"Providing guidelines for implementing sustainable practices for traditional petroleum based plastics, biobased plastics, and recycled plastics, Sustainable Plastics and the Environment explains what ...sustainable plastics are, why sustainable plastics are needed, which sustainable plastics to use, and how manufacturing companies can integrate them into their manufacturing operations. A vital resource for
To identify risk factors associated with diagnosis of chronic kidney disease (CKD) in cats.
Retrospective case-control study.
1,230 cats with a clinical diagnosis of CKD, serum creatinine ...concentration > 1.6 mg/dL, and urine specific gravity < 1.035 and 1,230 age-matched control cats.
Data on putative risk factors for CKD were extracted for multivariate logistic regression analysis from the medical records of cats brought to 755 primary care veterinary hospitals. For a subset of cats evaluated 6 to 12 months prior to the date of CKD diagnosis or control group inclusion, the percentage change in body weight between those dates as well as clinical signs at the earlier date were analyzed for associations with CKD development.
Risk factors for CKD in cats included thin body condition, prior periodontal disease or cystitis, anesthesia or documented dehydration in the preceding year, being a neutered male (vs spayed female), and living anywhere in the United States other than the northeast. The probability of CKD decreased with increasing body weight in nondehydrated cats, domestic shorthair breed, and prior diagnosis of diabetes mellitus and increased when vomiting, polyuria or polydipsia, appetite or energy loss, or halitosis was present at the time of diagnosis or control group inclusion but not when those signs were reported 6 to 12 months earlier. Median weight loss during the preceding 6 to 12 months was 10.8% and 2.1% in cats with and without CKD, respectively.
The probability of CKD diagnosis in cats was influenced by several variables; recent weight loss, particularly in combination with the other factors, warrants assessment of cats for CKD.
This systematic review seeks to understand whether cold intolerance (CI) improves with time and if there is any role for management strategies such as behavioural therapy, surgery, or ...pharmacotherapy.
Two independent reviewers used a predefined search strategy to query MEDLINE, PubMed, Embase, CINAHL, Cochrane Library, Web of Science and Google Scholar databases. Articles written in English, Studies of interventions (such as pharmacotherapy or behavioural therapy) for cold intolerance in adult patients with a history of hand injury along with prevalence over time were included for review.
Seventeen studies were included, with twelve prognostic studies of the effect of time on CI, four studies of self management/behavioural therapies, and a single study of surgical treatment of neuromas. No studies of pharmacotherapies were identified for inclusion in the hand injury literature. Most studies (76.4%) were either prevalence or prospective cohort studies; no level I or II evidence studies were included.
Cold intolerance does not resolve over time for the vast majority of patients. Behavioral and self-management studies have low efficacy and studies presented had a high risk of bias. There is a lack of evidence for the use of pharmacotherapy in CI and this could be considered for future studies.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
Aside from direct effects on neurotransmission, inhaled and intravenous anesthetics have immunomodulatory properties.
and mouse model studies suggest that propofol inhibits, while isoflurane ...increases, neuroinflammation. If these findings translate to humans, they could be clinically important since neuroinflammation has detrimental effects on neurocognitive function in numerous disease states.
To examine whether propofol and isoflurane differentially modulate neuroinflammation in humans, cytokines were measured in a secondary analysis of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) samples from patients prospectively randomized to receive anesthetic maintenance with propofol vs. isoflurane (registered with http://www.clinicaltrials.gov, identifier NCT01640275). We measured CSF levels of EGF, eotaxin, G-CSF, GM-CSF, IFN-α2, IL-1RA, IL-6, IL-7, IL-8, IL-10, IP-10, MCP-1, MIP-1α, MIP-1β, and TNF-α before and 24 h after intracranial surgery in these study patients.
After Bonferroni correction for multiple comparisons, we found significant increases from before to 24 h after surgery in G-CSF, IL-10, IL-1RA, IL-6, IL-8, IP-10, MCP-1, MIP-1α, MIP-1β, and TNF-α. However, we found no difference in cytokine levels at baseline or 24 h after surgery between propofol- (
= 19) and isoflurane-treated (
= 21) patients (
> 0.05 for all comparisons). Increases in CSF IL-6, IL-8, IP-10, and MCP-1 levels directly correlated with each other and with postoperative CSF elevations in tau, a neural injury biomarker. We observed CSF cytokine increases up to 10-fold higher after intracranial surgery than previously reported after other types of surgery.
These data clarify the magnitude of neuroinflammation after intracranial surgery, and raise the possibility that a coordinated neuroinflammatory response may play a role in neural injury after surgery.
After Obama McCormick II, Joseph P; Brown, Robert A; Shaw, Todd C
11/2020
eBook
Examines the complicated political legacy of our first
black president
Written during the presidency of Donald Trump, After
Obama examines the impact President Barack Obama and his
administration ...have continued to have upon African American
politics. In this comprehensive volume, Todd C. Shaw, Robert A.
Brown, and Joseph P. McCormick II bring together more than a dozen
scholars to explore his complex legacy, including his successes,
failures, and contradictions.
Contributors focus on a wide range of topics, including how
President Obama affected aspects of African American politics, how
his public policies influenced the quality of Black citizenship and
life, and what future administrations can learn from his
experiences. They also examine the present-day significance of
Donald Trump in relation to African American politics.
A timely and thorough work, After Obama provides the
first examination of the Obama administration in its entirety, and
the lasting impact it has had on African American politics.
Aims Any sustained elevation of oxidative stress in patients with obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) might help explain their increased risk for cardiovascular diseases. We tested the hypothesis that ...measures of oxidative stress are increased in otherwise healthy subjects with OSA when compared to closely matched OSA-free control subjects. Methods and results Plasma indices of oxidative stress and lipid peroxidation thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances (TBARS), oxidized LDL (oxLDL), isoprostanes were measured in 41 moderate-severe OSA males without other diseases and in 35 matched controls first before sleep, then after 4 h of untreated OSA, and again in the morning after 4 h of effective treatment with continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP). Plasma levels of oxLDL, TBARS, and isoprostanes in OSA patients (n=34, 26, 17, respectively) were comparable to the controls (n=28, 27, 15 for the three markers, respectively). Neither untreated OSA nor CPAP treatment nor normal sleep affected levels of any of the three measures of oxidative stress. There was no association between the severity of sleep apnoea and any measure of oxidative stress. Conclusion Otherwise healthy OSA patients, without any other co-morbidities, do not manifest evidence for higher oxidative stress and lipid peroxidation. Thus, oxidative stress and lipid peroxidation do not appear to be key mediators of increased cardiovascular disease in OSA patients.
Urinary podocyte excretion (podocyturia) may function as a more specific marker of ongoing glomerular damage. This study sought to analyze the relationship between proteinuria and podocyturia in ...cancer patients treated with antivascular endothelial growth factor (anti-VEGF) agents.
Thirty-seven patients treated with anti-VEGF medications were analyzed in a single-institution, cross-sectional study. Podocyte cultures were performed on random urine collections (50-100 ml), and podocytes were identified by positive podocin staining. The corresponding urine samples were analyzed for protein and creatinine (Cr) measurements.
Proteinuria ≥0.5 g/g Cr was found in 30% of the patients (median, 0.12; interquartile range, 0.04-0.86), and 62% had podocyturia. There was a significant difference in the amount of podocyturia between patients with proteinuria ≥0.5 g/g Cr and those with a value <0.5 g/g Cr (median podocyturia, 1.08 cells/mg Cr, range, 0-14.55 vs. 0.03 cells/mg Cr, range, 0-1.64, respectively; p < 0.001). A statistically significant correlation was observed between the cumulative dose of bevacizumab and both proteinuria (r = 0.48, p = 0.004) and podocyturia (r = 0.34, p = 0.045) as well as between proteinuria and podocyturia (r = 0.63, p < 0.001), suggesting that these are mechanistically related.
Ongoing podocyte loss may be mechanistically related to the onset and severity of proteinuria in patients treated with anti-VEGF agents.
This study was conducted to the feelings and ideas of students in rural Southern West Virginia. The basis for this study was to determine whether preparation for high-stakes testing created a ...negative impact on the students' education and whether test anxiety contributed to a lack of student achievement. This qualitative phenomenological study consisted of interviews with teachers based in a rural county in Southern West Virginia. These teachers ranged in experience from 3 to 38 years in a classroom with many of the teachers have most or all of their teaching years within the county. During the study, the teachers reported spending an inordinate amount of time in preparation for the high-stakes test. Ironically, the teachers also reported that test anxiety was a minimal problem within the county. In fact, the teachers reported far more apathy toward the high-stakes test than anxiety. The current method of high-stakes testing measures very little as there is no way to determine that the students are putting forth best efforts on the high-stakes test. Recommendation for future research includes studying the feelings of the student with regard to high-stakes testing.
Tamoxifen was approved for breast cancer risk reduction in high-risk women based on the National Surgical Adjuvant Breast and Bowel Project's Breast Cancer Prevention Trial (P-1:BCPT), which showed ...50% fewer breast cancers with tamoxifen versus placebo, supporting tamoxifen's efficacy in preventing breast cancer. Poor metabolizing CYP2D6 variants are currently the subject of intensive scrutiny regarding their impact on clinical outcomes in the adjuvant setting. Our study extends to variants in a wider spectrum of tamoxifen-metabolizing genes and applies to the prevention setting.
Our case-only study, nested within P-1:BCPT, explored associations of polymorphisms in estrogen/tamoxifen-metabolizing genes with responsiveness to preventive tamoxifen. Thirty-nine candidate polymorphisms in 17 candidate genes were genotyped in 249 P-1:BCPT cases.
CVP2D6_C1111T, individually and within a CYP2D6 haplotype, showed borderline significant association with treatment arm. Path analysis of the entire tamoxifen pathway gene network showed that the tamoxifen pathway model was consistent with the pattern of observed genotype variability within the placebo-arm dataset. However, correlation of variations in genes in the tamoxifen arm differed significantly from the predictions of the tamoxifen pathway model. Strong correlations between allelic variation in the tamoxifen pathway at CYP1A1-CYP3A4, CYP3A4-CYP2C9, and CYP2C9-SULT1A2, in addition to CYP2D6 and its adjacent genes, were seen in the placebo-arm but not the tamoxifen-arm. In conclusion, beyond reinforcing a role for CYP2D6 in tamoxifen response, our pathway analysis strongly suggests that specific combinations of allelic variants in other genes make major contributions to the tamoxifen-resistance phenotype.
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