Chance Saloon Research Articles

The Last Chance Saloon: Colistin Resistance in Pseudomonas aeruginosa Isolated from Adults with Cystic Fibrosis

The Last Chance Saloon: Colistin Resistance in Pseudomonas aeruginosa Isolated from Adults with Cystic Fibrosis

Women and lipoprotein apheresis: another side of gender medicine.

In heterozygous Familial Hypercholesterolemia (FH) woman atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease occurs 20-years earlier respect woman without FH while homozygous FH women may suffer from atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease even in childhood. Lipoprotein apheresis, a therapeutic "last chance saloon", is a well-tolerated procedure that markedly lowers LDL-cholesterol and Lp(a) levels in patients who do not achieve acceptable levels with maximal lifestyle and drug therapy. The experience of LA treatment in 3 female homozygous FH patients was described. Moreover, an explore analysis on pre and post-LA hormonal levels was performed in 8 HeFH women showing a significant improvement in the atherogenic lipid profile (total cholesterol -56%, LDL cholesterol -71%, triglycerides -72%, Apo B lipoprotein -69%, Lp(a) -59%;) and a reduction of FSH and LH values (FSH - 28%, LH -31%). Women with FH experience specific barriers to care, including underrepresentation in research, significant underestimation of risk, and discontinuation of therapy during pregnancy. Therefore, in this study, we investigated the possible effects of LA treatment on plasma FSH and LH levels.

Budget leaves NHS dentistry in last chance saloon

Budget leaves NHS dentistry in last chance saloon

The scientific basis and future of lipoprotein apheresis.

Lipoprotein apheresis plays a vital role in the management of the severe hyperlipidemias that predispose to atherosclerosis. Determinants of efficacy are the acute reduction in lipoproteins achieved by each apheresis procedure, their frequency, and the fractional catabolic rates and hence pool sizes of low-density lipoprotein (LDL) or lipoprotein (a) (Lp(a)) of the patient being treated. A useful criterion of the efficacy of apheresis plus lipid-lowering drug therapy is the decrease in the interval (time-averaged) mean of serum total or LDL cholesterol or Lp(a) between procedures, expressed as the percent decrease in the interval means below the maximal levels of these lipoproteins when off all treatment. Recent advances in lipid-lowering drug therapy may diminish the use of lipoprotein apheresis but will not abolish its unique role as a therapeutic "last chance saloon," especially for children and pregnant women with homozygous familial hypercholesterolemia.

Innovation with purpose

Innovation with purpose

The Last Chance Saloon.

Accurate chromosome segregation requires the removal of all chromatin bridges, which link chromosomes before cell division. When chromatin bridges fail to be removed, cell cycle progression may halt, or cytokinesis failure and ensuing polyploidization may occur. Conversely, the inappropriate severing of chromatin bridges leads to chromosome fragmentation, excessive genome instability at breakpoints, micronucleus formation, and chromothripsis. In this mini-review, we first describe the origins of chromatin bridges, the toxic processing of chromatin bridges by mechanical force, and the TREX1 exonuclease. We then focus on the abscission checkpoint (NoCut) which can confer a transient delay in cytokinesis progression to facilitate bridge resolution. Finally, we describe a recently identified mechanism uncovered in C. elegans where the conserved midbody associated endonuclease LEM-3/ANKLE1 is able to resolve chromatin bridges generated by various perturbations of DNA metabolism at the final stage of cell division. We also discuss how LEM-3 dependent chromatin bridge resolution may be coordinated with abscission checkpoint (NoCut) to achieve an error-free cleavage, therefore acting as a “last chance saloon” to facilitate genome integrity and organismal survival.

Final orders at the last chance saloon?

In 2017, the prime minister announced the first independent review of the Mental Health Act 1983 since its reform in 2007. Last December, shrouded by Brexit, the report was published—Modernising...

The Current State of Deep Brain Stimulation for Chronic Pain and Its Context in Other Forms of Neuromodulation.

Chronic intractable pain is debilitating for those touched, affecting 5% of the population. Deep brain stimulation (DBS) has fallen out of favour as the centrally implantable neurostimulation of choice for chronic pain since the 1970–1980s, with some neurosurgeons favouring motor cortex stimulation as the ‘last chance saloon’. This article reviews the available data and professional opinion of the current state of DBS as a treatment for chronic pain, placing it in the context of other neuromodulation therapies. We suggest DBS, with its newer target, namely anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), should not be blacklisted on the basis of a lack of good quality study data, which often fails to capture the merits of the treatment.

The Last Chance Saloon? The Independent Labour Party and Miners’ Militancy in the Second World War Revisited

The second world war witnessed widespread conflict in British industry, notably in mining. We review the role of the Independent Labour Party (ILP), a small revolutionary socialist organization, focusing on its work in the trade unions. Its development is discussed in the light of recent claims that, with the Communist Party (CP) pledged to national unity after Hitler’s invasion of Russia, the ILP generated and harnessed militancy in the mines around demands for their immediate nationalization under workers’ control. We discuss the organization, policy and personnel of the party at the outbreak of war. Its approach to agitation in the unions is analysed and compared with that of the Communists and Trotskyists. Its activity in the coalfields throughout the war is assessed. We conclude that strikes in coal and other industries were motivated by workplace problems, not aspirations for workers’ control. Disputes reflected conventional discontents exacerbated by wartime conditions rather than opposition to the war or demands for ‘a socialist Britain now’. The ILP was ill-equipped to mobilize grievance and its role in its articulation was marginal. By 1945 its efforts in industry had failed to arrest its decline – the CP again provides instructive comparison – or improve its electoral prospects.

Climate change justice: getting motivated in the last chance saloon

A key reason for pessimism with respect to greenhouse gas emissions reduction relates to the ‘motivation problem’, whereby those who could make the biggest difference prima facie have the least incentive to act because they are most able to adapt: how can we motivate such people (and thereby everyone else) to accept, indeed to initiate, the changes to their lifestyles that are required for effective emissions reductions? This paper offers an account inspired by Rawls of the good of membership of ‘intergenerational cooperative union’ to achieve justice that provides a solution to the motivation problem.

It might be a big family but the pain remains—last chance saloon for selective 5-HT receptor ligands?

The following brief overview reflects our own opinion of where the most likely advances to treating pain (unrelated to IBS and migraine) may come from with respect to ligands directly interacting with specific 5-HT receptors. It is fully appreciated, and possibly more likely, that 5-HT plays a modulatory role in the mediation of analgesic effects of certain compounds, for example tricyclic antidepressants and the newer, safer class of serotonin/noradrenaline re-uptake inhibitors, for example duloxetine and milnacipran. However, we find that recent pre-clinical findings highlight the potential of peripherally acting 5-HT(1) and 5-HT(2A) receptor agonists and centrally penetrating 5-HT(7) receptor agonists to reduce chronic pain. We encourage experimentation using human tissues and healthy volunteers to improve the confidence in rationale of targeting such receptors for treatment of pain in humans. However for this to happen the available pharmacological toolbox will also need to be further improved and any safety concerns understood to provide the necessary impetus to go to the clinic.

Interview: David King

Former chief science advisor to the UK government David King once said that last month's talks in Copenhagen would be the “last chance saloon” for tackling climate change. But there is hope beyond Copenhagen, says King. Olive Heffernan reports.

Doctors in the NHS: the restless many and the squabbling few

Rant and rancour are the prevailing sentiments that are scarring present discussion about the UK's National Health Service. The latest rash of national newspaper editorials makes it clear that, as far as professional self-regulation is concerned, “enough is enough”. 1 Independent on Sunda June. 2000; 4: 26 Google Scholar Last week's Independent on Sunday concluded that, in the light of the report into Rodney Ledward's gross surgical incompetence (see p 2058), “The General Medical Council has been drinking in the ‘last chance saloon’ too long. Disband the GMC”. The Sunday Times, in a broader attack on the NHS, argued that “The brutal truth now is that the NHS is failing…The GMC, with its 79 doctors and 25 lay people, failed long ago”. 2 Sunday Times. June 4, 2000; : 18 Google Scholar And on June 5, The Guardian launched its coverage of the government's health-service reforms with the headline, “Blair gets tough with doctors. ‘Consultant is king’ culture must end…”. Deaths among heroin users remain a mysteryAn international team of infectious disease specialists is working together to try to find the cause of a mystery illness that has killed 31 heroin users in the UK and Ireland since April. More than 60 heroin needle-users have been affected in the unexplained outbreak that first surfaced in Glasgow. Full-Text PDF

PFI- THE LAST CHANCE SALOON?

Keywords HEPHERD WINSTANLEY & PUGH, NORTON ROSE PFI, FINANCE, PRIVATE, INITIATIVES, CONTRACTS, DBFO, DESIGN, BUILD, OPERATE, PROJECTS, PROCUREMENT, PUBLIC SECTOR, PRIVATE SECTOR, BIDDING, METHODS, HOSPITALS, PRISONS, ROADS, RAILWAYS, RISKS, TRANSFER, CONTRACTORS... Show All

Showdown at the last chance saloon

Showdown at the last chance saloon

Eugene O'Neill: The Development of Negro Portraiture

The career of Eugene has some obvious progressions, from short one-act plays (The Dreamy Kid, The Moon of Caribees), to essentially expressionistic dramas (The Emperor Jones), back to realism with hints of expressionism (All God's Chillun Got Wings), and finally to long fully-developed dramas (The Iceman Cometh) that are primarily realistic with elements of symbolism (as in Larry Slade's early description of bar in The Iceman Cometh as the No Chance Saloon, It's Bedrock Bar, End of Line Cafe). The extent of development of character proceeds accordingly: in short plays characters are often only twodimensional, at best showing a small range of emotion, and at worst are mere caricature, while in longer plays characters are, for most part, more complex, showing a great depth of emotional capability which is only suggested in early plays. O'Neill's depiction of Black characters generally falls along these same lines, achieving a growth in racial sensitivity from 1918 (the year of publication of The Dreamy Kid and first performance of The Moon of Caribees) to 1946 (the year of first performance of The Iceman Cometh). Some recent critics have noted this development, most notably Peter J. Gillett and Roger Oliver, but all fail to recognize racial bias that plagued until end, and conclude that in The Iceman Cometh had progressed to a state of racial equality.1 Characteristic is Roger Oliver's conclusion that in Joe Mott, O'Neill transcends his previous treatment of Black characters. Joe Mott's specific racial nature, seen in social rather than stereotyped personal terms, is balanced with his shared humanity.2 Throughout progression, however, and even as must be acknowledged as first American playwright to include serious Black characters in popular drama, continually clings to some serious misconceptions and popular stereotypes concerning Black characters, with no exception in Joe Mott. The Dreamy Kid (1918) earns a notable place in history of American drama as one of first plays to be cast with Black actors in serious roles by a 'white' producing company. When The Moon of Caribees was