Estimating the Change in Renal Function During the First Year of Therapy in ANCA-Associated Vasculitis.

Introduction: Studies in antineutrophil cytoplasmic autoantibody (ANCA)-associated vasculitis (AAV) consistently show that the months following diagnosis have the greatest impact on the long-term renal function. Yet, it remains uncertain how much early gain should be expected with treatment. We sought to determine the factors associated with the change in glomerular filtration rate (GFR) throughout the first year.

Uric acid association with pulsatile and steady components of central and peripheral blood pressures.

Objective: Whether the cardiovascular risk attributed to elevated uric acid levels may be explained by changes in central and peripheral pulsatile and/or steady blood pressure (BP) components remains controversial.

Methods: In a cross-sectional analysis of normotensive and untreated hypertensive participants of the CARTaGENE populational cohort, we examined the relationship between uric acid, and both pulsatile and steady components of peripheral and central BP, using sex-stratified linear regressions.

Results: Of the 20 004 participants, 10 161 individuals without antihypertensive or uric acid-lowering drugs had valid pulse wave analysis and serum uric acid levels.

Developmental dependence on NurRE and EboxNeuro for expression of pituitary proopiomelanocortin.

Cell-specific expression of the pituitary proopiomelanocortin (POMC) gene depends on the combinatorial action of a large number of DNA-binding transcription factors (TFs). These include general and cell-restricted factors, as well as factors that act as effectors of signaling pathways. We have previously defined in the distal POMC promoter a composite regulatory element that contains targets for basic helix-loop-helix TFs conferring cell specificity and for NGFI-B orphan nuclear receptors that are responsive to CRH signaling and to glucocorticoid negative feedback.