Renal Protection for Coronary Angiography in Advanced Renal Failure Patients by Prophylactic Hemodialysis A Randomized Controlled Trial

ObjectivesWe performed a study to determine whether prophylactic hemodialysis reduces contrast nephropathy (CN) after coronary angiography in advanced renal failure patients.BackgroundPre-existing renal failure is the greatest risk factor for CN. Hemodialysis can effectively remove contrast media, but its effect upon preventing CN is still uncertain.MethodsEighty-two patients with chronic renal failure, referred for coronary angiography, were assigned randomly to receive either normal saline intravenously and prophylactic hemodialysis (dialysis group; n = 42) or fluid supplement only (control group; n = 40).ResultsProphylactic hemodialysis lessened the decrease in creatinine clearance within 72 h in the dialysis group (0.4 ± 0.9 ml/min/1.73 m2vs. 2.2 ± 2.8 ml/min/1.73 m2; p < 0.001). Compared with the dialysis group, the serum creatinine concentrations in the control group were significantly higher at day 4 (6.3 ± 2.3 mg/dl vs. 5.1 ± 1.3 mg/dl; p = 0.010) and at peak level (6.7 ± 2.7 mg/dl vs. 5.3 ± 1.5 mg/dl; p = 0.005). Temporary renal replacement therapy was required in 35% of the control patients and in 2% of the dialysis group (p < 0.001). Thirteen percent of the control patients, but none of the dialysis patients, required long-term dialysis after discharge (p = 0.018). For the patients not requiring chronic dialysis, 13 patients in the control group (37%) and 2 in the dialysis group (5%) had an increase in serum creatinine concentration at discharge of more than 1 mg/dl from baseline (p < 0.001).ConclusionsProphylactic hemodialysis is effective in improving renal outcome in chronic renal failure patients undergoing coronary angiography

Participation of Children with Disabilities in Taiwan: The Gap between Independence and Frequency

BackgroundIndependence and frequency are two distinct dimensions of participation in daily life. The gap between independence and frequency may reflect the role of the environment on participation, but this distinction has not been fully explored.MethodsA total of 18,119 parents or primary caregivers of children with disabilities aged 6.0-17.9 years were interviewed in a cross-sectional nationwide survey with the Functioning Scale of the Disability Evaluation System - Child version (FUNDES-Child). A section consisting of 20 items measured the children’s daily participation in 4 environmental settings: home, neighborhood/community, school, and home/community. Higher independence and frequency restriction scores indicated greater limitation of participation in daily activities. Scores for independence, frequency and independence-frequency gaps were examined across ages along with trend analysis. ANOVA was used to compare the gaps across settings and diagnoses for children with mild levels of severity of impairment.FindingsA negative independence-frequency gap (restriction of frequency was greater than that of independence) was found for children with mild to severe levels of impairment. A positive gap (restriction of independence was greater than that of frequency) was found for children with profound levels of severity. The gaps became wider with age in most settings of children with mild impairment and different diagnoses. Widest negative gaps were found for the neighborhood/community settings than for the other three settings for children with mild to severe impairment.ConclusionsChildren’s participation and independence-frequency gaps depend not only on the severity of their impairments or diagnoses, but also on their age, the setting and the support provided by their environment. In Taiwan, more frequency restrictions than ability restrictions were found for children with mild to moderate severity, especially in the neighborhood/community setting, and increased with age. Further identification of environmental opportunities that positively impact frequency of participation is needed

Oxidation resistance of graphene-coated Cu and Cu/Ni alloy

The ability to protect refined metals from reactive environments is vital to many industrial and academic applications. Current solutions, however, typically introduce several negative effects, including increased thickness and changes in the metal physical properties. In this paper, we demonstrate for the first time the ability of graphene films grown by chemical vapor deposition to protect the surface of the metallic growth substrates of Cu and Cu/Ni alloy from air oxidation. SEM, Raman spectroscopy, and XPS studies show that the metal surface is well protected from oxidation even after heating at 200 \degree C in air for up to 4 hours. Our work further shows that graphene provides effective resistance against hydrogen peroxide. This protection method offers significant advantages and can be used on any metal that catalyzes graphene growth

A dual role for AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) during neonatal hypoxic-ischaemic brain injury in mice

Perinatal hypoxic–ischaemic encephalopathy (HIE) occurs in 1–2 in every 1000 term infants and the devastating consequences range from cerebral palsy, epilepsy and neurological deficit to death. Cellular damage post insult occurs after a delay and is mediated by a secondary neural energy failure. AMP‐activated protein kinase (AMPK) is a sensor of cellular stress resulting from ATP depletion and/or calcium dysregulation, hallmarks of the neuronal cell death observed after HIE. AMPK activation has been implicated in the models of adult ischaemic injury but, as yet, there have been no studies defining its role in neonatal asphyxia. Here, we find that in an in vivo model of neonatal hypoxia–ischaemic and in oxygen/glucose deprivation in neurons, there is pathological activation of the calcium/calmodulin‐dependent protein kinase kinase β (CaMKKβ)‐AMPKα1 signalling pathway. Pharmacological inhibition of AMPK during the insult promotes neuronal survival but, conversely, inhibiting AMPK activity prior to the insult sensitizes neurons, exacerbating cell death. Our data have pathological relevance for neonatal HIE as prior sensitization such as exposure to bacterial infection (reported to reduce AMPK activity) produces a significant increase in injury

Low-Dimensional Palladium Nanostructures for Fast and Reliable Hydrogen Gas Detection

Palladium (Pd) has received attention as an ideal hydrogen sensor material due to its properties such as high sensitivity and selectivity to hydrogen gas, fast response, and operability at room temperature. Interestingly, various Pd nanostructures that have been realized by recent developments in nanotechnologies are known to show better performance than bulk Pd. This review highlights the characteristic properties, issues, and their possible solutions of hydrogen sensors based on the low-dimensional Pd nanostructures with more emphasis on Pd thin films and Pd nanowires. The finite size effects, relative strengths and weaknesses of the respective Pd nanostructures are discussed in terms of performance, manufacturability, and practical applicability

Demographic and Clinical Characteristics of Patients with Severe Asthma in the Asian Pacific Region : data from the International Severe Asthma Registry (ISAR)

Peer reviewe

A922 Sequential measurement of 1 hour creatinine clearance (1-CRCL) in critically ill patients at risk of acute kidney injury (AKI)

Meeting abstrac

Robust estimation of bacterial cell count from optical density

Optical density (OD) is widely used to estimate the density of cells in liquid culture, but cannot be compared between instruments without a standardized calibration protocol and is challenging to relate to actual cell count. We address this with an interlaboratory study comparing three simple, low-cost, and highly accessible OD calibration protocols across 244 laboratories, applied to eight strains of constitutive GFP-expressing E. coli. Based on our results, we recommend calibrating OD to estimated cell count using serial dilution of silica microspheres, which produces highly precise calibration (95.5% of residuals &lt;1.2-fold), is easily assessed for quality control, also assesses instrument effective linear range, and can be combined with fluorescence calibration to obtain units of Molecules of Equivalent Fluorescein (MEFL) per cell, allowing direct comparison and data fusion with flow cytometry measurements: in our study, fluorescence per cell measurements showed only a 1.07-fold mean difference between plate reader and flow cytometry data