Welcome to the first eUpdate for 2008. ISN would like to take this opportunity to wish all our readers joy and continued success in life. To our ISN Members, we thank you for all your hard work and dedication – your support is helping us make tangible progress towards improved treatments and ultimately prevention of kidney disease. Your involvement in ISN and its activities – whether it’s participating in educational symposia; campaigning for greater awareness about the importance of kidney health; providing physicians from emerging countries with access to knowledge and education ; or contributing to the generation of knowledge by submitting to and reading ISN’s leading publications such as Kidney International and NCP Nephrology – are helping us, as a society, to realize our shared goal of promoting the global advancement of nephrology.

To the nephrology community in general, we would like to extend a sincere invitation to consider joining the ISN family and become a member of our expanding network of leading nephrologists from around the world.
Find out what ISN can do for you

Don’t miss your chance to apply for our upcoming exciting events:

ISN Nexus Symposium: Diabetes and the Kidney June 26-29 Dublin, Ireland
Deadline for Abstracts Submission Has Been Extended to February 12
Offering the very latest in basic and clinical insight, this three-and-a-half-day program incorporates basic and clinical sessions to present cutting-edge discoveries, and translational sessions linking research to practice, signposting future directions and solutions at laboratory and patient care levels.

ISN Forefronts Symposium on Polycystic Kidney Disease (PKD) April 10-13 Montreal, Canada
Deadline for Abstracts and Travel Grants: February 15
The key purpose of Forefronts in Nephrology is to familiarize nephrologists with emerging fields in research that are likely to have a major impact on the future of their work. By making nephrologists aware of the latest research and findings, ISN ensures that its members are at the ‘forefront’ of renal research.

Many celebrities have agreed to endorse World Kidney Day.  Their endorsements are an enormous asset in driving public awareness of the World Kidney Day effort. Here's the growing list of celebrities from around the world:

• Johnny Depp – actor and director USA
• James DePreist – Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony orchestra conductor JAPAN
• Daiane dos Santos – gymnast, World Cup gold medalist BRAZIL
• Edward Einhorn – owner of Chicago White Sox baseball team USA
• Sertab Erener – Eurovision 2003 song winner TURKEY
• "Bernardinho" Rocha de Rezende – football coach BRAZIL
• “Giba” Godoy Filho – volleyball champion BRAZIL
• Gloria Maria Matta da Silva – volleyball champion BRAZIL
• Louis Gossett Jr. – actor and Academy Award winner USA
• Tom Hanks – two-time Oscar winning actor USA
• Jonah Lomu – rugby player NEW ZEALAND
• George Lopez (and wife: Ann Lopez) – actor USA
• Teun de Nooijer – hockey player THE NETHERLANDS
• Maria Petrova – Bulgarian Gold Medal gymnast BULGARIA
• Fatih Terim – football manager TURKEY
• Jacques Rogge – IOC President BELGIUM

It’s not too late to ‘Act Now’! Stay informed and up-to-date on actions taking place on Thursday, March 13 and don’t forget to keep everyone well informed about your own efforts - submit your WKD plans online.

Scores of WKD activities and events are in progress all around the world. To see what is taking place in your community, bookmark the WKD website ‘2008 Planned Events’.

If you were unable to attend last year’s Hypertension and the Kidney symposium that brought together 400 renowned nephrologists and hypertension specialists, you missed out on a great opportunity to review and discuss the cause-and-effect aspects of the kidney and blood pressure. However, ISN has made it possible for you to view these online educational presentations through Conference Captures.

What happens when people seek organ transplants outside their own communities? Are human organs now viewed as commodities? Listen and become better informed about the world of organ trafficking and the implications behind the exchange of money for organs.

The ISN would like to thank Dr. Claudio Ronco, Director of San Bartolo Hospital in Vicenza, Italy, for his generous gesture in giving five free registrations to ISN Fellows to attend the '17th INTERNATIONAL VICENZA COURSE ON HEMODIALYSIS'. The course will be held from June 3-6 2008 in Vicenza, Italy.

If you are interested in attending - visit the Vicenza International Courses website for details on the registration and venue.

Further information on the institutional host is available on the San Bartolo Hospital website.

The ISN-COMGAN Research and Prevention Committee’s Program on Non-Communicable Chronic Diseases in Developing Countries currently focuses on three main areas of activity: screenings, prevention and research. The Committee supports selected prevention projects in developing countries on a competitive basis.

The Program’s Call for Proposals consists of two annual application rounds with application deadlines of April 1 and October 1, general information can be found on the Gateway.

Resulting from the most recent Call, 3 new projects have been approved:

• Mozambique, Maputo
  Identification, management, epidemiology and genetics of hypertension in children in Mozambique.
  Project coordinator: Dr Hemlazmi Natalal
• Mexico, Guadalajara
  Management of chronic disease in type 2 diabetes mellitus: comparison of 3 primary health-care models
  Project coordinator: Dr Alfonso M. Cueto-Manzano
• Nigeria, Maiduguri
  Health survey of adults for the prevention of kidney disease, hypertension and diabetes in the Northeast zone, Nigeria
  Project coordinator: Dr Emeka Nwankwo

Download the PDF Application Guidelines to learn how you can submit your project proposal for this October.

Literature Update

The ISN Nephrology Gateway’s Literature Update section provides you with a hand-picked overview of the most recently published articles in nephrology and related disciplines.

Recent additions include:

• In Vitro Detection of C4d-Fixing HLA Alloantibodies: Associations With Capillary C4d Deposition in Kidney Allografts
  (American Journal of Transplantation)
• Low Birth Weight Increases Risk for End-Stage Renal Disease
  (Journal of the American Society of Nephrology)
• Effect of Antecedent Hypertension and Follow-Up Blood Pressure on Outcomes After High-Risk Myocardial Infarction
  (Hypertension An Official Journal of the American Heart Association)

Ask the Expert

Expert:
Dr. John Feehally

A Case of IgA Nephropathy: Conservative or Aggressive Therapy?

John Feehally is a Professor of renal medicine in Leicester, UK as well as President of the Renal Association and Secretary-General of ISN. In this issue, Dr. Feehally investigates a patient who has a newly-diagnosed IgA nephropathy, with diffuse proliferative lesions, and proteinuria is decreased from 3g to 1g/day with ACE+ARB. Read Dr Feehally’s reponse as to whether or not the patient should receive immunosuppressive therapy…

Clinico-Pathologic Conference (CPC)

CPC: Test your pathology
skills

An elderly female with acute renal failure

The pathology team at Columbia University presents this month’s CPC. Test your pathology skills…

Kidney International Update on Table of Contents
A big Thank you to every one who stopped by the Nature Publishing Group stand, and also to those that claimed their very own Kidney International umbrella at last year’s American Society of Nephrology (ASN) meeting in San Francisco. The NPG teams on Kidney International and Nature Clinical Practice Nephrology are grateful for your support and look forward to seeing you again at CM08 - National Kidney Foundation 2008 Spring Clinical Meeting.

The full table of contents for the February (1) 2008 edition of Kidney International is now available online.

New ISN’s Top Ten Downloaded Articles
See which articles made it into the 2007 Top Ten Charts!

Nature Clinical Practice Nephrology Update on Table of Contents
Read the complete Nature Clinical Nephrology table of contents for the January 2008 edition online.

World Kidney Day
March 13, 2008

ISN Forefront in Nephrology Symposium on Polycystic Kidney Disease
April 10-13, 2008
Montreal, Canada

ISN Nexus Symposium on Diabetes and the Kidney
June 26-29, 2008
Dublin, Ireland

ISN Nexus Symposium on Transplantation and the Kidney
September 25-28, 2008
Rome, Italy

World Congress of Nephrology
May 22-26, 2009
Milan, Italy