Bioavailable actinide fluxes to the Irish Sea from Sellafield-labelled sediments.

Nuclear discharges to the oceans have given rise to significant accumulations of radionuclides in sediments which can later remobilise back into the water column. A continuing supply of radionuclides to aquatic organisms and the human food chain can therefore exist, despite the absence of ongoing nuclear discharges. Radionuclide remobilisation from sediment is consequently a critical component of the modelled radiation dose to the public.

Quantifying the medical student learning curve for ECG rhythm strip interpretation using deliberate practice.

Obtaining competency in medical skills such as interpretation of electrocardiograms (ECGs) requires repeated practice and feedback. Structured repeated practice and feedback for ECGs is likely not provided to most medical students, so skill development is dependent on opportunistic training during clinical rotations. Our aim was to describe: the amount of deliberate practice completed for learning ECG rhythm strip diagnoses in first year medical students, the learning curve for rhythm strip diagnosis, and student experiences with deliberate practice.

Fusion Bead Procedure for Nuclear Forensics Employing Synthetic Enstatite to Dissolve Uraniferous and Other Challenging Materials Prior to Laser Ablation Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry.

There is an increasing demand for rapid and effective analytical tools to support nuclear forensic investigations of seized or suspect materials. Some methods are simply adapted from other scientific disciplines and can effectively be used to rapidly prepare complex materials for subsequent analysis. A novel sample fusion method is developed, tested, and validated to produce homogeneous, flux-free glass beads of geochemical reference materials (GRMs), uranium ores, and uranium ore concentrates (UOC) prior to the analysis of 14 rare earth elements (REE) via laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS).

Exopolysaccharide-Repressing Small Molecules with Antibiofilm and Antivirulence Activity against Pseudomonas aeruginosa.

Biofilm formation is a universal virulence strategy in which bacteria grow in dense microbial communities enmeshed within a polymeric extracellular matrix that protects them from antibiotic exposure and the immune system. is an archetypal biofilm-forming organism that utilizes a biofilm growth strategy to cause chronic lung infections in cystic fibrosis (CF) patients. The extracellular matrix of biofilms is comprised mainly of exopolysaccharides (EPS) and DNA.

Cellular Aging Contributes to Failure of Cold-Induced Beige Adipocyte Formation in Old Mice and Humans.

Cold temperatures induce progenitor cells within white adipose tissue to form beige adipocytes that burn energy and generate heat; this is a potential anti-diabesity therapy. However, the potential to form cold-induced beige adipocytes declines with age. This creates a clinical roadblock to potential therapeutic use in older individuals, who constitute a large percentage of the obesity epidemic.

Applying multivariate statistics to discriminate uranium ore concentrate geolocations using (radio)chemical data in support of nuclear forensic investigations.

The application of Principal Components Analysis (PCA) to U and Th series gamma spectrometry data provides a discriminatory tool to help determine the provenance of illicitly recovered uranium ore concentrates (UOCs). The PCA is applied to a database of radiometric signatures from 19 historic UOCs from Australia, Canada, and the USA representing many uranium geological deposits. In this study a key process to obtain accurate radiometric data (gamma and alpha) is to digest the U-ores and UOCs using a lithium tetraborate fusion.

A rapid dissolution procedure to aid initial nuclear forensics investigations of chemically refractory compounds and particles prior to gamma spectrometry.

A rapid and effective preparative procedure has been evaluated for the accurate determination of low-energy (40-200 keV) gamma-emitting radionuclides ((210)Pb, (234)Th, (226)Ra, (235)U) in uranium ores and uranium ore concentrates (UOCs) using high-resolution gamma ray spectrometry. The measurement of low-energy gamma photons is complicated in heterogeneous samples containing high-density mineral phases and in such situations activity concentrations will be underestimated. This is because attenuation corrections, calculated based on sample mean density, do not properly correct where dense grains are dispersed within a less dense matrix (analogous to a nugget effect).

Food allergy training event for restaurant staff; a pilot evaluation.

A previous cross-sectional survey highlighted that restaurant staff in Brighton had gaps in their knowledge of food allergy, which could lead to the provision of unsafe meals to food-allergic customers. A food allergy training event was developed by a multi-disciplinary team (health service researcher, clinician, teacher and patient group representative) to equip restaurant staff with the knowledge and skills necessary to safely serve food-allergic customers. This evaluation summarises the training event's impact on participants' knowledge of food allergy and their satisfaction with the event.

Unilateral absence of a pulmonary artery: a rare disorder with variable presentation.

Unilateral absence of a pulmonary artery (UAPA) is a rare condition with an estimated prevalence of 1 in 200,000 young adults. Most commonly, UAPA occurs in conjunction with cardiovascular abnormalities such as tetralogy of Fallot or cardiac septal defects, but it can also occur in an isolated manner. Patients with isolated UAPA can remain asymptomatic into late adulthood but usually report symptoms such as dyspnea or chest pain or suffer from hemoptysis or recurrent infections.

Non-enzymatic hydrolysis of creatine ethyl ester.

The rate of the non-enzymatic hydrolysis of creatine ethyl ester (CEE) was studied at 37 degrees C over the pH range of 1.6-7.0 using (1)H NMR.

Attenuation of zinc finger nuclease toxicity by small-molecule regulation of protein levels.

Zinc finger nucleases (ZFNs) have been used successfully to create genome-specific double-strand breaks and thereby stimulate gene targeting by several thousand fold. ZFNs are chimeric proteins composed of a specific DNA-binding domain linked to a non-specific DNA-cleavage domain. By changing key residues in the recognition helix of the specific DNA-binding domain, one can alter the ZFN binding specificity and thereby change the sequence to which a ZFN pair is being targeted.