Gentamicin, genetic variation and deafness in preterm children.

Hearing loss in children born before 32 weeks of gestation is more prevalent than in full term infants. Aminoglycoside antibiotics are routinely used to treat bacterial infections in babies on neonatal intensive care units. However, this type of medication can have harmful effects on the auditory system. In order to avoid this blood levels should be maintained in the therapeutic range. However in individuals with a mitochondrial genetic variant (m.1555A > G), permanent hearing loss can occur even when drug levels are within normal limits. The aim of the study is to investigate the burden that the m.1555A > G mutation represents to deafness in very preterm infants

Wave generation, dissipation, and disequilibrium in an embayment with complex bathymetry

Author Posting. © American Geophysical Union, 2018. This article is posted here by permission of American Geophysical Union for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Wave generation, dissipation, and disequilibrium in an embayment with complex bathymetry. Journal of Geophysical Research-Oceans, 123(11), (2018): 7856-7876, doi:10.1029/2018JC014381.Heterogeneous, sharply varying bathymetry is common in estuaries and embayments, and complex interactions between the bathymetry and wave processes fundamentally alter the distribution of wave energy. The mechanisms that control the generation and dissipation of wind waves in an embayment with heterogeneous, sharply varying bathymetry are evaluated with an observational and numerical study of the Delaware Estuary. Waves in the lower bay depend on both local wind forcing and remote wave forcing from offshore, but elsewhere in the estuary waves are controlled by the local winds and the response of the wavefield to bathymetric variability. Differences in the wavefield with wind direction highlight the impacts of heterogeneous bathymetry and limited fetch. Under the typical winter northwest wind conditions waves are fetch‐limited in the middle estuary and reach equilibrium with local water depth only in the lower bay. During southerly wind conditions typical of storms, wave energy is near equilibrium in the lower bay, and midestuary waves are attenuated by the combination of whitecapping and bottom friction, particularly over the steep, longitudinal shoals. Although the energy dissipation due to bottom friction is generally small relative to whitecapping, it becomes significant where the waves shoal abruptly due to steep bottom topography. In contrast, directional spreading keeps wave heights in the main channel significantly less than local equilibrium. The wave disequilibrium in the deep navigational channel explains why the marked increase in depth by dredging of the modern channel has had little impact on wave conditions.Funding was provided by National Science Foundation Coastal SEES: Toward Sustainable Urban Estuaries in the Anthropocene (OCE 1325136) and Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST 107‐2611‐M‐006‐004). We thank James Kirby, Fengyan Shi, and the two anonymous reviewers for their careful reading of our manuscript and their insightful comments. We thank Tracy Quirk for providing wave measurements in Bombay Hook, DE and Stow Creek, NJ. We thank Katie Pijanowski for compiling historical and modern bathymetric data for the estuary. Data supporting this study are posted to Zenodo (http://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.1433055).2019-04-0

Effects of locally generated wind waves on the momentum budget and subtidal exchange in a coastal plain estuary

Author Posting. © American Geophysical Union, 2019. This article is posted here by permission of American Geophysical Union for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Geophysical Research-Oceans 124(2), (2019):1005-1028, doi:10.1029/2018JC014585.A numerical model with a vortex force formalism is used to study the role of wind waves in the momentum budget and subtidal exchange of a shallow coastal plain estuary, Delaware Bay. Wave height and age in the bay have a spatial distribution that is controlled by bathymetry and fetch, with implications for the surface drag coefficient in young, underdeveloped seas. Inclusion of waves in the model leads to increases in the surface drag coefficient by up to 30% with respect to parameterizations in which surface drag is only a function of wind speed, in agreement with recent observations of air‐sea fluxes in estuaries. The model was modified to prevent whitecapping wave dissipation from generating breaking forces since that contribution is integrally equivalent to the wind stress. The proposed adjustment is consistent with previous studies of wave‐induced nearshore currents and with additional parameterizations for breaking forces in the model. The mean momentum balance during a simulated wind event was mainly between the pressure gradient force and surface stress, with negligible contributions by vortex, wave breaking (i.e., depth‐induced), and Stokes‐Coriolis forces. Modeled scenarios with realistic Delaware bathymetry suggest that the subtidal bay‐ocean exchange at storm time scales is sensitive to wave‐induced surface drag coefficient, wind direction, and mass transport due to the Stokes drift. Results herein are applicable to shallow coastal systems where the typical wave field is young (i.e., wind seas) and modulated by bathymetry.This work was supported by National Science Foundation Coastal SEES grant 1325136. We acknowledge Christopher Sommerfield's Group, Jia‐Lin Chen, and Julia Levin who provided assistance with the model configuration. We also thank Nirnimesh Kumar, Greg Gerbi, Melissa Moulton, and the Rutgers Ocean Modeling group for constructive feedback. Insightful comments by two anonymous reviewers helped improve the manuscript. Model files are available in an open access repository (https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.1695900).2019-07-2

Live stream webcams on the neonatal unit: ‘An additional responsibility’ for nursing workload?

Introduction: Live stream webcams have been introduced to neonatal units to reduce the separation between parents and infants. However, this new technology has the potential to impact nursing workload. The aim of this study was to explore the impact of the new implementation of webcams on nursing workload. Method: A survey was developed to explore webcam related nursing activity. Workload evaluations were completed by each nurse per shift, over a three-month period. Results: A total of 85 nurses took part in the study, completing 765 workload surveys. Findings revealed 95% of camera related tasks took less than 15 min. Parent phone calls related to webcams and changes in workflow for infant handling were identified. Conclusion: The introduction of webcams did not negatively impact nursing workload. Education for nurses and parents, and a technological support nurse or team would help lessen some of the challenges nurses experienced

Recruitment and retention of participants in UK surgical trials : survey of key issues reported by trial staff

Source of Funding This research was supported by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Oxford Biomedical Research Centre (BRC) (NIHR-BRC-1215-20008) and by the Medical Research Council (MRC) Network of Hubs for Trials Methodology Research (MR/L004933/1-N66), as part of the wider PIRRIST project. The views expressed are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the NHS, the NIHR or the Department of Health. The Health Services Research Unit, University of Aberdeen, receives core funding from the Chief Scientist Office of the Scottish Government Health Directorates. The funders had no input into the study design, data collection, analysis, interpretation or manuscript writing. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS We are grateful to all survey respondents and to PIRRIST study collaborators and advisers who helped to promote survey. We thank Caroline Jordan and Liz Woolliams for providing administrative support; Rebecca Harmston for providing valuable advice from a patient perspective; Murat Akkulak at the Royal College of Surgeons for providing the RCS portfolio of surgical trials; Amadea Turk for helping to identify potential participants; and colleagues who kindly piloted and helped to improve the survey including Kerry Avery, Karen Barnett, Helen Bulbeck, Marloes Franssen, Nicola Higgins, Jennifer Hirst, Lynne Maddocks, Peter McCulloch, James Shepperd, Jean Simmonds and Sharon Tonner. Anonymised survey data can be made available on request. Please contact the corresponding author. This study was not preregistered. The authors declare no potential competing interests.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

A Novel Role for the GTPase-Activating Protein Bud2 in the Spindle Position Checkpoint

The spindle position checkpoint (SPC) ensures correct mitotic spindle position before allowing mitotic exit in the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. In a candidate screen for checkpoint genes, we identified bud2Δ as deficient for the SPC. Bud2 is a GTPase activating protein (GAP), and the only known substrate of Bud2 was Rsr1/Bud1, a Ras-like GTPase and a central component of the bud-site-selection pathway. Mutants lacking Rsr1/Bud1 had no checkpoint defect, as did strains lacking and overexpressing Bud5, a guanine-nucleotide exchange factor (GEF) for Rsr1/Bud1. Thus, the checkpoint function of Bud2 is distinct from its role in bud site selection. The catalytic activity of the Bud2 GAP domain was required for the checkpoint, based on the failure of the known catalytic point mutant Bud2R682A to function in the checkpoint. Based on assays of heterozygous diploids, bud2R682A, was dominant for loss of checkpoint but recessive for bud-site-selection failure, further indicating a separation of function. Tem1 is a Ras-like protein and is the critical regulator of mitotic exit, sitting atop the mitotic exit network (MEN). Tem1 is a likely target for Bud2, supported by genetic analyses that exclude other Ras-like proteins

Phenomenology of the Deuteron Electromagnetic Form Factors

A rigorous extraction of the deuteron charge form factors from tensor polarization data in elastic electron-deuteron scattering, at given values of the 4-momentum transfer, is presented. Then the world data for elastic electron-deuteron scattering is used to parameterize, in three different ways, the three electromagnetic form factors of the deuteron in the 4-momentum transfer range 0-7 fm^-1. This procedure is made possible with the advent of recent polarization measurements. The parameterizations allow a phenomenological characterization of the deuteron electromagnetic structure. They can be used to remove ambiguities in the form factors extraction from future polarization data.Comment: 18 pages (LaTeX), 2 figures Feb. 25: minor changes of content and in Table