4,240 research outputs found
Patients’ preferred mode of travel to the orthopaedic theatre
AIM: To determine the preferred mode of travel to the operating theatre for elective orthopaedic patients. METHODS: Data was collected prospectively over a 2-wk period at an elective Orthopaedic Treatment Centre. Patients were asked to complete a patient satisfaction questionnaire following their surgery on their experience and subsequent preferred mode of transport to theatre. The data was then recorded in a tabulated format and analysed with percentages. Fisher’s exact test was used to determine if there was any statistical association between patients’ preference to walk and various groups; in-patient or day case procedures, and whether patients were < 60 years or > 60 years of age. RESULTS: Seventy patients (40 females and 30 males) fully completed the questionnaire. In total there were 33 d-cases and 37 in-patients. The spectrum of orthopaedic sub-specialties included was knee (41%), hip (17%), foot and ankle (24%), spine (13%) and upper limb (4%). Patient satisfaction for overall experience of travelling to theatre was either excellent (77%) or good (23%). Following their experience of travelling to theatre, 87% (95%CI: 79%-95%) of the total cohort would have preferred to walk to the operating theatre. There was a statistically significant association (P = 0.003) between patients’ preference to walk and whether they were day-case or in-patients. Similarly, there was a statistically significance association (P = 0.028) between patients’ preference to walk and whether they were < 60 years or > 60 years of age. CONCLUSION: This study confirms the majority of Orthopaedic elective patients would prefer to walk to theatre, when given the choice and if practically possible
Partial Failure of Milk Pasteurization as a Risk for the Transmission of Campylobacter From Cattle to Humans
Background. Cattle are the second most common source of human campylobacteriosis. However, routes to account for this scale of transmission have not been identified. In contrast to chicken, red meat is not heavily contaminated at point of sale. Although effective pasteurization prevents milk-borne infection, apparently sporadic infections may include undetected outbreaks from raw or perhaps incompletely pasteurized milk.Methods. A rise in Campylobacter gastroenteritis in an isolated population was investigated using whole-genome sequencing (WGS), an epidemiological study, and environmental investigations.Results. A single strain was identified in 20 cases, clearly distinguishable from other local strains and a reference population by WGS. A case-case analysis showed association of infection with the outbreak strain and milk from a single dairy (odds ratio, 8; Fisher exact test P value = .023). Despite temperature records indicating effective pasteurization, mechanical faults likely to lead to incomplete pasteurization of part of the milk were identified by further testing and examination of internal components of dairy equipment.Conclusions. Here, milk distribution concentrated on a small area, including school-aged children with low background incidence of campylobacteriosis, facilitated outbreak identification. Low-level contamination of widely distributed milk would not produce as detectable an outbreak signal. Such hidden outbreaks may contribute to the substantial burden of apparently sporadic Campylobacter from cattle where transmission routes are not certain. The effective discrimination of outbreak isolates from a reference population using WGS shows that integrating these data and approaches into surveillance could support the detection as well as investigation of such outbreaks
A noncoding, regulatory mutation implicates HCFC1 in nonsyndromic intellectual disability
The discovery of mutations causing human disease has so far been biased toward protein-coding regions. Having excluded all annotated coding regions, we performed targeted massively parallel resequencing of the nonrepetitive genomic linkage interval at Xq28 of family MRX3. We identified in the binding site of transcription factor YY1 a regulatory mutation that leads to overexpression of the chromatin-associated transcriptional regulator HCFC1. When tested on embryonic murine neural stem cells and embryonic hippocampal neurons, HCFC1 overexpression led to a significant increase of the production of astrocytes and a considerable reduction in neurite growth. Two other nonsynonymous, potentially deleterious changes have been identified by X-exome sequencing in individuals with intellectual disability, implicating HCFC1 in normal brain function
Is metal theft committed by organized crime groups, and why does it matter?
Using the example of metal theft in the United Kingdom, this study used mixed methods to evaluate the accuracy of police estimates of the involvement of organised crime groups (OCGs) in crime. Police estimate that 20-30% of metal theft is committed by OCGs, but this study found that only 0.5% of metal thieves had previous convictions for offences related to OCGs, that only 1.3% were linked to OCGs by intelligence information, that metal thieves typically offended close to their homes and that almost no metal thefts involved sophisticated offence methods. It appears that police may over-estimate the involvement of OCGs in some types of crime. The reasons for and consequences of this over-estimation are discussed
Groups of Galaxies in AEGIS: The 200 ksec Chandra Extended X-ray Source catalogue
We present the discovery of seven X-ray emitting groups of galaxies selected
as extended X-ray sources in the 200 ksec Chandra coverage of the
All-wavelength Extended Groth Strip International Survey (AEGIS). In addition,
we report on AGN activity associated to these systems. Using the DEEP2 Galaxy
Redshift Survey coverage, we identify optical counterparts and determine
velocity dispersions. In particular, we find three massive high-redshift groups
at z>0.7, one of which is at z=1.13, the first X-ray detections of
spectroscopically selected DEEP2 groups. We also present a first look at the
the L_X-T, L_X-sigma, and sigma-T scaling relations for high-redshift massive
groups. We find that the properties of these X-ray selected systems agree well
with the scaling relations of similar systems at low redshift, although there
are X-ray undetected groups in the DEEP2 catalogue with similar velocity
dispersions. The other three X-ray groups with identified redshifts are
associated with lower mass groups at z~0.07 and together form part of a large
structure or "supergroup" in the southern portion of the AEGIS field. All of
the low-redshift systems are centred on massive elliptical galaxies, and all of
the high-redshift groups have likely central galaxies or galaxy pairs. All of
the central group galaxies host X-ray point sources, radio sources, and/or show
optical AGN emission. Particularly interesting examples of central AGN activity
include a bent-double radio source plus X-ray point source at the center of a
group at z=0.74, extended radio and double X-ray point sources associated to
the central galaxy in the lowest-redshift group at z=0.066, and a bright green
valley galaxy (part of a pair) in the z=1.13 group which shows optical AGN
emission lines.Comment: accepted to MNRAS, 15 pages, 11 figures, for version with full
resolution figures see http://www.ucolick.org/~tesla/aegis_groups.ps.g
Measurement of the Boson Mass
A measurement of the mass of the boson is presented based on a sample of
5982 decays observed in collisions at
= 1.8~TeV with the D\O\ detector during the 1992--1993 run. From a
fit to the transverse mass spectrum, combined with measurements of the
boson mass, the boson mass is measured to be .Comment: 12 pages, LaTex, style Revtex, including 3 postscript figures
(submitted to PRL
Search for First Generation Scalar Leptoquark Pairs in ppbar Collisions at sqrt(s)=1.8 TeV
We have searched for first generation scalar leptoquark (LQ) pairs in the
enu+jets channel using ppbar collider data (integrated luminosity= 115 pb^-1)
collected by the DZero experiment at the Fermilab Tevatron during 1992-96. The
analysis yields no candidate events. We combine the results with those from the
ee+jets and nunu+jets channels to obtain 95% confidence level (CL) upper limits
on the LQ pair production cross section as a function of mass and of beta, the
branching fraction to a charged lepton. Comparing with the next-to-leading
order theory, we set 95% CL lower limits on the LQ mass of 225, 204, and 79
GeV/c^2 for beta=1, 1/2, and 0, respectively.Comment: 14 pages, 4 figures, submitted to Physical Review Letters Replaced to
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What are the perceptions and concerns of people living with diabetes and National Health Service staff around the potential implementation of AI-assisted screening for diabetic eye disease? Development and validation of a survey for use in a secondary care screening setting.
INTRODUCTION: The English National Health Service (NHS) Diabetic Eye Screening Programme (DESP) performs around 2.3 million eye screening appointments annually, generating approximately 13 million retinal images that are graded by humans for the presence or severity of diabetic retinopathy. Previous research has shown that automated retinal image analysis systems, including artificial intelligence (AI), can identify images with no disease from those with diabetic retinopathy as safely and effectively as human graders, and could significantly reduce the workload for human graders. Some algorithms can also determine the level of severity of the retinopathy with similar performance to humans. There is a need to examine perceptions and concerns surrounding AI-assisted eye-screening among people living with diabetes and NHS staff, if AI was to be introduced into the DESP, to identify factors that may influence acceptance of this technology. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: People living with diabetes and staff from the North East London (NEL) NHS DESP were invited to participate in two respective focus groups to codesign two online surveys exploring their perceptions and concerns around the potential introduction of AI-assisted screening.Focus group participants were representative of the local population in terms of ages and ethnicity. Participants' feedback was taken into consideration to update surveys which were circulated for further feedback. Surveys will be piloted at the NEL DESP and followed by semistructured interviews to assess accessibility, usability and to validate the surveys.Validated surveys will be distributed by other NHS DESP sites, and also via patient groups on social media, relevant charities and the British Association of Retinal Screeners. Post-survey evaluative interviews will be undertaken among those who consent to participate in further research. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: Ethical approval has been obtained by the NHS Research Ethics Committee (IRAS ID: 316631). Survey results will be shared and discussed with focus groups to facilitate preparation of findings for publication and to inform codesign of outreach activities to address concerns and perceptions identified
Measurement of the Top Quark Mass Using Dilepton Events
The D0 collaboration has performed a measurement of the top quark mass based
on six candidate events for the process t tbar -> b W+ bbar W-, where the W
bosons decay to e nu or mu nu. This sample was collected during an exposure of
the D0 detector to an integrated luminosity of 125 pb^-1 of sqrt(s)=1.8 TeV
p-pbar collisions. We obtain mt = 168.4 +- 12.3 (stat) +- 3.7 (sys) GeV/c^2,
consistent with the measurement obtained using single-lepton events.
Combination of the single-lepton and dilepton results yields mt = 172.0 +- 7.5
GeV/c^2.Comment: 12 pages, 3 figure
Search for Top Squark Pair Production in the Dielectron Channel
This report describes the first search for top squark pair production in the
channel stop_1 stopbar_1 -> b bbar chargino_1 chargino_1 -> ee+jets+MEt using
74.9 +- 8.9 pb^-1 of data collected using the D0 detector. A 95% confidence
level upper limit on sigma*B is presented. The limit is above the theoretical
expectation for sigma*B for this process, but does show the sensitivity of the
current D0 data set to a particular topology for new physics.Comment: Five pages, including three figures, submitted to PRD Brief Report
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