Reaction to halothane anaesthesia among heterozygotes at the halothane locus in British Landrace pigs

International audienc

Fabrication of Insulation Coatings on Additively Manufactured CuCrZr Electrical Windings

To lower the ac losses in electrical machines, additive manufacturing (AM) has been adopted to exploit the geometrical freedom in winding design. However, AM brings about new challenges such as surface roughness and porosity which can create difficulties for post processing of the windings such as applying insulation coatings. The article investigates the influence of surface roughness (profile) of AM-processed CuCrZr as a potential candidate for electrical windings in terms of geometry, surface roughness, porosity, and oxidation on their insulation. The feasibility and characteristics of insulations applied via three processing techniques namely powder, spray, and dip coating are compared. The entire process is quantified via techniques such as computed tomography, surface profilometry, optical microscopy, X-ray photon spectroscopy, and breakdown voltage (BV) at different stages of the coating process. The study also includes coating on a commercial rectangular copper wire as a reference. The initial assessment of coatings concludes that surface roughness and the coating process are both vital determinants for the success of insulating AM components. Basic surface smoothening is needed to get rid of burs and the spray coating technique was the best among others for its capability to produce conformal coating

Bekkenbanden voor acute stabilisatie van instabiele bekkenfracturen

Bekkenbanden zijn ontwikkeld voor de acute behandeling van instabiele bekkenringfracturen in de prehospitale fase. Deze behandeling is gericht op het beperken van het inwendig bloedverlies door het verkleinen van het bij bekkenfracturen toegenomen bekkenvolume en het stabiliseren van de fractuurdelen. Het effect van commercieel verkrijgbare bekkenbanden op de reductie van de symphysis pubisdiastase en de hemodynamische stabiliteit is aangetoond. Het langdurig gebruik van bekkenbanden wordt ontraden wegens toegenomen risico op het ontwikkelen van decubitus. Met name langdurige immobilisatie met een bekkenband op een traumaplank dient voorkomen te worden. In dit artikel wordt een aantal verschillende bekkenbanden besproken en wordt een casus gepresenteerd.Pelvic circumferential compression devices have been developed for initial treatment of unstable pelvic ring fractures in the prehospital situation. The treatment is aimed at achieving tamponade by reducing the increased pelvic volume and reducing the bleeding from fracture surfaces. The effect of commercially available pelvic circumferential compression devices on the reduction of symphysis pubis diastasis and the resuscitation has been proved. Prolonged use of these devices is complicated by the risk of development of pressure sores. Therefore prolonged immobilization on a spine board should be avoided. A number of different pelvic binders will be discussed in this article, which also presents a case

Targeted Assembly of Short Sequence Reads

As next-generation sequence (NGS) production continues to increase, analysis is becoming a significant bottleneck. However, in situations where information is required only for specific sequence variants, it is not necessary to assemble or align whole genome data sets in their entirety. Rather, NGS data sets can be mined for the presence of sequence variants of interest by localized assembly, which is a faster, easier, and more accurate approach. We present TASR, a streamlined assembler that interrogates very large NGS data sets for the presence of specific variants, by only considering reads within the sequence space of input target sequences provided by the user. The NGS data set is searched for reads with an exact match to all possible short words within the target sequence, and these reads are then assembled strin-gently to generate a consensus of the target and flanking sequence. Typically, variants of a particular locus are provided as different target sequences, and the presence of the variant in the data set being interrogated is revealed by a successful assembly outcome. However, TASR can also be used to find unknown sequences that flank a given target. We demonstrate that TASR has utility in finding or confirming ge-nomic mutations, polymorphism, fusion and integration events. Targeted assembly is a powerful method for interrogating large data sets for the presence of sequence variants of interest. TASR is a fast, flexible and easy to use tool for targeted assembly

SOlution Focused brief therapy In post-stroke Aphasia (SOFIA Trial): protocol for a feasibility randomised controlled trial

Background: Around a quarter of people post stroke will experience aphasia, a language disability. Having aphasia places someone at risk of becoming depressed and isolated. There is limited evidence for effective interventions to enhance psychological well-being for this client group. A potential intervention is Solution Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT), which supports a person to build meaningful, achievable change through focusing on a person?s skills and resources rather than their deficits. The SOFIA Trial aims to explore the acceptability of SFBT to people with varying presentations of aphasia, including severe aphasia, and to assess the feasibility of conducting a future definitive trial investigating clinical and cost effectiveness. Methods: The trial is a single-blind, randomised, wait-list controlled feasibility trial with nested qualitative research and pilot economic evaluation comparing SFBT plus usual care to usual care alone. The study will recruit 32 participants with aphasia who are ?6 months post stroke. All participants will be assessed on psychosocial outcome measures at baseline, then at three and six months post randomisation by assessors blinded to treatment allocation. Participants will be randomly assigned to intervention group (start intervention immediately post randomisation) or wait-list group (start intervention six months post randomisation). Wait-list group will additionally be assessed nine months post randomisation. The intervention consists of up to six SFBT sessions delivered over three months by speech and language therapists. Participants and therapists will also take part in in-depth interviews exploring their experiences of the study. The pilot economic evaluation will use the EQ-5D-5L measure and an adapted Client Service Receipt Inventory. People with aphasia have been involved in designing and monitoring the trial. Discussion: Given the high levels of depression and isolation, there is a need to investigate effective interventions that enhance the psychological wellbeing of people with aphasia. Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT03245060. 10/08/2017

Cluster randomised trials in the medical literature: two bibliometric surveys

Background: Several reviews of published cluster randomised trials have reported that about half did not take clustering into account in the analysis, which was thus incorrect and potentially misleading. In this paper I ask whether cluster randomised trials are increasing in both number and quality of reporting. Methods: Computer search for papers on cluster randomised trials since 1980, hand search of trial reports published in selected volumes of the British Medical Journal over 20 years. Results: There has been a large increase in the numbers of methodological papers and of trial reports using the term 'cluster random' in recent years, with about equal numbers of each type of paper. The British Medical Journal contained more such reports than any other journal. In this journal there was a corresponding increase over time in the number of trials where subjects were randomised in clusters. In 2003 all reports showed awareness of the need to allow for clustering in the analysis. In 1993 and before clustering was ignored in most such trials. Conclusion: Cluster trials are becoming more frequent and reporting is of higher quality. Perhaps statistician pressure works

Squirrelpox virus: assessing prevalence, transmission and environmental degradation

Red squirrels (Sciurus vulgaris) declined in Great Britain and Ireland during the last century, due to habitat loss and the introduction of grey squirrels (Sciurus carolinensis), which competitively exclude the red squirrel and act as a reservoir for squirrelpox virus (SQPV). The disease is generally fatal to red squirrels and their ecological replacement by grey squirrels is up to 25 times faster where the virus is present. We aimed to determine: (1) the seropositivity and prevalence of SQPV DNA in the invasive and native species at a regional scale; (2) possible SQPV transmission routes; and, (3) virus degradation rates under differing environmental conditions. Grey (n = 208) and red (n = 40) squirrel blood and tissues were sampled. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) techniques established seropositivity and viral DNA presence, respectively. Overall 8% of squirrels sampled (both species combined) had evidence of SQPV DNA in their tissues and 22% were in possession of antibodies. SQPV prevalence in sampled red squirrels was 2.5%. Viral loads were typically low in grey squirrels by comparison to red squirrels. There was a trend for a greater number of positive samples in spring and summer than in winter. Possible transmission routes were identified through the presence of viral DNA in faeces (red squirrels only), urine and ectoparasites (both species). Virus degradation analyses suggested that, after 30 days of exposure to six combinations of environments, there were more intact virus particles in scabs kept in warm (25°C) and dry conditions than in cooler (5 and 15°C) or wet conditions. We conclude that SQPV is present at low prevalence in invasive grey squirrel populations with a lower prevalence in native red squirrels. Virus transmission could occur through urine especially during warm dry summer conditions but, more notably, via ectoparasites, which are shared by both species

rural and urban schools northern greece in the interwar period

Modernism—as cultural and artistic expression of modern core values—is often associated with urban and industrial contexts, in stark contrast to a "backward countryside". Focusing on modernist reinventions of the rural landscape, MODSCAPES (funded under HERA JRP III call "Uses of the Past", Oct. 2016–2019) specifically questions these preconceived ideas. In different political and ideological contexts agricultural development schemes carried out in Europe during the twentieth century were pivotal experiments in nation-building policies. In addition, they provided a common testing ground for the ideas, and tools, of environmental and social scientists, architects and engineers, planners and landscape architects, as well as artists. This contribution presents the case study of Northern Greece, focusing on rural and urban schools as a key architectural theme, called upon to express the founding values of a collective identity. The dialectic between tradition and innovation, eclecticism and modernism, uncovers its meaning case by case