Psychiatric morbidity and different treatment modalities in children with chronic kidney disease.

INTRODUCTION: Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a potentially life-threatening condition leading to various psychosocial problems associated with different treatment modalities in addition to their medical advantages and disadvantages. The aim of this study was to evaluate the psychiatric morbidity in children with CKD in terms of different treatment modalities in comparison to healthy peers. In addition, parental attitudes and psychiatric symptoms in this group of mothers were examined. POPULATION AND METHODS: A matched cohort study including 66 children with CKD (21 renal transplantation, 27 dialysis, 18 conservative treatment) and 37 healthy age- and sex-matched controls were evaluated. Children filled out the Children's Depression Inventory, the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, and the Parental Attitude Scale, and the mothers filled out the Symptom Checklist-90-R. The Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia for School-Age Children, Present and Lifetime Version was used for psychiatric diagnosis. RESULTS: The overall depression scores in children and the mothers' overall symptom severity index were significantly higher in the CKD group: 40.9% of children in the CKD group were diagnosed with a psychiatric disorder, while the corresponding figure for the control group was 16.2%. The in-group comparison of the CKD group failed to detect any significant difference between the three treatment modalities. CONCLUSION: The results support the findings of research showing that CKD has high psychiatric morbidity. It is important to include psychosocial and psychiatric assessments in the evaluation processes of different treatment modalities in CKD.

Association between radionuclides (210Po and 210Pb) and antioxidant enzymes in oak (Quercus coccifera) and mastic tree (Pistacia lentiscus).

The activity levels of naturally occurring radionuclides Polonium-210 and lead-210 in different subjects including plant species have direct or indirect impact on human beings. High levels of ionising radiation cause oxidative stress and the interaction between antioxidative defense and radionuclides is not well established in plant systems. In this study, we aimed to understand the impact of oxidative stress caused by 210Po and 210Pb in two Mediterranean plants; Quercus coccifera and Pistacia lentiscus. We analysed the constitutive and seasonal levels of 210Po, 210Pb, lipid peroxidation levels, superoxide dismutase (SOD) and ascorbate peroxidase (APX) activities in the field-collected samples. The highest activity concentrations of 210Po and 210Pb were detected in both plants in summer and Q. coccifera had higher levels than that of P. lentiscus. SOD and APX activity trends were different between oak and mastic; as compared to P. lentiscus, Q. coccifera efficiently used the two major components of antioxidative defense. Lipid peroxidation levels were low in both plants in all seasons except that of spring which were in good agreement with high antioxidant enzyme activities. In conclusion, we found that high 210Po and 210Pb activity concentrations in oak and mastic did not interfere with their growth and life cycles. The ability of both plants for survival and adaptation to Mediterranean environmental constraints provided an additional advantage for coping radionuclide induced oxidative stress as well.

Synthesis of (125) I-lamivudine and (125) I-lamivudine-ursodeoxycholic acid codrug.

The preparation of (125) I-lamivudine ((125) I-3TC) and (125) I-lamivudine-ursodeoxycholic acid codrug ((125) I-3TC-UDCA), suitable for comparative biodistribution studies, is described. The synthesis of the unlabeled precursor 3TC-UDCA proceeds in an 11.6% yield, and the radiolabelling yields for (125) I-3TC and (125) I-3TC-UDCA were 89 and 92%, respectively. The final products are radiochemically pure (greater than 98%).

Malignant fibrous histiocytoma in a child. A case report and review of the literature.

Malignant fibrous histiocytoma (MFH) is the most common soft tissue sarcoma of late adult file. It is extremely rare in children, though, and its existence in the pediatric population remains controversial. Although the most common site of tumor in children is the extremities, which is similar to findings of adults' series, different sites have been reported in children. Because of the rarity of this tumor in childhood, the approach to treatment of MFH is based primarily on the experience with adults. We present the clinical and pathologic features of an eight-year-old boy with MFH located on his left retroperitoneum and also review the literature.

Renal duplex Doppler ultrasonography as a predictor of preclinical diabetic nephropathy in children.

PURPOSE: To perform Doppler US in patients with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM) as a predictive method in diabetic nephropathy (DN). MATERIAL AND METHODS: Twenty-five patients with type I diabetes mellitus underwent renal Doppler US examination. Children were divided into three age groups: group I, 3-7 years; group II, 8-10 years; and group III, 11-18 years. The age-matched control group consisted of 56 healthy children who underwent renal Doppler US only. RESULTS: The mean values of the resistive index (RI) were, respectively, 0.64+/-0.03, 0.59+/-0.04, 0.59+/-0.02 in age groups I, II, and III for healthy children and 0.68+/-0.03, 0.62+/-0.04, 0.59+/-0.04 in age groups I, II, and III of the diabetic patients. There were no significant differences between the diabetic and healthy subjects. The mean RI value was not different in the patients with glomerular hyperfiltration compared to patients with normal filtration rate. Additionally, there were no significant differences between the mean RI value in patients with or without microalbuminuria. CONCLUSION: Renal Doppler US is not useful for prediction or for early diagnosis of DN.