Gastroesophageal Reflux in Association with Congenital Heart Disease

The clinical course of 19 infants with severe respiratory symptoms associated with the pres ence of both congenital heart disease and gastroesophageal reflux is described. Down Syndrome or central nervous system disease was present in 12 of the 19 infants. The identification of reflux as a major or additional cause of the respiratory complications was often overlooked. Medical therapy alone was successful in only one of the 19 patients. Early repair or palliation of the cardiac malformation with or without subsequent antireflux surgical procedure was as sociated with relief of the symptoms in 13 patients.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/67259/2/10.1177_000992288302200606.pd

The Social context of motorcycle riding and the key determinants influencing rider behavior: A qualitative investigation

Objective: Given the increasing popularity of motorcycle riding and heightened risk of injury or death associated with being a rider, this study explored rider behaviour as a determinant of rider safety and, in particular, key beliefs and motivations which influence such behaviour. To enhance the effectiveness of future education and training interventions, it is important to understand riders’ own views about what influences how they ride. Specifically, this study sought to identify key determinants of riders’ behaviour in relation to the social context of riding including social and identity-related influences relating to the group (group norms and group identity) as well as the self (moral/personal norm and self-identity). ----- ----- Method: Qualitative research was undertaken via group discussions with motorcycle riders (n = 41). Results: The findings revealed that those in the group with which one rides represent an important source of social influence. Also, the motorcyclist (group) identity was associated with a range of beliefs, expectations, and behaviours considered to be normative. Exploration of the construct of personal norm revealed that riders were most cognizant of the “wrong things to do” when riding; among those issues raised was the importance of protective clothing (albeit for the protection of others and, in particular, pillion passengers). Finally, self-identity as a motorcyclist appeared to be important to a rider’s self-concept and was likely to influence their on-road behaviour. ----- ----- Conclusion: Overall, the insight provided by the current study may facilitate the development of interventions including rider training as well as public education and mass media messages. The findings suggest that these interventions should incorporate factors associated with the social nature of riding in order to best align it with some of the key beliefs and motivations underpinning riders’ on-road behaviours

Simulating radiation damage cascades in graphite

Molecular dynamics simulation is used to study radiation damage cascades in graphite. High statistical precision is obtained by sampling a wide energy range (100–2500 eV) and a large number of initial directions of the primary knock-on atom. Chemical bonding is described using the Environment Dependent Interaction Potential for carbon. Graphite is found to exhibit a radiation response distinct from metals and oxides primarily due to the absence of a thermal spike which results in point defects and disconnected regions of damage. Other unique attributes include exceedingly short cascade lifetimes and fractal-like atomic trajectories. Unusually for a solid, the binary collision approximation is useful across a wide energy range, and as a consequence residual damage is consistent with the Kinchin–Pease model. The simulations are in agreement with known experimental data and help to clarify substantial uncertainty in the literature regarding the extent of the cascade and the associated damage

Shakespearean allusion and the detective fiction of Georgette Heyer

This essay argues that Shakespearean allusion is a recurrent and important factor in the detective novels of Georgette Heyer. Though the master text for Heyer is Hamlet, a variety of Shakespeare plays are referred to, and mention of them functions in multiple ways. Quotations from Shakespeare reveal truths about the characters and comment on their situations and personalities. They also afford points of entry for people previously unacquainted to talk to each other, and finally they have effects in terms of genre, since their presence can, with equal facility, tend towards comic relief (in line with a tradition in Golden Age crime fiction of using Macbeth in particular to comic effect) or work to add gravitas and resonance. The use of Shakespearean allusion is thus central to Heyer’s technique. This article is published as part of a collection to commemorate the 400th anniversary of William Shakespeare’s death

Edible crabs “Go West”: migrations and incubation cycle of Cancer pagurus revealed by electronic tags

Crustaceans are key components of marine ecosystems which, like other exploited marine taxa, show seasonable patterns of distribution and activity, with consequences for their availability to capture by targeted fisheries. Despite concerns over the sustainability of crab fisheries worldwide, difficulties in observing crabs’ behaviour over their annual cycles, and the timings and durations of reproduction, remain poorly understood. From the release of 128 mature female edible crabs tagged with electronic data storage tags (DSTs), we demonstrate predominantly westward migration in the English Channel. Eastern Channel crabs migrated further than western Channel crabs, while crabs released outside the Channel showed little or no migration. Individual migrations were punctuated by a 7-month hiatus, when crabs remained stationary, coincident with the main period of crab spawning and egg incubation. Incubation commenced earlier in the west, from late October onwards, and brooding locations, determined using tidal geolocation, occurred throughout the species range. With an overall return rate of 34%, our results demonstrate that previous reluctance to tag crabs with relatively high-cost DSTs for fear of loss following moulting is unfounded, and that DSTs can generate precise information with regards life-history metrics that would be unachievable using other conventional means

Retention of foreign body in the gut can be a sign of congenital obstructive anomaly: a case report

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Introduction</p> <p>Small smooth objects that enter the gut nearly always pass uneventfully through the gastrointestinal tract. Retention of foreign objects may occur due to congenital obstructive anomaly of the gut.</p> <p>Case presentation</p> <p>We report here a child who presented with features of small gut obstruction which were attributed to a foreign body impacted in the intestine. At surgery, an annular pancreas was detected and the foreign body was found to be lodged in the distended proximal duodenum.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The reported case highlights the fact that an impacted radio-opaque foreign body in a child should warn the pediatrician to the possibility of an obstructive congenital anomaly.</p

Stable Isotopic Evidence for Methane Seeps in Neoproterozoic Postglacial Cap Carbonates

The Earth's most severe glaciations are thought to have occurred about 600 million years ago, in the late Neoproterozoic era. A puzzling feature of glacial deposits from this interval is that they are overlain by 1–5-m-thick 'cap carbonates' (particulate deep-water marine carbonate rocks) associated with a prominent negative carbon isotope excursion. Cap carbonates have been controversially ascribed to the aftermath of almost complete shutdown of the ocean ecosystems for millions of years during such ice ages—the 'snowball Earth' hypothesis. Conversely, it has also been suggested that these carbonate rocks were the result of destabilization of methane hydrates during deglaciation and concomitant flooding of continental shelves and interior basins. The most compelling criticism of the latter 'methane hydrate' hypothesis has been the apparent lack of extreme isotopic variation in cap carbonates inferred locally to be associated with methane seeps. Here we report carbon isotopic and petrographic data from a Neoproterozoic postglacial cap carbonate in south China that provide direct evidence for methane-influenced processes during deglaciation. This evidence lends strong support to the hypothesis that methane hydrate destabilization contributed to the enigmatic cap carbonate deposition and strongly negative carbon isotopic anomalies following Neoproterozoic ice ages. This explanation requires less extreme environmental disturbance than that implied by the snowball Earth hypothesis

Cluster analysis of protein array results via similarity of Gene Ontology annotation

BACKGROUND: With the advent of high-throughput proteomic experiments such as arrays of purified proteins comes the need to analyse sets of proteins as an ensemble, as opposed to the traditional one-protein-at-a-time approach. Although there are several publicly available tools that facilitate the analysis of protein sets, they do not display integrated results in an easily-interpreted image or do not allow the user to specify the proteins to be analysed. RESULTS: We developed a novel computational approach to analyse the annotation of sets of molecules. As proof of principle, we analysed two sets of proteins identified in published protein array screens. The distance between any two proteins was measured as the graph similarity between their Gene Ontology (GO) annotations. These distances were then clustered to highlight subsets of proteins sharing related GO annotation. In the first set of proteins found to bind small molecule inhibitors of rapamycin, we identified three subsets containing four or five proteins each that may help to elucidate how rapamycin affects cell growth whereas the original authors chose only one novel protein from the array results for further study. In a set of phosphoinositide-binding proteins, we identified subsets of proteins associated with different intracellular structures that were not highlighted by the analysis performed in the original publication. CONCLUSION: By determining the distances between annotations, our methodology reveals trends and enrichment of proteins of particular functions within high-throughput datasets at a higher sensitivity than perusal of end-point annotations. In an era of increasingly complex datasets, such tools will help in the formulation of new, testable hypotheses from high-throughput experimental data