Health-related quality of life in patients treated with Continuous Ambulatory Peritoneal Dialysis and Automated Peritoneal Dialysis in Singapore

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to compare the health-related quality of life (HRQOL) in patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) treated with continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (CAPD) and automated peritoneal dialysis (APD) in Singapore. METHODS: The data used in this study were from two cross-sectional surveys of ESRD patients. HRQOL was assessed using the Kidney Disease Quality of Life (KDQOL) instrument. Socio-demographic characteristics and clinical data were collected. The physical component summary (PCS) and mental component summary (MCS) scores, kidney disease component summary (KDCS) score and its three scales (symptoms, effects, burden), and one health utility score [EuroQol 5-dimension (EQ-5D)] were calculated and compared between CAPD and APD using multivariate linear regression. RESULTS: In total, 266 patients were included, with 145 on CAPD (mean age 60.8 years) and 121 on APD (mean age 57.4 years). After adjustment for all variables collected, APD patients had significant higher scores in PCS and KDQOL symptoms than CAPD patients, suggesting that APD was associated with better physical health and milder dialysis-related symptoms. CONCLUSION: The HRQOL of CAPD and APD patients was largely equivalent in Singapore, but APD patients seemed to experience better physical health and be less bothered by dialysis-related symptoms

IL-33 ameliorates Alzheimer’s disease-like pathology and cognitive decline

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a devastating condition with no known effective treatment. AD is characterized by memory loss as well as impaired locomotor ability, reasoning, and judgment. Emerging evidence suggests that the innate immune response plays a major role in the pathogenesis of AD. In AD, the accumulation of β-amyloid (Aβ) in the brain perturbs physiological functions of the brain, including synaptic and neuronal dysfunction, microglial activation, and neuronal loss. Serum levels of soluble ST2 (sST2), a decoy receptor for interleukin (IL)-33, increase in patients with mild cognitive impairment, suggesting that impaired IL-33/ST2 signaling may contribute to the pathogenesis of AD. Therefore, we investigated the potential therapeutic role of IL-33 in AD, using transgenic mouse models. Here we report that IL-33 administration reverses synaptic plasticity impairment and memory deficits in APP/PS1 mice. IL-33 administration reduces soluble Aβ levels and amyloid plaque deposition by promoting the recruitment and Aβ phagocytic activity of microglia; this is mediated by ST2/p38 signaling activation. Furthermore, IL-33 injection modulates the innate immune response by polarizing microglia/macrophages toward an antiinflammatory phenotype and reducing the expression of proinflammatory genes, including IL-1β, IL-6, and NLRP3, in the cortices of APP/PS1 mice. Collectively, our results demonstrate a potential therapeutic role for IL-33 in AD

Role of Pentraxin 3 in Shaping Arthritogenic Alphaviral Disease: From Enhanced Viral Replication to Immunomodulation

10.1371/journal.ppat.1004649PLoS Pathogens11

Axial length/corneal radius of curvature ratio and myopia in 3-year-old children

10.1167/tvst.5.1.5Translational Vision Science & Technology511-6GUSTO (Growing up towards Healthy Outcomes

Impact Factor: outdated artefact or stepping-stone to journal certification?

A review of Garfield's journal impact factor and its specific implementation as the Thomson Reuters Impact Factor reveals several weaknesses in this commonly-used indicator of journal standing. Key limitations include the mismatch between citing and cited documents, the deceptive display of three decimals that belies the real precision, and the absence of confidence intervals. These are minor issues that are easily amended and should be corrected, but more substantive improvements are needed. There are indications that the scientific community seeks and needs better certification of journal procedures to improve the quality of published science. Comprehensive certification of editorial and review procedures could help ensure adequate procedures to detect duplicate and fraudulent submissions.Comment: 25 pages, 12 figures, 6 table

An improved constraint satisfaction adaptive neural network for job-shop scheduling

Copyright @ Springer Science + Business Media, LLC 2009This paper presents an improved constraint satisfaction adaptive neural network for job-shop scheduling problems. The neural network is constructed based on the constraint conditions of a job-shop scheduling problem. Its structure and neuron connections can change adaptively according to the real-time constraint satisfaction situations that arise during the solving process. Several heuristics are also integrated within the neural network to enhance its convergence, accelerate its convergence, and improve the quality of the solutions produced. An experimental study based on a set of benchmark job-shop scheduling problems shows that the improved constraint satisfaction adaptive neural network outperforms the original constraint satisfaction adaptive neural network in terms of computational time and the quality of schedules it produces. The neural network approach is also experimentally validated to outperform three classical heuristic algorithms that are widely used as the basis of many state-of-the-art scheduling systems. Hence, it may also be used to construct advanced job-shop scheduling systems.This work was supported in part by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) of UK under Grant EP/E060722/01 and in part by the National Nature Science Fundation of China under Grant 60821063 and National Basic Research Program of China under Grant 2009CB320601

Theoretical Aspects of Charge Ordering in Molecular Conductors

Theoretical studies on charge ordering phenomena in quarter-filled molecular (organic) conductors are reviewed. Extended Hubbard models including not only the on-site but also the inter-site Coulomb repulsion are constructed in a straightforward way from the crystal structures, which serve for individual study on each material as well as for their systematic understandings. In general the inter-site Coulomb interaction stabilizes Wigner crystal-type charge ordered states, where the charge localizes in an arranged manner avoiding each other, and can drive the system insulating. The variety in the lattice structures, represented by anisotropic networks in not only the electron hopping but also in the inter-site Coulomb repulsion, brings about diverse problems in low-dimensional strongly correlated systems. Competitions and/or co-existences between the charge ordered state and other states are discussed, such as metal, superconductor, and the dimer-type Mott insulating state which is another typical insulating state in molecular conductors. Interplay with magnetism, e.g., antiferromagnetic state and spin gapped state for example due to the spin-Peierls transition, is considered as well. Distinct situations are pointed out: influences of the coupling to the lattice degree of freedom and effects of geometrical frustration which exists in many molecular crystals. Some related topics, such as charge order in transition metal oxides and its role in new molecular conductors, are briefly remarked.Comment: 21 pages, 19 figures, to be published in J. Phys. Soc. Jpn. special issue on "Organic Conductors"; figs. 4 and 11 replaced with smaller sized fil

Highly efficient sulfonic/carboxylic dual-acid synergistic catalysis for esterification enabled by sulfur-rich graphene oxide

A new sulfonic/carboxylic dual-acid catalyst based on sulfur-rich graphene oxide (GO-S) was readily prepared and used as a highly efficient and reusable solid acid catalyst toward the esterification of oleic acid with methanol for biodiesel production. Higher yields of methyl oleate (98 %) and over 3 times higher turnover frequencies (TOFs) were observed for the GO-S dual-acid catalyst, compared to liquid sulfuric acid or other carbon-based solid acid catalysts. The “acidity” of sulfonic acid groups was enhanced by the addition of carboxylic acid groups as the combination of the two acids enhances their inherent activity by associative interaction