Renal replacement modality and stroke risk in end-stage renal disease—a national registry study

Background: The risk of stroke in end-stage renal disease (ESRD) on renal replacement therapy (RRT) is up to 10-fold greater than the general population. However, whether this increased risk differs by RRT modality is unclear. Methods: We used data contained in the Scottish Renal Registry and the Scottish Stroke Care Audit to identify stroke in all adult patients who commenced RRT for ESRD from 2005 to 2013. Incidence rate was calculated and regression analyses were performed to identify variables associated with stroke. We explored the effect of RRT modality at initiation and cumulative dialysis exposure by time-dependent regression analysis, using transplant recipients as the reference group. Results: A total of 4957 patients commenced RRT for ESRD. Median age was 64.5 years, 41.5% were female and 277 patients suffered a stroke (incidence rate was 18.6/1000 patient-years). Patients who had stroke were older, had higher blood pressure and were more likely to be female and have diabetes. On multivariable regression older age, female sex, diabetes and higher serum phosphate were associated with risk of stroke. RRT modality at initiation was not. On time-dependent analysis, haemodialysis (HD) exposure was independently associated with increased risk of stroke. Conclusions: In patients with ESRD who initiate RRT, HD use independently increases risk of stroke compared with transplantation. Use of peritoneal dialysis did not increase risk on adjusted analysis

Digesting the Indigestible: Microplastic Extraction from Prawn Digestive Tracts

Microplastics (MPs) have become ubiquitous in the marine environment, and are likely ingested by a broad cross-section of marine life. The extent to which marine organisms ingest MPs is uncertain due to limitations in analytical methods. Effective identification and analysis of ingested MPs is a precursor to understand their impact on marine organisms and their human consumers. This is particularly challenging for crustaceans, due to the chitin present in their exoskeleton and digestive systems, which is resistant to chemical degradation. This study presents a novel application that can efficiently break down the stable organic tissue of banana prawns (Penaeus merguiensis), and subsequently isolate putative MP polymers from the digestive tract without damaging their integrity. Five treatments were examined for their capacity to break down chitin from the prawn digestive system; namely acid, alkaline, oxidant, enzyme and microwave assisted oxidant digestion. Gravimetric and image analysis revealed that the organic tissue of the prawn gastrointestinal tract can be effectively removed by acid, oxidant, and microwave assisted oxidant digestion methods. However, testing on seven reference polymers (polyamide (PA), polyethylene (PE), polyester (PES), polypropylene (PP), polystyrene (PS), polyvinyl chloride (PVC), and rayon) revealed significant degradation when exposed to acid digestion. Overall, microwave assisted oxidant digestion achieved the best recovery rate of spiked MPs ( > 90%) with minimal size, shape, and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectral changes for all polymers except for rayon. These results highlight a new direction for tissue removal and MP extraction in crustacean ingestion studies

Porcine cytokines, chemokines and growth factors: 2019 update

Pigs are a major food source worldwide as well as major biomedical models for human physiology and therapeutics. A thorough understanding of porcine immunity is essential to prevent and treat infectious diseases, and develop effective vaccines and therapeutics. The use of pigs as biomedical models is dependent on the growing molecular and immune toolbox. This paper summarizes current knowledge of swine cytokines, chemokines and growth factors, identifying 289 pig proteins, characterizing knowledge of their gene structures and families. It identifies areas in the current swine genome build that need to be clarified. A broad-based literature and vendor search was conducted to identify defined sets of monoclonal and polyclonal antibodies reacting with porcine cytokines, chemokines, growth factors along with availability of cloned recombinant proteins and assays for their quantitation. This process identified numerous reagents that are reportedly reactive with 170 pig cytokines, chemokines, growth factors: 118 have at least one commercial antibody reagent, 66 a cloned recombinant peptide, and 97 with quantitative assays. This affirms the great need to develop and characterize additional reagents. There are panels of reagents for numerous high priority targets that have been essential reagents for characterizing porcine immunity, disease and vaccine responses, and factors regulating development of innate immune responses, polarized macrophages and lymphoid cells including T regulatory cells. Yet there are many areas requiring investment of efforts to more effectively explore the pig immune system. The development of more reagents to understand the complex of cytokines, chemokines, and growth factors will clearly advance these initiatives

The Juvenile Employment Service

The subject of the thesis is the Juvenile Employment Service, which was established by statutory authority in the early years of this century to guide and place young people in search of employmenl. The Service raises some interesting administrative problems because it is open to the Local Education Authorities to administer it in their own areas, and if they decide not to take advantage of their permissive powers it falls to the Ministry of Labour and National Service to do so.The main purpose of thi3 thesis is, therefore, to compare the methods and results of the Ministry of Labour and National Service and of the Local Education Authorities and to oonsidor which of the two authorities seems to be most suited to be in charge of the Service. In order to do this four areas have been chosen, in two of which the Local Education Authories are in charge of theService, and two which are left to the Ministry of Labour and National Service to administer, A detailed comparison is made between them, including staff, premises, and the most important parts of the work vocational information and guidance, placing and after care. The first part of the thesis provides the background for this comparison in a study of juvenile employment, and the conclusion, after making allowances for the unavoidable difficulties encountered by the Service, attempts an assessment of its work as a whole. The problems of the Service's future, including the question of whether its use should be made compulsory, are disoussed and finally a decision reached whether the Ministry of Labour and National Service or the Local Education Authorities should administer the Service,<p

Plastics for dinner: Store-bought seafood, but not wild-caught from the Great Barrier Reef, as a source of microplastics to human consumers

Seafood accounts for more than 17% of the global consumption of animal protein, with an excess of 335000 t consumed in Australia throughout 2019-2020. Recently, the presence of microplastics (MPs) within commercial seafood and the potential vectorisation of MPs to human consumers has become a significant concern for the public and the scientific community. Here, four commonly harvested wild-caught marine organisms were assessed for MP presence. These species comprise a significant proportion of the Queensland seafood industry, as well as being highly desirable to Australian consumers. The edible muscle tissue and discarded digestive tissue (GIT) of barramundi (Lates calcifer), coral trout (Plectropomus leopardus), blue leg king prawns (Melicertus latisulcatus), and Ballot's saucer scallops (Ylistrum balloti), were analysed discretely to determine the extent to which these species may be contaminated in the wild (GIT tissue), and the extent to which they themselves may act as a vector for human exposure (edible muscle tissue). Wild-caught seafood was predominantly free of MPs, with digestive tissues from two of ten coral trout containing only two fibres each. All wild-caught muscle tissue samples were free of MPs, as was the GIT of scallops, prawns, and barramundi. On the other hand, fresh, skinless barramundi muscle tissues, purchased from various commercial suppliers, were examined and found to be significantly contaminated with MPs (0.02 - 0.19 MP g-1). Overall, these results highlight the growing consensus that food can become contaminated simply by being prepared in the human environment, and the focus must shift to determining the extent of MP proliferation within the processing and point-of-sale environment

Opera Production Scenes, November 23, 1976

Centennial East Recital HallTuesday EveningNovember 23, 19768:00 p.m

Seniors to Seniors

https://digitalmaine.com/kennebunkport_books/1000/thumbnail.jp

“There’s no manual for being a carer” A phenomenological study of becoming a carer from home to hospice care

Carers of people with cancer and other life limiting conditions often fail to appreciate the scale of the caring task and frequently do not identify with the label of carer. This is especially true when care takes place in the home and the patient is their spouse. When caring in the home is no longer workable, patients are offered palliative care as an inpatient at a hospice. This juncture in caring has been identified at policy level as a significant life event for carers which impacts on carers in idiosyncratic ways (Duggleby et al, 2010). As they realign themselves to a changed reality, they are faced with negotiating their position in their lived space as well as the new illness setting. The process of caring and the carers’ task of aligning themselves to a changed reality and renegotiating their place in the two settings has been conceptualised in a variety of ways. Because their experience unfolds in a medical arena, support for carers has been coordinated in line with their response to the patient’s illness. I would prefer to see support for carers that recognises their experience as being separate from that of the patient and which would correspond more closely to the carers’ unfolding experience. This could be achieved by support staff getting to know the distinctive historical and cultural influences that impact on the carer and the patient when they face the distressing impact of moving between care settings at end of life. Influenced by the work of van Manen (1990), this research utilises interpretive phenomenological analysis (Smith and Eatough 2006) and is supported by template analysis (King and Horrocks 2010) to illuminate salient features of the move into hospice care from home care that were pertinent to seven different carers from two hospices. This study uncovers the fragile and changeable quality of the carer’s world when adjusting to caring for a family member when from the familiar setting of home to the unknown care surroundings of a hospice