BACKGROUND Cystatin C, a marker of renal function, has been shown to be an independent predictor of cardiovascular disease (CVD) in older adults, but few data are available in middle-aged adults. Moreover, no study has compared cystatin C and microalbuminuria as risk factors for CVD outcomes in middle-aged adults, and it is not known whether cystatin C is related to an early stage of atheroscle...

N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) is a routinely used prognostic parameter in patients with pre-capillary pulmonary hypertension (PH). As it accumulates in the presence of impaired renal function, the clinical utility of NT-proBNP in PH patients with concomitant renal insufficiency remains unclear. In a retrospective approach, patients with pre-capillary PH (group I or IV) an...

OBJECTIVE Higher levels of the novel inflammatory marker pentraxin 3 (PTX3) predict cardiovascular mortality in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD). Yet, whether PTX3 predicts worsening of kidney function has been less well studied. We therefore investigated the associations between PTX3 levels, kidney disease measures and CKD incidence. METHODS Cross-sectional associations between ser...

PURPOSE The vancomycin dosage regimen is regularly modified according to the patient's glomerular filtration rate (GFR). In the present study, we aimed to assess the usefulness of serum cystatin C (Cys-C) concentration, compared with serum creatinine (SCr) concentration, for predicting vancomycin clearance (CLvcm) in neonates. METHODS We retrospectively analyzed the laboratory data of 50 term...

OBJECTIVE This analysis is designed to determine the prevalence of microalbuminuria (MAU) and mildly decreased glomerular filtration rate (GFR); to investigate the association of augmentation index (AIx), central blood pressure (cBP) and peripheral blood pressure (pBP) with MAU and mildly decreased GFR; and to compare the association strength of cBP and pBP with MAU and mildly decreased GFR. ...

BACKGROUND To reduce over-diagnosis of chronic kidney disease (CKD) resulting from the inaccuracy of creatinine-based estimates of glomerular filtration rate (GFR), UK and international guidelines recommend that cystatin-C-based estimates of GFR be used to confirm or exclude the diagnosis in people with GFR 45-59 ml/min/1.73 m2 and no albuminuria (CKD G3aA1). Whilst there is good evidence for c...

Glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) mediates neuronal survival through a receptor complex composed of the c-Retproto-oncogene and GFR alpha-1, a member of a family of GPI-anchored receptors. The extent of cross-talk between GDNF and GFR alpha receptors and its possible significance for c-Ret activation is presently unclear. Using chemical crosslinking we demonstrate here a specif...

BACKGROUND Despite routine use of estimated glomerular filtration rates (GFRs) as major renal end points in clinical trials of renal revascularization, serial GFR estimates have never been validated in patients with renal artery stenosis (RAS). The purpose of this study was to evaluate the validity of GFR estimates in patients with atherosclerotic RAS. METHODS AND RESULTS Serum creatinine (SC...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES This study investigated whether the slope of estimated GFR is different between nonproteinuric subjects with and without diabetes, and what clinical factors are associated with the GFR slope. DESIGN, SETTING, PARTICIPANTS, & MEASUREMENTS An observational cohort study was performed in 923 subjects, and the predictive value of baseline variables on the GFR slope was in...