Feature Channels: Kidney Disease

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An individualized diet based on a person's genetics, microbiome and lifestyle is more effective in controlling blood glucose (sugar) levels than one that considers only nutritional composition of food, Mayo Clinic researchers have confirmed. The research published in the Feb. 8 edition of JAMA Network Open demonstrates that each person's body responds differently to similar foods, due to the unique composition of each person's gut microbiome — the complex community of trillions of bacteria within the digestive track.

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• When kidney failure patients experienced cardiac arrest at outpatient dialysis facilities, CPR initiated by dialysis staff was associated with a better chance of survival but was only performed in 81% of cardiac arrest events. • Dialysis staff were more likely to initiate CPR within larger dialysis clinics, for male patients, and when cardiac arrests were witnessed.

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Treatment with the NSAID carprofen triggers subtle low-grade inflammation in the heart and kidneys. The combination of carprofen pretreatment and heart attack magnifies this impact by dysregulating the acute inflammatory response, amplifying inflammation and intensifying the cardiorenal syndrome.

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Los cálculos renales no solo son frecuentes y dolorosos, sino que muchos sufren eventos recurrentes. La mayoría de las personas que pasan el primer cálculo renal desean saber cuál es la probabilidad de tener otro en el futuro, pero eso no siempre es fácil de predecir.

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• Certain practices in dialysis facilities related to managing fluid volume and low blood pressure during dialysis are important to patients’ health and survival.

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Kidney stones are a common and painful condition, with many sufferers experiencing recurrent episodes. Most people who pass an initial stone want to know their chances of future episodes, but this has not always been easy to predict. Now Mayo Clinic researchers are tracking the familiar characteristics of kidney stone formers in an online prediction tool that could help sufferers anticipate if they'll experience future episodes. The study was published in Mayo Clinic Proceedings.

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• Among kidney failure patients on hemodialysis, those who consumed higher amounts of fruits and vegetables had lower risks for dying prematurely—both from cardiovascular and non-cardiovascular causes.

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For a patient awaiting a new organ – namely a liver or kidney – living donation provides a viable alternative and can often shorten a recipient’s wait time.

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Three ultrasound measurements moderately, but significantly, predict successful arteriovenous fistula maturation. Mature fistulas are vital for hemodialysis, but half fail to mature. This information can facilitate decisions by the clinician, like new surgery or abandonment of the fistula.

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Kidney transplant recipients are now benefiting from donor organs that do not match their blood type but are compatible and just as safe, according to a Vanderbilt University Medical Center study in the Journal of the American College of Surgeons.

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Extremely high blood pressure that leads to strokes, heart attacks and acute kidney damage, classified as hypertensive emergency, is five times higher in inner-city African-American patients than the national average, according to a recent study co-lead by a Rutgers researcher.

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• Patients undergoing dialysis experience various barriers to exercise—predominately fatigue, shortness of breath, and weakness. • Patients were primarily interested in exercise as a mechanism to improve quality of life as opposed to reduce heart disease and hospitalization.

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Intermountain Healthcare has announced a new collaboration with Israeli healthcare IT company MDClone to increase caregivers’ ability to transform data into information they can use to help people lead the healthiest lives possible.

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• Among kidney transplant recipients, cognitive performance improved significantly for both frail and nonfrail recipients by 3 months post-transplant. • Between 1 and 4 years post-transplant, improvements plateaued among nonfrail recipients, whereas cognitive function declined among frail recipients.

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• Influenza-like illness was linked with seasonal variation in the death rates of US patients with kidney failure.

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Researchers have found that, during acute kidney injury in a mouse model, the kidney-resident macrophages are reprogrammed to a developmental state, resembling these same cells when they are found in newborn mice. This reprogramming may be important to promote healing and tissue regeneration.

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Lower-than-normal zinc levels may contribute to high blood pressure (hypertension) by altering the way the kidneys handle sodium. The study is published ahead of print in the American Journal of Physiology—Renal Physiology.

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The American Society of Transplant Surgeons (ASTS) has accredited Loyola Medicine to offer a prestigious two-year fellowship in liver and kidney transplant surgery.

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• Whole-exome sequencing of blood or saliva revealed a genetic diagnosis of kidney disease in 32.7% of pediatric kidney transplant recipients. • The findings indicate that such a sequencing strategy may help individualize pre- and post-transplant care for many young kidney transplant recipients.

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The American Society of Transplant Surgeons (ASTS) has accredited Loyola Medicine to offer a prestigious two-year fellowship in liver and kidney transplant surgery. The first fellow will begin in July, 2020.

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New research suggests that drinking sugary, caffeinated soft drinks while exercising in hot weather may increase the risk of kidney disease. The study is published ahead of print in the American Journal of Physiology—Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology.

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New AI developed at the University of Surrey could identify and help reduce one of the top causes of hospitalisation for people living with dementia: urinary tract infections (UTI).

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Manish Kohli, M.D., has joined Moffitt Cancer Center as the vice chair of the Department of Genitourinary Oncology. He also has an extensive research background, focusing on creating new ways to bring individualized care to patients.

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Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) set a new record for total transplants among its five organ specialties in 2018 with more than 500 transplants.

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The replication of a bacterial virus is not necessary to cause lethal disease in a mouse model of a food-borne pathogen called Enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli (EHEC), according to a study published January 10 in the open-access journal PLOS Pathogens by Sowmya Balasubramanian, John Leong and Marcia Osburne of Tufts University School of Medicine, and colleagues. The surprising findings could lead to the development of novel strategies for the treatment of EHEC and life-threatening kidney-related complications in children.

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• Scientists reveal activated structure of a receptor critical for blood pressure, salt homeostasis • Receptor is a target for drugs widely used to treat hypertension

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Research suggests that a gene that governs the body’s biological (circadian) clock acts differently in males versus females and may protect females from heart disease. The study is the first to analyze circadian blood pressure rhythms in female mice. The research, published ahead of print in the American Journal of Physiology—Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology, was chosen as an APSselect article for January.

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Having two or more non-communicable diseases (multimorbidity) costs the country more than the sum of those individual diseases would cost, according to a new study published this week in PLOS Medicine by Tony Blakely from the University of Otago, New Zealand, and colleagues.

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Two 29-year-old patients from Michigan and Illinois are recovering following back-to-back triple-organ transplants to replace their failing hearts, livers and kidneys, marking a first in U.S. health care history.

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By pairing a novel personalized cancer vaccine with a more established immunotherapy drug that is administered to patients in an innovative fashion, scientists at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute are testing a first-of-its-kind strategy aimed at improving outcomes for kidney cancer patients who are at high risk of recurrence following surgery.

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Northwestern Medicine received a $10 million gift to fund the creation of a new multidisciplinary institute dedicated to urologic cancers.

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Epigenetics refers to external changes to DNA that turn genes “on” or “off.” These modifications do not change the sequence of the “letters” in DNA, but are physical changes that affect how cells "read" genes. Researchers hypothesized that alcohol’s effect on one kind of epigenetic change - called DNA methylation - on certain genes is associated with the motivation to drink alcohol in binge and heavy drinkers. Methylation is a change in the DNA that reduces gene expression. They measured changes in the methylation of two genes that have been implicated in the control of drinking behavior or the response to stress: the period 2 (PER2) and proopiomelanocortin (POMC) genes. Methylation changes were measured in blood samples drawn from groups of non-smokers who were moderate drinkers, binge drinkers, or heavy drinkers. These drinkers also participated in a laboratory study that measured behavioral alcohol motivation. During the three-day experiment, the participants experienced str

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Experts and research on important topics in the healthcare system

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• In a study of African-American men and women with normal kidney function, a pattern of higher collective consumption of soda, sweetened fruit drinks, and water was associated with a higher risk of developing kidney disease.

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DNA sequencing can be used to identify the underlying genetic cause of many rare types of chronic kidney disease, leading to better treatment, finds a new study from Columbia University.

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• Patients on peritoneal dialysis and their caregivers give high priority to clinical outcomes (such as infection and mortality) and many patient-reported outcomes (particularly fatigue and flexibility with time), which are absent in most trials in peritoneal dialysis.

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If you've ever passed a kidney stone, you know how painful it can be. Approximately 19 million people experience kidney stones every year, and research shows people with kidney stones have a significantly higher risk of reoccurrence.

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• Dialysis reimbursement policies in most countries are focused on conventional in-center hemodialysis, although home hemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis might contribute to quality of life and cost savings. • The reimbursement for dialysis in low- and middle-income countries is insufficient to treat all patients with kidney failure and has a disproportionately high impact on public health expenditure in those countries.

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Here's a great holiday story about a 20-year-old Reno, NV, man whose mother saved his life. Harley Brackney's snowboarding accident and subsequent trip to the emergency room led to the shocking discovery that he had a life-altering condition - stage 5 renal failure - and needed a kidney transplant. Fortunately for Harley Brackney, his mom was a perfect match and instead of waiting 7 to 10 years for a donor organ -- as many people must -- he was able to have a transplant in just a matter of months.

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A team from the GW School of Medicine and Health Sciences found emerging treatments, such as neurokinin-1 receptor antagonists, were the most promising against prurigo nodularis.

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In medical chart reviews of 2,430 kidneys transplanted from 1,298 donors—585 (24 percent) of them with AKI—researchers say they found no significant differences in rates of organ rejection among kidneys from deceased donors with or without AKI. They also report they found no evidence that factors such as the amount of time an organ is chilled and left without blood supply before transplantation had any impact on recipient outcomes for those who received AKI kidneys.

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Researchers at Johns Hopkins Medicine have developed a new molecular tool they call EXoO, which decodes where on proteins specific sugars are attached—a possible modification due to disease. The study, published in issue 14 of Molecular Systems Biology, describes the development of the tool and its successful use on human blood, tumors and immune cells.

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New data reveals the life expectancy of patients with kidney cancer that’s traveled to the brain has now stretched from months to years.

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Researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago have found that men with chronic kidney disease, or CKD, are more likely to experience disease progression and death when compared with women suffering from the same condition.

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You may remember a loved one making you a bowl of chicken noodle soup whenever you were feeling under the weather as a child. Just how healthy is this culinary cure-all? BIDMC clinical dietitian Sandy Allonen, RD, weighs in.

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A new study led by researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) investigated rates of bloodstream infection among patients with or without catheters in outpatient hemodialysis facilities in New England.

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A monthly roundup of research briefs showcasing recent scientific advances led by Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center faculty.

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The PhRMA Foundation awarded more than $6 million over the last two years to more than 100 leaders in scientific research in the United States. The Foundation is proud to announce another successful year supporting innovative research efforts in areas of great importance: Alzheimer’s Disease, Melanoma, Parkinson’s Disease, Schizophrenia, Breast Cancer, Lung Cancer, Leukemia, Ulcerative Colitis, Vascular Disease, and Colorectal Cancer. This year the Foundation also funded two Centers of Excellence in Value Assessment.

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An abundance of high-sugar, high-salt foods in many American diets and obesity-related health problems such as diabetes are likely driving an increase in kidney disease cases, including in young adults, according to researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.