Liver transplantation in the rat

During the past ten years progress in the field of vascular surgery and immunology has been such, that a steady improvement in the results of clinical organ transplantation can be observed. Also when a life threatening disease of the liver is present, liver transplantation may be considered. In general these diseases may be described as follows: Necrosis of the liver, acute or sub-acute, can give rise to a progressive loss of the liver function. The causal factors are very often unknown. Sometimes certain hepatotoxins can be indicated as the cause. Halothane, for instance, may give rise to acute hepatic necrosis of the liver (Silverman 1975). Viral hepatitis can also produce such serious damage to the liver, that it endangers life

Bronchiectasis in children after renal or liver transplantation: A report of five cases

More effective immunosuppressive treatment in children following organ transplantation has significantly improved the survival of the grafts. Therefore, quality of life, long-term prognosis and adverse drug reactions have become more important. One of the main complications of immunosuppressive drugs is infections of the respiratory tract, but irreversible damage to the airways has not been described after renal or liver transplantation. Five children following transplantation of kidney or liver were referred to the Paediatric Pulmonology department because of chronic respiratory complaints. Pulmonary function tests and HRCT scan were performed as routine patient care. Four children with a renal transplant and one with a liver transplant showed chronic bronchitis and moderate to severe airways obstruction. HRCT showed bronchiectasis in all of them. We speculate that the immunosuppressive treatment (in) directly contributes to irreversible airway damage. We recommend including follow-up of lung function in the post-transplantation protocol and considering bronchiectasis in case of respiratory symptoms, to try preventing further damage to the lung

Transplacental induction of membranous nephropathy in a neonate

We report a case of renal failure in a newborn infant due to membranous glomerulonephritis. The patient was anuric in the first 3 weeks of life, after which renal function recovered. The serum of the mother contained IgG antibodies which reacted with tubular brush borders and glomeruli of adult and fetal human kidneys. Reactivity with renal epithelium from human kidneys was detected. We suggest that a transplacental, passive Heymann nephritis-like mechanism was the pathogenesis of the neonate's symptoms, although the antigen(s) involved was shown not to be gp 330 or any of the renal antigens known to be involved in experimental nephropathies

Growth hormone treatment in growth-retarded adolescents after renal transplant

Growth failure is a psychosocial problem for many patients who have undergone renal transplantation. 18 adolescents (mean age 15 6, range 11·3-19 5) with severe growth retardation after renal transplantation were treated with biosynthetic growth hormone (GH) for 2 years. All received prednisone, administered daily or on alternate days, with azathioprine and/or cyclosporin A. 16 were blindly assigned to one of two GH doses (4 vs 8 IU per m2 per day). Growth, bone maturation, renal graft function, plasma insulin-like growth factors, serum binding proteins, and other biochemical parameters were checked regularly. Glomerular filtration rate and effective renal plasma flow were tested with 125I-Thalamate and 131I-Hippuran. Data on growth and glomerular filtration rate during GH treatment were also compared with those of matched non-GH-treated controls. Mean (standard deviation) increment in height after 2 years of GH was 15·7 (5·1) cm, significantly greater (p25% reduction in glomerular filtration rate over 2 years was not significantly higher in GH-treated patients than in non-GH-treated controls (39% vs 32%, p=0·97). Although a few patients had deterioration of graft function, we could not find a relation with GH treatment. Our results show that sustained improvement of height can be achieved with GH in severely growth-retarded adolescents after renal transplantation

Seasonal input of heavy metals to Antarctic snow

Cadmium, copper, lead and zinc concentrations have been measured on a sequence of snow blocks covering 2 years’ accumulation at a site on the east coast of the Antarctic Peninsula. Careful collection and analysis techniques have ensured good data quality despite the very low concentrations, which averaged Cd 0.08 ng kg-1, Cu 4 ng kg-1, Pb 4 ng kg-1, Zn 0.4 ng kg-1. The elements show significant variations through the year. Pb has peaks in the autumn/winter period when both the crustal and marine aerosol are also at their maxima; despite a probable pollutant origin, Pb appears to be associated with natural aerosol in long range transport. No clear seasonal signal is observed for the other metals. At this site, the marine contribution to the concentrations of some metals may be significant

Preconcentration method for electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometric analysis for heavy metals in Antarctic snow at sub ng kg−1 levels

An improved technique for concentrating heavy metals onto the surface of tungsten wires, prior to analysis by electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry, is reported. Ultraclean methods and materials, described here, have enabled improvements in detection limits to be realised. With the new procedure, detection limits of 0.01 ng Cd kg−1, 0.47 ng Cu kg−1, 0.22 ng Pb kg−1 and 0.24 ng Zn kg−1 are obtained. These are low enough to allow analysis of ancient and modern. Antarctic snow, except perhaps for cadmium. A comparison with samples injected directly into the graphite furnace shows good agreement, confirming that the method is suitable for the simple polar snow matrix