CAUSAS DE EXCLUSÃO DE DOADORES VIVOS DE RIM NO SERVIÇO DE TRANSPLANTE DE UM HOSPITAL DE TERCEIRO NÍVEL NO NOROESTE DO MÉXICO

Objective: To identify the causes for exclusion of living kidney donors at a third-level hospital in northwestern Mexico. Materials and methods: An observational, cross-sectional, descriptive and retrospective study, in which the medicalrecords of candidates for living kidney donation were evaluated from January 1, 2019 to December 31, 2021. Results: Out of the 30 selected records, only 6.6 % (2) were chosen as donors, i.e., the rejection rate of the potential candidates was 93.3 % (28). The average age was 40.7 years; when divided into age groups, it was observed that 7.44 % were ≤ 39 years, 5.31 % were ≥ 50 years and 4.25 % were in the 40–49 age range. The main pathologies that caused therejection of living donors were chronic diseases such as unknown renal disease, obesity, diabetes mellitus, systemic hypertension and heart diseases, which accounted for 60.7 %. The desire to donate was more frequent among blood relatives than non-blood relatives. In the case of blood relatives, i.e., siblings, parents, children, uncles, aunts, etc., 64.2 % were rejected, while 34.7 % of non-blood relatives, including spouses and friends, were rejected.Conclusions: Based on the body mass index (BMI), the results showed that overweight and obesity were the main causes of exclusion, a situation that is consistent with the Mexican epidemiological profile. The number of living donors at ourcenter has been reduced because most of the population is not healthy and has obesity, which affects the willingness to be a candidate for living kidney donation.Objetivo: Identificar las causas de exclusión de los donantes renales vivos en un centro hospitalario de tercer nivel en el noroeste de México.Materiales y métodos: Estudio de tipo observacional, transversal, descriptivo, retrospectivo. Se realizó la evaluación de los expedientes clínicos de los candidatos vivos para donación renal, que abarcó el periodo comprendido entre el 1 de enero de 2019 y el 31 de diciembre de 2021. Resultados: De los 30 expedientes seleccionados, solo se eligieron 2 (6,6 %) donadores, es decir, existió un índice de rechazo de 28 (93,3 %) de los potenciales candidatos. La edad promedio fue de 40,7 años; al dividirlos en grupos de edad, se observó que el 7,44 % fueron ≤39 años; el 5,31 %, ≥50 años; y el 4,25 %, de 40 a 49 años. Dentro de las principales patologías que originaron el rechazo del donador vivo se encuentran las enfermedades crónicas, como afección renal desconocida, obesidad, diabetes mellitus, hipertensión arterial sistémica y cardiopatías, que representaron el 60,7 %. El deseo de donares más frecuente entre consanguíneos que en no consanguíneos. En el caso de los consanguíneos, es decir, hermanos, padres, hijos, tíos, etc., el 64,2 % fue rechazado; en los no consanguíneos, el 34,7 %, que incluía a esposos y amigos. Conclusiones: Los resultados obtenidos sobre el índice de masa corporal (IMC) mostraron que el sobrepeso y laobesidad fueron las principales causas de exclusión, circunstancia que es particular en nuestro país respecto a su perfil epidemiológico. La cantidad de donantes vivos en nuestro centro se redujo porque la mayor parte de la población no es sana, padece obesidad y ello repercute al momento de presentarse como candidato a donante.Resumo Objetivo: Identificar as causas de exclusão de doadores vivos de rim. Material e métodos: Estudo observacional, transversal, descritivo, retrospectivo, no qual é realizada a análise dos prontuários de possíveis doadores de rim no período de 1º de janeiro de 2019 a 31 de dezembro de 2021. Identificar diagnósticos que excluam uma pessoa como doador. Resultados: Dos 30 arquivos selecionados, apenas 2 (6,6%) foram escolhidos como doadores, ou seja, houve uma taxa de rejeição de 28 (93,3%). Os principais motivos de rejeição foram doenças crônicas, indicando 60,7% em que se encontraram doença renal desconhecida, obesidade, diabetes mellitus, hipertensão arterial sistêmica e cardiopatia. Conclusão: Os resultados obtidos no índice de massa corporal (IMC) mostraram o sobrepeso e a obesidade como uma das principais causas de exclusão com 21,4%, informação semelhante à de Lapasia et al., que descreve a obesidade como a principal causa de rejeição representando quase 40% dos doadores. Ezzaki et al, também a descrevem como causa de exclusão

Measuring every particle's size from three-dimensional imaging experiments

Often experimentalists study colloidal suspensions that are nominally monodisperse. In reality these samples have a polydispersity of 4-10%. At the level of an individual particle, the consequences of this polydispersity are unknown as it is difficult to measure an individual particle size from microscopy. We propose a general method to estimate individual particle radii within a moderately concentrated colloidal suspension observed with confocal microscopy. We confirm the validity of our method by numerical simulations of four major systems: random close packing, colloidal gels, nominally monodisperse dense samples, and nominally binary dense samples. We then apply our method to experimental data, and demonstrate the utility of this method with results from four case studies. In the first, we demonstrate that we can recover the full particle size distribution {\it in situ}. In the second, we show that accounting for particle size leads to more accurate structural information in a random close packed sample. In the third, we show that crystal nucleation occurs in locally monodisperse regions. In the fourth, we show that particle mobility in a dense sample is correlated to the local volume fraction.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figure

Subtidal macrozoobenthos communities from northern Chile during and post El Niño 1997–1998

Despite a large amount of climatic and oceanographic information dealing with the recurring climate phenomenon El Niño (EN) and its well known impact on diversity of marine benthic communities, most published data are rather descriptive and consequently our understanding of the underlying mechanisms and processes that drive community structure during EN are still very scarce. In this study, we address two questions on the effects of EN on macrozoobenthic communities: (1) how does EN affect species diversity of the communities in northern Chile? and (2) is EN a phenomenon that restarts community assembling processes by affecting species interactions in northern Chile? To answer these questions, we compared species diversity and co-occurrence patterns of soft-bottoms macrozoobenthos communities from the continental shelf off northern Chile during (March 1998) and after (September 1998) the strong EN event 1997–1998. The methods used varied from species diversity and species co-occurrence analyses to multivariate ordination methods. Our results indicate that EN positively affects diversity of macrozoobenthos communities in the study area, increasing the species richness and diversity and decreasing the species dominance. EN represents a strong disturbance that affects species interactions that rule the species assembling processes in shallow-water, sea-bottom environments

Fast algorithms for automatic mapping with space-limited covariance functions

In this paper we discuss a fast Bayesian extension to kriging algorithms which has been used successfully for fast, automatic mapping in emergency conditions in the Spatial Interpolation Comparison 2004 (SIC2004) exercise. The application of kriging to automatic mapping raises several issues such as robustness, scalability, speed and parameter estimation. Various ad-hoc solutions have been proposed and used extensively but they lack a sound theoretical basis. In this paper we show how observations can be projected onto a representative subset of the data, without losing significant information. This allows the complexity of the algorithm to grow as O(n m 2), where n is the total number of observations and m is the size of the subset of the observations retained for prediction. The main contribution of this paper is to further extend this projective method through the application of space-limited covariance functions, which can be used as an alternative to the commonly used covariance models. In many real world applications the correlation between observations essentially vanishes beyond a certain separation distance. Thus it makes sense to use a covariance model that encompasses this belief since this leads to sparse covariance matrices for which optimised sparse matrix techniques can be used. In the presence of extreme values we show that space-limited covariance functions offer an additional benefit, they maintain the smoothness locally but at the same time lead to a more robust, and compact, global model. We show the performance of this technique coupled with the sparse extension to the kriging algorithm on synthetic data and outline a number of computational benefits such an approach brings. To test the relevance to automatic mapping we apply the method to the data used in a recent comparison of interpolation techniques (SIC2004) to map the levels of background ambient gamma radiation. © Springer-Verlag 2007

Causes of Morbidity in Wild Raptor Populations Admitted at a Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre in Spain from 1995-2007: A Long Term Retrospective Study

Background: Morbidity studies complement the understanding of hazards to raptors by identifying natural or anthropogenic factors. Descriptive epidemiological studies of wildlife have become an important source of information about hazards to wildlife populations. On the other hand, data referenced to the overall wild population could provide a more accurate assessment of the potential impact of the morbidity/mortality causes in populations of wild birds. Methodology/Principal Findings: The present study described the morbidity causes of hospitalized wild raptors and their incidence in the wild populations, through a long term retrospective study conducted at a wildlife rehabilitation centre of Catalonia (1995-2007). Importantly, Seasonal Cumulative Incidences (SCI) were calculated considering estimations of the wild population in the region and trend analyses were applied among the different years. A total of 7021 birds were analysed: 7 species of Strigiformes (n = 3521) and 23 of Falconiformes (n = 3500). The main causes of morbidity were trauma (49.5%), mostly in the Falconiformes, and orphaned/young birds (32.2%) mainly in the Strigiformes. During wintering periods, the largest morbidity incidence was observed in Accipiter gentillis due to gunshot wounds and in Tyto alba due to vehicle trauma. Within the breeding season, Falco tinnunculus (orphaned/young category) and Bubo bubo (electrocution and metabolic disorders) represented the most affected species. Cases due to orphaned/young, infectious/parasitic diseases, electrocution and unknown trauma tended to increase among years. By contrast, cases by undetermined cause, vehicle trauma and captivity decreased throughout the study period. Interestingly, gunshot injuries remained constant during the study period. Conclusions/Significance: Frequencies of morbidity causes calculated as the proportion of each cause referred to the total number of admitted cases, allowed a qualitative assessment of hazards for the studied populations. However, cumulative incidences based on estimated wild raptor population provided a more accurate approach to the potential ecological impact of the morbidity causes in the wild populations

Dynamical Boson Stars

The idea of stable, localized bundles of energy has strong appeal as a model for particles. In the 1950s John Wheeler envisioned such bundles as smooth configurations of electromagnetic energy that he called {\em geons}, but none were found. Instead, particle-like solutions were found in the late 1960s with the addition of a scalar field, and these were given the name {\em boson stars}. Since then, boson stars find use in a wide variety of models as sources of dark matter, as black hole mimickers, in simple models of binary systems, and as a tool in finding black holes in higher dimensions with only a single killing vector. We discuss important varieties of boson stars, their dynamic properties, and some of their uses, concentrating on recent efforts.Comment: 79 pages, 25 figures, invited review for Living Reviews in Relativity; major revision in 201

Fecundity, spore recruitment and size in Gelidium sesquipedale (Gelidiales,Rhodophyta)

Gelidium sesquipedale fecundity was quantified by counting tetrasporangial sori and cystocarps per meter squared and by estimating the number of spores contained inside them . These were obtained by regression on a size metric of reproductive structures . Tetrasporangial sori length and cystocarp thickness were the best estimators of spore number. To assess spore recruitment, 12 pottery tiles were fixed to the bottom, and the appearance of small fronds was monitored. No clear seasonal pattern of reproduction was found . Tetraspore production peaked in March 1990 with 10.4 x 106 spores m-2, whereas the carpospore peak was lower, 4.9 x 10 5 spores m-2 in July 1989. Recruitment followed tetraspore peaks . The probability of a G. sesquipedale tetraspore making the transition to a recruit was 4.7 x 10-5. Frond length was significantly related to tetrasporangial sori number, while cystocarp number was only related to frond branching order. Minimum size for reproduction was 6.9 cm for gametophytes and 5.4 cm for tetrasporophytes; very rarely were cystocarpic fronds smaller than 9 cm, while tetrasporic fronds were often longer than 15 cm . Cystocarpic fronds were significantly shorter and had more branches than tetrasporic fronds

Quantitative trait loci conferring grain mineral nutrient concentrations in durum wheat 3 wild emmer wheat RIL population

Mineral nutrient malnutrition, and particularly deficiency in zinc and iron, afflicts over 3 billion people worldwide. Wild emmer wheat, Triticum turgidum ssp. dicoccoides, genepool harbors a rich allelic repertoire for mineral nutrients in the grain. The genetic and physiological basis of grain protein, micronutrients (zinc, iron, copper and manganese) and macronutrients (calcium, magnesium, potassium, phosphorus and sulfur) concentration was studied in tetraploid wheat population of 152 recombinant inbred lines (RILs), derived from a cross between durum wheat (cv. Langdon) and wild emmer (accession G18-16). Wide genetic variation was found among the RILs for all grain minerals, with considerable transgressive effect. A total of 82 QTLs were mapped for 10 minerals with LOD score range of 3.2–16.7. Most QTLs were in favor of the wild allele (50 QTLs). Fourteen pairs of QTLs for the same trait were mapped to seemingly homoeologous positions, reflecting synteny between the A and B genomes. Significant positive correlation was found between grain protein concentration (GPC), Zn, Fe and Cu, which was supported by significant overlap between the respective QTLs, suggesting common physiological and/or genetic factors controlling the concentrations of these mineral nutrients. Few genomic regions (chromosomes 2A, 5A, 6B and 7A) were found to harbor clusters of QTLs for GPC and other nutrients. These identified QTLs may facilitate the use of wild alleles for improving grain nutritional quality of elite wheat cultivars, especially in terms of protein, Zn and Fe

Adaptive Radiation in Mediterranean Cistus (Cistaceae)

lineage consists of 12 species primarily distributed in Mediterranean habitats and is herein subject to analysis. lineages), which display asymmetric characteristics: number of species (2 vs. 10), leaf morphologies (linear vs. linear to ovate), floral characteristics (small, three-sepalled vs. small to large, three- or five-sepalled flowers) and ecological attributes (low-land vs. low-land to mountain environments). A positive phenotype-environment correlation has been detected by historical reconstructions of morphological traits (leaf shape, leaf labdanum content and leaf pubescence). Ecological evidence indicates that modifications of leaf shape and size, coupled with differences in labdanum secretion and pubescence density, appear to be related to success of new species in different Mediterranean habitats.