Acute Kidney Injury News and Research

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Acute kidney injury (AKI) involves sudden damage to the kidneys or decrease in renal function that occurs over a few hours or days. The severity of the condition can vary from a minor loss of kidney function to kidney failure.

New cell-penetrating peptide may protect against life-threatening microbial inflammation

A cell-penetrating peptide developed by researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center can prevent, in an animal model, the often-fatal septic shock that can result from bacterial and viral infections.

9 Jun 2021

Link between SARS-CoV-2 organotropism and kidney injury

It was clear at a relatively early stage of the pandemic that SARS-CoV-2 causes a wide range of symptoms; in addition to typical respiratory symptoms, patients also had neurological symptoms (starting with anosmia), gastrointestinal symptoms, elevated liver values, and renal, urinary or hematological changes, for example.

8 Jun 2021

Addressing climate change for better kidney health

Health has always been affected by climate and weather, but is increasingly clear that the change in climate is a significant threat to human health.

7 Jun 2021

COVID-19 can cause long-term consequences for the kidneys

The kidneys are a target organ of COVID-19 and are affected very early in the course. However, this is precisely where there is strong prognostic potential: As early as last spring, COVID-19-associated nephritis was identified as an early warning signal for severe courses of the infectious disease and studies to that effect were published.

7 Jun 2021

Weight loss drug Wegovy approved by FDA

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved Wegovy (semaglutide) injection (2.4 mg once weekly) as a chronic weight management treatment in obese or overweight adults with a weight-related condition (such as high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, or high cholesterol), when used along with calorie restriction and physical activity. Wegovy, is a more potent version of Novo Nordisk's diabetes drug semaglutide.

4 Jun 2021

Hydroxychloroquine + Azithromycin therapy at a higher dose improved survival by nearly 200% in ventilated COVID patients

However, a fascinating new study posted to the medRxiv* preprint server suggests that such disappointment may have been both premature and unwarranted, based on a re-analysis of over 250 patients on invasive mechanical ventilation (IMV) during the first two months of the pandemic.

2 Jun 2021

Risk factors for rare COVID-19 complications in children (MIS-C)

While the earlier waves of COVID-19 relatively spared children, some of the affected children have developed a systemic inflammatory condition, with occasionally fatal outcomes. Called multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C), its pathogenesis and risk factors are the subject of a new study on the medRxiv* preprint server.

21 May 2021

Facets of SARS-CoV-2 infection and animal models

A new study in the journal Frontiers in Cell and Developmental Biology discusses the ribonucleic acid (RNA) genome of the virus, and the mechanisms by which it establishes infection within the host cell. The researchers also summarize the development of animal models of COVID-19, which will both help understand the clinical features of the illness, and indicate new approaches for the treatment of the infection.

21 May 2021

Study could pave way for new therapies for kidney disease

Our kidneys are charged with the extraordinary task of filtering about 53 gallons of fluid a day, a process that depends on podocytes, tiny, highly specialized cells in the cluster of blood vessels in the kidney where waste is filtered that are highly vulnerable to damage.

5 May 2021

COVID-19 survivors have increased risk of death for at least six months

As the COVID-19 pandemic has progressed, it has become clear that many survivors -; even those who had mild cases -; continue to manage a variety of health problems long after the initial infection should have resolved.

23 Apr 2021

Study: Patients with chronic kidney disease have high risk of acute kidney injury

Acute kidney injury (AKI) occurred in nearly 20 percent of patients who underwent surgery with implantation of antibiotic-loaded "spacers" and intravenous (IV) antibiotics for the treatment of deep infections after total knee arthroplasty, reports a study in The Journal of Bone & Joint Surgery.

30 Mar 2021

AI-based system for real-time prediction of complications in intensive care units

Life-threatening situations occur time and again in an intensive care unit. To make sure that doctors can intervene in time, a team at the German Heart Center Berlin has developed AI-based software that regularly evaluates all monitoring data and alerts staff before a critical situation is reached.

22 Mar 2021

Which biomarkers can help predict severe COVID-19?

The ability to detect potentially fatal illness early on in the course of the disease would enable a swift prioritization of these high-risk individuals for treatment. A new preprint on the medRxiv* server presents an array of biomarkers that may help achieve this laudable goal.

15 Mar 2021

Pragmatic recommendations for management of COVID-19 in low- and middle-income countries

A new supplement offering guidance on severe COVID-19 management in resource-limited settings is now available on the American Journal of Tropical Medicine website.

13 Mar 2021

New web-based tool predicts the risk of post-surgical complications

Heart attack, kidney failure, stroke. These are just a few of the life-threatening complications that patients are at risk for following surgery.

25 Feb 2021

Incidence of cardiometabolic and pulmonary events in UK has lowered due to COVID-19

A team of researchers from the University of Oxford, the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and other institutions recently analyzed extensive data collected by NHS England to reveal any association between SARS-CoV-2 infection and cardiometabolic or respiratory events.

23 Feb 2021

New rodent model helps identify pregnant women whose prior kidney injury also affects babies

Young pregnant women, who appear to have fully recovered from an acute injury that reduced their kidney function, have higher rates of significant problems like preeclampsia and low birthweight babies, problems which indicate their kidneys have not actually fully recovered.

22 Feb 2021

Researchers identify key genetic changes in interstitial kidney tissue of people with diabetes

Researchers from Indiana University have identified key genetic changes in the interstitial kidney tissue of people with diabetes, a discovery that signifies the potential for a revolutionary new genetic approach to the treatment of kidney disease.

16 Feb 2021

Early use of therapeutic anticoagulation does not improve survival of critically ill COVID-19 patients

Although abnormal blood clotting has been identified as one of the primary causes of death from COVID-19, early treatment in an intensive care unit (ICU) with therapeutic anticoagulation (anti-clotting) for adults who are critically ill with COVID-19 does not appear to improve chances of survival, and could do more harm than good by increasing the risk for major bleeding, a multicenter research group cautions.

3 Feb 2021

Biomarkers could help discriminate cancer therapy-associated kidney injury from other causes

A study by Mayo Clinic researchers published in Kidney International Reports finds that immune checkpoint inhibitors, may have negative consequences in some patients, including acute kidney inflammation, known as interstitial nephritis. Immune checkpoint inhibitors are used to treat cancer by stimulating the immune system to attack cancerous cells.