Intense Maintenance Research Articles

A systematic review of resprouting in woody plants and potential implications for the management of urban plantings.

Naturalistic plantings, such as meadow-style plantings, can improve the quality of urban green spaces through aesthetic, biodiversity and low maintenance features. Species selection for, and maintenance of naturalistic plantings are key to their success. While herbaceous and grassy meadows can be mowed, naturalistic plantings with woody plants require more intense maintenance to remove biomass and promote resprouting. We aim to understand woody plant responses to diverse disturbance regimes to potentially inform the selection and management of woody species in urban plantings. We conducted a quantitative systematic literature review of 72 papers and investigated what main external (climate, disturbance regime) and internal (buds, life stage, storage reserves) factors influence the resprouting response of woody plants. We found resprouting literature is geographically widespread for woody plants, but studies are skewed towards Temperate climates in USA and Australia, with a focus on high severity and high frequency fire disturbance. Resprouting response was mostly defined as a continuous response to disturbance dependent on disturbance regime, climate and plant traits. Maintenance and management of naturalistic woody plantings, through hard pruning techniques such as coppicing, may be informed by analogous high severity and high frequency disturbance studies. However, the literature on woody plant resprouting has several knowledge gaps for lower severity and lower frequency disturbance regimes and in more arid climates. Future research should evaluate the response of naturalistic woody plantings to disturbance in specific urban contexts.

Effects of Dose Reductions of Lenalidomide Given As Maintenance Following Autologous Stem Cell Transplant in Patients with Multiple Myeloma

INTRODUCTION Lenalidomide (len) maintenance has been considered the standard of care treatment following an autologous stem cell transplantation(autoSCT) for patients (pts) with newly diagnosed multiple myeloma (MM). Len doses of up to 15 mg are used in this setting, however in clinical practice patients may experience a variety of side effects including neutropenia, infections, diarrhea, rash, or secondary malignancies, which may impact the quality of life and potentially lead to discontinuation of therapy. In this retrospective analysis, we aim to evaluate the effects of len dose reductions on progression-free survival (PFS), overall survival (OS), and other outcome measures in a post-autoSCT maintenance setting using the multiple myeloma database at our center. METHODS We reviewed patients' clinical and demographic characteristics including age and R-ISS stage at diagnosis and IMWG response after autoSCT. We included patients diagnosed with MM between 01/01/2010 to 02/28/2022. We compared pts receiving a full dose (15 mg/day) of len (control group) versus those requiring dose reductions or receiving lower doses to begin with (dose reduction group). The primary end-point was PFS, secondary end-points included OS, reasons for dose reduction, correlation with initial and follow-up disease parameters, and long-term toxicities. Demographic and clinical characteristics were summarized by cohort and compared using Mann-Whitney U and Fisher's exact tests. The PFS at (6 months and one year) and OS were summarized by cohort using Kaplan-Meier methods. Multivariate Cox regression analysis was completed adjusting for age, stage at diagnosis, prior response, full versus reduced len doses, and duration of treatment. Analyses were performed using SAS v9.4 at a significance level of 0.05. RESULTS The mean age at diagnosis was 61 and matched between groups. The median follow-up time in months was 52.9 months (range: 2.8-140.2 months). A total of 66% (134/203) of patients had lower doses than 15mg, while 34% (69/203) were maintained at 15mg of len. For the control group, 20% (n=14) had RISS I, 48% (n=33) II, and 13% (n=9) III, at the time of diagnosis, respectively; for the dose reduction group, and 38% (n=37) stage I, 39% (n=51) stage II, and 9% (n=12) stage III (remainder unknown) for the control group. These differences were not statistically significant (p=0.35). In the control group, 49% (n=33) pts had achieved CR prior to initiation of maintenance compared to 65% (n = 86) in the dose reduction group which was borderline statistically significantly different (p=0.06). Achieving CR before maintenance before maintenance was prognostically beneficial (p<0.001). The most common reason for discontinuation of len, was progression in both groups (control group 84% (n=31), dose reduction group. 41% (n=29)). This was however still statistically significantly different between the 2 groups (p<0.01). The most common reasons for dose reductions in the respective group were neutropenia (56.8%, n= 75), neuropathy (12%, n=15), and rash (9%, n=12). The duration of treatment in the control group and the dose reduction group was 24 months and 30 months respectively (p=0.113). Surprisingly, there was a statistically significant better PFS (p<0.001) and OS (p=0.003) for patients who received len at a reduced dose (figure 1 and 2). However, when adjusted for prior response using Multivariate cox regression analysis, there was no statistically significant difference in outcome between the 2 groups. CONCLUSION This retrospective analysis shows that dose reduction of len did not lead to worse PFS or OS, especially in those who achieved CR prior to maintenance. According to our data for those who fail to achieve a CR post autoSCT, increasing the dose of len to 15 mg (standard dosing practice) may lead to increased toxicities while failing to affect PFS or OS significantly. A potential bias towards long OS findings may be that patients in this investigation were limited to those who were able to get to and actually receive autoSCT. They were also not felt to require more intense maintenance with more than 1 drug. Based on real-world experience and prior studies looking at various dose schedules of len, we theorized that dose reduction may not have a large negative impact on long-term clinical outcomes.

The ATLAS RPC system for the LHC Run-3

Resistive Plate Chambers (RPCs) provide the barrel region of the ATLAS detector with an independent muon trigger and a two-coordinate measurement. The chambers, 3720 gas volumes in total covering a surface area of 3650 m2, are arranged in three concentric double layers and operated in a strong magnetic toroidal field.The system was originally designed to operate for 10 years with an instantaneous luminosity up to the LHC nominal value of 1034 cm−2 s−1. After a successful data taking period in Run-2, when the instantaneous luminosity more than doubled its design value, the detector has undergone an intense maintenance to ensure an efficient data taking during the just started Run-3.Several interventions have been carried out on the detector mainly concerning the gas distribution with the aim of stabilizing the system and reducing the amount of gas released into the atmosphere. The main interventions were: (a) new gas distribution racks have been added in order to increase the vertical segmentation and in view of the installation of the new chambers for the phase-2 upgrade, (b) non-return valves have been installed on the chamber outputs to avoid reverse flow with large leaks, (c) a massive repair campaign has been done for fixing the continuously developing leaks, (d) a new repair technique to fix and prevent new leaks has been tested and (e) the segmentation of the HV channels has been doubled in a third of the spectrometer to mitigate the effect of detector failures.The different aspects of the activity carried out in LS2 (Long Shutdown 2) are described, from motivation to implementation. The first measurements to assess the system performance are also presented.

Prognostic Role of Serum Albumin Level in Patients with Lymphoma Undergoing Autologous Stem Cell Transplantation.

BackgroundHigh-dose chemotherapy followed by autologous stem cell transplantation (HDT/ASCT) plays a crucial role in the therapy of patients with lymphoma. This retrospective study aimed to analyze prognostic factors in patients undergoing HDT/ASCT for lymphoma.Material/MethodsWe included patients with lymphoma who underwent HDT/ASCT at our center. Time-to-event outcomes, including progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS), were analyzed with the Kaplan-Meier method and log-rank test. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis and Cox proportional hazard regression analysis were performed to explore the prognostic value of different factors.ResultsA total of 113 patients with lymphoma were included. Patients with low serum albumin levels (<37 g/L) before transplantation had significantly lower PFS and OS (P<0.01). Albumin levels before transplantation significantly predicted early progression (progressed within 1 year) after transplantation (AUC=0.706, P=0.003). Multivariate Cox analysis indicated that low albumin level (hazard ratio [HR] 3.19, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.54–6.63; P=0.002) and age >60 years (HR 2.92, 95% CI 1.27–6.71; P=0.012) were independent risk factors for PFS. Total protein <60 g/L was an independent risk factor for OS (HR 3.57, 95% CI 1.45–8.78; P=0.006).ConclusionsLow albumin level before transplantation was an independent risk factor in patients with lymphoma undergoing HDT/ASCT. Intense care and effective maintenance therapy after transplantation are required for patients with low albumin levels.

AN EFFICIENT FOG ENABLED HEALTHCARE MAINTENANCE SYSTEM USING INTERNET OF THINGS WITH DEEP LEARNING STRATEGIES

Internet of Things (IoT) is the ruling term now-a-days, in which it attracts several smart gadgets and application due to its robust nature and support. In healthcare industry several new technologies are required to improve the stability and provide transparent services to clients. The integration of healthcare maintenance system with respect to Internet of Things support leads to a drastic change in healthcare field as well as this provision provides huge advantages to users. This paper is intended to provide an intense healthcare maintenance scheme by using latest technologies such as Deep Learning, Internet of Things, Fog Computing and Artificial Intelligence. All these innovations are associated together to build a new deep learning strategy called Intense Health Analyzing Scheme (IHAS), in which this proposed approach provides all provisions to clients such as Doctors and Patients with respect to monitor the patient details from anywhere at anytime without any range boundaries. The Fog Computing is an innovative domain, in which it provides ability to the server to operate based on hurdle free processing logic. Artificial Intelligence logic is used to manipulate the health data based on previously trained health records, so that the predictions are more fine compare to the classical healthcare schemes. In traditional schemes it is difficult to raise an alert based on the emergency situation predictions, but in the proposed deep learning strategy assists the proposed approach to send an alert instantly if any emergency cases occurred on patient end. Generally the Fog Servers are used to reduce the occupancy of the storage server and provide reliable storage abilities to server, but in this proposed approach, the fog server is utilized for priority wise data handling nature and stores the health records accordingly. In this nature, the fog servers are handled and provide high efficient results to the clients in an innovative way. With the help of deep learning procedures, the health records are clearly prioritized and maintained into the server end for monitoring. For all this paper introduced a new logic of healthcare maintenance scheme IHAS to provide efficient support to patients as well as doctors in clear manner.

A Multi-Step Anomaly Detection Strategy Based on Robust Distances for the Steel Industry

Steel making industries exhibit extreme working conditions characterized by high temperature, pressure, and production speed as well as intense throughput. Due to high economic and energy investments of the overall production process, an intense and expensive preventive maintenance program is adopted to avoid breakdowns. Steel making process would greatly benefit from a predictive maintenance module able to detect incoming faults from data process analysis. However, due to intense preventive maintenance, available data recording process operations enclose only a few samples of fault events, avoiding the efficient application of classical data driven anomaly detection models. In an attempt to overcome the above mentioned limits, we report the outcome of an industrial research project on data-driven anomaly detection in a steel making production process. The study assesses a fault detection strategy for rotating machines in the hot rolling mill line: we developed an automatic two-step strategy, which combines two statistical methods over the available data set: more precisely, the combination of Re-weighted Minimum Covariance Determinant estimator and Hidden Markov Models helped identify working conditions in a drive reducer of a hot steel rolling mill line and automatically isolate signs of decreasing performance or upcoming failures. The proposed strategy has been validated on real data collected in a steel making plant placed in the South of Italy.

Transnacionalismo localizado: las paradojas de la migración en la era de la inmovilidad involuntaria

This study analyzes the phenomenon of “localized transnationalism.” The concept refers to the prolonged and intense maintenance of cross-border connections by migrants whose capacity for geographic mobility is very limited. The study is based on ethnographic research which focused on Senegalese migrants in southern Spain. The results contribute to the debate on transnationalism by providing empirical evidence which demonstrates that migrants can engage in transnational practices even if they are excluded, due to administrative and economic obstacles, from transnational mobility.

No lines in the sand: Impacts of intense mechanized maintenance regimes on sandy beach ecosystems span the intertidal zone on urban coasts

Abstract As coastal population growth accelerates, intensive management practices increasingly alter urban shorelines, creating major conservation challenges. To evaluate key ecological impacts and identify indicators of coastal urbanization, we compared intertidal macroinvertebrate communities between urban beaches with intense maintenance regimes (sediment filling and grooming) and reference beaches lacking such maintenance in densely populated southern California. On urban beaches, intertidal communities were highly impacted with significantly reduced species richness, abundance, and biomass (effect sizes: 79%, 49%, 30%, respectively). Urban impacts affected macroinvertebrates across all intertidal zones, with greatest effects on upper intertidal wrack-associated taxa. On urban beaches altered intertidal communities were remarkably homogeneous across littoral cells in a biogeographically complex region. Functional diversity comparisons suggested degraded ecological functioning on urban beaches. No taxa flourished on urban beaches, but we identified several vulnerable indicator taxa. Our results suggest intense maintenance regimes on urban coasts are negatively impacting sandy beach ecosystems on a landscape scale. Beaches not subject to intense mechanized maintenance, can support high biodiversity, even near major urban centers.

Impact of Early Progression on Long Term Outcomes Among Myeloma Patients Receiving Lenalidomide, Bortezomib, and Dexamethasone (RVD) Induction Therapy

Background: The incorporation of modern day induction regimens, autotransplant and continuous maintenance has resulted in better long-term outcomes for myeloma patients. Experience and trials demonstrated that by prolonging 1st progression-free survival (PFS1) and pushing the relapse farther, we can gain the OS advantage (McCarthy et al NEJM 2012). Unfortunately, a subgroup of patients fail to exploit this advantage, either due to their disease biology or due to inadequate therapy and suffer early progression (inferior PFS1) that impacts their long term outcomes. First, we evaluated the predictors of early progression to highlight the modifiable factors that can prevent progression. Next, we quantified the impact of shorter PFS1 (<36 months) on the long-term survival (OS).Methods: Of the 1000 consecutive newly diagnosed myeloma patients treated with homogenous induction therapy (RVD) induction therapy per Richardson et al (Blood 2010) from July 2005 until August 2016, 230 patients progressed within the first 36 months while 96 patients progressed beyond the 36-month mark, at the time of analysis. Median follow up duration was 38 months. Demographic and outcomes data for the pts were collected from myeloma database and responses were evaluated per IMWG Uniform Response Criteria.Results: Median age of the pts is 60 years (range 29-78). 29% of the patients are above the age of 66. M/F 54%/46%; W/AA 60%/32%; ISS III 27% were other patient characteristics. Cytogenetic abnormalities of significance: t(11;14): 13.5%, t(4;14): 7.8%, t(14;16): 5% del 17p: 16%, complex cytogenetics: 29% and high-risk status was conferred to 44% of the patients. 83% of patients underwent an autotransplant and median time to transplant was 6 (2-50) months. 68% of patients received maintenance therapy. Response rates are summarized in Fig 1. The median PFS for early and non-early progressors were 32 months (95% confidence interval (CI), 30.293-33.707) and 101 months (95% CI, 77.14-124.86) months, respectively (P<0.001). The median overall survival (OS) for early progressors was 94 months, and non-early progressors was not reached. (Fig 2). Among the predictors of early relapse, presence of high-risk status, ISS stage 3, inability to achieve ≥VGPR after transplant, non-receipt of transplant and/or maintenance were independent predictors of early progression on the multivariate analysis as illustrated in Table 1.Conclusions: Even with the effective use of the 3-drug induction regimen, these functionally high-risk patients that are early progressors have truncated long term survival. Our analysis advocates for using transplant, deepening the responses with modern drugs such as monoclonal antibodies to achieve ≥VGPR after transplant and intense maintenance strategies to prevent relapse. [Display omitted] DisclosuresNooka:Spectrum Pharmaceuticals: Consultancy, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Janssen pharmaceuticals: Consultancy, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Amgen: Consultancy, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Takeda: Consultancy, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; GSK: Consultancy, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Celgene: Consultancy, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; BMS: Consultancy, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Adaptive technologies: Consultancy, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees. Kaufman:Abbvie: Consultancy; Karyopharm: Other: data monitoring committee; Roche: Consultancy; Janssen: Consultancy; BMS: Consultancy. Hofmeister:Adaptive biotechnologies: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Bristol-Myers Squibb: Research Funding; Celgene: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Research Funding; Oncopeptides: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Janssen: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees. Boise:AstraZeneca: Honoraria; Abbvie: Consultancy. Heffner:ADC Therapeutics: Research Funding; Kite Pharma: Research Funding; Genentech: Research Funding; Pharmacyclics: Research Funding. Lonial:Amgen: Research Funding.

Role of Bark Color on Stem Temperature and Carbohydrate Management during Dormancy Break in Persian Walnut

Temperature is assumed to be the principal regulatory signal that determines the end of dormancy and resumption of growth. Indirect evidence that stem temperature interferes with phenology comes from the common orchard practice of painting stems to protect them from disease. This work studies the effects of application of white paint to the stems of persian walnut (Juglans regia) trees on winter stem temperature, carbohydrate content, and spring phenology. Painting bark resulted in the delay of budbreak by several days, higher nonstructural carbohydrate (NSC) concentrations in the bark and wood of painted extension shoots and changes in the spatial gradients of NSC during budbreak. The demands of maintenance respiration exceeded mobilization from local carbon pools during bud development suggesting a potential role of carbohydrate transport during spring budbreak in persian walnut. Painting provides an exciting perspective for mitigating effects of milder winter in orchards. The effect of reducing diurnal and spatial temperature variability limits early budbreak, NSC depletion associated with intense maintenance respiration, freeze–thaw cycles and frost dehardening.

Mitigation reduces road mortality of a threatened rattlesnake

Context Reducing road mortality is essential to reptile conservation in regions with dense road networks. The Georgian Bay, Ontario population of the eastern massasauga rattlesnake (Sistrurus catenatus) is designated as Threatened, in part because of high road mortality. In Killbear Provincial Park, four ecopassages and barrier fencing were constructed along three busy park roads to reduce road mortality of massasaugas. Aim Although mitigation of road mortality has been widely recommended and in some instances implemented for reptiles, effectiveness of mitigation efforts is often inadequately evaluated. The goals of our study were to use long-term data to quantify the effectiveness of ecopassages and barrier fencing in reducing massasauga fatalities on roads, and to evaluate the potential of these structures to serve as movement corridors for individual snakes. Methods We used five approaches to assess the overall efficacy of mitigation efforts: (1) comparison of pre- and post-mitigation road mortality; (2) camera traps in ecopassages to document massasauga and predator presence; (3) automated tag readers in ecopassage entrances to detect PIT-tagged individuals; (4) an experiment to assess massasauga willingness to enter and travel through ecopassages; and (5) measurement of temperature fluctuations in ecopassages to assess thermal suitability for massasaugas. Key results We found a significant decrease in road mortality of massasaugas on stretches of park roads associated with ecopassages and barrier fencing post construction. Automated tag readers and cameras detected the presence of massasaugas and other animals within the ecopassages, and experimental data showed that massasaugas willingly entered, and in some cases crossed through, ecopassages. Conclusion Our evaluation of mitigation structures determined that they successfully reduce road mortality and provide potential movement corridors between bisected habitats, provided that intense maintenance of the fencing is conducted yearly. We also demonstrated the need to utilise a combination of multiple post-monitoring methods to effectively evaluate mitigation structures. Implications This study provides a template for construction of similar mitigation in other key locations where reptile road mortality occurs.

Achieving an intense enough maintenance electric field in a low-pressure discharge sustained by a microwave field under ambipolar diffusion regime such that periodic parametric instabilities are generated33This paper is dedicated to the memory of Prof Z Zakrzewski (1935–2014), a microwave discharge specialist.

The intensity of the maintenance electric field of a given discharge is one of its internal parameters. Under ambipolar diffusion conditions, it is almost exclusively set by particle losses, which are related to the dimensions of the discharge vessel and to the gas pressure, and ultimately are determined by the electron energy distribution function. For instance, raising the density of microwave power absorbed in a discharge tube essentially increases the electron density without much increasing the amplitude of the maintenance E-field. To raise the intensity of this E-field in such a case, one needs to reduce the volume into which electromagnetic power is absorbed relative to the diffusion volume, i.e. the volume within which electrons transfer their power through collisions with heavy particles.To show this point, we consider a power balance based on the power lost per electron through collisions with heavy particles, θL, to the power absorbed (over a period of the microwave field) per electron in the discharge, θA. The power θA, which depends on , the square of the amplitude (intensity) of the maintenance electric field, adjusts to compensate for the power lost θL. The analysis presented is achieved for a particular microwave discharge configuration that is known to provide an intense E0-field, which means x ⩾ λDe, where x is the oscillation amplitude of electrons in the E0-field and λDe the electron Debye length. Such a condition allows one to observe periodic parametric instabilities at, or close to, the electron-plasma frequency f pe and at their corresponding ion-plasma frequency f pi, these oscillations being caused by the simultaneous propagation of an electron-plasma wave and an ion-plasma wave in the discharge as a result of an applied ‘pump’ power, which also sustains the discharge.A 2D hydrodynamic calculation of the specific plasma discharge system is performed, which yields the value of the x/λDe ratio in particular through a global energy balance equation. This equation requires that the volume over which power is absorbed in the discharge multiplied by θA must be equal to the discharge diffusion volume multiplied by θL, to which must be added the power lost in the ambipolar field Ea and in the plasma sheath. By comparison, in electromagnetic surface-wave discharges these two volumes are equal. The present considerations could possibly be extended to obtain a better insight into dc, RF and microwave micro-discharges when their discharge volume appears to be smaller than the volume over which particles are lost. Such a situation could explain their unusually high level of absorbed power density, as a result of which highly excited and ionized plasmas are generated.

Does metabolic failure at the synapse cause Alzheimer’s disease?

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) a neurodegenerative disorder of widely distributed cortical networks evolves over years while A beta (Aβ) oligomer neurotoxicity occurs within seconds to minutes. This disparity combined with disappointing outcomes of anti-amyloid clinical trials challenges the centrality of Aβ as principal mediator of neurodegeneration. Reconsideration of late life AD as the end-product of intermittent regional failure of the neuronal support system to meet the needs of vulnerable brain areas offers an alternative point of view. This model introduces four ideas:(1)That Aβ is a synaptic signaling peptide that becomes toxic in circumstances of metabolic stress.(2)That intense synaptic energy and maintenance requirements of cortical hubs may exceed resources during peak demand initiating a neurotoxic cascade in these selectively vulnerable regions.(3)That axonal transport to and from neuron soma cannot account fully for high mitochondrial densities and other requirements of distant terminal axons.(4)That neurons as specialists in information management, delegate generic support functions to astrocytes and other cell types. Astrocytes use intercellular transport by exosomes and tunneling nanotubes (TNTs) to deliver mitochondria, substrates and protein reprocessing services to axonal sites distant from neuronal soma.This viewpoint implicates the brain’s support system and its disruption by various age and disease-related insults as significant mediators of neurodegenerative disease. A better understanding of this system should broaden concepts of neurodegeneration and facilitate development of effective treatments.

Carbon emission and sequestration of urban turfgrass systems in Hong Kong

Climate change is more than just a global issue. Locally released carbon dioxide may lead to a rise in global ambient temperature and influence the surrounding climate. Urban greenery may mitigate this as they can remove carbon dioxide by storing carbon in substrates and vegetation. On the other hand, urban greenery systems which are under intense management and maintenance may contribute to the emission of carbon dioxide or other greenhouse gases. The impact of urban greenery on carbon balance in major metropolitan areas thus remains controversial. We investigated the carbon footprints of urban turf operation and maintenance by conducting a research questionnaire on different Hong Kong turfs in 2012, and showed that turf maintenance contributed 0.17 to 0.63kg Ce m−2y−1 to carbon emissions. We also determined the carbon storage of turfs at 0.05 to 0.21kg C m−2 for aboveground grass biomass and 1.26 to 4.89kg C m−2 for soils (to 15cm depth). We estimated that the carbon sink capacity of turfs could be offset by carbon emissions in 5–24years under current management patterns, shifting from carbon sink to carbon source. Our study suggested that maintenance management played a key role in the carbon budget and footprint of urban greeneries. The environmental impact of turfgrass systems can be optimized by shifting away from empirically designed maintenance schedules towards rational ones based on carbon sink and emission principles.

Determining Variability in Characteristics of Residential Landscape Soils that Influences Infiltration Rates

Although composed mostly of sand, observations of new urban residential communities in Florida suggested relatively wide ranges in clay content and importation of offsite soils. Often these communities are constructed around surface water where heavy summer rains and intense landscape maintenance present concerns for surface water contamination. Due to land sculpturing, soil compaction and importation; onsite soil physical properties may differ from soil maps developed decades before. How much change and what changes occurred has seldom been quantified. This study examined soil characteristic data from diverse, newly constructed urban soils and examined relationships with soil infiltration rates. Samples were collected from 40 lots in nine newly established urban residential communities within Central Florida to quantify textural composition, bulk density (Db), moisture retention, and pore size distribution. Most lots (90%) contained sandy soil dominated by micropores (58% total mean pore space). Variability of Db was low with most communities exhibiting high soil compaction (&gt;1.7 g cm-3), which may indicate potential plant root penetration concerns. Mean soil infiltration rates among communities were high (11 to 64 cm hr-1), with large variations (2.0 to 111.1 cm hr-1). Correlations between soil moisture retention volumes, Db, and infiltration rate did not occur. However, soil texture was a significant predictor of infiltration rate. Relationships between infiltration rates and soil characteristics were poor (r2 = 0.43) and suggest direct measurement of infiltration rate may be necessary. High infiltration rates, despite compaction, indicate reduced potential for surface water contamination if a sufficient natural fetch separates landscapes from water bodies.

Immune Antibody Monitoring Predicts Outcome in Islet Transplantation

With over 40 years of intense collaborative research in the making, has clinical islet transplantation finally come of age? This cellular replacement tool has been tried and tested in over 1,000 patients undergoing various forms of islet transplantation since 2000, and it is becoming increasingly safe, effective, and durable in stabilizing glycemic control, HbA1c, and lowering the risk of secondary complications in refractory type 1 diabetes (1–4). Evanescent rates of insulin independence observed by 3 years in previous protocols were multifactorial in origin, but driven predominantly by an innate and adaptive immunologic response to transplanted cells (5). The good news is that more effective control of inflammation, auto- and alloimmunity with rationally targeted induction, and maintenance therapeutics have recently led to marked improvement in 5-year insulin independence rates exceeding 50% in six independent transplant centers (1,6–8). This milestone places islet transplantation, albeit in highly selected centers, on a par with whole pancreas–alone transplantation, while avoiding surgery and attendant risk (6). While this pace of progress is indeed impressive, major challenges remain, and include 1 ) the current need for intense induction and maintenance immunosuppression; 2 ) limited access and funding for islet processing and transplant facilities; and 3 ) low single-donor engraftment rates in the …

BK Virus in Solid Organ Transplant Recipients

The human polyomavirus BK (BKV) is linked to two ma-jor complications in transplant recipients, polyomavirus-associated nephropathy (PyVAN) (1–4) and polyomavirus-associated hemorrhagic cystitis (PyVHC) (5,6). PyVAN andPyVHC have been encountered in a variety of immunod-eficient patients (7,8), but most cases of PyVAN arise inkidney transplant patients at rates of 1–10%, while PyVHCpreferentially affects allogeneic hematopoietic stem celltransplant patients at rates of 5–15% (7,9). BKV hasbeen less frequently associated with other pathologies,such as ureteric stenosis, pneumonitis, hemophagocyticsyndrome, encephalitis, retinitis, multiorgan failure andpolyomavirus-associated multifocal leukoencephalopathy(PyVML) (10–12), a complication of the central nervoussystem mostly caused by the closely related polyomavirusJC (JCV) (13). The objective of this section is to updateprevious recommendations (14) regarding diagnosis andmanagement of BKV replication and PyVAN in solid organtransplantation (SOT) using the grading proposed by Grosset al. (15).BKV belongs to the family Polyomaviridaetogether withfive other polyomaviruses detected in human specimens,that is JCV, KI virus, WU virus, Merkel cell carcinoma virusand Simian virus 40 (16,17). The virions are nonenvelopedparticles of 42 nm diameter and fairly resistant to envi-ronmental inactivation (18). The circular double-strandedDNA genome of

MP-20.17: Dose Reduction of Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) in the Treatment of Carcinoma In Situ(CIS) of the Bladder with a Less Intense and Shorter Maintenance Regimen: A 15 Year Experience

MP-20.17: Dose Reduction of Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) in the Treatment of Carcinoma In Situ(CIS) of the Bladder with a Less Intense and Shorter Maintenance Regimen: A 15 Year Experience

A novel regeneration system for a wild passion fruit species (Passiflora cincinnata Mast.) based on somatic embryogenesis from mature zygotic embryos

The objective of the present work was to induce somatic embryogenesis from zygotic embryos of Passiflora cincinnata Masters. Zygotic embryos formed calli on media with different concentrations of 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D) and 4.5 μM benzyladenine (BA) after 30 days of in vitro culture. A concentration of 18.1 μM 2,4-D resulted in the largest number of somatic embryos. Embryogenic calli were yellowish and friable, forming whitish proembryogenic masses. Morphologically, embryogenic cells were small and had large nuclei and dense cytoplasm, whereas non-embryogenic cells were elongated, with small nuclei and less dense cytoplasm. Calli cultured under white light on basal Murashige and Skoog’s medium with activated charcoal produced embryos in all developmental stages. There were differences among the treatments, with some leading to the production of calli with embryos and some only to callus formation. Some abnormalities were associated with somatic embryos, including fused axes, fused cotyledons and polycotyledonary embryos. Production of secondary somatic embryos occurred in the first cycle of primary embryo development. Secondary embryos differentiated from the surface of the protodermal layer of primary embryos with intense cell proliferation, successive mitotic divisions in the initial phase of embryoid development, and a vascular system formed with no connection to the parental tissue. This secondary embryogenic system of P. cincinnata is characterized by intense proliferation and maintenance of embryogenic competence after successive subcultures. This reproducible protocol opens new prospects for massive propagation and is an alternative to the current organogenesis-based transformation protocol.

Using instrumented paper diaries to document self-monitoring patterns in weight loss

Self-monitoring of eating is associated with successful weight loss, but adherence is imperfect and deteriorates over time. Moreover, intentionally or not, many individuals have difficulty keeping faithful records. We used instrumented paper diaries (IPDs) to study self-monitoring in randomly chosen participants in the PREFER trial, a behavioral treatment for weight-loss study. The diaries they used to self-report eating were periodically replaced with IPDs at various times during an 18-month weight-loss program, consisting of three successive phases: intense treatment ( n = 35), less-intense treatment ( n = 13), and maintenance ( n = 16). We compared electronically documented self-monitoring data, showing when and how often IPDs were used, with self-reported data, then compared the electronically validated adherence and weight loss. Self-reported diary usage exceeded IPD-documented usage while the electronic data demonstrated a significant decline in self-monitoring over time. Diary recording often was not timely. Percentage weight lost correlated significantly with frequency of IPD use ( p = .001) and the number of diary entries made within 15 min of opening the IPD ( p = .002). This is the first study to document patterns of self-monitoring among participants in a weight-loss program, which demonstrated that individuals may falsify the times and frequency of self-monitoring. Furthermore, our results showed that adherence to self-monitoring and the timeliness of recording significantly correlate with improved weight loss.