Human pluripotent stem cell (hPSC)-derived kidney organoids share similarities with the fetal kidney. However, the current hPSC-derived kidney organoids have some limitations, including the inability to perform nephrogenesis and lack of a c
Tag: Kidney
UT Southwestern study shows glucagon is key for kidney health
Glucagon, a hormone best known for promoting blood sugar production in the liver, also appears to play a key role in maintaining kidney health. When UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers removed receptors for this hormone from mouse kidneys, the animals developed symptoms akin to chronic kidney disease (CKD).
Study Details Toxic Elements Found in Stranded Whales, Dolphins Over 15 Years
Researchers evaluated the prevalence, concentration and tissue distribution of essential and non-essential trace elements, including heavy metal toxicants in tissue (blubber, kidney, liver, skeletal muscle, skin) and fecal samples. Findings reveal how toxicant levels relate to their sex, breed, age and other demographic factors.
Deidra C. Crews, MD, ScM, FASN, to Become Next President of the American Society of Nephrology
The American Society of Nephrology (ASN) is pleased to announce that Deidra C. Crews, MD, ScM, FASN, will become the society’s next president. Dr. Crews, who succeeds Michelle A. Josephson, MD, FASN, will assume her new role on January 1, 2024.
Real-World Analysis of Sodium-Glucose Cotransporter-2 Inhibitors in Kidney Transplant Recipients
Compared with kidney transplant recipients who did not receive sodium-glucose cotransporter-2 inhibitors, those treated with the medications had lower risks of experiencing kidney transplant failure, kidney transplant rejection, major adverse cardiac events, all-cause mortality, and genitourinary infections.
High-Impact Clinical Trials Yield Results That Could Improve Kidney Care
The results of numerous high-impact clinical trials that could affect kidney-related medical care will be presented in-person at ASN Kidney Week 2023 November 1–November 5.
Different Antibiotics’ Effects on Gut Microbes May Impact Hypertensive Organ Damage
In a preclinical study, altering the intestinal microbiome with narrow-spectrum antibiotics affected organ damage associated with hypertension.
Simple Automated Tool Prompts Physicians to Screen Patients with Diabetes for Kidney Disease
• A tool that provides an automated prompt to physicians increased kidney disease screening in patients with type 2 diabetes.
• Results from the study will be presented at ASN Kidney Week 2023 November 1–November 5.
Wildfire Air Pollution May Increase Risks of Hospitalization and Death Among Patients on Dialysis
Among individuals receiving in-center hemodialysis treatment in Washington, Oregon, and California, exposure to wildfire-related air pollution was associated with elevated risks of hospitalization and mortality.
Are Sodium-Glucose Cotransporter-2 Inhibitors Safe for Patients with Diabetes and Cancer?
Investigators found that in patients with diabetes and cancer, sodium glucose cotransporter-2 inhibitors were associated with a higher risk of diabetic ketoacidosis and fracture and a lower risk of acute kidney injury and urinary tract infection compared with glucagon-like peptide 1 receptor agonists.
Quanta™ to Present Highly Anticipated Real-World Evidence at the American Society of Nephrology (ASN) Kidney Week 2023
Quanta Dialysis Technologies, a medical technology company committed to making kidney care more accessible with its Quanta™ Dialysis System, today announced the presentation of real-world evidence from its Home Run™ study at the American Society of Nephrology (ASN) Kidney Week 2023, taking place November 2 – 5 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Is High Urinary Albumin Linked to Sub-Clinical Cardiovascular Disease in People with Type 2 Diabetes?
Imaging tests in individuals with type 2 diabetes without symptoms of cardiovascular disease indicated that elevated albumin in the urine may be linked with sub-clinical coronary artery pathology, including coronary artery microcalcifications.
Promising Kidney Transplant Solution Taps Expertise of Dr. Jim Lowe
In August, two U.S. surgical teams announced successful experimental kidney transplant from transgenic pigs into brain-dead human recipients. In both instances, the pig kidneys produced urine, carried out other functions of a kidney, and were not rejected by the body.
Chronic kidney disease may be linked to sudden cardiac arrest in Hispanic/Latino adults
Research Highlights:
Chronic kidney disease was strongly associated with an increased risk of sudden cardiac arrest among Hispanic/Latino adults, in a new study.
Early identification and management of kidney disease may reduce risk of sudden cardiac arrest among Hispanic/Latino people, researchers suggest.
Hispanics Are Being Impacted By Diabetes and Kidney Disease
Paula Duran, MD, at Baylor Scott & White Health, answers the most common patient questions and reacts to the latest medical research impacting the Hispanic population. Why do Hispanics have a high incidence of diabetes and subsequent kidney disease? Is…
Genetic code of rare kidney cancer cracked
The genetic code of a rare form of kidney cancer, called reninoma, has been studied for the first time.
UIC awarded $3M to study link between gut microbiome, pain in kidney transplant patients
Funded by NIH, the five-year study builds off a pilot study that pointed to an association between changes in the gut microbiome and pain that interferes with a person’s daily activities, a symptom that nearly half of kidney transplant patients experience.
Despite social media claims, Borax is not safe to consume
A nephrologist explains the damage that this trend can cause
Gene therapy hope for children with kidney disease
Researchers at the University of Bristol have made a remarkable step forward in finding a potential cure for a type of childhood kidney disease.
April is National Donate Life Month
Organ transplants transform lives and reshape futures. These lifesaving procedures wouldn’t be possible without a selfless decision from an organ donor. This April, we celebrate all those who heed this call to give the gift of life – especially through…
Living Kidney Donor on 1,441-Mile Bike Ride Spends the Day in New Orleans
“I’ve been riding my bike all over the country to showcase how healthy and active a living organ donor can be after donation,” said Scotch. “Today, in New Orleans, I had the unique opportunity to add a tugboat ride on the great Mississippi to my journey to make it that much more remarkable. Ending my day by raising the flag at Ochsner’s Transplant Institute was a fitting end to the day to celebrate the work they are doing with transplant donations to save lives.”
A readily available dietary supplement may reverse organ damage caused by HIV and antiretroviral therapy
MitoQ, a mitochondrial antioxidant that is available to the public as a diet supplement, was found in a mouse study to reverse the detrimental effects that HIV and antiretroviral therapy (ART) have on mitochondria in the brain, heart, aorta, lungs, kidney and liver.
Study estimates the lifetime benefit of combination therapy in patients with kidney disease without diabetes
A recent analysis of clinical trial data estimates that treatment with the combination of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors and/or angiotensin receptor blockers (ACE inhibitors/ARBs) and sodium-glucose cotransporter-2 (SGLT2) inhibitors can substantially increase the lifetime survival free of kidney failure for patients with albuminuric chronic kidney disease without diabetes.
Together with Missouri S&T, Saint Louis University Researchers Use Artificial Intelligence to Improve Kidney Transplant Process
With a new grant that brings together engineering expertise from Missouri S&T and medical expertise from Saint Louis University’s School of Medicine, researchers are investigating how artificial intelligence can support matchmaking between donated kidneys and transplant centers to help more patients in need.
Study assesses environmental sustainability practices in dialysis facilities
Survey results from dialysis facilities in Australia and New Zealand indicate that environmental sustainability is not currently prioritized in facilities’ clinical practice, building design, or infrastructure and management systems.
Study examines symptom burden before and after starting dialysis in older adults
Older adults with kidney failure in Europe experienced a considerable increase in symptom burden in the year before starting dialysis, which stabilized in the year after dialysis initiation.
Cell competition may explain cancer relapses, UT Southwestern research suggests
A normal process called cell competition, in which healthy tissues eliminate unhealthy cells, could be responsible for cancer relapses in patients months or years after they were declared cancer-free
Michelle A. Josephson, MD, FASN, to Become Next President of the American Society of Nephrology
The American Society of Nephrology (ASN) is pleased to announce that Michelle A. Josephson, MD, FASN, will become the society’s next president. Dr. Josephson, who succeeds Susan E. Quaggin, MD, FASN, will assume her new role on January 1, 2023.
The COVID-19 pandemic has had direct and indirect impacts on the mortality of patients on dialysis
During the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, mortality risk for both COVID-19–positive and other patients on hemodialysis fluctuated in line with two waves of the pandemic in the general population.
Did having kidney disease and other conditions affect COVID-19 outcomes in different waves of the pandemic?
During 4 waves of the COVID-19 pandemic in New York City, the risk of severe COVID-19 was associated with pre-existing chronic kidney disease, as well as heart disease, diabetes, and hypertension.
Conservative management vs. dialysis for preventing hospitalizations in patients with advanced kidney diseases and different ethnicities
Researchers have compared the impact of conservative management vs. dialysis on hospitalization outcomes in patients with advanced kidney disease across different races/ethnicities.
Strategy suggests combining surrogate markers for kidney disease progression in clinical trials
In clinical trials of patients with chronic kidney disease, combining information from the treatment effects on two markers of kidney disease progression—urinary albumin:creatinine ratio change and glomerular filtration rate slope—improves predictions of treatment effects on clinical endpoints.
Risks of kidney failure and death differ in Black and white veterans over time after chronic kidney disease onset
Among US veterans with chronic kidney disease (CKD), Black individuals had a higher risk of developing kidney failure compared with White veterans, and their risk was more pronounced in the early years after kidney disease onset.
Long-term exposure to air pollution may increase kidney disease risk
Among adults with normal kidney function, exposure to higher concentrations of components of air pollution was linked with higher risks of later developing chronic kidney disease.
High-Impact Clinical Trials Yield Results that Could Improve Kidney Care
The results of numerous high-impact clinical trials that could affect kidney-related medical care will be presented in-person and online at ASN Kidney Week 2022 November 3–November 6.
Population-level study provides reassuring data on the risk of kidney disease relapse after COVID-19 vaccination
• In a population-level study of 1,105 adults with stable glomerular disease (a type of autoimmune kidney disease), a first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine was not associated with relapse risk; however, receiving a subsequent vaccine dose was associated with a 2-fold higher relative risk of relapse.
• Importantly, the increase in absolute risk associated with vaccination was low (1–5% depending on type of glomerular disease), and most vaccine-associated disease flares were mild.
Researchers develop and test risk score for childhood kidney condition
Scientists have generated a polygenic risk score for pediatric steroid sensitive nephrotic syndrome, a kidney disease in children.
Artificial intelligence–based algorithm predicts major adverse kidney events after hospitalization
• Researchers have developed and validated an artificial intelligence–based algorithm to predict hospitalized patients’ risk of major adverse kidney events after discharge.
• Results from the study will be presented at ASN Kidney Week 2022 November 3–November 6.
Analysis links impaired kidney function with cognitive disorders
In an analysis of data from the Framingham Heart Study, albuminuria (a marker of kidney disease) was associated with signs of silent stroke, and patients with albuminuria had a higher risk of developing mild cognitive impairment or dementia.
Artificial intelligence–based model predicts patients’ risk of acute kidney injury
Investigators recently developed and validated an artificial intelligence–based model that can help clinicians predict which patients in the intensive care unit are most likely to develop acute kidney injury.
Study assesses symptom trajectories and outcomes in patients with kidney disease
● Among individuals with varying levels of chronic kidney disease who were not on dialysis, the prevalence of individual symptoms ranged from 24% (chest pain) to 83% (fatigue), and 98% of participants reported at least one symptom.
● Patients categorized as having a “Worse symptom score and worsening trajectory” of symptoms had higher risks of later needing dialysis and of dying before dialysis initiation.
How do Canadians feel about new law that assumes consent for deceased organ donation?
In 2019, two Canadian provinces passed deemed consent legislation, where adults are automatically presumed to consent to organ donation upon their death unless they registered to opt out.
New Therapeutics Could Help Treat Excess Urine in the Kidneys
Rockville, Md. (September 1, 2022)—Physiologists at the University of Nevada, Reno have identified two ion channels necessary for urine to flow from the kidneys to the ureters. A calcium-activated chloride channel and a voltage-dependent calcium channel are required for contractions…
Study provides insights into how the immune system of kidney transplant recipients responds to COVID-19
Kidney transplant recipients experience immune-insufficiency during acute COVID-19.
Inhaling Silica Particles May Cause Kidney Disease
New research in rats demonstrates that inhaling amorphous silica particles—of the size released from burning sugarcane—could damage the kidneys. The study, chosen as an APSselect for August, is published ahead of print in the American Journal of Physiology-Renal Physiology.
Study reveals sex differences in age-related loss of kidney function
Among healthy middle-aged adults in northern Europe, women tended to have lower kidney function than men, but men’s kidney function subsequently declined at a faster rate during aging.
Does gender-affirming hormone therapy affect markers of kidney health?
Results from relevant studies indicate that gender-affirming hormone therapy may increase blood levels of creatinine (indicating potential kidney dysfunction or simply a change in lean muscle mass) in transgender men but does not significantly impact blood levels of creatinine in transgender women.
Pediatric kidney transplant patients fare better when kidney is from live donor
Do pediatric kidney transplant patients have better long-term outcomes when their kidney comes from living, biologically unrelated donors compared to deceased donors? A new UC Davis Health study published in the journal Pediatric Transplantation finds that they do.
Risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection during the Omicron surge in patients on dialysis: The role of antibody responses and vaccine doses
• Among US adults with kidney failure receiving dialysis, risk for SARS-CoV-2 infection during the Omicron-dominant period was higher among patients without vaccination and with 1–2 doses compared with 3 doses of mRNA vaccines.
• Irrespective of vaccine doses, risk for infection was higher among patients with low circulating levels of anti–SARS-CoV-2 antibodies.
AMERICAN SOCIETY OF NEPHROLOGY STRONGLY SUPPORTS CONGRESSIONAL OVERSIGHT OF TRANSPLANT SYSTEM
The American Society of Nephrology (ASN) supports efforts by Congress to improve the US transplant system. Today, the Senate Finance Committee will conduct an oversight hearing, A System in Need of Repair: Addressing Organizational Failures of the U.S.’s Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN).