Prognostic significance of serum uric acid in women with gestational hypertension.

Aim of our study was to ascertain, prospectively, whether serum uric acid is a suitable predictor of preeclampsia and/or the delivery of small-for-gestational-age infants in women with gestational hypertension. We screened 206 primiparas, with a singleton pregnancy, referred for recent onset of hypertension. At presentation, we measured serum uric acid, creatinine, blood glucose, hemoglobin and platelet level, and 24-hour proteinuria, as well as office and 24-hour blood pressures.

Association of uric acid with change in kidney function in healthy normotensive individuals.

Background: Despite recent evidence, the role of uric acid as a causal factor in the pathogenesis and progression of kidney disease remains controversial, partly because of the inclusion in epidemiologic studies of patients with hypertension, diabetes, and/or proteinuria.

Study Design: Prospective observational cohort.

Setting & Participants: 900 healthy normotensive adult blood donors (153 women, 747 men) evaluated at baseline and after 5 years.

Microalbuminuria and uric acid in healthy subjects.

Background: Microalbuminuria has been linked to cardiovascular (CV) risk in patients with diabetes or hypertension, and in an unselected general population; serum uric acid (UA) is emerging as a novel risk factor for CV disease. The aim of our study was to evaluate the prevalence of excess microalbuminuria and its relation to established CV risk factors and serum UA in healthy subjects.

Methods: We screened 900 healthy blood donors (age range, 20-65 years; 747 men, 153 women), and measured total, HDL and LDL cholesterol, blood glucose, serum and urinary creatinine, serum UA, blood pressure (BP) and microalbuminuria (urinary albumin/creatinine ratio, ACR).

Theories and controversies on urine formation.

The theories of urine formation developed in the wake of progressing scientific knowledge in renal anatomy and physiology. From the philosophical theories which for a long time swung between vitalism and mechanism, the "scientific revolution" gave a great impulse to morpho/functional unit of kidney. Bowman's secretory hypothesis, as an expression of the vitalistic based theory, describes for the first time many features of the nephron and its blood supply.

Inflammation, infection and cardiovascular events in chronic hemodialysis patients: a prospective study.

Background: Cardiovascular (CV) disease is the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in chronic hemodialysis (HD) patients. Inflammation is a potent risk factor for CV disease in the general population. Recent evidence suggests infection, particularly with agents such as Chlamydia pneumoniae (C.