Japanese Society of Nephrology

WCN2011

2010-08-30T00:13:22Z

World Congress of Nephrology (WCN) 2011 will be held on April 8-12, 2011, Vancouver, Canada, hosted by the Canadian Society of Nephrology (CSN) and the International Society of Nephrology (ISN). The scientific Programme Committee will be chaired by Richard J Johnson with co-chairs Adeera Levin, Jurgen Floege, and Marcello Tonelli. The pros and cons debate will be featured in the program. WCN is the leading educational event in international nephrology attracting attendance from the worldwide nephrology community, including physicians, academicians, and clinical researchers, as well as other healthcare professionals involved in multidisciplinary nephrology care. The WCN aims to advance the education of physicians and other professionals, support the development of clinical research, and facilitate the delivery of high-quality healthcare worldwide.
Deadlines for early registration and abstract submission will be December and September 30th, 2010. For more information, visit www.isn-online.org.

XIV International Congress on Nutrition and Metabolism in Renal Disease

2010-08-22T23:58:21Z

The International Society of Renal Nutrition & Metabolism (ISRNM, www.renalnutrition.com ) plans to hold its 16th International Congress for Renal Nutrition & Metabolism during June 26-30, 2012, in Hilton Hawaiian Village in Waikiki Beach, Honolulu, Hawaii. The venue is located within 20 minutes of driving from Honolulu International Airport, which has non-stop flights to several cities in Japan and South East Asia. Dr Kamyar Kalantar-Zadeh, Associate Professor of Medicine, Pediatrics & Epidemiology, UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine, and UCLA School of Public Health, Los Angeles, CA is the chair of the 2012 Renal Nutrition Week Program Committee.　It become the First World Renal Nutrition Week with brilliant scientific sessions and symposiums focused on nutrition and diet, kidney disease, hypertension, diabetes, bone and minerals, anemia, internal medicine and public education-professional enlightenment in balance with personal rejuvenation. They are interested in high numbers of participating nephrologists, nutritionists, dietitians and other clinicians and scientists from South East Asia and Pacific Ocean area. Sincerely,
For more information: http://www.renalnutritionweek.net/

The 54rd Annual JSN meeting

2010-08-16T00:00:20Z

The 54rd Annual JSN meeting will be held on June 15 (Thursday) to 17 (Friday), 2011 in Yokohama. This will be held in conjunction with JSDT, Japan Kidney Week 2011. The main theme will be "Kidney as a regulator of the whole body system - High Time for JSN initiated research system to strengthen the activities-. President Prof Sasaki S will present the presidential address. The invited speakers are Prof. Kanwar YS (Chicago, USA), and Prof. Ronco P (Paris, France). Call for abstract will open on Nov. 18 and the deadline will be December 24, 2009. For more information, visit www.jsn.or.jp, or suchida.kid@tmd.ac.jp.
Schedule and program of the JSN meeting are governed by the JSN committee with collaboration of each appointed president of the meeting. JSN2012 will be held on June 1 (Friday) to 3 (Sunday) at Yokohama; President Prof. K Tomita.

The JSN Executive Board Meeting 2010

2010-08-08T22:49:50Z

The JSN Executive Board Meeting, chaired by Prof H Makino, will be held on August 28, 2010, in Tokyo.
Members of the several committee and sub-committee have changed, but activities will be continued and further strengthened. Two new sub-committees were added concerning JSN certified CKD treatment specialist (Ryoyo-Shidoshi) and changes in legal status of scientific association. Ryoyo-Shidoshi will be trained with CKD-specific knowledge and skills and thereby help physicians to prevent CKD, ESRD, and other related medical conditions. In Japan, a large reform on structures is undergoing. JSN faces to choose the type of legal condition. Among other medical associations, few societies choose Koueki-Houjin as it may be difficult to prove and maintain publicity.
For more information, visit JSN at www.jsn.or.jp.

Nephron NEWS

2010-08-06T02:39:49Z

Issue 6,2010 [August, 2010]

I strongly encourage the readers of Nephron Digest to engage in a dialogue by emailing me to discuss issues of global nephrological interest. These would be addressed by expert members of the editorial board of Nephron. Also readers are encouraged to request topics that they would like to be updated upon through the Mini Review series of Nephron Clinical Practice.

Besides reading Nephron Digest, I hope you are enjoying a great World Cup 2010.

Professor Meguid El Nahas, PhD, FRCP
Editor, Nephron Clinical Practice
nephron@sheffield.ac.uk
m.el-nahas@sheffield.ac.uk

Digest of issue 116/3/2010

An Update and Practical Guide to Renal Stone Management (N. Johri and colleagues, UK and Australia; Nephron Clin Pract 2010;116:c159-c171) This mini review covers aspects of epidemiology, genetics, and pathophysiology of renal stone disease and gives clear guidance on its management, merits of ESWL, endoscopic and surgical removal as well as medical management and dietary recommendations. Kidney stone disease is highly prevalent in emerging economies and is likely to increase globally with the ongoing epidemic of obesity (M.J. Semins et al., J Urol 2010;183:571-575). Nephrologists worldwide therefore need to familiarize themselves with aspects of diagnosis and management of kidney stone disease.

Clinical Transformation: The Key to Green Nephrology (A. Connor and colleagues, UK; Nephron Clin Pract 2010;116:c200-c206) The authors bring ecology to nephrology in a challenging review on 'green nephrology'. Clearly, nephrology practice cannot avoid the tide of green practices and energy conservation. In fact, energy conservation is likely to impact on general population health including causes and complications of CKD (P. Wilkinson et al., Lancet 2009;374:1917-1929). This challenge is similar to other major public health issues in that it requires to be clearly defined, evidence gathered, theories developed, alliances built, policies formulated and actions taken. Facts need to inform trends! All too often in nephrology, trends are followed before they are supported by strong evidence?!

Selective Strategy for Urethral Catheterization in Febrile Young Girls to Confirm Urinary Tract Infection Diagnosis (C. Runel-Belliard and co-authors, France and UK; Nephron Clin Pract 2010;116:c235-c240) This original article reports an approach to identify non-toilet-trained febrile girls at high risk for UTIs to restrict urethral catheterizations (UCs) to this high-risk group of patients. Absence of another source of fever on examination and the child's unusual behavior were found to be independent predictors of UTI. The authors propose a clinical decision model to selectively identify young febrile girls at high risk of UTI warranting UC in order to avoid unnecessary UCs.

Moderate Chronic Kidney Disease in Women Is Associated with Fracture Occurrence Independently of Osteoporosis (S. Kinsella and co-authors, Ireland; Nephron Clin Pract 2010;116:c256-c262) The authors draw attention to the increased risk of fractures in CKD; the adjusted odds ratios of any prior fracture for eGFR 75-89, 60-74 and 30-59 were 1.0 (reference), 1.2 (0.9-1.6) and 1.4 (1.0-1.9), respectively, adjusting simultaneously for age, T score, risk factors and treatment for osteoporosis. Moderate CKD is associated with increased morbidity and all-cause mortality (Chronic Kidney Disease Prognosis Consortium. Lancet 2010;375:2073-2081). Fractures, especially in elderly women suffering from CKD, can only increase poor outcomes.

For previous issues of Nephron Digest or to sign up for future issues, click here. For submission of articles, sign-ups to ToC Alerts or to recommend Nephron Clinical Practice to your librarian, please go to the journal's homepage..

© S. Karger AG - Medical and Scientific Publishers
Allschwilerstrasse 10, P.O. Box, CH-4009 Basel (Switzerland)
Tel. +41 61 306 1200, Fax +41 61 306 1234, publications@karger.ch.

7th ISURT Congress in Nagoya

2010-08-02T00:00:07Z

The International Society of Uremia Research and Toxicity (ISURT) Congress will be held in Nagoya on May 12-14, 2011. The Congress president is Prof. T Niwa, Nagoya University and the Society president is Prof. B Rutkowski.
The purpose of the ISURT shall be to advance the knowledge on uremia research and toxicity and to foster communication of the advancement of this knowledge by means of scientific meetings and cooperation with other scientific societies of nephrology and so on. Preparations are going on to offer an interesting scientific program including state-of-the art lectures by the eminent speakers from all over the world. Abstract deadline is Dec. 20, 2010 and the early registration on February 20, 2011. For more information: www.med.nagoya-u.ac.jp/uremia/icurt/

Cadaver transplant in Japan

2010-07-25T22:00:27Z

Japan has been suffering from shortage of organ donors for transplantation. JSN and JSDT are working together to promote organ (kidney) donation, in particular to liberate regulation on cadaver transplant.
Recently, MHLW announced the Modification of the Action Guide on Organ Transplantation Law. It has been active since July 17. Major modified points are: 1) age of donor (<6 years): can be done with several conditions, 2) evaluation of brain death: should be filled the diagnostic requirements, and 3) the required documents for organ donation. Basically, this modification will make organ donation possible, if adequately filled -out the papers, even from those without a signed-donor card. However, it may take time that the action change leads to increase in kidney and other organ donation. Oversea transplant should be reduced and is not a choice of treatment as it is banned by international consensus.

WCN Travel Grant

2010-07-12T00:03:23Z

In recognition of great success of ISN-NEXUS Kyoto, the International　Society　of　Nephrology　(ISN)　announced the special travel grant ward to those who are attending the coming WCN2011 in Vancouver, Canada. The grant will be 1,000 Euro for 10 candidates.
Eligibility for the grant should be 1) membership of ISN, 2) attendees of the ISN NEXUS Kyoto meeting, 3) membership either JSN or JSDT, and 4) age 39 or less at September 30, 2010. Application form and abstract for WCN should be sent to frontj@int2.med.tohoku.ac.jp by September 30, 2010.

Nephron NEWS

2010-07-08T07:11:00Z

Issue 5,2010 [July, 2010]

I strongly encourage the readers of Nephron Digest to engage in a dialogue by emailing me to discuss issues of global nephrological interest. These would be addressed by expert members of the editorial board of Nephron. Also readers are encouraged to request topics that they would like to be updated upon through the Mini Review series of Nephron Clinical Practice.

Besides reading Nephron Digest, I hope you are enjoying a great World Cup 2010.

Professor Meguid El Nahas, PhD, FRCP
Editor, Nephron Clinical Practice
nephron@sheffield.ac.uk
m.el-nahas@sheffield.ac.uk

Digest of issue 116/2/2010

Dual RAS Therapy Not on Target, but Fully Alive (H.J. Lambers Heerspink, D. de Zeeuw, The Netherlands; Nephron Clin Pract 2010;116:c137-c142) The ONTARGET renal analysis suggests that the use of dual-agent RAS leads to increased renal risk. This led to vivacious discussions about the benefits and risks of dual-agent RAS in patients with nephropathy. Lambers Heerspink and de Zeeuw review the ONTARGET trial design and interpretation, and offer implications for novel trials.

The Kidney Evaluation and Awareness Program in Sheffield (KEAPS): A Community-Based Screening for Microalbuminuria in a British Population (A. Bello et al., UK; Nephron Clin Pract 2010;116:c95-c103) report the outcome of the KEAPS epidemiological study, a community-based screening program for microalbuminuria. As in other European studies, the authors found a high prevalence of individuals with microalbuminuria (~7%), but note a significant percentage who became negative upon re-testing. This highlights the issue of CKD screening and detection studies based on single testing that invariably overestimate the prevalence of microalbuminuria and, consequently, CKD. The authors also find that the majority of those testing positive have underlying predisposing disease such as hypertension, diabetes or obesity, or are elderly. This study adds credence to the argument for targeted screening of those at risk. In those, microalbuminuria may reflect Cardio-Kidney-Damage (C-K-D; El Nahas, Kidney Int 2010;78:14-18).

Targeted Screening of Adult First-Degree Relatives for Chronic Kidney Disease and Its Risk Factors (S. Bagchi et al., India; Nephron Clin Pract 2010;116:c128-c136) report their findings in first-degree relatives (FDRs) of patients with CKD. They detected new cases of hypertension (21.5%), diabetes mellitus (2.0%), impaired fasting glucose (22.4%) and hypercholesterolemia (18.8%). 5.9% had proteinuria (?1+). 61.2% of FDRs had eGFR in stage 1, 34.7% in stage 2, 3.6% in stage 3, and 0.5% in stage 4-5. 8.6% had CKD (88.5% were unaware). As with the above report from Sheffield, this study implies that first-degree relatives of CKD patients should also be included in a comprehensive targeted screening program. But more importantly, it reminds readers of the prevalence of undiagnosed hypertension and diabetes in communities. This has to be the major screening target of programs aimed at detecting and reducing the impact of chronic non-communicable disease on morbidity and mortality worldwide.

Section on 'Kidney Disease and Population Health' (K.J. Van Stralen and colleagues, The Netherlands and Italy; Nephron Clin Pract 2010;116:c143-c147). The authors discuss the definition and role of confounders in data interpretation and clinical studies. They remind readers of the criteria needed to define a confounder: 1) The variable needs to be associated with the exposure. 2) The variable needs to be associated with the outcome or disease. 3) The variable should not be an intermediate variable in the causal pathway between exposure and outcome. Only if all three criteria are fulfilled is the variable under question a confounder.

For previous issues of Nephron Digest or to sign up for future issues, click here. For submission of articles, sign-ups to ToC Alerts or to recommend Nephron Clinical Practice to your librarian, please go to the journal's homepage..

© S. Karger AG - Medical and Scientific Publishers
Allschwilerstrasse 10, P.O. Box, CH-4009 Basel (Switzerland)
Tel. +41 61 306 1200, Fax +41 61 306 1234, publications@karger.ch.

ISN 50 years

2010-07-04T22:38:48Z

The International　Society　of　Nephrology　(ISN)　is　dedicated　to　pursuing　the　global　advancement　of　kidney　care by　supporting　education,　science　and　patient　health.　It　also　bridges　the　gaps　between　the　developing and developed worlds in researching, diagnosing, treating and preventing kidney disease. With over 9,000 professional members from more than 126 countries, ISN represents a wide international network. It provides an efficient platform for timely scientific exchange, debate and communication. Collaborating with over 70 national and regional societies, it represents about 20,000 professionals around the globe. Ceremony for ISN 50 years was held on June 30 in Geneva, Switzerland during the ISN Nexus Symposium on "Fibrosis and the Kidney: Emerging Culprits in Pathogenesis and Advances in Therapy".
For more information: www.isn-online.org

JSN - Asia Young Nephrologists Seminar (JSN-AYNS) 2010

2010-06-28T00:36:13Z

JSN organized the seminar for Asian Young Nephrologists on June 15th in Kobe just before the JKW. After the opening remarks from the JSN President Prof. H Makino, 10 oral presentations from Taiwan, Singapore, China (2), Korea, Bangladesh, Japan, Hong Kong, Malaysia, and Vietnam and 25 posters were presented at the Kobe International Conference Center.
After the conference, attendees and guests moved to Portopia Hotel and held another session of "New aspects of international relationship in Asia" which was chaired by Drs. K Kurokawa and H Makino. Several speakers representing scientific association such as Prof S Ito (Chair of International Committee, JSN), S Uchida (APCN), Y Tsukamoto (AFCKDI), S Kim (KSN), and J Weening (past-president of the ISN) were nominated to give their perspectives on International Relationship in Asia. Closing remarks was made by Dr T Akizawa, president of the JSDT. This event will be continued next year to strengthen the tie between Asian nephrologists.
For more information: www.jsn.or.jp

2010Seminars for Care-givers of Dialysis Therapy

2010-06-21T00:33:08Z

Jinzou Zaidan has been organized seminars for those caring dialysis patients such as physicians, nurses, and technicians. Last year there were 1,502 attendees and a total of 32,203 people have attended for the seminars by 2009. Aim of this seminar is to strengthen the knowledge and skills of peoples who are working at dialysis unit. Lectures were given by experts in this field and related to clinical practices. After this seminar, attendees will take bed-side training in each registered dialysis unit or hospital.
This year, it will be held on July 9 (Friday) to 10 (Saturday) in Omiya Sonic-City, Saitama. Enrollment was already finished on May 10.
For more information: www.jinzouzaidan.or.jp.

APCN 2014 in Tokyo

2010-06-14T02:36:01Z

During the APCN2010 in Seoul, JSN was nominated to have the 14th Asian Pacific Congress of Nephrology 2014 (APCN 2014). Since its establishment in 1959, JSN has grown to more than 8000 members. The 1st APCN was held in Tokyo in 1979 which was organized by Prof. Oshima K (Nihon University). Since then, JSN has been contributing through the Asian Integrated Nephrology Forum (AINF) who dispatched 56 Professors to 10 Asian developing countries to give lectures on Nephrology as a CME course from 2001 to 2009 and accepted 22 young Nephrologists from those countries from 2002 to 2004.
APCN is now growing and became the Nephrology meeting in Asian countries. Total attendees at the APCN2010 was more than 2,000 and 20% of them were Chinese including Taiwan, and Hong Kong. The APCN2014 will be held in Tokyo and the president is Professor Tomino Y, Juntendo University.

The 53rd JSN General Scientific Meeting: Japan Kidney Week 2010

2010-06-07T00:19:12Z

The 53rd JSN General Scientific Meeting will be held on June 16 (Wednesday) to June 18 (Friday), 2010 in Kobe. The convention venue is the Portopia Hotel and Kobe Convention Center. Professor H. Makino, president of the meeting, put the slogan of the meeting: Kidney as an organ to regulate whole body: Toward better system of nephrology research outcomes from Japan to Worldwide
The presidential lecture will be "Kidney as an organ to regulate whole body: From the past 33-years research". Special invited lecture will be given by Drs JJ Weening on "Systemic Lupus Erythematosus: An update on the pathogenesis and classification", Dr R Gibbons on "Epigenetics - its role in human disease", and Dr P Ronco on "Pathophysiology of membranous nephropathy: some answers, more questions", and Dr K Channon on "Regulation of Endothelial Redox function in renal and vascular disease". A total of 836, 400 oral and 436 posters, will be presented. This meeting is joined with the 55th Annual Meeting of the Japanese Society for Dialysis Therapy (JSDT).
For more information: www.jsn.or.jp.

Nephron NEWS

2010-06-02T02:39:55Z

Issue 4,2010 [May, 2010]

I strongly encourage the readers of Nephron Digest to engage in a dialogue by emailing me to discuss issues of global nephrological interest. These would be addressed by expert members of the editorial board of Nephron. Also readers are encouraged to request topics that they would like to be updated upon through the Mini Review series of Nephron Clinical Practice.

Professor Meguid El Nahas, PhD, FRCP
Editor, Nephron Clinical Practice
nephron@sheffield.ac.uk
m.el-nahas@sheffield.ac.uk

Digest of issue 116/1/2010

Treatment of Primary Systemic Vasculitis with the Inosine Monophosphate Dehydrogenase Inhibitor Mycophenolic Acid (T.F. Hiemstra, R.B. Jones, D.R.W. Jayne, UK; Nephron Clin Pract 2010;116:c1-c10) This minireview focuses on recent developments in the use of salts of mycophenolic acid (mycophenolate mofetil and mycophenolate sodium) in systemic vasculitis associated with antineutrophil cytoplasmic autoantibodies (ANCA+ vasculitis, AASV). The authors review the promise of these agents in this type of vasculitis and caution against premature enthusiasm. They remind the readers that these agents have not yet achieved first-line treatment status. Trials are underway (MYCYC and IMPROVE) that may confirm their potential in inducing remission and maintaining it, respectively. Meanwhile, it is important to remember that steroids and cyclophosphamide are considered the "treatment of choice" in AASV. However, the potential toxicity of cyclophosphamide, especially in older patients, warrants the search for alternatives. It is intriguing that cyclophosphamide was never compared, or shown to be superior, to another old-fashioned antimetabolite, azathioprine, in inducing remission in AASV. This shows that "treatments of choice" are often based on "expert" opinions and/or bias and not always on sound clinical evidence. Without strong evidence I have always favoured azathioprine over cyclophosphamide in older patients (>65years) with AASV. Perhaps another example of bias over evidence!

Chronic Kidney Disease in Older People: Physiology, Pathology or Both? (A.H. Abdelhafiz et al., UK; Nephron Clin Pract 2010;116:c19-c24) In this review, the authors explore the true nature of CKD in older people. Emphasis is on whether age-related changes in kidney function are physiological or pathological. It is concluded that CKD in the elderly, which constitutes the bulk of the so-called CKD "epidemic", is merely the reflection of vascular ageing and consequent kidney damage with microalbuminuria and reduced GFR. The kidney is one of many affected target organs along with the heart, brain and eyes. A recent publication coins the term Cardio-Kidney-Damage (C-K-D) to describe this entity (El Nahas, Kidney Int advance online publication 5 May 2010; doi: 10.1038/ki.2010.123). This may be a preferable term to "disease" as otherwise older people would be plagued with so many diseases; heart disease, kidney disease, lung disease, brain disease, hearing disease, eye disease, not to mention hair disease - for those who also lose their hair! Ageing after all can be cruel.

Nephrology Guidelines Synopsis

In this issue, Dr. Arif Khwaja has started his review of current nephrology guidelines by summarising and commenting upon two KDIGO guidelines.

Chronic Kidney Disease-Mineral and Bone Disorder KDIGO Guidelines (A. Khwala, UK; Nephron Clin Pract 2010;116:c25-c26. For a summary, see table:

KDIGO Guidelines for Care of the Kidney Transplant Recipient (A. Khwala, UK; Nephron Clin Pract 2010;116:c27-c28. For a summary, see table:

For previous issues of Nephron Digest or to sign up for future issues, click here. For submission of articles, sign-ups to ToC Alerts or to recommend Nephron Clinical Practice to your librarian, please go to the journal's homepage..

© S. Karger AG - Medical and Scientific Publishers
Allschwilerstrasse 10, P.O. Box, CH-4009 Basel (Switzerland)
Tel. +41 61 306 1200, Fax +41 61 306 1234, publications@karger.ch.