IMPORTANCE Vaginal candidiasis is common during pregnancy. Although intravaginal formulations of topical azole antifungals are first-line treatment for pregnant women, oral fluconazole is often used despite limited safety information. OBJECTIVE To study the association between oral fluconazole exposure during pregnancy and the risk of spontaneous abortion and stillbirth. DESIGN, SETTING, AN...

The potential for basin amplification of ground motion from significant seismic sources 100-200 km (62-124 mi.) from the Las Vegas Valley (such as the Death Valley Fault System) and Quaternary faults in the valley could provide sufficient energy to cause liquefaction. Key criteria of liquefiable soils coupled with a shallow groundwater table (less than 15 m (50 ft)) are met at several sites in ...

BACKGROUND Before 1999, there was no national model or standard doctrine for managing casualties from chemical incidents in the UK. A Department of Health (DoH) initiative to prepare the National Health Service (NHS) for chemical incidents was launched in the same year. This led to the distribution of an NHS standard chemical personal protective equipment suit (CPPE) together with a new single ...

Droughts have been occurring persistently in southern African dryland regions for over a century. The impacts of droughts on people, their domesticated animals, wildlife, rangelands and cropped lands have been shown to be astronomical. If left alone the rangelands often recover after the calamity, however human occupation has led to irreversible damage. Even though some communities have evolved...

Trans-acting small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) trigger a digital silencing response in Paf1C mutant fission yeast cells. Shown here are individual fission yeast colonies that present two different phenotypes (white or red), although all cells are genetically identical. Cells turn red upon siRNA-directed assembly of heterochromatin at the ade6+ gene. Variegating colonies indicate that descendants ...

OBJECTIVES To evaluate the capability of accident and emergency (A&E) departments in six health regions of England to safely decontaminate casualties exposed to hazardous chemicals. METHODS In January 1999 a postal questionnaire was sent to the clinical director of all A&E departments in Trent, North and South Thames, South and West, North West and, Anglia and Oxford Health Regions. The quest...

vol 10 no 10 march 2003 emergency nurse 23 Since the terrorist attack on the US on September 11 2001 and the increasing prevalence of global terrorist activity including threats to the UK, attention has focused on the threat of chemical and biological warfare. Before the attack, bioterrorism had occupied only a small part of the UK public consciousness and threats to civilians from hazardous ma...

Under commercial poinsettia production conditions we compared two patterns of parasitoid release for the aphelinid whitefly parasitoid Eretmocerus eremicus Rose and Zolnerowich. We compared the currently used pattern of a fixed weekly release number (3 females per plant per week) to an experimental pattern in which more parasitoids were released early in the crop (wks 1-8), followed by a lower ...

Hot beverages such as tea, hot chocolate, and coffee are frequently served at temperatures between 160 degrees F (71.1 degrees C) and 185 degrees F (85 degrees C). Brief exposures to liquids in this temperature range can cause significant scald burns. However, hot beverages must be served at a temperature that is high enough to provide a satisfactory sensation to the consumer. This paper presen...

In the long lasting battle against cancer, Nature sometimes gives a helping hand to researchers to find new drugs for the treatment of diseases and improvement of patients' well-being. Englerin A has emerged as a promising anticancer candidate as well as being an exciting synthetic challenge for organic chemists. This focus review summarizes the total syntheses reported to date and the syntheti...