Diagnostic techniques for visceral leishmaniasis: An overview of methods used in East Africa.

Leishmanias is a parasitic infection caused by a protozoan belonging to the genus Leishmania and transmitted by sand fly, Phlebotomus fly in the old world and Lutzomyia in the New world. The disease is prevalent in the tropics, subtropics, and Southern Europe, where it affects about 1.5 million to 2 million people annually.

A multidisciplinary approach: Case report of an abdominal aortic aneurysm with type IIIA endoleak in the setting of cholangitis.

Endoleaks are a common complication of endovascular aortic aneurysm repair and often lead to aneurysm rupture. We report a complex case of a Type IIIA endoleak in a patient with suspected cholangitis. Immediate surgical measures to manage both the cholangitis and endoleak were performed while minimizing the risk of graft infection.

and antiplasmodial activities of approved drugs predicted to have antimalarial activities using chemogenomics and drug repositioning approach.

High malaria mortality coupled with increased emergence of resistant multi-drug resistant strains of parasite, warrants the development of new and effective antimalarial drugs. However, drug design and discovery are costly and time-consuming with many active antimalarial compounds failing to get approved due to safety reasons. To address these challenges, the current study aimed at testing the antiplasmodial activities of approved drugs that were predicted using a target-similarity approach.

Ex vivo and in vitro antiplasmodial activity and toxicity of Caesalpinia decapetala (Roth) Alston (Fabaceae).

Ethnopharmacological Relevance: Malaria is among the most prevalent and devastating parasitic diseases globally with most cases reported in Sub-Saharan Africa. One of the major reasons for the high malaria prevalence is the ever-increasing emergence of resistant strains of malaria-causing parasites to the currently used antimalarial drugs. This, therefore, calls for the search for antimalarial compounds with alternative modes of action.

Evaluation of a newly proposed renal risk score for Japanese patients with ANCA-associated glomerulonephritis.

Background: We determined the usefulness and prognostic ability of the renal risk score (RRS), proposed in Europe, for Japanese patients with antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibody (ANCA)-associated glomerulonephritis (AAGN) and high myeloperoxidase (MPO)-ANCA positivity; these aspects remain to be verified.

Methods: This retrospective study was conducted on 86 Japanese patients with new, biopsy-confirmed AAGN. We calculated the RRS and analyzed the relationship between this classification, and clinicopathological features and prognosis.

Violence Against Women and Children Following the 2011 Great East Japan Disaster: Making the Invisible Visible Through Research.

This study reports on 82 unduplicated cases of violence against women and children after the Great East Japan Disaster of March 2011. Data were collected using a structured questionnaire from informants who worked with the disaster-affected populations. In addition to domestic violence, reported cases involved sexual assault and unwanted sexual contact, including quid pro quo assault perpetrated by nonintimates.

Discrete renal deposition of IgM heavy chain and κ light chain in Waldenström macroglobulinemia (IgM-κ).

We report previously undescribed renal lesions associated with monoclonal gammopathy in a 59-year-old man with Waldenström macroglobulinemia (IgM-κ). Light microscopy showed mesangial proliferation and thickening of glomerular basement membranes (GBMs) and tubular basement membranes (TBMs). Neither intraglomerular thrombi nor nodular glomerulosclerosis was observed.

Thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura with severe ADAMTS-13 deficiency in a patient with antiphospholipid antibodies and Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease.

A 26-year-old woman with a history of mild mental retardation, Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease (CMT) and idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura developed severe thrombocytopenia with Coombs-negative hemolytic anemia. Magnetic resonance imaging revealed a fresh cerebral infarction in the left precentral gyrus. ADAMTS-13 deficiency caused by an inhibitor and anti-cardiolipin antibodies were detected in the blood.

Tubulointerstitial nephritis and renal tubular acidosis of different types are rare but important complications of primary biliary cirrhosis.

Background: A very few cases of biopsy-proven tubulointerstitial nephritis (TIN) in patients with primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC) have been reported. Although the clinical importance of this association has been suggested, information on its clinicopathological features and prognosis is limited.

Methods: We reviewed 5955 renal biopsies processed at our department, and identified four patients with TIN associated with asymptomatic PBC.

Simultaneous herpes simplex virus esophagitis and lupus enteritis in a patient with systemic lupus erythematosus.

A 52-year-old woman with a 6-year history of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) developed acute abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea accompanied by hypocomplementemia. Herpes simplex virus (HSV) esophagitis and lupus enteritis were diagnosed on the basis of the results of endoscopic and histological examinations and abdominal computed tomography (CT) findings. Treatment with acyclovir followed by high-dose intravenous steroids improved her symptoms.

Characteristics of proliferative glomerulo-nephritis with monoclonal IgG deposits associated with membranoproliferative features.

Background: Proliferative glomerulonephritis with monoclonal IgG deposits (PGNMID) associated with membranoproliferative features is an extremely rare entity. Information on clinicopathological features and prognosis in this entity is limited.

Methods: We reviewed 5,443 renal biopsies processed at our department, and identified 4 patients with PGNMID associated with membranoproliferative features.

GATA-3 is upregulated in peripheral blood mononuclear cells from patients with minimal change nephrotic syndrome.

Background: An imbalance of Th1 and Th2 cytokines has been reported in MCNS. Interleukin-13 (IL-13: Th2 cytokine) has been implicated in the pathogenesis of MCNS, but Th1/Th2 regulators such as T-bet (Th1-specific transcription factor) and GATA-3 (Th2-specific transcription factor) have not been examined.

Methods: We isolated PBMC from 25 patients with MCNS during nephrosis and remission phases, from 17 nephrotic patients with membranous nephropathy (MN), and from 25 healthy subjects.

Clinicopathological features and prognosis in immunoglobulin light and heavy chain deposition disease.

Background: There are three subtypes of monoclonal immunoglobulin deposition disease: light chain deposition disease (LCDD), light and heavy chain deposition disease (LHCDD), and heavy chain deposition disease (HCDD). Although it has been considered that LHCDD is a variant of LCDD, information on clinicopathological features and prognosis in LHCDD is presently limited.

Methods: We reviewed 5,443 renal biopsies, and evaluated clinicopathological features and outcomes in patients with LHCDD, in comparison with those in patients with LCDD and previously reported patients with HCDD.

Renal amyloidosis associated with extracapillary glomerulonephritis and vasculitis in a patient with inflammatory bowel disease treated with infliximab.

A 70-year-old woman with an 11-year history of indeterminate inflammatory bowel disease developed rapidly progressive glomerulonephritis (RPGN) 3 months after the initiation of infliximab therapy. A renal biopsy showed Congo red-positive homogenous deposits in the mesangial area, glomerular capillary walls and arterial walls. Cellular and fibrocellular crescents were observed in 7 of 28 functioning glomeruli.

Cutaneous polyarteritis nodosa in a patient with Crohn's disease.

A 19-year-old Japanese woman with a 4-year history of Crohn's disease (CD) developed high fever, polyarthralgia, and painful subcutaneous nodules of the legs. A skin biopsy showed panarteritis with fibrinoid necrosis in the deep dermis. Endoscopic examination showed aphthous lesions in the entire colon.

Monoclonal immunoglobulin deposition disease associated with membranous features.

Background: Very few cases of non-organized and non-Randall-type monoclonal immunoglobulin deposition disease (MIDD) associated with membranous features have been reported. Information on clinicopathological features and prognosis in this entity is limited.

Methods: We reviewed 5443 renal biopsies processed at our department, and identified three patients with MIDD associated with membranous features.

Up-regulated expression of Toll-like receptors mRNAs in peripheral blood mononuclear cells from patients with systemic lupus erythematosus.

Recent studies in animal models for systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) have shown that Toll-like receptors (TLR-7 and TLR-9) and interferon (IFN)-alpha are involved in the pathogenesis of murine lupus. Recent studies using flow cytometry have also shown increased expression of TLR-9 in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from SLE patients. In this study, we performed quantitative real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction analyses of PBMCs from 21 SLE patients and 21 healthy subjects, to estimate TLR2, TLR3, TLR4, TLR5, TLR7, TLR8, TLR9, IFN-alpha and LY6E (a type I IFN-inducible gene) mRNA expression levels.

Hypertrophic cranial pachymeningitis in a patient with Cogan's syndrome.

A 63-year-old man presented with chronic headache and bilateral hearing loss. A physical examination showed bilateral conjunctivitis. Circulating anti-Cogan peptide antibodies were detected by dot blot analysis.

Up-regulation of TRAIL mRNA expression in peripheral blood mononuclear cells from patients with active systemic lupus erythematosus.

It is recently suggested that tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL) is involved in the pathogenesis of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). In this study, we examined whether expression levels of TRAIL depend on SLE activity. To estimate TRAIL mRNA expression levels in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC), we performed quantitative real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction analyses of PBMC from 18 SLE patients and 20 healthy subjects.

Differences between myeloperoxidase-specific and -nonspecific P-ANCA-associated renal disease.

Background: Anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibodies (ANCA) are classified into perinuclear (P)-ANCA and cytoplasmic-ANCA by an indirect immunofluorescence (IIF) test with ethanol-fixed neutrophils. Circulating P-ANCA with specificity for myeloperoxidase (MPO) are frequently found in patients with pauci-immune necrotizing glomerulonephritis. P-ANCA without a specificity for MPO are also found in a minority of patients with this form of glomerulonephritis, but their clinicopathological features remain poorly delineated.

Nodular mesangial lesions, marked mesangiolysis, and fingerprint deposits of unknown origin in a patient with nephrotic syndrome: a unique combination of glomerular lesions.

A 46-year-old woman developed nephrotic syndrome at the age of 16 in 1973. On the basis of the histological findings of the first renal biopsy, she was diagnosed as having minimal change nephrotic syndrome. Initial treatment with steroid was effective, but she had several relapses during tapering of the daily dose of steroid.

Analysis of the NPHP genes in two Japanese patients with suspected sporadic juvenile or adolescent nephronophthisis.

Background: Mutations in 3 genes (NPHP1, NPHP3 and NPHP4) have been identified in patients with juvenile or adolescent nephronophthisis (NPHP) without extrarenal involvement, mainly in patients from western countries. In this study, we analyzed mutations in the NPHP genes of 2 Japanese patients with suspected sporadic juvenile or adolescent NPHP without extrarenal involvement.

Methods: A renal biopsy was performed in the 2 patients.

Development of lupus nephritis in a patient with human T-cell lymphotropic virus type I-associated myelopathy.

A 77-year-old Japanese man with a 14-year history of human T-cell lymphotropic virus type I-associated myelopathy developed pancytopenia, proteinuria, renal dysfunction, and hypocomplementemia. Antinuclear antibody and anti-double-stranded DNA antibody test results were positive, and circulating immune complexes were detected. A renal biopsy showed diffuse and global mesangiocapillary proliferation with extensive subendothelial deposits.

49, XXXXY syndrome with unilateral renal aplasia, proteinuria, and venous thromboembolism.

A 28-year-old man presented with mental retardation, peculiar facial features, radioulnar synostosis, hypogonadism, aplasia of the right kidney, a moderate degree of proteinuria, and peripheral cyanosis. The activated partial thromboplastin time was shortened, and the level of plasma factor VIII was high. A chromosomal analysis revealed a 49, XXXXY karyotype.