North East
Event Reviews
Regular reviews of events will be posted here.
Rainbows, haloes and glories
12 June 2008
This was an exciting talk given by John Inglesfield from Cardiff university. He showed his passion for science relating to the formation of rainbows. The talk showed many images which John had taken in the Lake District, and related the physical principles behind the exceptional views. It clearly shows how the wonder and beauty of everyday objects can be enhanced, rather than diminished, by knowing the physical science behind them. I found it all the more interesting having recently read Dawkin's book on “Unweaving the Rainbow”, which made much of the fact that the noted poet Keats believed that Newton had destroyed the magic of rainbows by explaining their formation. This was not the case in my mind, and it appeared that everyone found it exciting to learn how these phenomena were produced. The talk itself yielded much discussion between the those attending, and was of interest to all members.
Iain Chambers Monitors Injured Brains
24 April 2008
Cerebral perfusion (blood flow to the brain) can be seriously disturbed after brain injury. Maintaining it within narrow limits is key to the patient's survival and recovery. Measuring different physiological parameters such as pressure in the skull and blood flow can inform clinical management to try to maintain variables within normal values but these measurements are difficult to do.
Iain Chambers, from South Tees Medical Trust, produced a thought provoking talk on how injured brains are monitored. He discussed how through history ideas about how to monitor the injury to a brain and how to treat it had changed. The complexities of determining how treatment and measurements affected recovery from head injury were also presented.
Iain showed how there has been significant improvement in accident prevention, resuscitation, triage, transport and pre-hospital treatment. He believed that further improvements in the long term outcome of these patients could rely on advances in their clinical management. The lack of standard methodologies for data collection and analysis showed how it was very difficult to compare studies from different centres. Developing these standards combined with more focussed studies may provide a better evidence base for the development of better care pathways for these patients.
Some discussion was made of the potential for future monitoring techniques using nanotechnology.
The talk was well attended with over 30 people, and provided a lively discussion between IOP members and Dr Chambers.
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