Utilization of seaweed resources

A brief discussion is presented on the commercial importance of seaweeds in the Philippines, which is mainly concerned with their use as sources of industrial gums such as agar, carrageenan, and alginic acid. Carrageenan as a substitute for microbiological agar and the use of seaweeds as a binder of heavy metal pollutants are examined

The dynamics of quality: a national panel study of evidence-based standards

This is the final version of the article. Available from NIHR Health Technology Assessment Programme via the DOI in this record.Background Shortfalls in the receipt of recommended health care have been previously reported in England, leading to preventable poor health. Objectives To assess changes over 6 years in the receipt of effective health-care interventions for people aged 50 years or over in England with cardiovascular disease, depression, diabetes or osteoarthritis; to identify how quality varied with participant characteristics; and to compare the distribution of illness burden in the population with the distributions of diagnosis and treatment. Setting and participants Information on health-care quality indicators and participant characteristics was collected using face-to-face structured interviews and nurse visits in participants’ homes by the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing in 2004–5, 2006–7, 2008–9 and 2010–11. A total of 16,773 participants aged 50 years or older were interviewed at least once and 5114 were interviewed in all four waves; 5404 reported diagnosis of one or more of four conditions in 2010–11. Main outcome measures Percentage of indicated health care received by eligible participants for 19 quality indicators: seven for cardiovascular disease, three for depression, five for diabetes and four for osteoarthritis, and condition-level quality indicator achievement, including achievement of a bundle of three diabetes indicators. Analysis Changes in quality indicator achievement over time and variations in quality with participant characteristics were tested with Pearson’s chi-squared test and logistic regression models. The size of inequality between the hypothetically wealthiest and poorest participants, for illness burden, diagnosis and treatment, was estimated using slope indices of wealth inequality. Results Achievement of indicators for cardiovascular disease was 82.7% [95% confidence interval (CI) 79.9% to 85.5%] in 2004–5 and 84.2% (95% CI 82.1% to 86.2%) in 2010–11, for depression 63.3% (95% CI 57.6% to 69.0%) and 59.8% (95% CI 52.4% to 64.3%), for diabetes 76.0% (95% CI 74.1% to 77.8%) and 76.5% (95% CI 74.8% to 78.1%), and for osteoarthritis 31.2% (95% CI 28.5% to 33.8%) and 35.6% (95% CI 34.2% to 37.1%). Achievement of the diabetes care bundle was 67.8% (95% CI 64.5% to 70.9%) in 2010–11. Variations in quality by participant characteristics were generally small. Diabetes indicator achievement was worse in participants with cognitive impairment [odds ratio (OR) 0.5, 95% CI 0.4 to 0.7] and better in those living alone (OR 1.7, 95% CI 1.3 to 2.0). Hypertension care was better for those aged over 74 years (vs. 50–64 years) (OR 3.2, 95% CI 2.0 to 5.3). Osteoarthritis care was better for those with severe (vs. mild) pain (OR 1.8, 95% CI 1.4 to 2.2), limiting illness (OR 1.8, 95% CI 1.5 to 2.1), and obesity (OR 1.6, 95% CI 1.2 to 2.0). Previous non-achievement of the diabetes care bundle was the biggest predictor of non-achievement 2 years later (OR 3.3, 95% CI 2.2 to 4.7). Poorer participants were always more likely than wealthier participants to have illness burden (statistically significant OR 3.9 to 16.0), but not always more likely to be diagnosed or receive treatment (0.2 to 5.3). Conclusions Shortfalls in quality of care for these four conditions have persisted over 6 years, with only half of the level of indicated health care achieved for osteoarthritis, compared with the other three conditions. Quality for osteoarthritis improved slightly over time but remains poor. The relatively high prevalence of specific illness burden in poorer participants was not matched by an equally high prevalence of diagnosis or treatment, suggesting that barriers to equity may exist at the stage at diagnosis. Further research is needed into the association between quality and health system characteristics at the level of clinicians, general practices or hospitals, and regions. Linkage to routinely collected data could provide information on health service characteristics at the individual patient level.Funding for this study was provided by the Health Services and Delivery Research programme of the National Institute for Health Research

Chest tube insertion is one important factor leading to intercostal nerve impairment in thoracic surgery

Objectives: Chest tube insertion seems to be one important factor leading to intercostal nerve impairment. The purpose of this prospective study was to objectively evaluate intercostal nerve damage using current perception threshold testing in association with chest tube insertion. Methods: Sixteen patients were enrolled in this study. Intercostal nerve function was assessed with a series of 2000-Hz (Aβ fiber), 250-Hz (Aδ fiber), and 5-Hz (C fiber) stimuli using current perception threshold testing (Neurometer CPT/C R). Current perception threshold values at chest tube insertion were measured before surgery, during chest tube insertion and after removal of the chest tube. Intensities of ongoing pain were also assessed using a numeric rating scale (0-10). Results: Current perception thresholds at each frequency after surgery were significantly higher than before surgery. Numeric rating scale scores for pain were significantly reduced from 3.3 to 1.9 after removal of the chest tube (p = 0.004). The correlation between current perception threshold value at 2000 Hz and intensity of ongoing pain was marginally significant (p = 0.058). Conclusions: This is the first study to objectively evaluate intercostal nerve damage at chest tube insertion. The results confirmed that chest tube insertion has clearly deleterious effects on intercostal nerve function

Structural transitions in alkali graphite intercalation compounds

Structural transitions induced by pressure, temperature and chemical potential changes were studied in alkali graphite intercalation compounds using x-ray diffraction. A unique first-order commensurate-commensurate transition, from the ambient 2 x 2 to a $\surd3$ x $\surd3$ superstructure, was observed at high pressure in KC\sb8; this in-plane densification is consistent with the observation of a fractional stage which occurs during the accompanying sequence of staging transitions. At low temperatures, stage 2 and stages 4 to 10 potassium graphite compounds were found to undergo both in-plane and stage ordering transitions. The room temperature in-plane fluid structure expanded upon freezing to a commensurate $\surd7$ x $\surd7$ solid in stages n $\geq$ 5 and to a weakly incommensurate superlattice in stage 4 + 5; no out-of-plane correlations were found in these cases suggesting an upper limit of n = 4 for the appearance of 3D effects. The nature of the freezing transition changed with stage according to the symmetry of the low temperature phase. Using the Hendricks-Teller model for one-dimensional disorder, the average stage and stage disorder in these compounds were shown to decrease with low temperature; this is consistent with the conservation of sample mass as well as an entropy-driven stage ordering transition. More complex low temperature behaviour was found in stage 2; depending on the initial sample stoichiometry, the ordered in-plane phase was either a single phase modulated solid or a complex multiphase structure, while the stage structure tended towards greater phase separation or higher average stage. Overall, the stage disorder in these metastable constant concentration samples was shown to decrease with stage as predicted by the domain model of stage disorder. This effect was found to persist under equilibrium conditions for cesium graphite. The cesium in-situ diffraction data revealed that both stage purity and phase separation increase with decreasing stage. Stage 5 and higher were observed to be highly miscible while stages 3 and 2 completely phase separate; the intermediate stages were found to be partly miscible. The miscibility was also found to modulate during a stage n to (n $-$ 1) transition, suggesting that the kinetics are island-growth-dominated towards the middle of the transition

Structural transitions in alkali graphite intercalation compounds

Structural transitions induced by pressure, temperature and chemical potential changes were studied in alkali graphite intercalation compounds using x-ray diffraction. A unique first-order commensurate-commensurate transition, from the ambient 2 x 2 to a $\surd3$ x $\surd3$ superstructure, was observed at high pressure in KC\sb8; this in-plane densification is consistent with the observation of a fractional stage which occurs during the accompanying sequence of staging transitions. At low temperatures, stage 2 and stages 4 to 10 potassium graphite compounds were found to undergo both in-plane and stage ordering transitions. The room temperature in-plane fluid structure expanded upon freezing to a commensurate $\surd7$ x $\surd7$ solid in stages n $\geq$ 5 and to a weakly incommensurate superlattice in stage 4 + 5; no out-of-plane correlations were found in these cases suggesting an upper limit of n = 4 for the appearance of 3D effects. The nature of the freezing transition changed with stage according to the symmetry of the low temperature phase. Using the Hendricks-Teller model for one-dimensional disorder, the average stage and stage disorder in these compounds were shown to decrease with low temperature; this is consistent with the conservation of sample mass as well as an entropy-driven stage ordering transition. More complex low temperature behaviour was found in stage 2; depending on the initial sample stoichiometry, the ordered in-plane phase was either a single phase modulated solid or a complex multiphase structure, while the stage structure tended towards greater phase separation or higher average stage. Overall, the stage disorder in these metastable constant concentration samples was shown to decrease with stage as predicted by the domain model of stage disorder. This effect was found to persist under equilibrium conditions for cesium graphite. The cesium in-situ diffraction data revealed that both stage purity and phase separation increase with decreasing stage. Stage 5 and higher were observed to be highly miscible while stages 3 and 2 completely phase separate; the intermediate stages were found to be partly miscible. The miscibility was also found to modulate during a stage n to (n $-$ 1) transition, suggesting that the kinetics are island-growth-dominated towards the middle of the transition