An establishment of vascular access through superior vena cava for a patient with multiple central venous stenosis or occlusion.

The patency of vascular access is of vital importance to dialysis patients. Access dysfunction is largely caused by vessel stenosis and thrombosis. Nephrologists usually find themselves helpless when all treatments fail and the vascular access seems to have exhausted.

Dual Blockade of the Renin-angiotensin-aldosterone System in Type 2 Diabetic Kidney Disease.

Objective: To examine the efficacy and safety of dual blockade of the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system (RAAS) among patients with type 2 diabetic kidney disease.

Data Sources: We searched the major literature repositories, including the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, MEDLINE and EMBASE, for randomized clinical trials published between January 1990 and October 2015 that compared the efficacy and safety of the use of dual blockade of the RAAS versus the use of monotherapy, without applying any language restrictions. Keywords for the searches included "diabetic nephropathy," "chronic kidney disease," "chronic renal insufficiency," "diabetes mellitus," "dual therapy," "combined therapy," "dual blockade," "renin-angiotensin system," "angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor," "angiotensin-receptor blocker," "aldosterone blockade," "selective aldosterone blockade," "renin inhibitor," "direct renin inhibitor," "mineralocorticoid receptor blocker," etc.

[Ambulatory arterial stiffness index and associated factors in patients with diabetic kidney disease].

Objective: To compare arterial stiffness between diabetic kidney disease and non-diabetic kidney diseaseand to identify factors predicting ambulatory arterial stiffness index (AASI).

Methods: Forty-four patients with diabetic kidney disease (DKD group) and thirty-one patients with non-diabetic kidney disease (NDKD group) were recruited for this study. All of the participants had hypertension.