Ethics, evidence based sports medicine, and the use of platelet rich plasma in the English Premier League

The use of platelet rich plasma (PRP) as a novel treatment is discussed in the context of a qualitative research study comprising 38 interviews with sports medicine practitioners and other stakeholders working within the English Premier League during the 2013–16 seasons. Analysis of the data produced several overarching themes: conservatism versus experimentalism in medical attitudes; therapy perspectives divergence; conflicting versions of appropriate evidence; subcultures; community beliefs/practices; and negotiation of medical decision-making. The contested evidence base for the efficacy of PRP is presented in the context of a broader professional shift towards evidence based medicine within sports medicine. Many of the participants while accepting this shift are still committed to casuistic practices where clinical judgment is flexible and does not recognize a context-free hierarchy of evidentiary standards to ethically justifiable practice. We also discuss a tendency in the data collected to consider the use of deceptive, placebo-like, practices among the clinician participants that challenge dominant understandings of informed consent in medical ethics. We conclude that the complex relation between evidence and ethics requires greater critical scrutiny for this emerging specialism within the medical community

Fast Non-Adiabatic Two Qubit Gates for the Kane Quantum Computer

In this paper we apply the canonical decomposition of two qubit unitaries to find pulse schemes to control the proposed Kane quantum computer. We explicitly find pulse sequences for the CNOT, swap, square root of swap and controlled Z rotations. We analyze the speed and fidelity of these gates, both of which compare favorably to existing schemes. The pulse sequences presented in this paper are theoretically faster, higher fidelity, and simpler than existing schemes. Any two qubit gate may be easily found and implemented using similar pulse sequences. Numerical simulation is used to verify the accuracy of each pulse scheme

Black hole solutions in F(R) gravity with conformal anomaly

In this paper, we consider $F(R)=R+f(R)$ theory instead of Einstein gravity with conformal anomaly and look for its analytical solutions. Depending on the free parameters, one may obtain both uncharged and charged solutions for some classes of $F(R)$ models. Calculation of Kretschmann scalar shows that there is a singularity located at $r=0$, which the geometry of uncharged (charged) solution is corresponding to the Schwarzschild (Reissner-Nordstr\"om) singularity. Further, we discuss the viability of our models in details. We show that these models can be stable depending on their parameters and in different epoches of the universe.Comment: 12 pages, one figur

Petrophysical, Geochemical, and Hydrological Evidence for Extensive Fracture-Mediated Fluid and Heat Transport in the Alpine Fault's Hanging-Wall Damage Zone

Fault rock assemblages reflect interaction between deformation, stress, temperature, fluid, and chemical regimes on distinct spatial and temporal scales at various positions in the crust. Here we interpret measurements made in the hanging-wall of the Alpine Fault during the second stage of the Deep Fault Drilling Project (DFDP-2). We present observational evidence for extensive fracturing and high hanging-wall hydraulic conductivity (∼10−9 to 10−7 m/s, corresponding to permeability of ∼10−16 to 10−14 m2) extending several hundred meters from the fault's principal slip zone. Mud losses, gas chemistry anomalies, and petrophysical data indicate that a subset of fractures intersected by the borehole are capable of transmitting fluid volumes of several cubic meters on time scales of hours. DFDP-2 observations and other data suggest that this hydrogeologically active portion of the fault zone in the hanging-wall is several kilometers wide in the uppermost crust. This finding is consistent with numerical models of earthquake rupture and off-fault damage. We conclude that the mechanically and hydrogeologically active part of the Alpine Fault is a more dynamic and extensive feature than commonly described in models based on exhumed faults. We propose that the hydrogeologically active damage zone of the Alpine Fault and other large active faults in areas of high topographic relief can be subdivided into an inner zone in which damage is controlled principally by earthquake rupture processes and an outer zone in which damage reflects coseismic shaking, strain accumulation and release on interseismic timescales, and inherited fracturing related to exhumation

High-time Resolution Astrophysics and Pulsars

The discovery of pulsars in 1968 heralded an era where the temporal characteristics of detectors had to be reassessed. Up to this point detector integration times would normally be measured in minutes rather seconds and definitely not on sub-second time scales. At the start of the 21st century pulsar observations are still pushing the limits of detector telescope capabilities. Flux variations on times scales less than 1 nsec have been observed during giant radio pulses. Pulsar studies over the next 10 to 20 years will require instruments with time resolutions down to microseconds and below, high-quantum quantum efficiency, reasonable energy resolution and sensitive to circular and linear polarisation of stochastic signals. This chapter is review of temporally resolved optical observations of pulsars. It concludes with estimates of the observability of pulsars with both existing telescopes and into the ELT era.Comment: Review; 21 pages, 5 figures, 86 references. Book chapter to appear in: D.Phelan, O.Ryan & A.Shearer, eds.: High Time Resolution Astrophysics (Astrophysics and Space Science Library, Springer, 2007). The original publication will be available at http://www.springerlink.co

7th Drug hypersensitivity meeting: part two

No abstract availabl

DISC1 genetics, biology and psychiatric illness

Psychiatric disorders are highly heritable, and in many individuals likely arise from the combined effects of genes and the environment. A substantial body of evidence points towards DISC1 being one of the genes that influence risk of schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and depression, and functional studies of DISC1 consequently have the potential to reveal much about the pathways that lead to major mental illness. Here, we review the evidence that DISC1 influences disease risk through effects upon multiple critical pathways in the developing and adult brain

Search for leptophobic Z ' bosons decaying into four-lepton final states in proton-proton collisions at root s=8 TeV

Peer reviewe