Researchers said they have discovered a way to predict which kidney disease patients may end up needing dialysis -- a find that could help treat severe cases earlier.In a study published Friday in the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology, researchers said that measuring a hormone called FGF-23 can predict which patients will need the treatment. Kidney disease affects about 20 million Americans.
The new study showed that as kidneys fail, fibroblast growth factor-23 levels rise. Currently, doctors measure phosphorus levels to monitor patients with kidney disease. But FGF-32 appears to be more sensitive and begins to rise well before phosphorus changes are apparent. "This discovery allows us to predict at-risk patients before they require dialysis," said the lead investigator, Dr. Michel Chonchol, an associate professor of nephrology at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. "That's critical because approximately 23 percent of patients on dialysis die in the first year."
AS ANCIENT AS -- ANTIBIOTIC RESISTANCE?
An analysis of 30,000-year-old bacteria whose DNA has been recovered from the Yukon permafrost shows that they were able to resist antibiotics.
Antibiotics, before they became used as drugs, were natural products. The new finding is the first direct evidence that antibiotic resistance is a widespread natural phenomenon that preceded the modern medical use of antibiotics.
Experts had long predicted this on theoretical grounds but say that the new finding underlines the need to use antibiotics sparingly, given that the genes for antibiotic resistance are ubiquitous.
"The fact that the genes for resistance are so ancient and widespread means there is no easy solution to the problem of resistance -- we will never invent a super-antibiotic that clears everything up," said Martin J. Blaser, a microbiologist at New York University.
A SPICY TEST OF AGGRESSION IN GAMERS
A study in the American Psychological Association journal Psychology of Violence last month indicates it might not be video games' violent content that sparks aggressive behavior, but instead their level of competitiveness.
In a series of small experiments involving undergraduates, researchers had participants play one of two games that were equally matched for competitiveness, difficulty and pace, but one of the games was substantially more violent than the other. Afterward, the students were asked to prepare a hot-sauce mixture for someone who they knew disliked spicy food. Those who played the violent video game were no more likely to create a large quantity of spicy food -- an act that has been established in psychological research as being aggressive -- than those who played the nonviolent game. In a second experiment, participants who played games ranked as more competitive were far more likely to create large quantities of very spicy sauce.
