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Objective: To study the efficacy of intramuscular midazolam in treating seizures. Design: On arrival, patients with seizures were treated with intramuscular midazolam, a stopwatch was started, and an intravenous line inserted. If the seizure had not stopped within six minutes, standard intravenous anticonvulsants were given. The time to cessation of the seizure was recorded. Setting: Department of Emergency Medicine, Fremantle Hospital, a busy emergency department (50,000 annual attendances, 18% children) in a general community teaching hospital. Main outcome measure: Time to cessation of fitting. Results: Thirty eight patients aged from 15 months to 89 years, were treated with intramuscular midazolam at an average dose of 0.12mg/kg (range 0.07–0.21mg/kg). The seizures terminated in all but two cases in an average time of 1minute 53 seconds overall (range 15 seconds to 6 minutes 7 seconds). In a subgroup of 15 patients with prolonged seizures of 36 minutes duration on average, the seizures ceased in a mean time of 2 minutes 41 seconds, with one failure. The latter time is likely to represent the true response time of seizures to intramuscular midazolam as some of the short‐lived seizures may have ceased spontaneously. All seven children treated with intramuscular midazolam ceased fitting. There were no adverse side effects in any patient. Conclusion: Midazolam given by intramuscular injection was shown to be rapidly effective for the control of generalised convulsive seizures, focal seizures and status epilepticus in adults and in children. This new therapy has exciting applications in the treatment of seizures in children and in the pre‐hospital setting. 1992 Australasian College for Emergency Medicine and Australasian Society for Emergency Medicine

The former Portuguese colony of East Timor was forcibly absorbed into the Republic of Indonesia in 1975. An armed East Timorese resistance movement maintained a fight for independence for the next quarter of a century. The Indonesian Government allowed a plebiscite of the population in August 1999, the result of which was strongly in favour of independence. Following the poll, there was an outbreak of extreme violence and the structure of the country was virtually destroyed. The Indonesian Government invited a multinational force to restore order. This report is of the medical work conducted while serving in a multifunction non-government organization in East Timor in the post-conflict environment. The work includes developing a tuberculosis clinic, conducting refugee medicine at the border crossing point and establishing a rudimentary health-care system based on a primary-care model. A background in emergency medicine is very useful in situations such as this, where improvisation becomes a core skill.

Seventy‐five consecutive patients attending the Emergency Department at Fremantle Hospital in status epilepticus were treated with intravenous midazolam. All seizures ceased without other therapy, after an average dose of 0.1 mg/kg midazolam. Seven percent of patients had a further seizure in the Emergency Department, a rate comparable to other anticonvulsants. Midazolam is a safe, effective agent for the treatment of status epilepticus, with possible advantages over currently accepted treatment. 1992 Australasian College for Emergency Medicine and Australasian Society for Emergency Medicine

The first defence of the America's Cup outside of the USA took place off Fremantle, Western Australia, between October, 1986 and February, 1987. Fremantle Hospital, the nearest hospital to the marinas, was involved in the planning for disasters and for the provision of clinical services to the syndicates involved and the projected crowds of tourists and spectators. The impact of this unique sporting event on the hospital was measured by collecting data from all patients whose presence in Fremantle was related to the yachting. The America's Cup resulted in only 654 attendances and 31 admissions over the 5 months of the event. The figures fell far short of those predicted. A number of conclusions have been drawn.

Midazolam meleate, a water soluble 1,4 benzodiazepine, was used intravenously in 20 patients suffering seizures, of whom 12 were in status epilepticus. In all cases, midazolam in a dose of 2.5-15 mg rapidly terminated the seizure. There were no complications from the use of midazolam. The causes of the seizures were varied but alcohol-withdrawal seizures were the single largest cause. Thirteen patients were taking some form of anticonvulsant medication but only three were in the therapeutic range. Midazolam is seen to be an effective agent in the emergency treatment of seizures.

British aerodynamic gas-bearing gyros of the highest precision for use in Naval equipment are required to have long durability of low starting friction for the brief periods of rubbing contact before the rotor becomes gas-borne. Start failures in service have caused the Navy Department to initiate a two-phase programme of investigation and research into the problem. The first phase, intended to enable production to continue and reasonable performance to be obtained, is reported in references [1, 2]. The second phase, described herein, has been of a more fundamental nature and has been intended to amend hitherto empirical processes to a sound scientific basis and to gain understanding of bearing surface behavior. The paper describes trials and results of experiments carried out jointly by Admiralty Compass Observatory and Shell Research Ltd. on various aspects of bearing cleaning, boundary-lubricant behavior, and bearing surface materials. Glow discharge cleaning, examined by radiotracer technique, has been found to be very much more efficient than organic solvents, as well as permitting a big reduction in process time. Proposals for a simplified and more effective cleaning process and for boundary lubrication with a fatty acid are given. Examinations of surface films by friction machine, radiotracer techniques, electron diffraction, and ellipsometry have established that chemical bonding occurs between bearing surfaces and boundary lubricant and have enabled film thicknesses of molecular proportions and molecular orientations to be determined. Preliminary work is reported on the effects of processes described on ceramic bearing materials.

Transient electrical conductance measurements have been made on 0.45‐μm silicon‐on‐sapphire during pulsed laser annealing with 25‐ns ruby irradiation. The photoconductive contribution to the transient current was sufficiently small that the entire melt and resolidification process could be directly observed. The technique yields quantitative measures of melt depths, melting velocities (5–13 m/s), and solidification velocities (2.8–3.3 m/s). Combined with the complementary techniques of time‐resolved reflectivity, energy transmission, and calorimetric energy absorption, transient conductance provides a powerful new diagnostic for investigating melt dynamics.

Energetic ion beams used outside the traditional role of ion implantation are considered for semiconductor applications involving interface modification for self-aligned silicide contacts, composition modification for formation of buried oxide layers in Si on insulator structures and reduced disorder in high energy ion beam annealing for buried collectors in transistor fabrication. In metals, aside from their use in modification of the composition of near surface regions, energetic ion beams are being investigated for structural modification in crystalline to amorphous transitions. Pulsed beams of photons and electrons are used as directed energy sources in rapid solidification. Here, we consider the role of temperature gradients and impurities in epitaxial growth of silicon.

High intensity pulsed laser irradiation of semiconductor materials results in ultra-fast melting and resolidification of a thin surface layer. An experimental probe has been developed based on the discontinuous change in electrical conductivity of a semiconductor material upon melting. Real time monitoring of the dynamics of pulsed laser melting and resolidification can be obtained by transient electrical conductance measurements. Melting velocities from 5 to 200 m/s and resolidification velocities of 1 to 20 m/s have been observed in silicon with this technique. Simultaneous measurement of the optical reflectance provides additional complementary information on laser melting dynamics. Data from both electrical conductance and optical reflectance measurements are presented for silicon and gallium arsenide. The real time experimental data provide strong evidence for a simple thermal model for melting and resolidification during nanosecond pulsed laser annealing.

Solid phase epitaxial growth of electron beam evaporated Ge layers on unheated GaAs has been demonstrated. The amorphous Ge layers grow epitaxially on the GaAs surface during anneals at 400°C. A technique for growing these epitaxial layers without the need for in-situ heat treatment of the GaAs prior to Ge deposition is described.