Acoustically controlled enhancement of molecular sensing to assess oxidative stress in cells

We demonstrate a microfluidic platform for the controlled aggregation of colloidal silver nanoparticles using surface acoustic waves (SAWs), enabling surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) analysis of a cell based model for oxidative damage. We show that by varying the frequency and the power of the acoustic energy, it is possible to modulate the aggregation of the colloid within the sample and hence to optimise the SERS analysis

Factors influencing the relationship between the dose of amlodipine required for blood pressure control and change in blood pressure in hypertensive cats

BACKGROUND: Hypertension is a common problem in elderly cats. In most cats, systolic blood pressure (SBP) of <160 mmHg is achieved in response to amlodipine besylate at either 0.625 or 1.25 mg q24h. The individual cat factors determining dose requirement dose have not been explored. AIMS: To determine whether individual cat factors influence the dose of amlodipine required to achieve adequate blood pressure control and to determine whether factors other than the prescribed dose of drug alter the achieved plasma amlodipine concentrations. METHODS: Fifty‐nine hypertensive cats that required 0.625 mg (A) and 41 cats that required 1.25 mg (B) amlodipine to reach a target SBP of <160 mmHg were identified, and plasma amlodipine concentrations were determined. Comparisons were made between groups, and multivariable linear regression models were performed to investigate predictors of antihypertensive response. RESULTS: Cats that required a greater dose of amlodipine had significantly higher SBP at diagnosis of hypertension (A: (median [25th, 75th percentile]) 182 [175,192] mmHg; B: 207 [194,217] mmHg, P < .001), but comparable blood pressure was achieved after treatment. Plasma amlodipine concentrations were directly related to the dose of amlodipine administered. At diagnosis, cats in group B had significantly lower plasma potassium concentration (A: 4.1 [3.8,4.5]; B: 3.8 [3.6,4.2] mEq/L, P < .01). Weight did not differ between groups. The decrease in SBP was directly and independently associated with the SBP at diagnosis and the plasma amlodipine concentration. CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL IMPORTANCE: Cats with higher blood pressure at diagnosis might require a greater dose of amlodipine to control their blood pressure adequately. Differences in amlodipine pharmacokinetics between cats do not seem to play a role in the antihypertensive response

Renal fibrosis in feline chronic kidney disease: known mediators and mechanisms of injury

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a common medical condition of ageing cats. In most cases the underlying aetiology is unknown, but the most frequently reported pathological diagnosis is renal tubulointerstitial fibrosis. Renal fibrosis, characterised by extensive accumulation of extra-cellular matrix within the interstitium, is thought to be the final common pathway for all kidney diseases and is the pathological lesion best correlated with function in both humans and cats. As a convergent pathway, renal fibrosis provides an ideal target for the treatment of CKD and knowledge of the underlying fibrotic process is essential for the future development of novel therapies. There are many mediators and mechanisms of renal fibrosis reported in the literature, of which only a few have been investigated in the cat. This article reviews the process of renal fibrosis and discusses the most commonly cited mediators and mechanisms of progressive renal injury, with particular focus on the potential significance to feline CKD

Amanita drummondii and A. quenda (Basidiomycota), two new species from Western Australia, and an expanded description of A. walpolei

Three species of Amanita Pers. are documented from Western Australia. Amanita drummondii E.M.Davison is described from the south-west region; it appears to be widespread but infrequent. Amanita quenda E.M.Davison is described from the Perth Metropolitan area. Amanita walpolei O.K.Mill. is redescribed to include additional collections, drawing attention to the presence of clamp connections in all tissues. A BLASTn search has shown that there are no exact matches of the nuclear ribosomal internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region of each species with those in GenBank

Declarative theorem proving for operational semantics

iAbstract The aim of this Masters Thesis is to propose to SYSteam Nät AB, a local Internet Service Provider (ISP) in Uppsala, Sweden, how to implement IP telephony in their existing IT-infrastructure as a service to their customers. Thus the perspective of the thesis will be that of a local Internet Service Provider. Three general areas are covered in the thesis: Market and Business Model, Technology, and Economics. Important issues for SYSteam Nät AB as an established local broadband Internet Service Provider are to both retain present customers and to attract new customers. Some believe that offering value added services such as IP telephony could do this. Implementation of IP telephony can be done in different ways to fulfil SYSteam Nät’s requirements. The analysis leads to a proposal of how SYSteam Nät could implement IP telephony. This involves many multi-faceted business, technical, and financial issues; each aspect is examined in this thesis. ii Sammanfattnin

Associations between single nucleotide polymorphisms in the calcium sensing receptor and chronic kidney disease-mineral and bone disorder in cats

Feline chronic kidney disease (CKD) is associated with high variability in severity of CKD-mineral and bone disorder (CKD-MBD). The calcium sensing receptor (CaSR) regulates circulating parathyroid hormone (PTH) and calcium concentrations. Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the CaSR are associated with severity of secondary renal hyperparathyroidism and total calcium concentrations in human patients receiving haemodialysis. The objective of this study was to explore associations between polymorphisms in the feline CaSR (fCaSR) and biochemical changes observed in CKD-MBD. Client owned cats (≥ 9 years) were retrospectively included. SNP discovery was performed in 20 cats with azotaemic CKD and normal or dysregulated calcium concentrations. Non-pedigree cats (n = 192) (125 with azotaemic CKD and 66 healthy), Persians (n = 40) and Burmese (n = 25) were genotyped for all identified SNPs using KASP. Biochemical parameters from the date of CKD diagnosis or from first visit to the clinic (healthy cats) were used. Associations between genotype and ionized calcium, total calcium, phosphate, PTH and FGF-23 were performed for non-pedigree cats using logistic regression. Sequence alignment against the fCaSR sequence revealed eight novel exonic SNPs. KASP genotyping had high accuracy (99.6%) and a low failure rate (A was associated with logPTH concentration (adjusted for plasma creatinine concentration), with a recessive model having the best fit (G/G vs A/A-G/A, P = 0.031). Genetic variation in the fCaSR is unlikely to explain the majority of the variability in presence and severity of CKD-MBD in cats

The association of bacteriuria with survival and disease progression in cats with azotemic chronic kidney disease

Background Cats with chronic kidney disease (CKD) have an increased prevalence of positive urine cultures (PUC). Limited information is available regarding the prognosis of cats with CKD and concurrent PUC. Objective To determine the association of PUC with survival time and disease progression in cats with CKD. Animals Medical records of 509 cats diagnosed with azotemic CKD between 1997 and 2018. Methods Cats were classified as having “no‐PUC” or “PUC.” The PUC cats were further classified as having 1 or multiple PUC, and also were classified based on the presence or absence of clinical signs of urinary tract infection (UTI). Progression of CKD was defined as a plasma creatinine concentration increase of ≥25% within 365 days of CKD diagnosis; PUC also must have occurred within this time frame. Survival time and frequency of CKD progression were compared between groups. Results No significant difference in survival time was found between cats with no‐PUC and cats with any number of PUC (P = .91), or between cats with no‐PUC, 1 PUC or multiple PUC (P = .37). Also, no significant difference was found in the frequency of CKD progression between PUC and no‐PUC cats (P = .5), or among no‐PUC, 1 PUC and multiple PUC cats (P = .22). When assessing cats with clinical signs of lower UTI, no significant difference was found in the frequency of CKD progression between cats with true UTI, subclinical bacteriuria or no‐PUC (P = .8). Conclusions and Clinical Importance When treated with antibiotics, PUC in cats with CKD do not affect disease progression or survival time

Non-linear Pattern Matching with Backtracking for Non-free Data Types

Non-free data types are data types whose data have no canonical forms. For example, multisets are non-free data types because the multiset $\{a,b,b\}$ has two other equivalent but literally different forms $\{b,a,b\}$ and $\{b,b,a\}$. Pattern matching is known to provide a handy tool set to treat such data types. Although many studies on pattern matching and implementations for practical programming languages have been proposed so far, we observe that none of these studies satisfy all the criteria of practical pattern matching, which are as follows: i) efficiency of the backtracking algorithm for non-linear patterns, ii) extensibility of matching process, and iii) polymorphism in patterns. This paper aims to design a new pattern-matching-oriented programming language that satisfies all the above three criteria. The proposed language features clean Scheme-like syntax and efficient and extensible pattern matching semantics. This programming language is especially useful for the processing of complex non-free data types that not only include multisets and sets but also graphs and symbolic mathematical expressions. We discuss the importance of our criteria of practical pattern matching and how our language design naturally arises from the criteria. The proposed language has been already implemented and open-sourced as the Egison programming language

The role of depletion of dimethyl sulfoxide before autografting: on hematologic recovery, side effects, and toxicity

AbstractCryopreservation of stem cells after collection from peripheral blood or bone marrow for autologous transplantation necessitates protection with dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO). Unfortunately, DMSO, when infused with the thawed cell suspension, may induce serious complications and side effects. To assess whether depletion of DMSO before autografting affects safety and efficacy, 56 consenting consecutive patients treated with high-dose chemotherapy and autologous blood stem cell transplantation were assigned to obtain either an untreated or DMSO-depleted autograft. On the day of transplantation, the cryopreserved cells were thawed and infused to the patient either immediately or after washing 3 times in normal saline supplemented with 6% anticoagulant citrate dextrose solution. Cell count with viability, clonogenic assay, and phenotyping were performed before and after thawing and after washing. Hematologic recovery, side effects, and complications were recorded. The in vitro and clinical data on 56 patients show that the depletion of DMSO in vitro before autografting does not induce a significant loss of cell number, viability, colony-forming unit-granulocyte-macrophage activity, or number of CD34+ cells. Furthermore, it leads to a safe and sustained engraftment. The complications and side effects, as recorded by continuous monitoring, were substantially less; however, the procedure takes 3 to 4 hours of laboratory work per patient