Multi-wavelength visibility measurements of the red giant R Doradus

We present visibility measurements of the nearby Mira-like star R Doradus taken over a wide range of wavelengths (650--990 nm). The observations were made using MAPPIT (Masked APerture-Plane Interference Telescope), an interferometer operating at the 3.9-m Anglo-Australian Telescope. We used a slit to mask the telescope aperture and prism to disperse the interference pattern in wavelength. We observed in R Dor strong decreases in visibility within the TiO absorption bands. The results are in general agreement with theory but differ in detail, suggesting that further work is needed to refine the theoretical models.Comment: 8 pages; SPIE Conf. 4006 "Interferometry in Optical Astronomy

Developing a health state classification system from NEWQOL for epilepsy using classical psychometric techniques and Rasch analysis: a technical report

Aims: Resource allocation amongst competing health care interventions is informed by evidence of both clinical- and cost-effectiveness. Cost-utility analysis is increasingly used to assess cost effectiveness through the use of Quality Adjusted Life Years (QALYs). This requires health state values. Generic measures of health related quality of life (HRQL) are usually used to produce these values, but there are concerns about their relevance and sensitivity in epilepsy. This study develops a health state classification system for epilepsy from the NEWQOL battery, a validated questionnaire measuring QoL in epilepsy. The classification system will be amenable to valuation for calculating QALYs. Methods: Factor and other psychometric analyses were undertaken to investigate the factor structure of the battery, and assess the validity and responsiveness of the items. These analyses were used alongside Rasch analysis to select the dimensions included in the classification system, and the items used to represent each domain. Analysis was carried out on a trial dataset of patients with epilepsy (n=1611). Rasch and factor analysis were performed on one half of the sample and validated on the remaining half. Dimensions and items were selected that performed well across all analyses. Results: The battery was found to demonstrate reliability and validity but responsiveness across time periods for many of the items was low. A six dimension classification system was developed: worry about seizures, depression, memory, cognition, stigmatism and control, each with four response levels. Conclusions: It is feasible to develop a health state classification system from a battery of instruments using a combination of classical psychometric, factor and Rasch analysis. This is the first condition-specific health state classification developed for epilepsy and the next stage will produce preference weights to enable the measure to be used in cost-utility analysis.quality adjusted life years; health related quality of life; Rasch analysis; preference-based measures of health; health states; epilepsy

Developing a health state classification system from NEWQOL for epilepsy using classical psychometric techniques and Rasch analysis: A technical report

Aims: Resource allocation amongst competing health care interventions is informed by evidence of both clinical- and cost-effectiveness. Cost-utility analysis is increasingly used to assess cost effectiveness through the use of Quality Adjusted Life Years (QALYs). This requires health state values. Generic measures of health related quality of life (HRQL) are usually used to produce these values, but there are concerns about their relevance and sensitivity in epilepsy. This study develops a health state classification system for epilepsy from the NEWQOL battery, a validated questionnaire measuring QoL in epilepsy. The classification system will be amenable to valuation for calculating QALYs. Methods: Factor and other psychometric analyses were undertaken to investigate the factor structure of the battery, and assess the validity and responsiveness of the items. These analyses were used alongside Rasch analysis to select the dimensions included in the classification system, and the items used to represent each domain. Analysis was carried out on a trial dataset of patients with epilepsy (n=1611). Rasch and factor analysis were performed on one half of the sample and validated on the remaining half. Dimensions and items were selected that performed well across all analyses. Results: The battery was found to demonstrate reliability and validity but responsiveness across time periods for many of the items was low. A six dimension classification system was developed: worry about seizures, depression, memory, cognition, stigmatism and control, each with four response levels. Conclusions: It is feasible to develop a health state classification system from a battery of instruments using a combination of classical psychometric, factor and Rasch analysis. This is the first condition-specific health state classification developed for epilepsy and the next stage will produce preference weights to enable the measure to be used in cost-utility analysis

Developing an early life Parent Education Programme in response to high infant mortality rates

This is an accepted manuscript of an article published by Elsevier in Journal of Neonatal Nursing on 16/03/2017, available online: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jnn.2017.02.005 The accepted version of the publication may differ from the final published version.Published versio

L^2 stability estimates for shock solutions of scalar conservation laws using the relative entropy method

We consider scalar nonviscous conservation laws with strictly convex flux in one spatial dimension, and we investigate the behavior of bounded L^2 perturbations of shock wave solutions to the Riemann problem using the relative entropy method. We show that up to a time-dependent translation of the shock, the L^2 norm of a perturbed solution relative to the shock wave is bounded above by the L^2 norm of the initial perturbation.Comment: 17 page

Electronic submission and the movement towards a paperless law office in a modern university

The Government’s target of 50% of all under 30 year olds studying at higher education institutions by 2010, coupled with the National Committee Inquiry into Higher Education’ (1997) concluding that further expansion of higher education could not be afforded under the existing funding arrangements, may have serious ramifications for higher education in the UK. Alongside this increase in numbers, students are increasingly seen as educational consumers with increased choice in a demand-led market which universities must recognise. To compete in this academic environment these institutions are having to be ever more consumer aware in the services they offer and are having to increase choice to attract customers from rival enterprises. Information technology is playing an increasing role in the learning experience as noted by institutional commentators such as the Higher Education Funding Council for England, the Joint Information Systems Committee, the Electronic Books ON-screen Interface group and Lord Dearing’s Report. Technology’s use is further evidenced through institutions’ employment of the internet, e-mail and web-based learning to harness the power of this medium. This paper focuses on the concept of commercialism in the university sector and how a movement to a paperless office may be one way in which a university could gain an early competitive advantage over its rivals. The paper takes a student perspective to demonstrate whether students would wish to move towards electronic methods of submission of assessed work and considers the current problems that are encountered in physical submission of documents. This is the first paper in an on-going research project investigating the benefits and viability of a paperless law office, and the results demonstrate both that the students desire more flexibility in submission of university work and that their acceptance may be the easy first step on the road to the paperless law school

Seizure first aid training for people with epilepsy attending emergency departments and their significant others: the SAFE intervention and feasibility RCT

Background No seizure first aid training intervention exists for people with epilepsy who regularly attend emergency departments and their significant others, despite such an intervention’s potential to reduce clinically unnecessary and costly visits. Objectives The objectives were to (1) develop Seizure first Aid training For Epilepsy (SAFE) by adapting a broader intervention and (2) determine the feasibility and optimal design of a definitive randomised controlled trial to test SAFE’s efficacy. Design The study involved (1) the development of an intervention informed by a co-design approach with qualitative feedback and (2) a pilot randomised controlled trial with follow-ups at 3, 6 and 12 months and assessments of treatment fidelity and the cost of SAFE’s delivery. Setting The setting was (1) third-sector patient support groups and professional health-care organisations and (2) three NHS emergency departments in England. Participants Participants were (1) people with epilepsy who had visited emergency departments in the prior 2 years, their significant others and emergency department, paramedic, general practice, commissioning, neurology and nursing representatives and (2) people with epilepsy aged ≥ 16 years who had been diagnosed for ≥ 1 year and who had made two or more emergency department visits in the prior 12 months, and one of their significant others. Emergency departments identified ostensibly eligible people with epilepsy from attendance records and patients confirmed their eligibility. Interventions Participants in the pilot randomised controlled trial were randomly allocated 1 : 1 to SAFE plus treatment as usual or to treatment as usual only. Main outcome measures Consent rate and availability of routine data on emergency department use at 12 months were the main outcome measures. Other measures of interest included eligibility rate, ease with which people with epilepsy could be identified and routine data secured, availability of self-reported emergency department data, self-reported emergency department data’s comparability with routine data, SAFE’s effect on emergency department use, and emergency department use in the treatment as usual arm, which could be used in sample size calculations. Results (1) Nine health-care professionals and 23 service users provided feedback that generated an intervention considered to be NHS feasible and well positioned to achieve its purpose. (2) The consent rate was 12.5%, with 53 people with epilepsy and 38 significant others recruited. The eligibility rate was 10.6%. Identifying people with epilepsy from attendance records was resource intensive for emergency department staff. Those recruited felt more stigmatised because of epilepsy than the wider epilepsy population. Routine data on emergency department use at 12 months were secured for 94.1% of people with epilepsy, but the application process took 8.5 months. Self-reported emergency department data were available for 66.7% of people with epilepsy, and people with epilepsy self-reported more emergency department visits than were captured in routine data. Most participants (76.9%) randomised to SAFE received the intervention. The intervention was delivered with high fidelity. No related serious adverse events occurred. Emergency department use at 12 months was lower in the SAFE plus treatment as usual arm than in the treatment as usual only arm, but not significantly so. Calculations indicated that a definitive trial would need ≈ 674 people with epilepsy and ≈ 39 emergency department sites. Limitations Contrary to patient statements on recruitment, routine data secured at the pilot trial’s end indicated that ≈ 40% may not have satisfied the inclusion criterion of two or more emergency department visits. Conclusions An intervention was successfully developed, a pilot randomised controlled trial conducted and outcome data secured for most participants. The consent rate did not satisfy a predetermined ‘stop/go’ level of ≥ 20%. The time that emergency department staff needed to identify eligible people with epilepsy is unlikely to be replicable. A definitive trial is currently not feasible. Future work Research to more easily identify and recruit people from the target population is required. Trial registration Current Controlled Trials ISRCTN13871327. Funding This project was funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Health Services and Delivery Research programme and will be published in full in Health Services and Delivery Research; Vol. 8, No. 39. See the NIHR Journals Library website for further project information

Different patterns of pelvic ureteral endometriosis. What is the best treatment? Results of a retrospective analysis

Objective. Endometriosis is an estrogendependent disease. The incidence of urinary tract endometriosis (UE) increased during the last few years and, nowadays, it ranges from 0.3 to 12% of all women affected by the disease. The ureter is the second most common site affected. The ureteral endometriosis is classified in extrinsic and intrinsic. The aim of this study is to individuate the best treatments for each subset of ureteral endometriosis. Materials and Methods. 32 patients diagnosed with surgically treated UE were retrospectively reviewed. The patients were divided into 3 subsets (intrinsic UE, extrinsic UE with and without obstruction). The patients with intrinsic UE (n = 10) were treated with laser endoureterotomy. The patients with extrinsic UE (n = 22) were divided in two subsets with (n = 16) and without (n = 6) hydronephrosis. All the patients underwent ureteral stenting, and resection and reimplantation was performed in the first group, and when the mass was > 2.5 cm (n = 3) Boari flap was performed. Laparoscopic ureterolysis (shaving) was performed in the second group. Results. In the extrinsic subset of UE, we obtained an high therapeutic success (84%). Conversely, in the intrinsic subset there was a recurrence rate of the disease in 6/10 of the patients (60%). Conclusions. Ureterolysis seems to be a good treatment in extrinsic UE without obstruction. Resection and reimplantation allows excellent results in the extrinsic UE with obstruction. In the intrinsic subset, the endoureterotomy approach is inadequate