Prevention of ventriculoperitoneal shunt complications after intraperitoneal urological surgeries.

Purpose: To evaluate perioperative management for the prevention of postoperative shunt infection and malfunction after intraperitoneal urological surgery in patients with myelodysplasia and a ventriculoperitoneal shunt.

Methods: From 2005 to 2015, 20 consecutive patients with myelodysplasia and a ventriculoperitoneal shunt who underwent intraperitoneal urological surgeries were managed with the same perioperative regimen. Intraperitoneal surgeries involved opening gastrointestinal tracts, including bladder augmentation by enterocystoplasty, creating continent catheterizable channels and Malone antegrade continent enema.

Retroperitoneoscopic assisted single-site pyeloplasty using EZ access in children: Comparison with open dismembered pyeloplasty.

Purpose: The aim of this study was to compare the results of the retroperitoneoscopic assisted pyeloplasty (RASP) using EZ access (silicone rubber cap) with open dismembered pyeloplasty (ODP) in children.

Methods: A retrospective review was performed of patients treated for ureteropelvic junction (UPJ) obstruction with either RASP or ODP from 2010 to 2015. For patients with RASP, two 5-mm trocars were placed in the EZ access.

Identification of peptides in wheat germ hydrolysate that demonstrate calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II inhibitory activity.

Hydrolysis of wheat germ by proteases resulted in bioactive peptides that demonstrated an inhibitory effect against the vasoconstrictive Ca(2+)-calmodulin (CaM)-dependent protein kinase II (CaMK II). The hydrolysate by thermolysin (1.0wt%, 5h) showed a particularly potent CaMK II inhibition.

Vasorelaxant Effect of 5'-Methylthioadenosine Obtained from Candida utilis Yeast Extract through the Suppression of Intracellular Ca(2+) Concentration in Isolated Rat Aorta.

Our study is the first to demonstrate the vasorelaxant effect of Candida utilis yeast extract on rat aorta (EC50 of 7.2 ± 3.2 mg/mL).

Prepubertal testicular tumors: a single-center experience of 44years.

Purpose: To present the clinical and histological features of prepubertal testicular tumors (PTTs), the long-term experience of a single institution was reviewed.

Materials And Methods: A total of 62 prepubertal children who were treated for testicular tumors at Kanagawa Children's Medical Center from 1971 to 2014 were retrospectively reviewed. Histopathological findings, age at operation, clinical stage, and outcomes were analyzed.

Visualized absorption of anti-atherosclerotic dipeptide, Trp-His, in Sprague-Dawley rats by LC-MS and MALDI-MS imaging analyses.

Scope: The basic dipeptide, Trp-His, was found to show an in vivo anti-atherosclerotic effect when orally administered to apo E-deficient mice. In addition, this dipeptide causes vasorelaxation in contracted rat aorta via suppression of intracellular Ca(2+) signaling cascades. In this study, we attempted to determine whether Trp-His can be absorbed after single oral administration in Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats.

Inhibition of calcium-calmodulin complex formation by vasorelaxant basic dipeptides demonstrated by in vitro and in silico analyses.

Background: Tryptophan-histidine (Trp-His) was found to suppress the activity of the Ca²⁺/calmodulin (CaM)-dependent protein kinases II (CaMKII), which requires the Ca²⁺-CaM complex for an initial activation. In this study, we attempted to clarify whether Trp-His inhibits Ca²⁺-CaM complex formation, a CaMKII activator.

Methods: The ability of Trp-His and other peptides to inhibit Ca²⁺-CaM complex formation was investigated by a Ca²⁺-encapsulation fluorescence assay.