A long-term study was carried out in the Zidyana Extension Planning Area (EPA), Malawi and in the Zimuto Communal Area, Zimbabwe, to evaluate the effect of different conservation agriculture (CA) systems on crop productivity, soil quality and economic performance. Maize productivity results from Zidyana showed that CA systems out-yielded the conventional system in seven out of nine cropping sea...

We evaluated the relationship between breast cancer survival and deprivation using data from the Irish National Cancer Registry. Cause-specific survival was compared between five area-based socioeconomic deprivation strata using Cox regression. Patient and tumour characteristics and treatment were compared using modified Poisson regression with robust variance estimation. Based on 21356 patient...

BACKGROUND Decreases in length of stay (LOS) in hospital after breast cancer surgery can be partly attributed to the change to less radical surgery, but many other factors are operating at the patient, surgeon and hospital levels. This study aimed to describe the changes in and predictors of length of stay (LOS) in hospital after surgery for breast cancer between 1997/98 and 2004/05 in two regi...

AIMS To determine the minimum number of calibrant plasmas required to assign an accurate System International Sensitivity Index (ISI). METHODS Eighteen lyophilised adsorbed and eight frozen coumarin plasmas were despatched to 57 participating laboratories. Each centre determined the prothrombin time of all of the plasmas using their routine system of coagulometer and thromboplastin reagent an...

The uptake of breast conserving surgery (BCS) for early stage breast cancer varies by where women live. We investigate whether these geographical patterns have changed over time using population-based data linkage between cancer registry records and hospital inpatient episodes. The study cohort consisted of 11,631 women aged 20 years and over diagnosed with a single primary invasive localised b...

The role of cavity shaves in reducing re-excision rates in breast conserving surgery (BCS) remains unclear. We compared rates of close margins and re-excision following cavity shaves based on either intraoperative radiology or systematic cavity shaves. Data was recorded prospectively from 1999 to 2003 for 217 patients undergoing BCS. For the first 106 cases, cavity shaves were performed when in...

Two novel 3D coordination polymers, Cd(CTC)(H2O).(H2PIP)(0.5)(H2O) (1) with zeolite ABW topology and Cd(CTC).(HIPA) (2) with zeolite BCT topology, have been synthesized by constructing inorganic and organic 4-connected building units and using the organic bases as templates, and the frameworks of and not only expand the original structures of zeolites ABW and BCT, but also exhibit significant a...

Although results from multiple studies conducted over the last two decades indicate that Behavioral Couples Therapy (BCT) is an effective treatment for married or cohabiting alcohol- and drug-abusing patients, both in terms of reduced substance use and improved relationship satisfaction, it is unclear whether BCT or other types of couples-based interventions are used in community-based substanc...

We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to determine the effectiveness of healthcare provider-led (HCPs) interventions to support medication adherence in patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS). A systematic search of Cochrane Library, Medline, EMBASE, PsycINFO, Web of Science, IPA, CINAHL, ASSIA, OpenGrey, EthOS, WorldCat and PQDT was undertaken. Interventions were deemed eligib...