Books

Human neurology The Human Central Nervous System: A Synopsis and Atlas. 3rd revised ed. Ed. by R. Nieuwenhuys, J. Voogd, C. H. R. van Huijzen. Pp. xii + 437. Illustrated. DM 85. Berlin: SpringerVerlag. 1988.Paediatric respiratory disorders Kendig's Disorders of the Respiratory Tract in Children. 5th ed. Ed. by Victor Chernick. Consulting ed. Edwin L. Kendig, jun. Pp. xxi + 1055. Philadelphia: WB Saunders. 1990.Maxillofacial imaging Maxillofacial Imaging. Ed. by A. M. Delbalso. pp. Vlll + 799. Illustrated. Kent: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich. 1990.Introduction to philosophy of medicine Philosophy of Medicine: An Introduction. Ed. by H. R. Wulff, S. A. Pedersen and R. Rosenberg. pp. xv + 222. £14,95. Oxford: Blackwell. 1990.Cataract management Management of Cataract in Primary Health Care Services. Pp. vi + 43. Illustrated. SFr. 15. Geneva: WHO. 1990.Family practice-management Family Practice Management. Ed. by G. J. and C. M. 1. Pistorius. Pp. 587. Illustrated. R99,50. Parow: Haurn/De Jager. J99O.Obstetrics and gynaecology Essential Obstetrics and Gynaecology. By E. Malcolm Symonds. pp. vi + 266. Illustrated. Edinburgh: Maskew Miller Longman.Surgical memoirs Surgical Roots and Branches. Ed. by R. Murley. Pp. x + 341. Illustrated. £18,50. Hamilton: Libriger Book Distribution. 1990.Survival in a hostile environment Staying Alive. Ed. by Ron Reid-Daly. Pp. ix + 259. Illustrated. R49,95. Rivonia: Ashami. 1990.Urolithiasis Urolithiasis: Medical and Surgical Reference. Ed. by M. 1. Resnick and C. Y. C. Pak. Pp. x + 375. Illustrated. R53,50. Kent: Harcoun Brace Jovanovich. 1990.Mental health in primary health care The Introduction of a Mental Health Component into Primary Health Care. pp. 1-59. SFr. 11,50. Geneva: WHO. 1990Tuberculosis in South Africa White Plague, Black Labor: Tuberculosis and the Political Economy of Health and Disease in South Africa. Ed. by Randall M. Packard. pp. xxii + 389. Illustrated. $40 (cloth) and$15,95 (paperback). California: University of California Press. 1989.Medical research Research in Medicine:"A Guide to Writing a Thesis in the Medical Sciences. Ed. by G. Murrell, C. Huang and H. Ellis. PP: xii + 105. Illustrated. £19,50 (hIb) £7,50 (Plb). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1990

Optimal Management of Severe/Refractory Asthma

Asthma is a chronic inflammatory disease of the airways, affecting approximately 300 million people worldwide. Asthma results in airway hyperresponsiveness, leading to paroxysmal symptoms of wheeze, cough, shortness of breath, and chest tightness. When these symptoms remain uncontrolled, despite treatment with high doses of inhaled and ingested corticosteroids, asthmatic patients are predisposed to greater morbidity and require more health care support. Treating patients with severe asthma can be difficult and often poses a challenge to physicians when providing ongoing management. This clinical review aims to discuss the definition, prevalence and evaluation of severe asthmatics, and provides a review of the existing pharmacologic and non-pharmacologic treatment options

Are shallow-water shrimps proxies for hydrothermal-vent shrimps to assess the impact of deep-sea mining?

Polymetallic seafloor massive sulphide deposits are potential targets for deep-sea mining, but high concentrations of metals (including copper - Cu) may be released during exploitation activities, potentially inducing harmful impact. To determine whether shallow-water shrimp are suitable ecotoxicological proxies for deep-sea hydrothermal vent shrimp the effects of waterborne Cu exposure (3 and 10 days at 0.4 and 4 μM concentrations) in Palaemon elegans, Palaemon serratus, and Palaemon varians were compared with Mirocaris fortunata. Accumulation of Cu and a set of biomarkers were analysed. Results show different responses among congeneric species indicating that it is not appropriate to use shallow-water shrimps as ecotoxicological proxies for deep-water shrimps. During the evolutionary history of these species they were likely subject to different chemical environments which may have induced different molecular/biochemical adaptations/tolerances. Results highlight the importance of analysing effects of deep-sea mining in situ and in local species to adequately assess ecotoxicological effects under natural environmental conditions.This work was developed under the MIDAS project (Managing im-pacts of deep-sea resource exploitation), funded by the EuropeanCommission, European Union, 7th Framework Programme under thetheme“Sustainable management of Europe's deep sea and sub-seafloorresources”(Grant Agreement 603418). This work was also supported bythe Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia I.P. Portugal (FCT) and theDireção-Geral de Política do Mar (DGPM), Portugal through the projectMining2/2017/001–MiningImpact 2 (JPI Oceans), and FCT furtherfunded the grants CEECIND005262017 and UID/MAR/00350/2013.We acknowledge the captains and crews of the oceanographic ship“Pourquoi Pas?”, and the pilots of Victor 6000 Remotely OperatedVehicle, for their dedicated assistance during sampling of vent shrimps.We are also grateful to F. Lallier, chief scientist of the Biobaz cruise. Wewould like to warmly thank Océanopolis staffmembers, J-M Carré, SDelaporte and O Gouello, for their important contributions to shrimpmaintenance.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Quantum dots coordinated with conjugated organic ligands: new nanomaterials with novel photophysics

CdSe quantum dots functionalized with oligo-(phenylene vinylene) (OPV) ligands (CdSe-OPV nanostructures) represent a new class of composite nanomaterials with significantly modified photophysics relative to bulk blends or isolated components. Single-molecule spectroscopy on these species have revealed novel photophysics such as enhanced energy transfer, spectral stability, and strongly modified excited state lifetimes and blinking statistics. Here, we review the role of ligands in quantum dot applications and summarize some of our recent efforts probing energy and charge transfer in hybrid CdSe-OPV composite nanostructures

Correction: Pulsed moxifloxacin for the prevention of exacerbations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: a randomized controlled trial

BACKGROUND: Acute exacerbations contribute to the morbidity and mortality associated with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). This proof-of-concept study evaluates whether intermittent pulsed moxifloxacin treatment could reduce the frequency of these exacerbations. METHODS: Stable patients with COPD were randomized in a double-blind, placebo-controlled trial to receive moxifloxacin 400 mg PO once daily (N = 573) or placebo (N = 584) once a day for 5 days. Treatment was repeated every 8 weeks for a total of six courses. Patients were repeatedly assessed clinically and microbiologically during the 48-week treatment period, and for a further 24 weeks' follow-up. RESULTS: At 48 weeks the odds ratio (OR) for suffering an exacerbation favoured moxifloxacin: per-protocol (PP) population (N = 738, OR 0.75, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.565-0.994, p = 0.046), intent-to-treat (ITT) population (N = 1149, OR 0.81, 95% CI 0.645-1.008, p = 0.059), and a post-hoc analysis of per-protocol (PP) patients with purulent/mucopurulent sputum production at baseline (N = 323, OR 0.55, 95% CI 0.36-0.84, p = 0.006).There were no significant differences between moxifloxacin and placebo in any pre-specified efficacy subgroup analyses or in hospitalization rates, mortality rates, lung function or changes in St George's Respiratory Questionnaire (SGRQ) total scores. There was, however, a significant difference in favour of moxifloxacin in the SGRQ symptom domain (ITT: -8.2 vs -3.8, p = 0.009; PP: -8.8 vs -4.4, p = 0.006). Moxifloxacin treatment was not associated with consistent changes in moxifloxacin susceptibility. There were more treatment-emergent, drug related adverse events with moxifloxacin vs placebo (p < 0.001) largely due to gastrointestinal events (4.7% vs 0.7%). CONCLUSIONS: Intermittent pulsed therapy with moxifloxacin reduced the odds of exacerbation by 20% in the ITT population, by 25% among the PP population and by 45% in PP patients with purulent/mucopurulent sputum at baseline. There were no unexpected adverse events and there was no evidence of resistance development. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT00473460 (ClincalTrials.gov)

Integrating sequence and array data to create an improved 1000 Genomes Project haplotype reference panel

A major use of the 1000 Genomes Project (1000GP) data is genotype imputation in genome-wide association studies (GWAS). Here we develop a method to estimate haplotypes from low-coverage sequencing data that can take advantage of single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) microarray genotypes on the same samples. First the SNP array data are phased to build a backbone (or 'scaffold') of haplotypes across each chromosome. We then phase the sequence data 'onto' this haplotype scaffold. This approach can take advantage of relatedness between sequenced and non-sequenced samples to improve accuracy. We use this method to create a new 1000GP haplotype reference set for use by the human genetic community. Using a set of validation genotypes at SNP and bi-allelic indels we show that these haplotypes have lower genotype discordance and improved imputation performance into downstream GWAS samples, especially at low-frequency variants. © 2014 Macmillan Publishers Limited. All rights reserved

The Origin, Early Evolution and Predictability of Solar Eruptions

Coronal mass ejections (CMEs) were discovered in the early 1970s when space-borne coronagraphs revealed that eruptions of plasma are ejected from the Sun. Today, it is known that the Sun produces eruptive flares, filament eruptions, coronal mass ejections and failed eruptions; all thought to be due to a release of energy stored in the coronal magnetic field during its drastic reconfiguration. This review discusses the observations and physical mechanisms behind this eruptive activity, with a view to making an assessment of the current capability of forecasting these events for space weather risk and impact mitigation. Whilst a wealth of observations exist, and detailed models have been developed, there still exists a need to draw these approaches together. In particular more realistic models are encouraged in order to asses the full range of complexity of the solar atmosphere and the criteria for which an eruption is formed. From the observational side, a more detailed understanding of the role of photospheric flows and reconnection is needed in order to identify the evolutionary path that ultimately means a magnetic structure will erupt

On the mechanisms governing gas penetration into a tokamak plasma during a massive gas injection

A new 1D radial fluid code, IMAGINE, is used to simulate the penetration of gas into a tokamak plasma during a massive gas injection (MGI). The main result is that the gas is in general strongly braked as it reaches the plasma, due to mechanisms related to charge exchange and (to a smaller extent) recombination. As a result, only a fraction of the gas penetrates into the plasma. Also, a shock wave is created in the gas which propagates away from the plasma, braking and compressing the incoming gas. Simulation results are quantitatively consistent, at least in terms of orders of magnitude, with experimental data for a D 2 MGI into a JET Ohmic plasma. Simulations of MGI into the background plasma surrounding a runaway electron beam show that if the background electron density is too high, the gas may not penetrate, suggesting a possible explanation for the recent results of Reux et al in JET (2015 Nucl. Fusion 55 093013)