Attention Nephrology Fellows: Compete in the 2nd Annual NephMadness Invitational Tournament at the 2025 NKF Spring Clinical Meeting!
Onconephrology Early Program at ASN , titled “Onconephrology: Cancer, Its Treatments and the Kidneys.”
Leucine Crystals in the Urine – Still enigmatic after more than 150 years
Wanted: RFN Fellow Editor (Application Due 11/1)
Kidney Comics: The Nephron Factory
Skeleton Key Group Case #35: Rhabdo Fiasco
2025 NephSIM Nephrons: Application Due 11/1 (For Medical Students & Residents)
Advances in Peritoneal Dialysis Symposium: 9/27 (In-Person)
Skeleton Key Group Case #34: Adrenal Insufficiency- A Salty Saga
Did you know your endothelium is hairy?
Just heard an interesting talk on endothelial dysfunction and its relation to nephrology. One thing I learned is that the vascular endothelium is actually “hairy”, as demonstrated from this electron micrograph (taken from this website). These little hairs…
World Series of Poker Celebrity Kidney Transplant Recipient
Meet Jennifer Harman. She is apparently one of the most famous female professional poker players in the world, having done quite well at the prestigious “World Series of Poker” tournament. It turns out she is also a kidney…
Super Bowl Sunday Contrast Nephropathy Post
How common is contrast nephropathy in the general outpatient setting? When you send one of your outpatients to get a CT scan with iv contrast, what is the real risk? Much of the randomized, controlled trial data on…
Drug Trials
Last week’s poll results: who should provide funding for large, randomized controlled drug trials? Most respondents (58%) chose the diplomatic answer and said that it should be a combination between government and pharmaceutical companies. I was somewhat surprised…
The actin cytoskeleton of the podocyte
Peter Mundel, a well-known researcher of podocyte biology, gave our Renal Grand Rounds today. Here’s what I took away from this morning’s talk: -regulation of the podocyte’s actin cytoskeleton is postulated to be the final common pathway in…
How Luminex Beads Work
You may have come across the phrase “Luminex beads” while doing your transplant nephrology rotation, or heard the term while hanging out in the Tissue Typing Lab. This post is intended to briefly describe the Luminex technology and…
Green Peritoneal Dialysis Fluid
This month’s Kidney International “Nephrology Image” features a report by Chen et al in which they describe a PD patient who noted cloudy, deep green dialysate fluid upon drainage of their peritoneum. They also presented with right upper…
AJKD Bundling Editorials
This month’s issue of AJKD includes an enlightening group of 6 editorials, each written from a unique perspective (e.g., the perspective of large dialysis corporations, the perspective of the ESRD Networks, the perspective of non-profit dialysis corporations, etc.),…
A Divided Consensus on Health Care Reform
Interestingly, there was a near 50-50 divide on last week’s poll question regarding the surprising election of Republican Scott Brown to the U.S. Senate in the state of Massachusetts. Many viewed the election as a referendum on public…
Potential Use of Rituxan in Membranous Nephropathy
Take-home points from Mayo Clinic’s Fernando Fervenza’s excellent Renal Grand Rounds this morning, in which he addresses the potential use of rituximab as a treatment for membranous nephropathy: -the “rule of thirds” that we learn about membranous nephropathy (e.g.,…