Evaluation of Safety of a Newly Formulated Pirfenidone in Chronic Kidney Disease: A Non-Randomized Pilot Study in Mexican Patients

The aim of this pilot clinical trial was to evaluate the safety of a new formulation of prolonged-release Pirfenidone (PR-PFD) in chronic kidney disease (CKD), specifically focal and segmental glomerular hyalinization (FSGH). Open-label, pilot, nonrandomized trial. Eighteen patients previously diagnosed with CKD stages 1– 5 according to “Kidney Disease: Improving Global Outcomes” were enrolled in the study. Target dos-age of PFD was 1200 mg twice a day in the form of prolonged-release tablets to reach a full dosage of 2400 mg daily. Clinical trial was carried out for 60 months to evaluate the safety and efficacy of a newly formulated PR-PFD in patients with CKD. After the treatment for 60 months, it was found that PR-PFD kept renal function from declining significantly in CKD patients, as the glomerular filtration rate (GFR) showed only minimal variations throughout the study. Estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) showed no differences at both baseline and the end points. Proteinuria improved, and creatinine, cystatin C, urea, hemoglobin and hepatic transaminases remained constant without any considerable changes across the study. Minor side effects were noticed when compared with those found in previous studies, indicating an increased tolerance to this pharmaceutical formulation of PFD. Prolonged-released PFD could be safely used as an adjuvant therapy in patients with CKD.Registry number was obtained from ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT02408744)

High prevalence of autoantibodies to RNA helicase A in Mexican patients with systemic lupus erythematosus

Introduction: Autoantibodies to RNA helicase A (RHA) were reported as a new serological marker of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) associated with early stage of the disease. Anti-RHA and other autoantibodies in Mexican SLE patients and their correlation with clinical and immunological features were examined.Methods: Autoantibodies in sera from 62 Mexican SLE patients were tested by immunoprecipitation of 35S-labeled K562 cell extract and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (anti-U1RNP/Sm, ribosomal P, ?2GPI, and dsDNA). Anti-RHA was screened based on the immunoprecipitation of the 140-kDa protein, the identity of which was verified by Western blot using rabbit anti-RHA serum. Clinical and immunological characteristics of anti-RHA-positive patients were analyzed.Results: Anti-RHA was detected in 23% (14/62) of patients, a prevalence higher than that of anti-Sm (13%, 8/62). Prevalence and levels of various autoantibodies were not clearly different between anti-RHA (+) vs. (-) cases, although there was a trend of higher levels of anti-RHA antibodies in patients without anti-U1RNP/Sm (P = 0.07). Both anti-RHA and -Sm were common in cases within one year of diagnosis; however, the prevalence and levels of anti-RHA in patients years after diagnosis did not reduce dramatically, unlike a previous report in American patients. This suggests that the high prevalence of anti-RHA in Mexican patients may be due to relatively stable production of anti-RHA.Conclusions: Anti-RHA was detected at high prevalence in Mexican SLE patients. Detection of anti-RHA in races in which anti-Sm is not common should be clinically useful. Racial difference in the clinical significance of anti-RHA should be clarified in future studies. � 2010 V�zques-Del Mercado et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd

Technical assessment of small-scale wind power for residential use in Mexico: A Bayesian intelligence approach.

Nowadays, the global energy system is in a transition phase, in which the integration of renewable energy is among the main requirements for attenuating climate change. Wind power is a major alternative to supply clean energy; hence, its widespread penetration is being pursued in all end-use sectors. In particular, it is currently noteworthy to analyze the feasibility of deploying small-scale wind power technology to provide cleaner and cheaper energy in the residential sector. As a first step, a technical assessment must be carried out to provide crucial information to intensive energy consumers, providers of small-scale wind power technology, electric energy distribution utilities, and any other party, to help them decide whether or not to deploy small-scale wind turbines. With this aim, we propose to perform such an analysis using a suitable probabilistic paradigm to solve complex decision-making problems with uncertainty, namely Bayesian Intelligence, since wind resources and energy demands are intermittent variables, properly characterized by probability distribution functions. Then, the problem of determining the technical feasibility can be formulated as an investigation into whether or not small-scale wind turbine technology can produce enough energy to cover the excess demand of intensive energy residential consumers to get off high-priced tariffs. For this purpose, we introduce a novel model based on probabilistic reasoning to assess the suitability of small-scale wind turbine technology to produce the said energy, taking into consideration the availability of wind resources and the energy pricing structure. To demonstrate the usefulness and performance of the proposed model, we consider a case study of deploying 5 and 10 kW wind turbines and analyze the feasibility of their implementation in Mexico, where the energy pricing structure and scattered wind resource availability pose difficult challenges