Challenges for nephrology nurses in the management of children with chronic kidney disease.

An important treatment goal for pediatric nephrology caregivers is the optimization of a child's capacity for normal growth and development. However, the physiologic and metabolic derangements associated with chronic kidney disease (CKD) significantly alter these processes, creating important challenges in the care of affected children. Evidence-based clinical practice guidelines support early recognition and treatment of CKD-related complications to improve growth and development and, ultimately, quality of life for children with this chronic condition.     

Adolescence Mycosis Fungoides: An Unusual Presentation with Hypopigmentation

Mycosis fungoides (M.F.) is a rare cutaneous malignancy of childhood and adolescence. The disease commonly presents with the classic sequence of erythematous patches and plaques. Hypopigmentation as the presenting symptom is distinctly rare. This is the 9th case report of M.F. presenting with hypopigmentation in a patient under 20 years of age. The disease was only partially controlled with PUVA therapy, necessitating nitrogen mustard treatment.     

Biochemical Modulation of 5-Fluorouracil with Murine Interferon-α/β Against Murine Renal Cell Carcinoma

Department of Urology, School of Medicine, Keio University, Tokyo, Japan
Background Conventional therapy for renal cell carcinoma using interferon (IFN) has shown limited antitumor action. The purpose of our study was to investigate synergistic antitumor effects of IFN and 5-fluorouracil (5-FU), and to elucidate the mechanisms of interaction between the 2 agents in mice.
Methods Antitumor effects and biochemical modulation of murine IFN-α/β and 5-FU were determined against the murine renal cell carcinoma cell line, Renca, in vivo. The activity of thymidylate synthetase and thymidine kinase was measured using cytosolic extracts of the tumors.
Results Combination treatment with IFN-α/β and 5-FU produced a significant enhancement of growth inhibition against Renca tumor. Treatment with 5-FU resulted in a 2.7-fold increase in the total amount of thymidylate synthetase and an 11.6-fold increase in the thymidylate synthetase inhibition rate, while the administration of IFN-α/β did not significantly reduce the 5-FU-induced increase in thymidylate synthetase. The administration of IFN-α/β decreased thymidine kinase activity to 65.5% maximally, compared with that in the control mice or the mice treated with 5-FU.
Conclusions The reduction of thymidine kinase caused by treating the mice with IFN-α/β changes the utilization of exogenous thymidine for DNA synthesis, and may represent the mechanism of the additive antitumor effect of the 2 agents, through the suppression of the salvage pathway for deoxythymidine monophosphate induction.     

Age-related decrease of 11C-N-methylspiperone in vivo binding to human striatum detected by PET

The effect of aging on 11C-N-methylspiperone binding to living human striatum was demonstrated using positron emission tomography. The 11 normal volunteers (22 to 72 years old) participated in this study. The uptake of 11C-N-methylspiperone in the brain following intravenous injection was highest in the striatum in individual subject. And the uptake in the striatum only gradually increased until the end of the study. The uptake of 11C-N-methylspiperone in cerebellum peaked within 10 minutes following injection and then rapidly dropped. The association rate constant "k3" was calculated from the slope of the radioactivity-ratio of striatum to cerebellum versus the equivalent time. The equivalent time was calculated from the radioactivity of cerebellum as an input function. The exponential decrease of the k3 value with aging was observed. The k3 value of the youngest subject (22 years old, male) was 0.035/min, while that of the oldest one (72 years old, male) was found to be 0.020/min. These data suggested that the dopaminergic activity through D2 dopamine receptors reduces with aging in human striatum.     

Alleviation of gallbladder complications by treatment of hepatic arterial embolization with caerulein

Transcatheter arterial embolization (TAE) with the concurrent use of caerulein was assessed for the purpose of preventing gallbladder complications often seen after TAE of hepatic carcinoma. Ninety-six cases with primary hepatic carcinoma, who had undergone TAE in the right hepatic arterial region over the past 4 years, were divided into three groups: 22 cases for which embolization was possible on a selective basis by passing the catheter to the peripheral side beyond the bifurcated region of the cystic artery; 40 cases who had undergone TAE in which caerulein was not administered, from the central side of the bifurcated region of the cystic artery; and 34 cases given 20 g caerulein 15–30 min before TAE. A comparison was made using the abdominal pain, pyrexia, rate of leukocytosis and the US findings of the gallbladder as the indices of the gallbladder complications. As a result, it become evident that it was possible to prevent or alleviate gallbladder complications if caerulein were administered before TAE in cases where the embolizing substances were infused in the right hepatic artery from the central side of the bifurcated region of the cystic artery. It was conclusively shown that the gallbladder blood flow decreases if the organ is contracted by caerulein, which in turn causes a decrease in the inflow of the embolizing substances whereby complications are alleviated.     

Chromophobe renal cell carcinoma

Chromophobe renal cell carcinoma (RCC) is a recently established subtype of RCC, which has rarely been reported in Japan. In this communication, the authors report two Japanese cases of chromophobe RCC together with the immunohistochemical findings. The tumors were composed of sheets and cribriform glands formed by tumor cells with cloudy and reticular cytoplasm. Ultrastructurally, the cytoplasm was filled with numerous microvesicles. The tumor cells were positive for cytokeratin, epithelial membrane antigen, and Tamm-Horsfall protein. Occasionally, LeuM1-positive cells were also noted. Vimentin was negative, unlike the usual RCC. Reactivity for peanut agglutinin was more frequent than that to Lotus tetragonolobus agglutinin. The results of this study suggest that the tumor cellq possessed phenotypes similar to the distal nephron rather than to the proximal tubular cells.     

Block copolymers of fluoral oligomer with urethanes: Preparation and thermal properties

Two series of block copolymers have been synthesized comprising of soft polytrifluoroacetaldehyde (polyacetal) segments and of hard 4,4′-methylenedi(phenyl isocyanate)/cis-cyclohexane-1,4-diol polyurethane segments. The series-A copolymers in which the soft segments were directly bound to the hard segments had significantly lower thermal stability than the series-B copolymers in which the soft segments were linked to the hard segments by sebacic ester units. In both series the thermal stability decreased with increasing soft segment content. The series-A copolymers exhibited two thermal transitions both characteristic of T_g's and separated by about 60 K. In contrast the series-B copolymers exhibited two characteristic T_g's separated by 200–250 K, depending on composition, together with an additional endothermic transition at about ambient temperature. All transitions for both series decreased with increasing soft segment content. The observations have been compared with those of other polyether and polyester based polyurethanes.