Design as a driver of innovation in the East Midlands

This study reports on research and consultation with local stakeholders to discuss the role of design as part of the innovation agenda in the East Midlands. A key finding of this research iss that the East Midlands has a very strong design industry and that businesses in the region use design to a much greater extent than in most other regions

Longitudinal evidence of the impact of normal thyroid stimulating hormone variations on cognitive functioning in very old age

The purpose of this study was to examine longitudinal associations among thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) levels and cognitive performance. Data collected at the first three assessment times, approximately 3 years apart, are reported for the survivors (n=45) from a previously published cross-sectional study. Participants were aged 75–93 years at baseline, and data reported were collected in the Kungsholmen Project, a longitudinal project investigating aging and dementia. Analyses revealed that although declining verbal fluency and visuospatial abilities were accompanied by simultaneously declining TSH levels, the pattern of cross-sectional and longitudinal results are interpreted such that declining TSH levels may have caused episodic memory deficits later on. These results were obtained in the examination of 6-year but not 3-year change, and after removal of the cognitive variation associated with depressive mood symptoms

Business Growth Ambitions Amongst SME Leaders - Changes Over Time and Links to Growth (Final Report)

This study is a follow up to a report published in 2012 which examined the level and determinants of growth ambition amongst leaders of UK Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). The purposeof this research is to resurvey the respondents to the 2012 study in order to generate new data which, in combination with secondary data on business performance, will provide answers to the following key research questions: How does ambition change over time and what influences this? What is the relationship between ambition and business growth

Creative Growth Regional Mapping

Report by TBR economic research and business intelligence, for the Institute of Creative Industries, Edinburgh Napier University

Perspective on the Hyperpolarisation Technique Signal Amplification by Reversible Exchange (SABRE) in NMR Spectroscopy and MR Imaging

Signal amplification by reversible exchange (SABRE) is a para-hydrogen-based technique that utilises a metal complex, normally centred on iridium, to propagate polarisation from para-hydrogen-derived hydride ligands to spin-1/2 nuclei located in a bound substrate. To date, substrates possessing 1 H, 13 C, 15 N, 19 F, 31 P, 29 Si, and 119 Sn nuclei have been polarised by this technique. The exact positioning of these nuclei has a direct bearing on the enhancement observed and so substrates must be chosen or synthesised with care in order to maximise polarisation transfer, and hence the resulting enhancement. The chemical composition of the metal complex must be similarly appraised, as the exchange rate of substrates and para-hydrogen is implicated heavily in efficient polarisation transfer. The nature of the polarisation transfer, whether homogenous or heterogeneous, is another important facet to consider here, as is conducting SABRE in water-based systems. This review discusses the physical and theoretical aspects of the SABRE experiment, as well as the applications of the SABRE technique, namely, the detection of analytes at concentrations far below what would be possible with conventional NMR techniques and the collection of hyperpolarised magnetic resonance images. Advances relating to utilising singlet states for SABRE, pulse sequence design and the nature of the polarisation transfer mechanism are also discussed, and the implications for future SABRE-based discoveries highlighted

Hyperpolarization of pyridyl fentalogues by signal amplification by reversible exchange (SABRE)

Fentanyl, also known as ‘jackpot’, is a synthetic opiate that is 50–100 times more potent than morphine. Clandestine laboratories produce analogues of fentanyl, known as fentalogues to circumvent legislation regarding its production. Three pyridyl fentalogues were synthesized and then hyperpolarized by signal amplification by reversible exchange (SABRE) to appraise the forensic potential of the technique. A maximum enhancement of ‐168‐fold at 1.4 T was recorded for the ortho pyridyl 1H nuclei. Studies of the activation parameters for the three fentalogues revealed that the ratio of ligand loss trans to hydride and hydride loss in the complex [Ir(IMes)(L)3(H)2]+ (IMes=1,3‐bis(2,4,6‐trimethylphenyl)imidazole‐2‐ylidene) ranged from 0.52 to 1.83. The fentalogue possessing the ratio closest to unity produced the largest enhancement subsequent to performing SABRE at earth's magnetic field. It was possible to hyperpolarize a pyridyl fentalogue selectively from a matrix that consisted largely of heroin (97 : 3 heroin:fentalogue) to validate the use of SABRE as a forensic tool

PTK (protein tyrosine kinase)-6 and HER2 and 4, but not HER1 and 3 predict long-term survival in breast carcinomas

The HER receptors are of therapeutic and prognostic significance in breast cancer, and their function is modulated by cytoplasmic tyrosine kinases like PTK6 (brk). We performed a retrospective study on archival breast cancer samples from patients with long follow-up and compared the protein expression between individual HERs and between HERs and the PTK6. Univariate and multivariate analyses were used to study the prognostic value of parameters. Metastases-free survival of patients for longer than 240 months was inversely associated (P⩽0.05) with nodal status, tumour size, and oestrogen receptor status, but was also directly associated with high protein expression levels of HER4 and PTK6 in Kaplan–Meier analysis. In multivariate analysis for metastases-free survival of >240 months, the stepwise selected parameters were tumour size (relative risk 3.1), PTK6 expression (0.4), and number of positive lymph nodes (1.2). Furthermore, we demonstrated a timedependence of the prognostic value attributed to the parameters. The HER receptors (HER2,4), but not PTK6, were independent prognostic markers for metastases-free survival at 60 months, whereas at 240 months PTK6 is the strongest prognostic marker. We demonstrate that PTK6 is a prognostic marker of metastases-free survival in breast cancer, and is independent of the classical morphological and molecular markers of lymph node involvement, tumour size, and HER2 status

Rapid Diagnosis of Tuberculosis with the Xpert MTB/RIF Assay in High Burden Countries: A Cost-Effectiveness Analysis

A cost-effectiveness study by Frank Cobelens and colleagues reveals that Xpert MTB/RIF is a cost-effective method of tuberculosis diagnosis that is suitable for use in low- and middle-income settings