METHODS: Articles were found in the Medline database using the key words "paediatrics", "urine screening", "proteinuria", "haematuria" and "population". The Asian countries which had carried out population-based urinary screening of the paediatric population included Taiwan, Japan and Korea. One study was found on urinary screening in a select population in Malaysia. Preliminary results of the urinary screening of school children in Singapore are presented and compared with the results found in the above-mentioned countries.
RESULTS: Overall, the proportion of children found to have urinary abnormalities ranged from less than 0.1% of the population screened to almost 50% of a select cohort referred from the screening programmes for the evaluation of urinary abnormalities. In the pilot Singapore school screening programme, the prevalence of clinically significant proteinuria was 1.25 per 1000 children screened. Multivariate analysis showed that low body weight was associated with a 1.8-fold greater risk for proteinuria. The major cause of haematuria and proteinuria in those studies where renal biopsies were performed was glomerulonephritis. The Taiwanese experience also showed a reduction in the incidence of end-stage renal failure diagnosed in children after the onset of urine screening.
CONCLUSION: These studies showed that urinary screening programmes in school children allow the early detection of disease. The cost-benefit ratio for specific populations should be determined before the implementation of such programmes.
METHODS: Orchidectomized adult male Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats received seven days subcutaneous testosterone treatment (125 μg/kg/day or 250 μg/kg/day), with or without flutamide or finasteride. Following completion of treatment, MAP was determined in rats under anaesthesia via carotid artery cannulation. In another cohort of rats, kidneys were removed following sacrifice and AQP-1, 2, 3, 4, 6 and 7 protein and mRNA levels were determined by Western blotting and Real-time PCR respectively. Distribution of AQP subunits' protein in the nephrons were visualized by immunofluorescence.
RESULTS: Testosterone caused MAP, AQP-1, 2, 4, 6 and 7 protein and mRNA levels in kidneys to increase while AQP-3 protein and mRNA levels in kidneys to decrease (p
METHODS: A case-control, cross-sectional population-based nested study (n = 142) included hypertensive subjects treated with ACEI drugs, either lisinopril or enalapril (20 mg, once daily) as monotherapy for 24 weeks. In total seven possible polymorphisms of RAS genes were genotyped. The association between those polymorphisms and the changes in blood pressure were observed in the 24 week treatment.
RESULTS: Statistically significant associations of I, G, T, M and G alleles of ACE (I/D, G2350A), AGT (M235T, T175M and G-6A) respectively were observed in essential hypertensive subjects. The decrease in systolic blood pressure and diastolic blood pressure after 24 weeks of treatment of the patients carrying II, GG, and TT genotypes were greater than the groups carrying DD, AA, MM, MM and GG of I/D, G2350A, M235T, T174M and G-6A genotypes respectively. In contrast, No significant difference was observed between renin gene polymorphisms (Bg/I and MboI) and hypertensives.
CONCLUSIONS: Although this study shows a possible association of polymorphisms of RAS genes with the risk of non-control of HT in ACEI-treated patients and indicates the importance of all this system's components in regulating HT, it needs to be replicated in other data sources.