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OBJECTIVE: Pediatric cerebellar mutism syndrome (pCMS) can occur following resection of a posterior fossa tumor and, although some symptoms are transient, many result in long-lasting neurological deficits. A multi-disciplinary rehabilitation approach is often used in cases of pCMS; however, there have been no clinical trials to determine gold standards in rehabilitation practice in this population, which remains a research priority. The purpose of this study was to identify and compare intervention practices used in pCMS throughout the disciplines of occupational and physical therapy, speech-language pathology, and neuropsychology across geographic regions. METHODS: A 55-question e-survey was created by an international multidisciplinary research group made up of members of the Posterior Fossa Society and sent to rehabilitation professionals in pediatric neuro-oncology centers in the US, Canada, and Europe. RESULTS: Although some differences in the type of intervention used in pCMS were identified within each discipline, many of the targeted interventions including dose, frequency, and intensity were similar within disciplines across geographic regions. In addition, there were common themes identified across disciplines regarding challenges in the rehabilitation of this population. CONCLUSION: These results provide a foundation of current practices on which to build future intervention-based clinical trials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To investigate the current practice of intratympanic steroid (ITS) injection for sudden sensorineural hearing loss (SSNHL) in the United Kingdom and link the data with data from the United States and continental Europe. Methods: A survey of 21 questions was distributed to members of the British Society of Otology using an online survey platform via ENT UK. Data obtained from UK otolaryngologists (n = 171) were integrated with previously published data from other countries, including the United States (n = 63) and continental Europe (n = 908). Results: In the United Kingdom, 62% of responding otolaryngologists use ITS injection for SSNHL, while 38% do not. Of those using ITS, 59% use it as first-line treatment, either using it in conjunction with oral steroids (51%) or using it as monotherapy (8%). Of those that use ITS, a majority (83%) use it as salvage therapy when primary treatment with systemic steroids has failed, and similar results are found in the continental Europe and US surveys. The most commonly used preparation is dexamethasone. Responses to questions regarding treatment regimes used are enlightening and show considerable variation in the treatment regimes used within and between countries. Conclusions: There is a wide variation in practice with regards to ITS for SSNHL hearing loss in the United Kingdom, United States, and continental Europe. In the absence of protocols or definitive guidance from published literature, knowledge of contemporary practice may help guide or encourage reevaluation of clinical practice and will help guide the design of future clinical trials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: ‘Paediatric bipolar disorder’ (PBD) is a controversial diagnosis where often prepubertal children as well as adolescents, who may have a range of psychiatric disorders or symptoms, are diagnosed with a severe mental illness requiring lifelong medication. Clinically, it has often been applied in the United States but rarely in most other countries. A meta‐analysis (Van Meter et al., Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, , 72, 1250) claimed that the prevalence of PBD was similar to adults at 1.8% with no difference between the United States and other countries. This conclusion has been highly cited. Methods: The heterogeneous nature of the original 12 epidemiological surveys warrants a qualitative analysis, rather than statistical meta‐analysis as performed by Van Meter et al. (Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, 2011, 72, 1250). Thus, the meta‐analysis and each of the 12 studies (six from the United States; six from other countries) were reexamined. Results: Most of the 12 surveys predated the emergence of the PBD hypothesis. The 12 surveys were mainly of adolescents and at times young adults with few prepubertal children. Prevalence rates in the 12 studies suggest a lower rate of bipolar disorder, especially in non‐US samples. For example, the Van Meter et al. (Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, 2011, 72, 1250) meta‐analysis chose a rate of 2.8% by summation of adolescent and parent responses in a Dutch survey, however the rate fell to 0% if requiring concordance of adolescent and parent responses. Indeed, it could be argued that four of the non‐US studies show 0% rates of PBD. Conclusions: Rates of PBD were generally substantially lower than 1.8%, particularly in non‐US surveys, and if both parent and adolescent reports were required to meet the diagnostic threshold they fell to close to zero. The reanalysis suggests that bipolar disorder is rare before the expected age of onset in later adolescence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article reports an international study of research data management (RDM) activities, services, and capabilities in higher education libraries. It presents the results of a survey covering higher education libraries in Australia, Canada, Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands, New Zealand, and the UK. The results indicate that libraries have provided leadership in RDM, particularly in advocacy and policy development. Service development is still limited, focused especially on advisory and consultancy services (such as data management planning support and data-related training), rather than technical services (such as provision of a data catalog, and curation of active data). Data curation skills development is underway in libraries, but skills and capabilities are not consistently in place and remain a concern. Other major challenges include resourcing, working with other support services, and achieving "buy in" from researchers and senior managers. Results are compared with previous studies in order to assess trends and relative maturity levels. The range of RDM activities explored in this study are positioned on a "landscape maturity model," which reflects current and planned research data services and practice in academic libraries, representing a "snapshot" of current developments and a baseline for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The economic burden of diabetes and the effects of the disease on the labor force are of substantial importance to policy makers. We examined the impact of diabetes on leaving the labor force across sixteen countries, using data about 66,542 participants in the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe; the US Health and Retirement Survey; or the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing. After matching people with diabetes to those without the disease in terms of age, sex, and years of education, we used Cox proportional hazards analyses to estimate the effect of diabetes on time of leaving the labor force. Across the sixteen countries, people diagnosed with diabetes had a 30 percent increase in the rate of labor-force exit, compared to people without the disease. The costs associated with earlier labor-force exit are likely to be substantial. These findings further support the value of greater public- and private-sector investment in preventing and managing diabetes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a survey review of series of graded readers in English that are published in Great Britain, Europe and the U.S. Graded readers are books written for learners of English, which are categorized into two types: the rewrite and the simple original. This review, which covers 42 series containing 2,051 titles, was made possible due to the library and database of graded readers maintained by the Edinburgh Project on Extensive Reading (EPER). The effect of the changing cultural and educational climate on graded readers is also discussed.

Preliminary results of a study conducted by the U.S.-based Price Waterhouse & Co. show that quality initiatives are not failing but succeeding. The study finds that more than 70 per cent of organizations believe that their quality initiatives are successful. The study--"A Program to Understand Leading Practices in Business Survival and Excellence,"--shows that those organizations that have been actively implementing quality initiatives for more than two years are more likely to have "very successful" initiatives than those that have had programmes for less than two years. The international study generated responses from more than 1700 organizations in the United States, Great Britain, Canada, Europe, and China in all major industries.

This article assesses the role of women employees in overseas operations. A survey of 70 U.S. multinational corporations reveals that only 5 percent of their employees on overseas assignments are females. Michael F. Tucker, senior vice-president and head of a consulting firm's international division, said that if American corporations are going to be successful in the increasingly competitive global business environment, they cannot afford to overlook the increasing number of qualified females available for overseas duty. Seven out of ten companies said there were no advantages in sending female employees overseas as opposed to male employees. Their arguments were based on the local cultural biases against women in certain. countries, thus limiting their mobility; lack of technically qualified females; absence of interest on the part of females in overseas duty; the problem of accompanying male spouses; and the male-dominated management climate in the company. Currently, the majority of female expatriates are assigned to Europe, and close to half of these are sent to Great Britain.