Kidney international
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Kidney international · Dec 2017
ReviewThe promise of single-cell RNA sequencing for kidney disease investigation.
Recent techniques for single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) at high throughput are leading to profound new discoveries in biology. The ability to generate vast amounts of transcriptomic data at cellular resolution represents a transformative advance, allowing the identification of novel cell types, states, and dynamics. ⋯ We discuss available software tools for analyzing scRNA-Seq data and summarize current computational challenges. Finally, we outline ways in which this powerful technology might be applied to discovery research in kidney development and disease.
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Kidney international · Dec 2017
The fragility of significant results underscores the need of larger randomized controlled trials in nephrology.
The Fragility Index is a tool for testing robustness of randomized controlled trial results for dichotomous outcomes. It describes the minimum number of individuals in whom changing an event status would render a statistically significant result nonsignificant. Here we identified all randomized controlled trials in five nephrology and five general journals from 2005-2014. ⋯ Compared to a reported p value of 0.05 to 0.01, those reporting 0.01 to 0.001 or less than 0.001 had a significant 57% and 472% increase in the median Fragility Index, respectively. Forty-one percent had a Fragility Index less than the total loss to follow-up, indicating a potential to change a trial result had all individuals been accounted for. Thus, our study highlights the need for larger randomized controlled trials with accurate accounting for loss to follow-up to adequately guide evidence-based practice.