End-stage renal failure due to analgesic nephropathy, its changing pattern and cardiovascular mortality

The changing pattern of prevalence and age distribution of analgesic nephropathy as a cause of end-stage renal failure (ESRF) in patients on RRT was analysed using the EDTA-ERA Registry's files. Comparing 1990 to 1981, the percentage of patients with analgesic nephropathy decreased in many European countries and the Registry's average came down from 3 to 2%. The highest prevalence was noted for Switzerland, which showed a decrease from 28 in 1981 to 12% in 1990. During the same interval the age distribution shifted to the right with an increase in median age from 57 to 63 at start of RRT for analgesic nephropathy. In Switzerland the age-specific acceptance rate to RRT for patients with analgesic nephropathy decreased to less than 1/3 in the age cohorts below 55 but increased in those aged 65 or older. This increase in the elderly cohorts appeared to be related to the growing acceptance rate to RRT of elderly patients in general rather than to an increasing incidence of ESRF due to analgesic nephropathy. Mortality in general and death rates due to cardiovascular causes were found not to differ in RRT patients with analgesic nephropathy from that of other standard primary renal diseases (excluding diabetic nephropathy and systemic diseases). Some 20 years after withdrawal of phenacetin from the analgesic market, analgesic nephropathy all but disappeared as a cause of ESRF in Sweden and Denmark, and the same may be expected to occur in countries like Switzerland, Belgium, and others in the not too far distant futur

Summerfruit tοrtriχ, Adoxophyes orana: life cycle, warning system and control

Το Λεπιδόπτερο Adoxophyes orana F.v.R., είναι ένας εχθρός που προσαρμόσθηκε πρόσφατα στις εντατικές καλλιέργειες μηλιάς και αχλαδιάς. Οι προνύμφες αναπτύσσονται αρχικά επάνω σε νεαρά φύλλα και βλαστούς και ευκαιριακά προσβάλλουν την επιφάνεια του καρπού. Στην Ελβετία υπάρχουν δύο πτήσεις το χρόνο, ενώ στην Ελλάδα υπάρχουν τρεις πτήσεις με τη δεύτερη και τρίτη να επικαλύπτονται. Οι διαπαύουσες προνύμφες διαχειμάζουν όταν είναι στο τρίτο στάδιο (L?) και αρχίζουν πάλι να αναπτύσσονται την άνοιξη. Υπάρχουν τρεις περίοδοι που οι προνύμφες είναι δραστήριες. Οι μέθοδοι προειδοποίησης είναι: η οπτική εξέταση των λουλουδιών την άνοιξη, οι παγίδες με φορομόνες φύλου και η οπτική εξέταση των βλαστών και καρπών το καλοκαίρι. Ένα μοντέλο, που περιγράφει το βιολογικό κύκλο σε συνάρτηση με τη θερμοκρασία, επιτρέπει τον καθορισμό του καλύτερου χρόνου δειγματοληψίας ζημιών και εφαρμογής φαρμάκων σε σχέση με τον τρόπο δράσης τους. Μερικά κλασικά εντομοκτόνα προσφέρουν θεραπευτική καταπολέμηση αλλά η αποτελεσματικότητα τους πάντοτε μειώνεται εναντίον προνυμφών προχωρημένης ηλικίας. Τα καλύτερα αποτελέσματα επιτυγχάνονται κατά την εκκόλαψη των ωών της πρώτης γενεάς. Ο ρυθμιστής ανάπτυξης των εντόμων (IGR), fenoxycarb, είναι πολύ αποτελεσματικός όταν εφαρμόζεται την άνοιξη εναντίον του τελευταίου προνυμφικού σταδίου (Ls) της διαχειμάζουσας γενεάς. Ένας ειδικός ιός επίσης δίνει καλά αποτελέσματα εναντίον των διαχειμαζουσών προνυμφών. Τον καιρό αυτό μελετώνται η τεχνική της παρεμπόδισης των συζεύξεων και οι παρεμποδιστές ανάπτυξης των εντόμων (IGI) που εμποδίζουν τον σχηματισμό της χιτίνης. Για όλα τα προϊόντα που χρησιμοποιήθηκαν για την καταπολέμηση του Α. orana ο χρόνος που μεσολαβεί είναι πολύ σημαντικός για τη μέγιστη αποτελεσματικότητα.The summerfruit tortrix, Adoxophyes orana F.v.R., is a pest which has recently adapted to the intensive culture of apple and pear. The larvae develop primarily on the young leaves and shoots and occasionally feed on the surface of the fruit. Under Swiss conditions there are two flights per year though there are three in Greece with the second and third overlapping. The diapausing larvae hibernate in the third stage (L3) and begin development again in the spring. There are three periods in which the larvae are active. The methods used to sample populations for making management decisions are: visual examination of flower clusters in spring, sex pheromone traps, and visual examination of shoots and fruit in summer. A model describing the life cycle as a function of temperature allows for the determination of the best time to sample damage and to apply treatments with regard to their particular mode of action. Some classical insecticides provide control curatively but efficiency is always reduced against older larvae. The best results are obtained at egg eclosion following the first flight. The insect growth regulator (IGR), fenoxycarb, is very effective when applied in the spring against the last stage larvae (Ls) of the overwintering generation. A specific virus also gives good control in the spring against overwintering larvae. The mating disruption technique and insect growth inhibitors (ICI), which prevent the formation of chitin, are currently being studied. For all the products used to control A. orana, the timing of the application is extremely important in order to obtain the bes

Linear Theory of Electron-Plasma Waves at Arbitrary Collisionality

The dynamics of electron-plasma waves are described at arbitrary collisionality by considering the full Coulomb collision operator. The description is based on a Hermite-Laguerre decomposition of the velocity dependence of the electron distribution function. The damping rate, frequency, and eigenmode spectrum of electron-plasma waves are found as functions of the collision frequency and wavelength. A comparison is made between the collisionless Landau damping limit, the Lenard-Bernstein and Dougherty collision operators, and the electron-ion collision operator, finding large deviations in the damping rates and eigenmode spectra. A purely damped entropy mode, characteristic of a plasma where pitch-angle scattering effects are dominant with respect to collisionless effects, is shown to emerge numerically, and its dispersion relation is analytically derived. It is shown that such a mode is absent when simplified collision operators are used, and that like-particle collisions strongly influence the damping rate of the entropy mode.Comment: 23 pages, 10 figures, accepted for publication on Journal of Plasma Physic

A portable platform for accelerated PIC codes and its application to GPUs using OpenACC

We present a portable platform, called PIC_ENGINE, for accelerating Particle-In-Cell (PIC) codes on heterogeneous many-core architectures such as Graphic Processing Units (GPUs). The aim of this development is efficient simulations on future exascale systems by allowing different parallelization strategies depending on the application problem and the specific architecture. To this end, this platform contains the basic steps of the PIC algorithm and has been designed as a test bed for different algorithmic options and data structures. Among the architectures that this engine can explore, particular attention is given here to systems equipped with GPUs. The study demonstrates that our portable PIC implementation based on the OpenACC programming model can achieve performance closely matching theoretical predictions. Using the Cray XC30 system, Piz Daint, at the Swiss National Supercomputing Centre (CSCS), we show that PIC_ENGINE running on an NVIDIA Kepler K20X GPU can outperform the one on an Intel Sandybridge 8-core CPU by a factor of 3.4

TLEP: A High-Performance Circular e+e- Collider to Study the Higgs Boson

The recent discovery of a light Higgs boson has opened up considerable interest in circular e+e- Higgs factories around the world. We report on the progress of the TLEP concept since last year. TLEP is an e+e- circular collider capable of very high luminosities in a wide centre-of-mass (ECM) spectrum from 90 to 350 GeV. TLEP could be housed in a new 80 to 100 km tunnel in the Geneva region. The design can be adapted to different ring circumference (e.g. LEP3 in the 27 km LHC tunnel). TLEP is an ideal complementary machine to the LHC thanks to high luminosity, exquisite determination of ECM and the possibility of four interaction points, both for precision measurements of the Higgs boson properties and for precision tests of the closure of the Standard Model from the Z pole to the top threshold.Comment: Contribution to IPAC13, 12-17 May 2013, Shanghai, Chin

Thermoelectric transport in strained Si and Si/Ge heterostructures

The anisotropic thermoelectric transport properties of bulk silicon strained in [111]-direction were studied by detailed first-principles calculations focussing on a possible enhancement of the power factor. Electron as well as hole doping were examined in a broad doping and temperature range. At low temperature and low doping an enhancement of the power factor was obtained for compressive and tensile strain in the electron-doped case and for compressive strain in the hole-doped case. For the thermoelectrically more important high temperature and high doping regime a slight enhancement of the power factor was only found under small compressive strain with the power factor overall being robust against applied strain. To extend our findings the anisotropic thermoelectric transport of an [111]-oriented Si/Ge superlattice was investigated. Here, the cross-plane power factor under hole-doping was drastically suppressed due to quantum-well effects, while under electron-doping an enhanced power factor was found. With that, we state a figure of merit of ZT$=0.2$ and ZT$=1.4$ at T=\unit[300]{K} and T=\unit[900]{K} for the electron-doped [111]-oriented Si/Ge superlattice. All results are discussed in terms of band structure features

First Penning-trap mass measurement in the millisecond half-life range: the exotic halo nucleus 11Li

In this letter, we report a new mass for $^{11}$Li using the trapping experiment TITAN at TRIUMF's ISAC facility. This is by far the shortest-lived nuclide, $t_{1/2} = 8.8 \rm{ms}$, for which a mass measurement has ever been performed with a Penning trap. Combined with our mass measurements of $^{8,9}$Li we derive a new two-neutron separation energy of 369.15(65) keV: a factor of seven more precise than the best previous value. This new value is a critical ingredient for the determination of the halo charge radius from isotope-shift measurements. We also report results from state-of-the-art atomic-physics calculations using the new mass and extract a new charge radius for $^{11}$Li. This result is a remarkable confluence of nuclear and atomic physics.Comment: Formatted for submission to PR

Comparative Effects of Haemodialysis and Haemofiltration on Plasma Atrial Natriuretic Peptide

The effects of 4 h haemodialysis (15 patients) or 4 h haemofiltration (five patients) on plasma concentrations of atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP) were compared by means of a sensitive radioreceptor binding assay, and related to accompanying changes in body weight, blood pressure and plasma renin activity. Before dialysis, plasma ANP concentrations were considerably elevated: haemodialysis group 10-484 pmol/l (mean 156 pmol/l); haemofiltration group 72-320 pmol/l (mean 170 pmol/l). Although plasma concentrations of ANP fell markedly with treatment in both groups: post-haemodialysis 2-187 pmol/l (mean 67 pmol/l); post-haemofiltration 47-135 pmol/l (mean 79 pmol/l), after treatment it remained above the normal range in 14 of the 20 patients. Pretreatment plasma ANP was related to systolic blood pressure (r=0.459; P<0.05) but bore no relationship to mean or diastolic blood pressure, or plasma renin activity. The fall in plasma ANP concentration during treatment correlated with the postural blood pressure drop after dialysis (r=0.505; P<0.05), but was unrelated to changes in weight or plasma renin activity with haemodialysis or haemofiltration. Plasma ANP concentrations rose rapidly again in the 60 min after dialysis treatment, without change in body weight. These results show that high levels of biologically active ANP circulate in end-stage renal disease. The fact that these are not reduced to normal by haemodialysis or haemofiltration, despite restoration to normovolaemic or hypovolaemic state, suggests that the increased levels of ANP in end-stage renal failure are due to both hypervolaemia and other factors, which may include occult cardiac dysfunction and loss of renal clearanc

Effects of Intravenous Aspirin on Prostaglandin Synthesis and Kidney Function in Intensive Care Patients

The effects of intravenous acetylsalicylic acid (1.0 g bolus) on renal function and prostaglandin synthesis were evaluated in a prospective, controlled study in eight patients in an intensive care unit. Four of these patients had congestive heart failure. Administration of acetylsalicylic acid caused significant antidiuresis (−56%), antinatriuresis (−82%), renin suppression (−26%) and decreased GFR (−41%). All of these changes were completely reversible within 1-2 hours and tended to be more pronounced in the patients with congestive heart failure. Urinary excretion of prostaglandin E was depressed profoundly (−93%) and did not return to more than 45% of control 6 h after the administration of acetylsalicylic acid. We conclude that intravenous acetylsalicylic acid affects kidney function in a manner similar to other prostaglandin synthesis inhibitors. Its effects are, however, short-lived. The inhibition of urinary PGE2 excretion outlasts GFR depression, antidiuresis, antinatriuresis and renin suppression by several hour