Diagnosis of Leishmania infection in a nonendemic area of South America.

American tegumentary leishmaniasis is the generic name for a variety of cutaneous and mucocutaneous presentations of parasitosis caused by several species of the genus Leishmania. This is a widespread infection in the American continent, from the South of the United States to the North of Argentina. We herein describe the management of a patient with American tegumentary leishmaniasis in Mendoza, Argentina, a nonendemic area of South America, whose diagnosis and treatment were significantly delayed, because the patient did not report a recent history of travel to any known endemic areas.

Altered renal expression of Na(+) transporters and ROMK in protein-deprived rats.

Potassium depletion has been associated with altered sodium reabsorption in tubule segments. We studied if the altered abundance of Na(+) transporters and ROMK are associated with distal potassium secretion that contributes to the development of hypokalemia in protein-deprived rats. After weaning, Wistar rats were fed with a low-protein diet (8%, LP) for 14 days and then recovered with a normal-protein (NP) diet (24%, RP).

Na+/K+ -ATPase stabilization by Hsp70 in the outer stripe of the outer medulla in rats during recovery from a low-protein diet.

A low-protein (LP) diet induces injury from energy depletion in renal epithelial cells. Overexpression of heat-shock proteins has been implicated in the restoration of the cytoskeletal anchorage of Na(+)/K(+)-ATPase. We tested if Hsp70 stabilizes renal Na(+)/K(+)-ATPase attachment to the cytoskeleton from the cortex and the outer stripe of the outer medulla (OSOM) in rats during recovery from a LP diet.

Heat shock protein 70 expression is associated with inhibition of renal tubule epithelial cell apoptosis during recovery from low-protein feeding.

The cellular stress response can mediate cellular protection through expression of heat shock protein (Hsp70), which can interfere with the process of apoptotic cell death. Factors regulating renal epithelial cell apoptosis include angiotensin II. In the present study, we have examined the relationship between the Hsp70 expression and the apoptotic pathway in the kidneys from low-protein-fed rats (8% protein).