Publications by authors named "Soroka S"

Background: Diabetes is the leading cause of kidney disease and contributes to 38% of kidney failure requiring dialysis. A gap in detection and management of type 2 diabetes (T2D) in chronic kidney disease (CKD) exists in primary care. Community pharmacists are positioned to support those not able to access kidney care through traditional pathways.

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Introduction: In 1948, the indirect ophthalmoscope revealed full intra-ocular retinoblastoma, documented on paper with coloured pencils. At SickKids, eCancerCare (eCC) digital drawings and timeline have facilitated patient care, education, and research.

Methods: Each child's eCC timeline shows treatments and dates.

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Abstract: Research is critical for uncovering new and effective therapies for better health outcomes, yet there remains a significant lag between identifying evidence-based interventions and implementing them into practice. Research teams can often be experienced in evidence generation, but less so in evidence implementation, underscoring the need for more customized tools to support them in this latter step. The implementation stage can be especially challenging given how strategies must be tailored to the unique end users and contexts of a given intervention.

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Background: The kidneys are responsible for the elimination of many drugs. Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is common, and medications may require adjustment to avoid adverse outcomes. Despite the availability of kidney drug dosing resources, people with CKD are at risk of inappropriate drug prescribing.

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Article Synopsis
  • - Early in the COVID-19 pandemic, the CDC adapted its existing surveillance system to monitor cases and deaths efficiently, implementing a new aggregate case surveillance system for quicker data collection and emergency response.
  • - This new system enabled the CDC to gather and analyze COVID-19 data at national, state, and county levels, using innovative methods like web scraping and algorithms to streamline data accuracy and validation.
  • - The review emphasizes the importance of having a robust aggregate surveillance system ready for future health emergencies, providing near-real-time data to enhance response efforts beyond traditional individual case reporting.
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Purpose Of Review: Kidney disease is present in almost half of Canadian patients with type 2 diabetes (T2D), and it is also the most common first cardiorenal manifestation of T2D. Despite clear guidelines for testing, opportunities are being missed to identify kidney diseases, and many Canadians are therefore not receiving the best available treatments. This has become even more important given recent clinical trials demonstrating improvements in both kidney and cardiovascular (CV) endpoints with sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 (SGLT2) inhibitors and a nonsteroidal mineralocorticoid receptor antagonist, finerenone.

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Article Synopsis
  • - During the COVID-19 pandemic, the CDC implemented an aggregate case and death surveillance (ACS) system to effectively track cumulative COVID-19 data, supplementing traditional reporting methods.
  • - As public health jurisdictions updated their historical data, the CDC developed a manual process for updating the ACS dataset to improve the accuracy of reported case and death numbers.
  • - By March 2022, the CDC began integrating data from three jurisdictions via application programming interfaces (APIs), which streamline data transfer and may enhance emergency response efficiency moving forward.
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  • Home dialysis therapies, which are both cost-effective and provide comparable results to in-center dialysis, are underused, prompting the design of an intervention to boost their adoption in Canada.
  • A cluster randomized controlled trial was conducted across 55 CKD clinics in Canada, utilizing a four-part intervention involving phone surveys, audits, educational materials, and academic visits to promote home dialysis.
  • The study found no significant increase in home dialysis use at 180 days post-initiation between intervention and control groups, indicating that the multifaceted approach did not achieve its goal.
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This preregistered study uses a combination of physiological measures to explore both the activation and reduction components of cognitive dissonance theory. More precisely, we use skin conductance to identify dissonance arousal, a short-term affective response to counter-attitudinal stimuli, and then use heart rate variability to measure dissonance reduction, which reflects longer-term patterns of emotional regulation and information processing. Our preliminary tests find weak evidence of dissonance arousal and no evidence of dissonance reduction using this physiological approach.

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Article Synopsis
  • - Federal open-data initiatives enhance transparency and trust by making collected data accessible to researchers and policymakers, particularly regarding newly emerging health issues like COVID-19, with the CDC managing over 8 million de-identified records.
  • - The CDC developed two public datasets while considering usefulness, public requests, and privacy concerns, using techniques to safeguard confidential information.
  • - Public datasets are freely accessible on Data.CDC.gov, while more detailed data is obtainable through a data-use agreement on GitHub, thus improving understanding and timely sharing of health data.
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Purpose Of Program: Integrated knowledge translation (IKT) is a collaborative approach whereby knowledge created through health research is utilized in ways that are relevant to the needs of all stakeholders. However, research teams have limited capacity and know-how for achieving IKT, resulting in a disconnect between the generation and application of knowledge. The goal of this report is to describe how IKT research was achieved across a large-scale, patient-oriented research network, Canadians Seeking Solutions and Innovations to Overcome Chronic Kidney Disease (Can-SOLVE CKD).

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Background: The Initiating Dialysis Early and Late (IDEAL) trial, published in 2009, found no clinically measurable benefit with respect to risk of mortality or early complications with early dialysis initiation versus deferred dialysis start. After these findings, guidelines recommended an intent-to-defer approach to dialysis initiation, with the goal of deferring it until clinical symptoms arise.

Methods: To evaluate a four-component knowledge translation intervention aimed at promoting an intent-to-defer strategy for dialysis initiation, we conducted a cluster randomized trial in Canada between October 2014 and November 2015.

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The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has created unprecedented challenges in caring for individuals living with kidney disease. In response to a growing call for up-to-date information and evidence-informed advice, the Canadian Society of Nephrology has established a COVID-19 Rapid Response Team that will leverage existing evidence and national expertise to inform kidney care practices in the COVID-19 era. Given limited published evidence and compressed timelines, formal clinical practice guidelines are not feasible, and we have adopted rapid review methods to instead provide interim guidance across identified priority areas.

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Purpose: This article provides guidance on managing acute kidney injury (AKI) and kidney replacement therapy (KRT) in pediatrics during the COVID-19 pandemic in the Canadian context. It is adapted from recently published rapid guidelines on the management of AKI and KRT in adults, from the Canadian Society of Nephrology (CSN). The goal is to provide the best possible care for pediatric patients with kidney disease during the pandemic and ensure the health care team's safety.

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This study examines the level of politicization and polarization in COVID-19 news in U.S. newspapers and televised network news from March to May 2020.

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The U.S. Congress writes the legislation that funds the National Science Foundation (NSF).

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Purpose Of Review: (1) To provide commentary on the 2017 update to the Kidney Disease Improving Global Outcomes (KDIGO) 2017 Clinical Practice Guideline Update for the Diagnosis, Evaluation, Prevention, and Treatment of Chronic Kidney Disease-Mineral and Bone Disorder (CKD-MBD); (2) to apply the evidence-based guideline update for implementation within the Canadian health care system; (3) to provide comment on the care of children with chronic kidney disease (CKD); and (4) to identify research priorities for Canadian patients.

Sources Of Information: The KDIGO 2017 Clinical Practice Guideline Update for the Diagnosis, Evaluation, Prevention, and Treatment of CKD-MBD.

Methods: The commentary committee co-chairs selected potential members based on their knowledge of the Canadian kidney community, aiming for wide representation from relevant disciplines, academic and community centers, and different geographical regions.

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Purpose: Low socioeconomic status, race, ethnicity, and rural/remote populations are all associated with disparities in access, care, and outcomes for chronic kidney disease (CKD). There have been different interventions supported by Canadian renal programs to address these disparities. This article reviews the evidence for impact of strategies to reduce inequities experienced by vulnerable populations living with or at risk of CKD and to collate and share interprovincial targeted interventions through the newly formed "Canadian Senior Renal Leaders Community of Practice" focused on translating evidence into clinical practice and policy.

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Purpose: Severe acute kidney injury (AKI) is a potential complication of COVID-19-associated critical illness. This has implications for the management of COVID-19-associated AKI and the resulting increased need for kidney replacement therapy (KRT) in the intensive care unit (ICU) and elsewhere in the hospital. The Canadian Society of Nephrology COVID-19 Rapid Review Team has sought to collate and synthesize currently available resources to inform ethically justifiable decisions.

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What accounts for the prevalence of negative news content? One answer may lie in the tendency for humans to react more strongly to negative than positive information. "Negativity biases" in human cognition and behavior are well documented, but existing research is based on small Anglo-American samples and stimuli that are only tangentially related to our political world. This work accordingly reports results from a 17-country, 6-continent experimental study examining psychophysiological reactions to real video news content.

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Importance: Published in 2010, the Initiating Dialysis Early and Late (IDEAL) randomized clinical trial, which randomized patients with an estimated glomerular filtration rate (GFR) between 10 and 15 mL/min/1.73 m2 to planned initiation of dialysis with an estimated GFR between 10 and 14 mL/min/1.73 m2 (early start) or an estimated GFR between 5 and 7 mL/min/1.

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Background: Dalteparin sodium, a low-molecular-weight heparin, is indicated for prevention of clotting in the extracorporeal circuit during hemodialysis (HD). Product labeling recommends a fixed single-bolus dose of 5000 international units (IU) for HD sessions lasting up to 4 hours, but adjustable dosing may be beneficial in clinical practice.

Objective: The aim of the PARROT study was to investigate the safety and efficacy of an adjustable dose of dalteparin in patients with end-stage renal disease requiring 3 to 4 HD sessions per week.

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Purpose: The purpose of this article is to update the previously published consensus recommendations from March 2017 discussing the optimal management of adult patients with autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD). This document focuses on recent developments in genetic testing, renal imaging, assessment of risk regarding disease progression, and pharmacological treatment options for ADPKD.

Sources Of Information: Published literature was searched in PubMed, the Cochrane Library, and Google Scholar to identify the latest evidence related to the treatment and management of ADPKD.

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Background: Improving a patient's experience with their care through an online interface for communication (an eHealth patient portal) has been shown to be beneficial in some studies of chronic disease populations. However, little is known about the effectiveness of an eHealth portal for delivery of care to home dialysis patients.

Objectives: To determine whether an eHealth portal is effective at improving a patient's experience with their home dialysis care.

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