Downregulation of AQP1, -2, and -3 after ureteral obstruction is associated with a long-term urine-concentrating defect.

Previously, we demonstrated that 24 h of bilateral ureteral obstruction (BUO) and short-term release of BUO was associated with a decrease in the expression of aquaporin-2 (AQP2), polyuria, and a reduced urinary concentrating capacity (10). The purposes of the present study were to examine whether BUO and the long-term release of BUO (BUO-R) for 3, 14, and 30 days were associated with changes in the expression of renal AQP1, AQP2, and AQP3 and whether such changes were associated with parallel changes in urinary output and urinary concentrating capacity. Rats (n = 4-7 in each group) were kept in metabolic cages for measurements of urinary output. Kidneys were removed to determine the expression levels of AQP1, AQP2, and AQP3 by semiquantitative immunoblotting. AQP2 was downregulated after 24 h of BUO (42 +/- 3%). Downregulation of AQP2 persisted 3 (43 +/- 14%; P < 0.01) and 15 days after BUO-R (48 +/- 11%; P < 0.01) but was normalized 30 days after BUO-R. AQP3 showed a similar pattern. Moreover, AQP1 was downregulated in response to BUO (65 +/- 7%) and remained downregulated 3 days after BUO-R (41 +/- 5%), 14 days after BUO-R (57 +/- 8%), and 30 days after BUO-R (59 +/- 5%). BUO-R resulted in a significant polyuria that gradually decreased, although it remained significant at day 30. Urinary concentrating capacity remained significantly impaired when determined 3, 14, and 30 days after BUO-R in response to a 24-h period of thirst (1,712 +/- 270 vs. 2,880 +/- 91 mosmol/kgH2O at day 30, P < 0.05). In conclusion, the expression of AQP1, AQP2, and AQP3 were long-term downregulated after BUO-R, suggesting that dysregulation of aquaporins located at the proximal tubule, thin descending limb of the loop of Henle, and the collecting duct may contribute to the long-term polyuria and impairment of urinary concentrating capacity associated with obstructive nephropathy.

Stone disintegration: effect of shock wave projection and electrode age on this parameter in a standard stone model.

Despite the real effectiveness and successful results of shock wave application, the effect of some varying parameters, namely number of shock wave (SW) electrical discharge value (kV), projection of the shock waves and electrode age are still to be evaluated. By using a standard stone model, we evaluated the real effect of the projection of shock waves and electrode age on the degree of stone disintegration. Our results indicated no significant relationship between the kV value and the degree of stone disintegration. However, as the number of SW increased, the rate of disintegration became evident. On the other hand, application of the same number of SW from two different angles revealed more effective disintegration rate on standard stone model. Thus SW number, age of the electrode and the projection of shock waves seemed to be important in the disintegration of the stones.

A 49-year-old woman with non-complicated exstrophy of the bladder.

We report a 49-year-old woman with exstrophy of the bladder. Our living case constitutes a rare example of bladder exstrophy cases, who lived about 50 years without any severe complication or intervention.

Prostate-specific antigen density: the role in benign prostate hyperplasia, prostate intraepithelial neoplasm, organ-confined prostate carcinoma and advanced prostate carcinoma.

To determine the relative role of prostate-specific antigen density (PSAD) in the early detection of prostate cancer and to assess the hypothesis that PSAD offers significant advantages over prostate-specific antigen (PSA) alone in the evaluation of patients with benign (BPH), pre-malignant (PIN) and malignant prostatic diseases, we studied retrospectively 149 patients who were evaluated with either prostatic biopsies or by surgical means. Mean PSAD was calculated to be 0.1 for BPH patients; 0.09 for PIN-1 patients; 0.1 for PIN-2 patients; 0.51 for organ-confined prostatic carcinoma (CaP) patients and 1.7 for advanced CaP patients. Although we could not be able to differentiate BPH from PIN-1 and PIN-2 by using PSAD alone (p > 0.05), there were statistically significant differences between BPH versus localized CaP, PIN-2 versus localized CaP and localized CaP versus advanced CaP (p < 0.05). In conclusion we suggest that the information provided by PSAD is superior to absolute PSA values in the differentiation between BPH and CaP but PSAD was not able to add more information on differentiating BPH from pre-malignant conditions.