Role of iron in the tubulo-interstitial injury in nephrotoxic serum nephritis

Role of iron in the tubulo-interstitial injury in nephrotoxic serum nephritis. We studied the possibility that tubule fluid iron could be involved in the pathogenesis of the tubulo-interstitial injury associated with primary glomerular disease. Tubule fluid iron is determined by the magnitude of the glomerular leak for transferrin and the iron saturation of transferrin. To minimize tubule fluid iron in an experimental model of glomerulonephritis, iron deficiency was induced in rats prior to the induction of nephrotoxic serum nephritis. Iron deficiency did not effect the development of glomerular disease as determined by proteinuria, but had a marked effect on preventing the development of tubulo-interstitial disease and renal functional deterioration. There was also a strong correlation between the amount of functional deterioration and extent of tubulo-interstitial disease and urinary iron excretion in both the control and iron deficient animals. It is proposed that injury results from iron being dissociated from transferrin at the more acid pH of the tubule fluid. Iron, a transition element, is able to catalyze the Haber-Weiss reaction with the formation of free hydroxyl radicals which causes renal tubule cell injury. This tubulo-interstitial injury is the major determinate of progressive renal functional deterioration in this experimental model of glomerulonephritis

Revealing ensemble state transition patterns in multi-electrode neuronal recordings using hidden Markov models

In order to harness the computational capacity of dissociated cultured neuronal networks, it is necessary to understand neuronal dynamics and connectivity on a mesoscopic scale. To this end, this paper uncovers dynamic spatiotemporal patterns emerging from electrically stimulated neuronal cultures using hidden Markov models (HMMs) to characterize multi-channel spike trains as a progression of patterns of underlying states of neuronal activity. However, experimentation aimed at optimal choice of parameters for such models is essential and results are reported in detail. Results derived from ensemble neuronal data revealed highly repeatable patterns of state transitions in the order of milliseconds in response to probing stimuli

Shoot yield drives phosphorus use efficiency in Brassica oleracea and correlates with root architecture traits

The environmental and financial costs of using inorganic phosphate fertilizers to maintain crop yield and quality are high. Breeding crops that acquire and use phosphorus (P) more efficiently could reduce these costs. The variation in shoot P concentration (shoot-P) and various measures of P use efficiency (PUE) were quantified among 355 Brassica oleracea L. accessions, 74 current commercial cultivars, and 90 doubled haploid (DH) mapping lines from a reference genetic mapping population. Accessions were grown at two or more external P concentrations in glasshouse experiments; commercial and DH accessions were also grown in replicated field experiments. Within the substantial species-wide diversity observed for shoot-P and various measures of PUE in B. oleracea, current commercial cultivars have greater PUE than would be expected by chance. This may be a consequence of breeding for increased yield, which is a significant component of most measures of PUE, or early establishment. Root development and architecture correlate with PUE; in particular, lateral root number, length, and growth rate. Significant quantitative trait loci associated with shoot-P and PUE occur on chromosomes C3 and C7. These data provide information to initiate breeding programmes to improve PUE in B. oleracea

Social Competence Treatment after Traumatic Brain Injury: A Multicenter, Randomized, Controlled Trial of Interactive Group Treatment versus Non-Interactive Treatment

Objective To evaluate the effectiveness of a replicable group treatment program for improving social competence after traumatic brain injury (TBI). Design Multicenter randomized controlled trial comparing two methods of conducting a social competency skills program, an interactive group format versus a classroom lecture. Setting Community and Veteran rehabilitation centers. Participants 179 civilian, military, and veteran adults with TBI and social competence difficulties, at least 6 months post-injury. Experimental Intervention Thirteen weekly group interactive sessions (1.5 hours) with structured and facilitated group interactions to improve social competence. Alternative (Control) Intervention Thirteen traditional classroom sessions using the same curriculum with brief supplemental individual sessions but without structured group interaction. Primary Outcome Measure Profile of Pragmatic Impairment in Communication (PPIC), an objective behavioral rating of social communication impairments following TBI. Secondary Outcomes LaTrobe Communication Questionnaire (LCQ), Goal Attainment Scale (GAS), Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS), Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Checklist – (PCL-C), Brief Symptom Inventory 18 (BSI-18), Scale of Perceived Social Self Efficacy (PSSE). Results Social competence goals (GAS) were achieved and maintained for most participants regardless of treatment method. Significant improvements in the primary outcome (PPIC) and two of the secondary outcomes (LCQ and BSI) were seen immediately post-treatment and at 3 months post-treatment in the AT arm only, however these improvements were not significantly different between the GIST and AT arms. Similar trends were observed for PSSE and PCL-C. Conclusions Social competence skills improved for persons with TBI in both treatment conditions. The group interactive format was not found to be a superior method of treatment delivery in this study

Scientific Value of Real-Time Global Positioning System Data

The Global Positioning System (GPS) is an example of a Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) that provides an essential complement to other geophysical networks because of its high precision, sensitivity to the longest‐period bands, ease of deployment, and ability to measure displacement and atmospheric properties over local to global scales. Recent and ongoing technical advances, combined with decreasing equipment and data acquisition costs, portend rapid increases in accessibility of data from expanding global geodetic networks. Scientists and the public are beginning to have access to these high‐rate, continuous data streams and event‐specific information within seconds to minutes rather than days to months. These data provide the opportunity to observe Earth system processes with greater accuracy and detail, as they occur

An enhanced integrated water vapour dataset from more than 10 000 global ground-based GPS stations in 2020

We developed a high-quality global integrated water vapour (IWV) dataset from 12 552 ground-based global positioning system (GPS) stations in 2020. It consists of 5 min GPS IWV estimates with a total number of 1 093 591 492 data points. The completeness rates of the IWV estimates are higher than 95 % at 7253 (58 %) stations. The dataset is an enhanced version of the existing operational GPS IWV dataset provided by the Nevada Geodetic Laboratory (NGL). The enhancement is reached by employing accurate meteorological information from the fifth generation of European ReAnalysis (ERA5) for the GPS IWV retrieval with a significantly higher spatiotemporal resolution. A dedicated data screening algorithm is also implemented. The GPS IWV dataset has a good agreement with in situ radiosonde observations at 182 collocated stations worldwide. The IWV biases are within ±3.0 kg m−2 with a mean absolute bias (MAB) value of 0.69 kg m−2. The standard deviations (SD) of IWV differences are no larger than 3.4 kg m−2. In addition, the enhanced IWV product shows substantial improvements compared to NGL\u27s operational version, and it is thus recommended for high-accuracy applications, such as research of extreme weather events and diurnal variations of IWV and intercomparisons with other IWV retrieval techniques. Taking the radiosonde-derived IWV as reference, the MAB and SD of IWV differences are reduced by 19.5 % and 6.2 % on average, respectively. The number of unrealistic negative GPS IWV estimates is also substantially reduced by 92.4 % owing to the accurate zenith hydrostatic delay (ZHD) derived by ERA5. The dataset is available at https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6973528 (Yuan et al., 2022)

Experimental application to a water delivery canal of a distributed MPC with stability constraints

In this work, a novel distributed MPC algorithm, denoted D-SIORHC, is applied to upstream local control of a pilot water delivery canal. The D-SIORHC algorithm is based on MPC control agents that incorporate stability constraints and communicate only with their adjacent neighbors in order to achieve a coordinated action. Experimental results that show the effect of the parameters configuring the local controllers are presented