How useful is kidney biopsy for the management of glomerulopathies in the elderly?

Background: The use of kidney biopsy in elderly individuals is still matter of discussion. The purpose of this study is to assess the utility of kidney biopsy for the management of glomerulopathies in an Eastern European cohort, targeting patients older than 65 years.

Methods: This retrospective study included 875 adults (147 older than 65 years), with biopsy-proven glomerulopathies, followed up for 71.

Non-diabetic glomerular lesions in diabetic kidney disease: clinical predictors and outcome in an Eastern European cohort.

Purpose: Since patients' prognosis depends on the lesions identified by kidney biopsy (KB), we aimed to evaluate predictors of non-diabetic kidney disease (NDKD) in diabetic subjects and to assess their kidney outcome as compared to diabetic nephropathy (DN).

Methods: 180 adults diagnosed by KB with DN (n = 120) or NDKD (n = 60), over a 10 year time-span, were retrospectively included and followed for a mean of 48.1 (95% CI 43.

Towards a simplified renal histopathological prognostic score in glomerular nephropathies.

Aims: An important role of native kidney biopsy evaluation is to predict renal prognosis. We aimed to develop a simplified chronicity score based solely on pathological features that are easily recognisable and can be found in all glomerular nephropathies (GN). In this retrospective study, observational cohort study we included 625 patients with GN diagnosis after native kidney biopsy in a tertiary unit between 1 January 2010 and 31 December 2015.

"Associated" or "Secondary" IgA nephropathy? An outcome analysis.

Background: Whether differences in outcome between primary (pIgAN) and secondary IgA nephropathy (sIgAN) exist is uncertain.

Methods: We conducted a retrospective, observational study that included all histologically diagnosed IgAN patients between 2010-2017 (N = 306), 248 with pIgAN and 58 with sIgAN. To obtain samples with similar risk of progression, sIgAN patients were grouped as liver disease and autoimmune/viral disease and propensity score matched to corresponding pIgAN samples.

Histologic predictors of renal outcome in diabetic nephropathy: Beyond renal pathology society classification.

The prognostic utility of histologic features in patients with diabetic nephropathy (DN) classified according to the Renal Pathology Society (RPS) classification is controversial. Therefore, we aimed to evaluate the relationship between histologic changes and renal outcome in DN patients.We examined the renal outcome at November 30, 2017 of 74 adult patients (median age of 54.

Histological predictors of renal outcome in lupus nephritis: the importance of tubulointerstitial lesions and scoring of glomerular lesions.

Introduction Lupus nephritis (LN) affects nearly 60% of patients with systemic lupus erythematosus and up to 30% of them will progress to end-stage renal disease (ESRD), despite receiving aggressive immunosuppressive therapy. The prognostic value of ISN/RPS classification is controversial. Therefore, we aimed to identify clinical and pathological predictors of outcome in LN patients independent of this classification.

Clinical and pathological considerations on renal diseases in patients with chronic viral hepatitis.

Chronic viral hepatitis B and C may associate different extrahepatic manifestations and renal disease is the most frequent. Kidney damage is represented in most cases by glomerulopathies, which include membranous nephropathy, membranoproliferative glomerulonephritis (MPGN), IgA nephropathy, focal and segmental glomerulosclerosis and diabetic nephropathy. We conducted a retrospective study on 639 patients diagnosed with chronic viral hepatitis B and C and different renal diseases.

Validation study of Oxford Classification of IgA Nephropathy: the significance of extracapillary hypercellularity and mesangial IgG immunostaining.

The Oxford classification (OC) of IgA Nephropathy (IgAN) identified mesangial hypercellularity (M), endocapillary hypercellularity (E), segmental glomerulosclerosis (S), and tubular atrophy/interstitial fibrosis (T) as predictors of outcome. We aimed to validate the OC and to investigate the clinical significance of extracapillary hypercellularity and IgG immunostaining. We examined the renal outcome at December 31, 2014, of 121 adult patients with biopsy proven primary IgAN between 2003 and 2013.

Bone marrow iron distribution, hepcidin, and ferroportin expression in renal anemia.

Objectives: The hepcidin-ferroportin system is involved in both conditions associated with iron-restricted erythropoiesis in renal anemia: iron deficiency and anemia of chronic disorders. As serum hepcidin could aid diagnosis, we investigated its relationships with bone marrow iron distribution, hepcidin-ferroportin expression in bone marrow cells, and peripheral iron indices in non-dialysis chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients.

Methods: Fifty-four epoetin and iron naive CKD patients entered this prospective, observational study.

Desmosomes as markers for the proliferating parietal epithelial cells in collapsing glomerulosclerosis. A case report.

Two variants of focal segmental glomerulosclerosis are known to present epithelial hypercellularity in the Bowman's space, namely the collapsing and the cellular types. This epithelial cell proliferation may get features of either pseudocrescent or tubular profiles. Our case of collapsing focal segmental glomerulosclerosis has been ultrastructurally investigated concerning the proliferating epithelial cell type: parietal versus visceral.

Stress-induced mast cell activation in glabrous and hairy skin.

Mast cells play a key role in modulation of stress-induced cutaneous inflammation. In this study we investigate the impact of repeated exposure to stress on mast cell degranulation, in both hairy and glabrous skin. Adult male Wistar rats were randomly divided into four groups: Stress 1 day (n = 8), Stress 10 days (n = 7), Stress 21 days (n = 6), and Control (n = 8).

The histogenetic base of renal capsular-derived tumors.

Capsulomas comprise a category of very rare benign tumors derived from the renal capsule, the most encountered being myxomas and leiomyomas. To get more information on the histogenetic origin of these tumors, a comprehensive ultrastructural investigation on the human renal capsule has been done on kidney biopsy samples performed for nephropathologic diagnosis. The human renal capsule ultrastructure is similar to that of the mammalian renal capsule.

Immune-complex deposits in pANCA glomerulonephritis: a pediatric case report.

A 15-year-old boy is admitted to the hospital for clinical signs that suggest a pulmonary-renal syndrome (fever, cough, hemopthoic expectoration, oliguria, gross hematuria). A crescentic pANCA positive glomerulonephritis was configured. However, dense subendothelial deposits were identified in electronic microscopy and immunofluorescence staining showed granular deposits of IgG and C3, kappa and lambda in the capillary loops.

The association of polymorphonuclears with humps in acute postinfectious glomerulonephritis.

It is currently considered that hump dense deposits developed during an acute poststreptococcal glomerulonephritis become finally dissolute by three hypothetical mechanisms: loosing their electron density, internalization and processing by podocytes and by incorporation in the glomerular basal lamina (GBM). Analyzing ultrastructurally the association of polymorphonuclear leukocytes and hump deposits, we emphasized features endorsing the hypothesis that the immune complexes of dense deposits are discharged in the circulation under the leukocytes activity. The active polymorphonuclear cells are melting the GBM in the area of contact by complement activation and by the NAPlr bound plasmin.

Nanostructural features of diabetic podocytopathy.

The earliest glomerular lesion during the diabetic nephropathy is considered by many authors to be the so-called podocytopathy. Microalbuminuria is an early clinical marker of diabetic nephropathy that results from damages of the glomerular filtration barrier at the level of the highly differentiated podocytes. Thus, the diabetic podocytopathy includes cellular hypertrophy, foot process effacement, detachment from glomerular basement membrane (GBM), and apoptosis.

Renal subcapsular tertiary lymphoid aggregates in chronic kidney diseases.

In the last decade, it has been accepted the formation of tertiary lymphoid organs in the renal parenchyma during inflammatory conditions. These organized cellular aggregates contain B- and T-lymphocytes, dendritic cells, surrounded by neo-lymphatic vessels. They have been described in renal allografts, acute and chronic interstitial nephritis, IgA and membranous nephropathies.

Histological and ultrastructural analysis of the seminiferous tubule wall in ageing testis.

The authors evaluated possible morphological changes of basement membrane (BM) and lamina propria (LP) of seminiferous tubule wall (ST) related to ageing. Surgical samples of testicular tissue from 28 cases with orchiectomy for prostate adenocarcinoma were processed for light microscopy and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) examination. Seven age groups (AgGr) between 50 and 80 years were designed.

Myofibroblast involvement in tubular basement membrane remodeling in type II diabetic nephropathy.

Diabetic nephropathy is always accompanied by tubulointerstitial damage. The mechanisms and the cells involved are not entirely clarified. The damaged tubules may regenerate or undergo necrosis or apoptosis.

Telocytes in human isolated atrial amyloidosis: ultrastructural remodelling.

The human heart can be frequently affected by an organ-limited amyloidosis called isolated atrial amyloidosis (IAA). IAA is a frequent histopathological finding in patients with long-standing atrial fibrillation (AF). The aim of this paper was to investigate the ultrastructure of cardiomyocytes and telocytes in patients with AF and IAA.

The value of kidney biopsy in diabetes mellitus.

The purpose of this work is to emphasize the value of kidney biopsy in patients with diabetes mellitus and clinical renal impairment. Diabetes is the leading cause of end stage renal disease because diabetic nephropathy develops in 30 to 40% of patients. Multiple genetic predisposing conditions are involved in the development or not of a diabetic nephropathy, therefore supporting the existence of several factors in the pathogenesis of this disease.

Interstitial Cajal-like cells (ICLC) in myocardial sleeves of human pulmonary veins.

We present here evidence for the existence of a new type of interstitial cell in human myocardial sleeves of pulmonary veins: interstitial Cajal-like cell (ICLC). This cell fulfils the criteria for positive diagnosis of ICLC, including CD 117/c-kit positivity. Transmission electron microscopy revealed typical ICLC with 2 or 3 very long processes (several tens of mm) suddenly emerging from the cellular body.

Myocardial interstitial Cajal-like cells (ICLC) and their nanostructural relationships with intercalated discs: shed vesicles as intermediates.

Intercalated discs (ID) are complex junctional units that connect cardiac myocytes mechanically and electrochemically. However, there is limited information concerning the cardiomyocyte interaction with interstitial non-muscle cells. Our previous studies showed that myocardial interstitial Cajal-like cells (ICLC) are located in between cardiomyocytes, blood capillaries and nerve fibres.

Caveolae in smooth muscles: nanocontacts.

Smooth muscle cell (SMC) caveolae have been investigated by quantitative and qualitative analysis of transmission electron microscopy (TEM) images of rat stomach, bladder and myometrium, guinea pig taenia coli, human ileum, and rat aortic SMCs. Ultrathin (below 30 nm) serial sections were used for examination of caveolar morphology and their connections with SMC organelles. Average caveolar diameter was smaller in vascular SMCs (70 nm, n=50) than in visceral SMCs (77 nm, n=100), but with the same morphology.

Insights into the interstitium of ventricular myocardium: interstitial Cajal-like cells (ICLC).

We have previously described interstitial Cajal-like cells (ICLC) in human atrial myocardium. Several complementary approaches were used to verify the existence of ICLC in the interstitium of rat or human ventricular myocardium: primary cell cultures, vital stainings (e.g.

Interstitial Cajal-like cells (ICLC) in atrial myocardium: ultrastructural and immunohistochemical characterization.

We have previously reported (Hinescu & Popescu, 2005) the existence of interstitial Cajal-like cells (ICLC), by transmission electron microscopy, in human atrial myocardium. In the present study, ICLC were identified with non-conventional light microscopy (NCLM) on semi-thin sections stained with toluidine blue and immunohistochemistry (IHC) for CD117/c-kit, CD34, vimentin and other additional antigens for differential diagnosis. Quantitatively, on semi-thin sections, ICLC represent about 1-1.