Dynamics of Donor-Derived Cell-Free DNA at the Early Phase After Pediatric Kidney Transplantation: A Prospective Cohort Study

Background: Donor-derived cell-free DNA (ddcfDNA) has been suggested as an indicator of allograft injury in adult and pediatric kidney transplantation (KTx). However, the dynamics of ddcfDNA in pediatric KTx have not been investigated. In addition, it has not been demonstrated whether donor-recipient (D/R) size mismatch affect ddcfDNA level.Methods: Pediatric KTx recipients with a single donor kidney were enrolled and followed up for 1 year. ddcfDNA, calculated as a fraction (%) in the recipient plasma, was examined longitudinally within 3 months post-transplant. D/R size mismatch degree was described as D/R height ratio. The 33rd percentile of D/R height ratio (0.70) was used as the cut-off to divide the patients into low donor-recipient height ratio group (<0.70) and high donor-recipient height ratio group (≥0.70). The dynamics of ddcfDNA were analyzed and the impact factors were explored. Stable ddcfDNA was defined as the first lowest ddcfDNA. ddcfDNA flare-up was defined as a remarkable elevation by a proportion of >30% from stable value with a peak value >1% during elevation.Results: Twenty-one clinically stable recipients were enrolled. The median D/R height ratio was 0.83 (0.62–0.88). It took a median of 8 days for ddcfDNA to drop from day 1 and reach a stable value of 0.67% (0.46–0.73%). Nevertheless, 61.5% patients presented ddcfDNA>1% at day 30. Besides, 81.0% (17/21) of patients experienced elevated ddcfDNA and 47.6% (10/21) met the standard of ddcfDNA flare-up. Donor-recipient height ratio was an independent risk factor for ddcfDNA flare-up (odds ratio = 0.469 per 0.1, 95% CI 0.237–0.925, p = 0.029) and low donor-recipient height ratio (<0.70) was found to increase the risk of flare-up occurrence (odds ratio = 15.00, 95% CI 1.342–167.638, p = 0.028).Conclusions: ddcfDNA rebounds in many stable pediatric KTx recipients without rejection. This may be induced by significant D/R size mismatch and may affect its diagnostic performance at the early phase after pediatric KTx in children.

Pine Logs Sorting as a Function of Bark Thickness

The process of sorting softwood raw materials is aimed at full automation. Techniques such as laser and optical scanning, used in measuring and sorting wood raw material with the layer of bark, are based on an analysis of the external shape of the log. The consequence of this is the use of constant ranges of bark deductions, which are often affected by errors resulting from averaging the values. The thickness of the bark is influenced by many factors, such as the tree species and the quality of habitat in which the trees have grown. In the case of pine wood, the range of adopted diametral intervals for the processed raw material plays a significant role. The analysis of the automatic sorting results showed numerous cases of a log-size mismatch. In methods that assume the measurement of wood with the bark, deductions for bark should be made based on experiments that take into account the raw resources base. Despite the high correlation between the size of the deduction and the average thickness of the bark (r = 0.85), the mean value of an error of the adjustment to the maximum thickness of the bark in the automatic sorting was 45%. The maximum bark thickness for the analyzed sorting intervals was correlated. The level of the correlation coefficient value was r = 0.72. In order to increase the accuracy of the sorting process, the value of the deduction for bark should be adjusted to the maximum values in each sorting group.

Dielectric Spectroscopy of Hybrid Magnetoactive Elastomers

Dielectric properties of two series of magnetoactive elastomers (MAEs) based on a soft silicone matrix containing 35 vol% of magnetic particles were studied experimentally in a wide temperature range. In the first series, a hybrid filler representing a mixture of magnetically hard NdFeB particles of irregular shape and an average size of 50 μm and magnetically soft carbonyl iron (CI) of 4.5 μm in diameter was used for MAE fabrication. MAEs of the second series contained only NdFeB particles. The presence of magnetically hard NdFeB filler made it possible to passively control MAE dielectric response by magnetizing the samples. It was shown that although the hopping mechanism of MAEs conductivity did not change upon magnetization, a significant component of DC conductivity appeared in the magnetized MAEs presumably due to denser clustering of interacting particles resulting in decreasing interparticle distances. The transition from a non-conducting to a conducting state was more pronounced for hybrid MAEs containing both NdFeB and Fe particles with a tenfold size mismatch. Hybrid MAEs also demonstrated a considerable increase in the real part of the complex relative permittivity upon magnetization and its asymmetric behavior in external magnetic fields of various directions. The effects of magnetic filler composition and magnetization field on the dielectric properties of MAEs are important for practical applications of MAEs as elements with a tunable dielectric response.