Traumatic brain injury: support for injured people and their carers

Provides a summary of the available evidence for assessing traumatic brain injury (TBI) and managing the common mental health, physical and cognitive/behavioural issues associated with TBI. Background Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a major cause of lifelong disability and death worldwide, but is considered a ‘silent epidemic’ as society is largely unaware of the magnitude of the problem. TBI is a complex injury with a broad spectrum of symptoms and disabilities. Pa-tients with a TBI may have a range of physical, mental, cognitive and social problems. Objective This article provides a summary of the available evidence for assessing TBI and managing the common mental health, physical and cognitive/behavioural issues associated with TBI. Discussion Translational and clinical research has revealed that TBI can no longer be regarded as a single clinical entity with a defined outcome. Each type of injury can lead to a distinct clinical condition that requires careful assessment and appropriate management to reduce long-term disability. In this article we discuss some of the more common health issues related to TBI. &nbsp

Crimson seedless promise WA table grape boon

Five years of research and development into growing Crimson Seedless table grapes in Western Australia has produced a product of international quality. Berry sizes are 20 per cent larger than those being exported by both California and other Australian States. Overall, Crimson Seedless is expected to provide enormous opportunities for Western Australia\u27s table grape industry

Development of Redglobe table grapes for export

Exports wereonce a major outlet for the Western Australian table grape industry. Over the last 20 years however, exports have fallen from 500 to 00 tonnes per year, despite an increase in the area planted to table grapes and an increase on overseas demand for our produce. By 1993 less than 3 per cent of the table grapes produced in the State were exported. The introduction of Redglobe, a new table grape varietyy from California, is expected to increase the export of table grapes from Western Australia to 1000t by 1997, when the variety will represent 90 per cent of all table grapes exported. (see Figure 1) Redglobe production will be a $5 million industry by 1997 if growth continues at its current rate and the management techniques being developed are fully adopted

The nature of constructional apraxia in senile dementia

1. The performance of a series of 13 visuo- constructive tasks by 40 patients with senile dementia (mean age 77.87 years) and 20 aged control subjects (mean age 77.55 years) is studied. The aim of the investigation is to define the nature of constructional defect within the patient group.2. The wide heterogeneity of problems posed by conventional testing of constructional ability is discussed.3. In the consideration of results an attempt has been made to isolate major common factors. Executive and gestalt failures are defined as occurring under three conditions of direct copying, spontaneous construction and reproduction from immediate memory, and the patient and control groups are contrasted.4. Other aspects of response not isolated as common features are described discursively.5. In the discussion of results it is concluded that the morbid group under study fail to construct diamond- orientated rather than square - orientated design. They fail to construct design which has no line of symmetry, rather than design which has, and they fail to construct design which has a diagonal line of symmetry rather than a vertical one.6. Patients in faulty response show a tendency to reduce design to symmetry and to the vertical, when it should properly be asymmetrical and non -vertical.7. Horizontal design poses more difficulty to the experimental group than vertical, but not so much as diagonal design.8. Where complexity as defined in this study is beyond perceptual capacity, those aspects of the design which are diamond -orientated are those which fail to be perceived and constructed; though they may be perceived and constructed in less complex designs.9. Failure of visual recognition of design can alone be a cause of faulty construction in seniles.10. In senile patients the need to consider a large number of variables, in a task, in itself may inhibit the best performance the patient is capable of in respect of any one of these variables.11. The identification of the class to which a design belongs, and the analysis of the dimensions of a particular design within that class, are perceptual tasks of a different order differentially affected in senile dementia.12. in spontaneous construction recall fails. In reproduction from imnediate memory retention fails when the task of construction is still in progress.13. Patient group is worse than control group performance in every test. There are 6 'superior' patients whose performance falls within the control range. Qualitative differences between control and patient groups are discussed.14. In more complex construction control subjects show defects similar to those described as occurring in constructional apraxia of focal origin.15. The patient group in this study shows evidence of a specific spatial defect which is similar to that described by authors considering constructional apraxia as an outcome of focal brain damage. In this study other general causes of constructional failure have also been defined. It is suggested that the specific spatial perceptual defect determines failure in the constructional act even before purely motor manipulation activity begins.16. It is tentatively suggested that the spatial defect outlined in this study may be a consequence of loss of awareness of body verticality, allowing the mainly square or vertical orientation of objects in the environment to exert an undue influence upon the patients' perceptual function

Development of a system to measure marine turbulence

Bibliography: leaves 109-113.Various transducers have been developed turbulent shear in the ocean. The airfoil probe with it's piezoceramic beam encapsulated in a rubber airfoil has the simplest electronic processing system. However, the beam is very fragile and displays unpredictable thermal effects. An airfoil probe with semiconductor strain gauges on an aluminium cantilever beam has been developed as an alternative to the piezoceramic beam. The probe was calibrated by exciting it with a known shear generated by the water flow from an oscillating nozzle. During the calibration the thermal sensitivity of the probe was established to be -1.7 % °C-1• The probe, along with it's high gain, low noise processing system, is fitted to a tethered free-fall vehicle. A solid state data logger situated in the vehicle is used to record the data generated by the turbulence probe and a pressure transducer. Field trials at St.Helena Bay and Hout Bay showed that the sensitivity of the system is 20 dB lower than that of similar systems using piezoceramic beams. The system is able to resolve turbulent dissipation levels above 10-8 W kg-1, making it useful in regions characterised by a typical mixed layer (dissipation level of 10-W kg-1); however, it's sensitivity is not adequate for deep sea measurements where dissipation levels may be as low as 10-10 W kg-1

Studies of Some beta-Propanolamines, Imidazo [2,1-b] Thiazoles and Ylides, by X-Ray Analysis

In this thesis, single crystal X-ray diffraction techniques have been used to determine the crystal and molecular structures of ten compounds. The contents are presented in four Parts, the first of which is a brief discussion on some theoretical aspects of these techniques, with special emphasis being placed on the Direct Methods of structure determination used predominantly in this research. In Part 2, X-ray analysis has been used to study the molecular structures and conformations of five similar compounds of interest in the treatment of certain heart disorders. In particular, the compound Inderal (1-(2-Hydroxy-3-isopropylamino-propoxy)-naphthalene) is used extensively as a beta-adrenergic receptor blocking agent, and in order to investigate possible characteristic conformational differences and/or similarities between active and inactive beta-blocking agents and their relationship to the conformationally-restricted anti-depressant Vivalan (2-(2-Ethoxy-phenoxymethyl)morpholine), the crystal-structures of the five compounds, (+) 1-(2-Hydroxy-3-isopropylaminopropoxy)-naphthalene hydrochloride, (+/-)1-(2-Eydroxy-3-isopropylaminopropoxy)-naphthalene hydrochloride, (+/-) 1-(4-Acetamidophenoxy)-3-isopropylaminopropan-2-ol perchlorate, (+/-)2-(2-Ethoxyphenoxy-methyl)morpholine oxalate and (+/-) 1-(2,6-Dichlorophenoxy)-3-isopropylaminopropan-2-ol hydrochloride have been determined and appropriate comparisons have been made. In addition, since the conformations of flexible molecules in the solid state need not necessarily correspond with the conformations which pertain in solution, the solid-state study has been matched by spectroscopic studies and by theoretical predictions of the free molecule conformation (both undertaken elsewhere). To date, neither of these latter projects have been completed, but where possible the solid state conformations have been compared with the conformations indicated by the other techniques. Part 3 is concerned with the elucidation of the molecular structures of the similar compounds, 6beta-(1-Ethyl-1-hydroxypropyl)-5dv-phenyl-2,3,5,6-tetrahydroimidazo [2,1-b] thiazole and 5,5-Diphenyl-6-oxo-2,3,5,6-tetrahydroimidazo [2,1-b] thiazole. In the former case, the method of synthesis may feasibly result in either of the two isomers, 6beta-(1-Ethyl-1-hydroxypropyl)-5ck-phenyl-2,3,4,5-tetra-hydroimidazo [2,1-b] thiazole or 5beta-(1-Ethy 1-1-hydroxypropyl)-6alpha-phenyl-2,3,5,6-tetrahydroimidazo [2,1-b] thiazole and since conventional spectroscopic techniques were unable to differentiate between these possibilities an X-ray analysis has been carried out. Spectroscopic studies of the minor product of the reaction of ethylene dibromide with 5,5-diphenyl-2-thiohydantoin showed apparent anomalies from expected results and in order to confirm the detailed molecular structure of 5,5-Diphenyl-6-oxo-2,3,5,6-tetrahydroimidazo [2,1-b] thiazole, an X-ray analysis has been carried out. The contents of Part 4 include a brief discussion of the various modes of pi bonding postulated for second-row ylides and since N-dichlorophosphinoyl-l-triphenylphosphazene and N-diphenylphosphazene may both be regarded as belonging to this class of compound, the crystal-structure analyses of both these ylides have been carried out in order to obtain further information regarding the bonding systems and conformations exhibited by second-row ylides. These results have also been compared with the known dimensions of similar bonding systems and appropriate comparisons have been made. Also included in Part 4 is the X-ray analysis of the final product obtained from reacting a methanolic solution of methyl 6beta-phenyl-acetamido-penicillanate with chloramine T, at room temperature. The spectroscopic analysis of this product revealed three possible structures and since one possibility was an unusual ylide, and since comparison of this compound with other ylide systems was thought to afford the opportunity for detailed investigations of bonding and conformational patterns within second-row ylide systems, the crystal structure analysis has been carried out and the compound characterised