Hemoincompatibility in Hemodialysis-Related Therapies and Their Health Economic Perspectives.

Hemobiologic reactions associated with the hemoincompatibility of extracorporeal circuit material are an undesirable and inevitable consequence of all blood-contacting medical devices, typically considered only from a clinical perspective. In hemodialysis (HD), the blood of patients undergoes repetitive (at least thrice weekly for 4 h and lifelong) exposure to different polymeric materials that activate plasmatic pathways and blood cells. There is a general agreement that hemoincompatibility reactions, although unavoidable during extracorporeal therapies, are unphysiological contributors to non-hemodynamic dialysis-induced systemic stress and need to be curtailed.

Medical graphics to improve patient understanding and anxiety in elderly and cognitively impaired patients scheduled for transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI).

Background: Anxiety and limited patient comprehension may pose significant barriers when informing elderly patients about complex procedures such as transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI).

Objectives: We aimed to evaluate the utility of medical graphics to improve the patient informed consent (IC) before TAVI.

Methods: In this prospective, randomized dual center study, 301 patients were assigned to a patient brochure containing medical graphics (Comic group, n = 153) or sham information (Control group, n = 148) on top of usual IC.

Personalized Management of Sodium and Volume Imbalance in Hemodialysis to Mitigate High Costs of Hospitalization.

The primary objective of hemodialysis (HD) is lowering concentrations of organic uremic toxins that accumulate in blood in end-stage kidney disease (ESKD) and redress imbalances of inorganic compounds in particular sodium and water. Removal by ultrafiltration of excess fluid that has accumulated during the dialysis-free interval is a vital aspect of each HD session. Most HD patients are volume overloaded, with ∼25% of patients having severe (>2.

Systematic review to compare the outcomes associated with the modalities of expanded hemodialysis (HDx) versus high-flux hemodialysis and/or hemodiafiltration (HDF) in patients with end-stage kidney disease (ESKD).

Background: This systematic review was performed to identify recent published comparative evidence on the efficacy, effectiveness, and safety of expanded hemodialysis (HDx) versus high-flux HD and/or hemodiafiltration (HDF) for long-term outcomes in end-stage kidney disease.

Methods: Systematic literature review was conducted according to Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) checklist. Medline, Medline® Epub Ahead of Print, EconLit, Embase, and EBM reviews were searched to identify relevant publications from 2013 onwards.

Switching from high-flux dialysis to hemodiafiltration: Cost-consequences for patients, providers, and payers.

Hemodiafiltration (HDF) achieves a more efficient reduction of the uremic toxic load compared to standard high-flux hemodialysis (HF-HD) by virtue of the combined diffusive and convective clearances of a broad spectrum of uremic retention solutes. Clinical trials and registry data suggest that HDF improves patient outcomes. Despite the acknowledged need to improve survival rates of dialysis patients and the survival benefit HDF offers, there is little to no utilization in some countries (such as the US) in prescribing HDF to their patients.

Informed decision-making in delivery of dialysis: combining clinical outcomes with sustainability.

As the prevalence of chronic kidney disease is expected to rise worldwide over the next decades, provision of renal replacement therapy (RRT), will further challenge budgets of all healthcare systems. Most patients today requiring RRT are treated with haemodialysis (HD) therapy and are elderly. This article demonstrates the interdependence of clinical and sustainability criteria that need to be considered to prepare for the future challenges of delivering dialysis to all patients in need.

Score model for the evaluation of dialysis membrane hemocompatibility.

The interaction of blood with artificial surfaces is of particular interest during hemodialysis treatments with extracorporeal blood circuits. Components of the extracorporeal blood circuit are known to have only a moderate, sometimes even an unfavorable hemocompatibility, and thus may provoke adverse biochemical or clinical sequelae. This article describes a newly established hemocompatibility assessment score.

Carnosic acid and carnosol potently inhibit human 5-lipoxygenase and suppress pro-inflammatory responses of stimulated human polymorphonuclear leukocytes.

Carnosic acid (CA) and carnosol (CS) are phenolic diterpenes present in several labiate herbs like Rosmarinus officinalis (Rosemary) and Salvia officinalis (Sage). Extracts of these plants exhibit anti-inflammatory properties, but the underlying mechanisms are largely undefined. Recently, we found that CA and CS activate the peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma, implying an anti-inflammatory potential on the level of gene regulation.

1-Oleoyl-2-acetylglycerol stimulates 5-lipoxygenase activity via a putative (phospho)lipid binding site within the N-terminal C2-like domain.

5-Lipoxygenase (5-LO) catalysis is positively regulated by Ca2+ ions and phospholipids that both act via the N-terminal C2-like domain of 5-LO. Previously, we have shown that 1-oleoyl-2-acetylglycerol (OAG) functions as an agonist for human polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMNL) in stimulating 5-LO product formation. Here we have demonstrated that OAG directly stimulates 5-LO catalysis in vitro.

Soluble VEGF receptors.

The three human VEGF receptors 1-3 mediate biological signals important for new blood vessel formation and lymphangiogenesis. Soluble VEGF receptors contain all the information necessary for high affinity ligand binding and have been used as experimental tools and regulators in several angiogenic in vitro and in vivo models. Recombinant receptor molecules can be used for specific inhibition of VEGF mediated signal transduction and for blocking tumor angiogenesis by limiting the amount of VEGF secreted from tumor cells or stroma cells.

The voice of emotional memory: content-filtered speech in panic disorder, social phobia, and major depressive disorder.

We asked patients with either panic disorder, social phobia, or major depressive disorder and healthy control participants to describe their most frightening experience and to describe an emotionally neutral experience. Both fear and neutral autobiographical memories were audiotaped and processed through a low-pass filter that eliminated frequencies above 400 Hz, thereby abolishing semantic content but leaving paralinguistic aspects like rate, pitch, and loudness intact, and these convey emotional cues. Raters blind to content and diagnosis rated the content-filtered speech clips on emotional dimensions.

[A patient with Gulf war syndrome. On discussion of an uncertain disease picture].

The Gulf War syndrome represents neurological and neuropsychological disorders in veterans of the Persian Gulf war. Until today, the various symptoms observed could not be attributed to any defined disease. As a possible cause, exposure to neurotoxic agents such as the organophosphates used during the war has been suggested by many authors.

Poor responder-high responder: the importance of soluble vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 1 in ovarian stimulation protocols.

This study was designed to detect vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and its soluble receptor (sVEGFR-1) in follicular fluid specimens and to evaluate the importance of sVEGFR-1 with respect to ovarian response to gonadotrophin stimulation. A total of 69 patients was treated for IVF with recombinant human follicle stimulating hormone (FSH). Concentrations of VEGF and sVEGFR-1 were quantified in follicular fluids from oocyte retrievals.

Expression of vascular endothelial growth factor receptors 1, 2 and 3 in placentas from normal and complicated pregnancies.

Extensive angiogenesis and invasion of the maternal decidua by trophoblasts are essential for the development and function of the placenta. Vascular endothelial growth factors (VEGF), placenta growth factor (PlGF) and their receptors VEGFR-1/Flt-1, VEGFR-2/KDR and VEGFR-3/Flt4 have important roles in vasculogenesis and angiogenesis. We have studied the localization of these proteins by immunohistochemistry and Western blotting in the placenta and of PlGF in maternal serum, and their association with diabetes, pre-eclampsia, fetal growth restriction (FGR) and fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS).

Release and complex formation of soluble VEGFR-1 from endothelial cells and biological fluids.

One of the key molecules promoting angiogenesis is the endothelial cell-specific mitogen, vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF or VEGF-A), which acts through two high-affinity receptor tyrosine kinases (VEGFR), VEGFR-1 (or Flt-1) and VEGFR-2 (or KDR/Flk-1). It was shown before that a soluble variant of VEGFR-1 (sVEGFR-1) can be generated by differential splicing of the flt-1 mRNA. This soluble receptor is an antagonist to VEGF action, reducing the level of free, active VEGF-A, and therefore, plays a pivotal role in the generation of vascular diseases like pre-eclampsia or intra-uterine growth retardation.

[Gerontopsychiatric treatment in comparison between integrated management at a university and separated management at a district hospital. 2: Diagnoses and treatment].

Objective: We wanted to study differences between geriatric psychiatric patients and their management in an integrated (with other adult age groups) care in the University Psychiatric Hospital (PUK) compared to those in a separated (only according to age) care in the Psychiatric State Hospital (LKH), which together treat all psychiatric inpatients in Goettingen, Germany.

Method: We performed standardized chart reviews of randomly selected groups of patients, who had been treated in the PUK (n = 151) and the LKH (n = 145) in the years 1991 and 1992.

Results: Most patients of the LKH suffered from organic brain diseases/dementia (63.

[Gerontopsychiatric treatment in comparison between integrated management at a university and separated management at a district hospital. 1: Patient characteristics].

Objective: We wanted to study differences between geriatric psychiatric patients and their management in an integrated (with other adult age groups) care in the University Psychiatric Hospital (PUK) compared to those in a separated (only according to age) care in the Psychiatric State Hospital (LKH), which together treat all psychiatric inpatients in Goettingen, Germany.

Method: We performed standardized chart reviews of randomly selected groups of patients, who had been treated in the PUK (n = 151) and the LKH (n = 145) in the years 1991 and 1992.

Results: The LKH patients were significantly older (74.

Is panic disorder linked to cognitive avoidance of threatening information?

We used a directed-forgetting paradigm to investigate whether panic disorder patients cognitively avoid threatening information. To determine if hemispheric laterality predicts processing biases in this paradigm, we used dichotic listening methods to ascertain participants' auditory perceptual asymmetry (PA). Panic disorder patients and healthy control participants viewed a series of intermixed threat, positive, and neutral words, each followed by an instruction to either remember the word or forget it.

Detection and quantification of complexed and free soluble human vascular endothelial growth factor receptor-1 (sVEGFR-1) by ELISA.

Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is an important factor for endothelial cell proliferation and a key regulator of blood vessel development in embryos and angiogenesis in adult tissues. Its biological activity is mediated by two receptor tyrosine kinases, VEGFR-1 (Flt-1) and VEGFR-2 (KDR). In contrast to VEGFR-2, a naturally occurring soluble form of the VEGFR-1 (sVEGFR-1) is produced by endothelial cells by differential splicing of the flt-1 gene, and it is a secreted gene product.