Occurrence of lactational mastitis and medical management: a prospective cohort study in Glasgow

This article is published under license to BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.Background Lactational mastitis is a painful, debilitating condition that if inappropriately managed, may lead women to discontinue breastfeeding prematurely. The aim of this paper is to report the incidence of mastitis in the first six months postpartum in a Scottish population, its impact on breastfeeding duration and to describe the type and appropriateness of the support and management received by affected women from health professionals. Methods A longitudinal study of 420 breastfeeding women was undertaken in Glasgow in 2004/05. Participants were recruited and completed a baseline questionnaire before discharge from hospital. Cases of mastitis were reported either directly to the researchers or were detected during regular follow-up telephone interviews at weeks 3, 8, 18 and 26. Women experiencing mastitis provided further information of their symptoms and the management and advice they received from health professionals. Results In total, 74 women (18%) experienced at least one episode of mastitis. More than one half of initial episodes (53%) occurred within the first four weeks postpartum. One in ten women (6/57) were inappropriately advised to either stop breastfeeding from the affected breast or to discontinue breastfeeding altogether. Conclusion Approximately one in six women is likely to experience one or more episodes of mastitis whilst breastfeeding. A small but clinically important proportion of women continue to receive inappropriate management advice from health professionals which, if followed, could lead them to unnecessarily deprive their infants prematurely of the known nutritional and immunological benefits of breast milk

Reaction kinetics of photoactive defects in semiconductor dissolution

Uniformity and predictability are the principal qualities sought for all wet chemical etches. The establishment of these qualities, however, is hindered by a number of factors, such as nonuniformities in the starting material and random fluctuations in the local temperature and reactant concentration, which can lead to variations in etch rate across the surface of a wafer. The effects of variations in the local etch rate on the morphological development of an etching surface and on the overall etch rate of the semiconductor are discussed. The system studied was an Al 0.4 Ga 0.6 As/GaAs heterostructure photodissolved in nitric acid using 730-nm laser light. Defects in the AlGaAs layer, which etched faster than the surrounding material, were responsible for variations in the etch rate. The defects also exhibited a degree of photosensitivity that has not been previously observed. It was also found that not all of the defects spanned the AlGaAs epilayer. A model for the overall etch rate was based on a system of noninteracting cylindrical defects with a distribution in depths.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/37440/1/690420816_ftp.pd

Model for the reaction-rate-limited dissolution of solids with Etch-rate heterogeneities

The coalescence of isotropic etch pits observed in the dissolution of semiconductor substrates is studied using a discrete model for the evolution of the surface under reaction-rate-limited conditions. The model discretizes the solid into cubic elements and repetitively applies dissolution rules to the individual elements. The rate of mass removal is based on the number and arrangement of the element's exposed faces and the specified reaction-rate parameters. Detailed knowledge of the surface normal is not required. The model shows that even at moderate etch pit densities, the effects of the coalescence do not significantly alter the trends observed for noncoalescing etch pits.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/37442/1/690420926_ftp.pd

Selection of Psyllid-Resistant Forage Varieties from an Inter-Specific Breeding Program of \u3cem\u3eLeucaena leucocephala\u3c/em\u3e with \u3cem\u3eL. pallida\u3c/em\u3e

Leucaena (Leucaena leucocephala) pastures for beef cattle production are productive and sustainable; however, susceptibility to the psyllid insect (Heteropsylla cubana) has limited expansion of current commercial cultivars into more humid areas (\u3e 800 mm/yr) (Shelton and Dalzell 2007). Psyllids can also cause intermittent damage in lower rainfall regions during humid periods. The psyllid, which arrived in Australia in 1986, is a leaf-sucking insect specific to the Leucaena genus, feeding on the growing tips of susceptible cultivars (Bray 1994). Psyllid damage can reduce production by as much as 50-70% in humid regions and 20-50% in subhumid environments (Bray 1994; Mullen and Shelton 2003). Work on psyllid resistance in the Leucaena genus through the 1990s showed that several Leucaena species, including the tetraploid L. pallida, had good levels of resistance (Mullen et al. 2003). A breeding program to develop psyllid-resistant varieties began in 2002 at The University of Queensland (UQ) based on the F1 inter-specific hybrids between L. leucocephala and L. pallida (known as ‘KX2’), developed at the University of Hawaii (Brewbaker 2008). Between 2002 and 2005, UQ initiated a program of recurrent selection in an attempt to produce stable outcrossed KX2-derived lines but inbreeding depression for yield and poor forage quality led to a change in the breeding strategy, and a backcrossing program was implemented between 2005 and 2008. Two cycles of backcrossing to elite L. leucocephala ssp. glabrata material were completed followed by 2 cycles of progeny testing and selection for self-compatibility to achieve stability and uniformity (2009 - 2012). Forty elite psyllid-resistant lines were then evaluated to identify the most suitable lines for release to industry. This paper describes the results of these trials

Electronic structure and ferroelectricity in SrBi2Ta2O9

The electronic structure of SrBi2Ta2O9 is investigated from first-principles, within the local density approximation, using the full-potential linearized augmented plane wave (LAPW) method. The results show that, besides the large Ta(5d)-O(2p) hybridization which is a common feature of the ferroelectric perovskites, there is an important hybridization between bismuth and oxygen states. The underlying static potential for the ferroelectric distortion and the primary source for ferroelectricity is investigated by a lattice-dynamics study using the Frozen Phonon approach.Comment: 17 pages, 7 figures. Phys. Rev. B, in pres

An Optical Backplane Demonstrator System Based on FET-SEED Smart Pixel Arrays and Diffractive Lenslet Arrays

We have demonstrated a representative portion of an optical backplane using FET-SEED smart pixels and free-space optics to interconnect printed circuit boards (PCB\u27s) in a two board, unidirectional link configuration. 4×4 arrays of FET-SEED transceivers were designed, fabricated, and packaged all the PCB level, The optical interconnection was constructed using diffractive microoptics, and custom optomechanics. The system was operated in two modes, one showing high data throughput, 100 MBit/sec, and the other demonstrating large connection densities, 2222 channel/cm2

Sharpening the predictions of big-bang nucleosynthesis

Motivated by the recent measurement of the primeval abundance of deuterium, we re-examine the nuclear inputs to big-bang nucleosynthesis (BBN). Using Monte-Carlo realization of the nuclear cross-section data to directly estimate the theoretical uncertainties for the yields of D, 3-He and 7-Li, we show that previous estimates were a factor of 2 too large. We sharpen the BBN determination of the baryon density based upon deuterium, rho_B = (3.6 +/- 0.4) * 10^{-31} g/cm^3 (Omega_B h^2 = 0.019 +/- 0.0024), which leads to a predicted 4-He abundance, Y_P = 0.246 +/- 0.0014 and a stringent limit to the equivalent number of light neutrino species: N_nu < 3.20 (all at 95% cl). The predicted 7-Li abundance, 7-Li/H = (3.5 + 1.1 - 0.9) * 10^{-10}, is higher than that observed in pop II stars, (1.7 +/- 0.3) * 10^{-10} (both, 95% cl). We identify key reactions and the energies where further work is needed.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures (epsfig), REVTeX; submitted to Phys. Rev. Let

The experimental gas-phase structures of 1,3,5-trisilylbenzene and hexasilylbenzene and the theoretical structures of all benzenes with three or more silyl substituents

The structures of 1,3,5-trisilylbenzene and hexasilylbenzene in the gas phase have been determined by electron diffraction, and that of 1,3,5-trisilylbenzene by X-ray crystallography. The structures of three trisilylbenzene isomers, three tetrasilylbenzenes, pentasilylbenzene and hexasilylbenzene have been computed, ab initio and using Density Functional Theory, at levels up to MP2/6-31G*. The primary effect of silyl substituents is to narrow the ring angle at the substituted carbon atoms. Steric interactions between silyl groups on neighbouring carbon atoms lead first to displacement of these groups away from one another, and then to displacement out of the ring plane, with alternate groups moving to opposite sides of the ring. In the extreme example, hexasilylbenzene, the SiCCSi dihedral angle is 17.8(8)°

Superposition of Weyl solutions: The equilibrium forces

Solutions to the Einstein equation that represent the superposition of static isolated bodies with axially symmetry are presented. The equations nonlinearity yields singular structures (strut and membranes) to equilibrate the bodies. The force on the strut like singularities is computed for a variety of situations. The superposition of a ring and a particle is studied in some detailComment: 31 pages, 7 figures, psbox macro. Submitted to Classical and Quantum Gravit