Long-term results of cyclosporine-steroid therapy in 131 non-matched cadaveric renal transplants.

One-hundred-and-twenty-eight recipients of 131 consecutive, non-matched cadaver renal allografts were treated with cyclosporine and steroids. They have been followed for 4 to 6 yr. Cumulative patient survival at 1-yr was 92.2% and at 6yr it is 77.8%. Cumulative graft survival at 1-yr was 79.4% and at 6 yr it is 50.0%. After the high-risk 1st yr, the rate of graft loss was even and similar to that reported after the 1st yr for grafts treated with azathioprine and steroids. This indicates that cyclosporine nephrotoxicity has not had an obvious adverse effect on the survival of chronically functioning grafts. The results were better with primary grafting versus retransplantation, but were not significantly influenced by age, diabetes mellitus, or a delayed switch in patients from cyclosporine to azathioprine. We have concluded that cyclosporine-steroid therapy is safe and effective for long-term use after cadaveric renal transplantation

In search of phylogenetic congruence between molecular and morphological data in bryozoans with extreme adult skeletal heteromorphy

peerreview_statement: The publishing and review policy for this title is described in its Aims & Scope. aims_and_scope_url: http://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?show=aimsScope&journalCode=tsab20© Crown Copyright 2015. This document is the author's final accepted/submitted version of the journal article. You are advised to consult the publisher's version if you wish to cite from it

The diversity of sulfide oxidation and sulfate reduction genes expressed by the bacterial communities of the Cariaco Basin, Venezuela

© The Author(s), 2016. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Open Microbiology Journal 10 (2016): 140-149, doi:10.2174/1874285801610010140.Qualitative expression of dissimilative sulfite reductase (dsrA), a key gene in sulfate reduction, and sulfide:quinone oxidoreductase (sqr), a key gene in sulfide oxidation was investigated. Neither of the two could be amplified from mRNA retrieved with Niskin bottles but were amplified from mRNA retrieved by the Deep SID. The sqr and sqr-like genes retrieved from the Cariaco Basin were related to the sqr genes from a Bradyrhizobium sp., Methylomicrobium alcaliphilum, Sulfurovum sp. NBC37-1, Sulfurimonas autotrophica, Thiorhodospira sibirica and Chlorobium tepidum. The dsrA gene sequences obtained from the redoxcline of the Cariaco Basin belonged to chemoorganotrophic and chemoautotrophic sulfate and sulfur reducers belonging to the class Deltaproteobacteria (phylum Proteobacteria) and the order Clostridiales (phylum Firmicutes).Support for this work came from NSF grant MCB03-47811 to AYC, MIS, and GTT and NSF grant OCE-1061774 to VPE and CT

Manipulation of FASTQ data with Galaxy

Summary: Here, we describe a tool suite that functions on all of the commonly known FASTQ format variants and provides a pipeline for manipulating next generation sequencing data taken from a sequencing machine all the way through the quality filtering steps

Contextual effects on the perceived health benefits of exercise: The exercise rank hypothesis

Many accounts of social influences on exercise participation describe how people compare their behaviors to those of others. We develop and test a novel hypothesis, the exercise rank hypothesis, of how this comparison can occur. The exercise rank hypothesis, derived from evolutionary theory and the decision by sampling model of judgment, suggests that individuals' perceptions of the health benefits of exercise are influenced by how individuals believe the amount of exercise ranks in comparison with other people's amounts of exercise. Study 1 demonstrated that individuals' perceptions of the health benefits of their own current exercise amounts were as predicted by the exercise rank hypothesis. Study 2 demonstrated that the perceptions of the health benefits of an amount of exercise can be manipulated by experimentally changing the ranked position of the amount within a comparison context. The discussion focuses on how social norm-based interventions could benefit from using rank information

Communicating the uncertainty in estimated greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture

In an effort to mitigate anthropogenic effects on the global climate system, industrialised countries are required to quantify and report, for various economic sectors, the annual emissions of greenhouse gases from their several sources and the absorption of the same in different sinks. These estimates are uncertain, and this uncertainty must be communicated effectively, if government bodies, research scientists or members of the public are to draw sound conclusions. Our interest is in communicating the uncertainty in estimates of greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture to those who might directly use the results from the inventory. We tested six methods of communication. These were: a verbal scale using the IPCC calibrated phrases such as ‘likely’ and ‘very unlikely’; probabilities that emissions are within a defined range of values; confidence intervals for the expected value; histograms; box plots; and shaded arrays that depict the probability density of the uncertain quantity. In a formal trial we used these methods to communicate uncertainty about four specific inferences about greenhouse gas emissions in the UK. Sixty four individuals who use results from the greenhouse gas inventory professionally participated in the trial, and we tested how effectively the uncertainty about these inferences was communicated by means of a questionnaire. Our results showed differences in the efficacy of the methods of communication, and interactions with the nature of the target audience. We found that, although the verbal scale was thought to be a good method of communication it did not convey enough information and was open to misinterpretation. Shaded arrays were similarly criticised for being open to misinterpretation, but proved to give the best impression of uncertainty when participants were asked to interpret results from the greenhouse gas inventory. Box plots were most favoured by our participants largely because they were particularly favoured by those who worked in research or had a stronger mathematical background. We propose a combination of methods should be used to convey uncertainty in emissions and that this combination should be tailored to the professional grou

Experimental electronic heat capacities of α−\alpha- and δ−\delta-Plutonium; heavy-fermion physics in an element

We have measured the heat capacities of $\delta-$Pu$_{0.95}$Al$_{0.05}$ and $\alpha-$Pu over the temperature range 2-303 K. The availability of data below 10 K plus an estimate of the phonon contribution to the heat capacity based on recent neutron-scattering experiments on the same sample enable us to make a reliable deduction of the electronic contribution to the heat capacity of $\delta-$Pu$_{0.95}$Al$_{0.05}$; we find $\gamma = 64 \pm 3$ mJK$^{-2}$mol$^{-1}$ as $T \to 0$. This is a factor $\sim 4$ larger than that of any element, and large enough for $\delta-$Pu$_{0.95}$Al$_{0.05}$ to be classed as a heavy-fermion system. By contrast, $\gamma = 17 \pm 1$ mJK$^{-2}$mol$^{-1}$ in $\alpha-$Pu. Two distinct anomalies are seen in the electronic contribution to the heat capacity of $\delta-$Pu$_{0.95}$Al$_{0.05}$, one or both of which may be associated with the formation of the $\alpha'-$ martensitic phase. We suggest that the large $\gamma$-value of $\delta-$Pu$_{0.95}$Al$_{0.05}$ may be caused by proximity to a quantum-critical point.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

Ultrasound use to assess Crohn’s disease in the UK: a survey of British Society of Gastroenterology Inflammatory Bowel Disease Group members

BackgroundData from the METRIC trial (PMID:29914843) has shown that small bowel ultrasound has very good diagnostic accuracy for disease extent, presence and activity in Crohn’s Disease (CD), is well tolerated by patients and is cheaper when compared to MRI. However, Uptake of ultrasound in the UK is limitedMethodsWe designed and conducted an online survey to assess the current usage of ultrasound throughout the UK. The survey was undertaken by BSG IBD group members between 9 June 2021 - 25 June 2021. Responses were anonymous, respondents were able to skip questions.Results103 responses were included in the data analysis Responses came from 14 different regions of the UK, from 66 individual NHS trusts. 103 respondents reported that they currently have an MRI service for Crohn’s disease, where only 31 had an ultrasound service. Numbers of MRIs per month was reported as an average of 15, with a range of 3-75. The average number of ultrasounds undertaken was reported as 8 per month, with a range of 0-50. Average time for results to be reported for MRI scans was reported as between 4-6 weeks, with a range of 2 days to 28 weeks. The average time for an ultrasound to be reported was stated as 1-4 weeks, with a range of 0-8 weeks. 26 respondents were ‘extremely confident’ when using MRI data to make clinical decisions, 5 were ‘very confident’ were somewhat confident and 3 were not so confident. Only 6 respondents stated they would be extremely confident in using ultrasound to make clinical decisions, 17 people stated they would be very confident, 20 were somewhat confident, 15 not so confident and 15 not at all confident. Of those respondents who did not have access to an ultrasound service, 72 stated that they would be interested in developing an ultrasound service.ConclusionThere is an appetite for the uptake of ultrasound in the UK for assessment of CD, however there remains a significant number of UK centres with little or no access to an ultrasound service. There is a difference in the levels of confidence that clinicians have in using ultrasound as a diagnostic tool in the UK. Further research is necessary to understand why this is the case. Results from this survey will go on to inform our future work in developing an implementation package for ultrasound in the UK in the NH