Evaluation of a semiquantitative SNAP test for measurement of bile acids in dogs

Background. Serum bile acids (SBA) are used as a routine screening tool of liver function in dogs. Serum samples are usually shipped to a referral laboratory for quantitative analysis with an enzymatic chemistry analyzer. The canine SNAP Bile Acids Test (SNAP-BAT) provides an immediate, semi-quantitative measurement of bile acid concentrations in-house. With the SNAP-BAT, bile acids concentrations of 5–30 µmol/L are quantified, and results outside of that range are classified as 30 µmol/L. Agreement of the SNAP-BAT with the enzymatic method has not been extensively investigated.Objectives. The purposes of this prospective clinical study were to assess the precision of the SNAP-BAT and determine agreement of SNAP-BAT with results from an in-house chemistry analyzer.Methods. After verifying intra-assay precision of the SNAP-BAT, a prospective analysis was performed using blood samples collected from 56 dogs suspected to have liver disease. Each sample was analyzed with an enzymatic, in-house chemistry analyzer and the SNAP-BAT. Agreement between the two methods was statistically assessed using the κ index of agreement.Results. Intra-assay variability was minimal. The κ index for agreement between the SNAP-BAT and routine chemistry analyzer was between 0.752 and 0.819, indicating substantial to near perfect agreement.Conclusions. The SNAP-BAT is a highly accurate, semi-quantitative test that yields immediate results, and has very little intra-assay variability, particularly for results >30 µmol/L

Protein C Activity in Dogs: Adaptation of a Commercial Human Colorimetric Assay and Evaluation of Effects of Storage Time and Temperature

Objectives of this study were to adapt a commercial human protein C (PC) colorimetric assay for use in dogs and to investigate effects of various storage conditions. The human assay was modified by using pooled canine plasma for calibration and by increasing the activation time. PC activity was measured in fresh canine plasma and in plasma stored under various conditions. PC activity of some stored samples was significantly different from that of fresh plasma; however, differences were small. No difference was detected in samples stored under similar conditions but analyzed in different laboratories using similar methodology. Results of this study indicate that the human colorimetric assay is suitable for canine samples if pooled canine plasma is used for calibration, that Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute sample storage guidelines developed for testing in humans are appropriate for dogs, and that comparisons of results from laboratories using similar methodology are legitimate

Organochlorine pesticide residues in rice paddies in Malaysia, 1981

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/47985/1/128_2005_Article_BF01610144.pd

Measuring anisotropic resistivity of single crystals using the van der Pauw technique

Anisotropy in properties of materials is important in materials science and solid-state physics. Measurement of the full resistivity tensor of crystals using the standard four-point method with bar shaped samples requires many measurements and may be inaccurate due to misalignment of the bars along crystallographic directions. Here an approach to extracting the resistivity tensor using van der Pauw measurements is presented. This reduces the number of required measurements. The theory of the van der Pauw method is extended to extract the tensor from parallelogram shaped samples with known geometry. Methods to extract the tensor for both known and unknown principal axis orientation are presented for broad applicability to single crystals. Numerical simulations of errors are presented to quantify error sources. Several benchmark experiments are performed on isotropic graphite samples to verify the internal consistency of the developed theory, test experimental precision, and characterize error sources. The presented methods are applied to a RuSb_2 single crystal at room temperature and the results are discussed based on the error source analysis. Temperature resolved resistivities along the a and b directions are finally reported and briefly discussed

Political opportunity structures, democracy, and civil war

Theories of mobilization suggest that groups are more likely to resort to violence in the presence of political opportunity structures that afford greater prospects for extracting concessions from the government or better opportunities to topple ruling governments. However, existing efforts to consider the possible influences of political opportunity structures on incentives for violence and civil war empirically have almost invariably relied upon measures of democracy to proxy for the hypothesized mechanisms, most notably the argument that the opposing effects of political accommodation and repression will give rise to an inverted U-shaped relationship between democracy and the risk of civil war. The authors detail a number of problems with measures of democracy as proxies for political opportunity structures and develop alternative measures based on the likely risks that political leaders will lose power in irregular challenges and their implications for the incentives for resort to violence. The authors evaluate empirically how the security with which leaders hold office influences the prospects of violent civil conflict. The findings indicate that recent irregular leader entry and transitions indeed increase the risk of conflict onset, while democratic institutions are found to decrease the risk of civil war, after controlling for the new measures of state weakness. </jats:p

Partial Volume Correction in Quantitative Amyloid Imaging.

Amyloid imaging is a valuable tool for research and diagnosis in dementing disorders. As positron emission tomography (PET) scanners have limited spatial resolution, measured signals are distorted by partial volume effects. Various techniques have been proposed for correcting partial volume effects, but there is no consensus as to whether these techniques are necessary in amyloid imaging, and, if so, how they should be implemented. We evaluated a two-component partial volume correction technique and a regional spread function technique using both simulated and human Pittsburgh compound B (PiB) PET imaging data. Both correction techniques compensated for partial volume effects and yielded improved detection of subtle changes in PiB retention. However, the regional spread function technique was more accurate in application to simulated data. Because PiB retention estimates depend on the correction technique, standardization is necessary to compare results across groups. Partial volume correction has sometimes been avoided because it increases the sensitivity to inaccuracy in image registration and segmentation. However, our results indicate that appropriate PVC may enhance our ability to detect changes in amyloid deposition

Heavy quarkonium: progress, puzzles, and opportunities

A golden age for heavy quarkonium physics dawned a decade ago, initiated by the confluence of exciting advances in quantum chromodynamics (QCD) and an explosion of related experimental activity. The early years of this period were chronicled in the Quarkonium Working Group (QWG) CERN Yellow Report (YR) in 2004, which presented a comprehensive review of the status of the field at that time and provided specific recommendations for further progress. However, the broad spectrum of subsequent breakthroughs, surprises, and continuing puzzles could only be partially anticipated. Since the release of the YR, the BESII program concluded only to give birth to BESIII; the $B$-factories and CLEO-c flourished; quarkonium production and polarization measurements at HERA and the Tevatron matured; and heavy-ion collisions at RHIC have opened a window on the deconfinement regime. All these experiments leave legacies of quality, precision, and unsolved mysteries for quarkonium physics, and therefore beg for continuing investigations. The plethora of newly-found quarkonium-like states unleashed a flood of theoretical investigations into new forms of matter such as quark-gluon hybrids, mesonic molecules, and tetraquarks. Measurements of the spectroscopy, decays, production, and in-medium behavior of c\bar{c}, b\bar{b}, and b\bar{c} bound states have been shown to validate some theoretical approaches to QCD and highlight lack of quantitative success for others. The intriguing details of quarkonium suppression in heavy-ion collisions that have emerged from RHIC have elevated the importance of separating hot- and cold-nuclear-matter effects in quark-gluon plasma studies. This review systematically addresses all these matters and concludes by prioritizing directions for ongoing and future efforts.Comment: 182 pages, 112 figures. Editors: N. Brambilla, S. Eidelman, B. K. Heltsley, R. Vogt. Section Coordinators: G. T. Bodwin, E. Eichten, A. D. Frawley, A. B. Meyer, R. E. Mitchell, V. Papadimitriou, P. Petreczky, A. A. Petrov, P. Robbe, A. Vair

Trauma management incorporating focused assessment with computed tomography in trauma (FACTT) - potential effect on survival

Background Immediate recognition of life-threatening conditions and injuries is the key to trauma management. To date, the impact of focused assessment with computed tomography in trauma (FACTT) has not been formally assessed. We aimed to find out whether the concept of using FACTT during primary trauma survey has a negative or positive effect on survival. Methods In a retrospective, multicentre study, we compared our time management and probability of survival (Ps) in major trauma patients who received FACTT during trauma resuscitation with the trauma registry of the German Trauma Society (DGU). FACTT is defined as whole-body computed tomography (WBCT) during primary trauma survey. We determined the probability of survival according to the Trauma and Injury Severity Score (TRISS), the Revised Injury Severity Classification score (RISC) and the standardized mortality ratio (SMR). Results We analysed 4.817 patients from the DGU database from 2002 until 2004, 160 (3.3%) were from our trauma centre at the Ludwig-Maximilians-University (LMU) and 4.657 (96.7%) from the DGU group. 73.2% were male with a mean age of 42.5 years, a mean ISS of 29.8. 96.2% had suffered from blunt trauma. Time from admission to FAST (focused assessment with sonography for trauma)(4.3 vs. 8.7 min), chest x-ray (8.1 vs. 16.0 min) and whole-body CT (20.7 vs. 36.6 min) was shorter at the LMU compared to the other trauma centres (p < 0.001). SMR calculated by TRISS was 0.74 (CI95% 0.40-1.08) for the LMU (p = 0.24) and 0.92 (CI95% 0.84-1.01) for the DGU group (p = 0.10). RISC methodology revealed a SMR of 0.69 (95%CI 0.47-0.92) for the LMU (p = 0.043) and 1.00 (95%CI 0.94-1.06) for the DGU group (p = 0.88). Conclusion Trauma management incorporating FACTT enhances a rapid response to life-threatening problems and enables a comprehensive assessment of the severity of each relevant injury. Due to its speed and accuracy, FACTT during primary trauma survey supports rapid decision-making and may increase survival

Multiomics Longitudinal Modeling of Preeclamptic Pregnancies

Preeclampsia is a complex disease of pregnancy whose physiopathology remains unclear and that poses a threat to both mothers and infants. Specific complex changes in women\u27s physiology precede a diagnosis of preeclampsia. Understanding multiple aspects of such a complex changes at different levels of biology, can be enabled by simultaneous application of multiple assays. We developed prediction models for preeclampsia risk by analyzing six omics datasets from a longitudinal cohort of pregnant women. A machine learning-based multiomics model had high accuracy (area under the receiver operating characteristics curve (AUC) of 0.94, 95% confidence intervals (CI):[0.90, 0.99]). A prediction model using only ten urine metabolites provided an accuracy of the whole metabolomic dataset and was validated using an independent cohort of 16 women (AUC= 0.87, 95% CI:[0.76, 0.99]). Integration with clinical variables further improved prediction accuracy of the urine metabolome model (AUC= 0.90, 95% CI:[0.80, 0.99], urine metabolome, validated). We identified several biological pathways to be associated with preeclampsia. The findings derived from models were integrated with immune system cytometry data, confirming known physiological alterations associated with preeclampsia and suggesting novel associations between the immune and proteomic dynamics. While further validation in larger populations is necessary, these encouraging results will serve as a basis for a simple, early diagnostic test for preeclampsia