Trends and Outcomes in Simultaneous Liver and Kidney Transplantation in Australia and New Zealand

AimRates of simultaneous liver and kidney transplantation (SLKT) have increased, but indications for SLKT remain poorly defined. Additional data are needed to determine which patients benefit from SLKT to best direct use of scarce donor kidneys.MethodsData were extracted from the Australia and New Zealand Dialysis and Transplant Registry (ANZDATA) database for all SLKT performed until the end of 2017. Patients were divided by pretransplant dialysis status into no dialysis before SLKT (preemptive kidney transplant) and any dialysis before SLKT (nonpreemptive). Baseline characteristics and outcomes were compared.ResultsBetween 1989 and 2017, inclusive, 84 SLKT procedures were performed in Australia, of which 24% were preemptive. Preemptive and nonpreemptive SLKT recipients did not significantly differ in age (P = .267), sex (P = .526), or ethnicity (P = .870). Over a median follow-up time of 4.5 years, preemptively transplanted patients had a statistically equivalent risk of kidney graft failure (hazard ratio (HR) 1.83, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.36-12.86, P = .474) and all-cause mortality (HR 1.69, 95% CI: 0.51-5.6, P = .226) compared to nonpreemptive patients. Overall, 1- and 5-year survival rates for all SLKTs were 92% (95% CI: 86-96) and 60% (95% CI: 45-75), respectively.ConclusionKidney graft and overall patient survival were similar between patients with preemptive kidney transplant and those who were dialysis dependent.     

High Pressure (HP) in Spark Plasma Sintering (SPS) Processes: Application to the Polycrystalline Diamond

High-Pressure (HP) technology allows new possibilities of processing by Spark Plasma Synthesis (SPS). This process is mainly involved in the sintering process and for bonding, growing and reaction. High-Pressure tools combined with SPS is applied for processing polycrystalline diamond without binder (binderless PCD) in this current work. Our described innovative Ultra High Pressure Spark Plasma Sintering (UHP-SPS) equipment shows the combination of our high-pressure apparatus (Belt-type) with conventional pulse electric current generator (Fuji). Our UHP-SPS equipment allows the processing up to 6 GPa, higher pressure than HP-SPS equipment, based on a conventional SPS equipment in which a non-graphite mold (metals, ceramics, composite and hybrid) with better mechanical properties (capable of 1 GPa) than graphite. The equipment of UHP-SPS and HP-SPS elements (pistons + die) conductivity of the non-graphite mold define a Hot-Pressing process. This study presents the results showing the ability of sintering diamond powder without additives at 4–5 GPa and 1300–1400 °C for duration between 5 and 30 min. Our described UHP-SPS innovative cell design allows the consolidation of diamond particles validated by the formation of grain boundaries on two different grain size powders, i.e., 0.75–1.25 μm and 8–12 μm. The phenomena explanation is proposed by comparison with the High Pressure High Temperature (HP-HT) (Belt, toroidal-Bridgman, multi-anvils (cubic)) process conventionally used for processing binderless polycrystalline diamond (binderless PCD). It is shown that using UHP-SPS, binderless diamond can be sintered at very unexpected P-T conditions, typically ~10 GPa and 500–1000 °C lower in typical HP-HT setups. This makes UHP-SPS a promising tool for the sintering of other high-pressure materials at non-equilibrium conditions and a potential industrial transfer with low environmental fingerprints could be considered.     

Cobalt–carbon/silica nanocomposites prepared by pyrolysis of a cobalt 2,2′-bipyridine terephthalate complex for remediation of cationic dyes

Recently, carbon nanostructures have attracted interest because of their unique properties and interesting applications. Here, CoC@SiO₂-850 (3) and CoC@SiO₂-600 (4) cobalt–carbon/silica nanocomposites were prepared by solid-state pyrolysis of anthracene with Co(tph)(2,2′-bipy)·4H₂O (1) complex in the presence of silica at 850 and 600 °C, respectively, where 2,2′-bipy is 2,2′-bipyridine and tph is the terephthalate dianion. Moreover, Co(μ-tph)(2,2′-bipy) (2) was isolated and its X-ray structure indicated that cobalt(ii) has a distorted trigonal prismatic coordination geometry. 2 is a metal–organic framework consisting of one-dimensional zigzag chains within a porous grid network. 3 and 4 consist of cobalt(0)/cobalt oxide nanoparticles with a graphitic shell and carbon nanotubes embedded in the silica matrix. They were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET), Raman spectroscopy, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). XPS revealed that the nanocomposites are functionalized with oxygen-containing groups, such as carboxylic acid groups. In addition, the presence of metallic cobalt nanoparticles embedded in graphitized carbon was verified by XRD and TEM. The efficiency of 3 for adsorption of crystal violet (CV) dye was investigated by batch and column experiments. At 25 °C, the Langmuir adsorption capacity of 3 for CV was 214.2 mg g⁻¹ and the fixed-bed column capacity was 36.3 mg g⁻¹. The adsorption data were well fitted by the Freundlich isotherm and pseudo-second-order kinetic model. The adsorption process was spontaneous and endothermic.

A cobalt–carbon@silica nanocomposite was synthesized from a cobalt 2,2′-bipyridine terephthalate complex and its adsorption behavior towards crystal violet dye was tested using batch and column techniques.     

Antihyperglycaemic effect of Casearia esculenta root extracts in streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats

The present study was carried out to evaluate the antihyperglycaemic effect of Casearia esculenta root extract and to study the activities of liver hexokinase and gluconeogenic enzymes such as glucose-6-phosphatase and fructose-1,6-bisphosphatase in liver and kidney of normal and streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats. Oral administration of aqueous extract of root (300 mg/kg body weight) for 45 days resulted in a significant reduction in blood glucose from 250.79 +/- 12.65 to 135.70 +/- 8.90 and in a decrease in the activities of glucose-6-phosphatase and fructose-1,6-bishosphatase and an increase in the activity of liver hexokinase. However, in the case of 200 mg/kg body weight of extract, less activity was observed. The study clearly shows that the root extract of C. esculenta possesses potent antihyperglycaemic activity but weaker than that of glibenclamide.