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AbstractBackground: Female gender is associated with high erythropoietin (EPO) resistance in end-stage renal disease. The aim of our study was to investigate the roles of age and menstrual status in this relationship. Methods: Cross-sectional analysis of registry data for 3,224 hemodialysis adults treated with EPO. Data collection included gender, age, weight, height, dialytic age, hemoglobin, EPO dose, and, for women with ages 25–44 only, also information on menstrual status and iron homeostasis. EPO resistance index (ERI) was calculated as EPO dose per kilogram BW/hemoglobin. Results: Men and women had not significantly different hemoglobin and significantly different EPO dose per kilogram weight (women vs. men, +18.2%, p < 0.001). Thus, ERI was higher in women than in men (+19.5%, p < 0.001). The gender-associated difference in ERI linearly decreased along age groups: +30.9% for ages 25–44, +23.2% for ages 45–64, and +14.2% for ages 65–84 (p < 0.05 for interaction between age and gender-associated difference in ERI). Within the subgroup of women with ages 25–44, women with menses in comparison to women without had 44.6% higher ERI (p < 0.01) due to combination of lower hemoglobin (p < 0.05) with higher EPO dose (p < 0.001). Women with menses had also lower serum iron, transferrin saturation, and serum ferritin (p < 0.001). Conclusion: The gender-associated difference in ERI is lower with increasing patients’ age. The large difference between young men and women is due to women with menses who have iron deficiency more frequently than women without periods.Copyright © 2004 S. Karger AG, Basel

AbstractSorry, there is no abstract. Read the first few lines of the text instead!There is growing interest in integrating various adaptations occurring in renal function during space flight in order to develop a new rationale for future research in the field. Experience derived from research programs in some of the 400 astronauts, who have been in space, indicates that significant changes in renal sodium and water handling take place under μ-gravity conditions. We have recently reviewed in detail these components of fluid balance and kidney function in space [1–7]. An additional burden on our present understanding is added by the weightlessness-dependent bone loss, which causes hypercalciuria. Therefore, in this review we are in consecutive sections describing ‘Body Fluid Regulation in Space’, ‘Calcium and Bone Metabolism in Space’, ‘Involvement of Renal Aquaporins’, and the ‘Pathophysiology of Clinical Hypercalciuria’ with the aim to provide a rationale for the impairment in water handling as a consequence of the increase in luminal calcium concentration in the collecting duct. On this basis, we generate a new hypothesis on how the kidney function and body fluid regulation are modified during μ-gravity.Copyright © 2002 S. Karger AG, Basel

AbstractJoseph Andreas Jacobus Plenck was born in 1735 in Vienna where he studied surgery with Johan Christian Retter. At age 35 he was appointed Professor of Surgery and Obstetrics by Maria Theresia. Subsequently he became professor and life long secretary of the Medical Military Academy know as the Josephinum where he worked up to 1807. He was one of the most brilliant scientific writers of his time. Here we analyze his medical treatise, Icones Plantarum Medicinalium secundum systema Lynnaei cum enumeratione virium et usus medici, chirurgici et diaetetici, published in folio in Latin and German. This is a therapy based on plants in which the author discusses the medical use of 758 plants. This article is centered on 111 plants with diuretic properties which still appear in many pharmacopoeias.Copyright © 2002 S. Karger AG, Basel