Kidney transplantation in Romania: two transplant centers experience.

Purpose: Kidney graft survival rates improved from decade to decade, but data about factors that affect patient and graft survival remain challenging and even controversial.

Methods: We analyzed retrospectively data from kidney transplanted patients followed in two Romanian transplant centers (Iasi and Bucharest)-new programmes specifically developed after 1989 to cover transplantation requirements for two-thirds of Romania. We used a composite survival outcome defined as 50% reduction in estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR), return to dialysis or death.

ENDOTHELIAL DYSFUNCTION ASSESSED BY LASER DOPPLER POST-OCCLUSIVE HYPEREMIA IN CHRONIC KIDNEY DISEASE PATIENTS.

Unlabelled: This study was intended to investigate the microcirculation endothelial dysfunction through a laser Doppler method (PORH post-occlusive reactive hyperemia) in patients with chronic kidney disease.

Materials And Methods: The study included 299 patients diagnosed with chronic kidney disease, which were divided into three groups: hemodialysis patients, peritoneal dialysis patients and patients with chronic kidney disease stages 3-4. Endotelial dysfunction was assesed with the Laser Doppler Perfusion Monitor type device (Periflux System Monitor 5001).

New molecular insights in diabetic nephropathy.

Diabetes mellitus represents one of the major causes of functional kidney impairment. The review highlights the most significant steps made over the last decades in understanding the molecular basis of diabetic nephropathy (DN), which may provide reliable biomarkers for early diagnosis and prognosis, along with new molecular targets for personalized medicine. There is an increased interest in developing new therapeutic strategies to slow DN progression for improving patients' quality of life and reducing all-cause morbidity and disease-associated mortality.

Bioimpedance analysis versus lung ultrasonography for optimal risk prediction in hemodialysis patients.

Fluid overload is associated with adverse outcomes in hemodialysis (HD) patients. Two bedside methods are increasingly utilized to evaluate objectively fluid status-bioimpedance and lung ultrasonography, but there is no available direct, head-to-head comparison of their prognostic significance. Importantly, their predictive abilities have never been tested in a HD population, alongside those of a classic model that also incorporates established echocardiographic parameters of increased mortality risk.

Electrocardiogram abnormalities and heart rate variability in predicting mortality and cardiovascular events among hemodialyzed patients.

Purpose: The aim of the study was to evaluate the correlation between electrocardiographic parameters and heart rate variability with cardiovascular events and mortality among chronic hemodialysis patients.

Methods: In this prospective study, we enrolled 116 asymptomatic patients in whom we performed ambulatory 24-h electrocardiographic Holter monitoring and before and after hemodialysis electrocardiographs. We measured the interval (PR, QRS, QTc, QTc dispersion) differences on the surface electrocardiographs and obtained frequency-domain measures from Holter monitoring (VLF, LF, HF and the LF/HF ratio).