Bubble transport by electro-magnetophoretic forces at anode bottom of aluminium cells

Electrically conducting and nonconducting particles and bubbles experience additional forcing in a liquid which carries electric current. These so called electro-magnetophoretic forces are well known in metallurgical applications, like metal purification in vacuum-arc remelting, electro-slag processes, impurity removal or concentration change in special castings. However, the effect of electro-magnetophoretic forces has never been considered for aluminium cells where the gas bubbles evolving in the liquid electrolyte are surrounded by an electric current and significant magnetic fields. We present models to estimate the effect of electric current flow in the vicinity of the bubbles and the additional pressure distribution resulting from the magnetic forces in the surrounding liquid electrolyte. According to the estimates, this force becomes important for bubbles exceeding 2 mm in size, and could be sufficient to overcome the typical drag force associated with electrolyte flow thereby opposing motion of the bubble along the base of the anode when it is inclined at a slight angle. The effect could explain certain features of the anode effect onset. Mathematical models and numerical results are presented and a further implementation in the general MHD code for the aluminium cell design is discussed

The information needs of people living with ankylosing spondylitis: a questionnaire survey

<p>BACKGROUND:Today, health care is patient-centred with patients more involved in medical decision making and taking an active role in managing their disease. It is important that patients are appropriately informed about their condition and that their health care needs are met. We examine the information utilisation, sources and needs of people with ankylosing spondylitis (AS).</p> <p>METHODS: Participants in an existing AS cohort study were asked to complete a postal or online questionnaire containing closed and open-ended questions, regarding their information access and needs. Participants were stratified by age and descriptive statistics were performed using STATA 11, while thematic analysis was performed on open-ended question narratives. Qualitative data was handled in Microsoft Access and explored for emerging themes and patterns of experiences.</p> <p>RESULTS: Despite 73% of respondents having internet access, only 49% used the internet to access information regarding AS. Even then, this was only infrequently. Only 50% of respondents reported accessing written information about AS, which was obtained mainly in specialist clinics. Women were more likely than men to access information (63% (women) 46% (men)) regardless of the source, while younger patients were more likely to use online sources. The main source of non-written information was the rheumatologist. Overall, the respondents felt there was sufficient information available, but there was a perception that the tone was often too negative. The majority (95%) of people would like to receive a regular newsletter about AS, containing positive practical and local information. Suggestions were also made for more information about AS to be made available to non-specialist medical professionals and the general public.</p> <p>CONCLUSIONS: There appears to be sufficient information available for people with AS in the UK and this is mostly accessed by younger AS patients. Many patients, particularly men, choose not to access AS information and concerns were raised about its negative tone. Patients still rely on written and verbal information from their specialists. Future initiatives should focus on the delivery of more positive information, targeting younger participants in particular and increasing the awareness in the general population and wider non-specialist medical community.</p&gt

Conducting retrospective impact analysis to inform a medical research charity’s funding strategies: The case of Asthma UK

© 2013 Hanney et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.This article has been made available through the Brunel Open Access Publishing Fund.BACKGROUND: Debate is intensifying about how to assess the full range of impacts from medical research. Complexity increases when assessing the diverse funding streams of funders such as Asthma UK, a charitable patient organisation supporting medical research to benefit people with asthma. This paper aims to describe the various impacts identified from a range of Asthma UK research, and explore how Asthma UK utilised the characteristics of successful funding approaches to inform future research strategies. METHODS: We adapted the Payback Framework, using it both in a survey and to help structure interviews, documentary analysis, and case studies. We sent surveys to 153 lead researchers of projects, plus 10 past research fellows, and also conducted 14 detailed case studies. These covered nine projects and two fellowships, in addition to the innovative case studies on the professorial chairs (funded since 1988) and the MRC-Asthma UK Centre in Allergic Mechanisms of Asthma (the ‘Centre’) which together facilitated a comprehensive analysis of the whole funding portfolio. We organised each case study to capture whatever academic and wider societal impacts (or payback) might have arisen given the diverse timescales, size of funding involved, and extent to which Asthma UK funding contributed to the impacts. RESULTS: Projects recorded an average of four peer-reviewed journal articles. Together the chairs reported over 500 papers. All streams of funding attracted follow-on funding. Each of the various categories of societal impacts arose from only a minority of individual projects and fellowships. Some of the research portfolio is influencing asthma-related clinical guidelines, and some contributing to product development. The latter includes potentially major breakthroughs in asthma therapies (in immunotherapy, and new inhaled drugs) trialled by university spin-out companies. Such research-informed guidelines and medicines can, in turn, contribute to health improvements. The role of the chairs and the pioneering collaborative Centre is shown as being particularly important. CONCLUSIONS: We systematically demonstrate that all types of Asthma UK’s research funding assessed are making impacts at different levels, but the main societal impacts from projects and fellowships come from a minority of those funded. Asthma UK used the study’s findings, especially in relation to the Centre, to inform research funding strategies to promote the achievement of impact.This study was funded by Asthma UK

Tracing the wider impacts of biomedical research: A literature search to develop a novel citation categorisation technique

There is an increasing need both to understand the translation of biomedical research into improved healthcare and to assess the range of wider impacts from health research such as improved health policies, health practices and healthcare. Conducting such assessments is complex and new methods are being sought. Our new approach involves several steps. First, we developed a qualitative citation analysis technique to apply to biomedical research in order to assess the contribution that individual papers made to further research. Second, using this method, we then proposed to trace the citations to the original research through a series of generations of citing papers. Third, we aimed eventually to assess the wider impacts of the various generations. This article describes our comprehensive literature search to inform the new technique. We searched various databases, specific bibliometrics journals and the bibliographies of key papers. After excluding irrelevant papers we reviewed those remaining for either general or specific details that could inform development of our new technique. Various characteristics of citations were identified that had been found to predict their importance to the citing paper including the citation’s location; number of citation occasions and whether the author(s) of the cited paper were named within the citing paper. We combined these objective characteristics with subjective approaches also identified from the literature search to develop a citation categorisation technique that would allow us to achieve the first of the steps above, i.e., being able routinely to assess the contribution that individual papers make to further research.Medical Research Council as part of the MRC-NIHR Methodology Research Programme, and Professor Martin Buxton

On-going collaborative priority-setting for research activity: a method of capacity building to reduce the research-practice translational gap

Background: International policy suggests that collaborative priority setting (CPS) between researchers and end users of research should shape the research agenda, and can increase capacity to address the research-practice translational gap. There is limited research evidence to guide how this should be done to meet the needs of dynamic healthcare systems. One-off priority setting events and time-lag between decision and action prove problematic. This study illustrates the use of CPS in a UK research collaboration called Collaboration and Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care (CLAHRC). Methods: Data were collected from a north of England CLAHRC through semi-structured interviews with 28 interviewees and a workshop of key stakeholders (n = 21) including academics, NHS clinicians, and managers. Documentary analysis of internal reports and CLAHRC annual reports for the first two and half years was also undertaken. These data were thematically coded. Results: Methods of CPS linked to the developmental phase of the CLAHRC. Early methods included pre-existing historical partnerships with on-going dialogue. Later, new platforms for on-going discussions were formed. Consensus techniques with staged project development were also used. All methods demonstrated actual or potential change in practice and services. Impact was enabled through the flexibility of research and implementation work streams; ‘matched’ funding arrangements to support alignment of priorities in partner organisations; the size of the collaboration offering a resource to meet project needs; and the length of the programme providing stability and long term relationships. Difficulties included tensions between being responsive to priorities and the possibility of ‘drift’ within project work, between academics and practice, and between service providers and commissioners in the health services. Providing protected ‘matched’ time proved difficult for some NHS managers, which put increasing work pressure on them. CPS is more time consuming than traditional approaches to project development. Conclusions: CPS can produce needs-led projects that are bedded in services using a variety of methods. Contributing factors for effective CPS include flexibility in use and type of available resources, flexible work plans, and responsive leadership. The CLAHRC model provides a translational infrastructure that enables CPS that can impact on healthcare systems

Confusion and Conflict in Assessing the Physical Activity Status of Middle-Aged Men

BACKGROUND: Physical activity (including exercise) is prescribed for health and there are various recommendations that can be used to gauge physical activity status. The objective of the current study was to determine whether twelve commonly-used physical activity recommendations similarly classified middle-aged men as sufficiently active for general health. METHODS AND FINDINGS: We examined the commonality in the classification of physical activity status between twelve variations of physical activity recommendations for general health in ninety men aged 45-64 years. Physical activity was assessed using synchronised accelerometry and heart rate. Using different guidelines but the same raw data, the proportion of men defined as active ranged from to 11% to 98% for individual recommendations (median 73%, IQR 30% to 87%). There was very poor absolute agreement between the recommendations, with an intraclass correlation coefficient (A,1) of 0.24 (95% CI, 0.15 to 0.34). Only 8% of men met all 12 recommendations and would therefore be unanimously classified as active and only one man failed to meet every recommendation and would therefore be unanimously classified as not sufficiently active. The wide variability in physical activity classification was explained by ostensibly subtle differences between the 12 recommendations for thresholds related to activity volume (time or energy), distribution (e.g., number of days of the week), moderate intensity cut-point (e.g., 3 vs. 4 metabolic equivalents or METs), and duration (including bout length). CONCLUSIONS: Physical activity status varies enormously depending on the physical activity recommendation that is applied and even ostensibly small differences have a major impact. Approximately nine out of every ten men in the present study could be variably described as either active or not sufficiently active. Either the effective dose or prescription that underlies each physical activity recommendation is different or each recommendation is seeking the same prescriptive outcome but with variable success

Protocol for a population-based Ankylosing Spondylitis (PAS) cohort in Wales

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>To develop a population-based cohort of people with ankylosing spondylitis (AS) in Wales using (1) secondary care clinical datasets, (2) patient-derived questionnaire data and (3) routinely-collected information in order to examine disease history and the health economic cost of AS.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>This data model will include and link (1) secondary care clinician datasets (i.e. electronic patient notes from the rheumatologist) (2) patient completed questionnaires (giving information on disease activity, medication, function, quality of life, work limitations and health service utilisation) and (3) a broad range of routinely collected data (including; GP records, in-patient hospital admission data, emergency department data, laboratory/pathology data and social services databases). The protocol involves the use of a unique and powerful data linkage system which allows datasets to be interlinked and to complement each other.</p> <p>Discussion</p> <p>This cohort can integrate patient supplied, primary and secondary care data into a unified data model. This can be used to study a range of issues such as; the true economic costs to the health care system and the patient, factors associated with the development of severe disease, long term adverse events of new and existing medication and to understand the disease history of this condition. It will benefit patients, clinicians and health care managers. This study forms a pilot project for the use of routine data/patient data linked cohorts for other chronic conditions.</p

Graphene oxide-polydopamine derived N, S-codoped carbon nanosheets as superior bifunctional electrocatalysts for oxygen reduction and evolution

Australian Research Council (ARC

Vignette studies of medical choice and judgement to study caregivers' medical decision behaviour: systematic review

BACKGROUND: Vignette studies of medical choice and judgement have gained popularity in the medical literature. Originally developed in mathematical psychology they can be used to evaluate physicians' behaviour in the setting of diagnostic testing or treatment decisions. We provide an overview of the use, objectives and methodology of these studies in the medical field. METHODS: Systematic review. We searched in electronic databases; reference lists of included studies. We included studies that examined medical decisions of physicians, nurses or medical students using cue weightings from answers to structured vignettes. Two reviewers scrutinized abstracts and examined full text copies of potentially eligible studies. The aim of the included studies, the type of clinical decision, the number of participants, some technical aspects, and the type of statistical analysis were extracted in duplicate and discrepancies were resolved by consensus. RESULTS: 30 reports published between 1983 and 2005 fulfilled the inclusion criteria. 22 studies (73%) reported on treatment decisions and 27 (90%) explored the variation of decisions among experts. Nine studies (30%) described differences in decisions between groups of caregivers and ten studies (33%) described the decision behaviour of only one group. Only six studies (20%) compared decision behaviour against an empirical reference of a correct decision. The median number of considered attributes was 6.5 (IQR 4-9), the median number of vignettes was 27 (IQR 16-40). In 17 studies, decision makers had to rate the relative importance of a given vignette; in six studies they had to assign a probability to each vignette. Only ten studies (33%) applied a statistical procedure to account for correlated data. CONCLUSION: Various studies of medical choice and judgement have been performed to depict weightings of the value of clinical information from answers to structured vignettes of care givers. We found that the design and analysis methods used in current applications vary considerably and could be improved in a large number of cases

Proteomic and Physiological Responses of Kineococcus radiotolerans to Copper

Copper is a highly reactive, toxic metal; consequently, transport of this metal within the cell is tightly regulated. Intriguingly, the actinobacterium Kineococcus radiotolerans has been shown to not only accumulate soluble copper to high levels within the cytoplasm, but the phenotype also correlated with enhanced cell growth during chronic exposure to ionizing radiation. This study offers a first glimpse into the physiological and proteomic responses of K. radiotolerans to copper at increasing concentration and distinct growth phases. Aerobic growth rates and biomass yields were similar over a range of Cu(II) concentrations (0–1.5 mM) in complex medium. Copper uptake coincided with active cell growth and intracellular accumulation was positively correlated with Cu(II) concentration in the growth medium (R2 = 0.7). Approximately 40% of protein coding ORFs on the K. radiotolerans genome were differentially expressed in response to the copper treatments imposed. Copper accumulation coincided with increased abundance of proteins involved in oxidative stress and defense, DNA stabilization and repair, and protein turnover. Interestingly, the specific activity of superoxide dismutase was repressed by low to moderate concentrations of copper during exponential growth, and activity was unresponsive to perturbation with paraquot. The biochemical response pathways invoked by sub-lethal copper concentrations are exceptionally complex; though integral cellular functions are preserved, in part, through the coordination of defense enzymes, chaperones, antioxidants and protective osmolytes that likely help maintain cellular redox. This study extends our understanding of the ecology and physiology of this unique actinobacterium that could potentially inspire new biotechnologies in metal recovery and sequestration, and environmental restoration