Educational level and gender are associated with emotional well-being in a cohort of Dutch dialysis patients.

Background: Patients undergoing dialysis have an impaired health-related quality of life (HRQOL). There are conflicting data from small series on whether patient-related factors such as educational level have an impact on experienced HRQOL. The aim of this study was to investigate the association between educational level and HRQOL in dialysis patients.

Interactions Between Malnutrition, Inflammation, and Fluid Overload and Their Associations With Survival in Prevalent Hemodialysis Patients.

Objective: Predialysis fluid overload (FO) in hemodialysis (HD) patients is associated with an increased risk of death, further increased by the presence of inflammation. Malnutrition is also associated with outcome. Study objectives were, firstly, to investigate if the presence of FO is associated with malnutrition and whether this association is influenced by the presence of inflammation.

Emphasis of FAS/FASL gene polymorphism in patients with non-muscle invasive bladder cancer.

Background: Bladder cancer (BCa) is the seventh most common cancer among males worldwide. Some reliable markers in blood, urine, and tumor tissue, including clinicopathologic variables, molecular and inflammatory markers, gene polymorphisms, and tumor gene expression profiles are identified for predicting response to BCG immunotherapy in high-risk BCa patients.

Aims: We aimed to determine if FAS and FASL polymorphisms are associated with lack of response to BCG in patients with BCa.

Comparison of a novel real-time PCR method (RTA) and Artus RG for the quantification of HBV DNA and HCV RNA.

Introduction: The purpose of this study was to evaluate and compare two manual isolation and real-time (RT) polymerase chain reaction (PCR) kits (RTA RT-PCR with RTA isolation kit and Artus RG RT-PCR with QIAamp isolation kit) for molecular diagnosis of hepatitis B virus (HBV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV) infections.

Methodology: The study was conducted on 121 and 54 clinical samples for the detection of HBV DNA and HCV RNA, respectively, with an additional 8 HCV RNA external quality control samples.

Results: Though a high correlation was observed between the two kits for the HBV DNA (r = 0.

Acquisition and loss of oocyte meiotic and developmental competence during in vitro antral follicle growth in mouse.

Objective: To analyze the effect of various culture periods and FSH on oocyte competence in cultured mouse follicles.

Design: Controlled in vitro laboratory experiment.

Setting: Academic research environment.