Is Serum Cystatin C a Sensitive Marker of Glomerular Filtration Rate (GFR)? A Preliminary Study on Renal Transplant Patients

Human cystatin C is a basic low molecular mass protein (13,359 Dalton) freely filtered through the glomerulus and almost completely re-absorbed and catabolized by proximal tubular cells. We measured serum cystatin C in 38 kidney transplant patients (23 males, 15 females) aged between 6 and 32 years. To assess renal function, serum and urinary creatinine were also determined in all patients, and creatinine clearance was finally calculated. Cystatin C was determined by a particle-enhanced turbidimetric assay, and creatinine was measured by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. To compare the diagnostic efficiency of cystatin C with that of creatinine, inulin clearance was performed on 12 renal transplant patients, and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis was applied. The results of this study demonstrate that serum cystatin C significantly increases in renal transplant patients with reduced creatinine clearance (70 mL/min per 1.73 m2) and that the diagnostic accuracy of serum cystatin C is better than of serum creatinine. Cystatin C may be utilized as a very marker of reduced GFR

AN ELECTRONIC JUNCTION DEVICE WITH A REDUCED RECOVERY TIME FOR APPLICATIONS SUBJECT TO THE CURRENT RECIRCULATION PHENOMENON AND RELATED MANUFACTURING PROCESS

An integrated electronic device having a semiconductor body (30) including: a first electrode region (32) having a first type of conductivity; and a second electrode region (28, 34, 38) having a second type of conductivity, which forms a junction with the first electrode region. The integrated electronic device further includes a nanostructured semiconductor region (48), which extends in one of the first and second electrode regions (32; 28, 34, 38)