Association between the Cardio-Ankle Vascular Index and Diabetes Mellitus-Related Peripheral Arterial Disease in Chronic Hemodialysis Patients.

Background: Peripheral arterial disease (PAD) has increased in association with the increase in the numbers of patients with kidney disease or diabetes. The aim of this study was to assess the prevalence of PAD in hemodialysis patients with diabetes.

Methods: To examine the usefulness of the cardio-ankle vascular index (CAVI) to screen for the presence of PAD, cross-sectional studies of 100 patients undergoing chronic hemodialysis were performed.

Skin autofluorescence is a predictor of cardiovascular disease in chronic kidney disease patients.

Accelerated formation and tissue accumulation of advanced glycation end products (AGEs), reflecting cumulative glycemic and oxidative stress, occurs in age-related and chronic diseases like diabetes mellitus (DM) and renal failure, and contributes to vascular damage. Skin autofluorescence (AFR), a noninvasive measurement method, reflects tissue accumulation of AGEs. AFR has been reported to be an independent predictor of mortality in Caucasian hemodialysis patients.

Neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin levels associated with cardiovascular disease in chronic kidney disease patients.

Background: Elevated levels of neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (NGAL) have been reported in patients with cardiovascular disease (CVD), heart failure, and stroke. We assessed the relationships between serum levels of NGAL and the prevalence of CVD, and clarified the prognostic usefulness of systemic NGAL levels in hemodialysis (HD) patients.

Methods: Eighty-eight HD patients were followed up for 1 year.

Complete remission of diabetic nephropathy in a type 1 diabetic patient with near-nephrotic range proteinuria and reduced renal function.

There is scant knowledge on the changes in renal histological findings in type 1 diabetic patients those initially had nephrotic proteinuria and decreased renal function and later had complete remission of diabetic nephropathy by multifactorial treatment (MFT). A 44-year-old Japanese type 1 diabetic woman (duration of diabetes: 17 years) with massive proteinuria (2.9 g/day) and decreased renal function (creatinine clearance rate (Ccr): 86 mL/min) was admitted.

Focal segmental glomerulosclerosis associated with essential thrombocythemia.

Focal segmental glomerulosclerosis (FSGS) is a primary glomerular disease that is characterized by progressive proteinuria and declining renal function. Secondary FSGS is known to be associated with various diseases. However, an association of FSGS with essential thrombocythemia (ET) has been reported in few cases.

Extensive pancreatic necrosis in microscopic polyangiitis.

We encountered an 84-year-old woman with microscopic polyangiitis who was found to have pancreatitis on autopsy. The patient was admitted to Yamanashi University Hospital because of fever and progressive renal failure. She was diagnosed with anti-myeloperoxidase (MPO)-antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibody (ANCA)-related microscopic polyangiitis (MPA) and was treated successfully with prednisolone pulse therapy.

Serum level of macrophage colony-stimulating factor and atherosclerosis in hemodialysis patients.

Background/aims: Atherosclerosis and its related complications are the leading causes of death in the hemodialysis (HD) population. Aortic calcification index (ACI), intima-media thickness (IMT) in common carotid arteries, and electrocardiogram (ECG) are atherosclerotic parameters that are available in usual clinical outpatient settings. Macrophage colony-stimulating factor (MCSF) and monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1) play important roles in atherosclerosis.

Distinct diagnostic criteria for ultrasonographic examination of papillary thyroid carcinoma: a multicenter study.

Recent advances permitting high-resolution ultrasonography have made ultrasonographic examination of nodular thyroid diseases an accessible examination for routine practice. However, diagnostic criteria for ultrasonographic examination of thyroid nodules are not surely established. To identify the optimal strategy for well standardized differential diagnosis of papillary thyroid carcinoma and benign nodules, we evaluated the significance of individual ultrasonographic characteristics of thyroid nodules in a multicenter study.

Adenovirus-mediated transfer of thyroid transcription factor-1 induces radioiodide organification and retention in thyroid cancer cells.

Loss of thyroid-specific gene expression and functions accompanied by loss of thyroid transcription factors render them unresponsive to radioiodide therapy in poorly differentiated and anaplastic thyroid cancer. In anticipation of reactivation of thyroid functions, we investigated the effect of thyroid transcription factor-1 (TTF-1) gene transfer on thyroid cancer cells. Reexpression of thyroperoxidase (TPO) and thyroglobulin (Tg) mRNA and protein was detected in poorly differentiated human thyroid cancer cells that were infected with an adenovirus vector containing TTF-1 (AdTTF-1).

Histone deacetylase inhibitors restore radioiodide uptake and retention in poorly differentiated and anaplastic thyroid cancer cells by expression of the sodium/iodide symporter thyroperoxidase and thyroglobulin.

Iodide uptake by the thyroid is mediated by the sodium/iodide symporter. Upon iodide uptake, thyroperoxidase catalyzes iodination of tyrosine residues in thyroglobulin, retaining iodide within thyroid follicles. Dedifferentiation-induced loss of these functions in cancers, rendering them unresponsive to radioiodide, occurs with most poorly differentiated and anaplastic tumors.

Suppression of experimental crescentic glomerulonephritis by peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR)gamma activators.

Background: It has been recently reported that peroxisome proliferator-activated receptors (PPARs)gamma exist in various tissues and that they exibit anti-inflammatory effects.

Methods: We investigated the effects of PPARgamma activators on the development of crescentic glomerulonephritis. Crescentic glomerulonephritis was induced by the injection of rabbit anti-rat glomerular basement membrane antibody in WKY rats.

Activation of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-gamma inhibits apoptosis induced by serum deprivation in LLC-PK1 cells.

Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-gamma (PPARgamma) belongs to a superfamily of nuclear receptors, which plays important roles in lipid and glucose metabolism. However, expression of PPARgamma in extra-adipose tissues and stimulation of apoptosis by PPARgamma activators has been previously reported. We investigated the functions of PPARgamma using a clonal kidney cell line (LLC-PK1).