Burden and predictors of hypertension in India: results of SEEK (Screening and Early Evaluation of Kidney Disease) study

Background: Hypertension (HTN) is one of the major causes of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. The objective of the study was to investigate the burden and predictors of HTN in India. Methods: 6120 subjects participated in the Screening and Early Evaluation of Kidney disease (SEEK), a community-based screening program in 53 camps in 13 representative geographic locations in India. Of these, 5929 had recorded blood pressure (BP) measurements. Potential predictors of HTN were collected using a structured questionnaire for SEEK study. Results: HTN was observed in 43.5% of our cohort. After adjusting for center variation (p < 0.0001), predictors of a higher prevalence of HTN were older age ≥40 years (p < 0.0001), BMI of ≥ 23 Kg/M2 (p < 0.0004), larger waist circumference (p < 0.0001), working in sedentary occupation (p < 0.0001), having diabetes mellitus (p < 0.0001), having proteinuria (p < 0.0016), and increased serum creatinine (p < 0.0001). High school/some college education (p = 0.0016), versus less than 9th grade education, was related with lower prevalence of HTN. Of note, proteinuria and CKD were observed in 19% and 23.5% of HTN subjects. About half (54%) of the hypertensive subjects were aware of their hypertension status. Conclusions: HTN was common in this cohort from India. Older age, BMI ≥ 23 Kg/M2, waist circumference, sedentary occupation, education less, diabetes mellitus, presence of proteinuria, and raised serum creatinine were significant predictors of hypertension. Our data suggest that HTN is a major public health problem in India with low awareness, and requires aggressive community-based screening and education to improve health

Epidemiology and risk factors of chronic kidney disease in India – results from the SEEK (Screening and Early Evaluation of Kidney Disease) study

Background: There is a rising incidence of chronic kidney disease that is likely to pose major problems for both healthcare and the economy in future years. In India, it has been recently estimated that the age-adjusted incidence rate of ESRD to be 229 per million population (pmp), and >100,000 new patients enter renal replacement programs annually. Methods: We cross-sectionally screened 6120 Indian subjects from 13 academic and private medical centers all over India. We obtained personal and medical history data through a specifically designed questionnaire. Blood and urine samples were collected. Results: The total cohort included in this analysis is 5588 subjects. The mean ± SD age of all participants was 45.22 ± 15.2 years (range 18–98 years) and 55.1% of them were males and 44.9% were females. The overall prevalence of CKD in the SEEK-India cohort was 17.2% with a mean eGFR of 84.27 ± 76.46 versus 116.94 ± 44.65 mL/min/1.73 m2 in non-CKD group while 79.5% in the CKD group had proteinuria. Prevalence of CKD stages 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 was 7%, 4.3%, 4.3%, 0.8% and 0.8%, respectively. Conclusion: The prevalence of CKD was observed to be 17.2% with ~6% have CKD stage 3 or worse. CKD risk factors were similar to those reported in earlier studies. It should be stressed to all primary care physicians taking care of hypertensive and diabetic patients to screen for early kidney damage. Early intervention may retard the progression of kidney disease. Planning for the preventive health policies and allocation of more resources for the treatment of CKD/ESRD patients are imperative in India

Epidemiology of chronic kidney disease in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (SEEK-Saudi investigators) - A pilot study

There are no available data about the prevalence of chronic kidney disease (CKD) and its risk factors in the general population of the kingdom of Saudi Arabia. To estimate the prevalence of CKD and its associated risk factors in the Saudi population, we conducted a pilot community-based screening program in commercial centers in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Candidates were interviewed and blood and urine samples were collected. Participants were categorized to their CKD stage according to their estimated Modification of Diet in Renal Disease (MDRD3)-based, the new Chronic Kidney Disease Epidemiology Collaboration (CKD-EPI) equation and the presence of albuminuria. The sample comprised 491 (49.9&#x0025; were males) adult Saudi nationals. The mean age was 37.4 &#177; 11.3 years. The over-all prevalence of CKD was 5.7&#x0025; and 5.3&#x0025; using the MDRD-3 and CKD-EPI glomerular filtration equations, respectively. Gender, age, smoking status, body mass index, hypertension and diabetes mel-litus were not significant predictors of CKD in our cohort. However, CKD was significantly higher in the older age groups, higher serum glucose, waist/hip ratio and blood pressure. Only 7.1&#x0025; of the CKD patients were aware of their CKD status, while 32.1&#x0025; were told that they had protein or blood in their urine and 10.7&#x0025; had known kidney stones in the past. We conclude that prevalence of CKD in the young Saudi population is around 5.7&#x0025;. Our pilot study demonstrated the feasibility of screening for CKD. Screening of high-risk individuals is likely to be the most cost-effective strategy to detect CKD patients

Biosynthesis of ZnO/SiO2 nanocatalyst with palash leavesâ powder for treatment of petroleum refinery effluent

This work aims the synthesis and characterization of ZnO/SiO2 nanocatalyst from plant waste material by green route and application of this ZnO/SiO2 nanocatalyst for the treatment of petroleum refinery effluent. Butea monosperma (Palash) leavesâ powder was used as reducing and stabilizing agent for synthesis of ZnO/SiO2 nanocatalyst. Palash leaves contain broad variability of biomolecules which work as reducing and capping agent. In this research work, COD and acenaphthylene which is Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAH) were degraded by synthesizing ZnO/SiO2 nanocatalyst under UV-light in an annular photocatalytic reactor. X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), FIELD emission gun-Scanning electron microscopy (FEG-SEM), Energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) and Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) analysis confirmed the formation of ZnO/SiO2 nanocatalyst. Characterization studies revealed that spherical and hexagonal nanoparticles with particle size ranging from 8â¯Â±â¯5 nm to 40â¯Â±â¯5 nm and mean particle with diameter of 20â¯Â±â¯5 nm were synthesized using this method which is stable in the environment. Brunauer, Emmett and Teller (BET) surface area of ZnO/SiO2 nanocatalyst is found to be 150.25 m2/g. Fractional Factorial design was applied to find optimum condition of process parameters and found that optimum percent. Removal of COD (mg/l), and acenaphthylene were achieved at reaction condition of 1 g/L of ZnO/SiO2 nanocatalyst loading, 30â¯Â°C temperature and 4 h reaction time and found that optimum percent removal of COD (mg/l), and acenaphthylene is 75%, and 73% respectively. Various metals, naturally present in palash leavesâ powder, decrease band gap of energy and improve photocatalytic activity of nanocatalyst. Keywords: ZnO/SiO2 nanocatalyst, Green synthesis, Palash leaves, Treatment, Petroleum refinery, Effluen