Unethical aspects of homeopathic dentistry

In the last year there has been a great deal of public debate about homeopathy, the system of alternative medicine whose main principles are that like cures like and that potency increases relative to dilution. The House of Commons Select Committee on Science and Technology concluded in November 2009 that there is no evidence base for homeopathy, and agreed with some academic commentators that homeopathy should not be funded by the NHS. While homeopathic doctors and hospitals are quite commonplace, some might be surprised to learn that there are also many homeopathic dentists practising in the UK. This paper examines the statements made by several organisations on behalf of homeopathic dentistry and suggests that they are not entirely ethical and may be in breach of various professional guidelines

Optimal Conditions for Kinetic Study of Succinate Dehydrogenase in Rat Liver

Succinate dehydrogenase (SDH) commonly is assayed as a marker enzyme for mitochondrial activity. The literature presents numerous conditions for conducting this assay due to the fact that, it has been difficult to get sufficient reduction of the acceptor dye, 2,3,5-triphenyl-2H-tetrazolium chloride (TTC). This study was undertaken to optimize the SDH-catalyzed reduction of TTC dye by evaluation of a greater range of molor ratios of TTC to succinate and by further evaluation of additives reported as beneficial. Improvement in enzyme specific activity was achieved by liver perfusion via the left cardiac ventricle with homogenizing solution. Increase in TTC from 1 to 10 mM and further increase to 20 mM resulted in major improvement in color production. The greatest improvement in apparent activity was achieved by addition of 1 mM phenozine methosulfate, a hydrogen transfer mediator. Use of CaCI₂. EDTA, Triton X-100, NaN₃ and KCN was not beneficial. The above modifications of the SDH assay resulted in greater sensitivity, the conduct of a greater number of assays with less tissue and the sacrifice of fewer animals

Antioxidant requirements of rats exposed to 100 % oxygen. Part 2 - Effects of dietary ascorbic acid

Dietary ascorbic acid effects as antioxidants in rats exposed to 100 percent oxyge

The annular flow electrothermal ramjet

The annular flow, electrothermal, plug ramjet is examined as a possible means of achieving rapid projectile acceleration to velocities for such applications as direct launch of spacebound payloads. The performance of this ramjet operating with hydrogen propellant is examined for cases where this working fluid is treated: (1) as a perfect gas, and (2) as a gas that is allowed to dissociate and ionize and then recombine with finite reaction rates in the nozzle. Performance results for these cases are compared to the performance of a conventional ramjet operating with perfect gas hydrogen propellant. The performance of the conventional ramjet is superior to that of the annular flow, electrothermal ramjet. However, it is argued that the mechanical complexities associated with conventional ramjet operation are difficult to attain, and for this reason the annular flow, electrothermal ramjet is more desirable as a launch system. Models are presented which describe both electrothermal plug ramjet and conventional ramjet operation, and it is shown that for a given flight velocity there is a rate of heat addition per unit propellant mass for which ramjet operation is optimized

Particle-Induced Electromagnetic De-Excitation of Nuclei in Stellar Matter

The rate for electromagnetic de-excitation of excited nuclei by inelastic scattering with electrons and ions in stellar matter is calculated as a function of temperature, density, transition energy, and multipole type. The results of this paper indicate that for temperatures in the range 109°

Coulomb De-Excitation of C12 in a Helium Gas at High Density and Temperature

The report contains calculations of the extent to which the formation of C12 nuclei is speeded up in a dense hot helium plasma by the Coulomb de-excitation of its transiently formed excited states

Integrable Generalisations of the 2-dimensional Born Infeld Equation

The Born-Infeld equation in two dimensions is generalised to higher dimensions whilst retaining Lorentz Invariance and complete integrability. This generalisation retains homogeneity in second derivatives of the field.Comment: 11 pages, Latex, DTP/93/3

Hydrodynamic Stability of Multicomponent Droplet Gasification in Reduced Gravity

This investigation addresses the problem of hydrodynamic stability of a two-component droplet undergoing spherically-symmetrical gasification. The droplet components are assumed to have characteristic liquid species diffusion times that are large relative to characteristic droplet surface regression times. The problem is formulated as a linear stability analysis, with a goal of predicting when spherically-symmetric droplet gasification can be expected to be hydrodynamically unstable from surface-tension gradients acting along the surface of a droplet which result from perturbations. It is found that for the conditions assumed in this paper (quasisteady gas phase, no initial droplet temperature gradients, diffusion-dominated gasification), surface tension gradients do not play a role in the stability characteristics. In addition, all perturbations are predicted to decay such that droplets were hydrodynamically stable. Conditions are identified, however, that deserve more analysis as they may lead to hydrodynamic instabilities driven by capillary effects