Author Interviews, Kidney Disease, Lancet, Transplantation / 28.11.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Prof. Dr. med. Christian Hugo Head, Division of Nephrology Medical Clinic III Universitätsklinikum Carl Gustav Carus an der Technischen Universität Dresden Dresden MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: At the end of 2007, the harmony trial was designed predominantly based on the one year results of the ELITE-Symphony trial, demonstrating that low dose tacrolimus, mycophenolate mofetile, and steroids together with monoclonal interleukin-2-receptor (CD 25 antigen) antibody induction therapy has superior efficacy in renal transplant patients compared to all other regimens (low or normal dose cyclosporine or sirolimus) tested. While these advantages of the low dose tacrolimus protocol were so convincing to become the new gold standard of immunosuppressive therapy within the next few years (see KDIGO guide lines for renal transplantation in 2009), the low dose tacrolimus treatment arm also demonstrated increased incidence rates regarding post-transplantation diabetes mellitus (PTDM, at that time called new onset of diabetes after transplantation - NODAT) compared to the low cyclosporine treatment arm. Previous studies had also demonstrated a detrimental association between NODAT and cardiovascular events and mortality, the leading cause of death in renal transplant recipients. Corticosteroid-free or rapid withdrawal regimens were relatively encouraging regarding influencing NODAT rates but only at the price of an increased rate of T cell mediated acute rejections. (more…)
Author Interviews, Johns Hopkins, Kidney Disease, Nutrition, Race/Ethnic Diversity / 21.11.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Deidra C. Crews, MD, ScM, FASN, FACP Associate Professor of Medicine, Division of Nephrology Associate Vice Chair for Diversity and Inclusion, Department of Medicine Director, Doctoral Diversity Program Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine Baltimore MD 21224 MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Studies suggest that dietary patterns influence risk of kidney function decline. Barriers may hinder urban African Americans' following healthful diets that could mitigate their increased risk of kidney function decline. In this study, we characterized contextual barriers to healthful eating among urban African Africans with hypertension and examined the association of these barriers to kidney function decline over 1 year. We examined the presence of healthy foods in neighborhood stores of study participants. We also assessed them for food insecurity (the inability to afford nutritionally adequate and safe foods), directly observed and documented the presence of fruits and vegetables in their homes, and examined their fruit and vegetable intake via questionnaire. (more…)
Author Interviews, Kidney Disease, UCSF / 21.11.2016

Tanushree Banerjee, PhD Research Specialist in the Department of Medicine Division of General Internal Medicine UCSFMedicalResearch.com Interview with: Tanushree Banerjee, PhD Research Specialist in the Department of Medicine Division of General Internal Medicine UCSF MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Acidosis is usually noted in advanced chronic kidney disease (CKD) while it is relatively unexplored whether changes in the undetermined anions, as measured by anion gap occur earlier in the course of CKD. Consumption of animal-sourced protein is acid-inducing and therefore such diet presumably increases undetermined anions. Since higher dietary acid load is associated with progression of CKD, we wanted to explore whether the increase in undetermined anions in moderate CKD is associated with CKD progression. (more…)
Author Interviews, Critical Care - Intensive Care - ICUs, Emergency Care, Heart Disease, Kidney Disease / 21.11.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Paul E Ronksley, PhD Assistant Professor Department of Community Health Sciences Cumming School of Medicine University of Calgary Calgary Canada MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Prior studies have observed high resource use among patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD), which is related to the medical complexity of this patient population. However, there has been limited exploration of how patients with CKD use the emergency department (ED) and whether utilization is associated with disease severity. While the ED is essential for providing urgent or emergent care, identifying ways of improving ED efficiency and decreasing wait times has been recognized as a priority in multiple countries. Improving coordination and management of care for patients with multiple chronic conditions (the norm for CKD) in an outpatient setting may meet health care needs and ultimately improve patient experience and outcomes while reducing the burden currently placed on the ED. However, this requires an understanding of ED use among patients with CKD and the proportion of use that is amenable to outpatient care. Using a large population-based cohort we explored how rates of ED use vary by kidney disease severity and the proportion of these events that are potentially preventable by high quality ambulatory care. We identified all adults (≥18 years) with eGFR<60 mL/min/1.73m2 (including dialysis-dependent patients) in Alberta, Canada between April 1, 2010 and March 31, 2011. Patients with CKD were linked to administrative data to capture clinical characteristics and frequency of ED encounters, and followed until death or end of study (March 31, 2013). Within each CKD category we calculated adjusted rates of overall  emergency departmentt use, as well as rates of potentially preventable ED encounters (defined by 4 CKD-specific ambulatory care sensitive conditions (ACSCs); heart failure, hyperkalemia, volume overload, malignant hypertension). (more…)
Author Interviews, Cost of Health Care, Kidney Disease / 21.11.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. Csaba P. Kovesdy Fred Hatch Professor of Medicine Director, Clinical Outcomes and Clinical Trials Program Division of Nephrology, University of Tennessee Health Science Center Nephrology Section Chief, Memphis VA Medical Center Memphis TN, 38163 MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Many ESRD patients initiate dialysis in an inpatient setting. This practice is expensive, and carries potential risks (e.g. hospital associated infections, medication errors, etc.). There is very little information about the characteristics of patients who transition to ESRD (i.e. start dialysis) in an inpatient setting, and about their outcomes. We examined a cohort of >50,000 US veterans who started dialysis during 2007-2011, and found that about half of them performed their first treatment in an inpatient setting. Compared to patients starting dialysis as outpatients, those who transitioned in an inpatient setting had a significantly higher prevalence of comorbid conditions, and were much less likely to have received pre-dialysis nephrology care, or to have a mature AV fistula or AV graft at the first hemodialysis treatment. Mortality was significantly higher in the inpatient start group, but the differences were attenuated by adjustment for comorbid conditions and vascular access. (more…)
Author Interviews, Brigham & Women's - Harvard, Kidney Disease, Nutrition / 20.11.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. Teodor G. Paunescu PhD Assistant Professor of Medicine Harvard Medical School Boston MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Patients with kidney disease frequently report food aversion and poor dietary intake leading to malnutrition, a complication associated with high morbidity and mortality. However, there are no effective treatments currently available to address this complication, and the mechanisms underlying anorexia and food aversion in these patients remain unclear. Because of the critical role of olfaction in flavor appreciation and dietary intake, we decided to quantify olfactory (smelling) deficits in advanced chronic kidney disease (CKD) and end-stage renal disease (ESRD) patients. We found that patients with kidney disease have significant olfactory deficits that need objective assessments for accurate characterization. Our results also indicate that olfactory deficits likely attribute to nutritional impairment in patients with kidney disease. (more…)
Author Interviews, Brigham & Women's - Harvard, Kidney Disease, Stem Cells / 20.11.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. Ryuji Morizane MD, PhD Associate Biologist, Renal Division Brigham and Women’s Hospital Affiliated Faculty, Harvard Stem Cell Institute Instructor, Harvard Medical School MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Polycystic kidney disease (PKD) accounts for 10% of end-stage kidney disease (ESKD), and there is currently no curable treatment available for patients with PKD. The adult onset form of PKD, the most common type of PKD, takes 30 years to form cysts in humans; therefore, it is difficult to study mechanisms of PKD to find novel therapeutics for patients. (more…)
Author Interviews, Gout, Kidney Disease / 19.11.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Gerald D. Levy MD Internal Medicine/Rheumatology Southern California Kaiser Permanente Downey, CA  MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of your study? Patients with hyperuricemia and chronic kidney disease (CKD)  improve when serum Uric Acid (sUA) is brought below 6mg/dl with urate lowering therapy. We found a 6% improvement in this group compared to patients not at goal. More importantly the stage of CKD appears to be important with CKD II showing approximately 3% who improve with nearly 10% of patients improving in the CKD III group. We did not see benefit in those patients who are stage 4 CKD. (more…)
Author Interviews, Gout, Kidney Disease, Pharmacology / 19.11.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. Ana Beatriz Vargas dos Santos Médica do Serviço de Reumatologia Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Gout is the most common inflammatory arthritis worldwide and, despite available treatment, the management of gout remains suboptimal. One of the reasons for this suboptimal management of gout is the hesitant use of urate-lowering therapy, including a common reduction in dose or discontinuation of allopurinol in patients with gout who have kidney dysfunction based on the assumption that allopurinol may be worsening kidney function. However, there is no evidence that allopurinol is toxic for the kidneys, and this dose reduction or discontinuation results in more difficult-to-treat gout. Chronic kidney disease (CKD) stage 3 or above occurs in approximately 20% of people with gout, and there is emerging evidence that urate-lowering therapy may improve kidney function in patients with both gout and CKD. Although CKD is common, most people with gout start out with normal kidney function. Yet, there are limited data regarding the effects of allopurinol on kidney function in such individuals. We, therefore, undertook this study to assess whether people with newly diagnosed gout who are starting allopurinol are at increased risk for developing CKD stage 3 or worse. (more…)
Author Interviews, Critical Care - Intensive Care - ICUs, Kidney Disease, NEJM, Pediatrics / 18.11.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Stuart L. Goldstein, MD, FAAP, FNKF Clark D. West Endowed Chair Professor of Pediatrics University of Cincinnati College of Medicine Director, Center for Acute Care Nephrology | Associate Director, Division of Nephrology Medical Director, Pheresis Service | Co-Medical Director, Heart Institute Research Core Division of Nephrology and Hypertension | The Heart Institute Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center Cincinnati, OH 45229 MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: This was a prospective international multi-center assessment of the epidemiology of acute kidney injury in children in young adults. Over 5,000 children were enrolled from 32 pediatric ICUs in 9 countries on 4 continents. The main findings are: 1) Severe AKI, defined by either Stage 2 or 3 KDIGO serum creatinine and urine output criteria carried an incremental risk of death after adjusting for 16 co-variates. 2) Patients with AKI by low urine output would have been misclassified as not having AKI by serum creatinine criteria and patients with AKI by urine output criteria have worse outcomes than patients with AKI by creatinine crtieria. 3) Severe AKI was also associated with increased and prolonged mechanical ventilation use, increased receipt of dialysis or ECMO (more…)
Author Interviews, Emergency Care, Kidney Disease, Kidney Stones, UCSF / 04.11.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Ralph Wang, MD, MAS Associate Clinical Professor, Department of Emergency Medicine University of California, San Francisco MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Medical expulsive therapy, most notably tamsulosin, has been studied extensively to improve stone passage in patients diagnosed with ureteral stone. Prior trials and meta-analyses have identified a benefit. In fact, tamsulosin is recommended by the American Urologic Association for patients diagnosed with ureteral stones < 10mm that do not require intervention. However, recent well-conducted multi-center randomized trials have not found any improvement in stone passage. Thus we conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of all double blinded, placebo controlled randomized trials of tamsulosin to determine whether it improves stone passage. (more…)
Author Interviews, Endocrinology, JCEM, Kidney Disease, Mineral Metabolism / 03.10.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Jonas Esche Dipl.-Mol. Biomed University of Bonn Institute of Nutritional and Food Sciences DONALD Study MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Modern western diets increase diet-dependent acid load and net acid excretion which are suggested to have adverse long-term effects on bone. Urinary potential renal acid load (uPRAL) is an established parameter to assess nutritional acid load. Urinary citrate, on the other hand, integrates nutritional and also systemic influences on acid-base homeostasis with high citrate indicating prevailing alkalization. Against this background urinary citrate excretion was used as a new index of acid-base status and its relationship with bone strength and long-term fracture risk was examined. (more…)
Author Interviews, Autism, Genetic Research, Kidney Disease, Nature / 28.09.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Prof Adrian S. Woolf Chair, Professor of Paediatric Science University of Manchester, UK MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Several years ago, Laurent Fasano discovered that the Drosophila teashirt gene was needed to pattern the body of embryonic flies. He then found that this transcription factor had three similar genes in mammals. Working with Adrian Woolf in the UK, they found that Teashirt-3 (Tshz3) was needed in mice to make muscle form in the ureter When the gene was mutated, mice were born with ureters that were 'blown-up' and they failed to milk urine from the kidney with the bladder. (more…)
Author Interviews, Kidney Disease, Transplantation / 26.09.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Adam Johnson, MD, PhD, MBA, FACS Thomas Jefferson University Dr. Cataldo Doria, senior author and designer of the study, emphasized that the work was a team effort MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: The goal was to develop an algorithm to identify which donors would be most suitably transplanted as dual kidneys instead of as single kidneys. Dual kidney transplantation is a resource intensive procedure, but may make the most out of two kidneys whose function may be too marginal to transplant independently. Currently allocation decisions are based on individual surgeon and institutional experience and without much available outcome data. This score provide decision support for which donor grafts would have the greatest benefit if transplanted as dual kidneys. (more…)
Author Interviews, Heart Disease, Kidney Disease, Surgical Research / 25.09.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Pablo Codner, MD; Amos Levi, MD (firsts authors) and Prof. Ran Kornowski, MD, FACC, FESC (senior author) Rabin Medical Center Derech Ze`ev Israel. MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) is a well-established treatment for patients with severe aortic stenosis (AS) who are deemed inoperable by the “heart team”, for those at high risk for surgery and also for patients at intermediate surgical risk. Currently this therapeutic alternative is being compared with surgical aortic valve replacement in patients at low risk for surgery. Patients with chronic kidney disease were excluded from most randomized trials. We evaluated outcomes within a large multicenter cohort of patients undergoing TAVR distinguished by renal function, from 11 high volume centers in 8 different countries across Europe and Asia. In our experience patients with renal dysfunction were associated with poor clinical outcomes. All-cause and cardiovascular mortality rates during the follow-up period increased with declining renal function. A glomerular filtration rate ≤30 mL/min was identified on multivariate analysis as an independent predictor for all-cause and cardiovascular mortality. We also found higher rates of severe bleeding and vascular complications among patient with advanced or end stage renal failure. (more…)
Author Interviews, Kidney Disease, PLoS, Primary Care / 22.09.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. Adam Shardlow Derby Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust UK MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) is common in the general population, and many people are managed in primary care rather than by specialist nephrologists. This study was designed to investigate 5 year outcomes in people with mild to moderate CKD (CKD stage 3). The main findings were that the majority of participants were stable, and progression to end stage renal disease was a rarity. Interestingly, and contrary to common thinking about CKD, we found that a significant minority no longer had evidence of CKD stage 3 at 5 years, which we have termed ‘CKD remission’. (more…)
Author Interviews, Blood Pressure - Hypertension, Heart Disease, JACC, Kidney Disease / 19.09.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Elvira Gosmanova MD Department of Nephrology University of Tennessee Health Science Center Memphis TN, 38163 MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: It has been long known that elevated blood pressure is a risk factor for numerous adverse health-related outcomes. However, the majority of individuals do not have blood pressure in a constant range. In contrary, blood pressure measured in the same individual tends to fluctuate over time. Moreover, some individuals have more blood pressure fluctuation, as compared with others. The impact of fluctuation in blood pressure is still poorly understood. Smaller studies suggested that increased fluctuation in blood pressure may be associated with hazardous health outcomes. However, large scale studies were still lacking. Therefore, we conducted a study involving close to 3 million US veterans to investigate the association of increased visit-to-visit variability of systolic blood pressure (which was our measure of fluctuation of blood pressure over time) and all-cause mortality, and incident coronary heart disease, stroke, and end-stage renal disease. We found that there was strong and graded increase in the risk of all the above outcomes with increasing visit-to-visit variability of systolic blood pressure. (more…)
Author Interviews, Biomarkers, Heart Disease, Kidney Disease / 31.08.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Xiaobing Yang, MD Division of Nephrology, Nanfang Hospital Southern Medical University MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: AKI is a common complication in patients with acute decompensated heart failure (ADHF) and associated with increased death and worse clinical outcomes. Early detecting which patients are going to suffer progressive AKI or proceed to death could help physicians to plan and initiate timely managements. We analyzed data and samples of 732 ADHF patients from a prospective, multicenter study in China. We demonstrated that kidney injury biomarkers, measured at the first time of AKI clinical diagnosis, could predict which patients were going to have AKI progression or worsening of AKI with death. Notably, three urinary biomarkers, including urinary angiotensinogen (uAGT), urinary neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (uNGAL), urinary IL-18 (uIL-18), were all able to forecast which patients with the earliest stages of AKI were most likely to suffer progressive AKI. (more…)
Author Interviews, JAMA, Kidney Disease / 23.08.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Fan Fan Hou Chief, Division of Nephrology, Nanfang Hospital Professor of Medicine, Southern Medical UniversityFan Fan Hou MD Chief, Division of Nephrology, Nanfang Hospital Professor of Medicine, Southern Medical University MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Previous trials (HOST and DIVINe) of folic acid therapy in CKD patients were conducted in patients with advanced CKD and treated with super-high dose of vitamin B or with cyanocobalamin that has been shown to be renal toxic. The current study sought to evaluated the efficacy of folic acid therapy without cyanocobalamin on renal outcomes in patients without folic acid fortification and across a spectrum of renal function at baseline from normal to moderate CKD. We found that treatment with enalapril-folic acid, as compared with enalapril alone, reduced the risk of progression of CKD by 21% and the rate of eGFR decline by 10% in hypertensive patients. More importantly, the presence of CKD at baseline was a significant modifier of the treatment effect (p for interaction = 0.01). Patients with CKD benefited most from the folic acid therapy, with a 56% and 44% reduction in the risk for progression of CKD and the rate of eGFR decline, respectively. In contrast, the renal protective effect in those without CKD was nominal. (more…)
Author Interviews, Cost of Health Care, Emergency Care, JAMA, Kidney Disease / 22.08.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Rachel Patzer, PhD, MPH Director of Health Services Research, Emory Transplant Center Assistant Professor Emory University School of Medicine Department of Surgery Division of Transplantation MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Patients with End Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) make up less than 1% of all Medicare patients, but account for more than 7% of all Medicare expenses. Patients with ESRD have the highest risk of hospitalization of any patient with a chronic disease, and while hospital admissions have decreased over the last several years, emergency department utilization for this patient population has increased by 3% in the last 3 years. The purpose of the study we conducted was to describe the clinical and demographic characteristics associated with emergency department utilization. (more…)
Author Interviews, Diabetes, JAMA, Kidney Disease / 10.08.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Ian de Boer, MD, MS Associate Professor of Medicine Adjunct Associate Professor of Epidemiology Division of Nephrology and Kidney Research Institute University of Washington, Seattle, WA MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: From the perspective of patients with diabetes, kidney disease can be a devastating complication, leading to end stage renal disease requiring dialysis or kidney transplantation and markedly increasing the risks heart disease, stroke, peripheral vascular disease, and amputation. From a public health perspective, diabetes is the most common cause of end stage renal disease in the US, so understanding, preventing, and treating diabetic kidney disease is critical to reduce the numbers of people needing dialysis and kidney transplants. There have been major changes in the treatment of patients with diabetes over the last 30 years, so we were interested in evaluating how diabetic kidney disease was changing in this context. We observed that the clinical manifestations of kidney disease have indeed changed among US adults with diabetes over the last 30 years. Albuminuria, or elevated levels of albumin in the urine, has traditionally been thought of as the first evidence of kidney damage for people with diabetes. Reduced GFR, or a reduced ability of the kidneys to filter out waster products, has typically been thought of as a late stage of diabetic kidney disease. But from 1988 to 2014, we saw a significant decrease in the prevalence of albuminuria accompanied by a significant increase in reduced GFR. (more…)
Author Interviews, Heart Disease, Kidney Disease, Pharmacology, UCLA / 09.08.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Jenny Shen, MD, MS Assistant Professor of Medicine David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA Los Angeles Biomedical Institute at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: With cardiovascular disease being the No. 1 cause of death in end-stage kidney disease patients on peritoneal dialysis, we examined two classes of medications commonly prescribed to prevent cardiovascular events in these patients and found no significant difference in outcomes. The two classes of medications, angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEI) and angiotensin-II receptor blockers (ARB), have slightly different mechanisms and could theoretically have differing outcomes. Previous studies had suggested that ACEI may lead to a kinin-mediated increase in insulin sensitivity not seen with ARB. This could potentially lower the cardiovascular risk in patients on peritoneal dialysis because they are exposed to high glucose loads in their dialysate that may lead to insulin resistance and its associated cardiovascular risk. Using a national database, the U.S. Renal Data System, we surveyed records for all patients enrolled in Medicare Part D who initiated maintenance peritoneal dialysis from 2007 to 2011. Of those, we found 1,892 patients using either drug class. Surveying their medical records, we found no difference in cardiovascular events or deaths between the users for each class of medication. (more…)
Author Interviews, Cognitive Issues, Dental Research, Geriatrics, Kidney Disease / 05.08.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Danielle Mairead Maire Ni Chroinin, MB BCh BAO BMedSc MD MRCPI FRACP Staff Specialist in Geriatric Medicine Liverpool Hospital and Senior Conjoint Lecturer UNSW MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Oral disease may have a large impact on older persons’ health and wellbeing, causing pain, impairing speech, adversely affecting nutrition, contributing to systemic infection and harming self-esteem. However, this important issue may be neglected in the acute hospital setting. Our aim was to investigate oral health status and abnormalities in older patients admitted acutely to hospital, exploring the association with medical co-morbidities. We included all individuals aged 70 and older admitted to a geriatric service over 3 months (N=202), and evaluated oral health using a simple bedside tool the Oral Health Assessment Tool (OHAT). Overall, we found that poor oral health was not uncommon, and was associated with dementia and renal impairment. This association persisted even after adjustment for anticholinergic medication and oral pH, highlighting that patients with these conditions may be particularly vulnerable. (more…)
Author Interviews, Kidney Disease, Kidney Stones, Nutrition, Protein, Red Meat / 01.08.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Pietro Manuel Ferraro, MD MSc PhD Assistant Professor Fondazione Policlinico Universitario A. Gemelli Catholic University of the Sacred Heart Senior Collaborator in the Nurses' Health Study Brigham and Women's Hospital Channing Division of Network Medicine MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: In our study, we looked at the association between dietary intake of different sources of protein (vegetable, dairy and non-dairy animal), potassium (a marker of fruits and vegetables) and their interaction and the risk of forming kidney stones. We looked at their interaction because some protein is a source of acid, whereas fruits and vegetables are a source of alkali, thus their relationship could potentially impact acid-base status and in turn the risk of stones by modifying the metabolism of calcium and other elements such as urine citrate and uric acid. We found that the risk of forming stones depends not only on the amount of protein but also on the source, with no risk associated with intake of vegetable and dairy protein, and a modestly higher risk for excessive non-dairy animal protein; on the other hand, intake of potassium was associated with a markedly lower risk. Interestingly, the interaction between intake of protein and potassium, the so called net acid load, was also associated with higher risk of forming kidney stones, suggesting that the effect of acid intake is modulated by that of alkali and vice versa. (more…)
Author Interviews, Kidney Disease, Nutrition, Red Meat / 17.07.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Woon-Puay KOH | Professor Office of Clinical Sciences| Duke-NUS Medical School Singapore 169857 MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: There is a growing burden of chronic kidney disease worldwide, and many progress to end-stage renal disease (ESRD), which requires dialysis or a kidney transplant. Hence, urgent efforts are needed in risk factor prevention, especially in the general population. Current guidelines recommend restricting dietary protein intake to help manage patients with advanced chronic kidney disease, and slow progression to ESRD. However, there is limited evidence that overall dietary protein restriction or limiting specific food sources of protein intake may slow kidney function decline in the general population. Hence, we embarked on our study to see what dietary advice may be helpful to the general population in order to reduce the risk of ESRD. (more…)
Author Interviews, Heart Disease, Kidney Disease / 15.06.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Burns C. Blaxall, PhD, FAHA, FACC, FAPS Director of Translational Science, Heart Institute Co-Director, Heart Institute Research Core & Biorepository Professor, UC Department of Pediatrics MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Dr. Blaxall: The development of kidney disease subsequent to chronic heart failure is known clinically as cardiorenal syndrome 2, and is associated with dual organ failure and reduced survival. Furthermore, patients undergoing invasive cardiac procedures that require heart-lung bypass are at significant risk for developing kidney injury. According to the National Kidney Foundation, cardiorenal syndrome 2 presents a considerable economic burden of around $30 billion annually. Previous work has demonstrated the role of G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) signaling and the activation of G protein βγ (Gβγ) subunits in the development and progression of heart failure, however little is known regarding the role of this signaling pathway in kidney disease. (more…)
Author Interviews, Diabetes, Kidney Disease, Pharmacology / 13.06.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Doctor Hiddo Lambers Heerspink Department of Clinical Pharmacy and Pharmacology University Medical Center Groningen the Netherlands MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: SGLT2 inhibitors, including canagliflozin, have beneficial effects on multiple cardiovascular and renal risk parameters. This suggests that SGLT2 inhibitors may confer cardiovascular and renal protection. A recent large clinical trial with the SGLT2 inhibitor empagliflozin demonstrated marked reductions in cardiovascular morbidity and mortality and suggested possible renoprotective effects. Whether SGLT2 inhibition slows the progression of kidney function decline independent of its glucose-lowering effect, however, is unknown. We therefore assessed whether canagliflozin slows the progression of kidney function decline by comparing the effects of canagliflozin versus glimepiride on eGFR and albuminuria. (more…)
Author Interviews, Brigham & Women's - Harvard, Genetic Research, Kidney Disease, Surgical Research / 07.06.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: David E. Leaf, MD, MMSc, FASN Instructor in Medicine, Harvard Medical School Associate Physician, Renal Division, Brigham and Women's Hospital MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. Leaf: Heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1), the rate-limiting enzyme in the degradation of heme, has a central role in the pathophysiology of acute kidney injury (AKI) in animal models, but data on HO-1 in human AKI are sparse. Genetic polymorphisms in the number of guanosine thymidine dinucleotide [(GT)n] repeats in the promoter of the HO-1 gene are inversely associated with HO-1 expression, and longer (GT)n repeats are associated with increased cardiovascular events and mortality in a variety of clinical settings. However, no study has evaluated the association between number of (GT)n repeats and risk of AKI in a large cohort of patients. We analyzed the allelic frequencies of (GT)n repeats in the HO-1 gene promoter in 2377 Caucasian patients who underwent cardiopulmonary bypass surgery to evaluate their association with AKI. We categorized patients as having the short (S) or long (L) allele if they had. (more…)
Author Interviews, Heart Disease, JAMA, Kidney Disease, Salt-Sodium / 25.05.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Jiang He, M.D., Ph.D. Joseph S. Copes Chair and Professor Department of Epidemiology School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine Tulane University, New Orleans MedicalResearch: What is the background for this study? Dr. Jiang He: Chronic kidney disease is associated with increased risk of end-stage renal disease, cardiovascular disease, and all-cause mortality. A positive association between sodium intake and blood pressure is well established in observational studies and clinical trials. However, the association between sodium intake and clinical cardiovascular disease remains less clear. Positive monotonic, J-shaped, and U-shaped associations have been reported. Methodologic limitations, including inconsistencies in dietary sodium measurement methods, could be contributing to these conflicting findings. Furthermore, no previous studies have examined the association between sodium intake and incident cardiovascular disease among patients with chronic kidney disease. (more…)
Author Interviews, Kidney Disease / 16.05.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr Laura E Niklason, MD PhD Department of Anesthesia & Biomedical Engineering Yale University, New Haven, CT  MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. Niklason:    For end stage renal disease patients who are not candidates for fistula, dialysis access grafts are the best option for chronic hemodialysis. However, polytetrafluoroethylene arteriovenous grafts suffer from high rates of thrombosis, infection and intimal hyperplasia at the venous anastomosis. We are conducting two, single arm Phase II trials where a novel bioengineered human acellular vessel (HAV) was implanted into the arms of patients for hemodialysis access. Primary endpoints were safety (freedom from immune response/infection, aneurysm, or mechanical failure, and incidence of adverse events), and efficacy as assessed by primary, primary assisted and secondary patencies at 6 months. Secondary endpoints included patency and intervention rates at 12, 18 and 24 months, and changes in panel reactive antibodies following implantation. All patients were followed for at least one year, or had a censoring event. Human acellular vessels were implanted into 60 patients at 6 centers in the US and Poland. The average duration of follow-up was 16 months (range 12 to 30); all patients have completed at least 12 months of follow-up (or been censored). (more…)