Assessment of Retinal Microangiopathy in Patients with Balkan Endemic Nephropathy Using Optical Coherence Tomography Angiography-A Pilot Study.

: It is well known that alterations in microvascular structure and function contribute to the development of ocular, renal, and cardiovascular diseases. Accordingly, the presence of fundus vascular changes in patients suffering from chronic kidney disease (CKD) and Balkan endemic nephropathy (BEN) may provide information of prognostic value regarding the progression of renal disease. This study aimed to examine the associations between clinical characteristics and retinal optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA) parameters in patients with BEN and compare them with those in CKD.

Predictive Markers for Malignant Urothelial Transformation in Balkan Endemic Nephropathy: A Case-Control Study.

Balkan endemic nephropathy (BEN) is a chronic tubulointerstitial disease frequently accompanied by urothelial carcinoma (UC). In light of the increased UC incidence and the markers observed in BEN patients with developed UC, the aim of the current case-control study is to assess survivin, p53 protein, growth factors and receptors (VEGF, VEGFR1, IGF I, IGF-1R and IGFBP5), tumor marker (TF)/CD142, circulating soluble Fas receptor and neopterin, as potentially predictive markers for UC in patients with BEN (52 patients), compared to healthy, age-matched subjects (40). A threefold increase was registered in both circulating and urinary survivin level in BEN patients.

Local and Systemic Oxidative Stress in Balkan Endemic Nephropathy Is Not Associated with Xanthine Oxidase Activity.

Balkan endemic nephropathy (BEN) represents a chronic tubulointerstitial nephropathy which is followed by the progression of kidney fibrosis to end-stage kidney failure. The critical involvement of poisons in food (aristolochic acid (AA), ochratoxin, and heavy metals) and selenium deficiency are among nutritive factors which contribute to the pathogenesis of BEN, due to reactive oxygen species (ROS) liberation and/or decreased antioxidative defence system. The aim of the study is to distinguish a possible systemic and local origin of ROS through the measurement of xanthine oxidase (XO) activity in urine and plasma, along with the determination of the oxidative changes in lipids and proteins.

MicroRNA Profiling in Patients with Upper Tract Urothelial Carcinoma Associated with Balkan Endemic Nephropathy.

Balkan endemic nephropathy (BEN) is a disease that affects people that live in the alluvial plains along the tributaries of the Danube River in the Balkan region. BEN is a chronic tubulointerstitial disease with a slow progression to terminal renal failure and has strong association with upper tract urothelial carcinoma (UTUC). There are several hypotheses about the etiology of BEN, but only the toxic effect of aristolochic acid has been confirmed as a risk factor in the occurrence of the disease.

Ocular fundus abnormalities in patients with Balkan endemic nephropathy and other chronic kidney diseases.

Aim: The aim of this study was to examine the ocular fundus pathology in patients with Balkan endemic nephropathy (BN) and chronic kidney diseases (CKD).

Methods: The study included 51 patients with BN from the South Morava River region in Serbia, and 102 subjects with different stages of chronic renal diseases, matched according to age and gender, obtained from a database used in a recently published study. All patients had visited Outpatient Department of the Clinic of Nephrology, Clinical Center Nis.

Morphometric analysis of the diameter and g-ratio of the myelinated nerve fibers of the human sciatic nerve during the aging process.

Myelinated nerve fibers suffer from different degrees of atrophy with age. The success of subsequent regeneration varies. The aim of this research was to analyze myelinated fibers of the human sciatic nerve during the aging process.

Folliculo-stellate cells - potential mediators of the inflammaging-induced hyperactivity of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis in healthy elderly individuals.

Some evidence has suggested that, with age, the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis becomes less resilient, leading to higher glucocorticoids nocturnal levels and a flattening of the circadian profiles. Such age-related changes in the activity of the HPA axis has overexposed the brain and peripheral organs to the effects of the glucocorticoids, increasing the morbidity and mortality rates of the elderly. Debate among scientists regarding the contributions of HPA axis age-related changes of impaired feedback regulation vs.

Ocular and systemic factors associated with glaucoma in chronic kidney disease patients.

The goal of this study was to examine, the relationship between chronic kidney disease (CKD) and glaucomatous optic disc neuropathy in a cohort of patients from the south-east Serbia and to determine whether limited screening for glaucoma in specific subgroups of patients with CKD is reasonable and justifiable. This cross-sectional study included 328 subjects with various stages of CKD. All patients had visited the Outpatient Department of the Nephrology Clinic, Clinical Center Nis, Serbia.

Global and specific histone acetylation pattern in patients with Balkan endemic nephropathy, a worldwide disease.

Unlabelled: Abstract Background: Balkan endemic nephropathy (BEN) is a chronic tubulointerstitial nephropathy present in the Danube river regions in several Balkan countries. There appears to be a polygenic susceptibility to the disease in interaction with multiple environmental factors (aristolochic acid, ochratoxin A). In a previous study SEC61G, IL17RA, HDAC11 proved to be differently methylated throughout all patient-control pairs of BEN patients from Serbia and Bulgaria.

Proteomic studies in endemic nephropathy.

Endemic nephropathy (EN) is a chronic tubulointerstitial nephropathy with an early insidious and slow development into terminal renal failure. Proteomics is the systematic study of a proteome, which is the total protein content of a cell, organism or body fluids. Application of proteomic technologies in nephrology has enabled more detailed analyses of protein functions and examined their importance in various physiological and pathological states.

Whole genome methylation array analysis reveals new aspects in Balkan endemic nephropathy etiology.

Background: Balkan endemic nephropathy (BEN) represents a chronic progressive interstitial nephritis in striking correlation with uroepithelial tumours of the upper urinary tract. The disease has endemic distribution in the Danube river regions in several Balkan countries.DNA methylation is a primary epigenetic modification that is involved in major processes such as cancer, genomic imprinting, gene silencing, etc.

Urinary protein patterns in patients with Balkan endemic nephropathy.

Purpose: Urinary excretion of beta2-microglobulin (beta2-MG), albumin, immunoglobulin G (IgG) and protein was examined in patients with Balkan endemic nephropathy (BEN), glomerulonephritis (GN) and healthy controls.

Methods: The proteins were measured in morning urine samples from 74 patients with BEN, 50 healthy persons and 22 patients with GN.

Results: In BEN patients, median values for albumin, beta2-MG and protein were above upper normal limits, but median IgG was inside normal range.

Possible therapeutic use of spermatogonial stem cells in the treatment of male infertility: a brief overview.

Development of germ cells is a process starting in fetus and completed only in puberty. Spermatogonial stem cells maintain spermatogenesis throughout the reproductive life of mammals. They are undifferentiated cells defined by their ability to both self-renew and differentiate into mature spermatozoa.

Identification and validation of six proteins as marker for endemic nephropathy.

Endemic nephropathy (EN) is defined as a slow progressive renal tubulointestitial disease that mainly occurs in the restricted areas of the Balkan Peninsula. The complexity of the pathogenesis of EN makes its earlier diagnosis very difficult. Urine samples from healthy volunteers from EN regions, EN patients with proteinuria less than 150 mg/L and EN patients with proteinuria more than 150 mg/L, patients with acute kidney injury, patients with diabetic nephropathy and healthy volunteers from Germany were collected.

[Relative length of human kidney as more precise measuring of normal kidney].

Introduction: Malformations in kidney development and kidney diseases are accompanied with changes in their size. For kidney evaluation in clinical practice, the kidney length is the most widely used measurement, since it provides the most precise results and it is easy to perform. Recently, the measurement of relative renal length has become more preferable as it takes into account the body height.

Beta2-microglobulin and alpha1-microglobulin as markers of Balkan endemic nephropathy, a worldwide disease.

Background:  Urine beta2-microglobulin (beta2-MG) was mainly used as a tubular marker of Balkan endemic nephropathy (BEN) but recently alpha1-microglobulin (alpha1-MG) was proposed for the diagnosis of BEN. In this study, the potential of urine beta2-MG, alpha1-MG, albumin, and total protein in the differentiation of BEN from healthy persons and patients with glomerulonephritis (GN) and nephrosclerosis (NS) was examined.

Methods:  This study involved 47 patients with BEN, 36 with GN, 11 with NS, 30 healthy subjects from BEN families, and 46 healthy subjects from non-BEN families.

Characteristics of upper urothelial carcinoma in an area of Balkan endemic nephropathy in south Serbia. A fifty-year retrospective study.

Aims And Background: Upper urinary tract transitional cell carcinoma, a relatively rare tumor, is up to 100 times more frequent in regions with Balkan endemic nephropathy. Characteristics of transitional cell carcinoma in the endemic South Morava Region in Serbia in the previous 50 years were evaluated.

Patients: We analyzed 477 cases with pathologically confirmed transitional cell carcinoma who underwent surgery from 1957 to 2006: 91 from endemic, 106 from adjacent and 280 from control settlements.

Human bony jugular foramen: some additional morphological and morphometric features.

Background: The jugular foramen, the bony opening on the basis of skull, is an opening through which pass the ninth, tenth, and eleventh cranial nerves, two dural sinuses, and the meningeal branches of the occipital and ascending pharyngeal arteries. The increasing use of modern diagnostic procedures and new surgical approaches has created a need for much more detailed anatomical studies and explanations. This article reveals some additional features.

Fifty years of Balkan endemic nephropathy: challenges of study using epidemiological method.

Balkan endemic nephropathy (BEN) is a chronic tubulointerstitial disease associated with urothelial cancer, which affects people living in the alluvial plains along the tributaries of the Danube River. Challenges of studying BEN using the epidemiological method are multiple. The natural history from exposure to occurrence of the disease may take many years.

Tubular marker excretion in children from families with Balkan nephropathy.

Balkan nephropathy (BN) has not been described in children; however, some previous studies in children from families with BN have revealed abnormalities of the urinary tract. In this study, urinary excretion of beta2-microglobulin, N-acetyl-beta-D-glucosaminidase (NAG) and gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase (GGT) was studied three times a year: spring, autumn, and winter, during a 3-year period, in 703 healthy children, initial age 9-13, from endemic and nonendemic settlements around the South Morava River. Beta-2-microglobulin excretion in urine, in all three seasons, was highest in children from families with BN compared with the excretion in children from the city, nonendemic villages, and those from nonendemic families.

Upper urothelial carcinoma in Balkan endemic nephropathy and non-endemic regions: a comparative study of pathological features.

Upper urothelial carcinoma (UUC), a rare neoplasm, occurs more frequently in some regions of Balkan countries than in other areas in the world. The aim of this study is to compare phenotypic morphological characteristics of UUC in Balkan endemic nephropathy (BEN) region and control rural and city populations free of BEN, and to determine the characteristic(s) that could discriminate tumors in endemic and non-endemic regions. The authors analyzed biopsies from 88 patients with UUC, 40 patients who live in Balkan endemic (BEN) settlements and 48 control subjects.

Morphometric characteristics of choroid plexus epithelial cells in cases with significantly different psammoma bodies' presence.

Objectives: Taking into the consideration the fact that psammoma bodies have never been observed in stroma of any other organ as aging change, the aim of our research was to prove some structural similarities of choroids plexus and tumors psammoma bodies, and their possible connection with choroids plexus epithelial cells atrophy.

Materials And Methods: We used 30 cadavers' right lateral ventricle central parts of choroid plexus as material. Tissue samples were routinely processed for the applied histochemical and immunohistochemical stainings.

Hypoglossal artery: a review of normal and pathological features.

The hypoglossal artery is rarely described member of carotid-basilar family anastomoses. Together with a caudal end of the primitive internal artery, trigeminal, otic, and proatlantal intersegmental arteries, it represents the remnant of vascular channels' unsuccessful involution which function normally stops in human embryo with 12 to 14 mm crown-rump length. The persistence of hypoglossal artery alone is usually incidental and asymptomatic finding during the routine angiography, while during autopsies or surgical operations, its presence is frequently associated with other vascular or organic abnormalities and diseases.

Diagnostic criteria for Balkan endemic nephropathy: proposal by an international panel.

Balkan endemic nephropathy (BEN) is a familial chronic tubulointerstitial disease with insidious onset and slow progression to terminal renal failure. Diagnostic criteria for BEN have been described more than 40 years ago. Research groups on BEN use one of at least three described lists of criteria.