Cystatin C-Based Equation Does Not Accurately Estimate the Glomerular Filtration in Japanese Living Kidney Donors.

BACKGROUND Precise evaluation of a living donor's renal function is necessary to ensure adequate residual kidney function after donor nephrectomy. Our aim was to evaluate the feasibility of estimating glomerular filtration rate (GFR) using serum cystatin-C prior to kidney transplantation. MATERIAL AND METHODS Using the equations of the Japanese Society of Nephrology, we calculated the GFR using serum creatinine (eGFRcre) and cystatin C levels (eGFRcys) for 83 living kidney donors evaluated between March 2010 and March 2016.

Impact of vascular access intervention therapy on cardiac load in hemodialysis patients.

Vascular access intervention therapy (VAIVT) has been positioned as the first choice of treatment for stenosis lesions frequently observed in arteriovenous fistula (AVF) for hemodialysis patients in Japan. Furthermore, increased blood flow can provide a stable dialysis. In contrast, it has been reported that excess blood flow of AVF causes high-output heart failure.

Roles of layilin in TNF-α-induced epithelial-mesenchymal transformation of renal tubular epithelial cells.

Background: Tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α is suggested to induce epithelial-mesenchymal transformation (EMT) of renal tubular epithelial cells that possibly exacerbates renal interstitial fibrosis in glomerulonephritis (GN). We here investigated whether layilin (LAYN), a c-type lectin-homologous protein, was involved in the EMT process.

Methods: Expression of LAYN was investigated in kidneys of mice administered with TNF-α and in a clear cell renal carcinoma cell line of KMRC-1 stimulated with TNF-α by quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) and/or western blotting.

Qualitative evaluation of the supporting system for diagnosis procedure combination code selection.

In Japan, medical staff must select a diagnosis procedure combination (DPC) code for each inpatient upon admission. We report on the development and evaluation of a supporting system for DPC code selection. This system, based on a machine learning method developed by Okamoto et al.