• A treatment consisting of vascular endothelial growth factor fused to a bioengineered carrier promotes the recovery of kidney function in pigs with a disease frequently observed in patients in which the kidneys’ arteries are blocked.
The George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences, in concert with GW Hospital and the GW Medical Faculty Associates, has established the Ron & Joy Paul Kidney Center to raise awareness about kidney disease and increase live kidney donation in Washington, D.C.
Researchers have identified a protein measured by an inexpensive blood test can predict a person’s chances of developing chronic kidney disease up to five years before kidney damage begins. In findings published online today in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM), researchers led by Rush University Medical Center Chairman of Medicine Jochen Reiser, MD, PhD, showed that High levels of the suPAR protein indicate future kidney disease much like cholesterol and blood pressure levels help predict heart disease.
“SuPAR promises to do for kidney disease what cholesterol has done for cardiovascular disease,” predicts Reiser.
The use of hormone replacement therapy may lead to better kidney function in postmenopausal women. Research that uncovered this link will be presented at ASN Kidney Week 2015 November 3–8 at the San Diego Convention Center in San Diego, CA.
Shorter sleep duration was significantly linked with a more rapid decline in kidney function among participants in the Nurses’ Health Study. The findings, which point to the importance of sleep for maintaining kidney health, will be presented at ASN Kidney Week 2015 November 3–8 at the San Diego Convention Center in San Diego, CA.
Development of a surgically implantable, artificial kidney — a promising alternative to kidney transplantation or dialysis for people with end-stage kidney disease — has received a $6 million boost, thanks to a new grant from the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB), one of the National Institutes of Health, to researchers led by UC San Francisco bioengineer Shuvo Roy, PhD, and Vanderbilt University nephrologist William Fissell, MD.
The National Institutes of Health has awarded a four-year, $6 million grant to investigators at Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) and the University of California at San Francisco (UCSF) to develop an implantable artificial kidney.
ASN Foundation for Kidney Research announced today that the Research Fellowship Program is fully endowed. The Polycystic Kidney Disease (PKD) Foundation became 6th organization inducted into the ASN Foundation's Founders Circle to fund groundbreaking, innovative kidney research. Since 1996, the American Society of Nephrology (ASN) and the ASN Foundation for Kidney Research have awarded more than $35 million to clinicians, researchers, and educators to advance innovations that can improve care for patients with kidney diseases.
• The incidence of kidney failure from multiple myeloma decreased by about 20% from 2001–2002 to 2009–2010.
• Patients with multiple myeloma who develop kidney failure are living longer. Their likelihood of dying within 3 years after initiating dialysis declined by 28% from 2001–2002 to 2009–2010
Proton pump inhibitors (PPIs), a class of drugs used to treat acid reflux and other acid-related gastrointestinal conditions, may increase the risk for developing chronic kidney disease (CKD). Two new studies that reached similar conclusions on the increased CKD risk associated with PPI use will be presented at ASN Kidney Week 2015 November 3–8 at the San Diego Convention Center in San Diego, CA.
The American Society of Nephrology (ASN), the world's largest organization of kidney health professionals, released the latest in a series of key analyses of the US nephrology workforce authored by George Washington University Health Workforce Institute researchers. Nephrology is a specialty in transition, driven in part by changes in the health care delivery system. Geographic maldistribution of nephrologists and the “all-in” nephrology fellowship Match policy are among the issues that could influence the specialty’s future.
• Black race, lower neighborhood household income, older age, and Medicaid/Medicare insurance status were each linked with less use of an electronic health record portal by kidney disease patients.
• Hypoxia-inducible factor prolyl hydroxylase inhibitors (HIF-PHIs) create a low-oxygen state to stimulate the body to make more red blood cells.
• The drugs generated promising results in several phase 2 clinical trials in kidney disease patients with anemia.
Each 80 minutes/day (assuming 16 awake hours/day) increase in sedentary duration was linked with a 20% increased likelihood of having chronic kidney disease in a recent study. Research that uncovered the association between sedentary behavior and kidney disease will be presented at ASN Kidney Week 2015 November 3–8 at the San Diego Convention Center in San Diego, CA.
Mayo Clinic researchers in Rochester, Minnesota, collaborated with the University of Mississippi Medical Center on a recent study, “Troponin T as a Predictor of End-Stage Renal Disease and All-Cause Death in African-American and Whites From Hypertensive Families.”
• A protein called Krüppel-like factor 4 (KLF4) in blood vessel cells helps prevent acute kidney injury in mice.
• Treating mice with statins protects against acute kidney injury, and KLF4 is necessary for this protection.
The American Society of Nephrology (ASN) will bestow the President’s Medal to the award-winning actor and comedian George Lopez for his dedication to raising awareness of kidney health issues and his efforts to improve the lives of individuals with kidney disease through the George Lopez Foundation. Mr. Lopez will receive the society’s highest civilian honor at a ceremony at ASN Kidney Week 2015, on Thursday, November 5 in San Diego, CA. ASN represents nearly 16,000 kidney health professionals dedicated to leading the fight against kidney disease.
Diets rich in calcium decrease the risk of kidney stone recurrence, but calcium supplements may have the opposite effect. Research that investigated the effects of calcium supplements in kidney stone formers will be presented at ASN Kidney Week 2015 November 3–8 at the San Diego Convention Center in San Diego, CA.
• In contrast to studies in the general population, tallness was associated with higher premature mortality risk and shorter life spans in patients on dialysis.
• The association was observed in white, Asian, and American Indian/Alaskan native patients, but not in black patients.
• The overall paradoxical relationship between height and premature death was not explained by concurrent illness, socioeconomic status, or differences in care.
Infection by virus cytomegalovirus (CMV) is a major complication following kidney transplantation. CMV infection has been associated with increased kidney transplant failure and reduced patient survival. However, a new clinical study finds that age may be more important for long-term transplant and patient outcome.
A recent study is the first to examine and identify a link between kidney stones in children and thickened or hardened arteries — precursors to a wide variety of cardiovascular diseases. Understanding the connection between kidney stones and cardiovascular risk factors in children may help physicians and parents implement prevention measures to reduce future risk of stroke, heart attack or other forms of vascular disease for affected children.
• High urinary excretion levels of both sodium and potassium were linked with faster progression of chronic kidney disease.
• Patients with chronic kidney disease tend to consume sodium above the recommended daily limit.
The American Society of Nephrology (ASN) is one of 16 kidney health organizations participating in Kidney Community Advocacy Day 2015 in Washington, DC. More than 100 advocates will meet with Congressional offices to call for lawmakers’ support of increased research funding to accelerate development of new therapies for kidney diseases. Kidney health providers and patients will also urge passage of legislation that eliminates barriers to living donation and helps increase access to lifesaving transplants.
• Among kidney transplant recipients, patients with mostly IgG3 donor-specific HLA antibodies had a higher likelihood of organ rejection soon after transplantation.
• If rejection occurred in those with mostly IgG4 antibodies, it was usually much later after transplantation.
• In a population-based study, poor kidney function was strongly related to decreased blood flow to the brain.
• Poor kidney function was linked to stroke and dementia most strongly in participants with decreased blood flow to the brain.
• Blood levels of TMAO, a byproduct generated from intestinal bacterial as they metabolize dietary nutrients, progressively increase with advancing severity of kidney disease.
• TMAO levels are dramatically reduced when kidney function is restored following kidney transplantation.
• High TMAO levels are linked with an increased risk of atherosclerosis and premature death in patients with chronic kidney disease.
Mild hypothermia in deceased organ donors significantly reduces delayed graft function in kidney transplant recipients when compared to normal body temperature, according to UCSF researchers and collaborators, a finding that could lead to an increase in the availability of kidneys for transplant.
• There was only a 5% error rate when patients with chronic kidney disease used mobile health technologies designed to help them use medications appropriately.
Researchers from the University of Maryland have come up with a new definition of chaos that applies more broadly than Lyapunov exponents and other previous definitions of chaos. The new definition fits on a few lines, can be easily approximated by numerical methods, and works for a wide variety of chaotic systems.
Tapping the potential of metabolomics, an emerging field focused on the chemical processes of metabolism, researchers at University of California, San Diego School of Medicine have identified a new and pivotal player in diabetic kidney disease.
The investigational drug patiromer quickly reduced elevated blood-potassium levels—a common life-threatening side effect of treatment for chronic diabetic kidney disease. In this year-long study of more than 300 patients, patiromer kept potassium levels under control for the length of the trial.
Among patients with diabetic kidney disease and hyperkalemia (elevated potassium levels in the blood), a potentially life-threatening condition, those who received the new drug patiromer, twice daily for four weeks, had significant decreases in potassium levels which lasted through one year, according to a study in the July 14 issue of JAMA.
• Certain electrocardiogram measures helped investigators identify a subgroup of individuals with chronic kidney disease who had substantially elevated risks of dying from heart disease.
Scientists at the MRC’s Clinical Sciences Centre (CSC) in West London are the first to show that a small molecule circulates in the blood of people who are in the early stages of type 1 diabetes. A simple blood test could detect this biological marker years, maybe decades, before symptoms develop.
Other topics include resurgence of whales off southern California, treating chronic kidney disease, and a breakthrough in a heart-specific type of stem cell.
Experts have identified new strategies for using electronic health records (EHRs) to treat patients with chronic kidney disease. These recommendations may help clinicians and hospitals better manage individual patients with chronic conditions and identify groups of patients most likely to benefit from different treatment strategies.
The notion that geography often shapes economic and political destiny has long informed the work of economists and political scholars. Now a study led by medical scientists at Johns Hopkins reveals how geography also appears to affect the very survival of people with end-stage kidney disease in need of dialysis.
The percentage of adults beginning kidney dialysis who lived in zip codes with high poverty rates increased from 27.4 percent during the 1995-2004 time period to 34 percent in 2005-2010.
• Among children with chronic kidney disease, those with lower vitamin D levels had higher levels of blood markers related to kidney dysfunction as well as greater kidney function loss over time.
• Five-year kidney survival was 75% in patients with vitamin D levels ≥50 nMol/L at the start of the study and 50% in those with lower levels.
It started out as a treatment for arthritis. But steered by science, it could become a first new approach in two decades for treating the damage that diabetes inflicts on the kidneys of millions of people.
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Scientists at The University of Manchester and Central Manchester University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust have made a significant breakthrough in the fight against Membranous Nephropathy (MN) – a rare kidney disease which can lead to kidney failure.
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Physicians treating hospitalized patients for conditions unrelated to the kidneys should pay close attention to common blood and urine tests for kidney function in order to prevent incidental injury to the organs that help cleanse the body of toxins, new Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health-led research suggests.