3 research outputs found
Ambulatory blood pressure monitoring and renal functions in children with a solitary kidney
The aim of this study is to investigate the blood pressure (BP) profile, microalbuminuria, renal functions, and relations with remaining normal kidney size in children with unilateral functioning solitary kidney (UFSK). Sixty-six children with UFSK were equally divided into three groups: unilateral renal agenesis (URA), unilateral atrophic kidney (UAK), and unilateral nephrectomy (UNP). Twenty-two age-, weight-, and height-matched healthy children were considered as a control group. The serum creatinine level and first-morning urine microalbumin and creatinine concentrations were determined by the standard methods. Also, the BP profile was determined by ambulatory blood pressure monitoring (ABPM). We found that the serum creatinine level was higher and creatinine clearance was lower in each patient groups compared to those of the control group (p < 0.05). Compared with the controls, each group of patients had mean office, 24-h, daytime, and night-time systolic and diastolic BP values similar to those of the controls (p > 0.05). An inverse correlation was found between the renal size standard deviation scores (SDS) of normal kidneys and 24-h systolic and diastolic BP load SDS in all of the patients (p < 0.05; r = −0.372, r = −0.295, respectively). The observed relationship between renal size SDS and 24-h mean arterial pressure (MAP), systolic and diastolic BP load SDS suggests that children with UFSK should be evaluated by using ABPM for the risk of hypertension
Modeling the Past: The Paleoethnological Evidence
This chapter considers the earliest Paleolithic, Oldowan (Mode 1), and Acheulean (Mode 2)
cultures of the Old Continent and the traces left by the earliest hominids since their departure
from Africa. According to the most recent archaeological data, they seem to have followed two
main dispersal routes across the Arabian Peninsula toward the Levant, to the north, and the Indian
subcontinent, to the east. According to recent discoveries at Dmanisi in the Caucasus, the first
Paleolithic settlement of Europe is dated to some 1.75 Myr ago, which indicates that the first “out of
Africa” took place at least slightly before this date. The data available for Western Europe show
that the first Paleolithic sites can be attributed to the period slightly before 1.0 Myr ago. The first
well-defined “structural remains” so far discovered in Europe are those of Isernia La Pineta in
Southern Italy, where a semicircular artificial platform made of stone boulders and animal bones
has been excavated. The first hand-thrown hunting weapons come from the site of Scho¨ningen in
north Germany, where the first occurrence of wooden spears, more than 2 m long, has been
recorded from a site attributed to some 0.37 Myr ago. Slightly later began the regular control of
fire. Although most of the archaeological finds of these ages consist of chipped stone artifacts,
indications of art seem to be already present in the Acheulean of Africa and the Indian
subcontinent