The poetry of Guy Butler

[From the introduction]: Guy Butler, born in Cradock on 21 January 1918, was a serious poet. Nearly a third of his poems are about death or loss, and many of the rest about parting failure, or difficult self-denial. His poetry is generally thoughtful and responsible to a deep religious vision. Of the ninety poems published between 1939 and 1979 the finest are those written between 1943 and 1963, from “Syrian Spring” to “Sweetwater.” The best poems cluster like moons round “On First Seeing Florence,” which is a major poem seldom given its rightful attention

Reporting and dealing with missing quality of life data in RCTs : has the picture changed in the last decade?

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Solar Energetic Particle Spectral Breaks

The five large solar particle events during October–November 2003 presented an opportunity to test shock acceleration models with in-situ observations. We use solar particle spectra of H to Fe ions, measured by instruments on ACE, SAMPEX, and GOES-11, to investigate the Q/M-dependence of spectral breaks in the 28 October 2003 event. We find that the break energies scale as (Q/M)^b with b ≈ 1.56 to 1.75, somewhat less than predicted. We also conclude that SEP spectra >100 MeV/nucleon are best fit by a double power-law shape. ©2005 American Institute of Physic

Neurotropic viruses and cerebral palsy: population based case-control study

Objective: To investigate the association between cerebral palsy and direct evidence for perinatal exposure to neurotropic viruses. Design: Population based case-control study. Setting: Adelaide Women's and Children's Hospital Research Laboratory. Participants and main outcome measures: Newborn screening cards of 443 white case patients with cerebral palsy and 883 white controls were tested for viral nucleic acids from enteroviruses and herpes viruses by using polymerase chain reaction. Herpes group A viruses included herpes simplex viruses 1 and 2 (HSV-1 and HSV-2), Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), cytomegalovirus (CMV), and human herpes virus 8 (HHV-8), and herpes group B viruses included varicella zoster virus (VZV) and human herpes viruses 6 and 7 (HHV-6 and HHV-7). Results: The prevalence of viral nucleic acids in the control population was high: 39.8% of controls tested positive, and the prevalence was highest in preterm babies. The detection of herpes group B viral nucleic acids increased the risk of developing cerebral palsy (odds ratio 1.68, 95% confidence interval 1.09 to 2.59). Conclusions: Perinatal exposure to neurotropic viruses is associated with preterm delivery and cerebral palsy.Catherine S. Gibson, Alastair H. MacLennan, Paul N. Goldwater, Eric A. Haan, Kevin Priest and Gustaaf A. Dekker

Charged particle composition in the inner heliosphere during the rise to maximum of Solar Cycle 23

Flux distributions and abundances relative to oxygen of interplanetary ions (Z>1)(Z>1) are statistically studied and compared for measurements made at 1 and at ∼5 AU on the ACE and the Ulysses spacecraft near the ecliptic plane. Over the nearly two year interval studied, the distributions of the relative abundances and the fluxes of particles at the two locations are found to be approximately log normal. The statistical distributions of the relative abundances are found to be similar at the two helioradii. On a statistical basis, the fluxes at Ulysses times the distance of the measurements appear to be proportional to the fluxes at ACE. This radial dependence of the fluxes is consistent with the interpretation that, statistically, the ion parallel diffusion coefficient is large. © 2000 American Institute of Physics.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/87340/2/169_1.pd

Orientational order parameters of a de Vries–type ferroelectric liquid crystal obtained by polarized Raman spectroscopy and x-ray diffraction

The orientational order parameters 〈P2〉 and 〈P4〉 of the ferroelectric, de Vries–type liquid crystal 9HL have been determined in the SmA* and SmC* phases by means of polarized Raman spectroscopy, and in the SmA* phase using x-ray diffraction. Quantum density functional theory predicts Raman spectra for 9HL that are in good agreement with the observations and indicates that the strong Raman band probed in the experiment corresponds to the uniaxial, coupled vibration of the three phenyl rings along the molecular long axis. The magnitudes of the orientational order parameters obtained in the Raman and x-ray experiments differ dramatically from each other, a discrepancy that is resolved by considering that the two techniques probe the orientational distributions of different molecular axes. We have developed a systematic procedure in which we calculate the angle between these axes and rescale the orientational order parameters obtained from x-ray scattering with results that are then in good agreement with the Raman data. At least in the case of 9HL, the results obtained by both techniques support a “sugar loaf” orientational distribution in the SmA* phase with no qualitative difference to conventional smectics A. The role of individual molecular fragments in promoting de Vries–type behavior is considered

Structural analysis of the O-acetylated O-polysaccharide isolated from Salmonella Paratyphi A and used for vaccine preparation

Salmonella paratyphi A is increasingly recognized as a common cause of enteric fever cases and there are no licensed vaccines against this infection. Antibodies directed against the O-polysaccharide of the lipopolysaccharide of Salmonella are protective and conjugation of the O-polysaccharide to a carrier protein represents a promising strategy for vaccine development. O-Acetylation of S. paratyphi A O-polysaccharide is considered important for the immunogenicity of S. paratyphi A conjugate vaccines. Here, as part of a programme to produce a bivalent conjugate vaccine against both S. typhi and S. paratyphi A diseases, we have fully elucidated the O-polysaccharide structure of S. paratyphi A by use of HPLC\u2013SEC, HPAEC\u2013PAD/CD, GLC, GLC\u2013MS, 1D and 2D-NMR spectroscopy. In particular, chemical and NMR studies identified the presence of O-acetyl groups on C-2 and C-3 of rhamnose in the lipopolysaccharide repeating unit, at variance with previous reports of O-acetylation at a single position. Moreover HR-MAS NMR analysis performed directly on bacterial pellets from several strains of S. paratyphi A also showed O-acetylation on C-2 and C-3 of rhamnose, thus this pattern is common and not an artefact from O-polysaccharide purification. Conjugation of the O-polysaccharide to the carrier protein had little impact on O-acetylation and therefore should not adversely affect the immunogenicity of the vaccine

Mesh inlay, mesh kit or native tissue repair for women having repeat anterior or posterior prolapse surgery: randomised controlled trial (PROSPECT)

Funding The project was funded by the National Institute for Health Research Health Technology Assessment Programme (Project Number 07/60/18). The Health Services Research Unit and the Health Economics Research Unit are funded by the Chief Scientist Office of the Scottish Government Health and Social Care Directorates. Acknowledgements The authors wish to thank the women who participated in the PROSPECT study. We also thank Margaret MacNeil for her secretarial support and data management; Dawn McRae and Lynda Constable for their trial management support; the programming team in CHaRT, led by Gladys McPherson; members of the Project Management Group for their ongoing advice and support of the study; and the staff at the recruitment sites who facilitated the recruitment, treatment and follow up of study participants.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Evidence for Remnant Flare Suprathermals In The Source Population of Solar Energetic Particles In The 2000 Bastille Day Event

The energy spectra of Fe in the very large solar energetic particle (SEP) event of 2000 July 14 are strikingly different from those of lighter species. We show that this difference can be explained by shock acceleration from a two-component source population, comprising solar wind suprathermals and a small (∼5%) admixture of remnant flare particles, as previously proposed to explain enhanced ^3He/^4He in some gradual SEP events. Flare remnants can also account for several previously unexplained features of high-energy solar heavy ions as well as important aspects of SEP event-to-event variability. These results offer a new perspective on the enduring controversy over the relative roles of flares and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) in producing SEPs. Flare activity clearly makes a unique and critical contribution to the source population. But the predominate accelerator in large gradual SEP events is the CME-driven shock, and many spectral, compositional, and charge state characteristics of highenergy heavy ions can be understood without invoking other acceleration mechanisms