Vitamin D,Cardiovascular System,and Longevity of Hemodialysis Patients

Abstract: The risk of cardiovascular death is high in hemodialysis (HD) patients, and thickening, stiffening and calcification of the arterial wall have been shown as its predictive factors. Activated vitamin D preparations are used for the treatment of secondary hyperparathyroidism in HD patients, but as they increase serum phosphate and calcium concentrations, there is a concern that they promote vascular calcification and, consequently, exacerbate the outcomes. In this article, the effects of vitamin D therapy on survival, cardiac function, arteriosclerosis, immunity, and inflammation are evaluated by reviewing the literature. In HD patients, the risk of death (particularly cardiovascular death) is significantly lower in those treated than in those not treated with vitamin D. Moreover, activated vitamin D improves cardiac function and alleviates cardiac hypertrophy in HD patients. Experimental data in cultured macrophages, vascular smooth muscle cells, and vascular endothelial cells suggest that it has antiatherosclerotic effects. In vivo, the administration of vitamin D improves immune functions and normalizes inflammatory reactions. In HD patients, vascular calcification is related to the dose of calcium carbonate, but its relationship with the administration of vitamin D is not significant. These observations suggest that, contrary to the general concerns, activated vitamin D exerts favorable effects on the cardiovascular system in HD patients as long as it is used in appropriate clinical doses.     

Plasma leptin level and its relationship with body composition in hemodialysis patients

Leptin is a newly found hormone secreted by adipocytes that regulates food intake, thermogenesis, and body fat. We measured plasma leptin levels in 103 patients with chronic renal failure treated by hemodialysis and 167 age- and gender-matched healthy control subjects to examine the impact of renal failure on plasma leptin levels and the influence of leptin on body composition measured by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry. Hemodialysis patients showed a significant decrease in both body fat mass and lean body mass compared with those of the control subjects. Plasma leptin was significantly elevated in the hemodialysis group over the controls. In both groups, leptin was higher in female than male subjects, and it correlated positively with percent body fat. The subjects were divided into six categories according to percent body fat, and plasma leptin levels were compared between the two groups in the same category. Leptin of hemodialysis patients was significantly higher than that of the control subjects in the percent body fat categories of 30 or greater, whereas there was no statistically significant difference in leptin concentrations in the lower percent body fat categories. This was also true in the comparison in each gender, and leptin levels in female subjects showed a more remarkable difference between the hemodialysis and control groups in obese categories. Multiple regression analysis in all subjects indicated that plasma leptin levels were independently affected by percent body fat, plasma insulin concentration, gender, and renal failure. The positive impact of renal failure on leptin remained significant in the subjects with percent body fat of 30 or greater in the multiple regression model, whereas it was no longer significant in the remaining lean subjects. In multiple regression analysis of factors affecting fat mass index and lean mass index, leptin level was selectively associated with fat mass index, but not with lean mass index, regardless of percent body fat ranges. These results indicate that renal failure is an important factor affecting plasma leptin levels, especially in obese female subjects, and that hyperleptinemia was closely related to fat mass but not to lean body mass in hemodialysis patients.     

Organization of the trigeminal and facial motor nuclei in the hagfish, Eptatretus burgeri: a retrograde HRP study

We studied the trigeminal and facial motor nuclei of the hagfish by the retrograde HRP method. We distinguished 4 components in a single column of the motor nuclei of the trigeminal nerve and the facial nerve, viz., the pars magnocellularis of the trigeminal motor nucleus (mVm), the anterior part of the pars parvocellularis of the trigeminal motor nucleus (mVp1), the posterior part of the pars parvocellularis of the trigeminal motor nucleus (mVp2) and the facial motor nucleus (mVII). Although in Nissl preparations only the mVm could be distinguished from the rest of the nucleus, the boundaries of the other 3 components were clearly demarcated in HRP preparations. Intramuscular injections into two representative antagonistic jaw muscles revealed that there was no apparent topological organization of the neurons pertaining to the opening and closing muscles in the mVm and mVp1, but both antagonistic muscles were innervated bilaterally. Although the hagfish does possess a cartilaginous jaw, the organization pattern of the motor nuclei of the jaw muscles seems to be the most primitive of all living vertebrates.     

Abnormal fluorine-18-fluorodeoxyglucose uptake in benign esophageal leiomyoma

A benign esophageal leiomyoma with abnormally increased fluorine-18-fluorodeoxyglucose uptake on positron emission tomography (PET) was resected thoracoscopically. The tumor, of which the maximum standardized uptake value of the lesion was 4.7, was well defined and 38 mm in diameter. Neither mitotic activity nor degeneration was found histologically; and immunoreactivity for CD34, CD117, MIB-1, and glucose transporter-1 was negative immunohistochemically. A diagnosis of gastrointestinal stromal tumor was ruled out by an oncogenic kinase gene mutation study. This case cautions against PET-dependent evaluation for malignant potential of esophageal submucosal tumors.     

Resorption and excretion of glucose by the particle of minute-body-forming proteid,including virus proteid

Summary The resorption and excretion of glucose by living cells can be explained to be due to a property of the minute-body-forming proteid existing in the cells.Also in this property, there is no difference between virus proteid (vaccinia) and the normal minute-body-forming proteid having no virus action.