Introduction: Point of care ultrasound (PoCUS) provides invaluable information during resuscitation efforts in cardiac arrest by determining presence/absence of cardiac activity and identifying reversible causes such as pericardial tamponade. There is no agreed guideline on how to safely and effectively incorporate PoCUS into the advanced cardiac life support (ACLS) algorithm. We consider that a consensus-based priority checklist using a “4 F’s” approach (Fluid; Form; Function; Filling), would provide a better algorithm during ACLS. Methods: The ultrasound subcommittee of the Australasian College for Emergency Medicine (ACEM) drafted a checklist incorporating PoCUS into the ACLS algorithm. This was further developed using the input of 24 international experts associated with five professional organizations led by the International Federation of Emergency Medicine. A modified Delphi tool was developed to reach an international consensus on how to integrate ultrasound into cardiac arrest algorithms for emergency department patients. Results: Consensus was reached following 3 rounds. The agreed protocol focuses on the timing of PoCUS as well as the specific clinical questions. Core cardiac windows performed during the rhythm check pause in chest compressions are the sub-xiphoid and parasternal cardiac views. Either view should be used to detect pericardial fluid, as well as examining ventricular form (e.g. right heart strain) and function, (e.g. asystole versus organized cardiac activity). Supplementary views include lung views (for absent lung sliding in pneumothorax and for pleural fluid), and IVC views for filling. Additional ultrasound applications are for endotracheal tube confirmation, proximal leg veins for DVT, or for sources of blood loss (AAA, peritoneal/pelvic fluid). Conclusion: The authors hope that this process will lead to a consensus-based SHoC-cardiac arrest guideline on incorporating PoCUS into the ACLS algorithm.

The use of artificial neural networks (ANNs) as a classifier of digital spectra is investigated. Using both simulated and real data, it is shown that neural networks can be trained to discriminate between the spectra of different classes of active galactic nucleus (AGN) with realistic sample sizes and signal-to-noise ratios. By working in the Fourier domain, neural nets can classify objects without knowledge of their redshifts.

A new clay pit at Kirton in Lindsey, Lincolnshire, gives continuous exposures of 21 feet of clays and limestone nodules of the davoei Zone at the top of the Lower Lias, 18 feet of similar beds and 8 feet of Marlstone Rock Bed belonging to the Middle Lias, and 38 feet of shales and limestones of the tenuicostatum and falciferum Zones of the Upper Lias. Liparoceratid, Amaltheid, Dactylioceratid and Hildoceratid ammonites occur and allow the zones to be delimited with some accuracy.

This research set out to find ways to increase wheat production in Bangladesh. The approaches were (1) to increase the area planted to wheat, concentrating on developing a suitable management system for the very hot, often saline and hitherto largely untested fallow lands of the south; and (2) to increase economic and sustainable yield of wheat in the traditional rice-wheat zones. Five mechanized reduced tillage and planting systems were compared. They were used to enable 200 co-operating farmers at 11 locations to plant on time and avoid the reduction in yield that accompanies delays, found in this study to average 2 % d−1. Methods that placed seeds in rows were zero tillage, full or strip surface shallow till, and raised beds. A partially mechanized version of the traditional manual system called New Conventional, in which seeds and fertilizers were broadcast, was also tested. Farmers' wheat yields averaged more than 3.5 t ha−1 for the two seasons of the study. Farmers in the untested lands averaged more than 2.5 t ha−1 on their farms, well above the 0.5 t ha−1 needed to cover all costs and equal to normal production levels in traditional wheat areas. Surprisingly, full and strip till did not produce higher yields overall than New Conventional in either season. Reasons for the lack of difference are discussed in relation to other aspects of management and variation between the farmers themselves. Farmers had varying opinions and mixed success with zero till and beds. The economic consequences to farmers of using the different systems are also discussed with the suggestion that the low-tech New Conventional method will be preferable for novice wheat farmers in the historically fallow lands where the study indicated potential production is 1 million tonnes.

The present study was designed to analyse the effect of the length of exposure to a long photoperiod imposed c. 3 weeks after sowing in spring wheat (cv. UQ189) and barley (cv. Arapiles) to (i) establish whether the response to the number of cycles of exposure is quantitative or qualitative, (ii) determine the existence of a commitment to particular stages well before the stage has been observable, and (iii) study the interrelationships between the effects on final leaf number and phyllochron when the stimulus is provided several days after seedling emergence. Both wheat and barley seemed to respond quantitatively to the number of long-day cycles they were exposed to. However, wheat showed a requirement of approximately 4 long-day cycles to be able to produce a significant response in time to heading. The barley cultivar used in the study was responsive to the minimum length of exposure. The response to extended photoperiod cycles during the stem elongation phase was due to the ‘memory’ photoperiod effects being related, in the case of wheat, to the fact that the pre-terminal spikelet appearance phase saturated its photoperiod response well before that stage was reached. Therefore, the commitment to the terminal spikelet appearance in wheat may be reached well before this stage could be recognized.

As the response in duration to heading exceeded that of the final leaf number, and the stem elongation phase responded to memory effects of photoperiod, the phyllochron of both cereals was responsive to the treatments accelerating the average phyllochron when exposed to longer periods of long days. The response in average phyllochron was due to a switch from bi-linear to linear models of leaf number v. time when the conditions were increasingly inductive, with the phyllochron of the initial (6–8) leaves being similar for all treatments (within each species), and from then on increased.

“Public health legal preparedness” is a term born in the ferment, beginning in the late 1990s, that has led to unprecedented recognition of the essential role law plays in public health and, even more recently, in protecting the public from terrorism and other potentially catastrophic health threats.

The initial articulation of public health has not kept pace with rapid evolution in the concept and in practical development of public health preparedness itself. This poses the risk that legal preparedness may fall behind construction of general readiness in the public health system—and may, in fact, undercut achievement of comprehensive public health preparedness for massive threats to health in both the United States and world-wide. Inadvertent results might include both negative health impacts and infringement on individual rights.

The report indicates that a psychosurgery service can be established on a regional basis. The outcome study of the Yorkshire Regional Psychosurgery Service indicates that the treatment should retain a place in the treatment of patients who have failed to respond to other available approaches. For such patients (and their carers) life is a state of persisting torment. Some psychiatrists consider psychosurgery as a procedure not to be countenanced, or outmoded, but patients have a right to know what may be achieved by the treatment and at what cost in terms of possible failure to improve and adverse effects. An audit of the Regional Psychosurgery Service indicates a favourable result of the Intervention. All patients improved to some extent, some very remarkably, and no adverse effects were encountered.

The toxicity of five cryoprotectants – methanol, DMSO, glycerol, ethanediol and sucrose – on different development stages of zebrafish embryos was investigated. Embryos were exposed to a range of cryoprotectant concentrations for 30 min at room temperature. Post-heart beat stage embryos were more resistant to cryoprotectants than carly embryonic stages. The maximum non-toxic concentrations of cryoprotectants on heart beat stage embryos were 2 M methanol, 2 M DMSO, 1 M glycerol, 2 M ethanediol and 0.5 M sucrose. Gradual stepwise addition did not reduce toxicity. Heart beat stage embryos survived 2 M methanol at room temperature for up to 5 hours, whilst DMSO and ethanediol were toxic after 3 and 1 hour exposure respectively. The effect of the nature and concentration of cryoprotectant, equilibrium time, and cooling rate were investigated during cooling to –30 °C. Methanol was more effective than either DMSO or ethanediol for zebrafish embryo cryopreservation and 0.3 °C/min was found to be the optimum cooling rate. Two-step addition of cryoprotectants, with the higher concentration of cryoprotectants added at 0 °C, improved the results. The best embryo survivals obtained after cooling were 94% at – 10 °C, 72% at – 15 °C, 43% at –20 °C, and 8% at –25 °C, no embryos hatched following cooling to –30 °C. Ice formation within the egg was found to be the main factor affecting survival of the embryos.

The Basalt Waste Isolation Project has performed initial characterization of the release behavior of radionuclides from ATM-101 spent fuel reacted under hydrothermal conditions. Results to date indicate that 1) 14C, 90Sr, 129I, and 137Cs exhibit preferential release to solution relative to the actinides, 2) 239+240Pu, 241Am, and 244Cm ratios in solution are consistent with stoichiometric dissolution of the spent fuel matrix, whereas uranium concentrations are higher than those predicted for stoichiometric dissolution, 3) 137Cs release varies as a function of the fluid to solid mass ratio, and 4) 14C, 129I, and 137Cs release is affected by fuel particle size and/or fuel washing.