Stories from the dialysis comunity across the globe.
Transplant anti-rejection drugs and risk of melanoma
UPI: Organ transplant patients are twice as likely as people without transplants to develop melanoma and 3 times as likely to die from it, according to a new study. Researchers found that patients were more likely to develop melanoma within the first 4 years of taking immunosuppressive drugs meant to keep their bodies from rejecting transplanted organs. Previously, scientists thought the potential for the drugs to influence cancer development would come after many years of taking the drugs.
State nod for Siddhivinayak temple trust's donation of dialysis units - Times of India
MUMBAI: The Devendra Fadnavis-led BJP government on Thursday approved a proposal submitted by the Shri Siddhivinayak Ganpati temple trust's Rs 7.5-crore proposal for setting up 102 dialysis units and water purification plants in 24 districts across the state. The law and judiciary department has promulgated a four-page order to provide for the dialysis units and water purification plants.
The TOI report on Tuesday, "Govt sat on temple donation of dialysis machines", had highlighted that a crucial proposal had been gathering dust in the office of the minister of state for law and judiciary Ranjeet Patil, an orthopaedic surgeon by profession, since April 9, owing to red tape and procedural wrangles in the report.
A bureaucrat had told TOI that the proposal was not cleared as the temple trust had declined to clear another plan for setting up an MRI unit in a private organization. "The proposal was not acceptable since as per the legal provisions, the trust can consider proposals submitted by government and semi-government organizations but not private ones."
The bureaucrat said that on April 1, 2014, the director of health services had submitted a comprehensive proposal to the trust for providing final aid to set up dialysis units, and after scrutiny, it was approved and submitted to the law and judiciary department on April 9, 2015.
Last week, while interacting with doctors in Pune, Fadnavis had declared that his government will rope in leading temple trusts for strengthening health care across the state.
A former dean expressed concern over the deterioration of state-run medical colleges. "In the last two decades, we have neither been able to set up a new department in any of the 14 state-run medical colleges nor has there been adequate research on new trends in the medical field."
Societe Generale Downgrades Fresenius Medical Care to Hold - Money Flow Index
Brokerage firm Societe Generale Downgrades its rating on Fresenius Medical Care(NYSE:FMS). The shares have been rated Hold. Previously, the analysts had a Buy rating on the counter. The rating by Societe Generale was issued on Aug 13, 2015.
Fresenius Medical Care Corporation (NYSE:FMS): 5 analysts have set the short term price target of Fresenius Medical Care Corporation (NYSE:FMS) at $43.61. The standard deviation of short term price target has been estimated at $5.04, implying that the actual price may fluctuate by this value. The higher and the lower price estimates are $ 50 and $39 respectively. Institutional Investors own 2% of Company shares. During last 3 month period, 1.24% of total institutional ownership has changed in the company shares. The company shares have rallied 19.84% from its 1 Year high price. On Jun 4, 2015, the shares registered one year high at $44.34 and the one year low was seen on Oct 16, 2014. The 50-Day Moving Average price is $42.47 and the 200 Day Moving Average price is recorded at $41.34. Fresenius Medical Care Corporation (NYSE:FMS) : On Monday heightened volatility was witnessed in Fresenius Medical Care Corporation (NYSE:FMS) which led to swings in the share price. The shares opened for trading at $41.4 and hit $41.78 on the upside , eventually ending the session at $41.77, with a gain of 0.51% or 0.21 points. The heightened volatility saw the trading volume jump to 1,101,268 shares. The 52-week high of the share price is $44.34 and the company has a market cap of $26,081 million. The 52-week low of the share price is at $32.4 . Fresenius Medical Care AG & Co KGaA is a Germany-based kidney dialysis company that operates in the fields of dialysis care and dialysis products for the treatment of end-stage renal disease (ESRD). Its dialysis business is vertically integrated and offers products and services for the entire dialysis value chain, providing dialysis treatment at dialysis clinics it owns or operates and supplying these clinics with a range of products. The Company offers two types of dialysis treatment: Hemodialysis (HD), where the machine controls the blood from the patient through a special filter, the dialyzer, and Peritoneal Dialysis (PD), where the patient’s peritoneum is used as a dialyzing membrane. Its dialysis product portfolio includes chronic hemodialysis, home dialysis, renal pharmaceuticals, acute therapy, liver support, therapeutic apheresis, therapy support and water technology, among others. In addition, the Company sells dialysis products to other dialysis service providers.
Necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) is a devastating condition affecting premature infants and leads to high mortality and chronic morbidity. Severe form of NEC is associated with acute renal failure, fluid imbalance, hyponatremia and acidosis. We investigated the effect of NEC on tight junction (TJ) proteins in kidneys using a NEC mouse model to investigate the basis for the observed renal dysfunction.
METHODS:
NEC was induced in C57BL/6 mice by formula feeding and subjecting them to periods of hypoxia and cold stress. NEC was confirmed by gross and histological examination. We studied various markers of inflammation in kidneys and investigated changes in expression of several TJ proteins and AQP2 using immunofluorecent staining and Western blotting.
RESULTS:
We found markedly increased expression of NF?B, TGF? and ERK1/2 along with claudin-1, -2, -3, -4, -8 and AQP-2 in NEC kidneys. The membrane localization of claudin-2 was altered in the NEC kidneys and its immunostaining signal at TJ was disrupted.
CONCLUSION:
NEC led to a severe inflammatory response not only in the gut but also the kidneys. NEC increased expression of several TJ proteins and caused disruption of claudin-2 in renal tubules. These observed changes can help explain some of the clinical findings observed in NEC.
Hurricanes and dialysis: a dangerous mix, Sandy studies show - NJ.com
Cover windows with plywood: Check.
Buy spare batteries: Check.
Get dialysis: Check.
When a hurricane is looming, people with diabetes need to have a very different "To Do" list, health experts say.
One recent study of diabetics affected by Superstorm Sandy showed those who planned ahead and received dialysis on the eve of a storm were 28 percent less likely to dieduring the month following the disaster.
A second study of New York City patients determined more than a quarter of them missed a dialysis session, while two-thirds of them couldn't receive dialysis at their regular facility and had to go elsewhere.
The two studies, taken together, show disaster preparedness means something very different to both diabetic patients and dialysis facilities.
Both are vulnerable in a storm: Diabetics on dialysis typically need to receive three treatments a week to filter their blood of waste and to remove excess fluid from the body. The process takes about four hours – it can't be rushed – and relies on facilities that have access to electricity and water.
"Disasters affect all of the population, but patients with specific needs such a dialysis are especially vulnerable," said Naoka Murakami of New York's Mount Sinai Beth Israel, which assessed the preparedness of adults at five city clinics during Sandy's landfall.
Typically a dialysis center sees one set of patients on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, and a second set on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. If a conventional blizzard knocks out service for a day, a center catches up by seeing patients on Sunday.
But Sandy's aftermath lasted much longer, with widespread power outages, closed roads and contaminated water supplies.
That means patients need to know where they could get their next treatment if the storm were to knock out power or water to their regular dialysis center.
That's exactly what happened in the wake of Super Storm Sandy, according to the Mount Sinai study.
When forced to get their dialysis elsewhere because of power outages, a quarter of the patients surveyed didn't have their insurance information with them to use at the back-up facility, and more than half couldn't provide a detailed list of their medications.
Knowing the outer bands of Hurricane Sandy were likely to arrive that Sunday, Fresenius Medical Care, one of the largest providers of dialysis kept some of its 69 Jersey centers open Saturday night to make extra slots available to patients.
"We called people and said, "Hey, if you can't come Sunday for whatever reason, come Saturday night," said Ken Nelson, who ran the company's Sandy response operation.
Patients were also contacted to make sure they had the phone number to the company's patient action line, and that they had and understood their personalized emergency diet plans.
(Since the build-up of potassium in the blood can be dangerous, patients are told what foods to avoid if they're uncertain when they'll receive their next treatment.)
When the storm hit, their Hoboken center took on three feet of water and had to close. In Atlantic City, the city's water system was compromised by the floodwaters.
A clinic in Paramus was ready to open once it got certification from the federal government. In response to the Sandy crisis, federal officials sent an inspector out, who certified the clinic in time for it to accommodate 400 diabetics in New York City whose local facilities had been damaged.
Most of the clinics reopened quickly, but like any business, the company then encountered problems with employees being unable to find gas to get to work.
"I had managers saying, 'My nurses want to come in, but they have no gas," Nelson said. The company ended up sending six tanker trucks of gas for employees to use – both in their cars, and as fuel for their personal generators.
In all, the company ended up distributing 70,000 gallons of fuel to its 700 employees to keep its clinics open and fully staffed, Nelson said.
Kathleen O'Brien may be reached at
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
, or at (732) 902-4557. Follow her on Twitter @OBrienLedger. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
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