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Aims ILUMIEN I is the largest prospective, non-randomized, observational study of percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) procedural practice in patients undergoing intra-procedural pre- and post-PCI fractional flow reserve (FFR) and optical coherence tomography (OCT). We report on the impact of OCT on physician decision-making and the association with post-PCI FFR values and early clinical events. Methods and results Optical coherence tomography and documentary FFR were performed pre- and post-PCI in 418 patients (with 467 stenoses) with stable or unstable angina or NSTEMI. Based on pre-PCI OCT, the procedure was altered in 55% of patients (57% of all stenoses) by selecting different stent lengths (shorter in 25%, longer in 43%). After clinically satisfactory stent implantation using angiographic guidance, post-PCI FFR and OCT were repeated. Optical coherence tomography abnormalities deemed unsatisfactory by the implanting physician were identified: 14.5% malapposition, 7.6% under-expansion, 2.7% edge dissection and prompted further stent optimization based on OCT in 25% of patients (27% of all stenoses) using additional in-stent post-dilatation (81%, 101/124) or placement of 20 new stents (12%). Optimization subgroups were identified post hoc: stent placement without reaction to OCT findings (n = 137), change in PCI planning by pre-PCI OCT (n = 165), post-PCI optimization based on post-PCI OCT (n = 41), change in PCI planning, and post-PCI optimization based on OCT (n = 65). Post-PCI FFR values were significantly different (P = 0.003) between optimization groups (lower in cases with pre- and post-PCI reaction to OCT) but no longer different after post-PCI stent optimization. MACE events at 30 days were low: death 0.25%, MI 7.7%, repeat PCI 1.7%, and stent thrombosis 0.25%. Conclusion Physician decision-making was affected by OCT imaging prior to PCI in 57% and post-PCI in 27% of all cases. ClinicalTrials. gov Identifier NCT01663896, Observational Study of Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) in Patients Undergoing Fractional Flow Reserve (FFR) and Percutaneous Coronary Intervention (ILUMIEN I). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A microfabricated flow cytometer has been developed for the analysis of micron-sized polymer beads onto which fluorescently labelled proteins have been immobilised. Fluorescence measurements were made on the beads as they flowed through the chip. Binding of antibodies to surface-immobilised antigens was quantitatively assayed using the device. Particles were focused through a detection zone in the centre of the flow channel using negative dielectrophoresis. Impedance measurements of the particles (at 703 kHz) were used to determine particle size and to trigger capture of the fluorescence signal. Antibody binding was measured by fluorescence at single and dual excitation wavelengths (532 nm and 633 nm). Fluorescence compensation techniques were implemented to correct for spectral overspill between optical detection channels. The data from the microfabricated flow cytometer was shown to be comparable to that of a commercial flow cytometer (BD-FACSAria). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to detail research into experiential learning and journalistic practice in the Department of Journalism Studies at the University of Sheffield. Design/methodology/approach - This paper explores a range of themes and issues stemming from the application of an experiential learning approach to postgraduate journalism education at the University of Sheffield. Following the experiential learning exercise, a number of semi-structured interviews were conducted with students and teaching staff in order to get an insight into their perceptions and experiences of the learning exercise. Findings - The development of experiential learning programmes within journalism education provides valuable experiences that simulate the real world of journalism practice. Further reflective research work would be required to embed such learning approaches within journalism practice modules across the UK. Practical implications - Embedding experiential learning exercises within vocationally orientated MA programmes requires reflective and ongoing curriculum development. Moreover, the establishment of more reflective elements within programmes will aid the research process in future explorations of this type. Originality/value - Research on experiential learning on postgraduate journalism programmes within a British context is minimal. The research hopes to stimulate further work in this area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the last century a number of techniques have been developed which allow the measurement of the dielectric properties of biological particles in fluid suspension. The majority of these techniques are limited by the fact that they only provide an average value for the dielectric properties of a collection of particles. More recently, with the advent of microfabrication techniques and the Lab-on-a-chip, it has been possible to perform dielectric spectroscopic experiments on single biological particles suspended in physiological media. In this paper we review current methods for single cell dielectric spectroscopy. We also discuss alternative single cell dielectric measurement techniques, specifically the ac electrokinetic methods of dielectrophoresis and electrorotation. Single cell electrical impedance spectroscopy is also discussed with relevance to a microfabricated flow cytometer. We compare impedance spectroscopy data obtained from measurements made using a microfabricated flow cytometer with simulation data obtained using an equivalent circuit model for the device. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Supports the thesis "that the New England Way was first formulated in England, and first tested in the Netherlands...." Refutes the contention presented by Edmund S. Morgan, 'Visible Saints: The History of a Puritan Idea' (New York: New York U. Press, 1963) and Geoffrey Nuttall, 'Visible Saints: The Congregational Way, 1640-1660' (Oxford, 1957), that the New England way, "conceived as a state religion, first took root in New England...by a sudden mutation of the Separatist strain in Puritan thought." Stearns and Brawner contend that public statement by a candidate for admission to the church of his spiritual experience "was not an innovation embodying a new standard of purity, but a technical adaptation of the old standard" to the new problem facing the "Saints" in New England - a crowd of strangers seeking church membership which now opened the way to political privilege and social prestige instead of to persecution and martyrdom as in the Old World.

Self-reporting of concussion is essential to appropriate intervention, and failure to report concussion-like symptoms is a significant issue. In the current study we sought to investigate factors that contribute to the process of self-reporting concussion symptoms within the context of the Canadian Football League. A constructivist grounded theory methodology was adopted, employing in-depth, semi-structured interviews with ten Canadian League Football (CFL) players. We found significant complexity within the decision-making process for CFL players, when assessing whether or not to report a concussion. In the preliminary grounded theory emerging from the study, we identified two stages involving 1. pre-game preparation, and 2. assessing the impact. In addition, we determined three related processes (themes): 1. intrapersonal symptom checklists, 2. perceived pressures to play, and 3. certainty of symptoms.

The retrosplenial cortex supports navigation, but there are good reasons to suppose that the retrosplenial cortex has a very different role in spatial memory from that of the hippocampus and anterior thalamic nuclei. For example, retrosplenial lesions appear to have little or no effect on standard tests of spatial alternation. To examine these differences, the current study sought to determine whether the retrosplenial cortex is important for just one spatial cue type (e.g. allocentric, directional or intra-maze cues) or whether the retrosplenial cortex helps the animal switch between competing spatial strategies or competing cue types. Using T-maze alternation, retrosplenial lesion rats were challenged with situations in which the available spatial information between the sample and test phases was changed, so taxing the interaction between different cue types. Clear lesion deficits emerged when intra- and extra-maze cues were placed in conflict (by rotating the maze between the sample and choice phases), or when the animals were tested in the dark in a double-maze. Finally, temporary inactivation of the retrosplenial cortex by muscimol infusions resulted in a striking deficit on standard T-maze alternation, indicating that, over time, other sites may be able to compensate for the loss of the retrosplenial cortex. This pattern of results is consistent with the impoverished use of both allocentric and directional information, exacerbated by an impaired ability to switch between different cue types.

A comparison is made between the frequency of local minima in the analytic power of intracranial EEG (ECoG) from waking and unconscious human subjects and the frequency of putative frames of consciousness reported in earlier psychological literature. In ECoG from unconscious subjects, the frequency of deep minima in analytic power is found to be a linear function of bandwidth. In contrast, in ECoG from conscious subjects, the bandwidth/minima-frequency curve saturates or plateaus at minima frequencies similar to the frequencies of previously reported frames of consicousness. This result is consistent with the hypothesis that local minima in analytic power may act as the shutter in a cinematographic model of consciousness. The fact that artificially generated samples of black noise with power spectra similar to ECoG data give similar results in the analyses above suggests that the discontinuous nature of consciousness is not due to some specifically biological factor, but is simply a consequence of the physical properties of the 1/f (aka power law) oscillations that are widely found in nature.