Gender affirming care for the minimally invasive gynecologic surgeon.

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: Given the current political climate and the release of an updated version of the World Professional Association for Transgender Health's guidelines, this review assesses recent updates in the care of transgender and gender diverse (TGD) patients, specifically related to care provided by gynecologists. RECENT FINDINGS: The number of people identifying as TGD and pursuing gender affirming care is increasing. Contraception for these patients is underdiscussed and high rates of pelvic pain and irregular bleeding were identified. Rates of regret are low following gender affirming surgeries, and studies have repeatedly shown their benefits for gender dysphoria. A minimally invasive approach is recommended for gender affirming hysterectomy, and the decision to proceed with bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy should be based on shared decision making. Surgical techniques include ensuring an adequate margin when taking the infundibulopelvic ligament, and consideration for two-layer vaginal cuff closure. SUMMARY: Gynecologists play a key role in the care of TGD patients. Recent reviews have found extensive gaps in our knowledge, including a lack of guidelines for cancer prevention, effects of testosterone on benign conditions, and the long-term effects of bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy on health outcomes for patients on testosterone.

How useful is kidney biopsy for the management of glomerulopathies in the elderly?

BACKGROUND: The use of kidney biopsy in elderly individuals is still matter of discussion. The purpose of this study is to assess the utility of kidney biopsy for the management of glomerulopathies in an Eastern European cohort, targeting patients older than 65 years. METHODS: This retrospective study included 875 adults (147 older than 65 years), with biopsy-proven glomerulopathies, followed up for 71.1 (95% CI 68.2-73.9) months. The primary endpoint was chronic renal replacement therapy initiation. Statistical evaluation was performed with IBM SPSS software version 20, Analyse-it, and SAS Studio. The Kaplan-Meier method was used to estimate the time to death and the log-rank test was used for comparisons. The multivariate Cox proportional hazard analysis was used to evaluate the risk of death. RESULTS: Secondary glomerulopathies were more frequent in patients aged > 65 years (52.4% vs. 41.9%, p = 0.004). Membranous nephropathy and amyloidosis were the most frequent primary and secondary glomerulopathies in this age group. Kidney biopsy complications were low (< 4%) in both age groups. In 42% of the elderly, the result of biopsy guided the immunosuppressive therapy. While the all-cause mortality rate was higher (OR 4.2; 95% CI 2.7-6.7; p < 0.0001) in elderly individuals, the rate of renal replacement therapy initiation was similar (31.3 vs 26%; p = 0.1) in both age groups. In the competitive risk analysis, kidney survival was similar irrespective of age [CIF 0.4 (95% CI 0.26-0.53) vs. 0.34 (95% CI 0.28-0.39), p = 0.08]. However, after adjusting for the confounding factors, younger age was associated with an increased risk of renal replacement therapy (HR = 1.57, p = 0.01), along with secondary glomerulopathies. CONCLUSION: The diagnosis of an underlying glomerulopathy guided the therapy in almost one-half of the elderly patients who underwent a kidney biopsy, provided important prognostic information and had a low complications rate; kidney biopsy may therefore be considered a safe, reliable procedure in the management of glomerulopathies, even in patients over 65 years of age.

Immunosuppressive therapy versus supportive care in IgA nephropathy patients with stage 3 and 4 chronic kidney disease.

The use of immunosuppressive therapy for immunoglobulin A nephropathy (IgAN) patients with stage 3 or 4 chronic kidney disease (CKD) is controversial. We performed a monocentric retrospective study on 83 consecutive IgAN patients with stage 3 or 4 CKD and proteinuria ≥0.75 g/d (age 41 [33-56] years, 72% male, estimated glomerular filtration rate 36.1 [25.4-47.5] mL/min/1.73 m2) who received uncontrolled supportive care (Supp) (n = 36), corticosteroids/corticotherapy (CS) (n = 14), or CS combined with monthly pulses of cyclophosphamide (CS + CFM) (n = 33) between 2010 and 2017. Patients were followed until composite endpoint (doubling of serum creatinine, end-stage kidney disease (dialysis or kidney transplant) or death, whichever came first) or end of study (January 2020). Patients were followed for a median of 29 (95% confidence interval = 25.2-32.7) months, and 12 (15%) patients experienced the composite endpoint. Within the limitation of a retrospective study, our results suggest no benefit from immunosuppressive therapy in patients with IgAN with stage 3 and 4 CKD as compared with supportive care. There were no differences between the 3 studied groups regarding age, estimated glomerular filtration rate, proteinuria, Oxford classification score, arterial hypertension, and therapy with renin-angiotensin system inhibitors. Mean kidney survival time for the entire cohort was 81.0 (95% confidence interval = 73.1-89.0) months, without significant differences between the 3 groups. In univariate and multivariate Cox regression analysis adjusted for IgAN progression factors, immunosuppressive therapy was not associated with better kidney survival when compared with supportive therapy.

Microbial Diversity and Interaction Specificity in Kombucha Tea Fermentations.

Despite the popularity of kombucha tea, the distribution of different microbes across kombucha ferments and how those microbes interact within communities are not well characterized. Using metagenomics, comparative genomics, synthetic community experiments, and metabolomics, we determined the taxonomic, ecological, and functional diversity of 23 distinct kombuchas from across the United States. Shotgun metagenomic sequencing demonstrated that the bacterium Komagataeibacter rhaeticus and the yeast Brettanomyces bruxellensis were the most common microbes in the sampled kombucha communities. To determine the specificity of bacterium-yeast interactions, we experimentally quantified microbial interactions within kombucha biofilms by measuring densities of interacting species and biofilm production. In pairwise combinations of bacteria and yeast, B. bruxellensis and individual strains of Komagataeibacter spp. were sufficient to form kombucha fermentations with robust biofilms, but Zygosaccharomyces bisporus, another yeast found in kombucha, did not stimulate bacteria to produce biofilms. Profiling the spent media of both yeast species using nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy suggested that the enhanced ability of B. bruxellensis to ferment and produce key metabolites in sucrose-sweetened tea may explain why it stimulates biofilm formation. Comparative genomics demonstrated that Komagataeibacter spp. with >99% genomic similarity can still have dramatic differences in biofilm production, with strong producers yielding five times more biofilm than the weakest producers. IMPORTANCE Through an integration of metagenomic and experimental approaches, our work reveals the diversity and nature of interactions among key taxa in kombucha microbiomes through the construction of synthetic microbial pairs. Manipulation of these microbes in kombucha has the potential to shape both the fermentation qualities of kombucha and the production of biofilms and is valuable for kombucha beverage producers, biofilm engineers, and synthetic ecologists.

Negative anti-phospholipase A2 receptor antibody status at three months predicts remission in primary membranous nephropathy.

BACKGROUND: The value of anti-phospholipase A2 receptor antibody (anti-PLA2R ab) monitoring at 3 months after diagnosis in membranous nephropathy (MN) remains uncertain. METHODS: We retrospectively examined the outcome on 1 August 2020 of 59 adult patients (age 54 (44, 68) years, 69% male, SCr 1.0 (0.9, 1.3) mg/dL) diagnosed with MN (kidney biopsy, positive serum anti-PLA2R ab). The outcomes were: kidney survival; partial and/or complete remission. RESULTS: Most of the studied patients (97%) received immunosuppression, cyclophosphamide regimens were the most frequent (87%), followed by cyclosporine (10%). The median time to remission was 12.0 months and the cumulative remission rates were 34% at 6, 54% at 12, and 73% at 24 months. Forty (69%) patients had negative anti-PLA2R ab at 3 months, they had similar age, serum creatinine, albumin, proteinuria, and treatment with the group with positive ab at 3 months. In the Cox proportional hazard model, three months anti-PLA2R ab negativization (HR 0.4 (95%CI 0.1, 0.9)) was an independent predictor for remission, while baseline hypoalbuminemia (HR 3.0 (95%CI 1.5, 5.7)) was associated with absence of remission. Six (10%) patients died, mostly due to cardiovascular disease and infections. A total of five (9%) patients started dialysis. Mean kidney survival time was 50.3 months and there was no survival difference in relation to baseline anti-PLA2R ab titer (p .09) or 3 months negativization (p .8). CONCLUSIONS: Three months anti-PLA2R ab negativization seems to be a late predictor of remission, and lower serum albumin at diagnosis is an early marker for remission absence. Abbreviations: anti-P LA2R ab, anti-phospholipase A2 receptor antibody; eGFR, estimated glomerular filtration rate; ESKD, end stage kidney disease; MN, membranous nephropathy; NELL-1, neural epidermal growth factor-like 1 protein; RAAS: renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system; RBC: red blood cells; RRT, renal replacement therapy; T HSD7A, thrombospondin type-1 domain containing 7A.

Long-Term Intravenous Iron Therapy and Morbidity in Hemodialysis Patients.

Objective: The aim of this study was to describe long-term intravenous iron therapy-associated morbidity in hemodialysis patients from a single Hemodialysis Center. Material and methods: We conducted an observational retrospective cohort study from 01 January to 31 December 2015. Two hundred and twenty prevalent patients on maintenance hemodialysis therapy for at least 12 months (mean age 53±13 years, 56% males, median hemodialysis vintage 5 (1-26) years) were included. Diabetic nephropathy as primary kidney disease, pregnancy and incomplete data records regarding study aims were exclusion criteria. We compared the frequency, duration and causes of hospitalizations in iron sucrose-treated versus gender and age-matched iron non-treated patients. Differences between groups were assessed using Chi-square and Kruskal-Wallis H tests. A p value µ0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: From the entire cohort, 68% were iron-treated. One in five patients were treated with higher doses (400 mg monthly), and lower doses were used (100-200 mg monthly) in 80% of patients. There were no differences regarding the rates of admission between the two groups (56/100 patient-years in the iron sucrose-treated vs. 50/100 patient-years in the iron-untreated group, p=0.1). Still, the hospitalization rate significantly increased with the administered iron dose (0.4 vs. 0.7 vs. 0.8/100 patient-years for 100 mg vs. 200 mg vs. 400 mg monthly, respectively, p=0.006). Hospitalization rates due to infectious and cardiovascular diseases were similar for both groups (12/100 patient-years vs. 5.7/100 patient-years, p=0.3 and 11.3/100 patient-years vs. 4.3/100 patient-years, p=0.2, respectively). Conclusion: Higher doses of intravenous iron sucrose appear to be associated with an elevated risk of hospitalization. Nonetheless, long-term intravenous iron therapy seems to have a limited influence in terms of specific cause of morbidity in non-diabetic hemodialysis patients.

Non-diabetic glomerular lesions in diabetic kidney disease: clinical predictors and outcome in an Eastern European cohort.

PURPOSE: Since patients' prognosis depends on the lesions identified by kidney biopsy (KB), we aimed to evaluate predictors of non-diabetic kidney disease (NDKD) in diabetic subjects and to assess their kidney outcome as compared to diabetic nephropathy (DN). METHODS: 180 adults diagnosed by KB with DN (n = 120) or NDKD (n = 60), over a 10 year time-span, were retrospectively included and followed for a mean of 48.1 (95% CI 43.1-53.1) months. Patients with superimposed specific lesions over DN and with steroid-induced diabetes were excluded. The primary endpoint was renal replacement therapy (RRT) initiation. Only subjects who were alive at the end of follow-up (73 with DN and 38 with NDKD) entered the kidney survival analysis. RESULTS: Membranous nephropathy (9%) was the most common NDKD. Predictors for NDKD were shorter duration of diabetes (OR 0.88; 95% CI 0.81-0.96, p = 0.004), absence of diabetic retinopathy (OR 0.08; 95% CI 0.01-0.44, p = 0.003), and nephrotic syndrome at presentation (OR 3.55; 95% CI 1.39-9.04, p = 0.008). Subjects with NDKD needed RRT later as those with DN [82 (95% CI 67-97.1) vs. 45 (95% CI 34-56.5) months, p = 0.001]. In an adjusted Cox model, biopsy diagnosed DN independently predicted RRT (OR 4.43; 95% CI 1.54-12.7, p = 0.006). Other predictors were lower eGFR, higher proteinuria, and absence of renin-angiotensin inhibitor therapy. CONCLUSION: As one-third of the investigated subjects had NDKD, and NDKD was associated with a better kidney survival, independently predicted by the type of glomerular lesion, KB appears the most reliable tool to guide therapy and to assess outcome in patients with diabetic kidney disease.

Deletion of Fmr1 from Forebrain Excitatory Neurons Triggers Abnormal Cellular, EEG, and Behavioral Phenotypes in the Auditory Cortex of a Mouse Model of Fragile X Syndrome.

Fragile X syndrome (FXS) is a leading genetic cause of autism with symptoms that include sensory processing deficits. In both humans with FXS and a mouse model [Fmr1 knockout (KO) mouse], electroencephalographic (EEG) recordings show enhanced resting state gamma power and reduced sound-evoked gamma synchrony. We previously showed that elevated levels of matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9) may contribute to these phenotypes by affecting perineuronal nets (PNNs) around parvalbumin (PV) interneurons in the auditory cortex of Fmr1 KO mice. However, how different cell types within local cortical circuits contribute to these deficits is not known. Here, we examined whether Fmr1 deletion in forebrain excitatory neurons affects neural oscillations, MMP-9 activity, and PV/PNN expression in the auditory cortex. We found that cortical MMP-9 gelatinase activity, mTOR/Akt phosphorylation, and resting EEG gamma power were enhanced in CreNex1/Fmr1Flox/y conditional KO (cKO) mice, whereas the density of PV/PNN cells was reduced. The CreNex1/Fmr1Flox/y cKO mice also show increased locomotor activity, but not the anxiety-like behaviors. These results indicate that fragile X mental retardation protein changes in excitatory neurons in the cortex are sufficient to elicit cellular, electrophysiological, and behavioral phenotypes in Fmr1 KO mice. More broadly, these results indicate that local cortical circuit abnormalities contribute to sensory processing deficits in autism spectrum disorders.