Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Fibroblast growth factor-23 and the long-term risk of hospital-associated AKI among community-dwelling older individuals.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES AKI occurs frequently in older persons. Elevated circulating fibroblast growth factor-23 (FGF-23), a known marker of impaired mineral metabolism, may also reflect tubular dysfunction and risk of AKI. This study evaluated FGF-23 as well as traditional markers of kidney disease, namely urine albumin-to-creatinine ratio (UACR) and creatinine-cystatin C estimated GFR (eGFRCrCyC), as risk factors for AKI in elderly individuals. DESIGN, SETTING, PARTICIPANTS, & MEASUREMENTS Plasma FGF-23, UACR, and eGFRCrCyC were measured in 3241 community-dwelling elderly individuals in the Cardiovascular Health Study. Hospitalization for AKI was defined by International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, Clinical Modification codes. Associations of each biomarker with AKI were evaluated using Cox proportional hazards models adjusted for demographics, cardiovascular risk factors, and biomarkers of kidney function. RESULTS The mean participant age was 78 years; 60% of participants were women and 16% were African American. The median (interquartile range) values of biomarkers were as follows: FGF-23, 70 RU/ml (53, 99); UACR, 8.88 mg/g (4.71, 20.47); and eGFRCrCyC, 71 ml/min per 1.73 m(2) (59, 83). Hospitalized AKI occurred in 119 participants over 10.0 years of median follow-up. In fully adjusted analyses, compared with the lowest quartiles, the highest quartiles of FGF-23 (≥100 RU/ml) and UACR (≥20.9 mg/g) were associated with AKI (FGF-23: hazard ratio [HR], 1.99; 95% confidence interval [95% CI], 1.04 to 3.80; and UACR: HR, 3.35; 95% CI, 1.83 to 6.13). Compared with the highest quartile, the lowest quartile of eGFRCrCyC (<57 ml/min per 1.73 m(2)) was associated with AKI with an HR of 2.15 (95% CI, 1.21 to 3.82). CONCLUSIONS FGF-23 adjusted for albuminuria, cardiovascular disease risk factors, and baseline eGFR is independently associated with a higher risk of AKI hospitalizations in community-dwelling elderly individuals. Further studies to understand the nature of this association are warranted.
Angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors and atherosclerotic plaque: a key role in the cardiovascular protection of patients with coronary artery disease

In EUROPA, the angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor (ACEI) perindopril on top of other preventative therapies reduced the risk of major coronary events (cardiovascular death, myocardial infarction, resuscitated cardiac arrest) by 20% when compared with placebo (P ¼ 0.0003) in patients with stable coronary artery disease (CAD). These cardiovascular benefits may be attributable not only to the blood pressure-lowering effect of the drug, but also potentially to a direct cardioprotective vascular effect as determined in two substudies of EUROPA. Analysis of intravascular ultrasound data from the PERSPECTIVE substudy indicated that perindopril treatment may be associated with favourable patterns of coronary remodelling that are associated with plaque stabilization and may induce regression of non-calcified lesions. In the PERTINENT substudy, there were reductions in markers of coronary vascular endothelial cell dysfunction and the rate of endothelial cell apoptosis in perindopril recipients. Experimental data suggest an advantage of perindopril over other ACEIs at the level of tissue ACE inhibition and relative selectivity for bradykinin, which may explain the mechanism of the beneficial effect of perindopril on the endothelium. These differences may underpin the differential results in large clinical trials of ACEIs in patients with stable CAD.
The 3-Year Incidence of Gout in Elderly Patients with CKD.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES The risk of gout across CKD stages is not well described. DESIGN, SETTING, PARTICIPANTS, & MEASUREMENTS We performed a retrospective cohort study using linked health care databases from Ontario, Canada from 2002 to 2010. The primary outcome was the 3-year cumulative incidence of gout, on the basis of diagnostic codes. We presented our results by level of kidney function (eGFR≥90 ml/min per 1.73 m2, 60-89, 45-59, 30-44, 15-29, and chronic dialysis) and by sex. Additional analyses examined the risk of gout adjusting for clinical characteristics, incidence of gout defined by the receipt of allopurinol or colchicine, and gout risk in a subpopulation stratified by the level of eGFR and albuminuria. RESULTS Of the 282,925 adults aged ≥66 years, the mean age was 75 years and 57.9% were women. The 3-year cumulative incidence of gout was higher in older adults with a lower level of eGFR. In women, the 3-year cumulative incidence of gout was 0.6%, 0.7%, 1.3%, 2.2%, and 3.4%, and in men the values were 0.8%, 1.2%, 2.5%, 3.7%, and 4.6%, respectively. However, patients on chronic dialysis had a lower 3-year cumulative incidence of gout (women 2.0%, men 2.9%) than those with more moderate reductions in kidney function (i.e., eGFR 15-44 ml/min per 1.73 m2). The association between a greater loss of kidney function and a higher risk of diagnosed gout was also evident after adjustment for clinical characteristics and in all additional analyses. CONCLUSIONS Patients with a lower level of eGFR had a higher 3-year cumulative incidence of gout, with the exception of patients receiving dialysis. Results can be used for risk stratification.
Renal function and proteinuria after successful immunosuppressive therapies in patients with FSGS.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES In the FSGS Clinical Trial, 22 cyclosporine-treated and 20 mycophenolate/dexamethasone-treated patients experienced a complete or partial remission after 26 weeks, completed 52 weeks of treatment, and were studied through 78 weeks. Herein, changes in the urine protein/creatinine ratio (UP/C) and estimated GFR (eGFR) throughout the entire study period are defined. DESIGN, SETTING, PARTICIPANTS, AND MEASUREMENTS The FSGS Clinical Trial, which was conducted from November 2004 to January 2010, enrolled patients aged 2-40 years, with eGFR ≥40 ml/min per 1.73 m(2) and UP/C >1 mg/mg after ≥4 weeks of corticosteroid therapy. Both groups received lisinopril or losartan throughout the study. UP/C and eGFR were measured at 0, 26, 52, and 78 weeks. RESULTS The median UP/C in the cyclosporine- and mycophenolate/dexamethasone-responsive patients fell by 89.8% and 82.7% at 52 weeks; the fall was largely sustained at 78 weeks (74.7% and 80.3%, respectively). The mean eGFR fell by 19.4% in the cyclosporine group and rose by 7.0% in the mycophenolate mofetil/dexamethasone group at 52 weeks, but subsequently rose by 16.4% and fell by 2.6%, respectively, in the two groups from 52 to 78 weeks. CONCLUSIONS In this subset of responding FSGS patients, the improvement in UP/C after cyclosporine or mycophenolate/dexamethasone treatment was largely sustained for 6 months after therapy. Reduction in eGFR in the cyclosporine group was improved 6 months after cyclosporine was stopped although the levels were lower than baseline in seven patients who entered the study with decreased eGFR.
Light-intensity physical activities and mortality in the United States general population and CKD subpopulation.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES Sedentary behavior is associated with increased mortality in the general population. Whether replacing sedentary behavior with low- or light-intensity activities confers a survival benefit in the general or CKD populations is unknown. DESIGN, SETTING, PARTICIPANTS, & MEASUREMENTS This observational analysis of the 2003-2004 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey examined the associations of low- and light-intensity activities with mortality. On the basis of the number of counts/min recorded by an accelerometer, durations of sedentary (<100/min), low (100-499/min), light (500-2019/min), and moderate/vigorous (≥2020/min) activity were defined and normalized to 60 minutes. The mortality associations of 2 min/hr less sedentary duration in conjunction with 2 min/hr more (tradeoff) spent in one of the low, light, or moderate/vigorous activity durations while controlling for the other two activity durations were examined in multivariable Cox regression models in the entire cohort and in the CKD subgroup. RESULTS Of the 3626 participants included, 383 had CKD. The mean sedentary duration was 34.4±7.9 min/hr in the entire cohort and 40.8±6.8 in the CKD subgroup. Tradeoff of sedentary duration with low activity duration was not associated with mortality in the entire cohort or the CKD subgroup. Tradeoff of sedentary duration with light activity duration was associated with a lower hazard of death in the entire cohort (hazard ratio, 0.67; 95% confidence interval, 0.48 to 0.93) and CKD subgroup (hazard ratio, 0.59; 95% confidence interval, 0.35 to 0.98). Tradeoff of sedentary duration with moderate/vigorous activity duration had a nonsignificant lower hazard in the entire cohort and CKD subgroup. CONCLUSIONS Patients with CKD are sedentary nearly two thirds of the time. Interventions that replace sedentary duration with an increase in light activity duration might confer a survival benefit.
Prevalence and Trends in Periodontitis in the USA: from the NHANES III to the NHANES, 1988 to 2000

Trends in periodontal diseases in the USA have been documented for years. However, the results have been mixed, mostly due to different periodontal assessment protocols. This study examined change in the prevalence of periodontitis between the NHANES III and the NHANES 1999–2000, and differences in the prevalence of periodontitis among racial/ethnic groups in the USA. Analysis was limited to non-Hispanic black, non-Hispanic white, and Mexican-American adults aged 18+ yrs in the NHANES III (n = 12,088) or the NHANES 1999–2000 (n = 3214). The prevalences of periodontitis for the NHANES III and the NHANES 1999–2000 were 7.3% and 4.2%, respectively. In multivariable analyses, blacks were 1.88 times (95%CI: 1.42, 2.50) more likely to have periodontitis than whites surveyed in the NHANES III. However, the odds of periodontitis for blacks and Mexican-Americans did not differ from those for whites surveyed in the NHANES 1999–2000. Our findings indicate that the prevalence of periodontitis has decreased between the NHANES III and the NHANES 1999–2000 for all racial/ethnic groups in the USA.
Development of an interview-administered food-frequency questionnaire for use amongst women of South Asian ethnic origin in Britain

Summary Objectives: To develop an interview-administered food-frequency questionnaire (FFQ) to assess usual long-term intake of foods and nutrients amongst women from the largest South Asian communities residing in Britain. Methods: A list of foods and dishes consumed by these South Asian communities was compiled from data collected in previous studies. Foods which contributed to interindividual variation in the intake of the various macronutrients or were rich in fat or fibre were included in the FFQ. Portion size for traditional foods were estimated using sets of eight colour photographs. A nutrient database was modified to make it appropriate for South Asian diets. The reliability of the FFQ was assessed in a group of volunteer South Asian women (n=14) of differing regional and religious backgrounds. A preliminary validation exercise was conducted in a group of Punjabi Muslim women (n=11) who had kept 7-day weighed records 2 years previously. Results: The reliability of this FFQ was high, with most women being classified in the same tertile for energy and macronutrient intake in the two interviews. The main sources of energy and macronutrients identified by the FFQ were similar to those identified by the weighed records but the average nutrient intakes estimated by the FFQ were slightly higher. The level of agreement between the two dietary methods, measured by the ability of the FFQ to classify women in the same tertile of intake as the weighed records, was high for percentage energy intake from fat, protein and carbohydrates, but less so for absolute nutrient intakes. These results were, however, limited because of the small sample size. Conclusions: This is the first FFQ specifically designed for South Asian communities in Britain. Despite the diversity of diets, these preliminary findings suggest it will be a useful and easy to administer tool in chronic disease epidemiology to obtain standardized information on long-term usual dietary intake from these communities. A more comprehensive validation of this FFQ is now underway.
Is Chronic Dialysis the Right Hard Renal End Point To Evaluate Renoprotective Drug Effects?

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES RRT and doubling of serum creatinine are considered the objective hard end points in nephrology intervention trials. Because both are assumed to reflect changes in the filtration capacity of the kidney, drug effects, if present, are attributed to kidney protection. However, decisions to start RRT are not only on the basis of filtration capacity of the kidney, but also on other factors. We therefore compared the time to RRT with the time to a fixed eGFR threshold and assessed the effect of the renoprotective drug irbesartan on both components. DESIGN, SETTING, PARTICIPANTS, & MEASUREMENTS Post hoc analysis of two clinical trials, the Irbesartan Diabetic Nephropathy Trial (IDNT) and Reduction of End points in Non-insulin dependent diabetes mellitus with the Angiotensin II Antagonist Losartan Trial, in patients with type 2 diabetes and nephropathy. The time to a predefined eGFR level of 11 ml/min per 1.73 m2 (eGFR11), calculated by within-patient linear regression, was compared with the time to RRT or sustained serum creatinine ≥6 mg/dl. RESULTS A large difference was observed in the median time to RRT (779 days) compared with eGFR11 (678 days; P=0.01). We also observed a large variation in the difference between the time to RRT and eGFR11. In IDNT, the hazard ratio for the effect of irbesartan on the serum creatinine ≥6.0 mg/dl end point was 0.60 (95% confidence interval, 0.39 to 0.91; P=0.02), whereas it was smaller for the RRT end point (hazard ratio, 0.78; 95% confidence interval, 0.58 to 1.07; P=0.12). CONCLUSIONS This study shows a difference in the time to RRT and a fixed eGFR threshold, and shows that the effect of an angiotensin receptor blocker on a filtration-based end point versus RRT varies. This implies that evaluating renoprotective effects of drugs with a combined RRT and doubling of serum creatinine end point may result in evaluating other effects beyond renoprotection alone. Future trials should consider registering all parameters that lead to RRT decisions.
Mortality and serum sodium: do patients die from or with hyponatremia?

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES Severe hyponatremia (<120 mEq/L) in hospitalized patients has a high mortality rate. We hypothesized that underlying diseases causing hyponatremia attribute to mortality rather than hyponatremia itself. DESIGN, SETTING, PARTICIPANTS, & MEASUREMENTS The relationship between mortality and serum sodium (sNa) was examined in 45,693 patients admitted to a single community teaching hospital between January 1996 and December 2007. We conducted a comprehensive retrospective review of the medical records of 53 patients who died after developing sNa <120 mEq/L before or after admission and of 32 patients who survived after developing sNa <110 mEq/L. RESULTS Mortality rates tended to increase as the sNa fell from 134 to 120 mEq/L, rising above 10% for patients with sNa of 120 to 124 mEq/L. However, below sNa of 120 mEq/L, the trend reversed, such that the mortality rate progressively decreased as sNa fell. More than two thirds of patients who died after sNa <120 mEq/L had at least two additional acute severe progressive illnesses, most commonly sepsis and multiorgan failure. Three deaths (5.6%) in 12 years could plausibly be related to adverse consequences of hyponatremia, and one (1.8% of the fatal cases and 0.15% of all patients with sNa <120 mEq/L) was from cerebral edema. Most patients who survived with sNa <110 mEq/L had medication-induced hyponatremia. Severe underlying illnesses were uncommon in this group. CONCLUSIONS The nature of underlying illness rather than the severity of hyponatremia best explains mortality associated with hyponatremia. Neurologic complications from hyponatremia are uncommon among patients who die with hyponatremia.
Comments on Asian Stroke Criteria

The Asian Stroke Criteria (ASC) was developed to detect etiology and topography of brain infarction. The ASC was designed by stroke neurologists and approved by the University of Alberta, Canada in 2003. In the first validation step, inter-rater reliability of ASC was evaluated. The inter-rater agreement, according to the ASC system, is much higher than other classifications with moderate inter-observer reliability. In the second validation step, ASC has been used successfully in
Circulating follistatin in patients with chronic kidney disease: implications for muscle strength, bone mineral density, inflammation, and survival.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES Follistatin mediates muscle growth and bone mineralization. At present, it is unknown whether circulating follistatin levels are altered in chronic kidney disease (CKD) or links to CKD risk factors and outcomes. DESIGN, SETTING, PARTICIPANTS, & MEASUREMENTS Plasma follistatin levels were cross-sectionally analyzed in relation to protein-energy wasting (PEW), handgrip strength (HGS), bone mineral density (BMD), and inflammatory markers in 280 CKD stage 5 patients, 32 CKD stage 4 patients, 16 CKD stage 3 patients, and 32 control subjects. In CKD stage 5 patients survival was prospectively investigated during a follow-up period of up to 5 years. RESULTS The plasma follistatin concentration was not higher in CKD stage 5 patients than in other CKD stages or controls. In CKD stage 5 patients, circulating follistatin positively correlated with age, high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP), and IL-6; negatively correlated with HGS, serum creatinine, and BMD; and was increased in patients with PEW. In a multivariate logistic regression model, lower HGS, lower BMD, and higher hsCRP independently correlated with higher follistatin levels. In a Cox regression model, follistatin levels were not associated with all-cause mortality. CONCLUSIONS Circulating follistatin levels were neither elevated nor predicted outcome in patients with CKD. However, increased follistatin levels occurred together with increased inflammation, reduced muscle strength, and low BMD, suggesting an involvement of a mechanism including follistatin in the uremic wasting process.
Segmentation of individual renal cysts from MR images in patients with autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease.

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the performance of a semi-automated method for the segmentation of individual renal cysts from magnetic resonance (MR) images in patients with autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD). DESIGN, SETTING, PARTICIPANTS, & MEASUREMENTS This semi-automated method was based on a morphologic watershed technique with shape-detection level set for segmentation of renal cysts from MR images. T2-weighted MR image sets of 40 kidneys were selected from 20 patients with mild to moderate renal cyst burden (kidney volume < 1500 ml) in the Consortium for Radiologic Imaging Studies of Polycystic Kidney Disease (CRISP). The performance of the semi-automated method was assessed in terms of two reference metrics in each kidney: the total number of cysts measured by manual counting and the total volume of cysts measured with a region-based thresholding method. The proposed and reference measurements were compared using intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) and Bland-Altman analysis. RESULTS Individual renal cysts were successfully segmented with the semi-automated method in all 20 cases. The total number of cysts in each kidney measured with the two methods correlated well (ICC, 0.99), with a very small relative bias (0.3% increase with the semi-automated method; limits of agreement, 15.2% reduction to 17.2% increase). The total volume of cysts measured using both methods also correlated well (ICC, 1.00), with a small relative bias of <10% (9.0% decrease in the semi-automated method; limits of agreement, 17.1% increase to 43.3% decrease). CONCLUSION This semi-automated method to segment individual renal cysts in ADPKD kidneys provides a quantitative indicator of severity in early and moderate stages of the disease.
Effects of a renal rehabilitation exercise program in patients with CKD: a randomized, controlled trial.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES Patients with CKD have a high prevalence of cardiovascular disease associated with or exacerbated by inactivity. This randomized, controlled study investigated whether a renal rehabilitation exercise program for patients with stages 3 or 4 CKD would improve their physical function and quality of life. DESIGN, SETTING, PARTICIPANTS, & MEASUREMENTS In total, 119 adults with CKD stages 3 and 4 were randomized, and 107 of these patients proceeded to usual care or the renal rehabilitation exercise intervention consisting of usual care plus guided exercise two times per week for 12 weeks (24 sessions). Physical function was determined by three well established performance-based tests: 6-minute walk test, sit-to-stand test, and gait-speed test. Health-related quality of life was assessed by the RAND 36-Item Short Form Health Survey. RESULTS At baseline, no differences in self-reported level of activity, 6-minute walk test, and sit-to-stand test scores were observed between the usual care (n=48) and renal rehabilitation exercise (n=59) groups, although baseline gait-speed test score was higher in the renal rehabilitation exercise group (P<0.001). At follow-up, the renal rehabilitation exercise group but not the usual care group showed significant improvements in the 6-minute walk test (+210.4±266.0 ft [19% improvement] versus -10±219.9 ft; P<0.001), the sit-to-stand test (+26.9±27% of age prediction [29% improvement] versus +0.7±12.1% of age prediction; P<0.001), and the RAND-36 physical measures of role functioning (P<0.01), physical functioning (P<0.01), energy/fatigue levels (P=0.01), and general health (P=0.03) and mental measure of pain scale (P=0.04). The renal rehabilitation exercise regimen was generally well tolerated. CONCLUSIONS A 12-week/24-session renal rehabilitation exercise program improved physical capacity and quality of life in patients with CKD stages 3 and 4. Longer follow-up is needed to determine if these findings will translate into decreased mortality rates.