Use of motor nerve material in peripheral nerve repair with conduits.

We have recently shown in experimental nerve injury models that nerve regeneration is enhanced across a motor nerve graft as compared with a sensory nerve graft. To test the hypothesis that nerve architecture may mediate the beneficial effect of motor nerve grafting, we developed a model of disrupted nerve architecture in which motor and sensory nerve fragments were introduced into silicone conduits. Lewis rats were randomized to 5 experimental groups: nerve repair with motor nerve fragments, sensory nerve fragments, mixed nerve fragments, saline-filled conduit (negative control), or nerve isograft (positive control).

Efficacy of multiple influenza vaccine delivery systems in a single facility.

We retrospectively investigated different inpatient influenza delivery strategies used during 3 consecutive years at a single institution. Vaccination rates were 3% for a physician reminder system, 21% for a manual standing order program, and 43% for a manual standing order program with a provider education program.

Pre-test and post-test evaluation of students' perceptions of a collaborative clinical education model on the learning environment.

Objective: This study investigated the impact of a collaborative clinical education model on students' perception of the psycho-social learning environment.

Design: A pre-test and post-test quasi experimental design.

Setting: A tertiary referral centre.

Using focus group results to inform preschool childhood obesity prevention programming.

Objective: This study about maternal feeding practices and beliefs was conducted as background for the development of a childhood obesity prevention program for multi-ethnic parents in the USA receiving services from a federal government supplemental nutrition program for low-income mothers.

Design: Using a grounded theory approach, focus groups were conducted with low-income African American, white non-Hispanic (i.e.

Students' perception of the psycho-social clinical learning environment: an evaluation of placement models.

Nursing is a practice based discipline. A supportive environment has been identified as important for the transfer of learning in the clinical context. The aim of the paper was to assess undergraduate nurses' perceptions of the psychosocial characteristics of clinical learning environments within three different clinical placement models.

Optimisation of hydraulic performance to maximise faecal coliform removal in maturation ponds.

The present study was conducted with the aim of improving faecal coliform (FC) and faecal streptococcus (FS) removal efficiencies in tertiary maturation stages of a sewage treatment plant in Southern England, where climatic conditions are sub-optimal. The research used intensive field assessments (bacteriological, general quality and hydraulic) to identify the parameters that affect the bacteriological quality of the effluent from three parallel maturation ponds (North, Central and South) of similar geometry and dimensions. An engineering intervention was carried out to convert the South pond to three channels to increase the L/W ratio from 9:1 to 79:1.

Monitoring of iodinated X-ray contrast media in surface water.

A monitoring programme was carried out in order to determine iodinated X-ray contrast media (ICM) in the River Danube and to investigate the raw water quality for drinking water production at Langenau waterworks. The study revealed that the maximum concentrations of ICM (over 500 ng l(-1) for diatrizoic acid and iopamidol) were found in 2h-composite samples taken from the downstream of the Ulm/Neu-Ulm metropolitan area. By means of a concentration profile over one month the highest ICM concentrations were observed on weekdays.

Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection of a presumed Charcot joint.

A 65-year-old male with peripheral neuropathy and small lymphocytic lymphoma presented with erythema and edema of the left foot. A Charcot midfoot was diagnosed and treated with a total contact cast and restricted weight bearing. However, subsequent analysis of bone and synovial fluid months later revealed Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection.

The development and calibration of a physical model to assist in optimising the hydraulic performance and design of maturation ponds.

A physical and a computational fluid dynamic (CFD) model (HYDRO-3D) were developed to simulate the effects of novel maturation pond configurations, and critical environmental factors (wind speed and direction) on the hydraulic efficiency (HE) of full-scale maturation ponds. The aims of the study were to assess the reliability of the physical model and convergence with HYDRO-3D, as tools for assessing and predicting best hydraulic performance of ponds. The physical model of the open ponds was scaled to provide a similar nominal retention time (NRT) of 52 hours.

What is the yield from asking, at the end of the consultation, if there are any further questions? An observational study.

Aim: I set out to determine how often families, when invited, have further questions at the end of a general paediatric consultation and to determine the nature of such questions.

Results: Over a 2 1/2 -y period, there were 64 further questions arising from a total of 477 consultations (13%).

Conclusions: Inviting questions is worthwhile; two-thirds of the responses provided evidence that there had been suboptimal communication during the consultation.

A novel G protein-coupled receptor, related to GPR4, is required for assembly of the cortical actin skeleton in early Xenopus embryos.

As the fertilized Xenopus egg undergoes sequential cell divisions to form a blastula, each cell develops a network of cortical actin that provides shape and skeletal support for the whole embryo. Disruption of this network causes loss of shape and rigidity of the embryo, and disrupts gastrulation movements. We previously showed that lysophosphatidic acid (LPA) signaling controls the change in cortical actin density that occurs at different stages of the cell cycle.

Proteolysis is depressed during torpor in hibernators at the level of the 20S core protease.

Protein synthesis is depressed during mammalian hibernation in concordance with metabolic demands. In the absence of significant protein synthesis, continued proteolysis would rapidly deplete protein pools. Since ubiquitin-dependent proteolysis is implicated in the turnover of most regulatory proteins, we examined the fate of this system during hibernation.

Lysophosphatidic acid signaling controls cortical actin assembly and cytoarchitecture in Xenopus embryos.

The mechanisms that control shape and rigidity of early embryos are not well understood, and yet are required for all embryonic processes to take place. In the Xenopus blastula, the cortical actin network in each blastomere is required for the maintenance of overall embryonic shape and rigidity. However, the mechanism whereby each cell assembles the appropriate pattern and number of actin filament bundles is not known.

Characterization of radiant emitters used in food processing.

Radiant emissions from short, medium, and long wavelength thermal radiant emitter systems typically used for food processing applications were quantified. Measurements included heat flux intensity, emitter surface temperature, and spectral wavelength distribution. Heat flux measurements were found highly dependent on the incident angle and the distance from the emitter facing.

Spatial and temporal structure of edge-localized modes.

This Letter provides information on the spatial and temporal structure of periodic eruptions observed in magnetically confined laboratory fusion plasmas, called edge-localized modes (ELMs), and highlights similarities with solar eruptions. Taken together, the observations presented in this Letter provide strong evidence for ELMs being associated with a filamentlike structure. These filaments are extended along a field line, are generated on a 100 micros time scale, erupt from the outboard side, and connect back into the plasma.

The prevention of type 2 diabetes: general practitioner and practice nurse opinions.

Background: Primary prevention of type 2 diabetes is now possible with lifestyle or pharmacological interventions in people who are at risk. Primary care would seem to be the legitimate setting for this to take place.

Aim: To explore the views of general practitioners and practice nurses about the detection and management of people at risk of developing type 2 diabetes.

Window to the heart: the value of a native and paced QRS duration. Current perspective and review.

Given the technological advances and reliance upon expensive testing for guiding therapy, it is surprising how an inexpensive, low tech electrocardiogram can provide a wealth of information pertaining to the underlying cardiovascular status of a patient. In this article we review the changes in hemodynamics, prognosis and guidance of therapeutic options associated with a prolonged QRS duration.

Reducing hydraulic short-circuiting in maturation ponds to maximize pathogen removal using channels and wind breaks.

This paper reports the impact of four sequential maturation pond interventions on the removal of thermotolerant "faecal" coliform bacteria at a full scale WSP system in tropical Colombia. Each intervention was designed to increase hydraulic retention time and was followed by continuous physico-chemical logging and meteorological monitoring, and simultaneous tracer studies to define hydraulic retention time, flow paths and dispersion. Inlet and outlet monitoring showed that, primarily due to hydraulic short-circuiting, the open maturation pond only achieved a 90% reduction in thermotolerant "faecal" coliforms.

Under-performance evaluation and rehabilitation strategy for waste stabilization ponds in Mexico.

Fourteen high altitude (> 2,500 m amsl) small Waste Stabilisation Pond systems (WSPs) commissioned during the last 12 years in the State of Mexico in Mexico, were built to a common 3-stage design. Each system is comprised of 2 parallel series of bio-digesters, anaerobic and facultative ponds. All fourteen WSP systems produce poor quality effluents, and eight studied in more detail did not meet any of the national standards for discharge to rivers or the standards required for reuse.

Solutions forgone? How health professionals frame the problem of postnatal depression.

Our interest is in how particular solutions in postnatal depression have a tendency to be adopted at the expense of alternative solutions. One aspect of the answer may lie in how people in positions of authority think about problems. 'Framing' refers to the way particular causalities, consequences and moralities are contained within the ways in which people communicate concepts, in particular in language and in metaphor.

Intraspecific phylogeny of the New Zealand short-tailed bat Mystacina tuberculata inferred from multiple mitochondrial gene sequences.

An intraspecific phylogeny was established for the New Zealand short-tailed bat Mystacina tuberculata using a 2,878-bp sequence alignment from multiple mitochondrial genes (control region, ND2, 12S ribosomal RNA [rRNA], 16S rRNA, and tRNA). The inferred phylogeny comprises six lineages, with estimated divergences extending back between 0.93 and 0.

The demographic history of the New Zealand short-tailed bat Mystacina tuberculata inferred from modified control region sequences.

Short-tailed bats Mystacina tuberculata were widespread throughout the forest that dominated prehuman New Zealand, but extensive deforestation has restricted them to scattered populations in forest fragments. In a previous study, the species' intraspecific phylogeny was investigated using multiple mitochondrial gene sequences. Six phylogroups were identified with estimated divergences of 0.