Incidence of glioma in a northwestern region of England, 2006-2010.

BACKGROUND: Gliomas are important because they affect disproportionately high numbers of people of working age and have a poor prognosis. Neurosurgeons were concerned about a possible recent cluster of glioma cases in a northwestern region in England. METHODS: All patients aged 18-89 years in Lancashire and South Cumbria with a histologically confirmed glioma diagnosed at the Royal Preston Hospital between January 1, 2006, and December 31, 2010, were ascertained. Clinical information was extracted from hospital records. Completeness of case referral to Royal Preston Hospital was checked against the National Cancer Registry and National Brain Tumour Registry records for the same period. For a comprehensive assessment of regional incidence, age-standardized incidence rates of all gliomas diagnosed in adults (aged 15 years and older) in the study area were then compared with those for the North West region and England as a whole. Rates for the North West region in defined small area-units ("Middle Super Output Areas") were also investigated to assess any small-area variation in the region during the decade to 2010. RESULTS: There were 435 glioma patients from Lancashire and South Cumbria diagnosed at the Royal Preston Hospital between 2006 and 2010, with case ascertainment verified to be complete by the National Cancer Registration Service. The age-standardized incidence rate of gliomas in the study area was 7.10 per 100,000 in 2006-2010, which was minimally different from the rate for all cancer networks in England over the 10 years from 2001. Small-area analysis confirmed lack of major variation in glioma rates in the North West region of England. CONCLUSION: Glioma incidence rates in England have remained stable by region and over time during the last decade.

Moments of multiple scattering.

We present an analytical technique that solves exactly, and in closed form, for the first and second moments of the spatial and angular positions of photon distributions in a multiple-scattering medium. The analysis leads to simple analytic expressions for these moments, both conditioned on the number of scatterings and summed over all scattering events. The conventional results for small-angle forward scattering, and for the diffusion regime, are recovered in the appropriate limiting cases.

Generation of single-frequency radiation at 1064, 1319, and 659.5 nm with an all-solid-state, out-of-plane Nd:YAG ring laser.

Single-frequency output from a unidirectional, out-of-plane, all-solid-state Nd:YAG ring resonator is demonstrated; the setup can be readily operated at both 1064 and 1319 nm with an end-pumping configuration. High multimode slope efficiencies of 42% were observed at 1064 nm, giving a maximum output power of 1.32 W. A maximum single-frequency, TEM(00) output at 1319 nm of 650 mW was achieved with initial slope efficiencies of 17%. External enhancement cavity frequency doubling in LiB(3) O(5) gave a total single-frequency, TEM(00) output power of 18 mW at 659.5 nm.

All-solid-state actively mode-locked Cr:LiSAF laser.

We have demonstrated an actively mode-locked Cr:LiSAF laser pumped by 659-nm radiation from an intracavity frequency-doubled diode-pumped Nd:YLF laser. The laser was tunable from 815 to 915 nm, and pulses of 30-ps duration at an average power of 3.5 mW were generated. With further development this all-solid-state system will be particularly suitable for the production of femtosecond pulses, by the technique of Kerr-lens mode locking.

Singly resonant, all-solid-state, mode-locked LiB(3)O(5) optical parametric oscillator tunable from 652 nm to 2.65 microm.

We describe a singly resonant mode-locked optical parametric oscillator that is based on temperature-tuned LiB(3)O(5) and synchronously pumped by a frequency-doubled, mode-locked, Q-switched, diode-laser-pumped Nd:YLF laser at 523.5 nm. The oscillator is broadly tunable throughout the range of 652 nm to 2.65 microm and can simultaneously generate two pairs of signal and idler beams, leading to four-color operation of the device over an extensive wavelength range from ~664 nm to 2.47 microm. Oscillation thresholds of ~2.5 GW/cm(2) and internal pump depletions of ~20% have been measured.

Picosecond infrared optical parametric generation in KTP using a diode-laser-pumped solid-state laser.

We report the generation of tunable picosecond pulses in the near infrared by synchronous pumping of an optical parametric oscillator based on the crystal KTP with a frequency-doubled, actively mode-locked, Q-switched, diode-laser-pumped Nd:YLF laser at 523.5 nm. The oscillator provides tunable radiation over the ranges of 0.946-1.020 microm and 1.075-1.172 microm in pulses of ~8-ps duration, with average output powers approaching 2 mW, at a 500-Hz repetition rate. The threshold Q-switched pulse energy was 4 microJ, and pump depletions as high as 56% were observed when pumping 5.5 times above threshold. At this pumping intensity the amplitude stability of the optical parametric oscillator output pulses was +/-2%.

The protective effect of ipratropium bromide aerosol against bronchospasm induced by hyperventilation and the inhalation of allergen, methacholine and histamine.

The ability of the anticholinergic agent, ipratropium bromide, Atrovent, (40 mcg from a metered dose inhaler) to prevent bronchoconstriction produced by four different provocation tests was compared with placebo in 12 asthmatic patients. The provocation tests used were hyperventilation and inhalations of histamine, methacholine and an allergen to which the subject was known to be sensitive. The order in which each patient received the tests was determined according to a Latin-square design and remained the same on both test days. Pretreatment with ipratropium bromide and placebo was allocated randomly and administered in double-blind fashion. Ipratropium bromide provided significant protection at the 5% level against all four types of challenge. The average number of breaths required to produce a fall of at least 20% in FEV1 (forced expiratory volume in one second) was doubled for both histamine and allergen and increased by a factor of six for methacholine. The fall in FEV1 induced by hyperventilation was approximately halved. No side effects were noted with ipratropium bromide.

Management of the neurogenic bowel using durolax solution.

A simple and effective bowel care regime is described which has been in use in the Spinal Injuries Unit at Prince Henry Hospital, Sydney, for more than 10 years. Three times a week, Durolax solution (bisacodyl 10 mg in 5 ml of propylene glycol), usually 5 mL undiluted or diluted with 5 mL of tap water, is introduced into the rectum using a catheter and syringe. A faecal softener is given 24 hours before the Durolax solution. Evacuation usually results within 30 minutes, tending to occur sooner with continued use of the regime. The procedure is well tolerated and there have been no serious problems.