Radium radioactivity in soil profiles following long term irrigation with high radioactivity fossil groundwater

High radioactivity in a relatively saline confined aquifer water in different locations of the Disi area (South East of Jordan) was reported by some authors who recommended further investigation on the impact of that water on irrigated soils. Five well water samples (jointly used for irrigation and drinking) and 28 surface and subsurface soil samples from five profiles were collected from that area for the purpose of this study. Selected mineralogical, chemical, and physical properties of the soil samples were determined. Mineralogical compositions of the 28 soil samples were identified using x-ray diffraction, x-ray fluorescence, and ICP-MS techniques. Determination of activity concentrations of ²³⁸U, ²²⁶Ra and ²²⁸Ra in the five well waters and 22 soil samples from 4 sites (including a native soil) were determined using γ-ray spectroscopy. The results showed low salinity levels of both soil and water samples and low clay and organic matter contents in all soil samples. Kaolinite and mica were the dominant clay minerals with Fe substituting Al in the octahedral layer of these minerals. The average activity concentration of ²²⁶Ra and ²²⁸Ra in the well-water samples were 0.31 ± 0.09 and 1.74 ± 0.12 BqL^-1, respectively. Such a high specific activity could be ascribed to the water enrichment with ²²⁸Ra diffusing from ²³²Th-rich sandstone geologic strata. Average concentrations of ²³⁸U and ²³²Th in the soil samples (0-120 cm depth) were 1.48 ± 0.38 mg kg^-1 and 4.78 ± 1.55 mg kg^-1, respectively. High correlation between these two radionuclides (R² = 0.90) indicated no specific enhancement of these two metals from external sources, especially through chemical precipitation from irrigation water. Average activity concentration of ²³⁸U, ²²⁶Ra, and ²²⁸Ra in the soil samples were substantially low (20.8 ± 5.6, 16.94 ± 4.48, and 20.7 ± 6.2 Bq kg^-1, respectively). No particular changes were observed when comparing concentration or radioactivity of these radionuclides with depth of a given soil or between irrigated and native soil samples at comparable depths. This could lead to the conclusion that there was no appreciable precipitation or adsorption of these radioactive metals from the percolating irrigation water onto the sandy soil complex.

Does Renal Tubular Injury-Induced Local Tissue Hypoxia Involve Post-Transplantation Erythrocytosis?

BACKGROUND

The pathogenesis of post-transplantation erythrocytosis (PTE) is not well understood and appears to be multifactorial. Our hypothesis in this study was that several factors, including toxicity of calcineurin inhibitor, immunologic factors, and chronic allograft nephropathy, can trigger local tissue hypoxia in peritubular interstitium, which is where production of erythropoietin (EPO) takes place. This local interstitial tissue hypoxia can cause an increase in renal EPO production, which induces the development of PTE.

METHODS

This cross-sectional study included 15 renal transplant recipients, in whom polycythemia developed after kidney transplantation, with elevated hematocrit level to >51%. Forty-eight age- and gender-matched renal transplant recipients with normal hematocrit level were included as the renal transplant control group. In addition, 13 age- and gender-matched healthy subjects were also included as the healthy control group. We used urine hypoxia-inducible factor-2 alpha (HIF-2α) levels to evaluate whether there is local tissue hypoxia in renal allograft. HIF-2α levels were measured by double antibody sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Serum EPO and insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) levels were also measured.

RESULTS

HIF-2α levels were significantly lower in the polycythemia group than the other two groups, but there was no significant difference between the healthy control group and the renal transplant control group with regard to HIF-2α levels. There was no significant difference among the 3 study groups in terms of levels of serum EPO and IGF-1.

CONCLUSION

Local tissue hypoxia in renal allograft does not seem to play an important role in the development of PTE.

Adverse drug reactions (ADRS) reporting: awareness and reasons of under-reporting among health care professionals, a challenge for pharmacists

OBJECTIVES

To measure awareness about adverse drug reaction (ADRs) reporting among doctors, pharmacists and nurses and to determine reasons of ADRs under-reporting in Pakistan.

METHODS

In present study, a self-administered questionnaire was used to measure the awareness level about ADRs reporting among health care professionals (HCPs) of Pakistan. This was a cross sectional study.

RESULTS

Out of the respondents 51 % were physicians, 29.7 % pharmacists and 19.3 % were nurses. 65.5 % of HCP population observed ADRs, out of which only 57.4 % reported these in their respective hospitals. About 77.3 % of population understood the importance of reporting ADRs while 67.3 % of population agrees that pharmacists are chief personnel for the development of system. 71.8 % of HCPs agrees that ADRs are not reported because Community pharmacy lacks legally qualified pharmacists. Only 14.3 % of HCPs population knows that there is any ADR reporting organization in Pakistan.

CONCLUSION

The study recommends the need of such reporting system and more than half of the studied population agreed that pharmacists are required in developing such system.

An investigation of bubble coalescence and post-rupture oscillation in non-ionic surfactant solutions using high-speed cinematography

Most processes involving bubbling in a liquid require small bubbles to maximise mass/energy transfer. A common method to prevent bubbles from coalescing is by the addition of surfactants. In order to get an insight into the coalescence process, capillary bubbles were observed using a high speed cinematography. Experiments were performed in solutions of 1-pentanol, 4-methyl-2-pentanol, tri(propylene glycol) methyl ether, and poly(propylene glycol) for which information such as the coalescence time and the deformation of the resultant bubble upon coalescence was extracted. It is shown in this study that the coalescence time increases with surfactant concentration until the appearance of a plateau. The increase in coalescence time with surfactant concentration could not be attributed only to surface elasticity. The oscillation of the resultant bubble was characterised by the damping of the oscillation. The results suggested that a minimum elasticity is required to achieve an increased damping and considerable diffusion has a detrimental effect on the dynamic response of the bubble, thereby reducing the damping.

Computer simulations of particle-bubble interactions and particle sliding using Discrete Element Method

Three dimensional Discrete Element Method (DEM) computer simulations have been carried out to analyse the kinetics of collision of multiple particles against a stationary bubble and the sliding of the particles over the bubble surface. This is the first time that a computational analysis of the sliding time and particle packing arrangements of multiple particles on the surface of a bubble has been carried out. The collision kinetics of monodisperse (33 μm in radius) and polydisperse (12-33 μm in radius) particle systems have been analysed in terms of the time taken by 10%, 50% and 100% of the particles to collide against the bubble. The dependencies of these collision times on the strength of hydrophobic interactions follow relationships close to power laws. However, minimal sensitivity of the collision times to particle size was found when linear and square relationships of the hydrophobic force with particles radius were considered. The sliding time for single particles has corroborated published theoretical expressions. Finally, a good qualitative comparison with experiments has been observed with respect to the particle packing at the bottom of the bubble after sliding demonstrating the usefulness of computer simulations in the studies of particle-bubble systems.

Improved survival after live donor adult liver transplantation (LDALT) using right lobe grafts: program experience and lessons learned

We present our program experience with 85 live donor adult liver transplantation (LDALT) procedures using right lobe grafts with five simultaneous live donor kidney transplants using different donors performed over a 6-year period. After an "early" 2-year experience of 25 LDALT procedures, program improvements in donor and recipient selection, preoperative imaging, donor and recipient surgical technique and immunosuppressive management significantly reduced operative mortality (16% vs. 3.3%, p = 0.038) and improved patient and graft 1-year survival in recipients during our "later" experience with the next 60 cases (January 2001 and March 2005; patient survival: early 70.8% vs. later 92.7%, p = 0.028; graft survival: Early 64% vs. later 91.1%, p = 0.019, respectively). Overall patient and graft survival were 82% and 80%. There was a trend for less postoperative complications (major and minor) with program experience (early 88% vs. later 66.7%; p = 0.054) but overall morbidity remained at 73.8%. Biliary complications (cholangitis, disruption, leak or stricture) were not influenced by program experience (early 32% vs. later 38%). Liver volume adjusted to 100% of standard liver volume (SLV) within 1 month post-transplant. Despite a high rate of morbidity after LDALT, excellent patient and graft survival can be achieved with program experience.

A modified intubating laryngeal mask for endotracheal tube exchange

IMPLICATIONS

It is often necessary to change a patient's breathing tube (endotracheal tube). This can be a risky procedure. This report describes a technique for changing an endotracheal tube by using a modified "intubating laryngeal mask" (a commonly used airway and breathing device) and a fiberoptic bronchoscope.

[Vaginal fungi in toxemia of pregnancy (author's transl)]

In order to prevent the transfer of the fungi in maternal vagina into a neonate through transvaginal delivery, we examined the presence of vaginal fungi in the patients with toxemia of pregnancy occurring chiefly from the later stages of pregnancy and made an analysis from the quantitative aspect of fungi (number of colonies produced on Mizuno-Takada medium). The results obtained are as follows: 1) The detection rate of vaginal fungi was evidently so high as 37.1% in toxemia group compared with 27.6% in non-toxemia group (p less than 0.01). And the detection rate of vaginal Candida albicans (hereinafter: C. albicans) also proved to be higher tendency in toxemia group. 2) When the toxemia patients were divided into mild cases and severe ones for comparison, the detection rate of vaginal fungi and that of vaginal C. albicans were both higher in the severe case group. Particularly in the group which had the symptoms of toxemia at the examination time of vaginal fungi there was seen the higher rate. 3) From the quantitative aspect of vaginal fungi it is evident that there were more cases with over 51 colonies in the group showing the symptoms of toxemia at the time of fungi examination than in the group showing no such symptoms at the examination and the group of non-toxemia (p less than 0.01).