Effect of phosphate binders on oxidative stress and inflammation markers in hemodialysis patients

It has been suggested that phosphate binders may reduce the inflammatory state of hemodialysis (HD) patients. However, it is not clear whether it has any effect on oxidative stress. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of sevelamer hydrochloride (SH) and calcium acetate (CA) on oxidative stress and inflammation markers in HD patients. Hemodialysis patients were randomly assigned to therapy with SH (n=17) or CA (n=14) for 1 year. Before the initiation of therapy (baseline) and at 12 months, we measured in vitro reactive oxygen species (ROS) production by stimulated and unstimulated polymorphonuclear neutrophils and serum levels of tumor necrosis factor α, interleukin-10, C-reactive protein, and albumin. There was a significant reduction of spontaneous ROS production in both groups after 12 months of therapy. There was a significant decrease of Staphylococcus aureus stimulated ROS production in the SH group. There was a significant increase in albumin serum levels only in the SH group. In the SH group, there was also a decrease in the serum levels of tumor necrosis factor α and C-reactive protein. Our results suggest that compared with CA treatment, SH may lead to a reduction in oxidative stress and inflammation. Therefore, it is possible that phosphate binders exert pleiotropic effects on oxidative stress and inflammation, which could contribute toward decreasing endothelial injury in patients in HD.     

Initial microstructure and retained austenite in 8 Mn steel controlled by cooling rate

The present work investigates the effect of the initial microstructure on phase transformation after intercritical annealing by measuring the amount of austenite, which was obtained by X-ray diffraction and saturation magnetisation. Pieces of 8?Mn steel were austenitised at 1100°C for 1?h followed by different cooling rates: water, air, and furnace. Samples of each piece were subsequently intercritically annealed from 600 to 800°C followed by air cooling. The microstructure was characterised using scanning electron microscopy and electron backscatter diffraction. Results show how changing the cooling rate affects the temperature of intercritical annealing at which the highest content of retained austenite was obtained.     

Cloud parameter retrievals from Meteosat and their effects on the shortwave radiation at the surface

A method based on Spinning Enhanced Visible and Infrared Imager (SEVIRI) measured reflectance at 0.6 and 3.9 µm is used to retrieve the cloud optical thickness (COT) and cloud effective radius (r_e) over the Iberian Peninsula. A sensitivity analysis of simulated retrievals to the input parameters demonstrates that the cloud top height is an important factor in satellite retrievals of COT and r_e with uncertainties around 10% for small values of COT and r_e; for water clouds these uncertainties can be greater than 10% for small values of r_e. The uncertainties found related with geometries are around 3%. The COT and r_e are assessed using well-known satellite cloud products, showing that the method used characterize the cloud field with more than 80% (82%) of the absolute differences between COT (r_e) mean values of all clouds (water plus ice clouds) centred in the range from ±10 (±10 µm), with absolute bias lower than 2 (2 μm) for COT (r_e) and root mean square error values lower than 10 (8 μm) for COT (r_e). The cloud water path (CWP), derived from satellite retrievals, and the shortwave cloud radiative effect at the surface (CRE_SW) are related for high fractional sky covers (F_sc >0.8), showing that water clouds produce more negative CRE_SW than ice clouds. The COT retrieved was also related to the cloud modification factor, which exhibits reductions and enhancements of the surface SW radiation of the order of 80% and 30%, respectively, for COT values lower than 10. A selected case study shows, using a ground-based sky camera that some situations classified by the satellite with high F_sc values correspond to situations of broken clouds where the enhancements actually occur. For this case study, a closure between the liquid water path (LWP) obtained from the satellite retrievals and the same cloud quantity obtained from ground-based microwave measurements was performed showing a good agreement between both LWP data set values.     

Investigation of incurred single- and multi-component model food matrices for determination of food proteins triggering allergy and coeliac disease

For detection and quantification of food proteins triggering hypersensitivity reactions, reliable, validated analytical methods are necessary. At present, the most commonly used methodology for this purpose is ELISA. The lack of incurred reference materials (RM) complicates the fulfilling of method validation. Today, a well identifiable research direction is the development of methods (immunoanalytical, PCR and MS methods) suitable for multi-component analysis. As a consequence of these R+D efforts, the development of multi-component RMs is reasonable. Our work presented here is focusing on the development and investigation of multi-component model food matrices that can be suitable for supporting the validation processes. On the basis of the relative incidence of hypersensitivity reactions, four components—wheat, milk, egg and soy—were selected for our preliminary work. The target proteins were determined in single- and multi-component matrices with different ELISA methods, and the results were compared by statistical evaluation. The main direction of our investigation was to identify the effects of the potential interactions of these proteins on the analytical results, and the influence of food processing was also investigated. The results showed that the presence of multiple allergenic components caused much less uncertainty in the analytical results than analytical and technological steps, such as sample preparation, repetition or even heat treatment. However, probably due to the relatively complex matrices, some discrepancies from the expected outcome could also be observed.     

Effect of exposure of guinea pigs to cigarette smoke on elastolytic activity of pulmonary macrophages

STUDY OBJECTIVE: To determine the effect of exposure to cigarette smoke on the elastolytic activity of guinea pigs' alveolar macrophages (AMs), and to compare elastolytic activity of AMs obtained by BAL with that of lung macrophages (LMs) obtained from minced lung tissue. METHODS: AMs were obtained by BAL from seven adult guinea pigs exposed to cigarette smoke for 5 d/wk during 6 weeks, as well as from age-matched control guinea pigs. From each animal, one lung was used to obtain LMs by mincing and teasing the lung, followed by enzymatic digestion and isolation of mononuclear cells by Hypaque-Ficoll separation. The other lung was inflated and fixed to quantitate emphysema by the destructive index (DI). Elastolytic activity (microgram of elastin degraded by 10(6) macrophages) was determined at 24, 48, and 72 h, by culturing AMs and LMs (1 x 10(6) cells in 1 mL of medium) in 3H-elastin-coated wells. RESULTS: In animals exposed to cigarette smoke, the total number of BAL cells (8.6+/-2.1 x 10(6)) and DI (21.8+/-8.1) were significantly higher than in nonexposed animals (6.4+/-1.8 x 10(6), p<0.05 for cells, and 12.1+/-4.1, p<0.01 for DI). Elastolytic activity of AMs from smoke-exposed guinea pigs was significantly higher at 24, 48, and 72 h than elastolytic activity of AMs from control animals (19.0+/-9.4 vs 10.0+/-5.3, p<0.05 at 72 h). Likewise, elastolytic activity of LMs was significantly higher in exposed than nonexposed guinea pigs (11.8+/-7.7 vs 7.4+/-5.0 at 72 h, p<0.05). Elastolytic activity of LMs was not significantly different from elastolytic activity of AMs, both in exposed guinea pigs (11.8+/-7.7 vs 19.0+/-9.4 at 72 h) and nonexposed animals (7.4+/-5.0 vs 10.0+/-5.3 at 72 h). CONCLUSIONS: These results indicate that elastolytic activity of both AMs and LMs of guinea pigs increases significantly after exposure to cigarette smoke and that AMs and LMs have similar elastolytic activities.     

Inter-comparison of OC-CCI chlorophyll-a estimates with precursor data sets

Ocean colour is the only essential climate variable that targets a biological variable (chlorophyll-a concentration (chl-a)) and is also amenable to remote sensing at the global scale. However, the finite lifetime of individual ocean-colour sensors, and the differences in their characteristics increase the difficulty of creating a long-term, consistent, ocean-colour time series that meets the requirements of climate studies. The Ocean Colour Climate Change Initiative (OC-CCI), a European Space Agency programme, has recently produced a time series of satellite-based ocean-colour products at the global scale, merging data from three sensors: Sea-viewing Wide Field-of-view Sensor (SeaWiFS), Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer on the Aqua Earth Observing System (MODIS-Aqua), and Medium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MERIS), while attempting to reduce inter-sensor biases.In this work we present a comparison between the OC-CCI chlorophyll-a product and precursor satellite-derived data sets, from both single missions (SeaWiFS, MODIS-Aqua, and MERIS) and multi-mission products (global ocean colour (GlobColour) and Making Earth Science Data Records for Use in Research Environments (MEaSUREs)). To this end, OC-CCI global monthly composites are compared to the similar products offered by single-mission and multi-mission records. Our results indicate that the OC-CCI product provides a higher number of observations. Comparing the observations that match with precursors, the OC-CCI product was generally most similar to the single-mission products. Relationships between OC-CCI and other precursors did not change significantly during a common and continuous period, and, on average the root-mean-square differences between log-transformed chlorophyll-a concentration are below or equal to 0.11. Further, when considering variability that could arise when merging data from different sources, it is shown that the OC-CCI product is a longer term constant than those from other multi-mission initiatives studied here.     

High pressure unfolding of ovalbumin

Summary The effects of high pressure processing of ovalbumin have been investigated. After treatment with pressures in excess of 400 MPa at pH 6.5, circular dichroism (CD) and Fourier transform infra-red spectroscopy (FTIR) spectroscopy showed limited irreversible changes in secondary structure. Fluorescence and derivative spectroscopy as well as fluorescence-quenching experiments indicated greater solvent exposure of aromatic residues in pressure-treated protein. Pressure treatment also caused enhanced binding of anilino-1-naphthalene-8-sulphonic acid (ANS). The pressure necessary to cause these changes was lower at low pH. These data indicate a pressure-induced molten-globule formation. The pressurized protein may be structurally similar to forms of the protein found at acid pH or as intermediates in protein folding.     

Impacts of distributors and group purchasing organizations on hospital efficiency and profitability: a bilateral data envelopment analysis model

Total health care expenses have risen significantly in the United States. There are many factors and variables that can impact hospital operating efficiencies. Among them, engaging a distributor or group purchasing organization (GPO) is one method to influence efficiency throughout the entire supply chain. This research investigates the impact of distributors and GPOs on hospital efficiency and profitability. The data from the 2015 American Hospital Association (AHA) Annual Hospital Survey of which 6251 hospitals participated are used. These hospitals were separated by those who purchased supplies through a distributor and those who did not. Likewise, the same was performed for those hospitals that used GPO and those that did not. This study employs DEA-Solver software to develop four types of bilateral DEA models. The results of the DEA model use a ranking variable (rank sum) to rank the variables within the two groups (distributor and no distributor) to determine if there is a significant difference between distributor and nondistributor. The same is performed for GPO and non-GPO. We examined the impact of the several control variables on hospital efficiency for distributors and GPOs. Results indicate that the control variables (region, education, profit/nonprofit, government/nongovernment, and system/nonsystem) made a significant difference for hospitals that used a distributor and a GPO. Lessons and implications are discussed for future research issues, such as quality of patient care and a frontier production function.