Existence of radial stationary solutions for a system in combustion theory

In this paper, we construct radially symmetric solutions of a nonlinear noncooperative elliptic system derived from a model for flame balls with radiation losses. This model is based on a one step kinetic reaction and our system is obtained by approximating the standard Arrehnius law by an ignition nonlinearity, and by simplifying the term that models radiation. We prove the existence of 2 solutions using degree theory

Effects of structural variations in synthetic glycolipids upon mitogenicity for spleen lymphocytes, adjuvancy for humoral immune response and on anti-tumour potential.

Synthetic glycolipids prepared by esterification of various sugars and sorbitol, and containing various numbers of saturated or unsaturated fatty acid residues as well as bacterial lipid A and lipopolysaccharide, were tested for mitogenicity of splenic cells of Fischer rats and Swiss mice and for the augmentation of humoral immune response against sheep red blood cells in these species. Subsequently a few of the humoral immune-response-enhancing glycolipids were compared with non-enhancers in their anti-tumour activity against 13762 rat mammary carcinoma in inbred Fischer 344 rats and Ehrlich tumour in Swiss mice. They were given systemically after tumour inoculation and intratumourally in squalene and Tween emulsion after intradermal MAC tumour development. It was observed that certain structural characteristics in glycolipids with respect to the type of sugar, the type and number of fatty-acid residues were needed for their adjuvant action of the humoral arm of the immune response. Although humoral immune-response enhancers were somewhat superior to non-enhancers in their anti-tumour activity, the correlation coefficient demonstrated a lack of significant concordance. It is concluded that glycolipids selected for their ability to augment humoral immune responses against standard antigens need not be suspect as tumour-enhancers on the grounds that they would elicit blocking antibodies in vivo against tumour-associated antigens

Assessing fitness-to-practice of overseas-trained health practitioners by Australian registration & accreditation bodies

Assessment of fitness-to-practice of health professionals trained overseas and who wish to practice in Australia is undertaken by a range of organisations. These organisations conduct assessments using a range of methods. However there is very little published about how these organisations conduct their assessments. The purpose of the current paper is to investigate the methods of assessment used by these organisations and the issues associated with conducting these assessments

On line clinical reasoning assessment with Script Concordance test in urology: results of a French pilot study

BACKGROUND: The Script Concordance test (SC) test is an assessment tool that measures the capacity to solve ill-defined problems, that is, reasoning in a context of uncertainty. This study assesses the feasibility, reliability and validity of the SC test made available on the Web to French urologists. METHODS: A 97 items SC test was developed based on major educational objectives of French urology training programmes. A secure Web site was created with two sequential modules: a) The first one for the reference panel to elaborate the scoring system; b) The second for candidates with different levels of experience in urology: Board certified urologists, chief-residents, residents, medical students. All participants were recruited on a voluntary basis. Statistical analysis included descriptive statistics of the participants' scores and factorial analysis of variance (ANOVA) to study differences between groups' means. Reliability was evaluated with Cronbach's alpha coefficient. RESULTS: The on line SC test has been operational since June 2004. Twenty-six faculty members constituted the reference panel. During the following 10 months, 207 participants took the test online (124 urologists, 29 chief-residents, 38 residents, 16 students). No technical problem was encountered. Forty-five percent of the participants completed the test partially only. Differences between the means scores for the 4 groups were statistically significant (P = 0.0123). The Bonferroni post-hoc correction indicated that significant differences were present between students and chief-residents, between students and urologists. There were no differences between chief-residents and urologists. Reliability coefficient was 0.734 for the total group of participants. CONCLUSION: Feasibility of Web-based SC test was proved successful by the large number of participants who participated in a few months. This Web site has permitted to quickly confirm reliability of the SC test and develop strategy to improve construct validity of the test when applied in the field of urology. Nevertheless, optimisation of the SC test content, with a smaller number of items will be necessary. Virtual medical education initiative such as this SC test delivered on the Internet warrants consideration in the current context of national pre-residency certification examination in France