OBJECTIVE It is aimed to characterize the true relationship of the cold ischemia time (CIT) with graft survival and with the principal post-transplantation events. MATERIAL AND METHODS We analyzed 378 kidney transplants, studying the relationship of the CIT with graft survival using a univariate analysis according to the COX model and seeking the optimum cutoff according to the Kaplan-Meier m...

Polyomaviruria was observed in one-third of all renal transplant patients, irrespective of whether their renal grafts came from a living or cadaver donor, and was not correlated to graft rejection episodes. This suggests that the renal graft ischemia period is not the major cause of polyomavirus reactivation and that reactivation of polyomavirus is not a dominant cause of graft rejection.

Samples of PM10 and PM2.5 were collected discontinuously between 2003 and 2010 at fifteen monitoring sites (urban, background, industrial) in the south-eastern part of Italy using a mobile laboratory. In total, 483 PM10 and 154 PM2.5 samples were collected and chemically analyzed for the determination of metal content. Data were used to investigate concentration differences among the typologies...

Salicylic acid (SA) plays an important role in the regulation of plant ripening and responses to abiotic stresses. In this study, the protective effect of SA on cold stress-caused oxidative damage in grape (Vitis vinifera L.) bunches was investigated during cold storage.  Grape bunches treated with 2 mM SA and  stored at 0°C with 85-90% RH for 30 days. Samples were selected from each treatment ...

As global warming has lengthened the active seasons of many species, we need a framework for predicting how advances in phenology shape the life history and the resulting fitness of organisms. Using an individual-based model, we show how warming differently affects annual cycles of development, growth, reproduction and activity in a group of North American lizards. Populations in cold regions c...

The seasonal variation of the protozooplanktonic community (ciliates and testate amoebae) was studied in a tropical oligotrophic reservoir in Brazil, which was under the influence of two contrasting climatic seasons (rainy/warm and dry/cold). The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of these climatic changes on physical, chemical and biological variables in the dynamic of this community...

The impact of chemical desiccation on yield showed contrasting results depending on seedmoisture content at the time of application. Its effects on seed deterioration are still unknownand could be modified by seed composition. Objectives were to evaluate the impact of chemicaldesiccation on: i) hybrid sunflower seed yield and composition at harvest time, ii) seeddeterioration during long-term s...

Bird-window collisions are a major and poorly-understood generator of bird mortality. In North America, studies of this topic tend to be focused east of the Mississippi River, resulting in a paucity of data from the Western flyways. Additionally, few available data can critically evaluate factors such as time of day, sex and age bias, and effect of window pane size on collisions. We collected a...

Background: For all the reports on the association between seasons and coronary artery disease, there is a paucity of information on the possible effects of seasonal variations on the outcome of patients after coronary artery bypass grafting surgery (CABG). The aim of this study was to assess the short-term outcome of post-CABG patients in the four different seasons to find any correlation betw...

Using 15-yr data from the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts Re-Analysis (ERA15), the authors found that rapid southeastward expansion of the rainy area from the western Amazon to southeastern Brazil is a result of midlatitude cold air intrusions. During austral spring, as the large-scale thermodynamic structure over Amazonia becomes destabilized, the incursions of extratropical...