Project description:The contiguous United States (CONUS), especially the West, faces challenges of increasing water stress and uncertain impacts of climate change. The historical information of surface water body distribution, variation, and multidecadal trends documented in remote-sensing images can aid in water-resource planning and management, yet is not well explored. Here, we detected open-surface water bodies in all Landsat 5, 7, and 8 images (?370,000 images, >200 TB) of the CONUS and generated 30-meter annual water body frequency maps for 1984-2016. We analyzed the interannual variations and trends of year-long water body area, examined the impacts of climatic and anthropogenic drivers on water body area dynamics, and explored the relationships between water body area and land water storage (LWS). Generally, the western half of the United States is prone to water stress, with small water body area and large interannual variability. During 1984-2016, water-poor regions of the Southwest and Northwest had decreasing trends in water body area, while water-rich regions of the Southeast and far north Great Plains had increasing trends. These divergent trends, mainly driven by climate, enlarged water-resource gaps and are likely to continue according to climate projections. Water body area change is a good indicator of LWS dynamics in 58% of the CONUS. Following the 2012 prolonged drought, LWS in California and the southern Great Plains had a larger decrease than surface water body area, likely caused by massive groundwater withdrawals. Our findings provide valuable information for surface water-resource planning and management across the CONUS.
Project description:To establish 24-h urinary creatinine excretion reference ranges based on anthropometry in healthy Chinese children, a cross-sectional survey was conducted using twice-sampled 24-h urine and anthropometric variables. Age- and sex-specific 24-h creatinine excretion reference ranges (crude and related to individual anthropometric variables) were derived. During October 2013 and May 2014, urine samples were collected. Anthropometric variables were measured in the first survey. Data of 710 children (377 boys and 333 girls) aged 8-13 years who completed the study were analyzed. No significant difference was observed in 24-h urine volumes between the two samples (median [interquartile range): 855.0 [600.0-1272.0) mL vs. 900.0 [660.0-1220.0) mL, P = 0.277). The mean 24-h urine creatinine excretion was regarded as representative of absolute daily creatinine excretion in children. Sex-specific, body-weight-adjusted creatinine excretion reference values were 15.3 mg/kg/day (0.1353 mmol/kg/day) for boys and 14.3 mg/kg/day (0.1264 mmol/kg/day) for girls. Differences were significant between boys and girls within the same age group but not across different age groups within the same sex. Ideal 24-h creatinine excretion values for height were derived for potential determination of the creatinine height index. These data can serve as reference ranges to calculate ratios of analyte to creatinine. The creatinine height index can be used to assess somatic protein status.
Project description:BACKGROUND:Sarcopenia, the unintentional loss of skeletal muscle mass, is associated with poor outcomes in adult patient populations. In adults, sarcopenia is often ascertained by cross-sectional imaging of the psoas muscle area (PMA). Although children with chronic medical illnesses may be at increased risk for muscle loss because of nutritional deficiencies, physical deconditioning, endocrine anomalies, and systemic inflammation, consistent quantitative definitions for sarcopenia in children are lacking. We aimed to generate paediatric reference values for PMA at two intervertebral lumbar levels, L3-4 and L4-5. METHODS:In this cross-sectional study, we analysed abdominal computed tomography scans of consecutive children presenting to the emergency department. Participants were children 1-16 years who required abdominal cross-sectional imaging after paediatric trauma between January 1, 2005 and December 31, 2015 in a large Canadian quaternary care centre. Children with a documented chronic medical illness or an acute spinal trauma at presentation were excluded. Total PMA (tPMA) at levels L3-4 and L4-5 were measured in square millimetres (mm2 ) as the sum of left and right PMA. Age-specific and sex-specific tPMA percentile curves were modelled using quantile regression. RESULTS:Computed tomography images from 779 children were included. Values of tPMA at L4-5 were significantly larger than at L3-4 at all ages, but their correlation was high for both girls (r = 0.95) and boys (r = 0.98). Amongst girls, tPMA 50th percentile values ranged from 365 to 2336 mm2 at L3-4 and from 447 to 2704 mm2 for L4-5. Amongst boys, 50th percentile values for tPMA ranged between 394 and 3050 mm2 at L3-4 and from 498 to 3513 mm2 at L4-5. Intraclass correlation coefficients were excellent at L3-4 (0.97, 95% CI 0.94 to 0.981) and L4-5 (0.99, 95% CI 0.986 to 0.995). Weight and tPMA were correlated, stratified by sex for boys (L3-4 r = 0.90; L4-5 r = 0.90) and for girls (L3-4 r = 0.87; L4-5 r = 0.87). An online application was subsequently developed to easily calculate age-specific and sex-specific z-scores and percentiles. CONCLUSIONS:We provide novel paediatric age-specific and sex-specific growth curves for tPMA at intervertebral L3-4 and L4-5 levels for children between the ages of 1-16 years. Together with an online tool (https://ahrc-apps.shinyapps.io/sarcopenia/), these tPMA curves should serve as a reference enabling earlier identification and targeted intervention of sarcopenia in children with chronic medical conditions.
Project description:Long-term survival in orthotopic liver transplant (OLT) recipients remains impaired because of many contributing factors, including a low pretransplant muscle mass (or sarcopenia). However, influence of posttransplant muscle mass on survival is currently unknown. We hypothesized that posttransplant urinary creatinine excretion rate (CER), an established noninvasive marker of total body muscle mass, is associated with long-term survival after OLT. In a single-center cohort study of 382 adult OLT recipients, mean ± standard deviation CER at 1 year posttransplantation was 13.3 ± 3.7 mmol/24 h in men and 9.4 ± 2.6 mmol/24 h in women. During median follow-up for 9.8 y (interquartile range 6.4-15.0 y), 104 (27.2%) OLT recipients died and 44 (11.5%) developed graft failure. In Cox regression analyses, as continuous variable, low CER was associated with increased risk for mortality (HR = 0.43, 95% CI: 0.26-0.71, P = .001) and graft failure (HR = 0.42, 95% CI: 0.20-0.90, P = .03), independent of age, sex, and body surface area. Similarly, OLT recipients in the lowest tertile had an increased risk for mortality (HR = 2.69; 95% CI: 1.47-4.91, P = .001) and graft failure (HR = 2.77, 95% CI: 1.04-7.39, P = .04), compared to OLT recipients in the highest tertile. We conclude that 1 year posttransplant low total body muscle mass is associated with long-term risk of mortality and graft failure in OLT recipients.
Project description:IntroductionThe validity of a timed urine collection is typically judged by measurement of urine creatinine excretion, but prevailing limits may be unreliable. We sought to empirically derive population-based limits of excretion for evaluating the validity of a timed urine collection.MethodsCovariate and 24-hour urine data were obtained from 3582 participants in the Chronic Renal Insufficiency Cohort (CRIC) study, 814 participants in the Modification of Diet in Renal Disease (MDRD) study, 1010 participants in the Jackson Heart Study (JHS), and 8536 participants in the Prevention of Renal Vascular End Stage Disease (PREVEND) study. Weight, height, age, sex, and serum creatinine concentrations were evaluated as potential predictors of urine creatinine excretion using Akaike Information Criteria, R-squared values, and deviance. Bias and precision of the fitted models were assessed by analyses of residuals. Agreement between 24-hour creatinine clearance and 125I-iothalamate clearance was assessed before and after exclusion of potentially invalid urine samples.ResultsA best-fitting model to predict 24-hour urine creatinine excretion among the 9199 discovery cohort members included sex-specific terms for weight, height, and age (R-squared = 0.328). This model had a median bias of +4.3 mg creatinine/day (95% confidence interval -5.6, +13.3 mg/day) in 4599 validation cohort members, and 82% of observed values were within 30% of predicted model. Serum creatinine concentrations only marginally improved model precision but reduced bias in persons with advanced chronic kidney disease (CKD).ConclusionThe limits of urine creatinine excretion derived here represent the most valid and representative data for appraising the adequacy of a timed urine collection.
Project description:Estimated 24-hour urinary creatinine excretion (24?hrUCr) may be useful for converting spot urine analyte/creatinine ratio into estimated 24-hour urinary excretion of the evaluated analyte, and for verifying completeness of 24-hour urinary collections. We compared various published 24?hrUCr-estimating equations against measured 24?hrUCr in hospitalized hypertensive patients. 24?hrUCr was measured in 293 patients and estimated using eight formulas (CKD-EPI, Cockcroft-Gault, Walser, Goldwasser, Rule, Gerber-Mann, Kawasaki, Tanaka). We used the Pearson correlation coefficient, the Bland-Altman method, and the percentage of estimated 24?hrUCr within 15%, 30% (P30), and 50% of measured 24hUCr to compare estimated and measured 24?hrUCr. Differences between the mean bias by eight formulas were evaluated using the Friedman rank sum test. Overall, the best formulas were CKD-EPI (mean bias 0.002?g/d, P30 86%) and Rule (mean bias 0.022?g/d, P30 89%), although both tended to underestimate 24?hrUCr with higher excretion values. The Gerber-Mann formula and the Asian formulas (Tanaka, Kawasaki) were less precise in our study population but superior in an analysis restricted to subjects with highest measured 24?hrUCr per body weight. We found significant differences between 24?hrUCr-estimating equations in hypertensive patients. In addition, formula performance was critically affected by inclusion criteria based on measured 24?hrUCr per body weight.
Project description:BackgroundWe evaluated accuracy of urinary liver type fatty acid-binding protein (L-FABP) for prediction of early allograft function and compared it to neutrophil gelatinase associated lipocalin (NGAL), diuresis and urinary creatinine excretion rate (UCr).MethodsUrine samples from 71 consecutive patients were taken 4, 10, 24 and 48 h after transplantation. We classified recipients into two groups: immediate graft function (IGF), with more than 70% reduction of serum Cr at 7th day post-transplant, and delayed graft function (DGF)/slow graft function (SGF) group (DGF--the need for hemodialysis procedure in the first week, SGF--less than 70% reduction of serum Cr in the first week).ResultsThirty-one recipients had IGF and 40 had DGF/SGF. L-FABP was only useful 48 h post-transplant with ROC AUC of 0.85 (95% C.I. 0.74-0.92); NGAL 24 h post-transplant had ROC AUC of 0.82 (0.7-0.91). Sensitivity, specificity, PPV and NPV for prediction of DGF/SGF with L-FABP > 9.5 mg/mmol Cr and NGAL > 33.1 μg/mmol Cr were: 86, 80, 83 and 83% (L-FABP), and 68, 93, 91, and 73% (NGAL). The difference in urine output between the groups was largest 4 h post-transplant (p = 0.001), later on the difference diminished. There were no significant differences in ROC AUC between L-FABP at 48 h, NGAL at 24 h, urine output at 4 h and UCr excretion rate at 10 h post-transplant. UCr < 0.56 mmol/h 10 h post-transplant predicted DGF/SGF with 94% sensitivity, 84% specificity, 89% PPV and 91% NPV, ROC AUC was 0.9. Classification tree with urine output 4 h and UCr 10 h post-transplant accurately predicted 89% of outcomes. When L-FABP or NGAL were added, the prediction was accurate in 92 or 90%, respectively.ConclusionsL-FABP is comparable to NGAL for prediction of first week allograft function, however UCr and diuresis were non-inferior.
Project description:BACKGROUND The United States (US)-Mexico border is a socioeconomically underserved area. We sought to investigate whether stroke-related mortality varies between the US border and nonborder counties. METHODS AND RESULTS We used death certificates from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Wide-Ranging Online Data for Epidemiologic Research database to examine stroke-related mortality in border versus nonborder counties in California, Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona. We measured average annual percent changes (AAPCs) in age-adjusted mortality rates (AAMRs) per 100 000 between 1999 and 2018. Overall, AAMRs were higher for nonborder counties, older adults, men, and non-Hispanic Black adults than their counterparts. Between 1999 and 2018, AAMRs reduced from 55.8 per 100 000 to 34.4 per 100 000 in the border counties (AAPC, -2.70) and 64.5 per 100 000 to 37.6 per 100 000 in nonborder counties (AAPC, -2.92). The annual percent change in AAMR initially decreased, followed by stagnation in both border and nonborder counties since 2012. The AAPC in AAMR decreased in all 4 states; however, AAMR increased in California's border counties since 2012 (annual percent change, 3.9). The annual percent change in AAMR decreased for older adults between 1999 and 2012 for the border (-5.10) and nonborder counties (-5.01), followed by a rise in border counties and stalling in nonborder counties. Although the AAPC in AAMR decreased for both sexes, the AAPC in AAMR differed significantly for non-Hispanic White adults in border (-2.69) and nonborder counties (-2.86). The mortality decreased consistently for all other ethnicities/races in both border and nonborder counties. CONCLUSIONS Stroke-related mortality varied between the border and nonborder counties. Given the substantial public health implications, targeted interventions aimed at vulnerable populations are required to improve stroke-related outcomes in the US-Mexico border area.
Project description:BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Twenty-four-hour urine creatinine excretion is a reliable approximation of muscle mass. Whether changes in urine creatinine predict clinical outcomes in persons with CKD is unknown. This work studied the relationship between urine creatinine and patient and renal survival in people with CKD not requiring renal replacement therapy. DESIGN, SETTING, PARTICIPANTS, & MEASUREMENTS: This longitudinal cohort study included incident stages 3-5 CKD patients referred to the renal clinic at the University Federico II in Naples between January of 1995 and December of 2005. Clinical data and urine creatinine were updated at each visit. Main outcomes were all-cause mortality and kidney failure requiring dialysis. RESULTS: This study enrolled 525 individuals and followed them for a median of 6 years (range of 4 months to 15 years). Urine creatinine excretion declined by 16 mg/d per year (95% confidence interval, 14 to 19) in participants with CKD stages 3a, 3b, and 4, and it remained stable in participants with stage 5 CKD. Per each 20 mg/d decline in urine creatinine, mortality increased by 3% (adjusted hazard ratio, 1.03; 95% confidence interval, 1.01 to 1.05), and the risk of initiating dialysis increased by 2% (adjusted hazard ratio, 1.02; 95% confidence interval, 1.01 to 1.03). These associations were independent of body mass index and GFR. CONCLUSIONS: In persons with CKD stages 3 and 4, urine creatinine declines at a rate of 16 mg/d per year. Lower urine creatinine excretion predicts greater risk of kidney failure and patient mortality.
Project description:Transcriptomic profiling of T. chinensis and T. ramosissima shows responses due to water deficit that are common between the two species and differences that shows their invasiveness originating from southern and northern united states. Several drought related genes that were up-regulated common in both species and transcription factors unique to T.chinensis and T. ramosissima were also found. Gene Ontology classification shows similar functional categories in both the species. Differences in two species due to water deficit were also illustrated in networks constructed from genes enriched in biological processes and molecular functions.