Intramuscular Olanzapine – a UK case series of early cases

BACKGROUND: Clinical trials assessing efficacy and safety of Intramuscular (IM) Olanzapine in acute schizophrenia and acute mania have previously been undertaken in studies required for drug registration in patients who were required to give informed consent. These patients may have less severe forms of psychosis than patients treated in routine practice. Data derived from naturalistic practice following the launch of IM olanzapine may be helpful for clinicians in assessing efficacy and safety of IM olanzapine. The PANSS-EC scale used in the clinical studies may represent a tool that could be used in routine clinical practice. CASE PRESENTATION: We report on an early unselected case series of 7 patients who received IM olanzapine in routine clinical practice settings in the UK. In this case series, olanzapine IM was generally effective, and no adverse events were reported. Adjunctive benzodiazepines were given concomitantly in 1 of the 7 subjects. This is relevant as concomitant benzodiazepines are not recommended for a minimum of 1 hour post IM olanzapine administration. PANSS-EC data was collected in 2 of the 7 subjects. CONCLUSION: Although patients had greater severity of psychosis than clinical trial patients there were no unexpected findings. In addition the PANSS-EC scale is a scale that may be useful in assessing the efficacy of IM antipsychotics in routine clinical practice

Diagnosis and assessment of dilated cardiomyopathy: a guideline protocol from the British Society of Echocardiography.

Heart failure (HF) is a debilitating and life-threatening condition, with 5-year survival rate lower than breast or prostate cancer. It is the leading cause of hospital admission in over 65s, and these admissions are projected to rise by more than 50% over the next 25 years. Transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) is the first-line step in diagnosis in acute and chronic HF and provides immediate information on chamber volumes, ventricular systolic and diastolic function, wall thickness, valve function and the presence of pericardial effusion, while contributing to information on aetiology. Dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) is the third most common cause of HF and is the most common cardiomyopathy. It is defined by the presence of left ventricular dilatation and left ventricular systolic dysfunction in the absence of abnormal loading conditions (hypertension and valve disease) or coronary artery disease sufficient to cause global systolic impairment. This document provides a practical approach to diagnosis and assessment of dilated cardiomyopathy that is aimed at the practising sonographer

Design of 280 GHz feedhorn-coupled TES arrays for the balloon-borne polarimeter SPIDER

We describe 280 GHz bolometric detector arrays that instrument the balloon-borne polarimeter SPIDER. A primary science goal of SPIDER is to measure the large-scale B-mode polarization of the cosmic microwave background in search of the cosmic-inflation, gravitational-wave signature. 280 GHz channels aid this science goal by constraining the level of B-mode contamination from galactic dust emission. We present the focal plane unit design, which consists of a 16$\times$16 array of conical, corrugated feedhorns coupled to a monolithic detector array fabricated on a 150 mm diameter silicon wafer. Detector arrays are capable of polarimetric sensing via waveguide probe-coupling to a multiplexed array of transition-edge-sensor (TES) bolometers. The SPIDER receiver has three focal plane units at 280 GHz, which in total contains 765 spatial pixels and 1,530 polarization sensitive bolometers. By fabrication and measurement of single feedhorns, we demonstrate 14.7$^{\circ}$ FHWM Gaussian-shaped beams with $<$1% ellipticity in a 30% fractional bandwidth centered at 280 GHz. We present electromagnetic simulations of the detection circuit, which show 94% band-averaged, single-polarization coupling efficiency, 3% reflection and 3% radiative loss. Lastly, we demonstrate a low thermal conductance bolometer, which is well-described by a simple TES model and exhibits an electrical noise equivalent power (NEP) = 2.6 $\times$ 10$^{-17}$ W/$\sqrt{\mathrm{Hz}}$, consistent with the phonon noise prediction.Comment: Proceedings of SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation 201

Mps1 regulates kinetochore-microtubule attachment stability via the ska complex to ensure error-free chromosome segregation

The spindle assembly checkpoint kinase Mps1 not only inhibits anaphase but also corrects erroneous attachments that could lead to missegregation and aneuploidy. However, Mps1’s error correction-relevant substrates are unknown. Using a chemically tuned kinetochore-targeting assay, we show that Mps1 destabilizes microtubule attachments (K fibers) epistatically to Aurora B, the other major error-correcting kinase. Through quantitative proteomics, we identify multiple sites of Mps1-regulated phosphorylation at the outer kinetochore. Substrate modification was microtubule sensitive and opposed by PP2A-B56 phosphatases that stabilize chromosome-spindle attachment. Consistently, Mps1 inhibition rescued K-fiber stability after depleting PP2A-B56. We also identify the Ska complex as a key effector of Mps1 at the kinetochore-microtubule interface, as mutations that mimic constitutive phosphorylation destabilized K fibers in vivo and reduced the efficiency of the Ska complex’s conversion from lattice diffusion to end-coupled microtubule binding in vitro. Our results reveal how Mps1 dynamically modifies kinetochores to correct improper attachments and ensure faithful chromosome segregation

Tracking CMEs using data from the Solar Stormwatch project; observing deflections and other properties

With increasing technological dependence, society is becoming ever more affected by changes in the near-Earth space environment caused by space weather. The primary driver of these hazards are coronal mass ejections (CMEs). Solar Stormwatch is a citizen science project in which volunteers participated in several activities which characterised CMEs in the remote sensing images from the SECCHI instrument package on the twin STEREO spacecraft. Here, we analyse the results of the 'Track-it-back' activity, in which CMEs were tracked back through the COR2, COR1 and EUVI images. Analysis of the COR1, COR2 and EUVI data together allows CMEs to be studied consistently throughout the whole field-of-view spanned by these instruments (out to 15 solar radii). 4783 volunteers took part in this activity, creating a dataset containing 23,801 estimates of CME timing, location and size. We used this data to produce a catalogue of 41 CMEs, which is the first to consistently track CMEs through each of these instruments. We assess how the CME speeds, propagation directions and widths vary as the CMEs propagate through the fields of view of the different imagers. In particular, we compare the observed CME deflections between the COR1 and COR2 fields of view to the separation between the CME source region and the heliospheric current sheet (HCS), demonstrating that, in general, these CMEs appear to deflect towards the HCS, consistent with other modelling studies of CME propagation

Crop Updates 2000 - Cereals part 2

This session covers twenty papers from different authors: DISEASE 1. Forecasting aphid and virus risk in cereals, Debbie Thackray, Jenny Hawkes and Roger Jones, Agriculture Western Australia and Centre for Legumes in Mediterranean Agriculture 2. Cereal Diagnostics, Dominie Wright, Agriculture Western Australia 3. The economic returns from spraying for leaf rust in the central wheatbelt in 1999, Peter Carlton, Trials Coordinator, Elders Limited 4. Impact and Management of Yellow Spot and Leaf Rust in the Northern Agricultural Region, Jat Bhathal and Robert Loughman, Agriculture Western Australia 5. Leaf disease management in wheat and barley in the southern agricultural region, K. Jayasena, R. Loughman and J. Majewski, Agriculture Western Australia 6. Root nematode update, R. Loughman1, S. Kelly1, G. Holloway2, N. Venn1 and D. Diepeveen1 1 Agriculture Western Australia, 2Agriculture Victoria WHEAT AGRONOMY 7. Small Grain Screenings in wheat - the agronomic issues, Brenda Shackley, Agriculture Western Australia, 8. Response of New Wheat Varieties to Seed Rate and applied Nitrogen in the North, Darshan Sharma and Wal Anderson, Agriculture Western Australia 9. Seen vigour in wheat, Darshan Sharma and Wal Anderson, Agriculture Western Australia 10. Influence of the Time of Sowing on New Wheat Varieties in the North, Darshan Sharma and Wal Anderson, Agriculture Western Australia 11, Wheat performance in a high disease season on the South Coast. 1. Disease and grain quality on the Esperance sandplain, Mohammad Amjad, Vanessa Dooley and Wal Anderson, Agriculture Western Australia 12. Wheat performance in a high disease season on the South Coast. 2. Leaf area, disease and yield at Gibson and Salmon Gums, Mohammad Amjad, Vanessa Dooley and Wal Anderson, Agriculture Western Australia 13. Agronomic Evaluation of Wheat in the Central Wheatbelt of Western Australia, Peter Burgess and Ashley Bacon, Agritech Crop Research 14. Mechanisms influencing grain susceptibility to black point in wheat, Frances Hoyle, University of Western Australia and Agriculture Western Australia 15. Improving paddock productivity using renovation cropping techniques on heavier soils, Frances Hoyle, Agriculture Western Australia 16. Improving paddock productivity using renovation cropping techniques on sandplain soils, Frances Hoyle and Keith Devenish, Agriculture Western Australia 17. Increasing profit - Is it possible using high input package approach for cereal production? M. Appelbee, IAMA Agri Services 18. Improving wheat yield, soil physical and chemical fertility by a package of deep ripping, gypsum and complete nutrients, M.A. Hamza and W.K. Anderson, Agriculture Western Australia 19. Organic Wheat - Production System Guidelines, Steven McCoy, Centre for New Industries Development 20. Durum wheat obtains a premium over bread wheat, Steven Penny, Agriculture Western Australi

Characterization of biomolecular nanoconjugates by high-throughput delivery and spectroscopic difference

Nanoparticle conjugates have the potential for delivering siRNA, splice-shifting oligomers or nucleic acid vaccines, and can be applicable to anticancer therapeutics. This article compares tripartite conjugates with gold nanoparticles or synthetic methoxypoly(ethylene glycol)-block-polyamidoamine dendrimers