Should eye protection be worn during dermatological surgery: prospective observational study

Background There is a potential risk of infection with blood-borne viruses if a doctor receives a blood splash to a mucous membrane. The quantification of facial contamination with blood has never been documented in the context of dermatological surgery. Objectives (i) To identify the number of facial blood splashes that occur during skin surgery and to identify the procedures that present higher risks for the operator and assistant. (ii) To assess the provision of eye protection and attitudes to its use in dermatological surgery in the U.K. Methods (i) Prospective, observational study in the skin surgery suite of a U.K. teaching hospital assessing 100 consecutive dermatological surgery procedures, plus 100 consecutive operations in which an assistant was present. Primary outcome: number of face-mask visors with at least one blood splash. Secondary outcomes: to identify if any of the following variables influenced the occurrence of a blood splash: grade of operator, site and type of procedure, and the use of electrocautery. (ii) A postal survey of all U.K.-based members of the British Society of Dermatological Surgery (BSDS) was conducted assessing facilities available and the attitudes of U.K.-based clinicians to the use of face masks during surgery. Results (i) In 33% of all surgical procedures there was at least one facial splash to the operator (range 1–75) and in 15% of procedures the assistant received at least one splash (range 1–11). Use of monopolar electrocautery was significantly less likely to result in splashes to the mask compared with bipolar electrocautery [odds ratio (OR) 0Æ04; 95% confidence interval (CI) 0Æ01–0Æ19]. Compared with the head/neck, operations on the body were significantly more likely to result in splashes to the mask (OR 6Æ52) (95% CI 1Æ7–25Æ07). The type of procedure and the status of the operator did not have a bearing on the likelihood of receiving a splash to the mask. (ii) From the survey, 33 of 159 (20Æ8%) of BSDS members had no face masks available and 54 of 159 (34Æ0%) did not wear any facial protection while operating. The majority (53Æ5%) thought they received a splash in £ 1% of procedures. Conclusions There is a substantial risk of a splash of blood coming into contact with the face during dermatological surgery for both the operator and assistant, regardless of the procedure. The risk of receiving a blood splash to the face may be substantially underestimated by U.K.-based dermatologists. The use of protective eyewear is advisable at all times, but particularly when using bipolar electrocautery, or when operating on high-risk individuals

MIG gas shielding : Economic savings without detriment to quality

Over the years a number of claims have been made related to potential savings of the shielding gas used in the MIG process. A number of work streams have been set up to consider such areas from a technical and economic standpoint. The use of small helium additions has particular benefits and despite an increase in unit cost, the overriding benefits are achieved in reduced manhour cost. A similar situation has been established when using a high frequency process to switch shielding gases during welding. The outcome from this was very similar to that already described. Overlaid on these has been the increasing use of a technique that visualises actual gas flow during welding by the use of laser backlighting. Some preliminary work in this area is described particularly related to the effect of drafts on the gas distribution. A recent development on the market place is a piece of equipment, which regulates the gas flow automatically and synchronously with the welding current. Gas savings in the region of 50-60% have been obtained. Data has been produced to illustrate these benefits. The potential benefit of developing a computational fluid dynamic model of the gas flow is also described, and early development stages of the model shown. However, there will always exist the very basic management need to minimise leaks from the gas delivery systems

A new approach to (quasi) periodic boundary conditions in micromagnetics: the macrogeometry

We present a new method to simulate repetitive ferromagnetic structures. This macro geometry approach combines treatment of short-range interactions (i.e. the exchange field) as for periodic boundary conditions with a specification of the arrangement of copies of the primary simulation cell in order to correctly include effects of the demagnetizing field. This method (i) solves a consistency problem that prevents the naive application of 3d periodic boundary conditions in micromagnetism and (ii) is well suited for the efficient simulation of repetitive systems of any size

Land Use Changes in Europe. Processes of Change, Environmental Transformations and Future Patterns

Patterns of land use in Europe owe much to the boundaries set by the natural environment. The alterations imposed by man are still ultimately constrained by natural limitations of which climate pays a major role. Possible global climatic change, therefore, is likely to have a major effect on land use patterns and this is the first volume to describe the potential changes against the background of historical land use changes in Europe, the likely future land use patterns and the policy implications that are becoming evident in relation to feasible land use management strategies. This book covers a wide spectrum of issues: How will the characteristics of the land resource change? What are the implications of these changes on the environment? What policies need to be introduced to encourage sensitivity to environmental supply limitations? What is the scale of response that is needed to address these issues? The workshop that addressed these topics was sponsored by IIASA in association with the Institute of Geography and Spatial Organization of the Polish Academy of Sciences. The Stockholm Environment Institute collaborated in this and took on the main responsibility of producing this volume from the range of contributions at the workshop

Conservation of structure and mechanism in primary and secondary transporters exemplified by SiaP, a sialic acid binding virulence factor from Haemophilus influenzae

Extracytoplasmic solute receptors (ESRs) are important components of solute uptake systems in bacteria, having been studied extensively as parts of ATP binding cassette transporters. Herein we report the first crystal structure of an ESR protein from a functionally characterized electrochemical ion gradient-dependent secondary transporter. This protein, SiaP, forms part of a tripartite ATP-independent periplasmic transporter specific for sialic acid in Haemophilus influenzae. Surprisingly, the structure reveals an overall topology similar to ATP binding cassette ESR proteins, which is not apparent from the sequence, demonstrating that primary and secondary transporters can share a common structural component. The structure of SiaP in the presence of the sialic acid analogue 2,3-didehydro-2-deoxyN-acetylneuraminic acid reveals the ligand bound in a deep cavity with its carboxylate group forming a salt bridge with a highly conserved Arg residue. Sialic acid binding, which obeys simple bimolecular association kinetics as determined by stopped-flow fluorescence spectroscopy, is accompanied by domain closure about a hinge region and the kinking of an alpha-helix hinge component. The structure provides insight into the evolution, mechanism, and substrate specificity of ESR-dependent secondary transporters that are widespread in prokaryotes

Science, religion and sustainability in schools: outlining a teacher learning community approach.

Sustainability is a large and growing field in educational research. Existing research has explored conceptually how the science/religion dialogue might inform sustainability education. This has the potential to enrich sustainability education by acknowledging difference and better engaging students across different religions and worldviews. Fostering a multidisciplinary approach to sustainability education in schools can help create connections between science, RE, geography, economics, and history, as these all contribute to critical thinking and inform compassionate action that supports social justice. Epistemically insightful approaches to teaching and learning have the potential to support this vital dialogue and push back against compartmentalization. In this presentation, we will discuss preliminary work and findings for our pilot study with ECTs, funded by the International Network for Science and Belief in Society. Our project will assess the potential of a cross-national (England and Pakistan) teacher research community model for co-creating resources and approaches that address the above issues of the conflict model, compartmentalization and lack of understanding/confidence in the delivery of sustainability education across different curriculum subjects

Effects of light treatment on fecal corticosterone levels in captive European Starlings (Sturnus vulgaris)

Incandescent light sources are increasing replaced by other forms of light, such as fluorescent and light-emitting diode (LED) lights, which have greater longevity and offer greater energy efficient. These sources of light differ in more than their cost and efficiency, and have many different physical properties, for instance, their degree of flickering. Low-frequency fluorescent lighting flickers below the critical flickering fusion frequency (CFF) of some birds and may be a source of stress, unlike a non-flickering light source, such as LED. Our study measured levels of glucocorticoid metabolites (GCM’s) in fecal samples of captive European starlings (Sturnus vulgaris ) both across treatments and over a period of days to demonstrate the effects of different forms of light on the stress levels of birds in a laboratory setting. Concentration of GCM’s were not significantly different either across light treatments (P =0.441) or over time (P= 0.209), suggesting flickering properties of low-frequency fluorescent light is not a major source of stress for captive birds over an alternative light source

Penguasaan lahan dan hubungannya dengan pendapatan dan curahan waktu kerja di luar usaha tani=:Land Tenure and the Relationship with Off-farm Income and

ABSTRACT Land tenure is one of the important factors of household economy. Especially for rural household, land tenure is the income yielding from natural source and is the highest one. Almost all studies of rural household economy are connected with this aspect This study expresses that the major aspects of land tenure are land ownership, either inheritance or purchased land. The distribution pattern of land tenure indirates inequality shown by 0.68 Gini Index. This land tenure inequality will become serious if it is regarded between wet rice field and dry rice field separately. It is shown by 0.80 and 0.73 Gini Index. This study clarifies that the distribution pattern of the total household incomes indicate equality shown by 0.34 Gini Endes. The distribution pattern of the household income will become inequality if it is regarded from farm income size separately, it is shown by 0.52 Gini Index. This study also clarifies that the majority of the total household income is contributed by off farm income. The first finding of this study was the nonsignificant relationship between land tenure broadth with off farm size. This finding was strengthened by the nonsignificant relationship between farm income size with off farm income size. The first conclution emphasized that the hypothesis or positive relationship between land tenure broadth or farm income size with off farm income size, was not true for all owes. The other finding of this study was the negative relationship between land tenure broadth and farm income size with time allocation for off farm activity which was done by household head. This finding strengthened the hypothesis of this study. Key words: land tenure -- shift of employment structure -- off farm employment

NNLO fermionic corrections to the charm quark mass dependent matrix elements in B -> X_s gamma

We compute the virtual O(alpha_s^2) fermionic contributions to the charm quark mass dependent matrix elements of the B -> X_s gamma decay. In the case of a massless quark loop insertion into the gluon propagator, our result obtained as an expansion in z=m_c^2/m_b^2 and an exact expression in terms of multi-fold MB integrals, confirms the findings of Bieri, Greub and Steinhauser [19]. We observe, however, large deviations in the case of a b-quark loop insertion.The charm quark loop shows smaller, but still noticeable differences.Comment: 11 pages, 3 figures, 1 tabl