A single weekly Kt/Vurea target for peritoneal dialysis patients does not provide an equal dialysis dose for all

Copyright © 2016 International Society of Nephrology. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.Dialysis adequacy is traditionally based on urea clearance, adjusted for total body volume (Kt/Vurea), and clinical guidelines recommend a Kt/Vurea target for peritoneal dialysis. We wished to determine whether adjusting dialysis dose by resting and total energy expenditure would alter the delivered dialysis dose. The resting and total energy expenditures were determined by equations based on doubly labeled isotopic water studies and adjusted Kturea for resting energy expenditure and total energy expenditure in 148 peritoneal dialysis patients (mean age, 60.6 years; 97 male [65.5%]; 54 diabetic [36.5%]). The mean resting energy expenditure was 1534 kcal/d, and the total energy expenditure was 1974 kcal/day. Using a weekly target Kt/V of 1.7, Kt was calculated using V measured by bioimpedance and the significantly associated (r = 0.67) Watson equation for total body water. Adjusting Kt for resting energy expenditure showed a reduced delivered dialysis dose (ml/kcal per day) for women versus men (5.5 vs. 6.2), age under versus over 65 years (5.6 vs. 6.4), weight 80 kg (5.8 vs. 6.1), low versus high comorbidity (5.9 vs. 6.2), all of which were significant. Adjusting for the total energy expenditure showed significantly reduced dosing for those employed versus not employed (4.3 vs. 4.8), a low versus high frailty score (4.5 vs. 5.0) and nondiabetic versus diabetic (4.6 vs. 4.9). Thus, the current paradigm for a single target Kt/Vurea for all peritoneal dialysis patients does not take into account energy expenditure and metabolic rate and may lead to lowered dialysis delivery for the younger, more active female patient.Peer reviewedFinal Accepted Versio

Is the measurement of tissue advanced glycosylation products by skin autofluorescence associated with mortality in patients treated by peritoneal dialysis?

Background: Advanced glycosylated end-products (AGEs) have been shown to cause cardiovascular disease, and tissue AGE accumulation can be measured by skin autofluorescence (SAF). AGEs are cleared by the kidney, and thus accumulate in dialysis patients. However, as the results of SAF measurements in peritoneal dialysis patients (PD) have been ambiguous, we examined the association between mortality and SAF. Methods: We reviewed SAF measurements in PD patients attending a university associated PD program, along with standard measurements of dialysis adequacy and peritoneal membrane function. Results: We studied 341 prevalent PD patients, 61.9% male, mean age 61.2 ± 16 years, and 31.4% of all patients died during a median follow-up of 27.2 (23.3–36.3) months. Patients who died were older, mean age 72 ± 10.5 years, were more often diabetic (60.7%), and had higher median SAF 3.8 (3.2–4.5) AU. On logistic regression, mortality was independently associated with age (odds ratio (OR) 1.1 (95% confidence limits 1.06–1.16), diabetes OR 10.1 (3.1–33.4), SAF OR 3.3 (1.8–6.2), all p < 0.001, and male gender OR 5.2 (1.6–17.4), p = 0.007; and negatively associated with weight OR 0.91 (0.86–0.95), p < 0.001, normalised nitrogen appearance rate (nPNA) OR 0.05 (0.01–0.4), p = 0.005 and mean arterial blood pressure (MAP) OR 0.96 (0.93–0.96), p = 0.03. Conclusions: In this observational study, SAF was independently associated with mortality. However, other factors were also associated with mortality, including age, diabetes and malnutrition which have all been reported to affect SAF measurements. Thus, the additional predictive value of measuring SAF compared to standard risk factors for mortality remains to be determined. Graphical abstract: [Figure not available: see fulltext.]

Long-term effects on bone mineral density of pamidronate given at the time of renal transplantation

Long-term effects on bone mineral density of pamidronate given at the time of renal transplantation.BackgroundFracture rate after renal transplantation is substantially increased, is a source of morbidity and mortality, and correlates with osteopenia. The rate of bone loss after transplantation is time dependent. While we recorded marked bone loss during the first year after renal transplantation, bone loss in long-term recipients (>24 months) was found to be similar to expected age-related decline. We have previously shown that treatment with pamidronate at the time of transplantation protected the skeleton over a 1-year study period.MethodsWe have reexamined patients who participated in our original study, all of whom had been randomized to receive either placebo or pamidronate (0.5 mg/kg) at the time of transplantation and 1 month later. We now report 4-year data from 17 of the 26 original cohort. All patients received immunosuppression, comprising prednisolone, cyclosporine, and azathioprine.ResultsWe found that without prophylaxis bone loss at 4 years was substantial and significant at the femoral neck (mean loss was -12.3%) but was not significant at the lumbar spine (mean loss was -4.64%). Patients who received two doses of pamidronate experienced no statistically significant bone loss at either the femoral neck or the lumbar spine. Patient characteristics of the placebo and treatment groups were similar with the exception of serum parathyroid hormone concentrations, which remained higher at 4 years in the pamidronate-treated patients (15.8 ± 3.7 pmol/L vs. 9.8 ± 1.8 pmol/L, P < 0.05).ConclusionWithout prophylaxis, most patients who continue to receive low dose glucocorticoids as part of maintenance immunosuppression manifest a substantial deficit in bone mineral density (BMD) at the femoral neck. In contrast, two doses of pamidronate given at the time of transplantation and 1 month later protected the skeleton from significant bone loss over the 4 years after transplantation

Does Chatting Really Help? Tweet Analytics and Analyst Forecast Dispersion

Financial analysts use tweet analytics to prepare their forecasts, yet little information that describes how they do so exists. To address this gap, we scrutinize the associative relationships between tweets about a company’s service and the dispersion of analyst forecasts about the same company’s financial performance. We developed three sets of hypotheses. We extracted tweets related to airlines from the Twitter data from Archive Team and analyst forecast data from Institutional Brokers’ Estimate System Academic. We obtained airline-related tweets from nearly 200,000 individual Twitter users about 10 airlines during a 55-month study period and ran multiple regressions to test the associations between tweet characteristics and forecast dispersion. Our results suggest that, when more posters generate more tweets about a company’s service, analysts make less dispersed forecasts. In addition, negative (or non-verified) tweets reduce forecast dispersion to a greater extent than positive (or verified) tweets do. Theoretically, this paper confirms that Twitter can be a useful data source to provide analysts with additional information to prepare their forecasts. Practically, our findings provide empirical evidence about how Twitter data is associated with analyst forecast dispersion. We encourage stakeholders (such as analysts from small firms and individual investors) to extract data from Twitter as a supplement to market information when analyzing data

Prognostic Value of Elevated Serum Ceruloplasmin Levels in Patients With Heart Failure

Background: Ceruloplasmin (Cp) is a copper-binding acute-phase protein that is increased in inflammatory states and deficient in Wilson\u27s disease. Recent studies demonstrate that increased levels of Cp are associated with increased risk of developing heart failure. Our objective was to test the hypothesis that serum Cp provides incremental and independent prediction of survival in stable patients with heart failure. Methods and Results: We measured serum Cp levels in 890 patients with stable heart failure undergoing elective cardiac evaluation that included coronary angiography. We examined the role of Cp levels in predicting survival over 5 years of follow-up. Mean Cp level was 26.6 ± 6.9 mg/dL and demonstrated relatively weak correlation with B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP; r = 0.187; P \u3c .001). Increased Cp levels were associated with increased 5-year all-cause mortality (quartile [Q] 4 vs Q1 hazard ratio [HR] 1.9, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.4–2.8; P \u3c .001). When controlled for coronary disease traditional risk factors, creatinine clearance, dialysis, body mass index, medications, history of myocardial infarction, BNP, left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF), heart rate, QRS duration, left bundle branch blockage, and implantable cardioverter-defibrillator placement, higher Cp remained an independent predictor of increased mortality (Q4 vs Q1 HR 1.7, 95% CI 1.1–2.6; P \u3c .05). Model quality was improved with addition of Cp to the aforementioned covariables (net reclassification improvement of 9.3%; P \u3c .001). Conclusions: Ceruloplasmin is an independent predictor of all-cause mortality in patients with heart failure. Measurement of Cp may help to identify patients at heightened mortality risk

Prognostic Value of Estimating Functional Capacity with The Use of The Duke Activity Status Index in Stable Patients with Chronic Heart Failure

BACKGROUND: Over the years, several methods have been developed to reliably quantify functional capacity in patients with heart failure. Few studies have investigated the prognostic value of these assessment tools beyond cardiorenal prognostic biomarkers in stable patients with chronic heart failure. METHODS AND RESULTS: We administered the Duke Activity Status Index (DASI) questionnaire, a self-assessment tool comprising 12 questions for estimating functional capacity, to 1,700 stable nonacute coronary syndrome patients with history of heart failure who underwent elective diagnostic coronary angiography with 5-year follow-up of all-cause mortality. In a subset of patients (n = 800), B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP) was measured. In our study cohort, the median DASI score was 26.2 (interquartile range [IQR] 15.5-42.7). Low DASI score provided independent prediction of a 3.3-fold increase in 5-year mortality risk (quartile 1 vs quartile 4: hazard ratio [HR] 3.33, 95% confidence interval [CI] 2.57-4.36; P \u3c .0001). After adjusting for traditional risk factors, BNP, and estimated glomerular filtration rate, low DASI score still conferred a 2.6-fold increase in mortality risk (HR 2.57, 95% CI 1.64-4.15; P \u3c .0001). CONCLUSIONS: A simple self-assessment tool of functional capacity provides independent and incremental prognostic value for mortality prediction in stable patients with chronic heart failure beyond cardiorenal biomarkers