ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Chronic kidney disease (CKD) has adverse impacts on mortality and morbidity of renal transplant recipients. Serum cystatin C (sCysC) is a novel marker in predicting the CKD. We therefore compare sCysC and serum creatinine (sCr) with the aim of improving the detection of CKD in renal transplant recipients. METHODS: We enrolled 106 renal transplant recipients and estimated glomerular filtration rates (GFR) using the Cockcroft-Gault (GFR(CG)) and the abbreviated Modification of Diet in Renal Disease (GFR(aMDRD)) formulae. We defined CKD as the presence of structural or functional kidney damage, irrespective of the diagnosis. Comparisons of sCysC and sCr in detecting CKD were analyzed. RESULTS: sCysC correlates with sCr significantly (r = 0.87; P < .001). The receiver operating characteristic curve demonstrates that sCysC has a better specificity and area under the curve, but less sensitivity than sCr in predicting CKD in renal transplant recipients if GFR is estimated by GFR(CG). Additionally, if GFR was estimated by GFR(aMDRD), the role of sCysC or sCr in prediction of CKD was comparable. CONCLUSION: sCysC may be better than sCr to detect CKD in renal transplant recipients using the GFR(CG).
Subject(s)
Creatinine/blood , Cystatin C/blood , Kidney Failure, Chronic/blood , Kidney Transplantation , Adult , Area Under Curve , Female , Glomerular Filtration Rate , Humans , Kidney Failure, Chronic/physiopathology , Male , Middle Aged , PrognosisSubject(s)
Hypertension/blood , Telomere/ultrastructure , Aged , Case-Control Studies , China , Female , Humans , Linear Models , Male , Middle Aged , Pilot Projects , Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain ReactionABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: Major depression is an important comorbidity in Alzheimer's disease, which is definitely associated with the apolipoprotein E (apo E) polymorphism. The aim of this study was to explore the role of the different apo E polymorphisms in major depressive disorder (MDD) in a Taiwanese population. METHOD: We examined apo E genotypes in 273 Taiwanese patients with MDD and 429 healthy community controls, and compared their polymorphism distribution. RESULTS: The allelic frequency of apo epsilon2 was significantly lower in patients with MDD than in the controls, whereas no significant difference in apo epsilon4 allelic frequency between these two groups was found. CONCLUSION: The apo epsilon4 allele was not associated with MDD in this study. However, the finding of a lower frequency of the apo epsilon2 allele in MDD could lead to the conclusion that the apo epsilon2 allele likely provides a protective effect against MDD in the Taiwanese population.
