Background/Aims: Warm ischemia to liver with subsequent Kupffer cell-dependent pathology is associated with many clinical conditions. Taurine prevents Kupffer cell activation and improves graft survival after experimental cold ischemia and liver transplantation. Thus this study was designed to assess its effects after warm hepatic ischemia. Methods: The left liver lobe of female Sprague-Dawley rats (170–210 g) underwent 60 min of warm ischemia. Animals were given either intravenous taurine or Ringer’s solution 10 min prior to warm ischemia. Transaminases, histology, in vivo microscopy, intercellular adhesion molecules-1 (ICAM-1) expression, TNF-α and tissue hydroperoxide were compared between groups using analysis of variance (ANOVA) or ANOVA on ranks as appropriate. Results: Taurine significantly decreased transaminases and improved histologic outcome. Phagocytosis of latex beads, serum TNF-α levels and tissue hydroperoxide concentrations were also significantly reduced. Stickers in sinusoids and post-sinusoidal venules significantly decreased. In parallel, both leukocyte infiltration and ICAM-1 expression decreased (p < 0.05), while flow velocity of red blood cells as well as sinusoidal perfusion rate were improved (p < 0.05). Conclusion: This study demonstrates that taurine blunts Kupffer cell-dependent hepatic pathology after warm ischemia in vivo via mechanisms including leukocyte-endothelial interaction, microcirculation disturbances and protection against lipid peroxidation.

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The LRINEC score could be used for prediction of disease severity and outcomes. A threshold of 9 could be a high-value predictor of death during the initial evaluation of patients with FG.

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Renal artery clamping itself induces renal ischemia which subsequently causes renal cell injury and can lead to renal failure. The duration of warm ischemia that would be safe for postoperative kidney function during partial nephrectomy remains under investigations. Mitochondria play an important role in pathophysiology of ischemia-reperfusion induced kidney injury, however relation between ischemia time and mitochondrial dysfunction are not fully elucidated. Thus, the effects of renal ischemia (20 min, 40 min and 60 min) on mitochondrial functions were investigated by using in vitro rat ischemia model. Thus, electronmicroscopy showed that at short (20 min) ischemia mitochondria start to swell and the damage increases with the duration of ischemia. In accordance with this, a significant decrease in mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation capacity was observed already after 20 min of ischemia with both, complex I dependent substrate glutamate/malate (52%) and complex II dependent substrate succinate (44%) which further decreased with the prolonged time of ischemia. The diminished state 3 respiration rate was associated with the decrease in mitochondrial Complex I activity and the release of cytochrome c. Mitochondrial Ca(2+) uptake was diminished by 37-49% after 20-60 min of ischemia and caspase-3 activation increased by 1.15-2.32-fold as compared to control. LDH activity changed closely with increasing time of renal ischemia. In conclusion, even short time (20 min) of warm ischemia in vitro leads to renal mitochondrial injury which increases progressively with the duration of ischemia.

Objective. The aim of our study was to compare long-term oncological outcomes following nephron-sparing surgery (NSS) and radical nephrectomy (RN) for renal cell carcinoma (RCC) 4 to 7 cm in diameter. Material and Methods. The study included patients who underwent RN or NSS for RCC 4 to 7 cm in diameter between 1998 and 2009. The studied groups were compared with respect to the patients’ age, sex, physical status according to the American Society of Anesthesiologists Physical classification, histological type, stage, tumor size, grade, duration of the operation, and complications. Survival was established using the Kaplan-Meier method. The risk factors for survival were analyzed using a multivariate Cox regression model. Results. During the study, 351 patients underwent surgery: 317 patients (90.3%) underwent RN, and 34 (9.7%), NSS. The compared groups differed with respect to tumor size (P=0.001) and stage (P=0.006). The overall estimated 12-year survival was 53.7% after RN and 55.2% after NSS (log-rank test P=0.437). The 12-year cancer-specific survival in the RN and NSS groups was 69.6% and 80.6%, respectively (log-rank test P=0.198). Pathological stage and patients’ age were the major factors affecting both overall and cancer-specific survival. The type of surgery (NSS or RN) had no effect on survival. Conclusions. Our study showed that nephron-sparing surgery is a safe technique compared with radical nephrectomy that ensures good oncological control in the treatment of renal cell carcinoma measuring 4 to 7 cm and may be proposed as the treatment of choice for renal tumors not only up to 4 cm, but also 4 to 7 cm in size.

Background and objectives: The aim of this study was to analyze trends in testicular cancer incidence, mortality, and survival in Lithuania during the period 1998–2013. Materials and Methods: The study was based on all cases of testicular cancer reported to the Lithuanian Cancer Registry between 1998 and 2013. Age group-specific rates and standardized rates were calculated using the direct method (European standard population). The Joinpoint regression model was used to provide the annual percentage change (APC). Five-year relative survival estimates were calculated using period analysis. Relative survival was calculated as the ratio of the observed survival of cancer patients and the expected survival of the underlying general population. Results: During the study period, the age-standardized incidence rate of testicular cancer increased from 1.97 to 3.45 per 100,000, with APC of 2.97% (95% CI 0.9 to 5.1). Incidence rate of seminomas changed from 0.71 to 1.54 per 100,000, with APC of 2.61% (95% CI −0.4 to 5.7), and the incidence rate of non-seminomas increased from 0.84 to 1.83 per 100,000, with APC of 4.16% (95% CI 1.6 to 6.8). The mortality rate of testicular cancer in Lithuania during this period declined from 0.78 to 0.51 per 100,000, with APC of −2.91% (95% CI −5.5 to −0.3). Relative five-year survival ratio for the period 2009–2013 was 89.39% (95% CI 82.2 to 94.4). In our study, the overall five-year relative survival increased slightly (10.1%) from 2004–2008 to 2009–2013 (from 79.3% to 89.4%). Conclusions: A moderate increase of testicular cancer incidence has been observed in Lithuania between the years 1998 and 2013, while the mortality rate decreased. The five-year relative survival increased according to different period estimates; however, the results could have been higher if a multidisciplinary approach to diagnostics and management in the concerned centers had been implemented in Lithuania as in other countries.

This study depicts that multifaceted pharmacological tackling of ischemia/reperfusion injury is feasible and protects rat liver tissue from warm ischemia/reperfusion injury.