Body-site distribution of skin cancer, pre-malignant and common benign pigmented lesions excised in general practice

Background Concern about skin cancer is a common reason for people from predominantly fair-skinned populations to present to primary care doctors. Objectives To examine the frequency and body-site distribution of malignant, pre-malignant and benign pigmented skin lesions excised in primary care. Methods This prospective study conducted in Queensland, Australia, included 154 primary care doctors. For all excised or biopsied lesions, doctors recorded the patient's age and sex, body site, level of patient pressure to excise, and the clinical diagnosis. Histological confirmation was obtained through pathology laboratories. Results Of 9650 skin lesions, 57·7% were excised in males and 75·0% excised in patients ≥50years. The most common diagnoses were basal cell carcinoma (BCC) (35·1%) and squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) (19·7%). Compared with the whole body, the highest densities for SCC, BCC and actinic keratoses were observed on chronically sun-exposed areas of the body including the face in males and females, the scalp and ears in males, and the hands in females. The density of BCC was also high on intermittently or rarely exposed body sites. Females, younger patients and patients with melanocytic naevi were significantly more likely to exert moderate/high levels of pressure on the doctor to excise. Conclusions More than half the excised lesions were skin cancer, which mostly occurred on the more chronically sun-exposed areas of the body. Information on the type and body-site distribution of skin lesions can aid in the diagnosis and planned management of skin cancer and other skin lesions commonly presented in primary care.

A trial of the distribution of chlamydia self-collection postal specimen kits from Australian community pharmacies

We explored the feasibility of community pharmacies for the distribution of chlamydia specimen self-collection kits, which featured a transport medium allowing postage of urine specimens in Australia. Eligible clients were requested to complete a code-matched risk-screening questionnaire in the pharmacy, and the derived risk scores were compared to the test results from the corresponding specimen. Four Queensland pharmacies distributed 156 kits, while 44 questionnaires and 18 specimens were received.

On the empirical eigenvalue distribution of slotted amplify-and-forward relaying protocol model

In this paper we consider the case of large cooperative communication systems where terminals use the protocol known as slotted amplify-and-forward protocol to aid the source in its transmission. Using the perturbation expansion methods of resolvents and large deviation techniques we obtain an expression for the Stieltjes transform of the asymptotic eigenvalue distribution of a sample covariance random matrix of the type HH† where H is the channel matrix of the transmission model for the transmission protocol we consider. We prove that the resulting expression is similar to the Stieltjes transform in its quadratic equation form for the Marcenko-Pastur distribution.

Negative Mood Regulation (NMR) expectancies, mood, and affect intensity among clients in substance disorder treatment facilities

Negative mood regulation (NMR) expectancies, stress, anxiety, depression and affect intensity were examined by means of self-report questionnaires in 158 volunteers, including 99 clients enrolled in addiction treatment programs. As expected, addicts reported significantly higher levels of stress, anxiety, depression and affect intensity and lower levels of NMR compared to non-addict controls. NMR was negatively correlated with stress, anxiety, depression and affect intensity. The findings indicate that mood self-regulation is impaired in addicts. Low NMR and high affect intensity may predispose to substance abuse and addiction, or alternatively may reflect chronic drug-induced affective dysregulation.

Relationships between rainfall intensity, duration and suspended particle washoff from an urban road surface

A basic understanding of the relationships between rainfall intensity, duration of rainfall and the amount of suspended particles in stormwater runoff generated from road surfaces has been gained mainly from past washoff experiments using rainfall simulators. Simulated rainfall was generally applied at constant intensities, whereas rainfall temporal patterns during actual storms are typically highly variable. This paper discusses a rationale for the application of the constant-intensity washoff concepts to actual storm event runoff. The rationale is tested using suspended particle load data collected at a road site located in Toowoomba, Australia. Agreement between the washoff concepts and measured data is most consistent for intermediate-duration storms (duration <5 h and >1 h). Particle loads resulting from these storm events increase linearly with average rainfall intensity. Above a threshold intensity, there is evidence to suggest a constant or plateau particle load is reached. The inclusion of a peak discharge factor (maximum 6 min rainfall intensity) enhances the ability to predict particle loads.

Intelligent distribution planning and control incorporating microgrids

This paper proposes a comprehensive approach to the planning of distribution networks and the control of microgrids. Firstly, a Modified Discrete Particle Swarm Optimization (MDPSO) method is used to optimally plan a distribution system upgrade over a 20 year planning period. The optimization is conducted at different load levels according to the anticipated load duration curve and integrated over the system lifetime in order to minimize its total lifetime cost. Since the optimal solution contains Distributed Generators (DGs) to maximize reliability, the DG must be able to operate in islanded mode and this leads to the concept of microgrids. Thus the second part of the paper reviews some of the challenges of microgrid control in the presence of both inertial (rotating direct connected) and non-inertial (converter interfaced) DGs. More specifically enhanced control strategies based on frequency droop are proposed for DGs to improve the smooth synchronization and real power sharing minimizing transient oscillations in the microgrid. Simulation studies are presented to show the effectiveness of the control.