Evaluation of Renal Perfusion in Hyperthyroid Cats before and after Radioiodine Treatment.

BACKGROUND: Hyperthyroidism and chronic kidney disease (CKD) are common in elderly cats. Consequently, both diseases often occur concurrently. Furthermore, renal function is affected by thyroid status. Because changes in renal perfusion play an important role in functional renal changes in hyperthyroid cats, investigation of renal perfusion may provide novel insights. OBJECTIVES: To evaluate renal perfusion in hyperthyroid cats with contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS). ANIMALS: A total of 42 hyperthyroid cats was included and evaluated before and 1 month after radioiodine treatment. METHODS: Prospective intrasubject clinical trial of contrast-enhanced ultrasound using a commercial contrast agent (SonoVue) to evaluate renal perfusion. Time-intensity curves were created, and perfusion parameters were calculated by off-line software. A linear mixed model was used to examine differences between pre- and post-treatment perfusion parameters. RESULTS: An increase in several time-related perfusion parameters was observed after radioiodine treatment, indicating a decreased blood velocity upon resolution of the hyperthyroid state. Furthermore, a small post-treatment decrease in peak enhancement was present in the renal medulla, suggesting a lower medullary blood volume. CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL IMPORTANCE: Contrast-enhanced ultrasound indicated a higher cortical and medullary blood velocity and higher medullary blood volume in hyperthyroid cats before radioactive treatment in comparison with 1-month post-treatment control.

[Hereditary angioedema--neglected diagnosis]. / Hereditární angioedem--opomíjená diagnóza.

Hereditary angioedema caused by C1 esterase inhibitor deficiency is a rare autosomal dominant inherited disorder. It is characterized by recurrent episodes of potentially life-threatening swellings without itching localized in the dermis and submucosa. We report a case of 41 years old woman with hereditary angioedema manifested as episodes of localized skin swellings and painful gastrointestinal colics. This report underlines the fact that hereditary angioedema is underdiagnosed in differential diagnoses. If hereditary angioedema is correctly diagnosed, effective treatment highly improving patients' quality of life is available.

[The effect of occupational exposure to styrene on the metabolism of lipids and lipoproteins]. / Príspevek k otázce vlivu profesionální expozice styrenu na metabolismus lipidu a lipoproteinu.

A total of 53 subjects with working exposure to styrene (1-29 years) has been investigated. On lipid and lipoproteins examination, only 8 persons (15%) showed normal values. The amount of 26 (49%) persons had the increase in HDL-cholesterol values. Subjects with protracted exposure to styrene (11-29 years) had higher level of cholesterol, absolute HDL-cholesterol values, total VLDLs and atherogenic index as compared to those which have worked at risk of styrene for 1-10 years. However, there was no statistically significant difference. Occupationnaly styrene exposed persons had statistically higher HDL-cholesterol (expressed both absolutely and relatively) in comparison with 21 clinically healthy controls. Changes of total cholesterol, VLDLs and of atherogenic index may partly be explained with factor of age. However, this is no such an explanation for HDL-cholesterol, since in adverse to that it decreases with more age in a normal population. Authors assume the pathologically higher HDL-cholesterol levels may exhibit causal interaction with occupational exposure to styrene, probably through the induction of microsomal liver enzymatic systems.

Colicinogeny in chronic inflammatory bowel disease.

There are several indirect arguments for a possible role of colicins in chronic inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Colicinogeny was therefore investigated in 54 patients with ulcerative colitis, 39 patients with Crohn's disease, and 160 clinically healthy controls. No significant difference was found among the examined groups. The leukocyte migration inhibition test (with colicins as antigens) was performed to estimate cellular hypersensitivity to colicins. Migration indices not exceeding the normal range in controls contrasted with abnormal values found in 36% of ulcerative colitis and 80% of Crohn's disease patients. The results are believed to be proof of cellular hypersensitivity of IBD patients to colicins of their own Escherichia coli strains. The importance of this finding must be further clarified.