102 research outputs found
Patient-reported improvements in health are maintained 2 years after completing a short course of cognitive behaviour therapy, exercise or both treatments for chronic widespread pain: long-term results from the MUSICIAN randomised controlled trial
No full textObjectives: the MUSICIAN study has previously shown short-term benefit but only marginal cost-effectiveness for two non-pharmacological interventions for chronic widespread pain (CWP). We wished to determine their long-term effectiveness and cost-effectiveness.Methods: a 2×2 factorial randomised controlled trial based in primary care in the UK. People were eligible if they were aged ≥25 years with CWP for which they had consulted their general practitioner. The interventions were a 6-month telephone cognitive behaviour therapy (tCBT) and/or a tailored exercise programme, in comparison to usual care. The primary outcome was patient-reported change in health.Results: 884 persons were eligible, 442 were randomised and 81.7% were followed up 24 months post-treatment. In comparison to usual care (positive outcome 12.8%), tCBT (35.4%; OR 3.7 95% CI (1.8 to 8.0)), exercise (29.3%; OR 2.8 95% CI (1.3 to 6.0)) and both interventions (31.2%; OR 3.1 95% CI (1.3 to 6.0)) were significantly more effective. There was only a small decrease in effectiveness over time for individual and combined treatments. Those with more intense/disabling pain, higher distress and those who exhibited passive coping at baseline were more likely to have a positive outcome with tCBT than persons without these characteristics. tCBT was associated with the greatest increase in quality of life and lowest costs. Cost per quality adjusted life year was £3957–£5917 depending on method of analysis.Conclusions: a short course of tCBT for people with CWP was effective long-term and was highly cost-effective. Exercise was also effective but delivered positive outcome for fewer patients at greater cost, and there was no advantage for patients receiving both interventions.Trial registration number ISRCTN67013851
Price support at any price? Costs and benefits of alternative agricultural policies for Poland
No full textThe author argues that Poland must choose an agricultural policy that promotes efficiency, structural change, and adjustment to the new market environment and eventual membership in the European Union. That policy must take into account both the needs of, and the financial constraints on, Polish agriculture. Results of simulation experiments performed with the use of the computable general equilibrium model of the Polish economy suggest that Common Agricultural Policy-type price supports are not the most efficient agricultural policy for Poland. The author discusses alternative policies and scenarios. Rather than discuss whether the relationship between farmers'incomes and average Polish wages is fair, the author analyzes whether medium- and long-term development trends in the Polish economy may cause this relationship to deteriorate, and what policies will counteract those trends. Rapid growth in the nonagricultural sectors combined with real appreciation of domestic currency (caused either through good current account performance or significant capital inflows) may jeopardize farmers'relative income position. And such developments are probable if positive projections for economic development and membership in the European Union are realized. The agricultural sector can defend its relative income only by becoming more efficient. Price supports improve farmers'relative income but at a high cost to taxpayers and consumers and to macroeconomic efficiency. To meet these costs, Poland must put in place firm quantity controls. But the author thinks that the best strategy would be to avoid price supports until the moment of joining the European Union's Common Agricultural Policy. In the interim, policies aimed at reducing farm employment seem most appropriate. The author discusses two such policies: encouraging older farmers to retire and promoting jobs in rural areas. He also proposes two feasible scenarios for integrating Polish agriculture with that of the European Union by 2005-10.Markets and Market Access,Economic Theory&Research,Environmental Economics&Policies,Labor Policies,Agricultural Knowledge&Information Systems,Economic Theory&Research,Environmental Economics&Policies,Agricultural Knowledge&Information Systems,Markets and Market Access,Access to Markets
Where Would You Turn for Help? Older Adults’ Awareness of Community Support Services
No full textPrevious findings on older adults’ awareness of community support services (CSSs) have been inconsistent and marred by acquiescence or over-claiming bias. To address this issue, this study used a series of 12 vignettes to describe common situations faced by older adults for which CSSs might be appropriate. In telephone interviews, 1,152 adults aged 50 years and over were read a series of vignettes and asked if they were able to identify a community organization or agency that they may turn to in that situation. They were also asked about their most important sources of information about CSSs. The findings show that, using a vignette methodology, awareness of CSSs is much lower than previously thought. The most important sources of information about CSSs included information and referral sources, the telephone book, doctors’ offices, and word of mouth.aging, community support services, awareness, knowledge, acquiescence bias, vignette methodology
Consciousness, cognition, and the hierarchy of context: extending the global neuronal workspace model
No full textWe adapt an information theory analysis of interacting cognitive biological and social modules to the problem of the global neuronal workspace, the new standard neuroscience paradigm for consciousness. Tunable punctuation emerges in a natural way, suggesting the possibility of fitting appropriate phase transition power law, and away from transition, generalized Onsager relation expressions, to observational data on conscious reaction. The development can be extended in a straightforward manner to include psychosocial stress, culture, or other cognitive modules which constitute a structured, embedding hierarchy of contextual constraints acting at a slower rate than neuronal function itself. This produces a 'biopsychosociocultural' model of individual consciousness that, while otherwise quite close to the standard treatment, meets compelling philosophical and other objections to brain-only descriptions
Incorporating Local Water Quality in Welfare Measures of Agri-environmental Policy: A Choice Modelling Approach Employing GIS
No full textThe spatial distribution of agro-environmental policy benefits has important implications for the efficient allocation of management effort. The practical convenience of relying on sample mean values of individual benefits for aggregation can come at the cost of biased aggregate estimates. The main objective of this paper is to test spatial hypotheses regarding respondents’ local water quality and quantity, and their willingness-to-pay for improvements in water quality attributes. This paper combines choice experiment and spatially related water quality data via a Geographical Information System (GIS) to develop a method that evaluates the influence of respondents’ local water quality on willingness-to-pay for river and stream conservation programs in Canterbury, New Zealand. Results show that those respondents who live in the vicinity of low quality waterway are willing to pay more for improvements relative to those who live near to high quality waterways.Water Quality, Choice Experiment, Geographical Information System, Environmental Economics and Policy, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, Q51, Q25, Q58,
Brand Search.
No full textConsumers frequently buy the products they find most easily. This has forced manufacturers and retailers to invest in package design, shelf layouts, and expensive advertising campaigns to facilitate findability of their products. Surprisingly, there is no research in marketing that investigates how consumers localize products, which we call brand search. This dissertation investigates the brand search process and develops a statistical model that describes the eye movements of consumers while they are searching for a specific product. The proposed model uncovers the search strategies of consumers and suggests which marketing tools manufacturers and retailers may use to influence this process.
The Second International Symposium on Tilapia in Aquaculture
No full textProceedings of the symposium held in 1987 in Bangkok, Thailand, by tilapia scientists to discuss strategies for future research and development in the tilapia industry worldwide. Contains 82 full papers, 17 poster abstracts and author and species indexes. The full papers were presented under 7 sessions: culture systems, management and production; pathology; genetics and reproduction; nutrition, physiology; biology and ecology; and economics and socioeconomics.Tilapia culture, Conferences
Influence of co-morbid fibromyalgia on disease activity measures and response to TNF inhibitors in axial spondyloarthritis : results from a UK national register
No full textObjective
To quantify the extent to which co-morbid fibromyalgia (FM) is associated with higher disease activity, worse quality of life and poorer response to TNF inhibition (TNFi) in patients with axSpa.
Method
A prospective study recruiting across 83 centres in the United Kingdom. Clinical information and patient reported measures were available, including 2011 criteria for FM. Multivariable linear regression was used to model the effect of meeting the FM criteria on disease activity, quality of life and response to TNFi.
Results
1757 participants were eligible for analyses of whom 22.1% met criteria for FM. Those with comorbid FM criteria had higher disease activity (BASDAI average difference FM+ve - FM-ve 1.04; 95% CI 0.75, 1.33) and worse quality of life (ASQoL difference 1.42; 95% CI 0.88, 1.96) after adjusting for demographic, clinical and lifestyle factors. Amongst 291 participants who commenced biologic therapy, higher BASDAI scores in those with co-morbid FM reduced from 2.0 at baseline to 1.1 at 12 months and there was only a 3% difference (not significant) in likelihood of meeting ASAS20 criteria at 12 months. Less improvement in disease activity and quality of life over three months of TNFi therapy was most strongly related to high scores on the FM criteria symptom severity (SSS) component.
Conclusion
Fulfilling criteria for FM has a modest impact on assessment of axSpa disease activity and quality of life, and does not significantly influence response to biologic therapy. Those with high SSS on FM assessment, may benefit from specific management for FM
Author Correction: A multi-country test of brief reappraisal interventions on emotions during the COVID-19 pandemic
No full textCorrection to: Nature Human Behaviour https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-021-01173-x, published online 2 August 2021.
In the version of this article initially published, the following authors were omitted from the author list and the Author contributions section for “investigation” and “writing and editing”: Nandor Hajdu (Institute of Psychology, ELTE Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, Hungary), Jordane Boudesseul (Facultad de Psicología, Instituto de Investigación Científica, Universidad de Lima, Lima, Perú), Rafał Muda (Faculty of Economics, Maria Curie-Sklodowska University, Lublin, Poland) and Sandersan Onie (Black Dog Institute, UNSW Sydney, Sydney, Australia & Emotional Health for All Foundation, Jakarta, Indonesia). In addition, Saeideh FatahModares’ name was originally misspelled as Saiedeh FatahModarres in the author list. Further, affiliations have been corrected for Maria Terskova (National Research University Higher School of Economics, Moscow, Russia), Susana Ruiz Fernandez (FOM University of Applied Sciences, Essen; Leibniz-Institut für Wissensmedien, Tübingen, and LEAD Research Network, Eberhard Karls University, Tübingen, Germany), Hendrik Godbersen (FOM University of Applied Sciences, Essen, Germany), Gulnaz Anjum (Department of Psychology, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, Canada, and Department of Economics & Social Sciences, Institute of Business Administration, Karachi, Pakistan). The changes have been made to the HTML and PDF versions of the article
Author Correction: Mapping local patterns of childhood overweight and wasting in low- and middle-income countries between 2000 and 2017 (Nature Medicine, (2020), 26, 5, (750-759), 10.1038/s41591-020-0807-6)
No full textAn amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via a link at the top of the paper. © 2020, The Author(s)
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