Sustainability has been on the agenda of international organisations, states and, increasingly, private businesses for some time. From a competition agency perspective, regulation to achieve sustainability might be the preferred option. Yet, business action might equally affect sustainability and competition and competition laws are crucial considerations for businesses. Occasionally, the debate i

In aging societies worldwide, spouses take on great responsibility for care when their partner continues to live at home. Nursing home placement occurs when the partner becomes too frail due to multimorbidity, and this will cause a change in the spouse’s life. This study aimed to explore the spouse’s experience of their partner’s move to a nursing home. Two interviews were conducted at 9-month int

Introduction: General practitioners (GPs) play a key role in early identification of dementia, yet diagnosis is often missed or delayed in primary care. As part of the multinational Models of Patient Engagement for Alzheimer’s Disease project, we assess GPs’ attitude toward early and pre-dementia diagnosis of AD and explore barriers to early diagnosis. Methods: Our survey covered general attitude

Background: Infertility affects 15%–25% of all couples during their reproductive life span. It is a significant societal and public health problem with potential psychological, social, and economic consequences. Furthermore, infertility has been linked to adverse long-term health outcomes. Despite the advanced diagnostic and therapeutic techniques available, approximately 30% of infertile couples

The Covid-19 pandemic has significantly changed the lives of most people. It has been described as the most severe global health disaster of modern times by the United Nations. No doubt such a major crisis influences what citizens think of different policies, and how they become politically active, not to mention, the forceful emotional experiences that the Covid-19 pandemic brings. This study eva

Background: Cost-effectiveness models in Parkinson’s disease often include health states based on Hoehn and Yahr (H&Y) and time in ‘off’. Few studies have investigated utilities in these health states. Objective: The aim of this study was firstly to explore utilities in health states based on H&Y and off-time, and secondly to investigate to what extent H&Y and off-time correlated with

Maculonaclia florida (de Joannis, 1906) has been one of the most mysterious moths of Mauritius, a small volcanic island located some 900 km east from Madagascar. Here, we reviewed its generic placement, phylogenetic relationships and the potential evolutionary scenarios leading to the current distribution of this unique Mauritian member of Syntomini. The species, known previously only from a few o

Understanding the molecular basis of sexual dimorphism in the cardiovascular system may contribute to the improvement of the outcome in biological, pharmacological, and toxicological studies as well as on the development of sex-based drugs and therapeutic approaches. Label-free protein quantification using high-resolution mass spectrometry was applied to detect sex-based proteome differences in th

We investigate reactions between high-energy oxygen and carbon nuclei and various nuclear targets. The beam nucleus is described by an α-particle model and the reaction products are classified into groups corresponding to inelastic collisions of one, two, three and four alpha particles. Excellent agreement with experiment is obtained.

The present study describes the testing and function of the drop-volume method in the analysis of fetal lung maturity with use of amniotic fluid. Elevated surface tension resulting from a lack of surface-active phospholipids (surfactant) is the primary etiologic defect in the development of respiratory distress syndrome. The drop-volume method quantifies the surface tension of amniotic fluid with

The periodontal ligament (PDL) is a highly heterogeneous fibrous connective tissue and plays a critical role in distributing occlusal forces and regulating tissue remodeling. Its mechanical properties are largely determined by the extracellular matrix, comprising a collagenous fiber network interacting with the capillary system as well as interstitial fluid containing proteoglycans. While the phas

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) threatens global public health and modern surgical medicine. Expression of β-lactamase genes is the major mechanism by which pathogens become antibiotic resistant. Pathogens expressing extended spectrum β-lactamases (ESBL) and carbapenemases (CP) are especially difficult to treat and are associated with increased hospitalization and mortality rates. Despite considera

According to Grice’s analysis, conversational implicatures are carried by the saying of what is said (Grice 1989: 39). In this paper, it is argued that, whenever a speaker implicates a content by flouting one or several maxims, her implicature is not only carried by the act of saying what is said and the way of saying it, but also by the act of non-saying what should have been said according to wh

Background: Diabetes has been recognized as a risk factor contributing to the incidence and progression of Parkinson’s disease (PD). Although several hypotheses suggest a number of different mechanisms underlying the aggravation of PD caused by diabetes, less attention has been paid to the fact that diabetes and PD share pathological microvascular alterations in the brain. The characteristics of t

Background: The incidence of detected ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) continues to increase and now accounts for 14% of all breast cancer, and 20%–25% of screen-detected cases. Treatment trends of DCIS are important in order to inform the ongoing debate about possible overdiagnosis and overtreatment, but have not been investigated for over a decade in Australia and New Zealand. Against this backgr

Background: Due to a large variety in treatment outcomes reported in therapeutic trials and lacking patient-relevant outcomes, it is hard to adequately compare and improve current therapies for patients with capillary malformations (CMs). The Core Outcome Set for Capillary Malformations (COSCAM) project aims to develop a core outcome set (COS) for use in future CM trials, in which we will first de

X-ray propagation-based imaging techniques are well established at synchrotron radiation and laboratory sources. However, most reconstruction algorithms for such image modalities, also known as phase-retrieval algorithms, have been developed specifically for one instrument by and for experts, making the development and diffusion of such techniques difficult. Here, PyPhase, a free and open-source p