Feature Channels: Kidney Disease

• share
• favorite_border

click to view today's top stories

• share
• favorite_border

click to view today's top stories

• share
• favorite_border

click to see today's top stories

• share
• favorite_border

• 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.

• share
• favorite_border

• 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.

• share
• favorite_border

click to see today's top stories

• share
• favorite_border

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.

• share
• favorite_border

click to see today's top stories

• share
• favorite_border

• 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.

• share
• favorite_border

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.

• share
• favorite_border

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.

• share
• favorite_border

A Loyola University Medical Center patient underwent a successful liver/kidney transplant to treat nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (fatty liver disease).

• share
• favorite_border

• 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.

• share
• favorite_border

• 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

• share
• favorite_border

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.

• share
• favorite_border

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.

• share
• favorite_border

• 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.

• share
• favorite_border

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.

• share
• favorite_border

• 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.

• share
• favorite_border

• 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.

• share
• favorite_border

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.

• share
• favorite_border

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.

• share
• favorite_border

• 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.

• share
• favorite_border

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.

• share
• favorite_border

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.

• share
• favorite_border

• Among kidney failure patients aged ≥80 years, there was no statistically significant survival advantage for those who chose dialysis over conservative management.

• share
• favorite_border

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

• share
• favorite_border

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.

• share
• favorite_border

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.

• share
• favorite_border

• 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.

• share
• favorite_border

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).

• share
• favorite_border

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.

• share
• favorite_border

• 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.

• share
• favorite_border

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.

• share
• favorite_border

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.

• share
• favorite_border

• 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.

• share
• favorite_border

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.

• share
• favorite_border

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.

• share
• favorite_border

Most clinical studies have shown that renal denervation—a procedure that disrupts the nerves in the kidneys and prevents them from relaying signals—can treat drug-resistant hypertension, although a number have shown the procedure to be ineffective. A new study in American Journal of Physiology—Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology supports that renal denervation can treat hypertension and suggests that failures may be due to incomplete procedure. This research is highlighted as one of this month’s “best of the best” as part of the American Physiological Society’s APSselect program.

• share
• favorite_border

A kidney transplant is a life-changing and life-saving procedure. Yet, a new study conducted by Mayo Clinic and the University of Michigan shows that only one-third of patients who ultimately receive a living donor kidney transplant receive it pre-emptively (i.e., before starting dialysis). Less than two-thirds receive a transplant either pre-emptively or within a year of starting dialysis.

• share
• favorite_border

A small reduction in food intake—less than required to cause weight loss—dramatically slowed the development of a common genetic disorder called autosomal-dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD) in mice, a new study in American Journal of Physiology—Renal Physiology reports. There are no approved treatments for ADPKD in the U.S.

• share
• favorite_border

• Five patients with severely reduced kidney function would need to adhere to a ketoanalogue-supplemented very low–protein diet to avoid a >50% reduction in kidney function or the need for dialysis in 1 patient

• share
• favorite_border

For the first time, an immunosuppressive agent has shown better organ survival in kidney transplant recipients than a calcineurin inhibitor, the current standard of care, according to a worldwide study led by UC San Francisco and Emory University investigators.

• share
• favorite_border

High levels of mitochondrial DNA in the blood was linked with a 25% reduced risk of developing chronic kidney disease compared with low levels.

• share
• favorite_border

The annual data report from the United States Renal Data System (USRDS) reveals both positive and negative trends in kidney disease in the U.S.

• share
• favorite_border

More than 120,000 people are currently on the kidney transplant waiting list, some waiting anywhere from four to six years. Some of those people will die before the new kidney comes. Asking a family member or friend to donate a kidney might be difficult, but it has many advantages without affecting the donor.

• share
• favorite_border

An online tool combining results of common medical tests can accurately estimate the risk of whether someone with chronic kidney disease will develop kidney failure in the next two to five years, an international team of researchers led by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health has found.

• share
• favorite_border

Year-old changes to the system that distributes deceased donor kidneys nationwide have significantly boosted transplantation rates for black and Hispanic patients on waiting lists, reducing racial disparities inherent in the previous allocation formula used for decades, according to results of research led by a Johns Hopkins transplant surgeon.

• share
• favorite_border

• The prevalence of chronic kidney disease varies across European countries, ranging from 3% to 17% • Differences in rates of diabetes, hypertension, and obesity—which are risk factors for chronic kidney disease—do not account for this variation.

• share
• favorite_border

• Among male kidney transplant candidates, prostate cancer screening was not associated with improved patient survival after transplantation. • Screening increased the time to listing and transplantation for candidates under 70 years old with elevated prostate specific antigen levels. • Compared with candidates who were not screened, screened candidates had a reduced likelihood of receiving a transplant regardless of their screening results.