bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Formation of hot spots at end-on pre-compressed isochoric fuels for fast ignition
Authors: Xu Zekun , Wu Fuyuan , Jiang Bofang , Kawata Shigeo , Zhang Jie
Published: November 2023

It is crucial to form a hot spot that can drive a self-heating nuclear burn propagation into the surrounding cold fuel in ignition process of laser fusion. In this paper, we discuss the formation of a hemispherical hot spot located at the edge of an end-on precompressed isochoric fuel instead of a central spherical hot spot surrounded by cold fuel in a corona plasma shell. This configuration leads to a new energy loss mechanism named hot spot collapse, which originates from mass loss of the hot spot through the interface with the vacuum. A semi-analytical model is proposed including

α

particle induced burning, hot spot collapse and other energy loss processes. Then a modified ignition criterion is derived. The results show that the competition between the hot spot collapse and the burn propagation is crucial in the formation of the hot spot. The formation of such a hot spot at end-on precompressed isochoric fuels would require a somewhat higher initial temperature of

T
h

=
9

 keV

for a hot spot with an initial areal density

ρ
d
=
0.6

g

c

m

−
2

. Simulations are performed with a 3D hybrid particle-in-cell/fluid code for the heating process by fast electrons and a 3D radiation hydrodynamics code for the burning process. Simulation results agree with the model. Our optimized result shows a 10 ps heating laser pulse with an energy as low as 39 kJ can lead to a fast ignition in the ideal case. This study provides an effective reference for design and evaluation of experiments planned for fast ignition schemes.
RGDK-lipopeptide for targeting genetic vaccines to antigen presenting cells
Authors: Rahaman Wahida , Chaudhuri Arabinda
Published: November 2023

Transfection into antigen presenting cells (APCs) is a challenging task in DNA/m-RNA vaccination. Mannose receptor (overexpressed in DCs) selective liposomes containing shikimoyl and quionoic head groups were reported earlier for delivering antigen-encoded plasmid DNA to DCs in vivo. Although APCs also have integrin receptors but there is not much report. Herein, we report the integrin receptor selective liposomes of RGDK-lipopeptide I can deliver pCMV-GFP in RAW 264.7 cells (mouse macrophages cells). We also notice more that presence of endosome disrupting histidinylated lipid II increases the transfection efficiency of the liposomes of RGDK-lipopeptide I in RAW 264.7 cells. Future applications of this liposomal DNA vaccine carrier is expected in the development of efficient vaccinations against a variety of infectious illnesses and malignancies.
Crosslinked modified decellularized rabbit conjunctival stroma for reconstruction of tissue-engineered conjunctiva in vitro
Authors: Chen Fangyuan , Li Chaoqun , Liu Jingwen , Dong Yuying , Chen Jian , Zhou Qing
Published: November 2023

Conjunctival reconstruction is an essential part of ocular surface restoration, especially in severe conjunctival disorders. Decellularized conjunctival tissues have been used in tissue engineering. In this study, we investigated the feasibility of constructing tissue-engineered conjunctiva using stem cell (human amniotic epithelial cells, hAECs), and cross-linked modified decellularized rabbit conjunctival stroma (DRCS-Asp-hEGF), and decellularized rabbit conjunctiva stroma (DRCS). With phospholipase A2 and sodium dodecyl, DRCS were nearly DNA-free, structurally intact and showed no cytotoxic effects in vitro, as confirmed by DNA quantification, histology, and immunofluorescence. The results of Fourier transform infrared, Alcian blue staining and human epidermal growth factor (hEGF) release assays showed that DRCS-Asp-hEGF was successfully prepared via crosslinking with aspartic acid (Asp) and modified by hEGF at pH 7.7. The hAECs were positive for octamer-binding transcription factor-4 and ABCG2 cell markers. The hAECs were directly placed on the DRCS and DRCS-Asp-hEGF for five days respectively. Tissue-engineered conjunctiva was constructed in vitro for five days, and the fluorescence staining results showed that hAECs grew in monolayers on DRCS-Asp-hEGF and DRCS. Flow cytometry results showed that compared with DRCS, the number of apoptotic cells stained in DRCS-Asp-hEGF was small, 86.70 ± 0.79% of the cells survived, and 87.59 ± 1.43% of the cells were in the G1 phase of DNA synthesis. Electron microscopy results showed that desmosome junction structures, which were similar to the native conjunctival tissue, were formed between cells and the matrix in the DRCS-Asp-hEGF.
Advances of liquid metal hydrogel composites in biomedical applications
Authors: Chen Junbo , Yan Xiao , Zhang Tianzhen , Yuan Xiao , Zhang Qiang
Published: November 2023

Liquid metals (LMs) and hydrogels each represent advanced frontiers in emerging biomaterials and biomedicine. Hydrogels as a class of three-dimensional polymer networks formed by hydrophilic materials have broadly tunable physicochemical properties and high similarity with biological tissues. LMs, which possess liquid and metallic properties at normal temperature and pressure, are a new type of conductive material that has gained increasing attention. When integrated into hydrogel polymers, LMs act exceptionally as an ‘active’ filler and/or responsive element. The presence of LMs in these composites endows the LM hydrogel composites (LMHGs) with intriguing properties such as self-healing, flexibility, responsiveness, and thermal and electrical conductivity, achieving enhanced and even multifunctional synergistic effects. These properties significantly broaden their applications in various fields (figure 1). This review introduces the categories and featured properties of LMs, including biocompatibility, synthesis methods, surface modifications, response behaviors, and reversible deformation. Advanced biomedical applications of LMHGs involving medical electronics, biomedical engineering (BME), and soft electronics actuators are emphatically summarized. According to the integration mode of LMs and hydrogels, the biomedical soft electronics devices based on microfluidic technology and surface patterning technology as well as their properties are introduced in detail, respectively. The applications of LMHGs in BME mainly include tumor embolotherapy, contrast agent, single-cell amber, wound healing, and drug delivery system. Additionally, although in their infancy stage, the excellent performances of LMHGs described in this review contribute to the development of soft actuators and robots in the future. Finally, the present opportunities and challenges associated with the biological applications of LMHGs are also discussed. And, future development directions are proposed.
Evaluating equity and justice in low-carbon energy transitions
Authors: Kime Sage , Jacome Veronica , Pellow David , Deshmukh Ranjit
Published: November 2023

A low-carbon energy transition is essential for mitigating climate change, but can also cause energy justice and equity impacts on Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC), low-income, and other frontline communities. Examples include exacerbating energy burden, inaccessibility and unaffordability of low-carbon energy and electric end-use technologies, property value loss and displacement from renewable energy siting, and unequal health benefits and employment losses from fossil fuel retirement. To avoid perpetuating historical and creating new injustices, an equitable and just energy transition will require careful planning and execution. To this end, measuring and evaluating the effects of existing and proposed programs and policies aimed at decarbonizing energy systems is critical. However, methods and metrics for evaluating equity effects vary across disciplines and transitions, making it challenging to identify effective evaluation strategies. This paper presents a comprehensive review of the equity implications of low-carbon energy transitions and identifies key metrics that have been used across disciplines to quantify energy injustices and equity impacts. We focus on four key low-carbon energy transitions: (1) renewable energy deployment; (2) fossil fuel infrastructure retirement; (3) transportation electrification; and (4) residential building decarbonization. We classify energy justice and equity metrics into the dimensions of health, access, and livelihood, and construct an analytical framework that supports policymakers, planners and other stakeholders in identifying important equity considerations and quantitatively evaluating the effects of decarbonization initiatives. While our framework can serve as a starting point for evaluating justice and equity impacts of energy transitions, further work is needed to address the limitations of existing metrics and additional evaluation methods will be critical to effect energy transitions that are truly equitable.
Contrasting carbon dioxide removal potential and nutrient feedbacks of simulated ocean alkalinity enhancement and macroalgae afforestation
Authors: Kwiatkowski Lester , Berger Manon , Bopp Laurent , Doléac Stéphane , Ho David T
Published: November 2023

Alongside cuts to emissions, hundreds of gigatons of carbon dioxide removal (CDR) are likely to be required to limit global warming to below 1.5 °C or 2 °C this century. Ocean alkalinity enhancement (OAE) and macroalgae afforestation have received considerable attention within the portfolio of potential CDR options, but their efficacy and constraints remain uncertain. Here we compare the CDR potential and biogeochemical impacts of OAE and macroalgae afforestation in exclusive economic zones (EEZs) using a global high-resolution ocean biogeochemical model. Globally, our simulations indicate the CDR potential of OAE is more than seven times that of macroalgae afforestation for an equivalent mass of either dissolved olivine or harvested wet macroalgae biomass. This difference is predominately attributable to the respective alkalinity content of olivine and carbon content of wet macroalgae biomass. Accounting for potential nutrient impacts on phytoplankton production increases this disparity between the CDR efficiency of OAE and afforestation, and in both cases can result in regions of negative CDR. EEZs with higher CDR in response to OAE consistently exhibit higher CDR in response to macroalgae afforestation. However, nutrient feedbacks are shown to have different EEZ-specific impacts on phytoplankton net primary production. Our simulations indicate that ∼62% of the CDR flux associated with OAE occurs in the EEZ application regions, decreasing to ∼54% if olivine contains iron and silicate and ∼45% for macroalgae afforestation. This suggests that monitoring, reporting, and verification may be problematic for both techniques, as might the allocation of credits toward nationally determined contributions.
Exploring income and racial inequality in preparedness for Hurricane Ida (2021): insights from digital footprint data
Authors: Li Qingchun , Ramaswami Anu , Lin Ning
Published: November 2023

Preparedness for adverse events is critical to building urban resilience to climate-related risks. While most extant studies investigate preparedness patterns based on survey data, this study explores the potential of big digital footprint data (i.e. population visits to points of interest (POI)) to investigate preparedness patterns in the real case of Hurricane Ida (2021). We further investigate income and racial inequality in preparedness by combining the digital footprint data with demographic and socioeconomic data. A clear pattern of preparedness was seen in Louisiana with aggregated visits to grocery stores, gasoline stations, and construction supply dealers increasing by nearly 9%, 12%, and 10% respectively, representing three types of preparedness: survival, mobility planning, and hazard mitigation. Preparedness for Hurricane Ida was not seen in New York and New Jersey states. Inequality analyses for Louisiana across census block groups (CBGs) demonstrate that CBGs with higher income have more (nearly 8% greater) preparedness in visiting gasoline stations, while CBGs with a larger percentage of the white population have more preparedness in visiting grocery stores (nearly 12% more) in the lowest income groups. The results indicate that income and racial inequality differ across different preparedness in terms of visiting different POIs.
Assessing the methane mitigation potential of innovative management in US rice production
Authors: Reavis Colby W , Reba Michele L , Shults Daniel D , Runkle Benjamin R K
Published: November 2023

Rice is an important global crop while also contributing significant anthropogenic methane (CH4) emissions. To support the future of rice production, more information is needed on the impacts of sustainability-driven management used to grow rice with lower associated methane emissions. Recent support for the impacts of different growing practices in the US has prompted the application of a regional methodology (Tier 2) to estimate methane emissions in different rice growing regions. The methodology estimates rice methane emissions from the US Mid-South (MdS) and California (Cal) using region-specific scaling factors applied to a region-specific baseline flux. In our study, we leverage land cover data and soil clay content to estimate methane emissions using this approach, while also examining how changes in common production practices can affect overall emissions in the US. Our results indicated US rice cultivation produced between 0.32 and 0.45 Tg CH4 annually, which were approximately 7% and 42% lower on average compared to Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO) and US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) inventories, respectively. Our estimates were 63% greater on average compared to similar methods that lack regional context. Introducing aeration events into irrigation resulted in the greatest methane reductions across both regions. When accounting for differences between baseline and reduction scenarios, the US MdS typically had higher mitigation potential compared to Cal. The differences in cumulative mitigation potential across the 2008–2020 period were likely driven by lower production area clay content for the US MdS compared to Cal. The added spatial representation in the Tier 2 approach is useful in surveying how impactful methane-reducing practices might be within and across regions.
Deposition of diamond films by microwave plasma CVD on 4H-SiC substrates
Authors: Wei Shasha , Xie Renqi , Li Yuanyou , Meng Jiahao , Lin Rongchuan , Weng Jianchun , Li Bo
Published: November 2023

Diamond films were deposited on 4H-SiC substrates by microwave plasma chemical vapor deposition (MPCVD). The substrate pretreatment method of electrostatic adsorption of seed crystals by nanodiamond suspensions was used, and the nucleation density of diamond on the substrate surface reached 1010/cm2 compared with ultrasonic seed crystals of diamond micro-powder suspensions, and continuous dense diamond films were formed in a shorter growth time. Scanning electron microscopy and Raman spectroscopy were used to characterize the changes of diamond grain morphology and quality with methane concentration, deposition time and substrate temperature during the growth process. The experimental results show that the methane concentration, deposition time and substrate temperature are the key factors affecting the grain shape and quality of diamond. And the best quality of diamond film is obtained at 850 °C substrate temperature.
Pipelines for automating compliance-based elimination and extension (PACE2): a systematic framework for high-throughput biomolecular materials simulation workflows
Authors: Mushnoori Srinivas C , Zang Ethan , Banerjee Akash , Hooten Mason , Merzky Andre , Turilli Matteo , Jha Shantenu , Dutt Meenakshi
Published: November 2023

The formation of biomolecular materials via dynamical interfacial processes, such as self-assembly and fusion, for diverse compositions and external conditions can be efficiently probed using ensemble Molecular Dynamics (MD). However, this approach requires many simulations when investigating a large composition phase space. In addition, there is difficulty in predicting whether each simulation will yield biomolecular materials with the desired properties or outcomes and how long each simulation will run. These difficulties can be overcome by rules-based management systems, including intermittent inspection, variable sampling, and premature termination or extension of the individual MD simulations. Automating such a management system can significantly improve runtime efficiency and reduce the burden of organizing large ensembles of MD simulations. To this end, a computational framework, the Pipelines for Automating Compliance-based Elimination and Extension (PACE2), is proposed for high-throughput ensemble biomolecular materials simulations. The PACE2 framework encompasses Candidate pipelines, where each pipeline includes temporally separated simulation and analysis tasks. When a MD simulation is completed, an analysis task is triggered, which evaluates the MD trajectory for compliance. Compliant simulations are extended to the next MD phase with a suitable sample rate to allow additional, detailed analysis. Non-compliant simulations are eliminated, and their computational resources are reallocated or released. The framework is designed to run on local desktop computers and high-performance computing resources. Preliminary scientific results enabled by the use of PACE2 framework are presented, which demonstrate its potential and validates its function. In the future, the framework will be extended to address generalized workflows and investigate composition-structure-property relations for other classes of materials.
Roll-to-roll double side electrode processing for the development of pre-lithiated 80 F lithium-ion capacitor prototypes
Authors: Arnaiz María , Canal-Rodríguez María , Martin-Fuentes Silvia , Carriazo Daniel , Villaverde Aitor , Ajuria Jon
Published: November 2023

Lithium-ion capacitors (LICs) show promise to help lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) and electrical double layer capacitors (EDLCs) in giving response to those applications that require an energy storage solution. However, pre-lithiation is a major challenge that needs to be tackled in order to develop efficient and long-lasting LIBs and LICs. In this work, we report for the first time the scale-up and utilization of sacrificial salts (dilithium squarate, Li2C4O4) as a pre-lithiation strategy in a LIC prototype fabricated in a pilot line. The synthesis of the sacrificial salt is scaled-up to produce 1 kg and is later incorporated in the positive electrode during the slurry formulation. After in-depth process optimization, 12 meter of a double side electrode are fabricated, achieving a high mass loading of 5.5 mg cm−2 for the HC negative electrode, and 14 mg cm−2 for the positive electrode accounting both the activated carbon and the dilithium squarate. On account of the satisfactory mechanical and electrochemical behaviour of the electrodes, multilayer pouch cell LIC prototypes are fabricated reaching 80 F each. Pre-lithiation is completed during the first ten cycles and after the required gas exhaustion, electrochemical performance of prototypes is also satisfactory. Moreover, fabricated pouch cells overcome a float test of 1600 h at 50 °C showing a capacitance retention of 84.3%. These results give clear evidence for the potential use of this strategy in real products and can foster research in the field to promote pre-lithiation by means of sacrificial salts as the final solution to the pre-lithiation step, both for LIBs and LICs.
Design and validation of indicators for the comprehensive measurement of quality of care for type 2 diabetes and acute respiratory infections in ambulatory health services
Authors: Reyes-Morales Hortensia , Flores-Hernández Sergio , Díaz-Portillo Sandra Patricia , Serván-Mori Edson , Escalante-Castañón André , Hegewisch-Taylor Jennifer , Dreser-Mansilla Anahí
Published: November 2023

Developing ambulatory health services (AHS) of optimal quality is a pending issue for many health systems at a global level, especially in middle- and low-income countries. An effective health response requires indicators to measure the quality of care that are context-specific and feasible for routine monitoring. This paper aimed to design and validate indicators for assessing the technical and interpersonal quality dimensions for type 2 diabetes (T2D) and acute respiratory infections (ARI) care in AHS. The study was conducted in two stages. First, technical and user-centered-based indicators of quality of care for T2D and ARI care were designed following international recommendations, mainly from the American Diabetes Association standards and the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidelines. We then assessed the validity, reliability, relevance, and feasibility of the proposed indicators implementing the modified Delphi technique. A panel of 17 medical experts from five countries scored the indicators using two electronic questionnaires, one for each reason for consultation selected, sent by email in two sequential rounds of rating. We defined the levels of consensus according to the overall median for each performance category, which was established as the threshold. Selected indicators included those with scores equal to or higher than the threshold. We designed 36 T2D indicators, of which 16 were validated for measuring the detection of risks and complications, glycemic control, pharmacological treatment, and patient-centered care. Out of the 22 indicators designed for ARI, we validated 10 for diagnosis, appropriate prescription of antimicrobials, and patient-centered care. The validated indicators showed consistency for the dimensions analyzed. Hence, they proved to be a potentially reliable and valuable tool for monitoring the performance of the various T2D and ARI care processes in AHS. Further research will be needed to verify the applicability of the validated indicators in routine clinical practice.
Measuring mechanical properties with high-speed atomic force microscopy
Authors: Ganser Christian , Uchihashi Takayuki
Published: November 2023

High-speed atomic force microscopy (HS-AFM) is now a widely used technique to study the dynamics of single biomolecules and complex structures. In the past, it has mainly been used to capture surface topography as structural analysis, leading to important discoveries not attainable by other methods. Similar to conventional AFM, the scope of HS-AFM was recently expanded to encompass quantities beyond topography, such as the measurement of mechanical properties. This review delves into various methodologies for assessing mechanical properties, ranging from semi-quantitative approaches to precise force measurements and their corresponding sample responses. We will focus on the application to single proteins such as bridging integrator-1, ion channels such as Piezo1, complex structures such as microtubules and supramolecular fibers. In all these examples, the unique combination of quantifiable force application and high spatiotemporal resolution allows to unravel mechanisms that cannot be investigated by conventional means.
Is Alec a rapist?
Authors: Rowson Martin
Published: November 2023

There has been an interesting slippage in critical discussion of the climax of ‘Phase the First’ (‘The Maiden’) of Hardy’s Tess of the d’Urbervilles: A Pure Woman over the last century. Victorian critics, to a man and woman, assume that the luckless maiden is at least partly the author of her own misfortune. As Mowbray Morris put it in the Quarterly Review (April 1892):

For the first half of his story the reader may indeed conceive it to have been Mr Hardy’s design to show how a woman essentially honest and pure at heart will, through the adverse shocks of fate, eventually rise to higher things. But if this were his original purpose he must have forgotten it before his tale was told, or perhaps the ‘true sequence of things’ was too strong for him. For what are the higher things to which this poor creature eventually rises? She rises through seduction to adultery, murder and the gallows.
Why is Griffin cold?
Authors: Rowson Martin
Published: November 2023

H. G. Wells was keen that his ‘scientific romances’ should be just that –– scientific. He devotes a whole section of The Invisible Man (Chapter 19, ‘Certain First Principles’) to authentication of the central concept in the novel. It is, for the lay-reader at least, an extraordinarily plausible performance. ‘Have you already forgotten your physics?’, Griffin asks his old class-mate, Kemp, before launching into a lecture on optics:

‘Of course, of course’, responds Kemp, suddenly remembering his undergraduate physics, ‘I was thinking only last night of the sea larvae and all jelly-fish!’

Wells managed to finesse the business about the black pigment in hair by making Griffin albino. But one feature of his invisibility hypothesis continued to bother the author, and evidently remained insolubly inauthentic.
Does Dickens lynch Fagin?
Authors: Rowson Martin
Published: November 2023

The above title might be rephrased: ‘Does Dickens lynch Fagin? or is “the Jew” executed fairly, after due process of law?’ In Can Jane Eyre Be Happy? I pointed to what struck me as a number of oddities in the trial which climaxes Oliver Twist. Specifically:

1. We are never distinctly told what offence (let alone what capital crime) Fagin has committed.

2. Dickens gives no direct description of the court proceedings, focusing instead (with great literary effect) on Fagin’s distracted reactions.
What is Henry Esmond’s ‘great scheme’?
Authors: Rowson Martin
Published: November 2023

I have read The History of Henry Esmond many times and have examined the manuscript and written on changes Thackeray made to it. I have transcribed the notebook which the author compiled for the novel, and have even edited the novel itself (not, unfortunately, for Oxford World’s Classics). But I cannot make sense of the Restoration plot which makes up the main business of Henry Esmond’s third volume. Nor have I read any account which does make sense of it. Commentators and editors (including myself and the Oxford World’s Classics editor) tactfully ignore the problem as something insoluble and best passed over.
Setting Out
Authors: Robinson Jane
Published: November 2023

Well, it is a bit of a strange concept. Why on earth should a perfectly respectable, well-looked-after and domestically fulfilled woman wish to do anything so unsettling, unproductive, and unladylike as travelling abroad? And even given that one or two misfits might, surely they shouldn’t be allowed to write about it and expect to be taken seriously? Of course, by the time this little piece appeared in Punch the woman traveller was a familiar (if not yet quite respectable) phenomenon in Britain, but, writing soon after fifteen ladies had finally broached the forbidden frontiers of the Royal Geographical Society by being elected Fellows, its author knew a good controversy when he saw it and was only too eager to enter the fray.
‘The Continent’
Authors: Robinson Jane
Published: November 2023

What a pioneer was Miss Strutt, to dare to leave the seemly shores of Britain and set out into the unknown unprotected (which naturally means without a man). For even though France is only next door, and the countries immediately beyond it quite easily accessible, its visitors until the time at which Elizabeth was writing were usually gentlemen embarking on their Grand Tours (occasionally with a new bride or well-heeled family in tow) or going about their foreign business. Rarely did a woman alone— a lady alone, I should say—venture abroad. And if one should, like Mrs Calderwood (for whom, as a particularly Scots Scot, England was quite as outlandish as anywhere over the sea), it was almost one’s patriotic duty to disapprove. Indeed some tourists, Mary Boddington and Frances Elliot amongst them, made quite an art of it.
Africa
Authors: Robinson Jane
Published: November 2023

I had a farm in Africa, at the foot of the Ngong Hills. The Equator runs across these highlands, a hundred miles to the North, and the farm lay at an altitude of over six thousand feet. In the day-time you felt that you had got high up, near to the sun, but the early mornings and evenings were limpid and restful, and the nights were cold. The geographical position, and the height of the land combined to create a landscape that had not its like in all the world. There was no fat on it and no luxuriance anywhere; it was Africa distilled up through six thousand feet, like the strong and refined essence of a continent. The colours were dry and burnt, like the colours in pottery.
The Indian Subcontinent
Authors: Robinson Jane
Published: November 2023

Many and varied are the difficulties which beset a woman, when she first exchanges her European home and its surroundings for the vicissitudes of life in the tropics. Few can realise the sacrifices they will be called upon to make in taking such a decided step; many home comforts, and the host of nameless social fascinations, so dear to a woman’s heart, have to be given up, while the attractions offered by the irresistible ‘day’s shopping’, the box at the opera, a few of our summer recreations, and nearly all our winter amusements, must be temporarily relegated to the list of past pleasures.
Coming Home
Authors: Robinson Jane
Published: November 2023

Rachel and I began to learn to ride a bicycle, a gentle art now affected by all the gentler sex, old and young alike, even in some instances the halt and the lame. I soon caught the spirit of it (one always does catch the spirit of the age somehow, I don’t quite know why). We had lessons in the Henrietta Park, where a fair youth from Wallace’s Cycle Depot spent his time running behind us as we rode, holding me on at first and averting a fall where he could. But I think I acquired the art fairly quickly, for when I went to Bournemouth just before Christmas, with the Guises, I had only had four lessons and managed to get along on my hired machine. The broad, winding roads through the pinewoods were just made for cycling.
The brain
Authors: Peters A M , Myers M J
Published: November 2023

Like renal blood flow, cerebral blood flow is autoregulated. Thus changes in arterial perfusion pressure are met by corresponding changes in cerebrovascular resistance. Normal mean cerebral blood flow is about 55 ml/100 g/min and falls during hypotension only when arterial pressure falls below 60 mm Hg. Between about 25 and 55 ml/100 g/min, perfusion is said to be in the oligaemic zone but no functional disturbances ensue because the brain is able to maintain its oxygen requirements by increasing oxygen extraction efficiency. The ischae mic zone extends over a perfusion range of about 10 to 25 ml/100 g/min within which there are functional neuronal disturbances but they are reversible if oxygen delivery is restored.
Body fluids, electrolytes and bone
Authors: Peters A M , Myers M J
Published: November 2023

Body water is either intracellular or extracellular. The extracellular fluid (ECF) is divided between plasma and interstitial fluid. In terms of electro lyte composition, the ECF differs from the intracellular fluid mainly with respect to potas sium, sodium and chloride. The solutes of the ECF exchange relatively rapidly between plasma and interstitial fluid, although with some fluids, the turnover is slow. These include ocular fluid cerebrospinal fluid, and serosal fluids such as i the pleura and peritoneum. Exchange is slow because these fluids are separated from plasma by an epithelial layer. They make up a minor sub compartment of the ECF called the transcellular fluid.
Puerperal psychosis
Authors: Brockington Ian
Published: November 2023

It would be ideal to start this chapter with a definition, but this is one of the greatest difficulties. Definition includes intension (essence) and extension (boundaries). The first is easy. It has long been recognized that one of the occasional hazards of the puerperium is the abrupt onset of an acute mental disturbance, which has been called ‘puerperal mania’, ‘puerperal insanity’ or ‘puerperal psychosis’. These terms refer to a severe mental illness, which appears suddenly and unexpectedly shortly after childbirth. The boundaries or limits of the phenomenon, however, are difficult to determine, and much of this chapter is a search for a coherent and defensible standpoint.
Services
Authors: Brockington Ian
Published: November 2023

Helping mothers of young families, with psychiatric problems, is one of the main challenges for the mental health services; it also provides one of the best opportunities for a preventive approach. At present one cannot take pride in the achievements of psychiatry in this area. There are no services which demonstrate a comprehensive therapeutic and preventive approach. Even in Britain, good services are islands in a sea of neglect.

Pregnancy-related services are given a low priority compared with other psychia tric services, e.g. those for dementia, chronic psychosis or addictions.
Design of Enzyme Inhibitors as Drugs, Volume 2
Authors: Gadioli E , Hodgson P E
Published: November 2023

A high proportion of drugs currently coming to market exert their action in the body by inhibition of a target enzyme involved in a particular body function or in a bacterium, protozoon, or virus causing an infection. This book extends the previous volume in providing a comprehensive coverage of more recently recognised target enzymes and their known inhibitors, and within this framework of knowledge demonstrates how the drug designer uses all available information to develop a specific therapeutic agent. Drug design is an interdisciplinary art and the text illustrates the pathway followed from the initial design concept and synthesis of an inhibitor through its in vitro and in vivo assessments to clinical trial, a process involving chemists, biochemists, pharmacologies, and clinicians.
Surgical infection
Authors: Farrington Mark
Published: November 2023

Before considering the prevention, investigation, and treatment of surgical infection, it is important to know the range of microbes that are of surgical relevance and to understand the principles of the pathogenesis of infection. The terms ‘microbe’, ‘micro-organism’, and ‘organism’ are generally used inter changeably for plants or animals that cannot be seen without microscopes and do not form organized multicellular tissues. Microbes of significance to the surgeon belong to one of four groups: bacteria, fungi, protozoa, and viruses.
Breast surgery
Authors: Saunders Christabel , McGregor John
Published: November 2023

When a woman presents with a breast problem, concern about malignancy is often uppermost in her mind. Virtually every woman who discovers a breast problem assumes the worst, despite the fact that less than 10 per cent of breast pathology is malignant. The surgeon’s initial role is to rapidly and accurately establish the diagnosis and to advise the patient about the options for treatment. The most important diagnostic error to avoid is wrongly labelling a lesion benign when it later turns out to be malignant. This means that when dealing with persistent, non cyclical, breast symptoms, undefined breast lumps, or question able lesions on imaging, a high degree of suspicion should be employed. Where clinical appearance and other investigations are equivocal, biopsy must be the final arbiter.
Principles Of Psychopathology
Authors: Cutting J
Published: November 2023

Psychopathology is the study of the signs and symptoms of psychiatric disorders - delusions, hallucinations, phobias, depression, for example. This book gives an account of the terms currently in use and attempts an in-depth analysis of the nature of each. The matter is examined both from a philosophical perspective and from the point of view of what is known about the function of the hemispheres of the brain.
Body
Authors: Cutting J
Published: November 2023

According to van Peursen (1966) the main element in primitive man’s view of himself was a pervasive sense of alienation from his body and the world, combined with an indissoluble bond with the social and mythological structure of his kinship: Soul and body are neither of them well defined and demarcated … What he does recognise, in him and all around him, is a world of strange forces with a quality of otherness … The act of breathing … the blood oozing rich and red from the wounded flesh … exhibit something of this mysterious power ... In and by himself a man is not really a finished product. He cannot be cut loose from the social pattern within which alone he comes to be himself.
Critical incident analysis: cases and patterns
Authors: O’Dowd Thomas
Published: November 2023

In the first chapter of his book Epidemiology in country practice, William Pickles grabs attention with the following account: A gypsy woman driving a caravan into a village in the summer twilight, a sick husband in the caravan, a faulty pump at which she proceeded to wash her dirty linen, and my first and only serious epidemic of typhoid left me with a lasting impression of the unique opportunities of the country doctor for the investigation of infectious disease. (Pickles 1983) Pickles was aware of the importance of examining a critical and unusual event in his practice. Because of his knowledge of the Broad Street pump he was able to interpret and understand that event, and use it to make a change which would improve the health of his patients in Wensleydale.
Auditing audit
Authors: Lawrence Martin
Published: November 2023

Medical audit is an integral part of the medical care carried out by primary health care teams. It has several objectives—to improve patient services, to provide accountability, to stimulate education, to improve morale, and to stimulate research. It consumes resources, both of time and money, and has opportunity costs. As such, it is a topic of care which itself is amenable to audit. Again, like any other topic of care it can be assessed with regard to structure, process, and outcome; and, as usual, structure is easiest to assess and outcome most difficult. But only if we have some evidence that medical audit produces positive outcomes is it worth reviewing structure and process.
The input-output principle
Authors: Cruickshank Steven
Published: November 2023

The input-output principle (IOP) is an extremely simple yet astonishingly fertile idea in physiological modelling. The application of the principle is central to the quantitative approach to many physiological problems, and enables us to write equations which —if we can solve them —allow a more or less approximate description of the behaviour of the real physiological system. This book is more concerned with the modelling process than the details of the mathematical solution of the equations.
Modelling pulmonary air embolism
Authors: Cruickshank Steven
Published: November 2023

Pulmonary air embolism (PAE) is a danger in various operative procedures, notably during surgery on cervical spine or structures in the posterior fossa carried out in the sitting position. There are various methods of detecting when this has occurred. One of the long-established methods is end-tidal CO2 (FE’co2) monitoring; the occurrence of venous air embolism is associated with a fall in the level of CO2 in the end-tidal breath, and this is displayed on capnography. We shall model the effects of PAE on the CO2 economy of the body, by building on the steady state and step change in VA models. We shall make some sweeping simplifying assumptions but still end up with a model that is considerably more complex than the previous ones we have met.
Receptors and agonists
Authors: Cruickshank Steven
Published: November 2023

We have studied the time course of drug action and how this may be modelled pharmacokinetics. Now we turn to the effects of the drug at its site of action pharmacodynamics. The concept of drug receptors was formulated by Clark in the 1920s and, despite refinements, the basic concept of a ligand interacting with a receptor in accordance with the Law of Mass Action remains valid. A ligand is a simply a molecule that binds to a receptor site. It may be a natural substance such as noradrenaline or a synthetic one such as isoprenaline. It may or may not pro duce some measurable effect. If an effect is produced, the ligand is an agonist at that receptor. We shall concentrate upon the mathematical models that the receptor concept predicts. Further details of receptor theory are available in any pharmacology text.
Linear functions
Authors: Cruickshank Steven
Published: November 2023

Linear functions are extremely familiar and are easy to handle; they are the mathematics of tea-making-'one spoon per person and one for the pot'. Linear functions are the simplest non-constant functions and are often used as a 'default' even when a more complex relationship is suspected, as we did in the air embolism modelling example ( 1.12). They are so easily manipulated that it is often worth-while to search for a transformation that will convert non-linear relationships to linear ones. This is what we did with the Hill (1.14.4) and Schild plots, (1.15.3) and in estimating rate constants in exponential processes using log transformations (2.9.JO).
IOP revisited
Authors: Cruickshank Steven
Published: November 2023

In many of the models developed in this book, you may have been tempted to question the assumptions made or have felt that the model could be improved in some way by taking account of other factors which may behave differently from the assumptions. For instance, we blithely took a respiratory quotient of unity in all of our respiratory models simply because it made things easier. This does not mean that the RQ actually is unity-it is usually about 0.8. The predictions of our models will not therefore match reality exactly; the general pattern will not usually be affected by such simplifications, but the precise predictions will. It is open to you to improve the models.
Growth and development
Authors: Bender David A , Bender Arnold E
Published: November 2023

As discussed in Chapter 12, children are most at risk from undernutrition, and assessment of growth provides a sensitive index of their nutritional status, albeit confounded by the effects of infection and emotional and metabolic stress. For individual assessment, the child’s measurements are compared with standards for the weight or height achieved at a given age, or weight for height. For population studies, the distribution of weight, height or height for age in the group being studied should be compared with the distribution in a reference population.
Niacin and tryptophan
Authors: Bender David A , Bender Arnold E
Published: November 2023

Niacin is unusual among the vitamins in that it was discovered as a chemical compound, nicotinic acid produced by the oxidation of nicotine, in 1867- long before there was any suspicion that it might have a role in nutrition. Its metabolic function as part of what was then called Coenzyme II (NADP) was discovered in 1935-again before its nutritional significance was known. Therefore, it has never been assigned a number among the B vitamins; although it is conventionally placed between vitamins B2 and B6, it is not correct to refer to niacin as vitamin B3, a name that was originally applied to what was probably pantothenic acid (see section 23.2 and Table 23.1).
Biotin, pantothenic acid and other organic compounds
Authors: Bender David A , Bender Arnold E
Published: November 2023

In addition to the vitamins discussed in previous chapters, a number of compounds have clearly defined functions in the body. Two of them, biotin (vitamin H, see section 23.1) and pantothenic acid (see section 23.2), cannot be synthesized in the body, and are therefore dietary essentials. However, they are not nutritionally important, since they are sufficiently widespread in foods for deficiency to be more or less unknown, and there are no firm estimates of requirements.
Mineral nutrition
Authors: Bender David A , Bender Arnold E
Published: November 2023

Any mineral for which a metabolic or physiological function has been determined is, by definition, a dietary essential. The various functions of minerals include forming the mineral of the skeleton (a structural role), membrane function (trans-membrane ion gradients), prosthetic groups of enzymes (probably one-third of all enzymes require a metal ion or a metal derived prosthetic group), and metabolic and cell regulation and hormone action. In addition, a number of minerals are known to be dietary essentials, but as yet no metabolic functions have been defined, and some minerals have (beneficial) effects in the body, but these are probably pharmacological actions rather than reflecting a true essential function and dietary requirement. In Table 25.1 the minerals are listed under these functions; some have more than one function, and appear . under more than one heading. Table 25.2 shows the total body content, and Table 25.3 the plasma concentrations, of minerals.
Purchasing ultrasonic equipment for use in obstetrics and gynaecology
Authors: McDicken V N
Published: November 2023

The selection of an ultrasonic scanner is a decision which may have to be lived with for as long as 10 years. A thorough professional approach to the selection is, therefore, highly desirable. Taking the advice of a friend or colleague in another department may be very helpful but it is rarely a careful appraisal of all the options. If possible, before any machine is considered, a specification should be drawn up of the requirements for both present and projected future clinical applications. Table 8.1 is an example of a specification for a unit to be used over an extensive range of state-of-the-art clinical applications.
Compendium of prenatal diagnoses using ultrasound
Authors: Connor J M
Published: November 2023

This compendium aims to provide, in tabular form, details of prenatal diagnoses which have been achieved using ultrasound. In addition to diagnosis using ultrasound (349 entries) it also includes prenatal diagnoses accomplished using other imaging modalities (fetoscopy, radiography, magnetic resonance imaging, and fetal echocardiography — 24 entries).
Historical and theoretical background
Authors: Jolly Brian
Published: November 2023

My method, hitherto unknown here, and possibly anywhere else, is to lead my students by the hand to the practice of medicine, taking them every day to see patients in the public hospital, that they may hear the patients’ symptoms and see their physical findings. Then I question the students as to what they have noted in the patients and about their thoughts and perceptions regarding the causes of the illnesses and the principles of treatment. Sylvius 1679, p. 907Clinical exposure is an important part of medical training. The intention of this chapter will be to illuminate some of the characteristics and products of learning, by medical students, in the clinical setting. The studies referred to here were carried out in the context of courses in the UK, Canada, and Australia. Most were completed during a period in which the primary location of clinical teaching was the ward, the lecture theatre, or the out-patient clinic, all usually in a large teaching hospital. As pointed out in Chapters 1 and 4, the movement of clinical education into the community has been slow to materialize and confined to a small number of (mostly new) schools. Nevertheless ‘hospital’ based educational research has covered a wide variety of learning environments and includes the structure and function of clinical attachments, ward based teaching (including bedside teaching), the learning of technical skills, academic work in a clinical context, and the use of out-patients.
Managing change
Authors: Gale Rodney , Grant Janet
Published: November 2023

There is an extensive and rapidly growing literature on the management of change. There is, growing in parallel, a realization that the context of change is important to its process and its outcome (Pettigrew 1985). Beneath all writings on change lie theories and views about the ways organizations function and the ways people operate within them. Spurgeon and Barwell (1991) have reviewed many of these in the context of the National Health Service.