Last year, we had a post about Bardoxolone for the treatment of diabetic nephropathy. After one year of treatment, eGFR increased significantly in patients treated with Bardoxolone relative to controls. At the time, significant concerns were raised about…
At some point during evolution humans lost the enzyme uricase and during the long and tedious process of getting to the modern age and this was initially a good thing. Uric acid accumulation as a result of uricase…
This month’s eJournal Club article is not a traditional, clinical or basic research article but instead one which looks into the state of nephrology training in the US. There has been a significant decline in the number of…
When I got my US driving license, I was asked whether or not I would like to be an organ donor. To me, having seen the positive effects of donation on the lives of my patients down through…
We have previously discussed cardiovascular mortality after transplantation. But one controversial aspect in the evaluation of potential kidney recipients is the performance of stress tests for risk stratification. With the cost of stress tests ranging from U$2,500-5,000 and the…
It is surprising how high the nonadherence rates for immunosuppressants is among renal transplant recipients, ranging from 15 to 40%, despite the potential impact of nonadherence and the degree of education provided to transplant recipients. Nonadherence to immunosuppressive…
In the quest for better solute clearance, two divergent paths were taken on each side of the Atlantic. The US nephrology community has concentrated more on low weight molecules. The European counterpart has focused on both low and…
Can you have an acidosis with normal serum bicarbonate? Of course you can, it’s just incomplete. Incomplete distal renal tubular acidosis (idRTA) that is. RTA was first described in 1935, confirmed as a renal tubular disorder in 1946,…
I was reviewing the treatment of diabetes insipidus the other day, and was reminded of the paradoxical effect of thiazide diuretics on urine output in diabetes insipidus. How does this work? The traditional thinking is that thiazide-induced blockade…
How familiar are the following scenarios to you? You’re in clinic and have just seen a 69 year old man with a longstanding history of hypertension. He has been referred by his internist to nephrology for an eGFR…