Introduction: Blood transfusions continue to be a critical intervention in patients presenting to emergency departments (ED). Improved understanding of the adverse events associated with transfusions has led to new research to inform and delineate transfusion guidelines. The Nova Scotia Guideline for Blood Component Utilization in Adults and Pediatrics was implemented in June 2017 to reflect current best practice in transfusion medicine. The guideline includes a lowering of the hemoglobin threshold from 80 g/L to 70 g/L for transfusion initiation, to be used in conjunction with the patient's hemodynamic assessment before and after transfusions. Our study aims to augment understanding of transfusion guideline adherence and ED physician transfusing practices at the Halifax Infirmary Emergency Department in Nova Scotia. Methods: A retrospective chart review was conducted on one third of all ED visits involving red-cell transfusions for one year prior to and one year following the guideline implementation. A total of 350 charts were reviewed. The primary data abstracted for the initial transfusion, and subsequent transfusion if applicable, from each reviewed chart included clinical and laboratory data reflective of the transfusion guideline. Based on these data, the transfusion event was classified one of three ways: indicated based on hemoglobin level, indicated based on patient's symptomatic presentation, or unable to determine if transfusion indicated based on charting. Results: The year before guideline implementation, the total number of transfusions initiated at a hemoglobin of between 71-80 was 31 of 146 total transfusions. This number dropped by 23.6% to 22 of 136 in the year following guideline implementation. The number of single-unit transfusions increased by 28.0% from 47 of 146 in the year prior to 56 of 136 in the year after guideline implementation. The initial indication for transfusion being unable to be determined based on charting provided increased by 120%. The indication for subsequent transfusions being unable to be determined based on charting increased by 1500% (P < 0.05). Conclusion: These data suggest that implementing transfusion guidelines effectively reduced the number of transfusions given in the ED setting and increased the number of single-unit transfusions administered. However, the data also suggest the need for better education around transfusion indications and proper documentation clearly outlining the rationale behind the decision to transfuse.

During 1990 we surveyed the southern sky using a multi-beam receiver at frequencies of 4850 and 843 MHz. The half-power beamwidths were 4 and 25 arcmin respectively. The finished surveys cover the declination range between +10 and −90 degrees declination, essentially complete in right ascension, an area of 7.30 steradians. Preliminary analysis of the 4850 MHz data indicates that we will achieve a five sigma flux density limit of about 30 mJy. We estimate that we will find between 80 000 and 90 000 new sources above this limit. This is a revised version of the paper presented at the Regional Meeting by the first four authors; the surveys now have been completed.

Non-typhoidal Salmonella are an important but poorly characterized cause of paediatric diarrhoea in developing countries. We conducted a hospital-based case-control study in children aged <5 years in Ho Chi Minh City to define the epidemiology and examine risk factors associated with Salmonella diarrhoeal infections. From 1419 diarrhoea cases and 571 controls enrolled between 2009 and 2010, 77 (5·4%) diarrhoea cases were stool culture-positive for non-typhoidal Salmonella. Salmonella patients were more likely to be younger than controls (median age 10 and 12 months, respectively) [odds ratio (OR) 0·97; 95% confidence interval (CI) 0·94–0·99], to report a recent diarrhoeal contact (8·1% cases, 1·8% controls; OR 5·98, 95% CI 1·8–20·4) and to live in a household with >2 children (cases 20·8%, controls 10·2%; OR 2·32, 95% CI 1·2–4·7). Our findings indicate that Salmonella are an important cause of paediatric gastroenteritis in this setting and we suggest that transmission may occur through direct human contact in the home.

The UK was one of few European countries to document a substantial wave of pandemic (H1N1) 2009 influenza in summer 2009. The First Few Hundred (FF100) project ran from April–June 2009 gathering information on early laboratory-confirmed cases across the UK. In total, 392 confirmed cases were followed up. Children were predominantly affected (median age 15 years, IQR 10–27). Symptoms were mild and similar to seasonal influenza, with the exception of diarrhoea, which was reported by 27%. Eleven per cent of all cases had an underlying medical condition, similar to the general population. The majority (92%) were treated with antiviral drugs with 12% reporting adverse effects, mainly nausea and other gastrointestinal complaints. Duration of illness was significantly shorter when antivirals were given within 48 h of onset (median 5 vs. 9 days, P=0·01). No patients died, although 14 were hospitalized, of whom three required mechanical ventilation. The FF100 identified key clinical and epidemiological characteristics of infection with this novel virus in near real-time.

Largely because of the influence of Moffitt's useful distinction between adolescence-limited and life-course persistent antisocial behavior, it has become increasingly common to view problem behavior that makes its first appearance in adolescence as developmentally normative. This study prospectively examined the lives of individuals in the NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development whose patterns of antisocial behavior varied with respect to age of onset and stability from kindergarten through age 15. Consistent with past research, early-onset, persistently deviant youth experienced more contextual adversity and evinced higher levels of intraindividual disadvantages than their peers from infancy through midadolescence. However, relative to youth who never showed significantly elevated antisocial behavior through age 15, children who showed antisocial behavior primarily in adolescence also were more disadvantaged from infancy forward, as were youth who only demonstrated significant externalizing problems in childhood. Findings generally replicated across sex and did not vary as a function of whether antisocial behavior groups were defined using T-scores normed within sex or identified using an empirically driven grouping method applied to raw data.

A set of simple criteria for visual assessment of the effects of low-intensity fieldwork in ice-free areas of Antarctica was developed. These criteria were tested by using them to examine the impact of soil science investigations, both immediately and some time after disturbance, at Marble Point and at Cape Evans, on the shores of McMurdo Sound, Antarctica. The use of these criteria showed that for some types of impacts there had been a marked recovery of the surface with time, ranging from 22 months to 30 years. This was apparently due to repeated freeze and thaw of the soil surface and, to a lesser extent, to the influence of wind, which had partly or completely obliterated some of the earlier disturbances. More durable features remained, while deeper surface impressions, such as old soil inspection pits and vehicle tracks, showed little recovery after more than 30 years. Some biological colonisation of areas disturbed 30 years previously was occurring.

The speed with which tracks form as a result of trampling on exposed ground surfaces in Antarctica was investigated in the McMurdo Sound and Dry Valleys regions, by a simple treading experiment. Distinct tracks formed with fewer than 20 foot passes — as measured by stone cover, surface soil exposure, and track width — and they continued to develop with increasing traffic levels. Track development was rapid and most obvious on sandy gravel soils with a pebbly desert pavement, but slower and less distinct on soils with an extensive cover of surface boulders.

The persistence of human impact from ground disturbances, which occurred up to 30 years previously, when pits were dug during field science investigations, was assessed using a range of previously defined criteria. Recently disturbed sites, where some action had been taken to restore the site immediately after disturbance, showed the least overall impact. Impacts persisted longer at sites where no restoration had been undertaken, but the remaining impact varied with factors such as exposure to wind and the age of the land surface. These results demonstrate the fragility of Antarctic soil surfaces and the terrestrial environment, as well as the long time-scales for recovery of Antarctic ground-surface disturbances.

We examined the serological characteristics of 774 invasive meningococcal isolates collected through an active laboratory-based surveillance system in Scotland from 1994 to 1999. Of these, 72–73% of isolates were tested for susceptibility to several antimicrobial agents. Meningococci with high-level resistance to sulphadiazine had a prevalence of 10% and incidence of 0·22 per 100000 population. High-level resistance to penicillin and other antibiotics was not detected. The prevalence of moderate penicillin resistant meningococci was 8·3%. There was no increase in moderate penicillin resistant meningococcal isolates during the study period, but there were temporal and geographic variations. The estimated incidence of moderate penicillin resistant meningococci was 0·15 per 100000 population. High and low incidence of moderate penicillin resistant meningococci appeared to correlate with the number of doses of penicillin prescribed in some geographic locations. The majority of moderate penicillin resistant isolates belonged to serogroups B (52·2%) and C (39·2%). However, the prevalence of moderate penicillin resistance in serogroup W135 was substantially higher (51·7%) than serogroups B (7·8%) and C (7·6%). Serogroup W135 accounted for a higher proportion of moderate penicillin resistance (8·7%) than disease (1%). There was no predominant penicillin resistant serotype/subtype within any serogroup. Constant surveillance is necessary to monitor the emergence and spread of resistance and to guide appropriate public health interventions in preventing drug resistant meningococci.

InAs/AlGaAs quantum dot infrared photodetectors based on bound-to-bound intraband transitions in undoped InAs quantum dots are reported. AlGaAs blocking layers were employed to achieve low dark current. The photoresponse peaked at 6.2 μm. At 77 K and –0.7 V bias the responsivity was 14 mA/W and the detectivtiy, D*, was 1010 cmHz1/2/W.

A finite group G is efficient if it has a presentation on n generators and n + m relations, where m is the minimal number of generators of the Schur multiplier M (G)of G. The deficiency of a presentation of G is r–n, where r is the number of relations and n the number of generators. The deficiency of G, def G, is the minimum deficiency over all finite presentations of G. Thus a group is efficient if def G = m. Both the problem of efficiency and the converse problem of inefficiency have received considerable attention recently; see for example [1], [3], [14] and [15].

There are strong moral overtones associated with eating behaviour and with this goes the contemporary assumption that anyone can choose their shape and weight if only they try hard enough. Arguably, it is this false gospel that has led to the recent increase in bulimia nervosa (BN). Women struggling to attain an idealized shape have drastically to subvert their bodies' homeostatic mechanisms: the battle is rarely won and eventually, the victim turns for help to escape the scars and trauma. On the other hand, the shimmering vision of anorexia nervosa (AN) appears to support the myth.

A constant depth scratch test (CDST) has been recently developed to quantify the shear strength of film-substrate interfaces. This test is capable of measuring interfacial adhesion as a function of position on the sample surface during a continuous scratch. Unlike many of the currently available tests which are applicable to a limited array of materials systems, or are experimentally complex, this test is quite versatile, and is relatively straightforward to conduct and interpret because of the constant depth geometry. The theoretical basis and the experimental set-up for the test have been previously presented. In this paper, extensions of the theoretical formulation to account for different debonding behaviors of different film-substrate systems are discussed. Experimental results generated with a number of systems, including chromium on glass, gold on aluminum nitride, gold on aluminum nitride with a chromium inter-layer, and polycrystalline diamond on aluminum nitride are presented.

Soils and the underlying permafrost from undisturbed sites and sites that had been disturbed by construction activities at Marble Point and Pram Point in the McMurdo Sound region were sampled from excavated pits and drill cores. Gravimetric moisture (ice) contents and particle size distribution were determined. Volumetric moisture contents were calculated from these results. At undisturbed sites soil moisture contents within the active layer (to c. 60 cm depth) were low and ranged from 0.5% by weight at the soil surface to 10% above the permafrost. The permafrost was generally completely saturated with ice, but sometimes contained considerable excess ice, with ice contents rising as high as 80% by volume. At disturbed sites, soil moisture contents within the active layer were similar to those of the undisturbed sites (generally <10% by weight) but within the permafrost, moisture contents were lower and less variable than in the undisturbed sites, rarely exceeding 20% by weight. The release of considerable quantities of water from the permafrost as a result of land disturbance during construction activities caused stream flows, soil shrinkage, land slumping and salinisation, resulting in significant permanent environmental damage. At Marble Point there has been no significant re-establishment of icy permafrost in the disturbed soils in the 30 years since land disturbance occurred.

A suitable choice of an electrode material is important for an acceptable electrical contact to a high-permittivity dielectric, such as PLZT. A material which does not form a low-permittivity oxide is necessary, since these dielectrics generally require high temperature deposition or annealing in an oxidizing environment. Platinum, which is one of the few metals that satisfy this requirement, has been widely employed for contacting PLZT. However, for integrated circuit applications, an adhesion layer must be superposed between Pt and the substrate, and Ti is used frequently. Therefore, we have investigated the Pt/Ti combination to determine its suitability as an electrode for contacting PLZT. Using x-ray diffraction, Rutherford backscattering spectrometry, Auger electron microscopy, and scanning electron microscope techniques, interdiffusion of Pt/Ti bilayers has been investigated. Pt/Ti films with or without PLZT overlay were annealed in either O2 or N2 ambients or in N2 followed by O2. Annealing temperatures varied from 500 to 800 °C. It was observed that the anneal ambient has a marked effect on the interdiffusion processes, the reaction products, the morphology of the structures, and the crystallization of PLZT.

A low-cost heterodyne microwave interferometer system capable of measuring and/or controlling the plasma density over a dynamic range covering two orders of magnitude is demonstrated. The microwave frequency is chosen to match the size and density of plasma to be monitored. Large amplitude, high frequency fluctuations can be quantitatively followed and the longer-time-scale density can be held constant over hours of operation, for example during an inline production process to maintain uniformity and stoichiometry of films. A linear relationship is shown between plasma density and discharge current in a specific plasma device. This simple relationship makes control of the plasma straightforward using the interferometer as a density monitor. Other plasma processes could equally well benefit from such density control capability. By combining the interferometer measurement with diagnostics such as probes or optical spectroscopy, the total density profile and the constituent proportions of the various species in the plasma could be determined.

Microcrystalline inclusions in hydrogenated and fluorinated amorphous silicongermanium alloys, α-Si, Ge:H, F, were studied. Microcrystals grown during RF or DC glow discharge deposition from SiF4, GeF4 and H2 consist of either pure Si or Ge. Microcrystals produced by thermal annealing of initially amorphous alloys are either microcrystalline Ge or microcrystalline Si-Ge alloys depending on the annealing temperature. Values for the grain size were calculated from X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Raman spectra. The grain size of the “grown” microcrystal ranges from 8 to 60 nm. These grown grains exhibit preferential orientation of the (220) planes parallel to the substrate surface. Microcrystals produced by high-temperature anneal are randomly oriented. Scanning electron micrographs of as-grown samples show protruding platelets several 100 nm long and several 10 nm wide. Fractured cross sections exhibit columnar structure.