Who is in the transition gap? Transition from CAMHS to AMHS in the Republic of Ireland

Objective: The ITRACK study explored the process and predictors of transition between Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) and Adult Mental Health Services (AMHS) in the Republic of Ireland. Method: Following ethical approval, clinicians in each of Ireland's four Health Service Executive (HSE) areas were contacted, informed about the study and invited to participate. Clinicians identified all cases who had reached the transition boundary (i.e. upper age limit for that CAMHS team ) between January and December 2010. Data were collected on clinical and socio-demographic details and factors that informed the decision to refer or not refer to AMHS and case notes were scrutinised to ascertain the extent of information exchanged between services during transition

Transitioning from child and adolescent mental health services with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder in Ireland: case note review

Aim: In a context of international concern about early adult mental health service provision, this study identifies characteristics and service outcomes of young people with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) reaching the child and adolescent mental health service (CAMHS) transition boundary in Ireland. Methods: The iTRACK study invited all 60 CAMHS teams in Ireland to participate; 8 teams retrospectively identified clinical case files for 62 eligible young people reaching the CAMHS transition boundary in all four Health Service Executive Regions. A secondary case note analysis identified characteristics, co-morbidities, referral and service outcomes for iTRACK cases with ADHD (n = 20). Results: Two-thirds of young people with ADHD were on psychotropic medication and half had mental health co-morbidities, yet none was directly transferred to public adult mental health services (AMHS) at the transition boundary. Nearly half were retained in CAMHS, for an average of over a year; most either disengaged from services (40%) and/or actively refused transfer to AMHS (35%) at or after the transition boundary. There was a perception by CAMHS clinicians that adult services did not accept ADHD cases or lacked relevant service/expertise. Conclusions: Despite high rates of medication use and comorbid mental health difficulties, there appears to be a complete absence of referral to publically available adult mental health services for ADHD youth transitioning from CAMHS in Ireland. More understanding of obstacles and optimum service configuration is essential to ensure that care is both available and accessible to young people with ADHD

Physiological profile and activity pattern of minor Gaelic football players

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the physiological profile and activity pattern in club- and county-level under-18 (U-18) Gaelic football players relative to playing position. Participants (n = 85) were analyzed during 17 official 15-a-side matches using global positioning system technology (SPI Pro X II; GPSports Systems, Canberra, Australia) and heart rate (HR) telemetry. During the second part of this study, 63 participants underwent an incremental treadmill test to assess their maximal oxygen uptake (V_ o2max) and peak HR (HRmax). Players covered a mean distance of 5,774 6 737 m during a full 60-minute match. The mean %HRmax and %V_ O2max observed during the match play were 81.6 6 4.3% and 70.1 6 7.75%, respectively. The playing level had no effect on the distance covered, player movement patterns, or %HRmax observed during match play. Midfield players covered significantly greater distance than defenders (p = 0.033). Playing position had no effect on %HRmax or the frequency of sprinting or high-intensity running during match play. The frequency of jogging, cruise running, striding (p = 0.000), and walking (p = 0.003) was greater in the midfield position than in the forward position. Time had a significant effect (F(1,39) = 33.512, p-value = 0.000, and h2 Ρ = 0.462) on distance covered and %HRmax, both of which showed a reduction between playing periods. Gaelic football is predominantly characterized by low-to-moderate intensity activity interspersed with periods of high-intensity running. The information provided may be used as a framework for coaches in the design and prescription of training strategies. Positional specific training may be warranted given the comparatively greater demands observed in the midfield playing position. Replicating the demands of match play in training may reduce the decline in distance covered and % HRmax observed during the second half of match play

Investigation of a Large Gap Cold Plasma Reactor for Continuous In-package Decontamination of Fresh Strawberries and Spinach

The aim of this work was to investigate the efficacy of a large gap atmospheric cold plasma (ACP) generated with an open-air high-voltage dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) pilot-scale reactor, operated in either static (batch) or continuous mode for produce decontamination and quality retention. Significant reductions in the bacterial populations inoculated on the strawberries and spinach were obtained after the static mode of ACP treatment with 2.0 and 2.2 log10 CFU/ml reductions for E. coli and 1.3 and 1.7 log10 CFU/ml reductions for L. innocua, respectively. Continuous treatment was effective against L. innocua inoculated on strawberries, with 3.8 log10 CFU/ml reductions achieved. No significant differences in colour, firmness, pH or total soluble solids (TSS) was observed between control and ACP-treated samples with the effects of treatment retained during the shelf-life period. The pilot-scale atmospheric air plasma reactor retained the strawberry quality characteristics in tandem with useful antimicrobial efficacy. Industrial relevance This in-package plasma technology approach is a low-power, water-free, non-thermal, post-package treatment. Generating cold plasma discharges inside food packages achieved useful antimicrobial effects on fresh produce. Depending on the bacterial type, produce and mode of ACP treatment significant reductions in the populations of pathogenic microorganisms attached to the fresh produce was achieved within 2.5 min of treatment. The principal technical advantages include contaminant control, quality retention, mitigation of re-contamination and crucially the retention of bactericidal reactive gas molecules in the food package volume, which then revert back to the original gas

Microbial Quality of Liquid Feed for Pigs and Its Impact on the Porcine Gut Microbiome

peer-reviewedThere is evidence that spontaneous fermentation frequently occurs in liquid pig feed that is intended to be delivered as fresh liquid feed, often with a resultant deterioration in the microbial and nutritional quality of the feed, which can negatively affect pig health and growth. Strategies including controlled fermentation with microbial inoculants, pre-fermentation or soaking of the cereal fraction of the diet, enzyme supplementation and dietary acidification have been employed to inhibit pathogens and prevent deterioration of feed nutritional quality, with promising results obtained in many cases. This review evaluates the impact of these strategies on the microbial quality of liquid feed and discusses how they can be further improved. It also investigates if/how these strategies impact the pig gut microbiota and growth performance of liquid-fed pigs. Finally, we review liquid feed system sanitisation practices, which are highly variable from farm to farm and discuss the impact of these practices and whether they are beneficial or detrimental to liquid feed microbial quality. Overall, we provide a comprehensive review of the current state of knowledge on liquid feed for pigs, focusing on factors affecting microbial quality and strategies for its optimisation, as well as its impact on the pig gut microbiome

Relative spins and excitation energies of superdeformed bands in 190Hg: Further evidence for octupole vibration

An experiment using the Eurogam Phase II gamma-ray spectrometer confirms the existence of an excited superdeformed (SD) band in 190Hg and its very unusual decay into the lowest SD band over 3-4 transitions. The energies and dipole character of the transitions linking the two SD bands have been firmly established. Comparisons with RPA calculations indicate that the excited SD band can be interpreted as an octupole-vibrational structure.Comment: 12 pages, latex, 4 figures available via WWW at http://www.phy.anl.gov/bgo/bc/hg190_nucl_ex.htm

Solar Contamination in Extreme-precision Radial-velocity Measurements: Deleterious Effects and Prospects for Mitigation

Solar contamination, due to moonlight and atmospheric scattering of sunlight, can cause systematic errors in stellar radial velocity (RV) measurements that significantly detract from the ~10 cm s−1 sensitivity required for the detection and characterization of terrestrial exoplanets in or near habitable zones of Sun-like stars. The addition of low-level spectral contamination at variable effective velocity offsets introduces systematic noise when measuring velocities using classical mask-based or template-based cross-correlation techniques. Here we present simulations estimating the range of RV measurement error induced by uncorrected scattered sunlight contamination. We explore potential correction techniques, using both simultaneous spectrometer sky fibers and broadband imaging via coherent fiber imaging bundles, that could reliably reduce this source of error to below the photon-noise limit of typical stellar observations. We discuss the limitations of these simulations, the underlying assumptions, and mitigation mechanisms. We also present and discuss the components designed and built into the NEID (NN-EXPLORE Exoplanet Investigations with Doppler spectroscopy) precision RV instrument for the WIYN 3.5 m telescope, to serve as an ongoing resource for the community to explore and evaluate correction techniques. We emphasize that while "bright time" has been traditionally adequate for RV science, the goal of 10 cm s−1 precision on the most interesting exoplanetary systems may necessitate access to darker skies for these next-generation instruments

Miniature exoplanet radial velocity array I: design, commissioning, and early photometric results

The MINiature Exoplanet Radial Velocity Array (MINERVA) is a US-based observational facility dedicated to the discovery and characterization of exoplanets around a nearby sample of bright stars. MINERVA employs a robotic array of four 0.7 m telescopes outfitted for both high-resolution spec- troscopy and photometry, and is designed for completely autonomous operation. The primary science program is a dedicated radial velocity survey and the secondary science objective is to obtain high precision transit light curves. The modular design of the facility and the flexibility of our hardware allows for both science programs to be pursued simultaneously, while the robotic control software provides a robust and efficient means to carry out nightly observations. In this article, we describe the design of MINERVA including major hardware components, software, and science goals. The telescopes and photometry cameras are characterized at our test facility on the Caltech campus in Pasadena, CA, and their on-sky performance is validated. New observations from our test facility demonstrate sub-mmag photometric precision of one of our radial velocity survey targets, and we present new transit observations and fits of WASP-52b—a known hot-Jupiter with an inflated radius and misaligned orbit. The process of relocating the MINERVA hardware to its final destination at the Fred Lawrence Whipple Observatory in southern Arizona has begun, and science operations are expected to commence within 2015

Cold Atmospheric Plasma induces accumulation of lysosomes and caspase-independent cell death in U373MG glioblastoma multiforme cells

Room temperature Cold Atmospheric Plasma (CAP) has shown promising efficacy for the treatment of cancer but the exact mechanisms of action remain unclear. Both apoptosis and necrosis have been implicated as the mode of cell death in various cancer cells. We have previously demonstrated a caspase-independent mechanism of cell death in p53-mutated glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) cells exposed to plasma. The purpose of this study was to elucidate the molecular mechanisms involved in caspase-independent cell death induced by plasma treatment. We demonstrate that plasma induces rapid cell death in GBM cells, independent of caspases. Accumulation of vesicles was observed in plasma treated cells that stained positive with acridine orange. Western immunoblotting confirmed that autophagy is not activated following plasma treatment. Acridine orange intensity correlates closely with the lysosomal marker Lyso TrackerTM Deep Red. Further investigation using isosurface visualisation of confocal imaging confirmed that lysosomal accumulation occurs in plasma treated cells. The accumulation of lysosomes was associated with concomitant cell death following plasma treatment. In conclusion, we observed rapid accumulation of acidic vesicles and cell death following CAP treatment in GBM cells. We found no evidence that either apoptosis or autophagy, however, determined that a rapid accumulation of late stage endosomes/lysosomes precedes membrane permeabilisation, mitochondrial membrane depolarisation and caspase independent cell death

Extensive air showers with TeV-scale quantum gravity

One of the possible consequences of the existence of extra degrees of freedom beyond the electroweak scale is the increase of neutrino-nucleon cross sections ($\sigma_{\nu N}$) beyond Standard Model predictions. At ultra-high energies this may allow the existence of neutrino-initiated extensive air showers. In this paper, we examine the most relevant observables of such showers. Our analysis indicates that the future Pierre Auger Observatory could be potentially powerful in probing models with large compact dimensions.Comment: 7 pages revtex, 5 eps fig