Nephrogenic systemic fibrosis risk and liver disease.

Objective. Evaluate the incidence of nephrogenic systemic fibrosis (NSF) in patients with liver disease in the peritransplant period. Materials and Methods. This IRB approved study retrospectively reviewed patients requiring transplantation for cirrhosis, hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), or both from 2003 to 2013. Records were reviewed identifying those having gadolinium enhanced MRI within 1 year of posttransplantation to document degree of liver disease, renal disease, and evidence for NSF. Results. Gadolinium-enhanced MRI was performed on 312 of 837 patients, including 23 with severe renal failure (GFR < 30 mL/min/1.73 cm(2)) and 289 with GFR > 30. Two of 23 patients with renal failure developed NSF compared to zero NSF cases in 289 patients with GFR > 30 (0/289; P < 0.003). High dose gadodiamide was used in the two NSF cases. There was no increased incidence of NSF with severe liver disease (1/71) compared to nonsevere liver disease (1/241; P = 0.412). Conclusion. Renal disease is a risk factor for NSF, but in our small sample our evidence suggests liver disease is not an additional risk factor, especially if a low-risk gadolinium agent is used. Noting that not all patients received high-risk gadolinium, a larger study focusing on patients receiving high-risk gadolinium is needed to further evaluate NSF risk in liver disease in the peritransplant period

Graviton 1-loop partition function for 3-dimensional massive gravity

The graviton 1-loop partition function in Euclidean topologically massive gravity (TMG) is calculated using heat kernel techniques. The partition function does not factorize holomorphically, and at the chiral point it has the structure expected from a logarithmic conformal field theory. This gives strong evidence for the proposal that the dual conformal field theory to TMG at the chiral point is indeed logarithmic. We also generalize our results to new massive gravity.Comment: 19 pages, v2: major revision, considerably stronger conclusions, added comparison with LCFT partition function, confirmation of LCFT conjecture, added autho

Dynamic infant–parent affect coupling during the face-to-face/still-face.

We examined dynamic infant-parent affect coupling using the Face-to-Face/Still-Face (FFSF) paradigm. The sample included 20 infants whose older siblings had been diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD-sibs), and 18 infants with comparison siblings (COMP-sibs). A series of extended autoregressive models was used to represent the self-regulation and interactive dynamics of infants and parents during FFSF. Significant bidirectional affective coupling was found between infants and parents, with the former serving as the “leading members” of the dyads. Further analysis of within-dyad dynamics revealed ongoing changes in concurrent infant-parent linkages both within and across different FFSF episodes. The importance of considering both inter- and intra-dyad differences is discussed

All stationary axi-symmetric local solutions of topologically massive gravity

We classify all stationary axi-symmetric solutions of topologically massive gravity into Einstein, Schr\"odinger, warped and generic solutions. We construct explicitly all local solutions in the first three sectors and present an algorithm for the numerical construction of all local solutions in the generic sector. The only input for this algorithm is the value of one constant of motion if the solution has an analytic centre, and three constants of motion otherwise. We present several examples, including soliton solutions that asymptote to warped AdS.Comment: 42 pages, 9 figures. v2: Changed potentially confusing labelling of one sector, added references. v3: Minor changes, matches published versio

Effect of diet and dietary fatty acids on the transformation and incorporation of C18 fatty acids in double-muscled Belgian Blue young bulls

Three groups of double-muscled Belgian Blue young bulls were fed during different stages of production diets differing in the proportions of linolenic and linoleic acid by including linseed in the concentrate or giving grass silage as main linolenic acid suppliers. Samples of rumen and abomasal contents and of the longissimus thoracis, subcutaneous fat, and liver were taken to analyze the fatty acid pattern with emphasis on the individual trans (t) C18:1 fatty acids and cis-9,trans-11 conjugated linoleic acid (c9t11CLA). Trans C18:1 isomers represented up to 20 g/100 g of total fatty acids in rumen and abomasal contents, whereas the accumulation of c9t11CLA was limited. Total trans C18:1 content in subcutaneous fat and intramuscular fat of the longissimus thoracis comprised 8.4 and 5.2 g/100 g of total fatty acids, respectively, with t11C18:1 being the most abundant one. Compared to rumen contents, subcutaneous and intramuscular fat were enriched in c9t11CLA and contained fewer tC18:1 isomers, resulting in a higher c9t11CLA/t11C18:1 ratio (0.04, 0.22, and 0.22, respectively). This result suggests that the endogenous synthesis of c9t11CLA in adipose tissue by the Delta(9)-desaturase was more important than its ruminal production

A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Outcomes for Type 1 Diabetes after Bariatric Surgery

Background. The utility of bariatric surgery in type 1 diabetes remains controversial. The aim of the present study is to evaluate glycemic control outcomes in obese patients with type 1 diabetes after bariatric surgery. Methods. A comprehensive search of electronic databases was completed. Inclusion criteria included human adult subjects with BMI ≥35 kg/m2 and a confirmed diagnosis of type 1 diabetes who underwent a bariatric surgical procedure. Results. Thirteen primary studies (86 patients) were included. Subjects had a mean age of 41.16±6.76 years with a mean BMI of 42.50±2.65 kg/m2. There was a marked reduction in BMI postoperatively at 12 months and at study endpoint to 29.55±1.76 kg/m2 (P<0.00001) and 30.63±2.09 kg/m2 (P<0.00001), respectively. Preoperative weighted mean total daily insulin requirement was 98±26 IU/d, which decreased significantly to 36±15 IU/d (P<0.00001) and 42±11 IU/d (P<0.00001) at 12 months and at study endpoint, respectively. An improvement in HbA1c was also seen from 8.46±0.78% preoperatively to 7.95±0.55% (P=0.01) and 8.13±0.86% (P=0.03) at 12 months and at study endpoint, respectively. Conclusion. Bariatric surgery in patients with type 1 diabetes leads to significant reductions in BMI and improvements in glycemic control

Toolbox for Exploring Modular Gene Regulation in Synthetic Biology Training

We report a toolbox for exploring the modular tuning of genetic circuits, which has been specifically optimized for widespread deployment in STEM environments through a combination of bacterial strain engineering and distributable hardware development. The transfer functions of 16 genetic switches, programmed to express a GFP reporter under the regulation of the (acyl-homoserine lactone) AHL-sensitive luxR transcriptional activator, can be parametrically tuned by adjusting high/low degrees of transcriptional, translational, and post-translational processing. Strains were optimized to facilitate daily large-scale preparation and reliable performance at room temperature in order to eliminate the need for temperature controlled apparatuses, which are both cost-limiting and space-constraining. The custom-designed, automated, and web-enabled fluorescence documentation system allows time-lapse imaging of AHL-induced GFP expression on bacterial plates with real-time remote data access, thereby requiring trainees to only be present for experimental setup. When coupled with mathematical models in agreement with empirical data, this toolbox expands the scalability and scope of reliable synthetic biology experiments for STEM training