Henoch-Schönlein purpura nephritis in children: incidence, pathogenesis and management.

BACKGROUND: Henoch-Schönlein purpura (HSP) is one of the most common vasculitides in children. It is manifested by skin purpura, arthritis, abdominal pain, renal involvement, etc. Typically, HSP is considered to be self-limiting, although renal involvement (HSP purpura nephritis, HSPN) is the principal cause of morbidity from this disease. For this reason, it is important to clarify the mechanism of onset and clinical manifestations of HSPN and to ascertain the most appropriate treatment for HSPN. In this article, we review the updated pathophysiology and treatment strategies for HSPN. DATA SOURCES: We searched databases including PubMed, Elsevier and Wanfang for the following key words: Henoch-Schönlein purpura, nephritis, mechanism and treatment, and we selected those publications written in English that we judged to be relevant to the topic of this review. RESULTS: Based on the data present in the literature, we reviewed the following topics: 1) the possible pathogenesis of HSPN: several studies suggest that immunoglobulin A immune complexes deposit in the mesangium and induce renal injury; 2) multiple-drug treatment for HSPN: although there have been few evidence-based treatment strategies for HSPN, several studies have suggested that immunosuppressive drugs and multiple drug combination therapy were effective in ameliorating proteinuria and histological severity. CONCLUSIONS: HSPN is a severe disease of childhood. To better understand this disease, detailed investigations into the pathogenesis of HSPN and prospective randomized controlled treatment studies on children with severe HSPN are needed.

[The catamnestic assessment of the efficacy of combined pathogenetic therapy in patients with different clinico-morphological variants of chronic glomerulonephritis]. / Katamnesticheskaia otsenka éffektivnosti kompleksnoi patogeneticheskoi terapii bol'nykh s razlichnymi kliniko-morfologicheskimi variantami khronicheskogo glomerulonefrita.

In 70 patients with functionally compensated chronic glomerulonephritis (CGN), the disease outcomes were elucidated after the use of the 4-component therapy (a cytostatic, an anticoagulant, an antiaggregation agent and prednisone). The therapy appeared much more effective in the nephrotic types of CGN than in the active nephritic types. Remission was only attained in a subgroup of patients with the active types: with an early stage of the maximally active type of mesangiocapillary CGN. In the nephrotic type CGN, the therapy was effective in short-phase disease and ineffective in long persistence of that syndrome. In the nephrotic types, mesangioproliferative CGN as well as the short-phase nephrotic syndrome irrespective of the morphological type turned out predictors of a favourable outcome following the treatment. No effect can be predicted in focal segmental hyalinosis/sclerosis accompanied by arterial hypertension and the protracted nephrotic syndrome.

Antigen detection in the diagnosis and in the prognostic assessment of bacterial pneumonias.

Sputum cultures are not helpful in the immediate management of patients with bacterial pneumonia. Sputum Gram stains may provide a presumptive identification of an etiologic agent; this procedure, however, is insensitive (approximately 50%). Consequently, during the last decade, other more sensitive and specific methods of providing a rapid etiologic diagnosis have been sought. This article discusses data on antigen detection in various body fluids by counterimmunoelectrophoresis and agglutination tests. Results from our own laboratory as well as those reported in the literature are presented. The best estimates of antigen detection rates, by the most sensitive assays, in pneumococcal pneumonia, are as follows: serum, 45%-80%; urine, 50%-64%; and sputum, 75%-100%. There is less information for Haemophilus, Klebsiella, and Pseudomonas pneumonias, but the diagnostic yield is approximately 50%-100%. Data will also be presented on the association between free and complexed antigens and morbidity and mortality in pneumococcal pneumonia. Indicators of morbidity discussed include disseminated intravascular coagulation, duration and severity of illness, and occurrence of nephritis.