Digital Commons Network^™

Ksr V. Teleflex: How “Obviousness” Has Changed, Daniel Becker

Daniel P. Becker

In KSR v. Teleflex, the Supreme Court examined the Federal Circuit's obviousness jurisprudence for patents. Both prior to and in this case, the Federal Circuit rigidly applied its judicially created "teaching, suggestion, or motivation" (TSM) test to determine whether the prior art would direct an inventor of ordinary skill in the art to combine references or elements in references in the same way as the patentee did. The Supreme Court, however, reversed the decision of the Federal Circuit, and held that by applying the TSM test in such a strict manner, the Federal Circuit had "analyzed the issue in a …

"What Should Happen Before Asymptomatic Men Decide Whether Or Not To Have A Psa Test?"A Report On Three Community Juries, Chris Degeling, Lucie Rychetnik, Kristen Pickles, Rae Thomas, Jennifer Doust, Robert Gardiner, Paul Glasziou, Ainsley Newson, Stacy Carter

Jenny Doust

OBJECTIVES: To elicit the views of well informed community members on the ethical obligations of general practitioners regarding prostate-specific antigen (PSA) testing, and what should be required before a man undergoes a PSA test. DESIGN AND SETTING: Three community juries held at the University of Sydney over 6 months in 2014. PARTICIPANTS: Forty participants from New South Wales, of diverse social and cultural backgrounds and with no experience of prostate cancer, recruited through public advertising: two juries of mixed gender and ages; one all-male jury of PSA screening age. RESULTS: In contrast to Royal Australian College of General Practitioners guidelines, …

"What Should Happen Before Asymptomatic Men Decide Whether Or Not To Have A Psa Test?"A Report On Three Community Juries, Chris Degeling, Lucie Rychetnik, Kristen Pickles, Rae Thomas, Jennifer Doust, Robert Gardiner, Paul Glasziou, Ainsley Newson, Stacy Carter

Rae Thomas

OBJECTIVES: To elicit the views of well informed community members on the ethical obligations of general practitioners regarding prostate-specific antigen (PSA) testing, and what should be required before a man undergoes a PSA test. DESIGN AND SETTING: Three community juries held at the University of Sydney over 6 months in 2014. PARTICIPANTS: Forty participants from New South Wales, of diverse social and cultural backgrounds and with no experience of prostate cancer, recruited through public advertising: two juries of mixed gender and ages; one all-male jury of PSA screening age. RESULTS: In contrast to Royal Australian College of General Practitioners guidelines, …

Changing The Way Referring General Practitioners Request Urinary Albumin Studies, Tony Badrick, Peter Hobson, Damien Langguth

Tony Badrick

Extract : Early identification and management of chronic kidney disease (CKD) is highly cost effective and can reduce the risk of kidney disease progression and cardiovascular damage by up to 50%. There are well established guidelines available to accurately detect proteinuria which is a key marker of CKD but these guidelines are not widely followed in general practice and the ability to persuade general practitioners to adopt new guidelines is challenging

Quantifying Foreign Direct Investment Productivity Spillovers In China: A Computable General Equilibrium Model., Ziliang Deng, Rod Falvey, Adam Blake

Rodney Falvey

For the purposes of this study, we will construct a static monopolisticallycompetitive computable general equilibrium model to quantify the endogenous productivity spillovers from foreign and domestic firms, using the Chinese economy as a case study. Our simulation results indicate: (i) that the net spillover effects are positive in terms of national total output, GDP and welfare; (ii) that both state-owned and privately-owned firms benefit, but that private firms benefit more; (iii) that industries with large volumes of foreign direct investment (FDI) do not necessarily observe the largest spillover effects; and (iv) that the spillover effects become more prominent when the …

Quality Indicators For Treatment Of Respiratory Tract Infections? An Assessment By Danish General Practitioners, Malene Hansen, Lars Bjerrum, Bente Gahrn-Hansen, Rene De Pont Christensen, Jesper Davidsen, Anders Munck, Dorte Jarbøl

Malene Hansen

Background: In 2008, a set of 41 quality indicators for antibiotic treatment of respiratory tract infections (RTIs) in general practice were developed in an international setting as part of the European project HAPPY AUDIT. Objectives: To investigate Danish general practitioners' (GPs') assessment of a set of internationally developed quality indicators and to explore if there is an association between the GPs' assessment of the indicators and their practice characteristics as well as their antibiotic prescription pattern. Methods: A total of 102 Danish GPs were invited to assess the 41 quality indicators. The GPs were categorized into two groups according to …

Improving Bdd Cryptosystems In General Lattices, Willy Susilo, Thomas Plantard, Michael Rose

Dr Thomas Plantard

No abstract provided.

Assessing General Practice Knowledge Base: The Applied Clinical Knowledge Test , Elizabeth Farmer, Joachim Sturmberg

Elizabeth Farmer

No abstract provided.

A Regression-Based Approach For Improving The Association Rule Mining Through Predicting The Number Of Rules On General Datasets, Dien Tuan Le, Fenghui Ren, Minjie Zhang

Dr Fenghui Ren

Association rule mining is one of the useful techniques in data mining and knowledge discovery that extracts interesting relationships between items in datasets. Generally, the number of association rules in a particular dataset mainly depends on the measures of support and confidence To choose the number of useful rules, normally, the measures of support and confidence need to be tried many times. In some cases, the measures of support and confidence are chosen by experience. Thus, it is a time consuming to find the optimal measure of supportand confidence for the process of association rule mining in large datasets. This …

Benefits Derived From Ict Adoption In Regional Medical Practices: Perceptual Differences Between Male And Female General Practitioners, Robert Macgregor, Peter Hyland, Charles Harvie, Boon-Chye Lee

Associate Professor Peter Hyland

Information and communications technologies (ICTs) are being used more and more by general practitioners (GPs) in their day-to-day activities. While a number of studies have shown that ICT adoption and use can provide real benefits to medical practices, there have been few studies to determine whether the perception of those benefits is uniform across the sector. This study examines whether differences in the perception of benefits exist between male and female GPs. The results suggest that the groupings and priorities of benefits arising from ICT use differ substantially between male and female GPs. Results also show, amongst other things, that …

Performance Auditing: The Jurisdiction Of The Australian Auditor General - De Jure Or De Facto? A Comment, John Glynn

John J Glynn

As Parker and Guthrie (1991) state, the question of the Australian Auditor- General’s performance audit mandate has become an issue of much debate over the last two decades.

The initial development of performance auditing by the Australian Audit Office (AAO) can be traced back to the early 1970s. In part this was due to the application of existing powers provided by Section 54 of the Audit Act 1901. These investigations were termed by the AAO ‘project audits’. Amendments to the Act, in 1979, additionally permitted the AAO to undertake efficiency audits in addition to fiscal regularity audits. The problem, since …

General Practitioners And Euthanasia: Strong Opinions And Unexpected Views, Ian Wilson, B Kay, I Steven

Ian G Wilson

No abstract provided.

Psychiatric Comorbidity In General Practice, David Pierce, Ian Wilson

Ian G Wilson

BACKGROUND Much of teachlng and resean:h has concentrated on single disease entities. In general practice, however, many patients suffer from a number of Interacting Ulnesses at the same time. It is unlikely we' wll1 ever have randomlsed controlled trlaIs to gulde the management of such patients. OBJECTIVE This article alms to develop a framework that will assist general practitioners In day·to-day cllnlcal work with patients presenting with concurrent multiple physical and mental health problems. DISCUSSION A positive, caring, patient centred approach is requIred and ~ultiple diagnoses need to be managed within an IntegratOd'treatment plan. The quality of the therapeutic relationship …

General Practitioners' Views On Patient Care Research., Ian Wilson, B Mcgrath, G Russell, C Bridges-Webb, C Hogan

Ian G Wilson

BACKGROUND: Little research has been undertaken into the factors affecting recruitment by Australian general practitioners of patients for clinical trials. Understanding the differences between recruiters and non-recruiters will assist researchers in better supporting general practitioners involved in such research. METHOD: A survey of general practitioners involved in recruiting patients for clinical trials for the RACGP Research Program was undertaken. RESULTS: Recruiters were more likely to be interested in learning more about research, to perceive involvement as worthwhile, to desire a good relationship with Research Program staff and to feel the doctor-patient relationship assists recruitment. DISCUSSION: Recruiters in general are average …

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder In A Group Of Australian General Practices., Charis Gauvin, Ian Wilson

Ian G Wilson

Some authorities regard post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) as a well characterised condition that is under diagnosed in general practice. We aimed to explore its prevalence in Australian general practice. METHOD: 'Medic-GP' contains the records of 58,941 patients over a period of six years. We searched the database for PTSD and synonyms in individual records, looking for diagnostic criteria and comorbidities. RESULTS: Post-traumatic stress disorder was diagnosed in 337 patients, an annual incidence of 88/100,000 patients over a 6.5 year period. Specialists diagnosed 312 (93%) after referral by general practitioners. The GPs diagnosed 25 (7%) themselves, of whom only five patients …

A 5-Year Follow-Up Of General Practice Patients Experiencing Depression, Ian Wilson, Katherine Duszynski, Andrea Mant

Ian G Wilson

Background. Depression is a common disease in primary care and produces significant morbidity in the community. Little is known about the outcomes of depression in general practice. Objectives. This research set out to explore both the longitudinal management and outcomes of depression as seen in general practice. Methods. The Medic-GP database is a collection of the medical records of 50 000 people seen in nine Australian general practices. It was used to follow the management of depressed patients over 4-5 years. Records from 1994-1995 were searched for depression or similar words. Individual records of patients whose notes mentioned depression were …

The Management Of Bipolar Disorder In General Practice, Phillip Mitchell, Jillian Ball, James Best, Bronwyn Gould, Gin Malhi, Geoffrey Riley, Ian Wilson

Ian G Wilson

•General practitioners have a key role in managing patients with bipolar disorder, a condition which affects at least one in 200 Australians each year and is the sixth leading cause of disability in the population. • Although diagnosis and treatment of the illness is complex, effective treatment can lead to good outcomes for many patients. • GPs can contribute significantly to early recognition of bipolar disorder, avoiding the long delays in accurate diagnosis that have been reported. As in other complex recurrent or persistent illnesses, GPs are well placed to coordinate multidisciplinary "shared care" with specialists and other health care …

Consultation-Liaison To General Practitioners Coming Of Age: The South Australian Psychiatrists' Experience, Anne Williams, Jane Dodding, Ian Wilson, Jeffrey Fuller, Victoria Wade

Ian G Wilson

Objective: To evaluate outcomes and satisfaction with a consultationliaison service to general practitioners (GPs), provided by a cohort of private and public psychiatrists. Methods: All SA psychiatrists were invited to participate in a project, funded by the Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing, which was operational for 9 months. Participating psychiatrists provided telephone advice in urgent cases to GPs, and where agreed by GP, patient and psychiatrist, a one-off assessment with rapid feedback to the GP. Evaluation was carried out by external evaluators on satisfaction rates of psychiatrists, and barriers to the use of such a service, and the …

Long-Term Effects Of Childhood Abuse On The Quality Of Life And Health Of Older People: Results From The Depression And Early Prevention Of Suicide In General Practice Project, Brian Draper, Jon Pfaff, Jane Pirkis, John Snowdon, Nicola Lautenschlager, Ian Wilson, Osvaldo Almeida

Ian G Wilson

OBJECTIVES: To determine whether childhood physical and sexual abuse are associated with poor mental and physical health outcomes in older age. DESIGN: Cross-sectional, postal questionnaire survey. SETTING: Medical clinics of 383 general practitioners (GPs) in Australia. PARTICIPANTS: More than 21,000 older adults (aged >=60) currently under the care of GPs participating in the Depression and Early Prevention of Suicide in General Practice (DEPS-GP) Study. Participants were divided into two groups according to whether they acknowledged experiencing childhood physical or sexual abuse. MEASUREMENTS: Main outcome measures targeted participants’ current physical health (Medical Outcomes Study 12-item Short Form Survey, Version 2 and …

New General Algorithm For Describing Manipulator Kinematics, Christopher Cook, T Vu-Dinh

Christopher Cook

A new algorithm for representing the kinematic problem of robot arms is presented, and its advantages discused. It is shown that manipulator links and joints can be described using generalised cascaded 'robot joint descriptors'. Such a description provides a theoretical basis for the development of a kinematic controller applicable to most manipulator geometries.

General Purpose Robot Controller, Christopher Cook, T Vu-Dinh

Christopher Cook

No abstract provided.

A General Purpose Robot Controller, Christopher Cook, T Vu-Dinh

Christopher Cook

No abstract provided.

The Conference For General Practice 2009, Andrew Bonney, Lyn Phillipson, Sandra Jones, Donald Iverson

Don C. Iverson

Objectives The medical literature suggests that older patients may be reluctant to engage general practice registrars in their medical care. This can lead to distortions in the clinical caseload of general practice registrars and dissatisfaction for older patients when seeing general practice registrars. The authors undertook a qualitative study of older patients to investigate their attitudes to having general practice registrars involved in their medical care to address this issue. Methods The study was conducted in three general practice (GP) training practices in southeast NSW, Australia. Appropriate ethics approval was obtained before commencing the research. Reception staff handed patients invitations …

Research Reviews. Ropivacaine Epidural Anesthesia And Analgesia Versus General Anesthesia And Intravenous Patient-Controlled Analgesia With Morphine In The Perioperative Management Of Hip Replacement. Ropivacaine Hip Replacement Multicenter Study Group, Victoria Steelman

Victoria J. Steelman

No abstract provided.