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.

Defibrillators may provide little benefit for seniors with two or more illnesses

Older people with comorbidities and those with multiple hospital admissions related to heart failure are unlikely to receive a meaningful survival benefit from implanted defibrillators, found a study in CMAJ by researchers from Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston, Massachusetts.

16 Mar 2009

Summary of the latest research into how blood pressure is controlled

The problem of high blood pressure has reached pandemic proportions, causing premature death through heart attacks, strokes and kidney disease in a third of the UK population. For decades, scientists have battled at length over its cause yet still cannot agree; is the kidney or the brain to blame?

15 Mar 2009

Rituximab may be effective in treating membranous nephropathy

Current treatments for membranous nephropathy are limited to steroids, calcineurin inhibitors, and chemotherapeutic agents, all of which have significant side effects.

11 Mar 2009

Study of Rituxan (rituximab) in lupus nephritis misses primary endpoint

Genentech, Inc. and Biogen Idec has announced that a Phase III study of Rituxan (rituximab) plus mycophenolate mofetil (MMF) and corticosteroids in patients with lupus nephritis did not meet its primary endpoint of significantly reducing disease activity at 52 weeks.

11 Mar 2009

Naked mole rats may hold clues to successful aging

Naked mole rats resemble pink, wrinkly, saber-toothed sausages and would never win a beauty contest, even among other rodents.

4 Mar 2009

Measuring quality of life in patients with hereditary kidney disease

A commonly used questionnaire that measures quality of life is not sensitive enough to pick up mental and physical problems experienced by patients with autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD), according to a study appearing in an upcoming issue of the Clinical Journal of the American Society Nephrology (CJASN).

4 Mar 2009

Kidney disease increases risk of stroke in patients with atrial fibrillation

Chronic kidney disease increases the risk of stroke in patients with atrial fibrillation (AF), the most common type of heart arrhythmia, according to a new study by Kaiser Permanente researchers in the current online issue of Circulation.

4 Mar 2009

Revealing statistics about childhood diabetes reported

The incidence rate of type 1 diabetes among non-Hispanic white youth in the United States is one of the highest in the world, according to a major national study coordinated by researchers at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center.

1 Mar 2009

Compounds that trigger beta cell replication identified

Researchers at the Genomics Institute of the Novartis Research Foundation (GNF) have identified a set of compounds that can trigger the proliferation of insulin-producing cells in the pancreas, using sophisticated high-throughput screening techniques.

25 Feb 2009

Updated formula measures kidney function more accurately

Measuring kidney function in children can be expensive, time-consuming for clinicians, and tedious for children, who may be exposed to radioactivity and subjected to a large number of blood draws.

24 Feb 2009

Updated formula measures kidney function more accurately

Measuring kidney function in children can be expensive, time-consuming for clinicians, and tedious for children, who may be exposed to radioactivity and subjected to a large number of blood draws.

24 Feb 2009

High-flux hemodialysis prolongs survival in chronic kidney disease

High-flux hemodialysis (which removes large toxins) reduces the risk of premature death in many patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD), according to a study appearing in the March 2009 issue of the Journal of the American Society Nephrology (JASN).

22 Feb 2009

Kidney disease affects response to anticoagulant drug warfarin

Patients with reduced kidney function require lower doses of the anticoagulant drug warfarin, and may need closer monitoring to avoid serious bleeding complications, suggests a study in the April 2009 issue of the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology ( JASN ).

20 Feb 2009

GlaxoSmithKline starts phase III trial of Syncria (albiglutide) type 2 diabetes medication

GlaxoSmithKline has announced initiation and dosing of the first patient of the Phase III clinical trial programme to evaluate the efficacy, safety and tolerability of the investigational GLP-1 (Glucagon-like peptide 1) agonist Syncria (albiglutide) in men and women with type 2 diabetes.

18 Feb 2009

Avosentan shows prmoise for diabetic kidney disease

A new drug called avosentan significantly lowers urinary protein excretion-an important marker of kidney disease progression-in patients with diabetic kidney disease, according to an international clinical trial appearing in the March 2009 issue of the Journal of the American Society Nephrology (JASN).

16 Feb 2009

New test for mysterious metabolic diseases

Scientists at Stanford University School of Medicine have devised a much-needed way to monitor and find treatments for a mysterious and devastating group of metabolic diseases that arise from mutations in cells' fuel-burning mechanism.

15 Feb 2009

Candesartan cilexetil reduces proteinuria in kidney disease patients

Taking a much higher than recommended dose of the hypertension drug candesartan cilexetil effectively lowered the amount of protein excreted in the urine of patients with kidney disease, according to a study appearing in the April 2009 issue of the Journal of the American Society Nephrology ( JASN ).

11 Feb 2009

Healthy people with high urinary protein levels have elevated kidney disease risk

Measuring the amount of protein lost in the urine can identify individuals at risk of developing kidney disease, according to a study appearing in the April 2009 issue of the Journal of the American Society Nephrology (JASN).

11 Feb 2009

Program for kidney disease patients effective for reducing serum phosphorus levels

Patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) who participated in an education program to limit their intake of phosphorus-containing food additives lowered their blood levels of the chemical, according to a study in the February 11 issue of JAMA, the Journal of the American Medical Association.

10 Feb 2009