Effect of closing facilities on electroconvulsive therapy use in Glasgow

<p>Objectives: To assess the effect of closure of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) centers on ECT use. Electroconvulsive therapy remains a recommended and effective treatment for mental disorders. Declining rates of ECT use in the United Kingdom have been observed over the last 20 years with anecdotal observations that use has declined as the result of centralization of provision. In Glasgow, there have been site closures in the north with no such rationing taking place in the south.</p> <p>Methods: A naturalistic retrospective survey of the number of ECT courses commenced each year in Glasgow, with a comparison made between the north and the south of the city. Data were available from 1996 to 2008.</p> <p>Results: Our analysis showed no change in the mean number of ECT courses commenced in southern AQ2 Glasgow (period 1, 42.25; period 2, 41.83; period 3, 31; F = 1.369; P = 0.298). There was a significant reduction in the mean number of ECT treatments commenced in northern Glasgow (period 1, 91.25; period 2, 51; period 3, 33.33; F = 10.06; P = 0.04).</p> <p>Conclusions: In northern Glasgow, where there have been 2 site closures since 1996, ECT use has declined. This trend was not replicated in the south of the city. This would suggest that the closure of ECT centers does reduce the use of ECT. However, there may be a number of confounding variables that could not be factored into the analysis because of lack of available data.</p&gt

Giant Alcohol: A Worthy Opponent for the Children of the Band of Hope

From its foundation in 1847, the temperance organisation the Band of Hope addressed its young members as consumers, victims, and agents. In the first two roles they encountered the effects of drink of necessity, but in the third role they were encouraged to seek it out, attempting to influence individuals and wider society against 'Giant Alcohol'. With an estimated membership of half the school-age population by the early twentieth century, well over three million, the Band of Hope also acted more directly to influence policy, and encouraged young people to consider issues of policy and politics. With its wide range of activities and material to educate, entertain and empower millions of children, and its radical view of the place of the child, the Band of Hope not only mobilised its child members to lobby for legal change, including prohibition, but took an active part in pointing out the cost of alcohol to society, particularly during the 14-18 war. The organisation began to decline post 1918, and this paper focuses on the address made to children by the Band of Hope in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, at a time when its innovative view of children as able to understand and influence policy decisions reflected developments in the construction of childhood. This article draws on the archive of the British National Temperance League, over 50,000 items located in the Livesey Collection, University of Central Lancashire

Bacterial Cholangitis, Cholecystitis, or both in Dogs

BACKGROUND: Bacterial cholangitis and cholecystitis are rarely reported, poorly characterized diseases in the dog. OBJECTIVES: To characterize the clinical features of these conditions. ANIMALS: Twenty‐seven client‐owned dogs with bacterial cholangitis, cholecystitis, or both. METHODS: Multicenter, retrospective cases series of dogs with bacterial cholangitis, cholecystitis, or both, presenting January 2000 to June 2011 to 4 Veterinary Schools in Ireland/United Kingdom. Interrogation of hospital databases identified all cases with the inclusion criteria; histopathologically confirmed cholangitis or cholecystitis and bile culture/cytology results supporting a bacterial etiology. RESULTS: Twenty‐seven dogs met the inclusion criteria with approximately 460 hepatitis cases documented over the same study period. Typical clinical pathology findings were increases in liver enzyme activities (25/26), hyperbilirubinemia (20/26), and an inflammatory leukogram (21/24). Ultrasound findings, although nonspecific, aided decision‐making in 25/26 cases. The most frequent hepatobiliary bacterial isolates were Escherichia coli (n = 17; 16 cases), Enterococcus spp. (n = 8; 6 cases), and Clostridium spp. (n = 5; 5 cases). Antimicrobial resistance was an important feature of aerobic isolates; 10/16 E. coli isolates resistant to 3 or more antimicrobial classes. Biliary tract rupture complicated nearly one third of cases, associated with significant mortality (4/8). Discharged dogs had a guarded to fair prognosis; 17/18 alive at 2 months, although 5/10 re‐evaluated had persistent liver enzyme elevation 2–12 months later. CONCLUSION AND CLINICAL SIGNIFICANCE: Bacterial cholangitis and cholecystitis occur more frequently than suggested by current literature and should be considered in dogs presenting with jaundice and fever, abdominal pain, or an inflammatory leukogram or with ultrasonographic evidence of gallbladder abnormalities

Characterization and cloning of fasciclin I and fasciclin II glycoproteins in the grasshopper

Monoclonal antibodies were previously used to identify two glycoproteins, called fasciclin I and II (70 and 95 kDa, respectively), which are expressed on different subsets of axon fascicles in the grasshopper (Schistocerca americana) embryo. Here the monoclonal antibodies were used to purify these two membrane-associated glycoproteins for further characterization. Fasciclin II appears to be an integral membrane protein, where fasciclin I is an extrinsic membrane protein. The amino acid sequences of the amino terminus and fragments of both proteins were determined. Using synthetic oligonucleotide probes and antibody screening, we isolated genomic and cDNA clones. Partial DNA sequences of these clones indicate that they encode fasciclins I and II

Microwave Spectroscopy

Contains reports on three research projects

Chasing Brane Inflation in String-Theory

We investigate the embedding of brane anti-brane inflation into a concrete type IIB string theory compactification with all moduli fixed. Specifically, we are considering a D3-brane, whose position represents the inflaton $\phi$, in a warped conifold throat in the presence of supersymmetrically embedded D7-branes and an anti D3-brane localized at the tip of the warped conifold cone. After presenting the moduli stabilization analysis for a general D7-brane embedding, we concentrate on two explicit models, the Ouyang and the Kuperstein embeddings. We analyze whether the forces, induced by moduli stabilization and acting on the D3-brane, might cancel by fine-tuning such as to leave us with the original Coulomb attraction of the anti D3-brane as the driving force for inflation. For a large class of D7-brane embeddings we obtain a negative result. Cancelations are possible only for very small intervals of $\phi$ around an inflection point but not globally. For the most part of its motion the inflaton then feels a steep, non slow-roll potential. We study the inflationary dynamics induced by this potential.Comment: 34 pages, 4 figures. Final version published in JCA