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Another Finding (another + finding)

Distribution by Scientific Domains

Medical Sciences	40%

Selected Abstracts

Re-inscribing Gender in New Modes of Medical Expertise: The Investigator,Coordinator Relationship in the Clinical Trials Industry

GENDER, WORK & ORGANISATION, Issue 2 2010
Jill A. Fisher
This article analyses the ways in which research coordinators forge professional identities in the highly gendered organizational context of the clinic. Drawing upon qualitative research on the organization of the clinical trials industry (that is, the private sector, for profit auxiliary companies that support pharmaceutical drug studies), this article explores the relationships between predominantly male physician-investigators and female research coordinators and the constitution of medical expertise in pharmaceutical drug development. One finding is that coordinators actively seek to establish relationships with investigators that mirror traditional doctor,nurse relationships, in which the feminized role is subordinated and devalued. Another finding is that the coordinators do, in fact, have profound research expertise that is frequently greater than that of the investigators. The coordinators develop expertise on pharmaceutical products and diseases through their observations of the patterns that occur in patient,participants' responses to investigational drugs. The article argues, however, that the nature of the relationships between coordinators and investigators renders invisible the coordinators' expertise. In this context, gender acts as a persistent social structure shaping both coordinators' and investigators' perceptions of who can be recognized as having authority and power in the workplace. [source]

Employer responses to union organising: patterns and effects

HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT JOURNAL, Issue 1 2010
Edmund Heery
This article presents original research on employer responses to trade union organising campaigns in the United Kingdom. The evidence indicates that there is no single response, with employers in some cases seeking to block and in others support union activity. These different patterns are strongly path dependent and reflect the prior degree of exposure to trade unionism of workplaces targeted for organising. Another finding is that employer responses co-vary with union approaches to organising, such that when the employer adopts adversarial tactics so does the union. The militancy of both parties, it seems, is mutually reinforcing. Finally, the evidence points to substantial influence of employer responses over the outcomes of organising. When employers are supportive then campaigns tend to be more successful, measured on a range of criteria. When the employer is hostile unions find it difficult to make progress and encounter particular difficulties in securing recognition. [source]

Asthma Pharmacotherapy Prescribing in the Ambulatory Population of the United States: Evidence of Nonadherence to National Guidelines and Implications for Elderly People

JOURNAL OF AMERICAN GERIATRICS SOCIETY, Issue 7 2008
Prakash Navaratnam MPH
OBJECTIVES: To examine the level of physician adherence to the Expert Panel Report 2 (EPR-2) pharmacotherapy guidelines of the asthma population, specifically in the elderly ambulatory patient population of the United States. DESIGN: Retrospective cross-sectional study using a national survey. SETTING: National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey data of U.S. elderly patients from 1998 through 2004. PARTICIPANTS: The weighted population sample size was 82,020,318 patients. There were 1,540 observations in this study (preweighted sample size) and 96 strata, with 446 population sampling units (PSUs). There were 11,868,340 patients that were elderly, and they accounted for 14.5% of the overall population sampled. MEASUREMENTS: Specific patient demographic variables, physician demographic variables, and information about asthma medications prescribed were extracted from the data set and analyzed. Descriptive statistics for the patient demographic, physician demographic, and asthma pharmacotherapy variables were generated. A series of logistic regression models were created, with the choice of asthma pharmacotherapy agent used as the dependent variable and patient and physician demographic variables as the independent variables. RESULTS: A major finding was that physicians were not adherent to the National Asthma Education and Prevention Program EPR-2 asthma pharmacotherapy guidelines. Another finding was that, although elderly patients (aged ,65) were exposed to more-stable patterns of care, they were less likely to be prescribed controller medications, long-acting bronchodilators (LABAs), combinations of inhaled corticosteroids and LABAs, and short-acting beta agonists than patients aged 35 to 64. CONCLUSION: A more-concerted effort needs to be undertaken to improve physician adherence to the EPR-2 guidelines, especially in prescribing asthma pharmacotherapy to elderly patients. [source]

Ion-pair mediated transport of small model peptides in liquid phase micro extraction under acidic conditions

JOURNAL OF SEPARATION SCIENCE, JSS, Issue 3 2005
J. Léon E. Reubsaet
Abstract This paper discusses the behaviour of five small model peptides in a three phase (aqueous donor-organic-aqueous acceptor) liquid phase micro extraction system in relation to their physico-chemical properties (charge, hydrophobicity). It is proved that for all peptides transport over the organic phase is mediated by aliphatic sulphonic acids. Heptane-1-sulphonic acid gave the best overall recoveries. It appeared that peptides with hydrophobic properties (IPI) and a high number of positive charges (KYK) show good recoveries and are enriched in the acceptor phase. Variation in the pH (1.6,4.4) of the donor phase shows that there are peptide-dependent optimal pH-values for their recovery. Increasing pH in the acceptor phase shows that in most cases the recovery decreases due to decreased ion-pair mediated membrane transport. For KYK the partition between the organic phase and the aqueous acceptor-phase is also driven by the solubility in the aqueous acceptor phase. Increase of the ion strength of the acceptor phase did not affect the recovery of the peptides. Except for KYK, which showed decreased recovery when the ion strength increased. Another finding is that delocalisation of positive charge causes bad recovery, probably due to incomplete ion-pair-peptide complex formation. [source]

Renal function in renal or liver transplant recipients after conversion from a calcineurin inhibitor to sirolimus

CLINICAL TRANSPLANTATION, Issue 3 2006
L. Bäckman
Abstract:, Two Six-month pilot studies were conducted in renal (n=17) or liver (n=15) transplant recipients to evaluate renal function after conversion from calcineurin inhibitor (CI)- to sirolimus (SRL)-based immunosuppression. After an SRL loading dose, doses were individualized to achieve whole blood trough levels of 10,22 ng/mL. Overall, serum creatinine did not change from baseline to six months post-conversion but an improvement from 219.9 to 201.4 ,mol/L at three months was noted in renal transplant recipients (p<0.05). Another finding was a numerical increase in the mean glomerular filtration rate (GFR) from 26.8 to 33.2 mL/min/1.73 m2 at six months among liver transplant recipients (NS). All patients survived and all grafts were functioning at the end of the study. In conclusion, renal function remained stable, with a tendency towards improvement, after abrupt conversion from CI- to SRL-based therapy in renal or liver transplant recipients with moderate renal insufficiency. [source]