1,721,109 research outputs found
[Audit on quality of life of patients with chronic kidney disease on dialysis and after transplant]
No full textSince the improvement of quality of life (QOL) in patients with chronic disease on dialysis (D-CKD) has been demonstrated to have significant effects on clinical outcome, QOL has been included among the principal targets for these patients. QOL is among the objectives of the Healthy People 2010 program of the United Nations and CKD is one of the 18 focus areas of the program. The process of improving clinical outcome for D-CKD patients is obviously correlated with the continuing attempts to improve the adequacy of dialysis, and this remains a milestone. Some recent studies, including the HEMO study, have demonstrated that the present standards for dialytic efficiency are adequate for morbidity and mortality outcomes. However, these concepts are rapidly evolving and there are emerging factors which should be monitored, such as a) frequency of hospitalization, b) QOL, c) patient's satisfaction, and d) transplantation rate. Each aspect should be taken into consideration when the general well-being of D-CKD patients is at stake. However, there is a lack of validated standards, and there are confounding effects related to different geographical areas, different degrees of morbidity, and different therapies. Health is defined by the WHO as the complete feeling of well-being, and transplantation obviously is a way to overcome the many difficulties encountered by D-CKD patients. It is true that QOL after transplant is affected by uncertainty about the final result, fear of having to go back on dialysis, or anger about unexpected complications. For these reasons special questionnaires have been designed for transplanted patients (e.g., SF-36). These indicate an improvement of QOL for transplanted compared with D-CKD patients, although QOL remains below the level of that of the healthy population. Post-transplant QOL tends to improve over time and will become superimposable to that of the healthy population in the long run. It is of paramount importance that each dialysis and transplantation center provide psychological support not only to patients but also to doctors and nurses
IgACE: a placebo-controlled, randomized trial of angiotensin-converting enzymeinhibitors in children and young people with IgA nephropathy and moderateproteinuria.
Full text linkJ Am Soc Nephrol. 2007 Jun;18(6):1880-8. Epub 2007 May 18.
IgACE: a placebo-controlled, randomized trial of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors in children and young people with IgA nephropathy and moderate proteinuria.
Coppo R, Peruzzi L, Amore A, Piccoli A, Cochat P, Stone R, Kirschstein M, Linné T.
Source
Nephrology, Dialysis and Transplantation Unit, Regina Margherita University Hospital, 10127 Turin, Italy. [email protected]
Abstract
This European Community Biomedicine and Health Research-supported, multicenter, randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind trial investigated the effect of an angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor (ACE-I) in children and young people with IgA nephropathy (IgAN), moderate proteinuria (>1 and 50 ml/min per 1.73 m(2). Sixty-six patients who were 20.5 yr of age (range 9 to 35 yr), were randomly assigned to Benazepril 0.2 mg/kg per d (ACE-I) or placebo and were followed for a median of 38 mo. The primary outcome was the progression of kidney disease, defined as >30% decrease of CrCl; secondary outcomes were (1) a composite end point of >30% decrease of CrCl or worsening of proteinuria until > or =3.5 g/d per 1.73 m(2) and (2) proteinuria partial remission (6 mo. Analysis was by intention to treat. A single patient (3.1%) in the ACE-I group and five (14.7%) in the placebo group showed a worsening of CrCl >30%. The composite end point of >30% decrease of CrCl or worsening of proteinuria until nephrotic range was reached by one (3.1%) of 32 patients in the ACE-I group, and nine (26.5%) of 34 in the placebo group; the difference was significant (log-rank P = 0.035). A stable, partial remission of proteinuria was observed in 13 (40.6%) of 32 patients in the ACE-I group versus three (8.8%) of 34 in the placebo group (log-rank P = 0.033), with total remission in 12.5% of ACE-I-treated patients and in none in the placebo group (log-rank P = 0.029). The multivariate Cox analysis showed that treatment with ACE-I was the independent predictor of prognosis; no influence on the composite end point was found for gender, age, baseline CrCl, systolic or diastolic BP, mean arterial pressure, or proteinuria
The mucosal immune system and IgA nephropathy
No full textThe precise pathogenesis of immunoglobulin A nephropathy (IgAN) is still not clearly established but emerging evidence confirms a pivotal role for mucosal immunity. This review focuses on the key role of mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue (MALT) in promoting the onset of the disease, underlying the relationship among microbiota, genetic factors, food antigen, infections, and mucosal immune response. Finally, we evaluate potential therapies targeting microbes and mucosa hyperresponsiveness in IgAN patients
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Full text linkWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Nonenzymatically glycated albumin (Amadori adducts) enhances nitric oxide synthase activity and gene expression in endothelial cells.
No full textHyperglycemia is considered to induce diabetic nephropathy through nonenzymatic glycation of proteins. Since hyperfiltration is likely to be the mechanism initiating the glomerular lesions, we investigated the effects of Amadori glucose adducts in serum albumin on the production of vasoactive mediators, including nitric oxide (NO) and eicosanoids, by endothelial cells (EC). Amadori adducts of glycated albumin induced a dose-response increase in NO synthase activity of murine endothelioma cells, up to 16.4 +/- 2.1-fold increase of basal values (P < 0.0001) at concentrations of 35 mg/ml mimicking physiological serum albumin concentration, and 4.6 +/- 0.8-fold increase at 17 mg/ml (P < 0.001). The effect was still detectable with glycated albumin 1.7 mg/ml, which approaches its estimated concentration in diabetic serum (1.6 +/- 0.3-fold increase, P < 0.05) The phenomenon was reproducible in human umbilical vein endothelial cells, though to a lesser extent, and further studies on murine EC were employed. The mRNA encoding for inducible NO synthase was overexpressed in EC incubated with Amadori adducts of glycated albumin in comparison to native albumin. Glycated albumin induced increased mRNA expression and synthesis of TNF-alpha. The stimulatory effect induced by glycated albumin on NO synthase activity was almost completely inhibited by anti TNF alpha antibodies. 3H-thymidine incorporation by EC was significantly inhibited when cells were grown in presence of glycated albumin (P < 0.001), and the phenomenon was abolished by the coincubation of the NO competitive inhibitor L-NAME. The early glycosylation products increased thromboxane production (P < 0.001), while prostaglandin E2 synthesis was unaffected. These data indicate that Amadori products of glycated albumin modulate NO synthase activity and eicosanoid balance in EC. These effects may be relevant to the hemodynamic changes in the early phases of diabetic nephropathy and in the lasting progression to sclerosis.
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Full text linkWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
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