In this paper, we demonstrate that a functional, portable device for the growth of bacteria or amplification of bacteriophage can be created using simple materials. These devices are comprised of packing tape, sheets of paper patterned by hydrophobic printer ink, and a polydimethyl siloxane (PDMS) membrane, which is selectively permeable to oxygen but non-permeable to water. These devices supply bacteria with oxygen and prevent the evaporation of media for a period over 48 h. The division time of E. coli and the amplification of the phage M13 in this device are similar to the rates measured on agar plates and in shaking cultures. The growth of bacteria with a fluorescent mCherry reporter can be quantified using a flatbed scanner or a cell phone camera. Permeating devices with commercial viability dye (PrestoBlue) can be used to detect low copy number of E. coli (1-10 CFU in 100 μL) and visualize microorganisms in environmental samples. The platform, equipped with bacteria that carry inducible mCherry reporter could also be used to quantify the concentration of the inducer (here, arabinose). Identical culture platforms can, potentially, be used to quantify the induction of gene expression by an engineered phage or by synthetic transcriptional regulators that respond to clinically relevant molecules. The majority of measurement and fabrication procedures presented in this report have been replicated by low-skilled personnel (high-school students) in a low-resource environment (high-school classroom). The fabrication and performance of the device have also been tested in a low-resource laboratory setting by researchers in Nairobi, Kenya. Accordingly, this platform can be used as both an educational tool and as a diagnostic tool in low-resource environments worldwide.

Background: Atypical hemolytic uremic syndrome (aHUS), an important cause of acute kidney injury (AKI), is characterized by dysregulation of the alternative complement pathway. Autoantibodies to factor H (FH), a chief regulator of this pathway, account for a distinct subgroup. While high anti-FH titers predict relapse, they do not correlate well with disease activity and their functional characterization is required. Methods: Of 781 patients <18-year-old of aHUS in the nationwide database from 2007 to 2018, 436 (55.8%) had anti-FH antibodies. Clinical features and outcome of patients managed in the last 6-year ( n = 317) were compared to before ( n = 119). In plasma samples of 44 patients, levels of serial circulating FH immune complexes (CIC), free FH, soluble terminal complement complex (sC5b-9), sheep red blood cell (SRBC) lysis and epitope specificity ( n = 8) were examined. Functional renal reserve, ambulatory hypertension, left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH), and proteinuria were evaluated in a subset. Results: Patients presented with markedly elevated anti-FH titers (10,633.2 ± 998.5 AU/ml). Management varied by center, comprising plasma exchange (PEX; 77.5%) and immunosuppression (73.9%). Patients managed in the last 6-year showed better renal survival at mean 28.5 ± 27.3 months (log rank P = 0.022). Mean anti-FH titers stayed 700–1,164 AU/ml during prolonged follow-up, correlating with CIC. Patients with relapse had lower free-FH during remission [Generalized estimating equations (GEE), P = 0.001]; anti-FH levels ≥1,330 AU/ml and free FH ≤440 mg/l predicted relapse (hazards ratio, HR 6.3; P = 0.018). Epitope specificity was similar during onset, remission and relapse. Antibody titer ≥8,000 AU/ml (HR 2.23; P = 0.024), time to PEX ≥14 days (HR 2.09; P = 0.071) and PEX for <14 days (HR 2.60; P = 0.017) predicted adverse renal outcomes. Combined PEX and immunosuppression improved long-term outcomes (HR 0.37; P = 0.026); maintenance therapy reduced risk of relapses (HR 0.11; P < 0.001). At 4.4±2.5 year, median renal reserve was 15.9%; severe ambulatory, masked and pre-hypertension were found in 38, 30, and 18%, respectively. Proteinuria and LVH occurred in 58 and 28% patients, respectively. Conclusion: Prompt recognition and therapy with PEX and immunosuppression, is associated with satisfactory outcomes. Free-FH predicts early relapses in patients with high anti-FH titers. A significant proportion of impaired functional reserve, ambulatory hypertension, proteinuria and LVH highlight the need for vigilant long-term follow-up.

Background: Urinary tract infection (UTI) is a well-recognized early complication in renal transplant recipients (RTR) and can have significant bearing on their outcome. The recent rise in incidence of extended spectrum beta lactamase (ESBL) producing bacteria causing UTI among RTR poses new and significant challenges in terms of management and outcome. Our aim is to analyze the effect of ESBL producing bacteria causing UTI in these patients and its impact on allograft function.

Enthymemes, that are arguments with missing premises, are common in natural language text. They pose a challenge for the field of argument mining, which aims to extract arguments from such text. If we can detect whether a premise is missing in an argument, then we can either fill the missing premise from similar/related arguments, or discard such enthymemes altogether and focus on complete arguments. In this paper, we draw a connection between explicit vs. implicit opinion classification in reviews, and detecting arguments from enthymemes. For this purpose, we train a binary classifier to detect explicit vs. implicit opinions using a manually labelled dataset. Experimental results show that the proposed method can discriminate explicit opinions from implicit ones, thereby providing encouraging first step towards enthymeme detection in natural language texts.