Advanced imaging of a histologically confirmed bone infarction of the distal tibia in a Warmblood mare

An 8‐year‐old Warmblood‐cross mare presented for investigation of acute onset left hindlimb lameness. Nuclear scintigraphy identified a marked, focal, increase in radiopharmaceutical uptake in the distal aspect of the left tibia. Radiography revealed a large, oval, multi‐loculated radiolucent area within the medulla of the distal metaphysis of the left tibia. The mare was treated conservatively for 6 months but showed little improvement in the lameness so the owner elected for euthanasia. Post‐mortem computed tomographic imaging revealed a large, oval, hypoattenuating area within the distal tibia, surrounded by a thick, irregular, sclerotic border. The lesion occupied the majority of the medullary cavity but the cortical bone was unaffected. Gross and histopathological examination confirmed a diagnosis of a bone infarction in the medullary cavity of the distal tibia

Design and development of a low-cost, electricity-generating cooking Score-Stove™

SCORE (www.score.uk.com) a US$4M, 5 year international collaboration research project aims to improve the life quality of the 1.5 billion people worldwide who cook on an open fire and do not have access to electricity. SCORE market evaluations1 indicate that at the upper-cost target of$120 with 20 Watts of electricity 60 million people would afford the stove. At the lower-cost target of $40 and 100 Watts it would be affordable to over 1 billion people. In November 2010, a wood burning Score-Stove™ prototype successfully developed 23 watts of electricity based on a planar Thermo-Acoustic Engine (TAE) [2],[3],[4],[5],[6] design, indicating that the new Score-Stove™ is now ready to be engaged with manufacturers to gear up for volume production, and therefore to meet the social and cooking requirements of the rural poor people. The development to a large-volume, easy to manufacture, low-cost TAE cooking stove using elements of the formal design methodologies of BS 7000 and TRIZ are discussed. By breaking down the system requirements into cost targets for each module, performing rig testing, and design refinements it is believed that the upper-cost target is achievable with the right level of investment

Actions of Octocoral and Tobacco Cembranoids on Nicotinic Receptors

Nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (AChRs) are pentameric proteins that form agonist-gated cation channels through the plasma membrane. AChR agonists and antagonists are potential candidates for the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases. Cembranoids are naturally occurring diterpenoids that contain a 14-carbon ring. These diterpenoids interact with AChRs in complex ways: as irreversible inhibitors at the agonist sites, as noncompetitive inhibitors, or as positive modulators, but no cembranoid was ever shown to have agonistic activity on AChRs. The cembranoid eupalmerin acetate displays positive modulation of agonist-induced currents in the muscle-type AChR and in the related gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) type A receptor. Moreover, cembranoids display important biological effects, many of them mediated by nicotinic receptors. Cembranoids from tobacco are neuroprotective through a nicotinic anti-apoptotic mechanism preventing excitotoxic neuronal death which in part could result from anti-inflammatory properties of cembranoids. Moreover, tobacco cembranoids also have anti-inflammatory properties which could enhance their neuroprotective properties. Cembranoids from tobacco affect nicotine-related behavior: they increase the transient initial ataxia caused by first nicotine injection into naive rats and inhibit the expression of locomotor sensitization to repeated injections of nicotine. In addition, cembranoids are known to act as antitumor compounds. In conclusion, cembranoids provide a promising source of lead drugs for many clinical areas, including neuroprotection, smoking-cessation, and anti-cancer therapies

Efficacy of mulch and tillage options to reduce runoff and soil loss from asparagus interrows

In the UK, conventional asparagus cultivation practices on sloping land, erodible soils and increased frequency of extreme rainfall events combine to promote runoff generation and soil loss, particularly from interrows. This instrumented field study investigated the interactive effect of mulch and shallow soil disturbance (working depth of 0.175 m) on reducing runoff and soil loss. Ten treatments were installed in a commercial asparagus field near Ross-on-Wye (England, UK) during May 1st–July 17th, 2012. Straw and compost were applied to the interrows at high and low application rates (straw = 5 t ha−1 and 3 t ha−1 and compost = 18 t ha−1 and 8 t ha−1, respectively), both with or without shallow soil disturbance (SSD and Non-SSD) as compared with a bare soil, unamended Control. Across five sampling periods, Non-SSD straw mulch applied at 5 t ha−1 and 3 t ha−1; Non-SSD compost mulch at 18 t ha−1; and straw mulch applied at 5 t ha−1 with SSD all significantly reduced cumulative total soil loss by 53–72% as compared with the Control. Further, mulch treatments with SSD were in general less effective at reducing total soil loss as compared to non-SSD mulch treatments. Compost application was less effective than straw, due to sub-optimal compost blanket depths as dictated by N restrictions for Nitrate Vulnerable Zones, in which the study took place. Despite an overall reduction in total soil loss of 72% (associated with Non-SSD straw mulch applied at 5 t ha−1), soil erosion rates exceeded 1.4 t ha−1 yr−1, considered to be a tolerable erosion rate in the EU. In addition, measured sediment concentrations in the runoff consistently exceeded the EU water quality guideline value of 25 mg l−1. The results indicate that the efficacy of the treatments tested was not adequate to reduce soil erosion in commercial asparagus fields in the UK to tolerable rates. This may in large part be due to daily foot trafficking events that occur during the asparagus harvesting period (April–June) which disturbs and degrades the treatments applied reduing their efficacy. This study demonstrates that additional research is required in order to identify effective erosion control measures to ensure the sustainability of commercial asparagus production systems in the U

User's guide for GAPCON-THERMAL-2: A computer program for calculating the thermal behavior of an oxide fuel rod

This report is being published as a user's manual for GAPCON-THERMAL-2 and provides a general description of the code and instructions for its use. The GAPCON-THERMAL-2 code was developed for the Regulatory Staff, NRC, to use as a tool in estimating fuel-cladding gap conductances and fuel stored energy and represents a modification of the GAPCON-THERMAL-1 code. The goal of the modifications was to reduce uncertainties associated with calculating power history and burnup effects and yet retain a relatively flexible and fast running code for parametric studies. 15 references (auth

Schools and civil society : corporate or community governance

School improvement depends upon mediating the cultural conditions of learning as young people journey between their parochial worlds and the public world of cosmopolitan society. Governing bodies have a crucial role in including or diminishing the representation of different cultural traditions and in enabling or frustrating the expression of voice and deliberation of differences whose resolution is central to the mediation of and responsiveness to learning needs. A recent study of governing bodies in England and Wales argues that the trend to corporatising school governance will diminish the capacity of schools to learn how they can understand cultural traditions and accommodate them in their curricula and teaching strategies. A democratic, stakeholder model remains crucial to the effective practice of governing schools. By deliberating and reconciling social and cultural differences, governance constitutes the practices for mediating particular and cosmopolitan worlds and thus the conditions for engaging young people in their learning, as well as in the preparation for citizenship in civil society

Improved outcome in children with advanced stage B-cell non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (B-NHL): results of the United Kingdom Children Cancer Study Group (UKCCSG) 9002 protocol

From July 1990 to March 1996, 112 children with stage III or IV B-cell non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (B-NHL) with up to 70% FAB L3-type blasts (n= 42) in the bone marrow without central nervous system (CNS) disease were treated on the United Kingdom Children Cancer Study Group (UKCCSG) 9002 protocol (identical to the French LMB 84). The median age was 8.3 years. There were 81 boys and 31 girls. According to the extent of the primary disease, patients were sub-staged into three groups: IIIA with unresectable abdominal tumour (n= 39); IIIB with abdominal multiorgan involvement (n= 57) and IIIX with extra-abdominal primary lymphoma often presenting as pleural effusion (n= 16). Univariate and multivariate analyses were carried out to evaluate the prognostic significance of lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) level at diagnosis, the sub-stage and the time to achieve complete remission (CR). With a median follow up of 48 months (range 12–92), the overall and event free survival (EFS) is 87% (95% confidence interval (CI) 79.2–92.1%) and 83.7% (95% CI 76.3–89.2%) respectively. Six patients (5.4%) never achieved CR, of whom one is alive following high-dose therapy. Eight patients (7.1%) relapsed after achieving CR, three are alive after second-line therapy. There were three early toxic deaths (2.7%), mainly from infection, and one late death from a second cancer. There was no significant difference in EFS according to LDH level at diagnosis, the sub-stage or the time to CR. This study confirms the overall good prognosis and low rate of toxic deaths in patients with advanced B-NHL treated with this intensive regimen. No significant difference in EFS according to the sub-stage, the time to achieve CR or LDH level at diagnosis making it difficult to identify a group that should not receive intensive therapy. © 2000 Cancer Research Campaig

Developing a Management Guide (the DemPower App) for Couples Where One Partner Has Dementia: Nonrandomized Feasibility Study

YesPromoting the health and well-being of couples where one partner has dementia is an overlooked area of care practice. Most postdiagnostic services currently lack a couple-centered approach and have a limited focus on the couple relationship. To help address this situation, we developed a tablet-based self-management guide (DemPower) focused on helping couples enhance their well-being and relationship quality. The aim of this study is to investigate the feasibility and acceptability of the DemPower app. A nonrandomized feasibility design was used to evaluate the DemPower intervention over 3 months among couples where a partner had a diagnosis of dementia. The study recruited 25 couples in the United Kingdom and 19 couples in Sweden. Outcome measures were obtained at baseline and postintervention. The study process and interventions were evaluated at various stages. The study was completed by 48% (21/44) of couples where one partner had dementia, of whom 86% (18/21) of couples accessed all parts of the DemPower app. Each couple spent an average of 8 hours (SD 3.35 hours) using the app during the study period. In total, 90% (19/21) of couples reported that all sections of DemPower were useful in addressing various aspects of daily life and helped to focus on how they interacted in their relationship. Of the 4 core subjects on which the DemPower app was structured, home and neighborhood received the highest number of visits. Couples used activity sections more often than the core subject pages. The perception of DemPower's utility varied with each couple's lived experience of dementia, geographic location, relationship dynamics, and opportunities for social interaction. A 5.2-point increase in the dementia quality of life score for people with dementia and a marginal increase in the Mutuality scale (+1.23 points) for caregiver spouses were found. Design and navigational challenges were reported in the DemPower app. The findings suggest that the DemPower app is a useful resource for couples where one partner has dementia and that the implementation of the app requires the support of memory clinics to reach couples at early diagnosis. ISRCTN Registry ISRCTN10122979; http://www.isrctn.com/ISRCTN10122979.Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and National Institute for Health Research (NIHR). This research is part of Work Programme 6 of the ESRC/NIHR Neighborhoods and Dementia mixed methods study (reference ES/L001772/1