Search

Introduction Given the success of paediatric transplantation, there is now a growing population of patients that undergo transition from paediatric to adult healthcare services. In the renal transplant setting, these patients appear to be at increased risk of short-term graft loss. 1 However, the outcome of liver transplant patients who undergo transition remains unclear. Our aim was, therefore, to examine the patient and graft survival of liver transplant patients who undergo paediatric to adult healthcare transition. Methods Single-centre retrospective study of 85 liver transplant recipients who underwent transition from paediatric to adult healthcare services between March 2001 and August 2011 (median follow-up time from transition 4.1 (range 0.2–10.7) years). Results During the 10-year period, there were 48 (56.5%) males and 37 (43.5%) females. The median age at time of transplant was 8.4 (range 0.6–17.9) years. The initial indications for transplantation were: biliary atresia (27.1%), Wilson9s (14.1%), other acute liver failure (11.8%), cystic fibrosis (9.4%), autoimmune hepatitis (8.2%), cryptogenic cirrhosis (4.7%), oxalosis (4.7%), other (20.0%). At the time of transition, the median age of the patients was 18.9 (range 16.6–23.1) years. 84.7% of patients were on their first graft, 12.9% were on their second and 2.4% were on their third at this point. The immunosuppression at transition was calcineurin inhibitor (CNI) monotherapy in 38.2%, a CNI combination regimen in 20.6%, and a CNI free regimen in 41.2%. Following transition, the estimated 1-, 5- and 10-year patient survival was 98.6%, 96.8% and 91.4%, respectively, and the estimated 1-, 5- and 10-year graft survival was 98.6%, 95.0% and 89.4%. Conclusion Our results demonstrate that paediatric liver transplant recipients have a better outcome than previously reported in renal transplant recipients after transition. 1 This may suggest that this group of patients are more tolerant of their graft or that transition was adequately managed. Competing interests None declared. Reference 1. Watson AR . Non-compliance and transfer from paediatric to adult transplant unit. Pediatr Nephrol 2000; 14 :469–72.

Ten soil profiles were selected from the major soil bodies under development for irrigated agriculture in Western Kern County for examination of properties and soil-forming processes in relation to crop capability and pretreatment needs. The soils were carefully examined in the field and sampled by genetic horizons for detailed examination of chemical-mineralogy properties. Unusually high amounts of salinity, alkali, and boron were found in subsurface horizons of practically all soils. Saturation extracts of some soils contained also unusually large concentrations of copper, iron, molybdenum, zinc, lithium, and selenium. The clays were found to be almost exclusively montmorillonitic. All soils contained lime and gypsum. Boron sorption-desorption characteristics were associated with hydroxy iron compounds rather than with aluminum. The relation between sorbed and soluble boron was adequately described mathematically with a Langmuir isotherm equation.

A large computer and multivariate statistics were used to select a minimal number of soil properties with the greatest prediction value for use in soil classification. Key communality cluster analysis and principal axis factor analysis with Varimax rotation were applied to six sets of soil data containing from 21 to 66 profile characteristics. The analyses selected from four to seven factors or dimensions which were highly independent of each other and contained from two to four highly correlated soil properties. These factors accounted for 100% of the communality and 90% of the raw variance in all properties used in each set. In spite of the diversity of the soils (220 and 620 California, 59 and 86 World, and 148 Ohio soils) the same factors appeared repeatedly; i.e., properties related to reaction, hue and chroma, texture, color value and mottling, and profile differentiation in five analyses and solum thickness in four. Composite factor scores computed for each soil were also used for Numerical Taxonomy. The groupings formed were sufficiently similar to those of the New Classification System of the USDA to suggest that these methods may be very useful in soil classification. The use of these methods for the development of a coordinate system of soil classification is discussed.

The purpose of this paper is to establish principles for determining the quantitative relationships between climate and plant growth. It is known that the amount of dry matter produced by any plant and the water it transpires are proportional, and that this relation is constant for each plant species or variety under a given set of growing conditions. Using the experimental data of earlier workers, dry-matter production is plotted against water use—separately for each level of soil fertility—and equations are formulated to show the relationships under different conditions. This new analysis of the published data shows that a correction based on atmospheric humidity accounts for about 90 per cent of the variation in the ratio of dry-matter production to transpiration when soil fertility is constant, and that a correction for soil fertility accounts for about 75 per cent of the variation when climate is constant. These principles are applied to the interpretation of field experiments dealing with water use by plants. They may be useful in determining the most advantageous allocation of limited amounts of irrigation water in different climatic regions, and in many other ways.

Potential evaporation, ETp, can readily be calculated from monthly mean temperatures by means of tables and nomograms now available in the literature. Actual evapotranspiration, ETa, is calculated from ETp by taking precipitation and the water-holding capacity of the soil into account. Either value can be calculated for the whole year (ETp or ETa) if frost-tolerant plants are under consideration; or for the frost-free period (ETp 32° or ETa 32°) if frost-sensitive plants are under consideration. All four values—ETp, ETa, ETp 32°, and ETa 32°—were calculated for 211 California stations and for 27 Nevada and Oregon stations near California. Plotting these values for 25 stations along a traverse through central California and western Nevada reveals great differences from coast to inland stations, and from low to high altitudes. Comparison of the values with natural vegetation and with crops in the different regions indicates that the values are useful as indexes of expected growth of cultivated crops, range, and forest. ETp values are useful if moisture is not limiting, as in humid climates or where irrigation water is available; ETa values are useful for predicting the suitability of a climate for dry-farmed crops, estimating the potential for increased growth obtainable by irrigation, and for more precise studies of the effects of climate on natural vegetation. The indexes, used together, can be helpful in crop selection and other soil-management decisions. Isograms of the four ET values, based on all California stations and plotted on maps of the state, furnish much information about those climatic limitations on plant growth that involve moisture and temperature relations.

One hundred ninety-five soil horizons from 50 benchmark soil profiles in California were analyzed for total aluminum, magnesium, manganese, nickel, cobalt, copper, iron, molybdenum, and zinc by acid decomposition, resin column separation, and colorimetric methods. Half of the soil series contain low and possibly deficient levels of one or more of the following essential elements: cobalt, copper, molybdenum, manganese, and zinc. Four soil series profiles identified with alkali basins contain relatively high, and probably toxic, levels of molybdenum. Statistical analyses of the data show that soil series can be grouped on the basis of horizon development, differences between soil profiles or parent material and stratification, or combinations of these controlling influences. In most soils, two distinct groups of elements occur that are negatively correlated between groups and highly correlated positively within groups. Elements which appear most frequently in the same groups together are cobalt, copper, iron, magnesium, and often zinc. Molybdenum is generally negatively correlated with this group of elements.

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses the objectives and problems of soil classification. The classification of soil is done to understand the relationships among soils. It is assumed that soils fall into natural clusters or groups that can then be ordered into a classification. The chapter discusses the numerical taxonomy or cluster analysis of soils. Numerical taxonomy is the grouping by numerical methods of taxonomic units into taxa based on their character states. An approach is discussed for the examination of taxonomic structure—that is, ordination, which is normally used when the distribution of individuals in n-space tends to be continuous rather than in distinct clusters. Two kinds of ordination have been used in soil studies: Q-type ordination and R-type ordination. The chapter presents three statistical methods for comparing soil classification, including cophenetic correlation, coefficient of association, and Wilk's criterion. Cluster analysis of soils is a most effective means of classifying soils when the number of distinct soils or soil groups is limited as within a relatively small land area.