Risk factors for the development of renal dysfunction in hospitalized patients with cirrhosis.

Objective: Hospitalized patients with liver cirrhosis are predisposed to acute renal failure. We sought to identify the role of liver disease severity, infectious complications, and in-hospital treatment with aminoglycosides as risk factors for acute renal failure among patients with cirrhosis.

Methods: In a retrospective, case-control study at the Albuquerque VA Medical Center, electronic and manual chart review was employed to identify all hospitalized patients with a diagnosis of cirrhosis and normal renal function (serum creatinine < or = 1.

Effect of DNA conformation on the binding of antibodies to benzo[a]pyrene diol-epoxide DNA adducts.

The effect of the helical conformation of DNA on the binding of antibodies to DNA-carcinogen adducts was evaluated. The efficiency of antibody binding to adducts produced in DNA by treatment with (+)-trans-7 beta, 8 alpha-dihydroxy-9 alpha, 10 alpha-epoxy-7,8,9,10-tetrahydrobenzo[a]pyrene (BPDE) was modulated by varying the winding angle of the DNA helix using heat denaturation, organic solvents, and cations. Unwinding and complete denaturation of the DNA helix increased the binding efficiency of anti-bodies to DNA-BPDE adducts 4- to 8-fold over that to BPDE adducts in the unperturbed double helical DNA.

Activation of polycyclic hydrocarbons in Reuber H4-II-E hepatoma cells. An in vitro system for the induction of SCEs.

Activation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) was examined in the Reuber H4-II-E established cell line without the use of exogenous enzyme preparations. Metabolism of PAHs to genotoxic products was determined by the induction of sister-chromatid exchanges (SCEs). The induction of SCEs followed a dose-response pattern with plateaus at high doses of PAH.

Effects of acute and chronic administration of mitomycin C on the induction of sister chromatid exchanges in vivo.

Frequencies of sister chromatid exchanges (SCE) were analyzed in bone marrow cells of mice injected with mitomycin C (MMC) both before and during infusion with bromodeoxyuridine (BrdU). Administration of MMC at 1, 6.5, and 13 hours after the onset of BrdU infusion resulted in the induction of approximately 45 SCE/cell, independent of time of administration.