应用判别分析法判断胸骨性别的研究

本文测量了85例国人胸骨(男52,女33)的全长、柄长、体长、柄最大宽、体最大宽、柄最大厚及体最大厚七个项目,发现所有项目都具有非常显著的性别差异,但两性间重迭率较高,用单项难以准确判定性别。为此,采用 Fisher 判别分析法建立了判定胸骨性别的判别函数,判别率最高达90%。考虑到残缺胸骨的性别鉴定,亦建立了相应的判别函数。与国外研究相比,本文方法判别率较高且更具有实用价值。     

论企业核心竞争力

核心竞争力一词在 1990年《哈佛商业评论》出现以来便立即引起人们的广泛重视。企业核心竞争力是在市场竞争中一种能使企业长期持续发展、获得超额垄断利润并能为顾客带来更多独特价值的核心能力。这种竞争能力为企业创造的优势与一般竞争优势不同 ,它是建立在知识而非经验的基础上 ,具有价值优越性、模仿的高成本性、不可交易性、相对先进性、延伸性、整体关联性、阶段性、层次性与长期性等特性。如此多特性决定了企业核心竞争力的培育与获取不是一朝一夕之事。     

Bizarre impalement fatalities--where is the implement?

Two fatalities due to unusual impalement injuries are reported. (1) A large branch broken off during a storm had entered a passing car and perforated the chest of the driver and the back of the seat. The chest organs were grossly lacerated. The car was subsequently stopped by another tree and this second impact removed the wood from the body. (2) A man suffered anorectal impalement by the leg of a stool turned upside down. He had introduced one stool leg into his anus for sexual stimulation and fell onto it. This resulted in a wound channel 36 cm long including perforation of the rectum, urinary bladder, mesentery, transverse mesocolon and liver. Before autopsy, the mode of death was unclear because the man had removed the stool leg himself, his wife had hidden the stool from the scene, and there were no relevant external injuries. In both cases, a reliable reconstruction required investigation of the scene and consideration of extremely unlikely circumstances or of bizarre human activities.     

Medicare program; prospective payment system and consolidated billing for skilled nursing facilities--update. Final rule

This final rule updates the payment rates used under the prospective payment system (PPS) for skilled nursing facilities (SNFs), for fiscal year (FY) 2004. Annual updates to the PPS rates are required by section 1888(e) of the Social Security Act (the Act), as amended by the Medicare, Medicaid, and SCHIP Balanced Budget Refinement Act of 1999 (BBRA), and the Medicare, Medicaid, and SCHIP Benefits Improvement and Protection Act of 2000 (BIPA), relating to Medicare payments and consolidated billing for SNFs.     

Medical devices: reclassification and codification of the absorbable polydioxanone surgical suture. Final rule

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is announcing that it has issued an order in the form of a letter to Ethicon, Inc., reclassifying the absorbable polydioxanone surgical (PDS) suture intended for use in soft tissue approximation, including use in pediatric cardiovascular tissue where growth is expected to occur and ophthalmic surgery, from class III (premarket approval) to class II (special controls). Elsewhere in this issue of the Federal Register, FDA is announcing the availability of the guidance document entitled "Class II Special Controls Guidance Document: Surgical Sutures; Guidance for Industry and FDA," which is immediately in effect as the special control for the PDS suture, but remains subject to public comment and possible future revision under the agency's good guidance practices. The agency is reclassifying this device into class II because new information supplied by the petitioner indicates that special controls, in addition to general controls, will provide reasonable assurance of the safety and effectiveness of the device, and there is sufficient information to establish special controls. Accordingly, the order is being codified in the Code of Federal Regulations. Any firm submitting a premarket notification (510(k)) for a new PDS suture will need to address the issues covered in the special control guidance. However, the firm need only show that its device meets the recommendations of the guidance or in some other way provides equivalent assurances of safety and effectiveness.     

New drug and biological drug products; evidence needed to demonstrate effectiveness of new drugs when human efficacy studies are not ethical or feasible. Final rule

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is amending its new drug and biological product regulations to allow appropriate studies in animals in certain cases to provide substantial evidence of the effectiveness of new drug and biological products used to reduce or prevent the toxicity of chemical, biological, radiological, or nuclear substances. This rule will apply when adequate and well-controlled clinical studies in humans cannot be ethically conducted and field efficacy studies are not feasible. In these situations, certain new drug and biological products that are intended to reduce or prevent serious or life-threatening conditions may be approved for marketing based on evidence of effectiveness derived from appropriate studies in animals and any additional supporting data.     

Health insurance reform: standard unique employer indentifier. Final rule

This final rule establishes a standard for a unique employer identifier and requirements concerning its use by health plans, health care clearinghouses, and health care providers. The health plans, health care clearinghouses, and health care providers must use the identifier, among other uses, in connection with certain electronic transactions. The use of this identifier will improve the Medicare and Medicaid programs, and other Federal health programs and private health programs, and the effectiveness and efficiency of the health care industry in general, by simplifying the administration of the system and enabling the efficient electronic transmission of certain health information. It will implement some of the requirements of the Administrative Simplification subtitle of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996.     

Medical devices; device tracking. Final rule

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is amending the medical device tracking regulation. FDA is making substantive changes to revise the scope of the regulation and add certain patient confidentiality requirements, and nonsubstantive changes to remove outdated references and simplify terminology. These revisions are made to conform the regulation to changes made in section 519(e) of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (the act) by the FDA Modernization Act of 1997 (FDAMA), and to simplify certain requirements.     

Topical antifungal drug products for over-the-counter human use; amendment of final monograph. Final rule

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is issuing a final rule amending the final monograph for over-the-counter (OTC) topical antifungal drug products to add the ingredient clotrimazole as generally recognized as safe and effective for the treatment of athlete's foot, jock itch, and ringworm. This final rule is part of FDA's ongoing review of OTC drug products.