A Randomized Clinical Trial to Compare the Effect of Non Operative Treatment With and Without Autologous Conditioned Plasma (ACP) on Healing and Function in Patients with Achilles Tendon Ruptures

The purpose of this study was to determine whether there is evidence to support conducting a larger randomized control trial (RCT) to compare the non-operative treatment of Achilles tendon (AT) ruptures with or without Autologous Conditioned Plasma (ACP®). Twenty-four patients were randomized to receive an ACP® or saline injection within seven days and again at two weeks post-rupture. Tendon healing was longitudinally evaluated using ultrasound (US) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Functional and patient-reported quality of life measures were also assessed. A small sample size limited our ability to detect statistically significant differences. The mean rankings of healing were slightly higher in the ACP® group at most time points for MRI and US. Functional and patient-reported outcomes were also slightly higher in the ACP® group at most time points. The consistency of these preliminary results suggests that there is evidence to support conducting a larger RCT

The impact of increased outpatient telehealth during COVID-19: retrospective analysis of patient survey and routine activity data from a major healthcare system in England

In response to societal restrictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a significant proportion of physical outpatient consultations were replaced with virtual appointments within the Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire healthcare system. The objective of this study was to assess the impact of this change in informing the potential viability of a longer-term shift to telehealth in the outpatient setting. A retrospective analysis was performed using data from the first COVID-19 wave, comprising 2998 telehealth patient surveys and 143,321 distinct outpatient contacts through both the physical and virtual medium. Four in five specialties showed no significant change in the overall number of consultations per patient during the first wave of the pandemic when telehealth services were widely implemented. Of those surveyed following virtual consultation, more respondents “preferred” virtual (36.4%) than physical appointments (26.9%) with seven times as many finding them “less stressful” than “more stressful”. In combining both patient survey and routine activity data, this study demonstrates the importance of using data from multiple sources to deriveuseful insight. The results support the potential for telehealth to be rapidly employed across a range of outpatient specialties without negatively affecting patient experience

Obeying the rules of the road: Procedural justice, social identity and normative compliance

Why do people comply with traffic laws and regulations? Road traffic policing tends to be premised on the idea that people comply when they are presented with a credible risk of sanction in the event of non-compliance. Such an instrumental model of compliance contrasts with the normative account offered by procedural justice theory, in which compliance is encouraged by legitimate legal authorities. Comparing these two accounts, we find evidence that both instrumental and normative factors explain variance in motorists’ self-reported propensity to offend. Extending the standard procedural justice account, we also find that it is social identity – not legitimacy – that forms the ‘bridge’ linking procedural fairness and compliance, at least according to a definition of legitimacy that combines felt obligation and moral endorsement. Fair treatment at the hands of police officers seems to enhance identification with the social group the police represent, and in turn, identification seems to motivate adherence to rules (laws) governing social behavior. These findings have implications not only for understandings of legal compliance, but also our understanding of why procedural justice motivates compliance, and the role of procedural justice in promoting social cohesion

Process-orientation versus outcome-orientation during organizational change: The role of organizational identification

In this paper we argue that organizational identification is predictive of employee interests and concerns during periods of organizational change. More specifically, we assert that organizational identification may largely determine whether employees may be focused upon the change related outcomes (e.g., salary, expenses, etc.), or on the change processes (e.g., procedures, voice and participation options, etc.). Data of both a scenario experiment and a survey are presented indicating that high and low identifiers indeed are differentially interested in process and outcome information. The results suggest that people who identify less with the organization are more likely to be focused upon the change outcomes then on the change process, while people who identify highly (i.e., deep structure) with the organization are more likely to be focused upon the change processes then on the change outcomes. The benefits of awareness of organizational members' level of identification for organizational change management are discussed. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd

Urban Agriculture and Small Farm Water Use: Case Studies and Trends from Cache Valley, Utah

The landscape of water in Utah is changing due to population growth, conversion of agricultural land to urban development, and increasing awareness of water scarcity. At the same time, Utah is experiencing a growing number of urban and small farms, but knowledge of water use in this sector is limited. Better understanding of what occurs at the field level on urban and small farms can aid state water use estimates and conservation efforts, and assist farmers in moving towards wiser water management. For the 2015 growing season, we performed irrigation evaluations for 24 urban and small farms in Cache Valley, Utah and we explore the results through case studies and identify trends among gross irrigation depth and field variables including field size, irrigation method, application uniformity, and scheduling practices. Results show a great degree of heterogeneity in irrigation methods, equipment used, and management practices. The beneficial consumed fraction of irrigation water ranged from 0.06 to 1.0. Small fields had lower application uniformities and greater irrigation depths than large fields. Surface irrigated fields had higher irrigation depths than sprinkle and drip irrigated fields. Additionally, fields using a fixed irrigation schedule had higher depths than fields that were irrigated inconsistently due to other factors. The results show that urban and small farm irrigators need improved knowledge of proper irrigation management. Irrigators, university extension services, and state water authorities working in this sector need to recognize the link between proper management and total water use, and focus more efforts on improving management, specifically how to use 1) low-cost methods to measure flow rates, 2) simple irrigation scheduling tools, and 3) improve application uniformity

The radium legacy: Contaminated land and the committed effective dose from the ingestion of radium contaminated materials

The manufacture and use of radium in the early to mid-20th century within industrial, medicinal and recreational products have resulted in a large number of contaminated sites across a number of countries with notable examples in the USA and Europe. These sites, represent a significant number of unregulated sources of potential radiological exposure that have collectively and hitherto not been well characterised. In 2007, the Radioactive Contaminated Land (RCL) Regulations came into force in the UK, providing the statutory guidance for regulators to classify and deal with RCL. Here we report on results derived from digestion experiments to estimate committed effective dose, a key aspect of the RCL Regulations, from the ingestion of radium contaminated sources that can be found in the environment. This case study includes particles, clinker and artefacts that arise from past military activities on a site that was once an airfield at Dalgety Bay on the Firth of Forth, UK. Since 2011 the number of radium contaminated finds has increased by one order of magnitude on the foreshore areas of Dalgety Bay. The increase in finds may in large part be attributed to a change in monitoring practice. A subsample of sixty sources was selected, on the basis of their activity and dimensions, and subjected to digestion in simulated stomach and lower intestine solutions. The study demonstrated that more radium-226 (226Ra) and lead-210 (210Pb; driven by Polonium solubility) are dissolved from sources in artificial ‘stomach' solutions compared with ‘lower intestine' solutions. The combined ‘gut' solubility for 226Ra and apparent 210Pb varied from less than 1% to up to 35% ICRP 72 conversion factors were used to convert the activities measured in solution to committed effective dose. A little over 10% of the sources tested dissolved sufficient radioactivity to result in 100 mSv committed effective dose to an infant. Using the solubility of 35% as a worst case, minimum source activities necessary to deliver 100 mSv to the full age range of users of the foreshore were estimated. All the estimated activities have been detected and recovered through routine monitoring

Characterising the morphological properties and surface composition of radium contaminated particles: a means of interpreting origin and deposition

Radioactive 'hot particles' that occur in the environment present specific challenges for health and environmental regulators as often their small size makes them difficult to detect, and they are easily dispersed and accidentally ingested or inhaled by members of the public. This study of nine hot particles recovered from the beach at Dalgety Bay, UK, uses a combination of gamma spectrometry, imaging microscopy and SEM-EDX in order to characterise their morphology and surface composition, thereby helping to identify their origin and source characteristics. The nine particles analysed showed great heterogeneity in their activities, physical form and elemental composition. The particle activities were dominated by (226)Ra and its daughters. Three distinct grouping of particles were identified based on their morphology (artefact, glassy and 'metal-rich'), whilst four distinct groupings (artefact, glassy, angular and porphyric, rounded and highly porous) were identified based on morphology and surface properties as seen in the SEM. Whilst the 'artefact' particles were little altered, the other particles showed evidence of incineration. All particles were in a size and/or shape class vulnerable to wind- or water-mediated transport. No correlations were found between morphology and chemical composition. SEM-EDX analysis revealed C, Si, Zn, Fe, Ca are common in the particles together with Ba, Ni, Pb, Cu, Mn and Ti. This is interpreted as the particles being derived from radium containing luminescent paint containing a Zn/S phosphor, a hydrocarbon base and other fillers and additives. Evidence of copper and steel alloys were also present in some particles, whilst one consisted of a hydrocarbon based 'capsule'. The combination of techniques employed here has enabled interpretation of the origins of the radioactive particles and given insights into the potential movement of particles within the local environment

Expressions 1990

https://openspace.dmacc.edu/expressions/1012/thumbnail.jp

Antimicrobial Peptides from Fruits and Their Potential Use as Biotechnological Tools—A Review and Outlook

This article explores the relation between humour and control, drawing on participant observation in an organization in which humour was central to daily life. Keys is a leading advertising agency whose staff spent an unusually large amount of time sending humorous e-mails. Examining these e-mails in some depth, we unpack the role of humour in subverting various forms of control, including gender norms and managerial authority. We find the relation between humour, control and subversion to be ambiguous. Building upon current debates in organization studies, we develop the concept of humour based on our observations at Keys. Specifically, we argue that humour is always in excess of both control and subversion, a nicely impossible object that cannot be captured. This article thus contributes to theoretical approaches on organizational humour, conceptualizing the concept of newness through Judith Butler's re-reading of Derridean differance and the Lacanian Real. In addition, we contribute a novel empirical account of the study of e-mail list humour in a contemporary advertising firm