New onset hypertension after transplantation

It has been reported that up to 90% of organ transplant recipients have suboptimal blood pressure control. Uncontrolled hypertension is a well-known culprit of cardiovascular and overall morbidity and mortality. In addition, rigorous control of hypertension after organ transplantation is a crucial factor in prolonging graft survival. Nevertheless, hypertension after organ transplantation encompasses a broader range of causes than those identified in non-organ transplant patients. Hence, specific management awareness of those factors is mandated. An in-depth understanding of hypertension after organ transplantation remains a debatable issue that necessitates further clarification. This article provides a comprehensive review of the prevalence, risk factors, etiology, complications, prevention, and management of hypertension after organ transplantation.     

Population Pharmacokinetic Analysis of Mizoribine in Chinese Renal Transplant Recipients

Background

We calculated the population pharmacokinetics of mizoribine in adult Chinese patients and compared the parameters with those of Japanese patients to determine whether there are any ethnic differences in blood concentration transition between these 2 populations.

急性胰腺炎伴血清三酰甘油升高病人的临床特征分析

目的:探讨急性胰腺炎(AP)伴有血清三酰甘油(TG)升高者的临床特点。方法:收集2000年1月至2002年1月期间本院外科99例AP,按入院时血清TG是否高于1.7mmol/L而将其分为TG升高组(28例和TG正常组71例)。结果:9例TG升高,占同期80例AP病人的11.3%。TG升高组在发病72h内,肺、心血管和肾脏功能障碍的发生率高于TG正常组(分别为25.0%比1.4%、17.9%比1.4%,和14.3%比1.4%,P<0.05),假性囊肿的发生率增高(53.6%比4.2%,P<0.05),有采用非手术治疗的趋势。结论:AP病人伴血清TG升高者的早期脏器功能障碍发生率增高,局部并发症率升高,常采用非手术治疗。     

Welsh 2013 deemed consent legislation falls short of expectations

Wales, in 2013, was the first country in the United Kingdom to pass legislation introducing presumed (or deemed) consent for organ donation, and remains the only one. It was introduced in an attempt to increase the number of life-saving transplants taking place in the UK, in a move that policy makers hoped would mirror Spain’s success. More recently, pressure has been mounting for England to follow suit, with a public consultation currently in progress. However, the Welsh system has been far from a success, raising the question of why campaigners are so adamant that it should be replicated. Before the Welsh Government introduced the Human Transplantation (Wales) Act there had been no strong evidence to suggest it would make a difference, with countries boasting both high organ donation rates and presumed consent legislation demonstrating no clear causal relationship between the two facts. In addition, a recent report evaluating the Act has highlighted its failure to improve donation rates, and has even presented some potentially concerning statistics that may suggest a negative impact. This paper first considers presumed consent in other countries – Spain and Brazil – before illustrating the underwhelming progression of Wales’ new system and the need to look to other options.     

The Association of Time to Organ Procurement on Short- and Long-Term Outcomes in Kidney Transplantation

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不同容量液体对失血性休克家兔早期复苏效果的影响

目的观察不同容量液体复苏对失血性休克家兔复苏即刻重要器官体系数、血液流变学指标的影响。方法27只健康实验家兔随机均分3组,颈总动脉放血复制家兔失血性休克模型。休克20min后将放出的全血加等倍生理盐水（1：1复苏组）或放出的全血加2倍生理盐水（1：2复苏组）行液体复苏,并设对照组。液体复苏后,观察重要器官体系数、血液流变学指标的变化。结果经不同容量液体复苏后,两组动物血压基本恢复正常;1：1复苏组复苏即刻的肝系数小于对照组与1：2复苏组（P〈0．01）,三组间的心、肾、肺系数无统计学差异（p〉0．05）;1与1：2复苏组各切变率下的全血粘度均显著低于对照组（p〈0．01）,三组间的血浆粘度与相对粘度无统计学差异（P〉0．05）。结论失血性休克行液体复苏后．能较好地恢复血容量,但全血粘度及肝系数下降;休克早期的低粘血症,值得重视。     

P-glycoprotein (P-gp) function in T cells: implications for organ transplantation

P-glycoprotein (P-gp), a member of the adenosine triphosphate (ATP)-binding cassette (ABC) family of transporter molecules, is responsible for maintaining low intracellular concentrations of a variety of extracellular compounds and xenobiotics, and for transport of various intracellular molecules. Many drugs are P-gp substrates and intracellular concentrations of these agents may be critical for drug action. Experience in oncology indicates that repeated exposure to P-gp substrate cytotoxic drugs leads to the selection of drug-resistant tumor cells that overexpress P-gp. Since immunosuppressive agents such as cyclosporine, tacrolimus, sirolimus and corticosteroids are substrates for P-gp and since T-cells also express P-gp, it is conceivable that an analogous mechanism exits for therapy-resistant graft rejection. As will be discussed in this article, P-gp may interfere with the response to immunosuppressive therapy through several distinct mechanisms, and as such may represent an attractive therapeutic target.     

Clinical Comparison of Distal Pancreatectomy with or without Splenectomy

The spleen may be preserved during distal pancreatectomy (DP) for benign disease. The aim of this study was to compare the perioperative and postoperative courses of patients with conventional DP and spleen-preserving distal pancreatectomy (SPDP) for benign lesions or tumors with low-grade malignant potential occurred at the body or tail of the pancreas. A retrospective analysis was performed for the hospital records of all the patients undergoing DP and SPDP between January 1995 and April 2006. One-hundred forty-three patients underwent DP and 37 patients underwent SPDP. There were no significant differences in age, sex, indications of operation, estimated blood loss, operative time, and postoperative hospital stay between the two groups. Pancreatic fistula occurred in 21 (13.3%) patients following DP and in 3 (8.1%) following SPDP without a significant difference (p=0.081). Portal vein thrombosis occurred in 4 patients after DP. Splenic infarction occurred in one patient after SPDP. Overwhelming postosplenectomy infection was observed in one patient after DP. SPDP can be achieved with no increase in complication rate, operative time, or length of postoperative hospitalization as compared to conventional DP. Additionally, it has the advantage of reducing the risk of overwhelming postsplenectomy infection and postoperative venous thrombosis.     

Pronase independent flow cytometry crossmatching of rituximab treated patients

ABO-incompatible (ABOi) kidney transplantation has become an established strategy to increase the number of available living donors. At our center, the conditioning protocol for ABOi patients is based on anti-A/B antibody removal and depletion of B cells with the anti-CD20 mAb rituximab (Mabthera®). It is known that even low amounts of remaining rituximab in serum of patients results in false positive B cell cross match results, masking detection of potentially harmful donor human leukocyte antigen (HLA) specific antibodies. Treatment of donor cells with high concentrations (>1?mg/mL) of pronase is currently standard procedure for elimination of rituximab (RIT) interference. It is, however, troublesome that recent reports indicate that pronase treatment per se can induce incorrect flow cytometry cross match (FCXM) results. The aim of this study was to evaluate an alternative pronase-free FCXM for crossmatching of patients treated with rituximab.FCXM with an anti-RIT monoclonal antibody (mAb) pre-blocking step were evaluated on normal human sera (NHS) and patient sera supplemented with RIT. NHS supplemented with RIT or patient sera, without donor specific antibodies (DSA), resulted in high B cell median channel shift (>200 IgG) above background. This shift was eliminated by a serum pre-blocking step with 2-fold excess of anti-RIT (clone MB2A4). Blocking with anti-RIT did not influence the T cells crossmatch results. We present data supporting proof-of-concept that blocking with anti-RIT antibody prior to XM can enable reliable detection of anti-HLA class I and II donor specific antibodies without use of pronase treated donor cells.     

Effect of gelatin hydrogel incorporating fibroblast growth factor 2 on human meniscal cells in an organ culture model

Efforts to use growth factors to enhance the healing potential of the meniscus have been impeded because their half-lives are too short to maintain the biological activity. The thread was coated with gelatin hydrogel and fibroblast growth factor 2 (FGF 2) was biologically stabilized by incorporating in a gelatin hydrogel-coated thread. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of gelatin hydrogel-coated thread incorporating FGF 2 on human meniscal cells in an organ culture. Twenty-five menisci were cut into small pieces, and selected pieces were sutured with gelatin hydrogel-coated thread incorporating FGF 2 (FGF(+) group) or physiologic saline (FGF(−) group), followed by organ culture. The meniscal samples histologically evaluated 4, 7, and 14 days later. The cell density and the number of PCNA-positive cells for the FGF(+) group were higher than those of the FGF(−) group, while the number of TUNEL-positive cells was lower. These results suggest that FGF 2 stimulates the proliferation of meniscal cells and inhibits meniscal cell death. Gelatin hydrogel-coated threads releasable FGF 2 may be useful to promote repairing of human meniscus.