A922 Sequential measurement of 1 hour creatinine clearance (1-CRCL) in critically ill patients at risk of acute kidney injury (AKI)

Meeting abstrac

Anatomy of the sign-problem in heavy-dense QCD

QCD at finite densities of heavy quarks is investigated using the density-of-states method. The phase factor expectation value of the quark determinant is calculated to unprecedented precision as a function of the chemical potential. Results are validated using those from a reweighting approach where the latter can produce a significant signalto-noise ratio. We confirm the particle–hole symmetry at low temperatures, find a strong sign problem at intermediate values of the chemical potential, and an inverse Silver Blaze feature for chemical potentials close to the onset value: here, the phase-quenched theory underestimates the density of the full theory

Use of outpatient care in VA and Medicare among disability-eligible and age-eligible veteran patients

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>More than half of veterans who use Veterans Health Administration (VA) care are also eligible for Medicare via disability or age, but no prior studies have examined variation in use of outpatient services by Medicare-eligible veterans across health system, type of care or time.</p> <p>Objectives</p> <p>To examine differences in use of VA and Medicare outpatient services by disability-eligible or age-eligible veterans among veterans who used VA primary care services and were also eligible for Medicare.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A retrospective cohort study of 4,704 disability- and 10,816 age-eligible veterans who used VA primary care services in fiscal year (FY) 2000. We tracked their outpatient utilization from FY2001 to FY2004 using VA administrative and Medicare claims data. We examined utilization differences for primary care, specialty care, and mental health outpatient visits using generalized estimating equations.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Among Medicare-eligible veterans who used VA primary care, disability-eligible veterans had more VA primary care visits (<it>p </it>< 0.001) and more VA specialty care visits (<it>p </it>< 0.001) than age-eligible veterans. They were more likely to have mental health visits in VA (<it>p </it>< 0.01) and Medicare-reimbursed visits (<it>p </it>< 0.01). Disability-eligible veterans also had more total (VA+Medicare) visits for primary care (<it>p </it>< 0.01) and specialty care (<it>p </it>< 0.01), controlling for patient characteristics.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Greater use of primary care and specialty care visits by disability-eligible veterans is most likely related to greater health needs not captured by the patient characteristics we employed and eligibility for VA care at no cost. Outpatient care patterns of disability-eligible veterans may foreshadow care patterns of veterans returning from Afghanistan and Iraq wars, who are entering the system in growing numbers. This study provides an important baseline for future research assessing utilizations among returning veterans who use both VA and Medicare systems. Establishing effective care coordination protocols between VA and Medicare providers can help ensure efficient use of taxpayer resources and high quality care for disabled veterans.</p

Genetic polymorphism of the serine rich antigen N-terminal region in Plasmodium falciparum field isolates from Brazil

In this work we investigated the frequency of polymorphism in exon II of the gene encoding most of the amino-terminal region of the serine rich antigen (SERA) in Plasmodium falciparum field samples. The blood samples were colleted from P. falciparum infected individuals in three areas of the Brazilian Amazon. Two fragments have been characterized by polymerase chain reaction: one of 175 bp corresponding to the repeat region with 5 octamer units and one other of 199 bp related to the 6 repeat octamer units of SERA protein. The 199 bp fragment was the predominant one in all the studied areas. The higher frequency of this fragment has not been described before and could be explained by an immunological selection of the plasmodial population in the infected individuals under study. Since repeat motifs in the amino-terminal region of SERA contain epitopes recognized by parasite-inhibitor antibodies, data reported here suggest that the analysis of the polymorphism of P. falciparum isolates in different geographical areas is a preliminary stage before the final drawing of an universal vaccine against malaria can be reached

Influence of phenological barriers and habitat differentiation on the population genetic structure of the balearic endemic Rhamnus ludovici-salvatoris Chodat and R. alaternus L

[EN] Rhamnus ludovici-salvatoris, endemic to the Gymnesian Islands, coexists with the related and widespread R. alaternus in Mallorca and Menorca. In both species, the population genetic structure using RAPD, and flowering during a 3-year period to check for possible phenological barriers, were analyzed. Rhamnus ludovici-salvatoris showed lower genetic diversity and stronger population structure than R. alaternus, the Cabrera population being less diverse and the most differentiated. Rhamnus ludovici-salvatoris flowered one month later, although flowering of both species coincided sporadically. These congeners seem to have diverged through isolation by time and differentiation in habitat. The population genetic structure of R. ludovici-salvatoris could mainly be due to the existence of small populations on the one hand, and a gene flow caused by rare hybridization events on the other, which may also explain the presence of morphologically intermediate individuals in Menorca. The conservation of R. ludovici-salvatoris populations may include population reinforcements and other in situ interventions.Ferriol Molina, M.; Llorens García, L.; Gil, L.; Boira Tortajada, H. (2009). Influence of phenological barriers and habitat differentiation on the population genetic structure of the balearic endemic Rhamnus ludovici-salvatoris Chodat and R. alaternus L. Plant Systematics and Evolution. 277(1-2):105-116. doi:10.1007/s00606-008-0110-3S1051162771-2Affre L, Thompson JD, Debussche M (1997) Genetic structure of continental and island populations of the Mediterranean endemic Cyclamen balearicum (Primulaceae). Amer J Bot 84(4): 437–451BOIB (2005) Decreto 75/2005. BOIB 106: 29–32Bolmgren K, Oxelman B (2004) Generic limits in Rhamnus L. s.l. (Rhamnaceae) inferred from nuclear and chloroplast DNA sequence phylogenies. Taxon 53(2):383–390Bolòs O, Molinier R (1958) Recherches phytosociologiques dans l’île de Majorque. Collectanea Botanica 34:699–865Cardona MA (1979) Consideracions sobre l’endemisme i l’origen de la flora de las Illes Balears. Butlletí del Institut Catalá de Historia Natural 44 (Sec. Bot. 3):7–15Cardona MA, Contandriopoulos J (1979) Endemism and evolution in the islands of the Western Mediterranean. In: Bramwell D (ed) Plants and islands. Academic Press, London, pp 133–169Chodat L (1924) Contributions à la Géo-Botanique de Majorque. PhD Thesis, Université de Genève—Institut de Botanique, SwitzerlandCollins D, Mill RR, Moller M (2003) Species separation of Taxus baccata, T. canadensis, and T. cuspidata (Taxaceae) and origins of their reputed hybrids inferred from RAPD and cpDNA data. Amer J Bot 90(2):175–182Cronk QCB (1997) Islands: stability, diversity, conservation. Biodivers Conserv 6(3):477–493Doyle JJ, Doyle JL (1990) Isolation of plant DNA from fresh tissue. Focus 12:13–15Ducarme V, Wesselingh RA (2005) Detecting hybridization in mixed populations of Rhinanthus minor and Rhinanthus angustifolius. Folia Geobot 40(2/3):151–161Englishloeb GM, Karban R (1992) Consequences of variation in flowering phenology for seed head herbivory and reproductive success in Erigeron glaucus (Compositae). Oecologia 89:588–595Gautier F, Caluzon G, Suk JP, Violanti D (1994) Age et durée de la crise de salinité Messinienne. Comptes Rendus de l’Académie des Sciences de Paris 318:1103–1109Gerard PR, Fernandez-Manjarres JF, Frascaria-Lacoste N (2006) Temporal cline in a hybrid zone population between Fraxinus excelsior L. and Fraxinus angustifolia Vahl. Molec Ecol 15:3655–3667Gil L, Llorens L, Tébar FJ, Costa M (1995) La vegetación de la isla de Cabrera. In: Guía de la excursión geobotánica de las XV Jornadas de Fitosociología. Datos sobre la vegetación de Cabrera. Palma de Mallorca: Universitat de les Illes Balears, pp 51–77Gulías J, Flexas J, Abadía A, Medrano H (2002) Photosynthetic responses to water deficit in six Mediterranean sclerophyll species: possible factors explaining the declining distribution of Rhamnus ludovici-salvatoris, and endemic Balearic species. Tree Physiol 22:687–697Gulías J, Traveset A, Riera N, Mus M (2004) Critical stages in the recruitment process of Rhamnus alaternus L. Ann Bot 93:723–731Gustafsson S, Sjögren-Gulve P (2002) Genetic diversity in the rare orchid, Gymnadenia odoratissima and a comparison with the more common congener, G. conopsea. Conserv Genet 3:225–234Gustafsson S (2003) Population genetic analyses in the orchid genus Gymnadenia—a conservation genetic perspective. PhD Thesis, Uppsala University, SwedenGustafsson S, Lönn M (2003) Genetic differentiation and habitat preference of flowering-time variants within Gymnadenia conopsea. Heredity 91:284–292Harris W (1996) Genecological aspects of flowering patterns of populations of Kunzea ericoides and K. sinclairii (Myrtaceae). New Zealand J Bot 34:333–354Hendry AP, Dray T (2005) Population structure attributable to reproductive time: isolation by time and adaptation by time. Molec Ecol 14:901–916Hosokawa K, Minami M, Kawahara K, Nakamura I, Shibata T (2000) Discrimination among three species of medicinal Scutellaria plants using RAPD markers. Pl Med 66:270–272Huang Z, Liu L, Zhou T, Ju B (2005) Effects of environmental factors on the population genetic structure in chukar partridge (Alectoris chukar). J Arid Environ 62:427–434Juan A, Crespo MB, Cowan RS, Lexer C, Fay F (2004) Patterns of variability and gene flow in Medicago citrina, an endangered endemic of islands in the western Mediterranean, as revealed by amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP). Molec Ecol 13:2679–2690Krijgsman W, Hilgen FJ, Raffi I, Sierro FJ, Wilson DS (1999) Chronology, causes and progression of the Messinian salinity crisis. Nature 400:652–655Lamont BB, He T, Enright NJ, Krauss SL, Miller BP (2003) Anthropogenic disturbance promotes hybridization between Banksia species by altering their biology. J Evol Biol 16:551–557Lennartsson T (1997) Seasonal differentiation—a conservative reproductive barrier in two grassland Gentianella (Gentianaceae) species. Pl Syst Evol 208:45–69Martinez-Solis I, Iranzo J, Estrelles E, Ibars AM (1993) Leaf domatia in the section Alaternus (Miller) DC. of the genus Rhamnus (Rhamnaceae). Bot J Linn Soc 112:311–318McIntosh ME (2002) Flowering phenology and reproductive output in two sister species of Ferocactus (Cactaceae). Pl Ecol 159:1–13Nei M (1973) Analysis of gene diversity in subdivided populations. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 70:3321–3323Nei M (1978) Estimation of average heterozigosity and genetic distance from a small number of individuals. Genetics 89:583–590Nei M, Li W (1979) Mathematical model for studying genetic variation in terms of restriction endonucleases. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 79:5269–5273Nybom H, Bartish IV (2000) Effects of life history traits and sampling strategies on genetic diversity estimates obtained with RAPD markers in plants. Perspect Pl Ecol Evol Syst 3(2):93–114Oostermeijer JGB, Luijten SH, Ellis-Adam AC, den Nijs JCM (2002) Future prospects for the rare, late-flowering Gentianella germanica and Gentianopsis ciliata in Dutch nutrient-poor calcareous grasslands. Biol Conserv 104:339–350Pease CM, Lande R, Bull JJ (1989) A model of population growth, dispersal and evolution in a changing environment. Ecology 70(6):1657–1664Perron M, Gordon AG, Bousquet J (1995) Species-specific RAPD fingerprints for the closely related Picea mariana and P. rubens. Theor Appl Genet 91:142–149Pierce S, Ceriani RM, Villa M, Cerabolini B (2006) Quantifying relative extinction risks and targeting intervention for the orchid flora of a natural park in the European prealps. Conserv Biol 20(6):1804–1810Richardson JE, Fay MF, Cronk QCB, Bowman D, Chase MW (2000) A phylogenetic analysis of Rhamnaceae using rbcL and trnL-F plastid DNA sequences. Amer J Bot 87(9):1309–1324Roselló JA, Sáez L (2000) Index Balearicum: an annotated check-list of the vascular plants described from the Balearic Islands. Collect Bot 25(1):3–203Roselló JA, Cebrián MC, Mayol M (2002) Testing taxonomic and biogeographical relationships in a narrow mediterranean endemic complex (Hippocrepis balearica) using RAPD markers. Ann Bot 89:321–327Sales E, Nebauer SG, Mus M, Segura J (2001) Population genetic study in the Balearic plant species Digitalis minor (Scrophulariaceae) using RAPD markers. Amer J Bot 88(10):1750–1759Sherwin WB, Moritz C (2000) Managing and monitoring genetic erosion. In: Young AG, Clarke GM (eds) Genetics, demography and viability of fragmented populations. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp 9–34Sneath PHA, Sokal RR (1973) Numerical taxonomy. Freeman and Co., San FranciscoTraveset A, Gulías J, Riera N, Mus M (2003) Transition probabilities from pollination to establishment in a rare dioecious shrub species (Rhamnus ludovici-salvatoris) in two habitats. J Ecol 91:427–437Tutin TG, Heywood VH, Burges NA, Valentine DH, Walters SM, Webb DA (eds) (2001) Flora Europaea, vol 2. Rosaceae to Umbelliferae. Cambridge University Press, CambridgeWright S (1931) Evolution in Mendelian populations. Genetics 16:97–159Zimmerman M (1980a) Reproduction in Polemonium: pre-dispersal seed predation. Ecology 61:502–506Zimmerman M (1980b) Reproduction in Polemonium: competition for pollinators. Ecology 61:497–50

The impact of social networks on knowledge transfer in long-term care facilities: Protocol for a study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Social networks are theorized as significant influences in the innovation adoption and behavior change processes. Our understanding of how social networks operate within healthcare settings is limited. As a result, our ability to design optimal interventions that employ social networks as a method of fostering planned behavior change is also limited. Through this proposed project, we expect to contribute new knowledge about factors influencing uptake of knowledge translation interventions.</p> <p>Objectives</p> <p>Our specific aims include: To collect social network data among staff in two long-term care (LTC) facilities; to characterize social networks in these units; and to describe how social networks influence uptake and use of feedback reports.</p> <p>Methods and design</p> <p>In this prospective study, we will collect data on social networks in nursing units in two LTC facilities, and use social network analysis techniques to characterize and describe the networks. These data will be combined with data from a funded project to explore the impact of social networks on uptake and use of feedback reports. In this parent study, feedback reports using standardized resident assessment data are distributed on a monthly basis. Surveys are administered to assess report uptake. In the proposed project, we will collect data on social networks, analyzing the data using graphical and quantitative techniques. We will combine the social network data with survey data to assess the influence of social networks on uptake of feedback reports.</p> <p>Discussion</p> <p>This study will contribute to understanding mechanisms for knowledge sharing among staff on units to permit more efficient and effective intervention design. A growing number of studies in the social network literature suggest that social networks can be studied not only as influences on knowledge translation, but also as possible mechanisms for fostering knowledge translation. This study will contribute to building theory to design such interventions.</p

Novel inhibitors of the calcineurin/NFATc hub - alternatives to CsA and FK506?

The drugs cyclosporine A (CsA) and tacrolimus (FK506) revolutionized organ transplantation. Both compounds are still widely used in the clinic as well as for basic research, even though they have dramatic side effects and modulate other pathways than calcineurin-NFATc, too. To answer the major open question - whether the adverse side effects are secondary to the actions of the drugs on the calcineurin-NFATc pathway - alternative inhibitors were developed. Ideal inhibitors should discriminate between the inhibition of (i) calcineurin and peptidyl-prolyl cis-trans isomerases (PPIases; the matchmaker proteins of CsA and FK506), (ii) calcineurin and the other Ser/Thr protein phosphatases, and (iii) NFATc and other transcription factors. In this review we summarize the current knowledge about novel inhibitors, synthesized or identified in the last decades, and focus on their mode of action, specificity, and biological effects