Palliative Sedation via Intraosseous Vascular Access: A Safe and Feasible Way to Obtain a Vascular Access End of Life.

Intraosseous (IO) access is normally reserved for emergencies and critical care conditions when venous cannulation is not possible. Nonetheless, we present a case of IO insertion to a 56-year-old man, tetraplegic for many years due to progressive spinal muscular atrophy and with refractory suffering. The IO access was used for palliative sedation with propofol in a home care setting.

β-cell function and metabolic control in latent autoimmune diabetes in adults with early insulin versus conventional treatment: a 3-year follow-up.

Objectives: The optimal treatment of latent autoimmune diabetes in adults (LADA) is not established. We explored whether early insulin treatment, which has shown beneficial effects in rodents and in human pilot studies, would result in better preservation of β-cell function or metabolic control, compared with conventional treatment.

Subjects And Methods: Glucagon-stimulated C-peptide and HbAlc were evaluated at baseline and after 12, 24 and 36 months in 37 patients recently diagnosed with diabetes, aged ≥ 30 years, non-insulin-requiring and GADAb and/or ICA positive.

IgG4-subclass of glutamic acid decarboxylase antibody is more frequent in latent autoimmune diabetes in adults than in type 1 diabetes.

Aims/hypothesis: Glutamic acid decarboxylase autoantibodies (GADA) are the most frequent beta-cell-specific autoantibodies in type 1 diabetes and in latent autoimmune diabetes in adults (LADA). The autoimmune attack on pancreatic islet cells is associated with a T helper 1 cell (T(h)1) response, mainly represented by IgG(1)-subclass in humans. It has been proposed that the presence of IgG(4) may be associated with a T(h)2 response.

Growth and dry-matter partitioning of young Populus trichocarpa in response to carbon dioxide concentration and mineral nutrient availability.

Young individuals of a single black cottonwood (Populus trichocarpa Torr. & Gray) clone were raised for three growing seasons in whole-tree chambers and exposed to either ambient or elevated atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration ([CO2]), with either a high or a low mineral nutrient supply, in a factorial experimental design. Nutrient availability had a larger effect on growth and dry matter partitioning than did [CO2].

Respiration as the main determinant of carbon balance in European forests.

Carbon exchange between the terrestrial biosphere and the atmosphere is one of the key processes that need to be assessed in the context of the Kyoto Protocol. Several studies suggest that the terrestrial biosphere is gaining carbon, but these estimates are obtained primarily by indirect methods, and the factors that control terrestrial carbon exchange, its magnitude and primary locations, are under debate. Here we present data of net ecosystem carbon exchange, collected between 1996 and 1998 from 15 European forests, which confirm that many European forest ecosystems act as carbon sinks.