Introduction: Abdominal pain is one of the most frequent reasons for an emergency department (ED) visit. Most cases are functional and no therapy has proven effective. Our objective was to determine if hyoscine butylbromide (HBB) (BuscopanTM) is effective for children who present to the ED with functional abdominal pain. Methods: We conducted a randomized, blinded, superiority trial comparing HBB 10 mg plus acetaminophen placebo to oral acetaminophen 15 mg/kg (max 975 mg) plus HBB placebo using a double-dummy approach. We included children 8-17 years presenting to the ED at London Health Sciences Centre with colicky abdominal pain rated >40 mm on a 100 mm visual analog scale (VAS). The primary outcome was VAS pain score at 80 minutes post-administration. Secondary outcomes included adverse effects; caregiver satisfaction with pain management using a five-item Likert scale; recidivism and missed surgical diagnoses within 24-hours of discharge. Analysis was based on intention to treat. Results: We analyzed 225 participants (112 acetaminophen; 113 HBB). The mean (SD) age was 12.4 (3.0) years and 148/225 (65.8%) were females. Prior to enrollment, the median (IQR) duration of pain prior was 2 (4.5) hours and analgesia was provided to 101/225 (44.9%) of participants. The mean (SD) pre-intervention pain scores in the acetaminophen and HBB groups were 62.7 (15.9) mm and 60.3 (17.3) mm, respectively. At 80 minutes, the mean (SD) pain scores in the acetaminophen and HBB groups were 30.1 (28.8) mm and 29.4 (26.4) mm, respectively and there were no significant differences adjusting for pre-intervention scores (p = 0.96). The median (IQR) caregiver satisfaction was high in the acetaminophen [5 (2)] and HBB [5 (1)] groups (p = 0.79). The median (IQR) length of stay between acetaminophen [235 (101)] and HBB [234 (103)] was not significantly different (p = 0.53). The proportion of participants with a return visit for abdominal pain was 4/112 (3.5%) in the acetaminophen group and 6/113 (5.3%) in the HBB group. The most common adverse effect was nausea (9% in each group) and there were no significant differences in adverse effects between acetaminophen (26/112, 23.2%) and HBB (31/113, 27.4%) (p = 0.52). There were no missed surgical diagnoses. Conclusion: For children with presumed functional abdominal pain who present to the ED, both acetaminophen and HBB produce a clinically important (VAS < 30 mm) reduction in pain and should be routinely considered in this clinical setting.

The present experiment was undertaken to validate a probiotic of canine origin for its potential use in dogs. A total of fifteen adult female Labrador dogs were allocated to three equal groups and fed a basal diet without probiotic (control) or with probiotic of either canine (Lactobacillus johnsonii CPN23; cPRO) or dairy (L. acidophilus NCDC 15; dPRO) origin for 9 weeks. The digestibility of most macronutrients remained similar among the groups; however, fibre digestibility was improved (P = 0·034) in dogs receiving cPRO. The faecal fermentative metabolites ammonia (P < 0·05) and lactate (P = 0·094) were altered favourably, indicating a positive influence of both probiotics. Faecal concentrations of acetate, propionate and butyrate were increased (P < 0·01) in both probiotic groups. However, improvements were higher in cPRO v. dPRO. The delayed-type hypersensitivity reaction to intradermal inoculation of phytohaemagglutinin-P was higher (P = 0·053) in cPRO as compared with control. The antibody response to sheep erythrocytes was, however, similar across the three groups. Overall, in dogs, the canine-origin probiotic was superior when compared with the dairy-origin probiotic.

The BiFeO3/BaTiO3 (BFO/BTO) multilayers were deposited on Pt/Ti/SiO2/Si substrates using sol-gel spin coating technique. The electric and magnetic studies on BFO/BTO multilayer structures were carried out for different number of layers. Enhancement in multiferroic properties were seen for all the prepared multilayers as compared to individual BTO and BFO thin films. Maximum value of ferroelectric polarization 71.18 µC/cm2 and saturation magnetization 69.85 emu/cm3 was obtained for multilayer structure having five layers. The observed enhancement in the multiferroic properties of the multilayer system is due to the increased interfacial stress and multiferroic coupling between the alternating layers.

Chemical Mechanical Planarization (CMP) has emerged as the central technology for polishing wafers in the semiconductor manufacturing industry to make integrated multi-level devices. Both chemical and mechanical processes work simultaneously to achieve local and global planarization. Although extensive research has been carried out to understand the various factors affecting the CMP process, many aspects remain unaddressed. One such aspect of CMP is the role of abrasives in the process of conditioning. Abrasives play an important role during conditioning to regenerate the clogged polishing pads. This research is focused on the study of abrasives in the process of conditioning with a focus on the size of abrasives. With diamond being widely used as an abrasive for conditioning the polishing pad, five different sizes of diamonds ranging from 0.25μm to 100μm were selected to condition the commercially available IC 1000 polishing pad. Properties like pad roughness and pad wear were measured to understand the effect of the abrasive size on the pad morphology and pad topography. In-situ ‘coefficient of friction’ was also monitored on the CETR bench top tester. The final impact was seen in the form of surface defects on the polished copper wafers using optical microscopy.

A case of idiopathic intracranial hypertension (IIH) with visual field loss was decompressed in the intracanalicular segment of the optic nerve transnasally under endoscopic control. Visual functions improved after surgery.

1.1.1 The Faculty of Actuaries' Marketing Research Group was set up in May 1988 to research areas of interest to that new breed of Fellow, the “Marketing Actuary”.

In the initial meetings two general areas of interest were identified—namely the marketing of the actuarial profession, and the marketing of financial services products.

Whilst the group has spent time on both subjects this first paper is concerned with the marketing of the actuarial profession.

1.1.2 We felt that the starting point for a marketing audit of the profession was to conduct research amongst the members. In addition we have investigated the coverage achieved by the profession in the media, and looked into developments in North America, including a survey which ranked the actuarial profession against other forms of employment.