Systemic and intraperitoneal interleukin‐6 system during the first year of peritoneal dialysis

Perit Dial Int. 2006 Jan-Feb;26(1):53-63. Systemic and intraperitoneal interleukin-6 system during the first year of peritoneal dialysis. Pecoits-Filho R, Carvalho MJ, Stenvinkel P, Lindholm B, Heimbürger O. Division of Renal Medicine and Baxter Novum, Karolinska Institutet, K-56, Huddinge University Hospital, 141 86 Stockholm, Sweden. [email protected] Comment in: Perit Dial Int. 2006 Jan-Feb;26(1):35-7. Abstract OBJECTIVE: To investigate if intraperitoneal and systemic interleukin-6 (IL-6) and soluble IL-6 receptor (sIL-6R) are related to each other and to peritoneal solute transport rate (PSTR). DESIGN: Longitudinal study in retrospectively selected patients. SETTING: Peritoneal dialysis (PD) unit of a university-based hospital. PATIENTS AND METHODS: 31 PD patients on treatment with conventional glucose-based solutions participated in a longitudinal study. IL-6 and sIL-6R were measured in plasma and overnight effluent, both at baseline and after 12 +/- 2 months on PD. C-reactive protein (CRP) and serum albumin were used as surrogate markers of inflammation. PSTR of small solutes was evaluated using the dialysate-to-plasma ratio (D/P) of creatinine after a 4-hour dwell; PSTR of large solutes was evaluated using the 24-hour D/P ratio of albumin. RESULTS: D/P creat increased over time (0.67 +/- 0.15 vs 0.80 +/- 0.11, p or = median had higher (p or = median [24.7 (16.5 - 38.5) pg/mL] compared to patients with IL-6 < median [14.1 (10 - 25.7) pg/mL]. Neither CRP nor albumin changed over time on PD, although they were closely linked to plasma IL-6 levels. A strong positive correlation was found between D/P creat and dialysate IL-6 (rho = 0.77, p < 0.0001) at baseline, but not at 1 year. In contrast, there was a significant correlation between D/P creat and dialysate sIL-6R (rho = 0.39, p < 0.05) at 1 year, but not at baseline. At 1 year, 17 patients with increasing PSTR had higher increases in dialysate IL-6 (28 +/- 26 vs -21 +/- 78 pg/mL, p < 0.05) and levels of dialysate sIL-6R (693 +/- 392 vs 394 +/- 274 pg/mL, p = 0.05) compared to patients with stable PSTR (n = 11). Patients who had peritonitis presented higher baseline serum IL-6 concentration (6.8 +/- 1.0 pg/mL) compared with patients without peritonitis (4.0 +/- 0.6 pg/mL, p < 0.05). Finally, both at baseline and after 1 year, there were significant correlations between plasma and dialysate IL-6 (rho = 0.46, p < 0.05, and rho = 0.40, p < 0.05) respectively. CONCLUSIONS: These findings indicate that, (1) intraperitoneal and systemic inflammation increase in PD patients during the first year of therapy; (2) intraperitoneal and systemic inflammation may be interrelated and the IL-6 system may be the link; (3) the IL-6 system (both intraperitoneal and systemic) is associated with PSTR, particularly in the early phase of PD treatment, in which small and large solute transport are linked. Signs of a transition between acute and chronic inflammation were observed in the follow-up evaluation. Inflammation may, at least in part, be responsible for the development of a high PSTR, and this could be one reason for the high mortality in patients with high PSTR. PMID: 16538876 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLIN

A Non-Relativistic Weyl Anomaly

We examine the Weyl anomaly for a four-dimensional z=3 Lifshitz scalar coupled to Horava's theory of anisotropic gravity. We find a one-loop break-down of scale-invariance at second order in the gravitational background.Comment: LaTeX, 23 pages, no figures, JHEP style; v2: typos fixed to match the published versio

Phenotyping for iron deficiency chlorosis at a morphological, biochemical and multispectral level

info:eu-repo/semantics/draf

K* nucleon hyperon form factors and nucleon strangeness

A crucial input for recent meson hyperon cloud model estimates of the nucleon matrix element of the strangeness current are the nucleon-hyperon-K* (NYK*) form factors which regularize some of the arising loops. Prompted by new and forthcoming information on these form factors from hyperon-nucleon potential models, we analyze the dependence of the loop model results for the strange-quark observables on the NYK* form factors and couplings. We find, in particular, that the now generally favored soft N-Lambda-K* form factors can reduce the magnitude of the K* contributions in such models by more than an order of magnitude, compared to previous results with hard form factors. We also discuss some general implications of our results for hadronic loop models.Comment: 9 pages, 8 figures, new co-author, discussion extended to the momentum dependence of the strange vector form factor

Úlceras do pé diabético: importância da caracterização da multiresistência a antibióticos em isolados bacterianos

A diabetes melfitus é uma doença metabólica crónica que resulta numa deficiente capacidade de utilização da glicose. A infecção do pé diabético é uma complicação grave que, quando não controlada, pode levar à amputação, ocasionando incapacidade temporal ou definitiva. O tratamento do pé diabético passa pela antibioterapia agressiva, considerando a profundidade das lesões ulceradas. Neste estudo, foi efectuada uma análise bacteriológica a 21 doentes com úlceras activas do pé diabético, com o objectivo de caracterizar o perfil de resistência a antibióticos. De acordo com a metodologia implementada no CHTMAD, no isolamento usaram-se meios selectivos e diferenciais. Na identificação e estudo do perfil de susceptibilidade, utilizou-se um sistema automático (Dade Behring). Posteriormente, no Laboratório de Microbiologia - Departamento de Ciências Veterinárias da UTAD foi determinado, pelo método de difusão em disco em agar Muelter-Hinton o perfil de susceptibilidade aos agentes antibacterianos: J3-lactâmicos, aminoglicosideos, quinolonas, tetraciclinas, fenicóis, macrotídos, sulfamidas e tosfomicina. Foram testados em bactérias de Gram negativo da família Enterobactereaceae e não Enterobactereaceae segundo os procedimentos do CLSI (2007). Na correlação dos resultados do estudo ao perfil de susceptibilidade, determinado pelo sistema automático e pelo método de Kirby-Bauer, observaram-se discrepâncias no fenótipo, nomeadamente para amoxicilina/ácido clavulânico, imipenemo e amicacina

Phenomenological analysis connecting proton-proton and antiproton-proton elastic scattering

Based on the behavior of the elastic scattering data, we introduce an almost model-independent parametrization for the imaginary part of the scattering amplitude, with the energy and momentum transfer dependences inferred on empirical basis and selected by rigorous theorems and bounds from axiomatic quantum field theory. The corresponding real part is analytically evaluated by means of dispersion relations, allowing connections between particle-particle and particle-antiparticle scattering. Simultaneous fits to proton-proton and antiproton-proton experimental data in the forward direction and also including data beyond the forward direction, lead to a predictive formalism in both energy and momentum transfer. We compare our extrapolations with predictions from some popular models and discuss the applicability of the results in the normalization of elastic rates that can be extracted from present and future accelerator experiments (Tevatron, RHIC and LHC).Comment: 17 pages, 17 figures, to appear in Eur. Phys. J.

Identifying multiple stressor controls on phytoplankton dynamics in the River Thames (UK) using high-frequency water quality data

River phytoplankton blooms can pose a serious risk to water quality and the structure and function of aquatic ecosystems. Developing a greater understanding of the physical and chemical controls on the timing, magnitude and duration of blooms is essential for the effective management of phytoplankton development. Five years of weekly water quality monitoring data along the River Thames, southern England were combined with hourly chlorophyll concentration (a proxy for phytoplankton biomass), flow, temperature and daily sunlight data from the mid-Thames. Weekly chlorophyll data was of insufficient temporal resolution to identify the causes of short term variations in phytoplankton biomass. However, hourly chlorophyll data enabled identification of thresholds in water temperature (between 9 and 19 °C) and flow (<30 m3 s−1) that explained the development of phytoplankton populations. Analysis showed that periods of high phytoplankton biomass and growth rate only occurred when these flow and temperature conditions were within these thresholds, and coincided with periods of long sunshine duration, indicating multiple stressor controls. Nutrient concentrations appeared to have no impact on the timing or magnitude of phytoplankton bloom development, but severe depletion of dissolved phosphorus and silicon during periods of high phytoplankton biomass may have contributed to some bloom collapses through nutrient limitation. This study indicates that for nutrient enriched rivers such as the Thames,manipulating residence time (through removing impoundments) and light/temperature (by increasing riparian tree shading) may offer more realistic solutions than reducing phosphorus concentrations for controlling excessive phytoplankton biomass