Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Western Sydney, 2001. / "Thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, University of Western Sydney, School of Nursing, Family and Community Health" Bibliography : leaves 315-342.

Dissertation (Ph.D.).--University of Texas Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences at San Antonio, 2007. / Vita. Briscoe Library received only one copy of this dissertation. It is shelved in the Archives for safekeeping. Includes bibliographical references.

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The kidney is an organ that plays a major role in the homeostasis of the body. The kidney has several roles such as fluid management, electrolyte balance, vitamin D production, blood pressure control, removal of wastes, red blood cell production, and pH balance. Damage to the kidney can result in severe comorbidities and even mortality. Currently, kidney disease affects over 800 million individuals today (United States Renal Data System, 2022). One of the primary methods to treat kidney disease is using dialysis as a form of renal replacement. The two current dialysis modalities are peritoneal dialysis and hemodialysis. The purpose of this thesis is to establish a background in the kidney, kidney disease, and dialysis. With this background, this thesis aims to present the advantages and disadvantages of each of the three dialysis access: arteriovenous grafts, arteriovenous fistulas, and central venous catheters. By exploring the creation methods, dialysis use, and patient perspective, this thesis has demonstrated that arteriovenous fistulas are the supreme access. However, arteriovenous grafts and central venous catheters provide important alternatives and should not be ignored.

silamud@gmail.com / Although the National Committee of Medical Residency (CONAREME) has increased the number of nephrology residency positions in Peru, the increase has not been proportional to the number of applicants. This is worrisome in an environment lacking of nephrologists, like our country. The Peruvian Society of Nephrology (SPN) should take the measures to make this specialty more attractive to Peruvian physicians. / Embora a Comissão Nacional de Especialização Médica (CONAREME) tenha aumentado o número de vagas para Nefrologia no Peru, não houve um aumento proporcional do número de participantes para esta especialidade, o que é preocupante em um contexto no qual são necessários mais nefrologistas no país. A Sociedade Peruana de Nefrologia (SPN) deve tomar medidas para tornar a nossa especialidade mais atraente para os médicos peruanos.

INTRODUCCIÓN: Desde la introducción del TARGA la historia natural de la infección por el virus de la inmunodeficiencia humana (VIH) ha cambiado. El descenso en eventos definitorios de SIDA y el aumentado en la supervivencia han hecho que estos pacientes presenten enfermedades órgano-terminales como enfermedad renal crónica (ERC). Existe poca información clínica y epidemiológica respecto los pacientes con infección por el VIH que están en terapia renal sustitutiva (diálisis o trasplante renal –TR-) en España y en Europa. OBJETIVO GENERAL: tener un mejor conocimiento global de la patología renal en pacientes con infección por el VIH; estudiar las características clínicas, epidemiológicas, la prevalencia, las tasas de supervivencia y los factores pronóstico de los pacientes con infección por el VIH y ERC que están en terapia renal sustitutiva en España y en Europa. MÉTODOS: se han realizado 3 estudios epidemiológicos de prevalencia (2 en España y uno en Europa), un estudio de cohortes retrospectivo para el análisis de la supervivencia y dos descripciones de la experiencia aislada con casos clínicos. RESULTADOS Y CONCLUSIONES: los resultados se recogen en 6 trabajos originales y 3 trabajos relacionados con esta tesis doctoral con las siguientes conclusiones: 1. Epidemiología del VIH en diálisis 1.1.- La prevalencia del VIH en centros de diálisis en España es del 0.54%, siendo superior en diálisis peritoneal respecto a hemodiálisis. 1.2.- Los pacientes con VIH en diálisis en España son jóvenes, de raza blanca, afectos de distintas glomerulonefritis no-NAVIH y con un buen control del VIH bajo TARGA. 1.3.- Los pacientes con VIH en diálisis en Europa son también jóvenes y con un buen control del VIH, pero con una mayor presencia de raza negra y de NAVIH como causa de ERC. 1.4.- Un 39.5% de pacientes con VIH en diálisis cumple criterios para su inclusión en lista de espera para TR, pero solo un 12% estaba en lista de espera. Las causas de exclusión más frecuentes están relacionadas con un mal control del VIH. 1.5.- Dos tercios de los pacientes con VIH en diálisis en España presentan coinfección por el VHC, al ser la transmisión parenteral la vía más frecuente. En Europa la transmisión sexual es más frecuente, siendo el porcentaje de coinfectados por el VHC muy inferior. 1.6.- Los pacientes coinfectados VIH/VHC en diálisis no presentan mayor mortalidad respecto a los monoinfectados por el VIH, pero sí tienen alguna característica diferencial, siendo la más importante el menor acceso al TR. 2. Supervivencia del VIH en diálisis 2.1.- La supervivencia a medio plazo de los pacientes con VIH en diálisis es inferior respecto a la población control sin VIH. 2.2.- Los factores asociados a mal pronóstico son la ausencia de una pauta efectiva de TARGA y estar en diálisis peritoneal respecto a hemodiálisis. 3. TR en pacientes con VIH 3.1.- El TR en pacientes con VIH en Europa tiene una prevalencia del 0.04%, siendo las tasas de supervivencia a medio plazo (de injerto y paciente) muy elevadas y similares a les series publicadas en pacientes sin VIH. 3.2.- La tasa de rechazo agudo en receptores europeos de TR con VIH fue del 30%, siendo superior a la de las series publicadas en pacientes sin VIH. 3.3.- El uso de timoglobulina como agente inductor en receptores de TR con VIH produce una rápida y profunda linfocitopenia que no se asoció a un mayor número de infecciones respecto a un grupo control sin VIH. 3.4.- El cambio de TARGA por una combinación que incluya raltegravir en el periodo post-trasplante es una estrategia segura y eficaz para el manejo del VIH por la ausencia de interacciones farmacológicas con inmunosupresores. 3.5.- El doble trasplante reno-pancreático es también posible en pacientes con VIH pero la experiencia es muy escasa. / BACKGROUND: Antiretroviral therapy (ART) has been immensely successful in reducing AIDS-events and death after HIV infection, raising the interest in non-infectious comorbidities including kidney disease. There is a lack of clinical and epidemiological data regarding kidney issues in HIV-infected patients. OBJECTIVE: to improve global knowledge on kidney diseases in HIV-infected patients, focusing on clinical and epidemiological issues (prevalence, survival and prognostic factors) among HIV infection on dialysis or renal transplantation (RT) in Spain and Europe. METHODS: the following studies were conducted: three cross-sectional prevalence studies, one retrospective survival cohort study and two descriptive case series experiences. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: the results are included in 6 original and 3 related studies with the following conclusions: 1.- Prevalence of HIV on dialysis units in Spain was 0.54% being higher on peritoneal dialysis. 2.- Spanish HIV-infected patients on dialysis were young males, with no-HIVAN glomerulonephritis and with a good control of HIV. In European patients a higher proportion of black race and HIVAN was found. 3.- 39.5% of HIV-infected patients on dialysis met criteria to be included on RT waiting list. Only 12% were already included. The most frequent exclusion criteria were related with poor control of HIV. 4.- HCV coinfection was present in 2/3 of HIV-infected patients on dialysis, was not associated with mortality but with lower access to RT. 5.- Survival of HIV-infected patients on dialysis was lower than that of matched HIV-negative patients. Factors related with poor prognosis were the absence of ART and peritoneal dialysis. 6.- Patients and graft survival rates of European HIV-infected RT recipients were similar to HIV-negative patients. Acute rejection was more frequent (30%). 7.- Thymoglobulin produced a profound lymphocytopenia that was not associated with increased risk of infections. 8.- Raltegravir had no interactions with immunosuppressants and can be used safely after transplant.

According to the progressive era and technical development, many industries have already input emerging technology. In the medical industry of Taiwan, most of the hospitals have set up the operating system, data management and case history in electric facilities. It can help to deliver the information more accuracy and convenient. However, there are still many traditional models in medical regulation. The main reason is that the processes of care usually involve face to face communication. Therefore, to insure safety to the patients, human observation and communication are needed in traditional concept. To give an example of inpatient healthcare, patients always need intimate observation and treatment because the function of ward is to keep the patients safe and easy to observe. In recent years, the tradition care models have been challenged by the lack of human resources and the rise of patient safety conscious. In consequence, the service quality of ward has also been focus. According to the official data record in 2007, there were 2 million people affected with Nephrology disease, and this population content 50 thousands patient of long term dialysis. Nephrology disease has become the most popular disease in Taiwan. This thesis is trying to focus on the huge amount of Nephrology patients, and enhance the care process with forward-looking solutions. After inducing traditional problems and collecting emerging technologies, this research is going to produce an emerging health care model on Nephrology inpatients. The conventional process of IO record, medicament allocation, fall injury prevention, nursing record and home care after discharged from hospital would be improved in many technologies, such as lover¡¦s cup, electric scale, barcode, RFID, urgent button, PDA, mobile nursing station, intouch message board and monitoring stool. Not only building the model, the evaluation of time cost, quality and innovative services would also discuss in the research to make the emerging health care model more suitable for clinical demand.

Background: Management of a transplant recipient involves the use of multiple immunosuppressant drugs. Currently there is no test that reflects the overall immune status of the patient. This results in under or over suppression of the immune system and consequently increases in morbidity and mortality rates. Evaluation of the proliferative response of PBMC's to a mitogen PHA by measurement of intracellular ATP was evaluated as a tool to assess the immune response in kidney transplant patients. Method: PBMC's were separated from the blood samples of healthy controls and kidney transplant patients on cyclosporine, sirolimus, and tacrolimus based regimens by density gradient centrifugation, cells were counted and incubated overnight with and without PHA. The luciferin-Iuciferase enzyme reaction which induces bioluminescence and the Turner Biosystem luminometer were used to measure intracellular ATP levels in relative light units (RLU). An A TP standard curve was generated for each test. Results: The ATP (nglml) levels measured in the transplant recipients were lower and statistically significantly different (p< 0.0001) than the healthy controls. No statistically significant difference was measured between the cycIosporine and sirolimus drug groups. Patients on tacrolimus gave a statistically significant (p<O.0001) stronger immune response than those receiving cyclosporine and sirolimus. Overall, the immune response results of kidney transplant patients were statistically significantly lower than the healthy control by 981 nglml. Linear regression analysis revealed no correlation between patient A TP (nglml) levels and therapeutic drug blood levels, immunosuppressant drug dosages, creatinine levels and white cell counts. The immune responses of patients who were diagnosed with infection or were clinically stable were characterised as low or moderate, of interest, one patient who was diagnosed with rejection was found to have a strong immune response (>501 nglml ATP). Conclusion: Future studies to determine the predictive value of the A TP assay in directing immunosuppressive therapy are required. The assay described in this study is simple, sensitive and rapid and has possible application in immunological monitoring in a variety of conditions that affects the immune system. Keywords: kidney transplantation, immunosuppression, bioluminescence, lymphocyte, Adenosine Triphosphate (A TP), Phytohemmagglutinin (PHA) / Thesis (M.Med.Sc.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2008.

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