Development of a Novel Intraperitoneal Icodextrin/Dextrose Solution for Enhanced Sodium Removal.

Rationale & Objective: Peritoneal dialysis (PD) solutions provide both clearance of uremic toxins and sodium and water. An intraperitoneal (IP) solution of icodextrin and glucose designed without the requirement for uremic toxin clearance could provide substantially greater sodium and water removal than PD solutions.

Study Design: We examined varying concentrations of icodextrin and dextrose IP solutions in rats.

Perceived intrinsic 3D shape of faces is robust to changes in lighting direction, image rotation and polarity inversion.

Face recognition from 2D images is influenced by various factors, including lighting conditions, viewing direction, rotation, and polarity inversion. It has been proposed that these techniques affect face recognition by distorting shape from shading. This study investigates the perception of 3D face shape in 2D images using a gauge figure task.

Directed conservation of the world's reef sharks and rays.

Many shark populations are in decline around the world, with severe ecological and economic consequences. Fisheries management and marine protected areas (MPAs) have both been heralded as solutions. However, the effectiveness of MPAs alone is questionable, particularly for globally threatened sharks and rays ('elasmobranchs'), with little known about how fisheries management and MPAs interact to conserve these species.

Assessment of CD8 T-cell mediated immunity in an influenza A(H3N2) human challenge model in Belgium: a single centre, randomised, double-blind phase 2 study.

Background: Protection afforded by inactivated influenza vaccines can theoretically be improved by inducing T-cell responses to conserved internal influenza A antigens. We assessed whether, in an influenza controlled human infection challenge, susceptible individuals receiving a vaccine boosting T-cell responses would exhibit lower viral load and decreased symptoms compared with placebo recipients.

Methods: In this single centre, randomised, double-blind phase 2 study, healthy adult (aged 18-55 years) volunteers with microneutralisation titres of less than 20 to the influenza A(H3N2) challenge strain were enrolled at an SGS quarantine facility in Antwerp, Belgium.