Do carers of adolescents at first episode psychosis have distinctive psychological needs? A pilot exploration.

Background: Carers of patients experiencing first episode psychosis (FEP) are at an increased risk of mental and physical health problems themselves. However, little is known about how the psychological needs of carers may differ between those caring for an adolescent versus an adult who has FEP.

Aims: This pilot study aimed to explore any differences in the psychological needs of carers caring for adolescents versus adults with FEP.

Genetics of epilepsy: The testimony of twins in the molecular era.

Objective: Analysis of twins with epilepsy to explore the genetic architecture of specific epilepsies, to evaluate the applicability of the 2010 International League Against Epilepsy (ILAE) organization of epilepsy syndromes, and to integrate molecular genetics with phenotypic analyses.

Methods: A total of 558 twin pairs suspected to have epilepsy were ascertained from twin registries (69%) or referral (31%). Casewise concordance estimates were calculated for epilepsy syndromes.

Scalable technology for the extraction of pharmaceutics: outcomes from a 3 year collaborative industry/academia research programme.

This paper reports on some of the key outcomes of a 3 year £1.5m Technology Strategy Board (TSB) funded research programme to develop a small footprint, versatile, counter-current chromatography purification technology and methodology which can be operated at a range of scales in both batch and continuous modes and that can be inserted into existing process plant and systems. Our consortium, integrates technology providers (Dynamic Extractions) and the scientific development team (Brunel) with end user needs (GSK & Pfizer), addressing major production challenges aimed at providing flexible, low capital platform technology driving substantial cost efficiency in both drug development and drug manufacturing processes.

Scalable Technology for the Extraction of Pharmaceutics (STEP): the transition from academic knowhow to industrial reality.

This paper addresses the technological readiness of counter-current chromatography (CCC) instruments to become platform technology for the pharmaceutical industry. It charts the development of the prototype technology since its inception in 1966, through conceptual improvements in the 1980s that led to higher speed separations in hours as opposed to days. It then describes the engineering improvements that have led to the development of high performance counter-current chromatography with the potential for scale-up to process scale for manufacturing products in industry with separation times in minutes rather than hours.

Sewage effluent clean-up reduces phosphorus but not phytoplankton in lowland chalk stream (River Kennet, UK) impacted by water mixing from adjacent canal.

Information is provided on phosphorus in the River Kennet and the adjacent Kennet and Avon Canal in southern England to assess their interactions and the changes following phosphorus reductions in sewage treatment work (STW) effluent inputs. A step reduction in soluble reactive phosphorus (SRP) concentration within the effluent (5 to 13 fold) was observed from several STWs discharging to the river in the mid-2000s. This translated to over halving of SRP concentrations within the lower Kennet.

SCN2A mutations and benign familial neonatal-infantile seizures: the phenotypic spectrum.

Mutations of the sodium channel subunit gene SCN2A have been described in families with benign familial neonatal-infantile seizure (BFNIS). We describe two large families with BFNIS and novel SCN2A mutations. The families had 12 and 9 affected individuals, respectively, with phenotypes consistent with BFNIS.

Feasibility of scaling from pilot to process scale.

The pharmaceutical industry is looking for new technology that is easy to scale up from analytical to process scale and is cheap and reliable to operate. Large scale counter-current chromatography is an emerging technology that could provide this advance, but little was known about the key variables affecting scale-up. This paper investigates two such variables: the rotor radius and the tubing bore.

Counter-current chromatography separation scaled up from an analytical column to a production column.

An analytical separation was performed on an analytical J-type counter-current chromatography (CCC) instrument using a 5.4 ml column, with a 1 ml/min mobile phase flow rate. This separation had a resolution of 0.

Routine nasopharyngeal biopsy in adult secretory otitis media.

This study was to determine whether routine examination under anaesthesia and nasopharyngeal biopsy in adults presenting with deafness due to secretory otitis media (SOM) is necessary for detection of nasopharyngeal malignancy. Two patient groups were studied. The first comprised 72 adults with SOM.

Contact hypersensitivity in patients with chronic otitis externa.

Thirty-seven patients with chronic otitis externa were investigated for contact hypersensitivity to 49 agents using standardized patch testing. Positive reactions were found in 22 (58%) patients. This incidence is higher than the 40% found in the only previous similar study and is within the range of 32-72% found in patients with contact dermatitis.

Referrals to a hearing aid clinic: scope for improvement.

This study followed on from a recent national publicity campaign aiming to get earlier provision of hearing aids for elderly people, improve both patient and general practitioner awareness of hearing impairments and increase knowledge of alternative environmental aids among sufferers. The study intended to examine present patterns of patient presentation and general practitioner management within a major Scottish city. A random sample of patients over the age of 55 years referred to a hearing aid clinic were questioned on the nature of their hearing difficulty.

Malignant otitis externa due to Staphylococcus infection.

A case of malignant otitis externa occurring in a fit 25-year-old non-diabetic male is reported. The clinical and histological findings support this diagnosis but neither identification nor culture of Pseudomonas aeruginosa was made and the condition was bilateral. The only pathogen identified was Staphylococcus aureus which has been reported in only two previous cases.

Total bilateral hearing loss as a complication of myeloma.

A 58-year-old lady relapsed from longterm remission of multiple myeloma and developed a sudden and complete hearing loss in the left ear followed two weeks later by the right ear. This permanent loss was almost certainly due to inner ear haemorrhages.

Hearing loss in the elderly: a 17-year longitudinal study.

A 5-year longitudinal study into hearing levels of 261 randomly selected elderly people was performed between 1968 and 1973. From 47 survivors, 37 subjects have been traced and their hearing retested with pure tone audiometry. The age range of those followed up was 80-85 years.

The nasal cycle and clinical examination of the nose.

A recent study from this department demonstrated the importance of interobserver variation in examination of the nasal airways. Part of this variation may have been due to the mucosal changes of the nasal cycle. We investigated this suggestion and assessed the correlation between anterior rhinometry, a patient questionnaire and 4 different methods of recording the findings of clinical examination.

Application of the concept of effective refractive index to the measurement of thickness distributions of dielectric films.

In the method to be described, the dielectric film is deposited between two silver films so that the threelayer system constitutes a Fabry-Perot interference filter. It is shown how measurements of the variation of the wavelength of peak transmittance over the surface of the filter can be combined with a measurement of the effective refractive index to obtain precise values of the distribution of relative geometrical thickness of the dielectric spacing layer.