Monitoring the penetration enhancer dimethyl sulfoxide in human stratum corneum in vivo by confocal raman spectroscopy

The stratum corneum (SC) barrier typically consists of layers of corneocytes embedded in a lipid continuum that regulates barrier function. The lipid domain containing ceramides, cholesterol, and free fatty acids provides the major pathway for most drugs permeating across SC. Penetration enhancers diminish the SC barrier function. The classic enhancer is dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO). Its mechanisms of action remain unclear, although DMSO disrupts lipid organisation and may displace protein-bound water. Here we use confocal Raman spectroscopy to probe molecular interactions between a finite (depleting) dose of DMSO and SC, as functions of depth and time, providing novel information about residence time and location of DMSO in human SC in vivo

A comparison of the performance of Kalpana and Meteosat-7 WV radiances in the ECMWF NWP model

The Kalpana Very High Resolution Radiometer (VHRR) water vapour (WV) channel is very similar to the WV channel of the Meteosat Visible and Infrared Radiation Imager (MVIRI) on Meteosat-7, and both satellites observe the Indian subcontinent. Thus it is possible to compare the performance of VHRR and MVIRI in numerical weather prediction (NWP) models. In order to do so, the impact of Kalpana- and Meteosat-7-measured WV radiances was evaluated using analyses and forecasts of moisture, temperature, geopotential and winds, using the European Centre for Medium-range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) NWP model. Compared with experiments using Meteosat-7, the experiments using Kalpana WV radiances show a similar fit to all observations and produce very similar forecasts.

Infotainment across access devices: the perceptual impact of multimedia QoS

The introduction of multimedia on pervasive and mobile communication devices raises a number of perceptual quality issues. However, limited work has been done examining the 3-way interaction between use of equipment, user perceptual quality and quality of service. Our work measures user perceptual quality with the quality of perception (QoP) metrics which comprises levels of informational transfer (objective) and user satisfaction (subjective) when users are presented with multimedia video clips at three different frame rates, using four different display devices. Finally, our results will show that variation in frame-rate does not impact a user’s level of information assimilation (IA), however, does impact a users’ perception of multimedia video ‘quality’.

Silica templating of a self-assembling peptide amphiphile that forms nanotapes

The peptide amphiphile C16-KTTKS templates silica polymerization, enabling the production of silica nanotape structures, imaged via electron microscopy (TEM and SEM). X-ray scattering shows that the nanotapes comprise stacked layers, as for the parent peptide amphiphile, but with a substantially increased layer spacing resulting from silica polymerization.

Multi‐method global sensitivity analysis (MMGSA) for modelling floodplain hydrological processes

When studying hydrological processes with a numerical model, global sensitivity analysis (GSA) is essential if one is to understand the impact of model parameters and model formulation on results. However, different definitions of sensitivity can lead to a difference in the ranking of importance of the different model factors. Here we combine a fuzzy performance function with different methods of calculating global sensitivity to perform a multi-method global sensitivity analysis (MMGSA). We use an application of a finite element subsurface flow model (ESTEL-2D) on a flood inundation event on a floodplain of the River Severn to illustrate this new methodology. We demonstrate the utility of the method for model understanding and show how the prediction of state variables, such as Darcian velocity vectors, can be affected by such a MMGSA. This paper is a first attempt to use GSA with a numerically intensive hydrological model.

Multi-method global sensitivity analysis (MMGSA) for modelling floodplain hydrological processes

When studying hydrological processes with a numerical model, global sensitivity analysis (GSA) is essential if one is to understand the impact of model parameters and model formulation on results. However, different definitions of sensitivity can lead to a difference in the ranking of importance of the different model factors. Here we combine a fuzzy performance function with different methods of calculating global sensitivity to perform a multi-method global sensitivity analysis (MMGSA). We use an application of a finite element subsurface flow model (ESTEL-2D) on a flood inundation event on a floodplain of the River Severn to illustrate this new methodology. We demonstrate the utility of the method for model understanding and show how the prediction of state variables, such as Darcian velocity vectors, can be affected by such a MMGSA. This paper is a first attempt to use GSA with a numerically intensive hydrological model

'Nature concocts & expels': the agents and processes of recovery from disease in Early Modern England

The ‘golden saying’ in early modern medicine was ‘Nature is the healer of disease’. This article uncovers the meaning and significance of this forgotten axiom by investigating perceptions of the agents and physiological processes of recovery from illness in England, c.1580-1720. Drawing on sources such as medical texts and diaries, it shows that doctors and laypeople attributed recovery to three agents – God, Nature, and the practitioner. While scholars are familiar with the roles of providence and medicine, the vital agency of Nature has been overlooked. In theory, the agents operated in a hierarchy: Nature was ‘God’s instrument’, and the physician, ‘Nature’s servant’; but in practice the power balance was more ambivalent. Nature was depicted both as a housewife who cooked and cleaned the humours, and as a warrior, who defeated the disease. Through exploring these complex dynamics, the article sheds fresh light on concepts of gender, disease, and bodies.

Reforming theatre in Farnese Parma: the case of the Accademia degli Innominati (1574-1608)

The essay explores the socio-cultural role of the main academy in Parma, the Innominati (1574-1608), which flourished in the years when the Farnese dynasty was beginning to assert more forcefully its political control over the new state of Parma and Piacenza. The Innominati was from the start associated with the ruling dynasty, who must have recognized the importance of its cultural activities to strengthening their regime, particularly in the absence of a strong local university. This essay explores the institution’s contested position within the cultural landscape – as reflected also in its membership of courtiers, clergymen, and feudal aristocrats with more ambivalent relations with the Farnese. In particular, the focus falls on the theatrical activities of the group during the 1580s, a decade which saw the establishment of the Parma Index (1580) and the succession of the internationally celebrated Duke Alessandro Farnese (1587). Based on the little surviving evidence it is argued that the Academy in the 1580s became a creative hub for theatrical experimentation – through theoretical debate and composition, and possibly even performance. However, as relations between the Farnese and the local elites, especially feudal aristocrats, became more contested the Academy’s theatrical production and the public memory of this became increasingly controlled.

Regional projections of extreme apparent temperature days in Africa and the related potential risk to human health

Regional climate modelling was used to produce high resolution climate projections for Africa, under a “business as usual scenario”, that were translated into potential health impacts utilizing a heat index that relates apparent temperature to health impacts. The continent is projected to see increases in the number of days when health may be adversely affected by increasing maximum apparent temperatures (AT) due to climate change. Additionally, climate projections indicate that the increases in AT results in a moving of days from the less severe to the more severe Symptom Bands. The analysis of the rate of increasing temperatures assisted in identifying areas, such as the East African highlands, where health may be at increasing risk due to both large increases in the absolute number of hot days, and due to the high rate of increase. The projections described here can be used by health stakeholders in Africa to assist in the development of appropriate public health interventions to mitigate the potential health impacts from climate change.