The neglectable impact of delayed graft function on long-term graft survival in kidneys donated after circulatory death associates with superior organ resilience

Objective: To explore putative different impacts of delayed graft function (DGF) on long-term graft survival in kidneys donated after brain death (DBD) and circulatory death (DCD). Background: Despite a 3-fold higher incidence of DGF in DCD grafts, large studies show equivalent long-term graft survival for DBD and DCD grafts. This observation...

Self-Monitoring Kidney Function Post Transplantation: Reliability of Patient-Reported Data

Background: The high frequency of outpatient visits after kidney transplantation is burdensome to both the recovering patient and health care capacity. Self-monitoring kidney function offers a promising strategy to reduce the number of these outpatient visits. Objective: The objective of this study was to investigate whether it is safe to rely...

Application of a point of care creatinine device for trend monitoring in kidney transplant patients: Fit for purpose?

Background: The StatSensor® Xpress-i™, a point-of-care system for blood creatinine measurement, offers patients the possibility of self-monitoring creatinine. In this study, the analytical performance of the StatSensor® for both detecting current renal function and monitoring renal (dys)function in kidney transplant patients was examined....

Patient experiences with self-monitoring renal function after renal transplantation: results from a single-center prospective pilot study

Background: After a kidney transplantation, patients have to visit the hospital often to monitor for early signs of graft rejection. Self-monitoring of creatinine in addition to blood pressure at home could alleviate the burden of frequent outpatient visits, but only if patients are willing to self-monitor and if they adhere to the self...

Antagomir-mediated silencing of endothelial cell specific microRNA-126 impairs ischemia-induced angiogenesis

MicroRNAs are negative regulators of gene expression that play a key role in cell-type specific differentiation and modulation of cell function and have been proposed to be involved in neovascularization. Previously, using an extensive cloning and sequencing approach, we identified miR-126 to be specifically and highly expressed in human...

Complement activation by tubular cells is mediated by properdin binding

Activation of filtered complement products on the brush border of the tubular epithelium is thought to be a key factor underlying proteinuria-induced tubulointerstitial injury. However, the mechanism of tubular complement activation is still unclear. Recent studies on mechanisms of complement activation indicate a key role for properdin in the...

CD34+ cells home, proliferate, and participate in capillary formation, and in combination with CD34- cells enhance tube formation in a 3-dimensional matrix

Objective - Emerging evidence suggests that human blood contains bone marrow (BM)-derived endothelial progenitor cells that contribute to postnatal neovascularization. Clinical trials demonstrated that administration of BM-cells can enhance neovascularization. Most studies, however, used crude cell populations. Identifying the role of different...

An integrated evaluation of endothelial constitutive nitric oxide synthase polymorphisms and coronary artery disease in men

In the present study, we sought to evaluate the role of three polymorphisms in the ecNOS (endothelial constitutive nitric oxide synthase) gene in relation to the existence, severity and progression of CAD (coronary artery disease), MI (myocardial infarction) and the occurrence of ischaemia in a predominantly Caucasian population. Patients with...