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Objectives Benefits of hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) use on physician reported outcomes are well documented in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). We assess for the first time the association and predictive value of blood HCQ levels towards health-related quality of life (HRQOL) in SLE. Methods Data from the PLUS study (a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, multicentre study) were utilized. Blood HCQ levels were quantified by high-performance liquid chromatography along with HRQOL assessments (Medical Outcomes Study-SF-36) at baseline (V1) and month 7 (V2). Results 166 SLE patients’ data were analysed. Mean (SD) age and disease duration were 44.4 (10.7) and 9.3 (6.8) years. Eighty-seven per cent were women. Mean (SD, median, IQR) HCQ concentrations in the blood at V1 were 660 (314, 615, 424) ng/ml and increased to 1020 (632, 906, 781) ng/ml at V2 (mean difference 366 units, 95% confidence interval −472 to −260, p < 0.001). No significant correlations between HCQ concentrations with HRQOL domains at V1 or V2 were noted. There were no differences in HRQOL stratified by HCQ concentrations. HCQ concentrations at V1 or changes in HCQ concentration (V2-V1) were not predictive of HRQOL at V2 or changes in HRQOL (V2-V1). Conclusions No association of HCQ concentrations with current or longitudinal HRQOL were found in SLE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author of the article describes Hrodno region in the late 1940-early 1950s. He pays attention on the the events of Doctors' Plot in Hrodno. The work is based on several archival sources and interviews made by the author of the article. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a need to bring methods to bear on public problems that are inclusive, analytic, and quick. This paper describes the efforts of three pairs of academics working from three different though complementary theoretical foundations and intervention backgrounds (ie ways of working) who set out together to meet this challenge. Each of the three pairs had conducted dozens of interventions that had been regarded as successful or very successful by the client groups in dealing with complex policy and strategic problems. One approach focused on leadership issues and stakeholders, another on negotiating competitive strategic intent with attention to stakeholder responses, and the third on analysis of feedback ramifications in developing policies. This paper describes the 10-year longitudinal research project designed to address the above challenge. The important outcomes are reported: the requisite elements of a general integrated approach and the enduring puzzles and tensions that arose from seeking to design a wide-ranging multi-method approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a tool for multi-criteria decision aid to be referred to as a Reasoning Map. It is motivated by a desire to provide an integrated approach to problem structuring and evaluation, and in particular, to make the transition between these two processes a natural and seamless progression. The approach has two phases. In the first one, the building of a Reasoning Map supports problem structuring, capturing a decision maker's reasoning as a network of means and ends concepts. In the second phase, this map is enhanced, employing a user-defined qualitative scale to measure both performances of decision options and strengths of influence for each means-end link. This latter phase supports the decision maker in evaluating the positive and negative impacts of an action through synthesis of the qualitative information. A case study, which investigates the use of the method in practice, is also presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Problem structuring methods (PSMs) have been widely and successfully used in many organizations, but the reliance on face-to-face meetings and workshops makes a typical PSM project difficult and time-consuming to organize, and means that the process may only involve a narrow cross-section of the organization. Yet much interaction in organizations is neither face-to-face nor even synchronous. This research seeks to (1) explore how the issues that arise in moderating such distributed interaction differ from the issues involved in facilitating a workshop and (2) identify the circumstances under which it makes sense to consider using the distributed mode of interaction within a PSM process. Three pairs of action research case studies using a distributed variant on the strategic options development and analysis (SODA) process are described, together with our answers to the above questions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Project Risk Registers have been used extensively for many years. However, they do not account for the interaction between risks, for example, the occurrence of one risk exacerbating other risks or portfolios of risks being more significant than the sum of the individual risks. This leads to the need to consider ‘risk systemicity’ as a part of risk analysis. This paper reports on a specific case for a large multinational project based organization, one that the authors had been involved with in the analysis of a number of projects that had massive cost overruns. Following these analyses the organization was persuaded of the importance of risk systemicity. The organization therefore engaged the authors to develop a ‘Risk Filter’. This filter is a tool for identifying areas of risk exposure on future projects and creating a framework for their investigation. The ‘Risk Filter’ is now used on all projects ever since its introduction; by the end of May 2003 it had been used by nine divisions, on over 60 major projects, and completed by 450 respondents. It is also used at several stages during the life of a project to aid in the risk assessment and management of each project, and contributes to a project database. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents abstracts of medical research. They include "The PDZ domain protein MUPP1 is expressed in spermatozoa of vertebrates," "Progesterone at the picomolar range is a chemoattractant for mammalian spermatozoa," "Post-translational regulation of androgen receptor activity," "In vitro morphogenesis of seminiferous tubules," "Identification of immunodominant autoantigens in rat autoimmune orchitis."

Problem-structuring techniques are an integral aspect of 'Soft-OR'. SSM, SAST, Strategic Choice, and JOURNEY Making, all depend for their success on a group developing a shared view of a problem through some form of explicit modelling. The negotiated problem structure becomes the basis for problem resolution. Implicit to this process is an assumption that members of the group share and build their knowledge about the problem domain. This paper explores the extent to which this assumption is reasonable. The research is based on detailed records from the use of JOURNEY Making, where it has used special purpose Group Support software to aid the group problem structuring. This software continuously tracks the contributions of each member of the group and thus the extent to which they appear to be 'connecting' and augmenting their own knowledge with that of other members of the group. Software records of problem resolution in real organisational settings are used to explore the sharing of knowledge among senior managers. These explorations suggest a typology of knowledge sharing. The implications of this typology for problem structuring and an agenda for future research are considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focuses on the role of formal modelling of competencies and the use of group support system in the development of strategic direction. Description of the nature of strategic management; Relationship between patterns of competencies; Role of group decision support system; Basis for a strategy delivery support system.