Nephropathy News and Research

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Nephropathy is a broad medical term used to denote disease or damage of the kidney, which can eventually result in kidney failure. The primary and most obvious functions of the kidney are to excrete any waste products and to regulate the water and acid-base balance of the body – therefore loss of kidney function is a potentially fatal condition.

Dialysis patients may be overmedicated

Changes in a widely used assay (blood test) for parathyroid hormone (PTH) have made its use with the established guidelines for end stage renal disease clinical management both inappropriate and potentially harmful to patients. This research is published in the journal Seminars in Dialysis.

5 Dec 2005

Mycophenolate mofetil helps treat lupus patients

Treating lupus patients suffering from kidney inflammation with a medicine known as mycophenolate mofetil may be more effective in inducing remission than treating them with the standard regimen of intravenous cyclophosphamide (Cytoxan), a new clinical trial indicates.

2 Dec 2005

Lifestyle modification should be the first line of treatment for obesity

A new study shows that treatment with a lifestyle modification program of diet, exercise and behavioral therapy when used in combination with the weight loss medication sibutramine (Meridia) resulted in significantly greater weight loss among obese adults than treatment with the medication alone.

28 Nov 2005

Kidney disease may be a more important risk factor for heart disease than is cholesterol

Jefferson researchers have found that mice with low levels of the protein hormone adiponectin may also have high levels of a protein called albumin which, in humans, may be a sign of kidney disease.

28 Nov 2005

Thrombospondin (TSP-1) can cause kidney failure when normal blood flow is disrupted

Scientists led by a University of Cincinnati (UC) kidney expert have found that a naturally occurring protein that normally fights cancer cells can also cause severe kidney failure when normal blood flow is disrupted.

26 Nov 2005

High blood pressure research advances efforts to tailor drugs to individual patients

Having high blood pressure and a particular genetic alteration dramatically increases the risk of heart attack, stroke or death, and may explain why some hypertensive patients fare worse than others - even if they take the same medication, University of Florida researchers announced.

26 Nov 2005

New drug CellCept far more effective in treating kidney problems in lupus patients

A new study has shown that the drug CellCept is just as good at fighting kidney complications from the debilitating disease lupus with far fewer side effects than standard treatment using the cancer drug Cytoxan.

24 Nov 2005

Valproic acid (Depakote) may help treat lupus

A common anti-seizure drug may be effective against certain conditions associated with lupus, according to animal research at Wake Forest University School of Medicine.

20 Nov 2005

Six gene variants predict heart muscle damage after cardiac surgery

Duke University Medical Center researchers have found that patients with six specific variants of genes involved in the body's immune response are significantly more likely to suffer damage of heart tissue after cardiac surgery.

16 Nov 2005

Lupus discovery may improve treatment

Researchers at Wake Forest University School of Medicine and the University of Virginia hope to reset part of the "epigenetic code" in lupus patients and thus improve treatment.

7 Nov 2005

Neurological and neuromuscular diseases raise risk of complications from flu

As another flu season approaches, patients with neurological and neuromuscular disease are especially vulnerable to respiratory failure caused by influenza.

3 Nov 2005

Nearly one-fourth of all dialysis patients have a close relative on dialysis

Researchers at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center, and others, report in the current online edition of the American Journal of Nephrology. The researchers suggest screening other relatives for undetected kidney disease.

3 Nov 2005

Pravastatin is highly effective in lowering the risk of heart attack

The cholesterol-lowering drug pravastatin is highly effective in lowering the risk of heart attack and other cardiovascular events in patients with diabetes and chronic kidney disease (CKD), reports a study in the December Journal of the American Society of Nephrology.

27 Oct 2005

Natural blood sugar level lowering compound could lead to new drugs to treat type 2 diabetes

A carbohydrate isolated from the liver lowers blood sugar levels after it is injected into diabetic rats, according to research carried out by a team of experts at the University of Virginia Health System (UVHS).

27 Oct 2005

Canada province will seize children of drug addicts

Canadian province Alberta wants to be able to remove children from the homes of parents who recklessly abuse drugs or are involved in selling them.

24 Oct 2005

Incidence of end-stage renal disease is lower than previously estimated

Diabetic kidney disease is one of the most severe complications of type 1 diabetes, and diabetes is the most important cause of end-stage renal disease (ESRD; severely impaired kidney function, requiring dialysis) in industrialized countries, according to background information in the article. Data on patients' risk of developing ESRD are sparse.

11 Oct 2005

Rates for new cases of kidney failure have stabilized

After 20 years of annual increases from 5 to 10 percent, rates for new cases of kidney failure have stabilized, according to new research from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK). At the same time, dramatic racial disparities persist.

11 Oct 2005

Osmolyte findings could have implications for the study of Alzheimer's disease, cystic fibrosis, kidney disease

Researchers at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston (UTMB) have developed a new way to predict the ability of certain small molecules to protect proteins in the cells of a wide variety of organisms living in extreme environments.

9 Oct 2005

GRK5 protein plays important role in hypertension

Researchers at Jefferson Medical College have implicated a protein called GRK5 as having an important role behind essential hypertension, which affects more than 65 million Americans.

5 Oct 2005

Study paves the way for new therapeutic targets which can potentially improve heart disease in patients with end-stage kidney failure

Night-time hemodialysis patients may have a greater capacity to repair their hearts and blood vessels compared to those on conventional dialysis three times a week, according to a study in the October issue of the American Journal of Physiology - Renal Physiology, published by the American Physiological Society.

4 Oct 2005