Cyanotoxin Occurrence and Diversity in 98 Cyanobacterial Blooms from Swedish Lakes and the Baltic Sea.

The Drinking Water Directive (EU) 2020/2184 includes the parameter microcystin LR, a cyanotoxin, which drinking water producers need to analyze if the water source has potential for cyanobacterial blooms. In light of the increasing occurrences of cyanobacterial blooms worldwide and given that more than 50 percent of the drinking water in Sweden is produced from surface water, both fresh and brackish, the need for improved knowledge about cyanotoxin occurrence and cyanobacterial diversity has increased. In this study, a total of 98 cyanobacterial blooms were sampled in 2016-2017 and identified based on their toxin production and taxonomical compositions.

New efficient methodology for screening of selected organic micropollutants in raw- and drinking water from 90 Swedish water treatment plants.

A new, efficient method for analysis of organic micropollutants (OMPs) in water samples was developed, validated and applied in a nationwide survey. The goal with the survey was to identify common compounds with relatively high concentrations to be used as markers e.g.

[Leukapheresis and chronic inflammatory bowel disease: an additional obligation for the nephrologist].

The current treatment of chronic inflammatory bowel diseases involves the administration of different immunosuppressive drugs, whose use is associated with several side effects. Among the treatment alternatives, clinicians are attracted by leukapheresis, a method able to selectively remove from the circulation molecules involved in the onset and maintenance of inflammation. From 2007 to 2008, six patients were recruited from our clinics; four patients were affected by ulcerative colitis and two by Crohn's disease.

[Management of IgA nephropathy].

The best treatment of IgA nephropathy (Berger's disease) is not well defined and at present no causal therapy is available. Although initially considered benign, we now recognize it as a common cause of end-stage renal disease and the natural history of IgA nephropathy is quite variable. Standard care includes angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEIs) or angiotensin II receptor blockers (ARBs) and corticosteroids, in some cases combined with immunosuppressive drugs.

[Use of oral hypoglycemic agents in patients with chronic kidney failure].

Type 2 diabetes mellitus is one of the most common disease worldwide. Diabetes mellitus is expected to affect over 380 million people by 2025 and one third of these patients will develop chronic kidney disease (CKD). There are many categories of hypoglycemic agents available for treatment of type 2 diabetes mellitus: sulphounilureas, glinides, biguanides, thiazolidinediones, alpha-glucosidase inhibitors, and the new brand incretines.

Talent management for the twenty-first century.

Most firms have no formal programs for anticipating and fulfilling talent needs, relying on an increasingly expensive pool of outside candidates that has been shrinking since it was created from the white-collar layoffs of the 1980s. But the advice these companies are getting to solve the problem--institute large-scale internal development programs--is equally ineffective. Internal development was the norm back in the 1950s, and every management-development practice that seems novel today was routine in those years--from executive coaching to 360-degree feedback to job rotation to high-potential programs.

Spinal cord stimulation in hemodialysis patients with critical lower-limb ischemia.

Background: Spinal cord stimulation (SCS) has been proposed for the treatment of ischemic pain and the prevention or delay of amputation in patients with peripheral arterial occlusive disease (PAOD) who are unsuitable for vascular reconstruction. PAOD is common in patients with end-stage renal disease and is associated with substantial morbidity and mortality. Furthermore, many patients are not candidates for limb-sparing procedures and have to undergo primary amputation.

Wireless capsule endoscopy in the diagnostic of small intestine angiodysplasia in chronic uremic patient.

Gastroenteric bleeding due to angiodysplasia (AD) is a relatively common occurrence in patients with end-stage renal failure. Gastric and colon angiodysplasic lesions can be easily revealed by endoscopic procedures, whereas lesions of the small intestine are more difficult to detect. Imaging modalities used in the diagnostic imaging algorithm for the detection of small-bowel AD, include non-invasive methods like enema-helical computer tomography,(99m)Tc-labelled red blood cell scintigraphy, and angiography, and invasive methods such as intraoperative enteroscopy.

The Italian Registry for Therapeutic Apheresis. A report from the Apheresis Study Group of the Italian Society of Nephrology.

Many clinical indications and different technical issues have been reported on therapeutic apheresis: much criticism has also been recorded in several instances, mainly due to the lack of large clinical trials to validate collected data. A Registry where all the available data can be organized and analyzed therefore becomes a priority for all the professionals involved in apheresis. The purpose of this report is to describe the data submitted from 1994 to 2004 from 15,285 treatments on 1,477 patients from 44 Centers, including mainly, but not exclusively, Nephrological Units, collected by the Apheresis Study Group of the Italian Society of Nephrology in 15 Italian regions.

[Angiodysplasia of the small bowel: a possible cause of anemia even in mild chronic renal failure].

Background: Gastroenteric angiodysplasia (AD) is a vascular lesion characterized by vascular ectasias to the submucous sheath of the gastrointestinal tract. Lesions can be flat or raised, isolated or grouped and can break or ulcerate causing acute hemorrhage or, more commonly, chronic bleeding.

Case-report: We describe a 65-year-old patient with a 3-yr history of chronic renal failure (CRF), who gradually developed anemia (hemoglobin (Hb) 10 g/dl) without any episodes of clinically relevant bleeding or any exposure to bleeding risk factors.

[On-line HFR and removal of uremic toxins inducing the loss of phospholipidic asymmetry of the erythrocyte membrane].

The phospholipids of the erythrocyte membrane are normally distributed asymmetrically in the double layer with the aminophospholipid phosphatidylserine (PS) present only on the inside of the membrane, since its exposure on the outside has numerous physiopathological consequences. In previous studies we have observed that solutes retained in uremia cause increased exposure of PS on the outer surfaces of the erythrocyte membrane and that this phenomenon may be involved in the uremic physiopathology, reducing erythrocyte survival and encouraging abnormal erythrocyte-endothelium interactions. The capability of the extracorporeal blood clearance treatment in removing the circulating uremic factors, responsible for the increased exposure of PS in red blood cells (RBC), was evaluated in 6 chronic uremic patients treated with haemodialysis (HD) or with on-line HFR in a random cross-over perspective study.

The new road to the top.

By comparing the top executives of 1980's Fortune 100 companies with the top brass of firms in the 2001 list, the authors have quantified a transformation that until now has been largely anecdotal. A dramatic shift in executive careers, and in executives themselves, has occurred over the past two decades. Today's Fortune 100 executives are younger, more of them are female, and fewer were educated at elite institutions.

Red blood cells may contribute to hypercoagulability in uraemia via enhanced surface exposure of phosphatidylserine.

Background: The exposure of phosphatidylserine (PS) on the outer leaflet of the erythrocyte membrane may have several pathophysiological consequences, including the development of a procoagulant phenotype, a finding that seems relevant to the thrombotic risk seen in many disorders.

Methods: Because PS externalization increases in erythrocytes from patients suffering from chronic uraemia, which is frequently associated with a prothrombotic state, the possible relationship between erythrocyte PS exposure, erythrocyte procoagulant activity and plasma levels of several haemostatic markers was studied in a group of haemodialysed patients.

Results: Uraemic erythrocytes displayed increased procoagulant activity, which proved to be correlated directly with erythrocyte PS exposure.

Making the most of on-line recruiting.

Ninety percent of large U.S. companies are already recruiting via the Internet.

Biocompatibility and functional performance of a polyethylene glycol acid-grafted cellulosic membrane for hemodialysis.

In order to improve the biochemical reactivity of the cellulose polymer, which is mainly attributed to the presence of surface hydroxyl groups, derivatized cellulosic membranes have been engineered replacing or masking some or all of the hydroxyl groups in the manufacturing process of the membrane. The present study was set up to analyze both biocompatibility and functional performance of two different derivatized cellulosic membranes (cellulose diacetate; polyethylene glycol, PEG, acid-grafted cellulose) as compared to a synthetic membrane (polymethylmethacrylate, PMMA). Cellulose diacetate is prepared by substituting hydroxyl groups with acetyl groups; PEG cellulose is obtained by grafting PEG chains onto the cellulosic polymer with a smaller amount of substitution than cellulose diacetate.

Endoscopy as a tool for diagnosing and treating gastrointestinal angiodysplasia in haemodialysis patients.

Gastroenteric angiodysplasia is an important cause of haemorrhage in chronic renal failure patients. This paper reports on 2 patients on maintenance haemodialysis with upper gastrointestinal bleeding due to different manifestations of angiodysplasic lesions (sudden appearance of haematemesis and melaena in one case, progressive anaemia with apparent resistance to erythropoietin in the other case). Exploratory endoscope examination of the first digestive tract showed in both cases the presence of bleeding angiodysplasic lesions.

Role of dyslipidemia in the progression of chronic renal disease.

The connection between lipids and the rate of progression of chronic renal disease was retrospectively examined in 70 patients who were divided into 2 groups according to their baseline creatinine clearance (CCr): Group 1 (Gp1) contained 30 patients with CCr 60-40 mL/min followed for 40.0 +/- 13.3 months; Group 2 (G2) contained 40 patients with CCr 39-15 mL/min followed for 39.

N-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid supplementation in chronic progressive renal disease.

Chronic renal failure (CRF) may be accelerated by secondary lipid and immune abnormalities which could be antagonized by polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA). We examined 20 CRF patients on conservative treatment, randomized in two groups: G1 consisted of 10 control patients and G2 10 patients supplemented for 12 months with a 3.4 g daily dose of PUFA.

Low-dosage ibopamine treatment in progressive renal failure: a long-term multicentre trial.

A multicentre trial (11 nephrology centres) was carried out to test the effects of ibopamine, an orally active dopamine-like drug, on the progression of chronic renal failure. For a 2-year period 189 chronic renal failure patients (serum creatinine level 1.5-4.

Lipids in the progression of chronic renal failure.

Lipid disturbances have been linked to the progression of chronic renal disease. We examined 52 patients with a creatinine clearance (CCr) of 38.5 +/- 7.

Alterations in host defense associated with anesthesia and blood transfusions. II. Effect on response to endotoxin.

The effect of blood transfusions and anesthesia on host response to endotoxin was evaluated in multiple Lewis rat models. The rats were randomized to receive A'Sogaloff Cancer Institute rat blood, pentobarbital sodium, or lactated Ringer's solution and, at either 2 or 7 days following administration of these agents, were challenged with intravenous endotoxin. Neither blood transfusions nor anesthesia altered mortality when administered 2 days before endotoxin challenge.