Society for endocrinology, metabolism and diabetes: abstracts of papers

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A questionnaire elicitation of surgeons' belief about learning within a surgical trial

PMID: 23145113 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE] PMCID: PMC3493499 Free PMC ArticlePeer reviewedPublisher PD

Impact of enteral protein supplementation in premature infants

David M Barrus1, Joann Romano-Keeler2, Christopher Carr3, Kira Segebarth4, Betty Claxton2, William F Walsh2, Paul J Flakoll51Department of Neonatology, Saint Francis Hospital–Bartlett, Memphis, TN, 2Department of Pediatrics, Vanderbilt Medical Center, Nashville, TN, 3Department of Surgery, Naval Hospital Bremerton, Bremerton, WA, 4Pediatric and Diabetes Specialists, Carolinas Medical Center, Charlotte, NC, 5Department of Surgery, Vanderbilt Medical Center, Nashville, TN, USAObjective: The quantity of enteral protein supplementation required by premature infants to optimize growth has not been determined. This study compares the growth of premature infants fed the current standard intake of protein (3.5 g/kg/day) with the growth of those fed a higher amount (4.0 g/kg/day).Study design: Fifty-two infants <1500 g and <33 weeks gestational age participated in a blinded, single-center, prospective randomized control trial to compare growth between two groups of different protein-intake levels. Primary outcomes were average daily weight gain (g/kg/day), head-circumference (cm/kg/week) and linear growth velocity (cm/kg/week). Secondary outcomes were serum indices of protein tolerance and plasma amino acid concentrations.Results: Infants receiving higher amounts of protein had higher rates of growth for body weight (18.2 ± 0.7 versus 16.2 ± 1.0 g/kg/day; P < 0.05) and head circumference (0.87 ± 0.08 versus 0.62 ± 0.07 cm/kg/week; P < 0.05), with no differences in blood protein or plasma amino acid concentrations. Length of hospital stay was 14 days shorter for the higher-protein group (51.4 ± 4.0 versus 65.9 ± 6.3 days).Conclusion: Increasing premature infant enteral protein supplementation from a calculated intake of 3.5–4.0 g/kg/day improved growth in a safe manner.Keywords: human milk, human milk fortifier, growth, low birth weigh

Spontaneous Generation of Patient-Specific Retinal Pigment Epithelial Cells Using Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell Technology

Stem cell technology has a number potential uses when it comes to the eye, particularly disease and developmental modelling, and as potential therapeutic source. A variety of protocols have been developed that facilitate the generation of the different cell types found within the eye, as well as those that produce a facsimile of the developing eye in vitro. This chapter introduces the importance of the Retinal Pigment Epithelium (RPE) in maintaining visual function. We then focus on methods developed by our group to produce RPE from patient skin samples using human induced pluripotent stem cell technology (iPSC)

Investigation into the reaction of reactive dyes with carboxylate salts and the application of carboxylate-modified reactive dyes to cotton

Ink-jet printing of cellulosic fabrics with reactive dyes typically requires that the fabric is pretreated with alkali, prior to printing, to facilitate efficient fixation of the dye. In this paper we evaluate the use of sodium formate and other carboxylate salts as a neutral (pH 6.5) pretreatment process. The thickened, prepared-for-print pad liquor contained at least 50 gdm⁻³ of the selected carboxylate salt and was applied to the cotton fabrics by a pad-dry procedure. The fabric was then ink-jet printed with reactive dye inks, followed by standard steaming and washing-off processes. The pH of the carboxylate salt pretreatment was 6.5 and the aqueous extracts from the print fabrics at the end of the steaming process remained at pH 6.5. It was observed that even at pH 6.5, in the presence of selected carboxylates, significant reactive dye fixation could be achieved on a cotton substrate, whereas in the absence of the carboxylate, very little or even zero fixation was achieved. Infrared and capillary electrophoresis analyses of model reactions of reactive dyes with the carboxylate salts indicated that reactive ester residues were formed, and which subsequently promoted reaction with the cellulosic substrates. In addition to improving reactive dye fixation in ink-jet printing, the carboxylate-modified dyes were also demonstrated to improve long-liquor dyeing properties on cotton substrates. As an extension of this carboxylate-based printing process, the incorporation of lithium acetate (100 gdm⁻³) into the ink formulation was further studied and it was demonstrated that the necessity for a preparative pretreatment process could be eliminated

Surface chemical and colorimetric analysis of reactively dyed cellulosic fabric. The effect of ISO 105 CO9 laundering and the implications for waste cellulosic recycling

Previous studies have established that the application of crosslinking dyes and easy care finishes to cotton can significantly reduce the dissolution of waste cotton in solvents, such as N-Methylmorpholine oxide, and limit the potential recycling of cellulosic materials through the Lyocell fibre regeneration process. In this investigation the surface chemical compositions of three reactive dyed Tencel fabrics were studied using X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS) and the presence of the dye at the fibre surface demonstrated. The effect of the ISO 105 C09 oxidative-bleach fading test on the azo and anthraquinone chromophoric species was established by both surface chemical and colorimetric analyses. At low dye application levels the C. I. Reactive Black 5 and C. I. Reactive Red 228 dyed fabrics (azo chromophore) exhibited obvious colour fade while the anthraquinone-based C. I. Reactive Blue 19 dyed fabric was resistant to colour fade. However it is apparent that although some of the covalently bound dye will be removed during “first life” usage, most of the reactive colorant will remain bound to the cotton and will therefore need to be stripped from the waste garments to produce a white cellulosic feedstock prior to reprocessing through Lyocell fibre regeneration. A sequential acid, alkali and peroxide treatment completely removed the azo-based C. I. Reactive Black 5 and C. I. Reactive Red 228 colorants from the dyed cotton, however, the anthraquinone-based C. I. Reactive Blue 19 was highly resistant to removal and will require alternative chemical processing to remove the colorant

Development of a novel three‐dimensional printing technology for the application of “raised” surface features

A simple procedure to ink-jet print raised images using two water-soluble inorganic inks is reported and it has the potential to be utilised in domestic and commercial environments. The advantages of such a procedure lies in the ability to print moulded objects, Braille type and to engineer special gonio-specific effects that may have value in the security printing area. The study focuses on printing gypsum through the ready precipitation of calcium sulphate dihydrate by co-jetting calcium chloride and ammonium sulphate solutions. The results in this preliminary study are encouraging and offer a potential method for durable surface structuring of material surfaces with haptic and visual effects for both the blind and the sighted

3D Characterisation of Dry Powder Inhaler Formulations: Developing X-ray Micro Computed Tomography Approaches.

Carrier-based dry powder inhaler (DPI) formulations need to be accurately characterised for their particle size distributions, surface roughnesses, fines contents and flow properties. Understanding the micro-structure of the powder formulation is crucial, yet current characterisation methods give incomplete information. Commonly used techniques like laser diffraction (LD) and optical microscopy (OM) are limited due to the assumption of sphericity and can give variable results depending on particle orientation and dispersion. The aim of this work was to develop new powder analytical techniques using X-ray computed tomography (XCT) that could be employed for non-destructive metrology of inhaled formulations. α-lactose monohydrate powders with different characteristics have been analysed, and their size and shape (sphericity/aspect ratio) distributions compared with results from LD and OM. The three techniques were shown to produce comparable size distributions, while the different shape distributions from XCT and OM highlight the difference between 2D and 3D imaging. The effect of micro-structure on flowability was also analysed through 3D measurements of void volume and tap density. This study has demonstrated for the first time that XCT provides an invaluable, non-destructive and analytical approach to obtain number- and volume-based particle size distributions of DPI formulations in 3D space, and for unique 3D characterisation of powder micro-structure

The hidden burden of adult allergic rhinitis : UK healthcare resource utilisation survey

Funding Funding for this survey was provided by Meda Pharma.Peer reviewedPublisher PD