Short-term Changes in Health-related Quality of Life of Patients Undergoing Radical Surgery for Upper Urinary Tract Urothelial Carcinoma: Results from a Prospective Phase 2 Clinical Trial.

Background And Objective: The possible negative impact of radical surgery on patients' health-related quality of life (HRQoL) plays an important role in preoperative counseling. Here, we analyzed the HRQoL of patients treated for upper urinary tract urothelial carcinoma (UTUC) in the context of a single-arm phase 2 multicenter study, in which the safety and efficacy of a single preoperative intravesical instillation with mitomycin C were investigated. Our objective was to investigate early changes in HRQoL in patients undergoing radical surgery for UTUC and identify factors associated with these outcomes.

Myocardial infarction does not further impair renal damage in 5/6 nephrectomized rats.

Background: Recent observational studies show that reduced renal function is an independent risk factor for the development of cardiovascular disease. Previously, we reported that myocardial infarction (MI) indeed enhanced mild renal function decline in rats after unilateral nephrectomy (NX) and that RAAS intervention inhibited this decline. The effects of an MI on pre-existing severe renal function loss and the effects of RAAS intervention interrupting this hypothesized cardiorenal interaction are however unknown and clinically even more relevant.

Therapeutic resistance to angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) inhibition is related to pharmacodynamic and -kinetic factors in 5/6 nephrectomized rats.

Proteinuria plays a pathogenic role in the development of end stage renal disease. Angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors lower proteinuria and are renoprotective. However, large inter-individual variation in antiproteinuric response to ACE inhibitors exists.

Early, but not late therapy with a vasopressin V1a-antagonist ameliorates the development of renal damage after 5/6 nephrectomy.

Introduction: Vasopressin, mainly through the V1a-receptor, is thought to be a major player in the maintenance of hyperfiltration. Its inhibition could therefore lead to a decrease in progression of chronic renal failure. To this end, the effect of the vasopressin V1a-receptor-selective antagonist, YM218, was studied on proteinuria and focal glomerulosclerosis in early and late intervention after 5/6 nephrectomy in rats, and compared with an angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor (ACE-I).

Renal damage after myocardial infarction is prevented by renin-angiotensin-aldosterone-system intervention.

Recently, it was shown that myocardial infarction aggravates preexistent mild renal damage that is elicited by unilateral nephrectomy in rats. The mechanism behind this cardiorenal interaction likely involves the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone-system and/or vasoactive peptides that are metabolized by neutral endopeptidase (NEP). The renoprotective effect of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibition (ACEi) as well as combined ACE/NEP inhibition with a vasopeptidase inhibitor (VPI) was investigated in the same model to clarify the underlying mechanism.

Renal targeting of captopril using captopril-lysozyme conjugate enhances its antiproteinuric effect in adriamycin-induced nephrosis.

Introduction: High-sodium intake blunts the renoprotective efficacy of angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors. We investigated whether targeting the drug to the kidneys may attenuate the inferior response to ACE inhibitor (ACE-I) under high-sodium conditions. The ACE-I, captopril, was coupled to the low molecular weight protein (LMWP) lysozyme, yielding captopril-lysozyme conjugates that accumulate specifically in the proximal tubular cells of the kidneys.

Myocardial infarction enhances progressive renal damage in an experimental model for cardio-renal interaction.

Studied were the effects of myocardial infarction (MI) on mild renal function loss in unilateral nephrectomized (UnX) rats. UnX was performed, followed after 1 wk by a variable MI (UnX + MI; n = 24). Rats with only UnX (n = 15) or MI (n = 9) and double sham animals (CON, n = 15) served as controls.