We assessed infection prevention in Swiss hospitals via a national survey focusing on infection prevention practices prior to a large national infection prevention initiative. Of the 59 hospitals that responded (77%), 98% had infection prevention teams and 40% very good or excellent leadership support. However, a minority of hospitals used recommended infection prevention practices and surveillance systems regularly.

We describe an ultra-wide-bandwidth, low-frequency receiver recently installed on the Parkes radio telescope. The receiver system provides continuous frequency coverage from 704 to 4032 MHz. For much of the band (${\sim}60\%$), the system temperature is approximately 22 K and the receiver system remains in a linear regime even in the presence of strong mobile phone transmissions. We discuss the scientific and technical aspects of the new receiver, including its astronomical objectives, as well as the feed, receiver, digitiser, and signal processor design. We describe the pipeline routines that form the archive-ready data products and how those data files can be accessed from the archives. The system performance is quantified, including the system noise and linearity, beam shape, antenna efficiency, polarisation calibration, and timing stability.

The Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP) will give us an unprecedented opportunity to investigate the transient sky at radio wavelengths. In this paper we present VAST, an ASKAP survey for Variables and Slow Transients. VAST will exploit the wide-field survey capabilities of ASKAP to enable the discovery and investigation of variable and transient phenomena from the local to the cosmological, including flare stars, intermittent pulsars, X-ray binaries, magnetars, extreme scattering events, interstellar scintillation, radio supernovae, and orphan afterglows of gamma-ray bursts. In addition, it will allow us to probe unexplored regions of parameter space where new classes of transient sources may be detected. In this paper we review the known radio transient and variable populations and the current results from blind radio surveys. We outline a comprehensive program based on a multi-tiered survey strategy to characterise the radio transient sky through detection and monitoring of transient and variable sources on the ASKAP imaging timescales of 5 s and greater. We also present an analysis of the expected source populations that we will be able to detect with VAST.

In one of a continuing series of studies, the cognitive performance of normal weight female dieters was compared on two sessions, 3 weeks apart. Those who reported themselves as being on a weight-reducing diet on only one of the two sessions displayed poorer vigilance performance, slower reaction times and poorer immediate recall of words when they were dieting. In contrast, performance on a low processing load tapping task was unaffected. Self-report measures showed that dietary restraint, but not state anxiety or depression was increased during dieting. These results are interpreted in terms of an association between dieting behaviour and high levels of distractibility, and extend earlier findings by demonstrating that these deficits in cognitive performance are closely related to dieting or the perceived need to diet per se.

The Supernova Working Group was re-established at the IAU XXV General Assembly in Sydney, 21 July 2003, sponsored by Commissions 28 (Galaxies) and 47 (Cosmology). Here we report on some of its activities since 2005.

Salmonella is one of the most common causes of foodborne infection in Europe with Salmonella enterica serovar Enteritidis (S. Enteritidis) being the most commonly identified serovar. The predominant phage type for S. Enteritidis is phage type (PT) 4, although PT 8 has increased in incidence. Within these phage types, pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) provides a method of further subdivision. The international project, Salm-gene, was established in 2001 to develop a database of PFGE profiles within nine European countries and to establish criteria for real-time pattern recognition. It uses DNA fingerprints of salmonellas to investigate outbreaks and to evaluate trends and emerging issues of foodborne infection within Europe. The Salm-gene database contains details of about 11 700 S. Enteritidis isolates, demonstrating more than 65 unique PFGE profiles. The clonal nature of S. Enteritidis is evidenced by the high similarity and distribution of PFGE profiles. Over 56% (6603/11 716) of the submitted isolates of several different phage types were profile SENTXB.0001, although this profile is most closely associated with PT 4. The next most common profiles, SENTXB.0002 and SENTXB.0005, were closely associated with PT 8 and PT 21 respectively. Studies to investigate the relationship of profile types with outbreaks and possible vehicles of infection suggest that the incidence of PFGE profile SENTXB.0002, and thus PT 8, in some countries may be due to importation of foods or food production animals from Eastern Europe, where PT 8 is amongst the most frequently identified phage types. Collation of subtyping data, especially in the commonly recognized phage types, is necessary in order to evaluate trends and emerging issues in salmonella infection.

This study investigates the distribution of pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) profiles within Salmonella enterica serotype Enteritidis phage type (PT) 4 and S. Typhimurium definitive phage type (DT) 104, from cases of human infection in nine European countries from 2000 to 2004. Isolates were subtyped using standardized methods and gel images submitted by each participating country to the coordinating centre (Health Protection Agency Centre for Infections, London, UK), where they were entered into a central database, developed within BioNumerics software, and designated using an agreed nomenclature. S. Enteritidis PT4 (n=3637) was differentiated into 38 different profiles. Simpson's index of diversity (D) of profiles ranged from 0·2 to 0·4. Profile SENTXB.0001 represented at least 80% of all profiles in each country. S. Typhimurium DT104 (n=1202) was differentiated into 28 different profile types. Simpson's D was at least 0·6 in all countries except in Austria and Italy. In both these countries over 74% of S. Typhimurium DT104 profiles were STYMXB.0013. Profile STYMXB.0061, was predominant in Denmark, Spain, Finland and England & Wales where it represented between 36% and 45% of profiles. Profile STYMXB.0001 represented nearly half of all profiles in Scotland and 23% in England & Wales. PFGE is proving useful for further discrimination within S. Enteritidis PT4 and S. Typhimurium DT104. Ascertainment of international outbreaks involving common serotypes and phage types may be increased by the timely pooling of PFGE profiles within a central database readily accessible to all participating countries.

A variety of polymer materials including polyimide (PI), polyarylate (PAR), polynorbonene (PNB) and polyethersulphone (PES) have been studied for use as substrates in the formation of active matrix displays based upon polycrystalline silicon (poly-Si) thin film transistors (TFTs). A process used to fabricate transflective mobile phone displays at 250°C on such substrates is described in detail. The NMOS TFTs show a mobility of 100cm2/Vs, and a threshold voltage of 3.9V; the PMOS devices have a mobility of 52cm2/Vs, and a threshold voltage of -6V. Issues relating to performance of these devices, yield of the arrays, and manufacturability are discussed.

Background. The current study investigated the fundamental nature of the cognitive processing deficit that has been demonstrated to be associated with dieting to lose weight. Previous work has characterized this deficit as being primarily one of a reduction in working-memory capacity. The present study investigated the particular components of the working-memory system affected during dieting.

Method. A sample of female subjects was classified as either low/medium restrained eaters (N=34), highly restrained eaters (N=18) or current dieters (N=19), based on their responses to a modified version of the Dutch Eating Behaviour Questionnaire (DEBQ). Each subject completed tasks that assessed the Visuo-Spatial Sketchpad (mental rotation), Phonological Loop (effect of phonological similarity on recall) and the Central Executive (Tower of London Task) components of working memory.

Results. Those subjects who reported themselves to be currently dieting displayed poorer recall on the Phonological Loop task and slower planning times on the Tower of London Task. Performance on both these tasks correlated significantly with a self-report measure of body shape concern.

Conclusions. These results support the hypothesis that the mediating variable in this deficit is that of preoccupying cognitions concerning food and body shape.

The colour-naming performance of a group of hospitalized anorexic women(N=12) was tested on initial admission, after 1 week of treatment and againafter 12 weeks of treatment. Compared to a control population of non-clinicalfemales (N=18), the anorexics colour-named both food and body shape words moreslowly than their neutral matched words; although colour-naming times, ingeneral, were slower for anorexics. The size of this colour-naming impairmentdecreased as a function of weight gain and improvement in psychopathology,although colour-naming times for food words improved more quickly than for bodyshape words for both clinical and non-clinical subjects. The results ofcorrelational analysis between colour-naming times and Eating DisorderInventory (EDI-2) responses lead to the conclusion that colour-namingperformance for body shape, rather than food words, provides a clearerindex of improvement in psychopathological status in anorexia nervosa.