Sequential development of the liver lesions in new-born lambs infected with Rift Valley fever virus. II. Ultrastructural findings

The macroscopic and microscopic lesions in livers of new-born lambs experimentally infected with Rift Valley fever virus and killed at various intervals between 6 - 53 h after inoculation, were described in a previous paper. This communication gives an overview of the ultrastructural changes affecting hepatocytes, sinusoids and spaces of Disse, biliary tree and portal triads as well as observations on the morphology and morphogenesis of the virus. Hepatocytes were those primarily affected, while inflammatory and architectural changes were secondary. The changes included prominent nuclear alterations, fragmentation or disintegration of necrotic hepatocytes, focal cytoplasmic degradation and sequestration, and the presence of acidophilic bodies. The ultrastructure and origin of the intranuclear inclusions are discussed.The articles have been scanned in colour with a HP Scanjet 5590; 600dpi. Adobe Acrobat XI Pro was used to OCR the text and also for the merging and conversion to the final presentation PDF-format

'Recommendations for including or reviewing patient-reported outcome endpoints in grant applications'

Patient reported outcomes are increasingly included in research studies to provide the patient perspective. Grant applicants and grant reviewers require guidance on the key information that should be included in funding applications to demonstrate rigorous methods for patient reported outcomes. This paper provides prioritised practical recommendations from an international consortium of experts on patient reported outcomes to inform grant applicants in preparing their research strategies and grant reviewers in evaluating applications

Environmental problems caused by gypsum karst and salt karst in Great Britain

In Great Britain, gypsum karst is widespread in the Late Permian (Zechstein) gypsum of north-eastern England. Here and offshore, a well-developed palacokarst with large breccia pipes was formed by dissolution of the underlying Permian gypsum. Farther south, around Ripon, the same rocks are still being dissolved, forming an actively evolving phreatic gypsum-maze cave system. This is indicated by the presence of numerous active subsidence hollows and sulphate-rich springs. In the English Midlands, gypsum karst is locally developed in the Triassic deposits south of Derby and Nottingham. Where gypsum is present, its fast rate of dissolution and the collapse of overlying strata lead to difficult civil-engineering and construction conditions; these can be further aggravated by water abstraction. Salt (halite) occurs within British Permian and Triassic strata, and has a long history of exploitation. The main salt fields are in central England and the coastal areas of northwest and northeast England. In central England, saline springs indicate that rapid, active dissolution occurs that can cause subsidence problems. In the past, subsidence was aggravated by shallow mining and the uncontrolled extraction of vast amounts of brine. This has now almost stopped, but there is a legacy of unstable buried salt karst, formed by both natural and induced dissolution. The buried salt karst occurs at depths ranging from about 40 m to 130 m; above these depths, the overlying strata are foundered and brecciated. In the salt areas, construction and development are hampered by both abandoned mines and by natural or induced brine runs, with their associated unstable ground