Sleepiness and Health-Related Quality of Life Among Kidney Transplant Recipients in a Low-Middle Income Country: A Cross-Sectional Study.

This study aims to describe daytime sleepiness and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) among Lebanese kidney transplant (KT) recipients and to examine the medical, psychosocial and transplant factors related to them. It is a cross-sectional multi-center study involving KT recipients >18 years. Daytime sleepiness was assessed using ESS Questionnaire.

Collagenofibrotic glomerulopathy in a kidney transplant recipient: A first report.

Collagenofibrotic glomerulopathy (CG) is a rare disease characterized by the deposition of collagen type 3 fibrils in the glomeruli. Patients may have proteinuria, hematuria, and/or renal dysfunction. CG is considered a progressive disease with variable rates of progression.

Hungry bone syndrome two weeks after starting cinacalcet: a call for caution.

Cinacalcet is an effective and safe alternative to parathyroidectomy in end stage renal disease (ESRD) patients with secondary hyperparathyroidism. Hypocalcemia is a known complication of treatment that is usually readily reversible upon discontinuation of the drug. It rarely manifests severely and symptomatically requiring hospital admission.

Switching temporary hemodialysis catheters to long-term catheters: exchange versus de-novo placement, any difference in line infection? .

Background: Shifting from a short-term catheter to a long-term one is done either by removing the old catheter and placing a new long-term one via fresh new puncture site, or by replacing the old catheter with a long-term one over a guidewire.

Aim: We aimed to describe our technique in changing a temporary line to a long-term catheter (LTC) over a guidewire and to determine the incidence of line-related infections following this procedure.

Materials And Methods: A retrospective pilot study was conducted between 2005 and 2010 at the American University of Beirut Hospital.

Bibliometric trends in ophthalmology 1997-2009.

Aims: To track citation patterns in ophthalmic journals and contrast them with major medical and surgical journals from 1997 to 2009. In addition, we want to familiarize the ophthalmic community with bibliometrics indices.

Materials And Methods: Data retrieved from Institute for Scientific Information and related websites include 2-year journal impact factor JIF, 5-year impact, Eigenfactor score, H-factor, Article Influence score, and SCImago factor.

Bilateral multifocal posterior pole lesions in Reiter syndrome.

Reactive arthritis is associated with conjunctivitis or iritis. Rarely reactive arthritis is accompanied by permanent visual loss from macular infarction or foveal scarring. We present the case of a rheumatologist who had a sudden onset of skin lesions, arthritis of several joints and bilateral visual loss.

Laparoscopic donor nephrectomy: The Middle East experience.

Objectives: To summarize the experience of the Middle East in laparoscopic donor nephrectomy (LDN), to discuss the associated advantages and salient problems, to examine the learning curve encountered compared with that of the pioneering centres in the West, and the contribution of the regional centres to the worldwide experience.

Methods: We searched Medline and PubMed for all centres performing LDN in the Middle East. Questionnaires were e-mailed to the regional transplantation centres, and programme directors, and leading urological and transplant surgeons were contacted by telephone.

The impact of prophylactic antiviral agents and statin administration on graft longevity in kidney allograft recipients.

Context: In an earlier study, we compared the duration of kidney graft survival between two groups of recipients; one on triple (cyclosporine, prednisone and mycophenolate mofetil) and the other on quadruple (cyclosporine, prednisone, mycophenolate mofetil, and sirolimus) immunosuppressive therapy.

Objective: The aim of this study was to examine the impact of antiviral and statin therapy on graft longevity.

Materials And Methods: One hundred five kidney allograft recipients were preoperatively assessed for serological markers of infection with various viral agents.

Ocular coherence tomography of symptomatic phototoxic retinopathy after cataract surgery: a case report.

Introduction: High-resolution ocular coherence computed tomography enables unprecedented visualization of the retinal microarchitecture. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of high-resolution ocular coherence tomography findings in the healed form of photic post-cataract retinopathy.

Case Presentation: A 76-year-old Caucasian man complained of paracentral scotoma, persisting for six weeks after cataract surgery.

High-output cardiac failure secondary to a large arteriovenous fistula: a persistent threat to the dialysis and kidney transplant patient.

High-output cardiac failure secondary to a surgically constructed arteriovenous fistula (AVF) is a rare entity that is usually under-diagnosed in the dialysis population. We herein present a case of a 35-year-old female who was diagnosed with high-output cardiac failure secondary to an AVF and later managed with surgical division of the fistula. Risk factors associated with this entity are discussed, and preventive screening strategies are recommended.

Periocular corticosteroid in malignant hypertensive and preeclampsic choroidopathy.

Introduction: Disk edema and serous macular detachment in either malignant hypertension or preeclampsia require several weeks to resolve, leaving these young active affected subjects with unilateral or bilateral visual handicap.

Methods: The authors treated two patients with visual loss by sub-Tenon corticosteroid.

Results: Visual improvement occurred within 1 week of the periocular corticosteroid from finger counting at 6 m to 20/70 in a woman with preeclampsia and from bilateral 20/50 to 20/25 in the right eye and 20/20 in the left eye in a man with malignant hypertension.

Influence of HLA disparity, immunosuppressive regimen used, and type of kidney allograft on production of anti-HLA class-I antibodies after transplant and occurrence of rejection.

We studied the effects of HLA disparity, immunosuppressive regimen used, and the type of kidney allograft on production of anti-HLA antibodies after transplant and the occurrence of rejection episodes. Five living-unrelated donors and 4 living-related donors kidney recipients received quadruple therapy (including sirolimus and mycophenolate mofetil). Fifteen living-unrelated donors and 19 living-related donors received triple therapy (excluding sirolimus).

Characterization of a large Lebanese family segregating IgA nephropathy.

Background: Familial aggregation of IgA nephropathy (IgAN) suggests that genetic factors contribute to the development of this trait. Because clinical manifestations in IgAN families are often limited to episodic haematuria, large kindreds tractable to linkage analysis have been difficult to identify.

Methods: We identified a large Lebanese-Druze kindred ascertained via an index case with biopsy-documented IgAN.

The effect of hemodialysis on voice: an acoustic analysis.

Because respiration is part of the well-coordinated process necessary for phonation, this study was conducted with the purpose of analyzing the effect of chronic hemodialysis on voice characteristics of patients with chronic renal failure. A total of 57 patients were recruited for the study, including 31 males and 26 females ranging in age from 16 to 85 years. Patients underwent evaluation of their voice directly before and after hemodialysis using the Kay Elemetric VISI Pitch (Model 330; Kay Elemetric Corporation, Lincoln Park, New Jersey).