Enhancement of peritoneal dialysis clearance with docusate sodium

A study was done in rabbits to determine the effect of docusate sodium (DSS) on the peritoneal clearance of creatinine and urea. Following a series of control exchanges with a commercially available peritoneal dialysis solution, three animals in each of four groups received DSS (0.005%, 0.01%, 0.02%, or 0.04%) in a single exchange, followed by 10 subsequent exchanges of control fluid. Creatinine and urea clearances were measured for each exchange. Comparison of post-DSS clearances (exchanges 5 through 15) with pre-DSS baseline values (exchanges 1 through 4) showed a mean percent increase in creatinine clearance that was proportional to the concentration and ranged from 74% to 244% above baseline. Similarly, urea clearance increased by 79 to 166%. The effect on both creatinine and urea clearance persisted through the completion of the dialysis procedure. No animals showed signs of toxicity from DSS. The mechanism of the DSS effect on clearance is unknown. Although studies are needed to delineate the mechanism of the effect and to identify potential toxic effects, the results of this study indicate that DSS has a significant effect on clearance of both creatinine and urea

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