Digital image analysis of cytoskeletal F‐actin disintegration in renal microvascular endothelium following ischemia/reperfusion

Abstract

Objective To determine if mycophenolate mofetil (MMF) diminishes skin and muscle disease activity in children with juvenile dermatomyositis (DM), thereby permitting a decrease in corticosteroid dose. Methods A retrospective data review for 50 children with juvenile DM (mean ± SD age 12.2 ± 5.0 years) who had received MMF for 12 months identified the following characteristics: 38 (76%) were girls, 39 (78%) were white, 10 (20%) were Hispanic, and 1 (2%) was African American. The MMF dose and frequency, type of infection, white blood cell (WBC) count, corticosteroid dose, and the validated disease activity score (DAS) subscores for skin (DAS‐S) and muscle (DAS‐M) were obtained. Results Twelve months after the start of MMF, the mean ± SD DAS‐S decreased from 5.24 ± 0.29 to 3.72 ± 0.29 (P = 0.001), and the mean ± SD DAS‐M decreased from 2.44 ± 0.39 to 1.17 ± 0.28 (P = 0.002). The mean ± SD prednisone dosage decreased from 0.39 ± 0.06 to 0.23 ± 0.02 mg/kg/day (P = 0.0001), with resumption of linear growth (P = 0.008). The WBC/lymphocyte count was unchanged over the 12 months on MMF. The infection rate was assessed in a subset of 26 children with juvenile DM who were observed for 12 months before the start of MMF and then compared with the ensuing 12 months of MMF therapy. There was no significant difference between the pretreatment period and the first 6 months of MMF therapy (P = 0.44), but the infection rate decreased in months 7–12 (P = 0.001). Conclusion MMF appears to be worthy of consideration as an additional therapeutic modality for treatment of children with juvenile DM. These data suggest that the use of MMF decreases skin and muscle disease activity and is steroid sparing. MMF appears to be well tolerated, but patients should be monitored for infection.

Modulation of inflammatory response by selective inhibition of cyclooxygenase-1 and cyclooxygenase-2 in acute kidney injury

“…Very early after reperfusion, ROS are produced and released, leading to cell activation and death. Endothelial cells are one of the primary targets of ROS, whose action in these cells includes changes toward pro-inflammatory phenotype [2,[28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35]. ROS seem to be mainly produced by activated neutrophils, and the role of these cells is well established in renal IR [36][37][38][39].…”

Early Myocardial Dysfunction is Not Caused by Mitochondrial Abnormalities in a Rat Model of Peritonitis

“…The microscope, camera, and data were controlled by SlideBook software (Intelligent Imaging Innovations, Denver, CO, USA). In the images, regions of interest (the vascular endothelium) were selected by masking, previously described in detail [13]. Three masks were generated: (1) by manually selecting the vasculature and (2) by automated selection of FITC fluorescence above background, indicating VCAM-1 expression; a third mask, which was the combination of masks 1 and 2, indicated VCAM expression in the vasculature (in arbitrary units according to SlideBook software).…”

Rho-Kinase Inhibition Reduces Early Microvascular Leukocyte Accumulation in the Rat Kidney following Ischemia-Reperfusion Injury: Roles of Nitric Oxide and Blood Flow

“…Microscope, camera characteristics and software have been described previously [23]. Digital image analysis was performed using SlideBook™ software (version 4.1.0.9).…”