Evaluation of renal injury and function biomarkers, including symmetric dimethylarginine (SDMA), in the rat passive Heymann nephritis (PHN) model.

Symmetric dimethylarginine (SDMA) is a serum biomarker of excretory renal function which consistently correlates with glomerular filtration rate (GFR) across multiple species including rats, dogs, and humans. In human and veterinary clinical settings SDMA demonstrates enhanced sensitivity for detection of declining renal function as compared to other serum biomarkers, but application in preclinical study designs thus far has been limited. The purpose of this study was to determine the performance of serum SDMA in a rat passive Heyman nephritis model of glomerulopathy.

Evaluation of Renal Biomarkers, Including Symmetric Dimethylarginine, following Gentamicin-Induced Proximal Tubular Injury in the Rat.

Symmetric dimethylarginine (SDMA) is an excretory renal function biomarker shown to correlate well with glomerular filtration rate in dogs, cats, humans, and rats. The objectives of this study were to determine utility of serum SDMA as a renal biomarker in a rat model of gentamicin-induced renal injury and to provide validation of a commercially available SDMA immunoassay for rat serum. Rats were randomly assigned to one of three dose levels of gentamicin (20, 50, or 100 mg/kg) or a vehicle control group and dosed once daily by subcutaneous injection for either four or ten days.

Symmetric dimethylarginine and creatinine concentrations in serum of healthy draft horses.

Background: Symmetric dimethylarginine (SDMA) is considered a more sensitive indirect estimate of glomerular filtration rate (GFR) than creatinine (Cr). Symmetric dimethylarginine is not affected by sex or muscle mass in small animals.

Objectives: To validate a commercial SDMA immunoassay (IA) for equine serum; to compare SDMA and Cr in cohorts of draft horse breeds; and to assess effects of age, sex, and breed.

Comparative performance of IDEXX SDMA Test and the DLD SDMA ELISA for the measurement of SDMA in canine and feline serum.

Kidney disease is common in companion animals, and traditionally diagnosed with serum creatinine concentration (sCr), blood urea nitrogen, and abnormal urinalysis findings. Symmetric dimethylarginine (SDMA) is a novel kidney biomarker that reflects glomerular filtration rate, increasing earlier than sCr with acute kidney injury and chronic kidney disease. This prospective study compared accuracy and precision of two commercial SDMA assays, the IDEXX SDMA Test and the DLD SDMA ELISA, relative to the established reference method, liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry (LC-MS).

RETROSPECTIVE ANALYSIS AND VALIDATION OF SERUM SYMMETRIC DIMETHYLARGININE (SDMA) CONCENTRATIONS IN CHEETAHS ( ACINONYX JUBATUS).

Kidney disease is common among captive cheetahs ( Acinonyx jubatus). Serum creatinine is the most common measurement to estimate glomerular filtration rate (GFR) because of the ease of its clinical use, but it is a crude estimate that only increases after significant disease is already present and is affected by extrarenal factors. Symmetric dimethylarginine (SDMA) is a renal biomarker in humans, dogs, and cats that correlates with serum creatinine and GFR and appears to be an earlier and more specific biomarker for kidney disease.

Local electronic structure of dicarba-closo-dodecarboranes C2B10H12.

We report nonresonant inelastic X-ray scattering (NRIXS) measurement of core-shell excitations from both B 1s and C 1s initial states in all three isomers of the dicarba-closo-dodecarboranes C2B10H12. First, these data yield an experimental determination of the angular-momentum-projected final local density of states (l-DOS). We find low-energy resonances with distinctive local s- or p-type character, providing a more complete experimental characterization of bond hybridization than is available from dipole-transition limited techniques, such as X-ray absorption spectroscopies.

End-to-end stacking and liquid crystal condensation of 6 to 20 base pair DNA duplexes.

Short complementary B-form DNA oligomers, 6 to 20 base pairs in length, are found to exhibit nematic and columnar liquid crystal phases, even though such duplexes lack the shape anisotropy required for liquid crystal ordering. Structural study shows that these phases are produced by the end-to-end adhesion and consequent stacking of the duplex oligomers into polydisperse anisotropic rod-shaped aggregates, which can order into liquid crystals. Upon cooling mixed solutions of short DNA oligomers, in which only a small fraction of the DNA present is complementary, the duplex-forming oligomers phase-separate into liquid crystal droplets, leaving the unpaired single strands in isotropic solution.

Age-related incidence curve of hospitalized Shaken Baby Syndrome cases: convergent evidence for crying as a trigger to shaking.

Objective: To determine whether there is an age-specific incidence of hospitalized cases of Shaken Baby Syndrome (SBS) that has similar properties to the previously reported "normal crying curve," as a form of indirect evidence that crying is an important stimulus for SBS.

Design And Setting: The study analyzed cases of Shaken Baby Syndrome by age at hospitalization from hospital discharge data for California hospitals from October 1996 through December 2000.

Patients: All cases of children less than 18 months (78 weeks) of age for whom the diagnostic code for Shaken Baby Syndrome (995.

Zinc and mechanical prowess in the jaws of Nereis, a marine worm.

Higher animals typically rely on calcification to harden certain tissues such as bones and teeth. Some notable exceptions can be found in invertebrates: The fangs, teeth, and mandibles of diverse arthropod species have been reported to contain high levels of zinc. Considerable quantities of zinc also occur in the jaws of the marine polychaete worm Nereis sp.

Direct determination of epitaxial interface structure in Gd2O3 passivation of GaAs.

Obtaining accurate structural information on epitaxial films and interfaces is nowhere more critical than in semiconductor passivation layers, where details of the atomic structure and bonding determine the nature of the interface electronic states. Various non-destructive methods have been used to investigate the structure of films and interfaces, but their interpretation is model-dependent, leading occasionally to wrong conclusions. We have developed a new X-ray method for the direct determination of epitaxial structures, coherent Bragg rod analysis (COBRA).

Direct separation of short range order in intermixed nanocrystalline and amorphous phases.

Diffraction anomalous fine-structure (DAFS) and extended x-ray absorption fine-structure (EXAFS) measurements were combined to determine short range order (SRO) about a single atomic type in a sample of mixed amorphous and nanocrystalline phases of germanium. EXAFS yields information about the SRO of all Ge atoms in the sample, while DAFS determines the SRO of only the ordered fraction. We determine that the first-shell distance distribution is bimodal; the nanocrystalline distance is the same as the bulk crystal, to within 0.