Machine perfusion (MP) has been used as the kidney preservation method in our center for over 10 years. The first, small (n = 74) prospective, single-blinded randomized study comparing MP and Cold Storage (CS) showed that the incidence of delayed graft function was higher after CS. There have been no reports in the literature on the effect of storage modality on longterm function of renal allografts. This paper presents an analysis of long-term results of renal transplantation in 415 patients operated on between 1994 and 1999. Of those, 227 kidneys were MP-stored prior to KTx. The control group consisted of 188 CS kidney transplants. Kidneys were not randomized to MP or to CS. Donor demographics, medical and biochemical data, cold ischemia time, HLA match and recipient data were collected. Standard triple-drug immunosuppression was administered to both groups. Mortality, graft survival and incidence of return to hemodialysis treatment were analyzed. Despite longer cold ischemia time and poorer donor hemodynamics in MP group, 5-year Kaplan-Meier graft survival was better in MP-stored than in CS-stored kidneys (68.2% vs. 54.2%, p = 0.02). Conclusion: In this nonrandomized analysis, kidney storage by MP improved graft survival and reduced the number of patients who returned to dialysis.

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The biggest challenges in the maritime environment are accidents and excessive fuel consumption. In order to improve the safety of navigation at sea and to reduce fuel consumption, the strategy of anti-collision, shortest trajectory planning is proposed. The strategy described in this paper is based on the beam search method. The beam search algorithm (BSA) takes into account many safe trajectories for the present ship and chooses the best in terms of length and other criteria. The risk of collision of present ship with any target ships is detected when the closest point of approach (CPA) of the present ship is violated by the target ship’s planned trajectory. Only course alteration of the present ship is applied, and not speed alteration. The algorithm has been implemented in the decision support system NAVDEC and tested in a real navigation environment on the m/f Wolin, a Polish ferry. Almost all BSA trajectories calculated were shorter in comparison to the standard NAVDEC-calculated algorithm.

The aim of the study was to evaluate the usefulness of quantitative ultrasound (QUS) measurement of the proximal phalanges of the hand in patients with end-stage renal failure (ESRF) treated with dialysis, and to compare results of this method with those from dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) of hands and forearms (shaft and ultradistal site). Forty-one men aged 48.1 +/- 11.7 years and 31 women aged 43.1 +/- 12.3 years were examined. Mean QUS values of the hands in men and women with ESRF were significantly lower than the values of the healthy control group. There was a significant positive correlation between QUS and DXA of fingers, hands and also forearms, more pronounced in the shaft than in the ultradistal site. There was no significant difference in the measurements of extremities with or without a fistula. We conclude that QUS measurements are decreased in patients with ESRF treated with dialysis, and they correlate with DXA results. The simplicity of QUS makes it a valuable method in everyday practice. The clinical significance of the QUS results in these patients with ESRF treated with dialysis needs further investigation.

The accumulation in blood plasma and efficiency of hemodialysis of pyrimidine compounds (orotic acid, orotidine, pseudouridine, uridine, thymine) as well as uric acid and creatinine in 23 patients with chronic renal failure (CRF) was investigated. As a reference, the analysis of the above metabolites in the plasma of 30 healthy volunteers was performed. Among examined compounds, pseudouridine possessed the highest capability of accumulation in blood plasma (25 times higher concentration than physiological). It coincided with the lowest efficiency of pseudouridine hemodialysis (44%) and the longest T_½ (relative to creatinine) in plasma. A significant linear correlation (r = 0.81, p < 0.001) between efficiency of creatinine and pseudouridine hemodialysis was calculated. The concentration of orotic acid in the blood plasma of patients before hemodialysis exceeded 14 times its level in healthy subjects; the inhibition of uric acid synthesis by allopurinol in dialyzed patients was accompanied by enlargement of orotidine and orotate accumulation in blood plasma. Extremely high plasma concentration of examined pyrimidines remaining elevated after hemodialysis creates an additional hazard for tissue metabolism and health of patients with CRF.