Retransplantation candidates are disadvantaged owing to lack of good-quality liver grafts. Strategies that can facilitate transplantation of suboptimal grafts into retransplant candidates require ...investigation. The aim was to determine whether late liver retransplantation can be performed safely with suboptimal grafts, following normothermic machine perfusion.
A prospectively enrolled group of patients who required liver retransplantation received a suboptimal graft preserved via normothermic machine perfusion. This group was compared with both historical and contemporaneous cohorts of patient who received grafts preserved by cold storage. The primary outcome was 6-month graft and patient survival.
The normothermic machine perfusion group comprised 26 patients. The historical (cold storage 1) and contemporaneous (cold storage 2) groups comprised 31 and 25 patients respectively. The 6-month graft survival rate did not differ between groups (cold storage 1, 27 of 31, cold storage 2, 22 of 25; normothermic machine perfusion, 22 of 26; P = 0.934). This was despite the normothermic machine perfusion group having significantly more steatotic grafts (8 of 31, 7 of 25, and 14 of 26 respectively; P = 0.006) and grafts previously declined by at least one other transplant centre (5 of 31, 9 of 25, and 21 of 26; P < 0.001).
In liver retransplantation, normothermic machine perfusion can safely expand graft options without compromising short-term outcomes.
A high prevalence of both squamous (ESGD) and glandular (EGGD) ulcers was previously found in, mainly young, Icelandic horses coming into training for the first time. This study evaluated risk ...factors for gastric ulcers in Icelandic riding horses at various ages and stages of training. The horses (n = 211) were gastroscoped from 21 equine establishments across Iceland. A variety of morphometric, clinical, behavioural and management factors were evaluated as potential risk factors for gastroscopically significant (grade ≥ 2/4: found in 27% of horses) or gastroscopically severe (grade 3 or 4/4: found in ~10% of horses) ESGD or gastroscopically significant EGGD (grade ≥ 1/2: found in 46.4%). Body condition score (BCS), cresty neck score (CNS), stable/turnout behaviour, exercise intensity/frequency and age were not significantly associated with ESGD or EGGD ulcer score. However, having come off the pasture into training for 4 weeks or less was a significant risk factor for gastroscopically significant and severe ESGD compared to 5 weeks or more. For both EGGD and ESGD, “region” was important. Gastroscopically significant EGGD and gastroscopically severe ESGD were more prevalent in those showing clinical signs often associated with ulcers. Geldings were more likely to have gastroscopically significant ESGD than both mares and stallions and more EGGD than stallions. Being stabled, but spending >2 h/day out in the paddock, compared with <2 h paddock time or full-time turnout, was protective for gastroscopically significant ESGD as was being fed complementary feed (all fed <1 g non-structural carbohydrate (NSC)/kg/BW/meal). Being at a training establishment for >4 weeks was protective for gastroscopically significant and gastroscopically severe ESGD but not EGGD. This study confirms the relatively low prevalence of ESGD in Icelandic horses being kept in training establishments and fed low NSC diets but highlights the high prevalence of EGGD.
An updated overview of the HOLMES status Borghesi, M.; Alpert, B.; Balata, M. ...
Nuclear instruments & methods in physics research. Section A, Accelerators, spectrometers, detectors and associated equipment,
06/2023, Letnik:
1051
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
HOLMES is an ERC project started in 2014 that will perform a model independent measurement of the neutrino mass with a sensitivity of the order of 1 eV. In order to reach its goal sensitivity, HOLMES ...will use 1000 low temperature microcalorimeters, each implanted with an activity of 300 Bq of 163Ho, performing thus a calorimetric measurement. This contribution presents the recent results achieved that lay the grounds for the low-activity phase of the HOLMES experiment, that will lead to its first limit on the neutrino mass.
Purpose
To provide guidelines for all surgical specialists who deal with the open abdomen (OA) or the burst abdomen (BA) in adult patients both on the methods used to close the musculofascial layers ...of the abdominal wall, and regarding possible materials to be used.
Methods
The guidelines were developed using the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE) approach including publications up to January 2017. When RCTs were available, outcomes of interest were quantitatively synthesized by means of a conventional meta-analysis. When only observational studies were available, a meta-analysis of proportions was done. The guidelines were written using the AGREE II instrument.
Results
For many of the Key Questions that were researched, there were no high quality studies available. While some strong recommendations could be made according to GRADE, the guidelines also contain good practice statements and clinical expertise guidance which are distinct from recommendations that have been formally categorized using GRADE.
Recommendations
When considering the OA, dynamic closure techniques should be prioritized over the use of static closure techniques (strong recommendation). However, for techniques including suture closure, mesh reinforcement, component separation techniques and skin grafting, only clinical expertise guidance was provided. Considering the BA, a clinical expertise guidance statement was advised for dynamic closure techniques. Additionally, a clinical expertise guidance statement concerning suture closure and a good practice statement concerning mesh reinforcement during fascial closure were proposed. The role of advanced techniques such as component separation or relaxing incisions is questioned. In addition, the role of the abdominal girdle seems limited to very selected patients.
The aqueous extracts of Euphorbia hirta was used to synthesise silver nanoparticles using bioreduction method. The nanoparticles were characterised by UV Vis spectroscopic analysis, SEM, EDX, AFM, ...XRD analysis. The silver nanoparticles were also tested for antibacterial activity in Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Bacillus subtilis. The minimum inhibitory concentration for the synthesised nano particles were also tested against the two bacterial species for the least concentration of 0.5microg/mL. The swarming motility assay and protein leakage assay was also tested for the nanoparticle. The silver nanoparticles were found to be much effective. Keywords: Silver nanoparticles, Antibacterial activity, MIC, Protein leakage assay, Euphorbia hirta
Fipronil is a broad-spectrum insecticide that has off-target effects in developing vertebrate embryos. In this study, we investigate treatment of zebrafish embryos with fipronil over the course of 5 ...days and examine the effects on body length, the cardiovascular system, and craniofacial morphology. We found the insecticide caused shorter body length and a decrease in eye size. By examining specific heart chamber morphology, as well as jaw angle and length, we quantified defects including enlargement of the heart and increases in jaw length and width. Further studies are needed to assess the mechanisms of fipronil's effect on vertebrate development for both environmental and human health concerns.
Long bone osteomyelitis could mimic bony tumor in clinical presentation and imaging studies. We present a case of a 47-year man who presented with leg pain, weight loss and night sweats that ...initially was thought to be related to osteosarcoma, later suffered a pathologic fracture from Staphylococcus aureus osteomyelitis. This case highlights the importance of source control of infection and careful clinical evaluation including radiographic and pathologic findings that can help physicians to differentiate between competing diagnoses.
•Osteomyelitis can present similarly to long bone malignancies.•Rapid identification and source control are crucial to prevent complications and improve patient outcomes.•Physicians must be aware of the mimicry between these two diagnoses in a timely manner.
Abstract
OBJECTIVE
To identify risk factors associated with race-related sudden death in Thoroughbred racehorses in the US and Canada.
ANIMALS
4,198,073 race starts made by 284,387 Thoroughbred ...horses at 144 racetracks in the US and Canada between 2009 and 2021.
PROCEDURES
Study data were extracted from the Equine Injury Database, which contains detailed records of 92.2% of all official race starts made in the US and Canada during the study period. Forty-nine potential risk factors were analyzed using univariable and multivariable logistic regression. Cases were defined as race starts that resulted in fatality within 3 days of racing, in which at least 1 of 5 codes relating to sudden death was recorded. Fatalities due to catastrophic musculoskeletal injury were omitted from the study cohort.
RESULTS
536 race starts resulted in sudden death, an incidence rate of 0.13/1,000 starts. Fifteen risk factors were significantly associated with sudden death, including horse age and sex, season and purse of race, race distance, and horses’ recent history of injury and lay-up. Horses racing while on furosemide medication were at 62% increased odds of sudden death.
CLINICAL RELEVANCE
Associations found between previous injury and sudden death suggests preexisting pathology could contribute in some cases. The association between furosemide and sudden death prompts further study to understand which biological processes could contribute to this result.
Recent advances in proteomic technologies have made high-throughput profiling of low-abundance proteins in large epidemiological cohorts increasingly feasible. We investigated whether aptamer-based ...proteomic profiling could identify biomarkers associated with future development of type 2 diabetes (T2DM) beyond known risk factors. We identified dozens of markers with highly significant associations with future T2DM across 2 large longitudinal cohorts (n = 2839) followed for up to 16 years. We leveraged proteomic, metabolomic, genetic, and clinical data from humans to nominate 1 specific candidate to test for potential causal relationships in model systems. Our studies identified functional effects of aminoacylase 1 (ACY1), a top protein association with future T2DM risk, on amino acid metabolism and insulin homeostasis in vitro and in vivo. Furthermore, a loss-of-function variant associated with circulating levels of the biomarker WAP, Kazal, immunoglobulin, Kunitz, and NTR domain-containing protein 2 (WFIKKN2) was, in turn, associated with fasting glucose, hemoglobin A1c, and HOMA-IR measurements in humans. In addition to identifying potentially novel disease markers and pathways in T2DM, we provide publicly available data to be leveraged for insights about gene function and disease pathogenesis in the context of human metabolism.
This study investigates the ignition characteristics of pulverised coal, biomass and co-firing by use of a visual drop tube furnace (VDTF) and a high speed imaging technique. Three coals (anthracite, ...a bituminous coal and a lignite), four biomasses (Pine, Eucalyptus, Olive Residue and Miscanthus) and various biomass-coal mixtures were tested. With each coal, biomass or their mixture, a distinct flame was established within the VDTF through the continuous feeding of the fuel under the environment of air and at a furnace temperature of 800°C. To observe the ignition point, a Phantom v12.1 high-speed camera was used to capture the videos of fuel combustion at 500 frames per second (FPS). A technique was developed using MATLAB's image analysis tool to automate the ignition point detection. The results of the image processing were used to statistically analyse and determine the changes to the ignition behaviour with different fuels and co-firing ratios.
The results obtained with the tested coals have shown that the distance to ignition increases as the coal volatile matter content decreases, whereas the opposite trend was found for the biomass fuels. Further, the addition of biomass to the anthracite significantly reduces the distance to ignition but a much less pronounced effect on the ignition was found when biomass was co-fired with the bituminous coal or lignite. The synergistic effect on the ignition of biomass-anthracite mixture is mainly attributed to the high volatile content and the potential effects of catalysis from the alkali metals present in the biomass. The results of this study have shown that the VDTF testing coupled with the image analysis technique allows for an effective and simple method of characterising ignition behaviours of pulverised coal, biomass and their mixtures.
•Flame ignition of coals, biomasses and their mixtures investigated using Visual DTF•Ignition characteristics observed using high speed imaging at 500 frames per second•Automated image tracking of ignition point movement at 2millisecond increments•Opposite to the trend of coal, distance to ignition of biomass increases with VM•Addition of biomass to anthracite significantly reduced the distance to ignition