BACKGROUND Meeting specific guideline targets is associated with improved survival rates and reduced hospitalizations in the dialysis population. This prospective work evaluated the adequacy of hemodialysis quality indicators in an in-center hemodialysis population with severe comorbidities, and assessed whether clinical practice could impact intermediate outcomes. METHODS All the chronic hem...

BACKGROUND Vitamin D plays a role in reproductive capacity. Recently, several investigators have demonstrated higher IVF pregnancy rates in vitamin D replete women. The objective of this study was to validate these findings and to further elucidate the role of vitamin D in reproduction among a diverse group of women. METHODS This was a retrospective cohort study in an academic tertiary care c...

BACKGROUND Undenutrition is known to be prevalent and largely unrecognised in older patients; however, aberrations in indicators of nutritional status may simply reflect effects of age and/or functional disability. OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to measure the effect, if any of age on nutritional status in older patients. DESIGN 445 randomly selected hospitalised patients consented to ...

To study vitamin D (25OH D3 ) in relation to (i) microbial translocation (ii) systemic inflammation and (iii) blood lipid markers, in Caucasian, well-controlled HIV patients and healthy controls, plasma and serum samples from n = 97 male, HIV patients on HAART with immeasurable viral load (<20 copies/ml) since median 6.5 years and no concurrent inflammatory or infectious disease and n = 30 heal...

Coeliac disease is a gluten-sensitive enteropathy of varying severity. Osteomalacia and hypocalcaemia can result from malabsorption of vitamin D and calcium, which, in turn, can lead to secondary hyperparathyroidism. If coeliac disease remains untreated for long, tertiary hyperparathyroidism can also develop through autonomy of the parathyroid glands via chronic stimulation. Primary hyperpara...

Introduction: Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is the most common endocrinological disorder in women of reproductive age group. It is the leading cause of infertility in females presenting a wide range of clinical manifestations. Aim: To investigate the glycaemic status, calcium, phosphorus, insulin and 25OH vitamin D levels in women with polycystic ovary syndrome and to compare these parameter...

BACKGROUND Vitamin D status generally varies seasonally with changing solar UVB radiation, time in the sun, amount of skin exposed, and, possibly, diet. The Seasonal D Study was designed to quantify the amplitude and phase of seasonal variation in the serum concentration of 25-hydroxyvitamin D, (25OH)D)) and identify the determinants of the amplitude and phase and those of inter-individual vari...

An essential element of the innate immune response to injury is the capacity to recognize microbial invasion and stimulate production of antimicrobial peptides. We investigated how this process is controlled in the epidermis. Keratinocytes surrounding a wound increased expression of the genes coding for the microbial pattern recognition receptors CD14 and TLR2, complementing an increase in cath...

Vitamin D deficiency is an important problem in patients with chronic conditions including those with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection. The aim of this cross-sectional study was to identify the prevalence and factors associated with vitamin D deficiency and hyperparathyroidism in HIV patients attended in Barcelona. Cholecalciferol (25OH vitamin D3) and PTH levels were measured. Vita...

AIM The relationship between depression in adolescents and vitamin D was studied in a case-series that included effects of vitamin D supplementation. METHODS Serum 25OH vitamin D (25OHD) levels in 54 Swedish depressed adolescents were investigated. Subjects with vitamin D deficiency were given vitamin D(3) over 3 months (n = 48). To evaluate well-being and symptoms related to depression and v...