Voice changes in women treated for endometriosis and related conditions: The need for comprehensive vocal assessment

Hormonal treatments which have an androgenic effect have the potential to cause vocal changes. The changes in vocal fold structure and voice quality are considered to be irreversible. To date, studies have documented subjective vocal changes or documented single cases without detailed, baseline voice assessments. The impact on laryngeal function of women taking these androgenic treatments requires further detailed, objective assessment. The need for increased awareness of the actions of androgenic hormones on womns' voices, and the benefits of a thorough voice assessment are discussed.     

Pharmaceutical applications of variable-angle synchronous scanning fluorescence spectroscopy

The development of variable-angle synchronous scanning (v.a.s.s.) in fluorescence spectrometry is reported, based on a computer-aided spectrofluorimeter. The technique permits a linear path to be scanned at any preselected angle through the emission-excitation matrix defined by (I_em, λ_em, λ_ex), by effectively scanning the emission and the excitation monochromators at different speeds under computer control. When applied to pharmaceutical dosage forms, v.a.s.s. gave good selectivity for chlorpromazine in the presence of its principal degradation product, chlorpromazine sulphoxide, and for oxytetracycline in the presence of the additives vitamin C, thiamine, nicotinamide and riboflavin. Good calibration linearity, precision and recovery were observed for both principal drug components. The angle of the scan trajectory can also be varied continuously through the emission-excitation matrix, to describe any desired path under computer control. This novel technique of non-linear v.a.s.s. can provide an improved method for generating diagnostic profiles of drugs, degradation products and metabolites.     

Determination of the axial-vector weak coupling constant with ultracold neutrons

A precise measurement of the neutron decay β asymmetry A? has been carried out using polarized ultracold neutrons from the pulsed spallation ultracold neutron source at the Los Alamos Neutron Science Center. Combining data obtained in 2008 and 2009, we report A? = -0.119?66±0.000?89{-0.001?40}{+0.001?23}, from which we determine the ratio of the axial-vector to vector weak coupling of the nucleon g{A}/g{V}=-1.275?90{-0.004?45}{+0.004?09}.     

Reflection of plane waves from the boundary of a pre-stressed compressible elastic half-space

The effect of pre-stress on the propagation and reflection ofplane waves in an incompressible isotropic elastic half-spacehas been examined recently by the authors (Ogden & Sotiropoulos,1997). In the present paper the corresponding analysis for compressiblematerials is detailed. In the two-dimensional context consideredfor incompressible materials the (homogeneous) plane waves werenecessarily shear waves. By contrast, in the compressible contextpure shear waves can propagate only in specific directions inthe considered principal plane and, in a general direction,a quasi-shear wave may be accompanied by a quasi-longitudinalwave, as is the case in the anisotropic linear theory. The dependenceof the (in-plane) slowness section on the pre-stress (and finitedeformation) and on the choice of constitutive law is elucidated.This information is used to determine the reflection coefficientsfor reflection of either a (quasi-) shear wave or a (quasi-)longitudinal wave from the boundary of the half-space and tocharacterize the different cases which arise depending on thegeometry of the slowness section. The theoretical results are illustrated by numerical calculationsfor the range of possible types of behaviour with referenceforms of strain-energy function and different states of finitedeformation and to the question of stability of the half-space.