The factors that are associated with itching in chronic kidney patients and evaluation of itching with the 5d itch scale.

OBJECTIVE: Uremic pruritus is a distressing complication of chronic kidney disease (CKD), associated with mortality, and negatively impacts quality of life. The 5D-Itch Scale (5D-IS) is an easy-to-apply technique that evaluates 5 different dimensions of itching such as duration, severity, course, disability, and prevalence. We aimed to investigate the prevalence of itching in different CKD stages using the 5D-IS and to investigate the factors associated with itching in CKD patients. MATERIALS AND METHODS: 5D-IS was used to evaluate itching in chronic hemodialysis (HD) and Stage 3-5 CKD patients. Total itching score and sub-scores consist of duration, severity, course, disability and distribution were obtained. Itching scores and prevalence according to CKD stages were investigated. Also the relationships between itching scores and some laboratory and clinical parameters such as iPTH, Ca, P, CRP levels were examined. RESULTS: 158 CKD patients included in the study included (110 Stage 3-5 and 48 HD). The frequency of itching was higher in HD patients than in predialysis patients (62.5% vs 46.4%; p = 0.04). The total itching score increased along with CKD stages 3 to 5 (7.75 ± 3.39, 7.82 ± 4.11 and 9.08 ± 5.12 respectively; p = 0.14). The severity, duration and course scores of itching were similar between the groups, but the distribution scores increased as the CKD stage increased. The laboratory and clinical characteristics of patients with and without itching were not different. Even if a significant positive correlation was detected between the parathyroid hormone levels and both the total 5D-IS scores and all of the sub-scores, Ca and P values were not correlated with itching scores. In the multiple regression analysis, the only parameter that had an effect on the total 5D-IS Score was the parathyroid hormone level. CONCLUSION: In CKD, itching affects 40-70% of patients from the early stages. As the CKD stage increases, itching spreads throughout the body. The only parameter that seems to be associated with itching is the PTH level.

High-throughput microfluidic chip with silica gel-C18 channels for cyclotide separation.

Over the past two decades, microfluidic-based separations have been used for the purification, isolation, and separation of biomolecules to overcome difficulties encountered by conventional chromatography-based methods including high cost, long processing times, sample volumes, and low separation efficiency. Cyclotides, or cyclic peptides used by some plant families as defense agents, have attracted the interest of scientists because of their biological activities varying from antimicrobial to anticancer properties. The separation process has a critical impact in terms of obtaining pure cyclotides for drug development strategies. Here, for the first time, a mimic of the high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) on microfluidic chip strategy was used to separate the cyclotides. In this regard, silica gel-C18 was synthesized and characterized by Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and proton nuclear magnetic resonance (1H-NMR) and then filled inside the microchannel to prepare an HPLC C18 column-like structure inside the microchannel. Cyclotide extract was obtained from Viola ignobilis by a low voltage electric field extraction method and characterized by HPLC and matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization-time of flight (MALDI-TOF). The extract that contained vigno 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and varv A cyclotides was added to the microchannel where distilled water was used as a mobile phase with 1 µL/min flow rate and then samples were collected in 2-min intervals until 10 min. Results show that cyclotides can be successfully separated from each other and collected from the microchannel at different periods of time. These findings demonstrate that the use of microfluidic channels has a high impact on the separation of cyclotides as a rapid, cost-effective, and simple method and the device can find widespread applications in drug discovery research.

On chip microfluidic separation of cyclotides.

Cyclotides as a cyclic peptide produced by different groups of plants have been a very attractive field of research due to their exceptional properties in biological activities and drug design applications. The importance of cyclotides as new biological activities from nature caused to attract researchers to develop new separation systems. Recent growth and development on chip-based technology for separation and bioassay especially for anticancer having sparklingly advantages comparison with common traditional methods. In this study, the microfluidic separation of Vigno 1-5 cyclotides extracted from Viola ignobilis by using polar and nonpolar forces as a liquid-liquid interaction was investigated through modified microfluidic chips and then the results were compared with a traditional counterpart technique of high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). The traditional process of separating cyclotides from plants is a costly and time-consuming procedure. The scientific novelty of this study is to accelerate the separation of cyclotides using modified microfluidic chips with low cost and high efficiency. The results revealed that a novel and simple microfluidic chip concept is an effective approach for separating the Vigno groups in the violet extract. We believe that the concept could potentially be utilized for further drug development process especially for anticancer studies by coupling bioassay chips as online procedures via reducing in time and cost compared with traditional offline methods.

Effect of microfluidic channel integration onto gold microelectrode on its redox electrochemistry.

Microfluidic systems have attracted significant interest in recent years as they are extensively employed in lab-on-chip and organ-on-chip research. Their combination with electrochemical platforms offers many advantages, promising a high potential for sensing applications, still the microfluidic-channel integration onto electrodes might induce challenges related to changes in signal-to-noise ratios and mass transport conditions. In this study, we investigated the effect of microfluidic channel integration in redox behavior of thermally deposited gold thin film microelectrodes by voltammetric (CV and SWV) electrochemical measurements. Using different dimensions of PDMS microfluidic channels (i.e. widths of 50, 100, 250, and 500 µm) and a constant electrode dimension (200 µm), we analyzed the relationship between altered electroactive area and electrochemical response against target redox molecules. The increases in electroactive area which were determined by the microfluidic channel sizes were in well-correlation with the obtained CV and SWV redox currents as expected. There was no significant decrease in signal-to-noise ratio in microchannel-integrated electrodes. AFM and SEM characterization demonstrated that thermally deposited thin film electrodes had significantly lower (approximately 25 fold) surface roughness in comparison to commercial screen-printed electrodes. Additionally, we have observed a clear microelectrode-to-macroelectrode transition, from hemispherical to linear (planar) diffusion in other terms, with the increasing channel size.

The frequency of sarcopenia has increased in patients with glomerulonephritis.

AIM: Sarcopenia is defined as the loss of muscle mass and muscle strength, and its frequency increases in kidney patients. However, sarcopenia frequency in patients with glomerulonephritis is unknown. The present study aimed to investigate the frequency of sarcopenia in patients with glomerulonephritis and compare the results with the healthy population for the first time in the literature. PATIENTS AND METHODS: A total of 110 participants, including 70 patients previously diagnosed with glomerulonephritis and 40 healthy individuals, were included in the study. The diagnosis of sarcopenia was made based on the EWSGOP 2 Criteria. RESULTS: The mean age of the glomerulonephritis patients group was 39.3 ± 1.5. In the anthropometric measurements of the patients, walking speed was low in 50 patients (71.4%), muscle strength was decreased in 44 patients (62.9%), and sarcopenia was detected in 10 patients (14.3%) according to the EWGSOP 2 Criteria. Considering the anthropometric measurements of the control group, sarcopenia was not detected in any of the subjects according to the EWGSOP 2 Criteria. CONCLUSION: The result of the present study revealed that the rate of sarcopenia was significantly higher in glomerulonephritis patients compared to the healthy population and that sarcopenia can also be observed even in middle age in this population. We think it would be beneficial for clinicians treating glomerulonephritis to be more careful regarding sarcopenia and keep these parameters in mind during treatment.

Revealing the single-channel characteristics of OprD (OccAB1) porins from hospital strains of Acinetobacter baumannii.

Nowadays, reports of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) against many antibiotics are increasing because of their misapplication. With this rise, there is a serious decrease in the discovery and development of new types of antibiotics amid an increase in multi-drug resistance. Unfermented Acinetobacter baumannii from gram-negative bacteria, which is one of the main causes of nosocomial infections and multi-drug resistance, has 4 main kinds of antibiotic resistance mechanism: inactivating antibiotics by enzymes, reduced numbers of porins and changing of their target or cellular functions due to mutations, and efflux pumps. In this study, characterization of the possible mutations in OprD (OccAB1) porins from hospital strains of A. baumannii were investigated using single channel electrophysiology and compared with the standard OprD isolated from wild type ATCC 19,606. For this aim, 5 A. baumannii bacteria samples were obtained from patients infected with A. baumannii, after which OprD porins were isolated from these A. baumannii strains. OprD porins were then inserted in an artificial lipid bilayer and the current-voltage curves were obtained using electrical recordings through a pair of Ag/AgCl electrodes. We observed that each porin has a characteristic conductance and single channel recording, which then leads to differences in channel diameter. Finally, the single channel data have been compared with the gene sequences of each porin. It was interesting to find out that each porin isolated has a unique porin diameter and decreased anion selectivity compared to the wild type.

The effect of autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease on mucociliary clearance.

PURPOSE: Autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD) is a renal disease with genetic transmisson. Mutations in the PKD1 and PKD2 genes, which encode integral membrane proteins of the cilia of primary renal tubule epithelial cells, are seen in ADPKD. The aim of this study was to evaluate the sinonasal epithelium, which is epithelium with cilia, by measuring the nasal mucociliary clearance time, and to investigate the effect of ADPKD on nasal mucociliary clearance. METHODS: The study included 34 patients, selected from patients followed up in the Nephrology Clinic, and 34 age and gender-matched control group subjects. The nasal mucociliary clearance time (NMCT) was measured with the saccharin test. RESULTS: The mean age of the study subjects was 47.15 ± 14.16 years in the patient group and 47.65 ± 13.85 years in the control group. The eGFR rate was determined as mean 72.06 ± 34.26 mL/min in the patient group and 99.79 ± 17.22 mL/min in the control group (p < 0.001). The NMCT was determined to be statistically significantly longer in the patient group (903.6 ± 487.8 s) than in the control group (580 ± 259 s) (p = 0.006). CONCLUSIONS: The study results showed that the NMCT was statistically significantly longer in patients with ADPKD compared to the control group, but in the linear regression analysis results, no correlation was determined between eGFR and NMCT.

Simple and low-cost antibiotic susceptibility testing for Mycobacterium tuberculosis using screen-printed electrodes.

One quarter of the global population is thought to be latently infected by Mycobacterium tuberculosis (TB) with it estimated that 1 in 10 of those people will go on to develop active disease. Due to the fact that M. tuberculosis (TB) is a disease most often associated with low- and middle-income countries, it is critical that low-cost and easy-to-use technological solutions are developed, which can have a direct impact on diagnosis and prescribing practice for TB. One area where intervention could be particularly useful is antibiotic susceptibility testing (AST). This work presents a low-cost, simple-to-use AST sensor that can detect drug susceptibility on the basis of changing RNA abundance for the typically slow-growing M. tuberculosis (TB) pathogen in 96 h using screen-printed electrodes and standard molecular biology laboratory reactionware. In order to find out the sensitivity of applied sensor platform, a different concentration (108 -103  CFU/mL) of M. tuberculosis was performed, and limit of detection and limit of quantitation were calculated as 103.82 and 1011.59  CFU/mL, respectively. The results display that it was possible to detect TB sequences and distinguish antibiotic-treated cells from untreated cells with a label-free molecular detection. These findings pave the way for the development of a comprehensive, low-cost, and simple-to-use AST system for prescribing in TB and multidrug-resistant tuberculosis.

The amount of skeletal muscle mass is associated with arterial stiffness in hemodialysis patients.

INTRODUCTION: Sarcopenia was determined to be associated with increased arterial stiffness in the nondialysis patient population, but there is no available data on this subject in dialysis patients. METHODS: A total of 79 patients were included in the study. Sarcopenia was diagnosed according to the EWSGOP-2 criteria. Arterial stiffness was measured noninvasively with a mobile-O-Graph device. RESULTS: Skeletal muscle mass was observed to be positively correlated with weight, body mass index, creatinine, and uric acid, while negatively correlated with augmentation index. There was a correlation between augmentation index and sodium, phosphorus, systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, cardiac index, muscle percentage, fat percentage, and skeletal muscle mass. When the determinants of augmentation index in the linear regression analysis were viewed, just the systolic blood pressure and skeletal muscle mass were observed to be the determinant. CONCLUSION: Decreased skeletal muscle mass contributes to increased arterial stiffness in hemodialysis patients.

Cheap portable electroformed giant unilamellar vesicles preparation kit.

The membrane of a cell separates the internal and external media of the cell and contributes to a variety of important processes, including gradient maintenance and signal transduction. Synthetic lipid-made vesicles are commonly utilized as cell membrane model systems. These could be liposomes or giant unilamellar vesicles (GUVs) in most cases. Liposomes are typically less than 0.5 microns in size, limiting their use for most microscopy experiments. GUVs are a form of liposomes that ranges in size from 5 to 200 microns and are ideal for examining complex phase behaviors of biomembranes using the classical optical setting. This study details the step-by-step development of a portable, light and low-cost kit for generating GUVs by electroformation. Our kit contains an in-built electronic circuitry, and the GUV generation setup, consisting of 3 ITO-coated glasses with heating electrode connections. Approximately 600 µl of GUVs can be produced in one experiment, while the amount could be increased by changing the dimensions of the GUV generation setup. Finally, the originality of the study comes from the fact that many users from different fields unfamiliar with electronics can use our home-built cost-effective approach instead of their expensive commercial counterparts.

The interaction between seminal plasma biochemical constituents and short-term semen preservation in Honamli and hair goats.

This study investigated the short-term storage of Honamli and Hair buck semen based on the relationships among the biochemical constituents of the seminal plasma. In total, 12 Honamli and Hair goat bucks (six of each breed) were used. Collected individual semen samples were divided into two parts, one placed in short-term storage and the other centrifuged to determine the biochemical constituents of the seminal plasma. Diluted semen samples were cooled to +4°C; the samples were stored at this temperature; the spermatological parameters (i.e., motility, plasma membrane and acrosome integrity [PMAI], viability and high mitochondrial membrane potential) were assessed at 0, 24, 48, 72 and 144 h. A significant positive correlation was determined between the PMAI, motility and viability with globulin, chlorine, alanine aminotransferase (AST) and aspartate aminotransferase (ALT). A positive correlation was detected between the PMAI and viability with total protein. In contrast, a negative correlation was determined between the motility and viability with sodium values in buck semen (p Ë‚ .05). Also, it was evaluated the Hair buck samples became inviable across all parameters at 72 h, while the Honamli buck samples continued to be viable at 144 h. In conclusion, the seminal plasma biochemical parameters of total protein chlorine, globulin, albumin, sodium, AST and ALT correlated with spermatological parameters in buck semen. The factors of animal (p Ë‚ .05) and time (p Ë‚ .001) affected the spermatological parameters, but there was no interaction between the two factors (p > .05) during the short-term storage period. Also, it was determined that Honamli buck semen was more resistant to cold injury than Hair buck semen against cold injury during storage.

The relationship between hepatic fibrosis and arterial stiffness in hemodialysis patients.

INTRODUCTION: The main cause of death in hemodialysis patients is cardiovascular diseases. Increased arterial stiffness is a predictor of cardiovascular events for hemodialysis patients. Among the nondialysis patient population, arterial stiffness increases in those with hepatic fibrosis and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease. This study aims to examine the relationship between hepatic fibrosis and arterial stiffness in hemodialysis patients for the first time in the literature. MATERIAL AND METHOD: The study includes chronic hemodialysis patients over 18 years of age who had been treated for hemodialysis for at least 6 months. Patients with chronic liver disease, chronic viral hepatitis (HBV and HCV), alcohol use, or liver disease accompanied by polycystic kidney disease and active infection were excluded. Hepatic fibrosis scores were measured using the FibroScan device. Single-cuff Mobil-o-Graph was used for measurement of arterial stiffness. RESULTS: Fifty-nine patients were enrolled; 54.2% of the patients were male, and the mean age was 53.9 ± 12.9 years. Thirty-nine percent of the patients had diabetes. Average pulse wave velocity (PWV) value of the patients was 8.3 ± 1.6 m/s, and it had positive correlation with age, CAP score, fibrosis score, and body mass index and showed negative correlation to albumin. It was seen that the patients with a PWV value ≥ 10 m/s have significantly higher CAP score compared with the patients with a PWV < 10 m/s. When the factors predicting PWV were examined in the regression analysis, age and systolic blood pressure were found to be determinants. CONCLUSION: Increased hepatic fibrosis in hemodialysis patients is associated with increased arterial stiffness, but this relationship is not independent.

On-chip label-free impedance-based detection of antibiotic permeation.

Biosensors are analytical tools used for the analysis of biomaterial samples and provide an understanding about the biocomposition, structure, and function of biomolecules and/or biomechanisms by converting the biological response into an electrical and/or optical signal. In particular, with the rise in antibiotic resistance amongst pathogenic bacteria, the study of antibiotic activity and transport across cell membranes in the field of biosensors has been gaining widespread importance. Herein, for the rapid and label-free detection of antibiotic permeation across a membrane, a microelectrode integrated microfluidic device is presented. The integrated chip consists of polydimethylsiloxane based microfluidic channels bonded onto microelectrodes on-glass and enables us to recognize the antibiotic permeation across a membrane into the model membranes based on electrical impedance measurement, while also allowing optical monitoring. Impedance testing is label free and therefore allows the detection of both fluorescent and non-fluorescent antibiotics. As a model membrane, Giant Unilamellar Vesicles (GUVs) are used and impedance measurements were performed by a precision inductance, capacitance, and resistance metre. The measured signal recorded from the device was used to determine the change in concentration inside and outside of the GUVs. We have found that permeation of antibiotic molecules can be easily monitored over time using the proposed integrated device. The results also show a clear difference between bilayer permeation that occurs through the lipidic bilayer and porin-mediated permeation through the porin channels inserted in the lipid bilayer.

Electrochemical-based ''antibiotsensor'' for the whole-cell detection of the vancomycin-susceptible bacteria.

In this study, we aim to develop an antibiotic-based biosensor platform 'Antibiotsensor' for the specific detection of gram-positive bacteria using vancomycin modified Screen Printed Gold Electrodes (SPGEs). Through this pathway, vancomycin molecules were first functionalized with thiol groups and characterized with quadrupole time of flight (q-TOF) mass spectroscopy analysis. Immobilization of thiolated vancomycin molecules (HS-Van) onto SPGEs was carried out based on self-assembled monolayer (SAM) phenomenon. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) was employed to test the detection and showed a considerable change in impedance value upon the binding of HS-Van molecules onto the electrode surface. Atomic Force Microscopy analysis indicated that SPGE was successfully modified upon the treatment with HS-Van molecules based on the shift in surface roughness from 173 ± 2 nm to 301 ± 3 nm. Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) spectroscopy proved the EIS and AFM results as well by showing characteristic peaks of immobilized HS-Van molecule. As a proof-of-concept, EIS-based susceptibility testing was performed using Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus and Mycobacterium smegmatis bacteria to prove the specificity of obtained SPGE-Van. EIS data showed that the charge transfer resistance (Rct) values changed from 1.08, 1.18 to 26.5, respectively, indicating that vancomycin susceptible S. aureus was successfully attached onto SPGE-Van surface strongly, while vancomycin resistance E. coli and M. smegmatis did not show any significant attachment properties. In addition, different concentration (108-10 CFU/mL) of S. aureus was performed to investigate sensitivity of proposed sensor platform. Limit of detection and limit of quantitation was calculated as 101.58 and 104.81 CFU/mL, respectively. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis also confirmed that only S. aureus bacteria was attached to the surface in a dense monolayer distribution. We believe that the proposed approach is selective and sensitive towards the whole-cell detection of vancomycin-susceptible bacteria and can be modified for different purposes in the future.

Current Strategies for the Regeneration of Skeletal Muscle Tissue.

Traumatic injuries, tumor resections, and degenerative diseases can damage skeletal muscle and lead to functional impairment and severe disability. Skeletal muscle regeneration is a complex process that depends on various cell types, signaling molecules, architectural cues, and physicochemical properties to be successful. To promote muscle repair and regeneration, various strategies for skeletal muscle tissue engineering have been developed in the last decades. However, there is still a high demand for the development of new methods and materials that promote skeletal muscle repair and functional regeneration to bring approaches closer to therapies in the clinic that structurally and functionally repair muscle. The combination of stem cells, biomaterials, and biomolecules is used to induce skeletal muscle regeneration. In this review, we provide an overview of different cell types used to treat skeletal muscle injury, highlight current strategies in biomaterial-based approaches, the importance of topography for the successful creation of functional striated muscle fibers, and discuss novel methods for muscle regeneration and challenges for their future clinical implementation.

Minor dysmorphic features in a patient with papillorenal syndrome: A Case Report.

Papillorenal syndrome, also known as renal coloboma syndrome, is characterised by congenital optic disc anomalies and renal abnormalities. Mutations in the PAX2 gene, which plays a critical role in embryogenesis, cause this syndrome. Other related anomalies are less commonly observed. To our knowledge, this is the first case reported in the literature in which Papillorenal syndrome accompanied various dysmorphic features.

Rapid fabrication of teflon apertures by controlled high voltage pulses for formation of free standing planar lipid bilayer membrane.

Free standing artificial lipid bilayers are widely used in the study of biological pores. In these types of studies, the free standing planar lipid bilayer is formed over a micron-sized aperture consisting of either polymer such as Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE, Teflon) or glass. Teflon is chemically inert, has a low dielectric constant, and has a high electrical resistance which combined allow for obtaining low noise recordings. This study investigates the reproducible generation of micropores in the range of 50-100 microns in diameter in a Teflon film using a high energy discharge set-up. The discharger set-up consists of a microprocessor, a transformer, a voltage regulator, and is controlled by a computer. We compared two approaches for pore creation: single and multi-pulse methods. The results showed that the multi-pulse method produced narrower aperture size distributions and is more convenient for lipid bilayer formation, and thus would have a higher success rate than the single-pulse method. The bilayer stability experiments showed that the lipid bilayer lasts for more than 33 h. Finally, as a proof-of-concept, we show that the single and multi-channel electrophysiology experiments were successfully performed with the apertures created by using the mentioned discharger. In conclusion, the described discharger provides reproducible Teflon-pores in a cheap and easy-to-operate manner.

Towards understanding single-channel characteristics of OccK8 purified from Pseudomonas aeruginosa.

Antibiotic resistance in Gram-negative bacteria causes serious health issues worldwide. Bacteria employ several resistance mechanisms to cope with antimicrobials. One of their strategies is to reduce the permeability of antibiotics either through general diffusion porins or substrate-specific channels. In this study, one of the substrate-specific channels from Pseudomonas aeruginosa, OccK8 (also known as OprE), was investigated using single-channel electrophysiology. The study also includes the investigation of permeability properties of several amino acids with different charged groups (i.e. arginine, glycine and glutamic acid) through OccK8. We observed four different conformations of the same OccK8 channel when inserted in lipid bilayers. This is in contrast to previous studies where heterologous expressed OccK8 in E. coli showed only one conformation. We hypothesized that the difference in our study was due to the expression and purification of the native channel from P. aeruginosa. The single-channel uptake characteristics of the porin showed that negatively charged glutamic acid preferentially interacted with the channel while the positively charged arginine molecule showed infrequent interaction with OccK8. The neutral amino acid glycine did not show any interaction at the physiological conditions.

Investigation of the Effect of Channel Structure and Flow Rate on On-Chip Bacterial Lysis.

Successful lysis of cells/microorganisms is a key step in the sample preparation in fields like molecular biology, bioengineering, and biomedical engineering. This study therefore aims to investigate the lysis of bacteria on-chip and its dependence on both microfluidic channel structure and flow rate. Effects of temperature on lysis on-chip were also investigated. To perform these investigations, three different microfluidic chips were designed and produced (straight, zigzag and circular configurations), while the length of the channels were kept constant. As an exemplary case, Mycobacterium smegmatis was chosen to represent the acid-fast bacteria. Bacterial suspensions of 1.5 McFarland were injected into the chips at various flow rates (0.6- [Formula: see text]/min) either at room temperature or 50° C. In order to understand the on-chip lysis performance fully, off-chip experiments were carried out at durations which are equal to those bacteria spent in the channel from inlet to the outlet at different flow rates. We also performed COMSOL multiphysics program simulations to evaluate further the effect of the applied parameters. As a result, we found that the structure and the flow rate do not affect lysis over all in all investigated channel types, however on-chip experiments at room temperature produced more effective lysis compared to the on-chip and the off-chip samples performed at higher temperatures. Interestingly on-chip experiments at higher tempratures do not result in effective lysis.

Demographic, clinical and laboratory characteristics of rapidly progressive glomerulonephritis in Turkey: Turkish Society of Nephrology-Glomerular Diseases (TSN-GOLD) Working Group.

BACKGROUND: In our study, diagnostic and demographic characteristics of patients diagnosed with RPGN by biopsy, clinical and laboratory findings in our country were investigated. METHODS: Data were obtained from the Turkish Society of Nephrology Glomerular Diseases (TSN-GOLD) Working Group database. Demographic characteristics, indications for biopsy, diagnosis of the glomerular diseases, comorbidities, laboratory and biopsy findings of all patients were recorded. According to their types, RPGN patients were classified as type 1 (anti-GBM related), type 2 (immuncomplex related) and type 3 (pauci-immune). RESULTS: Of 3875 patients, 200 patients with RPGN (mean age 47.9 ± 16.7 years) were included in the study which constitutes 5.2% of the total glomerulonephritis database. Renal biopsy was performed in 147 (73.5%) patients due to nephritic syndrome. ANCA positivity was found in 121 (60.5%) patients. Type 1 RPGN was detected in 11 (5.5%), type 2 RPGN in 42 (21%) and type 3 RPGN in 147 (73.5%) patients. Median serum creatinine was 3.4 (1.9-5.7) mg/dl, glomerular filtration rate was 18 (10-37) ml/min/1.73m2 and proteinuria 2100 (1229-3526) mg/day. The number of crescentic glomeruli ratio was ratio 52.7%. It was observed that urea and creatinine increased and calcium and hemoglobin decreased with increasing crescentic glomerular ratio. CONCLUSIONS: Our data are generally compatible with the literature. Advanced chronic histopathological findings were prominent in the biopsy of 21 patients. Early biopsy should be performed to confirm the diagnosis of RPGN and to avoid unnecessary intensive immunosuppressive therapy. In addition to the treatments applied, detailed data, including patient and renal survival, are needed.