Effects of creatine monohydrate supplementation on creatinine clearance

Creatine supplementation promotes muscular growth, increases the storage of instant anaerobic energy, increases muscle strength, and improves endurance by delaying fatigue. This supplement is thus important in the world of fitness. The effects of creatine supplementation on the quantitative values of creatinine clearance was tested over a duration period of 2 weeks. This was also done to determine if such creatine supllementation caused abnormal amounts of excreted creatinine that would resuls in renal dysfunction. The experiment consisted of 25 randomly selected subjects. Screening of subjects was done, by choosing men between the ages of 18-25, involved in some form of physical activity at least three times a week, and current diet did not include the use of diuretic drugs, coffee/tea, or other supplement\u27s. The subjects selected, were divided randomly into two groups of ten and a single group of five. The first group were subjected to creatine loading, which consisted of 6 creatine tablets for the first 3 days and one for every succeeding day. The second group was subjected to creatine maintenance, which consisted of 1 tablet a day. The final group of five, were subjected to a placebo. Each subject was required to collect a 24-hour urine sample, and have at least 5cc\u27s of blood extracted. The experiment lasted for two weeks with testing of blood and urine before, midway, and after creatine supplementation. After each individual tests were completed, analysis and computations, were performed to express creatinine clearance values. Normal creatine values for men ranged from 95-156 ml/min. All subjects, with the exception of two, fell within the range. The creatinine clearance values were analyzed with the Standard Analysis of Variance test (ANOVA). This test showed that there was no significant change in creatinine clearance variance before, midway, or after creatine supplementation, nor in the different dosages of supplementation, being loading, maintenance, or placebo. Therefore the conclusion is that creatine supplementation has no effect on either creatinine clearance or cause abnormal levels of creatinine excretion

High incidence of independent second malignancies after non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer

Abstract Objective. The incidence of urogenital tumours is constantly increasing as a result of over-proportional ageing of the population in industrialized nations. Follow-up of non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC) primarily relies on the detection of either relapse or progression and does not include screening for second malignancies. This study investigated the incidence of independent non-urothelial second malignancies and associated risk factors in patients with NMIBC. Material and methods. The charts of 380 consecutive patients (297 men and 83 women) with newly diagnosed NMIBC over a 16-year period at a Swiss hospital were analysed retrospectively. Age, stage of bladder tumour, smoking status, and occurrence of second and third malignancies were registered. Observed incidences of independent non-urothelial malignancies were compared with age- and gender-specific rates based on data from the National Institute for Cancer Epidemiology and Registration by calculating standardized incidence ratios (SIRs). Results. Mean age at first NMIBC diagnosis was 69.9 years. Histological stage of the NMIBC was pTa in 241 patients (63.4%), pT1 in 102 (26.8%)and pTis in 37 (9.7%). During follow-up, 62 independent non-urothelial second or third malignancies were observed in 48 men (16.2%) and 10 women (12.0%). In male patients, prostate and lung cancer (SIR 4.3 and 5.7, respectively) were more frequent than expected in the general population, as were lung and uterine cancer in women. Conclusions. Follow-up in patients with NMIBC should pay special attention to independent non-urothelial malignancies. Investigations for non-urological malignant disease, especially for lung cancer, should form part of the standard follow-up in NMIBC patients

Multimodal SHG-2PF Imaging of Microdomain Ca 2+

RATIONALE: cardiac myocyte contraction is caused by Ca(2+) binding to troponin C, which triggers the cross-bridge power stroke and myofilament sliding in sarcomeres. Synchronized Ca(2+) release causes whole cell contraction and is readily observable with current microscopy techniques. However, it is unknown whether localized Ca(2+) release, such as Ca(2+) sparks and waves, can cause local sarcomere contraction. Contemporary imaging methods fall short of measuring microdomain Ca(2+)-contraction coupling in live cardiac myocytes. OBJECTIVE: To develop a method for imaging sarcomere-level Ca(2+)-contraction coupling in healthy and disease-model cardiac myocytes. METHODS AND RESULTS: Freshly isolated cardiac myocytes were loaded with the Ca(2+)-indicator Fluo-4. A confocal microscope equipped with a femtosecond-pulsed near-infrared laser was used to simultaneously excite second harmonic generation (SHG) from A-bands of myofibrils and two-photon fluorescence (2PF) from Fluo-4. Ca(2+) signals and sarcomere strain correlated in space and time with short delays. Furthermore, Ca(2+) sparks and waves caused contractions in subcellular microdomains, revealing a previously underappreciated role for these events in generating subcellular strain during diastole. Ca(2+) activity and sarcomere strain were also imaged in paced cardiac myocytes under mechanical load, revealing spontaneous Ca(2+) waves and correlated local contraction in pressure overload-induced cardiomyopathy. CONCLUSIONS: Multi-modal SHG-2PF microscopy enables the simultaneous observation of Ca(2+) release and mechanical strain at the sub-sarcomere level in living cardiac myocytes. The method benefits from the label-free nature of SHG, which allows A-bands to be imaged independently of T-tubule morphology and simultaneously with Ca(2+) indicators. SHG-2PF imaging is widely applicable to the study of Ca(2+)-contraction coupling and mechano-chemo-transduction in both health and disease