Identifying the “permeability factor” for patients with FSGS or minimal change disease has been one of the “holy grails” of nephrology, and our inability to identify such a factor has not been for any lack of trying. One…
We all know about the p-ANCA and the c-ANCA, which are antibodies against either myeloperoxidase (MPO) or proteinase-3 (PR3), respectively. Now get ready for a 3rd ANCA subtype, an antibody against LAMP-2! In a recent Nature Medicine article…
Did you know that there are tiny vesicles in your pee? A 2004 PNAS article by Pisitkun et al demonstrates that this is the case; the vesicles are secreted by tubular epithelial cells at the apical surface and…
I’m suffering from information overload after my first day at the 2008 ASN in Philadelphia, PA. I attended a series of great talks and have a whole list of possible blog topics in my notebook. For now, I’ll…
I’m reporting LIVE from the American Society of Nephrology convention in Philadelphia, PA. I’ll be blogging from here as time & internet connectivity permit. The conference starts in earnest tomorrow morning. Until then: common drug interactions for TACROLIMUS…
I saw a patient in the renal transplant clinic today for evaluation to get onto the kidney transplant list, as he is just around the corner to starting dialysis (actually, he may actually start tonight since his routine…
The term “Middle Molecules” is a little confusing, in part due to its evolving definition. It was initially used to describe anything not dialyzed off by the older dialyzer membranes of the 1970s, which predominantly filtered out only…
Scleroderma is a chronic autoimmune disease characterized by fibrosis and hardening of the skin and other organs–occasionally involving the kidney to such an extent that dialysis becomes necessary. There are two main flavors of scleroderma: (1) the CREST…
Polyarteritis nodosa (PAN) and Microscopic polyangiitis (MPA) are two vasculitides which were previously grouped together. However, they are currently thought of as two separate entities. PAN is a vasculitis of the medium-sized arteries, sparing the smaller vessels and…
Infectious metastases (e.g., infective endocarditis, epidural abscess, liver & lung abscesses, etc) are unfortunately not uncommon in the ESRD population, particularly in those with in-dwelling catheters. I have personally seen several cases of epidural abscesses as a fellow,…
