How can we better prepare new doctors for the tasks and challenges of ward rounds?:An observational study of junior doctors' experiences

Founding: Economic and Social Research Council Open access via T&F agreement Acknowledgements The authors would like to thank participating FY1 doctors and the senior staff who made this study possible. Funding The study was funded by the ESRC via a Doctoral Studentship awarded to CB.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Health-care providers' perspectives on factors influencing return-to-work after surgery for nontraumatic conditions of the upper extremity

Study Design: This study is a descriptive survey. Introduction: Health care providers (HCPs) are key stakeholders who facilitate workers’ return to work (RTW) following upper extremity surgery. Hand therapists play a major role in this process, yet we do not know if and/or how their perspectives differ from other HCPs. Purpose of the Study: This study examined HCPs’ opinion on factors that influence RTW after surgery for nontraumatic upper extremity conditions and whether HCPs from different disciplines differed in their opinion. Methods: HCPs (occupational therapists, physiotherapists, hand therapists, exercise physiologists, psychologists, surgeons, and general practitioners) completed a survey rating 50 factors on a worker's ability to RTW. Each factor was scored using a 5-point Likert scale from “not” to “extremely” influential, which was later dichotomised. Agreement was indicated at 75%. The level of disagreement between disciplines was examined. Results: Respondents (n = 787) identified 20 factors being influential on RTW. They are (in order from highest to lowest) poor pain coping (the highest, >85% of respondents), postoperative psychological state, RTW self-efficacy, employer/supervisor's support, employer's unwillingness for job modification, recovery expectations, job satisfaction, suitable duties availability, whether the job can be modified, and mood disorder diagnosis. There was agreement that two factors do not influence RTW, gender, and preemployment medical assessment. There was disagreement (

Microscopic theory of the pseudogap and Peierls transition in quasi-one-dimensional materials

The problem of deriving from microscopic theory a Ginzburg-Landau free energy functional to describe the Peierls or charge-density-wave transition in quasi-one-dimensional materials is considered. Particular attention is given to how the thermal lattice motion affects the electronic states. Near the transition temperature the thermal lattice motion produces a pseudogap in the density of states at the Fermi level. Perturbation theory diverges and the traditional quasi-particle or Fermi liquid picture breaks down. The pseudogap causes a significant modification of the coefficients in the Ginzburg-Landau functional from their values in the rigid lattice approximation, which neglects the effect of the thermal lattice motion. To appear in Physical Review B.Comment: 21 pages, RevTeX, 5 figures in uuencoded compressed tar fil

Co-ordination of early and late ripening events in apples is regulated through differential sensitivities to ethylene

In this study, it is shown that anti-sense suppression of Malus domestica 1-AMINO-CYCLOPROPANE-CARBOXYLASE OXIDASE (MdACO1) resulted in fruit with an ethylene production sufficiently low to be able to assess ripening in the absence of ethylene. Exposure of these fruit to different concentrations of exogenous ethylene showed that flesh softening, volatile biosynthesis, and starch degradation, had differing ethylene sensitivity and dependency. Early ripening events such as the conversion of starch to sugars showed a low dependency for ethylene, but a high sensitivity to low concentrations of ethylene (0.01 μl l−1). By contrast, later ripening events such as flesh softening and ester volatile production showed a high dependency for ethylene but were less sensitive to low concentrations (needing 0.1 μl l−1 for a response). A sustained exposure to ethylene was required to maintain ripening, indicating that the role of ethylene may go beyond that of ripening initiation. These results suggest a conceptual model for the control of individual ripening characters in apple, based on both ethylene dependency and sensitivity

Quasi-monocrystalline silicon for low-noise end mirrors in cryogenic gravitational-wave detectors

Mirrors made of silicon have been proposed for use in future cryogenic gravitational-wave detectors, which will be significantly more sensitive than current room-temperature detectors. These mirrors are planned to have diameters of ≈50 cm and a mass of ≈200 kg. While single-crystalline float-zone silicon meets the requirements of low optical absorption and low mechanical loss, the production of this type of material is restricted to sizes much smaller than required. Here we present studies of silicon produced by directional solidification. This material can be grown as quasi-monocrystalline ingots in sizes larger than currently required. We present measurements of a low room-temperature and cryogenic mechanical loss comparable with float-zone silicon. While the optical absorption of our test sample is significantly higher than required, the low mechanical loss motivates research into further absorption reduction in the future. While it is unclear if material pure enough for the transmissive detector input mirrors can be achieved, an absorption level suitable for the highly reflective coated end mirrors seems realistic. Together with the potential to produce samples much larger than ≈50 cm, this material may be of great benefit for realizing silicon-based gravitational-wave detectors

In search of phylogenetic congruence between molecular and morphological data in bryozoans with extreme adult skeletal heteromorphy

peerreview_statement: The publishing and review policy for this title is described in its Aims & Scope. aims_and_scope_url: http://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?show=aimsScope&journalCode=tsab20© Crown Copyright 2015. This document is the author's final accepted/submitted version of the journal article. You are advised to consult the publisher's version if you wish to cite from it