We investigated the Systemic Lupus International Collaborative Clinics/American College of Rheumatology (SLICC/ACR) Damage Index as a predictor of severe outcome and an indicator of morbidity in different ethnic groups, and in regard to its validity. We retrospectively studied disease course within 10 yr of diagnosis in an inception cohort of 80 patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE)....

Written by: Travis Spire-Sweet, L.Ac. The United States, along with other developed nations, is succumbing to a drastic increase in renal failure. The rate in increase of people reaching endstage renal disease, (ESRD) glomerular filtration rate less than 20, is not proportionate to quality of care or treatment of the actual disease. To reemphasize, there is no treatment for the actual disease, ...

Continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (CAPD) was first described. I However, it was only after Oreopoulos 2 and eo-workers modified and introduced their technique in 1978, did CAPD gain wide acceptance. Since then, it has established itself as a modality of therapy for patients with endstage renal disease around the world, but mainly in the developed countries. 3.4 Its popularity is due to ...

Introduction Systemic reactive (AA) amyloidosis represents the most important complication within TNF receptor associated periodic syndrome (TRAPS), familial Mediterranean fever (FMF) and other autoinflammatory syndromes, progressively leading to endstage renal failure. The homozygous condition of the serum amyloid A (SAA) variant SAA1.1 is significantly associated with the occurrence of AA amy...

Abnormal taste acuity and zinc depletion have been reported with endstage renal disease. In order to determine when altered taste and zinc deficiency begin in the course of chronic progressive renal disease and to assess the various indices of zinc depletion, 14 pediatric patients were studied who were in various degrees of renal failure. They were not yet on dialysis or in need of transplantat...

Autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD) is the most common hereditary renal disease. There are some reports in the literature concerning unilateral ADPKD. However, in adults, only a few cases of unilateral ADPKD with agenesis of contralateral kidney have been reported. We present a case of unilateral ADPKD with agenesis of contralateral kidney in a 66-yr-old man. Radiographic image...

agnesium (Mg) is involved in many important enzymatic processes, electrolyte balance, and skeletal metabolism. Clinically, Mg plays an important role in the regulation of vascular tone and heart rhythm, prevention of thrombosis, atherosclerosis, insulin resistance, arrhythmia, and osteoporosis, suppression of inflammation, etc (Figure).1–3 Furthermore, hypermagnesemia inhibits parathyroid hormo...

Diabetic nephropathy (DN) remains a major complication of diabetes leading to endstage renal disease (ESRD). The number of diabetic patients with ESRD who require renal replacement therapy has been increasing, implicating unsuccessful prevention of diabetic renal complication. This unfavorable outcome reflects insufficient knowledge on pathogenic mechanisms of DN and its detection at late stage...