Kidney Failure News and Research

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NIH awards $1.9M grant to Scripps Research scientist for malaria study

A scientist from The Scripps Research Institute has won a four-year, $1.9 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to better understand the parasite that causes malaria, laying the groundwork to develop better drugs to combat the widespread and deadly disease.

10 Jun 2011

Health officials rule out sprouts as source of German E. coli outbreak

Health officials in Germany are continuing to search for the source of an E. coli outbreak after tests on suspected sprouts from a farm in the north of the country came back negative, Deutsche Welle reports. The outbreak has killed 22 people and sickened more than 2,000 (Hallam/Penfold, 6/6).

8 Jun 2011

Avoiding repetitive activities that increase stress on the joints may prevent bursitis

As warm weather arrives and the great outdoors beckons, more and more men and women will be taking to the trails, the beaches, or their yards and gardens, embarking on physical activities that may result in sore, aching, swollen joints.

8 Jun 2011

'Designer' probiotic bacterium neutralises E. coli toxin

A potential life-saving treatment for severe E. coli food poisoning outbreaks - developed more than a decade ago - hasn't gone forward into clinical trials because of lack of commercial interest.

8 Jun 2011

Preliminary data from Ion PGM sequencer reveals German E. coli outbreak is a new hybrid strain

Life Technologies Corporation today announced that preliminary data from DNA sequencing performed in cooperation with the University Hospital Muenster, Germany, on the Ion Personal Genome Machine strongly suggests that the bacterium at the root of the deadly outbreak in Germany is a new hybrid type of pathogenic E. coli strains.

4 Jun 2011

European E. coli strain never seen before in humans, scientists say

The food safety office of the WHO on Thursday announced that the bacterium responsible for the E. coli outbreak in Europe is a strain never seen before in humans and could mean "the infection could prove unusually difficult to bring under control," Nature News reports.

4 Jun 2011

Angiotensin receptor blockers do not increase risk of cancer: FDA

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today announced that a group of medications used to control high blood pressure, called angiotensin receptor blockers (ARBs), do not increase the risk of developing cancer in patients using the medications.

3 Jun 2011

HbA1c glucose monitoring test not effective for diagnosing diabetes patients with kidney failure

The gold standard long-term glucose monitoring test for patients with diabetes proved to be of limited value in dialysis patients, according to a new study at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center.

1 Jun 2011

Eculizumab effective for treating hemolytic-uremic syndrome from EHEC

In the online version of the New England Journal of Medicine, physicians and scientists in Heidelberg, Montreal, and Paris reported on the successful treatment of three young children who were suffering from a severe hemolytic-uremic syndrome after an infection with enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli.

1 Jun 2011

Lipidomic profiling can lead to better and earlier prediction of major diseases

Studying the genetic make-up of different varieties of lipids in the blood plasma of an individual can lead to a better and earlier prediction of diseases such as diabetes, atherosclerosis, and heart disease, two researchers will tell the annual conference of the European Society of Human Genetics today.

30 May 2011

NIH-funded analysis finds 19% of young adults with high blood pressure

Roughly 19 percent of young adults may have high blood pressure, according to an analysis of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, which is supported by the National Institutes of Health.

26 May 2011

Researchers replicate progression of inflammatory gene changes of kidney from mild to severe diabetic nephropathy

University of Louisville researchers have replicated the inflammatory gene changes of a human kidney as it progresses from mild to severe diabetic nephropathy, using a mouse model developed by a UofL researcher, according to an article published today in the journal Experimental Nephrology. Diabetic nephropathy is the foremost cause of kidney failure.

24 May 2011

CT scan may help determine early death in individuals with diabetes

New findings out of Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center reveal that a common test may be useful in predicting early death in individuals with diabetes.

23 May 2011

Cholesterol drug may help treat mitochondrial diseases

A human drug that both prevents and cures kidney failure in mice sheds light on disabling human mitochondrial disorders, and may represent a potential treatment in people with such illnesses.

20 May 2011

Hydroxyurea safe and effective for infants, toddlers with sickle-cell disease

In what is being hailed as a significant advance in the treatment of children with sickle cell anemia, a drug commonly used to treat adults has been shown to be safe and effective in children.

13 May 2011

Five Loyola employees donate kidneys to complete strangers

Loyola University Medical Center is believed to be the first organization in the country, and perhaps the world, in which five employees have each donated kidneys to complete strangers with no strings attached.

28 Apr 2011

Kava tea may cause kidney failure and muscle breakdown

When a 34-year-old bicyclist was found collapsed on a roadside and rushed to the University of Rochester Medical Center emergency room on the verge of kidney failure and muscle breakdown, doctors were surprised to discover that a trendy tea derived from the kava plant was the cause of his ills.

28 Apr 2011

New discoveries on polycystin-1 can lead to novel kidney disease treatment

Two discoveries at UC Santa Barbara point to potential new drug therapies for patients with kidney disease. The findings are published in this week's issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

27 Apr 2011

PVT1 gene may help reduce diabetic nephropathy

A gene called PVT1 may help reduce the kidneys ability to filter blood, leading to kidney disease, kidney failure and death, according to a study published today by researchers at the Translational Genomics Research Institute.

25 Apr 2011

Ketogenic diet may reverse impaired kidney function in diabetics

Researchers from Mount Sinai School of Medicine have for the first time determined that the ketogenic diet, a specialized high-fat, low carbohydrate diet, may reverse impaired kidney function in people with Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes. They also identified a previously unreported panel of genes associated with diabetes-related kidney failure, whose expression was reversed by the diet. The findings were published in the current issue of PLoS ONE.

21 Apr 2011