Caring Dads intervention for fathers who have perpetrated abuse within their families: Quasi-experimental evaluation of child protection outcomes over two years.

Background: In Canada, two of the most common forms of maltreatment substantiated by child protective services are child exposure to domestic violence and child physical abuse. Fathers are identified as the parent responsible for a substantial proportion of this maltreatment.

Objective: This study examined whether providing a group-based intervention program for fathers was associated with greater engagement of fathers in child protection case management and with lower rates of subsequent father-perpetrated abuse.

Collisionally Inhomogeneous Bose-Einstein Condensates with a Linear Interaction Gradient.

We study the evolution of a collisionally inhomogeneous matter wave in a spatial gradient of the interaction strength. Starting with a Bose-Einstein condensate with weak repulsive interactions in quasi-one-dimensional geometry, we monitor the evolution of a matter wave that simultaneously extends into spatial regions with attractive and repulsive interactions. We observe the formation and the decay of solitonlike density peaks, counterpropagating self-interfering wave packets, and the creation of cascades of solitons.

Inflammatory Bowel Diseases: Host-Microbial-Environmental Interactions in Dysbiosis.

Crohn's Disease (CD) and Ulcerative Colitis (UC) are world-wide health problems in which intestinal dysbiosis or adverse functional changes in the microbiome are causative or exacerbating factors. The reduced abundance and diversity of the microbiome may be a result of a lack of exposure to vital commensal microbes or overexposure to competitive pathobionts during early life. Alternatively, many commensal bacteria may not find a suitable intestinal niche or fail to proliferate or function in a protective/competitive manner if they do colonize.

Excitation Modes of Bright Matter-Wave Solitons.

We experimentally study the excitation modes of bright matter-wave solitons in a quasi-one-dimensional geometry. The solitons are created by quenching the interactions of a Bose-Einstein condensate of cesium atoms from repulsive to attractive in combination with a rapid reduction of the longitudinal confinement. A deliberate mismatch of quench parameters allows for the excitation of breathing modes of the emerging soliton and for the determination of its breathing frequency as a function of atom number and confinement.

Note: A simple laser shutter with protective shielding for beam powers up to 1 W.

We present the design of an inexpensive and reliable mechanical laser shutter and its electronic driver. A camera diaphragm shutter unit with several sets of blades is utilized to provide fast blocking of laser light and protective shielding of the shutter mechanism up to a laser beam power of 1 W. The driver unit is based on an Arduino microcontroller with a motor-shield.

16S sequencing and functional analysis of the fecal microbiome during treatment of newly diagnosed pediatric inflammatory bowel disease.

The human microbiome is of considerable interest to pediatric inflammatory bowel disease (PIBD) researchers with 1 potential mechanism for disease development being aberrant immune handling of the intestinal bacteria. This study analyses the fecal microbiome through treatment in newly diagnosed PIBD patients and compares to cohabiting siblings where possible. Patients were recruited on clinical suspicion of PIBD before diagnosis.

Controlling the network type in self-assembled dipeptide hydrogels.

We show that the same low molecular weight gelator can form gels using three different methods. Gels were formed from a high pH solution either by adding a salt or by adding an acid; gels were also formed by adding water to a solution of the gelator in an organic solvent. The mechanical properties for the gels formed by the different methods are different from one another.

Impact of rail medical standard on obstructive sleep apnoea prevalence.

Background: The 2004 edition of the National Standard for Health Assessment of Rail Safety Workers (the standard) used the Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS) to screen for excessive daytime sleepiness related to obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA). The 2012 edition of the standard expanded the OSA screening matrix to include body mass index, comorbid hypertension and type 2 diabetes as triggers requiring a sleep study to be undertaken irrespective of the ESS.

Aims: To assess the impact of the new standard on the estimated prevalence of OSA in railway workers.

The effect of self-sorting and co-assembly on the mechanical properties of low molecular weight hydrogels.

Self-sorting in low molecular weight hydrogels can be achieved using a pH triggered approach. We show here that this method can be used to prepare gels with different types of mechanical properties. Cooperative, disruptive or orthogonal assembled systems can be produced.

Deoxypodophyllotoxin isolated from Juniperus communis induces apoptosis in breast cancer cells.

The study of anticancer properties from natural products has regained popularity as natural molecules provide a high diversity of chemical structures with specific biological and medicinal activity. Based on a documented library of the most common medicinal plants used by the indigenous people of North America, we screened and isolated compounds with anti-breast cancer properties from Juniperus communis (common Juniper). Using bioassay-guided fractionation of a crude plant extract, we identified the diterpene isocupressic acid and the aryltetralin lignan deoxypodophyllotoxin (DPT) as potent inducers of caspase-dependent programmed cell death (apoptosis) in malignant MB231 breast cancer cells.

Optimisation of the microplate resazurin assay for screening and bioassay-guided fractionation of phytochemical extracts against Mycobacterium tuberculosis.

Introduction: Because of increased resistance to current drugs, there is an urgent need to discover new anti-mycobacterial compounds for the development of novel anti-tuberculosis drugs. The microplate resazurin assay (MRA) is commonly used to evaluate natural products and synthetic compounds for anti-mycobacterial activity. However, the assay can be problematic and unreliable when screening methanolic phytochemical extracts.

Aligning clinical resources to curriculum needs: the utility of a group of teaching hospitals.

This article describes a study in two acute NHS Trusts of the availability and curriculum relevance of inpatients for undergraduate medical student learning. The study was conducted to assist a new medical school plan on how best to utilise the clinical learning resources of adjacent hospitals, at a time when basic medical education is expanding, large academic hospitals are becoming more specialised and medical care provision is shifting to smaller hospital and ambulatory settings. We found that all three hospitals showed similar proportions, mean ages and gender ratios of available patients, and provided a wide range of clinical learning opportunities.

Tailored written invitations for second round breast cancer screening: a randomised controlled trial.

Objectives: Firstly, to determine if attendance for second round mammography screening in those sent a tailored letter (that is, making reference to their screening history) is increased compared with those sent a standard letter; secondly, to investigate the acceptability of tailored letters.

Setting: North West Glasgow Breast Screening Centre.

Methods: A randomised controlled trial.