru].

Science.gov (United States)

Manzaneda, Ana Josefina; Lazo-Porras, María; Málaga, Germán

2015-01-01

In order to determine the level of physical activity performed by outpatients with type 2 diabetes seen at a National Hospital in Lima, Peru, we surveyed 120 patients with the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ). 66% were women, the mean age was 61.6 years, and 70% had poor glycemic control. 20% of the patients qualified as inactive, 68% as minimally active, and 12% had adequate physical activity. No relationship between physical activity, duration of disease, glycemic control, and body mass index was found. Age was negatively associated with physical activity. It is concluded that there are low levels of physical activity in patients with Type 2 diabetes and these are not focused on leisure activities that provide health benefits.

Childhood IQ and all-cause mortality before and after age 65: Prospective observational study linking the Scottish Mental Survey 1932 and the Midspan studies

OpenAIRE

Hart, C.L.; Taylor, M.D.; Davey Smith, G.; Whalley, L.J.; Starr, J.M.; Hole, D.; Wilson, V.; Deary, I.J.

2005-01-01

OBJECTIVES: The objective was to investigate how childhood IQ related to all-cause mortality before and after age 65. DESIGN: The Midspan prospective cohort studies, followed-up for mortality for 25 years, were linked to individuals' childhood IQ from the Scottish Mental Survey 1932. METHODS: The Midspan studies collected data on risk factors for cardiorespiratory disease from a questionnaire and at a screening examination, and were conducted on adults in Scotland in the 1970s. An age 11 IQ f...

State-wide hospital clinical laboratory plan for measuring cholinesterase activity for individuals suspected of exposure to nerve agent chemical weapons.

Science.gov (United States)

Wu, Alan H B; Smith, Andrew; McComb, Robert; Bowers, George N; Makowski, Gregory S; McKay, Charles A; Vena, Jason; McDonagh, John; Hopfer, Sidney; Sena, Salvatore F; Malkus, Herbert; Forte, Elaine; Kelly, Katherine

2008-02-01

Hospital laboratories currently lack the capacity to provide emergency determination of cholinesterase activity. We have developed a hospital-based 3-tiered system to test plasma for butyrylcholinesterase (BChE) activity and whole blood for red cell acetylcholinesterase (AChE) activity using available technology and personnel. Interagency communications, toxidrome definition, and patient triage will be coordinated by the Connecticut Department of Public Health and the Poison Control Center. Initial BChE data documents good precision between institutions (coefficient of variation chemical terrorism or large scale HazMat events.

Factors predicting health behaviors among Army Reserve, active duty Army, and civilian hospital employees.

Science.gov (United States)

Wynd, Christine A; Ryan-Wenger, Nancy A

2004-12-01

This study identified health-risk and health-promoting behaviors in military and civilian personnel employed in hospitals. Intrinsic self-motivation and extrinsic organizational workplace factors were examined as predictors of health behaviors. Because reservists represent a blend of military and civilian lifestyles, descriptive analyses focused on comparing Army Reserve personnel (n = 199) with active duty Army (n = 218) and civilian employees (n = 193), for a total sample of 610. Self-motivation and social support were significant factors contributing to the adoption of health-promoting behaviors; however, organizational workplace cultures were inconsistent predictors of health among the three groups. Only the active Army subgroup identified a hierarchical culture as having an influence on health promotion, possibly because of the Army's mandatory physical fitness and weight control standards. Social support and self-motivation are essential to promoting health among employees, thus hospital commanders and chief executive officers should encourage strategies that enhance and reward these behaviors.

Holoprosencephaly Variant

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

J Gordon Millichap

2003-01-01

Full Text Available The clinical manifestations in 15 patients (6 boys and 9 girls with middle interhemispheric variant (MIH of holoprosencephaly (HPE were compared with classic subtypes (alobar, semilobar, and lobar of HPE in a multicenter study at Stanford University School of Medicine and Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital; Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia; University of California at San Francisco; Texas Scottish Rite Hospital, Dallas; and Kennedy Krieger Institute, Baltimore, MD.

A cross-sectional pilot study of the Scottish early development instrument: a tool for addressing inequality

Science.gov (United States)

2013-01-01

Background Early childhood is recognised as a key developmental phase with implications for social, academic, health and wellbeing outcomes in later childhood and indeed throughout the adult lifespan. Community level data on inequalities in early child development are therefore required to establish the impact of government early years’ policies and programmes on children’s strengths and vulnerabilities at local and national level. This would allow local leaders to target tailored interventions according to community needs to improve children’s readiness for the transition to school. The challenge is collecting valid data on sufficient samples of children entering school to derive robust inferences about each local birth cohort’s developmental status. This information needs to be presented in a way that allows community stakeholders to understand the results, expediting the improvement of preschool programming to improve future cohorts’ development in the early years. The aim of the study was to carry out a pilot to test the feasibility and ease of use in Scotland of the 104-item teacher-administered Early Development Instrument, an internationally validated measure of children’s global development at school entry developed in Canada. Methods Phase 1 was piloted in an education district with 14 Primary 1 teachers assessing a cohort of 154 children, following which the instrument was adapted for the Scottish context (Scottish Early Development Instrument: SEDI). Phase 2 was then carried out using the SEDI. Data were analysed from a larger sample of 1090 participants, comprising all Primary 1 children within this school district, evaluated by 68 teachers. Results The SEDI displayed adequate psychometric and discriminatory properties and is appropriate for use across Scotland without any further modifications. Children in the lowest socioeconomic status quintiles were 2–3 times more likely than children in the most affluent quintile to score low in at

Preliminary research informing policy on remote alcohol monitoring in criminal justice: the Scottish experience.

Science.gov (United States)

Goodall, Christine A; Neville, Fergus G; Williams, Damien J; Donnelly, Peter D

2016-11-01

To explore the views of Scottish offenders on the impact of alcohol on their experience of offending and their lives in general. Furthermore, to explore their views on the concept of remote alcohol monitoring (RAM) as a way to address alcohol misuse upon liberation from prison. A convenience sample of 12 serving offenders participated in one of three focus groups. Data were analysed using the principles of thematic analysis. Analysis of the data revealed the significant impact of alcohol on the lives of the participants. Key themes included the amount and frequency of alcohol consumption; the association of alcohol with harm; the association of alcohol with offending; the previous attempts to reduce alcohol consumption and possible reasons for failure; and the views of participants on the utility of RAM in relation to crime prevention. Participants had significant issues with alcohol misuse prior to incarceration that had impacted on their offending and resulted in both health and social harms. Participants were generally positive but pragmatic about RAM, recognising that technology alone may not be enough to change deeply ingrained and addictive behaviours.

Hospital pharmacy workforce in Brazil.

Science.gov (United States)

Santos, Thiago R; Penm, Jonathan; Baldoni, André O; Ayres, Lorena Rocha; Moles, Rebekah; Sanches, Cristina

2018-01-04

This study aims to describe the distribution of the hospital pharmacy workforce in Brazil. Data were acquired, during 2016, through the Brazilian National Database of Healthcare Facilities (CNES). The following variables were extracted: hospital name, registry number, telephone, e-mail, state, type of institution, subtype, management nature, ownership, presence of research/teaching activities, complexity level, number of hospital beds, presence of pharmacists, number of pharmacists, pharmacist specialization. All statistical analyses were performed by IBM SPSS v.19. The number of hospitals with a complete registry in the national database was 4790. The majority were general hospitals (77.9%), managed by municipalities (66.1%), under public administration (44.0%), had no research/teaching activities (90.5%), classified as medium complexity (71.6%), and had no pharmacist in their team (50.6%). Furthermore, almost 60.0% of hospitals did not comply with the minimum recommendations of having a pharmacist per 50 hospital beds. The Southeast region had the highest prevalence of pharmacists, with 64.4% of hospitals having a pharmaceutical professional. This may have occurred as this region had the highest population to hospital ratio. Non-profit hospitals were more likely to have pharmacists compared to those under public administration and private hospitals. This study mapped the hospital pharmacy workforce in Brazil, showing a higher prevalence of hospital pharmacists in the Southeast region, and in non-profit specialized hospitals.

Diagnostic performance of Body Mass Index, Waist Circumference and the Waist-to-Height Ratio for identifying cardiometabolic risk in Scottish pre-adolescents.

Science.gov (United States)

Buchan, Duncan S; McLellan, Gillian; Donnelly, Samantha; Arthur, Rosie

2017-06-01

Limited studies have examined the diagnostic performance of body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC) or waist-to-height ratio (WHtR) for identifying cardiometabolic risk (increased clustered glucose, triglycerides, mean arterial pressure and inv-HDL-cholesterol) in pre-adolescent youth. To compare the utility of BMI, WC and WHtR as predictors of cardiometabolic risk (CMR) in Scottish pre-adolescent children. A cross-sectional analysis of 223 Scottish children (55.2% boys, mean age =8.4 years) was undertaken. BMI, WC and WHtR were used as exposure variables within multivariate logistic regression analysis and ROC analysis to examine the utility of these anthropometrical indices in identifying those at cardiometabolic risk. Individuals with an elevated WHtR, WC and BMI were 3.51 (95% CI = 1.71-7.23; p < .001); 2.34 (95% CI = 1.35-4.06; p = .002) and 2.59 (95% CI = 1.42-4.73; p = .002) times more likely to be at cardiometabolic risk, respectively. The areas under the curves [AUC] to identify children with cardiometabolic risk were significant and similar among anthropometric indices (AUC's = 0.60-0.65). When stratified by BMI, both WC and WHtR demonstrated a fair-to-good ability for identifying those at cardiometabolic risk (AUC = 0.75-0.81). Findings suggest that the combination of BMI with either WC or WHtR may provide an added benefit in the assessment of cardiometabolic risk amongst pre-adolescents.

How different are hospitals' responses to a financial reform? The impact on efficiency of activity-based financing.

Science.gov (United States)

Biørn, Erik; Hagen, Terje P; Iversen, Tor; Magnussen, Jon

2010-03-01

For policy-makers the heterogeneity of hospital response to reforms is of crucial concern. Even though a reform may entail a positive effect on average efficiency, policy-makers will consider the reform as less attractive if the variation in hospital efficiency increases. The reason is that increased variance of efficiency across hospitals is likely to increase the impact of geography on access to hospital services. This paper examines the heterogeneity with respect to the impact of a financial reform-Activity Based Financing (ABF)-on hospital efficiency in Norway. From a theoretical model we find an ambiguous effect of hospital heterogeneity on the effect of ABF on efficiency. The data set is from a contiguous 10-year panel of 47 hospitals covering both pre-ABF years and years after its imposition. Substantial heterogeneity in the responses, as measured by both estimated and predicted coefficients, is found. We did not find any significant correlation between pre-ABF measures of efficiency and the effect of ABF on efficiency. We did however find a strongly significant correlation between the effect of ABF and post-ABF efficiency. Thus, the analysis confirms the impression that, whereas pre-ABF efficiency did not play any role in how hospitals responded to ABF, those responding generally ended up as better-performing hospitals. Hence, for the type of reform studied in this article we find that policy-makers do not need to worry about the impact of location on patients' access to hospital services.

The end of the road: residential disposals in the Scottish children's hearings system.

Science.gov (United States)

Martin, F M; Murray, K

1983-09-01

In a study of a representative sample of 301 "children's hearings", particular attention was given to 27 cases in which the child was committed to a List D school. Because the Scottish juvenile justice system has an explicit commitment to promoting the welfare of the children with whom it deals, the decisions were examined with special reference to the objectives that the hearing members hoped to achieve. These decisions could be divided into: (1) those which reflected only a sense that all alternatives had been exhausted; (2) those which aimed to ensure that the child received formal education or was placed in an environment which would help resolve his personal difficulties; (3) those designed to protect the child from family stresses or to achieve some other specific purpose. Since decisions under (1) are incompatible with the formal philosophy of the system, most of those under (2) entail no knowledge of the effectiveness of List D schools for the purposes in question, and some of those under (3) were wholly misconceived, it is concluded that there are some significant inconsistencies between the system's ideology and the actual practice of its members.

Disinfectant and antibiotic activities: a comparative analysis in Brazilian hospital bacterial isolates

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Guimarães Márcia Aparecida

2000-01-01

Full Text Available Nosocomial infections are an important cause of morbidity and mortality all over the world. It has been shown that appropriate environmental hygienic and disinfection practices can be very helpful to hospital infection control. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the bactericidal activity of some disinfectants against antibiotic-susceptible and antibiotic-resistant hospital bacterial isolates. The susceptibility of 27 clinical isolates to disinfectants and antibiotics was determined by the Association of Official Analytical Chemist?s (AOAC Use-Dilution method and by the Kirby-Bauer method, respectively. All strains tested were susceptible to sodium hypochlorite, glutaraldehyde and to the association quaternary ammonium - formaldehyde - ethyl alcohol disinfectants. However, the susceptibility of strains to phenol and to one quaternary ammonium compound was variable. Among twenty-one antibiotic-multiresistant strains (methicillin-resistant staphylococci, Enterococcus spp, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Proteus mirabilis, Enterobacter cloacae, Serratia marcescens and Escherichia coli eleven (52% and eight (38% strains were resistant to the quaternary ammonium and phenol compounds, respectively. Among six isolates that demonstrated susceptibility to antibiotics (staphylococci, Enterococcus spp, P. mirabilis, E. cloacae and E. coli two strains (33% showed resistance to these disinfectants. The results demonstrated the lack of correlation between antibiotic-susceptibility and susceptibility to disinfectants in hospital strains.

[Profitability of a day hospital: analysis of activity, cost and effectiveness].

Science.gov (United States)

Hernando Ortiz, Lili; Hinojosa Mena-Bernal, Carmen; González Sarmiento, Enrique; González Guilabert, Isabel; Arana Ruiz, Jorge; Muñoz Moreno, M Fe

2012-01-01

Day hospitals are an alternative to conventional hospital care. We analyzed the functioning and profitability of the day hospital of Hospital Clínico de Valladolid, Spain, in 2009. Profitability is expressed as the provision of identical health coverage at a lower cost than that generated by conventional hospital care and with adequate quality indicators. We performed a retrospective, observational and descriptive study of the information obtained on each patient attended in the day hospital from January 1 to December 31, 2009. We studied four quality indicators: cancellation of meetings, the rate of transfusion reactions, the out-patient rate and the satisfaction index. The estimated savings for each process was calculated as the difference in the average cost of hospitalization minus the average cost of the process in the day hospital. The most frequent diseases were systemic and connective tissue diseases, accounting for 25.4% of the processes treated; of these, 17.1% corresponded to rheumatoid arthritis. Patient satisfaction was 93%. Meetings cancellations and the rate of transfusion reactions were 0%. The out-patient rate was 26%. Day hospital costs were 8.6% of conventional hospital costs, with savings of 78,390.69 euros. The day hospital is cost effective due to savings compared with conventional hospitalization and has a satisfactory quality index. Copyright © 2011 SESPAS. Published by Elsevier España, S.L. All rights reserved.

Are hospitals also for relatives?

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Nissen, Nina Konstantin; Madsen, Mette; Kjøller, Mette

2008-01-01

at relatives of patients with cardiac diseases is sparse. This study aimed to survey the prevalence of health services for relatives of cardiac patients in Denmark. METHODS: We surveyed activities offered by Danish hospitals to the relatives of cardiac patients. Data were obtained from an Internet-based survey...... and 50 of 55 invited hospital departments participated. RESULTS: Almost all departments offer activities to relatives of cardiac patients, but only one-quarter have activities specifically aimed at supporting relatives. Large departments offer activities for relatives more often than smaller departments....... Participation rates for relatives are generally low, and the departments experience numerous barriers in providing activities for relatives of heart patients. CONCLUSIONS: Danish hospitals focus very little on relatives of cardiac patients, and this seems to be due to several factors, including lack...

A multicenter qualitative study on preventing hospital-acquired urinary tract infection in US hospitals.

Science.gov (United States)

Saint, Sanjay; Kowalski, Christine P; Forman, Jane; Damschroder, Laura; Hofer, Timothy P; Kaufman, Samuel R; Creswell, John W; Krein, Sarah L

2008-04-01

Although urinary tract infection (UTI) is the most common hospital-acquired infection, there is little information about why hospitals use or do not use a range of available preventive practices. We thus conducted a multicenter study to understand better how US hospitals approach the prevention of hospital-acquired UTI. This research is part of a larger study employing both quantitative and qualitative methods. The qualitative phase consisted of 38 semistructured phone interviews with key personnel at 14 purposefully sampled US hospitals and 39 in-person interviews at 5 of those 14 hospitals, to identify recurrent and unifying themes that characterize how hospitals have addressed hospital-acquired UTI. Four recurrent themes emerged from our study data. First, although preventing hospital-acquired UTI was a low priority for most hospitals, there was substantial recognition of the value of early removal of a urinary catheter for patients. Second, those hospitals that made UTI prevention a high priority also focused on noninfectious complications and had committed advocates, or "champions," who facilitated prevention activities. Third, hospital-specific pilot studies were important in deciding whether or not to use devices such as antimicrobial-impregnated catheters. Finally, external forces, such as public reporting, influenced UTI surveillance and infection prevention activities. Clinicians and policy makers can use our findings to develop initiatives that, for example, use a champion to promote the removal of unnecessary urinary catheters or exploit external forces, such public reporting, to enhance patient safety.

Analysis of hospital logistics and costs of the Clinical Engineering Sector in a Philanthropic Hospital

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Antônio Artur de Souza

2014-12-01

Full Text Available Hospitals are considered complex organizations mainly due to the high cost of the health care structure employed for care. Reducing operating costs is a challenge for hospital managers. Particularly in the clinical engineering sector, adequate hospital logistics can reduce costs. In this context, the aim of the research was to analyze the activities of hospital logistics of the Clinical Engineering department at a charity hospital, focusing on cost reduction. The paper presents a case study in a large charity hospital located in the metropolitan region of Belo Horizonte, MG. The analysis focuses on the activities of hospital logistics at this hospital clinical engineering sector. The work in this sector is concentrated in the realization and implementation of equipment maintenance, to the detriment of efforts to reduce costs and increase safety for all streams managed by the sector. It was also found that there are risks of increased costs with inadequate routines: (i acquisition of new and large equipment; (ii maintenance and release schedule for use; and (iii the theft of equipment.

Why and how did Israel adopt activity-based hospital payment? The Procedure-Related Group incremental reform.

Science.gov (United States)

Brammli-Greenberg, Shuli; Waitzberg, Ruth; Perman, Vadim; Gamzu, Ronni

2016-10-01

Historically, Israel paid its non-profit hospitals on a perdiem (PD) basis. Recently, like other OECD countries, Israel has moved to activity-based payments. While most countries have adopted a diagnostic related group (DRG) payment system, Israel has chosen a Procedure-Related Group (PRG) system. This differs from the DRG system because it classifies patients by procedure rather than diagnosis. In Israel, the PRG system was found to be more feasible given the lack of data and information needed in the DRG classification system. The Ministry of Health (MoH) chose a payment scheme that depends only on inhouse creation of PRG codes and costing, thus avoiding dependence on hospital data. The PRG tariffs are priced by a joint Health and Finance Ministry commission and updated periodically. Moreover, PRGs are believed to achieve the same main efficiency objectives as DRGs: increasing the volume of activity, shortening unnecessary hospitalization days, and reducing the gaps between the costs and prices of activities. The PRG system is being adopted through an incremental reform that started in 2002 and was accelerated in 2010. The Israeli MoH involved the main players in the hospital market in the consolidation of this potentially controversial reform in order to avoid opposition. The reform was implemented incrementally in order to preserve the balance of resource allocation and overall expenditures of the system, thus becoming budget neutral. Yet, as long as gaps remain between marginal costs and prices of procedures, PRGs will not attain all their objectives. Moreover, it is still crucial to refine PRG rates to reflect the severity of cases, in order to tackle incentives for selection of patients within each procedure. Copyright © 2016 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Implementing Health Policy: Lessons from the Scottish Well Men's Policy Initiative.

Science.gov (United States)

Douglas, Flora; van Teijlingen, Edwin; Smith, Cairns; Moffat, Mandy

2015-01-01

Little is known about how health professionals translate national government health policy directives into action. This paper examines that process using the so-called Well Men's Services (WMS) policy initiative as a 'real world' case study. The WMS were launched by the Scottish Government to address men's health inequalities. Our analysis aimed to develop a deeper understanding of policy implementation as it naturally occurred, used an analytical framework that was developed to reflect the 'rational planning' principles health professionals are commonly encouraged to use for implementation purposes. A mixed-methods qualitative enquiry using a data archive generated during the WMS policy evaluation was used to critically analyze (post hoc) the perspectives of national policy makers, and local health and social care professionals about the: (a) 'policy problem', (b) interventions intended to address the problem, and (c) anticipated policy outcomes. This analysis revealed four key themes: (1) ambiguity regarding the policy problem and means of intervention; (2) behavioral framing of the policy problem and intervention; (3) uncertainty about the policy evidence base and outcomes, and; (4) a focus on intervention as outcome . This study found that mechanistic planning heuristics (as a means of supporting implementation) fails to grapple with the indeterminate nature of population health problems. A new approach to planning and implementing public health interventions is required that recognises the complex and political nature of health problems; the inevitability of imperfect and contested evidence regarding intervention, and, future associated uncertainties.

Personality structure in the domestic cat (Felis silvestris catus), Scottish wildcat (Felis silvestris grampia), clouded leopard (Neofelis nebulosa), snow leopard (Panthera uncia), and African lion (Panthera leo): a comparative study.

Science.gov (United States)

Gartner, Marieke Cassia; Powell, David M; Weiss, Alexander

2014-11-01

Although the study of nonhuman personality has increased in the last decade, there are still few studies on felid species, and the majority focus on domestic cats. We assessed the structure of personality and its reliability in five felids-domestic cats, clouded leopards, snow leopards, African lions, and previous data on Scottish wildcats-and compared the results. In addition to the benefits of understanding more about this taxon, comparative studies of personality structure have the potential to provide information on evolutionary relationships among closely related species. Each of the species studied was found to have three factors of personality. Scottish wildcats' factors were labeled Dominance, Agreeableness, and Self Control; domestic cats' factors were Dominance, Impulsiveness, and Neuroticism; clouded leopards' factors were Dominance/Impulsiveness, Agreeableness/Openness, and Neuroticism; snow leopards' factors were Dominance, Impulsiveness/Openness, and Neuroticism; and African lions' factors were Dominance, Impulsiveness, and Neuroticism. The Neuroticism and Impulsiveness factors were similar, as were two of the Dominance factors. A taxon-level personality structure also showed three similar factors. Age and sex effects are also discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved).

Environmental cleaning resources and activities in Canadian acute care hospitals.

Science.gov (United States)

Zoutman, Dick E; Ford, B Douglas; Sopha, Keith

2014-05-01

Environmental cleaning interventions have increased cleaning effectiveness and reduced antibiotic-resistant organisms in hospitals. This study examined cleaning in Canadian acute care hospitals with the goal of developing strategies to improve cleaning and reduce antibiotic-resistant organism rates. Managers most responsible for environmental services (EVS) completed an extensive online survey that assessed EVS resources and cleaning practices. The response rate was 50.5%; 96 surveys were completed, representing 103 of 204 hospitals. Whereas 86.3% (82/95) of managers responsible for EVS reported their staff was adequately trained and 76.0% (73/96) that supplies and equipment budgets were sufficient, only 46.9% (45/96) reported that EVS had enough personnel to satisfactorily clean their hospital. A substantial minority (36.8%, 35/95) of EVS departments did not audit the cleaning of medical surgical patient rooms on at least a monthly basis. Cleaning audits of medical surgical patient rooms frequently included environmental marking methods in only one third (33.3%, 31/93) of hospitals and frequently included the measurement of residual bioburden in only 13.8% (13/94). There was a general need for increased and improved auditing of environmental cleaning in Canadian hospitals, and there were perceived EVS staffing deficits in the majority of hospitals. Copyright © 2014 Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology, Inc. Published by Mosby, Inc. All rights reserved.

Allostatic load as a predictor of all-cause and cause-specific mortality in the general population: Evidence from the Scottish Health Survey.

Science.gov (United States)

Robertson, Tony; Beveridge, Gayle; Bromley, Catherine

2017-01-01

Allostatic load is a multiple biomarker measure of physiological 'wear and tear' that has shown some promise as marker of overall physiological health, but its power as a risk predictor for mortality and morbidity is less well known. This study has used data from the 2003 Scottish Health Survey (SHeS) (nationally representative sample of Scottish population) linked to mortality records to assess how well allostatic load predicts all-cause and cause-specific mortality. From the sample, data from 4,488 men and women were available with mortality status at 5 and 9.5 (rounded to 10) years after sampling in 2003. Cox proportional hazard models estimated the risk of death (all-cause and the five major causes of death in the population) according to allostatic load score. Multiple imputation was used to address missing values in the dataset. Analyses were also adjusted for potential confounders (sex, age and deprivation). There were 258 and 618 deaths over the 5-year and 10-year follow-up period, respectively. In the fully-adjusted model, higher allostatic load (poorer physiological 'health') was not associated with an increased risk of all-cause mortality after 5 years (HR = 1.07, 95% CI 0.94 to 1.22; p = 0.269), but it was after 10 years (HR = 1.08, 95% CI 1.01 to 1.16; p = 0.026). Allostatic load was not associated with specific causes of death over the same follow-up period. In conclusions, greater physiological wear and tear across multiple physiological systems, as measured by allostatic load, is associated with an increased risk of death, but may not be as useful as a predictor for specific causes of death.

An evaluation of a model for the systematic documentation of hospital based health promotion activities: results from a multicentre study

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Morris Denise

2007-09-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background The first step of handling health promotion (HP in Diagnosis Related Groups (DRGs is a systematic documentation and registration of the activities in the medical records. So far the possibility and tradition for systematic registration of clinical HP activities in the medical records and in patient administrative systems have been sparse. Therefore, the activities are mostly invisible in the registers of hospital services as well as in budgets and balances. A simple model has been described to structure the registration of the HP procedures performed by the clinical staff. The model consists of two parts; first part includes motivational counselling (7 codes and the second part comprehends intervention, rehabilitation and after treatment (8 codes. The objective was to evaluate in an international study the usefulness, applicability and sufficiency of a simple model for the systematic registration of clinical HP procedures in day life. Methods The multi centre project was carried out in 19 departments/hospitals in 6 countries in a clinical setup. The study consisted of three parts in accordance with the objectives. A: Individual test. 20 consecutive medical records from each participating department/hospital were coded by the (coding specialists at local department/hospital, exclusively (n = 5,529 of 5,700 possible tests in total. B: Common test. 14 standardized medical records were coded by all the specialists from 17 departments/hospitals, who returned 3,046 of 3,570 tests. C: Specialist evaluation. The specialists from the 19 departments/hospitals evaluated if the codes were useful, applicable and sufficient for the registration in their own department/hospital (239 of 285. Results A: In 97 to100% of the local patient pathways the specialists were able to evaluate if there was documentation of HP activities in the medical record to be coded. B: Inter rater reliability on the use of the codes were 93% (57 to 100% and 71% (31

Concentrations and geographic distribution of selected organic pollutants in Scottish surface soils

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rhind, S.M.; Kyle, C.E.; Kerr, C.; Osprey, M.; Zhang, Z.L.; Duff, E.I.; Lilly, A.; Nolan, A.; Hudson, G.; Towers, W.; Bell, J.; Coull, M.; McKenzie, C.

2013-01-01

Concentrations of selected persistent organic pollutants (POPs) representing three chemical classes (polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH), polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDE) and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB) and the organic pollutant diethylhexyl phthalate (DEHP), were determined in surface soil samples (0–5 cm) collected at 20 km grid intersects throughout Scotland over a three-year period. Detectable amounts of all chemical classes and most individual congeners were present in all samples. There were no consistent effects of soil or vegetation type, soil carbon content, pH, altitude or distance from centres of population on concentrations which exhibited extreme variation, even in adjacent samples. It is concluded that soil POPs and DEHP concentrations and associated rates of animal and human exposure were highly variable, influenced by multiple, interacting factors, and not clearly related to local sources but possibly related to wet atmospheric deposition and the organic carbon content of the soil. -- Highlights: •Concentrations of selected organic pollutants in Scottish soils were determined. •Concentrations were highly variable. •There were few effects of soil or vegetation type, soil carbon, pH or altitude. •Distance from cities was not an important determinant of concentrations. •Atmospheric deposition and soil organic carbon content may affect concentrations. -- Soil concentrations of anthropogenic persistent organic pollutants are not clearly related to soil type or pH, vegetation, altitude, or distance from pollutant sources

EDRP public local inquiry, UKAEA/BNFL precognition on: Review of the Scottish Health Service ISD report on 'Geographical distribution of leukaemia in young persons in Scotland 1968-1983'

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wilkie, David

1986-09-01

The Scottish Health Service ISD Report is reviewed, with particular attention being paid to the statistical treatment of the data and its interpretation in relation to the location and frequency of occurrence of clusters of leukaemia identified in it. The sensitivity of cluster occurrence to the choice of sector boundaries and to the sub-division of the total time period of the study is considered, in general terms and by numerical experiment. (UK)

The Role of the Nobles-Philanthropists in the Activities of Hospitals in the Danube Region

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nataliya Goncharova

2015-08-01

Full Text Available Reviews the legal and regulatory basis in the sphere of the guardianship treatment centres in the Russian Empire in the middle of the XIXth century, alleging the establishment of the public supervision over the activities of city, County and provincial hospitals. Contents of the powers of the Trustees, their objectives and main activities. Specific examples in the Danube region proved the thesis that among the Trustees were dominated by representatives of the nobility.

Effects of new motorway infrastructure on active travel in the local population: a retrospective repeat cross-sectional study in Glasgow, Scotland.

Science.gov (United States)

Olsen, Jonathan R; Mitchell, Richard; Ogilvie, David

2016-07-07

Promoting active travel is an important part of increasing population physical activity, which has both physical and mental health benefits. A key benefit described by the then Scottish Government of the five-mile M74 motorway extension, which opened during June 2011 in the south of Glasgow, was that the forecast reduction in motor traffic on local streets would make these streets safer for walking and cycling, thus increasing active travel by the local population. The aim of the study was to evaluate the impact of new motorway infrastructure on the proportion of journey stages made actively (cycling or on foot) by individuals travelling in and out of the local area. Data for the periods 2009-10 and 2012-13 were extracted from the Scottish Household Survey (SHS) travel diaries, which record each journey stage made during the previous day by a representative sample of the Scottish population aged 16 and over. Each individual journey stage was assigned to one of the following study areas surrounding existing and new transport infrastructure: (1) an area surrounding the new M74 motorway extension (n = 435 (2009-10), 543 (2012-13)), (2) a comparator area surrounding an existing motorway (n = 477 (2009-10), 560 (2012-13)), and (3) a control area containing no comparable motorway infrastructure (n = 541 (2009-10), 593 (2012-13)). Multivariable, multi-level regression analysis was performed to determine any between-area differences in change in active travel over time, which might indicate an intervention effect. Reference populations were defined using two alternative definitions, (1) Glasgow City and (2) Glasgow and surrounding local authorities. The results showed an increase in the proportion of journey stages using active travel in all study areas compared to both reference populations. However, there were no significant between-area differences to suggest an effect attributable the M74 motorway extension. There was no clear evidence that the M74 motorway

Association between the application of ISO 9001:2008 alone or in combination with health-specific standards and quality-related activities in Hungarian hospitals.

Science.gov (United States)

Dombrádi, Viktor; Csenteri, Orsolya Karola; Sándor, János; Godény, Sándor

2017-04-01

To investigate how International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 9001 and the Hungarian Health Care Standards (HHCS) certifications are associated with quality management, patient safety, patient rights and human resource management activities. A cross-sectional study was implemented using the 2009 Hungarian hospital survey's database. Hungary. Fifty-three general hospitals were included in the statistical analysis. No intervention was carried out in the study. The outcomes included the percentage of compliance in the dimensions of quality management, patient safety, patient rights, human resource management and the overall score for each hospital, and they were grouped according to the hospitals' certifications. Sixteen hospitals did not have either ISO 9001 or HHCS certifications, 19 had ISO 9001 certification only and 18 had both. Hospitals with ISO 9001 alone or in combination with the HHCS significantly outperformed hospitals with no certifications in terms of quality management and human resource management activities but not in terms of patient safety or patient rights activities. Combined, the two models provided the highest median levels in all cases. Nevertheless, no significant differences were observed when the hospitals with both certifications were compared with hospitals with ISO 9001 only. Although the combination of ISO 9001 and the HHCS showed the best results, the benefits were not decisive. Furthermore, although the HHCS include standards addressing patient safety, no direct association was found with regard to compliance. Thus, further investigation is required to understand this enigma. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press in association with the International Society for Quality in Health Care. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com

[Guidelines for management of epilepsy--commentary on Scottish ("SIGN") guidelines].

Science.gov (United States)

Planjar-Prvan, Miljenka; Granić, Davorka

2005-01-01

The choice of AED (antiepileptic drug), worldwide and in Croatia, is been still based on the physician's subjective decision, personal experience, knowledge and marketing pressure made by big pharmaceutical industries. Therefore, according to some opinions, there is a need of treatment guidelines for epilepsy that would provide relevant information based on scientific evidence on the efficacy, tolerability and safety of AEDs. The guidelines, published by a competent source, should be designed as to allow for easy access to the information on the best practice in specific cases. An extensive background literature review was made to identify such a type of guidelines for the management of epilepsy. The literature review revealed a number of references with the recommendations for treating epilepsy in different groups of patients and from various, specific aspects of epilepsy treatment. However, only one comprehensive set of guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment of epilepsy treatment was found, i.e. the evidence-based guidelines published by the Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network (SIGN). The development of this set of guidelines is quite extensively described in order to illustrate how rigorous and long-lasting the process was, including a great number of health professionals at the national level. Such a type of well designed guidelines facilitates access to highest educational standards for all professionals involved in the primary and secondary care of people with epilepsy. However, it is clear that guidelines can fully replace the standards of clinical practice based on critical evaluation and integration of all clinical data of each individual patient. No guidelines can replace the physician's obligation to keep informed of the novel achievements in the epileptology either.

Prediction of the intensity and diversity of day-to-day activities among people with schizophrenia using parameters obtained during acute hospitalization.

Science.gov (United States)

Lipskaya-Velikovsky, Lena; Jarus, Tal; Kotler, Moshe

2017-06-01

Participation in day-to-day activities of people with schizophrenia is restricted, causing concern to them, their families, service providers and the communities at large. Participation is a significant component of health and recovery; however, factors predicting participation are still not well established. This study examines whether the parameters obtained during acute hospitalization can predict the intensity and diversity of participation in day-to-day activities six months after discharge. In-patients with chronic schizophrenia (N = 104) were enrolled into the study and assessed for cognitive functioning, functional capacity in instrumental activities of daily living (IADL), and symptoms. Six months after discharge, the intensity and diversity of participation in day-to-day activities were evaluated (N = 70). Multiple correlations were found between parameters obtained during hospitalization and participation diversity, but not participation intensity. The model that is better suited to the prediction of participation diversity contains cognitive ability of construction, negative symptoms and number of previous hospitalizations. The total explained variance is 37.8% (F 3,66  =   14.99, p process for the prediction of participation diversity in day-to-day activities six months after discharge. Participation diversity is best predicted through a set of factors reflecting personal and environmental indicators. Implications for rehabilitation Results of in-patient evaluations can predict the diversity of participation in day-to-day activities six months after discharge. Higher prediction of participation diversity is obtained using a holistic evaluation model that includes assessments for cognitive abilities, negative symptoms severity and number of hospitalizations.

Biodegradation of pharmaceuticals in hospital wastewater by a hybrid biofilm and activated sludge system (Hybas)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Escolà Casas, Mònica [Environmental Science, Aarhus University, Frederiksborgsvej 399, 4000 Roskilde (Denmark); Chhetri, Ravi Kumar [Department of Environmental Engineering, Technical University of Denmark, Miljøvej 113, 2800 Kgs. Lyngby (Denmark); Ooi, Gordon [Environmental Science, Aarhus University, Frederiksborgsvej 399, 4000 Roskilde (Denmark); Hansen, Kamilla M.S. [Department of Environmental Engineering, Technical University of Denmark, Miljøvej 113, 2800 Kgs. Lyngby (Denmark); Litty, Klaus [Department of Chemistry and Biotechnology, Danish Technological Institute, Kongsvang Allé 29, 8000 Aarhus C (Denmark); Christensson, Magnus [AnoxKaldnes, Klosterängsvägen 11A, 226 47 Lund (Sweden); Kragelund, Caroline [Department of Chemistry and Biotechnology, Danish Technological Institute, Kongsvang Allé 29, 8000 Aarhus C (Denmark); Andersen, Henrik R. [Department of Environmental Engineering, Technical University of Denmark, Miljøvej 113, 2800 Kgs. Lyngby (Denmark); Bester, Kai, E-mail: kb@envs.au.dk [Environmental Science, Aarhus University, Frederiksborgsvej 399, 4000 Roskilde (Denmark)

2015-10-15

Hospital wastewater contributes a significant input of pharmaceuticals into municipal wastewater. The combination of suspended activated sludge and biofilm processes, as stand-alone or as hybrid process (hybrid biofilm and activated sludge system (Hybas™)) has been suggested as a possible solution for hospital wastewater treatment. To investigate the potential of such a hybrid system for the removal of pharmaceuticals in hospital wastewater a pilot plant consisting of a series of one activated sludge reactor, two Hybas™ reactors and one moving bed biofilm reactor (MBBR) has been established and adapted during 10 months of continuous operation. After this adaption phase batch and continuous experiments were performed for the determination of degradation of pharmaceuticals. Removal of organic matter and nitrification mainly occurred in the first reactor. Most pharmaceuticals were removed significantly. The removal of pharmaceuticals (including X-ray contrast media, β-blockers, analgesics and antibiotics) was fitted to a single first-order kinetics degradation function, giving degradation rate constants from 0 to 1.49 h{sup −1}, from 0 to 7.78 × 10{sup −1} h{sup −1}, from 0 to 7.86 × 10{sup −1} h{sup −1} and from 0 to 1.07 × 10{sup −1} h{sup −1} for first, second, third and fourth reactors respectively. Generally, the highest removal rate constants were found in the first and third reactors while the lowest were found in the second one. When the removal rate constants were normalized to biomass amount, the last reactor (biofilm only) appeared to have the most effective biomass in respect to removing pharmaceuticals. In the batch experiment, out of 26 compounds, 16 were assessed to degrade more than 20% of the respective pharmaceutical within the Hybas™ train. In the continuous flow experiments, the measured removals were similar to those estimated from the batch experiments, but the concentrations of a few pharmaceuticals appeared to increase

Biodegradation of pharmaceuticals in hospital wastewater by a hybrid biofilm and activated sludge system (Hybas)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Escolà Casas, Mònica; Chhetri, Ravi Kumar; Ooi, Gordon; Hansen, Kamilla M.S.; Litty, Klaus; Christensson, Magnus; Kragelund, Caroline; Andersen, Henrik R.; Bester, Kai

2015-01-01

Hospital wastewater contributes a significant input of pharmaceuticals into municipal wastewater. The combination of suspended activated sludge and biofilm processes, as stand-alone or as hybrid process (hybrid biofilm and activated sludge system (Hybas™)) has been suggested as a possible solution for hospital wastewater treatment. To investigate the potential of such a hybrid system for the removal of pharmaceuticals in hospital wastewater a pilot plant consisting of a series of one activated sludge reactor, two Hybas™ reactors and one moving bed biofilm reactor (MBBR) has been established and adapted during 10 months of continuous operation. After this adaption phase batch and continuous experiments were performed for the determination of degradation of pharmaceuticals. Removal of organic matter and nitrification mainly occurred in the first reactor. Most pharmaceuticals were removed significantly. The removal of pharmaceuticals (including X-ray contrast media, β-blockers, analgesics and antibiotics) was fitted to a single first-order kinetics degradation function, giving degradation rate constants from 0 to 1.49 h −1 , from 0 to 7.78 × 10 −1 h −1 , from 0 to 7.86 × 10 −1 h −1 and from 0 to 1.07 × 10 −1 h −1 for first, second, third and fourth reactors respectively. Generally, the highest removal rate constants were found in the first and third reactors while the lowest were found in the second one. When the removal rate constants were normalized to biomass amount, the last reactor (biofilm only) appeared to have the most effective biomass in respect to removing pharmaceuticals. In the batch experiment, out of 26 compounds, 16 were assessed to degrade more than 20% of the respective pharmaceutical within the Hybas™ train. In the continuous flow experiments, the measured removals were similar to those estimated from the batch experiments, but the concentrations of a few pharmaceuticals appeared to increase during the first treatment step

Outsourcing cleaning services increases MRSA incidence: Evidence from 126 English Acute Trusts

OpenAIRE

Toffolutti, V; Reeves, A; McKee, M; Stuckler, D

2016-01-01

: There has been extensive outsourcing of hospital cleaning services in the NHS in England, in part because of the potential to reduce costs. Yet some argue that this leads to lower hygiene standards and more infections, such as MRSA and, perhaps because of this, the Scottish, Welsh, and Northern Irish health services have rejected outsourcing. This study evaluates whether contracting out cleaning services in English acute hospital Trusts (legal authorities that run one or more hospitals) is ...

Hospitality services generate revenue.

Science.gov (United States)

Bizouati, S

1993-01-01

An increasing number of hospitals are undertaking external revenue-generating activities to supplement their shrinking budgets. Written at the request of Leadership, this article outlines an example of a successful catering service -- a money-generating business that more Canadian hospitals could profitably consider.

What older people want: evidence from a study of remote Scottish communities.

Science.gov (United States)

King, Gerry; Farmer, Jane

2009-01-01

The growing proportions of older people in rural areas have implications for the provision of health and social care services. Older people are more likely to have complex health needs compared with other age groups, requiring a full range of primary, community and acute hospital services. The provision of services to older people in rural areas is challenged by diseconomies of scale, travel costs and difficulties in attracting staff. Policy-makers are requested to include the 'voice' of older people to help provide services that match needs and context. In spite of this, what older people want from health and social care services is a neglected area of investigation. The reported study was conducted in 2005/2006 as part of a European Union Northern Periphery Programme (EU NPP) project called Our Life as Elderly. Its aims were to explore the views of those aged 55 years and over and living in remote communities about current and future health and social care service provision for older people. Evidence was to be collected that could inform policy-makers about changing or improving service delivery. This article summarises emergent themes and considers their implications. The study selected two small remote mainland Scottish Highland communities for in-depth case study. Semi-structured interviews (n = 23), 10 'informal conversations' and 4 focus groups were held with community members aged 55 years and over, in order to provide different types of qualitative data and 'layers' of data to allow reflection. Data analysis was assisted by computerised data management software and performed using the 'framework analysis' approach. Participants did not consider themselves 'old' and expressed the need for independence in older age to be supported by services. Several aspects of services that were undergoing change or restructuring were identified, including arrangements for home care services, meals provision and technological support. Participants valued elements of the

Self-Care Posters Serve as a Low-Cost Option for Physical Activity Promotion of Hospital Nurses.

Science.gov (United States)

Raney, Marcella; Van Zanten, Erin

2018-03-01

Hospital nurses play an important role in the nation's short- and long-term patient care. At the same time, nurses often experience high levels of occupational stress and participate in low levels of physical activity (PA). The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of self-monitoring and a poster campaign on the PA behaviors of hospital nurses. Motivational and instructional exercise posters were hung in break rooms of experimental units and replaced biweekly for 8 weeks. A total of 26 nurses (control: n = 13; experimental: n = 13) wore accelerometers for 3 workdays pre-, mid-, and postintervention. Participants were provided a step counter at baseline and a PA report at each stage. Moderate to vigorous PA (MVPA) and step count (SC) increased pre- to midintervention for control (MVPA: 14.8 ± 7.6%; SC: 19.1 ± 7.8%) and experimental (MVPA: 26.7 ± 18.5%, SC: 17.6 ± 8.3%) participants. Physical activity levels returned to baseline postintervention for control ( p > .05) and increased mid- to postintervention for experimental (MVPA: 16.2 ± 5.2%, SC: 10.7 ± 4.7%, p poster campaign may increase PA levels of hospital nurses when combined with personalized PA feedback.

Assessing the efficiency of hospital pharmacy services in Thai public district hospitals.

Science.gov (United States)

Rattanachotphanit, Thananan; Limwattananon, Chulaporn; Limwattananon, Supon; Johns, Jeff R; Schommer, Jon C; Brown, Lawrence M

2008-07-01

The purpose of this study was to assess the efficiency of hospital pharmacy services and to determine the environmental factors affecting pharmacy service efficiency. The technical efficiency of a hospital pharmacy was assessed to evaluate the hospital's ability to use pharmacy manpower in order to produce the maximum output of the pharmacy service. Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) was used as an efficiency measurement. The two labor inputs were pharmacists and support personnel and the ten outputs were from four pharmacy activities: drug dispensing, drug purchasing and inventory control, patient-oriented activities, and health consumer protection services. This was used to estimate technical efficiency. A Tobit regression model was used to determine the effect of the hospital size, location, input mix of pharmacy staff, working experience of pharmacists at the study hospitals, and use of technology on the pharmacy service efficiency. Data for pharmacy service input and output quantities were obtained from 155 respondents. Nineteen percent were found to have full efficiency with a technical efficiency score of 1.00. Thirty-six percent had a technical efficiency score of 0.80 or above and 27% had a low technical efficiency score (location were significantly associated with pharmacy service efficiency.

A cost management model for hospital food and nutrition in a public hospital.

Science.gov (United States)

Neriz, Liliana; Núñez, Alicia; Ramis, Francisco

2014-11-13

In Chile, the use of costing systems in the public sector is limited. The Ministry of Health requires hospitals to manage themselves with the aim of decentralizing health care services and increasing their quality. However, self-management with a lack of accounting information is almost impossible. On the other hand, nutrition department costs have barely been studied before, and there are no studies specifically for activity based costing (ABC) systems. ABC focuses on the process and traces health care activities to gain a more accurate measurement of the object costs and the financial performance of an organization. This paper uses ABC in a nutrition unit of a public hospital of high complexity to determine costs associated with the different meals for inpatients. The paper also provides an activity based management (ABM) analysis for this unit. The results show positive effects on the reduction of costs for the nutrition department after implementing ABC/ABM. Therefore, there are opportunities to improve the profitability of the area and the results could also be replicated to other areas in the hospital. ABC shed light on the amount of nutritionist time devoted to completing paperwork, and as a result, system changes were introduced to reduce this burden and allow them to focus on more relevant activities. Additional efficiencies were achieved through the elimination of non-value adding activities and automation of reports. ABC reduced the cost of the nutrition department and could produce similar results in other areas of the hospital. This is a practical application of a financial management tool, ABC, which would be useful for hospital managers to reduce costs and improve the management of the unit. This paper takes ABC and examines its use in an area, which has had little exposure to the benefits of this tool.

Risk estimation and annual fluxes of emerging contaminants from a Scottish priority catchment to the estuary and North Sea.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Zulin; Lebleu, Melanie; Osprey, Mark; Kerr, Christine; Courtot, Estelle

2017-06-28

Emerging contaminants (ECs) such as endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) and pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) attracted global concern during the last decades due to their potential adverse effects on humans and ecosystems. This work is the first study to assess the spatiotemporal changes, annual fluxes and ecological risk of ECs (4 EDCs and 6 PPCPs) by different monitoring strategies (spot and passive sampling) over 12 months in a Scottish priority catchment (River Ugie, Scotland, 335 km 2 ). Overall, the total concentration in water ranged from contaminants in the River Ugie. The total annual fluxes of 4 EDCs transported to the Ugie estuary and North Sea were estimated to be 409 and 294 g based on the spot and passive sampling data, respectively, while they were 4636 and 4517 g for 6 PPCPs by spot and passive sampling, respectively. The spatiotemporal trend suggested that human activities and medication usages were the primary source of the contaminants. The overall comparison of the two sampling strategies supported the hypothesis that passive sampling tends to integrate the contaminants over a period of exposure and allows quantification of contamination at low concentration. The ecological risk assessment showed that bisphenol A posed the highest risks with 21.5% of the spot samples, resulting in a risk quotient >1. This suggests that mitigation measures might need to be taken to reduce the input of emerging contaminants into the river and its adjacent estuary and sea.

Identification with social groups is associated with mental health in adolescents: Evidence from a Scottish community sample.

Science.gov (United States)

Miller, Kirsty; Wakefield, Juliet R H; Sani, Fabio

2015-08-30

The promotion and maintenance of mental health is an increasingly important societal issue. Previous research has shown that identification with social groups is positively associated with adult mental wellbeing, with multiple group identifications being particularly beneficial. The aim of the current study was to investigate whether the same is true for adolescents. 1111 Scottish secondary school students aged 13-17 completed a questionnaire investigating mental health symptoms and the extent of their identification with their family, school, and friendship groups. Higher identification with each group predicted better mental health. There was also an additive effect of group identification, with the odds of reporting psychiatric disturbance decreasing for every additional group with which participants identified strongly. These effects held even when age, gender, and group contact were controlled for. Our findings have implications for the prevention and treatment of mental problems, offering an alternative to traditional ways of viewing mental illness in adolescence and beyond. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Electronic Referrals and Digital Imaging Systems in Ophthalmology: A Global Perspective.

Science.gov (United States)

Jeganathan, V Swetha E; Hall, H Nikki; Sanders, Roshini

2017-01-01

Ophthalmology departments face intensifying pressure to expedite sight-saving treatments and reduce the global burden of disease. The use of electronic communication systems, digital imaging, and redesigned service care models is imperative for addressing such demands. The recently developed Scottish Eyecare Integration Project involves an electronic referral system from community optometry to the hospital ophthalmology department using National Health Service (NHS) email with digital ophthalmic images attached, via a virtual private network connection. The benefits over the previous system include reduced waiting times, improved triage, e-diagnosis in 20% without the need for hospital attendance, and rapid electronic feedback to referrers. We draw on the experience of the Scottish Eyecare Integration Project and discuss the global applications of this and other advances in teleophthalmology. We focus particularly on the implications for management and screening of chronic disease, such as glaucoma and diabetic eye disease, and ophthalmic disease, such as retinopathy of prematurity where diagnosis is almost entirely and critically dependent on fundus appearance. Currently in Scotland, approximately 75% of all referrals are electronic from community to hospital. The Scottish Eyecare Integration Project is globally the first of its kind and unique in a national health service. Such speedy, safe, and efficient models of communication are geographically sensitive to service provision, especially in remote and rural regions. Along with advances in teleophthalmology, such systems promote the earlier detection of sight-threatening disease and safe follow-up of non-sight-threatening disease in the community. Copyright© 2017 Asia-Pacific Academy of Ophthalmology.

Trends in Scottish newborn screening programme for congenital hypothyroidism 1980-2014: strategies for reducing age at notification after initial and repeat sampling.

Science.gov (United States)

Mansour, Chourouk; Ouarezki, Yasmine; Jones, Jeremy; Fitch, Moira; Smith, Sarah; Mason, Avril; Donaldson, Malcolm

2017-10-01

To determine ages at first capillary sampling and notification and age at notification after second sampling in Scottish newborns referred with elevated thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH). Referrals between 1980 and 2014 inclusive were grouped into seven 5-year blocks and analysed according to agreed standards. Of 2 116 132 newborn infants screened, 919 were referred with capillary TSH elevation ≥8 mU/L of whom 624 had definite (606) or probable (18) congenital hypothyroidism. Median age at first sampling fell from 7 to 5 days between 1980 and 2014 (standard 4-7 days), with 22, 8 and 3 infants sampled >7 days during 2000-2004, 2005-2009 and 2010-2014. Median age at notification was consistently ≤14 days, range falling during 2000-2004, 2005-2009 and 2010-2014 from 6 to 78, 7-52 and 7-32 days with 12 (14.6%), 6 (5.6%) and 5 (4.3%) infants notified >14 days. However 18/123 (14.6%) of infants undergoing second sampling from 2000 onwards breached the ≤26-day standard for notification. By 2010-2014, the 91 infants with confirmed congenital hypothyroidism had shown favourable median age at first sample (5 days) with start of treatment (10.5 days) approaching age at notification. Most standards for newborn thyroid screening are being met by the Scottish programme, but there is a need to reduce age range at notification, particularly following second sampling. Strategies to improve screening performance include carrying out initial capillary sampling as close to 96 hours as possible; introducing 6-day laboratory reporting and use of electronic transmission for communicating repeat requests. © Article author(s) (or their employer(s) unless otherwise stated in the text of the article) 2017. All rights reserved. No commercial use is permitted unless otherwise expressly granted.

Seeing beyond statistics: Examining the potential for disjuncture between legislation, policy and practice in meeting the needs of highly able Scottish students

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Niamh Stack

2015-03-01

Full Text Available The question of how best to identify and provide for gifted students has a long and contentious history internationally. In contrast to other countries where there are specialist programmes and in some cases specialist teachers for gifted pupils, Scotland has chosen to adopt an inclusive approach to provision for these students and has created a legislative and curricular framework that in theory provides a strong structure for meeting their educational and developmental needs. While there are significant benefits to this approach, care must be taken to ensure that within the space between intention and practice the needs of these learners have been explicitly identified, considered and met. Each year the Scottish Government conducts a census to collect data from all publically funded schools in Scotland. In accordance with Scottish legislation as part of this process it gathers data pertaining to pupils identified as requiring additional support for their learning, including highly able pupils. However there are anomalies within this data, for example, there are unusual and unexplained discrepancies between the proportions of pupils identified as being highly able in different geographical contexts. The purpose of the present study was therefore to examine the potential causes for these anomalies and to assess the implications for the identification of, and provision for, highly able pupils in Scotland. Thirteen structured telephone interviews were conducted with Local Education Authority personnel across Scotland. These interviews aimed to get behind the statistics and examine how highly able pupils are identified, and provided for, in practice. Several interesting issues emerged from the interviews that may begin to help to explain the anomalies and to help us better understand everyday practice. The results, while encouraging, suggest that there is a need for teachers, educational psychologists, schools and authorities to ensure that the

Older adults' personal routine at time of hospitalization.

Science.gov (United States)

Zisberg, Anna; Gur-Yaish, Nurit

This study is the first to explore whether hospitalization disrupts the daily routines of dependent and independent older adults. Data were collected as part of a prospectively designed study from 330 hospitalized older adults age 70+. Patients reported prehospitalization frequency, duration, and timing of basic activities of daily living and leisure activities at hospital admission. Hospital routine was assessed on day of discharge. Results indicated that frequency and duration of most basic activities decreased during hospitalization; the sharpest decrease was in frequency of getting dressed. Showering occurred 2 h earlier in the hospital setting, and getting dressed occurred an hour and a half later. For dependent respondents, the greatest change was in duration; for independent respondents, the greatest change was in frequency. Given the importance of routine maintenance to health and well-being, understanding the dynamics of its disruption in the hospital setting is imperative. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

[Analysis of the question-answer activity of a hospital pharmacy. Example of the handling of drug interactions].

Science.gov (United States)

Jacqueroux, E; Lalande, L; Meddour, N; Papailhau, C; Bernard, E; Charroin, C; Perichou, J; Charpiat, B; Locher, F; Garcia, S

2015-05-01

The medical care of patients generates questions among healthcare professionals. Some will necessitate an advanced research. The hospital pharmacist is at the interface between prescribers, caregivers and the medicines and is requested to answer these requests. Studies conducted in other countries showed that this question-answer activity represents a significant amount of time in daily work. In France, this topic was poorly explored. The objective of our work was to study the volume and the type of questions, the clinical situations, the time required, the medicines implicated and the sources of information used. A prospective study was conducted in the pharmacy of a university hospital. All the requests answered by the pharmaceutical team, which needed a specific research, analysis and writing of an answer were collected. A hundred and one questions were analyzed, originating from doctors or medicals interns. Almost half concerned drug interactions, and among them, almost a fourth were not mentioned in the Summary of Product Characteristics of the medicines involved. A pharmaceutical advice was provided in 91.5% of the cases. Time dedicated to the research varied between less than 30 minutes and more than 8 hours. This study illustrates the question-answer activity of a hospital pharmacy, which is currently not taken into account as an indicator of pharmaceutical activity. A large part concerns analysis and management of drug interactions and requires a significant amount of pharmaceutical time. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

Trends in hospital librarianship and hospital library services: 1989 to 2006.

Science.gov (United States)

Thibodeau, Patricia L; Funk, Carla J

2009-10-01

The research studied the status of hospital librarians and library services to better inform the Medical Library Association's advocacy activities. The Vital Pathways Survey Subcommittee of the Task Force on Vital Pathways for Hospital Librarians distributed a web-based survey to hospital librarians and academic health sciences library directors. The survey results were compared to data collected in a 1989 survey of hospital libraries by the American Hospital Association in order to identify any trends in hospital libraries, roles of librarians, and library services. A web-based hospital library report form based on the survey questions was also developed to more quickly identify changes in the status of hospital libraries on an ongoing basis. The greatest change in library services between 1989 and 2005/06 was in the area of access to information, with 40% more of the respondents providing access to commercial online services, 100% more providing access to Internet resources, and 28% more providing training in database searching and use of information resources. Twenty-nine percent (n = 587) of the 2005/06 respondents reported a decrease in staff over the last 5 years. Survey data support reported trends of consolidation of hospitals and hospital libraries and additions of new services. These services have likely required librarians to acquire new skills. It is hoped that future surveys will be undertaken to continue to study these trends.

Health impact assessments in hospital community benefit: A multiple case study of the use of HIAs at Children’s Hospital Colorado

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gregory Jackson Tung

2017-09-01

Full Text Available Objective:  To explore the use of Health Impact Assessments (HIAs within non-profit hospital community benefit activities. Methods:  We constructed case studies of three HIAs that were conducted in collaboration with Children’s Hospital Colorado as part of the hospital’s community benefit portfolio. These HIAs were part of a pilot that was funded by the Health Impact Project, a collaboration of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and The Pew Charitable Trusts. Results:  HIAs provided Children’s Hospital Colorado with a transparent and systematic process for generating evidence-based recommendations with community and stakeholder feedback within the hospital’s community benefit activities. HIAs were used to generate recommendations to inform community benefit planning activities and to generate public policy recommendations to enhance child health. The case studies highlighted several issues that need to be addressed in order to further advance the use of HIA within hospital community benefit activities including: use of HIA on explicit health issues, hospital capacity for HIA, potentially broadening the scope of HIA recommendations, and the use of HIA to generate recommendations from broad priority areas. Conclusion: HIAs can help meet the need for established, evidence-based, and stakeholder responsive tools and processes to be used within non-profit hospital community benefit activities. In meeting this need, the non-profit hospital community benefit area can potentially serve as a major institutional home for the practice of HIA. There is a need for additional research and practice innovation to further explore and refine the use of HIA within non-profit hospital community benefit activities.

Predicting and retrodicting intelligence between childhood and old age in the 6-Day Sample of the Scottish Mental Survey 1947.

Science.gov (United States)

Deary, Ian J; Brett, Caroline E

2015-01-01

In studies of cognitive ageing it is useful and important to know how stable are the individual differences in cognitive ability from childhood to older age, and also to be able to estimate (retrodict) prior cognitive ability differences from those in older age. Here we contribute to these aims with new data from a follow-up study of the 6-Day Sample of the Scottish Mental Survey of 1947 (original N = 1208). The sample had cognitive, educational, social, and occupational data collected almost annually from age 11 to 27 years. Whereas previous long-term follow-up studies of the Scottish mental surveys are based upon group-administered cognitive tests at a mean age of 11 years, the present sample each had an individually-administered revised Binet test. We traced them for vital status in older age, and some agreed to take several mental tests at age 77 years (N = 131). The National Adult Reading Test at age 77 correlated .72 with the Terman-Merrill revision of the Binet Test at age 11. Adding the Moray House Test No. 12 score from age 11 and educational information took the multiple R to .81 between youth and older age. The equivalent multiple R for fluid general intelligence was .57. When the NART from age 77 was the independent variable (retrodictor) along with educational attainment, the multiple R with the Terman-Merrill IQ at age 11 was .75. No previous studies of the stability of intelligence from childhood to old age, or of the power of the NART to retrodict prior intelligence, have had individually-administered IQ data from youth. About two-thirds, at least, of the variation in verbal ability in old age can be captured by cognitive and educational information from youth. Non-verbal ability is less well predicted. A short test of pronunciation-the NART-and brief educational information can capture well over half of the variation in IQ scores obtained 66 years earlier.

From The House with the Green Shutters to Our Lady of Perpetual Succour: the portrayal of alcohol in the modern Scottish novel.

Science.gov (United States)

Beveridge, A W

2017-03-01

In modern Scottish literature alcohol is a recurrent subject; this paper examines the different ways it is portrayed with particular emphasis on the novel. It has been seen as the resort of the weak-minded and the cause of personal degradation. It has been portrayed as a response to and a symptom of social disintegration. It has been depicted as leading to delirium and psychosis. On a positive note it has been hailed as a source of inspiration and as a means of celebration. It has helped some troubled characters find the road to redemption. Along the way we encounter various literary stereotypes of the drinker, while the pub forms the backdrop to much of the action.

Association between prescribing of cardiovascular and psychotropic medications and hospital admission for falls or fractures.

Science.gov (United States)

Payne, Rupert A; Abel, Gary A; Simpson, Colin R; Maxwell, Simon R J

2013-04-01

Falls are a major cause of morbidity and mortality in the elderly. This study examined the frequency of hospital admission for falls or fractures, and the association with a recent change in the use of cardiovascular and psychotropic medications. We conducted a retrospective case-cohort study of 39,813 patients aged >65 years from 40 Scottish general practices. Data on current prescriptions, dates of drug changes (defined as increases in dose or starting new drugs), diagnoses and clinical measurements were extracted from primary care electronic records, linked to national hospital admissions data. Multivariable logistic regression was used to model the association of change in prescribing of cardiovascular or psychotropic medication with admission to hospital for falls or fractures in the following 60 days. A total of 838 patients (2.1 %) were admitted in the 1-year study period. Following adjustment for factors including age, sex, socioeconomic deprivation, co-morbidity and current prescribing, changes in both cardiovascular and psychotropic medications were associated with subsequent admission for falls or fractures (odds ratio [OR] 1.54 [95 % confidence interval (CI) 1.17-2.03] and 1.68 [95 % CI 1.28-2.22], respectively). There was no evidence for a difference in the effect of change in medication for different cardiovascular drug types (p = 0.86), but there was evidence (p = 0.003) for variation in the association between change in different psychotropic medications and admission; the strongest associations were observed for changes in selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) antidepressants (OR 1.99 [95 % CI 1.29-3.08]), non-SSRI/tricyclic antidepressants (OR 4.39 [95 % CI 2.21-8.71]) and combination psychotropic medication (OR 3.05 [95 % CI 1.66-5.63]). Recent changes in psychotropic and cardiovascular medications are associated with a substantial increase in risk of hospital admission for falls and fractures. Caution should thus be taken when

Scottish young people's perceptions of standardised packs - a qualitative study

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Andy Macgregor

2018-03-01

Full Text Available Background Standardised cigarette packs were introduced into the UK in May 2016. Retailers could sell old stock until May 2017 after which only the sale of cigarettes and tobacco in standardised packs was allowed. As in Australia, pack shape, colour, opening mechanism and font are regulated, together with the size and position of health warnings and number of cigarettes in a pack. This paper explores Scottish young people's awareness of and views about standardised packs in Spring 2017. Methods The DISPLAY study is a five year study established to evaluate the national tobacco point-of sale (POS promotions ban in four communities in Scotland. This paper is based on the qualitative component, annual focus groups carried out with Secondary 2 (13 year olds and Secondary 4 (15 year olds students in four secondary schools. 16 groups (82 students convened in February - March 2017 explored students' perceptions of standardised packaging. Results There was a high level of awareness of standardised packs prior to their full implementation. Smokers had bought them, and they and other participants had seen them in possession of friends and family members, and in litter. Participants' views of the new packaging were generally negative, described as unappealing and depressing, particularly the pictorial health warnings. Packs were compared unfavourably with previous non-standardised versions. However, there was no consensus on their likely impact. Some participants argued that their impact would be widespread, while others thought that any impact would be confined to young non/occasional smokers and that established smokers would be unaffected. Conclusions In early 2017 young people in Scotland had high awareness and knowledge of standardised tobacco packs before their full implementation. Despite differing views about their likely impact on youth smoking, participants irrespective of smoking status overwhelmingly regarded them as unattractive and less

Scottish Sea Lochs: High Resolution Archives of North Atlantic Climate

Science.gov (United States)

Norgaard-Pedersen, N.; Austin, W. E.; Cage, A. G.; Shimmield, T. M.; Gillibrand, P. A.

2002-12-01

The sea lochs (fjords) of NW Scotland bridge the land-ocean interface in a region of Europe which is particularly well situated to monitor changes in westerly air flow. Inter-annual atmospheric circulation changes at this latitude are largely governed by the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO), in turn influencing both westerlies and precipitation. Comparing two extreme recent NAO years, circulation modelling results from Loch Sunart, NW Scotland, reveal a clear response to freshwater runoff and wind forcing in both magnitude and rate of deep-water renewal events. Scottish fjords, because of the relatively small impact which salinity has on d18Owater (0.18 % per salinity unit), potentially provide NW Europe's most useful study sites in coastal palaeoclimate research, particularly where palaeotemperature is the primary record of interest. New data from a high-resolution record (7 yr sample resolution), spanning the last two millennia, from the deepest part of the main basin of Loch Sunart illustrate significant multi-decadal to centennial scale variability in the sedimentary and stable isotope record of epibenthic foraminifera Cibicides lobatulus. The long-term pattern in benthic d18O appears to reflect bottom water temperature differences of 1-2§C, resolving climatic periods such as the Medieval Warm Period and the Little Ice Age. Since the core site is connected with shelf waters (i.e. no shallow sill) it seems likely that this paleotemperature reflects changing shelf water, not the exchange process as a function of long-term runoff/wind forcing. Grain size data and XRF data point to catchment-wide responses (weathering and erosion) which appear to show the largest variability during the last millennium, driven either by rainfall and temperature and/or land-use. Pb-isotope data, constraining the modern and industrial period, suggest accelerated sedimentation rates over this interval. On-going work attempts to calibrate proxy data with instrumental historical data.

[Moral responsibility of hospital management].

Science.gov (United States)

Schmidt-Wilcke, Heinrich Alyosius

2009-03-15

The self-concept of hospitals today includes the role of service providers, and so they act accordingly. This attitude is chiefly held by hospital administrators. It means that at management level there is a shift of values toward business ethics. However, hospital management is responsible not only for the business aspects of the hospital but also for the provision of adequate medical care to patients. Therefore, hospitals as service providers must be governed by the principles of medical as well as of business ethics. These principles, although from different areas, can be made to largely coincide, but can also lead to divergent positions within a hospital. The result is what within the scope of medical ethics, too, is experienced as a conflict of principles, e.g., the principle of beneficence versus the principle of autonomy. A reconciliation of such divergent moral positions can often be effected by analyzing the actual conflict situation and thus reaching consensus. The conflict between the principles of medical ethics and business ethics takes place chiefly within the sphere of activity of those providing medical and nursing care. As a consequence, a necessary business decision taken by the management to improve the productivity of medical and nursing activities can lead to serious deficits on the staff side. In terms of business ethics, this is a lack of beneficence toward individual staff members that are perhaps overtaxed, and at the same time, in terms of medical ethics, a potential lack of beneficence toward hospital patients is implicitly accepted. In general, management has the responsibility for bringing about, in the day-to-day operation of a hospital, a plausible reconciliation of the ethical principles of two spheres of activity that are only apparently independent of each other.

Seasonal variations in the gastro-intestinal nematode populations of Scottish hil sheep.

Science.gov (United States)

Reid, J F; Armour, J

1975-05-01

In each of two consecutive years, groups of breeding ewes were removed from a hill farm in the west of Scotland on four occasions, namely late pregnancy, early lactation, autumn and early winter. At slaughter the major nematode genus present in the alimentary tract was Ostertagia, with O circumcincta the predominant species but three species previously found in Scottish hill sheep, Bunostomum trigonocephalum, Strongyloides papillosis and Chabertia ovina were absent. An absolute increase in total nematode burden and faecal egg count was apparent in the ewes commencing in late pregnancy, reaching a maximum during lactation and falling again in autumn and early winter. This peri-parturient increase in the nematode population could not be solely attributed to the maturation of previously inhibited larval stages but was primarily the result of the development of recently ingested infection; the latter situation thought to be due to a temporary relaxation of immunological response by the ewe at parturition or early lactation. Serum pepsinogen values in ewes remained elevated throughout the grazing season and were always higher than those of their lambs, suggesting that the ewe, although allowing few parasites to become established, was under considerable challenge in the autumn. The worm burdens of the lambs were always low in autumn and early winter with Ostertagia spp being the major genus present during the autumn and Trichostrongylus spp being the predominant genus during the early winter.

Strategic management process in hospitals.

Science.gov (United States)

Zovko, V

2001-01-01

Strategic management is concerned with strategic choices and strategic implementation; it provides the means by which organizations meet their objectives. In the case of hospitals it helps executives and all employees to understand the real purpose and long term goals of the hospital. Also, it helps the hospital find its place in the health care service provision chain, and enables the hospital to coordinate its activities with other organizations in the health care system. Strategic management is a tool, rather than a solution, that helps executives to identify root causes of major problems in the hospital.

[Flexibility and safety in hospitals].

Science.gov (United States)

Fara, G M; Barni, M

2011-01-01

The paper explains the reasons according to which the newly-planned hospitals must adopt the concept of advanced flexibility (structural, technological, organizational, diagnostic and therapeutic), in order to avoid the risk of being already obsolete at the moment of their opening, and this due to the fact that too much time elapses in this Country between the moment of planning a new hospital and the moment of the start of its activity. Flexibility is needed at different levels: at low or medium levels for what concerns administrative spaces and also patient rooms (except, in this latter case, when differential intensity of care is adopted); at advanced levelfor what concerns diagnostic and therapeutic areas, which must be rapidly adaptable to new solutions offered by advances in technology and organization. From a different standpoint, flexibility applies also to the fact that hospital must increasingly become a node of a large net including territorial health services: the latter devoted to take care of chronicity, while hospitals should concentrate on acute pathology. Of course the territory surrounding the hospital, through its outpatient service and consultories, is in charge also for first level diagnosy and therapy, leaving the hospital to more sophisticated activities.

The current state of physical activity and exercise programs in German-speaking, Swiss psychiatric hospitals: results from a brief online survey

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Br

2016-06-01

Full Text Available Serge Brand,1,2 Flora Colledge,2 Nadja Beeler,2 Uwe Pühse,2 Nadeem Kalak,1 Dena Sadeghi Bahmani,1 Thorsten Mikoteit,1 Edith Holsboer-Trachsler,1 Markus Gerber2 1Psychiatric Clinics of the University of Basel, Center for Affective, Stress and Sleep Disorders, 2Department of Sport, Exercise and Health, Sport Science Section, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland Background: Physical activity and exercise programs (PAEPs are an important factor in increasing and maintaining physical and mental health. This holds particularly true for patients with psychiatric disorders undergoing treatment in a psychiatric hospital. To understand whether the benefits reported in the literature are mirrored in current treatment modalities, the aim of the present study was to assess the current state of PAEPs in psychiatric hospitals in the German-speaking part of Switzerland. Methods: All psychiatric hospitals (N=55 in the German-speaking part of Switzerland were contacted in spring 2014. Staff responsible for PAEPs were asked to complete an online questionnaire covering questions related to PAEPs such as type, frequency, staff training, treatment rationale, importance of PAEPs within the treatment strategy, and possible avenues to increase PAEPs. Results: Staff members of 48 different psychiatric hospitals completed the survey. Hospitals provided the following therapeutic treatments: relaxation techniques (100%, sports therapy (97%, activity-related psychotherapeutic interventions (95%, physiotherapy (85%, body therapies (59%, far-east techniques (57%, and hippotherapy (22%. Frequencies ranged from once/week to five times/week. Approximately 25% of patients participated in the PAEPs. Interventions were offered irrespective of psychiatric disorders. PAEP providers wanted and needed more vocational training. Conclusion: All participating psychiatric hospitals offer a broad variety of PAEPs in their treatment curricula. However, the majority of inpatients do not

[The work of R.T.H. Laennec at the Necker Hospital, then Charity Hospital from 1821 to 1826].

Science.gov (United States)

Dubois, Charles

2006-01-01

His bad health obliged RTH Laennec to interrupt his hospital activities from 1819 to 1821. He goes back to his head functions in Necker's then Charity's Hospitals from 1821 to 1826. His others activities, especially teaching, affect his busy time table. His unit's recruitment is less specialized in thoracic pathologies than it was from 1816 to 1819. It is true that his "Collège of France Lessons" as his lectures, in the faculty of medicine concern all the clinical aspects. So the links between hospital activities and the second edition of his Treaty are not so strong as they were with the first one.

[Evaluation of primary health care activities at the Albert Schweitzer hospital in Lambarene, Gabon].

Science.gov (United States)

Diallo, M; Ninteretse, B

2007-06-01

In 1999 the Albert Schweitzer Hospital in Lambrene, Gabon set up a community health care service that provides immunization campaigns and mother/child health care and manages 9 village health care centers in a district with a population of approximately 64000 inhabitants. An evaluation conducted in April 2006 showed that collection of a consultation charge (15 euros) could cover the basic costs of operating these centers and purchasing necessary medicines. Three of the four centers evaluated demonstrated good quality indicators including properly kept records, posting of information bulletins for patients, appropriate referrals, and good relations with village authorities. At the center that performed poorly, the nurse apparently received no pay or lodging. Analysis of data about pediatric activity showed that diagnosis of diarrhea, malnutrition and anemia has fallen while hospitalization for tuberculosis and urinary schistomiasis is now being recorded. At the same time, village health centers are increasingly concerned with problems related to management and prevention of AIDS, malaria and urinary schistomiasis. This service shows that with good supervision it is possible to improve the quality of primary health care with partial but adequate recovery of costs and that basic health care workers are able to provide overall management for complicated patients, facilitate the work of reference hospital, and report new health problems.

Unravelling the potential mechanisms behind hospitalization-associated disability in older patients : the hospital-associated disability and impact on daily Life (Hospital-ADL) cohort study protocol

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Reichardt, Lucienne A.; Aarden, Jesse J.; van Seben, Rosanne; van der Schaaf, Marike; Engelbert, Raoul H.H.; Bosch, Jos A.; Buurman, Bianca M.

2016-01-01

BACKGROUND: Over 30 % of older patients experience hospitalization-associated disability (HAD) (i.e., loss of independence in Activities of Daily Living (ADLs)) after an acute hospitalization. Despite its high prevalence, the mechanisms that underlie HAD remain elusive. This paper describes the

Unravelling the potential mechanisms behind hospitalization-associated disability in older patients : The Hospital-Associated Disability and impact on daily Life (Hospital-ADL) cohort study protocol

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Reichardt, L.A.; Aarden, J.J.; van Seben, R.; van der Schaaf, M.; Engelbert, R.H.H.; Bosch, J.A.; Buurman, B.M.

2016-01-01

BACKGROUND: Over 30 % of older patients experience hospitalization-associated disability (HAD) (i.e., loss of independence in Activities of Daily Living (ADLs)) after an acute hospitalization. Despite its high prevalence, the mechanisms that underlie HAD remain elusive. This paper describes the

Developing Scots criminal law: a shift in responsibility?

OpenAIRE

Chalmers, James

2017-01-01

Notes that the Scottish courts have made few significant changes to the criminal law system in recent years while the Scottish Parliament has been more active in this area. Comments on how this law reform has mainly been triggered by particular cases or controversies instead of being proactive.

Assessing knowledge, performance, and efficiency for hospital waste management-a comparison of government and private hospitals in Pakistan.

Science.gov (United States)

Ali, Mustafa; Wang, Wenping; Chaudhry, Nawaz; Geng, Yong; Ashraf, Uzma

2017-04-01

Proper management of healthcare waste is a critical concern in many countries of the world. Rapid urbanization and population growth rates pose serious challenges to healthcare waste management infrastructure in such countries. This study was aimed at assessing the situation of hospital waste management in a major city of Pakistan. Simple random sampling was used to select 12 government and private hospitals in the city. Field visits, physical measurements, and questionnaire survey method were used for data collection. Information was obtained regarding hospital waste generation, segregation, collection, storage, transportation, and disposal. Data envelopment analysis (DEA) was used to classify the hospitals on the basis of their relative waste management efficiencies. The weighted average total waste generation at the surveyed hospitals was discovered to be 1.53 kg/patient/day of which 75.15% consisted of general waste and the remaining consisted of biomedical waste. Of the total waste, 24.54% came from the public hospital and the remaining came from the private hospitals. DEA showed that seven of the surveyed hospitals had scale or pure technical inefficiencies in their waste management activities. The public hospital was relatively less efficient than most of the private hospitals in these activities. Results of the questionnaire survey showed that none of the surveyed hospitals was carrying out waste management in strict compliance with government regulations. Moreover, hospital staff at all the surveyed hospitals had low level of knowledge regarding safe hospital waste management practices. The current situation should be rectified in order to avoid environmental and epidemiological risks.

Trends in cardiovascular disease biomarkers and their socioeconomic patterning among adults in the Scottish population 1995 to 2009: cross-sectional surveys

Science.gov (United States)

Davies, Carolyn Anne; Gray, Linsay; Bromley, Catherine; Capewell, Simon; Leyland, Alastair

2012-01-01

Objectives To examine secular and socioeconomic changes in biological cardiovascular disease risk factor and biomarker prevalences in the Scottish population. This could contribute to an understanding of why the decline in coronary heart disease mortality in Scotland has recently stalled along with persistence of associated socioeconomic inequalities. Design Cross-sectional surveys. Setting Scotland. Participants Scottish Health Surveys: 1995, 1998, 2003, 2008 and 2009 (6190, 6656, 5497, 4202 and 4964 respondents, respectively, aged 25–64 years). Primary outcome measures Gender-stratified, age-standardised prevalences of obesity, hypertension, hypercholesterolaemia and low high-density lipoprotein cholesterol blood concentration as well as elevated fibrinogen and C reactive protein concentrations according to education and social class groupings. Inequalities were assessed using the slope index of inequality, and time trends were assessed using linear regression. Results The prevalence of obesity, including central obesity, increased between 1995 and 2009 among men and women, irrespective of socioeconomic position. In 2009, the prevalence of obesity (defined by body mass index) was 29.8% (95% CI 27.9% to 31.7%) for men and 28.2% (26.3% to 30.2%) for women. The proportion of individuals with hypertension remained relatively unchanged between 1995 and 2008/2009, while the prevalence of hypercholesterolaemia declined in men from 79.6% (78.1% to 81.1%) to 63.8% (59.9% to 67.8%) and in women from 74.1% (72.6% to 75.7%) to 66.3% (62.6% to 70.0%). Socioeconomic inequalities persisted over time among men and women for most of the biomarkers and were particularly striking for the anthropometric measures when stratified by education. Conclusions If there are to be further declines in coronary heart disease mortality and reduction in associated inequalities, then there needs to be a favourable step change in the prevalence of cardiovascular disease risk factors. This may

Computing Cost Price for Cataract Surgery by Activity Based Costing (ABC Method at Hazrat-E-Zahra Hospital, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, 2014

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Masuod Ferdosi

2016-10-01

Full Text Available Background: Hospital managers need to have accurate information about actual costs to make efficient and effective decisions. In activity based costing method, first, activities are recognized and then direct and indirect costs are computed based on allocation methods. The aim of this study was to compute the cost price for cataract surgery by Activity Based Costing (ABC method at Hazrat-e-Zahra Hospital, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences. Methods: This was a cross- sectional study for computing the costs of cataract surgery by activity based costing technique in Hazrat-e-Zahra Hospital in Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, 2014. Data were collected through interview and direct observation and analyzed by Excel software. Results: According to the results of this study, total cost in cataract surgery was 8,368,978 Rials. Personnel cost included 62.2% (5,213,574 Rials of total cost of cataract surgery that is the highest share of surgery costs. The cost of consumables was 7.57% (1,992,852 Rials of surgery costs. Conclusion: Based on the results, there was different between cost price of the services and public Tariff which appears as hazards or financial crises to the hospital. Therefore, it is recommended to use the right methods to compute the costs relating to Activity Based Costing. Cost price of cataract surgery can be reduced by strategies such as decreasing the cost of consumables.

Patient Blood Management in Europe: surveys on top indications for red blood cell use and Patient Blood Management organization and activities in seven European university hospitals.

Science.gov (United States)

Bruun, M T; Pendry, K; Georgsen, J; Manzini, P; Lorenzi, M; Wikman, A; Borg-Aquilina, D; van Pampus, E; van Kraaij, M; Fischer, D; Meybohm, P; Zacharowski, K; Geisen, C; Seifried, E; Liumbruno, G M; Folléa, G; Grant-Casey, J; Babra, P; Murphy, M F

2016-11-01

Patient Blood Management (PBM) in Europe is a working group of the European Blood Alliance with the initial objective to identify the starting position of the participating hospitals regarding PBM for benchmarking purposes, and to derive good practices in PBM from the experience and expertise in the participating teams with the further aim of implementing and strengthening these practices in the participating hospitals. We conducted two surveys in seven university hospitals in Europe: Survey on top indications for red blood cell use regarding usage of red blood cells during 1 week and Survey on PBM organization and activities. A total of 3320 units of red blood cells were transfused in 1 week at the seven hospitals. Overall, 61% of red cell units were transfused to medical patients and 36% to surgical patients, although there was much variation between hospitals. The organization and activities of PBM in the seven hospitals were variable, but there was a common focus on optimizing the treatment of bleeding patients, monitoring the use of blood components and treatment of preoperative anaemia. Although the seven hospitals provide a similar range of clinical services, there was variation in transfusion rates between them. Further, there was variable implementation of PBM activities and monitoring of transfusion practice. These findings provide a baseline to develop joint action plans to further implement and strengthen PBM across a number of hospitals in Europe. © 2016 International Society of Blood Transfusion.

Ten thousand steps: a pedometer study of junior dentists in a major British teaching hospital and a district general hospital.

Science.gov (United States)

Keat, R M; Thomas, M; McKechnie, A

2017-05-01

Sedentary behaviour is widely associated with deleterious health outcomes that in modern medicine have similar connotations to smoking tobacco and alcohol misuse. The integration of e-portfolio, e-logbook, British National Formulary (BNF) and encrypted emails has made smartphones a necessity for trainees. Smartphones also have the ability to record the amount of exercise taken, which allows activity at work to be monitored. The aim of this study to compare the activity of the same group of dental core trainees when they worked within a large multisite teaching hospital and a smaller district general hospital, to find out if supplementary activity was needed outside work. Data were collected from smartphones. To ensure continuity, data were collected only from those who had calibrated iPhones (n=10). At the teaching hospital six of the trainees walked over 10 000 steps a day while working (mean (SD) 10 004 (639)). At the district hospital none of the trainees walked 10 000 steps. The mean (SD) number of steps completed by all trainees was 6265 (119). Walking at work provides the full quota of recommended daily exercise most of the time for those working in the teaching hospital, but additional exercise is occasionally required. While working at the district hospital they walk less, meaning that they should try to increase their activity outside work. Trainees working in the teaching hospital walk significantly more steps than in the district hospital. Copyright © 2016 The British Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The Twenty-Year Trajectory of Suicidal Activity among Post-Hospital Psychiatric Men and Women with Mood Disorders and Schizophrenia

Science.gov (United States)

Kaplan, Kalman J.; Harrow, Martin; Clews, Kelsey

2016-01-01

The Chicago Follow-up Study has followed the course of severe mental illness among psychiatric patients for over 20 years after their index hospitalization. Among these patients are 97 schizophrenia patients, 45 patients with schizoaffective disorders, 102 patients with unipolar nonpsychotic depression, and 53 patients with a bipolar disorder. Maximum suicidal activity (suicidal ideation, suicidal attempts and suicide completions) generally declines over the three time periods (early, middle, and late follow-ups) following discharge from the acute psychiatric hospitalization for both males and females across diagnostic categories with two exceptions: female schizophrenia patients and female bipolar patients. A weighted mean suicidal activity score tended to decrease across follow-ups for male patients in the schizophrenia, schizoaffective and depressive diagnostic groups with an uneven trend in this direction for the male bipolars. No such pattern emerges for our female patients except for female depressives. Males’ suicidal activity seems more triggered by psychotic symptoms and potential chronic disability while females’ suicidal activity seems more triggered by affective symptoms. PMID:26881891

Protocol for hospital based-surveillance of cerebral palsy (CP) in Hanoi using the Paediatric Active Enhanced Disease Surveillance mechanism (PAEDS-Vietnam): a study towards developing hospital-based disease surveillance in Vietnam.

Science.gov (United States)

Khandaker, Gulam; Van Bang, Nguyen; Dũng, Trịnh Quang; Giang, Nguyen Thi Huong; Chau, Cao Minh; Van Anh, Nguyen Thi; Van Thuong, Nguyen; Badawi, Nadia; Elliott, Elizabeth J

2017-11-09

The epidemiology, pathogenesis, management and outcomes of cerebral palsy (CP) in low-income and middle-income countries including Vietnam are unknown because of the lack of mechanisms for standardised collection of data. In this paper, we outline the protocol for developing a hospital-based surveillance system modelled on the Paediatric Active Enhanced Disease Surveillance (PAEDS) system in Australia. Using PAEDS-Vietnam we will define the aetiology, motor function and its severity, associated impairments, and nutritional and rehabilitation status of children with CP in Hanoi, Vietnam. These essential baseline data will inform future health service planning, health professional education and training, and family support. This is a hospital-based prospective surveillance of children with CP presenting to the rehabilitation, neurology and general paediatric services at the National Children's Hospital and St Paul Hospital in Hanoi. We will use active, prospective daily case-finding for all children with CP aged CP, known risk factors for CP, and nutrition, immunisation, education and rehabilitation status. This study was approved by the Hanoi Medical University Institutional Review Board (decision no 1722) and The University of Sydney Human Research Ethics Committee (approval no 2016/456). Establishment of PAEDS-Vietnam will enable hospital-based surveillance of CP for the first time in Vietnam. It will identify preventable causes of CP, patient needs and service gaps, and facilitate early diagnosis and intervention. Study findings will be disseminated through local and international conferences and peer-reviewed publications. © Article author(s) (or their employer(s) unless otherwise stated in the text of the article) 2017. All rights reserved. No commercial use is permitted unless otherwise expressly granted.

Hospital Medicine (Part 1): what is wrong with acute hospital care?

LENUS (Irish Health Repository)

Kellett, John

2009-09-01

Modern hospitals are facing several challenges and, over the last decade in particular, many of these institutions have become dysfunctional. Paradoxically as medicine has become more successful the demand for acute hospital care has increased, yet there is no consensus on what conditions or complaints require hospital admission and there is wide variation in the mortality rates, length of stay and possibly standards of care between different units. Most acutely ill patients are elderly and instead of one straightforward diagnosis are more likely to have a complex combination of multiple co-morbid conditions. Any elderly patient admitted to hospital is at considerable risk which must be balanced against the possible benefits. Although most of the patients in hospital die from only approximately ten diagnoses, obvious life saving treatment is often delayed by a junior doctor in-training first performing an exhaustive complete history and physical, and then ordering a number of investigations before consulting a senior colleague. Following this traditional hierarchy delays care with several "futile cycles" of clinical activity thoughtlessly directed at the patient without any benefit being delivered. If acute hospital medicine is to be improved changes in traditional assumptions, attitudes, beliefs and practices are needed.

Evaluation of the magnitude of hip joint deformation in subjects with avascular necrosis of the hip joint during walking with and without Scottish Rite orthosis.

Science.gov (United States)

Karimi, Mohammad Taghi; Mohammadi, Ali; Ebrahimi, Mohammad Hossein; McGarry, Anthony

2017-02-01

The femoral head in subjects with leg calve perthes disease (LCPD) is generally considerably deformed. It is debatable whether this deformation is due to an increase in applied loads, a decrease in bone mineral density or a change in containment of articular surfaces. The aim of this study was to determine the influence of these factors on deformation of the femoral head. Two subjects with LCPD participated in this study. Subject motion and the forces applied on the affected leg were recorded using a motion analysis system (Qualsis TM ) and a Kistler force plate. OpenSim software was used to determine joint contact force of the hip joint whilst walking with and without a Scottish Rite orthosis. 3D Models of hip joints of both subjects were produced by Mimics software. The deformation of femoral bone was determined by Abaqus. Mean values of the force applied on the leg increased while walking with the orthosis. There was no difference between bone mineral density (BMD) of the femoral bone of normal and LCPD sides (p-value>0.05) and no difference between hip joint contact force of normal and LCPD sides. Hip joint containment appeared to decrease follow the use of the orthosis. It can be concluded that the deformation of femoral head in LCPD may not be due to change in BMD or applied load. Although the Scottish Rite orthosis is used mostly to increase hip joint containment, it appears to reduce hip joint contact area. It is recommended that a similar study is conducted using a higher number of subjects. Copyright © 2016 IPEM. All rights reserved.

Impact of Scottish smoke-free legislation on smoking quit attempts and prevalence.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Daniel F Mackay

Full Text Available OBJECTIVES: In Scotland, legislation was implemented in March 2006 prohibiting smoking in all wholly or partially enclosed public spaces. We investigated the impact on attempts to quit smoking and smoking prevalence. METHODS: We performed time series models using Box-Jenkins autoregressive integrated moving averages (ARIMA on monthly data on the gross ingredient cost of all nicotine replacement therapy (NRT prescribed in Scotland in 2003-2009, and quarterly data on self-reported smoking prevalence between January 1999 and September 2010 from the Scottish Household Survey. RESULTS: NRT prescription costs were significantly higher than expected over the three months prior to implementation of the legislation. Prescription costs peaked at £1.3 million in March 2006; £292,005.9 (95% CI £260,402.3, £323,609, p<0.001 higher than the monthly norm. Following implementation of the legislation, costs fell exponentially by around 26% per month (95% CI 17%, 35%, p<0.001. Twelve months following implementation, the costs were not significantly different to monthly norms. Smoking prevalence fell by 8.0% overall, from 31.3% in January 1999 to 23.7% in July-September 2010. In the quarter prior to implementation of the legislation, smoking prevalence fell by 1.7% (95% CI 2.4%, 1.0%, p<0.001 more than expected from the underlying trend. CONCLUSIONS: Quit attempts increased in the three months leading up to Scotland's smoke-free legislation, resulting in a fall in smoking prevalence. However, neither has been sustained suggesting the need for additional tobacco control measures and ongoing support.

Impact of Scottish Smoke-Free Legislation on Smoking Quit Attempts and Prevalence

Science.gov (United States)

Mackay, Daniel F.; Haw, Sally; Pell, Jill P.

2011-01-01

Objectives In Scotland, legislation was implemented in March 2006 prohibiting smoking in all wholly or partially enclosed public spaces. We investigated the impact on attempts to quit smoking and smoking prevalence. Methods We performed time series models using Box-Jenkins autoregressive integrated moving averages (ARIMA) on monthly data on the gross ingredient cost of all nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) prescribed in Scotland in 2003–2009, and quarterly data on self-reported smoking prevalence between January 1999 and September 2010 from the Scottish Household Survey. Results NRT prescription costs were significantly higher than expected over the three months prior to implementation of the legislation. Prescription costs peaked at £1.3 million in March 2006; £292,005.9 (95% CI £260,402.3, £323,609, p<0.001) higher than the monthly norm. Following implementation of the legislation, costs fell exponentially by around 26% per month (95% CI 17%, 35%, p<0.001). Twelve months following implementation, the costs were not significantly different to monthly norms. Smoking prevalence fell by 8.0% overall, from 31.3% in January 1999 to 23.7% in July–September 2010. In the quarter prior to implementation of the legislation, smoking prevalence fell by 1.7% (95% CI 2.4%, 1.0%, p<0.001) more than expected from the underlying trend. Conclusions Quit attempts increased in the three months leading up to Scotland's smoke-free legislation, resulting in a fall in smoking prevalence. However, neither has been sustained suggesting the need for additional tobacco control measures and ongoing support. PMID:22110585

The Social Norms of Suicidal and Self-Harming Behaviours in Scottish Adolescents.

Science.gov (United States)

Quigley, Jody; Rasmussen, Susan; McAlaney, John

2017-03-15

Although the suicidal and self-harming behaviour of individuals is often associated with similar behaviours in people they know, little is known about the impact of perceived social norms on those behaviours. In a range of other behavioural domains (e.g., alcohol consumption, smoking, eating behaviours) perceived social norms have been found to strongly predict individuals' engagement in those behaviours, although discrepancies often exist between perceived and reported norms. Interventions which align perceived norms more closely with reported norms have been effective in reducing damaging behaviours. The current study aimed to explore whether the Social Norms Approach is applicable to suicidal and self-harming behaviours in adolescents. Participants were 456 pupils from five Scottish high-schools (53% female, mean age = 14.98 years), who completed anonymous, cross-sectional surveys examining reported and perceived norms around suicidal and self-harming behaviour. Friedman's ANOVA with post-hoc Wilcoxen signed-ranks tests indicated that proximal groups were perceived as less likely to engage in or be permissive of suicidal and self-harming behaviours than participants' reported themselves, whilst distal groups tended towards being perceived as more likely to do so. Binary logistic regression analyses identified a number of perceived norms associated with reported norms, with close friends' norms positively associated with all outcome variables. The Social Norms Approach may be applicable to suicidal and self-harming behaviour, but associations between perceived and reported norms and predictors of reported norms differ to those found in other behavioural domains. Theoretical and practical implications of the findings are considered.

The Social Norms of Suicidal and Self-Harming Behaviours in Scottish Adolescents

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jody Quigley

2017-03-01

Full Text Available Although the suicidal and self-harming behaviour of individuals is often associated with similar behaviours in people they know, little is known about the impact of perceived social norms on those behaviours. In a range of other behavioural domains (e.g., alcohol consumption, smoking, eating behaviours perceived social norms have been found to strongly predict individuals’ engagement in those behaviours, although discrepancies often exist between perceived and reported norms. Interventions which align perceived norms more closely with reported norms have been effective in reducing damaging behaviours. The current study aimed to explore whether the Social Norms Approach is applicable to suicidal and self-harming behaviours in adolescents. Participants were 456 pupils from five Scottish high-schools (53% female, mean age = 14.98 years, who completed anonymous, cross-sectional surveys examining reported and perceived norms around suicidal and self-harming behaviour. Friedman’s ANOVA with post-hoc Wilcoxen signed-ranks tests indicated that proximal groups were perceived as less likely to engage in or be permissive of suicidal and self-harming behaviours than participants’ reported themselves, whilst distal groups tended towards being perceived as more likely to do so. Binary logistic regression analyses identified a number of perceived norms associated with reported norms, with close friends’ norms positively associated with all outcome variables. The Social Norms Approach may be applicable to suicidal and self-harming behaviour, but associations between perceived and reported norms and predictors of reported norms differ to those found in other behavioural domains. Theoretical and practical implications of the findings are considered.

Reconstructing pre-acidification pH for an acidified Scottish loch: A comparison of palaeolimnological and modelling approaches

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Battarbee, R.W.; Monteith, D.T.; Juggins, S.; Evans, C.D.; Jenkins, A.; Simpson, G.L.

2005-01-01

We reconstruct the pre-acidification pH of the Round Loch of Glenhead for 1800 AD using three diatom-pH transfer functions and a diatom-cladocera modern analogue technique (MAT), and compare these palaeo-data with hindcast data for the loch using the dynamic catchment acidification model MAGIC. We assess the accuracy of the transfer functions by comparing pH inferences from contemporary sediment and sediment trap diatom samples from the lake with measured pH from the UK Acid Waters Monitoring Network. The results from the transfer functions estimate the pH in 1800 to have been between 5.5. and 5.7, the MAT approach estimates pH at 5.8 and the MAGIC hindcast (for 1850) is pH 6.1. Whilst we have no independent method of assessing which of these values is most accurate, the disagreement between the two approaches indicates that further work is needed to resolve the discrepancies. - Methods of reconstructing pre-acidification pH for an acidified Scottish loch compared

The current state of physical activity and exercise programs in German-speaking, Swiss psychiatric hospitals: results from a brief online survey

Science.gov (United States)

Brand, Serge; Colledge, Flora; Beeler, Nadja; Pühse, Uwe; Kalak, Nadeem; Sadeghi Bahmani, Dena; Mikoteit, Thorsten; Holsboer-Trachsler, Edith; Gerber, Markus

2016-01-01

Background Physical activity and exercise programs (PAEPs) are an important factor in increasing and maintaining physical and mental health. This holds particularly true for patients with psychiatric disorders undergoing treatment in a psychiatric hospital. To understand whether the benefits reported in the literature are mirrored in current treatment modalities, the aim of the present study was to assess the current state of PAEPs in psychiatric hospitals in the German-speaking part of Switzerland. Methods All psychiatric hospitals (N=55) in the German-speaking part of Switzerland were contacted in spring 2014. Staff responsible for PAEPs were asked to complete an online questionnaire covering questions related to PAEPs such as type, frequency, staff training, treatment rationale, importance of PAEPs within the treatment strategy, and possible avenues to increase PAEPs. Results Staff members of 48 different psychiatric hospitals completed the survey. Hospitals provided the following therapeutic treatments: relaxation techniques (100%), sports therapy (97%), activity-related psychotherapeutic interventions (95%), physiotherapy (85%), body therapies (59%), far-east techniques (57%), and hippotherapy (22%). Frequencies ranged from once/week to five times/week. Approximately 25% of patients participated in the PAEPs. Interventions were offered irrespective of psychiatric disorders. PAEP providers wanted and needed more vocational training. Conclusion All participating psychiatric hospitals offer a broad variety of PAEPs in their treatment curricula. However, the majority of inpatients do not participate in PAEPs. Furthermore, those who do participate cannot continue to do so following discharge. PAEP providers need specific extended vocational trainings and believe that the potential of PA should be improved. PMID:27350748

US hospital care for patients with HIV infection and pneumonia: the role of public, private, and Veterans Affairs hospitals in the early highly active antiretroviral therapy era.

Science.gov (United States)

Uphold, Constance R; Deloria-Knoll, Maria; Palella, Frank J; Parada, Jorge P; Chmiel, Joan S; Phan, Laura; Bennett, Charles L

2004-02-01

We evaluated differences in processes and outcomes of HIV-related pneumonia care among patients in Veterans Affairs (VA), public, and for-profit and not-for-profit private hospitals in the United States. We compared the results of our current study (1995 to 1997) with those of our previous study that included a sample of patients receiving care during the years 1987 to 1990 to determine how HIV-related pneumonia care had evolved over the last decade. The sample consisted of 1,231 patients with HIV infection who received care for Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia (PCP) and 750 patients with HIV infection who received care for community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) during the years 1995 to 1997. We conducted a retrospective medical record review and evaluated patient and hospital characteristics, HIV-related processes of care (timely use of anti-PCP medications, adjunctive corticosteroids), non-HIV-related processes of care (timely use of CAP treatment medications, diagnostic testing, ICU utilization, rates of endotracheal ventilation, placement on respiratory isolation), length of inpatient hospital stay, and inpatient mortality. Rates of timely use of antibiotics and adjunctive corticosteroids for treating PCP were high and improved dramatically from the prior decade. However, compliance with consensus guidelines that recommend public, private not-for-profit hospitals, and for-profit hospitals. This study provides the first overview of HIV-related pneumonia care in the early highly active antiretroviral therapy era, and contrasts current findings with those of a similarly conducted study from a decade earlier. Quality of care for patients with PCP improved, but further efforts are needed to facilitate the appropriate management of CAP. In the third decade of the epidemic, it will be important to monitor whether variations in processes of care for various HIV-related clinical diagnoses among different types of hospitals persist.

Determinants of Hospital Casemix Complexity

Science.gov (United States)

Becker, Edmund R.; Steinwald, Bruce

1981-01-01

Using the Commission on Professional and Hospital Activities' Resource Need Index as a measure of casemix complexity, this paper examines the relative contributions of teaching commitment and other hospital characteristics, hospital service and insurer distributions, and area characteristics to variations in casemix complexity. The empirical estimates indicate that all three types of independent variables have a substantial influence. These results are discussed in light of recent casemix research as well as current policy implications. PMID:6799430

Analysis of Factors Influencing Activity-Based Costing Applications in the Hospitality Industry in Yenagoa, Nigeria

OpenAIRE

Appah, Ebimobowei; Bariweni Binaebi

2013-01-01

This research examines the factors influencing activity-based costing application in the hospitality industry in Yenagoa, Nigeria. To achieve this objective, primary and secondary data were used. The secondary data include books, journals, periodicals, unpublished research materials and the internet and the primary data include interview and a well structured questionnaire administered to one hundred and 165 respondents in the 50 hotels sampled from the population. The data collected from the...

Positioning hospitals for improved access to capital.

Science.gov (United States)

Ponton, Kevin T; Sandrick, Karen M

2002-11-01

Hospitals need to actively position themselves in the next 18 to 24 months to ensure continued access to financing. Hospitals need to shift their focus from investment income to operations. Hospitals should recognize the importance of balance-sheet liquidity to institutional investors. Not-for-profit hospitals should focus on both sides of the balance sheet. Healthcare executives need to develop effective leadership and investor-relations skills.

Hospital outreach to support faith community nursing.

Science.gov (United States)

Messerly, Sally; King, Michalene A; Hughes, Suzanne

2012-01-01

A Faith Community Nurse (FCN) Program was initiated by a Magnet hospital and developed through collaboration between hospital departments and a university nurse educator. This article describes the program's development and activities that offer FCNs networking, free continuing education, and are an extension of the hospital's mission and values.

The impact of stroke unit care on outcome in a Scottish stroke population, taking into account case mix and selection bias.

Science.gov (United States)

Turner, Melanie; Barber, Mark; Dodds, Hazel; Dennis, Martin; Langhorne, Peter; Macleod, Mary Joan

2015-03-01

Randomised trials indicate that stroke unit care reduces morbidity and mortality after stroke. Similar results have been seen in observational studies but many have not corrected for selection bias or independent predictors of outcome. We evaluated the effect of stroke unit compared with general ward care on outcomes after stroke in Scotland, adjusting for case mix by incorporating the six simple variables (SSV) model, also taking into account selection bias and stroke subtype. We used routine data from National Scottish datasets for acute stroke patients admitted between 2005 and 2011. Patients who died within 3 days of admission were excluded from analysis. The main outcome measures were survival and discharge home. Multivariable logistic regression was used to estimate the OR for survival, and adjustment was made for the effect of the SSV model and for early mortality. Cox proportional hazards model was used to estimate the hazard of death within 365 days. There were 41 692 index stroke events; 79% were admitted to a stroke unit at some point during their hospital stay and 21% were cared for in a general ward. Using the SSV model, we obtained a receiver operated curve of 0.82 (SE 0.002) for mortality at 6 months. The adjusted OR for survival at 7 days was 3.11 (95% CI 2.71 to 3.56) and at 1 year 1.43 (95% CI 1.34 to 1.54) while the adjusted OR for being discharged home was 1.19 (95% CI 1.11 to 1.28) for stroke unit care. In routine practice, stroke unit admission is associated with a greater likelihood of discharge home and with lower mortality up to 1 year, after correcting for known independent predictors of outcome, and excluding early non-modifiable mortality. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://group.bmj.com/group/rights-licensing/permissions.

Antibacterial Activity of Electrochemically Synthesized Colloidal Silver Nanoparticles Against Hospital-Acquired Infections

Science.gov (United States)

Thuc, Dao Tri; Huy, Tran Quang; Hoang, Luc Huy; Hoang, Tran Huy; Le, Anh-Tuan; Anh, Dang Duc

2017-06-01

This study evaluated the antibacterial activity of electrochemically synthesized colloidal silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) against hospital-acquired infections. Colloidal AgNPs were synthesized via a single process using bulk silver bars, bi-distilled water, trisodium citrate, and direct current voltage at room temperature. Colloidal AgNPs were characterized by transmission electron microscopy, field-emission scanning electron microscopy, and energy-dispersive x-ray analyses. The antibacterial activity of colloidal AgNPs against four bacterial strains isolated from clinical samples, including methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli O157:H7, multidrug-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and carbapenem-resistant Klebsiella pneumonia, was evaluated by disc diffusion, minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC), and ultrathin sectioning electron microscopy. The results showed that the prepared AgNPs were 19.7 ± 4.3 nm in size, quasi-spherical, and of high purity. Zones of inhibition approximately 6-10 mm in diameter were found, corresponding to AgNPs concentrations of 50 μg/mL to 100 μg/mL. The MIC results revealed that the antibacterial activity of the prepared AgNPs was strongly dependent on the concentration and strain of the tested bacteria.

Mediterranean-type diet and brain structural change from 73 to 76 years in a Scottish cohort

Science.gov (United States)

Corley, Janie; Cox, Simon R.; Valdés Hernández, Maria C.; Craig, Leone C.A.; Dickie, David Alexander; Karama, Sherif; McNeill, Geraldine M.; Bastin, Mark E.; Wardlaw, Joanna M.; Deary, Ian J.

2017-01-01

Objective: To assess the association between Mediterranean-type diet (MeDi) and change in brain MRI volumetric measures and mean cortical thickness across a 3-year period in older age (73–76 years). Methods: We focused on 2 longitudinal brain volumes (total and gray matter; n = 401 and 398, respectively) plus a longitudinal measurement of cortical thickness (n = 323), for which the previous cross-sectional evidence of an association with the MeDi was strongest. Adherence to the MeDi was calculated from data gathered from a food frequency questionnaire at age 70, 3 years prior to the baseline imaging data collection. Results: In regression models adjusting for relevant demographic and physical health indicators, we found that lower adherence to the MeDi was associated with greater 3-year reduction in total brain volume (explaining 0.5% of variance, p Scottish cohort is predictive of total brain atrophy over a 3-year interval. Fish and meat consumption does not drive this change, suggesting that other components of the MeDi or, possibly, all of its components in combination are responsible for the association. PMID:28053008

The changing case-mix of hip fractures in Scotland - evidence from the Scottish Hip Fracture Audit.

Science.gov (United States)

Hannah, Stephen D; Ferguson, K B; Smith, R; Hutchison, J; Holt, G

2017-11-01

Until discontinued in 2008, the Scottish Hip Fracture Audit collected and reported on data relating to the quality of care of hip fracture patients in Scotland. In 2013, the audit was recommenced under the umbrella of the MSK Audit group, which audits high volume orthopaedic pathways across Scotland. Our aim is to report on the changes in the demographics of hip fracture patients in Scotland between 2003 and 2013. There was an increase in the proportion of male patients from 2003 to 2013 (22.4% to 29.5%; p < 0.0001). An increased percentage of hip fracture patients were admitted from their own home (63.9% to 73.1%; p < 0.0001). Both these factors have deleterious effects on the outcome, and use of necessary resources, following hip fracture. There was also an increase in the percentage of patients who were American Society of Anesthesiologists Grade 3 (52.9% to 56.4%). Over the last decade, there has been a shift in the demographics of Scotland's hip fracture patients. If hip fracture incidence increases as predicted, this potentially more-challenging case-mix will likely impact on multiple health resources.

Changes in HIV-related hospitalizations during the HAART era in an inner-city hospital.

Science.gov (United States)

Pulvirenti, Joseph; Muppidi, Uma; Glowacki, Robert; Cristofano, Michael; Baker, Laurie

2007-08-01

We evaluated admissions of HIV-positive persons to an inner-city hospital from 2000 to 2005. There was a decline in the number of substance abusers, homeless persons, injection drug abusers, and African Americans, and there was an increase in patients older than 50 years. There were no significant changes in CD4 counts or in utilization of highly active antiretroviral therapy,m but there were more admissions of persons with HIV RNA levels less than 1000 copies/mL, internal medicine problems, cancers, and skin infections. Changes in the demographics of this patient population may reflect external factors (eg, gentrification of low-income housing areas, opening of a new hospital). Lower viral loads suggest better response in those on a highly active antiretroviral regimen, and changes in diagnoses leading to hospitalization may reflect the aging of the HIV population.

Screening and management of gestational diabetes mellitus in Scottish obstetric units: a national survey.

Science.gov (United States)

Stirrat, Laura I; Denison, Fiona C; Love, Corinne D B; Lindsay, Robert S; Reynolds, Rebecca M

2015-02-01

The last study of screening practices for gestational diabetes (GDM) in the UK concluded that a lack of consensus about screening was due to a lack of clinical guidelines. We aimed to determine current practices in Scotland since new guidelines recommended that diagnosis should be made at a lower level of hyperglycaemia. An online questionnaire designed to investigate the screening and management of GDM was distributed to all maternity units in Scotland managing women with GDM (n = 15) for completion by relevant clinical team members. The response rate was 100%. Considerable variation in clinical practice existed between units. Thirteen units (86.7%) had adopted the lower glucose tolerance values for diagnosis of GDM (fasting ≥5.1 mmol/L; 2-h ≥8.5 mmol/L) recommended by the Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network in 2010. Available data from units using this guideline (n = 3) revealed a significant increase in the percentage of women diagnosed with GDM between 2010 and 2012 (2010: 1.28%, 2012: 2.54%; p still inconsistencies in screening and management of GDM in Scotland. If a similar increase in the prevalence of GDM is experienced across Scotland, there will be major implications for health care provision and resource allocation. © The Author(s) 2014 Reprints and permissions: sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav.

Suicide in Scottish military veterans: a 30-year retrospective cohort study.

Science.gov (United States)

Bergman, B P; Mackay, D F; Smith, D J; Pell, J P

2017-07-01

Although reassuring data on suicide risk in UK veterans of the 1982 Falklands conflict and 1991 Gulf conflict have been published, there have been few studies on long-term overall suicide risk in UK veterans. To examine the risk of suicide in a broad population-based cohort of veterans in Scotland, irrespect ive of length of service or exposure to conflict, in comparison with people having no record of military service. A retrospective 30-year cohort study of 56205 veterans born 1945-85 and 172741 matched non-veterans, using Cox proportional hazard models to compare the risk of suicide and fatal self-harm overall, by sex, birth cohort, length of service and year of recruitment. There were 267 (0.48%) suicides in the veterans compared with 918 (0.53%) in non-veterans. The difference was not statistically significant overall [adjusted hazard ratio (HR) 0.99; 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.86-1.13]. The incidence was lower in younger veterans and higher in veterans aged over 40. Early service leavers were at non-significantly increased risk (adjusted HR 1.13; 95% CI 0.91-1.40) but only in the older age groups. Women veterans had a significantly higher risk of suicide than non-veteran women (adjusted HR 2.44; 95% CI 1.32-4.51, P suicide did not differ significantly between veterans and non-veterans, for either sex. The Scottish Veterans Health Study adds to the emerging body of evidence that there is no overall difference in long-term risk of suicide between veterans and non-veterans in the UK. However, female veterans merit further study. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society of Occupational Medicine. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com

[Analysis on workload for hospital DOTS service].

Science.gov (United States)

Nagata, Yoko; Urakawa, Minako; Kobayashi, Noriko; Kato, Seiya

2014-04-01

A directly observed treatment short course (DOTS) trial was launched in Japan in the late 1990s and targeted patients with social depression at urban areas. Based on these findings, the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare established the Japanese DOTS Strategy in 2003, which is a comprehensive support service ensuring the adherence of tuberculosis patients to drug administration. DOTS services are initially provided at the hospital to patients with infectious tuberculosis who are hospitalized according to the Infectious Diseases Control Law. After being discharged from the hospital, the patients are referred to a public health center. However, a survey conducted in 2008 indicated that all the patients do not receive appropriate DOTS services at some hospitals. In the present study, we aimed to evaluate the protocols and workload of DOTS at hospitals that are actively involved in tuberculosis medical practice, including DOTS, to assess whether the hospital DOTS services were adequate. We reviewed a series of articles on hospital DOTS from a Japanese journal on nursing for tuberculosis patients and identified 25 activities regarding the hospital DOTS service. These 25 items were then classified into 3 categories: health education to patients, support for adherence, and coordination with the health center. In total, 20 hospitals that had > 20 authorized tuberculosis beds were selected--while considering the geographical balance, schedule of this survey, etc.--from 33 hospitals where an ex-trainee of the tuberculosis control expert training program in the Research Institute of Tuberculosis (RIT) was working and 20 hospitals that had collaborated with our previous survey on tuberculosis medical facilities. All the staff associated with the DOTS service were asked to record the total working time as well as the time spent for each activity. The data were collected and analyzed at the RIT. The working times for each activity of the DOTS service for nurses, pharmacists