Growth and Histological Effects to Protothaca staminea (Littleneck Clam) of Long-Term Exposure to Chlorinated Sea Water

There has been considerable concern about the potential for long-term effects to marine organisms from chlorinated sea water. As part of a larger study to investigate the effects of materials resulting from seawater chlorination on marine organisms, groups of littleneck clams, Protothaca staminea, were exposed to sea water that had been chlorinated. Two experiments were conducted. In one test, groups of littleneck clams were exposed to dilutions of chlorinated sea water that had average chlorine produced oxidant (CPO) concentrations of 16 {micro}g/l or less. In the second test, groups of clams were exposed to chlorinated seawater-unchlorinated seawater mixtures that had target CPO concentrations of 0, 6, 12, 25, 50 and 100 {micro}g/l. In the first experiment, length measurements were made on all clams at approximately one-month intervals for three months. In the second test, length, weight, depth, width and edge etching were used to measure growth, and subsamples were harvested and measured at one-month intervals. In addition, clams were preserved for histological examination. The clams in the first experiment all had negative growth. In the second test, growth was inhibited under all conditions through the first four months of exposure. During the last four months, there was positive signs of growth at the 0, 6 and 12 {micro}g/l CPO test conditions. Histological examination indicates that P. staminea does not adapt well to being held in aquaria. Most clams, tram all test and control conditions, showed evidence of necrosis at one month. This condition seemed to improve with longer exposure at lower CPO concentrations but persisted at CPO concentrations of 25 {micro}g/l and higher. Other histological effects were apparent at the higher exposure concentrations as the length of exposure increased

'All the world's a stage': Accounting for the dementia experience - insights from the IDEAL study

YesQualitative dementia research emphasises the importance of recognising the voice of the person with dementia. However, research imbued with a politics of selfhood, whereby individuals are called upon to give coherence to experience and emotion, jars with representations of dementia as a gradual decline in capacity. Moreover, it reinforces an assumption that there is an essential experience that can be accessed through different methods. Drawing on Atkinson and Silverman, we view the interview not as confessional but rather as an outcome of social interaction. This paper draws on qualitative interviews from the Improving the Experince of Dementia and Enhancing Active Life (IDEAL) study, to focus specifically on the forms of accounting and storytelling of people living with dementia and how these are produced through the course of the interview encounter. Extracts from our interviews highlight key aspects of this interactional process: (a) social conventions and temporality, (b) self presentation and identity work, (c) accounts and wider cultural meanings. To conclude, we suggest that qualitative research with people with dementia requires a reframing of both the interview encounter and interpretive practices.The IDEAL study’ was funded jointly by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) through grant ES/L001853/2 ‘Improving the experience of dementia and enhancing active life: living well with dementia

Protein losing gastroenteropathy and possible relationship to cytomegalovirus infection. Ménétrier disease in a child

La enfermedad de Ménétrier infantil es una gastroenteropatía perdedora de proteínas caracterizada por hipertrofia de la mucosa gástrica, de causa desconocida, aunque la mayoría de los casos informados se han asociado a infecciones virales. Se manifiesta clínicamente por edema y bioquímicamente por hipoproteinemia e hipoalbuminemia. Es poco común en los niños, en quienes tiene un carácter benigno y autolimitado, a diferencia de los adultos, en los que tiende a cronificarse y, en ocasiones, a malignizarse. Se presenta un caso de enfermedad de Ménétrier infantil con síndrome ascítico edematoso posiblemente asociado a una infección por citomegalovirus.Ménétrier's disease is a childhood protein-losing gastroenteropathy characterized by hypertrophy of the gastric mucosa, of unknown etiology, although most of reported cases have been associated with viral infections. Clinical manifestation is edema and biochemically there are hypoproteinemia and hypoalbuminemia. This disease is very rare in children and they have a benign and self-limiting course in contrast to adults where tend to be chronic and occasionally to become malignant. We present a child with Ménétrier disease with edema and ascites possibly associated with a cytomegalovirus infection.Fil: Hillman, María M.. Hospital Privado Centro Médico de Córdoba; ArgentinaFil: Meinarde, Leonardo L.. Hospital Privado Centro Médico de Córdoba; ArgentinaFil: Furnes, Raquel A.. Hospital Privado Centro Médico de Córdoba; ArgentinaFil: Daruich, María L.. Hospital Privado Centro Médico de Córdoba; ArgentinaFil: Riva, Verónica. Hospital Privado Centro Médico de Córdoba; ArgentinaFil: Cuestas, Eduardo. Hospital Privado Centro Médico de Córdoba; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentin

Novel DNA methylation profiles associated with key gene regulation and transcription pathways in blood and placenta of growth-restricted neonates

BB/H012494/1/ Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Counci

The impact of post-operative sepsis on mortality after hospital discharge among elective surgical patients: a population-based cohort study

Our aim in the present study was to assess the mortality impact of hospital-acquired post-operative sepsis up to 1 year after hospital discharge among adult non-short-stay elective surgical patients.We conducted a population-based, retrospective cohort study of all elective surgical patients admitted to 82 public acute hospitals between 1 January 2007 and 31 December 2012 in New South Wales, Australia. All adult elective surgical admission patients who stayed in hospital for ≥4 days and survived to discharge after post-operative sepsis were identified using the Admitted Patient Data Collection records linked with the Registry of Births, Deaths, and Marriages. We assessed post-discharge mortality rates at 30 days, 60 days, 90 days and 1 year and compared them with those of patients without post-operative sepsis.We studied 144,503 survivors to discharge. Of these, 1857 (1.3%) had experienced post-operative sepsis. Their post-discharge mortality rates at 30 days, 60 days, 90 days and 1 year were 4.6%, 6.7%, 8.1% and 13.5% (vs 0.7%, 1.2%, 1.5% and 3.8% in the non-sepsis cohort), respectively (P < 0.0001 for all). After adjustment for patient and hospital characteristics, post-operative sepsis remained independently associated with a higher mortality risk (30-day mortality HR 2.75, 95% CI 2.14-3.53; 60-day mortality HR 2.45, 95% CI 1.94-3.10; 90-day mortality HR 2.31, 95% CI 1.85-2.87; 1-year mortality HR 1.71, 95% CI 1.46-2.00). Being older than 75 years of age (HR 3.50, 95% CI 1.56-7.87) and presence of severe/very severe co-morbidities as defined by Charlson co-morbidity index (severe vs normal HR 2.05, 95% CI 1.45-2.89; very severe vs normal HR 2.17, 95% CI 1.49-3.17) were the only other significant independent predictors of increased 1-year mortality.Among elective surgical patients, post-operative sepsis is independently associated with increased post-discharge mortality up to 1 year after hospital discharge. This risk is particularly high in the first month, in older age patients and in the presence of severe/very severe co-morbidities. This high-risk population can be targeted for interventions.Lixin Ou, Jack Chen, Ken Hillman, Arthas Flabouris, Michael Parr, Hassan Assareh and Rinaldo Bellom

Optimizing the vertebrate vestibular semicircular canal: could we balance any better?

The fluid-filled semicircular canals (SCCs) of the vestibular system are used by all vertebrates to sense angular rotation. Despite masses spanning seven decades, all mammalian SCCs are nearly the same size. We propose that the SCC represents a sensory organ that evolution has `optimally designed'. Four geometric parameters are used to characterize the SCC, and `building materials' of given physical properties are assumed. Identifying physical and physiological constraints on SCC operation, we find that the most sensitive SCC has dimensions consistent with available data.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure

Entropies, volumes, and Einstein metrics

We survey the definitions and some important properties of several asymptotic invariants of smooth manifolds, and discuss some open questions related to them. We prove that the (non-)vanishing of the minimal volume is a differentiable property, which is not invariant under homeomorphisms. We also formulate an obstruction to the existence of Einstein metrics on four-manifolds involving the volume entropy. This generalizes both the Gromov--Hitchin--Thorpe inequality and Sambusetti's obstruction.Comment: This is a substantial revision and expansion of the 2004 preprint, which I prepared in spring of 2010 and which has since been published. The version here is essentially the published one, minus the problems introduced by Springer productio

Incidences and variations of hospital acquired venous thromboembolism in Australian hospitals: a population-based study.

Background: Data on hospital-acquired venous thromboembolism (HA-VTE) incidence, case fatality rate and variation amongst patient groups and health providers is lacking. We aim to explore HA-VTE incidences, associated mortality, trends and variations across all acute hospitals in New South Wales (NSW)-Australia. Methods: A population-based study using all admitted patients (aged 18–90 with a length of stay of at least two days and not transferred to another acute care facility) in 104 NSW acute public and private hospitals during 2002–2009. Poisson mixed models were used to derive adjusted rate ratios (IRR) in presence of patient and hospital characteristics. Results: Amongst, 3,331,677 patients, the incidence of HA-VTE was 11.45 per 1000 patients and one in ten who developed HA-VTE died in hospital. HA-VTE incidence, initially rose, but subsequently declined, whereas case fatality rate consistently declined by 22 % over the study period. Surgical patients were 128 % (IRR = 2.28, 95 % CI: 2.19–2.38) more likely to develop HA-VTE, but had similar case fatality rates compared to medical patients. Private hospitals, in comparison to public hospitals had a higher incidence of HA-VTE (IRR = 1.76; 95 % CI: 1.42–2.18) for medical patients. However, they had a similar incidence (IRR = 0.91; 95 % CI: 0.75–1.11), but a lower mortality (IRR = 0.59; 95 % CI: 0.47–0.75) amongst surgical patients. Smaller public hospitals had a lower HA-VTE incidence rate compared to larger hospitals (IRR 1.71). Hospitals with a lower reported HA-VTE incidence tended to have a higher HA-VTE case fatality rate. Conclusion: Despite the decline in HA-VTE incidence and case fatality, there were large variations in incidents between medical and surgical patients, public and private hospitals, and different hospital groups. The causes of such differences warrant further investigation and may provide potential for targeted interventions and quality improvement initiatives.Hassan Assareh, Jack Chen, Lixin Ou, Ken Hillman and Arthas Flabouri

Model-Based Definition Accelerates Product Life Cycle in Manufacturing and Inspection Phase - Experiment of Machined One-Off Production

The paper focuses on comparative experiment on manufacturing and inspection of two different prismatic one-off parts, which have different complexity. Our experiment shows that transforming product definition method from the Drawing Centric Definition (DCD) to the Model Centric Definition (MCD) enables 28%-29% time savings in manufacturing and inspection phases of machined one-off part's life cycle. Furthermore, transition from MCD to Model-Based Definition (MBD) enables 5%-9% time savings, respectively. Applying of MBD enables more time savings in complex part compared to a less complex part.publishedVersionPeer reviewe