			Home About us Contact

Best Ability (best + ability)

Distribution by Scientific Domains

Medical Sciences	50%

Selected Abstracts

Validation of limited sampling strategy for the estimation of mycophenolic acid exposure in Chinese adult liver transplant recipients

LIVER TRANSPLANTATION, Issue 12 2007
Chen Hao
Mycophenolate mofetil (MMF) is indicated as immunosuppressive therapy in liver transplantation. The abbreviated models for the estimation of mycophenolic acid (MPA) area under the concentration-time curve (AUC) have been established by limited sampling strategies (LSSs) in adult liver transplant recipients. In the current study, the performance of the abbreviated models to predict MPA exposure was validated in an independent group of patients. A total of 30 MPA pharmacokinetic profiles from 30 liver transplant recipients receiving MMF in combination with tacrolimus were used to compare 8 models' performance with a full 10 time-point MPA-AUC. Linear regression analysis and Bland-Altman analysis were used to compare the estimated MPA-AUC0-12h from each model against the measured MPA-AUC0-12h. A wide range of agreement was shown when estimated MPA-AUC0-12h was compared with measured MPA-AUC0-12h, and the range of coefficient of determination (r2) was from 0.479 to 0.936. The model based on MPA pharmacokinetic parameters C1h, C2h, C6h, and C8h had the best ability to predict measured MPA-AUC0-12h, with the best coefficient of determination (r2 = 0.936), the excellent prediction bias (2.18%), the best prediction precision (5.11%), and the best prediction variation (2SD = ±7.88 mg · h/L). However, the model based on MPA pharmacokinetic sampling time points C1h, C2h, and C4h was more suitable when concerned with clinical convenience, which had shorter sampling interval, an excellent coefficient of determination (r2 = 0.795), an excellent prediction bias (3.48%), an acceptable prediction precision (14.37%), and a good prediction variation (2SD = ±13.23 mg · h/L). Measured MPA-AUC0-12h could be best predicted by using MPA pharmacokinetic parameters C1h, C2h, C6h, and C8h. The model based on MPA pharmacokinetic parameters C1h, C2h, and C4h was more feasible in clinical application. Liver Transpl 13:1684,1693, 2007. © 2007 AASLD. [source]

Performance of four carbon dioxide absorbents in experimental and clinical settings

ANAESTHESIA, Issue 3 2009
M. Yamakage
Summary To evaluate the performance of four kinds of carbon dioxide (CO2) absorbents (Medisorb® GE Healthcare, Amsorb® Plus Armstrong Medical, YabashiLime® Yabashi Industries, and Sodasorb® LF Grace Performance Chemicals), we measured their dust production, acceptability of colour indicator, and CO2 absorption capacity in in vitro experimental settings and the concentration of compound A in an inspired anaesthetic circuit during in vivo clinical practice. In vitro, the order of the dust amount was Sodasorb LF > Medisorb > Amsorb Plus = YabashiLime both before and after shaking. The order of the color acceptability was similar: Sodasorb LF > Amsorb Plus = Medisorb > YabashiLime both initially and 16 h after CO2 exhaustion. During exposure to 200 ml.min,1 CO2 in vitro, the period until 1 kg of fresh soda lime allowed inspired CO2 to increase to 0.7 kPa (as a mark of utilisation of the absorbent) was longer with Medisorb (1978 min) than with the other absorbents (1270,1375 min). In vivo, compound A (1.0% inspired sevoflurane) was detected only when using Medisorb. While Medisorb has the best ability to absorb CO2, it alone produces compound A. [source]

Cross-Sectional Tests of Multifactor CCAPMs using Conditional Moments and Time-Series Restrictions,

ASIA-PACIFIC JOURNAL OF FINANCIAL STUDIES, Issue 5 2009
Jinyong Kim
Abstract Two different methods are used to evaluate the performance of the consumption-based asset pricing models to explain the cross-section of expected stock returns in conditional moments: one is to scale the returns, and the other is to model time-varying factor loadings, using instrument variables. Maximum correlation portfolios are constructed to directly impose restrictions on the time-series intercepts, especially in a model whose factors are not returns. The empirical results are as follow: the consumption-based models perform no better than the standard CAPM; adding the return on human capital as an additional risk factor does not help explain the cross-section; and the Fama-French three-factor model shows the best ability to lower the pricing error. [source]

Development of Auxotrophic Agrobacterium tumefaciens for Gene Transfer in Plant Tissue Culture

BIOTECHNOLOGY PROGRESS, Issue 3 2004
Jason I. Collens
Auxotrophic strains of Agrobacterium tumefaciens were generated for use in liquid co-culture with plant tissue for transient gene expression. Twenty-one auxotrophs were recovered from 1,900 tetracycline-resistant insertional mutants generated with a suicide vector transposon mutagenesis system. Twelve of these auxotrophs were characterized on a nutrient matrix. Isolates were screened for growth in plant cell and root culture, and three auxotrophs were identified that had limited growth: adenine (ade-24), leucine (leu-27), and cysteine (cys-32). Ade-24 displayed poor T-DNA delivery in a transient expression test delivering GUS from a binary vector, while cys-32 displayed the best ability to deliver DNA of these three auxotrophs. The growth yield of cys-32 on cysteine was assessed to provide a quantitative basis for co-culture nutrient supplementation. The utility of cys-32 for delivering T-DNA to plant tissues is demonstrated, where an 85-fold enhancement in GUS expression over wild-type A. tumefacienswas achieved. [source]