The paradox of peadiatric social admission

The paradox of paediatric social admission involves the hospitalisation of children for medically non- urgent and/or social reasons. Much of the research in this field has been in relation to avoidable admissions which have been identified, studied and condoned based on strict medical criteria. Such research has tended to mask the significance of social influences and the reasons why health professionals make such decisions. This paper explores social, organisational and subjective influences on medical decision making and is based on study involving interviews with 27 health professionals directly involved in paediatric social admissions (PSA). The findings highlight inherent paradoxes as a consequence of responding to social concerns in a medical context.

Plasma cell polyp of the vocal fold

Plasma cell polyps of the vocal fold (plasma cell granulomas) are rare inflammatory polyps of the larynx. They should be included in the clinical and histological differential diagnosis of laryngeal polyps. Histologically they are polyclonal aggregates of plasma cells. It is essential to distinguish them from monoclonal, neoplastic plasma cell proliferations. The treatment of choice is surgical resection, although radiotherapy, laser ablation, antibiotics and steroids have been used successfully. We present a case of plasma cell granuloma presenting as a vocal fold polyp, treated surgically.

Stellar jitter from variable gravitational redshift: implications for radial velocity confirmation of habitable exoplanets

A variation of gravitational redshift, arising from stellar radius fluctuations, will introduce astrophysical noise into radial velocity measurements by shifting the centroid of the observed spectral lines. Shifting the centroid does not necessarily introduce line asymmetries. This is fundamentally different from other types of stellar jitter so far identified, which do result from line asymmetries. Furthermore, only a very small change in stellar radius, ˜0.01 per cent, is necessary to generate a gravitational redshift variation large enough to mask or mimic an Earth-twin. We explore possible mechanisms for stellar radius fluctuations in low-mass stars. Convective inhibition due to varying magnetic field strengths and the Wilson depression of starspots are both found to induce substantial gravitational redshift variations. Finally, we investigate a possible method for monitoring/correcting this newly identified potential source of jitter and comment on its impact for future exoplanet searches.

Burkholderia cenocepacia O antigen lipopolysaccharide prevents phagocytosis by macrophages and adhesion to epithelial cells

Chronic respiratory infections by the Burkholderia cepacia complex (Bcc) are of great concern to patients with cystic fibrosis. Bcc isolates may survive intracellularly within amoebae, respiratory epithelial cells and macrophages. The molecular mechanisms facilitating colonization and pathogenesis remain unclear. Given the importance of bacterial adhesion to host surfaces in microbial pathogenesis, we investigated the role of the O antigen LPS in the interaction of Burkholderia cenocepacia, a member of the Bcc, with macrophages and epithelial cells. Our results demonstrated that the O antigen modulates phagocytosis but does not affect intracellular survival of B. cenocepacia. Internalization of strains that lack O antigen was significantly increased compared to that of their isogenic smooth counterparts. However, no differences between rough and smooth strains were found in their ability to delay phagosomal maturation. We also found that the O antigen interfered with the ability of B. cenocepacia to adhere to bronchial epithelial cells, suggesting that this polysaccharide may mask one or more bacterial surface adhesins.

Wavelet analysis of bender element signals

Accurate determination of shear wave arrival time using bender elements may be severely affected by a combination of near-field effects and reflected waves. These may mask the first arrival of the shear wave, making its detection difficult in the time domain. This paper describes an approach for measuring the shear wave arrival time through analysis of the output signal in the time-scale domain using a multi-scale wavelet transform. The local maxima lines of the wavelet transform modulus are observed at different scales, and all singularities are mathematically characterised, allowing subsequent detection of the singularity relating to the first arrival. Examples of the use of this approach on typical synthetic and experimental bender element signals are also supplied, and these results are compared with those from other time and frequency domain approaches. The wavelet approach is not affected by near-field effects, but instead is characterised by a relatively consistent singularity related to the shear wave arrival time, across a range of frequencies and noise levels.

Folate and vitamin B-12: friendly or enemy nutrients for the elderly

In the UK vitamin B-12, deficiency occurs in approximately 20% of adults aged >65 years. This incidence is significantly higher than that among the general population. The reported incidence invariably depends on the criteria of deficiency used, and in fact estimates rise to 24% and 46% among free-living and institutionalised elderly respectively when methylmalonic acid is used as a marker of vitamin B-12 status. The incidence of, and the criteria for diagnosis of, deficiency have drawn much attention recently in the wake of the implementation of folic acid fortification of flour in the USA. This fortification strategy has proved to be extremely successful in increasing folic acid intakes pre-conceptually and thereby reducing the incidence of neural-tube defects among babies born in the USA since 1998. However, in successfully delivering additional folic acid to pregnant women fortification also increases the consumption of folic acid of everyone who consumes products containing flour, including the elderly. It is argued that consuming additional folic acid (as 'synthetic' pteroylglutamic acid) from fortified foods increases the risk of 'masking' megaloblastic anaemia caused by vitamin B-12 deficiency. Thus, a number of issues arise for discussion. Are clinicians forced to rely on megaloblastic anaemia as the only sign of possible vitamin B-12 deficiency? Is serum vitamin B-12 alone adequate to confirm vitamin B-12 deficiency or should other diagnostic markers be used routinely in clinical practice? Is the level of intake of folic acid among the elderly (post-fortification) likely to be so high as to cure or 'mask' the anaemia associated with vitamin B-12 deficiency?.

Super-Resolution without Evanescent Waves

The past decade has seen numerous efforts to achieve imaging resolution beyond that of the Abbe-Rayleigh diffraction limit. The main direction of research alining to break this limit seeks to exploit the evanescent components containing fine detail of the electromagnetic field distribution at the Immediate proximity of the object. Here, we propose a solution that removes the need for evanescent fields. The object being imaged or stimulated with subwavelangth accuracy does not need to be In the immediate proximity of the superlens or field concentrator: an optical mask can be designed that creates constructive Interference of waves known as superoscillation, leading to a subwavelength focus of prescribed size and shape in a field of view beyond the evanescent fields, when illuminated by a monochromatic wave. Moreover, we demonstrate that such a mask may be used not only as a focusing device but also as a super-resolution imaging device.

The Terror that Underpins the “Peace”: The Political Economy of Colombia's Paramilitary Demobilization Process

Studies on terrorism have traditionally focused on non-state actors who direct violence against liberal states. These studies also tend to focus on political motivations and, therefore, have neglected the economic functions of terrorism. This article challenges the divorce of the political and economic spheres by highlighting how states can use terrorism to realise interconnected political and economic goals. To demonstrate this, we take the case of the paramilitary demobilisation process in Colombia and show how it relates to the US-Colombian free trade agreement. We argue that the demobilisation process fulfils a dual role. First, the process aims to improve the image of the Colombian government required to pass the controversial free trade agreement through US Congress to protect large amounts of US investment in the country. Second, the demobilisation process serves to mask clear continuities in paramilitary terror that serve mutually supportive political and economic functions for US investment in Colombia.

An Investigation Into Features For Multi-View Lipreading

For the first time in this paper we present results showing the effect of speaker head pose angle on automatic lip-reading performance over a wide range of closely spaced angles. We analyse the effect head pose has upon the features themselves and show that by selecting coefficients with minimum variance w.r.t. pose angle, recognition performance can be improved when train-test pose angles differ. Experiments are conducted using the initial phase of a unique multi view Audio-Visual database designed specifically for research and development of pose-invariant lip-reading systems. We firstly show that it is the higher order horizontal spatial frequency components that become most detrimental as the pose deviates. Secondly we assess the performance of different feature selection masks across a range of pose angles including a new mask based on Minimum Cross-Pose Variance coefficients. We report a relative improvement of 50% in Word Error Rate when using our selection mask over a common energy based selection during profile view lip-reading.

Finding exoplanets orbiting young active stars - I. Technique

Stellar activity, such as starspots, can induce radial velocity (RV) variations that can mask or even mimic the RV signature of orbiting exoplanets. For this reason RV exoplanet surveys have been unsuccessful when searching for planets around young, active stars and are therefore failing to explore an important regime which can help to reveal how planets form and migrate. This paper describes a new technique to remove spot signatures from the stellar line-profiles of moderately rotating, active stars (v sin i ranging from 10 to 50 km s(-1)). By doing so it allows planetary RV signals to be uncovered. We used simulated models of a G5V type star with differing dark spots on its surface along with archive data of the known active star HD 49933 to validate our method. The results showed that starspots could be effectively cleaned from the line-profiles so that the stellar RV jitter was reduced by more than 80 per cent. Applying this procedure to the same models and HD 49933 data, but with fake planets injected, enabled the effective removal of starspots so that Jupiter mass planets on short orbital periods were successfully recovered. These results show that this approach can be useful in the search for hot-Jupiter planets that orbit around young, active stars with a v sin i of similar to 10-50 km/s.

Invisible Targets, Strengthened Morale: Static Camouflage as a ‘Weapon of the Weak’

In the natural world, camouflage is habitually deployed by 'vulnerable' creatures to deceive predators. Such protective strategies have been culturally, socially and technologically translated into human societies, whereby camouflage has been used to mask intentions, actions, feelings and valuable objects or spaces. Through the material presence of such techniques, everyday spaces can become inscribed as places of sanctuary. Focusing on British civil camouflage work of the 1930s and 1940s, this paper explores the historical, cultural and political connotations of camouflage and how the attainment of invisibility, as a 'weapon of the weak', can both physically and affectively protect urban populations. © 2012 Copyright Taylor and Francis Group, LLC.

Nucleation-Induced Self-Assembly of Multiferroic BiFeO3-CoFe2O4 Nanocomposites

Large areas of perfectly ordered magnetic CoFe2O4 nanopillars embedded in a ferroelectric BiFeO3 matrix were successfully fabricated via a novel nucleation-induced self-assembly process. The nucleation centers of the magnetic pillars are induced before the growth of the composite structure using anodic aluminum oxide (AAO) and lithography-defined gold membranes as hard mask. High structural quality and good functional properties were obtained. Magneto-capacitance data revealed extremely low losses and magneto-electric coupling of about 0.9 mu C/cmOe. The present fabrication process might be relevant for inducing ordering in systems based on phase separation, as the nucleation and growth is a rather general feature of these systems.

Masks as methodology and the phenomenological turn: issues of interpretation

The purposes of this chapter are to argue for (i) the heuristic value of the concept of mask and masking in research which has its basis in psychodynamic theory but relating it to socio-cultural theory as means to understanding self-experience (ii) the value of creating and performing masks as one valuable methodological ‘embodied’ form in social and educational research that represent individuals’ richly textured self-other constructions and allow for the interrogation of any simplistic dichotomies associated with notions of ‘inside’ ‘outside’ categories (iii) exploring possibilities and dilemmas of interpretation within this frame

Chronic cough as a neuropathic disorder

Chronic cough is a common symptom that can be a daunting challenge for clinicians since treatment of the underlying cause does not always provide adequate relief, an obvious cause can remain elusive, and current antitussives have fairly poor efficacy and undesirable side-effects. Patients with chronic cough typically describe a range of sensory symptoms suggestive of upper-airway and laryngeal neural dysfunction. Additionally, patients often report cough triggered by low-level physical and chemical stimuli, which is suggestive of cough-reflex hyperresponsiveness. Pathophysiological mechanisms underlying peripheral and central augmentation of the afferent cough pathways have been identified, and compelling evidence exists for a neuropathy of vagal sensory nerves after upper-respiratory viral infections or exposure to allergic and non-allergic irritants. In this Personal View, we argue that chronic cough is a neuropathic disorder that arises from neural damage caused by a range of inflammatory, infective, and allergic factors. In support of this idea, we discuss evidence of successful treatment of chronic cough with agents used for treatment of neuropathic pain, such as gabapentin and amitriptyline. Regarding cough as a neuropathic disorder could lead to new, more effective antitussives.

Defocused transmission spectroscopy: a potential detection of sodium in the atmosphere of WASP-12b

We report on a pilot study of a novel observing technique, defocussed transmission spectroscopy, and its application to the study of exoplanet atmospheres using ground-based platforms. Similar to defocussed photometry, defocussed transmission spectroscopy has an added advantage over normal spectroscopy in that it reduces systematic errors due to flat-fielding, PSF variations, slit-jaw imperfections and other effects associated with ground-based observations. For one of the planetary systems studied, WASP-12b, we report a tentative detection of additional Na absorption of 0.12+/-0.03[+0.03]% during transit using a 2A wavelength mask. After consideration of a systematic that occurs mid-transit, it is likely that the true depth is actually closer to 0.15%. This is a similar level of absorption reported in the atmosphere of HD209458b (0.135+/-0.017%, Snellen et al. 2008). Finally, we outline methods that will improve the technique during future observations, based on our findings from this pilot study.