The association of abdominal muscle with outcomes after scheduled abdominal aortic aneurysm repair

Sarcopenia is the degenerative loss of core muscle mass. It is an aspect of frailty, which is associated with increased rates of peri‐operative harm. We assessed the association of the cross‐sectional areas of abdominal muscles, including psoas, with survival during a median (IQR [range]) follow‐up of 3.8 (3.2–4.4 [0.0–5.1]) years after scheduled endovascular (132) or open (5) abdominal aortic aneurysm repair in 137 patients. In multivariate analysis, mortality hazard (95%CI) was independently associated with: age, 1.06 (1.01–1.13) per year, p = 0.03; and the adjusted area of the left psoas muscle, 0.94 (0.81–1.01) per mm2.kg−0.83, p = 0.08. Shortened hospital stay was independently associated with haemoglobin concentration and adjusted left psoas muscle area, hazard ratio (95%) 1.01 (1.00–1.02) per g.l−1 and 1.05 (1.02–1.07) per mm2.kg−0.83, p = 0.04 and 0.001, respectively

Método para quantificação do consumo energético no ciclo de vida de equipamentos hidrossanitários

A escolha entre diferentes materiais, produtos ou sistemas empregados na construção civil pode levar em consideração diferentes critérios, sejam estes econômicos, sociais, culturais e ambientais. No caso de equipamentos hidrossanitários, a avaliação econômica e do consumo de recursos, tais como a água, são os critérios mais comumente empregados. O presente artigo objetiva a proposição de um método para quantificação do consumo energético de equipamentos hidrossanitários com base no conceito de Análise do Ciclo de Vida. Essa quantificação permite a comparação entre o desempenho de diferentes equipamentos hidrossanitários com base no dispêndio energético total. No presente artigo o método proposto é aplicado em um estudo de caso analisando dois modelos de torneira (convencional e com fechamento hidromecânico). O consumo energético total no ciclo de vida das torneiras convencional e economizadora de água utilizadas no estudo foi de respectivamente, 151,66 MJ e 127,58 MJ. A etapa de uso das torneiras apresentou peso preponderante nos resultados, com participação de 64,6% para a torneira convencional e 56,5% para a torneira com fechamento hidromecânico. O método proposto se mostrou adequado para quantificação do consumo energético no ciclo de vida e posterior escolha entre diferentes equipamentos hidrossanitários que exerçam a mesma função

Pilot Study of Renal Urinary Biomarkers for Diagnosis of CKD of Uncertain Etiology

10.1016/j.ekir.2019.07.009Kidney International Reports4101401-141

Correction: Evaluation of biochemical profile of Chronic Kidney Disease of uncertain etiology in Sri Lanka.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0232522.]

Evaluation of biochemical profile of Chronic Kidney Disease of uncertain etiology in Sri Lanka.

Chronic Kidney Disease of uncertain etiology (CKDu) is an endemic, disease that mostly affects young agricultural workers in the rural dry zone of Sri Lanka. This study was designed to identify specific biochemical manifestations of CKDu cases. All (119) non-dialysis definite CKDu patients in Girandurukotte and Wilgamuwa were selected. Blood and urine samples were collected and measured biochemical parameters. All analyses were performed in IBM SPSS statistics version 23 (IBM Corp, USA). The median blood pressure was normal though nearly half of the patients (45.4%) who were in the advanced stages (Stage 3b, 4 and 5) of CKDu. Patients without a history of hypertension before the diagnosis of CKDu (100%) and minimal proteinuria (26%) are similar to the previous findings. Patients without a history of diabetes before the CKDu diagnosis had high percentages of diabetes (15.7%) and pre-diabetes (59.8%) and hence indicated the possibility of uremia induced impaired glucose intolerance in the rural areas of the country. There were 62.2% patients who had low vitamin D and only a minority had evidence of bone mineral diseases. Out of liver disease markers serum glutamic pyruvic transaminases (SGPT), serum glutamic oxaloacetic transaminases (SGOT), gamma-glutamyl transferase (GGT), and Lactic acid degydrogenase (LDH) had an inverse correlation with the advancement of the disease indicating subclinical liver disease. Osmolality in serum and urine showed a discrepancy despite > 50% of CKDu patients had increased their serum osmolality. The current study supports most of the previously described manifestations of CKDu. Moreover, some specific patterns have been identified which need to be validated in a larger group

Recurrent noncoding U1 snRNA mutations drive cryptic splicing in SHH medulloblastoma

In cancer, recurrent somatic single-nucleotide variants—which are rare in most paediatric cancers—are confined largely to protein-coding genes1–3. Here we report highly recurrent hotspot mutations (r.3A>G) of U1 spliceosomal small nuclear RNAs (snRNAs) in about 50% of Sonic hedgehog (SHH) medulloblastomas. These mutations were not present across other subgroups of medulloblastoma, and we identified these hotspot mutations in U1 snRNA in only <0.1% of 2,442 cancers, across 36 other tumour types. The mutations occur in 97% of adults (subtype SHHδ) and 25% of adolescents (subtype SHHα) with SHH medulloblastoma, but are largely absent from SHH medulloblastoma in infants. The U1 snRNA mutations occur in the 5′ splice-site binding region, and snRNA-mutant tumours have significantly disrupted RNA splicing and an excess of 5′ cryptic splicing events. Alternative splicing mediated by mutant U1 snRNA inactivates tumour-suppressor genes (PTCH1) and activates oncogenes (GLI2 and CCND2), and represents a target for therapy. These U1 snRNA mutations provide an example of highly recurrent and tissue-specific mutations of a non-protein-coding gene in cancer