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Background Spuriously high results using the Abbott Architect enzymatic creatinine assay were noted to be particularly associated with very small sample volumes. This led us to query the effect of under-filling lithium heparin tubes on the measured enzymatic creatinine result. Methods Blood was provided by 5 laboratory personnel and then decanted into 5 x1.2 mL Sarstedt S-Monovette tubes, giving final blood volumes of 200, 400, 600, 800 and 1200 μL. Plasma was analysed using Abbott Architect Jaffe, enzymatic creatinine, Beckman Coulter (AU500) enzymatic creatinine and Roche (Cobas c702) enzymatic creatinine assays. Saline was also added to Sarstedt 1.2 mL and Teklab 2 mL tubes and analysed using the Abbott Jaffe and enzymatic creatinine methods. Results Increasing degrees of under-fill were associated with greater over-estimation of creatinine using the Abbott enzymatic assay, but no difference was noted using Jaffe methodology on the same platform or enzymatic assays provided by Roche or Beckman. On average, creatinine was 40.6% (+27.7 μmol/L) higher when only 200 μL of blood was present in the tube. Small volumes of saline added to lithium heparin tubes measured significant creatinine concentrations using the Abbott enzymatic method. Conclusions Lithium heparin directly interferes in the Abbott Architect enzymatic creatinine assay. Under-filling lithium heparin tubes can lead to clinically significant over-estimation of creatinine results by this assay. Users of this assay should be aware of the potential for spurious results in small sample volumes collected into lithium heparin tubes and implement robust procedures for identifying and reporting results on these samples.

Re-introduction to the Failure! column.

Jesse Darling, a contemporary Berlin-based artist, produces sculptures, paintings, and drawings that animate material to depict a lived experience of queerness and disability. This article highlights a recent exhibition of Darling’s as an entry point to their wide-ranging practice. Refracted through the lens of Sara Ahmed’s concept of feminist ‘willfulness’, Darling’s objects depict the body as unruly, unpredictable, and given to change, making them exciting candidates for both disability and trans studies. At a moment in contemporary art and cultural production more broadly when gender-nonconformity is signaled through an attempt to erase bodily markers of specificity, Darling insists on such specificity as the inescapability of the human experience.

This paper provides a survey of healing wells as a background to help understand a personal narrative using autoethnology, self-reflection in personal experience to relate my own personal experienc...

Kellogg, E, Cantacessi, C, McNamer, O, Holmes, H, von Bargen, R, Ramirez, R, Gallagher, D, Vargas, S, Santia, B, Rodriguez, K, and Astorino, TA. Comparison of psychological and physiological responses to imposed vs. self-selected high-intensity interval training. J Strength Cond Res 33(11): 2945-2952, 2019-High-intensity interval training elicits similar physiological adaptations as moderate intensity continuous training (MICT). Some studies report greater enjoyment to a bout of high-intensity interval exercise (HIIE) vs. MICT, which is surprising considering that HIIE is more intense and typically imposed on the participant. This study compared physiological and perceptual responses between imposed and self-selected HIIE. Fourteen adults (age = 24 ± 3 years) unfamiliar with HIIE initially performed ramp exercise to exhaustion to measure maximal oxygen uptake (VO2max) followed by 2 subsequent sessions whose order was randomized. Imposed HIIE consisted of eight 60 seconds bouts at 80 percent peak power output (%PPO) separated by 60 seconds recovery at 10 %PPO. Self-selected HIIE (HIIESS) followed the same structure, but participants freely selected intensity in increments of 10 %PPO to achieve a rating of perceived exertion (RPE) ≥7. During exercise, heart rate, VO2, blood lactate concentration (BLa), affect (+5 to -5), and RPE were assessed. Physical Activity Enjoyment Scale was measured after exercise. Results showed higher VO2 (+10%, p = 0.013), BLa (p = 0.001), and RPE (p = 0.001) in HIIESS vs. HIIEIMP, and lower affect (p = 0.01), and enjoyment (87.6 ± 15.7 vs. 95.7 ± 11.7, p = 0.04). There was a significantly higher power output in self-selected vs. imposed HIIE (263.9 ± 81.4 W vs. 225.2 ± 59.6 W, p < 0.001). Data suggest that intensity mediates affective responses rather than the mode of HIIE performed by the participant.

While Scotland was an important centre for the early development and manufacture of reaping machines, other countries such as England and the United States started to manufacture them in extensive numbers in later years. By the 1870s English manufacturers were selling large numbers of these machines to Scottish farmers, and Scottish manufacturers were competing in a busy market place with their English counterparts. By 1900 some of the Scottish manufacturers that had been renowned for their machines for a number of decades had stopped manufacturing them and sold machines that were manufactured by English or American manufacturers. This pattern raises a number of questions: when and at what rate did the diffusion of English machines into Scotland take place? Why were English manufacturers interested in competing with Scottish manufacturers in the Scottish market? How did Scottish manufacturers react to the competition from English ones? Why were Scottish farmers attracted by machines from English manufactu...

Laboratory-based or in situ PM

This paper examines the agricultural implement makers in Scotland during the period 1850 to 1914, when there were significant developments in agricultural implements and machines and in associated work practices. It considers themes such as the character of the implement makers, their geographical distribution, their standing, and reputation. It charts how their activities changed during this period. It shows that the capacity of their industry developed to support an increased number of family members, there was a growing number of larger businesses that increasingly had a customer base over a wider geographical area and that could be regarded as having a national standing; some also had an international standing. The technological advances in the production of implements and machines meant that production became more complex and was increasingly undertaken by businesses with more and better resources.

This paper examines whether there were regional patterns in the exhibition of different breeds of cattle and sheep, two of the most important classes of livestock to be displayed at the Royal Highland Show, in the period 1872 to 1905. At this time the Show was a movable one, being held in a different region each year.

This paper explores the relationship between three subscription lists inserted into agricultural books of David Young of Perth in 1785, 1788 and 1790. It shows that there are connections between the lists and the subscribers, including their personal details listed in them. It shows how the lists were managed by their compilers and the typographers who were setting them for printing.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is evaluating various sorbents to solidify the organic fraction of plutonium/uranium extraction (PUREX) process waste at the Savannah River Site (SRS). The purpose of the solidification is to provide a cost-effective alternative to incineration of the waste. Incineration at the Consolidated Incinerator Facility (CIF) at SRS is currently identified as the treatment technology for PUREX waste. However, the CIF is not in operation at this time; therefore, SRS is interested in pursuing alternatives to incineration for treatment of this waste. The DOE Western Environmental Technology Office (WETO) in Butte, MT, was designated as the facility for conducting the sorbent testing and evaluation for organic PUREX waste surrogate. In concert with the Transuranic Waste Accelerated Shipment program, MSE Technology Applications, Inc. (MSE) also of Butte, MT, tested and evaluated sorbents with the capability of solidifying organic PUREX waste. A surrogate organic PUREX waste recipe wa...

In the eighteenth century, a period of intense agricultural and rural change, the authors of Scottish agricultural books left a large body of evidence on agricultural systems, changes to the farming landscape and attitudes towards them. These writers also recorded a range of information about themselves, their characters and identities, all of which was conveyed in a number of ways. First, in personal details inserted throughout the subject matter of their books. Second, through the dedication, an established device in which they devoted a book to an individual or organisation, demonstrating their esteem of them or encouraging them to adopt the ideas put forward in the book itself A third device was employed by both the author and the bookseller (or bookseller publisher) that published and distributed a given book. This was the title-page, an important feature in a book. Unless a half-title was inserted, the title-page was the first printed page seen by a reader on opening a book. It demonstrated ...

Three distinct groups of Irish migratory workers were employed in Scottish agriculture during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. These groups were shaped by the development of Scottish agriculture, by the types of crops cultivated, by work tools and techniques, and by the use of harvesting labour systems. The first group emerged in the early nineteenth century, when the introduction of labour-intensive cropping patterns required that large numbers of seasonal workers were employed. The ‘Donegal workers’, small groups of males from Donegal and other northwestern counties of Ireland, were employed at general agricultural work, including harvesting activities, between May and November or December each year.

During the nineteenth century Scottish agriculture attained a worldwide reputation for its excellence. Innovations were made and introduced: the enclosure of fields, which had gathered speed during the late eighteenth century, continued to advance; the old rigs were levelled and underground tile drainage was laid; further land was reclaimed and brought under cultivation; new tools and implements were developed; agricultural engineering developed into an increasingly important industry; new methods of power, such as steam, were applied to agriculture; remote areas gained access to a range of raw materials, goods, markets and specialised agricultural districts started to emerge. Increasingly, agriculture became industrialised. Central to this industrialisation was the diffusion of the knowledge of agricultural innovations and practices. Agricultural historians such as Stuart McDonald have identified that this diffusion took place through a number of channels: personal contacts, farmers' clubs and ag...

In the writing on institutional organisation and collective strike action among agricultural workers in Lowland Scotland during the early twentieth century until the outbreak of the Second World War, Richard Anthony has provided an extensive discussion on farm servants.2 However, in general, little attention has been given to casually employed workers. One such group, known as the Achill workers or the Irish ‘tattie howkers’, employed to harvest the potato crop in south-western and central Scotland, attempted to organise themselves and pursued collective strike action on a number of occasions. That group, which comprised some 1,500 to 2,000 workers, undertook strike action in 1907. That action was followed by intensive campaigns in 1918, 1919, 1920, 1921, and 1938; a further attempted strike was also reported in 1912. Much of their collective action was assisted by institutional support from unions which were already organising workers. But workers also attempted to organise themselves with the assistance of these existing unions in the years 1918 to 1921, 1925, 1926 and 1929, and to form their own union in 1909, 1910 and 1938. This paper will examine these attempts during this period.

Although attention has been given to social, moral and health problems faced by Irish migrants who settled permanently in Britain during the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries, little work has focused on these subjects for the Irish seasonal migratory workers, especially those employed in agriculture. Even though these seasonal migrants were employed for a few months or for much of the year from sowing time to the completion of harvest, they were also subject to them. However, not all of the groups' seasonal workers were affected in the same way or to the same extent. Some were regarded to be more susceptible than others due to such factors as character of the migration, group organisation, sex and age of the migrants, work patterns and work conditions. Of them, Achill workers, the ‘tattie howkers’ or ‘tatie hokers’, a group of some 2,000 workers that migrated annually from Mayo, Donegal and Galway to harvest the potato crop in south-western and central Scotland, was regarded to be the most v...

(2007). The English Countryside Between the Wars: Regeneration or Decline? Folk Life: Vol. 46, No. 1, pp. 161-163.

(2007). The Scottish Countryside Its Changing Face, 1700-2000. Folk Life: Vol. 46, No. 1, pp. 157-159.

In central and south-western Scotland, squads or groups of Irish migratory seasonal workers, largely comprised of women and teenagers from Mayo, Donegal and Galway, were employed by Scottish potato merchants to harvest the potato crop throughout the harvesting season which extended from June until late October or November. As migratory workers, they started their employment in Ayrshire and Wigtownshire, to deal with the first earlies, and then moved eastwards into the Lothians, and northwards into Fife, Perthshire and Angus, to harvest the later ripening first earlies, second earlies and maincrops. As they moved their employment from farm to farm, staying at each from a few days to as long as six weeks, they lived on or close to the farms where they worked. They were usually accommodated in ‘bothies’, farm buildings such as byres, stables, lofts, stores, barns, stables, potato sheds, disused farm cottages and farm houses, all of which were converted into temporary accommodation for the workers. This accommodation was subject to much criticism and many attempts were made to try to improve its condition, not only by legislative control, but through other action, for example by trade unions and specially appointed committees. Of these channels, the latter (non-legislative means) has received very little attention by scholars and much of it is little known.

Rapid diagnosis of Mycobacterium avium complex (MAC) bacteremia is important for management of patients with the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome who have disseminated MAC. The purpose of this study was to determine the reliability of the MycoAKT latex agglutination test for direct detection of MAC in positive mycobacterial blood cultures. First, colonies of isolates of previously identified mycobacteria, including 35 MAC, were tested. Of the 55 isolates evaluated, 33 were identified as MAC by the latex test, including 31 of the known MAC and 2 M. chelonae (sensitivity, 88.6%; specificity, 90.0%). Second, broth from 20 ESP II and 20 BACTEC 12B bottles seeded with isolates of MAC were tested. Aliquots from 19 (95%) ESP II cultures and 16 (80%) 12B cultures were positive by the latex test. In phase 3, broth from 115 signal-positive ESP II blood cultures were tested by latex agglutination. Forty-three subcultures from these bottles grew mycobacteria (41 MAC and 2 Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex); the remainder grew no organisms. Broth from 40 of the blood cultures (39 that grew MAC and 1 from which no organisms were recovered) were latex positive; thus, the sensitivity, specificity, and positive and negative predictive values of the latex test for direct identification of MAC in ESP II blood cultures were 95.1, 98.6, 97.5, and 97.3%, respectively. The mean time to detection of MAC was 14.6 days (range, 6-34 days) with the direct latex test, compared with 18.3 days (range, 9-36 days) with subculture and probe (p < 0.05).

Background Detailed intervention descriptions and robust evaluations that test intervention impact—and explore reasons for impact—are an essential part of progressing implementation science. Time series designs enable the impact and sustainability of intervention effects to be tested. When combined with time series designs, qualitative methods can provide insight into intervention effectiveness and help identify areas for improvement for future interventions. This paper describes the development, delivery, and evaluation of a tailored intervention designed to increase primary health care professionals’ adoption of a national recommendation that women with mild to moderate postnatal depression (PND) are referred for psychological therapy as a first stage treatment. Methods Three factors influencing referral for psychological treatment were targeted using three related intervention components: a tailored educational meeting, a tailored educational leaflet, and changes to an electronic system data template used by health professionals during consultations for PND. Evaluation comprised time series analysis of monthly audit data on percentage referral rates and monthly first prescription rates for anti-depressants. Interviews were conducted with a sample of health professionals to explore their perceptions of the intervention components and to identify possible factors influencing intervention effectiveness. Results The intervention was associated with a significant, immediate, positive effect upon percentage referral rates for psychological treatments. This effect was not sustained over the ten month follow-on period. Monthly rates of anti-depressant prescriptions remained consistently high after the intervention. Qualitative interview findings suggest key messages received from the intervention concerned what appropriate antidepressant prescribing is, suggesting this to underlie the lack of impact upon prescribing rates. However, an understanding that psychological treatment can have long-term benefits was also cited. Barriers to referral identified before intervention were cited again after the intervention, suggesting the intervention had not successfully tackled the barriers targeted. Conclusion A time series design allowed the initial and sustained impact of our intervention to be tested. Combined with qualitative interviews, this provided insight into intervention effectiveness. Future research should test factors influencing intervention sustainability, and promote adoption of the targeted behavior and dis-adoption of competing behaviors where appropriate.