National audit of post-operative management in spinal surgery

BACKGROUND: There is some evidence from a Cochrane review that rehabilitation following spinal surgery may be beneficial. METHODS: We conducted a survey of current post-operative practice amongst spinal surgeons in the United Kingdom in 2002 to determine whether such interventions are being included routinely in the post-operative management of spinal patients. The survey included all surgeons who were members of either the British Association of Spinal Surgeons (BASS) or the Society for Back Pain Research. Data on the characteristics of each surgeon and his or her current pattern of practice and post-operative care were collected via a reply-paid postal questionnaire. RESULTS: Usable responses were provided by 57% of the 89 surgeons included in the survey. Most surgeons (79%) had a routine post-operative management regime, but only 35% had a written set of instructions that they gave to their patients concerning this. Over half (55%) of surgeons do not send their patients for any physiotherapy after discharge, with an average of less than two sessions of treatment organised by those that refer for physiotherapy at all. Restrictions on lifting, sitting and driving showed considerable inconsistency both between surgeons and also within the recommendations given by individual surgeons. CONCLUSION: Demonstrable inconsistencies within and between spinal surgeons in their approaches to post-operative management can be interpreted as evidence of continuing and significant uncertainty across the sub-speciality as to what does constitute best care in these areas of practice. Conducting further large, rigorous, randomised controlled trials would be the best method for obtaining definitive answers to these questions

The dipolar endofullerene HF@C60

The cavity inside fullerenes provides a unique environment for the study of isolated atoms and molecules. We report encapsulation of hydrogen fluoride inside C60 using molecular surgery to give the endohedral fullerene HF@C60. The key synthetic step is the closure of the open fullerene cage while minimizing escape of HF. The encapsulated HF molecule moves freely inside the cage and exhibits quantization of its translational and rotational degrees of freedom, as revealed by inelastic neutron scattering and infrared spectroscopy. The rotational and vibrational constants of the encapsulated HF molecules were found to be redshifted relative to free HF. The NMR spectra display a large 1H-19F J coupling typical of an isolated species. The dipole moment of HF@C60 was estimated from the temperature-dependence of the dielectric constant at cryogenic temperatures and showed that the cage shields around 75% of the HF dipole

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Not AvailableThe study deals with the first comprehensive spatial distribution and area estimate of seagrass patches of India with a standardized methodology. Seagrass patches are mainly located in Palk Bay – Gulf of Mannar (Tamil Nadu), Gulf of Kachchh (Gujarat), Chilika Lake (Odisha) and Islands of Andaman & Nicobar and Lakshadweep. Medium resolution satellite images of Landsat 8 OLI were subjected to radiometric, atmospheric and water column correction prior to digital classification and contextual editing. Total estimated seagrass area amounts to 516.59 km2 of which Palk Bay and Gulf of Mannar of Tamil Nadu together contribute to 398.81 km2. Overall classification accuracy for the six sites studied, ranged between 64% (Lakshadweep Islands) and 83.5% (Palk Bay). This suggests that for surveillance studies of homogeneous seagrass meadows with low interspersion of other benthic units such as corals, seaweeds etc., digital mapping using medium resolution data sets with mandatory attenuation correction procedures is suitable. The results of this study and the related area statistics were accepted as a baseline at national level for the delineation of Ecologically Sensitive Areas (ESA) and in the formulation of its conservation strategies. For a cursory appraisal of the status of major seagrass regions, a matrix representation of its locational occurrence and habitat characteristics is provided.Not Availabl

Long-lived, highly excited neutral hydrogen atom production following oxygen 1s photoexcitation of gas-phase water molecules

We have studied the production of long-lived, highly excited, neutral hydrogen atom fragments following oxygen 1s inner-shell excitation/ionization of gas-phase water molecules using synchrotron radiation. Striking differences to fragment ion and low-n neutral H yields are observed close to threshold. To investigate the decay pathways involved, the neutral fragments were also detected in coincidence with H+, O2 +, O+ and OH+ fragments

Fluorescence Time Delay in Multistep Auger Decay as an Internal Clock

Differences in postcollision interaction (PCI) effects on Kr L3M4,5M4,5 Auger electron spectra were observed, depending on whether the initial photoionization occurred slightly above the K threshold or slightly above the L3 threshold. For the former, KL fluorescence emission most likely happens and then Auger processes due to the L3 hole follow. The time delay due to fluorescence causes a reduced shift of the Auger peak and tailing toward lower energy, since the Auger overtaking of the photoelectron happens later in time and at a location farther away from the ionic core, compared to the case for the simple one-step L3M4,5M4,5 Auger decay after L-shell photoionization. Time-dependent theory for PCI in multistep processes agrees well with experiment, illustrating the effect as an internal clock for the time-sequence of the dynamical process

Experimental and theoretical study of the Kr L-shell Auger decay

Abstract The LMM Auger spectra of krypton are measured using the photon energies hν = 1709 eV, 1792 eV, 1950 eV, and 13 keV. This approach allows separating the contributions from the various core holes L₁, L₂, and L₃. Previously unobserved transitions are presented. Complementary theoretical work is performed allowing the assignment of the spectral features. The L2,3Y -MMY (Y = M4,5, N1,2,3 ) Auger transitions of Kr2+ formed via Coster-Kronig Auger decay of the core holes L₁ and L₂ are also investigated. These spectra comprise about 4000 and 13 000 transitions, respectively, so that only general statements on the assignment, such as the configurations involved in the transitions, can be given