The spatially resolved transcriptional profile of acute T cell-mediated rejection in a kidney allograft.

Analysis of the transcriptional profile of graft biopsies represents a promising strategy to study T cell-mediated-rejection (TCMR), also known as acute cellular rejection. However, bulk RNA sequencing of graft biopsies may not capture the focal nature of acute rejection. Herein, we used the whole exome GeoMX Digital Space Profiling platform to study five tubular and three glomerular regions of interest in the kidney graft biopsy from a patient with a chronic-active TCMR episode and in analogous areas from two different normal kidney control biopsies.

Glomerular Macrophages in Human Auto- and Allo-Immune Nephritis.

Macrophages are involved in tissue homeostasis. They participate in inflammatory episodes and are involved in tissue repair. Macrophages are characterized by a phenotypic heterogeneity and a profound cell plasticity.

Multi-Autoantibody Signature and Clinical Outcome in Membranous Nephropathy.

Background And Objectives: Patients with membranous nephropathy can have circulating autoantibodies against membrane-bound (phospholipase A2 receptor 1 [PLA2R1] and thrombospondin type-1 domain containing 7A [THSD7A]) and intracellular (aldose reductase, SOD2, and α-enolase) podocyte autoantigens. We studied their combined association with clinical outcomes.

Design, Setting, Participants, & Measurements: Serum levels of anti-PLA2R1, anti-THSD7A, anti-aldose reductase, anti-SOD2, and anti-α-enolase autoantibodies were determined in 285 patients at diagnosis and during follow-up using standardized and homemade assays.

All mechanical low rectal anastomosis in children.

Purpose: The aim of this study is to demonstrate the feasibility and usefulness of mechanical suturing in children for low rectal anastomosis.

Methods: The study group includes 31 children operated on from January 1993 to July 1996 by the same senior surgeon, performing the modified Duhamel procedure for Hirschsprung's disease in 17 children, intestinal neuronal dysplasia in seven, and the Knight-Griffen procedure in seven pediatric patients with chronic ulcerative colitis.

Results: In all the cases the technique of "viscero-synthesis" was performed using the mechanical stapler.

Prolactin and interleukin 6 in prepubertal girls with juvenile chronic arthritis.

Objective: To evaluate prolactin (PRL) serum levels in prepubertal girls affected with 2 different subtypes of pauciarticular onset juvenile chronic arthritis (JCA) and with previous acute postinfectious arthritis in remission (AA), and to correlate the relationship of PRL versus interleukin 6 (IL-6) serum levels.

Methods: Eleven girls with antinuclear antibody (ANA) positive early onset pauciarticular JCA, 8 with ANA negative late onset pauciarticular JCA of various forms (considered to have spondyloarthropathy, SpA), and 7 who had had AA were evaluated for serum concentrations of PRL, IL-6, and thyroid hormones and presence of uveitis. All were prepubertal and without clinical or biological signs of disease activity.

Lung resection in pediatric patients.

An evaluation of all pediatric patients with primary or secondary pulmonary disease operated upon from January 1993 to July 1996 by the same senior surgeon was carried out. The inclusion criterion was a lung resection in patients aged less than 14 years. Children were divided into two categories according to the neoplastic or non-neoplastic nature of their disease.

Spontaneous production of granulocyte colony-stimulating factor in vitro by human B-lineage lymphocytes is a distinctive marker of germinal center cells.

The ability of human B lymphocytes to produce granulocyte (G)-CSF in vitro was investigated. Highly purified tonsillar B cells were fractionated into large and small cells by a Percoll density gradient, cultured, and tested for G-CSF gene expression. Large B cells spontaneous produced G-CSF mRNA and protein, whereas small B cells did not, even after incubation with various stimuli.

Falsely elevated urinary level of vanillylmandelic acid induced by griseofulvin.

A 6-year-old girl with mild hepatitis was found to have an elevated urinary level of vanillylmandelic acid (VMA), but no cause for the elevation was found. The patient was receiving griseofulvin for treatment of tinea capitis, and this drug was suspected of causing a falsely elevated urinary VMA level. Four other patients receiving griseofulvin were also found to have elevated urinary VMA levels.