Diane Wilson interview for a Wright State University History Course

On February 24, 2011 Cassie Higgins interview Diane Wilson, President of the American Tissue Association, for a class project dealing with oral histories and capturing the history of the Miami Valley. In the interview Diane talked about growing up in Everit[sic] Washington, moving to Dayton with her husband, and working at Community Tissue Services

Reducing inequalities in health and diet: findings from a study on the impact of a food retail development

The health and diet impacts of a large-scale food retail development within a deprived area of Glasgow (Springburn) are reported. The study used a prospective quasi-experimental design which compared changes in diet and psychological health in an area where a new hypermarket was built (the intervention area), with a similarly-deprived comparison area in Glasgow (Shettleston). A postal survey was undertaken both before and one year after the hypermarket was built, to assess changes in diet, self-reported health, and perceptions of neighbourhood. Changes in the retail structure of both areas were assessed through a before and (repeated) after intervention shop count survey. Qualitative data on diet, the neighbourhood and the impact of the store were collected through focus groups. The quantitative study found limited improvements in diet and health. There was weak evidence for the impact of the hypermarket on population diet. There was weak evidence that poor psychological health in the intervention area reduced. Amongst those who ‘switched’ to the new hypermarket there was weak evidence of a small improvement in mean fruit and vegetable consumption but good evidence of psychological health improvement. Qualitative and retail survey results reinforce this, identifying perceptions of areal improvement through redevelopment and a small positive impact of the new store on the intervention area’s retail structure

Cross-sectional study examining the epidemiology of chronic pain in Nepal

Abstract. Introduction:. The World Health Organization recognizes chronic pain as a global public health concern; however, there is a bias towards research conducted in relatively affluent nations. There is a dearth of large-scale epidemiological studies in Nepal using rigorously validated, cross-culturally adapted instruments. Objectives:. The aim of this study was to examine the prevalence of both chronic pain and chronic pain of predominantly neuropathic origin and their associations with a range of sociodemographic and psychosocial characteristics. Methods:. We conducted a cross-sectional study of adults (≥18 years) in all households in Ranipani, Baluwa Village Development Committee, Nepal. All adults (n = 887) were approached, and those consenting, who met the inclusion criteria (n = 520, 58.6%), participated. Questionnaires validated in Nepali were used to examine several constructs: demographics; chronic pain; neuropathic pain; pain catastrophizing; resilience, pain intensity; pain interference; sleep disturbance; and depression. Results:. The point prevalence of chronic pain was 53.3% (n = 277). The point prevalence of chronic pain of predominantly neuropathic origin was 12.7% (n = 66). Chronic pain was associated with female gender, older age, and manual labour occupations. Using standardized scoring techniques, compared with available population estimates from other countries, those with chronic pain were associated with lower pain intensity and resilience scores and higher pain catastrophizing, pain interference, and depression scores. Conclusion:. These findings are broadly comparable to epidemiological studies from other countries, and these indicate areas for targeting interventions (eg, occupational and mental health). For comparison, more data are needed, from larger population samples in this region

Activating p53 abolishes self-renewal of quiescent leukaemic stem cells in residual CML disease

Whilst it is recognised that targeting self-renewal is an effective way to functionally impair the quiescent leukaemic stem cells (LSC) that persist as residual disease in chronic myeloid leukaemia (CML), developing therapeutic strategies to achieve this have proved challenging. We demonstrate that the regulatory programmes of quiescent LSC in chronic phase CML are similar to that of embryonic stem cells, pointing to a role for wild type p53 in LSC self-renewal. In support of this, increasing p53 activity in primitive CML cells using an MDM2 inhibitor in combination with a tyrosine kinase inhibitor resulted in reduced CFC outputs and engraftment potential, followed by loss of multilineage priming potential and LSC exhaustion when combination treatment was discontinued. Our work provides evidence that targeting LSC self-renewal is exploitable in the clinic to irreversibly impair quiescent LSC function in CML residual disease – with the potential to enable more CML patients to discontinue therapy and remain in therapy-free remission

Modification of the Young-Laplace equation and prediction of bubble interface in the presence of nanoparticles

Bubbles are fundamental to our daily life and have wide applications such as in the chemical and petrochemical industry, pharmaceutical engineering, mineral processing and colloids engineering. This paper reviews the existing theoretical and experimental bubble studies, with a special focus on the dynamics of triple line and the influence of nanoparticles on the bubble growth and departure process. Nanoparticles are found to influence significantly the effective interfacial properties and the dynamics of triple line, whose effects are dependent on the particle morphology and their interaction with the substrate. While the Young–Laplace equation is widely applied to predict the bubble shape, its application is limited under highly non-equilibrium conditions. Using gold nanoparticle as an example, new experimental study is conducted to reveal the particle concentration influence on the behaviour of triple line and bubble dynamics. A new method is developed to predict the bubble shape when the interfacial equilibrium conditions cannot be met, such as during the oscillation period. The method is used to calculate the pressure difference between the gas and liquid phases, which is shown to oscillate across the liquid–gas interface and is responsible for the interface fluctuation. The comparison of the theoretical study with the experimental data shows a very good agreement, which suggests its potential application to predict bubble shape during non-equilibrium conditions

General anaesthetic and airway management practice for obstetric surgery in England: a prospective, multi-centre observational study

There are no current descriptions of general anaesthesia characteristics for obstetric surgery, despite recent changes to patient baseline characteristics and airway management guidelines. This analysis of data from the direct reporting of awareness in maternity patients' (DREAMY) study of accidental awareness during obstetric anaesthesia aimed to describe practice for obstetric general anaesthesia in England and compare with earlier surveys and best-practice recommendations. Consenting patients who received general anaesthesia for obstetric surgery in 72 hospitals from May 2017 to August 2018 were included. Baseline characteristics, airway management, anaesthetic techniques and major complications were collected. Descriptive analysis, binary logistic regression modelling and comparisons with earlier data were conducted. Data were collected from 3117 procedures, including 2554 (81.9%) caesarean deliveries. Thiopental was the induction drug in 1649 (52.9%) patients, compared with propofol in 1419 (45.5%). Suxamethonium was the neuromuscular blocking drug for tracheal intubation in 2631 (86.1%), compared with rocuronium in 367 (11.8%). Difficult tracheal intubation was reported in 1 in 19 (95%CI 1 in 16-22) and failed intubation in 1 in 312 (95%CI 1 in 169-667). Obese patients were over-represented compared with national baselines and associated with difficult, but not failed intubation. There was more evidence of change in practice for induction drugs (increased use of propofol) than neuromuscular blocking drugs (suxamethonium remains the most popular). There was evidence of improvement in practice, with increased monitoring and reversal of neuromuscular blockade (although this remains suboptimal). Despite a high risk of difficult intubation in this population, videolaryngoscopy was rarely used (1.9%)