Reporting of complex interventions in clinical trials: development of a taxonomy to classify and describe fall-prevention interventions

BACKGROUND: Interventions for preventing falls in older people often involve several components, multidisciplinary teams, and implementation in a variety of settings. We have developed a classification system (taxonomy) to describe interventions used to prevent falls in older people, with the aim of improving the design and reporting of clinical trials of fall-prevention interventions, and synthesis of evidence from these trials. METHODS: Thirty three international experts in falls prevention and health services research participated in a series of meetings to develop consensus. Robust techniques were used including literature reviews, expert presentations, and structured consensus workshops moderated by experienced facilitators. The taxonomy was refined using an international test panel of five health care practitioners. We assessed the chance corrected agreement of the final version by comparing taxonomy completion for 10 randomly selected published papers describing a variety of fall-prevention interventions. RESULTS: The taxonomy consists of four domains, summarized as the "Approach", "Base", "Components" and "Descriptors" of an intervention. Sub-domains include; where participants are identified; the theoretical approach of the intervention; clinical targeting criteria; details on assessments; descriptions of the nature and intensity of interventions. Chance corrected agreement of the final version of the taxonomy was good to excellent for all items. Further independent evaluation of the taxonomy is required. CONCLUSIONS: The taxonomy is a useful instrument for characterizing a broad range of interventions used in falls prevention. Investigators are encouraged to use the taxonomy to report their interventions

Evolution of soil and water conservation in rain-fed areas of China

AbstractRain-fed (dryland) farming is an ancient agricultural production system in China. It occurs widely across almost the whole country, especially in the Northwest and North China. The semi-arid Loess Plateau is the most important region of rain-fed farming in China, but unfortunately, soil erosion on the Loess Plateau area is the highest in China, and indeed amongst the highest in the world. This highlights the necessity for developing practices that can reduce soil and water erosion, improve soil water use efficiency, improve crop productivity, and reduce rural poverty in the region. Many techniques of soil and water conservation are being used in rain-fed areas of China, including such systems as mulch, ridge and furrow systems. The Appendix describes a unique system of soil and water conservation, called Shatian.Modern research on conservation tillage (No Till), although essential for reducing erosion, increasing crop productivity, and ameliorating poverty, is just beginning in China. Modern conservation tillage research started in the1990s' with support from Australia and other countries. The procedures, however, were modified to be in accord with local conditions and prevailing farmer experiences. With 10 years of experimentation, results show that the most successful conservation practice on the Western Loess Plateau is no till with stubble retention. This technique helps to conserve soil water, increases soil organic carbon, improves soil structure and water infiltration, reduces soil and water erosion, and improves crop productivity and sustainability of rain-fed farming systems. However, its adoption rate remains low due to barriers such as traditional attitude, insufficient rural extension, and so forth

Report of the Committee on taxonomy and Bibliography

After three years of effort, no final decision has been taken on even the first pan of the original charge to the committee. Since a coding scheme must be accepted by the members of the Academy before further work can be done, the last three parts of the charge have been largely ignored. It is essential that some resolution of this task be made, as quickly as possible

Report on taxonomy and bibliography

The Charge to the Committee is as follows: (1) To establish a workable and complete taxonomy for the subject of accounting history; (2) To determine significant publications that should be included under each of the taxonomic groups; (3) To investigate the feasibility of devising a computer program to encompass a continuously up-dated bibliography by taxonomic group; (4) To periodically attempt to publish such a bibliography

Autophagy impairment in a mouse model of neuropathic pain

Autophagy is an intracellular membrane trafficking pathway controlling the delivery of cytoplasmic material to the lysosomes for degradation. It plays an important role in cell homeostasis in both normal settings and abnormal, stressful conditions. It is now recognised that an imbalance in the autophagic process can impact basal cell functions and this has recently been implicated in several human diseases, including neurodegeneration and cancer

Influence of Psychological Factors on Pain and Disability in Anterior Knee Pain Patients

AKP patients express chronic pain but also disability. However, the correlation between pain and disability is not complete and linear. Some patients with a lot of pain show mild disability while others with much less pain also show great disability. The disability is profoundly influenced by other emotional and cognitive factors that are associated with the perception of pain. Therefore, the clinical efforts do not have to be focused only on treating the pain as a feeling but on identifying and modifying these factor

植物地理・分類研究 Vol. 56, No. 1 (表紙, 目次, 奥付)

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