Role of the loop segment in the urinary concentrating defect of hypercalcemia

Role of the loop segment in the urinary concentrating defect of hypercalcemia. Hypercalcemia is associated with impaired urinary concentrating ability. To explore the mechanism(s) by which hypercalcemia impairs chloride transport in the loop of Henle, we carried out in vivo microperfusion of the loop segment in Sprague–Dawley rats rendered acutely hypercalcemie (12.1 ± 0.1 mg/dliter) by calcium gluconate infusion. Control rats were infused with sodium gluconate and had normal plasma calcium (8.0 ± 0.2 mg/dliter). Compared to control, fractional chloride reabsorption was decreased (61 ± 4 to 50 ± 3%; P < 0.05) and early distal chloride increased 74 ± 6 to 98 ± 3 mEq/liter (P < 0.001) in hypercalcemia. During hypercalcemia, infusion of verapamil failed to increase fractional chloride reabsorption (49 ± 4%; P < 0.05) or decrease early distal chloride (95 ± 2; P < 0.05) toward control values. Similarly, indomethacin did not improve fractional chloride reabsorption (48 ± 4%; P < 0.05) or distal chloride concentration (93 ± 7; P < 0.05). In control rats infused with Ringers HCO3, the addition of calcium 8.0 mEq/liter to the perfusate increased early distal calcium (0.22 to 3.11 mEq/liter) but was associated with no change in fractional chloride reabsorption (-6 ± 6%) and a slight decrease in early distal chloride (-9 ± 3 mEq/liter; P < 0.05). These data are consistent with the hypothesis that an elevated plasma, not luminal calcium, concentration impairs chloride reabsorption in the loop segment, primarily the ADH–stimulated component. This may have an important role in the urinary concentrating defect of hypercalcemia

A Comparative Study of the ReCell® Device and Autologous Spit-Thickness Meshed Skin Graft in the Treatment of Acute Burn Injuries.

Early excision and autografting are standard care for deeper burns. However, donor sites are a source of significant morbidity. To address this, the ReCell® Autologous Cell Harvesting Device (ReCell) was designed for use at the point-of-care to prepare a noncultured, autologous skin cell suspension (ASCS) capable of epidermal regeneration using minimal donor skin. A prospective study was conducted to evaluate the clinical performance of ReCell vs meshed split-thickness skin grafts (STSG, Control) for the treatment of deep partial-thickness burns. Effectiveness measures were assessed to 1 year for both ASCS and Control treatment sites and donor sites, including the incidence of healing, scarring, and pain. At 4 weeks, 98% of the ASCS-treated sites were healed compared with 100% of the Controls. Pain and assessments of scarring at the treatment sites were reported to be similar between groups. Significant differences were observed between ReCell and Control donor sites. The mean ReCell donor area was approximately 40 times smaller than that of the Control (P &lt; .0001), and after 1 week, significantly more ReCell donor sites were healed than Controls (P = .04). Over the first 16 weeks, patients reported significantly less pain at the ReCell donor sites compared with Controls (P ≤ .05 at each time point). Long-term patients reported higher satisfaction with ReCell donor site outcomes compared with the Controls. This study provides evidence that the treatment of deep partial-thickness burns with ASCS results in comparable healing, with significantly reduced donor site size and pain and improved appearance relative to STSG

"From ‘What the hell is going on?’ to the ‘Mushy middle ground’ to ‘getting used to a new normal’: Young people’s biographical narratives around navigating parental dementia"

The number of young people who have a parent with dementia is rising as a result of improvements in diagnosis of young onset variants and demographic shifts. There has, however, been very little research focusing on this group. Accounts elicited as part of the Perceptions and Experiences of Young People With a Parent With Dementia described the period, usually some years, leading up to a diagnosis of a dementia and then the progress of the condition post diagnosis. These narratives were characterised by confusion, uncertainty, trauma and distress as the young people struggled to make sense of the significant and often extreme, behavioural and attitudinal changes that were symptoms of the illness. This paper describes and discusses how the young people experienced and navigated the temporal messiness and consequent biographical disruption arising from parental dementia

Convection in colloidal suspensions with particle-concentration-dependent viscosity

The onset of thermal convection in a horizontal layer of a colloidal suspension is investigated in terms of a continuum model for binary-fluid mixtures where the viscosity depends on the local concentration of colloidal particles. With an increasing difference between the viscosity at the warmer and the colder boundary the threshold of convection is reduced in the range of positive values of the separation ratio psi with the onset of stationary convection as well as in the range of negative values of psi with an oscillatory Hopf bifurcation. Additionally the convection rolls are shifted downwards with respect to the center of the horizontal layer for stationary convection (psi>0) and upwards for the Hopf bifurcation (psi<0).Comment: 8 pages, 6 figures, submitted to European Physical Journal

A double-sided silicon micro-strip super-module for the ATLAS inner detector upgrade in the high-luminosity LHC

The ATLAS experiment is a general purpose detector aiming to fully exploit the discovery potential of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN. It is foreseen that after several years of successful data-taking, the LHC physics programme will be extended in the so-called High-Luminosity LHC, where the instantaneous luminosity will be increased up to 5 × 1034 cm−2 s−1. For ATLAS, an upgrade scenario will imply the complete replacement of its internal tracker, as the existing detector will not provide the required performance due to the cumulated radiation damage and the increase in the detector occupancy. The current baseline layout for the new ATLAS tracker is an all-silicon-based detector, with pixel sensors in the inner layers and silicon micro-strip detectors at intermediate and outer radii. The super-module is an integration concept proposed for the strip region of the future ATLAS tracker, where double-sided stereo silicon micro-strip modules are assembled into a low-mass local support structure. An electrical super-module prototype for eight double-sided strip modules has been constructed. The aim is to exercise the multi-module readout chain and to investigate the noise performance of such a system. In this paper, the main components of the current super-module prototype are described and its electrical performance is presented in detail

A double-sided, shield-less stave prototype for the ATLAS upgrade strip tracker for the high luminosity LHC

A detailed description of the integration structures for the barrel region of the silicon strips tracker of the ATLAS Phase-II upgrade for the upgrade of the Large Hadron Collider, the so-called High Luminosity LHC (HL-LHC), is presented. This paper focuses on one of the latest demonstrator prototypes recently assembled, with numerous unique features. It consists of a shortened, shield-less, and double sided stave, with two candidate power distributions implemented. Thermal and electrical performances of the prototype are presented, as well as a description of the assembly procedures and tools

Transmission electron microscopy and Rutherford backscattering studies of different damage structures in P +

&#x27;Cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy (TEM)&#x27; and MeV He{sup +} channelling methods have been used to examine different damage structures present under the colour bands visible at the surface of a high dose rate P{sup +} implanted (111) Si implanted to a dose of 7.5 x 10{sup 15} ions/cm{sup 2}. TEM and channelling results obtained from individual coloured regions showed a good qualitative correlation in that discrete damage layers observed in the &#x27;cross-sectional TEM&#x27; micrographs appeared as discrete peaks in the channelled spectra. The mean depths of the damage layers obtained from these two methods were in agreement. However, the widths of the deeper lying damage layers calculated from the channelling measurements were always greater than the widths observed by TEM. An emperical method based on subtraction of dechannelling background in the channelling spectra gave damage layer widths that were in close agreement with the TEM results

A comparison of welfare outcomes for weaner and mature Bos indicus bulls surgically or tension ban castrated with or without analgesia: 2. responses related to stress, health and productivity

Tension banding castration of cattle is gaining favour because it is relatively simple to perform and is promoted by retailers of the banders as a humane castration method. Two experiments were conducted, under tropical conditions using Bos indicus bulls comparing tension banding (Band) and surgical (Surgical) castration of weaner (7-10 months old) and mature (22-25 months old) bulls with and without pain management (NSAID (ketoprofen) or saline injected intramuscularly immediately prior to castration). Welfare outcomes were assessed using a range of measures; this paper reports on some physiological, morbidity and productivity-related responses to augment the behavioural responses reported in an accompanying paper. Blood samples were taken on the day of castration (day 0) at the time of restraint (0. min) and 30. min (weaners) or 40. min (mature bulls), 2. h, and 7. h; and days 1, 2, 3, 7, 14, 21 and 28 post-castration. Plasmas from day 0 were assayed for cortisol, creatine kinase, total protein and packed cell volume. Plasmas from the other samples were assayed for cortisol and haptoglobin (plus the 0. min sample). Liveweights were recorded approximately weekly to 6 weeks and at 2 and 3 months post-castration. Castration sites were checked at these same times to 2 months post-castration to score the extent of healing and presence of sepsis. Cortisol concentrations (mean. ±. s.e. nmol/L) were significantly (

A Pair of Dopamine Neurons Target the D1-Like Dopamine Receptor DopR in the Central Complex to Promote Ethanol-Stimulated Locomotion in Drosophila

Dopamine is a mediator of the stimulant properties of drugs of abuse, including ethanol, in mammals and in the fruit fly Drosophila. The neural substrates for the stimulant actions of ethanol in flies are not known. We show that a subset of dopamine neurons and their targets, through the action of the D1-like dopamine receptor DopR, promote locomotor activation in response to acute ethanol exposure. A bilateral pair of dopaminergic neurons in the fly brain mediates the enhanced locomotor activity induced by ethanol exposure, and promotes locomotion when directly activated. These neurons project to the central complex ellipsoid body, a structure implicated in regulating motor behaviors. Ellipsoid body neurons are required for ethanol-induced locomotor activity and they express DopR. Elimination of DopR blunts the locomotor activating effects of ethanol, and this behavior can be restored by selective expression of DopR in the ellipsoid body. These data tie the activity of defined dopamine neurons to D1-like DopR-expressing neurons to form a neural circuit that governs acute responding to ethanol