Search

The challenge to balance limited resources with infinite demand has encouraged an evolution in the way health care services are managed and operated. Chronic wound management is complex and prolonged, and places a considerable financial burden on health services. A typical driver of cost includes the necessity to change dressings on a regular basis. Over the last few decades, several scientific and biological advances have furthered the development of wound care products and facilitated wound management. This article investigates some of the major advancements that have occurred within the wound-care arena during the last 5 years and how these advancements are being translated to provide better delivery of clinical care to patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The NHS was founded upon the principle of providing health care for all, regardless of financial status. However, it has reached a point where patient demands are outgrowing NHS resources, causing conflict. Chronic wound management represents a considerable financial burden on health services in terms of manpower requirement, equipment, specialist opinion and adjunct therapies, such as negative pressure wound therapy (NPWT). Although funding bodies often perceive NPWT to be expensive, there is evidence that if used appropriately it leads to faster healing, early discharge and better quality of life for patients with chronic wounds. However, it must be acknowledged that the type and quality of studies are mixed. Further evidence is required to justify the use of NPWT in chronic wounds in the primary and secondary health-care setting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reports a study which was conducted to explore the experience of patients with chronic wounds associated with dystrophic and junctional epidermolysis bullosa (EB). It reveals the themes of coping, perceptions, and emotional and social impact. It also indicates that there is a need to provide a multidisciplinary approach to the care with emphasis on pain management, psychological intervention and nursing support.

Situating a reading of Henry Angelo and the English "love of portraiture" between an anxiety about monuments and history on one side and an anxiety about money and fiction on the other, this essay argues for an appreciation of Angelo's "Reminiscences" that moves past individual anecdotes to larger concerns about English self-representation and the political authority that it alternately appeased and resisted. Specifically, the essay will follow Angelo from an anecdote he tells about George III at a Royal Academy exhibition, through an account of the constitutional crisis of 1783-84, to an explication of several representative caricatures from the famous Westminster election. It focuses on Charles Fox and the ways in which his portraits in particular channel the cultural instabilities of the moment. My purpose is to tease out the nuances with which Angelo treats the interconnections between high and low portraiture in the 1780s in order to highlight the difference between the ways in which monumental portraits occupied public space and political caricatures moved through it. Monuments of all kinds—even of the most mobile variety, busts—were designed to anchor the space in which they were displayed, their immobility implying permanence. Caricatures, on the other hand, moved quickly through urban spaces, temporarily saturating shops, pubs, and coffeehouses before being replaced by their own newest versions. Although scholars of the portrait have been particularly sensitive in recent years to the complexities of exhibition space, this essay extends that discussion out from walls of Somerset House to the streets of Westminster as it refigures the homologies of monumental art and the differentials of caricature in terms of the political authority to which they referred and the monetary systems within which they were embedded. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Surface seawater samples were collected in the Irish Sea and Liverpool Bay area from the R.V. Prince Madog during the period of 25–31 of March 2006. VOCs were purged with nitrogen, pre-concentrated on a SPME fibre and analysed immediately on a GC–MS. Target compounds quantified were halogenated (0.2–1400ngL−1), BTEXs and mono-aromatics (1.5–2900ngL−1), aliphatic hydrocarbons and others (0.6–15,800ngL−1). Day and night sampling was performed at a single station and suggested that factors such as sunlight and tide affect the presence of many of these compounds. Sample variability was high due to the variable weather conditions at the station. Poor correlations were found between marine phytopigments and selected VOCs. Principal component analysis (PCA) analysis showed that chlorinated compounds such as 1,2-dichloroethane, 1,1,1-trichloroethane, trichloroethene, tetrachloroethene and carbon tetrachloride, predominantly from anthropogenic sources, originated from the River Mersey. Other brominated and iodinated compounds quantified were more likely to be from biogenic sources including novel marine compounds such as 2-chloropropane, 1-bromoethane and 1-chlorobutane. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This work aimed to identify the major source(s) of faecal pollution impacting Salcott Creek oyster fisheries in the UK through the examination of the sterol profiles. The concentration of the major sewage biomarker, coprostanol, in water overlying the oysters varied between 0.01 µg L−1 and 1.20 µg L−1. The coprostanol/epicoprostanol ratio ranged from 1.32 (September) to 33.25 (February), suggesting that human sewage represents the key input of faecal material into the estuary. However, a correlation between the sterol profile of water above the oysters with that of water that enters from Tiptree Sewage Treatment Works (r = 0.82), and a sample from a site (Quinces Corner) observed to have a high population of Brent geese (r = 0.82), suggests that both sources contribute to the faecal pollution affecting the oysters. In identifying these key faecal inputs, sterol profiling has allowed targeted management practices to be employed to ensure that oyster quality is optimised. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Determines the incidence of incisional hernia after abdominal operations in Great Britain. Importance of wound infection as factors of hernia; Presence of subclinical hernias on obese patients; Mechanisms of mature fibrous tissue.