Measures of small and large artery dysfunction have not been investigated in a single cohort for the prediction of cardiovascular (CV) events in patients with nondialysed (ND) chronic kidney disease (CKD). This prospective cohort study aimed to determine whether central pulse wave velocity (cPWV), central pulse pressure (CPP) or microvascular post-occlusive reactive hyperaemia area (PORHHA) independently predict CV events and mortality in CKD-ND. A total of 94 stage 1-5 CKD-ND (65.3±13.1 years; estimated glomerular filtration rate 35.3 (22.8-49.4) ml min(-1) per 1.73 m(2)) patients were followed-up for a median of 52 (36-65) months and had baseline cPWV and CPP measured by applanation tonometry and PORHHA by laser Doppler flowmetry. Multiple failure time Cox regression models were used to determine the predictive role of vascular parameters on CV mortality and events. Based on multiple linear regressions, baseline age, diabetes, CV disease, and systolic blood pressure (SBP) were independently related to cPWV (R(2)=0.3), SBP and PORHHA to CPP (R(2)=0.45), whereas CPP was the only parameter independently related to PORHHA (R(2)=0.16, all P<0.05). During follow-up, 41 CV events occurred (14 CV deaths). In univariate analyses, cPWV (1.07 (1.02-1.13) per m s(-1)), CPP (1.04 (1.01-1.07) per mm Hg) and lnPORHHA (0.70 (0.58-0.85) per ln(PU × s)) were all related to the outcome. Baseline diabetes (HR 3.07 (1.65-5.68)), lnFGF23 (fibroblast growth factor-23; 1.86 (1.13-3.06) per RU ml(-1)) and CPP (1.04 (1.01-1.07) per mm Hg) were independent predictors of CV events. The impaired pulsatile component of large arteries (CPP) independently of other vascular markers (cPWV, PORHHA) predicted CV outcomes in CKD-ND. CPP may integrate the information provided by cPWV and PORHHA.

The influence of membranous glomerulonephritis (MGN) on maternal and fetal outcome is controversial, as is the effect of pregnancy on the course of preexisting nephrotic syndrome. We report a case of successful management of a pregnancy with preexisting severe nephrotic syndrome due to biopsy-proven primary MGN. Our patient became pregnant in a non-compliance period, discontinued the nephrological follow-up program and her kidney disease decompensated. From the 22nd gestational week the patient was treated with intermittent pulses of methylprednisolone (250 mg i.v.) and a maintenance dose of 32–64 mg/day orally, along with azathioprine 100 mg/day. She also received antihypertensive, diuretic, and anticoagulant therapy, and supplementation with fresh frozen plasma and albumin. In the 33rd gestational week a cesarean section was performed due to deteriorating creatinine clearance, low serum total protein levels, increasing edema and progression of intrauterine growth retardation of the fetus. Three months after delivery, the patient’s renal disease went into complete remission. To our knowledge, this is the first report of using azathioprine during pregnancy with severe nephrotic syndrome due to primary MGN.

Familial hypercholesterolemia (FH) is one of the most common autosomal, dominantly inherited diseases affecting cholesterol metabolism, which, in the absence of treatment, leads to the development of cardiovascular complications. The disease is still underdiagnosed, even though an early diagnosis would be of great importance for the patient to receive proper treatment and to prevent further complications. No studies are available describing the genetic background of Hungarian FH patients. In this work, we present the clinical and molecular data of 44 unrelated individuals with suspected FH. Sequencing of five FH-causing genes (LDLR, APOB, PCSK9, LDLRAP1 and STAP1) has been performed by next-generation sequencing (NGS). In cases where a copy number variation (CNV) has been detected by NGS, confirmation by multiplex ligation-dependent probe amplification (MLPA) has also been performed. We identified 47 causal or potentially causal (including variants of uncertain significance) LDLR and APOB variants in 44 index patients. The most common variant in the APOB gene was the c.10580G>A p.(Arg3527Gln) missense alteration, this being in accordance with literature data. Several missense variants in the LDLR gene were detected in more than one index patient. LDLR variants in the Hungarian population largely overlap with variants detected in neighboring countries.

Introduction:The relationship between smoking and mortality in patients on hemodialysis is controversial. Earlier studies showed that the insertion/deletion (I/D) polymorphism of the ACE gene might have an effect on mortality. The aim of this study was to test the impact of smoking on survival and whether this association was influenced by ACE gene I/D polymorphism in patients on maintenance hemodialysis.Participants and methods:In this prospective, multicenter cohort study we analyzed 709 prevalent patients on maintenance hemodialysis. Patients were allocated into groups based on their smoking habit. Outcome data were collected during the 144-month follow-up period. Outcomes of current smokers and lifelong non-smokers were compared. In order to control for interactions between predictor variables, we also identified 160 matched pairs for further sub-analysis.Results:The vast majority of patients (67%) were non-smokers, followed by current smokers (22.2%) and ex-smokers (9.8%). Smoking had no impact on survival in the matched pair analysis (p = 0.99). After adjustment for ACE I/D polymorphism and other co-variates, smoking had no effect on survival.Conclusion:Our data suggest that smoking has no impact on survival; neither is it associated with ACE gene I/D polymorphism in hemodialysis patients.

The association between ACE (angiotensin-converting enzyme) gene insertion/deletion (I/D) polymorphism and mortality has been inconsistently observed in earlier studies in patients on maintenance hemodialysis. We hypothesized that the effect of ACE gene I/D polymorphism on mortality may be influenced by concurrent ACE inhibitor therapy in this population.In this prospective, multicenter cohort, observational study, data was collected from 716 prevalent chronic hemodialysis patients, blood samples were genotyped for I/D single nucleotide polymorphism. Patient mortality was assessed in tree genotype groups insertion/insertion, insertion/deletion and deletion/deletion (I/I, I/D, and D/D) using multivariate Cox proportional hazard models.The most frequent genotype was I/D (42.6%), followed by D/D (37.7%) and I/I (19.7%) genotypes. The mean age was 54.9 ± 15.5 years, 53.2% of all patients were male and in the total group the prevalence of diabetes was 19.3%. ACE inhibitor therapy was prescribed for 47.9% of all patients. The median duration of dialysis before blood sampling was 23.8 months (IQR 11.2–47.1). Patients were followed for 10 years, the median follow-up time was 29.8 months (IQR 12.6–63.4). Patient characteristics were well balanced among the genotype groups. D/D genotype, was associated with inferior survival (I/I vs D/D: log-rank test: P = 0.04) in patients not receiving ACE inhibitor therapy, and the presence of this therapy diminished this difference. There was no difference in survival among unselected patients with different genotypes. In multivariate Cox regression models, D/D genotype (compared to I/I) was a significant predictor of mortality only in patients without ACE inhibitor therapy (HR 0.67, 95% CI 0.46–0.97, P = 0.03).Our data suggests that hemodialyzed patients with the deletion/deletion (D/D) genotype might have inferior outcome, and ACE inhibitor therapy may be associated with improved survival in this subgroup.