Hodgkin's disease and birth outcome: a Danish nationwide cohort study

In a Danish nationwide cohort study of 292 births from 1973 to 2002 in women with Hodgkin's disease (HD), we compared birth outcome with 14 042 births from a cohort of mothers without cancer. We found no substantially increased risk of preterm birth, low birth weight at term, or stillbirth and no difference in proportion of male newborns for 192 children of women with HD before pregnancy. The prevalence odds ratio (POR) for congenital abnormalities was 1.7 (95% confidence interval (CI): 0.9–3.1). Among 15 newborns of mothers diagnosed during pregnancy, the POR of preterm birth was 26.6 (95% CI: 8.5–83.0), but five out of the eight preterm deliveries among these women were elective. We found no substantially increased risk of adverse birth outcome among 85 newborns of women diagnosed within 2 years postpartum, though effect estimates were imprecise. The overall findings are reassuring, they cannot exclude the possibility of an increased risk of congenital abnormalities for newborns of women diagnosed with HD before pregnancy

Aqueous hydroxylation mediated synthesis of crystalline calcium uranate particles

Metal uranates(VI) are solubility limiting U(VI) phases under high pH conditions and may act as suitable long-term wasteforms. The precipitation and thermal phase development mechanisms of calcium uranate particles formed via aqueous hydroxylation reactions are studied in order to address the lack of aqueous synthesis methods currently available. Hydrous Ca-deficient uranate particles formed from aqueous solutions saturated in U(VI) oligomers were found to thermally decompose via several weight-loss steps between 100 and 800 °C. Crystalline calcium uranate (Ca2U3O11) is initially formed at 700 °C via dehydration and dehydroxylation-olation reactions under redox-neutral conditions. This initial phase decomposes to biphasic CaUO4-UO2 particles at 800 °C via a reductive pathway

Applications of a constrained mechanics methodology in economics

The paper presents instructive interdisciplinary applications of constrained mechanics calculus in economics on a level appropriate for the undergraduate physics education. The aim of the paper is: 1. to meet the demand for illustrative examples suitable for presenting the background of the highly expanding research field of econophysics even on the undergraduate level and 2. to enable the students to understand deeper the principles and methods routinely used in mechanics by looking at the well known methodology from the different perspective of economics. Two constrained dynamic economic problems are presented using the economic terminology in an intuitive way. First, the Phillips model of business cycle is presented as a system of forced oscillations and the general problem of two interacting economies is solved by the nonholonomic dynamics approach. Second, the Cass-Koopmans-Ramsey model of economical growth is solved as a variational problem with a velocity dependent constraint using the vakonomic approach. The specifics of the solution interpretation in economics compared to mechanics is discussed in detail, a discussion of the nonholonomic and vakonomic approaches to constrained problems in mechanics and economics is provided and an economic interpretation of the Lagrange multipliers (possibly surprising for the students of physics) is carefully explained. The paper can be used by the undergraduate students of physics interested in interdisciplinary physics applications to get in touch with current scientific approach to economics based on a physical background or by university teachers as an attractive supplement to the classical mechanics lessons.

Laboratory studies and development of a catalysed fluorox process for the production of UF6.

Laboratory studies of a catalysed Fluorox process for the production of UF6 are described. The rates of the reactions of UF4 with oxygen, of UO2F2 with hydrogen and of U03 with hydrogen were greatly increased by the presence of small quantities of platinum and other metal catalysts, thus making it possible to carry out these reactions at economical rates at temperatures significantly lower than have been used by other workers. The rates of the catalysed reactions were studied as a function of temperature, catalyst concentration and the particle size of the reactants. The conditions for the preparation of the catalyst were studied to optimise catalytic activity, and methods for the recovery of the caisajyst from the reaction mixture were also investigated. Preliminary studies in a bench-scale fluidised bed reactor have demonstrated the feasibility of using fluidised beds for the catalysed Fluorox process- The applications of these catalysed reactions to the commercial production of UF6 are discussed