Radiometric Flight Trials in the Forth Estuary on 7/8/91

A brief radiometric flight trial was undertaken on 7th August 1991, essentially to prove a new gamma spectrometry installation. A twin engined helicopter operated by Dollar helicopters out of Cumbernauld Airport was used for the exercise. The new equipment under test comprised (i) a spectrometer mounting plate manufactured by Dollar to take SURRC equipment for rapid deployment, (ii) a 19" rack mounted spectrometer incorporating proven SURRC components, but with additional duplex inverter based UPS, and (iii) a Navstar XR4 GPS system with aircraft patch type aerial. The flight trial was conducted in the Forth Estuary area focussing on three small sites of incidental interest

A Brief Aerial Survey in the Vicinity of Sellafield in September 1990

A two day survey exercise was conducted by SURRC from 25th-26th September 1990 with the joint aims of demonstrating the potential of helicopters for emergency response and beginning the definition of baseline levels in the immediate vicinity of Sellafield. The aircraft used for this work was a twin engined AS 355 "Squirrel" helicopter chartered from Dollar Helicopters. It was loaded with an 8 litre NaI gamma spectrometry system at SURRC in East Kilbride on the afternoon of 24th September and flown down to Sellafield the same day. Over the following two days roughly 1300 gamma ray spectra were recorded from an area ranging south from an EW line linking Ennerdale Fell and St. Bees Head to beyond Ravenglass. Operations were conducted from the Sellafield helipad, the aircraft being refuelled at Barrow in Furness. The flights were arranged to provide nominally 1km spaced parallel NS flight lines throughout the survey area, for the purpose of baseline mapping. Supplementary flights to improve spatial resolution are possible at a later stage. In addition a rapid response flight route was rehearsed involving definition of landward arcs at 10km, 5km and 2km radii from Sellafield plus the beachline from St. Bees Head to Ravenglass. The precise path was chosen to be navigable under most weather conditions and took roughly 40 minutes to fly. A survey aircraft arriving from East Kilbride could perform such a survey without pausing to refuel. The results have been stored archivally and used to map the naturally occurring nuclides 40K, 214Bi, 208Tl together with 137 Cs and total gamma ray flux. The maps presented are spatially smoothed, both by the inherent character of the aerial survey technique and by the colour contouring processes. This leads to a tendency to broaden spatial features, while slightly reducing maximum values, and should be taken into account when interpreting the maps. Greater spatial detail could be achieved with closer flight line spacing. Activity due to Sellafield was readily detected in the area and can be seen clearly in the maps. It is noted that the levels observed are generally comparable with those in BNFL annual reports and other research publications. Furthermore, with a few exceptions, naturally occurring radionuclides are the dominant radiation source in much of the survey area, and show considerable variations from place to place. 137Cs due to marine discharges was most pronounced in the Irt, Mite and Esk estuaries and on the beachline close to the plant. The same nuclide was detected at lower levels in terrestrial areas due to a combination of global fallout, aerial discharges from the plant and the Chernobyl accident. 41Ar and 16N activities were detected in the immediate vicinity of Calder Hall. A small feature was detected at Drigg, probably associated with current operations on the site, and equivalent to an enhancement of less than twice the local natural background. Radiation levels due to current activities on the Sellafield site fall off rapidly with distance from the perimeter, approaching natural levels within 0.5-1km at the time of the survey. Those from the marine, estuarine and tide washed environments are mostly attributed to past marine discharges, and can be expected to continue to receive attention in the future

A Brief Aerial Survey in the Vicinity of Sellafield in September 1990

A two day survey exercise was conducted by SURRC from 25th-26th September 1990 with the joint aims of demonstrating the potential of helicopters for emergency response and beginning the definition of baseline levels in the immediate vicinity of Sellafield. The aircraft used for this work was a twin engined AS 355 "Squirrel" helicopter chartered from Dollar Helicopters. It was loaded with an 8 litre NaI gamma spectrometry system at SURRC in East Kilbride on the afternoon of 24th September and flown down to Sellafield the same day. Over the following two days roughly 1300 gamma ray spectra were recorded from an area ranging south from an EW line linking Ennerdale Fell and St. Bees Head to beyond Ravenglass. Operations were conducted from the Sellafield helipad, the aircraft being refuelled at Barrow in Furness. The flights were arranged to provide nominally 1km spaced parallel NS flight lines throughout the survey area, for the purpose of baseline mapping. Supplementary flights to improve spatial resolution are possible at a later stage. In addition a rapid response flight route was rehearsed involving definition of landward arcs at 10km, 5km and 2km radii from Sellafield plus the beachline from St. Bees Head to Ravenglass. The precise path was chosen to be navigable under most weather conditions and took roughly 40 minutes to fly. A survey aircraft arriving from East Kilbride could perform such a survey without pausing to refuel. The results have been stored archivally and used to map the naturally occurring nuclides 40K, 214Bi, 208Tl together with 137 Cs and total gamma ray flux. The maps presented are spatially smoothed, both by the inherent character of the aerial survey technique and by the colour contouring processes. This leads to a tendency to broaden spatial features, while slightly reducing maximum values, and should be taken into account when interpreting the maps. Greater spatial detail could be achieved with closer flight line spacing. Activity due to Sellafield was readily detected in the area and can be seen clearly in the maps. It is noted that the levels observed are generally comparable with those in BNFL annual reports and other research publications. Furthermore, with a few exceptions, naturally occurring radionuclides are the dominant radiation source in much of the survey area, and show considerable variations from place to place. 137Cs due to marine discharges was most pronounced in the Irt, Mite and Esk estuaries and on the beachline close to the plant. The same nuclide was detected at lower levels in terrestrial areas due to a combination of global fallout, aerial discharges from the plant and the Chernobyl accident. 41Ar and 16N activities were detected in the immediate vicinity of Calder Hall. A small feature was detected at Drigg, probably associated with current operations on the site, and equivalent to an enhancement of less than twice the local natural background. Radiation levels due to current activities on the Sellafield site fall off rapidly with distance from the perimeter, approaching natural levels within 0.5-1km at the time of the survey. Those from the marine, estuarine and tide washed environments are mostly attributed to past marine discharges, and can be expected to continue to receive attention in the future

Narrative inquiry into (re)imagining alternative schools: a case study of Kevin Gonzales.

Although there are many alternative schools that strive for the successful education for their students, negative images of alternative schools persist. While some alternative schools are viewed as “idealistic havens,” many are viewed as “dumping grounds,” or “juvenile detention centers.” Employing narrative inquiry, this article interrogates how a student, Kevin Gonzales, experiences his alternative education and raises questions about the role of alternative schools. Kevin Gonzales’s story is presented in a literary form of biographical journal to provide a “metaphoric loft” that helps us imagine other students like Kevin. This, in turn, provokes us to examine our current educational practice, and to (re)imagine ways in which alternative education can provide the best possible educational experiences for disenfranchised students who are increasingly underserved by the public education system

Nucleosomes in gene regulation: theoretical approaches

This work reviews current theoretical approaches of biophysics and bioinformatics for the description of nucleosome arrangements in chromatin and transcription factor binding to nucleosomal organized DNA. The role of nucleosomes in gene regulation is discussed from molecular-mechanistic and biological point of view. In addition to classical problems of this field, actual questions of epigenetic regulation are discussed. The authors selected for discussion what seem to be the most interesting concepts and hypotheses. Mathematical approaches are described in a simplified language to attract attention to the most important directions of this field

New insights into the genetic etiology of Alzheimer's disease and related dementias

Characterization of the genetic landscape of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and related dementias (ADD) provides a unique opportunity for a better understanding of the associated pathophysiological processes. We performed a two-stage genome-wide association study totaling 111,326 clinically diagnosed/'proxy' AD cases and 677,663 controls. We found 75 risk loci, of which 42 were new at the time of analysis. Pathway enrichment analyses confirmed the involvement of amyloid/tau pathways and highlighted microglia implication. Gene prioritization in the new loci identified 31 genes that were suggestive of new genetically associated processes, including the tumor necrosis factor alpha pathway through the linear ubiquitin chain assembly complex. We also built a new genetic risk score associated with the risk of future AD/dementia or progression from mild cognitive impairment to AD/dementia. The improvement in prediction led to a 1.6- to 1.9-fold increase in AD risk from the lowest to the highest decile, in addition to effects of age and the APOE ε4 allele

Effects of rare kidney diseases on kidney failure: a longitudinal analysis of the UK National Registry of Rare Kidney Diseases (RaDaR) cohort

Background Individuals with rare kidney diseases account for 5–10% of people with chronic kidney disease, but constitute more than 25% of patients receiving kidney replacement therapy. The National Registry of Rare Kidney Diseases (RaDaR) gathers longitudinal data from patients with these conditions, which we used to study disease progression and outcomes of death and kidney failure. Methods People aged 0–96 years living with 28 types of rare kidney diseases were recruited from 108 UK renal care facilities. The primary outcomes were cumulative incidence of mortality and kidney failure in individuals with rare kidney diseases, which were calculated and compared with that of unselected patients with chronic kidney disease. Cumulative incidence and Kaplan–Meier survival estimates were calculated for the following outcomes: median age at kidney failure; median age at death; time from start of dialysis to death; and time from diagnosis to estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) thresholds, allowing calculation of time from last eGFR of 75 mL/min per 1·73 m2 or more to first eGFR of less than 30 mL/min per 1·73 m2 (the therapeutic trial window). Findings Between Jan 18, 2010, and July 25, 2022, 27 285 participants were recruited to RaDaR. Median follow-up time from diagnosis was 9·6 years (IQR 5·9–16·7). RaDaR participants had significantly higher 5-year cumulative incidence of kidney failure than 2·81 million UK patients with all-cause chronic kidney disease (28% vs 1%; p<0·0001), but better survival rates (standardised mortality ratio 0·42 [95% CI 0·32–0·52]; p<0·0001). Median age at kidney failure, median age at death, time from start of dialysis to death, time from diagnosis to eGFR thresholds, and therapeutic trial window all varied substantially between rare diseases. Interpretation Patients with rare kidney diseases differ from the general population of individuals with chronic kidney disease: they have higher 5-year rates of kidney failure but higher survival than other patients with chronic kidney disease stages 3–5, and so are over-represented in the cohort of patients requiring kidney replacement therapy. Addressing unmet therapeutic need for patients with rare kidney diseases could have a large beneficial effect on long-term kidney replacement therapy demand. Funding RaDaR is funded by the Medical Research Council, Kidney Research UK, Kidney Care UK, and the Polycystic Kidney Disease Charity

Radiometric Flight Trials in the Forth Estuary on 7/8/91

A brief radiometric flight trial was undertaken on 7th August 1991, essentially to prove a new gamma spectrometry installation. A twin engined helicopter operated by Dollar helicopters out of Cumbernauld Airport was used for the exercise. The new equipment under test comprised (i) a spectrometer mounting plate manufactured by Dollar to take SURRC equipment for rapid deployment, (ii) a 19" rack mounted spectrometer incorporating proven SURRC components, but with additional duplex inverter based UPS, and (iii) a Navstar XR4 GPS system with aircraft patch type aerial. The flight trial was conducted in the Forth Estuary area focussing on three small sites of incidental interest