Facilitating support groups for siblings of children with neurodevelopmental disorders using audioconferencing: a longitudinal feasibility study

Background: Siblings of children with chronic illness and disabilities are at increased risk of negative psychological effects. Support groups enable them to access psycho-education and social support. Barriers to this can include the distance they have to travel to meet face-to-face. Audio-conferencing, whereby three or more people can connect by telephone in different locations, is an efficient means of groups meeting and warrants exploration in this healthcare context. This study explored the feasibility of audio-conferencing as a method of facilitating sibling support groups. Methods: A longitudinal design was adopted. Participants were six siblings (aged eight to thirteen years) and parents of children with complex neurodevelopmental disorders attending the Centre for Interventional Paediatric Psychopharmacology (CIPP). Four of the eight one-hour weekly sessions were held face-to-face and the other four using audio-conferencing. Pre- and post-intervention questionnaires and interviews were completed and three to six month follow-up interviews were carried out. The sessions were audio-recorded, transcribed and thematic analysis was undertaken. Results: Audio-conferencing as a form of telemedicine was acceptable to all six participants and was effective in facilitating sibling support groups. Audio-conferencing can overcome geographical barriers to children being able to receive group therapeutic healthcare interventions such as social support and psycho-education. Psychopathology ratings increased post-intervention in some participants. Siblings reported that communication between siblings and their family members increased and siblings’ social network widened. Conclusions: Audio-conferencing is an acceptable, feasible and effective method of facilitating sibling support groups. Siblings’ clear accounts of neuropsychiatric symptoms render them reliable informants. Systematic assessment of siblings’ needs and strengthened links between Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services, school counsellors and young carers groups are warranted

Gravity signals at the Geysers geothermal system

Journal ArticleThree high-precision gravity and GPS surveys have been conducted over The Geysers geothermal reservoir and surrounding area. These surveys, in September 2000, April 2001, and September 2001, provide an initial baseline for future imaging studies of spatial mass changes from the Santa Rosa Effluent Pipeline currently under construction. Analysis of the three surveys provides a measure of the seasonal and annual gravity and deformation signals currently occurring at The Geysers. GPS results show an average subsidence of 3±2 cm over the production field from September 2000 to April 2001, although some stations have significant deviations from this average

Techniques, analysis, and noise in a Salt Lake Valley 4D gravity experiment

Journal ArticleRepeated high-precision gravity measurements using an automated gravimeter and analysis of time series of 1-Hz samples allowed gravity measurements to be made with an accuracy of 5 μGal or better. Nonlinear instrument drift was removed using a new empirical staircase function built from multiple station loops. The new technique was developed between March 1999 and September 2000 in a pilot study conducted in the southern Salt Lake Valley along an east-west profile of eight stations from the Wasatch Mountains to the Jordan River

Evaluation of the computerized utilities and energy monitoring and control system installed at the US Army, Europe, 222D Base Support Battalion, Baumholder, Germany

ORNL the utilities and energy monitoring and control systems (UEMCSs) installed at the 222D Base Support Battalion (BSB) at Baumholder, Germany. This evaluation relies on examination of existing data and information to determine the effectiveness of the UEMCSs. The Baumholder BSB consists of numerous installations located as far as 63 miles from the principal installation at Baumholder. Only five facilities within these installations currently have support from four essentially separate UEMCSs A Messner/Miles and two Honeywell systems, which combined have 4600 points serving 200 buildings, perform traditional UEMCS functions associated with district heating, while a Landis & Gyr UEMCS is used exclusively for electrical demand limiting and exterior lighting control. Total energy consumption at the community has steadily decreased since 1986 because of the implementation of UEMCS and the conversion to district heat. However, lack of annual energy consumption data by individual installation makes direct association of energy reductions to the implementation of specific UEMCSs difficult. Engineering estimates predict approximately a 6% annual energy savings associated with the UEMCSs of DM 1.9 million. However, less than 40% of the total community building area is connected. Opportunities for additional savings are available through (1) expanded use of demand limiting, (2) increased memory for the older Honeywell system to allow extending its application at the Smith Barracks facility and facilities nearby, (3) use of available UEMCS equipment to shut off the domestic hot water circulation pumps at night, (4) extension of UEMCS control at the Neubruecke Hospital complex, and (5) installation and utilization of heating hot water and potable hot water leak detection equipment. A moderate effort to track energy consumption by facility should be undertaken and data transmission lines associated with the UEMCS inspected and repaired

Candidate Clusters of Galaxies at z > 1.3 Identified in the Spitzer South Pole Telescope Deep Field Survey

We present 279 galaxy cluster candidates at z > 1.3 selected from the 94 deg^2 Spitzer South Pole Telescope Deep Field (SSDF) survey. We use a simple algorithm to select candidate high-redshift clusters of galaxies based on Spitzer/IRAC mid-infrared data combined with shallow all-sky optical data. We identify distant cluster candidates adopting an overdensity threshold that results in a high purity (80%) cluster sample based on tests in the Spitzer Deep, Wide-Field Survey of the Boötes field. Our simple algorithm detects all three 1.4 < z ≤ 1.75 X-ray detected clusters in the Boötes field. The uniqueness of the SSDF survey resides not just in its area, one of the largest contiguous extragalactic fields observed with Spitzer, but also in its deep, multi-wavelength coverage by the South Pole Telescope (SPT), Herschel/SPIRE, and XMM-Newton. This rich data set will allow direct or stacked measurements of Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect decrements or X-ray masses for many of the SSDF clusters presented here, and enable a systematic study of the most distant clusters on an unprecedented scale. We measure the angular correlation function of our sample and find that these candidates show strong clustering. Employing the COSMOS/UltraVista photometric catalog in order to infer the redshift distribution of our cluster selection, we find that these clusters have a comoving number density N_c = (0.7^(+6.3)_(0.6)) x 10^(-7) h^3 Mpc^(-3) and a spatial clustering correlation scale length r_ 0 = (32 ± 7) h^(–1) Mpc. Assuming our sample is comprised of dark matter halos above a characteristic minimum mass, M _(min), we derive that at z = 1.5 these clusters reside in halos larger than M_(min) = 1.5^(+0.9)_(0.7) x 10^(14) h^(-1) M_⊙. We find that the mean mass of our cluster sample is equal to M_(mean) = 1.9^(+1.0)_(0.8) x 10^(14) h^(-1) M_⊙ ; thus, our sample contains the progenitors of present-day massive galaxy clusters

Multiple factors interact to produce responses resembling spectrum of human disease in Campylobacter jejuni infected C57BL/6 IL-10-/- mice

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p><it>Campylobacter jejuni </it>infection produces a spectrum of clinical presentations in humans – including asymptomatic carriage, watery diarrhea, and bloody diarrhea – and has been epidemiologically associated with subsequent autoimmune neuropathies. This microorganism is genetically variable and possesses genetic mechanisms that may contribute to variability in nature. However, relationships between genetic variation in the pathogen and variation in disease manifestation in the host are not understood. We took a comparative experimental approach to explore differences among different <it>C. jejuni </it>strains and studied the effect of diet on disease manifestation in an interleukin-10 deficient mouse model.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>In the comparative study, C57BL/6 interleukin-10^-/-mice were infected with seven genetically distinct <it>C. jejuni </it>strains. Four strains colonized the mice and caused disease; one colonized with no disease; two did not colonize. A DNA:DNA microarray comparison of the strain that colonized mice without disease to <it>C. jejuni </it>11168 that caused disease revealed that putative virulence determinants, including loci encoding surface structures known to be involved in <it>C. jejuni </it>pathogenesis, differed from or were absent in the strain that did not cause disease. In the experimental study, the five colonizing strains were passaged four times in mice. For three strains, serial passage produced increased incidence and degree of pathology and decreased time to develop pathology; disease shifted from watery to bloody diarrhea. Mice kept on an ~6% fat diet or switched from an ~12% fat diet to an ~6% fat diet just before infection with a non-adapted strain also exhibited increased incidence and severity of disease and decreased time to develop disease, although the effects of diet were only statistically significant in one experiment.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p><it>C. jejuni </it>strain genetic background and adaptation of the strain to the host by serial passage contribute to differences in disease manifestations of <it>C. jejuni </it>infection in C57BL/6 IL-10^-/-mice; differences in environmental factors such as diet may also affect disease manifestation. These results in mice reflect the spectrum of clinical presentations of <it>C. jejuni </it>gastroenteritis in humans and contribute to usefulness of the model in studying human disease.</p