Determinants of Financial Worry and Rumination

FdR – Publicaties zonder aanstelling Universiteit Leide

Resonant Auger spectroscopy at the L2,3 shake-up thresholds as a probe of electron correlation effects in nickel

The excitation energy dependence of the three-hole satellites in the L3-M4,5M4,5 and L2-M4,5M4,5 Auger spectra of nickel metal has been measured using synchrotron radiation. The satellite behavior in the non-radiative emission spectra at the L3 and L2 thresholds is compared and the influence of the Coster-Kronig channel explored. The three-hole satellite intensity at the L3 Auger emission line reveals a peak structure at 5 eV above the L3 threshold attributed to resonant processes at the 2p53d9 shake-up threshold. This is discussed in connection with the 6-eV feature in the x-ray absorption spectrum.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figures; http://prb.aps.org/abstract/PRB/v58/i7/p3677_

A multi-country level analysis of the environmental attitudes and behaviours among young consumers

Environmental issues have become more prominent internationally and are increasingly featured in discussion by governments, business and academics. This paper presents the results of a study which examines the concerns for environmental issues and purchase behaviours of a sample of 1173 young consumers in England, Germany, Portugal and Spain; countries which represent different realities in terms of economic development, social context and cultural issues. An analysis of the differences between the respondents from the four countries regarding concepts such as man-nature orientation, generativity, environmental concern, consumer perceived effectiveness, conservation behaviour and environmentally-friendly buying behaviour is presented. The results obtained confirm the existence of significant differences between countries for almost all variables. © 2013 Copyright Taylor and Francis Group, LLC

The European Registry for Patients with Mechanical Circulatory Support (EUROMACS)

OBJECTIVES: A second paediatric report has been generated from the European Registry for Patients with Mechanical Circulatory Support (EUROMACS). The purpose of EUROMACS, which is operated by the European Association for Cardio-Thoracic Surgery, is to gather data related to durable mechanical circulatory support for scientific purposes and to publish reports with respect to the course of mechanical circulatory support therapy. Since the first report issued, efforts to increase compliance and participation have been extended. Additionally, the data provided the opportunity to analyse patients of younger age and lower weight. METHODS: Participating hospitals contributed pre-, peri- and long-term postoperative data on mechanical circulatory support implants to the registry. Data for all implants in paediatric patients (≤19 years of age) performed from 1 January 2000 to 1 July 2019 were analysed. This report includes updates of patient characteristics, implant frequency, outcome (including mortality rates, transplants and recovery rates) as well as adverse events including neurological dysfunction, device malfunction, major infection and bleeding. RESULTS: Twenty-nine hospitals contributed 398 registered implants in 353 patients (150 female, 203 male) to the registry. The most frequent aetiology of heart failure was any form of cardiomyopathy (61%), followed by congenital heart disease and myocarditis (16.4% and 16.1%, respectively). Competing outcomes analysis revealed that a total of 80% survived to transplant or recovery or are ongoing; at the 2-year follow-up examination, 20% died while on support. At 12 months, 46.7% received transplants, 8.7% were weaned from their device and 18.5% died. The 3-month adverse events rate was 1.69 per patient-year for device malfunction including pump exchange, 0.48 for major bleeding, 0.64 for major infection and 0.78 for neurological events. CONCLUSIONS: The overall survival rate was 81.5% at 12 months following ventricular assist device implant. The comparison of survival rates of the early and later eras shows no significant difference. A focus on specific subgroups showed that survival was less in patients of younger age (<1 year of age) (P = 0.01) and lower weight (<20 kg) (P = 0.015). Transplant rates at 6 months contin

Chronic Allopurinol Treatment during the Last Trimester of Pregnancy in Sows: Effects on Low and Normal Birth Weight Offspring

Low-birth-weight (LBW) children are born with several risk factors for disease, morbidity and neonatal mortality, even if carried to term. Placental insufficiency leading to hypoxemia and reduced nutritional supply is the main cause for LBW. Brain damage and poor neurological outcome can be the consequence. LBW after being carried to term gives better chances for survival, but these children are still at risk for poor health and the development of cognitive impairments. Preventive therapies are not yet available. We studied the risk/efficacy of chronic prenatal treatment with the anti-oxidative drug allopurinol, as putative preventive treatment in piglets. LBW piglets served as a natural model for LBW. A cognitive holeboard test was applied to study the learning and memory abilities of these allopurinol treated piglets after weaning. Preliminary analysis of the plasma concentrations in sows and their piglets suggested that a daily dose of 15 mg.kg-1 resulted in effective plasma concentration of allopurinol in piglets. No adverse effects of chronic allopurinol treatment were found on farrowing, birth weight, open field behavior, learning abilities, relative brain, hippocampus and spleen weights. LBW piglets showed increased anxiety levels in an open field test, but cognitive performance was not affected by allopurinol treatment. LBW animals treated with allopurinol showed the largest postnatal compensatory body weight gain. In contrast to a previous study, no differences in learning abilities were found between LBW and normal-birth-weight piglets. This discrepancy might be attributable to experimental differences. Our results indicate that chronic prenatal allopurinol treatment during the third trimester of pregnancy is safe, as no adverse side effects were observed. Compensatory weight gain of treated piglets is a positive indication for the chronic prenatal use of allopurinol in these animals. Further studies are needed to assess the possible preventive effects of allopurinol on brain functions in LBW piglets

Analytical determination of heroin, fentanyl and fentalogues using high-performance liquid chromatography with diode array and amperometric detection

Over recent years there has been a progressive increase in the adulteration of common illicit street drugs, such as heroin and cocaine, with fentanyl and its derivatives (fentalogues) being the cause of over doses ending with fatal repercussions. Consequently, there is a need for the development of sensitive, selective and reliable analytical protocols for their separation and quantification. Herein, we report for the first time, a combination of high-performance liquid chromatography with a dual-diode array and electrochemical (amperometric) detector achieved for the simultaneous detection and quantification of heroin (HRN), fentanyl and ten fentalogues; the amperometric detection is achieved using a commercially available impinging jet flow-cell that incorporates in-house screen-printed graphite macroelectrodes (SPEs). Both protocols are analytically compared and contrasted in terms of their experimental parameters and chromatographic conditions with the separation and quantification being optimized, with these protocols demonstrating a high sensitivity and reproducibility. The proposed methods were successfully applied for the analysis of the investigated drugs of abuse, in the presence of common adulterants (e.g. caffeine, paracetamol and benzocaine), co-formulated excipients (starch, lactose, aerosil 200, etc.) and simultaneously within seized street samples

Rapid Identification of Novel Psychoactive and Other Controlled Substances Using Low-Field 1H NMR Spectroscopy

An automated approach to the collection of 1H NMR (nuclear magnetic resonance) spectra using a benchtop NMR spectrometer and the subsequent analysis, processing, and elucidation of components present in seized drug samples are reported. An algorithm is developed to compare spectral data to a reference library of over 300 1H NMR spectra, ranking matches by a correlation-based score. A threshold for identification was set at 0.838, below which identification of the component present was deemed unreliable. Using this system, 432 samples were surveyed and validated against contemporaneously acquired GC–MS (gas chromatography–mass spectrometry) data. Following removal of samples which possessed no peaks in the GC–MS trace or in both the 1H NMR spectrum and GC–MS trace, the remaining 416 samples matched in 93% of cases. Thirteen of these samples were binary mixtures. A partial match (one component not identified) was obtained for 6% of samples surveyed whilst only 1% of samples did not match at all

Comparative study of the analysis of seized samples by GC-MS, 1H NMR and FT-IR spectroscopy within a Night-Time Economy (NTE) setting

Rapid analysis of surrendered or seized drug samples provides important intelligence for health (e.g. treatment or harm reduction), and custodial services. Herein, three in-situ techniques, GC-MS, 1H NMR and FT-IR spectroscopy, with searchable libraries, are used to analyse 318 samples qualitatively, using technique specific library-based searches, obtained over the period 24th – 29th August 2019. 259 samples were identified as consisting of a single component, of which cocaine was the most prevalent (n = 158). Median match scores for all three techniques were ≥ 0.84 and showed agreement except for metformin (n = 1), oxandrolone (identified as vitamin K by IR (n = 4)), diazepam (identified as zolpidem by FT-IR (n = 2)) and 2-Br-4,5-DMPEA (n = 1), a structural isomer of 2C-B identified as a polymer of cellulose (cardboard) by FT-IR. 51 samples were found to consist of two or more components, of which 49 were adulterated cocaine samples (45 binary and 4 tertiary samples). GC-MS identified all components present in the 49 adulterated cocaine samples, whereas IR identified only cocaine in 88 % of cases (adulterant only = 12 %). The breakdown for 1H NMR spectroscopy was all components identified (51 %), cocaine only (33 %), adulterant only (10 %), cocaine and one adulterant (tertiary mixtures only, 6 %)