Reference Values of Certain Serum Indicators of Liver Fibrosis.

Background: Liver fibrosis shows a continuously increasing trend worldwide, due to alcohol abuse, obesity, and, to a lesser extent, chronic hepatitis B and C. Biopsy is still considered the "gold standard" for diagnosis of liver fibrosis. However, it has a number of limitations, such as invasiveness, high cost, need for specialists to conduct and interpret biopsy results, risk of complications, inability to dynamically monitor the pathological process, low patient compliance, and uneven fibrosis distribution.

Albuminuria and Glomerular Filtration in Patients with Essential Hypertension.

Background: Essential hypertension (EH) is a widespread disease. One frequent complication of EH is Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD), whose diagnosis is delayed due to its asymptomatic course. The purpose of this study is to determine the involvement of the kidneys in patients with EH by biomarkers for kidney damage (albuminuria) and glomerular filtration rate (GFR) with creatinine and cystatin C.