Long-term peritoneal dialysis and encapsulating peritoneal sclerosis in children

Encapsulating peritoneal sclerosis (EPS) is the most serious complication of long-term peritoneal dialysis (PD), with a mortality rate that exceeds 30%. There have been many reports of the incidence of EPS being strongly correlated to the duration of PD. Patients on PD for longer than 5 years, and especially those receiving this treatment for more than 8 years, should undergo careful and repeated surveillance for risk factors associated with the development of EPS. The development of ultrafiltration failure, a high dialysate/plasma creatinine ratio, as determined by the peritoneal equilibration test, peritoneal calcification, a persistently elevated C-reactive protein level, and severe peritonitis in patients on PD for longer than 8 years are signals that should prompt the clinician to consider terminating PD as a possible means of preventing the development of EPS. The impact of the newer, biocompatible PD solutions on the incidence of EPS has not yet been determined

AlGaAs/GaAs transverse junction stripe lasers with distributed feedback

Transverse junction stripe (TJS) lasers with periodic feedback were fabricated in two geometries. An interferometric and wet chemical etching technique was used to create a feedback grating across the entire pumping region for the distributed feedback (DFB) TJS laser and to create the separate distributed Bragg reflectors/DBR) for the TJS/DBR laser. The TJS/DFB laser was a double heterostructure device grown by liquid phase epitaxy (LPE) and had a third order grating etched in the top ALO.2GaO.8As layer. The grating was buried by growing an ALO.35GaO.65As layer on the grating by metal organic chemical vapor deposition (MO-CVD). The TJS/DBR laser was also fabricated in an LPE double heterostructure. The top AlGaAs layer was thinned to 0.1 micron over more than half of the laser so that the grating would be close to the GaAs active layer and optical field. Single mode operation in both configurations was obtained. The thermal shift of the laser wavelength in both cases was less than 1 Angstrom/deg K, compared to the 3 Angstrom/deg K shift of the spontaneous emission peak

Phylogenetic and molecular analysis of the ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase small subunit gene family in banana

Despite being the number one fruit crop in the world, very little is known about the phylogeny and molecular biology of banana (Musa spp.). Six banana rbcS gene families encoding the small subunit of ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase from six different Musa spp. are presented. For a comprehensive phylogenetic study using Musa rbcS genes, a total of 57 distinct rbcS sequences was isolated from six accessions that contained different combinations of the A and B ancestral/parental genomes. As a result, five of the six members of the rbcS gene family could be affiliated with the A and/or B Musa genomes and at least three of the six gene families most likely existed before Musa A and B genomes separated. By combining sequence data with quantitative real-time PCR it was determined that the different Musa rbcS gene family members are also often multiply represented in each genome, with the highest copy numbers in the B genome. Expression of some of the rbcS genes varied in intensity and in different tissues indicating differences in regulation. To analyse and compare regulatory sequences of Musa rbcS genes, promoter and terminator regions were cloned for three Musa rbcS genes. Transient transformation assays using promoter–reporter–terminator constructs in maize, wheat, and sugarcane demonstrated that the rbcS-Ma1, rbcS-Ma3, and rbcS-Ma5 promoters could be useful for transgene expression in heterologous expression systems. Furthermore, the rbcS-Ma1 terminator resulted in a 2-fold increase of transgene expression when directly compared with the widely used Nos terminator

Catheter‐related Infection and Septicemia: Impact of Seasonality and Modifiable Practices from the DOPPS

Hemodialysis (HD) catheter‐related infection (CRI) and septicemia contribute to adverse outcomes. The impact of seasonality and prophylactic dialysis practices during high‐risk periods remain unexplored. This multicenter study analyzed DOPPS data from 12,122 HD patients (from 442 facilities) to determine the association between seasonally related climatic variables and CRI and septicemia. Climatic variables were determined by linkage to National Climatic Data Center of National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration data. Catheter care protocols were examined to determine if they could mitigate infection risk during high‐risk seasons. Survival models were used to estimate the adjusted hazard ratio (AHR) of septicemia by season and by facility catheter dressing protocol. The overall catheter‐related septicemia rate was 0.47 per 1000 catheter days. It varied by season, with an AHR for summer of 1.46 (95% CI: 1.19–1.80) compared with winter. Septicemia was associated with temperature (AHR = 1.07; 95% CI: 1.02–1.13; p  < 0.001). Dressing protocols using chlorhexidine (AHR of septicemia = 0.55; 95% CI: 0.39–0.78) were associated with fewest episodes of CRI or septicemia. Higher catheter‐related septicemia in summer may be due to seasonal conditions (e.g., heat, perspiration) that facilitate bacterial growth and compromise protective measures. Extra vigilance and use of chlorhexidine‐based dressing protocols may provide prophylaxis against CRI and septicemia.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/102686/1/sdi12141.pd

Complete Genome Sequence and Comparative Analysis of the Fish Pathogen Lactococcus garvieae

Lactococcus garvieae causes fatal haemorrhagic septicaemia in fish such as yellowtail. The comparative analysis of genomes of a virulent strain Lg2 and a non-virulent strain ATCC 49156 of L. garvieae revealed that the two strains shared a high degree of sequence identity, but Lg2 had a 16.5-kb capsule gene cluster that is absent in ATCC 49156. The capsule gene cluster was composed of 15 genes, of which eight genes are highly conserved with those in exopolysaccharide biosynthesis gene cluster often found in Lactococcus lactis strains. Sequence analysis of the capsule gene cluster in the less virulent strain L. garvieae Lg2-S, Lg2-derived strain, showed that two conserved genes were disrupted by a single base pair deletion, respectively. These results strongly suggest that the capsule is crucial for virulence of Lg2. The capsule gene cluster of Lg2 may be a genomic island from several features such as the presence of insertion sequences flanked on both ends, different GC content from the chromosomal average, integration into the locus syntenic to other lactococcal genome sequences, and distribution in human gut microbiomes. The analysis also predicted other potential virulence factors such as haemolysin. The present study provides new insights into understanding of the virulence mechanisms of L. garvieae in fish

A new application of reduced Rayleigh equations to electromagnetic wave scattering by two-dimensional randomly rough surfaces

The small perturbations method has been extensively used for waves scattering by rough surfaces. The standard method developped by Rice is difficult to apply when we consider second and third order of scattered fields as a function of the surface height. Calculations can be greatly simplified with the use of reduced Rayleigh equations, because one of the unknown fields can be eliminated. We derive a new set of four reduced equations for the scattering amplitudes, which are applied to the cases of a rough conducting surface, and to a slab where one of the boundary is a rough surface. As in the one-dimensional case, numerical simulations show the appearance of enhanced backscattering for these structures.Comment: RevTeX 4 style, 38 pages, 16 figures, added references and comments on the satellites peak

Optimum detection for extracting maximum information from symmetric qubit sets

We demonstrate a class of optimum detection strategies for extracting the maximum information from sets of equiprobable real symmetric qubit states of a single photon. These optimum strategies have been predicted by Sasaki et al. [Phys. Rev. A{\bf 59}, 3325 (1999)]. The peculiar aspect is that the detections with at least three outputs suffice for optimum extraction of information regardless of the number of signal elements. The cases of ternary (or trine), quinary, and septenary polarization signals are studied where a standard von Neumann detection (a projection onto a binary orthogonal basis) fails to access the maximum information. Our experiments demonstrate that it is possible with present technologies to attain about 96% of the theoretical limit.Comment: 10 pages, 11 figures, to be submitted to Phys. Rev. A Converted to REVTeX4 format, and a few other minor modifications according to the comments from PRA referre

Fine sediment reduces vertical migrations of Gammarus pulex (Crustacea: Amphipoda) in response to surface water loss

Surface and subsurface sediments in river ecosystems are recognized as refuges that may promote invertebrate survival during disturbances such as floods and streambed drying. Refuge use is spatiotemporally variable, with environmental factors including substrate composition, in particular the proportion of fine sediment (FS), affecting the ability of organisms to move through interstitial spaces. We conducted a laboratory experiment to examine the effects of FS on the movement of Gammarus pulex Linnaeus (Crustacea: Amphipoda) into subsurface sediments in response to surface water loss. We hypothesized that increasing volumes of FS would impede and ultimately prevent individuals from migrating into the sediments. To test this hypothesis, the proportion of FS (1–2 mm diameter) present within an open gravel matrix (4–16 mm diameter) was varied from 10 to 20% by volume in 2.5% increments. Under control conditions (0% FS), 93% of individuals moved into subsurface sediments as the water level was reduced. The proportion of individuals moving into the subsurface decreased to 74% at 10% FS, and at 20% FS no individuals entered the sediments, supporting our hypothesis. These results demonstrate the importance of reducing FS inputs into river ecosystems and restoring FS-clogged riverbeds, to promote refuge use during increasingly common instream disturbances