Objectives: Systemic inflammation has been reported to be associated with uremic pruritus (UP). Although a vegetarian diet can reduce systemic inflammation in hemodialysis patients, the effect of vegetarian diet on UP is not clear. The purpose of the study was to know the possible effects of vegetarian diet on UP. Methods: A cross-sectional study was done to compare the severity of UP and blood levels of systemic inflammatory markers between vegetarian and non-vegetarian hemodialysis patients. Six non-vegetarian patients with uremic pruritus changed their non-vegetarian diet to vegetarian diet for 2 months. Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) and pruritus score (PS) were used to measure the UP severity. The serum high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP), and interleukin-2 (IL-2) were used as markers of inflammation. Results: Both the median VAS scores (p ¼ .043) and the median PS scores (p < .001) were lower in the Vegetarian than in the non-vegetarian group. The median values of hs-CRP in Vegetarian were lower than that for the non-vegetarian (p ¼ .020). The median value of IL-2 was also lower in Vegetarian than that of the non-vegetarian (p ¼ .016). There were 6 non-vegetarian patients shift to vegetarian for 2 months. The pruritus score improved and IL-2 level decreased after change to vegetarian diet. Conclusion: We concluded that vegetarian diet might be associated with the amelioration of the uremic pruritus severity in hemodialysis patients.

An iterative algorithm for hysteresis compensation in micropositioning applications is presented. It is demonstrated that this algorithm has a geometric rate of convergence. The results of the testing of this iterative algorithm in tracking problems related to magnetic recording are reported.

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Whole-track imaging and diagnostics of hard disk data using the spin-stand imaging technique J. Appl. Phys. 97, 10P104 (2005); 10.1063/1.1851878High-speed massive imaging of hard disk data by using the spin-stand imaging technique A dynamic track-following technique has been developed that enables real-time reading of on-track data from off-centered hard disks on a spin stand. The technique makes use of piezoelectric transducers ͑PZT's͒ to dynamically control the radial displacement of the read head to follow off-centered tracks. Controlling algorithms based on the Preisach model of hysteresis have been devised to compensate for the hysteretic effects of the PZT. Techniques for extracting the trajectories of off-centered hard disk tracks and special methods of selecting the initial phase of these tracks and locking the phase thereafter have also been developed. The track-following technique has been demonstrated to dynamically follow off-centered commercial hard disks with a track density of 90 kilotrack per inch mounted on a spin stand.