Kidney Mentoring and Assessment Program for Students: a guide for engaging medical students in nephrology.

Background: The American Society of Nephrology's (ASN) Workforce Committee created a unique program called the Kidney Mentoring and Awareness Program for Students to engage medical students in the fight against kidney diseases and interest them in careers in nephrology.

Methods: The program provided a framework and 2 years of funding to three medical schools to organize and carry out health screenings in underserved areas of their communities as well as a structure for student mentoring by the practicing nephrologists.

Results: The Workforce Committee identified three medical schools (Emory University, Atlanta, GA; Indiana University, Indianapolis, IN and University of Louisville, Louisville, KY) and engaged faculty at each school to serve as advisors.

Cocaine-induced acute interstitial nephritis: A case report and review of the literature.

Background: Acute tubular necrosis and pigment induced kidney injury are well described consequences of cocaine abuse. However, acute interstitial nephritis associated with cocaine use has been previously reported in only three patients.

Case Presentation: We present the case of a 49-year-old man who developed acute kidney injury from biopsy-proven interstitial nephritis after nasal insufflation of cocaine.

Percutaneous endoscopic lumbar herniectomy for high-grade down-migrated L4-L5 disc through an L5-S1 interlaminar approach: a technical note.

Background: L4-L5 disc herniations can be treated with percutaneous endoscopic lumbar discectomy (PELD) using a transforaminal posterolateral approach. Although PELD has some distinct advantages over conventional open discectomy, inadequate decompression is a major cause of failure of the procedure, especially with high-grade migrations. The objective of this technical note is to present a new surgical approach for treating high-grade, down-migrated, L4-L5 disc herniations through an L5-S1 interlaminar endoscopic approach.

Combination therapy of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors and angiotensin II receptor blockers in chronic kidney disease.

Dual blockade of the renin-angiotensin system (RAS) with a combination of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors and angiotensin receptor blockers for the treatment of hypertension and proteinuria has been tested in several randomized trials among patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD). Although combination therapy reduces proteinuria and blood pressure, adequately powered studies evaluating time to end-stage renal disease, death, or cardiovascular outcomes in patients with CKD have not been done. Dual blockade of RAS can cause hyperkalemia, renal failure, and orthostatic hypotension and potentially worsen outcomes; therefore, the risk-benefit ratio in patients with CKD remains unclear.