
Apixaban in Hemodialysis
End-stage Renal DiseaseThis study aims to determine the effects of end-stage renal disease on the pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics, safety, and tolerability of apixaban. This is a single-center open-label pharmacological study. Apixaban will be prescribed at the dose of 2.5 mg twice per day for nine days. The concentration of the drug will be measured with repetitive blood tests the first and the eighth day of administration (non-dialysis days). The same blood tests will be repeated before, during, and after dialysis on dialysis days. If the study shows inadequate or suboptimal efficacy with the 2.5 mg dose, it will be repeated with the 5 mg twice-daily dose.

Palm Tocotrienols in Chronic Hemodialysis (USA)
End Stage Renal DiseaseChronic Kidney DiseasePatients undergoing chronic hemodialysis are at increased risk for cardiovascular disease, attributed in part to increased oxidative stress, inflammation and dyslipidemia. Intervention with a naturally occurring dietary supplement may improve certain biomarkers of inflammation and oxidative stress and improve the lipid profile.

Preparing Family Caregivers to Make Medical Decisions for Their Loved Ones
NeoplasmsHeart Failure2 moreThe overarching goal of the project is to improve the process and experience of surrogate decision-making by family caregivers. Since feeling unprepared to make surrogate decisions is a major contributor to caregiver stress, the primary outcome is caregiver self-efficacy --i.e., caregivers' assessment of how well prepared they feel to serve effectively as a surrogate decision-maker. Through follow-on Renewal funding, we are now also qualitatively examining family caregivers' experience with surrogate decision-making.

Patient-Centred Innovations for Persons With Multimorbidity - Quebec
HypertensionDepression28 moreThe aim of Patient-Centred Innovations for Persons With Multimorbidity (PACE in MM) study is to reorient the health care system from a single disease focus to a multimorbidity focus; centre on not only disease but also the patient in context; and realign the health care system from separate silos to coordinated collaborations in care. PACE in MM will propose multifaceted innovations in Chronic Disease Prevention and Management (CDPM) that will be grounded in current realities (i.e. Chronic Care Models including Self-Management Programs), that are linked to Primary Care (PC) reform efforts. The study will build on this firm foundation, will design and test promising innovations and will achieve transformation by creating structures to sustain relationships among researchers, decision-makers, practitioners, and patients. The Team will conduct inter-jurisdictional comparisons and is mainly a Quebec (QC) - Ontario (ON) collaboration with participation from 3 other provinces: British Columbia (BC); Manitoba (MB); and Nova Scotia (NS). The Team's objectives are: 1) to identify factors responsible for success or failure of current CDPM programs linked to the PC reform, by conducting a realist synthesis of their quantitative and qualitative evaluations; 2) to transform consenting CDPM programs identified in Objective 1, by aligning them to promising interventions on patient-centred care for multimorbidity patients, and to test these new innovations' in at least two jurisdictions and compare among jurisdictions; and 3) to foster the scaling-up of innovations informed by Objective 1 and tested/proven in Objective 2, and to conduct research on different approaches to scaling-up. This registration for Clinical Trials only pertains to Objective 2 of the study.

Intradialytic Resistance Training in Haemodialysis Patients
Chronic Kidney Disease Requiring Chronic DialysisThe study will investigate the effects of an intradialytic resistance training on miRNA´s expression and muscle strength in haemodialysis patients.

Explore Transplant at Home: Improving Low-Income ESRD Patients' Transplant Knowledge
End Stage Renal DiseaseKidney transplantation, especially living donor kidney transplant (LDKT), offers patients in end-stage renal disease (ESRD) 3 to 17 additional years of life and improved quality-of-life compared to remaining on dialysis. Unfortunately, LDKT education in dialysis centers occurs inconsistently, especially for minorities and those who are socioeconomically disadvantaged. To ensure more informed transplant decision-making, through a previous HRSA grant, Dr. Waterman designed the Explore Transplant (ET) education program based on the Transtheoretical Model of Behavioral Change. Through a previous trial, an earlier version of ET, delivered face-to-face with patients while they were undergoing dialysis, was shown to increase patients' DDKT and LDKT knowledge. However, additional research exploring dialysis providers' ability to integrate ET into their care revealed that multiple patient, provider, and system barriers limited the degree to which transplant education could be improved. Thus, a more comprehensive case-management program to educate patients through external organizations may be needed to supplement ongoing transplant education within dialysis centers. For this grant, the investigators propose to test the effectiveness of another replicable solution for disseminating ET education on a broad scale: Partnering with a large health insurance organization to deliver video-guided transplant education supported by telephone and mail. The Missouri Kidney Program (MoKP) is a state-wide organization whose mission is to serve and educate kidney patients, particularly those who are economically disadvantaged. Since MoKP subsidizes the costs of dialysis medication for low-income ESRD patients, they operate as an insurance company would with respect to their 1200-patient member group. With 900 dialysis patients currently being managed by the MoKP, the investigators will conduct an eight-month, group randomized controlled trial (GRCT) where 540 patients will be randomized to receive: (1) no additional education other than from their dialysis center; (2) a video-guided, four-part Explore Transplant (ET) program delivered via the internet or mail; or (3) a video-guided ET program with discussion facilitated by a telephone case manager.

Increasing Equity in Transplant Evaluation and Living Donor Kidney Transplantation
End-stage Kidney DiseaseLiving donor kidney transplantation (LDKT) is the optimal treatment for end-stage kidney disease (ESKD). But, the evaluation process for a kidney transplant is lengthy, time consuming, and burdensome to the patient. Also, race disparities exist in rates of transplant evaluation completion, transplantation, and LDKT. Our previous and ongoing NIDDK-funded research indicates that cultural factors (i.e., perceived discrimination in health care, religious objection to LDKT), transplant knowledge, and demographic characteristics (e.g., age, education, income) independently and significantly predict time to complete transplant evaluation. In December 2012 the investigators' transplant center implemented a one-day streamlined evaluation process, dubbed Kidney Transplant Fast Track (KTFT), but it has not been evaluated for efficacy or cost effectiveness. Thus, the investigators propose a quasi-experiment to determine the efficacy and cost-effectiveness of the KTFT (n=1030) compared to historical controls (n=1140) who were recruited for the investigators' current NIDDK study to increase transplant rates. At the same time, the investigators will conduct a randomized controlled trial (RCT) targeting vulnerable patients with the educational component of the TALK intervention (Talking About Live Kidney Donation) to increase LDKT. For both components of the proposal, the investigators will target vulnerable populations because they are most at risk for extended evaluation times and lower rates of LDKT. Using CONSORT standards, participants will be randomly assigned to TALK (n=515) versus no-TALK (n=515) conditions and undergo two interviews at pre-transplant work-up and at completion of transplant evaluation in order to: (1) test whether KTFT and TALK will reduce transplant evaluation time, and increase rates of transplant and LDKT in members of vulnerable groups; (2) determine whether engaging in a streamlined and coordinated-care evaluation experience within the transplant center reduces negative perceptions of the healthcare system; and (3) test the cost effectiveness of the KTFT with TALK relative to standard practices. The results of this two-pronged approach will help pave the way for other transplant centers to implement a fast-track system at their sites, improve quality of care by transplanting a larger number of vulnerable patients, and may help address stark race/ethnic disparities in rates of LDKT.

Circadian Rhythm Modulation by Dietary Phosphorus in Chronic Kidney Disease
Chronic Kidney DiseaseThe purpose of this study is to describe the circadian rhythm of serum and salivary phosphorus in patients with chronic kidney disease and determine its' modification in response to changes in dietary phosphate load.

Development of a Metabolic Assessment Tool for Chronic Kidney Disease
Immunoglobulin A NephropathyHealthy SubjectsThe purpose of this study is to examine the variation between individuals in blood lipid metabolites, and the changes in these metabolites in response to omega-3 fatty acids in patients with immunoglobulin A nephropathy (IgAN) and in healthy subjects. The hypothesis is that measuring variation among individuals and changes in response to omega-3 fatty acids comprehensively by using metabolomics will help to identify those individuals who are responders and those who are non-responders to omega-3 fatty acids as an anti-inflammatory intervention.

Simultaneous Risk Factor Control Using Telehealth to slOw Progression of Diabetic Kidney Disease...
DiabetesHypertension1 moreDiabetic kidney disease (DKD) is associated with high rates of cardiovascular events and death. In addition, DKD is the major cause of end-stage renal disease (ESRD) in the United States. The purpose of this study is to prevent progression of kidney disease among patients with DKD and uncontrolled hypertension (HTN) using a tailored, telehealth intervention that simultaneously address medication management and modifies multiple risk factors through a combination of patient self-monitoring, behavioral therapies and education to optimize adherence and self-efficacy. Additional goals are to improve control of cardiovascular disease risk factors and reduce cardiovascular events and death. We hypothesize that patients with DKD and uncontrolled HTN who receive this intervention will have less progression, or a smaller decrease in kidney function, after 3 years when compared to the education control group.