Early referral to a nephrology unit and/or early diagnosis of ESRD results in better biochemical variables, shorter first hospitalization length and a higher percentage of elective construction of AVF and the availability to start with an alternative dialysis modality (i.e. CAPD).
Objective: This study was designed to compare the oxidative stress parameters of patients with polycythemia vera (PV) to those of healthy volunteers and to investigate the probable relationship between vascular events and parameters of oxidative status such as total oxidative status (TOS), total antioxidant status, oxidative stress index (OSI) and malondialdehyde (MDA) in PV patients. Material and Methods: Thirty-five PV patients (20 males and 15 females) and 20 healthy volunteers (11 males and 9 females) were enrolled. The oxidative status parameters of the patients were measured by spectrophotometric analyses at the time of diagnosis and at 6 months after treatment which consisted of phlebotomy and 100 mg/day acetyl salicylic acid with or without hydroxyurea for the high- and low-risk disease group, respectively. These parameters were compared both to healthy controls and to each other, in order to obtain the values before and after treatment. In addition, during diagnosis, the oxidative status parameters of patients with PV and a history of a vascular event were compared with those of patients with no history of a vascular event. Results: The TOS, OSI and MDA values were significantly higher in the patients than in the control group at the time of diagnosis. At 6 months after phlebotomy and 100 mg/day acetyl salicylic acid therapy, the TOS, OSI and MDA values were significantly lower in the patients when compared to the pretreatment values. The TOS and OSI levels were notably higher in the patients with a vascular-event history than in those without this history. Conclusion: Oxidative stress parameters were increased in PV patients.
Aim To investigate the effects of fibrovascular traction and the pooling of tears at the pterygium apex on the corneal topographic changes induced by pterygium. Methods A total of 16 eyes of 14 cases with primary pterygium were included in the study. A computerized corneal topography system was used for corneal topography examinations. Baseline keratographs were taken two times at straight gaze. A repeat corneoscope photograph was immediately obtained in temporal gaze. Then the tears at the pterygium apex were dried with a cellulose sponge, and a new corneoscope photograph was immediately obtained without allowing one to blink. Corneal topographic maps (numeric maps) were divided into 301 fields in 24 meridians. One colour was allocated to each field, representing its mean refractive power for all groups. In all eyes, keratometric astigmatism at the 3 mm central cornea and total mean corneal refractive power were found. Data were compared using pairedsamples two-tailed t-tests.Results Keratometric astigmatism at the 3 mm central cornea was significantly reduced at the temporal gaze (3.1072.34 D, t ¼ 3.40, P ¼ 0.027) and dried eyes (2.1271.01 D, t ¼ 4.74, P ¼ 0.001) according to the first baseline measurement (4.3171.91 D) of the total mean corneal refractive power was found to be 43.4571.28 D (39.29-45.87) at the first baseline measurement. There was no change at the temporal gaze (43.5471.06 D, P40.05). However, the total corneal refractive power was significantly higher in dried eyes (44.2670.93 D, t ¼ 34.92, Po0.001). The steepest region of corneal topography was a superior quadrant, and the flattest area was a nasal quadrant at the baseline. At the temporal gaze, the cornea was significantly flatter in the superior and inferior sides of the pterygium meridian. After dried pooling of tears, topographic abnormalities returned, and the cornea became more uniform and symmetric. Conclusion We conclude that the pooling of tears at the pterygium apex plays an important role, but fibrovascular traction has no effect on the corneal topographical changes induced by pterygium.
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