Comprehensive Optical Strain Sensing Through the Use of Colloidal Quantum Dots.

The adaptation of colloidal quantum dots loaded within a polymer for use in nondestructive testing can be used as an optical strain gauge due to the nanomaterial's strain sensing properties. In this paper, we utilized InP/ZnS colloidal quantum dots loaded within a polymer matrix applied onto the surface of a dog-bone foil precoated with an epoxy. By employing an empirical formula and a calibration factor, there is a propinquity between both the calculated optical strain and mechanical stress-strain reference data.

Hemispheric asymmetries in visual search.

We conducted two visual search experiments, and found that target-detection accuracy and speed were better when the target was projected to the right hemisphere in the feature search condition and better when the target was projected to the left hemisphere in the feature-conjunction search condition. We propose that the highly efficient, so-called parallel search performance characteristic of feature search is enabled by a broadly distributed, global view of the visual field, and the right hemisphere is more efficient than the left in such global processing. On the other hand, the less-efficient performance characteristic of conjunction search (demonstrated by the set-size effect) involves serial shifts of focused attention, and the left hemisphere is more efficient than the right in such localised attentional processing.

Satisfaction with services among people with progressive neurological illnesses and their carers in Australia.

The current study investigated the types of support networks and services accessed by people with progressive neurological illness, as well as the assessment of the usefulness of these services. The participants were 25 people with multiple sclerosis, 15 people with motor neurone disease, 23 people with Parkinson's disease, and six people with Huntington's disease. Twenty-eight professionals who worked with people with these illnesses and 41 carers of people with these illnesses also were interviewed.

Prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV programme: low vertical transmission in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.

Objective: To describe the operational effectiveness of the prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) of HIV programme at McCord Hospital during the period 1 March 2004 - 31 August 2005.

Design: Observational cohort study.

Setting: McCord Hospital, Durban, South Africa.

Work and recreational changes among people with neurological illness and their caregivers.

Background: Progressive neurological illnesses alter the health and well-being of people who experience them, and frequently lead to changes in the activities of both patients and their carers. Purpose. The current study investigated changes in work and recreational activities among people with four of these illnesses.

Emergency contraception: knowledge and practices of tertiary students in Durban, South Africa.

The aim of this study was to assess the knowledge, use and attitude to the use of emergency contraception among tertiary students in Durban, South Africa through the use of a self-administered confidential questionnaire. A scoring system was developed to analyse the response of each student. A total of 436 students (56.

Hypertension-related gene polymorphisms in pre-eclampsia, eclampsia and gestational hypertension in Black South African women.

Objective: To examine whether polymorphisms in the renin-angiotensin system (RAS) are associated with pregnancy-related hypertensive disorders in a black South African population.

Design: The angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) insertion/deletion, angiotensinogen M235T and angiotensin II receptor type 1 1166A<--C polymorphisms were assessed in study groups comprising 204 women with pre-eclampsia, 120 with eclampsia, 67 with early onset pre-eclampsia and 78 with gestational hypertension.

Methods: Using chi analysis, results were compared with those obtained from 338 ethnically matched normotensive pregnant women following normal full term pregnancies.

Methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase gene polymorphisms in black South Africans and the association with preeclampsia.

Background: A methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) polymorphism (1317T --> C) that occurs commonly in black African individuals prompted this study to establish whether this polymorphism, alone or in association with other MTHFR variants, is associated with preeclampsia in black South African women.

Methods: A group of 204 black women with preeclampsia was examined for the 677C --> T, 1298A --> C and 1317T --> C MTHFR polymorphic alleles using standard techniques. Also examined were women with early-onset preeclampsia (n = 67) and gestational hypertension (n = 78).