Blood immunophenotyping identifies distinct kidney histopathology and outcomes in patients with lupus nephritis.

Lupus nephritis (LN) is a frequent manifestation of systemic lupus erythematosus, and fewer than half of patients achieve complete renal response with standard immunosuppressants. Identifying non-invasive, blood-based pathologic immune alterations associated with renal injury could aid therapeutic decisions. Here, we used mass cytometry immunophenotyping of peripheral blood mononuclear cells in 145 patients with biopsy-proven LN and 40 healthy controls to evaluate the heterogeneity of immune activation in patients with LN and to identify correlates of renal parameters and treatment response.

Self-Paced Versus Instructor-Paced Preclinical Training in Operative Dentistry: A Case Study.

Preclinical operative dentistry courses have traditionally involved a lockstep series of live lectures and laboratory exercises. The aims of this study were to assess the effects of an experimental self-paced operative dentistry course on students' perceptions and performance and to compare performance outcomes for this class with the classes two years prior and two years after, which were instructed with the traditional curriculum. In 2013, all lectures in one of three operative dentistry courses at the University of Minnesota School of Dentistry were placed online as narrated slide sequences.

Preclinical Pharmacology in the Rhesus Monkey of CW 1759-50, a New Ultra-short Acting Nondepolarizing Neuromuscular Blocking Agent, Degraded and Antagonized by L-Cysteine.

What We Already Know About This Topic: WHAT THIS ARTICLE TELLS US THAT IS NEW: BACKGROUND:: Structure-activity studies were performed to identify a new neuromuscular blocking agent retaining the ultra-short acting characteristics of gantacurium, including degradation and reversal by L-cysteine, but lacking its histaminoid properties in man. CW 1759-50 has emerged from this program.

Methods: Adduction of CW 1759-50 with L-cysteine was studied by high-performance liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry.

Preclinical Pharmacology of CW002: A Nondepolarizing Neuromuscular Blocking Drug of Intermediate Duration, Degraded and Antagonized by l-cysteine-Additional Studies of Safety and Efficacy in the Anesthetized Rhesus Monkey and Cat.

Background: CW002, a novel nondepolarizing neuromuscular blocking agent of intermediate duration, is degraded in vitro by L-cysteine; CW002-induced neuromuscular blockade (NMB) is antagonized in vivo by exogenous L-cysteine. Further, Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee-approved studies of safety and efficacy in eight anesthetized monkeys and six cats are described.

Methods: Mean arterial pressure, heart rate, twitch, and train-of-four were recorded; estimated dose producing 95% twitch inhibition (ED95) for NMB and twitch recovery intervals from 5 to 95% of baseline were derived.

Seeking a way to promote the use of constructed wetlands for domestic wastewater treatment in developing countries.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the domestic wastewater treatment efficiency as well as the survivability of commercially valuable ornamental plants in subsurface flow wetlands (SSFW) for domestic wastewater (DWW) treatment in laboratory and pilot wetland studies. The laboratory scale study included five different species (Zantedeschia aethiopica, Strelitzia reginae, Anthurium andreanum, Canna hybrids and Hemmerocallis dumortieri) that were evaluated in horizontal flow subsurface treatment cells. All the plants survived during the 6-month experimental period demonstrating high wetland nutrient treatment efficiency.

Rapid chemical antagonism of neuromuscular blockade by L-cysteine adduction to and inactivation of the olefinic (double-bonded) isoquinolinium diester compounds gantacurium (AV430A), CW 002, and CW 011.

Background: The ultra-short-acting neuromuscular blocker gantacurium is chemically degraded in vitro by rapid adduction of L-cysteine to its central olefinic double bond. Preliminary data have suggested that exogenous (intravenous) L-cysteine abolishes gantacurium blockade. Two new analogues of gantacurium (CW 002 and CW 011) have been synthesized to undergo slower L-cysteine adduction, yielding intermediate duration.

Phosphorus sorption and potential phosphorus storage in sediments of Lake Istokpoga and the upper chain of lakes, Florida, USA.

Phosphorus (P) can be an important nutrient in regulating primary productivity in lakes. The ability of lake sediments to retain P from external sources depends on the physiochemical characteristics of the sediment. To assess the P dynamics in Lake Istokpoga and the upper chain of lakes that drain into Lake Okeechobee, Florida, USA, sorption properties of batch sediment samples for Lakes Tohopekaliga, Cypress, Hatchineha, Kissimmee, and Istokpoga were characterized under aerobic and anaerobic conditions.

Pharmaceutical compounds in wastewater: wetland treatment as a potential solution.

Pharmaceutical compounds are being released into the aquatic environment through wastewater discharge around the globe. While there is limited removal of these compounds within wastewater treatment plants, wetland treatment might prove to be an effective means to reduce the discharge of the compounds into the environment. Wetlands can promote removal of these pharmaceutical compounds through a number of mechanisms including photolysis, plant uptake, microbial degradation, and sorption to the soil.

Identification of four evolutionarily related G protein-coupled receptors from the malaria mosquito Anopheles gambiae.

The mosquito Anopheles gambiae is an important vector for malaria, which is one of the most serious human parasitic diseases in the world, causing up to 2.7 million deaths yearly. To contribute to our understanding of A.

Presence of nonylphenol ethoxylate surfactants in a watershed in central Mexico and removal from domestic sewage in a treatment wetland.

The Texcoco River in central Mexico is polluted with domestic wastewater as a result of discharges of untreated or inadequately treated sewage. Since nonylphenol ethoxylate (NPEO) surfactants and their intermediate degradation products such as nonylphenol (NP) and NP mono- and diethoxylate (NP1EO, NP2EO) have been found in domestic wastewater and in surface waters near wastewater discharges in industrialized countries, the Texcoco River was sampled to determine whether these compounds were present. The results indicated that NPEOs were present at very high concentrations (> 100 microg/L) in the lower reaches of the Texcoco River, but unlike rivers in industrialized countries, relatively low concentrations of intermediate degradation products, including NP1EO, NP2EO, and NP, were present.

WITHDRAWN: Identification of four evolutionarily related G-protein-coupled receptors from the malaria mosquito Anopheles gambiae.

Ahead of Print article withdrawn by publisher.

Molecular identification of a myosuppressin receptor from the malaria mosquito Anopheles gambiae.

The insect myosuppressins (X1DVX2HX3FLRFamide) are neuropeptides that generally block insect muscle activities. We have used the genomic sequence information from the malaria mosquito Anopheles gambiae Genome Project to clone a G protein-coupled receptor that was closely related to the two previously cloned and characterized myosuppressin receptors from Drosophila [Proc. Natl.

Recurrent acute otitis media associated meningitis in a patient with a contralateral cochlear implant and bilateral cochleovestibular dysplasia.

Objective: To illustrate that a patient with a cochlear implant may be at increased risk of meningitis secondary to developmental anatomic abnormality associated with the underlying sensorineural hearing loss, as opposed to the implant itself.

Methods: Case report.

Results: Our 12-year-old patient has bilateral cochlear dysplasia, profound sensorineural hearing loss and no prior history of recurrent acute otitis media or meningitis.

Preclinical pharmacology of GW280430A (AV430A) in the rhesus monkey and in the cat: a comparison with mivacurium.

Background: No replacement for succinylcholine is yet available. GW280430A (AV430A) is a representative of a new class of nondepolarizing neuromuscular blocking drugs called asymmetric mixed-onium chlorofumarates. It undergoes rapid degradation in plasma by chemical hydrolysis and inactivation by cysteine adduction, resulting in a very short duration of effect.

Clinical pharmacology of GW280430A in humans.

Background: An ultrashort-acting nondepolarizing neuromuscular blocking agent that could be an alternative to succinylcholine has been the focus of a concerted effort in the field of muscle relaxants. GW280430A showed a promising pharmacodynamic profile in preclinical work and a wide margin of safety and so was selected for study in humans.

Methods: Thirty-one volunteers participated in this study, which determined the dose producing 95% block (ED95) and the safety and pharmacodynamics of increasing ED95 multiples.

Effect of prosthetic material on adhesion formation after laparoscopic ventral hernia repair in a porcine model.

Intraperitoneal placement of prosthetic mesh causes adhesion formation after laparoscopic incisional hernia repair. A prosthesis that prevents or reduces adhesion formation is desirable. In this study, 21 pigs were randomized to receive laparoscopic placement of plain polypropylene mesh (PPM), expanded polytetrafluoroethylene (ePTFE), or polypropylene coated on one side with a bioresorbable adhesion barrier (PPM/HA/CMC).

Edrophonium effectively antagonizes neuromuscular block at the laryngeal adductors induced by rapacuronium, rocuronium and cisatracurium, but not mivacurium.

Purpose: To examine the efficacy of antagonism of rapacuronium-, mivacurium-, rocuronium- and cisatracurium-induced neuromuscular block at the laryngeal adductors (LA).

Methods: One hundred four patients were randomly assigned to one of eight study groups. They either received rapacuronium 1.

Neuromuscular blocking activity and therapeutic potential of mixed-tetrahydroisoquinolinium halofumarates and halosuccinates in rhesus monkeys.

Structure-activity relationships in rhesus monkeys for a novel mixed-onium class of ultra-short-acting nondepolarizing tetrahydroisoquinolinium neuromuscular blockers (NMBs) are described. Bis-onium chlorofumarate 20a with (1R,2S)-benzyltetrahydroisoquinolinium groups was a potent lead compound (ED(95) = 0.079 mg/kg) with an ultra-short duration of NMB effect (7.

Hand-assisted laparoscopic splenectomy for giant spleens.

Background: Laparoscopic splenectomy for massive splenomegaly is technically difficult, and the morcellated splenic tissue may be inadequate for histologic study. A hand-assisted technique may provide a technical advantage and allow removal of larger pieces of spleen.

Methods: Patients who underwent hand-assisted laparoscopic splenectomy for massive splenomegaly were reviewed.

Interference of nontypeable Haemophilus influenzae and Moraxella catarrhalis by Streptococcus oralis in adenoid organ culture: a possible strategy for the treatment of the otitis-prone child.

The role of viridans group streptococci (Streptococcus oralis) in the prevention of colonization with nontypeable Haemophilus influenzae and Moraxella catarrhalis was investigated in an adenoid organ culture system. The adenoids from 100 patients who were undergoing adenoidectomy for either hypertrophy or recurrent otitis media were used. Streptococcus oralis Parker uniformly inhibited colonization with nontypeable H.

Results of laparoscopically assisted colon resection for carcinoma.

Background: Surgical resection is the primary treatment for colorectal carcinoma. Laparoscopically assisted colon resection technically is feasible for both benign and malignant disease. However, the role of laparoscopically assisted colon resection for carcinoma is controversial.