How many nephrologists does the U.S. need? I recently heard a thought-provoking calculation from MGH’s Dr. David Steele which helps illustrate a likely shortage in the number of American nephrologists. The calculation is admittedly a rough estimate, but…
The Dialysis Outcomes and Practice Patterns Study (DOPPS) is an important longitudinal study of ESRD patients in multiple countries, and is the source of much respected epidemiologic data on dialysis patients worldwide. Interestingly, the DOPPS estimated the crude…
Two very interesting web sites for those involved in the study of mouse as a model organism for the study of kidney disease and kidney development: The first is the Genitourinary Development Molecular Anatomy Project (GUDMAP) site, which…
A landmark paper on membranous nephropathy was published by Beck et al in the most recent issue of NEJM. Ultimately we will have to see if the finding is reproducible, but based on the data presented this represents…
A cool article from this month’s AJKD describes several of the Nephrology-related aphorisms originally penned by Hippocrates sometime around 400 BCE. These brief, pithy sayings probably represent the earliest attempts to understand the kidney in health and disease…
Testing for the presence of urine eosinophils is often performed when the diagnosis of acute interstitial nephritis is suspected. The landmark paper touting the use of this test is a 1986 New England Journal of Medicine article by…
We’re all taught that looking for dysmorphic red blood cells on urinalysis is a useful marker of glomerular hematuria. But how do we define “dysmorphic”? And how was this association originally studied? One landmark paper was this 1991…
One of the easier aspects to taking an examination like the boards is pattern recognition: there are certain images or associations that should be immediate triggers for a particular diagnosis. One good example of this is a knowledge…
There are only limited treatment options for hepatorenal syndrome, and many would argue that treatment of type I hepatorenal syndrome (the bad kind) in the absence of a plan for liver transplantation is a futile effort. Over the…
Pictured on the left is Bob Cratchit and his crippled son, Tiny Tim, two beloved characters from Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. In this fun 1992 article by the pediatrician D.L. Lewis, the case is made that Tiny…