There is, I think, something ethereal about i —the square root of minus one. I remember first hearing about it at school. It seemed an odd beast at that time—an intruder hovering on the edge of reality.

Usually familiarity dulls this sense of the bizarre, but in the case of i it was the reverse: over the years the sense of its surreal nature intensified. It seemed that it was impossible to write mathematics that described the real world in …

I and i

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) remains a major public health problem. It is the fourth leading cause of chronic morbidity and mortality in the United States, and is projected to rank fifth in 2020 in burden of disease worldwide, according to a study published by the World Bank/World Health Organization. Yet, COPD remains relatively unknown or ignored by the public as well as public health and government officials. In 1998, in an effort to bring more attention to COPD, its management, and its prevention, a committed group of scientists encouraged the U.S. National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute and the World Health Organization to form the Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD). Among the important objectives of GOLD are to increase awareness of COPD and to help the millions of people who suffer from this disease and die prematurely of it or its complications. The first step in the GOLD program was to prepare a consensus report, Global Strategy for the Diagnosis, Management, and Prevention of COPD, published in 2001. The present, newly revised document follows the same format as the original consensus report, but has been updated to reflect the many publications on COPD that have appeared. GOLD national leaders, a network of international experts, have initiated investigations of the causes and prevalence of COPD in their countries, and developed innovative approaches for the dissemination and implementation of COPD management guidelines. We appreciate the enormous amount of work the GOLD national leaders have done on behalf of their patients with COPD. Despite the achievements in the 5 years since the GOLD report was originally published, considerable additional work is ahead of us if we are to control this major public health problem. The GOLD initiative will continue to bring COPD to the attention of governments, public health officials, health care workers, and the general public, but a concerted effort by all involved in health care will be necessary.

https://www.who.int/respiratory/copd/GOLD_WR_06.pdf

Global strategy for the diagnosis, management, and prevention of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: GOLD executive summary.

Basics of qualitative research: Grounded theory procedures and techniques

https://www.thelancet.com/pdfs/journals/lancet/PIIS0140-6736(12)61728-0.pdf

Global and regional mortality from 235 causes of death for 20 age groups in 1990 and 2010: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2010

https://www.thelancet.com/pdfs/journals/lancet/PIIS0140-6736(12)61766-8.pdf

A comparative risk assessment of burden of disease and injury attributable to 67 risk factors and risk factor clusters in 21 regions, 1990-2010: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2010

Regulation of embryonic stem cell research and therapeutic cloning: the Australian debate

In the current study, five cases of fiber distributions are considered in a fiber-reinforced composite: one random, three partitioned (one uniform and two biased cases), and one aligned case for benchmarking. The finite element method and the principal component analysis were used to interpret the results of orientation tensors and detect any possible clusterings of a representative volume element (RVE). The obtained effective conductivity values were extensively controlled by the fiber volume fraction. At the same time, the uniformity of the random distributions could be recognized. Cross-partition resistance was also detected for the partitioned cases which contributed to a reduced heat transfer capability. Finally, the clustering indexes did not show a direct correlation with the conductivity results, and thus a case-by-case investigation is recommended to consider the anisotropic aspects of a microstructure.

/pdf/the-effect-of-partitioning-on-the-clustering-index-of-fs48x4tgik.pdf

The Effect of Partitioning on the Clustering Index of Randomly-Oriented Fiber Composites: A Parametric Study

Preparing outlines of current treatments in psychiatry.

This paper uses the New South Wales experience with methadone maintenance treatment in prison to address the question: should methadone maintenance treatment be provided in Australian prisons for opioid‐dependent prisoners? First, it outlines three rationales for providing drug dependence treatment in prisons: as a way of giving prisoners access to community‐based forms of drug treatment in the prison‐setting; as a measure to reduce recidivism in opioid‐dependent prisoners; and as a measure to prevent the transmission of HIV and other infectious diseases within prisons, and to the sexual partners of prisoners on their release. Second, it reviews the kind of research evidence that supports the effectiveness of community‐based methadone maintenance treatment in Australia. Third, the effectiveness of the New South Wales Prison Methadone Program, one of the few prison‐based methadone programs in the world, is evaluated in the light of the available research evidence.

Methadone maintenance treatment in prisons: The new South Wales experience

This paper discusses issues arising from studies of the particular behavioural and psychopathological traits associated with genetic intellectual disability syndromes. These traits constitute what are now called behavioural phenotypes. The mechanism of inheritance of the Fragile X gene has now been demonstrated, and behavioural correlates identified. The behavioural disturbances associated with Williams syndrome are an example of new psychiatric disorders being identified through behaviour phenotype studies. A number of methodological principles should be followed before valid behaviour phenotypes can be formulated.

Wayne Hall

Papers

Regulation of embryonic stem cell research and therapeutic cloning: the Australian debate

The Effect of Partitioning on the Clustering Index of Randomly-Oriented Fiber Composites: A Parametric Study

Preparing outlines of current treatments in psychiatry.

Methadone maintenance treatment in prisons: The new South Wales experience

Recent Developments in the Study of Behaviour Phenotypes.