• A common genetic variant that is present in approximately 40% of Caucasian individuals was linked with an increased risk of kidney damage after heart surgery.
• The variant results in decreased expression of a gene involved in maintaining iron balance in the body.
Researchers at Queen’s University Belfast are to examine DNA samples from 20,000 people with diabetes to help identify the genetic factors in diabetic kidney disease, the leading cause of kidney failure worldwide.
Today three major nephrology societies — the American Society of Nephrology (ASN), the European Renal Association – European Dialysis and Transplant Association (ERA-EDTA), and the International Society of Nephrology (ISN) ― signed a declaration of collaboration. The organizations agreed that kidney disease is a global challenge that respects no boundaries or borders. Therefore, all available synergies should be used to fight kidney disease and improve the standard of care for kidney patients worldwide.
• In patients with chronic kidney disease, those with more advanced disease had higher blood levels of the bacterial metabolite phenylacetylglutamine.
• Patients with high phenylacetylglutamine had an elevated risk of developing cardiovascular disease as well as a heightened risk of dying prematurely.
Many young adults with abdominal obesity exhibit a readily detectable risk factor for chronic kidney disease (CKD), yet the vast majority don’t know they’re at risk, according to a study of nationwide health data led by Albert Einstein College of Medicine researchers that was published online today in the journal PLOS ONE.
In a study appearing in the May 24/31 issue of JAMA, Jiang He, M.D., Ph.D., of the Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, New Orleans, and colleagues evaluated more than 3,500 participants with chronic kidney disease (CKD), examining the association between urinary sodium excretion and clinical cardiovascular disease (CVD) events.
Only 12% of kidney cancer patients with advanced disease survive five years after their initial treatment. In a Roswell Park Cancer Institute-led study, scientists report that some patients with advanced kidney cancer who continued to receive a novel immunotherapy drug after their disease progressed saw clinical benefit. The research was published online ahead of print in JAMA Oncology, a journal of the American Medical Association.
• Kidney function remained unchanged among hypertensive adults in communities assigned to a public health intervention for general practitioners and community health workers, whereas kidney function significantly declined among those who received usual care.
• Individuals in the communities with the intervention were half as likely as other individuals to experience a >20% decline in kidney function within 5 years after the intervention was stopped.
• In the See Kidney Disease (SeeKD) Targeted Screening program undertaken by the Kidney Foundation of Canada, 89% of patients who were screened reported at least 1 risk factor for chronic kidney disease (CKD), and of those, 19% had unrecognized CKD.
A team of physicians from Christiana Care Health System and computer scientists from the University of Delaware is using merged electronic health records to improve care and clinical outcomes for patients with chronic kidney disease, which affects some 26 million American adults.
• In a study of hospitalized patients, those with chronic kidney disease were 19% more likely to experience hospital acquired complications than patients with normal kidney function.
• There was a graded relation between the risk of complications and kidney disease severity.
• A smartphone-based system helped patients with chronic kidney disease monitor their blood pressure, symptoms, and medications.
• The system also alerted patients’ physicians about medication errors and other potential harms.
Chronic use of some drugs for heartburn and gastroesophageal reflux (GERD) speeds up the aging of blood vessels, according to a published paper in Circulation Research (early online), an American Heart Association journal. This accelerated aging in humans could lead to increased cardiovascular disease, vascular dementia and renal failure.
• Chronic kidney disease that is not associated with traditional risk factors appears to be increasing in rural hot communities as worldwide temperature progressively rises.
• The condition has likely increased due to global warming and an increase in extreme heat waves, and it is having a disproportionate impact on vulnerable populations.
Atrial fibrillation patients taking warfarin, a popular anticoagulation drug, are at higher risk of developing kidney failure if anticoagulation levels are not properly managed, according to a new study from researchers at the Intermountain Medical Center Heart Institute.
Researchers at UC Davis have shown that docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), a fatty acid commonly found in fish and fish oil supplements, reduces renal cell carcinoma invasiveness, growth rate, and blood vessel growth when combined with the anti-cancer therapy regorafenib. The study was published in the May issue of the journal Molecular Cancer Therapeutics.
• Researchers detected transient increases in enzymes indicative of kidney health that correlated with specific phases of the female reproductive hormone cycle.
• The findings indicate that nonreproductive organs may undergo periodical adaptations phased by menstrual cycle–driven hormone changes.
• Systolic blood pressure levels above 140 mmHg were linked with higher risks of coronary heart disease, stroke, kidney failure, and death in patients with chronic kidney disease of all ages, but the magnitude of these associations diminished with more advanced age.
• Diastolic blood pressure levels below 70 mmHg were associated with a higher risk of death, but otherwise they showed no association with cardiovascular outcomes
The American Society of Nephrology (ASN) is one of two leading kidney health organizations participating in Kidney Health Advocacy Day 2016 in Washington, DC. Advocates from ASN and the American Association of Kidney Patients (AAKP) will meet with Congressional offices to call for lawmakers’ support of the Living Donor Protection Act of 2016. Kidney health providers and patients will urge passage of the legislation that would eliminate barriers to living donation and help increase access to lifesaving transplants.
After a kidney transplant, women may experience decreased kidney damage from ischemia reperfusion injury compared to men due to the impact of gender-specific hormones, suggests a new preclinical study and an analysis of patient data published online in the Journal of Clinical Investigation from researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.
• Patients who took proton pump inhibitors for heartburn, acid reflux, or ulcers had an increased risk of kidney function decline, chronic kidney disease, and kidney failure.
• The longer patients took the drugs, the greater their risk.
Receptors for leptin, a protein hormone, may be associated with tumor recurrence in patients with renal cell carcinoma (RCC), providing further understanding about molecular links between obesity and RCC tumor formation and prognosis, according to a study at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.
• Daily fluctuations caused by the kidney’s circadian clock have an important effect on the levels of various amino acids, lipids, and other components of blood in the body.
• In individuals who take medications, the kidney’s circadian clock controls drug elimination from the body and therefore can influence the duration of a drug’s action and the effectiveness of the therapy.
• Following vaccination against human papillomavirus, girls and young women with chronic kidney disease and those on dialysis had antibody levels above the threshold that indicates protection from infection.
• A significant proportion of patients with kidney transplants showed evidence of an inadequate antibody response to the vaccine.
High levels of fructose similar to amounts consumed within the American diet may predispose individuals to fast-onset, salt-sensitive hypertension, according to New research presented at the Experimental Biology 2016 meeting in San Diego.
A sweeping new report assessing chronic kidney disease in the United States offers startling statistics about a condition that affects almost 14 percent of the U.S. population and costs billions in Medicare spending each year. “This report is a one-stop shop to try to understand the prevalence of kidney disease, how it’s being treated and how the burden affects various populations,” said researcher Rajesh Balkrishnan, PhD, of the School of Medicine.
• Among 10,533 kidney transplant recipients, 57% visited an emergency department within 2 years after transplantation.
• Risk factors for emergency department visits included younger age, females, black and Hispanic race/ethnicity, public insurance, depression, diabetes, peripheral vascular disease, and use of emergency departments prior to transplantation.
Researchers made a microscopic snapshot of the early renal lipid changes in acute kidney injury, using a laser-scanning method called MALDI tissue imaging to localize the changes.
Researchers have devised a simple method to determine split renal function— critical knowledge for anyone planning to donate a kidney or to guide doctors’ decisions for surgery and other medical treatments.
• Among kidney failure patients aged ≥80 years, there was no statistically significant survival advantage for those who chose dialysis over conservative management.
Scientists from Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center show that PGC1 alpha works through the NAD "aging molecule" to guard against stress; research offers new therapeutic target for acute kidney injury, a widespread problem for hospitalized patients
A study led by scientists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) shows that genome-wide molecular profiling of kidney biopsies may be a key to catching organ rejection before it’s too late.
Following kidney transplant, patients are routinely placed on a regimen of immunosuppressant medications to prevent organ rejection, which often includes calcineurin inhibitors (CNIs) as the backbone medication of this regimen. However, questions remain about the best use of these drugs to strike the balance between preventing rejection and avoiding drug-related complications.
• Over nearly 25 years of follow-up, blacks had a higher risk of hypertension, diabetes, and kidney failure than whites, after adjustments.
• Most blacks with gene variants that have been linked to kidney disease experienced kidney function decline similar to blacks without the variants.
A 10-year follow-up study of more than 6,000 people who underwent heart CT scans suggests that a high coronary artery calcium score puts people at greater risk not only for heart and vascular disease but also for cancer, chronic kidney disease and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).
On Saturday, March 12, The George Washington University's Ron and Joy Paul Kidney Center, in collaboration with The National Kidney Foundation, will co-sponsor a free kidney health screening and education event at the Pennsylvania Avenue Baptist Church in Washington, D.C.
• Urine collected from preterm infants one day after birth often contains progenitor cells that can develop into mature kidney cells.
• The cells also have natural defenses that protect against cell death.
The American Society of Nephrology (ASN) is one of 16 kidney health organizations uniting to advance new bipartisan legislation that would eliminate barriers to living donation and help increase access to lifesaving transplants. Kidney health providers and patients commend Congress for today’s introduction of the Living Donor Protection Act of 2016 and urge its swift passage to help the more than 100,000 Americans currently waiting for a kidney transplant. The new legislation could potentially save Medicare between $565 million and $1.2 billion over 10 years.
A new study examines whether recent changes in the use of anemia drugs for patients on dialysis have contributed to changes in rates of death or cardiovascular events. The findings indicate that these risks appear to be decreasing for patients on dialysis as well as for older adults not on dialysis. These results suggest that recent trends in the use of anemia drugs in response to US Food and Drug Administration labeling changes and prospective payment for dialysis services have been either neutral or possibly beneficial for patients on dialysis.
• More than one-quarter of patients with chronic kidney disease may have masked hypertension, meaning that their blood pressure is normal in the clinic but elevated outside the clinic.
• Masked hypertension in patients with chronic kidney disease is linked with an increased risk of kidney, heart, and vascular damage.
Vanderbilt University Medical Center nephrologist and associate professor of medicine Dr. William H. Fissell IV, is making major progress on a first-of-its kind device to free kidney patients from dialysis. He is building an implantable artificial kidney with microchip filters and living kidney cells that will be powered by a patient’s own heart.
As medical research continues to generate new technologies and drugs for a wide variety of uses, questions arise regarding how such resources should be used and who should have access to them. A new article addresses these questions, using the history of hemodialysis as a guide.