Localizing Fractional Quasiparticles on Graphene Quantum Hall Antidots.

We report localization of fractional quantum Hall (QH) quasiparticles on graphene antidots. By studying coherent tunneling through the localized QH edge modes on the antidot, we measured the QH quasiparticle charges to be approximately ±e/3 at fractional fillings of ν=±1/3. The Dirac spectrum in graphene allows large energy scales and robust quasiparticle localization against thermal excitation. The capability of localizing fractional quasiparticles on QH antidots brings promising opportunities for realizing anyon braiding and novel quantum electronics.

Preclinical trials in autosomal dominant AD: implementation of the DIAN-TU trial.

The Dominantly Inherited Alzheimer's Network Trials Unit (DIAN-TU) was formed to direct the design and management of interventional therapeutic trials of international DIAN and autosomal dominant Alzheimer's disease (ADAD) participants. The goal of the DIAN-TU is to implement safe trials that have the highest likelihood of success while advancing scientific understanding of these diseases and clinical effects of proposed therapies. The DIAN-TU has launched a trial design that leverages the existing infrastructure of the ongoing DIAN observational study, takes advantage of a variety of drug targets, incorporates the latest results of biomarker and cognitive data collected during the observational study, and implements biomarkers measuring Alzheimer's disease (AD) biological processes to improve the efficiency of trial design. The DIAN-TU trial design is unique due to the sophisticated design of multiple drugs, multiple pharmaceutical partners, academics servings as sponsor, geographic distribution of a rare population and intensive safety and biomarker assessments. The implementation of the operational aspects such as home health research delivery, safety magnetic resonance imagings (MRIs) at remote locations, monitoring clinical and cognitive measures, and regulatory management involving multiple pharmaceutical sponsors of the complex DIAN-TU trial are described.

One hundred consecutive cases of flap lacerations of the leg in ageing patients.

AIM: To define the cost of inpatient treatment of flap laceration to the leg in ageing patients. METHODS: One hundred consecutive admissions over a 19 month period were reviewed retrospectively. RESULTS: The mean age of flap laceration of the leg patients was 77.5 years (50-93). The mean bed stay was 14.53 days (1-36). Most patients (84%) were treated with debridement and split skin grafting. The total cost of treatment was $551,390.00. The mean delay before surgery was 41.2 hours. 92% of patients returned to the same preoperative social circumstances. CONCLUSIONS: Flap laceration of the leg is expensive to treat in hospital. There are a number of strategies in which bed stay and costs can be reduced. These include early and aggressive surgery, the use of meshed skin graft, early mobilisation and early involvement of social support services.

Optimisation of control of river and sewage flows in the Great Culvert, England.

In response to the European Union Urban Waste Water Directive, primary and secondary treatment is being installed at Birkenhead Treatment Works on the Wirral Peninsula in the North West of England. The 3.26 m diameter, 3.5 km long Great Culvert conduit currently conveys both river and sewage flow, and discharges these into the Mersey estuary. To avoid unnecessarily treating river flow, River Birket flow will be diverted directly into the Mersey estuary at the upstream end of the Great Culvert. Sewage flows remaining in the Great Culvert will be pumped to the Birkenhead Treatment Works, and treated before discharge to the Mersey. During extreme storm events, excessive river flows will be released into the Great Culvert and into the Mersey by weirs and penstocks. An innovative approach was taken to investigate, develop, and optimise a control strategy of various pumps, weirs, and penstocks in the Great Culvert, with the aim of minimising unscreened discharges and flooding. By combining hydraulic and dynamic control modelling into one study, implementation and commissioning times were reduced. In addition, by exhaustive testing, it was possible to demonstrate to the Environment Agency that all reasonable measures were being taken to minimise flooding in the upstream catchment and discharges to the Mersey.

Automated single-slide staining device.

An automated single-slide staining device is described. Smears gram stained by the automatic device were equal in quality to the manual method.

Simple device for automatically transferring broth cultures.

A simple device is described for automatically transferring broth cultures from one tube to another by means of a tilting platform.

Automatic surface inoculation of agar trays.

A machine is described which automatically inoculates a plastic tray containing agar media with a culture by use of either a conventional inoculating loop or a cotton swab. Isolated colonies were obtained with an inoculating loop when a heavy inoculum (10 cells/ml) was used or with a cotton swab when a light inoculum (ca. 10 cells/ml) was used. Trays containing combinations of differential or selective media were used to (i) separate mixtures of gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria, (ii) facilitate isolation of organisms from clinical specimens, and (iii) compare colony growth characteristics of pure cultures. The design of the machine is simple, it is easy to use, and it relieves the operator from the manual task of streaking cultures.

Youth tobacco use in the United States--problem, progress, goals, and potential solutions.

BACKGROUND: Efforts to control tobacco use and tobacco-related morbidity and mortality in the United States continue to be generally successful. In the quarter century since the publication of the first Surgeon General's Report on Tobacco and Health, adult smoking rates in the United States have been reduced by nearly 34%. Controlling tobacco use among our nation's youth, however, has not been as successful. Although there was considerable success in reducing adolescent tobacco use in the late 1970s and early 1980s, tobacco use among youth has remained essentially stable for the past decade. METHODS: The health and economic burden of tobacco use, current knowledge about youth tobacco use, and youth-related national tobacco reduction goals for the Year 2000 are reviewed. RESULTS: Analysis of the research of the past two decades clearly indicates that there is no "magic bullet" in existence or in sight for the reduction of tobacco use, either among youth or among adults. This does not mean that opportunities for significant advances through, for example, pharmacological therapies or the broad application of media or policy strategies should not continue to be explored, but that for the moment no single approach appears to work best. Rather, a comprehensive approach that applies multiple prevention and cessation strategies simultaneously appears to be most effective in tobacco use control. CONCLUSIONS: Among youth, the combination of tobacco control strategies that may work best includes those that involve the family, primary care physicians, and other health professionals such as nurses and dentists; programs that are carried out in schools and/or through the media; and societal approaches such as access and advertising restrictions and increased taxes.