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There are sparse data on the outcomes of endoscopic stapling of pharyngeal pouches. The Mersey ENT Trainee Collaborative compared regional practice against published benchmarks.
Methods
A 10-year retrospective analysis of endoscopic pharyngeal pouch surgery was conducted and practice was assessed against eight standards. Comparisons were made between results from the tertiary centre and other sites.
Results
A total of 225 procedures were performed (range of 1.2–9.2 cases per centre per year). All centres achieved 90 per cent resumption of oral intake within 2 days. All centres achieved less than 2-day hospital stays. Primary success (84 per cent (i.e. abandonment of endoscopic stapling in 16 per cent)), symptom resolution (83 per cent) and recurrence rates (13 per cent) failed to meet the standard across the non-tertiary centres.
Conclusion
Endoscopic pharyngeal pouch stapling is a procedure with a low mortality and brief in-patient stay. There was significant variance in outcomes across the region. This raises the question of whether this service should become centralised and the preserve of either tertiary centres or sub-specialist practitioners.
What explains why some Latinos feel strongly tied to their coethnics while others do not? Demographic context is one of the most cited predictors of identity strength, but the size and direction of its effects are disputed. Geographic differences in policy environments may explain the phenomenon. We argue that high levels of immigration enforcement indirectly lead to increased feelings of ethnic linked fate by determining where and how demographic context—in this case, the size of the immigrant population—will be salient. To test this, we combine information from local immigration-enforcement data (obtained via Freedom of Information Act requests) with the Latino Decisions' 2016 Collaborative Multiracial Post-Election Survey. The results suggest native-born Latinos have a stronger sense of ethnic linked fate when they live near large immigrant populations and rates of enforcement are high. When enforcement is low, the presence of immigrants has a negligible effect on native-born attitudes. Foreign-born Latinos' sense of linked fate is unaffected by policy context. These results suggest that as immigration enforcement becomes intensifies, conservative politicians may see increased backlash, at least in certain communities, from native-born Latinos. This is because feelings about ethnic linked fate correlate with increased participation and more proimmigrant policy stances.
The dendrite morphologies of the cast nickel-based superalloy CMSX-4® (CMSX-4® is registered trademarks of the Cannon-Muskegon Corporation) and the austenitic stainless steel HP microalloy have been obtained via an automated serial-sectioning process which allows three-dimensional (3D) microstructural characterization. The dendrite arm spacing, volume fraction of segregation, and fraction of porosity have been determined. This technique not only increases the depth, scope, and level of detailed microstructural characterization but also delivers microstructural data for modeling and simulation.
To investigate the feasibility, and patient/psychiatrist acceptability, of an SMS text messaging system reminding patients receiving quetiapine to take their medication.
Methods:
8-12(mean:9.4) week, non-interventional, psychiatrist assessed, pilot study of 27 outpatients receiving quetiapine (mean age[range]: 35.3[19-57] years). Patients were asked to reply to SMS messages sent twice daily to their cellular phone to remind them to take their medication (morning) and enquire about their well-being (evening). Patients' response (morning-yes/no; evening-positive/negative/neutral) was monitored by psychiatrists (n=7) via a website, and subsequently used to assess technical feasibility. Psychiatrists rated acceptability and feasibility of the system by completing case report forms (CRFs). Data are from the LOCF population.
Results:
Patients responded to 77% (compliance) of the 5,000 SMS messages sent (84% correctly, 13% inaccurately, 3% responded late [eg, day after]). 7/27 patients withdrew prematurely. The most common benefits expressed by patients were that they felt cared for (n=11/21) and were reminded to take their medication (n=7/21). Psychiatrists' ratings of the system improved over time, with SMS compliance and increased patient contact seen as the most valuable aspects. At study end, CRF data showed psychiatrists felt the system was valuable to 19/22 patients, 16/24 patients remained compliant with the system and 16/22 patients felt the frequency of SMS messages was acceptable. There was a strong correlation between patients giving positive well-being responses and SMS compliance (R Pearson=0.72, p<0.001).
Conclusion:
The high levels of SMS compliance and benefits expressed by patients and psychiatrists support a larger-scale assessment of this system.
There are limited amount of studies comparing time trends of incidence and risk factors of psychosis.
Objectives
To compare time trends of incidence of psychosis in two population samples.
Aims
To study 1) onset age and cumulative incidence of psychoses in two Northern Finland Birth Cohorts (NFBC), 2) changes in type of diagnosis and risk factors.
Methods
The NFBC 1966 (N=12,058) and NFBC 1986 (N=9,432) are prospective cohorts of the two provinces of Finland with the live born children followed since pregnancy. The data for psychosis and risk factors were collected from variety of nationwide registers and earlier collected data of the NFBCs. The follow-up time was in both cohorts in average 26.5 years.
Results
Proportion of all psychoses was higher in NFBC 1986 than in the NFBC 1966 (1.81% vs 1.0%). There were more affective psychoses in NFBC 1986 (0.5% vs 0.1%), but incidence of schizophrenia was the same (0.4%) in both cohorts. The age of onset was lower in NFBC 1986 than in NFBC 1966 and majority of this cases were females. Only parental psychosis was a significant risk factor predicting psychosis (Hazard Ratios >3.0) in both cohorts.
Conclusions
In conclusion, two birth cohorts within 20 years covering altogether about 40 years showed changes in terms of incidence, age of onset, and type of psychosis.
Our aim was to investigate how age of achieving early motor developmental milestones differ among subjects with and without a history of parental psychosis and whether parental psychosis may alter the effects of the age of achievement on the risk of schizophrenia.
Methods
The study sample comprised 10,307 individuals from the prospective Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1966. A total of 139 (1.3%) cohort members suffered from schizophrenia by the age of 46 years. Out of them 19 (13.7%) had a parent with a history of psychosis, while among the non-psychotic cohort members this figure was 524 (5.2%).
Results
Out of eight different motor milestones investigated, parental psychosis associated (p>0.05) with later learning of holding head up, grabbing object, and walking without support. In the parental psychosis group, significant risk factors for schizophrenia included later learning of holding head up and touching thumb with index finger. In the non-parental psychosis group risk estimates were lower and statistical significant milestones were different i.e. turning over, sitting without support, standing up, standing and walking without support. Interactions between parental psychosis and touching thumb with index finger and walking without support was found.
Conclusions
Although parental psychosis associated with delays in motor milestones in the first year of life, it does not explain the association between late achievement of motor milestones and later risk for schizophrenia
Environmental information from place-names has largely been overlooked by geoarchaeologists and fluvial geomorphologists in analyses of the depositional histories of rivers and floodplains. Here, new flood chronologies for the rivers Teme, Severn, and Wye are presented, modelled from stable river sections excavated at Broadwas, Buildwas, and Rotherwas. These are connected by the Old English term *wæsse, interpreted as ‘land by a meandering river which floods and drains quickly’. The results reveal that, in all three places, flooding during the early medieval period occurred more frequently between AD 350–700 than between AD 700–1100, but that over time each river's flooding regime became more complex including high magnitude single events. In the sampled locations, the fluvial dynamics of localized flood events had much in common, and almost certainly differed in nature from other sections of their rivers, refining our understanding of the precise nature of flooding which their names sought to communicate. This study shows how the toponymic record can be helpful in the long-term reconstruction of historic river activity and for our understanding of past human perceptions of riverine environments.
Neonatal aortic thrombosis is a rare occurrence but can be life-threatening. Most aortic thrombosis in neonates is related to umbilical artery catheters. A case of a neonate with a spontaneous aortic thrombosis is described here along with a comprehensive review of the literature for cases of neonatal aortic thrombosis not related to any intravascular device or procedure. The aetiologies of these spontaneous thromboses and the relevance of hypercoagulable disorders are discussed. The cases were analysed for odds of death by treatment method adjusted for era. The reference treatment method was thrombolysis and anticoagulation. No other treatment modality had significantly lower odds than the reference. Surgery alone had higher odds for death than the reference, but this may be confounded by severity of case. The management recommendations for clinicians encountering neonates with spontaneous neonatal aortic thrombosis are discussed.
The Murchison Widefield Array (MWA) is an open access telescope dedicated to studying the low-frequency (80–300 MHz) southern sky. Since beginning operations in mid-2013, the MWA has opened a new observational window in the southern hemisphere enabling many science areas. The driving science objectives of the original design were to observe 21 cm radiation from the Epoch of Reionisation (EoR), explore the radio time domain, perform Galactic and extragalactic surveys, and monitor solar, heliospheric, and ionospheric phenomena. All together
$60+$
programs recorded 20 000 h producing 146 papers to date. In 2016, the telescope underwent a major upgrade resulting in alternating compact and extended configurations. Other upgrades, including digital back-ends and a rapid-response triggering system, have been developed since the original array was commissioned. In this paper, we review the major results from the prior operation of the MWA and then discuss the new science paths enabled by the improved capabilities. We group these science opportunities by the four original science themes but also include ideas for directions outside these categories.
Space Infrared Telescope for Cosmology and Astrophysics (SPICA), the cryogenic infrared space telescope recently pre-selected for a ‘Phase A’ concept study as one of the three remaining candidates for European Space Agency (ESA's) fifth medium class (M5) mission, is foreseen to include a far-infrared polarimetric imager [SPICA-POL, now called B-fields with BOlometers and Polarizers (B-BOP)], which would offer a unique opportunity to resolve major issues in our understanding of the nearby, cold magnetised Universe. This paper presents an overview of the main science drivers for B-BOP, including high dynamic range polarimetric imaging of the cold interstellar medium (ISM) in both our Milky Way and nearby galaxies. Thanks to a cooled telescope, B-BOP will deliver wide-field 100–350
$\mu$
m images of linearly polarised dust emission in Stokes Q and U with a resolution, signal-to-noise ratio, and both intensity and spatial dynamic ranges comparable to those achieved by Herschel images of the cold ISM in total intensity (Stokes I). The B-BOP 200
$\mu$
m images will also have a factor
$\sim $
30 higher resolution than Planck polarisation data. This will make B-BOP a unique tool for characterising the statistical properties of the magnetised ISM and probing the role of magnetic fields in the formation and evolution of the interstellar web of dusty molecular filaments giving birth to most stars in our Galaxy. B-BOP will also be a powerful instrument for studying the magnetism of nearby galaxies and testing Galactic dynamo models, constraining the physics of dust grain alignment, informing the problem of the interaction of cosmic rays with molecular clouds, tracing magnetic fields in the inner layers of protoplanetary disks, and monitoring accretion bursts in embedded protostars.
Clinical Enterobacteriacae isolates with a colistin minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) ≥4 mg/L from a United States hospital were screened for the mcr-1 gene using real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and confirmed by whole-genome sequencing. Four colistin-resistant Escherichia coli isolates contained mcr-1. Two isolates belonged to the same sequence type (ST-632). All subjects had prior international travel and antimicrobial exposure.
India has the second largest number of people with type 2 diabetes (T2D) globally. Epidemiological evidence indicates that consumption of white rice is positively associated with T2D risk, while intake of brown rice is inversely associated. Thus, we explored the effect of substituting brown rice for white rice on T2D risk factors among adults in urban South India. A total of 166 overweight (BMI ≥ 23 kg/m2) adults aged 25–65 years were enrolled in a randomised cross-over trial in Chennai, India. Interventions were a parboiled brown rice or white rice regimen providing two ad libitum meals/d, 6 d/week for 3 months with a 2-week washout period. Primary outcomes were blood glucose, insulin, glycosylated Hb (HbA1c), insulin resistance (homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance) and lipids. High-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) was a secondary outcome. We did not observe significant between-group differences for primary outcomes among all participants. However, a significant reduction in HbA1c was observed in the brown rice group among participants with the metabolic syndrome (−0·18 (se 0·08) %) relative to those without the metabolic syndrome (0·05 (se 0·05) %) (P-for-heterogeneity = 0·02). Improvements in HbA1c, total and LDL-cholesterol were observed in the brown rice group among participants with a BMI ≥ 25 kg/m2 compared with those with a BMI < 25 kg/m2 (P-for-heterogeneity < 0·05). We observed a smaller increase in hs-CRP in the brown (0·03 (sd 2·12) mg/l) compared with white rice group (0·63 (sd 2·35) mg/l) (P = 0·04). In conclusion, substituting brown rice for white rice showed a potential benefit on HbA1c among participants with the metabolic syndrome and an elevated BMI. A small benefit on inflammation was also observed.
Starting in 2016, we initiated a pilot tele-antibiotic stewardship program at 2 rural Veterans Affairs medical centers (VAMCs). Antibiotic days of therapy decreased significantly (P < .05) in the acute and long-term care units at both intervention sites, suggesting that tele-stewardship can effectively support antibiotic stewardship practices in rural VAMCs.
Laser–solid interactions are highly suited as a potential source of high energy X-rays for nondestructive imaging. A bright, energetic X-ray pulse can be driven from a small source, making it ideal for high resolution X-ray radiography. By limiting the lateral dimensions of the target we are able to confine the region over which X-rays are produced, enabling imaging with enhanced resolution and contrast. Using constrained targets we demonstrate experimentally a
$(20\pm 3)~\unicode[STIX]{x03BC}\text{m}$
X-ray source, improving the image quality compared to unconstrained foil targets. Modelling demonstrates that a larger sheath field envelope around the perimeter of the constrained targets increases the proportion of electron current that recirculates through the target, driving a brighter source of X-rays.