AIM To analyse the risk factors and outcomes of delayed graft function (DGF) in patients receiving a steroid sparing protocol. METHODS Four hundred and twenty-seven recipients of deceased donor kidney transplants were studied of which 135 (31.6%) experienced DGF. All patients received monoclonal antibody induction with a tacrolimus based, steroid sparing immunosuppression protocol. RESULTS ...

In this paper, we investigate a single-server Poisson input queueing model, wherein arrivals of units are in bulk. The arrival rate of the units is state dependent, and service time is arbitrary distributed. It is also assumed that the system is subject to breakdown, and the failed server immediately joins the repair facility which takes constant duration to repair the server. By using suppl...

Progesterone (P4) inhibits the gastrointestinal muscle contraction by downregulating Galpha(q/11) proteins that mediate contraction, by upregulating Galpha(s) proteins that mediate relaxation, and by altering the pattern of cyclooxygenase (COX) enzymes and prostaglandins. We aimed to examine whether P4 treatment of guinea pigs in vivo affects basal colon motility [basal motility index (MI)] by ...

Fractions obtained by gel filtration or ultrafiltration of dog serum were tested for their mitogenic activity on canine prostatic epithelial cells: two prostatic growth factor (PGF) entities were found, a major one of 150 kDa (PGF-I) and a minor one of 1.5-2.0 kDa (PGF-II). Treatment and/or extraction with acetic acid, hydrochloric acid, or acidified-ethanol or preparations enriched in PGF-I ob...

Small patterned-ground features (PGFs) in the Arctic have unique soil properties that vary with latitude and may greatly affect tundra biogeochemistry. Because nitrogen availability can strongly limit arctic vegetation growth, we examined how soil nitrogen transformations differ between PGFs and the surrounding inter-PGF tundra along an arctic latitudinal gradient. We collected soils at eight s...

In endometrial adenocarcinomas COX-2 and F-series prostanoid (FP) receptor expression and prostanoid biosynthesis (PGE(2) and PGF(2alpha)) are elevated. In the present study, we investigated the effect of PGE(2) and PGF(2alpha) on the expression of COX-2 via the FP receptor in endometrial adenocarcinoma cells stably expressing the FP receptor (FPS cells). Using chemical inhibitors of intracellu...

Beautiful and expressive documents often require beautiful and expressive graphics. PGF and its front-end TikZ walk a fine line between power, portability and usability, giving a TEX-like approach to graphics. While PGF and TikZ are extensively documented, first-time users may prefer learning about these packages using a collection of graduated examples. The examples presented here cover a wide...

This paper studies the operating characteristics of an MX/Hk/1 queueing system under multiple vacation policy. It is assumed that the server goes for vacation as soon as the system becomes empty. When he returns from a vacation and there is one or more customers waiting in the queue, he serves these customers until the system becomes empty again, otherwise goes for another vacation. The brea...