Search

The article discusses British conveyancing procedure and public rights of way as of May 2013, focusing on planning applications, Definitive Map Modification Orders (DMMOs), and the powers and duties of solicitors. Great Britain's Local Land Charges Rules 1977 are addressed, along with Section 53B of the nation's Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 and the British Law Society's conveyancing forms. Other topics include land titles, easements, and the British Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000.

Purpose. Appropriate wheelchairs for basic mobility needs are still not commonly available in low-income countries, although several organizations are working toward this goal. After basic mobility is secured it is important to provide more diverse assistive technology to allow people with disabilities to more completely participate in society and live healthy lives. Our goal was to design an affordable sports wheelchair that would allow individuals in low-income countries to participate in basketball. Methods. Design requirements established for the sports wheelchair included: removable anti-tippers, adjustable tension backrest, 24'' wheels, adjustable seat dump, variable camber, 4'' casters, fore-aft axle position, removable bumpers, height adjustable footrest, four wheels, single anti-tipper (pivot), cost less than $125 without wheels, 16'' seat width and backrest height, and nylon upholstery. The wheelchair was designed using 3D modeling, standard materials, and standard tools. Discussion. An affordable wheelchair, versatile enough to be used for a variety of sports and even everyday use, was designed and prototyped successfully. Documentation for the design including step-by-step directions, engineering drawings, and photographs are available at the Human Engineering Research Laboratories website (http://www.herlpitt.org/intw.htm). Future work on the prototype should include design refinement including adaptations for other sports, and standards testing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose. The most common methods of delivering assistive technology in developing countries are charitable donation and workshops. This describes a new approach to solving the problem, a collaboration undertaken by a US-based lab and a manufacturer in India to produce quality wheelchairs. One goal is to publicize the design free of charge to manufacturers and interested parties world-wide. The process, a demonstration of a new technology transfer method, and the product, an adult manual wheelchair, are described. Method. An iterative process occurred over four years to design and produce the wheelchair. This consisted of prototypes, small production runs, ANSI/RESNA testing, hardness and tensile testing and informal user testing. Results. The design is a manual folding cross-brace design with several points of adjustability. Final pre-production prototypes experienced fastener failures during durability testing. Higher grade bolts were specified. Trial-run production has begun. An ANSI/RESNA wheelchair test lab was constructed in India. Subsequent projects include power and pediatric tilt-in-space wheelchairs. Conclusions. The approach seems promising as a method to improve the quality of assistive technology available in India and begin to meet the vast need in India. Pitfalls encountered throughout the collaboration are described in this paper along with solutions to remedy these problems for future projects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

According to the International Standards Organization 2631-1 standard on human vibration, individuals in a seated position are at risk of injury due to whole-body vibrations when exposed for long periods of time. Wheelchair users fit this description perfectly; however, little research has been conducted to evaluate the amount of vibration transmitted to a wheelchair user. The vibration exposure produced by traversing nine surfaces was evaluated by having 10 individuals without disabilities propel over them in both a manual wheelchair at 1 m/s and a powered wheelchair at 1 and 2 m/s. Root-mean squared (RMS) vertical vibration was examined to determine if differences existed between surfaces. At 1 m/s for both the manual and the powered wheelchair the 8-mm bevel interlocking concrete surface produced significantly higher RMS vertical vibration than the other surfaces. At 2 m/s in the powered wheelchair, the poured concrete surface (control) produced the significantly highest RMS vertical vibration. Based on the manual and power wheelchair results of this study, use of selected ICPI pavers would be acceptable for any route traveled by individuals using wheelchair. Furthermore, a 90 degrees herringbone pattern is preferred over the 45 degrees pattern, and it is recommended that for safety reasons regarding vibration exposure a bevel of less than 6 mm should be used. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Guanylyl cyclase C is a sensitive and specific biomarker for metastatic colorectal cancer. A variant of the guanylyl cyclase C transcript was identified that possesses a 142-bp deletion at the 3' end of exon 1 reflecting alternative splicing of mRNA, introducing a shift in the open reading frame that prevents translation of a guanylyl cyclase C-related product. This variant was identified in human intestine and colon carcinomas, but not in extraintestinal tissues or tumors. These studies demonstrate that GCC and the splice variant contribute to the pool of GCC transcripts detected by RT-PCR in human tissues. They indicate that primers for RT-PCR that amplify regions downstream from the deletion are required to assess the full complement of GCC transcripts (GCC + GCC(var)) in human tissues and body fluids for staging and postoperative surveillance of patients with colorectal cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Carbon fluxes in photosynthesis and photorespiration of water stressed leaves have been analysed in a steady state model based on the ribulose diphosphate carboxylase (RuDP carboxylase) and RuDP oxygenase enzyme activities and the CO2 and O2 concentrations in the leaf. Agreement between predicted and observed photorespiration (Lawlor & Fock, 1975) and C flux in the glycollate pathway is good over much of the range of water stress, but not at severe stress. An alternative source of respiratory CO2 is suggested to explain the discrepancy. The model suggests that resistance to CO2 fixation is mainly in the carboxylation reactions, not in CO2 transport. Using the steady state model, the kinetics of 14C incorporation into photosynthetic and photorespiratory intermediates are simulated. The predicted rate of 14C incorporation is faster than observed and delay terms in the model are used to simulate the slow rates of mixing and metabolic reactions. Inactive pools of glycine and serine are suggested to explain the observed specific activities of glycine and serine. Three models of carbon flux between the glycollate pathway, the photosynthetic carbon reduction cycle and sucrose synthesis are considered. The most satisfactory simulation is for glycollate pathway carbon feeding into the PCR cycle pool of 3-phosphoglyceric acid which provides the carbon for sucrose synthesis. Simulation of the specific activity of CO2 released in photorespiration suggests that a source of unlabelled carbon may contribute to photorespiration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A patient presented with unilateral findings of night blindness shown by impaired rod function and dark adaptation, constricted visual fields with good central acuity, a barely recordable electro-retinographic b-wave, and a unilaterally impaired electro-oculogram. There were none of the pigmentary changes usually associated with retinitis pigmentosa. The unaffected right eye was normal in all respects. Therefore the case is most probably one of unilateral retinitis pigmentosa sine pigmento. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]