Pedometers as a means to increase spontaneous physical activity in chronic hemodialysis patients.

Background: Pedometers are simple devices which measure spontaneous physical activity. In nonrenal disease populations, pedometers were successfully used to encourage patients to increase their habitual physical activity through self-monitoring of its intensity. Our aim was to investigate how an awareness of using pedometers helps in increasing daily spontaneous physical activity in patients on hemodialysis.

[Vitamin D--a panacea in nephrology and beyond].

Vitamin D and its active analogues play an essential role in maintaining the calcium and phosphate homeostasis. Vitamin D deficiency may be a consequence of insufficient dietary supply, impaired intestinal absorption, insufficient exposure of the skin to the ultraviolet radiation, or liver and kidney failure. The consequences of mineral metabolism disorders and in particular vitamin D depletion are osteoporosis, increased cardiovascular diseases, immune system impairment and increased morbidity and mortality in patients with end stage of renal disease.