Associations of adiponectin and leptin levels with protein-energy wasting, in end stage renal disease patients.

Objective: The aim of the study was to examine the prevalence of protein-energy wasting (PEW) in hemodialysis (HD) and peritoneal dialysis (PD) patients in our center and determine whether adiponectin and leptin are involved in the development of PEW.

Design: Prospective (18 months).

Setting: University Hospital of Heraklion, Crete, Greece.

Hsf-1 affects podocyte markers NPHS1, NPHS2 and WT1 in a transgenic mouse model of TTRVal30Met-related amyloidosis.

Introduction: Familial amyloid polyneuropathy is characterized by transthyretin (TTR) deposition in various tissues, including the kidneys. While deposition induces organ dysfunction, renal involvement in TTR-related amyloidosis could manifest from proteinuria to end-stage kidney failure. As proteinuria is considered result of glomerular filtration barrier injury we investigated whether TTR deposition affects either glomerular basement membrane (GBM) or podocytes.

Losartan affects glomerular AKT and mTOR phosphorylation in an experimental model of type 1 diabetic nephropathy.

The AKT-mTOR pathway is activated in diabetic nephropathy. Renin-angiotensin system modulators exert beneficial effects on the diabetic kidney. We explored the action of losartan on AKT-mTOR phosphorylation in glomeruli and podocytes.

The role of serum magnesium and calcium on the association between adiponectin levels and all-cause mortality in end-stage renal disease patients.

Background: Adiponectin (ADPN) is the most abundant adipocyte-specific cytokine that plays an important role in energy homeostasis by regulating lipid and glucose metabolism. Studies of the impact of ADPN on clinical outcomes have yielded contradictory results so far. Here, we examined the association of ADPN with serum magnesium (s-Mg) and calcium (s-Ca) levels and explored the possibility whether these two factors could modify the relationship between ADPN and all-cause mortality in patients with end-stage renal disease.

Human TTRV30M localization within podocytes in a transgenic mouse model of transthyretin related amyloidosis: does the environment play a role?

Transthyretin related amyloidosis is a nosological entity that leads to disability, diminished quality of life, all stages of chronic kidney disease and eventually death. Podocytes are polarized, highly differentiated epithelial cells important for proper nephron function. In the present study we investigated whether deposited TTRVal30Met (TTRV30M) molecules could be localized within podocytes in situ under the effect of different housing conditions (i.

Rapamycin induced ultrastructural and molecular alterations in glomerular podocytes in healthy mice.

Background: In the normal kidney, rapamycin is considered to be non-nephrotoxic. In the present study, we investigated whether rapamycin is indeed non-nephrotoxic by examining the ultrastructural and molecular alterations of podocytes in healthy mice.

Methods: Balb/c mice were given three different intraperitoneal doses of rapamycin for 1 week (dose model)-low-dose group: 1 mg/kg/day, intermediate-dose (ID) group: 1.

A feasibility study for the provision of electronic healthcare tools and services in areas of Greece, Cyprus and Italy.

Background: Through this paper, we present the initial steps for the creation of an integrated platform for the provision of a series of eHealth tools and services to both citizens and travelers in isolated areas of the southeast Mediterranean, and on board ships travelling across it. The platform was created through an INTERREG IIIB ARCHIMED project called INTERMED.

Methods: The support of primary healthcare, home care and the continuous education of physicians are the three major issues that the proposed platform is trying to facilitate.

Membranous nephropathy and lupus-like syndrome after hematopoietic cell transplantation: a case report.

Introduction: The kidney is increasingly recognised as a target organ of chronic graft-versus-host disease after hematopoietic cell transplantation in the context of the development of the nephrotic syndrome. Chronic graft-versus-host disease is associated with autoimmune phenomena similar, but not identical, to those observed in various rheumatologic disorders, implicating autoimmunity as an important component of the disease.

Case Presentation: We report the case of a 57-year-old Caucasian man who developed the nephrotic syndrome due to membranous nephropathy in association with recurrent chronic graft-versus-host disease, along with a lupus-like syndrome manifested with pancytopenia, hair loss, positive anti-DNA antibodies and sub-epithelial and mesangial immune deposits.

The PI3K/Akt/mTOR pathway is activated in murine lupus nephritis and downregulated by rapamycin.

Background: The mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) inhibitor, rapamycin, has been shown to inhibit the progression of murine lupus nephritis by virtue of its potent immunosuppressive properties. The phosphoinositol-3-kinase (PI3K)/Akt pathway is a major upstream activator of mTOR and has been implicated in the propagation of cancer and autoimmunity. However, the activation status of the PI3K/Akt/mTOR pathway in lupus nephritis has not been studied so far.

Peritoneal dialysis-associated peritonitis: clinical features and predictors of outcome.

Objectives: The objective of this study was to identify the epidemiological, clinical, and microbiological factors affecting the outcome of peritoneal dialysis (PD)-associated peritonitis.

Methods: All patients with PD-associated peritonitis, cared for at the University Hospital of Heraklion from 1990 to 2007, were retrospectively studied.

Results: A total of 247 episodes of PD-associated peritonitis occurring in 82 patients were evaluated.

Long-term complication rates and survival of peritoneal dialysis catheters: the role of percutaneous versus surgical placement.

Considerable controversy currently exists in the literature concerning the mode of catheter placement and its impact on the technical success of peritoneal dialysis (PD). We decided to compare the impact of the surgical versus the percutaneous insertion technique on peritoneal dialysis catheter (PDCs) complications and survival. Our study population comprised 152 patients in whom 170 PDCs were inserted between January 1990 and December 2007 at the main PD unit on the island of Crete.

Percutaneous ethanol injection therapy: a surgery-sparing treatment for primary hyperparathyroidism.

Objective: To describe our 3-year experience in the long-term efficacy and safety of percutaneous ethanol injection therapy (PEIT), as an alternative to surgery for the management of patients with primary hyperparathyroidism (p-HPT).

Design: Prospective study with a mean follow-up of 19.6 +/- 10.

Total and corrected antioxidant capacity in hemodialyzed patients.

Background: Oxidative stress may play a critical role in the vascular disease of end stage renal failure and hemodialysis patients. Studies, analyzing either discrete analytes and antioxidant substances, or the integrated total antioxidant activity of human plasma during hemodialysis, give contradictory results.

Methods: Recently, we have introduced a new automated method for the determination of Total Antioxidant Capacity (TAC) of human plasma.