Contributions of nuclear magnetic resonance to renal biochemistry

31Phosphorus nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, 1H (proton) NMR imaging, and spectroscopy of other nuclei, especially 19fluorine, 23sodium, and 13carbon have progressed rapidly to the stage at which clinical interest can be justified. This has come about through improved magnetic technology and the availability of high-field spectrometers of 20 and 60cm bore sufficient to permit examination of human organs and tissues in vivo. While 1H magnetic resonance imaging has had its major clinical impact in brain imaging [1], we have yet to see the widespread application of 31P NMR or other forms of spectroscopy in medicine. There has been some limited success in the diagnosis and monitoring of rare metabolic myopathies using 31P NMR [2]. However, in many animal studies, the kidney has proved useful in practical developments of the technique. As a consequence, it seems highly likely that clinical nephrology may be one of the early beneficiaries of the introduction of whole-body, high-field magnets.Since reviews in 1981 [3, 4] on NMR in renal physiology and metabolism, some 40 published reports have related directly to NMR of the kidney. In this report we summarize the most recent information which has accrued from 31P NMR spectroscopy of the kidney and to indicate possible future applications in medicine and renal biochemistry. In particular, we focus on the ways in which NMR spectroscopy might assist in understanding renal function in health and disease. To avoid repetition of the principles of an NMR study, readers interested in the technical aspects should refer to [4, 5] because we intend to give only a brief introduction of the technique here.Table 1 summarizes what we feel represents the significant literature in NMR related to renal metabolism arranged in terms of increasing biological complexity. Thus, the work with tissue extracts is considered before isolated tubules, while whole intact kidney and the kidney in vivo follow although this was not the chronological order of the work

A national methodology to quantify the diet of grazing dairy cows

peer-reviewedThe unique rumen of dairy cows allows them to digest fibrous forages and feedstuffs. Surprisingly, to date few attempts have been made to develop national methods to gain an understanding on the make-up of a dairy cow's diet, despite the importance of milk production. Consumer interest is growing in purchasing milk based on the composition of the cows' diet and the time they spend grazing. The goal of this research was to develop such a methodology using the national farm survey of Ireland as a data source. The analysis was completed for a 3-yr period from 2013 to 2015 on a nationally representative sample of 275 to 318 dairy farms. Trained auditors carried out economic surveys on farms 3 to 4 times per annum. The auditors collected important additional information necessary to estimate the diet of cows including the length of the grazing season, monthly concentrate feeding, type of forage(s) conserved, and milk production. Annual cow intakes were calculated to meet net energy requirements for production, maintenance, activity, pregnancy, growth, and live weight change using survey data and published literature. Our analysis showed that the average annual cow feed intake on a fresh matter basis ranged from 22.7 t in 2013 to 24.8 t in 2015 and from 4.8 to 5 t on a dry matter basis for the same period. Forage, particularly pasture, was the largest component of the Irish cow diet, typically accounting for 96% of the diet on a fresh matter basis and 82% of dry matter intake over the 3 yr. Within the cows' forage diet, grazed pasture was the dominant component and on average contributed 74 to 77% to the average annual cow fresh matter diet over the period. The proportion of pasture in the annual cow diet as fed was also identified as a good indicator of the time cows spend grazing (e.g., coefficient of determination = 0.85). Monthly, forage was typically the main component of the cow diet, but the average contribution of concentrate was substantial for the early spring months of January and February (30 to 35% of dry matter intake). Grazed pasture was the dominant source of forage from March to October and usually contributed 95 to 97% of the diet as fed in the summer period. Overall, the national farm survey from 2013 to 2015 shows that Irish dairy farms are very reliant on forage, particularly pasture, regardless of whether it is reported on a dry matter basis or as fed. There is potential to replicate this methodology in any regions or nations where representative farm surveys are conducted

Beachcombing, Going Native and Freethinking: Rewriting the History of Early Western Buddhist Monastics

The article provides an introduction to the special issue of Contemporary Buddhism entitled ‘U Dhammaloka, “The Irish Buddhist”: Rewriting the History of Early Western Buddhist Monastics’. Traditional accounts of pioneer Western Buddhist monastics begin with the 1899 ordination of H. Gordon Douglas (Aśoka), and highlight gentleman scholars writing for a European audience. They consign to obscurity a pre-existing world of Western Buddhist monastics of all social classes. To open a window onto this hidden history, this issue presents new material relating to the extraordinary career of U Dhammaloka (?1856 - ?1914), widely known as "The Irish Buddhist”. A working-class autodidact, freethinker and temperance campaigner from Dublin, Dhammaloka became renowned throughout colonial Asia as an implacable critic of Christian missionaries and tireless transnational organiser of Asian Buddhists from Burma to Japan. The research described in this issue is innovative not only in content but also in method and approach, having advanced through collaborative, international research employing web-based research tools and online resources. These offer new possibilities for other translocative and interdisciplinary research projects. Origin myths are important in Buddhism, and indeed in Buddhist studies. The standard origin myth of western Buddhist monasticism normally traces its foundation to three gentleman scholars in the years around 1900: the British converts H. Gordon Douglas (Aśoka) and Allan Bennett MacGregor (Ananda Metteyya),3 and the German Anton Gueth (Nyanatiloka). Even where academic research has asked critical questions of the ways such figures constructed ‘Buddhism’, it has accepted the genealogy which highlights these figures as pioneers. As our opening quotation suggests, matters are more complex than that. The essays in this special issue of Contemporary Buddhism include three extended articles and a critical response derived from the panel on ‘Rewriting the History of Early Western Buddhist Monastics’, presented at the XXth International Congress of the International Association for the History of Religions (IAHR) in Toronto, Canada, on 19th August 2010. The somewhat ambitious title of that panel, which reappears as the subtitle of this issue of Contemporary Buddhism, reflects our conviction as researchers that the material we have discovered and are now presenting should provoke a comprehensive and critical re-examination of this origin myth, not simply by way of replacing one set of names with others, but more substantively by rethinking the character, history and significance of western engagements with Buddhism at the turn of the twentieth century. Our own re-examination of the myth of origin began - and continues, for this is very much a work in progress - with the study of a hitherto ignored monk known formally by his Burmese monastic name U Dhammaloka, and widely referred to in contemporary sources simply as ‘”The Irish Buddhist” or “The Irish Pongyi” (monk). Dhammaloka’s life and activities, especially during the period 1900-1911, form the main focus of this issue; more broadly, they offer a window into a world of very different kinds of early western bhikkhus from those usually acknowledged, and a window into the broader social context of Asia around 1900, highlighting imperial anxieties about 'poor whites' and 'going native', the Buddhist revival in Asia, the construction of religion and the contestation of identities. U Dhammaloka was Irish, he was working class and he had a limited formal education.4 He was also renowned in his day throughout South, Southeast and East Asia as a fully-ordained and observant Theravadin monk who attracted European, Chinese and Burmese support for his many and varied organisational and publishing projects in support of the ‘Buddhist Revival’. Dhammaloka was loved and respected by the Buddhist laity. He was less admired by the European colonial establishment, for reasons which will become clear in the other papers in this issue, and admired least of all by Christian missionaries and their converts, whose activities he energetically disrupted

A Buddhist Crossroads: Pioneer European Buddhists and Globalizing Asian Networks 1860–1960

The period from the later nineteenth to the first half of the twentieth centuries—roughly between the Indian Revolt of 1857 and the withdrawal of most European powers from direct rule in Asia—was one of immense change across Southeast Asia and the Buddhist world. This century saw the emergence of the elements that we now take to constitute modern Buddhism, or the multiple modern Buddhisms: the rise of the laity as practitioners and organizers (including meditation movements), new roles for women, for scholars and indeed for monks, the development of national sanghas and ethno-nationalist Buddhist discourses, and the association of Buddhism with a de-mythologized rationalist and scientific discourse. Moreover, the period saw the creation of new Buddhist institutional structures across Southeast Asia and Sri Lanka and multiple ‘Buddhist Revivals’ (late nineteenth century, turn of the twentieth century and, finally again, around 1956 with the Buddha Jayanti). It also saw the culmination of colonial empires (British, French, Japanese) and nationalism, decolonization and the creation of multiple Buddhist nation-states. It was the formative century for Buddhism, Asian modernity and their various hybrids

A Buddhist Crossroads: Pioneer European Buddhists and Globalizing Asian Networks 1860–1960

The period from the later nineteenth to the first half of the twentieth centuries—roughly between the Indian Revolt of 1857 and the withdrawal of most European powers from direct rule in Asia—was one of immense change across Southeast Asia and the Buddhist world. This century saw the emergence of the elements that we now take to constitute modern Buddhism, or the multiple modern Buddhisms: the rise of the laity as practitioners and organizers (including meditation movements), new roles for women, for scholars and indeed for monks, the development of national sanghas and ethno-nationalist Buddhist discourses, and the association of Buddhism with a de-mythologized rationalist and scientific discourse. Moreover, the period saw the creation of new Buddhist institutional structures across Southeast Asia and Sri Lanka and multiple ‘Buddhist Revivals’ (late nineteenth century, turn of the twentieth century and, finally again, around 1956 with the Buddha Jayanti). It also saw the culmination of colonial empires (British, French, Japanese) and nationalism, decolonization and the creation of multiple Buddhist nation-states. It was the formative century for Buddhism, Asian modernity and their various hybrids

The first Buddhist mission to the West: Charles Pfoundes and the London Buddhist mission of 1889 – 1892

This article challenges two general assumptions shared by scholars of Western Buddhism: (1) that the earliest Buddhist missions to the West were those established in California from 1899 onwards; and (2) that Ananda Metteyya‘s (Allan Bennett‘s) London mission of 1908 was the first Buddhist mission to London and thus to Europe. Recent collaborative research by scholars in Ireland and Japan demonstrates instead that the Japanese-sponsored ‗Buddhist Propagation Society‘ (BPS) launched in London in 1889 and led for three years by the Irish-born Japanese Buddhist Charles Pfoundes predates both of the above-mentioned ‗first‘ Buddhist missions. In this article we offer a first attempt to document the nature, activities and significance of the London BPS, drawing on Japanese and UK sources to examine Pfoundes‘ role and that of his Japanese sponsors. We discuss the nature of Pfoundes‘ Buddhism, the strategy and activities of the London BPS and the reasons for its eventual demise. The conclusion examines the links between the BPS and the later ‗first‘ Japanese Buddhist missions in California and asks what hidden connection there might be between Pfoundes‘ missionary campaign in London in 1889-92 and Ananda Metteyya‘s return from Burma as the ‗first‘ Buddhist missionary to London, almost two decades later

Indoor Sport Facility Feasibility Study: Assessment, Value and Demand

A sport management organization proposed to build an indoor sport facility in a town close to a major urban area. The potential investors and stakeholders required that a feasibility study be conducted before an investment decision was made. The study examined the proposed facility through a traditional economic feasibility study and a market analysis to understand the market, possible future market demands, and potential growth opportunities. Included in the study are the key components and data analysis which led to a positive investment report

Unusual Radiographic Presentation of Pneumocystis Pneumonia in a Patient with AIDS.

Pneumocystis jirovecii pneumonia (PCP) typically presents as an interstitial and alveolar process with ground glass opacities on chest computed tomography (CT). The absence of ground glass opacities on chest CT is thought to have a high negative predictive value for PCP in individuals with AIDS. Here, we report a case of PCP in a man with AIDS who presented to our hospital with subacute shortness of breath and a nonproductive cough. While his chest CT revealed diffuse nodular rather than ground glass opacities, bronchoscopy with bronchoalveolar lavage and transbronchial biopsies confirmed the diagnosis of PCP and did not identify additional pathogens. PCP was not the expected diagnosis based on chest CT, but it otherwise fit well with the patient's clinical and laboratory presentation. In the era of combination antiretroviral therapy, routine prophylaxis for PCP, and increased use of computed tomography, it may be that PCP will increasingly present with nonclassical chest radiographic patterns. Clinicians should be aware of this presentation when selecting diagnostic and management strategies

Computer-Aided Detection of Pathologically Enlarged Lymph Nodes On Non-Contrast CT In Cervical Cancer Patients For Low-Resource Settings

The mortality rate of cervical cancer is approximately 266,000 people each year, and 70% of the burden occurs in Low- and Middle- Income Countries (LMICs). Radiation therapy is the primary modality for treatment of locally advanced cervical cancer cases. In the absence of high quality diagnostic imaging needed to identify nodal metastasis, many LMIC sites treat standard pelvic fields, failing to include node metastasis outside of the field and/or to boost lymph nodes in the abdomen and pelvis. The first goal of this project was to create a program which automatically identifies positive cervical cancer lymph nodes on non-contrast daily CT images, which are widely available in LMICs(1). A region of interest which is likely to contain the nodal volumes relevant for cervical cancer was defined on a single patient CT(2). This region was deformed onto new patients using an in-house, demons-based deformation software. Edge detection and erosion filtering were used to distinguish potential positive nodes from normal structures. Regions on adjacent slices were then connected into a potential nodal 3D-structure. To differentiate these 3D structures from normal tissues, eighty-six features were generated based on the shape and mean pixel values of the structures, and four classification ensemble methods were tested to differentiate the positive nodes from normal tissues. A cohort of fifty-eight MD Anderson cervical cancer patients with pathologically enlarged lymph nodes were used as a training-test set. Similarly, twenty MD Anderson cervical cancer patients were obtained as a validation set. They contained 154 and 35 pathologically enlarged lymph nodes, respectively. Model comparison led to the selection of the Adaboost ensemble model, utilizing 17 features. In the validation set, 60% of the clinically significant positive cervical cancer nodes were identified along with a false/true positive ratio of ~4:1. The entire process takes approximately 10/number-of-cores-minutes. Our findings demonstrated that our computer-aided detection model can assist in the identification of metastatic nodal disease where high quality diagnostic imaging is not readily available. By identifying these nodes, radiation treatment fields can be modified to include pathologically enlarged lymph nodes, which is an essential element to providing potentially curative radiotherapy for cervical cancer