Immune status of an individual depends on the organism's nutritional status as well as on the choice of nutrients that enter the body. Malnutrition and HIV progression are closely linked and require an active cooperation between infectious disease physicians and nutritionist. It has been noticed that patients with HIV that receive antiretroviral therapy have a significantly greater loss of body weight, and therefore need an adequate diet modification. Oxidative stress represents an important etiological factor in diseases of immune deficiency, so that antioxidant agents (Vitamin A, Vitamin E, Vitamin B12 and certain minerals, such as zinc and selenium) are crucial factors in HIV dietotherapy. Polyphenols from cocoa beans as well as from green and black tea (catechins and teaflavins) have an important role in disease progress modification as well as disease transmission prevention. The patients also need their probiotic intestinal flora to be encouraged to grow properly in order to prevent opportunistic infections. All of these nutrition elements are already in use in prevention, therapy and alleviation of HIV symptoms, and further science development will make a personal diet modification for each patient possible.

Arterial hypertension is a major risk factor that predisposes to cardiovascular disorders and is responsible for most of the morbidity and mortality in patients. Hypertension is closely associated with the kidney, because kidney disease can be both the cause and consequence of increased blood pressure. Elevation of blood pressure is a strong independent risk factor for hypertensive nephropathy and development of ESRD. The pathogenesis of ischemic hypertensive nephropathy (IHN) is multifactoral, and in addition to blood pressure other factors contribute to the development of this renal pathology and its progression to end-stage renal disease. These include obesity, smoking, male gender and other still unknown risk factors.The aim of this paper was to analyse the association between essential arterial hypertension and renal hypertensive disease and prevalence of other atherosclerotic risk factors in patients with developed hypertensive renal disease.In this prospective cross sectional study 283 patients of both genders with diagnosed essential hypertension and hypertensive renal disease were analysed. The anamnestic data related to age, duration of hypertension, history of smoking, presence of hypertensive retinopathy, hypertrophy of the left chamber and data about previous renal diseases were collected through conversation and medical documentation. The clinical examination comprise determination of blood pressure, body mass index (BMI), lipid parameters (total cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, HDL cholesterol and triglycerides), serum urea and creatinine, urine, albumin and protein concentration.The total number of 283 patients (185 males and 98 females) with HN was analyzed. The analysis revealed significantly higher proportion of males aged over 60 years with IHN. The mean age of examined hypertensive patients with IHN is 62.6±8.8 years with duration of hypertension 19.8±5.9 years. All examined patients had hypertensive retinopathy and hypertrophy of the left chamber. The majority of the examined patients (78.6%) with IHN were overweight with BMI 25-30kg/m 2 . Dyslipidemia was registered in 75% and smoking in 75% of hypertensive patients with IHN. The most common lipid disorders were hypertrigliceridemia with hypercholesterolemia found in 42.1% and combined dyslipidemia in 25.8%. Family history of arterial hypertension (AH) was registered in all patients with IHN.The correlation analysis revealed a significant positive association between family history of HTA (r=0.62, p<0.05), smoking (r=0.53, p<0.05) and combined dyslipidemia (hypertrigliceridemia and hypercholesterolemia) (r=0.45, p<0.05) with occurrence of IHN.Hypertensive nephropathy predominatly occurs in older hypertensive males with developed hypertensive micro-and macrovascular complications. The family history of AH, smoking and lipid disorders, especially combined dyslipidemia are very common risk factors associated with hypertensive nephropathy. Prevention and therapy of these risk factors is an important task in reduction of hypertensive nephropathy.

The Significance of Urinary Markers in the Evaluation of Diabetic Nephropathy Oxidative stress is considered to be a unifying link between diabetes mellitus (DM) and its complications, including nephropathy (DN). The aim of this study was to determine the parameters of oxidative injury of lipids and proteins as well as the activity of ectoenzymes in the urine of DN patients. The study included 40 individuals: 10 patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus and microalbuminuria (DMT2-MIA), 10 type 2 diabetic patients with macroalbuminuria (DMT2-MAA), 10 patients with type 1 diabetes and microalbuminuria (DMT1-MIA) and 10 age- and sex-matched healthy subjects (control). In the urine we determined TBA reactive substances (TBARS), reactive carbonyl groups (RCG), and the activity of ectoenzymes N-acetyl-β-d-glucosaminidase (NAG), plasma cell differentiation antigen (PC-1), aminopeptidase N (APN) and dipeptidyl peptidase IV (DPP IV). A higher concentration of TBARS in the urine was found in DMT2-MIA and DMT1-MIA, compared to the control group (p<0.001 and P<0.05). The urine concentration of RCD shows similar results with a significant elevation in the groups with DMT2-MAA and DMT1-MIA, compared to the DMT2-MIA (p<0.001) and control group (p<0.001). Activities of NAG, APN and DPPIV were significantly higher in the urine of DMT2-MAA, compared to the control (p<0.01). The activity of PC-1 was slightly increased in that group, but not significantly. In conclusion, the level of oxidative stress markers and activities of brush border ectoenzymes in the urine may be a useful non-invasive and easily repeatable test in DN.

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