Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis of Autosomal Dominant Polycystic Kidney Disease Applied in China

Murphy et al1 state that patients with autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD) of childbearing potential could benefit from preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) counseling. This benefit may extend to patients with ADPKD outside North America; however, current circumstances in other countries such as China make it challenging or impossible to obtain. Although ADPKD affects about 1.5 million people in China,2 financial barriers prohibit access to PGD and counseling despite patients' desire for it.

https://ift.tt/2KQyky1

Cognitive Changes in Peritoneal Dialysis Patients: A Multicenter Prospective Cohort Study

Cognitive impairment is an independent predictor of technique failure and mortality in patients on peritoneal dialysis (PD) therapy. We investigated changes in cognitive function and factors associated with it in this population.

https://ift.tt/2N7eScQ

Associations Between Kidney Disease Measures and Regional Pulse Wave Velocity in a Large Community-Based Cohort: The Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) Study

Arterial stiffness is suggested as a mediator of cardiorenal interaction. However, previous studies reported inconsistent associations between chronic kidney disease (CKD) and arterial stiffness and were limited by using either estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) or albumin-creatinine ratio (ACR) and examining arterial stiffness at limited segments.

https://ift.tt/2KQyfdH

Open versus Laparoscopic Surgery for Advanced Low Rectal Cancer: A Large, Multicenter, Propensity Score Matched Cohort Study in Japan

Background: Laparoscopic surgery for rectal cancer is widely performed all over the world and several randomized controlled trials have been reported. However, the usefulness of laparoscopic surgery compared with open surgery has not been demonstrated sufficiently, especially for the low rectal area. Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate the hypothesis that laparoscopic primary tumor resection is safe and effective when compared with the open approach for locally advanced low rectal cancer. Patients and Methods: Data from patients with clinical stage II to III low rectal cancer below the peritoneal reflection were collected and analyzed. The operations were performed from 2010 to 2011. Short-term outcomes and long-term prognosis were analyzed with propensity score matching. Results: Of 1608 cases collated from 69 institutes, 1500 cases were eligible for analysis. The cases were matched into 482 laparoscopic and 482 open cases. The mean height of the tumor from the anal verge was 4.6 cm. Preoperative treatment was performed in 35% of the patients. The conversion rate from laparoscopic to open surgery was 5.2%. Estimated blood loss during laparoscopic surgery was significantly less than that during open surgery (90 vs 625 mL, P

https://ift.tt/2uny3at

The Whiteboard Technique: Personalized Communication to Improve Operating Room Teamwork

No abstract available

https://ift.tt/2uuVkrp

Directed Change in TNFα Specificity to Create DR5 Antagonists

Death receptor 5 (DR5) is a promising target for antitumor therapy due to its high expression on different tumor cells. Resistance of various tumor cells against TRAIL, a natural ligand for the death receptors, reduces its therapeutic potential and prompts the search for novel agonists at these receptors. Previous screening across the combinatorial peptide library yielded a peptide sequence KVVLTHR that specifically binds DR5. Incorporation of this sequence into TNFα resulted in binding DR5 with mutant protein TNFα-mut and appearance of cytotoxicity against lymphoma cells.

https://ift.tt/2KRMrDd

Generation of Highly Specific Proteolytic Biocatalysts by Screening Technologies

We propose a yeast display-based system for screening of proteolytic enzyme libraries that utilizes substrate protein adsorbed on the yeast cell surface and containing a desired cleavage sequence. Specific cleavage of the substrate protein releases its biotin-binding center. The cells carrying the target proteinase can be selected by cytofluorometry due to interaction with biotinylated fluorescent protein. Using human enterokinase light chain as the model proteinase we showed that the proposed screening system highly effectively selects the proteolytic enzymes with preset specificity.

https://ift.tt/2N7Woc8