172 research outputs found
a global network of chronic kidney disease cohorts
Background Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a global health burden, yet it is
still underrepresented within public health agendas in many countries. Studies
focusing on the natural history of CKD are challenging to design and conduct,
because of the long time-course of disease progression, a wide variation in
etiologies, and a large amount of clinical variability among individuals with
CKD. With the difference in health-related behaviors, healthcare delivery,
genetics, and environmental exposures, this variability is greater across
countries than within one locale and may not be captured effectively in a
single study. Methods Studies were invited to join the network. Prerequisites
for membership included: 1) observational designs with a priori hypotheses and
defined study objectives, patient-level information, prospective data
acquisition and collection of bio-samples, all focused on predialysis CKD
patients; 2) target sample sizes of 1,000 patients for adult cohorts and 300
for pediatric cohorts; and 3) minimum follow-up of three years. Participating
studies were surveyed regarding design, data, and biosample resources. Results
Twelve prospective cohort studies and two registries covering 21 countries
were included. Participants age ranges from >2 to >70 years at inclusion, CKD
severity ranges from stage 2 to stage 5. Patient data and biosamples (not
available in the registry studies) are measured yearly or biennially. Many
studies included multiple ethnicities; cohort size ranges from 400 to more
than 13,000 participants. Studies’ areas of emphasis all include but are not
limited to renal outcomes, such as progression to ESRD and death. Conclusions
iNET-CKD (International Network of CKD cohort studies) was established, to
promote collaborative research, foster exchange of expertise, and create
opportunities for research training. Participating studies have many
commonalities that will facilitate comparative research; however, we also
observed substantial differences. The diversity we observed across studies
within this network will be able to be leveraged to identify genetic,
behavioral, and health services factors associated with the course of CKD.
With an emerging infrastructure to facilitate interactions among the
investigators of iNET-CKD and a broadly defined research agenda, we are
confident that there will be great opportunity for productive collaborative
investigations involving cohorts of individuals with CKD
First array of enriched ZnSe bolometers to search for double beta decay
The R&D activity performed during the last years proved the potential of ZnSe
scintillating bolometers to the search for neutrino-less double beta decay,
motivating the realization of the first large-mass experiment based on this
technology: CUPID-0. The isotopic enrichment in Se, the ZnSe
crystals growth, as well as the light detectors production have been
accomplished, and the experiment is now in construction at Laboratori Nazionali
del Gran Sasso (Italy). In this paper we present the results obtained testing
the first three ZnSe crystals operated as scintillating bolometers, and
we prove that their performance in terms of energy resolution, background
rejection capability and intrinsic radio-purity complies with the requirements
of CUPID-0
COSINUS: Cryogenic Calorimeters for the Direct Dark Matter Search with NaI Crystals
COSINUS (Cryogenic Observatory for SIgnatures seen in Next-generation Underground Searches) is an experiment employing cryogenic calorimeters, dedicated to direct dark matter search in underground laboratories. Its goal is to cross-check the annual modulation signal the DAMA collaboration has been detecting for about 20 years (Bernabei et al. in Nucl Part Phys Proc 303-305:74-79, 2018. 10.1016/j.nuclphysbps.2019.03.015) and which has been ruled out by other experiments in certain dark matter scenarios. COSINUS can provide a model-independent test by the use of the same target material (NaI), with the additional chance of discriminating beta/gamma events from nuclear recoils on an event-by-event basis, by the application of a well-established temperature sensor technology developed within the CRESST collaboration. Each module is constituted by two detectors: the light detector, that is a silicon beaker equipped with a transition edge sensor (TES), and the phonon detector, a small cubic NaI crystal interfaced with a carrier of a harder material (e.g. CdWO4), also instrumented with a TES. This technology had so far never been applied to NaI crystals because of several well-known obstacles, and COSINUS is the first experiment which succeeded in operating NaI crystals as cryogenic calorimeters. Here, we present the COSINUS project, describe the achievements and the challenges of the COSINUS prototype development and discuss the status and the perspectives of this NaI-based cryogenic frontier
Deep-underground dark matter search with a COSINUS detector prototype
Sodium iodide (NaI) based cryogenic scintillating calorimeters using quantum
sensors for signal read out have shown promising first results towards a
model-independent test of the annually modulating signal detected by the
DAMA/LIBRA dark matter experiment. The COSINUS collaboration has previously
reported on the first above-ground measurements using a dual channel readout of
phonons and light based on transition edge sensors (TESs) that allows for
particle discrimination on an event-by-event basis. In this letter, we outline
the first underground measurement of a NaI cryogenic calorimeter read out via
the novel remoTES scheme. A 3.67 g NaI absorber with an improved silicon light
detector design was operated at the Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso, Italy.
A significant improvement in the discrimination power of /-events
to nuclear recoils was observed with a five-fold improvement in the nuclear
recoil baseline resolution, achieving = 441 eV. Furthermore, we
present a limit on the spin-independent dark-matter nucleon elastic scattering
cross-section achieving a sensitivity of (pb) with an exposure of
only 11.6 g d.Comment: 11 pages, 14 figure
Global, regional, and national burden of chronic kidney disease, 1990–2017 : a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2017
Background
Health system planning requires careful assessment of chronic kidney disease (CKD) epidemiology, but data for morbidity and mortality of this disease are scarce or non-existent in many countries. We estimated the global, regional, and national burden of CKD, as well as the burden of cardiovascular disease and gout attributable to impaired kidney function, for the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study 2017. We use the term CKD to refer to the morbidity and mortality that can be directly attributed to all stages of CKD, and we use the term impaired kidney function to refer to the additional risk of CKD from cardiovascular disease and gout.
Methods
The main data sources we used were published literature, vital registration systems, end-stage kidney disease registries, and household surveys. Estimates of CKD burden were produced using a Cause of Death Ensemble model and a Bayesian meta-regression analytical tool, and included incidence, prevalence, years lived with disability, mortality, years of life lost, and disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs). A comparative risk assessment approach was used to estimate the proportion of cardiovascular diseases and gout burden attributable to impaired kidney function.
Findings
Globally, in 2017, 1·2 million (95% uncertainty interval [UI] 1·2 to 1·3) people died from CKD. The global all-age mortality rate from CKD increased 41·5% (95% UI 35·2 to 46·5) between 1990 and 2017, although there was no significant change in the age-standardised mortality rate (2·8%, −1·5 to 6·3). In 2017, 697·5 million (95% UI 649·2 to 752·0) cases of all-stage CKD were recorded, for a global prevalence of 9·1% (8·5 to 9·8). The global all-age prevalence of CKD increased 29·3% (95% UI 26·4 to 32·6) since 1990, whereas the age-standardised prevalence remained stable (1·2%, −1·1 to 3·5). CKD resulted in 35·8 million (95% UI 33·7 to 38·0) DALYs in 2017, with diabetic nephropathy accounting for almost a third of DALYs. Most of the burden of CKD was concentrated in the three lowest quintiles of Socio-demographic Index (SDI). In several regions, particularly Oceania, sub-Saharan Africa, and Latin America, the burden of CKD was much higher than expected for the level of development, whereas the disease burden in western, eastern, and central sub-Saharan Africa, east Asia, south Asia, central and eastern Europe, Australasia, and western Europe was lower than expected. 1·4 million (95% UI 1·2 to 1·6) cardiovascular disease-related deaths and 25·3 million (22·2 to 28·9) cardiovascular disease DALYs were attributable to impaired kidney function.
Interpretation
Kidney disease has a major effect on global health, both as a direct cause of global morbidity and mortality and as an important risk factor for cardiovascular disease. CKD is largely preventable and treatable and deserves greater attention in global health policy decision making, particularly in locations with low and middle SDI
Association between asymptomatic hyperuricemia and new-onset chronic kidney disease in Japanese male workers: a long-term retrospective cohort study
<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Hyperuricemia is prevalent in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD). We explored the hypothesis that asymptmatic hyperuricemia may be associated with new-onset CKD.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The participants were all male factory workers in Kanagawa, Japan (n = 1,285). All were over 40 years of age and had undergone annual health examinations from 1990 to 2007. Individuals with a history of gouty attacks were excluded from the study. A retrospective cohort study was conducted by following the estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) for each participant over a maximum period of 18 years. The endpoint was new-onset CKD defined as eGFR < 60 mL/min/1.73 m<sup>2</sup>. The associations between new-onset CKD and the presence of hyperuricemia, low serum high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, hypertension, diabetes, and obesity were analyzed.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The mean (± standard deviation) follow-up period was 95.2 (± 66.7) months, and new-onset CKD was observed in 100 participants (7.8%) during this follow-up. Cox proportional hazards model revealed that the hazard ratio of new-onset CKD due to hyperuricemia, low serum high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, hypertension and obesity were 3.99 (95% confidence interval: 2.59-6.15), 1.69 (1.00-2.86), 2.00 (1.29-3.11) and 1.35 (0.87-2.10), respectively. Concerning hyperuricemia, low serum high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, hypertension and obesity, the log-rank tests showed <it>P </it>values of < 0.01, 0.01, < 0.01 and < 0.01, respectively.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The results of this study suggest that asymptomatic hyperuricemia is a predictive factor for new-onset CKD for Japanese male workers.</p
Neutrino physics with the PTOLEMY project: active neutrino properties and the light sterile case
The PTOLEMY project aims to develop a scalable design for a Cosmic NeutrinoBackground (CNB) detector, the first of its kind and the only one conceivedthat can look directly at the image of the Universe encoded in neutrinobackground produced in the first second after the Big Bang. The scope of thework for the next three years is to complete the conceptual design of thisdetector and to validate with direct measurements that the non-neutrinobackgrounds are below the expected cosmological signal. In this paper wediscuss in details the theoretical aspects of the experiment and its physicsgoals. In particular, we mainly address three issues. First we discuss thesensitivity of PTOLEMY to the standard neutrino mass scale. We then study theperspectives of the experiment to detect the CNB via neutrino capture ontritium as a function of the neutrino mass scale and the energy resolution ofthe apparatus. Finally, we consider an extra sterile neutrino with mass in theeV range, coupled to the active states via oscillations, which has beenadvocated in view of neutrino oscillation anomalies. This extra state wouldcontribute to the tritium decay spectrum, and its properties, mass and mixingangle, could be studied by analyzing the features in the beta decay electronspectrum
Regional variation in hemoglobin distribution among individuals with chronic kidney disease: the ISN International Network of Chronic Kidney Disease (iNET-CKD) Cohorts
Introduction: Despite recognized geographic and sex-based differences in hemoglobin in the general population, these factors are typically ignored in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) in whom a single therapeutic range for hemoglobin is recommended. We sought to compare the distribution of hemoglobin across international nondialysis CKD populations and evaluate predictors of hemoglobin.Methods: In this cross-sectional study, hemoglobin distribution was evaluated in each cohort overall and stratified by sex and estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR). Relationships between candidate predictors and hemoglobin were assessed from linear regression models in each cohort. Estimates were subsequently pooled in a random effects model.Results: A total of 58,613 participants from 21 adult cohorts (median eGFR range of 17–49 ml/min) and 3 pediatric cohorts (median eGFR range of 26–45 ml/min) were included with broad geographic representation. Hemoglobin values varied substantially among the cohorts, overall and within eGFR categories, with particularly low mean hemoglobin observed in women from Asian and African cohorts. Across the eGFR range, women had a lower hemoglobin compared to men, even at an eGFR of 15 ml/min (mean difference 5.3 g/l, 95% confidence interval [CI] 3.7–6.9). Lower eGFR, female sex, older age, lower body mass index, and diabetic kidney disease were all independent predictors of a lower hemoglobin value; however, this only explained a minority of variance (R2 7%–44% across cohorts).Conclusion: There are substantial regional differences in hemoglobin distribution among individuals with CKD, and the majority of variance is unexplained by demographics, eGFR, or comorbidities. These findings call for a renewed interest in improving our understanding of hemoglobin determinants in specific CKD populations.</p
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