1,720,966 research outputs found
Massive lung calcifications in a four times renal transplanted patient: the fight against dialysis, hyper and hypoparathyroidism
No full textP1190 Oxidative stress and inflammation in peritoneal dialysis: dangerous and to be solved.
No full textBackground and Aims: Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of excess mortality
in chronic kidney disease (CKD) and dialysis patients with oxidative stress (OxSt) and
inflammation playing a pivotal role, as non-traditional risk factors and OxSt and
inflammation have been shown to increase in peritoneal dialysis. Rho kinase (ROCK)
activation is deeply involved in the induction of OxSt and inflammation and is closely
linked to cardiovascular-renal remodeling. We aimed to evaluate in peritoneal dialysis
patients with a molecular biology approach OxSt, in terms of phosphorylation state of
MYPT-1 (marker of ROCK activity), the protein expression of p22phox (subunit of
NADPH oxidase, essential for the generation of ROS), and inflammation state, in terms
of acute-phase proteins level (Interleukin 6 (IL-6), ultra-sensitive C-reactive protein
(US-CRP), Ferritin, Albumin and Transferrin).
Method: 9 male ESRD patients (39-81 years old) were enrolled and analyzed before
(baseline) and after three and six months of peritoneal dialysis treatment (CAPD 7
patients, APD 2 patients). Mononuclear cells (PBMCs) MYPT-1 phosphorylation state
and p22phox protein expression were determined by Western Blot. Specific acute-phase
proteins as IL-6, US-CRP, Ferritin, Albumin and Transferrin were assessed through
blood chemistry tests.
Results: MYPT-1 phosphorylation was increased after six months of treatment with
peritoneal dialysis compared with three months and predialysis (1.0360.07 vs
1.0260.04 vs 1.5760.16 d.u., p<0.0001). p22phox protein expression (0.7260.05 vs
0.7360.10 vs 1.2860.12 d.u., p<0.0001) and ferritin level (101.4615.3 vs 173.6611.5
vs 189.0620.3 mg/l, p=0.002) increased as well. Albumin was decreased after six months
of peritoneal dialysis treatment compared with three months and predialysis
(43.3860.10 vs 40.0061.59 vs 36.4661.43 g/l, p=0.007). IL-6 and US-CRP remained
unchanged at a high level.
Conclusion: The increase of OxSt and inflammation during peritoneal dialysis is confirmed also at molecular biology level and may lead in the medium-long term to dangerous consequences. The necessary improvement of OxSt status in peritoneal dialysis
needs a multitarget approach. It might include the use of neutral pH, low glucose degradation products, low lactate and iso-osmolar peritoneal dialysis solutions, strict glycemic control, optimal volume management and, likely, a supplementation with
antioxidants as N-acetylcysteine
Regional citrate anticoagulation high-cut-off continuous veno-venous hemodialysis for COVID-19 and AKI patients in intensive care unit
No full textVitamin D deficiency, insulin resistance, and ventricular hypertrophy in the early stages of chronic kidney disease
No full textBackground: Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is associated with markedly increased cardiovascular (CV) risk. This increase is not fully explained by traditional CV risk factors but may in part be mediated by nontraditional risk factors, such as inadequate vitamin D (vit D) levels and insulin resistance (IR). Although IR is shown in nondiabetic CKD, its association with vit D deficiency and vascular disease in this population is unknown and what this study aims to investigate. Materials and methods: The study comprised 67 patients with CKD (eGFR30mL/min) and 15 healthy controls matched for age and sex. The phlogosis indexes, vit D levels, IR, carotid intima-media thickness (cIMT), and left ventricular mass index (LVMI) were measured. Results: In our study, the mean value of LVMI and cIMT was significantly higher in patients with eGFR30mL/min compared with controls (p=0.037 and p<0.001). The IR and intact parathyroid hormone (iPTH) levels were increased in CKD patients, whereas the serum levels of vit D were significantly reduced (p=0.044, p=0.012, p=0.038). A positive correlation was found between LVMI and IR (r=0.704, p=0.041) and a negative correlation was found between IR and vit D levels (r=-0.238, p=0.031). Conclusions: In our study, IR and vit D deficiency were found to be independent predictors of left ventricular hypertrophy and atherosclerotic disease. Vitamin D deficiency and IR are thus associated with increased CV risk. More novel approaches to improving IR and vit D supplementation in the CKD population might lead to potential strategies for preventing excess CV mortality. © 2014 Informa Healthcare USA, Inc
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
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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