Home hemodialysis (HHD) is superior to in-center hemodialysis (ICHD) in terms of survival, quality of life, and cost-effectiveness. However, assistance from family members in performing HHD is not always available to patients, and professional assistance for HHD can be cost prohibitive. For certain patients, ICHD can be impractical due to difficulties in transportation, which may necessitate am...

[Purpose] The purpose of this study was to determine whether the intensity of static stretching measured quantitatively is related to subjects' perception of pain. [Subjects and Methods] Sixty-eight participants were recruited. Static stretching was performed once for 30 seconds while maintaining the knee at 0° flexion and was continued to the point where pain was recognized. The intensity of s...

BACKGROUND This study examines the patients' need for information and guidance in the selection of dialysis modality, and in establishing and practicing home dialysis. The study focuses on patients' experiences living with home dialysis, how they master the treatment, and their views on how to optimize communication with health services and the potential of telemedicine. METHODS We used an in...

Lassa virus (LASV), the causative agent of Lassa fever (LF), is endemic in West Africa, accounting for substantial morbidity and mortality. In spite of ongoing research efforts, LF pathogenesis and mechanisms of LASV immune control remain poorly understood. While normal laboratory mice are resistant to LASV, we report that mice expressing humanized instead of murine MHC class I (MHC-I) failed t...

INTRODUCTION Hand-held dynamometry (HHD) has never previously been used to examine isometric muscle power. Rate of force development (RFD) is often used for muscle power assessment, however no consensus currently exists on the most appropriate method of calculation. The aim of this study was to examine the reliability of different algorithms for RFD calculation and to examine the intra-rater, i...

Muscarinic receptors of resistance vessels (submucosal arterioles, outside diameter 50-75 microns) from the guinea-pig small intestine were investigated in vitro using a computer-assisted videomicroscopy system (Diamtrak). The muscarinic receptor which mediates vasodilation of precontracted [U-46619 (300 nM) or (-)-noradrenaline (10 microM)] arterioles was characterized with several muscarinic ...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES This study was undertaken by the American Association of Kidney Patients (AAKP) to better understand ESRD patients' satisfaction with their current renal replacement therapy (RRT) and the education they received before initiating therapy. DESIGN, SETTING, PARTICIPANTS, & MEASUREMENTS In addition to an open invitation on the AAKP website, nearly 9000 ESRD patients rec...

AIMS To investigate whether Annexin A5 (AnxA5) is related to hypertensive heart disease (HHD) and whether this relation is dependent of apoptosis. METHODS AND RESULTS Hypertensives without cardiac abnormalities (stage A), with left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) (stage B), and with LVH and clinical manifestations of chronic HF (stage C), were studied. AnxA5 was quantified in endomyocardial bio...

Whereas humanized mouse models have contributed significantly to human immunology research, human T cells developing in mouse thymic environment fail to demonstrate HLA-restricted function. To achieve HLA-restricted human immune response, we created an immune-compromised non-obese diabetic/SCID/IL2rg strain (NSG) with homozygous expression of HLA class I heavy chain and light chain (NSG-HLA-A2/...