Effect of Dipeptidyl Peptidase-4 (DPP-4) Inhibition on Biomarkers of Kidney Injury and Vascular Calcification in Diabetic Kidney Disease: A Randomized Controlled Trial.

Introduction: Dipeptidyl peptidase-4 (DPP-4) inhibitors improve glycemic control and have pleiotropic effects on kidney injury, albuminuria, and vascular inflammation, especially in animal models. We evaluated the effects of a potent DPP4 inhibitor (gemigliptin) on these processes among patients with diabetic kidney disease (DKD).

Methods: This study employed a multicenter, prospective, randomized, placebo-controlled design.

Exfoliated mesothelial cell and CA-125 in automated peritoneal dialysis (APD) and continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (CAPD) patients.

Objective: Automated peritoneal dialysis (APD) becomes the first option for peritoneal dialysis, nowadays overtaking continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (CAPD) in many countries. The comparison of peritoneal membrane alteration in CAPD and APD is inconclusive. The authors therefore compared the peritoneal membrane changes in patients undergoing CAPD and APD.

Neutralizing antibody response after intradermal rabies vaccination in hemodialysis patients.

Abnormal immune function in chronic hemodialysis (HD) patients could impair immunologic responsiveness to various vaccinations. Such inadequate response makes the HD patients to be at risk of certain fatal but preventable diseases including rabies. Although the effectiveness of rabies vaccination has been established in healthy subjects, the responsiveness of the current rabies vaccination has never been examined in HD patients.

Is single-needle hemodialysis still a good treatment in end-stage renal disease?

Background: Single-needle (SN) dialysis has been accepted as one of the alternative modes of renal replacement therapy. Despite its advantages it is not widely practiced due to the belief of underdialysis by this technique. However, it is used routinely in many hemodialysis units.

The efficacy of single-needle versus double-needle hemodialysis in chronic renal failure.

Objective: The purpose of the present study was to assess single-needle dialysis adequacy and other parameters of dialysis efficiency, such as recirculation, hematocrit, calcium and phosphorus level. The complications and adverse events were also evaluated. Time to achieve maximal adequacy of dialysis were compared between 4, 4.

Accuracy of using 30-minute post-dialysis BUN to determine equilibrated Kt/V.

Background: The equilibrated Kt/V (eKt/V), a clinical index of hemodialysis adequacy, can be calculated by several means. The commonly used methods are second generation of natural logarithm by Daugirdas and rate adjustment methods. However these two methods used immediate post-dialysis blood urea nitrogen (BUN) (C0).

Elevated fibrinogen fragment levels in uremic plasma inhibit platelet function and expression of glycoprotein IIb-IIIa.

Hemostatic dysfunction is frequently noted in uremia, but the mechanisms responsible for it are poorly understood and are assumed to be multifactorial. Preliminary findings from our laboratory suggest that elevated levels of circulating fibrinogen fragments (FF) might contribute to the hemostatic defect in uremic patients. Defibrinated plasma obtained from chronic hemodialysis (HD) patients as well as normal subjects were examined by SDS-PAGE and immunoblotting and quantified by an immunoassay.

Inhibition of neointimal hyperplasia in vascular grafts by sustained perivascular delivery of paclitaxel.

Background: Neointimal hyperplasia occurs commonly at the anastomoses of arteriovenous grafts for chronic hemodialysis, causing stenosis and occlusion. Antiproliferative drugs may be effective in inhibiting hyperplasia, but local drug delivery would be required to minimize systemic side effects. We examined the feasibility of local drug delivery to inhibit neointimal hyperplasia at dialysis grafts in a canine model.

Hollow fiber shape alters solute clearances in high flux hemodialyzers.

The mass transfer properties of hemodialyzers containing hollow fiber membranes are known to be influenced by membrane chemical composition, surface area, and pore size; however, the effects of hollow fiber shape (or configuration) and packing density within the dialyzer housing have not been well characterized. We determined, both in vitro and ex vivo (clinical), solute clearances and mass transfer-area coefficients (KoA) for high flux dialyzers containing polysulfone hollow fibers of identical chemical composition but different shapes. Hemoflow F80A (1.