These results suggest that: (i) the PI3K/Akt/mTOR pathway is upregulated in murine lupus nephritis, thus justifying treatment with rapamycin; (ii) rapamycin not only blocks mTOR but also negatively regulates the PI3K/Akt/mTOR pathway; and (iii) rapamycin is an effective treatment of murine lupus nephritis. Examination of the PI3K/Akt/mTOR pathway may offer new insights into the pathogenesis of lupus nephritis in humans and may lead to more individualized and less toxic treatment.

Considerable controversy currently exists in the literature concerning the mode of catheter placement and its impact on the technical success of peritoneal dialysis (PD). We decided to compare the impact of the surgical versus the percutaneous insertion technique on peritoneal dialysis catheter (PDCs) complications and survival. Our study population comprised 152 patients in whom 170 PDCs were inserted between January 1990 and December 2007 at the main PD unit on the island of Crete. Eighty four catheters were surgically placed (S group) and 86 were placed percutaneously by nephrologists (N group). The total experience accumulated was 4997 patient-months. The overall complications did not differ between the two groups. Only early leakage was more frequent in N group than S group (10.3 versus 1.9 episodes per 1000 patient-months; p < 0.001). However, it was easily treated and did not constitute a cause of early catheter removal. Catheter survival was 91.1%, 80.7%, and 73.2%, in the S group versus 89.5%, 83.7%, and 83.7% for the N group at 1, 2, and 3 years, respectively (p = 0.2). Catheter survival has significantly increased over the last decade. Factors positively affecting PDC survival appeared to be the use of mupirocin for exit site care and the utilization of the coiled type of catheter, practices implemented mainly after 1999. Peritonitis-free survival and patient survival were not associated with the mode of placement, while in Cox regression analysis, were longer in patients treated with automated PD. The placement mode did not affect PD outcomes. Percutaneous implantation proved a safe, simple, low cost, immediately available method for PDC placement and helped to expand our PD program.

Estimation of evapotranspiration is always a major component in water resources management. The reliable estimation of daily evapotranspiration supports decision makers to review the current land use practices in terms of water management, while enabling them to propose proper land use changes. Traditional techniques of calculating daily evapotranspiration based on field measurements are valid only for local scales. Earth observation satellite sensors are used in conjunction with Surface Energy Balance (SEB) models to overcome difficulties in obtaining daily evapotranspiration measurements on a regional scale. In this study the SEB System (SEBS) is used to estimate daily evapotranspiration and evaporative fraction over the Nile Delta along with data acquired by the Advance Along Track Scanning Radiometer (AATSR) and the Medium Spectral Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MERIS), and six in situ meteorological stations. The simulated daily evapotranspiration values are compared against actual ground-truth data taken from 92 points uniformly distributed all over the study area. The derived maps and the following correlation analysis show strong agreement, demonstrating SEBS' applicability and accuracy in the estimation of daily evapotranspiration over agricultural areas.

BackgroundOxidative stress may play a critical role in the vascular disease of end stage renal failure and hemodialysis patients. Studies, analyzing either discrete analytes and antioxidant substances, or the integrated total antioxidant activity of human plasma during hemodialysis, give contradictory results.MethodsRecently, we have introduced a new automated method for the determination of Total Antioxidant Capacity (TAC) of human plasma. We have serially measured TAC and corrected TAC (cTAC: after subtraction of the interactions due to endogenous uric acid, bilirubin and albumin) in 10 patients before the onset of the dialysis session, 10 min, 30 min, 1 h, 2 h and 3 h into the procedure and after completion of the session.ResultsOur results indicate that TAC decreases, reaching minimum levels at 2 h. However, corrected TAC increases with t1/2 of about 30 min. We then repeated the measurements in 65 patients undergoing dialysis with different filters (36 patients with ethylene vinyl alcohol copolymer resin filter -Eval-, 23 patients with two polysulfone filters -10 with F6 and 13 with PSN140-, and 6 patients with hemophan filters). Three specimens were collected (0, 30, 240 min). The results of this second group confirm our initial results, while no significant difference was observed using either filter.ConclusionsOur results are discussed under the point of view of possible mechanisms of modification of endogenous antioxidants, and the interaction of lipid- and water-soluble antioxidants.