Active clinical trials for "Renal Insufficiency"

This is a pilot study to test the utility of an integrated approach in the management of the anemia of chronic kidney disease through the administration of both an erythropoietic stimulating agent and iron. Subjects will be studied for 6 months during which all iron dosing will be recommended using a computer based tool using model predictive control. Comparisons will be made to the 6 months prior to enrollment in to the study.

This two-year pilot study will test whether a one-page "Jumpstart Form" will affect goals-of-care discussions in the hospital. This form will be provided to clinicians and will include patient-specific information about preferences for goals-of-care communication and for care, as well as tips to improve this communication. Jumpstart forms will also be provided to patients or, if they are unable to communicate, their surrogates/family members. The information on the form will be obtained from questionnaires. The form is tailored to help patients and surrogates talk with clinicians about goals of care. This study is based on a successful application of Jumpstart Form in the outpatient clinic setting.

Safety during transfusions is a major issue in medical economics. Despite drastic quality control measures, transfusion is still a source of short, mid and long-term morbi-mortality. This can be explained to some extent by changes in the composition of the packed red blood cell (PRBC) supernatant during storage essentially with the appearance of immunologically active compounds possibly involved in organ dysfunction on the one hand and post-transfusion immunomodulation on the other hand. These phenomena impact upon outcomes for cardiac surgery patients. In terms of organ dysfunction, kidney failure due to acute tubular necrosis and pulmonary failure are the 2 main issues. Following cardiac surgery, 11% of patients will present with transient renal dysfunction characterised by a 25% increase in serum creatinine levels and 3.5% require dialysis. The intensity of acute renal failure (ARF) is correlated to resuscitation : a 20% increase in serum creatinine levels 2 to 3 days after surgery significantly raises morbidity rates and a 50% increase raises the mortality rate to 10%. The precise mechanisms governing post-transfusion immunomodulation have not yet to be defined. The appearance of soluble type I Human leukocytes Antigen (HLA) molecules (sHLA-I), the FAS ligand (FAS-L) or cluster designation 40 (CD40-L) in the supernatant of PRBCs along the storage of blood products may be involved in such phenomena. These molecules are capable of activating or triggering the death of innate or adaptive immunity cells, especially the Natural Killer (NK) cells. Consequently the investigators propose to focus specifically on the detailed composition of transfused PRBC supernatants in order to identify the candidate molecules responsible for organ dysfunction or post-transfusion immunoparalysis. The investigators will combine a clinical approach based on the transcriptional analysis of renal tubular cells in transfused patients and an ex-vivo approach investigating the effect of the supernatant on immune cells and the Natural Killer cells of healthy volunteers

Most dialysis patients die from vascular disease, which is statistically associated with changes related to chronic kidney disease associated mineral bone disorder (CKD-MBD)3-9. Understanding the mechanisms behind this high death rate is crucial to improving the length and quality of life for patients with all grades of kidney disease, including those on dialysis. This is a priority for patients and clinicians alike. Most humans with early CKD are asymptomatic and unaware that they have a problem with their kidneys. Therefore they are unlikely to consult a doctor and early CKD is often unrecognised. Patients who are aware of early CKD often have other co-morbidities including diabetes, hypertension and vascular disease which, in the setting of a clinical study, complicate the identification of changes solely resulting from CKD. However over the past decade living kidney donation has become increasingly common and is now the source of organs for more than 120 patients annually at Manchester's renal transplant centre. Prospective donors are carefully examined and known to have normal kidney function without other co-morbidities. They then undergo a planned unilateral nephrectomy and lose approximately 50% of their kidney mass, creating an immediate state of moderate CKD. Over subsequent months the remaining kidney will hypertrophy and partially correct this, although the mechanisms are unknown. In the immediate post-operative period donors are inpatients on the kidney transplant ward and have regular blood and urine tests meaning that careful study of metabolic processes during their recovery is relatively easy by analysis of serial plasma and urine samples. Sequential changes in the plasma and urine levels of different bone turnover markers and metabolites can be analysed and will provide valuable new information to increase our understanding of the initial stage of CKD-MBD development.

To investigate the PK of cenerimod in participants with severe renal impairment as compared to healthy control participants.

An open-label, single-dose study to investigate the pharmacokinetics of ACT-1014-6470 in subjects with severe renal impairment compared to control subjects

Chronic kidney disease is widespread in the western world with bacterial infection and sepsis as common complication. It has been shown that innate immune defence, represented by dysfunction of neutrophil granulocytes, is impaired in chronic kidney disease. Another impact of chronic kidney disease on innate immunity is the chronic activation of neutrophils leading to high levels of inflammatory cytokines, thus contributing to protein oxidation. Oxidation of human serum albumin (HSA), the major plasma protein, occurs in chronic kidney disease and leads to further activation of neutrophils. Another important impact of HSA oxidation is the decrease of its binding capacity leading to impaired detoxification ability of albumin. This includes reduced clearance of endotoxin, a major component of the gram negative bacterial cell wall. Circulating endotoxin is recognized by complex formation with lipopolysaccharide binding protein (LBP) followed by binding to CD14 and toll-like receptor (TLR) 4. High systemic endotoxin levels occur in chronic kidney disease and may be the result of decreased clearance ability of HSA and increased gut permeability in combination with intestinal bacterial overgrowth. High systemic endotoxin is associated with worse outcome in several diseases and could be used as predictor for mortality in chronic kidney disease patients. Endotoxemia in renal insufficiency leads to impaired neutrophil function and to increased albumin oxidation. Oxidized albumin is not able to bind endotoxin adequately any more, which leads to a further increase in oxidative stress and neutrophil dysfunction, resulting in a vicious cycle. 195 patients with renal dysfunction will be enrolled and divided into 5 groups. Additionally, samples of 25 age and sex-matched healthy controls will be collected. This concept will change the understanding of several aspects of chronic kidney disease and will potentially help to stratify patients into different groups at risk according to their endotoxin status, and their immune and albumin dysfunction. The results of this study will have important implications into the development of novel therapeutic strategies

Several studies have shown that renal function in patients who have donated a kidney (but are otherwise healthy) remains stable and within normal limits. However, it is unclear how donor nephrectomy affects patient subsets with comorbidities, an issue that becomes relevant in the current environment where inclusion criteria are continuously becoming less stringent and more patients are being considered as potential donors. In the present study, the investigators plan to evaluate long-term renal function in obese patients who have donated a kidney as part of a living donor renal transplant procedure. The investigators have selected this group because it is at higher risk for developing obesity-related complications such as diabetes and hypertension that may impair renal function, it is rapidly becoming a major subgroup in the kidney donor population, and no studies have systematically followed obese patients after kidney donation. Establishment of an appropriate control group is of primary importance in studies examining long-term outcomes. The investigators will also evaluate a 2-kidney control group to allow us to compare the individual and interactive effects of obesity and kidney donation on long-term renal function. Study participants will complete a medical questionnaire, undergo blood pressure measurements, and provide blood and urine samples for analysis of various metabolic parameters. Some study participants will have ambulatory blood pressure monitoring performed which involves application of an automated blood pressure cuff for 24 hours. Some study participants will also undergo direct measurements of glomerular filtration rate (GFR) with iohexol. In the proposed research, the investigators hypothesize that obesity in kidney donors increases the likelihood of developing renal dysfunction and risk factors for cardiovascular disease (CVD) and may increase the likelihood even more than in healthy controls.

The purpose of this study is to measure glomerular filtration rate (GFR) by iohexol plasma disappearance (gold standard) and measure serum Cystatin C levels (surrogate marker) in patients enrolled in our prospective study at baseline, day 100 and 1 year after hematopoietic cell transplant and determine if these levels correlate with serum creatinine and an estimated GFR using the Modification of Diet in Renal Disease (MDRD) equation and Schwartz formula in children.

The steady-state pharmacokinetics of Dalfampridine-ER (extended release) 7.5 mg (milligram) tablets in healthy adult volunteers and those with mild and moderate renal impairment, and examine between group comparisons.