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Increased Collaboration (increased + collaboration)
Selected AbstractsDiabetes care in childhood and adolescenceDIABETIC MEDICINE, Issue 2002P. R. Betts Abstract The presentation of diabetes in young people has changed significantly over recent years. Not only has there been a rising incidence of Type 1 diabetes, especially in young children, but also there is an increasing recognition of Type 2 diabetes. Young people are also increasingly being diagnosed with genetic defects of B-cell function and with diabetes in association with cystic fibrosis and other chronic diseases. There have also been significant changes in the pattern of paediatric diabetes care. This is increasingly being provided by a specialized paediatric multidisciplinary team in each health district working to agreed national standards. Despite improvements, diabetes control is still suboptimal with a high incidence of complications being reported in young adults. The challenge over the next few years is the provision of a uniform, equitable and first class paediatric service throughout the UK together with the introduction of new approaches to care, aiming to improve individual diabetic control and reduce long-term complications. Increased collaboration with adult colleagues is needed to enable the transition of care in adolescence to a service that young adults perceive to meet their needs, encourage their attendance and improve their diabetes control and quality of life. A national paediatric diabetes register together with regular audit will encourage these objectives. [source] PRACTICAL MANAGEMENT OF DIET AND LIFESTYLE INTERVENTIONS FOR PEOPLE WITH DIABETES OR CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASEJOURNAL OF RENAL CARE, Issue 2010Fiona Symes BSc (Hons) SUMMARY Increased collaboration between the vascular specialities is clearly leading to increased understanding of the interrelationships between the different disease states and how each impacts and influences the other. This advantage will be reflected in improved patient care if the practical outputs of this growing knowledge are carefully implemented at service level. This article outlines how the aspects of diet and lifestyle associated with vascular-related disease complement, contrast and in some cases contradict each other. It gives information and guidelines as to how the expertise of dietitians working in the different specialist areas might usefully be shared to be of maximum advantage to all patients. [source] Psychiatric endophenotypes and the development of valid animal modelsGENES, BRAIN AND BEHAVIOR, Issue 2 2006T. D. Gould Endophenotypes are quantifiable components in the genes-to-behaviors pathways, distinct from psychiatric symptoms, which make genetic and biological studies of etiologies for disease categories more manageable. The endophenotype concept has emerged as a strategic tool in neuropsychiatric research. This emergence is due to many factors, including the modest reproducibility of results from studies directed toward etiologies and appreciation for the complex relationships between genes and behavior. Disease heterogeneity is often guaranteed, rather than simplified, through the current diagnostic system; inherent benefits of endophenotypes include more specific disease concepts and process definitions. Endophenotypes can be neurophysiological, biochemical, endocrine, neuroanatomical, cognitive or neuropsychological. Heritability and stability (state independence) represent key components of any useful endophenotype. Importantly, they characterize an approach that reduces the complexity of symptoms and multifaceted behaviors, resulting in units of analysis that are more amenable to being modeled in animals. We discuss the benefits of more direct interpretation of clinical endophenotypes by basic behavioral scientists. With the advent of important findings regarding the genes that predispose to psychiatric illness, we are at an important crossroads where, without anthropomorphizing, animal models may provide homologous components of psychiatric illness, rather than simply equating to similar (loosely analogized) behaviors, validators of the efficacy of current medications or models of symptoms. We conclude that there exists a need for increased collaboration between clinicians and basic scientists, the result of which should be to improve diagnosis, classification and treatment on one end and to increase the construct relevance of model organisms on the other. [source] Understanding Dryland Landscape Dynamics: Do Biological Crusts Hold the Key?GEOGRAPHY COMPASS (ELECTRONIC), Issue 3 2008Heather A. Viles Understanding landscape dynamics in arid and semi-arid areas is becoming increasingly important, as global change threatens to upset linked ecological and geomorphological systems with potentially serous impacts on livelihoods and environments. Biological crusts (composed of lichens, algae, fungi and bacteria) cover many rock, soil and sediment surfaces in arid and semi-arid areas and provide a key to understanding future dryland landscape dynamics. Such crusts have been found to play a number of key geomorphic and ecological roles, and are identified as important ecosystem engineers and biogeomorphological agents that could be used in environmental restoration. However, they have also been reported to be highly fragile and susceptible to disturbance, and damage to them may result in non-linear consequences for linked dryland geomorphological and ecological systems. This paper outlines the current state of knowledge on biological crusts in arid and semi-arid areas and calls for increased collaboration between geomorphologists and ecologists and better links between studies of biological crusts on rock and soil surfaces. [source] Economic analysis of different options in integrated pest and soil fertility management in maize systems of Western KenyaAGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS, Issue 5 2010Hugo De Groote Abstract The major biotic constraints to the production of maize, the major staple food in Western Kenya, are field pests such as,Striga,and stem borers, and low soil fertility. To counter these constraints, new cropping systems have been developed, including "push-pull," rotations with promiscuous soybean varieties and green manure crops, and imidazolinone resistant- (IR-) maize. To analyze the technical and economic performance of these technologies, both with and without fertilizer, on-farm researcher-managed long-term trials were implemented over six seasons in two sites each in Vihiga and Siaya districts of Western Kenya. The economic results, based on marginal analysis using a multioutput, multiperiod model, show that the new cropping systems with fodder intercropping (push-pull) or soybean rotations were highly profitable. Push-pull is more profitable but requires a relatively high initial investment cost. Green manure rotation, IR-maize, and fertilizer all increased yields, but these investments were generally not justified by their increased revenue. We argue that research on rotation and cropping systems to tackle pest and soil fertility problems in Africa deserve more attention. This will require increased collaboration between agronomists and economists to set up long-term experiments with new cropping systems to develop proper economic models. [source] Epidemiological Personology: The Unifying Role of Personality in Population-Based Research on Problem BehaviorsJOURNAL OF PERSONALITY, Issue 6 2000Robert F. Krueger Epidemiological personology refers to a paradigm in which a developmental perspective on individual differences is paired with a population-based sampling frame to yield insights about the role of personality in consequential social outcomes. We review our work in epidemiological personology, linking personality to diverse, problematic social outcomes: Mental disorders, health-risk behaviors, and violence. We conclude that broad-band personality measurement is both feasible and fruitful in large-scale research on problem behaviors, and we call for increased collaboration between personality psychologists and researchers in fields such as public health, epidemiology, and sociology. [source] | ||||||||||