Aerospace Medicine and Biology: A continuing bibliography with indexes (supplement 290)

This bibliography lists 125 reports, articles and other documents introduced into the NASA scientific and technical information system in October 1986

Fatigue testing of plasma-sprayed thermal barrier coatings, volume 2

A plasma sprayed thermal barrier coating for diesel engines were fatigue tested. Candidate thermal barrier coating materials were fatigue screened and a data base was generated for the selected candidate material. Specimen configurations are given for the bend fatigue tests, along with test setup, specimen preparation, test matrix and procedure, and data analysis

Good practice and the UK LLB degree or:how I learned to stop worrying and love the 21st century

Law schools have - unlike for example the arts or humanities - been resistant to change when it comes to progressive student pedagogies, preferring to hold on to traditional models of teaching and learning. This paper looks at what is considered to be good practice in the current higher education landscape broadly, and then develops what it considers to be good practice for law schools specifically. This law-specific definition of good practice encompasses both active as well as reflective learning that can be facilitated by means of a blended classroom. Whilst traditional pedagogies remain prevalent in law schools generally, this paper questions whether a teaching-intensive modern UK higher education institution like Abertay University is able to break the mould. To this end the paper explores to what extent this definition of good practice is reflected within Abertay University’s law school using as a case study the Public Law module of 2017/2018. It concludes by finding that, contrary to popular belief, there is much that ancient institutions can learn from modern establishments when it comes to the student experience

Machines on Genes: Enzymes that Make, Break and Move DNA and RNA

As the vital information repositories of the cell, the nucleic acids DNA and RNA pose many challenges as enzyme substrates. To produce, maintain and repair DNA and RNA, and to extract the genetic information that they encode, a battery of remarkable enzymes has evolved, which includes translocases, polymerases/replicases, helicases, nucleases, topoisomerases, transposases, recombinases, repair enzymes and ribosomes. An understanding of how these enzymes function is essential if we are to have a clear view of the molecular biology of the cell and aspire to manipulate genomes and gene expression to our advantage. To bring together scientists working in this fast-developing field, the Biochemical Society held a Focused Meeting, ‘Machines on Genes: Enzymes that Make, Break and Move DNA and RNA’, at Robinson College, University of Cambridge, U.K., in August 2009. The present article summarizes the research presented at this meeting and the reviews associated with the talks which are published in this issue of Biochemical Society Transactions

Symptom Levels in Care-Seeking Bangladeshi and Nepalese Adults With Advanced Cancer

Purpose Three-fourths of patients with advanced cancer are reported to suffer from pain. A primary barrier to provision of adequate symptom treatment is failure to appreciate the intensity of the symptoms patients are experiencing. Because data on Bangladeshi and Nepalese patients’ perceptions of their symptomatic status are limited, we sought such information using a cell phone questionnaire. Methods At tertiary care centers in Dhaka and Kathmandu, we recruited 640 and 383 adult patients, respectively, with incurable malignancy presenting for outpatient visits and instructed them for that single visit on one-time completion of a cell phone platform 15-item survey of questions about common cancer associated symptoms and their magnitudes using Likert scales of 0 to 10. The questions were taken from the Edmonton Symptom Assessment System and the Brief Pain Inventory instruments. Results All but two Bangladeshi patients recruited agreed to study participation. Two-thirds of Bangladeshi patients reported usual pain levels ≥ 5, and 50% of Nepalese patients reported usual pain levels ≤ 4 (population differences significant at P \u3c .001). Conclusion Bangladeshi and Nepalese adults with advanced cancer are comfortable with cell phone questionnaires about their symptoms and report high levels of pain. Greater attention to the suffering of these patients is warranted