Solution Chemistry in Fused Monochloroacetic Acid: Part VII - Redox Reactions & Estimation of Thioureas, Hydrazines & Ascorbic Acid in Fused Monochloroacetic Acid

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Increasing compliance with low tidal volume ventilation in the ICU with two nudge-based interventions: evaluation through intervention time-series analyses

Objectives: Low tidal volume (TVe) ventilation improves outcomes for ventilated patients, and the majority of clinicians state they implement it. Unfortunately, most patients never receive low TVes. ‘Nudges’ influence decision-making with subtle cognitive mechanisms and are effective in many contexts. There have been few studies examining their impact on clinical decision-making. We investigated the impact of 2 interventions designed using principles from behavioural science on the deployment of low TVe ventilation in the intensive care unit (ICU). Setting: University Hospitals Bristol, a tertiary, mixed medical and surgical ICU with 20 beds, admitting over 1300 patients per year. Participants: Data were collected from 2144 consecutive patients receiving controlled mechanical ventilation for more than 1 hour between October 2010 and September 2014. Patients on controlled mechanical ventilation for more than 20 hours were included in the final analysis. Interventions: (1) Default ventilator settings were adjusted to comply with low TVe targets from the initiation of ventilation unless actively changed by a clinician. (2) A large dashboard was deployed displaying TVes in the format mL/kg ideal body weight (IBW) with alerts when TVes were excessive. Primary outcome measure: TVe in mL/kg IBW. Findings: TVe was significantly lower in the defaults group. In the dashboard intervention, TVe fell more quickly and by a greater amount after a TVe of 8 mL/kg IBW was breached when compared with controls. This effect improved in each subsequent year for 3 years. Conclusions: This study has demonstrated that adjustment of default ventilator settings and a dashboard with alerts for excessive TVe can significantly influence clinical decision-making. This offers a promising strategy to improve compliance with low TVe ventilation, and suggests that using insights from behavioural science has potential to improve the translation of evidence into practice

The relation between childhood maltreatment and psychosis in patients with schizophrenia and non-psychiatric controls

Several lines of evidence suggest that childhood maltreatment is associated with an increased risk for both psychotic disorders and subclinical psychotic-like experiences in the general population. Few studies, however, have sought to examine whether the strength of this relationship is comparable across patient and non-patient groups. The present study sought to compare the strength of the association between childhood maltreatment and self-reported psychotic symptoms in 447 healthy adult volunteers and 184 stable outpatients with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder. Strong positive correlations between childhood maltreatment and self-reported symptoms were observed in both groups. Although patients scored significantly higher than controls on both history of childhood maltreatment and self-reported symptoms, the strength of the relationship did not differ between groups. These data provide strong support for etiological continuity between subclinical psychotic symptoms and psychotic disorders. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

A narrow-band search for Ly alpha emitting galaxies at z = 8.8

Aims: The first star forming galaxies in the early universe should be copious Ly alpha emitters, and may play a significant role in ionizing the intergalactic medium (IGM). It has been proposed that the luminosity function of Lya emitting galaxies beyond z~6 may be used to constrain the neutral fraction of the IGM during this epoch. In this work we report on a search for Ly alpha emitters at redshift 8.8. Methods: We performed a narrow band imaging programme using ISAAC at the ESO VLT. Seven fields, covering a total area of 31sq. arcmin and for which optical and broad band infra-red images have been obtained in the GOODS survey, were imaged to a limiting flux (respectively luminosity) of ~ 1.3 x 10^{-17} ergs.s^{-1}.cm^{-2} (respectively ~ 1.3 x 10^{43} ergs.s^{-1} in a narrow band filter centered in a region of low OH sky emission at 1.19 micron. Candidate Lyman alpha emitters are objects that are detected in the ISAAC NB images and undetected in the visible broad band images. Results: No z=8.8 Ly alpha emitting galaxies were detected to a limit approaching recent estimates of the luminosity function at z ~ 6. Our results do suggest, however, that detections or substantial constraints could be achieved by this method in the near future with larger field instruments planned for various telescopes.Comment: 7 pages, accepted for publication in A&

Analysis of United Kingdom Off-Highway Construction Machinery Market and Its Consumers Using New-Sales Data

The off-highway construction machinery market and its consumers have attracted minimal previous research. This study addresses that void by analyzing annual United Kingdom (UK) (volume/portfolio) new-sales data for the 10 most popular products within that market, 1990–2010 inclusive. Graphical, descriptive statistical, Pearson-correlational, autocorrelational, and elementary modeling are employed to identify contrasts in sales regarding (1) high- and low-volume items; (2) growth trends and significant recessionary effects on volumes; (3) a demand change point circa 1997, since when annual product portfolio has changed little; and (4) product associations in consumer demand. Significant association is demonstrated between demand and construction output, especially with the value of new housing. Subsequently, consumption of wheeled loaders is modeled using construction volume, and demand for mini and crawler excavators is modeled using new-housing data. Time series trends for these machinery types are presented and forecast through 2015. The primary contribution of this study is a deeper understanding of the UK new-machinery market and the predilections of its consumers over the last two decades (to present)

Signatures of Planets in Spatially Unresolved Disks

Main sequence stars are commonly surrounded by debris disks, composed of cold dust continuously replenished by a reservoir of undetected dust-producing planetesimals. In a planetary system with a belt of planetesimals (like the Solar System's Kuiper Belt) and one or more interior giant planets, the trapping of dust particles in the mean motion resonances with the planets can create structure in the dust disk, as the particles accumulate at certain semimajor axes. Sufficiently massive planets may also scatter and eject dust particles out of a planetary system, creating a dust depleted region inside the orbit of the planet. In anticipation of future observations of spatially unresolved debris disks with the Spitzer Space Telescope, we are interested in studying how the structure carved by planets affects the shape of the disk's spectral energy distribution (SED), and consequently if the SED can be used to infer the presence of planets. We numerically calculate the equilibrium spatial density distributions and SEDs of dust disks originated by a belt of planetesimals in the presence of interior giant planets in different planetary configurations, and for a representative sample of chemical compositions. The dynamical models are necessary to estimate the enhancement of particles near the mean motion resonances with the planets, and to determine how many particles drift inside the planet's orbit. Based on the SEDs and predicted $\it{Spitzer}$ colors we discuss what types of planetary systems can be distinguishable from one another and the main parameter degeneracies in the model SEDs.Comment: 40 pages (pre-print form), including 16 figures. Published in ApJ 200

MATRICS cognitive consensus battery (MCCB) performance in children, adolescents, and young adults

Background: Neurodevelopmental models of schizophrenia suggest that cognitive deficits may be observed during childhood and adolescence, long before the onset of psychotic symptoms. Elucidating the trajectory of normal cognitive development during childhood and adolescence may therefore provide a basis for identifying specific abnormalities related to the development of schizophrenia. The MATRICS Consensus Cognitive Battery (MCCB), which was designed for use in clinical trials targeting cognitive deficits most common in schizophrenia, may provide a mechanism to understand this trajectory. To date, however, there is no performance data for the MCCB in healthy children and adolescents. The present study sought to establish performance data for the MCCB in healthy children, adolescents, and young adults. Methods: The MCCB was administered to a community sample of 190 healthy subjects between the ages of 8 and 23 years. All MCCB domain scores were converted to T-scores using sample means and standard deviations and were compared for significant performance differences between sex and age strata. Results: Analyses revealed age effects following quadratic trends in all MCCB domains, which is consistent with research showing a leveling off of childhood cognitive improvement upon approaching late adolescence. Sex effects after controlling for age only presented for one MCCB domain, with males exhibiting well-known spatial reasoning advantages. Conclusions: Utilizing this performance data may aid future research seeking to elucidate specific deficits that may be predictive of later development of SZ. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

Sudden Death and Left Ventricular Involvement in Arrhythmogenic Cardiomyopathy

BACKGROUND: Arrhythmogenic cardiomyopathy (ACM) is an inherited heart muscle disorder characterized by myocardial fibrofatty replacement and an increased risk of sudden cardiac death (SCD). Originally described as a right ventricular disease, ACM is increasingly recognized as a biventricular entity. We evaluated pathological, genetic, and clinical associations in a large SCD cohort. METHODS: We investigated 5205 consecutive cases of SCD referred to a national cardiac pathology center between 1994 and 2018. Hearts and tissue blocks were examined by expert cardiac pathologists. After comprehensive histological evaluation, 202 cases (4%) were diagnosed with ACM. Of these, 15 (7%) were diagnosed antemortem with dilated cardiomyopathy (n=8) or ACM (n=7). Previous symptoms, medical history, circumstances of death, and participation in competitive sport were recorded. Postmortem genetic testing was undertaken in 24 of 202 (12%). Rare genetic variants were classified according to American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics criteria. RESULTS: Of 202 ACM decedents (35.4±13.2 years; 82% male), no previous cardiac symptoms were reported in 157 (78%). Forty-one decedents (41/202; 20%) had been participants in competitive sport. The adjusted odds of dying during physical exertion were higher in men than in women (odds ratio, 4.58; 95% CI, 1.54-13.68; P=0.006) and in competitive athletes in comparison with nonathletes (odds ratio, 16.62; 95% CI, 5.39-51.24; P<0.001). None of the decedents with an antemortem diagnosis of dilated cardiomyopathy fulfilled definite 2010 Task Force criteria. The macroscopic appearance of the heart was normal in 40 of 202 (20%) cases. There was left ventricular histopathologic involvement in 176 of 202 (87%). Isolated right ventricular disease was seen in 13%, isolated left ventricular disease in 17%, and biventricular involvement in 70%. Among whole hearts, the most common areas of fibrofatty infiltration were the left ventricular posterobasal (68%) and anterolateral walls (58%). Postmortem genetic testing yielded pathogenic variants in ACM-related genes in 6 of 24 (25%) decedents. CONCLUSIONS: SCD attributable to ACM affects men predominantly, most commonly occurring during exertion in athletic individuals in the absence of previous reported cardiac symptoms. Left ventricular involvement is observed in the vast majority of SCD cases diagnosed with ACM at autopsy. Current Task Force criteria may fail to diagnose biventricular ACM before death