Evaluating the Effectiveness of a Novel Personalized Health Education Approach for Hemodialysis Patients: A Four-Week Study Using a Widely-Used Communication App in Taiwan.

Dialysis patients often have inadequate health literacy, affecting self-care and outcomes. This study used LINE app to provide personalized health education to Taiwanese dialysis patients and collected physiological data via wearables. While physical activity levels remained unchanged, participants' disease literacy significantly improved post-intervention.

Vascular Calcification Heterogeneity from Bench to Bedside: Implications for Manifestations, Pathogenesis, and Treatment Considerations.

Vascular calcification (VC) is the ectopic deposition of calcium-containing apatite within vascular walls, exhibiting a high prevalence in older adults, and those with diabetes or chronic kidney disease. VC is a subclinical cardiovascular risk trait that increases mortality and functional deterioration. However, effective treatments for VC remain largely unavailable despite multiple attempts.

The Potential Influence of Uremic Toxins on the Homeostasis of Bones and Muscles in Chronic Kidney Disease.

Patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) often experience a high accumulation of protein-bound uremic toxins (PBUTs), specifically indoxyl sulfate (IS) and p-cresyl sulfate (pCS). In the early stages of CKD, the buildup of PBUTs inhibits bone and muscle function. As CKD progresses, elevated PBUT levels further hinder bone turnover and exacerbate muscle wasting.

Indoxyl sulfate mediates low handgrip strength and is predictive of high hospitalization rates in patients with end-stage renal disease.

Background And Aims: Sarcopenia has a higher occurrence rate in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) and end-stage renal disease (ESRD) than in the general population. Low handgrip strength-and not sarcopenia -is associated with clinical outcomes in patients with CKD, including cardiovascular mortality and hospitalization. The factors contributing to low handgrip strength are still unknown.

Factors Influencing Self-Management Behaviors among Hemodialysis Patients.

Aim: To investigate the factors affecting hemodialysis patients' self-management ability at a dialysis center in Taiwan.

Background: Taiwan has the highest incidence and prevalence of end-stage kidney disease (ESKD) in the world. Over 90% of patients with ESKD receiving hemodialysis (HD) and self-management behaviors are critical among these patients.

Translational Medicine in Uremic Vascular Calcification: Scavenging ROS Attenuates p-Cresyl Sulfate-Activated Caspase-1, NLRP3 Inflammasome and Eicosanoid Inflammation in Human Arterial Smooth Muscle Cells.

We formerly proved that uremic vascular calcification (UVC) correlates tightly with oxidative elastic lamina (EL) injury and two cell fates (apoptosis and osteocytic conversion) in smooth muscle cells (SMC) of chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients and eliminating p-cresyl sulfate (PCS)-activated intracellular ROS ameliorates the MAPK signaling pathway in a human arterial SMC (HASMC) model. Nonetheless, whether ROS scavenger attenuates PCS-triggered inflammasome activation and eicosanoid inflammation in the UVC process remains unknown. Patients with lower extremity amputation were categorized into CKD and normal control group according to renal function.

Therapeutic Effect of Calcimimetics on Osteoclast-Osteoblast Crosslink in Chronic Kidney Disease and Mineral Bone Disease.

We have previously demonstrated calcimimetics optimize the balance between osteoclastic bone resorption and osteoblastic mineralization through upregulating Wingless and int-1 (Wnt) signaling pathways in the mouse and cell model. Nonetheless, definitive human data are unavailable concerning therapeutic effects of Cinacalcet on chronic kidney disease and mineral bone disease (CKD-MBD) and osteoclast-osteoblast interaction. We aim to investigate whether Cinacalcet therapy improves bone mineral density (BMD) through optimizing osteocytic homeostasis in a human model.

The Paradoxical Role of Uric Acid in Osteoporosis.

Because of its high prevalence worldwide, osteoporosis is considered a serious public health concern. Many known risk factors for developing osteoporosis have been identified and are crucial if planning health care needs. Recently, an association between uric acid (UA) and bone fractures had been explored.

Corrigendum to "Metabolic Acidosis and Strong Ion Gap in Critically Ill Patients with Acute Kidney Injury".

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1155/2014/819528.].

Metabolic acidosis and strong ion gap in critically ill patients with acute kidney injury.

Purpose: To determine the influence of physicochemical parameters on survival in metabolic acidosis (MA) and acute kidney injury (AKI) patients.

Materials And Methods: Seventy-eight MA patients were collected and assigned to AKI or non-AKI group. We analyzed the physiochemical parameters on survival at 24 h, 72 h, 1 week, 1 month, and 3 months after AKI.

Serum bone resorption markers after parathyroidectomy for renal hyperparathyroidism: correlation analyses for the cross-linked N-telopeptide of collagen I and tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase.

Patients on long-term dialysis may develop secondary hyperparathyroidism (SHPT) with increased serum concentrations of bone resorption markers such as the cross-linked N-telopeptide of type I collagen (NTX) and type-5b tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase (TRAP). When SHPT proves refractory to treatment, parathyroidectomy (PTX) may be needed. Renal patients on maintenance HD who received PTX for refractory SHPT (n = 23) or who did not develop refractory SHPT (control subjects; n = 25) were followed prospectively for 4 weeks.

Insulin resistance in patients with chronic kidney disease.

Metabolic syndrome and its components are associated with chronic kidney disease (CKD) development. Insulin resistance (IR) plays a central role in the metabolic syndrome and is associated with increased risk for CKD in nondiabetic patients. IR is common in patients with mild-to-moderate stage CKD, even when the glomerular filtration rate is within the normal range.

Association between increased serum osteoprotegerin levels and improvement in bone mineral density after parathyroidectomy in hemodialysis patients.

Secondary hyperparathyroidism (SHPT) is a common complication in chronic renal disease. Osteoprotegerin (OPG), an extracellular cytokine receptor secreted by osteoblasts, can promote bone formation by inhibiting the function of osteoclasts. Hemodialysis (HD) patients have elevated serum OPG levels.

Influence of diabetes on homocysteine-lowering therapy in chronic hemodialysis patients.

Introduction: The effect of homocysteine (Hcy)-lowering therapy may be different in hemodialysis (HD) patients with and without diabetes mellitus (DM).

Methods: Stable HD patients with uremia were administered folic acid and vitamin B for 3 months. The impact of treatment was compared in patients with and without DM.

Glycated albumin is independently associated with estimated glomerular filtration rate in nondiabetic patients with chronic kidney disease.

Background: Glycated albumin (GA) may contribute to diabetic nephropathy, but the clinical significance of GA in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) is unknown.

Methods: Patients were classified with the NKF/DOQI classification system as mild (stage I, II), moderate (stage III), or advanced CKD (stage IV). Those undergoing dialysis or with CKD stage V were excluded.

Serum IL-6, albumin and co-morbidities are closely correlated with symptoms of depression in patients on maintenance haemodialysis.

Background: Depression may be associated with activation of pro-inflammatory cytokines and increased long-term mortality in patients on maintenance haemodialysis (MHD). There are numerous reports regarding the association of depression with inflammatory status, co-morbidities and nutritional condition, but few of these studies have explored the possible correlations between depression, age and economic status. The study explores the possible correlations between depression and demographic, socio-economic, clinical and laboratory variables.