Among patients with midline abdominal incisional hernias, mesh repair is superior to suture repair with regard to the recurrence of hernia, regardless of the size of the hernia.

No abstract

Dosage regimens of drugs that are cleared mainly by glomerular filtration as well as fluid management in preterm infants should be based on the glomerular filtration rate (GFR) of the individual patient. However, GFR measurements and collection of urine in newborns are difficult to perform. The 24 to 48 h continuous inulin infusion technique does not require the collection of urine and is considered the most reliable indicator of GFR.1,2 This method is invasive, time-consuming, and expensive. In contrast, serum creatinine measurements can be obtained easily and determined quickly in the clinical chemistry laboratory. Most laboratories use an automated kinetic Jaffé method, which is subject to negative interference by plasma hemoglobin above 0.06 mmol/L, and to negative interference by bilirubin (about 35 µmol/L by a serum bilirubin of about 100 µmol/L).

We assessed the relationship between protein intake (calculated from a 3-day prospective dietary diary) and 24-h urinary urea excretion in 37 children with chronic renal failure. Protein intake was not restricted during the investigation period. The 24-h urinary urea excretion correlated poorly with the protein intake estimated from the dietary diary (r = 0.58). We conclude that although it is common practice to assess compliance with a protein-restricted diet in children with chronic renal failure with a dietary diary and 24-h urinary urea excretion, the value of this assessment is questionable.