Aug 01, 2024
Building Bridges in Nephrology: An Inspiring Visit to Prof. Piccoli in Le Mans
Team members Dilara, Sebastian and Manfred visited Prof. Giorgina Piccoli at her nephrology department at the Centre Hospitalier Le Mans (Le Mans, France). The intention of this visit was to work out a questionnaire on gender differences in nephrology. This endeavor is spearheaded by Dilara and builds on previous work by Tong et al. (Kidney Int. Rep. 2021) and our own recently published paper by Vanek et al. (Am J Nephrol. 2024) . Prof. Piccoli has a large international network of nephrologists and was willing to bring the questionnaire to over 20 countries on multiple continents. We also visited Prof. Piccolis department and were introduce to her lovely research team who conduct investigations in pre-dialysis CKD patients, high-protein diet for patients on maintenance hemodialysis, dialysis sustainability and nephrological follow-ups of pregnant women after pre-eclampsia.
The research visit was lightened up by a stroll through the beautiful oldtown of Le Mans, the cathedrale, art shops and food markets. Prof. Piccoli made this trip one to remember with her culinary skills, and here opinions both on art and science alike. We thank Prof. Piccoli for her exquisite hosting and hope to establish further collaborations!
Sep 29, 2023
Between the 26th and 29th of September, I had the pleasure of attending 2023's Advanced School on Impedance Spectroscopy (ASIS) and the International Workshop on Impedance Spectroscopy (IWIS) at the Technical University of Chemnitz, Germany.
During ASIS, I was thrown into the cold waters of basic and advanced tutorials on electrical engineering and electrochemistry. I enjoyed hands-on sessions with top-of-the-line impedance spectroscopy and electrical impedance tomography equipment. ASIS was concluded with a trip to the Meissen porcelain factory, an experience which left me longing for absurdly expensive dinner plates.
IWIS consisted of plenary lectures by experts in their respective fields, for example Prof. Richard Bayford, who talked about novel medical applications of impedance spectroscopy. These presentations were interspersed by student paper sessions, all of which were quite interesting.
I left Chemnitz having met lovely peers, with a deeper understanding for impedance spectroscopy, new-found appreciation for the technology and theory behind it and the motivation to dive deeper into engineering.
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Cooperation HD&Co - KfH
As of July 1, 2023, our research group has entered into a collaboration with the Kuratorium für Dialyse und Transplantation e.V. (KfH) in Germany. KfH is the fourth-largest dialysis provider worldwide, operating around 180 dialysis centers. This partnership, established through a cooperation agreement between KfH and the Medical University of Vienna, is initially set for two years and aims to establish our projects, particularly those focused on fluid management, at KfH. Simultaneously, Manfred Hecking will assume the role of Medical Director at one of KfH’s dialysis and care centers (Medical Care Center in Weiden, Bavaria). The cooperation was spearheaded by Prof. Joachim Beige, our partner from the COVID-19 era, who, as Medical Director at KfH, oversees research initiatives.
Oct 07, 2022
Annual Meeting of the ÖGN & ÖGH 2022
At this year's annual meeting of the ÖGN & ÖGH 2022 we presented some of our projects. Among others, medical student Dilara Gülmez presented an interview study on the perspectives of patients and their relatives on gender disparity in chronic kidney disease. MD-PhD student Sebastian Mussnig gave a presentation on his analysis of two different versions of the Body Composition Monitor and their differences in measured overhydration in hemodialysis patients. Diploma student Michael Schmiedecker presented the results of a dialysis bolus study in which they attempted to determine the relationship between absolute blood volume, normalized to body weight, and ultrafiltration-induced decrease in relative blood volume, incorporating clinical parameters such as body mass index. Maximilian Waller, MD, presented the results of a longitudinal bioimpendance spectroscopy analysis regarding the variability of euvolemic weight in hemodialysis patients. Vincent Rathkolb, MD, showed some of the results of his interview study where he examined dialysis patients' perspectives and opinions on fluid overload and IDWG, drinking restrictions, and the concept of dry weight, including symptoms and side effects.
The submenu “Publications” provides further details on these projects.
A subsequent award ceremony with food and wine ensured that at the end of the evening we were carrying the prize of a former fellow student in our hands (see image above).
Mar 18, 2022
An international consensus meeting on Post-Transplant Diabetes Mellitus will be held on 6-8 May 2022 in Vienna.
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Mar 15, 2022
An international symposium on fluid management and related subjects will be held on 3-4 May 2022 in Vienna.
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Feb 09, 2022
In February 2022, one of our Dialysis/Fluid-team members, Michael Schmiedecker, visited a center for hemodialysis in Mexico City, Mexico. He worked with Dra. Magdalena Madero, MD, and Dr. Salvador López Gil, MD, at the Department of Nephrology and Dialysis at the National Institute of Cardiology in Mexico City. The aim of this meeting was to gather mortality data of maintenance hemodialysis patients in order to report on the remarkable practices at this particular center: intradialytic bicycling, combined with regular protocols to manage target weight (bioimpedance and lung ultrasound). Initially, we wanted to compare mortality data from this Mexican dialysis unit to those obtained in Tassin, France and in the international DOPPS. However, the fact that the hemodialysis patients from Mexico City's National Institute of Cardiology were notably younger than those from Tassin and from the DOPPS, hindered a head-to-head comparison. Detailed results will nevertheless be published in a upcoming research letter.
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