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This Viewpoint puts forward the intriguing hypothesis that vitamin K is a modifiable risk factor for vascular calcification in patients on dialysis. Reports linking vitamin K with regulation of vascular calcification via the actions of matrix GLA protein are set in the context of the authors' own data on the incidence of subclinical vitamin K deficiency and the use of the vitamin K antagonist warfarin in the dialysis setting.
There is currently insufficient evidence to recommend screening of kidney allograft donors and recipients for parvovirus B19 infection. As such, physicians managing recipients need to have a high index of suspicion, and include this type of infection in their differential diagnosis of chronic anemia and other cytopenias in the post-transplantation period. Here, Waldman and Kopp from the NIH review the pathogenesis, diagnosis and management of parvovirus B19 infection.
Vesicoureteral reflux is a prevalent disease commonly encountered by primary pediatricians, pediatric nephrologists and pediatric urologists. Few issues in pediatrics generate as much controversy as the management of this condition. Different treatment options, as well as pathophysiology, clinical presentation and initial work-up, and radiographic assessment, are discussed here by two urological and surgical specialists.
This wide-ranging introduction to new technologies for the management of renal failure touches on the optimization of conventional dialysis and on alternative techniques such as transplantation methods, artificial kidneys, tissue engineering strategies and harnessing the regenerative capacity of stem cells. The potential for other organs to 'host' renal functions, and the co-opting of developmental plasticity, are also discussed.
