Prophages in Enterococcal Isolates from Renal Transplant Recipients: Renal Failure Etiologies Promote Selection of Strains

Infections caused by commensal bacteria may be fatal for the patients under immunosuppressive therapy. This results also from difficulty in identification of high risk strains. Enterococcal infections are increasingly frequent but despite many studies on virulence traits, the difference between commensal and pathogenic strains remains unclear. Prophages are newly described as important elements in competition between strains during colonization, as well as pathogenicity of the strains. Here we evaluate a difference in presence of pp4, pp1, and pp7 prophages and ASA (aggregation substance) gene expression in enterococcal isolates from renal transplant recipients (RTx) with different etiology of the end-stage renal failure. Prophages sequence was screened by PCR in strains ofEnterococcus faecalisisolated from urine and feces of 19 RTx hospitalized at Medical University of Gdansk and 18 healthy volunteers. FLOW-FISH method with use of linear locked nucleic acid (LNA) probe was used to assess the ASA gene expression. Additionally, ability of biofilm formation was screened by crystal violet staining method. Presence of prophages was more frequent in fecal isolates from immunocompromised patients than in isolates from healthy volunteers. Additionally, both composition of prophages and ASA gene expression were related to the etiology of renal disease.

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Prevalence of Helicobacter pylori in Patients with End-Stage Renal Failure and Renal Transplant Recipients

Nephron ◽

10.1159/000186650 ◽

1991 ◽

Vol 59 (4) ◽

pp. 597-601 ◽

Cited By ~ 38

Author(s):

A. Davenport ◽

T.M. Shallcross ◽

J.E. Crabtree ◽

A.M. Davison ◽

E.J. Will ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Renal Failure ◽

Helicobacter Pylori ◽

Renal Transplant ◽

Renal Transplant Recipients ◽

Transplant Recipients ◽

End Stage Renal Failure ◽

End Stage

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Comparing the interobserver reproducibility of different regions of interest on multi-parametric renal magnetic resonance imaging in healthy volunteers, patients with heart failure and renal transplant recipients

Magnetic Resonance Materials in Physics Biology and Medicine ◽

10.1007/s10334-019-00809-4 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 33 (1) ◽

pp. 103-112

Author(s):

Alastair J. Rankin ◽

Sarah Allwood-Spiers ◽

Matthew M. Y. Lee ◽

Luke Zhu ◽

Rosemary Woodward ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Heart Failure ◽

Renal Transplant ◽

Healthy Volunteers ◽

Regions Of Interest ◽

Kidney Volume ◽

Renal Transplant Recipients ◽

Transplant Recipients ◽

Renal Volume ◽

Interobserver Reproducibility ◽

Patients With Heart Failure

Abstract Objective To assess interobserver reproducibility of different regions of interest (ROIs) on multi-parametric renal MRI using commercially available software. Materials and methods Healthy volunteers (HV), patients with heart failure (HF) and renal transplant recipients (Tx) were recruited. Localiser scans, T1 mapping and pseudo-continuous arterial spin labelling (pCASL) were performed. HV and Tx also underwent diffusion-weighted imaging to allow calculation of apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC). For T1, pCASL and ADC, ROIs were drawn for whole kidney (WK), cortex (Cx), user-defined representative cortex (rep-Cx) and medulla. Intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) and coefficient of variation (CoV) were assessed. Results Forty participants were included (10 HV, 10 HF and 20 Tx). The ICC for renal volume was 0.97 and CoV 6.5%. For T1 and ADC, WK, Cx, and rep-Cx were highly reproducible with ICC ≥ 0.76 and CoV < 5%. However, cortical pCASL results were more variable (ICC > 0.86, but CoV up to 14.2%). While reproducible, WK values were derived from a wide spread of data (ROI standard deviation 17% to 55% of the mean value for ADC and pCASL, respectively). Renal volume differed between groups (p < 0.001), while mean cortical T1 values were greater in Tx compared to HV (p = 0.009) and HF (p = 0.02). Medullary T1 values were also higher in Tx than HV (p = 0.03), while medullary pCASL values were significantly lower in Tx compared to HV and HF (p = 0.03 for both). Discussion Kidney volume calculated by manually contouring a localiser scan was highly reproducible between observers and detected significant differences across patient groups. For T1, pCASL and ADC, Cx and rep-Cx ROIs are generally reproducible with advantages over WK values.

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