Hypocitraturia as a biomarker of renal tubular acidosis in patients with Sjögren's disease.

Introduction: Sjögren's disease (SD) is an immune-mediated chronic inflammatory disease that affects epithelial tissues, mainly salivary and lacrimal glands. It also presents extraglandular manifestations. The main renal manifestation is tubulointerstitial nephritis (TIN), which can manifest as renal tubular acidosis (RTA).

Bioimpedanciometry in nutritional and hydration assessments in a single dialysis center.

Background: Bioimpedance analysis (BIA) has been demonstrated to add accuracy to nutritional and volume status assessments in dialysis (HD) patients.

Aim: to describe a sample of dialysis patients from a single center on their demographics and BIA of volume distribution and nutritional status, and mortality during 12-month follow-up.

Methods: prospective observational cohort study to evaluate vintage HD patients with single-frequency BIA.

BK Polyomavirus-associated nephropathy managed by screening policy in a real-life setting.

Background: BK polyomavirus-associated nephropathy (PyVAN) is an important complication after kidney transplantation. Prevalence ranges from 1% to 10%, and graft loss occurs in approximately 50% of the cases. There is no effective treatment, so early viral detection with immunosuppression tapering is the current strategy to prevent PyVAN.

Urine microscopy as a biomarker of Acute Kidney Injury following cardiac surgery with cardiopulmonary bypass.

Introduction: Acute kidney injury (AKI) occurs in about 22% of the patients undergoing cardiac surgery and 2.3% requires renal replacement therapy (RRT). The current diagnostic criteria for AKI by increased serum creatinine levels have limitations and new biomarkers are being tested.

Histopathological analysis of pre-implantation donor kidney biopsies: association with graft survival and function in one year post-transplantation.

Introduction: Pre-implantation kidney biopsy is a decision-making tool when considering the use of grafts from deceased donors with expanded criteria, implanting one or two kidneys and comparing this to post-transplantation biopsies. The role of histopathological alterations in kidney compartments as a prognostic factor in graft survival and function has had conflicting results.

Objective: This study evaluated the prevalence of chronic alterations in pre-implant biopsies of kidney grafts and the association of findings with graft function and survival in one year post-transplant.

Frequency of onychomycoses in chronic renal failure patients undergoing hemodialysis in Porto Alegre, Brazil.

Onychomycosis is one of the most frequent infections affecting the fingernails or the toenails and it is caused mainly by dermatophytes. The aim of the study was to assess the frequency of onychomycoses in hemodialysis patients and to relate sex, age, duration of hemodialysis and causes of renal failure to the development of nail disorders. The study included 100 patients with chronic renal failure undergoing hemodialysis.

Renal transplants using expanded cadaver donor criteria.

Aims: to analyze the frequency of transplants using expanded donor criteria (EDC) and the incidence of delayed graft function, acute rejection and the patient and graft survival compared to ideal donors (ID).

Patients: retrospective analysis of the 582 cadaver renal transplants performed from Jun 1988 to Mar 2003 in adult recipients. The expanded donor criteria were considered as history of hypertension or evidence of atherosclerosis, diabetes, age less than 5 or more than 55 years old, serum creatinine higher than 2.

Twenty-five year experience with renal transplantation at Santa Casa Hospital, Porto Alegre.

From 1977 to July 2002, 1,376 renal transplants were performed at Santa Casa of Porto Alegre. The number of transplants and the patient and graft survival rates have been rising each year since 1987. The overall one-year graft survival rates were 90% for living donor recipients and 80% for cadaver donor recipients, respectively; however, the patient and graft survival rates increased significantly between the early (1977-1995) and more recent (1996-2002) periods.