A Focus Group Study of Self-Management in Patients With Glomerular Disease.

Introduction: Patients with glomerular disease experience symptoms that impair their physical and mental health while managing their treatments, diet, appointments and monitoring general and specific indicators of health and their illness. We sought to describe the perspectives of patients and their care partners on self-management in glomerular disease.

Methods: We conducted 16 focus groups involving adult patients with glomerular disease ( = 101) and their care partners ( = 34) in Australia, Hong Kong, the United Kingdom, and United States.

A Core Outcome Set for Trials in Glomerular Disease: A Report of the Standardized Outcomes in Nephrology-Glomerular Disease (SONG-GD) Stakeholder Workshops.

Background And Objectives: Outcomes reported in trials in adults with glomerular disease are often selected with minimal patient input, are heterogeneous, and may not be relevant for clinical decision making. The Standardized Outcomes in Nephrology-Glomerular Disease (SONG-GD) initiative aimed to establish a core outcome set to help ensure that outcomes of critical importance to patients, care partners, and clinicians are consistently reported.

Design, Setting, Participants, And Measurements: We convened two 1.

Clinical characteristics and outcomes of hospitalized patients with SARS-CoV-2 infection in a Latin American country: Results from the ECCOVID multicenter prospective study.

Background: Clinical features and outcomes of SARS-CoV-2 infections diverge in different countries. The aim of this study was to describe clinical characteristics and outcomes in a cohort of patients hospitalized with SARS-CoV-2 in Argentina.

Methods: Multicenter prospective cohort study of ≥18 years-old patients with confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection consecutively admitted to 19 hospitals in Argentina.

The lupus nephritis management renaissance.

Over the past year, and for the first time ever, the US Food and Drug Administration approved 2 drugs specifically for the treatment of lupus nephritis (LN). As the lupus community works toward understanding how to best use these new therapies, it is also an ideal time to begin to rethink the overall management strategy of LN. In addition to new drugs, this must include how to use kidney biopsies for management and not just diagnosis, how molecular technologies can be applied to interrogate biopsies and how such data can impact management, and how to incorporate LN biomarkers into management paradigms.

A secondary analysis of the Belimumab International Study in Lupus Nephritis trial examined effects of belimumab on kidney outcomes and preservation of kidney function in patients with lupus nephritis.

We performed a post hoc analysis of the Belimumab International Study in Lupus Nephritis (BLISS-LN), a Phase 3, multinational, double-blind, 104-week trial, in which 448 patients with lupus nephritis were randomized to receive intravenous belimumab 10 mg/kg or placebo with standard therapy (cyclophosphamide/azathioprine or mycophenolate mofetil). Add-on belimumab was found to be most effective in improving the primary efficacy kidney response and complete kidney response in patients with proliferative lupus nephritis and a baseline urine protein/creatinine ratio under 3 g/g. However, there was no observed improvement in the kidney response with belimumab treatment in patients with lupus nephritis and sub-epithelial deposits or with a baseline protein/creatinine ratio of 3 g/g or more.

Breast milk production and emotional state in mothers of very low birth weight infants.

Introduction: There is little evidence regarding the influence of emotional variables on breastfeeding among mothers of very low birth weight infants (VLBWIs). The objective of this study was to measure breast milk production (BMP) at two points in time during neonatal hospitalization and its association with anxiety, depression, and breastfeeding self-efficacy levels among mothers of VLBWIs.

Population And Methos: Prospective, observational, and multicenter study in mothers of VLBWIs (500-1500 g) from 9 NEOCOSUR Network centers.

Development of an international Delphi survey to establish core outcome domains for trials in adults with glomerular disease.

Outcomes relevant to treatment decision-making are inconsistently reported in trials involving glomerular disease. Here, we sought to establish a consensus-derived set of critically important outcomes designed to be reported in all future trials by using an online, international two-round Delphi survey in English. To develop this, patients with glomerular disease, caregivers and health professionals aged 18 years and older rated the importance of outcomes using a Likert scale and a Best-Worst scale.

Management of an Uncommon Complication: Anterior Choroidal Artery Occlusion by Posterior Clinoid Process Detected Through Intraoperative Monitoring After Clipping of Paraclinoid Aneurysm: 2-Dimensional Operative Video.

Despite technological advances in endovascular therapy, surgical clipping of paraclinoid aneurysms remains an indispensable treatment option and has an acceptable profile risk. Intraoperative monitoring of motor and somatosensory evoked potentials has proven to be an effective tool in predicting and preventing postoperative motor deficits during aneurysm clipping.1,2 We describe the case of a 61-yr-old Japanese woman with a history of hypertension and smoking.

A Novel Inflammatory Dendritic Cell That Is Abundant and Contiguous to T Cells in the Kidneys of Patients With Lupus Nephritis.

The mechanisms that promote local inflammatory injury during lupus nephritis (LN) flare are largely unknown. Understanding the key immune cells that drive intrarenal inflammation will advance our knowledge of disease pathogenesis and inform the development of new therapeutics for LN management. In this study, we analyzed kidney biopsies from patients with proliferative LN and identified a novel inflammatory dendritic cell (infDC) population that is highly expressed in the LN kidney, but minimally present in healthy human kidneys.

Current use of inotropes in circulatory shock.

Background: Treatment decisions on critically ill patients with circulatory shock lack consensus. In an international survey, we aimed to evaluate the indications, current practice, and therapeutic goals of inotrope therapy in the treatment of patients with circulatory shock.

Methods: From November 2016 to April 2017, an anonymous web-based survey on the use of cardiovascular drugs was accessible to members of the European Society of Intensive Care Medicine (ESICM).

Prognostic factors for severity and mortality in patients infected with COVID-19: A systematic review.

Background And Purpose: The objective of our systematic review is to identify prognostic factors that may be used in decision-making related to the care of patients infected with COVID-19.

Data Sources: We conducted highly sensitive searches in PubMed/MEDLINE, the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL) and Embase. The searches covered the period from the inception date of each database until April 28, 2020.

Baseline Functional Status and One-year Mortality After Hospital Admission in Elderly Patients: a prospective cohort study.

Introduction: Hospitalization represents a major factor that may precipitate the loss of functional status and the cascade into dependence. The main objective of our study was to determine the effect of functional status measured before hospital admission on survival at one year after hospitalization in elderly patients.

Methods: Prospective cohort study of adult patients (over 65 years of age) admitted to either the general ward or intensive Care units (ICU) of a tertiary teaching hospital in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Testing of Susceptibility of Neisseria gonorrhoeae to Azithromycin: Comparison of Disk Diffusion and Reference Agar Dilution Methods.

Azithromycin in combination with ceftriaxone is recommended as the first-line treatment for uncomplicated gonorrhea in many countries. Therefore, monitoring of azithromycin susceptibility of isolates is essential. In 2019, the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI) listed the MIC breakpoint for a susceptible-only category to azithromycin, but breakpoints for disk diffusion are not yet available.

Transhepatic Percutaneous Sustained Dilation with Multiple Catheters for the Management of Hepaticojejunostomy Benign Stricture.

Benign biliary strictures (BBS) befall in ∼7%-23% after hepaticojejunostomy and in 0.3%-0.6% after cholecystectomies.

Consensus recommendations for family planning and pregnancy in multiple sclerosis in argentina.

Background: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is the most common chronic immune-mediated neurological disorder in young adults, more frequently found in women than in men. Therefore, pregnancy-related issues have become an object of concern for MS professionals and patients. The aim of this work was to review the existing data to develop the first Argentine consensus for family planning and pregnancy in MS patients.

Randomized Controlled Trial of Nonsynchronized Nasal Intermittent Positive Pressure Ventilation versus Nasal CPAP after Extubation of VLBW Infants.

Background And Objectives: Nasal continuous positive airway pressure (NCPAP) is a useful method of respiratory support after extubation. However, some infants fail despite CPAP use and require reintubation. Some evidence suggests that synchronized nasal intermittent positive pressure ventilation (NIPPV) may decrease extubation failure in preterm infants.

Identifying Outcomes Important to Patients with Glomerular Disease and Their Caregivers.

Background And Objectives: Shared decision making in patients with glomerular disease remains challenging because outcomes important to patients remain largely unknown. We aimed to identify and prioritize outcomes important to patients and caregivers and to describe reasons for their choices.

Design: We purposively sampled adult patients with glomerular disease and their caregivers from Australia, Hong Kong, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

New method to assess the accuracy of intraocular lens power calculation formulas according to ocular biometric parameters.

Purpose: To develop a new method that makes it easy to detect accuracy deficiencies of any intraocular lens (IOL) power calculation formulas and to test it on 9 different formulas.

Setting: IOA, Madrid, Spain.

Design: Retrospective observational case series.

Adherence to antihypertensive drug treatment in Argentina: A multicenter study.

Adherence to antihypertensive medication is an important challenge that doctors often face in the treatment of hypertension. Good adherence is crucial to prevent cardiovascular complications. In consequence, the present study aimed at determining the prevalence of adherence to antihypertensive treatment and identifying associated clinical variables.

Consensus recommendations on the management of multiple sclerosis patients in Argentina.

Introduction: During the last 20 years, multiple sclerosis (MS) disease has seen major changes with new diagnostic criteria, a better identification of disease phenotypes, individualization of disease prognosis and the appearance of new therapeutic options in relapsing remitting as well as progressive MS. As a result, the management of MS patients has become more complex and challenging. The objective of these consensus recommendations was to review how the disease should be managed in Argentina to improve long-term outcomes in MS patients.

Kidney biopsy-based management of maintenance immunosuppression is safe and may ameliorate flare rate in lupus nephritis.

The optimal duration of maintenance immunosuppressive therapy for patients with lupus nephritis who have achieved clinical remission has not been established. Furthermore, clinical and histologic remissions are often discordant. We postulated that continuing therapy for patients with persistent histologic activity on kidney biopsies done during maintenance and discontinuing therapy only for patients without histologic activity would minimize subsequent lupus nephritis flares.

Rethinking Lupus Nephritis Classification on a Molecular Level.

The International Society of Nephrology/Renal Pathology Society (ISN/RPS) lupus nephritis (LN) classification is under reconsideration, given challenges with inter-rater reliability and resultant inconsistent relationship with treatment response. Integration of molecular classifiers into histologic evaluation can improve diagnostic precision and identify therapeutic targets. This study described the relationship between histological and molecular phenotypes and clinical responses in LN.

Risk of secondary progressive multiple sclerosis: A longitudinal study.

Background: The risk factors for conversion from relapsing-remitting to secondary progressive multiple sclerosis remain highly contested.

Objective: The aim of this study was to determine the demographic, clinical and paraclinical features that influence the risk of conversion to secondary progressive multiple sclerosis.

Methods: Patients with adult-onset relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis and at least four recorded disability scores were selected from MSBase, a global observational cohort.

Immunostaining for galactose-deficient immunoglobulin A is not specific for primary immunoglobulin A nephropathy.

Background: Primary immunoglobulin A nephropathy (IgAN) is characterized by IgA1-dominant or codominant glomerular deposits, postulated to be galactose deficient (Gd). However, glomerular IgA deposition can also occur in nonrenal diseases such as liver cirrhosis, psoriasis and inflammatory bowel disease ('secondary IgAN') or be an incidental finding in biopsies with other pathologies. A glomerulonephritis resembling IgAN can develop in patients with bacterial, mainly staphylococcal infections [staphylococcal infection-associated glomerulonephritis (SAGN)].