Responses or Comments

But what should journals actually do to keep industry sponsored research unbiased?

Chris Del Mar — Mon, 10 Jan 2011 17:50:39 PST

Message from editor-in-chief of Legal Eagle

Michael Weir — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 14:58:02 PST

Extract:

Bond University School of Law is thrilled to be involved with the production of Legal Eagle. We are delighted to have the opportunity to interact with Legal Studies teachers and student(s) from NSW and ACT.

Case note: Data Access v Powerflex

William van Caenegem — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 21:52:42 PST

The issue in this case is relatively straightforward: does a single word in the DataFlex language amount to 'a set of instructions' in the sense of that expression in the definition of 'computer program' in s 10 of the Copyright Act 1968 (Cth)? In answering this question, we enter a well-worn and complex debate about protecting the rights of authors and subsequent owners of computer programs by classifying the latter as "literary works" in Part III of the Copyright Act 1968.

Patent law - a city council is an ‘authority of a state’

William van Caenegem — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 21:52:37 PST

In George Stack and GS Technology Pty Ltd v The Brisbane City Council, Davies Shepard Pty Ltd and Davies Shepard (Queensland) Pty Ltd, a patent infringement case, a number of preliminary questions were referred for determination to Cooper J. of the Federal Court, sitting in Brisbane. The basic and most important issue was whether the Brisbane City Council was an ‘authority of a State’ within the meaning of Chapter 17 (ss 161-176) of the Patents Act 1990…His Honour held that the Brisbane City Council was an authority of a State, and therefore free to exploit the invention for the services of the state (so-called ‘Crown use’), which in this case it had done.

Review of the Trauma Symptom Checklist for Children

Gregory J. Boyle — Tue, 08 May 2007 21:21:00 PDT

A review of the Trauma Symptom Checklist for Children, a multidimensional questionnaire intended for the psychological assessment of post-traumatic symptomatology in children and adolescents who have endured trauma resulting, for example, from childhood physical and/or sexual abuse.

Review of the International Personality Disorder Examination

Gregory J. Boyle — Tue, 08 May 2007 19:28:22 PDT

A review of the International Personality Disorder Examination, a multidimensional psychometric trait instrument intended for the clinical psychodiagnostic assessment of personality disorders (apparent for at least five years) in adults.

Review of the Personality Self-Portrait (Revised)

Gregory J. Boyle — Tue, 08 May 2007 19:03:13 PDT

A review of the Personality Self-Portrait (Revised), a 107-item self-report questionnaire purported to measure 14 distinct personality styles.

Review of the Taylor-Johnson Temperament Analysis (2002 Edition)

Gregory J. Boyle — Tue, 08 May 2007 18:40:11 PDT

A review of the Taylor-Johnson Temperament Analysis (T-JTA) a 180-item questionnaire which has a long history with several revisions going back as early as 1941. The most recent revision was undertaken in year 2002. The T-JTA is purported to measure a variety of temperament and behavioral variables relating to personal, interpersonal, and scholastic/career factors and outcomes useful, for example, in counselling and educational arenas

The State Of Primary-Care Research

David Mant et al. — Thu, 20 Jul 2006 04:12:48 PDT

In March, 2003, the editor of The Lancet attended an international conference in Kingston, Ontario, Canada, on primary-care research, subsequently running a rather dyspeptic editorial entitled "Is primary-care research a lost cause?" (1) This article highlighted the unacceptable weakness of primary-care research worldwide. A particular concern of the conference was the shortage of primary care research in less economically developed countries to inform the clinical and public health management of malnutrition, malaria, AIDS, water-borne infection, and other illnesses of poverty (2). However, problems exist even in economically developed countries. In Australia, for example, a crude measure of research productivity with practising physicians as the denominator suggests that primary care is only 1% as productive as internal medicine, 0.5% as productive as public health and 1.6% as productive as surgery (3). But for The Lancet to characterise primary-care research as a "lost cause" is unhelpful. This notion implies either that the field is so weak that it cannot be resuscitated or that it is irrelevant anyway. Both are wrong.

Letter: "Drink Plenty of Fluids" Authors' Reply

Michelle P. B. Guppy et al. — Tue, 13 Jun 2006 01:19:05 PDT

"Drink plenty of fluids" - Recommendations are not supported by data - [Authors' reply].

Let us look deeper at the indirect evidence. Two case reports describe children with only infections of the upper respiratory tract with hyponatraemia and seizures. In infections of the lower respiratory tract, observational studies show that increased secretion of antidiuretic hormone occurs in bronchiolitis, where it is the norm. It is becoming standard management to advise careful monitoring and restriction of fluid intake with bronchiolitis.