Blakemccabe0938
The COVID-19 pandemic brought living donor kidney transplant programs across the United States to a near halt in March 2020. As programs have begun to reopen, potential donor candidates often inquire about their risk of a COVID-19 infection and its potential impact on kidney function after donation. To address their concerns, we surveyed 1740 former live kidney donors at four transplant centers located in New York and Michigan. Of these, 839 (48.2%) donors responded, their mean age was 46 ± 12.5 years, 543 (65%) were females, and 611 (73%) were white. Ninety-two donors (11%) had symptoms suggestive of a COVID-19 infection with fever (48%) and fatigue (43%) being the most common. Among those with symptoms, 42 donors underwent testing and 16 tested positive. Testing was more common among donors with private insurance, and a positive test result was more common among young black donors. Only one donor surveyed required hospitalization and none required dialysis. Fourteen donors have recovered completely and two partially. Bisindolylmaleimide IX manufacturer Our survey highlights that a COVID-19 infection in former donors results in a mild disease with good recovery. These data will be useful for transplant programs to counsel living donors who are considering kidney donation during this pandemic.Aquagenic acrokeratoderma (AK) is a rare, transient type of acquired palmoplantar keratoderma resulting from short-term contact with water and characterized by white, transparent papules and plaques usually localized in the palmar regions of the hand. The pathogenesis of aquagenic acrokeratoderma is not fully understood and is assumed to be related to an increased salt concentration in the epidermal cells with an increase in the ability of stratum corneum to bind water. This report of patients developing AK following increased frequencies of handwashing in the COVID-19 Pandemic Outbreak is intended to contribute to our understanding of the pathogenesis.This study examined whether the atypical speech style that is frequently reported in autistic adults is underpinned by an inflexible production of phonetic targets. In a first task, 20 male autistic adults and 20 neuro-typicals had to read and produce native vowels. To assess the extent to which phonetic inflexibility is due to an overall fine-grained control of phonetic behavior or to a lack of flexibility in the realization of one's phonological repertoire, the second task asked participants to reproduce artificial vowel-like sounds. Results confirmed the presence of a greater articulatory stability in the production of native vowels in autistic adults. When instructed to imitate artificial vowel-like sounds, the autistic group did not better approximate the targets' acoustic properties relative to neuro-typicals but their performance at reproducing artificial vowels was less variable and influenced to a greater extent by the articulatory properties of their own vocalic space. These findings suggest that the greater articulatory stability observed in autistic adults arises from a lack of flexibility in the production of their own native vowels. The two phonetic tasks are devoid of any pragmatic constraint, which indicates that phonetic inflexibility in autism is partly independent of register selection. LAY SUMMARY Autistic and neuro-typical adults took part in two tasks one in which they produced vowels from French, their native tongue, and the other where they imitated unfamiliar vowels. Autistic adults displayed significantly less variation in their production of different French vowels. In imitating unfamiliar vowels, they were more influenced by the way they pronounce French vowels. These results suggest that the atypical speech style, frequently attested in autistic individuals, could stem from an unusually stable pronunciation of speech sounds.The pediatric hematology/oncology fellowship program at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia set out to create a case-based learning curriculum for common hematologic malignancies that would apply principles of adult learning theory and improve fellows' retention of information in a supportive, goal-oriented learning environment. A framework we employed in developing this curriculum is that of "flow theory," which parallels many of the tenets of adult learning theory. After implementing this curriculum, which we call "the unknown case," the percentage of fellows correctly identifying a common hematopathologic diagnosis improved from 50% to 85%.
The use of heparin and 0.9% saline solution is always controversial for central venous catheters. However, there is no systematic review or guideline about whether saline solution can replace heparin solution in adult cancer patients with totally implantable venous access ports (TIVAPs). The purpose of this review is to evaluate whether saline solution can replace heparin saline to lock TIVAPs.
The following databases were searched PubMed, the Cochrane Library, Web of Science, Embase, CINAHL and Ovid (January 1, 1982, and February 21, 2020). All statistical analyses of the meta-analysis were completed using the Review Manager 5.3.
A total of 201 studies were identified from these databases after initial review, and four studies met inclusion criteria, including 2652 cases. There was little heterogeneity among the included studies (I
< 30%), and all analyses were conducted by the fixed-effects model. The total complications, catheter occlusions, catheter-related bloodstream infections and other complication rates in the heparin solution group were higher than in the saline solution group. In the subgroup analysis of heparin concentration, total complication rates in the saline solution group were higher than with 50 U of heparin and lower than with 100 U of heparin. However, the differences in these complications were small, and no significant difference was observed (all P > 0.05).
Based on existing clinical studies, we recommend that saline solution can replace 50 or 100 U/ml of heparin as a safe and effective flush solution for TIVAPs.
Based on existing clinical studies, we recommend that saline solution can replace 50 or 100 U/ml of heparin as a safe and effective flush solution for TIVAPs.
Low physical activity (PA) levels are associated with poor health-related outcomes in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD). Thus, PA should be routinely assessed in clinical practice.
This study assessed the construct validity of the Brief Physical Activity Assessment Tool (BPAAT) for clinical use in COPD and explored differences in age, sex and COPD grades.
After linguistic adaptation of the tool to Portuguese, 110 patients (66.4±9.6yrs, 72.7% male, FEV
=59.3±25.5%predicted) completed the BPAAT and received an accelerometer. The BPAAT includes two questions assessing the weekly frequency and duration of vigorous- and moderate-intensity PA/walking, classifying individuals as insufficiently or sufficiently active. The BPAAT was correlated with accelerometry (moderate PA, MPA=1952-5724 counts-per-min [CPM]); vigorous PA, VPA=5725-∞CPM; moderate-to-vigorous PA, MVPA=1952-∞CPM; daily steps), through Spearman's correlations (ρ) for continuous data; %agreement, Kappa, sensitivity and specificity, pohould be taken when using this tool to assess vigorous PA or female patients.Interferon-gamma (IFN-γ) plays a key role in the pathophysiology of hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (HLH), and available evidence also points to a role in other conditions, including aplastic anemia (AA) and graft failure following allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. Recently, the therapeutic potential of IFN-γ inhibition has been documented; emapalumab, an anti-IFN-γ monoclonal antibody, has been approved in the United States for treatment of primary HLH that is refractory, recurrent or progressive, or in patients with intolerance to conventional therapy. Moreover, ruxolitinib, an inhibitor of JAK/STAT intracellular signaling, is currently being investigated for treating HLH. In AA, IFN-γ inhibits hematopoiesis by disrupting the interaction between thrombopoietin and its receptor, c-MPL. Eltrombopag, a small-molecule agonist of c-MPL, acts at a different binding site to IFN-γ and is thus able to circumvent its inhibitory effects. Ongoing trials will elucidate the role of IFN-γ neutralization in secondary HLH and future studies could explore this strategy in controlling hyperinflammation due to CAR T cells.
Cellulase-producing Enterococcus species isolated from the rumen of Tibetan yak (Bos grunniens) were characterized, and their combined effects on the silage quality of various forages were studied.
The two isolated strains with high cellulolytic potential were identified as Enterococcus faecalis (EF85) and E. faecium (EF83) by 16S rRNA sequencing. Both EF85 and EF83 could grow well at 15-55°C, pH 3·0-6·0 and in 3·0-6·5% NaCl. The cellulase secreted by EF85 and EF83 showed good stability at temperatures from 20 to 45°C and pH from 4·5 to 7·0. A commercial inoculant (CLP), a commercial cellulase (CE) and the two cellulolytic strains (EF85+EF83) were added to whole-crop corn, sweet sorghum and Napier grass ensiling for 120days respectively. In Napier grass silage, all inoculants significantly increased lactic acid content and ratio of lactic to acetic acid and decreased pH, butyric acid and ammonia nitrogen contents. The acid detergent fibre and cellulose contents in EF85+EF83 treatment were significantly lower than those in the other treatments. In whole-crop corn and sweet sorghum silages, all additives had no significant effect on the fermentation quality, while CE and EF85+EF83 markedly enhanced cellulose degradation and increased free sugar content.
The combined inoculation of the cellulolytic strain EF85 and EF83 to various forages reduced the fibre content of the resulting silages.
Few studies involved inoculation of silage with Enterococcus species in different forage types. The isolated cellulolytic strains of E. faecalis EF85 and E. faecium EF83 could be a great alternative for commercial inoculants and enzymes in silage production.
Few studies involved inoculation of silage with Enterococcus species in different forage types. The isolated cellulolytic strains of E. faecalis EF85 and E. faecium EF83 could be a great alternative for commercial inoculants and enzymes in silage production.The size and shape of red blood cells (RBCs) provide key information on life-history strategies in vertebrates. However, little is known about how RBC shape evolved in response to environmental factors, body size and the role of evolutionary rate. Here, we analysed RBC morphometrics in a set of Teleostei (bony fishes) and Elasmobranchii (sharks and rays) species testing the hypothesis that phylogenetic relationship explains species occupation of morphospace. We collected data on cell and nucleus area and volume, nucleuscytoplasm ratio and shape factor for 65 species belonging to 28 orders. Then, we built phylomorphospaces separately for bony fish and sharks and rays. To test whether phylogenetic relationships predicted phenotypic similarity, we calculated multivariate phylogenetic signal. We also estimated the evolutionary rate of RBC shape for each node and tip using ridge regression. Finally, we tested whether habitat and body size influenced RBC shape using a PGLS. We found a significant phylogenetic signal in RBC shape for bony fish, but not sharks and rays.
