Percutaneous Transvenous Angioplasty of Left Innominate Vein Stenosis Following Right Side Permanent Pacemaker Implantation- A Left Femoral Vein to Left Axillary Vein Approach

Central venous stenosis after the insertion of a permanent pacemaker is a well recognized complication. This late complication is encountered when there is a need to change the pacemaker lead or extract it. We describe a young male who had such a complication after many years after right side pacemaker implantation. The lesion was managed percutaneously leading to placement of a new lead from the left side.     

Genetic structure and diversity analysis of the primary gene pool of chickpea using SSR markers

Members of the primary gene pool of the chickpea, including 38 accessions of Cicer arietinum, six of C. reticulatum and four of C. echinospermum grown in India were investigated using 100 SSR markers to analyze their genetic structure, diversity and relationships. We found considerable diversity, with a mean of 4.8 alleles per locus (ranging from 2 to 11); polymorphic information content ranged from 0.040 to 0.803, with a mean of 0.536. Most of the diversity was confined to the wild species, which had higher values of polymorphic information content, gene diversity and heterozygosity than the cultivated species, suggesting a narrow genetic base for cultivated chickpea. An unrooted neighbor-joining tree, principal coordinate analysis and population structure analysis revealed differentiation between the cultivated accessions and the wild species; three cultivated accessions were in an intermediate position, demonstrating introgression within the cultivated group. Better understanding of the structure, diversity and relationships within and among the members of this primary gene pool will contribute to more efficient identification, conservation and utilization of chickpea germplasm for allele mining, association genetics, mapping and cloning gene(s) and applied breeding to widen the genetic base of this cultivated species, for the development of elite lines with superior yield and improved adaptation to diverse environments.     

T-cell assays for tuberculosis infection: deriving cut-offs for conversions using reproducibility data

Background

Although interferon-gamma release assays (IGRA) are promising alternatives to the tuberculin skin test, interpretation of repeated testing results is hampered by lack of evidence on optimal cut-offs for conversions and reversions. A logical start is to determine the within-person variability of T-cell responses during serial testing.

Methodology/Principal Findings

We performed a pilot study in India, to evaluate the short-term reproducibility of QuantiFERON-TB Gold In Tube assay (QFT) among 14 healthcare workers (HCWs) who underwent 4 serial QFT tests on day 0, 3, 9 and 12. QFT ELISA was repeated twice on the same sets of specimens. We assessed two types of reproducibility: 1) test-retest reproducibility (between-test variability), and 2) within-person reproducibility over time. Test-retest reproducibility: with dichotomous test results, extremely high concordance was noticed between two tests performed on the same sets of specimens: of the 56 samples, the test and re-test results agreed for all but 2 individuals (κ = 0.94). Discordance was noted in subjects who had IFN-γ values around the cut-off point, with both increases and decreases noted. With continuous IFN-γ results, re-test results tended to produce higher estimates of IFN-γ than the original test. Within-person reproducibility: when continuous IFN-γ data were analyzed, the within-person reproducibility was moderate to high. While persons with negative QFT results generally stayed negative, positive results tended to vary over time. Our data showed that increases of more than 16% in the IFN-γ levels are statistically improbable in the short-term.

Conclusions

Conservatively assuming that long-term variability might be at least twice higher than short-term, we hypothesize that a QFT conversion requires two conditions to be met: 1) change from negative to positive result, and 2) at least 30% increase in the baseline IFN-γ response. Larger studies are needed to confirm our preliminary findings, and determine the conversion thresholds for IGRAs.     

Evidence for specificity of cultivable bacteria associated with arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal spores

Bacteria associated with arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungal spores may play functional roles in interactions between AM fungi, plant hosts and defence against plant pathogens. To study AM fungal spore-associated bacteria (AMB) with regard to diversity, source effects (AM fungal species, plant host) and antagonistic properties, we isolated AMB from surface-decontaminated spores of Glomus intraradices and Glomus mosseae extracted from field rhizospheres of Festuca ovina and Leucanthemum vulgare. Analysis of 385 AMB was carried out by fatty acid methyl ester (FAME) profile analysis, and some also identified using 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis. The AMB were tested for capacity to inhibit growth in vitro of Rhizoctonia solani and production of fluorescent siderophores. Half of the AMB isolates could be identified to species (similarity index 0.6) within 16 genera and 36 species. AMB were most abundant in the genera Arthrobacter and Pseudomonas and in a cluster of unidentified isolates related to Stenotrophomonas. The AMB composition was affected by AM fungal species and to some extent by plant species. The occurrence of antagonistic isolates depended on AM fungal species, but not plant host, and originated from G. intraradices spores. AM fungal spores appear to host certain sets of AMB, of which some can contribute to resistance by AM fungi against plant pathogens.     

Pulmonary feedback and gestational age-dependent regulation of fetal breathing movements

Prenatal lung development requires fetal breathing movements (FBM). To investigate the dependence of FBM on feedback originating from the lung, we hypothesized that pneumonectomy stimulates FBM. Time-dated fetal sheep underwent bilateral pneumonectomy, unilateral pneumonectomy, or sham surgery at 125-130 days gestation. The incidence of FBM decreased in sham-operated fetuses at 142 days versus 130 days (p = 0.013), but was unchanged across all gestational ages in bilaterally pneumonectomized fetuses (p > or = 0.52). In unilaterally pneumonectomized fetuses, the incidence of FBM remained unchanged until 139 days and was higher than that of the bilaterally pneumonectomized fetuses at 130-136 days gestation (p < or = 0.03). The amplitude of integrated diaphragmatic electromyographic activity (integralEMG(di)) and total respiratory output (frequency of breathing x integralEMG(di)) were lower in pneumonectomized fetuses versus sham-operated fetuses at later gestational ages (p < 0.05). These decreases in integralEMG(di) and total respiratory output were most pronounced at 142 days in bilaterally pneumonectomized fetuses versus sham-operated fetuses (p = 0.006 and 0.016, respectively). Low-voltage electrocortical activity (ECoG) increased, and high-voltage ECoG decreased, in unilaterally pneumonectomized fetuses compared with sham-operated fetuses (p = 0.04). In conclusion, we provide new evidence that feedback from the fetal lung modulates the incidence and various components of phrenic nerve output, suggesting a positive feedback mechanism between FBM and lung development.     

Energy Return on Investment (EROI) for Forty Global Oilfields Using a Detailed Engineering-Based Model of Oil Production

Studies of the energy return on investment (EROI) for oil production generally rely on aggregated statistics for large regions or countries. In order to better understand the drivers of the energy productivity of oil production, we use a novel approach that applies a detailed field-level engineering model of oil and gas production to estimate energy requirements of drilling, producing, processing, and transporting crude oil. We examine 40 global oilfields, utilizing detailed data for each field from hundreds of technical and scientific data sources. Resulting net energy return (NER) ratios for studied oil fields range from ≈2 to ≈100 MJ crude oil produced per MJ of total fuels consumed. External energy return (EER) ratios, which compare energy produced to energy consumed from external sources, exceed 1000:1 for fields that are largely self-sufficient. The lowest energy returns are found to come from thermally-enhanced oil recovery technologies. Results are generally insensitive to reasonable ranges of assumptions explored in sensitivity analysis. Fields with very large associated gas production are sensitive to assumptions about surface fluids processing due to the shifts in energy consumed under different gas treatment configurations. This model does not currently include energy invested in building oilfield capital equipment (e.g., drilling rigs), nor does it include other indirect energy uses such as labor or services.     

Transplantation of fetal neocortex in rhesus monkey

A feasibility study of neural transplantation in adult rhesus monkey was undertaken. Fresh and preserved neocortex containing multiplying and maturing neurons obtained from 55–70 gestation days were transplanted into the striatum, cerebellum and cerebral cortex of adult monkeys. Tissues were preserved for 4 days either at subzero temperature in the freezer compartment of the ordinary refrigerator in Ringer lactate or incubated in culture medium. While 2 monkeys out of 5 injected with preserved tissue had successful transplants after 4 months, all the 10 monkeys injected with fresh tissue had no transplants. The size of the two surviving transplants was small. The neurons in the transplants were mainly in clusters. Many of the cells were immature and some showed early degenerative changes. Neuronal processes were restricted to the transplants and thus showed lack of morphological integration with the host tissue. Further studies are in progress to define the nature of the embryonic tissue of primate which can grow and survive and also the role of neural grafts in functional recovery following experimental lesions of the brain regions.