Estimating plasma volume in neonatal Holstein calves fed one or two feedings of a lacteal-based colostrum replacer using Evans blue dye and hematocrit values at various time points.

Twenty-eight Holstein calves were blocked by birth date and randomly assigned to one of two treatments to investigate the effect of colostrum replacer (CR) feeding regimen on plasma volume (PV). Treatments were: 1) one feeding of CR (C1; 3L of reconstituted CR 675 g of powder providing 184.5 g of IgG at birth) or 2) two feedings of CR (C2; 2L of reconstituted CR at birth and 1 L of reconstituted CR at six h). By 6 h of age, all calves had received 3L of CR providing 184.5 g of IgG. Plasma volume was estimated at six, 12, 18, and 24 h after birth using Evans blue dye (EBD). No treatment effects were noted at any time points (P \u3e 0.05). Mean PV for all calves regardless of treatment at six, 12, 18, and 24 h were 78.6, 89.2, 83.9, and 90.7 mL kg-1 of BW, respectively. Plasma volume was correlated with hematocrit (HCT), initial HCT, and treatment. Hematocrit was correlated with PV, initial HCT, and body weight. Hematocrit for six, 12, 18 and 24 h after birth can be predicted with an initial precolostral HCT determination

Toxicity of Radiotherapy in Patients With Collagen Vascular Disease

Background A diagnosis of collagen vascular disease (CVD) may predispose to radiotherapy (RT) toxicity. The objective of the current study was to identify factors that influence RT toxicity in the setting of CVD. Methods A total of 86 RT courses for 73 patients with CVD were delivered between 1985 and 2005. CVD subtypes include rheumatoid arthritis (RA; 33 patients), systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE; 13 patients), scleroderma (9 patients), dermatomyositis/polymyositis (5 patients), ankylosing spondylitis (4 patients), polymyalgia rheumatica/temporal arteritis (4 patients), Wegener granulomatosis (3 patients), and mixed connective tissue disorders (MCTD)/other (2 patients). Each patient with CVD was matched to 1 to 3 controls with respect to sex, race, site irradiated, RT dose (±2 Gray), and age (±5 years). Results There was no significant difference between CVD patients (65.1%) and controls (72.5%) experiencing any acute toxicity. CVD patients had a higher incidence of any late toxicity (29.1% vs 14%; P = .001), and a trend toward an increased rate of severe late toxicity (9.3% vs 3.7%; P = .079). RT delivered to the breast had increased risk of severe acute toxicity, whereas RT to the pelvis had increased risk of severe acute and late toxicity. RT administered in the setting of scleroderma carried a higher risk of severe late toxicity, whereas RT to SLE patients carried a higher risk of severe acute and late toxicity. Conclusions Although generally well tolerated, RT in the setting of CVD appears to carry a higher risk of late toxicity. RT to the pelvis or in the setting of SLE or scleroderma may predispose to an even greater risk of severe toxicity. These issues should be considered when deciding whether to offer RT for these patients. Cancer 2008;113:648–53

Slim Epistemology with a Thick Skin

The distinction between ‘thick’ and ‘thin’ value concepts, and its importance to ethical theory, has been an active topic in recent meta-ethics. This paper defends three claims regarding the parallel issue about thick and thin epistemic concepts. (1) Analogy with ethics offers no straightforward way to establish a good, clear distinction between thick and thin epistemic concepts. (2) Assuming there is such a distinction, there are no semantic grounds for assigning thick epistemic concepts priority over the thin. (3) Nor does the structure of substantive epistemological theory establish that thick epistemic concepts enjoy systematic theoretical priority over the thin. In sum, a good case has yet to be made for any radical theoretical turn to thicker epistemology

Distorted TCR repertoires define multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children

While the majority of children infected with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) display mild or no symptoms, rare individuals develop severe disease presenting with multisystem inflammatory syndrome (MIS-C). The reason for variable clinical manifestations is not understood. Here, we carried out TCR sequencing and conducted comparative analyses of TCR repertoires between children with MIS-C (n = 12) and mild (n = 8) COVID-19. We compared these repertoires with unexposed individuals (samples collected pre-COVID-19 pandemic: n = 8) and with the Adaptive Biotechnologies MIRA dataset, which includes over 135,000 high-confidence SARS-CoV-2-specific TCRs. We show that the repertoires of children with MIS-C are characterised by the expansion of TRBV11-2 chains with high junctional and CDR3 diversity. Moreover, the CDR3 sequences of TRBV11-2 clones shift away from SARS-CoV-2 specific T cell clones, resulting in distorted TCR repertoires. In conclusion, our study reports that CDR3-independent expansion of TRBV11-2+ cells, lacking SARS-CoV-2 specificity, defines MIS-C in children

Activity of the DNA minor groove cross-linking agent SG2000 (SJG-136) against canine tumours

BACKGROUND: Cancer is the leading cause of death in older dogs and its prevalence is increasing. There is clearly a need to develop more effective anti-cancer drugs in dogs. SG2000 (SJG-136) is a sequence selective DNA minor groove cross-linking agent. Based on its in vitro potency, the spectrum of in vivo and clinical activity against human tumours, and its tolerability in human patients, SG2000 has potential as a novel therapeutic against spontaneously occurring canine malignancies. RESULTS: In vitro cytotoxicity was assessed using SRB and MTT assays, and in vivo activity was assessed using canine tumour xenografts. DNA interstrand cross-linking (ICL) was determined using a modification of the single cell gel electrophoresis (comet) assay. Effects on cell cycle distribution were assessed by flow cytometry and measurement of γ-H2AX by immunofluorescence and immunohistochemistry. SG2000 had a multi-log differential cytotoxic profile against a panel of 12 canine tumour cell lines representing a range of common tumour types in dogs. In the CMeC-1 melanoma cell line, DNA ICLs increased linearly with dose following a 1 h treatment. Peak ICL was achieved within 1 h and no removal was observed over 48 h. A relationship between DNA ICL formation and cytotoxicity was observed across cell lines. The formation of γ-H2AX foci was slow, becoming evident after 4 h and reaching a peak at 24 h. SG2000 exhibited significant anti-tumour activity against two canine melanoma tumour models in vivo. Anti-tumour activity was observed at 0.15 and 0.3 mg/kg given i.v. either once, or weekly x 3. Dose-dependent DNA ICL was observed in tumours (and to a lower level in peripheral blood mononuclear cells) at 2 h and persisted at 24 h. ICL increased following the second and third doses in a repeated dose schedule. At 24 h, dose dependent γ-H2AX foci were more numerous than at 2 h, and greater in tumours than in peripheral blood mononuclear cells. SG2000-induced H2AX phosphorylation measured by immunohistochemistry showed good correspondence, but less sensitivity, than measurement of foci. CONCLUSIONS: SG2000 displayed potent activity in vitro against canine cancer cell lines as a result of the formation and persistence of DNA ICLs. SG2000 also had significant in vivo antitumour activity against canine melanoma xenografts, and the comet and γ-H2AX foci methods were relevant pharmacodynamic assays. The clinical testing of SG2000 against spontaneous canine cancer is warranted. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12917-015-0534-2) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users

Competing risk and heterogeneity of treatment effect in clinical trials

It has been demonstrated that patients enrolled in clinical trials frequently have a large degree of variation in their baseline risk for the outcome of interest. Thus, some have suggested that clinical trial results should routinely be stratified by outcome risk using risk models, since the summary results may otherwise be misleading. However, variation in competing risk is another dimension of risk heterogeneity that may also underlie treatment effect heterogeneity. Understanding the effects of competing risk heterogeneity may be especially important for pragmatic comparative effectiveness trials, which seek to include traditionally excluded patients, such as the elderly or complex patients with multiple comorbidities. Indeed, the observed effect of an intervention is dependent on the ratio of outcome risk to competing risk, and these risks – which may or may not be correlated – may vary considerably in patients enrolled in a trial. Further, the effects of competing risk on treatment effect heterogeneity can be amplified by even a small degree of treatment related harm. Stratification of trial results along both the competing and the outcome risk dimensions may be necessary if pragmatic comparative effectiveness trials are to provide the clinically useful information their advocates intend

Reductions in cardiovascular, cerebrovascular, and respiratory mortality following the national Irish smoking ban: Interrupted time-series analysis

Copyright @ 2013 Stallings-Smith et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.This article has been made available through the Brunel Open Access Publishing Fund.Background: Previous studies have shown decreases in cardiovascular mortality following the implementation of comprehensive smoking bans. It is not known whether cerebrovascular or respiratory mortality decreases post-ban. On March 29, 2004, the Republic of Ireland became the first country in the world to implement a national workplace smoking ban. The aim of this study was to assess the effect of this policy on all-cause and cause-specific, non-trauma mortality. Methods: A time-series epidemiologic assessment was conducted, utilizing Poisson regression to examine weekly age and gender-standardized rates for 215,878 non-trauma deaths in the Irish population, ages ≥35 years. The study period was from January 1, 2000, to December 31, 2007, with a post-ban follow-up of 3.75 years. All models were adjusted for time trend, season, influenza, and smoking prevalence. Results: Following ban implementation, an immediate 13% decrease in all-cause mortality (RR: 0.87; 95% CI: 0.76-0.99), a 26% reduction in ischemic heart disease (IHD) (RR: 0.74; 95% CI: 0.63-0.88), a 32% reduction in stroke (RR: 0.68; 95% CI: 0.54-0.85), and a 38% reduction in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) (RR: 0.62; 95% CI: 0.46-0.83) mortality was observed. Post-ban reductions in IHD, stroke, and COPD mortalities were seen in ages ≥65 years, but not in ages 35-64 years. COPD mortality reductions were found only in females (RR: 0.47; 95% CI: 0.32-0.70). Post-ban annual trend reductions were not detected for any smoking-related causes of death. Unadjusted estimates indicate that 3,726 (95% CI: 2,305-4,629) smoking-related deaths were likely prevented post-ban. Mortality decreases were primarily due to reductions in passive smoking. Conclusions: The national Irish smoking ban was associated with immediate reductions in early mortality. Importantly, post-ban risk differences did not change with a longer follow-up period. This study corroborates previous evidence for cardiovascular causes, and is the first to demonstrate reductions in cerebrovascular and respiratory causes