Step-by-step guide to setting up a kidney replacement therapy registry: the challenge of a national kidney replacement therapy registry

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) has become one of the most important public health problems worldwide. Analysis, and understanding, of this global/national/regional reality would benefit from renal registry databases. The implementation of a CKD registry (including all categories) is difficult to achieve, given its high cost. On the other hand, patients with end-stage kidney disease (ESKD) are easily accessible and constitute the most severe subgroup in terms of comorbidities and healthcare costs. A kidney replacement therapy registry (KRTR) is defined as the systematic and continuous collection of a population-based data set from ESKD patients treated by dialysis/kidney transplant. The lack of available data, particularly in emerging economies, leaves information gaps on healthcare and outcomes in these patients. The heterogeneity/absence of a KRTR in some countries is consistent with the inequities in access to KRT worldwide. In 2014, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) proposed to determine the prevalence of patients on dialysis for at least 700 patients per million inhabitants by 2019 in every Latin American (LA) country. Since then, PAHO and the Sociedad LatinoAmericana de Nefrología e Hipertensión have provided training courses and certification of KRTR in LA. The purpose of this manuscript is to provide guidance on how to set up a new KRTR in countries or regions that still lack one. Advice is provided on the sequential steps in the process of setting up a KRTR, personnel requirements, data set content and minimum quality indicators required

The current and future landscape of dialysis

The development of dialysis by early pioneers such as Willem Kolff and Belding Scribner set in motion several dramatic changes in the epidemiology, economics and ethical frameworks for the treatment of kidney failure. However, despite a rapid expansion in the provision of dialysis - particularly haemodialysis and most notably in high-income countries (HICs) - the rate of true patient-centred innovation has slowed. Current trends are particularly concerning from a global perspective: current costs are not sustainable, even for HICs, and globally, most people who develop kidney failure forego treatment, resulting in millions of deaths every year. Thus, there is an urgent need to develop new approaches and dialysis modalities that are cost-effective, accessible and offer improved patient outcomes. Nephrology researchers are increasingly engaging with patients to determine their priorities for meaningful outcomes that should be used to measure progress. The overarching message from this engagement is that while patients value longevity, reducing symptom burden and achieving maximal functional and social rehabilitation are prioritized more highly. In response, patients, payors, regulators and health-care systems are increasingly demanding improved value, which can only come about through true patient-centred innovation that supports high-quality, high-value care. Substantial efforts are now underway to support requisite transformative changes. These efforts need to be catalysed, promoted and fostered through international collaboration and harmonization. Dialysis is a life-saving therapy; however, costs of dialysis are high, access is inequitable and outcomes are inadequate. This Review describes the current landscape of dialysis therapy from an epidemiological, economic, ethical and patient-centred framework, and describes initiatives that are aimed at stimulating innovations in the field to one that supports high-quality, high-value care

Hyperglycemia / hypoglycemia-induced mitochondrial dysfunction and cerebral ischemic damage in diabetics

Enhancement of ischemic brain damage is one of the most serious complications of diabetes. Studies from various in vivo and in vitro models of cerebral ischemia have led to an understanding of the role of mitochondria and complex interrelated mitochondrial biochemical pathways leading to the aggravation of ischemic neuronal damage. Advancements in the elucidation of the mechanisms of ischemic brain damage in diabetic subjects have revealed a number of key mitochondrial targets that have been hypothesized to participate in enhancement of brain damage. The present review initially discusses the neurobiology of ischemic neuronal injury, with special emphasis on the central role of mitochondria in mediating its pathogenesis and therapeutic targets. Later it further details the potential role of various biochemical mediators and second messengers causing widespread ischemic brain damage among diabetics via mitochondrial pathways. The present review discusses preclinical data which validates the significance of mitochondrial mechanisms in mediating the aggravation of ischemic cerebral injury in diabetes. Exploitation of these targets may provide effective therapeutic agents for the management of diabetes-related aggravation of ischemic neuronal damage