Topic summary: Protein-bound uremic toxins (PBUTs) are known to accumulate in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) and are associated with increased morbidity and mortality. Patients with CKD in an advanced stage are dependent on dialysis for the removal of toxins and excess fluid. Since PBUTs are mostly bound to albumin in the blood, they are difficult to remove via dialysis treatment. However, the exact PBUT clearances in different dialysis-dependent CKD subpopulations (i.e., patients on hemodialysis, hemodiafiltration, and peritoneal dialysis) have not yet been compared to each other or to the PBUT clearance in healthy controls. Therefore, for this project, we want to perform a systematic literature review to gather the data currently available regarding PBUT clearance in these groups and perform a meta-analysis.
Research project: For this project, you will learn:
– To create search strings for different databases;
– To set up inclusion and exclusion criteria for a systematic review;
– To perform literature screening based on title/abstract and full text;
– To create and use a data extraction table;
– To analyze combined data from multiple articles (meta-analysis);
– To assess the risk of bias of included papers;
– To write down your findings in an article.
This project is suitable for master students with an interest in nephrology who are looking for a literature study project and for SUMMA students who are looking for an OP1 project as well (for at least five weeks, extension recommended in order to publish the results).
Contact: If you have any questions or are interested in this project, do not hesitate to send an e-mail to: d.p.bolhuis-3@umcutrecht.nl (Dian Bolhuis, PhD student Nephrology, research group of Karin Gerritsen).