The physical properties and chemical composition of the gas within the free volume of canistered waste forms

The DWPF must meet Waste Acceptance Preliminary Specifications (WAPS) for acceptance of the DWPF canistered waste forms. A number of these specifications deal with the exclusion of non-wasteglass (or foreign) materials within the canistered waste forms. Those material which are specifically excluded include the following: Free Liquids, Free Gases, other than cover or radiogenic gases, Explosives, Pyrophorics and Combustibles, and Organics. This report documents the results obtained by carrying out an assigned task as described in three task plans. The task plans cover the determination of pressure, gas composition and relative humidity of SRL canistered waste forms; and organic and inorganic analysis of volatilized and condensed species within SRL canistered waste forms. These results provide evidence to demonstrate compliance with these specifications and will be included in the Waste Form Qualification Report (WQR). In all, four canistered waste forms, produced during the Scale Glass Melter (SGM) campaigns, were examined. The internal gas pressure, dewpoint temperature and gas composition were determined for each canistered waste form. The experience gained in these experiments will be used to generate procedures for obtaining the same information on canistered waste forms produced during the Integrated Cold Runs (ICR). 10 refs., 2 figs., 1 tab

Molecular Electroporation and the Transduction of Oligoarginines

Certain short polycations, such as TAT and polyarginine, rapidly pass through the plasma membranes of mammalian cells by an unknown mechanism called transduction as well as by endocytosis and macropinocytosis. These cell-penetrating peptides (CPPs) promise to be medically useful when fused to biologically active peptides. I offer a simple model in which one or more CPPs and the phosphatidylserines of the inner leaflet form a kind of capacitor with a voltage in excess of 180 mV, high enough to create a molecular electropore. The model is consistent with an empirical upper limit on the cargo peptide of 40--60 amino acids and with experimental data on how the transduction of a polyarginine-fluorophore into mouse C2C12 myoblasts depends on the number of arginines in the CPP and on the CPP concentration. The model makes three testable predictions.Comment: 15 pages, 5 figure

Glass Waste Forms for Oak Ridge Tank Wastes: Fiscal Year 1997 Report for Task Plan SR-16WT-31, Task A

Through the Tanks Focus Area, the Office of Science and Technology has funded the Savannah River Technology Center (SRTC) and the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) to develop formulations which can incorporate sludges from Oak Ridge (OR) Tank Farms into an immobilized waste form. SRTC has been developing a glass waste form, while ORNL has been developing a grout waste form for the tank farms sludges. The four tank farms included in this task are: Melton Valley Storage Tanks (MVST), Bethel Valley Evaporator Service Tanks (BVEST), Gunite and Associated Tanks (GAAT)and Old Hydrofracture Tanks (OHF). The first element of the SRTC task for FY97 was to develop a glass formulation to immobilize a blended sludge from the MVST and the BVEST. ORNL had previously developed a soda-lime-silicate (SLS) glass for the MVST sludge. SRTC has reproduced this work and expanded on it for the blended MVST/BVEST sludge. SRTC also performed a durability test on the resultant glasses. The normalized sodium and silicon leachate concentrations for the soda lime silica glasses readily met the Environmental Assessment glass (a borosilicate glass) benchmark limits for these two elements. Additional efforts at the SRTC included the verification of the glass formulation prior to the ORNL radioactive demonstration and technical consultations during the radioactive demonstration. However, the major emphasis for SRTC in FY97 was on the second element of this task, the overall blended average of the tank farms. The second element focused on developing a glass formulation which would immobilize a sludge with a composition obtained from averaging the contents of all four tank farms (composite composition). Although blending the contents of all four tank farms is not feasible, this average composition provides a basis from which to develop a glass formulation. Once a frit formulation was developed which produced a durable glass waste form at relatively high waste loadings, then a statistically designed approach was implemented to determine the size of the sludge compositional window which could be adequately immobilized by the frit formulation. This report summarizes the SRTC results of Task A of Task Plan SR-16WT-31 for FY97

A systematic review of school-based sexual health interventions to prevent STI/HIV in sub-Saharan Africa

Background The HIV/AIDS epidemic remains of global significance and there is a need to target (a) the adolescent age-groups in which most new infections occur; and (b) sub-Saharan Africa where the greatest burden of the epidemic lies. A focused systematic review of school-based sexual health interventions in sub-Saharan Africa to prevent HIV/AIDS and Sexually Transmitted Infections (STI) in this age group was therefore conducted. Methods Searches were conducted in Medline, Embase, Cinahl and PsychINFO according to agreed a priori criteria for studies published between 1986 and 2006. Further searches were conducted in UNAIDS and WHO (World Health Organization) websites, and 'Google'. Relevant journals were hand-searched and references cited in identified articles were followed up. Data extraction and quality assessment was carried out on studies selected for full text appraisal, and results were analysed and presented in narrative format. Results Some 1,020 possible titles and abstracts were found, 23 full text articles were critically appraised, and 12 articles (10 studies) reviewed, reflecting the paucity of published studies conducted relative to the magnitude of the HIV epidemic in sub-Saharan Africa. Knowledge and attitude-related outcomes were the most associated with statistically significant change. Behavioural intentions were more difficult to change and actual behaviour change was least likely to occur. Behaviour change in favour of abstinence and condom use appeared to be greatly influenced by pre-intervention sexual history. Conclusion There is a great need in sub-Saharan Africa for well-evaluated and effective school-based sexual health interventions

Vitrification of cesium-loaded crystalline silicotitanate (CST) in the shielded cells melter

Through the Tanks Focus Area, the Savannah River Technology Center (SRTC) and the Oak Ridge National Laboratory participated in a joint project in which supernate waste from the Melton Valley Storage Tanks at Oak Ridge was treated by passage through a crystalline silicotitanate (CST) ion exchange column. CST was designed to sorb Cs- 137, Sr-90 and several other radionuclides from highly alkaline solutions containing large quantities of sodium.2 After demonstrating the effectiveness of CST as an ion exchange medium, ORNL shipped some of the loaded sorbent to SRTC where it was mixed with glass formers and processed in a joule-heated melter within the SRTC Shielded Cells. This report details the results of the melter run, along with the preparations that were required to complete the campaign

Cough-generated aerosols of Pseudomonas aeruginosa and other Gram-negative bacteria from patients with cystic fibrosis

Background: Pseudomonas aeruginosa is the most common bacterial pathogen in cystic fibrosis (CF) patients. Current infection control guidelines aim to prevent transmission via contact and respiratory droplet routes and do not consider the possibility of airborne transmission. We hypothesized that with coughing, CF subjects produce viable, respirable bacterial aerosols. Methods: Cross-sectional study of 15 children and 13 adults with CF, 26 chronically infected with P. aeruginosa. A cough aerosol sampling system enabled fractioning of respiratory particles of different size, and culture of viable Gram negative non-fermentative bacteria. We collected cough aerosols during 5 minutes voluntary coughing and during a sputum induction procedure when tolerated. Standardized quantitative culture and genotyping techniques were used. Results: P. aeruginosa was isolated in cough aerosols of 25 (89%) subjects of whom 22 produced sputum samples. P. aeruginosa from sputum and paired cough aerosols were indistinguishable by molecular typing. In 4 cases the same genotype was isolated from ambient room air. Approximately 70% of viable aerosols collected during voluntary coughing were of particles ≤ 3.3 microns aerodynamic diameter. P. aeruginosa, Burkholderia cenocepacia Stenotrophomonas maltophilia and Achromobacter xylosoxidans were cultivated from respiratory particles in this size range. Positive room air samples were associated with high total counts in cough aerosols (P=0.003). The magnitude of cough aerosols were associated with higher FEV1 (r=0.45, P=0.02) and higher quantitative sputum culture results (r=0.58, P=0.008). Conclusion: During coughing, CF patients produce viable aerosols of P. aeruginosa and other Gram negative bacteria of respirable size range, suggesting the potential for airborne transmission

Social Value of Marine and Coastal Protected Areas in England and Wales.

The U.K. government is committed to establishing a coherent network of marine protected areas by 2012 and the recentMarine and Coastal Access Act, 2009 will designate marine conservation zones and provide wider access rights to the coast. To fulfill these goals, this article argues the need for a clearer, shared understanding of the social value of protected areas in creating new designations and managing existing ones. Although marine and coastal environments attract many people and are vitally important in terms of realized and potential social value, the majority of the public in the United Kingdom lacks understanding and awareness regarding them. Combined with this, the social value of marine and coastal protected areas (MCPAs) have been largely ignored relative to conservation and economics, with the latter invariably taking precedence in environmental policymaking. Social value reflects the complex, individual responses that people experience in a given place. Many reasons determine why one area is valued above another, and this research investigates the social value of MCPAs from a practitioner’s perspective through a series of interviews. Understanding why we “socially” value MCPAs will ultimately equip managers with an informed understanding of these spaces, influence management decisions, and, potentially, policymaking. This article defines social value in the context of MCPAs in England and Wales from a practitioner perspective, explores key concepts, and suggests possible improvements in decision-making

Dissemination of clinical practice guidelines: A content analysis of patient versions

Background. Clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) are typically written for health care professionals but are meant to assist patients with health care decisions. A number of guideline producers have started to develop patient versions of CPGs to reach this audience. Objective. To describe the content and purpose of patient versions of CPGs and compare with patient and public views of CPGs. Design. A descriptive qualitative study with a directed content analysis of a sample of patient versions of CPGs published and freely available in English from 2012 to 2014. Results. We included 34 patient versions of CPGs from 17 guideline producers. Over half of the patient versions were in dedicated patient sections of national/professional agency websites. There was essentially no information about how to manage care in the health care system. The most common purpose was to equip people with information about disease, tests or treatments, and recommendations, but few provided quantitative data about benefits and harms of treatments. Information about beliefs, values and preferences, accessibility, costs, or feasibility of the interventions was rarely addressed. Few provided personal stories or scenarios to personalize the information. Three versions described the strength of the recommendation or the level of evidence. Limitations. Our search for key institutions that produce patient versions of guidelines was comprehensive, but we only included English and freely available versions. Future work will include other languages. Conclusions. This review describes the current landscape of patient versions of CPGs and suggests that these versions may not address the needs of their targeted audience. Research is needed about how to personalize information, provide information about factors contributing to the recommendations, and provide access