Sex-Gender Differences in Adult Coeliac Disease at Diagnosis and Gluten-Free-Diet Follow-Up.

Coeliac disease (CD) is an immune-mediated enteropathy triggered by gluten ingestion. At CD diagnosis, gender differences have been previously reported, but data regarding follow-up are scant. We investigated gender differences in CD adult patients both at the time of diagnosis and at follow-up after the start of the gluten-free diet (GFD).

The Effect of Endurance Training on Pulmonary V˙O Kinetics in Solid Organs Transplanted Recipients.

Background: We investigated the effects of single (SL-ET) and double leg (DL-ET) high-intensity interval training on O2 deficit (O2Def) and mean response time (MRT) during square-wave moderate-intensity exercise (DL-MOD), and on the amplitude of V˙O2p slow component (SCamp), during heavy intensity exercise (DL-HVY), on 33 patients (heart transplant = 13, kidney transplanted = 11 and liver transplanted = 9). Methods: Patients performed DL incremental step exercise to exhaustion, two DL-MOD tests, and a DL-HVY trial before and after 24 sessions of SL-ET (n = 17) or DL-ET (n = 16). Results: After SL-ET, O2Def, MRT and SCamp decreased by 16.

Topological Friction and Relaxation Dynamics of Spatially Confined Catenated Polymers.

We study catenated ring polymers confined inside channels and slits with Langevin dynamics simulations and address how the contour position and size of the interlocked or physically linked region evolve with time. We show that the catenation constraints generate a drag, or topological friction, that couples the contour motion of the interlocked regions. Notably, the coupling strength decreases as the interlocking is made tighter, but also shorter, by confinement.

Effect of small vs large muscle mass endurance training on maximal oxygen uptake in organ transplanted recipients.

Maximal oxygen consumption (O) is impaired in heart (HTx), kidney (KTx), and liver (LTx) transplanted recipients and the contribution of the cardiovascular, central, and peripheral (muscular) factors in affecting O improvement after endurance training (ET) has never been quantified in these patients. ET protocols involving single leg cycling (SL) elicit larger improvements of the peripheral factors affecting O diffusion and utilization than the double leg (DL) cycling ET. Therefore, this study aimed to compare the effects of SL-ET vs DL-ET on O.

Analysis of the Clinical and Epidemiological Meaning of Screening Test for SARS-CoV-2: Considerations in the Chronic Kidney Disease Patients during the COVID-19 Pandemic.

The COronaVIrus Disease 19 (COVID-19) pandemic is an emerging reality in nephrology. In a continuously changing scenario, we need to assess our patients' additional risk in terms of attending hemodialysis treatments, follow-up peritoneal dialysis, and kidney transplant visits. The prevalence of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-20 infection in the general population plays a pivotal role in estimating the additional COVID-19 risk in chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients.

Pilot health technology assessment study: organizational and economic impact of remote monitoring system for home automated peritoneal dialysis.

Purpose: Follow-up of automated peritoneal dialysis (APD) has been improved by data transmission by cellular modem and internet cloud. With the new remote patient monitoring (RPM) technology, clinical control and prescription of dialysis are performed by software (Baxter Claria-Sharesource), which allows the center to access home operational data. The objective of this pilot study was to determine the impact of RPM compared to traditional technology, in clinical, organizational, social, and economic terms in a single center.

Gadolinium-Based Contrast Media Nephrotoxicity in Kidney Impairment: The Physio-Pathological Conditions for the Perfect Murder.

Gadolinium-based contrast media (GBCM) toxicity in patients with kidney disease is a concern for the possible development of systemic nephrogenic fibrosis and possible renal complications. This review focuses on the pathological mechanisms underlying the potential kidney toxicity of gadolinium. Gadolinium, as a free compound (Gd3+), is highly toxic in humans because it competes with divalent calcium (Ca2+) and magnesium (Mg2+) ions, interfering in some relevant biologic processes.

Gadolinium-based contrast media exposure and the possible risk of subclinical kidney damage: a pilot study.

Purpose: We performed a pilot study to evaluate the feasibility of future research about the presence of subclinical kidney damage after Gadolinium-based contrast media exposure. The future study aims to understand which are the behaviors of two markers of kidney damage, such as urinary NephroCheck (NC) and/or neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (NGAL). Specifically, after GBCM exposure, NC urinary detection should identify proximal tubule damage while NGAL urinary detection should be related to distal tubule damage.

[Home dialysis and home assistance: from institutional aids to a sustainable model].

Home dialysis, and mainly peritoneal dialysis, is indicated as the optimal choice as far as the comfort and lifestyle of uremic patients is concerned. Despite this, home treatments show a lack of growth. The reasons are mainly linked to the patients’ cognitive, psychosocial, familiar and physical barriers due to aging and morbidity.

[The advantages of remote patient monitoring in automated peritoneal dialysis].

The follow-up automated peritoneal dialysis (APD) patients has been recently improved as data can be transmitted remotely to an internet cloud. The introduction of remote patient monitoring (RPM) technologies also allows a better clinical control and tailoring of dialysis treatment through a web-based software (Claria-Sharesource Baxter). The aim of the present study is to determine the impact of RPM in a single center, both in clinical and organizational terms, compared to traditional technologies.

Topologically Linked Chains in Confinement.

We examine how channel confinement affects the equilibrium properties of topologically linked ring polymers and, by contrast, of equivalent unlinked rings, too. By performing extensive simulations of semiflexible rings of different chain length, , and channel diameter, , we discover three notable properties purely due to linking. First, upon entering the weak confinement regime, the length of the physically linked portion, The, becomes independent of chain length.

SMAP L-Band Microwave Radiometer: Instrument Design and First Year on Orbit.

The Soil Moisture Active-Passive (SMAP) L-band microwave radiometer is a conical scanning instrument designed to measure soil moisture with 4% volumetric accuracy at 40-km spatial resolution. SMAP is NASA's first Earth Systematic Mission developed in response to its first Earth science decadal survey. Here, the design is reviewed and the results of its first year on orbit are presented.

Are E-test and Vitek2 good choices for tigecycline susceptibility testing when comparing broth microdilution for MDR and XDR Acinetobacter baumannii?

This study reports the results of antimicrobial susceptibility testing of 10 MDR and 74 XDR Acinetobacter bauman- nii clinical isolates from our hospital routine. We used three different methods: two automated systems (Sensititre and VITEK 2) and one standardized manual method (E-test). Since many published papers refer to in vitro tests performed by E-test, the aim of this study was to test if this method is reliable for testing tigecycline.

[Trend in PD in non-pediatric public centers in Italy: results of the 2010 GSDP-SIN census and comparison with the 2008 and 2005 censuses].

The 2010 Italian Society of Nephrology Peritoneal Dialysis Study Group (GSPD-SIN) census (Cs-10) involved the 224 Centers performing PD in Italy. PD was used as 1st treatment in 23.3% (1429/4695) of pts (Cs-08:22.

Mortality in the Veneto population on renal replacement therapy.

This section reports survival rates for patients on renal replacement therapy (RRT). The data obtained from the Veneto Dialysis and Transplantation Registry (VDTR) cover the whole population in the region. Patients on RRT alive on 31 December of each year were assumed to be at risk of dying in the following year.

Prevalence of renal replacement therapy in Veneto for 2008, 2009 and 2010.

The aim of this section is to provide descriptive data for end-stage renal disease (ESRD) in the Veneto Region (Italy). Data were obtained from the Veneto Dialysis and Transplantation Registry (VDTR). Patients were considered to be prevalent renal replacement therapy (RRT) patients if alive on 31 December of each year examined.

Incidence of renal replacement therapy in Veneto for 2008, 2009 and 2010.

This section of the report of the Veneto Dialysis and Transplantation Registry (VDTR) provides data on the incidence of patients receiving renal replacement therapy (RRT) in the region from 2008 to 2010. Its purpose is to provide health authorities with the information they need to plan the delivery of RRT in Veneto. Data were obtained from the VDTR, defining incident patients according to the recommendations of the Italian Dialysis and Transplantation Registry.

Peritoneal ultrafiltration in patients with advanced decompensated heart failure.

The aim of the Best Practice guidelines on peritoneal ultrafiltration (UF) in patients with treatment-resistant advanced decompensated heart failure (TR-AHDF) is to achieve a common approach to the management of decompensated heart failure in those situations in which all conventional treatment options have been unsuccessful, and to stimulate a closer cooperation between nephrologists and cardiologists. The standardization of the case series of different centers would allow a better definition of the results published in the literature, without which they are nothing more than anecdotes. TR-AHDF is characterized by the persistence of severe symptoms even when all possible pharmacological and surgical options have been exhausted.