Kidney News and Research

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Minimally invasive heart bypass surgery using a DaVinci robot provides health and economic benefits

Minimally invasive heart bypass surgery using a DaVinci robot means a shorter hospital stay and faster recovery for patients, as well as fewer complications and a better chance that the new bypass vessels will stay open.

27 Apr 2008

Bioartificial kidney speeds recovery, reduces mortality

Another promising clinical trial for the bioartificial kidney is offering researchers even more hope that within the next few years the device will be available to save lives of patients with acute renal failure.

24 Apr 2008

Tredaptive and Janumet recommended for approval in European Union

Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is currently reviewing the combination of extended release (ER) niacin and laropiprant under the trademark Cordaptive (ER niacin/laropiprant). The CHMP recommendation does not apply to regulatory decisions by the FDA and no inferences should be made about pending FDA regulatory actions based on the recommendation of the CHMP.

24 Apr 2008

Researchers unravel heparin death mystery

An international team of researchers led by MIT has explained how contaminated batches of the blood-thinner heparin were able to slip past traditional safety screens and kill dozens of patients recently in the United States and Germany.

23 Apr 2008

Fat-cell hormone linked to kidney disease

Reduced levels of a hormone produced by fat cells and linked to the development of insulin resistance may also be related to a higher risk of kidney disease, according to a study led by researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine and Thomas Jefferson University.

22 Apr 2008

Number of HIV-positive state and federal inmates drops

Between 2005 and 2006 the number of state and federal prisoners who were HIV-positive decreased 3.1 percent -- from 22,676 to 21,980 inmates, according to a report by the Justice Department's Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS). Another BJS report estimated that 44 percent of state inmates and 39 percent of federal inmates reported a current medical problem other than a cold or a virus.

22 Apr 2008

U.S. and China at loggerheads over contaminated Heparin

Health officials in the U.S. appear to be at loggerheads with Chinese officials over the contamination of the blood-thinning drug Heparin.

22 Apr 2008

HHS appeals decision that requires release of Medicare physician claims data

HHS last week in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia filed an appeal of an August 2007 court decision that requires the department to release Medicare claims data on more than 40 million beneficiaries and 700,000 physicians, the Los Angeles Times reports (Alonso-Zaldivar, Los Angeles Times, 4/19).

21 Apr 2008

Hypertension all about what you eat and drink

Scientific research on human metabolism based on people from around the world has revealed compounds in urine indicate surprising differences affecting blood pressure.

20 Apr 2008

Iron nanoparticles spot tumor spread in patients with kidney cancer

Iron nanoparticles designed to collect in lymph nodes containing metastatic cancer cells have proven that they can help physicians detect metastatic spread of prostate cancer.

18 Apr 2008

The mechanism of phosphorus as a cardiovascular risk factor in chronic kidney disease

The estimated 19 million Americans living with chronic kidney disease (CKD) face a high risk of death from cardiovascular disease. Recent studies have shown that a main source of this cardiovascular risk is CKD patients' high levels of blood phosphate.

17 Apr 2008

American Chemistry Council calls on FDA to update review of Bisphenol A

The American Chemistry Council (ACC) today sent a letter to FDA Commissioner Andrew von Eschenbach requesting FDA to update its review of the safety of bisphenol A in food contact applications.

17 Apr 2008

Creatinine increase in elderly means increased renal disease, mortality

Even small increases in serum creatinine levels during hospitalization raise the risk of end stage renal disease and mortality of elderly patients over the long term, according to a University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) study in the Archives of Internal Medicine.

16 Apr 2008

Elevated levels of antioxidant urate may slow Parkinson's progression

Naturally elevated levels of the antioxidant urate may slow the progression of Parkinson's disease in men. Researchers from the MassGeneral Institute for Neurodegenerative Disease (MGH-MIND) and Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) examined data from an earlier study and found that, among recently diagnosed Parkinson's patients, those with the highest urate levels had a significantly slower rate of disease progression during the two-year study period.

15 Apr 2008

Statins may help control blood pressure

Researchers in the States say that statins, the popular cholesterol-lowering drugs, may also lower blood pressure.

15 Apr 2008

Biomarkers allow doctors to match therapy to patient

Genetic variations ensure that no two people are exactly alike, nor are their cancers.

13 Apr 2008

Prevention of osteoporosis might lie in vitamin D levels

Sixty-year-old Darlene Yates has had two hip replacements, a knee replacement and this past year shattered her left femur while she was walking in her neighborhood.

10 Apr 2008

Kidney cancer deaths show overall decrease in Europe

Overall deaths from kidney cancer have now fallen across Europe after peaking in the early 1990s, according to a detailed analysis of mortality rates for 32 countries published in the urology journal BJU International.

10 Apr 2008

The effect of Raloxifene treatment in postmenopausal women with chronic kidney disease

The osteoporosis drug raloxifene increases bone mineral density and reduces the risk of vertebral fractures among postmenopausal women with mild to moderate chronic kidney disease (CKD), according to a study appearing in the July 2008 issue of the Journal of the American Society Nephrology.

10 Apr 2008

Acute kidney injury with sepsis

ICU patients with septic acute kidney injury (AKI) are generally sicker, have a higher burden of illness, a greater risk of mortality and longer stays in hospital than patients with non-septic AKI.

10 Apr 2008