Cyclic AMP in The Normal State and Depressive Illness.

Two methods for the measurement of cyclic AMP, enzymic radioisotopic displacement and protein binding (saturation) assay, were established. Vitamins B12 and C were found, in in vitro studies, to be more effective inhibitors of cyclic AMP phosphodiesterase than theophylline. Plasma and urinary levels of cyclic AMP were found to exhibit a diurnal variation in normal volunteers. The majority gave a plasma pattern with a maximum at 24.00h and a minimum at 16.00h. The minority plasma pattern showed a peak at 12.00h. The urinary excretion gave a pattern in the majority with a maximum between 04.00 -08.00h and a minimum between 12.00 - 16.00h. The minority showed a peak urine value between 12.00 - 16.00h and a trough between 24.00 - 04.00h. A further pattern was noted in menstrual cycle with a mid-cycle peak. This was absent in males, and was lost in secondary amenorrhoea, pregnancy and after prolonged ingestion of oral contraceptives. The amplitude was more pronounced in pre-menstrual tension syndrome, suggesting the possibility of overswing. Muscular activity produced a transient increase in plasma cyclic AMP, but this was not reflected in the urinary level. Limited studies on dietary change showed no significant influence. Patients suffering from endogenous depression showed low plasma and urinary levels of cyclic AMP. On clinical improvement urinary levels returned to the normal range. The urinary excretion of cyclic AMP in endogenous depression showed a peak between 08.00 - 12.00 h. On clinical improvement the pattern became bimodal with peaks between 04.00 - 08.00h and 16.00 - 20.00h. The reactive depression group showed a bimodal pattern (peaks between 24.00 - 04.00h and 12.00 - 16.00h) both before and after clinical improvement. Electroconvulsive therapy caused a marked rise in both plasma and urinary levels of cyclic AMP on the day of treatment. The plasma concentration doubled and remained elevated for up to 90 min after electrical stimulation. Patients who did not respond to E. C. T. in terms of cyclic AMP increase also showed no clinical improvement

Facet machining of silica waveguides with nanoscale roughness without polishing or lapping

To achieve low-loss free space coupling for integrated optics, device facets need to be smooth, free of chips and flat. The typical route for accomplishing these requirements is by traditional lapping and polishing. We report that high quality optical quality facets with a Sa = 4.9 nm can be machined using a simple dicing technique. In order to directly measure the scatter loss a device with a series of Bragg gratings is used to characterise the average interface loss per facet

Using the T-IRAP interactive computer program and applied behavior analysis to teach relational responding in children with autism

The IRAP computer software program was adapted as an interactive teaching tool (T-IRAP) targeting relational frames with four children with diagnosed autism aged 8-10 years. An adaptation of a multiple-baseline design was used to compare participants' relational learning in terms of speed and accuracy during Table-Top (TT) and T-IRAP teaching. The TT procedure was commenced with all participants simultaneously, and the T-IRAP was introduced at stepwise time intervals (after 5, 10, 15, 20 trial blocks) across the four participants. Nonarbitrary then arbitrary coordination, comparative, opposition and derived relations were targeted. Results showed that the T-IRAP was successfully adapted to teach all targeted relations, and in general greater speed and accuracy in relational responding were shown for all four participants during T-IRAP teaching compared with TT teaching. Thus the T-IRAP may be a useful supplementary teaching tool in applied settings

Child sexual exploitation : definition & guide for professionals: extended text

This work was commissioned by the Department for Education (DfE) and is the extended text from which the DfE document ‘Child Sexual Exploitation: Definition and a guide for practitioners, local leaders and decision makers working to protect children from child sexual exploitation’ has been drawn. This can be viewed at www.gov.uk. The document outlines the new civil definition of child sexual exploitation, developed by the Home Office and DfE, together with an overview of our current understanding of the issue and an evidence-informed set of principles for responding. This extended version of the ‘guide’ provides professionals1 with further background information about child sexual exploitation and offers additional commentary around some of the complexities of practically responding to the issue. The document should be read in conjunction with Working together to safeguard children: A guide to inter-agency working to safeguard and promote the welfare of children (hereafter referred to as Working Together), that provides the statutory framework for responding to child sexual exploitation and all other forms of abuse. The content of this document does not in any way supersede the statutory provisions of Working Together, but rather considers some of the nuances and challenges of applying its requirements and principles to this particular form of abuse. This extended version of the ‘guide’ draws on the existing evidence base to identify issues that have proved challenging to address in practice and to draw out lessons learnt in relation to this. It does not seek to provide readers with a ‘step-by-step’ approach to addressing child sexual exploitation, but instead provides a high-level framework for building a locally informed enhanced response that concurrently addresses prevention, and responses to victimhood and perpetration, and supports the exercise of ‘professional curiosity’ within this. Although the document focuses on child sexual exploitation, many of the principles outlined herein hold relevance for responding to other forms of exploitation, abuse and vulnerability in adolescence and readers are encouraged to consider the interconnectedness of these issues and the transferability of learning between them

Hair, the hairdresser and the everyday practices of women's hair care.

This thesis is concerned with reclaiming hair as a site of everyday practice and the role of the hairdresser as a skilled craft worker. Focusing upon the blindingly obvious substance of hair, it explores the lively and inimitable qualities which make hair truly unique to each of us. It is this uniqueness, or as I term it, the palimpsest of hair, that influences everything we do with hair, from our regular hairdressing appointment to its everyday home maintenance. Engaging with social and cultural geographies, this thesis speaks to bodily geographies, and workplace geographies. However, its key thematics are also drawn from wider approaches, particularly practice-based approaches, materiality and craft production. Using practice as a lens through which to research hair, the thesis tracks the customer journey from hair salon to home and back again, illustrating how the hairdresser, the palimpsest of hair and hair's wearer converge and diverge. Beginning in the salon, I highlight how the relationship between hairdresser and client does not always conform to the scripted encounters attributed to other forms of service work, but can involve genuine feelings and individualised performances. Through the practices of hair production, I illuminate the craft of hairdressing, demonstrating how the hairdresser and customer co-corporeally produce the palimpsest of hair. Moving from the salon into the home, I discuss how the customer reproduces their hair at home, through what I term the DIY hair project. I convey how these DIY hair practices are bound by normalised anxieties, articulated through individual temporalities. Finally, I explore the customer's return to the salon and how the temporalities of the salon appointment illuminate the choreographies of women's lives. Thus, I contend that hair is a substance worthy of academic study and should be included in debates on the politics of the body and of the everyday