The Breakdown of Preformed Peritoneal Advanced Glycation End Products by Intraperitoneal Alagebrium

It has been demonstrated that inhibitors of advanced glycation end products (AGE), such as aminoguanidine, can suppress peritoneal AGE in rats on peritoneal dialysis (PD). However, it is unknown whether late administration of a putative cross-link breaker, alagebrium, could reverse peritoneal AGE. We therefore compared alagebrium with aminoguanidine in their ability to reverse peritoneal AGE in rats on PD. Male Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into 3 groups: group I dialyzed with 4.25% glucose solution for all exchanges; group II dialyzed with 4.25% glucose solution containing aminoguanidine, and group III dialyzed with 4.25% glucose solution containing alagebrium for last 8 weeks of 12-week dialysis period. Dialysis exchanges were performed 2 times a day for 12 weeks. Immunohistochemistry was performed using a monoclonal anti-AGE antibody. One-hour PET was performed for comparison of transport characteristics. The immunolabelling of AGE in peritoneal membrane was markedly decreased in the alagebrium group. Consistent with this, the alagebrium group exhibited significantly higher D/Do glucose and lower D/P urea, suggesting low peritoneal membrane transport. But there were no significant differences between the control and the aminoguanidine group. These results suggest that the alagebrium may be the optimal therapeutic approach, compared with treatment with inhibitors of AGE formation, in rats on PD

Parathyroid carcinoma in tertiary hyperparathyroidism

Parathyroid carcinoma is a rare disease of unknown etiology. This study presents a case of parathyroid carcinoma in a patient with tertiary hyperparathyroidism. Despite a successful kidney transplantation, the intact parathyroid hormone (iPTH) level of the patient was elevated consistently and could not be controlled by medical therapy. Due to the development of tertiary hyperparathyroidism with bone pain and osteoporosis, subtotal parathyroidectomy was performed 4 months after the kidney transplantation. Histological evaluation revealed that one of four parathyroid lesions was a parathyroid carcinoma, while the others were diffuse hyperplasia. Postoperative laboratory studies indicated a decreased level of iPTH. A positron emission tomography–computed tomography performed 6 months after the operation revealed no evidence of local recurrence or distant metastasis

Detection and Identification of Expansion Joint Gap of Road Bridges by Machine Learning Using Line-Scan Camera Images

Recently, the lack of expansion joint gaps on highway bridges in Korea has been increasing. In particular, with the increase in the number of days during the summer heatwave, the narrowing of the expansion joint gap causes symptoms such as expansion joint damage and pavement blow-up, which threaten traffic safety and structural safety. Therefore, in this study, we developed a machine vision (M/V)-technique-based inspection system that can monitor the expansion joint gap through image analysis while driving at high speed (100 km/h), replacing the current manual method that uses an inspector to inspect the expansion joint gap. To fix the error factors of image analysis that happened during the trial application, a machine learning method was used to improve the accuracy of measuring the gap between the expansion joint device. As a result, the expansion gap identification accuracy was improved by 27.5%, from 67.5% to 95.0%, and the use of the system reduces the survey time by more than 95%, from an average of approximately 1 h/bridge (existing manual inspection method) to approximately 3 min/bridge. We assume, in the future, maintenance practitioners can contribute to preventive maintenance that prepares countermeasures before problems occur