We report on the EPICA Dronning Maud Land (East Antarctica) deep drilling operation. Starting with the scientific questions that led to the outline of the EPICA project, we introduce the setting of sister drillings at NorthGRIP and EPICA Dome C within the European ice-coring community. The progress of the drilling operation is described within the context of three parallel, deep-drilling operations, the problems that occurred and the solutions we developed. Modified procedures are described, such as the monitoring of penetration rate via cable weight rather than motor torque, and modifications to the system (e.g. closing the openings at the lower end of the outer barrel to reduce the risk of immersing the drill in highly concentrated chip suspension). Parameters of the drilling (e.g. core-break force, cutter pitch, chips balance, liquid level, core production rate and piece number) are discussed. We also review the operational mode, particularly in the context of achieved core length and piece length, which have to be optimized for drilling efficiency and core quality respectively. We conclude with recommendations addressing the design of the chip-collection openings and strictly limiting the cable-load drop with respect to the load at the start of the run.

Introduction: Survival for victims of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) is typically between 8 and 12%. We sought to report the trends in survival in British Columbia (BC) over a 10-year period. Methods: The BC Resuscitation Outcomes Consortium prospectively collected detailed prehospital and hospital data on consecutive non-traumatic OHCAs from 2006 to 2016 within BC’s four metropolitan areas. We included EMS-treated adult patients without DNR orders. To describe baseline characteristics we organized patient characteristics in three time periods: 2006-09, 2010-13, and 2014-16 (first and last periods reported below). The primary and secondary endpoints were survival at hospital discharge and return of spontaneous circulation (ROSC). We tested the significance of year-by-year trends in baseline characteristics, and performed multivariable Poisson regression, using calendar year as an independent variable, to calculate risk-adjusted rates for survival. Results: Between January 1, 2006 and March 31, 2016 there were a total of 26 433 non-traumatic OHCAs, with 15 145 included in this study. There were significant decreases in the proportion with initial shockable cardiac rhythms (28% to 23%) and bystander witnessed arrests (42% to 39%), however significant increases in the proportion with bystander CPR (40% to 49%) and ALS treatment (86% to 97%), and the median chest compression fraction (0.81 to 0.87). There was a significant increase in the median time until termination of resuscitation in those who did not achieve ROSC (27 to 32 minutes), and a significant decrease in the proportion of patients who were transported in absence of ROSC (17% to 6.5%). There was a significant improvement in achieving ROSC (44% to 48%; adjusted rate ratio per year 1.02, 95% CI 1.01 to 1.02) and survival at hospital discharge (10% to 14%; adjusted rate ratio per year 1.05, 95% CI 1.04 to 1.06). Both subgroups of initial shockable (adjusted rate ratio per year 1.04, 95% CI 1.03 to 1.05) and non-shockable (adjusted rate ratio per year 1.08, 95% CI 1.06 to 1.12) cardiac rhythms demonstrated survival improvement. Conclusion: Despite a significant decrease in those with initial shockable rhythms, out-of-hospital cardiac arrest survival in BC’s metropolitan regions increased by approximately 40% over a 10-year period. During this time there were system changes and quality of care improvements as provided by bystanders and professionals.

The Conservation Reserve Program reduced available cropland in the United States by 34 million acres under the first nine signup periods (1986–1990). Among these are ten million acres with wheat base and four million acres with corn base, which could potentially produce 288 million bushels of wheat and 340 million bushels of corn per year upon contract expiration. The impacts of expiring CRP contacts on the production and prices of wheat and corn in the United States are estimated. Based on past production practices and post-CRP land-use intentions of contract holders, 48.2% of base acres enrolled in CRP will return to production. Under this scenario, wheat prices will decline by more than 7% and corn prices by more than 2% by 2000, unless ARP levels, normal flex acres percent, or target prices are changed.

The Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) takes cropland out of production for 10 years, reducing grain supplies available to elevators. Results suggest that the program has negatively impacted elevator merchandising margins, but that elevators adjusted rather quickly to CRP changes, making most of the adjustment within 1 year. The reduction in margins reflects an element of pressure on agribusinesses that has not been measured in previous studies.

The definition of UTC was implemented in 1972, principally to accommodate celestial navigation and follows recommendation 460 of the International Radio Consultative Committee (CCIR) in 1970. Since 1972 the use of electronic means to navigate has overtaken celestial navigation. This fact along with increasing public dissatisfaction with the possible disruption to modern electronic communications and navigation systems caused by the insertion of a leap second has called into question the current definition of UTC. An extensive review of the background and issues relating to the leap second can be found in Nelson, et al (2001).

After their oceanic migration, juvenile European eels Anguilla anguilla enter estuaries as glass eels, develop into pigmented elvers and migrate into fresh water. Fisheries often transfer such eels abruptly between salinities, principally glass eels and elvers from estuarine to fresh water. It is usually assumed that survival rates are high, but this required systematic investigation. Survival was found to be 100% over 21 days of glass eels and semi-pigmented elvers transferred abruptly from estuary conditions into fresh water, 50% sea water and full sea water. Fully pigmented elvers, however, showed significantly reduced survival when transferred into sea water. Salinity preference experiments with juvenile eels have historically been inconclusive. Here, in a choice chamber design, a clear developmental shift in salinity preference was found, with glass eels preferring 100% sea water, semi-pigmented elvers showing no clear preference and fully pigmented elvers preferring fresh water. We conclude that eel fisheries enhancement by abrupt transfer of juveniles among salinities is largely vindicated. In addition, developmental shifts in salinity preference have been clarified and this aids in the interpretation of eel migration patterns.

Besides the link of the HIPPARCOS reference frame to extragalactic objects via radio stars or by the HST, also photographic astrometry is able to calibrate the HIPPARCOS proper motions with regard to an inertial system. Numerical simulations have shown that even with a very small number of well-distributed link fields (3 to 5) the photographic method is competitive with other techniques.

Discriminant function analyses were performed on plasma concentrations of prolactin, growth hormone, Cortisol, TSH, and the neurophysins measured over 17 hours in 70 newly admitted drug-free psychiatric patients and 35 control subjects. The hormone data distinguished between patients with different classes of drug-free psychosis (26 schizophrenic, 12 with manic disorder, 10 with major depressive disorder, psychotic subtype, 9 with schizoaffective mania (SAM)). Higher plasma Cortisol and lower TSH concentrations separated eight of nine SAM patients from all others.

Plasma concentrations of prolactin, growth hormone, cortisol, TSH, and the neurophysins were measured over 17 hours in 98 newly admitted psychiatric patients and 35 control subjects. Seventy patients had been free of psychotropic medication for three months. Patients with schizoaffective mania (SAM) differed significantly from control subjects by increased plasma Cortisol concentrations and decreased night-time TSH concentrations. The latter were also significantly lower than in both schizophrenic and manic disorder patients. Plasma Cortisol was increased to a lesser extent in other psychotic subgroups, and increases in prolactin were most marked in the affective psychoses. There was little diagnostic specificity for psychoses other than SAM. Higher Cortisol and prolactin levels may be due to the stimulatory effect of serotonergic pathways, but the neural mechanisms underlying lower night-time TSH levels in SAM are not known. The findings are not consistent with the view (a) that the hormonal changes of the psychoses simply reflect a non-specific response to stress, or (b) that the biological abnormalities of the psychoses can be accounted for by a single continuum of disturbance.

An analysis of Conservation Reserve Program contracts obtained during the 1986 sign-up periods indicates commodity program participants enrolled more acreage at higher costs than farmers not participating in other commodity programs. Significant differences also occurred between the various commodity program crops, reflecting the difference in benefits available for these crops.

A systematic endocrine investigation in dementia, depression and control subjects showed that plasma growth hormone (GH) was higher in the morning and plasma TSH concentrations were higher throughout the day in Alzheimer-type dementia (ATD) than in age-matched depressed patients (MDD), and plasma TSH concentrations were also higher throughout the day in female ATD compared with age-matched female control subjects. The increased plasma TSH concentrations could not be due to reduced negative feedback because plasma T3, T4 and rT3 were in the normal range. Plasma concentrations of oestrogen-stimulated neurophysin (ESN) were lower throughout the day in ATD compared with MDD and controls and lower in the morning compared with other dementias. The high plasma GH and TSH concentrations in ATD may reflect the reduced hypothalamic content of somatostatin in ATD, and the reduced concentrations of ESN may reflect reduced cholinergic activity in ATD prain. These selective hormonal changes provide a useful diagnostic test for Alzheimer's disease.

Basal plasma luteinising hormone concentrations and the LH responses to LH-releasing hormone injection were higher in 11 young men after recovery from mania than in 15 control subjects. Since plasma concentrations of testosterone and sex hormone binding globulin were similar in the recovered manic compared with the control subjects, the increased LH response to LHRH is likely to have been due to the priming effect of LHRH consequent on an increased release of LHRH into hypophysial portal vessel blood. Abnormal control of LHRH, and thereby LH release, is a state-independent feature in male patients with mania and may be a useful trait marker for this disorder.