Course of renal involvement in the short term in children with coronavirus disease 2019. / Evolución en el corto plazo del compromiso renal en niños con enfermedad por el coronavirus 2019.

Renal involvement among pediatric patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) ranges between 10% and 80%. Given the limited information about its prognosis, the objective of this study was to describe the short-term course of patients in whom renal involvement was detected during hospitalization due to COVID-19. This was an observational, cross-sectional study in patients aged 1 month to 18 years who had COVID-19 and renal involvement. Those with a known kidney disease were excluded. A total of 27 patients with renal involvement were identified; 14 of them were followed-up to study their disease course for 3 months after diagnosis. All of the patients had achieved normal plasma creatinine levels during hospitalization and, at the time of outpatient follow-up, which took place 145 days (92-193) later, all had normal blood pressure and urinary values, except for 1 patient who continued with microscopic hematuria. Course was favorable; in most patients, renal involvement had fully resolved.

El compromiso renal en los pacientes pediátricos con enfermedad por el coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19, por su sigla en inglés) varía entre el 10 % y el 80 %. Dado que existe limitada información sobre su pronóstico, se realizó este estudio con el objetivo de describir la evolución en el corto plazo de pacientes a quienes se les detectó compromiso renal durante la internación por COVID-19. Estudio observacional y transversal que incluyó pacientes entre 1 mes y 18 años con COVID-19 con compromiso renal. Se excluyeron aquellos con patología renal conocida. Se identificaron 27 pacientes con afectación renal, en 14 de ellos se pudo realizar seguimiento para estudiar la evolución renal luego de 3 meses del diagnóstico. Todos habían normalizado los niveles de creatinina plasmática durante la internación y al momento del control ambulatorio, realizado a los 145 días (92-193), todos se encontraban normotensos y con hallazgos urinarios normales, excepto uno que persistía con microhematuria. La evolución fue favorable; la mayoría de los pacientes presentaron remisión completa del compromiso renal.

Green tea compound epigallo-catechin-3-gallate (EGCG) increases neuronal survival in adult hippocampal neurogenesis in vivo and in vitro.

Epigallo-catechin-3-gallate (EGCG), found in the leaves of Camellia sinensis (green tea), has antioxidant- and scavenger-functions and acts neuroprotectively. It has been publicized as anti-aging remedy but data on potential cellular mechanisms are scarce. Recent studies claimed that EGCG specifically promotes neural precursor cell proliferation in the dentate gyrus of C57Bl/6 mice, without changes at the level of immature and mature new neurons. We here analyzed the effects of EGCG on adult hippocampal neurogenesis in male Balb/C mice and saw a different pattern. Two weeks of treatment with EGCG (0, 0.625, 1.25, 2.5, 5 and 10mg/kg) showed a dose-response curve that peaked at 2.5mg/kg of EGCG with significantly increased cell survival without affecting cell proliferation but decreasing apoptotic cells. Also, EGCG increased the population of doublecortin-(DCX)-expressing cells that comprises the late intermediate progenitor cells (type-2b and -3) as well as immature neurons. After EGCG treatment, the young DCX-positive neurons showed more elaborated dendritic trees. EGCG also significantly increased net neurogenesis in the adult hippocampus and increased the hippocampal levels of phospho-Akt. Ex vivo, EGCG exerted a direct effect on survival and neuronal differentiation of adult hippocampal precursor cells, which was absent, when PI3K, a protein upstream of Akt, was blocked. Our results thus support a pro-survival and a pro-neurogenic role of EGCG. In the context of the conflicting published results, however, potential genetic modifiers must be assumed. These might help to explain the overall variability of study results with EGCG. Our data do indicate, however, that natural compounds such as EGCG can in principle modulate brain plasticity.

Evolución en el corto plazo del compromiso renal en niños con enfermedad por el coronavirus 2019 / Course of renal involvement in the short term in children with coronavirus disease 2019

El compromiso renal en los pacientes pediátricos con enfermedad por el coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19, por su sigla en inglés) varía entre el 10 % y el 80 %. Dado que existe limitada información sobre su pronóstico, se realizó este estudio con el objetivo de describir la evolución en el corto plazo de pacientes a quienes se les detectó compromiso renal durante la internación por COVID-19. Estudio observacional y transversal que incluyó pacientes entre 1 mes y 18 años con COVID-19 con compromiso renal. Se excluyeron aquellos con patología renal conocida. Se identificaron 27 pacientes con afectación renal, en 14 de ellos se pudo realizar seguimiento para estudiar la evolución renal luego de 3 meses del diagnóstico. Todos habían normalizado los niveles de creatinina plasmática durante la internación y al momento del control ambulatorio, realizado a los 145 días (92-193), todos se encontraban normotensos y con hallazgos urinarios normales, excepto uno que persistía con microhematuria. La evolución fue favorable; la mayoría de los pacientes presentaron remisión completa del compromiso renal.

Renal involvement among pediatric patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) ranges between 10 % and 80 %.Given the limited information about its prognosis, the objective of this study was to describe the short-term course of patients in whom renal involvement was detected during hospitalization due to COVID-19. This was an observational, cross-sectional study in patients aged 1 month to 18 years who had COVID-19 and renal involvement. Those with a known kidney disease were excluded. A total of 27 patients with renal involvement were identified; 14 of them were followed-up to study their disease course for 3 months after diagnosis. All of the patients had achieved normal plasma creatinine levels during hospitalization and, at the time of outpatient follow-up, which took place 145 days (92-193) later, all had normal blood pressure and urinary values, except for 1 patient who continued with microscopic hematuria. Course was favorable; in most patients, renal involvement had fully resolved.

Effect of three extraction techniques on submitochondrial particle and Microtox bioassays for airborne particulate matter

The effect that three extraction techniques (e.g., Soxhlet, ultrasound and microwave-assisted extraction) have on the toxicity, as measured by submitochondrial particle (SMP) and Microtox assays, of organic extracts was compared from three sources of airborne particulate matter (APM). The extraction technique influenced the toxicity response of APM extracts and it was dependent on the bioassay method, and APM sample source. APM extracts from microwave-assisted extraction (MAE) were similar or more toxic than the conventional extraction techniques of Soxhlet and ultrasound, thus, providing an alternate extraction method. The microwave extraction technique has the advantage of using less solvent volume, less extraction time, and the capacity to simultaneously extract twelve samples. The ordering of APM toxicity was generally urban dust > diesel dust > PM10 (particles with diameter < 10 microm), thus, reflecting different chemical composition of the samples. This study is the first to report the suitability of two standard in-vitro bioassays for the future toxicological characterization of APM collected from Puerto Rico, with the SMP generally showing better sensitivity to the well-known Microtox bioassay.