The Elastic Scattering of Protons by Lithium

The cross section for the reaction Li7(p, p) has been measured over the proton energy range 360-1400 kev. Measurements were made at scattering angles of 50, 70, 89.2, 110, 130, 143.4, and 160 degrees in the center-of-mass system. Anomalous scattering was observed near 441.5 kev, the resonance energy for the reaction Li7(p, γ), and near 1030 kev, the resonance energy for the reaction Li7(p, p′). Analysis of the results at 441.5 kev indicates a state in Be8 with J=1, even parity, formed by p wave protons. The relative stopping cross section for protons in lithium was also measured from 200-1300 kev

Affiliate Contributors to Primary Care for Children

There is more to primary care than solely medical and nursing services. Models of Child Health Appraised (MOCHA) explored the role of the professions of pharmacy, dental health and social care as examples of affiliate contributors to primary care in providing health advice and treatment to children and young people. Pharmacies are much used, but their value as a resource for children seems to be insufficiently recognised in most European Union (EU) and European Economic Area (EEA) countries. Advice from a pharmacist is invaluable, particularly because many medicines for children are only available off-label, or not available in the correct dose, access to a pharmacist for simple queries around certain health issues is often easier and quicker than access to a primary care physician or nursing service. Preventive dentistry is available throughout the EU and EEA, but there are few targeted incentives to ensure all children receive the service, and accessibility to dental treatment is variable, particularly for disabled children or those with specific health needs. Social care services are an essential part of health care for many extremely vulnerable children, for example those with complex care needs. Mapping social care services and the interaction with health services is challenging due to their fragmented provision and the variability of access across the EU and EEA. A lack of coherent structure of the health and social care interface requires parents or other family members to navigate complex systems with little assistance. The needs of pharmacy, dentistry and social care are varied and interwoven with needs from each other and from the healthcare system. Yet, because this inter-connectivity is not sufficiently recognised in the EU and EEA countries, there is a need for improvement of coordination and with the need for these services to focus more fully on children and young people

The effect of neuromuscular blockade on mask ventilation

Summary We wished to test the hypothesis that neuromuscular blockade facilitates mask ventilation. In order reliably and reproducibly to assess the efficiency of mask ventilation, we developed a novel grading scale (Warters scale), based on attempts to generate a standardised tidal volume. Following induction of general anaesthesia, a blinded anaesthesia provider assessed mask ventilation in 90 patients using our novel grading scale. The non-blinded anaesthesiologist then randomly administered rocuronium or normal saline. After 2 min, mask ventilation was reassessed by the blinded practitioner. Rocuronium significantly improved ventilation scores on the Warters scale (mean (SD) 2.3 (1.6) vs 1.2 (0.9), p < 0.001). In a subgroup of patients with a baseline Warters scale value of > 3 (i.e. difficult to mask ventilate; n = 14), the ventilation scores also showed significant improvement (4.2 (1.2) vs 1.9 (1.0), p = 0.0002). Saline administration had no effect on ventilation scores. Our data indicate that neuromuscular blockade facilitates mask ventilation. We discuss the implications of this finding for unexpected difficult airway management and for the practice of confirming adequate mask ventilation before the administration of neuromuscular blockade

Astrophysical S-factor of 4He12C radiative capture at low energies

The possibility to describe the astrophysical S-factor of the 4He12C radiative capture is considered in the potential cluster model at the energy range 0.1-4.0 MeV. It is shown that the approach used, which takes into account E2 transitions only, gives a good description of the new experimental data for adjusted parameters of potentials and leads to the value S(300) = 16.0$\cdotp$keV b.Comment: 8 Pag

Incidence of epidural haematoma and neurological injury in cardiovascular patients with epidural analgesia/anaesthesia: systematic review and meta-analysis

BACKGROUND: Epidural anaesthesia is used extensively for cardiothoracic and vascular surgery in some centres, but not in others, with argument over the safety of the technique in patients who are usually extensively anticoagulated before, during, and after surgery. The principle concern is bleeding in the epidural space, leading to transient or persistent neurological problems. METHODS: We performed an extensive systematic review to find published cohorts of use of epidural catheters during vascular, cardiac, and thoracic surgery, using electronic searching, hand searching, and reference lists of retrieved articles. RESULTS: Twelve studies included 14,105 patients, of whom 5,026 (36%) had vascular surgery, 4,971 (35%) cardiac surgery, and 4,108 (29%) thoracic surgery. There were no cases of epidural haematoma, giving maximum risks following epidural anaesthesia in cardiac, thoracic, and vascular surgery of 1 in 1,700, 1 in 1,400 and 1 in 1,700 respectively. In all these surgery types combined the maximum expected rate would be 1 in 4,700. In all these patients combined there were eight cases of transient neurological injury, a rate of 1 in 1,700 (95% confidence interval 1 in 3,300 to 1 in 850). There were no cases of persistent neurological injury (maximum expected rate 1 in 4,600). CONCLUSION: These estimates for cardiothoracic epidural anaesthesia should be the worst case. Limitations are inadequate denominators for different types of surgery in anticoagulated cardiothoracic or vascular patients more at risk of bleeding

Dose-Dependent Onset of Regenerative Program in Neutron Irradiated Mouse Skin

Background: Tissue response to irradiation is not easily recapitulated by cell culture studies. The objective of this investigation was to characterize, the transcriptional response and the onset of regenerative processes in mouse skin irradiated with different doses of fast neutrons. Methodology/Principal Findings: To monitor general response to irradiation and individual animal to animal variation, we performed gene and protein expression analysis with both pooled and individual mouse samples. A high-throughput gene expression analysis, by DNA oligonucleotide microarray was done with three months old C57Bl/6 mice irradiated with 0.2 and 1 Gy of mono-energetic 14 MeV neutron compared to sham irradiated controls. The results on 440 irradiation modulated genes, partially validated by quantitative real time RT-PCR, showed a dose-dependent up-regulation of a subclass of keratin and keratin associated proteins, and members of the S100 family of Ca2+-binding proteins. Immunohistochemistry confirmed mRNA expression data enabled mapping of protein expression. Interestingly, proteins up-regulated in thickening epidermis: keratin 6 and S100A8 showed the most significant up-regulation and the least mouse-to-mouse variation following 0.2 Gy irradiation, in a concerted effort toward skin tissue regeneration. Conversely, mice irradiated at 1 Gy showed most evidence of apoptosis (Caspase-3 and TUNEL staining) and most 8-oxo-G accumulation at 24 h post-irradiation. Moreover, no cell proliferation accompanied 1 Gy exposure as shown by Ki67 immunohistochemistry. Conclusions/Significance: The dose-dependent differential gene expression at the tissue level following in vivo exposure to neutron radiation is reminiscent of the onset of re-epithelialization and wound healing and depends on the proportion of cells carrying multiple chromosomal lesions in the entire tissue. Thus, this study presents in vivo evidence of a skin regenerative program exerted independently from DNA repair-associated pathways

The adaptive significance of chromosomal inversion polymorphisms in Drosophila melanogaster

Chromosomal inversions, structural mutations that reverse a segment of a chromosome, cause suppression of recombination in the heterozygous state. Several studies have shown that inversion polymorphisms can form clines or fluctuate predictably in frequency over seasonal time spans. These observations prompted the hypothesis that chromosomal rearrangements might be subject to spatially and/or temporally varying selection. Here, we review what has been learned about the adaptive significance of inversion polymorphisms in the vinegar fly Drosophila melanogaster, the species in which they were first discovered by Sturtevant in 1917. A large body of work provides compelling evidence that several inversions in this system are adaptive; however, the precise selective mechanisms that maintain them polymorphic in natural populations remain poorly understood. Recent advances in population genomics, modelling and functional genetics promise to greatly improve our understanding of this long‐standing and fundamental problem in the near future

The elastic scattering of protons by Li7

NOTE: Text or symbols not renderable in plain ASCII are indicated by [...]. Abstract is included in .pdf document. A double focusing magnetic proton spectrometer has been so mounted as to permit observations over a continuous range of scattering angles from 0 to 160 degrees. With this instrument, the cross section for the reaction Li[superscript 7] (pp) has been measured over the proton energy range 360 - 1400 kev. Measurements were made at scattering angles of 50, 70, 89.2, 110, 130, 143.4 and 160 degrees in the center-of-mass system. Anomalous scattering was observed near 441 kev, the resonance energy for the reaction Li[superscript 7] [...], and near 1030 kev, the resonance energy for the reaction Li[superscript 7] (pp'). Analysis of the results near 441 kev indicates a state in Be[superscript 8] with J=1, even parity, formed by p-wave protons, while the analysis near 1030 kev indicates a state in Be[superscript 8] with J = 1, odd parity, formed by s-wave protons. The relative stopping cross section for protons in lithium has also been measured from 200-1300 kev