Introduction: Hemodialysis (HD) is one treatment for acute kidney injury (AKI) patients. Studies have shown that this dialysis modality may lead to changes in pulmonary function with an impact on ...prognosis. The aim of our study was to evaluate changes in respiratory mechanics and oxygenation of AKI patients admitted to an intensive care unit who were undergoing intermittent mechanical ventilation (IMV) and daily HD.
Methods: This prospective cohort study evaluated 94 AKI patients and 234 HD sessions. Pulmonary static compliance (Pcs), resistance (Rsr), and arterial partial pressure of oxygen and the fraction of inspired oxygen (PaO2/FiO2) ratio were assessed during the initial three‐day period of daily HD therapy.
Findings: Psc increased progressively during HD sessions, from 39.4 ± 21.4 mL/cm H2O prior to the initial dialysis to 55.5 ± 25.2 at the end of the last dialysis during the study period (P = 0.04). Similarly, Rsr and PaO2/FiO2 ratio also improved, from 11.1 ± 6.3 cm H2O/L/s prior to the initial dialysis to 8.8 ± 4.2 at the end of the last dialysis (P =0.0027) and from 228 ± 85 prior to the initial dialysis to 312.1 ± 111.5, P < 0.001, to the end of the last dialysis, respectively.
Conclusion: This study showed that AKI patients undergoing IMV and daily HD improve their respiratory mechanics and oxygenation.
We present a new investigation of the habitability of the Milky Way bulge, that expands previous studies on the Galactic Habitable Zone. We discuss existing knowledge on the abundance of planets in ...the bulge, metallicity and the possible frequency of rocky planets, orbital stability and encounters, and the possibility of planets around the central supermassive black hole. We focus on two aspects that can present substantial differences with respect to the environment in the disk: (i) the ionizing radiation environment, due to the presence of the central black hole and to the highest rate of supernovae explosions and (ii) the efficiency of putative lithopanspermia mechanism for the diffusion of life between stellar systems. We use analytical models of the star density in the bulge to provide estimates of the rate of catastrophic events and of the diffusion timescales for life over interstellar distances.
Mussels (Mytilus spp.) are worldwide utilized in marine biomonitoring by a multi-biomarker approach. However, for a correct interpretation of different biomarker responses, information is needed on ...their natural seasonal variability due to environmental/physiological factors.
In this work, the seasonal variations of different biomarkers were investigated in M. galloprovincialis from 4 different sites from the gulf of La Spezia (Ligurian sea, Italy), an intensive rearing area in the north-western Mediterranean near La Spezia harbor, an important commercial and touristic port. Lysosomal membrane stability-LMS, stress on stress-SoS, phagocytosis, tissue metallothionein-MT content, oxidative stress related enzyme activities (GST, catalase), and nitric oxide (NO) production were evaluated. The results underline the importance of LMS and SoS as core descriptors of the mussel health status in relation to seasonal variations in temperature and reproduction. These data represent the baseline information for ongoing biomonitoring studies related to dredging activities in this area.
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•Biomarker seasonal variations in mussels farmed at 4 sites of the La Spezia gulf•Seasonal changes in LMS and SoS correlated with temperature and reproduction•No differences in the health status of mussels from different sites•First data of seasonal variability of mussel biomarkers in western coast of Italy•Basal information for future biomonitoring studies related to dredging activities
"Erótica mutante" (Mutant Erotics) is a compilation of drawings that work as a war declaration to my own borders. It is a lick to my excess, a celebration of my wounds, and an invitation to see. ..."Mutar" no es otra cosa que pasar de un estado a otro ("to mutate" is no other thing, but to pass from one state to another). We associate "the mutant" with what is considered disgusting, unpleasant and/or foreign - because we do not recognize ourselves in and/or within transformation(s). To be a mutant is to be vulnerable, permeable, elastic. It is to be willing to re-born within another phenotypic category: one that is "nomenclativa" (a nomenclature), "normativa" (normative) o, tanto mejor, de-normativa y performática (or even better de-normative and performative). Erótica mutante is a picture of other corporalities, other practices, and other "morbos" (kinks).
Bronchial thermoplasty (BT) is a non-pharmacological intervention for severe asthma whose mechanism of action is not completely explained by a reduction of airway smooth muscle (ASM). In this study ...we analyzed the effect of BT on nerve fibers and inflammatory components in the bronchial mucosa at 1 year.
Endobronchial biopsies were obtained from 12 subjects (mean age 47 ± 11.3 years, 50% male) with severe asthma. Biopsies were performed at baseline (T0) and after 1 (T1), 2 (T2) and 12 (T12) months post-BT, and studied with immunocytochemistry and microscopy methods. Clinical data including Asthma Quality of Life Questionnaire (AQLQ) and Asthma Control Questionnaire (ACQ) scores, exacerbations, hospitalizations, oral corticosteroids use were also collected at the same time points.
A statistically significant reduction at T1, T2 and T12 of nerve fibers was observed in the submucosa and in ASM compared to T0. Among inflammatory cells, only CD68 showed significant changes at all time points. Improvement of all clinical outcomes was documented and persisted at the end of follow up.
A reduction of nerve fibers in epithelium and in ASM occurs earlier and persists at one year after BT. We propose that nerve ablation may contribute to mediate the beneficial effects of BT in severe asthma.
Registered on April 2, 2013 at ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT01839591 .
The theory of quasi-linear viscoelasticity (QLV) is modified and developed for transversely isotropic (TI) materials under finite deformation. For the first time, distinct relaxation responses are ...incorporated into an integral formulation of nonlinear viscoelasticity, according to the physical mode of deformation. The theory is consistent with linear viscoelasticity in the small strain limit and makes use of relaxation functions that can be determined from small-strain experiments, given the time/deformation separability assumption. After considering the general constitutive form applicable to compressible materials, attention is restricted to incompressible media. This enables a compact form for the constitutive relation to be derived, which is used to illustrate the behaviour of the model under three key deformations: uniaxial extension, transverse shear and longitudinal shear. Finally, it is demonstrated that the Poynting effect is present in TI, neo-Hookean, modified QLV materials under transverse shear, in contrast to neo-Hookean elastic materials subjected to the same deformation. Its presence is explained by the anisotropic relaxation response of the medium.
Cerium nanoparticles (nCeO2) are increasingly utilized in a wide variety of industrial, environmental and biomedical applications, and are therefore expected to be released in the aquatic ...environment. Due to its peculiar redox properties, nCeO2 may present unique hazards to environmental and human health. Previous data showed that in the hemocytes of the marine bivalve Mytilus galloprovincialis, in vitro exposure to a particular type of nCeO2 (9 nm, characterized by negative ζ-potential, high H2O2 scavenging capacity and Ce3+/Ce4+ surface ratio) reduced basal ROS production, lysosomal membrane stability and phagocytic activity in the presence of hemolymph serum; the effects observed were partly ascribed to the formation of a SOD-protein corona in the hemolymph.
In this work, the in vivo effects of this type of nCeO2 were investigated in mussels exposed to 100 μg/L nCeO2 for 96 h; several lysosomal, immune, inflammatory and antioxidant biomarkers were measured at cellular (hemocytes) and tissue (gills, digestive gland) level. Molecular responses were evaluated in hemocytes and digestive gland by determining expression of 11 selected genes related to known biological functions. The results show specific immunomodulatory and antioxidant effects of nCeO2 at different levels of biological organization in the absence of Cerium tissue accumulation. These data further support the redox mechanisms at the basis of the physiological effects of nCeO2. Finally, in order to evaluate the possible impact at the whole organism level, the effects of nCeO2 were evaluated in the 48 h embryotoxicity assay in a wide concentration range. However, nCeO2 exposure resulted in a small reduction in normal embryo development. Overall, the results demonstrate that in mussels nCeO2 can selectively modulate different physiological processes at different levels of biological organization.
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•Mytilus exposure to nCeO2 induced responses from molecular to organism level.•In hemocytes, immunomodulation and upregulation of lysozyme, MT and 5-HTR mRNAs.•In digestive gland, increased antioxidant enzyme activities, decreased lipofuscin.•Early embryo malformations were observed only at higher concentrations.•nCeO2 mainly induces immunomodulatory and antioxidant effects in mussels.
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