Optimisation of a lozenge-based sensor for detecting impending blockage of urinary catheters

Catheter-associated urinary tract infections resulting from urease-positive microorganisms are more likely to cause a urinary catheter blockage owing to the urease activity of the microbes. Catheter blockage can be dangerous and increases the risk of severe infections, such as sepsis. Ureases, a virulence factor in Proteus mirabilis, cause an increase in urine pH - leading to blockage. An optimised biosensor "lozenge" is presented here, which is able to detect impending catheter blockage. This lozenge has been optimised to allow easy manufacture and commercialisation. It functions as a sensor in a physiologically representative model of a catheterised urinary tract, providing 6.7 h warning prior to catheter blockage. The lozenge is stable in healthy human urine and can be sterilized for clinical use by ethylene oxide. Clinically, the lozenge will provide a visible indication of impending catheter blockage, enabling quicker clinical intervention and thus reducing the morbidity and mortality associated with blockage.</p

Future vision for the quality assurance of oncology clinical trials

The National Cancer Institute clinical cooperative groups have been instrumental over the past 50 years in developing clinical trials and evidence-based process improvements for clinical oncology patient care. The cooperative groups are undergoing a transformation process as we further integrate molecular biology into personalized patient care and move to incorporate international partners in clinical trials. To support this vision, data acquisition and data management informatics tools must become both nimble and robust to support transformational research at an enterprise level. Information, including imaging, pathology, molecular biology, radiation oncology, surgery, systemic therapy, and patient outcome data needs to be integrated into the clinical trial charter using adaptive clinical trial mechanisms for design of the trial. This information needs to be made available to investigators using digital processes for real-time data analysis. Future clinical trials will need to be designed and completed in a timely manner facilitated by nimble informatics processes for data management. This paper discusses both past experience and future vision for clinical trials as we move to develop data management and quality assurance processes to meet the needs of the modern trial

A Formação na Maturidade como Apropriação da Própria História de Vida

No presente artigo, a disposi&#231;&#227;o e a compet&#234;ncia para a apropria&#231;&#227;o da pr&#243;pria hist&#243;ria de vida s&#227;o consideradas como modos de forma&#231;&#227;o1 na maturidade. Estas se relacionam com fatores hist&#243;ricos e s&#243;cio-pol&#237;ticos e est&#227;o inscritas em contextos multigeracionais de forma&#231;&#227;o e processos de desenvolvimento ao longo da vida. Nesta perspectiva, conceitos como gera&#231;&#227;o, geracionalidade, geratividade e transmiss&#227;o transgeracional ganham destaque e ser&#227;o aprofundados no texto. A linha argumentativa que sustenta este ponto de vista baseia-se em estudos de pa&#237;ses de l&#237;ngua alem&#227; sobre crian&#231;as da Segunda Guerra Mundial que envelheceram. Apesar de se tratar de uma situa&#231;&#227;o espec&#237;fica, nos parece poss&#237;vel a extens&#227;o das reflex&#245;es tamb&#233;m para o contexto brasileiro

Credentialing for participation in clinical trials

The National Cancer Institute (NCI) clinical cooperative groups have been instrumental over the past 50 years in developing clinical trials and evidence-based clinical trial processes for improvements in patient care. The cooperative groups are undergoing a transformation process to launch, conduct, and publish clinical trials more rapidly. Institutional participation in clinical trials can be made more efficient and include the expansion of relationships with international partners. This paper reviews the current processes that are in use in radiation therapy trials and the importance of maintaining effective credentialing strategies to assure the quality of the outcomes of clinical trials. The paper offers strategies to streamline and harmonize credentialing tools and processes moving forward as the NCI undergoes transformative change in the conduct of clinical trials

Chapter 21 Wastewater and Sludge Nutrient Utilization

ABSTRACT Although forest ecosystems have evolved efficient mechanisms to assimilate and retain modest levels of annual geochemical input, their productivity is frequently limited by low levels of available nutrients. A review of research studies conducted in the major U.S. forest regions indicates that the nutrients and organic matter in wastewater and sludge represent a resource of substantial potential benefit to augment site nutrient capital and ameliorate the environment for plant growth. Wastewater irrigation provides phosphorus that is strongly held in upper layers of mineral soil and cations (potassium, calcium, sodium) that accumulate but are subject to loss with leaching anions (sulfate, nitrate, chloride) during periods of groundwater recharge. Applied nitrogen that is not lost to the atmosphere by volatilization or denitification accelerates forest floor decomposition, accumulates in soil in association with organic matter, is taken up by plants, or, following nitrification, is leached as nitrate to groundwater. Nitrogen utilization is greatest in young poplar forests growing in association with understory vegetation. Sludge applications provide phosphorus, potassium, and calcium that largely remain in the forest floor and upper layers of mineral soil. Calcium and potassium are subject to loss by leaching with anions (principally nitrate) during recharge periods. Applied nitrogen that is no