Are a tale of two cities : typical celiac sprue presenting symptoms significantly more common in Turkish than in US Patients?
Although retrospective, this study points to striking differences in the clinical presentation of CD in individuals in South Florida, United States, and Ankara, Turkey, diagnosed during the same time period at both institutions. Turkish patients were younger, and more likely to present with chronic diarrhea, hypoalbuminemia, and microcytosis-as was more commonly seen in the United States in the 1960s and 70s. These findings raise the question of an interplay of demographics with diet and genetics in the presenting symptoms of CD in these 2 distant geographic areas.
Treatment of cultured HMC with MPA inhibited mesangial cell proliferation and matrix production induced by stimulation with either FCS or TGF-beta. Such mechanisms may contribute to the favorable effects of treatment using mycophenolate mofetil in chronic fibrotic kidney diseases, including chronic allograft rejection.