Attitudes to out-of-programme experiences, research and academic training of gastroenterology trainees between 2007 and 2016

OBJECTIVE: Academic medical training was overhauled in 2005 after the Walport report and Modernising Medical Careers to create a more attractive and transparent training pathway. In 2007 and 2016, national web-based surveys of gastroenterology trainees were undertaken to determine experiences, perceptions of and perceived barriers to out-of-programme research experience (OOP-R). DESIGN, SETTING AND PATIENTS: Prospective, national web-based surveys of UK gastroenterology trainees in 2007 and 2016. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: Attitudes to OOP-R of two cohorts of gastroenterology trainees. RESULTS: Response rates were lower in 2016 (25.8% vs 56.7%) (p50% having already undertaken it. Doctor of Philosophy/medical doctorate remained the most popular OOP-R in both cohorts. Successful fellowship applications increased in 2016, and evidence of gender inequality in 2007 was no longer evident in 2016. In the 2016 cohort, 91.1% (n=144) felt the development of trainee-led research networks was important, with 74.7% (n=118) keen to get involved. CONCLUSIONS: The majority of gastroenterology trainees who responded expressed a desire to undertake OOP-R, and participation rates in OOP-R remain high. Despite smaller absolute numbers responding than in 2007, 2016 trainees achieved higher successful fellowship application rates. Reassuringly more trainees in 2016 felt that OOP-R would be important in the future. Efforts are needed to tackle potential barriers to OOP-R and support trainees to pursue research-active careers

Colorant migration in mesoporous inkjet receptive coatings

The majority of printers currently used for colour printing in offices and homes are inkjet printers. Because of its ability to print on a wide variety of substrates, inkjet technology is also increasingly used in industrial printing and in the package printing industry. The final print quality is largely dependent on the ink-substrate interaction. High quality colour prints are achieved using specialty coated substrates, usually consisting of mesoporous pigments and polymeric binders. The focus of this study was on inkjet colorant migration in mesoporous coatings and its relation to print quality. The influence of factors such as coating pigment type, binder concentration and ink composition on printability were assessed by microscopy and optical print quality measurements. The results indicate that pigments with large pores required more binder than pigments with smaller pores, as that reduced the internal pore volume for ink solvent uptake, with a lower gamut area as a result. A partially hydrolysed PVOH binder gave the highest print quality and sufficient binding strength with all the pigments. The print quality was also influenced by the choice of ink. In general, a dye-based ink gave the highest gamut area, whereas a pigment-based ink gave the highest print sharpness

Surfactant-templated mesoporous silica as a pigment in inkjet paper coatings

The feasibility of a novel type of surfactant-templated mesoporous silica particles as pigments in Inkjet paper has been evaluated. The surfactant-templated mesoporous silica pigments with small pores and narrow pore-size distribution were investigated, and compared to a typical silica gel with larger pores and broader pore-size distribution. The surfactant-templated pigments required significantly lower amounts of binder and gave improvements in colour richness and sharpness relative to the silica gel pigment

Bicontinuous geometries and molecular self-assembly: comparison of local curvature and global packing variations in genus-three cubic, tetragonal and rhombohedral surfaces

Balanced infinite periodic minimal surface families that contain the cubic Gyroid (G), Diamond (D) and Primitive (P) surfaces are studied in terms of their global packing and local curvature properties. These properties are central to understanding the formation of mesophases in amphiphile and copolymer molecular systems. The surfaces investigated are the tetragonal, rhombohedral and hexagonal tD, tP, tG, rG, rPD and H surfaces. These non-cubic minimal surfaces furnish topology-preserving transformation pathways between the three cubic surfaces. We introduce `packing (or global) homogeneity', defined as the standard deviation Δd of the distribution of the channel diameter throughout the labyrinth, where the channel diameter d is determined from the medial surface skeleton centered within the labyrinthine domains. Curvature homogeneity is defined similarly as the standard deviation ΔK of the distribution of Gaussian curvature. All data are presented for distinct length normalisations: constant surface-to-volume ratio, constant average Gaussian curvature and constant average channel diameter. We provide first and second moments of the distribution of channel diameter for all members of these surfaces complementing curvature data from [A. Fogden, S. Hyde, Eur. Phys. J. B 7, 91 (1999)]. The cubic G and D surfaces are deep local minima of Δd along the surface families (with G more homogeneous than D), whereas the cubic P surface is an inflection point of Δd with adjacent, more homogeneous surface members. Both curvature and packing homogeneity favour the tetragonal route between G and D (via tG and tD surfaces) in preference to the rhombohedral route (via rG and rPD). Copyright EDP Sciences/Società Italiana di Fisica/Springer-Verlag 200602.40.-k Geometry, differential geometry, and topology, 61.30.St Lyotropic phases, 81.16.Dn Self-assembly, 82.35.Jk Copolymers, phase transitions, structure,