MATERIALS AND METHODS: Thirty-six clear cell RCC cases were selected. There were 21 (58.3%) men and 15 (41.7%) women with median age of 56.6 years (range: 16-74 years). Chinese constituted 16 (44.4%) of the cases; Malays 14 (38.9%) cases and Indian 6 (16.7%) cases. There were 6 (16.7%) grade 1, 20 (55.6%) grade 2, 10 (27.8%) grade 3 and none was grade 4. The paraffin embedded tissues were cut at 4 μm thick and stained with COX-2 monoclonal antibody.
RESULTS: Eighteen (50%) of the RCC cases were immunopositive, of which all showed strong positivity. The immunopositive cases showed cytoplasmic membrane positivity.
CONCLUSION: There was no significant association between COX-2 expression with grade, age, sex and ethnicity (p=0.457, p=0.054, p=0.389 and p=0.568 respectively). Strong positivity of COX-2 suggest that COX-2 may play a role in cell proliferation and in carcinogenesis.
METHODS: Rats were fed with illicit (a concoction of street ketamine) ketamine in doses of 100 (N=12), or 300 mg/kg (N=12) for four weeks. Half of the rats were sacrificed after the 4-week feeding for necropsy. The remaining rats were taken off ketamine for 8 weeks to allow for any potential recovery of pathological changes before being sacrificed for necropsy. Histopathological examination was performed on the kidney and urinary bladder.
RESULTS: Submucosal bladder inflammation was seen in 67% of the rats fed with 300 mg/kg illicit ketamine. No bladder inflammation was observed in the control and 100 mg/kg illicit ketamine groups. Renal changes, such as interstitial nephritis and papillary necrosis, were observed in rats given illicit ketamine. After ketamine cessation, no inflammation was observed in the bladder of all rats. However, renal inflammation remained in 60% of the rats given illicit ketamine. No dose-effect relationship was established between oral ketamine and changes in the kidneys.
CONCLUSION: Oral ketamine caused pathological changes in the urinary tract, similar to that described in exposure to parenteral ketamine. The changes in the urinary bladder were reversible after short-term exposure.
METHODS: The study comprised 106 chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients and 203 control subjects. Conventional ultrasound was performed to measure the kidney length and cortical thickness. SWE imaging was performed to measure renal parenchymal stiffness. Diagnostic performance of SWE and conventional ultrasound were correlated with serum creatinine, urea levels and eGFR.
RESULTS: Pearson's correlation coefficient revealed a negative correlation between YM measurements and eGFR (r = -0.576, p < 0.0001). Positive correlations between YM measurements and age (r = 0.321, p < 0.05), serum creatinine (r = 0.375, p < 0.0001) and urea (r = 0.287, p < 0.0001) were also observed. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve for SWE (0.87) was superior to conventional ultrasound alone (0.35-0.37). The cut-off value of less or equal to 4.31 kPa suggested a non-diseased kidney (80.3% sensitivity, 79.5% specificity).
CONCLUSION: SWE was superior to renal length and cortical thickness in detecting CKD. A value of 4.31 kPa or less showed good accuracy in determining whether a kidney was diseased or not. Advances in knowledge: On SWE, CKD patients show greater renal parenchymal stiffness than non-CKD patients. Determining a cut-off value between normal and diseased renal parenchyma may help in early non-invasive detection and management of CKD.
AIM: We want to demonstrate that the antioxidant properties of Swietenia macrophylla ethanol extract nanoparticles can prevent kidney cell damage brought on by streptozotocin (STZ) in the current investigation.
METHODS: This study employs high-energy ball milling to produce nanoparticles from S. macrophylla extract. Additionally, dynamic light scattering (DLS) is utilized to characterize the nanoparticle sizes of the S. macrophylla ethanol extract. Five groups, each consisting of 8 rats, were formed from 40 rats. Control rats received distilled water, the diabetic rats were administered STZ injections, while S. macrophylla rats were given S. macrophylla extract nanoparticles orally and STZ injection. After the trial, blood from a rat was drawn intracardially to check the levels of blood urea nitrogen (BUN) and creatinine. The levels of superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione peroxidase (GPx), and malondialdehyde (MDA) were then assessed in kidney tissue samples. Histological alterations were evaluated in kidney section samples.
RESULTS: A DLS analysis estimated the size of the S. macrophylla ethanol extract nanoparticles to be about 91.50 ± 23.06 nm. BUN and creatinine levels were significantly raised after STZ treatment. STZ significantly decreased SOD and GPx levels in kidney tissue while raising MDA levels (p < 0.05). Swietenia macrophylla ethanol extract nanoparticle caused the decreased levels of BUN and creatinine in blood to normal levels (p < 0.05), indicating that S. macrophylla ethanol extract prevented the STZ-induced kidney cell damage. Additionally, S. macrophylla nanoparticles significantly raise GPx and SOD levels in kidney tissue while lowering MDA levels (p < 0.05). These actions are thought to have prevented kidney histological alterations (degeneration and necrosis) in diabetic rats.
CONCLUSION: According to these results, the anti-oxidative stress properties of S. macrophylla nanoparticles make them potentially effective nephroprotective therapies for STZ-induced kidney cell damage.