Effectiveness of educational and social worker interventions to activate patients' discussion and pursuit of preemptive living donor kidney transplantation: a randomized controlled trial.

Background: Many patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) have difficulty becoming actively engaged in the pursuit of preemptive living donor kidney transplantation.

Study Design: The Talking About Live Kidney Donation (TALK) Study was a randomized controlled trial of the effectiveness of educational and social worker interventions designed to encourage early discussions and active pursuit of preemptive living donor kidney transplantation in patients with progressive CKD.

Setting & Participants: We recruited participants with progressive CKD from academically affiliated nephrology practices in Baltimore, MD.

Psychiatric disorders in rapid-onset dystonia-parkinsonism.

Objective: Rapid-onset dystonia-parkinsonism (RDP) is caused by a variety of missense mutations in the ATP1A3 gene. Psychiatric comorbidity has been reported, although systematic examination of psychiatric disease in individuals with RDP is lacking. This study examines psychiatric morbidity for 23 patients with RDP in 10 families with family member control subjects and in 3 unrelated patients with RDP, totaling 56 individuals.

ATP1A3 mutations in infants: a new rapid-onset dystonia-Parkinsonism phenotype characterized by motor delay and ataxia.

We report new clinical features of delayed motor development, hypotonia, and ataxia in two young children with mutations (R756H and D923N) in the ATP1A3 gene. In adults, mutations in ATP1A3 cause rapid-onset dystonia-Parkinsonism (RDP, DYT12) with abrupt onset of fixed dystonia. The parents and children were examined and videotaped, and samples were collected for mutation analysis.

Diabetes control among Hispanics in the action to control cardiovascular risk in diabetes trial.

Background: Hispanics in the United States represent diverse racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic groups, and manifest heterogeneous cardiovascular risks including diabetes. It is not known if there are residual differences in the control of diabetes among Hispanic groups given uniform access to diabetes care.

Objective: To evaluate glucose control differences among Mexicans, Puerto Ricans, and Dominicans receiving substantial diabetes care and support in the Action to Control Cardiovascular Risk in Diabetes (ACCORD) trial.

New triggers and non-motor findings in a family with rapid-onset dystonia-parkinsonism.

Background: A woman from Italy presented with dystonic leg symptoms at the age of 59. Rapid-onset dystonia-parkinsonism (RDP) was not suspected until 3 affected children (2 male, 1 female) with presentations consistent with the disorder were recognized.

Methods: The mother and four of her children (3 with and 1 without dystonia) were evaluated with an extensive battery including standardized history questionnaire and rating scales.

Is silent myocardial infarction more common in women with type 2 diabetes than in men?

Objective: Our aim was to determine if silent myocardial infarction (MI) is more common in women with type 2 diabetes than in men. Our secondary aim was to examine the relationships between silent MI and risk factors for cardiovascular disease.

Research Design And Methods: The Action to Control Cardiovascular Risk in Diabetes (ACCORD) database was used to determine if women had more silent MI on baseline electrocardiograms (ECGs) than did men with a similar unremarkable cardiovascular history.

Assessment of parental report for 2009-2010 seasonal and monovalent H1N1 influenza vaccines among children in the emergency department or hospital.

Objective: To assess the validity of parental report for seasonal and monovalent H1N1 influenza vaccinations among children 6 months to <18 years who were recommended to receive both vaccines in 2009-2010.

Methods: Children with fever or respiratory symptoms were prospectively enrolled in both emergency departments in Forsyth County, North Carolina, and the only pediatric hospital in the region. Enrollment occurred from September 1, 2009, through April 12, 2010, during the H1N1 influenza pandemic.

The effect of intensive risk factor management in type 2 diabetes on inflammatory biomarkers.

Aims: To determine whether intensive risk factor management reduced markers of inflammation in middle-aged and older people with type 2 diabetes who either had, or were at risk for cardiovascular disease (CVD), and whether these effects were mediated by adiposity.

Methods: The Action to Control Cardiovascular Risk in Diabetes (ACCORD) trial was a multicenter double 2 by 2 factorial randomized controlled trial of 10,251 middle-aged and older people who had type 2 diabetes, a GHbA1c of 7.5% or greater, and evidence of CVD or CVD risk factors.

Buffy coat specimens remain viable as a DNA source for highly multiplexed genome-wide genetic tests after long term storage.

Background: Blood specimen collection at an early study visit is often included in observational studies or clinical trials for analysis of secondary outcome biomarkers. A common protocol is to store buffy coat specimens for future DNA isolation and these may remain in frozen storage for many years. It is uncertain if the DNA remains suitable for modern genome wide association (GWA) genotyping.

Impact of maternal immunization on influenza hospitalizations in infants.

We sought to determine whether maternal vaccination during pregnancy was associated with a reduced risk of laboratory-confirmed influenza hospitalizations in infants <6 months old. Active population-based, laboratory-confirmed influenza surveillance was conducted in children hospitalized with fever and/or respiratory symptoms in 3 US counties from November through April during the 2002 through 2009 influenza seasons. The exposure, influenza vaccination during pregnancy, and the outcome, positive/negative influenza testing among their hospitalized infants, were compared using logistic regression analyses.

Sickle cell trait, hemoglobin C trait, and invasive pneumococcal disease.

Background: The cause of historically higher rates of invasive pneumococcal disease among blacks than whites has remained unknown. We tested the hypothesis that sickle cell trait or hemoglobin C trait is an independent risk factor for invasive pneumococcal disease.

Method: Eligible children were born in Tennessee (1996-2003), had a newborn screen, enrolled in TennCare aged <1 year, and resided in a Tennessee county with laboratory-confirmed, pneumococcal surveillance.

Protective behaviors and high-risk drinking among entering college freshmen.

Objectives: To explore the use of protective behaviors to reduce risks associated with alcohol consumption among adolescents during the summer preceding college enrollment.

Methods: Survey data were collected in fall 2006 and 2007 that assessed demographic characteristics, drinking behaviors, and use of protective behaviors in the 3 months preceding the survey.

Results: Female participants reported using 4 out of 10 protective behaviors more often than did males, and using protective behaviors was significantly related to fewer negative drinking-related consequences.