Veiled Aspects of Bach Reception in the Long Nineteenth Century Exposed through a Macro-examination of Printed Music: with Particular Focus on The Well-Tempered Clavier

It presents questions that have arisen as a result of more than 20 years of collecting the data for the Bach Bibliography. Taking editions of The Well-Tempered Clavier as an example and using figures and graphs extracted from the Bach Bibliography, Tomita explores the various facets of the work's reception including its market appeal, the ambitions that steered its editors and publishers, and trends in its interpretation.

A cross-national cross-sectional survey of the attitudes and perceived competence of final-year medicine, nursing and pharmacy students in relation to end-of-life care in dementia

Background:Little is known about the attitudes of healthcare professional students' perceived competence and confidence in treating those with dementia who are at the end of life.Aim:To explore the attitudes of final year medical, nursing and pharmacy students towards people with dementia and to evaluate their perceived competence and confidence dealing with biomedical and psychosocial issues within the context of palliative care provision to patients with dementia.Design:Cross-sectional survey using a questionnaire.Setting/participants:Final-year students in each profession from Queen's University Belfast (Northern Ireland) and the University of Iowa (USA) were recruited.Method:Three versions of an online questionnaire (containing the Attitudes to Dementia Questionnaire and a series of questions on end-of-life care in dementia) were distributed.Results:A total of 368 responses were received (response rate 42.3%). All respondents reported positive attitudes towards people with dementia. US nursing students reported significantly more positive attitudes than the medical students of United States and Northern Ireland. Medical students were more likely to report low confidence in discussing non-medical aspects of dying, whereas nursing students were most likely to feel prepared and confident to do this. Medical and nursing students reported low confidence with aspects of medication-related care; however, data from the pharmacy samples of Northern Ireland and United States suggested that these students felt confident in advising other healthcare professionals on medication-related issues.Conclusions:While healthcare students hold positive attitudes towards people with dementia, some clinical tasks remain challenging and further basic training may be of benefit.

Successful medical treatment of Acanthamoeba keratitis

Purpose: To describe the outcome of a series of Acanthamoeba keratitis treated with a similar regimen. Methods: All cases diagnosed with Acanthamoeba keratitis in a referral centre from June 1994 through June 1997 were included. Diagnosis of Acanthamoeba keratitis was based in clinical presentation and laboratory results. Positive laboratory identification of Acanthamoeba from corneal scraping or contact lens was required, unless the patient had very characteristic symptoms (severe pain) and signs of the infection, including perineural infiltrates. Initial intensive treatment included topical polyhexamethylene biguanide (PHMB) 0.02%, propamidine isothionate 0.1% and broad-spectrum antibiotics. The treatment was gradually tapered. After documented response to anti-acanthamoeba therapy, topical steroids were introduced; they were discontinued before cessation of the antiAcanthamoeba regimen. Results: Six males and four females, with a mean age of 30.0 ± 7.4 years were included in this study. All cases weared contact lenses. On presentation all cases had severe pain, and epitheliopathy was associated with stromal infiltrate in most (seven of ten) cases. Four patients had anterior uveitis. Perineural infiltrates were present in three cases and ring infiltrate in one patient. Anti-amoebic treatment was started 12.7 ± 7.2 days after beginning of symptoms. The clinical response to therapy was very satisfactory in all patients. Within two to three weeks all patients had remarkable lessening of pain and photophobia, and improvement of clinical signs. At two to three months, visual acuity had improved in all patients. Two patients required penetrating keratoplasty for visual rehabilitation. Conclusion: The use of PHMB and propamidine cured all cases of Acanthamoeba keratitis. Cautious introduction of steroids was associated with expedited resolution of inflammation and provided symptomatic relief.

Environmental Aspects of Underground Construction and Exploration of Underground Structure – State of the Art

An underground work (such as a tunnel or a cavern) has many, well known, environmental qualities such as: no physical barriers crossing the land, less maintenance costs than an analogous surface structure, less expenses for heating and conditioning; a localized emission of noise, gas, dust during operation and, finally, a better protection against seismic actions.
It cannot be forgotten, anyway, that some negative environmental features are present such as, for example, : perturbation, pollution and drainage of the groundwater; settlements; disposal of waste rock.
In the paper the above mentioned concepts are discussed and analysed to give a global overview of all this aspects.

Classical and quantum aspects of multimode parametric interactions

Parametric interactions in nonlinear crystals represent a powerful tool in the optical manipulation of information, both in the classical and the quantum regime. Here, we analyze in detail classical and quantum aspects of three-and five-mode parametric interactions in chi(2) nonlinear crystals. The equations of motion are explicitly derived and then solved within the parametric approximation. We describe several applications, including holography, all-optical gates, generation of entanglement, and telecloning. Experimental results on the photon distributions and correlations of the generated beams are also reported and discussed.