The Toowoomba adult trauma triage tool

Since the introduction of the Australasian Triage Scale (ATS) there has been considerable variation in its application. Improved uniformity in the application of the ATS by triage nurses is required. A reproducible, reliable and valid method to classify the illness acuity of Emergency Department patients so that a triage category 3 by one nurse means the same as a triage category 3 by another, not only in the same ED but also in another institution would be of considerable value to emergency nurses. This has been the driving motivation behind developing the Toowoomba Adult Trauma Triage Tool (TATTT). It is hoped the TATTT will support emergency nurses working in this challenging area by promoting standardisation and decreasing subjectivity in the triage decision process

Effects of extraction time and phosphorus speciation on soil test phosphorus (STP) in Illinois agricultural soils

Phosphorus (P) loss from agricultural soils is the leading cause of accelerated eutrophication of surface waters. As an essential plant nutrient, however, adequate soil P is required for plant growth. Soil test phosphorus (STP) methods have been developed to correlate P levels in soil to crop growth, so that producers may better estimate the supply of P. There are numerous limitations in STP procedures, however, including: inaccurate estimation of plant available P, (i.e., dissolved reactive P (DRP)), unknown speciation in STP extracts, and the unknown relationship between STP and temporal-scale P release. Assessing these limitations, the appropriate colorimetric methods to distinguish orthophosphate from organic phosphate (Po) in Bray P-1, and Mehlich III extracting solutions were first evaluated, including the effects of acid hydrolysis reactions on Po (phytic acid) and polyphosphate (tripolyphosphate and pyrophosphate) in the STP extracting solutions. Based on the assessment, the effects of extraction time and P speciation on the STP procedures were studied in P rich fertilizer-amended and manure-amended Central Illinois agricultural soils. Although the extent of P release is proportional to the total P extracted by STP methods, the results are highly influenced by longer extraction times and P species. A longer extraction time increases STP values, lowering fertilizer recommendations. Manure-amended soils released more inorganic P (Pi), Po, and colloidal P than did fertilizer-amended soils. The fraction of Po was substantial (10-50% of total P) in STP soil extracts. Overall, the results of this study suggest the complexity of interpreting current STP procedures for fertilizer recommendations

The Cluster and Field Galaxy Active Galactic Nucleus Fraction at Z = 1-1.5: Evidence for a Reversal of the Local Anticorrelation between Environment and AGN Fraction

The fraction of cluster galaxies that host luminous active galactic nuclei (AGNs) is an important probe of AGN fueling processes, the cold interstellar medium at the centers of galaxies, and how tightly black holes and galaxies co-evolve. We present a new measurement of the AGN fraction in a sample of 13 clusters of galaxies (M \u3e= 1014 M ⊙) at 1 \u3c z \u3c 1.5 selected from the Spitzer/IRAC Shallow Cluster Survey, as well as the field fraction in the immediate vicinity of these clusters, and combine these data with measurements from the literature to quantify the relative evolution of cluster and field AGN from the present to z ~ 3. We estimate that the cluster AGN fraction at 1 \u3c z \u3c 1.5 is f_A = 3.0^{+2.4}_{-1.4}% for AGNs with a rest-frame, hard X-ray luminosity greater than L X, H \u3e= 1044 erg s-1. This fraction is measured relative to all cluster galaxies more luminous than M^*_{3.6}(z) + 1, where M^*_{3.6}(z) is the absolute magnitude of the break in the galaxy luminosity function at the cluster redshift in the IRAC 3.6 μm bandpass. The cluster AGN fraction is 30 times greater than the 3σ upper limit on the value for AGNs of similar luminosity at z ~ 0.25, as well as more than an order of magnitude greater than the AGN fraction at z ~ 0.75. AGNs with L X, H \u3e= 1043 erg s-1 exhibit similarly pronounced evolution with redshift. In contrast to the local universe, where the luminous AGN fraction is higher in the field than in clusters, the X-ray and MIR-selected AGN fractions in the field and clusters are consistent at 1 \u3c z \u3c 1.5. This is evidence that the cluster AGN population has evolved more rapidly than the field population from z ~ 1.5 to the present. This environment-dependent AGN evolution mimics the more rapid evolution of star-forming galaxies in clusters relative to the field

Glycaemic index, glycaemic load and risk of endometrial cancer: a prospective cohort study

Objective High-glycaemic-load diets may increase endometrial cancer risk by increasing circulating insulin levels and, as a consequence, circulating oestrogen levels. Given the paucity of epidemiological data regarding the relationship between the dietary glycaemic index and glycaemic load and endometrial cancer risk, we sought to examine these associations using data from a prospective cohort study. Design, setting, and subjects We examined the association between dietary glycaemic load and endometrial cancer risk in a cohort of 49 613 Canadian women aged between 40 and 59 years at baseline who completed self-administered food-frequency questionnaires between 1982 and 1985. Linkages to national mortality and cancer databases yielded data on deaths and cancer incidence, with follow-up ending between 1998 and 2000. Results During a mean of 16.4 years of follow-up, we observed 426 incident cases of endometrial cancer. Hazard ratios for the highest versus the lowest quartile level of overall glycaemic index and glycaemic load were 1.47 (95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.90–2.41; P for trend = 0.14) and 1.36 (95% CI = 1.01–1.84; P for trend = 0.21), respectively. No association was observed between total carbohydrate or total sugar consumption and endometrial cancer risk. Among obese women (body mass index \u3e 30 kg m−2) the hazard ratio for the highest versus the lowest quartile level of the glycaemic load was 1.88 (95% CI = 1.08–3.29; P for trend = 0.54) and there was a 55% increased risk for the highest versus the lowest quartile level of glycaemic load among premenopausal women. There was also evidence to support a positive association between glycaemic load and endometrial cancer risk among postmenopausal women who had used hormone replacement therapy. Conclusions Our data suggest that diets with the high glycaemic index or high glycaemic load may be associated with endometrial cancer risk overall, and particularly among obese women, premenopausal women, and postmenopausal women who use hormone replacement therapy

Patient Specific Dosimetry Phantoms Using Multichannel LDDMM of the Whole Body

This paper describes an automated procedure for creating detailed patient-specific pediatric dosimetry phantoms from a small set of segmented organs in a child's CT scan. The algorithm involves full body mappings from adult template to pediatric images using multichannel large deformation diffeomorphic metric mapping (MC-LDDMM). The parallel implementation and performance of MC-LDDMM for this application is studied here for a sample of 4 pediatric patients, and from 1 to 24 processors. 93.84% of computation time is parallelized, and the efficiency of parallelization remains high until more than 8 processors are used. The performance of the algorithm was validated on a set of 24 male and 18 female pediatric patients. It was found to be accurate typically to within 1-2 voxels (2–4 mm) and robust across this large and variable data set

The Cluster and Field Galaxy AGN Fraction at z = 1 to 1.5: Evidence for a Reversal of the Local Anticorrelation Between Environment and AGN Fraction

The fraction of cluster galaxies that host luminous AGN is an important probe of AGN fueling processes, the cold ISM at the centers of galaxies, and how tightly black holes and galaxies co-evolve. We present a new measurement of the AGN fraction in a sample of 13 clusters of galaxies (M >= 10^{14} Msun) at 1<z<1.5 selected from the Spitzer/IRAC Shallow Cluster Survey, as well as the field fraction in the immediate vicinity of these clusters, and combine these data with measurements from the literature to quantify the relative evolution of cluster and field AGN from the present to z~3. We estimate that the cluster AGN fraction at 1<z<1.5 is f_A = 3.0^{+2.4}_{-1.4}% for AGN with a rest-frame, hard X-ray luminosity greater than L_{X,H} >= 10^{44} erg/s. This fraction is measured relative to all cluster galaxies more luminous than M*_{3.6}(z)+1, where M*_{3.6}(z) is the absolute magnitude of the break in the galaxy luminosity function at the cluster redshift in the IRAC 3.6um bandpass. The cluster AGN fraction is 30 times greater than the 3sigma upper limit on the value for AGN of similar luminosity at z~0.25, as well as more than an order of magnitude greater than the AGN fraction at z~0.75. AGN with L_{X,H} >= 10^{43} erg/s exhibit similarly pronounced evolution with redshift. In contrast with the local universe, where the luminous AGN fraction is higher in the field than in clusters, the X-ray and MIR-selected AGN fractions in the field and clusters are consistent at 1<z<1.5. This is evidence that the cluster AGN population has evolved more rapidly than the field population from z~1.5 to the present. This environment-dependent AGN evolution mimics the more rapid evolution of star-forming galaxies in clusters relative to the field.Comment: ApJ Accepted. 16 pages, 8 figures in emulateapj forma

Fulvic acid increases forage legume growth inducing preferential upregulation of nodulation and signalling‐related genes

The use of potential biostimulants is of broad interest in plant science for improving yields. The application of a humic derivative called fulvic acid (FA) may improve forage crop production. FA is an uncharacterized mixture of chemicals and, although it has been reported to increase growth parameters in many species including legumes, its mode of action remains unclear. Previous studies of the action of FA have lacked appropriate controls, and few have included field trials. Here we report yield increases due to FA application in three European Medicago sativa cultivars, in studies which include the appropriate nutritional controls which hitherto have not been used. No significant growth stimulation was seen after FA treatment in grass species in this study at the treatment rate tested. Direct application to bacteria increased Rhizobium growth and, in M. sativa trials, root nodulation was stimulated. RNA transcriptional analysis of FA-treated plants revealed up-regulation of many important early nodulation signalling genes after only 3 d. Experiments in plate, glasshouse, and field environments showed yield increases, providing substantial evidence for the use of FA to benefit M. sativa forage production

Associations between incident breast cancer and ambient concentrations of nitrogen dioxide from a national land use regression model in the Canadian National Breast Screening Study

Background: Air pollution has been classified as a human carcinogen based largely on epidemiological studies of lung cancer. Recent research suggests that exposure to ambient air pollution increases the risk of female breast cancer especially in premenopausal women. Methods: Our objective was to determine the association between residential exposure to ambient nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and newly diagnosed cases of invasive breast cancer in a cohort of 89,247 women enrolled in the Canadian National Breast Screening Study between 1980 and 1985.