Reduced levels of hepcidin associated with lower ferritin concentration and increased number of previous donations in periodic blood donors: A pilot study.

Background: Hepcidin is one of the major negative regulators of iron balance. Periodic blood donors are highly susceptible to iron deficiency. Our goal was to evaluate the possible association between serum hepcidin levels and iron homeostasis parameters in periodic blood donors.

Plant-based diets for CKD patients: fascinating, trendy, but feasible? A green nephrology perspective.

Climate change is inducing us to rethink our way of life. There is widespread awareness that we need to adopt environmentally friendly approaches and reduce the amount of waste we generate. In medicine, nephrology was one of the first specialties to adopt a green approach.

Adrenal Lesions: A Review of Imaging.

Adrenal lesions are frequently incidentally diagnosed during investigations for other clinical conditions. Despite being usually benign, nonfunctioning, and silent, they can occasionally cause discomfort or be responsible for various clinical conditions due to hormonal dysregulation; therefore, their characterization is of paramount importance for establishing the best therapeutic strategy. Imaging techniques such as ultrasound, computed tomography, magnetic resonance, and PET-TC, providing anatomical and functional information, play a central role in the diagnostic workup, allowing clinicians and surgeons to choose the optimal lesion management.

Machine Learning-Based Texture Analysis in the Characterization of Cortisol Secreting vs. Non-Secreting Adrenocortical Incidentalomas in CT Scan.

New radioimaging techniques, exploiting the quantitative variables of imaging, permit to identify an hypothetical pathological tissue. We have applied this potential in a series of 72 adrenal incidentalomas (AIs) followed at our center, subdivided in functioning and non-functioning using laboratory findings. Each AI was studied in the preliminary non-contrast phase with a specific software (Mazda), surrounding a region of interest within each lesion.

The Hypertensive Disorders of Pregnancy: A Focus on Definitions for Clinical Nephrologists.

About 5-10% of pregnancies are complicated by one of the hypertensive disorders of pregnancy. The women who experience these disorders have a greater risk of having or developing kidney diseases than women with normotensive pregnancies. While international guidelines do not provide clear indications for a nephrology work-up after pregnancy, this is increasingly being advised by nephrology societies.