Perspectives on hypertension's prevalence, treatment and control in a high cardiovascular risk East European country: data from the SEPHAR III survey.

Objectives: To estimate the trend in arterial hypertension's prevalence, awareness, treatment, and control in Romania, starting from the latest national survey Study for the Evaluation of Prevalence of Hypertension and Cardiovascular Risk in Romania III that has a crucial importance for the development of prevention strategies at national level.

Methods: A representative sample of 1970 Romanian adults (mean age 48.38 years, age range 18-80 years, 52.

[Acute renal failure--the present and perspectives].

Acute kidney injury is a common complication in hospitalized patients, and its incidence has risen significantly in the past 15 yr. Despite significant technical advances in therapeutics, the mortality and morbidity rates associated with acute kidney injury remain dismally high and have not appreciably improved during the past four decades. An ideal biomarker for acute kidney injury would help clinicians and scientists diagnose the most common form of acute kidney injury, acute tubular necrosis, early and accurately and may aid to risk stratify patients with acute kidney injury by predicting the need for renal replacement therapy, the duration of acute kidney injury, the length of stay, and mortality.

Arterial stiffness in dialysis patients: where are we now?

Patients with end-stage renal disease treated by chronic dialysis have an impressive mortality, which more than half of this mortality is attributable to cardiovascular disease. Despite stratification for sex, race, and the presence of diabetes, cardiovascular disease mortality is 10-30 times higher in dialysis patients compared to general population. In dialysis patients, both atherosclerosis (mainly affecting the intima of the arteries) and arteriosclerosis (affecting predominantly the media of large- and middle-sized arteries diffusely) are highly prominent.

The role of the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system in renal artery stenosis, renovascular hypertension, and ischemic nephropathy: diagnostic implications.

The renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system (RAAS) has an impressive pathophysiology and numerous systemic correlations, as it is a major regulatory system of vascular and renal function. RAAS represents an important player in the pathogenesis of renal artery stenosis (RAS) and ischemic nephropathy. The activation of the RAAS and sympathetic overactivity are highly responsible for the cardiovascular and renal morbidity in RAS patients.

Trace elements in end-stage renal disease--unfamiliar territory to be revealed.

Although associated with unfavorable outcomes in the general population, abnormal blood levels of various trace elements have not been consistently studied in the end-stage renal disease population (with the notable exception of aluminum). This is surprising, as the uremic patient treated by chronic dialysis loses one major route of trace element excretion and is exposed systematically to a foreign environment (the dialysis fluid) possibly contaminated with significant amounts of potential deleterious trace elements. Moreover, some biological important trace elements may be lost through the dialysis membrane.