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PubMed1997

Measuring the impact of focused workshops on rational drug use.

Rational drug use workshops were conducted in various centres in India. The effects of these workshops on some of the indicators for rational drug use are discussed. An evaluation based on responses to questionnaires does not permit the measurement of the effects on practice changes, and only perceived changes by the respondents are indicated. Within the short period of evaluation, drug use skills and awareness about various aspects of rational drug use are perceived to have improved. There is a need to re-emphasize through personal interaction and workshops the concept of rational drug use.

Drug Costs↗

PubMed1983

The Common Belief Inventory for Students: a measure of rationality in children.

The Common Belief Inventory for Students (CBIS) was developed to create a measure of rationality in children. The CBIS was formulated within Ellis's conceptual framework of Rational Behavior Training. It was constructed to yield a total score as well as a score for each of Ellis's 11 irrational ideas. A pretest/post-test design was employed over experimental and control groups (n = 1,226), Subjects in the experimental group were exposed to one hour of Rational Behavior Training each week for six weeks. Results indicated that the items were reliable indicators of the total test score and the belief scores. Belief components were reliable indicators of the total test score. Total test reliability estimates were adequate. The CBIS also appeared sensitive to the use of RBT methods to enhance rational thinking.

Journal Article↗

PubMed1984

"Rationing" and American health policy.

This article describes an attempt to persuade the members of a presidential commission on ethics in medicine to open a public dialogue on the rationing of medical care. The need for limits on the health care individuals receive, and the reasons why the existing delivery system fails to set such limits in an ethically acceptable manner, were outlined. It was argued that although the term "rationing" is appropriate to describe the process of setting equitable limits, the word generates so much controversy that it is avoided; this very avoidance is an obstacle to the development of sound policy. As an ethics commission, it was argued, the Commission was in a unique position to educate the public about the need for limits, and to defuse some of the controversy surrounding the word rationing. The Commissioners were not persuaded. They accepted the case for limits, in substance, but refused to use the word rationing in their report.

Advisory Committees↗

PubMed1997

Membership theory, rationalism, and the claim to adequacy in health services.

The immediate, practical purpose of this paper is to discuss and elaborate upon the concept of adequacy, especially when applicable to an understanding of the social work role in health policy making. The relevant topics under the general category of adequacy are (1) the perception and definition of the citizen/client; (2) the concept of rationality in health planning broken down into conditionality and prioritization, and (3) the concept of adequacy itself. Each will be addressed from the standpoint of recent experience and what may be done in the future to clarify and rationalize each. Clarity about clients, about rational approaches to policy making and planning, leading to a clear idea about adequacy in health care are presented as the indispensable elements in social work. Conditionality and prioritization are significant because no society will bring within equal reach of all members the benefits of health care, which usually means that health care is not rendered arbitrarily but as a result, among other things, of rational planning.

Forecasting↗

PubMed2004

Experiential versus rational training: a comparison of student attitudes toward homosexuality.

Based on Epstein's (1994a) cognitive-experiential self-theory, two new training interventions were designed to teach students about gay, lesbian and bisexual issues. The efficacy of these theoretically based interventions was assessed in a short-term (7-week, three occasion) longitudinal study. Fifty undergraduate psychology students were randomly assigned to one of three treatment groups: Rational Training, Experiential Training, or Control Group. A residualized change score procedure was used to analyze change in levels of sexual prejudice and affect across the three types of measurement (pre-test, post-test, and follow-up). A 3 (Rational Training, Experiential Training, Control Group) x 2 (Low Sexual Prejudice, High Sexual Prejudice) MANOVA revealed that after the training, participants in the Experiential Group (affective training) had more accepting attitudes toward homosexuality compared to the Control Group. In addition, participants in the Experiential Group experienced more positive affect compared to the Rational and Control Groups and experienced more negative affect compared to the Rational Group. Findings are discussed and suggestions for future research are provided.

Adult↗

PubMed2004

State-dependent decisions cause apparent violations of rationality in animal choice.

Normative models of choice in economics and biology usually expect preferences to be consistent across contexts, or "rational" in economic language. Following a large body of literature reporting economically irrational behaviour in humans, breaches of rationality by animals have also been recently described. If proven systematic, these findings would challenge long-standing biological approaches to behavioural theorising, and suggest that cognitive processes similar to those claimed to cause irrationality in humans can also hinder optimality approaches to modelling animal preferences. Critical differences between human and animal experiments have not, however, been sufficiently acknowledged. While humans can be instructed conceptually about the choice problem, animals need to be trained by repeated exposure to all contingencies. This exposure often leads to differences in state between treatments, hence changing choices while preserving rationality. We report experiments with European starlings demonstrating that apparent breaches of rationality can result from state-dependence. We show that adding an inferior alternative to a choice set (a "decoy") affects choices, an effect previously interpreted as indicating irrationality. However, these effects appear and disappear depending on whether state differences between choice contexts are present or not. These results open the possibility that some expressions of maladaptive behaviour are due to oversights in the migration of ideas between economics and biology, and suggest that key differences between human and nonhuman research must be recognised if ideas are to safely travel between these fields.

Analysis of Variance↗

PubMed2006

Effects of ration level and feeding frequency on digestibility in juvenile soft-shelled turtle, Pelodiscus sinensis.

The effects of ration level and feeding frequency on digestibility in juvenile soft-shelled turtle, Pelodiscus sinensis, were investigated. Four ration levels 1.5%, 2.5%, 4.0% and satiation (6.0% BW/d) were used. Apparent digestibility (AD) of dry matter (DMAD), protein (PAD) and protein real digestibility (PRD) were significantly affected by ration level, but not by feeding frequency when the ration level was similar. However, the feeding frequency affected the AD, DMAD, PAD and PRD significantly when the turtles were fed to satiation. The relationship between fecal protein content (Y) and protein intake (X) can be expressed as a quadric equation: Y=-0.1742+0.1476X-0.0003X(2) (r(2)=0.876, n=27, F=93.92, P<0.01).

Animal Feed↗

PubMed1996

Approaches to rationing drugs in hospitals. An Australian perspective.

The increasing need to consider rationing strategies within the healthcare environment is being driven by pressures such as the development of new medical technologies, the aging population, patient awareness and expectations, healthcare professionals' appetite for new treatments, and government restrictions on healthcare costs. Solutions to these pressures will need to be sought urgently to avoid a situation in which quality of healthcare is affordable only for the wealthy. The fundamental principles of equity and fairness will need to be applied universally if the solutions are to be accepted by the community, patients and practitioners. There are several measures that a hospital must have in place before the concept of drug rationing can be contemplated. The approach essentially involves ensuring rational drug approval processes based on critical review of the available data, coupled with ongoing education and audit. Thus, accurate information and clinical budgeting systems, processes which encourage and ensure structural and technical efficiencies within the drug use sequence and an effective Drug and Therapeutics committee are required to facilitate this approach. To assist with its overriding goals of the quality use of medicines and optimal patient care, the Drug and Therapeutics committee needs to implement an effective formulary system, obtain detailed guidelines governing drug use within the institution, conduct an ongoing drug utilisation review programme, and provide education and training. The move to consider allocative decision making (rationing) will become increasingly necessary as limits on structural and technical efficiency measures are reached. An institution will then need to decide whether to treat a particular group of patients, or provide a certain form of treatment. Improved methods for community consultation need to be explored and there must be a partnership between the health provider and the consumer in enunciating the existence of scarcity, determining priorities and ensuring that ethics and equity are not abandoned through this process.

Australia↗

PubMed2005

Relations of academic procrastination, rationalizations, and performance in a web course with deadlines.

This study compared students' academic procrastination tendency with the (1) frequency and nature of rationalizations used to justify procrastination, (2) self-regulation, and (3) performance in a web-based study strategies course with frequent performance deadlines. 106 college students completed the 16-item Tuckman Procrastination Scale, a measure of tendency to procrastinate, the Frequency of Use Self-survey of Rationalizations for Procrastination, and a 9-item self-regulation scale. Students' subsequent course performance was measured by total points earned. A linear regression with Academic Procrastination as the criterion variable and Rationalization score and Course Points as the predictor variables suggested academic procrastinators support procrastinating by rationalizing, not self-regulating, and thus put themselves at a disadvantage, with respect to evaluation in highly structured courses with frequent enforced deadlines.

Adult↗

PubMed2006

Effect of total mixed ration composition on fermentation and efficiency of ruminal microbial crude protein synthesis in vitro.

The goal of this study was to identify dietary factors that affect fermentation and efficiency of microbial crude protein (CP(M)) synthesis in the rumen in vitro. We used 16 total mixed, dairy cow rations with known digestibilities that varied in ingredient composition and nutrient content. Each ration was incubated in a Rusitec (n = 3) for 15 d, and fermentation of different fractions was assessed. Observed extents of fermentation in 24 h were 35 to 47% for organic matter, 25 to 60% for crude protein, 3 to 28% for neutral detergent fiber, and 31 to 45% for gross energy. Organic matter fermentation depended on the content of crude protein and neutral detergent fiber in the ration. We studied net synthesis of CP(M) using an 15N dilution technique and found that 7 d of continuous 15N application are needed to achieve an 15N enrichment plateau in the N of isolated microbes in this type of study. The efficiency of CP(M) synthesis was 141 to 286 g/kg of fermented organic matter or 4.9 to 11.1 g/MJ of metabolizable energy, and these ranges agree with those found in the literature. Multiple regressions to predict the efficiency of CP(M) synthesis by diet data showed that crude protein was the only dietary chemical fraction that had a significant effect. Fat content and the inclusion rate of corn silage in the ration also tended to improve efficiency. We suggest that microbial need for preformed amino acids may explain the crude protein effect. A large part of the variation in efficiency of microbial activity still remains unexplained.

Animal Feed↗

PubMed1976

Coffee grounds. I. Effects of coffee grounds on ration digestibility and diuresis in cattle, on in vitro rumen fermentation, and on rat growth.

Holstein steers were used to compare rations in which coffee grounds replaced grain at rates of 0, 5, 10, or 20%. The coffee grounds analyzed (%) dry matter 91.1, protein 11.8, fat 23.1, fiber 42.5, ash .7, and caffeine .13. Digestibility coefficients for dry matter, crude protein, and energy decreased, and ether extract increased progressively as concentrations of coffee grounds in the ration were increased. There was a significant decrease in nitrogen retention and utilization when the rations contained 10 or 20% coffee grounds. Coffee grounds depressed feed intake, increased urinary output, and increased water intake (based on dry matter intake). Coffee grounds caused diuresis and renal, urethral, and bladder irritation. Adding coffee grounds up to 35% of the substrate did not depress rumen microbial fermentation, as measured by in vitro gas production. Weight gain of rats fed rations containing 22.5% untreated coffee grounds was reduced significantly. Water extraction removed some undersirable factors in coffee grounds for rats, and ether extraction removed most of them. Incremental additions of coffee oil (1, 3, or 5%) to the basal diet resulted in incremental decreases in rat weight gain.

Animal Feed↗

PubMed1982

Response to abomasal infusion of methionine of weaned dairy calves fed a complete pelleted starter ration based on by-product feeds.

Three abomasal infusion trials were to determine the first-limiting amino acid for nitrogen retention of postweaned Holstein bull calves fed a starter ration based on cereal by-product feeds. Ration ingredients contributed the following percentages of total amino acids: wheat middlings 38, brewer's grains 24, hominy feed 21, oat hulls 10, distiller's grains 6, and molasses 1. Dry matter of the pelleted ration contained 13 to 14% crude protein and .23 to .26% sulfur. Each trial was a replicated 4 x 4 Latin square with 9-day periods. Calves were weaned at 4 wk and infusions initiated at 5 to 6 wk of age. Abomasal infusion of the 10 essential amino acids, an isonitrogenous quantity of an equimolar mixture of alanine, asparagine, glutamate, glycine, and serine, or an isocaloric quantity of glucose indicated that essential amino acid(s) rather than nonspecific nitrogen or energy was limiting protein synthesis. Quadratic responses in urine nitrogen excretion and retained nitrogen occurred when 0, .3, .6, and 1.2 g L-methionine/kg starter ration were infused. Greatest responses occurred with .6 g methionine, which increased retained nitrogen 11 and 19% and decreased urine nitrogen 7 and 10%. The relationship between infused methionine and plasma methionine was linear. Infusions in all trials had no effect on digestibility of energy and nitrogen.

Abomasum↗

PubMed1983

Influence of buffering early lactation rations with sodium bicarbonate and magnesium oxide and subsequent withdrawal or addition effects.

Eighty animals (16 first lactation) were assigned alternately at calving to one of four treatments: A) corn silage, B) corn silage + 1.5% sodium bicarbonate and .5% magnesium oxide in the grain mix, C) 50% hay crop silage and 50% corn silage, and D) 50% hay crop silage and corn silage plus 1.5% sodium bicarbonate and .5% magnesium oxide. All rations contained 50% forage and 50% concentrate (dry) fed as a total mixed ration. During the first 8 wk of lactation no differences were detected in mean performance or in weekly patterns for forage programs alone or buffer treatments alone on average daily intake of dry matter, body weight loss, milk yield, or composition. Addition of buffers to hay crop silage and corn silage rations resulted in a milk yield profile with a smaller increase beyond wk 3 postpartum. Cows fed all corn silage rations yielded more milk on the average than cows on hay crop silage and corn silage, regardless of buffer treatments. From wk 9 through 12 of lactation, buffers either were added or withdrawn. Addition or withdrawal of buffers did not alter significantly patterns of milk yield or composition.

Animals↗

PubMed1984

Lead factors for total mixed ration formulation.

Lead factors are used in computerized ration formulation programs developed at Virginia Tech to increase milk production above a herd or group average for which total mixed rations are formulated for group feeding. These lead factors theoretically increase milk production for which the ration is formulated so 83% of the cows in a group will receive adequate or more than adequate nutrients from the ration. Two methods of calculating lead factors produced similar results. When test-day Dairy Herd Improvement records within a herd were not grouped by production, the average lead factor was 1.31 for one method [lead factor = (mean milk yield + one standard deviation)/mean milk yield] and 1.32 for the other [lead factor = (milk yield of 83rd percentile cow)/mean milk yield]. Grouping test-day records in each herd by milk production resulted in smaller lead factors for each group compared with lead factors for ungrouped herds. Changes of percentage of cows in each group in a herd resulted in different lead factors. Generally, groups with greater proportion of cows had larger lead factors. Season, herd size, and herd milk production slightly affected lead factors, but little improvement of estimation was gained by considering these variables.

Animal Feed↗

PubMed1985

Whole rolled sunflower seeds with or without additional limestone in lactating dairy cattle rations.

Thirty lactating Holstein cows were in a continuous trial from 21 to 120 days postpartum to evaluate diets containing whole, rolled sunflower seeds with or without additional limestone. Cows were fed individually total mixed rations of (dry matter) 47% corn silage, 9% alfalfa hay, and 44% concentrate. Concentrates were corn and soybean meal (control); corn, soybean meal, and 22% sunflower seeds; or corn, soybean meal, and sunflower seeds plus 3.5% additional limestone. Milk yield (32.2, 32.0, and 32.8 kg/day) was similar among rations. Yield of 4% fat-corrected milk was lower for cows fed sunflower seeds without additional limestone (30.2, 28.1, and 30.2 kg/day) because of lower milk fat percentages (3.57, 3.19, and 3.51). Milk protein percentage tended to be lower for cows fed sunflower seeds with additional limestone (3.01, 2.97, and 2.90). Milk, flavor score was acceptable but tended to be lower for milk from cows fed sunflower seeds with additional limestone (8.4, 8.5, and 7.9). Milk fat from cows fed sunflower seed rations contained less carbon-14:0, 16:0, and 16:1 fatty acids but more carbon-18:0. Dry matter intakes were 21.0, 18.4, and 20.0 kg/day. Dry matter digestibilities, body weight changes, and ruminal volatile fatty acid concentrations were similar among treatments. Total cholesterol in blood serum was elevated in cows fed sunflower seed rations. Insoluble salts of fatty acids were increased in ruminal fluid dry matter from cows fed sunflower seeds but were not increased further by additional limestone. Concentrations of nonesterified carbon-18:1 fatty acids in ruminal fluid dry matter were lower for cows fed sunflower seeds with additional limestone.

Animal Feed↗

PubMed1986

Performance of dairy cows fed forage and grain separately versus a total mixed ration.

Forty multiparous cows beyond peak production were fed forage ad libitum behind Calan doors and grain at 1 kg/2.5 kg milk through a computer controlled feeder, and 40 similar cows were fed a total mixed ration balanced for 32 kg milk behind Calan doors ad libitum. Based on mean milk production from d 16 through 21 of a preliminary period, cows were balanced into two groups within each group of 40 cows. Both groups received the originally assigned ration during d 22 through 49. During d 50 through 77, 20 cows were switched abruptly to the other ration and 20 remained on the original. Cows fed forage and grain separately had milk yields similar to those fed total mixed ration. Dry matter intake was lower for cows fed forage and grain separately from d 22 through 49 due to reduced forage intake and was also lower from d 50 through 77 due to decreased grain intake. Four percent fat-corrected milk production efficiency was higher for cows fed forage and grain separately. Abruptly changing cows from one feeding system to another did not influence milk yield, milk composition, or body weight gain. The computer controlled feeder system is an effective method to allot grain according to milk production requirements in freestall housing.

Analysis of Variance↗

PubMed1998

Nutrient requirements for dairy cattle of the National Research Council versus some commonly used ration software.

The first edition of the Nutrient Requirements of Dairy Cattle was published by the National Research Council (NRC) in 1945. The current document is the sixth revised edition, published in 1989, and it appears that we are a few years from another edition being in print. Software designed to evaluate and formulate rations for dairy cattle commonly determine nutrient requirements using the NRC as a standard. However, the generation of new knowledge in dairy nutrition occurs more rapidly than the release of the NRC publication, and the developers of the software often modify the requirements based on more recently published research, geographical peculiarities, or factors not explicitly considered by NRC. The first step in evaluating or formulating rations is the prediction of dry matter intake (DMI). The primary variables used by NRC to predict DMI are body weight (BW) and fat-corrected milk (FCM) yield; however, developers of software programs often use different equations based on personal preference, availability of research data with given equations, and incorporation of other factors in addition to BW and FCM yield. The additional factors are included to provide a more dynamic estimation of DMI and, therefore, reduce the difference between predicted and actual DMI. Nutrients required for maintenance, lactation, and growth must be consumed in adequate quantities (e.g., kilograms or calories), but the dietary concentration of nutrients for a given animal group may differ because of DMI. Even when nutrients are fed above the requirements, dietary concentrations of nutrients may be important in some situations to minimize the risk of underfeeding caused by variability in the nutrient composition of feedstuffs and to account for interactions of certain nutrients (e.g., minerals). New research discoveries need to be incorporated into ration formulation strategies promptly, and the strategies used for ration formulation need to be dynamic.

Animal Nutritional Physiological Phenomena↗

PubMed1986

Monensin efficacy in rations containing suboptimal energy or protein.

Experiments were performed with growing chicks to assess the effects of rations deficient in energy and protein on feed intake, quantity of monensin ingested, and overall anticoccidial efficacy. Experiment 1 employed a 4 X 2 X 2 factorial design where four levels of monensin (0, 70, 90, and 110 ppm) were added to rations containing either 17 or 23.5% crude protein. In Experiment 2, identical levels of monensin were added to diets containing either 2600 or 3200 kcal metabolizable energy/kg. Both studies were conducted in the presence and the absence of infections produced by Eimeria acervulina, E. maxima, and E tenella. Chicks fed diets deficient in protein consumed significantly more feed and gained less weight than those fed rations adequate in protein. Likewise, protein-deficient chicks consumed more monensin per kilogram of body weight gain. In Experiment 2, weight gain and feed intake were greater in birds fed adequate energy, but the quantity of monensin consumed per kilogram of weight gain was greatest in energy-deficient chicks. In both experiments coccidial lesions and oocyst output were controlled more effectively as monensin dosage was increased. Neither protein nor energy interacted significantly with monensin when lesion scores and oocyst output were evaluated. Thus, these studies indicate that coccidiosis control offered by the monensin concentrations studies is independent of the protein or energy content of the ration.

Animal Feed↗