Nephrology News and Research

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Nephrology is a branch of internal medicine and pediatrics dealing with the study of the function and diseases of the kidney.

Nocturia common in Japanese patients

Results from an outpatient-based study indicate that nocturia is common among Japanese patients, with men, the elderly, and those with hypertension at the greatest risk.

2 Dec 2013

Certain Chinese medicines can regulate neurotrophic and apoptosis-related factors

Parkinson's disease is a common neurodegenerative disease in the elderly, which is pathologically characterized by selective loss of dopaminergic neurons. Compound preparations of Chinese medicines that can tonify the kidney have been reported to significantly improve symptoms of Parkinson's disease.

28 Nov 2013

Study highlights unique barriers for African Americans with hypertension

For African-Americans who have hypertension, controlling their high blood pressure is critical to avoid serious complications. However, a history of racial discrimination and/or mistrust in their physicians often causes them to skip taking their necessary medication, finds a new study in the American Journal of Public Health.

27 Nov 2013

Merck announces approval of NOXAFIL delayed-release tablets by FDA

Merck (NYSE:MRK), known as MSD outside the United States and Canada, today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved NOXAFIL® (posaconazole) 100 mg delayed-release tablets.

27 Nov 2013

African Americans have double the risk of end-stage renal disease compared to white Americans

In the United States, African Americans have approximately twice the risk of end-stage renal disease compared to white Americans, despite a similar prevalence in earlier stages of chronic kidney disease. A large study co-authored by George Washington University researcher Dominic Raj, M.D., identifies factors that mediate differences in the progression of chronic kidney disease between black patients and white patients, as well as among black patients, in order to reduce the excess burden of end-stage renal disease and its complications in black patients.

27 Nov 2013

Medicare reverses course and opts not to revamp dialysis payments

Federal officials announce that they will reduce what the program's payment by less than 1 percent over the next two years.

26 Nov 2013

Researchers receive $2.5M grant to study telephone-based approach to improve diabetes treatment outcomes

More than 25 million Americans have diabetes, yet as many as 60 percent of type 2 diabetes patients do not follow treatment plans prescribed by their healthcare provider and about 50 percent fail to meet treatment recommendations for control of blood glucose levels.

26 Nov 2013

SillaJen executes definitive merger agreement to acquire Jennerex

SillaJen, Inc., a privately-held biotherapeutics and contract research company focused on the development of targeted biological products for cancer, announced today that it had executed a definitive merger agreement to acquire San Francisco-based Jennerex, Inc.

26 Nov 2013

More adults are undergoing minimally invasive surgery for diseased kidneys

More children, like adults, are undergoing minimally invasive surgery for diseased kidneys, with most of the procedures being performed at teaching hospitals to treat non-cancerous conditions.

26 Nov 2013

Dysregulation of epigenetic marks may play role in chronic kidney disease, shows study

The research of physician-scientist Katalin Susztak, MD, PhD, associate professor of Medicine in the Renal Electrolyte and Hypertension Division, at the Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, strives to understand the molecular roots and genetic predisposition of chronic kidney disease.

26 Nov 2013

First Edition: November 25, 2013

Today's headlines include reports about how political concerns and strategies are taking shape as a result of healthcare.gov's difficulties.

25 Nov 2013

New bill offers hope to HIV patients on transplant waiting lists

A bill scheduled to be signed into law today by President Obama reverses the longtime ban on letting HIV-infected people donate their organs for transplantation after death, a move that offers hope to thousands of HIV patients on transplant waiting lists.

22 Nov 2013

CKD children with lower socio-economic status less likely to grow to normal height ranges

Even with more prescriptions for growth hormone, children and adolescents with chronic kidney disease were less likely to grow to normal height ranges if they came from lower-income families, according to research funded by the National Institutes of Health. Results from the Chronic Kidney Disease in Children Study are published in the December issue of the American Journal of Kidney Diseases and online today at http://www.ajkd.org.

22 Nov 2013

Keeping active reduces women’s Crohn’s risk

Regular exercise protects women against the development of Crohn’s disease, reveals research published in the BMJ.

21 Nov 2013

Study links health risks later in life to weight status in adolescence

From abnormal kidney function to difficulty walking and diabetes, severely obese adults who were obese as teenagers have greater risk of developing numerous harmful health conditions.

20 Nov 2013

Scientists at Salk Institute develop novel platform to study kidney diseases

Diseases affecting the kidneys represent a major and unsolved health issue worldwide. The kidneys rarely recover function once they are damaged by disease, highlighting the urgent need for better knowledge of kidney development and physiology.

19 Nov 2013

University of Wisconsin scientist to present revolutionary stem cell technology to Australian bioindustry

Internationally recognised stem cell scientist, Associate ProfessorIgor Slukvin, University of Wisconsin – Madison, is visiting Australia as the key-note speaker at a Stem Cell Meeting and Workshop in Sydney next week.

19 Nov 2013

TOPCAT trial results of spironolactone presented at AHA Scientific Sessions

A late-breaking clinical trial, known as the Treatment of Preserved Cardiac Function Heart Failure with an Aldosterone Antagonist trial, to be presented at the American Heart Association Scientific Sessions, November 18, 2013, demonstrates that spironolactone did not reduce the primary outcome of cardiovascular death, heart failure hospitalization, nor surviving a cardiac arrest in patients with heart failure and preserved ejection fraction (pump function). However, spironolactone did reduce the major burden faced by these patients-the risk of repeated hospitalizations for heart failure.

19 Nov 2013

Two drugs tested in larger trial fail to improve kidney function in patients with acute heart failure

Two drugs tested in a larger trial did not improve kidney function in acute heart failure patients, contrary to results of smaller studies. The results were presented today at the American Heart Association's Scientific Sessions 2013 in Dallas and simultaneously published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Previous smaller studies showed that low-dose dopamine or low-dose nesiritide could improve kidney function and reduce fluid overload that is often present in hospitalized acute heart failure patients by increasing urine production.

19 Nov 2013

Grave prognosis for heart patients with treatment-resistant hypertension

Patients with coronary artery disease have a particularly high risk for poor outcomes if they have treatment-resistant hypertension, shows an analysis of the Treating to New Targets trial.

18 Nov 2013