Background Cardiovascular disease is the commonest cause of death in patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) under maintenance hemodialysis. Dyslipidemia, oxidative stress, and low-grade inflammation with increased circulating cytokines are factors that increase the cardiovascular risk in patients with chronic kidney disease, in addition to traditional risk factors, such as obesity, hypertension, and diabetes. We aimed to investigate the possible anti-inflammatory effects of atorvastatin in prevalent hemodialysis patients. Fifty-three stable adult hemodialysis patients were assigned into two groups (a drug group and a control group). Patients in the drug group received 20 mg of atorvastatin daily for 6 months. Serum levels of highly sensitive C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) and interleukin-6 (IL-6) were measured in both groups at baseline and at the end of the study period. Results Atorvastatin therapy caused a statistically significant decrease in levels of hs-CRP but no change in levels of IL-6 after 6 months of therapy. Conclusions In addition to its favorable effect on lipid profile parameters, atorvastatin therapy can be considered as an effective and safe modality to overcome the problem of chronic inflammation encountered in end-stage renal disease patients.

Background Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is one of the most common diabetic complications, which has become a leading cause for vision loss, mainly because of macular edema and vitreous hemorrhage. Objective Using Optical Coherence Tomography(OCT) and Optical Coherence Tomography Angiography (OCT-A) for qualitative and quantitative assessment of retinal vascular density in superficial capillary plexus, quantitative assessment of foveal avascular zone, choroidal vascular density map, assessment of retinal thickness and choroidal thickness in normal individuals and diabetic patients with and without diabetic retinopathy (DR). Patients and Methods This study included 64 eyes. Diabetics and control group were recruited from internal medicine clinic in Misr University for science and Technology Hospital and asked to participate in this study. This study was designed as an observational and cross sectional study in the period from 8/2018 to 2/2019. Results There is decrease in Choroidal vascular density in diabetic patients. There is decrease in retinal thickness in diabetic patients and there is no significant differences in the retinal thickness between control subjects and patients with NDR. Conclusion Our study suggested that OCTA can identify preclinical DR before the manifestation of clinically apparent retinopathy. Our findings highlight the potential role of OCT-A in monitoring and quantifying retinal vascular alterations in diabetes