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1. The relationship between plasma immunoreactive atrial natriuretic factor (Ir-ANF) and the urinary excretion of sodium, guanosine 3':5'-cyclic monophosphate (cyclic GMP) and of tissue kallikrein was examined in seven healthy female volunteers. 2. Each volunteer attended on two occasions, a control and a saline infusion day. On the infusion day saline (2 litres, 0.9% NaCl) was administered over 60 min. Measurements of plasma Ir-ANF and urinary excretion of sodium, cyclic GMP and of tissue kallikrein were made at 30 min intervals during the infusion and for 3 h after the infusion. 3. Mean (+/- SEM) urinary sodium excretion increased from a basal value (time 0) of 102 +/- 15 mumo/min to 222 +/- 47 mumol/min 60-90 min from the start of the infusion and thereafter remained significantly elevated (P less than 0.01) above sodium excretion on the control day. 4. In response to saline infusion there was a transient rise in mean (+/- SEM) plasma Ir-ANF from 6.7 +/- 0.8 pmol/l to a peak of 22.5 +/- 3.7 pmol/l at 75 min, falling to 12.7 +/- 1.9 pmol/l at 135 min. The peak plasma Ir-ANF level on the infusion day was significantly elevated (P less than 0.05) above the time-matched measurement on the control day. 5. Similarly, there was a transient rise in mean (+/- SEM) urinary cyclic GMP excretion on the infusion day from 30.9 +/- 4.4 fmol/min to 64.6 +/- 11.4 fmol/min during the 60-90 min collection period, returning to 43.7 +/- 14.5 fmol/min at 210-240 min.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

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This paper focuses on the development, delivery and preliminary impact analysis of an engineering Work Experience Week (WEW) programme for KS4 students in the School of Civil, Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering (CAME) at the University of Bristol, UK. Key stage 4, is the legal term for the two years of school education which incorporate GCSEs in England, age 15–16. The programme aims to promote the engineering profession among secondary school pupils. During the WEW, participants worked as engineering researchers: working in teams, they had to tackle a challenging engineering design problem. The experience included hands-on activities and the use of state-of-the-art rapid prototyping and advanced testing equipment. The students were supervised by a group of team leaders, a diverse group of undergraduate and postgraduate engineering students, technical staff, and academics at the School of CAME. The vision of the WEW programme is to transmit the message that everybody can be an engineer, that there are plenty of different routes into engineering that can be taken depending on pupils’ strengths and interests and that there are a vast amount of different engineering careers and challenges to be tackled by the engineers of the future. Feedback from the participants in the scheme has been overwhelmingly positive.