Kidney organoids generated from erythroid progenitors cells of patients with autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease.

Background: Kidney organoids have been broadly obtained from commercially available induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs); however, it has been a great challenge to efficiently produce renal organoid models from patients with autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD) that recapitulate both embryogenesis and the mechanisms of cystogenesis.

Methods: Blood erythroid progenitors (EPs) from two ADPKD patients and one healthy donor (HC) was used as a comparative control to normalize the many technical steps for reprogramming EPs and for the organoids generation. EPs were reprogrammed by an episomal vector into iPSCs, which were differentiated into renal tubular organoids and then stimulated by forskolin to induce cysts formation.

Association of Vitamin D Levels With Kidney Volume in Autosomal Dominant Polycystic Kidney Disease (ADPKD).

Vitamin D possesses renoprotective effects beyond mineral metabolism, potentially reducing arterial blood pressure and inflammation and vitamin D enzymes (CYP24A1 and CYP27B1) as well as vitamin D receptor (VDR) contribute to its homeostasis. In the present study, we aimed to determine vitamin D association with kidney volume, blood pressure parameters and inflammatory markers in ADPKD. This cross-sectional study, conducted from August 2011 through May 2016, evaluated 25(OH)D, 1,25(OH)2D and other hormonal/biochemical serum and urinary parameters, inflammatory markers and monocyte expression of VDR, CYP24A1, CYP27B1 in 74 ADPKD patients.

Searching for mutations in the HNF1B gene in a Brazilian cohort with renal cysts and hyperglycemia.

Objective: To verify the presence of variants in HNF1B in a sample of the Brazilian population selected according to the presence of renal cysts associated with hyperglycemia.

Subjects And Methods: We evaluated 28 unrelated patients with clinical suspicion of HNF1B mutation because of the concomitant presence of diabetes mellitus (DM) or prediabetes and renal cysts. Genotyping was accomplished using Sanger sequencing or multiplex ligation-dependent probe amplification (MLPA).

Exercise capacity in polycystic kidney disease.

Background: Reports about exercise performance in autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD) are scarce. We aimed to evaluate exercise capacity and levels of nitric oxide and asymmetric dimethylarginine (ADMA) in normotensive patients with ADPKD.

Study Design: Prospective controlled cohort study.

Pain determinants of pain in autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease.

Pain is the most common symptom reported by ADPKD patients, afflicting approximately 60% of cases and may result from renal hemorrhage, calculi, urinary tract infections, cyst rupture, or due to stretching of the capsule or traction of the renal pedicle. We have recently investigated pain patterns in AD-PKD patients using a translated version of a pain questionnaire specific for AD-PKD population. The questionnaire revealed that 67% patients with ADPKD exhibited some type of pain.

Caffeine intake by patients with autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease.

Because caffeine may induce cyst and kidney enlargement in autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD), we evaluated caffeine intake and renal volume using renal ultrasound in ADPKD patients. Caffeine intake was estimated by the average of 24-h dietary recalls obtained on 3 nonconsecutive days in 102 ADPKD patients (68 females, 34 males; 39 ± 12 years) and compared to that of 102 healthy volunteers (74 females, 28 males; 38 ± 14 years). The awareness of the need for caffeine restriction was assessed.

Anxiety, depression, and quality of life in patients with familial glomerulonephritis or autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease.

Introduction: Psychological aspects and quality of life are often evaluated in patients under renal replacement therapy, but studies about anxiety, depression, and quality of life in familial renal diseases are lacking.

Objectives: To evaluate the frequency of anxiety, depression, and quality of life (QOL) and their eventual associations with the main laboratory, clinical, socioeconomic, and cultural parameters in familial glomerulonephritis (GN) or autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD).

Methods: Ninety adult patients (52 familial GN and 38 ADPKD) completed the questionnaires of State Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI), Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), and QOL-Short-Form SF-36, and were also submitted to a short interview.

Translation, cultural adaptation and aplication of a pain questionnaire for patients with polycystic kidney disease.

Introduction: Pain is a common symptom in patients with autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD), affecting around 60% of cases.

Objective: Translate a pain questionnaire developed and validated for ADPKD in USA into Portuguese and to perform its cultural adaptation and apply it.

Method: The cultural adaptation performed by a panel of experts resulted in small changes consisting of words substitution by synonyms or deletion of terms not commonly used in our culture in 12 out of the 46 questions posed, to solve patients difficulties in understanding the questionnaire.

How to avoid discontinuation of antihypertensive treatment: The experience in São Paulo, Brazil.

Objectives: To evaluate the importance of providing guidelines to patients via active telephone calls for blood pressure control and for preventing the discontinuation of treatment among hypertensive patients.

Introduction: Many reasons exist for non-adherence to medical regimens, and one of the strategies employed to improve treatment compliance is the use of active telephone calls.

Methods: Hypertensive patients (n=354) who could receive telephone calls to remind them of their medical appointments and receive instruction about hypertension were distributed into two groups: a) "uncomplicated" - hypertensive patients with no other concurrent diseases and b) "complicated" - severe hypertensive patients (mean diastolic ≥ 110 mmHg with or without medication) or patients with comorbidities.

Growth and differentiation of the larval mosquito midgut.

Factors affecting larval growth and nutrition have consequences on adult fecundity. Since the mosquito larval midgut is the primary organ of digestion and nutrient absorption, factors that affect the growth and development of the midgut may have potential consequences on the reproductive potential of the adult. To gain a better understanding of mosquito midgut development the growth and metamorphic remodeling of the Aedes aegypti L.

Evaluation of nephrolithiasis in autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease patients.

Background And Objectives: Nephrolithiasis (LIT) is more prevalent in patients with autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD) than in the general population. Renal ultrasonography may underdetect renal stones because of difficulties imposed by parenchymal and/or cyst wall calcifications.

Design, Setting, Participants, & Measurements: A total of 125 patients with ADPKD underwent ultrasonography and unenhanced computed tomography (CT) scan, routine blood chemistry, and spot and 24-h urine collections.

Modulation of larval nutrition affects midgut neutral lipid storage and temporal pattern of transcription factor expression during mosquito metamorphosis.

During holometabolous insect development the critical weight marks a physiological transition after which juvenile hormone (JH) concentration decreases to such a level that a subsequent increase in ecdysone titer will initiate metamorphosis. Starvation experiments indicate that the Aedes aegypti critical weight is achieved by 24 h after the last larval-larval molt. When grown at 24 degrees C with excess food, the time between the critical weight and maximum weight (interval to cessation of growth) is about 24 h and pupation occurs about 24 h after the maximum weight is achieved.

Preservation of urine samples for metabolic evaluation of stone-forming patients.

Metabolic evaluation of stone-forming (SF) patients is based on the determination of calcium, oxalate, citrate, uric acid and other parameters in 24-h urine samples under a random diet. A reliable measurement of urinary oxalate requires the collection of urine in a receptacle containing acid preservative. However, urinary uric acid cannot be determined in the same sample under this condition.

Expression of nuclear receptor-transcription factor genes during Aedes aegypti midgut metamorphosis and the effect of methoprene on expression.

Exposure of mosquito 4th instars to the juvenile hormone analogue methoprene prevents the emergence of adults by interfering with metamorphosis. One metamorphic processes that is disrupted is midgut remodeling. To investigate the molecular mechanisms by which this occurs, the pattern of transcription factor gene expression during the Aedes aegypti (L.

Phyllanthus niruri normalizes elevated urinary calcium levels in calcium stone forming (CSF) patients.

Phyllanthus niruri is a plant used for years in Brazil to treat urinary calculi. We prospectively evaluated the effect of P. niruri intake on 24 h urinary biochemical parameters in an attempt to assess its in vivo effect in calcium stone forming (CSF) patients.

Methoprene interferes with mosquito midgut remodeling during metamorphosis.

Many juvenile hormone analogs interfere with insect metamorphosis, a property that makes them useful in insect control and as investigatorial tools with which to study metamorphic mechanisms. We report that one such analog, methoprene, interferes with mosquito metamorphic midgut remodeling. Methoprene treated Aedes aegypti (L.

A Bacillus thuringiensis delta-endotoxin induces programmed cell death in mosquito larvae.

We present evidence that a delta-endotoxin isolated from Bacillus thuringiensis subsp.israelensis induces programmed cell death in polytene midgut cells of Culex pipiens larvae. After exposure to toxin, polytene nuclei in the anterior region of the larval midgut undergo many of the morphological and physiological changes which are characteristic of apoptosis, including the ability to stain with the vital dye, acridine orange, and fragmentation of nuclear DNA as demonstrated by agarose gel electrophoresis and in situ TUNEL labeling.

Effects of an oxalate load on urinary oxalate excretion in calcium stone formers.

Objective: To investigate the oxalate intake and the effect of an oxalate load on urinary oxalate excretion in calcium stone-forming (CSF) patients.

Design: Prospective study.

Setting: University-affiliated outpatient Renal Lithiasis Unit.

Effect of calcium intake on urinary oxalate excretion in calcium stone-forming patients.

Dietary calcium lowers the risk of nephrolithiasis due to a decreased absorption of dietary oxalate that is bound by intestinal calcium. The aim of the present study was to evaluate oxaluria in normocalciuric and hypercalciuric lithiasic patients under different calcium intake. Fifty patients (26 females and 24 males, 41 +/- 10 years old), whose 4-day dietary records revealed a regular low calcium intake ( View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Isolation and characterization of a mitochondrial RNA polymerase from Drosophila melanogaster.

A DNA-dependent RNA polymerase was solubilized from sucrose gradient isolated, DNase-treated mitochondria of Drosophila melanogaster. The isolated mitochondria were not detectably contaminated with nuclear DNA as shown by CsCl gradient centrifugation and polylysine Kieselguhr chromatography. The detergent-solubilized RNA polymerase was sensitive to rifampicin, resistant to alpha-amanitin, had an apparent molecular mass of about 60 kilodaltons, and displayed a tendency to aggregate, both in crude extracts or when purified.

A method for assaying DNA-dependent RNA polymerase II in crude extracts of Drosophila melanogaster adults: its use in identifying mutants with an altered RNA polymerase II.

A method for assaying Drosophila melanogaster adult DNa-dependent RNA polymerase II in crude extracts from as a few as two females or three males is described. Preparation of the extracts involves incubating homogenates at 25 C for 60 min and subsequent treatment with Macaloid. Eighty-five percent of the activity in the extracts is inhibited by 1 microgram/ml alpha-amanitin and this fraction is attributed to RNA polymerase II.

DNA-dependent RNA polymerases from Drosophila melanogaster adults: isolation and partial characterization.

In preparation for the isolation and biochemical characterization of putative RNA polymerase mutants, DNA-dependent RNA polymerases of Drosophila melanogaster adults were isolated and partially characterized. Approximately 70% of the female adult RNA polymerase is located in ovaries. Multiple forms of ovarian RNA polymerases I and II are separable by DEAE-Sephadex chromatography.

Effect of insect hormones on RNA polymerases of mass-isolated imaginal discs of Drosophila melanogaster cultured in vitro.

Four chromatographically separable DNA-dependent RNA polymerases (nucleosidetriphosphate:RNA nucleotidyltransferase; EC 2.7.7.