A Pilot Phase 2 Randomized Trial to Evaluate the Safety and Potential Efficacy of Etravirine in Friedreich Ataxia Patients.

Background: A drug repositioning effort supported the possible use of the anti-HIV drug etravirine as a disease-modifying drug for Friedreich ataxia (FRDA). Etravirine increases frataxin protein and corrects the biochemical defects in cells derived from FRDA patients. Because of these findings, and since etravirine displays a favorable safety profile, we conducted a pilot open-label phase 2 clinical trial assessing the safety and potential efficacy of etravirine in FRDA patients.

Growth hormone therapy in children born small for gestational age: results from the ANSWER program.

Growth hormone (GH) is used to treat short stature and growth failure associated with growth disorders. Birth size and GH status variably modulate response to GH therapy. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of birth size on response to GH therapy, and to determine the impact of GH status in patients born small for gestational age (SGA) on response to GH therapy.

[ST-segment elevation in leads aVR and V1 during exercise test: a case report].

Exercise test is the first-line tool for the diagnosis of ischemic heart disease. Presently, high technology tests would appear to have lessened the value of this test. We report a case in which ST-segment abnormalities during exercise (ST-segment elevation in leads aVR and V1) allowed us to define the presence and severity of coronary artery disease.

Cholesterol emboli syndrome in type 2 diabetes: the disease history of a case evaluated with renal scintigraphy.

Background: Cholesterol crystal emboli syndrome (CCE) is an emerging disease, whose progression reflects the currently observed increase in cardiovascular diseases. Diagnostic criteria shifted from pathological to clinical criteria: creatinine increase, skin lesions, recent endovascular interventions and severe vasculopathy). Diabetes, hypertension and diffuse vascular disease are inter-linked, major risk factors.

Efficacy of an educational programme for secondary school students on opinions on renal transplantation and organ donation: a randomized controlled trial.

Context: Organ shortage for transplantation is a crucial problem; educational interventions may increase donations and decrease opposition.

Objective: To test the efficacy of an educational programme on opinions on organ transplantation and kidney donation.

Design And Participants: Cluster Randomized Controlled Trial: eight intervention and eight control schools were randomly selected from the 33 public schools that agreed to participate.

Teenagers' point of view on living donor kidney transplantation: Cinderella or princess?

Unlabelled: Living kidney donation is an important clinical option, encountering different fortunes in the world.

Aim: To analyse the opinions of a large subset of older teenagers attending high school (7999 students, median age 18) on different aspects of living kidney transplantation.

Methods: Analysis of semistructured questionnaires submitted within an educational campaign on dialysis and transplantation in the high schools of Torino and its county (about 2,000,000 inhabitants).

N-cadherin juxtamembrane domain modulates voltage-gated Ca2+ current via RhoA GTPase and Rho-associated kinase.

The juxtamembrane domain (JMD) of N-cadherin cytoplasmic tail is an important regulatory region of the clustering and adhesion activities of the protein. In addition, the JMD binds a diversity of proteins capable of modifying intracellular processes including cytoskeletal rearrangement mediated by Rho GTPases. These GTPases also function as regulators of voltage-activated calcium channels, which in turn modulate neuronal excitability.

Continuum of therapy in progressive renal diseases (from predialysis to transplantation): analysis of a new organizational model.

In the aging of Western populations, decreased mortality is counterbalanced by an increase in morbidity, particularly involving chronic diseases such as most renal diseases. The price of the successful care of chronic conditions, such as cardiovascular diseases or diabetes, is a continuous increase in new dialysis patients. However, the increased survival of patients on chronic renal replacement therapies poses new challenges to nephrologists and calls for new models of care.

Patient referral is influenced by dialysis centre structure in the Diamant Alpin Dialysis cohort study.

Background: Late referral (LR) to the nephrologist of patients with progressing chronic kidney disease (CKD) has numerous deleterious effects and is observed in many countries. The contributing factors associated with LR are controversial and poorly defined. We hypothesized that these factors might be better identified by analysing patients starting dialysis in three distinct European countries within the same area.

Vascular access survival and morbidity on daily dialysis: a comparative analysis of home and limited care haemodialysis.

Background: Concerns about vascular access failure may have limited the widespread use of daily haemodialysis (DHD). We assessed the incidence and type of vascular access complications during DHD and other schedules, both at home and on limited care haemodialysis.

Methods: All patients were treated in a limited care and home haemodialysis unit with a stable caregiver team (November 1998-November 2002).

Home hemodialysis à la carte: a tailormade program (1998-2003).

Background: There are good epidemiological (increased numbers of dialysis patients), economical (renal replacement therapy (RRT) costs) and clinical reasons (new highly efficient schedules) to reconsider the choice of home hemodialysis (HD).

Study Aim: Analysis of the results and costs of a flexible, tailormade home dialysis program (1998-2003).

Setting: Home HD facility of the University of Turin-Italy.

Lost to follow-up: the bottleneck of early referral to renal units?

Background: Early referral is a major goal in chronic kidney diseases; however, loss to follow-up, potentially limiting its advantages, has never been studied.

Material/methods: In order to assess the prevalence and causes of loss to follow-up, a telephone inquiry was performed in a renal outpatient unit, mainly dedicated to early referral of diabetic patients. Patients were considered to be in follow-up if there was at least one check-up in the period February 2001-February 2002, and lost to follow-up if the last check-up had occurred in the previous year.

Flexibility as an implementation strategy for a daily dialysis program.

Background: Daily hemodialysis (DHD) is an interesting dialysis option, experienced worldwide by only a few hundred patients, because of clinical and logistic limitations. This study describes the main clinical and implementation results of a flexible policy applied in starting a DHD program.

Methods: The setting is the University Nephrology Center of Turin, Italy (approximately 150 hemodialysis and 50 peritoneal dialysis (PD) patients) where in November 1998 a short daily DHD program was started.

Role of protein kinase C in light adaptation of molluscan microvillar photoreceptors.

The mechanisms by which Ca2+ regulates light adaptation in microvillar photoreceptors remain poorly understood. Protein kinase C (PKC) is a likely candidate, both because some sub-types are activated by Ca2+ and because of its association with the macromolecular 'light-transduction complex' in Drosophila. We investigated the possible role of PKC in the modulation of the light response in molluscan photoreceptors.

Patients on renal replacement therapy for 20 or more years: a clinical profile.

Background: Long-term survivors are living evidence of the goals and limits of renal replacement therapy (RRT).

Methods: A cross-sectional study was performed on all cases (188 patients) with RRT follow-up >/=20 years in Piemonte, northern Italy (4 350 000 inhabitants, 22 dialysis centres). Study included revision of clinical charts and assessment of functional (Karnofsky scale, Ks) and nutritional status (subjective global assessment, SGA).