Low-energy scattering of electrons by caesium atoms. II

The relativistic R-matrix method is used to calculate elastic and inelastic cross sections for electrons incident on caesium atoms with energies from 0-3 eV. In addition to the total cross sections, results are presented on the differential cross sections, sigma , and the spin polarisation, P, of the scattered electrons as a function of energy at the scattering angles 10 degrees , 50 degrees , 90 degrees and 150 degrees . The calculation reveals a wealth of resonances around the P and P thresholds. The resonances are analysed in detail and their role in the scattering process is discussed.

The scattering of low-energy electrons by argon atoms

Phaseshifts, differential, total and momentum transfer cross sections are calculated using an R-matrix approach for the elastic scattering of electrons by argon atoms in the impact energy range 0-19 eV. The coupled-state calculation is based upon a single-configuration atomic ground-state wavefunction coupled to a P pseudostate. A critical assessment of earlier theoretical and experimental data is made and the conclusion is reached that the present results are the most satisfactory over the entire energy range considered.

Helping the most vulnerable out of the poverty trap and reducing inequality: Policies, strategies, and services for individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder, including intellectual and neurodevelopmental disabilities: Benchmarking Autism Services Efficacy: BASE Project (Volume 3) Secondary Data analysis

1) Executive Summary
Legislation (Autism Act NI, 2011), a cross-departmental strategy (Autism Strategy 2013-2020) and a first action plan (2013-2016) have been developed in Northern Ireland in order to support individuals and families affected by Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) without a prior thorough baseline assessment of need. At the same time, there are large existing data sets about the population in NI that had never been subjected to a secondary data analysis with regards to data on ASD. This report covers the first comprehensive secondary data analysis and thereby aims to inform future policy and practice.
Following a search of all existing, large-scale, regional or national data sets that were relevant to the lives of individuals and families affected by Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) in Northern Ireland, extensive secondary data analyses were carried out. The focus of these secondary data analyses was to distill any ASD related data from larger generic data sets. The findings are reported for each data set and follow a lifespan perspective, i.e., data related to children is reported first before data related to adults.
Key findings:
Autism Prevalence:
Of children born in 2000 in the UK,
• 0.9% (1:109) were reported to have ASD, when they were 5-year old in 2005;
• 1.8% (1:55) were reported to have ASD, when they were 7-years old in 2007;
• 3.5% (1:29) were reported to have ASD, when they were 11-year old in 2011.
In mainstream schools in Northern Ireland
• 1.2% of the children were reported to have ASD in 2006/07;
• 1.8% of the children were reported to have ASD in 2012/13.

Economic Deprivation:
• Families of children with autism (CWA) were 9%-18% worse off per week than families of children not on the autism spectrum (COA).
• Between 2006-2013 deprivation of CWA compared to COA nearly doubled as measured by eligibility for free school meals (from near 20 % to 37%)
• In 2006, CWA and COA experienced similar levels of deprivation (approx. 20%), by 2013, a considerable deprivation gap had developed, with CWA experienced 6% more deprivation than COA.
• Nearly 1/3 of primary school CWA lived in the most deprived areas in Northern Ireland.
• Nearly ½ of children with Asperger’s Syndrome who attended special school lived in the most deprived areas.

Unemployment:
• Mothers of CWA were 6% less likely to be employed than mothers of COA.
• Mothers of CWA earned 35%-56% less than mothers of COA.
• CWA were 9% less likely to live in two income families than COA.

Health:
• Pre-diagnosis, CWA were more likely than COA to have physical health problems, including walking on level ground, speech and language, hearing, eyesight, and asthma.
• Aged 3 years of age CWA experienced poorer emotional and social health than COA, this difference increased significantly by the time they were 7 years of age.
• Mothers of young CWA had lower levels of life satisfaction and poorer mental health than mothers of young COA.
Education:
• In mainstream education, children with ASD aged 11-16 years reported less satisfaction with their social relationships than COA.
• Younger children with ASD (aged 5 and 7 years) were less likely to enjoy school, were bullied more, and were more reluctant to attend school than COA.
• CWA attended school 2-3 weeks less than COA .
• Children with Asperger’s Syndrome in special schools missed the equivalent of 8-13 school days more than children with Asperger’s Syndrome in mainstream schools.
• Children with ASD attending mainstream schooling were less likely to gain 5+ GCSEs A*-C or subsequently attend university.



Further and Higher Education:
• Enrolment rates for students with ASD have risen in Further Education (FE), from 0% to 0.7%.
• Enrolment rates for students with ASD have risen in Higher Education (HE), from 0.28% to 0.45%.
• Students with ASD chose to study different subjects than students without ASD, although other factors, e.g., gender, age etc. may have played a part in subject selection.
• Students with ASD from NI were more likely than students without ASD to choose Northern Irish HE Institutions rather than study outside NI.

Participation in adult life and employment:
• A small number of adults with ASD (n=99) have benefitted from DES employment provision over the past 12 years.
• It is unknown how many adults with ASD have received employment support elsewhere (e.g. Steps to Work).
•
Awareness and Attitudes in the General Population:
• In both the 2003 and 2012 NI Life and Times Survey (NILTS), NI public reported positive attitudes towards the inclusion of children with ASD in mainstream education (see also BASE Project Vol. 2).

Gap Analysis Recommendations:
This was the first comprehensive secondary analysis with regards to ASD of existing large-scale data sets in Northern Ireland. Data gaps were identified and further replications would benefit from the following data inclusion:
• ASD should be recorded routinely in the following datasets:
o Census;
o Northern Ireland Survey of Activity Limitation (NISALD);
o Training for Success/Steps to work; Steps to Success;
o Travel survey;
o Hate crime; and
o Labour Force Survey.
• Data should be collected on the destinations/qualifications of special school leavers.
• NILT Survey autism module should be repeated in 5 years time (2017) (see full report of 1st NILT Survey autism module 2012 in BASE Project Report Volume 2).
• General public attitudes and awareness should be assessed for children and young people, using the Young Life and Times Survey (YLT) and the Kids Life and Times Survey (KLT); (this work is underway, Dillenburger, McKerr, Schubolz, & Lloyd, 2014-2015).
 

Drug treatment of macular oedema secondary to central retinal vein occlusion: a network meta-analysis

Objective
To indirectly compare aflibercept, bevacizumab, dexamethasone, ranibizumab and triamcinolone for treatment of macular oedema secondary to central retinal vein occlusion using a network meta-analysis (NMA).

Design
NMA.

Data sources
The following databases were searched from January 2005 to March 2013: MEDLINE, MEDLINE In-process, EMBASE; CDSR, DARE, HTA, NHSEED, CENTRAL; Science Citation Index and Conference Proceedings Citation Index-Science.

Eligibility criteria for selecting studies
Only randomised controlled trials assessing patients with macular oedema secondary to central retinal vein occlusion were included. Studies had to report either proportions of patients gaining ≥3 lines, losing ≥3 lines, or the mean change in best corrected visual acuity. Two authors screened titles and abstracts, extracted data and undertook risk of bias assessment. Bayesian NMA was used to compare the different interventions.

Results
Seven studies, assessing five drugs, were judged to be sufficiently comparable for inclusion in the NMA. For the proportions of patients gaining ≥3 lines, triamcinolone 4 mg, ranibizumab 0.5 mg, bevacizumab 1.25 mg and aflibercept 2 mg had a higher probability of being more effective than sham and dexamethasone. A smaller proportion of patients treated with triamcinolone 4 mg, ranibizumab 0.5 mg or aflibercept 2 mg lost ≥3 lines of vision compared to those treated with sham. Patients treated with triamcinolone 4 mg, ranibizumab 0.5 mg, bevacizumab 1.25 mg and aflibercept 2 mg had a higher probability of improvement in the mean best corrected visual acuity compared to those treated with sham injections.

Conclusions
We found no evidence of differences between ranibizumab, aflibercept, bevacizumab and triamcinolone for improving vision. The antivascular endothelial growth factors (VEGFs) are likely to be favoured because they are not associated with steroid-induced cataract formation. Aflibercept may be preferred by clinicians because it might require fewer injections.

Measurements of high-energy radiation generation from laser-wakefield accelerated electron beams

Using high-energy (∼0.5 GeV) electron beams generated by laser wakefield acceleration (LWFA), bremsstrahlung radiation was created by interacting these beams with various solid targets. Secondary processes generate high-energy electrons, positrons, and neutrons, which can be measured shot-to-shot using magnetic spectrometers, short half-life activation, and Compton scattering. Presented here are proof-of-principle results from a high-resolution, high-energy gamma-ray spectrometer capable of single-shot operation, and high repetition rate activation diagnostics. We describe the techniques used in these measurements and their potential applications in diagnosing LWFA electron beams and measuring high-energy radiation from laser-plasma interactions.

Estimating the incidence, prevalence and true cost of asthma in the UK: Secondary analysis of national stand-alone and linked databases in England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales-a study protocol

Introduction Asthma is now one of the most common long-term conditions in the UK. It is therefore important to develop a comprehensive appreciation of the healthcare and societal costs in order to inform decisions on care provision and planning. We plan to build on our earlier estimates of national prevalence and costs from asthma by filling the data gaps previously identified in relation to healthcare and broadening the field of enquiry to include societal costs. This work will provide the first UK-wide estimates of the costs of asthma. In the context of asthma for the UK and its member countries (ie, England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales), we seek to: (1) produce a detailed overview of estimates of incidence, prevalence and healthcare utilisation; (2) estimate health and societal costs; (3) identify any remaining information gaps and explore the feasibility of filling these and (4) provide insights into future research that has the potential to inform changes in policy leading to the provision of more cost-effective care.

Methods and analysis Secondary analyses of data from national health surveys, primary care, prescribing, emergency care, hospital, mortality and administrative data sources will be undertaken to estimate prevalence, healthcare utilisation and outcomes from asthma. Data linkages and economic modelling will be undertaken in an attempt to populate data gaps and estimate costs. Separate prevalence and cost estimates will be calculated for each of the UK-member countries and these will then be aggregated to generate UK-wide estimates.

Ethics and dissemination Approvals have been obtained from the NHS Scotland Information Services Division's Privacy Advisory Committee, the Secure Anonymised Information Linkage Collaboration Review System, the NHS South-East Scotland Research Ethics Service and The University of Edinburgh's Centre for Population Health Sciences Research Ethics Committee. We will produce a report for Asthma-UK, submit papers to peer-reviewed journals and construct an interactive map.

Protection of DNA against low-energy electrons by amino acids: A first-principles molecular dynamics study

Using first-principles molecular dynamics simulations, we have investigated the notion that amino acids can play a protective role when DNA is exposed to excess electrons produced by ionizing radiation. In this study we focus on the interaction of glycine with the DNA nucleobase thymine. We studied thymine-glycine dimers and a condensed phase model consisting of one thymine molecule solvated in amorphous glycine. Our results show that the amino acid acts as a protective agent for the nucleobase in two ways. If the excess electron is initially captured by the thymine, then a proton is transferred in a barrier-less way from a neighboring hydrogen-bonded glycine. This stabilizes the excess electron by reducing the net partial charge on the thymine. In the second mechanism the excess electron is captured by a glycine, which acts as a electron scavenger that prevents electron localization in DNA. Both these mechanisms introduce obstacles to further reactions of the excess electron within a DNA strand, e.g. by raising the free energy barrier associated with strand breaks.

Topology of megagauss magnetic fields and of heat-carrying electrons produced in a high-power laser-solid interaction

The intricate spatial and energy distribution of magnetic fields, self-generated during high power laser irradiation (at Iλ2∼1013-1014W.cm-2.μm2) of a solid target, and of the heat-carrying electron currents, is studied in inertial confinement fusion (ICF) relevant conditions. This is done by comparing proton radiography measurements of the fields to an improved magnetohydrodynamic description that fully takes into account the nonlocality of the heat transport. We show that, in these conditions, magnetic fields are rapidly advected radially along the target surface and compressed over long time scales into the dense parts of the target. As a consequence, the electrons are weakly magnetized in most parts of the plasma flow, and we observe a reemergence of nonlocality which is a crucial effect for a correct description of the energetics of ICF experiments.

Challenges in secondary prevention of cardiovascular diseases: A review of the current practice

With the changing demography of populations and increasing prevalence of co-morbidity, frail patients and more complex cardiac conditions, the modern medicine is facing novel challenges leading to rapid innovation where evidence and experiences are lacking. This scenario is also evident in cardiovascular disease prevention, which continuously needs to accommodate its ever changing strategies, settings, and goals. The present paper summarises actual challenges of secondary prevention, and discusses how this intervention should not only be effective but also efficient. By this way the paper tries to bridge the gaps between research and real-world findings and thereby may find ways to improve standard care.

Evaluation of a partnership between primary and secondary care providing an accessible Level 1 sexual health service in the community

Comprehensive testing for asymptomatic sexually transmitted infections in Northern Ireland has traditionally been provided by genitourinary medicine clinics. As patient demand for services has increased while budgets have remained limited, there has been increasing difficulty in accommodating this demand. In May 2013, the newly commissioned specialist Sexual Health service in the South Eastern Trust sought to pilot a new model of care working alongside a GP partnership of 12 practices. A training programme to enable GPs and practice nurses to deliver Level 1 sexual health care to heterosexual patients aged >16 years, in accordance with the standards of BASHH, was developed. A comprehensive care pathway and dedicated community health advisor supported this new model with close liaison between primary and secondary care. Testing for Chlamydia, gonorrhoea, HIV and syphilis was offered. The aims of the pilot were achieved, namely to provide accessible, cost-effective sexual health care within a framework of robust clinical governance. Furthermore, it uncovered a high positivity rate for Chlamydia, especially in young men attending their general practice, and demonstrated a high level of patient satisfaction. Moreover the capacity of secondary care to deliver Levels 2 and 3 services was increased.

Provision of resin bonded bridgework for a patient with microstomia secondary to scleroderma

Scleroderma is a connective tissue disorder that can present with orofacial involvement. A 48 year-old patient presented to Cork University Dental Hospital with concerns about the appearance of her upper central incisor teeth, which had become progressively mobile in recent years. A diagnosis of localised scleroderma had been made a number of years previously by her medical practitioner and the patient reported that her scleroderma-associated microstomia had progressed significantly in recent years. Most reports of this condition advocate the use of sectional impression trays and sectional dentures to replace missing teeth. This report describes the use of resin-bonded bridgework (RBB) and discusses the possible advantages of this treatment option over those already presented in the literature.

On Irish sticklebacks: morphological diversification in a secondary contact zone

Question: How parallel is adaptive evolution when it occurs from different genetic backgrounds?
Background: Divergent evolutionary lineages of several post-glacial fish species including the threespine stickleback are found together in Ireland.
Goals: To investigate the morphological diversity of stickleback populations in Ireland and assess whether morphology evolved in parallel between evolutionary lineages.
Methods: We sampled stickleback from lake, river, and coastal habitats across Ireland. Microsatellite and mitochondrial DNA data revealed evolutionary history. Geometric morphometrics and linear trait measurements characterized morphology. We used a multivariate approach to quantify parallel and non-parallel divergence within and between lineages.
Results: Repeated evolution of similar morphologies in similar habitats occurred across Ireland, concordant with patterns observed elsewhere in the stickleback distribution. A strong pattern of habitat-specific morphology existed even among divergent lineages. Furthermore, a strong signal of shared morphological divergence occurred along a marine–freshwater axis. Evidently, deterministic natural selection played a more important role in driving freshwater adaptation than independent evolutionary history.

Electron-acoustic solitons in an electron-beam plasma system with kappa-distributed electrons

Interaction of a stream of high-energy electrons with the background plasma plays an important role in the astrophysical phenomena such as interplanetary and stellar bow shock and Earth's foreshock emission. It is not yet fully understood how electrostatic solitary waves are produced at the bow shock. Interestingly, a population of energetic suprathermal electrons were also found to exist in those environments. Previously, we have studied the properties of negative electrostatic potential solitary structures exist in such a plasma with excess suprathermal electrons. In the present study, we investigate the existence conditions and propagation properties of electron-acoustic solitary waves in a plasma consisting of an electron beam fluid, a cold electron fluid, and hot suprathermal electrons modeled by a kappa-distribution function. The Sagdeev pseudopotential method was used to investigate the occurrence of stationary-profile solitary waves. We have determined how the electron-acoustic soliton characteristics depend on the electron beam parameters. It is found that the existence domain for solitons becomes narrower with an increase in the suprathermality of hot electrons, increasing the beam speed, decreasing the beam-to-cold electron population ratio. These results lead to a better understanding of the formation of electron-acoustic solitary waves observed in those space plasma systems characterized by kappa-distributed electrons and inertial drifting (beam) electrons.