Intra-arterial delivery of triolein emulsion increases vascular permeability in skeletal muscles of rabbits

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>To test the hypothesis that triolein emulsion will increase vascular permeability of skeletal muscle.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Triolein emulsion was infused into the superficial femoral artery in rabbits (triolein group, n = 12). As a control, saline was infused (saline group, n = 18). Pre- and post-contrast T1-weighted MR images were obtained two hours after infusion. The MR images were qualitatively and quantitatively evaluated by assessing the contrast enhancement of the ipsilateral muscles. Histologic examination was performed in all rabbits.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The ipsilateral muscles of the rabbits in the triolein group showed contrast enhancement, as opposed to in the ipsilateral muscles of the rabbits in the saline group. The contrast enhancement of the lesions was statistically significant (p < 0.001). Histologic findings showed that most examination areas of the triolein and saline groups had a normal appearance.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Rabbit thigh muscle revealed significantly increased vascular permeability with triolein emulsion; this was clearly demonstrated on the postcontrast MR images.</p

Recovery and reuse of structural products from end-of-life buildings

YesBuildings and construction have been identified as having the greatest potential for circular economy value creation. One source of value creation is to recover and reuse building products from end-of-service-life buildings, rather than destructive demolition and downcycling. While there is a trade in non-structural and heritage product recovery and reuse, the largest volume, mass and value of most buildings comprise structural elements – concrete, brick and masonry, and steel – which present many challenges. A comprehensive literature review confirms limited attention to innovation and advanced techniques to address these challenges and therefore the potential reuse of the stocks of accumulated building products globally and associated environmental benefits. Potential techniques being tested in an Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council circular economy research programme are referenced as a key building block towards circular economy building system redesign.Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council - research project Rebuild (EPSRC EP/P008917/1

Global patient outcomes after elective surgery: prospective cohort study in 27 low-, middle- and high-income countries.

BACKGROUND: As global initiatives increase patient access to surgical treatments, there remains a need to understand the adverse effects of surgery and define appropriate levels of perioperative care. METHODS: We designed a prospective international 7-day cohort study of outcomes following elective adult inpatient surgery in 27 countries. The primary outcome was in-hospital complications. Secondary outcomes were death following a complication (failure to rescue) and death in hospital. Process measures were admission to critical care immediately after surgery or to treat a complication and duration of hospital stay. A single definition of critical care was used for all countries. RESULTS: A total of 474 hospitals in 19 high-, 7 middle- and 1 low-income country were included in the primary analysis. Data included 44 814 patients with a median hospital stay of 4 (range 2-7) days. A total of 7508 patients (16.8%) developed one or more postoperative complication and 207 died (0.5%). The overall mortality among patients who developed complications was 2.8%. Mortality following complications ranged from 2.4% for pulmonary embolism to 43.9% for cardiac arrest. A total of 4360 (9.7%) patients were admitted to a critical care unit as routine immediately after surgery, of whom 2198 (50.4%) developed a complication, with 105 (2.4%) deaths. A total of 1233 patients (16.4%) were admitted to a critical care unit to treat complications, with 119 (9.7%) deaths. Despite lower baseline risk, outcomes were similar in low- and middle-income compared with high-income countries. CONCLUSIONS: Poor patient outcomes are common after inpatient surgery. Global initiatives to increase access to surgical treatments should also address the need for safe perioperative care. STUDY REGISTRATION: ISRCTN5181700

Three pillars of sustainability: in search of conceptual origins

The three-pillar conception of (social, economic and environmental) sustainability, commonly represented by three intersecting circles with overall sustainability at the centre, has become ubiquitous. With a view of identifying the genesis and theoretical foundations of this conception, this paper reviews and discusses relevant historical sustainability literature. From this we find that there is no single point of origin of this three-pillar conception, but rather a gradual emergence from various critiques in the early academic literature of the economic status quo from both social and ecological perspectives on the one hand, and the quest to reconcile economic growth as a solution to social and ecological problems on the part of the United Nations on the other. The popular three circles diagram appears to have been first presented by Barbier (Environ Conserv 14:101, doi: 10.1017/s0376892900011449, 1987), albeit purposed towards developing nations with foci which differ from modern interpretations. The conceptualisation of three pillars seems to predate this, however. Nowhere have we found a theoretically rigorous description of the three pillars. This is thought to be in part due to the nature of the sustainability discourse arising from broadly different schools of thought historically. The absence of such a theoretically solid conception frustrates approaches towards a theoretically rigorous operationalisation of ‘sustainability’

Finishing the euchromatic sequence of the human genome

The sequence of the human genome encodes the genetic instructions for human physiology, as well as rich information about human evolution. In 2001, the International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium reported a draft sequence of the euchromatic portion of the human genome. Since then, the international collaboration has worked to convert this draft into a genome sequence with high accuracy and nearly complete coverage. Here, we report the result of this finishing process. The current genome sequence (Build 35) contains 2.85 billion nucleotides interrupted by only 341 gaps. It covers ∼99% of the euchromatic genome and is accurate to an error rate of ∼1 event per 100,000 bases. Many of the remaining euchromatic gaps are associated with segmental duplications and will require focused work with new methods. The near-complete sequence, the first for a vertebrate, greatly improves the precision of biological analyses of the human genome including studies of gene number, birth and death. Notably, the human enome seems to encode only 20,000-25,000 protein-coding genes. The genome sequence reported here should serve as a firm foundation for biomedical research in the decades ahead

Centrality evolution of the charged-particle pseudorapidity density over a broad pseudorapidity range in Pb-Pb collisions at root s(NN)=2.76TeV

Peer reviewe

Incomplete reporting of whale, dolphin and porpoise ‘bycatch’ revealed by molecular monitoring of Korean markets

We report the results of molecular monitoring of ‘whalemeat’ markets in the Republic of (South) Korea based on nine systematic surveys from February 2003 to February 2005. As Korea has no programme of commercial or scientific\ud whaling and there is a closure on the hunting of dolphins and porpoises, the only legal source of these products was assumed to be incidental fisheries mortalities (‘bycatch’) as reported by the government to the International Whaling Commission. Species identification of 357 products using mitochondrial DNA control region or cytochrome b sequences and the web-based programme DNA-surveillance revealed three species of baleen whales (North Pacific minke, common form\ud Bryde’s and humpback), three species of beaked whales (Cuvier’s, Stejneger’s and Blainville’s), seven species of dolphins (short-finned pilot, false killer and killer whales; Risso’s, bottlenose, common and Pacific white-sided dolphins) and two species of porpoises (harbour and finless). Comparison of market products with official records revealed a number of discrepancies. Of the eight species identified on the markets in 2003, three were not reported in official records for that year. Of the 11 species identified in 2004, five were not reported as bycatch, although one species, a humpback whale, was reported as ‘stranded’. We also found significant\ud inconsistencies in the expected frequencies of products from most species, including a large over-representation of finless porpoises and false killer whales. We suggest ways in which market surveys could be improved to provide better\ud information on the magnitude of fisheries bycatch and other illegal, unregulated and unreported (IUU) exploitation of wildlife