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The current consensus guidelines were developed to standardize the clinical approach to the management of neutropenic fever in adult cancer patients throughout Australian treating centres. The three areas of clinical practice covered by the guidelines, the process for developing consensus opinion, and the system used to grade the evidence and relative strength of recommendations are described. The health economics implications of establishing clinical guidance are also discussed.

Background: Although the incidence of neutropenic fever (FN) is estimated

A molecular-level kinetic model of heavy oil pyrolysis was developed for a Venezuelan vacuum residue. Model development proceeded in three major steps: creation of a molecular description of the feedstock, generation of a reaction network, and model solution and parameter tuning. The feedstock composition, as described in previous work [Zhang et al. Energy Fuels 2014, 28, 1736−1749, was modeled in terms of probability density functions (PDFs) of three finite attribute groups (385 cores, 2 intercore linkages, and 194 side chains) and a PDF for each of a cluster-size and binding site distribution. These attributes, or molecule building blocks, represent more than 0.4 M molecules. An attribute reaction network was developed using the fundamental reaction chemistry for resid pyrolysis including 6274 reactions that fall into one of 11 reaction families. To make solution time tractable, we used attribute reaction modeling (ARM) which constrained the number of material balances to the number of attributes and irreducible molecules in the system or 2841 total equations. Therefore, reactor output was a set of reaction-altered attribute PDFs and molar amounts of irreducible molecules. The quantitative molecular composition of the reactor outlet was obtained through the juxtaposition of the final attribute PDFs. The properties of both the sampled molecules and the char fraction were obtained using quantitative structure−property relationships (QSPRs). The kinetic model was tuned using a least-squares objective function comparing the model predictions to measurements from the molecular to bulk-property level for all relevant boiling point fractions. The tuned model showed reasonably good agreement with the experimental measurements.

The integration of the Attribute Reaction Modeling approach with the CompGen and KME kinetic modeling tools is described through the development of a kinetic model for lignin pyrolysis. Lignin structure is described as the juxtaposition of a methoxy phenol (MP) and a propanoid side chain (PC) attribute at para positions on an aromatic ring. The CompGen tool provides the qualitative list and the quantitative composition of the attributes in the reactant lignin. Pyrolysis alters the state of the MP and PC attributes while leaving the aromatic ring conserved. These reactions are described in two KME submodels, one for each attribute. The juxtaposition of the reaction-altered attributes defines the product slate. This modeling approach describes the full composition of 624 molecules with 50 equations. The user-friendly CompGen and KME tools allow for the construction of the initial conditions and attribute model equations in a spreadsheet environment enhanced with Visual Basic code that creates, compiles and executes the underlying C code.

The upgrading and conversion reactions of coal and biomass can involve complex reaction networks involving products formed in several generations from the reactants. The appearance of these “mixed rank” products in the Delplot method for reaction network analysis is examined. Guidelines are developed for the interpretation of network-oriented experimental results intended to resolve such reaction networks.

This study outlines a cost structure for a safe and comprehensive ambulatory care program comprised of an early discharge pathway with outpatient follow-up, and promotes this as a cost effective approach to managing 'low-risk' febrile neutropenic patients.