Supplementary Material for: Standardized Renal Endpoints for Perioperative Clinical Trials: The Standardized Endpoints in Perioperative Medicine Initiative

<p>Perioperative acute kidney injury is a common problem. While clinical trials seek to evaluate the impact of interventions on a variety of primary and secondary endpoints with the aim of implementing this knowledge to improve perioperative outcomes, the use of valid and relevant endpoints within clinical trials is of critical importance to achieving this goal. Suitable endpoints must be validated for the study population and in light of the clinical context under investigation while also considering regulatory requirements that govern the licensing of new therapeutic agents as well as the values of patients whose outcomes we seek to improve. Heterogeneity in perioperative clinical trial endpoints and their definitions limits the ability to compare and interpret differences in outcomes across studies or to pool outcomes from different studies in meta-analysis. The Standardized Endpoints in Perioperative Medicine (StEP) initiative is an international collaboration whose goal is to identify and recommend a suite of clearly and precisely defined endpoints across multiple domains, specifically suited for use in perioperative clinical trials. The current review describes the rationale, goals and the planned pathway of the StEP renal subgroup. Development of a set of standardized and core renal endpoints, valid and relevant for use in the perioperative context, precisely defined and yet with sufficient flexibility to encourage broad uptake and application should facilitate high-quality and practice-changing perioperative research into the future.</p

Experimental and numerical study of chemiluminescent species in low-pressure flames

Kathrotia T, Riedel U, Seipel A, Moshammer K, Brockhinke A. Experimental and numerical study of chemiluminescent species in low-pressure flames. APPLIED PHYSICS B. 2012;107(3):571-584

Non-target impacts of poison baiting for predator control in Australia

1. Mammalian predators are controlled by poison baiting in many parts of the world, often to alleviate their impacts on agriculture or the environment. Although predator control can have substantial benefits, the poisons used may also be potentially harmful to other wildlife. 2. Impacts on non-target species must be minimized, but can be difficult to predict or quantify. Species and individuals vary in their sensitivity to toxins and their propensity to consume poison baits, while populations vary in their resilience. Wildlife populations can accrue benefits from predator control, which outweigh the occasional deaths of non-target animals. We review recent advances in Australia, providing a framework for assessing non-target effects of poisoning operations and for developing techniques to minimize such effects. We also emphasize that weak or circumstantial evidence of non-target effects can be misleading. 3. Weak evidence that poison baiting presents a potential risk to non-target species comes from measuring the sensitivity of species to the toxin in the laboratory. More convincing evidence may be obtained by quantifying susceptibility in the field. This requires detailed information on the propensity of animals to locate and consume poison baits, as well as the likelihood of mortality if baits are consumed. Still stronger evidence may be obtained if predator baiting causes non-target mortality in the field (with toxin detected by post-mortem examination). Conclusive proof of a negative impact on populations of non-target species can be obtained only if any observed non-target mortality is followed by sustained reductions in population density. 4. Such proof is difficult to obtain and the possibility of a population-level impact cannot be reliably confirmed or dismissed without rigorous trials. In the absence of conclusive evidence, wildlife managers should adopt a precautionary approach which seeks to minimize potential risk to non-target individuals, while clarifying population-level effects through continued research