546 research outputs found

    A Note Upon Migratory Divorce of South Carolinians

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    Metamorphism on Ordinary Chondrite Parent Bodies: The Role of Fluids.

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    第3回極域科学シンポジウム/第35回南極隕石シンポジウム 11月30日(金) 国立国語研究所 2階講

    Learning from people with long-term conditions: new insights for governance in primary health care

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    Internationally, system-wide changes to the structures and systems governing health care aim to improve outcomes for patients, quality of care and access to services. The introduction of top-down centrally driven solutions to governance of health care, at the same time as increasing policy emphasis on greater ‘bottom up’ patient and public involvement in all aspects of health care, has set up complex tensions for policy implementation and health care practice. This paper explores the interplay of these agendas in the context of changes in primary health care services provided by the National Health Service (NHS) in England. Specifically, it looks at an example of service user involvement in a study (the PEGI study) of professional response to changes in the governance and incentives in the care of people with long-term conditions. This qualitative study was conducted in three Primary Care Trust sites in England. Service users influenced and guided the study throughout. In-depth interviews with 56 health and social care professionals engaged in the development of local policies and the delivery of care for people with complex long-term illness drew on vignettes developed by 32 members from three Service User Reference Groups (SURG). Themes generated by the cross case analysis were validated through these SURG groups. The findings presented here focus on four themes about risk and comparison of professionals’/service users’ perspectives of the issues: managing risks/consistent support, the risks of letting go/feeling in control, professionalism/helping people to help themselves, and managing expectations/professionals losing out. Service user involvement added value by: validating understandings of governance, framing debates to focus on what matters at the point of care, and enabling perspective sharing and interaction. We suggest that more collaborative forms of governance in health care, that take account of service user perspectives and enable interaction with professional groups, could help to validate processes of quality assurance and provide motivation for continuous quality improvement. We offer a model for ‘opening up’ collaborative projects to evaluation and appraisal and a process for critical reflection of the interrelationships between the PEGI study context, researcher issues, methods/approach and outcomes/impact of service user involvement

    What is the contribution of physician associates in hospital care in England? A mixed methods, multiple case study.

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    OBJECTIVES: To investigate the deployment of physician associates (PAs); the factors supporting and inhibiting their employment and their contribution and impact on patients' experience and outcomes and the organisation of services. DESIGN: Mixed methods within a case study design, using interviews, observations, work diaries and documentary analysis. SETTING: Six acute care hospitals in three regions of England in 2016-2017. PARTICIPANTS: 43 PAs, 77 other health professionals, 28 managers, 28 patients and relatives. RESULTS: A key influencing factor supporting the employment of PAs in all settings was a shortage of doctors. PAs were found to be acceptable, appropriate and safe members of the medical/surgical teams by the majority of doctors, managers and nurses. They were mainly deployed to undertake inpatient ward work in the medical/surgical team during core weekday hours. They were reported to positively contribute to: continuity within their medical/surgical team, patient experience and flow, inducting new junior doctors, supporting the medical/surgical teams' workload, which released doctors for more complex patients and their training. The lack of regulation and attendant lack of authority to prescribe was seen as a problem in many but not all specialties. The contribution of PAs to productivity and patient outcomes was not quantifiable separately from other members of the team and wider service organisation. Patients and relatives described PAs positively but most did not understand who and what a PA was, often mistaking them for doctors. CONCLUSIONS: This study offers new insights concerning the deployment and contribution of PAs in medical and surgical specialties in English hospitals. PAs provided a flexible addition to the secondary care workforce without drawing from existing professions. Their utility in the hospital setting is unlikely to be completely realised without the appropriate level of regulation and authority to prescribe medicines and order ionising radiation within their scope of practice

    Use of insulin glargine and cancer incidence in Scotland: a study from the

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    Abstract Aims/hypothesis The aim of the present study was to examine whether patients with diabetes in Scotland using insulin glargine have a greater cancer risk than patients using other types of insulin. Methods We used a nationwide diabetes clinical database that covers the majority of the Scottish population with diagnosed diabetes, and examined patients with diabetes who were exposed to any insulin therapy between 1 January 2002 and 31 December 2005. Among these we defined a fixed cohort based on exposure during a 4 month period in 2003 (n=36,254, in whom 715 cases of cancer occurred) and a cohort of new insulin users across the period (n=12,852 in whom 381 cancers occurred). Records from these cohorts were linked to cancer registry data up to the end of 2005. We used Cox proportional hazards models for survival analyses. Results Those receiving any insulin glargine (n=3,959) had the same incidence rate for all cancers as those not receiving insulin glargine (HR 1.02, 95% CI 0.77-1.36, p=0.9 in the fixed cohort) The subset of patients using insulin glargine alone (n=447) had a significantly higher incidence of all cancers than those using other insulins only (n=32,295) (HR 1.55, 95% CI 1.01-2.37, p=0.045), and those using insulin glargine with other insulins (n=3,512) had a slightly lower incidence (HR 0.81, 95% CI 0.55-1.18, p=0.26). There were important differences in baseline characteristics between these three groups, although the risk ratios were broadly unaltered on adjustment for these. Overall, there was no increase in breast cancer rates associated with insulin glargine use (HR 1.49, 95% CI 0.79-2.83, though insulin glargine only users had a higher rate than those using non-glargine insulin only (HR 3.39, 95% CI 1.46-7.85, p=0.004). Among type 2 diabetic incident insulin users, no significant difference between the three groups was observed with respect to all cancer or breast cancer. All the above HRs are adjusted for age, calendar time prior cancer and type of diabetes, as appropriate, and are stratified according to sex. Conclusions/interpretation Overall, insulin glargine use was not associated with an increased risk of all cancers or site-specific cancers in Scotland over a 4 year time frame. Given the overall data, we consider the excess of cases of all cancers and breast cancer in the subgroup of insulin glargine only users to more likely reflect allocation bias rather than an effect of insulin glargine itself

    An unusual clast in lunar meteorite MacAlpine Hills 88105: a unique lunar sample or projectile debris?

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    Lunar meteorite MacAlpine Hills (MAC) 88105 is a well-studied feldspathic regolith breccia dominated by rock and mineral fragments from the lunar highlands. Thin section MAC 88105,159 contains a small rock fragment, 400 × 350 μm in size, which is compositionally anomalous compared with other MAC 88105 lithic components. The clast is composed of olivine and plagioclase with minor pyroxene and interstitial devitrified glass component. It is magnesian, akin to samples in the lunar High Mg-Suite, and also alkali-rich, akin to samples in the lunar High Alkali Suite. It could represent a small fragment of late-stage interstitial melt from an Mg-Suite parent lithology. However, olivine and pyroxene in the clast have Fe/Mn ratios and minor element concentrations that are different from known types of lunar lithologies. As Fe/Mn ratios are notably indicative of planetary origin, the clast could either (1) have a unique lunar magmatic source, or (2) have a nonlunar origin (i.e., consist of achondritic meteorite debris that survived delivery to the lunar surface). Both hypotheses are considered and discussed

    Snapshots during the catalytic cycle of a histidine acid phytase reveal an induced fit structural mechanism

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    Highly engineered phytases, which sequentially hydrolyze the hexakisphosphate ester of inositol known as phytic acid, are routinely added to the feeds of monogastric animals to improve phosphate bioavailability. New phytases are sought as starting points to further optimize the rate and extent of dephosphorylation of phytate in the animal digestive tract. Multiple inositol polyphosphate phosphatases (MINPPs) are clade 2 histidine phosphatases (HP2P) able to carry out the stepwise hydrolysis of phytate. MINPPs are not restricted by a strong positional specificity making them attractive targets for development as feed enzymes. Here, we describe the characterization of a MINPP from the Gram-positive bacterium Bifidobacterium longum (BlMINPP). BlMINPP has a typical HP2P-fold but, unusually, possesses a large a-domain polypeptide insertion relative to other MINPPs. This insertion, termed the U-loop, spans the active site and contributes to substrate specificity pockets underpopulated in other HP2Ps. Mutagenesis of U-loop residues reveals its contribution to enzyme kinetics and thermostability. Moreover, four crystal structures of the protein along the catalytic cycle capture, for the first time in an HP2P, a large ligand-driven a-domain motion essential to allow substrate access to the active site. This motion recruits residues both downstream of a molecular hinge and on the U-loop to participate in specificity subsites, and mutagenesis identified a mobile lysine residue as a key determinant of positional specificity of the enzyme. Taken together, these data provide important new insights to the factors determining stability, substrate recognition, and the structural mechanism of hydrolysis in this industrially important group of enzymes

    Linking mineralogy and spectroscopy of highly aqueously altered CM and CI carbonaceous chondrites in preparation for primitive asteroid sample return

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    The highly hydrated, petrologic type 1 CM and CI carbonaceous chondrites likely derived from primitive, water‐rich asteroids, two of which are the targets for JAXA's Hayabusa2 and NASA's OSIRIS‐REx missions. We have collected visible and near‐infrared (VNIR) and mid infrared (MIR) reflectance spectra from well‐characterized CM1/2, CM1, and CI1 chondrites and identified trends related to their mineralogy and degree of secondary processing. The spectral slope between 0.65 and 1.05 μm decreases with increasing total phyllosilicate abundance and increasing magnetite abundance, both of which are associated with more extensive aqueous alteration. Furthermore, features at ~3 μm shift from centers near 2.80 μm in the intermediately altered CM1/2 chondrites to near 2.73 μm in the highly altered CM1 chondrites. The Christiansen features (CF) and the transparency features shift to shorter wavelengths as the phyllosilicate composition of the meteorites becomes more Mg‐rich, which occurs as aqueous alteration proceeds. Spectra also show a feature near 6 μm, which is related to the presence of phyllosilicates, but is not a reliable parameter for estimating the degree of aqueous alteration. The observed trends can be used to estimate the surface mineralogy and the degree of aqueous alteration in remote observations of asteroids. For example, (1) Ceres has a sharp feature near 2.72 μm, which is similar in both position and shape to the same feature in the spectra of the highly altered CM1 MIL 05137, suggesting abundant Mg‐rich phyllosilicates on the surface. Notably, both OSIRIS‐REx and Hayabusa2 have onboard instruments which cover the VNIR and MIR wavelength ranges, so the results presented here will help in corroborating initial results from Bennu and Ryugu

    Comparing physician associates and foundation year two doctors-in-training undertaking emergency medicine consultations in England: a mixed-methods study of processes and outcomes.

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    OBJECTIVES: To compare the contribution of physician associates to the processes and outcomes of emergency medicine consultations with that of foundation year two doctors-in-training. DESIGN: Mixed-methods study: retrospective chart review using 4 months' anonymised clinical record data of all patients seen by physician associates or foundation year two doctors-in-training in 2016; review of a subsample of 40 records for clinical adequacy; semi-structured interviews with staff and patients; observations of physician associates. SETTING: Three emergency departments in England. PARTICIPANTS: The records of 8816 patients attended by 6 physician associates and 40 foundation year two doctors-in-training; of these n=3197 had the primary outcome recorded (n=1129 physician associates, n=2068 doctor); 14 clinicians and managers and 6 patients or relatives for interview; 5 physician associates for observation. PRIMARY AND SECONDARY OUTCOME MEASURES: The primary outcome was unplanned re-attendance at the same emergency department within 7 days. SECONDARY OUTCOMES: consultation processes, clinical adequacy of care, and staff and patient experience. RESULTS: Re-attendances within 7 days (n=194 (6.1%)) showed no difference between physician associates and foundation year two doctors-in-training (OR 0.87, 95% CI 0.61 to 1.24, p=0.437). If seen by a physician associate, patients were more likely receive an X-ray investigation (OR 2.10, 95% CI 1.72 to 4.24), p<0.001), after adjustment for patient characteristics, triage severity of condition and statistically significant clinician intraclass correlation. Clinical reviewers found almost all patients' charts clinically adequate. Physician associates were evaluated as assessing patients in a similar way to foundation year two doctors-in-training and providing continuity in the team. Patients were positive about the care they had received from a physician associate, but had poor understanding of the role. CONCLUSIONS: Physician associates in emergency departments in England treated patients with a range of conditions safely, and at a similar level to foundation year two doctors-in-training, providing clinical operational efficiencies
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