A 23-year-old female with acute renal failure associated with acute tubulointerstitial nephritis and uveitis is reported. Renal tubular acidosis and inflammatory reactions consisting of markedly increased erythrocyte sedimentation rate and high serum immunoglobulin levels were seen on admission. Light microscopy revealed infiltration of mononuclear cells in the interstitium. Immunofluorescence of renal tissues was negative in staining for immunoglobulins, fibrinogen, and complement components. Bone marrow specimens did not show any granulomatous lesions. The etiology of this tubulointerstitial nephritis and uveitis syndrome was not clear. Immunological evaluation showed a slight decrease of the OKT4/OKT8 ratio in the peripheral blood. OKT8- and OKM1-positive cells had infiltrated diffusely into the renal interstitium. Acute tubulointerstitial nephritis and uveitis responded dramatically to steroid therapy. It was suggested that immunological factors might correlate with the onset and/or development of this syndrome. It is indicated that high-dose steroid therapy might be useful for patients with acute interstitial nephritis and uveitis.

Parathyroid-hormone-related protein (PTHrP) has significant homology with parathyroid hormone (PTH) in the amino-terminal region. We compared the effects of synthetic human PTHrP [hPTHrP(1-34)] on Na⁺-dependent phosphate transport with those of synthetic human PTH [hPTH(1-34)]. Intravenous administration of hPTHrP(1-34) in parathyroidectomized rats caused hypercalcemia, hypophosphatemia and phosphaturia to the same degree as hPTH(1-34). In kinetic studies using renal brush border membrane vesicles, the apparent K_m and V_max of phosphate transport were identical for the two peptides [hPTHrP(1-34): K_m 27.6 + 0.8 μM, V_max 3.78 ± 0.04 nmol/mg protein, hPTH(1-34): K_m 29.6 ± 0.9 μM, V_max 3.04 ± 0.90 nmol/mg protein]. Both hPTHrP(1-34) and hPTH(1-34) at a supramaximal dose were equipotent in eliciting a 12-fold increase in cyclic adenosine 3’,5’-monophosphate (cAMP) production in the kidney. These results indicate that, in addition to the similar effect of hPTHrP(1-34) and hPTH(1-34) on serum calcium levels and urinary phosphorus and nephrogenous cAMP excretion in vivo, these two peptides have similar effects on Na⁺-dependent phosphate transport in brush border membrane vesicles in vitro.

No abstract

Twenty‐one healthy subjects with Shuchaku‐Seikaku (SS), a premorbid personality of depression, and 44 control subjects were tested for event‐related potentials using the auditory odd ball paradigm. A higher percent of the N200 component was evoked by frequent task‐irrelevant stimuli in the Shuchaku‐Seikaku (81.0%) subjects than in the controls (45.5%). The mean amplitudes in the 50–100 ms latency range for task‐relevant rare stimuli were smaller; whereas, the amplitudes in the 100–200 ms range for task‐irrelevant frequent stimuli and the amplitudes in the 200–260 ms range for both stimuli were larger (shifted to negative direction) in the SS subjects than in the controls. The evidence suggests that the fully automatic detection process, which is assumed to be correlated with mismatch negativity, is hypoactivated and that a contrarily controlled or conscious mismatch process, which may be N2b, is hyperactivated in SS.

Fifteen healthy subjects with obsessive character (OC) and 15 control subjects were tested for endogenous event‐related potentials using the auditory odd ball paradigm. A difference was found in the peak amplitude of the P200 component in response to both stimuli; the subjects with OC had smaller amplitudes than the controls, and the mean amplitude for the 120 to 200 ms latency range was smaller (negative shift) for the OC subjects. In the OC subjects, NA appears to be markedly induced to both rare and frequent stimuli; moreover, the OC subjects may show excessive reactions to selective attention as well as to the process of pattern recognition.