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Practical Guidance (practical + guidance)
Selected AbstractsSOME PRACTICAL GUIDANCE FOR THE IMPLEMENTATION OF PROPENSITY SCORE MATCHINGJOURNAL OF ECONOMIC SURVEYS, Issue 1 2008Marco Caliendo Abstract Propensity score matching (PSM) has become a popular approach to estimate causal treatment effects. It is widely applied when evaluating labour market policies, but empirical examples can be found in very diverse fields of study. Once the researcher has decided to use PSM, he is confronted with a lot of questions regarding its implementation. To begin with, a first decision has to be made concerning the estimation of the propensity score. Following that one has to decide which matching algorithm to choose and determine the region of common support. Subsequently, the matching quality has to be assessed and treatment effects and their standard errors have to be estimated. Furthermore, questions like ,what to do if there is choice-based sampling?' or ,when to measure effects?' can be important in empirical studies. Finally, one might also want to test the sensitivity of estimated treatment effects with respect to unobserved heterogeneity or failure of the common support condition. Each implementation step involves a lot of decisions and different approaches can be thought of. The aim of this paper is to discuss these implementation issues and give some guidance to researchers who want to use PSM for evaluation purposes. [source] Statistical and methodological issues in the analysis of complex sample survey data: Practical guidance for trauma researchers,JOURNAL OF TRAUMATIC STRESS, Issue 5 2008Brady T. West Standard methods for the analysis of survey data assume that the data arise from a simple random sample of the target population. In practice, analysts of survey data sets collected from nationally representative probability samples often pay little attention to important properties of the survey data. Standard statistical software procedures do not allow analysts to take these properties of survey data into account. A failure to use more specialized procedures designed for survey data analysis can impact both simple descriptive statistics and estimation of parameters in multivariate models. In this article, the author provides trauma researchers with a practical introduction to specialized methods that have been developed for the analysis of complex sample survey data. [source] Atypical antipsychotics and anorexia nervosa: A reviewEUROPEAN EATING DISORDERS REVIEW, Issue 1 2010Rebecca F. McKnight Abstract Background There is currently mixed opinion regarding the value of using atypical antipsychotics to treat anorexia nervosa (AN). Aims To evaluate the literature on the use of atypical antipsychotics in AN. Method A review of all studies and clinical guidelines published before September 2009 involving use of an atypical antipsychotic in patients with AN. Analysis is by narrative synthesis. Results Forty-three publications or study protocols were found, including four randomized-controlled trials, five open-label trials and 26 case reports. The most studied drugs were olanzapine, quetiapine and risperidone. Atypical antipsychotics appear safe and there is some evidence of positive effects on depression, anxiety and core eating disordered psychopathology in patients with anorexia nervosa. Currently there is insufficient evidence to confirm atypical antipsychotics enhance weight gain in this setting. Conclusions Further high quality evidence is needed in this area in order to provide practical guidance to clinicians. However, the main challenge is to persuade adequate numbers of AN patients to participate in research trials. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and Eating Disorders Association. [source] HIV and the body: a review of multidisciplinary managementHIV MEDICINE, Issue 2010J Rockstroh Abstract The increase in the life expectancy achieved following the introduction of more effective antiretroviral therapy (ART) in recent years now means that the HIV-infected population are for the first time being exposed to the age-related diseases that affect the general population. Nevertheless, the prevalence of these diseases (which include cardiovascular disease, dyslipidaemia, glucose intolerance and diabetes) is higher, and their onset earlier in the HIV population, probably due to the complex interplay between HIV infection, coinfection with hepatitis B and C, and ART. As a result, HIV physicians are now required to adopt a new approach to the management of HIV, which involves screening and regular monitoring of all HIV-infected individuals for the presence of comorbidities and prompt referral to other clinical specialties when required. If this challenge to patient management is to be overcome, it is clear that educating physicians in the diagnosis and treatment of age-associated comorbidities is essential, either through ongoing programmes such as the HIV and the Body initiative, an overarching independent medical education programme established in 2007 and overseen by an independent Steering Committee, organized and funded by Gilead, and/or through internal training. To assist in this process, this article provides an overview of common comorbidities affecting HIV-infected persons and provides practical guidance on their management. [source] Best Practice Guidelines on Publication Ethics: a Publisher's PerspectiveINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF CLINICAL PRACTICE, Issue 2007Chris Graf Summary These Best Practice Guidelines on Publication Ethics describe Blackwell Publishing's position on the major ethical principles of academic publishing and review factors that may foster ethical behavior or create problems. The aims are to encourage discussion, to initiate changes where they are needed, and to provide practical guidance, in the form of Best Practice statements, to inform these changes. Blackwell Publishing recommends that editors adapt and adopt the suggestions outlined to best fit the needs of their own particular publishing environment. [source] Enhancing well-being and alleviating depressive symptoms with positive psychology interventions: a practice-friendly meta-analysis,JOURNAL OF CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY, Issue 5 2009Nancy L. Sin Abstract Do positive psychology interventions,that is, treatment methods or intentional activities aimed at cultivating positive feelings, positive behaviors, or positive cognitions,enhance well-being and ameliorate depressive symptoms? A meta-analysis of 51 such interventions with 4,266 individuals was conducted to address this question and to provide practical guidance to clinicians. The results revealed that positive psychology interventions do indeed significantly enhance well-being (mean r=.29) and decrease depressive symptoms (mean r=.31). In addition, several factors were found to impact the effectiveness of positive psychology interventions, including the depression status, self-selection, and age of participants, as well as the format and duration of the interventions. Accordingly, clinicians should be encouraged to incorporate positive psychology techniques into their clinical work, particularly for treating clients who are depressed, relatively older, or highly motivated to improve. Our findings also suggest that clinicians would do well to deliver positive psychology interventions as individual (versus group) therapy and for relatively longer periods of time. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Clin Psychol: In Session 65: 1,21, 2009. [source] Literacy in the secondary curriculumLITERACY, Issue 1 2001David Wray The much-signalled extension of the National Literacy Strategy from primary to secondary schools is now in full swing and many secondary teachers are actively looking for practical guidance on ways forward with this national priority. One way of providing such guidance is to outline a common language with which secondary teachers of all subjects can discuss the role of literacy within their subjects. This article puts forward one possible way of developing this common language, by building on the work of Freebody and Luke (1990) in Australia who suggest a literacy resource model. This model is applied to the teaching of literacy within the three core subjects of English, Mathematics and Science. [source] The New European Medicines Agency Guideline on the Investigation of BioequivalenceBASIC AND CLINICAL PHARMACOLOGY & TOXICOLOGY, Issue 3 2010José Augusto Guimarães Morais Several new features have been added to this guideline, as well as changes aimed at improving the clarity of the guidance provided. The first issue to be addressed was to limit the scope of the guideline to bioequivalence studies for immediate release dosage forms with systemic action. Therefore, the guideline refers to bioequivalence alone. Moreover, the new definition of Generic Medicinal Product has been incorporated. Clearer guidance covering more specific cases is now given on sections such as: fed/fasting conditions, use of metabolite data, enantiomers and strength to be used in the bioequivalence study. Steady-state design is now restricted and other designs, such as parallel group design, replicate design and two-stage design, are now incorporated in a more explicit form. New practical guidance on Highly Variable Drug Products and Narrow Therapeutic Index Drugs has been incorporated. The possibility for a biowaiver based on the Biopharmaceutics Classification System is now more explicit for Class I drugs and can be extended to Class III drugs under restricted conditions. We are aware that the initial goal of providing a very specific and clear guidance on these issues has not been entirely achieved, mainly because it is almost impossible to cover all individual cases and predict every possible situation that may arise. Demonstration of bioequivalence will still require in many instances a case by case approach. [source] Partial Utilitarianism as a suggested ethical framework for evaluating corporate mergers and acquisitionsBUSINESS ETHICS: A EUROPEAN REVIEW, Issue 4 2010Nick Collett Prior literature on ethical concerns in mergers and acquisitions (M&As) has often concluded that many stakeholders, such as workers and communities, have unjustly suffered as a result of takeovers and associated defences and that their rights as stakeholders have been violated. However, very few papers provide any guidance on how to evaluate a merger or acquisition from an ethical standpoint. This study looks at how ethical frameworks could be used to assess the ethical impact of a merger or acquisition and gives practical guidance. It is proposed that decision makers should consider the impact on four stakeholder groups: shareholders, employees, customers and directors. We call the proposed method for doing this Partial Utilitarian analysis. We suggest two possible ways of applying the Partial Utilitarian analysis. One approach could rely on the evidence from a sample of recent deals. For this, empirical analysis is conducted on a sample of large M&As in the United Kingdom in the period 1993,2003. Alternatively, a better approach, requiring considerable management time, requires forecasting of the economic impact on the four groups of stakeholders. The paper shows how to do this. [source] Internet use for corporate environmental reporting: current challenges,technical benefits,practical guidanceBUSINESS STRATEGY AND THE ENVIRONMENT, Issue 3 2002Ralf Isenmann The huge opportunities of using the internet for corporate reporting are arranged in a comprehensive system of technical benefits. In order to give a tangible example and describe practical use thoroughly, the benefits are focused on environmental reporting but they can be transferred in major parts also to financial, social or sustainability reporting,seen as a currently emerging trend towards integrated financial, environmental and social reporting. In more detail, the system of internet-specific benefits is illustrated by four main categories: benefits concerning the underlying purposes of publishing reports, benefits concerning the entire reporting process, benefits concerning the report contents and benefits concerning the report design. In terms of corporate reporting, professional internet use will enhance the way in which companies give information, communicate and manage their business internally and externally, benefiting all members involved that are reporting companies, addressed key target groups and other stakeholders such as standard setting institutions and benchmarking organizations. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. and ERP Environment [source] | ||||||||||||||||