SPARC 2017 retrospect & prospects : Salford postgraduate annual research conference book of abstracts

Welcome to the Book of Abstracts for the 2017 SPARC conference. This year we not only celebrate the work of our PGRs but also the 50th anniversary of Salford as a University, which makes this year’s conference extra special. Once again we have received a tremendous contribution from our postgraduate research community; with over 130 presenters, the conference truly showcases a vibrant PGR community at Salford. These abstracts provide a taster of the research strengths of their works, and provide delegates with a reference point for networking and initiating critical debate. With such wide-ranging topics being showcased, we encourage you to exploit this great opportunity to engage with researchers working in different subject areas to your own. To meet global challenges, high impact research inevitably requires interdisciplinary collaboration. This is recognised by all major research funders. Therefore engaging with the work of others and forging collaborations across subject areas is an essential skill for the next generation of researchers

Efficacy of tranexamic acid administration in traumatic brain injury patients: A review

BackgroundAnti-fibrinolytic medications decrease traumatic intracranial haemorrhage (ICH). Tranexamic acid (TXA) is an anti-fibrinolytic, which recently has shown effectiveness in management of traumatic haemorrhage‎.AimsTo summarize the randomized control trials (RCTs) that evaluate the efficacy of tranexamic acid administration in traumatic brain ‎injury (TBI) patients‎.‎Methods An electronic literature review, including PubMed, Google Scholar, and EBSCO that examining RCTs, observational, and experimental studies which study the efficacy of TXA administration in (TBI) patients.ResultsThe current review included 7 randomized studies reported the efficacy of TXA in management of TBI. TXA limit secondary brain injury by preventing the expansion of ICH. Administration of TXA exhibited a tendency to decrease head trauma-related mortality.ConclusionTXA significantly lower the risk of ICU expansion m and prevent brain injury related deaths

A distinctive marginal marine palynological assemblage from the Pridoli of Northwestern Saudi Arabia

This paper describes a rare occurrence of a rich and diverse palynological assemblage from a controversial stratigraphic unit in well EW8 in northwestern Saudi Arabia. The composition of this assemblage strongly suggests a Pridoli age and therefore it is referred here to the Tawil Formation. The assemblage encountered contains very characteristic chitinozoans, acritarchs, tasmanities, scolecodontsm, eurypterid cuticle and common land-derived miospores and hilate cryptospores. Chitinozoans such as Margachitina elegans, Ancyrochitina fragilis brevis, Ancyrochitina fragilis, Sphaerochitina sphaerocephala, Urnochitina urna, Pseudochlathrochitina carmenchui and Lagenochitina brevicollis confer the Pridoli age assignment. This assemblage of chitinozoans correlates very well with Assemblage D from the Alternances Gréso-Argileuses Formation of the A1-61 well in northwestern Libya. Among the acritarchs present are: Cymbosphaeridium pilar, Leoniella carminae,Diexallophasis spp., Tunisphaeridium cf caudatum, Leiofusa estrecha and Eupoikilofusa striatifera. Furthermore, the join occurrence of U. urna, P. carmenchui and M. elegans is clearly indicative of the middle part of the Pridoli as in the Libyan well A1-61, and in many wells in Algeria. This corresponds to what is considered to be a transgressive mid Pridoli event in the Algerian Sahara, with non marine intervals bracketing this brief marine sea level rise. This event is likely to have extended into all of north Gondwana including Arabia

Palaeozoic palynology of the Kingdom Saudi-Arabia

GeoArabia Special Publication 1 Knowledge of the Palaeozoic biostratigraphy of the Arabian Peninsula, situated close to the northern margin of Gondwana, was poorly known until a joint special project was held by the Saudi Arabian Oil Company (Saudi Aramco) and the Commission Internationale de Microflore du Paléozoïque (CIMP) in 1990. Prior to that only a small number of investigations had been published. Few efforts had been made to exploit the strati-graphic potentials of the many undescribed indigenous microfossils. The joint Saudi Aramco-CIMP project was designed to reverse that situation. Comprehensive studies were carried out on a range of microfossil groups throughout the Palaeozoic and results were published in 1995. The 13 papers presented in this GeoArabia Special Publication update those initial findings. They clearly indicate the potential for these palynomorph assemblages to not only to provide a method for well-to-well correlations within Saudi Arabia, but also for establishing the palaeo-biogeographical relationships of the Arabian Plate relative to adjacent landmasses. The conclusions that are proposed here can now be compared with datasets throughout North Africa and with the central and southern parts of South America. Editors: Sa’id Al-Hajri and Bernard Owens 231 pages 40 plates/62 illustrationsSaudi Arabia working group on the Saudi Arabia Platfor