Effect of epoetin zeta for correction of renal anemia in hemodialysis patients with thalassemia minor.

Two patients with thalassemia minor and end-stage renal failure on hemodialysis were treated with epoetin zeta (Silapo, Retacrit; STADA, Germany), a medicinal product that was developed and registered as biosimilar to epoetin alfa. Dosing was titrated individually for two patients to achieve a stable hemoglobin (Hb) concentration of 10.5-12.

Early hypothyroidism after subtotal thyroidectomy in patients with Graves' disease--the role of the preoperative conservative treatment and hormonal status.

Aim: The aim of the present study was to evaluate the role of the preoperative antithyroid drug treatment and hormonal status in the development of early postoperative hypothyroidism after subtotal thyroidectomy in patients with Graves' disease.

Material And Methods: Eighty-five patients with Graves' disease (males : females ratio 1:5.54, age range 19 to 64, 37.

[Lymphocyte populations and subpopulations in peripheral blood of pregnant women with pre-eclampsia].

Aim: To investigate the changes of lymphocyte populations and subpopulations in peripheral blood of pregnant women suffering preeclampsia.

Material And Methods: By means of flowcytometry the following lymphocyte populations and subpopulations were determined in peripheral blood of 37 pregnant women, of whom 12 had preeclampsia and 25 had normal pregnancy pespectively: Total lymphocyte count CD19+ (B-lymphocytes), CD2+ (Total T-lymphocytes), CD3+ (Immunocompetent T-lymphocytes) CD3+CD4+ (T-helpers), CD3+CD8+ (Suppressor-cytoxic T-lymphocytes), CD4+/CD8+ ratio, Lymphocyte subpopulations with predominant killer activity: CD8-CD56+, CD8+CD56+ and activated immunocompetent T-lymphocytes (CD3+HLADR+).

Results: In patients with preeclampsia a T-helper increase and relative T-suppressor cytotoxic decrease was found.

Effect of mycophenolate mofetil (Cell Cept) in the treatment of immune glomerulopathies.

Aim: To study the effect of mycophenolate mofetil (Cell Cept) in treating patients with various types of chronic glomerulonephritis and other immune nephropathies.

Material And Methods: Between 2000 and 2003 we treated 35 patients (18 women, 17 men) with Cell Cept (La Roche). In 32 patients the diagnosis was confirmed by kidney biopsy (immunofluorescence, light and electron microscopy).

Autosomal recessive polycystic kidney disease. Clinical and genetic profile. (Review and a case report).

Background: Autosomal recessive polycystic kidney disease (ARPKD) is a genetic disorder inherited in a recessive manner. The ARPKD gene is located on chromosome 6. The disease is characterised by specific changes in the kidney and liver.

Ten-year clinical and ultrasonographic follow-up of siblings from families with autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease.

We conducted a ten-year clinical and ultrasound follow-up study of 120 siblings with ADPKD (68 men and 52 women, aged 19-40). 40 subjects had polycystic kidney disease. During the study period, the number and size of the cysts increased.

Angiotensin-converting enzyme activity and the ACE Alu polymorphism in autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease.

Background: Previous studies concerning Alu I/D polymorphism in the ACE gene and ADPKD severity have used the Alu genotypes as a representative of the true biological variable, namely ACE activity. However, wide individual and ethnic differences in the proportion of variance in ACE activity explained by the I/D genotype may have confounded these studies. This investigation examines the association between ADPKD severity and ACE in terms of plasma enzyme activity and I/D genotypes in individuals from three different countries.

Epoetin-beta (Recormon-Roche) in the treatment of renal anemia in patients with chronic renal failure.

Unlabelled: In the study a clinical assessment is made of the results of treatment of patients with renal anemia by epoetin-beta.

Material And Methods: Thirty two patients (22 women, 10 men) with chronic renal failure and anemia, ranging from 18 to 77 years of age (mean age 46.29 +/- 5.

Cyclosporin A in the treatment of patients with nephrotic syndrome.

Objective: To present our experience in the treatment of conventional therapy refractory nephrotic syndrome with cyclosporin A.

Material And Methods: The study sample included 22 patients (12 men, 10 women, aged 40.43 +/- 5.

Low protein diet and ketosteril in predialysis patients with renal failure.

Unlabelled: After a short review of the contemporary understanding of amino acid supplementation to low protein diets in patients with uremia we present the results of administration of ketosteril in 20 low-protein-diet patients on such a diet.

Material And Methods: Twenty patients (10 men and 10 women) with stable II and III stage chronic renal failure were assigned to a low protein diet (protein up to 40 g/day). Ketosteril (6 tablets a day) were added to the diet.

Influence of age, sex and body weight on renal osteodystrophy in predialysis patients with chronic renal failure.

Unlabelled: The aim of the present investigation was to examine the influence of age, sex and body weight on osseous changes in pre-dialysis patients with chronic renal failure (CRF). 87 patients (44 males and 43 females) aged 18-60 years with CRF were studied. The levels of serum creatinine, total and ionized calcium, phosphorus, alkaline phosphatase, intact parathormone and serum osteocalcine were followed up.

Assessment of serum osteocalcine level in pre-dialysis patients with chronic renal failure.

Unlabelled: The application of serum osteocalcine as a marker of osseous synthesis in patients with renal osteodystrophy is still disputable because of its predominantly renal excretion. The aim of the present study was to investigate the level of serum osteocalcine in pre-dialysis patients with chronic renal failure (CRF).

Material And Methods: 47 patients aged 22-60 years (26 males and 22 females) with chronic renal failure were studied.

Treatment of immune nephropathies with high doses of immunoglobulins.

Unlabelled: The present study presents the results from the application of high doses of gamma-globulin in the treatment of immune (idiopathic and satellite) glomerulopathies.

Materials And Methods: Twenty patients were treated. Of these 12 were with primary chronic glomerulonephritis, 7--with lupus nephritis and 1--with renal amyloidosis.

Screening for mutations in the peripheral myelin genes PMP22, MPZ and Cx32 (GJB1) in russian charcot-marie-tooth neuropathy patients; irina V. Mersiyanova, sookhrat M. Ismailov, alexandr V. Polyakov, elena L. Dadali, valeriy P. Fedotov, eva nelis, ann Lofgren, vincent timmerman, christine van broeckhoven, and oleg V. Evgrafov (Article was originally published in human mutation 15:340-347, 2000).

The authors wish to correct a mistake which occurred in the reporting of one of the mutations. The mutation in Cx32 Met34Lys is wrongly described as 100A>G. The correct description of the mutation should be 101T>A (Met34Lys).

Screening the 3' region of the polycystic kidney disease 1 (PKD1) gene in 41 Bulgarian and Australian kindreds reveals a prevalence of protein truncating mutations.

Screening for disease-causing mutations in the unique region of the polycystic kidney disease 1 (PKD1) gene was performed in 41 unrelated individuals with autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease. Exons 34-41 and 43-46 were assayed using PCR amplification and SSCP analysis followed by direct sequencing of amplicons presenting variant SSCP patterns. We have identified seven disease-causing mutations of which five are novel [c.

Frequency and clinical characteristics of mycoplasma urinary tract infections in the early post-transplantation period in renal allograft patients.

Using a highly sensitive and specific polymerase chain reaction (PCR) protocol, we studied 36 renal allograft recipients and 30 healthy controls. Midstream urine samples were analyzed using routine microbiological methods and the Mycoplasma IST (BioMerieux, France). Mycoplasma infections of the upper urinary tract were found in 9 patients.

Location of mutations within the PKD2 gene influences clinical outcome.

Background: Since the cloning of the gene for autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease type 2 (PKD2), approximately 40 different mutations of that gene have been reported to be associated with the disease. The relationship between the PKD2 genotype and phenotype, however, remains unclear.

Methods: Detailed clinical information was collected for PKD2 families in which the underlying mutation had been identified.

On the disturbances in carbohydrate metabolism in pre-dialysis patients with chronic renal failure.

Unlabelled: We describe some of the aspects of impaired carbohydrate metabolism in predialysis uremic patients.

Methods: A total of seventy-five nondiabetic patients with chronic renal failure (CRF) were enrolled in the present study. The level of glycosylated hemoglobin was measured in 51 patients using kits from Merck and an oral glucose challenge test was performed in 20 according to a standard protocol.

PCR studies on the presence of Chlamydia trachomatis in the upper urinary tract of patients with obstructive pyelonephritis.

Chlamydia trachomatis infections are among the most common sexually transmitted diseases in the world and it is only logical to hypothesize that it alone or in association with mycoplasmas can participate in the initiation and persistence of upper urinary tract infections. Having in mind the inconclusive evidence regarding the role of C. trachomatis in upper urinary tract infections we decided to study the presence of C.

Dynamic follow-up of the intact parathormone levels in hemodialysis patients treated with Rocaltrol and calcium.

Unlabelled: The object of the present study was to follow prospectively the serum levels of intact parathormone (PTH) of hemodialysis patients and the subsequent changes following the oral administration of 1.25(OH)D3 and calcium.

Methods: We studied 30 chronic renal failure hemodialysis patients--16 men and 14 women, aged 20-70 years.

A case of Chlamydia trachomatis infection in a renal allograft patient.

We describe a renal allograft patient with a Chlamydia trachomatis infection. A 43 year-old man was diagnosed with end-stage renal disease in 1985 which necessitated the transplantation of a cadaver kidney in 1986. The kidney was rejected two years later.

Our experience in the combined pathogenetic treatment of chronic glomerulonephritis.

Unlabelled: The most common combined pathogenetic treatment regimens for the treatment of chronic glomerulonephritis are the object of the present study. It is not quite uncommon in everyday clinical practice for the physician to encounter patients with similar pathohistologic patterns who respond differently to a standard therapeutic schedule.

Methods: Having in mind the complexity of the problem we analyzed our ten-year experience with the combined pathogenetic treatment of 150 patients, aged 17 to 52, with histologically proven chronic glomerulonephritis.

A case of primary Sjögren's syndrome in combination with chronic mesangiocapillary glomerulonephritis and interstitial nephritis.

Unlabelled: The authors present an extremely rare case of combination of primary Sjögren's syndrome and chronic glomerulonephritis, which was subsequently found to be mesangiocapillary on pathohistologic examination.

Methods: This case of mesangiocapillary glomerulonephritis in combination with interstitial nephritis is characterized in terms of the clinical, laboratory, immunologic and instrumental methods for diagnosis. Percutaneous kidney biopsy was performed and the characteristic findings on light microscopy were recorded.