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Background. Pregnancy occurs among 1-7% of women on chronic dialysis. Experience regarding pregnancy and dialysis originates from anecdotal reports, case series and surveys. This survey updates the US nephrologists' experience with pregnancy on hemodialysis (HD) over the past 5 years. We evaluated maternal and fetal outcomes, certain practice patterns such as dialysis regimens utilized and nephrologist knowledge and comfort level when caring for a pregnant patient on HD. Methods. An anonymous Internet-based 23-question survey was e-mailed to end-stage renal disease Networks of America program directors for forwarding to practicing nephrologists. Results. A total of 196 nephrologists responded to the survey, reporting >187 pregnancies. Of the respondents, 45% had cared for pregnant females on HD and 78% of pregnancies resulted in live births. In 44% of the pregnancies a diagnosis of preeclampsia was made. There were no maternal deaths. Nephrologists most commonly prescribe 4-4.5 h of HD 6 days/week for pregnant women on dialysis. Women dialyzed cumulatively for >20 h/week were 2.2 times more likely to develop preeclampsia than those who received ≤20 h of HD per week. Conclusion. Providing intensive HD is a common treatment approach when dialyzing pregnant women. Maternal and fetal outcomes can be improved. There is a trend toward better live birthrates with more intense HD. Whether more cumulative hours of dialysis per week increases the risk of preeclampsia needs to be further investigated.

Background: Mobile phone text message interventions are used to support behaviour change including physical activity, but we have less insight into how these interventions work and what factors predict response., Aims: To study the effect of TEXT ME (Tobacco EXercise and dieT Messages) text message intervention on physical activity domains, consistency of effects across sub-groups and its additive value in patients that received traditional cardiac rehabilitation programme., Methods: This is a secondary analysis of the TEXT ME, a randomized clinical trial of lifestyle-focused text message intervention compared with usual care in patients with coronary heart disease. A quarter of the messages were designed specifically to encourage physical activity. Sedentary time and physical activity were assessed using the Global Physical Activity Questionnaire., Results: At baseline, 85% of the 710 participants reported low physical activity levels. At six months, compared with controls, the intervention arm reported higher recreational physical activity (471 vs. 307 metabolic equivalent-min/week, p = 0.001) and travel physical activity (230 vs. 128 MET-min/week, p = 0.002), similar work-related physical activity and lower sedentary times (494 vs. 587 min, p < 0.001). Male gender, high baseline physical activity, cardiac rehabilitation participation and text message intervention predicted physically active status at six months. Subjects that received both cardiac rehabilitation and text messaging intervention were more likely to achieve target physical activity levels compared with cardiac rehabilitation alone (odds ratio 7.07 vs. 1.80, p < 0.001)., Conclusions: The TEXT ME intervention improved recreational and travel physical activity, reduced sedentary times but had no effects on work-related physical activity. It had incremental benefits at achieving target physical activity levels even in patients participating in the traditional cardiac rehabilitation programme., (© The European Society of Cardiology 2016.)

Background: Adherence to multiple cardiovascular (CV) medications is a cornerstone of coronary heart disease (CHD) management and prevention, but it is sub-optimal worldwide. This review aimed to examine whether interventions improve adherence to multiple CV medications in a CHD population., Design: This study was based on a systematic review and meta-analysis according to Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses (PRISMA) guidelines., Methods: Randomised controlled trials were identified by searching multiple databases and reference lists. Studies were selected if they evaluated interventions aiming to improve adherence to multiple CV medications targeting a CHD population and if they provided an appropriate measure of adherence. Interventions were classified as complex or simple interventions. Odds ratios (ORs) were calculated and pooled for a meta-analysis. Risk of bias, heterogeneity and publication bias were also assessed., Results: Sixteen studies (10,706 patients) were included. The mean age was 62 years (standard deviation (SD) 3.6) and 72% were male. In a pooled analysis, the interventions significantly improved medication adherence (OR 1.52; 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.25-1.86; p < 0.001) and there were no significant differences based on intervention type (complex vs simple), components categories and adherence method. There was moderate heterogeneity (I(2) ( )= 61%) across the studies. After adjusting for publication bias, the effect size was attenuated but remained significant (OR 1.35; 95% CI 1.09-1.68)., Conclusion: Interventions to improve adherence to multiple CV medication in a CHD population significantly improved the odds of being adherent. Simple one-component interventions might be a promising way to improve medication adherence in a CHD population, as they would be easier to replicate in different settings and on a large scale., (© The European Society of Cardiology 2016.)

Onconephrology is an emerging subspecialty of nephrology. The American Society of Nephrology(ASN) created a forum dedicated to the field of onconephrology in 2011 to improve collaborative care for cancer patients with kidney disease. In this article, we review the ASN Kidney Week abstracts that were related to onconephrology. There has been an increase in the number of onconephrology-related abstracts at ASN over last 3 years. But only one-fifth of abstracts that were onconephrology related in ASN were published in peer review journals. Clinical Kidney Journal (CKJ) has seen an increase in onconephrology publications in the last 3 years. Most were case reports or review articles. The more widespread use of the keyword 'onconephrology' in all such manuscripts may facilitate the search for onconephrology research papers. To advance the field, CKJ has now created an onconephrology subheading for manuscript categorization. We also propose that conference organizers of ASN and other kidney-related society meeting such as International Society of Nephrology, National Kidney Foundation and European Dialysis and Transplantation Association have a separate onconephrology abstract category. Randomized controlled trials in a subspecialty like onconephrology can only be possible when there is collaboration amongst nephrologists and cancer physicians from cancer centers around the world that interact and share research ideas at international meetings.

Moonlighting proteins comprise a class of multifunctional proteins in which a single polypeptide chain performs multiple biochemical functions that are not due to gene fusions, multiple RNA splice variants or pleiotropic effects. The known moonlighting proteins perform a variety of diverse functions in many different cell types and species, and information about their structures and functions is scattered in many publications. We have constructed the manually curated, searchable, internet-based MoonProt Database (http://www.moonlightingproteins.org) with information about the over 200 proteins that have been experimentally verified to be moonlighting proteins. The availability of this organized information provides a more complete picture of what is currently known about moonlighting proteins. The database will also aid researchers in other fields, including determining the functions of genes identified in genome sequencing projects, interpreting data from proteomics projects and annotating protein sequence and structural databases. In addition, information about the structures and functions of moonlighting proteins can be helpful in understanding how novel protein functional sites evolved on an ancient protein scaffold, which can also help in the design of proteins with novel functions., (© The Author(s) 2014. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Nucleic Acids Research.)

Phospholipase A2 activity in sonicates and acid extracts of ejaculated, washed human sperm was measured using [1-14C] oleate-labeled autoclaved E. coli and 1-[1-14C] stearoyl-2-acyl-3-sn- glycerophosphorylethanolamine as substrates. Phospholipase A was optimally active at pH 7.5, was calcium-dependent, and exclusively catalyzed the release of fatty acid from the 2-position of phospholipids. The activity was membrane-associated, and was solubilized by extraction with 0.18 N H2SO4. Acid extracts of human sperm had the highest specific activity (1709 nmols /h per mg), followed by mouse, rabbit and bull, which were 105, 36 and 1.7 nmols /h per mg, respectively. para-bromophenacyl bromide inhibited human sperm phospholipase A2 activity, but mepacrine was without effect. In the presence of 1.0 mM added CaCl2, phospholipase A2 activity was inhibited by Zn2+ and Mn2+; whereas Cu2+, Cd2+, Mg2+, or Sr2+ had no effect. Zn2+ stimulated activity at low concentrations (10(-6) to 10(-8) M), and inhibited activity in a dose-dependent manner at concentrations of 10(-5) M. The extent of stimulation by low concentrations of Zn2+ was dependent on Ca2+ concentration; at 10(-7) M, Zn2+ activity was stimulated 160% with 0.5 mM CaCl2, and only 120% with 1.0 mM CaCl2. At low concentrations (10(-5) to 10(-7) M), methoxyverapamil (D600) and trifluoperazine stimulated human sperm phospholipase A2 activity, and trifluoperazine but not D600 produced almost complete inhibition between 10(-5) and 10(-4) M of the drug. The significance of human sperm phospholipase A2 activity and its modulation by Ca2+, Zn2+ and Mn2+ in the sperm acrosome reaction is discussed.