An easy to calculate equation to estimate GFR based on inulin clearance

Background. For the estimation of renal function on the basis of serum creatinine, either the Cockcroft-Gault (CG) equation or the MDRD formula is commonly used. Compared to MDRD (using power functions), CG has the advantage of easy calculability at the bedside. MDRD, however, approaches glomerular filtration rate (GFR) more precisely than CG and gives values corrected for a body surface area (BSA) of 1.73 m2. We wondered whether CG could be adapted to estimate GFR rather than creatinine clearance without losing the advantage of easy calculability. In this prospective study, inulin clearance under well-defined conditions was taken as the gold standard for GFR. Methods. In 182 living kidney donors, inulin clearance was measured under standardized conditions (protein, salt and water intake, overnight stay) before and after nephrectomy. Together with the serum creatinine level, and demographic and clinical data, 281 measurements of inulin clearance were used to compare the accuracy of different estimation equations. Using stepwise multiple regression, a new set of constants was defined for a CG-like equation in order to estimate GFR. Results. The MDRD equation underestimated GFR by 9%, and the quadratic equation suggested by Rule overestimated GFR by 12.4%. The new CG-like equation, even when calculated with ‘mental arithmetic-friendly' rounded parameters, showed significantly less bias (1.2%). The adapted equation is Conclusions. We propose the CG-like equation called IB-eGFR (Inulinclearance Based eGFR) to estimate GFR more reliably than MDRD, Rule's equation or the original Cockcroft-Gault equation. As our data represent a Caucasian population, the adapted equation is still to be validated for patients of other ethnicit

Open and laparoscopic living donor nephrectomy in Switzerland: a retrospective assessment of clinical outcomes and the motivation to donate

Background. Laparoscopic living kidney nephrectomy is thought to be associated with reduced morbidity, when compared to open nephrectomy. The purpose of this study was to explore the impact of these techniques on donors' clinical outcomes, satisfaction and motivation to donate. Methods. Clinical outcomes were retrospectively compared in 152 open (n = 71) or laparoscopic (n = 81) donor procedures. Donor satisfaction and motivation were assessed with a self-administered questionnaire. Results. The complication rate was the same with both procedures and the majority of complications were mild. Laparoscopy was significantly less painful and resulted in an insignificantly faster return to active life. More than 80% of the donors volunteered to donate without pressure. Worries about future health status, pain or scars were not important in the decision to donate. Similarly, only 15% considered the surgical procedure as instrumental for their decision. Few donors currently worried about their health with one kidney and more than 95% of the donors in both groups stated that they would give their kidney again. Conclusions. Living donor nephrectomy is safe, regardless of the procedure used. Although the laparoscopic nephrectomy offers clear short-term benefits over the open nephrectomy, donors' satisfaction was excellent with both surgical approaches. Moreover, the type of procedure did not seem to influence their decision to donat

Do Meio- and Macrobenthic Nematodes Differ in Community Composition and Body Weight Trends with Depth?

Nematodes occur regularly in macrobenthic samples but are rarely identified from them and are thus considered exclusively a part of the meiobenthos. Our study compares the generic composition of nematode communities and their individual body weight trends with water depth in macrobenthic (>250/300 µm) samples from the deep Arctic (Canada Basin), Gulf of Mexico (GOM) and the Bermuda slope with meiobenthic samples (<45 µm) from GOM. The dry weight per individual (µg) of all macrobenthic nematodes combined showed an increasing trend with increasing water depth, while the dry weight per individual of the meiobenthic GOM nematodes showed a trend to decrease with increasing depth. Multivariate analyses showed that the macrobenthic nematode community in the GOM was more similar to the macrobenthic nematodes of the Canada Basin than to the GOM meiobenthic nematodes. In particular, the genera Enoploides, Crenopharynx, Micoletzkyia, Phanodermella were dominant in the macrobenthos and accounted for most of the difference. Relative abundance of non-selective deposit feeders (1B) significantly decreased with depth in macrobenthos but remained dominant in the meiobenthic community. The occurrence of a distinct assemblage of bigger nematodes of high dry weight per individual in the macrobenthos suggests the need to include nematodes in macrobenthic studies

Constraints on the χ_(c1) versus χ_(c2) polarizations in proton-proton collisions at √s = 8 TeV

The polarizations of promptly produced χ_(c1) and χ_(c2) mesons are studied using data collected by the CMS experiment at the LHC, in proton-proton collisions at √s=8  TeV. The χ_c states are reconstructed via their radiative decays χ_c → J/ψγ, with the photons being measured through conversions to e⁺e⁻, which allows the two states to be well resolved. The polarizations are measured in the helicity frame, through the analysis of the χ_(c2) to χ_(c1) yield ratio as a function of the polar or azimuthal angle of the positive muon emitted in the J/ψ → μ⁺μ⁻ decay, in three bins of J/ψ transverse momentum. While no differences are seen between the two states in terms of azimuthal decay angle distributions, they are observed to have significantly different polar anisotropies. The measurement favors a scenario where at least one of the two states is strongly polarized along the helicity quantization axis, in agreement with nonrelativistic quantum chromodynamics predictions. This is the first measurement of significantly polarized quarkonia produced at high transverse momentum