Late Starter Research Articles

Development of translational medicine in China: Foam or feast?

Translational medicine has been well accepted as a concept and trend in medical sciences. China is a late starter in the development of translational medicine, yet the Chinese medical community has already demonstrated its determination towards the realisation of this concept. There are many questions that need to be answered prior to when translational medicine can proceed from being a concept to reality. This paper highlights the essential requirements for developing “patients and clinic oriented” translational medicine and shares “an enriched stem cells technique” as an example of orthopaedic translation. Enormous collaborative and multidisciplinary work is required prior to when the results of scientific research can be translated into effective clinical practice.

Sir David Jack

Sir David Jack

The Smc5/6 complex and the difficulties cutting the ties of twin sisters

The Smc5/6 complex and the difficulties cutting the ties of twin sisters

Late Initiation of HAART Among HIV-Infected Patients in Spain Is Frequent and Related to a Higher Rate of Virological Failure but not to Immigrant Status

Purpose: To determine whether immigrant status is associated with late initiation of highly active antiretroviral treatment (HAART) and/or poor response to antiretrovirals. Methods: GESIDA 5808 is a multicenter, retrospective cohort study (inclusion period January 2005 through December 2006) of treatment-naïve patients initiating HAART that compares HIV-infected patients who are immigrants with Spanish-born patients. A late starter (LS) was defined as any patient starting HAART with a CD4+ lymphocyte count <200 cells/μL and/or diagnosis of an AIDS-defining illness before or at the start of therapy. The primary endpoint was time to treatment failure (TTF), defined as virological failure (VF), death, opportunistic infection, treatment discontinuation/switch (D/S), or missing patient. Secondary endpoints were time to treatment failure as observed data (TTO; censoring missing patients) and time to virological failure (TVF; censoring missing patients and D/S not due to VF). Results: LS accounted for 56% of the patients. Lower educational and socioeconomic level and intravenous drug use (IVDU) were associated with categorization as LS, but immigrant status was not. Cox regression analysis (hazard ratio [HR]; 95% CI) between LS and non-LS patients showed no differences in TTF (0.97; 0.78–1.20) or TTO (1.18; 0.88–1.58), although it did reveal a difference in TVF (1.97; 1.18–3.29). CD4+ lymphocyte recovery was equivalent for both LS and non-LS patients (159 vs 173). Conclusions: In our cohort, immigrant status was not shown to be related to late initiation of HAART. Although LS patients did not have a longer TTF for any reason, TVF was significantly shorter. Despite universal free access to HAART in Spain, measures to ensure early diagnosis and treatment of HIV infection are necessary.

Decentralised Planning Process in Andhra Pradesh–A late Starter

Decentralised Planning Process in Andhra Pradesh–A late Starter

Managed care and health care reform: everything old is new again.

A 1991 New York Times article reported that the “pioneering” state of Arizona, a “late starter in Medicaid,” had provided a health system model for the nation in the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System (AHCCCS). At that time, AHCCCS was the only Medicaid program in the United States in which nearly all beneficiaries were enrolled in managed care organizations (MCOs) that were reimbursed on a prepaid capitated basis. Because of a physician participation rate exceeding 50%, remarkably high for a Medicaid program, AHCCCS had brought about truly mainstream managed care for the low-income members that it served, the article reported: “In much of the country, [Medicaid beneficiaries] would be left to seek treatment in shoddy ‘Medicaid mills’ or, at great public expense, in overcrowded emergency rooms. ... In Arizona, things are different.”1 Glowing press coverage of the program continued. In 1995, a Time Magazine article observed that AHCCCS was being “hailed as a model of managed care” because of the program’s emphasis on primary and preventive care, prohibitions against “cherry picking” healthy enrollees, and use of “intensely competitive” bidding to award contracts to MCOs.2 “The most remarkable thing,” Time reported, “is that the state government managed to come up with a program that makes just about everybody happy: the patients, the doctors, the bureaucrats and the number crunchers.”2 AHCCCS did not become the dominant national model for health care financing and delivery as predicted in the 1990s.3 But AHCCCS became the Phoenix in 2009, when it was once again described as “a proven, efficient model for national health reform,” this time by an Arizona legislator who is a proponent of current health care reform proposals.4 More importantly, this cycle of events was not limited only to AHCCCS; it is a pattern that has been repeated over the past several decades in the United States. Insights into public opinion about managed care, consumer choice, and preventive medicine are critical to understanding the prospects for the structure of health care financing and delivery in the United States in the coming years.

Identifying Infants at Increased Risk for Late Initiation of Immunizations: Maternal and Provider Characteristics

We identified maternal, provider, and community predictors among infants for late initiation of immunizations. We performed a retrospective cohort study of infants born between January 1, 2002, and December 31, 2004, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Primary outcomes were age in days at first office-based immunization and status as a late starter (i.e., initiating office-based immunizations after 90 days of age). Candidate predictors included sociodemographic and prenatal characteristics, immunization provider practice type and size, and neighborhood factors. We performed hierarchical logistic regression and Cox regression models to identify independent predictors for being a late starter and prolonged time to first immunization. Of the 65,519 infants from this birth cohort in Philadelphia's immunization registry, 54,429 (88.1%) were included in analysis and 12.6% of these were late starters. Infants whose mothers were younger, received less than five prenatal visits, had less than a high school education, had more than two children, and who smoked cigarettes prenatally were significantly more likely to be late starters. Receiving care at hospital/university-based or public health clinics was also significantly associated with likelihood of being a late starter. Neither distance between infant's residence and practice nor neighborhood socioeconomic indicators was independently associated with the outcomes. Common risk factor profiles based on practice type and four maternal characteristics were found to reliably identify infant risk. Maternal receipt of fewer prenatal care visits, younger maternal age, higher birth order, and receiving care at public health clinics were the strongest predictors of being a late starter and time to first immunization. Risk factor profiles based on information already collected at birth can be used to identify higher-risk infants. Early intervention and potentially partnering with prenatal care providers may be key strategies for preventing underimmunization.

Working in High School and Adaptation in the Transition to Young Adulthood among African American Youth

Researchers have found mixed support for documenting whether work is protective or harmful during adolescence. This study examined the association between work and problem behaviors among African American youth (N = 592; 53% female; M = 14.8 years, SD = .60) followed from mid-adolescence to young adulthood over eight Waves (90% response rate over the first four Waves and a 68% response rate across all eight Waves). We explored three competing operationalizations of work: work history (never worked, worked), work intensity (no work, 20 h or less, and 21 h or over), and work trajectories (never worked, episodic work, stopped working, late starter, and consistent worker). Non-working youth reported higher marijuana use during young adulthood than their working counterparts. Nonworkers reported lower self-acceptance during young adulthood than those working greater number of hours per week. Differences in work trajectories for cigarette use, depression, and anxiety during adolescence imply that when and for how long youth work are also important factors to explore. Our findings lend tentative support to the work benefits perspective and suggest that the association between work and problem behaviors may depend on the work measure used. We discuss the implications of employing different work measures in adolescent research.

WEBBY B. D., MÁNGANO M. G. &amp; BUATOIS L. A. (eds) 2004. Trace Fossils in Evolutionary Palaeoecology. Proceedings of Session 18 (Trace Fossils) of the First International Palaeontological Congress Sydney, Australia, July 2002. Fossils and Strata no. 51. v + 153 pp. Oslo: Taylor &amp; Francis. Price US $50.00 (paperback). ISSN 0300-9491

WEBBY B. D., MÁNGANO M. G. &amp; BUATOIS L. A. (eds) 2004. Trace Fossils in Evolutionary Palaeoecology. Proceedings of Session 18 (Trace Fossils) of the First International Palaeontological Congress Sydney, Australia, July 2002. Fossils and Strata no. 51. v + 153 pp. Oslo: Taylor &amp; Francis. Price US $50.00 (paperback). ISSN 0300-9491 - Volume 144 Issue 3

8: Polygonatum odoratum (Miller) Druce var. pluriflorum (Miq.) Ohwi (Convallariaceae)

The life-history characteristics of Polygonatum odoratum (Miller) Druce var. pluriflorum (Miq.) Ohwi (Convallariaceae) are described. This is a polycarpic perennial that occurs in Honshu, Shikoku and Kyushu in Japan, extending further to the Korean Peninsula and China. Polygonatum odoratum var. pluriflorum is a late starter in spring, its shoots sprouting in late April to early May, while the upper canopy layer is gradually expanding its foliage leaves and casting shade on the forest floor. Flowering starts in mid-May right after the aerial shoots sprout; flowers are axillary, with 0.8 to 2 cm pedicels; 1 to 2 flowers, white, greenish near the tip and 17–19 mm long, hang from several portions of the inflorescences of the angled stems, which attain 30–60 cm in height. This is a typical insect-pollinated plant, and white tubular flowers with a large nectary hang down from the inflorescence. Flowering occurs sequentially from bottom to top. The numbers of ovules and pollen grains per flower were 14–18 and 42 000–90 000, respectively, and pollen/ovule (P/O) ratios of 3000/5300 indicate that this is an outbreeding species. There is a tendency for the P/O ratios to decrease gradually in later flowering upper flowers within an inflorescence. The fruit set within an inflorescence also showed a similar tendency, that is, approximately 55.2% in lower flowers, 35.8% in middle flowers and 17.3% in upper flowers. As was reported in var. odoratum, there may be resource competition among flowers within an inflorescence.

Country update from Dublin: Whither Irish publishing? A late starter in search of the fast lane

Country update from Dublin: Whither Irish publishing? A late starter in search of the fast lane

'Late Starter': Extracts from a Memoir

Ian Menzies (formerly Hans Menzinger) grew up in Vienna in the late 1920s and 1930s and followed his Jewish mother into exile in Great Britain in 1939. This extract from his memoirs covers his education, partly at the hands of closet Nazis, and his membership of the Red Falcons and a Catholic youth group, his parents' involvement with Social Democratic politics and his own brushes with the National Socialist authorities after 1938 — alongside some domestic and personal details that themselves frequently have clear political resonances. The role of literature, poetry and song in the transmission of memory is also a key theme. Ian Menzies, der als Hans Menzinger im Wien der späten 20er und 30er Jahre aufwuchs, folgte 1939 seiner jüdischen Mutter ins Exil nach Großbritannien. Dieser Auszug aus seinen Memoiren enthält vieles über seine Ausbildung (die teilweise von heimlichen NSDAP-Mitgliedern angeleitet wurde), seine Mitgliedschaft in den Roten Falken und in einer katholischen Jugendgruppe, die Beziehungen seiner Eltern zur SDAP und seine eigenen kurzzeitigen aber beunruhigenden Kontakte mit den Nazi-Behörden Wiens. Daneben kommen familiäre und persönliche Details zur Sprache, in denen oft auch politische Obertöne hörbar sind. Die Rolle der Literatur, insbesondere des politischen Lieds innerhalb der Mechanismen des Gedenkens und des Gedächtnisses wird dabei besonders deutlich.

Performance measurement in the public sector: the German experience

PurposeIn recent public sector reforms performance measurement has been a central element in many countries. This article aims to review the use of performance measurement within the German public sector, to evaluate the state‐of‐the‐art and to give recommendations for improvement.Design/methodology/approachAfter a brief overview of the intended purposes of performance measurement within new public management, based on a literature review, this article examines the state‐of‐the‐art of performance measurement in the German public sector. An evaluation, based on the identified intended purposes, well‐known methodological problems and empirical findings, follows. Recommendations are given, identifying various areas for improvement.FindingsThe German public sector can be described as a late starter with respect to performance measurement. The full potential performance measurement may offer in the opinion of its supporters is not realised. The front runners of performance measurement are local governments. Voluntary inter‐administrative comparison circles are the most frequently used instrument, followed – to a much lesser extent – by quality‐management initiatives and performance‐indicator‐based contracting. The experience with and the acceptance of comparison circles have been mixed.Research limitations/implicationsFurther research is needed into the transaction and opportunity costs of performance measurement and into the conditions under which the performance measurement can support an organisational learning process.Originality/valueThis paper provides a structured overview of the state‐of‐the‐art of performance measurement in the German public sector, taking all federal levels into account and offers ideas for the improvement of performance measurement.

Teleneurology

Teleneurology enables neurology to be practised when the doctor and patient are not present in the same place, and possibly not at the same time. The two main techniques are: (1) videoconferencing, which enables communication between a doctor and a patient who are in different places at the same time (often called realtime or synchronous), and (2) email, where the consultation is carried out without the patient being present, at a time convenient to the doctors involved (asynchronous or store-and-forward teleneurology). Some problems that can be solved by teleneurology include: (1) patients admitted to hospital with acute neurological symptoms rarely see a neurologist; (2) delayed treatment for acute stroke; (3) non-optimum management of epilepsy; (4) unproductive travel time for neurologists; (5) extremely poor access to a neurologist for doctors in the developing world; (6) long waiting times to see a neurologist. Neurology is a specialty that, because of the emphasis on accurate interpretation of a history, does lend itself to telemedicine. It has been a late starter in realizing the benefits of telemedicine and most of the publications on teleneurology have been in the last five years. Its uptake within the neurological community is low but increasing. Telemedicine requires a significant change in how neurologists practise. The evidence to date is that teleneurology can narrow the gap between patients with neurological disease and the doctors who are trained to look after them.

From life: Julia Margaret Cameron &amp; Victorian photography

Acknowledged as the outstanding portrait photographer of her generation, Julia Margaret Cameron was a very late starter. She was born to English and French parents in Calcutta in 1815, five days before the Battle of Waterloo. Her father was a high-ranking civil servant in the British East India Company, and it was expected that Julia would follow the example of her sisters by connecting herself to an established Anglo-Indian professional. She did exactly that in 1838 when she married Charles Hay Cameron, a legal scholar, and settled down to the quiet life of a typical Victorian colonial matron. But beneath this conventional exterior, Cameron was becoming increasingly interested in photography, and particularly in new technologies that would allow photographic images to be reproduced and preserved in a permanent form. Shortly after her marriage, she began a long and affectionate correspondence with Sir John Herschel, the world-renowned scientist, and he took great delight in keeping her informed about new developments in photography. Herschel and Cameron believed that in the medium of photography, science and art had become one. In 1863, at the advanced age of 48, Julia Margaret Cameron began to emerge as the leading portrait photographer of the day. At a time when photography's status as an artistic form was the subject of fierce debate, she championed the merits of the medium by producing a series of large, striking portraits of distinguished Victorians including Tennyson, Carlyle and Darwin. These pictures, many of which are reproduced in this book, vividly convey a sense of the powerful personalities Cameron chose as models.

Effective team processes for technology internalisation with special emphasis on knowledge management: successful late starter, Samsung case

Knowledge management, especially in technological innovation, is becoming the most important organisational activity for the long-term success of a firm and related conceptual and empirical research is increasing rapidly. However, little empirical research into effective team processes has been undertaken, taking into account moderating factors to knowledge management in the context of a late starter. This study analyses the moderating influence of the technology internalisation mode between effective team processes and performance of technology internalisation by investigating 14 technology development projects of Samsung, renowned worldwide as a successful late starter. According to multiple case studies, results of the analyses suggest three team processes that we derive theoretically and empirically – team building, information seeking, and problem solving have a positive impact on technology internalisation. Also, the results suggest that the importance of the team building and information seeking process varies with technology internalisation modes. Furthermore, it is shown that effective problem solving styles are different along technology internalisation modes.

The network model of internationalisation and experiential knowledge

This study operationalised the network model of internationalisation [Johanson, J., & Mattsson, L.-G. (1988). Internationalization in industrial systems—a network approach. In N. Hood, & J.-E. Vahlne (Eds.), Strategies In Global Competition (pp. 303–321). New York: Croom Helm] to test the association between experiential knowledge, firm degree of internationalisation and market degree of internationalisation. Adaptations of Eriksson et al.’s three knowledge constructs [J. Int. Bus. Stud. 28 (2) (1997) 337] were employed in regression and ANOVA tests. The regression results indicate that internationalisation knowledge is re lated to firm internationalisation, foreign institutional knowledge is associated with both firm and market internationalisation, and foreign business knowledge is strongly related to internationalisation knowledge. The ANOVA results confirm that foreign institutional knowledge levels differ for the Early Starter, Late Starter, Lonely International and International among Others firms. Implications are drawn relating to the effect of different international strategies on the generation of internationalisation knowledge, the vicarious acquisition of foreign institutional knowledge, especially in relation to parent companies and government organisations, and the need to more effectively measure the outcomes of the ac cumulation of foreign business knowledge.

Picture this

One of the most important figures in the history of photography has a new exhibition of her work in London that will transfer to Los Angeles later this year. And one of her most famous pictures is a portrait of Charles Darwin, one of the first generation of intellectuals to be recorded on camera. Julia Margaret Cameron was a late starter to the craft. She was given a camera in 1863 at the age of 48 by her daughter but embraced the technology with a passion bordering on obsession, and in little more than a decade produced hundreds of portraits of the most eminent figures in Victorian England. Many now believe her remarkable collection of photographs were decades before their time. Cameron's portraits of the great figures of Victorian science, art and literature have become the definitive representations of them today. Her portrait of Darwin was used on the cover on the second part of Janet Browne's distinguished biography of him. Cameron lived at Freshwater Bay on the Isle of Wight, off the south coast of England, which was a highly fashionable holiday destination for Victorians – Queen Victoria herself had a substantial summer residence at Osborne House in the north of the island. Cameron converted the greenhouse and coalshed into a studio and darkroom, where she photographed, as well as Darwin, the poet Alfred Lord Tennyson and astronomer Sir John Herschel. The exhibition is the first major effort to draw on the finest of her prints from museums and private collections throughout Europe and the US. It brings together 120 of her most important images in a unique exhibition that has been organised by the National Portrait Gallery in London and the National Museum of Photography, Film and Television, Bradford. The exhibition also tours to the J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles. Her pictures are notable for the intimacy and psychological intensity achieved by the use of extreme close-up, suppression of detail, soft focus and dramatic lighting. But as a woman amateur, Cameron found it hard to find professional recognition in the many photographic and artistic societies that had sprung up in the wake of the new technology developed just a couple of decades earlier. Although she was elected a member of the Photographic Society in London within a year of receiving her first camera, their journal – along with the rest of the photographic press – was quick to criticise her deliberately unsharp pictures. But, more importantly to Cameron, the art world consistently supported her work more than any of her contemporaries. At the peak of her career, she and her husband moved to Sri Lanka, where he owned a number of coffee plantations. She lost her enthusiasm for photography and her work was largely forgotten until it was rediscovered by enthusiasts early in the 20th century. Now is the chance to appreciate her early efforts to capture a real insight to her early subjects of photography. Julia Margaret Cameron at the National Portrait Gallery, London until 26 May 2003, the National Museum of Photography, Film and Television, Bradford 27 June – 14 September 2003 and the J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles 21 October 2003 – 11 January 2004.

The Impact of Licenses on a “Late Starter” LDC: Chile in the 1990s

The acquisition of technology through licenses is a potentially important means of accelerating productivity growth, especially in “late starter” developing countries in the throes of “catch-up.” Yet the literature has tended to focus on the potential benefits to the seller, overlooking those to the purchaser (our own concern). We find that expenditures on licensing showed exceptionally high rates on return, on the order of twice those for investment in physical capital. This investment significantly improved firms' performance and productivity in Chilean industry during the 1990s. We conclude that licensing can be an important instrument for speeding catch-up in less-developed countries.

Society economised: T.R. Ashworth and the history of the social sciences in Australia

Among the various social sciences, sociology was the late starter in the Australian academy. At the two oldest universities distinct sociology programs were only established in the 1990s though sociology had been on offer much earlier in the century at both Sydney and Melbourne. This article investigates the circumstances and reasons behind this disjuncture, linking it to the success of Australian economics in the interwar period and beyond. The fate of sociology at Melbourne is utilised to illustrate the connection. The writings of the Melbourne businessman, T.R. Ashworth and his enigmatically worded bequest to promote sociology at Melbourne are highlighted to underscore what was at stake: the leadership of the social sciences.