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Two isostructural mononuclear complexes of lanthanides (Ln = La and Pr) constructed from 1,8-naphthalene dicarboxylate (NDC) and 1,10-phenanthroline (Phen) as auxiliary ligand are reported. Both the complexes were formed through an in situ hydrolytic ring opening reaction of 1,8-naphthalic anhydride with Phen ligands. 3D supramolecular structures are observed which are guided by different weak interactions. The crystal structures of both the complexes were determined by single crystal X-ray diffraction. The room temperature photoluminescence studies, carried out in the powder state displayed three noticeable peaks from excited (3PJ; J = 2, 1, and 0) to ground state (3H4) at ~464 nm, 497 nm, and 538 nm, respectively, under UV excitation. Temperature dependent dc susceptibility (χ = M/H) as a function of temperature is investigated where Pr-complex shows antiferromagnetic behaviour. The Hirshfeld surface analysis of the two complexes is also described. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Guillain-Barre syndrome (GBS) is one of the rare complications in Dengue. We report a uncommon presentation as simultaneous onset of Dengue Haemorrhagic fever (DHF) with GBS. 29 year old student presented with bilateral weakness of lower legs after 2 days onset of fever and he was admitted and treated as DHF, Later he was diagnosed as GBS on the basis of areflexia and Nerve conduction study. He was recovered gradually and given only physiotherapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using a solvothermal method, we have synthesized two coordination polymers of Cu(II). One is a 1D polymer {[Cu(bpy)(NDC)(H2O)]·2H2O}n (1, 1D) formed with 1,8-naphthalene dicarboxylic acid (H2NDC) and 2,2′-bipyridine (bpy) as an auxiliary ligand, while the other is a 2D polymer {[Cu3(TMA) (Imd)3]·5H2O·2DMF}n (2, 2D) formed with trimellitic acid (H3TMA) and imidazole (Imd) as an auxiliary ligand. Both coordination polymers 1 and 2 were formed through an in situ hydrolytic ring opening reaction of 1,8-naphthalic anhydride and trimelitic anhydride with bipyridine and imidazole ligands, respectively. The asymmetric unit of polymer 1 contains asymmetric η1 binding mode (one of the carboxylate) linking distorted square-pyramidal [Cu(NDC)(bpy)(H2O)]2+ coordination units. The syn-syn-η1:η1 linear polymeric conformation exist in the 1D coordination polymer with adjacent Cu...Cu distance is 6.849 Å. A chain of cyclic tetrameric water clusters is present between the stacked layers of the 3D supramolecular structure. The formation of the 3D supramolecular structure is guided by various weak interactions such as O–H...O, C–H...O, C–H...π and π...π interactions. The coordination polymer 2 forms 3D supramolecular architecture guided by various weak interactions such as O–H...O, C–H...O and N–H...O interactions. The crystal structures of both coordination polymers have been determined using single crystal X-ray diffraction and their structural features are described. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A series of dinuclear metallacycles of Mn(II), Co(II), Ni(II), Cu(II) and Cd(II) with 1,8-naphthalene dicarboxylic acid (H2NDC) with co-ligand such as 2,2′-bipyridine (bpy) or solvent molecules have been synthesized in a refluxed condition. One mononuclear Ni(II) complex has also been synthesized following the same synthetic procedure with NDC, bpy and pyridine. Among them two polymorphic structures have been isolated. The single crystal X-ray structures of all the metallacycles have been described along with Hirshfield surface analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An Erratum to this paper has been published: https://doi.org/10.1134/S002247662309010X [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background The aim of the present study was to determine the effects of cold ischaemia time ( CIT) on living donor kidney transplant recipients in a large national data set. Methods Data from the National Health Service Blood and Transplant and UK Renal Registry databases for all patients receiving a living donor kidney transplant in the UK between January 2001 and December 2014 were analysed. Patients were divided into three groups depending on CIT (less than 2 h, 2-4 h, 4-8 h). Risk-adjusted outcomes were assessed by multivariable analysis adjusting for discordance in both donor and recipient characteristics. Results Outcomes of 9156 transplants were analysed ( CIT less than 2 h in 2662, 2-4 h in 4652, and 4-8 h in 1842). After adjusting for confounders, there was no significant difference in patient survival between CIT groups. Recipients of kidneys with a CIT of 4-8 h had excellent graft outcomes, although these were slightly inferior to outcomes in those with a CIT of less than 2 h, with risk-adjusted rates of delayed graft function of 8·6 versus 4·3 per cent, and 1-year graft survival rates of 96·2 versus 97·1 per cent, respectively. Conclusion The detrimental effect of prolonging CIT for up to 8 h in living donation kidney transplantation is marginal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective As renal transplantation continues to evolve, there appears to be a change in both donor and recipient populations. Traditional markers of high-risk donor (e.g. donation after cardiac death [DCD]/expanded criteria donor [ECD]) and recipient (e.g. obese, highly sensitized) operations appear to be more common without any noticeable worsening of patient outcome. The present study aimed to compare outcome and define the change in donor and recipient populations for cadaveric transplants over a 10-year period at a large U.K. center. Methods Single-center analysis of all adult patients undergoing cadaveric renal transplantation between January 2004 and January 2014 (n = 754). Transplants were divided into 3 groups (early, middle, and late) depending on the era, with donor, recipient and outcomes compared. Results There were considerable changes in both donor and recipient factors between the 3 eras, with a greater proportion of high-risk operations performed, as reflected by significant increases in Donor Risk Index (median: 1.11–1.16, P = .022), and the proportions of ECD (22.2%–33.9%, P = .003) and DCD kidneys (10.8%–19.4% P = .011). However, 1-year graft survival was comparable between the eras, with a decrease in the average 1-year serum creatinine between the early and late cohort (median: 161 μmol/L vs 132 μmol/L, P < .001). There was no significant increase in body mass index (BMI) in either the donor or recipient population across the eras. Conclusion Improvement in transplant outcome continues despite a greater proportion of transplants previously considered as high risk being performed. This is likely to reflect a considerable improvement in pre- and postoperative management. BMI remains a major continuing block to transplantation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Conflicting evidence surrounds clinical outcomes in obese individuals after transplantation; nonetheless, many are denied the opportunity to receive a transplant. Allografts with complex vascular anatomy are regularly used in both deceased and living donor settings. We established the risk of transplanting kidneys with multiple renal arteries into obese recipients. A retrospective analysis of data from 1095 patients undergoing renal transplantation between January 2004 and July 2013 at a single centre was conducted. Of these, 24.2% were obese (body mass index >30 kg/m 2 ), whereas 25.1% of kidneys transplanted had multiple arteries, thereby making the transplantation of kidneys of complex anatomy into obese recipients a relatively common clinical occurrence. Vessel multiplicity was associated with inferior 1-year graft survival (85.8.% vs 92.1%, P = .004). Obese patients had worse 1-graft survival compared to those of normal BMI (86.8% vs 93.8%, P = .001). The risk of vascular complications and of graft loss within a year after transplantation were greater when grafts with multiple arteries were transplanted into obese recipients as compared to their nonobese counterparts (RR 2.00, CI 95% 1.07–3.65, and RR 1.95, CI 95% 1.02–3.65). Additionally, obese patients faced significantly higher risk of graft loss if receiving a kidney with multiple arteries compared to one of normal anatomy (RR 1.97, 95% CI 1.02–3.72). Thus, obese patients receiving complex anatomy kidneys face poorer outcomes, which should be considered when allocating organs, seeking consent, and arranging for aftercare. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Monolayer and multilayer films were formed by electrostatic self-assembly of poly (allyl amine) hydrochloride (PAH) and a strong fluorescent dye eosin Y (EY). In agreement with other published results, these compounds were found to form high-quality, closely packed monolayer and multilayer onto quartz substrate. The films formed on quartz substrate were then characterized in light of UV-Visible (UV-Vis) absorption spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopic (SEM) methods. Molecular movements were found to persist in the recently lifted layer-by-layer (LBL) films and about 72 h were required to get the film in stable condition. The photophysical characteristics of LBL films were found to vary with various parameters, such as number of deposited layers, dipping time in dye solution, pH of the PAH solution, and concentration of the dye. Both UV-Vis absorption spectroscopy and SEM studies also revealed the formation of molecular aggregates in the films. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cloud point extraction (CPE) is carried out to extract nitrobenzene (NB) from aqueous solution using TX-100 as a nonionic surfactant. The effects of different operating parameters, like concentration of the feed mixture (both NB and surfactant), pH, temperature, and the presence of mono- and di-valent salts on the extraction of both the NB and surfactant have been studied in detail. The solubilization behavior of the NB in the surfactant micelle has been observed in the temperature range of 75°C to 90°C. Concentrations of surfactant and NB have been considered in the range of 0.03 M to 0.25 M and 100 mg/L to 400 mg/L, respectively. An optimum set of surfactant concentration, temperature, and salt concentration is obtained for the removal of NB from aqueous medium. The effects of temperature and concentrations of surfactants and NB on various thermodynamic parameters, like change in Gibbs-free energy (ΔG0), change in enthalpy (ΔH0), and change in entropy (ΔS0) are observed and explained well. Experimental investigations have also been carried out for the recovery of the surfactant from the dilute phase applying solvent extraction (SE) in batch condition using heptane and hexane as the extracting medium. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new coupled efficient layerwise higher-order theory is presented lot analysis of hybrid piezoelectric composite plates with the aim of predicting transverse shear stresses directly from the constitutive equations. The theory is developed by superposing layerwise quadratic and cubic terms on the third-order zigzag approximations of the existing zigzag theory. The electric potential is assumed to be quadratic actress the layers. By satisfying the interface continuity conditions for each of the two local terms separately and enforcing the conditions on the transverse shear stresses at layer interfaces and top and bottom surfaces, the number of displacement unknowns is reduced to nine. Comparisons with the three-dimensional exact solutions reveal that the present theory is a significant improvement over the existing zigzag theory for elastic and hybrid composite plates. It yields superior results, not only for transverse shear stresses, but also for other response entities, including the layerwise higher-order variations of in-plane displacements and nonuniform distribution of deflection under electric potential load. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective Rectal cancer in young patients is uncommon. There is little information on rectal cancer in young adults in India. The aim of this study was to determine the relative incidence of rectal cancer in young patients in India and identify any differences in histological grade and pathological stage between younger and older cohorts. Method All adult patients presenting at a tertiary colorectal unit with primary rectal adenocarcinoma between September 2003 and August 2007 were included. Patients were divided into two groups: 40 years and younger, and older than 40 years. Details regarding patient demographics, preoperative assessment, management and tumour grade and stage were obtained from a prospectively maintained database. Results One hundred and two of 287 patients (35.5%) were 40 or younger at presentation. Younger patients were more likely to present with less favourable histological features (52.0% vs 20.5% ( P < 0.001)) and low rectal tumours (63.0% vs 50.0%) ( P = 0.043), but were equally likely to undergo curative surgery compared to the older group ( P = 0.629). Younger patients undergoing surgery had a higher pathological T stage (T0–2 18.9%, T3 62.3%, T4 19.7% vs 34.5%, 56.0%, 9.5%) ( P = 0.027) and more advanced pathological N stage (N0 31.1%, N1 41.0%, N2 27.9% vs 53.4%, 26.7%, 17.2%) ( P = 0.014). Conclusion The relative number of young patients with rectal cancer in this Indian series is higher than figures reported in western populations. The reasons for this are not clear. The histopathological features of rectal tumours in young patients in this study are consistent with similar studies in Western populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An efficient global zigzag theory (GZIGT) is developed for elastic laminated plates, by approximating the in-plane displacements by a cubic expansion in thickness coordinate along with a global zigzag function, which takes values ±1 at successive interfaces. The deflection is approximated to account explicitly for transverse thermal strain. The displacement variables are reduced to five, the same as used in first-order shear deformation theory, by imposing the conditions on transverse shear at three a priori selected interfaces/faces. A third order theory (TOT1) is also developed with similar expression of deflection. GZIGT and TOT1 are assessed by comparison with exact three-dimensional solutions for simply-supported square plates for sinusoidal pressure and thermal loads, natural frequencies and buckling. In general, GZIGT yields good results for two-ply, three-ply and four-ply composite plates, but it is inaccurate for a highly inhomogeneous test plate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO) was designed for operation in C-band for use in a microwave point-to-point radio system. Microstrip technology was chosen for resonator implementation since it offers ease of manufacturing and frequency adjustment. The design was performed using an electromagnetic harmonic balance co-design technique in conjunction with linear analysis in order to achieve first pass success. Emphasis in this work is the ability to use multiple design approaches and test techniques while validating in advance with co-simulation. The measured frequency against tune voltage data shows excellent agreement with simulation. Maximum deviation of 2% between the two was observed. The VCO tuned from 4.3 to 5.4 GHz as the tuning voltage was varied from 0 to 9 V representing a tuning bandwidth in excess of 20%. Power dissipation is 150 mW. Phase noise over the tune range was better than -108 dBc/Hz at 100 kHz offset. The oscillator design efficiency, applicable to wider tune range designs, is greater than 2%. The hybrid oscillator figure-of-merit functions evaluated in this work exceeded comparable silicon-integrated implementations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article investigates the value of performing peritoneal lavage cytology during laparoscopy in the management of esophagogastric adenocarcinoma. Results reveal that positive peritoneal cytology in the absence of overt peritoneal metastasis is common in esophagogastric adenocarcinoma. It is a marker of poor prognosis even in the absence of overt peritoneal metastases.

An improved efficient zigzag theory (IZIGT) and an improved third order theory (ITOT) are presented for laminated circular cylindrical shells and shell panels under thermal loading. The transverse deflection is approximated nonuniformly to explicitly account for the transverse strain due to temperature. The inplane displacements are modelled in ITOT to have global cubic variation across the thickness and are modelled in IZIGT to have additional layerwise zigzag linear variation. The number of primary variables is reduced to 5 by imposing conditions on transverse shear at outer and inner surfaces for ITOT and also at layer interfaces for IZIGT. The governing equations and boundary conditions are derived using the principle of virtual work. The IZIGT, ZIGT, ITOT and TOT are assessed in comparison with exact 3D thermoelasticity solution for simply supported shells and shell panels of different lay-ups. The comparison reveals that IZIGT and ITOT are an improvement over ZIGT and TOT respectively, and in general, IZIGT is more accurate than ITOT for thermal loading. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Support vector clustering involves three steps—solving an optimization problem, identification of clusters and tuning of hyper-parameters. In this paper, we introduce a pre-processing step that eliminates data points from the training data that are not crucial for clustering. Pre-processing is efficiently implemented using the R*-tree data structure. Experiments on real-world and synthetic datasets show that pre-processing drastically decreases the run-time of the clustering algorithm. Also, in many cases reduction in the number of support vectors is achieved. Further, we suggest an improvement for the step of identification of clusters. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The phase noise of an oscillator with a thin-film barium strontium titanate (BST) capacitive tuning element, or varactor, is characterised and benchmarked against the same oscillator with a silicon semiconductor junction varactor. Phase noise tracks closely with varactor Q within a specific voltage range as expected. Compared to the semiconductor varactor-based oscillator, the BST-based oscillator demonstrates reduced phase noise degradation near zero volts, but greater phase noise degradation when operated near breakdown. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Calpains are Ca2+-dependent intracellular cysteine proteases, including the ubiquitously expressedµ- and m-calpains. Both are heterodimers, consisting of a distinct catalytic subunit and a common regulatory subunit. We describe cloning and sequencing of the calpain small (regulatory) subunit (cpns) cDNA from rainbow trout. This represents the first fish and lower vertebrate full cDNA of cpns. The rainbow trout cpns cDNA was used to retrieve the zebra fish and Japanese flounder homologues. We present evidence that fish cpns, unlike the conventional mammalian predominant isoform, cpns1, is lacking the glycine-rich region of domain V. Because the glycine-rich region is known to play a role in membrane targeting, this divergent cpns suggests potentially different functional and activation mechanisms of the fish calpain system. A phylogenetic tree for the cpns gene superfamily has been constructed and the evolution of cpns considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Biological systems are robust and redundant. The redundancy can manifest as alternative metabolic pathways. Synthetic double lethals are pairs of reactions that, when deleted simultaneously, abrogate cell growth. However, removing one reaction allows the rerouting of metabolites through alternative pathways. Little is known about these hidden linkages between pathways. Understanding them in the context of pathogens is useful for therapeutic innovations. We propose a constraint-based optimisation approach to identify inter-dependencies between metabolic pathways. It minimises rerouting between two reaction deletions, corresponding to a synthetic lethal pair, and outputs the set of reactions vital for metabolic rewiring, known as the synthetic lethal cluster. We depict the results for different pathogens and show that the reactions span across metabolic modules, illustrating the complexity of metabolism. Finally, we demonstrate how the two classes of synthetic lethals play a role in metabolic networks and influence the different properties of a synthetic lethal cluster. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two derivatives of imidazolinones, specifically DMPI {(4Z)-4-(4-(dimethylamino)benzylidene)-2-methyl-1,4-dihydro-5H-imidazolin-5-one} and MMPI {(4Z)-4-(4-methoxybenzylidene)-2-methyl-1-((pyridin-3-yl)methyl)-1,4-dihydro-5H-imidazolin-5-one} are reported which were synthesized under reflux conditions. Both the ligands are characterized with different analytical techniques including NMR spectroscopy, mass spectrometry, IR Spectroscopy. The subsequent elucidation of their solid-state structures was achieved through the single crystal X-ray diffraction method, providing detailed insights into their molecular arrangements. In the crystalline lattice, the asymmetric unit of DMPI comprises a solitary DMPI molecule, whereas MMPI reveals a more intricate arrangement with four molecules within its asymmetric unit. Various types of supramolecular interactions such as C–H⋯O, C–H⋯N, C–H⋯π and π⋯π interactions are observed in the X-ray structures where a trifurcated C–H⋯O bonds are also observed in both the ligands. All these interactions guide the formation of 3D supramolecular architecture in the solid-state of both compounds. Besides these, the 2D fingerprint and Hirshfeld surface analysis computations were served to prove and quantify various supramolecular interactions within the crystal lattice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A letter to editor on betamethasone oral pulse therapy in treating alopecia areata is presented.

A letter to the editors is presented in response to the article "Long-term outcome in patients with adrenal metastases following resection of colorectal liver metastases," by R. J. de Haas and colleagues.

Current research issues in the development of efficient analysis models and their efficient numerical implementation for smart piezoelectric laminated structures are discussed in this paper. The improved zigzag theories with a layerwise quadratic variation of electric potential have emerged as the best compromise between accuracy and cost for hybrid composite, sandwich and FGM beams and plates. The concept of associating surface potentials to electric nodes and internal potentials to physical nodes is very effective in modeling the equipotential electroded surfaces. Unified formulations for shear and extension mode actuation, and modeling of piezoelectric composite actuators and sensors are discussed. Future challenge lies in developing efficient theories capable of predicting the interlaminar transverse shear stresses in hybrid laminates directly from the constitutive equations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transient simulation of narrowband bandpass filters used in microwave circuits is challenging because of matrix ill-conditioning. Here, such filters are modelled as the equivalent discrete-time form developed using a bilinear z-transform. The technique has been implemented in a general purpose transient circuit simulator and validated using a 1.7 GHz 5-section coaxial filter with a 0.9% bandwidth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Interdigitated capacitors containing the field-tunable ferroelectric Ba0.75Sr0.25TiO3, polycrystalline alumina substrates, and copper metallization have been fabricated. Dielectric layers were prepared by magnetron sputtering, while the Cu metallization was evaporated. The dielectric tunability of the Ba0.75Sr0.25TiO3 was 40% at an applied electric field of 12 V/μm. This corresponds to a 3-μm electrode gap width and a 35 V dc bias. Low-frequency (1 MHz) loss tangent measurements indicate a dielectric Q (quality factor) of ∼100 while microwave measurements reveal a zero bias device Q of ∼30 at 26 GHz. These values are comparable or superior to numerous reports of barium strontium titanate interdigitated capacitors prepared using single crystalline substrates and noble metallization. As such, this technology is significantly less expensive and more amenable to large-volume manufacturing. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Purpose: To investigate whether radiation-induced misrejoining of chromosome breakpoints is randomly or non-randomly distributed throughout the human genome. Materials and methods: Data were combined from as many published cytogenetic studies as possible. The percentage of radiation-induced breaks per megabase (Mb) of DNA between all human chromosomes was calculated, and the observed and expected numbers of breakpoints based on DNA content between and within chromosomes were compared. Results: A DNA-proportional distribution of breakpoints in 14 autosomes and a statistically significant deviation from proportionality in the other eight autosomes and the sex chromosomes was found. Regression analysis showed no significant change in breakpoint frequency per Mb of DNA relative to autosome size. Analysis between chromosome arms showed a non-random distribution of induced breakpoints within certain autosomes, particularly the acrocentrics. In cases of non-random distributions, a prevalence of events was found at heterochromatic regions and/or telomeres, and a clustering of breakpoints was found near the centromeres of many chromosomes. Conclusions: There is an approximately linear proportionality between autosomal DNA content and observed breakpoint number, suggesting that subsets of autosomes can be used to estimate accurately the overall genomic frequency of misrejoined breakpoints contingent upon a carefully selected subset. However, this conclusion may not apply to the sex chromosomes. The results also support the influence of chromatin organization and/or preferential DNA repair/misrejoining on the distribution of induced breakpoints. However, these effects are not su cient at a global level to dismiss the value of cytogenetic analysis using a genome subset for biodosimetry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We have investigated the stability of Second Harmonic Generation (SHG) active J-aggregate of a thiacyanine dye N, N′-dioctadecylthiacyanine perchlorate (TC18) in Langmuir-Blodgett (LB) films in presence and absence of a synthetic clay mineral Laponite. Surface pressure vs area per molecule isotherm was taken to observe the monolayer stability and UV–vis absorption, deconvolution of the absorption spectra, Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM), X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) etc. have been employed to investigate the stability. It has been observed that pure TC18 J-aggregates degrades with irradiation of light, passage of time as well as post heat treatment of the TC18 J-aggregated LB films. However, in case of TC18 – Laponite hybrid films the decrease in J-aggregate is minimal. Interestingly, it was observed that the relative humidity plays a major role in the reconstruction of the J-aggregate in the treated film and thereby stabilizes the J-aggregate. Both pure TC18 and TC18 – Laponite hybrid LB monolayer films are found to be SHG active. In case of TC18 – Laponite hybrid film SHG signal shows better stability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim To investigate whether people with diabetes have an elevated risk of kidney allograft rejection in a well characterized clinical cohort in the setting of contemporary immunosuppression. Methods We conducted a retrospective cohort study including all kidney allograft recipients at a single centre between 2007 and 2015, linking clinical, biochemical and histopathological data from electronic patient records. Results Data were analysed for 1140 kidney transplant recipients. The median follow-up was 4.4 years post-transplantation, and 117 of the kidney transplant recipients (10.2%) had diabetes at time of transplantation. Kidney allograft recipients with vs without diabetes were older (53 vs 45 years; P<0.001) and more likely to be non-white (41.0% vs 26.4%; P=0.001). Kidney allograft recipients with vs without diabetes had a higher risk of cellular rejection (19.7% vs 12.4%; P=0.024), but not of antibody-mediated rejection (3.4% vs 3.7%; P=0.564). Graft function and risk of death-censored graft loss were similar in the two groups, but kidney allograft recipients with diabetes had a higher risk of death and overall graft loss than those without diabetes. In a Cox regression model of non-modifiable risk factors at time of transplantation, diabetes was found to be an independent risk factor for cellular rejection (hazard ratio 1.445, 95% CI 1.023-1.945; P=0.042). Conclusions Kidney allograft recipients with diabetes at transplantation should be counselled regarding their increased risk of cellular rejection but reassured regarding the lack of any adverse impact on short-to-medium term allograft function or survival. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Eumycetoma is an unusual infection in immunocompromised patients outside the tropics, caused by a variety of fungal pathogens. We describe the case of a 51-year-old renal transplant recipient who presented with a large pseudotumoral foot lesion necessitating complete surgical excision of the lesion. Cultures and molecular diagnosis confirmed Phaeoacremonium fuscum. This is the first case, to our knowledge, of fungating mycetoma caused by this fungal species in a solid organ transplant recipient. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies the problem of constructing robust classifiers when the training is plagued with uncertainty. The problem is posed as a Chance-Constrained Program (CCP) which ensures that the uncertain data points are classified correctly with high probability. Unfortunately such a CCP turns out to be intractable. The key novelty is in employing Bernstein bounding schemes to relax the CCP as a convex second order cone program whose solution is guaranteed to satisfy the probabilistic constraint. Prior to this work, only the Chebyshev based relaxations were exploited in learning algorithms. Bernstein bounds employ richer partial information and hence can be far less conservative than Chebyshev bounds. Due to this efficient modeling of uncertainty, the resulting classifiers achieve higher classification margins and hence better generalization. Methodologies for classifying uncertain test data points and error measures for evaluating classifiers robust to uncertain data are discussed. Experimental results on synthetic and real-world datasets show that the proposed classifiers are better equipped to handle data uncertainty and outperform state-of-the-art in many cases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A single anion-exchange column was used to resolve calpain I and II and their endogenous inhibitor, calpastatin, from the white muscle of rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss ). Calcium requirement assays showed that calpain I and II required approximately 0.2 mM and 2.5 mM, respectively, for half maximal activities. Isolation of calpain I and calpastatin were confirmed by Western blot. Incubation of trout muscle for 12 h postmortem, in a buffer containing CaCl2, decreased (P < 0.0001) shear force compared to samples incubated in a buffer containing EDTA. This effect indicates that softening of fish muscle can be accelerated by activation of calpains with exogenous calcium. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Extensive use of nanomaterials in agriculture will inevitably lead to their release to the environment in significant loads. Thus, understanding the fate of nanoparticles in the soil-plant environment, and potential presence and consequent implication of nanoparticles in food and feed products, is required. We study plant uptake of gold nanoparticles from soil, and their distribution, translocation and speciation (in terms of particle size change and release of ionic Au) in the different plant tissues of four important crops (potato, radish, carrot and lettuce). Our new analytical protocol and experiments show the feasibility of determining the presence, concentration and distribution of nanoparticles in different plant parts, which differ from plant to plant. Critically, we identify the evident capacity of plants to break down (or substantially change the properties of) nanoparticles in the rhizosphere prior to uptake, as well as the evident capacity of plants to reorganize ionic metals as nanoparticles in their tissues. This could lead to nanoparticle exposure through consumption of crops. [Display omitted] • Au-NP uptake and translocation following soil application differ among plants. • Au-NP dissolution and Au-NP size changes are determined in different (dried) plant parts. • Plants can break down NPs prior to uptake in the rhizosphere. • Plants can reorganize ionic metals as NPs in their tissues. • Fully-grown plants show elevated uptake and translocation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]