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OBJECTIVE: To explore the communication and resource needs of mothers diagnosed with breast cancer treated with curative intent in communicating with their young children and to identify gaps in the resources and support provided to these women. METHODS: Data were collected via semi-structured telephone interviews from 13 mothers who were diagnosed with breast cancer while parenting a young child (age 3-12 years), and 10 health professionals in Victoria, Australia. Data were analysed qualitatively using the Framework Method. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: Mothers and health professionals prioritised communication with children about the cancer diagnosis; however, health professionals and mothers differed in their views of parents' communication needs both in terms of the nature of the support/information needed and the delivery of this support/information. Mothers wanted easily accessible resources that were both instructive and practical. Mothers also emphasised quality over quantity of support. Health professionals were mostly aware of mothers' needs, however, emphasised less instructive support and information. This study highlights the need for improved coordination and tailoring of psychosocial resources and supports for these parents and families communicating about a cancer diagnosis with their young children.

Background: Parents with cancer have high rates of psychological morbidity, and their children are at risk of poor psychosocial outcomes, particularly in the context of parental distress and poor family communication. Parents express concerns about the impact of cancer on their children and report a lack of professional guidance in meeting their children's needs. Few parenting interventions exist and current interventions have extensive infrastructure demands making them unsuitable for routine use in most health settings. The aims of this study are to develop and establish the feasibility and acceptability of a novel and accessible psycho-educational intervention to improve parenting efficacy and decrease parental stress among adults with cancer who have children aged 3-12 years. The intervention will be suitable for parents with cancer who are receiving treatment with a view to longer term survival, irrespective of cancer diagnosis, and their respective co-parents. Methods/design: This study comprises two phases using the UK Medical Research Council framework for developing complex interventions. In the development phase, intervention content will be iteratively developed and evaluated in consultation with consumers, and in the piloting phase, feasibility will be tested in a clinical sample of 20 parents with cancer and their co-parents using a single arm, pre-test post-test design. The intervention will comprise an audiovisual resource (DVD), a question prompt list, and a telephone call with a clinical psychologist. Questionnaires administered pre- and 1 month post-intervention will assess parental stress, psychological morbidity, quality of life, self-efficacy and perceptions of child adjustment, and family functioning. Intervention feasibility will be determined by mixed-method participant evaluation of perceived usefulness, benefits, and acceptability. Discussion: This new initiative will translate existing descriptive evidence into an accessible intervention t

Oxiana's Sepon copper-gold deposits are located in the Savannakhet province of south-eastern Lao PDR. The district contained 2 000 000 tonnes copper and 5 000 000 oz gold before mining started in 2004. The largest deposit is Khanong, and recent discoveries have been made at Thengkham South, Thengkham North and Phabing. The bulk of the resources currently being mined are high grade chalcocite enriched zones up to 50 m thick. They were formed when large tonnage, low grade skarn and carbonate replacement massive sulphide mineralisation was upgraded by exhumation and supergene weathering. The most significant deposits and their copper mineralisation are described, and a genetic model for their formation presented., Oxiana's Sepon copper-gold deposits are located in the Savannakhet province of south-eastern Lao PDR. The district contained 2 000 000 tonnes copper and 5 000 000 oz gold before mining started in 2004. The largest deposit is Khanong, and recent discoveries have been made at Thengkham South, Thengkham North and Phabing. The bulk of the resources currently being mined are high grade chalcocite enriched zones up to 50 m thick. They were formed when large tonnage, low grade skarn and carbonate replacement massive sulphide mineralisation was upgraded by exhumation and supergene weathering. The most significant deposits and their copper mineralisation are described, and a genetic model for their formation presented.

Over 30 hours of airborne measurement of the atmospheric backscatter coefficient Beta at 10.6 um are reported, for four different regions of the Northern Hemisphere outside the UK, at altitudes up to 13 km. The results exhibit great diversity. In several recordings Beta remains constant within a factor of three over large distances and height intervals; in others over four orders of magnitude change is observed. The value of Beta rarely falls below the sensitivity limit of the equipment of approx. 2.2 X 10 to the minus 11th power per m per sr. If such findings are typical of the atmosphere as a whole they strongly support the conclusion that 1) airborne laser radars for the measurement of true airspeed, and wind shear detection and warning at low levels, would have good reliability and 2) a Laser Atmospheric Wind Sounder (LAWS) for global wind field measurement would provide reliable information for a very large fraction of the time., Original contains color plates: All DTIC and NTIS reproductions will be in black and white.

The report describes the continuation of a series of high temperature compatibility trials, screening various combinations of whiskers and metals for prolonged service at 1100C, as a preliminary to possible development of composite turbine blades. The trials showed that only one sample of alumina whiskers remained stable even in pure nickel. Thorough testing with the appropriate alloy in a characteristic engine environment would be needed before proceeding with certainty. However, alumina fibres some two orders of magnitude larger, showed no evidence of gross instability in nichrome and might well make an adequate reinforcement in themselves. (Author)

The small deposit may be viewed as a carbonate-rich member of the oxide-dominated, Fe-Cu-Au +/-REE +/-U deposit group or as a gold-poor variant of the Mount Freda-style carbonate-dominated, vein-replacement deposits in Queensland's Cloncurry Cu-Au field. It lies within Proterozoic volcanic rocks, adjacent to and within a major splay of a fault fundamental to the inlier. The gangue assemblage of dolomite, calcite, quartz and pyrite gives way to amphibole, quartz and pyrite within the sheared volcanic-sedimentary contact and in magnetite-altered wall rocks. Mineralisation is restricted to thick, tabular veins and fault zones. The deposit occurs in a dilational jog that developed during fault reactivation. Plunging ore shoots occur at its contact with a N-S-striking fault and strong alteration haloes exist around the ore zones within the volcanic rocks. Sulphate-bearing metalliferous fluids may have been introduced late and reduced rapidly by earlier alteration magnetite, biotite and pyrite., The small deposit may be viewed as a carbonate-rich member of the oxide-dominated, Fe-Cu-Au +/-REE +/-U deposit group or as a gold-poor variant of the Mount Freda-style carbonate-dominated, vein-replacement deposits in Queensland's Cloncurry Cu-Au field. It lies within Proterozoic volcanic rocks, adjacent to and within a major splay of a fault fundamental to the inlier. The gangue assemblage of dolomite, calcite, quartz and pyrite gives way to amphibole, quartz and pyrite within the sheared volcanic-sedimentary contact and in magnetite-altered wall rocks. Mineralisation is restricted to thick, tabular veins and fault zones. The deposit occurs in a dilational jog that developed during fault reactivation. Plunging ore shoots occur at its contact with a N-S-striking fault and strong alteration haloes exist around the ore zones within the volcanic rocks. Sulphate-bearing metalliferous fluids may have been introduced late and reduced rapidly by earlier alteration magnetite, biotite and pyrite.

El Teniente is a typical porphyry Cu-Mo deposit in relation to its alteration and sulphide assemblage zonation, association with felsic intrusions and predominance of quartz vein-hosted Cu mineralisation. It is anomalous in size, with more than 94 000 000 tonnes of contained fine Cu. Most of the Cu was emplaced during the late magmatic stage, contemporaneously with intrusion of the dacite porphyry dike and dacite pipes into a mafic to intermediate sill-stock complex. Mineralisation is mainly hosted by a quartz-anhydrite-dominated stockwork associated with K-feldspar alteration in the dacites and Na-K-feldspar, biotite and propylitic alteration of the mafic intrusive package. Minor Cu-mineralised hydrothermal biotite-cemented breccias formed at this time. The late magmatic stage was followed by two stages of mineralised phyllic alteration during which thicker, Cu-rich veins were emplaced. A 1 200-m-wide breccia pipe, the Braden Breccia, formed during the late hydrothermal stage and appears to have destroyed a large amount of ore from the centre of the deposit., El Teniente is a typical porphyry Cu-Mo deposit in relation to its alteration and sulphide assemblage zonation, association with felsic intrusions and predominance of quartz vein-hosted Cu mineralisation. It is anomalous in size, with more than 94 000 000 tonnes of contained fine Cu. Most of the Cu was emplaced during the late magmatic stage, contemporaneously with intrusion of the dacite porphyry dike and dacite pipes into a mafic to intermediate sill-stock complex. Mineralisation is mainly hosted by a quartz-anhydrite-dominated stockwork associated with K-feldspar alteration in the dacites and Na-K-feldspar, biotite and propylitic alteration of the mafic intrusive package. Minor Cu-mineralised hydrothermal biotite-cemented breccias formed at this time. The late magmatic stage was followed by two stages of mineralised phyllic alteration during which thicker, Cu-rich veins were emplaced. A 1 200-m-wide breccia pipe, the Braden Breccia, formed during the late hydrothermal stage and appears to have destroyed a large amount of ore from the centre of the deposit.