(c) 2013 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.”
“Glycolysis, a central metabolic
pathway, harbors evolutionary conserved enzymes that modulate and potentially shift the cellular metabolism on requirement. Pyruvate kinase, which catalyzes the last but rate-limiting step of glycolysis, is expressed in four Apoptosis inhibitor isozymic forms, depending on the tissue requirement. M2 isoform (PKM2) is exclusively expressed in embryonic and adult dividing/tumor cells. This tetrameric allosterically regulated isoform is intrinsically designed to downregulate its activity by subunit dissociation (into dimer), which results in partial inhibition of glycolysis at the last step. This accumulates all upstream glycolytic intermediates as an anabolic feed for synthesis of lipids and nucleic acids, whereas reassociation of PKM2 into active tetramer replenishes the normal catabolism as a feedback after cell division. In addition, involvement of this enzyme in a variety of pathways, protein protein interactions, and nuclear transport suggests its potential to perform multiple nonglycolytic functions with diverse implications, although multidimensional
role of this protein is as yet not fully explored. PF299804 molecular weight This review aims to provide an overview of the involvement of PKM2 in various physiological pathways with possible functional implications.”
“Purpose: The R.E.N.A.L. nephrometry is a standardized scoring system that quantifies the complexity
of kidney tumors. We evaluated our experience with laparoscopic cryoablation and determined the ability of nephrometry to predict complications.
Materials and Methods: We reviewed the records of all patients who underwent laparoscopic this website cryoablation from July 2005 to February 2010 at 3 institutions. The composite R.E.N.A.L. score was determined using preoperative imaging, and tumors were categorized as low (4-6), moderate (7-9) or high complexity (10-12). Perioperative data were analyzed to determine the presence of complications. The distribution of surgical complications and tumor categories was compared using the chi-square and Student’s t test. Logistic regression was used to analyze the association between nephrometry score and postoperative complications.
Results: A total of 210 patients underwent laparoscopic cryoablation, 77 of whom had available preoperative imaging. Mean patient age was 64.5 years and mean tumor size was 2.6 cm (range 1 to 4.5). Mean nephrometry score was 6.1 (range 4 to 12). Of the tumors 47 (61%) were categorized as low, 23 (30%) as moderate and 7 (9%) as high complexity lesions. Overall there were 15 (19.5%) complications, including 7 (9.5%) major and 8 (10%) minor complications.