Impact of pretreatment with carnitine and tadalafil on contrast-induced nephropathy in CKD patients.

The present study assesses whether phosphodiesterase type 5 (PDE-5) inhibitor or carnitine exert nephroprotective effects against clinical contrast-induced nephropathy (CIN). The present study consisted of three groups of CKD patients. The first group was control group, who were treated with N-acetyl-L-cysteine 1 day before and on the day of radiocontrast administration.

Biomarkers for Detection and Monitoring of B16 Melanoma in Mouse Urine and Feces.

Melanoma is the most malignant type of skin cancer. Early detection of melanoma is thus critical for patient prognosis and survival. At present, examination by a skilled dermatologist followed by biopsy of suspicious lesions is the diagnostic gold standard.

Circulating cell-free DNA in hemodialysis patients predicts mortality.

Background: Circulating cell-free DNA (CFD) appears following cell damage and DNA release, and increases in hemodialysis (HD) patients particularly following HD. We hypothesized that CFD is an integrative marker of tissue damage and can be an independent predictor for all-cause mortality in HD patients.

Methods: In a prospective study, CFD levels before and after HD were evaluated in 31 chronic HD patients with no acute disease, using the reported rapid non-cumbersome inexpensive fluorometric assay developed in our laboratory.