Richard Jewell, the former security guard and hero of the 1996 Centennial Olympic Park bombing, recently died at the age of 44 after recently starting dialysis. He was discovered at his west Georgia home on August 29 after recently battling diabetes, heart and kidney disease. The official autopsy results seem to indicate that he died of a heart attack most likely associated with his diabetes and kidney disease.

Mr. Jewell was famous for being wrongly linked to the 1996 Centennial Olympic Park bombing. On July 27, 1996, he found a suspicious package that turned out to be a pipe bomb -- which explored a short time later. Because of his quick thinking and bravery, the number of people hurt and killed was greatly reduced. After initially being heralded as a hero, he was later invested by the FBI as a suspect. After this was leaked to the media, it was widely and aggressively reported that he was main suspect. As a result, most people assumed he was guilty. Although Mr. Jewell was later completely vindicated and the real bomber was ultimately found, it still took a devastating toll on his reputation and life.

• Defining Cardiovascular Disease (CVD)
• Cardiovascular Disease (CVD) Risk Factors in Kidney Disease
• Kidney Failure and Cardiac Catherization

Millions of people have or are at risk chronic kidney disease (CKD) but don’t know it. Because kidney disease is usually silent until very late in the process, the National Kidney Foundation (NKF) strongly advocates that people at higher risk for kidney disease be screened. To help primary care doctors and other health professionals better do this, the NKF recently published in the August 2007 edition of the American Journal of Kidney Diseases their position statement on testing for kidney disease.

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Michael Ferracci of Harrington, Delaware has known his share of bad luck but that has all changed. After being diagnosed with kidney failure and starting dialysis a couple years ago, he recently got married and a kidney transplant. Although a lot of people get married and undergo transplantation, what makes this story so unusual is that he met his wife, Kristy, while he was receiving treatment at the dialysis center where she worked. Not only did she help help treat him while he was on dialysis, but she married him and and helped him get off dialysis by donating her kidney.

Michael was diagnosed with kidney failure over three years ago and was immediately started on dialysis. He lost his full-time job as a salesman because of his illness and he life seemed to take a turn for the worse. However, while on dialysis, he met Kristy, who worked as a dialysis technician or specialist. What started as a professional relation turned into something more. At first they kept their relationship secret but that became hard to do after he proposed and they got married! Not long after becoming man and wife, Kathy wanted to donate her kidney to him. As luck would have it, she was a perfect match and he was successfully transplanted in March. He is currently off dialysis and they both are happy and doing well.

• Couple share love and a kidney (NewsZap.com)

Image (c) 2007 iStockphoto.com

The kidneys are responsible for making a hormone called erythropoetin, which tells your body to make red blood cells. Red blood cells carry oxygen from your lungs to the rest of your body. As the kidneys fail, they make less erythropoetin and cause low levels of red blood cells (called anemia).

  

According to an article recently published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, contamination of wheat with aristolochic acid - a plant toxin - may be the cause of the mysterious and deadly kidney disease called Balkan nephopathy. Despite the strong similarities between Balkan nephopathy and Chinese herb nephropathy, researchers could never prove they had the same cause - aristolochic acid - because most of the victims denied using herb supplements. Fifty years later, the mystery may have been solved by the brilliant detective work by Arthur Grollman of the University of Stony Brook. Dr. Grollan has found strong evidence suggesting that the local wheat supply is contaminated by a weed called birthwort or Aristolochia clematis, which produces the famed toxin. Assuming this is true, weeding out this plant should cure the disease.

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A paired kidney donation is becoming increasing popular as a way to overcome an incompatibility between a kidney donor and a transplant recipient. It usually involves finding two couples with incompatibility issues where the donor of first couple is willing donate to the recipient of second couple – and visa versa. Medically, this approach has worked very well since it was first introduced in 2001. However, the problem is that, many transplant centers worry that it might violate National Organ Transplant Act (NOTA). In response to this concern, Congress has recently introduced the Living Kidney Organ Donation Clarification Act (S-487 and HR-710) to clarify that kidney paired donations shall not be considered to involve the “transfer of a human organ for valuable consideration”. If signed into law, this act will remove a serious impediment to living kidney organ donation.

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Every year, the U.S. News and World Report ranks "the best hospitals" for kidney diseases using a number of factors, such as reputation, mortality rates, and other care-related factors. According to their ranking system, the top 10 hospitals for kidney disease in order are:

1. Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston
2. New York-Presbyterian Univ. Hosp. of Columbia and Cornell
3. Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn.
4. Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston
5. Cleveland Clinic
6. Read more...

Most people with kidney disease do not have symptoms and so they do not realize that they have something wrong with their kidneys. However, when someone does have symptoms, it may be hard to know if it is due to a problem with the kidneys or not. Take a moment to better understand symptoms associated with kidney disease.

  

Last month, the Dutch government reported that there was a spike in the registration of organ donor registration following a fake television game show involving a kidney donation. Normally, the donor registry there receives between 3,000 and 4,000 forms a month to be an organ donor. In the month after the show aired, the registry received 12,000 organ donors forms. The producers described the show as a hoax to raise awareness about organ donation – and clearly the stunt worked.

In June, it was reported that a new Dutch reality show, called the Big Donor Show, which was going to give away a donated kidney as a prize. It was very controversial because it supposedly featured a 37-year old woman who wanted to give away one of her kidneys before she dies of an inoperable brain tumor. The show had contestants who where patients with kidney failure actually competing to be the one that will receive her kidney. However, just before the show was to be aired, it was revealed that the show was a fake and the “donor” was not actually dying of cancer. Although the contestants were real patients in need of transplants, they were reportedly in on the hoax. The producers said it was their intention to draw attention to the shortage of organ donations.

• Blog - Dutch Reality Game Show to Give Away Kidney
• Blog - Kidney Transplant TV Show Really a Hoax
• What's Important to Know About Kidney Transplants?

Image (c) 2007 iStockPhoto.com

Researchers from the Duke University Comprehensive Cancer Center recently published an article in the Journal of Clinical Oncology suggesting that combining interferon alpha and Nexavar® (Sorafenib) was more effective than using either drugs alone in patients with advanced kidney cancer. In the past, individual use of interferon alpha and Nexavar® has only led to temporary responses – most cancers began growing within six months. The researchers found that by combining the two drugs, there was a better than expected response – they even reported some cures. As expected, most of the side effects with the treatment had to do with the interferon. So, although these results are preliminary and need to be repeated with larger and more rigorous studies, they are encouraging.

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