The new very small angle neutron scattering spectrometer at Laboratoire Leon Brillouin

The design and characteristics of the new very small angle neutron scattering spectrometer under construction at the Laboratoire Leon Brillouin is described. Its goal is to extend the range of scattering vectors magnitudes towards 2x10{-4} /A. The unique feature of this new spectrometer is a high resolution two dimensional image plate detector sensitive to neutrons. The wavelength selection is achieved by a double reflection supermirror monochromator and the collimator uses a novel multibeam design

Breeding behavior and pup development of the Caspian seal, Pusa caspica

The Caspian seal, Pusa caspica, is an ice-breeding phocid endemic to the Caspian Sea. The breeding behavior of this species is poorly documented. Here, we report behavioral observations of 518 mother-pup pairs and 210 lone pups, made from the bridge of icebreakers traversing seal breeding grounds while servicing oil installations in the northeastern Caspian Sea, during 34 trips from late January to early March, 2006-2012. The breeding habitat of Caspian seals is land-fast or drift ice, usually at least 20 cm thick, overlying water 3–5 m deep. Pregnant females formed pairs or small groups. They were not observed to use lairs, but preferentially pupped beside ice ridges or ice-slab piles that afforded shelter to pups. In years when there were few natural leads into the ice-field, females often gave birth on the edge of artificial leads formed by shipping channels. Pups were categorized into stages from newborn (1), white-coat (2), molting (3), and molted (4), with Stage 3 and 4 pups appearing from mid to late February. The nursing period lasted at least 3 weeks and neighboring mother-pup pairs appeared to be mutually tolerant. Mothers left their pups alone or at nursery sites, presumably to forage. Most white-coat pups moved over the ice while avoiding water in response to disturbance from vessels. Mother-pup pairs maintained contact while moving across the ice by a combination of the pup’s following response and diligent chaperoning by the mother. During disturbances some lone pups sought refuge in shelters under ice slabs, whereas others followed a neighboring mother-pup pair away from the vessel. Male-female pairing occurred in late season with no male-male competition observed on the ice. While breeding and pup rearing behavior of Caspian seals has some features in common with that of other Holarctic seals, it is largely distinct and adapted to the unique conditions of the Caspian environment, in particular the paucity of snow cover on the ice

Predictors of mortality for delirium in palliative care

© Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. 2016. Introduction: Delirium has a high mortality rate. Understanding predictors of prognosis in patients with delirium will aid treatment decisions and communication. This study aimed to explore variables associated with death during an established episode of delirium in palliative care when haloperidol treatment had been commenced. Methods: A consecutive cohort of palliative care patients, from 14 centers across four countries, is reported. The outcome of interest was death within 14 days from commencement of haloperidol treatment for delirium. Clinicodemographic variables explored were delirium severity, age, gender, primary life limiting illness, body mass index (BMI), total daily haloperidol dose at baseline (mg), functional status, and comorbidities. Results: One hundred and sixteen palliative care patients where vital status was known were included in the analysis; 45% (n = 52) died within 10 days, and 56% (n = 65) died within 14 days. In multivariate analyses no clinical or demographic variables predicted death, apart from lower BMI in noncancer patients. Conclusion: This study has shown a very high mortality rate within two weeks of commencing haloperidol for delirium in palliative care, with no clear clinical predictors for those with a higher chance of dying. Having a higher BMI offered some benefit in survival, but only in noncancer patients. When delirium occurs in advanced illness, discussion should be initiated about the gravity of the clinical situation

Making Decisions on the Demolition or Refurbishment of Social Housing

This policy briefing summarises the main factors involved when deciding whether to refurbish or demolish social housing, including environmental and economic costs and benefits. Such decisions will involve trade-offs between different objectives and values. The briefing discusses: • evaluating the economic case for refurbishment, including impacts on communities and residents; • the energy and carbon implications of demolition compared to refurbishment; • issues around water and waste; and • social factors in housing and regeneration, including health and community participation

Extremely red radio galaxies

At least half the radio galaxies at z>1 in the 7C Redshift Survey have extremely red colours (R-K>5), consistent with stellar populations which formed at high redshift (z>5). We discuss the implications of this for the evolution of massive galaxies in general and for the fraction of near-IR-selected EROs which host AGN, a result which is now being tested by deep, hard X-ray surveys. The conclusion is that many massive galaxies undergo at least two active phases: one at z~5 when the black hole and stellar bulge formed and another at z~1-2 when activity is triggered by an event such as an interaction or merger.Comment: 6 pages, 2 figures, to appear in the proceedings of the workshop on "QSO hosts and their environments", IAA, Granada, 10-12 Jan 2001, Ed. I. Marque

Pharmacovigilance in hospice/palliative care: Net effect of haloperidol for delirium

Introduction: Prescribing practice in hospice/palliative care is largely extrapolated from other areas of clinical practice, with few studies of net medication effects (benefits and harms) in hospice/palliative care to guide prescribing decisions. Hospice/palliative care patients differ in multiple ways from better studied participant groups, hence the applicability of studies in other participant groups is uncertain. Haloperidol, a butyrophenone derivative and dopamine antagonist, is commonly prescribed for nausea, vomiting, and delirium in hospice/palliative care. Its frequent use in delirium occurs despite little evidence of the effect of antipsychotics on the untreated course of delirium. The aim of this study was to examine the immediate and short-term clinical benefits and harms of haloperidol for delirium in hospice/palliative care patients. Method: A consecutive cohort of participants from 14 centers across four countries who had haloperidol commenced for delirium were recruited. Data were collected at three time points: baseline, 48 hours (clinical benefits), and day 10 (clinical harms). Investigators were also able to report clinical harms at any time up to 14 days after it was commenced. Results: Of the 119 participants included, the average dose was 2.1 mg per 24 hours; 42 of 106 (35.2%) reported benefit at 48 hours. Harm was reported in 14 of 119 (12%) at 10 days, the most frequent being somnolence (n=11) and urinary retention (n=6). Seven participants had their medication ceased due to harms (2 for somnolence and 2 for rigidity). Approximately half (55/119) were still being treated with haloperidol after 10 days. Conclusion: Overall, 1 in 3 participants gained net clinical benefit at 10 days. © Copyright 2013, Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. 2013

Exoanal ultrasound of the anal sphincter: normal anatomy and sphincter defects

To describe the sonographic appearance of normal anal sphincter anatomy and sphincter defects evaluated with a conventional 5 MHz convex transducer placed on the perineum. Design Prospective, single-blind study. Setting Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Michigan Medical Center, USA. Population Twenty-five women with symptoms of faecal incontinence, 11 asymptomatic nulliparous women, and 32 asymptomatic parous women. Methods A convex scanner was placed on the perineum with the woman in lithotomy position. Images were taken at three levels of the sphincter canal. Pictures were evaluated by two examiners who were blinded to the case history of the women and to the results of each other for the presence or absence of sphincter defects. Main outcome measures Description of anal sphincter appearance on endoanal ultrasound. Reproducibilty of the evaluation of sphincter defects. Results The internal anal sphincter is visible as a hypoechoic circle; the external anal sphincter shows a hyperechoic pattern. Proximally the sling of the puborectalis muscle is visible. Sphincter defects were detected in 20 women. In all five women who subsequently underwent surgery, the presence and location of the defect was confirmed at the time of surgery. Examiners were in agreement 100% of the time on the presence or absence of internal defects. They disagreed in one patient on the presence of an external defect. Conclusion Exoanal ultrasound provides information on normal anatomy and on defects of the anal sphincter.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/75125/1/j.1471-0528.1997.tb12056.x.pd

Solitary pulmonary metastasis from prostate sarcomatoid cancer

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Pulmonary metastasis from prostate cancer is considered to be a late event, and patients can be treated with chemotherapy or hormonal manipulation. However, there has been only a few reports on surgical resection for pulmonary metastasis from prostate cancer.</p> <p>Case Presentation</p> <p>We present a surgical case of solitary pulmonary metastasis from prostate cancer. A 73-year-old man underwent pelvic evisceration for prostate cancer. Histopathological examination revealed a poorly differentiated adenocarcinoma with a sarcomatoid carcinoma component. During postoperative follow-up, chest computed tomography showed a nodular shadow in the lung, and thoracoscopic wedge resection of the lung was performed. Histopathological examination revealed a histological appearance similar to that of the prostate sarcomatoid carcinoma. This is the first reported case of solitary pulmonary metastasis from prostate sarcomatoid cancer.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Isolated pulmonary metastasis from prostate sarcomatoid cancer is extremely rare, but surgery could be the treatment of choice.</p

Diel turbidity cycles in a headwater stream: evidence of nocturnal bioturbation?

Purpose: A small number of recent studies have linked daily cycles in stream turbidity to nocturnal bioturbation by aquatic fauna, principally crayfish, and demonstrated this process can significantly impact upon water quality under baseflow conditions. Adding to this limited body of research, we use high-resolution water quality monitoring data to investigate evidence of diel turbidity cycles in a lowland, headwater stream with a known signal crayfish (Pacifastacus leniusculus) population and explore a range of potential causal mechanisms. Materials and methods: Automatic bankside monitoring stations measured turbidity and other water quality parameters at 30-min resolution at three locations on the River Blackwater, Norfolk, UK during 2013. Specifically, we focused on two 20-day periods of baseflow conditions during January and April 2013 which displayed turbidity trends typical of winter and spring seasons, respectively. The turbidity time-series, which were smoothed with 6.5 hour Savitzky-Golay filters to highlight diel trends, were correlated against temperature, stage, dissolved oxygen and pH to assess the importance of abiotic influences on turbidity. Turbidity was also calibrated against suspended particulate matter (SPM) over a wide range of values via linear regression. Results and discussion: Pronounced diel turbidity cycles were found at two of the three sites under baseflow conditions during April. Spring night-time turbidity values consistently peaked between 21:00 and 04:00 with values increasing by ~10 nephelometric turbidity units (NTU) compared with the lowest recorded daytime values which occurred between 10:00 and 14:00. This translated into statistically significant increases in median midnight SPM concentration of up to 76% compared with midday, with night-time (18:00 – 05:30) SPM loads also up to 30% higher than that recorded during the daytime (06:00 – 17:30). Relating turbidity to other water quality parameters exhibiting diel cycles revealed there to be neither any correlation that might indicate a causal link, nor any obvious mechanistic connections to explain the temporal turbidity trends. Diel turbidity cycles were less prominent at all sites during the winter. Conclusions: Considering the seasonality and timing of elevated turbidity, visual observations of crayfish activity, and an absence of mechanistic connections with other water quality parameters, the results presented here are consistent with the hypothesis that nocturnal bioturbation is responsible for generating diel turbidity cycles under baseflow conditions in headwater streams. However, further research in a variety of fluvial environments is required to better assess the spatial extent, importance and causal mechanisms of this phenomenon