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INTRODUCTION Obesity and chronic kidney disease (CKD) are a major public-health concern globally. (1) Both are associated with an increase in cardiovascular disease and all-cause mortality. (2-5) Many studies have [...], BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Obesity, a chronic inflammatory state, increases risk of cardiovascular disease and insulin resistance, which are the leading cause of end-stage renal disease (ESRD). We evaluated the relationship between body mass index (BMI) and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP) level and impaired kidney function to determine the predictive value of both markers for estimating chronic kidney disease (CKD) risk in a healthy adult population in Taiwan. SUBJECTS/METHODS: In a retrospective cross-sectional study of 4100 subjects ≥ 18 years, a multivariate logistic regression model was used to assess the relationship among BMI, high hsCRP levels and CKD. Receiver-operating characteristic curve and Youden index were developed to define the discrimination power of combining BMI with hsCRP for CKD prediction and to determine the best predictive index. RESULTS: Overweight/obese subjects with high hsCRP levels had the highest odds ratio for CKD (P = 0.048). In females, combining BMI with hsCRP for CKD prediction was superior to that of males (0.890 vs 0.623, respectively;both P < 0.001). For females, the Youden index was 25.65 kg/[m.sup.2] for BMI and 1.04 µg/ml for hsCRP. CONCLUSIONS: Overweight/obesity with higher hsCRP levels is associated with reduced renal function and increased risk for CKD. BMI and hsCRP levels can be used as surrogate markers for CKD risk, especially for females. European Journal of Clinical Nutrition (2016) 70, 766-771; doi: 10.1038/ejcn.2016.28; published online 16 March 2016

In recent years, traces of acetaminophen, a widely used analgesic and anti-inflammatory and known to be an over-the-counter drug, have been detected unaltered in effluents of conventional wastewater treatment facilities. About 58-68% released through excretion during patient's therapeutic treatment, and only about 80-86% were removed by the wastewater treatment facility. This study investigated the improved performance of photocatalysis in degrading or removing acetaminophen. The visible light active potassium peroxodisulfate-doped titanium dioxide photocatalysts synthesized via sol-gel method was used to eliminate acetaminophen from aqueous solutions through photocatalytic oxidation. The effects of the amount of dopant, calcination temperature and calcination time on the properties and visible light photocatalytic activity of potassium peroxodisulfate-doped titanium dioxide were also investigated. Increasing the amount of the dopant and calcination temperature up to a certain extent increases removal efficiency while further decreased the removal rate. Potassium peroxodisulfate-doped titanium dioxide photocatalysts were characterized by X-ray diffraction, ultraviolet-visible light diffuse reflectance spectroscopy, Brunauer-Emmett-Teller method and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. Potassium peroxodisulfate-doped titanium dioxide with 0.5% dopant and calcined at 300 °C for 3 h degrades about 100% acetaminophen in aqueous solution within 540 min. The reaction of acetaminophen with the photocatalyst has an apparent rate constant of 8.39 × 10 min. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]