Most of the native renal biopsies (51 patients; 57.3%) were done for significant proteinuria; while the commonest indication of graft kidney biopsy was deranged renal function (5 patients; 50%). The average

waiting time for out-patient renal biopsy was 18.36 days. Renal biopsy specimen that includes 10–15 glomeruli is classified as optimal while specimen Metformin manufacturer with 6–10 glomeruli are said to be sufficient. There were 75 (85.23%) native renal biopsies reached optimal level and 9 (10.23%) biopsies are sufficient. All (100%) patients underwent graft renal biopsy got adequate number (≥7 glomeruli) as defined by Banff criteria. One patient (1.01%) suffered from perinephric hematoma required blood transfusion and renal artery embolization, and one patient (1.01%) had prolonged gross hematuria treated conservatively. There was no non-renal tissue obtained in all biopsied specimens. No surgical intervention or mortality was resulted from closed renal biopsy procedure in the year 2012. Conclusion: Renal biopsy procedure is a useful procedure in nephrology. Though it carries certain risk of complications, the risk is not high from a single centre perspective. With the ultrasound guidance, the yield of renal biopsy both in native and graft kidney reached adequate level in most of the patients. The complication

rate and diagnostic yield in our renal center was comparable with international centre. SU SHU-FEN, LEE YUEH-TING, WANG NIAN-YUEH, LEE YEN-CHING, LAI CHUN-JEN, LEE CHIEN-TE, CHEN JIN-BOR Division of Nephrology, Kaohsiung Chang Gung selleck chemicals Memorial Hospital and Chang Gung University College of Medicine, Kaohsiung Introduction: Depression is common in long-term hemodialysis (HD) patients. Depression had been demonstrated to be associated with poor nutrition, higher mortality and hospitalization etc in HD patients. Present study was to investigate the association of major

depression with cardiomegaly in HD patients. Methods: A total 175 regular HD patients was enrolled. Cardiomegaly was screened by costothoracic ratio (CTR) in chest x-ray examination and the cutoff value was 0.5. Depression was assessed with Beck Depression Inventory (BDI). The cutoff value for major depressive symptoms (MDS) was greater than 14 in PLEKHM2 BDI score. The data of demography, hemogram, biochemistry, dialysis adequacy index, comorbidities were compared in comparable groups. Results: Sixty-nine patients were stratified in cardiomegaly’s group, one hundred and six patients were in non-cardiomegaly group. The distribution of BDI scores were similar in both groups, BDI score: 0: 26% vs 25%; 1–13: 36% vs 44%, 14–19: 17% vs 9%, 20–28: 15% vs 15%, 29–63: 6% vs 7%. The prevalence of major depressive symptoms (BDI ≥ 14) was similar in both groups, 39% (n = 27) vs 31% (n = 33) (p = 0.276). In cardiomegaly group, subjects with MDS did not show higher CTR than those without MDS (0.56 ± 0.04 vs 0.56 ± 0.06, p = 0.866).

Remarkable advancements in the manipulation of cell fate have sparked a massive surge of interest in cell replacement therapies and their application to brain repair. Cell transplantation strategies were tested in humans 30 years ago by first using adrenal medulla cells [1–3], shortly followed by the use of foetal tissue [3,4]. Originally explored for Parkinson’s disease (PD) [3–5], neural grafting has now been performed in patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis [6–9], multiple sclerosis [10,11], stroke [12,13], spinal cord injury ABT-263 nmr [14,15] and Huntington’s disease (HD) [16–22].

Of all neurodegenerative conditions that may be candidates for neural grafting, HD presents particularly significant challenges. The underlying pathology leads to a substantial loss of cerebral tissue and thus a marked atrophy of several brain regions [23]. The neuropathology is especially visible within the striatum [24], with a predominant loss of projection neurones [24,25], and leads to several motor signs which include choreiform movements, rigidity and dystonia [26]. Other regions of degeneration, such as the cortex, lead to clinical features of cognitive, psychiatric and other motor impairments (see review by Cardoso [27]). The clinical diagnosis of HD is confirmed selleck products by the presence of an abnormal gene that codes for the mutant huntingtin (mHtt) protein in

the presence of the overt clinical features of the disease. That mutant protein is thought to induce cellular dysfunction through a cell-autonomous process

that results in mHtt aggregation, inclusion body formation and cell death [24,28–30]. There is currently no disease-modifying treatment for HD [31]. Experimental approaches using foetal striatal transplants have thus been initiated based on (a) the early success with similar strategies in the treatment of PD [32,33]; (b) the favourable behavioural and anatomical results from preclinical animal studies in models of HD [34–40]; and (c) the lack of adequate treatment for HD, which is invariably fatal [24,31]. As of now, seven independent pilot clinical trials have been conducted worldwide (Table 1) with the purpose of assessing the feasibility, safety and tolerability of this procedure in Tangeritin HD patients [18,19,41]. Although the clinical outcomes reported so far vary between trials, the benefits have generally been marginal, if any, and short-lived. The small number of patients enrolled in these pilot studies and the different approaches used in each trial complicate interpretations and do not allow conclusions to be confidently drawn. Nevertheless, how implanted cells behave in a pathological environment needs to be critically studied if efficacy is to be ever reached using such an approach in larger numbers of patients.