Collection and determinants of patient reported outcome measures in haemodialysis patients in Scotland.

BACKGROUND/INTRODUCTION: Patient reported outcome measures (PROMs) can evaluate the quality of health in patients with established renal failure. There is limited experience of their use within national renal registries. AIM: To describe the Scottish Renal Registry's (SRR) experience of collecting PROMS in the haemodialysis population and correlate PROMS to demographic and clinical parameters. DESIGN: Retrospective observational cross-sectional study. METHODS: Haemodialysis patients in Scotland were invited to complete the KDQOL™-36 questionnaire on the day of the annual SRR census in 2015 and 2016. Questionnaires were linked to census demographic and clinical variables. RESULTS: In 2016, 738 questionnaires were linked to census data (39% of prevalent haemodialysis population). Response rates differed with age (≥ 65 years 42%, < 65 years 36%) [χ2P = 0.006]; duration of renal replacement therapy (<1 year 46%, ≥1 < 5 years 38%, ≥ 5 years 33%) [χ2P = 0.002] and social class (Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD) Class 1 32%, Class 2 41%, Class 3 40%, Class 4 48%, Class 5 40%) [χ2P < 0.001]. There were significant differences in PROMs with age, SIMD quintile and primary renal diagnosis. Achieving a urea reduction ratio of >65% and dialysing through arteriovenous access were associated with significantly higher PROMs. PROMs were not affected by haemoglobin or phosphate concentration. DISCUSSION/CONCLUSIONS: Routine collection of PROMs is feasible and can identify potentially under-recognized and treatable determinants to quality of life. The association between attaining recommended standards of care and improved PROMs is striking. Individual and population-wide strategies are required to improve PROMs.

Multi-phase volcanic resurfacing at Loki Patera on Io.

The Jovian moon Io hosts the most powerful persistently active volcano in the Solar System, Loki Patera. The interior of this volcanic, caldera-like feature is composed of a warm, dark floor covering 21,500 square kilometres surrounding a much cooler central 'island'. The temperature gradient seen across areas of the patera indicates a systematic resurfacing process, which has been seen to occur typically every one to three years since the 1980s. Analysis of past data has indicated that the resurfacing progressed around the patera in an anti-clockwise direction at a rate of one to two kilometres per day, and that it is caused either by episodic eruptions that emplace voluminous lava flows or by a cyclically overturning lava lake contained within the patera. However, spacecraft and telescope observations have been unable to map the emission from the entire patera floor at sufficient spatial resolution to establish the physical processes at play. Here we report temperature and lava cooling age maps of the entire patera floor at a spatial sampling of about two kilometres, derived from ground-based interferometric imaging of thermal emission from Loki Patera obtained on 8 March 2015 ut as the limb of Europa occulted Io. Our results indicate that Loki Patera is resurfaced by a multi-phase process in which two waves propagate and converge around the central island. The different velocities and start times of the waves indicate a non-uniformity in the lava gas content and/or crust bulk density across the patera.

Investigation of outbreaks of Pneumocystis jirovecii pneumonia in two Scottish renal units.

Pneumocystis jirovecii is recognized as an opportunistic pathogen. In recent years, human-to-human transmission of P. jirovecii has been demonstrated. However, outbreaks of P. jirovecii infections are not well defined because the epidemiological setting that facilitates transmission is not fully understood. This article describes two outbreaks of P. jirovecii pneumonia (PCP) in renal transplant patients in the West of Scotland. In total, 25 patients in two geographically contiguous locations were affected. Allele B was identified as the dominant type, along with allele A3. It was not possible to determine the exact reason for clustering of cases, although the outpatient clinic setting featured in one of the outbreaks. The outbreaks ceased with the use of trimethoprim-sulphamethoxazole prophylaxis; the target populations that received prophylaxis were different in the two outbreaks. Infection control teams should be alert to the possibility of outbreaks of PCP.

Accreting protoplanets in the LkCa 15 transition disk.

Exoplanet detections have revolutionized astronomy, offering new insights into solar system architecture and planet demographics. While nearly 1,900 exoplanets have now been discovered and confirmed, none are still in the process of formation. Transition disks, protoplanetary disks with inner clearings best explained by the influence of accreting planets, are natural laboratories for the study of planet formation. Some transition disks show evidence for the presence of young planets in the form of disk asymmetries or infrared sources detected within their clearings, as in the case of LkCa 15 (refs 8, 9). Attempts to observe directly signatures of accretion onto protoplanets have hitherto proven unsuccessful. Here we report adaptive optics observations of LkCa 15 that probe within the disk clearing. With accurate source positions over multiple epochs spanning 2009-2015, we infer the presence of multiple companions on Keplerian orbits. We directly detect Hα emission from the innermost companion, LkCa 15 b, evincing hot (about 10,000 kelvin) gas falling deep into the potential well of an accreting protoplanet.

Chronic kidney disease prevalence and secular trends in a UK population: the impact of MDRD and CKD-EPI formulae.

INTRODUCTION: Most UK laboratories use the MDRD4 formula to estimate glomerular filtration rate (eGFR), but this may exaggerate chronic kidney disease (CKD) prevalence. In a large adult population, we examined the impact of the more accurate CKD-EPI formulae on prevalence estimates, and on secular trends in prevalence. METHODS: We extracted all serum creatinine (SCr) results for adults, processed in our laboratory during two 1-year periods (2004, 2009-10). To minimize the effect of acute illness, a patient's lowest SCr was used for each period. eGFR (traceable to isotope dilution mass spectrometry value) was calculated using the MDRD4 and CKD-EPI formulae. Prevalence estimates were compared, with sub-group analysis by age and sex. RESULTS: In 2004, 102 322 patients had SCr tested (35.4% of the adult population), rising to 123 121 (42.3%) in 2009-10. The proportion tested rose with age to 86% of 85- to 89-year olds. The prevalence of CKD stages 3-5 was lower with the CKD-EPI formulae than the MDRD4 formula. The CKD-EPI formulae reclassified 17 014 patients (5.8%) to milder stages of CKD, most commonly from eGFR 60-89 ml/min/1.73m(2) and CKD stage 3A, in women, and in those <70 years old. 5172 patients (1.8%), mostly elderly women, were reclassified to more severe stages of CKD. Between the two time periods, the prevalence of CKD stages 3-5 rose from 5.44% to 5.63% of the population using MDRD4, but was static at 4.94% with CKD-EPI. CONCLUSION: The CKD-EPI formulae, which are more accurate than the MDRD4 formula at higher GFR, reduced the estimated prevalence of CKD stages 3-5 by 0.5% in 2004 and 0.7% in 2009-10. The greatest reclassification was seen in CKD 3A, particularly amongst middle-aged females. The minor rise in CKD prevalence between 2004 and 2009-10 seen with the MDRD4 formula was not confirmed with the CKD-EPI formulae. The CKD-EPI formulae may reduce overdiagnosis of CKD, but further assessment in the elderly is required before widespread implementation.

Multidrug resistance-like genes of Arabidopsis required for auxin transport and auxin-mediated development.

Arabidopsis possesses several genes related to the multidrug resistance (MDR) genes of animals, one of which, AtMDR1, was shown to be induced by the hormone auxin. Plants having mutations in AtMDR1 or its closest relative, AtPGP1, were isolated by a reverse genetic strategy. Auxin transport activity was greatly impaired in atmdr1 and atmdr1 atpgp1 double mutant plants. Epinastic cotyledons and reduced apical dominance were mutant phenotypes consistent with the disrupted basipetal flow of auxin. The auxin transport inhibitor 1-naphthylphthalamic acid was shown to bind tightly and specifically to AtMDR1 and AtPGP1 proteins. The results indicate that these two MDR-like genes of Arabidopsis encode 1-naphthylphthalamic acid binding proteins that are required for normal auxin distribution and auxin-mediated development.

Opposing roles of phytochrome A and phytochrome B in early cryptochrome-mediated growth inhibition.

The cryptochrome 1 (cry1) photoreceptor is responsible for the majority of the inhibitory effect of blue light on hypocotyl elongation, but phytochrome photoreceptors also contribute to the response through a phenomenon known as coaction. In Arabidopsis thaliana the participation of phytochromes A and B (phyA and phyB) in the early phase of cry1 action was investigated by determining the effects of phyA, phyB and hy1 mutations on a cry1-dependent membrane depolarization, which is caused by the activation of plasma-membrane anion channels within seconds of blue light treatment. High-resolution growth measurements were also performed to determine the timing of the requirement for phytochrome in cry1-mediated growth inhibition, which is causally linked to the preceding anion-channel activation. A null mutation in PHYA impaired the membrane depolarization and prevented the early cry1-dependent phase of growth inhibition as effectively and with the same time course as mutations in CRY1. Thus, phyA is necessary for cry1/cry2 to activate anion channels within the first few seconds of blue light and to suppress hypocotyl elongation for at least 120 min. This finding furthers the notion of an intimate mechanistic association between the cry and phy receptors in mediating light responses. The absence of phyB did not affect the depolarization or growth inhibition during this time frame. Instead, double mutant analyses showed that the phyB mutation suppressed the early growth phenotypes of both phyA and cry1 seedlings. This result is consistent with the emerging view that the prevailing growth rate of a stem is a compromise between light-dependent inhibitory and promotive influences. It appears that phyB opposes the cry1/phyA-mediated inhibition by promoting growth during at least the first 120 min of blue light treatment.

Functions of AKT1 and AKT2 potassium channels determined by studies of single and double mutants of Arabidopsis.

A reverse genetic strategy was used to isolate Arabidopsis plants containing "knockout" mutations in AKT1 and AKT2, two members of a K+ channel gene family. Comparative studies of growth and membrane properties in wild-type and mutant seedlings were performed to investigate the physiological functions of these two related channels. The growth rates of plants supplied with rate-limiting concentrations of K+ depended on the presence of AKT1 but not AKT2 channels. This result indicates that AKT1 but not AKT2 mediates growth-sustaining uptake of K+ into roots, consistent with the expression patterns of these two genes. K+ -induced membrane depolarizations were measured with microelectrodes to assess the contribution each channel makes to the K+ permeability of the plasma membrane in three different organs. In apical root cells, AKT1 but not AKT2 contributed to the K+ permeability of the plasma membrane. In cotyledons, AKT1 was also the principal contributor to the K+ permeability. However, in the mesophyll cells of leaves, AKT2 accounted for approximately 50% of the K+ permeability, whereas AKT1 unexpectedly accounted for the remainder. The approximately equal contributions of AKT1 and AKT2 in leaves detected by the in vivo functional assay employed here are not in agreement with previous RNA blots and promoter activity studies, which showed AKT2 expression to be much higher than AKT1 expression in leaves. This work demonstrates that comparative functional studies of specific mutants can quantify the relative contributions of particular members of a gene family, and that expression studies alone may not reliably map out distribution of gene functions.

Photocontrol of stem growth.

Rapid and measurable growth rate changes that occur in seedling stems upon illumination serve as an excellent means to analyze signal transduction. Growth kinetic studies have shown how red, far-red and blue light signals are transduced via the solitary and/or coordinated action of known plant photoreceptors. These reports are consistent with current findings describing light-induced photoreceptor interaction and compartmentation.

Unexpected roles for cryptochrome 2 and phototropin revealed by high-resolution analysis of blue light-mediated hypocotyl growth inhibition.

Blue light (BL) rapidly and strongly inhibits hypocotyl elongation during the photomorphogenic response known as de-etiolation, the transformation of a dark-grown seedling into a pigmented, photoautotrophic organism. In Arabidopsis thaliana, high-resolution studies of hypocotyl growth accomplished by computer-assisted electronic image capture and analysis revealed that inhibition occurs in two genetically independent phases, the first beginning within 30 sec of illumination. The present work demonstrates that phototropin (nph1), the photoreceptor responsible for phototropism, is largely responsible for the initial, rapid inhibition. Signaling from phototropin during the curvature response is dependent upon interaction with NPH3, but the results presented here demonstrate that NPH3 is not necessary for phototropin-dependent growth inhibition. Activation of anion channels, which transiently depolarizes the plasma membrane within seconds of BL, is an early event in the cryptochrome signaling pathway leading to a phase of growth inhibition that replaces the transient phototropin-dependent phase after approximately 30 min of BL. Surprisingly, cry1 and cry2 were found to contribute equally and non-redundantly to anion-channel activation and to growth inhibition between 30 and 120 min of BL. Inspection of the inhibition kinetics displayed by nph1 and nph1cry1 mutants revealed that the cryptochrome phase of inhibition is delayed in seedlings lacking phototropin. This result indicates that BL-activation of phototropin influences cryptochrome signaling leading to growth inhibition. Mutations in the NPQ1 gene, which inhibit BL-induced stomatal opening, do not affect any aspect of the growth inhibition within the first 120 min examined here, and NPQ1 does not affect the activation of anion channels.

Light-induced growth promotion by SPA1 counteracts phytochrome-mediated growth inhibition during de-etiolation.

Previous evidence has suggested that SPA1 is a signal transduction component that appears to require phytochrome A for function in seedling photomorphogenesis. Using digital image analysis, we examined the time course of growth inhibition induced by red light in spa1 mutants to test the interpretation that SPA1 functions early in a phyA-specific signaling pathway. By comparing wild-type and mutant responses, we found that SPA1 caused an increase in hypocotyl growth rate after approximately 2 h of continuous red light, whereas the onset of phyA-mediated inhibition was detected within several minutes. Thus, SPA1-dependent growth promotion began after phyA started to inhibit growth. The action of SPA1 persisted for approximately 2 d of red light, a period well beyond the time when the phyA photoreceptor and its influence on growth have both decayed to undetectable levels. Also, SPA1 promoted growth for many hours in the complete absence of a light stimulus when red-light-grown seedlings were shifted to darkness. We propose that SPA1 functions in a light-induced mechanism that promotes growth and thereby counteracts growth inhibition mediated by phyA and phyB. Our finding that spa1 seedlings do not display growth promotion in response to end-of-day pulses of far-red light, even in a phyA-null background, supports this interpretation. Combined, these results lead us to the view that the rate of hypocotyl elongation in light is determined by at least two independent, opposing processes; an inhibition of growth by the phytochromes and a promotion of growth by light-activated SPA1.

Ion channels and the transduction of light signals.

Studies of biological light-sensing mechanisms are revealing important roles for ion channels. Photosensory transduction in plants is no exception. In this article, the evidence that ion channels perform such signal-transducing functions in the complex array of mechanisms that bring about plant photomorphogenesis will be reviewed and discussed. The examples selected for discussion range from light-gradient detection in unicellular algae to the photocontrol of stem growth in Arabidopsis. Also included is some discussion of the technical aspects of studies that combine electrophysiology and photobiology.

Sequential and coordinated action of phytochromes A and B during Arabidopsis stem growth revealed by kinetic analysis.

Photoreceptor proteins of the phytochrome family mediate light-induced inhibition of stem (hypocotyl) elongation during the development of photoautotrophy in seedlings. Analyses of overt mutant phenotypes have established the importance of phytochromes A and B (phyA and phyB) in this developmental process, but kinetic information that would augment emerging molecular models of phytochrome signal transduction is absent. We have addressed this deficiency by genetically dissecting phytochrome-response kinetics, after having solved the technical issues that previously limited growth studies of small Arabidopsis seedlings. We show here, with resolution on the order of minutes, that phyA initiated hypocotyl growth inhibition upon the onset of continuous red light. This primary contribution of phyA began to decrease after 3 hr of irradiation, the same time at which immunochemically detectable phyA disappeared and an exclusively phyB-dependent phase of inhibition began. The sequential and coordinated actions of phyA and phyB in red light were not observed in far-red light, which inhibited growth persistently through an exclusively phyA-mediated pathway.

Potassium uptake supporting plant growth in the absence of AKT1 channel activity: Inhibition by ammonium and stimulation by sodium.

A transferred-DNA insertion mutant of Arabidopsis that lacks AKT1 inward-rectifying K+ channel activity in root cells was obtained previously by a reverse-genetic strategy, enabling a dissection of the K+-uptake apparatus of the root into AKT1 and non-AKT1 components. Membrane potential measurements in root cells demonstrated that the AKT1 component of the wild-type K+ permeability was between 55 and 63% when external [K+] was between 10 and 1,000 microM, and NH4+ was absent. NH4+ specifically inhibited the non-AKT1 component, apparently by competing for K+ binding sites on the transporter(s). This inhibition by NH4+ had significant consequences for akt1 plants: K+ permeability, 86Rb+ fluxes into roots, seed germination, and seedling growth rate of the mutant were each similarly inhibited by NH4+. Wild-type plants were much more resistant to NH4+. Thus, AKT1 channels conduct the K+ influx necessary for the growth of Arabidopsis embryos and seedlings in conditions that block the non-AKT1 mechanism. In contrast to the effects of NH4+, Na+ and H+ significantly stimulated the non-AKT1 portion of the K+ permeability. Stimulation of akt1 growth rate by Na+, a predicted consequence of the previous result, was observed when external [K+] was 10 microM. Collectively, these results indicate that the AKT1 channel is an important component of the K+ uptake apparatus supporting growth, even in the "high-affinity" range of K+ concentrations. In the absence of AKT1 channel activity, an NH4+-sensitive, Na+/H+-stimulated mechanism can suffice.

Two genetically separable phases of growth inhibition induced by blue light in Arabidopsis seedlings.

High fluence-rate blue light (BL) rapidly inhibits hypocotyl growth in Arabidopsis, as in other species, after a lag time of 30 s. This growth inhibition is always preceded by the activation of anion channels. The membrane depolarization that results from the activation of anion channels by BL was only 30% of the wild-type magnitude in hy4, a mutant lacking the HY4 BL receptor. High-resolution measurements of growth made with a computer-linked displacement transducer or digitized images revealed that BL caused a rapid inhibition of growth in wild-type and hy4 seedlings. This inhibition persisted in wild-type seedlings during more than 40 h of continuous BL. By contrast, hy4 escaped from the initial inhibition after approximately 1 h of BL and grew faster than wild type for approximately 30 h. Wild-type seedlings treated with 5-nitro-2-(3-phenylpropylamino)-benzoic acid, a potent blocker of the BL-activated anion channel, displayed rapid growth inhibition, but, similar to hy4, these seedlings escaped from inhibition after approximately 1 h of BL and phenocopied the mutant for at least 2.5 h. The effects of 5-nitro-2-(3-phenylpropylamino)-benzoic acid and the HY4 mutation were not additive. Taken together, the results indicate that BL acts through HY4 to activate anion channels at the plasma membrane, causing growth inhibition that begins after approximately 1 h. Neither HY4 nor anion channels appear to participate greatly in the initial phase of inhibition.

A role for the AKT1 potassium channel in plant nutrition.

In plants, potassium serves an essential role as an osmoticum and charge carrier. Its uptake by roots occurs by poorly defined mechanisms. To determine the role of potassium channels in planta, we performed a reverse genetic screen and identified an Arabidopsis thaliana mutant in which the AKT1 channel gene was disrupted. Roots of this mutant lacked inward-rectifying potassium channels and displayed reduced potassium (rubidium-86) uptake. Compared with wild type, mutant plants grew poorly on media with a potassium concentration of 100 micromolar or less. These results and membrane potential measurements suggest that the AKT1 channel mediates potassium uptake from solutions that contain as little as 10 micromolar potassium.