The Application of Digital Pathology to Improve Accuracy in Glomerular Enumeration in Renal Biopsies.

Background: In renal biopsy reporting, quantitative measurements, such as glomerular number and percentage of globally sclerotic glomeruli, is central to diagnostic accuracy and prognosis. The aim of this study is to determine the number of glomeruli and percent globally sclerotic in renal biopsies by means of registration of serial tissue sections and manual enumeration, compared to the numbers in pathology reports from routine light microscopic assessment.

Design: We reviewed 277 biopsies from the Nephrotic Syndrome Study Network (NEPTUNE) digital pathology repository, enumerating 9,379 glomeruli by means of whole slide imaging.

Reproducibility of the NEPTUNE descriptor-based scoring system on whole-slide images and histologic and ultrastructural digital images.

The multicenter Nephrotic Syndrome Study Network (NEPTUNE) digital pathology scoring system employs a novel and comprehensive methodology to document pathologic features from whole-slide images, immunofluorescence and ultrastructural digital images. To estimate inter- and intra-reader concordance of this descriptor-based approach, data from 12 pathologists (eight NEPTUNE and four non-NEPTUNE) with experience from training to 30 years were collected. A descriptor reference manual was generated and a webinar-based protocol for consensus/cross-training implemented.

ADDing a piece to the puzzle of cognition in schizophrenia.

The biological bases of cognitive impairment in schizophrenia are poorly understood and may lie in insults in neurodevelopment, leading to alterations in critical structures. Synapses proteins are claimed to have etiopathogenic roles and more direct effects on core cognitive functions. Adducins family proteins seem of great interest, as they are fundamental constituents of synapses, involved in actin cytoskeleton assembly-disassembly, responsible of synaptic plasticity.

cGMP-dependent protein kinase 1 polymorphisms underlie renal sodium handling impairment.

Defective pressure-natriuresis related to abnormalities in the natriuretic response has been associated with hypertension development. A major signaling pathway mediating pressure natriuresis involves the cGMP-dependent protein kinase 1 (PRKG1) that, once activated by Src kinase, inhibits renal Na(+) reabsorption via a direct action on basolateral Na-K ATPase and luminal Na-H exchanger type 3, as shown in renal tubuli of animals. Because a clear implication of PRKG1 in humans is still lacking, here we addressed whether PRKG1 polymorphisms affect pressure-natriuresis in patients.