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Competitive Level (competitive + level)

Distribution by Scientific Domains
Medical Sciences75%

Selected Abstracts

Future Prospects for Biomarkers of Alcohol Consumption and Alcohol-Induced Disorders

ALCOHOLISM, Issue 6 2010
Willard M. Freeman
The lack of reliable measures of alcohol intake is a major obstacle to the diagnosis, treatment, and research of alcohol abuse and alcoholism. Successful development of a biomarker that allows for accurate assessment of alcohol intake and drinking patterns would not only be a major advance in clinical care but also a valuable research tool. A number of advances have been made in testing the validity of proposed biomarkers as well as in identifying potential new biomarkers through systems biology approaches. This commentary will examine the definition of a biomarker of heavy drinking, the types of potential biomarkers, the steps in biomarker development, the current state of biomarker development, and critical obstacles for the field. The challenges in developing biomarkers for alcohol treatment and research are similar to those found in other fields. However, the alcohol research field must reach a competitive level of rigor and organization. We recommend that NIAAA consider taking a leadership role in organizing investigators in the field and providing a common set of clinical specimens for biomarker validation studies. [source]

One of Australia's greatest cricketers was a protanope: a genetic detective story solved with the help of Schmidt's sign

CLINICAL AND EXPERIMENTAL OPTOMETRY, Issue 6 2005
Ross W. Harris BAppSc LOSc FVCO
Abnormal colour vision is under-represented among first class cricketers (Goddard N and Coull B BMJ 1994; 309: 16841685) and interviews with cricketers, all of whom had a mild colour vision defect, suggest there may be times when they lose sight of the red cricket ball against green surrounds (Hams and Cole Clin Exp Optom 2005; 88: 176,180). It is possible that severe abnormal colour vision precludes playing cricket at its highest competitive level. It is known that Bill Ponsford, who played Test cricket from 1924 to 1934 and was one of Australia's greatest batsmen, had abnormal colour vision. We have diagnosed him to be a protanope by tracing the abnormal colour vision exhibited by some of his descendents. We used Schmidt's sign using the Medmont ClOO colour vision test to identify carriers of the protan gene to trace the protanopic gene to Ponsford with greater certainty. That such an accomplished batsman and highly regarded outfielder should have a severe colour vision deficiency suggests that abnormal colour vision might not be, or at least need not be, a handicap to playing cricket at the most competitive levels. [source]

Is it time to reduce the minimum tick sizes of the E-mini futures?

THE JOURNAL OF FUTURES MARKETS, Issue 1 2005
Alexander Kurov
On the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME), so-called "E-mini" index futures contracts trade on the electronic GLOBEX trading system alongside the corresponding full-size contracts that trade on the open outcry floor. This paper finds that the current minimum tick sizes of the E-mini S&P 500 and E-mini Nasdaq-100 futures contracts act as binding constraints on the bid-ask spreads by not allowing the spreads to decline to competitive levels. We also find that, while exchange locals trade very actively on GLOBEX, they do not tend to act as liquidity suppliers. Taken together, our empirical results suggest that it is time for the CME to consider decreasing the minimum tick sizes of the S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100 E-mini futures contracts. A tick size reduction is likely to result in lower trading costs in the E-mini futures markets. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Jrl Fut Mark 25:79,104, 2005 [source]

One of Australia's greatest cricketers was a protanope: a genetic detective story solved with the help of Schmidt's sign

CLINICAL AND EXPERIMENTAL OPTOMETRY, Issue 6 2005
Ross W. Harris BAppSc LOSc FVCO
Abnormal colour vision is under-represented among first class cricketers (Goddard N and Coull B BMJ 1994; 309: 16841685) and interviews with cricketers, all of whom had a mild colour vision defect, suggest there may be times when they lose sight of the red cricket ball against green surrounds (Hams and Cole Clin Exp Optom 2005; 88: 176,180). It is possible that severe abnormal colour vision precludes playing cricket at its highest competitive level. It is known that Bill Ponsford, who played Test cricket from 1924 to 1934 and was one of Australia's greatest batsmen, had abnormal colour vision. We have diagnosed him to be a protanope by tracing the abnormal colour vision exhibited by some of his descendents. We used Schmidt's sign using the Medmont ClOO colour vision test to identify carriers of the protan gene to trace the protanopic gene to Ponsford with greater certainty. That such an accomplished batsman and highly regarded outfielder should have a severe colour vision deficiency suggests that abnormal colour vision might not be, or at least need not be, a handicap to playing cricket at the most competitive levels. [source]