Prospective observational study of point-of-care creatinine in trauma.

Background:Patients with trauma are at risk for renal dysfunction from hypovolemia or urological injury. In austere environments, creatinine values are not available to guide resuscitation. A new portable device, the Stat Sensor Point-of-care (POC) Whole Blood Creatinine Analyzer, provides accurate results in <30 s and requires minimal training. This device has not been evaluated in trauma despite the theoretical benefit it provides. The purpose of this study is to determine the clinical impact of the POC device in trauma. Methods:40 patients with trauma were enrolled in a prospective observational study. One drop of blood was used for creatinine determination on the Statsensor POC device. POC creatinine results were compared to the laboratory. Turnaround time (TAT) for POC and laboratory methods was calculated as well as time elapsed to CT scan if applicable. Results:Patients (n=40) were enrolled between December 2014 and March 2015. POC creatinine values were similar to laboratory methods with a mean bias of 0.075±0.27 (p=0.08). Mean analytical TATs for the POC measurements were significantly faster than the laboratory method (11.6±10.0 min vs 78.1±27.9 min, n=40, p<0.0001). Mean elapsed time before arrival at the CT scanner was 52.9±34.2 min. Conclusions:The POC device reported similar creatinine values to the laboratory and provided significantly faster results. POC creatinine testing is a promising development for trauma practice in austere environments and workup of a subset of stable patients with trauma. Further study is warranted to determine clinical impact, both in hospital-based trauma and austere environments

Host associations, biogeography, and phylogenetics of avian malaria in southern African waterfowl

The relevance of spatial variation in the environment and host communities for parasite community composition is poorly documented, creating a need for additional case studies from which general principles can be developed. Avian malaria in southern African waterfowl has not previously been studied. As a first step towards documenting and understanding its biogeography, we used PCR and molecular sequencing techniques to analyse 454 blood samples from Afrotropical ducks from 5 different locations (spread around the subregion) for avian malaria. Fifty-five blood samples were positive for one or more genera of haematozoa. The regional infection rate across all sites and sampling periods was 12·1%. Nine individuals carried dual infections containing multiple haematozoa. Fifteen different cytochrome b haplotypes among 52 positives (3 samples failed to sequence) and 61 total sequences were found. Eleven haplotypes closely matched Plasmodium, whereas 4 were more similar to Haemoproteus. Five distinct haematozoan clades were identified. Haemoproteus parasites appeared to be more host-specific than Plasmodium, which occurred at every sampling location and in every host species examined. Therewere no significant differences in overall parasite prevalence attributable to either site or species, although Plasmodium and Haemoproteus occurrences differed by site-species combination and the borderline significance of our test for betweensite variation (P<0·06) implied that with a larger sample size, differences in parasite prevalence among locations might be detectable. (Résumé d'auteur

Explorations, Vol. 5, No. 2

Articles include: Cover: Brian McLain of New Harbor, measuring a V-notched lobster; slide taken by Robert C. Bayer, University of Maine Professor of Animal and Veterinary Sciences. April is Aquaculture Month Guest Editorial, by Kathleen Lignell Hospital Project Teams: Gaining Cooperation, by Mary Beth Pinto The Maine Lobster Institute: Science and Industry Working Together, by Susan White The Theory of Common Property Resources: Scientific Law or Myth? by James M. Acheson What do Seedless Watermelons and Triploid Oysters have in Common? by Mary Lee Technology and the Competitive Edge, by John Field and Eric Beenfeldt Growing our State Tree Faster: Fertilizing White Pine, by Robert Shepard and M.W. Blumenstoc

Pine sawdust biochar as a potential amendment for establishing trees in Appalachian mine spoils

Early growth and survival of tree seedlings is often poor on reclaimed coal surface mines in Appalachia. Biochar produced in bioenergy generation has potential for use as an amendment to improve seedling performance. Mine soil was collected from a recently reclaimed coal surface mine in Wise County, Virginia and mixed with loblolly pine (Pinus taeda L.) sawdust biochar, simulating application rates of 2.3, 11.2 and 22.5 Mg ha-1. Unplanted leaching columns and 4 L tree planting pots were filled with these biochar-soil mixtures, plus controls of pure mine soil and pure biochar. For the tree planting pots, additional pots were created where the biochar was applied as a topdressing at the same application rates as in the mixtures. One-year-old seedlings of both American sycamore (Platanus occidentalis L.) and black locust (Robinia pseudoacacia L.) were planted. Unplanted leaching columns were leached with collected rainwater for six months to simulate weathering. Trees were grown for one growing season. Black locust had higher average above-ground dry woody biomass (24.4 g) than American sycamore (17.0 g), and also higher below-ground biomass (61.0 g compared to 30.2 g). The pure biochar produced greater average below-ground biomass (99.9 g) than the pure mine soil (46.9 g). All of the biochar treatments produced greater average above-ground woody biomass (19.1 g – 33.4 g) than the pure mine soil (10.9 g). After weathering, biochar provided less available soil phosphorus, calcium and iron than the mine soil itself while increasing soil carbon and organic matter. High (22.5 Mg ha-1) biochar applications increased soil volumetric water holding capacity to 18.6% compared to 13.4% for pure mine soil. Naturally-occurring herbaceous biomass in the pots was negatively correlated with above-ground woody biomass at r = -0.483. Topdressing and full incorporation of biochar were not significantly different in their effects on biomass. Results suggest that pine biochar either broadcast at 2.3 - 22.5 Mg ha‑1, or mixed in planting holes with backfill soil, will promote faster above-ground growth and larger root systems in seedlings in mine soils. Further studies should test these methods in the field over multiple years and further refine recommendations of the rate of biochar to use and how best to apply it. New systems are being developed in Appalachia to produce biofuels and biochar from local biomass and to recycle biochar into the land base to enhance future biomass productivity. Applying 4 L of biochar mixed with the backfill of newly-planted trees is the top recommended practice for tree performance

HydF as a scaffold protein in [FeFe] hydrogenase H-cluster biosynthesis

AbstractIn an effort to determine the specific protein component(s) responsible for in vitro activation of the [FeFe] hydrogenase (HydA), the individual maturation proteins HydE, HydF, and HydG from Clostridium acetobutylicum were purified from heterologous expressions in Escherichia coli. Our results demonstrate that HydF isolated from a strain expressing all three maturation proteins is sufficient to confer hydrogenase activity to purified inactive heterologously expressed HydA (expressed in the absence of HydE, HydF, and HydG). These results represent the first in vitro maturation of [FeFe] hydrogenase with purified proteins, and suggest that HydF functions as a scaffold upon which an H-cluster intermediate is synthesized

Simultaneous Quantification of Active Carbon- and Nitrogen-Fixing Communities and Estimation of Fixation Rates Using Fluorescence In Situ Hybridization and Flow Cytometry

Understanding the interconnectivity of oceanic carbon and nitrogen cycles, specifically carbon and nitrogen fixation, is essential in elucidating the fate and distribution of carbon in the ocean. Traditional techniques measure either organism abundance or biochemical rates. As such, measurements are performed on separate samples and on different time scales. Here, we developed a method to simultaneously quantify organisms while estimating rates of fixation across time and space for both carbon and nitrogen. Tyramide signal amplification fluorescence in situ hybridization (TSA-FISH) of mRNA for functionally specific oligonucleotide probes for rbcL (ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase; carbon fixation) and nifH (nitrogenase; nitrogen fixation) was combined with flow cytometry to measure abundance and estimate activity. Cultured samples representing a diversity of phytoplankton (cyanobacteria, coccolithophores, chlorophytes, diatoms, and dinoflagellates), as well as environmental samples from the open ocean (Gulf of Mexico, USA, and southeastern Indian Ocean, Australia) and an estuary (Galveston Bay, Texas, USA), were successfully hybridized. Strong correlations between positively tagged community abundance and 14C/15N measurements are presented. We propose that these methods can be used to estimate carbon and nitrogen fixation in environmental communities. The utilization of mRNA TSA-FISH to detect multiple active microbial functions within the same sample will offer increased understanding of important biogeochemical cycles in the ocean

Experimental Materials for "Doing and Seeing are not Believing: An Investigation into the Relations Between Conceptual and Perceptual Knowing

The experimental materials for the following study: Converging research supports the idea that conceptual processing, perceptual processing, and memory are interactive systems. We investigate the effect of activating prior conceptual knowledge on observation and memory of physical motion and the implications for instruction. Experiments 1-3 examine when and how conceptual expectations will affect perception and interpretation of visual stimuli. We ask whether people’s conceptual predictions of how to move one’s arms when balancing can impinge on accurate observation and recall of the arm movements of someone actually balancing. Results from these experiments indicate that incorrect conceptual understanding can impact what one observes from a video, but only when the visual stimuli contains ambiguities that align with that incorrect conceptual understanding. Experiments 4-5 explore whether the effect of conceptual expectations also applies to memory of one’s own bodily experiences of balancing. Results indicate that individuals do not necessarily construct a conceptual understanding of balancing from the perceptuo-motor experience of balancing in this context. In addition, the accuracy of recall for an experience was generally poor and was not affected by making predictions using an incorrect conceptual understanding.Ope

Activities of Rifampin, Rifapentine and Clarithromycin Alone and in Combination against Mycobacterium ulcerans Disease in Mice

Buruli ulcer (BU) is found throughout the world but is particularly prevalent in West Africa. Until 2004, treatment for this disfiguring disease was surgical excision followed by skin grafting, procedures often requiring months of hospitalization. More recently, an 8-week regimen of oral rifampin and streptomycin administered by injection has become the standard of care recommended by the World Health Organization. However, daily injections require sterile needles and syringes to prevent spread of blood borne pathogens and streptomycin has potentially serious side effects, most notably hearing loss. We tested an entirely oral regimen, substituting the long acting rifapentine for rifampin and clarithromycin for streptomycin. We also evaluated each drug separately. We found that rifapentine alone is as good as rifampin plus streptomycin, but the simultaneous addition of effective clarithromycin doses, at least in the mouse, reduces the activity of both rifampin and rifapentine, making it difficult to assess the efficacy of the oral regimens in the model. Studies of serum drug concentrations indicated that separating treatment times by one hour or reducing the clarithromycin dose to one active in humans should overcome this issue in experimental and clinical BU treatment, respectively

Conference of Microelectronics Research 2002

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