Clinical surveillance of thrombotic microangiopathies in Scotland, 2003-2005

The prevalence, incidence and outcomes of haemolytic uraemic syndrome (HUS) and thrombotic thrombocytopaenic purpura (TTP) are not well established in adults or children from prospective studies. We sought to identify both outcomes and current management strategies using prospective, national surveillance of HUS and TTP, from 2003 to 2005 inclusive. We also investigated the links between these disorders and factors implicated in the aetiology of HUS and TTP including infections, chemotherapy, and immunosuppression. Most cases of HUS were caused by verocytotoxin-producing Escherichia coli (VTEC), of which serotype O157 predominated, although other serotypes were identified. The list of predisposing factors for TTP was more varied although use of immunosuppressive agents and severe sepsis, were the most frequent precipitants. The study demonstrates that while differentiating between HUS and TTP is sometimes difficult, in most cases the two syndromes have quite different predisposing factors and clinical parameters, enabling clinical and epidemiological profiling for these disorders

Microfluidic integration of photonic crystal fibers for online photochemical reaction analysis

Liquid-filled hollow-core photonic crystal fibers (HC-PCFs) are perfect optofluidic channels, uniquely providing low-loss optical guidance in a liquid medium. As a result, the overlap of the dissolved specimen and the intense light field in the micronsized core is increased manyfold compared to conventional bioanalytical techniques, facilitating highly-efficient photoactivation processes. Here we introduce a novel integrated analytical technology for photochemistry by microfluidic coupling of a HC-PCF nanoflow reactor to supplementary detection devices. Applying a continuous flow through the fiber, we deliver photochemical reaction products to a mass spectrometer in an online and hence rapid fashion, which is highly advantageous over conventional cuvette-based approaches

What Powers the Compact Radio Emission in Nearby Elliptical and S0 Galaxies?

Many nearby early-type (elliptical and S0) galaxies contain weak (milli-Jansky level) nuclear radio sources on scales a few hundred parsecs or less. The origin of the radio emission, however, has remained unclear, especially in volume-limited samples that select intrinsically less luminous galaxies. Both active galactic nuclei and nuclear star formation have been suggested as possible mechanisms for producing the radio emission. This paper utilizes optical spectroscopic information to address this issue. A substantial fraction of the early-type galaxies surveyed with the Very Large Array by Wrobel & Heeschen (1991) exhibits detectable optical emission lines in their nuclei down to very sensitive limits. Comparison of the observed radio continuum power with that expected from the thermal gas traced by the optical emission lines implies that the bulk of the radio emission is nonthermal. Both the incidence and the strength of optical line emission correlate with the radio power. At a fixed line luminosity, ellipticals have stronger radio cores than S0s. The relation between radio power and line emission observed in this sample is consistent with the low-luminosity extension of similar relations seen in classical radio galaxies and luminous Seyfert nuclei. A plausible interpretation of this result is that the weak nuclear sources in nearby early-type galaxies are the low-luminosity counterparts of more powerful AGNs. The spectroscopic evidence supports this picture. Most of the emission-line objects are optically classified as Seyfert nuclei or low-ionization nuclear emission-line regions (LINERs), the majority of which are likely to be accretion-powered sources.Comment: LaTex, 16 pages including embedded figures. Accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journa

Effects of amputation and Corynebacterium parvum on tumour metastases in mice.

The effects of operation (lower-limb amputation) on the growth of the Lewis lung tumour and its metastases were studied. The role of C. parvum in counteracting these effects was investigated. Anaesthesia alone or with amputation did not affect primary tumour growth. C. parvum depressed this growth. Anaesthesia did not affect the number of pulmonary metastases, but amputation caused a significant increase. C. parvum inhibited metastases and completely counteracted the effects of operation on them. Large doses of cortisone acetate significantly increased metastases but small doses had no effect. Experiments with adrenalectomized mice suggested the effects of operation were due to non-specific stress

Korean women: breast cancer knowledge, attitudes and behaviors

INTRODUCTION: Clustered within the nomenclature of Asian American are numerous subgroups, each with their own ethnic heritage, cultural, and linguistic characteristics. An understanding of the prevailing health knowledge, attitudes, and screening behaviors of these subgroups is essential for creating population-specific health promotion programs. METHODS: Korean American women (123) completed baseline surveys of breast cancer knowledge, attitudes, and screening behaviors as part of an Asian grocery store-based breast cancer education program evaluation. Follow-up telephone surveys, initiated two weeks later, were completed by 93 women. RESULTS: Low adherence to the American Cancer Society's breast cancer screening guidelines and insufficient breast cancer knowledge were reported. Participants' receptiveness to the grocery store-based breast cancer education program underscores the importance of finding ways to reach Korean women with breast cancer early detection information and repeated cues for screening. The data also suggest that the Asian grocery store-based cancer education program being tested may have been effective in motivating a proportion of the women to schedule a breast cancer screening between the baseline and follow-up surveys. CONCLUSION: The program offers a viable strategy to reach Korean women that addresses the language, cultural, transportation, and time barriers they face in accessing breast cancer early detection information

Microjansky radio sources in DC0107-46 (Abell 2877)

The cluster DC0107-46 (Abell 2877) lies within the Phoenix Deep Survey, made at 1.4 GHz with the Australia Telescope Compact Array. Of 89 known optical cluster members, 70 lie within the radio survey area. Of these 70 galaxies, 15 (21%) are detected, with luminosities as faint as 10^20 W/Hz. Spectroscopic observations are available for 14/15 of the radio-detected cluster galaxies. Six galaxies show only absorption features and are typical low-luminosity AGN radio sources. One galaxy hosts a Seyfert 2 nucleus, two are star-forming galaxies, and the remaining five may be star-forming galaxies, AGNs, or both.Comment: 14 pages, 3 figures, Accepted by ApJS (v128n2p JUN 2000 issue

Octupole strength in the neutron-rich calcium isotopes

Low-lying excited states of the neutron-rich calcium isotopes $^{48-52}$Ca have been studied via $\gamma$-ray spectroscopy following inverse-kinematics proton scattering on a liquid hydrogen target using the GRETINA $\gamma$-ray tracking array. The energies and strengths of the octupole states in these isotopes are remarkably constant, indicating that these states are dominated by proton excitations.Comment: 15 pages, 3 figure

Spectroscopy of 54^{54}Ti and the systematic behavior of low energy octupole states in Ca and Ti isotopes

Excited states of the $N=32$ nucleus $^{54}$Ti have been studied, via both inverse-kinematics proton scattering and one-neutron knockout from $^{55}$Ti by a liquid hydrogen target, using the GRETINA $\gamma$-ray tracking array. Inelastic proton-scattering cross sections and deformation lengths have been determined. A low-lying octupole state has been tentatively identified in $^{54}$Ti for the first time. A comparison of $(p,p')$ results on low-energy octupole states in the neutron-rich Ca and Ti isotopes with the results of Random Phase Approximation calculations demonstrates that the observed systematic behavior of these states is unexpected.Comment: 7 pages, 8 figure

SUMSS: A Wide-Field Radio Imaging Survey of the Southern Sky. II. The Source Catalogue

This paper is the second in a series describing the Sydney University Molonglo Sky Survey (SUMSS) being carried out at 843MHz with the Molonglo Observatory Synthesis Telescope (MOST). The survey will consist of ~590 4.3deg. x 4.3deg. mosaic images with 45"x45"cosec|dec.| resolution, and a source catalogue. In this paper we describe the initial release (version 1.0) of the source catalogue consisting of 107,765 radio sources made by fitting elliptical gaussians in 271 SUMSS mosaics to a limiting peak brightness of 6mJy/beam at dec.-50deg.. The catalogue covers approximately 3500deg^2 of the southern sky with dec.<=-30deg., about 43 per cent of the total survey area. Positions in the catalogue are accurate to within 1"-2" for sources with peak brightness A>=20mJy/beam and are always better than 10". The internal flux density scale is accurate to within 3 per cent. Image artefacts have been classified using a decision tree, which correctly identifies and rejects spurious sources in over 96 per cent of cases. Analysis of the catalogue shows that it is highly uniform and is complete to 8mJy at dec.-50deg.. In this release of the catalogue about 7000 sources are found in the overlap region with the NRAO VLA Sky Survey (NVSS) at 1.4GHz. We calculate a median spectral index of alpha=-0.83 between 1.4GHz and 843MHz. This version of the catalogue will be released via the World Wide Web with future updates as new mosaics are released.Comment: 15 pages, 15 figures, accepted by MNRAS, Catalogue at http://www.astrop.physics.usyd.edu.au/sumssca