Audit and its impact in the management of early prostatic cancer

An analysis was made of a prospective database of 614 men with newly diagnosed carcinoma of the prostate who presented between January 1978 and December 1990; 3-monthly updates were available on their clinical, haematological and biochemical parameters and 6-monthly updates on chest X-rays, bone scans and skeletal X-rays. It was found that 107 men (mean age 73.5 years) had early disease at presentation. Their management was based on regular surveillance and the treatment deferred until disease progression or development of symptoms. The audit of outcome measured various clinical events. Four patients (3.7%) developed local failure, 11 (10.3%) developed bone metastases, 3 (2.8%) died of cancer with a median survival of 6.3 years, and 34 (31.8%) died of intercurrent disease with a median survival of 2.6 years. The observed survival for 12 years of the whole group was similar to the expected survival for an age-matched population in Scotland. The standardised mortality ratio was 81 (95% confidence limits 57-112).     

A design procedure based on limit analysis for a pad reinforced nozzle in a spherical pressure vessel

A limit analysis of a pad reinforced flush nozzle in a spherical pressure vessel has been published previously. A procedure for the design of a pad reinforced nozzle is proposed using the analysis and based on equating the limit pressure to the vessel test pressure. Design charts are presented for the case where the length of the reinforcing pad is that required to achieve the maximum limit pressure for a given set of dimensional parameters and also for the case where the length of the reinforcing pad is the minimum specified in present design codes. In all cases the amount of pad reinforcement required is greater than that for integral reinforcement using the same design principles.     

A comparison of the quality of carbon black dispersions prepared by dry and wet grind processes

Conclusions  We have investigated the deflocculation mechanism of waterborne jet black dispersions made in the dry-grind process based on the two-roll milling. We also compared this dry-grind process with the conventional wet media grind process. As a result, we found that:

Pruritus: Is there a grain of salty truth?

Hemodialysis patients characteristically suffer from a range of unpleasant symptoms. Uremic pruritus effects close to half of the chronic kidney disease population, reducing quality of life and associated with increased mortality. Its pathophysiology though is poorly understood; currently deployed therapeutic approaches are ineffective. Excessive levels of skin and soft tissue sodium accumulate in dialysis patients, producing a range of biological consequences, including inflammation. We report an index case of a hemodialysis patient with debilitating pruritus and extreme levels of tissue sodium, measured with Sodium-23 magnetic resonance imaging. Both the tissue sodium loading and pruritus responded fully to initiation of expanded hemodialysis therapy with a recently introduced medium cutoff dialysis membrane-based dialyzer.     

Short-term memory for reaching to visual targets: psychophysical evidence for body-centered reference frames

Pointing to a remembered visual target involves the transformation of visual information into an appropriate motor output, with a passage through short-term memory storage. In an attempt to identify the reference frames used to represent the target position during the memory period, we measured errors in pointing to remembered three-dimensional (3D) targets. Subjects pointed after a fixed delay to remembered targets distributed within a 22 mm radius volume. Conditions varied in terms of lighting (dim light or total darkness), delay duration (0.5, 5.0, and 8.0 sec), effector hand (left or right), and workspace location. Pointing errors were quantified by 3D constant and variable errors and by a novel measure of local distortion in the mapping from target to endpoint positions. The orientation of variable errors differed significantly between light and dark conditions. Increasing the memory delay in darkness evoked a reorientation of variable errors, whereas in the light, the viewer-centered variability changed only in magnitude. Local distortion measurements revealed an anisotropic contraction of endpoint positions toward an "average" response along an axis that points between the eyes and the effector arm. This local contraction was present in both lighting conditions. The magnitude of the contraction remained constant for the two memory delays in the light but increased significantly for the longer delays in darkness. These data argue for the separate storage of distance and direction information within short-term memory, in a reference frame tied to the eyes and the effector arm.     

Standard potential determinations for the magnesium and magnesium amalgam electrodes and conductance data for magnesium salts in selected aprotic solvents

Standard potentials for the magnesium and magnesium amalgam electrodes relative to the silver electrode have been determined in dimethylformamide (DMF), propylene carbonate (PC) and acetonitrile (AN) solutions at ambient temperature (295 ± 2K) from emf measurements obtained using both stationary pool and flowing amalgam electrodes. Specific and molar conductance data are also presented for MgCl₂ and Mg(ClO₄)₂ solutions in DMF, PC, AN and γ-butyrolactone (BL) at 295 K and 233 K. On the basis of the molar conductance data for PC/MgCl₂ and BL/MgCl₂ solutions, the formation of magnesium halide-bridged polymeric species is proposed.     

Effects of mulch and mineral fertilizer on crop, weevil and soil quality parameters in highland banana

The decline of cooking banana production in parts of East Africa hasbeen associated with a loss of soil fertility and increased pest pressure.Previous work indicated that the use of mineral fertilizers at recommendedratesis not financially viable on plantations where pest pressure is high. Theobjectives of this study were to determine the effects of half the recommendedrates of mineral fertilizers and organic mulch on banana yield, soil and foliarnutrient status, soil water and pest damage in the central region of Uganda.Thestudy was conducted in a four-year old banana plantation infested with weevils.Treatments consisted of mineral fertilizer alone, mulch alone, a combination ofmulch with fertilizer, and a control (no mulch from outside the plot, ormineralfertilizer applied). Fruit yield was generally low (mean of 7.4 Mgha^–1 yr^–1) and increases above thecontrol ranged from 1.1 to 2.0 Mg ha^–1 yr^–1. Banana yield was significantly higher in the solemulch treatment than in the control. However, there were no significantdifferences in yield among the treatments that received external inputs. Thus,there was no demonstrable yield advantage of combining mineral fertilizer withmulch. At the end of the trial, soil K concentrations in the two treatmentsthatwere mulched, were almost twice those of the control, but this difference wasnotstatistically significant. Concentrations of Ca and Mg did not differ withtreatment. Soil available P significantly increased when mineral fertilizer andorganic mulch were combined. Treatments that received organic mulch were lowerin foliar concentrations of N and Mg, and higher in K. Soil water content wasgreater in the surface soil layer in the treatments that received mulch,presumably due to less surface run-off and evaporation, since there was nochangein surface soil porosity. The effect of organic and inorganic amendments had noimpact on weevil damage, which remained above 5% at the end of the trial. Weconclude that where weevil damage is over 5% of the cross section near thecollar, banana production may not be economically increased through use ofeither mineral fertilizer and/or organic mulch.     

Development of novel sustainable neat-oil metal working fluids for stainless steel and titanium alloy machining. Part 1. Formulation development

This paper introduces and describes the development and application of methodologies for the formulation of novel sustainable neat-oil metal removal fluids. A further paper will describe the methodologies being employed and the results of the performance benchmarking of the final fluid formulations for stainless steel and aerospace-grade titanium alloy materials. In this paper, a stepwise approach to the development of novel sustainable neat-oil metal removal formulations is described with a detailed discussion and analysis of the approach taken and the methodologies developed and applied. Two target applications were identified for cutting stainless steel and aerospace-grade titanium alloys. The key required properties of the fluids for these applications were combined with targets identified for cost, low temperature properties, kinetic viscosity (KV) and oxidative stability. Samples of base oils were obtained and characterised. The oils ranged from commodity commercial and specialist natural vegetable oils to chemically modified vegetable-oil-derived fatty acid esters and polyols. The selected oils were used to create blends which were screened for their key properties. From this work, four blends of base oils were identified for being taken forwards to the formulation screening stage. These blends represented a range of natural and modified oils blended in such a way as to achieve all of the required key properties of cost, KV, melt/pour points and oxidative stability. To determine if the oils were likely to also perform well as metal cutting fluids, they were subjected to a range of tests with and without the addition of certain additives, and their performances were benchmarked against a range of mineral oil and polyol-ester-based commercial fluids currently supplied to the target applications areas. The tests employed were: SRV, microtap and oxidation stability. The issues involved in the extrapolation of results from tribological testing to the prediction of fluid cutting performance are highlighted and discussed. From this work, one base oil blend for each of the two target applications was identified and the best performing mineral and polyol ester benchmark fluids were selected. Full-scale drilling and rigid torque tapping tests were used to refine formulations and to screen other additives identified in parallel microtap tests. The durability, oxidation stability, machine tool compatibility and misting potentials of the final formulations were also benchmarked using a range of standard and novel methodologies—this work will be described in a later paper.