A Follow-Up Survey Of Out-Patients In A Medical Clinic For Africans At Harare Hospital In Rhodesia

A CAJM survey of out-patience's failure rate to return for further treatment at the major Zimbabwe(Rhodesia) hospital, Harare Central.It was an early impression when commencing work in a medical unit at 'Harare Hospital that a large proportion of patients failed to return to the out-patient clinic on discharge from hospital despite the chronic or serious nature of their disease. An attempt was therefore made to assess the magnitude of the problem, it seeming both of interest and importance to the practicing physician at Harare Hospital to know more, exactly the likelihood of a patient returning for follow-up care, especially where circumstances may force an early discharge due to pressure on beds. These estimations seemed relevant when considering the African patient who usually has no regular private practitioner and relies more heavily on the hospital or clinic. It must also be considered in relation to the costs of modern in-patient care and treatment which may be considered wasted if patients are not followed up. In these oases re-admission may involve further intensive therapy and expenditure which could have been prevented. These thoughts initiated a five months’ survey of return attendances which will be compared to similar problems in other areas

Oxoborane Formation Turns on Formazanate-Based Photoluminescence

The synthesis of compounds containing multiple bonds to boron has challenged main-group chemists for decades. Despite significant progress, the possibility that the formation of such bonds can turn on photoluminescence has received minimal attention. We report an oxoborane (B=O) complex that is electronically stabilized by a formazanate ligand in the absence of significant steric bulk and, unlike the common BX2 (X = F, Cl) formazanate adducts, exhibits intense photoluminescence. The latter property was rationalized through density-functional calculations which indicated that the B=O bond enhances photoluminescence by drastically reducing differences between the ligand\u27s geometries in the ground and excited states. The title oxoborane compound was synthesized from an air- and moisture-stable BCl2 formazanate complex and subsequently converted to a redox-active boroxine. Each of these species may also serve as a precursor to functional materials

Side-Chain Boron Difluoride Formazanate Polymers via Ring-Opening Metathesis Polymerization

The synthesis, characterization, and ring-opening methathesis polymerization (ROMP) of a novel norbornene-based boron difluoride (BF2) formazante monomer are described in detail. The polymerization studies confirmed ROMP to occur in the presence of BF2 formazanates, and also demonstrated the controlled nature of the polymerization. The polymers retained many of the unique characteristics of the monomers in dichloromethane, including absorption and emission at maximum wavelengths of 518 and 645 nm, large Stoke\u27s shifts (uST = 127 nm, 3,800 cm-1), and the ability to act as electron reservoirs to form borataverdazyl-based poly(radical anions) (E°red1 = -0.95 V). Furthermore, the results described in this paper demonstrate the potential of these and related polymers based on BF2 formazanates as redox-active, light-harvesting materials

Innovations on a shoestring: a study of a collaborative community-based Aboriginal mental health service model in rural Canada

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Collaborative, culturally safe services that integrate clinical approaches with traditional Aboriginal healing have been hailed as promising approaches to ameliorate the high rates of mental health problems in Aboriginal communities in Canada. Overcoming significant financial and human resources barriers, a mental health team in northern Ontario is beginning to realize this ideal. We studied the strategies, strengths and challenges related to collaborative Aboriginal mental health care.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A participatory action research approach was employed to evaluate the Knaw Chi Ge Win services and their place in the broader mental health system. Qualitative methods were used as the primary source of data collection and included document review, ethnographic interviews with 15 providers and 23 clients; and 3 focus groups with community workers and managers.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The Knaw Chi Ge Win model is an innovative, community-based Aboriginal mental health care model that has led to various improvements in care in a challenging rural, high needs environment. Formal opportunities to share information, shared protocols and ongoing education support this model of collaborative care. Positive outcomes associated with this model include improved quality of care, cultural safety, and integration of traditional Aboriginal healing with clinical approaches. Ongoing challenges include chronic lack of resources, health information and the still cursory understanding of Aboriginal healing and outcomes.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>This model can serve to inform collaborative care in other rural and Indigenous mental health systems. Further research into traditional Aboriginal approaches to mental health is needed to continue advances in collaborative practice in a clinical setting.</p

Ex Vivo Model of Neuroblastoma Plasticity

Simple Summary The complexity of tumor cell plasticity is still poorly understood. In particular, cellular changes during the metastatic process are difficult to monitor. This is a descriptive study of cell lines derived from primary tumors of xenografted LAN-1 cells and the corresponding three generations of bone metastases. Our results of ex vivo analysis of the cell lines depict the ability of tumor cells to adapt and survive in different microenvironments undergoing significant cellular alterations. The cell lines show strong phenotypical and biochemical changes and even an altered response to immune cells and chemotherapy. In conclusion, this mouse model allows to analyze the complex changes in tumor cell populations during metastasis and can be adapted to cell lines from different tumor origins. Abstract Tumor plasticity is essential for adaptation to changing environmental conditions, in particular during the process of metastasis. In this study, we compared morphological and biochemical differences between LAN-1 neuroblastoma (NB) cells recovered from a subcutaneous xenograft primary tumor (PT) and the corresponding three generations of bone metastasis (BM I–III). Moreover, growth behavior, as well as the response to chemotherapy and immune cells were assessed. For this purpose, F-actin was stained, mRNA and protein expression assessed, and lactate secretion analyzed. Further, we measured adhesion to collagen I, the growth rate of spheroids in the presence and absence of vincristine, and the production of IL-6 by peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) co-incubated with PT or BM I–III. Analysis of PT and the three BM generations revealed that their growth rate decreased from PT to BM III, and accordingly, PT cells reacted most sensitively to vincristine. In addition, morphology, adaption to hypoxic conditions, as well as transcriptomes showed strong differences between the cell lines. Moreover, BM I and BM II cells exhibited a significantly different ability to stimulate human immune cells compared to PT and BM III cells. Interestingly, the differences in immune cell stimulation corresponded to the expression level of the cancer-testis antigen MAGE-A3. In conclusion, our ex vivo model allows to analyze the adaption of tumor populations to different microenvironments and clearly demonstrates the strong alteration of tumor cell populations during this process

Optimising the reproducibility of measurements of the post-IR IRSL signal from single-grains of K-feldspar for dating.

Achieving good environmental status in the Baltic Sea region requires decision support tools which are based on scientific knowledge across multiple disciplines. Such tools should integrate the complexity of the ecosystem and enable exploration of different natural and anthropogenic pressures such as climate change, eutrophication and fishing pressures in order to compare alternative management strategies. We present a new framework, with a Baltic implementation of the spatially-explicit end-to-end Atlantis ecosystem model linked to two external models, to explore the different pressures on the marine ecosystem. The HBM-ERGOM initializes the Atlantis model with high-resolution physical-chemical-biological and hydrodynamic information while the FISHRENT model analyses the fisheries economics of the output of commercial fish biomass for the Atlantis terminal projection year. The Baltic Atlantis model composes 29 sub-areas, 9 vertical layers and 30 biological functional groups. The balanced calibration provides realistic levels of biomass for, among others, known stock sizes of top predators and of key fish species. Furthermore, it gives realistic levels of phytoplankton biomass and shows reasonable diet compositions and geographical distribution patterns for the functional groups. By simulating several scenarios of nutrient load reductions on the ecosystem and testing sensitivity to different fishing pressures, we show that the model is sensitive to those changes and capable of evaluating the impacts on different trophic levels, fish stocks, and fisheries associated with changed benthic oxygen conditions. We conclude that the Baltic Atlantis forms an initial basis for strategic management evaluation suited for conducting medium to long term ecosystem assessments which are of importance for a number of pan-Baltic stakeholders in relation to anthropogenic pressures such as eutrophication, climate change and fishing pressure, as well as changed biological interactions between functional groups