Solubilised bright blue-emitting iridium complexes for solution processed OLEDs

EZ-C acknowledges the University of St Andrews for financial support. IDWS and AKB acknowledge support from EPSRC (EP/J01771X). The authors would like to thank the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council for financial support for Adam Henwood: EPSRC DTG Grants: EP/J500549/1; EP/K503162/1; EP/L505097/1.Combining a sterically bulky, electron-deficient 2-(2,4-difluorophenyl)-4-(2,4,6- trimethylphenyl)pyridine (dFMesppy) cyclometalating C^N ligand with an electron rich, highly rigidified 1,1’-(α,α’-o-xylylene)-2,2’-biimidazole (o-xylbiim) N^N ligand gives an iridium complex, [Ir(dFMesppy)2(o-Xylbiim)](PF6), that achieves extraordinarily bright blue emission (ΦPL = 90%; λmax = 459 nm in MeCN) for a cationic iridium complex. This complex is compared with two reference complexes bearing 4,4’-di-tert-butyl-2,2’- bipyridine, and solution-processed organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs) have been fabricated from these materials.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Impact of ultrasound on management for dyspnea presentations in a Rwandan emergency department

Background The complexity of diagnosis for critically ill dyspnea presentations in the emergency department remains a challenge. Accurate and rapid recognition of associated life-threatening conditions is paramount for timely treatment. Point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) has been shown to impact the diagnosis of dyspnea presentations in resource-rich settings, and may be of greater diagnostic benefit in resource-limited settings. Methods We prospectively enrolled a convenience sample of 100 patients presenting with dyspnea in the Emergency Department at University Teaching Hospital of Kigali (UTH-K) in Rwanda. After a traditional history and physical exam, the primary treating team listed their 3 main diagnoses and ranked their confidence accuracy in the leading diagnosis on a Likert scale (1–5). Multi-organ ultrasound scans performed by a separate physician sonographer assessed the heart, lungs, inferior vena cava, and evaluated for lower extremity deep vein thrombosis or features of disseminated tuberculosis. The sonographer reviewed the findings with the treating team, who then listed 3 diagnoses post-ultrasound and ranked their confidence accuracy in the leading diagnosis on a Likert scale (1–5). The hospital diagnosis at discharge was used as the standard in determining the accuracy of the pre- and post-ultrasound diagnoses. Results Of the 99 patients included in analysis, 57.6% (n = 57) were male, with a mean age of 45 years. Most of them had high-level acuity (54.5%), the dyspnea was of acute onset (45.5%) and they came from district hospitals (50.5%). The most frequent discharge diagnoses were acute decompensated heart failure (ADHF) (26.3%) and pneumonia (21.2%). Ultrasound changed the leading diagnosis in 66% of cases. The diagnostic accuracy for ADHF increased from 53.8 to 100% (p = 0.0004), from 38 to 85.7% for pneumonia (p = 0.0015), from 14.2 to 85.7% for extrapulmonary tuberculosis (p = 0.0075), respectively, pre and post-ultrasound. The overall physician diagnostic accuracy increased from 34.7 to 88.8% pre and post- ultrasound. The clinician confidence in the leading diagnosis changed from a mean of 3.5 to a mean of 4.7 (Likert scale 0–5) (p < 0.001). Conclusions In dyspneic patients presenting to this Emergency Department, ultrasound frequently changed the leading diagnosis, significantly increased clinicians’ confidence in the leading diagnoses, and improved diagnostic accuracy

Questioning policy, youth participation and lifestyle sports

Young people have been identified as a key target group for whom participation in sport and physical activity could have important benefits to health and wellbeing and consequently have been the focus of several government policies to increase participation in the UK. Lifestyle sports represent one such strategy for encouraging and sustaining new engagements in sport and physical activity in youth groups, however, there is at present a lack of understanding of the use of these activities within policy contexts. This paper presents findings from a government initiative which sought to increase participation in sport for young people through provision of facilities for mountain biking in a forest in south-east England. Findings from qualitative research with 40 young people who participated in mountain biking at the case study location highlight the importance of non-traditional sports as a means to experience the natural environments through forms of consumption which are healthy, active and appeal to their identities. In addition, however, the paper raises questions over the accessibility of schemes for some individuals and social groups, and the ability to incorporate sports which are inherently participant-led into state-managed schemes. Lifestyle sports such as mountain biking involve distinct forms of participation which present a challenge for policy-makers who seek to create and maintain sustainable communities of youth participants

Conjugated, rigidified bibenzimidazole ancillary ligands for enhanced photoluminescence quantum yields of orange/red-emitting iridium(III) complexes

EZ-C acknowledges the University of St Andrews for financial support. We thank Umicore AG for the gift of materials. We would like to thank the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council for financial support for E.Z-C. (EP/M02105X/1) and for the studentship of A.H. (EP/J500549/1, EP/K503162/1, EP/L505097/1). We thank the EPSRC UK National Mass Spectrometry Facility at Swansea University for analytical services. We also would like to thank EaStCHEM and the School of Chemistry for supporting the computing facilities maintained by Dr. H. Früchtl.A series of six novel [Ir(C^N)2(N^N)](PF6) complexes (C^N is one of two cyclometalating ligands: 2-phenyl-4-(2,4,6-trimethylphenyl)pyridine, MesppyH, or 2- (napthalen-1-yl)-4-(2,4,6-trimethylphenyl)pyridine, MesnpyH; N^N denotes one of four neutral diamine ligands: 4,4’-di-tert-butyl-2,2’-bipyridine, dtbubpy, 1H,1’H-2,2’- bibenzimiazole, H2bibenz, 1,1’-(α,α’-o-xylylene)-2,2’-bibenzimidazole, o-Xylbibenz or 2,2’- biquinoline, biq) were synthesised and their structural, electrochemical and photophysical properties comprehensively characterised. The more conjugated MesnpyH ligands confer a red-shift in the emission compared to MesppyH but maintain high photoluminescence quantum yields due to the steric bulk of the mesityl groups. The H2bibenz and o-Xylbibenz ligands are shown to be electronically indistinct to dtbubpy but give complexes with higher quantum yields than analogous complexes bearing dtbubpy. In particular, the rigidity of the o-Xylbibenz ligand, combined with the steric bulk of the MesnpyH C^N ligands, give a red-emitting complex 4 (λPL = 586, 623 nm) with a very high photoluminescence quantum yield (ΦPL = 44%) for an emitter in that regime of the visible spectrum. These results suggest that employing these ligands is a viable strategy for designing more efficient orange-red emitters for use in a variety of photophysical applications.PostprintPeer reviewe

MOST detects corotating bright spots on the mid-O type giant {\xi} Persei

We have used the MOST (Microvariability and Oscillations of STars) microsatellite to obtain four weeks of contiguous high-precision broadband visual photometry of the O7.5III(n)((f)) star {\xi} Persei in November 2011. This star is well known from previous work to show prominent DACs (Discrete Absorption Components) on time-scales of about 2 d from UV spectroscopy and NRP (Non Radial Pulsation) with one (l = 3) p-mode oscillation with a period of 3.5 h from optical spectroscopy. Our MOST-orbit (101.4 min) binned photometry fails to reveal any periodic light variations above the 0.1 mmag 3-sigma noise level for periods of hours, while several prominent Fourier peaks emerge at the 1 mmag level in the two-day period range. These longer-period variations are unlikely due to pulsations, including gravity modes. From our simulations based upon a simple spot model, we deduce that we are seeing the photometric modulation of several co-rotating bright spots on the stellar surface. In our model, the starting times (random) and lifetimes (up to several rotations) vary from one spot to another yet all spots rotate at the same period of 4.18 d, the best-estimated rotation period of the star. This is the first convincing reported case of co-rotating bright spots on an O star, with important implications for drivers of the DACs (resulting from CIRs - Corotating Interaction Regions) with possible bright-spot generation via a breakout at the surface of a global magnetic field generated by a subsurface convection zone.Comment: 9 pages, 4 figures, 2 tables, MNRAS in pres

Information Rx: Prescribing Good Consumerism and Responsible Citizenship

Recent medical informatics and sociological literature has painted the image of a new type of patient—one that is reflexive and informed, with highly specified information needs and perceptions, as well as highly developed skills and tactics for acquiring information. Patients have been re-named “reflexive consumers.” At the same time, literature about the questionable reliability of web-based information has suggested the need to create both user tools that have pre-selected information and special guidelines for individuals to use to check the individual characteristics of the information they encounter. In this article, we examine suggestions that individuals must be assisted in developing skills for “reflexive consumerism” and what these particular skills should be. Using two types of data (discursive data from websites and promotional items, and supplementary data from interviews and ethnographic observations carried out with those working to sustain these initiatives), we examine how users are directly addressed and discussed. We argue that these initiatives prescribe skills and practices that extend beyond finding and assessing information on the internet and demonstrate that they include ideals of consumerism and citizenship

Meditation-induced near-death experiences: a 3-year longitudinal study

Near-death experiences (NDEs) are life transformational events that are increasingly being subjected to empirical research. However, to date, no study has investigated the phenomenon of a meditation-induced near-death experience (MI-NDE) that is referred to in ancient Buddhist texts. Given that some advanced Buddhist meditators can induce NDEs at a pre-planned point in time, the MI-NDE may make NDEs more empirically accessible and thus advance understanding into the psychology of death-related processes. The present study recruited 12 advanced Buddhist meditators and compared the MI-NDE against two other meditation practices (i.e. that acted as control conditions) in the same participant group. Changes in the content and profundity of the MI-NDE were assessed longitudinally over a 3-year period. Findings demonstrated that compared to the control conditions, the MI-NDE prompted significantly greater pre-post increases in NDE profundity, mystical experiences and non-attachment. Furthermore, participants demonstrated significant increases in NDE profundity across the 3-year study period. Findings from an embedded qualitative analysis (using grounded theory) demonstrated that participants (i) were consciously aware of experiencing NDEs, (ii) retained volitional control over the content and duration of NDEs and (iii) elicited a rich array of non-worldly encounters and spiritual experiences. In addition to providing corroborating evidence in terms of the content of a “regular” (i.e. non-meditation-induced) NDE, novel NDE features identified in the present study indicate that there exist unexplored and/or poorly understood dimensions to NDEs. Furthermore, the study indicates that it would be feasible - including ethically feasible - for future research to recruit advanced meditators in order to assess real-time changes in neurological activity during NDEs

Studying technology use as social practice: the untapped potential of ethnography

Information and communications technologies (ICTs) in healthcare are often introduced with expectations of higher-quality, more efficient, and safer care. Many fail to meet these expectations. We argue here that the well-documented failures of ICTs in healthcare are partly attributable to the philosophical foundations of much health informatics research. Positivistic assumptions underpinning the design, implementation and evaluation of ICTs (in particular the notion that technology X has an impact which can be measured and reproduced in new settings), and the deterministic experimental and quasi-experimental study designs which follow from these assumptions, have inherent limitations when ICTs are part of complex social practices involving multiple human actors. We suggest that while experimental and quasi-experimental studies have an important place in health informatics research overall, ethnography is the preferred methodological approach for studying ICTs introduced into complex social systems. But for ethnographic approaches to be accepted and used to their full potential, many in the health informatics community will need to revisit their philosophical assumptions about what counts as research rigor

Financing intersectoral action for health: a systematic review of co-financing models.

BACKGROUND: Addressing the social and other non-biological determinants of health largely depends on policies and programmes implemented outside the health sector. While there is growing evidence on the effectiveness of interventions that tackle these upstream determinants, the health sector does not typically prioritise them. From a health perspective, they may not be cost-effective because their non-health outcomes tend to be ignored. Non-health sectors may, in turn, undervalue interventions with important co-benefits for population health, given their focus on their own sectoral objectives. The societal value of win-win interventions with impacts on multiple development goals may, therefore, be under-valued and under-resourced, as a result of siloed resource allocation mechanisms. Pooling budgets across sectors could ensure the total multi-sectoral value of these interventions is captured, and sectors' shared goals are achieved more efficiently. Under such a co-financing approach, the cost of interventions with multi-sectoral outcomes would be shared by benefiting sectors, stimulating mutually beneficial cross-sectoral investments. Leveraging funding in other sectors could off-set flat-lining global development assistance for health and optimise public spending. Although there have been experiments with such cross-sectoral co-financing in several settings, there has been limited analysis to examine these models, their performance and their institutional feasibility. AIM: This study aimed to identify and characterise cross-sectoral co-financing models, their operational modalities, effectiveness, and institutional enablers and barriers. METHODS: We conducted a systematic review of peer-reviewed and grey literature, following PRISMA guidelines. Studies were included if data was provided on interventions funded across two or more sectors, or multiple budgets. Extracted data were categorised and qualitatively coded. RESULTS: Of 2751 publications screened, 81 cases of co-financing were identified. Most were from high-income countries (93%), but six innovative models were found in Uganda, Brazil, El Salvador, Mozambique, Zambia, and Kenya that also included non-public and international payers. The highest number of cases involved the health (93%), social care (64%) and education (22%) sectors. Co-financing models were most often implemented with the intention of integrating services across sectors for defined target populations, although models were also found aimed at health promotion activities outside the health sector and cross-sectoral financial rewards. Interventions were either implemented and governed by a single sector or delivered in an integrated manner with cross-sectoral accountability. Resource constraints and political relevance emerged as key enablers of co-financing, while lack of clarity around the roles of different sectoral players and the objectives of the pooling were found to be barriers to success. Although rigorous impact or economic evaluations were scarce, positive process measures were frequently reported with some evidence suggesting co-financing contributed to improved outcomes. CONCLUSION: Co-financing remains in an exploratory phase, with diverse models having been implemented across sectors and settings. By incentivising intersectoral action on structural inequities and barriers to health interventions, such a novel financing mechanism could contribute to more effective engagement of non-health sectors; to efficiency gains in the financing of universal health coverage; and to simultaneously achieving health and other well-being related sustainable development goals

Tenure, gender and household structure

Starting with a review of recent literature on gender and housing, this paper goes on to develop a new theory of household structure, in which concepts of gender and generation play a key role. The utility of this theory is then demonstrated in the analysis of data from a survey of households in the City of Salford