Is there a gender gap in chemical sciences scholarly communication?

The Royal Society of Chemistry is committed to investigating and addressing the barriers and biases which face women in the chemical sciences. The cornerstone of this is a thorough analysis of data regarding submissions, review and citations for Royal Society of Chemistry journals from January 2014 until July 2018, since the number and impact of publications and citations are an important factor when seeking research funding and for the progression of academic career. We have applied standard statistical techniques to multiple data sources to perform this analysis, and have investigated whether interactions between variables are significant in affecting various outcomes (author gender; reviewer gender; reviewer recommendations and submission outcome) in addition to considering variables individually. By considering several different data sources, we found that a baseline of approximately a third of chemistry researchers are female overall, although this differs considerably with Chemistry sub-discipline. Rather than one dominant bias effect, we observe complex interactions and a gradual trickle-down decrease in this female percentage through the publishing process and each of these female percentages is less than the last: authors of submissions; authors of RSC submissions which are not rejected without peer review; authors of accepted RSC publications; authors of cited articles. The success rate for female authors to progress through each of these publishing stages is lower than that for male authors. There is a decreasing female percentage when progressing through from first authors to corresponding authors to reviewers, reflecting the decreasing female percentage with seniority in Chemistry research observed in the "Diversity landscape of the chemical sciences" report. Highlights and actions from this analysis form the basis of an accompanying report to be released from the Royal Society of Chemistry.

Improving the learning of chemical-protein interactions from literature using transfer learning and specialized word embeddings.

In this paper, we explore the application of artificial neural network ('deep learning') methods to the problem of detecting chemical-protein interactions in PubMed abstracts. We present here a system using multiple Long Short Term Memory layers to analyse candidate interactions, to determine whether there is a relation and which type. A particular feature of our system is the use of unlabelled data, both to pre-train word embeddings and also pre-train LSTM layers in the neural network. On the BioCreative VI CHEMPROT test corpus, our system achieves an F score of 61.51% (56.10% precision, 67.84% recall).

Less is best? The impact of urokinase as the first line management of empyema thoracis.

To assess the impact of intrapleural urokinase and small tube thoracostomy on the management of childhood empyema thoracis. The study population included 38 children presenting consecutively to a regional surgical unit with empyema thoracis from January 2001 to December 2003. Children with malignancy, immunodeficiency and complex intercurrent illness were excluded. Primary outcome variables were the need for second intervention and duration of stay, with other variables including duration of antibiotics, serial CRP and amelioration of pyrexia. Interventions were: tube thoracostomy (16-20 Fr) alone (n=2), tube thoracostomy (6-10 Fr)+urokinase (n=17), thoracoscopy (tube: 20-24 Fr) (n=9), thoracotomy (tube: 16-24 Fr) (n=10). There were no differences in age, weight or length of prodromal symptoms, between treatment groups. There were no differences in primary outcome variables, although no child undergoing thoracotomy required further intervention. The duration of intravenous antibiotics was similar in all groups. Amelioration of pyrexia was more rapid in children undergoing thoracotomy. There were no differences seen with regard to decline in CRP level. Small tube thoracostomy and intrapleural urokinase had a similar outcome to more invasive therapies such as thoracotomy or thoracoscopy thereby supporting the evidence base for urokinase and tube drainage as first line intervention.

Management of acute complications associated with sickle cell disease.

Sickle cell disease is the commonest haemoglobinopathy within the United Kingdom. Although the majority of patients will present to hospitals within major cities, this is not invariably the case. It is therefore important that all physicians on acute medical take are familiar with the acute management of sickle cell disease. This review encompasses the initial management which is subdivided into analgesia, investigations and supportive care. In addition the more severe complications of sickle cell, including the acute chest syndrome and stroke are covered. It should be remembered that close collaboration is required with the haematology department, particularly in those patients with respiratory distress or stroke, so that prompt arrangements can be made if exchange transfusion is required.

Lactation after breast conserving therapy, including radiation therapy, for early breast cancer.

Two patients who underwent breast conservation including radiotherapy for early breast carcinoma are described and who subsequently delivered healthy newborn infants. One of the two patients lactated from both the irradiated and the non-irradiated breast; whereas the other patient did not lactate from the irradiated side. The treatment and implications are discussed.

Online Retrieval of Environmentaland Occupational Health Literature:A Comparative Study.

A formal study was attempted to assess the utility of the various online database sources for obtaining material in the fields of occupational and environmental health. Five databases were studied comparatively: BIOSIS, ENVIROLINE, EXCERPTA MEDICA, MEDLINE, and TOXLINE. In addition to crossdatabase searching to draw comparisons, a study of the journal coverage of four of these databases was completed. The goal of this effort was to establish some "databases of choice" for searching the literature.

Invasive carcinoma of one cervix in a uterus didelphys. Case report.

A patient is described with invasive squamous carcinoma developing in one cervix in a didelphic uterus with double cervix and vagina completely separated by a vaginal septum.

Premature hypergonadotropic ovarian failure: clinicopathological study of 19 cases.

During the 5-year period 1977-1982, 57 patients below 35 years of age with secondary amenorrhea were assessed for hypergonadotropic (primary) ovarian failure. The histological findings within the ovaries as well as pertinent clinical and laboratory correlates are described. Nineteen had diagnostic ovarian biopsies performed. The importance of this technique is stressed. The ovaries of 14 patients showed absence of primordial follicles (true premature menopause); three others showed "resistant ovary syndrome" characterized by the presence of primordial follicles but little or no follicular development (including a case of galactosemia, in which the associated ovarian failure has been ascribed to follicular atresia). The remaining two revealed florid chronic perifollicular inflammatory reactions in the presence of both primordial and also developing follicles--one lymphoplasmacytic and the other granulomatous. The former has been previously suggested as evidence of an autoimmune process, but the latter has not hitherto been reported.

Lymphocyte supernatants and the electrophoretic mobility of erythrocytes: further experience of cancer diagnosis.

A double-blind trial of the tanned-erythrocyte electrophoretic mobility test for cancer has been carried out. This included 70 normal subjects as controls, 61 subjects with disease other than cancer, and 229 cancer patients. Slowing values generally increased in the order given, with certain diseases having values within the range positive for cancer. Exposure to viral infection also tended to produce false positives. Slowing values above 50%, however, appear to be definitely associated with cancer. For the middle range of slowing values (25-50%) there is some overlap between the 3 groups, so that a statistical probability of the presence of malignancy is available from the test. With slowing values below 25% there is little likelhood of cancer. Tumour type influences the test result, as does, to a lesser extent, tumour bulk.

Effect of lymphocyte supernatants on the electrophoretic mobility of erythrocytes: significance in cancer diagnosis.

We have determined that when an extract of human brain is preincubated with lymphocytes its subsequent capacity to inhibit the electrophoretic mobility of tanned and stabilized erythrocytes is much reduced. There is a differential effect, however, as the observed reduction is from 73% inhibition to approximately 35% when the pre-incubation is with lymphocytes from patients with malignant disease, but from 73% to approximately 10% when it is with lymphocytes from normal controls. These values were obtained at a brain extract concentration of 333 microgram/ml, with 5 times 10(6) lymphocytes, a pre-incubation time of 18-24 h, and a temperature of 27 degrees C, which are the optimum conditions determined for differentiation between cancer patients and normal subjects. In a series of 73 subjects tested by this method 43/51 cancer patients gave an unequivocal "positive" value, 22/22 normal controls gave a "negative" value, with no false positives.

A case of pneumococcal typhlitis.

A 29-year-old man had abdominal pain for 24 hours. This and the results of an abdominal examination were typical of acute appendicitis. He had suffered sinusitis for two weeks. At operation, the appendix was normal; there was an abscess in the cecal wall, the exudate of which grew pneumococci. Incidental appendectomy was done and the patient was treated successfully with lincomycin hydrochloride, and later, cephalexin monohydrate. It is possible that the typhlitis was secondary to the upper respiratory infection.