Pregnancy and delivery after liver transplantation

The first case of pregnancy in a patient after an orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT) in Poland is presented. A 21-year-old woman was liver grafted 3 years prior to the pregnancy. Before having conceived the patient's graft function was stable. The woman was on immunosuppressive therapy with cyclosporine A and prednisolone. During pregnancy no significant changes in biochemical tests of liver function and liver blood flow were noted. Starting at the second trimester, a slight anemia occurred and the quantity of blood platelets continued to decrease, the latter having been observed immediately after the transplantation. The intrauterine growth of the fetus was monitored by ultrasound and the assessment of blood flow to the placenta was made. No abnormality was observed. In the second and third trimester the presence of HCV-RNA in the serum was found. In the 41-st week of pregnancy labor commenced. The threat of intrauterine infection indicated a cesarean delivery. The newborn weighed 4180 g and had an Apgar score of 10. The cesarean section, as well as puerperium, was normal. The immunosuppressive therapy was continued, and antibiotics were administered for prophylactic reasons. During the first month the infant was treated with antibiotics because of pneumonia and the suspicion of meningitis. Nine months after the delivery, the patient's health is satisfactory and the baby is making normal progress.     

The TNF-α-238G > A single-nucleotide polymorphism protects against memory decline in older adults with Type 2 diabetes.

Inflammatory markers predict memory dysfunction in elderly patients, but their contribution to memory deficits in adults with Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is less well understood. The present study determined whether specific single-nucleotide polymorphisms in the promoter region of tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) predict verbal memory in older patients with T2DM. Immediate and delayed verbal memory were assessed using word list and paragraph recall tests in a cohort of subjects with T2DM during 2 sessions, separated by 48 weeks. The presence of the TNF-α-238A allele, which has been shown to decrease gene expression, consistently predicted better baseline performance and protected against memory decline over a period of 48 weeks. Therefore, inflammatory mediators may be important modulators of memory function in individuals with T2DM. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Channel response to sediment replenishment in a large gravel‐bed river: The case of the Saint‐Sauveur dam in the Buëch River (Southern Alps,France)

The Saint‐Sauveur dam was built in 1992 in the middle section of the Buëch River. Downstream of the dam, a channel incision by several meters was observed. A gravel replenishment operation was planned in order to restore the active channel. An equivalent of two times the mean annual bedload‐transport capacity (43,500 m³) was replenished downstream of the dam in September 2016. The aim of this paper is to quantify morphological change associated with sediment remobilization in order to evaluate the efficiency of the restoration works. The monitoring was based on a combination of (a) change detection using sequential high‐resolution digital elevation models (from airborne LiDAR data), (b) bedload tracing using active ultrahigh‐frequency radio‐frequency identification technology, and (c) complementary field surveys of channel grain‐size distribution and morphology for bedload‐transport computation. Field monitoring allows us to capture a net aggradation along a 2‐km reach after the first post‐replenishment flood. A sediment balance analysis was performed to back‐calculate bedload supply coming from the sluicing operation during the flood. Although the sediment replenishment operation clearly had a positive impact on the morphological conditions of the starved river reach, the effective bedload supply from artificial berms (22,650 m³) was insufficient to initiate substantial channel shifting along the restored reach and a subsequent amplification of the sediment recharge. The combination of high‐resolution topographic resurveys and sediment tracing was successful to evaluate the downstream propagation of sediment replenishment effects.     

A Comparison of Variational and Markov Chain Monte Carlo Methods for Inference in Partially Observed Stochastic Dynamic Systems

In recent work we have developed a novel variational inference method for partially observed systems governed by stochastic differential equations. In this paper we provide a comparison of the Variational Gaussian Process Smoother with an exact solution computed using a Hybrid Monte Carlo approach to path sampling, applied to a stochastic double well potential model. It is demonstrated that the variational smoother provides us a very accurate estimate of mean path while conditional variance is slightly underestimated. We conclude with some remarks as to the advantages and disadvantages of the variational smoother.     

Human platelets release a paf-acether: Acetylhydrolase similar to that in plasma

Intact washed human platelets aggregated in response to paf-acether (paf) and did not metabolize [³H]paf at concentrations up to 10 nM. However, when platelets were lysed by exposure to pH 9.5, resulting in 37.5±2.5% (mean ±SD, n=3) lactic dehydrogenase (LDH) release, 20.5±5.7% of the radioactivity was detected as labeled lyso paf and 5.7±3.1% as labeled alkylacylglycerophosphocholine. When platelets were aggregated with 0.5 IU/mL thrombin or high concentrations of paf (100 nM), they released a part of their acetylhydrolase without releasing LDH. In supernatants obtained from aggregated platelets, 21±2% or 10±2% (n=3), respectively, of the total platelet acetylhydrolase activity was detectedvs. none in supernatants of resting cells. The release of acetylhydrolase was concentration-and time-dependent and paralleled the release of PF 4, a marker for α-granules. The acetylhydrolase affinity for paf (K_m) measured in sonicates of resting and thrombin-activated platelets was 8.3±1.5 μMvs. 10.6±1.5 μM, n=5, n.s. in a “Mann Whitney” test. The latter K_m was slightly but significantly different (P<0.05, n=5) from that of the thrombin-released acetylhydrolase (7.9 ±1.5 μM) and that of the latter was itself different from plasma acetylhydrolase (5.3±0.5,P<0.05, n=5). Addition of plasma (acid-treated to inactivate acetylhydrolase) decreased the K_m value of supernatant acetylhydrolase to 6.1±1.4 μM. All preparations of acetylhydrolase exhibited similar pH requirements and sensitvity to various inhibitors. Thus paf and thrombin cause release of acetylhydrolase from platelets in parallel with release of the α-granule marker PF4. This phenomenon might represent a protective mechanism against paf-mediated effects in thrombotic and cardiovascular diseases. This study has been presented in part as a preliminary report at the 72nd Annual Meeting of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology, Las Vegas, NV, May 1988 (1).     

Occurrence and weight-of-evidence risk assessment of alkyl sulfates, alkyl ethoxysulfates, and linear alkylbenzene sulfonates (LAS) in river water and sediments

Alkyl sulfates (AS), alkyl ethoxysulfates (AES) and linear alkyl benzene sulfonates (LAS) are all High Production Volume (HPV) and 'down-the-drain' chemicals used globally in detergent and personal care products, resulting in low levels ultimately released to the environment via wastewater effluent. Due to their surfactant properties, they preferentially sorb to sediments. Hence, assessment of their levels and potential perturbations on benthos are of interest. The relative levels of AS/AES decreased with distance from the wastewater treatment plant outfall. However, this was not evident for LAS. Short chained AES and especially AS dominated the homologue distribution for AES. There were no evident patterns in LAS homologue distribution. The overall mean margin of exposure (MoE) for AS/AES and LAS is approximately 40 (range: 3 to 100) suggesting no noteworthy perturbation on biota. The findings in this study are in concordance with previous preliminary hazard screening. Comparative sediment contamination analyses principally based on Chapman and Anderson [Chapman PM, Anderson, J. A decision-making framework for sediment contamination. Integr Environ Assess Mana. 2005; 1: 163-173.] and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency RAPID assessment methods [USEPA. Rapid bioassessment protocols for use in wadeable streams and rivers: Periphyton, benthic, macroinvertebrates, and fish. 1999. Second Edition. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Office of Water, Washington, D.C. EPA 841-B-99-002.] did not reveal significant correlations between the surfactant concentrations and ecological status of the sampling locations. Several Lines of Evidence (LoE) of the Weight-of-Evidence (WoE) lead to the conclusion of low aquatic risk associated to the monitored compounds.