Pre-school experience and Key Stage 2 performance in English and Mathematics

This report considers children\u27s educational attainment in English and mathematics at the end of primary school (age 11). Children\u27s educational attainment in English and mathematics was derived from their national Key Stage 2 assessments. The analyses have considered the child\u27s level of Key Stage 2 attainment in terms of the effects of child, family, home environment and preschool experience variables as well as the child\u27s ability at the start of primary school

The Role of Splenectomy in Endocarditis

Five patients with endocarditis, persistent sepsis, and positive liver-spleen scans underwent splenectomy. Three had splenectomy performed concomitantly with cardiac valve replacement, one after valve replacement and one as an isolated procedure. Four of five spleens contained abscesses, and bacterial cultures of two were positive. Histologic study of one spleen revealed splenitis. All patients improved after splenectomy, and all are well two to twenty months postoperatively. An aggressive approach to splenic abscess in endocarditis may lead to reduced mortality from bacterial endocarditis and infected prosthetic valves

Autonomous power expert system

The Autonomous Power Expert (APEX) system was designed to monitor and diagnose fault conditions that occur within the Space Station Freedom Electrical Power System (SSF/EPS) Testbed. APEX is designed to interface with SSF/EPS testbed power management controllers to provide enhanced autonomous operation and control capability. The APEX architecture consists of three components: (1) a rule-based expert system, (2) a testbed data acquisition interface, and (3) a power scheduler interface. Fault detection, fault isolation, justification of probable causes, recommended actions, and incipient fault analysis are the main functions of the expert system component. The data acquisition component requests and receives pertinent parametric values from the EPS testbed and asserts the values into a knowledge base. Power load profile information is obtained from a remote scheduler through the power scheduler interface component. The current APEX design and development work is discussed. Operation and use of APEX by way of the user interface screens is also covered

Cephalexin: In Vitro and in Vivo Studies

Cephalexin, a derivative of cephalosporin C, produces high serum and urine concentrations after oral administration. In addition, it shows good activity in vitro against most gram-positive and some gram-negative organisms. This study reports the in vitro susceptibility to cephalexin of a series of clinical isolates, the serum levels and urine concentrations in human volunteers and the results of its use in infections due to susceptible organisms. Results of in vitro susceptibility testing reveal that cephalexin was effective against most strains of the gram-positive organisms tested — group A streptococci, pneumococci, and staphylococci — although the MIC\u27s are higher than those found for cephaloridine and ampicillin, with the one exception being penicillinase producing staphylococcus against which ampicillin is ineffective. Cephalexin is effective against most strains of indole-negative proteus, Klebsiella and E. coli, but all strains of enterobacter show resistance. Forty-seven patients with a variety of clinical illnesses were treated with cephalexin. Five of 14 patients with urinary tract infections were cured and nine had a remission followed by a bacteriologic relapse. All patients with soft tissue infection were cured as were nine of 12 patients with pneumonia. Of the three patients with pneumonia who were not cured, one improved, while two were classified as treatment failures. Similarly, 11 of 12 patients with streptococcal pharyngitis had a clinical remission, although in three, the organism was isolated after therapy. One patient with an associated coagulase-positive staphylococci cultured from the pharynx failed to respond to treatment

A Method of Hospital Infection Surveillance Incorporating the Use of the Computer

The records of all patients in the hospital on a particular date were studied for hospital-acquired infections. Results were compared with a continuing surveillance based on discharge reporting. Collection of data was programmed for analysis by using the hospital computer. Thirteen per cent of the patients manifested an infection after admission, but before or on the survey day. Results elsewhere are similar. Areas of the hospital with a relatively higher incidence of infection did not have clusters of particular pathogens

Recovery from disturbance requires resynchronization of ecosystem nutrient cycles

Nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) are tightly cycled in most terrestrial ecosystems, with plant uptake more than 10 times higher than the rate of supply from deposition and weathering. This near-total dependence on recycled nutrients and the stoichiometric constraints on resource use by plants and microbes mean that the two cycles have to be synchronized such that the ratio of N:P in plant uptake, litterfall, and net mineralization are nearly the same. Disturbance can disrupt this synchronization if there is a disproportionate loss of one nutrient relative to the other. We model the resynchronization of N and P cycles following harvest of a northern hardwood forest. In our simulations, nutrient loss in the harvest is small relative to postharvest losses. The low N:P ratio of harvest residue results in a preferential release of P and retention of N. The P release is in excess of plant requirements and P is lost from the active ecosystem cycle through secondary mineral formation and leaching early in succession. Because external P inputs are small, the resynchronization of the N and P cycles later in succession is achieved by a commensurate loss of N. Through succession, the ecosystem undergoes alternating periods of N limitation, then P limitation, and eventually co-limitation as the two cycles resynchronize. However, our simulations indicate that the overall rate and extent of recovery is limited by P unless a mechanism exists either to prevent the P loss early in succession (e.g., P sequestration not stoichiometrically constrained by N) or to increase the P supply to the ecosystem later in succession (e.g., biologically enhanced weathering). Our model provides a heuristic perspective from which to assess the resynchronization among tightly cycled nutrients and the effect of that resynchronization on recovery of ecosystems from disturbance

In Vitro and Clinical Studies of Cefaclor, A New Cephalosporin

In vitro susceptibility studies of 246 clinical isolates demonstrated that this antibiotic was effective against Group A beta hemolytic streptococci, alpha hemolytic streptococci, S. pneumoniae, both penicillinase producing and nonpenicillinase producing Staphylococci, Klebsiella pneumoniae, and Proteus mirabilis. Cephalothin susceptible E. coii were also susceptible to cefaclor. Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Serratia sp., Enterobacter Sp., and Streptococcus faecalis were uniformly resistant to cefaclor. The efficacy and safety of this antibiotic were studied in 27 patients with urinary tract, soft tissue, and respiratory infections. Patients with urinary tract infections became abacteriuric after 48 hours. Patients with soft tissue infections responded well within the first week of therapy, and throat cultures of patients with tonsillitis were negative ten days and six weeks after treatment. The drug was well tolerated, and no significant adverse effect was noted

Ultracool Field Brown Dwarf Candidates Selected at 4.5 microns

We have identified a sample of cool field brown dwarf candidates using IRAC data from the Spitzer Deep, Wide-Field Survey (SDWFS). The candidates were selected from 400,000 SDWFS sources with [4.5] <= 18.5 mag and required to have [3.6]-[4.5] >= 1.5 and [4.5] - [8.0] <= 2.0 on the Vega system. The first color requirement selects objects redder than all but a handful of presently known brown dwarfs with spectral classes later than T7, while the second eliminates 14 probable reddened AGN. Optical detection of 4 of the remaining 18 sources implies they are likely also AGN, leaving 14 brown dwarf candidates. For two of the brightest candidates (SDWFS J143524.44+335334.6 and SDWFS J143222.82+323746.5), the spectral energy distributions including near-infrared detections suggest a spectral class of ~ T8. The proper motion is < 0.25 "/yr, consistent with expectations for a luminosity inferred distance of >70 pc. The reddest brown dwarf candidate (SDWFS J143356.62+351849.2) has [3.6] - [4.5]=2.24 and H - [4.5] > 5.7, redder than any published brown dwarf in these colors, and may be the first example of the elusive Y-dwarf spectral class. Models from Burrows et al. (2003) predict larger numbers of cool brown dwarfs should be found for a Chabrier (2003) mass function. Suppressing the model [4.5] flux by a factor of two, as indicated by previous work, brings the Burrows models and observations into reasonable agreement. The recently launched Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) will probe a volume ~40x larger and should find hundreds of brown dwarfs cooler than T7.Comment: 13 pages, 6 figures, accepted for publication in the June 2010 issue of The Astronomical Journa