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Background. In recent years, serious adverse effects to children from exposure to single-use detergents sacs (SUDS) have been recognized. While most exposures result in minor symptoms, there have been serious outcomes. This study aims to classify which types of serious outcomes follow SUDS exposures, and to assess, if possible, differences in toxicity between various SUDS products. Methods. An observational case series with data collected retrospectively was performed for cases of SUDS exposures reported to a statewide poison system's records database from 1 January 2012 to 31 March 2013. Cases were identified and analyzed for clinical details and trends. A statewide database was queried for cases involving the American Association of Poison Control Centers (AAPCC) product-specific codes for SUDS products using following search terms: laundry pods, the AAPCC product-specific codes for Tide Pods®, Purex Ultrapacks®, ALL Mighty Pacs®, and a unique agent code (AAPCC ID: 6903138; Generic: 077900) created by AAPCC to track SUDS exposures. Results. A total of 804 cases of exposures to SUDS were identified, the majority of which were exploratory ingestions in young children with a median age of 2 years. Serious adverse effects resulted from 65 (9%) exposures and 27 (3%) exposures resulted in admission to hospital. Binary logistic regression demonstrated that the presence of central nervous system (CNS) or respiratory system effects were associated with more severe outcomes, with a model accuracy of 96.4%. There were significant differences in morbidity among the three most common brand-name products: when compared with Tide Pods®, odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) for severe outcome and admission rate were significantly greater following Purex Ultrapack® exposures (severity OR 5.1 [CI: 2.13-12.23]; admission OR 10.36 [CI: 3.23-33.22]) and ALL Mighty Pac® exposures (severity OR 11.22 [CI: 4.78-28.36]; admission OR 15.20 [CI: 5.01-46.12]). Conclusions. Serious complications from exposure to SUDS occur in a small number of exposures for unclear reasons. Respiratory and CNS effects are associated with more severe outcomes. Some brand-name products are associated with a relatively higher risk of severe adverse effects and rates of admission. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives The aims of the study were (1) to measure the distance required to travel, and the distance actually travelled, to HIV services by HIV-infected adults, and (2) to calculate the proportion of patients who travelled beyond local services and identify socio-demographic and clinical predictors of use of non-local services. Methods The straight-line distance between a patient's residence and HIV services was determined for HIV infected patients in England in 2007. 'Local services' were defined as the closest HIV service to a patient's residence and other services within an additional 5 km radius. Multivariable logistic regression was used to identify socio-demographic and clinical predictors of accessing non-local services. Results In 2007, nearly 57000 adults with diagnosed HIV infection accessed HIV services in England; 42% lived in the most deprived areas. Overall, 81% of patients lived within 5 km of a service, and 8.7% used their closest HIV service. The median distance to the closest HIV service was 2.5 km [interquartile range (IQR) 1.5-4.2 km] and the median actual distance travelled was 4.8 km (IQR 2.5-9.7 km). A quarter of patients used a 'non-local' service. Patients living in the least deprived areas were twice as likely to use non-local services as those living in the most deprived areas [adjusted odds ratio (AOR) 2.16; 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.98-2.37]. Other predictors for accessing non-local services included living in an urban area (AOR 0.77; 95% CI 0.69-0.85) and being diagnosed more than 12 months (AOR 1.48; 95% CI 1.38-1.59). Conclusion In England, 81% of HIV-infected patients live within 5 km of HIV services and a quarter of HIV-infected adults travel to non-local HIV services. Those living in deprived areas are less likely to travel to non-local services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A technique has been developed for depositing diamond crystals on the endfaces of optical fibers and capturing the fluorescence generated by optically active defects in diamond into the fiber. This letter details the diamond growth on optical fibers and transmission of fluorescence through the fiber from the nitrogen-vacancy color center in diamond. Control of the concentration of defects incorporated during the chemical vapor deposition growth process is also demonstrated. These are critical steps in developing a fiber coupled single-photon source based on optically active defect centers in diamond. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scanning near field optical microscopy (SNOM) probes are typically tapered optical fibers with metallic coatings. The tip diameters are generally in excess of 300 nm and thus provide poor topographical resolution. Here we report on the attachment multiwalled carbon nanotubes to the probes in order to substantially enhance the topographical resolution, without adversely affecting the optical resolution. © 2003 American Institute of Physics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Advances in optical fibre fabrication drawing technology enable the fabrication of precision single and multi-channel capillaries potentially useful for a number of microfluidic applications. We discuss the use of these structures to measure streaming currents of partially or fully ionic liquids and colloidal suspensions flowing through them, and therefore, the determination of the double layer zeta potential with the glass. Preliminary results are demonstrated using tap water and air–silica structured multi-microchannel capillaries. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Near-field scanning optical microscopy is used in emission mode to measure the mode profile of singlemode fibre. Excellent agreement is obtained between the mode profile of a singlemode fibre measured using emission and collection modes and qualitative agreement obtained between measurements made on a multimoded fibre and a simple theoretical model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An unexplored diamond defect center that is found to emit stable single photons at a measured rate of 1.6 MHz at room temperature is reported. The center, identified in chemical vapor deposition grown diamond crystals, exhibits a sharp zero phonon line at 734 nm with a full width at half maximum of ∼4 nm. The photon statistics confirm that the center is a single emitter and provides direct evidence of a true two level single quantum system in diamond. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]