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Ambient energy harvesting has great potential to contribute to sustainable development and address growing environmental challenges. Converting waste energy from energy-intensive processes and systems (e.g., combustion engines and furnaces) is crucial to reducing their environmental impact and achieving net-zero emissions. Compact energy harvesters will also be key to powering the exponentially growing smart devices ecosystem that is part of the Internet of Things, thus enabling futuristic applications that can improve our quality of life (e.g., smart homes, smart cities, smart manufacturing, and smart healthcare). To achieve these goals, innovative materials are needed to efficiently convert ambient energy into electricity through various physical mechanisms, such as the photovoltaic effect, thermoelectricity, piezoelectricity, triboelectricity, and electromagnetic power transfer. By bringing together the perspectives of experts in various types of energy harvesting materials, this Roadmap provides extensive insights into recent advances and present challenges in the field. Additionally, the Roadmap analyzes the key performance metrics of these technologies in relation to their ultimate energy conversion limits. Building on these insights, the Roadmap outlines promising directions for future research to fully harness the potential of energy harvesting materials for green energy anytime, anywhere.

Supplemental material, sj-docx-1-cjk-10.1177_20543581231158067 for Long-Term Outcomes for Living Kidney Donors With Early Guideline-Concordant Follow-up Care: A Retrospective Cohort Study by Anisha Dhalla, Anita Lloyd, Krista L. Lentine, Amit X. Garg, Robert R. Quinn, Pietro Ravani, Scott W. Klarenbach, Brenda R. Hemmelgarn, Uchenna Ibelo and Ngan N. Lam in Canadian Journal of Kidney Health and Disease

Supplemental material, sj-docx-2-cjk-10.1177_20543581231177203 for Progression of Kidney Disease in Kidney Transplant Recipients With a Failing Graft: A Matched Cohort Study by Ngan N. Lam, Robert R. Quinn, Alix Clarke, Huda Al-Wahsh, Greg A. Knoll, Lee Anne Tibbles, Fareed Kamar, Rachel Jeong, James Kiberd and Pietro Ravani in Canadian Journal of Kidney Health and Disease

Supplemental material, sj-docx-1-cjk-10.1177_20543581231177203 for Progression of Kidney Disease in Kidney Transplant Recipients With a Failing Graft: A Matched Cohort Study by Ngan N. Lam, Robert R. Quinn, Alix Clarke, Huda Al-Wahsh, Greg A. Knoll, Lee Anne Tibbles, Fareed Kamar, Rachel Jeong, James Kiberd and Pietro Ravani in Canadian Journal of Kidney Health and Disease

Supplemental material, sj-docx-2-cjk-10.1177_20543581231177203 for Progression of Kidney Disease in Kidney Transplant Recipients With a Failing Graft: A Matched Cohort Study by Ngan N. Lam, Robert R. Quinn, Alix Clarke, Huda Al-Wahsh, Greg A. Knoll, Lee Anne Tibbles, Fareed Kamar, Rachel Jeong, James Kiberd and Pietro Ravani in Canadian Journal of Kidney Health and Disease

Supplemental Material, sj-docx-1-ptd-10.1177_0896860820976935 for Four steps to standardize reporting of peritoneal dialysis technique failure: A proposed approach by Alix Clarke, Pietro Ravani, Matthew J Oliver, Mohamed Mahsin, Ngan N Lam, Danielle E Fox, Elena Qirjazi, David R Ward, Jennifer M MacRae and Robert R Quinn in Peritoneal Dialysis International

Supplemental Material, sj-docx-1-ptd-10.1177_08968608221086752 for The availability of support and peritoneal dialysis survival: A cohort study by Danielle E Fox, Kathryn M King-Shier, Matthew T James, Lorraine Venturato, Alix Clarke, Pietro Ravani, Matthew J Oliver and Robert R Quinn in Peritoneal Dialysis International

Introduction In the first part of the 20th century, as knowledge production became increasingly globalized, the two world wars and other international conflicts led to the creation of several institutions whose mission was to facilitate the mobility and integration of scholars persecuted and forced to flee their country. The Rockefeller Foundation and the Carnegie corporation, for instance, contributed to accommodate researchers from all over the world, as fascism, Nazism or Stalinism were on...

Integrating multi-omics datasets is critical for microbiome research, but multiple statistical challenges can confound traditional correlation techniques. We solve this problem by using neural networks to estimate the conditional probability that each molecule is present given the presence of each specific microbe. We show with known environmental (desert biological soil crust wetting) and clinical (cystic fibrosis lung) examples, our ability to recover microbe-metabolite relationships, and demonstrate how the method can discover relationships between microbially-produced metabolites and inflammatory bowel disease.

Supplemental material, sj-pdf-2-cjk-10.1177_20543581211032846 for Association Between Attempted Arteriovenous Fistula Creation and Mortality in People Starting Hemodialysis via a Catheter: A Multicenter, Retrospective Cohort Study by Derek J. Roberts, Alix Clarke, Meghan Elliott, Kathryn King-Shier, Swapnil Hiremath, Matthew Oliver, Robert R. Quinn and Pietro Ravani in Canadian Journal of Kidney Health and Disease

Supplemental material, sj-pdf-1-cjk-10.1177_20543581211029389 for Perioperative Outcomes Following Kidney-Pancreas Transplantation in Alberta, Canada: Research Letter by Danielle E. Fox, Robert R. Quinn, Paul E. Ronksley, Tyrone G. Harrison, Hude Quan, David Bigam, A. M. James Shapiro, Rachel Jeong and Ngan N. Lam in Canadian Journal of Kidney Health and Disease

Supplemental material, sj-pdf-1-cjk-10.1177_20543581211032846 for Association Between Attempted Arteriovenous Fistula Creation and Mortality in People Starting Hemodialysis via a Catheter: A Multicenter, Retrospective Cohort Study by Derek J. Roberts, Alix Clarke, Meghan Elliott, Kathryn King-Shier, Swapnil Hiremath, Matthew Oliver, Robert R. Quinn and Pietro Ravani in Canadian Journal of Kidney Health and Disease

A 13-year-old cat underwent an extensive caudal external hemipelvectomy to excise a soft tissue sarcoma affecting the left proximal thigh. The cranial tibial fascia was harvested from the ipsilateral limb following amputation and used as a free graft in the reconstruction of the resultant pelvic and abdominal wall defect. Wound healing was uncomplicated, and 6 months following surgery there was no evidence of tumor recurrence or loss of integrity of the abdominal wall or lateral rectal support. Key clinical message: The cranial tibial fascia appears to be an effective autograft tissue for reconstructive surgery and may be applicable for closure of extensive hemipelvectomy procedures performed for tumors affecting the femoral region.

A Hopkinson bar apparatus has been developed for the evaluation of hazardous materials which incorporates novel design features. Special considerations were made for the non-ambient testing requirement, with investigations into novel means of reducing the specimen cooling rate showing some promise but ultimately being rejected in favour of design alterations that enabled the rapid automation of the testing procedure. An ex-situ approach was taken, whereby the specimen was heated externally from the bars and then brought into contact with them a fraction of a second prior to test initiation. Specimen temperature homogeneity is investigated both numerically and experimentally. It is demonstrated that for small, conductive specimens, cooling can be effectively accounted for using a novel procedure. A validation study was completed in which identical copper specimens were evaluated on this new system and, using a more conventional in-situ heated Hopkinson bar apparatus at another laboratory, where the specimen and bars are heated together. Small differences in the measured flow stress at each laboratory were predominantly attributed to differing frictional conditions, loading pulse shapes and to some unusual variation in the strain rate throughout the test. This comparison demonstrates that the newly developed Hopkinson bar with unique capabilities for evaluating hazardous materials is effective and would be made more effective with minor design alterations which are being incorporated into a later prototype. After being fully validated, the newly developed procedures were employed to evaluate novel stainless steel 316L alloys across a range of strain rates and temperatures. Experimental data was used to calibrate some common constitutive models. Model calibration was achieved by determining the model coefficients individually using isolated data sets, and then using the determined values as an initial guess for optimising the models against the entire data set using a global optimisation algorithm. The accuracy of each model was quantified. Open Access

Supplemental material, RTx_Dual_Induction_-_Supplementary_Material_-_20200807 for Incidence, Risk Factors, and Outcomes of Kidney Transplant Recipients Treated With Both Basiliximab and Antithymocyte Globulin by Rachel Jeong, Robert R. Quinn, Krista L. Lentine, Pietro Ravani, Feng Ye, Patricia Campbell, Kevin Wen, Chris Broscheit, Sita Gourishankar and Ngan N. Lam in Canadian Journal of Kidney Health and Disease

Supplementary_Figure for Four steps to standardize reporting of peritoneal dialysis technique failure: A proposed approach by Alix Clarke, Pietro Ravani, Matthew J Oliver, Mohamed Mahsin, Ngan N Lam, Danielle E Fox, Elena Qirjazi, David R Ward, Jennifer M MacRae and Robert R Quinn in Peritoneal Dialysis International

PTD893813_supp_mat for Quantifying the risk of insertion-related peritoneal dialysis catheter complications following laparoscopic placement: Results from the North American PD Catheter Registry by Matthew J Oliver, Jeff Perl, Rory McQuillan, Peter G Blake, Arsh K Jain, Brendan McCormick, Robert Yang, James L Pirkle, Rachel B Fissell, Thomas A Golper, Jenny I Shen, Susie L Hu, Bethany Pellegrino, Scott E Liebman, Vinay N Krishna, Pietro Ravani, Alix Clarke and Robert R Quinn in Peritoneal Dialysis International

Supplemental material, RTx_GFR-Prot_Bleed-VTE_-_Appendix_-_20200608 for Graft Function, Albuminuria, and the Risk of Hemorrhage and Thrombosis After Kidney Transplantation by Rachel Jeong, Robert R. Quinn, Pietro Ravani, Feng Ye, Manish M. Sood, David Massicotte-Azarniouch, Marcello Tonelli, Brenda R. Hemmelgarn and Ngan N. Lam in Canadian Journal of Kidney Health and Disease

Recently, Quinn and Erb et al [1] made the case that when used correctly, correlation and proportionality can outperform MMvec when identifying microbe-metabolite interactions. We revisit this comparison and show that the proposed correlation and proportionality are outperformed by MMvec on real data due to their inability to deal with sparsity commonly observed in microbiome and metabolome datasets., bioRxiv

Half-Heuslers with vacancies that are stabilised by a semiconducting electron count offer new opportunities for discovering good thermoelectric performance. Here, we present a comparative study of AxCoSb half-Heuslers (A = V, Nb or Ta) with intrinsic vacancies. Structural analysis demonstrates that each system has a clear preference for a specific vacancy concentration, increasing from 13(1)% (V) to 15(1)% (Nb) and 17(1)% (Ta) with evidence for ~3% V/Co inversion. Hall measurements confirm the decreasing carrier concentration but also signal profound changes to the electronic bandstructure with decreasing density of states effective masses for heavier A elements. V0.87CoSb has an ultralow lattice thermal conductivity, κlat ~ 2.2 W m-1 K-1, which cannot be explained within the Callaway framework. Coupled to a promising power factor, S2/ρ = 2.25 mW m-1 K-2, this results in ZT = 0.6 at 950 K. Nb0.85CoSb has a power factor of S2/ρ = 2.75 mW m-1 K-2 with κ ~ 4.75 W m-1 K-1, yielding a similar ZT = 0.5 at 950 K. Ta0.81CoSb has a microstructure consisting of smaller grains than the other samples, impacting both the carrier and thermal transport, yielding a power factor S2/ρ = 0.75 mW m-1 K-2 and ZT = 0.3 at 950 K. The ultralow κlat for V0.87CoSb may be linked to porosity effects that do not impact on the charge transport, thus affording a new route towards improved performance.

Additional file 1. Supplemental figures and tables. Supplemental figures and tables referenced in the text.

Supplemental material, RTx_Macrolides_-_Appendix_-_20181231 for Outcomes Following Macrolide Use in Kidney Transplant Recipients by Rachel Jeong, Robert R. Quinn, Krista L. Lentine, Anita Lloyd, Pietro Ravani, Brenda Hemmelgarn, Branko Braam, Amit X. Garg, Kevin Wen, Anita Wong-Chan, Sita Gourishankar and Ngan N. Lam in Canadian Journal of Kidney Health and Disease

Corals and humans represent two extremely disparate metazoan lineages and are therefore useful for comparative evolutionary studies. Two lipid-based molecules that are central to human immunity, platelet-activating factor (PAF) and Lyso-PAF were recently identified in scleractinian corals. To identify processes in corals that involve these molecules, PAF and Lyso-PAF biosynthesis was quantified in conditions known to stimulate PAF production in mammals (tissue growth and exposure to elevated levels of ultraviolet light) and in conditions unique to corals (competing with neighbouring colonies over benthic space). Similar to observations in mammals, PAF production was higher in regions of active tissue growth and increased when corals were exposed to elevated levels of ultraviolet light. PAF production also increased when corals were attacked by the stinging cells of a neighbouring colony, though only the attacked coral exhibited an increase in PAF. This reaction was observed in adjacent areas of the colony, indicating that this response is coordinated across multiple polyps including those not directly subject to the stress. PAF and Lyso-PAF are involved in coral stress responses that are both shared with mammals and unique to the ecology of cnidarians.

The potential of the diverse chemistries present in natural products (NP) for biotechnology and medicine remains untapped because NP databases are not searchable with raw data and the NP community has no way to share data other than in published papers. Although mass spectrometry (MS) techniques are well-suited to high-throughput characterization of NP, there is a pressing need for an infrastructure to enable sharing and curation of data. We present Global Natural Products Social Molecular Networking (GNPS; http://gnps.ucsd.edu), an open-access knowledge base for community-wide organization and sharing of raw, processed or identified tandem mass (MS/MS) spectrometry data. In GNPS, crowdsourced curation of freely available community-wide reference MS libraries will underpin improved annotations. Data-driven social-networking should facilitate identification of spectra and foster collaborations. We also introduce the concept of 'living data' through continuous reanalysis of deposited data.

Holobionts are assemblages of microbial symbionts and their macrobial host. As extant representatives of some of the oldest macro-organisms, corals and algae are important for understanding how holobionts develop and interact with one another. Using untargeted metabolomics, we show that non-self interactions altered the coral metabolome more than self-interactions (i.e. different or same genus, respectively). Platelet activating factor (PAF) and Lyso-PAF, central inflammatory modulators in mammals, were major lipid components of the coral holobionts. When corals were damaged during competitive interactions with algae, PAF increased along with expression of the gene encoding Lyso-PAF acetyltransferase; the protein responsible for converting Lyso-PAF to PAF. This shows that self and non-self recognition among some of the oldest extant holobionts involve bioactive lipids identical to those in highly derived taxa like humans. This further strengthens the hypothesis that major players of the immune response evolved during the pre-Cambrian.

This article provides the scientific rationale and background information for the Canadian Hypertension Education Program’s 2012 recommendations for the management of hypertension. It also summarizes the key new recommendations and the theme for 2012, which is the prevention of hypertension. The full recommendations are available at www.hypertension.ca.

Background: Electronic personal health records (ePHRs) provide patients with access to their personal health information, aiming to inform them about their health, enhance self-management, and improve outcomes. Although they have been associated with improved health outcomes in several chronic diseases, the potential impact of ePHR use in chronic kidney disease (CKD) is unknown. Objectives: We sought to understand perceptions of CKD patients about ePHRs, and describe characteristics associated with their expressed intent to use an ePHR. Design: Self-administered paper based survey. Setting: The study was conducted in Calgary, Alberta, Canada at a multidisciplinary CKD clinic from November 2013 to January 2014. Participants: Patients with non-dialysis-dependent CKD. Measurements: Demographics, perceived benefits, and drawbacks of ePHRs were obtained. A univariate analysis was used to assess for an association with the expressed intention to use an ePHR. Methods: A patient survey was used to determine perceptions of ePHRs, and to identify factors that were associated with intention to use an ePHR. Results: Overall 63 patients with CKD (76.2 % male, 55.6 % ≥65 years old) completed the survey. The majority (69.8 %) expressed their intent to use an ePHR. CKD patients over the age of 65 were less likely to intend to use an ePHR as compared to those aged

Lower estimated glomerular filtration rate is associated with reduced life expectancy. Whether this association is modified by the presence or absence of albuminuria, another cardinal finding of chronic kidney disease, is unknown.Our objective was to estimate the life expectancy of middle-aged men and women with varying levels of eGFR and concomitant albuminuria.A retrospective cohort study.A large population-based cohort identified from the provincial laboratory registry in Alberta, Canada.Adults aged ≥30 years who had outpatient measures of serum creatinine and albuminuria between May 1, 2002 and March 31, 2008.Baseline levels of kidney function identified from serum creatinine and albuminuria measurements.all cause mortality during the follow-up.Patients were categorized based on their estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) (≥60, 45-59, 30-44, and 15-29 mL/min/1 · 73 m(2)) as well as albuminuria (normal, mild, and heavy) measured by albumin-to-creatinine ratio or urine dipstick. The abridged life table method was applied to calculate the life expectancies of men and women from age 40 to 80 years across combined eGFR and albuminuria categories. We also categorized participants by severity of kidney disease (low risk, moderately increased risk, high risk, and very high risk) using the combination of eGFR and albuminuria levels.Among men aged 50 years and with eGFR ≥60 mL/min/1.73 m(2), estimated life expectancy was 24.8 (95% CI: 24.6-25.0), 17.5 (95% CI: 17.1-17.9), and 13.5 (95% CI: 12.6-14.3) years for participants with normal, mild and heavy albuminuria respectively. Life expectancy for men with mild and heavy albuminuria was 7.3 (95% CI: 6.9-7.8) and 11.3 (95% CI: 10.5-12.2) years shorter than men with normal proteinuria, respectively. A reduction in life expectancy was associated with an increasing severity of kidney disease; 24.8 years for low risk (95% CI: 24.6-25.0), 19.1 years for moderately increased risk (95% CI: 18.7-19.5), 14.2 years for high risk (95% CI: 13.5-15.0), and 9.6 years for very high risk (95% CI: 8.4-10.8). Among women of similar age and kidney function, estimated life expectancy was 28.9 (95% CI: 28.7-29.1), 19.8 (95% CI: 19.2-20.3), and 14.8 (95% CI: 13.5-16.0) years for participants with normal, mild and heavy albuminuria respectively. Life expectancy for women with mild and heavy albuminuria was 9.1 (95% CI: 8.5-9.7) and 14.2 (95% CI: 12.9-15.4) years shorter than the women with normal proteinuria, respectively. For women also a graded reduction in life expectancy was observed across the increasing severity of kidney disease; 28.9 years for low risk (95% CI: 28.7-29.1), 22.5 years for moderately increased risk (95% CI: 22.0-22.9), 16.5 years for high risk (95% CI: 15.4-17.5), and 9.2 years for very high risk (95% CI: 7.8-10.7).Possible misclassification of long-term kidney function categories cannot be eliminated. Possibility of confounding due to concomitant comorbidities cannot be ruled out.The presence and degree of albuminuria was associated with lower estimated life expectancy for both gender and was especially notable in those with eGFR ≥30 mL/min/1.73 m(2). Life expectancy associated with a given level of eGFR differs substantially based on the presence and severity of albuminuria.La diminution du débit de la filtration glomérulaire est associée à la réduction de l’espérance de vie. Par contre, le rôle que joue un autre facteur important de la néphropathie chronique dans ce lien, soit la présence ou l’absence d’albuminurie, reste inconnu.Notre objectif était d’estimer l’espérance de vie d’hommes et de femmes d’âge moyen avec des mesures du débit de filtration glomérulaire estimé (eDFG) et de dosages d’albuminuries concomitantes.Étude rétrospective de cohortes.Une vaste cohorte de population provenant du registre du laboratoire provincial de l’Alberta, au Canada.Adultes âgés ≥ 30 ans ayant fait mesurer leurs concentrations de créatinine sérique et d’albumine urinaire en clinique externe entre le 1er mai 2002 et le 31 mars 2008.Variable prédictive: État de la fonction rénale à l’entrée de l’étude, telle qu’évaluée en fonction des dosages de créatinémie et d’albuminurie. Résultat: toute mortalité, quelle qu’en soit la cause, pendant le suivi.Les patients ont été classés en fonction de leur évaluation du débit de filtration glomérulaire estimé (eDFG) (60, 45–59, 30–44, et 15–29 mL/min/1,73 mParmi les hommes âgés de 50 ans qui avaient un eDFG ≥60 mL/min/1,73 m2, l’espérance de vie était estimée à 24,8 (95% CI: 24,6-25,0), 17,5 (95% CI: 17,1-17,9), et 13,5 (95% CI: 12,6-14,3) années pour les participants ayant des concentrations d’albuminurie normales, basses et élevées, respectivement. L’espérance de vie pour les hommes avec des concentrations d’albuminurie basses et élevées était écourtée de 7,3 (95% CI: 6,9-7,8) et de 11,3 (95% CI: 10,5-12,2) années, comparativement aux hommes ayant obtenu des concentrations de protéinurie normales. Une diminution de l’espérance de vie a été associée avec le degré de sévérité de la néphropathie: 24,8 ans pour un risque faible (95% CI: 24,6-25,0), 19,1 ans pour un risque modéré (95% CI: 18,7-19,5), 14,2 ans pour un risque élevé (95% CI: 13,5-15,0), et 9,6 ans pour un très haut risque (95% CI: 8,4-10,8). Parmi les femmes d’âge et d’état de la fonction rénale similaires, l’espérance de vie était estimée à 28,9 (95% CI: 28,7-29,1), 19,8 (95% CI: 19,2-20,3), et 14,8 (95% CI: 13,5-16,0) années pour les participantes ayant des concentrations d’albumine urinaire normales, basses et élevées, respectivement. L’espérance de vie pour les femmes avec des concentrations d’albuminurie basses et élevées était écourtée de 9,1 (95% CI: 8,5-9,7) et de 14,2 (95% CI: 12,9-15,4) années comparativement aux femmes obtenant des concentrations normales de protéinurie, respectivement. Pour les femmes, également, l’espérance de vie diminuait au fur et à mesure que le degré de sévérité de la néphropathie augmentait: de 28,9 ans pour celles à faible risque (95% CI: 28,7-29,1), de 22,5 ans pour celles à risque modéré (95% CI: 22,0-22,9), de 16,5 ans pour celles à risque élevé (95% CI: 15,4-17,5), et de 9,2 ans pour celles à très haut risque (95% CI: 7,8-10,7).Nous ne pouvons éliminer la possibilité d’une erreur lors du classement à partir de l’état de la fonction rénale. Les facteurs de confusion causés par une comorbidité concomitante ne peuvent, également, être complètement éliminés.La présence et la sévérité de l’albuminurie ont été associées avec une espérance de vie diminuée chez les participants des deux sexes et était particulièrement appréciable chez les sujets avec un DFG de ≥30 mL/min/1.73 m2. L’espérance de vie associée à un DFG donné variait considérablement selon la présence d’albuminurie et sa sévérité.

Article deposited according to agreement with BMC, December 6, 2010.

Background Administrative health care databases offer an efficient and accessible, though as-yet unvalidated, approach to studying outcomes of patients with chronic kidney disease and end-stage renal disease (ESRD). The objective of this study is to determine the validity of outpatient physician billing derived algorithms for defining chronic dialysis compared to a reference standard ESRD registry. Methods A cohort of incident dialysis patients (Jan. 1 - Dec. 31, 2008) and prevalent chronic dialysis patients (Jan 1, 2008) was selected from a geographically inclusive ESRD registry and administrative database. Four administrative data definitions were considered: at least 1 outpatient claim, at least 2 outpatient claims, at least 2 outpatient claims at least 90 days apart, and continuous outpatient claims at least 90 days apart with no gap in claims greater than 21 days. Measures of agreement of the four administrative data definitions were compared to a reference standard (ESRD registry). Basic patient characteristics are compared between all 5 patient groups. Results 1,118,097 individuals formed the overall population and 2,227 chronic dialysis patients were included in the ESRD registry. The three definitions requiring at least 2 outpatient claims resulted in kappa statistics between 0.60-0.80 indicating "substantial" agreement. "At least 1 outpatient claim" resulted in "excellent" agreement with a kappa statistic of 0.81. Conclusions Of the four definitions, the simplest (at least 1 outpatient claim) performed comparatively to other definitions. The limitations of this work are the billing codes used are developed in Canada, however, other countries use similar billing practices and thus the codes could easily be mapped to other systems. Our reference standard ESRD registry may not capture all dialysis patients resulting in some misclassification. The registry is linked to on-going care so this is likely to be minimal. The definition utilized will vary with the research objective.

This thesis is an investigation of the detection of 'Aeromonas salmonicida' using nested PCR-Denaturing Gradient Gel Electrophoresis (PCR-DGGE) in non-lethal fish mucus samples. The technique was compared to conventional non-lethal and lethal methods. 'A. salmonicida' was detected by all techniques. Detection of 'A. salmonicida' by DGGE was based on co-migrating bands and was verified by sequencing. The mean level of detection was highest with culture of mucus on Coomassie brilliant blue agar in the Chinook (71.67% ± 7.64) and PCR-DGGE (69.10 ± 1.29) for the coho salmon. Mucus based techniques had a statistically significant agreement for detection of 'A. salmonicida. Flavobacterium psychrophilum, F. branchiophilun' and 'Yersinia ruckeri' were not detected with PCR-DGGE. Bands often co-migrated to these pathogens, but their nucleotide sequences belonged to other bacteria. Seeding 'Y. ruckeri ' in mucus showed that PCR-DGGE could detect the pathogen. In an attempt to detect strain differences, the 16S-23S rRNA internal transcribed spacers of 'A. salmonicida' were fingerprinted using RFLP and DGGE. These techniques verify the clonal nature of the pathogen, but do show the capacity to differentiate various 'Aeromonas' spp.

An economic analysis was conducted of the Maissade Integrated Watershed Management Project in Haiti. This project, implemented by the Save the Children Federation, differs from conventional watershed management projects by investing heavily in the development of peasant organizations in order to gain voluntary and sustained adoption of soil conservation, forestry and community development innovations. Conventional projects have relied on monetary and commodity incentives in order to encourage technique adoption, and are widely viewed to have failed to achieve sustained watershed management. The goal of the economic analysis was to determine if a project representative of the new, participatory approach was economically efficient from donor and peasant perspectives. The aggregate project has a NPV of $336,600 at a 12% discount rate, a benefit-cost ratio of 1.5 and an economic rate of return of 19%. Analyzed separately, the hillside soil conservation component is economically efficient at the project level while the other components (forestry, ravine treatment and group investment) are not. Project value is most sensitive to changes in project outlay inputs and hillside treatment benefits. Both the aggregate project and all separate project components are economically efficient from the perspective of project participants, and all but the group investment component have internal rates of return exceeding 200%. Benefit-cost ratios vary from 2.5 to 30 for participation in the different project components. Investment in hillside soil conservation treatment yielded what was by far the greatest return. This analysis demonstrates that watershed management projects in Haiti which utilize peasant organization approaches can be economically efficient.

Thirty-two strains of group A hemolytic streptococci which could not be M typed with the available typing sera in Nashville, Tenn., were reinvestigated at the Streptococcus Reference Laboratory in Colindale, England, in order to estimate the efficacy of other antisera not available in Nashville and newer techniques (the opacity factor inhibition test) of typing strains not isolated in England. Fifty percent were eventually typed and all but four contained enough M protein to suggest that they would have been typed had the appropriate typing sera been available. The results indicate that group A streptococci truly lacking M protein were seldom isolated from the Nashville children from whom the streptococci were cultured. Several factors responsible for nontypability were considered, including the nonavailability of the necessary type-specific antisera and loss of M protein due to a change from Matt to glossy colonial types in the laboratory.

This study showed that streptococcal L forms could not be isolated from children who were either carriers of group A streptococci or had disease due to this pathogen. It was possible to induce L colony formation in 15 strains of group A. Streptococcal bacteriophages were demonstrated in 20% of group A streptococci isolated from school children who were carriers, but did not have clinical evidence of streptococcal disease, and from 44.9% of children whose physicians considered they had acute streptococcal upper respiratory infections. Lysogeny (bacteriophage) was demonstrated more frequently during 1969-70 when carrier rates were high and from children who had manifest streptococcal disease, suggesting a possible positive relationship between lysogeny, high carrier rates, and infection in the children studied. Lysogeny and erythrogenic toxin production by group A streptococci occurred simultaneously in approximately half of the strains of group A streptococci tested, suggesting that lysogeny is not a sine qua non for erythrogenic toxin production.

http://archive.org/details/radiationdamagei1094512936 U.S. Navy (U.S.N.) author.

á Supplementary methods. Description of mass spectrometry data processing (DOCX 23 kb)

Supplemental figures and legends. (DOCX 8840 kb)

Additional file 3. Review history.

Provider Interview Questions: a list of the interview questions included in the semi-structured healthcare provider interviews. (PDF 272 kb)

The potential of the diverse chemistries present in natural products (NP) for biotechnology and medicine remains untapped because NP databases are not searchable with raw data and the NP community has no way to share data other than in published papers. Although mass spectrometry techniques are well-suited to high-throughput characterization of natural products, there is a pressing need for an infrastructure to enable sharing and curation of data. We present Global Natural Products Social molecular networking (GNPS, http://gnps.ucsd.edu), an open-access knowledge base for community wide organization and sharing of raw, processed or identified tandem mass (MS/MS) spectrometry data. In GNPS crowdsourced curation of freely available community-wide reference MS libraries will underpin improved annotations. Data-driven social-networking should facilitate identification of spectra and foster collaborations. We also introduce the concept of ‘living data’ through continuous reanalysis of deposited data.

Patient and Provider Exemplary Quotes: expanded table of patient and healthcare quotations encompassing each described content category. (PDF 129 kb)

á Supplementary methods. Description of mass spectrometry data processing (DOCX 23 kb)