Background: It is well established that a large number of hospitalized patients present various degrees of heart and kidney dysfunction; primary disease of the heart or kidney often involves dysfunction or injury to the other. Summary: Based on above-cited organ cross-talk, the term cardiorenal syndrome (CRS) was proposed. Although CRS was usually referred to as abruption of kidney function fol...

BACKGROUND Amyloidosis has been a mystery for centuries, but research of the last decennia has clarified many of the secrets of this group of diseases. A protein-based classification of amyloidosis helps to understand problems that were part of the obsolete clinical classification in primary, secondary, and familial amyloidosis. All types of amyloid are secondary to some underlying precursor-pr...

BACKGROUND It is well established that a large number of hospitalized patients present various degrees of heart and kidney dysfunction; primary disease of the heart or kidney often involves dysfunction or injury to the other. SUMMARY Based on above-cited organ cross-talk, the term cardiorenal syndrome (CRS) was proposed. Although CRS was usually referred to as abruption of kidney function fol...

BACKGROUND IgA nephropathy (IgAN) is the commonest primary glomerulonephritis worldwide and a significant cause of chronic kidney disease and end-stage renal disease. It is widely accepted that genetic factors play a role in the pathogenesis of IgAN. However, the identity of these genetic factors remains uncertain. SUMMARY Critical to all genetic studies is a precise phenotypic definition of ...

Transition of the former communist countries of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) to functioning market economies creates new investment opportunities. A decade ago capital markets were almost absent in all CEE countries but they are developing rapidly. At the end of the 1990s institutional investors from Western countries are present in the equity and bond markets of the largest CEE economies. ...

BACKGROUND Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) is a largely curable disease and its mortality had steadily declined in western Europe since the late 1960s. Only modest declines were, however, observed in central/eastern Europe. MATERIALS AND METHODS We updated trends in mortality from HL in various European areas up to 2004 and analyzed patterns in incidence for selected European countries providing nation...

OBJECTIVES To test the hypothesis that the USA healthcare system was superior to the NHS and 17 other Western countries in reducing feasible mortality rates over the period 1979-2005. DESIGN Economic inputs into healthcare, GDP health expenditure (GDPHE) were compared with clinical outputs, i.e. total 'adult' (15-74 years) and 'older' (55-74 years) mortality rates based upon three-year averag...

This paper investigates patterns of structural change and specialization of Western European Countries for the period 1970 to 2005. We therefore assign individual countries to clubs, i.e. groups of countries which share common features, and analyze the development of both the clubs and their individual countries over time. Our results also show that structural convergence in Western Europe is m...