Development of a Miniature Electrostatic Accelerometer /MESA/ for low g applications Summary report

Design, fabrication, and testing of miniature digital electrostatic accelerometer for low gravity measurements in spac

Measles vaccination and antibody response in autism spectrum disorder

OBJECTIVE: To test the hypothesis that measles vaccination was involved in the pathogenesis of autism spectrum disorders (ASD) as evidenced by signs of a persistent measles infection or abnormally persistent immune response shown by circulating measles virus or raised antibody titres in children with ASD who had been vaccinated against measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) compared with controls. DESIGN: Case-control study, community based. METHODS: A community sample of vaccinated children aged 10-12 years in the UK with ASD (n = 98) and two control groups of similar age, one with special educational needs but no ASD (n = 52) and one typically developing group (n = 90), were tested for measles virus and antibody response to measles in the serum. RESULTS: No difference was found between cases and controls for measles antibody response. There was no dose-response relationship between autism symptoms and antibody concentrations. Measles virus nucleic acid was amplified by reverse transcriptase-PCR in peripheral blood mononuclear cells from one patient with autism and two typically developing children. There was no evidence of a differential response to measles virus or the measles component of the MMR in children with ASD, with or without regression, and controls who had either one or two doses of MMR. Only one child from the control group had clinical symptoms of possible enterocolitis. CONCLUSION: No association between measles vaccination and ASD was shown

Soil Survey of Iowa, Report No. 69—Pocahantas County Soils

Pocahontas County is located in the northwestern part of Iowa, in the third tier of counties south of the Minnesota state line and in the fourth tier east of the Missouri River. It lies entirely in the Wisconsin^ drift soil area, and the soils of the county, are, therefore, all of drift origin

Intra-tester and inter-tester reliability of the MicroFET 3 hand-held dynamometer.

Background: The reliability of the MicroFET 3 has not previously been reported in the literature. The aim of this study was to evaluate intra-tester and inter-tester reliability of the MicroFET3 hand-held dynamometer (HHD) in three lower limb muscle groups. Methods: Maximum voluntary isometric contraction (MVIC) of hip extension, knee extension and ankle plantar-flexion were measured in 38 healthy participants (males=18, females= 20) by two testers on separate days using the MicroFET3 HHD. The reliability analysis was carried out using intra-class correlation coefficients (ICCs) to measure association and Band and Altman plots to demonstrate agreement. Results: The results showed that intra-tester reliability was moderate to excellent; with associations ranging from ICC 0.56 - 0.92 and higher agreement for knee and ankle than hip measurements was shown. Inter-tester reliability was lower, with hip and knee associations ranging from ICC 0.60 - 0.66. Ankle measurements intertester associations were particularly low (ICC 0.23 and 0.15). These values would not be considered acceptable for clinical use. Bland and Altman plots used to demonstrate agreement between testers displayed a considerable lack of agreement with discrepancies of up to 150N noted in measurements. Conclusion: The results suggest that the MicroFET3 HHD displayed moderate to excellent intra-tester reliability and poor to moderate inter-tester reliability and agreement with discrepancies noted between muscle groups. While use of this instrument can be recommended when consistently used by a single tester, further reliability analysis should be carried out before this instrument could be recommended for use by different testers in the clinical setting

Posttraumatic stress disorder: an exploratory study examining rates of trauma and PTSD and its effect on client outcomes in community mental health

BACKGROUND: Rates of trauma and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) were examined in order to compare the profile in clients of an Australian Public Mental Health Service with that reported in the international literature for clients with major mental illness and to explore the effect of this on client health outcomes. Potential factors contributing to increased levels of trauma/PTSD in this group of clients and the issue of causality between PTSD and subsequent mental illness was also explored. METHODS: A convenience sample of 29 clients was screened for trauma and PTSD using the Posttraumatic Stress Diagnostic Scale™ (PDS) and selected outcome measures. Paired and independent samples t-test and ANOVA were applied to the data. RESULTS: High levels of undocumented trauma and PTSD were found. Twenty clients, (74%) reported exposure to multiple traumatic events; 33.3% (9) met DSM IV diagnostic criteria for PTSD. Significant difference was found for PTSD symptomatology, severity and impairment and for client and clinician-rated scores of Quality of Life (QOL) outcomes in the PTSD group. No effect for PTSD symptomatology on the Working Alliance (WA) was found. Factors that may influence higher rates of PTSD in this group were identified and included issues associated with the population studied, the predominance of assaultive violence found, and vulnerability and risks factors associated with re-traumatisation within the social and treating environments. CONCLUSION: A similar trauma and PTSD profile to that reported in the international literature, including greater levels of trauma and PTSD and a poorer QOL, was found in this small sample of clients. It is postulated that the increased levels of trauma/PTSD as reported for persons with major mental illness, including those found in the current study, are primarily related to the characteristics of the population that access public mainstream psychiatric services and that these factors have specific implications for service delivery, and raise issues of efficiency and effectiveness of resource use in achieving successful outcomes in public mental health services for clients with co-morbid PTSD. Further research with a more rigorous design is needed to test these preliminary findings within Australian Community Mental Health Services

Etoposide and adriamycin containing combination chemotherapy (HOPE-Bleo) for relapsed Hodgkin's disease.

Forty-four patients with relapsed or resistant Hodgkin's disease were treated with adriamycin 40 mg m-2 i.v. on day 1, vincristine 1.4 mg m-2 i.v. on days 1 and 8, prednisolone 40 mg m-2 orally daily for 8 days, etoposide 200 mg m-2 orally daily for 4 days according to the nadir white cell count, and bleomycin 10 mg m-2 i.v. days 1 and 8 (HOPE-Bleo). Median age was 27 (range 12-71). When stage was considered according to all sites currently or previously involved by Hodgkin's disease (cumulative stage) 26 patients (59%) had stage IV, 13 (29%) stage III and five (11%) stage II disease; 33 (75%) had B symptoms. All patients had received previous chemotherapy and 18 (41%) had received two or more regimens. Twenty-six patients (59%) achieved CR and 10 (23%) PR; the median duration of CR was 22 months and median survival for all patients was 48 months. Eight patients remain in continuous CR; none of these had received extensive previous chemotherapy. Among the 19 patients who had relapsed from CR achieved by a single previous chemotherapy regimen, six (32%) achieved long CR on HOPE-Bleo. The regimen was generally well tolerated but the principal toxicity was myelosuppression. There were two toxic deaths, one due to neutropenic sepsis and the other due to acute peritonitis. The HOPE-Bleo regimen is an effective treatment for relapsed or resistant Hodgkin's disease, with a low probability of carcinogenesis and infertility. These factors suggest that HOPE-Bleo deserves further evaluation as primary treatment for Hodgkin's disease and very careful selection of relapsed patients for high dose salvage chemotherapy with bone marrow transplants must be exercised

Soil Survey of Iowa, Report No. 75—Guthrie County Soils

Guthrie County is located in the west central part of Iowa, in the fourth tier of counties north of the Missouri state line and in the fourth tier east of the Missouri River. It is partly in the Wisconsin drift soil area and partly in the Mississippi loess, the Missouri loess and the Southern Iowa loess soil areas. The soils are, therefore, partly of glacial origin and partly of loessial origin, loess types representing all three loess areas occurring in the county