Making doors open: caring for families of children with severe cerebral palsy

Cerebral palsy is a relatively rare condition affecting approximately 2-2.5 children in every 1,000 (Parkes et al 2001). It is a leading cause of physical disability in childhood and is often associated with severe motor and other impairments (Table 1). Improved survival of small and premature babies who are particularly at risk of developing the condition raises concerns about increasing numbers of children with cerebral palsy possibly with more severe forms. In the UK, information about the number and needs of children with CP is not collected routinely. The most reliable sources of information on CP in the UK comes from five dedicated case registers which have monitored live births in their respective geographically defined areas since the 1960s and 1970s. These registers have formed a collaborative network called the United Kingdom Collaboration of Cerebral Palsy Registers (or UKCP) and are listed in Table 2. All five registers are currently funded and all are active in surveillance activities and research.

Characterization of a dielectric barrier discharge operating in an open reactor with flowing helium

A dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) generated by flowing helium between the parallel-plate electrodes of an open air reactor has been characterized using time resolved optical and electrical measurements. A sinusoidal voltage of up to 5 kV (peak to peak) of frequencies from 3 to 50 kHz has been applied to the discharge electrodes. The helium flow rate is varied up to 10 litre min(-1). The adjustment of flow rate allows the creation of uniform DBDs with optimized input power equal to 120 +/- 10 mW cm(-3). At flow rates from 4 to 6 litre min(-1) a uniform DBD is obtained. The maxima in the line intensities of N-2(+) and helium at 391.4 nm and 706.5 nm, respectively, 2 under those conditions indicate the importance of helium metastables and He-2(+) in sustaining such a discharge. The power efficiency and discharge 2 current show maxima when the DBD In He/air is uniform. The gas temperature during the discharge has been measured as 360 +/- 20 K.

Correlated electron-ion dynamics with open boundaries: formalism

We extend a new formalism, which allows correlated electron-ion dynamics to be applied to the problem of open boundary conditions. We implement this at the first moment level (allowing heating of ions by electrons) and observe the expected cooling in the classical part of the ionic kinetic energy and current-induced heating in the quantum contribution. The formalism for open boundaries should be easily extended to higher moments of the correlated electron-ion fluctuations.

'Prying open the space for social work in the new millennium: four theoretical perspectives on transformative practice'

Houston S, Skehill C, Pinkerton J & Campbell J (2005) Social Work and Social Sciences Review 12 (1) 35-52.

Conventional free radical polymerization in room temperature ionic liquids: a green approach to commodity polymers with practical advantages

Free-radical polymerization of methyl methacrylate and styrene using conventional organic initiators in the room temperature ionic liquid, 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium hexafluorophosphate ([ C(4)mim][PF6]) is rapid and produces polymers with molecular weights up to 10x higher than from benzene; both polymerization and isolation of products were achieved without using VOCs, offering economic as well as environmental advantages.

Neurodevelopmental and respiratory follow-up results at 7 years for children from the United Kingdom and Ireland enrolled in a randomized trial of early and late postnatal corticosteroid treatment, systemic and inhaled (the Open Study of Early Corticosteroid Treatment)

The goals were to compare early school-age neurodevelopmental and respiratory outcomes for children who were treated with either early (15 days) postnatal corticosteroid therapy and to compare systemic dexamethasone treatment with inhaled budesonide treatment.