Background Renal function frequently deteriorates in decompensated heart failure (DHF) patients, and one determinant is reduced renal blood flow. This may, in part, result from low cardiac output ...(CO), reduced mean arterial pressure (MAP), and venous congestion. The combined impact of both venous congestion (elevated right atrial pressure RAP) and low MAP are reflected by a reduced pressure gradient MAP-RAP. This study investigated the renal effects of ularitide, a synthetic version of the renal natriuretic peptide urodilatin in DHF patients. Methods In SIRIUS II, a double-blind phase II trial, 221 patients hospitalized for DHF (with dyspnea at rest or minimal activity, cardiac index ≤2.5 L/min per square meter, and pulmonary artery wedge pressure ≥18 mm Hg) were randomized to a single 24-hour infusion of ularitide (7.5, 15, or 30 ng/kg per minute) or placebo added to standard therapy. Results Estimated glomerular filtration rate, serum creatinine, creatinine clearance, and blood urea nitrogen (BUN) were not impaired by ularitide throughout infusion and during a 2-day follow-up period. At 24 hours, 15 ng/kg per minute ularitide reduced BUN levels (−4.07 ± 12.30 vs −0.20 ± 7.50 for placebo, P < .05). Ularitide at 15 and 30 ng/kg per minute rapidly elevated CO with sustained effects. Although 15 ng/kg per minute ularitide preserved the pressure gradient MAP-RAP, 30 ng/kg per minute ularitide reduced MAP-RAP by −7.8 ± 10.6 mm Hg vs −2.4 ± 9.8 mm Hg for placebo ( P < .01, at 6 hours). A strong inverse correlation between MAP-RAP and BUN levels (Corr = −0.50579, P = .00015) was observed with 15 ng/kg per minute ularitide. Conclusions Single 24-hour infusions of ularitide at 15 ng/kg per minute preserved short-term renal function in DHF patients possibly by both elevating CO and maintaining the MAP-RAP pressure gradient.
Concentrations of four heavy metals were determined in tree leaves and bark collected from polluted and non-polluted areas of three European cities (Salzburg, Belgrade and Thessaloniki) for a ...comparative study.
Platanus orientalis L. and
Pinus nigra Arn., widespread in urban northern and southern Europe, were tested for their suitability for air quality biomonitoring. Leaves and barks were collected uniformly of an initial quantity of about 30 g of each sample. Analysis was accomplished by electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry after total digestion. Site-dependent variations were found with the highest concentration level measured in Belgrade, followed by Thessaloniki and Salzburg. A higher accumulation of heavy metals was found in bark compared to leaves. Pine tree bark, accumulating higher concentrations of trace metals compared to plane tree bark, shows a higher efficiency as bioindicator for urban pollution. Both indicator species are suitable for comparative studies on bioindication of urban air pollution.
► Oriental plane and Austrian pine are suitable for comparative urban air quality biomonitoring of heavy metal pollution. ► Pine tree is excellently suitable as urban bioindicator as it accumulates high concentrations of trace metals. ► The highest heavy metal pollution was found in Belgrade followed by Thessaloniki and Salzburg.
Oriental plane (
Platanus orientalis L.) and Austrian pine (
Pinus nigra Arn.), widespread in urban northern and southern Europe, are suitable for comparative biomonitoring of urban air pollution.
The survival of aquatic biota in stream ecosystems depends on both water quantity and quality, and is particularly susceptible to degraded water quality in regulated rivers. Maintenance of ...environmental flows (e-flows) for aquatic biota with optimum water quantity and quality is essential for sustainable ecosystem services, especially in developing regions with insufficient stream monitoring of hydrology, water quality and aquatic biota. Few e-flow methods are available that closely link aquatic biota tolerances to pollutant concentrations in a simple and practical manner. In this paper a new method was proposed to assess e-flows that aimed to satisfy the requirements of aquatic biota for both the quantity and quality of the streamflow by linking fish tolerances to water quality criteria, or the allowable concentration of pollutants. For better operation of water projects and control of pollutants discharged into streams, this paper presented two coefficients for streamflow adjustment and pollutant control. Assessment of e-flows in the Wei River, the largest tributary of the Yellow River, shows that streamflow in dry seasons failed to meet e-flow requirements. Pollutant influx exerted a large pressure on the aquatic ecosystem, with pollutant concentrations much higher than that of the fish tolerance thresholds. We found that both flow velocity and water temperature exerted great influences on the pollutant degradation rate. Flow velocity had a much greater influence on pollutant degradation than did the standard deviation of flow velocity. This study provides new methods to closely link the tolerance of aquatic biota to water quality criteria for e-flow assessment. The recommended coefficients for streamflow adjustment and pollutant control, to dynamically regulate streamflow and control pollutant discharge, are helpful for river management and ecosystems rehabilitation. The relatively low data requirement also makes the method easy to use efficiently in developing regions, and thus this study has significant implications for managing flows in polluted and regulated rivers worldwide.
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•We present a new e-flows assessment method linking fish tolerances to pollutant criteria.•Requirements of fish for both quantity and quality of streamflow were well addressed.•The method is not data-intensive especially suitable for data-scarce rivers.•It provides new ways to link tolerance of aquatic biota to water quality concentrations.•It has significant implications for managing flows in polluted, regulated rivers worldwide.
The Hawkesbury River at Sackville, New South Wales, Australia is fresh and vigorously mixed by tidal movement. The location has frequent blooms of Microcystis aeruginosa, which have been recorded ...occurring throughout the year, including winter temperatures as low as 13 °C. Nutrient enrichment tests were performed in‐situ on the natural phytoplankton population in 1997 and 1998 while Microcystis aeruginosa dominated (covering both summer and winter periods). These experiments compared population changes under the ambient nutrient regime with those after additions of ortho‐phosphate, nitrate, ammonia and various combinations of these nutrients. Under ambient conditions, the Microcystis population was able to grow significantly (P < 0.05) while most non‐cyanobacterial phytoplankton did not. Nutrient additions induced a variety of nutrient limitation responses that often varied between genera of major groups i.e. in the Chlorophyceae (Actinastrum sp. responded to phosphorus while Psephonema sp. responded to nitrogen). The possibility that shifts in population dominance from Chlorophyceae to the Cyanobacteria (M. aeruginosa) at Sackville are in response to competition for limiting nutrients is discussed.
The G8 screening tool was developed to separate fit older cancer patients who were able to receive standard treatment from those that should undergo a geriatric assessment to guide tailoring of ...therapy. We set out to determine the discriminative power and prognostic value of the G8 in older patients with a haematological malignancy. Between September 2009 and May 2013, a multi-dimensional geriatric assessment was performed in consecutive patients aged ≥67 years diagnosed with blood cancer at the Innsbruck University Hospital. The assessment included (instrumental) activities of daily living, cognition, mood, nutritional status, mobility, polypharmacy and social support. In parallel, the G8 was also administered (cut-off ≤ 14). Using a cut-off of ≥2 impaired domains, 70 % of the 108 included patients were considered as having an impaired geriatric assessment while 61 % had an impaired G8. The G8 lacked discriminative power for impairments on full geriatric assessment: sensitivity 69, specificity 79, positive predictive value 89 and negative predictive value 50 %. However, G8 was an independent predictor of mortality within the first year after inclusion (hazard ratio 3.93; 95 % confidence interval 1.67–9.22,
p
< 0.001). Remarkably, patients with impaired G8 fared poorly, irrespective of treatment choices (
p
< 0.001). This is the first report on the clinical and prognostic relevance of G8 in elderly patients with haematological malignancies. Although the G8 lacked discriminative power for outcome of multi-dimensional geriatric assessment, this score appears to be a powerful prognosticator and could potentially represent a useful tool in treatment decisions. This novel finding certainly deserves further exploration.
Study of the combined effects of strong electronic correlations with spin-orbit coupling (SOC) represents a central issue in quantum materials research. Predicting emergent properties represents a ...huge theoretical problem since the presence of SOC implies that the spin is not a good quantum number. Existing theories propose the emergence of a multitude of exotic quantum phases, distinguishable by either local point symmetry breaking or local spin expectation values, even in materials with simple cubic crystal structure such as Ba
NaOsO
. Experimental tests of these theories by local probes are highly sought for. Our local measurements designed to concurrently probe spin and orbital/lattice degrees of freedom of Ba
NaOsO
provide such tests. Here we show that a canted ferromagnetic phase which is preceded by local point symmetry breaking is stabilized at low temperatures, as predicted by quantum theories involving multipolar spin interactions.
The effects of intracellularly generated H2O2 on cell viability, morphology, and biochemical markers of injury have been investigated in a clonal cell line of neuronal origin (140-3, mouse ...neuroblastoma X rat glioma) as a cell culture model for the role of oxidative stress in the long-term loss of neurons in the brain. The H2O2 was generated from the redox cycling of menadione, or by the oxidation of serotonin catalyzed by monoamine oxidase, to simulate the effect of amine neurotransmitter turnover. Incubation with menadione at concentrations as low as 10 microM for several hours resulted in significant losses of cell viability and altered morphology. Similar effects were evident in the presence of serotonin only after incubation overnight with concentrations > 1 mM. The cytotoxicity of either agent was potentiated by preincubation with specific inhibitors of two enzymes important to cellular antioxidant defenses, 3-amino-1,2,4-triazole for catalase and 1,3-bis(chloromethyl)-1-nitrosourea for glutathione reductase. Activity of another antioxidant enzyme of particular importance to antioxidant defenses in brain, the selenoprotein glutathione peroxidase, was stimulated fourfold by growth of cultures in the presence of sodium selenite as a source of active-site Se for the enzyme. The only effect of the selenite on other functionally coupled antioxidant enzymes was a decrease in activity of superoxide dismutase at concentrations > 200 nM. The selenite substantially protected cells against oxidative stress induced by combinations of menadione, 3-amino-1,2,4-triazole, and 1,3-bis(chloromethyl)-1-nitrosourea, but was only marginally effective with serotonin as a source of oxidative stress. The monoamine oxidase inhibitor pargyline increased cell survival in the presence of serotonin, demonstrating the role of this enzyme in its cytotoxicity. DNA damage (single strand breaks), but not lipid peroxidation, correlated with the cytotoxic effects of menadione.
The purpose of this review is to review the current state and achievements in poultry production in Serbia and worldwide, primarily the EU. Particular emphasis is placed on impacts of different ...rearing system, i.e. housing and fattening, on the production and the quality of the poultry meat and eggs and, simultaneously, on the welfare of poultry and environmental protection according to EU standards. According to the latest available data, total number of poultry produced in Serbia in 2015 was 17,450,000 units and production of meat amounted to around 86,000 t, while consumption was 12.12 kg per person. Egg production in 2015 was approximately 1.7 billion eggs, which is around 202 eggs per hen. A total of 13.1 million tons of poultry meat was produced in EU in 2015. It is evident from the literature that the poultry production in EU and worldwide has undergone significant changes, and clear criteria have been established to improve the quality of the products (meat and eggs), to guarantee the safety of the food, to protect the environment, and to ensure animal welfare in line with the relevant ethic norms. For these reasons, many countries within EU and worldwide, including Serbia, attach importance to housing systems for laying hens, with particular concern for animal welfare. Alternative housing systems (floor, aviary, free range and organic production) are increasingly used in the production of poultry meat and eggs instead of conventional systems. This is because it is considered that alternative housing systems may have positive effect on the productive traits of the poultry and, consequently, on the production of the quality organic meat. Furthermore, it is evident from research that pure (indigenous) breeds and strains are given growing importance in the production of organic meat and eggs in semi-intensive, semi-extensive and even in extensive rearing systems.
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