A GWAS in the pandemic epicenter highlights the severe COVID-19 risk locus introgressed by Neanderthals.

Large GWAS indicated that genetic factors influence the response to SARS-CoV-2. However, sex, age, concomitant diseases, differences in ancestry, and uneven exposure to the virus impacted the interpretation of data. We aimed to perform a GWAS of COVID-19 outcome in a homogeneous population who experienced a high exposure to the virus and with a known infection status.

Immunophenotypic Alterations in Adult Patients with Steroid-Dependent and Frequently Relapsing Nephrotic Syndrome.

Immune dysregulation plays a key role in the pathogenesis of steroid-dependent/frequently relapsing nephrotic syndrome (SDNS/FRNS). However, in contrast with evidence from the pediatric series, no major B- or T-cell alterations have been described for adults. In these patients, treatment with rituximab allows safe discontinuation of steroids, but long-term efficacy is variable, and some patients experience NS relapses after B cell reconstitution.

Long-term kidney and systemic effects of calorie restriction in overweight or obese type 2 diabetic patients (C.Re.S.O. 2 randomized controlled trial).

Aims: In type 2 diabetic patients with obesity, hyperfiltration is a risk factor for accelerated glomerular filtration rate (GFR) decline and is ameliorated by calorie restriction (CR). We assessed whether CR-induced amelioration of hyperfiltration could translate into slower long-term GFR decline in this population.

Methods: In this academic, single-center, parallel-group, prospective, randomized, open-label, blinded endpoint trial, consenting >40-year-old patients with type 2 diabetes, BMI ≥27 kg/m, creatinine <1.

Fresh lemon juice supplementation for the prevention of recurrent stones in calcium oxalate nephrolithiasis: A pragmatic, prospective, randomised, open, blinded endpoint trial.

Background: Standard diet with normal calcium and reduced animal proteins and salt content reduces stone recurrence in calcium oxalate nephrolithiasis. Whether lemon juice supplementation further reduces recurrence rate is unknown.

Methods: In this single-centre, prospective, randomised, open, blinded endpoint trial (Clinical Trials gov NCT01217372) we evaluated the effects of fresh lemon juice supplementation (60 mL twice daily) versus no supplementation, on time to stone recurrence in 203 patients with recurrent idiopathic calcium oxalate nephrolithiasis who were all prescribed a standard diet.

Effects of valsartan, benazepril and their combination in overt nephropathy of type 2 diabetes: A prospective, randomized, controlled trial.

Aims: To evaluate whether angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitor and angiotensin II receptor blocker (ARB) combination therapy is more nephroprotective than ACE inhibitor or ARB monotherapy in people with type 2 diabetes and overt nephropathy.

Materials And Methods: In this prospective, randomized, open, blind-endpoint phase III trial sponsored by the Italian Drug Agency, 103 consenting patients with type 2 diabetes, aged >40 years, with serum creatinine levels 159 to 309 μmol/L, spot morning urinary albumin-creatinine ratio > 1000 mg/g (or > 500 mg/g in those on ACE inhibitor or ARB therapy at inclusion) were stratified by centre and randomized to 4.5-year treatment with valsartan 320 mg/d (n = 36), benazepril 20 mg/d (n = 34) or halved doses of both medications (n = 33).

Safety of Iohexol Administration to Measure Glomerular Filtration Rate in Different Patient Populations: A 25-Year Experience.

Background/aim: In clinical research setting, accurate and precise measurement of glomerular filtration rate (GFR) is essential to overcome the limitations of GFR estimation with equations, which are often unreliable. In recent decades, a method for measuring GFR by plasma clearance of iohexol, a non-ionic radiocontrast agent, was developed. To evaluate the safety of the procedure, we aimed to review all immediate adverse reactions that could be related to iohexol administration in our group's 25 years worth of experience.

Renal and Systemic Effects of Calorie Restriction in Patients With Type 2 Diabetes With Abdominal Obesity: A Randomized Controlled Trial.

In individuals with type 2 diabetes with abdominal obesity, hyperfiltration is a risk factor for accelerated glomerular filtration rate (GFR) decline and nephropathy. In this academic, single-center, parallel-group, prospective, randomized, open-label, blinded end point trial, consenting patients with type 2 diabetes aged >18 years, with waist circumference >94 (males) or >80 (females) cm, serum creatinine <1.2 mg/dL, and normoalbuminuria were randomized (1:1) with permuted blocks to 6 months of a 25% calorie restricted (CR) or standard diet (SD).

Measuring and estimating GFR and treatment effect in ADPKD patients: results and implications of a longitudinal cohort study.

Trials failed to demonstrate protective effects of investigational treatments on glomerular filtration rate (GFR) reduction in Autosomal Dominant Polycystic Kidney Disease (ADPKD). To assess whether above findings were explained by unreliable GFR estimates, in this academic study we compared GFR values centrally measured by iohexol plasma clearance with corresponding values estimated by Chronic Kidney Disease Epidemiology Collaboration (CKD-Epi) and abbreviated Modification of Diet in Renal Disease (aMDRD) formulas in ADPKD patients retrieved from four clinical trials run by a Clinical Research Center and five Nephrology Units in Italy. Measured baseline GFRs and one-year GFR changes averaged 78.

Heparin in pregnant women with previous placenta-mediated pregnancy complications: a prospective, randomized, multicenter, controlled clinical trial.

To assess whether antithrombotic prophylaxis with low-molecular-weight heparin effectively prevents recurrence of late pregnancy complications, 135 women with previous history of preeclampsia, hemolytic anemia, elevated liver enzymes and low platelet count syndrome, intrauterine fetal death, fetal growth restriction, or placental abruption who had been referred within the 12th gestational week were randomized to medical surveillance alone (n = 68) or combined to open-label nadroparin (3800 IU daily subcutaneous injections) treatment (n = 67) in the setting of a randomized, parallel-group, superiority trial, run in Italy from April 2007 to April 2010. Primary outcome was a composite end point of late-pregnancy complications. Analysis was by intention to treat.

Effects of combined ezetimibe and simvastatin therapy as compared with simvastatin alone in patients with type 2 diabetes: a prospective randomized double-blind clinical trial.

Objective: To assess the effects of inhibited gastrointestinal cholesterol absorption in statin-treated dyslipidemic patients.

Research Design And Methods: In a multicenter prospective randomized double-blind placebo-controlled trial, we primarily compared by ANCOVA the effect of 2-month ezetimibe (10 mg/day) or placebo therapy on LDL cholesterol serum levels in 108 type 2 diabetic patients with albuminuria <200 microg/min and total cholesterol concentrations >135 mg/dl despite simvastatin treatment (40 mg/day).

Results: Unlike placebo, ezetimibe decreased LDL cholesterol from 99 +/- 31 to 66 +/- 22 mg/dl, total cholesterol from 162 +/- 36 to 124 +/- 30 mg/dl, and apolipoprotein B from 83 +/- 22 to 64 +/- 18 mg/dl (P < 0.

Sirolimus therapy to halt the progression of ADPKD.

Activation of mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) pathways may contribute to uncontrolled cell proliferation and secondary cyst growth in patients with autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD). To assess the effects of mTOR inhibition on disease progression, we performed a randomized, crossover study (The SIRENA Study) comparing a 6-month treatment with sirolimus or conventional therapy alone on the growth of kidney volume and its compartments in 21 patients with ADPKD and GFR>or=40 ml/min per 1.73 m2.