Clinical correlates of functional status in patients with chronic renal insufficiency

Patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) are known to have significantly reduced functional abilities, as measured by the Sickness Impact Profile (SIP). We investigated the clinical correlates with SIP scores in a cohort of patients with lesser degrees of renal dysfunction recruited from an academic general medicine practice (mean calculated creatinine clearance, 25 mL/min). Of 603 eligible patients with chronic renal insufficiency (CRI) defined as a serum creatinine greater than 1.5 mg/dL and a calculated creatinine clearance less than 50 mL/min on two occasions more than 6 months apart, 360 (60%) agreed to participate. These patients were primarily elderly (mean age, 69 years) black (83%), women (69.2%), with an average of 6 years of education and a household income of $400 to$800 per month; 92% had hypertension and 57% had diabetes. The SIP was administered in-home by trained interviewers. Independent variables included demographic data, education, income, and medications (via interviewers), vital signs taken by a renal nurse, and diagnostic test results and diagnoses from patient's computerized records. The total SIP score was the dependent variable, and its physical and psychosocial subscales were also investigated. Variables with univariate correlations with total SIP (P < 0.05) were included in a multiple regression analysis. All variables with a multivariable P value less than 0.10 were included in the final model. The mean SIP score was 24.5 +/- 15.6, higher than that found in patients on dialysis. Significant (P < 0.05) independent correlates with higher SIP scores (greater disability) were lower educational level and income, prior diagnoses of coronary artery disease and stroke, and lower serum albumin

Marked increase in leptospirosis infections in humans and dogs in the Netherlands, 2014

In the Netherlands, 97 human leptospirosis cases were notified in 2014. This represents a 4.6-fold increase in autochthonous cases (n = 60) compared with the annual average between 2010 and 2013. Most cases had symptom onset between June and November. This marked increase in humans coincided with an increase of leptospirosis in dogs. In 2014, 13 dogs with leptospirosis were reported, compared with two to six dogs annually from 2010 to 2013. The majority of the autochthonous cases (n = 20) were linked to recreational exposure, e.g. swimming or fishing, followed by occupational exposure (n = 15). About sixty per cent (n = 37) of the autochthonous cases were most likely attributable to surface water contact, and 13 cases to direct contact with animals, mainly rats. A possible explanation for this increase is the preceding mild winter of 2013–2014 followed by the warmest year in three centuries, possibly enabling rodents and Leptospira spp. to survive better. A slight increase in imported leptospirosis was also observed in Dutch tourists (n = 33) most of whom acquired their infection in Thailand (n = 18). More awareness and early recognition of this mainly rodent-borne zoonosis by medical and veterinary specialists is warranted

The specificity of American higher education

The possibility—and potential pitfalls—of an “Americanization” of European higher education are widely discussed. This paper argues that it is important to base comparisons and considerations of possible emulation on a stronger understanding of the specificity of American higher education. It stresses the importance of seeing this as a system with highly differentiated institutions and complex contextual relations. The present paper also summarizes dramatic changes that have transformed American higher education in recent years, and others that are beginning to transform it further. This shows the system to be internally dynamic and also influenced by important external conditions (including matters of finance, public policy, and new technology). The U.S. system is only understood well if analysis locates specific patterns in relation to these structural transformations. Such specificity should inform future comparative research

Kelley's formula as a basis for the assessment of reliable change

difference scores, reliable change index, Kelley's formula,