We conclude that intercalated and exfoliated MMT silicates enhance mechanical and barrier properties of SPI films. (C) 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 118: 2257-2263, 2010″
“Domino kidney paired donation (KPD) is a method by which an altruistic living

nondirected donor (LND) is allocated to a pool of incompatible donor-recipient pairs (DRP) and a series of KPDs is initiated. To evaluate the feasibility and clinical outcomes of multicenter domino KPD, we retrospectively analyzed a cohort of DRPs who underwent domino KPD between February 2001 and July 2007 at one of 16 transplant centers. One hundred seventy-nine kidney transplants were performed, with 70 domino chains initiated by altruistic LND. There were 45 two-pair chains, 15 three-pair chains, 7 four-pair chains, 2 five-pair chains and 1 six-pair chain.

A majority of donors were spouses (47.5%) or altruistic PXD101 inhibitor LNDs (39.1%). DRPs with a blood type O recipient Vadimezan concentration or an AB donor comprised 45.9% of transplanted DRPs. HLA mismatch improved in transplanted donors compared to intended donors in pairs enrolled to improve HLA mismatch (3.4 +/- 0.7 vs. 4.8 +/- 1.0, p < 0.001). One-year and 5-year graft survival rates were 98.3% and 87.7%, respectively, with a median follow-up of 46 months. One-year and 5-year patient survival rates were 97.2% and 90.8%, respectively. In conclusion, multicenter domino KPD could multiply the benefits of donation from LNDs, with patients and graft survival rates comparable to those seen with conventional KPD.”
“Background: AZD6244 concentration Mutations in the dihydrofolate reductase (dhfr) and

dihydropteroate synthase (dhps) genes of Plasmodium falciparum are associated with resistance to anti-folate drugs, most notably sulphadoxine-pyrimethamine (SP). Molecular studies document the prevalence of these mutations in parasite populations across the African continent. However, there is no systematic review examining the collective epidemiological significance of these studies. This meta-analysis attempts to: 1) summarize genotype frequency data that are critical for molecular surveillance of anti-folate resistance and 2) identify the specific challenges facing the development of future molecular databases.

Methods: This review consists of 220 studies published prior to 2009 that report the frequency of select dhfr and dhps mutations in 31 African countries. Maps were created to summarize the location and prevalence of the highly resistant dhfr triple mutant (N51I, C59R, S108N) genotype and dhps double mutant (A437G and K540E) genotype in Africa. A hierarchical mixed effects logistic regression was used to examine the influence of various factors on reported mutant genotype frequency. These factors include: year and location of study, age and clinical status of sampled population, and reporting conventions for mixed genotype data.