The Raine study had no evidence of significant perinatal selection bias after two decades of follow up: A longitudinal pregnancy cohort study

Background: Cohort studies may increase or decrease their selection bias as they progress through time. The Western Australian Pregnancy Cohort (Raine) Study has followed 2868 children for over two decades; from fetal into adult life. This paper analyses the cohort over time, assessing potential bias that may come and go with recruitment, retention and loss of participants. Methods: Linked data from all births in Western Australian over the 3 years the Raine Cohort was recruited were obtained to compare perinatal characteristics and subsequent health outcomes between the Western Australian (WA) contemporaneous birth population and the Raine Cohort at five time points. Perinatal exposure-outcome comparisons were employed to assess bias due to non-participation in Raine Study subsets. Results: There were demographic differences between the Raine Study cohort and its source population at recruitment with further changes across the period of follow up. Despite these differences, the pregnancy and infant data of those with continuing participation were not significantly different to the WA contemporaneous birth population. None of the exposure-outcome associations were significantly different to those in the WA general population at recruitment or at any cohort reviews suggesting no substantial recruitment or attrition bias. Conclusions: The Raine Study is valuable for association studies, even after 20 years of cohort reviews with increasing non-participation of cohort members. Non-participation has resulted in greater attrition of socially disadvantaged participants, however, exposure-outcome association analyses suggest that there is no apparent resulting selection bias

Microstructural evolution of 96.5Sn–3Ag–0.5Cu lead free solder reinforced with nickel-coated graphene reinforcements under large temperature gradient

This is an Open Access Article. It is published by Springer under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence (CC BY). Full details of this licence are available at: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/In this study, 96.5Sn–3Ag–0.5Cu (SAC305) lead-free composite solder containing graphene nanosheets (GNS) decorated with Ni nanoparticles (Ni-GNS) was prepared using a powder metallurgy method. A lab-made set-up and a corresponding Cu/solder/Cu sample design for assessing thermo-migration (TM) was established. The feasibility of this setup for TM stressing using an infrared thermal imaging method was verified; a temperature gradient in a solder joint was observed at 1240 K/cm. Microstructural evolution and diffusion of Cu in both plain and composite solder joints were then studied under TM stressing conditions. Compared to unreinforced SAC305 solder, the process of diffusion of Cu atoms in the composite solder joint was significantly reduced. The interfacial intermetallic compounds (IMCs) present in the composite solder joint also provide a more stable morphology after the TM test for 600 h. Furthermore, during the TM test, the Ni-GNS reinforcement affects the formation, migration and distribution of Ni–Cu–Sn and Cu–Sn IMCs by influencing the dissolution rate of Cu atoms

A systematic review of randomised controlled trials assessing effectiveness of prosthetic and orthotic interventions.

BACKGROUND: Assistive products are items which allow older people and people with disabilities to be able to live a healthy, productive and dignified life. It has been estimated that approximately 1.5% of the world's population need a prosthesis or orthosis. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to systematically identify and review the evidence from randomized controlled trials assessing effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of prosthetic and orthotic interventions. METHODS: Literature searches, completed in September 2015, were carried out in fourteen databases between years 1995 and 2015. The search results were independently screened by two reviewers. For the purpose of this manuscript, only randomized controlled trials which examined interventions using orthotic or prosthetic devices were selected for data extraction and synthesis. RESULTS: A total of 342 randomised controlled trials were identified (319 English language and 23 non-English language). Only 4 of these randomised controlled trials examined prosthetic interventions and the rest examined orthotic interventions. These orthotic interventions were categorised based on the medical conditions/injuries of the participants. From these studies, this review focused on the medical condition/injuries with the highest number of randomised controlled trials (osteoarthritis, fracture, stroke, carpal tunnel syndrome, plantar fasciitis, anterior cruciate ligament, diabetic foot, rheumatoid and juvenile idiopathic arthritis, ankle sprain, cerebral palsy, lateral epicondylitis and low back pain). The included articles were assessed for risk of bias using the Cochrane Risk of Bias tool. Details of the clinical population examined, the type of orthotic/prosthetic intervention, the comparator/s and the outcome measures were extracted. Effect sizes and odds ratios were calculated for all outcome measures, where possible. CONCLUSIONS: At present, for prosthetic and orthotic interventions, the scientific literature does not provide sufficient high quality research to allow strong conclusions on their effectiveness and cost-effectiveness

Methodology and search for superconductivity in the La-Si-C system

In this paper we describe a methodology for the search for new superconducting materials. This consists of a parallel synthesis of a highly inhomogeneous alloy which covers large areas of the metallurgical phase diagram combined with a fast, microwave-based method which allows non-superconducting portions of the sample to be discarded. Once an inhomogeneous sample containing a minority phase superconductor is identified, we revert to well-known thorough identification methods which include standard physical and structural methods. We show how a systematic structural study helps in avoiding misidentification of new superconducting materials when there are indications from other methods of new discoveries. These ideas are applied to the La-Si-C system which exhibits promising normal state properties which are sometimes correlated with superconductivity. Although this system shows indications for the presence of a new superconducting compound, the careful analysis described here shows that the superconductivity in this system can be attributed to intermediate binary and single phases of the system. © 2011 IOP Publishing Ltd

Methodology and search for superconductivity in the La-Si-C system

In this paper we describe a methodology for the search for new superconducting materials. This consists of a parallel synthesis of a highly inhomogeneous alloy which covers large areas of the metallurgical phase diagram combined with a fast, microwave-based method which allows non-superconducting portions of the sample to be discarded. Once an inhomogeneous sample containing a minority phase superconductor is identified, we revert to well-known thorough identification methods which include standard physical and structural methods. We show how a systematic structural study helps in avoiding misidentification of new superconducting materials when there are indications from other methods of new discoveries. These ideas are applied to the La-Si-C system which exhibits promising normal state properties which are sometimes correlated with superconductivity. Although this system shows indications for the presence of a new superconducting compound, the careful analysis described here shows that the superconductivity in this system can be attributed to intermediate binary and single phases of the system. © 2011 IOP Publishing Ltd