Mixing and Transport.

This section covers research published during the calendar year 2017 on mixing and transport processes. The review covers mixing and transport of anaerobic digesters.

Mixing and Transport.

This section covers research published during the calendar year 2016 on mixing and transport processes. The review covers mixing and transport of anaerobic digesters.

Mixing and Transport.

This section covers research published during the calendar year 2015 on mixing and transport processes. The review covers mixing of anaerobic digesters, mixing of heat transfer, and environmental fate and transport.

Mixing and Transport.

This section covers research published during the calendar year 2014 on mixing and transport processes. The review covers mixing of anaerobic digesters, mixing of heat transfer, and environmental fate and transport.

Blunted perception of breathlessness in three cases of low grade insular-glioma.

Better understanding of breathlessness perception addresses an unmet clinical need for more effective treatments for intractable dyspnoea, a prevalent symptom of multiple medical conditions. The insular-cortex is predominantly activated in brain-imaging studies of dyspnoea, but its precise role remains unclear. We measured experimentally-induced hypercapnic air-hunger in three insular-glioma patients before and after surgical resection. Tests involved one-minute increments in inspired CO2, raising end-tidal PCO2 to 7.5 mmHg above baseline (38.5 ± 5.7 mmHg), whilst ventilation was constrained (10.7 ± 2.3 L/min). Patients rated air-hunger on a visual analogue scale (VAS). Patients had lower stimulus-response (2.8 ± 2 vs. 11 ± 4 %VAS/mmHg; p = 0.004), but similar threshold (40.5 ± 3.9 vs. 43.2 ± 5.1 mmHg), compared to healthy individuals. Volunteered comments implicated diminished affective valence. After surgical resection; sensitivity increased in one patient, decreased in another, and other was unable to tolerate the ventilatory limit before any increase in inspired CO2.We suggest that functional insular-cortex is essential to register breathlessness unpleasantness and could be targeted with neuromodulation in chronically-breathless patients. Neurological patients with insula involvement should be monitored for blunted breathlessness to inform clinical management.

Molecular phylogeny of the small carpenter bees (Hymenoptera: Apidae: Ceratinini) indicates early and rapid global dispersal.

The small carpenter bees (tribe Ceratinini, family Apidae) are recorded from all continents except Antarctica. The Ceratinini have a near-global distribution which contrasts strongly with their sister tribe, the Allodapini which has a largely southern Old World distribution. The Ceratinini therefore provides an excellent group to understand the factors that help determine the biogeography and radiation of the bees. This is the first molecular study of ceratinine bees covering representatives from both northern and southern hemisphere Old and New World regions. We use two mitochondrial and one nuclear marker (totalling 2807 nucleotides) to examine the age, cladogenesis and historical biogeography of this tribe. Tree topology and molecular dating support an African origin at about 47 Mya with subsequent dispersal into Eurasia 44 Mya, and followed by an American invasion 32 Mya. Concentrated African and Malagasy sampling revealed there were two or three dispersals events into Madagascar ranging from 25 to 9 Mya. Lineage through time analyses suggest higher rates of cladogenesis close to the origin of the tribe, and this corresponds to both major dispersal events and divergences of lineages leading to extant subgenera. Ceratinini have potentially great importance for future studies to understand the relative roles of dispersal ability and time of origin in determining bee biogeography.

Anaerobic digestion, mixing, environmental fate, and transport.

This section covers research published during the calendar year 2018 on mixing and transport processes. The review covers mixing of anaerobic digesters, mixing of heat transfer, and environmental fate and transport.

Factors influencing teaching and learning in the preregistration year.

Preregistration training is a transitional period in the career of new medical graduates as they complete their final year of basic medical education in practice settings. This study gathered the views of both preregistration house officers and their educational supervisors on preregistration training in the Mersey Deanery between August 2000 and August 2001.

Comparison of aspects of preregistration house officer training from traditional and new medical curricula.

As medical graduates from the new (problem-based learning) curriculum at University of Liverpool undertook their first post in the postgraduate clinical setting, this study investigated whether their views of preregistration training in the Mersey Deanery differed from the last cohort of preregistration house officers who had graduated from the traditional lecture-based medical curriculum at University of Liverpool.

Ward managers' perceptions of the role of healthcare assistants.

While unqualified nurses form an integral part of the UK's healthcare system, accounting for a large percentage of the workforce, there is limited evidence to identify the actual role of the healthcare assistant. This study explored hospital ward managers' views on the current and potential expansion of the healthcare assistant's role. A confidential survey was sent to all ward managers (n = 35) in one large acute hospital trust. A response rate of 94% (n = 33) was obtained. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics and open-ended questions were analysed for emerging themes. The results indicated that healthcare assistants are undertaking a wide diversity of procedures raging from general tidying to carrying out complex clinical procedures. Additionally, 82% (n = 27) of the managers reported that the healthcare assistant's role could be expanded, although concerns were raised regarding additional training and supervision.

The effect of soy phytoestrogen supplementation on thyroid status and cardiovascular risk markers in patients with subclinical hypothyroidism: a randomized, double-blind, crossover study.

CONTEXT: There is concern whether soy phytoestrogens may affect thyroid function. If true, soy phytoestrogens may be expected to have a greater impact in subjects with subclinical hypothyroidism. OBJECTIVE: The primary aim was to determine the effect of soy phytoestrogen supplementation on thyroid function, with a secondary aim of assessing the effects on cardiovascular risk indices in patients with subclinical hypothyroidism. DESIGN AND SETTING: We conducted a randomized, double-blind, crossover study in a tertiary care setting. PARTICIPANTS: Sixty patients with subclinical hypothyroidism participated in the study. INTERVENTION: Patients were randomly assigned to either low-dose phytoestrogen (30 g soy protein with 2 mg phytoestrogens, representative of a Western diet) or high-dose phytoestrogen (30 g soy protein with 16 mg phytoestrogens, representative of a vegetarian diet) supplementation for 8 wk, then crossed over after an 8-wk washout period. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The primary outcome was progression to overt hypothyroidism, with secondary outcome measures of blood pressure, insulin resistance, lipids, and highly sensitive C-reactive protein (hsCRP). RESULTS: Six female patients in the study progressed into overt hypothyroidism with a standardized rate ratio of 3.6 (95% confidence interval, 1.9, 6.2) after 16-mg phytoestrogen supplementation. Both systolic and diastolic blood pressure decreased with 16 mg phytoestrogens, whereas systolic pressure alone decreased with 2 mg phytoestrogens. Insulin resistance (homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance, 3.5 ± 0.09 vs. 2.6 ± 0.08; P < 0.02) and hsCRP (4.9 ± 0.04 vs. 3.9 ± 0.03; P < 0.01) decreased with 16 mg phytoestrogens. Lipid profile remained unchanged. CONCLUSION: There is a 3-fold increased risk of developing overt hypothyroidism with dietary supplementation of 16 mg soy phytoestrogens with subclinical hypothyroidism. However, 16-mg soy phytoestrogen supplementation significantly reduces the insulin resistance, hsCRP, and blood pressure in these patients.

Becoming a new doctor: a learning or survival exercise?

OBJECTIVE: This study set out to establish why some new doctors view their training as a valuable period in their professional development, whereas others see it as a year to be endured and survived. METHODS: This multi-method case study focused on the interaction of key participants within 1 deanery, sampling the 237 pre-registration house officers (PRHOs) and 166 educational supervisors populating the associated 12 National Health Service trusts at the time (2001). The design of the case study was predicated on gathering the views of both teachers and learners in a way that allowed each stage of the data collection process to inform and influence the next phase. RESULTS: Lack of formal guidance and support were common characteristics associated with the first few days in post. The first day in post as a doctor is, for most, an experience that is hard to prepare for, even after a useful induction period. Those PRHOs who felt they were not guided or advised on how to undertake their new professional responsibilities tended to feel undervalued and under-recognised as individuals. CONCLUSIONS: Without the support of senior colleagues who can help the new doctor reflect on quite difficult and uncertain situations, new doctors will almost certainly perceive the first year of the new Foundation Programme as a survival exercise. If new doctors are working in an environment where their learning is properly facilitated, they are more likely to recognise their progress in their professional development and be more proactive in addressing concerns about professional expectations.

Defining operational taxonomic units using DNA barcode data.

The scale of diversity of life on this planet is a significant challenge for any scientific programme hoping to produce a complete catalogue, whatever means is used. For DNA barcoding studies, this difficulty is compounded by the realization that any chosen barcode sequence is not the gene 'for' speciation and that taxa have evolutionary histories. How are we to disentangle the confounding effects of reticulate population genetic processes? Using the DNA barcode data from meiofaunal surveys, here we discuss the benefits of treating the taxa defined by barcodes without reference to their correspondence to 'species', and suggest that using this non-idealist approach facilitates access to taxon groups that are not accessible to other methods of enumeration and classification. Major issues remain, in particular the methodologies for taxon discrimination in DNA barcode data.

Contextualising experiences of depression in women from South Asian communities: a discursive approach.

The aim of this paper is to present an interpretation of the accounts of depression provided by women from South Asian communities. The paper presents the findings from a qualitative study, conducted in the UK, which explored women from South Asian communities and their experiences of depression. It is argued here, through examples of women's accounts of their experiences, that depression is 'embodied', that is, grounded in the materiality of the body which is also immersed in subjective experiences and in the social context of women's lives. Qualitative data were collected from four focus groups and ten individual interviews with women. The analysis involved a discursive approach. Analysis revealed how women made strategic choices in how they presented their symptoms as legitimate and for gaining access to what they perceived to be appropriate healthcare. This is not to argue that this is a culturally specific phenomenon but one which is a feature of all healthcare negotiations.