Paracetamol poisoning in the north east of England: presentation, early management and outcome

1. Paracetamol is increasingly involved in self-poisoning in the United Kingdom and remains a common cause of fatal poisoning. 2. To document the epidemiology and early management of paracetamol poisoning data were collected on consecutive patients with suspected paracetamol poisoning presenting to 6 hospitals in the North East of England over 12 weeks in 1994. 3. There were 400 presentations (attendance rate 1.14/10(3) population/yr) involving 343 persons (45% male). Paracetamol concentrations at 4 h correlated weakly with reported paracetamol dose (R = 0.49, P < 0.0001) and were similar comparing those treated and not treated by gastric decontamination. 4. In 38 (9%) cases paracetamol concentrations were above the appropriate nomogram treatment line, including 3% and 20% of patients who reported ingesting less than and more than 12 g respectively. In 21 patients acetylcysteine treatment was deferred until admission to the ward, the mean delay involved was 2.8 h. 5. One patient died, from arrhythmias caused by co-ingested dothiepin. 6. Paracetamol poisoning is common. Most cases do not have potentially toxic plasma paracetamol concentrations, but those who do often present late and antidotal treatment may be delayed inappropriately.     

A modular approach for probe-fed and capacitively coupledmultilayered patch arrays

We present a modular technique for analyzing probe-fed, multilayered microstrip phased-array antennas. Each patch layer is assumed to be infinite in extent and represented by its generalized scattering matrix (GSM) with respect to a finite number of Floquet modes. For multilayer patch analysis, the individual GSMs are combined appropriately to yield the overall GSM of the structure. The individual GSM are obtained using the Galerkin method. The probe layer is represented by its generalized impedance matrix (GIM) which is deduced using Floquet modal analysis and the variational method. The GSMs and GIM are combined appropriately to yield the input impedance seen by the probe. Numerical results computed with this technique are shown to agree favorably with available data. Results for two-layered patch arrays and capacitively coupled patches are also presented     

Distinction between enzymically and chemically catalyzed interesterification

The 1,3-specific lipase-catalyzed interesterified fats were distinguished from chemically catalyzed products by the fatty acids in the 2-position. The fatty acid contents in the 2-position of the 1,3-lipase-catalyzed and the original triglycerides were similar but different from that of chemically interesterified fat. Also, the saturated-to-unsaturated fatty acid ratio in the 2-monoglycerides was lower for the 1,3-specific lipase-catalyzed interesterified fats than for the corresponding chemical products.     

Acidolysis Reaction of Sal Fat (Shorea robusta) with Palmitic Acid

Acidolysis reaction of sal fat (Shorea robusta) with palmitic acid has been studied in relation to the operating variables like catalyst system and concentration, reaction temperature and time and molar ratios of reactants with the object of introducing more palmitic acid which is low in sal fat. The results demonstrate that as low as 2.5% and as high as 39% palmitic acid can be introduced in sal fat at the expense of other acids under the influence of various operating conditions. The products obtained differ from original sal fat in respect of chemical composition and slip point. The importance of such study is that there are possibilities of getting plastic fats of diverse properties for edible and industrial uses.     

Improvement of polymer blend properties by changing sequence of mixing

The basic objective of this article is to improve the polymer blend properties by changing mixing sequence. Blending of two elastomers does not lead to a molecularly homogeneous blend (true solution), but to a heterogeneous system in which both polymer phases are present. In this article, the detailed study of heterogeneous distribution of carbon black as well as blend inhomogenity and the physicomechanical including dynamic mechanical properties of the blend has been carried out. The choice of the blend was natural rubber/polybutadiene rubber as 85:15. Heterogeneous carbon black distribution study was also performed in differential scanning calorimeter. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 104: 2735–2742, 2007     

Viscous flow past a porous sphere with an impermeable core : effect of stress jump condition

An arbitrary flow of a viscous, incompressible fluid past a porous sphere of radius `a' with an impermeable core of radius `b', using Brinkman's equation in the porous region is discussed. At the interface of the clear fluid and porous region, stress jump boundary condition for the tangential stresses along with the continuity of normal stresses and the velocity components are used. On the surface of the impermeable core no slip condition is used. The corresponding Faxen's laws are derived to compute the drag and torque acting on the surface r=a. It is found that the drag and torque not only change with the change of the permeability, but also a significant effect of the stress jump co-efficient is observed. The variation of drag and torque with permeability for different thickness (a-b) of the porous region as well as for different values of stress jump coefficient is discussed when the basic flow is due to uniform flow, two dimensional irrotational flow, doublet in a uniform flow, stokeslet, rotlet. In case of uniform flow the flow field has been plotted. In all the cases, a significant effect of the stress jump coefficient has been realized.     

Conducting blends of poly(o‐toluidine) and ethylene–propylene–diene terpolymer

Poly(o‐toluidine) (POT) is an electroactive polymer with poor mechanical and thermal characteristics. We examined the scope for improving such properties by making blends of POT with ethylene–propylene–diene rubber (EPDM). We prepared POT–EPDM blends containing different weight fractions of POT by intimately mixing known volumes of separate solutions of the two polymers (POT in THF and EPDM in toluene). Films of EPDM and POT–EPDM blends in solution were obtained by spreading, solvent evaporation, and film casting techniques. POT, EPDM, and their blends were characterized in solution by ultraviolet‐visible spectroscopy, and the respective dried samples were analyzed by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and thermogravimetry. The polymer samples were further analyzed morphologically by scanning electron microscopy, and their tensile strengths were also evaluated. Spectroscopic and thermal studies of the blends indicated some sort of interaction between the two constituent polymers. The direct current electrical conductivity of the blends in increasing order of POT loading (12.5–100%) was in the range 9.9 × 10^?5 to 11.6 × 10^?2 S cm^?1. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 88: 2550–2555, 2003     

Radiation-induced copolymerization of trioxane with tetrahydrofuran

Radiation-initiated copolymerization of solid trioxane (TOX) with tetrahydrofuran (THF) was investigated. The effects of radiation dose, THF concentration, and post-polymerization temperature and duration on copolymer yield and THF incorporation were studied. These results are compared with the results of TOX homopolymerization under identical conditions. Copolymer yield was lower than that of homopolymer. Only a fraction of charged THF entered into the polymer chain. THF content and radiation dose also altered the MW of the copolymer but it showed better thermal stability. The initial reaction rates of the copolymerization were determined and from these the activation energy was found to be 36.2 kcal mol^?1.     

Preparation of dibasic acid-containing soy phospholipids by chemical and enzyme-catalyzed transesterification and evaluation of their surface-active properties

The preparation of dibasic acid-containing soy phospholipid was made by transesterification reaction with alkyl ester of diabasic acid with both lipase and alkoxide as a catalyst. The extent of incorporation of a dibasic acid varied with the molecular size of the dibasic acid. The extent of incorporation in soy phospholipids was 4–13% in the case of adipic acid and 9–20% in the case of sebacic acid. The surface-active properties of these modified soy phospholipids were examined and were found to be different from those of the original (unmodified) soy phospholipid. The interfacial properties such as critical micelle concentration (CMC), γ_CMC, surface excess concentration Γ_max, and minimum area per molecule (Å), and thermodynamic parameters such as standard free energy of micellization, were found to depend on the hydrophobic part of the dibasic acids.     

Reactively compatibilised polyamide6/ethylene-co-vinyl acetate blends: mechanical properties and morphology

Mechanical properties and morphological studies of compatibilised blends of PA6/EVA-g-MA and PA6/EVA/EVA-g-MA were studied as functions of maleic anhydride content (MA) and dispersed phase (EVA-g-MA) concentrations, respectively at blending composition of 20 wt% dispersed phase (EVA-g-MA or combination of EVA and EVA-g-MA). The maleic anhydride (MA) was varied from 1 to 6 wt% in the PA6/EVA-g-MA blend, whereas MA concentration was fixed at 2 wt% in the ternary compositions with varying level of EVA-g-MA. ATR-IR spectroscopy revealed the formation of in situ copolymer during reactive compatibilisation of PA6 and EVA-g-MA. It was found that notched Izod impact strength of PA6/EVA-g-MA blends increased significantly with MA content in EVA-g-MA. The brittle to tough transition temperature of reactively compatibilised blends was found to be at 23 °C. The impact fractured surface topology reveals extensive deformation in presence of EVA-g-MA whereas; uncompatibilised PA6/EVA blend shows dislodging of EVA domains from the matrix. Tensile strength of the PA6/EVA-g-MA blends increased significantly as compared to PA6/EVA blends. Analysis of the tensile data using predictive theories showed an enhanced interaction of the dispersed phase and the matrix. It is observed from the phase morphological analysis that the average domain size of the PA6/EVA-g-MA blends is found to decrease gradually with increase in MA content of EVA-g-MA. A similar decrease is also found to observe in PA6/EVA/EVA-g-MA blends with increase in EVA-g-MA content, which suggest the coalescence process is slower in presence of EVA-g-MA. An attempt has been made to correlate between impact strength and morphological parameters with regard to the compatibilised system over the uncompatibilised system.