Heavy Metal Exposure in Alport Syndrome in an Adolescent: A Case Report: Heavy Metal Exposure in Alport Syndrome

Alport syndrome is an inherited glomerular disease characterized by hematuria, proteinuria,hypertension, progressive kidney failure, hearing loss, and ocular pathologies. It is causedby a mutation in COL4A3, COL4A4, or COL4A5 genes. A lamellar or uniformly thinnedglomerular basement membrane is a pathognomonic histologic appearance for Alportsyndrome. Light microscopy shows nonspecific findings, including mesangial matrixexpansion and hypercellularity. Renal tubules are other main components of the kidney and themajor sites in response to injuries. They are vulnerable to various conditions, such as hypoxia,proteinuria, and nephrotoxic substances, including heavy metals, like lead and mercury.We demonstrated that a patient with asymptomatic Alport syndrome may have acceleratedworsening of kidney functions due to occupational exposure to lead and mercury. Regardingthe initial diagnosis with current clinical and laboratory findings in patients, it is noteworthythat there is always the possibility of another pathology, and additional investigations maybe needed. Besides, when considering public health issues and the financial burden due tooccupational diseases, we desired to draw attention to the importance and need to create saferwork environments and make frequent inspections

Evaluation of the Claria sharesource system from the perspectives of patient/caregiver, physician, and nurse in children undergoing automated peritoneal dialysis

Background Automated peritoneal dialysis (APD) is increasingly preferred worldwide. By using a software application (Homechoice with Claria sharesource system (CSS)) with a mod-M added to the APD device, details of the home dialysis treatment become visible for PD nurses and physicians, allowing for close supervision. We aimed to evaluate the perceptions of patients/caregivers, PD nurses, and physicians about the advantages and disadvantages of CSS

The relationship between urine heat shock protein 70 and congenital anomalies of the kidney and urinary tract: UTILISE study

BackgroundCongenital anomalies of the kidney and urinary tract (CAKUT) are defined as structural malformations of the kidney and/or urinary tract. Heat shock proteins (HSPs) are expressed in the kidney in response to cellular changes, such as thermal, hemodynamic, osmotic, inflammatory, and mechanical stresses. This study aimed to assess uHSP70 levels during acute urinary tract infections (UTI) and non-infection periods in patients with CAKUT, and to evaluate whether uHSP70 is elevated in CAKUT subtypes.MethodsAmong patients with CAKUT, 89 patients with UTI (CAKUT-A), 111 without UTI (CAKUT-B), and 74 healthy children were included in the study. uHSP70 levels were measured using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA).ResultsuHSP70 level was significantly higher in the CAKUT-A group than in the CAKUT-B and healthy control groups (p < 0.0001). Moreover, the level of uHSP70 was significantly higher in the CAKUT-B group than in the control group (p < 0.0001), but was not different between the CAKUT subtypes (p > 0.05).ConclusionUrine HSP70 can also be used to predict UTI in patients with CAKUT. Moreover, uHSP70 levels were higher in children with CAKUT during the non-infectious period than in healthy controls. This suggests that children with CAKUT are at risk of chronic non-infectious damage

Urinary HSP70 improves diagnostic accuracy for urinary tract infection in children: UTILISE study

Background The accuracy of conventional urinalysis in diagnosing urinary tract infection (UTI) in children is limited, leading to unnecessary antibiotic exposure in a large fraction of patients. Urinary heat shock protein 70 (uHSP70) is a novel marker of acute urinary tract inflammation. We explored the added value of uHSP70 in discriminating UTI from other infections and conditions confused with UTI

Urine soluble TLR4 levels may contribute to predict urinary tract infection in children: the UTILISE Study.

Background: One of the most common bacterial infections in childhood is urinary tract infection (UTI). Toll-like receptors (TLRs) contribute to immune response against UTI recognizing specific pathogenic agents. Our aim was to determine whether soluble TLR4 (sTLR4), soluble TLR5 (sTLR5) and interleukin 8 (IL-8) can be used as biomarkers to diagnose UTI. We also aimed to reveal the relationship between urine Heat Shock Protein 70 (uHSP70) and those biomarkers investigated in this study. Methods: A total of 802 children from 37 centers participated in the study. The participants (n = 282) who did not meet the inclusion criteria were excluded from the study. The remaining 520 children, including 191 patients with UTI, 178 patients with non-UTI infections, 50 children with contaminated urine samples, 26 participants with asymptomatic bacteriuria and 75 healthy controls were included in the study. Urine and serum levels of sTLR4, sTLR5 and IL-8 were measured at presentation in all patients and after antibiotic treatment in patients with UTI. Results: Urine sTLR4 was higher in the UTI group than in the other groups. UTI may be predicted using 1.28 ng/mL as cut-off for urine sTLR4 with 68% sensitivity and 65% specificity (AUC = 0.682). In the UTI group, urine sTLR4 levels were significantly higher in pyelonephritis than in cystitis (p < 0.0001). Post-treatment urine sTLR4 levels in the UTI group were significantly lower than pre-treatment values (p < 0.0001). Conclusions: Urine sTLR4 may be used as a useful biomarker in predicting UTI and subsequent pyelonephritis in children with UTI. Graphical abstract: [Figure not available: see fulltext.