Aerosol-assisted metallo-organic chemical vapour deposition of Bi2Se3 films using single-molecule precursors: the crystal structure of bismuth(m) dibutyldiselenocarbamate

The complexes [Bi{Se2CN(C2H5)2}3], [Bi{Se2CN(C4H9)2}3], [Bi{Se2CN(CH3)(C4H9)}3] and [Bi{Se2CN(CH3)(C6H13)}3] have been synthesized and characterized structurally using IR, 1H and 13C NMR. In addition, the crystal structure of [Bi{Se2CN(C4H9)2}3] was determined by single-crystal X-ray diffraction, showing the bismuth centre coordinated to three dialkyldiselenocarbamate ligands through the selenium donor atoms. The Bi(III) compounds were used as precursors for the deposition of Bi2Se3 films on glass substrates through aerosol-assisted metallo-organic chemical vapour deposition (AA-MOCVD)

Ethnic inequalities in time to diagnosis of cancer: a systematic review

This is the final version of the article. Available from the publisher via the DOI in this record.BACKGROUND: Minimising diagnostic delays in cancer may help improve survival. Ethnic minorities have worse outcomes in some cancer types when compared to the majority; this may relate in part to differences during the diagnostic phase. Only a few British studies have specifically explored this relationship, and no synthesis of these exists. The present study aimed to systematically review evidence on ethnic inequalities in cancer diagnosis, focussing on patient and primary care intervals of diagnosis. METHODS: Six electronic databases were searched. Included studies were those conducted in the UK or elsewhere (where access to healthcare is comparable to the NHS) and those that described a time element during diagnosis. Study quality was evaluated using the Critical Appraisal Skills Programme (CASP) checklist for cohort studies and synthesis method was narrative. RESULTS: Seven of 8,520 studies retrieved by our search met the review criteria; six conducted in the UK, and one in New Zealand. Five (including one covering several sites) focused on breast cancer, one on prostate, and one on oesophagogastric cancer. The studies employed different methods of ascertainment and definition of ethnic groups and defined diagnostic delay in a non-standardised way; therefore, narrative synthesis was performed. In breast cancer, three studies reported longer diagnostic intervals among ethnic minorities and two found no evidence of differences by ethnicity. There was some evidence of longer diagnostic and referral intervals among ethnic minorities in oesophagogastric and colorectal cancers, but no evidence of this in prostate, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, lung, and ovarian cancers. None of the studies identified shorter patient or primary care intervals in ethnic minorities. CONCLUSIONS: Existing studies provide insufficient evidence to confirm or refute ethnic inequalities in diagnostic intervals of cancer. Further studies are necessary to examine common cancer types including those frequently found in ethnic minorities (in addition to those covered here) and using current definitions of intervals in cancer diagnosis.The Policy Research Unit (PRU) in Cancer Awareness, Screening and Early Diagnosis receives funding for a research programme from the Department of Health Policy Research Programme. It is collaboration between researchers from seven institutions (Queen Mary University of London, UCL, King’s College London, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Hull York Medical School, Durham University and Peninsula Medical School). The views expressed are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the NHS, or the Department of Health

The holistic phase model of early adult crisis

The objective of the current study was to explore the structural, temporal and experiential manifestations of crisis episodes in early adulthood, using a holistic-systemic theoretical framework. Based on an analysis of 50 interviews with individuals about a crisis episode between the ages of 25 and 35, a holistic model was developed. The model comprises four phases: (1) Locked-in, (2) Separation/Time-out, (3) Exploration and (4) Rebuilding, which in turn have characteristic features at four levels—person-in-environment, identity, motivation and affect-cognition. A crisis starts out with a commitment at work or home that has been made but is no longer desired, and this is followed by an emotionally volatile period of change as that commitment is terminated. The positive trajectory of crisis involves movement through an exploratory period towards active rebuilding of a new commitment, but ‘fast-forward’ and ‘relapse’ loops can interrupt Phases 3 and 4 and make a positive resolution of the episode less likely. The model shows conceptual links with life stage theories of emerging adulthood and early adulthood, and it extends current understandings of the transitional developmental challenges that young adults encounter

Effects of Hibiscus sabdariffaL. consumption during pregnancy on biochemical parameters and litter birth weight in rats

Background: Extracts of Hibiscus sabdariffa L. (HS; family: Malvaceae) are widely believed in folk medicine to be effective in the treatment of a variety of ailments. In Nigeria, anecdotal reports by women who consume HS during pregnancy suggest that they consume it because of the folkloric belief that it makes them “feel lighter”. This study aimed to investigate the effect of maternal consumption of HS during pregnancy on litter birth weight and the functional integrity of the liver of pregnant rats.Materials and Methods: Thirty-six rats aged twelve to fourteen weeks were used. On day 1 of  pregnancy, the rats were randomly assigned to three groups. Group A were given tap water, group B were given 0.6g/100ml while group C were given 1.8g/100ml of the extract. On day 18 of pregnancy, blood samples were taken for determination of Serum glutamate oxaloacetate transaminase (SGOT), serum  glutamate pyruvate transaminase (SGPT), alkaline phosphatase, urea and creatinine.Results: Gestational length, litter size and birth weights were recorded at delivery. HS consumption did  not affect (P>0.05) SGOT level but increased (P<0.05) the SGPT and decreased (P<0.05) ALP and  creatinine levels. The low dose HS decreased (P<0.05) while the high dose HS increased (P<0.05) the urea level. There was no significant (P>0.05) difference in the length of gestation but litter sizes and litter birth weights were significantly (P<0.05) lower and higher respectively when compared with the control.Conclusion: We conclude that consumption of HS during pregnancy increases litter birth weight possibly  through the gluconeogenic activities of the elevated SGPT.Key words: SGOT, SGPT, Urea, Creatinine, Birth weight, Hibiscus sabdariff

JABBIC Lookups: A Backend Telemetry-Based System for Malware Triage

In this paper, we propose JABBIC lookups, a telemetry-based system for malware triage at the interface between proprietary reputation score systems and malware analysts. JABBIC uses file download telemetry collected from client protection solutions installed on end-hosts to determine the threat level of an unknown file based on telemetry data associated with files already known to be malign. We apply word embeddings, and semantic and relational similarities to triage potentially malign files following the intuition that, while single elements in a malware download might change over time, their context, defined as the semantic and relational properties between the different elements in a malware delivery system (e.g., servers, autonomous systems, files) does not change as fast. To this end, we show that JABBIC can leverage file download telemetry to allow security vendors to manage the collection and analysis of unknown files from remote end-hosts for timely processing by more sophisticated malware analysis systems. We test and evaluate JABBIC lookups with 33M download events collected during October 2015. We show that 85.83% of the files triaged with JABBIC lookups are part of the same malware family as their past counterpart files. We also show that, if used with proprietary reputation score systems, JABBIC can triage as malicious 55.1% of files before they are detected by VirusTotal, preceding this detection by over 20 days

The association between child and adolescent emotional disorder and poor attendance at school: a systematic review protocol.

This is the final version of the article. Available from BioMed Central via the DOI in this record.BACKGROUND: Anxiety and depression are common in young people and are associated with a range of adverse outcomes. Research has suggested a relationship between emotional disorder and poor school attendance, and thus poor attendance may serve as a red flag for children at risk of emotional disorder. This systematic review aims to investigate the association between child and adolescent emotional disorder and poor attendance at school. METHODS: We will search electronic databases from a variety of disciplines including medicine, psychology, education and social sciences, as well as sources of grey literature, to identify any quantitative studies that investigate the relationship between emotional disorder and school attendance. Emotional disorder may refer to diagnoses of mood or anxiety disorders using standardised diagnostic measures, or measures of depression, anxiety or "internalising symptoms" using a continuous scale. Definitions for school non-attendance vary, and we aim to include any relevant terminology, including attendance, non-attendance, school refusal, school phobia, absenteeism and truancy. Two independent reviewers will screen identified papers and extract data from included studies. We will assess the risk of bias of included studies using the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale. Random effects meta-analysis will be used to pool quantitative findings when studies use the same measure of association, otherwise a narrative synthesis approach will be used. DISCUSSION: This systematic review will provide a detailed synthesis of evidence regarding the relationship between childhood emotional disorder and poor attendance at school. Understanding this relationship has the potential to assist in the development of strategies to improve the identification of and intervention for this vulnerable group. SYSTEMATIC REVIEW REGISTRATION: PROSPERO CRD42016052961.This research is being carried out as part of a PhD studentship funded by the University of Exeter Medical School

Prescribing of medication for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder among young people in the Clinical Practice Research Datalink 2005-2013: analysis of time to cessation

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Springer Verlag via the DOI in this record.The aim of this study was to examine the time to cessation of ADHD medication amongst young people with ADHD aged 16 in the period 2005-2013. Previous studies of prescribing in primary care reported high rates of medication cessation amongst 16 and 17 year olds with ADHD. The examination of trends since the introduction of new NICE guidance in 2008 will support service planning and improvement of outcomes over the vulnerable transition period from child to adult services. We used primary care records from the Clinical Practice Research Datalink and identified cases prescribed ADHD medication at the time of their 16th birthday during the study period. The outcome was time to medication cessation from the age of 16. Cessation of medication was defined as occurring at the beginning of a gap of over 6 months in prescriptions. 1620 cases were included. The median time to cessation was 1.51 years (95% CI 1.42-1.67).The estimated probability of remaining on medication was 0.63 (95% CI 0.61-0.65) at age 17 (i.e., at 1 year) and 0.41 (95% CI 0.39-0.43) at age 18. Young people with ADHD remain at high risk of cessation of medication during the transition from child to adult services. Despite the restriction that only primary care prescribing data were available, the results suggest continuing disparity between expected levels of symptom persistence and continuation of medication.This research was funded as part of a Doctoral Research Fellowship from the National Institute for Health Research held by Tamsin Newlove-Delgado (Reference: DRF-2012-05-221). Tamsin Newlove-Delgado is currently funded by an NIHR Academic Clinical Lectureship. Ken Stein and Obioha C. Ukoumunne were funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Collaboration for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care (CLAHRC) for the South West Peninsula at Royal Devon and Exeter NHS Foundation Trust. This report is independent research and the views expressed in this publication are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the NHS, the National Institute for Health Research or the Department of Health

The effectiveness of regeneration policy in historic urban quarters in England (1997-2010)

UK cities have been transfonned over the past thirty years as they have had to adapt from a declining manufacturing industrial base to a service sector led economy. To achieve these changes many cities have undergone urban regeneration policies that have resulted in significant changes to their physical structure and that have in tum affected the social, economic and environmental dynamics of the built environment. One critical dimension of this regeneration of urban areas has been balance between new development and the conservation of historic buildings and townscape. This thesis will therefore consider the application of regeneration policies to historic urban quarters and analyse their effectiveness. The aim of the research is to evaluate the effectiveness of regeneration policies, particularly those applied to urban historic quarters in England since 1997. First of all, this thesis will identify the criteria for positive urban regeneration developed from a thorough literature review of urban regeneration practice. The research will also examine the effectiveness and success of policies and evaluate the influencing factors. Then, these criteria and factors will be examined through two mixed-use regeneration case studies of historic urban quarters in England: the Lace Market in Nottingham and the Jewellery Quarter in Binningham. The thesis will evaluate the regeneration outcomes (physical, economic and social) and the effectiveness of urban policies applied in these two cases will be analysed

Motor unit characteristics after targeted muscle reinnervation

Targeted muscle reinnervation (TMR) is a surgical procedure used to redirect nerves originally controlling muscles of the amputated limb into remaining muscles above the amputation, to treat phantom limb pain and facilitate prosthetic control. While this procedure effectively establishes robust prosthetic control, there is little knowledge on the behavior and characteristics of the reinnervated motor units. In this study we compared the m. pectoralis of five TMR patients to nine able-bodied controls with respect to motor unit action potential (MUAP) characteristics. We recorded and decomposed high-density surface EMG signals into individual spike trains of motor unit action potentials. In the TMR patients the MUAP surface area normalized to the electrode grid surface (0.25 ± 0.17 and 0.81 ± 0.46, p < 0.001) and the MUAP duration (10.92 ± 3.89 ms and 14.03 ± 3.91 ms, p < 0.01) were smaller for the TMR group than for the controls. The mean MUAP amplitude (0.19 ± 0.11 mV and 0.14 ± 0.06 mV, p = 0.07) was not significantly different between the two groups. Finally, we observed that MUAP surface representation in TMR generally overlapped, and the surface occupied by motor units corresponding to only one motor task was on average smaller than 12% of the electrode surface. These results suggest that smaller MUAP surface areas in TMR patients do not necessarily facilitate prosthetic control due to a high degree of overlap between these areas, and a neural information—based control could lead to improved performance. Based on the results we also infer that the size of the motor units after reinnervation is influenced by the size of the innervating motor neuron