Urologic complications in renal transplant recipients by donor type.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Reduced donor morbidity has been established after laparoscopic donor nephrectomy compared with open harvest, but differences in recipient outcomes remain less obvious. We compared the urologic complications in patients receiving kidneys procured by cadaveric, open, and laparoscopic harvest. PATIENTS AND METHODS: A retrospective study of all the kidney transplantations performed between January 1998 and December 2003 was undertaken to extract 100 consecutive patients in each group. All urologic complications were obtained and grouped by the type of donor procurement. RESULTS: Overall, 48 of the 276 transplant patients (17%) had urologic complications: 14% of the cadaveric-donor recipients, 20% of the open-donor recipients, and 18% of the laparoscopic-donor recipients. There were no ureteral complications in the laparoscopic group. CONCLUSIONS: Laparoscopically procured donor kidneys were associated with significantly fewer recipient ureteral complications than open cadaver or live-donor procurement.

Glyoxalase I phenotype as a potential risk factor for prostate carcinoma.

OBJECTIVES: To elicit a possible link between glyoxalase I (Gly-I), a detoxifying enzyme, and the incidence of prostate cancer (PCa), we investigated Gly-I phenotypic expression in the prostatic tissue and red blood cells (RBCs) from patients with PCa. METHODS: Eighty-seven clinical specimens, including 42 PCa tissue samples, 20 RBC samples, and 25 matched pair (prostate and RBC) samples from patients at prostatectomy were examined. The Gly-I phenotypes in these specimens were assessed by nondenaturing starch-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. RESULTS: Of the 87 patients, 63 (72.4%) were white, 15 (17.2%) were black, and 9 (10.4%) were another ethnicity (eg, Hispanic, Asian, Indian). Three Gly-I phenotypes were detected in these specimens as fast, intermediate, and slow-moving bands on the gel. The fast phenotype was the most common form found in the white (34 [54%] of 63) and black (8 [53.3%] of 15) patients, but the third ethnic group was too small for proper analysis. To validate this finding, the data from the white patients were compared with the Gly-I phenotypic frequencies in U.S. populations. The data analysis confirmed that a higher incidence (54%) of the fast type in our white patients was statistically significant (P <0.0001) compared with its phenotypic frequency of 30.6% in the general U.S. white population. CONCLUSIONS: The significantly high frequency (P <0.0001) of the fast Gly-I phenotype was detected among patients with PCa, suggesting it is a potential risk factor for PCa. Whether its increased incidence in whites reflects the lack of sample numbers for other ethnic groups needs additional investigation.

Induction of apoptosis in human prostatic cancer cells with beta-glucan (Maitake mushroom polysaccharide).

PURPOSE: To explore more effective treatment for hormone-refractory prostate cancer, we investigated the potential antitumor effect of beta-glucan, a polysaccharide of the Maitake mushroom, on prostatic cancer cells in vitro. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Human prostate cancer PC-3 cells were treated with various concentrations of the highly purified beta-glucan preparation Grifron-D(R) (GD), and viability was determined at 24 h. Lipid peroxidation (LPO) assay and in situ hybridization (ISH) were performed to unravel the antitumor mechanism of GD. RESULTS: A dose-response study showed that almost complete (>95%) cell death was attained in 24 h with GD > or = 480 microg/mL. Combinations of GD in a concentration as low as 30 to 60 microg/mL with 200 microM vitamin C were as effective as GD alone at 480 microg/mL, inducing >90% cytotoxic cell death. Simultaneous use with various anticancer drugs showed little potentiation of their efficacy except for the carmustine/GD combination (approximately 90% reduction in cell viability). The significantly (twofold) elevated LPO level and positive ISH staining of GD-treated cells indicated oxidative membrane damage resulting in apoptotic cell death. CONCLUSION: A bioactive beta-glucan from the Maitake mushroom has a cytotoxic effect, presumably through oxidative stress, on prostatic cancer cells in vitro, leading to apoptosis. Potentiation of GD action by vitamin C and the chemosensitizing effect of GD on carmustine may also have clinical implications. Therefore, this unique mushroom polysaccharide may have great a potential as an alternative therapeutic modality for prostate cancer.

Behaviour of trace impurities during chemical dissolution of a metal: Platinum elements in aluminium and nickel.

In order to study the behaviour of trace impurities during aqueous dissolution of a sample, aluminium and nickel-based alloys containing 10(-4)-1% Ir, Os or Ru were used. Yields of chemical separations such as distillation and ion-exchange were chosen as dissolution criteria. Dissolution of aluminium samples leads to precipitation of the three impurities. The Os and Ru precipitates can afterwards be dissolved by an oxidation procedure, in contrast to commercial powders of these elements. This behaviour may be explained in terms of the small grain-size of the precipitates. The indium precipitates cannot be dissolved, which prevents quantitative separation of this element from an aluminium matrix. In the case of nickel alloys, these three impurities are dissolved and can be quantitatively separated.