An experimental study of the fracture mechanics and rheology of ice from the Ronne Ice Shelf, Antarctica, is currently being undertaken. The apparent critical stress-intensity factor (or apparent fracture toughness, KQ) for crack propagation has been measured using a three-point bend method for inducing crack growth perpendicular to the axis of cylindrical ice-core specimens. Tensile crack nucleation under applied uniaxial compressive stress has also been evaluated. Both methods have allowed a profile of ice elastic and fracture properties with depth through the ice shelf to be constructed. Preliminary results indicate that the measured elastic modulus increases with depth through the firn and upper meteoric ice before reaching a constant value in the deeper, dense meteoric and basal marine ice. The resistance to fracture, as measured by changes in apparent fracture toughness and crack-nucleation stress, increases with depth right through the firn and meteoric ice layers. A simple fracture mechanics model applied to the Ronne Ice Shelf indicates that crevasses form from small surface cracks, less than 40 cm deep, which quickly grow to depths of 40–60m and then remain stable.

Background: The relationship between weight and dementia risk has not been investigated in populations with relatively low body mass index (BMI) such as the Yoruba. This study set out to achieve this objective using a prospective observational design.

Methods: The setting was Idikan Ward in Ibadan City, Nigeria. The participants were all aged 65 years or older and were enrolled in the Indianapolis-Ibadan Dementia Project. Repeated cognitive assessments and clinical evaluations were conducted to identify participants with dementia or MCI during 10 years of follow-up (mean duration: 5.97 years). BMI measures, information on alcohol, smoking history, cancer, hypertension, diabetes, heart attack, stroke and depression were collected at each follow-up evaluation. Mixed effect models adjusted for covariates were used to examine the differences in BMI among participants who developed dementia or MCI and those who remained cognitively normal during the follow-up.

Results: This analysis included 1559 participants who had no dementia at their first BMI measurements. There were 136 subjects with incident dementia, 255 with MCI and 1168 with normal cognition by the end of the study. The mean BMI at baseline was higher for female participants (22.31; SD = 4.39) than for male (21.09; SD = 3.61, p < 0.001). A significantly greater decline in BMI was found in those with either incident dementia (p < 0.001) or incident MCI (p < 0.001) compared to normal subjects.

Conclusion: Decline in BMI is associated with incident MCI and dementia in elderly Yoruba. This observation calls for close monitoring of weight loss in elderly individuals which may indicate future cognitive impairment for timely detection and tailored interventions.

An outbreak of staphylococcal food poisoning in Europe caused by contaminated lasagne was detected and monitored by both national and international surveillance systems. The common source was a pasta-producing factory in Italy and high levels of Staphylococcus aureus were detected in packets of dried lasagne distributed in Luxembourg, the UK, France and Italy. Forty-seven cases were reported in the UK. Outbreaks of staphylococcal food poisoning attributed to mishandling during the food processing stage are uncommon and pasta as the food vehicle is rare. Prompt recognition of the outbreak and rapid identification of the food vehicle enabled most of the consignment to be withdrawn from the market.

The aim of this study was to investigate the intra-litter infection dynamics of Isospora suis under natural conditions, and to study any association between parasite transmission and the contamination level of the farrowing pen by applying different interventions in order to reduce the transmission of I. suis infection within the litter. The study was divided in 2 trials including in total 22 litters (254 piglets). The first trial included 4 litters (where standard procedures practiced routinely on the farm piglets were applied) and the piglets were followed coprologically from farrowing until 2 weeks after weaning. The sows of those litters were also examined at various intervals before and after farrowing. The second trial included the application of 3 different management procedures: (A) standard farm hygiene and management procedures, (B) standard farm hygiene and management procedures+the first piglets found to excrete I. suis oocysts in each pen were removed from the pen, and (C) reduced cleaning. Each procedure was studied in 2 litters. This was replicated 3 times to yield a total of 18 litters. The results suggested that (i) the sow does not play an important role in transmission of I. suis in the farrowing pen; (ii) in natural infections, both the age of the piglet age at onset of oocyst excretion and the oocyst excretion patterns may vary considerably; (iii) the course of oocyst excretion or development of diarrhoea is related to the time of initial infection and (iii) piglets, which are heavy at birth, are more prone to acquire I. suis infection. Moreover, it was demonstrated that cleaning could be an effective means of restricting the spread of the parasite within the litter and thus the development of diarrhoea.

The population dynamics of Toxocara canis in pigs, and their immune response to a primary and a challenge infection, were studied by parasitological, haematological and serological parameters. Seventy pigs were divided into 4 groups; 35 pigs received a primary infection (group A), 15 pigs received both a primary and a challenge infection (group B), 15 pigs received the challenge infection only (group C), and 5 pigs served as helminth-free controls (group NC). A dose of 50000 eggs was administered for the primary infection (day 0) and a dose of 10000 eggs was given for the challenge infection (day 28). On days 7, 14, 21 and 28 p.i., 5 pigs of group A, and on days 35, 42 and 49 p.i., 5 pigs from each of groups A, B and C were necropsied. Numbers of recovered larvae varied widely among the 5 pigs of each group on all days of necropsy. Toxocara canis larvae were recovered predominantly from the lungs; migration of larvae to other organs or tissues from the lungs was restricted. In group A, the larval burden in the lungs peaked on day 14 p.i., and the larval densities decreased significantly over time. Thereafter, the majority of larvae were recovered from the lungs until the end of the experiment (day 49 p.i.). A few larvae were found in the muscles and brain until day 42 p.i., and 2 larvae were found in the eyes of 2 pigs on day 35 p.i. There was little evidence of protective immunity to a challenge infection in this experiment. The eosinophil levels tended not to increase in pigs receiving a challenge infection, in contrast to the challenge control pigs. The fact that T. canis larvae migrate and persist in the tissues of pigs for more than 1 month suggests a zoonotic risk in infected pigs. The relevance of these data to the population biology and immunology of porcine and human toxocarosis is discussed.

In order to investigate the status of remote memory the Autobiographical Memory Interview (AMI) was administered to 30 individuals with advanced multiple sclerosis (MS). In contrast to earlier studies which have shown only mild deficits in autobiographical memory in those with less physical progression of the disease, about two-thirds (60%) of the present MS sample had a deficit in autobiographical memory. The presence of such a deficit was not related to age, age of onset, duration of illness, or level of physical disability, but was related to level of general cognitive ability. Memory for episodic autobiographical incidents was more affected than for personal semantic information; a temporal gradient typical of some dementing conditions but not before demonstrated in MS, was also observed with memory for more recent events showing a significant decline. (JINS, 2002, 8, 855–860.)

The characteristics of the HF-treated Si-surface are investigated as a function of dipping time in dilute HF solutions. It is found that the contact angle is a very sensitive measure for the degree of oxidation of the Si-surface. The importance of obtaining a perfectly passivated surface in order to reduce the particle deposition on the surface is shown. HF-last cleans are found to be beneficial in terms of metallic contamination and gate oxide integrity. The importance of the loading ambient in furnaces is investigated after HF-treatments and RCA-cleans.

We have investigated the effect on a silicon surface of both wet chemical and cluster-tool UV/ozone cleaning, prior to UHV processing to fabricate MOS test structures. The physical and chemical condition of the Si surface has been examined by Scanning Tunnelling and Atomic Force Microscopy (STM, AFM) and Medium Energy Ion Scattering (MEIS). After MOS fabrication some of the structures were examined by Cross-sectional Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM). The electrical performance of the MOS test sets were characterized by breakdown voltage measurements.

We have found correlations between the electrical performance of the MOS devices, the structure of the Si surface prior to oxidation, and the details of the UHV fabrication technique. In particular any MOS device fabricated on a Si surface thermally cleaned in UHV prior to oxidation has a poor breakdown strength. We have found that this is the result of the formation of silicon carbide on the Si surface at high temperature and the subsequent local disruption of the oxidation step of MOS fabrication by the SiC. A UHV cleaning procedure has been developed to avoid this C contamination problem.

The disintegration of the separated isotopes of boron, under proton and deuteron bombardment, has been investigated, and it is shown that the groups of disintegration particles previously discovered had been attributed to the transmutation of the correct isotopes. In addition, experimental evidence has been obtained for a previously unknown excitation level of 8Be at about 7·5 × 106 e.V. above the ground state.