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Determinants of community-based sponsorship impact on self-congruity
No full textSponsors increasingly shift from large professional to community-based properties, as these can deliver an engaged audience and enable them to demonstrate their corporate social responsibility (CSR). This research comprises two studies and shows that community-based sponsorship may improve CSR image and, in turn, self-congruity, a key determinant of consumer behavior. Study 1 investigates perceived sponsor–club fit, confirming attitude and corporate positioning similarity as relevant predictors. Importantly, CSR image similarity does not impact fit, suggesting sponsorship opportunities for organizations independent of their initial CSR image. Study 2 shows perceived sponsor CSR image to mediate the relationship between the perceptions of a community-based property's CSR image and consumers' self-congruity with the sponsor. While perceived sponsor–club fit and sponsorship awareness moderate the relationship between property and sponsor CSR image, attitudes toward CSR moderate the association between sponsor CSR and self-congruity. The paper concludes with implications and future research directions.
Does Australia have the appropriate health reform agenda to close the gap in Indigenous health?
No full textThis paper provides an analysis of the national Indigenous reform strategy – known as Closing the Gap – in the context of broader health system reforms underway to assess whether current attempts at addressing Indigenous disadvantage are likely to be successful. Drawing upon economic theory and empirical evidence, the paper analyses key structural features necessary for securing system performance gains capable of reducing health disparities. Conceptual and empirical attention is given to the features of comprehensive primary healthcare, which encompasses the social determinants impacting on Indigenous health. An important structural prerequisite for securing genuine improvements in health outcomes is the unifying of all funding and policy responsibilities for comprehensive primary healthcare for Indigenous Australians within a single jurisdictional framework. This would provide the basis for implementing several key mutually reinforcing components necessary for enhancing primary healthcare system performance. The announcement to introduce a long-term health equality plan in partnership with Aboriginal people represents a promising development and may provide the window of opportunity needed for implementing structural reforms to primary healthcare.
A qualitative inquiry into consumer beliefs about the causes of mental illness
No full textThis paper examines consumer or service user beliefs about the causes of mental illness. It presents a qualitative, participatory action research study involving semi-structured in-depth interviews with 16 people who had been diagnosed with a mental illness and attended a community mental health centre in metropolitan South Australia. Inductive thematic analysis was undertaken, with a range of beliefs about the possible cause of mental illness identified. Findings are organized within two key areas: social or environmental factors and physical or biological factors. The social or environmental category included varied situations, clustered under the subcategories of: stress during childhood, events in adulthood and religious beliefs. Physical or biological factors included beliefs that mental illness was inherited, caused by brain malfunction or chemical imbalance. Of note, one-third of consumer participants who discussed possible causes of mental illness identified multiple potential causes. Implications for service delivery, specifically related to therapeutic trust and engagement, are also considered.
Pharmacogenomics of interferon beta and glatiramer acetate response : a review of the literature
No full textMultiple sclerosis (MS) is one of the most common inflammatory and degenerative autoimmune diseases of the central nervous system with considerable heterogeneity in all aspects, including response to therapy. A number of disease modifying drugs, including traditional first line agents such as, interferon-beta (IFN-β) and glatiramer acetate (GA) are available for disease management. However, a considerable number of patients fail to achieve adequate response at therapeutic doses of IFN-β or GA. This variability in response to treatment has prompted the search for prognostic markers in order to personalize and optimize therapy so as to treat MS more efficiently. This review will summarize the existing literature examining the pharmacogenomics of IFN-β and GA response in MS patients.
Alteration of cardiac glucose metabolism in association to low birth weight : experimental evidence in lambs with left ventricular hypertrophy
No full textConclusion: We concluded that LBW induced left ventricular hypertrophy was associated with increased GLUT-1 and PDK-4, suggesting increased glucose uptake, but decreased efficacy for the conversion of glucose to ATP. A reduced capacity for energy conversion could have significant implications for vulnerability to cardiovascular disease in adults who are born LBW.
Maternal dietary restriction during the periconceptional period in normal-weight or obese ewes results in adrenocortical hypertrophy, an up-regulation of the JAK/STAT and down-regulation of the IGF1R signaling pathways in the adrenal of the postnatal lamb
No full textMaternal dietary restriction during the periconceptional period results in an increase in adrenal growth and in the cortisol stress response in the offspring. The intraadrenal mechanisms that result in the programming of these changes are not clear. Activation of the IGF and the signal transducer and activator of transcription (STAT)/suppressors of cytokine signaling (SOCS) pathways regulate adrenal growth. We have used an embryo transfer model in sheep to investigate the impact of exposure to either dietary restriction in normal or obese mothers or to maternal obesity during the periconceptional period on adrenal growth and function in the offspring. We assessed the adrenal abundance of key signaling molecules in the IGF-I and Janus kinase/STAT/SOCS pathways including IGF-I receptor, IGF-II receptor, Akt, mammalian target of rapamycin, ribosomal protein S6, eukaryotic translation initiation factor 4E-binding protein 1, eukaryotic translation initiation factor 4E, STAT1, STAT3, STAT5, SOCS1, and SOCS3 in female and male postnatal lambs. Maternal dietary restriction in the periconceptional period resulted in the hypertrophy of the adrenocortical cells in the zona fasciculata-reticularis and an up-regulation in STAT1, phospho-STAT1, and phospho-STAT3 (Ser727) abundance and a down-regulation in IGF-I receptor, Akt, and phospho-Akt abundance in the adrenal cortex of the postnatal lamb. These studies highlight that weight loss around the time of conception, independent of the starting maternal body weight, results in the activation of the adrenal Janus kinase/STAT pathway and adrenocortical hypertrophy. Thus, signals of adversity around the time of conception have a long-term impact on the mechanisms that regulate adrenocortical growth.
Implementing medication management software effectively within a hospital environment : gaining benefits from metaphorical design
No full textSituational pressures on aviation decision making : goal seduction and situation aversion
No full textIntroduction: The context in which a decision is made can shape the decision process in important ways. Of particular interest here are `strong' situations, that is, contexts where the situation itself exerts an influence on decision making. Borrowing concepts from field theory and approach/avoidance theory, this paper explores the influence of strong situations on pilot decision making. Method: There were 28 pilots flying in Alaska who were interviewed using a critical incident technique where participants were asked to relate stories about challenging flying situations. A bottom-up qualitative analysis of reported social and psychological pressures revealed a range of types, including strong situations, which are described in this paper. Results: Strong situations were mentioned in 67% of the interviews and included situations likely to motivate the pilot toward unsafe behavior (goal seduction) and situations likely to motivate the pilot away from safe behavior (situation aversion). Goal seduction situations included rescuing others, meeting a significant other, time-related constraints, financial pressures, and unspecified goal seduction; aversive situations included physical discomfort, not having maintenance or facilities for the airplane, and a lack of basic necessities (e.g., lodging) for the pilot. Discussion: Goal seduction describes one broad, unspecified influence on pilot decision making, but situation aversion is also an important motivator for some pilots. Goal seduction and situation aversion may well underlie the phenomena of plan continuation errors, the tendency for pilots to continue despite evidence suggesting it is imprudent. This study suggests some specific factors that constrain decision making for pilots in challenging situations.
Covariate selection in mixture models with the censored response variable
No full textThis paper formulates a mixture model for modeling unobserved heterogeneity of explanatory mechanism. Our model allows for different sets of regressors and/or different interactions among the same regressors in different regression regimes. The model is demonstrated with particular interest to the censored dependent variable. A two-step procedure is proposed for model identification. The first step is to identify the number of regression regimes with each regime, including all regressors. The second step is to select regressors in the regression regimes. The results of our simulation studies suggest that the procedure works well. Two microeconometric applications are provided.
