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Western Setting (western + setting)

Distribution by Scientific Domains

Medical Sciences	75%

Selected Abstracts

Performance of a World Health Organization first-line regimen (stavudine/lamivudine/nevirapine) in antiretroviral-naïve individuals in a Western setting

HIV MEDICINE, Issue 5 2007
LWY Tam
Objectives In 2003, the World Health Organization (WHO) and Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) introduced the ,3 by 5 Initiative' to treat 3 million individuals by the end of 2005. This study evaluates the time to treatment termination, viral load suppression, and detection of drug resistance among antiretroviral-naïve individuals initiating stavudine/lamivudine/nevirapine (d4T/3TC/NVP) in British Columbia, Canada, to provide a context for future programme planning. Methods Primary outcome was time to treatment termination. Secondary outcome was time to viral suppression. Accumulation of drug resistance mutations was followed systematically in the first 145 individuals over 30 months. Cox proportional hazard regression identified factors associated with termination and suppression. Results 312 antiretroviral-naïve individuals initiated d4T/3TC/NVP between August 1996 and September 2003. Median follow-up time was 26.5 months (interquartile range [IQR] 6.8,46.5). At a median of 12.4 months (IQR 4.3,33.3), 132 (42.3%) patients switched treatment, 53 (17.0%) stopped therapy and 26 (8.3%) died. Of 308 subjects with baseline viral load >500 copies/mL, 223 (72.4%) suppressed to ,500 copies/mL at a median of 2.0 months. Among 145 (46.5%) individuals followed longitudinally, resistance mutations to NNRTI, 3TC, or other NRTI were detected in 11 (7.6%), six (4.1%) and four (2.8%) individuals after 12 months of therapy; and in 23 (15.9%), 17 (12.0%), and six (4.1%) individuals after 30 months. Conclusions The population requiring second-line treatment was 30% at 12 months and 40% at 24 months; 20% had detectable drug resistance mutations by 30 months. While these results are from a Western setting, they illustrate the need to consider second- and third-line approaches as antiretroviral treatment scale-up continues in the developing world. [source]

One Store, Two Employment Systems: Core, Periphery and Flexibility in China's Retail Sector

BRITISH JOURNAL OF INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS, Issue 1 2009
Jos Gamble
Research on ,flexible' or ,contingent work', derived primarily from manufacturing and production contexts in Western settings, has often been theorized in terms of a core-periphery model. Based upon ethnographic research on vendor representatives and regular store employees conducted at a multinational retail firm in China, we indicate that this model is insufficient to capture the complexity of employment arrangements in this context. This article delineates the coexistence of two employment systems and a quadrilateral relationship in which workers' interests sometimes overlap but often compete. Our research also indicates that institutional arrangements in China significantly affect the strategies that are open to firms and the consequent structure of employment relations. [source]

Parent-completed developmental screening in a Norwegian population sample: a comparison with US normative data

ACTA PAEDIATRICA, Issue 11 2004
H Janson
Aim: To compare normative data of a Norwegian translation of the Ages and Stages Questionnaires with original US normative data. Methods: Norwegian-born mothers randomly selected from the population register completed Norwegian translations of the Ages and Stages Questionnaires, a series of 19 age-specific child development screening questionnaires each made up of 30 items in five domains: Communication, Gross Motor, Fine Motor, Problem Solving, and Personal-Social. Domain score group differences with original US normative data on 10 age-specific questionnaires (for ages 4, 8, 12, 16, 20, 24, 30, 36, 48, and 60 mo) were investigated. The Norwegian data consisted of 1341 children, varying between 82 and 176 per age interval. Results: On the whole, parents' reports of their children's development were very similar in the two data sets. Only five out of 50 mean comparisons revealed a mean difference either greater than a Cohen's d of 0.5 or greater than the smallest increment on a domain score. The variation in scores tended to be somewhat smaller in the Norwegian sample. Conclusion: It seems reasonable to expect that domain scores on the Ages and Stages Questionnaires may be interpreted in the same way in Norway and the United States, and these results may also generalize to other Western settings. These findings from a true random sample also increase the confidence in the original normative data. [source]