Expanding the strategic and clinical leadership role of accredited specialists.

Background: We sought to explore the value and benefits of accredited specialists employed in the National Health Service (NHS), and proposed strategies for expanding their role.

Aims: To explore the core characteristics of accredited specialists and to examine how their skills could be further utilized to enhance occupational health (OH) services.

Methods: Mixed methods comprising a survey and qualitative work.

Decision making dyads and judgement overconfidence: Implications for high-risk industries.

In the workplace, overconfidence is generally considered undesirable as it may increase people's propensity to take risks. In many areas (e.g.

Debiasing visual pilots' weather-related decision making.

Pilots who decide to continue a flight into deteriorating weather conditions, rather than turn back or divert, are a significant cause of fatal crashes in general aviation. Earlier research has suggested that cognitive biases such as the anchoring effect and confirmation bias are implicated in many decisions to continue into worsening weather. In this study, we explored whether a simple debiasing technique, 'considering the alternative', reduced the effect of these two potentially fatal biases.

Effects of mild hypoxia in aviation on mood and complex cognition.

Thirty six volunteer air force personnel were sequentially exposed in a randomized balanced order in a hypobaric chamber to 30 min of baseline (sea level) and mild hypoxia induced by a specified altitude (sea level, 8000 ft and 12,000 ft), followed immediately by breathing 100% oxygen from an oro-nasal mask. Mood and complex cognition were assessed. Analysis of variance indicated that mood (fatigue and vigour) remained the same at 8000 ft but fatigue was increased (p = 0.

Operational efficiency of Asia-Pacific airports.

Airports are important drivers of economic development and thus under tremendous pressure from emerging competitors. However, few studies have analysed the operational efficiency of Asia-Pacific airports. This study therefore evaluated the operational efficiency of 21 Asia-Pacific airports between 2002 and 2011.

Health benefits of deer and elk velvet antler supplements: a systematic review of randomised controlled studies.

Aims: The aim of this systematic review was to evaluate the evidence from RCTs of velvet antler supplements for any condition, using the QUOROM statement as a guiding framework.

Methods: Four electronic databases (PubMed, Medline, Web of Science and Academic search premier, via the bibliographical platform, Endnote) and two review articles were searched for all randomised clinical trials of velvet antler supplements. Retrieved trials were evaluated according to standardised criteria.

Could mild hypoxia impair pilot decision making in emergencies?

The decreased pressure in the cabin of a pressurised aircraft (typically equivalent to ~8000 ft) reduces the oxygen level so that the blood oxygen saturation of all occupants falls from >97% (normoxia) at sea-level to below 92% (mild hypoxia). Although exposure to mild hypoxia does not affect well-learned cognitive and motor performance of aircrew, it has been proposed that it can affect the performance of some complex cognitive performance tasks involving multiple demands typical of emergency tasks that may have to be performed by pilots. In order to simulate some of these complex cognitive demands, 25 student volunteers participated in an experiment which assessed performance of complex logical reasoning and and multiple memory tasks before and after 2 hours of exposure to normoxia and mild hypoxia.

Chiropractic claims in the English-speaking world.

Background: Some chiropractors and their associations claim that chiropractic is effective for conditions that lack sound supporting evidence or scientific rationale. This study therefore sought to determine the frequency of World Wide Web claims of chiropractors and their associations to treat, asthma, headache/migraine, infant colic, colic, ear infection/earache/otitis media, neck pain, whiplash (not supported by sound evidence), and lower back pain (supported by some evidence).

Methods: A review of 200 chiropractor websites and 9 chiropractic associations' World Wide Web claims in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States was conducted between 1 October 2008 and 26 November 2008.

Kinetic characterization of lipid II-Ala:alanyl-tRNA ligase (MurN) from Streptococcus pneumoniae using semisynthetic aminoacyl-lipid II substrates.

MurM and MurN are tRNA-dependent ligases that catalyze the addition of the first (L-Ala/L-Ser) and second (L-Ala) amino acid onto lipid II substrates in the biosynthesis of the peptidoglycan layer of Streptococcus pneumoniae. We have previously characterized the first ligase, MurM (Lloyd, A. J.

Use of inappropriate titles by New Zealand practitioners of acupuncture, chiropractic, and osteopathy.

Aim: This study aimed to explore whether practitioners of acupuncture, chiropractic, and osteopathy use the title 'Doctor' in a way which could imply that they are registered medical practitioners, when there is no evidence that they are, and if so, whether rates differ between practice types.

Method: Secondary data, the New Zealand Yellow pages telephone directory, were analysed for potentially misleading use of the title 'Doctor'.

Results: Some practitioners of acupuncture, chiropractic, and osteopathy appeared to use the title 'Doctor' in a way that could imply that they are registered medical practitioners, when there was no evidence this was in fact true.