Marathon training may reduce cardiovascular risk.

The NPR (3/28, Shute) “Shots” blog reports that research to be presented at the American College of Cardiology’s scientific sessions suggests that “marathon training...reduces a person’s cardiovascular risk.”

        HealthDay (3/28, Preidt) reports that the study included “45 men, aged 35 to 65, who were recreational runners planning to run the 2013 Boston Marathon.” The researchers found that “after completing training, the men had a 5 percent drop in bad cholesterol, a 4 percent decrease in total cholesterol, a 15 percent decline in triglycerides and a 1 percent fall in body-mass index.” Additionally, “peak oxygen consumption...declined by 4 percent.”

Glycated Hemoglobin Measurements Not Predictive of Cardiovascular Disease Risk

Among nearly 300,000 individuals without known cardiovascular disease (CVD) or diabetes who were followed for a median of 9.9 years, the addition of information on HbA1c to conventional CVD risk assessments provided little incremental benefit for prediction of CVD risk. It also was not associated with any significant improvement in reclassification of participants across clinical risk categories that are the basis for initiating preventive treatment. The JAMA study compared 4 glycemia measures (HbA1c levels and fasting, random, or postload plasma glucose levels), and there was an approximately J-shaped association between each of these glycemia measures and CVD risk.

Autoimmune Drug May Help Prevent Diabetic Kidney Disease

Researchers have discovered that a receptor called B7-1 is expressed by kidney cells during the progression of diabetic nephropathy. Targeting this receptor with an available drug called CTLA4-Ig, or abatacept, helped to maintain kidney function in mice with diabetic nephropathy. Abatacept is currently being used to treat autoimmune disease due to its ability to target B7-1 expressed on immune cells. The next steps will be to test anti-B7-1 drugs in individuals with diabetes and diabetic nephropathy to see if such a strategy can slow disease progression. Thefindings are published in JASN.

Current Use of Proton Pump Inhibitors Increases Risk of Developing Acute Interstitial Nephritis

Current use of a proton pump inhibitor (omeprazole, pantoprazole, or lansoprazole) was linked with a fivefold increased risk of acute interstitial nephritis, relative to past use, in a Kidney International study of 572,661 patients without a history of renal disease who started a new episode of proton pump inhibitor use between 2005 and 2009. The crude incidence rates of acute interstitial nephritis per 100,000 person-years were 11.98 for current proton pump inhibitor use and 1.68 for past use. Greater caution concerning the use of proton pump inhibitors is warranted considering the extremely large number of patients using the drugs.

High Protein Intake Linked with Kidney Function Decline

A cross-sectional analysis of 1522 men and women aged 45 to 64 years showed that each 1 g/day increment in protein intake was associated with a 4.7 mL/min/1.73 m² increment in eGFR. However, longitudinal analyses demonstrated that after 12 years of follow-up, each 1 g/day increment in protein intake was associated with a 4.1 mL/min/1.73 m² decline in eGFR and a 78% increased likelihood of having an eGFR <60 mL/min/1.73 m². TheNephrology Dialysis Transplantation findings agree with studies demonstrating short-term GFR stimulation by protein intake but unfavorable effects of high protein intake in patients with CKD.

Fauci: Cause of 20-30% of adult common colds still unidentified.

On the front of its Personal Journal section, the Wall Street Journal (3/25, D1, Reddy, Subscription Publication) reports that according to the National Institutes of Health, the number one cause of visits to a physician is the common cold. Colds, which may be caused by any of some 200 known viruses, may last for up to two weeks. It is possible for people to get colds back-to-back, particularly during cold weather when people are stuck inside, or to confuse symptoms of a sinus infection or allergies with those of a cold. Some cold symptoms may be also caused by respiratory syncytial virus, the coronavirus and the enterovirus. The piece quotes Anthony Fauci, MD, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, who said, “The most confounding thing of all is that we still haven’t identified the cause of 20% to 30% of adult common colds.”

Study: E-cigarette use not tied to greater rates of smoking cessation.

The Washington Post (3/25, Millman) “Wonkblog” reports that a research letter published March 24 in “JAMA Internal Medicine found that use of e-cigarettes was not associated with ‘greater rates of quitting cigarettes or reduced cigarette consumption’ after one year.” The study “authors reached the conclusion based on self-reported data from 949 smokers, which included 88 who used e-cigarettes.”

        The Los Angeles Times (3/25, MacVean) “Science Now” blog reports that “researchers from the Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education and the Department of Medicine at” the University of California-San Francisco “noted that e-cigarettes are ‘aggressively promoted as smoking cessation aids.’” But, given the findings of the study, “‘regulations should prohibit advertising, claiming or suggesting that e-cigarettes are effective smoking cessation devices until claims are supported by scientific evidence,’ the researchers...wrote.”

        Still, the Boston Globe (3/25, Kotz) points out that the study’s “small sample size makes it difficult to draw firm conclusions, admits study leader Dr. Pamela Ling, an associate professor of medicine at” UCSF.

        Newsday (3/25, Ricks) points out that “earlier this month,” researchers “found in a study of thousands of youths that the addictive nicotine in e-cigs may lure teens to more potent sources of the substance.”

        According to MedPage Today (3/25, Phend), an accompanying editorial written by JAMA Internal Medicine editor Mitchell Katz, MD, “further advocated FDA regulation” of e-cigarettes “as drug-delivery devices.” MedPage Today added that the FDA “has regulations in the works that are expected to generally bring the same kind of restrictions to e-cigarettes as to other tobacco products.” Some of the data for the study came from National Cancer Institute-funded research.

        Also covering the story are Reuters (3/25, Seaman), theMinneapolis Star Tribune (3/25, Stoxen) “Health Check” blog, the CBS News (3/25, Jaslow) website, Time (3/25, Sifferlin), HealthDay (3/25, Reinberg), Medscape (3/25, Cassels), and a Modern Healthcare (3/25, Johnson, Subscription Publication) blog.