PRESS-NEWS.org - Press Release Distribution
PRESS RELEASES DISTRIBUTION

Vanderbilt study finds obesity linked to kidney injury after heart surgery

2012-07-06
(Press-News.org) Obesity increases the risk of acute kidney injury (AKI) following cardiac surgery, according to a Vanderbilt study published in the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology.

Considered common after cardiac surgery, AKI represents a fivefold increase in mortality risk within 30 days after the procedure and is associated with longer hospital stays and a range of complications.

The study, led by anesthesiologist Frederic T. (Josh) Billings IV, M.D., M.Sc., followed a sample of 455 cardiac surgery patients at Vanderbilt University Hospital and Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston. Some 25 percent of the patients developed AKI after their procedure.

The study found that patients with a higher body mass index (BMI) had a much greater risk. After adjusting for several other risk factors, the odds of AKI increased a staggering 26.5 percent for every five-point increase in a patient's BMI.

Billings and colleagues used a statistical technique called mediation analysis to discover that oxidative stress could be the mechanism by which obesity influences acute kidney injury. Oxidative stress is the toxic overabundance of reactive oxygen species, brought on by excess generation or insufficient elimination.

"By identification of this mechanism, we now may be able to target intraoperative oxidative stress with the hope of reducing kidney injury following cardiac surgery. That may be particularly appropriate for obese individuals," Billings said.

The authors noted that the finding is "consistent with the hypothesis that oxidative stress partially mediates the association between BMI and AKI."

"I think we learned something really important by doing the mediation analysis," said biostatistician Jonathan Schildcrout, Ph.D., one of the study's authors. "You could have just examined the BMI and AKI association, and everybody would have said, 'OK, obese people have higher risk of AKI.'

"When you learn the mechanism, you can start to learn how to intervene to prevent the injury," Schildcrout said.

INFORMATION:

The study was funded by the National Institutes of Health (RO1HL77389, RO1HL65193, and UL1RR024975). Clinical Trial Registration: NCT00141778.

END



ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Study finds drug warning labels need overhaul to better capture attention, convey information

2012-07-06
MANHATTAN, Kan. -- Many patients seem to ignore prescription drug warning labels with instructions that are critical for safe and effective use, according to a study by a Kansas State University researcher working with scientists at Michigan State University. Consumers, particularly older ones, often overlook prescription drug warning labels in part because the labels fail to attract attention, said Nora Bello, an assistant professor of statistics at Kansas State University. Bello helped investigate the effectiveness of prescription drug warning labels to convey drug ...

Research shows endowment effect in chimpanzees can be turned on and off

2012-07-06
Groundbreaking new research in the field of "evolutionary analysis in law" not only provides additional evidence that chimpanzees share the controversial human psychological trait known as the endowment effect – which in humans has implications for law – but also shows the effect can be turned on or off for single objects, depending on their immediate situational usefulness. In humans, the endowment effect causes people to consider an item they have just come to possess as higher in value than the maximum price they would have paid to acquire it just a moment before. ...

Scientists discover new trigger for immense North Atlantic Ocean spring plankton bloom

2012-07-06
On this July 4th week, U.S. beachgoers are thronging their way to seaside resorts and parks to celebrate with holiday fireworks. But across the horizon and miles out to sea toward the north, the Atlantic Ocean's own spring and summer ritual unfolds. It entails the blooming of countless microscopic plants, or phytoplankton. In what's known as the North Atlantic Bloom, an immense number of phytoplankton burst into existence, first "greening," then "whitening" the sea as one or more species take the place of others. What turns on this huge bloom, what starts these ocean ...

New instrument sifts through starlight to reveal new worlds

2012-07-06
An advanced telescope imaging system that started taking data last month is the first of its kind capable of spotting planets orbiting suns outside of our solar system. The collaborative set of high-tech instrumentation and software, called Project 1640, is now operating on the Hale telescope at the Palomar Observatory in California after more than six years of development by researchers and engineers at the American Museum of Natural History, the California Institute of Technology, and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). The project's first images demonstrating a new ...

UZH research team discovers the origins of key immune cells

2012-07-06
VIDEO: Follicular dendritic cells originate in cells located in the walls of blood vessels. Click here for more information. Chronic inflammatory conditions are extremely common diseases in humans and in the entire animal kingdom. Both in autoimmune diseases and pathogen-caused diseases, the inflamed areas are rapidly colonized by antibody producing B lymphocytes – which organize themselves in highly structured areas called "lymphoid follicles". The scaffold of such follicles ...

Device converting images into music helps individuals without vision reach for objects in space

2012-07-06
Amsterdam, NL, July 5, 2012 – Sensory substitution devices (SSDs) use sound or touch to help the visually impaired perceive the visual scene surrounding them. The ideal SSD would assist not only in sensing the environment but also in performing daily activities based on this input. For example, accurately reaching for a coffee cup, or shaking a friend's hand. In a new study, scientists trained blindfolded sighted participants to perform fast and accurate movements using a new SSD, called EyeMusic. Their results are published in the July issue of Restorative Neurology and ...

University of Louisville study dispels concerns about drive-thru flu clinics

2012-07-06
Critics have pointed to fainting risks and subsequent auto accidents as reasons for concern when using drive-thru influenza immunization clinics, according to Ruth Carrico, PhD, RN, FSHEA, CIC, associate professor, division of infectious diseases, University of Louisville School of Medicine. A review conducted by Carrico and UofL faculty W. Paul McKinney, MD, FACP, Timothy Wiemkan, PhD, MPH, CIC and John Myers, PhD, MSPH found these fears to be unfounded. Since the beginning of an annual drive-thru immunization program initiated 1995 at the University of Louisville Hospital, ...

Scientists identify gene linked to facial, skull and cognitive impairment

2012-07-06
A gene whose mutation results in malformed faces and skulls as well as mental retardation has been found by scientists. They looked at patients with Potocki-Shaffer syndrome, a rare disorder that can result in significant abnormalities such as a small head and chin and intellectual disability, and found the gene PHF21A was mutated, said Dr. Hyung-Goo Kim, molecular geneticist at the Medical College of Georgia at Georgia Health Sciences University. The scientists confirmed PHF21A's role by suppressing it in zebrafish, which developed head and brain abnormalities similar ...

Higher but not lower doses of vitamin D are effective in fracture risk reduction in older adults

2012-07-06
BOSTON (July 5, 2012) – Based on the results of a pooled analysis of 11 unrelated randomized clinical trials investigating vitamin D supplementation and fracture risk in more than 31,000 older adults, Bess Dawson-Hughes, MD, director of the Bone Metabolism Laboratory at the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging (USDA HNRCA) at Tufts University, says higher doses of Vitamin D may be the most beneficial in reducing bone fractures in this age group. As part of the study, published today in The New England Journal of Medicine, Dawson-Hughes and colleagues ...

Calling all truckers ... not!

2012-07-06
Researchers in India are developing a new technology that will prevent truck drivers and other road users from using their cell phones while driving. The technology based on RFIDs could also be integrated with police traffic monitoring. Abdul Shabeer of the Anna University of Technology in Tamilnadu, India, and colleagues point out that globally around 20% of fatal road accidents with trucks and other heavy vehicles involved the drivers of those vehicles using a cell phone in their hand at the time of the accident. "Dialing and holding a phone while steering can be an ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

Hallucinogen use linked to 2.6-fold increase in risk of death for people needing emergency care

Pathogenicity threshold of SCA6 causative gene CACNA1A was identified

Mysterious interstellar icy objects

Chronic diseases misdiagnosed as psychosomatic can lead to long term damage to physical and mental wellbeing, study finds

Omalizumab treats multi-food allergy better than oral immunotherapy

Sleep apnea linked to increased risk of Parkinson’s, but CPAP may reduce risk

New insights into drug addiction: The role of astrocytic G protein-coupled receptors

Digital twin technology: Transforming road engineering and its lifecycle applications

Next-generation AI and big data: Transforming crop breeding

Biomimetic synthesis of natural products: Progress, challenges and prospects

New limits found for dark matter properties from latest search

SCAI expresses disappointment over ABMS decision to deny independent cardiovascular medicine boar

Rice researchers develop efficient lithium extraction method, setting stage for sustainable EV battery supply chains

Statement on ABMS denying new cardiovascular board

St. Jude scientists solve mystery of how the drug retinoic acid works to treat neuroblastoma

New device could allow you to taste a cake in virtual reality

Illinois researchers develop next-generation organic nanozymes and point-of-use system for food and agricultural uses

Kicking yourself: Going against one’s better judgment amplifies self-blame

Rice researchers harness gravity to create low-cost device for rapid cell analysis

Revolutionary copper-infused microvesicles: a new era in biofunctional medicine

Primary care practices with NPs are key to increasing health care access in less advantaged areas, Columbia Nursing study shows

TTUHSC conducting study to help patients that experience traumatic blood loss

Next top model: Competition-based AI study aims to lower data center costs

Innovative startup awarded $10,000 to tackle cardiovascular disparities

Study compares indoor transmission-risk metrics for infectious diseases

Micro-expression detection in ASD movies: a YOLOv8-SMART approach

Machine learning on blockchain: A new approach to engineering computational security

Vacuum glazing: A promising solution for low-carbon buildings

Racial and ethnic differences in out-of-pocket spending for maternity care

Study reveals racial and ethnic disparities in maternity care spending

[Press-News.org] Vanderbilt study finds obesity linked to kidney injury after heart surgery