Role of Sequential Approach to Sample Collection in Microbiological Diagnosis of Smear Negative Pulmonary Tuberculosis.

Background: The current diagnostic tools for pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) fail in detecting up to 43% of cases, leading to inappropriate use of antibiotics and delayed diagnosis. Induced sputum and bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) are more accurate samples, but their use is not clearly recommended. This study evaluates the real-world feasibility and effectiveness of using a sequential collection of respiratory samples to diagnose PTB.

Targeting Liver Epsins Ameliorates Dyslipidemia in Atherosclerosis.

Rationale: Low density cholesterol receptor (LDLR) in the liver is critical for the clearance of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) in the blood. In atherogenic conditions, proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin 9 (PCSK9) secreted by the liver, in a nonenzymatic fashion, binds to LDLR on the surface of hepatocytes, preventing its recycling and enhancing its degradation in lysosomes, resulting in reduced LDL-C clearance. Our recent studies demonstrate that epsins, a family of ubiquitin-binding endocytic adaptors, are critical regulators of atherogenicity.

Spectrum of Pneumonia in Renal Transplant Recipients: An Indian Experience.

Objectives: Respiratory tract infections are life-threatening infections in solid-organ transplant recipients that pose risk to the graft and to the patient. This study was undertaken to examine the clinical and microbiological spectrum of pneumonia in renal transplant recipients.

Materials And Methods: Of 400 consecutive renal transplant recipients, 87 recipients (21.

A randomized trial of once daily versus twice daily dosing of oral iron in CKD.

We investigated the effect of two dosing regimens of oral iron on iron status and hematological parameters in patients with CKD. In this single center, open label, randomized, active controlled clinical trial, stable adult patients with CKD stage G3-4 with percentage transferrin saturation (%TSAT) ≤ 30% and serum ferritin ≤ 500 ng/ml were eligible. Participants were randomized to receive either 100 mg of ferrous ascorbate once daily (OD group) or 100 mg of ferrous ascorbate twice daily (BD group, total daily dose 200 mg).

Transcriptional advantage influence odorant receptor gene choice.

Odorant receptors (ORs) obey mutual exclusivity and monoallelic mode of expression. Efforts are ongoing to decipher the molecular mechanism that drives the 'one-neuron-one-receptor' rule of olfaction. Recently, single-cell profiling of olfactory sensory neurons (OSNs) revealed the expression of multiple ORs in the immature neurons, suggesting that the OR gene choice mechanism is much more complex than previously described by the silence-all-and-activate-one model.

StripeDiff: Model-based algorithm for differential analysis of chromatin stripe.

Multiple recent studies revealed stripes as an architectural feature of three-dimensional chromatin and found stripes connected to epigenetic regulation of transcription. Whereas a couple of tools are available to define stripes in a single sample, there is yet no reported method to quantitatively measure the dynamic change of each stripe between samples. Here, we developed StripeDiff, a bioinformatics tool that delivers a set of statistical methods to detect differential stripes between samples.

Intermittent Online Postdilution Hemodiafiltration versus High-Flux Hemodialysis in Non-critical Acute Kidney Injury: A Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial.

The preferential use of convective modes of hemodialysis (HD) for targeting hyper-cytokinemia state in sepsis-related acute kidney injury (AKI) has been questioned for its efficacy. Several studies have used predilution hemodiafiltration (HDF) in critically ill AKI patients with mixed results. In this study, we compared intermittent online postdilution HDF with the standard high-flux (HF) intermittent HD in non-critically ill patients with community-acquired (CA) AKI.

Atypical Presentation of Acute Mitral Regurgitation Secondary to Papillary Muscle Rupture.

Acute mitral regurgitation (MR) is a life-threatening condition presenting with severe decompensated heart failure due to sudden retrograde blood flow into the left atrium. The causes are broadly classified into ischemic and non-ischemic. Rapid and accurate diagnosis of acute MR and its potential causes is essential.

Management of Lupus Nephritis: An Update.

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a multisystem autoimmune disease, and lupus nephritis (LN) is associated with increased morbidity and mortality. Renal biopsy is essential and the gold standard to diagnose LN. Extra-glomerular involvement is seen in up to 60% of patients with LN and is associated with poor outcomes.

Impact of anemia on the cardiovascular status in children with chronic kidney disease: A pilot study.

Background & Aims: Myocardial dysfunction is one of the common complications in children with chronic kidney disease which results in significant morbidity and mortality. We aimed to find the impact of anemia with cardiac changes in children with chronic kidney disease (CKD).

Methods: In this cross-sectional pilot study, 54 children (38 males) up to the age of 16 years with different stages of CKD, not on dialysis, were enrolled.

Long-Term Follow-Up of Cyclical Cyclophosphamide and Steroids Versus Tacrolimus and Steroids in Primary Membranous Nephropathy.

Introduction: Kidney Disease: Improving Global Outcomes (KDIGO) 2012 recommends cyclical cyclophosphamide plus glucocorticoids (GC) (modified Ponticelli regimen) or calcineurin inhibitors (CNIs) such as tacrolimus (TAC) or cyclosporine as the first-line agents for the management of primary membranous nephropathy (PMN) that is resistant to antiproteinuric therapy with renin-angiotensin system blockers. However, the long-term outcome of patients treated with CNIs is not known.

Methods: We report the outcomes of 70 patients randomized 1:1 to receive modified Ponticelli regimen or TAC/GC for renin-angiotensin system-resistant PMN who were prospectively followed for 6 years.

Cardiac Abnormalities in Children with Pre-Dialysis Chronic Kidney Disease in a Resource-Limited Setting: A Cross-Sectional Observational Study.

Background: Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in children with chronic kidney disease (CKD). We aim to estimate the prevalence of cardiac abnormalities in children up to age 16 years with CKD and their association with various risk factors.

Methods: This cross-sectional observational study was conducted on 107 CKD children.

Quantification of Age-Related Decline in Transcriptional Homeostasis.

Age-dependent dysregulation of transcription regulatory machinery triggers modulations in the gene expression levels leading to the decline in cellular fitness. Tracking of these transcripts along the temporal axis in multiple species revealed a spectrum of evolutionarily conserved pathways, such as electron transport chain, translation regulation, DNA repair, etc. Recent shreds of evidence suggest that aging deteriorates the transcription machinery itself, indicating the hidden complexity of the aging transcriptomes.

OdoriFy: A conglomerate of artificial intelligence-driven prediction engines for olfactory decoding.

The molecular mechanisms of olfaction, or the sense of smell, are relatively underexplored compared with other sensory systems, primarily because of its underlying molecular complexity and the limited availability of dedicated predictive computational tools. Odorant receptors (ORs) allow the detection and discrimination of a myriad of odorant molecules and therefore mediate the first step of the olfactory signaling cascade. To date, odorant (or agonist) information for the majority of these receptors is still unknown, limiting our understanding of their functional relevance in odor-induced behavioral responses.

Decision-making around Commencing Dialysis.

The decision regarding dialysis initiation is complex. Awareness that renal replacement therapy should not be regarded as default therapy for every patient with advanced renal failure is necessary. Decision to initiate dialysis and modality should be individualized in a shared decision-making process involving the treating nephrologist and the patient.

EcTracker: Tracking and elucidating ectopic expression leveraging large-scale scRNA-seq studies.

Dramatic genomic alterations, either inducible or in a pathological state, dismantle the core regulatory networks, leading to the activation of normally silent genes. Despite possessing immense therapeutic potential, accurate detection of these transcripts is an ever-challenging task, as it requires prior knowledge of the physiological gene expression levels. Here, we introduce EcTracker, an R-/Shiny-based single-cell data analysis web server that bestows a plethora of functionalities that collectively enable the quantitative and qualitative assessments of bona fide cell types or tissue-specific transcripts and, conversely, the ectopically expressed genes in the single-cell ribonucleic acid sequencing datasets.

Contribution of Clinically Indicated Repeat Renal Biopsy in Indian Patients with Lupus Nephritis.

Background: Repeat renal biopsy is usually done for lupus nephritis (LN) flare or resistant disease. We analyzed the changes between first and repeat biopsy and the contribution of repeat biopsy on renal outcome in LN patients.

Methods: This was a retrospective study carried out at a tertiary care center in India.

Modeling expression ranks for noise-tolerant differential expression analysis of scRNA-seq data.

Systematic delineation of complex biological systems is an ever-challenging and resource-intensive process. Single-cell transcriptomics allows us to study cell-to-cell variability in complex tissues at an unprecedented resolution. Accurate modeling of gene expression plays a critical role in the statistical determination of tissue-specific gene expression patterns.

Ultrasound placental image texture analysis using artificial intelligence to predict hypertension in pregnancy.

Background: The placental pathological changes in hypertensive disorders of pregnancy (HDP) starts early in pregnancy, the deep convolutional neural networks (CNN) can identify these changes before its clinical manifestation.

Objective: To compare the placental quantitative ultrasound image texture of women with HDP to those with the normal outcome.

Methods: The cases were enrolled in the first trimester of pregnancy, good quality images of the placenta were taken serially in the first, second, and third trimester of pregnancy.

Erratum: Iyer, A., et al. Integrative Analysis and Machine Learning Based Characterization of Single Circulating Tumor Cells. 2020, , 1206.

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Proteinuria in Severe Hypothyroidism: A Prospective Study.

Context: Hypothyroidism is associated with reversible decline in kidney function as measured by estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR). eGFR and proteinuria are the most important markers for clinical assessment of kidney function. Though hypothyroidism is associated with proteinuria in cross-sectional data, the impact of treatment on proteinuria is unknown.

Levofloxacin based non-rifampicin anti-tuberculous therapy: An effective alternative in renal transplant recipients in resource limited setting.

Introduction: Rifampicin is one of the most effective components of anti-tuberculous therapy (ATT). Since rifampicin is a hepatic enzyme (CYP3A4) inducer, in a post-renal transplant recipient, the dose of calcineurin inhibitors needs to be up-regulated and frequently monitored. In resource-limited (low- and lower-middle-income countries) setting this is not always feasible.