Lori has a heart-to-heart with Dr. Maria Ferris, Pediatric Nephrologist from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and specialist in treating adolescents and young adults with CKD. They discuss the unique challenges a young person can face, both those with childhood-onset CKD and those who develop CKD in their adolescence. Dr. Ferris and the team at UNC Kidney Center have developed helpful guidelines and tools for young people with CKD and their parents to help "smooth" what can often be a difficult transition; growing up can have a whole new meaning when you have CKD! All this and more, including discussion on the challenges of completing your education when you have CKD.

Donating a kidney to a friend or family member is becoming more common. Listen to Phillip Palmer, weekday morning anchor for KABC7 Eyewitness News in Los Angeles and hear him describe his journey of what it was like to give the "gift of life" to his good friend Dale Wade Davis. Phillip describes how he made the decision to become a living donor and what inspired him to make this decision. Don't miss this extraordinary act of kindness!

Do you remember how you felt when you started dialysis? Anxious, scared, and with endless questions? This new pilot program called "RightStart," is designed to educate and help new patients feel better and more in control of their health during this critical time. Rebecca Wingard, Nephrology Nurse and Vice President of Quality Initiatives for Fresenius Medical Care, joins us today to talk about the RightStart Program.

It was not until 1962 that scientists discovered that gout is caused by the excess accumulation of monosodium urate (MSU) crystals in the tissues surrounding joints. Uric acid (also known as urate) forms in the body as the natural process of protein break down. Normal levels are less than 7.0 mg/dL. Many people who have chronic kidney disease experience their first attack as their kidney function progressively declines due to reduced urinary excretion of uric acid.

The National Kidney Registry was started and is personally managed by a complete transplant industry outsider - a dad who just wanted to find a compatible donor for his daughter. Below is the founder's story. When my youngest daughter was 10 years old, her kidneys failed. When we learned that she would never recover her kidney function, I raced home to check my old military records for my blood type to see if I would be able to donate my kidney. I was overcome with relief when I discovered that we were both "A" blood type and I would be able to donate.

Today's feature site is US Transplant, at www.ustransplant.org. I've been a huge fan of this particular site for many, many years, as it gives volumes of center specific information as well as nationwide stats. I reference it frequently for data that I need to gather for lectures, 1:1 talks with patients regarding their particular situation as well as to just stay current on transplant statistical information. There are areas to check national stats, local hospital & OPO stats and research resources.

Be aware that it is against federal law to buy or sell an organ in the United States punishable by severe fines and jail time. So unless you decide to go outside of the United States and take the risks in some third world country of buying an organ, you had best learn the "ins and outs" that UNOS allows by Multiple Listing

The presence of protein in the urine, an early sign of kidney disease. One of the major medical complications of diabetes is diabetic nephropathy, a type of kidney disease that develops slowly over the course of years. Diabetic nephropathy can lead to end-stage renal disease (kidney failure), necessitating dialysis or kidney transplantation. In fact, diabetic nephropathy is the leading cause of kidney failure in the United States.

A complication of diabetes that damages the kidneys' ability to filter waste from the blood. Diabetic nephropathy is the single most common cause of kidney failure in the Western world. Nearly one-third of all people with Type 1 diabetes will eventually develop kidney failure due to diabetic nephropathy. A small percentage of people with Type 2 diabetes will also eventually develop diabetic nephropathy.

A popular oral drug for treating Type 2 diabetes. Metformin (brand name Glucophage) is a member of a class of drugs called biguanides that helps lower blood sugar levels by improving the way the body handles insulin-namely, by preventing the liver from making excess glucose and by making muscle and fat cells more sensitive to available insulin.

Thirty-somethings can expect to enjoy at least another 30 years of sex, researchers have found.

Donors who gave up a kidney to save another person's life paid no penalty in their own long-term survival, a study of national data suggested.

SAN FRANCISCO (MedPage Today) -- Early response to preoperative targeted therapy for metastatic renal cell carcinoma may indicate efficacy, while treatment-induced hypertension may be another marker after surgery, according to studies reported here.

WASHINGTON (MedPage Today) -- The FDA and manufacturer of the HomeChoice and HomeChoice PRO dialysis systems notified patients of a class I device recall -- the FDA's most severe -- after a number of reported injuries and one death.

Among patients with end-stage renal disease who are anemic, more intensive use of iron or erythropoiesis-stimulating agents lowered or increased the risk of death, depending on hematocrit levels, researchers said.

Even intentional napping may increase older adults' risk of type 2 diabetes, according to a large Chinese cohort study.

Increased fatigue was associated with double the risk of cardiovascular events in patients with end-stage renal disease, data from a Japanese study showed.

Deficiency of the circulating form of vitamin D affects at least 79% of new dialysis patients, according to findings that suggest renal production of the active form of vitamin D doesn't tell the whole story.

GlaxoSmithKline disputes a congressional report suggesting rosiglitazone (Avandia) be pulled from the market, charging that the assessment "fails to present an accurate, balanced, or complete view" of data on the diabetes drug.

SAN ANTONIO (MedPage Today) -- Many strokes occur when the patient is alone, with no one to verify time of onset, but, a researcher said here, that's no reason to withhold recombinant tissue-plasminogen activator (tPA).

WASHINGTON, D.C.—For more than half a century, products containing ion exchange resins have been used in patients with dangerously high levels of potassium.

Suppose, as some experts advise, that the new national dietary guidelines due this spring will lower the recommended level of salt. Suppose further that public health officials in New York and Washington succeed in forcing food companies to use less salt.

, KALAMAZOO — Almost everyone knows regular exercise is good for your heart. But here’s another reason to keep active: Exercise helps keep your kidneys healthy.

You may not be aware that the dialysis providers will have a one-time option to choose how fast to switch over to being reimbursed based on the new bundle.

NEW YORK—Obese African-Americans may be more vulnerable to the effects of chronic kidney disease than obese whites, according to new findings from the National Kidney Foundation’s Kidney Early Evaluation Program (KEEP).

Updated: 03/01/2010 Dear Abby: In March of last year, I saw your column about the upcoming World Kidney Day when the National Kidney Foundation would offer free screenings around the country through their Kidney Early Evaluation Program (KEEP).

SEATTLE—Christopher Blagg, MD, FRCP, will be recognized by the University of Missouri and the Annual Dialysis Conference for “advanced knowledge and patient care in the field of hemodialysis” with its 2010 Award for Lifetime Achievement in Hemodialysis.

THURSDAY, Feb. 25 (HealthDay News) -- Fatigue in dialysis patients may be a warning sign of an impending heart attack or other serious heart problems, a new study suggests.

WASHINGTON—Vitamin D deficiency is almost universal among kidney disease patients who have low blood protein levels and who start dialysis during the winter, according to a study published online Feb.

WASHINGTON—An international group of medical experts has crafted a much-needed classification system for diabetic nephropathy, the leading cause of total kidney failure, according to a study published online Feb.

FDA: Cangene, Baxter and FDA notified healthcare professionals that cases of intravascular hemolysis (IVH) and its complications, including fatalities, have been reported in patients treated for immune thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP) with WinRho SDF. IVH can lead to clinically compromising anemia and multi-system organ failure including acute respiratory distress syndrome. Serious complications including severe anemia, acute renal insufficiency, renal failure and disseminated intravascular coagulation have also been reported. Fatal outcomes associated with IVH and its complications have occurred most frequently in patients of advanced age (age over 65) with co-morbid conditions.

EurekAlert: Last year, the FDA issued a warning against giving ion exchange resins with sorbitol, based on reported cases of potentially fatal bowel injury. Yet pre-mixed preparations of the resin with sorbitol are still marketed and widely used. Sterns asks, "If ion exchange resins were presented to the FDA today, with the data available, would the agency rule them safe and effective?" The answer, according to Sterns, based on a review of the available data is "probably not." "We found no rigorous scientific evidence that ion exchange resins are effective in ridding the body of excess potassium," says Sterns. "In fact, we found some evidence showing that, on rare occasions, they might be harmful." "We found no evidence that would meet modern standards for drug approval," Sterns and coauthors conclude. They call for further studies to weigh the harms versus benefits of these products. Meanwhile, they believe that doctors should first try other alternatives to managing high potassium levels, "before turning to these largely unproven and potentially harmful therapies."

LA Times: People who donate a kidney to a sick friend or relative live at least as long as others in the general population and may live somewhat longer because they tend to take better care of themselves after the procedure, researchers reported Tuesday.

Mass. Device: The Lawrence, Mass.-based firm said the most recent data from its Freedom trial, compared with the Medical Outcomes Study sleep survey and the International RLS Study Group Rating Scale, showed that overall sleep quality significantly improved during the first four months on the NxStage System One. The study also showed improvements in four of the five sleep scale categories (sleep adequacy, drowsiness, sleep initiation and maintenance) and fewer respiratory disturbances, according to a press release. And patients with restless leg syndrome benefited as well, with 36 percent fewer patients reporting any symptoms after four months.

EurekAlert: Scientists at the University of Copenhagen have discovered that Vitamin D is crucial to activating our immune defenses and that without sufficient intake of the vitamin, the killer cells of the immune system – T cells - will not be able to react to and fight off serious infections in the body. For T cells to detect and kill foreign pathogens such as clumps of bacteria or viruses, the cells must first be 'triggered' into action and 'transform' from inactive and harmless immune cells into killer cells that are primed to seek out and destroy all traces of a foreign pathogen. The researchers found that the T cells rely on vitamin D in order to activate and they would remain dormant, 'naive' to the possibility of threat if vitamin D is lacking in the blood.

DSEN (Peter Laird, MD): It was an amazing day of discussions, information, making friendships and keeping the raison d'etre focussed on the real issue of optimal dialysis for all Americans. It is a conference that all renal professionals and patients should attend. I am looking at the next meeting in Phoenix already. There remains much work to be completed and mindsets to be changed. The time has come for optimal dialysis and it is before us as never before. If anyone has lost hope while on dialysis, I would highly recommend simply looking at the work of the individuals listed above and know that there is much to hope for.

BusinessWire (FMC press release): -Fresenius Medical Care, the world’s largest provider of dialysis services and products, today announced that its subsidiary, U.S. Vascular Access Holdings, LLC has completed the acquisition of National Vascular Care Inc. Based in Rosemont, Pennsylvania, National Vascular Care is a premier provider of vascular services that works in partnership with leading vascular surgeons, nephrologists, interventional radiologists and cardiologists throughout the United States to develop, own and manage specialty outpatient surgery centers dedicated to improving the delivery of vascular care in the U.S.

Wall Street Journal: In a study involving 133 overweight women, those with a genetic predisposition to benefit from a low-carbohydrate diet lost 2 1/2 times as much weight as those on the same diet without the predisposition. Similarly, women with a genetic makeup that favored a low-fat diet lost substantially more weight than women who curbed fat calories without low-fat genes. The women were followed for a year.

India Times: The patients were divided into two groups. Both groups were treated with anti-hypertensive medication Ramipril and one group of 29 patients took Pycnogenol in addition to the Ramipril. Urine was collected during a 24 hour period for quantification of protein (albumin) at baseline and again after six months of treatment.

JASN early release: Vasopressin antagonists increase the serum sodium concentration in patients who have euvolemia and hypervolemia with hyponatremia in the short term (=30 days), but their safety and efficacy with longer term administration is unknown. SALTWATER was a multicenter, open-label extension of the Study of Ascending Levels of Tolvaptan in Hyponatremia (SALT-1 and SALT-2). In total, 111 patients with hyponatremia received oral tolvaptan for a mean follow-up of 701 days, providing 77,369 patient-days of exposure. All patients had hyponatremia at randomization in SALT-1 and SALT-2, and 85% continued to have hyponatremia at entry in SALTWATER. The most common adverse effects attributed to tolvaptan were pollakiuria, thirst, fatigue, dry mouth, polydipsia, and polyuria. Six drug-related adverse effects led to study discontinuation. The increase in serum sodium exceeded the desired 1 mmol/L per h at initiation in five patients. Hypernatremia (>145 mmol/L) led to discontinuation in one patient. Mean serum sodium increased from 130.8 mmol/L at baseline to >135 mmol/L throughout the observation period (P < 0.001 versus baseline at most points). Responses were comparable between patients with euvolemia and those with heart failure but more modest in patients with cirrhosis. In conclusion, prolonged administration of tolvaptan maintains an increased serum sodium with an acceptable margin of safety.

(University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine) Louis J. Soslowsky, Ph.D. Fairhill professor of Orthopaedic Surgery and professor of Bioengineering, director of the McKay Orthopaedic Research Laboratory and Penn Center for Musculoskeletal Disorders at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, was named the 2010 winner of the Ann Doner Vaughan Kappa Delta Award by the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgery.

(NIH/National Institutes of Health, Office of Disease Prevention) An independent panel convened this week by the National Institutes of Health confronted a troubling fact that pregnant women currently have limited access to clinicians and facilities able and willing to offer a trial of labor after previous cesarean delivery because of so-called VBAC bans. The panel affirmed that a trial of labor is a reasonable option for many women with a prior cesarean delivery. But many women are not offered this option.

(Karolinska Institutet) A thyroid-hormone-like substance that works specifically on the liver reduces blood cholesterol with no serious side effects. This according to a clinical trial conducted by researchers from the Swedish medical university Karolinska Institutet, amongst other centers, published today in the top-ranking scientific periodical the New England Journal of Medicine.

(American Association of Anatomists) The Board of Directors of the American Association of Anatomists (AAA) has approved a set of guidelines to govern programs accepting the donation of bodies for education and biomedical research. The guidelines cover the minimum requirements that should be met by any Willed Body Program.

(UT Southwestern Medical Center) Patients who undergo gastric bypass surgery experience changes in their urine composition that increase their risk of developing kidney stones, research from UT Southwestern Medical Center investigators suggests.

(Harvard School of Public Health) A new firearms research database launched by the Harvard School of Public Health makes scholarly articles more accessible to reporters, law enforcement, public health officials, policymakers and the general public.

(University of Iowa) Current drugs used to treat heart failure and irregular heartbeat have limited effectiveness and have side effects. New basic science findings from a University of Iowa and Vanderbilt University study suggest a way that treatments could potentially be refined so that they work better and target only key heart-related mechanisms.

(The Company of Biologists) Discovery of an antibiotic's capacity to improve cell function in laboratory tests is providing movement disorder researchers with leads to more desirable molecules with potentially similar traits, according to University of Alabama scientists co-authoring a paper publishing March 10 in the journal Disease Models & Mechanisms.

(American Chemical Society) Fifty years after the first laser sparked a technological revolution, the "light fantastic" continues to impact people's daily lives -- by playing DVDs, speeding Internet connections, and performing intricate surgery. As the golden anniversary of the announcement of the first laser approaches on July 7th, Chemical & Engineering News, ACS' weekly newsmagazine, takes a special look at the past, present, and exciting future of this amazing invention.

(UT Southwestern Medical Center) Physicians may be able to safely lower the platelet dosage in transfusions for cancer and bone-marrow transplant patients without risking increased bleeding, according to new research involving UT Southwestern Medical Center and 28 other medical institutions.