Availability of a microglia and macrophage marker, iba-1, for differential diagnosis of spontaneous malignant reticuloses from astrocytomas in rats.

In rats, it is sometimes difficult to distinguish malignant reticuloses from astrocytomas in routine histopathological assessment. In the present study, four spontaneous brain neoplasms developing in the cerebrum of one Wistar Hannover rat and three Sprague-Dawley rats were immunohistochemically examined using microglia and macrophage markers. Histopathologically, these neoplasms were localized mainly in the cerebral cortex, hypothalamus or piriform lobe, and the portions showing solid growth did not show characteristic cellular arrangement but had an indistinct boundary with the surrounding brain parenchyma.

Diuretics enhance effects of increased dose of candesartan on ambulatory blood pressure reduction in Japanese patients with uncontrolled hypertension treated with medium-dose angiotensin II receptor blockers.

Abstract Although blockade of the renin-angiotensin system by increasing the dose of angiotensin II receptor blockers (ARBs) is recommended to achieve clinical benefits in terms of blood pressure (BP) control and cardiovascular and renal outcomes, the effect of this increased dose on ambulatory BP monitoring has not been evaluated completely in Japanese patients with uncontrolled hypertension undergoing medium-dose ARB therapy. The primary objective of this study was to examine the effect of the relatively high dose of the ARB candesartan (12 mg/day) on 24-h systolic BP and the attainment of target BP levels in uncontrolled hypertension treated with a medium dose of ARBs. A total of 146 hypertensive patients (age: 69.

Shared medical appointments for patients with kidney stones new to medical management decrease appointment wait time and increase patient knowledge.

Purpose: Urolithiasis is associated with pain and other health related quality of life decrements. Lack of access to multidisciplinary care is a barrier to prevention. We developed a shared medical appointment to improve access as well as patient education and exposure to multidisciplinary care.

Contemporary minimally invasive treatment options for renal angiomyolipomas.

Renal angiomyolipomas (AMLs) are benign renal masses that are often asymptomatic and detected incidentally. However, treatment might be necessary in symptomatic presentations or when the mass exceeds 4 cm in size. While the goal of management for renal AMLs is to relieve symptoms and prevent hemorrhage, a priority is renal function preservation, especially given the propensity of these lesions to recur.

Office-based ureteral stent placement under local anesthesia for obstructing stones is safe and efficacious.

Objective: To evaluate the outcomes of urgent ureteral stent placement under local anesthesia (LA) with those placed under general anesthesia (GA) for obstructing stones.

Materials And Methods: After institutional review board approval, ureteral stents placed from January 2007 to July 2011 at our institution were reviewed. Only primary stent placement for obstructing renal or ureteral calculi was included in the present analysis.

Fluorescent protein-based biosensors and their clinical applications.

Green fluorescent protein and its relatives have shed their light on a wide range of biological problems. To date, with a color palette consisting of fluorescent proteins with different spectra, researchers can "paint" living cells as they desire. Moreover, sophisticated biosensors engineered to contain single or multiple fluorescent proteins, including FRET-based biosensors, spatiotemporally unveil molecular mechanisms underlying physiological processes.

Diet and alternative therapies in the management of stone disease.

Although nonnutritional factors affect the risk for renal stone development, nutrition is widely viewed as contributory and is frequently included as part of the therapeutic regimen in secondary stone prevention. In this article, the therapeutic application of nutritional recommendations to address specific risk factors of urolithiasis is reviewed. The article focuses on calcium-containing and uric acid stones.

Apical vacuole formation by gastric parietal cells in primary culture: effect of low extracellular Ca2+.

In primary culture, the gastric parietal cell's deeply invaginated apical membrane, seen in microscopy by phalloidin binding to F-actin (concentrated in microvilli and a subapical web), is engulfed into the cell, separated from the basolateral membrane (which then becomes the complete plasma membrane), and converted, from a lacy interconnected system of canaliculi, into several separate vacuoles. In this study, vacuolar morphology was achieved by 71% of parietal cells 8 h after typical collagenase digestion of rabbit gastric mucosa, but the tight-junctional protein zonula occludens-1 (ZO-1) was completely delocalized after ∼2 h, when cells were ready for culturing. Use of low-Ca(2+) medium (4 mM EGTA) to release cells quickly from gastric glands yielded parietal cells in which ZO-1 was seen in a small spot or ring, a localization quickly lost if these cells were then cultured in normal Ca(2+) but remaining up to 20 h if they were cultured in low Ca(2+).

Reduced BMP signaling results in hindlimb fusion with lethal pelvic/urogenital organ aplasia: a new mouse model of sirenomelia.

Sirenomelia, also known as mermaid syndrome, is a developmental malformation of the caudal body characterized by leg fusion and associated anomalies of pelvic/urogenital organs including bladder, kidney, rectum and external genitalia. Most affected infants are stillborn, and the few born alive rarely survive beyond the neonatal period. Despite the many clinical studies of sirenomelia in humans, little is known about the pathogenic developmental mechanisms that cause the complex array of phenotypes observed.

Development of an instrument to assess the health related quality of life of kidney stone formers.

Purpose: Urolithiasis is associated with pain and other decreases in health related quality of life, yet there is no urolithiasis specific instrument to measure quality of life. Quality of life is an important end point in the management of urolithiasis. Therefore, we developed the Wisconsin StoneQOL, a disease specific instrument to assess the quality of life of patients with urolithiasis.

PI3K mediates stretch-induced COX-2 expression during urinary tract obstruction.

Background And Purpose: Stretch-induced cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) expression occurs in urothelial cells during urinary tract obstruction (UTO). This increases COX-2-dependent prostanoid synthesis in stretched urothelial cells. These prostanoids then act on afferent neurons and smooth muscle cells in the ureter to amplify nociceptive and contractile responses, respectively.

Ablation of small renal masses: practice patterns at academic institutions in the United States.

Purpose: We aimed to determine the current practice patterns at academic institutions in the use of ablative technologies for the management of small renal masses.

Patients And Methods: Mail surveys were sent to 124 academic institutions in the United States. The survey consisted of 12 questions pertaining to institutional demographic information, the use of ablation technology for small renal masses, the role of the urologist in ablation, and biopsy preferences prior to treatment.

RNF8 regulates assembly of RAD51 at DNA double-strand breaks in the absence of BRCA1 and 53BP1.

The tumor suppressor protein BRCA1 localizes to sites of DNA double-strand breaks (DSB), promoting repair by homologous recombination through the recruitment of DNA damage repair proteins. In normal cells, homologous recombination largely depends on BRCA1. However, assembly of the pivotal homologous recombination regulator RAD51 can occur independently of BRCA1 in the absence of 53BP1, another DNA damage response protein.

Molecular basis of Lys-63-linked polyubiquitination inhibition by the interaction between human deubiquitinating enzyme OTUB1 and ubiquitin-conjugating enzyme UBC13.

UBC13 is the only known E2 ubiquitin (Ub)-conjugating enzyme that produces Lys-63-linked Ub chain with its cofactor E2 variant UEV1a or MMS2. Lys-63-linked ubiquitination is crucial for recruitment of DNA repair and damage response molecules to sites of DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs). A deubiquitinating enzyme OTUB1 suppresses Lys-63-linked ubiquitination of chromatin surrounding DSBs by binding UBC13 to inhibit its E2 activity independently of the isopeptidase activity.

Clinical, pathologic, and functional outcomes after nephron-sparing surgery in patients with a solitary kidney: a multicenter experience.

Background And Purpose: Surgical management of a renal neoplasm in a solitary kidney is a balance between oncologic control and preservation of renal function. We analyzed patients with a renal mass in a solitary kidney undergoing nephron-sparing procedures to determine perioperative, oncologic, and renal functional outcomes.

Patients And Methods: A multicenter study was performed from 12 institutions.

Nanoprobe fourier-transform photoabsorption spectroscopy using a supercontinuum light source.

A scheme of photoabsorption spectroscopy based on scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) has been developed by using a supercontinuum light as the wideband light source of a Fourier transform interferometer for spectroscopic measurements. The performance was demonstrated for a sample of GaAs. The proof-of-concept test showed that the use of the supercontinuum light instead of halogen lamps greatly enhances the signal-to-noise ratio due to the high brilliance of the supercontinuum light emitted from a small core of the photonic crystal fiber that enables tight focusing of the spectroscopy light onto the sample beneath the STM tip.

Automated volumetric assessment by noncontrast computed tomography in the surveillance of nephrolithiasis.

Objective: To evaluate the use of automated volumetric assessment for stone surveillance and compare the results with manual linear measurement.

Methods: We retrospectively reviewed patients seen in our stone clinic who had undergone 2 noncontrast computed tomography (NCCT) scans without stone intervention during the interval between scans. Thirty patients met our inclusion criteria and underwent longitudinal assessment for urolithiasis via NCCT (mean interval 583.

Effect of high-sensitivity C-reactive protein on the development of diabetes as demonstrated by pooled logistic-regression analysis of annual health-screening information from male Japanese workers.

Aim: The aim of this study was to determine the relationship between the development of diabetes mellitus and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (HsCRP) adjusted for various potential confounders.

Methods: This 5-year prospective cohort study was conducted at a Japanese steel factory and involved male workers who had received annual health screenings between 2005 and 2010. The 7392 male participants were aged 19-75 years.

Renal cell carcinoma: attenuation values on unenhanced CT.

Objective: The purpose of this study is to analyze the attenuation values of pathologically proven renal cell carcinomas (RCCs) on unenhanced CT and to determine the range of values wherein malignancy should be considered.

Materials And Methods: A retrospective review was performed of 189 consecutive patients with 193 pathologically proven RCCs 1 cm or larger on unenhanced CT. For each RCC, attenuation values were assessed throughout the tumor by continuous sampling with a 25-100-mm(2) region of interest (ROI), avoiding foci of calcification and peritumoral volume averaging.

Dose-response relationship between tobacco or alcohol consumption and the development of diabetes mellitus in Japanese male workers.

Background: The aim of this study was to examine the dose-response relationships between tobacco or alcohol consumption and the development of diabetes mellitus.

Methods: An 8-year prospective cohort study was conducted in 8423 male workers who received annual health check-ups between 2002 and 2010 at a Japanese steel company. The endpoints were defined as an HbA(lc)≥6.

Hydrodissection using an iodinated contrast medium during percutaneous renal cryoablation.

We describe our experience using an iodinated contrast solution to hydrodissect adjacent structures before percutaneous renal cryoablation. Hydrodissection was performed before cryoablation with placement of a 20-gauge, 15-cm introducer needle into the retroperitoneum under CT or ultrasonographic guidance followed by infusion of 5% dextrose in water and 2% iodinated contrast between the kidney and the adjacent organ. Ten patients underwent hydrodissection with an iodinated contrast solution at our institution.

The ureteroscope as a safety wire for ureteronephroscopy.

Background And Purpose: The recent technologic advances in the newer generation of flexible ureteroscopes have significantly enhanced the therapeutic and diagnostic efficacy of ureteroscopy. The purpose of our study was to assess ureteroscopy and lithotripsy of renal calculi without a safety wire, using the ureteroscope as the safety device.

Patients And Methods: Medical records for patients undergoing ureteroscopy by a single surgeon were retrospectively reviewed from December 2006 to December 2009.

Groundwater dynamics of Fongafale Islet, Funafuti Atoll, Tuvalu.

Geoelectric and hydrologic surveys during spring tides revealed the spatiotemporal distribution of groundwater quality produced by tidal forcing in Fongafale Islet, Funafuti Atoll, Tuvalu. The observed low resistivity showed that saline water largely immersed the surficial Holocene aquifer, indicating that there is no thick freshwater lens in Fongafale Islet, unlike in other atoll islands of comparable size. Half of the islet was constructed by reclaiming the original swamp with porous, highly permeable coral blocks; this reclaimed area should not be considered as part of the islet width for calculation of the expected thickness of the freshwater lens.