Activities of Irish psychiatric services 2002 / Antoinette Daly, Dermot Walsh

HRB / 200

Mental illness in Ireland 1750 - 2002: reflections on the rise and fall of institutional care / Dermot Walsh and Antoinette Daly

HRB / 200

Psychiatric day care: an underused option? The purposes and functions of psychiatric day hospitals and day centres: a study in two health boards / by Tara Hickey, Rosalyn Moran and Dermot Walsh

HRB / 200

Spiropyran modified PDMS micro-fluidic chip device for photonically controlled sensor array detection of metal ions

Micro‐fluidic chips are particularly attractive in biological and life sciences for analytical purposes because they provide a convenient small platform for rapid analysis and detection [1]. Using micro‐fluidic devices for the determination of ions emerges as a potential solution to some of the challenges not overtaken by conventional techniques e.g. atomic absorption, inductively‐coupled plasma‐optical emission, mass spectrometry and ion‐selective electrodes [2]. For example, these devices can integrate complex sample handling processes, calibration, and detection steps into a compact, portable system. Moreover they require small sample volumes (low μl or nl), consume little power, and are easily constructed for multi‐analyte detection, either through multiple parallel fluidic architectures or by using arrays of detection elements. Organic photochromic compounds like spiropyrans are particularly interesting targets for the development of new approaches to sensing since they offer new routes to multi‐functional materials that take advantage of their photo‐reversible interconversion between two thermodynamically stable states (a spiropyran (SP) form, and a merocyanine (MC) form), which have dramatically different charge, polarity and molecular conformations. Furthermore, they can be easily incorporated into membranes for improved robustness and ease of handling [3], but from our perspective, most interesting of all, they have metal ion‐binding and molecular recognition properties which are only manifested by the MC form. Based on the coordinationinduced photochromism characteristic of the MC form, spiropyrans have been employed as molecular probes for metal ions and organic molecules [4]. In this abstract, we show how through integrating the beneficial characteristics of micro‐fluidic devices and spiropyrans photoswitches, a simple and very innovative chip configured as an on‐line metal ion sensor array can be realised (Figure 1). The micro‐fluidic device consists of five independent 94 μm depth, 150 μm width channels fabricated in polydimethylsiloxane. The spiropyran 1’‐(3‐carboxypropyl)‐3,3’‐dimethyl‐6‐nitrospiro‐1‐benzopyran‐2,2’‐indoline (SP‐COOH) is immobilised by physical adsorption directly on ozone plasma activated PDMS micro‐channel walls. When the colourless, inactive, spiropyran coating absorbs UV light it switches to the highly coloured merocyanine form (MC‐COOH), which also has an active binding site for certain metal ions. Therefore metal ion uptake can be triggered using UV light and subsequently reversed on demand by shining white light on the coloured complex, which regenerates the inactive spiropyran form, and releases the metal ion. When stock solutions of several metal ions (Ca2+, Zn2+, Hg2+, Cu2+, Co2+) are pumped independently through the five channels, different optical responses were observed for each metal (Figure 2), (i.e. complex formation with metal ions is associated with characteristic shifts in the visible spectrum), and the platform can therefore be regarded as a micro‐structured device for online multi‐component monitoring of metal cations

Spiropyran modified microfluidic chip channels for photonically controlled sensor array detection of metal ions

Microfluidic chips are particularly attractive for analytical purposes because they provide a convenient small platform for rapid analysis and detection.1 Furthermore, spiropyrans dyes can be used as photonically controlled, self-indicating molecular recognition agents for the fabrication of sensors.2 Here, we show how through integrating the beneficial characteristics of microfluidic devices and spiropyrans dyes, a simple and very innovative chip for on-line metal ion sensor array can be realised. The chip (4x3cm) consists of four independent 180m depth, polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) channels. 1’-(3-Carboxypropyl)-3,3’-dimethyl-6-nitrospiro-[2H-1]-benzopyran-2,2’-indoline is covalently immobilised on the ozone plasma activated PDMS microchannel surfaces. Upon exposure to UV light, the transparent PDMS channels change to light purple colour because the spiropyran molecules of the surface undergo a heterocyclic ring cleavage that result in the formation of the highly conjugated merocyanine form. When stock solutions of several ion metals (Ca2+,Zn2+,Hg2+,Cu2+) are pumped independently through the four channels, different optical responses were observed for each metal. 1-L.Basabe-Desmonts et al. Anal.Bioanal.Chem.(2008)390:307–315. 2-R.J.Byrne et al. J.Mat.Chem.(2006)16:1332-1337

Family support study. A study of experiences, needs, and support requirements of families with enduring mental illness in Ireland.

This study explores the experiences of families enduring mental illness, the effects of mental health issues on members of the family, their adjustment to the burden of mental illness, the service requirements and resource needs of family members and satisfaction levels with current services

The use of scanning contactless conductivity detection for the characterisation of stationary phases in micro-fluidic chips

The use of scanning capacitively coupled contactless conductivity detection for the evaluation of the structural homogeneity and density of both packed and monolithic stationary phases in microfluidic chips is presented here for the first time