Temperature monitoring of nonanaesthetised patients in a cardiac catheterisation laboratory

Aim and objectives To identify the prevalence that temperature reduced by more than 1°C from pre to post-procedure in a sample of non-anaesthetised patients undergoing procedures in a cardiac catheterisation laboratory. Background Advances in medical technology are minimising the invasiveness of diagnostic tests and treatments for disease, which is correspondingly increasing the number of medical procedures performed without sedation or anaesthesia. Procedural areas in which medical procedures are performed without anaesthesia are typically kept at a cool temperature for staff comfort. As such, there is a need to inform nursing practices in regard to the thermal management of non-anaesthetised patients undergoing procedures in surgical or procedural environments. Design Single-site observational study Methods Patients were included if they had undergone an elective procedure without sedation or anaesthesia in a cardiac catheterisation laboratory. Ambient room temperature was maintained between 18°C and 20°C. Passive warming with heated cotton blankets was applied. Nurses measured body temperature and thermal comfort before and after 342 procedures. Results Mean change in temperature was -0.08°C (Standard deviation 0.43). The reduction in temperature was more than 1°C after 11 procedures (3.2%). One patient whose temperature had reduced more than 1°C after their procedure reported thermal discomfort. A total of 12 patients were observed to be shivering post-procedure (3.6%). No demographic or clinical characteristics were associated with reduction in temperature of more than 1°C from pre to post-procedure. Conclusions Significant reduction in body temperature was rare in our sample of non-anaesthetised patients. Relevance to clinical practice Similar results would likely be found in other procedural contexts during procedures conducted in settings with comparable room temperatures where passive warming can also be applied with limited skin exposure.

Onko eläimillä oikeuksia? : Eläinkoelainsäädännön kehitys ja nykytila

The use of animals in scientific experiments tends to arouse strong emotional reactions among the general public, the most essential concern being the pain and suffering they cause. It is felt that suffering inflicted on other beings, including animals, is not morally acceptable. Is the function of a researcher who uses animals morally acceptable and beneficial for humans and animals? May such a researcher him/herself decide what animal experiments he/she can perform or should some outsider have the right to decide what kind of experiments a researcher can or cannot perform? The research material comprises the legislation of Finland and that of some member and non-member states of the European Union, together with European Union directives and pertinent preparatory parliamentary documents. The author has likewise studied the vast literature on animal rights, both pro and contra writings and opinions. The opinions of philosophers on the moral and legal rights of animals are markedly conflicting. Some strongly support the existence of rights, while others totally refute such an opinion, claiming that the question is only of the moral principles of man himself which imply that animals must be treated in a human manner. Speaking of animal rights only tends to muddle ideas on the one hand in philosophical considerations and in legal analyses on the other. The development of legislation in Finland and some other member states of the European Union has in principle been similar. In Finland, the positive laws on animal experiments nowadays comply with the EU directive 86/609/EEC. However, there are marked differences between member states in respect of the way they have in practice implemented the principles of the EU directive. No essential alterations have in practice been discernible in the actual performance of animal experiments during the decades when legislation has been developed in different countries. Self-regulation within the scientific community has been markedly more effectual than legislative procedures. Legal regulation has nevertheless clearly influenced the quality of breeding and life conditions of experimental laboratory animals, cages for example being nowadays larger than hitherto. EU parliament and council have now accepted in September 2010 a new directive on animal experiments which must be implemented in the national legislations by January 1, 2013.

Future chemistry teachers use of knowledge dimensions and high-order cognitive skills in pre-laboratory concept maps

This poster describes a pilot case study, which aim is to study how future chemistry teachers use knowledge dimensions and high-order cognitive skills (HOCS) in their pre-laboratory concept maps to support chemistry laboratory work. The research data consisted of 168 pre-laboratory concept maps that 29 students constructed as a part of their chemistry laboratory studies. Concept maps were analyzed by using a theory based content analysis through Anderson & Krathwohls' learning taxonomy (2001). This study implicates that novice concept mapper students use all knowledge dimensions and applying, analyzing and evaluating HOCS to support the pre-laboratory work.

Pressure sensor based tsunami detection system: A laboratory study

In this paper, we present the study and implementation of a low-cost system to detect the occurrences of tsunamis at significantly smaller laboratory scale. The implementation is easily scalable for real-time deployment. Information reported in this paper includes the experimentally recorded response from the pressure sensor giving an indication as well as an alarm at remote place for the detection of water turbulence similar to the case of tsunami. It has been found that the system developed works very well in the laboratory scale.

Seasonal variation in the onset of egg laying in a primitively eusocial wasp: implications for the evolution of sociality

When freshly eclosed females of the primitively eusocial wasp, Rapalidia marginata are isolated into individual cages, only about half of them build nests and lay eggs and those that do so take a long and variable amount of time (Mean +/- SD = 66 +/- 37 days) before they lay their first egg. Part of the reason for this delay is because, when kept in isolation, no wasp begins to lay eggs during a period of approximately 82 days from mid - October to early January. Wasps maintained at a constant temperature of 26 +/- 1-degrees-C however initiate egg laying throughout the year, suggesting that the low temperatures during mid - October to early January may be at least one factor that makes this period unfavourable for wasps maintained at room temperature. Egg laying continues more or less normally throughout October-January however, in all natural and laboratory colonies studied. Natural colonies of R. marginata are initiated throughout the year and often by groups of females. Huddling together is a striking feature of the wasps especially on cold mornings. We therefore suggest that the isolated animals in our experiment are unable to lay eggs during the coldest part of the year because of their inability to huddle together, share metabolic heat and perform "co-operative thermoregulation". Such "co-operative thermoregulation" may thus be another factor that facilitates the evolution of socialitly.

Genetic polymorphisms and laboratory variables as predictors of blood pressure response to antihypertensive drugs

Hypertension is one of the major risk factors for cardiovascular morbidity. The advantages of antihypertensive therapy have been clearly demonstrated, but only about 30% of hypertensive patients have their blood pressure (BP) controlled by such treatment. One of the reasons for this poor BP control may lie in the difficulty in predicting BP response to antihypertensive treatment. The average BP reduction achieved is similar for each drug in the main classes of antihypertensive agents, but there is a marked individual variation in BP responses to any given drug. The purpose of the present study was to examine BP response to four different antihypertensive monotherapies with regard to demographic characteristics, laboratory test results and common genetic polymorphisms. The subjects of the present study are participants in the pharmacogenetic GENRES Study. A total of 208 subjects completed the whole study protocol including four drug treatment periods of four weeks, separated by four-week placebo periods. The study drugs were amlodipine, bisoprolol, hydrochlorothiazide and losartan. Both office (OBP) and 24-hour ambulatory blood pressure (ABP) measurements were carried out. BP response to study drugs were related to basic clinical characteristics, pretreatment laboratory test results and common polymorphisms in genes coding for components of the renin-angiotensin system, alpha-adducin (ADD1), beta1-adrenergic receptor (ADRB1) and beta2-adrenergic receptor (ADRB2). Age was positively correlated with BP responses to amlodipine and with OBP and systolic ABP responses to hydrochlorothiazide, while body mass index was negatively correlated with ABP responses to amlodipine. Of the laboratory test results, plasma renin activity (PRA) correlated positively with BP responses to losartan, with ABP responses to bisoprolol, and negatively with ABP responses to hydrochlorothiazide. Uniquely to this study, it was found that serum total calcium level was negatively correlated with BP responses to amlodipine, whilst serum total cholesterol level was negatively correlated with ABP responses to amlodipine. There were no significant associations of angiotensin II type I receptor 1166A/C, angiotensin converting enzyme I/D, angiotensinogen Met235Thr, ADD1 Gly460Trp, ADRB1 Ser49Gly and Gly389Arg and ADRB2 Arg16Gly and Gln27Glu polymorphisms with BP responses to the study drugs. In conclusion, this study confirmed the relationship between pretreatment PRA levels and response to three classes of antihypertensive drugs. This study is the first to note a significant inverse relation between serum calcium level and responsiveness to a calcium channel blocker. However, this study could not replicate the observations that common polymorphisms in angiotensin II type I receptor, angiotensin converting enzyme, angiotensinogen, ADD1, ADRB1, or ADRB2 genes can predict BP response to antihypertensive drugs.

Estimation of soil hydraulic properties and their uncertainty: comparison between laboratory and field experiment

Often the soil hydraulic parameters are obtained by the inversion of measured data (e.g. soil moisture, pressure head, and cumulative infiltration, etc.). However, the inverse problem in unsaturated zone is ill-posed due to various reasons, and hence the parameters become non-unique. The presence of multiple soil layers brings the additional complexities in the inverse modelling. The generalized likelihood uncertainty estimate (GLUE) is a useful approach to estimate the parameters and their uncertainty when dealing with soil moisture dynamics which is a highly non-linear problem. Because the estimated parameters depend on the modelling scale, inverse modelling carried out on laboratory data and field data may provide independent estimates. The objective of this paper is to compare the parameters and their uncertainty estimated through experiments in the laboratory and in the field and to assess which of the soil hydraulic parameters are independent of the experiment. The first two layers in the field site are characterized by Loamy sand and Loamy. The mean soil moisture and pressure head at three depths are measured with an interval of half hour for a period of 1 week using the evaporation method for the laboratory experiment, whereas soil moisture at three different depths (60, 110, and 200 cm) is measured with an interval of 1 h for 2 years for the field experiment. A one-dimensional soil moisture model on the basis of the finite difference method was used. The calibration and validation are approximately for 1 year each. The model performance was found to be good with root mean square error (RMSE) varying from 2 to 4 cm(3) cm(-3). It is found from the two experiments that mean and uncertainty in the saturated soil moisture (theta(s)) and shape parameter (n) of van Genuchten equations are similar for both the soil types. Copyright (C) 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Laboratory studies on ball wear in the grinding of a hematite-magnetite ore

Marked-ball grinding tests were carried out under different grinding conditions and environments. Three types of balls were used, namely, cast hyper steel, high chrome cast iron and EN-31 (forged), which cover a wide range of chemical composition, microstructure and media hardness. The effect of pulp density on ball wear and grinding efficiency was also studied. Relative pulp viscosities at different percent solids for the ore slurry were also determined. As the Kudremukh ore contained about 0.2% pyrite, the effect of addition of pyrite on ball wear was studied separately. Results of marked-ball grinding tests indicated that ball wear increased with time and showed a sharp increase for wet grinding over dry grinding. Ball wear under wet grinding conditions was also influenced by the gaseous atmosphere in the mill. At 70% solids, the best results in terms of reduced ball wear coupled with satisfactory grinding efficiency were obtained. The influence of oxygen on the corrosive wear of grinding balls was increasingly felt only if sulphide minerals such as pyrite were also present in the ore. The various ball materials could be arranged in the following order with respect to their overall wear resistance: high chrome cast iron > EN-31 (forged) > cast hyper steel.Possible ball wear mechanisms involved in the grinding of Kudremukh ore are discussed.

Laboratory studies on ball wear in the grinding of a chalcopyrite ore

Wear of high carbon low alloy (HCLA) cast steel balls during the grinding of a chalcopyrite ore was evaluated under different experimental conditions. The role of oxygen in enhancing ball wear during wet finding is brought out. The influence of pH on ball wear was also examined from the view point of acid production during grinding and reactivity of sulphides. Contributions from corrosion and abrasion towards ball wear are quantified in terms of ball wear rates as a function of time, particle size and gaseous atmosphere in the mill.

In vivo clearance of Japanese encephalitis virus by adoptively transferred virus specific cytotoxic T lymphocytes

Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) is a positive stranded RNA virus that belongs to the flavivirus group, JEV infection damages the central nervous system (CNS) and is one of the main causative agents of acute encephalitis, H-2 restricted virus-specific cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL) have been generated specifically against JEV in our laboratory and these CTL have been shown to protect mice against lethal challenge with JEV, Virus replication was found to be inhibited in the brains of animals that mere adoptively transferred with JEV specific CTL as revealed by immunohistological staining as,veil as viral plaque assays. We further show that virus specific CTL could be recovered from such protected mice as long as 45 days after adoptive transfer.

Laboratory studies on the volume change characteristics of kaolinite contaminated with sodium phosphate/sulfate

Reported distress to an industrial structure from phosphate/sulfate contamination of kaolinitic foundation soil at an industrial location in Southern India prompted this laboratory study. The study examines the short-term effect of sodium sulfate/phosphate contamination on the swell/compression characteristics of a commercial kaolinite. Experimental results showed that the unsaturated contaminated kaolinite specimens exhibited slightly higher swell potentials and lower compressions than the unsaturated uncontaminated kaolinite specimens. It is suggested that the larger double layer promoted by the increased exchangeable sodium ion concentration is responsible for the slightly higher swell potentials and lower compressions of the unsaturated contaminated kaolinite specimens.