Impaired Delivery of Cholesterol Effluxed From Macrophages to Hepatocytes by Serum From CKD Patients May Underlie Increased Cardiovascular Disease Risk.

Introduction: Although chronic kidney disease (CKD) is associated with increased risk for coronary artery disease (CAD), the underlying mechanisms are not completely defined. In the present study, we tested the hypothesis that flux of cholesterol from macrophage foam cells to liver is impaired in subjects with CKD.

Methods: Consecutive healthy patients, patients with at least 1 CAD risk factor, patients with established CAD, and patients with CKD stages G3 to G5 ( ≥ 15/group) were recruited prospectively.

Unsupervised analysis of combined lipid and coagulation data reveals coagulopathy subtypes among dialysis patients.

Hemodialysis (HD) and peritoneal dialysis (PD) are the primary means of managing end stage renal disease (ESRD). However, these treatment modalities are associated with the onset of coagulation abnormalities. Effective management of coagulation risk among these patients requires the identification of surrogate markers that provide an early indication of the coagulation abnormalities.

Effectiveness of a Pharmacist-Physician Team-Based Collaboration to Improve Long-Term Blood Pressure Control at an Inner-City Safety-Net Clinic.

Purpose: To evaluate the effectiveness of a pharmacist-physician collaborative practice model (PPCPM) to improve long-term blood pressure (BP) control rates in a primarily African-American underserved urban population.

Practice Innovation: Volunteer physicians established initial diagnoses, whereas pharmacists provided most (more than 70%) of the medication management. During each scheduled visit, the pharmacist reconciled the medication list, completed a clinical interview, conducted a focused physical examination, developed and implemented a treatment plan, and provided documentation in a shared medical record.

A model of acute kidney injury in mice with cirrhosis and infection.

Background & Aims: Infectious acute kidney injury (AKI) is a life threatening complication of cirrhosis with limited therapeutic options. The aim of this study was to develop a model of infectious AKI in cirrhotic mice.

Methods: Cirrhosis was established by intragastric administration of carbon tetrachloride (CCl4 ).

Differences in coagulation between hemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis.

Background: End-stage renal disease patients have significant cardiovascular morbidity and mortality, but little is known about differences in coagulation profiles between patients on hemodialysis (HD) and on peritoneal dialysis (PD). Given their long-term exposure to glucose-based dialysate, patients on PD can experience metabolic derangements. Theoretically, that exposure should create a more prothrombotic environment than occurs in HD patients.

An Epidemiological Study of Anemia and Renal Dysfunction in Patients Admitted to ICUs across the United States.

The aims of this study were to determine the associations between anemia of critical illness, erythropoietin stimulating agents (ESA), packed red blood cell transfusions and varying degrees of renal dysfunction with mortality, and ICU- and hospital length of stay (LOS). This was a cross-sectional retrospective study of 5,314 ICU patients from USA hospitals. Hospital, patient demographics, and clinical characteristics were collected.

Medical management of the liver transplant recipient.

Long-term survival of liver transplant recipients has become the rule rather than the exception. As a result, the medical complications of long-term survival, including atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, metabolic bone disease, and de novo malignancy, have accounted for an increasing proportion of late morbidity and mortality. Risk factors for these complications begin before transplant and are potentially modifiable but are exacerbated by the requirement for immunosuppressive medications after transplantation.

Effect of timing of dialysis on mortality in critically ill, septic patients with acute renal failure.

Acute renal failure with concomitant sepsis in the intensive care unit is associated with significant mortality. The purpose of this study was to determine if the timing of initiation of renal replacement therapy (RRT) in septic patients had an effect on the 28-day mortality. Retrospective data on medical intensive care unit patients with sepsis and acute renal failure requiring RRT were included.

An in vivo-in vitro study of cefepime and cefazolin dialytic clearance during high-flux hemodialysis.

Study Objectives: To assess the influence of in vitro and in vivo hemodialysis with a new high-flux dialyzer on the clearance of cefazolin and cefepime; to assess the correlation of in vivo dialytic clearance of these antibiotics with blood flow rate; and to assess the correlation between in vitro and in vivo dialytic clearances of these antibiotics.

Design: Prospective, open-label, dialysis clearance study.

Setting: A tertiary-care, university health science center.

Estimating dialysis adequacy using ionic dialysance.

The aim of this study was to determine the efficacy and feasibility of estimating dialysis adequacy using ionic dialysance (ID). We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of patients receiving thrice weekly dialysis for an eight-month period at a single-center Veterans Affairs hospital. Dialysis adequacy was determined monthly using pre- and post-treatment BUN measurements to calculate the single pool Kt/V (spKt/V) with the formula set forth by Daugirdas.