The American journal of the medical sciences
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Kidney transplant recipients are at increased risk for developing invasive fungal infections (IFI). We queried the United States Renal Data System (USRDS) for risk factors for IFI in these patients. ⋯ Risk factors for IFI in renal transplant patients include demographic, medication-associated and clinical data, as well as organism-specific factors. These results offer an extensive clinical profile of risk for IFI, and may thus help inform the diagnosis and presumptive therapy of invasive fungal infections in renal transplant recipients.
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Editorial Historical Article
TGF-β and Diabetic Nephropathy: Lessons Learned Over the Past 20 Years.
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The hexosamine biosynthesis pathway (HBP) is hypothesized to mediate many of the adverse effects of hyperglycemia. We have shown previously that increased flux through this pathway leads to induction of the growth factor transforming growth factor-α (TGF-α) and to insulin resistance in cultured cells and transgenic mice. TGF-β is regulated by glucose and is involved in the development of diabetic nephropathy. We therefore hypothesized that the HBP was involved in the regulation of TGF-β by glucose in rat vascular and kidney cells. ⋯ The metabolism of glucose through the HBP mediates extracellular matrix production, possibly via the stimulation of TGF-β in kidney cells. Hexosamine metabolism therefore, may play a role in the development of diabetic nephropathy.