Development of clinical and laboratory biomarkers in an international cohort of 428 children with lupus nephritis.

BACKGROUND: Lupus nephritis (LN) is a very severe manifestation of lupus. There is no consensus on which treatment goals should be achieved to protect kidney function in children with LN. METHODS: We retrospectively analyzed trends of commonly used laboratory biomarkers of 428 patients (≤ 18 years old) with biopsy-proven LN class ≥ III. We compared data of patients who developed stable kidney remission from 6 to 24 months with those who did not. RESULTS: Twenty-five percent of patients maintained kidney stable remission while 75% did not. More patients with stable kidney remission showed normal hemoglobin and erythrocyte sedimentation rate from 6 to 24 months compared to the group without stable kidney remission. eGFR ≥ 90 ml/min/1.73m2 at onset predicted the development of stable kidney remission (93.8%) compared to 64.7% in those without stable remission (P < 0.00001). At diagnosis, 5.9% and 20.2% of the patients showed no proteinuria in the group with and without stable kidney remission, respectively (P = 0.0001). dsDNA antibodies decreased from onset of treatment mainly during the first 3 months in all groups, but more than 50% of all patients in both groups never normalized after 6 months. Complement C3 and C4 increased mainly in the first 3 months in all patients without any significant difference. CONCLUSIONS: Normal eGFR and the absence of proteinuria at onset were predictors of stable kidney remission. Significantly more children showed normal levels of Hb and erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) from 6 to 24 months in the group with stable kidney remission.

Characteristics of persistent arthritis with refractory Kawasaki disease: a single-center retrospective study.

Arthritis is one complication of Kawasaki disease (KD); however, the clinical features of arthritis in KD have not been well clarified. We retrospectively investigated the characteristics of persistent arthritis beyond the subacute phase of KD. In this cohort, 49 of 243 patients (20%) developed arthritis, with 33 patients (14%) experiencing persistent arthritis. Among these 33 patients, 31 (94%) had complete KD. Thirty (91%) were resistant to first intravenous immunoglobulin, and 15 (45%) required additional infliximab. Five patients (15%) developed coronary artery lesions, and 24 (73%) had oligoarthritis, mainly in large lower-extremity joints. Twenty-four patients (73%) complained of arthralgia. At arthritis onset, 16 patients (48%) presented with fever, including recurrent fever in 10 patients. Serum C-reactive protein concentration in patients with active arthritis significantly increased compared with after acute KD treatment (2.4 vs. 0.7 mg/dL, p < 0.001). Serum matrix metalloproteinase-3, a biomarker of arthritis, was significantly higher in patients with active arthritis than in remission (93.7 vs. 20.3 ng/mL, p < 0.001). Thirty (91%) and 14 (42%) patients, respectively, were treated with non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and prednisolone, and they completely recovered. To summarize, persistent arthritis is a common complication in refractory KD, and adequate diagnosis and treatment are necessary.

International cohort of 382 children with lupus nephritis - presentation, treatment and outcome at 24 months.

BACKGROUND: Children with lupus have a higher chance of nephritis and worse kidney outcome than adult patients. METHODS: We retrospectively analyzed clinical presentation, treatment and 24-month kidney outcome in a cohort of 382 patients (≤ 18 years old) with lupus nephritis (LN) class ≥ III diagnosed and treated in the last 10 years in 23 international centers. RESULTS: The mean age at onset was 11 years 9 months and 72.8% were females. Fifty-seven percent and 34% achieved complete and partial remission at 24-month follow-up, respectively. Patients with LN class III achieved complete remission more often than those with classes IV or V (mixed and pure). Only 89 of 351 patients maintained stable complete kidney remission from the 6th to 24th months of follow-up. eGFR ≥ 90 ml/min/1.73 m2 at diagnosis and biopsy class III were predictive of stable kidney remission. The youngest and the oldest age quartiles (2y-9y, 5m) (14y, 2m-18y,2m) showed lower rates of stable remission (17% and 20.7%, respectively) compared to the two other age groups (29.9% and 33.7%), while there was no difference in gender. No difference in achieving stable remission was found between children who received mycophenolate or cyclophosphamide as induction treatment. CONCLUSION: Our data show that the rate of complete remission in patients with LN is still not high enough. Severe kidney involvement at diagnosis was the most important risk factor for not achieving stable remission while different induction treatments did not impact outcome. Randomized treatment trials involving children and adolescents with LN are needed to improve outcome for these children. A higher resolution version of the Graphical abstract is available as Supplementary information.

Defining renal remission in an international cohort of 248 children and adolescents with lupus nephritis.

OBJECTIVE: We studied the rate of remission of LN in an international cohort of 248 children and adolescents with biopsy-proven LN. Five different definitions from scientific studies and the definitions recommended by the ACR and Kidney Disease: Improving Global Outcomes were used. METHODS: Anonymized clinical data in patients with biopsy-proven LN class ≥III (International Society of Nephrology/Royal Pathology Society) diagnosed and treated in the last 10 years in 23 international centres from 10 countries were collected. We compared the rate of patients in complete and partial remission applying the different definitions. RESULTS: The mean age at diagnosis was 11 years and 4 months, and 177 were females. The number of patients in complete and partial remission varied a great deal between the different definitions. At 24 months, between 50% and 78.8% of the patients were in full remission as defined by the different criteria. The number of patients in partial remission was low, between 2.3% and 25%. No difference in achieved remission was found between boys and girls or between children and adolescents (P > 0.05). Patients with East Asian ethnicity reached remission more often than other ethnicities (P = 0.03-0.0008). Patients treated in high-income countries showed a higher percentage of complete remission at 12 and 24 months (P = 0.002-0.000001). CONCLUSION: The rate of children and adolescents with LN achieving remission varied hugely with the definition used. Our results give important information for long-awaited treatment studies in children and young people.

An Artificial Conversion of Roots into Organs with Shoot Stem Characteristics by Inducing Two Transcription Factors.

Somatic plant cells can regenerate shoots and/or roots or adventitious embryonic calluses, which may induce organ formation under certain conditions. Such regenerations occur via dedifferentiation of somatic cells, induction of organs, and their subsequent outgrowth. Despite recent advances in understanding of plant regeneration, many details of shoot induction remain unclear. Here, we artificially induced shoot stem-like green organs (SSOs) in Arabidopsis thaliana roots via simultaneous induction of two transcription factors (TFs), ARABIDOPSIS THALIANA HOMEOBOX PROTEIN 25 (ATHB25, At5g65410) and the B3 family transcription factor REPRODUCTIVE MERISTEM 7 (REM7, At3g18960). The SSOs exhibited negative gravitropism and differentiated vascular bundle phenotypes. The ATHB25/REM7 induced the expression of genes controlling shoot stem characteristics by ectopic expression in roots. Intriguingly, the restoration of root growth was seen in the consecutive and adjacent parts of the SSOs under gene induction conditions. Our findings thus provide insights into the development and regeneration of plant shoot stems.

Anaphylaxis to Carboxymethylcellulose: Add Food Additives to the List of Elicitors.

A 14-year-old girl developed 4 episodes of anaphylaxis of unknown etiology, which required intramuscular adrenaline administration each time. She had eaten pizza and a cheeseburger immediately before the first 2 episodes, respectively, but had not eaten anything for several hours before the last 2 episodes. It turned out that she had eaten the same ice lolly 4 hours before the first 3 episodes and a Café au lait Swirkle (a half-frozen beverage) 4 hours before the last episode. We detected carboxymethylcellulose sodium as the only common ingredient in all anaphylactic episodes. Skin prick tests were positive for carboxymethylcellulose solution and carboxymethylcellulose-containing food products. We obtained a custom-made carboxymethylcellulose sodium-free ice lolly from the manufacturer and confirmed that it did not induce anaphylactic reactions by a challenge test. Carboxymethylcellulose, an anionic water-soluble polymer derived from native cellulose, is considered to be unabsorbable from the human gut and has been widely and increasingly used in pharmaceutical preparations, cosmetics, and food. This article is the first report of anaphylaxis caused by carboxymethylcellulose-containing foods, whereas anaphylaxis to carboxymethylcellulose has been rarely associated with carboxymethylcellulose-containing pharmaceuticals. Although the exact mechanisms underlying the induction of late-onset anaphylaxis by carboxymethylcellulose remain unclear, a small minority of cellulose-digesting microbial flora in the human colon and contamination of food products with carboxymethylcellulose of low molecular weight might be involved. The induction of recurrent anaphylaxis by various products should be a clue that prompts physicians to suspect food additives as a cause for anaphylaxis.

Effects of Low-Dose Non-Caloric Sweetener Consumption on Gut Microbiota in Mice.

Abstract: Non-caloric artificial sweeteners (NASs) provide sweet tastes to food without adding calories or glucose. NASs can be used as alternative sweeteners for controlling blood glucose levels and weight gain. Although the consumption of NASs has increased over the past decade in Japan and other countries, whether these sweeteners affect the composition of the gut microbiome is unclear. In the present study, we examined the effects of sucralose or acesulfame-K ingestion (at most the maximum acceptable daily intake (ADI) levels, 15 mg/kg body weight) on the gut microbiome in mice. Consumption of sucralose, but not acesulfame-K, for 8 weeks reduced the relative amount of Clostridiumcluster XIVa in feces. Meanwhile, sucralose and acesulfame-K did not increase food intake, body weight gain or liver weight, or fat in the epididymis or cecum. Only sucralose intake increased the concentration of hepatic cholesterol and cholic acid. Moreover, the relative concentration of butyrate and the ratio of secondary/primary bile acids in luminal metabolites increased with sucralose consumption in a dose-dependent manner. These results suggest that daily intake of maximum ADI levels of sucralose, but not acesulfame-K, affected the relative amount of the Clostridium cluster XIVa in fecal microbiome and cholesterol bile acid metabolism in mice.

Shoot Removal Induces Chloroplast Development in Roots via Cytokinin Signaling.

The development of plant chloroplasts is regulated by various developmental, environmental, and hormonal cues. In Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana), chloroplast development is repressed in roots via auxin signaling. However, roots develop chloroplasts when they are detached from the shoot. In contrast to auxin, cytokinin positively affects chloroplast development in roots, but the role and signaling pathway of cytokinin in the root greening response remain unclear. To understand the regulatory pathways of chloroplast development in the plant stress response, we examined the mechanisms underlying the conditional greening of detached roots. In wild-type Arabidopsis roots, shoot removal activates type B ARABIDOPSIS RESPONSE REGULATOR (ARR)-mediated cytokinin signaling and induces chlorophyll accumulation and photosynthetic remodeling. ARR1 and ARR12 are essential for up-regulating nucleus- and plastid-encoded genes associated with chloroplast development in detached roots. In this process, WOUND INDUCED DEDIFFERENTIATION1 and class B GATA transcription factors (B-GATAs) act upstream and downstream of ARRs, respectively. Overexpression of B-GATAs promotes root greening, as does shoot removal, dependent on a light signaling transcription factor, LONG HYPOCOTYL5. Auxin represses the root greening response independent of ARR signaling. GNC-LIKE (GNL), a B-GATA, is strongly up-regulated in detached roots via ARR1 and ARR12 but is repressed by auxin, so GNL may function at the point of convergence of cytokinin and auxin signaling in the root greening response.

[Delayed emergence from general anesthesia in a dementia patient with Lewy bodies].

A 73-year-old man (164cm height 51 kg body weight) with a history of Parkinson's disease and dementia was scheduled for a cervical lymph node biopsy under general anesthesia. We induced anesthesia with thiamylal and fentanyl, and maintained with sevoflurane and remifentanil without any incident. The patient did not emerge from anesthesia after the surgery. He developed coma and did not respond to painful stimuli. However, his breathing was spontaneous with stable hemodynamics. Although naloxone was given, he was still comatose. His clinical neurological findings showed no organic abnormalities. Forty minutes after the surgery, he suddenly woke up and followed instructions. We learned that previously he had been diagnosed with dementia with Lewy bodies.