Screening for recommended antenatal risk factors: How long does it take?

Background

Detection and management of antenatal risk factors is critical for quality care.

On weighted composite scores for early Alzheimer's trials

Recent research on finding appropriate composite endpoints for preclinical Alzheimer's disease has focused considerable effort on finding “optimized” weights in the construction of a weighted composite score. In this paper, several proposed methods are reviewed. Our results indicate no evidence that these methods will increase the power of the test statistics, and some of these weights will introduce biases to the study. Our recommendation is to focus on identifying more sensitive items from clinical practice and appropriate statistical analyses of a large Alzheimer's data set. Once a set of items has been selected, there is no evidence that adding weights will generate more sensitive composite endpoints.     

Efficacy of interventions targeting alcohol,drug and smoking behaviors in university and college students: A review of randomized controlled trials

Objective: To evaluate the effectiveness of interventions targeting alcohol consumption, drug use and smoking for college/university students.Participants: College/University students.Methods: Studies were eligible if: (1)included students attending universities/colleges; (2)implemented in a university/college setting; (3)aimed to improve at least one of the following behaviors: alcohol and/or drug use and/or smoking; (4)were RCTs. The effect of the interventions on behaviors was determined by the percentage of studies that reported an effect. Due to the heterogeneity of outcomes meta-analysis was not conducted.Results: 88 studies met criteria. University-based interventions were effective for reducing alcohol-related outcomes (drinking patterns, BAC, consequences, problem drinking). Inconsistent findings for drug and smoking were observed.Conclusions: University-based interventions have the potential to improve health for students. While there is a breadth of research examining the efficacy of interventions to reduce alcohol consumption, further research is needed to determine the best approach for addressing smoking and drug use among students.     

The estimation of a corporate crisis communication

This experimental study found a main effect of perceived leadership and an interaction effect of perceived leadership and perceived severity of threats on the public's estimation of organizational crisis responses. The results indicate that the contingent theoretical argument explaining the dynamics of organizational factors and situational factors that determine stance taken by public relations practices can also be applied when explaining the outside latent public's thought patterns predicting an organizational stance and message strategy. Contingency theory offers predictive power, not just for the practitioner, but for the public passing judgment on the stance taken by an organization.     

Making nice may not matter: The interplay of crisis type,response type and crisis issue on perceived organizational responsibility

Experimental findings suggest limited effects for corporate social responsibility (CSR) to inoculate a company prior to a crisis. CSR may be viewed as accommodative window dressing that diminishes resources to assure corporate competence. When an accident occurs, emphasis in crisis communication on corporate ability (CA) may be more effective than CSR, especially when corporate culpability is low.     

Whose problem? Disability narratives and available identities

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