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Current Requirements (current + requirement)
Selected AbstractsApproaches in the safety evaluations of veterinary antimicrobial agents in food to determine the effects on the human intestinal microfloraJOURNAL OF VETERINARY PHARMACOLOGY & THERAPEUTICS, Issue 1 2005C. E. CERNIGLIA The administration of antimicrobial agents to livestock creates potential for antibiotic residues to enter the food supply and be consumed by humans. Therefore, as a process of food animal drug registration, national regulatory agencies and international committees evaluate data regarding the chemical, microbiologic, pharmacokinetic, pharmacodynamic, pharmacologic, toxicologic, and antimicrobial properties of veterinary drugs to assess the safety of ingested antimicrobial residues to consumers. Currently, European, Australian and United States guidelines for veterinary drug registration require a safety assessment of microbiologic hazards from consumption of antimicrobial residues taking into account the potentially adverse effects on human intestinal microflora. The main concerns addressed are selection of resistant bacteria in the gastrointestinal tract and disruption of the colonization barrier of the resident intestinal microflora. Current requirements differ among national agencies. Efforts are ongoing internationally to review and harmonize approaches and test methods and protocols for application to these microbiologic safety evaluations of antimicrobial drug residues in food. This review describes the background to current regulatory approaches used in applying in vitro and in vivo methods to set a microbiologic acceptable daily intake for residues in food derived from animals treated with an antimicrobial agent. This paper also examines the current research needs to support these evaluations. [source] An automated pottery archival and reconstruction systemCOMPUTER ANIMATION AND VIRTUAL WORLDS (PREV: JNL OF VISUALISATION & COMPUTER ANIMATION), Issue 3 2003Martin Kampel Abstract Motivated by the current requirements of archaeologists, we are developing an automated archival system for archaeological classification and reconstruction of ceramics. Our system uses the profile of an archaeological fragment, which is the cross-section of the fragment in the direction of the rotational axis of symmetry, to classify and reconstruct it virtually. Ceramic fragments are recorded automatically by a 3D measurement system based on structured (coded) light. The input data for the estimation of the profile is a set of points produced by the acquisition system. By registering the front and the back views of the fragment the profile is computed and measurements like diameter, area percentage of the complete vessel, height and width are derived automatically. We demonstrate the method and give results on synthetic and real data. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Using virtual topologies to manage inter-domain QoS in next-generation networksINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF NETWORK MANAGEMENT, Issue 3 2010Ricardo B. Freitas Recently, several computer fields have turned to virtualization as a way to simplify complex problems. In this context, the Virtual Topology Service (VTS) was created to manage the advertisement and acquisition of virtual topologies (abstractions of the network status of a domain) and their use in inter-domain resource reservation to provide end-to-end quality of service (QoS). As an effort to create new network architectures which could attend current requirements like mobility and context-aware applications and support autonomous, heterogeneous and mobile domains next-generation networks (NGNs) emerged, with Ambient Networks (AN) as one of its instances. With an ever increasing multitude of online applications, end-to-end QoS has become increasingly important, especially for media and real-time uses. In this context, in order to better manage inter-domain QoS in these new networks, better coping with mobile nodes and domains, this work presents a new design and implementation of the VTS, adapted to the AN environment. The new VTS stores resource reservation information to enable the reuse of these reservations when re-establishing QoS after a node/domain movement. This implementation was tested on a real NGN prototype and showed considerable time saving when compared to QoS re-establishment without reusing the reservations. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Nutritional care: the effectiveness of actively involving older patientsJOURNAL OF CLINICAL NURSING, Issue 2 2005Preben Ulrich Pedersen RN PhD Aims and objectives., The purpose of the study was to test the effectiveness of nursing care based on active involvement of patients in their nutritional care. It was hypothesized that this type of care could improve energy and protein intake in elder orthopaedic patients. Background., Protein and energy malnutrition and deterioration in nutritional status is a common but neglected problem in hospital patients. Methods., The design was quasi-experimental with an intervention and control group. The study included 253 patients aged 65 and above admitted for hip fracture, hip or knee replacement. Food intake was recorded on a daily basis during the hospital stay. Results., The daily intake of energy increased with 23% (P = 0.001) and of protein with 45% (P = 0.001). The intake increased from the very first day after the operation. The intake of energy and protein was not correlated with the patient's age, body mass index or type of surgery. Conclusions., The care based on patients' active involvement in their own nutritional care and was found to be an effective method to raise the intake of energy and protein among elder orthopaedic patients. Relevance to clinical practice., This way of organizing the care identifies patients who do not consume enough energy and protein according to their current requirements and to take appropriate actions to prevent further malnutrition. [source] Community-oriented primary care: a multidisciplinary community-oriented approach to primary care?JOURNAL OF COMMUNITY & APPLIED SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY, Issue 1 2001Penny Lenihan Abstract Developing more of a local public health focus, and involving local communities in Great Britain in health care decision-making, are key aspects of the radically changing face of primary care. Community-oriented primary care (COPC) is an international model for innovative primary health care delivery historically applied in developing or deprived communities, but increasingly seen as having broader relevance for a wider range of primary care settings. COPC has a long history of development in deprived communities, it is still however seen as innovative. It fits the current requirements of clinical governance and the ,Modern and Dependable NHS', but does its long history also provide information about it's pitfalls? COPC is promoted as an approach that is applicable to community mental health problems, community psychologists can provide the expertise to facilitate addressing community mental health in COPC programmes. This paper describes the COPC model and highlights the relevance of the COPC philosophy and the problems of its implementation for community psychologists in primary care. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Ecotoxicity testing of chemicals with particular reference to pesticidesPEST MANAGEMENT SCIENCE (FORMERLY: PESTICIDE SCIENCE), Issue 7 2006Colin H Walker Abstract Ecotoxicity tests are performed on vertebrates and invertebrates for the environmental risk assessment of pesticides and other chemicals and for a variety of ecotoxicological studies in the laboratory and in the field. Existing practices and strategies in ecotoxicity testing are reviewed, including an account of current requirements of the European Commission for the testing of pesticides and the recent REACH (Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restrictions of Chemicals) proposals for industrial chemicals. Criticisms of existing practices have been made on both scientific and ethical grounds, and these are considered before dealing with the question of possible alternative methods and strategies both for environmental risk assessment and for ecotoxicological studies more generally. New approaches from an ecological point of view are compared with recent developments in laboratory-based methods such as toxicity tests, biomarker assays and bioassays. With regard to the development of new strategies for risk assessment, it is suggested that full consideration should be given to the findings of earlier long-term studies of pollution, which identified mechanisms of action by which environmental chemicals can cause natural populations to decline. Neurotoxicity and endocrine disruption are two cases in point, and biomarker assays for them could have an important role in testing new chemicals suspected of having these properties. In a concluding discussion, possible ways of improving testing protocols are discussed, having regard for current issues in the field of environmental risk assessment as exemplified by the debate over the REACH proposals. The importance of flexibility and the roles of ecologists and ecotoxicologists are stressed in the context of environmental risk assessment. Copyright © 2006 Society of Chemical Industry [source] Rapid gas chromatography/mass spectrometry quinine determination in plasma after automated solid-phase extractionRAPID COMMUNICATIONS IN MASS SPECTROMETRY, Issue 17 2006Richard Damien The combined use of an automatic solid-phase extraction (SPE) apparatus with Oasis MCX cartridges and gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS) to rapidly quantify quinine in biological samples with cyproheptadine as the internal standard is described. The selected ion monitoring mode, with the quantification ions m/z 136 and 287 (qualifier ions: m/z 261, 381 and 215, 96), allows the estimation of quinine levels, respectively. Separation was completed within 12.7,min. Excellent linearity was found up to 10 000,µg/L of plasma. The limit of detection (LOD) was 12.2,µg/L and the limit of quantification (LOQ) was 40.6,µg/L. High reproducibility (intra-assay CV range 1.9,4.3%, inter-assay CV range 2.2,11.3%) and accuracy values (intra-assay range 83.2,103.7%, inter-assay range 86.8,103.7%) were obtained. Recoveries were concentration-independent (97.2% and 89.8% for 4000 and 10 000,µg/L, respectively). This sensitive, simple assay for quinine in various matrices meets the current requirements for bioanalytical assays and may be used to monitor quinine levels in patients developing severe malaria with acute renal failure during hemofiltration. The optimal quinine dose in this situation is not really established and to improve clinical care, quinine concentrations might be explored to improve efficacy and minimise potential toxicity. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Liquid chromatographic assay for the cyclic depsipeptide aplidine, a new marine antitumor drug, in whole blood using derivatization with trans -4,-hydrazino-2-stilbazoleBIOMEDICAL CHROMATOGRAPHY, Issue 1 2004Rolf W. Sparidans Abstract A sensitive bio-analytical assay for the depsipeptide aplidine in plasma has been modi,ed and tested for human whole blood samples. The adapted method is based on reversed-phase liquid chromatography and ,uorescence detection of the trans -4,-hydrazino-2-stilbazole derivative of the analyte. Aplidine is isolated from the matrix by solid-phase extraction on an octadecyl modi,ed silica stationary phase. After evaporation of the acetone eluate, the derivatization with the hydrazino reagent is performed in a water,acetonitrile mixture at pH = 4. The reaction mixture is injected directly into the chromatograph and the analyte is quanti,ed by ,uorescence detection at 410 and 560 nm for excitation and emission, respectively. The method has been validated in the 2,100 ng/mL range, with 2 ng/mL being the lower limit of quanti,cation. Precision and accuracy both meet the current requirements for a bioanalytical assay. The stability of aplidine in whole blood at ambient temperature and at 37°C is limited; recoveries in the range 60,85% were observed after 7 h. Further, adequate stability of aplidine in plasma at ,80 and ,20°C for 35 months could now be demonstrated. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Environmental responsibility in SMEs: does it deliver competitive advantage?BUSINESS STRATEGY AND THE ENVIRONMENT, Issue 3 2004Mike Simpson Small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) can gain a competitive advantage and create sustainable business by adopting environmental good practices. However, the perceptions of SMEs and their approach to environmental improvements suggest that there are some fundamental misunderstandings and difficulties in achieving this in practice. A questionnaire-based study of SMEs and their responses to the current requirements of environmental good practice was carried out in South Yorkshire. Follow-up interviews and factory visits were also carried out. The study aimed to assess the ability of SMEs to create a competitive advantage by adopting environmental good practice and making environmental improvements to their business. The main findings were that most organizations surveyed believed environmental issues to be issues affecting their business. However, the meeting of these requirements was seen as a cost that was not transferable to customers in terms of added benefits and few organizations could show that it led to a competitive advantage. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment. [source] | ||||||||||||||||