Cholera epidemics have been a major public health issue throughout recorded history and much energy was devoted towards preventing them and treating affected patients once they occurred. However, it was not until 1831 that it was recognized that…
Pancreas transplantation is considered the treatment of choice for patients with refractory Type I Diabetes Mellitus. The first pancreas transplant was described in 1967 by Kelly et al. (pictured) and was performed with a simultaneous kidney transplant in…
As mentioned in a previous post, there is not much salt available in the Amazon and as a result, the inhabitants (human and otherwise) have developed very active renin/angiotensin systems in order to retain whatever salt they can…
Back in the early 1970s researchers traveled into the jungle in Northern Brazil to visit a group of Indians. The Yanamomo tribe had lived in isolation for thousands of years and had only been contacted in the 1950s….
This months issue of JASN has a review of ANCA-associated vasculitis. The authors discuss the controversy regarding the naming of Wegener’s Disease and whether it’s time for a new name to be chosen for this condition. Dr. Friedrich…
I recently saw a young hypertensive patient who had suffered a motor vehicle accident complicated by a transected aorta that was successfully repaired several years back. He has had hypertension since then and was referred to us for…
The American Society revealed its new logo with the new year: a male form with two glowing kidneys visible inside him, striding into the future (at least, that’s my interpretation as to what he is doing–I guess alternate…
I stumbled across a bit of Nephrology/Urology history the other day while strolling around a hospital in Paris: this plaque commemorating one of the key steps in the invention of ureteroscopy and cystoscopy. The plaque can be found…
The readers have spoken and it is time to announce the results of the hypothetical “Mount Rushmore of Nephrology”: the four Nephrology Pioneers whose contributions have mattered most, and deserve to have their imagery preserved forever on a…
The results of last week’s poll on IgA Nephropathy are in: 90% of individuals correctly identified that the only treatment shown in randomized controlled trials to consistently benefit patients with IgA Nephropathy is ACE-inhibitors and/or ARBs. The response…
