AlloCare – Page 37

July 10, 2023July 10, 2023

Study finds thresholds for low oxygen leading to acute kidney injury in cardiac surgery

By Erik Swain

Researchers identified thresholds for low oxygen delivery leading to acute kidney injury during cardiac surgery that were lower than previously reported.

“Our team has a longstanding interest in evaluating determinants of postoperative acute kidney injury using clinically informed datasets,” Donald S. Likosky, PhD, head of the Section of Health Services Research and Quality at the University of Michigan Health Department of Cardiac Surgery, told Healio. Read the full article in Healio.

July 9, 2023July 7, 2023

Researchers advocate for promotion of skin self-examination for early melanoma detection

By Gabrielle Capaldo

Skin self-examination is a viable secondary prevention method for the early detection of primary melanoma and should be promoted to patients, according to an article published in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology.

While reducing melanoma mortality by removing early-stage melanomas has long been a goal for dermatologists, the authors of this article believe that physician-led screenings of asymptomatic adults have done little to achieve this goal. Read the full article in Healio.

July 8, 2023July 7, 2023

Noninvasive blood glucose monitor compares favorably to fingersticks in diabetes

By Jill Rollet and Michael Monostra

SAN DIEGO — A novel noninvasive blood glucose monitor may be able to measure glucose levels with an accuracy similar to fingersticks, according to a presenter.

The GWave blood glucose monitor (Hagar) uses radiofrequency waves to noninvasively measure venous blood glucose concentrations while filtering out white noise. The device measures glucose in the venous blood as opposed to CGMs, which measure glucose within interstitial fluid. Read the full article in Healio.

July 8, 2023July 7, 2023

Pittsburgh native with a kidney transplant competes on ‘Survivor’: ‘I never thought that could be me’

By Hanna Webster

Josh Wilder never expected to spend weeks surviving in the wild on national television.

He was born with Prune Belly syndrome, a rare genetic condition in which some internal organs and the abdominal muscles don’t fully develop. He frequented Pittsburgh doctor’s offices and hospitals throughout his childhood and was put on a strict, low-fat diet of healthy fruits and vegetables (a kid’s favorite) to protect his kidneys.
Read more in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

July 7, 2023July 7, 2023

Q&A: Mental Health Matters

CareDx hosted the “Ask the Experts: Mental Health Matters” webinar in partnership with the National Kidney Foundation serving Northern California and the Pacific Northwest on Wednesday, May 18, 2022. More than 600 members of the transplant community, comprised of transplant recipients, caregivers, and clinicians, joined the live virtual discussion to learn more about the role mental health plays in the pre- and post-transplant journey. Read the full article from CareDx.

July 7, 2023July 7, 2023

Lessons Learned: First Pig-to-Human Heart Transplant

By Deborah Kotz

A new study published in The Lancet on June 29 has revealed the most extensive analysis to date on what led to the eventual heart failure in the world’s first successful transplant of a genetically modified pig heart into a human patient. This groundbreaking procedure was conducted by University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMSOM) physician-scientists in January 2022 and marked an important milestone for medical science. Read the full article in UMB News.

July 6, 2023July 6, 2023

The Truth About Black Americans and Liver Transplants

By Maia Niguel Hoskin, PhD

For Black Americans with liver cancer, getting a transplant can be especially arduous and daunting. And even though the procedure has a success rate of 85 to 90 percent, according to Cleveland Clinic, liver recipients who are Black are less likely to survive than those who are white or Hispanic.

Hugo Hool, MD, an oncologist and the director of the Hunt Cancer Institute at Torrance Memorial, in California, says racial disparities are so significant that race alone is the biggest predictor of who is likely to die of liver cancer — for both people who have had a transplant and those who have not.
Read the full article in Everyday Health.

July 6, 2023July 6, 2023

‘A Lot More to Do’ for Longevity of Kids Who Receive Organs

By Jake Remaly

Sara Kathryn Smith, MD, knows better than most that studying pediatric organ transplant recipients in adulthood can be a challenge.

Smith, the medical director of pediatric liver transplantation at Johns Hopkins Children’s Center in Baltimore, is a transplant recipient herself.

“Following somebody 20, 30 years after a liver transplant when they are out there running their life and having no issues at all, it is hard to convince them to come back every month for labs,” Smith said. Read the full article in Medscape.

July 5, 2023July 5, 2023

Research reveals novel insights into transplant rejection and new drug development targets

By Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center

Imagine a day when a urine test could inform a doctor precisely why a kidney transplant patient was experiencing organ rejection and suggest the best medication for specifically addressing the problem.

That day took a leap closer to reality thanks to a remarkable set of single-cell analyses that have identified the most specific cellular signatures to date for kidney transplant rejection. The findings were detailed May 25, 2023, in the Journal of Clinical Investigation. Read more in Medical Xpress.