Novel genetic markers for chronic kidney disease in a geographically isolated population of Indigenous Australians: Individual and multiple phenotype genome-wide association study.

Background: Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is highly prevalent among Indigenous Australians, especially those in remote regions. The Tiwi population has been isolated from mainland Australia for millennia and exhibits unique genetic characteristics that distinguish them from other Indigenous and non-Indigenous populations. Notably, the rate of end-stage renal disease is up to 20 times greater in this population compared to non-Indigenous populations.

Delayed-Onset olanzapine-induced rhabdomyolysis.

Olanzapine is a commonly used and effective second-generation antipsychotic agent used for the control of paranoia and agitation in schizophrenia and bipolar disorder as well as in the behavioural and psychological symptoms of dementia. Serious side effects of treatment are uncommon but spontaneous rhabdomyolysis represents a rare complication. We describe here a patient treated with a stable dose of olanzapine for more than 8 years who developed acute severe rhabdomyolysis without an identifiable trigger and without features suggestive of neuroleptic malignant syndrome.

The Bartter-Gitelman Spectrum: 50-Year Follow-up With Revision of Diagnosis After Whole-Genome Sequencing.

Bartter syndrome (BS) and Gitelman syndrome (GS) are renal tubular disorders affecting sodium, potassium, and chloride reabsorption. Clinical features include muscle cramps and weakness, in association with hypokalemia, hypochloremic metabolic alkalosis, and hyperreninemic hyperaldosteronism. Hypomagnesemia and hypocalciuria are typical of GS, while juxtaglomerular hyperplasia is characteristic of BS.

2020 international consensus on ANCA testing beyond systemic vasculitis.

This document follows up on a 2017 revised international consensus on anti-neutrophil cytoplasm antibodies (ANCA) testing in granulomatosis with polyangiitis and microscopic polyangiitis and focuses on the clinical and diagnostic value of ANCA detection in patients with connective tissue diseases, idiopathic interstitial pneumonia, autoimmune liver diseases, inflammatory bowel diseases, anti-glomerular basement membrane (GBM) disease, infections, malignancy, and during drug treatment. Current evidence suggests that in certain settings beyond systemic vasculitis, ANCA may have clinical, pathogenic and/or diagnostic relevance. Antigen-specific ANCA targeting proteinase-3 and myeloperoxidase should be tested by solid phase immunoassays in any patient with clinical features suggesting ANCA-associated vasculitis and in all patients with anti-GBM disease, idiopathic interstitial pneumonia, and infective endocarditis associated with nephritis, whereas in patients with other aforementioned disorders routine ANCA testing is not recommended.

The importance of clinician, patient and researcher collaborations in Alport syndrome.

Alport syndrome is caused by mutations in the genes COL4A3, COL4A4 or COL4A5 and is characterised by progressive glomerular disease, sensorineural hearing loss and ocular defects. Occurring in less than 1:5000, Alport syndrome is a rare genetic disorder but still accounts for > 1% of the prevalent population receiving renal replacement therapy. There is also increasing awareness about the risk of chronic kidney disease in individuals with heterozygous mutations in Alport syndrome genes.

Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell-Derived Podocyte-Like Cells as Models for Assessing Mechanisms Underlying Heritable Disease Phenotype: Initial Studies Using Two Alport Syndrome Patient Lines Indicate Impaired Potassium Channel Activity.

Renal podocyte survival depends upon the dynamic regulation of a complex cell architecture that links the glomerular basement membrane to integrins, ion channels, and receptors. Alport syndrome is a heritable chronic kidney disease where mutations in 3, 4, or 5 collagen genes promote podocyte death. In rodent models of renal failure, activation of the calcium-sensing receptor (CaSR) can protect podocytes from stress-related death.

Position paper: Revised 2017 international consensus on testing of ANCAs in granulomatosis with polyangiitis and microscopic polyangiitis.

Anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibodies (ANCAs) are valuable laboratory markers used for the diagnosis of well-defined types of small-vessel vasculitis, including granulomatosis with polyangiitis (GPA) and microscopic polyangiitis (MPA). According to the 1999 international consensus on ANCA testing, indirect immunofluorescence (IIF) should be used to screen for ANCAs, and samples containing ANCAs should then be tested by immunoassays for proteinase 3 (PR3)-ANCAs and myeloperoxidase (MPO)-ANCAs. The distinction between PR3-ANCAs and MPO-ANCAs has important clinical and pathogenic implications.

A functional variant in NEPH3 gene confers high risk of renal failure in primary hematuric glomerulopathies. Evidence for predisposition to microalbuminuria in the general population.

Background: Recent data emphasize that thin basement membrane nephropathy (TBMN) should not be viewed as a form of benign familial hematuria since chronic renal failure (CRF) and even end-stage renal disease (ESRD), is a possible development for a subset of patients on long-term follow-up, through the onset of focal and segmental glomerulosclerosis (FSGS). We hypothesize that genetic modifiers may explain this variability of symptoms.

Methods: We looked in silico for potentially deleterious functional SNPs, using very strict criteria, in all the genes significantly expressed in the slit diaphragm (SD).

Advances and unmet needs in genetic, basic and clinical science in Alport syndrome: report from the 2015 International Workshop on Alport Syndrome.

Alport syndrome (AS) is a genetic disease characterized by haematuric glomerulopathy variably associated with hearing loss and anterior lenticonus. It is caused by mutations in the COL4A3, COL4A4 or COL4A5 genes encoding the α3α4α5(IV) collagen heterotrimer. AS is rare, but it accounts for >1% of patients receiving renal replacement therapy.

The 2014International Workshop on Alport Syndrome.

Alport syndrome, historically referred to as hereditary glomerulonephritis with sensorineural deafness and anterior lenticonus, is a genetic disease of collagen α3α4α5(IV) resulting in renal failure. The collagen α3α4α5(IV) heterotrimer forms a network that is a major component of the kidney glomerular basement membrane (GBM) and basement membranes in the cochlea and eye. Alport syndrome, estimated to affect 1 in 5000-10,000 individuals, is caused by mutations in any one of the three genes that encode the α chain components of the collagen α3α4α5(IV) heterotrimer: COL4A3, COL4A4, and COL4A5.

An enhanced exercise and cognitive programme does not appear to reduce incident delirium in hospitalised patients: a randomised controlled trial.

Objective: To determine if a programme of progressive resistance exercise, mobilisation and orientation, in addition to usual care, was superior to usual care alone in the prevention of incident delirium in older hospitalised patients.

Design: A randomised controlled trial.

Setting: The study was performed at a secondary referral hospital in Melbourne, Australia between May 2005 and December 2007.

Vision-threatening retinal abnormalities in chronic kidney disease stages 3 to 5.

Background And Objectives: Retinal abnormalities are common in inherited and acquired renal disease. This study determined the prevalence of retinal abnormalities in chronic kidney disease (CKD) stages 3 to 5.

Design, Setting, Participants, & Measurements: One hundred fifty patients with CKD stages 3 to 5 and 150 age- and gender-matched hospital patients with CKD stages 1 to 2 underwent bilateral retinal photography.

Practical guidelines addressing ethical issues pertaining to the curation of human locus-specific variation databases (LSDBs).

More than 1,000 Web-based locus-specific variation databases (LSDBs) are listed on the Website of the Human Genetic Variation Society (HGVS). These individual efforts, which often relate phenotype to genotype, are a valuable source of information for clinicians, patients, and their families, as well as for basic research. The initiators of the Human Variome Project recently recognized that having access to some of the immense resources of unpublished information already present in diagnostic laboratories would provide critical data to help manage genetic disorders.

Medical problems in hip fracture patients.

Increasing number of older patients are admitted to hospital with hip fractures. This review evaluates the common medical problems that arise as a consequence of having a hip fracture. Older patients with fractures commonly have co-morbidities that require evaluation prior to and after surgery.

Planning the human variome project: the Spain report.

The remarkable progress in characterizing the human genome sequence, exemplified by the Human Genome Project and the HapMap Consortium, has led to the perception that knowledge and the tools (e.g., microarrays) are sufficient for many if not most biomedical research efforts.