Effects of Hemodiafiltration versus Conventional Hemodialysis in Children with ESKD: The HDF, Heart and Height Study.

Background: Hypertension and cardiovascular disease are common in children undergoing dialysis. Studies suggest that hemodiafiltration (HDF) may reduce cardiovascular mortality in adults, but data for children are scarce.

Methods: The HDF, Heart and Height study is a nonrandomized observational study comparing outcomes on conventional hemodialysis (HD) versus postdilution online HDF in children.

Effect of haemodiafiltration vs conventional haemodialysis on growth and cardiovascular outcomes in children - the HDF, heart and height (3H) study.

Background: Cardiovascular disease is prevalent in children on dialysis and accounts for almost 30% of all deaths. Randomised trials in adults suggest that haemodiafiltration (HDF) with high convection volumes is associated with reduced cardiovascular mortality compared to high-flux haemodialysis (HD); however paediatric data are scarce. We designed the haemodiafiltration, heart and height (3H) study to test the hypothesis that children on HDF have an improved cardiovascular risk profile, growth and nutritional status and quality of life, compared to those on conventional HD.

[Postoperative survival among nonagenarians: a retrospective study].

Background: As the Chilean population ages, anesthesiologists are regularly faced with elderly and even nonagenarian people undergoing surgical procedures.

Aim: To determine the postoperative survival time in nonagenarians and its risk factors at a private clinic.

Material And Methods: Review of medical records of the clinic, searching for patients aged 90 years or older, which were subjected to a surgical procedure between 2001 and 2012.

Efficacy and tolerability of venlafaxine compared with selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors and other antidepressants: a meta-analysis.

Background: In individual studies and limited meta-analyses venlafaxine has been reported to be more effective than comparator antidepressants, particularly selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs).

Aims: To perform a systematic review of all such studies.

Method: We conducted a systematic review of double-blind, randomised trials comparing venlafaxine with alternative antidepressants in the treatment of depression.

Anxiety and health problems related to air travel.

Background: A significant proportion of air travelers experience situational anxiety and physical health problems. Take-off and landing are assumed to be stressful, but anxiety related to other aspects of the air travel process, anxiety coping strategies, and in-flight health problems have not previously been investigated.

Methods: We aimed to investigate frequency of perceived anxiety at procedural stages of air travel, individual strategies used to reduce such anxiety, and frequency of health problems on short-haul and long-haul flights.

Duplex ultrasonography of the fetal aorta, umbilical artery, and placental arcuate artery throughout normal human pregnancy.

A cross-sectional duplex study of blood flow in the fetal aorta, umbilical artery, and arcuate arteries of 111 normal subjects was performed once at between 20 and 42 weeks gestation. Peak systolic velocity, end-diastolic velocity, mean velocity, and volume flow were measured in the fetal aorta, and systolic to diastolic (S/D) ratios were measured in all three vessels. Velocities show an inverse exponential (Y = Exp [1/X x B + C]) increase with gestational age, reaching a plateau just before term, while S/D ratios in the aorta and umbilical arteries show a linear decrease.

Doppler ultrasound prediction of fetal outcome in twin pregnancies.

The usefulness of pulsed Doppler ultrasound in predicting twin pregnancies destined for unsatisfactory outcomes was examined in 30 twin pregnancies. Fetal flow velocity waveform analysis (systolic/diastolic ratio and pulsatility index) and quantitative analysis in the descending aorta and umbilical artery demonstrated good sensitivity and specificity when compared with biparietal diameter and abdominal circumference measurements. This technique shows some promise as a useful adjunct in the management of twin pregnancies.