Building capacity for international tobacco control research: the global tobacco research network

The Global Tobacco Research Network (GTRN) was developed to enhance global tobacco control research through information sharing and collaboration among researchers. The formation of the GTRN is timely because of the need to ratify, implement, and track the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control.While the spectrum of international tobacco control research continues to expand, resources to support these efforts are still quite limited. As an issue-specific network focused on information sharing and capacity building associated with tobacco control research, the GTRN will provide an opportunity for enhancing the effectiveness of tobacco control initiatives.     

The many faces of HIV nephropathy: results of the disease and consequences of treatment

Impaired renal function is a consequence of HIV infection, even without a defined AIDS syndrome. While collapsing focal and segmental glomerulosclerosis is the clinical entity that is associated most commonly with progressive disease, the spectrum of renal involvement in patients who are HIV positive is expanding. In addition, consequences of anti-retroviral therapy are well-documented in the literature. The current case illustrates an unusual primary renal pathology picture presumably related to his underlying HIV disease and compounded by the unexpected consequences of anti-retroviral therapy, noted long after discontinuation of the medication.     

Preeclampsia: a renal perspective

Preeclampsia is a syndrome that affects 5% of all pregnancies, producing substantial maternal and perinatal morbidity and mortality. The aim of this review is to summarize our current understanding of the pathogenesis of preeclampsia with special emphasis on the recent discovery that circulating anti-angiogenic proteins of placental origin may play an important role in the pathogenesis of proteinuria and hypertension of preeclampsia.     

Staff perceptions concerning barriers and facilitators to end-of-life care in the nursing home

Although many nursing home residents have chronic, life-limiting conditions, most die without the benefit of palliative care or with palliation delayed until the last days of life. The goal of this study was to determine whether the presence of a comprehensive palliative care program in nursing homes would affect the knowledge and attitudes of the staff. The intervention group was able to identify more problems in delivering palliative care than the control group, but this only reached statistical significance on 2 items. Nevertheless, the current study suggests that the presence of a palliative care program within a nursing home does increase general knowledge of the problems faced in caring for the dying.     

Prekallikrein-Kallikrein conversion rate as a predictor of contrast material catastrophies

An in vitro is described that attempts to detect patients with a potential for adverse systemic reactions to contrast material. This test involves measuring the rate of conversion of prekallikrein to kallikrein under certain standard conditions. In a preliminary retrospective study, the test could be used to identify such patients with a sensitivity of 88%, a specificity of 82%, and a predictive value of 79%.