Monitoring environmental cleanliness on two surgical wards

Ten hand-touch sites were screened weekly on two surgical wards over two consecutive six-month periods. The results were analysed using hygiene standards, which specify 1) an aerobic colony count (ACC) >2.5cfu/cm2, and 2) presence of coagulase-positive staphylococci, as hygiene failures. Sites most often failing the standards were beds and hoist (64%: 33 of 52 weeks), bedside lockers (62%: 32 of 52) and overbed tables (44%: 23 of 52). Methicillin-susceptible/resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MSSA/MRSA) were more often recovered from lockers, overbed tables and beds. Recovery of MSSA/MRSA at any site was significantly associated with an ACC>2.5cfu/cm2 from that site (p=0.001; OR: 3.35 (95% CI 1.79, 6.28)). In addition, total ACC's>2.5cfu/cm2 each week were significantly associated with weekly bed occupancies >95% (p=0.0004; OR: 2.94 (95% CI 1.44, 6.02)). Higher microbial growth levels from hand-touch sites reflect weekly bed occupancies and indicate a risk for both resistant and susceptible S.aureus. These organisms are more likely to be recovered from near-patient sites on the ward

Bethe ansatz solution of an integrable, non-Abelian anyon chain with D(D_3) symmetry

The exact solution for the energy spectrum of a one-dimensional Hamiltonian with local two-site interactions and periodic boundary conditions is determined. The two-site Hamiltonians commute with the symmetry algebra given by the Drinfeld double D(D_3) of the dihedral group D_3. As such the model describes local interactions between non-Abelian anyons, with fusion rules given by the tensor product decompositions of the irreducible representations of D(D_3). The Bethe ansatz equations which characterise the exact solution are found through the use of functional relations satisfied by a set of mutually commuting transfer matrices.Comment: 19 page

Visitor effects on zoo-housed Sulawesi crested macaque (Macaca nigra) behaviour: Can signs with ‘watching eyes’ requesting quietness help?

Visiting public can cause changes in the behaviour of zoo-housed primates. These effects, if indicative of stress, can be of welfare concern. However, few options to mitigate visitor effects through modulating visitor behaviour have been explored. Here we evaluated the effects of visitor number and visitor noise level on the behaviour of five UK groups of Sulawesi crested macaques. We also investigated whether visitor behaviour can be effectively modulated through targeted signage requesting visitors to be quiet, and assessed the use of signs incorporating salient ‘watching’ human eyes, novel to a zoo setting, alongside ‘control’ signs lacking eyes. We used scan sampling to collect over 100 h of behavioural observation data, analysis of which indicated that Sulawesi crested macaques were significantly affected by both visitor number and noise level at all five zoos. We found that active behaviours, such as locomotion or foraging, and behaviours identified as negative for welfare, such as vigilance, increased with increasing visitor number and noise levels, whereas resting and social huddling decreased. The extent to which these behavioural changes reflect welfare, particularly the increase seen in active behaviours, is not clear. We also found that both sign treatments, with and without salient eyes, slightly but significantly reduced visitor noise levels compared with no sign, although signs displaying human eyes were not more effective than the control signs. Our results highlight a need for further research into active behaviours to assess whether increases in these behaviours are associated with stress. While we found signage to be a promising tool to mitigate against these visitor effects, our results also suggest areas in which signs incorporating salient human eyes could be adapted for the zoo environment in order to realise their full potential

SU(3) monopoles and their fields

Some aspects of the fields of charge two SU(3) monopoles with minimal symmetry breaking are discussed. A certain class of solutions look like SU(2) monopoles embedded in SU(3) with a transition region or ``cloud'' surrounding the monopoles. For large cloud size the relative moduli space metric splits as a direct product AH\times R^4 where AH is the Atiyah-Hitchin metric for SU(2) monopoles and R^4 has the flat metric. Thus the cloud is parametrised by R^4 which corresponds to its radius and SO(3) orientation. We solve for the long-range fields in this region, and examine the energy density and rotational moments of inertia. The moduli space metric for these monopoles, given by Dancer, is also expressed in a more explicit form.Comment: 17 pages, 3 figures, latex, version appearing in Phys. Rev.

Fungal infections of the central nervous system: A review of fungal pathogens and treatment

Multiple factors influence the outcome of fungal infection of the central nervous system (CNS). The host and the pathogen in concert with drug delivery across the blood-brain barrier and drug activity are key factors in outcome. Drug costs can be prohibitively expensive. Drug toxicity with standard antifungal agents such as amphotericin B (infusion rate toxicity) can be reduced using simple techniques such as slower infusion and appropriate saline loading. Continuous infusion can allow relatively large doses of amphotericin B (up to 2 mg/kg/day, remaining below 0.08 mg/kg/hour) to be given with toxicity profiles comparable to expensive lipid formulations of amphotericin B. Dedicated peripherally inserted central catheters can remain in situ for weeks to months and are safe and relatively inexpensive. Correction of metabolic pathology in the case of mucormycosis and resolution of neutropenia are essential to effective treatment of filamentous fungal infections such as Mucor, Aspergillus and Scedosporium. The pharmacology and pharmacokinetics of the current major antifungal agents used to treat fungal infections of the CNS are reviewed. Tables that provide information about achievable CNS drug levels, antifungal susceptibilities and the likelihood of intrinsic drug resistance of significant fungal pathogens have been included to help the clinician with therapy. Treatment recommendations for Cryptococcal and Candida meningitis and for rhinocerebral infection with Mucor and Aspergillus have been included

New hyper-Kaehler manifolds by fixing monopoles

The construction of new hyper-Kaehler manifolds by taking the infinite monopole mass limit of certain Bogomol'nyi-Prasad-Sommerfield monopole moduli spaces is considered. The one-parameter family of hyperkaehler manifolds due to Dancer is shown to be an example of such manifolds. A new family of fixed monopole spaces is constructed. They are the moduli spaces of four SU(4) monopoles, in the infinite mass limit of two of the monopoles. These manifolds are shown to be nonsingular when the fixed monopole positions are distinct.Comment: Version in Phys. Rev. D. 11 pp, RevTeX, 14 Postscript diagram

Preparation, microstructure and microwave dielectric properties of sprayed PFA/barium titanate composite films

Frequency dependence of the dielectric properties of polymer-ferroelectric composites at different bands of microwave frequencies was investigated in this work. Perfluoroalkoxy (PFA)/barium titanate (BaTiO3) nanocomposite films were prepared by spray deposition. The spraying process was scaled up to fabricate large area (max. 160 mm × 160 mm) uniform composite sheets out of which a controlled bonding process was introduced to form composite blocks. The microstructure of the composite films was examined by SEM with a microtome sample preparation method to evaluate the effectiveness of the spraying process at producing uniform particle distributions. The dielectric properties of the composite films with various BaTiO3 loadings were characterised by an Impedance Analyzer at frequencies between 10 Hz and 1 MHz and Vector Network Analyzer at 12–18 GHz respectively. The Lichtenecker mixing rule was incorporated to fit the measured dielectric constant data, which gives estimates of dielectric constant of the BaTiO3 nanometer sized particles to be 895 and 571 at 10 kHz and 15 GHz respectively. In comparison, the composite effective dielectric constant was approximately reduced by 25% at 10 kHz than that at 15 GHz

Metrics with Prescribed Ricci Curvature near the Boundary of a Manifold

Suppose $M$ is a manifold with boundary. Choose a point $o\in\partial M$. We investigate the prescribed Ricci curvature equation \Ric(G)=T in a neighborhood of $o$ under natural boundary conditions. The unknown $G$ here is a Riemannian metric. The letter $T$ in the right-hand side denotes a (0,2)-tensor. Our main theorems address the questions of the existence and the uniqueness of solutions. We explain, among other things, how these theorems may be used to study rotationally symmetric metrics near the boundary of a solid torus $\mathcal T$. The paper concludes with a brief discussion of the Einstein equation on $\mathcal T$.Comment: 13 page

Housing and Environmental Enrichment of the Domestic Ferret: A Multi-Sector Survey

Ferrets (Mustela putorius furo) are kept and used in multiple sectors of society, but little is known about how they are housed and what environmental enrichment (EE) they may benefit from. We aimed to help guide caretakers about what housing and EE can be provided for ferrets. Through an online questionnaire of ferret caretakers, including pet, laboratory, zoological collection, rescue and working animal sectors internationally, we described ferret housing, opportunities for exploration, EE provision and caretaker opinions on ferrets' preferred EE types, and problematic EE. In total, 754 valid responses from 17 countries were analysed, with most (82.4%) coming from pet owners. Most ferrets were housed socially, with housing varying across sectors from single-level cages to free-range housing in a room or outdoor enclosure; pet owners mostly used multi-level cages. The most commonly reported EE included hammocks, tunnels and tactile interaction with caretakers. Respondents reported that ferrets particularly enjoyed digging substrates, tunnels, human interaction and exploration. The most frequently reported problems were that ingestion of unsuitable chew toys and rubber items could cause internal blockages, narrow tunnels could trap ferrets, and certain fabrics that could catch claws. This suggests a need for increased awareness of the risks of these EE types and for more commercially available safety-tested ferret EE. Scent trails were relatively rarely provided but were reported to be enjoyed and harmless, so we recommend that these should be provided more commonly. Our results suggest that there is scope to improve ferret housing and EE provision to benefit ferret welfare across all sectors