Switching from immediate- to extended-release cysteamine in patients with nephropathic cystinosis: from clinical trials to clinical practice.

Background: The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness and safety of switching from immediate-release (IR) to extended-release (ER) cysteamine in patients with nephropathic cystinosis (NC) in Spain.

Methods: We conducted an observational, retrospective, multicentre study in NC patients who received IR cysteamine for at least 12 months, switched to ER cysteamine, and received it for at least 6 months before inclusion.

Results: Data were collected from nine patients (four children, five adults) 36 months before and after the switch.

Postoperative Events in Incompatible Living Donor Kidney Transplant Recipients Undergoing Prior Desensitization.

Background: Living donor kidney transplantation (LDKT) is one of the best options for patients with chronic renal failure, but approximately one-third of cases are limited by incompatibility ABO and/or HLA between recipient and donor. This study aims to analyze the surgical complications and bleeding events presented in ABO-incompatible (ABOi) and HLA-incompatible (HLAi) patients within a pre-transplant desensitization program compared with ABO-compatible (ABOc) recipients.

Material And Methods: We performed a retrospective analysis of ABOi and HLAi recipients undergoing LKDT between 2009 and 2019, resulting in a total of 62 patients that we compared with the same number of ABOc performed consecutively before 2019.

Low Incidence of Acute Antibody-Mediated Rejection after HLA Desensitization in Living Donor Kidney Transplant Recipients.

Desensitization allows the performance of human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-incompatible transplants. However, the incidence of acute rejection (AR) is high. This study aims to analyze the incidence of AR after transplantation with HLA-incompatible living donors in patients who underwent desensitization.

ABO-incompatible living-donor kidney transplantation: Study of 48 patients after desensitisation.

Background: ABO-incompatible living-donor kidney transplantation was regarded as an absolute contraindication. However, it has been carried out for years with good outcomes.

Objective: Our aim was to show the results obtained with this technique in our hospital.

Predicted change in the number of permanent medical teachers from 2017 to 2026. The training of future physicians in critical condition.

The significant and progressive reduction in the number of permanent teachers in medical schools (professor, associate professor and assistant professor) is a reason for concern for the National Conference of Deans. This reduction will intensify in the coming decade (2017-2026). Forty-three percent of the permanent faculty will retire, as will 55% of the faculty linked to clinical areas, 34% of the faculty not linked to clinical areas and 32% of the faculty of basic areas.

Serum levels of the adipomyokine irisin in patients with chronic kidney disease.

Background: Irisin is an adipomyokine with claimed anti-obesity and anti-diabetic effects. This hormone has been insufficiently studied in patients with advanced chronic kidney disease (CKD).

Objective: To perform an exploratory analysis of serum irisin levels in patients undergoing different CKD treatments.

Inhibition of Gastric Acid Secretion by H2 Receptor Antagonists Associates a Definite Risk of Enteric Peritonitis and Infectious Mortality in Patients Treated with Peritoneal Dialysis.

Background: Evidences linking treatment with inhibitors of gastric acid secretion (IGAS) and an increased risk of serious infections are inconclusive, both in the population at large and in the particular case of patients with chronic kidney disease. We have undertaken an investigation to disclose associations between treatment with IGAS and infectious outcomes, in patients undergoing chronic Peritoneal Dialysis (PD).

Method: Observational, historic cohort, single center design.

Identification of Targets for Prevention of Peritoneal Catheter Tunnel and Exit-Site Infections in Low Incidence Settings.

Unlabelled: ♦

Background: Peritoneal catheter tunnel and exit-site infection (TESI) complicates the clinical course of peritoneal dialysis (PD) patients. Adherence to recommendations for catheter insertion, exit-site care, and management of Staphylococcus aureus (SAu) carriage reduces, but does not abrogate the risk of these infections. ♦

Objective: To reappraise the risk profile for TESI in an experienced center with a long-term focus on management of SAu carriage and a low incidence of these infections.

MTA index: a simple 2D-method for assessing atrophy of the medial temporal lobe using clinically available neuroimaging.

Background And Purpose: Despite a strong correlation to severity of AD pathology, the measurement of medial temporal lobe atrophy (MTA) is not being widely used in daily clinical practice as a criterion in the diagnosis of prodromal and probable AD. This is mainly because the methods available to date are sophisticated and difficult to implement for routine use in most hospitals-volumetric methods-or lack objectivity-visual rating scales. In this pilot study we aim to describe a new, simple and objective method for measuring the rate of MTA in relation to the global atrophy using clinically available neuroimaging and describe the rationale behind this method.

Correlation between glycemic control and the incidence of peritoneal and catheter tunnel and exit-site infections in diabetic patients undergoing peritoneal dialysis.

Background: Diabetes mellitus, especially if complicated by poor glycemic control, portends an increased risk of infection. The significance of this association in the case of diabetic patients undergoing peritoneal dialysis (PD) has not been assessed.

Methods: Using a retrospective observational design, we analyzed the association between glycemic control at the start of PD (estimated from glycosylated hemoglobin levels) and the risk of peritoneal and catheter tunnel and exit-site infections during follow-up in 183 incident patients on PD.

[Innervation of the intervertebral disc].

Until very recently, intervertebral disc innervation was a subject of considerable debate. Nowadays, the introduction of inmunohistochemical techniques associated to specific antibodies and studies with retrograde tracers in nerves have allowed greater understanding of disc innervation in physiological and pathological conditions and also endings characteristics and their patterns of distribution in both situations. The existing controversies regarding structural basis of discogenic pain, have raised the interest of knowing the influence of innervation in back pain from discal origin and its characteristics.

Acid-sensing ion channels (ASICs) in the taste buds of adult zebrafish.

In detecting chemical properties of food, different molecules and ion channels are involved including members of the acid-sensing ion channels (ASICs) family. Consistently ASICs are present in sensory cells of taste buds of mammals. In the present study the presence of ASICs (ASIC1, ASIC2, ASIC3 and ASIC4) was investigated in the taste buds of adult zebrafish (zASICs) using Western blot and immunohistochemistry.

Impact of CD68/(CD3+CD20) ratio at the invasive front of primary tumors on distant metastasis development in breast cancer.

Tumors are infiltrated by macrophages, T and B-lymphocytes, which may favor tumor development by promoting angiogenesis, growth and invasion. The aim of this study was to investigate the clinical relevance of the relative amount of macrophages (CD68⁺), T-cells (CD3⁺ and B-cells (CD20⁺) at the invasive front of breast carcinomas, and the expression of matrix metalloproteases (MMPs) and their inhibitors (TIMPs) either at the invasive front or at the tumor center. We performed an immunohistochemical study counting CD3, CD20 and CD68 positive cells at the invasive front, in 102 breast carcinomas.

Effect of dialysis modality and other prescription factors on peritoneal protein excretion in peritoneal dialysis.

Background: There is a deficit of information regarding the factors that influence peritoneal protein excretion (PPE) during PD therapy. In particular, the effects of the modality of PD and other conditions of the dialysis prescription remain unclear.

Method: This prospective, observational study analysed the effects of prescription characteristics on 24-hour PPE (study variable) in a cohort of patients starting PD.

Immunohistochemical detection of the putative mechanoproteins ASIC2 and TRPV4 in avian herbst sensory corpuscles.

The avian Herbst corpuscles are the equivalent of the Pacinian corpuscles in mammals, and detect vibration and the movement of joints and feathers. Therefore, they can be regarded as rapidly adapting low-threshold mechanoreceptors. In recent years, it has been establish that some ion channels are involved in mechanosensation and are present in both mechanosensory neurons and mechanoreceptors.

Evidence of nestin-positive cells in the human cutaneus Meissner and Pacinian corpuscles.

Nestin is an intermediate filament protein expressed in neuroepithelial stem cells during development and it is later replaced by cell specific neuronal or glial filaments. Nevertheless, nestin⁺ cells remain within adult tissues and they can be regarded as potential neural stem cell (NSC). Nestin⁺ cells have been detected in Schwann cells related with sensory corpuscles of rodent and they have been demonstrated to be NSC.

Clinical implication of Meissner`s corpuscles.

During the last decade skin biopsy has been confirmed as a tool to provide diagnostic information on some peripheral neuropathies. Most studies were focused on intraepithelial nerve fibers and few studies have investigated large myelinated fibers or whether corpuscles in human skin change quantitatively or qualitatively in pathologies of the peripheral or central nervous system. The main objective of this article is to provide a comprehensive review of Meissner's corpuscles including their distribution, density and age changes, development, molecular composition, cellular anatomy and physiology.

Light regulates the expression of the BDNF/TrkB system in the adult zebrafish retina.

The retina of the adult zebrafish express brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and its signaling receptor TrkB. This functional system is involved in the biology of the vertebrate retina and its expression is regulated by light. This study was designed to investigate the effects of cyclic (12 h light/12 h darkness) or continuous (24 h) exposure during 10 days to white light, white-blue light, and blue light, as well as of darkness, on the expression of BDNF and TrkB in the retina.

Immunohistochemical localization of acid-sensing ion channel 2 (ASIC2) in cutaneous Meissner and Pacinian corpuscles of Macaca fascicularis.

Acid-sensing ion channel 2 (ASIC2) is a member of the degenerin/epithelial sodium channel superfamily, presumably involved mechanosensation. Expression of ASIC2 has been detected in mechanosensory neurons as well as in both axons and Schwann-like cells of cutaneous mechanoreceptors. In these studies we analysed expression of ASIC2 in the cutaneous sensory corpuscles of Macaca fascicularis using immunohistochemistry and laser confocal-scanner microscopy.

Getting the right patient on the right renal replacement therapy.

Adequate selection of the modality of renal replacement therapy (RRT), ideally based on well-planned predialysis care, informed decision by the patient and timely initiation of dialysis, is essential to optimize the outcome of patients with chronic kidney disease. However, there are important practical limitations to the success of this process. A major consequence is the underutilization of home-based dialysis therapies, including peritoneal dialysis (PD).

Treatment of transplant renal artery stenosis by percutaneous transluminal angioplasty and/or stenting: study in 63 patients in a single institution.

Objective: Our aim was a retrospective evaluation of technical procedures, clinical success, and follow-up of renal transplant patients with stenosis in the transplant renal artery (TRAS) after endovascular treatment.

Methods: From January 1981 to September 2009, 2,150 allograft renal transplants included 62 patients who underwent endovascular procedures for TRAS >75%. Parameters included technical success, arterial blood pressure, antihypertensive drugs, and creatinine level before and after the intervention.

[Abdominal ultrasonography versus abdominal CT in the follow-up of testicular germ cell tumors].

Introduction: Testicular germ cell tumors are common in young men. There is a wide consensus regarding the key points in their diagnosis and treatment, although some elements, including the best approach to follow-up, are being reviewed and revised. We present a statistical study that uses tools for the evaluation of diagnostic tests to compare the usefulness of abdominal ultrasonography (US) in comparison with that of abdominal CT, taken as the gold standard, in the detection of liver metastases and retroperitoneal adenopathies in patients with testicular germ cell tumors.

Incidence of cardiovascular events after kidney transplantation and cardiovascular risk scores: study protocol.

Background: Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the major cause of death after renal transplantation. Not only conventional CVD risk factors, but also transplant-specific risk factors can influence the development of CVD in kidney transplant recipients. The main objective of this study will be to determine the incidence of post-transplant CVD after renal transplantation and related factors.

Effect of low-GDP bicarbonate-lactate-buffered peritoneal dialysis solutions on plasma levels of adipokines and gut appetite-regulatory peptides. A randomized crossover study.

Background: Malnutrition is common in patients treated with peritoneal dialysis (PD). Previous studies have disclosed disturbances in the hormonal axes regulating appetite in these patients. The effect of newer biocompatible PD solutions on these disorders is undetermined.