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Tal Levinson,1– 3 Shani Shenhar-Tsarfaty,1,4 Ayelet Grupper,1,5,6 Tamar Witztum,1,7 Shlomo Berliner,1,8 Moshe Shtark1,9 1Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel; 2Infectious Diseases Unit, Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center, Tel Aviv, Israel; 3Department of Internal Medicine H, Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center, Tel Aviv, Israel; 4Department of Internal Medicine C, Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center, Tel Aviv, Israel; 5Department of Nephrology, Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center, Tel Aviv, Israel; 6Organ Transplantation Unit, Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center, Tel Aviv, Israel; 7Department of Internal Medicine D, Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center, Tel Aviv, Israel; 8Department of Internal Medicine E, Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center, Tel Aviv, Israel; 9Clinical Laboratory Services, Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center, Tel Aviv, IsraelCorrespondence: Tal Levinson, Infectious Diseases Unit, Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center, Weizmann 6, Tel Aviv, Israel, 6423906, Tel +972-3-6973705, Fax +972-3-6974988, Email tallevinson32@yahoo.comBackground: Acute kidney injury associated with the underlying inflammatory process of an acute bacterial infection affects patient morbidity and mortality. Clinicians use creatinine and estimated glomerular filtration rate (EGFR) to assess this renal injury, however, these measures may lag behind and change only once significant kidney injury has occurred. Neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (NGAL) is up-regulated by inflammation and infection and may serve as an early detection biomarker of kidney injury.Methods: Patients hospitalized with bacterial infections were assessed demographically, clinically and had their creatinine levels, EGFR and inflammatory biomarker levels, including urinary NGAL measured. Findings were compared between controls and patients across different EGFRs.Results: Fifty-one participants were included in the study. Among this cohort, 31 suffered bacterial infection. Inflammatory biomarkers including urinary NGAL were found to be higher in the infection group compared to the control group. Urinary NGAL level was significantly higher across all EGFRs of patients diagnosed with infection, including those with normal EGFR.Conclusion: Urinary NGAL identifies early kidney damage associated with bacterial infection even at normal EGFR and alerts the treating physician to undertake the necessary measures to mitigate the renal injury.Keywords: acute kidney injury, bacterial infection, estimated glomerular filtration rate, inflammation, urinary NGAL

Udi Shapira,1 Mor Krubiner,1 Michal Ehrenwald,1 Itzhak Shapira,1 David Zeltser,1 Shlomo Berliner,1 Ori Rogowski,1 Shani Shenhar-Tsarfaty,1 Amir Bar-Shai2 1Department of Internal Medicine C, D and E, Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center and Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel; 2Division of Pulmonary Medicine, Barzilai Medical Center, Faculty of Health Sciences, Ben-Gurion University, Ashkelon, Israel Background: While chronic respiratory diseases are among the leading causes of mortality and morbidity worldwide, little is known about the effect of blood eosinophil levels on lung function trajectories among healthy individuals.Methods: We analyzed data of apparently healthy individuals (n=18,089) recruited for the Tel Aviv Medical Center Inflammation Survey. Blood eosinophil levels were compared between participants with normal and those with abnormal lung function. Multivariate regression was used to assess the OR of forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1) deterioration according to baseline eosinophils in subjects with normal lung function (n=4,141) during a follow-up period of 4 years.Results: Participants with an abnormal, as opposed to a normal, pulmonary function test (PFT) (n=1,832, 10.1%) had significantly higher eosinophil levels, expressed as a percentage or count (2.99%±2.00% compared to 2.67%±1.88% and 0.2210e3/µL±0.163/µL compared to 0.1810e3/µL±0.183/µL, respectively; P

Previous studies have documented the presence of increased red blood cell aggregability in patients with ischemic heart and brain diseases. We adapted a simple slide technique and image analysis to reveal the state of erythrocyte adhesiveness/aggregation (EAA) in the peripheral blood of 206 such patients and in 174 controls. A significant (P

In this technical note, results are presented from a series of laboratory experiments involving the enhancement of hydraulic conductivity of clayey sands using ultrasonic excitation. An increase in hydraulic conductivity was observed in all the tests with a maximum being reached after about 8 to 10 min of excitation. Grain-size distribution analyses of the soils conducted before and after ultrasonic treatment indicated that particles smaller than 0.04 mm were mobilized by ultrasonics, and that particles in the size range of 0.04 mm to 1 mm were subjected to fracturing. Some practical implications of these results are discussed in terms of technical and economic feasibility of in situ implementation of ultrasonics.