Characterising recovery from renal transplantation and live-related donation using cardiopulmonary exercise testing.

Background: An association between end-stage renal failure and exercise intolerance exists. Whether live kidney donation impacts on exercise tolerance is unknown. Here recovery post renal transplant and donation using cardiopulmonary exercise testing is investigated.

Cardiopulmonary reserve as determined by cardiopulmonary exercise testing correlates with length of stay and predicts complications after radical cystectomy.

Objective: To investigate whether poor preoperative cardiopulmonary reserve and comorbid state dictate high-risk status and can predict complications in patients undergoing radical cystectomy (RC).

Patients And Methods: In all, 105 consecutive patients with transitional cell carcinoma (TCC; stage T1-T3) undergoing robot-assisted (38 patients) or open (67) RC in a single UK centre underwent preoperative cardiopulmonary exercise testing (CPET). Prospective primary outcome variables were all-cause complications and postoperative length of stay (LOS).

A bioluminescent microbial biosensor for in vitro pretreatment assessment of cytarabine efficacy in leukemia.

Background: The nucleoside analog cytarabine (Ara-C [cytosine arabinoside]) is the key agent for treating acute myeloid leukemia (AML); however, up to 30% of patients fail to respond to treatment. Screening of patient blood samples to determine drug response before commencement of treatment is needed. This project aimed to construct and evaluate a self-bioluminescent reporter strain of Escherichia coli for use as an Ara-C biosensor and to design an in vitro assay to predict Ara-C response in clinical samples.