Identifying the main predictors of urine output in autosomal-dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD) patients taking tolvaptan.

Background: Few works have analyzed factors associated with urine output in ADPKD patients taking tolvaptan (TVP).

Methods: We selected 24-h urine samples from ADPKD patients treated with TVP. Urine osmolality/creatinine ratio was used as estimator of urinary osmolar load.

IFNγ⁻TNFα⁻IL2⁻MIP1α⁻CD107a⁺PRF1⁺ CD8 pp65-Specific T-Cell Response Is Independently Associated With Time to Death in Elderly Humans.

Persistent cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection has been suggested to be a major driving force in the immune deterioration and an underlying source of age-related diseases in the elderly. CMV antibody titers are associated with lower responses to vaccination, cardiovascular diseases, frailty, and mortality. CMV infection is also associated with shorter T-cell telomeres and replicative senescence.

Effect of temperature on bone tissue: histological changes.

The analysis of burned human remains has been of great interest among forensic anthropologists largely due to the difficulty that their recovery, classification, reconstruction, and identification present. The main purpose of this analysis is to present histological methodology for the interpretation of bones altered by thermal processes. We include analyses of the microscopic changes among bones exposed to different temperatures, with the goal of establishing categories of histological morphology in relation to fire temperature.

Thymic function failure and C-reactive protein levels are independent predictors of all-cause mortality in healthy elderly humans.

Relationship between thymic function and elderly survival has been suspected, despite the fact that formal proof is elusive due to technical limitations of thymic function-related markers. The newly described sj/β-TREC ratio allows now, by overcoming these limitations, an accurate measurement of thymic output in elderly humans. Thus, the aim of this study was to determine the impact of thymic function and inflammatory markers on healthy elderly human survival.

Relation between body mass index and bone mineral density among haemodialysis patients with chronic kidney disease.

Unlabelled: Renal osteodystrophy is a serious problem for patients with chronic kidney disease. Measurements of bone mineral density, T-score and Z-score were taken in the lumbar region and femur of 73 patients who were being treated on the haemodialysis programme. These measurements were compared with the anthropometric values of weight, height and body mass index (BMI) obtaining a positive correlation between them.

Initial experiments to develop a MEMS transducer for a new implantable audioprosthesis to substitute the tympanic-ossicular system.

Conclusion: We tested one prototype of a new audioprosthesis including the audioprocessor, the implemented algorithms and fitting platform in a small group of selected patients with mixed hypoacusis due to earlier bilateral radical mastoidectomy. It was effective to compensate the conductive and the neurosensory components of those patients. Results regarding the energy, frequency and other requirements of the output transduction make it possible to develop a suitable actuator with the available Micro-Electromechanic-Machine-System (MEMS) technology to substitute the conventional transducer of the prototype.

Thymic volume predicts CD4 T-cell decline in HIV-infected adults under prolonged treatment interruption.

Objective: To analyze the predictive capacity of thymic volume in CD4 T-cell loss after treatment interruption in HIV-infected patients with high nadir CD4 count.

Methods: Thirty-nine HIV-infected patients with CD4 counts greater than or equal to 500 cells/microL, nadir CD4 counts greater than or equal to 250 cells/microL, and plasma viral loads less than 50 copies/mL for at least the past 12 months began a treatment interruption program. The event of interest for this study was the decrease of CD4 count below 350 cells/microL.

HIV-1 drug resistance: degree of underestimation by a cross-sectional versus a longitudinal testing approach.

Genotyping of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) for antiretroviral drug resistance is routinely used both in clinical practice, to guide the selection of options for an individual's antiretroviral therapy, and in epidemiological studies, to estimate levels of antiretroviral drug resistance in a patient population. However, reliance on results of a single test can result in an underestimation of antiretroviral drug resistance. In the present study, we quantified the prevalence of resistance-associated mutations found in recent genotypic tests of 1734 HIV-1-infected, treatment-experienced subjects who had at least 3 genotypic tests (n = 11,404 genotypic tests total; median, 5 tests/subject) and compared it with that of resistance-associated mutations ever detected in these subjects between 1996 and 2004.

Long-term suppression of plasma viremia with highly active antiretroviral therapy despite virus evolution and very limited selection of drug-resistant genotypes.

HIV-1 evolution and the possible emergence of mutations associated with resistance to antiretroviral inhibitors have been evaluated in a cohort of sixty-three patients successfully treated with highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART). The patients under effective HAART were recruited in three different hospitals in Spain, and none of them had been treated (naïve) before entering this study. HIV-1 RNA levels, CD4+, and CD8+ T-cell counts were determined, and nucleotide sequences of proviral regions encoding protease and reverse transcriptase (RT) were obtained for longitudinal blood samples spanning a mean follow-up period of 88 weeks.

Provider bias in the selection of non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor and protease inhibitor-based highly active antiretroviral therapy and HIV treatment outcomes in observational studies.

Objective: To compare the characteristics of patients prescribed non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NNRTI) and protease inhibitors (PI), and evaluate treatment outcomes in a setting in which nevirapine has been preferentially recommended since 1998.

Methods: A population-based analysis of antiretroviral-naive adults who started highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) between 1 August 1996 and 31 July 2000, and who were followed until 31 March 2002. We compared baseline characteristics, and evaluated virological responses and mortality.

Long-term virological outcome and resistance mutations at virological rebound in HIV-infected adults on protease inhibitor-sparing highly active antiretroviral therapy.

Objective: To assess the durability of the undetectability of HIV plasma viraemia (pV) and to determine the factors associated with virological rebound (VR) in HIV-infected adults on protease inhibitor (PI)-sparing highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART). The development of resistance mutations during virologically successful therapy and VR was also analysed.

Materials And Methods: One hundred and twenty-six HIV-infected adults on PI-sparing HAART were prospectively followed from April 1998 to December 2002: Group 1, naive for antiretroviral drugs (n = 26); Group 2, previously PI-HAART-exposed patients (n = 19); Group 3, previously exposed to suboptimal therapy (n = 81).

Comparison of thymic function-related markers to predict early CD4 T-cell repopulation in adult HIV-infected patients on HAART.

The aim of this work was to compare thymic function-related markers for predicting early CD4 T-cell repopulation in adult HIV-infected patients under HAART. Forty-three consecutive antiretroviral-naive patients were prospectively analysed for clinical, biochemical, immunological and virological parameters at starting HAART, and followed for 4 weeks and every 12 weeks thereafter. At baseline, all patients underwent a thoracic computer tomography scan, in order to measure thymic volume, as well, T-cell phenotype (naive CD4 and CD8 T cells) and the number of TREC-bearing cells were obtained.

Endogenous IL-7 is associated with increased thymic volume in adult HIV-infected patients under highly active antiretroviral therapy.

Objective: Immune reconstitution after highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) in HIV-infected patients has led to an increase in the number of new CD4 T lymphocytes. Neolymphopoiesis in the thymus has been proposed as a mechanism in T-cell regeneration. Nevertheless, factors involved in the regeneration of T cells by thymic-dependent pathways in HIV-infected patients under HAART are still unknown and might be of relevance in HIV infection.

Baseline thymic volume is a predictor for CD4 T cell repopulation in adult HIV-infected patients under highly active antiretroviral therapy.

The objective of the present study was to assess the impact of baseline thymic volume on the CD4 cell repopulation induced by highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) in HIV-infected adults. Therefore, 37 previously untreated HIV-1-infected adults were prospectively followed from August 1998 to September 2001. All patients underwent a thorax CT scan at starting HAART to measure thymic volume.

Evidence of thymic function in heavily antiretroviral-treated human immunodeficiency virus type 1-infected adults with long-term virologic treatment failure.

Thymic function was evaluated in 32 heavily antiretroviral-treated human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1)-infected adults with long-term virologic treatment failure by measuring thymic volume, by determining the absolute number of naive T cell phenotypes, and by determining the number of cells carrying T cell receptor excision circles (TRECs). There was a significant inverse correlation between age and thymic volume (r=-0.415; P=.

Incidence of and risk factors for symptomatic visceral leishmaniasis among human immunodeficiency virus type 1-infected patients from Spain in the era of highly active antiretroviral therapy.

The way in which the extensive use of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) has influenced the incidence of visceral leishmaniasis (VL) among human immunodeficiency type 1 (HIV-1)-infected patients is not yet understood. The present study assessed whether the incidence of symptomatic VL in HIV-infected patients has decreased since the introduction of HAART. Likewise, the role of other potential risk factors for VL was also analyzed.