Hepatocyte performance on different crystallographic faces of rutile

The influence of crystallographic orientation of polished rutile single crystal surfaces of the (100), (110) and (111) orientation on hepatocyte performance was tested in cell culture over 3 days. Cell adhesion was observed on the titanium dioxide surfaces and their performance was measured by means of cell number attached (protein mass), cell viability (neutral red assays) and metabolic activity (thiazolyl tetrazolium bromide assay). Titanium dioxide displays no cytotoxic effects on hepatocytes, and shows a performance in the range of standard collagen-coated tissue culture polystyrene dish. The number of hepatocytes adhered on the different rutile surfaces were not significantly different to those on dense rutile polycrystalline ceramic. These findings suggest that hepatocytes do not recognize the specific differences of differently orientated rutile crystal surfaces

Cardiovascular outcomes after simultaneous pancreas kidney transplantation compared to kidney transplantation alone: a propensity score matching analysis

Background!#!Coronary heart disease due to arteriosclerosis is the leading cause of death in type 1 diabetic patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD). The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of simultaneous pancreas kidney transplantation (SPKT) compared to kidney transplantation alone (KTA) on survival, cardiovascular function and metabolic outcomes.!##!Methods!#!A cohort of 127 insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM) patients with ESRD who underwent either SPKT (n = 100) or KTA (n = 27) between 1998 and 2019 at the University Hospital of Leipzig were retrospectively evaluated with regard to cardiovascular and metabolic function/outcomes as well as survival rates. An additional focus was placed on the echocardiographic assessment of systolic and diastolic cardiac function pretransplant and during follow-up. To avoid selection bias, a 2:1 propensity score matching analysis (PSM) was performed.!##!Results!#!After PSM, a total of 63 patients were identified; 42 patients underwent SPKT, and 21 patients received KTA. Compared with the KTA group, SPKT recipients received organs from younger donors (p < 0.05) and donor BMI was higher (p = 0.09). The risk factor-adjusted hazard ratio for mortality in SPKT recipients compared to KTA recipients was 0.63 (CI: 0.49-0.89; P < 0.05). The incidence of pretransplant cardiovascular events was higher in the KTA group (KTA: n = 10, 47% versus SPKT: n = 10, 23%; p = 0.06), but this difference was not significant. However, the occurrence of cardiovascular events in the SPKT group (n = 3, 7%) was significantly diminished after transplantation compared to that in the KTA recipients (n = 6, 28%; p = 0.02). The cardiovascular death rate was higher in KTA recipients (19%) than in SPK recipients with functioning grafts (3.3%) and comparable to that in patients with failed SPKT (16.7%) (p = 0.16). In line with pretransplant values, SPKT recipients showed significant improvements in Hb1ac values (p = 0.001), blood pressure control (p =  < 0.005) and low-density lipoprotein/high-density lipoprotein (LDL/HDL) ratio (p =  < 0.005) 5 years after transplantation. With regard to echocardiographic assessment, SPKT recipients showed significant improvements in left ventricular systolic parameters during follow-up.!##!Conclusions!#!Normoglycaemia and improvement of lipid metabolism and blood pressure control achieved by successful SPKT are associated with beneficial effects on survival, cardiovascular outcomes and systolic left ventricular cardiac function. Future studies with larger samples are needed to make predictions regarding cardiovascular events and graft survival

Transitory Erasures: Subjects of Institutional Critique

Almost a decade separates us from the moment that marks a threshold within the history of institutional critique. On one side of this split one finds the ruins and relics of its second phase; on the other side the hypothesis of a new phase, based less on empirical evidence than on a ‘political and theoretical necessity to be found in the logic of institutional critique’ (Raunig, 2009, p. 3). On one side, Andrea Fraser’s calculation that ‘the institution is inside of us, and we can’t get outside of ourselves’ (Fraser, 2009, p. 414); on the other side, the promise of a ‘permanent instituting’ which ‘does not oppose the institution, but does flee from institutionalization and structuration’ (Raunig/Ray, 2009, p. xvii). But who could not escape oneself, before this boundary, to discover, beyond this boundary, that he/she can flee from institutionalization and structuration? This boundary can be thought only by binding institutional critique to a certain subject. The decade that already separates us from this threshold makes it possible and obliges us to ask: what has happened to the subject of institutional critique within these rituals of passage? Who or what exactly is this subject today, and how does he/she operate within the frames of the third phase of institutional critique