E-Mail New York, NY (February 26, 2020) - Molecules called microRNAs (miRNAs) that are measurable in urine have been identified by researchers at Mount Sinai as predictors of both heart and kidney health in children without disease. The epidemiological study of Mexican children was published in February in the journal Epigenomics. "For the first time, we measured in healthy children the associations between urinary miRNAs and cardiorenal outcomes, including blood pressure, urinary sodium and potassium levels, and eGFR [estimated glomerular filtration rate, a measure of how well the kidneys are filtering or cleaning the blood]," says lead author Yuri Levin-Schwartz, PhD, a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Environmental Medicine and Public Health at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. "These relationships represent an opportunity to develop novel biomarkers for early detection and treatment of kidney damage or dysfunction."