In our study, it is possible that fractal analysis detected these epigenetic chromatin alterations rather than DNA damage accumulation, perhaps because of the different scale at which these processes occur. One must also take into account the fact that at the young age (postnatal development), DNA damage accumulation is not substantial. So far, our knowledge about the changes that take place in kidney during postnatal

development has been relatively limited, mainly to general parameters related to physiological function and tissue structural organization. In a future study, it remains to be seen whether fractal and GLCM parameters of macula densa cells in postnatal development are related with changes in conventional parameters of kidney function such as Belinostat glomerular filtration rate and the ability LDE225 of the kidney to concentrate urine. Also, in might be worthwhile to investigate the possible changes of MCD chromatin complexity not only in postnatal development but also in adulthood (after reaching sexual maturity) and senescence. Determining fractal and GLCM parameters of MDC in senescence could be particularly important, having in mind that in old organisms many physiological

kidney functions start to decrease, which is opposite when compared to the postnatal period. In conclusion, our results indicate that chromatin complexity of macula densa cells (measured by fractal dimension) decreases during the first month of mouse postnatal life. This complexity reduction was texture-independent and might indicate that nuclear intrinsic factors that do not influence Phosphoribosylglycinamide formyltransferase chromatin texture may have an important role in MDC postnatal development. The authors are grateful to The Ministry of Education and Science, Republic of Serbia, Research Projects oi-175059, iii-41027

and iii-41025. The authors also acknowledge the work of Julio E. Cabrera (National Institutes of Health, USA) and Toby C. Cornish (Johns Hopkins University, Maryland, USA) for integration of GLCM analysis into National Institutes of Health ‘Image J’ software (http://rsbweb.nih.gov/ij). “
“Aim:  Chronic inflammation, which is common in dialysis patients, often causes malnutrition and even protein-energy wasting. However, the association of high-calcium dialysate with malnutrition and/or inflammation in non-diabetic maintenance haemodialysis patients remains unclear. This study investigated the possible adverse effects of high-calcium dialysate and mortality in this population. Methods:  A total of 717 non-diabetic haemodialysis patients participated in this 2 year prospective study. The subjects were categorized into three subgroups based on whether dialysate calcium concentrations were high (3.5 mEq/L), standard (3.0 mEq/L) or low (2.5 mEq/L). Demographic, haematological, nutritional and inflammatory markers, biochemical and dialysis-related data were obtained for cross-sectional analysis.