PURPOSE To determine the intrarater-reliability, interrater-reliability and normal reference scores of the Semmes Weinstein Monofilament test (SWM) of the feet of healthy subjects. In addition, the stability of the SWM for prospective use was assessed by determining systematic changes in sensory thresholds. METHODS Interrater-reliability was assessed on five locations of the plantar side of b...

An article published in this Journal argued that New Zealand does not apply a cost-effectiveness threshold because medicines are funded within a fixed budget and because cost-effectiveness is only one of nine criteria that inform decisions. This Comment has explained that, from a theoretical perspective, the cost-effectiveness threshold model is not inconsistent with these two arguments. The ob...

Cutaneous sensory thresholds were measured at the index fingertipof eight normal subjects. Electric shocks were applied with the finger at rest or tracking a target, which oscillated at one of three frequencies. For each subject, the sensory threshold was positively correlated with the frequency of oscillation. The correlations between sensory suppression and speed of movement agree with previo...

Potelunas, Meixner and Hardy (1) suggested the possibility that the pain threshold was not uniform in all areas of the body when they found wide variation in such thresholds in normal and pathological skin. Bishop (2) reported that the number, distribution and accessibility of the sensory receptors of the skin varied in different areas. The cutaneous sensory threshold was shown by the author (3...

Seasonal abundance and effect on onion yield reduction were studied for onion thrips, Thrips tabaci Lindeman, for two consecutive seasons (dry and rainy) to develop economic thresholds (ET) in Honduras. Overall, thrips populations were highest during the dry season, with average thrips per leaf per day 5.2 times higher than during the rainy season. In the two onion cultivars tested (Granex 429 ...

The field of integrated assessment of climate change is undergoing a paradigm shift towards the analysis of potentially abrupt and irreversible climate changes (Alley et al., 2003; Keller et al., 2006b). Early integrated studies broke important new ground in exploring the relationship between the costs and benefits of reducing carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions (e.g., Nordhaus, 1991; Manne and Rich...

We compare three different views on the long run efficiencies of emission taxes which include thresholds, and of tradable emission permits where some permits are initially free. The differences are caused by different assumptions about whether thresholds and free permits should be subsidies given only to firms that produce, or full property rights. Treating tax thresholds, as well as free permi...

We compare three different views on the long run efficiencies of emission taxes which include thresholds (inframarginal exemptions), and of tradeable emission permits where some permits are initially free. The differences are caused by different assumptions about whether thresholds and free permits should be subsidies given only to firms that produce, or full property rights. Treating tax thres...