Introduction Mobile health applications offer the potential to help people living with chronic kidney disease (CKD) manage diet-related challenges. This systematic review examined CKD dietary mobile app interventions; specifically, app characteristics, feasibility, and effectiveness in changing user behavior, as well as user satisfaction. Methods This review was reported in accordance with PRISMA guidelines. We searched scholarly databases, as well as the gray literature, for all randomized controlled trials, observational studies, needs assessments, and pilot testing/studies/trials focused on the development or evaluation of CKD dietary mobile app interventions. The characteristics, user satisfaction with, usability/feasibility, and effectiveness in changing dietary behavior of the mobile application were summarized using descriptive statistics and in a narrative manner. Results Thirteen full-text studies were included, of which 11 were single center, with a mean sample size of 23. Of the 7 studies that measured usability/feasibility, all found at least some aspects of the application feasible/useful. Of the 5 studies that reported an evaluation of changes in behavior/diet related to self-management, all reported some positive change. Conclusion According to current studies, nutritional apps show promise in CKD self-management.

Background The conduct of high-quality pilot studies can help inform the success of larger clinical trials. Guidelines have been recently developed for the reporting of pilot trials. Objective This methodological survey evaluates the completeness of reporting in pilot randomized controlled trials in chronic kidney disease patients on hemodialysis (HD patients) and explores factors associated with better completion of reporting. Methods The authors searched Pubmed on July 1, 2018, for all pilot trials conducted in HD patients. Reporting quality was assessed against the 40-item Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials (CONSORT) Extension for Pilot Trials. Study factors including year and country of publication, intervention, number of centers, type of funding, and journal endorsement of CONSORT were also examined. Results The mean number of items reported from the CONSORT extension for pilot trials across all included articles was 18.4 (standard deviation [SD] = 4.4). In the adjusted analysis, studies reported in later years (IRR = 1.026, 95% CI [1.018, 1.034], p < 0.001) and an increase of 20 persons in sample size (adjusted IRR = 1.021, 95% CI [1.010, 1.031], p < 0.001) were associated with a significantly higher number of CONSORT pilot items reported. Conclusions Current reporting completeness of pilot trials in HD patients is suboptimal. Endorsing the CONSORT extension specific to pilot and feasibility studies and ensuring that pilot trials focus on the feasibility objectives may improve reporting completeness of these trials. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1186/s40814-019-0436-3) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

66 patients from 5 dialysis centers were surveyed for the prevalence of HBV markers. Their immune status was evaluated by studying parameters of cellular and humoral immunity. Results showed that all patients had depressed T cell numbers while B cell counts, IgG, IgA, IgM, IgD and C₃ levels were normal. However, the group of patients who had persistent HBs antigenemia also had persistence of HBeAg, negative responsiveness to skin testing and high IgE levels. The group with HBsAb had negative reactions for skin testing, and the group with no HBV markers had no further abnormalities. These results suggest that the presence and type of HBV marker influences the immune pattern in the hemodialyzed patient.