Collin-Osdoby P

1 INTRODUCTION Controlling the dissolution rate of degradable, implantable biomaterials offers significant benefits in medicine, particularly for applications involving the release of therapeutic agents such as drugs, biological factors, therapeutic ions, or diagnostic agents.1 Primarily, this control enhances patient safety by ensuring that dissolution products remain within the therapeutic window, thereby avoiding excessive exposure that could lead to toxicity, over- or underdosing,...

SSc is a rare autoimmune disease characterized by fibrosis in the skin and internal organs as well as vascular involvement [1]. The disease is associated with increased morbidity and mortality [2, 3]. SSc predominantly affects women (83%) [4], with the onset usually between 40 and 50 years of age [5]. Men presenting with SSc tend to be more severely affected and have higher mortality than women [2, 3, 6].

Abstract Introduction Vascular calcification is an intervenable factor in the pathophysiology of cardiovascular disease. Treatment-related factors might worsen the arterial stiffness in chronic hemodialysis patients. The aim of the study is to compare the effects of 1-year treatment with paricalcitol or calcitriol on pulse wave velocity (PWV), which is an indicator of arterial stiffness and osteocalcin and fetuin-A levels.