The effect on growth and metabolism of the endocrine changes associated with malnutrition

No Abstrac

Examining the relationship between parent/carer's attitudes, beliefs and their child's future participation in physics

Despite girls enjoying and being good at physics, the proportion of girls studying physics and going into physics related careers still lags behind that of boys. A large volume of research exists on the factors related to the uptake of girls into physics, however little research looks at the link between parents and their child’s physics uptake. Research shows that children’s attitudes towards physics correlate strongly with their parents’ attitudes, but more research is needed. The evidence presented here moves the research forward by modelling a number of parental attitudes and background characteristics to establish the strength of association with their child participating in physics in the future. It also develops validated scales for use with parents and suggestions for interventions to establish causality. 2,049 parents and carers of 13/14 year old children in England completed the survey. The findings indicate that parents who enjoyed physics, consider physics useful for getting a job and judge their child as academic, have the strongest associations with their child’s future participation in physics. Other key variables include the parent valuing physics, the parent attending school outside of the UK, the child being a boy and parents judging daughters as courageous and/or determined

Argon plasma treatment techniques on steel and effects on diamond-like carbon structure and delamination

Copyright © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.We demonstrate alteration in diamond-like carbon (DLC) film structure, chemistry and adhesion on steel, related to variation in the argon plasma pretreatment stage of plasma enhanced chemical vapour deposition. We relate these changes to the alteration in substrate structure, crystallinity and chemistry due to application of an argon plasma process with negative self bias up to 600 V. Adhesion of the DLC film to the substrate was assessed by examination of the spallated fraction of the film following controlled deformation. Films with no pretreatment step immediately delaminated. At 300 V pretreatment, the spallated fraction is 8.2%, reducing to 1.2% at 450 V and 0.02% at 600V. For bias voltages below 450V the adhesion enhancement is explained by a reduction in carbon contamination on the substrate surface, from 59at.% with no treatment to 26at.% at 450V, concurrently with a decrease in the surface roughness, Rq, from 31.5nm to 18.9nm. With a pretreatment bias voltage of 600V a nanocrystalline, nanostructured surface is formed, related to removal of chromium and relaxation of stress; X-ray diffraction indicates this phase is incipient at 450V. In addition to improving film adhesion, the nanotexturing of the substrate prior to film deposition results in a DLC film that shows an increase in sp3/sp2 ratio from 1.2 to 1.5, a reduction in surface roughness from 31nm to 21nm, and DLC nodular asperities with reduced diameter and increased uniformity of size and arrangement. These findings are consistent with the substrate alterations due to the plasma pretreatment resulting in limitation of surface diffusion in the growth process. This suggests that in addition to deposition phase processes, the parameters of the pretreatment process need to be considered when designing diamond-like carbon coatings.This work is partially supported by the Technology Strategy Board, reference BD266E

Alcohol: a cause of diabetes in Rhodesia

Forty-four per cent of newly-diagnosed Black male diabetic patients habitually drank more than 500 ml alcohol per week. This is a far higher proportion than in healthy men matched for age (6 - 12%), and suggests that the abuse of alcohol contributes to the development of diabetes in this population. In diabetic patients a high consumption of alcohol was found to be associated with liver damage, including cirrhosis, and also with iron overload, but not with insulinopenia or steatorrhoea. Twelve of the 98 newlydiagnosed diabetic patients also had cirrhosis, and 14 had a raised serum iron concentration or saturation.S. Afr. Med. J., 48, 1115 (1974)

Plasma renin activity in children with protein energy malnutrition (Kwashiorkor)

Plasma renin activity was measured by bio-assay in 100 children with kwashiorkor and in 20 healthy children, and also by radio-immunoassay in another 26 children with kwashiorkor and in another 20 healthy children. Both methods showed that (compared with healthy children) renin activity was significantly increased in children with kwashiorkor; and also that the activity was significantly higher in the patients who subsequently died in hospital, than in those who survived. Increased renin activity probably contributes to the retention of water characteristic of protein energy malnutrition.S. Afr. Med. J., 48, 499 (1974)

Impact of rest-redistribution on fatigue during maximal eccentric knee extensions

Redistributing long inter-set rest intervals into shorter but more frequent rest intervals generally maintains concentric performance, possibly due to improved energy store maintenance. However, eccentric actions require less energy than concentric actions, meaning that shorter but more frequent sets may not affect eccentric actions to the same degree as concentric actions. Considering the increased popularity of eccentric exercise, the current study evaluated the effects of redistributing long inter-set rest periods into shorter but more frequent rest periods during eccentric only knee extensions. Eleven resistance-trained men performed 40 isokinetic unilateral knee extensions at 60°·s-1 with 285 s of total rest using traditional sets (TS; 4 sets of 10 with 95 s inter-set rest) and rest-redistribution (RR; 20 sets of 2 with 15 s inter-set rest). Before and during exercise, muscle oxygenation was measured via near-infrared spectroscopy, and rating of perceived exertion (RPE) was recorded after every 10th repetition. There were no differences between protocols for peak torque (RR, 241.58±47.20 N; TS, 231.64±48.87 N; p=0.396) or total work (RR, 215.26±41.47 J; TS, 209.71±36.02 J; p=0.601), but moderate to large effect sizes existed in later repetitions (6,8,10) with greater peak torque during RR (d=0.66-1.19). For the entire session, RR had moderate effects on RPE (RR, 5.73±1.42; TS, 6.09±1.30; p=0.307; d=0.53) and large effects on oxygen saturation (RR, 5857.4±310.0; TS, 6495.8±273.8; p=0.002, d=2.13). Therefore, RR may maintain peak torque or total work during eccentric exercise, improve oxygen utilization at the muscle, and reduce the perceived effort

Tectonostratigraphic controls on pore fluid pressure distribution across the Taranaki Basin, New Zealand

Significant variations in pore pressure across the Taranaki Basin, New Zealand, are attributed to changes in lithofacies and structure, usefully illustrated in terms of ten areas that we term geopressure provinces, each displaying individual pore pressure trends. Cretaceous to Early Miocene formations in different parts of the basin can be either normally pressured (near or at hydrostatic) or significantly overpressured (up to 28 MPa) at the same depth. Variations in Eocene–Oligocene facies types and thicknesses both within and between geopressure provinces provide first-order control on the magnitude, distribution and maintenance of overpressure across the basin. Examples of hydraulic compartmentalisation due to sealing faults and stratigraphic architecture are identified within the basin. Deep pore pressure transitions are sealed by diagenetic, structural or stratigraphic mechanisms in different places and are associated with an increase in mudrock volume (reduced permeability) or gas generation. Thus, pore pressure distribution in the Taranaki Basin is controlled by a combination of sediment loading, lithofacies variations, fault zone permeability and structural architecture. This work represents an appraisal of the pore pressure distribution across the whole of a multiphase structurally complex basin, and the approach taken provides a framework for better understanding the distribution of pore fluid pressures and pore fluid migration in other sedimentary basins

Nama marks and etchings: Employing movement analysis techniques to interpret the Nama Stap.

The Khoisan are the indigenous peoples of Southern Africa, whose existence can be traced back some 2000 years to the Cape area of what is today South Africa. The Nama, the people whose dancing is the subject of this study, are the descendents of these original inhabitants of South Africa. The Nama are scattered among five 'coloured-reserve' areas in the north-west area of South Africa. This study concerns the Nama who live in !Khubus in the Richtersveld region of Namaqualand near the Orange River. Like other indigenous peoples in what is today popularly referred to as the 'Rainbow Nation', the Nama have been profoundly affected by colonisation and a brutal apartheid regime. It is not too difficult, at a superficial level at least, to distinguish supposedly traditional Nama customs from those they have adopted. The most obvious of these can readily be observed in language (Afrikaans), religious practices, architecture, and dancing. These activities are fertile examples of both acculturation and survival. The activities known as The Nama Stap (Step) and The Nama Stap Dance the subject of this dissertation, are particular examples of such fusion and endurance. They at once demonstrate the Nama drive for survival through adaptation and their need for continuity. This dissertation assesses and critiques movement analysis techniques. It then applies complementary methodologies including anthropology, ethnography, dance analysis, Labanotation and Laban Movement Analysis to address the continuities to be found In what the Nama call their 'national dance', how these have survived through a process of fusion, and how this historic female puberty rite has been transformed Into a contemporary statement of the solidarity between Nama women